Glorious The years
The scenery may have changed for Royal Scot but the weather is all too familiar – rain falls hard on Philadelphia’s Broad Street station following the arrival of LMS Fowler 4-6-0 No. 6100 on May 16 1933, ahead of its display at the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition. The locomotive is not actually Royal Scot, the engine having swapped identities with classmate No. 6152 The King’s Dragoon Guardsman prior to its transatlantic trip.
MYSTERY ‘TERRIER’
I was interested to see the Bluebell Timeline (SR508) as it raised a query in my mind.
At the turn of 1960/1, I was a draughtsman in Eastleigh Locomotive Drawing Office and remember seeing the LSWR ‘Adams Radial’ No. 30583 when it was brought into the works prior to being moved to the Bluebell.
It was prepared under the watchful eye of Harry Frith, then foreman in the erecting shop, who made sure it was in reasonably good condition. The query arises because it was in the company of a ‘Terrier’ (I do not recall which one) and both locomotives were described as being destined for the Bluebell Railway. The ‘Terrier’s toolbox had been filled with spare parts and tools and Harry told me that he had screwed the lid on to ensure nothing went missing en route. The two locomotives left Eastleigh together, but did they arrive on the Bluebell at the same time?
As an aside, in 1962 I had moved to the Southern Region chief mechanical engineer’s office at Brighton and rode with Birch Grove, which had arrived in steam from Stewarts Lane, between Haywards Heath and Sheffield Park where I formally handed it over from BR to Horace May for the Bluebell.
Mike Johns, Taunton
Stepney and Fenchurch arrived on the Bluebell in 1960 and 1964 respectively, so can anyone shed light on which ‘A1X’ it was? – Ed.
CARRY ON CAMPING
I enjoyed the Balancing Act article (SR508) in which the problem of slowly deteriorating unrestored coaches was highlighted.
As the article explains, many of these were purchased decades ago by railways and societies simply because they were available and nobody wanted to see them go for scrap. Fastforward 40 or 50 years to the present day, and many of them are still virtually untouched since they were originally purchased. Some are now rotting away in sidings all over the country, leading to an inescapable conclusion that many of them will never be restored, however unpalatable this may be, despite some of them being very rare, or even unique, vehicles.
Obviously it would need millions of pounds to fully restore even a few of them, but I have had an idea that could breathe new life back into some, albeit what to many may be a controversial idea.
Could some of them be restored externally as close as possible to original condition, but gutted internally and be converted into holiday coaches? I appreciate that external cosmetic restoration will still cost a significant amount of money, depending on the condition of each coach, but internal fitting out as such would surely be much cheaper than trying to faithfully restore to original condition.
Many of our preserved lines run through beautiful countryside in popular tourist areas while others run to busy seaside resorts, and all of them have stations or sidings
that, providing they could find the space, would be perfect locations and they would indeed prove very popular as holiday destinations. Furthermore, any railway or group that took this initiative would find themselves with an asset on their hands that, once completed, would be capable of earning money virtually immediately, thus very quickly enabling them to start paying back any funds borrowed in order to undertake the conversion.
I appreciate that what I am suggesting is, to the purists, akin to painting City of Truro in BR black! But what is the alternative? Leave these vehicles to just rot away and never see the light of day again? What a shame that would be!
As far as I am aware, only the North Yorkshire Moors, West Somerset and Kent & East Sussex railways have holiday coaches on their lines, but there are others that could potentially benefit.
Keith Faulkner, Tamworth
‘DUKEDOG’ HAD ITS DAY
I much enjoyed your item about ‘Dukedog’ No. 9017 (SR508). I discovered that, after working the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society special on September 24 1960, its last working on the Cambrian was the 11.07 Dovey Junction-Pwllheli six days later and an unknown dated run for its return to Oswestry Works.
I was on that TRPS special as a member. It was my third special and two ‘9000s’ or other unusual motive power was always requested from Shrewsbury or Wolverhampton to Tywyn. I had been working in an Eastern Region timing office at King’s Cross for two years and discovered from diagramming colleagues, who were also enthusiasts, that intense debate was occurring within the Chester Division of the Western Region about what motive power would be diagrammed on the TRPS special from Shrewsbury. It all depended on the health of No. 9017, which was under repair and receiving special attention at Machynlleth.
I seem to recall that on arriving at Shrewsbury from Paddington, an Ivatt ‘2MT’
No. 46443 and ‘43XX’ No. 7330 could be seen coupled together, ready to reverse onto our special. The ‘Dukedog’ was nowhere to be seen and everybody groaned.
But then No. 46443 was detached and suddenly a great shout and cheer went out:
No. 9017 had appeared, having come that morning tender-first from Machynlleth after extended overnight attention. There were at least five men on the footplate, including, I believe, the Machynlleth shedmaster, a locomotive inspector and a fitter.
A decision had apparently been made that if all went well that morning, on the way to Shrewsbury, and that if the Machynlleth crew and their managers stayed within the train, then No. 9017 could work the special with No. 7330.
It was a marvellous run.
Our overnight departure from Tywyn to Paddington at 23.45 on the Saturday night, after our meeting, was memorable, to the backdrop of flash photography and the sound of detonators exploding. We were very pleased that No. 9017 had been serviced and turned and would be running back with No. 7330. I remember someone coming round after Aberdovey with a bucket collecting money for the ‘Dukedog’s’ preservation.
However, signal box closing hours on the Cambrian main line on Sunday morning were of some concern. In addition, the Machynlleth men on No. 9017 had been on duty a very long time.
A decision had been made therefore that No. 9017 would not go all the way to Shrewsbury with No. 7330 and run back light to Machynlleth as planned. It would be detached at Talerddig after a final ascent of the bank.
Our train came to a stop at Talerdigg after a very purposeful effort by both locomotives. The ‘Dukedog’ was detached, and as it slowly reversed downhill alongside our train, the four enginemen and large numbers of passengers waved farewell to each other. David Wrottesley, Sheffield
DAWLISH DISMAY
While I agree that the route through Dawlish needs to be given full protection in order to maintain strategic rail access to the south west (SR507/8), sadly the result is that the iconic sea wall is no more. The analogy is that of painting the Forth Railway Bridge pink.
A less obtrusive solution and one I suggested to Network Rail some time ago was to locate a series of Mulberry-type harbours some distance from the shoreline, which would serve to dissipate the power of the wave before landfall. Anyone who has knowledge of oceanography would concur. John Storer, by email
A QUAY MISTAKE
I was saddened to read that Dorset County Council is spending a lot of taxpayer’s money digging up the famous Weymouth Tramway.
You might think that they would have liaised with Dorset County Council just down the coast, where in Swanage, the narrow gauge line is preserved in the promenade as a feature and talking point.
Geoff Johnson, by email
QUEEN’S EARLIEST COP?
In early July 1952, No. 35025 Brocklebank Line, in air-smoothed form, hauled the then new Queen, Elizabeth II, and Royal Train from Gillingham, Dorset into Waterloo.
My quest is to attempt to discover if it can lay claim to being the earliest surviving steam locomotive that hauled the Queen and Royal Train in the first five months of her reign. There may be up to seven others aiming for the title, but did they survive?
My researches so far reveal that following the death of King George VI in February 1952, the Royal Train was used on three separate occasions up to early July 1952. First use was on May 26 to convey the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Princess Anne, from Euston to Ballater; then to return Prince Charles and Princess Anne to Euston on June 12 1952. Then we come to July 1, the Royal Train departed from Paddington, destination Newton Abbot, and returned to Waterloo two days later. But where was No. 35025 attached to the front?
Brian Seddon, Chairman, 35025 Brocklebank Line Association