35A

I've upgraded our computers to Windows 10 with few issues. There were a few driver issues in the early days, particularly as I have to transfer files from PC to Mac and use a certain amount of media software for work but no real problems.

 

I've done 3 PCs and a laptop.

Ditto, I've upgraded a couple of desktops with only one major problem - and that is an HP one, in that they have (in their wisdom) decided not to provide a Windows 10 driver for their HP 710C printer (which my mother has). Yet, ironically, they still support my old backup, near 20-year old, HP Deskjet 640C!

Other than that it's just been a case of switching off a lot of the unwanted bells and whistles and unnecessary junk that comes with 10 and not using the insecure Edge browser that they're trying to foist on us.

No not quite. apparently about 30 made it into TOPs still Vacuum only. D1622/3 made it to become 47041 & 47042 into 1975 and D1627 made it to 1974 before becoming 47481. All three of these where unusual in being from the vacuum braked Stones boilered locos in the series D1618-D1630, the only ones so fitted. 47123 and 47124 at least also got TOPS numbers whilst vacuum braked. Photos of vacuum braked TOPS 47's are difficult to find, but they are out there.

Thanks Paul. Funny how the mind plays tricks after all these years! I remember the VB 47s long before TOPS was fully implemented and I was aware that the mods including the Serck rad grilles was required before air-braking but I'd always thought that they were done as two separate projects and that the rad mods were (& had to be) completed before air-braking. Clearly not. I guess that not remembering clearly seeing the original three-piece fixed grilles "in the metal" and not having any personal photographs of locos in blue with them (probably because most of my class 47 pictures from that time were ECML expresses and air-braked freights like the Cliffe-Uddingston cement and oil/fuel trains) has coloured my memories. Thanks for putting me right - I must re-read Brian Webb some time.

Interesting to see, in J2552, that the blue Brush 4 still has the three-piece fixed radiator grilles as late as 1971. That must have been one of the very last ones to be converted. It was a vacuum-braked Immingham loco at that time and presumably the grille set was replaced at the same time that it was air-braked, in October 1972, although I can't find any of my own photographs of 47s without the two-piece Serck shutters post-1970.

David,

Reverting to C3399 earlier (sorry - I've been away all week) I'm reconsidering my opinion on the Deltic. I've realised that it can't be 13 because it carries a crest above the nameplate, which "The Black Watch" certainly didn't have in 1977 and, after discussions with colleagues, I understand that it was never carried in blue livery. I still contend that it's not 55 004, due the to shortness of the nameplate (unless the angle of the shot is making the plate look shorter), and it's not 55 022 by virtue of the footstep above the bufferbeam. Therefore, it would most likely be 55 016. I think that the dirt on the nameplate probably drew me (erroneously) to the conclusion that it had a three-word name.

Apologies for misdirecting you!

I remember that class 47 in C2860, with the missing outer headcode blinds - unfortunately (and annoyingly) I can't remember exactly which one it was.

The Deltic in C3399 must be 55 013 "The Black Watch", I'd suggest. It's not 55 004 - the plates are too short - and I don't believe that it's 55 016 as the nameplate appears to contain a three word name, when magnified. It can't be "Royal Scots Grey", as the front footstep is wrong, so it must be no. 13.

This is an interesting one. It is 47014 at Reading in the spring of 1976 which has had its headcode deliberately wound to show an approximation to the loco number. - a la class 52s.

By complete coincidence, my picture of IKB was also taken at Reading, in almost exactly the same position, albeit on the nearer, platform road!

Thanks, David. That's certainly extended my knowledge - I hadn't appreciated that LT&S were still using headcodes that late (but at that time a unit-driven railway didn't really appeal to me for a visit). I don't recall seeing many on the GN suburban services but, again, that may well just be a lack of observation by me!

I was southern ECML based at that time and, having checked my daily spotting records from 1976, the last noted headcode sightings that I have were 20th March, where 47 458 was heading 1A21;  the 14th April, where 37 266 was observed running as 7T51/8T51 (rear) and 31 151 (towing DMU vehicles 50846, 56441 & 51472 - Stratford, Norwich & Finsbury Park based, respectively) showing 4P07;  plus 14th August when I recorded 25 284 showing 6V85 and 47 369 on 6E40 - which confirms that there were still the odd exceptions floating about later than I thought. Around mid-1976 I stopped recording headcodes (front and back), once 0000 became established, apart from any exceptions.

Off the ER I only noted the Westerns, all wound around to show their fleet number, and a couple of locos - both on the Western - showing headcodes, during the late summer of 1976, plus a Class 86 showing 5D56 at Euston. Of course, the class 50s later carried an abbreviated version of their number (dropping one of the zeros) as well.

The most interesting photograph that I have from the time, showing a headcode, was of 47 484 "ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL" with the blinds showing DVFF - someone clearly with a sense of humour!

 

1S93 from the formation I suspect has a wrong reporting number. I think it should have been 1S33 13:00SuO KX-Edinburgh.

