Swindon 123

At Hereford in the late 1980's we had a turn down to Llanwern and Cardiff Tidal with a train from Trafford Park which carried baled scrap as part of its load, among other things. I took a few photos of the train and some of its wagons whilst working the train one week in November 1988. Below are photos of SPA's carrying scrap that often appeared in the train consist, which are awaiting uploading onto my Flickr site. Loaded with bailed scrap, SPA 460516 sits on the service line in Llanwern Steelworks. 2nd November 1988. Loaded with bailed scrap, SHA 461038 sits on the service line in Llanwern Steelworks. 2nd November 1988. Recently repainted and carrying a load of bailed scrap metal, SPA 460770, is part of my train consist stood on the Up Service Road, in Llanwern Steelworks. 3rd November 1988. Paul J.

A look through this album (Brunswick 1969) on Edgehillsignalmans Flickr site has some shots of D2852 actually doing some work, as well as some colour shots of a MD&HB Hudswell Clarke in action. https://flic.kr/s/aHsjwwYh3N Paul J.

A few of them got about. I have photos of them at Newton Heath, Oldham (Lees) shed, Reddish, Lostock Hall, Preston, Blackpool North, and a little further afield under repair at Derby Works, and in the roundhouse at Burton, D2859 was allocated there from 31/12/60 until 10/64. D2859 then spent a shot spell up at Newton Heath MPD before transferring to Goole shed (50D) in 07/67, along with D2865 where it stayed until withdrawn 03/70. So scope for them to appear in a few other places than around the Liverpool area. They got even further afield in industrial service, and if my memory is correct, I seem to remember a reference in a Rly Observer that two of them went on loan from BR to Pennyfordd Cement Works in the late 60's. Paul J.

The only other disc 24 one I've found with miniature ploughs is D5077. There are a couple of photos of it. The best is on the "Derby-Sulzer" website, (a veritable mine of information on anything Sulzer), There is also a shot on David Fords Flickr site. Paul J.

This company appears to be the same as the one on eBay, and sells other stuff as well as figures. Well worth a browse. https://allscales.co.uk/shop/ Paul J.

Very sad to here the news about Track Shack. I had only used them a couple of times, and there service was second to none. My condolences to the family, and best wishes to all those involved with Track Shack. Paul J.

I'm so glad that your gamble paid off. Everyone was a winner. Yourselves and us modelers. How's about some 25t iron ore hoppers, such as these to compliment them. Paul J.

One factor that wasn't usually appreciated that had an effect on fuel consumption was the steam heat boiler, as its fuel supply was taken from the main tank. the boiler could drink a fair amount of fuel in heating 12 coach sleeper train, especially if the train wasn't particularly steam tight. Paul J.

For the early air braking trials, a number of 12t vans, mostly the planked body with ply doors or all ply bodies examples, along with some Palvans and steel opens were fitted with air brakes and new suspension as on the later VEA's. Paul Bartlett's site has photos of many of them, mainly when they went into departmental use. I managed to capture one of them in departmental use at Bescot in 1986, and it can be seen here on my Flickr site. Paul J.

Towards the end of their working lives, which is when I worked on them, although they had a lot of diagrammed work on ETH stock during the day, all of the overnight trains on the ECML were steam heated, so as Deltics would still be fueled and watered just in case they ended up being diagrammed on one of the overnight services. Paul J.

I did send you, a long while ago mind you, the measurements and style of Numbers we found on D2578 when we restored it. I would be happy to resend them if they you are thinking of doing them as a transfer, including photos. Paul J.

Simple answer. No. Paul J.

The class 76 & 77 had the "E" prefix added under the 1957 renumbering scheme, which came into being for the large numbers of new diesel and electric locos ordered under the 1955 modernisation plan. The "E" was added to the existing 1948 numbering scheme to bring them into line with the new electrics on order. Like all good BR renumbering schemes, it took time to implement, and some of the class 76's were scrapped without the "E" being added. Of the Class 77's, the only locos I don't know if the "E" was added to the number are 27003 & 27004. The other 5 locos all had "E" prefixes to their number when sold to Dutch Railways. The TOPS number system only came into being in 1968, but it took until 1972-3 before it started to be implemented for locos, (E26050 being the first ever loco to be renumbered under TOPS, becoming 76050 on 12/11/71). The 76's proved to be an easy renumbering, with in a lot of locos just having the E & 2 painted out, and a 7 substituted. Paul J.

The Woodhead electrics had an "E" prefix added to their numbers in the 1960's, probably to prevent conflicting numbers with another item of rolling stock and identify them as electric locos, as all the new build 25KV electrics and SR electrics/ED,s had "E" prefixes. Paul J.

D12040, D12047, D12062 are the only blue examples I have found photos off with the "D" prefix, although for completeness, one of the earlier jackshaft drive examples, D12016 also carried a "D" prefix. As for class 11's that carried blue livery, these are the ones I have found so far. 12038, D12040, D12047, 12049, 12052, D12062, 12069, 12071, 12082, 12083, 12084. I also have a photo that suggests 12072 might have been blue, but it is not a good enough photo to be 100% sure. In blue all locos had a small arrow on the cabside with the number above. Paul J.

Looks very ex-works, and very early date for that central arrow livery. Possibly one of the first to appear. Paul J.

