Tuesday 24 December 2013

'Twas the night before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

Then suddenly I heard a tiny voice speak,
'You lazy old s*d, you've not blogged anything in weeks!'

(with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)

So instead of three Kings from the east let me wish you all the compliments of the season with a suitably wintry image of one King from the west.

6023 KING EDWARD II at Loughborough CentralGWR 6000 class 4-6-0, 6023 KING EDWARD II, 25/01/13

The Great Western Railway's KING EDWARD II to be precise… Photographed in the snow at Loughborough Central station during the Great Central Railway's winter steam gala in January this year.

So I'll just finish this brief entry with the last line from Clement Clarke Moore's poem 'A Visit from St. Nicholas'

'Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.'

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Guess where I've been…

P.54, Platform 5 Preserved Locomotives of British Railwaysp.54 of Preserved Locomotives of British Railways (15th ed.)
Reproduced here with permission from Platform 5 Publishing Ltd.

That's right, I went to 'The Great Gathering' at the National Railway Museum in York yesterday. Just as the opportunity to see Mallard at Grantham was too good to miss so was the chance to see all six preserved A4 locomotives together in one place.

Temporarily repatriated (from the U.S.A. and Canada respectively) as part of the celebration of MALLARD's world speed record in 1938, 60008 DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (the former 4496) and 4489 DOMINION OF CANADA were on display along with the four A4s that are usually based at various locations around the UK. Yesterday was the last chance to see all six together in York but one further event is scheduled for February 2014 at Locomotion, the National Railway Museum at Shildon in Co. Durham.

The Great Gathering of all 6 preserved LNER A4 locomotives at York, 20131111The Great Gathering, 11/11/13, larger version here.

From left-right are:60007 SIR NIGEL GRESLEY, 60008 DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, 60009 UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA, 4464 BITTERN, 4468 MALLARD and 4489 DOMINION OF CANADA.

If you're wondering how I managed a shot with no people in the way (Dad has already asked me this) then I must mention the 'Exclusive Access Mornings' that the NRM organised at a very reasonable £15 per person that were limited to 50 people per two-hour session. The NRM staff also recommended that everybody take their photographs from the turntable before wandering amongst the exhibits and getting in each others' way. Some distortion is evident in the above shot thanks to the ultra-wide angle 18mm lens (on a full-frame digital SLR camera) that I had to use to get all six locomotives in one shot but I can live with that.

The Great Gathering, 4464 BITTERN, 4468 MALLARD & 4489 DOMINION OF CANADAThe Great Gathering, 4464 BITTERN, 4468 MALLARD & 4489 DOMINION OF CANADA, 11/11/13

The Great Gathering, 4464 BITTERN, 4468 MALLARD & 4489 DOMINION OF CANADAThe Great Gathering, 60007 SIR NIGEL GRESLEY, 60008 DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
& 60009 UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA, 11/11/13

I must thank Platform 5 Publishing Ltd. for allowing me to reproduce part of their Preserved Locomotives of British Railways book. I realised today that I've been buying Platform 5 spotting books for almost 30 years now so must definitely qualify as a satisfied customer.

Saturday 2 November 2013

Driver J. Ball & Fireman C. Higgins

October 31 saw Dad and I once again taking advantage of London Midland’s ‘The Great Escape’ offer of one day’s unlimited travel on the London Midland network for just £15 each, this year’s trip taking us from Lichfield Trent Valley to Rugby, Stafford, Liverpool and Crewe.

I'd never been to Liverpool before and although I enjoyed the journey I didn't find much of interest at Lime Street station itself other than this…

Plaque commemorating Driver J. Ball and Fireman C. HigginsPlaque commemorating Driver J. Ball and Fireman C. Higgins

The plaque refers to the crew of the 13.15 Liverpool to London Euston express on May 20 1937 who were seriously burned after a collapsed smokebox deflector plate in their London Midland & Scottish Railway Princess class locomotive caused a blowback that turned the footplate into a furnace. Driver Joseph Ball and Fireman Cormack Higgins stayed at the controls and brought the train safely to a stand outside Primrose Hill Tunnel just north of Euston station but sadly died in hospital the following day.

