class 70 questions

[Robert Shrives]

Hi collective !

Just two questions can anybody confirm the size of the hopper windows as fitted to the  70 class towards end of career ? - Allen at worsley works has prepared new drawings and would like to get this spot on.      

Secondly on the cab end the windows as etched might not be quite right they seem to large all round to me and Allen is after an end drawing of the power car so we can confirm and correct if necessary .  

Many thanks in advance.

If you have not seen it check out Darius` build of Allen`s etches, If I can do half as good ...  

Robert  

  

[Robert Shrives]

Hi, Gang sadly no further forward. Translink/ NIR advise the drawings they had are no longer with them. The draws they were in are still extant and labelled 70 class- but empty!   Believed to be with Public records office northern Island (PRONI) who have a search engine designed by James Watt and while it seems to have "UTA diesel train - some papers 1968 " as a listing nothing more useful. This means 252 drawings are some where... Lockdown issues might mean the work has not been added to data base  or they are just dumped waiting attention. 

All I am after is the GA end of the power car and a dimension of the hopper windows esp the dividing bar  - to hopper or otherway so it can be etched correctly.   

 

Robert 

[Galteemore]

You could be right Robert. My student summer job was there 25-30 years ago, and I was involved in writing descriptions for archives as they were catalogued - it can take a while to make them publicly accessible. My favourite one to work on was the Orwellian-sounding ‘Ministry of Public Security’, which wasn’t quite as sinister as it appears....essentially Stormont’s wartime planning dept but it sounds splendidly conspiratorial....

Edited August 15, 2020 by Galteemore

[NIR]

I was there a few years ago doing family history. It's really easy to get access and would only take a couple of hours for anyone in Belfast.

[Robert Shrives]

Hi Thanks for that ! Currently Cov 19 has added a layer of fun to gain access but it is always fun to shovel through old papers, helped save a load of old Ffestiniog railway papers many years ago - gems such as correspondence on horse hire charges from 1850s   and correspondence to old managers about broken slates.

Robert 

 

[Lambeg man]

Is this of any use?

 

I think the cab windows were all the same size. In photographs the right hand one (the driver's window) tends to look bigger because of the practice of painting the frame of this window in silver / light grey. 

Edited August 27, 2020 by Lambeg man

[NIR]

Without scaling the drawing the etch windows are a little too tall within themselves and too big within the etch profile.

Using a vernier to scale my touchscreen(!) the etch windows are 1mm too tall, the middle etch window 1mm too wide and the etch profile 2mm too low over the windows but about right everywhere else.

Edited August 27, 2020 by NIR

[mphoey]

maybe contact the lads in downpatrick they did have one trailer unit before it was destroyed and may have drawings

[airfixfan]

On 8/15/2020 at 5:04 PM, NIR said:

I was there a few years ago doing family history. It's really easy to get access and would only take a couple of hours for anyone in Belfast.

Have been trying since July to do some research. PRONI has reopened about 2weeks ago but what limited slots there are seem to be booked up into October and beyond. Trying to look at the Cooper photo archive of over 3000 photos and only 38 are available online with vague captions!

[Galteemore]

Is that the Cooper photo collection from Strabane? I catalogued some of that in a summer job at PRONI 30 years ago.....it often took a lot of head scratching to work out what many of the images were. There was one particularly impressive sequence which turned out to be the funeral of General Ambrose Ricardo in Sion Mills. I have a vague memory that there were images of the Strabane - Letterkenny line under construction in the collection. 

Edited September 1, 2020 by Galteemore

[airfixfan]

Yes that is the same Cooper collection but trying to gain access is almost impossible! With phone calls and emails being ignored and trying to get a booking to visit is more difficult than seeing your doctor. Just 38 images out of over 3,000 photos are online and they have had this collection for 30 years.

 

[Robert Shrives]

Hi 

To update PRONI have now responded and officer has made request to the paper miners in the opencast mine that is PRONI but it may take weeks for anything productive to appear.  Seems it is not possible to get access regardless of COV 19 to the opencast mine of paper and the officer has to make a request to another department to get another staff member to actually look. - I imagine somebody in a brown smock coat from the 1970s..

Robert   

[Galteemore]

1 hour ago, Robert Shrives said:

Hi 

To update PRONI have now responded and officer has made request to the paper miners in the opencast mine that is PRONI but it may take weeks for anything productive to appear.  Seems it is not possible to get access regardless of COV 19 to the opencast mine of paper and the officer has to make a request to another department to get another staff member to actually look. - I imagine somebody in a brown smock coat from the 1970s..

Robert   

When I spent some time in the late 90s immersed in the English PRO at Kew, it really was blokes in green smock coats who brought you the files....

[airfixfan]

You can book online to visit PRONI for one day per week. After weeks of effort found it easier to see my doctor than visit PRONI once in the 6 weeks it has been open again. A friend of mine was there on Friday, there were 5 visitors in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Security staff stated 12 are allowed each day but usually only 50% turn up.on average.

Edited September 19, 2020 by airfixfan

[Robert Shrives]

Hi  Thanks for that , I suspect the no shows have died ! it takes so long but hopefully your friend had a good time.  I should be able in New year if COV19 etc allows make a trip but until then rely on staff within PRONI to come up with the goods.

Robert  

[airfixfan]

You will be lucky if you get what you want from PRONI. Since early August phone calls and emails etc have failed to even hook one of those limited visitor slots

 Let alone even get any accurate mentions in the catalogue for just 1 large photo collection.!

[NIR]

Sounds like it's changed for the worse. The place was never more than half full, happy to deliver up boxes with uncatalogued contents too. Progress?

I was even in there once when they were going through releases under the 30 year rule a day in advance!

Edited September 20, 2020 by NIR