slilley

Indeed. Show you how times change. There was a thought in the 1950s that a locomotive could be named after Cecil Rhodes. If the name had survived through to 11 November 1965 it would have been interesting to have seen what BR would have done. Simon

There are plenty of detail pictures of Class 33/1s in this book. https://www.crecy.co.uk/the-class-33s Simon

Indeed as naming got into its stride so you saw the type of thing youmention. Also from 1981 onwards BR giving locomotives names associated with their freight customers was a good way of keeping them on board as well, hence the naming of 47158 Henry Ford to mark so many million Ford cars moved by rail. Simon

I did promise to put something on here about naming locomotives in BR days. This could be quite a long piece so please bear with me. The information has come from BR archive material that I have studied during the course of writing my various books on the Class 47s, Class 33s, and soon to be published book on the Peaks. I would add this is a summary of the events of the time and I would point people towards my various books for the full story. In 1956 after BR had ordered what we know now as the Pilot Scheme locos, the BTC said that diesel locomotives could be named and the Chief Publicity Officer Christian Barman was tasked with producing lists of suitable names. To assist an ad-hoc committee was set up which reported back in March 1957. It provided suggestions for what we know now as the Class 44s, Class 40s, Class 71 electrics, as well as Warship names as the Western Region had already indicated that was the route they were going down for the 5 D600 locos they were getting from NBL and the 3 D800s being built at Swindon. For the most part these names were not taken up by the regions, who managed the process. The idea of a central list was to avoid anything inappropriate or name duplication. The story of the names offered for the Class 44s will be in the forthcoming Peak book so forgive me for not divulging everything. Where regions wanted to name locos, the decision would be taken by the respective Area Board, and if you read their minutes you see the various boards discussing a range of different names for various loco classes. As steam was being run down, a number of Army regiments whose names appeared on steam locos wrote to the BTC Chairman Sir Brian Robertson asking if their name could be transfered to a diesel. To start with he declined but then in 1960 changed his mind and there was a co-ordinated exercise through the War Ministry (fore-runner of the MoD we have today) to see which regiments wanted to do. A number responded, and in some cases because of amalgamations a slightly different name was transfered to the new diesel. Arrangements were co-ordinated through the regions. In October 1964 the BRB decided that diesel locomotive naming should stop once existing commitments had been met. The WR had obviously already gone down the road of deciding to name some Class 47s, and some Peaks were named after this time as well. The story moves on to 1977 and the BRB reversed its policy on naming, but at first it was to be whole classes to the same theme, hence the Class 50s getting warship names and the Class 87s getting names previously used on Royal Scot steam locos. The one exception had been the naming of 87001 in 1975 as part of the RAIL 150 celebrations that year. That policy soon evolved into the regions asking to name a loocmotive or small group of locomotives within a class. The Class 47/7s for the new Edinburgh-Glasgow push-pull services were some of the first off the blocks so to speak with names with a Scottish theme, and the 125 anniversary of the opening of Paddington station saw the WR name several more Class 47s. In the BR archives there are a number of files on namings in the 1979-1986 period. A form would be completed by the region detailing the name to be used, the locomotive to be named, and usually some simple reason for the intended naming. This would be passed to the Public Affairs Director and the CM&EE who would sign off the naming and the plates would be cast by BREL. In the case of the Class 33s an initial proposal to name all the class was rejected but the Railway Executive did agree to a limited number being named. In the case of the Class 33s there were a number of changes as to which locos would get names before it actually happened and this was also the case for other classes. As I said this is only a thumbnail sketch as to what happened and much more detail can be found in my various books. Simon

Hi Shed It is good to know that at least one person has bought the Class 33 book. I hope you will like the one I have just finished on the Peaks which is due out around September from Crecy. I will put together something on names in the BR era on here. The story of how the Peaks both 44 and 45 got their names is an interesting one and I wont spoil the forthcoming book. Simon

I came across this when researching the Class 33s and as a rule of thumb the ploughs were removed during the summer months. Staff at Bristol Temple Meads complained about plough fitted Class 33s and when they had to couple them to trains. The Southern was asked not to use plough fitted Class 33s on services into Bristol. Simon

I can shed some light on how things worked in BR days if you are interested? I can put quite a long post on here based on my research for my various books. Simon

The Class 24s on loan to the Southern Region prior to the completion of the Kent coast electrification scheme all had disc headcodes and there are certainly pictures of them being used when the locos were working trains then. Pallant & Bird's book Diesel & Electric Locomotives of the Southern Region is an example.

They were indeed. Roger Cordrey was the man for stopping trains. Simon

Indeed that is the case, and applies to the Thompson Pacifics as well. They were fitted with graduable steam brakes for the engine and tender and vacuum brakes for the train. Gresley's Pacifics were vacuum brake for the engine and tender and of course the train. Thus it was not possible to swap tenders between them. Class A2/1 No3696 had the repaired tender from A4 No 4469 after the locomotive was withdrawn following bomb damage. When reconditioned the tender was fitted with steam brakes and electric lighting. Simon

D8 had its doors welded up, the only Class 44 to have this done. D9 did have the whole cab replaced in 1969 following accident damage, and yes it had the shorter cab handrails, though dont forget the very early 45s were delivered from Crewe and Derby with the longer ones, later chnaged to shorter ones.

