9F Mystery

Out of the ten 9Fs allocated to Tyne Dock, nine of them were withdrawn from service from there, but 92065 was transferred to 56A Wakefield in November 1966 being withdrawn from there in April 1967. I don’t know if that helps.

 

If the 9Fs were indeed cold, another puzzle would be why there was no brake van. Might there have been men on the 9Fs to work the tender brakes? Would that have been enough?

 

A quick google found this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/96859208@N07/10314452825/in/photostream/ Which labels it as 92065.

 

https://flic.kr/p/6JRH9s

There's this photo as well, dated 4th March 1967 with the location given as Chester.

 

Martin,

Are you sure that the tank is 42653 and not 42663, which was at Birkenhead 1966/7


Bob.

 

It wasn't necessary to attach a brake van to movements of dead steam engines since a rider could operate the tender handbrakes.

6447 and 2968 went all the way from Wigan to Barry like that in 1967. Photo by Dave Lennon (Dallam Dave) as an 8F draws the pair southwards past Dallam Branch Sidings signal box.

 

Probably on their way to Box Tunnel for inclusion in the strategic reserve!

 

They'll be kicking themselves when they get them out - can't run them anywhere because of the raised check rails...

 

… as a result of one of the lesser known cold-war secrets. The KGB spent years obtaining the 9F plans, one drawing at a time in the form of microdots smuggled back to Russia on pages torn from a locospotters book. Around the same time they recruited a socialist P-Way engineer as a secret agent who, by the mid 1980s, had risen to the top of the BR hierarchy and …

 

and b____y cold it was too as I recall. I was glad to get relieved in more ways than one as I was wary as to the efficiency of the (tender) hand brake had it been required in an emergency.

 

Yep! We brought 2968 to the SVR in December 1973. There was a brake van but many of the members who accompanied her on the journey opted for a ride on the footplate. That didn't last long.

We'd also at Barry discovered that the handbrake was working on only one wheel. Not a problem on the way to the SVR with a brake van behind but on the way down to Barry . . .

 

It doesn't necessarily help with the Wirral location, but according to BR Database, after being withdrawn off Wakefield in April 67, 92065 was cut up by Arnott Young at Parkgate, Rotherham in August 67.

 

My theory is that the 9F's had been to Crewe for attention and are heading back to Mollington Street, from where the Wakefield based one could work home hauling a Stanlow to Leeds tank train.

Bob.

 

Why if they had just had attention at Crewe are they being towed home dead? Surely it is more likely that they are heading to works (Crewe?) for attention, or are they heading off for scrap?

Peter

 

They're heading towards Birkenhead , so will be going to Mollington Street shed.

Bob.