Traction Times: A Second Selection

‘Traction Times’ a second selection

An early BR Traction Miscellany compiled by Andrew Royle

‘Traction Times’ a second selection © Images and design: The Transport Treasury 2021. Text Andrew Royle.

ISBN 978-1-913251-20-8 First published in 2021 by Transport Treasury Publishing Ltd., 16 Highworth Close, High Wycombe, HP13 7PJ www.ttpublishing.co.uk Printed in the UK by Henry Ling Limited at the Dorset Press, Dorchester. DT1 1HD The copyright holders hereby give notice that all rights to this work are reserved.

Aside from brief passages for the purpose of review, no part of this work may be reproduced, copied by electronic or other means, or otherwise stored in any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the Publisher. This includes the illustrations herein which shall remain the copyright of the copyright holder.

The BRCW Type 3s were truly a mixed traffic locomotive; they were just as at home working named main line express services (such as the ‘Golden Arrow’ or ‘Night Ferry’) as they were hauling short distance freight. As their life wore on, they progressed from hauling oil and cement trains to heavy MGR duties. They also came to be used on long distance ballast turns to and from Meldon Quarry, as well as inter-regional passenger trains. On 30 July 1960, a very new D6517 is shown leaving the tunnel at Elmstead Woods with the 10.35am Charing Cross to Deal service. (Dr Terry Gough TG255-5)

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Contents Introduction

5

Chapter 1

Diesel Multiple Units

Chapter 2

Type 1 Diesels

20

Chapter 3

Type 2 Diesels

27

Chapter 4

Type 3 Diesels

43

Chapter 5

Type 4 Diesels

51

Chapter 6

Type 5 Diesels and Prototypes

67

Chapter 7

Diesel Shunters

75

Chapter 8

Electric Multiple Units

86

Chapter 9

Electric Locos

94

Chapter 10

Depots and Servicing

104

Postscript

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112

Front cover: Second of the LMS-designed Co-Co diesels, No. 10001 was the last to be overhauled and had covered over a million miles by the time it was withdrawn from service in 1966. It is pictured at Willesden sometime in 1959. (Maurice Hudson) Frontispiece: In 1960, after the first of the Modernisation Plan Type 4 diesels had entered service, the British Transport Commission published requirements for a second generation of motive power in that category. The aim was to achieve 75mph average speeds on routes out of London to destinations up to 300 miles distance, clearly to take on the threat from an expanding motorway network, as well as internal air services. The specification was essentially for at least 2700hp from a six-axle locomotive weighing no more than 114 tons and preferably with a 100mph top speed. Prototypes would be assessed over at least one year’s service. The Brush built Falcon was the first to appear late in 1961 but it was the offering from BRCW that caught the attention perhaps the most. Lion was equipped with a Sulzer engine driving through AEI electrical equipment and was turned out in a striking white livery. Appearing in April 1962, this undated view of it at Leamington Spa is probably around that time, going by the lack of any obvious dirt on the running gear. With the number D0260 applied in gold numerals (stemming from its works production number), it appears to be entering the down through road on a shakedown working of empty stock. It would have made quite a contrast with the ‘Kings’ and ‘Castles’ then pre-eminent on Birmingham route expresses through this station. (David Horne) Rear Cover: The principal difference between the first tranche of 100 electric locomotives for the WCML and the second (the AL6 fleet) was that their traction motors were wholly supported by the bogie frames, as against being partly axle-hung. The direct gearing involved in an axle-hung arrangement is less complex, as it doesn’t have to allow for vertical movement in the springs and is therefore cheaper to manufacture and to maintain. However, the AL6 design soon showed that this led to harder riding at speed and an increase in resultant broken rails which was only addressed by major suspension and wheel modifications during the 1970s. An advantage of the newer design was that their power plant consisted of four separate ‘packs’ of equipment, any of which could be isolated in the event of a fault developing in one of them, with the locomotive carrying on functioning with three quarters power. A more obvious difference is well illustrated here in the contrasting cab end profile. E3086 and E3167 face each other at Bletchley’s stabling point on 29 August 1967 and it is remarkable to think that several of the latter type are still going strong after 55 years in traffic. (Alec Swain W42-5)

Bibliography BR Fleet Survey Series, Brian Haresnape & Alec Swain: Ian Allan 1981-1990.

The Allocation History of BR Diesels & Electrics, Roger Harris: Self published 1983.

A Pictorial Record of the Diesel Shunter, Colin J. Marsden: OPC 1981.

British Multiple Units Volume 1, Ashley Butlin: Coorlea Publishing 2006.

Castles to Warships, Jack Gardner: John Murray 1986.

First Generation DMUs, Kevin Robertson: Ian Allan 2004.

Locomotive Testing on Britain's Railways 1901-1968, D. Peel: Kestrel Railway Books 2013.

Diesel Pioneers, David N. Clough: Ian Allan 2005.

Trains Illustrated/Modern Railways – various issues.

Railway Magazine – various issues.

Rail-online.co.uk website.

Six Bells Junction website.

The Deltics; A symposium, various authors, Ian Allan 1972.

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4

Introduction

W

elcome to ‘Traction Times’ Volume Two, a further collection of black and white images from the archive of the Transport Treasury, showing diesel and electric traction in the early days of British Railways.

The time period featured has been expanded slightly so that we now reach back as far as 1949 and there are a few more shunters, electric locomotives and multiple units than there were in the first edition. There is also a hint of the BR blue period which began around 1965-66. An additional chapter concentrates on depots and works facilities.

greasetop or cloth cap. Apart from uniformed staff, management were expected to wear a suit and their own more formal headgear, appropriate to their rank.

Young spotters tended to be in school uniform, if for no other reason than that was often all their parents could afford for them. The infrastructure and the smokestained buildings that were a feature of a more industrial Britain will also be apparent.

Feedback from the first volume has been much appreciated! The information given in the captions accompanying the photos has been derived from a wide variety of what are hoped to be reliable sources.

Nevertheless, we are always pleased to receive further detail from readers – the learning process never stops, however long you might care to study this particular subject.

On the topic of shunters, one of the challenges has been to find photos of them actually in service, instead of merely sitting on shed at the weekend; the latter scenario would be the one most likely to be captured by photographers, of course, and not when they were busy out working in extensive yards or serving industrial premises away from the main lines.

The interest in the changeover period from steam traction, when so much altered in a relatively short timescale, shows little sign of abating. Enjoy another trip back into the past where, to quote from The GoBetween, it is like a foreign country; they do things differently there!

The collection of Alec Swain still features strongly; hardly surprising, as with his position in the traction side of the business, he had the opportunity to capture scenes which others didn't.

I wish to thank the following for their help and support in producing both 'Traction Times' books: Robin Fell, Colin Marsden, Craig McIntosh, Les Price, Kevin Robertson and Anthony Sayer.

As ever though, when we look at scenes from more than half a century ago, there is as much fascination to be had from studying the backdrops and surroundings that accompany the main subject, not to mention the activities and the appearance of railway staff as they go about their duties. Protective clothing generally amounted to a boiler suit or overalls with a

Andrew Royle High Wycombe, March 2021

Opposite: D5015 is seen at the Derby Works Test House, probably in the spring of 1959. Several of the side valances (removed during later service) are in a raised position, while the locomotive undergoes testing here in undercoat paint. This was one of the early examples fitted with an experimental Athermos patent axlebox (instead of a roller bearing type). The Derby design of Type 2s, both 1160hp and 1250hp versions, proved costlier to maintain in service than their direct competitors from BRCW. When worked hard for long periods, their traction motors could suffer from insufficient cooling and their cabs proved too easily damaged by rough shunts. It was also said that the BRCW locos had a slight edge on performance. (Photographer unknown)

Copies of the images within this volume (along with tens of thousands of others on UK, Irish and some European railways) are available direct from The Transport Treasury.

5

Chapter 1

Diesel Multiple Units

Above: In a south facing bay platform at Carlisle station, a pair of Derby ‘Lightweight’ DMUs (so called because light alloys were often used instead of steel in their construction) are ready to leave with a full complement of passengers. A final word is passed to the driver, possibly reminding him of the parcels van which appears to be a tail load on this particular service. The full height windscreens on the early build sets proved susceptible to damage from vibration and a strengthening bar had to be fitted (as seen here) to counteract that. Later built units featured a properly split set of windows, with the windscreen wiper mounted centrally on the cross member, instead of at the side of the cab. As with most other DMUs where the passenger saloons adjoined the cab, a good view of the line ahead proved a hit with the travelling public from the moment they began operation in the Carlisle district in late 1954. (Photographer unknown) Opposite top: This rather smoky photograph appears to have been taken from a steam-hauled train arriving at Aberdeen, just as the unique battery powered Derby Lightweight unit pulls out on a service to Ballater; the information provided externally leaves little doubt that this is where that train is heading! Sometimes referred to as the ‘BEMU’, cars SC79998/79999 were introduced onto the 43 mile long ‘Deeside’ branch to Ballater in 1958 and were part of a revitalised service that it was hoped would turn around the line’s fortunes. The cost of this one-off train was partly offset by sponsorship from the maker of the batteries employed, plus the encouragement of the Scottish hydro-electric power authority, which was clearly keen to widen its appeal at the time. The experiment certainly proved the possibilities of the technology but not sufficiently to encourage further orders or to save a very scenic line from ultimate closure in 1966. The BEMU was to continue in departmental service, however, and has now returned to Scotland in preservation at the Banchory base of the Royal Deeside Railway. (Photographer unknown) Opposite bottom: In between the frequent passage of freight trains, a two-car ‘Lightweight’ (with tail load of a solitary van) calls at Barnetby. The modified split windscreen and wiper arrangement is apparent here; the problems with the cracking windows may have been solved by this, but one wonders how robust this proved to be in service and whether it created problems for taller drivers. Issues with the lightweight construction, poorly performing electrics and outdated traction equipment led to early withdrawal of these DMUs and most had been scrapped by the end of the 1960s. The Lightweights suffered more corrosion than the all-steel units and we are probably lucky that, following departmental use, two have survived to be preserved at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway. (R. E. Vincent REV578)

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‘Traction Times’ a second selection

8

Diesel Multiple Units

Opposite top: One of the stylish 2-car Wickham DMUs calls at Burwell with the 4.21pm Cambridge to Mildenhall, sometime in 1962. An obvious characteristic of this design was the dipped cantrail below the destination box, something which echoed the speed whiskers when these were applied to the front end, after they’d been in service for a while. With changing tastes and fashions the latter could be painted out, of course, but the cantrail feature would remain to give these sets a rather dated look as time wore on. The station is looking very neglected and indeed services to Mildenhall would cease in June 1962, though business seems moderately good on this occasion. (Leslie Sandler LS053) Opposite bottom: Vehicle E79066 is at the rear of a service that is about to leave Leiston station in Suffolk for Ipswich in the spring of 1966. How do we know this, when the photographer hasn’t recorded the details? Well, there are two BR posters on the wall; one advertising the new timetable and another giving travel advice for passengers going to one of the venues for the World Cup, presumably Wembley. Based at Norwich, a fleet of these Metropolitan Cammell built sets were introduced in 1955/56 (prior to those ordered under the Modernisation Plan) and proved very successful in service as the first of the early DMUs coming from private industry. They also seemed to be constructed a little more robustly than those emanating from Derby, being less susceptible to internal vibration and offering a quieter ride on the prevailing jointed track of the day. It was only their nonstandard control equipment that proved their undoing, once branch closures and a general decline in the need for rolling stock rendered them surplus to requirements between 1967-69. (Dr Ian Allen ICA D1183) Above: This is perhaps not the most attractive of locations but illustrates a commuter service just arrived at Cardiff’s Clarence Road station. It was a single platform terminus at the end of the Riverside Branch, serving one side of the dock area of Cardiff and originally constructed for freight use. A few, latterly mostly peak hour, passenger trains would run into it from Barry or Pontypridd, calling at the Riverside platforms of the principal station at Cardiff General en route. Closure came in March 1964, though not before money had been spent on improving the station and the wooden shelter shown here replaced by a more modern structure. The train itself is a three car Derby ‘Heavyweight’ set, one of a fleet that arrived in the Cardiff area in 1957 and would provide the backbone of commuter services for the next thirty years. (Photographer unknown)

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‘Traction Times’ a second selection

10

Diesel Multiple Units

Opposite top: It’s May 1957 and a new DMU set (headed by W50053) has recently arrived at Swindon from Derby and is being put through its paces. The backing signals behind the train (with the holes in the arms) were provided at locations where there was a regular need to make a wrong road manoeuvre, for example when a vehicle needed removing from a train into a siding. The two accompanying ‘cash registers’ were added if several possible routes off the main line existed; several vertical rods may just be discerned feeding the one on the left, suggesting that trains would have many signalled moves in the wrong direction from the up main line (which the unit is travelling on). Interestingly, the posters on the station platform tell us that the Bath & West Show was held at Swindon that year – it was to find a permanent home at Shepton Mallet from 1965. (Tony Bennett AEB2127) Opposite bottom: Alec Swain carried a 35mm camera around with him; a small format at the time but the negatives produced were of good quality as he tended to use Ilford Pan F, a 50ASA black and white film that was of fine grain. On 5 July 1961, he has captured this scene at Stockport as M50474 leads a BRCW three car set as it departs for Macclesfield – curiously, the destination blind reads ‘Macclesfield Hibel Road’, which had closed in November 1960 in favour of the Central station. The slab front of these units, as with any of the modern traction designs, did little to dispel the disparaging ‘box on wheels’ description of the average diesel train and the addition of the speed whiskers arguably just drew attention to this. It was said that the London Midland Region opted for 57ft length DMU vehicles such as these to maximise operational flexibility; the longer 63ft body of others offered more seats, though. A very clean E3009 waits in the sidings for its next duty, this locomotive being the AL1 which was wrecked in the Hixon level crossing collision on 6 January 1968. (Alec Swain K64-3) Above: The slightly raked back windscreens of the Derby designed DMUs (and it came to be known unofficially as ‘the Derby look’) enabled the speed whiskers to work a little better. A brand new four car set destined for Marylebone line services has been parked at Wirksworth on 26 May 1961 for publicity photography, a regular occurrence here for new rolling stock and particularly any that was produced in Derby at the time. This was to become the class 115 series under TOPS and externally was little different to the class 127 units (of 1959) that worked Midland line outer suburban services – the former appeared to have grab handles in between the windscreens while the latter did not. The principal difference, of course, was mechanically as the Marylebone trains had mechanical transmissions and the Midland sets were hydraulic. Internally, the Marylebone sets had improved interiors too. Note the wisp of steam coming from a loco in the far background; aggregates traffic kept this branch line open for some years after passenger trains ceased in 1949. This is now part of the preserved Ecclesbourne Valley Railway. (Alec Swain K37-5)

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‘Traction Times’ a second selection

