br2975

. Yep, that's the one.

Warships west of Cardiff, were, at one time a daily event, but as far west as Swansea ?. . During early 1971 I used to try and get to see the daily 8F37 12:01 Severn Tunnel Jcn. – Margam as it passed through the site of the former Ely (Main Line) station about 1:00pm, and which was an almost 'solid Warship turn'. From my notes, some examples were:- 25/02/71 - 864, 865; 26/02/71 - 846; 27/02/71 - 846, 02/03/71 - 837, 03/03/71 - 808; 05/03/71 - 865; 06/03/71 - 809; 10/03/71 - 844; 11/03/71 - 807; 13/03/71 - 857; 15/03/71 - 857; 16/03/71 - 833; 23/03/71 - 859; 05/04/71 – 841 . They were more commonplace on the SWML west of Cardiff than on the valleys network . eg I only ever saw one at Radyr, on the morning of Wednesday 26th. May, 1971 809 'Champion' ( 7C22/8B22 ) ***** (see note below at "A") together with 154 1613, 1914, 5179+5180, 6603, 6906, 6927, 6930, 6982, 7058,. . But I missed another at Radyr, later in 1971 when on .; Tuesday 17th. August, 1971. D854 Tiger, worked 0C22 L/E Bath Rd. Avonmouth 7C22 07.05 Avonmouth - Radyr ( empty coke hoppers ) 8B41 10.20 Radyr - Filton C.C.D. ** 0F74 L/E Filton - Bath Rd. . However, the WTT showed the following 8B41 09:52 Radyr Quarry - Bristol West Depot / Filton or Wapping Wharf, (household coal) as required. 8B22 10:20 Radyr Quarry - Avonmouth. ( coke hoppers ) So it appears 8B41 ran in the path of 8B22 on this date ? . NOTE "A" On Thursday 27th. May, 1971, the day after I saw D809 at Radyr, D809 worked an extended 7C36 05:10 Acton-East Usk which would/should have been be empty household coal wagons to East Usk Yard. However, D809 continued west, its' train included a raft of Ford Palvans, undoubtedly from Dagenham bound for Danygraig, Swansea, and no doubt added at Acton, or Stoke Gifford where 7C36 stood for an hour for wagon examination. Stranger still is that following 7C36 down the GWML / SWML would be 7C37 06:30 Southall - Jersey Marine which would sensibly have taken these wagons forward from STJ where both trains had stopped. Sadly, 50yrs on I doubt we'll find out why 7C36 continued past East Usk. . D810 'Cockade' worked 8C37 11.35 STJ-Margam as late as the 1st December 72, the day before it worked it's last train. . Warships were common at Barry as well; where 6E69 / 8E69 Barry Docks - Temple Mills freight, but often mainly banana vans, was also an almost 'solid' Warship working for a number of years. . Passenger wise, I only recall Warships working as far as Cardiff, and in later years the most common was; 1C36 08.45 Kingswear - Cardiff and 1B04 13.10 Cardiff - Paignton and that was a 'summer dated' working. I am aware of Warships reaching Ebbw Vale on several occasions, crewed by Severn Tunnel men, D826 'Jupiter' has been captured on film passing Rogerstone circa 1968, and in 1968 another reached British Benzole, Trethomas on a trainload of fitted 21 tonners.. . As for Warships at Swansea, I am aware of them working STJ - Jersey Marine jobs, and may have details somewhere, but it would take some finding. I have seen a photo of D836 'Powerful' waiting for the road at Newport on 13 April 1971 with 7V04 the 10.22 Eastleigh - Jersey Marine coal empties, and also on Wednesday 18th. August, 1971 D858 'Valorous' worked; 7C26 08.45 Plymouth Friary - Severn Tunnel Jct. 0O67 21.50 Severn Tunnel Jct. - Jersey Marine. I don't know what it worked back from Jersey Marine. . As for the original D6xx series............... . The photo attached is taken at Pantyffynnon, and quite rare . D601,D602 & D604 were transferred from Laira to Landore 8/1967. D602 made the move on 04/08/1967. D601 moved on 21/08/1967, worked to Newport by a Western hauling a South west - North West passenger service, and D604 made the move on 18/09/1967. It was reported that they reached Llandrindod Wells on at least two occasions. All returned to Laira in 11/1967. D601 & D602 left Landore for Laira on 22/11/1967 and were together at Bristol Bath Road on 24/11/1967. All were withdrawn 31/12/1967. D602 was painted in blue with a small yellow warning panel, whereas D601 & D604 were in green with a small yellow warning panel. The loco nearest the camera in this shot doesn't appear to have a light stripe along the tumblehome and has a BR arrow symbol amidships so is most likely D602. So, this photo was taken sometime between 19/09/1967 and 22/11/1967. The W.R. had recently lost a number of Cl.37s to the NER and ScR and it was thought (mistakenly) that the Warships would make a suitable replacement. (RCTS Courtney Haydon collection) . For the sake of completeness; On Thursday, 22nd. July, 1968, Hymek Cl.35 D7055 passed Cardiff General with withdrawn Warships D600 'Active' & D601 'Ark Royal' in tow, bound for Woodham Bros. scrap yard, Barry Docks . Although this reply wanders a bit off the subject, I hope it helps ? .

