BR Standard Class 5MT 4-6-0 73029 73029 stationary at Hounslow - photograph copyright John Bird
Email from Paul Cooper :
Email response from Alan Goodwin : If it of any use to Mr. Cooper I can provide him with some of 73029’s workings during the last five weeks of steam, which brings me to my request. For some years I have been recording as many steam workings as I can from those last five weeks, i.e. from the 5th June 1967. Your website is one that has been very useful to me. If Paul Cooper, or indeed, yourself and any of your colleagues or contacts with diaries or photographs of that time could provide me with any information I would be extremely grateful. I probably have most of the Bulleid workings as they were pretty well photographed and documented, but there are many gaps in the Standard locomotives work, especially those Guildford ballast jobs (hardly surprising). I guess there wasn’t as much interest in them at the time.
Jim Rowe and John Bird exchanged notes about 73029 in 2008 - here are extracts: (John Bird) I am not sure that we have any other 73029 photos which are definitely from the dates you mention, but you may already have seen the photo on the page below which was taken on June 30th- a few days too early. See Last Gasps of Southern Steam (Jim Rowe) I admire so much from the steam days. You may remember that I wrote to you some 20 odd years ago to use some of your pictures in a booklet I put together for Basingstoke depot and it's Aslef branch. We had previously spoken in the middle '60s, at the end of the platform at Basingstoke, about steam, different locos and their demise. Now, to the picture. Thank you for sending it. No, I hadn't seen it before. I've now looked at the 1967 calendar and yes, it would have been the week prior to the end of steam. It's strange how time blurs the memory, but I really thought it was the final week. With hindsight, it was probably my last days on steam and I was very likely on nights the following week, involved in shed duties or on a 33/73 turn. (No diary entries). It's very unlikely that 73029 did the same duty the following week. So, the picture taken on Friday 30th June 1967 was my last main line steam working. (1980s special trips excluded). In the picture, I reckon that we have only just arrived at Hounslow as I'm looking back at the Ground Signal to confirm to Reg that we are clear. I've not yet changed the headboard and tail lamp over, which would be my next job whilst Reg reversed 73029. It also looks as if the smokebox number has gone but I really can't remember that being missing, only that she was a fine stead. Reg would usually let me take the regulator after Farnborough on the way down, as far as Shawford, to avoid any prying eyes at Eastleigh. It was great to feel the ease in which the class 5 hauled a heavy loose coupled freight train. Oh, happy days! Although the turntable was out of use at Feltham, we did try to get a bit of coal from the hopper early in the week, to assist with the crane and tub facilities at Basingstoke. However, it was mainly dust and we managed without it all rest of the week. The return Q working was tomato traffic from the Channel Isles as recall. All that work and with one locomotive and crew!
Ralph Hornsby (retired railwayman) has written from Thailand saying: Very shortly after re-visiting the Nine Elms website this morning, and having paid particular attention to the item regarding 73029, it was by sheer chance that I came across a photograph of this locomotive on the internet. The website concerned is :- 'Doc's Pictures' . The photograph shows 73029 standing on Basingstoke shed at some time during July 1967, the smoke-box number plate is very clear, but is one of those that had been manufactured by a fitter (Ron Cover I think). The author of the photograph has also included photographs involving locomotives, 80152, 82029 and 82019 being prepared at Nine Elms on the last day of steam, for their final departures from the shed, sad recollections indeed.
Ralph Hornsby has written again:
Geoff Bannister photos
Last, but not least, is one of John McIvor's images, in which 73029 is a pilot engine to 34023 on a working near Haslemere on the 18th June 1967.
The image by Keith Lawrence shows 73029 working a set of carrs from Fratton whilst passing by Guildford shed on the 9th July 1967, 30072 and 34108 are also seen being prepared at the time for their final journey. The shed allocations for the duration of the life of 73029 are as follows:-
1952 28A/24E Blackpool Central Ron Petrie has added some more detail: 73029 was the last in the first batch of 30 class 5s 4-6-0 locos built at Derby under works order No 5122. 73000-73028 from April to December 1951 and 73029 in January 1952. 73025,6,7,8 and 9 went to the Midland Region (24E) Blackpool.
