Another sorry sight from yesteryear. Went with my young son PJ. Apologies for commentry errors, I was only an ameature then,,,,,,,,,,Still am !! SEE ALSO. Vic Berry's Scrapyard 1987
The tour of the brake van brought back some happy memories of my first two years on the job as a freight guard at Toton. Apart from the ballast jobs, we had lots of colliery work to pits like Rufford,Clipstone, and jobs to Wellingborough and Tinsley. Great in summer, and bearable in winter,IF you could scrounge enough wood, coal for the stove, and paraffin for the tail lamps. ( And to light the stove, of course)!!😊
I loved your tour of the old guards van - I've never seen inside one so thanks for the grand tour. You've captured a moment in rail history even if it is a sad sight to see, so thank you for sharing your films.
I was a freight guard out of Cambridge ('77, '78), grew up around March and just was made so joyful at seeing inside one of my old guard vans all designed with vacuum brakes for which the guards's van had a release valve so we could stretch out the old 3 linkers. Brilliant video! Thank you so much!
Went here in August 1988 when the Class 45's were here, the foreman at the time asked if we had our master keys on us, because we worked at Holbeck. He explained that when most of the loco's had arrived, the drivers just shut down the loco's, they were still full of water, oil and fuel and they would have started up. Two were running in the yard at the time but were not allowed off the depot. Nice footage.
You were so privileged to be driving in that era. I loved the variety of locos that were about in the 70's/80's. Still love them now. I've just retired from driving class 444's/450's/455's/458's etc. Hate them as I hate modern trains. I drove veps, cigs and ceps. They were the good days on the railway. I used to go to Bescot. I still have pictures of all the 31's awaiting scrap and that was about 35 years ago. They don't last long as time flies. I also used to go to M.C Metals and Boothes. The sights of them all being cut up was heartbreaking (for me anyway). I also remember as a kid spotting at St Pancras when the peaks were in service, Deltics at King's X and Class 86's etc out of Euston. I love all of those memories and wish I could turn back time. It's all changed for the worst but that's coz I love the old railways and the good times.
Superb video,i remember going to March one cold and frosty morning to look around the scrap line with my Dad and his mate Alan who used to be a fireman on the steam locos,he used to work out of Kings Lynn to March on a regular basis. Thanks for posting,it brings back great memories!!
Despite the majority in favour of steam locomotive preservation, many of the older diesel locomotives had a charm to them, especially the Deltic. I swear I can see Mavis from Thomas and Friends when looking at the 03s. XD Also, seeing those 08s lined up for scrapping is just heartbreaking. The 08s are the most successful diesel shunters ever built and there dozens still in service and in preservation including the first one built. Diesels didn't get as much love due to the overall majority in favour of steam locomotives. Scrapping the old diesels went almost unnoticed compared to the scrapping of steam locomotives
I remember when I was a small boy and being taken into Glasgow St Enoch or Central and to see a diesel was exciting. They were just being introduced on main line trains. Although the yard at the end of my street had an 08 and an 040 Barclay . The iron ore trains were handled by Austerities sometimes a 280 paired with a 2 10 0 which apparently were unique to Scotland,both being buillt in NB Loco which shut in 1962. From the railway wall you could actually see the ore ships and massive unloading cranes. Little trace of any of it now,whole area including the docks is covered with house's,American Style Dinners and a Multi Plex. Prettry Dull. Those Austerities pulling a train out could be heard from Dawsholm Park Apparently.Thats about three mile away on the other side of the River Clyde. Glasgow was an exciting place to a mechanically minded kid in those days, no wonder the late Robbie Coltrane was an Enthusiast. Met him once,great guy.
Just done some reading up on 45022 Lytham St Annes. It had been in the yard since July, and in September (after this was taken) it left the yard to assist with the northern end of the ECML electrification, renumbered 97409 for this purpose. It survived until October of 1991.
Very glad you recorded these loco's - I still think that although these loco's were old, they still had many years of use in them - they should have been refurbished - but changing times dictated otherwise - Many thanks.
i wish there were more of the older locos going through Bristol. we only seem to get 60's, 66's, 70's and occasionally the odd 56 and a 37 on a wednesday carrying nuclear waste. i can remember seeing 58's, 47's 37's and 56's all the time.
After you filmed this some of these 45s were resurrected and given a new lease of life with a 97 xxx number .I can`t remember how many but it must have a least four or five .The best ones were chosen and they worked for at least another year or a year and a half at most .they definitely worked through 1988 until about early 89 .They were restricted to about 45 mph ,I think ,and for use on ballast trains and engineers trains only to and from the sight of the work. Mainly weekends and in the Peterborough and Ely areas . Although I remembered seeing one hauling the scrap train from Snailwell into Whitemoor yard which was a commercial freight .Which was a suprise and a bonus . It was scrap material chopped up and carried in old 16t mineral wagons.
