I was thinking of that class - 90733 on the KWVR was built in 1945 and sold to the Netherlands and then on to Sweden, but given the circumstances of its construction, it’s unclear whether it actually worked a service train in Britain.
From what I can tell, it's very clear that it didn't!
Because surprisingly none made it to Barry Scrapyard. I can think of only a couple of classes that became extinct once there: - with the scrapping of NBL ‘Warship’ diesels D600/601 and NBL Bo-Bo D6122!
There is some mystery regarding this! Most publications list the loco as D6122, and it seems to have arrived at Barry with this number in 1968. By the time it was scrapped twelve years later it was displaying a faded D6121 on one cab!I think you mean D6121
GWR 54xx is another class that made it to Barry, but still became extinct
There were 263 members of Class 30. Reconstructing one would be relatively straightforward (compared to a 23 or a D16/1....) if a Mirrlees JVS12T engine could be found that still works.
I found a reference in an old book to a plan to recosntruct a Class 21 from, of all things, a Class 27 (D5353 to be specific). Seems a bit ambitious - apart from the wheel arrangement, they seem to have had very little in common. (Even the wheels themselves were different, NBL having used spoked wheels until the end) (EDIT) They both had GEC electrical equipment, but not the same model.I think you mean D6121
That would be an interesting project. It would be interesting to hear what a Mirrlees engine sounded like.
Cab swaps happened occasionally as part of collision damage repairs, but I wouldn't describe that as routine.
For re-railing exercises apparently! Don’t know why D6122 was chosen, or if it was even used, but it was sold to Woodhams for scrap within months.
It was indeed common - some Class 31s ran around with headcode panel at one end only as a result. But studying the pictures on the RCTS site, there are photos post 1964 of both ends of both 6121 and 6122, and all photos after May 1964 show the "eyebrows" on the latter and not on the former, suggesting that both cabs would have had to have been swapped. This seems unlikely.I think that the 'mystery' was generated by people who never visited loco works in the 1960s. Cabs (obviously with the numbers under the windows) were swapped around routinely and one I remember was a Sulzer 2 in Derby works with each cab displaying a different (but consecutive) number. Luckily, I had previously seen both the locos represented, but it did make me doubt the integrity of loco spotting
Arguably it might be more authentic to fit one with a Mirrlees engine that doesn't work, but I admit there are flaws with that plan
... and to be really authentic make sure the train heating boiler is inoperative, so that we can have a B1 on the train in winterArguably it might be more authentic to fit one with a Mirrlees engine that doesn't work, but I admit there are flaws with that plan
(vide Northampton - Peterborough)
