Bristol-London services in the 70's

[XPTE]

HST's were introduced on the Bristol-London services back in 1976(as many of you will know of course). I can remember the very first time I travelled on one of thse to London, and it was in '76 and I was a toddler and I was sitting on the right hand side of the train!

I can also remember travelling to London(from Bristol) on a train that wasn't an HST in around the same year. Which loco's preceeded the HST on this route? And when the HST's were introduced on this route in '76 was it just HST's alone operating these services or were other loco's also still operating too?

[exshunter]

didnt the westerns run to paddington before the hsts.just a guess

[ianm42]

I used to see Westerns, Hymeks, 47s and Falcon at Reading a year or two before the HSTs arrived.

[isambardkingdombrunel]

and 50`s .

IKB.

[johndibben]

Mainline diesel loco classes WR 1972-76

25's BR CF EJ LA (from 1972)

31's BR OC (from 1973)

35's BR OC (all but 10 withdrawn by 10/73)

37's CF LE

42/43's NA LA (all withdrwn by 11/72)

46's BR CF (XC serices)

47's BR CF LA LE OC

50's BR OC LA (arrived 1974, most reallocated to LA for WO-EX etc.on receipt of HST's)

52's LA (heavy withdrawals after 1972 rpelced by 50's)

53 BR EJ (Falcon 1200 BR to 1973 then EJ withdrawn 1975)

BR Bristol CF Cardiff EJ Newport LA Plymouth LE Swansea NA Newton Abbot OC Old Oak Common.

NOTE: Dates are approximate.

I knew my records would come in handy one day.

Want the numbers

[XPTE]

Mainline diesel loco classes WR 1972-76

25's BR CF EJ LA (from 1972)

31's BR OC (from 1973)

35's BR OC (all but 10 withdrawn by 10/73)

37's CF LE

42/43's NA LA (all withdrwn by 11/72)

46's BR CF (XC serices)

47's BR CF LA LE OC

50's BR OC LA (arrived 1974, most reallocated to LA for WO-EX etc.on receipt of HST's)

52's LA (heavy withdrawals after 1972 rpelced by 50's)

53 BR EJ (Falcon 1200 BR to 1973 then EJ withdrawn 1975)

BR Bristol CF Cardiff EJ Newport LA Plymouth LE Swansea NA Newton Abbot OC Old Oak Common.

NOTE: Dates are approximate.

I knew my records would come in handy one day.

Want the numbers

Thanks for that info everyone.

Very interesting to see all those loco's that ran on the Bristol-London services back in the 70's, sure beats the boring old HST's any day eh?

[XPTE]

Oh ye, something I did know is that the Blue Pullmans were running these services too. Not sure if that's allready included in that list there, not sure what class it was.

[basildd]

I knew my records would come in handy one day.

DJ JD at the mic, spinning some 'old skool' flava's.....

[johndibben]

Oh ye, something I did know is that the Blue Pullmans were running these services too. Not sure if that's allready included in that list there, not sure what class it was.

The list doen't include DMU's like the Pullmans which had no class number and were all withdrawn by 1973.

Of course, not all of the above would work express passenger services or long-distance freights but most could've been see pottering around between Bristol and Paddington.

The Inter-city class 123 units also worked from Paddington to Oxford.

For a while in the 60's, double-headed class 37's worked the South Wales expresses.

Cheers

John

[johndibben]

I knew my records would come in handy one day.

DJ JD at the mic, spinning some 'old skool' flava's.....

My era, my favourite area of the country

[salopiangrowler]

Oh ye, something I did know is that the Blue Pullmans were running these services too. Not sure if that's allready included in that list there, not sure what class it was.

Didnt they become 41's when they lost there pullman livery

[johndibben]

The D600 'original' Warships were allocated class 41 but all but 2 were cut up by then and the remaining members were withdrawn.

Ruthless BR efficiency

The prototype HST which was allocated to the WR in the early 1970's was given the class 41 designation and numbered 41001 and 41002.

In true 'is it a loco or dmu?' tradition it was also given the number class 252001

[johndibben]

In case some of the class numbers I used wern't familiar.

The 35 was the 'Hymek'

The 42/43 were 'Warships'

and The 52 was the 'Westerns'