The 'Hymek Swansong' Railtour - 22nd September 1973

[Halvarras]

At the end of July I submitted a post regarding the demise of the first Hymek, D7000 50 years earlier, and commented that it was a shame that it couldn't have lasted another couple of months as the BR(WR) 'Hymek Swansong' tour could have had the two first-built Hymeks at its head - but 7028 landed the gig instead. And so we arrive at another Hymek 50th anniversary.....

 

As you may have gathered I had (and still have) a 'thing' for the Hymeks so when I found out about this special train marking the 'end' of the class on BR (not quite, as we well know) I had to be on it. Back then I was located near Swindon but regularly spent weekends with relatives at Blackwater, about 25 minutes down the Reading - Redhill line, so a visit was planned to coincide with the tour, boarding at Reading. The itinerary took the train from Paddington (dep. 09.10) picking up at Slough and Reading then down the GWML taking the South Wales route from Wootton Bassett Junction, under the Severn to Maindee Junction and on to the Hereford line for stops at Pontypool and Hereford. It then took a route very familiar to Hymeks, round to Worcester and down through Evesham and Oxford, calling in for a visit to GWS Didcot, then back to Paddington (arr. 20.20). The reason for the stops at Pontypool (12.20 - 13.09) and Hereford (14.00 - 14.55) was because the 'Hymek Swansong' was not the only tour running that day - playing second fiddle to the unusual sight of double-headed Hymeks were a couple of minor players on the railtour scene, 4472 'Flying Scotsman' and 6000 'King George V'.........hah, sorry, couldn't resist it 🤣! A pair of Hymeks on a passenger working was rarer though - argue that one! The 'Atlantic Venturers Express' combined two well-known steam icons (I'll give them that) which had crossed the Atlantic in the past and had the bells to prove it, hence the plural in the train's title. This ran from Newport to Shrewsbury, however another special from Plymouth to Newport (1Z73) was run to link into this, and to power it Laira thoughtfully turned out D1005 'Western Venturer' in immaculate condition complete with white wheel rims, an unusual sight on a Western. The three tours would become intertwined during the day. 

 

The day dawned bright and sunny (it was not to stay that way, sadly, as the camera I possessed at that time was OK in bright conditions but made dull days look......well, even duller, as you'll see; it had through-the-lens metering but not focusing and I ditched it shortly after this, fed up with its variable output). Things got off to a good start when my train from Blackwater to Reading arrived formed of 6584 plus a few Mark 1 coaches instead of the usual 3R 'Tadpole' unit (this wasn't particularly unusual on the line), with E6039 being passed in the sidings at Earley oil depot. During the short wait at Reading 1C23 passed through behind D1015 'Western Champion', a loco which would go on to write its own history in a way we couldn't have foreseen at the time. Then at 10.00 1Z14, the main event, arrived:

"Oi mate, don't use this door, can't you see I'm recordin'?!" Old Oak Common had clearly given D7001 a full repaint for the occasion - D7028 had been repainted earlier the previous month so was still in good condition, although it was a pity it hadn't received one of OOC's speciality roof deep cleans.......mind you they tended to remove chunks of paint as well, so.......anyway, just look at that sky! All aboard!

 

The charge down the GWML behind two Maybach MD870s went without incident to the first halt just past Bristol Parkway, held at Signal 114 as scheduled between 11.26 and 11.33 and within sight of workings on the NE-SW main line. While we sat awaiting developments a remarkable sight came into view - a clean renumbered Peak 45001 (ex-D13) heading west on 1V70 formed entirely of maroon Mark 1 coaches - yes, THAT set! TOPS- numbered loco on all-maroon stock - file under 'Prototype For Everything'! Shortly after, the immaculate D1005 passed in the opposite direction with 1Z73 heading for Newport - the Hymeks then followed it but as mentioned above turned right at Maindee Jc and stopped at Pontypool so we could all disembark and await the passage of the kettles........terribly sorry, I mean the steam icons 4472 & 6000 (watch it H, this irreverence is gonna get you into big trouble 🤐!) Our train reversed into a siding beyond the bridge to get out of the way of the Famous Duo (now you're grovelling 🤭) In retrospect I'm not sure why I failed to take a photo of the Hymeks here - I thought I had but the negatives say otherwise. I also discovered that although I had scanned the diesel images I had not scanned pics of the Prestigious Pair (oh, cut it out now) so those presented are photos of the prints, I hope they'll do for setting the scene, so to speak.

