STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:31 Page 1

Steam Days in Wiltshire in Colour

Last steam on the

Callander & Oban lines

Locomotives that lingered on

Bristol’s Barrow Road shed
and its duties: 1959 to 1965
Farewell to Stainmore
November 2015 £4.30
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:31 Page 2

No 315

November 2015

17 By the late 1950s the diminishing ranks of Fowler ‘Patriots’ in their original form were cherished by many as
something different to the taper-boiler fleet of ex-LMS 4-6-0s. The allocation of three of these engines to Barrow
Road shed in Bristol from November 1958, initially for express services, is considered a golden era – No 45519 Lady Godiva
climbs Lickey incline with a northbound express from Bristol during 1959. A.N.H. Glover/Kidderminster Railway Museum

Managing Editor: Rex Kennedy 3 Trains of Thought

Editorial Team:
Andrew Kennedy and Andrew Wilson
Design: Ian Kennedy 5 Farewell to Stainmore
Editorial
PO Box 2471, Bournemouth BH7 7WF G.L. Pallister recounts a journey across the
Telephone/Fax: 01202 304849 Pennines aboard the last passenger train to
e-mail: red.gauntlett@btconnect.com
Advertising Sales: Sam Clark traverse the Stainmore route – the RCTS
Tel: 01780 755131 Mob: 07876 898074
E-mail: sam.clark@keypublishing.com organised ‘Stainmore Limited’ in January 1962.
Advertising Production: Cheryl Thornburn
email: cheryl.thornburn@keypublishing.com
Tel: 01780 755131 Fax: 01780 757261
Publishing
5 Having reached Tebay in charge of the ‘Stainmore Limited’ on 20 January 1962, BR
Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-0 No 77003 and ‘4MT’ 2-6-0 No 76049 have uncoupled from the train
to run-round for the tender-first return to Kirkby Stephen (East). Colour-Rail.com/3819907
Managing Director: Adrian Cox
Executive Chairman: Richard Cox
Commercial Director: Ann Saundry
Group Marketing Manager: Martin Steele
Webmaster: Simon Russell
Subscriptions
Name, address, date to commence and
remittance to: Subscription Department,
Steam Days, Key Publishing Ltd, PO Box 300,
Stamford, Lincolnshire, UK. PE9 1XQ
Tel: 01780 480404
Fax: 01780 757812
E-Mail: subs@keypublishing.com

© KEy PuBLiSHiNg 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this
magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without
prior permission in writing from the copyright owners.
17 Bristol’s Barrow Road shed and its duties
Multiple copying of the contents of this magazine
without prior written approval is not permitted.
1959 to 1965
Published by: Key Publishing Ltd, Fifty years after its closure, Steve Bartlett recalls
PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincs. PE91XP
Repro: pkmediaworks@mac.com locomotives found at this ex-Midland Railway
Print: Precision Colour Printing Ltd, depot and their duties, from a fully steam-
Haldane, Halesfield 1, Telford, Shropshire TF7 4QQ
Distribution: Seymour Distribution Ltd, hauled operation in 1959 through to its closure
2 Poultry Avenue, London EC1A 9PP
as Bristol’s last steam shed.
2 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:31 Page 3
33 Steam Days in Colour
131: Wiltshire steam
Both Western and Southern region motive power
are viewed in a range of locations in the
picturesque Wiltshire countryside.
40 Steam Days Subscriptions
43 Last steam on the Callander & Oban lines
After 1962 a handful of regular duties remained on
the Killin branch and to Callander from Edinburgh
and Glasgow, Andrew Kennedy reviews these.
55 Locomotives that lingered on
With their natural lifespan over, and classmates
long gone, Philip Atkins highlights the new roles
TRAINS of thought
I
n this issue of Steam Days we look at two locations, miles apart,
where steam ended in November 1965, fifty years ago – the
Callander & Oban line in Scotland and Bristol in the south-west of
England. Having sadly never visited Scotland prior to the end of steam
there, as my first visit over the border did not take place until 1969, I
missed so many wonderful sights, especially in the rural areas such as
the climb of Glen Ogle on the Callander & Oban route, the West
Highland line as a whole, and its scenic extension to Mallaig, although I
have since witnessed its splendour and the impressive Glenfinnan
viaduct in diesel days. However, the stretch of former Caledonian
Railway to the east of Crianlarich is long lost through to Dunblane,
along with the Killin branch. Officially closed in November 1965, due
to a late September rock fall the only trains still running by the ‘last
day’ were short-workings linking Callander with Stirling, and Edinburgh
or Glasgow.
Bristol, however, was a different story, and having visited there in
the days of steam on various occasions this rail centre was always a
great place to be, with the sight at Temple Meads station of both
former LMS and Great Western motive power, and the opportunity, if
you were lucky, to go round three interesting motive power depots –
Bath Road, St. Phillip’s Marsh and Barrow Road.
I always found that the main attraction for the young trainspotter
was the named locomotive, and Bristol provided many of these, with
LMS ‘Jubilees’ and ‘Patriots’ together with Great Western ‘Kings’,
‘Castles’, ‘Stars’, ‘Saints’, Halls and ‘County’ class 4-6-0s over the years
from my early spotting days in the 1940s to the end of steam.
Only one of Bristol’s locomotive sheds remained open to steam
until 1965, Bristol (Barrow Road) – the original Midland Railway/LMS
depot, which eventually came under Western Region control from
1958, resulting from boundary changes on British Railways. Bristol’s
former Great Western Bath Road shed had closed to steam in 1960, to
be rebuilt as a diesel depot, and St. Phillip’s Marsh remained open until
1964, after which all its allocation was transferred to Barrow Road
shed, creating a mix of former GWR and LMS locomotives on shed
there, together with BR Standard types. I found it quite difficult to get
permission to look round Bath Road shed, but the other two depots
were never a problem for me.
In those final days of steam at Barrow Road shed very few former
LMS locomotives were still allocated, just a few ‘4F’ 0-6-0s. The rest of
the shed’s allocation, totalling around 40 locomotives, was made up of
former Great Western ‘Granges’ and ‘Halls’, a handful of pannier tanks,
2-8-0s, and various BR Standard types – but it was still a great place to
visit, despite the now run-down condition of many of the engines there
at this time. However, it was a far cry from the days in the late 1940s
and early 1950s when I first visited Barrow Road shed and witnessed a
host of ‘3F’ and ‘4F’ 0-6-0s, ‘Jubilees’, ‘Black Fives’, ‘4P’ and ‘2P’ 4-4-0s
and ‘3MT’ 2-6-2Ts of both Midland Railway and LMS origin on shed.
Enjoy your read and your own special memories of those halcyon days
of steam, however long ago your own steam experiences take you
back.
 "  
  
   
that saw otherwise redundant locomotives live on 
 

in various forms.
Cover: Perth-allocated
64 Tail Lamp – Readers’ Letters BR Standard ‘4MT’
2-6-4T No 80028 hauls
the 7.05pm service from
Killin across the River
Next Month... Dochart as it makes for
   
Killin Junction on 30 June  
Life at Stratford depot, London, in early BR days 1965, during the last # !


    
Bridges and viaducts – Perth to Inverness summer of operation on 
this short Perthshire
!  
GWR ‘King’ No 6015 King Richard III



 

branch. J.M. Boyes/ARPT

Engines saved for preservation Steam Days

Steam Days in Colour – Central Wales line
Magazine
On sale Thursday 19th November
NOVEMBER 2015 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk 3
 NOW
Availa
68 mins £19.95 ble

The West
Coast Main
Line North of
Crewe in the
1950s and
‘60s - with the
emphasis on
steam trac-
tion! Views
of Crewe’s
locomotive
works, depots
and station
are followed
by scenes at
numerous loca-
tions including
Preston,
Carnforth,
Oxenholme via Keswick. in 1954 showing
and the Wind-
Scenes at Carlisle a wide variety of
ermere branch,
Low Gill, Tebay, show steam traction motive power,
Shap Station still in charge and including the arrival
- plus Penrith are a prelude to fas- of newly-built
and a journey cinating film taken No. 71000, Duke of
to Workington at Beattock Station Gloucester!

Film taken
between 1957
and 1967, wth a
wide variety of
steam and diesel
traction featured,
starting at Goole
Docks with
ex-LYR ‘Pugs’
still working the
dock’s sidings,
followed by film
at Hull, Hornsea
and Withernsea.
The Scarborough
to Whitby line
features, including
Robin Hood’s
Bay; plus the
35-mile route
from Whitby to
Pickering,
Queensbury Route, Hellifield in
including a
the Woodhead route, 1963 onboard a
journey by diesel steam-worked local
shunter from Halifax to Pellon
and the Holmfirth, passenger service,
Malton to followed by busy
Pickering! York Meltham and Worth scenes at
and the Derwent Valley branches. Next Hellifield Station and
Valley Rly. is is a detailed journey on the Settle & Carlisle
followed by the from Wilpshire to route.

Cine Rail F_P.indd 1 07/10/2015 09:45

STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:31 Page 5

Farewell to Stainmore
G.L. Pallister recalls a memorable
journey across the Pennines from
Darlington when he travelled on the
last passenger train to traverse the
Stainmore route – the RCTS
organised ‘Stainmore Limited’ on
20 January 1962.
n 20 December 1961 British Railways
Stainmore summit, 13 miles west of Barnard
Castle. The line, which was double-track
throughout, had some severe gradients,
especially on the western side, but it was
chiefly notable for a number of viaducts,
including that at Belah – 196ft in height, it
was the highest in England. They were all
built of cast-iron and had been designed by
Sir Thomas Bouch, designer of the ill-fated
Tay Bridge.
This section of railway was joined by two
The desire to run coal, coke and iron ore
workings between the Cumbrian mines and the
steel works of north-east England was amongst
the principal reasons for the construction of the
line over Stainmore. This flow of minerals was
integral to the financial health of the route.
Sadly the last coke train ran on 2 July 1961, and
less than seven months later this cross-Pennine
route was closed. Here we see a reminder of the
heavy freight trains that worked across the high
Pennines in all weathers for over 100 years, this
classic location being Belah viaduct, near Kirkby
Stephen. Worsdell ‘J21’ class 0-6-0 No 65097

O announced that the line from Penrith to

Barnard Castle, or ‘Stainmore’ as it was
always known, was to be closed on 22 January
lines at each end – at Kirkby Stephen by a
single-track line through the Eden Valley to
Penrith, which also closed to passengers and
heads a train of hopper wagons, with Ivatt ‘2MT’
2-6-0 No 46470 offering banking assistance. The
date went unrecorded, but it is after the viaduct
was repainted in 1956. J.W. Armstrong/ARPT
1962. I had expected this news for some time,
but was nevertheless very sad at the loss of what
was a most interesting and scenic line.
On 1 January I saw in The Guardian
newspaper that the North Eastern branch of
the Railway Correspondence & Travel Society
was running a special train on the last day –
Saturday, 20 January – to cover all the lines in
the Stainmore network. I wrote immediately
to them and to two school friends and, after a
lot of correspondence and some agonies of
suspense, the tickets, which cost 30 shillings
each, arrived the day before we travelled!
Opened in 1861 as the South Durham &
Lancashire Union Railway, the main section of
the line was the 22¾ mile stretch from
Barnard Castle to Kirkby Stephen (East),
which crossed the Pennines at a height of
1,370ft above sea level – the highest point
reached by a railway in England – at
This map, drawn by E.N. Clarke for use on the
rear of ‘The Stainmore Limited’ itinerary
brochure, neatly covers all the routes to be
traversed by the train, and indicates which
stations had already closed to passengers.
Author’s Collection

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STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:31 Page 6
as a through route on 22 January 1962, and by
a part-single and part-double track line to
Tebay, which had been closed to regular
passenger traffic since 1952 and was to be
completely closed on 22 January. At Barnard
Castle the main line was joined by a mainly
double-track line from Bishop Auckland,
which would close on 18 June 1962, and by a
mainly single-track line to Darlington, which
seemed ‘safe’ at the time but was itself closed
on 30 November 1964.
The special train was to travel over almost
all these lines. Starting at Darlington, it was to
run to Shildon, then via the Tunnel branch to
West Auckland, and so to Barnard Castle. It
would then cross Stainmore to reach Kirkby
Stephen (East), after which it would run to
Tebay. The train would reverse here, running
back to Kirkby Stephen as the last ever train
on the Tebay section. After a further reversal,
it would run via the Eden Valley line to
Penrith, thence by the West Coast main line
to Carlisle. At night, the special would follow
the last regular diesel-multiple-unit from
Penrith to Darlington, and it would therefore
be the last train over Stainmore summit. It
was to leave Darlington at 10.46am and was
due back at 11.00pm.
Meeting just before 8.30am on 20 January,
we – that is myself and two school friends –
purchased ‘day returns’ from Newcastle-upon-
Tyne to Darlington, although we would not be
returning by rail, as owing to the late return to
Darlington, my father had agreed to collect us
by car. We crossed to Platform 9 and, not long
after, the 8.45am train to Liverpool pulled in,
headed by English Electric 1Co-Co1 ‘Type 4’
(later Class 40) diesel locomotive No D239. We
boarded the third coach, and the journey to
Darlington was fast and uneventful. Leaving on
6 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
time, we passed Durham in 16 minutes and
arrived in Darlington at 9.46am, two minutes
early, having taken a mere 41 minutes from
Newcastle.
Having alighted, our attention was
immediately attracted by a line of saloon
coaches standing in a siding beyond the
platform, for two of them carried boards
reading ‘The Stainmore Limited’, which was
the name of the special. We were pleased to
see that two of the coaches were in the old red
and cream livery. As we walked round the
station, the number of gentlemen carrying
cameras and haversacks increased until by
10.00am there was a large crowd. Just after
10.00am we noticed an even denser crowd at
the end of one of the platforms, and saw that a
pair of steam locomotives was backing down,
no doubt the motive power for our rail tour.
Walking along the platform, we found these to
be a pair of BR Standard 2-6-0s, both in
immaculate condition – the pilot engine was
BR Standard ‘3MT’ No 77003, and the train
engine was BR Standard ‘4MT’ No 76049,
both of West Auckland shed. They coupled on
to the coaches and, after a time, pushed them
out backwards, as the special was due to leave
from Platform 4 after the departure of the
northbound ‘North Briton’.
The crowd of railway enthusiasts had now
grown to very considerable proportions and
we met two more school friends, so bringing
our party to five. The ‘North Briton’ arrived at
about 10.40am, and we had just worked out
where we would stand to await the arrival of
‘The Stainmore Limited’ when we saw ‘3MT’
Mogul No 77003 pulling up behind. Complete
with snowplough, its smokebox door bore a
wreath on which was written ‘1861-1962’. This
created considerable confusion as the special
drew forward once the ‘North Briton’ had
departed. Eventually we found seats in the
second-last coach, one of two still in the old
red and cream livery. In all, the train
comprised nine coaches, including a buffet
car, and there must have been over
400 passengers.
At 10.45am there was a loud whistle and
‘The Stainmore Limited’ began its long and
memorable journey. It accelerated slowly out
of Bank Top, and we had a good view of the
engines on the curve towards Darlington
(North Road) station. We were now on the
route of the original Stockton & Darlington
Railway and, once clear of the town, the speed
picked up a little. At this point we were all
given a souvenir itinerary and a copy of the
schedule, on which I recorded the times. At
11.05am we passed Shildon South, two
minutes early, and not long after this we
pulled on to single track and into the confines
of Shildon tunnel. At Shildon North Junction
the train passed on to the first of many miles
of track destined soon to close, curving
westwards on to the Tunnel branch, a short
section of line that linked the Darlington to
Bishop Auckland line with that from Bishop
Auckland to Barnard Castle.
The rail tour itinerary for ‘The Stainmore
Limited’, which included extensive notes by
J.W. Armstrong on the evolution of motive
power on the routes travelled.
Author’s Collection
With the time approaching 10.46am on
Saturday, 20 January 1962, ‘The Stainmore
Limited’ prepares to depart Darlington (Bank
Top) station behind a brace of BR Standard
Moguls, ‘3MT’ No 77003 and ‘4MT’ No 76049.
Loaded to nine coaches, with 400 passengers
on board, the return leg of the special was
timed to be the last train to work over the
Stainmore line. A symbolic wreath, including
reference to the line’s 101 year history, was
carried, initially on the top lamp bracket of the
leading locomotive, but soon on the smokebox
dart. Leaving a minute early, the train would
head out to Barnard Castle via Shildon and
West Auckland. J. Archer/ARPT
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:32 Page 7

Upon arrival at Barnard Castle Nos 77003 and

76049 took water, the engines being uncoupled
from each other as part of this. Booked to
arrive at 11.48am, the schedule allowed 17
minutes for the two Moguls to top up their
tender tanks in readiness for the climb to
Stainmore summit, 1,370ft above sea level.
Both of the West Auckland-allocated Moguls
had been well cleaned for the occasion, with
the pilot, No 77003, only adorned with the
small RCTS headboard, the ‘X76’ reporting
umber, and the wreath, which was now secured
to the smokebox dart. J. Sedgewick/ARPT

At 11.15am we passed through West

Auckland, seven minutes early according to
the schedule, and pulled out into the
countryside. Industry now vanished, and we
had an extensive view over a wide area of
green rolling country. The speed was slow as
the engines worked hard up to the summit of
the line, which was over 700ft above sea level,
slipping now and again on the wet rails.
Slowly the terrain became wilder as the line
skirted the edge of the Pennines, and as we
neared the summit we saw a few patches of
snow.
Once beyond the summit the speed Deepdale viaduct. Second only to the great the stream. Having crossed this, the train
increased considerably, and we ran into a Belah viaduct, it was 740ft long with eleven accelerated again and plunged down towards
heavy shower at Forth Burn, where a short 60ft spans, all of wrought-iron and rising no the Eden Valley. Not very long after, the
single-track section through a rock cutting to less than 161ft above the Deepdale Beck. brakes came on, the train slowing to a crawl
Coal Road began. We traversed this quite fast, Beyond Bowes, the next station, the country and then coming to a halt in Kirkby Stephen
and very soon, after the brakes came on, the became steadily wilder. It was not the (East).
train slowed into Barnard Castle, the first spectacular wildness of the Scottish Our coach was off the platform, which
stop, coming to a halt four minutes early, at Highlands, but the grassy, desolate wildness of only took six carriages, so we opened a door
11.44am. the Pennines. With rolling moors on each and jumped out! The sun was now shining
As Barnard Castle was scheduled as a side, the two locomotives plodded brightly and we took a number of
photographic stop, we all got out of our determinedly on up the last three miles of photographs. Two of us looked in the engine
carriage and, on reaching the front of the train, 1 in 68. After a considerable time, the summit shed, which had closed a week ago, and found
found that most of the passengers were down signal box and sidings appeared and we it to be deserted and decaying. We walked
on the track taking photographs. We hurried passed the large metal sign reading, over a large area of lines, and then a loud
down to join them and, after balancing ‘Stainmore Summit 1,370ft’, and came to a whistle was blown and we got back into the
carefully on two rails, I took a number of halt. train. We were now to travel over the 12 mile
photographs. There were cameras everywhere, It was 12.40pm and the train had lost section of line to Tebay, which I had never
and I was surprised, and not a little amused, to 11 minutes from Barnard Castle. Many people been over before.
see a number of people, among leapt out of the train and rushed Leaving on time at 1.15pm, the train
them one of my party, climbing accelerated rapidly out of Kirkby Stephen and
up signals to get a better view,
‘To the north was up to the front, but I decided to
stay on board. A few minutes in a short while branched off the Eden Valley
while others clambered into some the great Pennine later, I helped a number of people line on to the single track to Tebay. For a time
nearby empty stock! After a while scarp, with to climb back into the carriage – we ran parallel to the Eden Valley line, slowly
the pilot engine uncoupled and Cross Fell rising not an easy task, as it was a long climbing above it, just as the Stainmore line
ran forward to take water. When way from the ground, and a climbed up from Tees Valley Junction, parallel
it had done so and coupled on resplendent in a strong wind did its best to blow to the Middleton-in-Teesdale line. Then it
again, the guard blew his whistle, covering of snow’ the open door onto people as they turned away to the south-west, the speed
the engine whistled, and we clambered in! slowly fell, and we began to climb again as the
returned to our seats. The descent from Stainmore summit was train entered Smardale.
At 12.02pm the special pulled out of Barnard rapid, and as we plunged down on the 1 in 60 To our right a narrow gorge was
Castle, and soon we were crossing the first of the incline the magnificent panoramic view over beginning, and ahead we could see a long
great viaducts, that over the River Tees, which the Eden Valley opened up before us. To the stone viaduct striding the valley and carrying
was 732ft long and had five wrought-iron lattice north was the great Pennine scarp, with Cross the Settle & Carlisle line. We passed under it,
girder spans carried on masonry piers at a Fell rising resplendent in a covering of snow, well up on the south side of the valley. The
maximum height of 132ft above the river. By and ahead we could see for miles over the gorge now deepened and we looked down to
Tees Valley Junction, just beyond, where the wide expanse of the Eden Valley, but the far the stream far below and across to the steep,
Middleton-in-Teesdale branch diverged, we were Lakeland hills were hidden in mist. tree-dotted slope on the other side. Then the
going at quite a rate. Soon, however, as the train We passed through Barras, the most train turned gently and glided majestically
began the 1 in 70 climb to Bowes, the speed fell remote station on the line, then suddenly the across the gorge to the north side on a great
back, and the engines slipped from time to time brakes came on hard as the train approached viaduct. This was 553ft long, had a maximum
on the wet rails. Belah viaduct, which had both speed and height of 90ft and consisted of 14 masonry
We passed through Lartington, the first of weight restrictions over it. At 1,040ft long, it arches of 30ft span. Unlike the iron viaducts
seven stations that were to close that day, and had 16 wrought iron lattice girder spans, and on these lines, which were demolished, it
then, shortly afterwards, rolled on to at its greatest height was nearly 200ft above remains to this day and can just be glimpsed

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STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:32 Page 8

Deepdale viaduct, between Tees Valley Junction and Bowes Gate Cottages, is seen in the mid-1950s as BR Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-2T No 82027 crosses
with a Darlington to Penrith service. No 82027 was allocated to Kirkby Stephen shed between December 1954 and January 1958, when diesel-
multiple-units were introduced over the Stainmore line and this ‘3MT’ was transferred away to West Hartlepool. Designed by Thomas Bouch as part
of the South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway, the 740ft-long Deepdale viaduct crossed Deepdale Beck, some 161ft below. Built on a tight curve,
across the viaduct baulk longitudinal timbers supported the running rails, check rails were in place, and ties held the track to gauge.
J.W. Armstrong/ARPT

The special was booked to stop at Stainmore
summit for five minutes, but a statement in the
itinerary that it was not a photographic stop
and that passengers should not leave the train
was clearly reviewed and rescinded on the day.
The pause offered the opportunity for the two
crews to pull coal forward in both tenders
before setting off on the decent to Kirkby
Stephen. Here the two Standard Moguls get
into their stride at 12.46pm on the favourable 1
in 59/60 gradients. The fifth coach is breasting
the summit, the abrupt change in gradient
clearly evident.
R. Leslie/P.J. Robinson Collection/ARPT
from a Settle & Carlisle line train. We looked
down to the trees below and at the bare
hillside to the south, bathed in sunshine.
The train continued its way along a
narrow ledge for a time and then pulled out of
Smardale and into a slightly wilder stretch of
country. Soon after, the line doubled and, after
a brief run, the brakes came on and we pulled
to a halt at Ravenstonedale, ‘a damp,
overgrown place’, according to my notes! As
usual, our coach was well off the platform, so
we opened a door and jumped out, this being
advertised in the schedule as a photographic
stop. We walked to the front of the train but,
as the view was not very good, we decided to
save our films, and walked back along the
other track. Finding a door open in the
middle of the train, we hauled ourselves in –
no easy task! We walked back to our coach
and, passing through the buffet car, heard one
of the attendants say, ‘We’re very busy on this
run, especially on Saturday mornings’!
The train left on time at 1.38pm and we
headed through a slightly more open valley to

8 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:32 Page 9

The pilot engine of the rail tour was no stranger to the route, as illustrated by this view of the same BR Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-0, No 77003, passing
Bleath Gill signal box with a Blackpool to the north-east passenger train, with an unidentified ‘2MT’ 2-6-0 providing banking assistance as the train
makes for Stainmore summit. With rolling hills providing a backdrop, summer scenes such as this are deceptive as there was little between the dales
and fells to stop Atlantic weather fronts from rolling in and bringing rain, mist and strong winds, which could transform a pleasant day into a
maelstrom of driving rain and howling winds in summer, or bring sleet, snow and blizzards in winter. Such conditions at Bleath Gill were immortalised
by a British Transport Films production of 1955 – Snowdrift at Bleath Gill. J.W. Armstrong/ARPT

