anroar53

Did Rowley Regis ever get the floral hanging baskets that used to grace some stations years back ?? Look like the brackets that were used for those ???

27.10.68 Derby

During the 1970s there was a regular staff train at the southern end of the WCML, that was usually a Cravens 105 DMU, 0100 Watford Junction to Euston, and the 0149 Euston to Watford Junction. (This unit worked the St. Albans Branch during the day). At this time it was the only scheduled service to call at the Main Line platforms at Queens Park. If the DMU wasn't available the train would often be formed of a 501 via the DC Lines. The early hours of Sunday morning could produce an assortment of 'unusual' DMU workings to and from Bletchley, apart from the regular Cravens 105 I have noted a Marylebone 115 and the occasional 116.

3 minutes ago, Steven B said:

What are the yellow objects the shovels are stored behind used for?

 

It looks like with the checker-plate they're some form of height adjustable platform.

 

Steven B

I'm not sure now, the pictures I took were around 15 years ago during a routine UAT Exam for the Ploughs.

Hopefully this will answer some of the questions ? 

The 'Essentials'.

Tool Box and ladder below Air tank.

Handbrake.

Looking forward to the sharp end. Note the Brake Release cords leading away from the Brake Cylinder.

Front cover removed from the Plough End showing the stowed Brake Pipe connection for the sharp end.

Attachment of the Towing Bar at the sharp end.

According to some old traffic reports I found 6981,6991,6998 and 6999 appeared regularly on freight workings out of South Wales.

2 minutes ago, Binky said:

Thanks @anroar53, this was just the kind of information I was hoping for, an 08 shunter shuffling vans around will be ideal. Was the mail transfered straight into road vehicles within view of the platform or was it taken into a depot or building? I'm thinking about what scenery and buildings I could add to give an indication of the mail movement process.

 

The former Milk Dock at Somers Town was a short dead end island platform arrangement, and the Road vehicles would drive onto the platform and unload/load direct into the rail vans. There were several locations which had largish former Goods Sheds which were taken over for a time to deal with Mail/Parcels traffic, where road vehicles would back up to the shed for the mail/parcels to be transhipped from the rail vans. A few red Post Office Trucks and Vans nearby would add to the effect ?

I can remember from the last days of Somers Town Goods Depot (St. Pancras) the old covered Milk Dock at the north end of the Depot being used by the GPO to unload/load Bulk Letter Mail and Parcels. The vans in use were almost entirely of the Vanfit/SPV variety. They would arrive in the early morning to be unloaded, as only about 8 vans would fit either side of the platform the 08 shunter would make several trips to unload everything. In the evening the Vans would be loaded up with outgoing mail and Parcels before being shunted into a longer outgoing train. You could see the operations going on from the back windows of the old St. Pancras Box.

Vanfits and SPVs were still being used into the late 1970s for Post Office Mail and Parcels traffic between Hemel Hempstead and Euston, although more often than not there were some long wheelbase vans and bogie vehicles mixed in with them by this time.

I can remember doing fortnightly checks on the concentration of the acid levels in our local Carriage Washer. You would draw a small measured plastic beaker full from the main tank, then add a tablet into the beaker. This would dissolve and the liquid would change colour. I can't exactly recall what the various colours were now but the results had to be entered into the Washer Log Book and arrangements made to either dilute the mix if the acid content was too high, or add more mix if it was too weak. I vaguely recall the optimum result of the test was supposed to result in the sample turning a very pale yellow ?

3 hours ago, russ p said:

 

When did these fall out of use?  I've only ever seen pictures if them on the early west coast electric lines did they get used for pre heating after this.  Last time I came across one was on the NYMR in the early 90s

I remember there were two at St. Pancras in use in the late 1970s, seemed to have been converted from some old Stanier Full Brakes, and I think they were painted in plain rail blue at this time. During the Steam Heat period one was on the stops of Siding 8 between platforms 4 & 5, and the other was on the stops of either Siding A or B between platforms 2 and 3. I remember seeing them in action on a Sunday morning after finishing night shift. There would be a plume of steam going up into the roof showing they were running. They would disappear during the Summer, which may have been for their annual check ?

