Hereford Locomotive Shed by Steve Bartlett

Author:Steve Bartlett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: TRANSPORTATION / Railroads / General
ISBN: 9781473875579
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2017-10-30T04:00:00+00:00

The four Castles allocation needed to achieve 75 per cent availability to cover the three daily diagrams. Such a small group with no additional cover was nevertheless vulnerable. It only required one locomotive to be stopped and 100 per cent availability was demanded from the rest. Hereford was particularly vulnerable in that it had no other engines suitable to step up, with nothing else larger than 4MT 5101 2-6-2Ts or 3MT 2251 0-6-0s, neither suitable for main-line passenger work. When the Depot was short, the usual practice was for the Shed Running Foreman to borrow a spare visiting Hall off an unbalanced freight or with a lengthy scheduled layover. History does not record the extent to which this was to the detriment of their return workings.

On their arrival in autumn 1963, the Castles were, to put it mildly, somewhat care-worn and surviving photographs show most to be in poor external condition. Nos. 5000, 5055 and 7022 were all minus front number plates. No. 5055 was also missing a right-hand cab side number plate. All their name plates were thankfully firmly in place and remained so during their Hereford stay. Mechanically, they were mostly sound and there is no evidence of any failures in traffic, although locomotive record cards do show a succession of individual engines being stopped for ‘unclassified repairs’. In January 1964, No. 5054 Earl of Ducie was out of traffic for seven weeks, probably partly waiting replacement parts. Most seriously, between 20 January and 25 February 1964, both No. 5000 Launceston Castle and No. 5054 Earl of Ducie were both stopped together, leaving only two Castles operational. This must have put the Depot under considerable pressure. Even so, at a time when work in excess of laiddown financial limits led to immediate withdrawal, none of Hereford’s Castles met that fate.

No. 5054 Earl of Ducie was reported locally as being the last engine to have valves and pistons worked upon at Hereford. Despite its poor availability record, or perhaps because of the excellent work done by Hereford Shed staff to bring it up to standard, it was unexpectedly transferred to Worcester in March 1964. It received further attention there and became the star performer on the High-Speed Castle run of 9 May 1964. It worked the final leg from Bristol-Paddington when it achieved a top speed of 96mph. This was a clear indication that, given proper care and attention, Castles were still capable of delivering quality performances.

It would be inappropriate to leave the subject of Hereford maintenance and repair without reference to a visiting Castle that took up temporary, but longterm residence at the Depot. Cardiff East Dock’s No. 5092 Tresco Abbey failed on 1 May 1963 whilst working the 12.05pm Manchester-Plymouth, limping on to Shed where I saw it in the repair shop the next day. Clearly it had suffered a catastrophic failure and was condemned at the end of July without returning to its home depot. Taking up residence outside the Shed, it became a permanent fixture for the next twelve months.

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