Downendian

I just had to return to this thread...and add to it, Growing up in Bristol as a kid, and within cycling distance of the triangle of lines at Patchway/Parkway/Filton Westerns were seen almost every day until the very end. Although I've mentioned in other threads and old incarnations of RMweb the regular Western workings, here they are again. By 1974 passenger turns to South Wales were rare, but the 1C63 arriving at Parkway in the early evening were regular 52 diagrams. They were almost omnipresent in Stoke Gifford yard on Stone trains, growling away before spirited departures on trains of Empty or loaded MSVs to Northampton or Tytherington. The 6M53 St Blazey-Stoke on Trent clay liner had a 52 on it about 50% of the time, as did the return empty working the 6V53. Many other times though they turned up on Passenger trains to/from Birmingham and a plethora of unrecorded (unfortunately) freight workings, with that glorious mix of vacuum braked and unbraked wagon load stock in bauxite grey/rust liveries. Mr Fray Bentos's excellent Flickr site has pics of Westerns around the "Parkway triangle" and their appearance in the past ten years made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. We must have been stood side by side at some point! One shot of one climbing Patchway bank is excellent. I remember that on still summer evenings sat on embankments East of Parkway, you could hear Maybachs approaching up that bank a full five minutes before they broke cover. Fray also has a shot of a Western at what we called "Winterbourne bridge" at a spot where you could legally get almost trackside by climbing an embankment. Seeing Westerns here at point blank range was pretty hair raising. At that particular spot in the summer holidays of 1974/5 we used to get there at 0630 with bottles of tizer and sandwiches and watch the Westerns, hymeks (in 74 at least) peaks, brush 4s etc whizz by. Misspent childhood? Won't have any of it- what is the equivalent memories for kids today?

Thanks again to Nidge's hard work. The only addition (Devil in the detail) I can make is the late Laira repaints. Off the top of my head D1026 Centurion had this with silver cabside valance footrests and windscreen surrounds. She looked stunning when I first saw her in July 1974, and had only just received this treatment. There were others that had this minor detail difference, but I'm away from my Curtis "Western Mythology" book which is my first point of reference to such livery variants. Will add when I'm back in the UK. Neil

Nidge pinned as requested Thanks a million. Neil

Well Westerns are the spark that lit my lifetime interest in railways, My great aunt used to take me and my brother to Highbridge station in the 1960s to watch the trains, I went in fear and trepidation as I was terrified of these huge monsters roaring past - especially the big and small red diesels. I used to categorise locos then by their colour, red, blue and green. Guess what the big red ones were! Later in the 1970s I was told an enthralling story by my friend of this class of diesels being phased out by BR, and how awesome they were. Around 1973/4 I started spotting largely to see the remaining 52s- alas the first few including Buccaneer, Princess and Enterprise had already gone. From 73 to the very end, I saw them on almost a daily basis, and could even lying in bed pick out the drone of those mighty Maybachs in the middle of the night. The passage of the Westerns from living breathing monsters to the Swindon dump was my first real education that things constantly change and we are bystanders, powerless to stop progress. There are some poignant moments, especially one gloomy March midweek day in 1975 when I witnessed D1005 hauling stripped sisters D1029 Legionnaire and D1044 Duchess through Temple Meads, en route from Laira to Swindon. Just the previous summer I'd had great memories of seeing the bulk of the class in service, sadly to say our farewells at Swindon in 1975/6. I particularly can remember the sorry state of D1065 and one particular summer day in 1976 with her struggling up Patchway bank as a banker for the Danygraig-Stratford Freightliner with apparently just one engine working. During that period I only had a few haulages with a Western up front, invariably with us window hanging soaking up the noise vibration and diesel fumes. Then of course the end in February 1977, and I can well remember the empty feeling when the Western Tribute rail tour passed through Bristol, in the full knowledge that we would never see a Western in service again. I've only seen a few in preservation, but D1015 when passing through Bristol or the South Hams always provides enough impetus for me to go out and see her. Long may she run, it's extremely evocative seeing and hearing the drama of a 52 in full chat approaching. a memory of a well-spent childhood chasing by far my favourite loco class. Neil

I recently bid (unsuccessfully) on one of these 24s. They certainly look the business and figured that they are good value especially considering I have just bought 3 Dapol 22s at roughly the same price. Doesn't fit my location, but boy are these models evocative of those wonderful machines. Edit 24 130 went for £201!! Wow. Neil

Stunning Pete - I must get on with mine! I agree with painting the inside of the headcode boxes - it makes an immediate improvement to the "face" of the warship. Neil

I'm getting picky now - the CADS look superb Dave well done fantastic job. The RH lamp iron is slightly longer by virtue of having an additional strip at right angles, all 52s have this. Also is it possible to make the headboard clips detachable, perhaps as a separate detail part?I've removed them on several of my models (D1026 and D1029 were two of my chosen models which lacked them altogether). None of my comments are critical, just for those of us that want a sizeable fleet of these (to be no doubt) fantastic models. I would suggest you give the manufacturer the green light. Can't wait. Neil

Just had an email from Hattons, next batch of 23s due in 27 Feb. I have D5901 on pre-order. Neil

One of my favourite bands...Started listening about ten years ago. Those albums are very good (especially the Incident) but also listen to "up the Downstair", "in absentia" and "the sky moves sideways". Steven Wilson is one of the most talented musicians of his generation. Neil

Hi Keith Yes I moved the feeder closer to the lower branches and it pecked away happily at it. Last winter there was this beast and seven hen pheasants regularly visiting my garden, initially eating the crab apples but moved onto the feeders when they run out, Neil

Thanks Nidge Checked the source material, and D6322 should be a year earlier "had been done by April 1967" I will amend the Spreadsheet. If you could post other details here I will amend the spreadsheet and rename with date. Neil

Hi David. I had thought they were horns too. My source stares they are air intakes but the D6322 lacked them (A end) and D6323 never had them. Perhaps those with prototypical knowledge can advise? I don't know about the circular plates. Neil

Thanks Mod6. Myself and Pannier Tank are discussing this, and we will bring our data together. I agree it makes no sense having two different spreadsheets. I have pinned this topic and will add new material to post #1 so that it is easy to find. With the Dapol thread now at 43 pages and counting its quite difficult finding the required info, even with the search tool. Neil

Excellent idea Trevor. I've just PMed David (Pannier Tank) and I'm happy to share info. Hadn't seen his PDF file until you pointed it out- thanks. Neil

Beat this! Neil

Thanks Mike, Done.

