The Fall of the First Hymek - 50th Anniversary

[Halvarras]

Ever since I clapped eyes on the rather crude illustration of D7000 in the 1966 Tri-ang Hornby catalogue I've been a fan of the Hymeks. 1966 was the year I got interested in railways little and large so everything was a learning curve, but although I subsequently discovered all of the other types the Hymeks remained my firm favourite - to start with at least it had nothing to do with its transmission system and everything to do with the way it looked, no doubt about that! Yes, of course the Westerns were lookers too but I saw them every time I went lineside in Cornwall so familiarity did breed a little contempt I'm afraid. I made a full recovery in subsequent years though 😉! Needless to say I was overjoyed when a Hymek very occasionally appeared down there in the late 1960s.

 

However D7000 itself was to remain rather elusive for me and by the time I eventually caught up with it, seen on an eastbound freight from a west-bound passenger service at Chippenham on 29th July 1970 - itself 53 years ago almost to the day - it had only recently emerged from Swindon Works in blue livery; I was always a bit disappointed I never saw it in either version of green with yellow (plain green was before my time).

 

By 1973 I was located near Swindon and made the occasional foray to Oxford, as much to see the Hymeks on the Paddington - Worcester - Hereford services as anything else, although pairs of Class 20s on MGR coal trains to Didcot Power Station were a welcome distraction. It was at Didcot that I would capture 7000 on a couple of occasions, just weeks from its unfortunate demise. The first was parked on the stabling point on 19th May 1973:

Shhhhh, don't tell anyone but I snatched a sample of its blue paint while taking the close-up photo, my little chunk of 7000 is somewhere in the loft (with some maroon paint off D828!)

Four weeks later I was back again and this time caught 7000 doing something useful - 16th June 1973:

I wonder what those two impressed lads are up to these days, and whether they recall ogling this celebrity!

 

I wasn't to see 7000 in service again after this. On 17th July it failed at Exminster while working the 4V03 21:22 Curzon Street - Plymouth from Bristol and was dumped at Exeter. The cause was a wiring burn-out including the B end cab lighting circuit and a full rewire was required. It was also due a 'D' exam but after Class 31 5803 had towed it back to its Old Oak Common base on 26th July the decision to withdraw it was made and it was officially retired on 31st July - as I type this 50 years ago tomorrow. There would be no further Hymek withdrawals until 7001 fell on 11th March the following year, that loco also in need of a rewire. The Hymeks seemed to have reached a certain age.......

 

I found 7000 silently parked outside the Old Oak Common 'Factory' during one of those sneaky visits through the hole in the canal boundary wall at the rear of the depot (how many of us took advantage of that back then? We could have found it blocked off at any time yet it seemed they just couldn't be bothered! Brilliant!!) The above photos were all taken with a Kodak Instamatic but by this time I'd 'upgraded' to 35mm......and downgraded the results in the process! Wrong camera choice alas. Anyway for what they're worth, two views of a still intact (including cast numbers, although they wouldn't last long......) 7000 on 13th October 1973 - it looks like it's ticking over, but the Western behind was responsible for the blue exhaust haze:

 

I was back again on 8th December, less than two months later and the cast digit robbery was already well under way. Interestingly here it was sandwiched between 7044 on the right and 7100 on the left - first and last Hymeks end-to-end.

Although 7100 is known to have visited Penzance on at least a few occasions in the mid 1960s, due to it being locally allocated, and 7044 is now believed to have been the actual last Hymek to be seen there, on 22nd September 1972 (not 7032 on 19th April that year as claimed by.......er.......(ahem) myself🙄), 7000 has never been recorded as crossing the Tamar, although it did make it to Plymouth a few times, including as an exhibit inside Laira depot during the Open Day there on 26th September 1970 - photo attempted, didn't come out.....shame it wasn't parked outside, maybe with 7093 which was out in the sidings that day!

 

7000/16/31/32 arrived at Swindon Works for cutting up on 19th November 1974. Three of them were dispatched during the next few months but 7000 was still just about clinging to life in the 'Con Yard' when the Works Open Day of 13th September 1975 came around, with only 7055 for company amongst all the Westerns. It was finally scrapped the following month:

 

What a pity 7000 couldn't have hung on for a couple of months longer - the (slightly premature) 'Hymek Swansong' farewell tour of 22nd September 1973 could have had 7000+7001 at its head instead of 7001+7028. Ah well, that's the way the cookie crumbled, it's all history now. I'm glad I got to see them all - well, 99 of them! - and ride behind a few. Gone but not forgotten!

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by Halvarras
English correction!

[teeinox]

I have great affection for them.  At a critical period in my life they took me to and from Paddington to see my family in South Wales.  They were then green, and the coaches maroon.  Not by chance that is the period I now model.  Only one Hymek, though - in green.

Edited July 30, 2023 by teeinox

[andyman7]

That hole in the canal boundary wall was still there in 1985, the one and only time I bunked a shed. By then it was 50s and 47s of course...

[Halvarras]

7 hours ago, teeinox said:

I have great affection for them.  At a critical period in my life they took me to and from Paddington to see my family in South Wales.  They were then green, and the coaches maroon.  Not by chance that is the period I now model.  Only one Hymek, though - in green.

 

Has to be the best livery - and similar to that applied to the production Deltics so in illustrious company!

Those brand new Type 3s weren't half hammered on those South Wales services though.....although the sound effects must have been glorious!

[Halvarras]

5 hours ago, andyman7 said:

That hole in the canal boundary wall was still there in 1985, the one and only time I bunked a shed. By then it was 50s and 47s of course...

 

I had no idea it lasted that long. 15 years after your bunking experience I visited OOC on 6th August 2000 for the Open Days that weekend and the signage made it quite clear that such activity would land one with a £1000 fine (it's the same at St Blazey just 10 minutes down the road from my home). It was fun while it lasted - which can be applied to a great many things these days sadly........

[Rugd1022]

An anniversary that will probably go unnoticed by many, but worth visiting all the same. I saw D7000 a few times, the first was on the blocks at Padd, ticking over with that lovely Maybach rasp filling the air. Never had it for haulage but did have D7100 shortly before it was withdrawn. I’m looking forward to seeing all four surviving Hymeks at the Severn Valley gala next month!

[Strathwood]

As a one-time regular visitor to 81A (as we knew it in the late 1960s and through the 70s, none of that OOC rubbish for us pre-TOPS lads), it was a thirty-minute bike ride from home for myself and another twenty minutes extra for my mates of the time. We only managed to get turned out once in over decade of visiting almost every other week. My first visit was with trepidation wandering down the entrance road, but once I saw the turntable before me filled to the brim with lovely hydraulics, all vestiges of fear departed in a flash. I do recall the missing concrete fence panels which was the preferred entrance for many I know, perhaps less brazen lads. My last visit was in February 1991, and it was a pale and depressing shadow of what I once knew and loved. I have seen photos of the place since and looked on Google Earth too.

 

They say, never go back...

 

And it's with good reason.

 

Kevin