GFYE TOPS class 76's?

[Halvarras]

3 hours ago, keefer said:

This one?

Stentor by Gordon Edgar on Flickr.

 

Looks BSYP to me, it's discussed in the Flickr comments.

 

E26050 was renumbered 76050 on or around 14th November 1971, the very first BR loco to receive a TOPS number. Another 16 months would pass before the first diesel was renumbered (D96 to 45101), during which time only a few more 76s and all of classes 83 & 84 got their new identities.

[rodent279]

1 hour ago, Halvarras said:

 

E26050 was renumbered 76050 on or around 14th November 1971, the very first BR loco to receive a TOPS number. Another 16 months would pass before the first diesel was renumbered (D96 to 45101), during which time only a few more 76s and all of classes 83 & 84 got their new identities.

So the million dollar question- did it receive its TOPS numbers while it still had BSYP?

[Halvarras]

1 minute ago, rodent279 said:

So the million dollar question- did it receive its TOPS numbers while it still had BSYP?

 

Almost certainly no - IIRC it was renumbered during overhaul at Crewe Works, but it may well have arrived there in BSYP (a few Class 25s - 7600/04/47/59 from memory - reached works in GSYP in late 73/early 74 and emerged blue with TOPS numbers, so a few Class 76s doing likewise two years earlier is more probable than possible). To begin with the Class 76 renumbering was very slow suggesting it was only being done during works overhauls, this would appear to have been the case generally throughout 1972/3. All members of Classes 83/84 were renumbered during 1972 - perhaps resurrection from storage and overhaul around that time explains this?

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, Halvarras said:

 

Almost certainly no - IIRC it was renumbered during overhaul at Crewe Works, but it may well have arrived there in BSYP (a few Class 25s - 7600/04/47/59 from memory - reached works in GSYP in late 73/early 74 and emerged blue with TOPS numbers, so a few Class 76s doing likewise two years earlier is more probable than possible). To begin with the Class 76 renumbering was very slow suggesting it was only being done during works overhauls, this would appear to have been the case generally throughout 1972/3. All members of Classes 83/84 were renumbered during 1972 - perhaps resurrection from storage and overhaul around that time explains this?

 

Relying on my suspect memory, but I think Doncaster were doing EM1 overhauls at renumbering time, I've got pics of one at Jimmies Bridge, 11 I think in 71.

 

Mike.

Edited September 4, 2022 by Enterprisingwestern
Sossij fingers.

[Halvarras]

49 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Relying on my suspect memory

I may well have one of those 😃 so I wouldn't argue!

[rodent279]

I think I've found the oddball that I want.

 

 

 

E76044. Did any others run with an E prefix to their TOPS numbers? And did this example have the E prefix on all 4 corners?

 

The reason for all this interest is that I'm building a DC Kits class 76 kit that I've had for nearly 20 years, and I want an oddball.  I thought about 057, with its mix of fonts, but it's a boilered example, mine isn't. E26031 appeals, with its GFYE, but it has MU wires, and I don't want to go down that route. E26050 in BSYP totem also appeals, and I've found several other non-boilered examples in BSYP, but there's  enough of them not to be labelled oddballs.

 

E76044 fits the bill nicely. It can't have run like this for long.

 

Edit:- it also fits the bill, because I saw 76044 after it had been renumbered 76031, in Coopers scrapyard in late 1983/early 1984.

Edited September 4, 2022 by rodent279

[keefer]

7 hours ago, rodent279 said:

Found another BSYP example, this time E26019. Again, I can't share it.

By 67C 42909 on Flickr

 

I take it this one is also blue? (Pity it's in b/w - fresh blue livery, yellow roof and red bufferbeam):

By JohnGreyTurner on Flickr

 

 

 

 

[dave75]

Going slightly off the green topic, are 26019 and 26050 in electric blue, rail blue, "Manchester blue"? There's an mention in one of the Woodhead books that Reddish did some rectification on 303/AM3s in the 1960 and had supplies of Caledonian blue, and maybe they had pullman blue too. 

