Leyburn Kid
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Everything posted by Leyburn Kid
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Many thanks Tony. Would be interested in a look at that photo ... is it somewhere accessible please? Hi Phil. Going through some old rail mags from this era, I've managed to find another location for that picture of 1912 on the Waterston tanks. It's also in Railway Magazine, March 1971, p149. Hope this is helpful.
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Thanks again Brian. I suppose I was imagining that their usage could be linked to the braking systems on certain types of freight, or perhaps one class coping better with some difficult incline in the Valleys. But often these things were down to drivers, and their loco and route knowledge. Plus general availability. Given that Cl.47's were more numerous in South Wales than Cl.52s, it's safe to assume that there were more Cl.47 hauled freight turns. As a rough idea though, for both Classes, what proportion of diagrams would be passenger or freight in your opinion?
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One aspect we've explored, particularly with Brian's excellent posts, is the way that Hymeks tended to work in west Wales, and Cl 37's in East Wales in the last couple of years before the Hymek cull. Was there any particular rationale behind the usage of Cl. 47s or Cl.52s on freight work in South Wales, beyond the fact that Cl.47s were more likely to be selected for inter-regional freight? In Shrewsbury for instance, in 1970-72 virtually all WR freight coming through was Cl.47 hauled, Waterston-Albion being one of the obvious exceptions.
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STJ was a veritable melting pot! Two things come to mind, how many Warships would've worked deeper into South Wales, when they were increasingly concentrated on Devon/Cornwall, and increasingly unreliable when BR seemed to be skimping on maintaining them? Also what a wonderful period we were spotting in, with great variety, but just how understandable it was that BR wanted to rationalise.
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I've had my rail atlas out again! LOL. Yet more great info.Talking about STJ, I imagine the majority of WR freight workings to/from would be Cl.37s in 1970/1, and perhaps the majority of inter-regional freight would be Cl.47s. Were there any regular workings for Cl 42/3, or Peaks (whether WR/LMR or ER)?
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With 8 Cl.37's being transferred in one go it's exceptional. But when there are perhaps two or three locos being transferred between depots it always amuses me when you look at the pattern, because some locos seem to pass back and forth. Presumably these are ones with poor maintainence records. You can almost hear the depot managers, when there's a request for extra locos from a neighbouring depot, let them have X,Y and Z, they're always causing problems.
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Coming back to the original topic, the book I've just quoted to Phil (Diesels Nationwide) has two pictures of 6906, which was a loco that Brian and I mentioned at the start of the thread in connection with GSYP. One picture has 46 051 in the foreground on a mixed freight. In the distance is 37 206 (6906) leaving Newport tunnel, it appears to have a yellow panel, but this is just central, and doesn't cover the headlights. The photo is dated 13th April 1976. There is another shot of 6906 in the book. Under the headline "Not a pretty sight", there is a picture of extensive accident damage to the rear cab, which happened at Margam, sadly killing the guard. The nose is covered by a tarpaulin, and dated 30th December 1973. In neither photo is it clear whether it's blue or green. It does raise some interesting questions. Has 6906 survived into 1976 in GYP, albeit with a central panel on the rear cab, when the last reported GYP was summer 1970? What state is the other cab in? Did this difference result from the accident in 1973? And if the livery was blue in 1973, why would you apply a yellow panel? And retain that yellow panel until 1976? Or maybe an optical illusion? All very strange! TONY