DavidB

Great photos as usual Jim. Is it me, or are both VTEC HST power cars lacking exhaust deflectors? Is this a new modification? Their cab roofs and windscreens are looking a bit sooty in a retro-1970s kind of way, but nowhere near as grubby as their deflector-equipped EMT cousin, although I'm sure that the VP185 engine is responsible for that.

 

David

My Lords - Beast!

 

Cough - er, sorry, couldn't help myself.  You're a very lucky man Jim!

 

David

Hi Chris

 

The first few Pressed Steel sets had the rounded top to the headcode box - in later years, these were Reading sets L400, 401 and 402. The unlined light green livery suggests that this is one of those sets.

 

David

 

And so we don't have too much thread drift, from the 'prototype for everything files' a Hymek at Cookham rescuing a DMU.  Hard to tell if it's 117 or 121 from this view but one or the other.

 

https://flic.kr/p/d2aJS9

The unit has separate metal frames for the main bodyside windows, so that would confirm it as a 121 - the older 117s didn't have separate frames.

 

David

The Full English breakfast on a northbound Pendolino was very good recently - but for my favourite start to the day, you'd need to go back to 1977, when you could get a proper bacon sandwich cooked for you while you waited, as your HST rocketed westwards through the Vale of the White Horse at speeds that were still a novelty (and possibly a tad faster than today, based on performance logs from the time): proper white toast from a real toaster, buttered as you watched and with freshly grilled bacon laid on top, piping hot.  Absolutely delicious!  The equivalent pre-prepared FGW bacon baguette popped out of a microwave just doesn't begin to come close to that mouth-wateringly enjoyable culinary experience.  Mind you, it doesn't stop me enjoying the odd bacon baguette from time-to-time through Challow and Uffington, and the last one was free, courtesy of an unexpected voucher from FGW, so I certainly can't complain!

 

David

Sometimes I wonder if I want to go back to places now they look so different!

Didcot's still worth a visit Dave - having been a regular there since 1966 (at 18 months in my pushchair), it's in pretty good shape, with a top team of station staff who do things in the best tradition of the GWR and WR. It looks one heck of a lot smarter than it did in 1979, but the real shocker is the state of those HSTs compared to the same sets today - I'd forgotten just how grubby they became without the exhaust deflectors and when they were being flogged on some really long mileage diagrams. Only 3 years old, and in far worse external (and probably internal) condition than today at the age of 39 - who would ever have imagined back in 1979 that the same trains would be in better shape in 2015? Remarkable when you think about it.

 

Great photos - more please!

 

David

I'm loving this thread Peter - it's so refreshing to see this kind of work being done amidst all of the petty grumbling elsewhere about the perceived shortcomings of mass produced models and their manufacturers. Some useful tips too for my own current and planned scratch builds. More please!

 

David

 

Church Lane level crossing Class 37 up ex pass June 75 C2082.jpg

Church Lane level crossing Class 37 up ex pass June 75 C2082

Now that photo has solved a mystery that's bugged me for years. I could never work out why some models of class 37s never looked right from the front, from Bachmann's early efforts to the RJH 7mm kit. Now I can finally see just how much the nose tapers - that front end is so much narrower than the width of the cab across the windows. No wonder all those fat nose versions looked wrong. Great telephoto shot - thank you!

 

David

Those Pressfix numbers are a bu**er to get level aren't they? Should have used waterslide.....

 

David

Well this thread has reopened some very powerful (Powerstock?) memories of a summer holiday in 1974, when my father, brother and I had a great time travelling up and down the branch in the cab of the Pressed Steel single unit. Beautiful scenery, with some impressively sharp curves and gradients, a very friendly train crew who explained the Bristol-based unit diagrams (out-stationed at Westbury during the week, as I recall) and talked about stopping to collect the occasional slow-moving pheasant for the pot if they were lucky. What with the bucolic Bridport level crossing (brake to a halt, guard climbs down, stops traffic, closes gates, waves train through, train stops again, guard opens and secures gates, climbs back into van, train restarts), plus the gentle rolling gait of the DMU at 30mph on jointed track, it really was a lovely experience. But we were the only passengers in both directions, which says it all. Much missed.

 

David

Was that 4144 parked next to the Railmotor shed this morning? I caught a tantalising glimpse from platform 5 while waiting for the 07:10 from Hereford this morning. Lovely way to start the day - looking forward to the weekend launch!

 

David

A relatively unusual dmu for Paignton. Is it a class 120? They were the ones with orange curtains (in very thick material). Originally built including a buffet car which was never used on some of them allegedly. They had dials going up the window pillar so one could sit behind the driver and read the speedometer!

Several of the final batch of 120s with the headcode boxes (WR set numbers in the 55X series) were allocated to Laira through the 70s. I remember them from holidays on the beach at Dawlish, pulling away from the station with an exhaust rasp that sounded much sportier than the usual LA BRCW sets. Ugly brutes, but they rode well (for a DMU).

 

David

Not being rude about 26s but how did they manage, single loco, that number of wagons loaded? 

