jazzer

In The Colour of Steam - East Coast Mainline by Kieth Pirt there is a beautiful picture of62668 Jutland pressed into service on a Sunday morning in May 1959 on a Lincoln to Sheffield train.What makes it particularly interesting is that Jutland was just out after winter storage at Darnal which I suppose is good enough to be a near- prototypical example for your excellent picture of Marne. D11’s seem to have been pressed into service on football supporters excursions to Wadsley Bridge ( Hillsborough) when Sheffield Wednesday were at home on alternate Saturdays in the late ‘50’s, I suppose it was more than plausible they would be seen on other trains in busy periods in the Summer season.

Not just the passengers opening them either. Back in the 80’s there were some instances of doors on HST’s suddenly flying open on their own. At least one passenger was killed when the door came open unexpectedly and he fell out. I can’t remember all the details at this distance of time , but I think there were other similar occasions, although not so serious and a design fault had been warned about but ignored/forgotten about. I haven’t been on an HST for years but I think they now have some sort of central locking fitted. I always thought it was odd that BRB could oversee what at the time was cutting edge technology in the design of the wheels , bogies and suspension to get them both safe and comfortable at 125 mph yet couldn’t get the doors to stay shut!

Yes, a sensible observation on was a semi- tongue in cheek comment from me. I spent most of my working life investigating industrial accidents. At times I have seen men suffering the most horrendous injuries, and sometimes killed often as a result of poor working practices, and sometimes as a result of their own stupidity in taking dangerous shortcuts in their work . As you say, the pendulum has swung too far the other way. Compensation culture has proved to a remunerative little industry in some cases. Coming back to our picture of the cleaners it struck me as interesting that with reasonable care and experience the job could be done in the position they were in .One old steam era driver told me he was taught to have three points of contact out of four , so that one hand or foot was free while the other hands/ feet were holding/standing securely. That strikes me as good advice. There is a lot to be said for the engine crews starting as cleaners and rising through the ranks, learning as they go. In someways Health and Safety has added something to the work place but taking something as well. As I said, my comment was semi - tongue in cheek, but I hope even observations on cleaners add something interesting to our mental images of the Steam era.

Two cleaners balancing on the buffers with nothing to hold onto, and another precariously balanced on the running plate above the cylinder. The modern day Elf an Sayfdee ofificer would be horrified at these clear breaches of the Work At Height Regulations, and would no doubt provide a proper trestle platform to stand on, with hand rails to prevent falls. Still in the 1950’s the cleaners were still able to think for themselves and rely on common sense and care to stay safe !

Thanks for the entertainment and inspiration you’ve given us Andy ! Look forward to seeing the new project develop.

That’s quite remarkable. I have two panniers and although they are not bad as slow runners once they start they always need a bit of power to get moving and start with a bit of a jerk. Same with stopping . I can’t get a smooth stop. I have two Bachman small prairies which seem to have the same or similar motor/gear set up but are both far, far superior to the panniers. I feel that I’ve tried everything with the panniers but the oil you mention is definitely worth a try.

…..and I have a Summer timetable for 1955, the last summer before the Heathen Electrics found there way to Southend, so between us we have the basis of Gilbert’s next layout ! An endless stream of Britannias and B1’s going it Norwich Yarmouth and Harwich, anything that steams going to Southend and plenty of excursions coming from the LMR.

Without trawling back over old Trains Illustrateds to check I am pretty sure that couple of BI’s were kept for carriage heating purposes at Holloway or somewhere to steam heat stock for Kings Cross for some tome after the demise of steam .. I don’t think there was any carriage heating in the summer months though ( possibly for the duration of the summer timetable). I have read that the reason the Standard 9F’s were not used on winter passenger trains was because they lacked steam heating equipment. Has anyone seen photos of 9F’s on winter passenger services ? I am not dead certain about this but fairly sure that in some areas at least it was common practice to remove steam hearting equipment during the summer , presumably to prevent corrosion. I suppose one way to check would be to look at some pictures taken in summer and see if there are any signs of steam leaks coming up from between the couplings as there certainly are in winter.

