In 1979 Longsight supplied shunters to ten different locations. Locally three
Air-Braked locos covered operations as depot pilot, at Mayfield parcels depot and also Trafford Park
Container terminal with this turn also covering operations at Manchester International Freight Terminal. Five further shunters were outstationed to Guide Bridge working Dewsnap Yard and Ashburys Yard. Further afield one shunter worked Stockport carriage and parcels sidings while another operated freight trips in the Buxton area. To cover these operations, Longsight had an allocation of 14 Class 08 shunters, while in the same year there were 19
Class 25s and 40
Class 40s allocated there as well, plus DMUs of classes
100 and
108. In the following year there were no passenger train duties planned for Class 25 locomotives based at Longsight, but there were a variety of diagrams for Class 40s predmonantly on summer-only services from Manchester to destinations in North Wales. Locomotives at Longsight changed in line with the general motive power developments in British Rail in the 1980s so that by 1985 there were 7
Class 31s which replaced the Class 25s, and the Class 40s were down to a single locomotive (based at
Kingmoor) thus ending the long association of Longsight with this class. The allocation of Class 08 shunters had risen to 17 although one of these was stored in an unserviceable condition. All of the DMU allocation had also been moved away, but the
Class 118s that were being converted for parcels use were provisionally shown as allocated to Longsight. For the locomotives the Class 31's, like the Class 25's, were not diagrammed for any passenger trains, and with the demise of the Class 40s the North Wales traffic had been taken over by
Class 45s from
Toton, meaning that there were no passenger trains diagrammed for haulage by diesel locomotives based at Longsight. The changes of the 1980s were almost complete by 1986 as the only locomotives allocated to Longsight were 14 Class 08 shunters, and the only other allocation were the 2-car Class 118 units that had been converted for parcels use, the main-line diesels having been reallocated elsewhere or withdrawn. ==See also==