Class 47 photos

[Rugd1022]

Photo by Lewis Bevan : 47 502 just south of Fenny Compton with the 10.34 Manc Picc - Padd on 1st June 1982...

 

 

 

[Rugd1022]

Photo by Robert Davies c/o Ian Farnfield : Mantle Lane, Coalville on 17th August 1975 with 47 281 and 47 323...

 

 

 

[franciswilliamwebb]

 

47741 "Resilient" at Stafford on 17/06/00 (my photo)

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Long-term Ipswich denizen 47370 slowly moulds away at the end of the stabling point sidings. Photographed here on 29th June 2007, it had another two years to wait before succumbing to the inevitable at TJ Thompson's scrap yard. Not sure why it hung around there for so long, perhaps a catastrophic failure, or wheelset issues?

[franciswilliamwebb]

 

47364 at Walsall on 04/07/89 (my photo)

[Rugd1022]

Photo by Rob Newman : Brum New Street, 31st December 1980...

 

 

 

 

[Rugd1022]

Photo by Stephen Cresswell : Crewe Works on 18th September 1971...

 

[Halvarras]

3 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

Photo by Stephen Cresswell : Crewe Works on 18th September 1971...

 

 

Views of 'All-The-Ones' are always Brush Type 4 eye-candy, especially in pre-TOPS blue, but it's a pity more isn't shown of 1529 since I assume it would still have had its unique 3-part radiator roof grilles with vertical slats at this point (it did at Bristol on 19/7/69 in the same external condition), and this was probably a last opportunity to photograph this variation before it went into works......perhaps Stephen did record it while he was there?

[4630]

Locomotive Services Limited D1935 (47805) Roger Hosking MA 1925-2013 and D1924 (47810) Crewe Diesel Depot on 30th January 2023 approaching Heaton Lodge East Junction, working light engines with 0Z37, Crewe Holding Sidings to Bishop Auckland Weardale.

 

 

[6990WitherslackHall]

WCRC 47812 passes through York with the Northern Belle on 03/12/22. 

 

[6990WitherslackHall]

Another WCRC 47, 47245, stabled in the loco sidings opposite platform 11 earlier on during the same day. 

 

[New Haven Neil]

47 408

 

[New Haven Neil]

47 358, 1977.

 

By me, as a still skint student.

 

[brushman47544]

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

47 358, 1977.

 

By me, as a still skint student.

 

Whoever it was did a neat job of painting out the D number under the cab window. No overpainting the yellow, just the green was a shade too dark.

 

Never noticed before how the driver’s door kickplate breaks up the straight edge of the sherwood green band.

[6990WitherslackHall]

47798 Prince William in the Railway Museum at York on 03/12/22.

 

[franciswilliamwebb]

 

47245 at Washwood Heath on 07/09/78 (my photo)

[Rugd1022]

47 500 and 47 510 in the Factory at Old Oak in 1979...

 

 

 

 

[Rugd1022]

From 'Modern Railways' magazine, May 1965...

 

 

 

[Halvarras]

On 07/02/2023 at 16:29, Rugd1022 said:

From 'Modern Railways' magazine, May 1965...

 

 

 

 

Rare shots of these two already dual-braked machines with the 3-part fixed radiator grilles. I have seen just the one pic of D1660 'City of Truro' like this, taken at Saltley.

[Halvarras]

Further to my post a couple of months ago or so with a few b&w images from the late 60s, remember which one was lurking behind the ever-so-shiny D1106 at Reading in April 1969 which I said to forget about? Here it is again - two more Instamatic photos of D1929 at work in Cornwall in the early 1970s.......

 

1929 shunting PW wagons in Truro yard during the 1971 remodelling. Three Class 47s worked two-weekly stints at this, 1929 2nd half of April, 1596 1st half of May and 1917 2nd half of May. The suggested reason for the use of these and not Class 22s was the former's slow speed control. The last green Class 22s were withdrawn during 1917's shift, which also saw GFYE Hymek 7014 arrive, assumed for clearance testing but on reflection it seemed a bit early in proceedings to be doing that (5179 did better turning up in late August or early September, wish I had noted the exact date) so perhaps 7014 had actually arrived unobserved on a PW train - it went back up coupled to 1917 light-engine:

 

And 1929 seen again just over a year later (2nd May 1972) accelerating up and away from Par:

 

Both of these locations now look completely different - most of that relayed track in Truro "yard" went in the 1980s and the the footpath at Par now runs through woodland.........well, on the right-hand side anyway, just some bushes between path and railway on the other. See that tensioning post on the right? - it's now covered in ivy with a large tree right behind it! The pub is still there but the semaphores at this location (and Truro and Lostwithiel) will be gone by the end of this year, along with the 'Castle' HST sets.......and I think there's not much variety now.......

[Halvarras]

Some colour views around Truro in pre-TOPS days, from the same Instamatic camera (which I found again in the loft the other day - historical artefact that, the things that little camera has been pointed at.......sigh). Back then I could only afford colour film from time to time.

