Tinsley Class 13s
 

Does anyone remember the Class 13 shunters used at Tinsley marshalling yard? They consisted of two Class 08 shunters somewhat modified and permanently coupled together. I believe they were built to cope with the unique hump shunting conditions at Tinsley but I'm not sure about this. For some reason, although I was living quite nearby in Chesterfield, I never went there to see those unique locomotives. Obviously I regret that now as the pictures of them in the Ian Allan books always fascinated me. They were withdrawn in the 1980s. The Wikipedia entry on the Class 13 is quite short so I wondered whether any members had more information or memories of these locomotives?

I too was fascinated with the class 13s. There were only 3 of them and I think one of them was already withdrawn by the early 80s. Just wish I'd visited Tinsley when it was a proper yard and depot. In the 1980s it was (in terms of loco allocation) the 2nd largest depot in the UK after Toton.:)

it would be nice if someone recreated one on a preserved railway. having said that i suppose they havent got the money to buy a loco then chop it up. but i would have thought that there must be some class 08 bodyshells out there that could be cosmetically made to look like a 13

I thought I'd read somewhere (a while ago) that there was a group wanting to re create a class 13.

My Dad was a self employed lorry driver and would often get work to Sheffield, so in the school holidays I would regularly travel with him and get dropped and get dropped at Tinsley. By the time I started getting interested in railways 13002 had already been scrapped but I saw the other two in action (in fact I uploaded a photo of 13003 into the gallery bit last night).

Great, thanks for the photo.

Hi Ive just joined. I used to make the journey from my home town of York to Tinsley many times and regularly saw all three in action. Watching them was a rather surreal experience: they never quite looked right to me but they were great to watch all the same.

Hello Shunterfan and welcome to the Railway Forum.

The Class 13 (A Tinsley TIC CLass which BR Accepted without batting an eye)

two class 08 shunters one with all controls removed and the desk plated over the cab was removed and the loco ballasted to be the same weight

the loco (as a unit) was then controlled from the remaining centre cab

but as far as I am aware there were not independent throttles for each engine
watching these from the bridge was a little daft as they went over the crest of the hump and seeing the wagons running away down different roads

Personally
I would have designed these like a pair of 20's normally ran and left both cabs in place and had separate throttles for the engines

Hello Shunterfan and welcome to the Forum. Very nice to have your memories of these locomotives thanks.

Gray - yes, I always wondered why they chopped the cab off one of the engines but it may have been something to do with centre of gravity or traction? If I remember correctly, the slave unit was additionally weighted with concrete so that the combined unit was something like 120 tons.

Not sure of the weightings IanRail but that sounds right
I did find on RM Web of which I am a member it's a pretty good description of someones conversion of Bachmann 08's and also someone elses photo's of Hornby 08 conversions and there are kits avaialbe to make them too

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/ind...-class-13-pt1/

was trained on the 13s whilst i was at tinsley(think it was the thought of driving them that made me transfer darn sarf).god the hump shunt was a boring job you had to switch your mind off or you would go barmy.nobody did a full 8hr stint on them we had spare men to relieve you of the ordeal.no 08 or 09 was a pleasure to drive but the 13s and the work invovled were a punishment

Hi Shunter fan and welcome to our forum. Good place to be
Cheers
Phil

When I started at Millerhill in 1980 the down hump was still in use, I agree with poggie man, it was mind numbing work.

All the shunting work was in the accomodated link, drivers with medical conditions etc which meant they had to be doublemanned. Every driver on the down hump pilot took their PNB in the "Alpha", a pub 5 mins walk away :D

There used to be 6 shunting locos at Millerhill, now there's one on hire to Network Rail who now own the yard. Early '80s there was the down hump pilot, down yard pilot, four in total in the up yard, two general pilots, reclamation pilot and "McPhee's" pilot (the Pway shunting job).

I remember 'spotting' in Tinsley many times in the early eighties when a bus fare from Sheffield Victoria cost 2p for u-16s - happy days those were!
On every occasion we would see the class 13 shunters, but never did I see one moving! Rarely did I ever see a human being about the place except other spotters. The only time I actually saw anyone who worked there was when we were actually inside the shed (illegally) taking numbers and were shouted at by a foreman, at which stage we legged it. For such a big and important shed it was very easy to walk into and take a look around.
I recall one dreary day seeing a class 13 outside the shed, with one of its headlight doors (+ thick bullseye lens insert) lying on the front of the engine while it was undergoing some minor maintenance - ashamedly I put it in my bag and took it home! My brother still has it somewhere and he won't give me it back.

Found this on facebook... Can't vouch for it's authenticity though. Nothing about it on the North Norfolk Railway website...

Important Press Release from the Weybourne Traction Group:

The Weybourne Traction Group are pleased to announce support for a new build heritage diesel locomotive to be constructed at the North Norfolk Railway.

Absent from the railway system for nearly 30 years, a new build Class 13 Master and Slave shunter will be created in the workshops at Weybourne. Utilising the railways own class 08, D3935, and a recently acquired additional class 08, surplus to requirements at another heritage line. The locomotives will be modified and overhauled, before being outshopped in BR Blue with the number 13101, recognising some of the modifications against the original design to be made, including air braking.

Tim Insley, spokesperson for the project commented "We have been given the opportunity to recreate one of the diesel world's most unusual locomotives, and we look forward to seeing the first locomotive with a Weybourne worksplate".

Work on modifications to D3935 are currently being undertaken, and the additional 08 will be fully overhauled and modified upon its arrival at the railway. The work is expected to take around two years, with the engine expected in traffic around the start of April 2015.

Could be a wind up ?:mad:

The spokesperson was Tim Insley = T Insley = tinsley.

Coincidence ?:D

Did you not notice the DATE

April 1st :D

I was a secondman at Tinsley in 1970's. I sometimes crewed on them if (for example) they had radio problems. I drove them as part of shed duties i.e. from bottom shed to top shed or onto maintainence roads. Cabs were removed for sighting purposes and as control was solely from rear the contol deck was not needed. Apart from independant battery isolators and a parking brake all running controls were from the rear cab. Slave unit was ballasted across front buffer beam with heavy steel plates. They used vhf radio callsign 'Tinrail alpha/bravo/charlie'. They were real dogs to ride on - typical 08 - hold on and try not to fracture your spine :-) Occasionally we used a class 47 with slow speed MGR equipment and a hand held radio, but they were useless. Due to constant load change they could not hold the set speed. They were though very special and added to the experimental diversity of early diesel traction. I don't have any personal photos as all mine were lost in a messy divorce in 1990, but I had pics of derailments on the hump, deltics at Tinsley and 47601 - class 56 prototype which I worked on. Happy days.

They cut the cabs off for visibility from the master cab, they were originally positioned cab-cab

They were rebuilt at Darlington works In 1965, the extra weight to 120 tons is correct, they had especially heave buffer beams to make this weight.

13001 was originally D4501 and was made from D4190 (master) & D4180 (slave)
13002 was D4502 (D4187m + D3697s)
13003 was D4500 (D4188m + D3698s)

they were withdrawn between 1981-85