Title: OTD - 17th February (1958) - first diesel, Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads Post by: grahame on February 16, 2022, 20:12:54 From the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/content/articles/2008/02/19/diesel.shtml)
Quote On the 17th February 1958, the first “Warship” diesel engine pulled a train from Paddington. Four months later, it was the turn of the Cornish Riviera to get the diesel treatment. The introduction of these locomotives meant the days of the King and Castle steam engines were numbered ... "Active" was new the month before, but was only active until 1967 that year. One of a class of just 5 (class 41). From WikiPedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_41_(Warship_Class)) Quote All five locomotives were withdrawn on 30 December 1967. By this time they were non-standard, even for hydraulic designs, although according to Laira staff reliability was not a problem as many have thought. Title: Re: OTD - 17th February (1958) - first diesel, Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads Post by: PhilWakely on February 16, 2022, 20:34:26 I remember a day trip from Pinhoe to Plymouth, by train via Newton Abbot, some time around 1965 and being very excited to 'cop' all five D6xx Warships in and around Laira and North Road. A time when it would have been an extremely rare occasion to see any of these east of Laira.
Although I don't think it is the inaugural run, I have a copy of a photograph taken by the late Norman Preedy of D601 'Ark Royal' about to leave Penzance with the Cornish Riviera. I cannot publish it here for copyright reasons, but here is a picture of her in rather more unfortunate circumstances at Barry scrapyard (https://www.flickr.com/photos/pwakely/17809612650/in/album-72157653685596576/) Title: Re: OTD - 17th February (1958) - first diesel, Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads Post by: Robin Summerhill on February 16, 2022, 21:28:38 I saw all 5 of them, probably at Bristol in 1962 or 1963, but not all in one go of course
Steam traction was still being used on the Londons in the summer 1963 timetable - someone recently told me there were two regular steam turns per day that summer Steam was still being used for the annual hockey special to Wembley in 1964 and possibly 1965. But by then I was at a difficullt age (12 and 13). I was never sure if I went to see it for the engine or the girls... This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net |