Road to the Isles by Jeff Nicholls

At Whitsuntide in 1983 Jeff Nicholls and his family headed off to the Highlands again, this time in a white Fiesta, the untrustworthy Lada having been sold off.

This time the destination was Oban for a week on what seems to me the least interesting of the scenic Scottish routes with relatively little of railway interest once you get there. Perhaps this is a little harsh, but a diet of Class 37s only can get a little monotonous (well, it could then, nowadays it would be like Manna from Heaven!) Interest on the trip would come mostly from visiting two new (to me) depots, Polmadie on the way up and Eastfi eld on the way down. At both depots I was made extremely welcome.

Motherwell Again

Following what was to become a long standing tradition, the first stop was made at Motherwell where my permit was examined by the foreman with an almost total lack of interest, I got the feeling I could have shown him anything and got round. This time I was lucky enough to find three ‘27s’ on shed, two of them side by side in the old steam shed building just asking to be photographed.

By this time I was heavily into 4mm scale so-called Modern Image modelling so I was pleased to contrast two of the ‘37s’ present. 37028 had been refurbished with its buffer beam surrounds removed, front doors fi tted with a bar welded across, oval buffers and split headcode boxes plated over. 37265 on the other hand retained its buffer beam skirts and headcode box unplated, though displaying twin white on black dots. No less than ten of the English Electric Type 3s were present as well as nine Class 20s, four ‘08s’ and a pair of ‘47s’, one of which, 47210, took me down to only fi ve of the class needed for the full set. Counting the aforementioned ‘27s’ this brought the ratio of Sulzers to English Electrics to 5:24. Interesting or what?

Polmadie and my only ‘Real’ Class 06

I had decided to go round Polmadie on the way to Oban and Eastfield on the way back, though I didn’t have a permit for the former depot. Fortunately, the foreman was a very accommodating chap and, as I had arrived by chance at the same time as a small group of enthusiasts, he agreed to

take us all round the depot which I seem to remember was locked. The first loco we clapped eyes on was 06008 waiting its turn for scrap, having been withdrawn almost three years earlier. In another few months it would be cut up on site at the depot. In front of it stood 08730 with its centre wheels removed for attention. These were the only locos that were in photographable positions but inside the depot lay another treat for me - 47273, now I only needed four of the class! Two of my last six in one day was an excellent result. As a matter of interest, my very last one was ex ScotRail 47706, which took me until 1992 to capture, passing through Eastleigh of all places.

Also on shed were a further four more Scottish Class 47s, fi ve ‘20s’, one ‘27’, one ‘37’ and a total of fi ve ‘08s’ but, without a doubt, the star of the show was the diminutive 0-4-0 Barclay, the only member of the class I ever saw until 06003 entered preservation.

And on to Oban and Fort William

The Oban line was exclusively the preserve of the ‘37s’ and, whilst nowadays this might be regarded as bliss, I tended to regard them as usurpers of the Class 27s so wasn’t too bothered about seeing and photographing them. The only photo I took was of 37043 ‘Loch Lomond’ stabled up in the station with the famous McCaig’s Folly in the background. If only I knew then what I know now.........

One of the days of the holiday saw us in the Fort William area where I photographed one of the delights of Scotland that seemed so rare south of the Border, a single Class 20. Working into Fort William on a trip freight was 20148. On occasions this snowplough fi tted 1000 hp machine worked passenger and mixed passenger/goods trains to Mallaig and back. On the small depot at the Fort 37051 and 37081 ‘Loch Long’ waited their turn to work trains to the south.

My first visit to Eastfield

The depot took a bit of finding, being situated in a bit of a rough area, putting it mildly, and we didn’t like to stop and ask directions! The omens for the visit were excellent as the first loco seen before even approaching the foreman’s offi ce was 26002, and the second 47464 which I stopped to photograph as it sported twin snowploughs. At the time, modelling wise, I was suffering snowplough mania and had fi tted virtually all my diesel fl eet with the little yellow adornments - a pair of ‘20s’, a pair of ‘25s’, a pair of ‘26s’, a ‘27’, a ‘33’, two ‘37s’ etc........

Once inside the large depot my permit was greeted quite cordially and I was more or less given the run of the place and photographed 27030 amidst typical shed ’clutter’. The grand total of forty eight locos were seen on the depot, including 40173 which had been withdrawn almost two years earlier and was dumped against some buffer stops. The most interesting loco I wanted to photograph was 37112 which sported Eastfi eld’s special version of wrap round yellow ends, black cab window surrounds combined with small numerals and logos as opposed to the large ones which were beginning to spread slowly across the land. Sod’s Law allowed me to photograph one end only but, interestingly to the modeller in me, it still carried round headed buffers. Another large logo livery loco in evidence was 47712 ‘Lady Diana Spencer’ which, frustratingly, was totally unphotographable.

An hour’s very enjoyable visit to Eastfi eld was rounded off by photographs of 20028, complete with delicious very large snowplough, and 27207 which was making its way on shed as I was leaving.

Homeward bound and a hell of a fright

So ended my third visit to Bonnie Scotland, not as successful number wise as my previous two visits: 113 locos ‘spotted,’ but of these exactly 50 were ‘cops’, so quality stuff!

I wasn’t quite finished with the railways though: driving along the A74, down the Clyde valley, the road twists and turns, following quite close to the West Coast Main Line at some points. Imagine my split second horror then when I glanced in my rear view mirror and found it almost fi lled with the yellow front end of an ‘87’ bearing down on me, or so it seemed, at a rate of knots. It was only a kind of optical illusion but it gave me a bit of a turn. Naturally, I recovered quickly enough to catch the number, just for the record, 87016 ‘Sir Francis Drake’.

37265 stands outside Motherwell depot displaying original style buffer cowlings and round buffers. 4th June 1983.

37028 is inside the depot at Motherwell on 4th June 1983.

37043 ‘Loch Lomond’, complete with snowploughs, whiles away the hours in the shadow of the famous McCaig’s Folly, a monument built during the 1930s to relieve local unemployment. There are some interesting old cars in this view taken on 7th June 1983.

27042 and 27055 nestle inside the old steam shed at Motherwell on 4th June 1983.

20148, with snowploughs, leads a trip working into Fort William on 9th June 1983.

On 4th June 1983 06008 waits its fate outside Polmadie depot along with 08730 which is missing its centre wheels. Discernible under a magnifying glass on the original print, the ‘06’ carries the old British Railways lion and wheel emblem above its number.

This is the number 1 end of 37112 in ‘Eastfield’ livery seen in Eastfield depot on 1th June 1983.

27030 is inside Eastfield surrounded by shed paraphernalia on 11th June 1983.

(BELOW) 47464 stands outside Eastfield depot with withdrawn 40173 in the background on 11th June 1983.

Now that’s what you call a snowplough! 20028 is at Eastfield depot and the question is had it moved since winter?

(RIGHT) On 11th June 1983 27207 moves onto the shed at Eastfield, passing a DMU carrying ‘Trans Clyde’ markings.