What happened here?

Anyone know what happened here?

34036 Westward Ho with accident damage Clapham Jct 29th July 1963

https://railway-photography.smugmug.com/SRSteam/Bulleid-Locomotives/Light-Pacific-Class/3402134052-Built-1946/3402934032/i-3nb7Gpx




34029-34036 - Railway-Photography
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Many thanks in advance



Neil

 

Don't quote me, but, I'm guessing it's hit summat.

 

You think?

 

Always the possibility I suppose that something hit it.

 

WESTWARD HO! The only place in the UK with a punctuation mark in its title I believe. Unless you include Scunthorpe (?) which has an optional question mark. The Town's unofficial motto: "We live here so you don't have to" is actually a myth.

 

You forgot Hove, Actually - as in: You live in Brighton? No, Hove, Actually.

Tom

 

I hate to write something about the topic as the banter is going so well, but it looks as though the loco is actually under way tender first, in spite of the damage. It's at Clapham (in case anyone didn't notice that!), and has been rebuilt (for those who really need Specsavers!). It was rebuilt 8/1960 and withdrawn 7/1967. The damage is light but towards the end would certainly have precipitated the engine's withdrawal. A date for the photo would help resolve this.

 

The photo is dated July 1963 so the damage was obviously repaired seeing that the locomotive survived to the end of steam on the Southern region. 34036 was the first Bulleid I travelled behind in the late fifties, from Salisbury to Portsmouth on a trip to the Isle of Wight from Cardiff. Needless to say it was in original condition, and may have been the first I had ever seen. At that time I didn't envisage ever seeing a Bulleid anywhere near home in Barry!!! The return to Salisbury was with Trevone.

 

According to brdatabase.info: 34036 "Westward Ho!" (neildimmer please note correct spelling) was shedded at Exmouth Junction (72A) from 14 January 1958 and was then re-allocated to Salisbury (70E) on 11th November 1963.
This leads me to wonder if repairs took several months [at Eastleigh?] and so it might have gone straight to Salisbury after being outshopped.
As to the cause - I have no idea. The photo shows missing buffer beam but the 2 smoke deflectors [thin-ish steel] appear untouched or little damaged. This might lead one to conjecture that it had been involved in a heavy shunt or something similar. Hopefully Bulleid experts on NP may know the answer.

 

34036 is recorded as having had a heavy intermediate repair in September/October 1963, taking about six weeks. As a couple of posters have said, the damage is fairly light; I'd say a lot of bent platework has been removed and it's on its way for repairs, which going by the dates did not precipitate the intermediate repair.

The bottom corner of the left hand main frame plate looks bent, but that's about the worst of it. Either a heat and big hammer job or cut it out and weld in new.

I seem to remember reading there was a danger of the odd bump on the Nine Elms coal road, which descended from the running lines, especially with the Bulleids due to their slightly questionable brakes. So it's possible that 34036 was sitting last in line on the coal road, having just come on shed (chimney towards Waterloo), and the following loco got it wrong. Excuse the geographical brain fade, locos came into Nine Elms chimney first from Waterloo so 34036 would have been the moving loco, not the stationary one, in such a hypothetical shunting knock.

Edit to add: 34036 appears to still have its nameplates, which would seem to confirm that this wasn't the end. It also made it down to the Weymouth dump at the end of steam.

 

In any case, the condition of Clapham A box indicates that it was taken before May 10 1965, when it subsided under the weight of the armour plating erected to protect the roof during the Second World War. This plating is clearly visible in the photograph. Also, it seems to be heading back towards Waterloo, so it might have been stabled at Nine Elms before heading to Eastleigh. Might even have been a trial run to make sure everything was steam tight and that the repair was indeed only relating to the buffer beam. Incidentally, the locomotive nameplate did not have the exclamation mark.

 

There is nothing on Railways Archive about an incident around that time, which implies no injuries or significant damage to non-railway property. I've also had a look through Bradley, and he doesn't record anything for that loco. Given that he notes most accidents if they involve trains (presumably based on records available to him) this suggests whatever was the cause was considered of too minor a nature to involve much investigation. None of which confirms anything, but certainly makes a shunting accident on shed at Nine Elms quite plausible.

Tom

 

Where ever it occured I doubt that it happened at Nine Elms as it would appear to be heading in that direction, presumably for repair. Look closely and you see that the fireman is looking backwards and the jet of steam under the ashpan shows that it is going in reverse. Very interesting and unusual photograph.

Peter

 

If the accident happened at Nine Elms it could be that they had removed the buffer beam and other damage there and this could be a shakedown trip to ensure the loco was safe to send to Eastleigh.
(Pure speculation of course) Lets hope someone out there can come up with a definitive answer.

 

Neil, see if you can post it on the Nine Elms website. Somebody there will know.

 

If it was on test from Nine Elms to see if all was well to run, why is it on the up Windsor slow line which would involve crossing all other running lines both leaving and returning to the shed? A possible scenario is that it is reversing down to Pourparts Junction heading for Stewart's Lane for repair. The old Longhedge Works part of that shed would be better equipped for serious metal bending than Nine Elms. Just a thought.

 

Hove actually, wasn't that a film by Richard Curtis?

 

You need to be careful with such comments - a well known Railway Holiday operator spent so many years stating that the Company's ultimate holiday would be to Scunthorpe that eventually he actually did one based there - and then repeat because it sold out so quickly! A colleague of mine used to holiday in 'sunny Scuni' (they were from Ripon, so most places seemed exciting), while another cautionary tale is the friend who spent several years taking the micky out of Thirsk only to end up living there!

Steven

 

There are worse places than Scunthorpe I'm sure but if the world needed an enema I'm sure it would be somewhere near there you would be looking to put the tube!