Above: On trailer car W56299, which has just arrived at Ealing Broadway on 20 September 1958, we see a variant of the speed whisker which seems less bold. Although the blue square coupling code is there, the overhead warning symbols are yet to appear. According to ‘BR Fleet Survey Part 8’ describing first generation DMUs, the inspiration for the nine driving trailer seconds in the 56291-99 series came from the GWR; with a driving cab at just one end, they were intended for use when passenger loads exceeded the capacity of a single railcar. This is what is happening here with the ‘bubble car’ coupled behind, though whether the benefit of having extra seating accommodation, set against the lack of flexibility of not being able to use the trailer on its own, was worth this might be a moot point. The film being advertised on the station wall is ‘Sea Fury’ starring Stanley Baker, Victor McLaglen and Luciana Paluzzi. (Alec Swain E20-3) Opposite top: The photographer leans from his train to capture a clutch of four Cravens two-car units as they form one of the Scottish Region’s ‘Six Lochs Diesel Land Cruise’ services at Crianlarich East Jn on 21 August 1960. Judging by the smartly dressed gentleman by the box and the driver leaning from the other train, the cruise train seems to have stopped for some consultation with the signalman. The region clearly felt that these trains were sufficiently new and luxurious enough to attract the necessary customers, though some might have questioned whether a humble DMU was appropriate for such leisure travel. Running on summer Sundays and bank holidays, the tours typically started from Glasgow and took a circular journey via Oban, when the scenic route through Glen Ogle and Callander was still available. (W.A.C. Smith WS4985) Opposite bottom: Another of the early slab-fronted designs was that from the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Co. These two car units were described as a semi-lightweight design, employing a tubular system of construction as a basis instead of the more conventional and heavier separate underframe. The body was an all-welded affair that had been devised in association with the TI (Tube Investments) Group and produced a motor coach of 30 tons (with twin 150hp engines) and a driving trailer of only 25 tons. Although given numbers with an ‘Sc’ prefix, several of these sets went first to operate from Longsight depot and were seen in the Birmingham area and along the North Wales Coast line, as a result. Eventually, they proceeded to Scotland for employment on the Edinburgh to North Berwick and Corstorphine lines, as intended, and the Midland received its own allocation as production progressed. The train illustrated is on the Edinburgh Outer Circle route at Duddingston & Craigmillar station in September 1962; a freight-only route today which may yet be re-opened to passenger traffic. (W.A.C. Smith WS6341)

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‘Traction Times’ a second selection

Above: Still in Scotland, bitterly cold conditions have evidently not deterred the photographer from venturing out on a Saturday morning on 31 March 1962. A Cravens ‘twin’ is forming the 11.5am Kilmarnock-Glasgow St Enoch at Caldwell, a station which carried more than one identity. It was renamed the following month to Uplawmoor (after another nearby station with that name had closed) and also received the name ‘Tannochbrae’ in 1966, whilst being used during the filming of an episode of the TV series ‘Dr Finlay’s Casebook’. That was to be its last ‘hurrah’ as this station itself closed later that same year. The leading vehicle is Sc51483 and was based at Hamilton (66C) at the time; staying in Scotland for its entire service, it was to be withdrawn from Millerhill in November 1981 after a period in store. These TOPS Class 105 DMUs lasted for some years after this in East Anglia, though they weren’t too popular with passengers and operator alike, owing to their spartan interiors and limited number of opening doors. Also noteworthy are the co-acting semaphores at the far end of the station, only two examples of which remain in the country at the time of writing, at Helsby and Greenloaning. (W.A.C. Smith WS5864) Opposite top: We don’t have a date for this view of a Scottish Region ‘Inter City’ DMU entering Glasgow Central but it is probably in the late 1950s, as the station has yet to be modernised and electrified. This shows the ‘prettier’ end of this type of unit, with the full width driving cab – the other end featured a corridor connection (with small windows either side), so designed as it was expected that these sets would often be formed into six-car trains on the important Glasgow to Edinburgh services. Buckeye couplers were a feature of this series. Together with the later ‘Cross Country’ design, the structural specification demanded the capability of withstanding end compression loads of 200 tons. To achieve this, without creating too heavy a vehicle, the stressbody principle of construction was employed wherein the bodysides, roof and floor combined to form an integral structure. Both types were intended to combine the convenience of a multiple unit with the comfort of hauled stock. Behind the train is the firstbuilt bridge over the Clyde from 1879, which was to be removed as surplus to requirements in the mid-1960s. (W.A.C. Smith) Oppsoite bottom: The ‘Cross Country’ series of Swindon-built DMUs were rather more popular than the similar ‘Inter City’ style units which they succeeded off the production line, as the guard’s and luggage ‘van’ were relocated from behind the cab, permitting passengers a view out of the front. What would become class 120 under TOPS, they also benefitted from having the ‘Blue Square’ coupling that was assigned to most other first generation DMUs. The ‘IC’ sets became class 126 and had the uncommon ‘White Circle’ code. The wide variety of DMU coupling codes stemmed from different wiring arrangements, as well as gearbox incompatibilities. This Cardiff to Birmingham Snow Hill (via Stratford on Avon) service is shown calling at Newport around 1960. Note the ‘calling on’ semaphore signals in use here to assist with shunting movements at this very busy station.

(George Heiron)

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Diesel Multiple Units

15

‘Traction Times’ a second selection Left: Photographer George Heiron was on holiday in North Devon in the early 1960s when he took the opportunity to travel on the Ilfracombe line, just as operations were transferring from steam to diesel motive power. The speedo of DMSL (Driving Motor Second with Lavatory) W50688 can be seen to be at around 15mph as it toils up the 1 in 36 incline out of Ilfracombe, heading towards Barnstaple when this route still had double track and was regarded as a main line. Complete closure was to come in 1970. As a class 120, this vehicle was scrapped by Mayer Newman’s of Snailwell in April 1987. (George Heiron)

Above: Information accompanying this image states that it is car M50408, a DMBS in a two-car ‘Park Royal’ DMU, at Crewe on 6 August 1958. However, closer inspection reveals that the DMBS is actually behind this one – identifiable because it has the van, so we are looking at the DTCL (Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory, with first class section closest to us). If the photographer’s notebook is to be relied upon, this is actually M56163. The unit had been allocated to Crewe South during the previous month.

Built by the Crossley Motor Works in Stockport, the twenty ‘Park Royal’ sets suffered from structural problems from early on and it was surprising that the last of them survived in BR service into the 1980s. One set that was taken into departmental use in 1970 (50396/56162 becoming RDB975089/90) ran all over the country for nearly twenty years as the Derby Research Centre’s ‘Lab 5’. It was even witnessed at Baker Street station on the London Underground! Note the interesting style of bufferbeam of this type and the school-uniformed spotters making good use of their summer break. (Alec Swain D96-2) Opposite: AC Cars railbus No. W79978 sits in the down bay platform at Kemble in between working services on the Tetbury branch line on 12 June 1963. The BR specification for the railbuses it wished to try out on previously loss-making lines was quite a loose one, allowing the five manufacturers involved free reign to develop the best solution. The design illustrated here was the first ‘out of the traps’ when Sc79979 was unveiled to the press at Marylebone on 13 February 1958. With main line diesels only just appearing on the scene at the time, interest in these diminutive trains was quite considerable. A couple of round trips to Sudbury & Harrow Road proved that this particular vehicle (with its single 150hp BUT engine) was capable of 60mph when given its head. The automatic folding steps on some vehicles arose from the intention to use them like a road bus, sometimes stopping to pick up or set down passengers at level crossings. One feature of the German-built design (from Waggon und Maschinenbau) was a tinted glass sun visor - something that proved very popular with drivers! (Alec Swain N83-5)

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‘Traction Times’ a second selection

Above: Either the most stylish or tasteless of the railbus designs, depending on one’s point of view, was that produced by Bristol Commercial Vehicles. The road coach influence was obvious with these, from the chrome bumper and bonnet ‘motif’ to the interior wall finishes and seat coverings. Their lower floors gave easier access and resilient wheels promoted better riding qualities over rail joints; an early anti-lock braking system was also fitted. Here we have the second of the two they supplied; Sc79959 working the 6.37pm Hamilton-Holytown service, leaving Motherwell on 22 May 1961. At least two front seat passengers are clearly thrilled to be sitting next to the driver! Sadly, the Bristol railbuses were too quirky and unreliable for the Scottish Region, where they’d been sent, and after major parts became due for replacement in early 1965, they went into store. Once it was established that no other region might be interested in them, they both met their end at Wards of Inverkeithing in October 1966. (W.A.C. Smith WS5381) Opposite top: The Southern Region’s diesel-electric multiple units were certainly more expensive to build than the dieselmechanical types that were selected by the other regions of BR. The engine and generator sets added considerably to the overall weight and also deprived the train of valuable potential revenue-earning space. However, much of the electrical equipment inherent in these was common to the SR’s EMU fleet and maintenance above the sole bar was easier than for underslung engines. Illustrated here is set 1007 at Tunbridge Wells around 1960 on a down Hastings line service. Noteworthy are the warning whistle above the driver’s windscreen (later replaced by twin roof mounted air horns), the substantial wheel guards and the specification plate mounted bang in the middle of the vehicle’s front. (Colin Martin) Opposite bottom: In a scene full of interest comes the down ‘Bristol Pullman’, double pegged on the fast line at Slough West on 10 October 1963. At the front of the train, it may be seen that the two fast tracks transition from flat bottomed rail to old fashioned bullhead for the junction, the rails of which would likely be due for renewal at a different time to those on the plain line. The passengers on board would no doubt be about to be reminded of this train’s ‘Achilles Heel’, namely its unsatisfactory ride quality. Also here can be seen an ATC ramp in the four foot. The Great Western’s system of Automatic Train Control involved a physical contact between this ramp and a shoe suspended beneath the locomotive, with a current passed through the brief connection to sound a bell in the cab, should the signal be clear; no current passed would indicate a danger signal with the sound of a horn, thus providing a fail-safe arrangement. Improved magnetic materials that became available after the Second World War led to a non-contact system being devised for BR’s AWS that would replace it countrywide. It avoided any problems caused by a build-up of snow or ice on the ramp. Over to the left, the pw gang are using an interesting form of ‘rail barrow’. The Pullman sets enjoyed favourable treatment by the Western Region. Any serious trouble with their MAN diesel engines meant that they jumped the queue for attention at Swindon Works in order for them to return to traffic as quickly as possible. (R.C. Riley RCR17393)

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Diesel Multiple Units

19

Chapter 2

Type 1 Diesels

Above: As Brian Haresnape wrote in the first instalment of his ‘BR Fleet Survey’ series, it was the English Electric Company which had the honour of delivering the first pilot scheme diesel locomotive to British Railways in June 1957. Dick Riley captured this highly successful pioneer Type 1 No. D8000 in early service at Blackwall on 23 September, at a time when it was based at the Devons Road depot, Bow, close to East London’s docks. Note the dirty and battered target board ‘37’ mounted on the nose. The similarity between the layout of these and that of a steam loco led to the hood end being regarded as the ‘front’ but in later years, with the preference to run with cab leading, the designation was reversed! (R. C. Riley RCR11236) Opposite top: This instance perhaps illustrates only too clearly the principal weakness of EE’s design. With only one cab, the D8000s were awkward to drive when the nose was at the front. On 12 July 1963, the train crew are going through the timehonoured process of turning their engine, something that they would obviously still be quite accustomed to in those times! The location is Montgomerie Pier, Ardrossan. In company with a Black 5 and Clayton Type 1, D8086 had brought one of several boat specials in from Glasgow in connection with sailings to the Isle of Man. Several Scottish members of the class became pressed into passenger service, after the ‘Blue Trains’ suffered their early temporary withdrawal from service in 1961. (W.A.C. Smith WS6896) Opposite bottom: This scene is at Muirhouse in Glasgow. The gasometer may have gone from the skyline hereabouts but there is still a timber merchants to be found where the Torrance Watt Ltd sawmills used to be. No. D8122 had only been delivered to Polmadie (66A) the previous month and is seen whistling along with a short football special on 14 April 1962 in connection with a Home International match at Hampden Park between Scotland and England. Scotland won 2-0! Almost 32 years later, this loco was to be scrapped nearby at MC Metals, Springburn. This kind of view illustrates quite clearly how much of British industry once relied upon the railways for transport. (Photographer unknown)

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‘Traction Times’ a second selection

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Type 1 Diesels

Opposite top: How much easier the collection of numbers can be when a locomotive or unit carries its number on the front! This example on British Thomson Houston No. D8207 at Stratford depot seems rather peculiar though with its numbers of a distinctly non-standard font and an almost apologetic ‘D’ in front of them. Despite the convenience to operating staff and enthusiasts alike, only a handful of class members had this feature at the cab end over a period of several years. The first ten of the D82xx series were built by the Yorkshire Engine Company at the Meadowhall Works in Sheffield between 1957-58. Once the first ten machines had been re-allocated from Devons Road depot to Norwich in November 1959, the entire class belonged to the Eastern Region. 16 March 1963. (Photographer unknown) Opposite bottom: Eric Sawford was a prolific photographer of steam locomotives, particularly when they were parked at stabling points or sheds. Very few diesels took his fancy, however. By the date of this image (11 April 1965), March depot in Cambridgeshire was very much a haunt for modern traction and steam operated freight traffic at the nearby Whitemoor Yard would have been the exception rather than the rule. This is a clear side view of D8228 which was one of the production batch, coming from the Clayton Equipment Company at Hatton (Derbyshire) in 1959-61, the final seven appearing under the auspices of Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) which had taken over BTH. (Eric Sawford ES5428) Above: Although the train isn’t quite the central feature of this photograph, it shows a scene that is very much of its time. A special organised by the Westminster Bank Railway Society, no less, calls at Kensington Olympia station during an 85 mile trip that was to take in a variety of London termini, starting from Liverpool Street on the afternoon of Saturday 21 May 1960. The fare was twenty shillings (one pound). With part of the Olympia arena visible behind, it’s apparent that this station once enjoyed freight facilities and four tracks between its lengthy platforms. The latter features enabled it to become a starting point for Motorail services and excursions; it is hard to appreciate this when looking at the pared down facilities of today. What also stands out is the way in which the tour’s participants have been allowed to wander across the track to take in the scene. At least they were well dressed for the occasion! Unfortunately, our intrepid photographer did not record the number of the D84xx locomotive that was heading his train; research has not turned up any more detail other than it may have been D8408, as this was used on an excursion to Brighton the following day. (Tony Bennett AEB5281)

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‘Traction Times’ a second selection

Above: A side on shot that highlights a lot of detail in the design of this mercurial breed of locomotive, the future class 16. At Stratford (where else?), D8401 is found on Saturday 30 April 1960 parked next to D5511 and at this time yet to receive the eggshell colouring that was applied to the cab ends of its class. Precious few photographs appear to exist of these locos actually in service during the 1963-68 period, at the end of which they were withdrawn en bloc and scrapped before the decade was out.

