Steam

[Fynger 841]

Heres one I found....a bit clearer too

[rob237 89]

Excellent pics of 5043, from you both...well done Fynger & taxi ray...

Can't quite recall if Earl of Mount Edgcumbe was preserved with its own identity, or is it a renumbered and renamed preserved Castle; Clun Castle/Defiant?...or a Birmingham Railway Museum restoration?

Still vividly recall an amazing ride behind 5043 from Weston to Dawlish in the late 50's, with a steady 90 across the Somerset levels and a thunderous climb of Wellington Bank!

Cheers

Robt P.

[firbeck 859]

Some Brit action shots:-

Euston bound express at Lancaster, Xmas 1966:-

Royal Scot relief, Carnforth Xmas 1966:-

Barrow-Euston at Carnforth, 1966, 70027 Rising Star, the famous 'Brief Encounter' Buffet room is just to the right:-

Leaving on the same train, shortly before I flooded out the carriage when the loco picked up water from Hest Bank troughs:-

70026 Polar Star leaving Lancaster and a cold wet day:-

I bet your're glad I can't publish my slides.

[firbeck 859]

Rob

The 'Earl' was built in 1936, originally named Barbury Castle, renamed in 1937, withdrawn in 1962 ending up in Barry. Used as a spares source for Clun Castle at Tyseley then restored to working order over a number of years until it emerged last October.

Looks nice with the Collet tender.

[rob237 89]

...note how some Brits have handrails on their smoke deflectors and others have'nt, this was due to an incident on the Western Region caused by poor visibility, some had their rails removed, others didn't:-

Yes, indeed...

Canton's 70026 Polar Star was the culprit. Misread signal (due to the deflector rail) and turned over entering the loop at Milton near Didcot. early '56.

As you infer, only the WR and ER allocations were modified with deflector recesses/handholds thereafter - and also, the Stratford and Swindon conversions differed considerably...

Have a pic somewhere of Rising Star front-buffered up to Rudyard Kipling, where the differing conversions are blatant...

Enjoyed your pic of Britannia at Grantham. Can't recall ever seeing a Brit there...

One of Colin Walker's superb ECML books has a pic of Hereward the Wake there, also on parcels...

They usually worked 'around the back' from Grimsby to Peterborough (via Spalding) on their Kings Cross trips.

Cheers

Robt P.

[firbeck 859]

Heres one I found....a bit clearer too.

Interesting, it's going in the opposite direction to the ones you first showed, the type of carriage behind it gives it away.

[plantfit 7,599]

firbeck,

You need to collate all your pics and publish them in a book, There's a company called "Reflections of a Bygone age" they are based in keyworth Notts and an average price for their small booklets is £3.50 might be worth a try, plenty of rail enthusiast out there mate.

Fynger and Taxi Ray, brilliant pictures thanks for posting

Rog

[Fynger 841]

Interesting, it's going in the opposite direction to the ones you first showed, the type of carriage behind it gives it away.

Thats cos its NOT my pic i found it on Flickr

[firbeck 859]

Yes, have to agree, the stripes related to crew safety...nothing to do with loading gauge etc...

Cheers

Robt P.

Rob

While sorting out some of the treasures from my mothers loft I came across some old copies of Trains Illustrated and Modern Railways dating from the early 60's, heartbreaking stuff when you read about line closures around Nottingham and look at the monthly steam withdrawal lists.

There is however a mention in the Motive Power Miscellany in the October 1964 Modern Railways referring to the recently introduced yellow stripe policy causing confusion as to which classes should be so treated. It would appear that the descision was based solely on the height of the chimney with regard to the overhead wires, the magic figure of 13ft 3in seems to be mentioned, it had nothing to do with considerations for crew safety.

One problem mentioned was with regard to our old friends the 4F 0-6-0's, it would appear that some had been rebuilt with lower chimnies and therefore came below the statutary height, you can imagine all the jobsworths lurking around those sooty old engine sheds trying to measure the height of 4F chimnies, it must have been hilarious.

[plantfit 7,599]

Interesting level marker, Midland railways, steam era

Rog

[Beefsteak 305]

That'd be Monsal dale ???

I've just seen, on local news , a piece about Crewe Heritage Centre having three Steam locos in full working order now!

[Ashley 288]

1 in 8.25? where was that? Castle Rock? far as I know Lickey Incline at 1 in 37.7 the steepest climb? though the Hopton Incline on The Cromford & High Peak was 1 in 14, maybe the former famous as a "Main Line"? Mind you the single track from the GNR via the rathole up to the GCR up line pretty steep once it went under the latter at Bagthorpe Junction. I suspect maybe some later addition to do with the walk?

[plantfit 7,599]

Blackrock to Middleton top, the beam engine is still in place at Middleton top but only runs on compressed air now, the boilers are still set in the wall at the side of the engine house, all well worth a visit, further down the line at Cromford the Leawood pump is still in steam, this thing brings water from the Derwent about 50 ft below to replenish the canal, 800galls of water at a stroke, nearly 4 tons and only working on about 45 psi, steam provided by two midland railway boilers, I have a few more pics of my travels if anyone interested

[rob237 89]

Mind you the single track from the GNR via the rathole up to the GCR up line pretty steep once it went under the latter at Bagthorpe Junction....

The two lines joined at Bagthorpe Junction

IIRC, the short, steep climb up from Arnold Road was something like 1 in 18.

Surely the 'rathole' tunnel itself took the GNR beneath the GCR...

Cheers

Robt P.

[firbeck 859]

I have a few more pics of my travels if anyone interested

I'm always interested in your pics Rog.

