Chris T's photo archives

[Enterprisingwestern]

D5638

The rare lesser spotted Brush 2, GSYWP with double arrow, what a catch.

 

Mike.

[31A]

Some more very interesting pictures Chris which once again take me back to a misspent youth when the sun always shone and every train was a green Brush 2!  I presume the blue thing in the centre of the first picture is a sugar factory industrial loco?  I don't remember ever seeing one at Bury although presume they must have existed.

[Chris Turnbull]

D5638

The rare lesser spotted Brush 2, GSYWP with double arrow, what a catch.

 

Mike.

 

This is what makes posting these photographs worthwhile - I hadn't noticed that before!  What we tend to forget is that in the early days the double arrow symbol was probably applied locally at the discretion of the person doing the work which gave rise to all sorts of inconsistencies.

 

Chris Turnbull 

[Chris Turnbull]

Some more very interesting pictures Chris which once again take me back to a misspent youth when the sun always shone and every train was a green Brush 2!  I presume the blue thing in the centre of the first picture is a sugar factory industrial loco?  I don't remember ever seeing one at Bury although presume they must have existed.

 

Now you mention it the British Sugar Corporation did have its own fleet of locomotives of which that is clearly one.  I didn't mention it because I didn't notice it - well spotted 31A.  Clearly I'm not just colour blind!

 

Chris Turnbull

[LNERGE]

Not quite right for the period but nearly..

 

[LNERGE]

This evening, I thought we might travel through Bury St Edmunds from east to west.

 

 

On the same day another Brush type 2 D5638 leaves the station headed for either Cambridge or Ely.  This shot is taken from what was then called Beetons footpath which used to be an unmetalled track that crossed the railway by a wooden crossing with wicket gates each side.  It is now a main artery called "Beetons Way" and through the field to the left runs the A14 dual carriageway.

 

 

Chris Turnbull

I'd say a new underbidge is in progress nearby? The 'T' board is visible in this shot and the advance warning board for the other road is visible near the co-actor in another..

[Chris Turnbull]

I thought we might visit the West Country with this batch so here goes.

 

 

First stop Oxford on 22nd August 1968 where we see "Warship" D837 "Ramillies" 

 

 

Moving on to Ashchurch later the same day we catch "Western" D1004 "Western Crusader" running light engine.

 

 

Here's Brush type 4 D1611 at Cheltenham Spa on 23rd August 1968.  A bit dilapidated the station, I thought, but lots of seats and contemporary adverts. 

 

 

This is "Peak" D34 entering Cheltenham Spa the same day.  The line to what is now the Gloucester and Warwickshire Railway is on the right and had been closed only a short time previously. 

 

Chris Turnbull

Edited May 22, 2022 by Chris Turnbull

[Fat Controller]

I thought we might visit the West Country with this batch so here goes.

 

680822 Oxford D837 Ramillies.jpg

 

First stop Oxford on 22nd August 1968 where we see "Warship" D837 "Ramillies" 

 

680822 Ashchurh D1004 Western Crusader.jpg

 

Moving on to Ashchurch later the same day we catch "Western" D1004 "Western Crusader" running light engine.

 

680823 Cheltenham Spa D1611.jpg

 

Here's Brush type 4 D1611 at Cheltenham Spa on 23rd August 1968.  A bit dilapidated the station, I thought, but lots of seats and contemporary adverts. 

 

680823 Cheltenham Spa D34.jpg

 

This is "Peak" D34 entering Cheltenham Spa the same day.  The line to what is now the Gloucester and Warwickshire Railway is on the right and had been closed only a short time previously. 

 

Chris Turnbull

I think the line to Stratford may have lost any scheduled passenger services by 1968, but I'm pretty certain it stayed open for freight traffic and diverted passenger services until the mid-1970s.

[Chris Turnbull]

I think the line to Stratford may have lost any scheduled passenger services by 1968, but I'm pretty certain it stayed open for freight traffic and diverted passenger services until the mid-1970s.

 

I have now checked the detail (which perhaps I should have done previously) and the intermediate stations e.g. Winchcombe lost their passenger services in 1960 but the line did not close until 1977.

 

Chris Turnbull 

Edited November 8, 2014 by Chris Turnbull

[Enterprisingwestern]

I thought we might visit the West Country with this batch so here goes.

 

680822 Oxford D837 Ramillies.jpg

 

First stop Oxford on 22nd August 1968 where we see "Warship" D837 "Ramillies" 

 

680822 Ashchurh D1004 Western Crusader.jpg

 

Moving on to Ashchurch later the same day we catch "Western" D1004 "Western Crusader" running light engine.