(Alec Swain H66-6) Opposite top: One of the early batch of the fated Clayton Type 1s, D8521 heads westwards along the southern bank of the Clyde with a short ballast train on 29 May 1965. Although the space for tablet catching apparatus was provided on the whole fleet, it was rare to see one with the equipment actually fitted. The last 29 units of what became class 17 came from the Gorton Factory of Beyer, Peacock and proved to be somewhat more reliable. Lessons were learned, as the saying goes, and modifications to the earlier locos also improved availability. However, by the time this was becoming apparent, freight traffic levels were declining to the extent that BR didn’t need their capabilities so much and they were competing anyway with that most dependable Type 1 from English Electric, the class 20. (Ken Nuttall KNL345) Opposite bottom: D8587 was the last of the Clayton Bo-Bo Type 1s to be turned out by the Hatton factory (sometimes referred to as Tutbury) in Derbyshire. It is seen at St Margarets (64A) shed but was allocated to Haymarket throughout its six-year life. The raised bonnets are a giveaway that this is one of the two that were fitted with twin Rolls-Royce 8 cylinder DV8T engines as an experiment, as opposed to the two standard 6 cylinder Paxman 6ZHXL. They were rated at the same power output and came to be identified under TOPS as class 17/2. They were also better performers but for the reasons stated above, were not to survive in service beyond 1971. (Sandy Murdoch SM018-9)

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Contender for one of the shortest-served locos under BR would be 0-6-0 diesel hydraulic No. D9522. Not long into service (judging by its clean condition), it is shown tripping a load of coal to CEGB Earley Power Station near Reading on 30 January 1965. When new, it was one of four that were sent to Old Oak Common from Swindon Works in Nov/Dec 1964, though all had been transferred to Bristol Bath Road within a year. Unluckiest of these, it was withdrawn from Landore in December 1967 and was scrapped in Rotherham the following year. The driving controls of these locomotives were duplicated across a comparatively roomy cab - very driver friendly, in fact, and not too noisy and uncomfortable a ride either. Their Paxman 6YJXL V6 engines were a forerunner of the larger V12 Valenta, later to see service in the HST power cars. (Alec Swain R30-1)

Chapter 3

Type 2 Diesels

The magnificent signal box at Canterbury West dominates this view as Type 2 D5010 conducts some shunting beneath it on 25 August 1960. The first twenty of these Derby built locomotives weighed almost 80 tons in working order, making them the heaviest of the Sulzer engined Type 2s. Their steam heating boilers were sometimes removed to address this problem, often leaving them confined to freight duties. Judging by the number of ceramic insulator pots left lying in the six foot, preparations would seem to be in hand for electrification. Phase 2 of the Kent Coast scheme was to be enacted the following year and D5010 was one of the LM based engines temporarily assigned to the Southern to help eliminate steam as a part of that. The two tracks to the left of the loco were the through roads; rarely used, they were subsequently lifted. (Dr Terry Gough TG614-5)

Copies of the images within this volume (along with tens of thousands of others on UK, Irish and some European railways) are available direct from The Transport Treasury.

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‘Traction Times’ a second selection

Above: We have no detail to go with this image, unfortunately, but the August 1959 issue of Trains Illustrated reported that D5030 undertook a test run from Crewe to Penrith with 15 coaches on 4 June of that year and it would be fair to assume that this is it.

The first of BR’s Type 2 locomotives to be constructed at Crewe Works, D5030 emerged slightly before the last of the pilot scheme batch (D5000-D5019) had been released from the Derby factory. The location is possibly Basford Hall yard, though whether it is before or after the day’s running isn’t easy to tell – a test to Penrith would have involved a good hard slog over Shap in both directions (with over 500 tons to pull) so some signs of this might be expected to be seen around the exhaust. D5030 soon entered service off March depot (31B), the first of its type to go to East Anglia. (Maurice Hudson) Opposite top: The first batch of 1250hp Type 2s were outwardly very similar to the last of the 1160hp machines. Coming from Darlington Works, they were also fitted with British Thomson Houston traction motors, which set them apart from the rest of the uprated fleet (later to become class 25) and made them a target for earlier withdrawal too. Thornaby (51L) based D5152 and D5162 are pictured passing through the Ilkley route platforms at Skipton with a rake of four-wheel oil tankers on 4 May 1963. The signalling arrangement is a little unusual here. (Arnold Battson) Opposite bottom: Entering the staggered platforms of Gorebridge station on the Waverley route on 11 May 1963, BRCW Type 2 D5307 eases to a halt on the up side with a stopping service from Edinburgh to Carlisle. The rather odd-looking curved siding to the left once served a cattle dock and was previously accessed from a crossover in the foreground. Several decades of complete closure were to follow for this line, of course; the station on today’s re-opened single track is a long platform on the down side that extends past the station house on the left. The latter survives but sadly the rather attractive iron lattice footbridge connecting the original platforms (from which the photo was taken) only remained for a few years after closure. (W.A.C. Smith WS6727)

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‘Traction Times’ a second selection

Above: We now see one of the production series units, No. D5322, and another new class member in the attractive surroundings of Leith Central depot on 10 May 1959. To help reduce overall weight, the circular Oleo buffers were fitted as they were lighter than the oval ones on the pilot scheme locos. The six cylinder 6LDA28 power unit used in all of the Type 2s (that would later become class 24/25/26/27) had its origins back in the 1930s when Vickers Armstrongs used one in an 800hp loco supplied to the LNER for trials in the North East. The V/A workshops at Barrow in Furness went on to build most of these engines under licence from the Swiss company of Sulzer. Opened by the North British Railway in 1903, Leith Central was once one of the largest stations in Britain with a roof span of 67m, but after a working life of less than fifty years it closed in 1952 and saw re-use as a DMU servicing depot until 1972; it was demolished in 1989. (Photographer unknown) Opposite top: An early pilot scheme Type 2 (note the oval buffers) brings a Waverley route train southwards past the Lady Victoria Pit signal box and colliery at Newtongrange. This coal mine continued to be served by rail after the closure of the Waverley as a through route in 1969, finally ceasing to produce coal itself in the early 1980s. It has been largely preserved today (including the headstock and chimney) as Scotland’s National Mining Museum. In 1966-67, locos D5300 to D5306 had their train heating boilers removed at Glasgow’s St Rollox Works and the vacant space used for housing slow speed control equipment, as well as air brakes, to enable them to work Scotland’s first Merry-Go-Round coal trains into Cockenzie Power Station. They performed these duties up until the 1990s when larger locomotives took over this work. 11 May 1963. (W.A.C. Smith WS6729) Opposite bottom: This view of D5351 was taken on the final day of passenger services on the picturesque branch to Ballachulish – 28 March 1966. The line crossed Loch Etive by a cantilever bridge which is still in use today but now only by road traffic; it was previously shared by road and rail and was the largest single span steel bridge in Britain when it was constructed in 1898.

Another photo of this loco taken in 1962 also showed that it wasn’t carrying tablet catcher apparatus in the recess provided. As 27005, it is now in preservation at the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway. (W.A.C. Smith WS8445)

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Type 2 Diesels

Opposite top: On 24 February 1962, D5359 hurries past the signal box at Falkirk High on the principal route between Glasgow and Edinburgh. This particular working was the 1.8pm football special from Queen Street, heading to Gorgie East station on the Edinburgh Suburban line, presumably in connection with a match at Tynecastle. This loop line through the southern part of Edinburgh closed to passengers the following September, so travelling supporters would have to use a different access point for the next season’s matches involving Hearts. Is that the signalman’s Mark 1 Ford Zephyr? (W.A.C. Smith WS5831).

Opposite bottom: The Brush Type 2 has a strong association with the railways of East Anglia, from the working of expresses out of Liverpool Street to the lowliest of pick-up freights that lingered on many branch lines until their closure. Here we see D5699 in 1962, engaging in a procedure which you certainly wouldn’t find in today’s rule book and quite likely not in yesterday’s either! A chain attached to the draw hook of the loco is being used to move wagons on the adjacent line. It may well be that there were a lot of wagons in the yard at Hadleigh on this occasion, with insufficient track upon which to move them around – perhaps a horse would have been called upon to help at one time. (Harold James HJ1487) Above: On 23 October 1965, D5561 slows into Wrangbrook Jn near Pontefract amongst wandering tour participants on the RCTS (West Riding Branch) South Yorkshireman No.5 railtour. This covered several of the freight lines in the area that served some of the many coal mines in South Yorkshire. The secondman is holding a token out of the cab window for the signalman here. Thanks to the very useful ‘Six Bells Junction’ website, it can be deduced that the loco has just arrived light working as 0F50 from Wath depot via the single track Denaby branch from Lowfields Junction, ready to take over haulage of the special from 8F 2-8-0 No. 48202. Observe another classic form of 1950s transport parked in the background – the Reliant three wheeler! There is little trace of the railway here today. (Alec Swain T75-5)

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‘Traction Times’ a second selection

Above: Brush Type 2 D5671 enters Luton’s Bute Street station on 19 August 1961 with the 12.14 (SO) service from Welwyn Garden City. This station was originally opened in 1858 (before the one on the main Midland route, out of sight to the left of this scene) and it received its full title in 1950 to help distinguish it. Closure to passengers came on 26 April 1965 with the discontinuation of services to Hatfield, though freight would carry on for a further two years. The line once carried on to Leighton Buzzard from here and one wonders how useful it might have been today to have a route that linked the WCML, MML and ECML in this area. (Alec Swain K92-4) Opposite top: On 16 July 1961, D5690 and D5804 of Darnall shed set off from Southport with a summer excursion train returning to Sheffield. The latter diesel had only just entered service at this date, which might suggest that the opportunity was being taken to run it in with an accompanying loco as back-up. Note the conductor rail terminating next to the leading loco, possibly there simply to facilitate the shunting of Mersey electric units from the station (in the left distance). It is interesting to compare the railway scene here with how it is today, as the two lines nearest the camera are the only ones still in use on the Wigan route, apart from one siding. The coaling facility and carriage sidings in the background have gone and the land sold but the end of terrace property on Hargreaves Street remains to watch over the passing of further generations of motive power! (Photographer unknown) Opposite bottom: This photograph is the most recent image in the book. On 13 May 1970, a ceremony takes place to mark the reopening of the direct link to Felixstowe Docks as No. 5534 waits with a haul of Mini cars for export. Also in attendance is No. 5857 (displaying the standard BR blue livery) which has brought some of the dignitaries to the site in a saloon coach. The track from Felixstowe Town station, upon which 5857 is parked, would later be recovered and the facilities at the terminus drastically reduced, once the need to reverse freight trains accessing the docks had finished. (Harold James HJ1631)

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‘Traction Times’ a second selection

Above: Two Metropolitan Vickers Co-Bo diesels, D5716 & D5710, pause at a location on the Midland route during a test run with coal wagons, probably between Brent and Toton yards, on 26 April 1960. There had been a high profile launch of using these locos on the ‘Condor’ container service between Hendon and Gushetfaulds in October 1958, of course, but by this time they had demonstrated their unreliability; it was said that so many were out of traffic at one point that the train was mostly steam hauled – not at all the image that BR management wanted to present, though press adverts promoting it continued to portray the use of diesels with up to 75mph running achieved! One reason for producing the Co-Bo was to compare the performance of its twostroke power units with the more common four-stroke, though many questioned why the Crossley engine was chosen, bearing in mind its already dubious record of service on Irish Railways. When used on service trains, passengers spoke of a motorbike smell coming from the front of their train. (John McCann OTA0395) Opposite top: The last of the ten ‘Baby Deltics’ ,D5909, sits at the head of a set of ‘Quad-Arts’ waiting to leave King’s Cross on 19 March 1960. In common with many of the early diesel types, the first constructed units were found to be overweight and BR refused to take delivery. Various measures were taken to address this, including the drilling of holes in the bogie beams and frames, as well as in some of the internal structure members. Still officially too heavy, they were finally permitted to enter service in 1959 but soon began to experience major engine failures. Amongst other issues, there were stories of fracturing auxiliary drive shafts which would cause extensive general damage inside the engine room; this probably wasn’t the safest place to be for any crew member or technician whilst the engine was under power. (Alec Swain H8-5) Opposite bottom: Out on the main line, the same loco is also found by photographer Alec Swain as it speeds north past the number 4 up box at Wood Green the previous summer on 7 August 1959. When functioning well, their performance was described as brisk and practically a match for the more powerful but heavier Brush Type 2. However, by mid-1963 the entire fleet was laid up at Stratford Works pending removal back to the Vulcan Foundry for remedial work. On their return, they stayed on local commuter services out of King’s Cross, together with ecs and pilot duties. On one occasion in 1967, no less than five of them were observed in attendance on major engineering work in the Potters Bar area. (Alec Swain F49-3)

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‘Traction Times’ a second selection

Above: What an interesting scene we have here! Steam, diesel and electric motive power all mingle at London’s Moorgate station on 14 May 1959. The dieselisation of the services into central London via King’s Cross and Kentish Town was needed at an early stage of the modernisation scheme when the City of London was declared a smokeless one, though steam would still be seen at this location in the following year. On the left, one of the Metropolitan Line’s ‘T’ stock waits to form a service to Watford. These would have little more than another three years on the London Underground. In the centre, Fowler class 3P 2-6-2T No. 40026 appears ready to leave on a train to the Midland route. To the right, an unidentified NBL Type 2 seems to be moving off from the short stabling siding, ready to work a GN line service. After trying these locos, as well as the Sulzer-engined and EE Type 2s on that route, BR’s Eastern Region would settle for employing Cravens DMUs and Brush Type 2s on the ‘Widened Lines’ to King’s Cross. (R.C. Riley RCR13308) Opposite top; A clutch of gleaming new diesels sit in the yard at Doncaster Works awaiting acceptance from BR before entering traffic in May 1959: D6112 heads D6110 and D5901 while alongside stands D5531; three quite radically different designs that should have been capable of doing the same thing. The Brush product steals a march on the others by having a four character route indicator panel mounted on its cab roof, one of the first of its class to receive one. It was also to make it into preservation at the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway for a time, only to be scrapped in 2008. The others were less fortunate, being broken up in 1972, 1969 and 1977 respectively, D5901 going after several years’ use in departmental service. (W.A.C. Smith WS294) Opposite bottom: This is a delightful scene at Fraserburgh, showing as it does the all too brief period when modernisation came to farthest flung Aberdeenshire and promised a better railway for the future. Sadly, it wasn’t to be and parts of the country such as this that lost their railways have been the poorer for it. Passenger services ended here in 1965 but freight hung on until 1979. We see North British diesel electric D6140 about to depart for Maud Junction where it will probably meet a similar train formation coming from Peterhead, the two trains combining to be double headed onwards to Aberdeen. It has been suggested that the unreliability of these locos served to put people off using the trains in this area, the result of which helped bring on the loss of passenger services and eventual complete closure of many lines that today might well be thriving. The date is thought to be in November 1963 and the Beatles are said to have played at the Dalrymple Hall venue (visible behind) in 1960. (W.A.C. Smith WS7256)

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Type 2 Diesels

Opposite: Speaking of 1960, on 22 June to be precise, we find NBL Type 2 D6151 in sparkling condition on delivery to its first allocation of Kittybrewster. Opened by the Great North of Scotland Railway in 1854, this shed was located in the north of Aberdeen and only serviced diesels after 1961 (until its closure in 1967), though steam locos were sometimes stored there. It was the base for the early dieselisation of services in the north eastern part of Scotland. Readers may recall the view of this unfortunate locomotive (in the first edition of Traction Times) when awaiting its fate in a scrapyard only eight years later, when it appeared not to have received the normal half-yellow warning panel. They say the camera never lies but in fact the loco was simply extremely dirty from the many years it had spent in store, prior to withdrawal. (Ken Nuttall KNL64) Above: Almost a full five feet shorter in length than their diesel-electric cousins were the D63xx series of North British Type 2 locomotives. The doyen of the class is caught in the process of shunting two cattle wagons (complete with occupants!) across the throat of the station at Plymouth North Road, probably sometime in 1959, judging by its very clean external condition. British Railways was stuck with its ‘common carrier’ status for too long and was obliged to accept this kind of business in uneconomic quantities. However, the transport of cattle by rail lasted until well into the 1970s. Note the 350hp shunter and brake van sat in adjacent platforms behind, together with the employee on the track, all of whom are part of a ritual once seen every day at large stations like Plymouth, though hardly ever today. An early build D800 Warship can also be observed waiting to take 1M95 to Manchester. (Photographer unknown)

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Traction Times’ a second selection

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Chapter 4

Type 3 Diesels

Opposite top: D6300 is pictured again around that period but this time in harness with fellow early pilot scheme No. D6302 at Penzance as they prepare to head ‘up country’ with six coaches of a named express, almost certainly the up ‘Royal Duchy’ restaurant car service to Paddington. This was due to depart at 11.5am and the station clock can just be picked out showing 11 o’clock. For a fee of two shillings, passengers from West Country stations could reserve a seat and expect to reach Paddington at 7.10pm. Along with several other named expresses, the ‘Royal Duchy’ lost its title in 1965, having originally had permission from the Queen to use the name upon its introduction in the 1950s. (Alan Robey) Opposite bottom: We end this chapter with a low angle view of ‘production’ series loco D6314, clearly showing up the detail of this type’s bogies and drawgear. It is hauling two brake vans on 29 August 1961, one of Great Western design and the other a BR standard type, between Laira and Tavistock junctions (close to where the main line crosses the River Plym). Photographer Dick Riley took some other shots here that showed the river with very obvious pollution emanating from the china clay industry.

