Class 116 diesel multiple units

[chrisf]

If I were moderating this thread with a rod of iron I would point out that Margam station never appeared in the public timetables and that the dmus which served it were Cross-Country sets which are at best fringe to the main subject!

 

While intervening, let me trail that the next topics I plan to cover are the service cuts of March 1962 [bristol] and June 1962 [Cardiff Valleys].

 

Chris  

[The Johnster]

Fair enough, Chris; I'll go and sit on the naughty step for a bit and be grateful that you are not ruling the thread with a rod of iron...

 

I justify my OT excursions by reckoning that the responses very often teach me something, yours especially.

[The Stationmaster]

The Monmouthshire valleys were Red and White territory, Chris, not Western Welsh, though this was by no means exclusive in either case.  Indecent haste and dodgy excuses support a story I was told in the 70s that someone very senior in the Newport District management was a director and major shareholder of Red and White; it is not impossible in those days of white heat modernisation road good rail bad attitudes that there may be some truth to this.  The Newport Valleys local passenger traffic in now way conflicted with the Llanwern stuff, and it could have been argued that a passenger service could have been provided between Llanwern and the new town built for it's workers at Cwmbran.  The station was, of course, in what came to be called Old Cwmbran and the site of the current one on the N,A,&H line is better from that point of view, but the steelworks has had it's day and things are different now.

 

Whatever the reason, the Newport Valleys and Brecon and Merthyr services went before Beeching.

 

Chris - please excuse this minor diversion from the real subject of this thread.  Stories such as this about 'someone senior in railway management being a director/board member of such & such a 'bus company' are legion and, as usual, bear but a slight resemblance to the truth.  In practice it was quite usual for the senior local BR manager - usually a District or Divisional Manager - to be on the board of the local (or several local) BTC owned 'bus company.  Thus I would have been surprised if somebody from the Newport District/Cardiff Division had not been on the board/a director of Red & White.  He could not, of course, have had any shares in that company as it was state owned but was there as much as anything to assist in achieving whatever integration might be possible between rail and 'bus services - that worked better in some places than it did in others.

 

Secondly as far as the loss of the Newport valleys passenger services was concerned it seems to have been fairly commonly accepted in the Newport area, especially by Signalmen, that it would have been difficult to operate them alongside the considerably increased freight traffic which resulted from the opening of Llanwern steelworks notwithstanding the very flexible layout created at Newport by the 1961 resignalling.  But in any case the closures were subject to the full closure procedure and as usual were based, at least in the public arena, on revenue against costs and the overall economics of operating them. 

 

There were considerable differences between the stations at Llanwern and Margam Halt.  The latter opened in 1948 and only survived until 1964 while the station at Llanwern was closed in September 1960 although local services, again, only survived until 1964.  The closure of Llanwern - which served a very small community and was some distance from the steelworks - was probably inevitable given the very high costs which would have been required to rebuild it in connection with the revised pairing of running lines east of Newport which took place in February 1961 and which required total demolition of the station.  To have reproduced the station in the revised layout would have required considerable land acquisition and some bridgework and was no doubt rejected on cost grounds - which was probably just as well as it would only have been open for a handful of years!

 

Apologies once again for deviation from the core subject of the thread.

[The Johnster]

I have to add this additional anecdote; a bloke who had a flat in the same house as me a while ago was a retired Ebbw Vale steelworker, a 'latcher', which is what they called a shunter.  He was quite knowledgable about the works' locos, especially the diesels. 

 

He lived in Brynmawr, and commuted by bus to Ebbw Vale, but used to go to the pictures in Abertillery by train.  He, and most of his fellow passengers by his account, were in the habit of jumping out of the non-platform side of the train when it arrived at Abertillery, scarpering down the bank so as not to have to have tickets checked, and again on the return trip to Brynmawr by which time they were assisted by the cover of darkness, and not paying fares.  'Brilliant service, very popular, they should never have closed it' he said.  

 

Perhaps not the sharpest knife in the tray...

[Pteremy]

There is a photo of a green 'whiskers' 116 at Ebbw Vale on eBay currently. Doubt it is a rare one though.