 

4472 + 6000 pass the Hymeks and then the happy Hymek tourers at Pontypool.........er, where's the sun gone? It certainly hadn't gone to Hereford.....

All well-behaved and following the instructions in the supplied literature "YOU ARE WARNED NOT TO TRESPASS ON THE RAILWAY". Once this train had passed the Hymek tour returned to the platform, we all boarded and set off for a damp and dismal Hereford - but at least the rain just about held off.

At Hereford the two iconic steam locomotives (reverence restored) reversed positions. It's worth mentioning here that the literature again stated "IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT PASSENGERS USE THE FOOTBRIDGE TO CROSS THE LINE. YOU ARE WARNED NOT TO TRESPASS ON THE RAILWAY". Um......

Oh well, at least nobody got run over so all's well that ends well.....I suppose. (And yes, obviously I was as guilty as everyone else, but since they were there anyway.......) Imagine the size of the sh*tstorm such antics would precipitate these days.

I wonder if the lady in the pink headscarf was really a steam engine enthusiast or just a local resident taking a shortcut home with some shopping? She looks sort of out of place......

 

And then the Hymeks took centre stage:

 

Not something seen very often during the Hymek era - two 'yellow triangles' coupled in multiple. I wonder if this worked first time Old Oak tried pairing them up?

 

All aboard once again and off to Worcester where a weather miracle occurred! The iconic (that word again) photo of this tour that everyone seemed to take - and no wonder:

 

But hang on, what's D7017 up to behind the tour? '1A40' - didn't it get the memo? There's a swansong going on 'ere.....

 

The tour spent 15 minutes at Worcester departing at 15.50 for the Didcot visit, arr. 17.25/dep. 19.07 - and sure enough while we were there D7017 swept past on the avoiding line heading 1A40 to Paddington as if putting two fingers up to the notion of a 'swansong' (indeed five weeks later I was back at Didcot for a visit by 'Flying Scotsman' (again) and photographed D7029 accelerating up the avoiding line with a Worcester service!) 

Having arrived back at Reading I boarded a 'Tadpole' unit back to Blackwater, and whilst looking out of the window made a note of the last loco sighting of the day - 400. The times they were a-changin' (and the HSTs hadn't arrived yet......)

 

A final comment - the intro in the folder included the following paragraph: "The train is not timed to make a fast run. It was not possible for the Chief Mechanical Engineer to sanction two locomotives of this type to travel at very high speeds around the route. So please don't be too critical if the driver keeps exactly to schedule, and does not run his locomotives in the high 90s!" Whilst checking online for further information regarding this tour I discovered that the driver allegedly disregarded this instruction and did in fact reach the mid 90s at a couple of locations between Reading and Paddington - after I had got off so I missed out on high-speed Hymeks! 

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

An epic tale! Thank you. 🙂

[Halvarras]

A postscript - 'Just before they were famous'!

 

On 8th September 1973, two weeks before its starring role leading the 'Hymek Swansong' railtour, I caught D7001 in fuzzy condition (!!) approaching Didcot North bound for Paddington. It looked like it could do with a little TLC:

And it certainly received that:

[Incidentally according to an old 'Modern Railways' magazine I used to possess - September 1963 issue I think - this Hymek was the first of its type into Cornwall, recorded crossing the Royal Albert Bridge on a freight on 1st May 1963 - over 20 Hymeks were still to be delivered at that date.]

 

D7028 had received a full repaint at Old Oak Common in early August 1973, seen here at Bristol Temple Meads on the 11th:

 

And again same location on 15th September (and probably on the same working), one week before railtour duty called - it must have received an ends-and-sides clean-up for that:

 

And finally, during the stop-over at Didcot I had to take a photo of Warship 821 'Greyhound', by then in failing light. It had arrived there under its own power light-engine on 24th May, no doubt surprising a few spotters along the way:

It's interesting to think now that this was the first mainline diesel locomotive preserved by an individual, and around the time I took this pic what was to become the first such loco preserved by a group, D7017, passed by the other side of the fence on the left. In 2009 or 2010 I rode the West Somerset Railway behind these two machines working in tandem and the significance of the event wasn't lost on me. But sometimes I reckon I just overthink things 🤪!!

[Phil Bullock]

Great narrative and photos thanks for sharing. The Hymeks were well thought of at Worcester and were stalwarts of the Cotswolds line ably supporting and supported by NBL warships and those Brush type 4 thingies. We won’t lower the tone of the occasion by mentioning the Type 2s from the same stable. 
 

