Very nostalgic and enjoyable film; not just the engines, but the last of the traditional carriages, jointed rails, semaphores, telegraph poles... It's no wonder they proved to be so popular in preservation.
Must have been earlier since it was withdrawn 1976, i saw it at Bristol Temple Meads that summer working on one engine only. Managed to spot 14 all together that year - my first as a spotter, best was 1022 amazingly just south of Leicester.
I first saw a maroon one of these on the opposite platform at Bristol Temple made in 1968 as a young boy.There was a cold wind and I was freezing whilst my family waited for a connection to Plymouth as we had come down from Leeds. I saw the driver nice and warm in has cab. remember him starting the Western engines up and was very impressed. luckily we were moving down to Plymouth and enjoyed trips to London where my eldest sister lived in the late sixties early seventies. Many of the trips were with the westerns sometimes single sometimes doubled up. I will never forget the engine sound especially at speed. A growling shimmering sound with decreasing and increasing back round screaming. sublime.. such a shame when the 125s came along.
@@westernsfan the 125 turned out to be British rails saving grace in the 1970s and were the mainstay of intercity services for 40+ years - *NOTHING* "poxy" about the IC125 - if you don't like IC125 your loss and proves you know *NOTHING* about trains
I remember as a boy watching BR trains from the footbridge just past West Ealing Station during the same period, and every now and then you’d see one of these Westerns barreling down at speed heading west. The pressure wave generated by the trains as they passed under the bridge would flap the corrugated steel fence to the delight of me and my friends as we sat perched on our bikes. What great memories!
Thanks for this i may well have been he second man on the shots around oxford was at Old Oak Comman from 1974-1980 worked on 63 out of 74 and drove 15 of them now passed out as a driver on them
went on a pathfinders tour from Brum Int to Penzance pulled by a Western in original livery - never realized how popular it was as there were people on bridges, level crossings, stations, everywhere! Did it in style too in the pullman car - £169 and worth every penny as it brought back a lot of memories (my first trip was when I was 12 years old and I went to Plymouth for the day for 75p!).
3.46 that takes me back the Westerns used to come into Clapham Yard on the Southern every night with a milk train and take it down to Morden...those were the days thanks for posting.
You know the more i look at this and the more fascinating it gets, early shots of Western Enterprise in sand, Talisman in that low red. Gawd I could go on, wonderful stuff...
The arrival of the Inter City 125 High Speed Trains in October 1976 led to the Class 52 Westerns to retire gracefully even though they only entered service in the early 1960s.
Seen them all but 4, they were being broken up before I could see them all, cab ridden 6 and been pulled numerous times, great memories, you can't beat diesel power!
blubberblubberblubber... You made a good job creating your prestige hydraulic - graphic sound and these old shots are genious! They make me feel in love about England! SO nice, blade!
Gotta love the all over maroon without the yellow head panels, and with the nearly matching coaching stock, nothing but class all over! If history had gone a bit differently, and the GWR had carried on and built the Westerns themselves, I can vividly imagine them bearing the Great Western livery well and co existing with the Kings and Castles. I'd imagine that the GWR would have rapidly developed and embraced both steam and diesel technology had they fully recovered after the second War.
I caught a glimpse of D1000 at Paddington- Ranelagh Rd, I imagine- just outside the station- it was 1962. I thought for years I had imagined it as every other diesel was either maroon or green. It was years later that I heard about the desert sand- as I remembered a gold engine, so it wasn't my imagination as a small kid!
First one I properly saw 53 patriarch on the stops at Padd. Lost my mates for a while cos I just stopped to admire the lines and design and beauty of this machine , probably the most handsome, of all the BR designs. Later that day we did reading and back behind a western (platform ticket only). Great
Only in this country. 25% of the nationalised railway industry was allowed to buy a fundamentally different motive power type; later to be declared "non-standard" and scrapped before being worn out.!
A bloody waste of a good class when we lost these beautiful locos 👿 I travelled many miles behind these from Oxford! Those Maybachs sounded amazing! I was lucky enough to drive 1062 Western Courier on the Severn Valley railway once! The Westerns had YEARS of life left in them but BR just let them DIE😡 the poor things looked so rough when they got to the end before they were scrapped WHY?
This is great footage! It takes me back to my childhood. I am Road Transport Photojournalist for the UK's best selling Magazine. I would be very interested in documenting any restoration projects of loco's with a view to publishing. If anyone is interested please reply!
as of today 7 westerns are still here as of today and d1015 is the only western still active on the mainline the others including d1013 d1010 d1041 and d1023 and d1062 and d1048 are still active on the heritage railways
All before microcomputer and internet technology. Rail's problem is trucking's free ride on EU highways. With Brexit we need to make trucks pay their way