Tebay. After some time, the West Coast main
line appeared to our right, the brakes came on
and the train pulled to a halt just outside
Tebay station, parallel to the main line. The
super-elevation being considerable, it was a
long drop to the ground, but we made it
without injury. After clambering over various
points and signal wires, which did their best
to trip us up, we reached the platform and
watched the two engines uncouple and pull
away.
Tebay station was in a delightful situation
with a high hill to the south, above which the
sun shone brightly from a clear sky. To the
north, between the main line and the Kirkby
Stephen line, ran a pleasant stream. We walked
to the north end of the platform as an express
was signalled through – it appeared, headed by
a ‘D200’ series English Electric diesel
locomotive, and as it approached the driver
gave a deafening blast on the horn, which
dropped a mile in pitch as the train roared past.
Our two engines were now taking water
and it was well past the scheduled departure
time. Eventually we clambered back into the
train and, soon after, the engines coupled on,
tender-first, with ‘3MT’ Mogul No 77003 still
leading. At 2.26pm, 16 minutes behind time,
‘The Stainmore Limited’, the last train ever to
travel over the 12 miles to Kirkby Stephen,
pulled out of Tebay behind its two engines.
Soon we were going quite fast and were
looking out over the rolling, tree-dotted
countryside to the hills to the south, at the
farm cottages and rushing mountain streams.
Above the sun shone, lighting the landscape
with its golden beams.
The speed fell and, with a loud whistle, the
train came through Ravenstonedale, where a
few people had gathered on the platform to
watch the passing of the last train. The track
became single, the train rounded a curve and
stretching before us was the narrow defile of
Smardale. We looked down the near-vertical
slope to the little stream below, and then the
train glided out from its narrow ledge on to
Smardale viaduct and across to the other side.
We were all impressed by the beauty of this
stretch of line, and it was sad to think that never
again would we, or anyone else, view this scenery
from the comfort of a train. Soon the graceful
former Midland Railway viaduct appeared
ahead, and we passed under one of its arches.
Then the Eden Valley line appeared to the left
and, looking back, we caught a last glimpse of
Smardale. Now we were descending to the
junction, and soon were clattering over the
points and crossings outside Kirkby Stephen
(East).
The train pulled to a halt, and the Tebay
line was at an end. As I had alighted here on
the first stop, I remained in the coach,
thumbing through my notebook and
scribbling down details; they eventually
covered seven pages! Aroused by a loud
clanking, I saw the two engines pull past to
couple on the other end of the coaches. They
were now the right way round with No 77003
leading – by the end of the day it must have

By the time ‘The Stainmore Limited’ reached

Kirkby Stephen (East) sunshine was
illuminating an impromptu photographic stop
made two minutes longer by an early arrival.
With the weather cleared, the high Pennines
provide a splendid backdrop as Nos 77003 and
76049 simmer patiently, and nine coaches of
enthusiasts use 12 minutes to detrain,
photograph the moment or visit the closed
engine shed, then rejoin for the trip to Tebay.
The former NER station has already lost its
overall roof, and post-closure the site would see
use as a bobbin factory before becoming the
base of the Stainmore Railway Company from
1997. Colour-Rail.com/309079

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STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:32 Page 10

Smardale viaduct was amongst the most attractive structures on the Stainmore line. This 17 August 1957 view records Ivatt ‘4MT’ 2-6-0 No 43072
traversing it to cross Scandal Beck with the 11.15am Blackpool to Darlington service. Local limestone was used for the viaduct’s construction, the
arch quoins are of millstone grit and the fourth and tenth piers are of considerably heavier construction. It opened in August 1875, having taken five
years to build. Regular trains linking north-east England with Blackpool via Stainmore first ran in the late 1920s, and despite appearances, in their
later years a load of 11 coaches was not unusual, this being possible thanks to a relaxation of weight restrictions up to ‘Class 4’, allowing double-
heading, while ‘triple-loads’ were possible thanks to banking. R. Leslie/P.J. Robinson Collection/ARPT

With the platforms showing evidence of heavy
rain, Nos 77003 and 76049 have arrived at the
eastern, or north eastern, face of the island
platform at Tebay, the junction of the
Stainmore line with the West Coast main line,
the up line of latter is just in view in the
foreground. While the crews of the 2-6-0s
prepare to run-round for the trip back to
Kirkby Stephen (East), passengers hurry about
to secure photographs, or to see what is
happening on the main line and at the nearby
engine shed. F.W. Hampson/ARPT
been one of the most photographed engines in
Britain!
We pulled out of Kirkby Stephen (East) at
3.08pm, 18 minutes late, having lost seven
minutes from Tebay, and were soon going at a
good rate through the Eden Valley. To our
right rose the Pennines, while on our left was
flat, green countryside stretching away to the
horizon. The train rushed on and from time
to time we went into the vestibule to lean out
of the windows, as we had done throughout
the journey.
At 3.25pm the train came to a halt with
the front just in Appleby (East) station, as the
signal there stood at danger. It remained thus
for no less than 15 minutes, after which the
train moved forward, passed through the
station, then came to a halt again. To the left
we could see the Settle & Carlisle line, and
according to the schedule, we were to reverse

10 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:32 Page 11

The signalman at Ravenstonedale is in position

with the single line token for the section from
here to Kirkby Stephen, allowing ‘The Stainmore
Limited’ to continue as the last public working
between Tebay and Kirkby Stephen. Having run
round at Tebay, the special left 16 minutes late,
which was partly due to having to wait for the
water tank to refill after No 76049 had taken on
water. Running tender-first for the 12-mile leg to
Kirkby Stephen, ‘4MT’ No 76049 now leads
‘3MT’ No 77003 – the only occasion that this
would happen during the whole day. The
similarity between the two classes is apparent
with the boilers out of sight, a comparison all
the closer as both engines are coupled to BR2
type tenders. R. Leslie/P.J. Robinson Collection/ARPT

down the connecting spur to Appleby (West)

station. After starting and stopping several
times, we eventually passed what the schedule
called, Appleby Junction ground frame, and
with the sun low in the west, began to reverse
slowly down the spur. To our alarm, we
backed on to the up line, although, of course,
we were protected by the signals. The
platform slid past and the driver put on the
brakes, having ensured that our coach was off
the platform as usual. By now, however,
getting in and out of a train without the aid of
a platform was no problem. We jumped out
and had just nicely reached the platform when
there was a loud whistle and we were ordered
back into the train, the organisers being
determined to make up some of the lost time!
Just after 4.00pm the train pulled out of
Appleby (West) station and back on to the
connecting spur. We crawled over this, then
passed the ground frame and pulled on to the
Eden Valley line again. The sun was now on
the point of setting, and its last long rays
shone weakly on the sides of the coaches as
the train headed steadily through the peaceful
countryside – the sun was setting, setting for
the last time on these doomed lines. The track
wound steadily through green, gently
undulating country, with here and there a
long curve or a clump of trees. Soon the track
would be gone, as the section from Appleby
(East) to Clifton Moor was to be lifted.
It was beginning to grow dark when the
train came to a halt at Clifton Moor – the last
photographic stop of the day. As usual, we
were far off the platform but, jumping down,
we made our way to the front of the train.
Opening the stops of our cameras wide, we
expended our last photographs in the fading
light of this most memorable day. The train
departed at 4.33pm, and soon after it crossed
on to the West Coast main line at Eden Valley
Junction. Then it crawled all the way to
Penrith, coming to a halt on the left-hand side
of the island platform at 4.45pm.
At 4.50pm the train pulled out of Penrith,
and we were soon traversing the flat country
to Carlisle. The speed rapidly increased and
before long we were going quite fast. We
listened to the steady wheel-beats and the
occasional whistle, and looked out over the
rapidly darkening countryside. It had been a
long, memorable journey, but now there was
to be a brief pause before the sad business of
20 January began. The train rushed on, the
night thickened, and the countryside began to
receive the first pale rays of the rising moon.
The brakes came on, we clattered over points
and crossings, and Carlisle station loomed up.
The train glided in and pulled gently to a halt
at Platform 1. It was 5.10pm and the train was
only five minutes late, having covered the
18 miles from Penrith in 20 minutes.
We spent the time here at Carlisle on the
station and, apart from ex-LMS ‘Jubilee’
No 45719 Glorious and ‘Royal Scot’ No 46142
The York & Lancaster Regiment, we saw no
other main-line locomotives. At about 7.15pm
we retired to the refreshment room for a cup

The BR Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-2Ts were well-liked on the lines radiating from Kirkby Stephen,
being free steaming, easy to prepare and having enclosed cabs. They appeared at Kirkby
Stephen shed from December 1954, and immediately replaced ex-North Eastern Railway
engines on passenger workings. During the mid-1950s No 82027 leaves Kirkby Stephen with
a Darlington to Penrith stopping train. In the distance, a ‘2MT’ 2-6-0 can be seen, another
class that had a strong affinity with the line. J.W. Armstrong/ARPT Collection

NOVEMBER 2015 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk 11

STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:32 Page 12
of tea, and on emerging just before 8.00pm
saw a red and cream coach reversing into
Platform 4. We dashed over the bridge and
reached the platform just as the train came to
a halt. Running up to the second coach, we
got the same seats as before – I sat on the left-
hand side, facing the engine, with two of our
party at the same table; the other two
members were at the table opposite. We
rubbed the smuts off the windows and took
out our notebooks. At last the fateful time had
come – ‘The Stainmore Limited’ was about to
travel from Carlisle to Darlington via Penrith
and Kirkby Stephen, a journey that no other
train would ever make again.
At last the great, sad event of 20 January
1962 was at hand, and it was with feelings of
excitement mingled with sorrow that we
prepared for our last journey over Stainmore.
At 8.12pm there was a loud whistle and the
train pulled out of Carlisle Citadel station into
the darkness. We traversed numerous points
and crossings, and before long were
accelerating through the moon-lit
countryside. Peering out, we could just see the
flat country with its hedges and occasional
farmhouses. Now and then a red spark flew
past, and we could see clouds of smoke
billowing over the quiet land. Soon the wheel-
beats were loud and fast as we rushed on
towards Penrith.
Then, some 20 minutes after leaving
Carlisle, the brakes went on, the train slowed,
and came to a halt at a red signal. I got up and
clambered out of my seat. Finding the
vestibule empty, I pushed down the window
on the right-hand side and leaned out.
Beyond the down line was a dark mass of
trees. Above, the full moon shone from a clear
sky. Ahead I could see dimly the black shapes
of the locomotives, with steam rising gently
from them. After ten minutes the signal
changed and I saw the engines’ cabs suddenly
illuminated by an orange glare. There was a
blast from the train engine, then the pilot,
alternately at first then becoming a jumble as
they accelerated. The cold air began to rush in
my face and, closing the window, I returned to
my seat. The train rushed on, then lights
suddenly sprang up to our left, the brakes
came on, and at 8.50pm the train pulled to a
Having reversed the special on to the ex-Midland main line to call at the up platform of Appleby (West), ‘The Stainmore Limited’ gets away for
Carlisle, retracing its steps for a few yards before continuing via the ex-NER route to Eden Valley Junction, to then pass through Penrith station.
The Midland’s own line runs through small communities some miles to the east of the market town. R. Leslie/P.J. Robinson Collection/ARPT
12
‘Q6’ class 0-8-0s Nos 63355 and 63373 are seen as they get away from
Kirkby Stephen en route to Penrith with a loaded coke train.
J.W. Armstrong/ARPT
halt on the remarkably super-elevated curve
in the up platform at Penrith station.
Our RCTS special, ‘The Stainmore
Limited’, was now an historic train, for it was
the last that would ever traverse the 45 miles
from Eden Valley Junction over the Pennines
to Tees Valley Junction. For just on a hundred
years, trains had been running over this route,
battling over Stainmore between the north-
west and north-east of England, but our red
tail lamp would be the last the line would ever
see. We were all extremely sad that this line
was to close, for, in addition to the sadness
brought about by the closure of such a length
of line and seven stations, this was no
ordinary line. It was indeed a great cross-
country route that climbed hills, crossed
gorges, and ran through narrow valleys.
Without doubt it was one of the most scenic
lines in the country. However, we were
remarkably jovial considering the
circumstances, although, beneath the surface,
we were all very sad that this was the end. So,
impressed by the historic nature of the
journey, with mixed feelings of both joy and
sadness, we sat in the train, looked out at the
few people on the platform, and waited for the
last journey from Penrith to Darlington to
begin.
At 8.57pm there were several loud
whistles, the brakes went off, and the train
www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
pulled slowly out of Penrith. The speed soon
rose, and we peered through the darkness to
see when we left the main line. After some
five minutes the train slowed down, we passed
Eden Valley Junction box and pulled for the
last time on to the Eden Valley line. The speed
fell and the train crawled to a halt in Clifton
Moor. We looked out at the dimly-lit platform
and saw that a few people had gathered to see
us off. The train stood for four minutes then
pulled quite rapidly out; soon we were rushing
through the countryside at quite a rate.
In our coach someone suggested that we
burn an effigy of Mr Marples, then the
Minister of Transport, on Stainmore summit,
and I suggested that we might sing a hymn,
while one of my companions said that he
hoped Belah viaduct would collapse as we
went over it as he thought it would be a
wonderful way to die!
After some rapid running, the train pulled
to a halt at Appleby ground frame and, after
pausing for a minute, we rolled gently into
Appleby (East) station. Here a large crowd had
gathered to see the last train, and flash bulbs
went off at such a rate that you might have
imagined there to be a thunderstorm going
on. We looked out at the crowded, dimly-lit
platform. No doubt this was a sad occasion
for local people as it was ‘their line’. After
eight minutes, at 9.35pm, the train began to
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:33 Page 13
On 11 August 1957 BR Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-2Ts Nos 82026 and 82028 leave ex-NER
territory at Eden Valley Junction and join the West Coast main line with a Saltburn to
Penrith special. R. Leslie/P.J. Robinson Collection/ARPT
move, and there were cries of ‘good-bye’ from
people on the platform. Slowly it drew past,
the puffing grew faster, the platform end was
passed, and Appleby (East) had seen its last
train, and so the train pulled on through the
quiet Eden Valley, disturbing the peace of the
night for the last time.
Some eight minutes after leaving Appleby
the train pulled up in Warcop, where we were
greeted by the blinding light of a cine camera.
After half a minute, however, we were off, and
Warcop too had seen its last passenger train.
Into the mid-1970s the former NER line
would be retained through here for goods use
from Merryhill Quarry near Kirkby Stephen,
and even later than that, military traffic to and
from Warcop. The speed was slower now and,
pressing my head close to the window I
looked out. Dimly, in the pale moonlight I
could see hedgerows and fields, farmhouses,
and cottages, and across it all, like a great fog
bank, rolled a huge cloud of smoke from the
engines.
We were nearing the point where the
single-track became double, and the line left
the Eden Valley for the desolate Pennines. We
NOVEMBER 2015
had left Clifton Moor, Appleby (East) and
Warcop in the peace of the night, a peace that
no other train would ever break. For a
hundred years trains had puffed along this
pretty line, but our great double-headed train
that rattled through on the night of 20 January
1962 was the last of all. The brakes came on
and the speed fell. We listened to the steady
wheel-beats, and then suddenly they were
interrupted by confused banging . . .
points . . . the train curved to the east and
slowed . . . the platform loomed up and, as it
did so, the faint strains of music caught our
ears.
The station lights sprang up, revealing a
crowded platform, and a wave of sadness and
nostalgia came over us as we heard the closing
bars of Auld Lang Syne. Rushing to the
window, we saw a brass band further down
the platform, under a clump of lights. We
dashed to the door, jumped on to the
platform, and began to walk towards the band
but, even as we did so, there was a loud,
urgent whistle from one of the engines, so we
reluctantly got back into the train. Soon after,
there were several loud whistles and, to the
www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
accompaniment of exploding detonators, the
train began to move slowly out of the station.
We drew towards the band, and as we did so,
it once again struck up Auld Lang Syne. We
passed out from under the station roof, the
music faded and was replaced by the exhaust
from the engines. We looked back over the
dark platform-ends at the crowds of people
singing ‘Should auld acquaintance be forgot’.
The platform passed, and the singing faded
away into the night – the last train had left
Kirkby Stephen.
Leaving Kirkby Stephen 19 minutes late,
at 9.58pm, the train was soon in trouble as it
began to climb the moon-lit slopes to
Stainmore summit. The speed out of Kirkby
Stephen was slow and soon it fell to a feeble
crawl. We now abandoned all caution and,
climbing on to the tables, opened the
windows and put our heads out! – I manned a
left-hand window. Ahead dim shapes of the
engines, their cabs lit from time to time by a
sudden glare from the fires. Above the moon,
shrouded in high thin cloud, the smoke from
the engines silhouetted against the night sky;
behind the long line of lighted coaches, and to
our left a steep slope fell away into a hollow of
darkness, with just a few lights in the far
distance. There was a jumbled puffing from
ahead then, distinctly, the sound of slipping
… one of my friends withdrew his head from
the window opposite. ‘We’ll never make it!’, he
exclaimed emphatically. We had now been
going for nearly 20 minutes and had not yet
crossed Belah viaduct. I leaned further out,
the cold air flowing gently in my face.
Suddenly the train engine slipped violently,
emitting a huge cloud of black smoke, the
pilot gave a few despairing puffs, which
degenerated into a sort of pant, and the train
stopped – we were stuck!
‘The Stainmore Limited’ enjoyed just over
three hours in Carlisle while Nos 77003 and
76049 went on shed for servicing, and by the
time the special was booked to leave Carlisle,
at 8.13pm, night had fallen and so little more of
the scenic route would be seen, other than the
lights of remote signal boxes, farmsteads, towns
and villages. Here the return working waits to
depart for Darlington. ARPT Collection
13
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:33 Page 14

With darkness complete, the booked rail tour

times and those recorded by the author were
increasingly drifting apart as each station bade
farewell to its railway. Author’s Collection

It would hardly be an exaggeration to say

that jubilation reigned in the coach, and
certainly there was great excitement! ‘I’m
staying up here’, declared a man in the
gangway, ‘I don’t trust the brakes’. He then
told us some interesting facts about Belah
viaduct – it had a very severe weight
restriction, only one train at a time being
permitted over it, and a ‘Class 4’ was the
heaviest type of engine allowed to cross it. I
climbed up on the table again and looked out.
Ahead, the train engine was letting off steam
and I could see a lamp flashing down on the
ground. Behind, the long line of coaches
stretched away on a curve and I could hear
the faint strains of ‘Why are we waiting’. To
my left stretched the quiet countryside and a
large cloud of steam and smoke drifted gently
out over the hollow.
After ten minutes there was a movement
forward and, to loud determined puffing, the
train resumed its historic journey. I leaned out
again, the speed was faster now and the
slipping had stopped. I looked ahead and saw
a great blackness – Belah viaduct! The lights
from the coach revealed the catwalk
alongside. I looked out into space and, far
below, could just see the bottom of the gorge
in the moonlight. The train rumbled further
and further out – two engines and nine full
coaches. It was distinctly sinister – suppose
my friend’s wish should be fulfilled!
The train rumbled on and I heaved an
inward sigh of relief when we pulled into the
rock cutting on the other side. Soon after, we
passed through Barras, the highest station in
England, which was still lit up, with a few
people on the platform, who waved as we came
through. The rest of the ascent was slow but
steady. I looked out from time to time and had
some fine views approaching the summit when minutes later we pulled to a halt in Barnard than three hours. The speed was fairly fast,
the footplatemen of both engines opened the Castle – the Stainmore line was at an end. with slows now and again to exchange tokens.
fire-hole doors and both cabs and much steam No more would the great double-headed Steadily the hands of our watches moved
were lit up by the firelight. Eventually, to much trains battle up to Stainmore summit or the round beyond the 11.30pm mark and up
loud whistling, the train pulled over the summer Blackpool trains traverse the heights towards midnight. We lowered our haversacks
summit 45 minutes late at 10.45pm, and one of of Smardale. No more would the comfortably- and buttoned up our coats. The speed fell
my companions, with the aid of a special key, seated passenger watch enthralled on the steadily, houses loomed up, and street lights
dipped the lights of our coach several times in descent from Stainmore as the Lakeland appeared.
salute. We saw the gaunt summit sign, looked panorama swung into view. No more would The train crawled through Darlington
over the desolate moors, and then descended the green diesels growl through the quiet (North Road) station and came to a halt.
to our seats. The last long pull to Stainmore Eden Valley. No more would the great There was a whistle and the train moved on.
was at an end, and the last crossing of the viaducts reverberate to the passing trains, or We looked across the gleaming rails to the
Pennines had been made. the signals go up or the points change. They sheds, where numerous engines could be seen
The descent from the summit was very were gone, dead, and never again would we or silhouetted against the lights beyond. The
cautious, and for a long time the speed was anyone else experience the delights of this brakes came on again and the last train ever to
quite gentle. There was little to be seen and we great and unforgettable line. I had often read run from Penrith to Darlington via Stainmore
sat quietly as the last minutes of this great line of first journeys on new lines and felt some was approaching its final destination. Points,
ticked away. Then, at last, speed rose, and at a link with the bearded Victorians of the and then the platform appeared on our right
minute before 11.00pm we rushed through ‘Railway Age’ for I had been on the ending of and we pulled slowly down. At ten minutes to
Bowes. Six minutes later we came through a line, and on a last train. midnight ‘The Stainmore Limited’ came to a
Lartington, then the Middleton-in-Teesdale We pulled out of Barnard Castle some halt in Darlington and a most memorable day
line appeared on our left. As we rushed 51 minutes late, at 11.16pm, and were soon was over.
towards Tees Valley Junction there was a rushing through the darkness, but we no
terrific whistle from one of the engines – a longer looked out, for we were tired – it was Reference
final salute. The Middleton line rushed nearer nearly 14 hours since we had left Newcastle The North Eastern Railway — Cecil J. Allen
and vanished below the wheels, and a few and this journey had been going on for more (Ian Allan, 1964)

14 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
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Bristol’s Barrow Road shed

and its duties – 1959 to 1965

Fifty years after its closure,
Steve Bartlett recalls locomotives
found at this ex-Midland Railway
depot and the duties they
performed, from a fully steam-hauled
operation in 1959 to its closure as
Bristol’s last steam shed.
Barrow Road shed is seen from Barrow Road overbridge on 27 September 1964, by which time a
‘Western’ flavour was growing, the ex-Midland shed having being transferred to the Western
Region in 1958. More recently, June 1964 had seen its work and allocation supplemented by
inherited locomotives and duties upon closure of the ex-GWR St. Phillip’s Marsh shed – Barrow
Road was now the only steam facility in Bristol. Looking south from the steps leading to the depot,
only half of the three-gabled roundhouse is in view, the building at its corner, with the tall square
chimney, was the sand house, while the Midland link to Temple Meads station is on the far left.
Crewe South-allocated ‘Jubilee’ No 45586 Mysore represents tradition, but it is surrounded by ex-
GWR ‘Hall’ class 4-6-0s and a Collett ‘2884’ class 2-8-0, whilst Barrow Road’s BR Standard ‘5MT’
4-6-0 No 73012 is beside a ‘Britannia’ Pacific taking water. To complete the scene, a visiting ‘Black
Five’ is near the main line. Colour-Rail.com/101183

ristol was an important destination for passengers from 21 September 1953. Also at to a covered hydraulic wheel-drop. Mess

B the Midland Railway and its London,

Midland & Scottish Railway successor,
with its services arriving via the dedicated
cross-country Leeds–Sheffield–Derby-
Birmingham (New Street)-Gloucester route. In
addition, joining the main route at
Mangotsfield, on the northern approaches to
the city, was the former Midland Railway
secondary line from Bath (Green Park). This
line carried both an infrequent local service and
also through trains from Bournemouth (West),
these running via the Somerset & Dorset Joint
line with a reversal at Bath (Green Park).
These Midland routes emerged on the
immediate approaches to the ex-Great
Western Railway/LMS joint station at Bristol
(Temple Meads). In 1959 and in the early
1960s, all but one former MR route service
terminated here, apart from on summer
Saturdays when there were through holiday
trains to the West Country. The daily
exception was ‘The Devonian’ from Bradford
to Paignton – it was left to a later generation
to realise the potential of regular through
services from Newcastle to Plymouth without
passengers needing to change trains at Bristol
(Temple Meads).
Other former MR infrastructure on the
approaches to Bristol included the terminus at
St. Philips, which only ever handled local
passenger services and had closed to
St. Philips was a large general goods depot
and associated sidings, from where some
long-distance freight trains started and
terminated, and this remained open until
1 April 1967. Out in the country, eight miles
north of Bristol was Westerleigh sidings, the
principal former MR marshalling yard for the
area. This still performed its traditional role,
with long-distance freight trains to and from
the north and Midlands starting or
terminating there. In addition, local freight
trips radiated from Westerleigh yard to service
smaller station yards and private sidings in
the area.
Bristol (Barrow Road) shed was located
on the west side of the main line into Temple
Meads, being about ½ mile north-east of it,
and was to the east side of the terminating
lines to St. Philips and the associated goods
route through that site to Avonside Wharf. In
effect the Midland shed was in the ‘V’ of the
lines into the Bristol stations of the MR and
GWR. The main shed building was erected in
1874 as a roundhouse, and inside the shed
were 24 roads radiating from a 60ft Cowan’s
turntable; by 1959 the latter dated from a 1927
depot upgrade. One of these lines led out the
back of the shed to a series of wagon
turntables, which gave access to the fitting
shop, amongst other places, while another line
to emerge from the rear of the roundhouse led
rooms, offices, and stores were built on to the
west side and north end of the shed building.
Immediately to the north of the buildings
was Barrow Road overbridge, which from
east-to-west spanned the lines to and from
Temple Meads, the lines to Barrow Road shed,
those to the carriage and wagon shed (latterly
just open air sidings with low-level servicing
platforms), and then the ex-MR goods lines.
Over 20 lines were bridged by this structure,
and once on the south side of the arches that
number nearly doubled. A stairway from this
bridge led to the engine shed, and the Barrow
Road overbridge also offered a vantage point
from which to look south at the shed building
(the opening photograph in this section), or
north to see the rest of the shed yard and
depot exit, the ash plant and the lofty No 2
type coaling plant. A wagon hoist on the west
side of this latter concrete structure was
powered by electric hoisting gear, this lifting a
single standard gauge mineral wagon full of
coal to a point above the twin 75 ton bunkers,
into which the load was tipped. Two bunkers
allowed different grades of coal to be stored, a
coal conveyer or jigger feeder conveying the
coal to locomotive tenders or bunkers as
required. The coaling tower and the
neighbouring mechanical ash disposal plant
were installed around 1938/39 as part of LMS
investment in the depot’s facilities.

