Join us for a day of photography at the GCR featuring visiting Hymek D7018 in BR green with the newly restored Tanker Train 

About this event

We are delighted to be able to offer a further opportunity to photograph Class 35 Hymek D7018 at the Great Central Railway, this time utilising the Railway’s superb and increasing fleet of oil tank wagons. The locomotive will be leaving the line in May, so we are grateful to the Railway and the locomotive’s owners for facilitating this day for us. We should have up to fourteen black oil tankers on the day (those in yellow need not apply!) which should make a rather impressive formation with one brake van only at the rear of the formation.

We expect to start from Quorn & Woodhouse Eves Station, Woodhouse Road, Leicestershire, LE12 8AG. Time to be confirmed, but likely to be 09.00 hours. We will do our best to ensure the Butler Henderson Cafe is open for us when we arrive. There is plenty of free parking in the station yard. As it is a goods train, we will have to follow the train by car, so we will be asking everyone to car share so that we have as few vehicles on the road as possible during the day. If you do not know the area, please come and see us at the start of the day so that we can arrange either for you to travel with someone who does know the way or to follow another vehicle driver with local knowledge.

The Class 35 Hymek locomotives were diesel hydraulics introduced to British Railways Western Region between 1961 and 1964. They eventually numbered 101 members of the class which had a period of operation lasting until 1975 (though a handful remained in non-operational stock after this date). They were designed for goods and parcels traffic, along with secondary passenger services and worked some expresses between London, Cardiff and Swansea. The locos were based between three main depots: Old Oak Common, Bristol Bath Road and Cardiff Canton. As was the case with other hydraulic designs favoured by the Western Region, their non-standard engines counted against them. Withdrawal began as early as 1971. When built, they were the most powerful locos with a single engine in Britain, this being the Bristol-Siddeley-Maybach MD870. Although the locos worked between regions, outside Western territory there were few crews trained to drive them, which restricted their wider use. Their duties were many and varied, being equally at home on pick-up goods, vans, parcels and many types of passenger services. The Hymeks even appeared as banking locos from 1969, based at Worcester and working out of Bromsgrove on the Lickey Incline. Mainly utilising D7021-D7025, up to three Hymeks were utilised at any one time on the rear of heavy trains en route to Blackwell; two locos could be coupled together with one driver, and a third having a separate driver could be added to the train where necessary. It is believed that members of the class worked oil trains from the Cardiff area to Soho Pool in the West Midlands. There were also twice-weekly feeder trains which delivered diesel to both Reading and Southall Depots from the Theale Terminal, so the locos were not unheard of on tanker trains.

No.D7018 is owned by the Diesel & Electric Preservation Group which also owns sister locomotive D7017. It is one of four Class 35s to be preserved, and currently carries British Railways lined green livery with small yellow warning panels. The locomotive was allocated to Bristol Bath Road and was withdrawn in1975, moving to Didcot Railway Centre when first preserved and later transferring onto the West Somerset Railway, where it received a major overhaul following engine failure. Most recently, D7018 has received attention to its transmission and made a welcome return to traffic in May 2025. We think this combination of superb loco and train formation that cannot be seen elsewhere provides an excellent opportunity on the only preserved double-track main line in the UK.

Event requirements

Equipment

• Spare batteries
• Camera
• Lenses
• Camera protection - rain covers etc

Other things you should bring

• Snacks
• Bottled water

Knowledge

• All levels welcome

Fitness

• Medium

Other essentials

• Sturdy outdoor shoes
• Warm clothing
• Wet weather gear
• For those with mobility issues please email us to check the mobility limitations at this location prior to booking