Innehållsförteckning för April 2022 från Steam World

Two years up to the end of steam in 1965 the ‘Castles’ of 85B (Gloucester WR shed) continued to ferry express trains along the line, and heavy freight plodded its way, with assistance from the Brimscombe bankers, towards the summit of Sapperton bank. Things, however, were slowly changing before our eyes. Swindon continued to use our line to road-test the new diesels, usually with very mixed results. The first D6xx class ‘Warships’ showed their lack of reliability at a very early stage. We mockingly referred to D600 Active as ‘Inactive’. In fact, the whole dreadful class of five were often seen being hauled back to Swindon, having failed that morning on test trains. The D8xx ‘Warships’ fared a lot better but we only saw the odd one in service on…

This is the first of a three-part feature about my early interest in railways. I have not gone into this level of detail before and I hope that, at least for younger readers, the background to my early years will help to give a better picture of how things were, 70 years ago. It may be difficult to imagine growing up in a flat where the only access was through stacks of tea chests with their sharp metal banding waiting to snag you. Or in a house which was like a time warp back to the Victorian era, presided over by two sweet old ladies. The story is not all trains, but I hope you enjoy it. I have a confession. Well, two, actually. I was a trainspotter and I…

The trouble with any creative endeavour is that it’s open to misinterpretation. That’s true of books, plays, paintings…and film. Speaking at a Western Region Debating Society meeting in December 1960, Edgar Anstey explained the role of British Transport Films, from instructing staff to putting “before the public what we have to offer in the way of passenger and freight facilities”. The trouble for some of the audience was that the films promised more than the railway could deliver. One person, a Mr Crute of South Lambeth, complained that BTF was trying to buy business, “when up and down the country we have got stops on goodness knows what. Are we not jumping a little ahead?” Maybe Mr Crute had a point; maybe he’d missed the point. It was the role…

Part 1: A black & white selection. Chris Leigh and I first met affable and self-effacing East Coast photographer and chronicler Noel Ingram in the early 1990s, after Chris took over from me as editor of Steam World in 1992. Noel, a proud Welshman, and his wife Janet, made us both really welcome at their Tollerton home, south of Nottingham, close to the long-gone Midland Railway Kettering-Melton-Mowbray-Nottingham main line, through Edwalton and Old Dalby. This route was converted into a 13½-miles test track for BR after its closure as a through route to passengers on May 1 1967 and then to goods in 1968. BR Research created the Old Dalby test track for its ground-breaking Advanced Passenger Train (APT-E) project; the test track opened in 1970. Indeed, Noel subsequently took…

send your letters to Steam World, 4 Milnyard Square, Orton South gate, Peterborough PE2 6GX or steamworld@choicemag.co.uk Naming of No. 86102 Robert Riddles On page 46 of Steam World February 2022, Nigel Harris asked if any reader had a photograph of the naming ceremony for No. 86102 Robert A Riddles. At that time I was working at Euston, and took the attached photograph. I must have had permission to attend the ceremony, given that my Area Manager can be seen in the background! I had not kept a good record of the event, so after all this time it was interesting to find out that it was Jim O’Brien (GM LMR) that appears in two of my photographs. The original transparencies are rather indifferent, so I’ve tinkered with them in…

• 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 location).…

In my article ‘Trainspotting at Crewe in the Early 1960s’ (Steam World, November 2017) I speculated on the level of fines imposed on young trainspotters. My recollection was that if caught trespassing on the railway at Crewe (for example, trying to get into the North shed) and prosecuted, a trainspotter faced a£25 fine. This sounded like a lot of money, and I wasn’t sure whether it was correct, and whether any spotters were actually brought to court, convicted and fined. I thought the best place to look for evidence was in Crewe’s local newspaper, the Crewe Chronicle, which surely would have reported on any court cases pursued? I accessed the Chronicle, and other papers, via the British Newspaper Archive (BNA – see Reference 1) which is an online collection of…

It must have been a scene of utter carnage at Lytham in Lancashire in 1924 when the site of this serious railway derailment, to find the locomotive in the middle of the wrecked train. This would have made many people wonder: how did this terrible tragedy happen? A railway accident is sometimes caused by the failure of an employee to carry out the vital safety rules of the company; although several incidents have been caused by adverse weather, seldom has it been due to some unseen defect. This tragedy took place on November 3 1924 at Lytham, near Blackpool, on the London Midland & Scottish Railway. The train involved was the 4.40pm down express from Liverpool to Manchester, Burnley and Blackpool. Leaving Liverpool (Exchange), the train consisted of seven coaches…

If you read my article ‘Exploring the Withered Arm’, you might recall that we saw glimpses of the various branches of the Waterloo-Exeter line – but little activity as we passed. We particularly regretted not seeing any of the famous Adams ‘Radial’ 4-4-2Ts at Axminster and said we would need to make another trip there, so this is an account of what such a trip was like for two East London boys in 1961. Having managed to get to Padstow and Bodmin and back safely, our parents were a little less apprehensive about letting us catch the night train again from Waterloo to give us a full day to explore the branches. This time they said we could make our own way by underground to Waterloo provided that we got…