37800 returned to it's Merseyside, the County of its birthplace, on Thursday 27th April transferring a Class 319 EMU (319431) from Wolverton works to Allerton Depot. The EMU has been refurbished for use with Northern (by Arriva) and was tripped to the South Liverpool depot for final preparations for a return to service. The working was the 5N36 10:10 Wolverton to Allerton and departed north Buckinghamshire 2 hours late. At the time the image was taken near journeys end at Halewood, the service was running 125 mins late - not helped by a long looping at Winsford to allow 3x Passenger services and 1x Freight services passed.
37800 was introduced as D6843 in May 1963 from Vulcan Foundry, Newton-Le-Willows. Following the introduction of the TOPS numbering system it gained the new identity of 37143. It carried this number until September 1986 when it was renumbered to 37800 and named 'Glo Cymru'. During its EWS career it was exported to mainland Europe twice, first to France on hire to SNCF in 1999, returning to the UK just under 12 months later, and secondly to Spain in 2001 on hire to GIF. Both assignments were for construction projects and the locomotive would remain in Spain for 10 years. Following the loco's arrival back in the UK in 2012 it was sold by DB Schenker to EMR Kingsbury for scrapping. All was not lost though and it eventually purchased for further use by Europhoenix. A full overhaul followed and a repaint in to the new owners attractive livery scheme. It has gained the additional branding of 'Rail Operations Group' who have hired the tractor on a long term deal as well as several other Class 37's from Europhoenix. In January 2018 the locomotive was named 'Cassiopeia' whilst undergoing maintenance at it's Leicester base. Cassiopeia is a constellation in the northern sky, named after the vain queen Cassiopeia in Greek mythology, who boasted about her unrivalled beauty.
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