An Irish interlude for St Patrick's Day

It being St Patrick's Day tomorrow I thought I'd post a few photos taken during a trip to Dublin that Dad and I took way back in 2004.

A Ryanair 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 DE 156 at Dublin Connolly station/Stáisiún Uí Chonghaile, 30/6/04

The Locomotive Shed at Dublin Connolly station/Stáisiún Uí Chonghaile, 30/6/04

Then a tip-off from a member of station staff led us around the corner to see this…

LMS Northern Counties Committee Class WT 2-6-4T No.4, 30/6/04

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 DART unit (Dublin Area Rapid Transit).

Greystones station/Stáisiún na Clocha Liatha with DART 8510 class 8614 heading for Howth in the platform, 30/6/04

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 DE 234 at Dublin Heuston station/Stáisiún Heuston, 30/6/04

Sláinte!

Spotted today - Metropolitan Railway No.1

I popped down to the Midland Railway-Butterley this afternoon to photograph visiting Metropolitan Railway class E 0-4-4T No.1, currently on hire from the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre.

Metropolitan Railway E class 0-4-4T No.1 arrives at Hammersmith with the 13.10 departure from Swanwick Junction, 8/5/16

The sole survivor of a class of seven, No.1, built in 1898, was the last locomotive built at the Metropolitan Railway's Neasden Works and was constructed as a replacement for accident-damaged class 'A' 4-4-0T No.1.

Metropolitan Railway E class 0-4-4T No.1 runs round its train at Hammersmith station at the Midland Railway-Butterley, 8/5/16

Metropolitan Railway E class 0-4-4T No.1 stands at Hammersmith station with the 13.26 departure to Butterley, 8/5/16

According to the BRC's virtual stock book the Metropolitan Railway board wouldn't fund a replacement for the original No.1 only a repair but the Met's Operating Department somehow wangled an addition to the small batch of E class locomotives being built at Neasden at the time. The rest of the class carried the numbers 77-82 and presumably No.1 was numbered as such to help with the 'repair' subterfuge…

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?

Season's Greetings!

Just a quick post today to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I seem to be a bit lacking in the 'Christmas blog post photo' department so here's another shot from the Great Central Railway winter steam gala in January 2013, this time of Great Western Railway 2884 class 2-8-0 no.3803 (visiting from the South Devon Railway) running around its train at Leicester North in the snow…

GWR 2884 class 2-8-0 at Leicester North station, 25/1/13

A reminder…

As the shortest day approaches I like to remind myself of longer days and better weather.

This is another shot from the North Norfolk Railway and shows recent arrival at the NNR, London & North Eastern Railway class B1 4-6-0 61306 MAYFLOWER approaching Dead Man's bridge with the 12.00 departure from Sheringham on 12 September.

An absolutely gorgeous day with a calm sea that was hopefully causing no problems for the Sheringham Coastwatch coastal surveillance station that is just visible on the clifftop above the rear of the fourth carriage.

MAYFLOWER had changed hands in August 2014, being bought by Berkshire enthusiast David Buck from the Boden family who'd owned it since 1967. Built after nationalisation in 1948 by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow, 61306 carries the name originally bestowed on classmate 61379.

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

A contrast at Blaenau Ffestiniog

Travelling along the North Wales coast back in June I just had time for a quick trip down the branch line from Llandudno Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Arriva Trains Wales liveried 150257 stands at Blaenau Festiniog, 30/6/14

Recently repainted Arriva Trains Wales 150257 was shuttling up an down the branch, taking an hour to cover the 27 mile journey before pausing for 25 minutes to make a connection with Ffestiniog Railway services.

Ffestiniog Railway 0-4-4-0T Double fairlie DAFYDD LLOYD GEORGE/DAVID LLOYD GEORGE arrives at Blaenau Festiniog, 30/6/14

Double Fairlie 0-4-4-0T DAVID LLOYD GEORGE/DAFYDD LLOYD GEORGE arrived with the 13.35 service from Porthmadog and even in its temporary plain grey livery (having only returned to service following overhaul the previous month) still looked fantastic and had no problems handling a heavily loaded ten coach train.

So which is older? The 1ft 11½in gauge, coal-fired steam locomotive working on the world's oldest narrow gauge railway or the shiny diesel multiple unit that covers hundreds of miles every day on the national network?

That's right, 150257 is older, built by British Rail Engineering Limited, York in 1987 whilst DAVID LLOYD GEORGE/DAFYDD LLOYD GEORGE was built at the Ffestiniog Railway's Boston Lodge Works in 1992.

