Innehållsförteckning för September 2023 från Steam Days

H aving already considered the location, infrastructure and evolution of the main line engine sheds created to serve the Frodingham and Scunthorpe area, as well as all locomotive outstations – Steam Days, June 2023 – and then offered an overview of the traffic flows and with it coverage of many visiting engines within a collection of ‘seen on shed’ logs – Steam Days, July 2023 – this concluding part of our Keadby and Frodingham trilogy considers the home fleet post-1923. The cut-off is not only the end of the BR steam allocation to the area but also the replacement of the LNER-built steam shed in favour of a purpose-built diesel facility, and so some diesels that were first allocated to the smaller purpose-built facility at the steam shed are listed…

Many readers will remember the Motorail era on British Railways. Most of these services predated the expansion of motorways, when long journeys by road could be tedious and many involved overnight stops, which would now be considered unnecessary. However, there were much earlier examples of services too – not all conventional – dealing with particular interruptions to the road network, where rail played a part in providing a solution. The first service is comparatively well-known, the others less so. A cursory look at a map of the British Isles will show that a direct route between London and South Wales is hindered by the estuary of the River Severn. That estuary is known for its extreme tides, including a phenomenon called the Severn bore, a type of tidal wave that…

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. Call 01507 529529 and quote SDDPS Online: www.classicmagazines.co.uk/SDDPS or scan the QR code to go straight to our secure online store CHOOSE WHICH STEAM DAYS SUBSCRIPTION SUITS YOU BEST…

Edinburgh and East Lothian (East Coast) steam Sir: The July 2023 issue of Steam Days has prompted me to make one or two comments on colour section No 223. Sir Visto (p29) was one of the four ‘A3’ Pacifics at Carlisle Canal, the others being Nos 60079, 60093 and 60095. When smoke deflectors began to be fitted, at the end of 1960, Doncaster Works was instructed not to give these four engines deflectors as they were now London Midland Region stock. In any case, the London Midland Region’s policy was to withdraw LNER stock as quickly as possible. Sir Visto was overhauled early in 1961, but the other three were to be withdrawn when due for overhaul or beyond economic repair. All four had gone by the end of 1962.…

The early experiences of trainspotting at Orrell and Wigan with visits to (fairly) local sheds and works as described in recent issues of Steam Days started me on a lifetime interest in railways, writing down locomotive numbers at first but soon taking up railway photography too. As I began to travel further afield I was never tempted to abandon interest in the background and history of the locomotives that I was recording. Two school holiday camp trips helped to broaden my railway horizons. The first, at Easter 1948, was to Lowestoft, by train from Manchester (Central) and involving my only trip along the Great Northern & Great Eastern Joint line. Unfortunately, school discipline prevented me from recording the engines hauling the train, but it was a fascinating journey nonetheless. I…

My interest in railways in general, and steam locomotives in particular, began during the early summer of 1953 while I was living with my parents in a rented property in Norbiton, a short distance from the district known today as Surbiton. I believe these two were once known, back in Saxon times, as North Berton and South Berton respectively: it seems likely that the inhabitants of a place called ‘Berton’ became divided for whatever reason, and formed separate communities. Norbiton station lies on the Kingston Loop line and was never the sort of place to stimulate or encourage a serious interest in railways, being served since the line was electrified in 1916 by generations of largely uninspiring electric trains. However, my interest in railways was eventually aroused by a lad…