Doncaster test Train in the early 80`s

[Gazza]

Hi all
        looking for any drawings of the coaches, formations, pictures of the coaches which were used in the early 80`s. I thought there was a write up in one of the mags but i searched and come up with nothing.
Any help would be appreciated
thanks Garry

[jonny777]

I have some b/w photos of this test train, but I fear it may be too late for the time period you are interested in. 

 

 

[Gazza]

20 minutes ago, jonny777 said:

I have some b/w photos of this test train, but I fear it may be too late for the time period you are interested in. 

 

 

Hi Jonny,

               thanks for your response yes are a little bit late for me, I think they used a set of MK1 first I think 

[stovepipe]

And LMS design ex-parcel stock before that.

 

https://flic.kr/p/27gP6Ae

 

I seem to recall there was a colour photo of a refurb large loco 50 hauling a very dirty test train in Rail Enthusiast, sometime in the early 80s. Similar to this one

 

https://flic.kr/p/zuF9r2

 

I think the changeover to Mk1s was around 1982/3.

[stovepipe]

Found a formation from March 1982, seen at Doncaster.

 

ADB977054-ADB977059-ADB977055-ADB977056-ADB977061-ADB977053-ADB977060-ADB977057

 

These are all Mk1s; the ex-LMS design parcel stock must have gone at the end of 1981.

 

There was an old thread on the Bachmann test train pack 39-001, which list the identities.

 

ADB977053 m34526 bsk wolverton 1955

ADB977054 m15997 ck wolverton 1956

ADB977055 m15945 ck wolverton 1956

ADB977056 m15989 ck wolverton 1956

ADB977057 m24026 sk derby 1951

ADB977058 m24428 sk derby 1953

ADB977059 m24858 sk derby 1955

ADB977060 m15994 ck wolverton 1956

ADB977061 m15988 ck wolverton 1956

ADB977062 w34545 bsk wolverton 1955

 

The windows started to get boarded up after a while, but done over a few years.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2020 by stovepipe

[Gazza]

20 hours ago, stovepipe said:

Found a formation from March 1982, seen at Doncaster.

 

ADB977054-ADB977059-ADB977055-ADB977056-ADB977061-ADB977053-ADB977060-ADB977057

 

These are all Mk1s; the ex-LMS design parcel stock must have gone at the end of 1981.

 

There was an old thread on the Bachmann test train pack 39-001, which list the identities.

 

ADB977053 m34526 bsk wolverton 1955

ADB977054 m15997 ck wolverton 1956

ADB977055 m15945 ck wolverton 1956

ADB977056 m15989 ck wolverton 1956

ADB977057 m24026 sk derby 1951

ADB977058 m24428 sk derby 1953

ADB977059 m24858 sk derby 1955

ADB977060 m15994 ck wolverton 1956

ADB977061 m15988 ck wolverton 1956

ADB977062 w34545 bsk wolverton 1955

 

The windows started to get boarded up after a while, but done over a few years.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for this a great help.

You say the the windows were board over amount of time ?

Were the the actual door windows boarded as well

Were they painted all blue looking at more photos this seemed to be the case , was the grey just painted over so passengers didn't get mislead thinking it was a passenger service ?

[eastwestdivide]

Other threads here:

 

 

 

 

 

[47406]

From my memory and records the folks above are right... the original LMS BG test train was replaced ~1981 with the pool of MK.1 stock Stovepipe quotes.

 

By November 1988 the test train was down to 7 of those coaches, as seen here:

 

Sometime in late summer/autumn 1988 two former barrier coaches moved from Old Oak to join the test train, ADB977333 and ADB977334. They sat in Doncaster West Yard for some months though before actually moving into the test train rake:

 

If any one has any more pictures of those two I would love to see them :-)

 

In this pic from 1990 you can tell those two former barriers apart from the other seven by the dirt - less of it:

 

 

 

By 1991 those two were starting to blend in with the overall dirt theme, and the rake was down to 8 coaches - looking closely it may be one of those barriers that went as there appears to be only one obvious BSK in the rake now:

 

If you are going to model the test train you might want to consider the graffiti !  Where the test train was parked south of Doncaster station seemed a bit isolated and tagging was frequent by the look of it. By the early '90s it seemed like the efforts to paint it out were becoming less frequent

 

 

[Metr0Land]

On 01/09/2020 at 11:19, stovepipe said:

And LMS design ex-parcel stock before that.

 

https://flic.kr/p/27gP6Ae

 

I seem to recall there was a colour photo of a refurb large loco 50 hauling a very dirty test train in Rail Enthusiast, sometime in the early 80s. Similar to this one

 

https://flic.kr/p/zuF9r2

 

I think the changeover to Mk1s was around 1982/3.

 

We had this B&W shot on the parcels train thread recently

 

TESTING TIMES by Bill Watson, on Flickr