Class 22 areas of operation

[Phil Bullock]

On 14/11/2020 at 16:27, Phil Bullock said:

Just had some interesting comments from Mike Thomas in Worcester on operations in 66/67... Many thanks Mike!

 

Can I add a few notes regarding those early diesel classes.

My first sighting of a Class 14 was on sat 14th november 1965 at Abbotswood.It worked a Chepstow-Abbotswood ballast hoppers & returned LE to Gloucester.Loco was D9521.

The next one seen was D9527 on sat.March 5th 1966.Lydney-Worcester ballast hoppers so at least this one made it to Worcester.After that they were fairly regular on either ballast trains or local freights from Worcester-Gloucester.Last one noted was D9502 on sat july 16th 1966.

The D63xx class were kept fairly busy from 1968 to April 1971.I have numerous sightings of them during this period on ballast & concrete sleeper trains mainly.

My earliest sighting is 14 jan 1968 6316 on P.Way train at A/Wood.

6318 was at Ashchurch on may 4th 68 on the clear up after the freight train collision.

On sat 12th april 1969 85A worcester Open Day 6321/6324/6329 & 6342 were present.

Sun 6th july 1969;6320/6348/6352 on Gloucester Shed.Also present were 9514/9518.

As far as I can see my last working of a 63xx was sat 17th April 1971 when 6354 worked a 8B51 ballast to Worcester.

 

@D9502 Rich …. Forgot I had posted this gen that was provided to me!

 

[br2975]

On 14/11/2020 at 16:27, Phil Bullock said:

Just had some interesting comments from Mike Thomas in Worcester on operations in 66/67... Many thanks Mike!

 

Can I add a few notes regarding those early diesel classes.

My first sighting of a Class 14 was on sat 14th november 1965 at Abbotswood.It worked a Chepstow-Abbotswood ballast hoppers & returned LE to Gloucester.Loco was D9521.

The next one seen was D9527 on sat.March 5th 1966.Lydney-Worcester ballast hoppers so at least this one made it to Worcester.After that they were fairly regular on either ballast trains or local freights from Worcester-Gloucester.Last one noted was D9502 on sat july 16th 1966.

The D63xx class were kept fairly busy from 1968 to April 1971.I have numerous sightings of them during this period on ballast & concrete sleeper trains mainly.

My earliest sighting is 14 jan 1968 6316 on P.Way train at A/Wood.

6318 was at Ashchurch on may 4th 68 on the clear up after the freight train collision.

On sat 12th april 1969 85A worcester Open Day 6321/6324/6329 & 6342 were present.

Sun 6th july 1969;6320/6348/6352 on Gloucester Shed.Also present were 9514/9518.

As far as I can see my last working of a 63xx was sat 17th April 1971 when 6354 worked a 8B51 ballast to Worcester.

.

My notes suggest that there had been more D95xx locos at Horton Road prior to 6th. July, 1969.

.

D6607 left Canton on 30th. June, 1969 with D9502, 9514, 9518 and 9527 in tow, the four having been sold to the NCB North East Area.

.

The four 'nine-fivers' were at Horton Road on 3rd. and 4th. July, 1969, but D9502 & D9527 had departed by Sunday 6th. (D9527 at least was later dumped at Washwood Heath for almost a fortnight) ....but  later that month all four were reunited and passed through Derby, heading north  behind D102.

.

PS

D9518 was the last of the class to work in BR revenue service, finishing its working life at Radyr, on Saturday 20th. April, 1969 .......six days  after the date set by management for the cessation of the class' duties in South Wales.

Edited August 17, 2022 by br2975

[Mallard60022]

On 18/03/2015 at 19:42, jools1959 said:

I know that Class 22's worked in the Exeter/Plymouth area for the Devon banks, the Gloucester area for the Forest of Dean and Old Oak for ECS duties but did they work anywhere else.  I remember seeing several at Bristol Bath Road at a open day approx 1969/70? but I don't ever recall seeing them at Weston-super-Mare or Worle Junction (my local spotting area), just loads of Peaks, Warships, Western's, Class 47's, Hymek's and units.