[EddieK]

Sorry to refer back to the Paddington emergency described above, but I have just found this image of a Class 118 cab.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/95430950@N07/11059910994/in/album-72157638025661445/

[The Johnster]

IIRC, there was no difference inside and only the position of the destination blind was different on 117/8 from any set with a 'Derby' cab.

 

The basic cab layout of all the first generation dmus was very similar; there may have been some differences on sets with hydraulic transmission.

[EddieK]

The picture illustrated the "Not to Work into Paddington Suburban Station" message that I referred to a while back.

 

Classes with the Derby cab with the roof headcode had a similar layout at the top of the windscreen, with the back of the headcode box in the ceiling, and the destination box set into the frame around the windscreen recess. The destination box is hinged at the top so as to swing up and away from the glass. Classes with this cab were 108 (later type), 117/118, 115 and 127.

 

First Gen DMUs have broadly similar cab layouts although with the builder's own individual tweaks. Of the hydraulic DMUs, I never saw a Class 125 Lea Valley unit, but I have read that the power handle was pneumatic and controlled air pressure which in turn controlled engine revs. There was no need to change gear, so presumably a Forward and Reverse selector took the place of the gear selector.

The Class 127 Pancras units were compatible with Blue Square units, and so had almost identical cab controls. The key difference was the speedo which showed the gear change points to assist the driver if in multiple with a mechanical transmission unit.

[chrisf]

The next segment is not quite as I had planned.  It was my intention to review the service cuts of 1962 in Bristol and South Wales and this will follow - honest.  Before that I thought it might be an idea to review the allocations of Class 116 as at June 1962.  This is made feasible by the very welcome presence on railcar.co.uk of what is possibly the first official WR DMU allocation list and I extend my gratitude to Stuart Mackay for unearthing it.

 

Chronologically this is timely, because between 1962 and 1964 very little indeed was reported in the enthusiast press about the doings of DMUs.  There are two possible reasons for this.  One is that there was nothing to report.  I don't go a bundle on that one, because I have evidence that movements took place.  More likely, IMHO, is thst the space was needed for reports of closures.  Even before the Beeching Report there was much activity on that front and the level of interest was such that it had to be reported, even at the expense of other matters.

 

Here, then, is the official report of the allocation of Class 116 cars as at June 1962, with amendments in June and July.  Don't worry, I have not forgotten about the South Wales sets.   For reasons which will become apparent I will deal with them separately but you could apply the process of elimination for now! 

 

Allocations, June 1962

 

Tyseley:

DMBS 50050-78, 50085, 50831/3

TC 59000-28, 59338/9/41

DMS 50092-120, 50127, 50884/6

 

Bristol:

DMBS 50083, 50859/60/1, 51129/30/1/3/4/5/6/7/8

TC 59438-48

DMS 50912/3/4, 51142/3/4/6/7/8/9/50/1

 

Laira:

DMBS 50087/9/90/1, 51132/9/40

TS 59032/3/4/7/9/40/1

DMS 50129/31/2/3, 51145/52/3

 

Reading:

DMBS 51128

DMS 51141

 

Amendments:

 

wef 9/7/62: 59035 from Cathays [spare] to Tyseley

 

wef 10/9/62: 50079+59351+50121 Cathays to Tyseley, 50859+50912 Bristol to Laira

 

Chris

 

Edited because I managed to overlook 50083 [how?!]

Edited May 2, 2018 by chrisf

[chrisf]

Sorry to refer back to the Paddington emergency described above, but I have just found this image of a Class 118 cab.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/95430950@N07/11059910994/in/album-72157638025661445/

 

No need to apologise!  Two matters arise.  The first is that 51128 and 51141 should have carried that legend given their allocation to Reading.   The second is that the layout of Paddington was revised in 1967.   One result was that the LT lines were completely separated from WR tracks and there was no longer the possibility that a WR dmu would come into contact with third and fourth rail.

 

Chris

[chrisf]

Now the South Wales sets.  I set out below what appear to be the set formations in June 1962.  One omission will be apparent at once.  That is the two Newport sets that did not go to Laira or Tyseley at or before the end of April 1962.  Logic suggests that they acquired CAT4xx set numbers but sadly no information has yet been uncovered.

