Unusual diesel workings

[john new]

I was going to add this here but then realised that Is a thread for steam locos only so I've started this one for diesels/DMUs.

 

So a few from me to kick start the thread:-

 

1) Sorry don't know the exact year from the mid 1970s but a DMU expert will know when these units were transferred to Hull.

 

Waiting for my usual ex-Kings Cross evening train home from work in Selby to York on a dark winter evening one of the GWR liveried Class 47s went through going north with a string of ex-Western Region cross-country DMUs in tow as ECS. Memory is that the 47 was North Star and it was a long train, probably 3 x units. They must have been in transit to Hull to work the trans-pennine services as the units turned up working those services not long afterwards. Sorry don't know dmu class numbers but they were the one's with nose end corridor connections. No idea when or how the 47 worked back.

 

2) Seen more than once and somewhere I have a picture. A Trans-Pennine Unit running with a subsituted Metro Cammel power car on one of the ends (Class 101?) Seen at Selby and at Colton.

 

3) DMUs with a tail load van. When steam ended on the S W Main line in 1967 the trains that used to come through on Saturday mornings hauled by a Hall (Reading - Southampton semi-fasts I think) were replaced by DMUs towing a Siphon bogie van as tail load. Unfortunately I can remember the vans being on the back but not which class of DMU except noting they weren't the usual Southern thumper 11xx or 13xx types than ran tnrough to Alton etc. so would have been WR based examples. Location for these sightings Shawford.

 

4) Early June 1986 (Probably 2/6/86) - Went to Weymouth to meet my mother off the afternoon DMU down from Bristol. The DMU must have failed somewhere up country as it was hauled in dead by a 47. Sorry no other details recorded.

 

5) Scotty Dog liveried Cl 37 working service train out of Weymouth. Have photo somewhere. It was the evening loco-hauled train back to Westbury for stabling. Would have worked the Westbury - Wey - Bristol - Wey diagram earlier in the day.

 

6) Northern Rail liveried Class 158 recently seen at Weymouth (no photo) but probably just waiting new livery after lease change rather than an odd working.

 

Hope these help with prototypes for unusual workings you might want to model.

 

.

Edited December 14, 2012 by john new

[Rods_of_Revolution]

5) Scotty Dog liveried Cl 37 working service train out of Weymouth. Have photo somewhere. It was the evening loco-hauled train back to Westbury for stabling. Would have worked the Westbury - Wey - Bristol - Wey diagram earlier in the day.

 

Was it 37408 "Loch Rannoch" by any chance? I have seen pictures of 408 at Weymouth in the late 80s, working Cardiff - Weymouths in 89 I think?

[roythebus]

Thumpers couldn't haul Siphons or any other vac braked stock as they only have air brakes!

 

I once worked a class 33 from Clapham Junction to West Ruislip, then to Marylebone and return, with a train of exhibition stock which had come up from Salisbury, circa 1986.

[scorpion]

North Star was never in GW livery

 

don't think any Northern liveried units have transferred elsewhere

 

the units going to Hull were 123s

 

never saw a trans pennine with an odd driving car but i did see a doncaster hull working where the usual DMU had a trans pennine non driving power car tagged on the back

[john new]

Was it 37408 "Loch Rannoch" by any chance? I have seen pictures of 408 at Weymouth in the late 80s, working Cardiff - Weymouths in 89 I think?

 

The 37 photo set must be on slide and inaccessible at present; however that name rings a bell. In looking in the prints album though I found a photo of another Scotty Dog livery engine working out of Weymouth not mentioned above - 47 657. The photo is of it on a late evening working near former Upwey Wishing Well Halt, probably on the evening Westbury train but it could have been the Saturdays only evening train to Birmingham & the NW.

 

Re Thumpers and tail load - didn't say they did, that working definately a WR based Unit

[john new]

Scorpion - thanks for clarifying re the 47 and 123 Units. Long time ago but i'm pretty certain it was a green WReg 47 as I didn't see many of them up in Yorkshire. Memory as to name however could well be fallible.

