37669 & 37706 with 47746 Crawling Slowly Through Springs Branch - 22nd November 2025

West Coast Railways Class 37 pairing 37669 & 37706 are seeing in tandem with class 47 locomotive 47746 crawling very slowly north along the west coast main line through Springs Branch south of Wigan on the cold and foggy afternoon of Saturday 22nd November 2025.

The locomotive trio were working The Chester Christmas Explorer mini tour from Chester to Blackburn via Wigan and eventually back to Chester via Manchester Victoria. This was a mini bonus section of a charter that the 37s ran from Oxford to Chester earlier in the afternoon for the Christmas markets.

The official working today 37669 & 37706 With 47746
1Z42 0630 Oxford Parkway to Blackburn

Passed 1459
Running 17 late

47746 ran from Carnforth hours earlier to haul it which is shame as 2 37s leading more fun. Would assume it's to save the 37s fuel for the trip back to Oxford.

Late having had an issue between Chester and Warrington and north of there due to Avanti services in chaos due to a broken rail between Oxenholme and Penrith causing trains to be held across the other stations

The Chester Christmas Explorer (Pathfinder Railtours)
37669 and 37706Oxford Parkway (pu) - Oxford (pu) - Swindon (pu) - Kemble (pu) - Stroud (pu) - Gloucester (pu) - Lydney (pu) - Chepstow (pu) - Welsh Marches Line - Shrewsbury (sd) - Chester (break/rev) & return

The Chester Christmas Explorer Mini-Tour (Pathfinder Railtours)
37669 and 37706 and 47746
Chester (pu) - Frodsham - Warrington Bank Quay - Wigan North Western - Blackburn - Rochdale -
Eccles - Manchester Victoria - Warrington Bank Quay - Frodsham - Chester

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Filmed at Springs Branch
Filmed Saturday 22nd November 2025

#class37 #westcoastrailways #wcml #britishrailclass37 #britishrailclass47 #class47 #37706 #37669 #47746