10. Bristol Temple Meads-27.07.77

THE ARCHIVE FILES > Archive-1977 > 10. Bristol Temple Meads-27.07.77
I took the train to Bristol and spent a day at the station. I only took a few pictures but my notes appear to show that I collected a lot of numbers.
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Images 1-4 of 4 displayed.

Nameplate, 45006, unidentified working, Bristol Temple Meads station The arrival of a 'namer' was always a cause for some excitement. They always seemed to carry a bit more kudos within the spotting fraternity. This is the attractive nameplate of 45006 'Honourable Artillery Company' sitting in the sun at Bristol Temple Meads. It would have been heading a regional NE-SW working of some kind, does anybody have any further information? Looking at this image, you can almost hear the Sulzer engine running a little unevenly, as they did at idle, with its side panels vibrating whilst waiting for the 'Right Away'!
Class 25, unidentified working, Bristol temple Meads station Whist class 25s did chunter about on the Western Region, they were not frequent visitors to the Bristol area. Again, no number is recorded for this one but I seem to remember that it was on a parcels working of some kind. Note the loaded BRUTE trolleys on the adjacent platform and the end of an ex. Southern Parcels van. These two platforms were permanently shut to passenger trains at this time. Today, I suspect Temple Meads would be crippled if, what are now platforms thirteen and fifteen, were out of use!
Nameplate, 47484 unidentified working, Bristol Temple Meads station The Western Region named a number of its class 47 allocation. As well as carrying the names of biblical figures and mythological gods some had names associated with its GWR heritage. 47484 was an ETH locomotive and, as a namer, was a bit out on its own as the majority of the others were steam heaters. The nameplate is huge as shown in this image taken at Bristol Temple Meads.
45003, going on-shed, Bristol Temple Meads station Another broadside of a Peak at Bristol. 45003 is seen waiting to go on-shed after being removed from a train in the station. Behind this 135 ton engine is Temple Meads Loco Yard Signal Box. As its name suggests, it controlled entry and exit into Bath Road Depot and was kept pretty busy due to the high number of locomotive movements throughout the day. Just as an aside, I always thought the the Peaks were so named because of their appearance. In my head I convinced myself that they they had got peaked ends; makes sense doesn't it? Only some years later did I realise that it was because of the pioneer class 44s being named after UK mountains!

Images 1-4 of 4 displayed.