Trains on Two : The Shenfield Shark

Last week the now famous #Shenfield #Shark Ballast plough break van or Caboose was finally scrapped after some 30+ years or so residing at Shenfield Station
We take a look at some recent social media posts
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[@petermartin3818]

Shenfield is a major commuter station in Essex. Located on the Colchester, Norwich main lines out of Liverpool Street, it is the junction for the Southend Victoria and Southminster services. The 'Shark' became an iconic feature of the local landscape, and was built originally by BR in the 1950s as a Ballast Plough for levelling ballast during track relaying. It got dumped in the siding after it apparently suffered over heated axle bearings in early 2000, and with the advent of Privatisation, effectively became ownerless. Several attempts at it's recovery for preservation never came to anything, as it's location and condition made it challenging (and expensive) to retrieve as a complete vehicle.
There are several at other heritage railways, so it wasn't entirely unique, It's dismantling has caused much debate on various media platforms, but it has to be acknowledged that not all things can be preserved for posterity, and at the end of the day, no doubt someone will put a blue plaque and photo of it on the wall in tribute!

[@ngbarnes]

Am surprised it wasn't saved by some heritage railway, would've been a nice restoration project for someone!

[@mistie710]

Um... Shenfield is actually east of London on the eastern side of Brentwood on the Great Eastern area, the lines coming from Southend and the East Coast via Chelmsford heading towards Liverpool Street. It is the terminus for the Metro service which was taken over by MTL to become the eastern end of Crossrail (or Elizabeth Line if you insist) after operating as a line serving the suburban areas of Essex since the late 19th century serving the main stops of Liverpool Street, Stratford, Ilford, Romford, Gidea Park and Shenfield.
Acorn User?

[@wifisheeptwo]

I'll be honest i really dont know the South East, so a mistake on my part! Thanks for your follow up information on the area :-)
And yes ... Mainly BBC Micro but have played with and even helped build versions of RISC OS. See the main channel: czcams.com/users/wifisheep