Class 44 diagrams in the 1970’s

[TravisM]

I’ve been asked by a friend in the US who’s just received a Bachmann Class 44 in BR blue and wants to know what diagrams they operated on?  I know the favourite one is Toton - Whitemoor and they did turn up at Severn Tunnel Junction from time to time.  Does anyone else know what other workings or diagrams that they worked or could be found on?

[woodenhead]

I remember seeing one at Bescot - it was my first and my dad asked if I could identify the class as it approached - I said 45 not knowing at the time 44s had doors.

 

Imagine I lost my sh*t the first time I saw a 55, which was at KX (sorry thread drift)

['CHARD]

They were regulars on the Toton - Bescot trips, as the previous sh*tless contributor has remarked.   

 

Basically vacuum-braked out and backs centred on TO.

[Rivercider]

How regular they were I don't know, but there are photos on Flickr of 44s at Stoke-on Trent. The workings seem to be from Toton to either Stoke Cockshute, Etruria, or Garston. Presumably all out and back diagrams from/to Toton?

 

cheers 

[Jeremy Cumberland]

I saw my first one (6 Whernside) in the sidings at Leicester. I never heard of one as far south as St Albans until the farewell railtours.

 

They were very definitely associated with Toton, and I don't recall reading reports in the railway press of their being seen very far afield. Even Seven Tunnel Junction seems a long way from home, but I see there is another thread on here about those workings, which may well have useful information for you:

 

Edited November 5, 2020 by Jeremy C

[TravisM]

Thanks for the info but can I ask, we’re these trains general freight with a mix of wagons or coal trains made up of say 16t mineral wagons.  Even though I saw all ten of them but apart from one, all were stabled on depots so apart from just the one, I never saw them at work.

[Johann Marsbar]

Only one I photographed with a goods train was passing through Nottingham with a rake of hoppers in March 1977...

 

[Jeremy Cumberland]

36 minutes ago, jools1959 said:

Thanks for the info but can I ask, we’re these trains general freight with a mix of wagons or coal trains made up of say 16t mineral wagons.  Even though I saw all ten of them but apart from one, all were stabled on depots so apart from just the one, I never saw them at work.

I don't have access to any of my old photographs, which for class 44s were almost all taken at the southern end of Toton yard, but from memory they were almost all trains of 16 ton unfitted mineral wagons.

[Rivercider]

47 minutes ago, jools1959 said:

Thanks for the info but can I ask, we’re these trains general freight with a mix of wagons or coal trains made up of say 16t mineral wagons.  Even though I saw all ten of them but apart from one, all were stabled on depots so apart from just the one, I never saw them at work.

I think the Toton to Garston workings would be 16t minerals of export coal. 

 

cheers

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Regulars on the Toton - Tinsley and returns, out and back in a day, copped them all at Chesterfield on such workings.

 

Mike.

[Ray M]

Yep, Seen D4 in the reception sidings at Tinsley. 

[stovepipe]

Didn't they also work a tank train from Spondon? I can't remember where it went to.

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, Ray M said:

Yep, Seen D4 in the reception sidings at Tinsley. 

 

Despite my numerous visits to, and affection for, Tinsley, I never actually saw one there!

 

Mike.

[keefer]

Page about the 44s at derbysulzers:

https://www.derbysulzers.com/class44.html

[w124bob]

Way back a driver and I took a loco to Toton, arriving around midnight we were told there was nothing to take back but there was a ride as far as Burton on Trent on a freight. We eventually found our ride, asked the Toton driver to drop us opposite Burton F&I , the loco was 44004 but sadly it was pitch black so I didn't take in much. Thankfully an engine had been left for us at Burton to get back up to Coalville. I'm pretty sure the freight was bound for Bescot and was a regular working as a 44 would pass Burton regularly in the early hours. Of cause the Midland mainline and via Corby to Cricklewood was another stomping ground. I also recall that Guide Bridge had a regular Toton out and back working (there's photos on Flickr of GB crews on a road learner special to Toton)as class 20's would occasionally appear their, which makes me wonder if a 44 ever did.

[eastwestdivide]

8 hours ago, stovepipe said:

Didn't they also work a tank train from Spondon? I can't remember where it went to.

By the very early 80s (when the 44s were still around), the train of acetic acid to Spondon from the NE (Teeside?) was generally a 37. Weren't the tanks on it air-braked, ruling out a VB 44?

[Nearholmer]

I remember very occasionally seeing one at St Pancras on passenger or 'parcels' trains, which doesn't seem to tally with what is recorded in the derbysulzers site, but I know I didn't dream it!

[russ p]

Didn't they also get to whitemoor? If it was only toton men who signed them I'd think they could have got anywhere toton men got to more likely on out and back jobs.

This raises another question, was it only toton men that knew them in the 70s?

[caradoc]

2 minutes ago, russ p said:

This raises another question, was it only toton men that knew them in the 70s?

 

So, were the 44s that different from 45s (and 46s) that Drivers had to sign them as a separate class from the other Peaks ? 

 

 

[russ p]

1 minute ago, caradoc said:

 

So, were the 44s that different from 45s (and 46s) that Drivers had to sign them as a separate class from the other Peaks ? 

 

 

 

All three had to be signed for separately as equipment did vary slightly especially with the 46s 

24s and 25s had to separately signed for

With diesels it was only the first generation DMUs that had a generic signing except 127s as they had a different driving technique 

[stovepipe]

1 hour ago, eastwestdivide said:

By the very early 80s (when the 44s were still around), the train of acetic acid to Spondon from the NE (Teeside?) was generally a 37. Weren't the tanks on it air-braked, ruling out a VB 44?

 

I'm not sure, but it was this working, British Celanese at Spondon and then tripped over to Toton and then on to Tinsley. Might they have been unbraked for part of the trip?

 

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[russ p]

1 hour ago, stovepipe said:

 

I'm not sure, but it was this working, British Celanese at Spondon and then tripped over to Toton and then on to Tinsley. Might they have been unbraked for part of the trip?

 

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A lot of those wagons are air braked , hence the van

[eastwestdivide]

Front one in the 1st pic is a VB chlorine tank by the look of it. 
The acetic acid train ran as a block train. 

[Stevebr]

I recall seeing them very occasionally at Gloucester. Didn’t usually stay that long before returning to Midlands

[Pandora]

20 hours ago, russ p said:

Didn't they also get to whitemoor? If it was only toton men who signed them I'd think they could have got anywhere toton men got to more likely on out and back jobs.

This raises another question, was it only toton men that knew them in the 70s?

Toton men signed everywhere and everything, as Neil Armstrong descended the ladder, Toton men were his  relief for conducting  the Lunar Module back to Earth