GBRf Class 66

GBRf Class 66 No. 66702 'Blue Lightning' eases 6S50 1216 Carlisle NY - Millerhill departmental from Abington Loop on 3rd March 2017. The train is scheduled to lay over in the loop for around 35 minutes to allow Virgin and Transpennine services to pass, but on this day Virgin's 9S55 to Glasgow Central was running late and so had to follow the freight, no doubt as far as Carstairs. The River Clyde and hills of the Scottish Lowlands provide a pleasing backdrop. Copyright Photograph John Whitehouse - all rights reserved

Ivatt Class 2 steam loco

The snow encrusted peaks of the Cairngorms provide a perfect backdrop to Ivatt Class 2 No. 46512 as it performs a run past during the 'In Search of Steam' photographers charter on 5th March 2017. The location is on the run-round loop just to the north of Broomhill station. Copyright Photograph John Whitehouse - all rights reserved

Chinese diesel DFH3 loco

DFH3 loco on a passenger train leaving Changchun station. I didn't take many photos of Chinese diesels on my first trip to China and this is the only one of a DFH3.

The DFH3 is nominally a development of the earlier DFH1 and was produced from the mid 1970s to the late 1980s. By the time production started, China had several years experience with real German hydraulics of class NY5 and this obviously influenced the design of the DFH3. The loco is basically the equivalent of the DB Class 221 or the BR "Western" designs with it's twin Maybach inspired 1000 kW / 1350 HP 1500 rpm engines and Voith style hydraulic transmissions. Around 300 were built by Sifang.

EL2 electric industrial locomotive

With another load of coal from the opencast pit at Pingzhuang, EL2 Bo-Bo electric no.7340 heads to the local washery.(built in the GDR by LEW Hennigsdorf) The opencast pit here and the electrics are no longer in use, but a number of deep mines are still active.

Kearsley Electric shunter

The day that Mr Jackson drove Mr Heyl and myself around Manchester to get pics of the emergency 'drags' after the 'Whisky and Soda' crash that required all passenger trains between Scotland and the LM region to pass through Manchester and Stockport! During that day, we chanced on Kearsley Power Station and asked if we could take some photos. They not only said yes, but turned on their overhead system and took us for a ride up to the exchange sidings on number 4 loco! Top men! Our two 'guides' are seen here chatting whilst we wander about taking photos! More to follow.....

class 08 diesel shunter

Coupling rods in the cab and part of my train, Target 30, south Manchester 'trip' working.
This day's working consisted of 25138, light engine Guide Bridge to Dewsnap, 9T30 to Trafford Park via the Fallowfield single line, back to Ashburys the same way, back up to Dewsnap for the next trip which included 08923, back to Trafford Park via Fallowfield - leave all but 08923 there - take the shunter to Reddish Shed, take the brake van back to Dewsnap and light engine back to Guide Bridge, followed by a few lunchtime beers in The Boundary Public House! A gratifying days work!

drivers cab 27001 electric locomotive

Metropolitan-Vickers Publication 1956 08
If you think that this is bit too technical, you should see the pages I've omitted!
Enjoy the cab view from 27001 which seems to have no bogies underneath, judging by the crossing gates being level with the cab!

87015 'Howard of Effingham' at Euston station

87015 'Howard of Effingham' at Euston - 26th September, 1982
After an exhausting weekend in Ireland doing GMs and Metrovicks, we were on our way back to Manchester via Crewe when they put this on the boat train. Well I couldn't turn down my highest mileage loco, so off we went to the 'smoke' via Bescot, Stetchford and Northampton! My 32nd run with it for a total of 3,834 miles! Seen here after the stock release.

class 87 loco at Heaton Norris Junction

class 87 loco at Heaton Norris Junction - 29th June, 1977
An early example of the tried and tested method of 'wrapping camera strap around wrist and hoping for the best', used as recently as April this year in New Zealand where it was literally a 'breath of fresh air' to be able to lean out of a train or be on an outside platform of a train - a long forgotten pleasure on the mainlines of this Health and Safety ridden country!

class 86 and crew at Manchester Piccadilly

86217 and crew at Manchester Piccadilly - late 1970s
After what Barking Bill said about 'a moment in time', I was reminded of this grainy 400asa neg that is now more important for the inclusion of the traincrew. Everybody seemed to look older than they actually were, or is that another sign of my own headlong (wine induced) rush into dotage?

class 50 diesel loco at Plymouth

50032 at Plymouth - 3rd July, 1976
An unwelcome loco at the time, but how things change! It's now an historic image of a pre-named class 50 with the 'low' BR emblems!

class 52 D1062 'Western Courier' at Kidderminster

D1062 'Western Courier' at Kidderminster, 2 days before the 50th anniversary of it's 'official' entry into revenue earning traffic!