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A plan of Barrow Road shed prior to the

Carriage & Wagon shed being removed. The
shed access for staff is on the south (left) side
of Barrow Road overbridge, this being at about 4
2
the mid-way point of the multi-arched bridge,
6
as unseen lines to the east of this served
former Midland Railway goods routes, and once
St. Philips station. The line at the bottom left is
the main route from Temple Meads through to
Mangotsfield, the junction with the MR goods
lines being just off the plan to the top right, and
1 - ENGINE SHED
soon the line will pass to the north of Lawrence
2 - CAR & WAGON SHED
Hill station. The ash plant is seen in the paved
3 - FITTING SHED
area to the north of the overbridge, with the 5
4 - COALING PLANT

BARROW ROAD
much larger coaling plant to its right. 5 - WHEELDROP
Richard Soddy 6 - STEPS
1

The ash plant was quite close to the

bridge, which made it awkward to
photograph. Ashing out involved the use of
wheeled tubs on either side of the disposal
road, a number of these being positioned
along the length of the disposal road so that
more than one locomotive could be dealt with
at a time. These tubs ran on narrow gauge
tracks and when full they were moved to the
ash plant and their contents were discharged,
falling from the bottom of the tubs into an
underground skip at the base of the ash plant.
Once this skip was full, it was lifted up the
west side of the structure and the contents
were emptied into the ash bunker, and from
there the ash and clinker could be discharged
into standard gauge wagons positioned
beneath the structure, and thus moved off site.
These mechanical facilities compared
favourably with the older hand-operated
coaling and servicing arrangements at the
DIGBY ROAD
larger former GWR depots in the city, which
would have been a factor in deciding that
Barrow Road would become Bristol’s last
operational steam shed.
This mixed-traffic depot, despite being a
Western Region responsibility since 1958, still
had, in March 1959, an ex-LMS feel to its 55
locomotive allocation. This comprised three
ex-LMS ‘Patriot’ class 4-6-0s, nine ‘Jubilees’,
two Fowler ‘2P’ 4-4-0s, five Johnson ‘3F’
0-6-0s, eleven LMS ‘4F’ 0-6-0s, three Ivatt
2-6-2Ts, five LMS ‘3F’ 0-6-0Ts, one Johnson
‘1F’ 0-6-0T, two Aspinall 0-4-0STs, one ex-
GWR ‘2251’ class 0-6-0, four Collett ‘4300’
class Moguls, one ‘5700’ 0-6-0PT, five BR
Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0s, and three BR Standard
B R I S TO L
B A R ROW ROA D
‘4MT’ 4-6-0s. The detailed allocation is set
out in Table One.
The Barrow Road ‘Jubilees’ were the depot’s
principal express passenger engines on the
Midland cross-country expresses, a
responsibility shared with fellow class members
based at Derby, Sheffield (Millhouses) and
Leeds (Holbeck). In the summer 1960
timetable there were five daytime northbound
expresses from Bristol, at 7.40am and 12.28pm
to Bradford, 8.40am to Sheffield (extended to
Newcastle daily in July/August), 10.30am to
Newcastle and 2.15pm and 5.00pm to York.
The 12.28pm departure was ‘The Devonian’
through from Paignton to Bradford, which
changed engines at Bristol (Temple Meads).

Looking north from Barrow Road towards Lawrence Hill signal box and
Lawrence Hill overbridge, the scene is dominated by Barrow Road shed’s
massive ex-LMS coaling plant, with its 150 tons mechanical coaling tower.
In view on 28 July 1963 is Barrow Road-allocated BR Standard ‘9F’ class
2-10-0 No 92000 and Gloucester (Barnwood)-allocated BR Standard ‘5MT’
4-6-0 No 73091, the latter boasting a fairly recent works repaint. At this
time the depot’s four ‘9Fs’ were mostly to be found working the
Avonmouth Docks to Bromford Bridge block oil trains, via the Lickey
incline. The lines to the left in the foreground lead to carriage sidings on
the south side of the bridge, the end of one of the maintenance platforms
and the roof of a 350hp diesel-shunter being visible.
T. Owen/Colour-Rail.com/198002

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STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:33 Page 19

This view of Fowler ‘4F’ class 0-6-0 No 44466 on

its home shed of Barrow Road finds it beside
the coal stage on 4 April 1965. A local engine
since December 1948, No 44466 would be
withdrawn just two weeks later. In the distance
is the ash plant, with the skip either ascending
or descending. C.L. Caddy

Overnight passenger services were the 7.25pm

Bristol to Newcastle passenger and postal
(which also conveyed a sleeping car from June
1961) and the 1.10am Bristol to Sheffield
passenger and parcels train.
Locomotives provided on these day and
night services involved Barrow Road and
Leeds (Holbeck) ‘Jubilees’ usually working
through between Bristol and Leeds, whilst
other services might see engine changes at
Derby, Sheffield or York. Typically, Barrow
Road’s No 45572 Eire worked the 9.15am
Paignton to Bradford ‘Devonian’ forward from Bristol to York service on 21 December 1960, time residents, Nos 45572 Eire, 45662
Bristol on 14 January 1960 and No 45682 whilst No 45699 Galatea headed the 1.20pm Kempenfelt, 45685 Barfleur and 45690 Leander
Trafalgar hauled the 10.30am Bristol to Bristol to York train on 26 February 1961. first arriving in 1947, and Nos 45660 Rooke,
Newcastle train through to York on 20 August There were nine ‘Jubilees’ at the depot in 45682 Trafalgar and 45699 Galatea in 1948.
1960. The same engine worked the 2.15pm March 1959, and most of these were long- The depot’s three parallel boiler or
unrebuilt Fowler ‘Patriot’ class 4-6-0s,
Nos 45504 Royal Signals, 45506 The Royal
Pioneer Corps and 45519 Lady Godiva, arrived
in November 1958 from Carlisle (Upperby)
shed as the first of the class to be based in
Bristol since a single class member’s one-
month stay in 1935. During 1959 and 1960
these locomotives worked turn and turn about
with the ‘Jubilees’ on express passenger work,
but they became less favoured by the Bristol
crews, and as their condition deteriorated they

A morning view taken circa 1959 captures

Barrow Road-allocated Stanier ‘Jubilee’ class
4-6-0 No 45577 Bengal ascending Lickey incline
with a heavy northbound express from Bristol.
The 1 in 37 climb was made easier by the
provision of a banker from Bromsgrove. Barrow
Road ‘Jubilees’ worked these trains through to
Sheffield and Leeds or York in the case of
Newcastle-destined services.
J. Tarrant/Kidderminster Railway Museum

Table One
82E Bristol Barrow Road allocation – March 1959

Collett ‘2251’ ‘3MT’ 0-6-0 Johnson ‘1F’ 0-6-0T Fowler ‘Patriot’ ‘6P/5F’ 4-6-0 Aspinall ‘0F’ 0-4-0ST
2215 41879 (in store) 45504 Royal Signals 51217
Total: 1 Total: 1 45506 The Royal Pioneer Corps 51221
45519 Lady Godiva Total: 2
Churchward ‘4300’ ‘4MT’ 2-6-0 Johnson ‘3F’ 0-6-0 Total: 3
5393 43344 Riddles BR Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0
6346 43444 (in store) Stanier ‘Jubilee’ ‘6P/5F’ 4-6-0 73003
6350 43593 45572 Eire 73015
6376 43712 45577 Bengal 73031
Total: 4 43734 45651 Shovell 73054
Total: 5 45660 Rooke 73068
Collett ‘5700’ ‘3F’ 0-6-0PT 45662 Kempenfelt Total: 5
8725 Fowler ‘4F’ 0-6-0 45682 Trafalgar
Total: 1 43926 45685 Barfleur Riddles BR Standard ‘4MT’ 4-6-0
44269 45690 Leander 75004
Johnson ‘483’ ‘2P’ 4-4-0 44355 45699 Galatea 75021
40332 (in store) 44411 Total: 9 75022
40501 (in store) 44424 Total: 3
Total: 2 44466 Fowler ‘Jinty’ ‘3F’ 0-6-0T
44534 47333
Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T 44536 47544
41207 44537 47550
41208 44553 47552 Grand total: 55
41240 44569 47678
Total: 3 Total: 11 Total: 5 In store: 4

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STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:33 Page 20

One of Barrow Road’s three ‘Patriot’ class

4-6-0s, No 45504 Royal Signals, makes an
unassisted climb of the Lickey incline with the
10.30am Bristol to Newcastle express on 6 June
1959. Transferred to Bristol just a few months
after the former LMR routes south of
Bromsgrove were lost to the Western Region,
the arrival of Nos 45504, 45506 and 45519 in
November 1958 from Carlisle (Upperby) shed
was initially brought about so they could work
alongside the Barrow Road ‘Jubilees’ on
expresses such as this, and also head parcels
trains. P.J. Lynch/Kidderminster Railway Museum

An undated view of ‘Patriot’ class 4-6-0

No 45519 Lady Godiva near Westerleigh North
box recalls the lesser work that Barrow Road’s
‘Patriots’ soon found themselves heading,
freights to the Midlands that started from here
or perhaps began in the yards at St. Philips, the
latter often calling at Westerleigh to await a
path. George Heiron, courtesy Mike Bentley

were increasingly to be found on parcels and

freight work.
Typically, in early June 1959 No 45519
Lady Godiva worked the 10.30am Bristol to
Newcastle train through to York – a 212 mile
journey of 5½ hours – returning the next day
with the 12.48pm York to Bristol service. In
contrast, the same locomotive was to be found
on the 5.50am Washwood Heath to
Westerleigh freight on 28 March 1961, and on
the 2.45am Washwood Heath to Westerleigh
freight duty on 16 May 1961. All three
‘Patriots’ were withdrawn in March 1962 and
they were noted at Crewe Works in the same
month, being cut-up soon after arrival.
Dieselisation of the lines’ express
passenger services came comparatively early
for a cross-country route, with the summer
1961 timetable being the real step change,
although isolated scheduled workings for
steam (with diesel substitutions) continued for
some years. Just as the ‘Jubilees’ had
dominated Midland main line and cross-
country passenger services, so it was that a
single diesel type, the ‘Type 4’ 1Co-Co1 Sulzer
diesel-electrics, or ‘Peaks’ as they came to be
known, became the standard power on the
Midland main lines to Bristol and into Bath.
This included ten of the class allocated to
Bristol (Bath Road) shed, Nos D33-42
breaking the Western Region’s favoured
diesel-hydraulic dominance at its depots.
Initially the ‘Peaks’ were confined to Midland
cross-country services, but later they
penetrated further afield, in particular into
the West of England.
As a direct result of dieselisation, Bristol
(Barrow Road) shed’s ‘Jubilee’ domination of
the route came to an end in September 1961,
and its allocation was reduced to three
locomotives – Nos 45682 Trafalgar, 45685
Barfleur and 45690 Leander. Somewhat
surprisingly, the Western Region chose to
retain and re-allocate the remainder internally
with Nos 45572 Eire, 45577 Bengal, 45651
Shovell, 45660 Rooke, 45662 Kempenfelt, and
45699 Galatea all going to Shrewsbury shed.
Amongst other duties they then found favour
on former London & North Western Railway
Shrewsbury to Swansea (Victoria) passenger
services.
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STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:33 Page 21

Reflecting the new order, Bristol (Bath Road)

shed’s Sulzer 1Co-Co1 ‘Peak’ class ‘Type 4’
No D41 brings a northbound Bristol to the
West Riding or North-East express past
Barrow Road shed on 21 July 1962. Stabled
alongside the roundhouse wall is Sheffield
(Darnall) shed’s rebuilt ‘Royal Scot’ No 46164
The Artists’ Rifleman, which had earlier worked
in on an express service from the north – it
would not see another summer as it was
withdrawn from that depot in December 1962.
Colour-Rail.com/1513

Equally surprising is the fact that Barrow

Road’s reduced ‘Jubilee’ allocation remained
intact for another two and a half years, the
three engines plying their trade on freight and
parcels duties, as substitutes for diesel failures
and on special passenger workings. An
example of the latter was No 45682 Trafalgar
heading a Southampton to Aston
(Birmingham) football special from Bath
(Green Park) to its destination on 27 April
1963. This special had been routed via the
Somerset & Dorset line and was for the
FA Cup semi-final between Southampton and
Manchester United at Villa Park. The same
Stanier engine, in a late flourish, worked the

Outside the back of Barrow Road roundhouse

on 1 April 1962 is one of the shed’s last three
‘Jubilees’, No 45685 Barfleur on the wheel drop
road. The ‘Jubilees’ had reigned supreme as the
principal motive power on Bristol to Leeds and
Newcastle expresses until the change to
dieselisation in September 1961, when the
depot’s allocation was abruptly reduced from
nine to three of these Stanier 3-cylinder 4-6-0s.
These would see further service until 1964 on
their remaining booked work, often freight or
parcels duties and special passenger work, but
it was not unknown for them to stand in for
problematic diesels on expresses. Barfleur
would be withdrawn from the depot in April
1964. Graham Turner/Robin Whittle Collection

Bristol (Barrow Road) fireman John Clark looks

out from the cab of the depot’s ‘6P/5F’ rated
Stanier ‘Jubilee’ No 45690 Leander at
Gloucester (Eastgate) station as it waits to
depart on a local stopping train to Bristol
during 1963. It seems at the time that it wasn’t
only policemen, but firemen, who seemed to be
getting younger by the day! Withdrawn in
March 1964, No 45690 would be sold to
Woodham Brothers scrapyard at Barry, from
where it was rescued for preservation in 1971.

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STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:34 Page 22

A Newcastle to Bristol service pauses at

Mangotsfield station behind No 73003, one of
Barrow Road’s BR Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0s. The
nocturnal view is undated but thought to be
circa 1960 – note the early lion and wheel crest
on the tender and the presence of a
departmental coach with a clerestory roof.
With little light for the photographer to play
with, the long exposure of the camera
accentuates illumination from within the signal
box as well as the glow from the open firebox
door of the locomotive. No 73003 was a
Barrow Road engine from February 1958 until
March 1963, and again from September 1963 to
June 1965, the period between being spent
serving from Shrewsbury shed.
Millbrook House/Kidderminster Railway Museum

to Bradford service did become a fairly

8.40am Bristol to Sheffield express passenger
service on 1 April, again on 6 April and finally
on 8 May 1964.
Despite its withdrawal beckoning,
No 45685 Barfleur was kept busy with the
5.20pm Bristol St. Philips yard to Water Orton
freight on 12 March 1964. It returned with the
2.45am Washwood Heath to Westerleigh
sidings freight in the early hours of the next
morning, and was out again that evening,
working the 11.45pm Bristol to Derby parcels
service. No 45690 Leander was withdrawn in
March 1964, No 45685 Barfleur in the April,
and finally No 45682 Trafalgar was taken out of
service in June 1964. The withdrawal of the last
Barrow Hill ‘Jubilees’ coincided with the arrival
of three additional British Railways Standard
‘5MT’ 4-6-0s at the depot from Llanelly –
Nos 73012, 73024 and 73037.
There were five BR Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0s
at Bristol (Barrow Road) in March 1959, the
allocation initially being set up in March
1957, coincidental with the depot releasing its
previously traditional allocation of LMS ‘Black
Five’ 4-6-0s to London Midland Region sheds.
The latter engines had been a continual
presence in the allocation since the 1930s,
supporting the ‘Jubilees’ on express passenger
work, but more often to be found on express
parcels, freight services, and the occasional
Bristol to Gloucester stopping passenger train;
the BR Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0s very much
mirrored these duties over the years.
Although the equal of the ‘Jubilees’ in
terms of power, the BR Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0s
were regarded as second or indeed third
choice behind the ‘Jubilees’ and ‘Patriots’ for
these workings. However, the 7.40am Bristol
regular turn for the Riddles-designed engines,
with Nos 73031 turned out on 7 November
1959, 73054 on 5 May 1960, and 73003 on
4 April 1961. On another favoured working,
No 73028 headed the 4.20pm Bristol to
Gloucester stopping passenger service on
24 October 1961. The depot’s No 73001 had
an unusual moment of glory on 21 December
1964. Having left Barrow Road shed on the
scheduled OZ28 4.00pm light engine
movement to Swindon for a booked forward
working, it was next seen speeding through
Chippenham for London (Paddington) with
the up ‘Bristolian’, following the failure of the
booked diesel engine – No 73001 was running
just 24 minutes late and was performing well.
Barrow Road depot also had three of the
slightly less-powerful BR Standard ‘4MT’
4-6-0s in March 1959, reducing to one or two
at different stages from October 1960 through
to February 1965. These ‘4MT’ locomotives
could do most of what the BR-built ‘5MT’
4-6-0s achieved, apart from the heavier
express passenger duties, and were more
commonly found on Bristol to Gloucester
local passenger services. No 75022 was noted

Two members of the old order of Midland 4-4-0s were still on the books of Barrow Road in March 1959, albeit stored, these being Nos 40332 and
40501. The former awaits departure from Bristol (Temple Meads) with a stopping train to Gloucester (Eastgate) on 27 May 1957. The train is
standing in the old Brunel-built trainshed, its terminal platforms becoming the regular home for ex-MR/LMS local and express passenger services.
Rated ‘2P’, No 40332 dates back to 1882, when it emerged from Derby Works as Johnson ‘1562’ class No 1566. Withdrawn in 1923, it was then
renewed under Fowler as a ‘483’ class, as seen. Transferred from Saltley to Barrow Road in April 1957, No 40332 was placed in store in September

22 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:34 Page 23
Ex-Midland Railway Johnson ‘3F’ 0-6-0 No 43444
is ‘in store’ behind Barrow Road shed on
11 September 1960. The fitting shop is on the
right, the water softener just in view on the
left, and the most westerly gable of the
roundhouse is seen near the large water tank.
A Barrow Road engine since at least the 1930s,
apart from ten months at Saltley in 1953/54, it
had been placed in store in September 1958
and would be withdrawn in November 1960,
soon after this photograph was taken. An 1893
product of Dübs & Co Ltd as MR ‘1873’ class
No 2167, its longevity was in part due to
rebuilds in 1903 and 1917.
L.W. Rowe/Colour-Rail/92525
on the 9.15am Bristol to Gloucester service on
13 April 1959, and the same engine hauled the
11.30am Gloucester to Bristol train on 6 June
1961. Both BR classes occasionally appeared
on Bristol to Bath (Green Park) local services
and on Bournemouth trains, the latter as far
as their Bath (Green Park) reversal. However,
these services were more usually entrusted to
former LMS-built or BR 2-6-2Ts.
The two elderly Midland ‘2P’ 4-4-0s still
allocated to Barrow Road depot in March
1959 were no longer operational, both
Nos 40332 and 40501 being in ‘stored’ status
since September 1958. No 40332 was
subsequently withdrawn in September 1959,
whilst No 40501 had a temporary reprieve,
being transferred to Gloucester (Barnwood)
shed in June 1960, but only surviving there
until an early August 1960 withdrawal. Some
publications show fellow class member
No 40537 being transferred to Barrow Road
about this time. This however, was in error
and in reality it remained allocated to, and in
store at, Templecombe.
In March 1959 five Johnson ‘3F’ 0-6-0s
and 11 Fowler ‘4F’ 0-6-0s were the classic
‘maids of all work’ on local freight trips,
banking duties, and on the regular empty
passenger stock workings from the Midland
carriage sidings into Temple Meads station.
Whilst Saltley shed’s Fowler ‘4Fs’ regularly
worked into the Bristol area on comparatively
heavy long-distance freight services, Barrow
Road’s ‘3F/4F’ 0-6-0s were less likely to be
found on such arduous longer-distance duties.
However, their work in Bristol was
surprisingly long-lived – there were still seven
daily Barrow Road diagrammed turns for these
robust and hardworking 0-6-0s up to October
1964, and by then they were the only ex-LMS
NOVEMBER 2015
engines remaining at the depot. They were
regularly noted working freight trips from
Stoke Gifford and Westerleigh sidings, the
latter until that yard closed in October 1964, as
well as the Fishponds banker duty and Temple
Meads passenger empty stock workings.
Both here, and at the adjacent Gloucester
depot, little attempt was made by the Western
Region to replace these traditional LMS
workhorses with home-bred types, despite
most other ex-LMS classes eventually
disappearing from both depots. It would be
June 1965, just five months prior to Barrow
Road depot’s closure, before the last
post-Grouping examples, Nos 44264 and
44269, were transferred away to Gloucester,
while former MR 0-6-0 No 43924 was
withdrawn. These three ‘4Fs’ were all noted
working Barrow Road’s T853 Fishponds
banking engine turn during December 1964.
British Railways Standard ‘9F’ class
2-10-0s had not arrived at the depot when our
review begins in March 1959, but they became
a small but constant presence between 1960
and 1965. The first two ‘9Fs’ appeared in
August 1960, rising to an allocation of four
during that December, and this level was
maintained for the next four years. Allocated
to handle the new daily block oil trains from
Avonmouth to Bromford Bridge, this was
their principal work throughout their stay at
the depot. Initially, they also participated in
the Fawley to Bromford Bridge oil train
www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
workings until these were diverted away from
Bristol to run via Oxford and Worcester.
Typically the depot’s No 92231 worked the
11.40am Avonmouth to Bromford Bridge duty
on 13 November 1960, whilst four years later
little had changed as No 92007 headed out
with the 8.40am Avonmouth to Bromford
Bridge duty on 23 December 1964. When
they could be spared, they participated in
other long-distance freight work, for example
on 19 December 1964 No 92248 took the
1.15am Tavistock Junction to Crewe (via
Worcester and Dudley) freight forward after a
booked locomotive change on the Bristol
Avoiding line near St. Phillip’s Marsh. Diesel
power officially took over the tank train
workings from 1 March 1965, the remaining
Barrow Road ‘9F’ 2-10-0s being rapidly
dispersed, with Nos 92000, 92007 and 92238
going to Gloucester and No 92248 being
reallocated to Cardiff East Dock shed.
Most large depots supported healthy
0-6-0T allocations, primarily for shunting
duties and associated work. Barrow Road’s
provision in March 1959 was surprisingly
small given the overall allocation of 55 steam
locomotives, and particularly as diesel
shunting engines had not yet taken over any
duties on that side of the city. In March 1959
there were just five former LMS ‘Jinty’ 0-6-0Ts
and one ex-GWR ‘5700’ class 0-6-0PT on the
shed’s allocation, but that profile gradually
changed until by March 1962 there was just
one ‘Jinty’ and now four ‘5700’ pannier tanks
present.
By comparison, in March 1959 the city’s
former GWR depot at St. Phillip’s Marsh had
40 ex-GWR 0-6-0PTs, despite the overall
BR Standard ‘9F’ 2-10-0 No 92007 charges up
the Lickey incline with an Avonmouth to
Bromford Bridge train of loaded oil tankers. A
brake van and two barrier wagons are
immediately behind the engine, and banking
assistance has been provided for the heavy
train. The view is undated but this Riddles
locomotive was based at Barrow Road shed
specifically to cover this traffic, its time in
Bristol spanning December 1960 through to a
February 1965 transfer to Gloucester (Horton
Road). John Tarrant/Kidderminster Railway Museum
23
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:34 Page 24
locomotive allocation being barely double that
at Barrow Road. However, Barrow Road’s
meagre 0-6-0T allocation was to change
dramatically in later years as the city’s other
depots gave up their surviving steam
allocations, Barrow Road becoming the base
for all remaining former LMS and GWR yard
and depot shunting and local trip duties from
October 1962.
In the 1959 summer timetable period
there were three shunt engine turns for the
immediate Barrow Road/St. Philips sidings
area. Incidentally, the St. Philips sidings and
goods depot adjacent to Barrow Road was not
to be confused with St. Phillip’s Marsh engine
shed and sidings on the other side of the city.
The first two pilots were for ‘Lower Yard/No 2
Goods Yard’ and ‘Barrow Lane’, and they were
manned continuously, whilst the third pilot,
‘No 1 Goods Shed’, worked from 6.00am to
8.20pm. There was also a 10.35pm to 5.40am
shunt for the adjacent carriage and wagon
Barrow Road’s two pets, ex-L&YR 0-4-0STs
Nos 51217 and 51218, are stabled together in
the roundhouse on 12 June 1960. These ‘0Fs’
were based here for shunting Bristol’s
restricted Avonside Wharf branch. On the right
is a partial view of ex-MR ‘483’ 4-4-0 No 40501,
which had been in ‘store’ since September 1958
but would imminently be transferred to
Gloucester (Barnwood), only to be withdrawn
within months, during August 1960. No 51217
would go into ‘store’ in December 1960, with
withdrawal in November 1961, while No 51218
would be transferred away to Swansea East
Dock shed in December 1962 for specialist
dock shunting duties. Finally being withdrawn
in September 1964, it now survives in
preservation.
L.W. Perkins/Kidderminster Railway Museum
24
shops. Further out of the city, there were two
shunt engine turns at Westerleigh sidings, the
‘Down Sidings’ pilot, described as
‘Continuous’, and the ‘Up Sidings’ pilot, which
was a 4.15pm to 6.00am operation.
The various freight trip engines working
from Westerleigh sidings, and to a lesser extent
from St. Philips, were mostly worked by ex-
LMS 0-6-0s. They undertook the shunting at
the various intermediate stations, sidings and
small depots that the trips called at around the
area, and at certain times they were also booked
to supplement the Westerleigh sidings shunting
commitment. Later, during the 1964 summer
timetable period, an ex-GWR ‘5700’ 0-6-0PT
off a trip working was shown working as
‘Westerleigh No 1 Pilot’ between 1.45pm and
9.45pm, and likewise an ex-LMS 0-6-0 tender
engine off a trip working saw use as
www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
The eclectic mix of the Barrow Road scene is
captured in this view from Day’s Road
overbridge, at the south end of the site, as
Gloucester (Barnwood) shed’s Fowler ‘4F’ class
0-6-0 No 44045 heads a local freight trip on the
down line towards Bristol (Temple Meads) and
passes Saltley ‘Black Five’ No 44963, which is
heading towards Mangotsfield. In the
foreground is ex-GWR ‘5600’ class 0-6-2T
No 6681 of St. Phillip’s Marsh shed. The
photograph is undated but it is likely that
No 6681 is in formal ‘stored’ status sometime
between November 1961 and March 1962,
when it would be transferred to Cardiff
(Canton). Graham Turner/Robin Whittle Collection
‘Westerleigh No 2 Pilot’ between 10.46pm to
6.30am. It is unclear if by this date there was
any dedicated Westerleigh sidings shunting
power to supplement these engines.
To coincide with certain shift changeover
times, staff trains were timetabled to run
between St. Philips and Westerleigh sidings to
cater for yard staff living in the Bristol area that
worked at the more remote country location.
The rather grandly termed staff trains were
actually an engine and van(s) built into the
freight trip schedules. They were worked by ex-
LMS 0-6-0s, or by 1964 some were being
diagrammed for BR-built Standard 2-6-2Ts.
Returning to the March 1959 allocation,
two ex-Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway
Aspinall ‘0F’ 0-4-0STs, Nos 51217 and 51221,
took it in turn to shunt the restricted route
clearance Avonside branch between 7.30am
and 3.30pm daily. No 51221 was withdrawn in
January 1960 following an on shed collision
with one of Barrow Road’s ‘Jubilees’, in which,
not surprisingly, the diminutive shunting
engine came off worse. Fortuitously, No 51218
had been transferred in from Widnes in
September 1959, and after that date it
maintained the two-engine ‘0F’ presence.
Nos 51217 and 51218 were replaced by a
204hp diesel shunting engine around March
1961, however both were held in store at
Barrow Road for some considerable time.
No 51217 was eventually withdrawn in
November 1961, and after a further protracted
period No 51218 was brought back into traffic
in December 1962 and transferred to Swansea
East Dock shed for dock shunting duties.
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:34 Page 25