 

Julian Sprott

May have been mentioned and sorry if it has been, even by me. Class 22 operated on the SR Mainline east of Exeter Central on occasional Milk Trains going east. Only have a Pic of one shunting Seaton Junction in 1964. They also worked some Local Services on that line but I have no photo evidence other than them sitting at Seaton Junction Main Line Down Platform and Down Yard Sidings. Circa '64 agin.

Phil

[Dunsignalling]

On 17/08/2022 at 16:55, Mallard60022 said:

May have been mentioned and sorry if it has been, even by me. Class 22 operated on the SR Mainline east of Exeter Central on occasional Milk Trains going east. Only have a Pic of one shunting Seaton Junction in 1964. They also worked some Local Services on that line but I have no photo evidence other than them sitting at Seaton Junction Main Line Down Platform and Down Yard Sidings. Circa '64 agin.

Phil

I think 22s also covered Exeter's trip workings to/from Whiteways at Whimple if one could be had. All too often though (especially after the demise of the NBs) they were in the hands of 08s, which must have been very tedious for the crews. Honiton still received a (very) occasional van until the early eighties, too and I think those involved an extension of the more regular Whimple trips. 

 

The preferred diesel for the Seaton Junction milk trains generally seemed to be a Hymek (commencing in the autumn of 1963). I didn't see much of what came out of UD/Unigate at Chard Junction until it was re-routed via Exeter to be added to traffic from further West, by which time (I think) Express Dairy had ceased operations at Seaton Junction.

 

Local passenger workings that I observed in the post-steam/pre-singling period seemed more often (though not exclusively) to be in the hands of Swindon Cross-country DMus (Class 120) which had been displaced by new 4-car Inter-City sets on the WR main line.

 

I was out of the area when singling occurred in 1967 and lost touch with/interest in, the local railway scene for about five years. Just too depressing! From early '68 I acquired my own transport and no longer had to suffer the emaciated train service grudgingly provided by the Western Region.

 

John

Edited September 14, 2022 by Dunsignalling

[britishcolumbian]

My first British locomotive model will be a 22... Longer term I intend to model Pen Mill (and possibly Town, eventually) in 9/65 (date chosen because of the overlap of 22s and a certain Merchant Navy class (35005) being assigned to the area at that time), though to get myself started I'm going to go with something based on Pen Mill that will be transportable to shows and included in the my local TT group's modular setup; I want to keep that in the 1965-1968 period too (the range is to allow for blue, which I like), but as much as possible focussing on September '65.

 

So my question: would one of the 22s assigned to Laira in September 1965 have a reasonable chance of showing up at Yeovil at that time? Regardless of yes or no the 22 will be going ahead since I've got all I need but the decals, but I'd like to know the answer anyways. From what I've been able to gather from the BR Database site, the only place in the wider Yeovil area where 22s were assigned in 9/65 was Laira, I only see Bristol Bath Road from 1967?

 

Addendum to my question: would all (or most) of the 22s numbered below 6333 have been refitted with headcode boxes by 9/65? Curious because from what I've found, the highest number at Laira at that time was 6325.

Edited November 23, 2022 by britishcolumbian

[csiedmo]

On 23/11/2022 at 03:47, britishcolumbian said:

My first British locomotive model will be a 22... Longer term I intend to model Pen Mill (and possibly Town, eventually) in 9/65 (date chosen because of the overlap of 22s and a certain Merchant Navy class (35005) being assigned to the area at that time), though to get myself started I'm going to go with something based on Pen Mill that will be transportable to shows and included in the my local TT group's modular setup; I want to keep that in the 1965-1968 period too (the range is to allow for blue, which I like), but as much as possible focussing on September '65.

 

So my question: would one of the 22s assigned to Laira in September 1965 have a reasonable chance of showing up at Yeovil at that time? Regardless of yes or no the 22 will be going ahead since I've got all I need but the decals, but I'd like to know the answer anyways. From what I've been able to gather from the BR Database site, the only place in the wider Yeovil area where 22s were assigned in 9/65 was Laira, I only see Bristol Bath Road from 1967?

