RMweb Premium Popular Post Grampus Posted January 24, 2019 RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted January 24, 2019 (edited) Evening all, having come across these - somewhat sad - images again recently whilst leafing through old photo albums, I thought I would post them on here. All were taken on a, blisteringly cold, school railway society trip to Swindon Works, on or about 3rd January, 1983. The trip was arranged specifically to enable us to see the large number of locos then stored there, pending scrapping (or for a lucky few, a return to service). Unfortunately my notebooks are long gone, so captions are limited. I am curious as to why so many of the 40s and Peaks had lost their centre windscreen panels? I have also included these class 25 shots previously seen on the current '25' thread for completeness. Finally, to cheer everybody up again, a couple of snaps of D818 Glory and D1015 Western Champion arrayed around the turntable, taken on the same day, albeit bittersweet in that Glory was soon to follow the 40s and Peaks into the great beyond. Interesting times. Best wishes, Paul Edited January 24, 2019 by Grampus 21 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TravisM Posted January 24, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 24, 2019 I always wondered why the center windscreen was removed on 40’s, 45’s and 46’s. I wonder if was a visual reference to fitters that that loco can be used for stripping and spares. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
E3109 Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 (edited) I heard that 40s were so well built that the screens were removed, and the top nose doors were left open, in order to encourage tin worm to enable easier cutting. No idea if true, and I can't vouch for Peaks in that respect. If you look at pictures of 40s on the Crewe scrap line 1984-85 they seem to have had their windscreens removed as a matter of course although this could be because they were (presumably) interchangeable with class 37s. Re D818, my interpretation is that it was cut up out of bitterness in protest at the closure of Swindon Works although at least it provided spares for the other two locos. Edited January 24, 2019 by E3109 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Grampus Posted January 24, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted January 24, 2019 I always wondered why the center windscreen was removed on 40’s, 45’s and 46’s. I wonder if was a visual reference to fitters that that loco can be used for stripping and spares. I had similar thoughts. Doubtless somebody will know. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennyboy Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 I wonder if it's because they were re-purposed for other uses? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold adb968008 Posted January 24, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 24, 2019 (edited) Memories of Swindon works, i went here as a kid every year from 1979 to 1985. Dont remember much as a 4 year old, but i have D1028/41/48/58 in my 1979 abc, and remember at some point (might be Horwich in 1980) my dad telling me that D1041/48 will move to Bury transport musuem, where he was heavily involved. First visits i recall positive activity, class 03/08s being overhauled etc. Later it was wagon overhauls. By 1984 it was mostly just scrapping and in 1985 there wasnt much left. I went on the Swindon Ambassador railtour each year with my dad, usually whatever pulled it broke down, the whole thing would run late and the following year it would be on Swindons scrap line. Great early memories, every year i’d spot something historic i hadnt seen before (D7029, D1015 etc), final two years i saw D5705 there, by 1985 I was old enough for my own camera, and have some grainy images from Swindon... best efforts of a 110ASA camera with a parent who would allow me 1 camera film every few months ! Though 1985 things down the road in Bristol were a bit more interesting... Can anyone help me with this location ? definitely summer 1985, loco is 6960 Raveningham Hall. Edited May 9, 2021 by adb968008 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
E3109 Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 I was just thinking about D5705 when reading recent comments, and as much as 818 was a loss, thank goodness the gasaxe wasn't wielded on the Co-Bo. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyman7 Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 This brings back memories - those early 80s scraplines were mesmerising to me as a youth, approaching Swindon, Derby, Crewe one was confronted with seeminly endless lines of gutted locos, victims of the fall in traditional freight and sympotmatic of seismic changes taking place Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold adb968008 Posted January 24, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 24, 2019 (edited) I was just thinking about D5705 when reading recent comments, and as much as 818 was a loss, thank goodness the gasaxe wasn't wielded on the Co-Bo. D818 I understand was just a shell inside (much like 18000 is now). As you can see in my picture, it was pretty rotten on the outside, it had been painted on top of rust several times. I have a piece of it's paintwork not that looking at it would convince anyone. There was a lot of dead rot left from the 1970's.. D7096 (in Derby) I recall was pretty much done for too. D8243 (also in Derby) I think would have been a better save out of what was left from the 70's withdrawals from what I remember seeing (I seem to think D5705 looked pretty worse for wear the two years I saw it at Swindon). I seemed to think diesels rotted far worse than steam locos. Edited January 24, 2019 by adb968008 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Grampus Posted January 24, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted January 24, 2019 Memories of Swindon works, i went here as a kid every year from 1979 to 1985. Dont remember much as a 4 year old, but i have D1028/41/48/58 in my 1979 abc, and remember at some point (might be Horwich in 1980) my dad telling me that D1041/48 will move to Bury transport musuem, where he was heavily involved. First visits i recall positive activity, class 03/08s being overhauled etc. Later it was wagon overhauls. By 1984 it was mostly just scrapping and in 1985 there wasnt much left. I went on the Swindon Ambassador railtour each year with my dad, usually whatever pulled it broke down, the whole thing would run late and the following year it would be on Swindons scrap line. Great early memories, every year i’d spot something historic i hadnt seen before (D7029, D1015 etc), final two years i saw D5705 there, by 1985 I was old enough for my own camera, and have some grainy images from Swindon... best efforts of a 110ASA camera with a parent who would allow me 1 camera film every few months ! 1011_025.jpgIMG_0041.jpg Though 1985 things down the road in Bristol were a bit more interesting...IMG_0023.jpg Can anyone help me with this location ? definitely summer 1985, loco is 6960 Raveningham Hall. IMG_0003.jpg I particularly liked your picture of the King on the end of BTM: brought back happy memories of Bristol - I was a student at Bristol Poly by then. I remember it well, both in one piece and latterly, sat around in pieces, pending restoration. It looks rather better these days. Best wishes, Paul 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PM47079 Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 (edited) The hst picture looks to be at reading.? Edited January 24, 2019 by PM47079 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Gough Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 Can anyone help me with this location ? definitely summer 1985, loco is 6960 Raveningham Hall. IMG_0003.jpg Swansea?6960 did some runs from there to Carmarthen that year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