The unobscured view isn't common, and shows the engine in all it's glory.
Kept wide to help the perspective and other bits round about including a decent bit of sky which justifies the reflections in the cab windows, and the angle, light and steadiness, this gets the prize I think.

class 56 with passenger train

1975 West of England Rover. Somewhere on the Newquay branch, I'm sure someone will give me a more precise location! The train was 1A15 according to the headcode on a previous photo at Newquay! Halcyon days.

The 'science' of hydraulic traction made it perfect for lines like this in pretty much all weather conditions. The tractive effort at the rail was nearly 50% greater in a 'Western' than a 'Deltic'! It's ultimately still down to the skill of the driver, a class 56 being a good example! They were awesome machines (didn't train 'em but I drove several!) that were often let down by poor driving!


Interesting perspective on this was the foreword to a book on Westerns, which could suggest bias! However, it explained the principal of how a diesel electric tends to sit on its haunches when really hauling ass setting off, as it were. As a result the front end lifted and got loss of effort to the point of wheel spin. Couldn't do this with a Whizzo although off hand I am not clear on this, perhaps it was down to the three axles per bogie being linked by cardan shaft preventing it. 
I think it was a John Vaughan book and I am sure someone will have a copy nearer to hand than mine is.
Bottom line was that a Whizzo could outdo any diesel electric and this is borne out by some of the stories such as restarting a stalled train on a gradient by pulling its own as well as propelling the one on front. A Peak on one of the South Devon banks is hazily recalled, which may be harder than being at the head of it all and doing a restart!
Needless to say even a Whizzo could have trouble such as Western Champion on the Newquay branch on wet track trying to get into a tunnel. There is a cracking You Tube entry of this loco doing the skids at North Queensferry incidentally.

british rail diesel calss 46

Another shot from one of Mr (Western Basher) Jackson's famous 'drive arounds'! A fine December day gives some good light to show up the detail on the loco!

BR class 52 loco cab

In Westbury sidings, second day of a marathon drive around in his Ford Capri! Almost convincing with the reflection blotting out any detail on the 'clocks' and the right arm obscuring the fact that it's in 'middle' gear (neither forward nor reverse!), which means someone had left a key in the console or it was 'jimmied' to leave the engine running for frost protection, plus the trainbreak is in either full service or shut down position, so it's going nowhere! Not a bad try for the era. I was nearly three years away from joining the railways and fourteen years away from becoming a driver but we seem to have put some thought into this!

overnight train to Plymouth

This was the evening we did 1056 to Oxford on the commuter, fully intending to return with it. We had a quick libation and returned when this ran in on the 1825 ex Birmingham! Change of plan, take 1057 to Reading and see what else is going into Paddington before we get the overnight to Plymouth (with 1065 to Bristol, then 1065 and 1063 (in tandem!) to Plymouth!).

Gloucester rolling stock for the London Underground

Gloucester rolling stock for the London Underground, advert - 1932
The Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon were an old established railway vehicle constructor, based in Gloucester, UK, until closure in 1986. They built several batches of stock for the Underground in the 1920s, '30s and '40s - both for the 'tube' and 'surface' lines and some cars survive in the London Transport Museum.

Southampton Ocean Terminal- illustration 1955 Trains Annual

Southampton Ocean Terminal- illustration by Ward from 1955 Trains Annual
From the enthusiasts 'Train Annual' of 1955 a grand double page colour spread of a British Railways Southern Region boat train preparing to depart the almost new Southampton Ocean Terminal with the Cunard steamship Queen Mary at the quayside. This was the way to travel inter-continental at the time - within the decade airline travel would have become the dominant mode of trans-Atlantic and long distance travel and scheduled liner crossings and boat trains would be things of the past. The magnificent Ocean Terminal, a post-war building designed to pre-war plans, was sadly demolished. The artist is simple given as 'Ward'.