One of Barrow Road’s Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2Ts,

No 41207, is stabled alongside the roundhouse
on 2 September 1962. It had arrived at the
depot from Cricklewood in 1956 and would be
transferred away to Shrewsbury in July 1963.
Useful all-purpose engines, they found regular
work on the remaining Bristol suburban
passenger services, Somerset & Dorset Joint
line Bournemouth trains as far as their Bath
(Green Park) reversal, and on the ex-GWR
Cheddar Valley branch from Yatton to Wells
and Witham.
R.H.W. Whitworth/Kidderminster Railway Museum

by April 1962, it was back up to 56

Bristol’s Barrow Road depot had three
Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2Ts in 1959, with the
allocation varying between three and four
engines of this class up to September 1960.
Nos 41200-09 were erected by the LMS,
No 41210 being the first post-nationalisation
example to the LMS design. Coincidental with
the closure of Bristol (Bath Road) shed in
September 1960, Barrow Road’s 2-6-2T
allocation then rose to eight Ivatts and 12 BR
Standard ‘3MTs’. Some of its 2-6-2Ts were
then transferred back across the city to
St. Phillip’s Marsh shed in January 1962, only
to be transferred back again in October 1962
when that shed was significantly down-sized
as a first step towards its closure. From the
latter date, all of St. Phillip’s Marsh’s smaller
engines were moved to Barrow Road, leaving
only former GWR 4-6-0 types at the former.
Now Barrow Road was the only shed in the
city operating 2-6-2Ts, its enlarged allocation
standing at seven Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2Ts and
eight BR Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-2Ts.
During these years traditional barriers were
broken down between former Midland and ex-
GWR local duties around the city. The 2-6-2Ts
continued for some years to be used on residual
passenger work to Portishead and Severn
Beach, despite most of these services being
worked by diesel-multiple-units, as well as on
the exclusively steam-hauled Yatton-Wells-
Witham branch. In addition, the 2-6-2Ts also
now participated in empty passenger stock
duties and hauled some freight trips.
Examples of Barrow Road-allocated
2-6-2Ts working during these years include
No 82037 on a Severn Beach to Bristol
(Temple Meads) local passenger train on
24 June 1961, No 82040 with the 3.17pm
Frome to Yatton (via Wells) service on 6 April
1963, No 41245 on the 7.05am Wells to Yatton
train on 8 June 1963 and No 82037 with the
6.45pm Bristol (Temple Meads) to Portishead
service on 10 June 1963.
A reduction in steam operations came
with the complete withdrawal of passenger
services between Yatton, Wells and Witham
and the closure of the Wells sub-shed on
Saturday, 7 September 1963. The last trains
that day were worked by ex-GWR 0-6-0
No 3218, its buffers and front number-plate
painted white by the crew, assisted by the
author’s compatriots, on the 8.15pm Wells to
Yatton service, while former GWR 0-6-0PT
No 3696 was on the 8.20pm Yatton to Wells
train, which then returned empty stock to
Bristol. Exploding detonators marked the
passing of this delightful branch line.
No less than nine locomotives were put
into store at Barrow Road shed the following
week – ex-GWR 0-6-0s Nos 2217, 2251, 2277
and 3218, Ivatt 2-6-2Ts Nos 41208, 41248 and
41249, and BR Standard 2-6-2Ts Nos 82035
and 82040. Despite spending several months
in store they were, a little surprisingly, all
eventually reallocated, with Nos 2217, 2251,
and 3218 going to Templecombe, Nos 2277,
82035 and 82040 to Exmouth Junction, and
Nos 41208, 41248 and 41249 to Barnstaple
Junction. Last to leave depot storage was
No 82035, which was not re-allocated to
Exmouth Junction until March 1964.
This is an appropriate point to pause and
take stock of the impact that changes at the
city’s other locomotive depots had on Barrow
Road shed. Despite suffering its own
workload reductions, Barrow Road was the
consistent beneficiary as steam work was
transferred to it from the city’s other depots,
as they were run down or closed. In March
1959, with an allocation of 55 locomotives,
mostly ex-LMS and BR Standard types, it was
by far the smallest of the three Bristol depots.
However, after contracting to just 32 engines
locomotives by the October, as a result of the
first-stage transfer of St. Phillip’s Marsh’s
smaller engines. Table Two (see page 26)
records the allocation in June 1963. Then after
dropping again to 38 locomotives by April
1964, it was back up to 59 locomotives in June
1964, following the final closure of St. Phillip’s
Marsh shed and the transfer in of its surviving
Swindon-designed 4-6-0s. These would retain
some passenger and significant amounts of
parcels and freight work alongside the
remaining traditional Midland work through
to the end of steam in Bristol.
Meanwhile, by 1964 an expanding Bristol
(Bath Road) diesel allocation was having an
increasing impact on the remaining steam
operations. It is difficult to pin down the large
numbers of ‘Warship’ class B-B diesel-
hydraulics on Bristol work, as these were not
separately identifiable, being on cyclic
diagrams from their Plymouth (Laira) and
Newton Abbot bases. However, by June 1964
Bath Road shed’s own main line diesel
allocation had increased to ten ‘Western’ class
C-C diesel-hydraulics, 51 of the 101 B-B
‘Hymeks’ – the ‘maids of all work’ forever
associated with the Bristol area – seven
‘D6300’ series ‘Type 2’ B-B diesel-hydraulics
for trip work, the original ten ‘Peak’ 1Co-Co1
‘Type 4’ diesel-electrics for Midland line work,
and the depot’s first nine Brush ‘Type 4’
Co-Co diesel-electric locomotives.
The most significant increases during the
next 18 months, and linked directly to the
final elimination of steam in the Bristol area,
was the delivery of significant numbers of
Brush ‘Type 4s’ and of Swindon’s final diesel-

Barrow Road’s Collett ‘2251’ class 0-6-0 No 3218 receives a final touch up, using paint and brushes
supplied by the author’s compatriots, prior to working the 6.20pm Witham to Wells passenger service
on its withdrawal day, Saturday, 7 September 1963. No 3218 went into store at Barrow Road in the
following week but lived to fight another day, moving to Templecombe on the Somerset & Dorset line
in December 1963, where it continued to work until its May 1965 withdrawal. Cheddar Valley branch
motive power had more recently been LMS-designed Ivatt ‘2MT’ and BR Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-2Ts.
These were a Barrow Road, rather than a St. Phillip’s Marsh, provision from October 1962 as part of
the rundown of the latter depot prior to its June 1964 closure. Author

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STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:34 Page 26

Table Two
82E Bristol Barrow Road allocation – June 1963

Collett ‘2251’ ‘3MT’ 0-6-0 Collett ‘6100’ ‘4MT’ 2-6-2T Stanier ‘Jubilee’ ‘6P/5F’ 4-6-0 Riddles BR Standard ‘9F’ 2-10-0
2217 6147 45682 Trafalgar 92000
2251 6148 45685 Barfleur 92007
2277 Total: 2 45690 Leander 92221
3218 Total: 3 92248
Total: 4 Collett ‘8100’ ‘4MT’ 2-6-2T Total: 4
8102 Stanier ‘8F’ 2-8-0
‘5700’ ‘3F’ 0-6-0PT Total: 1 48110 Grand total: 56
3643 48431
3675 Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T Total: 2
3677 41207
3696 41208 Riddles BR Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0
3702 41245 73015
3752 41248 73028
3765 41249 Total: 2
4619 41304
4699 Total: 6 Riddles BR Standard ‘4MT’ 4-6-0
8795 75001
9623 Fowler ‘4F’ 0-6-0 Total: 1
9626 43924
Total: 12 44135 Riddles BR Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-2T Reduction in traditional of
44264 82007 ex-LMS types since 1959 due to
Collett ‘5101’ ‘4MT’ 2-6-2T 44269 82035 dieselisation and rationalisation of
4103 44296 82036 local freight trip and shunting duties.
4131 44466 82037 The changes also reflect the October
Total: 2 44523 82038 1962 transfer of 29 tank and smaller
44534 82039 tender engines from the ex-GWR
44569 82040 St. Phillip’s Marsh shed, to be
Total: 9 82043 followed in June 1964 by the
Total: 8 remainder of its allocation.

hydraulic build, the ‘D9500’ series ‘Type 1s’.
The Brush ‘Type 4’ depot allocation increased
from nine in June 1964 to 23 by June 1965,
and to 37 by November 1965. Whilst this all-
conquering class replaced some diesel-
hydraulics on existing passenger and parcels
work, their most significant impact was in
finally eliminating steam-haulage from the
long distance freight work that had been
stubbornly resilient to dieselisation during the
preceding few years.
The first five ‘D9500’ series British
Railways ‘Type 1s’ had reached Bath Road
shed by October 1964, rising to nine by May
1965 and 16 by November 1965. Designed for
short-distance freight trip work and
associated shunting, they were the ideal
motive power for the final elimination of
steam-haulage on these duties in the Bristol
area. However, this type of work rapidly
disappeared due to small station and siding
closures, and this short-lived class of 56
locomotives were all withdrawn or sold to
private industry by the end of 1969. They
were a class that should never have been built,
although in the short term they had a direct
impact on the elimination of steam-hauled
trip work and its associated shunting in the
Bristol area.
Returning to Barrow Road shed, as well as
its increased home depot allocation from June
1964, the numbers of visiting main line
locomotives arriving on the depot for
servicing remained high. This was due to a
combination of circumstances, including high
levels of residual steam-hauled freight work
on both the Western and London Midland
Region routes into yards around the city,
where most terminated and others changed
engines.
A Barrow Road shed visit on Sunday,
14 June 1964 found no less than 22 of these
visitors, comprising over a third of the 60 steam
engines present on the depot that day. It was
also the weekend that St. Phillip’s Marsh shed
had closed, Barrow Road being packed with its
enhanced allocation, as well as visiting engines
that had previously been serviced at St. Phillip’s
Marsh.
Barrow Road’s visitors that day comprised
ex-GWR 2-8-0s Nos 3830 (from Newport Ebbw
Junction), 3848 (Southall) and 3856 (Severn
Tunnel Junction), ‘Castle’ class 4-6-0s Nos 4080
Powderham Castle (Southall), 4089 Donnington
Castle (Reading), 5063 Earl Baldwin and 7024
Powis Castle (both Oxley), ‘Grange’ class 4-6-0s
Nos 6848 Toddington Grange (Worcester) and
6879 Overton Grange (Tyseley), ‘Hall’ class
4-6-0s Nos 6904 Charfield Hall (Banbury) and
6928 Underley Hall (Pontypool Road),
‘Modified Halls’ Nos 7910 Hown Hall (Reading)
and 7925 Westol Hall (Cardiff East Dock), ex-
LMS (S&D) ‘4F’ 0-6-0 No 44558 (Bath Green
Park), ‘Black Five’ No 45398 (Northampton),
Stanier ‘8F’ class 2-8-0s Nos 48184 and 48666
(Nottingham), 48351 (Saltley) and 48460
(Stourbridge Junction), BR Standard ‘5MT’
4-6-0 No 73021 (Gloucester), and BR ‘3MT’
2-6-2T No 82030 (Taunton – on loan to Barrow
Road).

The quartet of Riddles ‘9Fs’ at Barrow Road in

1963 is represented by this 23 August scene at
Staple Hill on the ex-MR main line towards
Mangotsfield. No 92248 is heading an up mixed
freight from Avonmouth, so it will have joined
the main route from Bristol (Temple Meads) at
Kingswood Junction. This 2-10-0 arrived at
Barrow Road from Cardiff (Canton) in
September 1960, its Bristol stay lasting until
January 1965.
R. Amos/Kidderminster Railway Museum

26 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:34 Page 27

A congested scene around the Barrow Road

coaling plant on Saturday, 11 July 1964 records
several incoming West Country holiday express
engines having worked trains from the
Midlands as far as Bristol. Their job done, diesel
traction would have worked their trains
forward to destinations further west. Upper
left is Oxley ‘Castle’ No 5056 Earl of Powis – it
arrived with the 8.00am Wolverhampton (Low
Level) to Ilfracombe service and would work
back later that day with the 12.10 Penzance to
Wolverhampton (Low Level) duty. In the centre
is Stanier ‘Black 5’ No 45219 off the 6.40am
Leicester to Paignton service that morning, and
in the foreground is ‘Modified Hall’ class 4-6-0
No 6983 Otterington Hall of Didcot shed.
David Nicholas

The majority of these Sunday sojourners

were off freights and would likewise go back
with long-distance freight workings, with just
the odd passenger and parcels turn amongst
them. Barrow Road’s chalked locomotive
allocation board having been consulted at the
time, combined with enthusiasts’ records of
the day, makes it possible to provide a near
complete snapshot of many of these visitors
back workings, as set out in Table Three.
Whilst the focus so often is on locomotives,
the fate of the city’s train-crew depots must have
been equally complex during these transitional
years. Diesel locomotives, multiple-units, and
steam engines all still had to be crewed, with a
broad range of traction knowledge necessary, as
well as the retention of traditional and new route
knowledge. The latter was an expensive element
to acquire and maintain, and this would have
been a factor on any changes to train-crew
working arrangements. Initially these would
have still been based around the three main
Bristol depots at Bath Road, St. Phillip’s Marsh
and Barrow Road. It is, however, unclear what
happened during the interim period that Bath
Road shed closed as a steam depot and the site
was cleared until the diesel maintenance depot
emerged from the ashes on the same site.
It is known that Bath Road crews continued
to work steam turns, and in some instances
they would have had to travel to St. Phillip’s
Marsh and later Barrow Road to pick up their
engines. Alternatively, their locomotives might
have been worked into Temple Meads station
light engine by a ferrying crew.
The relationship between Bath Road and
St. Phillip’s Marsh depots during the transitional
years of long distance services is not known, but
I suspect that Bath Road men, despite their
shed now being a diesel depot, would have
continued to work, or at least share, their
traditional routes that were still steam-hauled,
in particular manning expresses on the North &
West route via Hereford. It is however,
presumed that St. Phillip’s Marsh ceased to be a
train crew depot coincidental with that shed’s
closure, the site being operationally abandoned
at that point. It would be interesting to hear
more on this largely unexplored feature from
any Bristol enginemen from the era, or from
informed readers.
Returning to Barrow Road, its allocation in
June 1964, as the sole remaining city steam shed,
had a very different profile to its traditional
former LMS feel back in 1959. Its allocation of 59
locomotives now comprised seven Great
Western ‘Halls’, six ‘Modified Halls’, seven
‘Granges’, sixteen ‘5700’ class 0-6-0PTs, seven ex-
LMS ‘4F’ 0-6-0s, four BR ‘9F’ 2-10-0s, seven BR
Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0s and five BR Standard
‘3MT’ 2-6-2Ts. The Fowler ‘4Fs’ were now the
last surviving class with a direct link back to the
depot’s original company origins. The detailed
allocation is set out in Table Four (see page 28).
From June 1964 onwards we enter the final
phase of steam operations in the Bristol area.
This last period of steam activity was to take us
up to 22 November 1965, when Bristol (Barrow
Road) shed finally closed. Passenger workings
were by now very much the exception, although
the 18.52 Bristol to Weymouth service and the
17.20 Weymouth to Bristol train remained
firmly steam-hauled by increasingly filthy
Barrow Road-based ‘Halls’. No 6900 Abney Hall
was in charge of the former on 30 June 1964,
whilst No 4992 Crosby Hall simmered fitfully
while awaiting departure from Temple Meads
on 10 August 1964. The 17.20 Weymouth to
Bristol train, headed by No 6990 Witherslack
Hall, was noted working hard out of Weymouth
on 11 September 1964. Most Bristol to
Weymouth services had been worked by diesel-
multiple-units for some years, these surviving
locomotive-hauled evening workings providing

Table Three
Bristol Barrow Road shed visiting engines on Sunday, 14 June 1964 – Known inward and return workings
Engine Home depot Sat. 13 June 1964 – inwards Mon. 15 June 1964 – return
3848 81C Southall – 7T73 12.05pm St. Phillip’s Marsh to Rogerstone
3856 86E Severn Tunnel Jcn – 7T55 5.10am Stoke Gifford to Rogerstone
4080 81C Southall – Spare on shed at Barrow Road
4089 81D Reading – 6T01 2.40pm St Phillip’s Marsh to Rogerstone
5063 2B Oxley 1V26 9.50am Wolverhampton LL to Paignton Relief 3M00 11.25pm Bristol TM to Crewe Parcels (via Worcester,
(via Stratford-upon-Avon), C/E Bristol and Dudley), C/E Wolverhampton LL
6848 85A Worcester – 4.30am to Hookagate freight
6879 2A Tyseley – 4M47 1am Tavistock Junction to Crewe (via
Worcester, and Dudley), C/E St. Phillips Marsh
6904 2D Banbury – 6.45am Stapleton Road ballast trip
(scheduled for a Barrow Road engine)
6928 86G Pontypool Road – 3.30am St. Phillip’s Marsh to Neath freight
7024 2B Oxley – ‘Diesel standby’ Bristol
7910 81D Reading 4V78 11am Crewe to Stoke Gifford 7M09 3.50am Stoke Gifford to Woodford Halse (via Swindon
(via Dudley, and Worcester) and Didcot Curve)
7925 88A Cardiff East Dock – 6.35am and 8.35pm Stoke Gifford trips (scheduled for a
Barrow Road engine)
45398 1H Northampton – 4N29 4.50pm St. Philips Yard to Leeds Hunslet Lane
48184 16D Nottingham – 6M12 8.55pm Avonmouth to Lawley Street
48351 2E Saltley – 6M05 8am Westerleigh to Washwood Heath
73021 85B Gloucester – 3.45pm Bristol TM to Gloucester local passenger
82030 83B Taunton* – 1pm Cheddar additional trip (Strawberry special)

Notes
C/E: Change Engine, * Engine on loan from Taunton. Source: www.bristolsteam64.co.uk

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STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:34 Page 28

van accommodation for parcels, mails and

Table Four
Channel Islands perishable traffic. These
82E Bristol Barrow Road allocation – June 1964
services were officially diagrammed for ‘Hymek’
diesel haulage from 4 January 1965.
Collett ‘5700’ ‘3F’ 0-6-0PT Collett ‘Grange’ ‘5MT’ 4-6-0 BR Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0
The oddball and uniquely routed 06.38
3643 6804 Brockington Grange 73001
Avonmouth to Westbury (via Henbury) 3659 6816 Frankton Grange 73003
freight was still steam-hauled until being re- 3675 6821 Leaton Grange 73012
routed via Clifton Down from 23 November 3677 6822 Manton Grange 73015
1964, when it became a ‘Hymek’ diesel- 3696 6829 Burmington Grange 73024
3758 6846 Ruckley Grange 73037
hydraulic duty. During October 1964 it had 4619 6860 Aberporth Grange 73164
been variously worked by Barrow Road’s BR 4630 Total: 7 Total: 7
Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0 No 73003 and ‘Halls’ 4684
Nos 5955 Garth Hall and 6990 Witherslack 4689 Hawksworth ‘Modified Hall’ BR Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-2T
4698 ‘5MT’ 4-6-0 82001
Hall. Isolated peak passenger workings on the
7782 6982 Melmerby Hall 82007
Bristol to Portishead branch remained steam- 8795 6990 Witherslack Hall 82036
hauled by BR Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-2Ts or 9601 6997 Bryn-Ivor Hall 82037
‘5700’ class 0-6-0PTs until withdrawal of the 9623 7907 Hart Hall 82038
passenger service from 5 September 1964, the 9626 7914 Lleweni Hall Total: 5
Total: 16 7924 Thornycroft Hall
last steam-hauled service being worked by Total: 6 BR Standard ‘9F’ 2-10-0
‘5700’ class 0-6-0PT No 4689. Collett ‘Hall’ ‘5MT’ 4-6-0 92000
Bristol to Bath (Green Park) ‘locals’ and the 4920 Dumbleton Hall Fowler ‘4F’ 0-6-0 92007
Bournemouth services still produced a mixed 4949 Packwood Hall 43924 92238
4992 Crosby Hall 44135 92248
bag of Barrow Road and Bath (Green Park) BR
4993 Dalton Hall 44264 Total: 4
Standard 2-6-2Ts, with also the odd ‘Hymek’ 5975 Winslow Hall 44269
diesel-hydraulic or ‘Peak’ diesel-electric 6900 Abney Hall 44466
locomotives on fill-in turns. Barrow Road’s 6908 Downham Hall 44534
No 82037 headed the heavily laden nine-coach Total: 7 44569
Total: 7 Grand total: 59
09.03 Bristol to Bournemouth train away from
Bristol over the Midland route on summer Notes: Reduction in traditional ex-LMS types due to dieselisation and rationalisation in local freight trip
Saturday, 1 August 1964, receiving Fishponds and shunting duties. Transfer of ex-GWR and BR (Western) 4-6-0s from St Phillip’s Marsh followed its
recent depot closure.
banking assistance northwards out of the city.
This banking turn was booked for an ex-LMS
‘4F’ 0-6-0, but on this day Barrow Road used available (often including visiting LMR bastion of steam haulage, with workings
Gloucester’s BR Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0 engines), these could produce a wide variety of shared between ex-LMS ‘4F’ 0-6-0s, BR
No 73021. On 30 October 1964 Barrow Road’s motive power. Barrow Road’s BR Standard Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0s and BR Standard
BR Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-2T No 82036 worked ‘5MT’ 4-6-0s remained regular performers on ‘3MT’ 2-6-2Ts. Fowler ‘4F’ No 44135 was to
the 17.55 Bristol to Bournemouth train as far as these services. However, Barrow Road was be found drawing the Newcastle sleeping cars
the Bath (Green Park) reversal. Some services, equally adept at saving its own power and back to the stabling sidings on the morning of
worked by both Bath (Green Park) and Barrow substituting foreign engines, as the visitors often 31 October 1964, whilst Nos 43924, 44135
Road depots, remained steam-hauled, usually had long layovers between their booked and 82036 were all involved on empty stock
by BR Standard 2-6-2Ts, until late 1965, the incoming and outgoing workings. For example, duties on 23 December 1964.
17.55 Bristol service remaining so until Barrow during 1964 the regular Oxley ‘Castle’ that Several steam-hauled long-distance freight
Road depot’s closure. arrived each morning off a night parcels turn – services succumbed to diesel haulage from the
The Bristol to Gloucester local service (via not due to return to Wolverhampton until late commencement of the summer 1964
Mangotsfield) remained mostly steam-hauled the following night – was regularly used. timetable, coincidental with the closure of
until the withdrawal of the stopping passenger Oxley’s No 5026 Criccieth Castle appeared on St. Phillip’s Marsh shed. However, a surprising
services and closure of lesser intermediate 14 September 1964 working the 09.15 Bristol to amount of steam-hauled freight work would
stations with effect from 4 January 1965. With Gloucester local train, returning with the 16.18 continue for a further year, hauled by the
some through locomotive working off Gloucester to Bristol service that afternoon. now-combined Barrow Road fleet.
Gloucester to Birmingham (New Street) local Empty stock workings from the Midland The 01.15 Tavistock Junction to Crewe
services, combined with Gloucester shed’s habit carriage sidings near Barrow Road, into (via Worcester and Dudley) freight was
of turning out almost any engine that was Temple Meads station, also remained a booked to change engine on the Bristol

Collett 4-6-0 No 4920 Dumbleton Hall prepares

to depart with the 18.52 Bristol (Temple
Meads) to Weymouth service in 1964. This was
one of the last steam-hauled main line
passenger services from Bristol, conveying
passengers and mails for Weymouth, including
traffic for the Channel Islands. Other services
on this route were by this date worked by
diesel units, but this and the balancing evening
service remained locomotive-hauled due to the
additional parcels van required. A traditional
St. Phillip’s Marsh locomotive and turn, both
the engine and diagrammed working moved
over to Barrow Road depot from June 1964.
The train was booked for ‘Hymek’ haulage
from 4 January 1965. Although the March
1929-built Dumbleton Hall was, by late 1964, the
oldest operational ‘Hall’ in service. It would
survive into railway preservation and it
presently resides at the South Devon Railway.

