48624

Would that be from the Free House?

 

Free and Italy are two words that seldom go hand in hand...

I thought of a few more but had to tone them down for fear of moderator intervention.

But we could have Wendy House, Out House, Town House, Dorm House.

 

Or in the case of this paint job "red brick house" a.k.a. "brick xxxx house"

 

And I believe it's going to be 'Santa's Big Red Engine' next month!

Lordy

 

Or just plain House! for the Saga tours bingo brigade ....

Then there's Coal House - as that's what it spent much of its life hauling and consuming (and was also the HQ of the NCB who dug it up in the first place)

I can see I'm gonna live to regret this idea!

 

You could get Hugh Laurie to name it. Who would pull more punters in, him or the Duke of Devonshire?

 

Or if it got painted back to a normal less commercial livery it could be renamed "Poor House"

 

The S&D 8Fs (albeit in BR days) were fitted with steam heat to work passenger trains but were black. Unlikely that the LMS would have even thought about painting them maroon under any circumstances - look at the very much mixed traffic Black 5s!

 

Are you sure about the S&D 8F's getting steam heat?

 

I'm looking at some pics of 7Fs on S&D passenger working right now. No obvious sign of steam heat apparatus as far as I can see. As for steam heat 8Fs, my Ivo Peters S&D books aren't to hand at the moment so can't check. I do recall however seeing a pic of an 8F on an S&D winter passenger working and the caption remarked that the passengers would have been a bit chilly as the loco had no steam heat fitted.

 

The difference between an 8F and a 7F? One shouldn't be used as a kit of parts for fantasy GWR engine building and the others were never painted blue!

According to Ivo Peters (and he should know) in 'S&D Volume Four 1963-66' S&D allocated 48309 was fitted with steam heat (as was 48728 which I don't believe was an S&D engine). It was fitted to them both when they worked the Royal Train over the Central Wales but came in useful on the S&D. In pictures the pipe socket on the front buffer beam can be seen.

Looking at the pictures in the book 8Fs appear to have been fairly regular on S&D stoppers from 1963 onwards. The last daylight northbound on the 5th March was 48760 (Doncaster built) on two mk1 half brakes and a bullied composite. It also worked down from Bath on the 0815 from Green Park- it must have been cold! I do think it is a scene that should have been recreated on a charter by now - perhaps an 8F at the Bluebell one day?

Interestingly in the book there is a piece on Ivo's last footplate ride over the S&D on a STD 5 which suffered a blow back at Midsomer Norton. 48760 came to the rescue. The fireman that day, who suffered minor burns to his hand, was Robin Gould who is still driving for Colas today and took the Western to Cornwall on the clay MTs the other week

Regards,

 

Update on the steam heat 8Fs on the S&D courtesy of the SeMG.
"As I understand it, there were a couple of Stanier 8Fs fitted with steam heating as a one-off, having required it to work the Royal Train over the Central Wales line.
48706 was one of them, and this engine was transferred to Bath Green Park from Llanelli in June 1965. 48760 also came to 82F from the same source at about the same time."

 

Hello,

I'm sure that the other 8F fitted with steam heating equipment was 48707...

 

It seems from the above posts that there is a consensus about a couple of 8F's being fitted with steam heat for Royal Train working over the Central Wales line and subsequently ending up on the S & D but there seems to be differing opinion as to which ones. 48309, 48706, 48707 48728 & 48760 have all come into the frame, so far.

 

Further info from the SeMG group :
"I've found a reference to 48707 having carriage warming apparatus fitted
1955. This loco with 48309 hauled the royal train in 1955 - perhaps that is
why it was fitted? It was the rear of the two, the photo shows 48309 had no
steam heating pipe at the front. 48707 was allocated to Bath Green Park in
July 1964 (for 2 months only)."

 

Plate 171 - S&D in the sixities vol 4 - 48309 has a steam heat pipe connection (but no pipe)on front buffer beam whilst working a passenger. It was early Oct 1965 so perhaps not refitted after the Summer (many engines had them removed during non heating season) or as tender first running wasn't required on the S&D they didn't bother refitting it or removed it for something else.

Looking at pictures many engines didn't have front steam heat pipes (esp Pacifics) although mixed traffic designs such as Black 5s and even Light Bullieds appeared to have them no doubt as sometimes they were required to work tender first.

As I said in my earlier post Ivo Peters states 48728 was also fitted for the same Royal Train duties on Central Wales line.

 

I've always found it odd that they never bothered to steam heat the S&D 9Fs as this would have enabled them to have worked the Pines all year long and thus further reduce the need for double heading.

 

I'll bet it was "bullied" behind an 8F

There again if it was designed by Bulleid, I presume it was green

 

I am told that Stanier 8Fs were actually barred from working passenger trains other than in emergencies until the late 1950s. The one exception to this rule was on the Central Wales line where the Swansea (Paxton St) based engines had a special dispensation for use on passenger services, especially extras. This practice started (I think) in the late 1930s. The main use was in the summer months. However some Paxton St engines were apparently fitted with steam heating to cover winter services when required. After nationalisation the shed passed to the Western Region (87K). The London Midland reclaimed its 8Fs in 1950 but the local staff threatened industrial action not least because the replacements - WD 2-8-0s were totally unsuitable for passenger train use. They won their case and the 8Fs soon returned to Paxton Street, and a few more of the large allocation acquired steam heating at around this time.

These engines were sometimes selected to work the Royal Train over difficult routes in Wales (not just the Central Wales line) eg Aberystwyth-Neyland behind 48309 and 48706 (?). Another occasional winter duty for the steam heated 8Fs was the Wednesdays only Carmarthen-Crewe prize cattle train which often consisted entirely of BR standard horseboxes. Latterly, some of the Paxton St 8Fs were moved to Bath for use on services over the S&D. By this time 8Fs were appearing on passenger services elsewhere in the country so the general ban had evidently been lifted by then. So far as I am aware however, the former Paxton St engines (not all of them) were the only ones fitted with steam heating.

David