Fishponds - Clifton Down

[22A]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVKbKqyJMj8
Just found this link.
OK own up; who's memory does this stir?

[Devonian]

Well mine as I own the copyright to the first picture on the 13 arches and it's been used without permission!

[22A]

Hi Devonian.
Recently Youtbue has hosted several films that appear to be montages of stills and film from assorted sources.

This one (the demolition of the viaduct) clearly shows the Pathe emblem in the upper right corner; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ud_2XslsrA

This one has none; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI2ssfhBvqk

[C2759]

Is that RCTS train crossing 13 arches the special which ran one Saturday in 1961 (give or take) and also went to Canons Marsh (give or take as the Mk1s got buffer locked part way in), Avonmouth Dock lines and Sharpness? If so, I was on that.

[C2759]

In case it wasn't clear, my post from yesterday was referring to the train in Devonian's picture with the 82xxx and maroon Mk1s on the 13 Arches.

Somewhere I have a folder full of tour itineraries from that era so I must dig them out and see where else the one I was referring to went.

There was quite a large allocation of 82xxx at Bristol. I assume they were based at Bath Road rather than St Phillips Marsh. I always knew them as Mickey Mouses. Is that nickname a common/standard one in the area?

[the green mile]

There was quite a large allocation of 82xxx at Bristol. I assume they were based at Bath Road rather than St Phillips Marsh.

Are we forgetting Bristol's other steam depot??? I remember these locos being predominantly used on the Bristol - Bath (Green Park) - Bournemouth services hauling a Bulleid 3-car 'shortie' set of 59 footers.

Roy

[76026]

This is before my time- by the time I was actively interested in railways only diesels were allocated to Bristol. That said, the rather pleasing shedbash uk, which collates spotting records that volunteers have submitted, does include summaries for Bath Rd, Barrow Rd and St Phillips from the 1940s-1960s

(see https://shedbashuk.blogspot.com/2015/08 ... -1960.html,
https://shedbashuk.blogspot.com/2015/08 ... -1966.html ,
https://shedbashuk.blogspot.com/2015/08 ... -1964.html ).

Glancing through these lists- which of course only show locos that were on these sheds at the time of a spotter's visit- it appears that the quantities of 82xxx recorded at their respective home sheds were:

82A, Bath Rd: August 1958: 4; April 1959: 5; November 1959: 6;

82B, St Phillips: April 1962: 3;

82E, Barrow Rd July 1961: 9; April 1963: 6; July 1964: 3; September 1965: 1, (+ 3 WDN).

(in some cases there were additional 82xxx present from other sheds).

Of course, Ian Allan Locoshed Books would give actual allocations; unfortunately I only possess one of these, published in Jan 1966. It shows just three 82xxx allocated to Western Region sheds: one at Barrow Rd, two at Bath Green Park.
I think IÔÇÖve heard former BR Footplatemen refer to the Ivatt 2-6-2 tanks as ÔÇÿMickey MouseÔÇÖ too; these were class 2 and therefore smaller than the class 3 82xxx, so that might be a case of memory playing tricks on me.

[Robin Summerhill]

You are both right!

My BR Steam Allocation database shows 82006/07/09,82030/33/35/37/38, 82040/42/43/44 allocated to Bath Road until July/ August 1960 when they were all transferred to Barrow Road. This would have more or less tied in with Bath Road's closure for converstion to a diesel depot.

82004 was at Bath Green Park throughout from 1960 to withdrawal

Some of the emgines trasferred to Barrow Road subsequently transferred to St Phillips Marsh, and back when The Marsh closed.

[C2759]

As I find is more and more frequently the case these days, when I resort to looking things up, facts are not quite what I remember. I have a Locoshed book from probably around 1956 or 1957 which shows that there are no 82xxx allocated to the Bristol Division at that time, or to Barrow Road. I have a later edition dated 3/60 which shows 7 of the class allocated to Bath Road as compared to Robin's total of 12, four months later. The arrivals in the intervening period were 82006/9/38 (from Wellington (Salop)), 82030 from Worcester and 82037 from Wrexham (Rhosddu).

[Robin Summerhill]

As I find is more and more frequently the case these days, when I resort to looking things up, facts are not quite what I remember. I have a Locoshed book from probably around 1956 or 1957 which shows that there are no 82xxx allocated to the Bristol Division at that time, or to Barrow Road. I have a later edition dated 3/60 which shows 7 of the class allocated to Bath Road as compared to Robin's total of 12, four months later. The arrivals in the intervening period were 82006/9/38 (from Wellington (Salop)), 82030 from Worcester and 82037 from Wrexham (Rhosddu).

I think we all suffer from distorted memories as the years go by. A few years ago I met up with somebody I hadnÔÇÖt seen for 30 years and, whilst we often remembered the same general points from our earlier friendship, our ÔÇ£memoriesÔÇØ of most of the fine details were completely at odds with each other!

But I digress. There was always a major issue with Locoshed Books because, whilst we thought of them as accurate at the time, in truth they were anything but. On the first page or two you would find details of the dates for the regional updates and they varied quite widely by region with some regions providing weekly updates, and others taking as long as 8 weeks to provide their data. Then, as typesetting was all manual in those days, there could easily be an 8-week delay before the manuscript went to the printers and actually got out to the bookshelves.

So for example, in the ÔÇ£summerÔÇØ edition that might be on the shelves from, say, June onwards, you might have LMR data updated to a date in April, the SR to a date in March, the WR a date in February, and so on. So there we were swanning into our local John Menzies or whatever buying the latest up to date Locoshed Book in early July, when the information it contained was already between 3 and 5 months old!

On reflection, it was a bit it like burying a copy of the Radio Times today and finding it referred to a week in early December! Some of it will still be right, but much of it wonÔÇÖt. But that wasnÔÇÖt the way we thought about it at the time.

That is why, in 2007, I built my steam allocation database which shows, as accurately as can be established from the available data, what the situation actually was in each depot on a month-by-month basis. ItÔÇÖs a pity we didnÔÇÖt have Excel spreadsheets 60 years ago