D860 VICTORIOUS

Hi Guys.

 

Just bought a Bachmann 37706 but would like to renumber it.

 

I'd like 37705 but can anyone please tell me what Depot Plaques it carried from being renumbered to 37705 until it lost its Triple Grey livery please?

 

Cheers

 

Dave

Hi Dave,

I have a picture of 37705 at Eastleigh around May 1993,carrying the Ripple Lane torch plaque,if that's any help...

Neil

Seagulls,a couple of nautical types,the background houses,and Western Glory-a magnificent photo...

Neil

As an add-on to the above,I have D1026 logged on 6 11 71,between Acton Central and Willesden

A bit of a long shot this one, but miracles do sometimes occur in RMWeb land.

 

Thanks to the recent rash of sale price Westerns, Father Christmas will be bringing me D1026 'Western Centurion'. A bit early for my normal era but it looks such a lovely model it was too good to resist at those recent prices, what I would really like to do is put an authentic head code on but not just any old head code!

What I would like is to find a headcode from a service that D1026 worked (if any) on the 31st July 1971 (my birthday).

 

Has anybody got the relevant info or could point me in the right direction please?

 

I did say it was a long shot!!!

 

Failing that, if anybody has a WTT for the summer of 1971, any headcode for a service that was Western worked and in the Oxford / Didcot / Reading area would be appreciated.

 

Kind Regards

Hi Dougie,

According to "Westerns" Vol. 1 D1000-D1029,by a well-known journalist,if I'm reading right,Centurion was in Swindon Works from 26 7 71 to 29 10 71,undergoing what seems to be a collision damage repair,and various other repairs.

HTH

Neil

That's interesting thoughts Neil - many thanks for sharing

 

There will be more habitations on the new layout in Norton village so more scope for village scenery but equally more open countryside too

 

What is a daft cameo from your perspective? we have the railway photographers trackside already, plus cyclists and horse riders

 

And as far as I am concerned there is no right or wrong answer, just interested to hear your perspective

 

Cheers

 

Phil

As one of the posts has said,being a rural location would suggest that having rural-type scenery,maybe more of the same as what you have now.is the way forward.

Helicopters landing,fire appliances with flashing blues,moving cyclists,stuff like that,I just can't se the point...just an opinion!! Unlikely that any of these will be in your plans..?

Neil

Hi Phil,

I noticed that "scenery" appears in your "for and against " columns. IMHO,the scenery was just right,no daft "cameos". Less is more...

Neil

(and a few more 43's wouldn't go amiss..)

Fabulous....

Neil

This day in history in 1971 the last remaining NBL Warships were all withdrawn at the stroke of a pen, it was also the day the 33s took over the Waterloo - Exeter services completely.

Bonjour Nidge,

A catastrophic day,no disrespect to 33's...Did the rather ponderous 31's "replace" the 43's on the Worcester route? Everyone knows about BR's quest for standardisation,but some of the 43's had not been long overhauled,and could surely have given a bit more service..

Neil

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY 3 10 72  (Sorry,one day late)

Old Oak Common

824 D1053 D1067 D1069   1539 1599 1638 1650 1653 1657 1658 1660 1663 1679 1941   3953 3954 3961 3966 4166   5528 5535 5686 5688 5689

D7000 D7001 D7019 D7026 D7029 D7030 D7031 D7032 D7037 D7054 D7080 D7085

Willesden

424  1993  3017 3067 3107 3850 4135  5817  8598  12058  E3064 E3070 E3104 E3118 E3123 E3128 E3139 E3142 E3152 E3157 E3158 E3160 E3166 E3197

A lad we knew had been to Willesden earlier that day and claimed he'd seen a "400-er" and a Clayton,as if,we thought,but sure enough...

More importantly,824 Highflyer was stabled around the turntable.Although I made several more visits to OOC,Paddington and Ealing over the two months after this date,that was the last time I saw a Warship in BR service.The beginning of the end of my railway interest at that time...

Neil

Hi Nidge,

Yep,the Hornby 08 is sublime..O Gauge diesels sounds good..

House moves and losing stuff seem to go well together.I've also got a couple of Pullman repair books from when they were dumped at OOC.Woudn't part with the Hymek numbers unless my life depended on it,even then I'd think twice..