Hi there Looking at Brian Haresnape's book Gresley Locomotives, there is a picture on page 151 of the V4 3402 with the blackout tarpaulin in place. There is also a picture of O2 3844 with such a fitting on Page 49 of Yeadon's Register of LNER Locomotives Volume 9. It is not entirely clear how they are actually fitted in place. Simon

Read my article on NBL and its financial woes in the April 2012 Railways Illustrated. Gives you the full story. Simon

The railway scenes in the Stanley Baker film Robbery are pretty good.

Having written several books on locos with Sulzer engines, those locomotives were plauged with issues. Some of these were manufacturing ones, others were caused shall we say "operator error". My Class 47 book went into some detail about the problems with their engines and my forthcoming "Peak" book will do likewise about the multitude of problems with their engines. There was a regular Sulzer Service problems meeting held between various BR officials and Sulzer. I have only come across one set of minutes from November 1961. For example some cylinder blocks not only in the 12-cylinder Sulzer engines, but also in the 8-cylinder, and 6-cylinder ones had developed fractures. On investigation, the cause was found to be defective welding. Some problems appeared to be of the railways’ own making. Two fuel injector nozzles were produced by Sulzer, which had come from Nos D69 and D72. It was thought they were actually from English Electric engines as they had a 0.35mm hole diameter, rather than the Sulzer 0.45mm diameter. Sulzer emphasised the dangers of high line pressure caused by incorrect fittings. I could go on about the problems with the Peak engines but that would spoil my forthcoming book. Needless to say the rectification work was very expensive and Sulzer stumped up some £1,179,000 towards the cost, equivilent to some £16.8m at todays prices. As for other manufacturers, I know that various problems with the MAN engines NBL supplied for various locomotives were the subject of warranty claims and such was the potential claim, NBL made it clear to BR at one point that if they proceeded with the claim NBL would go out of business, which of course they did. The BTC also made late delivery claims against several manufacturers, Crompton Parkinson were the subject of at least two claims for the late delivery of equipment for the Peaks and the Class 33s and GEC had problems with the electrical equipment for the Class 27s. All this kind of thing is detailed in the minutes of various BTC committees that managed the whole locomotive procurement process. Simon

Just to make life easier, the Eastern Region also had a classification system which it applied to all diesel classes irrespective of whether they were based on the region.

Roy Thank you for the kind thoughts. I hope when it is published you will enjoy it. Best wishes Simon

I have some good news on the book on the Peaks, THE PEAKS, CLASSES 44, 45, and 46, I have been writing for the last three years. I submitted the manuscript to the publishers Crecy Ltd this morning, some 107,000 words, along with some 300 photos to illustrate the text.

I was at Aviemore in July 1984 and saw heading out of there northbound 47513 Severn. Simon

I have only just stumbled across this, but I did write a piece for Railways Illustrated in their April 2012 issue on NBL's demise. Researching at the National Archives, I found all sorts of archive material on their demise, the loans from the GIvernment, Clydesdale bank, and GEC and all sorts. The company was not wound up until 1969. Simon

I am close to submission with the Peak book. The manuscript is going through a final read through and editing and I have now most of the photos I need. That said I do have two very specific requirements. 1. A picture of D1 Scafell Pike soon after construction in all over green. 2. D100 in green whilst in service, not in preservation. If anyone is able to help with either of these two requests please contact me on here. You must be the copyright holder of any image you offer me. Simon

Do you need details of the various colours the prototype Deltic cab uses? I have the official Science Museum spec. Also they gave me a small piece of card painted in DELTIC blue, which is darker than many people think. I can scan that and let you have it. When DELTIC arrived in South Ken in 1963 EE sent some paint with it in case it needed touching up. Whendapol released the plastic kit again the Science Museum used a sample of the paint to help modellers. I heard about this and workng over the road at the V&A popped in and collected one. I put it up against the loco just to be sure and it was correct. As for LION and FALCON try the design files at the National Archives. They are in the AN160 series. I am sure they have details of the can interiors because Ted Wilkes who dd the styling for both was quite hot on cab design as well. Simon

It is a curious picture. It was started as a silent, and then halfway through becomes a talkie, one of the first in this country. There is some good footage, even if the ending does play fast and loose with how vacuum brakes operate.

The Bradford Barton hardback on the Brits has a number of close up pictures, albeit in black and white, where you are able to see what is bare copper piping, or lagged pipework of some sort. No 70014 which was displayed at the Festival of Britain was polished to within an inch of its life and the brightwork was very bright including polished edges to the smoke deflectors.

I have an immaculate copy of this now out of print book for sale. Much sought after I know. It is one of the small number that is signed by all three authors. If you are interested please send me a Private Message with your bid.The cover price is £29.95 Bidding will close at midday on Sunday.