The Severn Valley Railway has announced that there has been a change in the rostered locomotive for The Pioneer Service.

The Pioneer Service is set to take place on Friday 25th September 2020.

However, Class 17 D8568 is now no longer available, so Class 42  D821 Greyhound will take its place and will haul the train instead.

Additionally, it is also expected that Class 14 D9551 will double head some trains during the day with D821 Greyhound as a special treat.

You can book your tickets by clicking here to visit the Severn Valley Railway website.

A brief history of D821 Greyhound

D821 was outshopped at Swindon Works in 1960 and served Plymouth Laira with spells at Newton Abbot. The locomotive was withdrawn in 1972 after a million miles in service. D821 became the first mainline diesel to be sold for preservation when it was bought by the Diesel Traction Group.

Between February 1977 and April 1981 the locomotive underwent an overhaul at Swindon and then moved to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Finally, the locomotive arrived at her current home of the Severn Valley Railway in 1991. An overhaul commenced in 2014, after a long period of time under repair at Old Oak Common, the locomotive returned to the SVR after the OOC open day in September 2017, before returning to use in April 2018.

Since then, the locomotive has been a regular sight on trains at the heritage railway.

Where Next?

RailAdvent Plus
   Get image downloads, Prints and Streaming Video
RailAdvent News
Get image downloads, Prints and Streaming Video
RailAdvent Shop
Railway Prints, DVD’s / Blu-Ray’s and more
LocoStop – The RailAdvent Community
Come and share your railway pictures
Mainline UK Steam Info
Upcoming mainline steam tours/loco movements
Severn Valley Railway
Visit their website