Downendian

60 019 seen stopped at Newport for a Crew change and heading east 530pm today.

Must say I quite like the 60s despite out of my modelling time frame

I was on my way home from Chester work related, not enough time for photo as my train arrived

Smart move Mike, this is how myths arise The two things are not remotely connected I'm afraid, apart from concerning the same class of loco - the Haresnape book does have a pic of a Pilot Scheme loco at Fort Will, I know that without looking, it's D5511 IIRC - but the uprated machines (1600hp/2000hp) were a later batch and used solely on the ER, notably on the Sheffield Pullman workings which were a regular use for new or experimental types

I have the relevant Haresnape book in front of me (volume 4). This particular series are an excellent source of information and Haresnape is in my view one of the most accurate and revered railway authors of old. Ian and Mike are right re the 1600 bhp type 3 uprated Mirrlees engines (D5545 originally then D5655-D5670) and 2000 bhp type 4 (D5835) brush 2s. It states that trials were undertaken in the Sheffield area including passenger turns to kings cross. They were not taken any further because of the development of metal fatigue in the earlier Mirrlees engines (class 30) which ended the Mirrlees engine uprating programme and their replacement with English electric engines. There is no pic of D5511 though Ian in this volume- I'm sure I've seen it too but can't recall where (perhaps volume 1 of the same series which covers the pilot scheme diesels?). There is also passing reference to trials of brush 2s in Scotland too.

To get back onto the topic of 15s there is an excellent photo in this volume (i.e. 4) of 8234 as Liverpool street pilot in green full yellow with BR arrows, taken from the road overbridge that spanned the end of the platforms. A real reminder too of the vast expanse of Liverpool street before its redevelopment.

Excellent news re 21/29 thanks for confirming this Dave. The last BR diesel class falls- I'll have to offload my dated Hornby 29 which was awaiting a rebuild

best online photos of the 29 (and some 21s) are Brushveterans of this parish

http://grahame910.fotopic.net/

I'm glad to see that a few kettles were also retained in service when these pictures were taken, presumably around Carnfroth.

 

EDIT: is that some sort of Wonderloaf servicing kit in the background, too?

Ha so Mr Chard- is Carnfroth the home depot for all wishlisted locomotive classes? ?

Class 28 Metro Vick Masterclass, Model rail 97 November 2006

is a pretty comprehensive coverage of the lives of the locos.

I've just been in contact with Hattons to confirm the spec of D5700 Full BR Green (as delivered into service) ref no: UK 2800 as I was wondering about the front cab window arrangement.

 

This model will feature the correct original wrap around front windows whilst the remaining models will have the later flat front version so there will be two versions to choose from.

 

I'd like to add that the lady who dealt with my pedantic request did so in a very friendly and helpful manner!

 

 

Wow that IS impressive- attention to detail Heljan. There was a Model Rail masterclass a few years ago on the Metrovics, I'm sure Heljan know about that

Great - one of the last diesel types to fall to Heljan then - 21/29 anyone?

I have a fleet of Heljan's finest, and despite issues with the 47, Clayton, 33/0, Western and 14 the rest are about as good as it gets in 4mm. Despite owning all of the problems none have dissuaded me to place a preorder for the Metrovic.

A day late- but a day of dental trauma yesterday intervened.

Saturday 12th April 1975 - Merrymaker trip to York

Bristol Parkway 46 001/015. Gloucester 25 145/205, 37 192, 47 447. Saltley 25 106/130/204, 47 138. Burton on Trent 20 005/038/131/136/138/160/194/199. Derby 08 455/590, 20 176, 45 047. York Station 45 016, 46 010, 47 550. York Depot 03 075/172/371, 08 062/245, 31 144/228, 37 015/031/111/114/221, 40 028/051/057/067/070/078/080/083/173, 46 035, 47 134/432/520/544 with 47 373, 55 006/010/015/022 passing. York station 08 540/559/769, 31 176/211, 37 005/071/094/107/305, 40 112/122, 45 019/063/133/143, 46 045/055, 47 365/418/459/460/523/551, 55 001-004/015/019. Derby 08 899 Burton on Trent 20 186, 47 381. Saltley 25 100/276/277, 47 214. Bristol Parkway 47 491.

Rather simplistic day to York and back which included the first time to recently opened NRM. We also managed to get a guided tour around York depot which included an engine room walk through and trip back down the yard in 40 070. Now THAT was impressive and very memorable, a cab ride in a whistler. We also saw ten Deltics in traffic in one afternoon, so really the golden age of diesel traction back in 1975. I must have lost some numbers as there are some mysterious omissions (for example where were the electrics at Birmingham?). Occasionally these tours would bypass BNS, perhaps that was one such day, but just can't remember.