 

Addendum to my question: would all (or most) of the 22s numbered below 6333 have been refitted with headcode boxes by 9/65? Curious because from what I've found, the highest number at Laira at that time was 6325.

Hello,

One of the Newton Abbot allocation seems more likely to turn up at Yeovil than the Laira ones. 
Headcode boxes were still being fitted in ‘66 and ‘67. Unfortunately the mid sixties isn’t exactly a treasure trove for class 22 photos, but I’ll see what I can dig out... 

Cheers,

Ed

 

[britishcolumbian]

5 hours ago, csiedmo said:

Hello,

One of the Newton Abbot allocation seems more likely to turn up at Yeovil than the Laira ones. 
Headcode boxes were still being fitted in ‘66 and ‘67. Unfortunately the mid sixties isn’t exactly a treasure trove for class 22 photos, but I’ll see what I can dig out... 

Cheers,

Ed

 

Thanks for that, I'll start looking around as well. In case I don't find anything, I wonder: would the fitting of the headcode boxes have resulted in getting new paint overall, as well?

[Dunsignalling]

On 23/11/2022 at 03:47, britishcolumbian said:

My first British locomotive model will be a 22... Longer term I intend to model Pen Mill (and possibly Town, eventually) in 9/65 (date chosen because of the overlap of 22s and a certain Merchant Navy class (35005) being assigned to the area at that time), though to get myself started I'm going to go with something based on Pen Mill that will be transportable to shows and included in the my local TT group's modular setup; I want to keep that in the 1965-1968 period too (the range is to allow for blue, which I like), but as much as possible focussing on September '65.

 

So my question: would one of the 22s assigned to Laira in September 1965 have a reasonable chance of showing up at Yeovil at that time? Regardless of yes or no the 22 will be going ahead since I've got all I need but the decals, but I'd like to know the answer anyways. From what I've been able to gather from the BR Database site, the only place in the wider Yeovil area where 22s were assigned in 9/65 was Laira, I only see Bristol Bath Road from 1967?

 

Addendum to my question: would all (or most) of the 22s numbered below 6333 have been refitted with headcode boxes by 9/65? Curious because from what I've found, the highest number at Laira at that time was 6325.

Regardless of official allocation, Class 22s were commonly present (and presumably working from) Exmouth Junction MPD until it closed in 1967.

 

It should also be noted that the WR recoded "72A" using Laira's former designation of 83D during 1963, with Laira becoming 84A.

 

The change has been known to create occasional confusion, even in published sources!

 

John

[lapford34102]

The Cornwall Rail Society have shots of both D6338 and D6339 around Yeovil 06/65.

They are on their Castle Cary to Weymouth pages

Stu

[csiedmo]

6 hours ago, britishcolumbian said:

Thanks for that, I'll start looking around as well. In case I don't find anything, I wonder: would the fitting of the headcode boxes have resulted in getting new paint overall, as well?

In general yes. It might have been that some of the externally fitted boxes were fitted on a more ad-hoc basis but the internally fitted ones seemed to be fitted at overhaul along with a repaint. Many of the early blue repaints didn’t receive the boxes until they went blue. 

[csiedmo]

This is what I've gleaned from my collection of photos and also the information supplied in Wilson:

 

D6300-D6333 locos with headcode boxes at 9/65:

 

no: 00/01/03/05/09/11/12/13/14/18/19/22/27/28/32/33
likely no: 04/16/29
don't know: 08/15/21/25/30/31
yes, external style: 02/06/07/17
likely yes, internal style: 10
likely blank plates: 23
yes, could be either external or internal: 24/26

 

I'm happy to update the list if better info arises.

Cheers,

Ed

 

Edited February 13, 2023 by csiedmo
Mods after checking "Class 22" David Wilson

[britishcolumbian]

By "internal" I gather you mean the ones that are basically flush with the front of the loco, and "external" is the big bulky box? What does "blank plates" mean?