Len Deighton’s book Blitzkrieg contains a fascinating Forward written by General Walther Nehring who with worked General Heinz Guderian prior to May 1940 and he sets out the German side of the Battle.. Much as it seems strange at this distance of time the full potential of motorised forces was not fully appreciated by the British , French and much of the German High Command in those days. “Hurricane Heinz “ though had a fascination for motorised forces from 1932 and by 1938 was appointed Commander in Chief of Motorised Forces and was said to be a “genius” in his creation of a panzer force. According to Nehring it was Guderian’s revolutionary organisational skills and tactical thinking that transformed the whole situation in 1940. His thinking was far above that of the British and French whose thinking on mechanised matters ( according to Nehring ) had been reduced basically to a formula . In 1939 the German panzers had already seen action of sorts in Austria and Poland and Guderian had learned by the experience. Rommel was a panzer Commander junior to Guderian but both both men understood the need for commanders to be at the front of the attack but handicapped by the caution of High Command, which was understandable because the faster the advance the harder it becomes to maintain supply lines. Despite Guderian’s rapid advance he suffered three unnecessary delays First a day was lost due to a narrow bridgehead At Sedan , then two days later when High Command ordered no further advance until until General von Kleisthad flown down from Berlin to discuss tactics and then a week later stopped just outside Dunkirk, in almost in a position in cut off the influx of British and French troops. At this point Hitler , imagining himself to know more than the professionals made his notorious “order to halt “ and wrecked the carefully considered plans of the German military . The 330, 000 troops trapped at Dunkirk could have been captured and Britain would very likely have had to sue for peace. As it was the Germans only achieved an “ordinary victory “ instead of what might have happened it the British Expeditionary Force had been captured. The point is , I think that the Maginot line did the job it was designed to do but tactics had moved on and the British and French were outwitted. As for De Gaul he set himself up as an expert on mechanised warfare but had no real experience of it and like everything else he seems to have attempted he was hopeless at it.

The Maginot Line was understandably seen as a waste of money because the French Government were literally throwing money at it (£30 million at contemporary rates) while the average French person was heavily taxed paying also to rebuild France after WW1 damage, and also to rebuild the Army . According to Len Deighton moral was at rock bottom among the soldiers manning the line because living conditions were extremely uncomfortable and unsanitary. The main part of the line proved to be impregnable but where it ran south of the border with Belgium and Luxembourg it was less effective because of drainage problems and because Belgium wouldn’t have it on their land. In the event the Germans simply violated the neutrality of the Low Countries and went all the way to Dunkirk. There are also many arguments about the competence or lack of, by the French High Command who basically misunderstood the German tactics.

Thanks from me as well Gilbert. From my first visit to Kings Cross and seeing first Silver Fox and then Sliver King arrive and stand side by side in the platforms my enthusiasm for A4’s has never dimmed , ( although all LNER Steam is special to me). Like many others I log in most days and never tire, not just of the engines but the whole railway scene, including the “Plonks”. So thanks for all you efforts including the background information, and may long continue.

The account goes that Captain Howey, a big fan of the CPR , brought two CPR whistles back from Canada , one of which he gave to Gresley and the other was fitted to the RHDR’s Canadian Pacific “lookalike “ , Winston Churchill. Gresley later sent Howey a whistle not identical but very similar to an A4 whistle which was ( and I believe is still ) fitted to the RHDR’s “Hurricane”. I didn’t know about the Australian one but it seems Howey was rather an avid fan of whistles !

The intention was to introduce the production versions in in 1960 but due to various delays in production they didn’t start arriving until 1961, with the last of them in 1962. I am not dead certain but I think it’s very unlikely that the prototype overlapped in service with the production versions, as it was withdrawn in early 1961 after failing in service. It always struck me as odd that the prototype went first to the LMR , who never wanted it in the first place, whereas if it had gone straight to the ECML where it was a great success, we might well have seen production versions operating 2 or even 3 years earlier.

There are many former trainspotters that stood too close to Deltics pulling away and now they find it difficult to hear much of what their wives say to them !😊

To my mind the 4F absolutely captures the feel of the prototype . Not sure if the safety valves would have stayed that clean more than a day or two after a works overhaul and they are not something the cleaners would normal touch. However, apart from toning the safety valves down a bit I think it looks great. However, FWIW , you it won’t really work if the 7F looks more or less the same and I think a more heavily weathered loco would look really realistic alongside. All good stuff though.