35A

J7525 - the only matching record in the RailGen Archive for the month of August 1981 suggests that 45 058 worked an Alfreton & Mansfield Parkway to Great Yarmouth (and return) ADEX between A&MP and Norwich on Tuesday 4th August. At maximum magnification it looks likely that that is the number of the loco in the photograph and the train formation would suggest that it might well be an ADEX. J7736 - it's not clear what the number of the leading Class 20 is, however it appears to be 20 0 followed by another rounded digit. The RailGen Archive for August 1982 conveniently only shows one entry for a locomotive that might match that description, that is paired with a headcode-fitted example: 20 087, which was paired with 20 160 on 1E85 08:46 Burton-upon-Trent to Skegness and 1M47 18:40 Skegness - Burton-upon-Trent on 12th. Great images, as always, David. Fascinating to see Saxby Junction, other than by flying past on a train. As a young boy I remember visiting friends in Bourne, who lived adjacent to the railway, and seeing stacks of recovered track panels and rusty, disused running rails. I just wish that I'd had the forethought to take some photographs - or the ability to download the images from my head!

That nameplate was a replacement which was fitted by Tinsley depot after the loco was transferred there from Toton in 1986, in the latter days of D59 / 45 104s service life, as part of a general "tart up" of the loco (it was displayed at Bounds Green open day in May 1987). The original, 1964 nameplate was a wider, two-line plate, with "THE ROYAL" on the top line and "WARWICKSHIRE FUSILIERS" on the bottom line.

As others have said, David, photographs are not a priority. Thoughts are with you at the moment. Being in a not-dissimilar situation, with a single, very elderly parent, prone to periodic health issues, I can understand your concerns and wish your mum a speedy return to full health. Also, though, look after yourself - we're no spring chickens ourselves and it is all too easy to overdo it when caring for an infirm relative!

Many thanks for that. I'm surprised that I don't remember that, as I was doing a post-grad year at the Poly in Leicester from 1982-83 and photographed the changeover from 45s to HSTs around the May timetable change. With reducing academic workload I spent much time out with the 20s on the Skeggys that summer, on weekdays and occasionally on Sundays - but not, as I recall, on Saturdays. That's probably the reason why I did other things on Saturdays, although I'd forgotten the reason, 35 years on!

J7649 can't be 20 105, as it is headcode panel fitted. Closer inspection shows it to be 20 176 - in which case it's partner was 20 157 in May 1982. Re: J7993. On July 16th 1983 45 137 worked 1E85 09:22 Derby - Skegness and returned on 1M35 13:00 Skegness - Derby. Although that train was Class 20s and Mark Is during the week, every Saturday shows it to have been worked by a Class 45/1 - so presumably that was because air-conditioned stock was used (I honestly can't remember - but perhaps someone else can?).

That is correct, as others have confirmed. Derby Etches Park had a large fleet of 3-car Swindon Works Class 120s which were used on Birmingham - Norwich/Cambridge services (often, until the early 70s, with a CCT or GUV in tow), Nottingham - Lincoln services and Derby - Crewe services. Etches Park also had a small batch of Birmingham RC&W Co. Class 104 triples, which often (and randomly) appeared in place of the 120s. Not infrequently, Tyseley would have to provide a unit for an East Anglia bound service, which would generally be one of their three-car Metropolitan-Cammell Class 101s. On rare occasions (and normally on services that ran no further east than Peterborough) a three-car suburban Derby Works Class 116 would be used. Until circa 1972 there was a service from Leicester to Peterborough at around 17:20, formed of a pair of class 25s and Mark I stock. At Peterborough one class 25 would be removed and would head up the 20:02 TPO service to Crewe, whilst the other would return to Leicester, in service, with the stock, at around 20:20. For the last couple of years of its existence this was reduced to a single 25 throughout, with the Crewe TPO being worked by a Class 31 that had arrived at the head of one of the teatime King's Cross - Peterborough suburban services.

J7741: 20 077 appears to have only worked once in September 1982, on Saturday 18th, when it was paired with 20 016. They worked 1E86, 08:50 Leicester - Skegness, and 1M02, 12:35 return.

J7576 - given the size of the nameplate, that is definitely 55 017, rather than 55 015.

The hours that I spend on here, not only looking at the latest photographs but also looking back at other postings from the last five years. A complete joy. Thank you once again for the time that you invest in showing us your (and your Dad's) wonderful collection of images. They slightly predate my own photographs, although some of them overlap with the period when I was taking monochrome photographs on an old box Brownie and later colour images on a Halina 35mm SLR, so it's great to see many pictures from around the early 70s from the period that I remember well but wasn't photographing extensively, before I moved on to more advanced hardware!

5L30 (J3436) was an almost daily M-F down working, as mentioned above it was an early afternoon ECS working from London to (IIRC) York Works, conveying stock for attention. It was still running as late as mid-1975. It may have continued running beyond that date but most of my linesiding tended to be in the evening by then - and by 1976, of course, headcodes had been dispensed with, so it becomes difficult to identify anything in my rare afternoon notes that may have been that train. I don't recall it ever being headed by anything more powerful than a Class 31 and it generally passed Peterborough between around 14:10 and 14:45, although I do have a couple of notes of it running marginally later than that.

The class 20s in J7536 and J7991: J7536: 20 070 was paired with 20 075 at the beginning of August 1981 and appeared on the "Jolly Fisherman" up until 5th of the month. It reappeared from 22nd, on several occasions, each time paired with 20 087. J7991: 20 183 appeared numerous times during July 1983, each time paired with 20 187.