I `ve edited my comment a bit because the memories keep flooding back in snippets ! It was so long ago now ! I remembered they were restricted in speed ,then remembered seeing one on the freight from Snailwell
Nice video, those were the days when railway locos had class.. Went to March possibly same year or maybe earlier, can remember taking photos of the Peaks. Thanx for the memories. 👍
25202 had already been stripped of parts at both Derby and Stratford before reaching March, so parts that were interchangeable with other classes, like instruments and seats where probably removed there. I would have loved to have seen inside the steam heat boiler van at 1:41 on the right hand side, they always fascinated me, but very little has ever been written about them.
Visited March many times in the 1980's, particularly the hump marshalling yard. The German style control towers built in the 1930's were very interesting. Nothing left now as a Prison built on the land.
All I ever think of when I see these videos (apart from the sadness of destruction) is how many lives the building of these saved, working in the factories, depots and warehouses, manufacturing, inventories, stores, staff, canteens, wages & mortgages paid, overtime worked, families supported etc etc! Nice video, but quite sad.
I saw 25 202 idling in at Peterborough New England yard a few weeks before this was filmed .it was the last Class 25 I ever saw working on BR . It made its way to March depot under it`s own power and was switched off .
Just found this super, if sad, video of yours Keith. My Dads old workplace, where he used to take me when I was a small boy. Have you got any more video or photos of the actual depot?
@TheAnorak1 Cheers mate. Yes I got loads of stuff but mainly Gala's at Preserved Railways. Takes quite a bit of time to re-vamp them but they will appear from time to time,
Of the ones where I could read the numbers, 45112 (2:22 and 4:57), 03158 (4:57), 03084 (5:04) and 45118 (6:14) have been preserved. The rest were almost certainly scrapped. The snail on a lot of the 45s was something Tinsley depot did in those days.
Probably have! This is a very old video. Vic Berry's Scrapyard shut down about 15/20 years ago. He Literally bought the loco's and just cut up all the old coal wagons. A lot of class 20's have benn refurbished, both with the old Sulzer and newer German Engines. Just watch Dereks Video's he is always catching a convoy going to some diesel or Steam Weekend.
If you go to your search engine. Type in. 45112 Diesel locomotive snail. You should be able to find out about it. I think it is associated with a part of the locomotive engine.
Whenever I see a steam locomotive, I put myself in the shoes of all the engineers who developed those amazing machines that brought people to new places never achieved by the antiquated horse buggy.. sadly now in this generation, steamies are completely antiquated and most are near extinction... :(
😯 WTH, diesels have their place on earth too! Diesels always seem to be placed last place after steam engines. Why can’t people show a little compassion to diesels, they may not huff or puff, but they don’t need to, they helped with saving costs and measured heavy loads freely. I’m so sad that they’re going away soon. 😢
+SMILEVIDEOTRAINS I have just checked the number of preserved class 37's - 48 of them and counting. 33 class 47's - do we need these huge numbers - are they sustainable in the long term?
Lewis72 It's about as relevant as what you think! As time goes by I think some owners may well sell back for scrap. The amount of preservation is too big to fund or support this level of heritage diesel traction.
Remember seen the 45's coming out of Derby works brand new 'Peak"class as we knew them in the late 50's & early 60's ....Ironic really as then at Derby there where lines of steamers ready for the torch...
Well I'm lucky in my area co's we get a great variety of loco's within a 50 mile radius plus a number of old timers and steam on preserved lines. Thanks for view and comment
what suprised me that there were no class 47's based and MR (March) and the old stream shed code was 31B for stream the main area for stabling loco's was on Norwood road near the fueling point
Suggest you look it up on the Internet.. One big one was at Barry Island. Other was Vic Berrys scrapyard at Leicester. You can see my rare film if you search my channell.Just type in the search bar....Vic berrys Scrapyard
Just the sort of thing that happens in this country...We have loads of loco's sitting idle, just need care and attention and we buy Class 70's from overseas.
I don’t understand this. Diesels cost millions to make and only last 10-15 years before scrapping. Steam locos regularly ran for 40-50-60 years surely a better rate of return. Or are the modern diesels being scrapped because of the ever diminishing rail network and freight and are therefore surplus. Either revamp them or sell them overseas
A shame indeed. However when you look closely, a lot of these locos are life-expired, rusting through from the inside, knackered engines and frames etc. To give them to a developing country would be as patronising as posting off a pair of your old dirty trainers to the same country. Refurbish and sell by all means, like the 86's to Hungary etc. Every year I watch the HST's / I-C 125's get older and tattier, body panels rusting out, fittings wearing out. We will soon be weeping over their demise, but I hope the best ones get saved into preservation.
such a shame to see them all sitting there waiting to go to the grave. The more saddening thing is the next mass exodus like this will be for the HST Fleet, a day I'm not looking forward too
