GWR 5600 class 0-6-2T 5643
Swanwick Junction, 1 May 2010
15 years ago today Great Western Railway (GWR) 5600 class 0-6-2T 5643 (b.1925, Swindon) was on hire to the Midland Railway-Butterley (from the Ribble Steam Railway if memory serves…) and is seen here taking on water at Swanwick Junction between workings.
LNER class D49 4-4-0 62712 MORAYSHIRE
Sheringham, 6 March 2015
London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) class D49 4-4-0 62712 MORAYSHIRE (b.1928, Darlington) runs around train 2M30, the 13.45 service from Sheringham to Holt on 6 March 2015 during the North Norfolk Railway’s Spring Steam Gala. 62712 was visiting the NNR from the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway in Scotland.
Also visible is Sheringham East signal box, a Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GNJR) structure dating from 1906 and beautifully restored by NNR volunteers.
GWR 4900 class 4-6-0 4965 ROOD ASHTON HALL
Stratford-upon-Avon, 18 July 2004
Twenty years ago today I took a trip on The Shakespeare Express from Stratford-upon-Avon to Birmingham Snow Hill.
Great Western Railway ‘Hall’ class 4-6-0 4965 ROOD ASHTON HALL (built in 1929 at Swindon Works) was in charge of the eight coach train and I remember enjoying the journey in spite of the torrential rain!
ROOD ASHTON HALL nameplate
Birmingham Snow Hill, 18 July 2004
I recently read that Great Western Railway (GWR) 4900 ‘Hall’ class 4-6-0 4920 DUMBLETON HALL had been bought by Warner Brothers and exported to Japan for display in the Harry Potter exhibit at Warner Bros Studios Tour in Tokyo.
GWR 4900 class 4-6-0 4920 DUMBLETON HALL
South Devon Railway, 7 August 2013
Built at the Great Western Railway’s Swindon Works in 1929, 4920 was withdrawn from Bristol Barrow Road shed by British Railways in December 1965 and sent for scrap. Preservation beckoned in June 1976 and 4920 became the 82nd departure from Barry scrapyard, finally returning to steam in 1992 on the Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway (now known as the Dartmouth Steam Railway).
The locomotive’s owners subsequently purchased the Dart Valley Railway (now known as the South Devon Railway) and 4920 was loaned to various heritage lines before returning to the Dartmouth Steam Railway where it was last steamed in October 1999 before moving to Buckfastleigh on the SDR for storage.
Above is the only pic I have (and now likely will ever have) of 4920, taken during a flying visit to the SDR in August 2013.
A small selection of photos taken during my only visit (so far) to the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway (B&KR) back in 2018.
27001
Bo’ness, 2 November 2018
27001 (the former D5347) was first allocated to Thornton Junction shed (62A) in June 1961 but was almost immediately reallocated to Glasgow Eastfield (65A, later ED), spending the rest of its working life allocated to either Eastfield or Edinburgh Haymarket sheds (64B, later HA).
I don’t think I ever saw a ‘McRat’ (as the class 27s were known) in BR days but would have loved to have seen them on their regular stomping ground of the West Highland Line.
Caledonian Railway 439 class 0-4-4T No.419
Bo’ness, 2 November 2018
No.419 was built at the Caledonian Railway’s St. Rollox Works in 1907 and remained in service (first with the London Midland & Scottish Railway, then British Railways) until December 1962 when it was withdrawn from Carstairs shed (66E).
The beautifully restored flagship of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS) fleet had spent nine years undergoing overhaul and had only returned to traffic the month prior to my visit.
Andrew Barclay, Sons & Co Ltd 16in 0-4-0ST No.6 (works no.2043 of 1937)
Bo’ness, 2 November 2018
You can’t have a collection of Scottish locomotives without a ‘Wee Pug’ and this Andrew Barclay, Sons & Co Ltd 0-4-0ST (works no.2043 of 1937) fits the bill perfectly!
Built for United Collieries Ltd (as their No.4) it worked at various locations before ending up at Kinneil Colliery in the late 1970s from where it entered preservation, initially at the Prestongrange Mining Museum. Owned by East Lothian Council it is currently awaiting overhaul.
