trivia oldest and newest together

[gg1]

Does anyone know who old the steam tender frames are on which the independent snow ploughs still used by Network Rail are built?

I know they're former LNER tenders.

 

[Spartacus]

Does anyone know who old the steam tender frames are on which the independent snow ploughs still used by Network Rail are built?

I know they're former LNER tenders.

I think they were taken from V2s, though their history could be varied. I read somewhere they were taken from scrap line V2s at Swindon, but I've no idea how accurate this might be, the number of times people have but 2 and 2 together and ended up at 5 based on what they assume....

 

[norbitonflyer]

However, to the left of the battery box below the solebar is a small box which is noticeably lighter on the possible S1000S, as it is in the Nov 63 picture, so I am still inclined to say we have S1000S behind 32670.

Which probably also identifies S1000S as the green Mark 1 in the p1967 picture at Clapham Junction

What is that box? Not all mark 1 non-corridor stock seem to have had them, although there are two maroon ones with (darker) boxes in the picture of 35014.

 

[Rescars]

Just out of interest are there any examples of say 1830s era stock being used in the 1890s/1900s? - Even up the grouping perhaps? So much focus on the transition to BR maybe we're missing earlier examples.

It's a good question. Some seriously antique locos may well have encountered much newer machines when working over the main line to and from contracts whilst in the care of Boulton's Siding. There were probably quite a few industrial locos of venerable age which worked the private side of vrious exchange sidings at least into the 1930s and possibly more recently. For instance, Captain Baxter built 1877 worked the Dorking Greystone Lime Works system until withdrawn in 1959. Presumably much newer main line trains were running through Betchworth by then. I am sure others will know of much better examples.

 

[The exile]

Are there any where the coaches are older than the locos?

I've seen a few photos of say a B1 or B17 hauling ex-GCR or ex-MSL carriages.

Not quite the same thing, but I remember being on a rail tour from Paddington that ran through to Minehead in about 1996. The tour was Mk 1s with two Cromptons and was piloted (or top and tailed- I now forget ) on the WSR by a preserved (of course) 25 which was the newest vehicle in the entire train.

 

[norbitonflyer]

"Prince" (1863) and "Taleisin" (1999)
The ffestiniog's newest locomotive, "James Spooner" was built in 2013, but I can't find a picture of it with either Prince or either of the other 1860s-vintage locos.

 

[westernpunk]

"Prince" (1863) and "Taleisin" (1999)
The ffestiniog's newest locomotive, "James Spooner" was built in 2013, but I can't find a picture of it with either Prince or either of the other 1860s-vintage locos.

150 years wow thats gonna take some beating

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Well, the ETCS on the Cambrian line means nothing newer than 158s (or 37s for locos). Still quite a good gap though.

It did see 170s in Central Trains days though. Of course that means subtracting 20 years off the ages!

The VoR was part of British rail until privatised in 1989. Were Class 15x running to Aberyswyth by then?

From a childhood holiday to Borth in 1989, at a caravan site in view of the railway, 150s were definitely on the line by then. Alongside 37/4s on the Eustons.

 

[matchmaker]

I did suspect they were as I was aware that some Gresley buffets lasted long enough to get Blue/Grey (as you point out), but didn't want to leap to a conclusion, so I played it safe lol

Somewhere I have a photo of a blue and grey Gresley buffet in Glasgow Central, early 1970s. It was a Peak hauled train via the GSWR and Settle and Carlisle. Not sure of the ultimate destination. Rest of the stock was Mk 1s.

 

[30907]

Somewhere I have a photo of a blue and grey Gresley buffet in Glasgow Central, early 1970s. It was a Peak hauled train via the GSWR and Settle and Carlisle. Not sure of the ultimate destination. Rest of the stock was Mk 1s.

The Leeds-Glasgow-Leeds? I recall the Buffet from the same period.

 

[Rescars]

I wonder how old the GWR or NER dynamometer cars were when they were last used to measure loco performance. Much of their work was carried out with newer locomotives or following modifications to existing design.

 

[Magdalia]

I wonder how old the GWR or NER dynamometer cars were when they were last used to measure loco performance. Much of their work was carried out with newer locomotives or following modifications to existing design.

I have been out all day but dynamometer cars crossed my mind too!

The oldest I could find that lasted into the 1960s was the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Dynamometer Car built in 1912.

45050 Dynamometer Car

www.prclt.co.uk

This dynamometer car was built by Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway in 1912 to the requirements of George Hughes, C.B.E., the company’s Chief Mechanical Engineer, and ran its first trials on 7th February 1913 testing the performance of the first of Hughes 4-6-0 four cylinder express passenger locomotives No.1506.

The only 312s in service in 1975 were on the Great Eastern, on which at the time electrification did not extend on the main lines beyond Bishops Stortford or Colchester

Gresley Buffets on boat trains to/from Harwich could have worked adjacent to these.

 

[Rescars]

I have been out all day but dynamometer cars crossed my mind too!

The oldest I could find that lasted into the 1960s was the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Dynamometer Car built in 1912.

