Class 03 runners on the Mainline?

[russ p]

8 minutes ago, Johann Marsbar said:

There is a Yarmouth one here with a "runner" (and side-skirts/cowcatchers...)

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/y/yarmouth_south_town/index35.shtml

 

and one at Ipswich by Mr "Crewcastrian"....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/86020500@N06/8561026883/

 

Oh wow never seen that before.  As I'm modelling 68/69 I maybe should get some as I have about five or six 03s /04s

[Johann Marsbar]

2 minutes ago, russ p said:

Oh wow never seen that before.  As I'm modelling 68/69 I maybe should get some as I have about five or six 03s /04s

 

If you click on the "go to photostream" on the "Crewcastrian" one, there is another 04 at Kings Lynn with a runner not that far away on the photostream.

Stuart has a lot of interesting photos on his Flickr pages, so well worth a look for East Anglian subjects.

[br2975]

03144 & 03151 leading, and believed to be 03119 & 03141, trailing.

[luckymucklebackit]

Was the addition of a runner wagon unique to class 03s?  There were a number of locations in Scotland where class 06s ventured out onto a track circuited main line, but I have never seen one of them with a runner wagon.

 

Jim

[keefer]

See some of the replies on the previous page, Jim.

Would seem to be the way certain track circuits were done in the relevant areas, which affected (particularly) the 03s.

Presumably the ScR circuits were such that the 06s were ok without a runner

EDIT: Apologies if that sounded a bit abrupt Jim, i tried and failed to get the relevant quotes in!

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by keefer

[Fat Controller]

On 08/01/2021 at 20:33, br2975 said:

03144 & 03151 leading, and believed to be 03119 & 03141, trailing.

 Kidwelly flats, Saturday lunchtime, with the locos heading either to Llanelli (for stabling) or Landore (fuelling and exams). They're probably running at full throttle, so the crews could get to the rugby. You deserve a medal for taking a photo there, Brian, given the chicken processing plant just to your left.

[br2975]

1 hour ago, Fat Controller said:

 Kidwelly flats, Saturday lunchtime, with the locos heading either to Llanelli (for stabling) or Landore (fuelling and exams). They're probably running at full throttle, so the crews could get to the rugby. You deserve a medal for taking a photo there, Brian, given the chicken processing plant just to your left.

Sadly not mine Brian, the original snapper is unknown.....one of a set that came via Ebay.

Edited January 11, 2021 by br2975

[Fat Controller]

On 28/06/2012 at 07:08, br2975 said:

I make no apologies for the quality of this photo - it was an opportunist shot, taken with a Zenit E from the backseat of a moving Rover 90 with a cheap telephoto stretched to its' limit (there, how many apologies in one hit ?).

.

Taken circa May 1979 showing a pair of Landore 03s heading 'up' the South Wales main linetwixt Burry Port and Llanelli

 

I think Brian W will be able to give a more accurate location.

 

Brian R

Only 12 years late...

The locos are alongside the old ash lagoons for Carmarthen Bay Power Station. All this area has changed; the lagoons are filled and levelled, and the area is part of the Coastal Path.

[Ken.W]

On 28/06/2012 at 07:29, Gwiwer said:

Don't forget also that a number of 204hp shunters (a/k/a class 03) were semi-permanently paired as master and slave units in a manner similar to the better-known class 13 locos. Unlike the 08s paired for Tinsley hump shunting which became that class the 03s retained both driving cabs and as far as I know both sets of controls remained operational. Those pairings were in the NER area and allegedly due to the unreliability of the short-wheelbase locos to operate track circuits as much as for tractive effort lifting substantial loads in the likes of Tees Yard.

 

The pairings of 03s in multiple in the NER were, as far as I'm aware, just for working the Silksworth colliery branch near Sunderland. To overcome the track circuit problems runners were simply used

[Ken.W]

On 08/01/2021 at 10:37, Fat Controller said:

They presumably treated them in the same fashion as brake vans. There were some unorthodox practices in the Blaydon area, perhaps a legacy of the days when it was freight-only from Blaydon to Low Fell. I have mentioned before seeing the working from Dunston Staithes to Blaydon sometimes having the loco in the middle of the train.

 

Unfitted brake vans could be on the rear of a trains they had a Guard with a handbrake in them. Wagons used as runners always had their brake coupled up to the loco.

As far as l recall, as a local trip working with frequent shunting this working generally operated unfitted. I'm not aware of it running with the loco in the middle, so can't say how this was worked, perhaps this had only been done while the line was still freight only.

 

On 08/01/2021 at 10:41, russ p said:

 

Thats Tyne yard men for you!

 

Haha, err the 'Factories Pilot', although operating from Tyne Yard to Blaydon, was actually a Gateshead turn

 

On 08/01/2021 at 11:24, Fat Controller said:

. In later years, after the Miners' Strike, and the loss of most of the coal and coke traffic, it became a '31' turn, serving the various scrapyards around Dunston and Blaydon, before carrying on to Hexham.

 

More a case of when Blaydon coal yard closed, which could only take an 03 due to sharp curves, the pilot was withdrawn and the existing 31 worked Hexham pick-up - which also ran to Haltwhistle on occasions - took over the pilot's remaining work

[45125]

21 hours ago, Ken.W said:

 

The pairings of 03s in multiple in the NER were, as far as I'm aware, just for working the Silksworth colliery branch near Sunderland. To overcome the track circuit problems runners were simply used

The 03/04 in multi where also used in the Leeds/Bradford area. Various cables and pipes passed between vehicles of which was a throttle  cable was one, believe a gear cable was also used.

[russ p]

9 hours ago, 45125 said:

The 03/04 in multi where also used in the Leeds/Bradford area. Various cables and pipes passed between vehicles of which was a throttle  cable was one, believe a gear cable was also used.

 

We're these actually mechanical linkages?  I've seen pictures and there seemed to be a lot of connections but I assumed they had fitted an air throttle system 

[45125]

20 hours ago, russ p said:

 

We're these actually mechanical linkages?  I've seen pictures and there seemed to be a lot of connections but I assumed they had fitted an air throttle system 

All linkages, Russ.

 

[russ p]

2 hours ago, 45125 said:

All linkages, Russ.

 

 

Wow, I bet they were a pig to set up 

[br2975]

I have in my possession a couple of BR drawings (schematics) from the York drawing office dated 1966/67; relating to the fitting of multiple working apparatus to Cl.03 and Cl.04 locos..

The system was apparently air operated / pneumatic and involved some twelve jumper cables/hoses connecting the locos which would be coupled cab to cab..

This appears to be a similar arrangement to that used on some of the 'cut down' BPGV locos..

The drawings list the locos to which they refer, and is specific in their pairings, namely:-

Cl.03  2052 & 2053, 2071 & 2074.

Cl.04   2204 & 2248, 2230 & 2232, 2242 & 2244, 2260 & 2261, 2263 & 2264, 2265 & 2340,  2271 & 2272,.

.

This appears to confirm that the 4x NER 'multiple working fitted Cl.03s were fitted with the same system as the  Cl.04 shunters.

.

Note also, that one pair of Cl.04 shunters are fitted with different diameter driving wheels.

[keefer]

@br2975's old thread on the multiple-fitted locos with more detail and photo links:

(Just to save posting it all again in this thread)