On 9/9/63. 73029 was at Weymouth when the loco shed changed from WR to SR also the shed code (71G) to
(70G). Eastleigh changed (71A) to (70D).
Here is an image by Bill Wright of 73029 near the end:  73029 on a down cement train passing Eastleigh on 5th June 1967.© 2010/1967 Bill Wright
Here is an image by Phil Brown of 73029:  73029 at Basingstoke, July 1967.© 2010/1967 Phil Brown
Brian Aynsley has described his last steam trip before the end in July 1967 - was this 73029's last revenue earning run? The pictures below were taken by fireman Les Golding, on my last day of steam working, Friday 8th July 1967. We were working the 1934 from Basingstoke to Waterloo, (1838 from Salisbury). All the week we had been lucky to have a good selection of West Country and Merchant Navy class engines, but on the last day when we were really going to have a go, 73029 turned up. She was a weak machine and we never got above 75 MPH anywhere on the trip. What a disappointment! I have been looking at the various pictures of 73029 and I am puzzled. In my book "Through the ranks on the Southern" I said that 73029 was painted green, in the picture of me holding a feeder it certainly looks green. However, in most of the other pictures it does not look green. Was it or wasn't it?
Alan Newman has emailed to clear up the paint scheme issue: I would like to confirm 73029 was certainly painted green, and was so for all its time on the "Southern". The only other green BR "5" allocated to a Southern depot was 73093. The other "Green" standard loco's on the Southern were 82006 & 82020 both ended thier days at Nine Elms.
Ralph Hornsby has emailed: Bryan Aynsley when writing about his turn of duty on the 8th July 1967 with 73029, has posed the question regarding the livery of the engine. Alan Newman has responded by saying that she was in green livery. This is supported by Mike Morants photograph of 73029 being prepared at Nine Elms on the 18th June 1967 prior to her working an RCTS tour, as quite clearly she is in green livery. Thus given the impending demise of steam, it would be perfectly reasonable to suggest, that just 20 days later on the 8th July 1967, that she was in the same condition, and that Bryan Aynsley had a green standard 5 on his last steam working.
Roger Carrell has emailed: I concur with Alan Newman - the ‘orange-black-orange’ lining being the give-away - only applied to green engines while grey-black-grey was applied to black-uns only.
Nigel Whitwell has emailed: Just a further note regarding the above - I can confirm what Alan Newman and Ralph Hornsby have said regarding Standard '5' 73029: she was definitely lined green, and Standard '3' 82006 was also green (but unlined, as I have intimated previously); of the other locos mentioned by Alan, 82020 and 73093 I cannot confirm whether they were green or not, I tape-recorded the latter on an up parcels climbing Upwey Bank but she was very rundown at the time. However, I seem to recall there was a further green Standard '5' on the SR, at least for a period, and that was 73092. Is there anyone out there who can confirm this?
Jim Rowe writes:
Re-reading the information on 73029 and the 'green' livery, I always believed she was green, under the grime. As for 73092, she was definitely green, and it showed. I'm fairly sure that she also had the whistle mounted behind the chimney. Searching for information, I found this:
www.asterhobbies.co.uk/graphics/Standard_Five/BR-Standard-Class-5.pdf
Alan Goodwin has emailed: Regarding Nigel Whitwell’s query about 73092. I travelled behind this loco in March 1967 and it was definitely green under the grime! There is a pdf download on the Aster hobbies 5MT web page showing all the locos of this class that carried green livery at some point, this being a compilation table of the information obtained from the RCTS book 'BR Standard Steam locos Volume 2.' As well as 73029 and 92 it lists (among many others), end of Southern steam locos 73018, 73037 and 73093, although I am fairly certain these reverted to lined black before the end. Brian Aynsley’s run with 73029 on the 18.38 Salisbury to Waterloo would have been on the 7th July as this was Fridays date. On Sunday 9th, as recorded in Keith Lawrence’s lovely photograph, it worked the 09.47 special empties from Fratton to Clapham Junction and then light Engine to Salisbury. So how did it get from London to Portsmouth on Saturday 8th? My best guess is that it worked the 03.40 vans from Waterloo to Woking and then the 05.10 vans from there to Portsmouth, stabling at Fratton for the trip back to London on Sunday morning. If anyone can confirm this I would be very grateful. Lastly, with apologies, the hair splitting bit. I suspect that Phil 'Doc' Brown’s photo of 73029 on Basingstoke loco was taken prior to 18th June. It has the first replacement front number plate with plain numerals, but after piloting 34023 on the tour from Waterloo to Fareham on the above date it was fitted with the Great Western style plate at Eastleigh loco. Les Goulding’s (7th July), and Keith Lawrence’s (9th July) photos show that it carried this plate to the end.
