Did a class 37 ever run with a class 20 in pre tops day?

[Londontram]

Saw this question on a face book forum and had no idea as have very limited knowledge of oil burners but wondered if any one else might have seen or herd of it happening. Thanks Steve

[uax6]

I would think so yes (I think I recall seeing a photo somewhere). They were both blue star multiple working fitted, so would be able to be both driven from the leading cab.....

 

Andy G

[keefer]

I think it was fairly common in Scotland, can't remember if it was for West Highland or Far North line?

Class 20s D8028-34 and D8070-127 were the main Scottish batches from new - they had snowplough brackets, through steam-heating pipe and tablet catcher recesses (catchers fitted to 8028-34)

 

The main reason for having the through steam pipe was so they could be coupled between the cl.37 and the coaches - if they didn't have this it would require extra effort and care to ensure the 20 was on the 'outside' - a real pain especially when the locos had to run-round.

 

EDIT:Not just 37s, but 27s too. e.g. Glasgow QS - Fort William

https://www.flickr.com/photos/24041160@N02/3381949699/in/set-72157622477895789/

[Fat Controller]

I think it was fairly common in Scotland, can't remember if it was for West Highland or Far North line?

Class 20s D8028-34 and D8070-127 were the main Scottish batches from new - they had snowplough brackets, through steam-heating pipe and tablet catcher recesses (catchers fitted to 8028-34)

 

The main reason for having the through steam pipe was so they could be coupled between the cl.37 and the coaches - if they didn't have this it would require extra effort and care to ensure the 20 was on the 'outside' - a real pain especially when the locos had to run-round.

 

EDIT:Not just 37s, but 27s too. e.g. Glasgow QS - Fort William

https://www.flickr.com/photos/24041160@N02/3381949699/in/set-72157622477895789/

It was on the West Highland; the 20 would then work local trips to Corpach and shunt the yard at Fort William..

[great central]

Having just found the books and papers I rescued from a derelict building in Deepcar yard, after a quick scan I found one of the shunting records that says 20118 and 37719 arrived with the trip from Tinsley on 22nd January 1992.

The next day 20118 was paired with 20165, perhaps a run out for the 37 after repair with the 20 for insurance? Not that they'd cause much problem on the long siding that the Tinsley-Deepcar line was by then.

 

 

Edit: Just noticed the thread title, sorry

[Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71]

....Buxton was a safe bet for oddball traction combos too...I've seen a 25 + 20 pair, 20s cab to cab cos they won't work in multi nose to nose. There is at least one pic of 31 + 37 in East Midlands coalfield book images.

 

Will advise if I can find anything on 20 + 37....it will have happened but whether anyone recorded it will be another matter.

 

Dave

[caradoc]

37s did double head with 20s regularly on the Monday morning down West Highland Sleeper, however this was not in pre-TOPS days. However given that some depots had allocations of both classes pre-TOPS (eg Gateshead, Stratford, Tinsley), and as Andy G says they were both blue star, there's a very good chance they did work together.

[ColinK]

Perhaps too modern for you, but I occasionally see 37 plus 20 on the flask trains.

[Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71]

....the 20s which worked off Fort William in the 80s often had a through steam pipe fitted to allow them to be exchanged by Eastfield within service trains without losing the steam heat supply for the coaches. As a former BR driver I wouldn't have bothered multi-ing this loco combo for such a light train, before needing to de-multi them at the other end. If the 37 was 'pants' then there might be some incentive.

 

Dave

[55016]

....the 20s which worked off Fort William in the 80s often had a through steam pipe fitted to allow them to be exchanged by Eastfield within service trains without losing the steam heat supply for the coaches. As a former BR driver I wouldn't have bothered multi-ing this loco combo for such a light train, before needing to de-multi them at the other end. If the 37 was 'pants' then there might be some incentive.

 

Dave

 

We're going slightly off topic here, but there were just two class 20s through steam pipe fitted (20045/085 IIRC) in the 1980s, principally to help out on the Monday morning sleeper which sometimes struggled on greasy rails combined with the gradients on the WHL, so the 20 would have been used in multi. As I recall this was in the last few months of mk1 sleeper use.

[Gwiwer]

20+37 recorded at Rotherham Masboro' off Tinsley on a lengthy freight in '71 and several such sightings around Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle in pre-TOPS number days.  

 

The combination could also be any way round, it seemed, with either class leading and the 20 either nose or cab first though nose first as leading loco was shunned and avoided if possible.

 

But one of my best ever sightings was in the short time I lived overlooking the Stratford complex and late one night noted a light engine movement heading towards Temple Mills formed of 37+20+50!  The 50 was dead in tow but the others were both powering.