Well, after the hectic postings of yesterday and my knee-jerk reaction to EE Type 3 feedback, there seems to be an unprecedented level of traffic to my mindless number-crunching, so here goes with one particular Haymarket Best of... that I was dreading, Class 24s. And it turns out to be as benign an allocation history as it's possible to get.

Every oral history of Waverley dieselization makes great fanfare of the same classes: Peaks, EE Type 4s and 'BRCWs,' probably because they were the usurpers that did the lion's share of steam displacement. When I blog Class 26, it will be evident why. In the next breath, 24s, DMUs, Deltics and Claytons get a mention.

Despite their seemingly universal admiration, the Co-Cos merit a mere footnote, probably because the advent of 47s and 37s in 1965 and '66 was a full five years after the initial impact of diesels was felt. In fairness, the 24s belong in this bracket, as they joined in the fun shortly after the 37s, in '66, many transferred from Great Northern services out of The Cross as part of the last push to rid the Waverley route of steam.

Consequently, the 24s were Waverley through-and-through - unlike the Co-Cos (37s particularly), and I would rate them as signature traction. Signalbox records would make interesting reading here; I expect that not a day went by after October '66 without a 24 active on the route, and other data does suggest that all 15 Haymarket examples put in mileage along its length.

Lest we forget, with the honourable exception of local proponents of the line - not necessarily enthusiasts per se, the railway fraternity was otherwise occupied for much of '67 and '68, chasing the end of a subtly different era. So ever the Cinderella, the Waverley's diesel heyday was being pretty much overlooked.

So, to the mixed traffic anchor of the second wave, the dependable, BR-Sulzer Type 2 synonymous with the Waverley Class 2.

Two principal periods here, with 64B fleet strength basically of 15 (autumn T/T '66 to winter '67) and 8 (March '68 onwards), reflected in many 'DerbySulzers' reports and Railbrit/ published photos of the era. The class was prolific on 2M52 and 2S52 diagrams, the short turn-back Class 2s, the intensive parcels service and quite possibly other unreported traffic, although being boiler-fitted their use on the expected daily pick-up freights was possibly minimal. I'd love someone to prove me wrong, but I've yet to see a 24 on a Waverley Route freight.

So how did 64B do it:

During August '66 bashers turning up at Carlisle to rake-in 4-6-0s or down-at-heel Pacifics over Whitrope would have been increasingly disappointed to find a "fruit-machine" leaking steam instead at the head of their load 4-plus-van, as D5061/2/4-6/8/9/71/2/94/5 had arrived at Haymarket. The following month, slotters 5067 and 5070 filled two gaps, and with 5063's arrival in October '66, the dozen block of D5061-72 that became synonymous with the line was complete. D5050 made up the 15-strong complement in December '66.

As The Waverley's last year dawned, the first 5 locos (numerically) moved away, followed two months later by 5065 and 5066, leaving the octet of 5067-72/94/5 to share the reducing duties with imports from 60A for the rest of the year (of the 5114-32 batch all but 5114/26/9/30 are believed to have worked over the route). These locos outlived the Waverley Route at 64B, later joined by 60A's TOPS era survivors. Coincidentally, or carelessly, 5067 and early (November '66) blue repaint 5068 both suffered accident damage in 1972 that led to withdrawal, their surviving sisters and the Highland fugitives succumbed to the inevitable as ScR culled its 24s late in 1975.

Please note that due to a flashover of the brain, I have been transposing 5066 and 5068's livery history lately, 5066 stayed GSYP - apologies to anyone I've confused. Error now corrected in body text above.

5072 was one of the rare repaints into TTGSYP (as modelled in factory-weathered condition by Kernow) and had the poignant distinction of calling for the very last time at the first Waverley Route station to close, Tynehead on Saturday January 4th, so writing itself indelibly into the history of a majestic main line.