Prototype Tim Mills' Photos
- Thread starter oldravendale
- Start date
Boyblunder
Western Thunderer
And you can just see me looking out of the window on the 2nd train......well maybe just out of shot. I travelled from Cambridge to Liverpool St. every working day for 18 months from May 1980. On the 06:57 (or maybe it was the 07:17?) I had daily breakfast of cornflakes and coffee in the buffet car for very little money. By Elsenham I had eaten breakfast and read the interesting bits of the paper so would have been gawping out of the window. Happy days, apart from the unreliable service including frequent steam heating failures in winter. Then BR took off the buffet service, a tragedy smartly followed by a Class 37 conking out causing all the passengers to de-train at Whittlesford in a snow storm and wait on the platform for an hour to be picked up. It was freezing so we moved to Chelmsford to enjoy the more reliable and shorter electric service. Now thats anther story.
Eastsidepilot
Western Thunderer
Peter Insole
Western Thunderer
Ha Robin! I used to return home from Ilford on roughly alternate weekends from late 1979, right through to 1983, and would catch one of those "earlies" at Audley End on a Monday morning - then Met., to Farringdon, to unlock the office in Clerkenwell before the rest of the "miserable crew" arrived for work!
I recall there was a tall gentleman, with a distinctly military bearing, that regularly served in those buffets, who frequently claimed that BR were waiting for him to retire in order to withdraw the facility. A prediction that appeared to be fully justified as it turned out !!
Pete.
I recall there was a tall gentleman, with a distinctly military bearing, that regularly served in those buffets, who frequently claimed that BR were waiting for him to retire in order to withdraw the facility. A prediction that appeared to be fully justified as it turned out !!
Pete.
oldravendale
Western Thunderer
Thanks for the comments and recollections. They all bring life to these scenes.
Here's another half dozen continuing the Elsenham theme.
Brian
Here's another half dozen continuing the Elsenham theme.
Brian
Mike W
Western Thunderer
Simond, I bought a CD175 new in (I think) 1974 VYU21M. It was red. I'd gone to buy an MZ 175 but my father said the Honda twin was a better bike. But I agree, most you saw were darkish blue.
A quick Google shows there to be more red than blue ’for sale’..
Eastsidepilot
Western Thunderer
Yes the blue 'uns seemed to be more popular from memory, I do remember a guy turning one into a cafe racer, didn't last long as he was burnt off by almost anything else the lads had on the road
. But they were reliable bikes.Col.
simond
Western Thunderer
Ah, no, the 250/350 versions were the K4 and then G5. I had a CB250G5 which I got in July ‘76. & had for about 5 years. I think it was a ‘74 reg bike. The G version of the bigger bike was a CB360, though whether there was a real capacity change from the K4 is anyone’s guess.
they hung around for a year or two then the “Dream” came out. “Comstar” wheels with 5 pressed steel spokes. Slim thing, quite angular, not bad looking IMO. Then there was the super dream, which was the same bike with “fat” tank and side panels, looked like it had had too many pies. And yes, the “wet dream” epithet was applied in Birkenhead too.
the 400 was a 4, a baby version of the 500, 550/600, 750 & 900 4 cylinder bikes. The 400/4 was a gem, a truly lovely middleweight, that could be tweaked to rev to silly numbers and go like the proverbial stoat.
Funnily enough, looking for photos on Google to refresh my memory, it seems that the “Dream” name had been applied to a 250 lookalike of the old CD 175, but I suspect only in the US.
It was the era of Brit bike makers dying. The Japs made bikes that worked, reliably and didn’t leak oil all over the floor. The Brits were clearly capable of doing the same, but didn’t trouble themselves to invest the time money and effort in making their customers happy and their shareholders satisfied. The rest is history.
