Jamesb

It wasn't there today...

66 111 at Ince & Elton on 6M88/6F91 (with added, gratuitous detail!)

Not been on here for a while, so time to make amends. 66 054 at Strand Road crossing with the Liverpool bulk terminal behind. Just arrived light engine from Arpley to bring the scrap empties out of the EMR sidings. 66 138 on 6M88, Middleton towers - Ince and Elton sand. On this particular day, the ground staff rostered to the job had gone sick 24 hours earlier and no replacement was available. I sat at West Cheshire Jnc for nearly three hours before someone turned up! And to add insult to injury, the conveyor belts in the unloading plant were clogged solid with sand from the last train. The ground staff member and I, assisted by a staff member from the works itself, found three shovels and dug the compacted sand out before I could start unloading.. There is a 66 in this one, honest! Arpley sidings with a 66 lurking outside the shed.

Two from Crewe.. 66 100 heads off after a crew change on platform 12, taking the 'W' for Wales and heading off towards Nantwich. 66 105. Waiting for the road on the down through siding at Gresty lane. Night time shots on a smart phone.....Meh.

Some great pics. I have a single shot of a Deltic in service! 55 017 'The Durham Light Infantry' at (I think) Peterborough?

It's been a while since anything was posted in this thread, but I've got some pics to add, so why not.. Apologies for already posting this pic in the class 37 thread, but 31 296 at Buxton. 31 143 at Manchester Piccadilly with a short parcels working. Buxton again? Surely not...31 180 and un-identified Immingham friend.. No idea.... Well the scrawled inscription on the back of the print says Peterborough 1989, so somewhere in the East between 1988 and 1991! Same back of the pic inscription, but this time its 31 187 with some engineers wagons.

Ohh blimey, since finding this part of the site I've gone plain old picture posting crazyyy...(sort of). Buxton late 80s. 37 676 & 47 295 The same pair, looking from the other side. Well there's one 37 in there, so it counts.. 37 414 (note the odd sized numbers), 31 296, 47 050 and a 150. 37 414 again, this time with an un-identified class mate (possibly 37 422, see below). 37 422 (as I didn't keep any records, it's just a possible that it was with 414). Finally 679 & 681 (lurking inside).

I think I have even fewer pics of 08s than I do first gen DMUs? 08 721 at Piccadilly, 1988 ish So, since posting the above shot, it turns out I've doubled my collection of 08 pics..... Three unidentified 08s at a Crewe works open day.

Thanks B Exam!

Digging around has found me three more. Well, two more and one that is sort of, well... Again all pics are 1988-91 47 214 on stands and minus bogies at a Crewe works open day. I actually went for an interview there to become an apprentice. The fact that I arrived late and then told the interviewer that "I liked trains" saw me following a different career path for the next 27 years... At the same open day, its a green duff this time. Any ideas why it was repainted? An early preservation candidate? And for those of you who like your train pictures with more sky and boats than trains, it's an unidentified 47 at Evesham. I only know it's at Evesham because a) I remember we had a canal boating holiday that started there and b) it says it on the big blue boat....

A few ones from me (if I can remember when and where...) All pics are 1988/89. No idea which duff, but it's definitely at Penzance... Another unidentified IC duff (but it's a different one, just look at the bufferbeams..) at Penzance again. Ohhh, guess where!!?? 47 547 in revised NSE livery with a parcels service. Let's head north for a change. Manchester Piccadilly and 47 448 in large logo livery, departing from platform 13/14. Quickly followed by 47 439, again in large logo livery with a 'liner train from Trafford Park. And lastly, heading into the hills its 47 594 and 438 trying to break the class 37 monopoly at Buxton. Nice try lads...

Pete, I've just sat and binged on all nine pages of your layout. Fantastic and rather than waste my clicking finger on every shot, I've given you two big thumbs up. Brilliant modelling! Apologies if I missed it, but what are the layout dimensions? James

I suspect that there is a world of difference between people who worked on them back in the day and people who rode on them as passengers. In 20 or 30 years time when we are lamenting the loss of the 66's, I will have a different view of them having worked on them!

