Full lockdown

Gosh - that was quick! Into tier 3 on Boxing Day, and we had to stop running, then tier 4 on December 30th, and a few days later on January 5th BANG! - straight into lockdown! No doubt we are now paying penance for the excesses of Christmas. Let's hope it's the 'last push' before we gradually all get the vaccine. We can't now run trains at half term, but possibly a COVID appropriate service in March. It all depends on how long the lockdown lasts, and currently there is no definite limit to this one. What to do?

Well, while we wait we still have Derek Palmer's wonderful pictures of steam in 1963 to look at, and in colour too. In June 1963 he was still on tour with his local OURS railway club, and this is what he saw:

Here is a view looking south from Bletchley No.2 signal box. The upper set of signals provide a clear view for approaching expresses unimpeded by the station buildings. The visit to the signal box was a continuation of the Oxford University Railway Society tour on 5^th June 1963 featured in last week's blog. It's a pity that I didn't take a photo of the inside of the box. It's too late now! Also in the picture is a DMU which I think is about to depart on a service to Bedford.

The DMU is on the far left, there's another loco on the far right and one approaching the camera. Can anyone say more? Bletchley station lost some glory to Milton Keynes, but will no doubt see more traffic when the East West link is reactivated - it is just down the road from Swanbourne.

This view from the signal box must be quite rare.

Derek continues:

Bletchley was one of the haunts for me as a teenager. Just out of shot on the right there is some higher ground known as 'The Bank' which was a popular vantage point for trainspotters. The sight of double headed expresses thundering through was exciting to watch.

On another OURS tour on 15^th June 1963, two photographs taken at Evesham of 3745 with the 12:24pm train to Ashchurch. If there wasn't a Sunday service then this was the last day of passenger services. (the station closed on 17th June 1963)

These two pictures will be of particular interest to our local enthusiasts. There was a second station just out of shot to the right at Evesham, where WR trains stopped on the Oxford - Worcester line. That is still there, but the platforms in the picture have disappeared and the station site now holds the tyre depot used by yours truly!

This second pictures shows the same last train at Evesham, now looking east, with the Railway Hotel peeping over the footbridge. The building was put up by the Midland railway after the line from Redditch arrived at Evesham in 1860. It's still there today.

Pannier 3745 of the Collet designed 57xx class entered service in 1937 and at the time of the picture was shedded at Gloucester, Horton Road, the GWR shed there. With much less work for it to do the loco was withdrawn a year later and scrapped by Cashmore's of Newport in April 1965.

The OURS headboard seems to have been affixed at every photo stop, and one very enthusiastic enthusiast must have lugged it around for the entire trip!

Then a last view of the same train at Ashchurch as we departed for Gloucester.

This is a view looking north, back at Ashchurch station, where the train hauled by 3745 has arrived on the curved platform at the end of the line from Evesham. Two boys can be seen messing about in front of the loco, and you can also make out a bucket by the loco on the platform - perhaps to carry some engine coal to a waiting room fire?

Also on the right you can see a wagon loaded with a military vehicle. This was for the MOD depot a short way up the line.

Here is 45700 with train in the sidings at Gloucester.

This Stanier Jubilee was built by the LMSR at Crewe in 1936 and entered service as 5700 BRITANNIA. When BR launched its new standard Pacific class in 1951 the name was usurped by the first one of the new series, and the Jubilee in our picture was left bare of nameplates. Luckily a new one was found: AMETHYST. This was in honour of a Royal Navy Frigate which ran the gauntlet of heavy fire down the Yangtse Kiang in 1949. 

At the time of the picture AMETHYST was quite far from home, being shedded at Derby. The engine is dirty, the BR crest on the tender is almost invisible, she is blowing off and there is nobody visible on the footplate.

The loco was withdrawn in July 1964 and quickly scrapped two months later.

5240 at Gloucester Central.

Another dirty loco near the end of its life. This was a GWR workhorse from Wales, where it was designed to haul coal trains down the hills, and empties back up them. At the time of the picture 5240 was shedded at Aberdare, so it too was some way from home. Just look at the protection for the crew in the cab - no glazed windows, just a sliding sheet of steel with a knob. That'll do yer! Now get to work, lugging.