Just to pick up on last Thursday's selection - the SLOA "Flying Scotsman" Diamond Jubilee trains: I travelled on one and photographed the others. The loco on the support coaches (and which returned the trains from York to King's Cross) on all three weekends was 47 158 "Henry Ford", rather than 47 584, as captioned on J7832. In view of the 21st century concern over trespassing on the track, with particular regard to steam specials and to this particular loco, I thought that you might like to see this (particularly poor - for which I apologise but it's the only one that I've got as an illustration) image that I took at Newark during the water stop on the weekend that I travelled (27th February 1983). The entire trackbed of the up and down ECML was awash with enthusiasts, services were brought to a standstill - so not a recent phenomenon at all!

Interesting to see that you managed to post over the weekend, David. When I logged on during Saturday afternoon I found myself getting a 502 error from the site server (which continued all day yesterday and was still present in the small hours of today). I'm pleased to see that it has repaired itself this morning! Sorry to hear about your mother. I do hope that she feels a bit brighter soon. I sympathise, mine is 93 in a few weeks and for the past few months it has been one thing after another!

Likewise (for any modellers) 55 010, from December 1979, in that case due to damage.

A couple of corrections on the Deltics, David. J6128 is 55 022 - the footstep above the buffer beam gives it away, being smaller than those on the rest of the fleet and square-cornered, where it was fashioned to fit in where the original headlight was fitted. J7579 can't be 55 003 "Meld", as it was cut up nearly six months earlier. I'm pretty certain that it's 55 007 "Pinza". There are a couple of photographs of it in "The Napier Chronicles" that show it with the poorly greased buffers, as visible in your picture. Lovely shots, bringing back great memories, as always. Best regards.

FYI, re J7528: 20 068 was recorded on "Jolly Fisherman" workings on several days from 19th to 25th July 1981 - but always paired with 20 073. Given that the trailing loco is disc-fitted, I'm pretty sure that you can be certain that that was what it was.

Ha! I was there from 1982-83 (post-grad year). A handful of hours spent in the James Went building, most of it down by the railway!

C4088 looks like 55 014 to me, David. I'm not sure about J6142 either. At a higher magnification the numbers look too rounded for it to be 47 511 - BICBW. 511 was, also, a Western Region loco and, whilst "foreign" Brush 4s weren't all that rare on the ECML earlier in the decade (when depots would tend to use anything that they had to hand), by 1978 it would be very unusual to see what was, then, a Landore loco.

I did exactly the same, Phil. I noticed that the loco had rounded corners to the headcode box (as you mention, the conversion from disc to headcode in 1965 made the D260-D266 batch easily identifiable by the square corners to the headcode boxes), then I spotted the contour at the base of the nose, where the connecting doors used to extend down, and I got completely confused! Further research, today, has reminded me that, later in their life, 40 060, 40 061 and 40 065 all emerged with the standard rounded-corner headcode panels at one end, at least (if not both). I suspect that this was after the early class withdrawals in the latter half of the '70s and that sections of nose (and headcode panel) from condemned sister locos had been used to replace corroded sections of the original noses. Perhaps the seven converted locos were more prone to corrosion in the area of the 'new' headcode panel than those in 'as built' condition?

Completely agree - plus, of course, diversions between Peterborough and Hitchin, the first of which was recorded as early as 1961, when the main line was blocked at Offord. There are even some references in old Modern Railways of Deltic-hauled trains being diverted via Chatteris, St. Ives and Histon. It's rather surprising, actually, that there is no other record on www.napierchronicles.com of another Deltic at Cambridge until D9013 in March 1968. Like you, I'm certain that they did reach Cambridge on the CBE before that date, in addition to annual diversions. Unfortunately, very few people recorded such events prior to the end of steam. If anyone does have any detailed records I'm sure that Paul Bettany would be extremely pleased to be able to add them to the database (contact details on the website).

A shrubbery? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69iB-xy0u4A)

J2093 - very interesting to see an English Electric Type 3 on the main line in 1970. I don't recall ever seeing one, apart from the odd one on a charter train, certainly in the last half of the year. However, that looks like a service train. Curious. J2735 - I agree with the above. Given the formation and the arrangement of the discs I would definitely think that it was "The Highwayman". However, it can't be 251, as that had been blue for some time by August 1971. By then only 252, 254 and 257 of the York batch were still green. I favour 252, as that was the "roughest" looking of the three. 254 and 257 were nowhere near as shabby as 252. As always, though, lovely Swayfield shots. Takes me back every time!

To echo, the Leicester photos are very evocative, especially as I was based there a couple of years later - by which time very little had changed. It was the year that HSTs started to appear in place of the 45s and stock. There was also the nightly appearance (weekdays) of a class 50 on a freight from Lawley Street, that dropped off at Leicester and went onto the fuelling point, not to mention the summer delights of pairs of 20s on the "Jolly Fisherman". Happy days!

Agreed. If you look at the following image that I found (from Richard Davies' collection on Flickr), taken from the same end, the scratch above the secondman's side buffer and the wear to the paint below the middle windscreen match in both photographs.

So easily done, David. My Excel spreadsheets go back to 1970 and I've got a few queries of my own over that period. I've kept the hard copy books to reference back but all they tend to reveal is the same data! The great thing about putting them on the computer is that it makes searching for things so much quicker and simpler.