Spirit of 1976, 2012

The final full year of Western Class 52 operation on British Railways was played out under powder blue skies and sizzling sunshine. There were stand pipes for water in the streets as the major drought of 1976 took hold. On the Western Region, the Class 52s were reduced in number to just 24 for the summer timetable. The year had begun badly with the loss of two BR men in the cab of D1055 Western Advocate when she ran into the back of a stationary train at Worcester on the night of the gales on January 3, 1976. Those gales were hardly an indication of the baking temperatures that were to follow throughout the summer months. Enthusiasts revelled in the summer sun and hydraulic haulage as the few that began such crusades in 1973 were now thousands in their numbers, all eager to pay homage to the last remnants of the hydraulic era. It was an emotive time and by the winter timetable in October the numbers were dwindling so quickly that by the advent of 1977, there was just the ‘Magnificent Seven’ left in traffic: D1010/13/22/23/41/48 and D1058. The times were changing and the end was nigh, but for 1976 at least, the Westerns had their finest hour.