Innehållsförteckning för February 2025 från Steam World

September 2024 marked my 20th anniversary in the world of railway publishing. Quite where that time has gone I don't know and while I still consider myself the new kid on the block, I do feel confident thatI can at least hold my own with the old sages of Chris Leigh and Nigel Harris! (Who are you calling old? Ed) It's been a real roller coaster of a journey and I'm exceedingly lucky that my job is my hobby – and vice versa. I'm also grateful to Chris and Nigel for sharing their years of wisdom, knowledge and experience. But if there's still one aspect of magazine production that I detest, it's proof reading. Long gone are the days when publishers would employ people just to read proofs. Nowadays, writer…

In the 1960s, the Ffestiniog and Talyllyn Railways both held their annual general meetings in their respective HQ town, the Ffestiniog in Portmadoc and the Talyllyn in Towyn, one in spring and the other in autumn (both retained their Anglicised spellings at this time, which we use throughout). In each case, a special train was run from London Paddington, picking up in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury, for those society members who did not live locally. By the time I joined Ian Allan Ltd in 1963, both the ‘AGM specials’ were being organised by Ian Allan Travel under the very capable hand of H.T.S. ‘Trevor’ Bailey who had been a founding member of the FRPS. I cannot now remember how many of these trains I travelled on but a flip through…

Is there any truth to the story ‘Saint’ No. 2937 Clevedon Court was bought by Sir Arthur Elton but when the low loader couldn't get up the driveway to the Somersetshire mansion of the same name, it was taken back to Swindon Works and broken up in August 1953? Certainly, one of its nameplates hangs over the fireplace in No. 2937's namesake house, which is now owned by the National Trust. This, it seems, was the only serious attempt to save a ‘Saint’ for posterity. However, thanks to the efforts of the Great Western Society, we can enjoy seeing one in action, even if No. 2999 Lady of Legend actually started life as ‘Hall’ No. 4942 Maindy Hall. When No. 2999 was launched way back in 2019, I had a…

You'll generally find the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway towards the top of any list of railways that enthusiasts would love to re-open. Fingers will continue to point to the Western Region's spitefulness in diverting traffic away from the S&D and thus making it ripe for closure. This, apparently, was due to the Somerset & Dorset Railway snubbing the GWR in the 1870s and when it offered the line to the Midland and London & South Western Railways instead. Yet despite the Ivo Peters’ wonderful legacy of photographs and films, you can understand why the Western might have wanted rid of the S&D. It was a hugely complicated line to operate, with long sections of single line working. And that's before you get to the operational headache that was Templecombe.…

What do you consider to be the true end of steam on BR? Was it not the withdrawal of ‘Jinty’ No. 47564 as a carriage heating boiler in 1972? The end of steam heated coaches circa 1987? Or when the Vale of Rheidol was privatised in late 1988? For some, the end finally came on August 13 1989. This was when the last steam crane undertook a lift on British Rail metals. The crane in question was No. ADW150434 and it had a remarkable history, being built by the GWR as No. 2 in 1908. The job on August 13 was to lift out the remains of a semaphore signal near Paignton. By that time, the former GWR No. 2 was actually owned by the Dart Valley Railway (now the…

I can't help remembering how enjoyable the small shed at Canklow was. I started there as a cleaner with the hope of quickly becoming a fireman. It soon became apparent that seniority of service was the key to career progression. The shed was the home to goods engines with their small driving wheels. Yet the ‘Black Fives’ that visited were in a different league. ‘Black Fives’! These were the locomotives to which we young engine cleaners aspired to fire. Seeing those 6ft diameter driving wheels whirling round gave to us a feeling of purpose and intent. We looked forward to when we would be solely responsible for providing the driver with all the steam he needed to deal with any situation. In between our cleaning duties, we often heard ‘Black…

It fell to Edward Thompson to perpetuate the legacy of impressive ‘Pacifics’ which his predecessor, Sir Nigel Gresley had bestowed upon the LNER following Gresley's sudden death on April 5 1941. Apparently, the LNER tried to lure Oliver Bulleid back to Doncaster but, in the end, had to promote one of the Area Mechanical Engineers instead. Thompson, Doncaster Mechanical Engineer from 1938, was deemed the senior man and got the job. However, his ideas were fundamentally at odds with Gresley's and, in attempting to overcome the perceived shortcomings of his predecessor's designs, Thompson unfortunately created two new classes that were neither a great success in terms of performance nor pleasing to the eye. The final nail in the coffin of his reputation was rebuilding two of Gresley's icons, the pioneer…

It's been not merely a pleasure, but also a privilege, sharing just a few images from the wonderful legacy of railway photographs which Ken Roberts has left to us and which I'm pleased to look after. I hope there will be the opportunity to share more of these images with you as I progressively scan and digitise the collection, with the help of both Peter Eastham, Ken's long time close friend, and retired railwayman (and respected railway photographer and historian) Ron Herbert. I'd hoped to get rather more of Ken's collection scanned, digitised and captioned before he signed off duty and left us but, sadly, that wasn't to be. I'm pleased that he lived long enough to see the job actively under way – and to play a key part…

The ‘ACE’ and Lapford Your article on the ‘Atlantic Coast Express’ in the November 2024 Steam World reminded me of a photograph I took of the Ilfracombe portion of the ‘ACE’ at Lapford on July 31 1963, headed by ‘Battle of Britain’ No. 34070 Manston (below). The layout at Lapford is somewhat unusual. As well as the Up Home and Down Starter signals being on the same post, the station buildings behind serve the Up platform, but there is no visible Down platform. The area where that would normally be placed is occupied by the entrance to the Ambrosia milk plant, out of view to the right of the picture. In another picture taken the same day (bottom right), ‘WC’ No. 34002 Salisbury occupies the Up platform with the 2.12pm…