Innehållsförteckning för February 2022 från Steam World

Following the interesting article about Britain’s slowest trains, a while back in Steam World, one such service that I recall was in the Southern Region summer timetable, the train running from Weymouth Town to Waterloo. With the summer 1957 timetable, a number of Waterloo to Bournemouth and Weymouth trains, and Weymouth to Bournemouth and Waterloo services, had been speeded up, adjusted to two hours, between Waterloo and Bournemouth and likewise in the opposite direction. However, with the density of traffic on summer Saturdays, the two-hour timings gave way to slower schedules. On summer Saturdays, the slowest of all was a one-off train, departing from Weymouth Town at 10am and reaching Waterloo at 3.42pm! For Mondays to Fridays, this also left Weymouth Town at 10.10am, running as a stopping train, terminating…

From their earliest days, most railway companies had taken steps to ensure that future generations would appreciate their history and admire the great strides they had taken with development of steam locomotives. Even before the Second World War, important milestones in that development had been preserved – the LNWR 2-2-2 Cornwall, the GNR Stirling single No. 1 and the Great Western’s record-setting 4-4-0 City of Truro, for instance. However, railway management always had those who liked to look back and those whose only interest was the future. Wartime needs brought some projects to nought, such as A.B. MacLeod’s preservation of 2-4-0T Ryde for a proposed Eastleigh museum that never happened, the locomotive being surrendered to the wartime scrap drive. However, in the late 1950s as dieselisation was fast bringing steam…

Barnwell station in Northamptonshire was a reception base for ambulance trains serving the US 303rd Station Hospital which had been established at Lilford Hall, close to the railway station. The down platform was substantially extended in the early years of the war to accommodate 16 coaches and was widened to provide easy access and egress for ambulances. According to a note left by the last Station Master, some 14 ambulance trains came to the station in 1944/5, one of them behind an ‘A4’ 4-6-2. The Americans had recognized that their entry into the war would result in the need to move casualties across the USA from East to West. Accordingly, they had converted railway passenger cars to produce complete ambulance/hospital facilities within a train of 16 vehicles, crewed by military…

AS THE 10.18am train threaded its way through the track complex approaching Euston, I wondered what kind of reception awaited me. I was, to say the least, a little apprehensive as I had never attended the naming ceremony of a main line electric locomotive before. Tuesday May 19 1981 was to be a significant day in the life of Robert A. Riddles CBE as it was he who was to be honoured in not only having No. 86102 named after him but he would also be performing the naming ceremony. I made my way along Platform 3 at Euston, where the class ‘86’ stood waiting to head the 1pm service to Holyhead. A shining new coat of blue paintwork added a cheerful air to the rather damp surroundings. The newly…

send your letters to Steam World, 4 Milnyard Square, Orton South gate, Peterborough PE2 6GX or steamworld@choicemag.co.uk Thompson Class B1 4-6-0 chimney mishap I was an apprentice fitter at Stratford 195960. About two miles from the depot was Mile End Lower Goods Yard. Access to the yard was by way of a restricted-clearance dive-under from the slow line. The usual locomotive used in the yard was a ‘Y4’ 0-4-0T until replaced by a diesel shunter. The depot was informed that a large number of wagons had derailed and the rerailing vans were requested. These were despatched behind ‘B1’ 4-6-0 No. 61119. Somewhat taller than a ‘Y4’, the ‘B1’ lost its chimney and had to be hauled back to the depot for repairs. Clive Allison, Thorpe-le-Soken The Day I ‘copped’ seven…

I started my working life at Workington shed (11B, later 12D) in 1952 as an engine cleaner and retired at Crewe North 44 years later as a driver…the day after I drove preserved ‘Coronation’ class 4-6-2 No. 6229 Duchess of Hamilton on the northbound ‘Royal Scot’ in 1996. However, footplate life was not always easy. I remember an occasion when I was on loan to Bletchley shed (1E). A down Blackpool express had called at the station with ‘Royal Scot’ class ‘7P’ 4-6-0 No. 46151 The Royal Horse Guardsman. When he started away, the driver forgot to open the cylinder drain cocks. There was one hell of a bang and the driver’s side connecting rod buckled like a dog’s hind leg, but the cylinder end was OK. He failed the…

