The Olympics 2012

You may be asking what on earth have the London Olympics of 2012 to do with our blog? Well the answer is simple. A class 87 locomotive was used as a communication tool in 2005/06 to "provide visual reinforcement" to the general public of the London Olympics bid. Today's post (7th November 2010) is about that locomotive.
Class 87 locomotive 87012 was named Coeur de Lion from 2001 - 2005 but in the latter year she was renamed The Olympian and the slogan 'Back the Bid London 2010' was added to the sides of the locomotive. The locomotive was liveried in Network SouthEast colours. However, in December 2006, the locomotive was sold to a Bulgarian Railway Company (see the post for 26th May 2010 for details), so the PR excercise was short-lived.
The first pic is from Bob McClellan and shows the locomotive 'dragging' class 325 Royal Mail emus through Red Bank. The shot is dated 22nd August 2005.
John Smith has supplied the second shot taken on 3rd October 2005. The locomotive is shown in a consist of three, light-engine, with class 73s, 73204 and 73205 behind. The slogan seems to be slightly different in this shot - it appears to read 'Host City London 2012'. Not too much info on this working but John thinks that the locomotives were travelling to Scotland.