BR diesel loco on St. Pinnock Viaduct

1033 'Western Trooper' on St. Pinnock Viaduct - 8th May, 1976
What a weekend that was! My Mam and Dad had gone on a package type holiday to somewhere like Malta and gave me the keys to a Datsun 120Y and said, 'just use it for going to work' so of course I booked the Friday off on the Bank Holiday weekend and Mr Heyl, Mr Jackson and myself went to Cornwall to do some linesides, get a B&B in Truro and do the first loco hauled Falmouth - Paddington for many years! Sadly, 50050 worked that when it was down for a 'whizzo', we did the branch with it and learned later that it failed before reaching Paddington!

class 52 diesel 1028 approaching Teignmouth

A gloomy, grainy shot of one of the more famous locations for railway photography. To me it's another 'moment in time' and taken from the train rather than the sea wall. That makes it a bit more 'special', regardless of my bad choice of 400 asa film and amateur developing skills! I was 20 years old here and constantly learning, I'm still learning.....

Class 55 Deltics loco waits at York for 1S27

What was I saying about the 'standard three quarter view'! Not much choice here, though I did try - see 'York' elsewhere.
Still, it's a reasonable study and that old chestnut - the 'moment in time' seems apt!

Plymouth Valiant

I know it isn't the type used in the series, but it reminded me of the 1967 Quinn Martin production - 'The Invaders'! How does a nightmare begin.......
As for turning your front tyre into the kerb, that's a practice unknown to UK drivers these days......

class 56 diesel at Heaton Norris Junction

Much maligned and misunderstood! When the Romanian versions first arrived with all their inherent problems, none of which were down to design, they rapidly earned a bad reputation. The British built versions cut less corners but still needed some attention. The records state the power unit to be a direct descendant of the English Electric unit fitted in class 40s. 2,000hp to 3,300hp from the same unit within 20 years. They also claim the new units to originate from Ruston-Paxman but, take it from someone that's been through the engine compartment of many of these locos, there was an English Electric plate on the side of the power unit! What's that about? Did they recycle some or did they have a few put aside!?
They also suffered from mishandling in the early days, many drivers of the old school wouldn't trust a machine to make it's own decisions, a 56 could handle anything if treated well!

We'd only just started driver training with them. Some of the Class 76 drivers had little or no experience with diesels and were struggling with the technicalities of them. The instructors were under pressure to 'pass' out these respected old hands and one of them gave me (a guard!) a full set of class 56 manuals and fault finders and said "Keep an eye on the buggers!". Names withheld to protect the innocent. I only had to wait another five years for a rule change before I could do it myself (so to speak!).

BR Class 76 loco cab

Looks more complicated than it actually was! The large right handle was used to regulate the speed of the train by regenerative braking, the power created was put back into the system for Penistone control to use wherever they wanted.

class 31 diesel loco cab

31417 cab detail. Awful machines. How the hell are these still going, not with their original Mirlees engines, that's for sure! You can probably date this from the age of the loco and the relatively new radiophone! Train brake and straight air brake left on whilst I got off and took another photo!
I can understand why some folk followed these machines, they were 'of an era' and undoubtedly distinctive but complete rubbish! They weighed as much as a 37 but had a fraction of the power. Don't get me started on the 'Woodward Governor'!

Class 40 diesel loco heavy freight train

40036 struggling to get out of Earles sidings - 22nd May, 1981. Guide Bridge driver, Mike 'Lover boy' Lowe, willing the sanders to work! I was able to take the photo from a signal post then walk up the ballast and get on the footplate, then get off again with a newspaper folded into a 'cone' shape, fill it with sand from the sandboxes on the loco and 'trail' the sand onto the line in front of the advancing train! Health and safety? Hah! It worked, though! We got going in the end!

I guess the train was just a big old heavy one to start upgrade?,
The tracks look perfectly dry! I bet the thrash was hellfire, I loved the sound when they wheel slipped.I was passenger on a steam special to Buxton just a few years back where hand sanding ahead of the loco, a Black Five, had to be done as the train slipped to a stand on the freight only line between Peak Forest and Buxton. We lost about half an hour or so but made it in the end. The old ways are often the best :-)

class 86 loco at Crewe

This is what happens on a Scottish Rover when you end up cruising and boozing on the Clyde. You miss the overnight to Inverness and have to go South and try for Carlisle. Oops, Crewe here we come! Unintended consequences provide an historic moment in time. It was ever thus, most of my favourite photos were accidents in time.

