Deltics do have a big following, but they were retired over 20 years ago now - younger enthusiasts won’t have seen them on the main line on regular trains (though they may have managed to get tickets for one of the railtours of recent years). Personally I like them, but I’m guessing there must be people who’ve never been near one and don’t see the appeal. I grew up watching 1st generation DMUs on the Heart of Wales line so I’ll always have a soft spot for them, though pretty much any older diesels and electrics are a good sight, the new stuff seems to have a lot less character (would rather have a Class 101 than a new 2nd generation unit any day!).
I finally got a little downtime to check out the OPC Rail Atlas that Simon Reed sent me.[:)]. I was just about on the floor with laughter hen I realized that the Royal Albert Bridge connects Devon with Cornwall![:O] When I looked at where I thought it should be, the map took me to somewhere around Edinburgh. I’m just shaking my head. I had it in my head that this bridge somewhat connected England to Scotland.[:I]
~
The other thing about the Deltics is there were only 22 of them (plus the prototype which became a museum piece once the production Deltics were up and running) and their sphere of operation was largely confined to the East Coast Main Line between London - King’s Cross and Leeds/Edinburgh. Those they were highly sought after by railfans from the rest of the country, like myself.
When I first became interest in trains, steam had gone and “Hymek” and “Warship” diesel hydraulic locos worked the few inter city trains on my local line at Malvern, Worcestershire. Most passenger trains were DMU’s while freight trains were few and far between. In due course the diesel hydraulic locos gave way to classes 31, 47 and 50 whilst 25’s and 37’s were common at Worcester and Hereford as were classes 45 and 46 “Peaks”.
In their last years the Deltics were sometimes used on Trans Pennine expresses from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Liverpool. I hoped they’d show up at Birmingham on Newcastle - Bristol/Cardiff trains but this never happened. Indeed the only time I had a Deltic for haulage on a regular, scheduled train was an Edinburgh - Plymouth train I caught after an (unsuccessful) interview at Durham. But my hopes of having Deltic haulage all the way to Birningham were dashed when it was removed at York and replaced by 47. At that time I was very disappointed as the 500 strong class 47s were everywhere but now I’d be qiute happy with 47 haulage!
I only ever had one mainline Deltic - 19 - and embarrasingly I had it Waverley - Haymarket!
Murphy - keep that book open at the Edinburgh page to see why I’m embarrased.
I am happy to say that I had a Deltic cab ride at a steady 100mph London - Newcastle. I was thrilled by the experience. This was because I was a tour leader for an ERA visit, and British Rail had made most of our arrangements with our travel agency. Even though this was an electric railfan tour, it was arranged to accomodate general railway interest. Included was the Isle of Wight. In 1962 I had ridden all three steam operated lines there, then on this ERA trip rode the ex-underground equipment. In 1962 I had ridden all three steam Isle of Man lines, then the return had just one running.
Dave - I’m extremely jealous…[:)]
One good reason for liking the Deltics was the noise they made - there’s a sample of it here - http://www.delticsounds.com/audio_files/nrm4.wav
The deep, pulsating humming noise at idle changes to a loud drone as the engines speed up - very distinctive (and commonly accompanied by lots of white smoke as the accumulated oil in the exhaust system gets burnt off after a station stop [:)])
Tony
Irish Rail’s GM 071 class could do passable Deltic impressions, though.
Immediately outside Cork Station is a long tunnel with a fairly steep climb and 071’s sounded incredible through that.
Incidentally - for those who got involved in the “how good are GM’s really?” debate on here a little while ago there’s an interesting article on 57’s in this months Railway Magazine.
Simon: I’m looking for clues, but I’m not seeing it?
OK Murphy, I’ll help you out. First of all, find Edinburgh Waverley station on the Edinburgh page. Then look a little to the left…
There are 4 more actal posts on this thread than what it says on the index page… Should we alert Mystery Inc. or get Detective C.D. on the case…
((((( Don’t tell futuremodal, Dave would be sure to blame the BNSF for the oversight )))).[:)]
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Edinburgh Waverley to Haymarket = 1 mile and a bit.
The real Deltic men were doing 10,000+ per loco. 1000 is considered respectable.
I never considered myself a Deltic man - too young, and brought up in the wrong place.
Maybe those 4 missing posts are in Haymarket Tunnel…
Not had the pleasure of 071’s climbing out of Cork, but the pair of Irish GM 141’s I travelled behind recently from Athlone to Ballina brought back memories of double-headed 25’s quite well…[:)]
I was also enjoying this - http://www.railmedia.de/rm_cd2e.htm - the other night, wonderful Alco music in echoey stations…just make you’ve got the house to yourself and turn it up LOUD.
Tony
(for Murphy Siding’s benefit - the 141’s are basically EMD switchers mechanically but with European-style double cabs - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIE_141_Class - so we’re talking EMD 8-567 noise x 2 !)
OK, now I get it. Waverlley doesn’t seem to be marked on the map. Now, I really like studying maps, but I’m more used to looking at maps with elevation contours. According to this book,Great Britain appears to be as flat as a [;)]pancake.
There is a regional railroad, Dakota & Iowa, that runs a rock train through my town every day. In the afternoon, the mile-long train of empty gondolas climbs a big hill 1/2 mile from my office. The train is pulled by 6 or 7 old, recycled Geeps. I can hear the steady rumble of the engines. I’m sure this gives a similar sound.[:)]
Ah, It’s just called ‘Edinburgh’ on the OPC Rail Atlas. Originally there were two main stations in Edinburgh - Waverley and Princes Street - but the latter closed years ago and all trains now use Waverley.
Tony
Why only the mile-or-so trip? Did you change trains at both ends?
Because I was at Waverley and saw a chance to get a Deltic in, but did’nt have much time before I needed to head South.
I had 47404 back to Waverley according to my very elderly notes.
For UK viewers - we’ll be doing some work on the ALCo S1 at Peterborough on Feb 25th, Mar 11th and Apr 1st. We’re also making these days a “meet the loco” event so you can have a look at what we have to do, talk to us about what we’re going to do and ideally join the UK ALCo Group.
Fun begins at 12.00 on Feb 25th, and 10.00 on the other two days. Bring your own tools!
Ah now - double headed 25’s - what memories!
I’m going across the water to Ireland in April for an Iri***raction Group railtour. The ITG have preserved examples of most early Irish diesel locos and organise two trips a year. The ITG trips usually start from Dublin with a pick up at Dun Laoghaire as a lot of Brit railfans come across on the ferry to participate. This tour is going into N. Ireland and will be formed of two of the soon to be withdrawn NIR Diesel Electric MU’s. These units, built by British Rail at Derby in 1977 are a diesel electric version of the BR cl 310 EMUs and are powered by the same type of engine as the BR Southern Region DEMUs (“Thumpers”).
On the way back from Holyhead I shall also do the Llangollen Railway’s steam gala weekend.
Simon: You missed your calling-you should have been some sort of railroad passenger route inspector. But then,you wouldn’t have gotten to see as many different miles of track as you have as a railfan.[;)]
All: A question about the Tay Bridge. According to the Rail Atlas, the Tay bridge looks like it only cuts off about 20-30 miles of rail distance(Ladybank>Dundee verses Ladybank>Perth>Dundee). It would seem that building the bridge (twice) would only cut out less than an hour of running time on through trains. Am I seeing that correctly, was a great price paid to shave a little time out of a run?
Thanks