30 years ago

[60041]

Its hard to believe that it is 30 years ago today that the last scheduled BR deltic hauled trains ran.
I can well remember going down to Alnmouth Station to watch 55022 run through with the farewell train, the driver allowed the speed to drop quite a lot as he coasted across the Aln viaduct then he applied full power as he came through the station; the roar was unbelievable.
I was never a huge fan of diesels, but I remember walking away that day with the same empty feeling that I experienced at the end of steam and realised that something truly wonderful had gone for good.

[R. pike]

I saw the train in the morning at Cadwell then travelled into London to be at King's Cross for it's return. What a sight and sound that was.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xSbmBhFnQk

[PGBerrie]

I also had a soft spot for the Deltics - they kept up the tradition of the ECML being special, made a wonderful, distinctive noise and made inroads into the timings on the Leeds-KingsX route. It was the only class where I copped the lot.

Peter

[Mickey]

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[Blink Bonny]

Ay up!

I managed a cab ride in a Deltic down Stoke Bank. It was quite an experience flying along at 100mph on Double Yellows for several miles. I was worried but not the driver. He reckoned the time to worry was if a single yellow appeared....

[kudu]

I can remember THE Deltic storming out of Euston, the Fowler 2-6-2T that was banking racing to keep up.

I saw it quite a few times at Euston or Willesden Junction, but it was that episode that sticks in the memory.

Kudu

[Deltic18]

I will always remember that day as it was a sad closeure to a chapter of my life which was happily to reopen later on. I'll never forget coming out of Gasworks Tunnel with all 4 horns blasting and the reception that was at Kings Cross that night. One thing that I will always remember is the driver of the HST that came alongside and decided to join in by blasting the horn on the power car. The reply by everybody on the platform was colourful to say the least. There was one voice heard on a tape recording shoutiung out " They'll never replace The Deltics". Memories.

[Andy W]

30 years ago - amazing how time flies by.

My screen saver at work is of No 15 leaving Clarence Yard for the last time on January 2nd 1982. Some people in First Group do know what loco type it is but most can't recognise the depot, let alone the significance of the shot.

We all waited by the lineside to see it head north with the farewell special and then silently made our way back to the depot for a brew. That was that for FP and the racehorse Deltics.

[Mickey]

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[brsince78]

I remember it as if it was yesterday....... where have all those years gone?

[strang steel]

I don't suppose that there are to many on here that can say that they have been in the engine compartment of a DELTIC at speed with those twin Napier turbines going flat out WITHOUT wearing ear protectors!!.

Even when a Deltic was just 'Idling' in the station platform at Kings Cross and you went into the engine compartment for a reason (which was a fairly rare event) the noise alone was enough to drive you 'insane' after 5-10 seconds!!.

It nearly made your ears bleed!!.

I can't remember now if there was a notice in the cab fixed to the engine compartment door stating that-
NO ONE WAS TO ENTER THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT WITHOUT EAR PROTECTORS.

You are spot on there Micky.

One of my supervisors in 1976 decided to enrol in this rather new fangled correspondence educational thing called the Open University. I think he was doing a science course, a part of which involved experiments with sound.

He had brought this decibel meter to work, and was moaning about how noisy some of the machines were. I had an idea, and worked on him for the rest of the shift - the net result being that he loaned me the meter for a week until we worked together again.

On my day off I took it to Kings Cross and measured the sound levels from various locos, but the Deltic in platform 8 was waiting to leave and beat everything else hands down by registering 115 decibels, and that was with engines idling and from outside the loco.

The machine only went up to 125 decibels, but that was reached as soon as the loco started to move. I cannot imagine what the reading would have been once the driver opened her up as he was clear of the 8mph speed restriction.

Moving slightly further north, the best place to hear the Deltics being given some welly was on Stoke Bank between Little Bytham and the tunnel. I spent some days there camping by the line in the 1960s and with the wind in the right direction you could hear them coming for about three miles. In those days some of the trains were 12 or 13 coaches long, which meant the locos were on full power all the way up the hill.

[richard]

Probably a good thing I wasn't at Durham in the 70s then - I thought the HSTs pulling south over the viaduct were loud enough in the mid 90s! True my student digs were not at ground level but couldn't have been too far from rail height. Still, they seemed a lot louder than when you were actually on the train.

[mr B]

horrible things, replace steam, sack the fireman then employ more fitters

mr b

[PinzaC55]

I remember my dismay the first time I was in Doncaster after The End and I saw a "Rat" and thought "How am I going to manage with Class 25's and 40's?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinzac55/s ... 006730276/

[Mickey]

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