Swindon 123

Hereford men had quite a traction knowlage. As well as the usual WR suspects, because of the interegional connection they learnt 25, 40, 45/6 and some the 24's from the LM. Depending where they might have been on the WR bearing in mind the old WR transfer and promotion policy, some also knew classes 14, 22 both 42 & 43, 52 and at least one knew the Blue Pulmans. The Barry Docks Banana Boat specials used to run with whatever was to hand, usually a Hymec and this sometimes took them to exotic places. I know of a least one Hereford traincrew that got as far as Healey Mills before someone called time on their escapades. Some Hereford men signed Speke Jcn at one time when the freightliners started, so the appearence of exotic WR traction in the NW would occur from time to time. Paul J.

The next of the Dapol Westerns for Shenston Rd has now appeared. I'm just about finished with the wheel turning on the new fleet, untill I suspect the Maroon one arrive, and all has gone well with the process. A couple of points learn't was that the cast wheels as supplied has a variety of flange depths and widths so had to be assesed individually. A couple where found to have quite a wopple but Greg had the foresight to get a spare motor bogie so it is not too much of an issue. The other was when taking apart and putting the bogie together you have to be vary careful with the prototypical air pipes fitted to the side of them. They can get bent out of shape very easily and if they don't go back right they can cause bogie rotational issues. The same is also true of the interaction between the front valance and the front brake rigging on the bogie. There isn't much clearence. Anyhow job done for now so enjoy another fine example of Gregs handiwork on D1000 Western Enterprise. Paul J.

D1059 wrote, I cannot claim credit for the weathering job, that was Greg Brookes. I just did the turning down of the wheelsets bit. Paul J.

Here are some photo's of D1047 Western Lord, a recent addition to the Shenston Road stud. Originally a Green SYE repainted into Blue and EM'd by turning down the original wheelsets. 1st of 5 members of the class to be added to the Shenston Rd stud (Nos 2 & 3 are in the works as I type), and that total doesn't include any maroon ones to be added when they arrive either. Paul J.

Hereford had D2200, D2203, D2219, D2235, D2238 and D2240, that I know of, allocated to it in Aug 1964. According to some of the old hand Hereford drivers I know, one of their booked turns was out to the armaments depot on the truncated Golden Valley branch from Pontrilas. This involved some main line running as well as the short branch to the depot from Pontrilas. According to the drivers the memorable part of the trip was on the return working when the loco would be knocked out of gear and allowed to coast down the grade from Redhill tunnel to Barton Yard, getting up to speeds well in excess of the official maximum. They also ran on the old MR Brecon branch from Hereford but I think mainly involved with demolition trains. When Hereford shed closed in Nov 1964 the loco's moved to Worcester, except I think D2200 and D2203 which went to Crewe works, but remained outstationed at Hereford until a couple of years later when they left Worcester. So they did sometimes get to stretch their legs on occasions. Paul J.

Michael Delamar said, I think that it is D2209 as I have a shot of it at Carlisle 2 months later. Note the electrification flash at the bottom of the bonnet door, D2258 has some in the same unusual position. I have a photo of D2209 at Allerton 2 years later. Paul J.

From my photo collection I've got the following in Blue. (From colour photos). D2200. D2209. D2211. D2239. Not a brilliant photo but the cab front is in sunlight and definately blue. D2258. As early as Aug 1967. D2289. D2293. D2294 D2295. D2248. The colour shot I have in 1974 shows it in green. Paul J. Edited to add D2294 to the list.

Correct Phil. Original post corrected. Paul J.

Last DMU tail traffic I saw was Nov 1981 at Doncaster. Consisted of a 2car Met-Cam, E51432 (in blue)+E51501 (in B/Grey) hauling an ex SR CCT. The only time I had to haul a DMU in service was around 1986/7. There was an 06.35hrs Hereford - Crewe which was usually a Bristol B900 set and where always in some sort of trouble. On the particular day I was on an early morning Llanwern Shotton steel with a 37/9 in charge. This was usually booked in front of the 06.35 but for some reason was late and to follow it. The DMU got as far as Moreton on Lugg before getting into trouble but was able to limp into the MOD sidings, the only passenger on board was a railwayman going home fortunately. I had to leave the steel at Hereford an go LE to Moreton where I was able to get on the front of the DMU and haul it to Crewe, still as a service train. There I left the whole ensembe to work the next part of the diagram. This wasn't the only time I had to haul a multiple unit as a service train though. Previous to the above incident I spent a nearly pleasent Sunday in mid 1984 hauling 312 EMU's between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchen. There was engineering work at Stevenage that involved switching off the overheads but only on the down lines. ( As opposed to nowadays when the line would be closed and bus substitutions if you were lucky). So the form was to haul a 312 from Welwyn to Hitchen and return to Welwyn LE in time to work another train, and so on. The 312's could run back on the up line under their own power as the overheads on the up where still switched on. These trains where fun to haul, 47 was the traction, as the 312 was electrically dead for haulage and the brake system reverted to direct air operation instead of EP. This meant one shot braking, as to make any release of the brake pipe on the loco meant a complete release of the brake on the 312 and it would not re-apply until it had fully released. Coming to a stand at a station could end as everyone in a heap because you didn't dare release the brake in case you overshot or getting it nearly right but the 312 bouncing on and off the loco because the unit brakes, which were disc brakes to boot, had released before the loco's. By the end of the 4th run I had just about got the hang of it. Sorry to anyone who suffered travelling between Welwyn and Hitchen on that day, but it was it was the only time in 31 years of driving that I ever worked that brake configuration. Paul J. (Edited to correct number. See later posts)