28 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:34 Page 29

Having just passed its home shed and emerged

from beneath Barrow Road overbridge, BR
Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-2T No 82001 heads out of
Bristol on 18 August 1965, making for Bath
(Green Park) with a Somerset & Dorset line
duty. One of Barrow Road’s few remaining
steam-hauled passenger workings, diesels had
even encroached on a proportion of these
S&D-related services between Bristol and Bath,
although the S&D itself would remain a bastion
of steam until closure in March 1966. The view
is taken looking south from Lawrence Hill
overbridge, and the Midland signal box in view
is also known as Lawrence Hill. It is positioned
in the ‘V’ between the routes to Temple Meads,
curving sharply to the left, and that to
St. Philips to the right, the width of the Barrow
Road site between these lines, and the length
of the Barrow Road overbridge, readily
apparent. R. Amos/Kidderminster Railway Museum

avoiding line – Barrow Road’s No 6829

Burmington Grange worked it forward on
16 December 1964, BR Standard ‘9F’ 2-10-0
No 92248 on 19 December 1964 and ‘Hall’ Despite Taunton shed having closed to distance freight services starting away, with the
No 6918 Sandon Hall on 23 December 1964. steam in October 1964, isolated steam-hauled 21.10 Bristol (Temple Meads) to Oxley (via
Meanwhile, the 21.30 Bristol (Temple Meads) freight trains continued to work into the West Worcester and Dudley) a regular turn. This
to Worcester freight was worked by the Country, Barrow Road’s No 5955 Garth Hall freight was headed by Barrow Road’s No 6918
depot’s No 6990 Witherslack Hall on 23 June heading a westbound freight train through Sandon Hall on 13 January 1965, and by
1964 and by No 5975 Wilmslow Hall on Yatton on 8 January 1965. Late evening was a No 6990 Witherslack Hall on both 15/18 January
30 June 1964. good time to see surviving steam-hauled long- 1965. Meanwhile, on the Midland side of the
city, Barrow Road’s ‘9F’ 2-10-0 No 92007, with
dieselisation looming on its regular Avonmouth
Table Five to Bromford Bridge tank working, had been
Barrow Road engine diagrams and loco allocations spared to work the 20.00 St. Philips yard to
Crewe train on 13 January 1965.
Four weeks ending – 16 June 1963
Class Type Passenger Freight Goods Passenger Banking Specials Total Engine Steam-hauled freight trip and shunting pilot
and parcels shunt shunt booked allocated turns (including empty coaching stock
workings) also hung on remarkably well, with
‘Jubilee’ 4-6-0 – – – – – 2 2 3 no less than 16 such diagrams still worked by
‘92XXX’ 2-10-0 – 3 – – – – 3 4
‘73XXX’ 4-6-0 – – – – – – 0 2
the depot in the summer 1964 timetable period,
‘75XXX’ 4-6-0 – 1 – – – – 1 1 ten by ex-GWR ‘5700’ class 0-6-0PTs, four by
‘48XXX’ 2-8-0 – 1 – – – – 1 2 ex-LMS ‘4F’ 0-6-0s, one by a BR Standard ‘5MT’
LMS ‘4F’ 0-6-0 – 3 1 1 1 – 6 7 4-6-0 and one by a BR Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-2T.
‘412XX’ 2-6-2T 2 – – 1 – – 3 5 Comparison between the depot’s June 1963,
‘82XXX’ 2-6-2T 5 1 – – – – 6 8
‘2251’ 0-6-0 – 3 – – – – 3 4 July 1964, and May 1965 diagrammed work-load
‘41XX’ 2-6-2T – 3 – – – – 3 5 makes interesting reading (Table Five).
‘57XX’ 0-6-0PT – 5 2 – – 2 9 12 Specifically looking at the later dates, despite the
Total 7 20 3 2 1 4 37 53 overall daily workload having reduced by a third
Wells sub-shed
in less than a year, from 44 to 29 steam turns,
‘412XX’ 2-6-2T 1 – – – – – 1 1 main line freight work had held up remarkably
well. Within this group, the three ‘9F’ 2-10-0
Grand total 8 20 3 2 1 4 38 54 diagrams were lost with dieselisation of the
Avonmouth-Bromford Bridge tank trains, but
Four weeks ending – 11 July 1964 the remaining 13 daily freight trains and two
‘92XXX’ 2-10-0 – 3 – – – – 3 4 specials turns still remained at the same level in
‘73XXX’ 4-6-0 1 4 – – – – 5 7 May 1965. This work had been shared between
‘Hall’ 4-6-0 4 6 – – – – 10 12 BR Standard ‘5MTs’, ‘Halls’ and ‘Granges’ in July
‘Grange’ 4-6-0 – 3 – – – 2 5 7
LMS ‘4F’ 0-6-0 1 4 – – – – 5 8
1964, and a slightly re-profiled commitment in
‘82XXX’ 2-6-2T 3 – – – – – 3 4 May 1965 also included turns for ex-GWR ‘2800’
‘57XX’ 0-6-0PT 1 10 – – – 2 13 16 class 2-8-0s. During the final summer before
Total 10 30 – – – 4 44 58 depot closure, Barrow Road’s No 7924
Thornycroft Hall was noted in charge of an up
Four weeks ending – 22 May 1965 chemicals train at Filton Junction on 5 July 1965.
73XXX 4-6-0 – 2 – – – – 2 3 During these final few years, general
‘28XX’ 2-8-0 – 2 – – – – 2 3 rationalisation was occurring around the
‘Hall’ 4-6-0 2 9 – – – – 11 11 system, with smaller station and depot freight
‘Grange’ 4-6-0 – – – – – 2 2 2
LMS ‘4F’ 0-6-0 – 1 – – – – 1 3
facilities being withdrawn or concentrated at
‘82XXX’ 2-6-2T 2 – – – – – 2 4 larger depots, and longer-distance freight
‘57XX’ 0-6-0PT – 7 – – – – 7 10 services being rationalised. It was the
‘84XX’ 0-6-0PT – – – – – 2 2 4 accumulative effect of these many and varied
Total 4 21 – – – 4 29 40 changes that contributed as much as
dieselisation to the contracting steam
Source: National Archives, Kew – AN7/85, 86 & 87
locomotive requirements in the area.
NOVEMBER 2015 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk 29
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:35 Page 30
The once important ex-Midland Railway
sidings at Westerleigh was deemed to be a
duplicate facility and so closed in October
1964, its main line freight services being
diverted into the Stoke Gifford and Bristol
West depot yards. Its closure also saw a
significant rationalisation of the, mainly
steam-hauled, associated yard pilot and
freight trip duties. In January 1965 the
Fishponds banking turn was discontinued,
while between October 1964 and March 1965
long-distance freight trains to the Midlands
and north that had traditionally started from
St. Philips progressively became Bristol
(Temple Meads) Goods starting services.
In the end it was a fairly rapid and
definitive demise for Barrow Road depot, its
official closure coming on Monday,
22 November 1965. In fact all turns were
diagrammed for diesel traction from Monday,
15 November, and the final week was a
tidying-up exercise, apart from dealing with
the occasional foreign visitor, mainly from the
London Midland Region via Gloucester, for
servicing.
On the final Saturday, 20 November,
Burton-on-Trent shed’s Stanier ‘8F’ class 2-8-0
No 48266 left Barrow Road depot for
Gloucester at 9.00am towing recently-
withdrawn Barrow Road engines Nos 3836,
3863, 5932 and 6965. It was followed at
11.00am by Barrow Road’s BR ‘9F’ No 92209
With the steam locomotives now gone, the interior of Barrow Road
roundhouse is silent and empty but for the detritus of abandonment, soon
after its closure in November 1965. Peter Hensey/Robin Whittle Collection
30
towing withdrawn engines Nos 3696 and 4630
ex-Barrow Road, No 9790 ex-Westbury and
somewhat remarkably ex-London & South
Western Railway Drummond ‘M7’ class
0-4-4T No 30133, withdrawn from Salisbury
shed, en route for scrapping.
On Sunday, 21 November the almost
empty depot with its cavernous roundhouse
contained Stanier ‘8F’ 2-8-0 No 48751 from
Nuneaton, and Barrow Road’s ‘9F’ 2-10-0
No 92209 and 0-6-0PT No 9680. No 92209
left for its brief final home at Bath (Green
Park), No 48751 worked back north, whilst
0-6-0PT No 9680 remained on shed clearing
up duties during the week after closure, before
departing for its short-term final home at
Gloucester (Horton Road) depot.
Steam was officially eliminated from the
Western Region on 31 December 1965,
survived only by a three-month reprieve for
Somerset & Dorset line services via Bath
(Green Park). The ban presented a particular
challenge for the London Midland Region and
the occasional rogue steam-hauled services,
usually freight specials or diesel engine
failures, which would appear from time to
time. For these, temporary sojourn would take
place on Bath Road diesel depot, or an
immediate light-engine return would be
undertaken, initially to Gloucester (Horton
Road) shed, until that closed from
31 December. However, Gloucester would
www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
An October 1965 view from Day’s Road bridge.
These sidings were where engines moved on to
after coaling up, if not destined for the
roundhouse. At times they would also be used
for locomotive storage. Nine main line engines
are on view, and it is difficult to imagine that by
the end the year the depot would close, and
steam traction be eliminated from the
Western Region. Robin Whittle
Leicester-allocated Stanier ‘8F’ 2-8-0 No 48381
stands in the entrance to Barrow Road
roundhouse in October 1965. The three
entrances on the north side were all beneath
the central of the three gables. One of the
attractions of this busy shed to the railway
enthusiast, well-illustrated here and in the
general scenes of the depot, was the large
number of long distance visiting locomotives
from ex-LMS sheds across the Midlands and
South and West Yorkshire depots that were
serviced here on a daily basis. Robin Whittle
continue to occasionally host unauthorised
steam visitors for some months after this date.
It is now 50 years since the use of steam-
hauled trains came to its inevitable conclusion
on the Western Region, and as memories
begin to fade, an effort has been made to
record the chronological sequence of events as
they occurred during those final years of
steam in the Bristol area.
Particular thanks to then fellow Bristolians
Patrick O’Brien and Robin Whittle for
providing advice and additional research in
putting together this article.
REFERENCES:
BR Steam Locomotives: Complete Allocation
History 1948-1968 – Hugh Longworth –
2014
Bristol Barrow Road: Steam Locomotive
Allocations – Steam Archive Services
www.bristolsteam.co.uk –
Website Patrick O’Brien
Rail AN7/85, 86 and 87 files –
National Archives, Kew
abc Locoshed Book – Ian Allan –
biannually 1959-1965
Trains Illustrated/Modern Railways – Ian Allan –
monthly 1959-1965
Railway Locomotives – British Locomotive
Society – Monthly 1959-1965
Working Timetables –
British Railways 1959-1965
Spalding Show F_P.indd 1 28/07/2015 10:29
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:35 Page 33

In Colour
131: Wiltshire steam

The county of Wiltshire provided enthusiasts with a variety of both former Great Western Railway and Southern
Railway motive power, not only at its works premises at Swindon, its locomotive depots at Salisbury, Swindon and
Westbury, but also on many interesting passenger and freight workings. This brief photo-feature concentrates on

Savernake Junction is where the Berks & Hants line, as part of the West of England route, approaches from the west and joins the former M&SWJ
line coming in from Marlborough, Swindon and Cirencester at Savernake (Low Level) station, which extends south to Andover. As a morning Paignton
to Paddington express approaches the station hauled by green-liveried diesel-hydraulic ‘Warship’ class No D826 Jupiter, Swindon-based GWR ‘5700’
class 0-6-0PT No 3666 prepares to depart from the station for Marlborough and Swindon with a two-coach train of maroon liveried non-corridor
stock on 1 July 1961. Savernake Junction signal box can be seen in the distance. R.C. Riley

NOVEMBER 2015 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk 33

STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:35 Page 34

34 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:35 Page 35

Left: Looking down upon this interesting scene at

Westbury we find another long-term resident of
Westbury shed, ‘5700’ class 0-6-0PT No 4607,
shunting a variety wagons in the yard on 13 July 1964.
We see how vast the yards were at this once busy
location, where the West of England main line was
joined by the lines from Salisbury to the south, and by
those from Bath and Chippenham, to the north.
R.C. Riley

Bottom left: Passenger services over the Midland &

South Western Junction line ceased on 10 September
1961, and on that day the London branch of the
RCTS ran its ‘Farewell to the M&SWJR’ rail tour. At
Marlborough (Low Level) station we see the special
on its return run from Andover Junction, hauled by
Pontypool Road-based GWR Churchward Mogul
No 5306. This rail tour started from Swindon just
before noon, and it proceeded via Marlborough to
Andover Junction. The return run over ex-M&SWJ
metals continued to Cirencester (Watermoor),
Andoversford and Cheltenham Spa (St. James), and it
then returned to Swindon via Gloucester Yard
Junction, Standish Junction, and the Golden Valley
route through Stroud and Kemble. The last M&SWJ
line service train of the day, hauled by Machynlleth-
based 2-6-0 No 6395, departed Andover at 8.35pm,
running in the dark. Colour-Rail.com/322026

Below: A long-term resident of Westbury shed, having

been allocated there since before the railways were
nationalised on 1 January 1948, was Great Western
‘5700’ class 0-6-0PT No 3735, this locomotive being
seen on an unknown date shunting a ‘Siphon G’ van
at Patney & Chirton. Considered to be the junction
for the Devizes line, in fact that market town was on
the original Berks & Hants line, and the junction at
Patney & Chirton was created with the ‘Stert &
Westbury line’, as part of the later more direct route
to the West of England, through Westbury and Castle
Cary to Cogload Junction. No 3735 would see out its
working days from Westbury shed, being withdrawn
in September 1965. A. Gray/Colour-Rail.com/307884

www.steamdaysmag.co.uk 35
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:36 Page 36

In 1960, the fireman of Salisbury-based Bulleid ‘Battle of Britain’ Pacific No 34050 Royal Observer Corps is pictured trimming the coal at the platform
end at Salisbury prior to the locomotive’s next turn of duty. This ‘Battle of Britain’ engine was, along with classmate No 34067 Tangmere, presented
with additional plaques that were fitted to the cab-sides beneath the locomotive number, the one on No 34050 replicating the Long Service Medal
Ribbon. In this scene the locomotive is yet to be fitted with this plaque, as this would be presented at Waterloo station on 2 June 1961. No 34050,
when numbered 21C150, was intended to be named Lapford of the ‘West Country’ class. Colour-Rail.com/BRS1427

Carrying the reporting number 036, Great Western ‘Castle’ class 4-6-0 No 5087 Tintern Abbey approaches Wootton Bassett Junction on the
Badminton line with a train from West Wales (either Pembroke Dock or Fishguard) in the early 1960s, prior to entering Wootton Bassett station. An
Old Oak Common engine for many years, No 5087 was transferred to Llanelly shed in December 1961, from where it spent in final days in service,
being withdrawn in August 1963 and then scrapped at Cohen’s scrap yard, Morriston, Swansea in January 1964. Colour-Rail.com/320633

36 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:36 Page 37

Trains emerging from the eastern bore of

Salisbury tunnel and diverging for Andover
or the Romsey line, the latter for Eastleigh
or Southampton (or for the Fordingbridge
line until May 1964), can be viewed from the
Andover road as one leaves the cathedral
city. From this vantage point on 23 May
1965, Eastleigh-allocated BR Standard ‘4MT’
2-6-0 No 76062, just five months before its
withdrawal, crosses Salisbury Tunnel
Junction as it makes for Romsey with an
unidentified working. Roy Hobbs

In July 1962, Great Western ‘Castle’ class No 5072 Hurricane calls at Devizes station with a London (Paddington) to Bristol
stopping train. Well away from its home depot, three months later this locomotive would be withdrawn from Wolverhampton
(Stafford Road) shed, its home since October 1960. Outshopped new from Swindon Works in June 1938 as Compton Castle,
No 5072 was renamed Hurricane in November 1940, in the aftermath of the Battle of Britain. The Compton Castle name was
later revived for No 5099 of May 1946. R. Denison/Colour-Rail.com/BRW1665

NOVEMBER 2015 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk 37

STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:36 Page 38

On
On 29 August
29 August 1964,
1964,Salisbury-allocated
Salisbury-allocated rebuilt
rebuilt‘West
‘West Country’
Country’ Pacific
Pacific No 34005
No 34005 Barnstaple
Barnstaple heads
heads anan up
up West
West ofof England
England express
express towards
towards the the next
next
stop
stop atat Salisbury
Salisbury as
as thethe fireman
fireman seessees the
the city’s
city’s famous
famous cathedral
cathedral looming
looming forth
forth in
in the
the distance.
distance.TheThe rebuilding
rebuilding of
of the
the‘West
‘West Country’
Country’ Pacifics
Pacifics
involved
involved replacing
replacing the
the chain-driven
chain-driven valve-gear
valve-gear with
with three
three sets
sets of
of Walschaerts
Walschaerts valve-gear
valve-gear and
and aa new
new centre
centre cylinder.
cylinder.Barnstaple
Barnstaple emerged
emerged so so treated
treated
in
in June
June 1957,
1957,and
and itit would
would endend itit days
days based
based atat Bournemouth
Bournemouth shed shed in
in October
October 1966.
1966.Then
Then sold
sold to
to Buttigiegs
Buttigiegs scrapyard
scrapyard in
in Newport,
Newport,itit isis not
not one
one of
of
the
the ten
ten‘West
‘West Country’
Country’ Pacifics
Pacifics saved
saved from
from the
the cutter’s
cutter’s torch.
torch. David Christie/Southern-Images.co.uk
David Christie/Southern-Images.co.uk

Passing
Passing Salisbury
Salisbury‘C’
‘C’ signal
signal box
box on
on 29 August
29 August 1964,
1964,after
after working
working in
in from
from South
South Wales
Wales with
with aa freight
freight train,
train,isis ex-Great
ex-Great Western
Western‘2884’
‘2884’ class
class 2-8-0
2-8-0
No 3864
No 3864 of
of Neath
Neath depot.
depot.These
These freight
freight trains
trains from
from South
South Wales
Wales to
to Salisbury
Salisbury would
would arrive
arrive by
by using
using the
the former
former Great
Great Western
Western route
route from
from
Westbury,
Westbury,which
which from
from 1950
1950 became
became part
part of
of the
the Southern
Southern Region
Region ofof British
British Railways.
Railways. David Christie/Southern-Images.co.uk
David Christie/Southern-Images.co.uk

www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
Ian Allan F_P.indd 1 01/10/2015 10:40
 23
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Last steam on the

Callander & Oban lines
Oban steam ceased in 1962, but a
handful of regular steam-hauled
Killin branch duties remained, as well
as workings to Callander from
Edinburgh and Glasgow,
Andrew Kennedy reviews these
through to their 1965 demise.
rom 1880 the town of Oban has
Perth-allocated BR Standard ‘4MT’ 2-6-4T No 80126 stands at Callander station ready to return
the children of Killin back home as the 4.06pm school train on Tuesday, 4 May 1965. The one
working a day that released the lone Loch Tay-based engine from its captivity on the Killin branch,
the main line run from here to Killin Junction is just over 19 miles, and shortly after leaving
Callander the grade is 1 in 61 for nearly two miles, while 5½ miles of 1 in 60 await between
Balquhidder and Glenoglehead Crossing. For many years this Mondays to Thursdays duty would
only need one coach, but arrangements changed on quite a regular basis. John Boyes/ARPT
However, the 1962 to 1965 period would & Oban line and lower reaches of the West
bring unprecedented change, with the Highland being actively promoted in the early
realisation of the dieselisation programme and 1960s as the ‘Six Lochs Landcruise’. This
the elimination of sections of line earmarked sightseeing tour was the only diesel working
by Dr Richard Beeching in his Reshaping of to regularly reach the Killin branch, and when
British Railways report, which was presented running on a Sunday it had the branch to

F benefited from rail communication to

the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, the
first main line into the West Highlands being
collectively established by the Dunblane,
Doune & Callander Railway and the
Callander & Oban Railway, with branches
from Killin Junction to Killin and Loch Tay –
an independently promoted line – and
between Connel Ferry and Ballachulish. These
amounted to around 115 miles of railway to
and from the Glasgow-Perth-Aberdeen route
at Dunblane. Trains operating over all these
lines were provided by the Caledonian
Railway, the London, Midland & Scottish
Railway, and finally British Railways (Scottish
Region), and other than the natural evolution
of locomotives and stock there was little
change through to the 1960s. Generally
speaking, the services can be grouped into five
types. Firstly, the main line duties to and from
Oban from Glasgow (Buchanan Street) and/or
Edinburgh (Princes Street), many services
having Glasgow and Edinburgh portions that
worked over the C&O as a combined train.
Then there was the overnight service to/from
London (Euston), which included sleeping
cars and acted as a mail train for C&O line
stations, while short-workings from
Edinburgh/Glasgow ran as far as Callander.
Finally, there were the branch operations,
serving Killin and Ballachulish. Killin branch
duties saw some use of the branch train to
Callander to the east and Crianlarich (Lower)
to the west, while Ballachulish line duties ran
into Oban by means of a reversal at Connel
Ferry.
to Parliament on 27 March 1963. In fact the
report stated that all the ex-Caledonian
Railway lines serving the Trossachs and
venturing into the West Highlands should be
closed with the exception of the 41 miles from
Crianlarich to Oban.
No move was made to implement the
report until 8 November that year, when
notices were posted covering 15 separate
closures in Scotland. On and from the
2 March 1964 passenger trains to Ballachulish
would be curtailed, with the Killin branch
closed completely, at least that was the plan.
Diesels on the former had come too late to
improve balance sheets under scrutiny by
accountants, but soon it became apparent that
other factors meant that the closures were to
wait, for now. The Scottish Region had been at
the forefront of dieselisation, with mixed
results in the early years, but Birmingham
Railway Carriage & Wagon Co Ltd Bo-Bo
‘Type 2s’ had proved to be a success from
August 1961, the 1,250hp variant (later TOPS
‘Class 27’) doing much to oust steam power
from the Oban lines.
It might reasonably be expected that the
closure of steam facilities at Oban would bring
with it the end of all steam operation along
the whole route, but that would never happen.
Instead, some services under threat would
simply never be dieselised. The use of modern
traction was in many respects seen as cost-
saving, and to some degree it offered a fresh
experience for passengers, especially in terms
of diesel-multiple-units replacing ancient
rolling stock, the use of these on the Callander
itself – the branch engine was slumbering in
its Loch Tay engine shed.
Dieselisation of the Ballachulish branch
saw the engine shed at the end of the branch
close completely from 12 March 1962, BRC&W
‘Type 2s’ having taken over the Ballachulish-
Connel Ferry-Oban duties from Ivatt ‘2MT’
2-6-0 No 46460 and Riddles BR Standard
‘3MT’ Mogul No 78052, although these
services had also been a last haunt of ‘Caley
Passenger Tanks’ into 1962. Amazingly, they
were still in the frame at this date, as three
engines were required to operate the service.
Since the turn of the decade no less than 16 of
these veteran 0-4-4Ts had found sanctuary at
Oban, the allocation constantly changing in an
effort to keep the best engines in use.
Ultimately, it was Nos 55204, 55217 and 55260
that were still be on the books come July 1962,
when the railway at Oban closed to steam. Now
redundant, this trio was sent to Perth, with
No 55217 seeing no future use.
In terms of the Ballachulish line, the
dieselisation was a half-hearted affair in that
the steam-age coaches continued to be used,
so the passengers gained little benefit – it was
the same old dusty cushions. Dieselisation was
well established at Oban by early 1962, but the
increased pressures of the summer timetable
period did result in some Stanier ‘Black Five’
class 4-6-0s standing in on main line duties
when no diesel was available. Once again, it
was economics that led to change, particularly
the elimination of servicing the loco coal
needs of the disparate sheds of Ballachulish
and Oban.

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An undated view, taken in the late summer of

1961 or July 1962 at Oban station records the
transition from steam. The service waiting to
depart is thought to be the 12.05pm to
Glasgow (Buchanan Street), with the train
engine being Stanier ‘Black Five’ No 44767, one
of Perth shed’s massive fleet of the class, while
the pilot is a BRC&W Bo-Bo. Alan Carlaw

judged by considering the timetable that was

in use at that specific time. The booked
passenger activity at Callander, the busiest
station on the line, offers a good overview, the
timetables (both the working timetable and
the public one) usefully pointing out which
services are diesel worked.

The knowledge that steam servicing was
to end in Oban saw the Stephenson
Locomotive Society propose a two-coach
‘Farewell to Steam on the West Highland –
Callander & Oban’ rail tour with the
preserved ‘Caley Single’, 4-2-2 No 123.
However, the loss of such a well-loved line to
steam power had been somewhat
underestimated, so the length of train grew to
five coaches and it had to be double-headed.
The additional locomotive was the preserved
North British Railway 4-4-0 No 256 Glen
Douglas, both engines being chosen as long-
term representatives for their pre-Grouping
railways, and thus they had already been fully
restored to their pre-1923 liveries. Glen
Douglas and No 123 were equally appropriate
for the tour as it headed out of Glasgow on
the West Highland (ex-North British) line and
returned via the full length of the C&O
(ex-CR operated) route. The lines were not
traditionally linked, but a west-facing 39 chain
line from Crianlarich (Upper) – the West
Highland line station – led to Crianlarich East
Junction on the C&O route. It had been
installed in December 1897, the North British
bearing the brunt of the costs, including the
provision of two signal boxes.
Mainly a useful link for transfer freights
and the odd passenger working, it was not
until nationalisation that this short spur began
to realise its potential – timetabled passenger
services used it in 1949 and 1962 – and it
proved key to Dr Beeching’s plans for
‘reshaping’ the West Highland lines as a
whole. Notably the Glasgow (Buchanan
Street)-Callander-Oban line is 117¼ miles,
while trains from Glasgow (Queen Street) to
Oban over the spur at Crianlarich needed to
only traverse 101¾ miles. In a world of British
Railways eliminating redundant assets, the
line east of Crianlarich was living on a knife-
edge, but surely Callander was too large to
lose its railway?
The SLS tour to Oban came and went on
12 May 1962, and Oban steam rumbled on
until July, with the shed closing completely
from 6 May 1963, and it is thought that Ivatt
Mogul No 46460 may have lingered at Oban
into May 1963, but did it see any use?
With dieselisation complete on main line
duties, on most freights and on the
Ballachulish line, and the Beeching axe
hanging over much of the route from March
1963, the remaining steam-hauled operations
and general flow of activity is perhaps best
Callander observations
Trains as far as Callander were more numerous
as several services from Glasgow, Edinburgh
and Stirling terminated there, and many of
these remained steam-hauled into 1965.
Despite the town being on a through line, it is a
measure of the traffic generated locally that the
railway continued the practice of terminating
and starting some services here.
Although the Oban line was established as
a single-track route with passing places, the
extra capacity required at its east end saw the
first 3½ miles from the main line junction at
Dunblane, as far as Doune, doubled in 1902,
with the latter station rebuilt as an island
platform in contemporary Caledonian style,
but quite unlike existing Oban line structures.
A plan to continue the double-track on to
Callander never came to fruition, but between
Doune and Callander was the 1893 crossing
loop at Drumvaich, which would also be
retained when the Doune to Dunblane section
was singled again from 30 October 1955. The
scheme saw the junction at Dunblane
modified, a ladder of pointwork replacing the
diamond crossing, and Dunblane South and
Doune East signal boxes closed.

