Last Days of Steam Heating

[Grumbleweed]

When and where was the last ordinary timetabled steam heated service in Britain? And the last loco in service with working steam heat equipment?

[55016]

I pretty sure it was the Far North & Kyle line late 1985/early 1986 when the last of the Inverness based 37/4s were released back into traffic.

 

Steam heat workings continued in Scotland into early 1987, there were sill quite a few Eastfield and Inverness based 37s that retained working boilers upto that point and no doubt other locos. One of the last workings as I recall - and certainly my last was 37260 on a 'footex' from Glasgow in Feb 1987.

 

Both 37025 and 264 will soon be recreating these days

[TheSignalEngineer]

I don't know about 1986 but remember steam heating on the West Highland in 1983. I took a picture from the first Down train in August that year with the steam heat in use, it had been a bit of a chilly night.

[TimC]

This subject has come up before and I'm surprised the search facility doesn't bring up the previous threads.  Maybe they are older and further back than my memory would suggest. Perhaps I'm even thinking of another forum.

 

However, this thread https://www.flickr.com/groups/1770537@N24/discuss/72157629334680763/ gives the same information.  No evidence I have seen can confirm that there was anything after 47117 on 2 May 1987, though there were a couple of potential possibilities.  In addition to 47109 (see the thread), there was a SRPS Class 27 Farewell Tour on 9 May 1987 which used 27001/046 and 27055/063 and I seem to remember someone suggested that it was a cold day and steam heating was used during a part of the tour but its not in evidence in any of the photographs I've seen of the train.