Double headers? Of course there was a Bromsgrove banking pair. But for working a train there’s the Cardiff Tidal - Soho Pool tanks which would double up in the early days of the class if the load required it. There’s a Michael Mensing picture of a pair at Norton junction on this train.

 

And of course it’s the Severn Valley diesel gala next weekend …. Lots of oil sloshers …. D1015/62, D821/32, D9551 and D7076 working, D1013/48 and D7029 on display. What a shame D7017/8 couldn’t make it but there may even be banking out of Bridgnorth. Will be there on the Wednesday weather depending as it’s the last week of the trout tickling season…

 

Happy days! 
 

 

Edited September 22, 2023 by Phil Bullock

[Halvarras]

There was a spin-off from participating in this tour - I went on the WR's mailing list for future events, and decided to join a few of them:

 

3/11/73 - Lambourne Valley Farewell - 9-car WR DMU Newbury as far as Welford Park, a few runs up the rickety trackwork on a very dull day. Not many people ever passed under the recently completed M4 motorway near Welford by train.....in fact not many trains went under it!

 

4/5/74 - London Outer Circle Tour - 10-car WR DMU (one 3-car set included one of the three WR Class 101 trailers), Paddington - Paddington via a variety of stations. The only photo I took was of the train with a couple of EMUs at Fenchurch Street, IIRC the only station the train stopped at - it's a strange railtour photo because there's not another human being in sight! Not being into track mileage accumulation this one proved to be of limited value to me personally (I copped 3 Class 08s, 73106 and 37265 a rare non-WR green TOPS 37) but it served to illustrate how rapidly the loco fleet had been renumbered mainly during March/April - of the c80 locos seen (excluding Westerns) only four 08s had  not yet received their TOPS numbers and one of those, black-liveried D3052, was withdrawn. Probably the most unexpected sight of the day was 47401 (ex-D1500) on Willesden DED......must have forgotten where Kings Cross was!

 

27/9/75 - Paddington to the two South Devon preserved lines, Paignton - Kingswear first, then Totnes - Buckfastleigh (my notes say these were named Torbay Steam Railway and Dart Valley Railway respectively at that time). Advertised as Western-hauled (hooray!) - waiting to board at Reading the approach of D1022 looked encouraging but that veered off and went to Birmingham and we got 50033 instead! Disappointing but it survived the day intact, if you know what I mean. A full rake of BR blue/grey coaches into Buckfastleigh required a bit of forward planning by the railway - pannier 1638 was held at Staverton to haul us back as the train blocked all pointwork at the terminus!

 

22/5/76 - Paddington to Paignton behind 31416 + 31419, I got on at Newbury (I had a car to get there by then) and off at Teignmouth for what to date has been my one and only walk along the seawall to Langstone Rock, on which I was standing when my last-required Class 50, 50034, passed by heading west - result!! A pity the weather was overcast and Westerns thin on the ground but it was still a memorable day. 

 

So one per year, I don't recall that being a deliberate plan but in any case a year later I was no longer in a position to participate in such tours as I was to spend a couple of years off the British mainland, during which time my life changed considerably......!

[Rugd1022]

1 hour ago, Halvarras said:

There was a spin-off from participating in this tour - I went on the WR's mailing list for future events, and decided to join a few of them:

 

3/11/73 - Lambourne Valley Farewell - 9-car WR DMU Newbury as far as Welford Park, a few runs up the rickety trackwork on a very dull day. Not many people ever passed under the recently completed M4 motorway near Welford by train.....in fact not many trains went under it!

 

4/5/74 - London Outer Circle Tour - 10-car WR DMU (one 3-car set included one of the three WR Class 101 trailers), Paddington - Paddington via a variety of stations. The only photo I took was of the train with a couple of EMUs at Fenchurch Street, IIRC the only station the train stopped at - it's a strange railtour photo because there's not another human being in sight! Not being into track mileage accumulation this one proved to be of limited value to me personally (I copped 3 Class 08s, 73106 and 37265 a rare non-WR green TOPS 37) but it served to illustrate how rapidly the loco fleet had been renumbered mainly during March/April - of the c80 locos seen (excluding Westerns) only four 08s had  not yet received their TOPS numbers and one of those, black-liveried D3052, was withdrawn. Probably the most unexpected sight of the day was 47401 (ex-D1500) on Willesden DED......must have forgotten where Kings Cross was!