Class 25 diesel loco freight train

'Trip 25' working from Motherwell with me as an unofficial 'second man'! Both myself and the driver, an ex Guide Bridge man, are long gone from the railways! I doubt we'll get a 'form 1' after all these years, I even helped the guard with shunting duties. I was a freight guard myself in those days, albeit a tad further South!

Cowlairs Signal Box

That's me pointing in a way that suggests I have a clue about anything! This is a view from the few days that we spent with Jimmy Morgan - two trips to Oban, a cab ride on the West Highland line, his farewell to the railways evening drink with fellow Eastfield depot mates in the infamous 'Vale of Leven' and sleeping on his furniture the night before this photograph! He had to hand in his 'traps' at Eastfield which involved walking past Cowlairs box and saying farewell to his mate, the signalman, followed by a guided tour of Eastfield, even though we were familiar with it from previous journeys!
Note the two clocks! The one on the left has stopped, the one above the signal box name is more accurate!

class 86 254 loco at Manchester Piccadilly

class 86 254 loco 'William Webb Ellis' at Manchester Piccadilly - 12th July, 1981
I thought this was the best blue livery - the one that sported the corporate logo under the number.

Views from the brake van

electric loco 76033 taking flat car train up the Worsboro incline - 24th July, 1978

You certainly get a sense of the gradient from the picture! Never saw the 76s in action unfortunately but always had a bit of a fascination with them as they were so unique.

Riding Behind The Loco

BR class 83 electric locos 83013 accelerating away from Manchester Piccadilly - 26th September, 1977
Another of my 'camera strapped to wrist' collection!

Manchester, Birmingham and overnights to Scotland were the realm of the early AC electrics in their last years. Sadly, on this occasion, this was on empty coaching stock to Longsight! I managed a ride behind it the following year from Warrington to Stafford.

NCB Sentinel Industrial Shunter

Many people that took railway photographs in the 1970s will be familiar with this. Suspicious, disdainful and a little incredulous. What on earth was I doing taking photographs of people going about their daily business. There was always a gulf between transport enthusiasts and folk that were just earning a living.
NCB Rolls Royce Sentinel "Raymond 74" at Wath Colliery.

Class 86 (AL6) Electric Locomotives

Because I could! I did some babysitting at the time for a neighbour who was a photographer for the Daily Express and I had black and white negatives to burn! Never realised their potential until now.
A 'throw away' shot that is a 'moment in time'!
Let's look at the detail, Mk 1 corridor coach en route to Plymouth, 'cross arm' pantograph on the loco, slightly 'slewed' springs on the bogie, common problem on 86/2s. The track in the foreground is long gone, the South end of Stockport 'Slum sidings'.

Class 86 on a London Euston service

Your basic class 86 as built. Does what it says on the tin! 100mph, unsprung bogies and traction motors smashing the hell out of the track in the days when this wasn't fully understood (in this country) and led to some expensive modifications and track repair. They did sterling work on the West Coast main line, I have a record of a journey home to Stockport via Crewe from Euston that's only 20 minutes different from a current day Pendolino run. That doesn't seem like progress to me, the coaching stock was much more comfortable back then so the length of the journey was immaterial.
86034 at Manchester Piccadilly on a London Euston service.

BR Freight Trains

8M40 usually consisted of steel bound for Warrington. Doing a nice steady 20mph with 76054 behind my brake van lending welcome assistance up this historic and now defunct incline. We were probably using power generated from another train or trains going downhill elsewhere on the system. How 'green' is that? So they shut the line

DSB GM diesel loco

Nohab - GM loco, 1419 waiting to leave or arrived from somewhere! We'd just arrived by ferry from Helsingborg and took 1521 to København. Still, a moment in time and an impressive looking machine.
One of three memorable visits to the Danske Statsbaner, I say 'memorable' but the reality of European rail roving meant extremely fractured sleep patterns and at this distance in time, the Kodachrome slide is my only memory of this event! Running on 'autopilot' ....

