SCRAppER WINdFAll

The final year of Southern steam began with 137 engines on the region’s books, which rounds up to around 10,000 tons of scrap metal. Through almost military precision, all but the tiny preserved contingent had passed through the scrap processor within 18 months. Most photographs of the period showing cavalcades reaching South Wales show engines without connecting rods. In later times, they were taken off to reduce the chance of a hot bearing on the final journey. Scrap dealers were normally quite thorough in ensuring that they got what they paid for, however. In February 1965, Nine Elms is recorded as being ticked off by Cashmore’s of Newport for not sending 12 rods and 15 elements from BR Standards Nos. 73074 and 82015, and they (or similar items) were sent on later. Newport was the principal destination for the 1967 engines, which were mostly snapped up by Messrs Cashmore and Buttigieg, whose sprawling yards at the docks overlapped. Other yards in the frame, but with relatively small numbers of purchases, were Birds of Risca (Newport) and Morriston (Swansea), and Cohens of Morriston. It is not known whether Woodham Brothers of Barry, already heaving with nearly 200 engines in their yard, took serious interest, but only two of the 1967 Southern withdrawals, Nos. 41312 and 80151, got there, and they later passed into preservation. ‘USA’ 0‑6‑0Ts Nos. 30064 and 30072 were privately preserved. Few of us knew much back in 1967 about the block sales of engines, and we still mourn the general lack of interest in the final celebrities, aside from Blackmore Vale and Clan Line. What a pity, we still say, that so many high achievers never made it. Who could argue against a place in posterity for late survivors Nos. 34001 Exeter, 34002 Salisbury, 34004 Yeovil, 34006 Bude, 34057 Biggin Hill, 34089 602 Squadron, 34100 Appledore, 35007 Aberdeen Commonwealth, and 35030 Elder-Dempster Lines?