'Falcon' visits to OOC?

[Johnfromoz]

Hi all,

 

Just wondering if anyone has photo or anecdotal evidence of 1200 Falcon at Old Oak Common circa early 1970s? I am quite familiar with the traffic history of the loco, and know if was worked hard on the Bristol expresses for quite a while before the South Wales chapter. All of the photos I have found show it at Bath Road, Swindon or Ranelagh Bridge (Paddington).

 

I'm guessing OOC would not be a major haunt for Falcon, but am interested in any visits maybe for unscheduled maintainence etc. wonder if it was ever seen around the turntable.

 

Over to you WR afficionadoes.....

 

Thanks

 

John

[soony]

TRy

 

http://www.class47.co.uk/c47_zoom_v3.php?img=808020003000

[Johnfromoz]

TRy

 

http://www.class47.co.uk/c47_zoom_v3.php?img=808020003000

Thanks. A great starting point, albeit 1966. It at least shows the Falcon did visit occasionally.

[Metr0Land]

How about 9th Sept 1971?

 

1200 Falcon at Ranelagh Bridge fuel point 9 Sept 1971 by Karel1999 Over Two Million views ,many thanks, on Flickr

[Southernman46]

How about 9th Sept 1971?

 

1200 Falcon at Ranelagh Bridge fuel point 9 Sept 1971 by Karel1999 Over Two Million views ,many thanks, on Flickr

 

What would 1A32 have been - "Swansea - Paddington" ?

[br2975]

What would 1A32 have been - "Swansea - Paddington" ?

 

1A32 08:45 Bristol Temple Meads - Paddington due Platform No.1 at Paddington at 10:42.

.

Stock formed BSK, FK, FK, FO, RB, TSO, TSO, TSO, TSO, FO downgraded to TSO, BG.

 

Formed the 11:02 Padd - OOC ECS returning as 16:30 OOC - Padd ECS, due  Platform No.8 at 16:50.

.

the stock returned west as:-

.

1B72 17:12 Paddington - Bristol Temple Meads.

.

Did 'Falcon' spend almost six hours standing at Ranelagh Bridge before returning on this working, or return earlier ?.

.

Brian R

Edited June 9, 2017 by br2975

[jonny777]

How about 9th Sept 1971?

 

1200 Falcon at Ranelagh Bridge fuel point 9 Sept 1971 by Karel1999 Over Two Million views ,many thanks, on Flickr

 

 

Except of course that is not at Old Oak Common, which I believe was the OP's question.

 

The loco was a Bath Road resident for about 7 years, before moving to S. Wales; and I suspect that unless it developed a fault whilst in the London area there would be little need for it to visit OOC because the diagram would include a re-fuel at Ranelagh Bridge followed by a return working.

[Johnfromoz]

Except of course that is not at Old Oak Common, which I believe was the OP's question.

 

The loco was a Bath Road resident for about 7 years, before moving to S. Wales; and I suspect that unless it developed a fault whilst in the London area there would be little need for it to visit OOC because the diagram would include a re-fuel at Ranelagh Bridge followed by a return working.

Thanks Jonny,

 

That was entirely my point. All pics of Falcon in 1200 guise are either at the Paddington or Bristol end. Would dearly love to hear of anyone recalling it at OC in the 1970s.

 

Cheers

 

John

[TravisM]

Except of course that is not at Old Oak Common, which I believe was the OP's question.

 

The loco was a Bath Road resident for about 7 years, before moving to S. Wales; and I suspect that unless it developed a fault whilst in the London area there would be little need for it to visit OOC because the diagram would include a re-fuel at Ranelagh Bridge followed by a return working.

 

A friend of mines dad worked at Bristol Bath Road and back in the late 70's, we were talking about 1200 Falcon and it only had one diagram per day as though it was reliable, it was seen as a bit of a unknown quantity and therefore only had limited use.

 

Julian Sprott

[The Johnster]

It certainly wouldn't have been used on a South Wales train in any normal circumstances; no South Wales shed had traction knowledge of the beast until it was allocated to Ebbw Jc.  AFAIK up until this point only Bath Road men signed knowledge for the loco.  

 

My memories of it at Ebbw Jc were of it working Newport Docks-Llanwern iron ore trains, this in the days before Llanwern's iron ore was unloaded at Port Talbot, working turn and about with pairs of class 25s, but it was used on the Ebbw Vale traffic as well, heavy work on a steeply graded and viciously curved route.

[jonny777]

Interestingly, when I was on holiday in Sth Devon for the last weeks of August 1969, I saw Falcon on a regular basis between Taunton and Newton Abbot.

