Heart Beat TV series
 

G'day,
Last nite I was watching the idiot box and surfing the channels for something worth viewing.
I came across an episode of Heart Beat, which I do occasionally watch.
Unfortunately, the episode was almost concluded when I chanced upon it.
Greengrass and some other joker had pinched a soot belcher to go stomping along the track.
Naughty Claud.
I don't recall having squizzed this particular episode before.
I only caught a partial glimpse of the soot belcher.
But, the first numerals were 907.
It also had a red semi-circle name plate above the central drivers which I could not discern.
OK, me Pommy BR soot belcher book tells me that the 907 numerals belonged to WD 2-10-0.
How so ever, the specific soot belcher in the episode did not look long enough to be a 2-10-0.
Was this supposed to be an Evening Star look-a-like ?
Them 9F beasties having 92000 onwards numerals according to me book.
The tender shape also didn't look like what I remember being on the Minitrix Evening Star N gauge model that I once owned moons ago.
OK, I did guzzle some grog with tucker, so me eyesight was a tad impaired.
Hopefully somebody out there will recognize this episode of Heart Beat and enlighten me.
I am reminded of one of me most fav flicks; The Titfield Thunderbolt.
And also the Royal Train episode of Dads Army.
Steve.

See here https://www.railwayforum.net/showthread.php?t=9064 and here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5GRDRe8UJQ

The railway sequences in Heartbeat were filmed at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. A look at the NYMR's Wikipedia page shows that a wartime Austerity 2-8-0 loco, no. 90775, was based there at one time. Could this have been the one you saw?

That's the one, based at the NYMR and named Dame Vera Lynn. Moved to the North Norfolk Railway in the early 2000's, currently in traffic and carrying the name The Royal Norfolk Regiment.
The number it carries is the next one in sequence, the British Railways ones went up to 90774.

Cheers John

From memory the locos used on Heartbeat at the NYMR were usually ex-NER J27 No.65894, ex-GWR 56XX No.6619 & Ex-SR S15 No.30841. It is quite possible that it was WD 2-10-0 No.90775, which was based at the NYMR for a time, but I don't remember it on the programme off the top of my head.

Tony

Hi John,

3672 'Dame Vera Lynn' is still at the NYMR; 90775 is a different member of the class & is now at the North Norfolk Railway. 90775 was first preserved at the Mid Hants Railway, running in Longmoor Military Railway livery as 601 'Sturdee' before moving to the NYMR for a time and then to the NNR.
Incidentally, both of these locos were repatriated from Greece for preservation in the early 1980s.

Tony

Thanks Tony.
Trouble is with these WD locos they are far too common, and get everywhere, just like the Black Fives!!!

Cheers John

Recently these early episodes of Heartbeat have appeared on YouTube, I have just watched this one: Heartbeat “We’re all allies really.” The programme begins with LNER Class N2 0-6-2T 69523 pulling into Aidensfield. 90775 has THE Vera Lynn on its nameplate, I suspect it is to fit in with the theme of the show. She did not get a damehood till 1975, and that loco would have never run in service for BR, but then authenticity doesn’t normally bother them. There has been an A4 and some BR Standard Class locos, most are too obscure to determine what they are. SR School Class 30926 “Repton” appeared clearly although a SR loco would be unlikely to be on LNER territory in reality.

There are only 3 of the 2-10-0 version of the Austerity in the UK.

The ex military one from the Longmoor Military Railway, named Gordon, is in the Severn Valley Railway engine house.

2-8-0 8F WD, In my Ian Allan they are numbered 90000 to 90732 then under that Vulcan. Any idea what that refers to?

The last one built was named Vulcan when new, because it was built at the Vulcan Foundry .


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WD_Austerity_2-8-0.

Thanks Philip, you can usually find things I can't.

G'day All,
Crikey, copped some responses to me question.
I will hafta wait until I am next at the local library to snavel the Heart Beat episode from You Tube.
Did WD soot belchers possess a different shaped tender to normal BR soot belchers ?
I vaguely recollect now that I have squizzed an image of a WD soot belcher in the forum gallery.
But, cannot remember what it was.
Finding episodes of Heart Beat on the idiot box here is a hit and miss affair.
Naturally all repeats that are only hurled on occasionally.
Steve.

