86228 'Vulcan Heritage' is seen on what could be one of its last duties at South Kenton on Saturday 28th June 2003. The loco is reported as being withdrawn from traffic on July 1st, and with more Pendolinos entering service it is one of Virgin's 86s not likely to remain in the active pool. Class 86s first entered traffic in the mid-1960s and are therefore approaching 40 years old. A magazine recently stated than some locos had travelled over 6 million miles during this time. They are also currently in service with Freightliner and with Anglia. The freight examples should see continued use for a while yet, but Anglia will probably make increasingly less use of their 86s as they switch to class 90s.
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Photo from James & Martin's Picture Collection Copyright 'Jampics' m.hawkes7@ntlworld.com