. It still goes on, at Ffos-y-fran / Cwmbargoed. . Although the opencast has ceased extracting coal at the end of November 2023, Britain's last domestic coal flow (using the stockpiled coal) to Tata, Margam needs to be shunted around at Cwmbargoed DP; albeit the train of HTA hoppers stays in one. . If you want to see the last train of British mined coal, it will be leaving Cwmbargoed in the next week or so.

. The major reason for Merthyr Tydfil's village elders imposing enforcement notices on the operators at Ffos-y-fran was the pollution and nuisance caused to nearby residents. . To which end I suspect it will be highly unlikely that same parish council will now allow the biggest hole in Britain ( Ffos-y-fran, not Merthyr ! ) to be used for landfill. . And with the Taff Bargoed line serving no great centres of population, other than Nelson, I suspect there will not be a reintroduced passenger service from there, down the helter skelter to Ystrad Mynach (High Level) either. .

. "We all had doctors papers" . The first, and only comedy album to top the UK album chart. . And of course, the sleeve was drawn by "Gren" creater of Aberflyarff, Cwmbyhere, Ponty, Pop, Nigel, Bromide Lil, Ivan Nuts-Trampler and the Efflew Valley . He's sold over 2 million albums in the meantime. .

. 'twas the following that inspired my Twll Cach and the Efflew Valley. . "In our little valley, they closed the colliery down, And the pithead baths is a supermarket now, Empty journies red with rust, rode to rest amidst the dust, And the pithead baths is a supermarket now" .

. I have also toyed with the idea of a West Wales milk branch, . You know, a timeless scene to allow anything from a pannier, 45xx to a Hymek, somewhere more remote even than the FoD.

. And look what it has led me to.......................... .

. The wife was refunded; we let the vendor take it up with Mr. A Mazon Esq.

Whilst we were away on our holibobs, the Big River delivery chap once put our parcel in the green recycling wheelie bin and recorded the fact in the appropriate manner. . You can guess what happened between his delivery and our return home. . "A long time ago In a landfill far, far away !"

My personal view, as a Welshman with but a smattering of my native tongue............... outside rural mid, and north Wales, the Welsh language appears to be the domain of the middle class 'Taffia' and the 'Crachach'. . If you are a former sports man (or woman) and you speak Welsh, the Welsh media is your licence to print money. . Has the ability to converse fluently in Welsh held me back ? . The answer must be 'no' . If being unable to understand Welsh language programmes on S4C is a hindrance, it has not effected me in the slightest. . My daughter is fluent, it has helped her on several occasions, usually when in the company of other Welsh speakers (members of the 'Taffia') who, because my daughter's strong Cardiff accent belies her ability to 'siarad Gymraeg' has challenged Welsh speaker's derogatory comments made against or about her....... much to their embarrassment, as she leaves their company with a cheery "Hwyl Fawr" .

