I don't know what it is about the attraction that scrapyards provide to many of us. Perhaps it is the unexpected chaos of such places, contrasted against the well oiled machine that the railways normally presented (well most of the time!). Or perhaps it was around the scrapyards that many long forgotten memories were/are invoked, of favourite locomotives remembered from much better times (those rose tinted glasses again!). Or it simply could be that its much more fun to take something apart, especially if cutting torches and sledge hammers are involved.

Hopefully you won't mind the inclusion of views depicting locomotives other than the Class 24/25's. The initial idea was just to include the Sulzer powered locomotives that ended their days at the various Railway Workshops, but in wandering through my own photohraphs and of those acquired from others over the years it seemed a pity not to include the other classes that were scrapped alongside the Sulzer powered locomotives.

Derby Works

Any photographs that were originally included on these pages at Derby Works have since been transferred to the pages that take a close look at Derby Works.

Swindon Works

Since most of the organised visits to Swindon Works took place on a Sunday this was not the easiest place to get to by rail from Derby when having to take into account the challenges of Sunday timetabling and the ever present engineering works. It was not until a driver's license and a car were available that Swindon Works became more easily visited. I've probably forgotten how many times we ran up and down the A38, A452, A46, A429 & A361 on these trips, and probably a few other routes when we got lost or diverted!

My first recorded visit to Swindon appears to have been on a cloudy November 6th 1976 when the Works contained many Class 52 Westerns and some Class 24's. Like most trips to the Works it started out by going through a gateway, under the mainlines and then up alongside one of the main shop buildings before entering the main erecting shop area. Swindon's workload at this time focused on diesel multiple units, refurbishing of Southern Region electric multiple units, Class 03 & 08 overhauls and repairs to hauled stock. After passing through the erecting shops it would be out into the yards where much stock and locomotives could be found, usually awaiting scrapping. Then it was back through the areas that looked after the diesel multiple unit repairs/refurbishings

November 7th 1976

Although mostly an overcast day the sun did shine whilst we were in the erecting shops, giving a little extra light to the view below. Also present in the erecting shop and probably ignored by most was Vale of Rheidol No.9 Prince of Wales, probably the oldest piece of active rolling stock in Works at that time.

Out in the yards the sun did break through the clouds to provide a little extra light every now & then.

It's a dull Sunday afternoon, November 7th 1976, how about a game of golf? a movie perhaps? or a walk down the beachfront with the girlfriend? No, none of this is acceptable, lets drive a hundred miles to slog round a scrapyard full of oil, grease, rusted metal, broken glass and who knows what else. And fill a book full of numbers from places no one has heard of, eat cold sandwiches & pop and photograph things like this, the remnants of the inside of a Class 52. And tomorrow I put on my shirt & tie and become a banker for the next five days............

In the above view the indicator blind on the front of the locomotive shows '72' which some (including your webmaster) may have taken to indicate that this locomotive was 1072 Western Glory. More learned enthusiasts would know that the locomotive in the photograph could not be 1072 because the photograph shows one of only five Westerns equipped with the experimental square ventilator grille on the cab front. These were 1012, 1028, 1039, 1056 & 1071. Additionally 1072 was only withdrawn on November 2nd 1976, five days before the photograph of 1012 was taken. Withdrawal for 1072 came at Bristol Bath Road and the locomotive was utilised at the end of November in the making of a safety film concerning rerailing. It would be towed away from Bristol on February 24th 1977 on its last journey - to Swindon Works.

In the above view is 25016, the last of the three ex-Tinsley allocation that had been stored at Barrow Hill for a while before being towed down to Swindon for scrapping. 25017 & 25020 had already been broken up, 25016 would be gone by year's end. Apart from the Class 25 the locomotives awaiting scrapping were all of Classes 24 & 52. Tucked away in the lines in the yard were the last two LMR examples of green liveried Class 24's: 24092 & 24136. On this day they were not parked in positions conducive to decent photographs, especially to highlight their faded green livery!

January 23rd 1977

The next trip to Swindon was on a truly overcast day, January 23rd 1977. The locomotives in the Works were still dominated by the withdrawn Class 24's & 52's. Vale of Rheidol No.9 was still present and PWM 652 had been recieved for repair.