Neil

A couple of days from 1976.

It was Easter holiday and I spent most of my time at Bristol Parkway (see the same thread in RMweb3).

Tuesday 6th April 1976

37 075/224/297, 45 022/029/047/053/059/110, 47 111/236/241/475/478/479/483/497/499/510/540, 50 041 Class 120 W50668-W59275-W50721

Wednesday 7th April 1976

20 031/051, 25 052, 37 117, 45 025/027/066, 46 013/038, 47 013/077/101/110/151/190/493/499/504/509/512, 50 042, D1022 Western Sentinel, D1065 Western Consort

Notes - The HSTs were to arrive later that year and the South Wales-London expresses were still firmly in the hands of Landore 47/4s. Treated to some rarities on these two days - the pair of 20s were on an Avonmouth bound freight and these were incredibly rare in the Bristol area, even more so the fact that they were Immingham based. 50 041 was one of the last LMR based 50s to arrive on the WR (normally recognisable by the fact that they had two BR arrows at cab ends rather than the WR norm of positioning them amidships). They normally worked a 1VXX express from Birmingham to Plymouth on their first WR duty. It must have arrived on the 6th as it was a cop for the "round Parkway" collection. Split-box 37s were also uncommon in the 1970s around Bristol and the appearance of two on consectutive days was good news. The Westerns were thinning out a bit, but still pleasing to see, but still in 1976 thought that they would be around for a long time- alas we were wrong. D1065 in particular refused to die and was in a very tired state when she was retired later that year. It's interesting also to note the lack of named locos- only 45 022/059 and 47 077 at this time (plus the Westerns).

The 3H became more numerous than the 2H but all units were delivered, and ran for some time, as 2-car. The 2H / 3H units have had rostered duties at times as far afield as Ashford (Kent), Kensington Olympia and Bristol Temple Meads and even on the Brighton - Victoria express (electric!?) service for a while!. They have made occasional visits to Bridport, Yeovil and allegedly Exeter via Honiton. I heard tell of one reaching Barnstaple but I have no supporting evidence or corroborating report on that. I'm not sure about Birmingham New Street but I believe they have worked to Oxford on rare occasions. Reading however was on their regular rosters for many years where they entered General from both ends after Southern closed.

Good history here:

http://www.daveh.org...205history.html

1123-1133 were introduced as 3H (thus were not 2H on delivery), most 2Hs were upgraded to 3 car in 1959/60 a couple of years after introduction.

Some 3Hs were downgraded to 2H due to the lack of power of the initial engines used which were later uprated.

Hence the point that 3H were more numerous and should be the Bachy model. I saw many 3Hs (in fact most of them) at Temple Meads in the 1970s but never a 2H, which I think had more restricted movements.

Well if the 2EPB and 4CEP are anything to go by then I'd have thought a 3 carriage unit would be a nice "fit in the middle"?

 

I hope they look at the price too - £149 for a 2 car unit does seem a bit hefty compared to Bachmann's 4-CEP which, presumably, would also have been made from new moulds, drawings etc?

 

If they do make a 3 car, then that would give the blue/grey - which matches the 4-CEP too - a possibility. I seem to recall Mr Kernow saying somewhere that they couldn't find proof of a 2 car blue/grey in that particular variant ever running, and presumably they weren't prepared to market an 'inaccurate model'?

I agree completely with the sentiments regarding the 3H, it was more numerous and widespread (some made it to Birmingham Allegedly - I witnessed them at Bristol Parkway in 1975). The 4CEP is a stunning model and really looking forward to see what Bachmann can do for one of my favourite multiple unit types.

Of course CEP pricing would be welcome too. I assume that Kernows preorders will still be honoured, I will await details of my two.

Which engines ran in blue with small yellow warning panel,I,m buying a green one but will buy a blue syp if released but looking to avoid both having the same running number.thanks

According to my records BSYP class 22s : D6300, D6303, D6314, D6327. I'd be up for one in this livery too.

D6312 and D6331 were GFYE which is of course the other livery variant.

Nidge mentions the BSYPs earlier in the thread

Thanks for the update DapolDave I was beginning to wonder........

I fitted a Hornby one.

Thanks - It now says on the Hattons website that no Bachmann decoders fit this loco.

I have tried Bachmann, a Hornby sapphire and a Lenz gold of which are roughly the same size and shape but with no luck

Hattons recommend a Hornby R8249, got a couple on order

An excellent thread

As an academic, careful and meticulous referencing to previous work is critical, and huge databases of abstracts linked to journals and books are the mainstay of medical research.

