DEPARTMENTAL USE

BR found use for three ‘Hymeks’ after withdrawal from service, albeit in nonactive roles. Nos. 7076 and 7096 were sent north to the Railway Technical Centre in Derby, while No. 7089 was sent to Plymouth Laira for use as a carriage pre-heater.

Nos. 7076 and 7096 went north in 1974 after two years in store at St. Philip’s Marsh, Bristol. They were used by the RTC as dead weights on the Old Dalby and Mickleover test tracks until the end of 1982 when they were no longer required. Although they were both in poor condition by then, No. 7076 was able to be preserved using parts donated by No. 7096, which then went for scrap. This led to the remarkable sight of a ‘Hymek’ in the Sheffield scrapyard of Marple and Gillott as late as 1986.

No. 7089 was withdrawn in

May 1973 and stored at St Philip’s Marsh. It was then transferred to the departmental fleet and allocated the identity No. TDB968005, although it is not known whether it ever carried this.

The loco arrived at Laira at the end of October 1974, but by August thefollowing year had been moved to the depot’s scrap line. Somehow, it then went all the way to TJ Thomson’s in Stockton for scrapping, being cut there in February 1976.