Brian, this all belongs in the petrol heads thread! Sorry for the thread drift!
atb
Simon
they hung around for a year or two then the “Dream” came out. “Comstar” wheels with 5 pressed steel spokes. Slim thing, quite angular, not bad looking IMO. Then there was the super dream, which was the same bike with “fat” tank and side panels, looked like it had had too many pies. And yes, the “wet dream” epithet was applied in Birkenhead too.
the 400 was a 4, a baby version of the 500, 550/600, 750 & 900 4 cylinder bikes. The 400/4 was a gem, a truly lovely middleweight, that could be tweaked to rev to silly numbers and go like the proverbial stoat.
Funnily enough, looking for photos on Google to refresh my memory, it seems that the “Dream” name had been applied to a 250 lookalike of the old CD 175, but I suspect only in the US.
It was the era of Brit bike makers dying. The Japs made bikes that worked, reliably and didn’t leak oil all over the floor. The Brits were clearly capable of doing the same, but didn’t trouble themselves to invest the time money and effort in making their customers happy and their shareholders satisfied. The rest is history.
Brian, this all belongs in the petrol heads thread! Sorry for the thread drift!
atb
Simon
oldravendale
Western Thunderer
Please never apologise for taking a thread of mine off piste. I really enjoy the variety, although how anyone would find these Honda CD 175 references if doing a search I've no idea!
Here's the last of the Elsenham photos.
I have no idea of the spec for these wagons but doubtless a photo in this detail of the end will be of value. I'll be grateful if some kind reader will advise the wagon type Tim has photographed here.
A short freight here with what I believe to be an unidentified Class 25. Closer inspection shows these to be Ferry wagons. Again, further info to expand these details will be most useful.
I take this to be inside the box at Elsenham which appears in the photos above. Just visible through the windows is a Class 47. More info can be gained from the neg with darker printing but the box interior is then too dark to see any detail.
Finally photos (or more correctly the full frame and a close up) of unidentified tankers. Further details, please, if possible.
Brian
Here's the last of the Elsenham photos.
I have no idea of the spec for these wagons but doubtless a photo in this detail of the end will be of value. I'll be grateful if some kind reader will advise the wagon type Tim has photographed here.
A short freight here with what I believe to be an unidentified Class 25. Closer inspection shows these to be Ferry wagons. Again, further info to expand these details will be most useful.
I take this to be inside the box at Elsenham which appears in the photos above. Just visible through the windows is a Class 47. More info can be gained from the neg with darker printing but the box interior is then too dark to see any detail.
Finally photos (or more correctly the full frame and a close up) of unidentified tankers. Further details, please, if possible.
Brian
AJC
Western Thunderer
The coal wagons are HAAs - or HOP AB, depending on date - otherwise known as Merry Go Round hoppers conveying power station coal.
The ferry vans presumably came via Harwich, because they’re a standard UIC spec they all look quite similar (these may be Belgian).
The tanks look to be insulated which implies bitumen or heavy fuel oil. They’re probably TOPS coded TTA. Again, a common design, but the pedestal type suspension and the number should tell us which.
Adam
The ferry vans presumably came via Harwich, because they’re a standard UIC spec they all look quite similar (these may be Belgian).
The tanks look to be insulated which implies bitumen or heavy fuel oil. They’re probably TOPS coded TTA. Again, a common design, but the pedestal type suspension and the number should tell us which.
Adam
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
With regard to Elsenham and for a contrast these three were taken by my dad around 1969 when visited my grandparents in the UK while we were stationed in Germany.
When I last visited Elsenham during the late 1990s in NSE days the trees had grown and wires installed (this is my photo)
When I last visited Elsenham during the late 1990s in NSE days the trees had grown and wires installed (this is my photo)
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
I have no idea of the spec for these wagons but doubtless a photo in this detail of the end will be of value. I'll be grateful if some kind reader will advise the wagon type Tim has photographed here.
A short freight here with what I believe to be an unidentified Class 25. Closer inspection shows these to be Ferry wagons. Again, further info to expand these details will be most useful.