 

CAT300  50079+59351+50121

CAT302  50822+59330+50875

CAT303  50080+59030+50122

CAT304  50818+59326+50871

CAT305  50820+59328+50873

CAT306  50081+59031+50123

CAT307  50823+59331+50876

CAT308  50824+59332+50877

CAT309  50826+59334+50879

CAT310  50829+59337+50882

CAT311  50819+59327+50872

CAT312  50821+59329+50874

CAT313  50825+59333+50878

CAT314  50827+59361+50880

CAT315  50830+59343+50883

CAT316  50832+59029+50885

CAT318  50828+59336+50881

CAT319  50839+59347+50892

CAT320  50840+59348+50893

CAT321  50835+59334+50888

CAT322  50838+59346+50891

CAT323  50843+59355+50896

CAT324  50845+59353+50898

CAT325  50841+59349+50894

CAT326  50846+59354+50899

CAT327  50837+59358+50890

CAT328  50842+59350+50895

CAT329  50844+59335+50897

CAT330  50849+59357+50902

CAT331  50851+59359+50904

CAT332  50834+59342+50887

CAT333  50847+59352+50900

CAT334  50854+59362+50907

CAT335  50850+59365+50903

CAT336  50848+59356+50901

CAT337  50836+59344+50889

CAT338  50852+59360+50905

CAT339  50856+59364+50889

CAT340  50857+59358+50910

CAT341  50853+59367+50906

CAT342  50855+59363+50908

CAT344  50082+59340+50124

CAT345  50862+59370+50915

CAT346  50858+59366+50911

CAT347  50084+59373+50126

CAT348  50865+59372+50918

CAT349  50863+59371+50916

CAT350  50866+59374+50919

CAT351  50864+59369+50917

CAT352  50867+59375+50920

CAT353  50868+59376+50921

CAT354  50869+50922

CAT355  50870+50923

 

 

Sets 301 and 317 had been transferred to Tyseley after the London emergency and set 343 was disbanded after the Pontrhydyfen collision.

 

Phew ...

 

Chris

[JZ]

Hardly surprising that people might ask.

 

The photo was taken this morning in the subway at Cardiff Central.

 

Clipboard01.png

Walk down from 3&4 probably 5 or 6 times a week over the last ten years and this never registered. Will look out for it on my next visit, twice this coming Monday.

 

Edit. Bank holiday(for some) Monday, engineering work between Newport & Cardiff = amended diagrams. So maybe not.

Edited May 2, 2018 by JZ

[philip-griffiths]

Was reading the book on the Ross, Monmouth and Pontypool Rd line and was surprised to see pictures of Cl116 at Usk. They used the line for driver training.

Regards.

Edited May 3, 2018 by philip-griffiths

[chrisf]

Some snippets from 1962:

 

Bristol cuts, March 1962

 

Following the advent of dmus the service level in the Bristol area was enhanced with the summer 1959 timetable.  At the time the WR stated that it was designed to test the public reaction to a more frequent service.   However, the opportunity to introduce an even-interval timetable was not exploited.  The blame for the lack of public response to a more frequent service was attributed variously by BR to changing social habits and by local enthusiasts to the high level of service offered by competing buses.  Whatever the truth, the cuts enabled ten dmu vehicles to be transferred to other duties.

 

Cardiff cuts, June 1962

 

The pamphlet giving details is dated May 1962 and the commencing date 18^th June.  This happens to be the same date as the commencement of the summer timetable.  Clearly the decision to implement the cuts was taken too late for the alterations to be included in the printed timetable.  Nothing had been learned from the cuts of 30^th June 1958, which came into effect a mere three weeks into the currency of the summer timetable.

 

The level of service on the Maerdy, Senghenydd, Aberdare LL and Coryton branches was reduced so as to leave long gaps in the off-peak service except on Saturdays.  The Vale of Glamorgan service was reduced to the extent that for most of the day one set would suffice and those lines which had a Sunday service lost it.  On the main Valley network withdrawals were mostly confined to off-peak services and there were some retimings to enable one train to do the work of two.  With consequent rediagramming it may have been possible to save a small number of sets but with very little difference being made overall. 

