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Derby

A Railwayman's View - BR Midland Region by Peter Collins > Derby
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Images 1-8 of 8 displayed.

LPPC DSL BW 0494 A Swindon Class 120 awaits its next duty on the stabling lines next to Derby station in the early 1970s. Despite having been designed and built at Swindon exclusively for Western Region use, by the early 1970s the requirements for such units on the that region had greatly reduced or changed in character so it was common to see them in the Midlands and as far north as Crewe. The Midlands-based trains were deployed on services radiating from Birmingham, Derby and Lincoln providing comfortable cross-country travel mainly across the East Midlands, so this set could be heading either west or east on its next diagram
LPPC DSL BW 0493 Despite having been repainted into rail blue, in Summer ’73 this 350hp Class 08 shunter still retained its original number, 3426, albeit without the ‘D’ prefix. It was later to become 08536 but before that it is here shunting carriages outshopped from the works at Derby including a BG Full Brake and a Post Office sorting vehicle, a type of coach becoming quite rare on Britain’s railways as ever-increasing amounts of traffic were being lost to road.
LPPC DSL BW 0500 Already attached to a brake-van, 350hp Class 08, resplendent in a new coat of rail blue courtesy of Derby Works and with its revised TOPS number 08925, waits during February/March 1974 to be moved back to its home depot of Springs Branch Wigan. On the left is a Stanier-style LMS Full Brake, its corridor connections having been removed and sealed off. Overhead is the long footbridge used by decades of works staff and occasionally eager trainspotters on open days. Most of this has now completely gone, replaced by a retail park.
LPPC DSL BW 0501 Whilst waiting to come off the TMD at Derby to take up its duties, English Electric Type 1 Class 20 number 20005 ticks over sounding like a slightly muted Class 40, both types constantly revealing their power-units’ EE origins. It is time for a shift change at Derby BREL, as can be seen by the pedestrians on the long footbridge connecting the works to the outside world. The internal tracks and sidings are still controlled by the typical Midland Railway signal box on the left. I hope the medieval-looking ladder propped up next to it isn’t used for anything serious. I well remember crossing the bridge with a lot of other spotters in huge anticipation of what we might see, having arrived from St Pancras behind a rebuilt West Country Pacific 34031 Torrington on an Ian Allan special in 1962.
LPPC DSL BW 0340 The Peaks were maids of all work on the Midland Lines and here a Class 46 number 46018, which was at this time allocated to Cardiff Canton, waits on the goods lines adjacent to Derby station with a lowly freight service waiting to head south. The footbridge was well-known by enthusiasts lucky enough to be granted access to Derby Works. For many years the pilot-scheme diesels 10201-3 were stored here in the open after withdrawal. To the right and behind the loco is Etches Park depot and in the far background on the right is the British Rail Research Centre. Standing outside are a Baby Deltic and a Warship locomotive, long since past their sell-by dates but used for experimentation and testing by the Centre. The NSU Prinz 4 rear-engined saloon, in front of the Triumph 1500 in the car park, is a slightly left of centre choice of small car in this period before we joined the EU.
LPPC DSL BW 0341 In comparison to the scruffy Class 46 on the previous page this Peak Class 45 (possibly 45030) is immaculate as it strikes out to the south from Derby station with a fast ‘North and West’ route, now called Cross-Country and run with inadequate rolling-stock, service to Bristol and the south-west identifiable by the inclusion of new Eastern Region based Mark 2 rolling stock in the train consist.
LPPC DSL BW 0499 In late 1975 the telephoto lens reveals two-thirds of the Derby British Rail Technical Department’s motive-power allocation slumbering away on a Sunday afternoon. Whilst the Warship could be referred to as a successful and representative express-passenger diesel, it would be difficult to describe the Baby Deltic as anything like! Matters were compounded with the fact that the other third of Derby’s fleet was none other than a Co-Bo D5702. Sadly, the Baby Deltic was the only one of the three not to end up preserved. So now a replica is being created.
LPPC DSL BW 0339 As can be seen, there was clearly a second track through this station at one time. In fact, it is difficult to believe and not helped by the drearily dull day, that this was a station on the main route from London St Pancras to Manchester and anything from Midland Compounds through Royal Scots to Peak diesels would have thundered through on that lifted track. The station is Matlock, which was closed for some time before local campaigners forced BR’s hand into reopening just this section, from what was the famous triangular junction station at Ambergate on the Midland’s Sheffield line. By this time all the stopping points had been reduced to unstaffed halts.

Images 1-8 of 8 displayed.