VT Welsh Dragon 27/05/17

Times are now on RTT.

Outbound - http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U50605/2017/05/27/advanced
Return - http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U50608/2017/05/27/advanced

5043 between Nuneaton and Llandudno Junction
47773 between Tyseley and Nuneaton / Llandudno Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog

 

Footage of 'The Earl' at Stafford, en route for Blaenau Festiniog, looking as immaculate as ever...

 

The drivers nameplate on the cab is a nice touch.

 

Yes. I'm not sure how common that is, though I recall seeing a previous Vintage Trains excursion with one.

Maybe it's just something that Mr (Ray?) Poole likes to do when there is a loco equipped with the necessary fasteners.

 

Poor light this evening for the return trip through Cheshire as 5043 climbs towards Beeston Castle at Tattenhall.

 

The attached heavily edited, magnified and cropped images won't win any awards for technical merit, but do illustrate the fact that the Earl does seem to be equipped with the necessary fasteners.....and that they are used to good effect. (Chester 22.10.16 and Dorridge in very low light 08.04.17). And yes, a very nice touch indeed

 

Good research! The A C Taylor Rugby drivers nameplate rings a bell, but I'm not sure if I've actually seen it or whether I just noticed it in someone elses picture or video...

Edit: A quick skim through some of my videos shows these plates on The Earl in 2015 and 2016, but not clearly enough to read, so they have been in use for a while.

I know that in pre grouping days, some companies allocated certain drivers their own locos, and their names were painted in the cabs. I suppose this current idea harks back to that in some ways.

 

This was a completely unplanned trip for me to see 5043 - I was on my way up to a hotel in Leicester (I'm off to the Cold War Jets open day at Bruntingthorpe later today) and I realised that I might be able to see 5043 on the return of the Welsh Dragon in Nuneaton.

This shot was a bit of a rush job though, as the train was 18 minutes late arriving into Nuneaton which meant I'd have to get a grab shot and run for the train back to Leicester (the last one of the evening). But I was absolutely fine with running for the train as the sky went from a very grey evening to having some rather nice purples and oranges as 5043 rolled up!



James

 

In the late fifties, A4s and some A3 s ,allocated to 34A Kings Cross ,that had two regular drivers ,carried two small hooks on the cab side for the driver to hang their nameplates on. Not used very often I believe,although all main line drivers were issued with them.

 

The first occasion on which I noted this particular (or indeed any) driver nameplate was at the departure of VT's "The First Moor Street Express" at daybreak on 11.12.2010, celebrating the recommissioning of the bay platforms at that station, and just visible in the attached view. Not sure how widespread the practise then became in the intervening years up to the recent past, but I did record the nameplates deployed at Hereford on both the September 2013 and September 2014 Welsh Marches outings.

 

This type of nameplate was introduced by the Western Region in the 1950's in response (I believe) to a requirement by the BRB for loco's on important trains to carry the driver's name. They were not universally popular so I am told, and that can be imagined as there would be driver's who were happy to be known and others who would not. 5043's cab was beyond repair when the time came to rebuild the engine but there were indications that it had been fitted with the necessary clips and so when we built the new cab the holes in the cab side and the clips were all fitted. 7029 was similarly fitted and the original clips survive in usable condition so it was an easy job to copy them for those for 5043. The special oval section coil springs were made for us by Tested Springs in Oldbury, and the nameplates came from Western Signs in Telford. We were unable to locate an original drawing for the plates, but there is a very good straight-on shot of an original in Pat Whitehouse's Railway Roundabout film on the Bristolian (which by coincidence has a short shot of 5043 heading the Bristolian into Paddington), and we were able to freeze frame it and work out the size and scale by comparing to other features of the cab for which we had measurements. The original plates had pretty obviously been made by a process which was quite popular in the 1950's and were known as "Traffolyte" labels. The typeface was quite characteristic and it is still quite easy to get such labels made. The plate material is laminated from white and black plastic, and as the letters are engraved, the engraving tool cuts through the white plastic into the next black layer, thus producing the black letters on a white ground. In scaling the plates from the PBW film shot, the letters all scaled up to standard letter sizes so we are confident that the plates are to the correct original size. The conplete collection made was for R Churchill Bescot, R Poole Bushbury, AC Taylor Rugby, A Meanley Tyseley, R Meanley Tyseley, and D Morris Tyseley. The sheds were those which the individuals wished to be shown on their label. They were done in late 2009 for the GWR 150 season in 2010, in particular the Brsitolian which was run that year. Whilst not always used they are usually put on the cab sides when people remember to bring them along!

As noted elsewhere, other regions reacted differently, the LMR had cast brackets fitted to the cab sides which required the nameplates to be dropped into slots in the brackets, whilst others used hooks as mentioned. In hindsight the WR version was probably the simplest and most elegant solution with the plates being firmly clamped on by spring pressure.

Hope this answers the queries, Regards
Bob

 

That answers all the queries and more!

Many thanks for taking the time to give us such detail.