Class 20

British Rail 1st Generation Diesels

English Electric type 1 Class 20s

click on an image to enlarge

20 188 and 20 084 pass through Ancaster with a Derby - Skegness service on the 17th June 1984

20 073/041 with the Toton breakdown crane recover derailed bitumen tanks between Ashby

and Coalville. The line between Ashby and Coalville had been singled only a few weeks

before this incident so the breakdown crew reinstated a few panels of track to lift the

derailed tankers onto. 19th April 1987

Class 20s 20 214 and 143 haul a train of MGR wagons through the rapid loading bunker at

Lounge Disposal Point on the 27th March 1991. The site was built in the late 1980s to

service the Lounge Open Cast site to the north east of Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire.

Most of the coal went to Willington Power Station. After a life of about ten years the open

cast site was closed and the area became part of the new National Forest. The site was

cleared of most of the buildings but the rails remained and were used as a run-round facility

for the various open cast sites which were opened on the Ashby - Moira stretch of the line.

As part of the "Midland Counties Railway 150" celebrations British Rail ran a series of three

specials from Derby over the Denby and Wirksworth branches on the 22nd April 1989. To

avoid running round the trains were top-and-tailed with 20 114 at the north end and 20 127 at

the south end. Above the second train of the day hauled by 20 127 returns from Denby over

Duffield Road crossing, Little Eaton. The trains ran Derby Midland Station - Denby -

Derby St Marys - Wirksworth - Derby Midland Station.

20 196 and 105 haul a train of MGR wagons through the loading bunker at Coalfield Farm

Disposal Point on the 27th March 1991. The site was south of Coalville and connected to the

Leicester - Burton on Trent line. It serviced the Coalfield Farm open cast site from which coal

was transported by means of a conveyer system laid on the trackbed of the Coalville -

Shackerstone line of the Ashby Nuneaton Joint Railway.

On Summer Saturdays in the 1980s and early 1990s "The Jolly Fisherman" ran from

Leicester to Skegness and return, usually hauled by class 20 diesels. On the

1st September 1993 20 087 and 20 132 haul the empty stock into Leicester.

20 123 and 20 090 pass Sneinton Junction, Nottingham with a Skegness to Leicester train

on 22nd July 1992.

20 302 & 20 307 at Carnforth Open Day 26th July 2008

On a cold 7th February 2009 20 303 and 20 304 pass through Kirby Stephen with the

"Fellsmans Chopper" from Birmingham International to Carlisle