Rugd1022

Great work with the Rats at New St Jim This isn't my model but I couldn't resist snapping it and giving it a bit of the old nostalgic treatment... D1000 at the York show yesterday, what a beautiful piece of kit...... hats off to whoever built and painted it..... http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x38/rugd1022/100_0335A.jpg http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x38/rugd1022/100_0346A.jpg Nidge

Here there and everywhere - The Beatles

Little Red Rooster - The Rolling Stones

Last Train To London - ELO

Because - The Beatles (with apologies for my previous fau' pas!) Nidge

America - Simon & Garfunkel Nidge

Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick - Ian Dury & The Blockheads Nidge

All but four of the Westerns received dual braking from 1968 onwards, the four which didn't were D1017, D1018, D1019 and D1020. HTH, Nidge ;O)

There's a good chance it may have done D605, and I have a colour slide of D6334 in the same all over green condition at Bath Road in 1965 so it wasn't the only one. The plot thickens Nidge EDIT : It's worth mentioning here one thing about the liveries applied to the class - those members which did receive blue livery only ever carried one version of it, and kept that particular style until withdrawn, ie: never going through the whole cycle, unlike many of the D8xx Warships which went through the whole green / maroon / blue phase. Hope that makes sense! I've now dug out all of my D63xx prints, slides and notes and will try to do a run down of the class history, cross referencing published photos etc. It won't be 100% foolproof though as there are gaps here and there, but will give an overall picture of the 22's short lives ;O)

Hi again Chris, When the model itself breaks cover I'll do my best to give a run down on which locos can be modelled from what Dapol make available. When the project was announced I sent Dave all the info and photos I could muster...... there are so many variations within the class (and all carried out in a relatively short space of time) that it will no doubt be a 'sit down job' to go through them all properly. The difficulty comes in knowing exactly when individual members from the D6300 - D6333 batch went into Swindon Works to have headcode boxes fitted, not all of them did and the placement of these boxes varies on some locos anyway. Some had them 'flush fitted' in the same style as D6334 onwards had when new, while others had the more protruding type fitted higher up on the cab fronts, eg D6307 and D6324, in the same manor as the D6xx's did. In fact, I only noticed the higher boxes on D6307 this morning when looking at the colour pic of it at Laira in the Strathwood Hydraulic book! I think those of us who are sweet on 22s are going to have some fun when it hits the shelves.... Nidge

What a lucky chap you are then Mike! If it's got green and blue paint on it, then it's bound to be one of the following.... D6300 / 6302 / 6303 / 6308 / 6314 / 6318 / 6319 / 6322 / 6325 / 6326 / 6327 / 6328 / 6330 / 6332 / 6333 / 6334 / 6336 / 6337 / 6338 / 6339 / 6340 / 6343 / 6348 / 6352 / 6354 / 6356, all the others were withdrawn in green. I do believe another member of our little parish has a piece of a D63xx tucked away somewhere, but I'll let him expand on that himself if he feels like doing so . Nidge

It's A Living Thing - ELO

Hi Chris, I can't say for certain when D6309 gained it's headcode boxes but suspect it would have been done by 1965, D6342 and D6348 had them fitted from new - as to which model to use as a base, we might have to wait to see the pre-production model as there were two different designs of front end connecting doors on the class. I don't have the definitive info to hand right now but the CAD images look like they are for the D6306 - D6334 batch, I'll have to check this out and come back with the full answer though as there are other detail differences within this batch suc has handrail positions on the can fronts. Nidge

When it does come out Chard it may even kick start a proper layout from me too, even if it is a small one. Looking forward to this one knocking my socks off so to speak Nidge

Yes I should have mentioned that, many thanks Just to add... the repaints from green into blue / syp for the four (in order as released from Swindon Works) were D6314 Summer 1966, D6300 6th February 1967, D6327 March 1967 and D6303 1st April 1967. Whilst D6303 was still in the Works during March, two other Class 22s were in the process of being repainted blue but with full yellow ends, D6318 and D6325, both of which were released back into traffic in April. Throw in all the livery variations on the Hymeks, Westerns and three types of Warships in the same period and you've got a bit of a minefield! Nidge

The four blue / small yellow panel members were D6300, D6303, D6314 and D6327, and all of them were withdrawn whilst carrying this livery. Really looking forward to this one Dapol Dave! Cheers, Nidge

