BR Diesels on Hire?

[WRMSOliverM]

Hi,

 

I'm currently planning a preserved railway layout set in the 1970s. My question is would BR hire out a few diesels to the line to run passenger trains? I thought they would A as part of the agreement to buy the line and B becuase they were surplus to requirements. The layout is a ficiontal line in Liverpool and the stock are a couple of DMUs and a 37.

 

Regards,

 

Oliver

[Bob Reid]

Fraid' it never happened Oilver. Surplus loco's only came up for sale through the BRB tendering system and quite separate from the sale of disused lines - Hiring out might have been a possibility but few preservation societies could have afforded to hire the loco for anything other than one day mainline railtours, never mind the train crew to go with it on a more permanent basis. Apart from all that, there was little love for disesels in the preservation scene in the 70s - especially when Barry was still offering up Steam. If the line's fictional of course, a litlle fictional history can go a long way!

[AMJ]

In the 1960's a few railways hired in from the main line a few shunters. There are a few well known photos of a BR 04 shunter hired in by the Middleton Railway to run the goods trains when the operational locos were needing repairs.

 

ISTR The Easingwold Rly always hired in locos until closure. Derwent Valley was bought a couple of surpless locos.

 

THe locos I have found hired out tend to be spare shunters and nothing bigger.

 

As I saw in a programme for a show "It's your toy train set so you can do what you like."

[scorpion]

It happened at least once, in 1976 the NYMR couldn't run steam because of the fire risk in that very hot and dry summer. They hired a class 31 to keep services going.

 

If i remember correctly this is what led to 24 032 being aquired from T J Thompsons scrap yard and it has been there ever since

[Geoff Endacott]

Didn't a power station once hire a Class 47 as a standby generator?

 

Geoff Endacott

[Dagworth]

In the 80s Felixstowe docks hired 08s quite regularly when their resident Class 10 D3489 was out of service.

 

Andi

[50A55B]

The NYMR hired DMUs a couple of times in the early/mid 70s as well.

[Dagworth]

Didn't a power station once hire a Class 47 as a standby generator?

 

Geoff Endacott

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/8404-a-different-use-for-a-class-47/

[Bob Reid]

It happened at least once, in 1976 the NYMR couldn't run steam because of the fire risk in that very hot and dry summer. They hired a class 31 to keep services going.

 

If i remember correctly this is what led to 24 032 being aquired from T J Thompsons scrap yard and it has been there ever since

 

Interesting - were these hires including BR Train Crew and for how long? (Non-BR train crew using BR loco's / multiple units was a bit of a non-starter)

[50A55B]

Interesting - were these hires including BR Train Crew and for how long? (Non-BR train crew using BR loco's / multiple units was a bit of a non-starter)

The NYMR has always had drivers who also worked on BR and successors, with the appropriate traction and route knowledge. I believe delivery and return usually involved NYMR drivers doing their full time job!

[br2975]

BR hired out a large number of shunters from its South Wales depots during the 1970s

.

Usually they were from Ebbw Jct. / Canton / Margam and Landore.

.

Most were hired to the National Coal Board for use at a number of their collieries and other facilities.

.

Another company that hired shunters from BR was Duport Steel Works at Llanelli.

.

I've never heard of BR hiring out locos to the preservationists - especially in the 1970s when most preservationists were looked upon as something between eccentric and downright mad.

.

Don't forget, mainline steam didn't return until 41yrs ago next month, October 1971 with 6000 KGV and that took a lot of effort and persuasion.

.

Brian R

[br2975]

Derwent Valley was bought a couple of surpless locos.

 

I believe the D.V.L.R. was part-owned by B.R. at one time ?

 

Brian R

[D803Albion]

Didn't Brush type 4 47538 (ex D1669 Python) find employment as a generator in Devonport Dockyard in the 1990's ?

[WRMSOliverM]

Well thanks for the great response everyone, its much appreciated.

[AberdeenBill]

Posing the question in reverse, so to speak, did BR ever hire/borrow shunters from industry to cover temporary/emergency shortages?

 

Bill

[The Stationmaster]

Shunter hire to industrial concerns became more common as loco surpluses developed and of course some concerns had hired steam locos from BR and its predecessors for many years. However I agree with the point Bob made earlier - loco hire to the emerging private/preserved railways (in effect for passenger train operation) was a far from easy and very expensive process and generally BR was loathe to do it requiring all sorts of hoops to be jumped through as regards insurance and so on but most of all politics. In fact I was surprised to read above that the NYMR had managed it somehow and it must have been an expensive business for them if it was done through the correct channels.

 

I was involved with loco hire in the 'preserved railway' sector in the 1980s and it wasn't cheap and I think I was among the first (if not the first) to get involved in it as other than a regulated long term business arrangement in the privytisation era on the big railway. And the prices I had to charge (in order to make a profit) would have been uneconomic for just about any of even the most financially sound preserved lines. And in the early days hire without Drivers involved a few more hoops as one had to be absolutely certain of the bona fides of the people we were hiring locos to and it was simply too difficult although later we did get into straight loco hire without crews (and probably lost money on it (although i would say that as someone else stepped in over my head and cut the rates in order to get a particular contract).