[scorpion]

i also saw a train of 123s but can't for the life of me picture the loco, i'd long stopped writing things down by then

[Leander]

What about pairs of Polmadie (66A) EEType 1s (Class 20s) on Coventry - Bathgate company trains for Chrysler in the early to mid 1960s working down the WCML. They went through Preston in the early evening in the down direction, did they work right through to and from the Midlands or were they changed at Crewe?

[Xerces Fobe2]

Class 104 and Class 122 DMUs on the Croxley Green branch in the late 80's when there were not enough Class 313's to run the service

 

XF

[br2975]

Two from Brian's archives.

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In the first photo, before it went north, a Swindon Inter City unit ( who ever called them Cl.123 ?) is towed by a Cl.31 past Pengam toward Cardiff, passing a then new fangled HST unit on a Swansea - Paddington service.

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This was a Thursday afternoon in 1976, I'd given my mother a lift to the nearby Leo's Supermarket !!!!.

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The second photo shows 37408 complete with West Highland terrier at Cardiff Central, about to take the ECS of a west country train to Canton.

.

Hope these help.

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Brian R

Edited December 14, 2012 by br2975

[TheSignalEngineer]

What about pairs of Polmadie (66A) EEType 1s (Class 20s) on Coventry - Bathgate company trains for Chrysler in the early to mid 1960s working down the WCML. They went through Preston in the early evening in the down direction, did they work right through to and from the Midlands or were they changed at Crewe?

Worked through. IIRC they went to Rugby to fuel.

[br2975]

Turn the clock back twenty years or so, and you could bank on the unusual happening more frequently.

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Try this pair waiting for the road at Cardiff Central one Saturday lunchtime.

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Brian R

[scorpion]

that ones amazing, no one would think of photoshopping it

[br2975]

that ones amazing, no one would think of photoshopping it

 

But that's only two-thirds of the convoy.

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Preserved 50019 was on the back !

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Brian R

[Tim H]

I've seen a picture of a part of class 120 Cross-Country sets with two maroon Mk1 coaches as a tail load. Don't have the book to hand, but can't imagine that was common.

 

Also remember some oddball DMU formations on WR suburban services. Oddest one was a 4-coach formation with a 121 "Bubble", two driving trailers and a 128 Motor Parcels Van (which I presume was being used solely for traction). Presumably a scratch formation to cover for an unavailable 3-car unit.

 

Years ago, RAIL (I think) published a photo of a 122 "Bubble" piloting a 47 on a parcels train. Guessing the 47 was failed with a defective speedo.

[Swindon 123]

Last DMU tail traffic I saw was Nov 1981 at Doncaster. Consisted of a 2car Met-Cam, E51432 (in blue)+E51501 (in B/Grey) hauling an ex SR CCT. The only time I had to haul a DMU in service was around 1986/7. There was an 06.35hrs Hereford - Crewe which was usually a Bristol B900 set and where always in some sort of trouble. On the particular day I was on an early morning Llanwern Shotton steel with a 37/9 in charge. This was usually booked in front of the 06.35 but for some reason was late and to follow it. The DMU got as far as Moreton on Lugg before getting into trouble but was able to limp into the MOD sidings, the only passenger on board was a railwayman going home fortunately. I had to leave the steel at Hereford an go LE to Moreton where I was able to get on the front of the DMU and haul it to Crewe, still as a service train. There I left the whole ensembe to work the next part of the diagram. This wasn't the only time I had to haul a multiple unit as a service train though. Previous to the above incident I spent a nearly pleasent Sunday in mid 1984 hauling 312 EMU's between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchen. There was engineering work at Stevenage that involved switching off the overheads but only on the down lines. ( As opposed to nowadays when the line would be closed and bus substitutions if you were lucky). So the form was to haul a 312 from Welwyn to Hitchen and return to Welwyn LE in time to work another train, and so on. The 312's could run back on the up line under their own power as the overheads on the up where still switched on. These trains where fun to haul, 47 was the traction, as the 312 was electrically dead for haulage and the brake system reverted to direct air operation instead of EP. This meant one shot braking, as to make any release of the brake pipe on the loco meant a complete release of the brake on the 312 and it would not re-apply until it had fully released. Coming to a stand at a station could end as everyone in a heap because you didn't dare release the brake in case you overshot or getting it nearly right but the 312 bouncing on and off the loco because the unit brakes, which were disc brakes to boot, had released before the loco's. By the end of the 4th run I had just about got the hang of it. Sorry to anyone who suffered travelling between Welwyn and Hitchen on that day, but it was it was the only time in 31 years of driving that I ever worked that brake configuration.

