Steam Preservation

I recently came across these three Tri-ang Hornby Steam Locomotives, all of which were still in their original, cellophane-sealed boxes.

All of the models date from the 1960s and 1970s and it must be very unusual to find them in this unopened and unused condition.

The first model is, of course, Nº 4472 LNER Class A3 Pacific 'Flying Scotsman, Catalogue Nº: R.855. This model has a corridor tender and glowing firebox and it dates from between 1968 and 1970.

The second is a Southern Region Maunsell Class L1 4-4-0, Nº 1757, Catalogue Nº: R.350. This one dates from between 1971 and 1972.

Finally we have a GWR Class 57xx 0-6-0 Pannier Tank, Nº 8751, with smoke! The Catalogue Nº for this locomotive is R51S and she dates from between 1971 and 1974.

All of the locos are in a lovely condition and, I should imagine, would be highly collectible.

Outlines of Power - Nº 3 : English Electric Class 50

Here we have the third of the 'Outlines of Power' articles by Mike Turner that the magazine 'Rail Enthusiast' ran during the early 1980s. 

This one featured the English Electric Class 50s with a fantastic portrait of 50003 'Temeraire' in large logo livery.
The accompanying annotation, which may be too small to see on the picture, reads as follows:

Mike Turner's painting of 50003 'Temeraire, in the bright new livery applied during the type's refurbishment at Doncaster Works, compliments Russell Carter's outline drawing of sister loco 50023 'Howe'. The Class 50s, originally leased to British Railways, were built by English Electric at Vulcan Foundry, Newton-le-Willows, in 1967 and 1968. A total of 50 are in service on the Western Region, although their early days were spent on the London Midland before the full electrification of the West Coast Main Line to Glasgow.
Technical details:
Type: Co-Co diesel-electric; Weight: 115 tons; Tractive Effort: 48,500lb; Maximum Speed: 100 mph; Fuel Tank Capacity: 1055 gallons; Brake Type: air/vacuum; Brake Force, 59 tons; Engine: English Electric 16-cylinder 16 CSVT; Horsepower: 2,700; Traction Motors: six English Electric 538/5 of 400 hp; ETH Index: 61; Route Availability: 6.

The Brush / Hawker Syddeley HS4000 'Kestrel'

I thought it would be a good idea to follow the previous posting, featuring Heljans OO gauge model of the Brush / Hawker Syddeley designed Type 5 prototype diesel locomotive 'HS4000' with a couple of photographs of the original.

The top photograph was taken on 29th January 1968 with the loco in pristine condition departing Marylebone station at the head of a special Press test train.

Unfortunately, I do not have any details for the second photograph but it was probably taken towards the end of its working days for BR.

Kestrel was, without doubt the supreme of all the prototypes, being as powerful and rugged in its performance as it was in its appearance.

It was introduced in 1968 and BR were originally delighted with their new, high power, locomotive. However, they found, to their concern, that with a running weight of 133 tons, mounted on to Co-Co bogies, it was greatly in excess of their existing axle limitations.

The  high performance of HS4000 was tested on various freight trains during the early part of 1968 but BR did not really use it to its full potential.

On 8 May a train consisting of 20 standard Mk 1 coaches, weighing in excess of 665 tons, was hauled up Shap Bank by HS4000, topping the summit at an amazing 46 mph. This was indeed the first time that the locomotive had been seen working to its full operating potential.

Later, in August 1968, a special test train was arranged to put Kestrel through her paces when a train of 2,028 tons, formed of 32 ton open hopper wagons, was hauled between Mansfield and Lincoln. This was announced at the time as being the heaviest train to operate on the BR network.

For much of its early life HS4000 was employed hauling coal trains between Shirebrook and March (Whitmore Yard)  because  BR engineers would not let the locomotive haul passenger services until the axle loading had been reduced. So, Kestrel was called back to Falcon Works at Loughborough early in 1969 to be fitted with modified Class 47 bogies.

Following this refitting, Kestrel duly took up the 'Deltic' diagram of the 07:55 King's Cross to Newcastle and the 16:45 return service.

Its passenger train running was superb with an 89% availability and virtually 100% timekeeping.

During 1970 the locomotive was employed hauling one of the heavy daily freightliner services between London and the north.

Following an engine overhaul in September 1970, the loco returned to its original coal train duties between Shirebrook and Whitmoor Yard before being finally withdrawn in early 1971 having accrued only 136,646 miles.

The loco was then sold to the USSR where it was displayed at the railway exhibition at Scherbinka during the summer of 1971. Since then very little was known of HS4000 but it is believed to have been finally scrapped during the early 1990s.

The Kestrel Takes Flight

In the photographs, above, we see prototype diesel, HS4000 'Kestrel' calling at the newly illuminated Carswater station.

We actually acquired this Heljan model a few months ago but it has only recently been fitted with a Howes sound decoder so this is the big bird's maiden flight, so to speak.

We hope to get her weathered in the not too distant future and, I am sure, she will be a future star of the occasional video in the future.

As well as the platform lights, we have also added fencing and people to this station although we still need to add signalling here and station name boards etc.

The trackwork in this central section of the layout is now complete and we have been concentrating on the scenery. 

We have also been spending some time giving the track throughout the rest of the layout a thoroughly good clean, it having been neglected for the past few months while we concentrated on rebuilding the northern half of the layout.