The tenders of the WD 2-8-0 and 2-10-0 locos were certainly of a different shape. They were manufactured under wartime conditions – had to be purely functional and employ the minimum of materials. In most other types the engineer produced tenders following his own sense of style, complementing the loco design and perpetuating his company's traditions.

There is a video on YouTube about the WD 2-8-0 on the Keighley and Worth Valley railway.

Don't worry, the first little bit is silent.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chenz0xF3NE


PS Steve, can you listen to sound in the library ? If not have you got any headphones ? Most computers have a 3.5mm stereo headphone socket.

I believe some austerity 2-8-0 had a self weighing tender, but I have no idea why, or what a self weighing tender was used for ?

I read somewhere that some WD’s were purchased just for their tenders, typically I can’t find it now – I have this problem in supermarkets.

G'day All,
Time at the library is of a premium when I am there.
Multi-tasking.
I grab video clips downloaded from You Tuber etc to view at home later.
YES, can't make noise viewing video at the library.
And, I don't bother to cart earplugs.
Depending upon library server usage, it can be much faster to download a video clip than view it.
Cart it home on me usb stick and jam that into me media player at home to view.
A self weighing tender, HMMM.
Might be something to do with what I squizzed in some LMS training video clips.
ECONOMICAL usage of coal and water by crews.
Also BR management whinging about the cost of coal and water consumed.
Crews overloading the bunker with coal which might tumble off enroute and snot cattle on platforms.
Or chatting and not watching the water column spurting excess water out of the tank.
We did adopt track weighbridges here, but not for locos originally, only cargo.
Then more recently static weighing for entire trains trundling along.
Plus, WD soot belchers might have had to trundle over light pound rail in foreign lands.
So, would be handy to know just how much weight was on the tender axles.
Steve.

Have to be quiet in the library...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJn-Kr1E4HM

Tony:D

935 of the WD Austerity 2-8-0s were built between 1943-45. After WWII 200 of the locos were purchased by the LNER, becoming class O7 & a further 533 were purchased by the British Transport Commission in 1948. Together with the ex-LNER locos, the 733 locomotives were numbered 90000-90732 by BR, the last of these No.90732 was named 'Vulcan', after the Vulcan Foundry where it was built.
None of these ex-BR locos survived, but No.79257 has been preserved at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway & given the No.90733 - the next number in the BR sequence. This loco had been returned to the UK having seen service in Sweden post-war.

The 2-10-0 version of the WD Austerity had the same power output as the the 2-8-0, but with the added driving axle gave the locos a lower axle loading, therefore a greater route availability. 150 of the 2-10-0s were built between 1943-45 and 25 of these were acquired by BR becoming Nos.90750-90774. As with the 2-8-0s, none of the ex-BR locos survive, but three locos are preserved in the UK, plus one in The Netherlands, and a handful survive in Greece although some of them are dumped and derelict.
No.600 'Gordon' (originally No.3651) is preserved at the Severn Valley Railway and it's entire career was spent in WD service, latterly at the Longmoor Military Railway.
Nos.3652 & 3672 saw post-war service in Greece before being repatriated in the early 1980s. No.3652 moved initially to the Mid Hants Railway and was restored in Longmoor Military Railway livery as No.601 'Sturdee', before moving to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway where it was repainted into BR livery as No.90775 - the next in the BR numbering sequence. 90775 later moved to the North Norfolk Railway and has since been named 'The Royal Norfolk Regiment'.
No.3672 was returned to steam at the Lavender Line, Isfield and named 'Dame Vera Lynn'. No.3672 also later moved to the NYMR where it is currently awaiting it's next overhaul.
No.73755 'Longmoor' is preserved at the Nederlands Spoorwegmuseum in Utrecht.

Tony

G'day All,
Finally at the local library and have attempted to snavel the Heart Beat episode from You Tuber.
Copyright problems preventing such a caper.
And, me other you tuber video downloader mob is now banned by library security.
But, I have finally had success, Thankyou Mr Putin.
I shall view the clips in detail at home.
But, from a quick squiz, yes the soot belcher is numbered 90775.
I actually snavelled another episode of Heart Beat featuring a soot belcher, dubbed Playing Trains by accident first.
Don't recall having squizzed that episode neither afore.
Yes, the book worms are silent in here today.
Steve.