Eight years ago today I spent an enjoyable couple of hours at the National Railway Museum (NRM) photographing all six preserved London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) class A4 locomotives at ‘The Great Gathering‘
60007 SIR NIGEL GRESLEY & 60008 DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
National Railway Museum, 11 November 2013
Gathering all six A4s together was no mean feat, although four of the locos were located in the United Kingdom, 60008 DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER was housed in the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin and 4489 DOMINION OF CANADA was in the Canadian Railway Museum in Montreal!
60009 UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA, 4464 BITTERN, 4468 MALLARD & 4489 DOMINION OF CANADA
National Railway Museum, 11 November 2013
I did manage to get all six locos in one image (just) but the distortion caused by the wide-angle lens used makes 60007 and 4489 look twice as wide as the others so you’ll have to make do with two separate pics!
It being St Patrick’s Day today I thought I’d raid my archives and post a few pics taken during a trip to Dublin that Dad and I took way back in 2004.
An early flight and a quick bus journey got us to Dublin Connolly station/Stáisiún Uí Chonghaile by mid-morning and we spent some time photographing the Irish Rail/Iarnród Éireann diesel locos that were pottering about…
Iarnród Éireann 141 class Bo-Bo Diesel Electric 156
Dublin Connolly station/Stáisiún Uí Chonghaile, 30 June 2004
The locomotive shed at Dublin Connolly station/Stáisiún Uí Chonghaile, 30 June 2004
Then a tip-off from a member of station staff led us around the corner to see this…
LMS (NCC) class WT 2-6-4T No.4, 30 June 2004
No.4, a Class WT 2-6-4T, was built at Derby in 1947 for the London Midland & Scottish Railway’s Northern Counties Committee. Preserved by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland No.4 was (and still is) regularly in use on special trains on the main line.
A less friendly member of staff then told us to ‘clear off!’ so we had a ride down the coast to Greystones station/Stáisiún na Clocha Liatha on a class 2800 DMU (returning on the Dublin Area Rapid Transit unit seen below).
Greystones station/Stáisiún na Clocha Liatha with DART 8510 class 8614 heading for Howth in the platform, 30 June 2004
A dash back across Dublin gave us enough time to take a few photos at Heuston station/Stáisiún Heuston (and enjoy a pint of Guinness!) before our flight home.
Iarnród Éireann 201 class Co-Co Diesel Electric 234 RIVER AHERLOW/ABHAINN NA HEATHARLAÍ
Dublin Hueston station/Stáisiún Heuston, 30 June 2004
Sláinte!
Or two of them at least!
2013 saw me pay visits to the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway (W&LLR) and the Talyllyn Railway (TR), two of the eleven ‘Great Little Trains of Wales’.
Opened in 1903 the 2ft 6in gauge W&LLR has its headquarters at Llanfair Caereinion in Powys and still operates services with the original locomotives built by Beyer, Peacock & Co Ltd in 1902.
Beyer, Peacock & Co Ltd 0-6-0T No.823 COUNTESS
Llanfair Caereinion, W&LLR, 20 July 2013
Great Western Railway-liveried No.823 COUNTESS is seen taking on coal at Llanfair Caereinion, in the background are the three replica R.Y. Pickering & Co Ltd carriages built by the Ffestiniog Railway‘s Boston Lodge works between 2004 and 2010, the original W&LLR carriages having been scrapped in 1931.
Beyer, Peacock & Co Ltd 0-6-0T No.822 THE EARL
Sylfaen Halt, W&LLR, 20 July 2013
no.822 THE EARL is seen approaching Sylfaen Halt with a Welshpool Raven Square-Llanfair Caereinion service. The locomotives were named in honour of The Earl and Countess of Powys as the Earl supported the building of the railway. THE COUNTESS had its name shortened to just COUNTESS by the Great Western Railway (GWR) who absorbed the W&LLR in 1923.