Hopefully, soon, we will be running regular trains over the complete system, as well as making some videos, too, to upload to YouTube and this blog.

Slowly Getting There

As you can see from the photographs above, we have been making steady progress with this new section of the layout. Carswater station now has fencing and buildings, the ballast depot is coming along nicely and more of the hills have been grassed over.

The track here has almost all been ballasted too and this should be finished next weekend. 

Of course there is still much more work to be done, both here and elsewhere on the layout, but at least we can start running trains again - once the track has had a deep and thorough clean!

Built-up Area

From the photographs above you will see that we have been busily working on the new, central, section of the layout during the past few weeks. 

As a result, this area now looks vastly different to how it was in my post entitled 'The Second Crossing'.

Lots of hills have been constructed and there is now a lake, albeit a dry one at the moment, opposite the new station.

We have also started work on the Ballast Depot with a re-alignment of the track following the acquisition of new buildings. These buildings were constructed using the Knightwing Mine Top Buildings kit (PM113) and were expertly put together and wonderfully weathered by Alex of Mikron Models, Taunton. This area will slowly be developed during the next few weeks.

The new station (called Carswater) has also acquired a station building and footbridge. These are the Hornby Skaledale Hagley Station (R9752) and Covered Footbridge (R9751). We still need to add more buildings to this station but this is a start.

Meanwhile the hills that have sprung up in this area are slowly being covered by grasses and trees and, when finished, should look quite spectacular.

So, watch this space for further developments!

Vulcan's Bad Baby

Class 23, D5906, is pictured on a down train at Belle Isle on March 18 1961.
Photo: R C Riley

Sporting the 2B65 headcode and two-tone green livery, D5900 prepares
to leave King's Cross in February 1965. Photo: Jim Slater

It is generally accepted by both professional railwaymen and enthusiasts alike that the English Electric range of locomotives, from the humble but efficient Class 08 shunters to the high and mighty Class 55 "Deltics" were a pretty good investment for British Railways.

However, there was a "black sheep" in the family of EE locomotives - and that was the class of ten Type 2 diesel electric locomotives, otherwise known as Baby Deltics.

These locos were 1100 hp Bo-Bos, with BR Numbers D5900 - D5909 that were introduced in 1959.

Sadly, they were to be retained in BR revenue-earning service for less than 12 years, during which time there would be long periods when they were either out of service or back at the manufacturers.

The "Baby Deltics" were of conventional build with their superstructures being similar, in both construction and external appearance, to the Class 37 and Class 40 locomotives although, of course, the Type 2's were much shorter than their sisters.

When completed at Vulcan Foundry, in late 1958, the locomotives were found to be too heavy and BR subsequently refused to take delivery. Various measures were taken to reduce weight, including drilling holes in the bogie beams and frames as well as in some of the internal structural members. However, even when they were eventually accepted by the Eastern Region in 1959, the "Baby Deltics" were still too heavy and were banned from certain routes in the London area.

Once in traffic they were soon found wanting due, largely, to engine failures. They tended to throw their pistons and their cylinder liners would often work loose. Both defects that would lead to engine damage which, in turn, would require a change of power unit.

Most serious was a spate of fractured auxiliary drive shafts which caused an immediate loss of the fan, traction motor cooling and air pressure, which would lead to overheating.

The broken drive shafts would then flail around in the engine room, cutting through pipework, radiators and other components and cause complete engine seizure.

Their poor availability and frequent failures in traffic made them very unpopular with everyone; not least BR management.

One by one the locos seized up, with Stratford being the collecting point for the withdrawn members of the class. By the middle of 1962 only D5900, D5901, D5905 and D5907 had survived and each of these slowly succumbed until the last one, D5905, was finally withdrawn in June 1963.

All ten locos were duly returned to English Electric where they were parked in a siding together with the similarly ill-fated EE Gas Turbine 4-6-0 Nº GT3.

One by one the Baby Deltics were taken back into the shops and mechanically refurbished, re-engined. They also had their nose ends fitted with flush panels and a four-character route indicator. A new two-tone green livery was applied, which was similar to that worn by the big, twin engined "Deltics".

By the middle of 1965 all ten locos were back in use and, although some improvement in performance and availability was recorded, the "Baby Deltics" never lived down their previous bad reputation and local commuter workings, empty stock haulage and station pilot duties were their usual lot!

By 1967 they were considered to be non-standard, which was another way of saying that they were  to be scrapped!

The first to go was D5906 in October 1968. D5907 followed later the same month and, by early 1969 D5900/3/4/8 had joined them on the scrap heap.

The remaining four locos were then a familiar sight outside of Finsbury Park depot, where they stood for several months in the company of a doomed Class 15.

D5902 was withdrawn towards the end of 1969 while D5901 was sent to Derby Research Centre for driving control experiments. D5905 was the next to go, in February 1971, while the blue liveried D5909 managed to linger on for just another few weeks.

Then there was one! 

D5901 continued in traffic through the early 1970s, usually to be seen in charge of the mobile adhesion test laboratory train. However, it was eventually replaced by a Class 24 and was duly dumped at Doncaster Works in January 1977.

This time there was to be no escape for what was, by then, the remaining member of the class and it is sad to think that it met its end while the attention of enthusiasts and preservationists was diverted to what was happening to the diesel-hydraulics on the Western Region.

What a pity that there is not just one less Class 52 so that a Baby Deltic could have found its way into preservation.