Early in 2012 a number of refurbished snowploughs had to be moved from Kilmarnock to various locations around the UK. Known as ‘Beilhacks’, TOPS code ZZA, these former Class 40 bogies are normally attached to the front and rear of a pair of diesel locomotives when in plough mode.
DRS had the job of moving the ploughs to their new homes and three trains ran in January and February. The first of them, on 12th January featured the unlikely combination of a Class 20 and a Class 57 pairing!
On what was a fine sunny winter day – with not a flake of snow to be seen – we joined the train at Kilmarnock, filming from the cab of 20303 for the entire journey. Departing Kilmarnock we travelled via the GSW route passing New Cumnock, Dumfries and Gretna and the various junctions, signal boxes and semaphore signals. Upon joining the West Coast Main Line the train was routed via the freight-only Up Arrival Flyover road, Up reception sidings and into Kingmoor depot at the north end.
Filmed with the full assistance of Direct Rail Services, a special ‘thrash cam’ recorded the sound of the Class 20 hard at work. As per all our cab rides, it was filmed in 16:9 widescreen.
Produced by - Train Crazy
Running time - 110 Minutes
Format - 16:9 widescreen
Blu-Ray or DVD
