Innehållsförteckning för March 2022 från Steam Days

Tail Lamp Readers’ Letters Stanier ‘3P’ 2-6-2Ts on the Far North Line Sir: In connection with the above, and as illustrated on page 54 in my joint article on ‘The Far North Line’ (December issue) one such type of locomotive, No 40150, is shown working a Georgemas Junction to Thurso service in 1960. This may intrigue some but previously five consecutively numbered engines, Nos 185-189, of this LMS type had been sent circa 1939 to Blair Atholl to take over banking duties to Drumochter summit on the Highland main line. It is reported they did not measure up to this task and although some appear to have pottered about on Perth-based local duties, the five retreated in due course to the Glasgow area, principally to Dawsholm shed. Moving fast forward…

Deeside steam memories Richard Clarke takes us through his early memories of the North Wales Coast main line and the ex-Great Central Railway line in the Deeside area of Flintshire. J Marshall/Kidderminster Railway Museum Deeside is the area around Connah’s Quay, Shotton, Queensferry, Hawarden, Mancot and Sandycroft. In the 1950s and 1960s it was industrial in character, with the John Summers & Sons Ltd steelworks at Shotton, Connah’s Quay power station, tar distiller R Graesser Ltd in Sandycroft and chemical factories in nearby Flint and Greenfield being the major employers. John Summers was rail-connected with the ex-Great Central Railway (later LNER) line, and Connah’s Quay power station and the main chemical works were rail-connected to the North Wales Coast main line (ex-London & North Western Railway and later LMS), and freight…

The Johnson class ‘3’ 4-4-0s Andrew Wilson looks at the Johnson ‘3Ps’ that deserved to be adopted as an LMS standard design rather than the ‘2P’ 4-4-0s. A G Ellis/Author’s Collection By the last decade of the 19th century the Midland Railway’s locomotive practice was dominated by a ‘small engine’ policy and double-heading where necessary. During the 1890s the company made considerable advances in its coaching stock as business travellers began to demand the provision of dining cars. Steam heating was gradually being introduced, along with improved six-wheel and bogie compartment stock and corridor coaches, in addition to improved schedules. The new, bigger carriages and dining cars increased the weight of trains and during the last years of S W Johnson’s tenure as locomotive superintendent, locomotives with greater power and adhesion…

From Bristol to Bath along Great Western metals Colin G Maggs MBE describes the features of note on this 12½ mile journey along the Avon valley. K C H Fairey/Colour-Rail.com/22945 Officially 118 miles 28 chains from London (Paddington), Bristol (Temple Meads) offers us a starting point for the 11 mile 38 chain journey through to Bath station. Although only possessing five intermediate stations at its peak, the route has a rich history, and much of this is best illustrated in the form of an up travelogue. The Floating Harbour bridge was immediately east of the Bristol station site, and so to offer sufficient clearance to waterborne traffic the station had to be 15ft above ground level. This offered Brunel the opportunity to design the station like a Tudor mansion, thus making…

Great North of Scotland engine sheds Keith and Elgin Roger Griffiths and John Hooper continue their evaluation of GNSR engine sheds and servicing points, embracing the company’s facilities established beyond Huntly on what we know today as the Aberdeen-Inverness main line. Authors’ Collection Core to the GNSR system was its main line from Aberdeen through to Huntly (opened in September 1854), and onward to Keith just over two years later, however the original ambitious plan for it to link Aberdeen with Inverness would never be a reality as such, the route that we know today including sections of line achieved by others, notably the direct line linking Keith and Elgin was created as the Inverness & Aberdeen Junction Railway (I&AJR), which when opened famously completed the Inverness-Aberdeen rail link in August 1858. In…