SECOND HAND N GAUGE MODELS #8 -- D1036 WESTERN EMPEROR [Class 52 BR Green]

N Gauge - D1036 'Western Emperor'
During the latest Covid 'lock down' have been enjoying my hobby of railway modelling and adding to my collection in N Gauge. Also had a chance to give a fair few of my models a test run at home, although the O Gauge stuff will just have to wait till some of the local open days can restart but in this blog we'll going to talk about one of my favourite diesel classes from my childhood, the Westerns. Class 52's that used to thunder across the Western Region of England hauling express passenger services to Bristol, Devon and Cornwall. Having already picked up a couple of different Westerns (and I still really want the sand coloured one to complete the different liveries) I was delighted to pick up a third one in BR Green "Western Emperor". There are a number of Blue westerns on eBay and they are going for a pretty high price so was pleased to pick this up for under £40 and even more so when it didn't take much more than a clean up and oil to have it running nicely on my test track at home. Very smooth immaculate looking locomotives just like the real thing. Some pictures of my model to follow;

Class 52 Background
Built: Crewe Works May 6th 1963, allocated to Old Oak Common (81A)
Livery: On entering service: Green with small-yellow warning panels, black-backed number and nameplates and black roof panels. Was allocated to Laira (84A) depot by the time it was withdrawn from service and subsequently sent to Swindon to be cut up, so sadly this model was scrapped following it's withdrawal from service although at least seven members from this class still survive today.

Royal Duty: On May 10th 1963 Western Emperor is believed to be the 1st Western in use on Royal Train duty when she worked the 1X01 Paddington to Pontypool Road / Abergavenny (+ Abergavenny-Paddington return service).

The D1000 series locomotives were to be named after famous West of England place names; the portfolio shows D1000 bearing the working title "Cheddar Gorge". This trend was not followed in production, however, and the Westerns were named with general heraldic and regimental terms prefixed with the word "Western"

D1036 Western Emperor was built at Crewe in 1962 and withdrawn in 1976.

Class 52 in Preservation
Of the 74 locomotives built, 7 have survived to preservation. While 3 of these are at the Severn Valley Railway it's sad that only 1 is currently available for Main Line running. D1062 Western Courier attended the Rocket 150 celebrations at Rainhill in May 1980, the only privately owned diesel locomotive to do so. Would have been great to see these out in the summer on excursions and trips down to West Country.

D1010 Western Campaigner -- Withdrawn 28.02.77.
Owned by the Diesel & Electric Preservation Group, @West Somerset Railway

D1013 Western Ranger   --   Withdrawn 28.02.77.
Owned by the Western Locomotive Association, @Severn Valley Railway

D1015 Western Champion --  Withdrawn 13.12.76.
Owned by the Diesel Traction Group, @Severn Valley Railway.
It is the only Western Loco that is certified for mainline use.

D1023 Western Fusilier  --   Withdrawn 28.02.77.
The final Western to receive a general overhaul at Swindon works, in February 1973. Now part of the national collection, @National Railway Museum.

D1041 Western Prince --   Withdrawn 23.02.77.
Owned by Diesel Group of the East Lancashire Railway.

D1048 Western Lady -- Withdrawn 28.02.77.
Owned privately, Midland Diesel Group, @Midland Railway – Butterley.

D1062 Western Courier -- Withdrawn 22.08.74.
Owned by Western Locomotive Association, @Severn Valley Railway.

Graham Farish Class 52 [D1036] Western Emperor

Managed to pick this one up via a popular online auction site it's in immaculate condition and a beautiful runner around my own test track. Liked it so much I went back and picked up yet another different Class 52 (Western Gauntlet) as a result I now have one in BR Maroon, Green and Blue livery as a result I am regularly on the look out for the sand livery worn by D1000 Western Enterprise but seems to be very rare and as a result rather expensive. The Green livery does well to break up the regular blues of many of my other BR Diesel's that I currently own, will probably look out for a few steam models next as I think I have more than enough coaching stock for the time being. (rule #1 always applies with my choice of stock).

And here's a picture of the real thing in later BR Blue livery seen ready to depart at Plymouth;