 

Paul J.

 

 

(Edited to correct number. See later posts)

Edited December 15, 2012 by Swindon 123

[newbryford]

6) Northern Rail liveried Class 158 recently seen at Weymouth (no photo) but probably just waiting new livery after lease change rather than an odd working.

.

 

Units do go on short term lease to cover shortages. Northern Rail have had SWT 158888, LM153366 and Arriva Wales 150285 in the last couple of years

The LM153 didn't have a disabled ramp, so was coupled to another unit - usually a Northern 153 (as seen on Blackmill). Although the best combo was the Arriva 150/2 and LM 153 on a Northern Rail service, deep in East Lancashire (didn't get photo)

 

This is the LM153 with a NR156. on a Clitheroe-Manchester service

 

 

Cheers,

Mick

Edited December 14, 2012 by newbryford

[Red Devil]

Although they became common on the Standedge route very late on in their lives, what about Deltics to Stockport on the York-Shrewsbury TPO? I know they did it having seen them, but has anyone seen any photographs of a Deltic at Stockport? Obviously it was an night job so I'd imagine that any photographs that may exist would be at Stockport stationary rather than en route.

[Leander]

Last DMU tail traffic I saw was Nov 1981 at Doncaster. Consisted of a 2car Met-Cam, E15432 (in blue)+E51501 (in B/Grey) hauling an ex SR CCT.

 

Paul J.

 

A power car/trailer two-car DMU set was permitted a tail load of 17 tons. I can't remember where I've read that but it was fairly recently and in connection with the research we're carrying out for TheLaird's new Leeds City North (Wellington) layout.

[roythebus]

Worked through. IIRC they went to Rugby to fuel.

Unlikely as there's no fuelling point at Rugby, the next would have been Bletchley TMD or Willesden.

[Guest Phil]

A power car/trailer two-car DMU set was permitted a tail load of 17 tons. I can't remember where I've read that but it was fairly recently and in connection with the research we're carrying out for TheLaird's new Leeds City North (Wellington) layout.

 

I am guessing he meant E51432+E51501 which would have been two power cars

[Guest Phil]

Although they became common on the Standedge route very late on in their lives, what about Deltics to Stockport on the York-Shrewsbury TPO? I know they did it having seen them, but has anyone seen any photographs of a Deltic at Stockport? Obviously it was an night job so I'd imagine that any photographs that may exist would be at Stockport stationary rather than en route.

 

I actually had a deltic on this train, but didn't have a camera with me. I used this train a few times and the ER diesel part was always tantalising, but an 86/2 Manchester-Crewe, for a CD ETH 47/4 forward was not so fun. York used to kick out anything boilered from a 31 to a deltic.

[roundhouse]

The last DMU I saw hauling a parcels van was at Barnstaple back in the 1980's.

 

I think it carried newspapers in its as days. The van used to get left in the centre road but then they started taking it back on the same unit after running round early in the morning. I have some very poor photos of this service somewhere.

[cromptonnut]

I remember seeing the "Ginsters" 153 at Grantham about 5 years ago one evening, presumably that was on hire to Central (as it was then) or transferred and awaiting relivery.

[Trog]

I remember seeing a Bed-Pan unit in the early 1980's with a bogie van as tail load.