I would actually query the date on this one. From 1st January 1976 the display of train headcodes had been discontinued and blinds were wound to 0000 and locked off (progressively). By February most had been done - although there was the odd exception. I'd be surprised to find a crew that were still setting them at all by April. Could it be an earlier photograph that has been misdated?

Lovely to see some of the old Buxton-based 104s in J1734. It was always easy to identify them from the white cab roofs. At the time I used to think that it was just a bit of Buxton personalisation, like the later Stratford silver roofs etc. I'm beginning to wonder now if this was actually an early application (as they are currently doing with the Class 91s) of an idea to reduce cab temperatures by reflecting the sunlight - after all, the 104s contained a lot of glass at the front!

A lovely set of DMU shots. Makes me regret that my photographic collection contains so few pictures of DMUs in white!

^David,

^{By a process of elimination, I think that the Deltic in C403 is 9013 "The Black Watch".}

^{Given the style of plate, it's not one of the Gateshead Deltics. The plate is too long for it to be any of the racehorses. It must, therefore, be one of the four Haymarket locos with a single line plate. One look at the footstep above the buffer beam confirms that it isn't 9000. It can't be 9004, as the plate is too short. It's not 9016, as at that time it was the one remaining Deltic still with a 'D' prefix. Therefore I humbly suggest that it's most likely to be 9013.}

Keep posting from Swayfield as often as you like, David. Those fabulous shots remind me of my time in the area around 1970-75! The first one of the Deltic (C773) is a beautiful shot, with the lineside crew watching on.

C773 could well be 9001, although it's difficult to find anything specific to identify that loco apart from the length of the nameplate. 9001 worked 1A11 (the 08:10 Newcastle - King's Cross) on both the 17th and 31st December 1971, at least.

C1455, the 47 on 1D02. Doncaster division headcodes used to cover the Grimsby/Cleethorpes trains. However, somewhere around that time the use of 'H' for Hull trains was dropped and they too became 'D' codes.

C1610, the 47 on 1E17. This used to be the up "Aberdonian", the 10:35 from Aberdeen. Usually a Deltic turn. There were a few shuffles of diagrams and headcodes around that time, though, so without consulting a WTT I can't be 100% certain. Unfortunately, I was hospitalised for several months at that time, so I don't have much in the way of detailed records for 1974.

Good news, David. Luckily I was able to live-in for my mother for a short while, which meant that she only needed Hospitals At Home help to wash & dress in the morning and the reverse in the evening, until she was able to get herself into bed after a few weeks, when we cut the evening visit out.

Moving on from the frame is the slowest progression. She'll probably be very quickly on to two crutches, then one, then to a stick (getting rid of that tends to take rather longer - I think that it's a confidence thing more than anything). My mother's neighbour is currently badgering her every couple of days to go out for a short walk with her, so things begin to return to normal as the confidence returns.

Best wishes to your mother for continued improvement and a return to full health as soon as possible. Once the warm weather returns it will no doubt act as encouragement for both of them!

Dave - The green class 47 in J2420 on 1N12 is captioned 1989 - but if you blow it up it's clearly D1104.

Having enlarged J1080 as much as I can, the resolution isn't good enough to convince me that it would be D6728. From April 1966 to February 1975 D6728 was a March-based loco. Back then locos didn't tend to stray too far from diagrams based on their home depots, as a rule (although there were exceptions, when a depot purloined a stray loco for its own use), so a Maltby diagram would, most likely, be a Tinsley-based 37 - or possibly an Immingham one, if it had originated from Doncaster.

Not impossible for it to be D6728, which could have worked up to Doncaster from Whitemoor and then been nicked, but I'm sceptical!

Dave,

I'd agree with both of Jonny777's suggestions, regarding C1135 being 9014 and C1223 being 9017. Additionally, J1644 is D9008.

The Gateshead nameplates make all of these fairly easy to identify for those of us "in the know" (for example, no 8's plate is positioned lower due to the depth of the crest). Enlarging C1135 makes it fairly clear that it ends in a 4, so it can only be 14 due to the style of plate.

Thoughts are with you and with your Mum. I had the same thing happen to my Mum, who is 89, back in September. She fell and fractured her right femur, just below a hip replacement that she had in July 2014. Well on the mend now, walking with a single stick and looking after herself again, so I hope that you can report the same progress yourself in a few months time.

Thank you for the hours of entertainment that you have provided on this thread over the past eighteen months but, as others have said, family must take priority.

With best wishes.

An observation on post #5130 picture J1286 - I don't think that the Deltic is D9000. It hasn't got the shorter, squarer footstep above the bufferbeam (unique to D9000, where its original headlight was positioned) and the nameplate is too long.

Given the length of the nameplate, I don't think that it's D9013 or D9016 (the other candidates with single line nameplates) - I'd suggest that it is most likely D9004 "Queen's Own Highlander" - in fact if you enlarge the picture the last digit looks as though it could be a 4.