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Early tops era, from my Dad's slides/ All images coptright of MR David Rees Reproduction of any Images for Commercial use is prohibited.


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Hi all

 

I am glad you like my Dad's photo's, I have spoken to my farther about them and he has agreed he would like to put them up on here.

 

It's funny that my farther thought that no one would be that interested in them!, He has a lot of slides and photo's going back to the late 60's and right through to the late 70's era.

 

My father said he will send me a batch of photo's each day and I will put them up on here for him,

 

My father will send all the photo's that he took around Scotland and then move on to other regions .

 

Darren01

 

I wonder if your father thinks that no one will be interested in his photos, because during the early blue BR period, after steam had gone, many hundreds (or even thousands) of spotters and photographers just gave up the hobby, or began to look to the continent for surviving steam locos. To them, diesels were seen as just boxes on wheels which had killed off steam prematurely.

 

In fact, this is why the early 1970s is so fascinating - because collections of photos from that period are relatively rare, and it turns out to be a never to be repeated time, with the scrapping of many unsuccessful early diesel classes, and the steady change from green to blue followed by TOPS re-numbering.

 

So, rather than being uninteresting, his photos are probably some of the most interesting around, especially any from 1970-1972.

Edited by jonny777
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Just the norm for one of the Highland Baby Sulzers - from D5114-D5132 (24114-132) with a plain box - unless you're seeing something else?

Thanks Bob,

I was under the impression that 24's had disks not headcode boxes.

 

Kind regards

 

Ian

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I wonder if your father thinks that no one will be interested in his photos, because during the early blue BR period, after steam had gone, many hundreds (or even thousands) of spotters and photographers just gave up the hobby, or began to look to the continent for surviving steam locos. To them, diesels were seen as just boxes on wheels which had killed off steam prematurely.

 

In fact, this is why the early 1970s is so fascinating - because collections of photos from that period are relatively rare, and it turns out to be a never to be repeated time, with the scrapping of many unsuccessful early diesel classes, and the steady change from green to blue followed by TOPS re-numbering.

 

So, rather than being uninteresting, his photos are probably some of the most interesting around, especially any from 1970-1972.

Hi

My Farther has a lot of photo from the late 60's and the very early 70's, I am hopping to get down to see him soon, So I will scan them and will put them on here as well.

Yes I agree with you with what you say about spotters not relay covering this period , I thought the same when all the 50's had gone and lost interest myself in train spotting, Also what I like is the random numbering on the loco where they have put them, and the logo's all over the place.

I am very glad you like these photo, And I have been telling my Farther about what you have said about them.

All the best

Darren01

Edited by darren01
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I'd have to disagree - there were plenty of folk taking pictures in the early 70s - and I wish I'd kept more of mine, but it's only in recent years that these have become so widely available (as they were never quite as popular as shots of Steam Locomotives)_ but thanks to the likes of Darren's Dad there's more appearing...

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excellent stuff, please keep posting more!

 

humdrum and mundane at the time maybe, but just so happens 'the time' is so interesting for transition between liveries/numbering etc. and some of these pics will no doubt help someone looking for THAT pic of a loco!

 

no matter the quality of the actual pics, there's so much detail of the time to be had:

newly painted locos esp. 06001 with black rods

another HBS or two for 'CHARD

08 with twin logos and  the name 'brian'

26005 but with old 'D-style' numbers

 

based on the relatively few pics you've posted so far, your dad could be sitting on a goldmine of argument-starters (or settlers)! ;)

Edited by keefer
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I'm not a fan of steam. Don't take that personally - I simply didn't grow up with knowledge of it. I was only a year old at the end of steam. I'm now mid 40s and again I have no interest in endless Class 66s and multiple units, simply because they're everywhere and when you're familiar with something, you tend to find it mundane. What I do love and have first hand experience of as an enthusiast and latterly as a driver is BR blue up to sectorisation. 70s and 80s photographs will always appeal to me. Look at photos showing the platform ramps at, say Kings Cross, during the 50s and 60s and there are spotters and amateur cameramen everywhere. Not so in the 70s and 80s. It is almost as if everyone "gave up" at the end of steam. I'll always be grateful to those that took the time to record 70s BR blue. What most saw as incredibly mundane and uninteresting is now a delightful nostalgia trip! Someone's already mentioned the sheer number of diesel and electric types that were heading for the scrapyard in the early to mid 70s. There really was incredible variety. Maybe in 30 or 40 years time, those of us that are still around will be getting all misty eyed at photos of Desiros and Freightliner 70s. What goes around, comes around, I guess.

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These first photo's are especially interesting to me given I was in my 2nd and 3rd Year Apprenticeship at St.Rollox during the time most seem to have been taken - those with the Claytons (both in the scrap line and sitting in scrap bank) bring back fond memories of popping out every few days at lunchtime to see what was being cut up next or what had arrived.... A lot of which I'd been "spotting" just a few years earlier.  Given the problems with Railcare at the moment it's especially poignant to note in some of the News articles they've been using shots taken with the old crane shop and coppersmiths as a background as in the shot here of 26033.  Sadly the scrap bank was scrapped itself some years ago and is now the car park for Tesco (St.Rollox)!

 

So keep bringing them on Darren's Dad!

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Hi

This next lot of photo's are from around Kings Cross and st pancras. My farther is sorting his slides out, He has not looked at them for years.

So i hope to have the OOC photo's soon , But i hope you are not to disappointed with these.

I Think these where taken early 1977?.

Darren01

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Hi

This next lot of photo's are from around Kings Cross and st pancras. My farther is sorting his slides out, He has not looked at them for years.

So i hope to have the OOC photo's soon , But i hope you are not to disappointed with these.

I Think these where taken early 1977?.

Darren01

 

super stuff Darren,

 

the 44 at pancras view is most likely the Peaks Express DAA tour on 011077, as 44's very rare beasts this far South by then. This tour also got 44008/44009 later in the day

 

thanks again for sharing

 

NR

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More excellent and historic photos, thanks. The 40 at Kings Cross brings back memories, as there used to be a few regular turns for those locos in the 1970s. I think the afternoon York parcels was one such, but someone may be able to be more specific or correct my fading memory.

 

The locos usually were early ones with discs, or late ones with single headcode panels, and for a long time I did not believe a split headcode 40 ever made it that far south on the ECML. But then the internet intervened, and showed me this - http://www.flickr.com/photos/ron_h/4785079225/in/set-72157624116103155/

 

 

Then this - http://www.flickr.com/photos/tigertim1950/3958664348/in/set-72157623145451634/

 

Followed by this; which almost resulted in me having a seizure - http://www.flickr.com/photos/24041160@N02/5470826924/

Edited by jonny777
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  • 2 weeks later...

Massive respect for the WR hydraulics - just not quite old enough to remember them clearly in the flesh / metal. Never-seen-before shots like these will always be of value. Many thanks. Pete.

Edited by Pete_S
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Great shots Darren, absolute crackers.... are you sure of the date though? Reason I ask is all the locos show the tell tale signs that they were taken in '76, which is when the headcoe blinds were used to show the loco numbers after the official abandonment of thier use on 1st January that year. Virtually every Western shot published taken in '76 has either '0000' or the locos number wound up in the blinds ;o)

Edited by Rugd1022
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