 

First of all, the last - the final Brush Type 4 out of Loughborough and of all, D1961, awaits the off at Truro on 31st July 1971 wearing its original blue livery, hardly surprising as it only went into traffic in January 1968 after a spell at RTC Derby, possibly connected with its ETH equipment fitted from new. It did receive a repaint into standard blue as 1961, I recall seeing it ex-works somewhere. Work still going on in the yard. D1961 became 47515 and was withdrawn in January 1991, just 23 years after delivery:

 

And a couple of weeks later on 14th August D1717 about to tackle the 1-in-60 to Highertown Tunnel, with my 'second home' since 1966 spanning the view! In later life this one would become 47555 'The Commonwealth Spirit', which I would see at Banbury in April 1979 just days after its naming:

 

Another view from the same bridge on 7th April 1973 showing 1645 doing what D1717 was about to do. 1645 very briefly managed to acquire a TOPS number 47061 while still in green livery - not much escaped the attention of Russell Saxton but this one nearly got away, as was often the case just one photo clinched it! This '47' is still alive and well as 47830 and was recently seen running about back in two-tone green livery on route-training duties - I had no idea that it was still with us so looking up its original identity was a pleasant surprise, as I clearly recall being on this bridge and seeing it arrive in the yard on a down freight in the dark one evening, must have been around March 1972 not long after the remodelling had finished. Note that although Truro Yard had officially reopened on 7th November 1971 the warehousing was still going up on the site of the old steam shed 18 months later - I have no memory of the latter's demolition, it seemed to be there one day and gone the next. Truro West Box had originally stood beyond the roof of the GUV. Like Par, Truro will lose its semaphore signals this year (delayed from 2019) but I suppose those visible here very nearly 50 years ago are not the same as those about to get the chop.........??

To traffic in 1965 and still active it's safe to say that D1645 has done considerably better than D1961!!

Edited February 8, 2023 by Halvarras
Got the year confused re 1645 in the dark!

[Halvarras]

Out into the sticks now at Tomperrow, or Temperrow, or as we knew it Hugus, between Truro and Chacewater. Here's a colorised view of the previously-submitted D1639 climbing westbound with.........oh sorry, no it isn't, it's 1598 on 3rd July 1973! Already fitted with ETH I see:

 

And later the same day a more side-on view of 1638 making haste with the down 'Cornish Riviera', a little further back approaching the signal. Note the random application of the 'Inter City' decals on the Mark 2s. I remember thinking I had had a problem winding the camera on for this shot and took a chance in the darkness of the loft back home to take the film cartridge out for a check. All seemed well and it came out OK. Other sightings that afternoon were Peak 112, 1662 still in its early blue style and the seemingly ever-present 1645! And Westerns of course - 1006/08/22/24/53/55. A year earlier I may have seen a Warship......

[iands]

12 hours ago, Halvarras said:

Further to my post a couple of months ago or so with a few b&w images from the late 60s, remember which one was lurking behind the ever-so-shiny D1106 at Reading in April 1969 which I said to forget about? Here it is again - two more Instamatic photos of D1929 at work in Cornwall in the early 1970s.......

 

1929 shunting PW wagons in Truro yard during the 1971 remodelling. Three Class 47s worked two-weekly stints at this, 1929 2nd half of April, 1596 1st half of May and 1917 2nd half of May. The suggested reason for the use of these and not Class 22s was the former's slow speed control. The last green Class 22s were withdrawn during 1917's shift, which also saw GFYE Hymek 7014 arrive, assumed for clearance testing but on reflection it seemed a bit early in proceedings to be doing that (5179 did better turning up in late August or early September, wish I had noted the exact date) so perhaps 7014 had actually arrived unobserved on a PW train - it went back up coupled to 1917 light-engine:

 

And 1929 seen again just over a year later (2nd May 1972) accelerating up and away from Par:

 

Both of these locations now look completely different - most of that relayed track in Truro "yard" went in the 1980s and the the footpath at Par now runs through woodland.........well, on the right-hand side anyway, just some bushes between path and railway on the other. See that tensioning post on the right? - it's now covered in ivy with a large tree right behind it! The pub is still there but the semaphores at this location (and Truro and Lostwithiel) will be gone by the end of this year, along with the 'Castle' HST sets.......and I think there's not much variety now.......

In the first photo, I can't quite work out if the four vertical markings on the side of D1929 are 'oil' stains or shadows from some structure off to the right. I'm leaning towards oil stains as I can't match up any shadows on the ground. If they are oil stains, it's a bit of interesting 'weathering' that would get tongues wagging if modelled on a layout. 

[Hairy Bear Digital]

Early air filters were oil wetted. These appear well saturated. 

[franciswilliamwebb]

 

Brush Type 4 1874 passing Elford Loop, Staffordshire, in the late 1960s (my scan from a negative by the late John Evans)