Take a look at large reference databases (e.g. Pubmed, web of knowledge, web of science) to get a feel for how the academic community operates. It has transformed our ability to do research in the past 20 years, and has accelerated our progress as a result.

In terms of railway research it would be good if we adopted at least some of those principles. A good, electronically searchable database of Railway and model railway articles in journals (Model Rail, RM etc) would be very important - perhaps with even links to pdfs of the original articles with payment for access. Many academic journals make a tidy sum of collecting fees for each download of these pdfs. RMweb is of course very powerful in that it has google search engines to find topics that have been discussed over the years (most crucial pieces of information I've come across have been from RMweb users who are a huge resource!). I have hundreds of railway books- and I rely almost totally on memory to be able to find THAT picture of the diesel I'm converting. Not a particularly efficient method, and effective referencing would help considerably. Perhaps the big publication houses should think this one through.

Another major aid for us modellers is the development of fotopic websites (Fotopic Flickr), and the careful and altruistic release of private photo collections (e.g. on here Brushveteran, owentherail and Robert Carroll) on the web and RMweb. These are not readily accessible by traditional search engines which is a shame (except RMweb), but searching of the Flickr and fotopic sites is for me routine. I shudder in horror of the lost negatives that I took in the 1970s, there must have been thousands if not millions of precious records of our railway heritage which have gone the same way. Perhaps its time in an electronic age that we as a community look at this.

I have two of these little beauties.

Tried fitting a decoder to one last night - Bachmann 36553, fitted under the PCB, just, but the bonnet then wouldn't fit flush. Will have to have a go with a smaller decoder.

What decoder has everyone else fitted?

Have little memory of the prototype (except seeing them in Industrial service in the 1970s), but my grandfather used to cadge a lift occassionally with a "Teddy bear" home from work (Bath road) and was dropped off close to his home near Mangotsfield. I think they were common locos on the Midland branch to Bath in the 1960s

Saturday 7th December 1974

In 1974 the norm was to go spotting once a week on a Saturday morning, except in school holidays and the summer evenings. Today 35 years ago the novelty of the TOPS renumberings that had taken place over the past 12 months was beginning to wear off slightly, although our beloved hydraulics were never to receive this treatment thankfully.

Today I noted the following at Bristol Parkway

25 052, 31 154, 37 290, 45 020, non-TOPS peaks 42 and 57, 46 012, 47 093/110/244/250/472/475/505/510/513, Westerns D1025 Western Guardsman, D1035 Western Yeoman and D1065 Western Consort.

Some recalls from these numbers. 25 052, which was a Bath road engine at the time had been coupled to sister engine 25 220 during the summer of '74 and was engaged in a variety of duties but I do remember them shunting ballast at Stoke Gifford dump. The Westerns on Saturdays were still going strong despite the withdrawals of the past 18 months. D1035 was one of the last I copped of the working engines, and remember we had to turn back on departure to get her number as we could see the freight from South Wales approaching. Most wessies by this time were hauling freight, although some were on the Fishguard boat trains and sometimes on Swansea/Cardiff-Paddington runs. Bristol Parkway had a slightly different mix of motive power seen on a daily basis compared to say Temple Meads. We had the South Wales traffic and freight to Avonmouth which always brought a mix of LMR and ER based machines including split box 37s, foreign 25s and 31s and the occasional pair of class 20s.

well missed this one for a few days due to work commitments. Excellent news.

This finally gives me the chance to ditch my "scratch built" 23 based on the Monty Wells 1983 RM which has been ongoing for nigh on 20 years.

I will be definately getting two of the first batch D5909 and D5901 the Derby RCD machine that lasted till 1976.

On this day in history, 211073

 

An afternoon at Luton Midland Road with a classic mix of power, old and new numbers too. A breif but fascinating period to view sulzers large and samll in action...Usual bonus 46's borrowed a scover for the eth 45 program at the time?

 

21/10/73

Luton

41,45101,45102,25,45111,70,64,76,1623,140,131,1720,66,45104,45115,40,137,147,1849,1619,

45101,36,5215,21,6564,167,11,39,1635,1100,

 

www.geocities.com/nickrossa2002

Nice to see this thread make the quantum leap to the new RMweb.

I'm very interested in the TOPS renumbering period 1973-1975, and note that the early 45/1s here were among the first to go due to the ETH fitting programme, it was rather bizarre that the 45s were also last to be renumbered some lasting until late 1975

Neil

Writing first post in this new version of RMweb.

Lovely model, but my feel is that the headcode characters are too small - something in common with the class 27s and Claytons.

No evidence in terms of dimensions, just an "eyeball" thing.

Anyone looked at changing the headcodes?