Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2022 i Steam World

In 1932 the LMS built anew locomotive shed at Royston, near Barnsley, to deal more efficiently with the vast amount of coal traffic from the numerous collieries in the Barnsley area. The site chosen was just south of Royston and Notton station, on the up side of the Midland main-line. (This was one of the first major rail links in the country, being built in 1840 as part of George Hudson’s North Midland Railway.) The new MPD was close to Carlton Yards whose many mineral workings, mainly coal, provided the majority of the shed’s traffic until its closure in November 1967. Additionally though, it was close to Monckton Coke and Chemical Works and was also handy for Royston Junction, about a mile to the north, which allowed access to the…

Over the last two months, we’ve explored the devastating floods which occurred in the Scottish Borders after one third of the normal annual rainfall descended in just six days, in early August 1948. In addition to the bridge losses, major damage was done to other infrastructure and in addition to the seven bridges around Grantshouse, a further 13 more widely were washed away. That the ECML between Berwick and Edinburgh was closed for only 11 weeks is an incredible testament to the 600 civil engineers of the day who repaired the railway very rapidly indeed. Imagine how long it might take today to replace 20 main line bridges. This Part 3 concludes the series with a handful of unused images which are well worth sharing – especially the main picture…

Stanier ‘Jubilee’ class 4-6-0 No.45698 Mars, named after the Roman god of war, was a Bank Hall engine in 1955, so unlikely to be seen around my home town of Coventry. In fact, I saw it only once, at Carlisle when I was en route to my first teenage shed-bash of Scotland in August 1955. Mars is the inspiration for some thoughts on military connections with British steam engines and follows my thoughts on the RAF and Bulleid ‘Battle of Britain’ 4-6-2s (Steam World August 2016). Apart from the Bulleid ‘Pacifics’, the foremost link between steam and the military is found on the former LMSR whose ‘Royal Scot’, ‘Patriot’ and ‘Jubilee’ 4-6-0s all carried names reflecting the country’s military history. Indeed, even the four named ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0s carried regimental…

My interest in the Calne branch line was sparked as a young teenager by family obligations which took us by car down the A4 Bath Road from Slough. Not far from the Wiltshire town of Chippenham, we would pass underneath a railway bridge and close by was a small station with the name Black Dog Halt on a large board. Having had an interesting response to an earlier enquiry about the Tetbury branch, I ventured another letter to the Public Relations Office at Paddington, asking what sort of trains worked this particular railway line. The answer was ‘diesel railcars’. I assumed that meant the Great Western AEC type and was soon making my way via Reading station, to Chippenham. There, as instructed by a sign on the platform, I crossed…

send your letters to steam world, 4 milnyard square, orton south gate, peterborough PE2 6GX or steamworld@choicemag.co.uk ‘V3’ No. 67646 was at Northallerton The ‘V3’ 2-6-2T No. 67646 and Stanier 2-6-4T 42639 (Steam World July 2022 page 46)are standing at Castle Hill Inner Junction, Northallerton, on the North Eastern Railway Hawes branch. The date is 25th April 1964; the occasion is the RCTS North Yorkshireman rail tour. The engines are waiting to back down onto the train returned from Hawes by Gresley ‘B16/2’ rebuild 61435. The train will then depart to the north via Castle Hill north curve. The colour light splitter signal for the junction is just off view to the right. Gary Satchwell, Coventry The day a ‘Grange’ went to Sheffield Having read ‘Signalling a Change in Direction’…

After passing the closed station at Lynside, we approached Longtown and once over the River Esk we continued through Longtown station, with the North British Railway branch trailing in between the river bridge and the station. Our next station, now closed, was Scotch Dyke. We continued up the 1-in-100 to Riddings Junction station where we joined the Langholm branch. We ran alongside the Waverley line for a short distance before turning off to the left to cross the River Liddel on a stone viaduct, and so enter Scotland. We continued, passing Canonbie and Gilnockie stations and gradually returned to the valley of the River Esk and onto Langholm. Langholm was a single-platform station, along with a disused engine shed next to the platform. The local instructions stated – Engine to…

After about nine months of cleaning and doing the occasional week of labouring, at double the cleaners’ rate of pay, I began further tuition. Jack Roberts, who undertook passed cleaner training, arranged a series of lectures for us on the rules. We needed, first, to pass out on Rule 55 – Trains detained on running lines. Jack showed us the symbols fitted to signals. These included a white diamond indicating a track circuit, with a D-shaped call plunger fitted, and what action we needed to take when stopped at such signals. Next was Rule 178 – Trains stopped by accident failure obstruction or by other exceptional causes. We learned how to use the detonators by attaching them to the rail-head, after making sure they were in date and fit for…

In Steam World No. 262 (April 2009), under the title “Paint It Black”, I analysed the selective use of lined black livery by the Western Region on some tank engines and some mixed traffic tender classes in the early years of British Railways. I offered tentative suggestions as to why the WR was more sparing in lined black than the other five Regions. The article ended with a mention of the gradual change in BTC policy from 1955 to allow lined green livery on classes that had previously been lined black or plain black. I now wish to explore this change, particularly in the first few years while engines still carried the BR early emblem (EE) of the lion astride a wheel rather than the later crest (LC) of the…

Historical details from Disused Stations http://disused-stations.org.uk/b/bradfordexchange/index.shtml Want to see more of Gavin’s photography? Turn to page 15.…

News that the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway has withdrawn Midland ‘4F’ 0-6-0 No. 43924 for overhaul is a useful reminder of Derby’s place in the railway story. No. 43924 was built in Derby in 1920 and lasted in service until 1965. Its last shed was Bristol Barrow Road (82E) from where it had no doubt worked up the line to Bath or out to Gloucester. (The route to Bath subsequently became Britain’s first railway formation turned into a cycle path and includes a smoke blackened tunnel whose gloomy interior no doubt No. 43924 contributed to). Fortunately for us, on withdrawal 43924 ended up at the famous Barry scrapyard. It then became the first locomotive to leave Barry, meaning that No. 43924 holds a special place in railway preservation having…