AC/DC THE UNWANTED

LOL - bet that got a few of you going! Not an unpublished album of tracks from the boys, but a phot-essay of the electric traction stored at Bury MPD in the late 1960's.
It started one afternoon in 1967, my mate Gerard who went to school in Bury just by where both of the railway line bisect, arrived breathless on his bike at my house saying 8F 48025 had just hauled a string of blue AC electrics passed the school and dumped them in Bury MPD. A quick trip down there found them, the obliging foreman let us have a look, they were there for safe (?) storage, more were to follow.
In the end all the AL3 E3023-35/98/99 and AL4's E3036-45 arrived save E3043 and E3100, these were stored at Rugby.
Also to follow were the MSW EM2's 27000-6 and pioneer EM1 26000 'Tommy'. This latter loco returned to Reddish for a short period, re-instated to traffic, before returning to Bury.
E3044 came and went several times, being the only one in the newer blue livery with the barbed wire symbol, off to exhibitions for the shortly to be extended WCML electrification to Scotland. This became the reason for all the AC loco's tripping to Doncaster for re-building and re-entering traffic now as Class 83 and 84's.
The other AC loco not so lucky was an AL2 E3055 that had gone pyrolytic at some point and was here a period before breaking.
The DC loco's tripped back to Reddish before shipping to Holland via Harwich, except Tommy which met a fiery end in a Midlands scrapyard.
The other occupant at the time was the fully overhauled maroon (soon to fade to pink courtesy Humbrol enamel) 5596 Bahamas, before finding a new home at Dinting, the photo shows her being prepared for departure in the yard by the electric car sheds. [
A great pity the building was pulled down it would have made an excellent MPD for the ELR.

 

And here are a couple of shots 5596 between Heap Bridge and Heywood, on what is now the ELR, en-route from Bury to Dinting in November 1968.

 

It's a long way back now, but the picture of E3026(?) looks like either it or the rolling stock beyond are under a tarpaulin. Crash damage?

 

Did anybody retrieve those nice L & Y water columns ?

Bob.

 

Yes it was the emu damaged on one cab, shunting accident in shed yard we were told at the time. I don't think this was the only accident, one unit ended up on the GE electric line after an accident there with one of theirs, making one good one out of two accidents by donation of a car. The units had the same/similar profiles. The unit is the same one stuffed under the coal hole in the view from Baron Street crossing of the four MSW loco's., they ran out of room in the shed by the time all the AC loco's arrived. Road 2 in the shed was left free to house the DMU on Sundays that worked the Rawtenstall trains, battery charging was available if needed.
Interestingly, E3026 looks like it has brand new buffers?

 

Fascinating thread and great pictures. Thanks for posting @Britfoamer

 

Thanks John, glad you enjoyed the less than electrifying experience, Harold.