Diesel Hydraulics around the Western Region.

This took place on the 20th September the evening of the day after the State funeral of our late Queen Elizabeth II. Prior to commencement attendees shared a moment of respect in acknowledgment of her lifetime of service to the Nation.

Swindon based Joe Turner spent much of his S&T based career locally, predominantly at Didcot and Swindon, and had an extensive knowledge of the Western Region hydraulics (and a particular affection for the Class52 Westerns).  His narrative described in some detail how the semi-autonomous Western Region had opted for the lightweight and higher power to weight ratio of Diesel Hydraulic traction over that of alternative diesel electric types such as were then being introduced elsewhere.

Despite the initial build of five North British D600s (Class 41) that the BTC ordered for comparative evaluation and were into WR traffic from January 1958 rather than the lighter D800s -based upon the German Federal Railways type V200s- that the WR favoured, the D800s (Class 42 and 43s) were soon being built under licence at BR Swindon and NBL and followed into traffic from 1958 onwards and pioneered the way for the other mostly successful hydraulic classes 22 (D6300s), 35 Hymeks (D7000s) 14 (D9500s) and the legendary Class52 (D1000s) Westerns.

Joe’s slideshow comprehensively illustrated all of these classes and liveries during their working (and post working) BR lives both across and outside of the Western Region whilst describing some of the technical challenges sometimes faced by the staff engaged in keeping them running.

This was an excellent presentation (despite the best efforts of a somewhat temperamental slide projector) and we look forward to a further visit from Joe covering his Class 52 enthusiast exploits and time at Swindon Works in the not too distant future.