I think these three are out of sequence with Elsenham unless a Midland style signal box was plonked in GE territory. The landscape also looks too hilly
Interesting to know the location. Is the signal box name legible?
AJC
Western Thunderer
The tanks are actually TUA, operated by Charringtons and the image linked below is the rearmost vehicle in Tim’s picture: CGL704xx Charringtons Class B TUA | CGL70407 TUA Charringtons Fuel Oil Class B Tank wagon Gloucester Floating axle suspension Design code TU016A built Procor [1979] @ Thameshaven 86-01-25 © Paul Bartlett w
.
oldravendale
Western Thunderer
It's now nearly a month since my last post. A holiday and other issues have eaten time, but I have a few minutes to continue with the Tim Mills theme. Once again thanks for the additional info Adam and Dave. I'd not be surprised, Dave, if the last few photos alleged to be at Elsenham are not. However they are all in the same folder so I've used the original description until such time as they are properly catalogued - at least that way I know I can find them again!
The same title is applied to the next six photos, three of which are the subjects of this post. Doubtless the date for all of them is the early sixties rather than 1981 which is suggested by the folder. The location is clearly not Elsenham either. I believe this is the environs of Old Oak.
This is Castle 5063 Earl Baldwin on, I believe, the Cathedrals Express. The loco belonged to Stafford Road from April 1958 before migrating to Oxley in September 1963 - at least according to BRDatabase and Rail UK. (The SLS say it moved to St Blazey in September 1963). In any event it was withdrawn in February 1965 and went to Cashmore's, Great Bridge, where it was scrapped in May.
Edit. I've found photos of Castle hauled Cathedrals Express up to March 1964. 1964 is a possible year for these photos bearing in mind the withdrawal dates of the locos shown in this series.
This is a clean and tidy Modified Hall 6996, Blackwell Hall, on the same date and same location as far as I can determine. This was a Didcot engine from October 1958 until withdrawn in October 1964. It went to Steel Supply Co, Jersey Marine where it was scrapped by the end of February 1965.
Finally for today one of the later series of Castles, 7032 Denbigh Castle looking in fine fettle. It was an Old Oak Common engine throughout its life from new in 1950 - at least after an initial allocation at Swindon - and was withdrawn in September 1964 whence it moved to Bird's, Risca where it was scrapped by early February 1965.
Brian
The same title is applied to the next six photos, three of which are the subjects of this post. Doubtless the date for all of them is the early sixties rather than 1981 which is suggested by the folder. The location is clearly not Elsenham either. I believe this is the environs of Old Oak.
This is Castle 5063 Earl Baldwin on, I believe, the Cathedrals Express. The loco belonged to Stafford Road from April 1958 before migrating to Oxley in September 1963 - at least according to BRDatabase and Rail UK. (The SLS say it moved to St Blazey in September 1963). In any event it was withdrawn in February 1965 and went to Cashmore's, Great Bridge, where it was scrapped in May.
Edit. I've found photos of Castle hauled Cathedrals Express up to March 1964. 1964 is a possible year for these photos bearing in mind the withdrawal dates of the locos shown in this series.
This is a clean and tidy Modified Hall 6996, Blackwell Hall, on the same date and same location as far as I can determine. This was a Didcot engine from October 1958 until withdrawn in October 1964. It went to Steel Supply Co, Jersey Marine where it was scrapped by the end of February 1965.
Finally for today one of the later series of Castles, 7032 Denbigh Castle looking in fine fettle. It was an Old Oak Common engine throughout its life from new in 1950 - at least after an initial allocation at Swindon - and was withdrawn in September 1964 whence it moved to Bird's, Risca where it was scrapped by early February 1965.
Brian
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Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
The photos were taken from the east side of Scrubs Lane Bridge outside the carriage and wagon repair shop.
The rise for the flyover (slow lines?) is in the background as are Kensal Green Gasworks.