THE Dartmouth Steam Railway (DSR) and South Devon Railway (SDR) have exchanged locos to better suit their needs.
South Devon Diesel Traction Ltd (SDDTL), which keeps its stock on the South Devon Railway at Buckfastleigh, has sold Class 37 No. 6975 to the Dartmouth Steam Railway at Paignton.
The DSR has sold Class 25 No. D7535 Mercury to the SDDTL in return.
The approach came from the DSR, which required a more powerful loco, while the SDDTL gains an advantage in only needing to keep spares for one class of locomotive as it already owns Class 25s Nos. D7612 and 25191.
The English Electric Type 3 moved to Paignton before the last day of DSR’s Sulzer Type 2 operation. To mark the official swap-over of the two diesels the DSR held the ‘Sulzer Sunset’ event on October 6.
This involved 4-6-0 No. 75014 running the advertised Saturday steam services, with the two diesels working top-and-tail on additional trains in between.
The day started with No. 6975 leading the 10.00 out of Paignton (Queens Park) to Kingswear, with No. D7535 on the rear.
After two-and-a-half return trips the locos changed ends during the 13.30 to 14.00 wait at Kingswear and continued in that formation for the rest of the day.
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