David Element has emailed: I am intrigued by the correspondence about BR Standard Class 5 liveries, in particular as I had been planning to produce an 'O' gauge model of 73093 in (very heavily weathered circa 1967) BR black! Having looked at your web site I now realise that I might be making a mistake if I do this. I only ever saw 73093 in a filthy state and had no idea that it had ever been outshopped in green livery - indeed I didn't know about 73029 until years later. I might need to change my plans and model 73065 (another example with a BR1C tender and always black) instead. As my only photograph of 73093 is a very poor quality black and white image taken in 1967 I would be interested to know whether this locomotive had received another repaint into black (?fully lined/with or without boiler band lining) after 1960. Having looked at the information on the Aster web page some it would seem that repainting would probably have occurred with a frequency of every 2-4 years - in which case it is likely to have been repainted at least once more before final withdrawal. I would have seen seven of the 'green' locomotives listed by Aster without realising that any of them were painted in this colour although it is possible that some (if not most) had been repainted into black before 1966. It would appear that 73029 and 73092 did retain green paint up to the end according to your correspondents. I do know that there was some 'smartening up' of the smokebox door straps of 73093 as they were painted white during the final days in service. By the way, I have just discovered that the original front numberplate of this locomotive is currently up for auction (£920). I can also confirm that there is a photograph of a 73037 in Jeffery Grayer's 'The Summer of 67' (Kingfsher Productions) confirming that it was definitely in in black livery during 1967, so I can at least confidently reduce this total by one! There may be more to this than meets the eye and I wonder whether anyone might be able to confirm that 73093 did indeed end its days as a black locomotive.
Geoff Burch (ex Guildford fireman) has said: Berni Knibbs and I were discussing green BR 5MT Standards last night and agree with him that the only two that I ever fired on were 73029 and 73092 (not 73093).
John Hyde of the Steam Archive emailed: Regarding the interesting correspondence on the liveries on Southern Region BR standard locomotives I can confirm that 82006 was in green unlined livery when I photographed it at Clapham Jct on 24/8/1966. Also 82021 carried the unlined green when photographed passing Rugby LE on its way to its new allocation at Nine Elms on 4/5/1965. Regarding the questions about 73093. I cannot confirm that this loco carried lined green, but when photographed on 8/1/1964 climbing Hatton Bank, the clean lined black livery suggests that it was not long out of shops.
 Photograph © Pat Avery 1966/2011 Pat Avery writes: Noting recent comments about the parlous state of the Standards in their latter days the above photo of Standard 5's 73022 & 73171 waiting in line to be turned on 10th September 1966. This picture features in the current issue of Steam World magazine (Feb 2011). Page 13 refers.
Steve Hill has emailed: Since reading the correspondence on this matter from various people including my old mate Nigel Whitwell, I have trawled through old notes and find that on 30 July 1965 (just after 0-levels!), both 82005 and 82006 were at Waterloo on empty carriage duty and I duly noted that both were green. As others have pointed out 73029 was definitely green and was a regular at the time to those of us visiting Nine Elms, Waterloo, Clapham etc. In fact I was also at Clapham Junction the same day as John Hyde, 24/8/66 and saw 82006 there but did not record it on film.
