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I've been trying to identify the class 47 in this photo (the 45 is 45040), taken by my Dad at Temple Meads. Unusually, the 47 has white discs at the number 2 end cab.
AI searching assures me that the only locos with this were 47053, 47099, 47210 and 47358.
Does anyone know any different, or can anyone point me to a list of which class 47s had this variant please? Is anyone able to identify definitively which 47 this is?
Other experts will be along in a minute, but I'm sure I can remember quite a few looking like that. But zooming in on the pic and with a bit of fiddling, it looks like 053
The normal arrangement for Class 47s with plated headcodes was to have white discs with grommet surrounds at one end and lamps at the other - something to do with the different internal arrangements at No.1 and No.2 ends.
Kirkby Stephen at 10.46 on the 4th of September 1978 and Class 45 45040 King's Shropshire Light Infantry is heading north on the 07.15 Nottingham to Glasgow service. The loco was new from Crewe Works as D50 in May 1962 and was later 97412 when in departmental use. Withdrawl was in August 1988...
With the buffet car first up, Class 45 45063 of Toton is seen at Whiteball on the 18th April 1979 on the 08.05 Bristol to Penzance service. The loco was withdrawn in 1986 and cut up in 1988.
www.flickr.com
45 040 in June 1979, no boxes but plates have returned:
45040 'King's Shropshire Light Infantry' sits at Bristol Temple Meads on the down 1V76 08.45 Liveepool Lime Street to Penzance inter-regional service on 9th June 1979. the Peak was attached at Gloucester. Its good to see the good old BR uniform still in use on the platform. This loco was...
www.flickr.com
From those (very much assuming the dates on Flickr are correct), I'd suspect the photo was taken in early 1979.
Note: This also assumes that one end wasn't changed only due to accident damage.
Unfortunately, the Peak Diaries has got no data this late for 45 040, nothing relevant on DerbySulzers either.
There's a picture of a rather well-used Stratford-based 47117 in March 1979 here and it's got a domino blanking panel at the No.2 end. It still had it when it was photographed in 1986 here (though by now it's got marker lights instead of white discs and the Wipac high intensity light). It still had this configuration by the time it was withdrawn in 1991 (see here)
The normal arrangement for Class 47s with plated headcodes was to have white discs with grommet surrounds at one end and lamps at the other - something to do with the different internal arrangements at No.1 and No.2 ends.
Speed Sensor taking up space, wasn't it? When they got rid of the secondman, that meant you couldn't stick it in Engine Only and circumvent the Deadmans. The end with the glass spectacles retained the headcode frame and it's illumination, the removal of the frame at one end drove the change.
There's a picture of a rather well-used Stratford-based 47117 in March 1979 here and it's got a domino blanking panel at the No.2 end. It still had it when it was photographed in 1986 here (though by now it's got marker lights instead of white discs and the Wipac high intensity light). It still had this configuration by the time it was withdrawn in 1991 (see here)
Speed Sensor taking up space, wasn't it? When they got rid of the secondman, that meant you couldn't stick it in Engine Only and circumvent the Deadmans. The end with the glass spectacles retained the headcode frame and it's illumination, the removal of the frame at one end drove the change.
Yes, it was part of the Driver Only Operation mods.
From the 2012 book "Class 47: 50 Years of Locomotive History":
"With the move towards Driver Only Operation (DOO), there was a need to modify the DSD in order to prevent its unauthorised isolation. The planned modification would prevent the locomotive coasting with the power controller in the ‘Engine Only’ position. A proposal was put to the Investment Committee in September 1981 for the Class 47s to be fitted with a new DSD.
The class was to be modified in two stages. The first stage involved all 82 Class 47/0s fitted with slow speed control, along with all 81 Class 47/3s and No 47901. The second stage covered the remaining 159 Class 47/0s, plus the 172 Class 47/4s and the 12 Class 47/7s. The costs for the work varied. If what was termed ‘special shopping’ was required, it was costed at £1,147 per locomotive. Work done during a classified repair would cost £957 and last, as 47901 already had marker lights fitted, equipping it with the new device would cost £733. The fitting of marker lights at the number two end was the main indication that a locomotive had been fitted. The reason for the change was that the speed sensor equipment was fitted to the back of the panel at that end, which necessitated the removal of the original mechanism and bulbs.
The proposal was amended so that in Stage 1 all 241 Class 47/0s, the 81 Class 47/3s along with No 47901 were to be modified at a total cost of £354,677. Any locomotives still fitted with the English Electric vigilance device would have this replaced by a standard BR pattern DSD before the speed switches could be fitted. The committee approved the expenditure for the first group of Class 47s at their meeting on 5 October 1981.
In August 1983 the plans for Stage 2 were sufficiently advanced for the Investment Committee to be asked to approve the additional funds to begin work. Of the 323 locomotives authorised under Stage 1, a total 130 had been completed to date. The committee were also asked to approve additional spending of £26,976 for Stage 1 as a result of revised cost estimates from BREL.
The target date for the completion of Stage 1 was December 1984, and March 1986 for Stage 2. Under Stage 2 a total of 184 Class 47/4s and 47/7s were to be fitted at an estimated cost of £1,364 each, giving a total cost of £250,976. This was duly approved and a revised modification form covering locomotives in Stage 1 and Stage 2 was issued on 7 November 1983. The original planned completion date for the whole exercise of March 1986 was missed by some margin; No 47441, for example, received its modification in March 1987. Some locomotives were never equipped; Nos 47405, 47408 and 47420 were all withdrawn without being fitted."
From the example discussed above (47117), it seems to have had the mod applied some time between 1980 and 1986 (which makes sense, as from the description above it would have been part of Stage 1), as that is when the No. 2 end gained marker lights (though it retained the black panel). The No.1 end had a flush blanking panel and marker lights by 1983 (see here) - I wonder if it had an accident repair at some point?
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There's a picture of 47099 at some time in the 1980s in the West Country with the white lenses at the No.2 end here. It would have had these replaced by marker lamps by 1986 as part of Stage 1 of the DOO modification programme. As it's in the same part of the world as the photo in the OP, this is a promising candidate for it's identity.
The Class 47 Spotters Log for 1979 also puts 47099 around the South West/Bristol/South Wales area. By 1983 it's new home seems to be around East Anglia. It then disappears for most of 1984 and reappears back in the South West in 1985, from where it was transferred to Stratford.
There's also a (presumably earlier) picture of it for sale on ebay with a domino panel on the No.2 end.
Thanks for all the replies on here, really interesting reading. I don't have a date for the pic. 45040 lasted to 1987 so before that. 47099 was a CF loco for the early 1980s, I think, so this is more likely than 053/210 (Scottish). 358 was Crewe though.
Just a thought, but if the picture dates from 1979 then it's before the DOO mod programme started. In that case, if they didn't still have the domino headcode glass fitted, both ends would have the plates with the white lenses in wouldn't they? The marker lights were only fitted as part of the DOO mods from 1981 onwards. That means it could be any of the 47s with the correct boiler type.
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