57302 light engine at Carlisle Citadel Station

This is the last back-blip from our week away. Whilst travelling back from Cumbria to Edinburgh our train stopped at Carlisle long enough for me to take a snap through the window. It shows class 57 l0c0 57302 in DRS livery with Pendolino 'Virgin Enterprise' in the background. All Pendolino and Voyager services were having to terminate at Carlisle due to problems with the overhead wires. Fortunately we were on a First TransPennine Express DMU and weren't affected apart from a minor delay.
Class 57s were made by stripping the old class 47s down to the shell and rebuilding them to provide a loco for freight duties. Until recently, Virgin used 16 fitted with drop-head Scharfenberg couplers with allowed them to act as 'Thunderbirds' to rescue stranded Voyager and Pendolino EMUs. Painted in Virgin livery, they were named after characters/vehicles from the Thunderbirds TV show, for obvious reasons. DRS also operate a number of the class and have leased a few more that came spare when Freightliner terminated its use of them in 2008. Arriva Trains Wales also use them for passenger work and 'Thunderbird duties. Virgin sold its assignment of class 57s to Network Rail, although I did see one still in Virgin livery whilst we were travelling.