Standard 2-6-4T on the WCML?

[Evertrainz]

Hi all,

 

how prominent (if any, at all) were the Riddles Standard 4 Tank on the WCML, near Manchester and Crewe? Pictures turn up nothing, only their regional Fairburn predecessors (makes sense - why would a region want more of a replica of their own loco design?) Some were allocated to Bletchley and Watford so may have been more common south..

 

Any insight would be helpful, assuming I haven't already answered my own question. Interestingly a lone 80034 was allocated to Crewe North upon delivery.

 

[pH]

Here's a site giving allocations of the Standard Class 4 tanks on January 1 of some (but not all) years from introduction of the first to withdrawal of the last one.

 

https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/4mt-80000-80154-2-6-4t-br-standard-class-4-tank/

 

Obviously, it misses allocations which didn't include those specific dates, but it should give you some idea of where they were shedded. 

 

There was, of course, a part of the WCML where they were almost as common as dirt.

Edited April 26, 2019 by pH

[jim.snowdon]

4 hours ago, Evertrainz said:

Hi all,

 

how prominent (if any, at all) were the Riddles Standard 4 Tank on the WCML, near Manchester and Crewe? Pictures turn up nothing, only their regional Fairburn predecessors (makes sense - why would a region want more of a replica of their own loco design?) Some were allocated to Bletchley and Watford so may have been more common south..

 

Why not? Operationally, one class 4 2-6-4T is the same as any other. The locomotive department would have an interest from the point of view of spares stockholdings, but then the Stanier, Fairburn and Riddles 2-6-4s were all part of the same family and parts of the Riddles locos were common to other BR Standards allocated to the LM.

 

 The railway put its assets where they were needed, having regard for traffic requirements, not the future compilers of shed allocation databases.

 

Jim

[Wickham Green]

7 hours ago, Evertrainz said:

...... - why would a region want more of a replica of their own loco design? ....................

 

Converse occurred on the Southern : Brighton designed the 80000s and they were used to replace the Fairburns that Brighton had built not very long before !

[Steamport Southport]

I would think it was more a case of they had enough of them already.

 

Whereas other places such as the LT&SR, Scotland and the Southern Region were desperate for that size of engine. Many of the ones displaced by electrification ended up in Wales. Thankfully to end up in Barry.

 

Good idea to look at the allocations. Plenty on the WCML, but mostly in Scotland. Quite a few at Newton Heath though.

 

http://brdatabase.info/locoqry.php?action=class&id=726401&type=S&page=alloc

 

 

 

Jason

[pH]

24 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

Good idea to look at the allocations. Plenty on the WCML, but mostly in Scotland. Quite a few at Newton Heath though.

 

http://brdatabase.info/locoqry.php?action=class&id=726401&type=S&page=alloc

 

 

 

Jason

 

Thanks for that, Jason. I didn't realise that you could look at the allocation history for a whole class like that.

 

(Edit - those allocations are not complete. Look at 80020 and 80021, for example.)

Edited April 26, 2019 by pH

[Evertrainz]

19 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

I would think it was more a case of they had enough of them already...

 

This is what I was thinking more likely.. As mentioned, one large tank is as good as another, and with a large number of Stanier and Fairburn passenger tanks built, there was not much of a need for more. Considering how trains would get longer/cover more distance with electrification, and the Class 304s taking over suburban services, there wasn't a growing need for more of the tanks.

 

I was just wondering, as they seemed to be found everywhere, although I can tell that the WCML was not a hotspot.

[adb968008]

Newton Heath ones worked the Bury/Bacup line.

A bunch were shedded at Bury too.

[D1001]

On 26/04/2019 at 17:39, pH said:

 

Thanks for that, Jason. I didn't realise that you could look at the allocation history for a whole class like that.

 

(Edit - those allocations are not complete. Look at 80020 and 80021, for example.)

 

However, if you check those locos individually, you can see they were based at Kittybrewster from new - check the SLS allocations:

http://brdatabase.info/locoqry.php?action=locodata&id=80021&type=S&loco=80021

 

These discrepancies will, one day, make their way into the main allocation history where they belong.

Edited April 29, 2019 by D1001