Neil's Hydraulic pics

[br2975]

7085 definitely 'the back of Canton' - the house backs are Ninian Park Road and to the left of the loco is the former Turner's building which gave rise to the current Canton Brickyard monicker.

.

Brian R

[The Stationmaster]

That makes more sense.  If the headcode should be 1B13 then it would be the 1345 Paddington-Bristol and the formation would be correct for the Saturday train.

 

Clearly a later shot than this one as the telegraph poles have disappeared:

 

D1010_ThingleyJ by robertcwp, on Flickr

And it would appear to have been taken some time between December 1966 and March 1968.

[Downendian]

Good morning, travelling through to Chester this afternoon (by train) which will be fun, via Newport.

But some quick uploads. Most have been posted before on a rather old thread in a previous incarnation of RMweb, but nice here for completeness.

 

First to follow the image of D1032 is D1066 Western Prefect (for some reason rarely photographed) at Thingley Junction in 1969.

 

Second Hymek D7041 at (edit) Cardiff

 

Third a groggy looking D1036 approaching Whiteball tunnel on 24th April 1971

 

Next two slides are a pair of MFYE Westerns (although in black and white!)

D1068 Western Reliance at Paddington platform 2 on the 1630 to Plymouth, 21st April 1968

 

And finally, D1012 before the square ventilation panels were fitted at Woodborough in 1969

 

Neil

Edited February 5, 2015 by Downendian

[Phil Bullock]

Pretty sure 7041 is Cardiff Neil - isn't that Canton depot in the background?

 

Cracking shots again, you keep spoiling us!

 

Many thanks

 

Phil

[Downendian]

Ah yes indeed it is! This thread is rapidly correcting errors written on the slides (not by me!).

Neil

[Phil Bullock]

Cheers! Enjoy trip to Chester shame theres no hydraulics to phot en route

 

Phil

[Downendian]

Pretty route though through Abergavenny and the Marches, Hereford et al., ghosts of hydraulics in the railway infrastructure though.

Neil

[Phil Bullock]

Absolutely! Its a favourite - along with the Central wales line

 

Phil

[The Stationmaster]

Pretty sure 7041 is Cardiff Neil - isn't that Canton depot in the background?

 

Cracking shots again, you keep spoiling us!

 

Many thanks

 

Phil

The number (C670) on the ground signal plus the edge of Cardiff West 'box at extreme right left (it's an age thing, sorry   ) are also something of a giveaway

Edited February 5, 2015 by The Stationmaster

[jonny777]

Unfortunately, my earliest spotting notes (i.e. late 60s to 1970)  vanished into the ether, but from my remaining notebooks it appears my most common Warships were 808,855 & 857, whereas 809 was  most noteworthy - disrupting 'double English' as it passed my school on 26th. May,1971 working the daily Avonmouth - Radyr and return - it wasn't a 'cop' but its pock marked faded MFYE livery made it such a sad sight.

.

Brian R

 

 

I couldn't resist this, so I dug out my notes and added up my sightings (no scrap line locos, although a few may have been stored at NA depot when I was there in 1969).

 

The Warship I saw the most was D821 which I saw 9 times, followed by D805, D809 and D818 which were 8 times each.

 

What left me rather open-mouthed was that on Bank Holiday Saturday August 1969, during an eight hour spell on Exeter St Davids, I saw 36 Westerns, virtually half the class.

[Trevellan]

The groggy D1036 is typical of blue liveried examples in the 70s.  The washing equipment was pretty aggressive from what I understand and the blue was not that resilient.  No black smoke from the exhausts though.

 

It was probably a time-saving ruse, in that the washing plants gradually rubbed the paint down ready for the next repaint

[Phil Bullock]

IIRC it was the solution used in the washers - Exmover, containing oxalic acid http://www.superfine.co.uk/sds/cnvw4qfk.pdf- which was to blame

 

Phil

Edited February 5, 2015 by Phil Bullock

[robertcwp]

Good morning, travelling through to Chester this afternoon (by train) which will be fun, via Newport.

But some quick uploads. Most have been posted before on a rather old thread in a previous incarnation of RMweb, but nice here for completeness.

 

First to follow the image of D1032 is D1066 Western Prefect (for some reason rarely photographed) at Thingley Junction in 1969.

D1066 Clink road junction 1969.jpg

 

 

1B14 was the 1445 (SX) Paddington-Bristol, formed with the stock of the 1115 Bristol-Paddington and before that the 0845 Paddington-Bristol, which had been The Bristolian until it lost its name.  This set did not have a BG but had an extra FK at the London end instead, as illustrated.  Sometimes, there was a fourth FK too.

[The Stationmaster]

IIRC it was the solution used in the washers - Exmover, containing oxalic acid http://www.superfine.co.uk/sds/cnvw4qfk.pdf- which was to blame

 

Phil

Indeed so.  Exmover was about the only stuff that could remove brake block dust and brake block dust was a major constituent of dirtying the lower part of passenger vehicles.  However 'Ex' (as we called it) was also an extremely good cleaning agent for removing just about any sort of dirt picked up by coaching stock so it was what many carriage washing machines (CWMs) used, especially on the WR.   But it came with penalties and the most critical of these were getting the mixture strength right - a persistent problem at Kensal Green - and getting the wash/rinse timing right.  The latter was officially solved by setting a strict speed limit through the CWM as it then allowed the correct amount of time between applying the mixture and rinsing it off but that could easily go wrong if a  Driver went too slow (=rinse too late, therefore Ex left on the vehicle) or went too fast (=inadequate time for the chemical reaction therefore dirt not properly removed).  and of course if it involved a 'through & back' CWM then some of the times were bound to be wrong.