Such police boxes were uncommon in the South Wales area, albeit there were a handful, generally the light was blue.

. "My bad" . "My bad" . For a bloke who professes to be as eloquent as you John, what in heaven's name is "My bad" ? . Act your age, and use 'The King's English'

. Are you sure about the LNWR Ramsbottom tank being named after the wife of the owner of Cardiff Docks ?. . As for the BrAIn's pub, "The Marchioness of Bute" - it was nowhere near Clive Road, which is in Canton. . The 'Marchioness of Bute' was well over a mile away, in Frederick Street, in the city centre. . The only pub on Clive Road was the 'Duke of Clarence' ( named for Prince Albert Victor, grandson of Queen Victoria and whose full title was "Duke of Clarence and Avondale" ) which, is now flat, and the ground forms the foundations for a block of apartments. .

. Tell them not to hold their breath. . Even if action is taken regarding the 'alleged' lack of a Test Certificate, the punishment will be minimal.

. An RTA (Road Traffic Accident) in a car park can be a difficult one. . The wording of Section 170 of The Road Traffic Act, 1988 includes - "............ owing to the presence of a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road, or other public place, an accident occurs by which— (a).................... or (b) damage is caused. . The difficult one here is defining a 'public place' to suit the RTA . A 'public place' is 'a place to which the public has access (at the material time) whther upon payment, or otherwise. . e.g. A football stadium is private property, but once the turnstiles open, and during a match, that private property becomes a public place. . Similarly, a Retail Park car park is private property but can be deemed a public place when the stores are open. . This scenario is a minefield, when it comes to the law - take for example Max-Power Rallies on Retail Park car parks when the Retail Park is closed for business ? . This is compounded by the police failing to train their (civilian) call handlers in the finer points; and these undertrained 'call handlers' are under pressure to real with as many callers as possible. . Sadly, many police officers are now no longer trained in such matters either . My brother was victim of a FTS (Fail to Stop) RTA very recently (on a public road) and despite having the VRM of the offending car, was told the same 'it's not a police matter, report it to your insurance' In his case it was a clear offence contrary to Sec.170 of The Road Traffic Act. He made a formal complaint to the local force, who have admitted their 'call handler' was in the wrong and labelled it as a 'misunderstanding' and a 'training issue' - which means the force concedes they have failed to train, or supervise their 'call handlers' . Whether the circumstances described actually do form a reportable road accident as described under the Road Traffic Act and associated legislation is not for me to determine; but I would always 'demand' to know how the call handler, or officer arrived at their decision. . And remember, the telephone conversation with a police control room or contact centre is always recorded.

Considering Swansea is some 40 miles 'deeper' in to Wales than Cardiff, it provided a greater variety of pre-grouping presence with former Midland Railway and L.N.W.R. accessing the town, albeit the MR employed some running rights to get there. . The capital only managed the odd LNWR 'Coal Tank' based at the Rhymney Railway's Cardiff Dock shed to shunt the LNWR Tyndall Street goods depot and warehouse, an agreement that ended after the grouping. . The Central Wales Line has seen its' fair share of diesel variety also, especially the lower end where Classes 03, 08, 14 (briefly), 35, 37, 41, 47 to name but a few reached there in the late 60s / early 70s. More recently, diversions away from the North & West brought diverted steel trains from Margam over the Central Wales with more up to date power.