As I'm typing this I'm looking at an ancient photo album.Have snaps of Dragon next to Magpie and Cockade at Swindon,June 73.Actually dug the album out after reading your comment on the Hymek Commemorative Special,lo and behold there's my snap of it passing Southall.It's a going-away shot,he says nonchalantly as if I actually meant it to be like that..Fab loco's the Hymeks...

Neil

Fascinating stuff Brian.Vanquisher was pretty close to withdrawal when you saw her.

Me and my mates went to Swindon Works and Marsh Junction on 12 3 72.An unforgettable day,unfortunately for all the wrong reasons...

Neil

I could have written that !

.

But for me, the shock of D809 in bruised and battered MFYE  was even greater; having seen it at Cardiff General on Saturday 6th. March, 1971 was bad enough, but two months later, just before 09:00hrs on Wednesday 26th. May 1971 it passed my classroom with the  7F22 06:45 MWFO Avonmouth - Radyr empty coke hoppers, returning again just before 10:30 with the balancing 8B22 10:20 MWFO Radyr - Avonmouth loaded coke hoppers for Imperial Smelting.

.

That was my last sighting of D809, and one of the few occasions I saw one en-route to/from or at Radyr.

.

Brian R

 Hi Brian,

I know Warships were frequent visitors to Severn Tunnel Junction on freights from Hither Green,Norwood etc.,but that must have been a pleasant surprise,twice in a short space of time.Can you remember what Champion was working at Cardiff?? Fascinating stuff...

Off topic here,but while I've got my spotting records out,when you were at Cardiff on 6 3 71,I was doing a tour of the London terminii.Me and my mate were just walking up the staircase out of Liverpool Street when I heard a noise,looked round to see D8204 arriving on parcels vans,the only one I saw in service.Thirty seconds later I would have missed it..

Neil

3808 was a Newton Abbot loco in the guise I've modelled it Neil, the one you're thinking of is 3807 which became 08 640. And no, I haven't modelled Reading, if only I had the space..! The data panel for your Warships should be like this one (with different details obviously), they were introduced in mid- 1968 and superceded in late 1973 by the larger type with the seperate 'box' along the top, which none of the Hydraulics had applied to them...

 

Western Class 52 data panel.jpg

 

(with apologies for veering away from the thread topic!)

 

Edit : here's exactly what you're after...

 

814 flame cut FB.jpg

Hi Nidge,

Cheers for the correction re the shunter number,any particular reason you modelled that one? I think the data panels I've made up from different transfers look about right.

Wow,a flame cut from Dragon,is it yours? Copped her at Esher in September 71..I had a builders plate from Champion but it broke into several pieces,and after a house move bits of it were lost.

However,I am the proud owner of a full set of numbers from D7069..Just remembered,at the recent Old Oak Common open day,I mean in September 1972,not Sept. 2017,Class 43 nameplates were on sale for 50 quid...pocket money didn't quite stretch that far...

Neil

For what it's worth:

 

I have Panther logged on 13 8 71 at both Old Oak Common and Southall.By referring to the fascinating tables of workings in the Book of the Warships  Ifound that

 Sorry,slip of keyboard finger...I found that the loco had a minor repair at Old Oak,then worked Kensington-Penzance milk empties.

Spartan was seen on 23 8 71 between Southall and Paddington

Last sighting of Tenacious,apart from Swindon scrapyard,was on 29 7 71 at Ealing Broadway.

When looking back at these notes I thought "why didn't I have a top-quality cine camera and a decent SLR with several lenses at the time.." then I remembered,I was only 12...

Neil

833 - stopped on 22/9/71 after A engine failed, hauled from Reading to Newton Abbot on 25/9/71, then withdrawn, official w/d date 3/10/71.

 

844 - last working not known but withdrawn on 4/10/71, travelled from Marsh Junction to Worcester under its own power in late October to perform carriage heating duties, returned light engine to Swindon for scrapping on 26/11/71.

 

852 - stopped on 11/9/71, thought to be at Bristol Bath Road, to store and withdrawn 3/10/71.

