Deltics...Renumbered?

[Rassy]

Hi everyone,

I have been trawling the internet & talking to numerous people about 55020 Nimbus......and I have uncovered some strange news about 'a' Deltic, but can't confirm if it is Nimbus.......

Should I write it here or start a new thread????

[pre65]

Originally Posted by Rassy

Hi everyone,

I have been trawling the internet & talking to numerous people about 55020 Nimbus......and I have uncovered some strange news about 'a' Deltic, but can't confirm if it is Nimbus.......

Should I write it here or start a new thread????

Why not here ! Seems the logical place.

[Rassy]

Are you sitting comfortably?.....yes?....Then I shall begin!

First I emailed several different departments of the MoD to verify the Ashchurch story. They never replied.

Then I spent hours & hours searching th internet and found nothing new. Apart from a man claiming he saw 55020 run light engine through Derby station in 1992.

Then I spoke to my great uncle who is a retired engine driver. He said he didn't know anything about it, but he had an old railway friend who worked at Swindon Works as an engineer. This morning my uncle called to say he'd spoken to his pal and this is what he had to say:

A year before the Deltics were due to be withdrawn, BR offered the entire fleet to a number of foreign railways. Shortly after the Doncaster Works 'final gathering', a single Deltic was selected from the fleet and shipped to mainland Europe. He does not know which Deltic or the specific foreign railway it was sent to, but he is 100% sure that a Deltic definitely went abroad.

A few weeks after it's arrival in Europe, the foreign railway in question took one look at the beast and decided not to purchase the whole fleet. As a result, BR brought forward the offical Deltic scrapping date, and the rest as they say, is history.

But this is the really interesting bit.....my uncle's friend swears blind that BR did not ship the Deltic back to blighty for scrapping because the cost would be treble that of the scrap price. It sorta became a white elephant for BR and lay abandoned on a foreign railway for 5 years until it was purchased by a 'private owner'. This, he is also 100% sure of.

Before you say anything, please remember the man who told my uncle all this informaion is 86 years old and was struggling to remember all the specific details. I pressed my uncle for more information but that was all he had to say.

My question is: Is there anybody on this forum who worked at Doncaster works around this time, or in the BR offices who can confirm this story?

[62440]

So why didn't "The Foreign Railway In Question" do what the Dutch Railways did BEFORE they purchased the class 77's, and send the relevant people over to see and experience the Deltics in action on their own stamping grounds? It would have been much cheaper than supposedly shipping a loco abroad. And it would have made your tale that much more believable than the load of old cobblers you've come up with this time. Your story is full of holes, not least of which is the bit about the final gathering. The "Whole Fleet" did not exist at the time of the final gathering, scrapping was well under way and had been since the first withdrawals.

Fallin' about Laffin', 62440.

[pre65]

There was the 4000HP diesel HS4000 that BR sold to Russia in 1971.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_HS4000

That's the only one I could think of.

[Rassy]

Originally Posted by 62440

So why didn't "The Foreign Railway In Question" do what the Dutch Railways did BEFORE they purchased the class 77's, and send the relevant people over to see and experience the Deltics in action on their own stamping grounds? It would have been much cheaper than supposedly shipping a loco abroad. And it would have made your tale that much more believable than the load of old cobblers you've come up with this time. Your story is full of holes, not least of which is the bit about the final gathering. The "Whole Fleet" did not exist at the time of the final gathering, scrapping was well under way and had been since the first withdrawals.

Fallin' about Laffin', 62440.

Dude i'm just telling you what someone told someone I know, that's all! He's an 86 year old who spent his entire working life on the railways...so what does he know? I'm so glad you came along to straighten him out.

[garrat]

I think pre65 has it the locomotive called "Kestrel" is what went not a Deltic 62440 is also correct I was at the last Deltic gathering and some had already gone to the cutters torch.

[62440]

Rassy! DON'T Call me DUDE!
Please stick to the forum protocol, 62440 is my "Handle".

As far as I am concerned, the only person getting straightened out is the person who put hearsay on here and expects us to accept it as fact. The cutting up history of the Deltics was published way before the internet came along or any of the I.T. stuff. People used to visit Doncaster Works and see these machines being cut up, some would visit on a weekly basis, photographs would be taken, the evidence exists. Please keep these flights of fancy to yourself, you do your own credibility no good at all.

62440.

[garrat]

In the latest steam railway mag There is a book advertised called "Shadows in the steam-The haunted Railways of britain" and guess what Nimbus is mentioned .

[Deathbyteacup]

You guys don't get many trolls on here do you?

A troll is somebody who intentionally spends time going against the general concensus, posting in a controversial (and sometimes insulting) manner, with the sole intention of trying to provoke reactions out of people on internet chat rooms, forums, online video games, etc. etc. for either their own ammusement, or because they're completely insane.

I would suggest Mr. Rassy here may have signed up for this reason and, as such, I would stop giving him any air time, otherwise it'll go on forever.

--------------

On the topic at hand though, I have to admit the idea of a ghost train, while lying here in the dark on my laptop, is quite a thought provoking one. I think trains are one of the few objects that kinda work as a ghost story because to some they're so full of life, and when they die they do seem to be "dead".

I would love to read more on the topic.