Having entered service at Laira in January of 1960, D6314 ended its career at the same depot in April 1969 before scrapping at Cashmore’s of Newport shortly afterwards. (R.C. Riley RCR16220) Above: By the date of this photograph, the whole fleet of 98 BRCW Type 3s on the Southern Region had been delivered and shared between Eastleigh and Hither Green depots. D6502 and D6585 are parked close to the Works at Eastleigh on 18 October 1962, to where such locos would return periodically for overhauls or modification. However, the former would not do so as it was to be involved in a serious collision at Itchingfield Junction on 5 March 1964, in which both crew members sadly lost their lives.

There is a very full account of the accident on the website of the Brighton Branch of ASLEF (the train drivers’ union) which makes for interesting reading. Scrapped on site shortly afterwards, it was said that D6502 became the first Modernisation Plan locomotive to be withdrawn from BR service. The photographer himself once had a role with BR which involved investigating train accidents and derailments. (Nick Nicolson LN2348)

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Opposite top: There’s a wave from the box for the crew of Hastings-gauge Type 3 No. D6590 as it approaches Dorking Town on a freight, the date unrecorded. The final twelve produced of this class, namely D6586-D6597, were seven inches narrower to permit working over the line through Wadhurst Tunnel. The tale is perhaps well-told but the gauge restriction here had its origins in the collapse of the tunnel in 1862, when it was discovered that only four rings of bricks were lining it instead of the specified six. The cheaper option of installing the extra brickwork was chosen instead of trying to re-bore the tunnel, leading to reduced clearance and the need for specially constructed rolling stock of narrower dimensions. (Paul Hocquard) Opposite bottom: D6592 brings a summer dated Birmingham to Hastings train past Hampden Park, Eastbourne, on 18 August 1962. Seven inches isn’t very much less width but the difference between the Hastings gauge and the standard locos is best distinguished by looking at the outer cab windows. Internally, all was similar and very well laid out with adequate room for maintenance staff to work in. Translucent panels in the removable fibreglass section of roofing above the engine allowed natural light into the engine compartment, provided it was kept clean of course. The whole class were configured for electric train heating only, therefore not having to accommodate a train heating boiler permitted the use of the 8-cylinder Sulzer power unit of 1550hp in a bodyshell that was the same length as that of BRCW’s Type 2 of only 1250hp. (Brian Wadey) Above: Diesel fumes swirl around this image of a new looking English Electric Type 3 D6703 at Liverpool Street, accompanied by an equally smart Type 4 D205 departing with a Norwich express. The group of smartly attired men on the adjacent platform may well be railway office staff on a familiarisation visit to the platform end; they are too tidy for railway enthusiasts and no notebooks are in evidence either! BR’s Eastern Region planned to replace 668 of their front-line steam locomotives with just 249 diesels, making it one of the first parts of the country to eradicate steam from (practically) all services. (Geoffrey Hughes GH276)

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Traction Times’ a second selection

Above: A shot of a train going away from the camera is generally regarded as less preferable to one approaching. However, this one has a good deal of interest about it. Hull Dairycoates based D6733 seems to be held at signals on the western approach to Goole station with a loaded coal train, destination unknown. The white diamond shape attached to the signal post tells the driver that there is no telephone there but that track circuits will inform the signal box of his presence, though unless there was particularly thick fog then the train would obviously be in sight of it. A great deal of coal was exported through Goole Docks from the Yorkshire coalfield; however, the sidings feeding the docks lay to the west so this train may be heading onwards to Hull, once the level crossing gates have been closed. The paucity of parked cars outside residents’ homes may be noted in the adjacent street. 20 September 1965. (Alec Swain T37-5) Opposite top: This photo was taken at Newport High Street on 25 July 1963. The October 1964 issue of Modern Railways reported how Richard Thomas & Baldwins’ Spencer Steelworks (at Llanwern, opened in 1962) was being supplied daily with iron ore in two train sets of 33.5 ton hopper wagons, topped and tailed by EE Type 3 locomotives. Each train transported 1400 tons of iron ore from Newport’s Alexandra Dock to the Works, each round trip taking 1 hour 50 minutes to complete. D6822 heads towards the docks with a set of empties while a loaded train passes in the opposite direction. This engine was one of those constructed by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn at Darlington, spending just the first three years of its life in South Wales before transfer to the Eastern Region, where it would remain for most of the rest of its forty-odd years. An unidentified Hymek waits for the ‘right away’ from the platform with an express bound, most likely, for Swansea. (Alec Swain O14-5) Opposite bottom: In 1965, the famous Crumlin Viaduct had been closed for a year and was in the early stages of being dismantled.

BR saved itself a great deal of money in the process. However, South Wales lost an iconic structure which, given the opportunity today, would almost certainly be retained as a monument, if not for a working railway. An unidentified English Electric Type 3 works a southbound coal train past the camera while a ‘Teddy Bear’ 0-6-0 diesel hydraulic sits right underneath the viaduct during shunting activities. (Harold James)

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Traction Times’ a second selection

Above: A solitary trainspotter is on hand to witness activity at the terminus station of Bath Green Park on 4 August 1965. The station clock reads five past six but we are told that the train in the platform is the 5.55pm to Bristol Temple Meads and the signal is at danger, clearly pointing to some perturbance in the timetable that evening. On the opposite side can be glimpsed a Standard Class 3 tank engine up at the buffer stops; it may be that an S&D route train has only just departed, thus occupying the section to Bath Junction. This particular service had only a few months left to run. The use of a relatively expensive locomotive such as D7009 and coaches (as opposed to a DMU) can’t have helped the financial situation of operating this route, even if this might have been a filling-in turn. It was effectively the Bristol branch of the Somerset & Dorset system and closed to passengers at the same time in March 1966. (Alec Swain S97-3) Opposite top: Arriving at Paddington’s platform 6 on 9 March 1964 comes Hymek D7062 with a rake of coaches which may well have been empty stock from Old Oak Common, despite the ‘1A22’ headcode displayed – we have no further details. At the time, this London terminus would have entertained a very wide variety of motive power as ‘Halls’, ‘Castles’ and ‘Pannier’ tanks rubbed shoulders with the diesel hydraulics, DMUs and soon the Brush Type 4s – the two enthusiasts seen on platform 8 would have been well entertained. Note the Paddington Arrival Signal Box in the background; this was constructed by the GWR in the 1930s as part of the introduction of colour light signalling in the station area but when the track layout here was altered in 1967, the arrangement of having a departure side and an arrival side at the station was abolished. D7062 was to be withdrawn in October 1971 after less than nine years of service. (Nick Nicolson LN8-34-6) Opposite bottom: Not the most frequent of views to come across is a Hymek Type 3 working heavy freight in South Wales, not least because in that area the Western Region was well furnished with the Co-Co EE Type 3s which were better suited to that work. However, the date of this photo at Newport High Street station is 13 June 1967, not long after several of the diesel-electrics had been transferred away to the Eastern Region, so it may be that D7094 was needed for freight work. Drivers generally liked the Hymeks and found them to be quite capable of hauling just about anything that was asked of them. This loco was withdrawn from Cardiff Canton depot in November 1972, again completing less than nine years of service. (Alec Swain W1-5)

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Chapter 5

Type 4 Diesels

Opposite: A recently released to traffic D1 Scafell Pike is viewed in some very steam flavoured surroundings at Willesden shed on 5 June 1959. It had been unveiled to the railway press just weeks before on 21 April already carrying its nameplates, the formal naming ceremony not occurring until 14 July at Carlisle Citadel station. All ten of the first ‘Peaks’ were in service by early 1960 and also with their names applied from new. Although more capable than the 2000hp English Electric Type 4s that were entering service alongside them, these 2300hp locos would enjoy only a brief spell in front line service on the WCML when working from Camden. They soon saw use on the Midland Lines out of St Pancras in anticipation of the more powerful versions taking over those duties. March 1962 would see them moved to Toton to see out their service lives working unglamorous freight services.

(Alec Swain F7-1) Above: D2 Helvellyn was equipped with a power plant uprated to 2500hp, the ‘B’ series engine; this was said to have occurred after its original ‘A’ series unit seized during static testing before entry into service, although it was eventually to be derated to 2300hp.

This photo is likely to have been taken in the autumn of 1959 when it was conducting trials with the modified engine. The location is obviously Carlisle with the loco at rest on one of the through roads with a couple of ex-LMS coaches. Perhaps a greater load would be assembled for the actual test running but re-gearing permitted high speeds up to 110mph to be achieved. The two onlooking trainspotters on the platform are slightly comical; one is just in shirt and shorts while his pal needs an overcoat plus a school cap! (Maurice Hudson)

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Above: Moving on a few years to 13 June 1964, No. D27 has got several years’ hard work under its belt and that is starting to show. It has caught fire whilst powering the up ‘Waverley’ express (the 10.15am Edinburgh to St Pancras) north of Newcastleton and efforts are being made to quell the flames; according to the BRDatabase website, this was due to oily dirt being ignited by sparks from the brake blocks. A similar incident had occurred two years previously. Rescue in the shape of A3 Pacific 60077 The White Knight off a down freight, then in its last few weeks of service on BR, would eventually appear to take the ailing ensemble on to Carlisle (having left D27 at Newcastleton station) where fresh motive power would doubtless be waiting. The reliability of the ‘Peaks’ was not good in their early years but improved as time progressed. D27 was based at Holbeck at the time and remained so until the late 1970s, being withdrawn from service at Tinsley in January 1981 with TOPS number 45028. (W.A.C. Smith WS7484) Opposite top: You would never see a railway junction this large, this tidy, today! The cutting sides are grassy with not a hint of a bramble or a bush about to run rampant. The cess is clear for trackmen and signalling maintainers alike to walk along, with no rubbish or discarded track materials for them to trip over. Lansdown Junction at Cheltenham was the point at which the GWR and LMS main lines from Birmingham met and took or exchanged their respective traffic heading for the South West and South Wales.

At the time this photo was taken, the trackwork from wartime widening in 1942 was still evident. Curving off to the left goes the Midland and South Western route towards Charlton Kings and Andoversford Junction; this closed in September 1961, so with its rails apparently not heavily rusted and ‘Peak’ D37 being new to traffic in July of the same year, the photo can be roughly dated accordingly. The general fall-off in traffic levels allowed the Gloucester lines to be reduced to two tracks once more in 1966 when the relief lines were abolished, apart from a short stretch from beside the signal box that survives to this day as the down Hatherley loop. (David Horne) Opposite bottom: A thirteen-coach train is taken single-handed up the Lickey Incline in the mid-1960s by an unidentified ‘Peak’.

Only a couple of years before, the same train would very likely have received banking assistance from a pair of ‘Pannier’ tanks with plenty of sound and smoke, regardless of the weather conditions. For the first few years of diesel operation over this section, banking engines were provided more out of statutory routine than necessity and concern over the possibility of vehicles running away. Regular use of steam bankers from Bromsgrove ended in September 1964 and the sub-shed there was also closed. (George Heiron)

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Opposite top: D165 is stopped at Wembley Hill on 3 April 1965 with 1T26, a special from Mansfield conveying spectators for the Schools’ International Match between England and Scotland. Whilst outwardly hard to tell apart from the other ‘Peaks’, the final 56 units (to become class 46 under TOPS) were equipped with Brush supplied electrical equipment; this was said to be cheaper than that from Crompton Parkinson but unfortunately also proved less robust in service. In order to ‘sign’ these variants, footplate crews had to receive extra training in the necessary fault-finding procedures. Following their initial period in service, these Derbybuilt locos underwent an early programme of refurbishment at the Loughborough Works of Brush between 1965-68, which thankfully led to improved reliability. All future works attention took place at Derby. Note the observation ‘blister’ on the side of the LMS built coach; the ‘M’ suffix to its number indicated its parentage, though the ‘M’ underneath D165 indicated a ‘common user’ loco on the Midland Region (i.e. not allocated to a specific depot). (Alec Swain R73-3) Opposite bottom: Doyen of its class No. D200 leaves Ipswich during its high-profile demonstration run from Liverpool Street to Norwich on 18 April 1958. This was also quite noteworthy for the opportunity taken to publicise new rolling stock in general. The train’s formation included five prototype coaches for BR – two from Doncaster Works, two from BRCW and one from Cravens. At Norwich, when the invited guests were having lunch in the town, the train was opened up for public viewing. During the journey, a microphone in the cab helped to provide a live commentary feed to the coaches about how the locomotive was being handled. The arrival of five English Electric Type 4s on the Great Eastern main line, together with some Brush Type 2s, allowed the incumbent ‘Britannia’ Pacifics to be cascaded for the improvement of Clacton expresses before electrification. (Photographer unknown) Above: In 1959, a brand-new English Electric Type 4 (later class 40) ticks over during running-in to the north of Bletchley station. In those days, this was a smallish town with a railway junction at its heart, whereas today it is subsumed under the colossus which is Milton Keynes. No. D210 was named Empress of Britain the following year and embarked upon six years of hard work on the West Coast Main Line before the Brush Type 4s appeared in number to relieve it and its sister machines from their front-line duties. At an early stage, the Eastern Region had indicated its dis-satisfaction with the design for express work but the London Midland Region saw them in a more positive light; perhaps they had little choice about it! Either way, they were expected to take 15-plus coaches over Shap and Beattock unassisted and the fact that they did so without too many failures was a tribute to their robust design.

