The diesel era 1960s, 70s & 80s

[Mickey]

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[Andy W]

Well the cl.31 on "5D12" may be unidentified but it is an early 31/4 conversion. 5D12 is confusing me a bit though - I thought 1D12 was the 0200 down before it got cut back to Peterborough and it certainly wouldn't have had that stock on it! Someone with a better knowledge of the trains of the period will probably be able to give the right answer.

You have it spot on that ER thought the Brush 2 was the B1 equivalent. They could pull just about any load but stopping them with an (over)full load was another story. They also had a nasty habit of overheating in summer when pushed on class 1 trains with No 1 end leading. The air flow through the radiator was the issue and we had about a dozen at FP that were fitted with higher speed rad fan gearboxes so that they could be used as cl.47 substitutes without risk of failure.

[Mickey]

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[Andy W]

The Spanner 1 was a fine boiler but could go off with a bit of a bang if you were firing it up after someone had filled it up with atomised fuel and it hadn't sparked. Check the electrics, clean the electrodes, refit and stand well back! Caught a real dose of flames and muck off one once when trying that lark out on a Down Parly.

The KX divisional boiler van (ADE 321072) had two Spanners 1 boilers in it. We used it to supplement the steam boilers at Bounds Green and when one of the static boilers at Hornsey or Kings Cross was under repair. It was maintained at Clarence Yard and in about 198o/1, not long after we got it, one of the Mobrays (water level float switches) failed and the Swirliflo tubes (like long sticks of candy twists) in that boiler completely melted.

I was passing by the boilersmith at FP when he made the initial inspection. A couple of boots hung out the van door and he got up, came out and said "what do make of that?". I went in and looked up at the previously molten metal now hanging down into the combustion chamber and I gave that wonderful technical evaluation much beloved by M&EE men - "it's xxxx'd, mate!". We had to shop it for a replacement boiler - very embarrassing.

The Spanner 2 and 3 boilers (as used on the Deltics and Brush 4s) were smaller and in the case of the Spanner 2 not nearly as efficient. That boiler used to really struggle with the long sleeping car trains - about 10 coaches really was it's effective limit.

[Mickey]

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[strang steel]

Looking at the mid 60s WTT, I now understand why 1A00 did not feature in my notes.

It was the 0005 Mondays Only KX to Newcastle.

[sandwhich]

No doubt that the Deltics were one of the dieselisation achievements, yes they were noisy and could be very draughty at times, the boiler was in the middle between two roaring napier engines, going in there without earplugs was plain stupid to say the least. They lasted 22 years and BR certainly got their moneysworth out of them. The ones named after racehorses were allocated to Clarence Yard, northern regiments to Gateshead and Scottish regiments to Haymarket. It was certainly a sad sight seeing them lined up at Clarence Yard after final withdrawal in Jan 1982.

[strang steel]

Ditto, the line up outside Doncaster works, while awaiting cutting up; as seen here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55727763@N02/5164275319/

[Mickey]

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[Mickey]

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[manna]

G'Day Gents

Thanks for jogging my memory Micky, there was another job like that,loco hauled 'block ender' KX all stations to WGC about 2000hrs, on arrival at WGC, shunt the whole lot into the goods yard, and screw it down, then work a Cravens 2 car unit back to KX, (all stations) and second-maned to, remember it well as it was the only time I got to drive a DMU (would be 1971) would have got back to KX about 2200-2230hrs, The Cravens units were quite easy to drive, once you got used to the shut off power before changing gear.

manna

[Mickey]

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[Mickey]

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[manna]

G'Day Gents

I can't say I've ever ridden on any of the GN electrics, except the 91's, but I can understand the feelings, when you were working a 31 and coaches to WGC, you felt you were going quite fast between stations, but riding in the coaches, you really did feel that you were crawling along, an all stations from Hitchin, would have you running around trying to bite your own back in frustration, I suppose it was even worse with steam, but with steam you wouldn't give a damn about how long it took

manna

[Mickey]

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