Its a photo of one of the class 97/7 battery locos converted from class 501 motor coaches for use on the Finsbury Park to Moorgate branch that was taken over by BR upon the GN suburban electification. They were use as OHLE maintenance trains or locos for civil engineering work.

Some were also used on MerseyRail.

Dodger

Quote from: Steven B on July 19, 2018, 03:47:51 PM
When was Preston allocated an OHLE train?

My reference books from the late 1980s list Mk1 based OHLE trains allocated to:
Bedford
Bletchley
Crewe Electric
Carlisle Upperby
Manchester Longsight (the one I'm modelling)
Rugby
Stafford
Birmingham Soho
Wigan Springs Branch
Willesden
Hornsey
Carstairs


Steven B.

I don't know. In fact, I don't know that it ever was. The 2006 ICRS combined wagon book lists an entire train's worth of coaches as being located at Preston. There are photos of them (in rail blue and grey) at https://gingespotting.smugmug.com/Departmentals/Q-TOPSCode. I suspect that they were out of use by then: they seem to have been scrapped by about 2010.

Jim

scrapped 2003 / 2004