Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2023 i Steam World

In early 1946 a locomotive set off from March shed without anyone on the footplate. There was brief reference to this incident in a local newspaper which indicates that it was late February. The late John Wood, March footplate man (1940 1946) recalled that the locomotive was ‘B17’ 4-6-0 No. 2821 Hatfield House. Speculation suggests that No. 2821 had been under repair and when this was complete, it would be necessary to relight the fire and raise steam before the engine returned to work. Perhaps a combination of circumstances would be required to allow the engine to move off unattended: hand brake not applied, the regulator valve not fully closed or leaky, and the cylinder relief valves closed. Also, the engine would not have been hemmed in by any other…

Part one For well over a century, from the 1840s, the growth in population and of service industries in London required huge tonnages of coal to be moved south. That market provided competition between railway Companies and the establishment of routes and sorting yards to handle the slow-moving trains. Those operational arrangements remained largely unchanged for over a century. Introduction In 1815, London, with a population of just over one million, was the largest city in the world. From the 1840s, by which time the London & Birmingham Railway had linked those two cities, further growth in population around the seats of the throne, of Parliament, and central governance and of servicing the needs of the British Empire was rapid. By 1869, the population of London had reached 3.2million. For…

On Tuesday August 21 1928 my father, Arthur Herbert, travelled from Bradford to Carlisle on an excursion train, the llarn Bradford Forster Square to Glasgow. My father was a railway enthusiast as well as a railwayman and his main interest was the Midland Railway and its locomotives. He lived in Bradford and spent a considerable amount of time visiting the Midland Railway locomotive shed at Manningham (Bradford) and also the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway locomotive shed at Low Moor (Bradford). He also spent some time around the Steeton and Silsden area where photographs show he was welcome in the signalbox and also made Welcome by the station master and his family. He also appears to have had a good relationship with the shed masters at both Manningham and Low Moor…

By now I was allowed to go virtually every Saturday to Newcastle Central station. I had two rail options to get there. By North Tyneside electric service from Benton station (on the lovely Metro-Cammell imits dating from 1937, with their ‘bucket seats’), or by the Alnwick stopper from Forest Hall station behind the last of the ‘D20’ 4-4-0s. Benton usually won, as the trains were eveiy 20 minutes, whereas there was only one morning Alnwick train at about 08.30am. I liked my bed on non-school days so this was too early for me, and anyway there was. only one option to come back in the afternoon. This was a big mistake as the ‘D20s’, and even Forest Hall station, would be gone before many more months had passed. The cost…

Taunton-Barnstaple - here is a little extra! In my feature article on page 22 I mentioned that I thought we caught the train from Dulverton. My travelling companion Keith Jaggers, assures me that we caught the 8.20am from Dulverton to Barnstaple and that it was a DMU. In light of that fact I’ve included Keith’s photograph and mine - seemingly the only two from our trip - here rather than in the article. Also here, is Keith’s picture of Milverton station taken a year later when the railway was closed but the weather was better. It's a hand-wheel spanner Reader, Ken Woods writes, with respect to ‘Reflections at Perth’ (Steam World, December 2022) and the photograph of No. 54482 on page 18. He says, “Nigel asks - and what’s that…

In this country we preserve stately homes and ruined castles with ‘listed building’ protection to ensure that they are there for future generations to learn from and to enjoy. We protect the finest aspects of our scenic countryside with National Park status. Sadly, we never afforded the same status to our railways - at least not until very late in the day when the Settle & Carlisle lhre, a last remnant of the Beechinginduced obsession with rail closures, was saved by public campaigning and a railway-minded Minister, in the shape of Michael Portillo. The S&C was not particularly ‘necessary’ and it did not fill a social need, serving little habitation along its route. It is just simply a fabulous stretch of railway through some great scenery - and a memorial…

Ships at Southampton May I respond to the two letters in the January Steam World, which mention me?? I thank John Cridland for talking the trouble to let. its know that the person in the photograph of Glass ‘3F’ 0-6-0T No. 47557 (page 31, November 2022) at Radstoek North talking to the driver was his father, Denis Cridland, the station master. I have added his name to my records! As I mentioned in the article, shortly after I took this photographer, Fowler ‘7F’ 2-8-0 No. 538308 arrived, working the 1.50pm Evercreeeh Junction to Bath freight. The driver brought the train to a stand where we stood and we asked him if we could photograph him and Ms fireman looking out of the footplate. Twenty or more years later, Nigel Harris,…

King’s school is a Peterborough landmark. For well over a century, its present red brick building has faced Park Roacl as its latest manifestation in a history that reaches back hundreds of years. But it’s doubtful if many of the generations that have trooped in and out below the words ‘Schola Regia’ realise why the school - more properly known as The King’s (the Cathedral) School - is situated where it is. Just as drivers zipping along the A47 dual carriageway over ‘Rhubarb Bridge’ on the edge of Walton north of the city centre probably have no idea how that nickname originated - if they’ve even heard the term at all. And is anyone ever perplexed when driving along the wonderfully evocative ‘Cripple Sidings Lane’ near Peterborough’s football ground? Or…

We now look at LNER steam workings on the SR, of which there were very few by this time. By the 1960s, LNER locomotive workings were rare on the Central Section, but Whit Tuesday 1961 witnessed ‘B1’ 4-6-0 No. 61136 arrive at Brighton, again on an excursion. A much more famous visit by a 'B1' occurred when on June 27 1964, No. 61313 of Canklow arrived at Eastbourne, running light after working a Newcastle to Newhaven train. The ‘B1’ had failed with a hot box, and by July 7 had worked light to Redhill for repair. There it was to become stranded, at one time accompanied by ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 No. 44692, and doubtless someone within the Southern was already plotting to ‘borrow’ it. Eventually Canklow must have either sent…