MODERN HISTORY
Dinting Railway Centre was once one of the hotbeds of preservation. PAUL CHANCELLOR remembers the era before it passed into history.
One can only imagine the conversations that went on in the early preservation era, starting with ‘It would be nice to preserve ‘x’ or ‘y’ locomotive… c’mon, let’s start an appeal’. In many cases, that was as far as it got, but some brave souls succeeded.
With funds being so tight, minds concentrated on raising the money. But then the realisation dawned: ‘we have the engine – but where shall we put it?’
Two more realities then took hold. Moving the locomotive to a suitable location would cost money, so more fundraising was required, and a suitable location had to be found. Suitable was also a subjective word, as the home for an ex-industrial 0-4-0T would have to be very different to that of a large passenger engine capable of running long distances at speed. And if the plan was to run that engine on the main line, then a rail connection would be essential.
And once they’d found that suitable home, British Rail dashed any main line ambitions by imposing a steam ban, and reduced many an express racehorse to hobbling up and down a few yards of siding.
Some societies inevitably ended up in less than ideal premises.
As more and more engines required homes, societies with space to spare gave shelter to homeless locomotives, reducing still further the room available for running.
One such group looking for a home was the Bahamas Locomotive Society, which happened upon the previously little known Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire engine shed at Dinting in 1968.
While there was covered accommodation suitable for day to day maintenance, subsequent experience has shown that with the ever more complex work required to maintain steam engines, more modern facilities were required, hence the demise of a number of early steam centres. Even so, the facilities that the BLS enjoys at its current base at Ingrow are not too dissimilar to those encountered in its former 100-year-old engine shed.
In its day, Dinting was home to a number of thoroughbreds. Sorting through the Colour Rail archive
has revealed views of No. 5596 Bahamas itself, another Jubilee, No. 5690 Leander; ‘Royal Scot’ No. 6115 Scots Guardsman (then in smart LMS black); plus Hardwicke, the Midland Compound, Liverpool & Manchester 0-4-2 Lion, ‘Coal Tank’ No. 1054, S&D ‘7F’ No. 13809, ‘A4’ Bittern, ‘A2’ Blue Peter, ‘O4’ No. 63601, ‘Improved Director’ No. 506 Butler-Henderson, ‘Schools’ Cheltenham and a host of industrials. Even the Woodhead electric Class 76 No. 26020 visited, and from the foregoing list it was clearly a location favoured for National Collection engines prior to the opening of the National Railway Museum in York.
Following eviction by the landlord in charge of the site, the sad end for Dinting came in 1990 and the Bahamas Locomotive Society moved its collection to Ingrow on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. There, both main line access and a good running environment could be enjoyed, with other former Derbyshire residents scattered to all corners of the country.
Today, there is almost no trace of Dinting Railway Centre, except for the sad derelict remains of the once-famous MSLR engine shed.