Industrial Action - 'Steamer' = Heritage?

Back in September I passed through Stratford (regional) station in East London and was surprised to find a steam loco 'plinthed' between the railway and bus stations…

'ROBERT' (works no.2068 of 1933) is a product of the Avonside Engine Co Ltd in Bristol and I found myself wondering why it was on display here.

I'm still not sure…

'ROBERT' (originally named Lamport No.3) spent all its working life at the Staveley Coal and Iron Ltd's Lamport Calcine Sidings in Northamptonshire before moving into preservation at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre in 1970.

After passing through a number of heritage railways it ended up on display at the Windsor Terrace entrance to Beckton Gasworks in East London.

Apart from a temporary move to the East Anglian Railway Museum while work was carried out in the area in preparation for the 2012 Olympics 'ROBERT' has been on display outside Stratford station since 2000.

In fact, apart from now being painted a colour known as Colchester Crimson, a shade used by the Great Eastern Railway (whose main workshops were located at Stratford) I can't find any link between the loco and the area where it is displayed… Did somebody indeed think that a random 'Steamer' would add a bit of heritage to the area?

Industrial Action - An unsympathetic rebuild…

I.C.I. Ltd's 1960 rebuild of Avonside Engine Co Ltd 0-4-0ST RS8 (works no.1913 of 1923), 1/3/14

This monstrosity, displayed at the National Stone Centre in Wirksworth started out as an 0-4-0ST built by the Avonside Engine Co Ltd of Bristol in 1923 as works no.1913.

The rear view…

The Avonside name cast into one of the buffers.

As far as I am aware it spent the majority of its working life at Tunstead Quarry in Derbyshire where it carried the number RS8. When steam working at the quarry ceased in 1960 it was converted to diesel power with hydraulic transmission (making it an 0-4-0DH) at the I.C.I. Ltd's South Central Workshops at Tunstead and continued to work there until 1974 when it entered preservation with the Bahamas Locomotive Society at the Dinting Railway Centre.

Upon Dinting's closure it was put on display in the car park of the National Stone Centre beside of the trackbed of the Cromford & High Peak Railway, now known as the High Peak Trail.

I've been unable to track down a photo of RS8 before it suffered its rebuild but would imagine that it bore more than a passing resemblance to this…

Avonside Engine Co Ltd 0-4-0ST DORA (works no.1973 of 1927) at the Rutland Railway Museum, 29/8/99

Industrial Action - BTH Bo-BoDE 'Ford No.1'

BTH Bo-BoDE 'Ford No.1 (b.1932) at Rolvenden on the Kent & East Sussex Railway, 8/9/09

This boxy, American-looking locomotive was actually one of three built in Britain for the Ford Motor Company in 1932 for their new car plant at Dagenham in Essex.

The original specification was for a 150hp diesel electric locomotive with a weight of 44 tons and also stated that "all materials will be of British manufacture", something difficult to imagine these days.

The locomotives were fitted with American fixed-pattern buckeye couplers, sanding equipment, automatic bell and air whistles and at the time of building were unique in Britain and attracted considerable interest being regularly seen crossing the former London, Tilbury & Southend Railway mainline that passed between Ford's sidings to the north and the company's jetty on the River Thames to the south.

Built by British Thomson-Houston Co Ltd in Rugby they had bodies and frames made from Sheffield steel by Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd and six-cylinder engines supplied by W.H. Allen, Sons & Co Ltd of Bedford thus fulfilling the 'British manufacture' part of the specification.

BTH Bo-BoDE 'Ford No.1 (b.1932) at Rolvenden on the Kent & East Sussex Railway, 8/9/09

After 34 years of service at Dagenham, Ford No.1 was acquired by the Kent & East Sussex Railway where I photographed it (at Rolvenden) in 2009 and it still sees occasional use at special events.

A South-western Ramble, part 3 - Two Beres please!

Having already travelled over the Royal Albert Bridge linking Devon and Cornwall I decided to travel under it (by rail, not river) with a trip up the 'Tamar Valley Line' to Gunnislake.

The line splits off the West of England main line west of Plymouth at St Budeaux Junction and winds its way up the Tamar estuary to Bere Alston before reversing onto the line to Gunnislake passing over the Calstock Viaduct (and into Cornwall) roughly three miles from Gunnislake station.

150126 at Bere Alston, 6/8/14

I hopped off the train at Bere Alston and snatched a quick photo of 150126 as the guard abandoned his ticket machine on the platform and went off to change the points for the line to Gunnislake completely missing this!

Bere Alston signalbox, 6/8/14

Having swapped sides for the journey back to Plymouth I spotted the signalbox on the now disused island platform as the train pulled back into Bere Alston and I detrained once more to investigate. A London & South Western Railway type 3b box dating from 1890 it was closed in 1970 and is now apparently used by the owner of the former station-master's house… I'm not sure what for but wouldn't it make a superb summer house?

Bere Ferrers is the last station before the line re-enters the Plymouth suburbs and is home to The Tamar Belle, a small railway heritage centre that also offers overnight accommodation in a pair of London & North Eastern Railway carriages! Sadly, a lack of time prevented a visit but I managed to take a photo of a couple of the centre's locomotives before continuing on my way.

Hunslet Engine Co Ltd 0-4-0DM (works no.3133 of 1944) and Peckett & Sons Ltd 0-4-0ST 'Hilda' (works no.1963 of 1938) at the Tamar Belle Railway Heritage Centre, Bere Ferrers, 6/8/14

Information on this pair is sketchy but the diesel is a Hunslet Engine Co Ltd product, an 0-4-0DM and believed to be works no.3133 of 1944, supplied new to the Admiralty's Lodge Hill & Upnor Railway in Kent and subsequently moved to the Admiralty depot at Bullpoint, Plymouth in 1962. The 0-4-0ST was built by Peckett & Sons Ltd in 1938 as works no.1963 and I would welcome any details as to its history.

The Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway

I make no apologies for featuring another of Hunslet Engine Co Ltd's products in these pages, this time in the shape of 'Austerity' 0-6-0ST REPULSE (works no.3698 of 1950).

Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd. 0-6-0ST (works no.3698 of 1950) at Haverthwaite station, 9/7/14

391 locomotives of this class were built between 1943 and 1953 for the Ministry of Supply and War Department with a further 93 being built for industrial users. Hunslet built the majority but Andrew Barclay, Hudswell Clarke, W.G.Bagnall, Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns and Vulcan Foundry were also involved in the construction and examples from each manufacturer still survive in preservation.

The Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway's example "REPULSE" (named after the World War II battle cruiser) spent all it's pre-preservation life working for the North Western Area of the National Coal Board, finally being withdrawn from service in 1975 from the Ladysmith Coal Preparation Plant, Whitehaven.

On the day of my visit REPULSE was handling all of the passenger services on the L&HR's three mile line, transporting a seemingly endless stream of passengers to and from the 'Steamers' that operate over the whole 10.5 mile length of Lake Windermere.

Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd. 0-6-0ST (works no.3698 of 1950) runs round its train at Lakeside station, 9/7/14

More photos from my visit to the L&HR can be found on Flickr.

And (almost) 85 miles later…

I actually was on my way to Holyhead when I took the photo used in my last post and was pleasantly surprised to find my second ’Industrial Action’ item a short distance from Holyhead station.

Anglesey Aluminium began to produce Aluminium at its smelter near Holyhead in 1971 and at its height was one of the largest employers on Anglesey with over 500 staff. Also employed was this Hunslet Engine Co Ltd 0-4-0DH (diesel engine, hydraulic transmission) locomotive built in 1971 as works no.7183.

Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd. 0-4-0DH (works no.7183 of 1970) at Anglesey Aluminium's Penrhos Works at Holyhead, 25/6/14

The plant closed down in 2009 following the end of an energy deal with the nearby Wylfa nuclear power station and is mothballed pending the possible opening of a biomass power plant on site.

Assuming that the loco is also mothballed I'm surprised that a spot for it couldn't be found under cover, somewhere away from the coastal weather.

I managed the above shot (through a mucky Class 158 window) by setting the camera's focus on infinity and cranking the ISO up to 800 to allow a fast enough shutter speed to counter the movement of the train. The image is also cropped quite severely from the original thanks to the wide(ish) lens used.

Industrial Action - Hunslet 0-6-0ST 2705/1945

Industrial locomotives have become something of a passion of mine in recent years and although some are still used by industrial concerns most have now passed into the hands of the preservation movement.

One such locomotive is BEATRICE at the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway, a Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd. 0-6-0ST built in 1945 as works no.2705.

Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd. 0-6-0ST BEATRICE (works no.2705 of 1945) at Bolton Abbey station, 1/6/14

BEATRICE came to Embsay from Ackton Hall Colliery near Pontefract in West Yorkshire and is shown as still being located (and in use) there in 1976 in the Industrial Locomotives book published by the Industrial Railway Society in that year.

Recently overhauled and returned to steam, BEATRICE was in action during my visit on 1st June, easily handling her load of five BR Mk.1 carriages on the 1 in 100 climb out of Bolton Abbey station.

Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd. 0-6-0ST BEATRICE (works no.2705 of 1945) at Embsay station, 1/6/14

In addition to views of the wonderful North Yorkshire countryside the E&BAR has an interesting collection of industrial locomotives and a number of beautifully restored vintage carriages that form Stephen Middleton's Stately Trains fleet that have appeared in a number of film and television productions and is well worth a visit.

First trip of 2014! - Peak Rail

A reasonably good day (weather-wise) a couple of weekends ago provided an opportunity for what is becoming my annual winter trip to Peak Rail.

Hunslet 0-6-0ST "LORD PHIL' departs Rowsley South, 11/1/14

Whilst a lot of heritage lines close up for the post-Santa Special winter months Peak Rail continue to operate a regular, weekend steam service and it makes a very pleasant start to the year indeed.

For most of the year trains are operated with a locomotive at each end as Matlock station has no facilities for a loco to run round its train but in the winter months services are cut back slightly to the wooden platform at Matlock Riverside, a short walk from the town centre and Matlock station proper. Riverside station does have a run round loop and this makes the use of a single locomotive on a train possible which I assume brings about a significant reduction in operating costs during the quieter winter months.

Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd. Class WD 'Austerity' 0-6-0ST 'LORD PHIL' (works no.2868 of 1943)* was in action and it's rake of five coaches were surprisingly full (as was the buffet at Rowsley South which seemed to be doing a roaring trade in bacon sandwiches!)

After enjoying a couple of round trips through the Derbyshire Dales I popped into Bill Hudson Transport Books at Matlock station and came away with a couple of secondhand bargains to add to my library, I recommend calling in if you're in the area, the shop is a veritable (if small) Aladdin's Cave!

* 'LORD PHIL' carries the works no.3883 which dates from its rebuild (by Hunslet) in 1963 along with a smaller plaque that reads 'AUSTERITY LOCOMOTIVE BUILT FOR THE 2nd WORLD WAR ORIGINALLY DATED 1943 HUNSLET ENGINE Co. No.2868'.

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, 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 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…

Secret Simplex at the EARM

Simplex 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!