In lieu of finding anymore first gen pics, I'll post these links to the original training videos, available on youtube. Modern technology, 1950s style! Apologies if anyone has seen them before. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_3KLtQvHkA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS5xiM0LYtA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCQKvEy6jVs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WlOOwbiw9M

They always looked odd without marker lights.

The green liveried class 127 is the same one that both myself and PhilMc posted. Your shot shows it prior to conversion to parcels use. So we've got it in service in passenger use, in service in parcels use and in preservation as well! A famous DMU! The red plaque behind the drivers door is explained here... http://www.railcar.co.uk/images/class-127/vehicles

Indeed mate! Both feverishly bashing away at the keyboard and coming up with those results!

Great pics Phil! Funny how we've managed to post shots of the same unit in service and preservation, within 3 minutes of each other!!

So, a quick search through some old photos found these. Ok, Ok, I know some of the pics are a bit ropey, but I was just a kid, man! I'm pretty certain there are more to come, but as to where they are is another story... Unidentifed 101 at Wroxham, 1989. Norwich, 1989. Crown point's Set 66 (I think its 56354 in shot). Stokesby this time, with another unidentifed 101. It's actually Crown Point's set 70 but I don't know the individual numbers. 1989 again. Let's have a change of area! Wilmcote now, probably 1989-91, but I'm not sure. Tyseley set T025, which if the website I've cribbed the info off is correct, meant it was 54039+53003 Finally (for now) a preservation era shot of a class 127 at Butterley. I think this is the erstwhile set 920 (55966+55967) after they had the full yellow ends painted out. Mid 90's I'd guess.

I wish the smart phone had been invented when these units were still around. I have some great memories of the odd livery combinations that used to turn up. I recall waiting for a train back from my Grandparents house (nearly always a class 304 EMU), when a two car 108 turned up instead. The leading car was in freshly applied (or so it seemed) BR Blue and the trailer was in 'candy stripe' white/blue, but absolutely filthy. Probably about 1983 ish I'd guess. The Buxton units were always a favourite, firstly the 104's with white cab roofs and then the 108's with white cab roofs AND black window surrounds! Exotic! 128's were always a nice sight to see, just because they were so unusual. Towards the end of the first gen DMUs life, I remember seeing a four car Class 115 at Manchester Oxford Road and a hybrid 101/110 two car. The 110 had a huge hole in the underframe part of the exhaust and the radiator cap was missing as well, so fumes and steam were blasting up from below the platform edge!! Great days.

I'm ashamed to say it, but I don't have many pics from 'back in the day' of 'proper' DMUs. Considering how many times I travelled on them and how much I loved them then (and still do now), I have surprisingly little in the way of photos! I need to start checking out my old prints and start scanning any in that I find. As an appeasement to the DMU gods, I offer this one, taken by my brother, at Penzance. No idea which particular 122 it is, but any one who can ID it gets a prize* *No actual prize given ...

I remember travelling on this unit a few times. Half blue/grey and half Strathclyde PTE Orange/black. Brilliant!

Thanks Neil. The train is booked to run Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Booked departure time is 07.02 on Monday and 07.12 Wednesday and Friday. The empties are booked to depart Ince and Elton at 13.54, but in reality, it always leaves early. Probably dinner time (ish) is the best time to see it at Helsby.

A few more from me. This time the subject is 66 053 and the service is the 6M88 Middleton Towers - Ince and Elton sand and return working (via Warrington Arpley), 6Z42. All done and waiting to go home. Gratuitous detail close up 1 Gratuitous detail close up 2 Waiting for the road. *Edited to make the pics bigger!

A quicky from me. Sitting in the sun on a Sunday ballast, thankfully right outside the messroom window (means I didn't have far to walk). 66058 'Derek Clark' on 6Y46. Slutchers lane foot crossing.