. Reminds me of an incident involving a former colleague (police sniper) on uniform foot patrol in Bute Street (Tiger Bay) seeing a car parked up with four suspicious looking white males sat therein. . "Beechy" didn't recognise the car, or men, who stood out like sore thumbs. . A conversation took place between 'Beechy' and the driver, whilst the other three occupants remained 'schtum' . "Beechy" swiftly reached in and grabbed the car keys from the ignition, and said to the driver "Let's have a look in the boot" . Calmly the driver said "You don't want to open the boot" . "Beechy" opened the boot, which was an arsenal of weapons ! . "Call you control room, tell them Operation ??????? and give them this telephone number..........." . The strangers were on their way in a matter of minutes. . . Then there was my pursuit of a Mitsubishi Gallant around the Riverside area of Cardiff - . . Then the multi-agency anti-terror operation in the late 90s which ended with a hostage situation on a train at Jersey Marine (Swansea). . A relative and colleague in our Tactical Firerams Unit was part of the polce team securing the train, and was holed up in some bushes; awaiting the arrival of certain military personnel who would take over from the police and storm the train. . As time dragged on....'Gerry' (the officer) grew bored waiting for the military to arrive and relieve him and his colleagues, and started moving from one knee to another, squirming as his body began to ache. . Eventually a voice from the shrubbery beneath him said tersely "For f**** sake, can't you keep still for two minutes !" . .

. I bet he's happy after tonight's result at Villa Park.

. Despite being a 'traditionalist' I have to say that much of the 'traditional' uniform associated with the typical British 'Bobby' is nowadays thoroughly impractical. . On my last night I wore a cape, but ended up struggling with two warring partners, and the cape was a bl**dy nuisance, and only got in the way. However, it did conceal from view a couple of digs that were necessary to subdue my male prisoner. . The modern police officer is entitled to the best kit his/her force can provide and that includes things such as ASP, PR24 or other baton. CS spray, or other incapacitant. Rigid bar handcuffs TASER Disposable rubber gloves Faceguard for administering 'mouth to mouth' Stab proof, or ballistic vest. PR (Personal radio) and PDA device. Torch . All of these items (and more) have to be worn, and carried about the officer's person. . They're no use in the boot of a patrol car twenty yards away, as officers aren't issued with crystal balls so cannot anticipate when it will 'go off'. . The traditional 'Custodian' helmet is an anchronism and looks out of place when worn with a long reflective anorak, or wicking jacket, combat pants and Hi-Tec boots. . The helmet is the first thing to go flying when the officer gets into a struggle, and the helmet will invariably be stolen by an 'interested bystander' thereby generating much additional paperwork for the officer. . The traditional uniform looks so nice, so Dixon of Dock Green, but then looked what happened to PC 693 Dixon in "The Blue Lamp". . . .

. If I had a pound for every time I used that phrase.................. . . Local (and other) knowledge is everything - but it's a luxury the job now thinks it can do without . Stop and talk to people, listen to chit chat, read every collator's bulletin, read every prison release, read every bail report etc etc . "Knowledge is Power !" . . When I retired the second time (as a civvy) I was working 'flexi' and calculated that I could finish at midday on 'Black Friday' (last Friday before Christmas). . Told my D.S. I was leaving the nick at 11:45am, as it took ten minutes to get to the pub (opposite my house), and I intended to have a pint in my hand before midday - as the last thing I wanted to do was have a pint on duty ! . She joined me ! .

. Elementary my dear Scratching.

. I wasn't smiling at 02:00hrs. . I was expecting to finish then, having paraded for duty at 18:00hrs. - but was 'persuaded' to stay on and ended up with two 'bodies' (prisoners) and didn't finish until 06:00hrs. . Any other occasion I would have taken it in my stride; BUT, I was going for lunch, and then to the Wales v New Zealand Autumn International that afternoon.

. Hence the lack of experience of those (apparently) policing our streets.

. Yours truly prepares for his last shift on the street, Friday 6th. November 2009 - nights, Cardiff city centre. . Decided to look like a real copper and wear my cape. . The old 'horse blanket' was the best bit of kit ever issued................ and being obsolete in South Wales by that time, caused quite a stir amongst the revellers, and many younger colleagues who 'had to come and have a look' . True to my beliefs, I had two prisoners that last night - the control room staff, watching on cctv thought it was a remake of the famous BBCtv 'Only Fools & Horses' Christmas Special as I came running down Charles St. out of the gloom !