New Decade started with a couple of Class 40 variances at King’s Cross – 40025 wore a damaged roof panel, and 40120 its number additionally added to its front end. It was a pleasure to see a named ’47, as 47508 ‘Great Britain’ from OC visited on 21st – even if it’s numerals were larger than normal offending my preference for the good order of BR’s corporate identity. As a designer more comfortable where “form follows function”, I was equally offended, I decided, by the IC125 livery that unnecessarily in my mind varied from the norm, … but doubtless it was thought something so different needed to look a bit different. 46036 in ex-works condition was the only other notable arrival, arriving towards the end of the month.
In 1980, with the ‘Deltics’ gone, 254XXXs were the new greyhounds of the East Coast Main Line. On a rainy day, the platforms of Kings Cross are full of HST sets awaiting return northwards, with the token rear of a loco-hauled set in Platform 1 beside them. 801222A01-KGX-STATN-VI__S
Although used to seeing reinstated Warships and a Western or two without a nameplate, it was quite a shock to see 55010 defaced in this way at King’s Cross in mid-February and it was a reminder that Deltics wouldn’t be around for ever. Three weeks later 55021 arrived without its crest and two of its works plates, and the nameplate of ‘Auriol’ had been replaced with a painted version. It was also a surprise to see units bearing the number 254015 on two adjacent platforms, as the power cars of the set must have been split up and both brought passenger services to the capital at much the same time.
Some of the Class 40 locomotives carried small but attractive nameplates related to shipping lines that served Liverpool, and D212 carried the nameplate ‘AURIOL’. I only saw a handful of such plates, on locos that visited Kings Cross. 7####EJ01-UNK—d212-NAMEP
Returning from Cornwall for a break, it was good to see 35s, 42s and 52s still extant at Swindon, with what I hoped might be more being preserved. A couple of days later I classed the 46s at Kings Cross; saw heating van ADE 321072 on 27th March; and a week later 31223 appeared with ‘Nimbus & St Paddy. R.I.P. Rust in Peace’ fingered into the dust on its body. Returning to Cornwall within a month, Laira had HSTs, there were some Class 50 namers, and one of them had a centrally-fitted headlight on its front end. For the first time I also noticed that 31415 from Oak Common on empty stock work had a grey bodyside band.
Two cannibalised Hymeks and a Warship await cutting in Swindon yard. I saw this sort of scene a few times when passing, although with so much to take in, from a moving train, the detail didn’t register very easily. It was surely unusual to see a Warship with intense blue livery as late as 1975. 75###AL01-SWW-HYMEK-SCRAP
St Pancras and Euston always played second-fiddle to King’s Cross as I had a busy life and insufficient time to usually visit them in other than a transient way. When I did so, it was to do little more than see what was in sight while crossing the concourse, usually, although sometimes I’d stay as long as half an hour, watching the comings and goings from an opportune vantage point
A 3-car Watford Unit runs into Euston – a frequent sight in the years I lived in Camden. In the background a Class 81 and 86 lie on the storage road, with the Power Signal Box behind to the left, and the Hampstead Road bridge to the right. The uprights for the signals have been recently repainted in white. 7####FK01-EUS-3XEMU-PAS_U
The Eric Curnow Collection 