Ivatt LMS Class 4 2-6-0s

Not pretty these engines; a functional design, to put it kindly. Introduced as late as 1947, the summer 62 combined volume lists all the original 162 that made up the class. There are big gaps in my underlining but they were well spread out across the system, including in Scotland and East Anglia.

John Dyer found quite a few to photograph and in a variety of locations. No. 43034 was at Shrewsbury station in 1964, No. 43054 was in Neville Hill sheds in 1962, 43071 was at York in 1962, 43101 was at Wakefield in 1962, 43124 was at Aintree in 1961 on a Grand National day special and 43139 was at Carlisle Citadel in 1960. No. 43106 is the sole survivor and now a stalwart SVR engine for the last 50 years.

Letter from America

A kind thought from a friend in America brought a package my way that had many more stamps inside it than there were on the cover. This 1980 series of British postage stamps designed by David Gentleman commemorated the 150^th anniversary of the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. They are colourful reminders of that momentous occasion.

They are in a similar “side-elevation” style to a much earlier set of illustrations recording the beginnings of the same route. In 1833, Isaac Shaw pictured the different ways that people and goods were carried by this new form of transport. The four linear diagrams were republished in 1894, and were later used in two separate carriage prints by the London Midland and Scottish Railway. These were fixed to the compartment walls, above the seats and underneath the luggage racks.    

Letter from America, the Home Service programme that was broadcast by Alistair Cooke [then continuing into the replacement, Radio Four], was a regular event at home when I was a child. I continued to dip in to it on a less regular basis throughout the programme’s existence up until the time that it finished, which was shortly before Alistair Cooke died, in 2004.

He was much appreciated for his relaxed and somehow rather comforting delivery, dealing, as he was, with some of the more vexing and volatile issues of the day. He was also rightly known for his dry wit and the insight and wisdom that came from his wealth of experience as a journalist and commentator. Although I had always had an interest in things American - I had opted for American Studies at college and then made use of it to get a belated “A” level in American history - I could have no idea at the time how important our own “special relationship” would eventually become.  

Wallasey Grove Road

This picture from John Dyer’s archive shows the shunting of a short freight train in the sidings at Grove Road station, in connection with work being undertaken to replace the rail overbridge at Sandcliffe Road, formerly known as Jockey Lane. The date was the 10^th December 1961.

We cycled [and later motored] under that bridge many times on our way to the “dips” for a game of footy. Sometimes we took the parallel Sea Road access point to take the bikes onto the Red Noses, where an impromptu “mountain bike trail” over the grass-covered sandhills had developed, linking a few footpaths between the gorse bushes. This was long before such things became planned attractions with appropriate bikes to match. It was close to the site of Warren station, between Grove Road and New Brighton, which had been abandoned as long ago as 1915.

The locomotive in the photograph is a Stanier Class 5 2-6-0 No. 42946. There were 40 in the class, of which I had seen all but two by the time they were withdrawn. One example, No. 42968, has been preserved and is based on the Severn Valley Railway.

In need of a banker

The 1 in 37 gradient between Exeter St David’s and Exeter Central required trains heading up the hill to have an additional push from a banking engine. This Maunsell ex-SR Class Z 0-8-0T, photographed at the lower station by John Dyer in 1961, was employed to do just that.

Cycling up Oxton hill recently, I could have done with one myself. First, I was overtaken by an octogenarian on a mountain bike with chunkier tyres and smaller wheels than me. Adding insult to injury, he turned round as he passed me and offered me a tow. I scoured his bike frame for signs of electrical assistance but could not see any. Then it was the turn of a slightly overweight couple to climb past me, though they, at least, admitted to having powered assistance, which I’d already spotted. I still hadn’t reached the top when a proper cyclist with drop handle bars fairly shot by. I’ll be ready next time. I’ve even oiled my pedals.

Crabs

These ex-LMS 2-6-0s designed by Hughes were rather ungainly in appearance but gained greater affection as they stuck it out in the north west during the decline of steam on BR. John Dyer photographed these examples at Birkenhead and Bidston sheds and on a freight through Chester General. The photos were taken between 1960 and 1964.  