Was talking to the day turn signalman at Worcester Tunnel Junction today, he mentioned that one of them failed near Bromsgrove yesterday causing a bit of curfuffle. Nidge

Love You to - The Beatles Nidge

Sha La La la Lee - The Small Faces Nidge

What's The New Mary Jane - The Beatles Nidge

Hi Ron, You are right of course, everything that's bolted down to the chassis is rugged, but this in itself is part of the problem - the cabs, engine, generator, etc are bolted directly to the floor with no 'give' in them which creates all the vibration / noise / rattling and no amount of complaining seems to make any difference! Throw in a bit of body and chassis twisting under heavy throttle usage and the exterior paintwork suffers, patches of it start flaking off letting the side sheets rust away. I'd say the engine is virtually bullet proof, being a 2-stroke it's dead simple but the compressor runs directly off the crank and runs almost continuously, so the engine revs up and down the whole time. Prep and disposal is simplicity itself, there's not much to look at in the electrical cubicle at No.1 end but when things do go wrong it's usually electrical in nature. One very cold day I went down to Oxford to work a set of empties from Hinksey Yard back to the quarry at Stud Farm, the loco was in the West Mids siding at Oxford station and hadn't been run up during the night so was still covered in frost. I came to start it and nothing was happeneing. I got straight on the phone to the fitter at Crewe who ended up giving me instructions over the phone on how to change the PCB boards around to get it to fire up. It took nearly an hour but we managed it in the end.... they just do not like the cold weather if they've been left standing for more than 48 hours! In total contrast to the above, given a Class 60 in similar condition the difference in 'feel' is very obvious.... the only way to describe it really is as a 'rugged smoothness', I know it sounds like a contradiction in terms but it just about sums up the 60s for me. Even with traction motors isolated, a 60 is a far superior workhorse than a 66. I only ever had a 60 fail on me the once, with low engine oil pressure, the failsafe kicked in to protect the engine and she shut down on me on the Sutton Park line, right in the middle of the dip between Streetly and Aldridge! Had to wait an hour or so for assistance but it came in the shape of another pair of 60s which travelled all the way from Worcester. I've now seen a few '70s in the flesh close up, but haven't been in the cab yet. Our team leader was passed out on them in January and say's he's very impressed with them all round so far. They're growing on me more each time I see one and I'm told we will be on them eventually, as at our depot we have some of the heaviest trains on the hardest gradients..... you'd think the powers that be would want to put them on these jobs straight away to show what they're capable of but no, they let them hang around Crewe in the middle of the night going nowhere! There are still some problems which need to be sorted out with them, mainly to do with access to certain areas by the fitters and the onboard computers which have been the cause of most failures so far, so I'm told anyway. Cheers, Nidge

A well executed post Ron, however there's one point I'd like to pick up on....'robust, reliable and relatively simple', hmmm, well, two out of three isn't bad. From personal experience I wouldn't say they're robust, the build quality is atrocious on all but the most recent deliveries (which to be fair have had improvements incorporated into the design). Many of our older 66s are letting in water and draughts around the cabs, the amount of rust inside the cabs around the windows defies belief, interior and exterior doors jam sometimes and make a quick exit in an emergency a real problem. The sliding windows get stuck and the locks break because they are so flimsy, door handles have fallen off leaving the interior door flapping about as you're doing 60mph with the engine / coolant group fan noise coming at you. All of these concerns and more have been passed on up the food chain but hardly any of them are resolved, even after nearly a decade of complaints. I guess we're stuck with them now but as reliable as they undoubtedly are, there were definitley 'built to a price'. Not long after joining Freightliner I was told by one of our managers that when it came to ordering new traction, Brush 5's were considered for a while but the price would simply have been too high. Shame really, as when they're on form, there's nothing to beat a 60. I for one will be sad to see them go. Cheers, Nidge

Heard one ticking over for the first time in Basford Hall Yard last week, it sounded like a bag on nails but I rather liked it. Looks wise they're growing on me, they're much more impressive close up in the flesh than in photos. It's the skirts that do it for me.... ! Nidge

Steady Pennine, I've got enough silly ideas floating about at the minute without that malarky to drag me off on another tangent!!!

Sold this one ages ago, I know the Bachmann 40 isn't everyone's cup of tea especially straight out of the box, but I always liked them in green with a bit of weathering... Nidge