Rail-Online Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 Hi, I recall in the mid 1970s there were often shunters (08s or 03s) outbased a fair distance from their home depot and associated re-fuelling points. I am thinking of such locations as Lowestoft, Scarborough etc. It must have been a real hassle running at low speed all the way to York from Scarborough and back just to fuel up. The question is how long would one engine be there without having to make the trip for fueling? I realise the question is dependant on how much the loco is used but as an example take Scarborough where the loco is station pilot throughout the summer season releasing train engines. I am of course assuming there was no way of refuelling from a tanker of road tank at the outbase (which I have never heard of) I know the Exeter based 08 at Meldon Quarry was there for simply years (it must have either come back over a weekend for fuel or there were facilities at the basic shed there). As it was a pig to 'cop'! There must have been others......... Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamport Southport Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 We had a similar thread not long ago. They could definitely be refuelled from a road tanker if needed. http://quietwomansrow.com/communities/3/004/006/263/453/images/4564086716.jpg Image from here. http://quietwomansrow.com/steam-in-pill-sheds/4561122689 Jason 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rail-Online Posted June 4, 2019 Author Share Posted June 4, 2019 6 hours ago, Steamport Southport said: We had a similar thread not long ago. Thanks Jason, That certainly is a very early photo,- on the WR by the lamp irons. I cannot find the similar thread - is it possible for a link please? Cheers Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 Those of us associated with preserved railways will have also experienced fuel being pumped from a storage tank or drum using a hand operated rotary pump. My suspicion is that these sort of locos only ever made it home if they needed full overhaul that couldn't be carried out on site. Oil changes are presumably based upon engine hours rather than miles covered. A travelling mechanic will be going out to remote sites. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickham Green Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 I understand an 08 - or perhaps 09 - that was outstationed at Three Bridges was taken back to Selhurst for refuelliing ...................... BY ROAD ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted June 4, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 4, 2019 Some of Canton's 08s were outstationed on Cardiff Docks during the 70s. The former East Dock shed was derelict by then and the locos were simply left on sidings at 'Fletcher's Wharf', the north side of the Queen Alexandra Dock. No facilities fuelling and coolant topped by hand in the open by a man with a van from Canton, not even a phone for the men to book on with IIRC, they just turned up, started the locos, and got on with it. One famously could not be shut down because of problems restarting, and was left running continously for nearly 2 years, after which the oil filter clogged up and it had to be towed back to Canton to be attended to. It had given no other trouble at all during this time and is a testament to the reliability of these machines. 1 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted June 4, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 4, 2019 14 hours ago, Steamport Southport said: We had a similar thread not long ago. They could definitely be refuelled from a road tanker if needed. http://quietwomansrow.com/communities/3/004/006/263/453/images/4564086716.jpg Image from here. http://quietwomansrow.com/steam-in-pill-sheds/4561122689 Jason By the 1970s that method of refuelling had become illegal as there was no means of dealing with any spillage. It might still have happened, and i know of one place where it is still done (illegally) today although that involves main line locos and not a 350 or other shunter. In the early 1970s our 350s would go for several weeks on one tank full of fuel, even when they were on what amounted to 24 hour pilot turns. 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapford34102 Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 23 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said: In the early 1970s our 350s would go for several weeks on one tank full of fuel, even when they were on what amounted to 24 hour pilot turns. The Bournemouth based 03's used at Weymouth in the late 60's/early 70's did a week IIRC before being swapped out overnight. Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tallpaul69 Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 08s out based at Slough, returned to Southall for fueling on Sundays! Good job this was a 4 track mainline, wonder how long the round trip took? Cheers All, Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete 75C Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, Wickham Green said: I understand an 08 - or perhaps 09 - that was outstationed at Three Bridges was taken back to Selhurst for refuelliing ...................... BY ROAD ! Never heard of that one. Back in the 80s as a secondman at Norwood, we had a turn known as diesel changeover, starting at 00:01. Quite often, the "changeover" was to take a 09 from either Stewarts Lane or Selhurst to Lovers Walk and then bring a different one back, an excrutiating low speed bone shaking round trip of over 90 miles. Whether for fuelling or not, I do not know - we used to just dump it in a siding somewhere. Pig of a job though. Thinking about it, it was quite fun startling the odd late night traveller as we clanked non-stop through Gatwick Airport at all of 24mph... Edited June 4, 2019 by Pete 75C 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
