Yellow Stripes

Not sure if this has been discussed already ... if so, I can't find it.

Towards the end of the steam era, some locomotives were given a diagonal yellow cabside stripe. As I remember, this indicated that the locos so treated were banned from the AC electric lines south of Crewe.

What were the criteria for applying the stripes? Why some locos and not others of the same class? And why did it not apply north of Crewe?

Which classes were affected? I remember seeing the stripes applied to a number of classes, and have seen photos of others, including:

MR/LMS 4F
LMS Jubilee/Patriot/Scot
A handful of Duchesses
LNWR Super D
At least one LMS 8F
The last surviving A3s.
A couple of A4s
At least one Clan 4-6-2

Any others?

Finally, which locos have carried the stripe in preservation?

43924
46115 prior to restoration.
48773

Any others?

 

The application of the stripe to 48773 was an error and I'm sure no other 8Fs were so treated and I don't think any super Ds survived long enough to carry it but confirmation would be appreciated. There seemed to be something illogical about the criteria for which classes it was applied to, Clans were banned south of Crewe as you say but not the larger boilered Britannias. I did hear that it only applied to 4Fs with the taller chimney but to avoid confusion they added it to all of them. I'm not sure for how long but 44422 also had it when on the GCR in 2008 but the stripe seems a bit on the thin side to me.

 

I have seen a couple of Super D photos with the stripe. As far as I know (may be wrong, 2968 will no doubt put me right!) but the Super Ds lasted very slightly longer than the Duchesses in traffic

 

It was south of Crewe because the electric wires at the time were only South of Crewe and the part to the North hadn't been electrified at that time.

When Electric wires first started to be put up I believe there were cases of firemen on steam for example using a long poker to poke the fire and then pulling it out of the firebox and it touching the wires so they got electrocuted. There was the danger they would also climb in the tender to rake the coal or fill the tender tank with water and again accidentally touch the electric wires. There was also a situation where BR banned steam at first from London to try and give a modern image.

I would imagine Engines that received the stripe were ones that survived until the end (ie after electrification had started) and were based in regions were they were close to the electrified routes. Also a tender Engine is probably more at risk as there is no overall roof to the cab as there is in a tank engine, and also you have to get up on the back of the tender to fill it with water so more danger of firemen touching the wires.

 

Don't forget Crewe - Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Picc.

 

Agreed, but the yellow lines specified locos which were banned from leccy lines south of Crewe, for some reason.

 

Agreed...and I've never been able to find out why, or indeed work it out!

 

As far as I know it was the overall height of the loco and how much clearance there was between the top of the loco and the wires. It only applied to 25kv, 1500v dc, as on Woodhead etc didn't have any restrictions. Jubilees had the stripe and were not allowed under the wires, but Black 5s didn't have it and weren't barred

 

The Bescot Super Ds with the stripe were 48895, 49173?, 49361, 49407 and 49430.
Also the stripe applied to Clan 72006 was a mistake.

 

But it did not apply to Liverpool-Crewe and Manchester-Crewe

 

Just had a trawl through a load of photos from the 1960s.

The first dated photo of a loco with the yellow stripe was of 46254 on 1/8/1964. Also photographed with stripe in the same month were:

45527
46115
45155
46166
46245
46254
46256
49407
60052

Interesting that 46256 was photographed at Blisworth, under the wires!

No WR or SR locos were so treated, presumably because they would not be expected to find their way to the WCML. Some 4Fs were also exempt, presumably for the same reason.

So far as I can see, 72006 was the only BR standard to carry the stripe.

Not sure why they bothered with the Scottish-based A3s and A4s. Not much chance of them finding their way that far south.

Why were two A4s (60027 and 60031) given the stripe, but not the others? Was it down to the actual height of individual locos, or the nominal height of the class? Or perhaps a quirk of their shed allocations at the time?

 

I think they reduced height of the wires relative to track level south of Crewe to save having to raise some bridges so that is why the ban only applied there. It was the overall height of the loco that decided but as I said there were some anomalies. I believe there was a fear that safety valve blowing or priming could cause a flashover but they don't seem too worried now.

 

46233 now has a yellow cabside stripe, but I'll bet it will still run south of Crewe!

 

60027 and 60031 were allocated to St Rollox, which was an ex LMS shed. Theoretically, they could have worked down the WCML. I wonder whether 60052 was done in error, just like 72006.

 

From recollection of my very early railtours in the late 70's and 80's the fear of running steam under the wires still seemed strong then, as anything bar the short stretch out of Carlisle south to either the S&C or coast line seemed to be strictly avoided.

 

Sorry, John, but No. The stripe was correctly applied to 8773 as at the time she carried the far larger WD top feed from her days in the Middle East. The two oddities are (i) the stripe wasn't applied to 8774 and 8775, both of which had the same top feed; and (ii) the stripe remained on 8773 after she was fitted with a replacement boiler, with a standard top feed, in 1966.

Not many, but a few Super Ds definitely received the stripes. While I can't find the photos at the moment, I've certainly seen them.

 

45596 carried a yellow stripe for the day when it was returned to action back in the late eighties, 46229 also carried a yellow stripe for its last mainline run.

 

Thanks I didn't know that, I was told it was in error by the Running Forman at Rose Grove when I asked him why it was the only one.

 

Have I read that right??

 

Fair comment, because by the time it reached Rose Grove, the boiler had been changed so it was by then in error! Whether or not the foreman knew about the previous apparatus is rather doubtful, though!