97201 and 97403

[Cowley]

Morning folks.

This is a question for a friend of mine. He asked me if these locos would have ever made it down to Exeter on test trains for the RTC?
I said that I don't think so and that I always thought that they generally stayed around the Derby and Old Dalby sort of area, perhaps they went to Crewe at times too but I'm not really sure.
I know that they went to open days at times which provided other opportunities to see them (I saw them at Basingstoke in 1987).
Would anyone have any info on what duties they performed and also the last times they were used on the network?
Also did anyone on here ever see them in use?

Thanks all.

 

[RichmondCommu]

G'day Cowley. Without checking on Google which class of loco were these? Was one of them a Peak (perhaps a class 46?).

Regards,

Richmond Commuter!

 

[Cowley]

Hello there Richmond C.

Yes that's right, 97201 'Experiment' was originally 24061 and 97403 'Ixion' was originally 46035 (There was also 97404 ex 46045 in standard blue). You may be the man that remembers these two being used?
Here's a photo of the beasts at the RTC (not taken by me unfortunately).

Cowley

 

[Ash Bridge]

The only one I can find is during 1986 when the pair operated a test train from Derby as far as Bristol TM, 46035 also apparently worked a special as far as Newton Abbot during 2003 but by then of course it was a preserved machine.

 

[Cowley]

The only one I can find is during 1986 when the pair operated a test train from Derby as far as Bristol TM, 46035 also apparently worked a special as far as Newton Abbot during 2003 but by then of course it was a preserved machine.

Bristol in 1986 is closer than I thought they'd have got. I shall tell him, he's trying to justify buying a model of it, it probably won't take much to push him over the edge though , Bristol in 1986 might just do it...
I must admit I've always been interested in the RTC locos, over the years they've often had the last examples of different classes on the network.
So if anyone has any anecdotes I'd personally be interested.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Hello there Richmond C.

Yes that's right, 97201 'Experiment' was originally 24061 and 97403 'Ixion' was originally 46035 (There was also 97404 ex 46045 in standard blue). You may be the man that remembers these two being used?
Here's a photo of the beasts at the RTC (not taken by me unfortunately).

Cowley

In all honesty I can only ever remember seeing them at depot open days.

Apologies for going off topic here but back in the late 1970's a friend and I cycled over to Old Dalby to see the two Hymeks that were dumped there. They'd been used by the RTC for something but I can't for the life of me remember what.

 

[RichmondCommu]

The only one I can find is during 1986 when the pair operated a test train from Derby as far as Bristol TM, 46035 also apparently worked a special as far as Newton Abbot during 2003 but by then of course it was a preserved machine.

Were both the class 46s saved?

 

[Cowley]

Yes both Peaks were saved and I believe 46045 is the one based the Midland Railway Centre? That's D182 in original green.
I remember reading about the Hymeks. Were they used for dead loads maybe? They were pretty much just shells in the end I assume?

The RTC kept the original HST power cars for APT testing I believe. They had a Baby Deltic at one point too which was scrapped obviously but is the power unit the one that the Baby Deltic project has? Also were they responsible for the class 28 surviving too?
Diesel preservation would be much the poorer if it wasn't for the RTCs motley collection of motive power.

 

[Ash Bridge]

Bristol in 1986 is closer than I thought they'd have got. I shall tell him, he's trying to justify buying a model of it, it probably won't take much to push him over the edge though , Bristol in 1986 might just do it...
I must admit I've always been interested in the RTC locos, over the years they've often had the last examples of different classes on the network.
So if anyone has any anecdotes I'd personally be interested.

I remember when I was about 16 cycling with a friend to Longsight Depot and upon asking the shedmaster granted us permission for a wander round, it particularly made my day because we were greeted to the sight of class 17 8512 which was by then a Derby RTC locomotive along with its classmate 8598, it was at Manchester for test train workings on the Styal Loop Line along with Test Car Hermes which resembled a CIG EMU driving car but was full of instrumentation.

In all honesty I can only ever remember seeing them at depot open days.

Apologies for going off topic here but back in the late 1970's a friend and I cycled over to Old Dalby to see the two Hymeks that were dumped there. They'd been used by the RTC for something but I can't for the life of me remember what.

From memory weren't those Hymeks totally gutted and filled with weights and cement or similar for use as dead load vehicles?

 

[Cowley]

I didn't realise that D8598 was an RTC loco too, it's almost like the RTC liked a challenge...
That was a very nice shedmaster.

 

[RichmondCommu]

From memory weren't those Hymeks totally gutted and filled with weights and cement or similar for use as dead load vehicles?

I remember reading about the Hymeks. Were they used for dead loads maybe? They were pretty much just shells in the end I assume?

Well done chaps! Yes they were used for some kind of load testing. I think one is now at the East Lancs Railway.

 

[RichmondCommu]

The RTC kept the original HST power cars for APT testing I believe. They had a Baby Deltic at one point too which was scrapped obviously but is the power unit the one that the Baby Deltic project has? Also were they responsible for the class 28 surviving too?

Back in the early 1980's one afternoon two friends and I saw a RTC test train run through Chesterfield including at least one APT power car but no HST power cars. I think one of us took a photo.

 

[Cowley]

Well done chaps! Yes they were used for some kind of load testing. I think one is now at the East Lancs Railway.

It is, I just looked it up. D7076 and D7096 were the two locomotives. On the ELR diesel group website it says that it was possible to make one good one out of the two and 7076 was chosen although it carries D7096s number in one of the cabs (the B end) in memory of it's less lucky classmate.
Well I've learnt a few things today...

 

[Cowley]

Back in the early 1980's one afternoon two friends and I saw a RTC test train run through Chesterfield including at least one APT power car but no HST power cars. I think one of us took a photo.

I think they used other locos too, I've seen a photo of APT stock behind a class 25 somewhere. Would the power cars have been used for higher speed testing?
It must have been interesting times to be around the Derby/Crewe area.

 

[Ash Bridge]

Well done chaps! Yes they were used for some kind of load testing. I think one is now at the East Lancs Railway.

Yes D7076, here's a shot of her at Manchester's Liverpool Road Station (MOSI) back in 2009, she was then nicknamed the 'Wesmek' due to the fact that a borrowed Maybach MD 655 engine from a class 52 was temporarily installed whilst the standard MD 870 V16 was undergoing a rebuild.

 

[Rover]

Also did anyone on here ever see them in use?

I had a look on my Chesterfield website and found 3 observations for 97201 and one for 97403 which was in multiple (if that was possible) with 97201.

Unfortunately I didn't know what workings they were on except they were to and from the RTC.

If you're interested just insert the numbers into the search box.

 

[Cowley]

Thanks for that Rover. I'm struggling to get it to work on my phone so I'll have to shove a child off a computer later and have a look.

 

[Rover]

Thanks for that Rover. I'm struggling to get it to work on my phone so I'll have to shove a child off a computer later and have a look.

It's a shame it doesn't work on phones, it was done over a decade ago and I haven't got round to updating for today's modern gadgets - I don't have one!