From the (digital) archives - The Royal Albert Bridge (again)

Just a quick post today with another shot of the Royal Albert Bridge…

The Royal Albert Bridge recreated in LEGO, 23/10/09

Quite an accurate replica made from LEGO and seen at LEGOLAND® Windsor during a visit with friends in 2009… Even the High Speed Train crossing the bridge is made from LEGO (if a bit short, and in the wrong livery!)

From the (digital) archives - part 1

I've mentioned before that I tend to focus on the less 'mainstream' aspects of railways and I think that this particular post pretty much confirms that…

I'm trying to get my digital photographic archive in some sort of order at the moment and in doing so this image caught my eye.

Great Eastern Railway station seat from Yarmouth South Town, displayed at the NRM, 11/8/10

This is a Great Eastern Railway station seat from Yarmouth South Town station that was on display in the Station Hall at the National Railway Museum when I visited in 2010.

The station closed on 4 May 1970 and for more information I can do no better than point you in the direction of Nick Catford's Disused Stations website.

For hundreds of years Great Yarmouth was a major fishing port and the decoration on this seat reflects that: ropes, nets, fish and seashells all feature on the cast ends… Did the GER use this design anywhere else I wonder?

BR's last standard gauge steam loco?

August 1968 is well known as being the end of main line steam on British Railways, the final surviving locomotives being mainly ex-London Midland & Scottish Railway class 8F 2-8-0s and class 5MT 4-6-0s with a smaller number of BR standard types (not forgetting the three 1ft 11¾in gauge ex-Vale of Rheidol Railway 2-6-2Ts).

But this particular locomotive is believed to have still been in service with BR as late as 1972!

LMS class 3F 0-6-0T 47564, 17/8/14

This LMS class 3F 0-6-0T 'Jinty' No.47564 was built by the Hunslet Engine Co Ltd in 1928 as LMS No.16647 and was withdrawn in March 1965 before being converted to a stationary boiler (No.2022) for carriage heating at first Holyhead then Red Bank Carriage Sidings in Manchester… where it remained until 'preserved' in 1972.

Acquired by the Midland Railway Trust for spares it is one of four 'Jintys' to be found around the Swanwick Junction site… I doubt it'll ever turn a wheel under its own steam again though… or heat a carriage for that matter.

An undated photo of the loco in its latter BR days can be found on this page (scroll down to 'Manchester Red Bank') on the excellent AbRail Rail Databases website along with a huge amount of information and photographs relating to other stationary boilers.

A South-western Ramble, part 4 - Farewell to Cornwall…

Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge spans the River Tamar and the border between Cornwall and Devon and even partially shrouded in scaffolding it's still a magnificent sight!

The Royal Albert Bridge, Saltash, 6/8/14

Here 43151 leads* the 14.00 First Great Western service from Penzance to London Paddington 'The Royal Duchy' across the bridge and into Devon on 6 August signifying the end of my trip to Cornwall… Trains slow considerably along the single track section across the bridge and that, coupled with the tight curve leaving Saltash station make such images possible.

Built for the Cornwall Railway's 7ft ¼in broad gauge line from Truro to Plymouth the bridge was opened in May 1859, four months before Brunel's death and the lettering 'I.K.BRUNEL ENGINEER 1859' was added as a memorial by the directors of the Cornwall Railway Company.

In 1889 the Cornwall Railway became part of the Great Western Railway, a company that had operated the line since 1877 who converted the track gauge on the bridge from 7ft ¼in to 4ft 8½in in one single weekend in May 1892! A feat hard to imagine these days…

*For the record 43195 was on the rear of the train.

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.

A South-western Ramble, part 2 - Now that's more like it!

You may remember that last year I photographed the First Great Western 'Night Riviera' service as it passed through Exeter St Davids on its way to London Paddington.

Last year 57602 Restormel Castle was in charge of the train, wearing the First Group dark blue livery that I thought was applied to all of FGW's locomotives and HST power cars…

So I was pleasantly surprised when this turned up!

57604 PENDENNIS CASTLE at Exeter St Davids, 6/8/14

57604 PENDENNIS CASTLE (converted from Class 47, 47209 in 2004) wearing Great Western Railway lined green complete with the GWR coat-of-arms on the cabside, a much more attractive and 'railway-like' livery than those applied to the rest of FGW's fleet in my opinion.

A South-western Ramble, part 1

31 years after I last stood on Truro station during my first visit to Cornwall on a family holiday I made a return visit a few weeks ago while travelling on a Freedom of Devon & Cornwall (3 in 7 days) Rover ticket.

I'd wanted to travel on the Falmouth branch train (marketed as the 'Maritime Line') that begins its 12 mile journey at Truro and just had time to do so before continuing my journey down to Penzance.

150238 prepares to depart from Truro with the 15.51 FGW service to Falmouth Docks, 4/8/14

I made the return trip to Falmouth Docks on 150238, passing 153373 and 153329 at Penryn travelling in the opposite direction on both the outward and return journeys.

Truro signalbox and GWR/WR lower quadrant signal, 4/8/14

Upon arriving back at Truro I had time to take a few photographs before catching 'The Royal Duchy' for the short hop to Penzance, Truro still being blessed with a traditional Great Western Railway signalbox and semaphore signals not to mention some lovely GWR platform benches (although these are more than likely reproductions), now if only First Great Western would adopt a more traditional GWR-style 'chocolate and cream' paint scheme!