What was this Mk1 BG used for?

[BR(S)]

Does anyone know what the Mk1 BG in the background of this picture was used for and why it was in this unusual livery?

 

http://www.class47.co.uk/c47_zoom_v3.php?img=1320021492000

[bazjones1711]

Looks like the exhibition train that was based at Salisbury

http://www.kentrail.org.uk/tunbridge_wells_west_3_2.htm

[Ramblin Rich]

As it's Salisbury, I'm thinking it's part of the exhibition train which was based there. The liveries could vary according to whoever hired the train, but this one on Paul Bartlett's site has the same colours

http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brexhibitiontrain/h2ed22c6#h2ed22c6

Edit, bazjones posted while I typed!

[jonhall]

We have discussed exhibition trains before - try and cross reference them

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/66038-one-for-the-carriage-experts/page-2

[Gwiwer]

It is indeed an exhibition van.  The livery worn could change according to use though most of those converted saw little use of any sort.  Where Salisbury SWT depot now sits was once a yard in which most of the various exhibition vans were eventually dumped when no further use could be found for them.  They were even allocated to Salisbury Yard on official records.

[griffgriff]

The yard in which the exhibition train unit operated was in fact the old GW station. There was a motley collection of vehicles stabled there.

 

I don't remember any means of enacting major work on the coaches themselves,such as the plating of Windows or painting, so this work may have been carried out elsewhere; Eastleigh?

 

Griff

[griffgriff]

... more interesting is the Stratford 47/4 on blue/grey mk 1s on a Friday in 1988?

 

Griff

[Gwiwer]

... more interesting is the Stratford 47/4 on blue/grey mk 1s on a Friday in 1988?

 

Griff

 

The photo caption states it is the 14.10 Portsmouth Harbour - Cardiff Central.  The coaches are NSE-flashed b/g Mk1 and the loco a long-range 47/6.  In 1988 as I recall the Pompey - Cardiffs were a bit pressed for stock and sometimes traction so this might well have been a case of "what ever works" though the rolling stock was normally Cardiff-based so outside the NSE area.  Class 33 was the normal traction; the duty cycles ran Portsmouth - Cardiff - Manchester and back with occasional forays into west and north Wales as well so a 47 turning up might create a headache.

 

It might be an error for a Waterloo - Exeter service which did use NSE-branded coaching stock and again was short of traction pending the arrival of the 159s a few years later though was home to any 47 that could be conjured up for a time.  Mk2 stock was normal on that route however.  There was also a Brighton - Exeter (and some years Paignton / Plymouth / Penzance) working which employed a Waterloo set and 47.

 

We can only speculate about how the loco might have got where it did.  Those things were all over the UK and despite sector ownership were still being used on an ad hoc basis.  

[griffgriff]

The photo caption states it is the 14.10 Portsmouth Harbour - Cardiff Central.  The coaches are NSE-flashed b/g Mk1 and the loco a long-range 47/6.  In 1988 as I recall the Pompey - Cardiffs were a bit pressed for stock and sometimes traction so this might well have been a case of "what ever works" though the rolling stock was normally Cardiff-based so outside the NSE area.  Class 33 was the normal traction; the duty cycles ran Portsmouth - Cardiff - Manchester and back with occasional forays into west and north Wales as well so a 47 turning up might create a headache.

 

It might be an error for a Waterloo - Exeter service which did use NSE-branded coaching stock and again was short of traction pending the arrival of the 159s a few years later though was home to any 47 that could be conjured up for a time.  Mk2 stock was normal on that route however.  There was also a Brighton - Exeter (and some years Paignton / Plymouth / Penzance) working which employed a Waterloo set and 47.

 

We can only speculate about how the loco might have got where it did.  Those things were all over the UK and despite sector ownership were still being used on an ad hoc basis.

 

I would agree with almost everything except that 47 634 wasn't long range fitted... it being a 47/4. The long range 47s were the 47/8s. There were 47/6 subclasses if you're into Ruston engines or phosphorus brake blocks

 

Griff

[Gwiwer]

Another thing.  NSE-flashed Mk1 coaches ended up literally the length and breadth of the country from Penzance to Thurso.  Once cascaded from front-line use by the arrival of something newer they were dispersed but not always rebranded.  I have photos of them at Inverness and have travelled in NSE-flashed coaches to Thurso, Wick and Kyle of Lochalsh.   There were booked turns for an NSE Mk1 Oxford set to Penzance on summer Saturdays and flashed b/g ones got there from London and Brighton at times as well as on the Plymouth locals.

