Blue Class 31s with a white stripe

[keefer]

No ones mentioned Old Oak's 31304 which was the only 31 to have the stripe all round, front and all. My picture here in June 1978 shows it but by October that year it had gone. When did it get put on as it does not look like it had it for long.

I wonder if it had been specially spruced up for Royal duties, as it also has silver buffers, painted pipework and axle box covers ? If so, there may be pics/info of a Royal working shortly before.

 

Edit - could also be for a depot open day or rail tour?

[keefer]

Had time to do a search:

Can't get my phone to paste links, but Google "class 31304 1978".

There's a link to Railblue.com showing it on 22nd April with no band and another link to hatspics.co.uk showing it on 24th May with the band - doesn't specify, but was this an OOC open day?

[rob D2]

I saw it mentioned somewhere that they bulled one up when one was needed for royal train ECS duties. Certainly 415 had the full works done with white wheel rims, some pipe work and buffers. But was quickly looking shabby and lost its data panel and depot code from the side.

 

I'm not sure why they bothered going to all this hassle when they had the presentable 47/5s there which would have taken less effort ?

[Opelsi]

The York - Scarborough locals were a usual 31/4 turn in the early to mid 80's before 2nd gen units killed of swathes of loco-hauled diagrams and put a nail in the coffin of bashers.

 

31404 defo had white stripe then as can be seen in one of the above pics (very nice). This loco actually locally nicknamed 'Dennis the Demon' after someone scrawled Dennis on it in small letters!

 

I think from memory 31411 had a faded stripe too, but certainly by this time not all 31/4 carried the stripe. 31406 was a regular performer and defo didn't have it's stripe then!

[Rugd1022]

From memory I think 31 304 was chosen for the extra treatment as it was one of the more reliable ones at Old Oak. It was still knocking around when I was there in '83 (minus the white stripe by then) and would occasionally be put to use on Type 4 diagrams if a 47 or 50 wasn't available. We had it on the Padd-Brums a few times and it coped very well with the gradients north of Banbury, which a couple of our 31/4s used to struggle with. We had a booked freight job from Acton to Swindon that Summer which when it did run usually had a 31 on it, the second time I was on it we had '304 which managed the mixed bag of engineers wagons well, despite being stopped several times en route (the light engine trip back to Old Oak was a lot quicker though!).

 

Towards the end of '83 and into '84 someone high up said that we'd be allowed to have the white stripes re-instated on 'our' 31/4s (even though they were actually allocated to March at the time), 31 415 was in The Factory during December having some major work done and the lads on the night shift that week were waiting for the nod to get the paint brushes out but the nod never came and that was that, 415 returned to March and we were left with 31 117, 121, 261 and 273 to play with. The two painters we had at Old Oak often tried to add their own little touches to our batch of 31s and 47s but management would somehow find out and put the kybosh on it, a shame really as it would have meant the 'white stripe era' could have been a bit longer than it was.

[rob D2]

Niche,

Presumably it was a OC 31 that did the Wycombe, chinnor fright as well ?

I was actually surprised that OC had 31/4s at all, was it to ensure compatible stock was heated before arriving at Paddington ?

 

I wish I'd visited OOC at all in this period, or Paddington more than once. My dad wasn't too keen on spending hrs on windy platforms though so it was local to us - Maidenhead or reading.

[The Stationmaster]

Niche,

Presumably it was a OC 31 that did the Wycombe, chinnor fright as well ?

I was actually surprised that OC had 31/4s at all, was it to ensure compatible stock was heated before arriving at Paddington ?

 

I wish I'd visited OOC at all in this period, or Paddington more than once. My dad wasn't too keen on spending hrs on windy platforms though so it was local to us - Maidenhead or reading.

Old Oak had ETH 31s for ECS and commuter train work,

 

As far as 'Royals' were concerned the procedure was normally for the selected 'Royal' (most of them in fact weren't 'Royal Trains' anyway but were 'Special Trains') loco to be checked and prepared with either a repaint or major clean up and touch-up as needed plus a reserve loco was also prepared.  This gave the opportunity for 2 x Class 47 (as it would be by than) to get a nice cosmetic refresh in the factory.

 

A Class 31 was always booked for the ECS so one of them also got 'the treatment' as it would be standing on the train in Platform 1 at Paddington - so that was an opportunity/excuse to give one of them a 'refresh'

[Rugd1022]

Well put Mike!