Here's a couple from the past when the place was still in operation. This was a school hiking trip during Whit 1965. From memory we started off from Matlock, climbed up past Riber Castle to Crich, then followed the Stephenson Incline down to the Cromford Canal, following it to the end and having a sniff round the bottom of the High Peak:-

This is Fanny, Hutch and Jacko, full names can be supplied on request:-

A view up the line:-

I know I have a picture taken that day of a 'Peak' on a Manchester Express passing the pumping station you mentioned, but can I find it, nooooo.

We were led by our very enthusiastic Geography teacher, Jolly Jack Singleton, a lovely man, I have some pictures of the Tramway museum taken at the time when things were still pretty basic, I think it was the first time that I met the famous eccentric tramtrack collector, Stanley, anyone remember him.

[plantfit 7,599]

Great pics firbeck, the place hasn't changed that much either, I do have a picture taken from the A6 bridge looking down the line which I will post so that other members can see little change. at the top of the incline was a narrow gauge quarry railway with a small Ruston and Hornsby diesel loco and the quarry railway running up to Middleton top

Rog

[plantfit 7,599]

This is the pic taken from about where the bridge is in firbecks picture looking down the incline, notice the water tank on the right on a structure made from sleepers, you can just see the top of the tank in firbecks pic on the left above the rail trucks, and notice the two midland rail guards vans at the bottom, the buildings are still there and are now a small museum and a bit of a gift shop/teashop Don't forget to collate all this stuff Pete and get it published, I'll buy a copy and I'm a tight sod

Rog

[firbeck 859]

Rog

I understand your sentiments, but there were better people than me taking pictures out there in the 60's, I don't think that any of my pics are particularly awinspiring compared to the experts, yes, I have a few tales to tell, I have one for every photo I've ever taken, but where do you start as far as publishing and a book is concerned.

Yet untouched, Firbecks Southern exploits:-

Just the tip of the iceburg and things I happened to come across, I cycled there from Nottingham on a 1920's tandem, now thats a good story.

Lymington and Brockenhurst by the way.

[Fynger 841]

Hope you find the Tandem in the attic.....be worth a bob or two now.

[firbeck 859]

I've been worried about you Fynger, I reckon that you've been concentrating on that banjo too much.

Incidentally, did you see Taj Mahal on Jools Holland last week, playing the blues on a banjo, it wasn't pretty, but quite remarkable.

My old man sold the Tandem for £6 to some kids, many years ago when I was away at college, I was not impressed, what a loss, it had been part of the family since the 1920's, it was in fantastic condition and I still have boxes of spare parts. I have a similar vintage tandem stored in my bike shed, it needs a lot of work to get it back on the road, it will be restored eventually, but it will never be the same.

Mum and Dad, somewhere in Leicestershire, 1937, on the fabled tandem:-

[Fynger 841]

Only ever got to ride one a few times...had the old caliper brakes....but wow..you could get some speed up with two of you on it........yep the Banjos comin on nicely....had to resand down the back cos the laquer went 'oooer'....but more ideas have been applied...( not saying what yet tho ).....reckon im breathin in too many fumes eh ?....hee hee.

( dint see Taj Mahal mate....never see any t.v. )

[firbeck 859]

I've got all tearful thinking about the old tandem, it had disc, as well as cantilever brakes, 3 speed Cyclo gears and remained pretty much unchanged for most of our ownership, I wonder what happened to it, it was a Sun tandem, why the old man didn't dismantle it and store it in the garage is beyond me.

I've been trying to find a particular photo that I know I have somewhere, meanwhile, exactly 30 years on from that last picture, you can see it peeping just inside the frame on the right of the picture:-

This was our epic trip from Nottingham to the Isle of Wight, we stopped for a sandwich next to the GWR mainline near Didcot, this was the Bristol Pullman passing at speed. Shortly afterwards while struggling up the hills near Watership Down, the Cyclo gears decided to reduce themselves to bits and bounce all over the road. We grovelled around in the traffic and found every part, which had to be put back together. We didn't have any more trouble until I'd dropped my mate off home several hundred miles later and the gear cable decided to snap while travelling back alone along Glaisdale Drive.

Rog

I found the picture of the Peak and the pumping station, not such a good picture as I remembered it, but you can just make out the building and the chimney in the top right of the photo:-

[firbeck 859]

I'm off again, funny what you find, not quite steam, I know, but can anyone recall these odd beasts:-

The brake tender, shoved in front of diesels when they replaced steam on the unfitted coal trains due to the inadequate braking capacity of the diesels, why this one was stuck on front of a breakdown train, taken off the footbridge at Trent Lane Crossing, April 1965, is beyond me.

Heres another one, attached to one of the original Peaks taken at Toton depot in the summer of 65:-

They were always shoved in front of the loco and looked ridiculous, I don't think that they were used for very long, I recall lines of them dumped at Toton in the late 60's, wasn't it an East Midlands phenomena.

[plantfit 7,599]

We seem to have strayed a bit from the original thread of steam which I don't mind as I like any sort of railway so here's a pic I took on the Cromford/High Peak, it's a narrow gauge Ruston and Hornsby diesel ex quarry loco now giving punters a ride to Middleton top from Blackrock at a couple of quid a throw

Rog

[firbeck 859]

Would that be an old BR Departmental that used to operate around Horwich works.

Anyway, hint taken, back on track, this is a steam special from the old days, privately owned Flying Scotsman on a special at the wonderful, wiped off the face of the earth Trent Station, July 1966:-

Oops, sorry, it came out a bit wonky.