BrushVeteran

I have just been sifting out some old suitcases which belonged to my late Father who sadly passed away in 2005. Inside one of the suitcase was a photo envelope from Boots which dated from 1938 and contained just some old negatives. On examining the negatives I was able to piece together the occasion when they were taken and part of the route taken. I had been scanning one of Dad's old photo albums he inherited from his father, my grandad, and the negatives I found probably weren't deemed suitable for including in a 'family holiday' album! My grandfather was in 1938 a goods guard at Marylebone Goods Office and started his railway career with the Great Central. He never took the job home with him and never seemed to be that enthusiastic about the railways. He did however take advantage of the LNER Staff Holiday Schemes and always took his family of four children away once a year to the sea, a tradition my father followed and myself with my own children until they were grown up. Going through the albums such places as Bridlington, Staithes, Mablethorpe and Rhu on the upper Clyde were destinations that are prevalent in the album and the whole family of six would obviously travel priv. rate by train right from the start of their journey from West Hampstead in London NW6. They would have all trudged down to South Hampstead Station to catch a DC lines train into Euston for the short walk then to Kings Cross where Dad would have relished the thought of possible A4 haulage to Scotland. It rather explains why Dad was an LNER follower and I had a preference for BR Eastern rather than Western, despite having lived in Oxford since 1955. The six images I am posting would have been taken by my father, as he was a railway enthusiast of the day, and as they were nearly extinct (found under the lining of the suitcase) I would like to share them with anyone who thinks they are interesting enough. Excuse the quality though as Dad would have only been 14 when he took these on his Kodak Reflex, which I still have as a keepsake, and the bonus to him cumulating on an afternoon trip on the LNER PS. 'Jeannie Deans', which he loved to talk about. Anyway treat these images for what they are, and I know what they must have meant to my father..................and I nearly threw them away. I have captioned them as best I can but the loco on the WHL may not be a K2. The cost of 12 prints and negs in 1938 was 1/6d. 7 1/2p. Please enjoy.

It wasn't there in my visit with Tony in July 2015 either

Definitely a photo taken by the late Brian Haresnape I believe.

D5370-8 were the Thornaby batch new with small yellow panels, with the Midland batches from D5379 fitted with train heating boilers. The Heljan model of D5403 has been liveried as in its last years on the Midland before transfer to Scotland and has the cab roof cantrail painted grey roof colour instead of BR green. This livery amendment seemed to be introduced by Derby works after their first major overhaul from 1965 onwards, however the build up of dirt around this area made most of this unnoticeable. I have attached a picture I took of D5407 at Cricklewood in April 67 to illustrate this, as well as one of 5405 taken at Eastfield in August 71.

The caption is definitely correct as 5381 hauled me back to Glasgow whilst I was on a fortnights all-line railrover in August 71. Here are two more images of it. 5405 was also in this livery at this time.

I purchased the front dome from this vehicle and fitted it to the first built Renown 807ML as part of its restoration, the remains of 9963SF were scrapped on site at Stevenage. I also have an official Park Royal bodybuilders photo of 9963SF just before delivery in Stark's light green livery but with Eastern Scottish fleetnames. I can scan this picture if necessary.

That's thrown up an interesting memory from the 1980's when I was working for Oxford Bus Company. We had some buses arrive with an early form of electronic destination indicator called Transdot and all the route information was encoded into an eprom which was mounted on a circuit board together with other eproms which operated the roll over system. To fit these eproms we were always told to wear hand straps fitted with crocodile clips which earthed the eprom whilst you were handling it. It has never occurred to me that a decoder is the modern equivalent of an eprom but it would make perfect sense to use a handstrap when handling a decoder. I would of thought that wearing of protective gloves would also be an adequate shield from body static charge. I've never really understood how static charge builds up in your body/clothing but remember my old Austin Maxi had to be fitted with an earth strap as it was good for giving me a 'belt' off the door handles..............the only car that I ever had this problem with. If it is just our clothing which causes the static i.e. nylon.......used to be told that this could be the cause........ then we'll all have to get used to taking our clothes off when fitting decoders.................now that's an interesting thought!

Further to my last post quoted above I received a phone call from Cherwell Cat Adaption Centre yesterday regarding the collection tin I deposited in my 'local'. Obviously because of lockdown there hasn't been much put in it over the last year, anyway I asked about the history of my two recent cats in a bit more detail and today got sent pictures of Sweep's brother, Figit and sister Migit. A strong family resemblance and the little black sister is just like her mother, Sooty. Apparently Sooty was handed in to the local vet in Bicester, very thin, heavily pregnant and very undernourished. When she gave birth it was touch and go and all the litter wouldn't eat as Sooty had hardly any milk. So Cherwell Cats Protection worked wonders I think to nurse the cats back to health and I'm very glad to be associated with them and give my utmost support. They have sent me pictures of Sweeps brother, Figit, and a group picture of all three kittens not long after their eyes had opened. They originally named Sweep as Digit, it was Brian Daniels that called them Sooty and Sweep!..................so we know what sort of programmes he like watching! I think Cats Protection devotion to the cause speaks for itself don't you!