 

27/9/75 - Paddington to the two South Devon preserved lines, Paignton - Kingswear first, then Totnes - Buckfastleigh (my notes say these were named Torbay Steam Railway and Dart Valley Railway respectively at that time). Advertised as Western-hauled (hooray!) - waiting to board at Reading the approach of D1022 looked encouraging but that veered off and went to Birmingham and we got 50033 instead! Disappointing but it survived the day intact, if you know what I mean. A full rake of BR blue/grey coaches into Buckfastleigh required a bit of forward planning by the railway - pannier 1638 was held at Staverton to haul us back as the train blocked all pointwork at the terminus!

 

22/5/76 - Paddington to Paignton behind 31416 + 31419, I got on at Newbury (I had a car to get there by then) and off at Teignmouth for what to date has been my one and only walk along the seawall to Langstone Rock, on which I was standing when my last-required Class 50, 50034, passed by heading west - result!! A pity the weather was overcast and Westerns thin on the ground but it was still a memorable day. 

 

So one per year, I don't recall that being a deliberate plan but in any case a year later I was no longer in a position to participate in such tours as I was to spend a couple of years off the British mainland, during which time my life changed considerably......!

 

I'd imagine 47 401 was at Willesden for tyre turning.

 

Cracking topic - I only have to glance at a Hymek photo and I can hear the Maybach idling away to itself furiously! D7001 and D7028 would definitely have been tried out in mult at Old Oak in preparation for the tour, probably the day before when they were both cleaned, this would have been done by the shed turn crew, most likely inside the Pullman Shed where they had a bit of peace and quiet to get on with it under cover.

 

 

[Halvarras]

2 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

I'd imagine 47 401 was at Willesden for tyre turning.

 

Cracking topic - I only have to glance at a Hymek photo and I can hear the Maybach idling away to itself furiously! D7001 and D7028 would definitely have been tried out in mult at Old Oak in preparation for the tour, probably the day before when they were both cleaned, this would have been done by the shed turn crew, most likely inside the Pullman Shed where they had a bit of peace and quiet to get on with it under cover.

 

 

 

I wonder if they had any concerns about the MU equipment working properly after years of disuse. The day before might have been a bit risky! Mind you Beyer Peacock tended to do a 'proper job' so perhaps when connected up it just worked first time.

I assume the two locos would have had to have been powered up to check this, in which case 'peace and quiet' would be a relative term with a pair of Hymeks, especially if under cover 😉! That glorious engine noise was another reason these were (are) my favourite machines.

[teeinox]

Hymeks working in Multiple!

 

Thank you for giving me an excuse to buy another to go with the single one I already have.  It will be in green, though.

[Rugd1022]

50 minutes ago, Halvarras said:

 

I wonder if they had any concerns about the MU equipment working properly after years of disuse. The day before might have been a bit risky! Mind you Beyer Peacock tended to do a 'proper job' so perhaps when connected up it just worked first time.

I assume the two locos would have had to have been powered up to check this, in which case 'peace and quiet' would be a relative term with a pair of Hymeks, especially if under cover 😉! That glorious engine noise was another reason these were (are) my favourite machines.

 

Baring in mind that the chaps in the Factory at Old Oka would have had experience with re-instating the multiple working gear of some of the Warships a few years before they would have been on top of the job, I'm sure.

[Halvarras]

1 hour ago, teeinox said:

Hymeks working in Multiple!

 

Thank you for giving me an excuse to buy another to go with the single one I already have.  It will be in green, though.

 

Oh yes, at least one of them just HAS to be in green!

 

I was going to say you can never have too many Hymeks, but I suppose you can...........if you have 102 of them 😆!

 

1 hour ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

Baring in mind that the chaps in the Factory at Old Oka would have had experience with re-instating the multiple working gear of some of the Warships a few years before they would have been on top of the job, I'm sure.

 

Good point, can't argue with that logic 👍!

[Nick G]

I model modern image and live nowhere near the South West but have a soft spot for the Hymeks. Probably the most stylish diesel ever?

[Phil Bullock]

Double headed Hymeks on passenger? How about at Abergwili Junction on 6 mk1s with a good few milk tanks behind…

 

Cant post photo, not my copyright

[Halvarras]

5 hours ago, Nick G said:

I model modern image and live nowhere near the South West but have a soft spot for the Hymeks. Probably the most stylish diesel ever?

 

Modern Image? Sounds like you could use one of these then 🤭!