The 2ft 3in gauge Talyllyn Railway was opened in 1865 to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys to Tywyn on the coast and despite becoming incredibly run-down was never closed, becoming the first heritage railway in the world in 1951.
The TR also uses its original locomotives (amongst others) and on the day I visited No.1 TALYLLYN (built by Fletcher Jennings & Co in 1865) was photographed running round the 12:45 service to Tywyn Wharf at Nant Gwernol at the eastern end of the line.
Fletcher Jennings & Co 0-4-2ST No.1 TALYLLYN
Nant Gwernol, TR, 16 August 2013
Also in operation was Andrew Barclay, Sons & Co Ltd 0-4-0WT No.6 DOUGLAS (works no.1431 of 1918). The ‘Modified E Class’ locomotive was built for the railway serving RAF Calshot in Hampshire. The locomotive was donated to the Talyllyn Railway in 1953, regauged from 2ft gauge and named after Douglas Abelson, who donated it.
Andrew Barclay, Sons & Co Ltd 0-4-0WT No.6 DOUGLAS
Tywyn, TR, 16 August 2013
Both railways are on my ‘to be revisited’ list and both are accepting donations to help them survive COVID-19 enforced shut-downs, please support them if you can…
Four years ago today I was travelling back to the UK from Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire in central France and took the opportunity of a few hours between trains in Paris to visit the ‘Grand Train’ exhibition at the former La Chapelle locomotive depot.
Le dépôt de La Chappelle was opened by La Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord (CF du Nord) in 1845 and served the railways north of Paris for almost 167 years until closure in January 2013.
Occupying a prime spot in central Paris the site was put up for sale by the Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF) but the depot was to welcome trains once more before the developers moved in…
From 30 April to 16 October 2016 the depot played host to not only a number of historic railway related exhibits but also restaurants and bars, a bookstore, a number of markets and best of all, entry was free!
These are just a few of the many photos I took that day…
SNCF class BB 9300 109301, class A1AA1A 68500 668523 & class CC 72000 472029
SNCF 230.D.9 (CF du Nord 230 3.521)
The only steam locomotive on display… built in 1908 by the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord.
‘vous êtes ici’
SNCF class X 52100 Autorail X 52103
SNCF TGV Sud-Est power cars 23113 & 23114
The legendary Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV), these two power cars belong to one of the eight-car two-voltage ‘Sud-Est’ sets (57).
SNCF class BB 9200 9291
This class BB 9200 loco is one of the two 250km/h high speed variants used on the ‘Capitole’ service between Paris and Toulouse. The red ‘Capitole’ livery led to the locos being given the nickname ‘BB rouge’.
A quick follow up to my previous post…
Another image of the Great Eastern Railway (GER) bogie tramcar No.7 at the North Norfolk Railway (NNR), captured during the M&GN Joint Railway Society members’ day on 1 October 2011.
LNER class J15 0-6-0 65462 approaches Bridge No.303
North Norfolk Railway, October 2011
Here the society’s London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) J15 class 0-6-0 steam locomotive 65462 (built as class Y14 No.564 by the GER at Stratford Works in 1912) approaches Bridge No.303, east of Weybourne, with what I believe was the last service of the day. No.7 is clearly visible as the first vehicle in the train.
And this is the view of 65462 from the balcony of No.7, captured earlier in the day!
View from the balcony of GER Bogie Tramcar No.7
Sheringham station, North Norfolk Railway, October 2011
(My face was covered in smuts from the loco after I’d travelled the full length of the line standing on said balcony…)
65462 was withdrawn from British Railways service in September 1962 and initially stored at Devons Road Depot in Bow, East London. Short spells at Stratford (East London) and March (Cambridgeshire) followed before 65462 finally arrived at the NNR on 4 June 1967.
A stalwart at the NNR, 65462 ran for thousands of miles before being withdrawn for significant boiler work in 1989, not returning to traffic until 2002.
In 2015 the locomotive returned to service following another major rebuild which included not only a repaint into full GER blue livery but also a number of modifications that backdate its appearance to ‘as built’ condition.
Railway Miscellany 