 

According to BR Database, Newton Abbot had a fair number of 22s above D3334 so the headcode box question is more just out of interest, as I understand that the ones numbered 34 and higher were built new with the boxes... the point of this exercise is to find a suitable number for a 22 with flush headcode boxes (like this: https://lincoln-loco.co.uk/class-22/) that would have found itself around Yeovil in September 1965.

[Dunsignalling]

3 minutes ago, britishcolumbian said:

By "internal" I gather you mean the ones that are basically flush with the front of the loco, and "external" is the big bulky box? What does "blank plates" mean?

 

According to BR Database, Newton Abbot had a fair number of 22s above D3334 so the headcode box question is more just out of interest, as I understand that the ones numbered 34 and higher were built new with the boxes... the point of this exercise is to find a suitable number for a 22 with flush headcode boxes (like this: https://lincoln-loco.co.uk/class-22/) that would have found itself around Yeovil in September 1965.

Unfortunately, I don't have a Loco Shed book for 1965. My modelling era runs out on 31st December 1962 for reasons that other Southern fans will appreciate.

 

If any 22s were still based in Bristol at that time, I'd expect any working over the Weymouth route through Pen Mill to have come from there rather than anywhere "down West". 

 

John

[britishcolumbian]

7 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

If any 22s were still based in Bristol at that time, I'd expect any working over the Weymouth route through Pen Mill to have come from there rather than anywhere "down West"

I see no 22s at Bristol on 9/65 - Laira and Newton Abbot only. Bath Road had only 03, 08, 14, 35, 45, 47, 52, and 53. D6338 and D6339 mentioned by @lapford34102 above were both Newton Abbot 1964-1971.

[csiedmo]

9 minutes ago, britishcolumbian said:

By "internal" I gather you mean the ones that are basically flush with the front of the loco, and "external" is the big bulky box? What does "blank plates" mean?

 

According to BR Database, Newton Abbot had a fair number of 22s above D3334 so the headcode box question is more just out of interest, as I understand that the ones numbered 34 and higher were built new with the boxes... the point of this exercise is to find a suitable number for a 22 with flush headcode boxes (like this: https://lincoln-loco.co.uk/class-22/) that would have found itself around Yeovil in September 1965.

 

Hello,

 

Regarding the internal and external boxes, yes that's what I mean.

 

D6323 had rectangular plates where the headcode boxes should have been at least at one end during some of 1964/1965.

 

Having checked David Wilson's book, which contains detailed works histories for a few of these locos, it really does seem like most of the internal retro-fitted headcode boxes were fitted in 1966. I have a photo of D6310 in works during June 1965 which may have been when it had it's boxes fitted but you cannot tell from the photo.

If you're happy to consider the D6334-D6357 batch (they look quite different from the front, so that's a problem for N-gauge types) then according to BRdatabase D6334,D6336-D6342,D6344-D6346 were allocated to Newton Abbot at this time. It doesn't show any 22s at all allocated to Bristol for 9/65.  

[csiedmo]

31 minutes ago, britishcolumbian said:

By "internal" I gather you mean the ones that are basically flush with the front of the loco, and "external" is the big bulky box? What does "blank plates" mean?

 

According to BR Database, Newton Abbot had a fair number of 22s above D3334 so the headcode box question is more just out of interest, as I understand that the ones numbered 34 and higher were built new with the boxes... the point of this exercise is to find a suitable number for a 22 with flush headcode boxes (like this: https://lincoln-loco.co.uk/class-22/) that would have found itself around Yeovil in September 1965.

 

Strictly speaking the Lincoln-locos body only represents D6300/2/3/4/5 due to the circular vents (if that's what they are) under the 'boxes. These examples wouldn't be going anywhere near Yeovil.

[britishcolumbian]

6 minutes ago, csiedmo said:

 

Strictly speaking the Lincoln-locos body only represents D6300/2/3/4/5 due to the circular vents (if that's what they are) under the 'boxes. These examples wouldn't be going anywhere near Yeovil.

Well those can be removed, I'm not averse to modifying things.

 

edit: but thanks for pointing that out, I hadn't noticed that detail.

