CLASS 25 ACTION

Welcome to the site dedicated to the passenger train workings of British Rail's Class 25 locomotives (aka "Rats").

It is now more than 30 years since Class 25 locomotives were used to work passenger trains on British Railways. This site is a record of all the known or suspected 'Rat' hauled passenger trains together with some performance timing logs and photographs of the locos in action together with stories from my 'bashing' days when I used to spend both money and time to chase after these locos for 'haulage'.

If you are interested in what passenger trains these locomotives worked then go to the "Complete passenger train workings" pages and browse the various tables.  Here you will find details of all known passenger train workings, either for an individual loco or by the month.  Alternately if you are interested in photographs of these locos or the stories behind what drove allegedly sane individuals to go to inordinate lengths in pursuit of a hobby then have a look at the "Photographs" and "Recollections" pages where you will find recorded some of the crazy things we used to get up to.  Wherever possible I have linked both the train working records and recollection pages with the appropriate photographs from both mine and others collections.

When you get the chance please visit one of the preserved railways where 'Rats' still work on diesel days and try to imagine what they must have been like in BR service but alas no words can truly describe what it was like for us back then. As the famous Welsh comedian Max Boyce says, "I was there" and throughout this site I'll be trying to convey some of my experiences from that era to you.

Nowadays I update the site with photographs, stories and 'new' workings every six months or so. (Check out the Latest Updates link to find out what is new). If you can add anything to the information here or have any comments or additions then please email me at webmaster@class25.info

Latest Updates (08/02/24)

On this site you will find:

17,470 passenger train workings

totalling over 1,575,000 miles

890 photographs