BrushVeteran

I travelled on this today (08.23 Ox-Worcester) and can confirm it was 800 011...............I did take a couple of pictures at Worcester. I can't say that I was impressed with the rock hard upright seats and the bogies seemed to be unhappy with some of the track. Marginally better than a Voyager and quieter but the HST ride back was much better.

I think it also depended on what length of notice you gave your LVLO as to which number series you were looking for. I was responsible for applying for 'matching' reg. numbers during the 1974-2004 period at City of Oxford and can remember no problems until 1975/6 when I requested 437-9 & 440-4 for two batches of Bristol VR's which in the end transpired as GUD749-51N and JWL993-7N and a batch of Fords 666-73 which were registered WWL503-10R. The reason given was that they were only allowed to pre-issue up to a certain amount if it was close to the year change to avoid cancelling into a continuous run. Of course in these NBC days there was quite a bit a swapping around of bus orders within the groups and we at Oxford always swapped the Leyland National allocation with our more willing counterparts. There was also a period I recall during 1997-2001 where certain numbers were not available as they had been reserved 'en-bloc' so that the DVLA could issue them at a 'premium'. 406 was one such number for us, materialising as 46, 820 being the other which was issued as 20 and we were reliably informed by our LVLO officer, with whom I had a good understanding, that these numbers would have been made available to car manufacturers/dealers, so in our case presumably Peuguot 406 and Rover 820. It would also have been possible for the Company to purchase these at a 'premium rate' but I considered it unfair at the time..............although consequently the Company relented when the 2012 system was introduced and decided to pay a premium to have all the subsequent registrations suffixed with OXF to keep each batch of vehicles in an alphabetical 'numbering order' but this ceased in 2015.

Happy Christmas Gilbert..............................and I hope Nora Batty gets a thicker pair of stockings in her stocking! She is looking colder these days with those easterly winds across the Fens! Grahame

I'd agree that it is at least post 1961 because of the OHLW markings on D5512.

Yes I would certainly agree with Theale. I think a lot of Theale's fuel was destined for Aldermarston and I can remember travelling to Reading just to see Brush Type 2's (toffee apple) variety which used to be regular on these turns until the advent of Brush Type 4's and latterly class 37's during the pre-TOPS period.

From what I can remember Devons Road was a sub depot of Willesden in BR days. When Stratford opened to diesel traction most of Devons Road allocation of diesels transferred there apart from the EE Type 1's (class 20), which went to Willesden and the NBL shunters which mostly went to Rugby.

If you used the body from one of the later batch for your project it would be more accurate as it would have the correct cab windows and no tablet catcher. The non-boilered tanks are available as Heljan spares from Howes. Heljan have issued #2700 D5401; #2706 D5385; #2708 D5381 & #2710 D5403 in original liveries which would be the best for your project.

I don't think so ........................so you're safe there!

I give up!

Why don't you ring Mike at Howes.............................he's had quite a few of these in bits!

All I can say Russell is that whilst researching liveries for the Heljan initial releases we trawled through hundreds of images, some taken quite late on in their lives. The different positionings of the OHLW warning flashes always helped to confirm whether a loco had been correctly identified and the shape of the SYP also varied a bit. I knew quite early on through my slide collection that D5707/8 were definite' s and of course D5701 in blue, but by the time these locos had received the LYE from Crewe at least half the remaining class were either un-serviceable or were in store, either officially or otherwise. I have found one or two images of the GLYE pair in the event to have been wrongly captioned so at present I will stick with what I know I have identified unless someone can prove me wrong with evidence. I managed to underline all of the class during their final years and I'm sure I would have observed further GLYE variants other than than the two already mentioned. It was either 1965 or 1966 when there were eleven of the class all stored in a line behind Crewe Works shielded by other loco's so that they couldn't be photographed and these were all filthy SYP some with fire damage. As with anything I am happy to be proved wrong but can only actually confirm what I have seen evidence of. I look forward to some more different images.

I popped into Howes yesterday and spoke to Mike who is well aware of the problem as is Heljan in Denmark. Hence the new version of the Class 37 has a modified design. Both versions of the gears were in stock yesterday and I understand that this is still an on going investigation by Heljan with their suppliers in China. So perhaps a bit less of the negativity on here as efforts are being made to sort the problem out! Heljan are at Warley if anybody feels they need to vent their feelings...........hopefully pleasantly............and I'm sure notice will be taken. I will also be there to help where I can.....................SO TREAT ME GENTLY!

Having watched a pair of 37's being refuelled at Crewe a few years ago, where the fueller walked off, I recon I watched a good 100 or so gallons p**s out all over the tracks before I managed to shout at someone to bring it to their attention. In the end the operative just casually walked towards the dispensing pump and stopped the flow. If you spill fuel on a garage forecourt these days you are supposed to report it immediately otherwise they can charge you for the eventual clean up.

Only D5707 & D5708 received full yellow ends to their green livery

Perhaps you saw it on the class 19 I mentioned Russell........................I have edited my mistake now!

Basically the Highdyke branch was run as three separate operations, The Stainby section from Skillington Rd. junction, the Sproxton branch from Skillington Rd. junction and Colsterworth Mines, which had a signal box with automatic tablet catcher apparatus installed for when it was switched out in order that through trains could run with a token for either Stainby or Sproxton. In essence this meant that up to three trains could be in operation on the branch at any one time, controlled by block sections from Skillington Road, Colsterworth and Highdyke boxes and as a steeply graded branch enabled loaded trains to be kept on the move between block sections.

I can well remember Brush Type 2's (They weren't 31's at that stage) showing an array of pyrotechnics from the wheels when pulling the evening commuter trains out of Kings Cross on the final piece of the incline up Hotel curve, especially if the rails were damp. This was of course when they were still Mirrlees engined but when they received the EE power units there must have been improvements to the wheelslip prevention as the pyrotechnics seemed to cease. I also witnessed BR Sulzer type 2's on a couple of occasions unable to start the train away and having a pilot loco attached, causing havoc to the evening departures!

Yes it was very interesting viewing and showed staff working under real pressure, and more importantly as a professional team................................................although I don't think I'll have "bangers and mash" for dinner today!

No Class 16 received the double arrows but D8400-3/6-7 all received GFYE retaining their 'D' prefixes.

Heljan's retail outlet at their head office in Sonderso had plenty of Peco and UK outline products last time I was there. I think they are even a Peco agent.

You can have your sound installed in a decoder with an 8 pin plug. If you go down the Howes route just specify 8 pin and the fact that it is for the Heljan version.

We had a similar problem with our dishwasher about four years ago and it kept tripping the circuit breaker with a bang. When we called in Bosch to check over our dishwasher as part of a manufacturers recall, the engineer also discovered that a mouse had been gnawing at the inlet cabling duct and 'had exploded'. He replaced the circuit board for us FOC and, as we had four cats at the time, they all got disciplinary notices and rationing! Not had a problem since so it may be worth checking out.

Some of them were good for 65mph and we had a job to get passed them even with Leyland 0680 engined Bristol RE's on the Oxford-London service when it was originally routed along the M4. Mind you one or two of the RE's could easily exceed the speed limit.................not that I ever did such a thing!

The Paddington sleeper accident was 50041 Bulwark Tony, I think I left you with an image of that loco.

These are AEC Renowns with Park Royal bodies.