April 3rd 1977

A springtime visit to Swindon was made on April 3rd 1977. Again the withdrawn Class 24's & 52's predominated but now the Works was receiving Class 08's for scrapping. Also recently arrived were 08111/117/119, all withdrawn from Gloucester depot during February 1977. They would be converted for Departmental use and renumbered ADB968012/010/011 respectively. These might not be considered a great success since they were broken up at Doncaster Works during 1979 & 1980.

The dismantlers at Swindon had been busily working through their supply of scrap locomotives, meanwhile the likes of Laira & Crewe had been sending more locomotives for disposal. So it appeared the total number of locomotives on Works for each visit seemed reasonably constant, just the individual locomotives were changing!

Of great interest on this visit was noting the demise of four of the locomotives that had been stored at Reddish for a while before being brought down to Swindon for scrapping: 24005/20/21/24. Unfortunately this batch of four locomotives contained the first built Class 24, D5000 (24005).

Rejected by the National Railway Museum in favour of a re-engined Class 31, the pioneer BR/Sulzer Type 2 No.24005 succumbed to Swindon's cutters during March/April 1977. A pile of scrap, seen here on April 3rd represents the remains of one of the cabs. Still just visible under the blue paint are the numbers D5000 & 5000.

June 12th 1977

The next trip down to Swindon was on June 12th 1977, another hazy day with patches of weak sunshine. The mix of withdrawn locomotives was still dominated by the Class 24's & 52's. However the good news for Swindon was the arrival of Class 08's for overhaul, also on this visit there were two former BR shunters receiving repairs (2267 & 2333).

March 7th 1978

Two views from Bryan Johnson from March 7th 1978 - it looks like Bryan had some good weather on this visit!

April 30th 1978

There was a long break until the next trip to Swindon on April 30th 1978 - since this trip also visited Eastleigh and Reading this may have been a coach tour with one of the enthusiast groups. The locomotive classes at the Works remained constant, Class 08's for repair and Class 08's, 24's & 52's for scrapping. The DMU repair shops were not visited on this trip. It looks like this was another visit when the weather was mostly wet!

Swindon Works Open Day - May 19th 1979

The Open Day on May 19th 1979 was my first visit to this type of event at Swindon Works. However the content of the Works had changed somewhat since my previous visit. The familiar lines of withdrawn Class 24's & 52's were now gone, the only withdrawn locomotives on the Works were Class 08's. The Workshops were filled however with repairs to Class 08's, diesel multiple units and Kent coast Southern Region electric multiple units in for refurbishing.

January 13th 1980

The visit on January 13th 1980 found the Works with a similar content to the previous visit during May 1979, except the Works weren't quite as full. One challenge for the number collectors was the renumbering of the refurbished SR Kent coast EMU's from the 71xx series into the 411xxx series.

March 1st 1980

The visit on March 1st 1980 was quite an eyeopener with the Works responding to a need to put back into service a great many of BR's diesel fleet that had been sidelined awaiting repairs. As well as the Class 08's under repair, there were two Class 25's receiving attention, soon to be joined by other classes that would never have previously been repaired at Swindon historically.

March 30th 1980

Not sure why, but two trips were made to Swindon during this month! The position was relatively unchanged from the March 1st visit, but two Class 31's had been received for repairs. And the erecting shop seemed chock full with Class 08s.

August 10th 1980

The summer of 1980 opened up a new chapter in the events at Swindon Works and this visit on August 10th 1980 gave a clue as to what the future held. The Works was still busy with Class 08 and diesel multiple unit repairs. Unclassified repairs were still taking place to visiting Classes, at this time 25218, 45023 & 45053 were received for repairs. However elsewhere in the Works were three withdrawn Class 25's and at least one Class 46 that would herald the reawakening of Swindon as a location for the storage and disposal of retired locomotives.

46012 was an early casualty in the run down of the Class 46's. A cracked frame led to withdrawal from Laira in July 1980. The locomotive was quickly moved to Swindon, seen here on August 10th 1980, by October 1980 46012 had been scrapped.

October 26th 1980

If the visit on August 10th 1980 had provided a very brief glimpse of future events, then this visit on October 26th 1980 suggested the floodgates had been opened and the arrival of condemned locomotives from many parts of the country was well underway. Scattered about the Works were stored and withdrawn examples of Classes 08/25/31/40/45/46. Some had travelled a long way, such as the Class 25/0's from the Scottish Region, whilst examples of some of the other classses would leave the Works and be reinstated.