G'day,
Now having viewed the Heart Beat you tuber segment at home, I am prompted with another question.
HMMMM.
As soot belcher 90775 hurtles along, Rowan the copper sprints along on his motor bike to the station.
Up to the signal box he runs yelling at the pointcop to "pull down" the signals.
There is a run-away train approaching.
The pointcop reaches for the frame and pulls off a signal to CLEAR.
We indeed squiz this lower quad semaphore go to CLEAR.
Back on the footplate, the joker with Greengrass espies the signal at CLEAR and yells DANGER.
Danger the train must stop.
And he hurls out the anchors in a flurry of sparks to stop the soot belcher.
HMMMM.
Has somebody in the production team got the difference betwixt upper quad and lower quad semaphores wrong ?
YES, I am aware that interlocked signals remain at STOP until a train is accepted to approach.
Hence, having the signal displaying CLEAR to then be put back to STOP would be a stretch of the rules.
As this run-away train was not in accordance with the WTT.
But, at least would be more accurate for the purposes of the drama.
If however the intention was to not have the rampaging soot belcher go past a stick at stop, HMMMM.
Surely, rustling a puffer billy would incur a larger infringement than going past a stick at stop.
Sorry, but I tend to notice such anomalies.
Don't get me started with the Hollywood blockbuster Unstoppable.
Steve.

Saw that Steve, I thought that type of signal was only used on the GWR???

Others did use lower quadrant signals in the past including the LBSCR, the LSWR, the LNWR, the GNR and the NER - the signals on the NYMR are the North Eastern Railway type. I believe that after grouping in 1923, the LMS, LNER & SR all favoured upper quadrant, but some of the older signals survived for a long time if there was no need to replace them.
As for Heartbeat, I'm sure it's a bit of misunderstanding or artistic license for dramatic effect, although I often wonder if the Railway's representatives point out the inaccuracies and get told to mind their own business by the film company!
And I'm sure that stealing a locomotive is a much worse misdemeaner than passing a signal at danger but perhaps their conscience kicked in & thought they need to observe the rules of the road!

Tony

Thanks Tony I didn’t know that. My dad once said that if a rock and roll yobo cut the wires the signal would go to clear, but Steve said they are counterbalanced to go to stop. (My dad had a low opinion of the younger generation.)

Signalling equipment is designed to be fail-safe. Although some of the early apparatus was flawed, accidents soon revealed the shortcomings and these were designed out, so semaphore signals will return to danger if the operating cable/linkage is removed.

There is always a possibility that a signal might be drooping, or half-showing, but as you might expect, any signal not showing correctly has to be interpreted by a driver as being at its worst state, ie Caution for a distant or Danger for a stop signal.

Similarly with colour light signals. If one is not displaying an aspect, by Rule Book definition it is at Danger.

BW.

Further to the above post, here's a real-world example of saggy signals. We used to have a job which didn't go all the way to the sea, but turned a Down train back towards London in the peak. The reversing movement was controlled by a semaphore shunt signal, one of only 2 on the whole network as everything else has been modernised to LED signals.

Anyhow, this signal was cable operated by a run of about 500 yards, and it didn't like the hot or the cold. Consequently when you were sat in the Down platform waiting for the cattle to get off, the bobby might sometimes call you and tell you to contact him/her on the radio once you'd gone beyond the shunt signal and changed ends to do the shunt.

And sure enough when you'd got to the other cab you would see that the dod (shunt signal) was half way between On (horizontal) and Off (45* up). Because this was incorrectly showing the bobby was required to assure you that the points were set correctly into the Up platform and the signal was Off, even if it didn't look like it.

It's that old chestnut. Provided that you had come to a clear understanding, you can still work with poorly performing gear (and there's plenty of that around).

BW

I guess that is the beauty of Autonomous trains.
No signals necessary.
And no hogger to get the wrong information.
Wonder how they would factor an autonomous train into a series of Heart Beat.
A viral computer has caused a run-away.
NAH, dosen't have the same viewer impact.
Bring back the good ole days.
Steve.