Yes I remember the completed and painted Hillman Minx, Singer Gazelle, Sunbeam Rapier and Humber Hawk bodies being transported by road, eight at a time, on specially built transporters either a Leyland Beaver or a Commer TS with trailer. These lorries were owner by BRS but painted in blue Pressed Steel livery, some in the lighter blue with Prescold lettering. The Commers were significant as they had two stroke engines which would 'crackle' under power and throw sparks and flames out of the engine exhausts, very visible at night. My former stores drivers at Oxford Bus Co. used to drive these things when he worked for BRS and he said that your feet would always be warm as the exhaust used to be emitted from the front of the cab! The Rolls Royce & Bentley bodies would leave on similar lorries but were unpainted and partly covered with tarpaulins, I assume they were heading for Crewe. Whatever trains took the various goods to Gosford Green was probably in normal revenue wagons and vans which I probably wouldn't have been aware of from my viewpoint on Oxford station or Kidlington. I have lived in Kidlington and its surrounds since 1955 and the railway was always busy with freight, despite the many closures affecting local traffic i.e. Harris Bacon, Blue Circle Cement, Banbury Cattle Market (which was apparently one of the largest in the area and used rail to a large extent). There are still a few people still alive living in Kidlington who often tell me a few stories involving their connection with the local railway scene, even the son of Kidlington's last stationmaster, who I occasionally enjoy a pint with at our local!

My recollection of car trains from Morris Cowley and Abingdon were based on workings to Bathgate, Scotland and Harwich for export. We had many car delivery companies with large yards dotted around the Kidlington/Bicester/Thame area where disused airstrips were ideal and fairly secure for storage of vehicles. Most vehicles that needed to be delivered within a short mileage range of about 100 miles or less were delivered on trade plates by one way drivers who would then hitch a lift back home. Many of course went out on car transporters, Autocar, BRS and Toleman Group are familiar names I can remember. Where I lived in Kidlington we had a car collection company and a few of my school chums parents were employed delivering new cars. I even had a few rides in one or two of them especially when the Mini was first introduced. There was a known scam by some of the drivers called 'milking' whereby they would syphon petrol from the new cars for their own use, leaving just enough in the tanks to get them to the dealers! I also remember seeing the Morris 1100's covered in wax being driven down our road months before they were announced in 1962. My father actually ordered one in Fiesta Yellow before the garage had even listed them as being available, thus we had one of the first that was on the road in our village, can even remember the reg. no. 161RWL! I digress sorry! It was normal practice for the export cars to be driven to the MAT Transport Terminal in Garsington Road, Cowley adjacent to the closed Morris Cowley station and the cars driven on to the car flats. Once a train had been loaded it was then shuttled down the branch to Hinksey Yard by a 61XX or later on a D63XX or D7XXX and remarshalled with carflats from Abingdon which were loaded with MG's . Apart from the Bathgate trains, which usually ran at night, there wasn't much evidence of car traffic going north through Oxford Station. Export trains for Harwich ( I don't know whether much BMC product went to Southampton) would then travel south from Hinksey Yard and not be seen by us train spotters on Oxford Station. We had the last batch of Britannia's with the Scottish Firth names serviced at Oxford depot 81F for the Bathgate jobs, later EE Type 4's in the D3XX range and after that Brush Type 4's. I think this traffic had almost ceased by the 1980's. Another factor which may have bearing on the use of road transport was the volatile state of car production at Cowley during the sixties and seventies. There was a strike nearly every week as far as I can remember, mainly by the women in the trim shops so I'm told, and sometimes incomplete cars would get driven to the car delivery compounds just to get them out of the factory. It was almost impossible to order a car from the factory for a specified delivery day. My father waited from October 1962 to May 1963 for his 1100, disgusting when you think it was only produced five miles from where we lived. But yes I would say that most home market cars went by road transport or under their own steam...........literally in some cases!

Here are a couple of photo's I took of it at Speke in September 91 if it is any help.

I'd like to see some of his green era diesel images. I met him on Oxford station a couple of times, the first time being in September 1965 when we both took a shot of D5858 arriving on 1042 from Sheffield, a shot also taken by Frank Cassell from Leicester. I can remember the day quite vividly and Norman may have even captured D5383 heading LE to Hinksey yard as I had run out of film by then!

