A story of a misplaced A4

Andrew Craig-Bennett · Wed Apr 26, 2006 2:35 pm

I am just posting this story so that it is recorded somewhere.

When I was a small boy I would hang around the level crossing near my grandmother's house, between Clacton and Thorpe-le-Soken, which in those distant days was manned, trainspotting. (What one usually saw were BR Standard 7P "Britannia"s). If the crossing keeper was away, a permanent way man was posted in the adjacent cabin. He once told me that there had been an experiment, in BR days, in running an A4 down to Clacton, but it was too long for the turntable, and had to run back to Colchester, tender first, to be turned.

This story seems most unlikely, since even a "running in" A4 would be a very long way from its own shed, on the ECML, but anyway there it is; I thought this bit of original trivia should be recorded somewhere. The Clacton turntable was used for "Britannia" class Pacifics with no apparent difficulty (another trainspotting spot for a small boy!)

Colombo · Post by **Colombo** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 11:46 am

Andrew,

It may be that your friend had mistaken one of the two streamlined B17/5s for an A4. They looked very similar because they were intended to.

The locomotives concerned were 61659, "East Anglian", and 61670 "City of London".

Some of the B17s were fitted with a GER tender to enable them to use the shorter turntables on some of the GER branches. This may also provide a clue to what happened.

Colombo

61650GTFC · Post by **61650GTFC** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:15 pm

On the subject of Locos in strange places I have a photo of a Streamlined b17/5 at Grimsby well away from its normal stamping ground. I guess it must have been on a running in turn after overhaul at Doncaster.

Andrew Craig-Bennett · Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:50 pm

Colombo, I believe that your explanation is the most likely.

If I could find out when Clacton turntable was rebuilt, this would clinch it. I suspect that it may have been a small turntable originally, as the new station was built by the LNER between the wars, and the line was only doubled in 1941 (one would like to know why this was done at that moment!)

If the Clacton turntable was a small one until 1951, the seeming "A4" was a streamlined B17.

Andrew Craig-Bennett · Wed Jul 12, 2006 11:37 am

I've now got a copy of "Great Eastern Engine Sheds". The Clacton turntable was a big one by GE standards - a 60 footer, built when the engine shed was rebuilt in the 20's. It would just take a "Brittania", with two feet to spare (I remember watching this as a boy, but of course I did not realise how delicate the operation was).

I reckon it must have been a genuine A4, after all. There was a period when BR Eastern Region were very keen on improving their outer commuter services, and the publicity value of an A4 on the "Essex Coast Express" would have been considerable. I am going to provisionally date this to the moment in the late fifties when the A4's were being displaced by the Deltics - in the upshot Clacton got the ex-Norwich Brittannias, displaced by EE Type 4's, to replace the B17's which had in turn replaced B12s which had replaced D 16's.

61650GTFC · Post by **61650GTFC** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:03 pm

Bullied Pacifics where tried on the GE mainline in the 50's. An A4 doesnt sound so impossible after that!

Colombo · Post by **Colombo** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:32 pm

The Battle of Britain and West Country Classes were both light pacifics and so there route availability would have been quite high, so I am not surprised that they were tested on the GE section. They are also 4 foot shorter than an A4.

I doubt that it would be possible to turn an A4 on a 60 foot turntable, perhaps on a 65 ft. one, but 70 foot was standard on the ECML depots.

Colombo

Andrew Craig-Bennett · Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:11 pm

From the RA point of view, Clacton was rather good; anything that could get as far as Colchester could get the rest of the way; no significant track works and the line was re-laid and re-aligned in 1941.

Incidentally, Clacton was one of the few stations built by the LNER. They did rather a good job of it, too. The GER could not build a terminus to save its life - dank, gloomy trainsheds - see Yarmouth South Town, or Lowestoft - but the LNER did a good solid job, in late-20's outer suburban style, at Clacton. Not a bad station at all. Unchanged from that day to this.