(Maurice Hudson)

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Above: It’s a pity that we have no detail for this image. It may well be the inaugural diesel working of the up ‘Red Rose’ from Liverpool Lime Street to Euston with D215 on 28 July 1959, as the top-hatted station master has seen fit to join the train crew beside the locomotive; consulting his watch, no doubt he is keen to impress upon them the need for a punctual start with such a premier evening express. For a train such as this, the ‘topper was proper’ for someone of his status (to quote from the line in BTF’s 1954 film ‘The Elizabethan’) – quite in contrast to the work-stained clothing of those beside him! The fireman on the left is also clearly wearing bicycle clips to help keep his trousers clear of the shovel - not required on this occasion! (Maurice Hudson) Opposite top: From September 1958, the Great Northern route out of King’s Cross saw five intensive weekly rosters commence operation, amounting to the first real test of a production fleet of main line diesels working continuously over long distances. 4500 miles per week was expected of them, mostly between London and Newcastle but with the occasional fill-in turns on overnight freights. Type 5 ‘Deltics’ then came on the scene to take that intensive work to a higher level. On 4 August 1961, D248 whistles gently to itself before heading to the north. A Gateshead-based engine at the time, it went on to become one of the shorter- lived members of its class due to being withdrawn in October 1977; a number of class 40s were withdrawn around that time to help supply spares for the rest of the fleet when it was starting to be run-down. (Nick Nicolson LN2356) Opposite bottom: Over 300 miles away in Scotland on 19 August of the same year we find the same locomotive undertaking one of its more menial duties, namely the 3.48pm Edinburgh Waverley – Berwick at Grantshouse. Just eleven days prior to this view, sister locomotive D249 had collided with the station buildings on the right after running out of control off the up loop with a freight train.

Some of the wreckage is still evident, the unfortunate loco having only been removed from site a couple of days before.

Grantshouse proved to be a bit of an accident blackspot as a Freightliner train also derailed here in 1969. (W.A.C. Smith WS5647)

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Opposite top: An unidentified photographer has released the shutter and caught North British ‘Warship’ D601 Ark Royal at just the right moment as it runs into North Road, Plymouth, station (why wasn’t Plymouth shown first on that nameboard?) with the down ‘Cornish Riviera Express’. Note the rack with spare couplings strategically placed on the platform where they were most likely to be needed. The author recalls inspecting the inside of this locomotive in the 1970s during its long sojourn in Woodham’s Barry scrapyard; the remnants of the driver’s control pedestal were still in place, as were the engine blocks. A full restoration of it, had it been attempted, would have been hugely expensive and it is arguable how or whether it would have earned its keep in preservation. At best it would probably have been a static exhibit, though even that would have been acceptable to many.

(Photographer unknown) Opposite bottom: A lovely transition period image taken at Aller Junction on 23 August 1958, with the old hand giving the newcomer some assistance over the (then) notorious South Devon banks between Newton Abbot and Plymouth. 6000 King George V leads D601 towards the junction at 2.40pm. On summer Saturdays that year (when the Plymouth stop was omitted), the ‘King’ class loco would come off the 10.30 ‘Cornish Riviera’ from Paddington at Newton Abbot and then pilot the following 10.35 relief service, which was diagrammed for one of the new diesels, as far as Plymouth. ‘Kings’ were barred from Cornwall and it was clearly operationally more convenient to change engines on the ‘Riviera’ at Newton Abbot rather than Plymouth. Earlier use of D600s on the CRE proper from Paddington had not met with total success, as there were some embarrassing failures. The photographer to the left of shot who seems keen to move to a different position was the Rt Hon C.H.S. Owen, no less. He may not have been an MP but he was certainly a well-known local railway enthusiast! (Peter Gray PWG1516) Above: This is a nice and clear view of A1A-A1A ‘Warship’ D602 Bulldog in the sunshine at Swindon Works on 17 June 1962.

Showing up well are details such as the outlined headcode discs and the half yellow warning panel rising to a point in the middle of the nose. The heavyweight bogie derived from that used under the prototype LMS diesels and EM2 1500V electrics is also apparent, with its transverse laminated suspension springs. This aspect of the overall design was possibly one of its best as the quality of ride was said to be very good, right up to the occasional 100 mph that was achieved in the early years of service of the class. North British had been selected to build the first diesel hydraulics as they were the only British company with a licence to make the Voith transmission and the MAN high speed engines. D600 should have emerged early in 1957 but numerous design changes and inexperience in the production of large diesel locos meant that it didn’t appear until the December of that year. (Alec Swain M14-5)

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Above: From summer 1962, the D600s were largely confined to working west of Plymouth. Here we see D603 Conquest taking 1N54, the 11.45 Newquay to York, across Clinnick Viaduct between Liskeard and Bodmin Road on 27 August 1966. Working hard, the locomotive is looking rather the worse for wear with several side skirt panels missing and windscreen wipers parked haphazardly. By this stage, the local crews had grown accustomed to these locos and found them to be competent enough performers. (Peter Gray PWG4754) Opposite top: D802 Formidable is shown curving away from South Brent station with a named but unidentifiable up express (around 1960) – not even the headcode numbers are up on the nose. The relative difference in lean between the first and second coaches as it negotiates the pointwork would confirm that it was a non-stop service. Sadly, we have no date or identification of the photographer either, though it does clearly show the junction with the erstwhile branch to Kingsbridge in the South Hams region of Devon. Right to the last summer of services in 1963, through coaches ran to Paddington, which would have used the crossover visible in the background. With closure looming in the autumn, the ‘Primrose Line’ was for a time considered for preservation ahead of the Dart Valley line but rapid removal of the track after the last train ran over it in October 1963 put paid to any such plan.

There is no doubt that had it gone ahead, it would have made for an equally attractive ride for passengers as that to Buckfastleigh.

(Photographer unknown) Opposite bottom: D807 Caradoc pauses in the platform at Exeter St Davids on 16 August 1959 whilst working the down ‘Torbay Express’ from London Paddington to Kingswear. The ‘Warships’ ended up costing 40% more than the West German Railways V200 series upon which they were based. This was due to the huge amount of re-design that was necessary together with the licensing fees. Mention was made earlier about the smooth ride at high speed afforded by the bogies on the D600s. Unfortunately, the more radical design of the four-wheel bogies on the D800s proved less comfortable and even rather dangerous. Those of similar arrangement on the V200s hadn’t given problems as express trains on Deutsche Bundesbahn were generally limited to 75mph; Western Region crews regularly worked their steeds into the 90-100mph range. The design flaw which this served to expose took three years to eliminate from the fleet, once a solution had been devised. (W.A.C. Smith WS4931)

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Above: NBL made a loss on the production of each of these ‘Warship’ locomotives, even without the added extra cost of any penalties that there might be for late delivery. Indeed, the first of the more powerful ‘Westerns’ were in traffic before the last seven or eight appeared. In his book ‘Castles to Warships’, driver Jack Gardner related that they were disliked by crews. Prone to overheating under full power, their leaking exhausts would lead to oil and grease deposits catching fire. Fumes from the engine would permeate into the driving cab anyway. Going into the engine compartment to reset a stuck transmission was also unpleasant enough. He wrote of one particular example, leaving Paddington and belching thick yellow smoke until its train had to be stopped at Southall with both power units alight; one of them could not be shut down and ran at full revs until it seized. The sorry loco described was this one. D849 Superb pictured in better times at Old Oak Common on 30 July 1961. (Alec Swain K79-5) Opposite top: A class 1 express with a couple of freight vehicles up front was quite a rare sight, so the cargo carried on these must have been relatively valuable. ‘1A58’ was a Pembroke Dock – Paddington train, which would point to a consignment of fish being in the leading wagon (the roof top hatches would have been used for replenishing the ice necessary to keep the van’s contents fresh). The flat wagon has a container secured to it – this must have limited the train’s maximum speed, though fourwheel wagons would come to assume more restrictive speed limits and therefore no longer be allowed to be included in such a train. The locomotive is D1012 Western Firebrand and the date likely to be around 1963. (George Heiron GFH889) Opposite bottom: ‘Western’ class No. D1020 Western Hero has only been in traffic for a matter of days but already has been demoted to freight work at Swindon! The date is 11 June 1963 when there would have been any number of freight, parcels or permanent way workings for a locomotive to return to its home depot, should there be no balancing working for an express turn.

Or it may just be running in before taking up the more important work of operating between Paddington and the West Midlands; with modernisation of the line out of Euston in prospect, the ex-GW route through Birmingham Snow Hill was assuming a greater importance than previously. The ‘Westerns’ were certainly well suited for freight work, of course, with their six axles and heavier weight than a ‘Warship’ or ‘Hymek’. The use of the maroon livery and coaching stock emblem was part of a plan for a unified livery of locos and coaching stock. In the foreground, the concrete (with different track fixings) marks the course of the pedestrian underpass between the two main platforms here. (Alec Swain N78-4)

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Above: The ‘Westerns’ did not spend long working the so-called Northern line’s expresses before a boundary change led to the decision to use the newly-delivered Brush Type 4s instead. This was part of an effort to ensure that the diesel-hydraulics would be kept closer to the depots which had the parts and experience to maintain them. On 4 March 1967, No. D1601 is at Wellington with 1V12 from Birkenhead to Paddington, one day before the cessation of through workings to Merseyside via this route. Evidence of the boundary change might appear to be the upper quadrant semaphores in previously Great Western territory, but this had been the case for many years before. The loading of this train would have been twice as great in the early 60s but by this date, the emphasis was switching back to the newly electrified former LMS route. Indeed, D1601 would shortly be transferred from Old Oak Common depot to Cardiff Canton. (Alec Swain V41-4) Opposite: On a test run at Preston late in 1964, the boiler of D1624 appears to be working well enough, judging by the clouds of steam issuing from down the train. The need to provide steam heating facilities for many trains for years before and after the end of steam haulage was undoubtedly a nuisance; problems with boilers would frequently blight what were otherwise reliable diesel locomotives. It was also by no means unusual to see a new locomotive from Crewe being tested on the main line like this before receiving a coat of paint. The Brush Type 4 production line there was in full swing by this time and D1624 was one of a batch that would see delivery to Toton depot. The twin strut style of windscreen wiper, which held the blade in a vertical position as it swept across the screen, was changed to a simpler pivoting type during the early 1970s. (Photographer unknown)

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Type 5 Diesels & Prototypes

Opposite top: The Western Region was almost unique in carrying on a policy of naming diesel locomotives when many in BR felt that it was an anachronistic carry-over from the steam era. Swansea (Landore) and Cardiff (Canton) based Nos. D1660-D1677 received names between 1965-66 reminiscent of past well-known classes of steam locos and after famous engineers. On 20 March 1965, the LCGB organised a special train to run between Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads on a 100 minute timing, linking the naming of two of these locomotives. D1661 was named North Star in London and ran the train to Bristol where D1662 became Isambard Kingdom Brunel under Brunel’s original station roof. The latter engine then returned the train to London. The ‘Bristol Flyer’ was billed as the first railway society arranged tour that specifically requested modern traction, not steam. (Alec Swain R67-1) Opposite bottom: Coal transport was quite simply the bedrock of Britain’s railway freight business. The thousands of ‘HAA’ type two-axle hopper wagons built between the 1960s and 1980s were essential in supporting the move to burn coal in power stations to generate electricity, rather than in people’s houses or in factory boilers. On 28 April 1966, railway manager Alec Swain was present to record a test run of these wagons at Newbury behind No. D1920. This was allocated to Cardiff Canton (86A), though interestingly it simply carries the letter ‘W’ on its cabside, similar to what the Midland Region had done on its fleet. BR came to rely on the mixed traffic Brush Type 4s (later class 47s) for working most of its merry-go-round coal circuits across the country.

This was fine provided they weren’t required to work the heaviest loaded trains up steep gradients, when their gearing could sometimes prove too high. It was not to be until the arrival of the class 56 in the late 1970s that this problem was overcome. (Alec Swain U34-6) Above: There is a distinct family likeness going on here between these three pioneer designs of the diesel era. On 23 March 1959 during crew familiarisation, ‘Peak’ D1 Scafell Pike and EE Type 4 D210 (later to be named Empress of Britain) are in the company of ex-LMS No. 10000 at Twyford Sidings (Brent), from which they took inspiration for their nose-type front ends. This concept had originated in the US in the 1930s, in part to serve as a greater measure of protection to diesel loco crews in the event of collision with road vehicles on the many unguarded level crossings which were encountered. Renowned railway journalist Geoffrey Freeman Allen wrote that the LMS and LNER both sent engineers out to America at the end of World War Two to see how the new form of traction was being exploited over there; they travelled out on the Queen Elizabeth liner but not in the usual luxury, as it was still in its stripped-down configuration for carrying troops! (Alec Swain F7-5)

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Above: Nos. 10000 and 10001 are captured in the platform at Carlisle on one of their later and rarer workings in multiple on express working over the main line to Glasgow. Their first foray over this route had been on 1 June 1948 when they took a sixteen coach train out of Euston and over Shap at 33mph without banking assistance. In June 1951, 10001 was even tried on its own with a similar load but still managed to keep to schedule, such were the pitifully slow timings in place at the time. But it was the fact that the design proved a 25% greater degree of availability could be achieved over steam that was the strength of the diesel. For example, two return trips between Derby and St Pancras could be made by one locomotive in a day. Also of note in this view are the new Cravens single car parcel DMU in the bay… and the photographer’s holdall! 27 May 1959. (R. C. Riley RCR13483) Opposite top: There’s plenty of power on offer for the up ‘Royal Scot’ on 28 March 1957 as the Southern Railway (Bulleid) designed 10201 & 10202 pause their train at Preston. Approval to build them was given in early 1947, though it was November 1950 before the first one emerged from Ashford Works. The curved sides of the loco’s profile were intended to echo that of Bulleid’s coaching stock. Similar to that used in the LMS diesels, their English Electric 16SVT engine was slightly uprated to 1750hp and for a time appeared to be more reliable too. It can be seen between the cab windows that provision had been made for a connecting door to be fitted, but this only happened after several years of service. (Arnold Battson) Opposite bottom: The mark 2 version of the EE power unit rated at 2000hp was fitted to the third Southern loco No. 10203 (completed at Brighton in 1954) and this was deemed sufficient for it to handle the ‘Royal Scot’ on its own. It is shown leaving platform 2 at Glasgow Central on 19 September 1955 and with quite a crowd on the platform, as well as in the cab; it looks as if the fireman may have been demoted to the rear cab. The later construction of this loco was deliberately delayed in order to incorporate certain improvements, in the light of experience from the first two. Despite appearances, it was said to be closer internally to the D200 series than 10201/2 and was also lighter by nearly three tons. (Photographer unknown)

