Purple Deltic

John Whitby Mar 30, 2002

  1. John Whitby

    John Whitby E-Mail Bounces

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    Porterbrook owned Deltic no.9016 "Gordon Highlander" on the final lap of a Crewe - Rugby - Lancaster - Crewe test train yesterday. In my opinion the livery is a little "doubtful" :confused: but it certainly sounded sweet and I think the test was probably a success. The loco will now be used on enthusiasts specials during the summer.
    Hands up those who prefer two tone green :D :D
    [​IMG]
    John.
     
  2. Alan

    Alan Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    "Doubtful" is not a term I would use for that livery!! If I tried to type my true thoughts, the obscenity filter would cut in :D

    Gimme two-tone green any day [​IMG] Bet it was good to hear it though! A Deltic in any colour is better than no Deltic :rolleyes:
     
  3. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    YUK!!!! That color should only be only seen as "Puddles Of Purple Passion", not on an otherwise lovely locomotive. :eek:
     
  4. spamcam

    spamcam New Member

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    Give me the blue with silver 'speed whiskers'
     
  5. Alan

    Alan Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I only saw the prototype blue Deltic a few times, and it created quite a stir each time it appeared! I mostly saw it at Peterborough close to where I live, but only managed to get one (very poor) photograph - in Edinburgh Waverley station, during a railfan holiday in 1959.

    Photograph of the prototype Deltic
     
  6. Martyn Read

    Martyn Read TrainBoard Supporter

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    I kinda like it...... [​IMG] :rolleyes: :D

    [ 23 April 2002, 08:20: Message edited by: Martyn Read ]
     
  7. dmurphy

    dmurphy TrainBoard Member

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    What does a Deltic sound like? I've read of the interesting design of the engine.
     
  8. Alan

    Alan Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    With the delta cylinder layout (3 pairs of pistons in triangle shapes around the crankshaft) when idling in a station, they sounded like they were doing 90 mph!

    When accellerating and running fast they had a sort of howl, bit like a turbine, I suppose. Very smooth sound.

    The Deltics were worshipped, especially when we realised they were on the way out. I travelled on a special train behind one of the last units in service, and the last part of the run was down the "racetrack" of the east coast main line. All the windows were open, and we had tears in our eyes listening to the 3,300 hp generated by the twin diesel engines.

    Happy days [​IMG]

    If I had a slide scanner, I could post some pics. :(
     
  9. John Whitby

    John Whitby E-Mail Bounces

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    Here's some photos of those wonderful machines taken in 1981. At this time in their lives they were being used on humble Trans-Pennine services. A far cry from the east Coast Main Line.
    John.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  10. Martyn Read

    Martyn Read TrainBoard Supporter

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    Very nice pics there, the blue & white window surrounds has to be my favourite scheme on the class, very nice! [​IMG]

    I managed to catch the newly mainline certificated Western coming through Dawlish on Saturday, it looked & sounded fabulous. and Alan, just like with your post, virtually every window was open! [​IMG]

    Anyone got any reccomendations on free photo hosting & i'll post my pic for y'all?

    ATB

    [ 24 April 2002, 21:57: Message edited by: Martyn Read ]
     
  11. Alan

    Alan Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Excellent photos John. I can almost hear them [​IMG] I saw all stages of paint on these machines, from green, brand new, no names and no yellow panel, then with small yellow panel, and later yellow on the whole nose.

    I liked the Blue if it had white window surrounds, but they did not look so good without.

    Edit: Martyn, if you send me your pics I will upload them onto one of my sites. You can then add the words [​IMG]

    [ 24 April 2002, 22:08: Message edited by: Alan ]
     
  12. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    Gentlemen, I mean no disrespect, but they do look rather like the English Bulldog ... blunt snout, high-set partially closed eyes, and a rather awkward lumbering appearance. [​IMG]

    Altogether beautiful in their ugliness. :D

    [ 25 April 2002, 01:09: Message edited by: Hank Coolidge ]
     
  13. watash

    watash Passed away March 7, 2010 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    Thinking of how the "buzz" sound combined with the nose, one may be reminded of a dragon fly without wings. How many cylinders total on each motor? They must have tremendous accelleration!
     