 

I used to catch the Devonian from Paignton to Exeter St Davids and on the 20th and 21st Aug my records show that we passed D0280 at Dawlish, and my vague memory is that it was on a Motorail service. I don't have any loco diagrams nor any WTTs, but I do have my dog-eared public timetable from those days, and the Dawlish stop for my train was 1048. 

 

The only service that could have been was the 0745 Kensington Olympia to Totnes (FO to St Austell)which only ran on certain days of the week in Summer. It was non-stop for much of its journey but was due to arrive in Totnes at 1210, so just before 1100 at Dawlish is not too far out given the queue of trains over that stretch in those summer months.

 

Why a Bath Road loco was rostered I don't know, but it might have logically spent a few hours at Old Oak early in the morning, depending on what the previous working was. Maybe someone has these loco diagram records?

 

I also saw it in the up direction at Exeter in the early evening, so it may well have been on the return service from Totnes to Olympia which passed St Davids at around 1830.

Edited June 9, 2017 by jonny777

[Johnfromoz]

Interestingly, when I was on holiday in Sth Devon for the last weeks of August 1969, I saw Falcon on a regular basis between Taunton and Newton Abbot.

 

I used to catch the Devonian from Paignton to Exeter St Davids and on the 20th and 21st Aug my records show that we passed D0280 at Dawlish, and my vague memory is that it was on a Motorail service. I don't have any loco diagrams nor any WTTs, but I do have my dog-eared public timetable from those days, and the Dawlish stop for my train was 1048. 

 

The only service that could have been was the 0745 Kensington Olympia to Totnes (FO to St Austell)which only ran on certain days of the week in Summer. It was non-stop for much of its journey but was due to arrive in Totnes at 1210, so just before 1100 at Dawlish is not too far out given the queue of trains over that stretch in those summer months.

 

Why a Bath Road loco was rostered I don't know, but it might have logically spent a few hours at Old Oak early in the morning, depending on what the previous working was. Maybe someone has these loco diagram records?

 

I also saw it in the up direction at Exeter in the early evening, so it may well have been on the return service from Totnes to Olympia which passed St Davids at around 1830.

Interesting recollections. First time I have heard of Falcon in the west country. Thanks

 

John

[bingley hall]

Interestingly, when I was on holiday in Sth Devon for the last weeks of August 1969, I saw Falcon on a regular basis between Taunton and Newton Abbot.

 

I used to catch the Devonian from Paignton to Exeter St Davids and on the 20th and 21st Aug my records show that we passed D0280 at Dawlish, and my vague memory is that it was on a Motorail service. I don't have any loco diagrams nor any WTTs, but I do have my dog-eared public timetable from those days, and the Dawlish stop for my train was 1048. 

 

The only service that could have been was the 0745 Kensington Olympia to Totnes (FO to St Austell)which only ran on certain days of the week in Summer. It was non-stop for much of its journey but was due to arrive in Totnes at 1210, so just before 1100 at Dawlish is not too far out given the queue of trains over that stretch in those summer months.

 

Why a Bath Road loco was rostered I don't know, but it might have logically spent a few hours at Old Oak early in the morning, depending on what the previous working was. Maybe someone has these loco diagram records?

 

I also saw it in the up direction at Exeter in the early evening, so it may well have been on the return service from Totnes to Olympia which passed St Davids at around 1830.

 

Yep, I have a very poor B & W photo (Brownie 127) of it taken at the carriage sidings at Paignton in August 1969 while on holiday down there.

[Commoner]

Except of course that is not at Old Oak Common, which I believe was the OP's question.

 

The loco was a Bath Road resident for about 7 years, before moving to S. Wales; and I suspect that unless it developed a fault whilst in the London area there would be little need for it to visit OOC because the diagram would include a re-fuel at Ranelagh Bridge followed by a return working.

 

Falcon's working Diagram effective from 03.05.71 is reproduced in full on this website page http://www.class47.co.uk/c47_feature_424.php.  I can't find a direct link to the diagram so follow the instructions below to find it.

 

From the Falcon home page, navigate to the 'In Service' Tab, and scroll down towards the end of the January 65-October 75 period and you can find a link to the diagram.  Seems that on Fridays Only, Falcon was booked on an ecs from Temple Meads to Old Oak, prior to taking up a booked down working from Paddington

 

Hope this helpful.

 

Thanks Kevin

[The Johnster]

Falcon's working Diagram effective from 03.05.71 is reproduced in full on this website page http://www.class47.co.uk/c47_feature_424.php.  I can't find a direct link to the diagram so follow the instructions below to find it.

 

From the Falcon home page, navigate to the 'In Service' Tab, and scroll down towards the end of the January 65-October 75 period and you can find a link to the diagram.  Seems that on Fridays Only, Falcon was booked on an ecs from Temple Meads to Old Oak, prior to taking up a booked down working from Paddington

 

Hope this helpful.