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Opposite top: The experimental days of diesel traction in Britain saw quite a few weird and wonderful contraptions and 0-6-0 diesel ‘shunter’ No. 11001 must count as one of them. Powered by a 500hp V12 Paxman engine, it had a three-speed mechanical gearbox, so must have been quite an experience to drive. Between 1950 and 1959, it was largely confined to transfer workings in the Norwood Junction area. Its Boxpok wheels point to a Bulleid design, not to mention the overall quirkiness, some might add – look at the different sectioned coupling rods. Failing to impress, either in shunting or out on the main line, it remained the only one of its kind. (Photographer unknown) Opposite bottom: The radically different gas turbine locomotive GT3 was unique in being sent to the Rugby Testing Station in July 1957 like this, in a partially built state. It was also the first non-steam unit to visit there. English Electric’s plan of placing a gas turbine power unit in a steam loco type chassis, somewhat similar to the LMS Turbomotive No. 6202, had been around since 1946 but the idea hadn’t gained momentum until the mid-1950s. Because the Vulcan Foundry was busy with diesel and electric loco construction by 1960, full completion of GT3 didn’t occur until 1961. The tender accommodated the train heating boiler, together with fuel and water tanks and facilities for the footplate crew. With its mark 1 coach profile, through access to the train was also possible. Unfortunately, its retrospective looks and solitary cab would do it no favours in a competition already being won by twin-cabbed diesels and it went to the scrapyard in 1966. (Photographer unknown) Above: Hurrying through Harringay on 18 August 1962 comes the aforementioned Falcon (numbered D0280), working the 3.15pm King’s Cross – Sheffield. An LNER design catering vehicle appears to be behind the locomotive. 300ft lengths of long welded rails can be seen lying in the six-foot, ready for installation. The first use of welded rail on the East Coast Main Line had been back in September 1957 when about a mile was laid to the south of Carlton on Trent. (Alec Swain M37-2)

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Above: DP2 followed ‘Lion’ into service in May 1962. Unlike the two other machines, where engines were sourced elsewhere, it was a pure English Electric product. The prototype Deltic was deemed to have been DP1. Construction took place alongside the last four of the Type 5 locomotives but thanks to its more conventionally designed power plant, DP2 was around six tons heavier than they were. Inside the cab was quite similar though, as was the equipment in the nose ends; it was between the bulkheads where the main differences were and this was reflected by the external arrangement of grills. An EE engineer accompanied the loco on all its runs at first (this may be the gentleman seen in the rear cab in the photo), however its excellent reliability proved this precaution to be unnecessary; DP2 came to be treated as part of the normal fleet. However, it could not affect BR’s ultimate decision to invite Brush to tender for construction of a fleet of engines, combining the better features of Lion and Falcon. On 25 August 1962, it was hauling 1K14 08.15 Euston-Liverpool, which called at Watford Junction. In July 1963, it transferred to the Eastern Region to work alongside the ‘Deltics’. (Alec Swain M41-4) Opposite top: The Goods Yard at Marylebone in London was a favourite venue for holding exhibitions of rolling stock. On 13 May 1961, fourth production ‘Deltic’ D9003 is seen in the company of ‘Warship’ D867 Zenith and ‘Peak’ D28 on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Institute of Locomotive Engineers – also present was GT3 (mentioned above). It will be noted that D9003 is yet to carry the name Meld, which wasn’t to be applied until that July at Doncaster Works. The ‘Deltics’ were originally intended to be numbered in the D1000-1021 series, when this was regarded as being for the Type 5 power category; the D9xxx series had been reserved for ‘miscellaneous’ traction. (Alec Swain K33-4) Opposite bottom; D9006 The Fife and Forfar Yeomanry waits at Haymarket depot before powering the up ‘Flying Scotsman’ to London King’s Cross. Students of the history of the 'Deltics' are advised to obtain a copy of the book called 'The Deltics: A Symposium' (published by Ian Allan in 1972). With contributions from a group of writers well respected in their field, it concisely relates the background to their introduction before moving on to a description of their performance in service; this was only at the half-way point of their presence on BR, of course. It was the Napier 'Deltic' engine which was the making of the design, as it was unusually light and compact for an 18 cylinder engine. Therefore 'it was entirely appropriate that the prototype and succeeding production units should always be known by the name of the engine', as Roger Ford wrote in the book. 17 April 1965. (Ken Nuttall KNL303)

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Chapter 7

Shunters

Opposite: We end this chapter with a look at the prototype Deltic waiting to leave King’s Cross with the ‘White Rose’ to Leeds Central in July 1959 and getting a cursory inspection from a prospective passenger, it would seem. The loco would work the train as far as Doncaster where it would stable for a few hours, before returning south on a different duty. No doubt the local spotters enjoyed the chance to study this futuristic-looking beast at close quarters. By the time the production series locos were entering service, later than planned in March 1961, the prototype had been sidelined with an engine problem and was withdrawn that same month. (David Alexander) Above: The appointment of Charles Fairburn (once deputy to CME William Stanier) to the role of Chief Electrical Engineer of the LMS in 1934 led to further development of the diesel-electric shunter in the higher power range, rather than diesel-mechanical. An early example ordered from the Armstrong-Whitworth company in 1933 had been No. 7058, the mechanical arrangement of which entitled it to be regarded as a forerunner of the BR Class 08/09 series. Originally numbered 7408, it had a six-cylinder Sulzer engine of 250hp with a single traction motor placed centrally in front of the cab above running board level. With a distinctive jackshaft drive and sloping bonnet, it was trialled at various yards including Brent, Crewe, Beeston, Toton and Bescot. One tank of fuel would normally be sufficient to allow a week’s worth of shunting. A substantial set of batteries was kept in the compartment protruding from the cab. It later saw service with the War Department at Longmoor before returning to civilian duties in 1943, lasting in service until November 1949, which is likely to be around the time this photo was taken in the Willesden roundhouse. A sister engine was also tested for a shorter period by the LNER but that went on to see many years of use in Preston Docks, carrying the name Duchess. 7058 was scrapped upon withdrawal but Duchess lasted until 1969. (Photographer unknown)

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Opposite top: This diesel-mechanical 0-6-0, produced by the Drewry Car Company for trial by the LNER in 1947, was to become the first standard design for use on lighter shunting duties. Fitted with a 204hp Gardner engine, it was effectively an enlargement of an 0-4-0 model trialled by the LMS in 1934. Although not initially pursued for series production, DS1173 was taken on by the Southern Region for departmental use. We see it during that spell of service at Hither Green shed on 27 March 1959. Curiously, it was to be taken into capital stock there in 1967 as D2341 (at the end of the numbers of the production batch), only to be withdrawn a year later from Ashford when BR embarked upon its reduction of shunter types. (R. C. Riley RCR13063) Opposite bottom: 11100 was the first of the Drewry production batch and was allocated to Ipswich early in 1952, where it is shown working in the docks in that year. The livery was plain black. Note the lack of an obvious exhaust pipe and the large circular buffers, which were to be cut back to a reduced height. As with other similar designs, there were several modifications made through the production life of what would become class 04 under TOPS. Wheel diameters, window styles, fuel capacities and therefore overall weights varied, as did their resultant tractive efforts and maximum speeds. The first tranche of locos came from the Vulcan Foundry, whereas later ones were built by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns at Newcastle and Darlington. Upon renumbering from the initial BR series, 11100-11103 became D2200-D2203 but the sequence went awry from that point onwards!

D2260-D2340 carried their numbers from new. The overhead wires in the background of this view belonged to the Ipswich Trolleybus system which ran until 1963. (R.E. Vincent REV68B-4-2) Above: Production of these shunters was quite protracted at first, only really being stepped up with the Modernisation Plan of 1955. No. 11113 appeared in 1954 and is shown at St Peters Dock in Ipswich around 1957. It became D2212 in 1958 and was withdrawn from Norwich shed in 1970. Hooks have been specially provided on the front of the loco for the shunter’s pole but someone obviously prefers to lay theirs across the buffers and the drawhook. Doesn’t everyone seem smartly dressed? (Harold James HJ1412)

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Above: A need to replace Y9 saddle tanks from the pre-grouping period, that were working Scottish harbour duties, led to an early order for diesel shunters from the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow, which was still turning out steam locos for foreign markets at the time. These diminutive 0-4-0s had a 200hp Paxman engine, driving through a Voith hydraulic transmission.

The first three produced actually entered service in the North Eastern Region, two years in advance of the next five delivered to Scotland, and 11700 undertook haulage tests with a dynamometer car in the Darlington area in 1953. As D2700, it was to become a very early withdrawal from Goole shed in November 1963. Modern Railways reported this occurring ‘presumably after a mishap’. It is pictured at Darlington on 20 September 1959. (Alec Swain G13-2) Opposite top: One of the last shunters to receive a number in the original five-digit BR numbering series was this one. 11708, an NBL machine rated at 225hp, was built in 1957 and allocated to Dundee Tay Bridge shed (62B) in July of that year. Very different in outline to 11700-11707, this was one of the units selected for a trial of high visibility warning paint on its bonnet. Three white stripes were painted horizontally across the radiator, in addition to a deep bufferbeam painted orange. Very obvious in this photo (and not a feature of the original eight) is the mesh guard next to the cab steps; this kept crew safe from the drive crank, which was important when they were repeatedly climbing in or out of the cab, as seen here. 11708 was working the Dundee Harbour lines at Camperdown Jn on 25 September 1957. Nos. D2767 & D2774 of the later built engines survive in preservation, following sale to industry in 1967. (David Alexander D10) Opposite bottom; Returning to the development era of the diesel shunter, ex-LMS No. 7074 (produced by English Electric and Hawthorn Leslie at Newcastle) was one of the first non-jackshaft driven diesel electric shunters and in so being, was taking us closer to the post-war design which would become the BR standard heavy shunter. It was one of three that weren’t ‘called up’ for extended War Department use and passed into BR ownership in 1948, numbered 12000. After experiencing overheating problems in its early service under the LMS, the fitting of force-ventilated traction motors and lower gearing led to a more satisfactory performance. Displaying its enormous worksplate, it is seen in 1959 together with Sulzer Type 2 D5023 and a ‘Peak’ from the D1-10 batch inside the test house at Derby Works. It was to be scrapped there in 1962. (Photographer unknown)

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Shunters

Opposite top: Number 15000 was the first of what would have been a large order of shunters for the LNER, had not nationalisation intervened. It was built in 1944 at Doncaster with the proven EE 350hp engine and two nose-suspended traction motors. In common with its three sisters (15001-15003) it spent much of its service life shedded at March (where it is pictured on 22 June 1958), working the yards at Whitemoor. All ended up at Crewe in 1966 before withdrawal from there in the following year. (R. C. Riley RCR12082) Opposite bottom; We have another contender for the ugliest modern traction locomotive, it would appear. No. 15202, however, was one of the first examples of the Southern Railway’s foray into the world of diesel shunters in 1937. Similarly equipped to the LMS design of the same period (see No. 12000 above) yet turned out from Ashford Works, they had several external differences.

They had larger diameter wheels, in order to enhance safety when working over third-rail equipped lines, plus an overhanging cab to give the driver a better view when buffering up. For the sake of the greater amount of trip work that it carried out, the type retained the higher gear ratios that enabled a higher maximum speed of 30mph. 15201-203 were loaned to the War Department between 1941-45, being withdrawn from BR in 1964. The photographer found 15202 on shed at Hither Green on 10 June 1961. (R. C. Riley RCR15869) Above: And so to the perfect shunting locomotive, which perhaps it should have been pretty much, following almost twenty years of development involving several manufacturers and with the impetus from the war, of course. As with 11708, D3070 (built at Darlington in 1953) was another shunter chosen to experiment with high visibility markings at one end, seen at Stratford on 26 July 1957 – whether the stripes were white or yellow is unclear. Even when working hard, the engines in these shunters were not especially noisy so if the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, they could approach the unwary railwayman un-noticed. With their dark livery, they were clearly a danger when working after dark in poor conditions so there were concerted attempts to make them more visible. In the end, it was the familiar ‘wasp’ stripes which won out as the best option and this was rolled out across almost the entire shunter fleet. (Photographer unknown)

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Above: The camera of East Anglia based railway photographer Dr Ian Allen has captured an interesting coming together of transport modes at Great Yarmouth in the mid-1960s. Regardless of the traffic lights, it would seem that No. D2019 has drawn forward its train of scrap at this road junction in order to be the first to leave. The railwayman on the ground has his hands on his hips while the scooter rider leans despondently on his mount – something is stopping them all from getting on with their day! Two unusual road vehicles are also to be seen here. A Commer TS3 truck, powered by a three-cylinder, two-stroke diesel engine that was compact enough for a ‘forward control’ cab (the writer remembers the distinctive noise they made, not dis-similar to that of a ‘Deltic’), and behind that a DAF ‘Daffodil’ car, powered by a… rubber band. This was the first car to be equipped with a Continuously Variable Transmission and early models were said to be capable of being driven at the same speed in reverse as going forward! (Dr Ian Allen ICA D1230) Bottom: Built at Doncaster Works in 1960, D2112 was allocated just a few miles distant to York (North) shed in the December. It is shown here working a short freight on the famous Derwent Valley Light Railway at Elvington, a privately owned standard gauge line which wandered across farmland to the east of York and mainly for freight. Motive power was hired in from BR for many years but when BR closed the Selby to Driffield route in 1964, this marked the beginning of the end for the DVLR too. Traffic was lighter anyway towards the south of the line so it was closed at first beyond Wheldrake in 1965, then Elvington (1968), Dunnington (1973) and finally the last four miles from Layerthorpe (1981). In 1969, the company ended the hiring-in of class 03s by buying its own two class 04s from BR. Today, a small section of preserved line exists at Murton Park on the outskirts of York. D2112 is preserved on the Rother Valley Railway in Sussex. (Photographer unknown)

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Above: We take one more look at a Drewry shunter; this time D2295 is at work at Weymouth Quay on a sunny 24 June 1966 with parcels vans, which would probably have carried goods between the Channel Islands and London. The high visibility warning stripes had been a feature of shunters for several years by the date of this photograph, so it may be that this particular shunter had escaped a works visit for a while. At the time of writing, the ‘tramway’ from Weymouth Junction was finally being lifted, after many years of disuse, and never again will trains have to be escorted through this town’s streets. Note the advertisement for boat trips with the necessary adjunct ‘weather permitting’. (Leslie Freeman LRF9026) Bottom: Moving right to the other end of the country, Inverness shed underwent dieselisation at quite an early stage. However, on 21 May 1960 there was still plenty of steam power in evidence with a McIntosh 0-6-0T and several Black 5s on display. The centrepiece of the photo is of course D2423, one of 35 0-4-0 shunters built by Andrew Barclay for the Scottish Region with tightly curved dock lines and industrial sidings in mind. This example stayed at Inverness until 1971 when it was transferred to its final allocation at Aberdeen. It also received the TOPS number 06006 before withdrawal from service in June 1980. Over the years, the BR symbol would be seen on any one of the five removable panels on the sides of these machines. (Photographer unknown)

