THE GREAT ‘08S’
Although not officially part of his trainman duties, Tim Helme still has shunter stories to tell from his Derby days in the early 1990s.
Shunter tales from Derby in the 1990s.
AS a trainman, I did not have much involvement with Class 08s, which is not something I regret, but that is no reason to exclude them from the record. After all, they were always there in the background carrying out their lowly, but no less important, duties.
The reason I do not regret having spent any appreciable time on them is because removing them from their comfort zone of station limits or the yards became directly proportional to the comfort zone experienced in their cabs – that is, non-existent. In short, they were bone-shakers.
I had painful experience of this when I once had to accompany a driver who was taking a Class 08 from 4 Shed to Cockshute Sidings at Stoke-on-Trent, more than 30miles away. Wewere restricted to 15mph for the entire journey, which was torturous – both for us and the relevant signalmen. Doubly so for me, however, as the driver I was paired with excelled in small-talk and there was simply no escape in the cab of a Class 08. I would tell you the loco’s number, but it would seem the resultant therapy, both psychological and chiropractic, has successfully wiped it from my memory.
I did, however, fare much better than a colleague of minewho was tasked to bring No. 08434 Midland from Tinsley to 4 Shed. He was booked to return via the ‘Old Road’ to Chesterfield, then on to Derby, again at 15mph. But there had been a points failure at Treeton Junction, so he was forced to retrace his painful steps back through Tinsley and ultimately Sheffield. After picking his way around all the passenger trains, it turned into an epic 13-hour odyssey for him. To add insult to injury, I do not recall No. 08434 ever being employedwhile it was at Derby.
If that experience was not enough, the same chap also landed the rather laborious task of playing nursemaid to four Class 08s stabled on Shed Side one Christmas Eve. As a precautionary measure against frost, and to keep them ticking happily away until Boxing Day, he had to spend part of his shift hand-pumping fuel into the header tanks of each of them by means of the in-cab lever located on the left-hand side of the driving desk. He ended up with arms like Popeye, and it was not a merry Christmas for him.
“Tinsley to Derby turned into an epic 13-hour odyssey”
In the late 1980s, Derby had 19 Class 08s allocated to it, covering locations and duties as diverse as BREL Loco and Carriage Works, RTC Sidings, St Mary’s Goods Yard, Etches Park Carriage Sidings, north and south end station pilots, and Burton and Toton trippers. One was even loaned to Leicester, which had lost its allocation pre-1989, but as locations closed or businesses acquired their own shunters, this number had dwindled to nine by 1990 and five by 1994, namely: Nos. 08536, 08690, 08697, 08956 and the ever-present 08899 (all dual braked).
Withdrawn Class 08s that may have been seen in Derby during this time were Nos. 08838 (1991-94), the previously mentioned 08434 (1991-94), 08814 (1993-94) and 08604 (1994).
Company or privately-owned Class 08s included Nos. 08417, owned by Serco and based at the RTC Sidings; 08602, on hire but later sold to Adtranz Litchurch Lane (latterly Bombardier) in 1991; and 08846 at Litchurch Lane between October 1989 and October 1993.