Paul Claxton’s interest in railways probably started while at school in Lytham around 1960, helped by the thriving Railway Society; he began to develop his photographic skills while avidly following the hobby. One typically unique picture of a ‘Royal Scot’-hauled Blackpool to London train, now sadly missing, was taken from a school window! After initially taking his photographs locally in the Fylde, he was to venture further around the North of England to places such as Carlisle and Doncaster, and soon even to London, where in August 1961, aged 14, he visited many sheds and stations. It is remarkable to see how many superb pictures he took with his Retinette camera on that holiday. Having seen photographers Eric Treacy and Bill Anderson’s pictures, and with an eye for a perfect…

Owing to the shortened pre-Christmas schedule and my lack of familiarity with the Somerset & Dorset line, some errors found their way into the feature on ‘2P’ 4-4-0 pilots, compiled from Gavin Morrison’s photographs. I have taken the opportunity to re-publish the four affected photographs with amended captions. Grateful thanks to reader, David Reed, who cross-checked the caption information against pictures taken on the same dates by Ivo Peters. (Chris Leigh, Editor) • Gavin Morrison Steam Photographer – My Favourite Pictures From The BR Era - £35 (including p&p). Order your copy now via the Steam World website, go to www.steamworldmag.co.uk or call 01733 363484 (between 9am and 1pm, Monday to Friday) to pay by card. Orders will be despatched by DPD courier for next day delivery (depending on the…

David Ward in Steam World’s sister magazine Steam Railway (December 2004) made some critical comments on GW locomotives over the last 25 years of his whole professional experience, including 16 years when steam was the prime mover. To quote his letter of the time, “performance is all about consistent reliability in being able to meet the demands of the timetable.” This prompted me to analyse my own experience as I timed all my long-distance runs and many shorter main line or suburban runs behind steam in the period from 1957 to 1968, and a few steam specials in that era and since 1971. The broad conclusions of my analysis were published in a letter to the editor of Steam Railway (February 2005). However, most of the material is more pertinent…

Preparations for the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944 recognised that there would be many casualties and that when injured men returned to England they would need to be cared for. The LNER ‘B12’ express passenger locomotives were of light axle load and capable of a wide sphere of operation. They were fitted with air brakes and were an obvious choice to haul ambulance trains. These locomotives needed slight modification to their footsteps to enable them to clear the Southern Railway loading gauge and to run unhindered on other companies’ lines. It was decided that men who were familiar with these engines would accompany them and accordingly a call was made for volunteer drivers and firemen. At least 11 ‘B12s’ were used, and that would indicate that at least 44…

This original account, also featuring the speech made by Riddles that day, was subsequently acquired and conserved by former Steam World Historical Consultant, the late Richard Strange. When Steam World Historical Consultant Richard Strange died on March 8 2020, his daughter Sally asked us if we’d take charge of the very large collection of documents which her father left crammed into boxes, files and drawers, in his home study. Anyone who knew Richard will not be surprised to learn that this was an extremely large collection indeed. Publisher Clive Nicholls drove to Southampton and collected more than 20 boxes crammed with paper, and brought them back to our Lincolnshire base. Covid and all that went with it, the monthly production of Steam World, and the demands of life generally, meant…

Growing up opposite Barnwell I was most interested in your piece about Barnwell (Steam World, October). As a child, between early 1950 and May 1953, I lived opposite – on the other side (wrong side!) of the tracks. An army camp was used to accommodate the post-war boom in family formations, a common enough practice everywhere. I believe there is not the slightest sign of its existence now and, amazingly, no building development has taken place. I can just about remember seeing trains from one of our windows and I was aware of a ‘royal waiting room’. My father was employed by BR at Peterborough East as a Goods Guard and worked along this line as far as Northampton, and on the busier route via Market Harborough as far as…