balders Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 This brings back memories - those early 80s scraplines were mesmerising to me as a youth, approaching Swindon, Derby, Crewe one was confronted with seeminly endless lines of gutted locos, victims of the fall in traditional freight and sympotmatic of seismic changes taking place Same here. My A level Art painting was a class 40 being taken apart at Doncaster. I got an A. Fascinating days. Derby works open day Sept 1982 was a big eye opener to the photogenic aspects of decay Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Davexoc Posted January 24, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 24, 2019 I was just thinking about D5705 when reading recent comments, and as much as 818 was a loss, thank goodness the gasaxe wasn't wielded on the Co-Bo. You mean TDB968006? Dave 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Davexoc Posted January 24, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 24, 2019 This brings back memories - those early 80s scraplines were mesmerising to me as a youth, approaching Swindon, Derby, Crewe one was confronted with seeminly endless lines of gutted locos, victims of the fall in traditional freight and sympotmatic of seismic changes taking place You mean like this? Loco numbers are all that were present and not all are in view. Dave 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny777 Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 Yes, there was quite a recession in the early 80s, and I think the 46s were stored initially; pending an upturn in the economy and with it BR freight traffic. I don't many (if any) were reinstated in reality. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TravisM Posted January 24, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 24, 2019 46009 got resurrected for one final and spectacular hurrah Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivercider Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 You mean like this? Graveyard.JPG Loco numbers are all that were present and not all are in view. Dave I expect a lot of those locos had been rendered surplus by the British Steel strike (Jan 2 1980 to Apr 1 1980). Similarly there were hundreds (probably thousands?) of unfitted coal wagons laid up, many never to be used again, cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvdlcs Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 I was going to say that most of the Peaks in the initial pictures at Swindon would have been Class 46s, a number of which were resurrected from storage at ZL, with varying degrees of success and longevity. Something that always surprised me is how long some of the stripped out hulks were left standing for. Would have thought that they would have been cut once stripped if only to recover the space that they occupied. Presumably space wasn't an issue back then. As others have said, although Glory being cut came as a (nasty) surprise, in reality it was a shell having donated many components to the otherwise preserved examples. Perhaps it could have been plinthed somewhere had it survived. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium brushman47544 Posted January 25, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 25, 2019 The hst picture looks to be at reading.? Swansea? 6960 did some runs from there to Carmarthen that year. I too thought Reading, but wouldn't that mean the Hall was in Platform 2 and the HST in Platform 3, which were both short bays? Haven't been to Swansea by train since the early 80s, but I seem to recognise the building behind, so not sure it's there either. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernBlue80s Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 I particularly liked your picture of the King on the end of BTM: brought back happy memories of Bristol - I was a student at Bristol Poly by then. I remember it well, both in one piece and latterly, sat around in pieces, pending restoration. It looks rather better these days. Best wishes, Paul Snap - I was a student at Bristol Poly at the same time and remember that King 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Snap - I was a student at Bristol Poly at the same time and remember that King OK - when were you two at Bristol Poly? I was there 1973 to 1976, doing (studying would be too strong a word) a London BSc in economics. Spent more time as DJ at the Wednesday night bops at Unity St... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Grampus Posted January 25, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted January 25, 2019 I was going to say that most of the Peaks in the initial pictures at Swindon would have been Class 46s, a number of which were resurrected from storage at ZL, with varying degrees of success and longevity. Something that always surprised me is how long some of the stripped out hulks were left standing for. Would have thought that they would have been cut once stripped if only to recover the space that they occupied. Presumably space wasn't an issue back then. As others have said, although Glory being cut came as a (nasty) surprise, in reality it was a shell having donated many components to the otherwise preserved examples. Perhaps it could have been plinthed somewhere had it survived. I seem to recall that you are right re the 46s. There were some 45s as well, though: 45027 in my first picture; and then the unidentified split-box example in the the sixth picture (though I am trying to work out whether that is in fact another image of 45027 - which, I believe, was a split-box example? - difficult to tell though). These days I am rather more careful to keep my notebooks somewhere safe! Best wishes, Paul 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Grampus Posted January 25, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted January 25, 2019 OK - when were you two at Bristol Poly? I was there 1973 to 1976, doing (studying would be too strong a word) a London BSc in economics. Spent more time as DJ at the Wednesday night bops at Unity St... Small world, isn't it? I was there 1984-87 at the Coldharbour Lane site. Had a great time, met my future wife and actually managed to get a degree - nobody more surprised than me! Still have fond memories of the place, though it looks a bit different round there now: in my first year I walked across open fields to get from Parkway to the Poly. A bit trickier to do nowadays, I suspect. Best wishes, Paul 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernBlue80s Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Small world indeed - I was there 1985 - 1988 Spent many a Wednesday night at Unity Street. Graphic Design at Bower Ashton, so I am always interested in the pictures of that area when they surface on here now and then. I worked behind the bar at the Dug Out Club in its last year of operation. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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