The memorial originally stood in the lobby at Edge Hill locomotive shed (where the men were a 'top link' crew) and a smaller plaque notes that it was removed upon the depot's closure, being rededicated by British Rail staff at its new location on platform 1 in 1986.

Interestingly the legendary railway photographer (and later Bishop of Wakefield) Eric Treacy was Vicar of St. Mary's Church in Edge Hill at the time and held a memorial service to the two men that became an annual event for many years.

Sunday 27 October 2013

The Night Riviera

I've always been fascinated by the idea of sleeper trains, I'd love to climb aboard a train in London, retire to a compartment and wake up in the highlands of Scotland or the far tip of Cornwall. Thanks to ScotRail and First Great Western (and government subsidies) such things are still possible in this country but as yet aren't something I've been able to sample for myself.

So when I found myself staying in a hotel just across the road from Exeter St Davids station a couple of months ago I couldn't resist a late night in order to photograph the 'up' (London bound) 'Night Riviera' as it passed through. The train takes almost eight hours to cover the 300 miles from Penzance to London Paddington and usually calls at Exeter at around 1.00am, stopping for 10 minutes or so to change crews and thus making photography possible.

57602 Restormel Castle at Exeter St Davids, 7/8/1357602 Restormel Castle at Exeter St Davids, 7/8/13

57602 Restormel Castle (converted from Class 47, 47337 in 2003), is one of four Class 57s in use on Night Riviera services and was bang on time having departed Penzance at 9.45pm with its load of seven BR Mk.3 carriages, five of which were sleepers and would eventually arrive at London Paddington eighteen minutes early at 5.05am. If that seems a bit early in the day to be getting out of bed into a west London morning then I should point out that 'passengers may remain on board until 07.00' according to the FGW website.

Having packed up my tripod and watched 57602 depart into the night I discovered that Exeter St Davids station gets locked up for a couple of hours after the 'up' train has departed until the 'down' service passes through, luckily a member of the station staff had spotted me and let me out of a side gate so that I could make my way back to my hotel and bed.

Tuesday 15 October 2013

From the (Vuescanned) archives - Vic Berry

Easter 1987. I'd lost interest in railways for a little while (for the usual reasons, girls, beer, music, not necessarily in that order though) and was travelling through Leicester by coach when I spotted this.

Vic Berry's scrapyard in Leicester, 1987Vic Berry's scrapyard in Leicester, 1987

Vic Berry's scrapyard, smack bang in the centre of Leicester. I fired off a few frames with my increasingly unreliable Zenit TTL camera and this is the only one that survives.

Piles of EMU and Mk.1 coach bodies on the left, a stack of what look like Mk.1 GUV bodies on the right (in the background) and a heap of Class 25 cabs in the foreground! The wasp-striped end of the yard's shunter 03069 (the former D2069) is also just visible on the right hand side.

The yard was on the site of the former Great Central Railway Braunstone Gate goods yard and the former GCR warehouse can be seen in centre of the picture. A serious fire in 1991 led to the yard's closure and in 1996/97 the site was redeveloped as 'Bede Island' a small commercial and residential area with streets named after herbs and spices. Even the bridge the photo was taken from is no more, Upperton road has been considerably lowered and apart from the River Soar only a footpath passes beneath now.

My interest in railways returned but I regret not making the short journey back to Leicester (with the Zenit's replacement, an Olympus OM-1) for another look.

Incidentally, 03069 managed to survive the scrapyard's clutches and the fire and can now be found at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.

Monday 7 October 2013

Cab ride in 33035!

This weekend I got to do something that I've never managed to do before, have a cab ride in a mainline diesel loco. The Pioneer Diesel Locomotive Group's 33035 (the former D6553) was the locomotive in question and although the ride was a short one what it lacked in length in made up for in steepness!

33035 at the top of the Ravenstor Incline-2013100533035 at the top of the Ravenstor Incline, 5/10/13

After spending five months under repair 33035 was undergoing testing of its electrical system on the 1 in 27 Ravenstor Incline at Wirksworth on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway in Derbyshire.