A member of the 4200 class, itself a relative of 2807, this loco was built in 1924 and managed a respectable 40 years service, until scrapped in May 1964. So at the time of the picture not much maintenance, or even cleaning, was thought worthwhile. A chalked inscription can be seen under the bunker, the top half of which reads: 'KEEP OFF'. Strange, that.

The 4200 class has a certain elegance and power, and is one of your blogger's favourites. He is an enthusiastic supporter of 4253 at Rolvenden : https://www.4253.co.uk/  where a total wreck from on top of a coal mine in Wales arrived 9 years ago, and which today is almost fully restored. In fact the 4253 guys - who had never restored a Barry wreck before - have already started on the next project, a wreck that was so bare it consisted of just frames and a boiler: GWR 5668.

 

 

 

Lockdown Quiz 2 - Answers.

Little bit of sackcloth here, and a small scattering of ashes - the quiz was actually prepared by Jim, not Robert, as we proclaimed last week. We have used all of Robert's quizzes up, and since lockdown there have been no new ones. Sadly. 

So here are Jim's answers:

1. What are the four stations on the Rail Network which are at the most North, South, East, & West points of the compass?

N – Thurso, S – Penzance, E – Lowestoft, and W - Arisaig

2. Which of the above is the odd one out?

Arisaig. All the others are termini.

3. Which preserved railway offers you a “trip over the Alps”?

The Mid Hants Railway

4. Which is the longest standard gauge preserved railway in England and how long is it?

West Somerset Railway at 22¾ miles in length

5. What was unusual about Standedge Tunnels in the days of steam?

The tunnel was built on the only level stretch of the trans Pennine route and had water troughs

6. 76077, which is being restored at the GWSR, lost its tender whilst at Barry. However this survives, but which locomotive is it currently attached to?

76017

7. What is the connection between A3 2563 (BR 60064) and A4 4462 (BR 60004)?

In 1941 the name William Whitelaw was transferred from the A3 to the A4

8. What is the purpose of the Gibson ring?

It holds the tyre onto the wheel casting

9. What nickname is associated with the GWR 47XX class of locomotives?

Night Owl, as these locos spent the majority of their working life on night time freight trains

10. The unique 71000 Duke of Gloucester was specifically authorised as a replacement for which other locomotive?

46202 Princess Anne, which was destroyed in the 1952 Harrow accident

11. What name was carried by Jubilee 45700 Amethyst until 1951?

Britannia  (but you already knew that ;-)   )

12. Which LMS Royal Scot loco toured the USA in 1933 masquerading as 6100 Royal Scot?

6152 The King’s Dragoon Guardsman

13. What name was given to the Castle built at Swindon in 1924 and which incorporated parts from loco 111 The Great Bear?

Viscount Churchill

14. Four Black 5 locos 45154/6/7/8 were named. Loco 45155 also carried a name between 1942 and 1944. What was it called?

The Queen’s Edinburgh

15. In 1951-2 ten standard class Clan pacifics were built, nos. 72000-72009, for use on the Scottish Region. How many more were planned and for which regions, before the order was cancelled?

Fifteen more for the ScR to be named after Clans and five for the SR to be named after Anglo-Saxons

16. What locomotive was the 7000^th one to be built at Crewe in 1950?

41272 - Bachmann made a OO gauge model of this engine

17. Between which two cities did the Mayflower express operate?

London Paddington and Plymouth

18. Which class of GWR engines were nicknamed matchboxes?

57XX 0-6-0 pannier tanks

19. What do you understand by the term “XP64”?

The prototype BR express passenger coaches in blue and grey livery introduced on the Talisman in 1964

20. Where and how high, in feet above sea level, is the highest summit on British Railways?

Druimuachdar (Drumochter) between Dalnaspidal and Dalwhinnie at 1,484 ft above sea level

 

Thank you, Jim, for a really interesting quiz! You learn something every day. We have one more quiz from him to show you, but will keep it for another day.