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Many of the Locomotives featured below have been rescued from the breakers cutting torch and restored by volunteers. These first images were taken on a few seconds of Standard 8 Film by me in the late 1960's at Woodhams Scrapyard, Barry Island, in South Wales. I therefore apologise for their very poor image quality. I believe 75029 is currently preserved on the Gt. Central Railway. Thankyou Woodhams for not cutting in haste.
Beeching wielded his disasterous axe and ruined Britains transport infrastructure forever and then instant dieselisation threw hundreds of thousands of pounds of investment in modern steam locomotives away. A flood of literally hundreds of perfectly serviceable locomotives ended up waiting for the scrap cutting torches to reach them in Woodhams and other yards.
Fortunately, at Woodhams, many were never cut up and are now operating on the preserved steam railways of Britain.
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I am pleased to say that I was privileged to be one of a group of students from North Oxfordshire Technical College and School of Art who visited Swindon Locomotive Works in 1960 and at just the right time to be allowed the privilege of riding out of the Swindon Locomotive Works on the running boards of 92220 Evening Star the last British Rail steam locomotive built in Britain. We rode around to the little station in the grounds of the works that connected to the outside rail system and then rode back into the works inside the engine compartment of the latest new Diesel Locomotive being built there.
Going out I was standing at the back end of the smoke deflector plate on the right hand side of Evening Star and boy was that smoke box hot. Would you believe it? On the return trip I was stood in the gangway alongside the Deltic engine block and not only was it hot but extremely noisy. I believe this diesel to have been one of the first Deltics produced but could be wrong about this. If anyone out their knows what engine this was I would appreciate an email bodgerjim@btinternet.com and as I believe official photographs were taken at the time I would be most interested in aquiring copies.
The background image on this page is of the construction of one of Hook Norton in Oxfordshire's two railway Viaducts on what was once part of the Newcastle to Fishguard Express route better known as the Banbury and Cheltenham Railway 1887-1962. It was still quite a busy goods only route when I was at school at Hook Norton from 1954 to 1958. On one occasion I used the gantry of the viaduct nearest the tunnel to launch my model glider aircraft (Keilcraft Comet) and was driven off the lineside by a shower of coal being thrown at us from the footplate of a passing goods train.
The driver had seen us as he came round the curve onto the viaduct, which had a 5mph restriction at the time and had stopped his train on the viaduct to administer some instant discipline on the gallant trespassers. Being basically a good lad I took the hint and only trespassed on the embankment from then on, you could run away quicker! My first Diesel powered plane had its test flight from there, a Tomboy powered by a Frog 180 and also a Jetex powered scale model Douglas Skyray. Ninety feet up was a good start for any model aircraft and just too tempting to resist.
These images were recorded on my elderly video camera on a main line steam hauled excursion run in 1999.
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This excursion was steam hauled from Crewe to Colwyn Bay but at Colwyn Bay the train has to be divided into two halves for the very steep climb up the Conwy Valley past Llanwrst, Betws-y-coed and Dolwyddelan. The previous steam excursion is said to have stalled when trying to take the whole train up this line. In this very narrow valley with a winding road weaving in and out of the valley side, on one side, and the car drivers trying to keep level with you as you wind up the railway track on the other side with your steam engine barking hard and the sound echoing off the valley sides, well if a journey like this doesn't stir your soul, then nothing will.
All in all it was a great day out for any steam buff and I can only say thank you to the staff of Past Time Rail Ltd., 116 Trent Valley Road, Lichfield, Staffs, WS13 6EU, England (Phone 44-1543 411971) who operated this excursion.
I was lucky enough to be in the first half of the train and was therefore able to take a return trip on the Ffestiniog Narrow Guage Railway all the way down to Porthmadog and back to Blaenau Ffestiniog whilst the other half of the train was being collected and steam hauled up to Blaenau.
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The locomotives below have all been filmed, photographed or recorded by me over the last 25 yrs or so on the Severn Valley Railway. Click on the small picture and you will get a bigger image and a description of the featured locomotive perhaps including a short sound recording of the locomotive recorded by me in holophonic stereo. You may copy any of these images for your own non-profit use. Otherwise all rights are reserved. At the bottom of the page you will eventually find links to other steam railway sites.
LNER No 3442 "The Great Marquess"
LMS No 5000 "The Black Five"
LMS No 46521 "Ivatt Class 2 MT"
LMS No 47383 "Jinty"
GWR No 4930 "Hagley Hall"
GWR Pannier Tank No 5764
GWR No 7812 "Erlestoke Manor"
B R Standard Tank No 80079
BR 4-6-2 No 34027 "Taw Valley"
L M R No 600 "Gordon"
What should you do to find out more?
Join:-
The Severn Valley Railway Co Ltd
Or Visit
The Seven Valley Railway Website
Or Write To:-
New Membership Secretary
Severn Valley Railway Co. Ltd.
The Railway Station
Bewdley
DY12 1BG
England
If however you should wish to know about any, of the many, preserved railway sites in the UK, then you should click the link below and take that hyperspace leap to the "Fount of all Knowledge"
Click to Return to Jim's 1st Page
Copyright ©1999 Jim Rushton