Edited February 13, 2023 by britishcolumbian

[Dunsignalling]

1 hour ago, britishcolumbian said:

I see no 22s at Bristol on 9/65 - Laira and Newton Abbot only. Bath Road had only 03, 08, 14, 35, 45, 47, 52, and 53. D6338 and D6339 mentioned by @lapford34102 above were both Newton Abbot 1964-1971.

Yes, with a bit more digging, it seems Bath Road lost its last few 22s toward the end of 1964.

 

Most of the duties they previously covered would have presumably been taken over by Hymeks. 

 

Bristol - Weymouth workings would be some way off the beaten track for any NA diagram, so the appearance of two in the June 1965 photo mentioned suggests a railtour  rather than a service train.

 

John

Edited February 13, 2023 by Dunsignalling

[britishcolumbian]

23 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

Bristol - Weymouth workings would be some way off the beaten track for any NA diagram, so the appearance of two in the June 1965 photo mentioned suggests a railtour  rather than a service train.

There's a photo in Branch Lines around Chard & Yeovil of D6331 on a Taunton-YPM passenger service in May 1964, so I gather the Taunton-Yeovil services were powered from Newton Abbot, as that engine was assiged there 1961-1967? Passenger service between Taunton and Yeovil Town ended June 1964 per the book and goods in July... (did trains keep going between Taunton and Pen Mill after Town service was discontinued? I gather the goods workings between Town and Hendford and Westland works were pulled by the steamers assigned to YT in 9/65?) Hmm, perhaps a minor adjustment in time will be needed... but that'd mean no AC railbus... or, you know, have a little range of equipment and just make sure to have everything on the layout be right for that moment in time. Anyways my key takeaway here is that a Newton Abbot 22 is suitable, just maybe not in September of 1965.

[Dunsignalling]

42 minutes ago, britishcolumbian said:

There's a photo in Branch Lines around Chard & Yeovil of D6331 on a Taunton-YPM passenger service in May 1964, so I gather the Taunton-Yeovil services were powered from Newton Abbot, as that engine was assiged there 1961-1967? Passenger service between Taunton and Yeovil Town ended June 1964 per the book and goods in July... (did trains keep going between Taunton and Pen Mill after Town service was discontinued? I gather the goods workings between Town and Hendford and Westland works were pulled by the steamers assigned to YT in 9/65?) Hmm, perhaps a minor adjustment in time will be needed... but that'd mean no AC railbus... or, you know, have a little range of equipment and just make sure to have everything on the layout be right for that moment in time. Anyways my key takeaway here is that a Newton Abbot 22 is suitable, just maybe not in September of 1965.

Yes, the decline of the Class 22 seems to have been much hastened by the run down and closure of branch and secondary lines (both ex-GWR and ex-LSWR) in the West Country from late 1963 through to 1966.

 

Over the same period, the completion of 'Western' construction allowed Warships to take over some heavier Hymek passenger duties. When combined with a general reduction in freight traffic, sufficient of the higher powered and more reliable Hymeks were released to displace the 22s from much of  what secondary work remained. 

 

Taunton shed was part of the Newton Abbot district anyway, so NA 22s on Taunton - Yeovil diagrams might have been stabled there for perhaps a week at a time rather than working up daily. 

 

John

Edited February 13, 2023 by Dunsignalling

[csiedmo]

2 hours ago, britishcolumbian said:

Well those can be removed, I'm not averse to modifying things.

 

edit: but thanks for pointing that out, I hadn't noticed that detail.

 

Depending on which loco you're wanting to represent, different modifications are required.

D6307-D6312,D6333 the circular vent needs to be removed and replaced with the u-shaped plate that covered the bottom half of the original i-shaped vents.

D6313-D6332, additionally the 'eyebrow' vents need to be removed.

D6334-D6357, the circular vents are actually correct, but just about everything else is completely different.

[Phil Bullock]

1 hour ago, Dunsignalling said:

Yes, the decline of the Class 22 seems to have been much hastened by the run down and closure of branch and secondary lines (both ex-GWR and ex-LSWR) in the West Country from late 1963 through to 1966.

