sprinterguy
Veteran Member
Of course there is - It's the only one with a loch that's shaped like a thingy!Sometimes the subtitle voice recognition goes a bit off beam tho - unless there actually is a Glen Phallic
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Memories of diesels in the Highlands
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xotGD
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Just to note that several of us have recorded all of our Scottish bashing moves (and those further south too!) over on the "Back in the Day" thread.
marsker
Member
I remember a day trip to Oban from Arrochar and Tarbet around June 1980. We watched some weather approaching from McKeags folly and rushed back to the station (with 2 small children and a baby) to just board our train early as the heavens opened. Our journey back, was hauled by a Class 27 and a Class 37 in multiple, which seemed unusual and the trip past Loch Awe in a violent thunderstorm was truly "Awesome".
Another memory in the mid 60s was seeing the up sleeper at Aviemore with what later became a Class 26 and a Class 24 on the front of 14.This combo seemed quite common at the time and I did read somewhere that, because of the differing characteristics of the 2 transmission systems producing peak tractive effort at different speeds, that 1 of each was better than 2 of either, even though they had the same nominal power.
Another memory in the mid 60s was seeing the up sleeper at Aviemore with what later became a Class 26 and a Class 24 on the front of 14.This combo seemed quite common at the time and I did read somewhere that, because of the differing characteristics of the 2 transmission systems producing peak tractive effort at different speeds, that 1 of each was better than 2 of either, even though they had the same nominal power.
Most of my journeys on the West Highland Line took place on the 1980s in connection with hill walking outings and involved haulage by class 37/0s then 37/4s. In the 1960s, I had two journeys, one on the " TV Train " and the other a Branch Line Society excursion from Glasgow to Mallaig and back on a class 101 DMU. In the 1970s , I recall 2 trips to Oban, one a SRPS excursion hauled by 2x26 which then involved a sailing on the steamer " King George V", the other a return trip to Oban hauled a class 27. I presume class 37s displaced class 27s from the West Highland Line in the late 1970s but I was wondering if anyone had more precise details as to when this change took place.
On a slightly different theme, some time ago on a thread dealing with fictional books involving railways, I mentioned a novel " The Deadman's Pedal " by Alan Warner. At the time I had not read this book but, subsequently, I obtained a copy. I believe the author worked for a period as a Driver's Assistant at Oban during the class 27 era and, whilst towns/stations ( and characters ) in the book have fictitious names, I think it is reasonable to assume it is the Oban line where the novel is set.
On a slightly different theme, some time ago on a thread dealing with fictional books involving railways, I mentioned a novel " The Deadman's Pedal " by Alan Warner. At the time I had not read this book but, subsequently, I obtained a copy. I believe the author worked for a period as a Driver's Assistant at Oban during the class 27 era and, whilst towns/stations ( and characters ) in the book have fictitious names, I think it is reasonable to assume it is the Oban line where the novel is set.
norbitonflyer
Established Member
My first trip on the West Highland and Kyle lines, in 1978 I think. It was a few months before Michael Palins trip.
I started at Crewe to pick up the sleeper (I was a student then, so was on the cushions). A class 27 took over from the electric at Mossend (after something else had taken the Inverness) Down Cowlairs Bank to pick up the Mallaig portion. (This was shortly after a Class 40 doing the Mossend- Cowlairs leg ran away down the bank and collided with the sleeper coaches - our 27 remained firmly coupled on!) I transferred to the Mallaig portion, so was able to travel Crewe to Mallaig on one train!
Ferry then to Kyle, and a 26 to Inverness, with a 40, if I recall, on the cushions again to the south.
26s also when I did the Far North later on, but 37s had taken over by the time I did the Oban line - the last BR line with a regular service I needed to ride (although several more have opened in the past 45 years!)
Taking up the hobby as I did in the early seventies, I just missed seeing several classes - 04, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 22, 23, 28, 29, 42, 43, 2BIL, 4COR all appeared in my first, 1971, combined volume but I never saw any in action - although a number of derelict Class 10s were in limbo behind the depot in my home town.
Got one haul by a 52 in BR days, but no 35.