Oban’s two-road engine shed was reached by a

spur that branched north from the main line
immediately before the rock cutting that
preceded the station, the distant signal box
being at the junction. The view is undated but
thought to be in the summer of 1962, perhaps
in the immediate aftermath of a full diesel
takeover at the shed. The facilities here would
close from 6 May 1963, by which time much of
the trackwork had been removed. The
turntable is of 60ft diameter, upgrading a 50ft
facility in the 1930s, while the coaling plant is of
40 ton capacity. A snow plough is on hand for
the onset of winter. Alan Carlaw

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Table One has been collated from
Section C of the Passenger Train Working
Timetable for winter 1962/63, and cross-
referenced with the public timetable. Within
the table are details of the short workings and
the light engine run of the Killin branch
engine that returns to Killin as a school train
on Mondays to Thursdays, or to Crianlarich
(Lower) on Fridays-only. The notes describing
the non-public quirks of the service are
complemented by further notes in italics,
which refer to information from the public
timetable. The sleeper, buffet and observation
car requirement is based around the peak
summer season, which would start from
17 June 1963 and run through to 8 September
1963, the winter 1963/64 timetable coming
into use on the following day.
The portioned workings enabling the
Oban line to be served from both Edinburgh
and Glasgow were generally split or joined at
Stirling, although the 6.50am Edinburgh
(Princes Street) through carriages for Oban
reached Callander at 8.47am and were then
added to the front of the 7.55am Glasgow
(Buchanan Street) to Oban duty, which didn’t
arrive at Callander until 9.25½am. The
booked shunt is eight minutes and it used the
Glasgow engine at Callander. The same train
from Glasgow includes an observation car on
the rear, the use of which starts before the
winter timetable ends, runs throughout the
summer and continues into mid-September.
Each summer, the 7.55am Glasgow
(Buchanan Street) to Oban service and the
5.15pm return duty featured an observation
car. British Railways ran these on the Oban
line from 1955 through to 1966, the last
season being after the Dunblane to
Crianlarich section closed. This was not a new
initiative as the Caledonian Railway had
introduced an observation car on the line in
1914, this being Pullman car Maid of Morven.
The Great War caused a brief hiatus and
World War II concluded it use.
The 1955 return employed a former
London & North Eastern Railway ‘Beavertail’
saloon from the ‘Coronation’, and the car used
the Oban turntable before its return on the
rear of the 5.15pm service, as a sun lounge.
For the summer of 1958 a displaced ‘Devon
Belle’ car had arrived. One of a pair of third
class Pullmans converted in 1947, the ‘Devon
Belle’ service was introduced by the Southern
Railway but withdrawn by British Railways in
1954. After a period of uncertainty, the two
cars were purchased by BR in 1957, and
moved north. Pullman No 14 (BR No S281)
found a home on the Oban line, while No 13
initially saw use in North Wales before
reaching Inverness in 1961, to work the Kyle
of Lochalsh route. Whilst not of the same
standard as the pre-war Pullman, the interior
provided an opulent environment from which
to enjoy the scenic splendour of the
Highlands.
By the early 1960s a surprising range of
motive power could be found on the short
workings to Callander, such as British
Railways Standard ‘4MT’ 2-6-4Ts, Stanier
Fairburn ‘4MT’ 2-6-4Ts and Stanier ‘Black
Five class 4-6-0s. Interestingly, Saturday,
23 May 1964 saw the appearance of Gresley
‘V2’ class 2-6-2 No 60818 on the 11.10am
Stirling to Callander and on the noon
Callander to Stirling return duty, this being a
rare and officially banned visitor. A more
usual ‘Black Five’, No 45359, was recorded on

Table One
Passenger related workings at Callander – winter 1962/63, Mondays to Saturdays (no Sunday service)
Arrive Depart Down trains
12.57am 1.01am 12.12am (MX) Mixed from Stirling (diesel loco) to Oban (arrive 5.07am) – Mails Callander to Oban: includes through carriages,
10.30pm ex-Glasgow.
1.08am 1.12am 12.30am (MO) from Stirling (diesel loco) to Oban (arrive 4.55am) – Commences 17 September. 11.10pm from Glasgow (Buchanan
St) on Sunday nights until 23 September 1962 inclusive and from 19th May 1963. From Glasgow (Queen St) on Sunday nights from
30th September 1962 until 12th May 1963 inclusive.
6.19am 6.21am 5.55am from Stirling (diesel loco) to Oban (arrive 9.08am) – Limited load as runs for mails Stirling to Tyndrum Lower: calls at
Glenoglehead Crossing for Postal purposes only: calls to set down when required at stations between Dalmally and Ach-na-cloich
inclusive, and also on Saturdays to take up wives of railway employees. Conveys sleeping car from London Euston (depart 7.40pm),
SX until 28 September 1962, and then FO from 5 October 1962.
8.47am – 6.50am (SX) from Edinburgh, terminates: These carriages are attached to 7.55am from Glasgow at Callander, which arrives in
Oban at 12.28pm.
9.25½am 9.33½am 7.55am from Glasgow to Oban, arrive 12.28pm. Calls at Kingshouse Platform on notice at Strathyre, no luggage or bicycles to be
put out at platform. Calls at Falls of Cruachan on alternative Saturdays to take up wives of railway employees: includes
restaurant/buffet car and observation car, Glasgow to Oban until 22 September 1962 inclusive. Through carriages from Edinburgh
(depart 6.50am) attached at Callander.
11.41am – 11.10am from Stirling, terminates.
12.41pm – 12.10pm (SO) from Stirling, terminates.
3.40pm – 3.06pm diesel from Stirling, terminates.
– 4.06pm 4.06pm (FO) Callander to Crianlarich Lower, arrive 5.08pm – Not advertised.
– 4.06pm 4.06pm (FSX) Callander to Killin, arrive 5.12pm – Not advertised.
5.55pm – 5.24pm from Stirling, terminates: includes through carriages, 4.25pm ex-Glasgow.
6.35pm – 5.12pm from Glasgow, terminates.
7.10½pm 7.12½pm 6.05pm from Glasgow (diesel loco) to Oban, arrive 9.58pm – Calls at St. Bride’s on alternative Saturdays and at Craignacailleach
each Saturday to set down railway employees: includes miniature buffet car between Glasgow and Oban until 11 May 1963, and
restaurant/buffet car from 13 May 1963; includes through carriages, 5.32pm ex-Edinburgh.
7.48pm – 6.22pm from Glasgow, terminates.
9.50pm – 9.17pm from Stirling, terminates.
Arrive Depart Up trains
– 7.52am 7.52am Callander to Glasgow, arrive 9.13am.
8.50½am 8.58½am 6.15am Oban to Glasgow, arrive 10.28am – calls at Awe Crossing (6.57am) on Mondays, when required, to pick up signal lineman:
calls at Kingshouse Platform (8.31½am) if there are any passengers on the platform, but no luggage or bicycles will be taken into
trains: includes through carriages to Edinburgh, arrive 11.14am.
– 9.40am 9.40am (SX) Callander to Edinburgh, arrive 11.14am.
– 12.00pm 12.00pm Callander to Stirling, arrive 12.32p.m
– 1.30pm 1.30pm (SO) Callander to Glasgow, arrive 3.07pm.
2.53pm 2.58pm 12.05pm Oban to Glasgow (diesel loco), arrive 4.21pm: calls at Craignacailleach SO to pick up railway employees. Calls at
Kingshouse Platform (2.34pm), if there are any passengers on the platform, but no luggage or bicycles will be taken into trains.
includes through carriages to Edinburgh, arrive 4.43pm; miniature buffet car from Oban to Glasgow until 11th May 1963, and then
restaurant/buffet car from 13th May 1963.
– 4.00pm 4.00pm Callander to Stirling (diesel), arrive 4.29pm.
4.03pm – 3.21pm (SX) Killin Junction Callander – light engine move.
– 6.10pm 6.10pm Callander to Stirling, arrive 6.44pm.
8.01½pm 8.03½pm 5.30pm Oban to Glasgow (diesel loco), arrive 9.25pm – calls at Falls of Cruachan on alternate Saturdays to set down wives of
railway employees: includes Oban to London Euston sleeping cars (arrive 7.30am) daily until 29th September inclusive, Mondays-
only commencing 1 October 1962; through carriages to Edinburgh arrive at 9.56am; restaurant/buffet car, observation car Oban to
Glasgow until 22 September 1962 inclusive.

Unless otherwise stated, references to Glasgow and Edinburgh refer to Glasgow (Buchanan Street) and Edinburgh (Princes Street) stations.

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STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:37 Page 46

A summer view at Callander records the now

diesel-hauled 7.55am Glasgow (Buchanan
Street) to Oban service departing at about
9.34am, after the through coaches for Oban
brought in as the 6.50am Edinburgh (Princes
Street) to Callander have been added to the
front of the train. On the rear from Glasgow is
former ‘Devon Belle’ observation car No S281,
and the distant signal box is Callander West of
1882. Alan Carlaw

Proudly wearing a ‘64C’ shedplate to denote its home shed of Dalry Road, Stanier ‘Black Five’ No 45127 is almost ready to depart Callander and
return to Edinburgh with a lengthy Callander to Edinburgh (Princes Street) ‘short working’. Locomotives from all manner of sheds could appear on
these workings, this one continuing to serve until November 1966, its last shed being Dundee (Tay Bridge). Alan Carlaw

With Stuart Sellar on the left, his 8mm cine camera in his hands, the unusual sight of Gresley ‘V2’ No 60818 on a working from Callander is recorded
by his friend, Robin Nelson, as it passes the signal box at Drumvaich upon running through the loop with the noon service to Stirling on 23 May 1964.
Both the photographers are professional railwaymen, so they may have picked up some inside information about the rare use of a ‘V2’ along the Teith
valley. The engine was based at Dundee (Tay Bridge) and the outward run was tender-first, as usual. Robin Nelson

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The next of the short workings from Callander that day employed ‘Black Five’ No 45359, a long-term Stirling (South) engine. This view records the
1.40pm Callander to Glasgow (Buchanan Street) service drawing away from Doune station on 23 May 1964. The distant station had been rebuilt as an
island during the 1902 improvements that saw the route doubled from here all the way to the main line at Dunblane, but only until 1955. Robin Nelson
the 1.30pm (SO) Callander to Glasgow
(Buchanan Street) service on the same day.
There was also a booked diesel duty on
the short workings, and by 1965 it was not
unknown that a Brush ‘Type 4’ Co-Co (later
Class 47) would reach Callander on a fill-in
turn. These nearly new locomotives arrived
overnight in Stirling on the Motorail service
from Sutton Coldfield. Terminating trains at
Callander would generally pull out to the
Oban side of the station and then reverse into
the up side, the locomotive then uncoupling
and rounding its train.
Callander had a turntable about ¾ mile to
the east of the station, in the yard established
as the Dunblane, Doune & Callander Railway
terminus in 1870, but the terminating trains
usually arrived or departed tender-first. The
second Callander station dated from 1883 and
it had no goods facilities, as these were
retained at the original station site. Initially
there was double track between the new and
old stations, but 1938 rationalisation saw this
resignalled as two parallel lines, which meant
some of the signal posts were thereafter
devoid of some arms. Surprisingly, there were
no watering facilities at the new station but an
engine would have no difficulty with an out
and back trip from Stirling.
This was the era of through coaches, with
sections detached and added en route. The
machinations of these workings are complex
in the extreme, in other periods the 4.15pm
from Edinburgh (Princes Street) was split at
Stirling, the front coaches continuing on to
Perth, while those on the rear formed the
5.24pm service to Callander, the detached
carriages being collected by a fresh engine
that was on hand at Stirling.
British Railways continued the
Caledonian tradition of promoting Callander
as ‘The gateway to the Trossachs’, and the
station was refurbished around the time that
NOVEMBER 2015
the BBC began filming the TV series
Dr Finlay’s Casebook in the Callander area,
renaming the town ‘Tannochbrae’. In 1963 the
station was in the throes of this major
refurbishment, and yet it had no future.
Killin branch workings
The village of Killin was bypassed by the C&O
in 1873, and persistent petitioning for a
branch line fell on deaf ears, so one was
instigated by the Marquis of Breadalbane,
owner of Taymouth Castle, near Kenmore.
The Marquis was keen to promote and
capitalise on the beauty of Loch Tay and in
1882 he began a steamer service along its
length, linking Kenmore with a pier near the
site that he would soon develop as Loch Tay
station, the northern terminus of the Killin
Railway. The branch opened in April 1886,
and like the C&OR it remained independent
until absorbed, along with the Caledonian and
C&O, by the LMS in 1923. This decision not
to takeover the two smaller concerns may
have been a blocking manoeuvre against the
North British Railway, which had gained
running rights over all Caledonian lines north
of Larbert, as this agreement did not seem to
extend to independent lines run by the
Caledonian, so the CR kept out its rival.
The steamer service ended in 1939 and
was never resumed, so the post-war branch
activities no longer served Loch Tay station
itself. However, the line was retained as the
engine shed for branch was at the terminus –
the ¼ mile section from Loch Tay to Killin
was in effect closed to passengers, leaving the
section of line from Killin to Killin Junction
as the public railway.
The simple station at Killin was on the
edge of the village and as an intermediate
station it was only blessed with a single point
leading to a small goods yard, as the run-
round loop for the line was at Loch Tay. When
www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
not serving Loch Tay station (it was summer-
only even before the war), the crew of the
branch train was permitted to use gravity to
perform a run-round at Killin. Having arrived
from Killin Junction the brake was applied in
the coach, usually a single coach, and the
locomotive then ran forward towards Loch
Tay, and dropped back into the yard to clear
the running line. With the points reset, the
brakes were released on the coach, allowing it
to descend a 1 in 50 gradient in the Loch Tay
direction. Once beyond the point to the yard,
the handbrake on the coach was applied and it
came to a stand. The locomotive could then
emerge from the yard and couple up to the
Killin Junction end of the train ready for the
next departure.
Traditionally, engines operating on the
Killin branch were out-stationed from either
Stirling or its sub-shed at Oban, but latterly
the BR Standard ‘4MTs’ used on the line came
from a pool of four allocated to Perth –
Nos 80028, 80092, 80093 and 80126.
Geographically, Perth was the nearest major
shed, but it was a long way by rail, the Perth-
Crieff-Comrie-Balquhidder route being long
since truncated. The locomotive would
require a regular boiler wash out and so the
branch engine seems to have been swapped
on a monthly basis, but the local crew at Loch
Tay, who needed to be resourceful, would deal
with minor troubles. If there was a problem
and parts were required, communication with
Perth was by telegram from Killin station, and
the railway’s parcel service did the rest.
The only water supply on the branch was
at Loch Tay, with coaling undertaken by hand,
directly from a wagon parked in the loop. A
replacement engine shed was built after the
original burnt down in 1917. The station
building, a holiday chalet since the 1950s,
gained a new porch and fencing by the 1960s,
whilst on the loch side, the sidings and pier
47
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Caught mid-shunt, this view records BR

Standard ‘4MT’ No 80126 tucked out of the
way in the Killin goods yard as its single coach
rolls away from the camera towards Loch Tay.
The guard is on board and ready to bring the
vehicle to a halt once the gravity shunt is over.
The view is taken looking north from the end
of the platform at Killin, and some the reunited
train will draw past the photographer for its
next journey to Killin Junction. Alan Carlaw

Strathyre (4.23/24pm), Kingshouse (4.29pm),

Balquhidder (4.32/33pm), passing
Glenoglehead Crossing at 4.47pm and then
arriving at Killin Junction at 4.51pm. Being a
school run, it only worked from Mondays to
Fridays, resuming its journey from Killin
Junction at 4.59pm to terminate in Killin at
were swept away in 1956. Killin station was 8.44am in Killin. The subsequent runs listed 5.12pm, but not on Fridays. The Fridays-only
likewise a wooden structure, as was the one at in the public timetable were – 9.56 from Killin version of the duty required a second coach as
Killin Junction, and at the latter it took until (mixed train), 10.20am off the Junction, it also catered for children from Tyndrum and
1913 before the Callander & Oban Company 1.52pm (mixed train) off Killin, 2.16pm off Crianlarich who lodged at Callander all week.
grudgingly erected a footbridge and built a the Junction, 7.05pm from Killin, and 8.05pm The Friday option saw the Killin school
path so that the interchange station between (mixed train) off the junction – leaving a duty continue through to Crianlarich (Lower),
the main line and branch could be reached by massive and mysterious gap between the calling at Luib at 4.58/59pm and arriving at
foot from the nearby road – it had opened in 2.29pm arrival at Killin and the 7.05pm from 5.08pm, then it restarted as the 5.09pm empty
1886 and was only previously accessible by Killin – all was not what it seemed, for there coaching stock duty to Crianlarich Junction,
rail. was unadvertised activity for the branch arriving at 5.11pm – at least that is what the
Previously the original station for the engine and the 2.16pm wouldn’t necessarily timetable claims. However, evidence seems to
community of Killin was at Glenoglehead, and run! suggest that, on some occasions at least, what
this closed when the branch opened, but the After a busy morning connecting with actually occurred was that the 4.06pm (FO)
crossing loop was retained as steep gradients main line trains, the branch was quiet until Callander to Crianlarich (Lower) ran as a
dropping away in both directions made the the 1.52pm mixed train connected with the two-coach train as far as Killin Junction,
block post strategically useful, especially in 12.05pm service from Oban. If anyone where one coach was dropped, and the other
unpredictable weather. alighted for Killin the 2.16pm return duty (Crianlarich) coach was then tripped to Luib,
Looking back at the Beeching era would run, but if not there was no point in where it joined the 1.35pm Stirling to Oban
timetable for winter 1962/63, the ‘Killin Pug’, going down the branch as the next destination freight. This down goods duty then ran as a
as the branch engine was traditionally known, was Callander. The working timetable doesn’t mixed train for the next 6 miles and
ran its first service of the day from Killin at presume there to be passengers, so a light 17 chains, taking the children to Crianlarich
7.54am, the 4 miles and 16 chains run to engine trip is not listed in the timetable from for a West Highland line service forward,
Killin Junction taking until 8.07am. There it Killin, instead the next move is a 3.21pm light whilst the ‘Killin Pug’ returned light engine to
met the 6.15am ex-Oban, which called engine run from Killin Junction to Callander, take the other coach down to Killin village.
between 8.11 and 8.13am. Then running arriving at 4.03pm. There it unites with a Both coaches were based at Killin, with
round, the branch engine left the junction at coach to run as the unadvertised school train, the second also used to strengthen normal
8.30am with a mixed train, terminating at departing Callander at 4.06pm and calling at services if required. A later working timetable
Long hours of daylight in the Scottish Highlands on 6 June 1963 allow this view to be recorded just after 8.00pm. On the left is the BRC&W-hauled
6.05pm Glasgow (Buchanan Street) to Oban service, which is booked to connect with the 8.05pm Killin Junction to Killin service, a mixed train that
concludes business on the branch each weekday. This view looking west from the footbridge over the main line records Perth shed’s No 80126
marshalling the train from the sidings before taking out the branch service. Of note is the presence of both Killin branch coaches, although the
second was rarely required except in conjunction with the school train working, or in its Saturday form as an unadvertised extra for Killin villagers to
reach Callander to go shopping. H.C. Casserley

48 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:38 Page 49

Killin Junction station is recorded just prior to

the departure of the 8.05pm mixed train to
Killin. Superficially the same train as in the last
view, and taken moments later, a convoluted
shunt has clearly been undertaken to swap
outgoing wagons from the branch with new
arrivals for the yard at Killin. H.C. Casserley

Proving the point that local arrangements will

always prevail, the light engine move from Killin
Junction to Callander of the 1962/63 winter
timetable period has, on 13 May 1965, evolved
into the 2.40pm empty coaching stock variant
of this school train-related duty. To reach this
point, Loch Tay-based Standard ‘4MT’ No 80126
has climbed at 1 in 70 for nearly two miles
from Killin Junction and, having just passed
Glenoglehead Crossing. With a short relaxation
of grade, it now nears Glen Ogle summit, the
expanse of water being Lochan Lairig Cheile.
John Boyes/ARPT

BR Standard ‘4MTs’, No 80028, is recorded on

25 June 1965 at the western extremity of ‘Killin
Pug’ duties, Crianlarich East Junction. This is
the Fridays-only afternoon school train working
from Callander, which by then continued
through to Crianlarich rather than handing
over one of its coaches to a freight at Luib.
Looking east towards Glen Dochart, the West
Highland line can be seen crossing Fillan
viaduct, while the line on the right is the link
between the C&O and the West Highland,
leading to Crianlarich (Upper) station.
Colour-Rail.com/SC853

NOVEMBER 2015 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk 49

STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:38 Page 50
Scottish internal traincode No 123 was appropriately given for the first day of the SLS/BLS ‘Scottish Rambler No 2’ rail tour on 12 April 1963, as can
be seen on the lamp bracket ahead of the chimney of the preserved Caledonian Railway No 123 as the Single makes its way from Glasgow (Central)
High Level to Killin Junction. The view is recorded between Doune and Callander. W.S. Sellar
rounds the circle by giving reference to the
return of the Crianlarich coach. Once shunted
off the Oban goods at Crianlarich (East)
Junction on a Friday, it was to be returned to
Killin Junction on the morning freight,
presumably a working on a Saturday as the
unadvertised 4.06pm service from Callander
to Killin ran on summer Saturdays for locals
as well, usually with both carriages.
It is worth noting that the Killin branch
goods operation ceased from 7 November
1964, and so the line failed to benefit from
growing business in moving nearby forestry
by rail, this traffic later being served from the
yard at Crianlarich (Lower).
Enthusiasts’ rail tours
Any line under threat of closure in the 1950s
and 1960s came under the spotlight for
potential rail tour visits, and the Callander &
Oban was no exception. Picking up the story
once the ‘Beeching Report’ had gone to press,
the first such visit came on 12 April 1963,
Good Friday. The working was day one of
50
four for the jointly-operated Stephenson
Locomotive Society/Branch Line Society
‘Scottish Rambler No 2’, and it was booked to
depart Glasgow (Central) at 9.48am. Taking in
a roundabout route via Eglinton Street,
Rutherglen, Bridgeton Cross, Glasgow Central
(Low Level), Stobcross, Partick (Central),
Kelvinside, Possil, Stepps, Greenhill, Larbert
and Stirling. It was booked through Dunblane
at 11.33am, with a stop in Callander between
11.55am and 1.00pm.
The weather was at best changeable, and
snow had set in by the time the Killin branch
was reached. The locomotive up until this
point was the ‘Caley Single’, and the two
preserved ex-CR coaches were handed to
resident branch engine No 80093, which
worked the tour in-between service trains.
The whole branch was covered, passenger
trains being rare at Loch Tay since 1939, and
by the time the train reached Killin Junction
blizzard conditions ensued. The tour
continued behind No 123 to the junction at
Crianlarich, where the 4-2-2 ran round its
www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
train for a tender-first run up to Crianlarich
(Upper). Once there, it was turned on the
shed turntable for the return to Glasgow via
the West Highland main line.
Another tour used the same engine on
Saturday, 10 October 1964. This being the
third and final visit of No 123 to Callander
since the Single was repainted in March 1958.
This Stephenson Railway Society run
departed Glasgow (Buchanan Street) at
1.30pm and it was to be the last enthusiast
tour to visit the now ‘lost’ section of the Oban
line. Once again, the restored Caledonian
coaches were used. Strangely, when the engine
was retired off to Glasgow Transport Museum
in June 1966 these were homeless, so the
Scottish Railway Preservation Society at
Falkirk acquired the brake composite and the
Bluebell Railway in Sussex gained the third
corridor. It took until 1974 before a part
exchange deal, involving a Bulleid coach going
south, brought the second vehicle back to
Scotland to reunite the pair.
At Callander, the stock was deposited in
the up bay and the locomotive ran light,
retracing it steps for the 61 chains to
Callander (East), to turn in the goods yard,
the table being an enlarged one of 60ft added
Three hours after passing Doune we find the
same tour experiencing a sudden and
significant turn in the weather. The location is
the Loch Tay terminus of the Killin branch, the
loch being in view on the right. The branch
engine was called upon to work the rail tour
down its own line. The distant shed being the
present home for No 80093, albeit a BR
Standard ‘4MT’ was actually too long to fit in it!
By this date the closed station was privately
owned, and the need to run-round the train
here will have meant that the loco coal wagon
must have been shunted towards the shed, as
its traditional position was in the loop.
W.S. Sellar
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:38 Page 51

Having worked up the link from the C&O to reach the West Highland line at Crianlarich (Upper), this Good Friday 1963 scene records the view
across the station as the ‘Caledonian Single’ prepares to use the turntable at Crianlarich (Upper) shed prior to continuing south on the West
Highland line. The stop here was booked for 3.55pm for 15 minutes, and hats off to the photographer for braving the elements! The single-road
engine shed here, just out of view to the right, was closed by the LNER in 1930 but clearly its turntable was still considered worthy of maintenance. In
fact the building would remain in use into the late 1990s for track machines. Rodney Lissenden

in 1902. The train was booked to be in

Callander from 2.53pm until 6.20pm. Watered and turned at Callander (East), the ‘Caley Single’ has been reunited with its two
Photographer and historian W.A.C. Smith CR coaches in the up bay at Callander station, ready for the return to Glasgow
(Buchanan Street) on 10 October 1964 as the SLS ‘123 Special’. Departure was booked
noted in the tour itinerary that this trip had
for 6.10pm, the reporting code ‘124’ being used for the return leg. John Boyes/ARPT
been arranged as a last opportunity to visit
Callander with ‘Caley’ motive power before
the Beeching axe fell.
Famously, the engine upheld the West
Coast route in the 1888 ‘Race to the North’,
was later used on Carlisle-Glasgow and Perth-
Aberdeen workings, and was favoured for
working the Directors’ saloon and acting as a
pilot engine ahead of the Royal train.
Re-boilered in early LMS days, it returned to
ordinary service in 1930 on the Perth to
Dundee line. Retirement in 1935 was followed
by a repaint in ‘Caley blue’ at St. Rollox and
preservation.

