Tabla de contenidos para September 2023 en Steam World

“I know where I can get an engine any time I want!” “Another engine?” “Another engine!” And so begins one of the most memorable sequences in The Titfield Thunderbolt when rough diamond poacher-Cum-fireman Dan and the railway's alcoholic benefactor Mr Valentine head off on a pump trolley to find a replacement for wrecked ‘14XX’ No. 1401. Their journey takes them to a BR shed where, on the turntable, is No. 1401's classmate, No. 1462. The pair, still fuelled by copious quantities of distilled spirits, decide to steal it. Discovered in the act, they fail to check the alignment of the ‘table and No. 1462 smashes through a fence and drives off down the street. This was one of the most ambitious sequences in the film for screenwriter T.E.B. Clarke had…

Ben Alder. Doesn't the thought of scrapping it still make you weep? Oh, for a bag of cash and a time machine. Preservation history is littered with so many ‘what ifs’ but Ben Alder is another matter. It had spent 14 years in store and its future seemed secure. And then, because it had a Caledonian-style boiler, it was no longer a suitable candidate for preservation and was scrapped. That must surely mean that those Scottish engines that did get preserved – Highland Railway No. 103, Great North of Scotland Railway No. 49 Gordon Highlander and North British Railway No. 256 Glen Douglas and Caledonian Railway No. 123 – must be the epitome of originality? Er, no. Putting them back into pre-Grouping colours was one thing but all four had…

Previous instalments were in Steam World January 2022 and March 2022. My next mentor was Maurice Newman. He had started at Ryecroft (Walsall) and was a great steam enthusiast. Through the brotherhood of the footplate, he had fired engines all over the UK. In later years Maurice fired many miles in what was West Germany and spoke very good German. He insisted on a clean footplate. A lump of coal on the footplate was an affront to his professionalism. We signed on at 7.45am. Our locomotive was a Stanier ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0, standing prepared for us on No. 1 departure road. The train we were to work was a Lawley StreetNottingham which we would take as far as Leicester. This, as I found out, was unusual except for passenger trains.…

Park Six Part one appeared in Steam World December 2022, part two in January 2023, part three in February 2023, part four in May 2023 and part five in August 2023. Turning to the BR Standard types, the use of SR-based Standards never quite matched the interest of pedigree SR types when it came to forays onto other regions of BR, so was less reported. However, the interest of such events nevertheless gradually increased as steam disappeared from other regions, particularly the WR. For instance, an interesting interlude occurred when Standard ‘4MT’ 2-6-4Ts Nos. 80038/65/83 individually worked the 9.00am Weymouth to Westbury service on various dates in October 1962. The use of the tanks on these occasions was because the turntable at Weymouth was under repair. The working of SR…

Part 3 Finale (Parts 1 and 2 were published in Steam. World April and May 2023) When I started at Walton-onTharnes boys school (long since closed) in September 1959, it had a very Strong Transport Club but it folded before I left in July 1965. A new member of the teaching staff attempted to put some life back into the club and at the suggestion of a few of us, arranged a visit to Stratford shed in London in September, 1962. One Saturday afternoon we were on a coach outside the school waiting for one passenger who was 16 minutes late! I don't remember much of the coach journey except that I was anticipating a few Steam cops and would regret not having taken my 35mm camera with me. On…

Highland Railway ‘Big Goods’ No. 103 We start our survey with Britain's first 4-6-0. It was Locomotive Superintendent David Jones’ Chief Draughtsman David Anderson Hendrie who suggested to his boss that a 4-6-0 would be a suitable replacement for the HR's ancient 2-4-0s on goods traffic. He'd seen the 4-6-0s that both Sharp Stewart and Dübs had been building for export and convinced Jones that the wheel arrangement would be ideal for the Highland. Jones concurred. The ‘Big Goods’ marked a step change in HR locomotive design. Jones abandoned the practices he'd learned during his time at Crewe. It was designed with maintenance in mind as bolts were used in place of rivets and access provided to areas normally inaccessible. Jones was clearly confident in his design because 15 were…

It's nearly 60 years since I last saw a Hawksworth ‘County’ in action. I always thought that, when viewed side on in its final form with a double chimney, the final flowering of the Great Western 4-6-0 looked more space-age than anything Swindon had ever produced before. That double chimney, when coupled to its 30in stroke, produced such a resounding and distinctive bark. It's a sound that we will hopefully hear once again when the determined engineers at Didcot Railway Centre have finished turning a kit of parts into No. 1014 County of Glamorgan. My fascination with Hawksworth's ‘Counties’ started on one day in 1954. There was always a tingle of anticipation when approaching Chester on a train from Birkenhead for there, on the left, was Chester West, the decrepit…

Lymington delights! What a splendid article by Keith Widdowson on the branch line to Lymington in the June issue. But what a surprise to see Ivatt 2-6-2T No. 41224 in the headshunt at the pier. We always thought of No. 41224 as a Northampton engine and in fact I rode behind it on the last day of operations from Northampton to Wellingborough at 2pm on Saturday May 2 1964. I had long thought it was scrapped upon the closure of Northampton shed in September 1965. It was a regular performer on the Northampton to Wellingborough and Kettering run and I had many a spirited non-stop ride behind it along the Nene valley to Wellingborough. The sheds there were a treat for spotters and if you were really lucky the shed…

Part 6 Part 1 was published in Steam World December 2022, part 2 in January 2023, part 3 in February 2023, part 4 in March 2023 and part 5 in April 2023. Time went by and my Leeds trips with Dad continued, but after my Dronfield experience I now I had a new itinerary. Whenever I could, over the next few years, I would head down to Leeds City to catch an early train to Sheffield Midland. It was usually ‘Jubilee’-hauled (I have a record of Nos. 45565 Victoria, 45569 Tasmania, 45597 Barbados and 45654 Hood) and travelled via Normanton and Cudworth. This four-track line (does any of the Cudworth bit still exist?) was amazingly busy all the way from Normanton, through Swinton, Rotherham and into Sheffield. Coal mines, gas…

The year 2023 is proving to be a fascinating one to anyone interested in the history of steam in Britain, as not only is Flying Scotsman celebrating 100 years, (featured in Steam World, April 2023) but its great rival GWR ‘Castle’ 4-6-0 No. 4079 Pendennis Castle is also back in steam and ‘on tour’. Famously, they featured alongside each other in 1925 at the British Empire Exhibition – the show for which Flying Scotsman was named and which kick-started its climb to fame. In that case the smartened up Flying Scotsman was flying the flag for the ambitious and newlyformed London and North Eastern Railway. Alongside it, and also vying for the visitor's attention, (if they weren't admiring the vast butter sculpture from Canada or visiting an ‘African’ village, that…

Gresley ‘A4’ 4-6-2 No. 60034 Lord Faringdon was one of the late survivors of its class, having been transferred to Scotland for use on the three hour expresses from Glasgow to Aberdeen. Thus, there are more pictures of this locomotive in existence than some of the other class members. As might be expected most of those show the engine at the head of this or that express or in the favoured front three-quarter view on shed, but there are also a small number that stand out for their unusual content or different photographic angle as depicted here.…