 

Closures

 

At the end of the summer timetable the rudimentary passenger services between Barry and Pontypridd and Cardiff and Pontypridd via the ex-Barry Railway main line were withdrawn.  In steam days the latter was known as the St Fagans Pullman.  Also closed at this time was the passenger service between West Drayton and Uxbridge Vne Street.  Although this branch was not 116 territory, an odd set comprising two power cars and a Hawksworth trailer visited Uxbridge on 8^th September 1962.  Photographs may be viewed on the Colour-Rail website (references 236408, 236409 and 236410).  Unfortunately there are no clues as to the identity of the 116 vehicles, though prime suspects must be some of the Bristol allocation. 

 

With all this talk of cuts it is pleasing to be able to record an extension to 116 territory. From 10^th September 1962 units of this type based at Bristol were introduced on the Minehead branch.

 

On 3^rd December 1962 the Rhondda and Swansea Bay line was closed between Cymmer Afan and Neath.  This had been partially operated by 116s, one of which came to grief at Pontrhydyfen.  The Bridgend – Blaengwynfi service was reorganised to run through the Rhondda Tunnel to Treherbert and turned over to 116 operation with sets stabled at Treherbert, representing another extension of territory.

 

Now what happened in 1963?

 

Chris

Edited May 5, 2018 by chrisf

[EddieK]

Chris,

 

Can't wait to find out! Looking forward to the next installment...

[chrisf]

So what did happen in 1963?  By comparison with other years, not a great deal.  The Railway Observer, source of so much information at other times, was fixated with the Beeching report and resultant closures and reported hardly any news of dmu happenings.   Modern Railways, as it had become, was more forthcoming.  From 1^st January 1963 the Southern Region’s territory west of Salisbury had been transferred to the Western Region.  This effectively meant the end of the SR’s proposed East Devon diesel-electric multiple-unit scheme whereby a fleet of Hampshire-style units would have been based at a new depot near Exmouth Junction.  The prime candidate to receive these sets would have been the Exmouth branch, where BR standard Class 3 tanks and sets of BR Mk 1 suburban coaches had held sway for the past eight years or so, aided by Ivatt Class 2 tanks and the odd M7.

 

One of the first acts of the Western Region was to incorporate workings to Exmouth into the diagrams for Laira dmus outbased at Newton Abbot.  On 15^th July a diagram was introduced for a suburban power twin coupled to a three-car Cross-Country set, covering among other services the 5.45 pm Exeter Central – Budleigh Salterton, which ran non-stop from Exeter to Exmouth.  In the winter 1963-64 service the dieselisation of the Exmouth branch was complete, save for one train in each direction, with the interesting side-effect of through trains from Exmouth to Plymouth, Kingswear and Newton Abbot.  As many trains were reduced to second class only it is a fair bet that they were run with the 116s transferred in from Newport during 1962.  The extended diagrams must have stretched availability to the limit, for in September 1963 a 116 power twin was transferred from Cathays to Laira.  A photograph of 50869+50922 [formerly CAT354] at Newton Abbot may be found on Robert Carroll’s Flickr site. https://www.flickr.com/photos/robertcwp/22061142309/in/album-72157603648796702/ 

 

Oh, and with the ink on the Beeching report barely dry, the Western Region lost little time in issuing closure proposals for the Aberdare – Abercynon, Porth – Maerdy, Cardiff – Coryton, Caerphilly – Senghenydd, Cardiff General – Cardiff Clarence Road, Barry – Bridgend, Bristol – Severn Beach, Filton - Avonmouth and Taunton – Yeovil Pen Mill services.  All were operated by Class 116 sets ... 