June 6th 1981

June 6th 1981 celebrated the Works Open Day, for the number takers the locomotives to be viewed certainly filled many a page. But the vast majority were just biding their time awaiting component removal and then scrapping of the remains. There was still a proliferation of Class 08's under repair, as well as some private owner shunters, but it was the sea of withdrawn/stored locomotives that probably drew the attention of many of the visitors.

Former Cricklewood based 25114 awaits in the yard on June 6th 1981 for the cutters, the wagons behind the Class 25 are already filled with recogniseable bits of locomotives. This was one of the Class 25s to have the boiler room grille sheeted over, just visible at the far end of the locomotive. 25114's stay at Swindon was brief, withdrawal had come in February 1981, the end would come a month after this view, in July 1981.

Many of the Class 46's were pulled from service in full working order and after a period of storage at Swindon returned briefly to further service. One such machine was 46007, seen here on June 6th 1981, which was returned to service in November 1981 only to be finally retired three months later. And who is that young enthusiast in front of the locomotive?

Glasgow Works

For your webmaster of all the BREL Workshops Glasgow was the most challenging to visit, mostly because of its distance from Derby and the consequent funds needed to get there. Getting to the Glasgow area was not to difficult if using the inexpensive day excursions from the East Midlands to Edinburgh, but these trips could never be synchronized with trips going around the Workshops.

June 29th 1978

The first visit to Glasgow Works came at the end of a camping tour of much of Scotland. After the delights of visiting the more remoter parts of Scotland to capture the Class 26/27's in action, the navigation of some of the grittier parts of Glasgow to reach the railway workshops provided quite a contrast. Of course on this first visit things didn't start out too well, either we showed up on the wrong day or the permit had been prepared wrongly. Fortunately after a little negotiation the visit went forward after a guide had been found for us!

The Works provided a cross-section of all the smaller classes (Classes 06 - 27) that worked on the Scottish Region. The only Type 4 on the Works was the dismembered remains of 40072 which had just been broken up.

It was not a pretty day, very overcast with rain in the air, so this was typical of many of our works visits except it was the beginning of summer.

May 17th 1980

The next visit to Glasgow Works took place on May 17th 1980 as part of a railtour starting at London Euston. It was basically an out and back slog up and down the WCML, with either a day out in Glasgow or an organised visit to the Works & Eastfield, if interested - and many were! 85004 provided the traction in both directions.

One remarkable aspect of the day was the glorious sunny weather. This certainly helped in photographing the contents of Glasgow Works, mostly Classes 08/26/27 with a couple of Class 25's present.

October 4th 1980

This was another railtour up the WCML with again either a day in Glasgow or an organised visit to the Works and Eastfield. It looks like the clouds opened up from time to time to provide some sunshine for the photographs.

May 16th 1981

Yet another slog up and down the WCML for the standard organised visit to the Works and Eastfield. The good weather that had been with us on the previous two visits to Glasgow did not join us this time. Instead the heavens opened at several times during the day, making for a very soggy trip, especially the walk around the Works yard! The content of the Works was definately reduced when compared to the previous visits.

June 27th 1981

This was my last visit to Glasgow Works, part of a week's tour of Scotland to show my wife part of her heritage. When the trip was planned it was not immediately realised that Glasgow Works were having their Open Day at the same time, but once the dates fell into place the opportunity was taken to attend the Open Day.

Doncaster Works

Doncaster Works was easily reachable from Derby by train, even on a Sunday so trips to the Works occurred reasonably early in my spotting days. Regrettably those early visits were made without a camera so the memories can only be found through my notebooks or other peoples views.

May 2nd 1976

The first visit which produced photographs that were useable and that I still have occurred on May 2nd 1976 and appears to have been an organised trip by one of the enthusiast groups. Typically the Works was filled with many Eastern Region allocated locomotives under repair. Also present for scrapping were several Class 24's including 24070 & 24095.