 

Over the same period, the completion of 'Western' construction allowed Warships to take over some heavier Hymek passenger duties. When combined with a general reduction in freight traffic, sufficient of the higher powered and more reliable Hymeks were released to displace the 22s from much of  what secondary work remained. 

 

Taunton shed was part of the Newton Abbot district anyway, so NA 22s on Taunton - Yeovil diagrams might have been stabled there for perhaps a week at a time rather than working up daily. 

 

John

Class 14s outside South Wales we’re the first victims of these changes, which triggered a cascade. 20 were reallocated from Bristol to either Hull or South Wales at the end of 1966/beginning of 67 …. One set of duties they had been covering were the Gloucester trips including the Forest of Dean …. And the Class 22s were their replacements.

[Halvarras]

The Lincoln Loco body represents the production loco side grille layout so the Pilot Scheme batch D6300-5 is out of the picture, as these were completely different. The body as supplied is a little confused as it has the D6306-33 double-hinged nose-end doors but the D6334-57 circular panels (not vents - these covered the original locations for the warning horns). And then there are the D6306-12/33 'eyebrow' vents. Since these and the extra hinges are (I would imagine) fairly simple to remove, the D6334-57 batch would be easiest to do with this bodyshell. There were a couple of exceptions (as always!), I think D6322/3 received the circular panels at one end only due to collision damage repairs, and the caption to a photo of D6323 with its blank headcode plates makes a point of mentioning that it retained discs at the other end (having looked at it closely I reckon this received a new cab structure of the D6334-57 batch design). There is an excellent photo of it ex-works at Swindon in October 1966 having just been brought to standard, it must have narrowly avoided being the first blue repaint.

[britishcolumbian]

2 minutes ago, Halvarras said:

The Lincoln Loco body represents the production loco side grille layout so the Pilot Scheme batch D6300-5 is out of the picture, as these were completely different. The body as supplied is a little confused as it has the D6306-33 double-hinged nose-end doors but the D6334-57 circular panels (not vents - these covered the original locations for the warning horns). And then there are the D6306-12/33 'eyebrow' vents. Since these and the extra hinges are (I would imagine) fairly simple to remove, the D6334-57 batch would be easiest to do with this bodyshell. There were a couple of exceptions (as always!), I think D6322/3 received the circular panels at one end only due to collision damage repairs, and the caption to a photo of D6323 with its blank headcode plates makes a point of mentioning that it retained discs at the other end (having looked at it closely I reckon this received a new cab structure of the D6334-57 batch design). There is an excellent photo of it ex-works at Swindon in October 1966 having just been brought to standard, it must have narrowly avoided being the first blue repaint.

Thank you, that's helpful! I'll do my best to try and find photos of whichever unit I end up modelling, and go from there, but based on this I'll fix my attention on the 34-57 batch.

 

  

9 minutes ago, Phil Bullock said:

Class 14s outside South Wales we’re the first victims of these changes, which triggered a cascade. 20 were reallocated from Bristol to either Hull or South Wales at the end of 1966/beginning of 67 …. One set of duties they had been covering were the Gloucester trips including the Forest of Dean …. And the Class 22s were their replacements.

Speaking of Class 14, I see twelve of them were assigned to Bath Road 9/65 - do you have an idea what these would have been used for?

[Phil Bullock]

8 minutes ago, britishcolumbian said:

Thank you, that's helpful! I'll do my best to try and find photos of whichever unit I end up modelling, and go from there, but based on this I'll fix my attention on the 34-57 batch.

 

  

Speaking of Class 14, I see twelve of them were assigned to Bath Road 9/65 - do you have an idea what these would have been used for?

Bristol area trips including Bath and Keynsham and Gloucester area trip locos including surviving Forest of Dean branches and … I hope … as far north as Worcester. There are two photos of the Class in volume 3 of the Parkhouse books working southbound freights in 1966 at Cheltenham and Cleeve which look like they could have come from there … and I have been promised a photo of one working a freight at Abbotswood. But would not have been for long as they were all transferred away from Bristol by Spring 67 and I rather think Gloucester and Worcester tried to hand on to their 57xx panniers for as long as possible in 1965…