1981 was the last year I was sufficiently enthusiastic to record locos in log books on my visits to the railway – the monotony of seeing the same sort of sights each time, and a backlog of copying-up entries from scraps of paper rather jaded the task. I would still be generally interested in what was going on – sufficiently interested to go out of my way to examine the current scene with the same level of interest – but not so much as to pen a record. The final entries rather dwindled as interest did, and I felt the abnormal worth only a scant marginal note – some of which appear puzzling after the intervening years.
55014 “THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON’S REGIMENT” is isolated amid gently steaming pipework at the buffer end of King’s Cross in the early 1980s. A class mate has drawn forward from its train nearby, and red lights shine from the signals in the rain at the platform end. 80###AB01-KGX-55014-LIGHT
A typical weekday morning in the third week of January as I walked down platform 1 and into ‘the tube’ recorded 254 units on passenger work, 47s on both down sleepers and their ECS removals, and otherwise 31s did all the other ECS work. Passing across the buffers at 10.25pm there were four 31s drawn up with ECS or up local passenger services, and the only thing of note was 31411 which wore what looked like a shield over the exhaust vent on its roof. 40s, 46s and 55s peppered the other KX entries that week, with 55002’s appearance in two-tone green livery and ‘Rocket 150’ crest on its nose, a welcome development.
The powerful appearance of ‘Deltics’ like 55004 “QUEEN’S OWN HIGHLANDER”, parked at King’s Cross Station, impressed me far more than any other diesel on the BR network – even ‘Westerns’. Their engine roar matched their sleek and ‘substantial’ presence. 80###AA01-KGX-55004-PAS_U
A couple of locomotives were a little “darker” than normal, in that 47567 had a black panel without marker light disks, and 31168 was very oil covered. Visitors in the early spring included 40173 which had its Haymarket shedcode stenciled on its cabside; 46049 that now displayed a handpainted name; and W.R.’s 47080 “TITAN” and 078 “SIR DANIEL GOOCH”. 55010 ran nameless; 55004 had hail in its step alcove on its front end upon arrival; and 55019 now wore a ‘First class’ sticker above its nameplate. A bright blue replacement roof panel had been fixed to 47575; 47574 had the first spotlight I’d seen on a class 47; and 47470 a reversed shed code. 31144 possessed no data panel – 31209 neither this nor shedcode; ECS 31s 402/7 and 9 were resplendent with white battery box, pipework and wheel rims … but no stripe; and 31171’s front end featured just headcode blind lights. In fact, three more 31s – 404/5 and 8 – in un-enhanced livery had also had their bodyside stripes removed. It was strange that the non-standard FP stripe embellishment was being removed to conform to standard corporate identity constraints, but that different non-standard ones replaced them.
Fitted with “snowploughs”, 31115 has a “yellow” to proceed out of King’s Cross station at a maximum of 15mph towards the tunnels under the canal. A class mate is parked beside it, the new signal box is beyond, and on the sky line are the old goods warehouses. 830305A01-KGX-31115-LIGHT
It was with great sadness that I saw “GORDON HIGHLANDER” without its crest in June, realising it would never again wear it. 31175 had its number painted between its marker lights; 46028 unusually worked out a sleeper; and 47574 had no grease on its buffer heads at both ends of the loco. An engine well off its normal patch was 47711 “Greyfriars Bobby”, with spotlight and jumper cables; 47500 “Great Western” ex-works with large logo, grey side window and a silver edge to its buffer beam. Unexpectedly 45147 also had jumpers fitted to its buffer beams.
The nameplate of 86103 “Andre Chapelon” is pictured from a platform. I was delighted when I first saw that this design was to be the standard for namings in the 1980s – utilising the Rail Alphabet, positioned well within a simple round cornered rectangular frame. 8####AO01-EUS-86103-NAMEP
After a three month sojourn in SE London, in the Autumn I moved to Camden Town, five minutes north of Euston, which replaced Kings Cross as my “local” station. Similarly to the Cross, I’d enter and leave the station by the taxi road, and watch rail traffic from the top of the slip road – passing down it to enter the concourse through the open gates. An annual season ticket was a great help with any slightly officious railman who didn’t think I should be using that particular platform.
Platform 2 at Euston was my usual route through the station from the Underground and up the taxi run to Camden Town, pausing at the top to survey the traffic for a while. 85011 with domino light headcodes waits with an “Up” passenger service at the stop blocks. 7910#AE01-EUS-85011-PAS_U
At Euston 86010 had a plastic plate on its side beam; 81005 had a new buffer on its non-number end; and 86224, ex-works, had black-painted underframe, grey springs, white pipes and silver door handles and guards. In November 87019 arrived with High Speed Track Recording Car and recently named “Royal British Legion” carried silver buffers. And as this blog has faded almost entirely into minor details about locos now, without much of a story to hold it together, this seems to be a good point to end on. If you’ve persisted this far through the years ’69 – 1981, extremely well done, and thanks!
Under the wires at Euston, with the council flats to the east of the station behind it, the bodyside of 87005 shows the crest and nameplate of ‘City of London’ in rail alphabet, neatly and simply framed. Like the Class 50s, the 87s were BR’s epitome. 8####AT01-EUS-87005-PAS_D
The Eric Curnow Collection 