randyrippley

You missed out then, happened every time I went to London prior to the 33s

When did the SR start converting coaches to steam/ETH dual heat? Switching from steam to ETH at Salisbury must have restricted the available coaching stock to dual heat onlyl

It only happened with the Warships, the practice stopped with the switch to class 33

Just a thought on this - engine changes eastbound would have been easy to fit in anyway as at Salisbury the loco routinely came off, picked up extra carriages and then backed on again. Westbound they were dropped off the back. Exchanging a sick loco would not have increased the time. My personal experience was that you were almost as likely to get a change as not, simply because the Warships were so likely to fail.

One duty which has been overlooked is banking at Evershot between Yeovil and Dorchester. In the early 1960s a 22 was outstationed (not allocated) at Yeovil shed for this. I remember one occasion when after a day out at Weymouth with my mother we arrived at Pen Mill on a late running DMU to find the last Taunton connection had gone. The stationmaster rapidly called the 22 from shed, matched it to a scratch set and sent the two of us on the way home. You'd think that they would have used another 22 at the other end, banking between Weymouth and Dorchester but it seems a Hymek was used instead.

Jack, that model is an incredibly close representation of the original while it was at Yeovil. You've got the feel of it just right

Just came across this collection of photos https://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/48ds/ this one is close, but not faded or dirty enough https://www.flickr.com/photos/34938158@N02/3252088589/in/photolist-TtbrFc-gDTpiz-gBwTcV-bcnVUT-c4n48y-oys1Pg-spomxZ-oXcV2D-ocd3oV-dTyFUY-AkjHH6-oSDhv1-bdWqCp-VLt1Q1-kYDBk1-ATa7SY-AUueRu-pUoMSS-AVmbet-b33PKF-ffF6j1-coWCWf-fSokBW-5XnNCV-b33PKT-5XAyQX-9T2p5J-oVEv2H-eH34ua-fcgTfL-nVXWB7-nM2MVh-eH3dbp-o2v3kY-f9tb7Q-aLbmAg-5XEFLh-avvHVs-RRom14-euWUdm-67WDEp-exxPTd-fc2BdR-dS7xX8-e1Ve8y-b9s69t-cQtgXN-6yh5dT-dTyD2Q-aeazu8

Just a few more thoughts on this 1) The "Observers Book of Railway Locomotives" for 1964 shows this locomotive as having the yellow nose paint. It also shows all doors / windows completely covered 2) The nose cowl is curved (as in the picture I linked to earlier) without a Ruston logo on the nose. 3) The book claims the loco was built by Bristol Aeroplane (not by Ruston) in 1946, and I've also read that comment elsewhere. Is it possible Bristol knocked it together from mechanicals supplied by Ruston? In 1946 Bristol had a lot of spare capacity and would have been struggling for work. I can see it being built as an experiment

I saw this little engine many times in the early 1970's at Yeovil. The photo at http://railphotoprints.uk/p852530460/h63ED4264#h63ed4264 is a fairly good representation of how it looked close to the end of its life. It was a very dirty faded flat matte pale green. I've seen other Ruston industrial locos in the same colour, though in a better state (e.g. at Radstock in the 1970's number 20 or 24) I strongly suspect it was never repainted from new. It wasn't olive, it wasn't BR green. The yellow on the bonnet was almost certainly a locally applied DIY job with whatever cheap yellow paint was available - it was faded to dull off-white, with rust stripes. The end of the loco came because it was rusted so badly the roof fell off in ~1972. Rumour had it that it was used for a few days roofless before health and safety kicked in. It sat at Yeovil Junction for nearly three years wrapped in a tarpaulin before it was finally scrapped. I've read somewhere that it was scrapped in 1972 - thats clearly wrong, it was still laid up at Yeovil in 1974