 

With passenger stock (and some NPCCS) there was also supposed to be a 4 weekly handwash but very often that was only done in the breach as the time allowance for doing a Mk1 coach was 65 minutes excluding the backs (backs =ends in the vernacular of some carriage cleaning depots on the Western).  So what generally happened was that if a coach was particularly bad with Ex staining it would be set upon when time and staffing permitted - ideally the trick was to first wash with Ex then rinse (Ex being the only stuff which could reliably move dried on Ex) and for a fancy job (unofficial material and method) go over it with a wash with GIC (General Interior Cleaner) then rinse = nice shiny finish  (GIC was, as far as we could work out, an industrial strength version of Fairy Liquid, superb stuff).

 

Unlike coaches locos normally got no hand washing and what washing plants there were on loco depots tended not to be so well looked after as CWMs mainly because there was really no one to take an interest in what they did whereas we had a Regional Carriage Cleaning Inspector who went round chasing up standards (as did I sometimes when I was his boss and we weren't getting the results out of a depot we thought we ought to be getting; and why else would I have spent a night turn at Malago Vale I wonder?).  There was no equivalent M&EE post and I doubt that apart from having plant engineers who knew how the plants should work - when they still existed - they didn't have our experience of judging the finished results and knowing what was wrong, even although we needed them to put the CWMs right.

[br2975]

The number (C670) on the ground signal plus the edge of Cardiff West 'box at extreme right left (it's an age thing, sorry   ) are also something of a giveaway

 

As are  (i) Qualitex Printers, and (ii) The Royal Tudor in the right background.............

.

And those lovely Coil 'E' & 'G'

 

Brian R

.

[br2975]

What left me rather open-mouthed was that on Bank Holiday Saturday August 1969, during an eight hour spell on Exeter St Davids, I saw 36 Westerns, virtually half the class.

 

Sort of dispels any availability and reliability myths.

.

Brian R

[Phil Bullock]

I couldn't resist this, so I dug out my notes and added up my sightings (no scrap line locos, although a few may have been stored at NA depot when I was there in 1969).

 

The Warship I saw the most was D821 which I saw 9 times, followed by D805, D809 and D818 which were 8 times each.

 

What left me rather open-mouthed was that on Bank Holiday Saturday August 1969, during an eight hour spell on Exeter St Davids, I saw 36 Westerns, virtually half the class.

More note pourings here - you've started something now Jonny!

 

Even as late as April 23rd 1976 it was still possible to see 15 Westerns in a day at Reading -

 

1005/9/13/15/28/33/37/51/53/56/57/58/70/71/72 - most of those survived until pretty well the end of the year although 57 and 37 were only a week and month respectively away from their nemesis.

 

I hesitate to mention other power but 2 x 08, 13 x 31, 5 x 33, 2 x 37, 41 x 47, 22 x 50 contributed to 100 locos seen in approximately 8 hours. The proliferation of DE power shows the end wasn't too far off for the hydraulics but they sure as hell didn't go down without a fight. Most would have been on Class 1s and every departure, particularly in the up direction, was a sight and sound to behold. Not an HST to be seen!

 

Happy days

 

Phil

 

Edited to correct withdrawal date for 1028/37

 

Edited February 7, 2015 by Phil Bullock

[Downendian]

Good morning

Some more photos today

 

First class 43, 856 Trojan at Newton Abbott in 1969

 

A broadside view of D7046 at Bristol Bath road, July 1964

 

D1063 Western Monitor at Bodmin road on ballast train, 1st August 1973

 

D1056 Western Sultan at Temple Meads, date unknown but between September 1967 and April 1971 based on livery. One of my only colour maroon full yellow panel photos, a recent acquisition, still needing attention of photoshop to colour defects in the slide.

 

Finally an unknown Hymek at the wonderful Avoncliff halt, near Bath in the Avon valley- the nearby Cross guns pub was a favourite haunt of mine when it was owned by a butcher- the steaks were amazing. In the 1990s there was a huge waiting list, and you needed to book weeks, if not months in advance to get a table - not the case anymore sadly.

 

Neil

Edited February 7, 2015 by Downendian

[Phil Bullock]

Awesome. Trojan at Newton Abbott alone is worth re-reading the whole thread for

 

Phil

[Downendian]

A very historic shot Phil! Just wish I knew the other Warships in the photo though.

Neil

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Looks like the third one is still in green livery, though I'm beginning to sound like a sad trainspotter.....

[Downendian]

I sometimes smell of salt and vinegar crisps too Peter

Neil

[jonny777]

Looks like the third one is still in green livery, though I'm beginning to sound like a sad trainspotter.....

 

 

That narrows it down to about half a dozen, mainly 43s that did not have FYE by then.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Motorail vehicles in the bay platform too.....

[jonny777]

More note pourings here - you've started something now Jonny!

 

Even as late as April 23rd 1976 it was still possible to see 15 Westerns in a day at Reading -

 

1005/9/13/15/28/33/37/51/53/56/57/58/70/71/72 - most of those survived until pretty well the end of the year although 57 and 28 were only a week and month respectively away from their nemesis.

 

I hesitate to mention other power but 2 x 08, 13 x 31, 5 x 33, 2 x 37, 41 x 47, 22 x 50 contributed to 100 locos seen in approximately 8 hours. The proliferation of DE power shows the end wasn't too far off for the hydraulics but they sure as hell didn't go down without a fight. Most would have been on Class 1s and every departure, particularly in the up direction, was a sight and sound to behold. Not an HST to be seen!

 

Happy days

 

Phil

 

 

You did well to see 15 in a day during 1976, Phil.

 

I wish I had been there.

 

I spent the afternoon on Plymouth station in March 76 and only saw 6. Plus a couple of 3 hour stints at Taplow in May 76 only produced 8, and that included seeing D1054 twice.