A Class 25 and a mishap on Stoke Road

Hopefully in the next few days a Class 25 kit from Steve Beattie will be arriving and the victim for resurrection in model form this time is 25058 which made fame in 1987 by trying to fly. This Class 25 /1 was coupled to 25313 and was about to run 10 Trip to Oakamoor with the second raft of returning MTV 's and HJV empty hoppers when a failure occurred on the loco at Cliffe Vale and the train was diverted into the empty engineers siding in North Western Yard by the Power Box at Stoke.

So the purpose of creating this thread is not to record a build which in essence is very similar to the current Class 24 one but to highlight the build differences between these kit versions for anyone that is interested, later on I shall purchase the Class 25/3 to compare body detail differences. All this will have to wait in a line as the next Steve Beattie loco heading for the bench will be the new Class 21 NBL MAN Type 2 number D6122.

 

What's nine numbers between friends.

 

Ah it was the Glebe Street bridge which was a major culprit for reducing the PMT fleet by several high bridge deckers... I think one of the first was the Daimler MCW demonstrator H500 REH 500 to cop for a new roof followed soon after by a Leyland Orion PD3. Even Berresfords managed to guillotine one of their ex Wigan Corporation Leylands as late as 1980.

 

I think it was brakes Toto but a day or so after being re railed 058 was back in service again.

 

Well I was going to do 25 313 which was coupled to 25 058 when that mishap occured, now 25322 is Tamworth Castle... do we have any records to say say this loco went down the Churnet or up the Cauldon prior to 1988? Now Steve is doing a bit of an upgrade on some of the castings which is what I'm hanging on for with the 25/3 kit I want, so I'll have to see if I can justify buying two the same.

 

I knew you'd say that

 

My Steve Beattie Class 25 kit arrived this morning, there's no need for photos as this kit is very similar to the Class 24 in how the etches look but basically this will make a 25/1 variant and later on it seems I'll put an order in for two more 25/3 kits. Now take a peek at this Mr Sollis just look at how the stack of diesel kits have started to grow and that doesn't include the rest of the kit stash. Plenty plenty for you to see when you get here

 

How true and it seems there is no known antidote to cure it either... and by my reckoning based on our convos another five Sulzers will be heading my way over the next year. Moral of this story Clive if you are reading is ADDICTION ADDICTION ADDICTION is everything.

 

Hmm interesting, at the time as I recall (not involving politics) but the railway as was then the NSRC missed out on several Class 25's by bidding low on complete examples some of which ended up at Vic Berry's and one that went to a railway down south. We need to remember in those days people were paying silly money for these engines and Scrap Sales were milking the proverbial cash cows of preservation for every pound note. Then along came a certain financially well appointed gentleman with a spare 19K and the last working example in the form of 25322 was saved, all other remaining 25's by that time were just engineless sheds beyond sensible restoration. The only other half worth saving Sulzer 2 loco's were the remaining MacRats many of which were running with cabs rotted out.

 

Again without being political PO was putting in low bids around the £1200 mark ... I think one was 25057 and another was 25235... didn't get it, others he chased ended up at Berry's and didn't even stand a chance of getting since there was some sort of package deal going on then. The big spend was Duncan who also bought a raft of Mark 1 FO's, TSO's and a BSC he also bought that BR Standard 4MT which he soon sold on to Riley much to the chagrin of Cake Latham et al.