Tonight saw the long awaited empty coaching stock move of what the enthusiasts used to call the “Virgin Pretendolino” as it filled in on the West Coast Main Line from Euston to Birmingham when there was a shortage of available Pendolino trains. The Mk3 coaches will be refurbished into GWR livery. The locomotive was DRS 68024 named Centaur and like the others of this class of locomotive has taken the name of a British Navy warship. HMS Centaur was an aircraft carrier who’s build began in 1944 but was not finally commissioned until 1953 and weighed in at 24000 tons. It was sold for scrap in 1972. The mythological Centaur was a creature with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. Ideal for horse racing as you wouldn’t need a jockey! The first part of the video was taken in the poorly lit Dawlish station and the second part at Teignmouth which has benefitted with having the lighting upgraded to LED’s.

[adrotate group=”2″]