BR Class 28 "Metrovick"

And then moved up to Scotland further from prying eyes if this is correct.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_21_(NBL)

 

and also to be near NBL for repairs

 

For fans of new diesel classes, the suburban services from KX were operated by several classes for a period - Hitchin had Class 20s and 03 shunters from new with D5300s (26), D6100s (21) and D5900s (23) plus the ubiquitous Class 31s. On the down side, they replaced the L1s & B1s

 

Didn't they have some 24s too?

 

They certainly did, along with the 26s as @misspentyouth62 has mentioned. There are some interesting books of the period where all these classes were in use.

 

Interestingly, the initial batch of Class 24s were I believe allocated to 73A Stewarts Lane in 1959 and I seem to remember that they ran suburban services out of London Euston to Watford Junction and Bletchley.

There's this Flickr group which may be of interest :https://www.flickr.com/groups/2915283@N23/

 

The D5705 Metro-Vick Facebook group is reporting that they have raised £1,962 in donations towards the engine overhaul in the first week, which is 11% of the total (and yes, I have contributed).

I'm really interested to hear what the Crossley sounds like.

 

The initial batch of class 24s were loaned to the Southern Region pending delivery of the class 33s to Hither Green buts were initially allocated to Midland Region depots including both Crewe South (5B) and Derby (17A) before transfer to Hither Green (73C). The Eastern Region locomotives initially were allocated to Ipswich (32B) before transfer to Finsbury Park (34G) hence at one time Kings Cross was host to classes 15; 20; 21; 23; 24; 26; 30 (Mirrlees engines) and 31 (English Electric engines) as well as the visiting classes 37 (on Master Cutler); 40; 45; 46; 47; 50 (ex Doncaster) and 55 although not necessarily during the same time period.

 

I well remember the arrival of the diesels to the old GN line. The first ones to cause a real stir were the Class 40s to 34B in 1958. The first one I copped was D201. We were not impressed. Down trains approaching Wood Green under the magnificent signal gantry hauled by a 40 were just boring compared to a Gresley Pacific.

 

Strangely enough, I've just bought a Metro-Vick Co-Bo: admittedly, it is in a blue and white striped box and one-seventysixth of the size of the original though