2 hours ago, steve1023 said:

8 car as well.

It's probably the 1143 Hastings to Brighton Student Special I mentioned in my earlier post ?

9 hours ago, Ben04uk said:

Thanks, what an excellent photo. I don't remember Platform 4 - does anyone know what services would have used this platform?

Most services used Platform 4, its main claim to fame was when this happened back in 1958. http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/eventsummary.php?eventID=608

Going back to the BEP thread there is this nice photo on Flickr of an 8 BEP at Seaford.

For a number of Summers from about 1987 an 8 CEP was utilised between the peaks to run a 'Student Special' from Hastings to Brighton and back leaving Hastings at 1143, I think it was a limited stop service fast from Bexhill to Eastbourne, and I think only called at Lewes on the way into Brighton ? The only trouble was that the sets were not available until after the morning peak, and by the time 1143 arrived most of the student traffic had already gone on earlier service trains. I'm not sure of the return working but it came back in time to form one of the Up London services via Battle.

Another semi regular working was utilising a 4 CEP which came down as the stopping portion of the 1758-1800 ? from London detached at Tunbridge Wells. It was booked to go up to Ore. It stood in for one of the DEMUs which ran in passenger service to Eastbourne before going empty up to Selhurst. When no units were required for Selhurst the 4 CEP ran to Eastbourne vice the DEMU (which was shunted into the Yard at Hastings) before returning empty to St. Leonards.

A short video clip of my 1970s based layout, picture quality a bit off, still getting used to the camera, from my own recollections when the Mk3s first arrived on the West Coast. (2nd Train in on the clip)

7 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Did the patron saint of DEMUs really close that early? The diesels were still running for a while after that, until electrification. 

My mistake, it was October 1986, memory playing tricks. The Depot lingered on a while after electrification in May 1986 dealing with the DEMUs still running on the Marshes, before all work was transferred to Selhurst in October 1987.

Having trawled through my photos I found the ones which were taken the following year when the shed was damaged by the great storm of 1987. I also found a picture taken a few years earlier of one of the Engine Carriers outside after a particularly heavy snowfall

1 hour ago, C126 said:

 

I remember photographing a MLV a few times that buzzed around, but either I am missing it in the cursory look through the time tables, or it appeared only in those later ones (1980's) I threw out recently.  

There was an MLV working from London Bridge to Hastings via Eastbourne very late 1980's early 1990s. It was a night time run, arriving at Hastings around 0100, and leaving to go back about an hour later. It disappeared when the Post Office withdrew mail handling by rail to and from Hastings in the 1990s and switched to road haulage.

50 minutes ago, Ben04uk said:

Thanks very much, I don't believe there was much freight either, other than the oil tanks to Galley Hill and the odd engineer train.

The only other regular freight was the 'Q' working which ran up to when St. Leonards Depot closed in 1984. It ran between Brighton and St. Leonards running round at Eastbourne, normally a 73 turn. The train consisted of four wheel fuel tankers to supply the DEMUs, the odd van of stores, plus the unique Engine carriers which conveyed overhauled English Electric engines for the DEMUs to and from Eastleigh.

53 minutes ago, roythebus said:

Rye to Ore possibly? single track with double track width.

 

It's not Rye to Ore. My 'local line' and none of the stations has a footbridge like that, in fact Three Oaks, Doleham, and Winchelsea don't have a footbridge of any sort.

The 03:27 Victoria to Eastbourne did have a van or two which worked round to Bexhill, where the Loco, normally a 73/1, ran round and took the empty vans back to Eastbourne. Occasionally the train had to go to Hastings to run round if Bexhill Box was 'switched out', which it was for long periods during the 1980s.