Cutting back the network

The threat to cease passenger operations on
the Ballachulish branch and to close the Killin
branch in March 1964 was deferred. Closure
of the Ballachulish line would have saved little
while goods trains were still serving the
British Aluminium factory at Kinlochleven,
the rail hub being Ballachulish. Interestingly,
around 70 school children used the line to get
to Oban high school, accounting for a sizeable
proportion of the 700 or so recorded
passenger journeys a week. However, neither
branch was likely to stave off closure for very
long, and it was duly announced that the
Killin branch and the section of main line
from Dunblane through to Crianlarich would
close from 1 November 1965, but events near
milepost 18¾ changed that plan.
On a section of line always at odds with
nature and awkward to operate, a retaining
wall built in 1963 to stabilise the hillside failed
to achieve its aim in the early hours of
Monday, 27 September 1965 when, after
several days of heavy rain, part of hill above
finally gave way, blocking the line. The 00.30

NOVEMBER 2015 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk 51

STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:39 Page 52
from Stirling was held at Balquhidder, where
passengers, including a funeral party for
South Uist, complete with coffin, were
transferred by road to Oban and their ship,
the Claymore. Other trains ran as far as
Strathyre, to the east of the rock fall, and Luib
to its west, with buses filling the gap. An
engineer’s report at first light revealed the
extent of the damage. Whilst the blockage was
minor, a greater threat lay with the unstable
ground above. With the line’s closure due in
just five weeks, abandonment between
Callander and Crianlarich, including the
Killin branch, was the only sensible option
and the decision was immediate.
In correspondence that week, British
Railways stressed the estimated £30,000 it
would cost to restore the line. Most casual
bystanders thought this excessive for what was
described as ‘a small pile of rocks’. However,
with closure pending anyway, much of the
replacement service infrastructure was to
hand and a three stage emergency plan was
drawn up and circulated.
The first week saw stage one
implemented, where services still ran from
Glasgow (Buchanan Street) but direct Oban
trains were diverted via the West Highland
line, while a connecting bus service ran
between Callander and Crianlarich in existing
train times. The Killin branch did not fit in
with this arrangement, and villagers were only
A break from photographing the BRC&W
diesel-hauled last day services at Ballachulish
on 26 March 1966 resulted in this view of the
timber-built engine shed opened by the
Callander & Oban Railway in 1903. Already
closed for four years, you would have got good
odds-on a bet that this would still be standing
nearly 50 years later, but that proved to be the
case as a small car servicing business gave it
long term use. The turntable pit is just in view
on the left, while the terminus is to the
photographer’s right. Beyond the shed are
mountains of slate waste, and on a clear day
even the snow-capped peaks seen above those
would be overshadowed by the distant Pap of
Glencoe. Alan Carlaw
52
able to give the line a hurried send off as
No 80126 cleared the branch of all remaining
stock on that fateful first day. An attempt to
take the two coaches and all wagons out in
one go was thwarted by greasy wet rails, and
two trips were required in the end.
Stage two of the plan was from 4 October,
with Oban trains running from Glasgow
(Queen Street) to the new timetable planned to
commence on 1 November, and Callander
trains running as before, with bus connections;
the Killin school service ran as a bus. Stage
three was the complete closure between
Dunblane and Crianlarich; thereafter all West
Highland services ran from Glasgow (Queen
Street). With no Sunday service, the last trains
at Callander ran on Saturday, 30 October.
Meanwhile, the reprieve for Ballachulish
was short-lived as once again the closure
notices went up. The last day – Saturday,
26 March 1966 – proved to be appropriately
damp and dismal. The withdrawal of branch
goods services from 14 June 1965 saw the ban
lifted on commercial vehicles over the
rail/road Connel Bridge, and soon road tolls
once collected by the railway would be gone
for good. On the plus side, the railway was
able to retain Kinlochleven goods traffic,
which amounted to something like 30,000
tons of business, by routing it via Fort
William, but that move in effect killed off the
Ballachulish branch.
www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
The rock fall near Glen Ogle that brought
about a premature end to services between
Callander and Crianlarich is pictured in July
1966, ten months after the incident. Occurring
just five weeks before the line was due to close
on 1 November 1965, the decision to abandon
the railway between Callander and Crianlarich,
including the Killin branch, was immediate, thus
these sections of railway were robbed of a last
hurrah. G.N. Turnbull
At Ballachulish, there are still a few
reminders of the 28-mile branch line that
lasted just 63 years. The station building
found a new use as a doctor’s surgery, but
housing now covers most of the yard site.
Incredibly, the timber-built locomotive shed
found a new use as Chisholm’s garage until
August 2014, when it was finally demolished.
There were more cost savings made
around this time, mainly the closure of some
of the intermediate stations on the surviving
line from Crianlarich through to Oban, Loch
Awe and Ach-na-cloich, for example, went in
the aftermath of the rock fall, when the
Callander & Oban line timetable was recast
on 4 October 1965 as stage two of the post-
rock fall rescue plan, and passing loops were
taken out too. You can still travel over parts of
the ‘lost’ route as some of the trackbed around
Glen Ogle has been incorporated into the
national cycle network of Sustrans, the
government supported agency having spent
considerable money creating Cycle Route 7
from Glasgow to Pitlochry, including
replacing spans of a demolished viaduct on
the former line to Comrie and repairing the
magnificent Glen Ogle viaduct on the C&O –
perhaps the instability in the hillside in 1965
wasn’t as bad as it seemed? I look forward to
cycling the route, but would have much
preferred to enjoy the same scenery from the
comfort of a train.
This research for this article was undertaken
during the making of a pair of Oakwood
Visuals programmes – Caledonian Routes
Volumes 3 & 4: the Callander & Oban Lines –
much of this being undertaken by Roger Smith,
while Stuart Sellar deserves a special mention
too, as does Andrew Boyd, who supplied ‘Steam
Days’ with copies of the winter 1962/63
timetables.
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Locomotives that lingered on

With their natural lifespan over and
classmates long gone, Philip Atkins
highlights the new roles that saw
otherwise redundant locomotives live
on in various forms.
n a wet Saturday morning in March
Fowler ‘7F’ class 0-8-0 No 9617 is seen on Crewe South shed when new in 1931 – it was destined to
have a working life of just 20 years before being withdrawn in June 1951 as British Railways
No 49617. Intended to replace the L&NWR 0-8-0s, the Fowler ‘7Fs’, or ‘Austin Sevens’, suffered
from mechanical defects that seriously affected their availability, and most were withdrawn long
before the last of the L&NWR variants. Its heavy freight use over, this locomotive was then
converted into a bridge testing vehicle and its chassis was still extant in March 1965.
Rail Archive Stephenson
Frames Although this small class was withdrawn from

O 1965 the writer was passing the former

British Railways Technical Centre at
Derby when he was astonished to glimpse the
In addition to the ‘Austin Seven’ already
mentioned, there were other instances of
locomotive frames remaining in existence for
service between 1939 and 1947, No 6145, the
first of the three 1906 engines, when retired in
September 1941 was not scrapped but had its
unmistakeable lower half, the frames on its own many years, particularly at railway locomotive boiler, side tanks and cab removed. Retaining
wheels, of an ex-LMS Fowler ‘7F’ 0-8-0, a class works. A very interesting survival concerned its bunker, and provided with a large
which had become extinct just over three years the frames of one of the nine puissant 0-6-4Ts cylindrical compressed air reservoir, it is
earlier. It was many years before it was built by Kitson & Co Ltd for the Lancashire, believed that this curious ensemble, of
discovered that these had in fact been the mortal Derbyshire & East Coast Railway during uncertain purpose, may even have lasted until
remains of No 49617, which had been 1904-06, which later became LNER ‘M1’ class. the closure of Gorton Works in 1963.
withdrawn from service nearly 14 years
previously in June 1951, after a then relatively Former LD&ECR ‘D’ class 0-6-4T No A1 is seen in ex-works condition as LNER ‘M1’ No 6145 at an
short working life for a goods engine of only 20 unknown location circa 1930, before being withdrawn in September 1941. Subsequently it was
reduced to little more than a rolling chassis and bunker to carry a compressed air reservoir, and in
years. Its engine history card, now preserved at this strange guise it was employed at Gorton Works and used until at least 1958.
the National Railway Museum, recorded that it T.G. Hepburn/Rail Archive Stephenson
had not been broken up until September 1954,
an unusually long delay by contemporary
standards, but with the caveat that it had been
converted to a ‘bridge testing vehicle’. It is now
also known that the order was issued in October
1953 with instructions that in addition to the
boiler and cylinders being removed, the axleload
was to be made variable between a maximum of
20 tons and a minimum of 14 tons. At an
estimated cost of £1,717, the conversion was
seemingly completed in early 1955, some
4½ years after this modest project had originally
been initiated, but the ultimate fate of the
ensemble over ten years later, remains unknown.
In fact, on investigation there have been
numerous instances of parts of steam
locomotives, long outlasting their original
owners, some relating to quite short-lived
classes, which partly accounts for their survival.
There were also several cases of main line
locomotives, not always necessarily strictly
goods engines, being sold on into industrial use,
and thereby against all the odds far exceeding
what should have been their ‘sell by’ date.

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STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:39 Page 56

A visit to Doncaster Works on 12 April 1959

finds the frames of an unidentified ex-GNR Ivatt
‘C1’ Atlantic in use as boiler carrier No 7 – the
load is a Gresley boiler. The 3ft 8in bogie and
trailing wheels have been retained, but the
6ft 8in driving wheels have been removed, as well
as the cylinders and motion. The Atlantics date
back to December 1902, and while the first of
the class, No 251, was saved as part of the
National Collection, and conventional use of the
class ended on British Railways in November
1950, two former 4-4-2 boiler trolleys could still
be found in use at Doncaster Works into 1961.
L.W. Perkins/Kidderminster Railway Museum

As late as 1961 two pairs of Ivatt former

Great Northern Railway 4-4-2 frames still
found use as boiler trolleys at Doncaster
Works, where five ‘large Atlantic’ boilers were
also still employed, as will be described later.
The frames of two ex-North Eastern Railway
‘V’ class two-cylinder 4-4-2s, Nos 702 and
1753, were similarly converted for the same
purpose at Darlington Works circa 1946.
At Eastleigh Works, the frames of the
unique ‘Bug’ 4-2-4T, a combined locomotive
with attached inspection saloon, constructed
by the London & South Western Railway at
Nine Elms in 1899 for the personal use of
Chief Mechanical Engineer Dugald
Drummond, remained serving as a trolley until
1957, some 17 years after the engine itself had
been formally withdrawn from service.
Particularly long-lived locomotive frames
were those of Rhymney Railway 0-6-0ST
No 25, which had been built by Sharp, Stewart
& Co Ltd in 1872. After being condemned in
1914, its frames were retained and placed on
old tender wheel-sets to provide the basis for a
unique wagon only four months later. This was
successively numbered 41976 and 21999 by the
GWR, and it was eventually condemned and
broken up at Swindon in 1955.
Tenders
In 1961, near Nottingham (Midland)
locomotive shed, the writer saw an
ex-Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway eight-
wheeled tender painted white and serving as a
‘sludge’ carrier to contain the chemical
products of locomotive water treatment. This
highly distinctive type of vehicle was provided
by the L&YR only on the greater majority of its
numerous 0-8-0s, the final examples of which
were withdrawn in 1950. At the other extreme,
several diminutive four-wheeled tenders, built
by Sharp, Stewart & Co Ltd in 1880/81 to
accompany slender Barton Wright L&YR
4-4-0s, which were retired after a working life
of only 15 years or so, are reported to have still
existed at Horwich Works until the 1960s. The
writer also observed, near Worthing in autumn
1967, an old Adams ex-London & South
Western Railway tender which was still lettered
‘Southern’.
Even more ‘exotic’ tenders lasted
remarkably long, an ex-Midland & South
Western Junction Railway tender languished
at Reading until as late as 1965, for many
years, through natural weathering, revealing
its pre-1923 applied complex M&SWJ
monogram. An ancient Wheatley North
British Railway tender still existed in 1954,
while no fewer than 11 rather later NBR
tenders, from the famed 22-strong ‘Atlantics’,
were initially retained after these magnificent
engines were withdrawn during the 1930s.
One was from the almost preserved
Midlothian, which had actually been

This June 1929 view records ex-NBR Reid ‘868’ series Atlantic No 875 running as LNER ‘C11’ No 9875 Midlothian – it is rounding the curve towards
Haymarket tunnel with an Edinburgh (Waverley) to Aberdeen express. Midlothian was later selected for preservation by the LNER and it was duly
laid aside on 24 December 1937 at Cowlairs Works, where it remained until 14 May 1938, when it was overhauled and then put back into traffic on
17 June. When condemned for a second time on 10 November 1939, the engine was cut up, but the tender remained at Cowlairs as a water carrier
for air raid precautions; it was scrapped in 1948. George R. Grigs/Rail Archive Stephenson

56 www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
STEAMNOVEMBER PK:Make-up (July 05) 30/09/2015 15:39 Page 57

Despite the last of the ex-Hull & Barnsley

Railway 0-6-0s being withdrawn by the end of
1938 at least two H&B tenders survived well
into the 1950s. On 28 August 1932 Stirling
‘J23/2’ class 0-6-0 No 2440 (originally H&BR ‘B’
class No 59) rests between duties in the
roundhouse at York shed. Although the H&B
0-6-0s and 4-4-0s were early LNER casualties,
being non-standard designs, a number of tank
engines were taken into British Railways stock,
with the last ‘N13’ 0-6-2T not being withdrawn
until October 1956. H.C. Casserley

reconstructed from scrap in 1938 only to be 1899 were retained after those engines were two engines built in 1882 and 1883, was noted
condemned for the second time in 1939, scrapped after fairly short lives, and were then at Ipswich, despite the locomotive being
which was still at Cowlairs in 1948 after fitted to ten new Fowler ‘4F’ class 0-6-0s built condemned in 1941!
having been seconded to wartime ARP duties. in 1917. Destined to become the last Two unusually short-lived locomotive
The others for the most part were employed remaining overseas-built survivors from the classes were the four Caledonian Railway ‘956’
as sludge carriers, and in this role the last so-called ‘Locomotive Famine’ of 1899/1900, three-cylinder 4-6-0s built in 1921 and
remaining examples were noted at Langley, when nearly 100 locomotives were imported, withdrawn between 1931 and 1935, and the
Grantham and Bawtry, all on the East Coast mainly from the USA, they were five North Eastern Railway 4-6-2s built in
main line, during 1957-63. systematically replaced by more recently built 1922-24 and withdrawn during 1936/37. The
Tenders were often spared scrapping Midland tenders only in 1954. Scottish tenders were subsequently attached to
alongside their partners if they still had useful Although the last Hull & Barnsley Railway McIntosh and Pickersgill 4-4-0s, and a solitary
life in them – it is likely that many of the tender 0-6-0 locomotives were retired in 1938, Pickersgill ‘60’ class 4-6-0, and were only
tenders originally attached to Midland, North at least two ex-H&B tenders, particularly broken up between 1949 and 1960. The
Eastern, Great Eastern, Great Western, Great distinguishable by their unusually shaped standard tenders on the NER 4-6-2s were
Northern and Great Central 4-2-2s and GER ‘Iracier’ pattern axleboxes, were reported to be simply re-assigned to a corresponding
2-2-2s lasted long afterwards behind the much still languishing in obscurity some 20 years number of new Gresley ‘J39’ class 0-6-0s then
longer-lived 4-4-0s and 0-6-0s of those later, one of them near Coldstream. Also in being built, and so would have lasted until
companies. Likewise, the Midland-design the late 1950s, the tender from former these engines were swiftly withdrawn between
tenders built in the USA for the ten Midland & Great Northern Railway 4-4-0 1959 and 1962. By the same token one might
Schenectady 2-6-0s supplied to the MR in No 25, which latterly combined the parts of have expected that the handsome tenders
Raven ‘A2’ Pacific No 2402 City of York heads what appears to be the ‘Queen of Scots’ express sometime between May 1928 and July 1932, when a
headboard was introduced. The ‘A2s’ were a non-standard design, and so when their boilers were in need of renewal during 1936 and 1937, all five
were withdrawn. However, their original six-wheel tenders were reconditioned at Darlington Works and recycled for use with the Gresley ‘J39’ class
0-6-0s under construction at the time. William Rogerson/Rail Archive Stephenson

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Rutherford-designed Furness Railway ‘3P’ 4-6-4T No 11000, FR No 115 of 1921, is seen at Barrow-in-Furness shed on 5 July 1925, while carrying its first
LMS livery of crimson lake. Only five of these Baltic tank engines were built, and all were withdrawn by the end of 1940, with No 11100 going in 1935.
However, the coal bunker of No 11100 survived until the 1950s as a coal container at the former L&YR Works in Horwich.
P.F. Cooke/Rail Archive Stephenson

provided for the Hughes four-cylinder 4-6-0s
built by the LMS during 1923-25, and
prematurely retired from 1934 on, might have
seen further service, if only behind 0-6-0s, but
for some reason this was not the case.
Not immediately explicable is the
existence of two former London & North
Western Railway ex-‘Claughton’ 4-6-0 tenders,
lined out and lettered LMS, which were noted
at Eastleigh in the early 1960s, when a
number of similar tenders were still in daily
service behind Crewe 0-8-0s. These two
particular tenders appear to have been fitted
with oil tanks. Several ex-L&NWR tenders of
much earlier vintage, including four-wheelers
of J.E. McConnell no less, functioned as
mobile water carriers on the Cromford &
High Peak line until its closure in 1967. It is
also worth recording that the underframes of
some former London & North Eastern
Railway and Southern Railway steam
locomotive tenders actively survive to this day
as the basis for mobile snowploughs.
In the early 1950s the coal bunker from
the first Furness Railway inside-cylinder
4-6-4T, FR No 115/LMS No 11100, was noted
still functioning as a coal container at
Horwich Works nearly 20 years after this
engine, built by Kitson & Co Ltd in 1920, had
been withdrawn in 1935, although another of
the class outlasted the rest by several years
until late 1940.
Boilers
As with tenders, boilers if still in reasonable
condition were often salvaged, sometimes for
stationary use. These are too numerous to
enumerate individually, but they included
some quite remarkable and unexpected
survivals, and one intriguing mystery.
The 80 Ivatt large-boilered 4-4-2s, built by
the Great Northern Railway between 1902
and 1910, finally became extinct in November
1950, even though nine had received new
boilers as late as 1943/44. Surprisingly only
one of these boilers survived in stationary use
at Doncaster Works until December 1965,
having seen precisely one year’s service on
No 4444, for the other eight survived virtually
intact as stationary boilers at Doncaster until
1952/53. Three boilers of this highly
distinctive design, together with one other,
were discovered in 1986 at an industrial plant
at Maldon in Essex. Several years later, in view
of its condition and close design affinity to
that of the ‘Brighton Atlantics’, one of these
was selected by the Bluebell Railway to form
the centrepiece for a working replica London,
Brighton & South Coast Railway ‘H2’.
This boiler is believed to have been fitted
new in August 1943 to 4-4-2 No 3287, which
was condemned only two years later, in
October 1945. Although this boiler saw no
further railway use, having been sold by the
LNER as surplus to requirements, it evidently
functioned for almost a further 30 years in an
industrial heating capacity until 1975. The
Brighton 4-4-2 project is now well advanced,
and for good measure it will also incorporate
a pair of genuine ex-LB&SCR tender frames,
which started life behind ‘B4’ class 4-4-0
No 63 Pretoria (1901-51), together with scrap
ex-‘C2X’ class 0-6-0 tender wheelsets.
A boiler from one of the earlier GNR
small-boilered Atlantics, of which the pioneer
No 990 Henry Oakley is officially preserved,
remained in use at Doncaster carriage works
until November 1964. Three boilers from
former North British 4-4-2s also functioned
as stationary boilers at Cowlairs and Stratford
Works until 1959/60.
In 1953 the boiler from a Maryport &
Carlisle 0-4-2 came to light at Derby Works,
although no ex-M&CR locomotive had
survived after 1934. The original 0-4-2

Two ex-GNR ‘C1’ 4-4-2s, Nos 274 (LNER

No 3274) and 285 (LNER No 3285), are seen in
use as stationary boilers at Doncaster
locomotive works on 3 June 1948. Withdrawn
from general service in May 1945 and May 1946
respectively, with neither carrying their
allocated Thompson identities, they are seen
permanently fitted with piping to provide
steam to the Smiths’ shop. For this role the
tenders have been modified to carry additional
coal, these June 1904 veterans acting as a
steam feed until the spring of 1952. Other ‘C1s’
in similar use were Nos 2812 and 2877 at
Doncaster wagon works, and Nos 2821, 2829
and 2849 at the carriage works. Nos 2829 and
2849 proved to be the longest-lived, soldiering
on as stationary engines until July 1953.
P.M. Alexander/Kidderminster Railway Museum

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Maryport & Carlisle Railway Smellie-designed 0-4-2 No 4 approaches Carlisle (Citadel) station with a train of archaic four- and six-wheel coaches
from Whitehaven circa 1921. Although the LMS took seven M&CR 0-4-2s into stock in 1923, by 1928 they had all been consigned to the scrapyard.
However, as late as 1953 the 1920-built boiler that No 4 is carrying in this view was discovered at Derby Works. Henry L. Salmon/Rail Archive Stephenson

locomotive, M&CR No 4, was built at supplying steam to test locomotive fittings unusual design as they incorporated
Maryport Works in 1879 but the boiler itself such as safety valves etc. As steam repairs potentially troublesome combustion
had been constructed and fitted more concluded at the end of that year, it was chambers, and replacements were very quickly
recently, in 1920 by Beyer, Peacock & Co Ltd, probably disposed of soon afterwards. designed for them, despite which several
and so it was still in reasonable condition Records show that Crewe Works also continued to function as stationary boilers at
when LMS No 10010 had been withdrawn in despatched redundant ‘Royal Scot’ boilers to Swindon Works for nearly 50 years, and still
1928. St. Rollox Works in both 1946 and 1948, one remained on site even as late as 1963. The
Some of the original parallel boilers of to Ashford Works in 1951, and another to barrels of some of these boilers were also
Fowler’s ‘Royal Scot’ class 4-6-0s found Cowlairs Works in 1954. tacked together to form industrial chimneys.
stationary use after these LMS engines were The shortest-lived British locomotives Even more unconventional was the
rebuilt with Stanier taper boilers, which had ever were the ugly ‘Kruger’ double-framed marine-type water tube boiler designed to
resulted in some of the originals having quite inside cylinder 2-6-0s on the Great Western work at a pressure of 450lb and fitted to the
short lives. At least one was retained at Crewe Railway, the rationale and fleeting appearance experimental LNER ‘Hush Hush’ four-
Works, where it had been built in 1938 and of which has never been explained, for the cylinder Compound 4-6-4 No 10000, which
where it remained at least until 1966, some eight built at Swindon Works in 1903 were all took almost as long to design and build as it
11 years after the final ‘Scot’ conversion, withdrawn during 1906. Their boilers were of subsequently existed in traffic. This made its
Arguably one of the ugliest classes of locomotives to run on a British railway was the GWR ‘Kruger’ double-framed 2-6-0, introduced in 1903 by
William Dean. Here we find No 2602 at Evesham on 19 August 1903, at the head of a loose-coupled goods train. Impressive in an ungainly manner,
the boilers were fitted with Belpaire fireboxes and combustion chambers, which were fine in theory but disappointing in practice. As a result, the
withdrawal of all the ‘Krugers’ was achieved by the end of 1906 with many of the class laid up well before this date. Rail Archive Stephenson

