Saturday, August 8, 2015

45 CLASS CAB WINDOWS NEWS FLASH




 4513 LOOKING A LITTLE WORSE FOR WEAR WAITS AT THE LOCO FUELING SPOT
OPPOSITE THE ARMIDALE STATION PLATFORM ON THE 14-6-83             




Well last night I went to bed and was reading the latest ARHS Railway History.Which usually has stuff that doesn't interest me, but you wouldn't want to miss out on something important,would you .
So the only article of NSW flavour was Central West Memories .Bit of a story and some pictures.
Well page 27 shows a 5907 in front of 4503 in August 1970 at Bathurst .
So what you might say.
Well on the observers side windows of 4503 . The leading 1 on the short hood end shows 4 bars across the window !
Never scene this before ,Never heard anything about this before.
The window in question every time is the 1 closest to the cab door on each particular side.


After having a look through my own pictures nothing .
After looking through my books with 45 class pictures i could find 2 other shots of 4503 showing the same thing.
All in the Train Hobby book on 45,s

                                 Page 10   27-9-72  4503 at Ourimbah ,Observers side 4 bars


           The only picture of the drivers side showing very clearly 3 bars is at Delec in the early 80,s



      Page 26 shows 4517 26-4-69 at Delec and the shadow of the 4 bars is visible on the window pane.



Page 27 shows 4518 at Fassifern with the same 4 bars although undated it must be around the same time with the unit having the early style exhaust  and single marker lights




So at this stage we have 4503 4517 and 4518 with this particular modification .
Which is on the original square style window pane before it was replaced by the rounded corner version to match the other end window .
Why the bars are there and what time frame they where there for  remains to be investigated .
Does anyone have any further pictures or information on this subject.
This could involve a voluntary recall of the Auscision 45 class Locos
Better get your cheque book out boys !This one will take some fixing.