BR Class 27 - ex Thornaby locos - did they gain boilers once at Eastfield?

[Alex TM]

Hi everyone,

 

Having looked in a few places, I have been unsuccessful an answer to the above question.

 

In 1969/70 the batch of class 27s that were originally allocated from new to Thornaby (51L) eventually became based at Eastfield (65A):

 

did they gain boilers after moving to the Scottish Region?

 

If they did, do you know when?

 

If it's of use, the locos original numbers were: D5370–D5378 (27024-27031, with the exception of D5374 which became 27101, and then 27045).

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Regards,

 

Alex.

[Robert Shrives]

Hi

Petty certain not as no watertanks  added to underframe when checking pics - not well photographed as not seen on much passenger work having looked in a few books a while back.

 

Robert    

[royaloak]

Apart from D5374 I dont think any of the others did, I have pictures of a few of them in BR blue and they are all lacking boiler water tanks and steam heat pipes, the question has to be why did D5374 receive a boiler?

[Phil Bullock]

D5373 certainly didnt - my photo at Ayr....

[Scottish Modeller]

Hi all,

 

I've looked at this in the past and modelled 5374 in post TOPS period.

 

Extract from one of my sources that I used...

 

"During 1970 work commenced on converting 24 Class 27s for use on the Glasgow - Edinburgh push-pull service. All of the batch selected were boiler equipped, with the exception of 5374, which was then fitted with a Stone-Vapor boiler. Fuel capacity was increased from 500 gallons to 685 gallons. The locomotives would be renumber to 27101 - 27124."

 

Extract from Derby Sulzers website

 

https://www.derbysulzers.com/

 

Thanks

Phil H

[young37215]

The various Platform 5 pocket books that I have dating from the late 1970's into the 1980's continue to show them all as no boiler through to withdrawl. 

[Alex TM]

Hi everyone,

 

Many thanks for taking the time to check information, and post responses.  All are appreciated.

 

My initial reason for asking the question was twofold; first, that I don't recall seeing a 27 that didn't have a boiler, and second that virtually all of my sightings in the late seventies and early eighties were on passenger services, especially the push-pulls.

 

I also have a couple of non-boiler Heljan 27s in pre-TOPS blue and green (more of this in another time and place .....).

 

Again, thanks you all for your help.

 

Regards,

 

Alex.

[Covkid]

As above 5374 was the only one to have been fitted with boiler and tanks. 

 

The others were used on predominantly freight diagrams in the heating season, but popped up on passenger work during the summer months. I had 27026 from Glasgow to Carlisle once.

 

Flickr image (not mine) captioned from June 1985 at Edinburgh Waverley on passenger stock - "No heat season" generally started in May so no need for a boiler by this time.  

 

Another Flickr image of 27026 at Dumfries in 1985 on a passenger train.

 

 

Edited September 5, 2019 by Covkid

[Alex TM]

Hi Covkid,

 

As someone who grew up in the west of Scotland "no heat" could be a definition of summer - i.e. no heat but plenty of rain ......

 

Thanks for the images.

 

Regards,

 

Alex.

[Porcy Mane]

A Thornaby Pairing.

Train 476 (D5371 D5373) by Bruce Grime, on Flickr

[russ p]

They were very popular at thornaby,  the crews loved them