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The unique Gresley ‘W1’ class 4-6-4, No 10000, arrives at London (King’s Cross) at the head of the up ‘Junior Scotsman’ in July 1931. During its brief
period in traffic this experimental locomotive spent long periods in Darlington Works as resolution was sought to many of its problems, including
poor steaming and air leaking into the boiler casing. After being converted to a conventional 4-6-4 styled in the same way as the ‘A4’ Pacifics, the
water tube boiler was installed at Darlington’s Stooperdale boiler shop to provide steam for testing new and repaired boilers.
George R. Grigs/Rail Archive Stephenson

debut from Darlington Works in late 1929 and
it last operated in this form in mid-1935, prior
to its conversion on more conventional lines.
Interestingly, its unusual boiler was
appropriated by Darlington Works, where it
was ‘bricked up’ in its own special little
building, and there it continued to supply
steam for nearly 30 years, up until the closure
of the works in 1965.
There is no indication whatever that the
equally unusual boiler from the remarkably
obscure Midland Railway Paget 2-6-2 No 2299,
nor that from the awesome LMS super pressure
4-6-0 No 6399 Fury, quietly saw similar further
use, but while the LNER was designing ‘Hush
Hush’ the LMS in 1926 produced detailed
drawings at Derby for a rather more
conventional four-cylinder compound Pacific,
and initially authorized the construction of five
units at Crewe Works. How far actual
construction on these engines progressed, if at
all, before its abrupt termination in favour of
the smaller and cheaper ‘Royal Scots’, has never
been made clear.
Ambiguous official evidence apparently
exists suggesting that two Pacific boilers were
even built, and that in the absence of the rest
of the locomotives these were then put to
stationary use. Had this been the case one
would have expected them to have been duly
noted at some stage, and particularly that the
late E.S. Cox, who was very closely
professionally involved at the time, would
have mentioned such a development in his
admirable chronicles of LMS locomotive
history published 40 years later in the
mid-1960s.
At the other extreme as regards the Liskeard
& Caradon Railway 0-6-0ST Caradon, built in
1862 and scrapped in 1907, in the words of the
RCTS in 1956 ‘Caradon has not yet disappeared
entirely for its firebox performs an indispensable
office as many visitors to Moorswater shed in
recent years can testify’. Very recently in these
columns it has also been referred to more
explicitly as ‘the loo on the Looe’.
Almost complete locomotives
There have been several instances of virtually
complete locomotives long outlasting their
contemporaries, also sometimes serving as
stationary boilers. The most remarkable
examples were a small number of ex-L&YR
Barton Wright tank engines built between
1877 and 1886, nine 0-4-4Ts and two 0-6-2Ts.
Although withdrawn from service as long ago
as 1908-12, these were still functioning in
their later role in the North West, particularly
at Blackpool, until well into the 1960s, in one
instance still existing as late as 1969.
The final extinction of the 7ft 0¼in or
broad gauge on the Great Western Railway in
May 1892 resulted in the mass extinction of a
large number of locomotives for which there
was no further use. The classic Gooch 4-2-2
Lord of the Isles was initially retained, only to
be scrapped in 1906, while the still surviving
2-2-2 North Star of 1837, after many years in
preservation, was also broken up, only to be
‘recreated’ by the GWR in 1925 incorporating
some parts of the original.
It is frequently overlooked, however, that
other locomotives that had been built for the
broad gauge lasted well into the 20th century.
The first was a 0-6-0ST named Hedley, which
had started life as a 2-4-0 passenger tender
engine built in Bristol in June 1865 by
Slaughter, Grunning & Company, which
shortly afterwards became the Avonside
Engine Co, and was later rebuilt as a tank
engine in 1877. Despite the imminent demise

The so-called ‘loo on the Looe’ at Liskeard, pictured in August 1935, was in fact the firebox of
Liskeard & Caradon Railway 0-6-0ST Caradon. The first new locomotive for the company, it was
completed in 1862 by Gilkes, Wilson & Co of Middlesbrough (Works No 138). Caradon is believed
to have received a new firebox, and possibly a new boiler, in 1878, from the Avonside Engine
Company. Rebuilt in 1899, it served until 1907 as a locomotive, the GWR taking over the working
of this line from New Year’s Day 1909. In its new role this firebox was used into BR days.
L.T. Catchpole/Oakwood Press Collection

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Bristol & Exeter Railway No 77 emerged from
the Worcester Engine Co works in late 1867
and it is seen still in service for the B&ER’s
successor, the GWR, as a stationary engine
with the carriage department at Swindon on
10 September 1933. One of six inside-framed
0-6-0 tender engines that initiated the change
to ‘narrow’ gauge on the B&ER, five of them
were in fact then converted to broad gauge in
1870/71, only to be converted back in 1875. A
GWR asset from 1 January 1876, becoming
No 1360, August 1879 saw it rebuilt as a saddle
tank. Withdrawn from everyday service in April
1890, it was surprisingly then given new
cylinders and tubes, and an outside shaft was
fitted to the driving wheels ready for a new life
as a stationary engine – its nomadic existence
then took in the Spiller & Co works in Cardiff
(1890), Kemble (once fitted with a domed
boiler in 1902), Old Oak Common carriage
shed (1909), Blandford Camp (1917), Newton
Abbot (1922), Gloucester (1923) and Newport
(1924). Most of these transfers were
punctuated by spells serving in Swindon Works
and it would finally be cut up there in August
1944. J.R. & O.R. Gibbon Collection
of the broad gauge, the engine was rebuilt
again in November 1890, but in 1893 it was
sent to work near Carmarthen on stone
crushing duties, before moving on to Neath in
1905. Although the boiler was condemned
there in 1914, it was not until 15 years later
that the engine, latterly photographed
retaining only its main driving wheel set and
therefore appearing to be an 0-2-0, was sent to
Swindon for breaking up, still sporting its
original nameplates.
Another former broad gauge locomotive,
which had started life as a 0-6-0 tender engine
built by the Worcester Engine Company in
1867 for the Bristol & Exeter Railway, was
rebuilt as an 0-6-0ST in 1879. Although
withdrawn from service in 1890, it remained
in use as a stationary boiler in a variety of
NOVEMBER 2015
locations on the GWR until it was cut up at
Swindon in 1944. Chronologically speaking,
the last active broad gauge locomotives were
two GWR 0-6-0PTs withdrawn in 1938,
Nos 1562 and 1565 – these had started life as
‘convertible’ 0-6-0STs on the broad gauge
shortly before its demise in 1892.
There was also a diminutive 2-4-0ST
named Prince, completed the Ince Forge
Company in 1871 for the broad gauge South
Devon Railway, which in June 1893 was
converted to standard or ‘narrow’ gauge, to
use GWR parlance, by placing the wheels
inside the frames. Only three years later, in
March 1896 it was converted to become a
winding engine, and then as a pumping
engine in March 1898. It was condemned in
May 1899, but was then sent to be a winding
www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
engine to work on the steep incline at
Portreath in Cornwall until withdrawn from
stock in 1901. Even then the engine continued
to lead a distinctly nomadic life, still as a
stationary unit, until it was finally cut up at
Swindon in August 1935.
One locomotive which actually survived
intact for many years after it was withdrawn
from normal service was ex-North Eastern
Railway 4-6-0 No 761. Built at Gateshead
Works in 1906 to an 1899 design, which
constituted the first British passenger 4-6-0,
later engines, such as No 761 itself, were built
more for a mixed traffic and express goods
role. In normal service the class became
extinct in 1938 as LNER ‘B13’, but upon its
withdrawal in September 1934, No 761 had
been retained and it was then appropriately
modified as a counter-pressure locomotive to
provide a constant resistance to traction for
locomotive road testing, and so was
transferred to departmental stock.
Very early on it was employed on ‘last
ditch’ tests with the Gresley ‘Hush Hush’ 4-6-4
No 10000 in its original high pressure
compound form, but as finally modified with
double Kylchap exhaust in 1935, shortly
before the project was finally abandoned
altogether and the engine rebuilt on
conventional lines. In practice the 4-6-0 was
rarely if ever used thereafter, but it
nevertheless survived the war and was
renumbered to No 1699 in October 1946, and
was sent to the new Rugby locomotive testing
station in July 1948. By this time the recently
departed LMS, which with the LNER had
With the cutter’s torch beckoning, this
10 September 1933 view on the Swindon
Works scrap roads records the end of the line
for former South Devon Railway 2-4-0T Prince
as GWR No 1316. Built by the Ince Forge Co
(Works No 14 of 1871), it was withdrawn at the
end of the broad gauge era in May 1892 (as
GWR No 2137), and then converted to ‘narrow’
gauge and renumbered. In this form it served
until May 1899, when it was converted for use
as a stationary boiler. Incredibly, it would not be
cut up until August 1935.
J.R. & O.R. Gibbon Collection
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jointly established the new facility, had
perfected more refined electrical methods of
performing the same task, and so No 1699
was condemned in February 1951 and cut up
at Crewe Works three months later.
Sold out of service
Then there is the special category of railway
locomotives sold out of service for industrial
use, very often at collieries, which has resulted
in some remarkable survivals in regular
operation long after their extinction on the
main line. The most celebrated case was the
highly distinctive double-framed long-boiler
0-6-4T No 5 Cecil Raikes, which was built by
Beyer, Peacock & Co Ltd in 1885 for the
Mersey Railway. Made redundant and put up
for sale by auction at Bidston following the
company’s electrification in 1903, it was the
first to be sold, being purchased by Shipley
Mersey Railway 2-6-2T No 18, running as
Dorothy, is seen on 4 October 1944 at
Whitwood Colliery, Yorkshire, part of the
Briggs Colliery system before becoming part of
the NCB. One of the 18 steam locomotives to
find employment elsewhere after
electrification of the Mersey Railway, it is
somewhat smaller than the company’s 0-6-4Ts.
Dorothy was completed by Kitson & Co Ltd
(Works No 3395) in 1892 and it would remain
in service until April 1947. J.M. Jarvis/
Online Transport Archive/Rail Archive Stephenson
62
Collieries near Ilkeston, where it remained in
use until 1954. It even retained its nameplates
and prominent, but long since superfluous,
condensing pipes. Set aside for official
preservation, although discarded from the
National Collection in 1965, relatively little
has been heard of it for some years. Although
not immediately, all 18 Mersey Railway steam
locomotives eventually found buyers,
including two 2-6-2Ts built by Kitson &
Co Ltd in 1892, Nos 18 Banstead and 17
Burnley, which worked at Whitwood Colliery
near Castleford in South Yorkshire,
respectively as Whitwood No 11 Dorothy,
www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
Wilson Worsdell-designed LNER ‘B13’ class
4-6-0 No 761 heads an up goods at Dalton
Bridge, Darlington on 7 June 1930. Forty
engines in this class, NER ‘S’, were built
between 1899 and 1909. No. 761 was the last of
the class to be scrapped thanks to its
conversion, in September 1934, to a counter-
pressure locomotive, without its superheater.
Withdrawn from normal traffic in October
1938, it was sent to Rugby testing station in July
1938. It was renumbered as service stock
No 1699 in October 1946 and was eventually
cut up at Crewe Works in May 1951.
William Rogerstone/Rail Archive Stephenson
Former Mersey Railway 0-6-4T No 5 Cecil
Raikes, as National Coal Board No 42, shunts a
train of LMS 40 ton coal hoppers at Shipley
Colliery, Ilkeston in the early 1950s. After many
years stored at Steamport, Southport the 130-
year-old Cecil Raikes has returned to
Merseyside and it is now stored at the
Liverpool Museum’s Bootle repository.
T.G. Hepburn/Rail Archive Stephenson
serving until 1947, and No 12 Whitwood,
which lasted until 1952.
Having an even longer working life,
although not destined for preservation, was
North Eastern Railway long-boilered 0-6-0
No 658, which was built by Robert
Stephenson & Company in 1867. It was sold
out of service in 1909 to a colliery in
Northumberland, where it worked for
50 more years, substantially in its original
condition, until it was regrettably broken up
in 1959.
The stringent locomotive standardisation
policy of the London, Midland & Scottish
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The 1923 Stoke Works-built ex-North
Staffordshire Railway Adams-designed ‘New L’
class 0-6-2T No 2, as restored to NSR livery in
1960, is seen with a loaded coal train at
Walkden Colliery, Manchester in spring 1965.
Although built after the Grouping, this tank
engine was given a NSR number as the
company was not taken over by the LMS until
1 July 1923, when it became No 2271.
Withdrawn in 1936 and sold into colliery
service, the 0-6-2T spent considerably longer
working in industry than it did for the
NSR/LMS.
W.J. Verden Anderson/Rail Archive Stephenson
Railway was not kind to the contributions
from its smaller and certain not so small
constituents, particularly the North
Staffordshire and Glasgow & South Western
railways. Nevertheless, 0-6-2Ts built by, and
for, each were sold to industrial enterprises in
the 1930s, and as a result these lasted for
many more years. Five of the very attractive
North Staffs ‘New L’ engines, built by the NSR
at Stoke between 1913 and 1923, were sold to
Manchester Collieries in 1937. Some of these
were superheated, which was very unusual for
locomotives in industrial service, but
replacement boilers of the original 1913 non-
superheated pattern were later obtained from
the Hunslet Engine Co Ltd.
What proved to be the last operational
unit was created as late as 1965, by combining
the serviceable parts of two engines, and this
remained at work at Walkden until 1968,
31 years after the class had become extinct on
the LMS. Another example, old NSR No 2 of
1923, had already been officially restored in
1960 and it is now held in the National
Collection as the only surviving North Staffs
steam locomotive. In a similar vein, only a
single ex-G&SWR 0-6-2T lasted in ‘main line’
service until 1948, but others remained in
industrial use until 1952. These were out-lived
by an 1899 Kilmarnock-built Manson 0-6-0
tender engine, which had been sold by the
LMS to a Northumberland colliery in 1926,
where it worked until scrapped in 1953.
Nearly ten years later, however, in 1962, an
ex-G&SWR 0-6-0T, one of three built in 1917,
was identified still working at a colliery near
Wrexham. It was acquired by the then British
Transport Commission and was fully restored
as G&SWR No 9 for display at the then
Glasgow Transport Museum.
NOVEMBER 2015
The most remarkable survival of all in
terms of continuous operational life, putting
even the Mersey Railway engines in the shade,
is that of a Furness Railway inside-cylinder
0-4-0 tender engine, which was already a
virtually obsolescent type when built by
Sharp, Stewart & Co in 1863. Not entirely
surprisingly, together with several others it
was sold to the neighbouring Barrow
Haematite Steel Company only seven years
later. These were promptly rebuilt as saddle
tank engines, and the survivor remained in
active use for no less than 70 years as No 7
until 1960, when it was initially plinthed
outside a local school for almost 20 years. It
was then obtained by the Lakeside &
Haverthwaite Railway in Cumbria, which over
the course of nine years authentically restored
it to original FR condition and identity as FR
No 20, replete with new boiler and replica
tender. Mechanically speaking it is a direct
descendant with plate frames and
conventional firebox of the only other
remaining Furness Railway locomotive, Bury
0-4-0 No 3 ‘Coppernob’.
Lion
This review would not be complete without
reference to Lion, an 0-4-2 built in Leeds in
1838, by Todd, Kitson & Laird for the
Liverpool & Manchester Railway. Although
operating as a locomotive for only 20 years, it
www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
was sold to Mersey Docks for use as a
stationary engine to power a pump, and it
functioned as such for a further 70 years until
superseded by electricity. The incomplete
engine was then acquired by the LMS for
restoration at Crewe Works, including the
provision of a new replica tender, in
anticipation of the approaching Liverpool &
Manchester Railway centenary celebrations in
1930. It would later appear, again under its
own steam, at the 150th L&MR celebrations
in 1980, by which time it ranked as the
second-oldest operational steam locomotive
in the world. The oldest was the John Bull,
built by Robert Stephenson & Co in Newcastle
in 1831 for the Camden & Amboy Railroad,
which was specially put into steam to
celebrate its own 150th anniversary by the
Smithsonian Institution in the USA.
The above listings are by no means
complete. In the early 21st century we find
ourselves in an era of numerous replica steam
locomotive projects, some of which will
incorporate components that have managed to
survive from the otherwise extinct originals. In
the latter category in the writer’s book, literally
the ‘one that got away’, was undoubtedly the
North British Atlantic back in 1939. It is
curious to consider that 50 years ago, however,
roughly two-thirds of at least one NBR Atlantic
was still in existence, at a time when the cutting
of locomotive frames and the casting of new
cylinders still remained (just) a routine
operation in several British Railways
workshops. Back in 1959 nobody would
seriously have contemplated such an operation,
which with the benefit of hindsight would have
been technically feasible.
Liverpool & Manchester Railway 0-4-2 Lion is
seen on display at the ‘Century of Progress’
exhibition at London (Euston) station in 1938
along with a streamlined Stanier ‘Princess
Coronation’ Pacific, while at the opposite
platform face is a rake of ‘Coronation’ coaches.
Lion was a remarkable survivor, having first
seen the light of day in 1838, and when
steamed for the 150th anniversary of the
L&MR in 1980 it was the oldest operational
steam locomotive in Great Britain.
C.R.L. Coles/Rail Archive Stephenson
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Tail Lamp
Readers’ Letters
Recalling No 7024 Powis Castle
Sir: I enjoyed the article in the April copy about the
last days of the Oxley ‘Castles’, I remember those
days, as I was a fireman at Gloucester Horton Road
during the summer of 1964. As Mr Bartlett states in
his excellent article, these holiday extras ran from
June to early September and they were mostly
headed by the last of the ‘Castle’ class. At
Gloucester we were involved in some of these
turns, usually from Eastgate station to Bristol
(Temple Meads), or from St. Phillips Marsh to
Cheltenham (Malvern Road) via the Gloucester
South avoiding line.
One Saturday in June I travelled to Bristol with
my regular driver Ray Matthews, to work one of
these extras back to Cheltenham. We went to
Barrow Road shed and collected No 7024 Powis
Castle – the engine had a tender full of Barrow Road
best hard coal so as we trundled tender first to ‘the
Marsh’ and I filled the firebox with as much coal as I
could get in there!
After a few reversals, we arrived as our train
rolled in. The ‘Warship’ uncoupled and I hooked us
on, I think we had ten coaches. I can’t remember
the exact time we left but it was late afternoon. As
we departed, ‘Powis’ started to blow off and I was
hoping for a good run. As we went through
Lawrence Hill, Ray opened the regulator wide, so I
opened the firehole door and I couldn’t believe my
eyes, most of my fire had disappeared up the
chimney! Ray said “Castles love hard coal”, he
wasn’t kidding, I started some heavy firing and the
engine just carried on steaming, we had a great run
to Cheltenham but my back was a bit sore by then.
The photograph on page 18 is No 5054 Earl of
Ducie, which at this time was one of 85B’s stud, she
had just come off the ‘City of Truro’ run, that is
why she is in good condition.
No 5089 Westminster Abbey was at this time
quite often employed on the Crewe-Bristol parcels
runs at night, so perhaps that’s why she wasn’t seen
on the holiday extras? Gloucester crews worked the
23.25 Bristol-Crewe parcels from Eastgate to
Stourbridge and this was steam-hauled right to the
end of 1965, and maybe beyond. At Gloucester we
also worked holiday extras over the LMS route from
Derby, with any motive power that was available –
‘4Fs’ to ‘B1s’ – happy days.
Thanks for the great magazine
Jim Irwin,
Whitstable, Kent
The post-1962 route of ‘The Pines Express’
Sir: Steve Bartlett has done an excellent job in
recounting the complex story of the Indian Summer
of Wolverhampton (Oxley) ‘Castles’ – Steam Days
April 2015 – which was thoroughly readable.
Just to clarify one point – from September 1962
‘The Pines Express’ did not run ‘via Crewe,
Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton’. Actually, from
10 September 1962 it ran from Crewe via Nantwich,
Market Drayton, and Wellington to Wolverhampton.
When the Nantwich-Wellington line was closed to
passenger traffic, as from 9 September 1963, then
‘The Pines’ continued from Nantwich via Whitchurch
and Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton. This continued
until 1967 when the route was changed entirely, to
run from Manchester via Macclesfield, Stoke,
Wolverhampton (High Level), Coventry, Leamington
and southwards. Although diagrammed for a ‘Type 4’
diesel from 1963 onwards, steam regularly appeared
on this working, in the form of any ‘Class 7’ or
‘Class 8’ locomotive available at Crewe, although
even ‘Black Fives’ and BR Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0s often
appeared. The article brought back many happy
memories at Oxley shed!
Bob Yate (by email)
64
The ‘1667’ class 4-4-0s
Sir: A couple of minor corrections, if I may, to
Andrew Wilson’s feature on St. Pancras station,
Steam Days, June issue.
The photograph of ‘1667’ class 4-4-0 No 1673
was taken in the locomotive yard at Manchester
(Central), and not at St. Pancras as stated – to the
right of the picture can be seen the brick-based
water tower, a feature here until the station’s
closure in 1969.
Though the ten ‘1667’ class 4-4-0s were
withdrawn between 1897-1901, they were
‘renewed’ as members of the ‘150’ class built at
Derby in the same period. Though it has been
stated that only the wheels were retained, it seems
unlikely that other parts – e.g. bogie, footplating
and cab, would have been disposed of so early in
the engines’ life. An ‘accountants’ rebuild’ maybe?
But whether these engines were scrapped or
rebuilt, they were not the only Johnson 4-4-0s to be
withdrawn before the 1907 re-numbering scheme.
Two members of the ‘1327’ class built by Dübs &
Co in 1877, Nos 1332 and 1336, were scrapped in
1904.
E.M. Johnson (by email)
Restaurant cars of the Southern
Sir: With reference to the above article, the only
vitreous enamel pub sign that appeared on the
‘Tavern Cars’ was the one that actually appeared
inside the car over the bar. According to the late
Les Elsey, who was the only electrician at Eastleigh
Works who always seemed to have a camera in his
hand rather than a multi-meter, the signs on the
outside were all painted freehand by a talented
electrician in the carriage shops – strange but true!
I had long discussions about the subject with Les on
several occasions. The only reason that the external
signs were lost was modifications when the cars
were rebuilt /refurbished – emergency doors with no
external handles on both sides had to be fitted, and
it was where the signs had been, hence the
disappearance of the signs.
As an afterthought, there were eight vitreous
enamel pub signs, and I wonder what happened to
them and what they would be worth today? I
suspect a bit like the third ‘Merchant Navy’ crest,
that was turned into a coffee table and presented
to the shipping company – I know of one that was
still in existence a while ago, but it is probably lost
in the mists of time with the demise and
amalgamations of the companies.
Incidentally, the underframe equipment also
changed during the ‘Tavern Cars’ lifetime; they
started off with coal tar gas – the very long tanks
underneath – which then changed to LPG (shorter
tanks) in the ‘Blood and custard’ era, and when in
green they had bottle gas – three boxes underneath
and no tanks. You might be interested in the results
of my research on the subject some years ago, and I
have photos of all the pub signs.
Mark Arscott,
For MARKITS (UK) Ltd
Sir: Having spent part of my career on the Southern, I
read with interest the piece on SR dining cars. Perhaps
I may add a couple of observations that might be of
general interest. The Southern’s dining cars enjoyed a
reputation for excellence largely because of its policy
of recruiting direct from the Merchant Navy, and it
was generally known in the trade that seagoing
catering staff who wanted to return to terra firma
would be given preference for employment by the
Southern. A similar line of promotion existed on the
Pullman cars of the LNER, whose conductors were
almost always retired regimental Sergeant Majors from
a guards regiment. I am not certain that all the sets
had returned to the Southern by 1949, and the pair
that worked in ‘The Master Cutler’ were removed
from the working in (or around) November 1949 but
then spent some time working the Harwich-Liverpool
Continental – working the down train as far as
Sheffield and returning in the up duty after a break of
about an hour.
W.S. Becket,
North Wales
www.steamdaysmag.co.uk
Dundee (West) station
Sir: The article on Perth (General) to Dundee
(West) in the April issue evokes memories for me
not only in that it is near my native heath but also
that I spent several months in the summer of 1953
as an embryonic booking clerk in Dundee (West)
station. By then the writing was on the wall for this
station and the photograph at the bottom of page
49, devoid of activity taken in 1964, could have been
equally apposite ten years earlier. As far as I recall,
the stationmaster at neighbouring Tay Bridge station
had by now the West station as a joint charge.
Although we still had services to Glasgow
(Buchanan Street), by and large they were not used
to any great extent by the citizens of Dundee and
district for pleasure or business. The ‘leaning’
hereabouts was more towards Fife and Edinburgh.
As noted, the platforms of their stated length would
have made many other stations envious and
comment could have been made regarding the
platform end semaphores that were mounted ‘back
to back’, which are just discernible in the
photograph at the top of page 49.
The booking office had, as built, five windows,
but by my stay only one was in general use, with
another, ostensibly for the Blairgowrie branch, used
on pay days for staff. There was an open enquiry
counter to the rear, accessible from the forecourt,
that certain of us, including myself, were wont to
vault over rather than use the booking office door –
not recognised practice!
The most notable individual I encountered
there was the chief booking clerk, Harold Thornton,
of a somewhat irascible nature – he could be
excused as he was torpedoed in the Atlantic during
World War II, twice in the one night!
Finally one for the locospotters – ‘V2’
No 60813, featured on page 44, was the lone
member of its class to have a short stovepipe
chimney with small wing smoke deflectors.
John Macnab (by email)
Sir: Reading David Anderson’s very enjoyable
account of this part of Scotland, I was intrigued by
the caption to the photograph at the bottom of
page 52, which shows BR Standard ‘5MT’ No 73145
departing Dundee (West) with the last train at
20:00 hours. It is not unusual in Scotland for nights
to be that much lighter for longer than in southern
England, but on New Year’s Day?
As I have a copy of Peter Marshall’s book The
Railways of Dundee, which incidentally was cited in
the references for David Anderson’s article, I found
a photograph of the very same last train, attributed
to the Dundee Courier. Taken from a higher position
and almost front-end on (up a signal post?), the
schoolboy in uniform and his dad (?) appear in both
photographs in almost the same position, so the
provenance of both is proven, but the caption in the
Peter Marshall book states ‘May 1965’, which
explains the daylight if the departure time was 8pm!
Whilst the clock face is shown at a distance in the
Dundee Courier picture, it is hard for me to
determine the time it is showing, and in any case by
this time it could have stopped at some random
point. In the text of Marshall’s book it is stated that:
‘Thus one of the most striking railways station
buildings (Dundee West) in Scotland was closed
from 3rd May 1965’.
I hope that helps set the record straight, and
please keep up the good work in reminding us what
it was all about!
James Milne,
Great Gaddesden, Hertfordshire
Opinions expressed in letters are not those of
Redgauntlet Publications Ltd or Key Publishing Ltd (or
any Group Company).
Please send any letters to Tail Lamp,
Steam Days Magazine,
Redgauntlet Publications,
P.O. Box 2471,
Bournemouth, BH7 7WF
Email: taillamp@keypublishing.com
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