Is it possible that she's the mother Jim? When I was working nights at Oxford Bus Company back in 2005 we had a colony of kittens that were feral but always hungry and the mother cat, when we eventually caught her, was not more than a kitten herself. We caught them all and got then all 'seen to', but not before the mother had another lot, so ended up with them all apart from the mother............she was very wild and wouldn't have got on with the other four cats I already had. I kept two kittens and managed to rehome four others. Sadly one of my 'new' ones got run over the day after he came back from the vets and the other, Pepper, eventually had an altercation with a fox where he lost a front leg and his tail but soldiered on with us for six years before we had to part with him at fifteen...........not bad considering his disabilities! Here is Pepper asleep in a box................as usual!

Excellent Kier, full of nostalgia........................but where have all the 31's gone!

Yes Sweep's father will be one of those cat mysteries I think. His mother, Sooty, was found roaming around Bicester heavily pregnant and caught by the Cats Protection local cattery where she gave birth to three kittens. As I had said 'goodbye' to my previous cat in September 2019 and had then been without one for the first time in sixty nine years I decided to rescue a pair in January last year. They had to come as a pair as Sweep pined for his mother when he went to his first home, which lasted about a week then handed back to the cattery, I don't know how anyone serious in adopting a cat can ever do that................all cats are individuals who have their own character and you have to get to know each other. Anyhow Sweep has two siblings somewhere and they would be quite interesting to see if they are anything like him. Here is a picture of him in the cattery when we initially went to view him a year ago. He has filled out quite a bit!

With the imminent release of Hejan's new class 86/0 these should be spares becoming available at Gaugemater soon, assuming the new bufferbeams are the same.

I've had these two Sweep and Sooty just a year now and as rescue cats have settled in the house very well. Sweep being the fifteen month old son of Sooty is now nearly twice the size of his mother, but she is still the boss and growls and hisses at him every time he stares at her. A constant laugh really but she is quite a little fireball..............they don't stay long sat together!

Yes a good example of engineering teamwork. Thanks to the 'local' ream of correspondents in keeping us entertained with excellent 'unbiased' journalism.............I've looked in on the thread every day and found it quite compelling viewing. Perhaps the same engineering team can make a start on the Bedford-Cambridge portion of the East West Rail Link and it may then be completed whilst I'm still alive.................I have my doubts if I'll still be here to travel on it otherwise! It will probably take longer to do the consultation than it will to construct it! All in all an excellent diversion from Covid.

Whilst at Oxford Bus Company I bought 25 redundant LT Titans direct from London Buses in 1993 to replace a similar number of late Bristol VRT's which were showing signs of fatigue and certain spares were becoming difficult to obtain. The Titan was undoubtedly a well constructed and designed bus built like a battleship and we kept most of them seven years, running alongside similar ECW bodied Olympians which also served the Company well. When I sold them they all went on to operate for another ten years or so with their next operators. I'm afraid the modern low-floor buses wont fair so well, inferior lighter steel and built in obsolescence of electronics reducing their operational life.

Many years ago I converted a Lima one to D5835 and have made a start on converting a super-detailed Hornby one..................must get around to completing it! I bought the extra grilles from Peters Spares.

If you care to look on my Flickr site (google Brush Veteran Flickr) or try this link https://www.flickr.com/photos/59835095@N02/albums/ and look on the Class 26 TOPS album you will find images of all the coal sector liveried class 26 locos and their previous and later liveries. They lasted long enough at Haymarlet to see Railfreight red stripe livery but were transferred to Eastfield around 1988 time when Haymarket became a DMU depot upon receipt of new 158's for the Glasgow-Edinburgh routes. The coal sector 26;s spent most of their time at Millerhill, Thornton, and Motherwell whilst they were allocated to Eastfield, which became their heavy maintenance depot. I hope this may assist the answer to your query.

I seem to recall that at least D261 and another similarly numbered were involved in collisions and the opportunity was taken to update the headcode dispalys during repairs. I have seen pictures in BRILL or similar.............I will try and look them out.

If the were to 'wrap' the bodysides in cheap clear vinyl before they go into storage it would actually save quite a fortune in graffiti removal and repainting when they are needed back in service............or is that too easy!

I can only echo what Lezz01 has made comment on about the JR. I am fortunate to live fairly close to the Hospitals, the Horton and Winey included and as always the NHS do a fantastic job and Gordon you will be in very safe hands.

Tramshed is correct, there will be two versions of the GN cab, original GN loading gauge and Gresley LNER modified loading gauge.