Ralph Hornsby has written again: The subject of Standard 5MT liveries has appeared to move away from 73029, and now seems to be focusing more on 73092 and 73093 instead. There are a few websites with images of these two engines, by such photographers as Keith Lawrence, Mike Morant, Barry Buckfield, Rod Hoyle, Peter Leigh and Jon Wood. Unfortunately though, there is not very much available to positively assist with the liveries of these two engines. The oldest image found, is by Ric of "Ricsrailpics", this is of 73092 at Worcester Shrub Hill on the 13th July 1963. Externally the engine looks in good condition, whatever the livery though, it does not really help with an answer to Nigel Whitwells query. Peter Leigh has two images of 73092, these were taken on the 23rd January 1965 when she worked the 0955 Bath Green Park to Bournemouth service, in his notes attached to his pictures, he states that 73092 was withdrawn shortly afterwards, however was steamed again on the 30th March 1965 and hauled 73093 to Eastleigh Works. Jon Wood (Wood54321) has a number of photographs (some dated, others undated) taken at Nine Elms, two of the undated photographs have 73093 as the subject. One photograph is a full side-on view, with both engine and tender visible, the second picture, which is possibly more interesting, is a full head on view of 73093, with 73065 standing on an adjacent road. A possible clue to the livery of 73093, is the lining at buffer beam level immediately in advance of the left hand cylinder. Briefly returning to 73029, Ron Chaplins photograph of her taken at Basingstoke shed during the last week of steam, shows not only the green livery, but the lining associated with green standard 5 engines, also the "alternative" style of smoke-box number plate as described by Alan Goodwin. Jim Rowe had already recounted his work on the 30th June 1967, and mentioned that in the associated picture of 73029 at Hounslow, it does not appear to have a smoke box number plate, perhaps this a pointer as to when 73029 acquired its replacement smoke box plate. 73029, 73092 and 73093 all survived until the end of steam on the Southern, as already mentioned elsewhere 73029 ended up as a 70A Nine Elms engine, both 73092 and 73093 started their lives at 10C Patricroft, with both engines ending their days as 70C Guildford engines. 73029 and 73092 were both in service on the last weekend of steam, on Sunday 9th July 1967, 73029 worked a set of carrs from Fratton, and as mentioned by Alan Goodwin, Keith Lawrence captured the scene as the train passed Guildford shed. On Saturday 8th July 1967, 73092 worked the 1212 Weymouth to Bournemouth service, and on Sunday 9th July 1967 73092 worked a special freight from Weymouth to Westbury, these events are described in more detail in John H Bird's book "Southern Steam Surrender".
The images that I have found of 73092 and 73093, are as follows:-
Barry Buckfield's picture of 73092 at Hinton Admiral 03-06-67 working 1115 Waterloo-Weymouth
Peter Leighs pictures of 73092 at Bath Green Park on 23-01-65
Mike Morants picture of 73092 at Nine Elms
Jon Wood (Who uses Wood54321) with his pictures of 73093 at Nine Elms
Keith Lawrence has an image of 73093 at Basingstoke Shed on "Southern Images" Well, hopefully all of this is of interest and is helpful, possibly though with 73093, there might be more debate to come.
Nigel Whitwell has emailed: I've found a photo of 73001 on the S&D heading a train towards Bournemouth in January 1966 and I noted at the time that it was green, so there is another that obviously worked onto the SR if not actually allocated to an SR MPD.
Brian Gregory emailed: All the Standard Class 3's and 5's mentioned in the 73029 article were painted green when allocated to Western Region Depot's long before they came to the Southern. The WR started painting Standard Loco's green when the Shedmaster at Shrewsbury (84g) decided to order the unofficial repaint of the eight 5's allocated there; 73090-73097 (by the way they all had the high sided tenders at Shrewsbury). From what I have read some years ago Swindon were quite irked about this at first but later started painting Standard Loco's 'Shrewsbury Green' as they returned to works for overhaul. 73029 would have received its green at Swindon on transfer from the LMR to WR along with other members of the same number batch. I seem to recall 73017/18/20/22/29 were all in green when the Southern took over the allocation at Weymouth (71g).
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