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.

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

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