I started at Crewe to pick up the sleeper (I was a student then, so was on the cushions). A class 27 took over from the electric at Mossend (after something else had taken the Inverness) Down Cowlairs Bank to pick up the Mallaig portion. (This was shortly after a Class 40 doing the Mossend- Cowlairs leg ran away down the bank and collided with the sleeper coaches - our 27 remained firmly coupled on!) I transferred to the Mallaig portion, so was able to travel Crewe to Mallaig on one train!
Ferry then to Kyle, and a 26 to Inverness, with a 40, if I recall, on the cushions again to the south.
26s also when I did the Far North later on, but 37s had taken over by the time I did the Oban line - the last BR line with a regular service I needed to ride (although several more have opened in the past 45 years!)
Taking up the hobby as I did in the early seventies, I just missed seeing several classes - 04, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 22, 23, 28, 29, 42, 43, 2BIL, 4COR all appeared in my first, 1971, combined volume but I never saw any in action - although a number of derelict Class 10s were in limbo behind the depot in my home town.
Got one haul by a 52 in BR days, but no 35.
My first was in summer 1980, just in time for class 27s. The loco we got from Queen Street failed at Dumbarton, we had to wait for a replacement from Eastfield, and arrived in Fort William almost an hour late.
That was my only journey with class 27s on the West Highland, but I did get a few class 26s to the Far North and Kyle of Lochalsh.
Glen Falloch is between Ardlui and Crianlarich. the River Falloch flows into Loch Lomond at Ardlui.
WesternLancer
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That sheds some light on it!
Wyrleybart
Established Member
This reminds me of pretty much the only camping holiday I have ever done. My mate suggested we pitch his tent on the shores of Lomond and use Balloch pier as our railhead. So we journeyed up to Glasgow then out to Dumbarton to the local class 303 up the branch to Balloch pier. We managed to walk over to the site pitch the tent and retire, but we soon started hearing rain on the canvas !! For the next three days it rained the majority of the time in the local area, but it was dry in Dumbarton Central and dry for the various bashed we did including 27s on the Dundees adn 37s on the WHL. But every evening we got back to Dumbarton, then got in the 303, and it eas raining by the time we got to Balloch again. It was truly amazing.
IIRC we chucked the tent and sleeping bags as soon as we got home because they were so mouldy. Contrasted with my first ever trip to Balloch Pier where I enjoyed a wonderful bimble around Lomond on the "Maid of the Loch" to the recorded soudns of Jimmy Shand !!
D6130
Established Member
On 26/11/1971 Princess Anne was privileged to have haulage on the last ever class 29-hauled passenger train when she visited the Clyde Submarine Base at Faslane. The Royal Train was worked overnight to somewhere in Central Scotland for a secluded and secure overnight snooze. In the early hours of the morning 6119 - freshly repainted in Rail Blue - ran light engine from Eastfield depot to Faslane Junction, followed a couple of hours later by the four coach Royal Train, headed by newly-overhauled and repainted class 27s 5382 and 5405 (later 27 034 and 27 041).
On arrival at Faslane Junction exchange sidings the two 27s were detached and ran light engine back to Eastfield....while 6119 - having her last hurrah - coupled onto the front and trundled HRH and her entourage very cautiously down the 1 in 36 gradient on the branch as far as Boiler House crossing, where the handbrake was applied, scotches placed under the wheels and HRH alighted using a specially-built wooden landing stage and staircase.
After a full day of maritime engagements - culminating in dinner at the Officers' Mess - HRH retired to her cabin in the Royal Train for a good night's sleep....while 6119 idled away quietly and provided steam heat. Shortly after 22 00, a thrilled thirteen year-old rail enthusiast was invited to climb into the cab - accompanied by the Area Manager, Dumbarton and the Scottish Region Chief Traction Inspector. How did that happen, you may ask? Well my father was involved at the time, in a fairly senior capacity, with the administration of the base.
The following morning, 5382 and 5405 returned from Eastfield, ran down the branch, coupled onto the Royal Train and then hauled it, with 6119 still attached at the rear, back up to the exchange sidings. Here the 29 was detached and the pair of 27s headed South with their VIP passenger, causing some considerable distraction to certain pupils of Hermitage Academy at Craigendoran....as @Cheshire Scot may be able to testify. About half-an-hour later, 6119 - looking rather forlorn, despite her gleaming paintwork and white buffers - scuttled past light engine on the way back to Eastfield, having performed her final passenger duty. She was withdrawn five weeks later - despite having undergone an intermediate repair and repaint at St Rollox works in August of that year - and was cut-up at the same works in the Spring of 1972....one of the last four survivors of her class.
