The Rail Enthusiast thread

[Mad Doug Biker]

I remember Vic Berry's very well, piles of Class 25, 26 and 27;s ready for the cutters torch.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maIH-80O5NM

OHHHHH!! Those DMUs from about half way onwards, that is painful to see, especially the ones with the two cab windows and the peaked front. Those were the 'Intercity' units and were class 120s (I assume anyway) Sod all survived either:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_120

I also spotted a South Wales unit, possibly a class 116 with the red lining and Welsh Dragon on the front. I remember riding on one of those as a kid from Merthyr to Cardiff when on holiday in the late '80s once.

Finally, that complete class 122 single car unit seen early on..... Oh to have a time machine and a cheque book!

*Goes off to cry*.

 

[classic33]

Too bad you missed the Westerns and the other hydraulics. I wasn't old enough to remember them, but I just love all that hydraulic stuff, especially the Westerns and Warships. The looked good, had cool names (the '50s were the same, but somehow never quite the same), had an early death giving them cult status, and the preservation of the Westerns helped kick start the diesel preservation movement too.

What's not to like??



Off the top of my head out of the 50, there are..... 18 survivors... I think.... More were preserved originally but have been scrapped for parts, etc.

Hold on... Fearless, Superb, Hercules (Sir Edward Elgar), Thunderer, Valiant, Royal Oak, Ramilies, Rodney, Indomitable, Lion, Renown, Repulse, Hood, Glorious, Ark Royal, Triumph, and Defiance.... Sorry, 17.

Others like Howe, Tiger, Leviathan, Eagle and Achillies were 'saved', but later scrapped.
Also the cab of 50037 Illustrious is kicking about somewhere along, no doubt with others.

Quite a remarkable number really, and I remember it caused a bit of a rumpus at the time as people started questioning how so many locos could be sustainable in the long run....



And the million dollar question, what 3 did you miss, and are any preserved now??



There be a dangerous route being tread here, and wars have been fought for less!!



Erm, except for the 22 production Deltics built in c.1961 (class 55).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Railways_DP1
English Electric DP1, commonly known as Deltic, was a prototype.
The British Rail Class 55 is a class of diesel locomotive built in 1961 and 1962 by English Electric. They were designed for the high-speed express passenger services on the East Coast Main Line between London King's Cross and Edinburgh.They gained the name "Deltic" from the prototype locomotive, British Railways DP1DELTIC (the running number DP1 was never carried), which in turn was named after its Napier Deltic power units.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_55

 

[classic33]

Anyone know where?

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Railways_DP1
English Electric DP1, commonly known as Deltic, was a prototype.
The British Rail Class 55 is a class of diesel locomotive built in 1961 and 1962 by English Electric. They were designed for the high-speed express passenger services on the East Coast Main Line between London King's Cross and Edinburgh.They gained the name "Deltic" from the prototype locomotive, British Railways DP1DELTIC (the running number DP1 was never carried), which in turn was named after its Napier Deltic power units.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_55

Yes, but more than one 'Deltic' was built...

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

View attachment 104327
Anyone know where?

Derby?

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

View attachment 104327
Anyone know where?

Holyhead??

 

[classic33]

Holyhead??

Holyhead isn't a through station though, as that appears to be. I'd also say the number of platforms is wrong.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

How do you know it's a through station?

Also, those coaches, I was trying to place the livery, and I think they are Regional Railways North West, or North West Trains or something, I remember class 309s and '310s carrying similar in the mid/late '90s.

Class 37s worked the North Wales route with mk2 coaches like that. Also, that Intercity could be a train from/too Euston stabled in service sidings the background (if any exist there), and anyway, it looks like a big place..... Maybe there is a ferry not far off??

By the way, I have never been to Holyhead, it is merely an educated guess!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Ok, I know such services ran between Crewe and Holyhead, but also to Manchester and Brum, so...... Gie's a clue!!

It looks a bit like the platform at the eastern side of Derby, but, I don't really know if services ran to there, and besides, that particular location would mean the train has come from the south........ Probably

Also, it doesn't appear to be electrified, eliminating places on the WCML like Crewe, and also that would mean that that is most probably an HST behind too.

 

[flake99please]

Derby?

I concur. Platform 6 iirc

 

[vernon]

And the million dollar question, what 3 did you miss, and are any preserved now??

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

You can still see 50031 Hood, but I am afraid the boat has sailed on '003 Temeraire and '045 Achillies, although, '045 was a wreck at Booths Rotherham for years, so you might have seen it for all I know

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

View attachment 104333
View attachment 104332

The fate of your 50045:

An ambitious project involving preserved Class 50s was "Operation Collingwood", an engineering charity established in the early 1990s. The aim had been to train young engineering apprentices by getting them to rebuild railway locomotives and Class 50s were chosen both for the fact that they were a British design throughout and that all were named (so the apprentices would derive some pride from rededication ceremonies at the completion of their work). To this end, Operation Collingwood purchased and stored 50001, 50023, 50029, 50030, 50040 and 50045. All except 50029 and 50030 were heavily stripped examples sold to scrapyards for final cutting up. The intention was to restore them by using industrial sponsorship money to build an engineering centre and overhaul the components, making brand new ones where necessary to overcome lack of availability of some parts unique to the original design. These ambitions failed when sponsorship did not reach the required level and the project lost various key people. The charity was wound up in 2002; 50001/023/040 and 045 were sold back to scrapyards and their state as little more than bodyshells deterred most further preservation attempts. 50045 was scrapped to provide spares for preserved 50026, and 50001 met a similar fate. A private individual made an attempt to restore 50023 using some parts from 50001 but this was abandoned and the shell was cut up a few years after the initial purchase. 50040 could have been suitable for cosmetic restoration, but after many years untouched and in a derelict state at the Coventry Railway Centre, it finally had all remaining parts stripped for spares and was transported to Sims Metals of Halesowen and scrapping. The cutting of the derelict hulk was completed by Wednesday 2 July 2008. 50029 and 50030 were in far better mechanical condition, and were sold to a preservation group for full restoration.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_50

 

[Mr Celine]

I don't remember if I've ever been in a train pulled by a class 50, although as a child I had a very memorable train journey behind the prototype, which ended when it crashed. Here's a picture of it apparently taken within a month of its demise. Unlike the Deltic prototype it did carry a number, DP2.