Things You Thought You'd Never See - Bullied Pacific and A4 together

[TheSignalEngineer]

Modern Railways comes to the rescue. The December 1962 edition reported

 

"Since midsummer the original SR electric locomotives have been in passenger use in the S.E. Division. They have provision for steam heating which the latest Bo-Bos have not, and were therefore used on the Newcastle-Dover car-sleeper between the coast and Longhedge Junction. On October 4th they were seen on the Thanet coast, doubtless for the same reason. No. 20003 was in charge of the 8.18 a.m. old age pensioners' special from Margate to Newcastle and No. 20001 followed on with a similar train at 8.40 a.m. to Bradford."

[unravelled]

March 1966, Eastleigh

 

Eastleigh by David Harvey, on Flickr

 

THanks

 

Dave

[Mallard60022]

March 1966, Eastleigh

 

Eastleigh by David Harvey, on Flickr

 

THanks

 

Dave

That's Bude on the right. Was Kingfisher prepping for/returning from the Weymouth trip?

Phil

[bike2steam]

Bude after someone had been a little handy with the white paint, 34057 can't be too far away as both had, or were about to do, the final S&DJR special on the 5th of March.

[unravelled]

I have the photos dated as 24/3/1966, but I guess that is wrong and the correct date is the 26th, the A4LPS Victory rail tour, according to 6 bells Junction. I assume the tour paused for servicing at Eastleigh on the outward leg.

 

Anyway another double and one of the special leaving.

 

 

 

Thanks

 

Dave

[roythebus]

Folkestone West (Shorncliff) is a short march from Shorncliff Barracks, now home of the Gurkha Regiments. so the special could well have been a troop train.

 

From memory Dalston East was the eastern bit of the triangle. It would make sense that the train had come in via the WLL, onto the NLL, then swap locos at Dalston East, then via the Canonbury curve to Finsbury Park and the ECML. I gather this sort of move still happens for trains wanting to gain the ECML from the NLL in the absence of a direct conenction.

[stewartingram]

In the early 50s several Bulleids were allocated to East Anglia. I have a copy of a photo of 34057 at Cambridge, so I know they definitely worked there. And so did A4s - either on KGX - CBG trains (running in turns?), or diversions when the ECML was closed. Did they ever meet, and if so were they ever photographed?

 

Stewart

[Mallard60022]

In the early 50s several Bulleids were allocated to East Anglia. I have a copy of a photo of 34057 at Cambridge, so I know they definitely worked there. And so did A4s - either on KGX - CBG trains (running in turns?), or diversions when the ECML was closed. Did they ever meet, and if so were they ever photographed?

 

Stewart

However much I like Bulleids they were not a success on the GE because there was a management plan to have the 'new' Brits  Stratford crews hated them (don't know about Norwich/Ipswich). However, operationally they were excellent and introduced Pacific 'power and versatility' to the main lines. Apart from the usual self combustion and oil bath issues and the new fangled controls such as the steam reverser, they were OK from what I have read, However the story could be different? The Brits were much preferred and the rest is history as they say.

Interesting that Modified Bulleids were more or less 3 cylinder Brits  with weird wheels but a superb boiler.

Phil

 

Edited to reveal the truth; simple version of quite a long section....From a book by RHN Hardey, 'A Life on the Lines'.

[Fat Controller]

Folkestone West (Shorncliff) is a short march from Shorncliff Barracks, now home of the Gurkha Regiments. so the special could well have been a troop train.

 

From memory Dalston East was the eastern bit of the triangle. It would make sense that the train had come in via the WLL, onto the NLL, then swap locos at Dalston East, then via the Canonbury curve to Finsbury Park and the ECML. I gather this sort of move still happens for trains wanting to gain the ECML from the NLL in the absence of a direct conenction.

The thing that makes me doubt that it was a troop train is the starting point of Margate: I'm inclined to think it was either an early Saga special or its precursor. De Haan senior (Sidney) started his empire in 1959 by block-renting seaside hotels in S E Kent, then running special trains to fill them, much as some coach companies do to this day.

There is a west to north connection from NLL to ECML, Lynne reminded me- the rather steeply graded route from just outside St Pancras to the ECML on Holloway Bank. I've only once seen a train on it- an  Ebange- Scunthorpe empty steel.

[TheSignalEngineer]

Folkestone West (Shorncliff) is a short march from Shorncliff Barracks, now home of the Gurkha Regiments. so the special could well have been a troop train.

 

From memory Dalston East was the eastern bit of the triangle. It would make sense that the train had come in via the WLL, onto the NLL, then swap locos at Dalston East, then via the Canonbury curve to Finsbury Park and the ECML. I gather this sort of move still happens for trains wanting to gain the ECML from the NLL in the absence of a direct conenction.

The thing that makes me doubt that it was a troop train is the starting point of Margate: I'm inclined to think it was either an early Saga special or its precursor. De Haan senior (Sidney) started his empire in 1959 by block-renting seaside hotels in S E Kent, then running special trains to fill them, much as some coach companies do to this day.

There is a west to north connection from NLL to ECML, Lynne reminded me- the rather steeply graded route from just outside St Pancras to the ECML on Holloway Bank. I've only once seen a train on it- an  Ebange- Scunthorpe empty steel.

See post #26, although I should perhaps have copied post #19 which said that the train was hauled to Beckenham Junction by 20003.