Stumbled across a programme on UKTV: “Bangers and Cash” I had watched the first two series and it seems they have made a third. It concerns Mathewson’s Classic Car Auctions in Thornton-Le-Dale, Pickering, near the NYMR station. The episode I watched saw the auction of a Post Office van that had appeared in Heartbeat. The owner had supplied all the classic cars used in the series he was based in Durham. He sold several cars that had appeared in various TV programmes, but the PO van was the only one from Heartbeat. He wanted to sell the ambulance complete with all the life saving gear that had appeared, but Mathewson didn’t think it was the sort of thing the customers would be interested in. The episode I watched started with a Black Five (?) pulling into a station, as normal it was difficult to make out what it was. It had a name plate, I think the number was 45438, the NYMR website doesn’t help.

It would have been 45428, named Eric Treacy. The well known Bishop of Wakefield and railway photographer.
The Moors also have another "5" 44806. Also 44767 George Stephenson ran there for a while.

Cheers John

BW have all the semaphore signals gone now?
I had never heard of him John – Don’t know how I miss these things. Not sure I am altogether happy about naming or un-naming locos. Never saw much point in David Shepherd naming that Standard “The Green Knight,” celebrating a person is maybe acceptable. I had a brief glimpse of 44806, when passing Carnforth, painted green and named “Magpie” that had me baffled for years.

Hi Hereward,

Some semaphores still survive on the main line network on the secondary & more rural lines - the main lines with the highest volumes of traffic are almost certainly semaphore-free these days. Down here in Hastings we still have a handful of semaphores covering the entry & exit at the east end of Hastings station, although the main lines from Hastings to Tonbridge and Brighton have now lost all their semaphores.

Bishop Eric Treacey was the Bishop of Wakefield and was also a railway enthusiast. He sadly died on Appleby station on 13th May 1978 whilst waiting to photograph a steam special over the Settle & Carlisle line, hauled by BR 9F No.92220 'Evening Star'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Treacy

As for No.44806 being named 'Magpie', this was in connection with a children's TV programme called Magpie - it was ITV's answer to Blue Peter. As the BBC had a connection with a steam locomotive named 'Blue Peter' (LNER-designed A2 No.(60)532), ITV wanted to do the same. Of course, there was no locomotive in existence named Magpie so No.44806 received the name, although I'm not sure how No.44806 came to be chosen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magpie_(TV_series)

I'm with you that I'm not a big fan of previously un-named locos being named in preservation, but of course it's not my decision!

Tony

G'day,
Yes, I am back again to waffle on about another Heart Beat episode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU-8sDcpHHs
This time, the episode that I grabbed from You Tuber by accident.
Dubbed; Playing with Trains.
Having perused the episode in full, I did enjoy it.
An infusion of The Great Train Robbery, Train Spotting, and Time Team.
The soot belcher this time is an 0-6-0 numbered 65894.
And, it appears to be slipping, so I assume climbing a hill approaching the signal.
Hereward, take a gander at how and where the villains cut the signal cable.
HMMMM.
Yeh, I am nit picking again.
HA!
But, the principle displays how a lower quad returns to Stop when interfered with or fails.
The counter balance arm having pivoted down returning the signal arm to stop.
One assuming the stick is actually returned to stop from the signal frame in this instance.
Naturally, the Yorkshire producers would not wanna pay to repair a damaged signal cable.
And, as BW states, signal cables can expand and contract due to temperature and age.
Most signal frames have a cable tensioning dingus to compensate for any sag.
And, when the villain climbs into the cab, where is the fireman ?
OK, a train crew stopped out of course at a signal must attempt to contact the pointcop.
So, I can accept that the fireman has gone hoofing to find a circuit phone.
Poor Greengrass doing all the effort digging up a Roman coin horde only to loose it to the property owner.
Kids out train spotting, something that you rarely see these days.
They would need to be night owls here.
Nothing much rattles through here during daylight, except the Rocket to Dubbo and return.
Ah, bring back them good ole days.
I am mainly thumping this to ask another question.
This time, not about the soot belcher.
The song heard after the opening, Good Day Sunshine, is that the Beatles or Tremeloes version ?
I have a sneaking suspicion that it might be The Tremeloes.
One of the reasons that I do enjoy Heart Beat, the background music.
GO the 60s when you could understand all the lyrics of a song, and tap yer feet to the beat.
Steve.

