35A

The loco that was at the Nene Valley was a 4-6-0, rather than a Mikado - unless this tender was acquired as a spare (I don't recall ever seeing it there). Specifically, it was de Glehn compound 3.628: http://ajectathefrenchsteam.unblog.fr/nord-3628-3628-sncf-230-d-116-french-ten-wheels/

I find the Blyth & Tyne photographs fascinating, especially as (along with the Cumbrian coast) it is about the only part of the network that I've never visited in nearly fifty years. Perhaps if the proposed passenger services up to Ashington and/or Newbiggin-by-the-Sea ever see the light of day I might be able to put that omission right.

I suspect that David cares. Most of the point of this (Deltics or otherwise) is to help him identify & label the content of his and his father's photographs. I know how irritated I get when I find an image that I hadn't labelled correctly! It's just that there are so many detail differences within a small class of locomotives, with Deltics, that it is relatively easy to identify the subject of the photographs for him (plus, it's a bit of fun )

That was my initial thought, earlier, based on the nameplate layout - I just wasn't sure if I could see a break in the top line lettering (which would have tempted me towards 6) or the old horn clips on the cab roof. I'm pretty certain that you're right though, on a second look, and if David thinks that it's part of a pair then I'm happy to concur.

Having had a quick look at them, I agree that J2087 is 9004, whilst J3213 is 9021, C1836 is 55 019 and J5984 is 55 021 again. I'll give a bit more thought to J4123 later (when I've got a bit more time).

Given the size of the nameplate I'm putting my money on it being "Meld" (55 003). If not, then it's "Pinza" - but I think that the plate is too small for that.

In their latter service days 55 021 and 55 022 "collected" each other rather briskly, with 22 coming off the worst. Certainly until 2006 (and quite probably still to this day - I must check some time) RSG has had a single class 40 buffer stock at one end, another way in which she can be uniquely recognised, although probably only from the side or above!

J034 - not much hope of identifying it but it can only be one of nine Deltics: D9004, D9005, D9006, D9008, D9010, D9011, D9014, D9016 or D9017. The rest are all excluded by naming dates or detail differences.

Whereas, today, services would just be cancelled for weeks on end and to hell with the travelling public.

Absolutely - even down to the last train, which was an eight-car "lash-up". Even the loco-hauled sets that had to be used several times over the last couple of winters produced some peculiar formations. One morning I found the 08:39 off Aylesbury formed by a class 47, a class 108 driving trailer (formed with corridor connection - which had glass panels in the door - facing the loco), a couple of Mark Is and a bullion courier vehicle. All except the latter were in public use. Great fun bouncing around in the 108 on the Met, watching the 47 through the sliding door inside the corridor connection! Don't let anyone tell you that it's "unrealistic" to do that on a model layout.

Yes. It's got to be 55 005. The nameplate is the wrong style for it to be anything but an ex-Gateshead loco. Excluding 55 008, which had a single line nameplate, the spacing of the words in the name is wrong for 55 011 or 55 017. Although the spacing of the words on the plates was fairly similar in layout, by August 1980 the twin windscreen wipers had been removed from 55 002 and 55 014 and replaced by a single, centrally positioned wiper. 55 005, however, retained its twin wipers until withdrawal in 1981.

Thanks, Phil. I had never associated the difference with being anything to do with the tablet catcher - I'd always assumed that the 1957-built locos (D8000-D8127) had the larger cabside windows and discs, whilst the 1967 batch (D8128-D8199, D8300-D8327) had the smaller cabside window and headcode boxes.

20 147 appeared many times on the "Jolly Fisherman" during August 1982 - always paired with 20 113, which this would appear to be, given that it's disc-fitted.

Presumably the Western Region IC125 at Hexham in C6734 was on diversion?

I totally agree with you. I have my photographs on random display as my screensaver. Many is the time that I'm just passing the study and I get drawn in and spend half an hour or more watching them go around, observing many things in addition to the railway changes. What always comes to mind is how grimy and dirty many places were in the late 60s and the 70s - and yet they had a charm about them, from the smoke-encrusted warehouses around Manchester to the chimneys belching out clouds of pollutants in South Yorkshire, from the orange rivers of the Potteries to the coal dust blowing around the docks of South Wales. Towns, cities and countryside seemed to have so much more 'personality' than the uniformly sterile towns and cities of today, all with branches of exactly the same retail outlets in pristine lines. In contrast, of course, the railway permanent way was mostly immaculately maintained (give or take the odd redundant signalling infrastructure), as opposed to the weed-riddled siding complexes and buddleia-infested walls of today!

