Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2024 i Steam World

Yes but before you start cancelling your subscriptions, let us explain… British railway history divides very neatly into clear and distinct periods: the pioneering days, pre-Grouping, ‘Big Four’, British Railways pre-1968, BR post-steam and privatisation. Yet history is never neat. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that, aside from post-war experimentation, diesel development didn't start until the 1955 Modernisation Plan forced the rapid changeover from steam. Yet the LMS's first diesel shunter was authorised in October 1931, when, at that time, William Stanier was still employed by the GWR. Talk of the GWR brings to mind the wonderful AEC railcars in all their various shapes and sizes. The first were introduced in 1933, years before the first ‘Grange’ and ‘Manors’ were built. And the LMS was building…

Flick through something like the 1963/1964 Ian Allan Abc and it's surprising, at this late stage, just how many pre-Grouping locomotives were still in service. Many even dated from the Victorian era. For example, the London Midland Region was still using old ‘Half Cabs’ of 1878 vintage while the ex-LSWR ‘O2s’ that kept the Isle of Wight going dated back to 1889. The North Eastern Region wasa bit more modern for its ‘Q6s’ and ‘J27s’ were built in the 20th Century. The Western Region stands out for its lack of these venerable pre-Grouping survivors. That's largely due to the process that the Great Western Railway went through post-1923 when it either disposed of the engines it inherited or heavily rebuilt them. It swiftly replaced inherited engines with new standard designs.…

APRIL 16 1962 9E TRAFFORD PARK ‘ROYAL SCOT’ 4-6-0 NOS. 46143/158 ‘BLACK FIVE’ 4-6-0 NOS. 44717/750, 45239/386 ‘4F’ 0-6-0 NOS. 44275, 44378, 44489, 44533 FAIRBURN 2-6-4T NOS. 42050, 42112-13/235, 42676 FOWLER 2-6-4T NO. 42306 STANIER 2-6-4T NOS. 42428/79, 42584 FOWLER 2-6-2T NO. 40018 STANIER 2-6-2T NOS. 40141, 40208 ‘3F’ 0-6-0 NOS. 43211, 43580 ‘B1’ 4-6-0 NO. 61093 STANDARD ‘4MT’ 2-6-0 NOS. 76086/88-89 BR TYPE 4 1CO-CO1 NOS. D26/D89 TOTAL: 30 26F PATRICROFT ‘ROYAL SCOT’ 4-6-0 NOS. 46120, 46154 ‘SUPER D’ 0-8-0 NOS. 49034/87, 49199, 49323/82 ‘JUBILEE’ 4-6-0 NOS. 45552, 45663/80 ‘BLACK FIVE’ 4-6-0 NOS. 44808, 45024, 45129/33/82, 45252, 45352/71/78, 45409 STANIER 2-6-4T NOS. 42439/42, 42574, 42660 ‘4F’ 0-6-0 NO. 44108 ‘JINTY’ 0-6-0T NOS. 47300/64-65/78 ‘2P’ 4-4-0 NOS. 40453, 40681 STANDARD ‘5MT’ 4-6-0 NOS. 73030, 73125-28, 73130-34 ‘WD’ 2-8-0 NOS. 90222,…

OUTWELL: THEN OUTWELL: NOW WISBECH: THEN I had a spell in hospital when I was five, which required a long convalescence. It meant that I missed most of my first year of school but books provided one of the distractions that helped my recovery. During this time,I discovered the new series of children's books by Rev. Wilbert Awdry about an engine named Thomas. I was fascinated by the characters, human and locomotive alike. I particularly remember a Mrs. Kyndley. Plus, Awdry addressed the books to ‘Christopher’. Was he really writing them just for me? It was, however, book No. 7 Toby the Tram Engine which made the biggest impression. The jacket illustration of Toby, clearly based on the Great Eastern ‘G15’ (LNER ‘Y6') 0-4-0T, with his coach Henrietta deep in…

The Grand Junction Railway arrived in the village of Crewe in 1837. It absorbed the Crewe & Chester Railway in 1840, which prompted it to move its locomotive workshop from Edge Hill, Liverpool, to Crewe. The arrival of workers and their families from Edge Hill boosted Crewe's population by 800. The first locomotive built in Crewe, No. 32 Tamerlane, entered service in 1843 and, by 1848, the 1,000 men employed at Works could turn out one locomotivea week. A new railway community was established in what had beena rural township of Monks Coppenhail. The GJR's works opened in March 1843. At the time, it employed 161 people and includeda brick plant and a grease works. The Grand Junction merged with the London & Birmingham in 1846 to form the London…

Part 1 appeared in SW441 (March 2024) Identifying trains as they sped towards London was sometimes difficult when they didn't always carry reporting numbers, or were running in contrary to the timetable. The coaches could provide a clue in some cases, for the rolling stock used was pretty consistent for each train. For example, BR Mk Is were always used on the Glasgow and Liverpool services but rarely on any summer extras. As with northbound services that featured in Part 1,I will look at those trains which were always steam-hauled first. Then, I'll look at those where steam substituted for diesel, before concluding witha few unidentified extras. Offwe go… 1A01 (7.45am Stoke-on-Trent-London Euston) was due at Euston at 11.11am. It only ran from July 27 to August 31 and was…

Building Nottingham Victoria station required demolishing some 1,300 houses and excavating 500,000 cu yards of sandstone to form a cavern, the same depth as the approach tunnels. Due to this, there were numerous vantage points to watch not only trains on the Great Central's London Extension but also ex-Great Northern services as the station, which opened on May 24 1900, was a joint GC/GN one. ‘Royal Scot’ No. 46112 Sherwood Forester departs with an express parcels service for Marylebone in what W. A. Reed has recorded as September 1964. That makes this an interesting working because No. 46112 was apparently withdrawn from Annesley on May 9 that year. The ex-Great Northern shed at Colwick was on the eastern side of Nottingham and is now buried under an industrial estate and…

It was the Easter holidays, 1962, and I was in Rhyl with the college for a week's walking in Snowdonia. But April 16 was earmarked as a free day. What on earth was I going to do with it? I happened to have my British Locomotive Shed Directory with me and decided that a trip round the sheds in Manchester would be just the ticket. It required a fairly early start but I was at Rhyl station to catch the 7.05am Holyhead-Manchester Exchange, which arrived behind ‘Royal Scot’ No. 46120 Royal Inniskilling Fusilier. This was an early rebuild (1944) and would be withdrawn a year later, in July 1963. We were routed along the coast to Chester, over the old Birkenhead Joint through Helsby to Warrington and then the LNWR…

W hy did the Southern Region need 35 replacement locomotives in the late spring of 1953 when it only had 30 ‘Merchant Navies'? For example, Stewarts Lane depot received 14 replacement locomotives. How many ‘MNs’ did it have on its books in April 1953? Three: Nos. 35026, 35027 and 35028. Indeed, the allocation of the replacement locomotives to cover for ‘Merchant Navy’ fleet, urgently withdrawn for inspections after Bibby Line's crank axle broke at Crewkerne on April 24, was decidedly uneven. Nine Elms received 16 locomotives to replace 12 ‘MNs'; Exmouth Junction got three to replace eight; Salisbury got two to replace four and Dover and Bournemouth got none to replace Nos. 35029/30 and 35002 respectively. The reason appears to be that the replacement locomotives from other regions got sent…