 

The point here being that Cardiff, whilst responsible for the Portsmouth duties, may well have had some flashed Mk1 coaches on allocation or available for their use and which resulted in this rake being seen at Salisbury.  

 

Doesn't get any closer to explaining the duff though.

[AberdeenBill]

The yard in which the exhibition train unit operated was in fact the old GW station. There was a motley collection of vehicles stabled there.

 

I don't remember any means of enacting major work on the coaches themselves,such as the plating of Windows or painting, so this work may have been carried out elsewhere; Eastleigh?

 

Griff

 

(Much) earlier there was a base for exhibition trains at Wimbourne on the stub of the 'Old Road', so perhaps the same company relocated up the road to Salisbury?  

 

Bill

[leopardml2341]

We have discussed exhibition trains before - try and cross reference them

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/66038-one-for-the-carriage-experts/page-2

I suppose that's ok if the search function picks up the subject, which it often doesn't

[Dunsignalling]

I would agree with almost everything except that 47 634 wasn't long range fitted... it being a 47/4. The long range 47s were the 47/8s. There were 47/6 subclasses if you're into Ruston engines or phosphorus brake blocks

 

Griff

At the last few years before the advent of the 159s, the Class 50s had declined to not much better than 50/50 even on a good day and the Waterloo-Exeter route was borrowing anything it could get hold of.

 

The important questions to be asked were "Does it work?", "Is it doing anything else at the moment?" and "How soon can it get here?" in that order.

 

By 1992, even Freight 47/3s from as far away as Tinsley or Thornaby weren't unusual.

 

John

[Gwiwer]

 

 

By 1992, even Freight 47/3s from as far away as Tinsley or Thornaby weren't unusual.

Indeed.  And that is how I came to see my final 47.  Thornaby's 47361, Kingfisher and all, on a passenger working (from Birmingham I believe) at Cardiff Central.  I also recall the parlous state of "LSWR" motive power and that anything which would get to at least the next big station was requisitioned and placed on the front of a Waterloo - Exeter.  Sometimes it got there, sometimes it didn't.

[jonny777]

As it's Salisbury, I'm thinking it's part of the exhibition train which was based there. The liveries could vary according to whoever hired the train, but this one on Paul Bartlett's site has the same colours

http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brexhibitiontrain/h2ed22c6#h2ed22c6

Edit, bazjones posted while I typed!

 

 

Not the best photo in the world, but here is an exhibition train arriving at New Street behind 25206 on 30th June 1983.

 

[griffgriff]

At the last few years before the advent of the 159s, the Class 50s had declined to not much better than 50/50 even on a good day and the Waterloo-Exeter route was borrowing anything it could get hold of.

 

The important questions to be asked were "Does it work?", "Is it doing anything else at the moment?" and "How soon can it get here?" in that order.

 

By 1992, even Freight 47/3s from as far away as Tinsley or Thornaby weren't unusual.

 

John

I would agree... It's all of the variables in one place that I found intriguing. Especially the blue/grey mk1 stock.

 

Anyway back on topic...

 

Griff

[TheSignalEngineer]

According to www.sulzerpower.com 47634 took over the 0714 Holyhead - Cardiff at Crewe on the previous day. 

[Gwiwer]

According to www.sulzerpower.com 47634 took over the 0714 Holyhead - Cardiff at Crewe on the previous day. 

 

That explains its presence on what should be a Crompton cycle.  Thanks.

[TheSignalEngineer]

That explains its presence on what should be a Crompton cycle.  Thanks.

The 0714 from Holyhead looks to have been taken over at Crewe by a 47 on at least 10 days that month.

[The Stationmaster]

The yard in which the exhibition train unit operated was in fact the old GW station. There was a motley collection of vehicles stabled there.

 

I don't remember any means of enacting major work on the coaches themselves,such as the plating of Windows or painting, so this work may have been carried out elsewhere; Eastleigh?

 

Griff

 

Fitting out work, or rather basic fitting out, was done in the exhibtion trains base at Salisbury although sometimes additional client required work might be done elsewhere.  I believe major conversion work was carried out by BREL in main works although some work was done elsewhere, e.g a lot of the work on the GW150 exhibition train was done at Cathays.