.... and the second loco in C5858 will be 20 135, which was paired with 20 180 for several days at the end of August 1982 (the only appearances of either loco that month). Very few 20 0xx series locos put in an appearance that month. The only ones that are logged are 20 016/041/047/071/075/077/087 and (to me) C5855 doesn't look like any of those. There doesn't appear to be much room between the fourth digit and the handrail for a broad number and the fourth digit looks like a 0 or a 3 to me.

Thanks, Andrew. Yes, that was the best that I've managed (so far). If I have time later I'll keep searching. I've checked my notes for that month but, sadly, no observation of any of those three locos or of 1L20.

I'm struggling to get a good enough handle on the Brush 4 in C2592. The experimental headlight fitted below the driver's side tail light as part of experiment DL447 suggests that it's either 47 432, 47 434 or 47 523 but I can't find enough detail to identify it against any photographs of the time from elsewhere. As it's January 1976 it might be possible to identify which of the three had their headcode blinds wound to 0000 from 1st of that month and isolate one that way, seeing that your subject is showing 1L20 - but it's a long shot!

A belated Happy New Year to everyone. Now back and I've managed to spend the evening catching up on nearly two weeks of images. Just a note on J656, from the Chaloners Whin batch: it's interesting to see a picture of "Pinza" from that era, at the time when they were experimenting with relocating the Deltic horns for better audibility. "Pinza" was the guinea-pig for a modification that wasn't pursued with any other members of the fleet (all ultimately having them positioned on the top of the nose, at the outer edges of the windscreens). The experiment being trialled at this time with D9007 was to sink the horns into the nose in the upper corners on the front of the loco. ICBW but I believe that this modification was not repeated because use of the horns nearly blew the driver and secondman out of the cab (even worse if one of them was using the toilet in the leading nose end at the time!) - and it didn't greatly improve trackside audibility over them being by the buffer beam. AFAIR I've only ever seen one other picture of number 7 in this condition (IIRC it had full yellow ends by that time) so your picture is particularly valuable for modellers of the period, David.

Glorious shots of Berwick! It must be over 20 years since I last alighted there. Just to echo the wishes of several other posters, as I shall be away for the next ten days (and having a mega-catch-up when I return!). Thank you, David, for the excellent entertainment that you provide for us and for the effort and diligence that you put in on a daily basis. To you and to my fellow posters and lurkers, best wishes for a happy and peaceful Christmas and for a healthy and successful 2018. The railway will continue to change and develop (quite dramatically in many areas) next year but this thread provides a welcome dip back into, for many of us, our formative years - and revives many golden memories.

Fascinating stuff on the Berwickshire Railway on Saturday. I wasn't familiar with the Reston - St. Boswells line (latterly truncated as the Duns branch). I spent a very enjoyable hour researching it on Disused Stations (www.disused-stations.org.uk) and Wikipedia. Without your excellent photographs I would probably have continued to be ignorant of it for many more years!

J3099 - David, FYI the train source and destination supplied by Mark have been transposed (1E07 - Edinburgh to KX, an up working) C1222 - suggested ID is correct Lovely shots again in J3102 and J5822, you can sense the speed.

Very likely. It was a York North loco from November 1965 to December 1966 and a Holbeck loco from October 1967 to June 1971 (it went up to Thornaby in the interim).

Another lovely set of pictures, David. As identified above, 44 004 is fairly obvious in J5614. I'd suggest D1537 for J092, as well. As for C4427 - I concur with Andrew, it's not really clear enough to ID (although I agree that it appears to end in a 7) and the dimensions of the plate are not clear with the dirt & brake block dust. The state of the loco, in itself, suggests strongly to me that it might be a Gateshead loco, in which case it could only be 55 017. The picture dates from April 1979 and the Gateshead and Haymarket locos were not transferred to York until the following month. 7 didn't receive its white windscreen surrounds until July 1979 but it would be highly unusual for Finsbury Park to let a loco go out in that state!

It certainly is a painful stagger across the floodplain between the outer banks. I've got to suffer it twice on Wednesday!