 

Rob - the Chinnor jobs were booked for Type 4 but often as not, 31s were used a lot of the time. They tended to struggle somewhat on Saunderton Bank but the cabs were more spacious and comfortable than the 47s and 50s we had (more room to stretch your legs). 50s were used on the Chinnor more than you'd think, usually after being released from the Factory whilst on 'local working only' from Old Oak. As young secondmen, most of us would relish the chance to thrash one of these up the Chiltern for a day, providing we had a good (ie: generous) driver. Luckily it was the 'Birmingham Link' men on this job and most were great blokes, letting us drive whenever we wanted - it was the done thing back then of course and seen as the best way to learn the job. If you know the Chinnor branch you may well have seen the article that appeared in Traction many years ago featuring a variety of stuff on the Chiltern in the early '70s, one particular shot shows a blue Hymek (possibly D7011 from memory) coming off the branch at Princes Risborough with a grinning, blond bearded youngser at the controls, this was Old Oak secondman Tom Nurmela, now a driver at Wembley.

[Scottish Modeller]

Hi all,

 

I remember the shock at Huddersfield when we got our first visit from a 31 with stripe on the Trans-Pennines!

 

Still remember the rush viewers to every vantage point when we heard a Deltic though....

 

Thanks

[brian daniels]

Well put Mike!

 

Rob - the Chinnor jobs were booked for Type 4 but often as not, 31s were used a lot of the time. They tended to struggle somewhat on Saunderton Bank but the cabs were more spacious and comfortable than the 47s and 50s we had (more room to stretch your legs). 50s were used on the Chinnor more than you'd think, usually after being released from the Factory whilst on 'local working only' from Old Oak. As young secondmen, most of us would relish the chance to thrash one of these up the Chiltern for a day, providing we had a good (ie: generous) driver. Luckily it was the 'Birmingham Link' men on this job and most were great blokes, letting us drive whenever we wanted - it was the done thing back then of course and seen as the best way to learn the job. If you know the Chinnor branch you may well have seen the article that appeared in Traction many years ago featuring a variety of stuff on the Chiltern in the early '70s, one particular shot shows a blue Hymek (possibly D7011 from memory) coming off the branch at Princes Risborough with a grinning, blond bearded youngser at the controls, this was Old Oak secondman Tom Nurmela, now a driver at Wembley.

 

Tom Nurmela has been at Didcot a few years now Nidge, not long until his retirement I think.

 

Brian

[DavidB]

From memory I think 31 304 was chosen for the extra treatment as it was one of the more reliable ones at Old Oak. It was still knocking around when I was there in '83 (minus the white stripe by then) and would occasionally be put to use on Type 4 diagrams if a 47 or 50 wasn't available. We had it on the Padd-Brums a few times and it coped very well with the gradients north of Banbury, which a couple of our 31/4s used to struggle with.

You're not wrong about those Old Oak 31/4s Nidge - they were gutless lumps. I remember one of them on an early morning Oxford-Padd commuter train of just 7 Mk1s. Full power saw no movement at all for the first 10 seconds or so, and with the handle wide open all the way to Scours Lane, it couldn't get above 70mph down the gentle gradients to Reading. By contrast, the 31/1s used to come roaring through Didcot on the Up Malago Vale empties at what looked to be well over 80. I remember 304 well (I made a 7mm scale model of it with the grey stripe), along with 31117, which always looked a treat, courtesy of those Old Oak painters. There's a good photo of it looking as smart and shiny as ever in May 1985 in Peter Robinson's Ian Allan colour album on the Class 30s and 31s. Very nice indeed.

 

Many thanks to you, Brian and Mike for the memories!

 

David

[Rugd1022]

Tom Nurmela has been at Didcot a few years now Nidge, not long until his retirement I think.

 

Brian

 

Thanks for that Brian, I hadn't realised he'd moved. He was at Stonebridge Park when I started there as a traction trainee and gave me my first drive in 25 051!

