Many thanks for the reply - a couple of days ago I received the book Diesels in Depth - the Westerns, and there are numerous photos of the D1000's in the West Midlands, including one double page shot of D1036 at Gobowen. You would think the class was concentrated in the area from looking at this book, though the author is from Wellington; it appears that the Paddington - Birkenhead service was amongst the first workings of the Westerns. I also managed to get a second hand copy of 'Western Diesels in Camera' and this is an excellent book.
I will try and seek out the Bradford Barton albums, also; would love to find a photo of a Western crossing Chirk viaduct!
My pleasure. Just a tip - that Diesels In Depth volume on the Westerns is full of mistakes, a lot of the captions give the wrong info.... the photos more than make up for them though, it didn't stop me from buying a copy.
If you've not already got the Bradford Barton albums it's a fair bet you haven't got most of the other good Western books either, although you made a cracking start with John Vaughan's 'In Camera'... a very good one this and one of my favourites.
Some of the early Western books are riddled with mistakes which one auther after another has taken as gospel, but those that have been published in the last few years are much better. These are all worth having if you can find them....
* 'Western Memories'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21403537@N00/2357645927/in/set-72157594510358068 a good early one which covers the railtours.
* 'A Tribute To The Westerns' by David Birt, chock full of great b&w photos.
* 'Power Of The Westerns' from OPC, ignore the coloured line drawings showing the livery variations, they are way off the mark, but the rest of the book has great photos throughout.
* 'Profile Of The Westerns' again from OPC, recently reprinted and full of great shots.
* 'Western Dawn' by Adrian Curtis, goes into the background story of the design and build.
* 'Western Liveries' by Adrian Curtis, self explanetary with photos of all . most of the livery variations, plus dates etc, hard to find now though.
* 'Heyday Of The Westerns' from Ian Allan, colour throughout with some great shots of the early days on the B'ham line etc.
* 'The Western Region Diesel Hydraulics' from Ian Allan, as above but covers other classes.
* 'Diesel Hydraulics In The West Country' from Ian Allan, similar to the one above!
* 'Hydraulics In The West' by David Cable, some very rare hydraulic pics n this one.
* 'Westerns In Colour' by Roger Geach, covers the blue period nicely with spot on captions throughout, and his follow up book...
* 'Back To The Old Days - The Westerns', has earlier maroon era shots too, very nicely done this one!
* 'The 74 Westerns - A Personal Reflection' by Roger's mate Bernard Mills, superb collection of shots, proceeds goe to the DTG (D1015 etc).
* 'Western Memories' by Ian Harrison & Roger Kaye, not the same title at the top of the list but another pictorial album with proceeds going to the DTG. Print quality isn't brilliant but the pics themselves are priceless.
That's just a sample list, there are several others about!
The first Westyerns to work on the Birmingham route went to Tyseley, Oxley and Old Oak for crew training in the early part of 1962, their first booked workings being on 10th June with the full timetable kicking in on 10th September. They held sway on the Brum, Wolves & Birkenhead route until the LMR took over these workings in 1964 once they had enough newfangled Brush Type 4s to cover them all. The Westerns then moved onto Bristol, South Wales and West Country diagrams, not returning regularly to the Brum route until well into 1974.
Hope that helps!
(apologies for aweful typos!)