During the 1980s there were a few Mail trains on a Saturday morning that ran along the East Coastway to Hastings. They were normally Blue/Grey EPBs (both 4 and 2 car variants). They had the seat cushions turned over with mail bags stacked on top. They returned empty via Eastbourne (don't remember where exactly). If these trains arrived late (after 12:00) the GPO staff had gone home, and it was left to the station staff to unload. For security the mailbags were loaded into BRUTE trolleys and taken up in the lift to the Old Parcels bridge, where they remained until reclaimed by the Post Office on Monday morning.

Signals into Terminal stations are usually Red/Yellow, plus subsidiary. Changed in the mid 1970s from Red/Green.

Some Low speed lines also have Red/Yellow only. Before re-signalling in the Hastings area the Signal on the Down Platform at St. Leonards Warrior Square only displayed Red/Yellow, even if the Home signal was clear at the other end of the Tunnel running into Hastings.

Don't know if this is any good ? 

This is going back a ways, but the Harrow to Stanmore Village branch in its last few years had Freight trains propelled along the Branch to Stanmore. Once the run round loop at the former passenger station had been taken out of use there was nowhere to carry out a run round move. The restriction was that the train was limited to 13 wagons with a Brake Van leading.

5 hours ago, Rivercider said:

Here is an instamatic view of Euston from 1976.

86217, 25311, 86243, and 25068 Saturday evening 17/4/76.

 

cheers

Memory Lane. Easter weekend, and I was late shift over to the right of the picture in the PSB. It was a quiet Saturday afternoon, not much going out of the ordinary according to my notes for the day...

Bit of drama. The 1446 DC off Watford due in at 1529 had a suspected armed raider on the train, and the Police had requested the train be given a clear run into the station and not stopped outside. However, the Police decided to swoop on the train at Queens Park and search it. Nothing was found, and the train arrived 7 minutes late. This made the 1537 Watford 4 minutes late departing.

1M35 1410 off Glasgow due in at 1917 was 39 minutes late. It had been delayed behind 1V95 1335 Glasgow to Bristol at Motherwell, which had a defective coach which needed to be shunted out of the train.

1A73 1542 off Carlisle due in at 2018 was 12 minutes late, making connections with 1M35 at Carlisle.

In the picture the 25s would be busy making up the vans for the 2210 Preston, and 2315 Manchester Newspaper trains. Some of the vans will have been 'tripped' down from Camden. Another rake of vans would soon arrive in platform 2 from Willesden to make up the Saturday evening long distance Newspaper train, the 2002 Lairg.

3 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

As for Euston, I did train spot there, I cannot remember seeing diesels stabled there. There was always a few Sparks sat in one of the middle roads between the platforms , but they never seemed to move. 

You had to be lucky with diesels there. If they did arrive they would normally be sent down to Willesden after being released from the inward working. You had the little cluster of 25s that were used for shunting and trip working, and occasionally you would find one 'resting' in 21 or 22 road, but hidden from view by Parcels vans on 18 road.

One Monday morning I arrived for Early shift and found a Cravens 105 two car DMU stabled in 21 road. It had failed on the Sunday morning 0013 Bletchley ( a booked DMU working at the time), and had been shunted out of the way. It was still sat there when I went home in the afternoon, but had gone by Tuesday morning when I came back.

40022 spent about 12 hours at Euston on the 11.12.78. It had worked up to Willesden on a Freight earlier in the day, and was going to be returned north on the 2135 Euston to Glasgow Parcels. However there were problems with the Loco at Euston, and it was returned 'dead' to Crewe behind an Electric Loco at 0620 the following morning on a very late running 2135 Parcels.

Other than Cambridge Street for St. Pancras there were the 'Bottom Table' Sidings between platform 7 and the Gasometers, plus 'Top Table' Sidings between 'Bottom table' and Cambridge Street, where the 'new' Turntable was located.

Euston had Platform 8 used outside the 'Peak' hours, The top end of Siding 16, Short Docks 21 and 22, in the old Parcels Dock area, and 'Back of the Box', which was a short spur which was actually behind the site of the 1952 Signal Box rather than the 1964 one.