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 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.

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.

A Norfolk Ramble, part 3 - The bus stop's here!

Bus shelter at Sheringham, 11/04/14

This little structure stands on Railway Approach in Sheringham, just by the entrance to the North Norfolk Railway station. I can't tell you much about it other than I believe it dates from the 1930s and I'm guessing that it once had Crittall windows filling those huge holes in the walls.

But take a closer look at what's inside!

M&GNJR locomotive mural, 11/04/14

A mural depicting a Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway class C 4-4-0 steam locomotive, a type that would have operated on the former M&GNJR line that runs a few yards behind the shelter. This area became known as Poppy Land after the term was coined in the 19th century by the poet and theatre critic Clement Scott and the NNR is marketed as 'The Poppy Line' hence the abundance of Poppies in the mural.

Unfortunately I've no idea who the artist is, if anyone can furnish me with that information I'd be grateful.

Edit:Thanks to Clive Hughes for letting me know that Colin Seal is the artist in question, for more information on Colin's work see this BBC Norfolk article.

A Norfolk Ramble, part 2 - North Norfolk Railway

As usual, a trip to Norfolk means a visit to the North Norfolk Railway, easily one of my favourite heritage lines.

The warm weather had certainly brought plenty of visitors and even the first train of the day (the 09.45 from Sheringham-Holt) was pretty full. NNR stalwart 8572 (a London & North Eastern Railway B12 class 4-6-0) had no problems with its train of four coaches and one parcels van though.

LNER B12 class 4-6-0 8572 runs round its train at Holt, 11/04/14

The NNR is home to all sorts of beautifully restored items, from locomotives, carriages and buildings right down to this set of fire buckets, complete with Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway cast sign.

Fire buckets at Sheringham station, 11/04/14

A return visit was made the following day (more on this later) as I was hoping to photograph BR Standard class 4MT 2-6-0 76084 in action (I'd missed getting a shot of it the day before) but it wasn't to be… Great Northern Railway N2 class 0-6-2T 1744 (visiting from the Great Central Railway) was out and about instead.

GNR N2 class 0-6-2T 1744 departs Weybourne with the 13.44 service to Holt, 12/04/14

I thoroughly recommend a visit to the North Norfolk Railway if you're in the area, I'd even go as far as to say make a special trip if not! The combination of steam, sea views and (if you're lucky) sunshine really is unbeatable!

Double-heading at the MR-B

This weekend was the Winter Steam Event at the Midland Railway-Butterley, a fairly low-key affair in comparison with other railways perhaps but still worth a visit (especially as it’s just down the road from me) so today I spent a couple of hours by Butterley Reservoir photographing the trains crossing the causeway to and from the Hammersmith end of the line.

I'd photographed the 'usual suspects' in the shape of 'Jinty' No.23, the 'Caprotti Five' 73129 and Peckett 0-4-0ST WHITEHEAD but kept hoping that visiting Ivatt class 2MT 2-6-0 46521 (from the Great Central Railway) would put in an appearance…

Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 46521 & Standard 5MT 4-6-0 73129 cross Butterley Reservoir, 9/3/14

After a lengthy pause in operations my patience was eventually rewarded with an earlier than timetabled train double-headed by 46521 and 73129 that were making very light work of four BR Mk.1 coaches.

I did hear a number of people grumble about the inaccuracies in the published timetable, indeed the above working was almost an hour early which not only caught out lineside photographers but also (and more importantly) paying passengers. Whilst I understand that there will always be problems when it comes to running a timetabled event I do wish that some railways would try harder to get these things right on the day.

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'.

'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.

GWR 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.'

Guess where I've been…

p.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, 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 CANADA, 11/11/13

The 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.

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. 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.

Mallard at Grantham

LNER 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?

Put the kettle on…

BR Class 7MT 4-6-2 70013 OLIVER CROMWELL at Cromford, 27/5/12

By my reckoning it's been 27 years since I last stood by the lineside to photograph a steam railtour on the mainline but Sunday 27th May saw me standing in a field waiting for 'The Peak Forester' to pass on its way to Peak Rail at Matlock.
By the time 70013 OLIVER CROMWELL passed Cromford Meadows just south of Matlock, the tour was running roughly two hours late thanks to a combination of a track machine blocking in the stock used for the charter and a footplate incident which caused injury to some members of the crew. The warm and sunny weather (and a picnic) made the wait a pleasant one though so I can't complain.