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I am sure the railway magazines of the time would have featured it but have not got a surviving archive. I know I have seen photos of it so they are around. From memory a blue 47, red square/rectangle on the cab side with the double arrow logo.

 

One of the coaches was (is) on the NYMR and, again from memory, had a chamfered edge to the body side above the solebars unlike the straight edge of the basic Mk1s

 

Edited by john new
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31 minutes ago, pheaton said:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/70023venus2009/8179828428

 

https://twitter.com/_doublearrow/status/791410051772780550

 

not my photo, but there is the coaching stock..... and there it is in glorious technicolour

 

 

 

 

 


the Technicolor pics are Photographs Copyright © NRM / British Transport Films / Science & Society Picture Library. 

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36 minutes ago, 18B said:


the Technicolor pics are Photographs Copyright © NRM / British Transport Films / Science & Society Picture Library. 

which is why i posted the link and not the photos but apologies didnt see you wanted them for publication :)

Edited by pheaton
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1 hour ago, CKPR said:

"project XP64" in Railway Modeller August 1964 has both photographs and plans for the XP64 coach. 

 

Publicity material for 'Project XP64' available on Railwaysarchive site (don't know if it's the same thing):

https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BRB_XP641964.pdf

 

The design of the coaches was covered in 'Modern Railways' March 1963 issue:

49904683002_a431c46060_c.jpgModern Railways magazine March 1963 - British Railways coach of the future by mikeyashworth, on Flickr

(Doesn't help the OP but posted for interest)

Edited by keefer
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The loco was D1733, and did not always run with the XP64 set, which IIRC did not feature brake or catering vehicles, only an open second and corridor first with the corridor on different sides of the central vestibule.  Normal liveried locos could be seen hauling the set as well, but D1733 had the job most of the time.

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11 hours ago, john new said:

I am sure the railway magazines of the time would have featured it but have not got a surviving archive. I know I have seen photos of it so they are around. From memory a blue 47, red square/rectangle on the cab side with the double arrow logo.

 

One of the coaches was (is) on the NYMR and, again from memory, had a chamfered edge to the body side above the solebars unlike the straight edge of the basic Mk1s

 

They had two of them at one time, one was a compartment type thing where the corridor swapped sides half way down and the other was a mixture of tables and airline seating not lined up with the windows.  I haven't actually looked at the crud in the end of the siding at Pickering for a while but they might both still be up there, I don't think they can be moved off site because of all the heritage insulation.

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XP64 train on 09.00 Paddington-Swansea at Newport, 29/05/1965. By Ray Viney on Flickr:

Newport Station, XP64 experimental stock, 29 May 1965

 

Zooming in, the Mk1 RU is E1991 (with no red catering strip). Obviously an early repaint into b/g, note it has the small numbers. Was it repainted to use with the train or had it been done anyway, thus being suitable for use in the train?

Edited by keefer
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Looks like 1991 survives as a Camping Coach at Dawlish, 3150 is with the S.R.P.S., the two brakes disappeared without trace, as did 4727, 13408 & 9. 4728 & 25508 are at the Weardale Railway and 4729 at the Dean Forest - 13407 was also at the D.F.R. but has since been scrapped. ( Info from the Carriage Survey )

 

230_07.jpg.93ee5fd122686a7d591197a2f669cb00.jpg

Norchard, 20/4/87

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4 hours ago, keefer said:

XP64 train on 09.00 Paddington-Swansea at Newport, 29/05/1965. By Ray Viney on Flickr:

Newport Station, XP64 experimental stock, 29 May 1965

 

Zooming in, the Mk1 RU is E1991 (with no red catering strip). Obviously an early repaint into b/g, note it has the small numbers. Was it repainted to use with the train or had it been done anyway, thus being suitable for use in the train?

Yes, repainted to match the train, as were the BSKs. B/G as a normal service livery did not appear until 1966, the first examples IIRC being for the opening of the full electric service on the Euston/Birmingham/Liverpool/Manchester 25kv scheme though I may be confusing this with the first full sets of mk2 stock.  Mk2 FKs were built in late 1964 and during 1965, I think at Swindon, for the ECML and Southern Region, painted in the existing lined maroon livery and featuring 4 panel ventilator windows despite the 3 panel style having already been used on the XP64 stock; it was the 3 panel type that was used in the mk2 stock for the LMR, which included seconds, in blue\grey. 

 

AFAIK, and I'm happy to be corrected, no new mk1 stock was built after the XP64 appeared, though the Southern Region's Bounremouth 750vdc stock was introduced in 1967 to replace steam hauled stock and was to a mk1 profile and interior styling.  This was originally in plain blue, with brushed alumumium double arrows beneath the cab side windows, which I thought looked very smart with syp.  From 1966, and in conjunction with the introduction of blue/grey livery, there was a program of refurbishment for more recent mk1 coaches to make them suitable for 100mph running, which were given B4 bogies, re-upholstered seats, new fluorescemt interior lighting, and new interior panelling.  Other mk1 coaches remained in service well into the 70s, being painted in the blue/grey livery as they came up for overhaul, these being used for secondary services and charter/excursion work, retaining their B1 bogies, 'traditional' lighting, and original interior trim.

 

100mph running required Commonwealth or B4 bogies.  IIRC the unrefurbished mk1s were restricted to 75mph.

 

The loco is not D1733 but a sister in the two tone green syp livery normal at the time for this class, illustrating my point that other locos could haul the XP64 set if D1733 was not available. Plenty of plates on the up relief if the restaurant car runs short...

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2 hours ago, The Johnster said:

AFAIK, and I'm happy to be corrected, no new mk1 stock was built after the XP64 appeared,

No passenger carrying stock: some 'booth' restaurant cars, exhibition vans, bullions flats. The most new builds were extra TPO stock, 1968-'73.

Mk.1 EMU continued to be built for some time, of course, the last being 4-VEPs, into the early 1970s.

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2 hours ago, BernardTPM said:

Mk.1 EMU continued to be built for some time, of course, the last being 4-VEPs, into the early 1970s.

Didn't realise the VEP construction lasted until 1974. I thought the last Mk1 stock built was DMS vehicles for the final four REP units, it would depend when they were finished as to which was the 'last'.

EDIT: Just managed to find my copy of Longworth, which lists last 4VEP as 05/74 and last 4REP as 10/74

Edited by keefer
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I remember occasionally seeing these on the WR in the early 1970s, particularly around Reading (I knew about them thanks to having a copy of the March 1963 'Modern Railways' mag as illustrated by keefer above - interesting now to read that sprayed asbestos insulation was an improvement :wacko:!) One Sunday evening my train to Swindon rolled into Reading and I noticed one of the XP64 SOs in the formation - its lighting was off for some reason but I wasn't going to let that rob me of an opportunity to travel in a former XP64 vehicle which I had to myself, along with strange looks from the guard! Actually it's surprising how much more you can see outside with the lights off......

OT for a moment, in 1984 during 4 months' commuting between Swindon and Bristol I noticed one evening that one of the HST's SOs had no raised beading around its windows so grabbed a ride in one of the prototype HST's trailers......sometimes it really is what you know, not who you know :mosking: !!

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