 

680823 Cheltenham Spa D1611.jpg

 

Here's Brush type 4 D1611 at Cheltenham Spa on 23rd August 1968.  A bit dilapidated the station, I thought, but lots of seats and contemporary adverts. 

 

680823 Cheltenham Spa D34.jpg

 

This is "Peak" D34 entering Cheltenham Spa the same day.  The line to what is now the Gloucester and Warwickshire Railway is on the right and had been closed only a short time previously. 

 

Chris Turnbull

 

I've said it before, and no doubt I'll say it again, but;

 

"NURSE, THE SCREENS."

 

Mike.

[Chris Turnbull]

On 08/11/2014 at 11:56, LNERGE said:

I'd say a new underbidge is in progress nearby? The 'T' board is visible in this shot and the advance warning board for the other road is visible near the co-actor in another..

 

You are quite correct that underbridge construction was in progress but it was behind the photographer.  The spoil from the works is what you can see spread over the field to the left of the track (and in the second shot of post #9) so the "T" board must refer to something else towards the station. 

 

 

The new bridge was constructed to the side of the railway line and over the weekend of 2nd and 3rd November 1968 the line was severed, the bridge slid into position and the track reconnected.  This is the worksite on the morning of Sunday 3rd.

 

Chris Turnbull 

Edited May 22, 2022 by Chris Turnbull

[Chris Turnbull]

From Cheltenham we head to Barry in South Wales where we visit Dai Woodham's scrapyard.  There's a lot about this scrapyard on the internet and this is the link to one example, Wikipedia, where there is quite a write-up:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodham_Brothers

 

The following are a selection of many photographs I took on 24th and 25th August 1968 which will hopefully give a flavour of what it was like.

 

 

 

General views over the scrap yard

 

 

 

 

 

Long lines of decaying giants

 

 

To the right is Class Q 30541 and on the original slide the light is just right to be able to discern the outline of the original Southern numbering

 

 

This rusting hulk is "King" 6023 "King Edward ll"

 

 

And for all S&D fans here's 53808

 

 

Another ex-Southern loco, S15 30830

 

 

And this heap of scrap is 71000 "Duke of Gloucester".  Little did I think that 25 years later I would be photographing this:

 

 

"Duke of Gloucester" fully restored on 17th April 1993 at Bishops Stortford.  And all thanks to Dai Woodham who found it was more economical to break up wagons than locomotives, thereby giving preservationists the time to raise the capital to purchase that machines before they were cut up. 

 

 

On the same day this is "Duke of Gloucester" blocking the level crossing at Ely.  The locomotive was due the uncouple from the train at Ely but the train brakes would not hold the train so the coupling could not be slackened enough to uncouple it.  A Class 47 was brought up to the rear to compress the buffers but to allow this to happen the locomotive had to draw forward so that it blocked the level crossing.  Lorries piled up each side of the crossing which in turn blocked traffic wanting to use the underpass.  There was one particularly strident lady who was in the queue with a horsebox.  

 

"I say," she demanded of a gentleman in a high-vis jacket stood next to me, "I've been here at least half-an-hour and I have a gymkhana to get to". 

 

"Well madam," he replied, "we're having a bit of trouble here so it could be quite a while.  The only thing I can suggest is that you go round via Stretham".

 

"What?" she shrieked.  "That's miles around.  I want to speak to the person in charge".

 

"I'm Bob Breakwell," he said, "and I am in charge".

 

Chris Turnbull 

Edited May 23, 2022 by Chris Turnbull

[jonny777]

The interesting thing, for me, about the photos at Cheltenham on 23rd August 1968 is that on the same day I was at Exeter St Davids.

 

D1611 was a Bath Road loco at the time, so I presume it had taken over from a hydraulic at Temple Meads. I dug out my notes, but unfortunately I did not see 1E11. I was hoping to add a bit more detail to the working that day.

 

D34 was a Holbeck engine, so presumably is on a working from Leeds.

[Chris Turnbull]

One thing East Anglia does lack are coalmines or any sort of heavy industry (other than sugar beet factories).  It was with great excitement and pleasure, therefore, that I managed to capture...

 

 

 

...NCB 0-6-0ST near Pontypool on 26th August 1968

 

 

From South Wales we go to Bristol Temple Meads where, on 27th August 1968, we see "Western" D1067 "Western Druid" 

 

 

Us railway photographers are very fond of our "three-quarter" views and I am as guilty as the next person in this respect.  A "square-on" shot is far more use to the modeller so I include this, "Hymek" D7086 at Bristol.

 

 

A little bit more detail here, the nameplate of "Western" D1040.  Not square, I'm afraid, and with the shadow of a lamp post to one side but, as I've said before, this was long before the digital age when you didn't know exactly what you had got until the film was developed.