  14. Alan

    Alan Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Wayne, if I remember correctly, they had 16 cylinders per engine, so 32 in all!

    On starting from a station stop, they would take quite a while to get the train up to walking speed, but then you should have seen them go! By the time the last coach had left the platform, they were really moving [​IMG]
     
  15. Alan

    Alan Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Just had to post this preserved (working order) Deltic pic. Taken at Barrow Roundhouse open day last year. This is how I like them painted [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  16. John Whitby

    John Whitby E-Mail Bounces

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    I agree Hank. I love the things but I would have to admit that they are not the most stylish of locos. Much of their appeal came from the fantastic noise that they made.
    If Alan is able to post Martyn's "Western" class photos we will see a more stylish looking British loco :rolleyes:

    I hope my comments don't start a fued between the Eastern and Western fans. :D :D

    Best wishes,
    John.
     
  17. Martyn Read

    Martyn Read TrainBoard Supporter

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    OK here's what a *real* classic diesel looks like ;) ....just kiddin! (Don't start me on class 50's!!!)

    [​IMG]

    The pic is preserved & mainline certified D1015 "Western Champion" blasting through Dawlish heading for the sunny southwest with an excursion, last Saturday.
    Thanks Alan for hosting the pic. [​IMG]

    There's some Western specs & pics at this web page

    The Western's & Deltic's were respectively BR's big passenger power in the pre-HST era and got a big following from fans, probably the first diesel loco's to get much interest since the end of steam.
    Like the Deltics these were twin engined loco's, but the Western's were diesel hydraulic's not diesel electric.
    All 74 loco's were named "Western XXXXXXX" thus giving the Western class name.

    ATB

    [ 29 April 2002, 20:44: Message edited by: Martyn Read ]
     
  18. Alan

    Alan Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    That is a goodie, Martyn [​IMG] The last time I was in that area, there were (only) Class 50's :D They are quite popular, too!
     
  19. John Whitby

    John Whitby E-Mail Bounces

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    Great photo Martyn.
    Here's a pic of "something" going the other way in 1981.
    Is that you on the seawall Martyn ? ;)
    [​IMG]
    John
     
  20. Martyn Read

    Martyn Read TrainBoard Supporter

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    :D The age could be quite close, I was only 7 in 1981! Very nice pic there!

    Alan, there's still lots of trains at Dawlish, summer saturday's get very busy, and for the moment there is lots of variety, Wessex trains and SWT provide several varietys of DMU, Virgin are running HST's, Voyager's and loco hauled trains, Great Western has HST's (in two colour schemes) and loco hauled trains and EWS still runs several mail & freight trains through there. Not bad for these days. Unfortunately we are in the final year of Virgin loco hauled trains, and some of Great Western's are likely to go too once they get their new trains to work!

    My memories of the class 50's are of them in NSE and large logo on the Waterloo - Exeter line, I went to school in Wimbledon and had to walk down a path parrallel to the line for about 1/4 mile, quite often I would see one inbound & one outbound train during that walk.....the outbound ones would come blasting out from under the bridge at Wimbledon station under full throttle as they come out of the speed restriction for the curve there.

    For all you US folk out there, these 16 cylinder beasties are easily capable of 100mph, and sound like Alco's, but don't usually smoke quite as much! Effectively they are the "deltic" of my generation, the type that has the big following.

    In 10 years time, will folk be documenting the end of HST's, preserving sprinters etc? Part of me thinks that's a wierd idea, and part of me thinks of it as a natural progression, as there will be railfans out there who've never been used to seeing regular loco hauled trains.

    Hmmmm! :eek: :rolleyes: :( ;)

    [ 25 April 2002, 20:47: Message edited by: Martyn Read ]
     

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