View of the Ravenstor Incline from the Secondman's seat of 33035-20131005View of the Ravenstor Incline from the Secondman's seat of 33035, 5/10/13

After a spirited ride up the incline there was time for a brief chat with Mike Jacobs and James from the PDLG about the loco itself, the railway and the local quarries that were one of the reasons that the line was built in the first place (and why it remained open until the late 1980s) before a more sedate trip back down to Wirksworth station.

Thanks must go to the The Pioneer Diesel Locomotive Group and John Evans, the Duty Manager at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway for making it possible.

Friday 27 September 2013

A railway related pint - The Alexandra Hotel, Derby

In addition to my love of railways I'm also very fond of a pint of real ale and am never happier than when I can combine the two such as at The Alexandra Hotel in Derby.

Situated on Siddals Road, a (very) short walk from the station the Alexandra is now owned by the Castle Rock Brewery from Nottingham and naturally serves their beers but also has a good number of guest ales on at any one time too (as befits the birthplace of Derby CAMRA in 1974).

The bar of The Alexandra Hotel in Derby-20130907The bar of the Alexandra Hotel, Siddals Road, Derby, 26/9/13

The bar is packed with railway memorabilia, ranging from photographs and signs through to an illuminated colour light signal and there's plenty to interest the enthusiast while inside the pub. More signs can be found outside as can a very recent arrival in the form of the No.1 end cab from Class 37, 37411 (or English Electric type 3 D6990 depending on your age).

Railway memorabilia and 37411 cab-20130907Railway signs and the No.1 cab of 37411 (D6990), 26/9/13

I only had time for a quick drink but my pint of Castle Rock 'Elsie Mo' was perfect, very smooth and not too bitter and the pub itself was friendly and comfortable and I can thoroughly recommend it if you're in the area.

Monday 23 September 2013

Mallard at Grantham

LNER A4 class 4-6-2 4468 MALLARD-20130907LNER A4 class 4-6-2, 4468 MALLARD, 7/9/13

You may have noticed by now that I tend to photograph and write about the less 'mainstream' aspects of railways… It's not that I'm not interested in the mainstream, I'm just more interested in the weird and wonderful, the obscure and the forgotten…

That said, I couldn't pass up the chance of seeing the legendary London & North Eastern Railway A4 class 4-6-2 steam loco 4468 MALLARD when it was recently on display at Grantham as the centrepiece of the 'MALLARD the story of speed' exhibition commemorating the 75th anniversary of the world speed record of 125.88mph that MALLARD achieved on July 3 1938 on the slight downward grade of Stoke Bank just south of Grantham.

I arrived when the event was still over an hour away from opening to the public but there was no shortage of people lining up to poke their cameras through the fence to get photos in superb weather conditions!

The National Railway Museum have to be congratulated for allowing such an important exhibit as this to be displayed in this manner and I can only hope more such instances will follow… Anyone for the Midland Railway "Spinner" 4-2-2 No.118 at Derby station?

Sunday 1 September 2013

Signalbox Safari - Postland

Postland signalbox-20130803Postland signalbox (Lincolnshire), 3/8/13

I was tipped off to this particular signalbox by a tweet on the Railways Illustrated twitter feed a few weeks ago and decided to pay a visit.

Postland was a station on the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway line between Spalding in Lincolnshire and Whitemoor Jn. north of March in Cambridgeshire that opened in 1867. Named Crowland until 1871, Postland station closed in September 1961 but the line remained open until 27 November 1982 after which all traffic was diverted via Peterborough. I'm not sure when local services between Spalding and March ceased but the line was in use by long-distance trains linking East Anglia and the north right up until the end.

The Signalbox itself is a Great Northern Railway 'type 1' dating from 1882 and amazingly still contains it's original 35-lever frame. I can only assume that the cut-off rear corner of the box is to provide extra clearance for the road which curves sharply at this point.

Postland signalbox lever frame-20130803Postland signalbox lever frame, 3/8/13

I should point out here (before somebody else does) that strictly the section of line between Whitemoor Jn. and Spalding wasn't 'Joint' at all, being opened solely by the Great Northern Railway but is regarded as being part of the GN&GE.

Other boxes on the line also survive, notably at Cowbit and French Drove & Gedney Hill but have been (or are being) converted into private homes and as such enthusiasts may not be able (or welcome) to view them.