 

Coming soon: 1964 – closures, service cuts and mass migration

 

Chris

 

[Pteremy]

There is an often reprinted picture of a 3 car Class 120 set at Tiverton, on the 12.50pm Exeter to Dulverton (and return) in summer 1963 (22nd June to be precise). I thought i had read somewhere that this was a 'Class 120 turn' that summer, all services on the Exe Valley otherwise remaining steam hauled. But recently I have also come across photographic evidence of a 3 car Class 116 set on that turn - in one photo at Thorverton, the other at Dulverton (with the 2.10pm ex Barnstaple Junction, although the set itself was not due to depart back to Exeter until 3.15pm). The date for later photo is 6th July. No vehicle numbers are visible but the set has a small yellow panel front (unlike the Class 120). I don't have the relevant WTT to know whether the set had other duties either side of this trip.

[chrisf]

Thanks, Pteremy.  You will already have twigged that reports of dmu happenings in 1963 were pretty thin on the ground.  My understanding is that it was just the one Exe Valley turn that produced a dmu, the other two remaining steam hauled until the end.  Observers in 1962 reported that the Cross-Country sets were used indiscriminately [what he meant, though not what he said!] with the 116s on the Exeter - Kingswear service, though as the only 116s in use in the West Country then were second class only and second class only trains were specified in the public timetable it would be the case that the diagrams specified which type of set was to work which train.  Failures happen, improvisations happen, and what you report comes as no surprise.

 

Chris 

[jonny777]

Many pages back there was a brief discussion of W50083 and its pairings in the 1970s. I don't know if it is of interest to anyone but on 28th Feb 1978 I saw it at Reading in a 3-car set with 59500 and 51399. 

[chrisf]

That makes sense, Jonny.  51357 suffered fire damage and 50083 was drafted in as a replacement.

 

Chris

[robertcwp]

One of the first acts of the Western Region was to incorporate workings to Exmouth into the diagrams for Laira dmus outbased at Newton Abbot.  On 15^th July a diagram was introduced for a suburban power twin coupled to a three-car Cross-Country set, covering among other services the 5.45 pm Exeter Central – Budleigh Salterton, which ran non-stop from Exeter to Exmouth.  In the winter 1963-64 service the dieselisation of the Exmouth branch was complete, save for one train in each direction, with the interesting side-effect of through trains from Exmouth to Plymouth, Kingswear and Newton Abbot.  As many trains were reduced to second class only it is a fair bet that they were run with the 116s transferred in from Newport during 1962.  The extended diagrams must have stretched availability to the limit, for in September 1963 a 116 power twin was transferred from Cathays to Laira.  A photograph of 50869+50922 [formerly CAT354] at Newton Abbot may be found on Robert Carroll’s Flickr site. https://www.flickr.com/photos/robertcwp/22061142309/in/album-72157603648796702/ 

 

 

This one: 

W50869-W50922_NewtonAbbot_8-63 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

Edited May 7, 2018 by robertcwp

[Andy Kirkham]

Peter Brabham has just posted a batch of John Wiltshire's pictures of DMUs in the Newport valleys, taken a couple of days before closure. 

https://flic.kr/p/25y6tte

https://flic.kr/p/25udz8a

https://flic.kr/p/245aSm1

https://flic.kr/p/JGfeT5

 

etc.

[Clive Mortimore]

Peter Brabham has just posted a batch of John Wiltshire's pictures of DMUs in the Newport valleys, taken a couple of days before closure. 

https://flic.kr/p/25y6tte

https://flic.kr/p/25udz8a

https://flic.kr/p/245aSm1

https://flic.kr/p/JGfeT5

 

etc.

Thanks for those Andy.

 

In the last photo the passengers caught my eye, I am a great believer in the passengers have to be dressed right as well as the trains being right on a layout. The group of mums look like they and the kids would be a nice model. As for the old boy in the corner of the photo, he has to be modelled.

[Pteremy]

Yes. Interesting to note that in the welsh photos all the whiskers are essentially horizontally for a short distance before they reach the sides of the vehicle - whereas the whiskers in the photo at Newton Abbot have a continuous curve.

[Clive Mortimore]

Yes. Interesting to note that in the welsh photos all the whiskers are essentially horizontally for a short distance before they reach the sides of the vehicle - whereas the whiskers in the photo at Newton Abbot have a continuous curve.

Hi

 

That is an interesting observation.

 

Now if we start saying this unit has "Welsh whiskers" and this one has "English whiskers", how long before a manufacturer offers the livery variation of Welsh whiskers?