East Somerset OPEN FOR BUSINESS | Cranmore Welcomes a Wizzo! D1015 'Western Champion' | 06.07.2024

Following the fleeting visit and private naming ceremony of Freightliner Class 59 59201 ‘Westbury Power Signal Box 1984-2024’ last month, • FIRST THROUGH MOVE for... today saw the first railtour carrying fair paying passengers, traverse the rarely used section of line between Merehead Quarry and the East Somerset Railway in FIVE YEARS!!
Class 52 Maybach Diesel Hydraulic D1015 ‘Western Champion’ was in charge of UK Railtours ‘Westbury Wizzo’ 1Z77 from East Midlands Parkway through to Westbury. There, passengers on the tour had the choice of visiting Westbury, or taking connecting road transport to visit Longleat estate, before those who had opted to stay on were treated to extra Wizzo haulage over rarely trodden track, as D1015 wound the railtour between Westbury - Merehead Quarry Jn then onto the short section to Cranmore on the East Somerset Railway. D1015 was adorned with a wreath to remember DTG Engineer Andy Venn (Sledge), who sadly passed away earlier this week.
On a blustery Saturday, we see the Western slowly easing the tour towards Cranmore, and the network rail limit before triumphantly continuing onto East Somerset heritage line metals, coming to a stand next to resident home fleet steam locomotive 4110. This was hauling a special chartered steam service for the tour passengers along the East Somerset to Mendip Vale, whilst D1015 took fuel and prepared for the return journey.
The atmosphere at the railway today was brilliant and the historic event of a preserved mainline certificated diesel hauling a railtour right through for the first time in many years certainly drew a crowd!
Once all prepared, railtour passengers re boarded ready for departure. Due to the length of the train, D1015 was unable to run round at Cranmore so GBRF 66309 ‘Charley Wallace’ was attached to the rear of the railtour at Westbury, and was used to support shunting the ECS at Cranmore to allow D1015 to run round, before the formed consist headed the return 1Z79 leg back to East Midlands Parkway.
And as the 66 rolled away out of sight, this brought to a close a very triumphant day for two of Somerset’s preserved railways, whose mainline connections were BOTH IN USE ON THE SAME DAY, something that hasn’t happened for a VERY LONG time! I know a lot of work has been undertaken by Network Rail and East Somerset Volunteers to clear the lineside vegetation and make this happen and today was a very special preservation milestone for the railway. From speaking to volunteers, the passion really shines though and they have ambitious plans for implementing a split line running proposal in the future, as well as lots of other ideas in the pipeline so I’m really looking forward to seeing the East Somerset Railway continue to grow from strength to strength!
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[@sirgresley6007]

It’s great to see a rail tour on ESR metals again

[@Tobys_Trains]

Awesome video!

[@petersmith4455]

hi. we used to have 4110 at southall rly centre in the 80's when it was a wreck. amazing transformation, money talks.the 52 is well turned out

[@brunelheritage]

Thanks for your comment, I remember 4110 coming to WSR Minehead and it was still a wreck. ESR volunteers have done a fab job overhauling this loco so quickly!