I've made a start on a pinned thread in the diesel-hydraulic group with class 22 detail variation. It will take time to complete - but will post here as it evolves. First information is on liveries, introduction and withdrawal dates, when and where scrapped. Please let me know if you find inaccuracies (with evidence) and let me know by PM or posting in the detail thread rather than clutter up this one. cheers. Neil Link here

Class 22 Details Ok this thread will I'm sure be an evolving monster, but I've made a start compiling details on liveries. See the attached Excel spreadsheet that contains details on all class 22 liveries, introduction, withdrawal and dates cut and where. Needless to say the thread will be edited on a regular basis to amend inaccuracies and provide up to date links to photos on the web. There were some links to photos which I weeded out, many were links to defunct fotopic galleries (huge shame especially photos from Keith Miller and Ken Baker). Material to follow will include front end detail variation (grab rail positions, headcode boxes, eyebrow vents etc), but I've got to draw some pretty pictures first. Patience is a virtue I will get there! Eventually I am aiming to publish a book (huge gestation time though) on diesel variations, but as I'm sure everyone is aware getting the facts 100% right is quite a challenge. Livery details with dates, Dates introduced and withdrawn, scrapping . Class 22 2.xls References : Dapol class 22 Thread Personal research (fotopic, flickr and other galleries, Robert Stokes, Baby Blues Western Power magazine, Vol 1 pp26-30. Brian Reed (1974) Diesel-hydraulic locomotives of the Western Region, David & Charles

A day late been scanning some of my recently acquired negs (with copyright) tonight D1025 Western Guardsman, Newport. 30th January 1975. Neil

D6312, but ended its days in blue and had the eyebrow vents. Neil

D6333 had eyebrow vents, whilst D6334 onwards had different marker lights and lacked the headcode mounting bracket. I'm still working on the piece on class 22 details I promised. Neil

This route was fascinating in the 1970s and used to bring foreign motive power to Bristol (ER based 31s split box 37s, LMR 25s foreign 47/3s and the occasional pair of 20s). Neil

All these recent posts have convinced me to go and brush up my knowledge on the class, and I've dug out the literature on class 22s and I've spent an enjoyable few hours refreshing my clearly ailing memory. I will write a summary on the various detail differences between class members (including livery details) and pin a thread in the diesel hydraulic group and link it here. Naturally comments on inaccuracies (with photos) will be appreciated. It takes time to trawl for all these details in this thread, and I think a single comprehensive pinned post would be helpful. Nag me if this doesn't appear within the next week, or if you think this a silly idea. Basically though for Dapol tooling purposes we have these body variants. 1. The production batch D6300-D6305 (with large bodyside grille). Five of these six locos had Swindon modified headcode boxes applied in various positions and sizes, D6301 was never modified. So with this group 1a (original) and 1b headcode boxes. 2. The first production batch D6306-D6333 which started out without headcode boxes, but were modified at Swindon, these included a large "headcode mounting bracket" (maybe my wrong terminology) prominent on the nose of the loco. The Dapol tooling is based in this batch but some had eyebrow vents as mentioned above, which the Dapol models don't have. As above thus 2a (original) 2b ( modified). 3. From D6334 onwards these had NBL fitted headcode boxes, lacking the mounting brackets and altered position of lights. I had thought these were relatively simple mods to do, but Dapol could consider this last numerous batch as it would only mean retooling the nose. I had a look at my two models this week, and these mods whilst none too difficult are a bit more work than I envisaged. I do think the minus headcode (1) and (2) models would be very popular especially in GNYP There were a number of variations based on grab rails, box positions and sizes, all will be posted soon. Neil

There are a Plethora of detail differences between the 22s, and it's probably not econonomic for Dapol to vary their tooling. The nose grab rails varied between vertical, horizontal and at 45 degrees, and i Have the lists if anyone is interested. The gangway doors also were hinged or not hinged based on the positions of the headcode boxes (or not!). It's a moot point as to whether the current tooling can be applied to a different livery variant and my previous post was aimed at what they were in service, not in transit from NBL. I do feel there has to be a degree of realism as to the number of variants Dapol can produce within their economic constraints of their tooling. I'm happy to change the position if handrails and nose door hinges if I feel inclined, but livery variants are a lot more work for us. Dave please don't feel constrained by minor issues such as handrails etc when deciding livery releases. A green no yellow panels, blue small yellow panels and green full yellow end would be snapped up by me regardless of minor handrail/ gangway door inaccuracies. Neil

Birds clearing 4x feeders in two days in Dunstone. Flocks of bluetits, great tits and sparrows, greenfinches (although much less than the summer) a solitary nuthatch and even a lesser spotted woodpecker. Dunnocks, Chaffinches and Robins picking up the spoils on the ground. Even had a female pheasant in the garden picking up dropped sunflower seeds. Nothing meaningful in Bristol although Redwings have been around. Neil