Train Envy at Perth

Dining out with friends recently, I went for the healthy, pasta option. It was tiny. I’d finished while they were just getting stuck in. One of the alternatives even came with a separate, full plate of vegetables. I got serious food envy. I then had to apologise for letting it show.

Now I’ve got retrospective train envy, too. My friend, John, has sent me pictures of him and his cousin outside Perth sheds in 1963, taunting me further with their notebooks in hand and an ex-LNER Pacific that I almost certainly never saw enticingly placed just behind them. It is amazing how low people will stoop to upset me.  

Perth

“I have never been to Perth station”, I remarked to my daughter, when she informed me that her work was taking her there by train. Indeed, I never got to Scotland at all in the age of steam. I had to rely on railway magazine photos by WJV Anderson [Bill, to his friends, including Les Nixon at our recent railway club meeting].

Perth station was designed by Sir William Tite and opened by the Scottish Central Railway in 1848. It had an overall roof, part of which still stands. I knew it through the railway press as an impressive junction station, where ex-LM and ex-LNER named engines rubbed shoulders.

More recently, I had come across two paintings by George Earl in which he had recorded the upper classes on the platforms in the 1890s at King’s Cross and Perth, prior to and then at the end of the shooting season, respectively. Nineteenth century railway stations provided new opportunities for artists to witness a mingling of the social classes of the kind that the upper classes had perhaps gone out of their way to avoid [excepting those in direct service, of course] and in spite of the provision of first-class waiting rooms.

Aware of my interest, my daughter kindly took a couple of pictures to remind me of something that remains on my “must do” list for now. The Caledonian Sleeper stock is double-headed on its journey between Inverness and Euston. She also noticed State Car No. 1 [formerly named “Amber”] from the Royal Belmond Pullman set. It must be in the blood.

  

The Wensleydale Railway

We took return tickets from Redmire behind Tornado. It was quite a contrast between the gleaming A1 and the infrastructure of the railway itself. The heritage line is at an early stage in its development and is therefore reminiscent of the pioneering heritage railways of the 1970s and 1980s.

The essentials are in place but many visitor amenities have not really got off the ground yet, as the railway is a relative late-comer on the scene. As always, the rate of progress will be down to the availability of funds. Nevertheless, the track was already in place and the scenery is splendid. A future link up with S&C? Well, that would be something special.

Hawes Station

Hawes station was opened in 1878 by the Midland Railway at the end of its 6-mile branch line from Hawes Junction, later renamed Garsdale, on the Settle and Carlisle line. At Hawes, there was an end-on connection with the North Eastern Railway’s branch from Northallerton, on the East Coast Main Line.

The line closed completely in 1964 and the track on the western section was lifted. The station was taken over by the Yorkshire Dales National Parks Authority, who developed it as the Dales Countryside Museum and tourist information centre.

Next to the platform stands a short length of track and three BR Mark 1 coaches headed by an ex-industrial 0-6-0 posing in ex-BR black livery and carrying the number 67345.

Ruswarp

On Garsdale station is this statue to Ruswarp. The plaque on the fence behind it tells the story of a remarkable dog and his devotion to his master, Graham Nuttall. No further explanation required.

Lizzie

The last time we saw Lizzie, a few years ago now, she was storming the Lickey incline with a bit of help from two panier tank bankers. We renewed our acquaintance at Garsdale on 25/5/19, as she headed north with The Pennine Limited.

The Prinnies always look a bit top-heavy to me, somehow, with that enormous boiler hurtling towards you, but in terms of power and presence they take some beating.