Photos from BR Works Open Days gone by.

E

ex-railwayman

New member
Hi All, wondered if the photographers amongst us would care to share their old shots of visits to depots on Works Open Days, that I certainly used to frequent many years ago. It doesn't matter where the shots were taken or when and this is thrown open to all our friends around the world, as I don't know if you ever had "Open Days" as such, in Canada, The States or Australia, etc....
I'll start the ball rolling with a few from the 1980's, my favourite era..

OldOakCommonOpenDaySept1981.jpg

OLD OAK COMMON OPEN DAY 1981.
33020OldOakCommonOpenDayAugust1988.jpg

OLD OAK COMMON OPEN DAY 1984.
20023OldOakCommonOpenDayAug1985.jpg

OLD OAK COMMON OPEN DAY 1985.
31158OldOakCommonOpenDayAug1988.jpg

OLD OAK COMMON OPEN DAY 1988.
50007CreweWorksOpenDayJune1984.jpg

CREWE OPEN DAY 1984.
56133CreweWorksOpenDayJune1984.jpg
 
Just a few to get the ball rolling.


AC electrics on death row

plasticwallet30048lq2.jpg



plasticwallet30050nz0.jpg


A streamlined class 37 (or is it Concorde in BR Blue with a Scottie dog?)

plasticwallet30045nw9.jpg


A beheaded class 47. Yes, yes , yes!!!

plasticwallet30054rl8.jpg


All taken at Crewe Works 1987 (IIRC)

John
 
Nice photos again guys of my favourite era as well.

Regarding the beheaded 47, we absolutely hated the Duffs because they were taking over from our favourites the 40's, but I will admit it is now nice to see one as they are now a dying breed!! (dont tell anyone I said that!!) and one of the few old diesels I get to see - It's a strange old world!!

chrisw27:)
 
I've always had a soft spot for 25s, 26s, 27s and 33s so guess who was secretly pleased when WCR got a handful of 33s, and every time I'm on a WCR train it's either steam or a 47/57 on the front. Such is life.

John
 
This thread is a little slow, so if I post a grotty shot perhaps someone will post a better shot!

Swindon Works quite a long time ago when they were cutting up Westerns to make them into razor blades.

swindonworkszh2.jpg


John
 
johnchisem said:
I've always had a soft spot for 25s, 26s, 27s and 33s so guess who was secretly pleased when WCR got a handful of 33s, and every time I'm on a WCR train it's either steam or a 47/57 on the front. Such is life.

John
Click to expand...

the 33's don't get used much, they are usually stored at Carnforth
 
chrisw27 said:
Nice photos again guys of my favourite era as well.

Regarding the beheaded 47, we absolutely hated the Duffs because they were taking over from our favourites the 40's, but I will admit it is now nice to see one as they are now a dying breed!! (dont tell anyone I said that!!) and one of the few old diesels I get to see - It's a strange old world!!

chrisw27:)
Click to expand...

you are exactly like the rest!

I asked why people hate them so much on preserved diesels and it turned into a 10 page froth fest!
 
What is it with 47's???
Looking back on my Number collecting days The 47's were one of those classes that you would never "Cop"...I did cop Class 44 45 46 50 81 82 83 84 85 .......
Oh to be standing next to a 47
to hear it roar
to have my bones shaken
and to feel the lineing of my lungs rasped by Diesel smoke...
Heres a link to one I took at Satley.
http://odelailwayayout.fotopic.net/p16399955.html
 
Hi Deltic03! If I remember correctly I saw 508 out of the 512(?) class 47s that were built. The extra 4 were destroyed before I started trainspotting. For the record my last one was 47550!

Pellet, the 33s are not all stored at Carnforth! Only 33030 is in store.

wcr0109gg5.jpg


wcr0063tc8.jpg


Hope these pictures help!

John
 
johnchisem said:
Hi Deltic03! If I remember correctly I saw 508 out of the 512(?) class 47s that were built. The extra 4 were destroyed before I started trainspotting. For the record my last one was 47550!

Pellet, the 33s are not all stored at Carnforth! Only 33030 is in store.

John
Click to expand...

Yes, but when I say stored, I meant that is where they usually are, just sitting there

as for 030:
loco_1185461248.jpg
 
Yes number 30 is the sickling of the bunch, it needs major surgery to the power unit, but it came as part of the deal. I'm up at Carnforth this weekend and will let you know if there is any news on the patient.

May be not quite a BR Works Open Day but here are a couple of those lousy :p Brush Fours, taken in the diesel servicing shed, which as you know is not a million miles from where you took your picture of 33030!

wcr0115hp4.jpg


wcr0116ld3.jpg


I do think green suits them well.

John
 
aye, I was able to get some sort of shot from them too

m2410_1185460767.jpg


there was virgin UID 57/3 next to 854, so it went 47 57 47 57!
 
The new multi storey car park near Doncaster station looks like it was designed to thwart railway photography, however by holding your camera in the air and guessing you can get some piccies!

doncasterstation2907016dg6.jpg


John
 
The Chicken Story

May be this is true or may be it's an urban myth! However I promised Steve that I would tell him the story I heard in a pub once when out with the lads after a main line jolly, so here it is.

Apparently when the Funny Farm (Derby Research Centre) was developing the HST and APT prototypes there arose the question of what would happen if a large bird was hit by the trains at high speed. A junior boffin was dispatched to the supermarket to buy some chickens. These were then propelled at great velocity into various examples of windscreen glass.

It so happened that the outcome of the trials was a windscreen that withstood the impact safely, and this was used on the actual cab.

Now the good bit:D . We were told that a certain other country (about 3000 miles west of Derby) decided to test some of their loco windscreens. Every one failed miserably. After much scratching of heads and chewing of pencils somebody suggested thawing out the chickens before carrying out the experiment!:confused:

John
 
Heh, i may look like an idiot for this, but i just figured out how you guys over the 'pond' number your locomotives.
I see its the class, or type, (i'll use a 37 for this chat) then the road number, like 290. So, i see it as 37290. please forgive my utter stupidity. Living here in the states doesnt allow myself to get out and see many foreign trains often.:confused: :hehe:
Cheers,:wave:
Sean
 
Hi LVman, well you're about right. The locomotives were numbered numerically, so say there were 200 x Class 40's, the numbers would start from 40 001 to 40 200 for example. The 3 digit number after the Class type is just the number that were produced/built/re-classified, etc. The Class 37 loco's are a prime example as a lot of them were stored as unclassified locomotives due to them being taken out of service owing to various cut-backs in the 1990's and early 2000's. When freight companies sprang up like DRS and EWS some of the Class 37's were given a full service, a new coat of paint, and re-numbered. That is why there may only be 250 still active on the railways today, but they were given new numbers so now you can go up to 37 999 for instance. It is a little bewildering at times I agree, the same locomotive can have 2 or even 3 or even 4 different numbers given to it in its lifetime....

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.
 
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