[Halvarras]

2 hours ago, rodent279 said:

I think I've found the oddball that I want.

 

 

 

E76044. Did any others run with an E prefix to their TOPS numbers? And did this example have the E prefix on all 4 corners?

 

The reason for all this interest is that I'm building a DC Kits class 76 kit that I've had for nearly 20 years, and I want an oddball.  I thought about 057, with its mix of fonts, but it's a boilered example, mine isn't. E26031 appeals, with its GFYE, but it has MU wires, and I don't want to go down that route. E26050 in BSYP totem also appeals, and I've found several other non-boilered examples in BSYP, but there's  enough of them not to be labelled oddballs.

 

E76044 fits the bill nicely. It can't have run like this for long.

 

Edit:- it also fits the bill, because I saw 76044 after it had been renumbered 76031, in Coopers scrapyard in late 1983/early 1984.

 

Yep, TOPS number with an E prefix definitely counts as an oddball* - I can't say for sure myself but most likely it was like this on all four corners, unless somebody can categorically state otherwise will we ever know? The '7' in the newer font makes it obvious what's been done here. Another sign of the confusion that reigned in the early days of TOPS renumbering.

Such numbering on all four corners wasn't wrong at the time, the decision to discontinue numbering on the secondman's cab sides occurred during summer 1973, after Derby had outshopped 45003 and 45112 and before Crewe had TOPS-numbered any Class 47s.

 

*It wasn't unique though - during the 1980s (I think - time dims the grey cells) 47146 was noted running around with a D prefix on one side - a photo can be found on the relevant page of the class47.co.uk website. Not works output though, just somebody at Saltley depot messin' about IIRC. It didn't last long, but long enough for me to see it passing through Swindon on a westbound freight with 47370 dead in tow. Made my evening (I'm easily amused!🤪)

[rodent279]

I think I will just invoke Rule 1, and put E76044 on all 4 corners, with a TOPS style 7, until someone can show me otherwise.

I can't imagine it ran for more than a few months, if not weeks, like this.

 

Edit:- the photo of E76044 & E26013 was taken on 30.04.1972, I've since found another of 76044, with blue patches over the E prefixes,  dated 21.08.1972, so no more than 4 months.

Edited September 5, 2022 by rodent279

[Halvarras]

2 hours ago, rodent279 said:

I think I will just invoke Rule 1, and put E76044 on all 4 corners, with a TOPS style 7, until someone can show me otherwise.

I can't imagine it ran for more than a few months, if not weeks, like this.

 

I have a model of 31294 in green on the go (Airfix body on Hornby Railroad chassis) and that only ran for 2 weeks!

[rodent279]

5 hours ago, Halvarras said:

 

I have a model of 31294 in green on the go (Airfix body on Hornby Railroad chassis) and that only ran for 2 weeks!

And I believe that's the holy grail of transition liveries isn't it?

 

I have a spare Triang 31 in green-its going to get GFYE & arrows.

[Halvarras]

14 hours ago, rodent279 said:

And I believe that's the holy grail of transition liveries isn't it?

 

I have a spare Triang 31 in green-its going to get GFYE & arrows.

 

Yes indeed, it definitely existed because I saw it light engine heading west at Reading on 16/2/74, the day after it had been renumbered, and if it hadn't passed through without stopping I'd have taken a photo rarer than 40028 at St Pancras 7 months later! For a while it was believed to have gone to Doncaster for overhaul on 6/4/74 but it was actually much earlier - 2/3/74.

I also repainted a Tri-ang 31 as 5827 in that livery in 1973, referring to a photo I took of it at Bath Road on 28/7/73. I knew nothing about its run to Penzance on 1V76 a month earlier, even though I was in Cornwall at the time 🥴 - my jaw would surely have bounced off the ground! 5827 was renumbered..........31294!