Monday 26 August 2013

Coincidences…

When I first encountered the 0-4-0VBT locomotives built by De Winton of Carnarvon I was immediately struck by how 'cobbled together' they looked, seeming to be part locomotive, part coffee-pot!
Now this turns out to be a bit of a coincidence strewn entry because the family of a close friend of mine always refer to anything that looks cobbled together as being 'George Henry'd' after an ancestor who was quite adept at what I would call 'the art of bodging' so during my recent visit to the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum I just had to take a photograph of a De Winton locomotive named 'GEORGE HENRY' that was used in the Slate Quarries at Penrhyn.

De Winton 0-4-0VBT George Henry-20130816De Winton 0-4-0VBT GEORGE HENRY, NGRM, 16/8/13

I showed the photo to my friend and after much rummaging in cupboards she produced the photo below, coincidentally showing the subjects of my last post DOWIE and TOMMY with none other than (her grandfather) George Henry himself on the footplate!

Dowie, Tommy and George Henry HensonDOWIE, TOMMY and George Henry Henson, date unknown
Photo courtesy of the Henson family archive.

It turns out that George Henry Henson was one of a number of family members that worked either in the quarry at Crich or on George Stephenson's mineral railway and along with his brother, Harold, was consulted during the writing of the book 'The Crich Mineral Railways' published in 1971 that first sparked my interest in the line.

What a small world we live in…

Monday 19 August 2013

Derbyshire railway history… In Wales!

This week I finally got to pay my first visit to the Talyllyn Railway, and amazingly (given my  track record where visits to Wales are concerned) in glorious weather!

Whilst waiting for No.1 'TALYLLYN' to arrive with our train Joy and I had a wander around the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum at Tywyn Wharf and came across these…

HODDER, TOMMY and DOWIE nameplates-20130816HODDER, TOMMY & DOWIE nameplates, NGRM, 16/8/13

HODDER, TOMMY and DOWIE, nameplates from three steam locomotives that once worked a line very close to where I grew up (albeit well before my time!)

The line in question was (unusually for the UK) a metre gauge concern that carried limestone from Cliff Quarry in Crich, Derbyshire (now home to the Crich Tramway Village) down to lime kilns by the side of the North Midland Railway line at Ambergate, constructed by none other than George Stephenson, renowned as the 'Father of Railways' and was opened in 1841 using a mixture of self-acting inclines and horses to move the wagons.

DOWIE was the first steam locomotive to arrive in 1893 being constructed by Markham and Co. Ltd. of Chesterfield at a cost of £500. A De Winton & Co. 'coffee-pot' purchased from an unknown source in 1899 became the first of two locomotives to be named TOMMY but wasn't a huge success, eventually being replaced by a secondhand locomotive identical to DOWIE built in 1889 by Oliver & Co. Ltd. of Chesterfield (who later changed their name to Markham and Co.)

HODDER (a Peckett dating from 1924) was the fourth and final steam locomotive bought for the line in 1934 from William Twigg, an engineering dealer at Matlock. A much larger locomotive than DOWIE and TOMMY, HODDER had to be cut-down in size but even with a severely truncated chimney it still only cleared the village tunnel roof by a couple of inches.

Cliff Quarry (although reopened at a later date in a limited capacity) and the railway closed in May 1957 without ceremony and as far as I am aware none of the steam locomotives survive.

Tuesday 30 July 2013

Class 506 remains at the Electric Railway Museum

Class 506 cab-20130525Class 506 cab at the Electric Railway Museum, 25/5/13

This rather sorry looking specimen is all that remains of the eight 3-car Class 506 1,500V DC EMUs built for local services between Manchester, Glossop and Hadfield on the legendary 'Woodhead Line' linking Manchester and Sheffield.

Ordered in 1938, built in 1950 and finally entering service in 1954 these units were withdrawn in 1984 following both closure of the Woodhead line east of Hadfield and conversion of the remaining section to the 25kV AC overhead system. One unit was saved for preservation but deteriorated severely in open storage (at Dinting Railway Museum and the Midland Railway-Butterley amongst other places) and was sent for scrap in 1995.