 

Thanks Kevin

 

This FO working may not have had the loco visiting Old Oak MPD, which may be what the OP is enquiring about.  

[Commoner]

This FO working may not have had the loco visiting Old Oak MPD, which may be what the OP is enquiring about.  

Agreed, but diagram illustrates it's booked work at that time, which I thought would be of interest in line with other contributions to the thread.

[jonny777]

Yep, I have a very poor B & W photo (Brownie 127) of it taken at the carriage sidings at Paignton in August 1969 while on holiday down there.

 

Amazing that we were both hoildaying in Paignton during August 1969. I never saw it there, but I did see it at Newton Abbot while I was travelling around. Sadly I never bothered with too many details unless I was feeling really keen.

 

I have a very poor 127 photo of it at St Davids.

 

 

 

 

I suspect that this is the 26th August. I have no idea what this train might be, as the headcode seems to be 1Z17, but I suppose it might have been 1A17 but overwound?

 

Anyway, during my 1969 visit, I saw it on 6 separate days between Taunton and Newton Abbot.

[jonny777]

This FO working may not have had the loco visiting Old Oak MPD, which may be what the OP is enquiring about.  

 

No; but that diagram was for summer 1971. There is nothing on the class47 Falcon page which mentions 1969.

[jonny777]

Amazing that we were both hoildaying in Paignton during August 1969. I never saw it there, but I did see it at Newton Abbot while I was travelling around. Sadly I never bothered with too many details unless I was feeling really keen.

 

I have a very poor 127 photo of it at St Davids.

 

 

b&w1018.jpg

 

 

I suspect that this is the 26th August. I have no idea what this train might be, as the headcode seems to be 1Z17, but I suppose it might have been 1A17 but overwound?

 

Anyway, during my 1969 visit, I saw it on 6 separate days between Taunton and Newton Abbot.

 

Further internet searching has revealed that 1Z17 was the 1805 Paignton to Bristol additional relief service which ran on weekdays throughout the school holidays but was normally booked for a Western.

 

So the headcode in the photo is correct.

Edited June 10, 2017 by jonny777

[The Johnster]

Agreed, but diagram illustrates it's booked work at that time, which I thought would be of interest in line with other contributions to the thread.

 

It's certainly interesting, especially as it shows the loco out of what we think of as it's normal Bristol-Paddington-Ranalegh Bridge circuit.

[david ellis]

D0280 Falcon at Goodrington Sidings, Paignton. 13 August 1969

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/63923883@N03/16824229591/

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

146 masquerading as Falcon at Reading on 1A02 31.7.71.

 

 

Back in the day, before internet, mobile phones etc, it was quite an exercise to get any diagram information, but with a considerable amount of effort, I managed via my contacts in Sheffield to get the gen that part of Falcon's diagram was on the 1A02. So, being in Southsea for the family holiday, I duly purchased a Southern region Railrover, and circuitously worked my way round to Reading General. I had, (in comparison to my previous tosh), a half decent camera and was looking forward to getting a few photo's of D0280, so Imagine my chagrin when at the booked time, me with camera at the ready, in rolls a bloody peak! I went and sat back down somewhat disconsolately and begrudgingly took this going away shot.

Never did get a picture of it.

 

Mike.

[JeffP]

I only came back to spotting and photography in late 1973, after a decision to go on a Merrymaker Mystery Excursion took us to Weston-Super-Mare..

We couldn't understand the renumbering, especially Peaks, so bought a book on Temple Meads platform and away we went.

 

Having noted that Falcon was still around, though purported to be not much longer, I went on a Dalescroft Railfans tour of South Wales and did manage to find it out of use at Ebbw Junction. Duly photographed, I went home happy.

[jonny777]

It is strange, though, that with all the enthusiasts going round Old Oak Common in the late 60s/early 70s, there seem to be no photographs of Falcon there.

 

I would have thought that it would have been a prime target for a photo, had it have been at the depot; so maybe it did not go there?

 

Assuming OOC drivers were not trained on the loco, there would have been nothing to gain by having it on the depot, because the Bath Road crew who brought it in, would have to take it out again - therefore it would have been much more efficient to have an out and back diagram with a quick re-fuelling trip to Ranelagh Bridge.

Edited June 11, 2017 by jonny777

[BrushVeteran]

I remember seeing 1200 inside Stratford DRS on the wheel lathe in either March or May 71, I think it was March, but unfortunately had run out of film. I'm pretty sure also I saw it there again and think it may have been in 1973. Having seen and photographed Falcon many times during its life I never wrote it down as it was easy to remember at the time....................now 40 years on I wish I had made an exact note of it...........and everything else!