Hi Mick,
Great detail photo of the underframe!
Don't suppose you have a photo of one in original condition as per IKB when built you could share?
Hi, afraid not, this is one of the later Freightliner modified ones, as you've already spotted.
I only have one shot of IKB, York, probably 80-81
Other than the colour, ETH fitting, blanked headcode and Serek radiator shutters, the rest is pretty much as built.
How can one person know so much about diesel locomotives both sides of the pond???
Simple, I'm a sad git who has nothing better to do than sit on my fat backside and browse the web for research
Seriously, I only know so much about particular locos that interest me, which isn't really that many, class 33 and class 50 I know jack all about nor really care about.
The Class 47 arrived at Felixstowe to be taken away for scrap, it had sat in Ipswich yard for years slowly rotting away until it was in such a bad condition Network rail basically banned it from ever moving, it kind of achieved cult status locally. There's no facilities at Ipswich to load to road so a special train was eventually formed to move it to Felixstowe where we put it on a truck for scrapping, that's why it has a air pipe hanging out of the front, the loco brakes were shot so it was temporarily through piped and placed between a Class 66 and a freightliner train.
I only know so much about 47's as I crawled all over this one for underframe details for my MMP 57....which lurks under the bench awaiting my return.
I decided to make a full underframe, fish belly engine room floor and strengthening plates for the tanks as well as full 3D drag beams and other major beams, bit crude by current standards mind.