Phil

[Haulage geek mode on] In the words of performance guru Michael Oakley (BR Class 26/27 Diesels - Bradford Barton 1981), the 26s were "remarkably low-geared......what one finds is a performance peak at around 30mph, where the 26 is not merely the equal, pro rata, of the 27, but has overtaken it mightily......the normal class 26 performance curve has the drawbar hp down in practice to 50% of the engine brake hp by 60mph and to 25% by 80 mph, leaving the class 27 with a distinct advantage on the fast Aberdeen/Inverness route where the workings are now shared.....on their home ground, by contrast, the power comes through at the speed where it is most needed." So reliable low-speed slogging was where the class excelled, making them a good, if unusual, choice for the Central Belt MGR workings. And they made a gorgeous noise too! [Haulage geek mode off].

 

David

A Great Western semaphore emphatically off - I'm sure they don't normally drop to such a steep angle!

Looks as if the heat of the day has caused the wires to expand, and the bobby in Aller box hasn't had the time between trains to wind in the slack yet. What a wonderful reminder of happy holidays in the sunlit WR 1980s - thanks for a cracking thread!

 

David

The Old Oak allocation worked the Lambourn and Fairford branches into the blue era, as well as main line freights along the eastern end of the Berks & Hants.

 

David

I think it was an issue of timing as I have seen published pics of Warships with the odd MK2 in their rakes

Ditto Phill - and I still remember proudly identifying a maroon Stanier coach in a Warship-hauled northbound inter-regional at Dawlish in 1969 (when I was four), and the disappointment when my Dad told me it was one of the early Mark 2 FKs......just like the occasion a year later when I announced a major scoop after a spotting expedition to Midgham, when I convinced myself that I'd seen one of the D600 Warships pulling a freight round the curve towards Aldermaston. My disappointment on learning that they'd all been scrapped three years earlier, and I'd merely mis-identified one of Old Oak's run-of-the-mill NBL Type 2s was crushing. What I'd give today to be able to go back in time and watch that 22 trundle past again.......

 

David

The other lines that I can't see much evidence of 43s on is the N. Devon and N. Cornwall lines. I don't think they let them loose on many singled lines.

Not completely unknown Andy - Profile of the Warships (OUP 1984) has photos of 844 at Ilfracombe in 1970 and 842 at Barnstaple in 1971, while Diesel Hydraulics in the West Country (Ian Allan 2000) shows D848 on a lovely rake of Bulleid stock on Meldon Viaduct in 1963. I wish I could remember what they sounded like, but I was only six when the last NBL Warship was withdrawn.......

 

David

I started a part build of this 'part kit' today. If anyone is interested (I have not seen a Worsley 4mm coach build on here) I can post some pics

Yes please Mr Duck - I'll be starting my own first Worsley Works kit shortly, so it would be great to see pics of your build. Mine is a 16mm kit of the WHR's Pullman car Bodysgallen, so it'll be a tad larger, but I understand that most of Allen's kits follow the same pattern. Looking forward to following your progress,

 

David

Mozart's Clarinet Concerto - btw, I first came across this in the film Out of Africa, which won an Oscar for sound recordist Peter Handford, better known to RMWebbers as the man behind the Argo Transacord recordings of Britannias at Tebay, V2s on the Waverley route and Kings at Risborough. Which you could argue is another form of classic(al) music.

 

David

Just partially answered my own question - according to Diesel and Electric Locomotives of the Southern (Ian Allan 1984): "a circular dated 15 December 1967 informed various officers and depots that five HBs (74s) were to be experimentally fitted with solid disc wheels, as were for comparative purposes HAs Nos E5001-6." It goes on to say that other suspension changes during the rebuild "did not improve the ride, which was now bouncy at all speeds, one locomotive bouncing right off the road" - despite this, "when running light, they had the acceleration of a powerful sports car". Blimey!

 

Any chance of some soft springs on the 74 Dave?! Really looking forward to both the 71 and the 74,

 

David

Great photos Dave. It looks as if E6102 has disc wheels, but the others have retained the original spoked wheelsets. Is this right?

 

David

it will be great to see this one in steam.

And to hear it too - having travelled up the hill from Ricky to Amersham behind it (very quickly!) as well as many trips on the demonstration line at Didcot, I can vouch for the sheer pleasure of sitting back and enjoying the acoustic experience. It's fantastic to have it back again - many thanks to Castle and his team for bringing back an old friend. If only it could be let out for a day to work an all-stations Thames Valley local to Reading.......

 

David

1046 is at Liskeard, and the BSYP Warship (love that scheme) looks to be near Pirbright Junction.

 

David

I think Intrepid is on the Up through road at Newton Abbott (classic location) - and isn't 1013 on the SVR in that shot?

 

David

Blimey Kevin - this thread just gets better and better. Firstly there's 08640, and now another old Didcot/Oxford friend - 31304 - that I also modelled in 7mm back in the 80s. The 56 on Cemetery Curve brings back happy memories too - to hear the turbocharger scream as the 16 cylinders ramped up to full power round the curve, up over the hump of the Botley Road bridge and through the station at 55 mph was an experience in raw power. When I'm on platform 2 tomorrow at 7.30am waiting for my train to Brum (and wishing it was the Glasgow/Edinburgh hauled by one of Old Oak's pet named 47/4s), your photos will bring back very happy memories - cheers!

 

David