Some depots took great pride in their breakdown train vehicles, and kept them in good nick, so that often when there was spare time/painter available, they would get some attention lavished on them. Paul J.

If you want to play the "where is this" game, here's one of mine for you all to guess at. Paul J.

Not strictly correct. The reverser had 4 positions, in order, OFF, REVERSE, ENGINE ONLY or EO, FORWARD. The engine could only be started with the reverser in ENGINE ONLY. Normally the reverser was locked in the OFF position, and had to be unlocked with a Drivers key to get it into EO to start it. The engine could be stopped with the reverser in any position, although you normally only did it with the reverser at OFF. On some locos it was possible to start it locally, but it depended on the loco as to whether the reverser was unlocked. I can't remember exactly. Sometimes you would find a desk that was unlocked with no Drivers key in it. This was known as 'Jimmied' and sometimes was a source of trouble as it would lead to a partial loss of power if you were driving from the other. Something to do with Control Air loss due to two drivers desks being opened. You would have to lock up the open desk that was not required, using either a 'Jimmey' key, a modified Drivers Key or the handle of any convenient piece of cutlery. I had a long 'Knickerbocker Glory spoon I used for my tea can that could act as a 'Jimmey' key in an emergency. It was common for fitting staff and shed drivers to have a 'Jimmey' key as they could start up multiple locos without having to carry multiple Drivers keys, which would weigh quite a bit. I usually carried at least three Drivers keys with me on duty to make it easier to swap over when relieving another driver, and a couple spare. Paul J.

Gibbo 75 I'm afraid the way the caption is on the photo has mislead you. The number of the Blue with SYP DMBS is M79177. The number M79467 is for the green DTC. The number is wrong anyhow, as there wasn't such a vehicle. I think it should be M79647, which would make more sense. I can offer you another couple of DMBS numbers. M79124 and M79144. Blue with SYP DTCL numbers are a lot harder to find though. I have photos of them, but unidentified. I do have two possible candidates, E79255 and M79646. In the photos they a blue with full yellow ends, but they both carry the double arrow logo on the cab doors, a position usually only found on units that had carried Blue with small yellow panels at some time in their life. M79646 also had a yellow stripe over 1st Class. Not conclusive proof, but the best I could find at the moment. Paul J. Paul J.

The one major difference between the 31/0 and 31/1 was on the buffer beams. The multi working jumpers on 31/0's were the on the opposite side to a 31/1, so that they couldn't be accidentally coupled in multiple, even though the fittings were different. This different side set up for the multi working jumpers also was the same on the Class 21's that had Red Circle & Blue Star working. Paul J.

Another thing to note about the introduction of DOO working was that it was initially in a line by line basis that had been assessed as suitable for DOO operated trains. I was on the LDC at Hereford at the time and remember that we could work trains DOO between Hereford-Crewe-Cardiff, but Hereford to Worcester was not authorised for DOO trains. Paul J.

Never had to do it on a Deltic, but had to top up the water tanks a couple of times at Grantham in the early 80's when heading south with the overnight trains. There was a manhole cover you could lift to access the water hose, similar to the one in the pic. On at least one occasion I couldn't get the hose to connect onto the solebar connection, so stuck it to the bodyside hatch instead. Paul J.

As you quite rightly say MidlandRed, the 47 in photo 13 is most probably heading for Bescot via the OW&W and Dudley. I shall amend my post to reflect this. by the time i was working over the line, the station at Cradley Heath had been altered from staggered platforms to both platforms being on the Stourbridge side of the level crossing. The climb out of Cradley Heath up to Rowley Regis was always a bit of a pull. I always remember shortly after leaving Cradley Heath and climbing the bank, you used to go around a left hand curve and past a metal works that always seemed to have a large hammer banging away. Happy memories. Paul J.

Fascinating video. My old stamping ground, although by the time I was driving trains over the route they were getting ready to implement colour lights, and a few of the boxes had disappeared, but some remained. Below is a list of scenes in the film in order of viewing. 1. Running into Birmingham New St. Most people would have spotted that. 2. Buying tickets at Kidderminster where they boarded the train, departing for New St. 3. Leaving New St, passing Monument Lane shed site, and then Soho Depot. 4. Passing over Cradley Heath Level Crossing. 5. Arriving at Old Hill station in the New St direction. 6. Arriving at Smethwick West station and departing for New St. 7. Signal box shots I'm not 100% sure off, but may be Rowley Regis. 8. Shortly after departing Cradley Heath station, heading for New St. The flats are as approaching Old Hill station. 9. Stourbridge Junction, the line straight ahead goes to Dudley. 10. Old Hill tunnel approaching from the Rowley Regis end ie. from New St direction. 11. Approaching Kidderminster from New St direction. 12. Heading towards Kidderminster between Hagley and Blakedown & Churchill stations. 13. The Kidderminster side of Blakedown viaduct. The 47 is heading towards Stourbridge Junction, and probably onto Bescot via Dudley.. 14. Managed to identify this as just after leaving Hagley, heading towards Blakedown & Churchill. 15. The glasshouse are between Kidderminster and Blakedown & Churchill. On google maps it is now Hodgehill Garden Centre. 16. Arriving back at Kidderminster and finish. Hope this helps in following the video a little better. I certainly enjoyed reliving old memories. Paul J.