 

 

And here's a view of Bristol Bath Road shed on 27th August 1968 for all you lovers of Warships, Peaks and Brush type 4s.

 

Chris Turnbull

Edited May 22, 2022 by Chris Turnbull

[AberdeenBill]

Thanks Chris, epic view of Bath Road shed ;-)   How many of us (im)patiently stood on the platform waiting for a loco to come off shed and get its' number?

 

Going back a few posts to #101, the 1S11 head-code on D5638 is interesting.   An S in the head-code meant (as I'm sure you know) an inter-regional train bound for Scotland, which is surely not the case here?

 

Bill

[jonny777]

I have to agree with AberdeenBill. A wonderful classic shot of Bath Road depot in the good old days.

 

The lack of locos showing just how depleted the WR could be of spare main line diesels during the height of the holiday season.

 

27th August 1968 was a Tuesday, and I guess this would be the day after August Bank Holiday, so most locally allocated locos would be scattered far and wide.

[Chris Turnbull]

Thanks Chris, epic view of Bath Road shed ;-)   How many of us (im)patiently stood on the platform waiting for a loco to come off shed and get its' number?

 

Going back a few posts to #101, the 1S11 head-code on D5638 is interesting.   An S in the head-code meant (as I'm sure you know) an inter-regional train bound for Scotland, which is surely not the case here?

 

Bill

 

No, there were never any inter-regional trains from Bury St Edmunds to Scotland that I am aware of.  Jonny777 made the same point to me in a PM but up until then I didn't know this as I am not an expert on headcodes (although I am always willing to learn as this case shows).

 

This would be a good one to run on a model railway at an exhibition in the hope that some smart-arse will tell you its wrong.  Then you can triumphantly produce a print of that slide.  I love doing that!

 

Chris Turnbull

[LNERGE]

Broxborne or Bishops Stortford sounds unlikely?

 

[Chris Turnbull]

The angle of the sun indicates that this was an evening shot in which case this was probably the Peterborough train which left Bury St Edmunds just after 6.00 p.m.  As you say, Broxbourne or Bishops Stortford are very unlikely.  Maybe the indicator blind was faulty?

 

Chris Turnbull 

[Enterprisingwestern]

In my day, perfectly dovetailing with Chris's photo's, it was reckoned at least 30% of headcodes were wrong for one reason or another. This is borne out by my notes of the day, eg a light engine Brush 2 going to Stratford heading north through Chesterfield, and a pair of EE type 1s piloting a failed peak on a St Pancras Sheffield with 8D81 up.

 

Mike.

[31A]

Well there was a Colchester-Glasgow at one time but whether it still ran in 1968 I wouldn't like to say.  I've been able to find a copy of the ER Summer 1959 timetable which shows it as 5.15pm ex Colchester, Bury 6.46-6.56pm, terminating at Glasgow QS 5.56am SX (Edinburgh Waverley 4.43am SO).  I've probably got a 1968 ER timetable somewhere, but it would be harder to find!

[LNERGE]

I have a Colchester - Glasgow in a May 70 - May 71 WTT 17:12 ex Colchester as 1S38, Chippenham Junc 19:09

[Chris Turnbull]

 

Continuing our journey deep into the West Country this is "Western" D1018 "Western Buccaneer" on a train of oil milk tankers at Bruton on 28th August 1968.

 

 

Coming in the opposite direction here's a couple of "Warships", D823 "Hermes" and D870 "Zulu"

 

 

Here's one for Jonny777 as a big "thank you" for all his help and assistance; Exeter St Davids on 9th April 1969.  Perhaps he's on the platform?

 

 

Same place, same time: "Warship" D803 "Albion"

 

Chris Turnbull

Edited May 22, 2022 by Chris Turnbull

[Phil Bullock]

Fantastic stuff Chris - many thanks for sharing!
 
BTM in 68? Memory Lane for me! Druid in MFYE was my first ever Whizzo, seen at BTM, probably Easter 68 but haven't checked the dates. Its why (s)he now runs the rails on Abbotswood
 
And 5528 was one of the 31s transferred to the WR as hydraulic replacements, am just doing her in blue as per this Brush Veteran shot, just over a year later so she must have visited the plant to gain blue.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/91758-chris-ts-photo-archives/page-5

 

Unusual for the ER to send a recently shopped loco to the WR - most of the others were high hours.

 

Please keep them coming

 

Phil

 

 

[Shadow]

There's one shown here for 27th July 68

 

http://www.class40motherlist.com/68jul.html

 

edit to add :-

 

Also half way down this page Type 2 (Class 24) (D5018) on Colchester to Glasgow run

 

http://www.derbysulzers.com/snow.html

Edited November 9, 2014 by Shadow