Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2023 i Steam Days

That’s a 27% saving when you pay by direct debit STEAM DAYS I have been a railway enthusiast since 1942, and together with my two sons, Ian and Andrew, since March 1993 have provided a record of Britain’s railway scene when steam ruled supreme, from the 1800s until the end of steam in 1968. With a focus on line histories, train spotters’ memories, technical information, railwaymen’s reminiscences and nostalgic photo-features, our purpose is to bring back those halcyon days. With our subscriptions you can get your magazine delivered straight to your door every month, with a superb saving on the cover price. We hope to welcome you soon to the Steam Days family. 12 print issues for £46 Direct debit (27% saving) 1 year credit/debit card for £53 2 years…

Readers’ Letters Trains of thought: February Sir: I write in response to your invitation in Trains of thought (February issue). The article by Chris Forrest in the January issue of Steam Days brought back happy memories of my earliest trainspotting days even though his observations started well before I was born. In 1960 my elder brother, a keen trainspotter, was given his first adult bike and ventured as far from Middleton as Newton le Willows. I was 8 years old and duly received his rather small old bike but it gave me the freedom to cycle along the B-road to Middleton Junction on the L&Y main line between Manchester and Rochdale, where I spent many happy hours. All stopping passenger trains were diesel-multiple-units but all locomotive-hauled trains, mainly goods, were…

Before I discuss my experiences, it would be as well to outline the history of this fascinating line, which has stood the test of time and is now going strong as a preserved railway, after first being thought about by the good people of Tenterden as far back as the 1850s. The southern slopes of the North Downs are chalky, so it is no surprise that the area around Tenterden, and southwards to the valley of the River Rother, where the Kent & East Sussex Railway sprung up from, was famous for its agricultural productivity, and in particular for the growing of hops and apples. When every town and a great many villages too, wanted to be connected by the sudden development of the steam locomotive in the mid-19th century,…

Although the Stephenson Locomotive Society was founded in 1909, the Midlands Area of the society was not formed until December 1946, under the chairmanship of Stewart Dewsbury and with W A (Cam) Camwell as secretary. During the 1950s and first half of the 1960s the Midlands Area was very active and ran a regular series of special trains from Birmingham to visit Swindon Works, utilising different routes and taking in several shed visits along the way. The choice of locomotives was ex-Great Western Railway with one exception, in 1954 when an LMS Compound was used, and it usually featured endangered classes or otherwise notable locomotives. As a small boy I travelled with my father, Patrick Garland, on a number of these early trips, and latterly as a teenager on the…

May I start with some personal musings? What makes some of us have a very early interest in railways, even from the cradle? When I was about 18 months, my wonderful great-aunt used to respond to my demands to be taken where we (that, of course, meant I) could ‘see trains’, and she would propel my push-chair to a suitable location! Some six or seven years later, seeing the Southminster train at Wickford, I was intrigued: how did the engine get to the front of the train? It was many years before I found that the answer was that it didn’t, and the mysteries of push-pull trains began to be revealed to me. From our perspective in the 21st century, we possibly think of the ‘Big Four’ companies formed by…

Delving into the railway history of a town naturally leads to a full consideration of all of the lines that served it, and this has proved to be the case with Sutton Coldfield, which was served by both the London & North Western Railway from June 1862 and then the Midland Railway from just over 17 years later, a historical overview of these lines having already been presented as ‘Rails through Sutton Coldfield’ (Steam Days, June 2022). Although ultimately a stepping stone to reaching Lichfield, the L&NWR backed Birmingham, Erdington & Sutton Coldfield scheme’s south-facing Sutton Coldfield terminus remained the end of that company’s line a decade after its opening and by then the Midland had given its backing to a rival Wolverhampton, Walsall & Midland Junction Railway (WW&MJR) plan…