I WAS too late to see steam on the Cambrian. By the time I came to Aberystwyth to study, it wasn’t diesels which had displaced main line steam from the area, but a more modern flirtation with ERTMS signalling.
Locals still lamented the loss of steam railtours to the areas. The traction I saw was limited to a host of 158s on passenger workings and Network Rail’s canary-yellow Class 97s.
They say familiarity breeds contempt and, truthfully, I was distracted by the sheer quantity of charming narrow-gauge locomotives to realise the significance of this seemingly workaday class of locomotive.
Because the 97s, as they were classified, were not simply departmental engines rumbling up and down the Cambrian at the beck and call of Network Rail. They were refurbished Class 37s, and the most modern dated all the way back to 1964. I would often see these engines when travelling through Shrewsbury, a similarly contrary location where I could arrive signalled in under ERTMS and then be signalled out by semaphores!
February 2024 marks 60 years since the last Class 37 rolled out of Vulcan Foundry, but like Shrewsbury’s semaphores, the class has carved out a place for itself on the modern railway and on heritage operations up and down the country. Considering their age, there are
