Siphon G - were they all in BR Blue by the mid 1970s?

[Ben04uk]

Does anyone know if there were any Siphon G's in BR Crimson or possibly even brown/bauxite livery by the mid 1970's or were all the ones still in traffic repainted into BR Blue by this date? The mostly b/w photographs I have make it difficult to tell although Paul Bartlett's website suggest they probably were all in BR Blue by this date.

 

Or were they like the SR CCT's and Van B and Van C and the amount of grime on them made it impossible to tell what livery there were in?

[The Stationmaster]

Does anyone know if there were any Siphon G's in BR Crimson or possibly even brown/bauxite livery by the mid 1970's or were all the ones still in traffic repainted into BR Blue by this date? The mostly b/w photographs I have make it difficult to tell although Paul Bartlett's website suggest they probably were all in BR Blue by this date.

 

Or were they like the SR CCT's and Van B and Van C and the amount of grime on them made it impossible to tell what livery there were in?

All which I saw from late 1974 onwards were in blue. I wouldn't guarantee that I saw all of them still surviving at that date but in view of where I was then based I should think that I saw most of those that still remained in revenue earning traffic.

[Fat Controller]

They (largely) seemed to remain relatively clean; I can't think that I saw a crimson or maroon one after 1971.

[Tom J]

A bit of searching on this has come to nothing so I may have answered my question, but how far north did a Blue Siphon make it during the 70s? I know Southern vehicles made it to the top of Scotland, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a picture of a Siphon... I might hope to be proved wrong though!

[Fat Controller]

A bit of searching on this has come to nothing so I may have answered my question, but how far north did a Blue Siphon make it during the 70s? I know Southern vehicles made it to the top of Scotland, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a picture of a Siphon... I might hope to be proved wrong though!

My recollection is that, by the 1970s, most examples were in Newspaper Train use on the WR, and so stuck to regular Diagrams. There were a few in a general pool, but I'm not sure how far they might have wandered- the ENPARTS ones got to Derby, at least.

In earlier times, there was a Diagrammed working for a Siphon between Nottingham and Neyland for tobacco traffic- I think this died out by the late 1950s, if not earlier.

[Tom J]

Certainly the only pictures I can find other than ENPARTS use (and these are all in England) seem to be on the WR... What a shame!

[Fat Controller]

Certainly the only pictures I can find other than ENPARTS use (and these are all in England) seem to be on the WR... What a shame!

I wouldn't worry too much; they almost certainly did wander, it's just nobody photographed them because they weren't locos..

[ZiderHead]

ok this may be a stupid question, but why would a milk van be built with corridor connections?

[coronach]

very occasionally I saw one at York in the 1970s.  A van train containing BR 'collection and delivery' parcels traffic would arrive in platform 16 on Saturday mornings, usually hauled by a class 31.  The vans would be emptied before being sorted in the sidings at the rear of the station.  Apart from the odd syphon and many BR and ex LMS and SR vans, I saw the last few gresley and thompson bogie vans and even a few LMS Stanier and Thompson 6-wheelers.

 

Needless to say, they were all well weathered in Railmatch 'frame dirt' LOL

Edited September 9, 2013 by coronach

[Fat Controller]

ok this may be a stupid question, but why would a milk van be built with corridor connections?

No idea, but they built other Siphons with end doors. I suspect the logic was that, even when the vehicles were being built, churn traffic was in decline; thus the corridor connections and the internal fold-down shelves. The latter served such purposes as carrying stretchers with wounded servicemen during WW2, trays of strawberries from Cheddar and narcissi from Penzance, and finally acting as sorting tables for newspapers. In the first and last of these uses, the corridor connections would have been invaluable to allow staff to pass along the train.

There was one wartime livery I rather liked- the one painted white with 'PENICILLIN' on the side in large letters..

['CHARD]

I wouldn't worry too much; they almost certainly did wander, it's just nobody photographed them because they weren't locos..

 

They definitely did wander, too.

 

My first interest straying from locos and bog-carts, before I embraced passenger coaches, was NPCCS.  Every day the train to/ from school passed Curzon Street parcels depot, and the usually fairly well turned-out Syphons were some of the most eagerly sought vehicles.  They turned up regularly, both body styles, although the ones with the sliding shutters to cover the lower bodyside louvres seemed to be more common.  They also made it to the two sidings Aston-side of Duddeston, usually electric loco holding sidings, but frequently used as cripple roads or admission/ despatch roads for the Carriage and Wagon shops.  As others have said, the LMS and SR types were all common bedfellows at this time.

[jonhall]

ok this may be a stupid question, but why would a milk van be built with corridor connections?

the GWR's brown vehicles were considered coaching stock, not goods stock.

 

J

[Ben04uk]

David Larkin photographed a Siphon G no. W1321W at Carlisle in Spring 1975 so presumably this got to / or came from Scotland.

[Xerces Fobe2]

I saw them most nights at Slough Station in the mid 1970's and many of then looked quite well kept in BR blue

[ZiderHead]

No idea, but they built other Siphons with end doors. I suspect the logic was that, even when the vehicles were being built, churn traffic was in decline; thus the corridor connections and the internal fold-down shelves. The latter served such purposes as carrying stretchers with wounded servicemen during WW2, trays of strawberries from Cheddar and narcissi from Penzance, and finally acting as sorting tables for newspapers. In the first and last of these uses, the corridor connections would have been invaluable to allow staff to pass along the train.

There was one wartime livery I rather liked- the one painted white with 'PENICILLIN' on the side in large letters..

 

Thanks, that does make some sense. Cant have been much fun travelling/working in them in the winter though!

[Fat Controller]

Thanks, that does make some sense. Cant have been much fun travelling/working in them in the winter though!

They had steam heating, and later ETH- no worse than a 4-VEP, probably. When I was a student in Bristol in 1973, my then-landlady's son worked on the 'Papers', and didn't seem too stressed by conditions. A nice little number; up to London on the cushions, then a few hours frantic activity before getting back to Bristol by about 04:00.

[rodent279]

Reviving an old thread, were any Siphons ever in bauxite livery?

[hmrspaul]

21 minutes ago, rodent279 said:

Reviving an old thread, were any Siphons ever in bauxite livery?

Why would they be freight stock red they are passenger vehicles?

Certainly they were in Crimson and maroon before blue. 

 

Paul

[Nearholmer]

And, topping-up on the reminiscences above: I used to see them on the southern, central and eastern divisions in the early to mid 1970s, in a train that ran down mid evening calling at Croydon and Redhill, which I think went on to Dover via Tonbridge, although I’m not totally sure about the last bit, and on another train that came Up through Tonbridge.

[Mol_PMB]

I think some of the ENPARTS ones were departmental olive green. Which might raise a faint possibility of one previously in gulf red? But unlikely.