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Shunters

Opposite top: No. D2505 was a member of an oddball fleet of ten shunters, constructed by Hudswell Clarke of Leeds in 1955 for use in the Birkenhead area. It was as though the company consciously designed these to look like a steam locomotive, judging by the chimney and false coal bunker at the rear, perhaps so as not to ‘frighten the horses’! Another feature was the positioning of the jackshaft drive to the front of the wheels, rather than the more conventional rear. Fitted with the standard 204hp engine, they gave reasonable enough service but were all withdrawn from Mollington Street depot in 1967 as part of the general reduction of shunter types across BR. Similar looking shunters from industry still exist in preservation. D2505 was originally numbered 11144 when new in 1956 but was renumbered in 1960 under a scheme adopted from May 1957 onwards where the first number indicated the power range of the locomotive. It was a slightly illogical scheme but all light shunters came under the D2xxx series. 28 May 1963. (Photographer unknown) Opposite bottom: Hudswell Clarke produced a rather more modern looking series of engines in 1961, Nos. D2510-19. Again, there were only ten of them and whilst mechanically similar to the others, they had a four-speed gearbox (instead of three) and the drive was from the rear. Little seems to be known as to why they were ordered by BR when several other proven designs were already being brought into service. However, they went the same way as the others and were also withdrawn in 1967, though D2511 has been kept at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway since 1977 after a spell with the NCB. D2518 was allocated to Willesden for some years (note the 1A shedplate attached to the cab door) and is pictured there on 8 August 1965. (Alec Swain S99-3) Above: No. D2901 awaits entry into service at Willesden early in 1958; without coupling rods, it has probably just arrived from the North British factory in Glasgow and is awaiting transfer to its first allocated shed at Devons Road. This 330hp diesel hydraulic model was a development of the earlier 225hp shunters in the D2720-80 series. It was certainly no more fortunate, though with the entire class of 14 machines being withdrawn in February 1967; perhaps the industrial sector had yet to become aware of the availability of so much little-used secondhand equipment from BR but all 14 were to be scrapped by the end of that year. (Nick Nicolson LN1995)

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Traction Times’ a second selection

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Shunters

Opposite top: This photo clearly shows the extraordinarily boxy appearance taken on by shunters when given the full ‘tramway’ treatment of enclosed wheels and cow catcher. This is in fact the entire class of three Hunslet 153hp 0-4-0 diesels, seen at Ipswich depot in 1958, which were a scaled-down version of the 0-6-0s that later became class 05. Delivered here in 1954 as Nos. 11500502, they were intended for use on the more tightly curved dock lines. Up front is the first unit, now renumbered to D2950. As withdrawal came first to D2952 in December 1966 and the other two exactly a year later (after being tried out at Goole), they did not trouble the TOPS classification project. D2950 worked on in industry in South Wales until 1983 before final scrapping. (Harold James HJ1200) Opposite bottom: No. D2998 was a member of another small class of shunter, ordered with one particular task in mind, namely shunting the docks at Southampton; original livery was malachite green and the BR coaching stock emblem was carried on the cabside. The last built of these 14 diesel electrics, it is seen there on an unrecorded date with some ‘Geest’ banana vans and looking as if it hasn’t received a clean since the day it entered service in November 1962. In fact, it was one of the four which didn’t last long enough with BR to be given a TOPS number; it appeared to have been allocated the number 07014 but its withdrawal (along with D2988/91/2) in May 1973 precluded this. The remaining class 07s lingered on until the last went in July 1977, principally as a result of the general containerisation of freight traffic. A number still exist in preservation today but D2998 was to succumb to the scrap man at Eastleigh during 1976. (Photographer unknown) Above: The Western Region decided that it needed a shunter that would work solely for their Civil Engineering Department. The first one numbered PWM650, produced by Ruston and Hornsby, entered service as early as 1952 (to be followed by four others in 1959). It featured prominently in a 1956 BTF Film called ‘Making Tracks’ that was shot on the line between Swindon and Gloucester and can be found on ‘YouTube’. Here we have PWM653 in new condition at Swindon Works on 27 September 1959 before being moved to its first ‘home’ at Reading. Powered by a 165hp engine with an electric transmission (a single BTH traction motor), these shunters would invariably be seen parked in yards where track, ballast and other permanent way materials were stored in preparation for overnight and weekend working. They would often be hauled to engineering sites in consist with wagons and only worked themselves within possessions. Not being subject to the fortunes of the rail freight business, the group remained in use for many years; a curious survivor when all similar locomotives had fallen by the wayside. PWM654 was the last to be withdrawn in 2005 (as 97654) and is now with the Heritage Shunters Trust at Rowsley, one of three in preservation. (Alec Swain G16-1)

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Chapter 8

Electric Multiple Units

Above: The Southern Region’s term ‘4SUB’ came to encompass a range of four car electric multiple units, some originally built as four cars and others re-formed from three cars. Unit 4342 was one of the latter, having started life in 1925, made from steel panels mounted on a wooden underframe. The ten-compartment trailer vehicle of different profile that was added just after the war, converting it into a 4SUB, stands out clearly as the train is seen passing Camberwell signal box on 28 February 1957. The signalman is obviously keen to appear in the photograph at a place where a station once existed but closed around the time of the First World War – part of the old platform remains to the right. On the train, the single character headcode ‘P’ with a bar across the top suggests that this was a Holborn Viaduct – West Croydon working. (R. C. Riley RCR10262) Opposite top: During the last month of electric services to Horsted Keynes, 2HAL unit 2624 waits to work back along the Ardingly branch with a train to Seaford in October 1963; note the ‘periscope’ on the roof of the unit behind the driver’s cab, enabling the guard to keep a look out from his compartment. Surviving late enough to become TOPS class 402, the ‘HAL’ stood for ‘half lavatory’ as only one of the two vehicles in the set was so equipped. By this date, the Bluebell Railway had been operational for three years, albeit on track still owned by BR, but the attraction of occasional steam trains on an early preserved railway would not be sufficient to revive the fortunes of the link to the main line. Terrier No. 27 can be glimpsed in the far platform. It was a steam train that would bring the curtain down on branch services to Haywards Heath on 27 October, although stock transfers took place into the following year. To the credit of the Bluebell, they have tentative plans to re-open the branch when the opportunity arises and have taken steps over the years to protect the route for that possibility. (R. C. Riley RCR17416) Opposite bottom: 4SUB unit S4118 was one of the all-steel series of 1946 from Eastleigh and Lancing works (which became TOPS Class 405) and is pictured passing Peckham Rye, also on 28 February 1957. The design features of this variety were replicated in several subsequent builds of EMU. The hinged doors next to each compartment were an example, instead of a much fewer number of sliding doors. The idea was to speed up the flow of passengers on and off, though this approach relied on those same passengers doing their bit by closing the doors behind them! It also led to many incidents over the years. The wide and slightly rounded body profile permitted six-a-side seating, as against the five of the earlier type. The offside cab window is hinged to enable the driver to safely alter the metal stencils in the two-character headcode frame. Peckham Rye depot, in the background, dated from the LBSCR’s 1909 South London line electrification scheme, which deployed a 6700v AC overhead line system initially.

This required the roofs of the maintenance sheds to be relatively high. The milepost represents the distance from the buffer stops at London Bridge station. (R. C. Riley RCR10245)

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Opposite top: The Southern Region’s 4DD units were the result of some chronic overcrowding in and out of Charing Cross during 1948, which clearly came to the notice of the more influential members of society, for this experimental train to see service the following year. The Ministry of Transport had expressed the view that a double deck train might be the only solution, so that was what transpired. The two four-car units 4001 and 4002 were built to exploit the available loading gauge to the limit, though even then they were restricted to just Dartford and Gravesend services. Access was via the lower deck with compartments staggered (or inter-leaved) between the two levels; they were not pure double deck trains. Unfortunately, the fact that the windows on the upper deck were non-opening and that seating was more cramped led to passengers avoiding ‘upstairs’. This, together with longer platform dwell times as larger numbers sought to board through the same number of doors as a standard unit, all added up to a partial solution to the original problem, at best. But they were not quite discarded as a failure and carried on in use for over twenty years before withdrawal in 1971. S13004S is the Motor Brake Second leading 4002 here at Cannon Street on 21 July 1958 and was one of the two vehicles that survived into preservation. (Frank Goudie FWG821) Opposite bottom: The splendid overall roof at London’s Cannon Street station would only remain in place for a few more months after this image was captured on 30 May 1958. After suffering from damage during the war, the largely glassless canopy was removed the following winter as the station site became a target for lucrative redevelopment work; the towers survived. 4EPB unit S5213 is shown wending its way out from the terminus (thought to be on an Orpington route train), where a plume of steam can be seen issuing from a locomotive waiting to leave with another evening peak service. Curiously, a number of SR units like this carried ‘S’ in front of their set number for a time. The photographer took a number of monochrome and colour images from this spot on a sunny May evening and may well have obtained special permission for the exercise on this particular date. (R. C. Riley RCR11872) Above: A visual feast for the Southern EMU aficionado! This view (and the previous one) appeared in the Trains Illustrated Annual for 1960 when the photographer wrote an article about the suburban traffic on the Southern’s South Eastern section. He explained what measures had been taken with the track and infrastructure to accommodate ten-coach trains on the busiest services. It was also necessary for the large fleets of 4SUB and 4EPB units to be kept apart from each other, employing as they did different coupling and braking systems. Viewing operations from the vantage point of Charing Cross signal box, he took this photo of mostly 4EPBs (TOPS class 415) on 3 January 1959. Several headcodes are on display: 10 for Bromley North, 60 for Dartford (via Blackheath & Charlton), 70 for Dartford (via Bexleyheath) and 80 for Dartford (via Greenwich). (R. C. Riley RCR12987)

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Top: On 6 July 1958, vanquisher meets vanquished in the bay platforms of Watford Junction station. The LMR’s third-rail EMUs for the North London and Euston-Watford line services were similar in appearance to SR designs, though were incompatible for a variety of reasons.

Introduced in 1957, they replaced LNWR designed trains which had been in use since the 1920s. However, the move from a sliding door equipped train to a slam door type was a retrograde step, in many passengers’ view.

Unlike EMUs on the Southern, these retained their warning whistles mounted on the front of the cab (just below the integral tail lamp). Set numbers were never applied to the front of the vehicles, only a number inside the front window was carried. (Tony Bennett AEB3711) Middle: With M61140 leading, a six car EMU descends Camden Bank and the last mile into Euston with a service from Watford Junction on 3 October 1959.

The bars across the door windows are clearly visible in this view, fitted due to the restricted clearances of Hampstead Heath Tunnel (on the North London line).

These trains received no major alteration or refurbishment during their time with BR so that, in later years, they gave a very poor impression and patronage on the North London line especially suffered accordingly. Classed as 501 and maintained at Croxley Green depot (Watford) throughout their lives, the depot closed when the whole fleet was withdrawn in 1985.

(R. C. Riley RCR14331)

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Opposite bottom: The ‘Blue Train’ services were extended on to the south side of Glasgow in May 1962, leading to revenues almost doubling on the Cathcart Circle route; on North Clydeside they had grown to more than that, despite the trains’ protracted withdrawal from service in 1961. Here we see the 5.19pm from Kirkhill entering Glasgow Central on 8 June 1962, just as a Swindon ‘Cross-Country’ set departs as the 5.40pm to Strathaven. Just out of view to the right is the older bridge over the Clyde which had not been part of the revised track layout at the time of electrification. (W.A.C. Smith WS6032) Above: Set No. 010 of the AM4 class enters Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. The first vehicle is M75654, a DTBS (Driving Trailer Brake Standard) vehicle, leading a four-coach set which was one of fifteen delivered from Wolverton Works in April 1960 for the new electrified services between Crewe and Manchester. Later given the TOPS class 304, these units gave very long service on this route but were quite well-known for their bouncy ride on poorer quality track. The Gresley design of bogie was used on several new EMU designs of the period that had a maximum service speed no higher than 75mph. The driver appears to prefer to drive standing up, although it could simply be a shunting manoeuvre taking place. The London Road power signal box had been opened the previous year; it was to be demolished, following the transfer of control to the Manchester Signalling Centre in 1988.

(David Horne)

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Chapter 9

Electric Locomotives

Above: The three Alfred Raworth designed Co-Co electrics of the Southern Railway were influenced by existing EMUs, such as the 4SUBs. Their construction took place over a seven year period, mainly because of delays to the overall project caused by the war.

The first, numbered CC1, came out of Ashford Works in 1941 and really earned its stripes during the next four years, mainly on freight duties. CC2 emerged in the months after the war in 1945, incorporating a number of detail changes that were drawn up in the light of experience gained with CC1. One of these was the duplication of driving controls across the cab to assist driver-only movements. The first locomotive, now carrying BR number 20001, is shown just arrived alongside 4CEP No. 7179 at Victoria with a Royal Train working, at least partially made up of Pullman carriages. The authorities clearly felt that they could rely on these locos to work alone on these occasions. Of note are the slightly mismatched windscreens and differing wiper locations – function over form, perhaps? (J. G. Walmsley) Opposite top: Another three years passed before the final loco was produced in 1948 but this time from Eastleigh Works and under the management of British Railways. Approximately one and a half feet longer than the first two, it incorporated more changes to the design, though still could not be regarded as a handsome machine. These electric locos gained the inoffensive nickname of ‘Hornbys’, as they were an electric train and something novel. 20003 is pictured in ex-works condition at Eastleigh on 3 January 1960. It was allocated to Stewarts Lane at the time in common with the other two, all three being withdrawn from Brighton shed as non-standard between October 1968 and January 1969. They were all described as class 70 under TOPS. (David Idle) Opposite bottom: The distinctive and much-missed prototype Bo-Bo EM1 electric loco 26000 Tommy worked an enthusiasts’ special in tandem with B1 4-6-0 61360 on 27 June 1964. This was the RCTS ‘High Peak Railtour’ out of Sheffield Victoria, which it led from Wombwell Main Junction (shown here) over the Pennines to Guide Bridge. Originally designed and built by the LNER (under Sir Nigel Gresley) as No. 6701, it was completed in 1941, only to spend the rest of the wartime in storage. As there was little suitable electrified track on which to test it, a deal was struck with the Dutch Railways with whom it operated for five years. The works plate on the front of the cab reads (from top): LONDON NORTH EASTERN – No. 1814 – DONCASTER – 1940 - RAILWAY Co. The substantial nameplate reads ‘So named by drivers of the Netherlands State Railways to whom this locomotive was loaned 1947-1952’. The plate on the side says: ‘Electrical Equipment by Metropolitan Vickers, Manchester & Sheffield, England’. Note the rather vulnerable arrangement of brake control linkages on the bogie, only repeated on the EM2 series and not the more closely related production EM1s. The most significant difference in the latter was the larger size of cab. Tommy was sadly to be scrapped in October 1972. (Photographer unknown)

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Including this image could not be resisted, even though this would have been quite unremarkable at the time. It shows No. E26050 ‘getting up steam’ in readiness for a departure from Manchester Piccadilly, in the late 1960s when cessation of the service to Sheffield Victoria was on the cards. The locomotive’s Stentor nameplates seem to be missing too.

Those EM1s that were fitted with steam heat boilers such as this one were named, apart from E26020 which was deemed a favourite of the fleet ever since its exhibition at the Festival of Britain in 1951. The latter is now the only survivor of this class. It was said that the regenerative braking capability of two locomotives on a descent from Woodhead Tunnel would feed back into the wires sufficient energy for a single unit to climb the96 same gradient. (Photographer unknown)

Above: Now at the other side of the Pennines, we see steam in use for traction in the shape of B1 4-6-0 61208, which may well be ready to take over the train arrived alongside it behind 26057 on 3 September 1957. This predates the application of the ‘E’ prefix to the electric’s number, together with its name of Ulysses. Today there is a hotel and accompanying car park on this site and the railway survives (just) as a single track freight-only line on the former station’s northern edge. It is to be hoped that this rail corridor will see further use in future. (W.A.C. Smith WS2374) Bottom: We take a final look at the Woodhead electrics in the shape of Co-Co EM2 No. 27000 whilst under construction at Gorton Works on 16 March 1953. The photographer seems to have caught a lull in proceedings, judging by the smiling technician in the cab and his colleague taking a puff on a cigarette. 27 of these locos were originally planned but only seven were made due to the overall increase in cost of the Manchester/Sheffield/Wath electrification scheme. None of them ran more than 800,000 miles in service under BR, though of course the six that went on to be used by Dutch Railways comfortably exceeded that figure. Not apparent from any photo taken in a place such as this, would be the noise from the machinery used to work metal into the finished product; perhaps not as bad as a steam loco boiler workshop though, where workmen were often deaf by the age of 30!