For what it's worth:

I have Panther logged on 13 8 71 at both Old Oak Common and Southall.By referring to the fascinating tables of workings in the Book of the Warships  Ifound that

Yes, am sure theres a discussion elsewhere about the correct ID of this loco - will look up tonight if no-one else gets there first!

 

Phil

I vaguely recall seeing in the "comments" section of this picture a correction by Martin Street,i.d.'ing the loco as Zenith.Couldn't see the comments section when I last looked...

Lovely eyewatering collection there Neil... here's my nod to 3808 using the Hornby model (with the wrong later version / larger sized data panel!)...

 

mod380824dd9.jpg

Hi Nidge,

I expect me and my mates eyes' watered when Cambrian drifted in with our train...That was at the time when "Merrymakers" cost about £1.50p..

Stand to be corrected here,but was 3808 the usual Reading pilot? Great-looking shunter,have you modelled Reading station to do it justice..? Now I'm wondering if the data panels I've made up from different transfers for my Warships etc. are the right size...!

Neil

IMG_0138.JPG

 

This a Rail prints photo D861 Exeter Dec 1970

Looks more like a 42....

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY 16 9 72

Ealing Broadway-Plymouth-Ealing Broadway

34 45 50 53 79 92 189 806 818 821 832 D1012 D1024 D1025 D1026 D1034 D1059 D1061 D1067 1594 1598 1599 1655 1682 1863 1913 1935 1982

3808 3955 3961 3963 3965 3989 4022 4130 5554 5823 6542 6568 D7038 D7099 PWM652 4588-Totnes

Laira depot

79 87 806 824 825 829 D1001 D1018 D1019 D1027 D1035 D1043 D1046 D1052 D1060 D1069 D1073 1602 2128 2134 4004 D7094 7505 7508 7573 7577

Newton Abbot station and shed

52 117 154 181 D1014 D1028 D1048 D1066 1575 1642 1670 1684 1745 3813 1369 6430 7827

Exeter St Davids station and stabling point

48 117 160 821 D1004 D1027 1575 1587 1602 1745 3509 4022 4129 4158 4160 4185 5202 6507 6515 D7038 7503 7506 7575

Haulage: 806 Ealing B.- Plymouth 45 Plymouth-Newton Abbot D1066 Newton Abbot-Exeter St Davids 1602 Exeter St D.-Ealing B.

A grand day out....

Neil

It's easy to get logged in to facebook Neil if you're so inclined, I wasn't interested for ages and only signed up when a mate at work told me about the railway photographic groups he was on. I do some 'family stuff' on there but mostly it's for the railway and classic car related nostalgia. If you do sign up and get endless 'friend requests' just ignore them!

 

You're right about collections being binned or lost, I 'lost' thousands of negs and prints over thirty years ago when I moved away from London, my big mistake was not labelling the boxes properly, they were all in old Tamiya military model boxes which someone else chucked in the bin without checking first. It was a mix of mid '70s to early '80s WR stuff around Padd, Old Oak and the South West.... it still grates to this day that I took my eye off the ball!

 

Yesterday the postie delivered my latest naughy purchase, namely Roger Geach's recent book 'Plymouth to Paddington' which has a couple of very historic photos that to some observers wouldn't seem that important, he managed to capture the very last Warship working in Cornwall (824 in December '72) and the very first appearance of a 37 (37 142 on a crew training run in February '78) in the county. All goods stuff.

Will give the FB lark a go,I remember some of the photo's on the site pre-FB being terrific.Endless "friend requests"? Fine by me if they're rich good-looking blondes,,,(very shallow..)

You must have been choked losing your photo collection,still have my negs and photo efforts from Kodak Instamatic days 71 onwards,most of which are hopeless..Out of interest where in London were you?

Didn't know about latest Roger Geach book,same publisher as his previous one? 824 was last Warship I saw in service..

Neil

(still hoping for Jaguar Mk 2 or Triumph TR6 barn find..)

Oh I'll be raising a glass or two next week while I'm off work!

 

It wouldn't surprise me at all if someone managed to snap D809 elsewhere that day back in '71, a few canny photographers made a real effort in the last year or so of the 800s. Good material is still coming out of the woodwork, a bit like 'Ferrari barn finds' in a way. I'll post the question on the facebook Hydraulics group, Mark Alden, Martin Street and Roger Geach are on there so something might turn up. I know not everyone does fb, but the railway groups on there are often very useful. The aforesaid Hydraulics group is top notch.