I've found the GWR car, built in 1901, was last used behind 9F 92178 and was withdrawn in 1961. 92178 appears to have been built in 1957, but annoyingly I can't find a date for this run. Apparently a max speed of 87 mph was reached. Not a bad way to bow out.

 

[westernpunk]

stroudley carriage 661 bluebell railway could be alongside class 700 emus 1880 and 2014-18 nearly 140 yrs age gap

 

[norbitonflyer]

. The only 312s in service in 1975 were on the Great Eastern, on which at the time electrification did not extend on the main lines beyond Bishops Stortford or Colchester

Gresley Buffets on boat trains to/from Harwich could have worked adjacent to these.

Close but no cigar. The wires on the main oine only reached Colchester. The harwich boat trains got no further down the GEML than Manningtree.

 

[zwk500]

stroudley carriage 661 bluebell railway could be alongside class 700 emus 1880 and 2014-18 nearly 140 yrs age gap

The OP did explicitly rule out heritage railways

 

[Magdalia]

Close but no cigar. The wires on the main oine only reached Colchester. The harwich boat trains got no further down the GEML than Manningtree.

There were lots of boat trains between Liverpool Street and Harwich.

The train from Manchester did not stay at Harwich overnight. I have the 1974/75 WTT when it ran empty to Thornton Field on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and Colchester on the other days.

 

[norbitonflyer]

There were lots of boat trains between Liverpool Street and Harwich.

The train from Manchester did not stay at Harwich overnight. I have the 1974/75 WTT when it ran empty to Thornton Field on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and Colchester on the other days.

In that case I stand corrected on the Manchesters. (Were Gresley buffet cars still in use on the Liverpool Street boat trains that late?)

 

[Rescars]

On the matter of Gresley buffets, at least part of the kitchen equipment in 9135 was preserved in working order. Its pantry's propane fired Still Set was the source of tea and coffee for the staff who accompanied the NRM's Catering Centenary Train on its tour around the UK in 1979.

 

[Dr Hoo]

I've now found a photo in the February 1965 Railway Magazine of J94 saddle tank (Hunslet 1944) at Middleton Top on the Cromford and High Peak Railway in August 1963 with the 1829 steam engine house that worked the Middleton Incline in the background. So 115 years between 'main line' steam haulage standing side-by-side.

 

[Magdalia]

Railway Observer April 1976 has the following on the Gresley Buffets.

W9135E was taken out of normal traffic on 15th February, but remains in stock, on reserve, for the time being. It was noted in Paddington on 19th February. All four Gresley Buffets on the Eastern Region were in frequent use during February. E9115E was noted in 1G06 excursion through Darlington on 21st February, E9128E was in one of the Liverpool Street-Harwich boat train sets, E9131E in the Harwich-Manchester set and E9132E was noted in the formation of the 1002 Newcastle-Liverpool up to the 15th of the month.

So, in addition to working alongside class 312s on the GE and the prototype HST on the WR, Gresley buffets shared Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly with class 87s.

 

[317 forever]

There is bound to be a large age difference between the final 455 and the 701 which eventually replaces it.

 

[norbitonflyer]

There is bound to be a large age difference between the final 455 and the 701 which eventually replaces it.

Not forgetting that some 455s have ex-508 trailers dating from 1978

 

[westernpunk]

i wonder would there be any old tool/ mess/ guards vans in sidings or yards that would encounter modern traction

 

[Mat17]

i wonder would there be any old tool/ mess/ guards vans in sidings or yards that would encounter modern traction

Wasn't one scrapped very recently that had been sat at a station for years?

 

[Gloster]

Wasn't one scrapped very recently that had been sat at a station for years?

Presumably you mean the Shark Plough Van at Shenfield, but that only dated from 1956.

 

[Class15]

Presumably you mean the Shark Plough Van at Shenfield, but that only dated from 1956.

There are some ex-Class 302 (I think) Postal coaches sitting at Willesden in the former Brent Sidings that, presumably, date from the late 1950s. Meanwhile Class 730s and 805s now pass that spot…

 

[Mat17]

Presumably you mean the Shark Plough Van at Shenfield, but that only dated from 1956.

Yes, I couldn't remember what it was or where!

 

[david1212]

This one?

What was the newest loco / stock used on Waterloo / Salisbury <> Exeter services in 1960 just before the Adams Radial Tank Engines were withdrawn? The radial tanks were built 1885 so if they met a brand new diesel even a one-off on trial at Axminster the difference would have been 75 years.

 

[norbitonflyer]

What was the newest loco / stock used on Waterloo / Salisbury <> Exeter services in 1960 just before the Adams Radial Tank Engines were withdrawn? The radial tanks were built 1885 so if they met a brand new diesel even a one-off on trial at Axminster the difference would have been 75 years.

The West Country class were rebuilt as virtually new locomotives between 1957 and 1961, and were regulars at Axminster until Warship diesels took over in 1962 (not coincidentally, when the Adams tanks were replaced by dmus) .
This is a painting, but shows what mighht have been a typical scene c 1960

It seems to be based on this Southern Railway era photo, but with the King Arthur replaced with a rebuilt Bulleid Pacific