Two more Class 03s were awaiting scrapping on May 2nd 1976 in the shape of 03091 & D2173 whilst in the background 5901 awaits its demise. D2173 had been withdrawn from Hull Botanic Gardens in November 1973! 03091 had been retired almost as long, having been taken out of service during March 1974 from Bradford Hammerton Street, the only depot it was ever allocated to. 03091 was the first TOPS numbered locomotive to be withdrawn. Both these shunters would be broken up during March 1977.

June 13th 1976

The next visit to Doncaster Works was on June 13th 1976, this one was by train so we had to make the lengthy walk from the station to the Works entrance. The Works contained the regular mix of Eastern Region locomotives and was continuing to recieve withdrawn Class 24's from the Scottish Region.

October 23rd 1976

On October 23rd 1976 a visit was made to both Doncaster depot and the Works, the depot would frequently hold the recently arrived Class 24's from Scotland until they could be transfered to the Works. On this day there were seven Class 24's on the depot: 24010, 24017, 24097/99, 24125/126/127 as well as several Class 31/0's sent up from Stratford for scrapping.

On the Works were more ex-Scottish Class 24's as well as 25015 which had been sent up from Derby for scrapping.

February 20th 1977

This visit saw little change since the one in October 1976, some of the locomotives dumped at the depot had been moved to the Works as well as the arrival of 24110/118/119/129, some cutting up had taken place.

August 7th 1977

The Works was well filled with locomotives under repair on this visit. All the Class 24's seen on the previous visit had been broken up, those awaiting scrapping on this visit were: 24069, 24094, 24104, 24112/113, 24120, 24130. Also on the Works was D5500 undergoing restoration for a place in the National Railway Museum at York. In rejecting the original Ckass 24, D5000 it is recorded that the NRM desired a locomotive built by private industry, which is fair enough, but did that include returning it to its original state with a Mirrlees, Bickerton & Day 12-cyl JVS12T engine?

October 23rd 1977

The visit on October 23rd 1977 found just two Class 24's in the Works: 24009 & 24147, they had spent quite a while stored at Carstairs. 24009 was also one of the last to receive a repair and repaint at Glasgow Works.

Withdrawn from Haymarket during July 1976 24147 spent over a year in Carstairs shed keeping company with the local pidgeons. Finally removed to Doncaster Works, 24147 is seen here on October 23 1977. The locomotive carries the unusual cab roof headcode housing, similar to the Class 25/1's but without the horn receptacles. Within a month 24147 would be gone.

December 18th 1977

A pre-Christmas visit to the Works, in very gloomy conditions found a further selection of ex-Scottish Class 24's awaiting their fate: 24007, 24014, 24072, 24090, 24108.

Stored & withdrawn during the great purge of the Class 24 fleet during the summer of 1975 24007 spent over two years in the deadlines at Carlisle Kingmoor. Movement to Doncaster Works occurred during December 1977, (seen here on 18th). Shortly after the New Year 24007 would be no more. The cabs of 24072 sit to the right.

December 10th 1978

Almost a year would pass before we returned to Doncaster Works, by this time all the ex-Scottish Region Class 24's sent to Doncaster had been broken up. The Works infact contained few withdrawn locomotives on this visit, of note was 40051 awaiting scrapping.

May 6th 1979

Similar to the previous visit the cutting activities on this visit were minimal.

August 5th 1979

There was hazy sunshine present for this visit to Doncaster Works. The only Class 24 present on the Works was 24061 which had been received from the Research Center for an engine swap. Another locomotive which had spent a while at Derby was 74010 which had arrived for scrap along with three Class 71's from the Southern Region: 71004/10/11/13.

April 12th 1980

Although the scrapyard area was empty the Works contained several locomotives with collision damage.

October 5th 1980

This visit was made as part of a railtour from London Marylebone to Barrow Hill Open Day and a visit to Doncaster Works. Activity in the scrapyard area was limited to several Class 31/0's being scrapped.

November 23rd 1980

This visit was part of another railtour from Watford to Manchester and across the Pennines to Sheffield & Doncaster. The general activity at the Works seemed greatly reduced, the only locomotive in the scrapyard area was parts of 40040.

January 18th 1981

This would be my last visit to Doncaster Works and apart from the regular mix of Classes 03/08/31/37/50/56 it was all rather quiet, there being noting in the scrapyard area.

Page added September 18th 2001.
Page updated June 1st 2020.

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