On arrival at Faslane Junction exchange sidings the two 27s were detached and ran light engine back to Eastfield....while 6119 - having her last hurrah - coupled onto the front and trundled HRH and her entourage very cautiously down the 1 in 36 gradient on the branch as far as Boiler House crossing, where the handbrake was applied, scotches placed under the wheels and HRH alighted using a specially-built wooden landing stage and staircase.
After a full day of maritime engagements - culminating in dinner at the Officers' Mess - HRH retired to her cabin in the Royal Train for a good night's sleep....while 6119 idled away quietly and provided steam heat. Shortly after 22 00, a thrilled thirteen year-old rail enthusiast was invited to climb into the cab - accompanied by the Area Manager, Dumbarton and the Scottish Region Chief Traction Inspector. How did that happen, you may ask? Well my father was involved at the time, in a fairly senior capacity, with the administration of the base.
The following morning, 5382 and 5405 returned from Eastfield, ran down the branch, coupled onto the Royal Train and then hauled it, with 6119 still attached at the rear, back up to the exchange sidings. Here the 29 was detached and the pair of 27s headed South with their VIP passenger, causing some considerable distraction to certain pupils of Hermitage Academy at Craigendoran....as @Cheshire Scot may be able to testify. About half-an-hour later, 6119 - looking rather forlorn, despite her gleaming paintwork and white buffers - scuttled past light engine on the way back to Eastfield, having performed her final passenger duty. She was withdrawn five weeks later - despite having undergone an intermediate repair and repaint at St Rollox works in August of that year - and was cut-up at the same works in the Spring of 1972....one of the last four survivors of her class.
Falcon1200
Established Member
I hope she was duly delighted and recorded the haulage in her Combined Volume!
Great memories @D6130, thanks for posting.
My first Scottish Region Railrover (First Class!) was in September 1979. Overnight from Euston in Second, transferred at Carlisle into an empty First Class compartment - heaven. On arrival at Inverness, Class 120 DMU to Aberdeen, Class 40 to Perth, side mission to Dunkeld for more Class 40 haulage, thence to Edinburgh with my first trip over the Forth Bridge. I was sadly too late for Class 24 (and of course 21/29), and my notes pre-1983 are gone too, but one I do have a record for;
Monday 21st March 1983
37111 + 20045 0600 Glasgow Queen St-Mallaig (taken to Dumbarton Central only, unfortunately).
Before my own loco-chasing began, I planned journeys over classic routes, one of these was-
45/1 St Pancras - Nottingham
45/0 Nottingham - S&C - Carlisle
86 Carlisle - Carstairs (train split for..)
47/0 Carstairs - Edinburgh
47/0 Edinburgh - Inverness
Arriving late evening and returning on
2x26 Inverness - Perth (1x26) - Edinburgh
(Glasgow & Edinbugh sleepers)
55 Edinburgh - Kings Cross
Absolutely everything bar 47 haulage (!) was new to me in that day and a half. Part of the magic of past UK rail travel was regional loco types and Scotland was certainly very atmospheric with its steaming type 2s and 40s.
45/1 St Pancras - Nottingham
45/0 Nottingham - S&C - Carlisle
86 Carlisle - Carstairs (train split for..)
47/0 Carstairs - Edinburgh
47/0 Edinburgh - Inverness
Arriving late evening and returning on
2x26 Inverness - Perth (1x26) - Edinburgh
(Glasgow & Edinbugh sleepers)
55 Edinburgh - Kings Cross
Absolutely everything bar 47 haulage (!) was new to me in that day and a half. Part of the magic of past UK rail travel was regional loco types and Scotland was certainly very atmospheric with its steaming type 2s and 40s.
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Sun Chariot
Established Member
Perhaps:
"Flail? One limits ones enjoyment to ones regal wave"
Or (bellowing out of the window):
"MY LORDS! Well - the lords are mine, because I'm Royal."
SuspectUsual
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I haven't got anything in writing but my recollection is:
- first 37/0s went to Eastfield for the WHL in 1977 or 1978
- WHL fully 37/0 from (May?) 1980
- class 37/4 introduced 1985/86
WesternLancer
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great personal recollections there - nice to read.