Great topic this. I've been collecting photo's of units in blue with small yellow panels for years now, ( also those with wrap round yellow ends), and have managed to find shots of the following classes. Early Derby & Met- Camm Lightweight units, Class 100, 101/2, 103, 104, 105, 107, 108, 109, 113, 114, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 125, 128 and 130. Unfortunately not all the photo's allow vehicle identification, but only a few classes seem to have not had BSYP, almost certainly Cl 123 & 124. I'm sure I've seen shots of Cl 110 & 112 in BSYP but so far I can't remember seeing shots of Cl 111, 115 &127. Alan Rintoul wrote, I have got a shot of a Cl 100 DTC in BSYP. Its off the web so cannot post. Can't remember what site it is but its at a Scottish location so maybe one of the many sites covering Scotland may throw it up. Once again a good thread. Maybe some one can fill the gaps I've got. Paul J. PS. Forgot to add that one photo I've found in Traction, issue 122, Dec 2004 page 27 shows a 3 car 101 with the leading DMC and TC in that dull, flat early blue with SYP. It is very noticable as the DMC has some patch painted Rail Blue on it and the DMBS at the back is in Rail Blue and the shade is very different. Quite a few early blue repaints appear in this flat blue colour.

I worked Hereford yard from mid 84 untill I retired from the railway in 2010. Until the mid 80's the main traffic was timber, steel and bitumen although the last two, bitumen for Colas & steel into Painters had become rare. The traffic into Bulmers started in 1985 and was mainly cider out and sometimes Orangina in. Traffic into Wiggins, LPG, had long finished and I never saw a train go into there. The timber and Bulmers traffic picked up in the late 80's. I have known as many as 17 vans come out of Bulmers, this often requiring 2 or rarely 3 trips into the works. The Bulmers traffic was worked in VAA, VBA, VDA, VGA and sometimes continental vans. Bogie vans where never used as they couldn't be used in the loading bay, the same problem afflicted the continental twin-sets that where trialed. The timber traffic was usually in BDW's, OTA and OBA's, but I did see OAA and OCA and BDA wagons used as well. This traffic was not exclusively for Pontrilas but also for BSW at Builth Wells. Another traffic sometimes found in the yard was to and from the MOD at Moreton-on-Lugg and could be almost anything from traffic in opens and vans to coaches and loco's going for training purposes. As well as revenue earning traffic there was a lot of stuff to be found for engineering and PW work as required and the yard was used in the late 80's early 90's for storing surplus wagons. The run down of traffic into the yard started in1990 when a change to the Speedlink network resulted in a dropping off of the timber traffic until by 1991 the Bulmers traffic was all that was left and that was a shadow of its former self, untill the yard effectively closed to traffic in Sept 1991 if I remember right. The only traffic left was the occasional oil traffic that ran into the power station on the remaining stub of the Brecon branch but that had always been an on an "as required" basis depending on the price of waste oil which the power station ran on. That is what my memory recalls but I did take a fair few photo's which will hopefully show traffic and dates a bit more accurate if required. Paul J.

Both 60's and 66's employ controlled slipping as do the 59's to shift heavy loads. It is usually noticed as a sharp and painfull squealing coming from the wheelsets as they are slipping on the rail. The driver has no control of this action as it is entirely under the control of the loco's computer. The advantage that a 60, and possibly a 59 but I haven't driven enough of them to get a true idea, is that if one wheelsets starts to slip in an uncontrolled manner, on a bit of wet rail for instance, then the computer still provides full power to the wheelsets under its control and cuts down the power to the uncontrolled wheelset untill it stops the uncontrolled slipping. However on a 66 the computer when faced with an uncontrolled wheelslip on one of the wheelset has a tendency to cut down on the traction power to all the wheelsets. This is very noticable to a driver as the engine revs die down and if he has the EM2000 in power mode he also notices the traction power rapidly reducing. This is not very helpful and the driver has to hope the loco either starts sanding, which it sometimes is reluctant to do, or the wheels find a nice dry bit of track. By the way before you ask on a 66 the driver cannot sand of his own desire that is controlled by the loco. If the train eventually slips to a stand another problem manifests itself. On most gradients the straight air brake on a 60 is capable of holding the train on its own, so starting away from a stand usually means only having to release the straight air brake when you think there is enough power to get the train going. (Plus the fact you have control of the sands). The straight air brake on a 66 will not hold a heavy train on even a moderate gradient so on a steep gradient the train brake has to applied, sometimes as much as 4bar. Untill you are sure the loco will start the train you dare not release the train brake, so you sometimes end up with the situation of a loco on full throttle not going anywhere whilst the driver waits for the train brake to release, which may take some time. This maybe why sometimes to someone watching from the sidelines driving technique looks to have gone out of the window. Paul J.

If the 59's are like the 66's there is no real driving technique. If its a heavy train on a steep gradient it doesn't matter where you put the power controller the loco feeds as much power as the computor will let it to the traction motors. The big problem on a 66 is that with a good dry rail they will cope alright, but if the rail is wet or greasy then the loco starts to cut power to all the traction motors. The 60's coped a lot better because the traction power to the traction motors stayed high with the traction current only being reduced to the one/s that where slipping. From personal experience a 66 is not a patch on a 60 in terms of shifting a heavy load up a steep gradient on indifferent rail. Paul J.

Barry J, here are a few photo's I took when the TSOT first appeared. The first three (a couple are not brilliant) are of a Liverpool - Newcastle service that had at least two, maybe three of them in the formation. The next are of a 2d conversion. The interior ones are of a coach in Paddington - Worcester/Hereford service. Hope they are of help in your project. Paul J.