This driving end of DMBSO M59404M (b.1950, Metro-Cammell) recently moved from Barrow Hill Roundhouse to the Electric Railway Museum near Coventry is all that survives.

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Signalbox Safari - Dersingham

I have a liking for Signalboxes… I don't think there can be any other building that shouts 'RAILWAY!' quite as loudly as a signalbox and I try to photograph them wherever they crop up.

Dersingham signalbox-20130711Dersingham signalbox (Norfolk), 11/7/13

Dersingham was a station on the Lynn & Hunstanton Railway, half way between (funnily enough) King's Lynn and Hunstanton that opened in 1862 and although the line closed in 1969 most of the buildings have survived (relatively) intact.

The line became part of the Great Eastern Railway in 1890 and the signalbox, dating from 1891, is a GER 'type 7' now in use as a store for a builder's merchant (who kindly allowed me onto the site to take photographs).

I particularly like the way the building has been modified to suit its new role with removable panels at ground level allowing access to the former locking room.

Thursday 27 June 2013

Secret Simplex at the EARM

MR 4wPM (works no.2029 of 1920)-20130520Simplex 4wPM 2029 of 1920 at the East Anglian Railway Museum, 20/5/13

A recent(ish) visit to the East Anglian Railway Museum on a very dull Monday afternoon was an enjoyable, if quiet (I seemed to have the whole place to myself apart from two staff members) experience. I spent a couple of hours wandering round, photographing anything that caught my eye and dodging the rain showers.

I found this little gem interesting, a Simplex 4-wheel petrol mechanical locomotive that is far smaller than the wagons it was designed to pull. Built at the Motor Rail & Tramcar Co Ltd in Bedford in 1920 as works no.2029 it is believed to have spent its working life at various locations in Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, more than that I don't know, unfortunately the EARM website tells me more about 'Milo Mouse' ('a friendly character who will guide children around the museum while completing a range of fun activities') than the items on display there and the souvenir guide doesn't mention it either!

I doubt that the odd arrangement of wheels, 3-hole disc on one axle, split spoke on the other is original and I don't know for certain but I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that the small hole on the middle of the side frame is for a starting handle!

Thursday 28 February 2013

From the (Vuescanned) archives - Class 308s

308137-20000530308137 at Skipton station with a Bradford Forster Square service, 30/5/00

May 2000 was the first time I remember thinking "I'll take some photographs of xyz before they're all gone" In this case it was the Class 308 EMUs working between Leeds, Skipton, Ilkley and Bradford that were due to be replaced by new Class 333 units. Displaced from their original duties on the Great Eastern Main Line by Class 321 units BR chose to overhaul some Class 308s for use on the electrified lines that had spread north from Leeds in 1994-95.

An afternoon was spent at Skipton station during a trip to the Yorkshire Dales in May 2000 and a number of photographs were taken of 308s on services to and from Leeds and Bradford Forster Square. Reduced from four cars to three (with the scrapping of the intermediate trailers) and repainted in West Yorkshire PTE red and cream livery at Doncaster Works the 308s were really showing their age during the last year of operation, the final units going for scrap in 2001.

BDTCOL 75881 from 308136 is preserved at the Electric Railway Museum at Coventry.

Wednesday 13 February 2013

From the (Vuescanned) archives - part 1

A recent purchase of the excellent Vuescan software has led to me digging out my files of old negatives and slides. Surprisingly (considering my somewhat anal-retentive nature) they don't seem to be in any sort of order but hopefully something of interest will appear here from time to time.

37381-1988080137381 at Derby station, 1/8/88

First up is a negative of 37381 taken at Derby on 1st August 1988. Renumbered from 37284 less than two months earlier when fitted with regeared 'CP7' bogies 37381 stands underneath the footbridge at the south end of the station that led to Derby locomotive works. 37381 (originally D6984) was stored unserviceable in October 1993 and finally went to the cutters' torch in May 2000 at Frodingham MPD.

I didn't make any notes regarding train services or operation in those days, something that websites such as Freightmaster now help enormously with but can only assume some kind of North-east to South Wales steel working, if anybody out there can enlighten me then please do.