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A Brush type 2 to the rescue |
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| On 17th April 1971,
myself, my wife, my 5 year old son, and both my parents, travelled on a
"Seaview Special" rail excursion from Birmingham New Street to Great
Yarmouth. It was a well patronised train 13 coach train, comprising Mk 1 stock weighing 36 or 37 tons per
vehicle. We had
Brush type 4 no D1964 up front. The outward journey went well, and once
we were past March, we began to enjoy the scenery, and saw much
wildlife, including large numbers of Heron, on the
waterways. We arrived at Great Yarmouth on time, and spent a pleasant few hours
exploring the town and harbour areas.
All too soon it was time for the return journey, and were on time away from Great Yarmouth. But by the time we passed Ely, something was clearly wrong with D1964 . A fair amount of black smoke was pouring from the loco, and power was constantly being lost. We staggered into March, where the loco was declared a failure. So what could March shed find for us. Another class 47 seemed unlikely, but perhaps they might have a spare 37. |
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In fact, our rescue locomotive was a single Brush type 2, class 31, no
D5596. How on earth would a relatively small locomotive cope with a 500
ton train.
With a lot of Noise was the answer! From March to Peterborough the line is virtually level, and so there was no problem. Peterborough to Market Harborough and Leicester was more undulating, which meant even more noise. The big test would come beyond Nuneaton, where D5596 would be faced with the 1 in 100 gradient up through Stockingford to Arley Tunnel. Once we got to the tunnel, we would be home and dry, since it was downhill to Kingsbury, and gently undulating onwards to Birmingham. Now, as a hardened Steam fan, I have a few views about locomotive sounds. They are, quite simply, that nothing can beat the sound of a hard working Stanier "Jubilee" class 4-6-0. But on Stockingford bank on that April evening in 1971, D5596 came pretty close. With the windows wide open, and the loco on full power, the sound was awe inspiring. And so we got back to New Street rather later than expected. |
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Above: A 2002 photo of a class 31 at Doncaster |
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| Postscript. Since 1971, I have witnessed several other instances of splendid running with class 31 motive power, notably on the C.L.C from Liverpool to Manchester (91 mph at Sankey), on the Reading to Leamington line (95mph down Fosse Road bank) deputising for a class 47, and on the North Wales Coast line. | ||||