 

Edit : just realised you also saw D1018 in the London area, another of the 'vac only famous four' which was more common down west in its last few years. There's a cracking shot of it at St.Erth in the Bradford Barton Cornish diesels book, fresh from its recent repaint at Laira and not far away from early withdrawal.

Hi Nidge,

You may well be right about someone snapping Champion that day.After all,when I posted a question about a "Merrymaker" in September 72,not really hoping for much,the aforementioned Mr. Alden posted a pic of same,amazing.Guess it's possible that photographers of that period who lost interest in railways may have disposed of their collections...

I used to regularly look at Hydraulic pics on the net,can't remember which site,before they moved to FB,which I'm not on.Is it easy for a dinosaur like me to get hooked up on that? Just to expand a bit,me and a mate used to attend open days and head straight for the stands selling slides/photo's.We unearthed a few gems over the years,none more so than my mate finding a b/w shot of Hercules at Yeovil Jct. on it's final Exeter-Waterloo working.It was taken by Geoff Lendon,we both have a few of his pictures,absolutely top quality.Does the FB group have access to his work?

I know the shot of D1018 you mean,I kept all my BB books thankfully,they could easily have been chucked out as my railway interest disappeared for a long time.I think the four VB Westerns had some of the best names..

Maybe one day that elusive identifiable picture of Warrior in blue,in service, may surface...

Neil

That's the sort of post that gets pictures forming in the mind's eye Neil, leaving you with a warm fuzzy glow...

 

You did well to see D1020 'up country', it was much more common down in the far west on milk, china clay and weekend duties due to being vacuum braked only (one of the four never to receive dual braking). Equally, D1002 and D1003 weren't that common away from the West Country during the same period.

 

(Incidentally, in light of the thread title, thirty five years ago today I started on the railway...!)

Nice sentiment there Nidge,so glad I decided to actually keep my spotting records from 71 on.I saw the Westerns a couple of times over,never really paying attention to individual class members.After all,back then it was all about getting stuff underlined in your book...I've made reference to this day in a previous post,and just to repeat,seeing D809 Champion in it's weatherbeaten mfye livery passing through on vans is a very clear memory,just a few weeks away from withdrawal.Wonder if anyone photographed her that day..?

Hope you're raising a glass to your railway service milestone!

Neil

In Strathwood Books "Looking back at Westerns" page 19 has a pic quoted as D1021 Western Cavalier in MFYE livery dated 26/12/68,is this a misprint or did it carry this for a very short time before going BR blue?

 

Rob

Hi Rob,

I bought this picture as a print ages ago,and thought at the time that the info was wrong.My guess is that it's a misprint,I think it could be D1012 Western Firebrand,which carried mfye from 03/68 to 03/71.

Neil

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY 6 9 71

Southall-Reading General-Southall

D1018 D1059 D1060 D1070 1535 1589 1607 1609 1646 1656 1658 1662 1664 1912 1933 1934 1935 1956 3601 3947 D7007 D7026 D7053 D7065 DB975023

Reading General

D809 841 853 854 D1002 D1003 D1020 D1028 D1029 D1035 D1036 D1040 D1056 D1065 D1068

1533 1584 1588 1589 1591 1606 1607 1612 1637 1640 1651 1658 1662 1667 1669 1672 1674 1677 1680 1709 1751 1753 1755 1776 1864 1904 1938

3807 3953 3965 5535 6514 6534 D7033 D7049 D7065 D7100 1200 E6045

Wasn't the railway great back then....

Neil

Neil,

 

What a fascinating mix at OOC. Seventeen Westerns and 26 Brush Type 4's seemed too biased towards Diesel Electric to me for 1971, then I thought that quite a few of these could be on the West London line as you appeared to be there for quite some time given the number of BR(S) Cromptons you saw.

 

Cheers Tony

Hi Tony,

I think most of the Brush 4's were WR based examples,and apart from the original five Brush 2's allocated to the WR the others could have been from Stratford..We probably stayed there nearly all day,being the school summer holidays,and back then freight traffic was more plentiful,hence the number of 33's.Hymeks were a bit lacking that day..

Neil