(Photographer unknown)

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Traction Times’ a second selection

Above: After withdrawal from initial service No. 18100, the second of the former Western Region gas turbine locos, saw another life as a prototype and training engine for the 25kV West Coast Main Line electrification. Metropolitan Vickers re-equipped it at Stockton with traction motors only on the outer axles and thus changing it from a Co-Co to an A1A-A1A. The cabs were remodelled to reflect the anticipated design of the new AC electrics under development but with only a single Faiveley type pantograph. Test running took place between Mauldeth Road and Styal and later between East Didsbury and Sandbach from 195960 until the production AL1s appeared. At first it was given the number E1000 but this was soon altered to E2001, the ‘2’ supposedly to reflect the category of power output that it gave, in this case 2500hp. This did not stop the later 2950hp AL3 locos from being numbered in the E3000 series, however! It paid a visit to the Rugby Test Plant in 1962 for adhesion tests and then was seen on site, out of use, for several years afterwards. Its refusal to disappear entitled it to a TOPS code of class 80. Ultimately it was scrapped at Cashmore’s of Great Bridge in late 1972. (Photographer unknown) Opposite top: It is the start of a brave (and expensive) new world at Manchester Piccadilly in Spring 1960 as AL1 Bo-Bo electric E3004 waits to leave with an express for Crewe. At Crewe, a changeover to steam or diesel traction would be needed as the wires were still being installed southwards from there. The first vehicle in the rake is a train heating boiler van, required as the locos were only configured for electric train heat and most coaching stock was still steam heated at this stage. This station had not long been re-christened as Piccadilly (from London Road) and it is evident that a fair amount of work has taken place to upgrade the station in readiness for the new services. The electric blue livery of the AC electrics, together with their aluminium numbers and BR totem, served to brighten what might otherwise have been a plain box-like design and there was much praise for it at the time.

(David Horne) Opposite bottom: Classmate E3005 eases over the pointwork at the north end of Crewe station with a train back to Manchester, thought to be around September 1960 (as for the following two images). An echoing electrical whine will be carrying across the station area as it moves away. ‘Pantograph’ was originally the name given to a drawing office instrument, used for copying drawings to a specific scale. It came to be adapted to describe the jointed framework which held the current collector of a locomotive (or other prime mover) to the overhead wire. The carbon strips mounted in the top of a pantograph not only conduct the current but also have a slight lubricating effect, something which other conducting materials do not have. (Maurice Hudson)

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Electric Locomotives

Opposite top: No. E3026 was of type AL3; an English Electric product that sought to make weight savings when compared to the other designs, chiefly by replacing certain steel parts with alloys or fibreglass. The cabside numbers were also of polished aluminium but (in common with the AL4s) mounted on an additional panel, instead of directly to the bodyside. The AL3 was not only the lightest version of the five ‘prototype’ designs but also the shortest – by four feet, compared to the AL1 and AL5. Its slightly shallower windscreens helped to give the impression of a taller machine, but its height was actually no different to the others. Whilst capable of similar performance, the AL3’s reliability never matched the best of the others and they were to spend lengthy periods in store whenever traffic levels permitted it. As an aside, the historical reason why some engineers wore white boiler suits and others wore coloured ones is rather unclear. It may have been to help distinguish between various grades/ranks but in the steamship era, in the event of someone getting blasted with steam, then there was no dye in the material to get into the wearer’s skin. (Maurice Hudson) Opposite bottom: Clear from this view of AL2 No. E3047 are the twin pantographs installed on all the early prototypes. Normal practice was to operate with the trailing arm raised for current collection; the idea being that if it should get damaged by any obstruction on the wire, the chances were that the leading pantograph would have remained undamaged and could then be employed instead, thus avoiding a total failure. Such was the theory – in practice, this situation so rarely occurred that it didn’t justify the expense of having to maintain the two sets of equipment and the extra pantographs were gradually removed. The location for this image is believed to be close to the so-called ‘Horse Landing’ at Crewe station. E3047 was delivered new to Longsight depot in July 1960. It came to be renumbered as 82001 under TOPS, though the first of class was actually E3046, withdrawn in early 1971 after being severely damaged by fire – several of the early AC electrics unfortunately ended their service in a similar manner. (Maurice Hudson) Above: E3077 pauses in the platform at Watford Junction during an inspection of the overhead wires, using specially equipped coach DM395580 at the rear on 23 September 1965. D316 slips in behind with a rake of empty stock. At this time, there was a concerted effort to use electric traction on as many trains as possible that ran under the wires, chiefly because BR was anxious to prove the benefits of the huge investment that had been made on the West Coast route. E3077 became 85022 in early 1974; no doubt many of the metal numbers from these locos ended up being sold at BR’s famous ‘Collector’s Corner’ shop near Euston.

(Alec Swain T44-6)

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Traction Times’ a second selection

Above: 7 May 1966 sees a demonstration of BR’s most up-to-date rolling stock in the up loop platform at Harrow and Wealdstone station. The ‘Harrow Rail Week’ was arranged to help promote the new timetable of full electric services that had begun the previous month between Euston and the North West. E3149 was new into traffic at the time. This location was, of course, the scene for the dreadful collision of three trains in October 1952 in which 112 lives were lost. This happened at the far face of the platform on the right of this view, partly demolishing that section of the footbridge in the process. The accident provided fresh impetus for the development of a cab warning system (AWS) that would help prevent trains passing danger signals uncontrolled.

(Photographer unknown) Opposite top: Looking slightly battered for its five years of use on the Southern Region, E5020 waits to leave platform 6 at Charing Cross with the Locomotive Club of Great Britain ‘Pas de Calais Rail Tour’ on 30 May 1965. Note the two brackets on the bodyside behind the cab door for the attachment of the ‘Golden Arrow’ emblems. It hauled the train to Folkestone from where tour participants made the sea crossing to Boulogne for the tour’s steam-hauled continuation to Abbeville and back. With the rebuilding and renumbering of ten of these ‘HA’ class DC electrics into electro-diesels (HB), there was a rather confusing renumbering of the remaining fleet. The aim seemed to be to have the unrebuilt units in a new sequence without gaps, thus E5020 took E5005’s identity when the latter became E6108 in 1968. The fun had started back in December 1962 when the original E5000 became E5024 before rebuilding and renumbering as E6104. (Brian Wadey) Opposite bottom: It’s 1967 and we are now into the era of BR Blue in earnest, with some of the later-built stock of the Modernisation Plan carrying the corporate livery from new. Certain Sulzer Type 2 and Brush Type 4 locomotives fell into this category but the 43 production series of ‘JB’ electro-diesels were all given rail blue from their introduction in October 1965. Here we find E6041 on 8 April 1967 at Bournemouth Central at the front of one 4TC unit while another occupies the opposite platform.

The BR ‘double arrow’ symbol is evident on both trains, though some of the electro-diesels began service in blue with no symbol at all because the new one hadn’t yet been approved. The commonality of certain electrical equipment between the SR’s locomotives and EMUs contributed a great deal to their strong reliability. With electrification, the Southern Region had decided to abolish the through lines at this station and already the vacant space is being used as a dumping ground for surplus track materials; this nasty railway habit persists to the present day! (R. C. Riley RCR17983)

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Chapter 10

Depots and Servicing

Above: Articles and books describing the early days of the transition from steam to diesel often point out the problems that would stem from trying to maintain the new forms of motive power alongside the old. We have a perfect illustration here on 17 July 1960 at Laira depot, one portion of which has been demarcated as the diesel side; clearly not fully equipped for the task and subject to the ingress of ash and dirt from the steam side. This was known as the ‘New’ shed and had been constructed in 1931 as part of a depot expansion project. The new maintenance facility exclusively for diesels was being built behind the photographer and would open progressively through 1961. No less than eight NBL Type 2 diesel hydraulics are on show with just the one Swindon-built ‘Warship’. The shunter is D2128, which had arrived new to the depot five months before and would be withdrawn from BR service from depot ‘BR’ (Bristol Bath Road) in July 1976. (R. C. Riley RCR15075) Opposite top: In addition to Laira, the provision of diesel maintenance facilities at Newton Abbot was crucial to the successful deployment of diesel traction in the South West, an area which had been identified as one of the first in the country to be rid of steam power. The fact that the Southern Region still had a strong presence in Devon and Cornwall served to frustrate ambitions somewhat; steam largely disappeared from WR lines in 1962 but lingered on until 1965 on the Southern. At precisely 1.40pm on 24 September 1962, five Type 2s are seen on shed at ‘83A’, which had been closed to steam from June that year. D6336 is on the right. (R. C. Riley RCR16784) Opposite bottom: ‘Peak’ class No. D88 had only been in traffic for a matter of days when it was photographed at Leicester depot on 9 March 1961. Built at Crewe, it was allocated to Derby from new and had probably been undertaking some crew training, judging by the number of staff and the fact that Alec Swain was on hand to record the scene too! This would become one of the fifty members of its class to receive electric train heating equipment in the early 1970s (when it was renumbered to 45136); it must have passed through Leicester many times during its 26 years of service. (Alec Swain J86-2)

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Depots and Servicing

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Traction Times’ a second selection

Above: Now we encounter some much cleaner facilities for a modern loco. This scene is at Cricklewood on 24 November 1961. A very youthful looking railwayman seems to be admiring the concrete apron from the cab of D69, which had just been allocated there. Modern Railways reported that some ‘Peaks’ were having to be used on ‘peak’ hour Bedford-St Pancras commuter trains, due to continuing difficulties with the final drives of the normal four-car DMU sets. There are many tales of locomotives being accidentally driven through depot shed doors, hence the bold markings on display here. (Alec Swain L31-1) Opposite top: There’s a stark contrast in front ends between Sulzer Type 3 D6544 and ‘U’ class 2-6-0 31866 at Reading South shed in August 1965. Interestingly, the ubiquitous overhead wire warning sign has been applied to the smoke deflector of the steam loco but none seems to have been applied to the diesel. A subshed of Guildford, Reading South had been closed to steam in the January but clearly was still stabling engines after that time. The photographer took several shots of these two locos but took many more of the trolleybuses that were still in operation around Reading and would be for a further three years. (Nick Nicolson LN2992) Opposite bottom: On 15 September 1963, a very clean Sulzer Type 3 D6572 sits beside the water treatment plant at Brighton Loco.

Note the substantial looking clock facing across the yard (with its own access ladder and presumably giving crews less of an excuse for late departures!) plus the quantity of rail chair wooden keys requiring attention from a platelayer’s hammer. Although this shed had been closed since 1961, as was not uncommon it continued to host engines as just a stabling point for some years after. The site underwent complete rebuilding from 1966 onwards. From its introduction to service on the Southern Region in October 1961 to its withdrawal in December 1986 (as 33054), D6572 was continuously allocated to Hither Green, one of twenty in the class which never worked from any other depot. (R. C. Riley RCR17346)

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Depots and Servicing

Opposite top: One of the two-car DMUs produced by Wickhams shares space with No. D5508 inside Stratford depot (where all five sets were initially allocated) on 22 June 1958. The unit was just a few months old at the time and doesn’t yet have applied the ‘speed whiskers’ which became much in favour, in combination with the green livery. This one had clearly been in use on Wickford-Southminster services, though the fleet would soon be transferred to Cambridge depot instead. Stratford’s railcar shed had been completed in 1957 and it was here where its first allocation of diesel locomotives were maintained, the main diesel depot not being opened until 1960. (Alec Swain D50-6) Opposite bottom: This mid-1960s scene was captured at Aberdeen’s Ferryhill shed and shows EE Type 4s D264 and D360, together with BRCW Type 2 D5315 and an unidentified 350hp diesel shunter. Certain detail differences may be observed between the two Haymarket (64B) based Type 4s. D264 has recently undergone modification with its nose end doors sealed up and replaced by a four-character route indicator. Its yellow warning panel is of a non-standard design. D360 has a route indicator panel with rounded corners, a different arrangement of grab handles and a bracket for carrying a headboard (a practice which seemed to have died out by this stage). Both locos still carry a good old fashioned oil lamp, however! The presence of the water columns suggests that steam was still being serviced, pointing to a date around 1966 for this image. (Paul Hocquard) Above: The Chart Leacon repair shops at Ashford were opened in 1961, following the completion of the Kent Coast electrification two years before. Both EMUs and SR DEMUs were overhauled here, though the work concentrated on their running gear, rather than their bodywork. The high mileages with frequent stopping and starting that was typically involved in multiple unit operations meant that wheelsets and bogies needed attention more frequently. The aim was to exchange worn components for refurbished ones quickly and get rolling stock back into service as soon as possible. (Photographer unknown)

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Traction Times’ a second selection

Above: E5019 receives attention inside Eastleigh Works on 18 April 1964. Operation of freight trains by these locos presented a problem as the electrified third rail could only be safely installed on the reception and departure roads of the busier yards. As a result, lightweight overhead wire systems were provided at places such as Hither Green, Ashford, Dover and Hoo Junction and current was taken using a pantograph mounted centrally on the loco roof. The relatively intermittent use of the overheads, as opposed to on a main line, led to corrosion and less than ideal contact; the frequent arcing which resulted meant that wires broke and pantographs were damaged. Drivers also sometimes forgot to lower the pantographs when moving onto an unwired siding, all serving to keep the technicians busy at the depots as well as here at Eastleigh. (Alec Swain P27-2) Opposite top: Crewe’s diesel maintenance depot was the London Midland Region’s first to be constructed, in 1958. Here we see it during the following year, its floors still relatively free of oil stains and the roof yet to be affected by the inevitable dirt from diesel fumes. A three-car BRCW DMU set (TOPS class 104), probably based at Stoke, is receiving some light attention and in the background a newly delivered D212 gleams under the natural light shining through from above. After some years of disuse, this shed is today in the hands of Locomotive Services Ltd and is as busy as it has ever been, carrying out work on a variety of rolling stock. (Maurice Hudson) Opposite bottom: Viewed from the platform end at Bristol Temple Meads, this undated shot was taken on a winter’s evening during the halcyon days of diesel traction at Bath Road depot with D1019 Western Challenger paused whilst moving on or off shed. The presence of D0280 Falcon beyond points to the period around 1965-68 when it was based here. As more passenger services became formed of multiple units in the 80s and 90s, this premier motive power depot lost its purpose and complete closure followed in 1995. (Photographer unknown)

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Depots and Servicing

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Postscript Looking through an overbridge that once carried the Severn Bridge line above, an unidentified Hymek is in charge of what could well be a Gloucester-Cardiff stopping passenger service in 1965. (Paul Hocquard)

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