royaloak Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 5 hours ago, Wickham Green said: I understand an 08 - or perhaps 09 - that was out-stationed at Three Bridges was taken back to Selhurst for refuelling ...................... BY ROAD ! That would be rare, overnight trips to swap locos was the normal method. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 Back in the 60s, Cambridge had a number of 03 shunters allocated, some of these worked at outstations such as Ely or Bury St.Edmunds (among others). My mate, who had left school (I don't think I had at that time), got a job with BR, and became a signalman at Fulbourne box. One evening, we biked over from Cambridge to see him; just as we about to leave he got the bells of an approaching train. We didn't wait as he said it took ages - he quoted an hour from Cambridge! - it was a regular once a week turn to move an 03 from CBG to BSE after refuelling etc. Stewart 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamport Southport Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 11 hours ago, Rail-Online said: Thanks Jason, That certainly is a very early photo,- on the WR by the lamp irons. I cannot find the similar thread - is it possible for a link please? Cheers Tony I couldn't find it myself. Probably under a daft thread name or about a specific shed. I'll have another look. Jason Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Storey Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 7 hours ago, Wickham Green said: I understand an 08 - or perhaps 09 - that was outstationed at Three Bridges was taken back to Selhurst for refuelliing ...................... BY ROAD ! Bizarre - the Class 09 (27mph) was created out of the Class 08 (20mph), specifically for a higher speed (but lower tractive effort) mainly on the SR, so that it could be used on trip working and be allowed along main lines at periods of light traffic. In the 1980's, we had several Class 09's in use over the years on the Sheppey branch, both for trips (Ridham - Sheerness mainly) but also on loan to Sheerness Steel. They would periodically need to return to Gillingham, their base, for refuelling and interval maintenance etc, and this was always by rail, late at night or at the weekend. I cannot recall a single 08 in use on the SED in the 1980's, even at Hoo or Dover Town (where I worked a summer in the 70's as a Junior Shunter aka Tea Boy), but cannot say for the whole of the Central Division. Certainly the two shunters which worked Hove, Lovers Walk CM&EE and Montpelier, in 1986/7 were 09's, until 33's took over most of their work when the inter-regionals were reduced, Hove freight was reduced to vans and much of the CM&EE stock was transferred to Three Bridges. But maybe you mean a later period? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Simon Lee Posted June 4, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 4, 2019 I worked at Dover from 1981, we had 3 x 09 locos,2 in the Ferry yard and one in the Town yard. There was a pilot changeover for each loco in turn eaxh week, usually from Tonbridge, with appropriately grumpy train crew. This changed in the late 80s once a fuelling point was built in the Town Yard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 I am loving this thread hearing about the glamourous side of being on the footplate. Who needs a comfy seat in a modern engine when you could spend a shift rocking and rolling down a mainline in a shunter on a wet cold night in the middle of winter. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium phil-b259 Posted June 4, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 4, 2019 4 hours ago, royaloak said: That would be rare, overnight trips to swap locos was the normal method. 2 hours ago, Mike Storey said: But maybe you mean a later period? Its most likely the incident occurred post privatisation as a way of avoiding paying Railtrack large sums of money. By the mid 1990s there was concerted pressure to get rid of such pain in the backside slow speed moves with track access charges weighted accordingly to discourage the practice. Some companies even went so far as to de-register their shunters to save on money (which of course bared them from being transferred by ail between depots) as a cost saving measure. As such I can quite easily believe that a company found it cheaper to send a shunter by road to another depot for refuelling, particularly if said loco was not used very much and thus would last quite a while on tank of fuel. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamport Southport Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 I saw a Class 319 EMU going down the road the other day, all four cars on four trailers. Presumably off to Allerton. Jason Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
south_tyne Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 An 03 was always outstationed at Berwick/Tweedmouth. As I understand the loco would be changed on a regular basis with this necessitating a long journey up the ECML from Tyneside, no mean feat for a little shunter. I am definitely no expert on the matter, but I have heard anecdotal tales of them going like the clappers at top speed up the ECML. I am sure a far more knowledgeable person can provide some more valuable input and I am not sure about the refuelling aspect... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 6 hours ago, Steamport Southport said: I couldn't find it myself. Probably under a daft thread name or about a specific shed. I'll have another look. Jason If it's the one I recall, I think it might have been a digression from a thread about locos left idling for long periods. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted June 5, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 5, 2019 4 hours ago, woodenhead said: I am loving this thread hearing about the glamourous side of being on the footplate. Who needs a comfy seat in a modern engine when you could spend a shift rocking and rolling down a mainline in a shunter on a wet cold night in the middle of winter. The cab of an 08 is a very comfortable place to be, at least unless the loco is in motion, at which point matters deteriorate rapidly... 1 2 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Piewalker Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 I'm sure I read somewhere on here about the Workington 08 having to go to Carlisle for refuelling Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 I’m 99% sure there was a fuelling facility at Three Bridges, at least by about 1980, because ‘our’ loco from Horsham CM&EE used to creep over their at night for fuel periodically. The move by road to Selhurst was far more likely due to bent coupling rods or a burst armature. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chris p bacon Posted June 5, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 5, 2019 Hitchin had an allocation of 08's in the 60's-80's, one of these was used at St Neots for shunting during the day and would return periodically to Hitchin for re-fuelling in the early evening which meant a trip of 28 miles on the GN main line. It was presumed that it went to St Neots in the early hours of the morning as it was never seen on the down in daylight. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 There's a big RCTS feature on Kent and Sussex shunters in the 70s, 80s, 90s at: http://rcts.org.uk/features/diesel-dilemmas/kent-and-east-sussex-shunting-locomotives-1970s-80s-and-90s 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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