Innehållsförteckning för August 2023 från Steam Days

In this issue of STEAM DAYS we take a look at, in my opinion, one of the most handsome steam locomotives ever built – the Great Western ‘Castle’ class – in particular, the one celebrating 100 years since entering traffic in August 1923, No 4073 Caerphilly Castle. C.B. Collett’s four-cylinder ‘Castles’ were a development of the Churchward ‘Star’ class – another fine class of steam locomotive. Most of the same four or five ‘Castles’ allocated to Worcester, where I lived, were there for most of their working lives. For example, No 7005 Sir Edward Elgar arrived new in June 1946 and remained until withdrawal in December 1963. At Worcester I was always keen to see the variety of locomotives that arrived from Paddington, Hereford and Wolverhampton, many of these trains…

I sle of Man Railways is an exception to the rule in regard to a nationalised railway system as it operates a network of heritage lines and has for the most part strayed little in terms of modernising these: they include the Manx Electric Railway, Snaefell Mountain Railway and the Douglas-Port Erin line of the erstwhile Isle of Man Railway, 3ft being the standard Manx gauge but with the Snaefell line at 3ft 6in. The steam railway operation was nationalised in 1978, by then redundant lines – that between Douglas and Peel, and the routes from St John’s to Ramsey, and to Foxdale – had long since closed, with their removal as scrap beginning in August 1974 and thus consigning them to history. The Peel and Port Erin lines date…

What was it about the ‘Castle’ class that made it so appealing? For me as a young schoolboy it was a combination of the copper-capped chimneys, brass safety valve bonnets, cast name and numberplates, green paint with its orange-black-orange lining, and those often strange but evocative names. Not content with just recording numbers, I carefully wrote down the names – Aberystwyth Castle, Caerhays Castle, Carn Brea Castle, Harlech Castle, Treago Castle, Caerphilly Castle, Coity Castle and many more – all to be checked in my Observer’s Book of Railway Locomotives of Britain. Only later when sat on the platforms at Royal Oak station with my father and holding my Western Region ABC as we watched the comings and goings into and out of Paddington, did I begin to appreciate that…

Cows were kept in urban areas for the local supply of milk until an outbreak of cattle plague in London in the late 1860s led to supplies being brought in by rail from the country. The first wholesale depot for the London market was opened at Semley in 1871 and the practice soon became widespread across the country. Milk was conveyed in churns but the transfer of these was laborious and time consuming and by the 1930s lent itself to direct road delivery rather than rail, so to retain or win back the business the railway turned to the provision of tanker wagons. These operated from fewer locations and ran to dedicated discharge points but ensured that the conveyance of milk was profitable until changes in the industry killed it…

The preparation of this article began some time in the summer of 2019; the last paragraph of A S Woodcock’s letter to Steam Days in the February 2020 issue (page 66) brings to mind a family holiday that was spent near Aberfeldy in the mid-1980s. A visit to Fort William (aka ‘The Fort’) was called for, but for other reasons it had to be delayed until the very last day of the week. We had driven from Aberfeldy to Rannoch, intending to return from ‘The Fort’ by the up sleeper, but there were problems, serious, at Tulloch. Suffice to say, for now, that our two teenagers had to spend the night on Rannoch moor! Although in my mid-20s when I made my first ‘enthusiast’ visits to Scotland, maybe my enthusiasm…

I have been a railway enthusiast since 1942, and together with my two sons, Ian and Andrew, since March 1993 have provided a record of Britain’s railway scene when steam ruled supreme, from the 1800s until the end of steam in 1968. With a focus on line histories, train spotters’ memories, technical information, railwaymen’s reminiscences and nostalgic photo-features, our purpose is to bring back those halcyon days. With our subscriptions you can get your magazine delivered straight to your door every month, with a superb saving on the cover price. We hope to welcome you soon to the Steam Days family. 12 print issues for £46 Direct debit (27% saving) 1 year credit/debit card for £53 2 years credit/debit card for £95 6 digital issues for £18.99 credit/debit card 12 digital…

A glance at current maps reveal the 11¾ mile-long Sudbury branch as a lone railway west of the Liverpool Street to Norwich main line at Marks Tey, albeit a closer look reveals the East Anglian Railway Museum and its short demonstration line at Chapel & Wakes Colne and the mile-long Colne Valley Railway at Castle Hedingham arouses interest that there was once much, much more in terms of railway infrastructure hereabouts. In fact, three main lines bordered and connected with the secondary routes at the heart of this article and, as such, for a greater understanding of how the local network evolved, our story begins on 4 July 1836 when the Northern & Eastern Railway (N&ER) and the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) were both authorised by Act of Parliament. The…