It’s definitely not the Beatles Steve, Paul McCartney is unmistakable. Listening to the Tremeloes and that one I’m not sure, but then I am not much good at that, I didn’t realise “A Whiter Shade of Pale” was J.S. Bach until told. McCartney owns the rights to Buddy Holly’s songs he must have made a fortune from Heartbeat, the show is played 15 times a week on one of the ITV channels, but they are the later ones, not so good without Greengrass. Sixties music has stood the test of time, even my kids reckon it is the best. I reckon it’s the music the cars the nostalgia, the fact that three stories are going on at the same time make the show universally popular.

Thanks Tony, this must be the most informative forum on the net.

And all this has spiralled from a single question about which steam loco appears in a TV programme!

Looking into the surviving semaphores in my part of the world, I think these 3 brackets & the handful of shunting signals are the only semaphores on Network Rail in East Sussex, and quite possibly Kent as well. The rest of the Marshlink line between Hastings & Ashford is all coloured light signals, the Hastings-Tonbridge line (including the Western end of Hastings station) switched to coloured light signals when the line was electrified in 1986, and the East Coastway line from Hastings to Brighton via Eastbourne lost it's remaining semaphores in 2014 - the last of these had been around Bexhill, Pevensey & Westham, Willingdon Junction (near Eastbourne), Polegate and Berwick.

Sorry, can't help with the song question though Steve - I know the Beatles original version but I don't think I've heard any of the others.

Tony

Yes it is a shame when the original cast of a good tv series vanish.
But, nothing endures for ever.
Just like semaphore signals.
Other than semaphores utilized by hysterical mobs here, I doubt that many remain on the dinkum network.
Colour light type, especially LEDs, are much cheaper to employ and maintain.
Plus are generally much more visible to train crew.
I would like to find Rod Taylors time machine to take a trip back to the 1960s - 1970s.
At my age now, I would not need to worry about winning that lottery like I did when concluding school in 1972.
Thankfully I was able to cast my first political vote for Gough.
And, he kyboshed the draft.
Consequently No khaki or 303 for me.
But, being able to attend that 1964 Beatles tour of Oz would be bonzer.
Especially when they lobbed into Adelaide in Croweater country.
A guestimated half of the city population turning out roadside to greet them.
Steve.

Well Steve, it still exists, so you can. One like it featured in an episode of the The Big Bang Theory where the proponents bought it accidently on Ebay. The show's production wanted to use the real thing, but its owner Bob Burns wouldn't hire it out to them.

I was very impressed by that film when I first saw it as a teenager, and always watch it again when it comes round.

It has a great storyline if you're into SciFi, but perhaps as a youngster I might have been slightly swayed by Yvette Mimieux ? (Whom I have just discovered from Google, was the first woman to show her naval on American television). Go girl!

Cheers, BW

G'day BW,
I don't watch the Big Bang Theory.
But, the original Time Machine was bonzer.
I didn't think much of the stupid remake though.
Bob Burns probably wouldn't loan the real McCoy because of the diamond tipped throttle dingus.
A bare naval, hmmmm, might hafta dig out the DVD to view later.
Trouble with going back to 1964 to see the Beatles down-under tour, where the heck am I gunna find Pounds and Shillings.
I doubt the promoters would accept our modern day stupid one and two dollar coins.
And, I also doubt that I could get through the barrier gates at smog hollow Central station with me Opal card.
Steve.

Back in the day I had a few dates with Julie Andrews (no not that one) she said a youth club in her town had wanted to engage the Beatles, but they wanted £30 plus their clothes cleaned, the club couldn’t afford it. I usually put a zero on the back of these figures for a better idea of what the figures would be today. Still not the telephone number fees they would command a few months later. Later in the 60’s I recall Mick Jagger saying: “We don’t do one night stands anymore, after all the expense is taken away you are left with about £200, not worth the bother!”
I went to a dance in the Channel Islands in 1964, the Hollies were playing. I reckon the booking was made before they had become well known. I took this girl home and when walking back passed the ballroom Allan Clarke came out with two guitarists, I was treated to a free session when following them down to St Hellier.
One of those Heartbeat episodes is about a hillclimb car race, some farmers objected to the noise; one chopped a tree down across the road and poured pig slurry for the cars to skid out of control. Can’t help but chuckle thinking this could be Aussiesteve, he isn’t keen on the Bathurst races. Well the forum is quiet.