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Morning all. I was always of the assumption that loco data panels were introduced from 1969 but a discussion on the BR Transition Liveries Facebook group made me question that and Neil Phillips in another thread on here records D838 Rapid with a panel on 11/9/68.

 

The first loco I saw with data panels was D838 Rapid at Plymouth North Road on 11/9/68. I remember wondering (a) what a Class 43 was, and (b) why Swindon had outshopped the loco in ex-works maroon nearly two years after switching to blue - and not necessarily in that order! Credible explanation still awaited......

I recall the news sections in the railway mags of the time showing the new data panels stuck to a Peak and a Deltic. Application could still be patchy though, ex-works 6585 seen at Exeter 2/1/69 didn't have any (locos out-shopped without D prefixes or data panels must surely have been unusual).

Data panels are useful for dating photos too, e.g. D7045 was often included in lists of Hymeks in blue syp livery, but shots of it in green with data panels make that impossible.

From my own observations at the time the bulk of the depot-level TOPS renumbering of the BR loco fleet was achieved during February-April 1974. I'm interested in how this was organised and posted a request for info in Traction magazine a few years ago, but there were no takers......I live in hope!

 

So the question is does anyone know when they were officially introduced and more importantly started to be used?

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Data panels were officially introduced, and required to be used, from roughly the Autumn of 1968 - sorry I can't remember the exact date but I went on the training course in mid-late summer that year.  The data panels were the first use for traffic purposes of the new national system of locomotive class identifier system sing a two digit class number.  i think that too dated from around  early 1968, possibly 1967,  and I recall it being mentioned in a contemporaneous edition of 'Modern Railways' which might more accurately date its introduction,; I do know that it had been in mind as far back as 1966.  The national system of class identification replaced the various different Regional systems which, in typical Regional difference manner meant there were often two or three class identifier codes for the same class of locos.

 

Because the arrival of data panels for locos and wagons was well behind the introduction of the new Freight Trains Load system, which needed the information on the panels, they were originally all published as part of the White Pages in the Working Manual for Rail Staff (WMRS).  That would in fact have been the very first place that traffic staff became aware of the new class designations.  So in fact in many cases they were actually being used before they appeared on some locos!

 

The system of renumbering using the class identifier as the first two digits came later of course as its introduction as painted numbers was delayed waiting both an opportunity to introduce it and, more importantly, the money to pay for it. 

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There are actually two styles of data panel, the early ones from late Summer / Autumn '68 were plain looking as per the photo below of D7028, the later style is the more familiar one as per the second photo of 31 121 (note that this loco is still wearing the 1968 style depot sticker too), this later style came in from Autumn '73 onwards but many locos didn't get them for some years, and none of the hydraulic classes had the later style applied despite some Hymeks and most of the Westerns lasting past the Autumn of '73...

 

 

 

HYMEKS 7028a.jpg

31 121 OOC 81A.jpg

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The differences between the Hymek and the 31 are stark; The former, 75T for 1700hp, the latter 107t for 1470hp (after re-engining !).

The max speed on the 31 needs qualifying too, it should read '90 mph after accelerating for 30 minutes downhill with a following wind'.

:D:D:D

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On 13/04/2020 at 13:14, caradoc said:

The differences between the Hymek and the 31 are stark; The former, 75T for 1700hp, the latter 107t for 1470hp (after re-engining !).

The max speed on the 31 needs qualifying too, it should read '90 mph after accelerating for 30 minutes downhill with a following wind'.

:D:D:D

I regularly rode in the cab of the 07.15 Oxford and in the  (fortunately rare) occasions it was worked by a pair of 31s I always used to suggest to the Driver as we passed Ealing Broadway that it was time to open up for the 85mph restriction in from Acton.  Of course in reality the controller had been wide open, most signal checks apart, all the way from the station stop at Reading - and we still hadn't got up to 90 mph.  And it was downhill for all of the 33 miles from the middle of Sonning Cutting to Paddington:rolleyes:

Edited by The Stationmaster
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Much of my travel behind 31s was on the Liverpool St/Cambridge line between 1978 and 80, when I worked at Harlow Town, and the loco-hauled trains which stopped there were Class 31 or 37. The 31 could get up a decent speed, but not for a while, the difference with a 37 was very noticeable. The sound of the 37, leaving Liverpool St, rounding the curve at Bethnal Green and accelerating afterwards was greatly superior too !

 

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