Class 76 electric locos

A gloomy photo of what has to be said (if it's not speaking ill of the dead!), a gloomy man. Don't get me wrong, I loved working with Colin because he was a man from a previous era and no way would he compromise the way he'd been 'brought up' on the railways.
I knew him before I started on the railways as he and his old mate Jimmy Maddocks (also no longer with us) drank in The Nelson next to Stockport Infirmary where I worked in the operating theatre and went for the occasional pint in said establishment. Despite his loathing for railway enthusiasts (bloody trainspotters!), he had a grudging respect for what I did as a job and for the price of a pint would gladly hand over a working timetable or two! Or was that Jimmy Maddocks......
Colin was an inveterate snuff user, he liked (euphomism) a pint, he was a mysoginist, he was probably a grumpy old man before the expression was invented but above all, he was a Railwayman (capital R) and it was an honour to have known and worked with him.

BR class 25 diesel

25068 was delivered as D5218 in August 1963. An Eastfield based locomotive in 1977, she would be withdrawn in July 1980 and cut at St Rollox works in Glasgow the following year.

EP-2 loco for the C M S Railway

NEW 3000-VOLT DIRECT-CURRENT GEARLESS PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE, WEIGHING 265 TONS, FOR THE ST. PAUL CASCADE ELECTRIFICATION St. Paul Locomotive Tested at Erie New Type of Machine with Bi-polar Motor Demonstrates Capability of Handling High-SpeedPassenger Trains on Othello-Seattle-Tacoma Electric Zone IN THE PRESENCE of railroad experts and othersgathered at Erie, Pa., on Nov. 7 to witness the demon-stration, the 3000-volt, direct-current locomotive builtby the General Electric Company for the Chicago, Mil-waukee & St. Paul Railway was given a series of operat-ing tests. This machine is of the passenger type and isdesigned for use on the new Cascade electrification. It isequipped with bi-polar motors, gearless type, with motorarmatures mounted directly upon the driving axles. Inthis fundamental feature the new locomotive follows thedesigTi of the gearless machines in use on the New Yorkterminal of the New York Central Railroad. T

BROOKLYN RAPID TRANSIT ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

GENERAL VIEW OF THE ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE RECENTLY BUILT BY THE BROOKLYN RAPID TRANSIT COMPANY

The motors are con-trolled in pairs, each by their original series-parallel con-trollers ; the two controllers are connected mechanically, asshown, by an ingenious operating mechanism, which keeps bothcontrol and reverse staffs absolutely in step under all condi-tions. The control and reverse handles are also reversible, sothat the motorman may operate from either side of the cab,and for this purpose the air-brake valve is duplicated upon bothsides of the cab also. The circuit breaker is located in the cab,as shown, being provided with a rope leading from its handlearound to one side, so that, in emergency, a quick stop may bemade by opening the breaker.

old american electric locomotive

CHICAGO, LAKE SHORE & SOUTH BEND RAILWAY FREIGHt tRAIN HAULED BY A 72-TON LOCOMOTIVE equipment to work without overloading the substationis well illustrated by the following case: A trailing load of 240 tons was to be started on a3 per cent grade located at a substation of 300-kw.continuous capacity and capable of 100 per cent mo-mentary overload. With 25 per cent adhesion a loco-motive weighing 45 tons was required. If this locomo-tive had been equipped with high-speed motors: A,Fig. 2, the starting current would be 1280 amp., thusloading the substation to 768 kw. oV in excess of its parallel. In this, the motors are permanently con-nected in two groups of two motors in parallel. Instarting, these two groups are first connected in seriesacross the line with a variable series resistance andthen the two groups are connected in parallel. Withseries-parallel control, there are two economical run-ning points.

This method of operationresults in greatly reduced efficiency. It must be bornein mind also that the motor output at half voltage isapproximately half the output at full voltage. The adaptability of the low-speed freight handling even number of motors. Most freight equipments havefour motors. The following fundamental explanationof the operation of the control apparatus applies to600-volt, four-motor equipments. Placing all four motors in parallel across the linewith sufficient resistance in the circuit to limit the firstrush of current to a safe value is a most uneconomicaland an obsolete method of starting any car or locomo-tive equipment. The gradual cutting out of this seriesresistance holds the current, and hence the torque,within relatively close limits as the locomotive accel-erates. Control of this type is called rheostatic.