They couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding, would slip in the Sahara desert and the stove took hours to warm up, but i always liked working them, much more than the usual pairs of "Toton Deltic's" (20's, knacker bashers, choppers, call em what you will!) that we had most of the time. 58's were warm, comfy, had a nice bouncy seat and sounded good if you got one with howling rad fans!
I liked 56's more though, especially the Romanian ones. Not as user friendly as the BREL built, but a lot quicker off the mark! Not a lot else sounds better than a 56 at full blast. Lost count of the number of times i froze to death with the cab window open listening to the Ruston throbbing away and the turbo screaming!
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The common fault was the dashboard falling off as you were going along! The size of the washers holding it on gradually increased as the years went by. Some drivers also had a perchant for nicking the plastic screw top of the brake handle, leaving you with just a threaded, thin metal rod to brake with.
A thread pattern on your left thumb, and hole in your right thumb (from the overly stiff sand button) was a sure sign to others that you'd had a 58 that day!
I remember a hilarious episode when working the Ratcliffe - Fletton fly ash one day. The loading hopper at Ratcliffe was caked white, top to bottom from years of fly ash residue. 9 times out of 10 you'd have a 56 on this job, but one day i had a 58. The loader, in his freshly washed, neatly pressed blue overalls started to call me through the loading hopper. As the loco drew level with him the unloader valve vented... "PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"..... I looked back to see a cloud of white fly ash dust filling the loading hopper, and a, now white from head to toe, loader waving his arms about trying to see where he was! Well i p'd myself so much my guts hurt for hours! :razz: