Why did D260–D266 get Headcode Boxes?

[ColinK]

Interesting thread, here’s one I made recently.

 

 

 

 

 

[woodenhead]

1 hour ago, ColinK said:

Interesting thread, here’s one I made recently.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you took a nose door model, smoothed it off and put in the route indicator box and didn't cheat by purchasing a centre headcode engine and flattening off the edges

[ColinK]

Took a split box model, replaced the ends with those off a disc fitted model, lots of filling and sanding followed by a new square cornered headcode box made from plasticard and brass.

 

40062 was my last class 40.

[Titan]

I suspect that the idea that the nose doors were sealed up to reduce drafts is a red herring. On most locos with noses there is a huge traction motor blower, which sucks vast quantities of air in to it.  Any draft that got by the doors would never get past the blower intake. There are also large grills on the side of the nose, specifically to help get sufficient air into the noses for the blowers. These are not ducted, but usually just consist of a grill with filters on the back so that that the air that the blowers suck out of the nose is reasonably clean. More air would get through these rather than through any door gaps. I understand that on the Deltics the drafts were from the cab into the nose due to the suction of the blowers rather than the other way around, and I would expect the situation to be similar on the 40s, especially if the filters behind the grill were clogged with brake dust.  In that case sealing up the front doors would technically make the drafts worse, albeit due to the large air volumes involved compared to what gets in through the doors it probably would not make a noticeable difference. 

[Halvarras]

One-eyed monster at Blyth Cambois 25/5/74!

I THINK it's meant to be blue.......yep, there's a bit visible on the cab door - and for heaven's sake Fred, stop emptying yer tea cup out of the window!!

[Enterprisingwestern]

11 hours ago, keefer said:

I think although they spent a lot of their time on internal ScR services, there must've been a fair chance they would be used on ECML inter-regional services where headcodes were used.

Actually, the thought just came to me, perhaps they were the choice of loco for KX-Aberdeen trains? These would've had a Deltic to Edinburgh and the 40 would take over to Aberdeen.

I don't think Deltics north of Edinburgh were too common until the HSTs came in.

 

There was at least one rostered trip to March, presumably a grain train of some variety on an out and back working, I have a pic of D265 on 31B and I have seen other mentions and pictures of them there.

 

Mike.

[stovepipe]

As was mentioned earlier the reason was to standardise the Haymarket fleet of type 4s. These locos were at the time the Scottish region's premier motive power for internal services, and some overnight services too. The HA locos also had their inner sandboxes removed for route clearance reasons, the multiple working removed and some piping exposed a midships for maintenance reasons. 

 

The region's reluctance to use all four characters in the box, relates to a slightly later period, after the Beeching closures had made ambiguity of route or destination much less of a problem. 

 

There was indeed an overnight grain train from East Anglia to Speyside, which often had a Haymarket EE type 4, as did the main fish traffic 4E47 from Aberdeen to Kings Cross, from the end of steam until the block traffic finished in 1976 or 77.

[luckymucklebackit]

9 hours ago, woodenhead said:

I hope you took a nose door model, smoothed it off and put in the route indicator box and didn't cheat by purchasing a centre headcode engine and flattening off the edges

I have the "limited edition" Lima model of D261, hugely inaccurate but there are certain sentimental reasons for keeping.

 

Jim

[Purnu]

And in a similar vein to the 37 there’s this version on 40060 - https://flic.kr/p/pvvHC7

 

Edited January 16, 2021 by Purnu
Fixed link.

[Purnu]

My personal favourite when I was younger was 40062 - https://flic.kr/p/a6isD8

 

[russ p]

3 hours ago, Purnu said:

My personal favourite when I was younger was 40062 - https://flic.kr/p/a6isD8

 

 

That looks like something you would find on a miniature railway... obviously in a lot smaller scale