[The Stationmaster]

You're not wrong about those Old Oak 31/4s Nidge - they were gutless lumps. I remember one of them on an early morning Oxford-Padd commuter train of just 7 Mk1s. Full power saw no movement at all for the first 10 seconds or so, and with the handle wide open all the way to Scours Lane, it couldn't get above 70mph down the gentle gradients to Reading. By contrast, the 31/1s used to come roaring through Didcot on the Up Malago Vale empties at what looked to be well over 80. I remember 304 well (I made a 7mm scale model of it with the grey stripe), along with 31117, which always looked a treat, courtesy of those Old Oak painters. There's a good photo of it looking as smart and shiny as ever in May 1985 in Peter Robinson's Ian Allan colour album on the Class 30s and 31s. Very nice indeed.

 

Many thanks to you, Brian and Mike for the memories!

 

David

We used to get a pair of them on the 07.15 Oxford occasionally instead of a proper(ish) loco.  Standing joke when I was in the cab was wondering if we could actually get speed up to the 85mph PROS at Acton - mind you they did work a bit better when one was not trying to blow the brakes off while the other was trying to apply them but they were horribly sluggish things on a quite tightly timed commuter train.

[rob D2]

Were 31s hoisted on the WR as revenge for the region going it's own way with hydraulics?

 

I remember reading that the earlier 31s used to tap ETH power direct or something,thus reducing available power for other purposes, such as actually moving .

 

Either way, they may have been rubbish, but they had character which is the main thing sadly lacking in today's railway

[Rugd1022]

They were drafted in to replace Hymeks and 22s on mixed traffic duties Rob, and it has to be said they were generally not welcomed at all by WR crews used to being able to thrash the guts out of their Hydraulics, which were actually newer than the incoming ex-Eastern Region cast offs!

 

My books are still stashed away due to domestic activities but from memory Old Oak's first batch from the ER in 1969 included 5528, 5535 and 5539 which became 31 110, 117 and 121 respectively. Once the lads in the Factory had got used to their foibles, the latter two stalwarts (both 'skinheads') gave very good service most of time, becoming 'pet locos' later on. The outgoing Hymeks were sorely missed though. When I transferred from Stonebridge Park to Old Oak 31 117 was the first loco I worked on and although the blue livery was looking a little faded by the Kensal Rise carriage washing plant, mechanically it was very good and the cabs were spotless. Of the two, 121 was probably the better one though, it's front communicating doors had been plated over properly and the gaps welded up nicely to keep the draughts out, whereas 117 still had gaps around the edges and all four cab doors used to 'stick' when you tried to open them, due to the cabs twisting on the frames. By far the worst 31 at Old Oak was 414, which failed numerous times and caught fire twice when I was on it!

[rob D2]

Great reminders , this is the sort of stuff I love

[pheaton]

Summer saturday manchester to paignton.....always mk3s...

 

2 peds enter 1 ped leaves

 

remember a class 31 is the only loco that can heat more coaches than it can pull

 

in serious though i do have a soft spot for them and the fact that several are still trundling around on the mainline in their 50s is a testament to the design!!

[keefer]

here's one in Dec '74 in DaveF's wonderful photo thread - number looks like 312??

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/85326-dave-fs-photos-ongoing-more-added-1st-july/?p=1941472

 

(scroll down, didn't want to just hotlink to that photo)

 

looks like the stripe is just between the cab doors - on zooming in there may be traces on the cabsides, but if so, they weren't 'topped-up' as much as on the bodyside?

[brushman47544]

You're not wrong about those Old Oak 31/4s Nidge - they were gutless lumps. 

[snip]

By contrast, the 31/1s used to come roaring through Didcot on the Up Malago Vale empties at what looked to be well over 80.

 

31/4s.... always was a choice of power or heat. I remember a winter run from Birmingham in the mid 80s when talking to the driver on route he said he was going to turn off the ETH or he wasn't going to get to Padd.

[jonny777]

Here is 31415 at Cardiff Central on 8th Sept 1981.

 

 

[Titan]

here's one in Dec '74 in DaveF's wonderful photo thread - number looks like 312??

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/85326-dave-fs-photos-ongoing-more-added-1st-july/?p=1941472

 

(scroll down, didn't want to just hotlink to that photo)

 

looks like the stripe is just between the cab doors - on zooming in there may be traces on the cabsides, but if so, they weren't 'topped-up' as much as on the bodyside?

 

It is a bit early for white stripe application, I am actually wondering if it is in fact blue paint flaking off to reveal the stripe it had when green?