Shame 6119 wasn't able to benefit from a preservation attempt in those days!
ac6000cw
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I think back then there was very little interest in diesel preservation - the enthusiast community was still mourning the end of mainline steam (only few years earlier), and even the oldest locos in the mainline diesel fleet were teenagers in 1971.
WesternLancer
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Yes, this is certainly mentioned in explanations of why many of the early diesel classes were lost - and it's understandable enthusiast resources would have been focussed on steam - and probably the enthusiasts with the most money to spare would have been older and thus more passionate about their favourite steam classes that needed to be rescued from the cutter with some urgency.
Big credit to people who did rise the the challenge of preserving diesels from a few years later in the 1970s
It did lead to some pioneering losses though - national museums like the science museum ought to have stepped in to secure one of the LMS 'twins'. A pioneering development in railway technology like the first main line express diesel loco ought really have been selected by a body with a wider remit - not left to enthusiast resources, IMHO
Obv this is at risk of being off topic!
GRALISTAIR
Established Member
I remember in the 1970s I used to have a damned DMU from Inverness to Aberdeen. I was really pleased in the 1980s when a huge number of trains in Scotland went to loco hauled.
Merle Haggard
Established Member
What I remember at the time was that steam had a large following right up to the end in the North West. I carried on spotting for a short while afterwards, but it was very striking that there were no spotters visible on stations after August 1968; they just disappeared overnight. Same with shed-bashing - I never saw anyone else around.
Locos in the period from 1968 to the mid-70s seemed to be rarely photographed as a result.
D6130
Established Member
Mainly correct. The first two boiler-fitted 37/0s (108 & 111) went to Eastfield in 1978, with 108 spending a few months at Fort William for crew training. The next four (012, 026, 027 & 043) arrived the following year with more (011, 039 and 114) arriving a short time later, IIRC. Of course Eastfield's long-standing non-boilered 37/0s appeared on Summer services from time-to-time, as in my photo of 148 at Helensburgh Upper.
Even though the West Highland Lines were diagrammed for full class 37 operation from May 1980, 27
s still appeared occasionally until the mid-1980s.
Also a shame that I wasn't able to get a few photos with my clunky old Russian Zenit-B 35 mm SLR....but, of course, private photography within military establishments was a definite no-no.
"MY LADIES!" ?
Or even early 60s. Consider the Highlands type 2s being discussed here and how far they originally worked when based in the south. 27s for example worked to Llandudno, March, Tilbury, Southend etc., but photos are not common.
SuspectUsual
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Was 37081 not also part of the early group?
Merle Haggard
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Don't forget how expensive slide film was then - Agfa CT36 was 36/- (£1.75) when a good wage was £20 a week. One of my first films in 1965, Gevaert - was ASA 25 (ish) slightly earlier ones had been ASA 5. That pretty much demanded shutter speed of 1/30 sec at f8 (for reasonable depth of field) on a sunny day, so anything moving was blurred.
Looking back at my photos I very often regret not also taking a picture of what was visible in the background, as well. But I just couldn't afford to photo everything interesting.
D6130
Established Member
Yes, you're right....and 37 027 was part of the next batch to arrive from East Anglia. 37 012, 026, 043 and 081 were named after West Highland lochs, in the tradition of their steam predecessors the K2s.
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WesternLancer
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Thanks - interesting to read.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
yes, it's also the background stuff (as well as the main subjects) that makes that home movie linked earlier so interesting - old grounded coach bodies, stuff in sidings etc etc
SuspectUsual
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I'm at a loose end so I've just had a look at the info on class37.co.uk and searching the fleet history for "transferred to Eastfield" it tells me:
8/1/78 37108
?/1/78 37111
?/3/79 37081
?/2/80 37026
?/4/80 37027
?/4/80 37043
4/1/81 37012
18/1/81 37114
15/2/81 37039
7/6/81 37011
Obviously that's not guaranteed to be accurate, and we know locos did sometimes physically move before allocations were updated, but it broadly matches
D6130
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Thanks. That's very interesting and shows that my memory is not entirely shot yet!
SuspectUsual
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Thanks. That's very interesting and shows that my memory is not entirely shot yet!
I remember my grandad once telling me "you know your memory really has gone when you can't remember where the reference book is" - we'll be fine as long as we remember how to use the internet!