Seaside Specials

In the late 50s and early 60s, steam-hauled special trains regularly brought bank holiday trippers to New Brighton for a day out. John Dyer took these photos on the third-rail electrified route that was more usually associated with the steady procession of commuter services to Liverpool Central Low Level.

This selection from John’s archive features the Fairburn and Stanier-designed former LMS tank engines that were sometimes used on these trains. These particular excursions had brought visitors from Stoke-on-Trent, Wrexham and Bangor between 1958 and 1962.

The Merchant Navy Class

When I was 3 or 4 years old, my Dad took me to London for the day. We were staying with my uncle in Winchester at the time. On that day, I know that I would have seen un-rebuilt Merchant Navy Class locomotives and probably quite a few of them. By the time I was old enough to show a more perceptive interest, however, they had all been rebuilt into their final form.

From the pictures, their rebuilt form was preferable. They wore their air-smoothed casing less comfortably than the light Pacifics and the nameplate looked to me as though it was set too low. The rebuilt version is to my mind one of the most pleasing designs of all the main line express passenger engines. Everything appears to be perfectly harmonious and in balance.

I got to see all thirty, eventually, even though I had to count my last one, No. 35020 Bibby Line, when her boiler had already been separated from her frames during the scrapping process at Eastleigh works in the summer of 1965. It was not a very satisfying way to wrap up such a distinguished class, but I’m gradually getting over my disappointment at being a few months too late to see her all in one piece.

John Dyer’s picture shows No 35028 Clan Line preparing to take a relief to the Bournemouth Belle out of Southampton Central in August 1961. Last year’s photos are of No 35018 British India Line on the Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express at Carlisle.

BB/WC

Battle of Britain and West Country Classes were the same - except for the names, of course. There were much more obvious differences between un-rebuilt and rebuilt versions of both, though. Spam cans were very distinctive and therefore quite exotic beasts, especially for those of us in the north west of England. It seemed that we were far away from their home territory, at the time. I saw most of them eventually but eight managed to evade me before the end of steam on the Southern Region in 1967.

John Dyer photographed BB Class No. 34065 Hurricane at Exeter St David’s in 1960 at the head of the up Atlantic Coast Express. BB Class No. 34090 Sir Eustace Missenden Southern Railway and No. 34038 Lynton were both Waterloo-bound with expresses that had stopped at Winchester City during August 1965.

Winchester - The Schools Class

I first went to Winchester in about 1953. I was sick in my pushchair after a few swigs of glycerine - illicitly obtained and taken straight from the bottle - together with some more legitimately acquired chocolate drops. We were staying in Kingsgate Street, Winchester, with my uncle, who was Head of Classics at Winchester College, the house that came with the job and which was opposite a side entrance to the school.

Winchester College was the first school I have ever went to, and although I was only there for a few hours and managed to disgrace myself in the process, it was the first in a series of places of learning that eventually defined my working life. None of the others came close to having a locomotive named after them.

John Dyer found No. 30901 Winchester at Brighton MPD in 1961, a year before she was scrapped. My uncle had taught previously at Tonbridge, which had also had a Schools Class named after it, No. 30905, which was withdrawn in 1961. I returned to stay with my uncle in the summer of 1965. He offered to take me to various historical sites during the week, but I turned them down in favour of another day on the station and I never regretted it for a moment.

My uncle was a nice man, kind and welcoming to us as a family later on, in spite of being somewhat bemused by my lack of any studious inclination at the age 16, probably quite unlike the young people of the same age that he was used to dealing with at school. In the 80s, our own children were amused by the snakes in his garden [slow worms in the compost]. On his retirement, he became curator of Winchester’s rich cultural heritage, as the former capital of the country, before London. He is remembered with affection.

Returning the Empties

Class 60 No. 60092 is one of the pool of Toton-based locomotives designated for the Humber oil refinery - Kingsbury depot run. Most of the class are out of service and some have been stranded out of use at Toton depot for years. Their power apparently gives them the edge over the Class 66 on the heavily laden inland-bound workings. 60092 is heading the 11.04 from Kingsbury at Fiskerton station yesterday, returning the empties to the refinery.

On the bank at Toton

Considering it is such an operational rail hub, I’ve been there very infrequently over the years. I went round the depot on an open day, decades ago now, and I have stood on the bank overlooking the up sidings only once since then.

When I reached what I had imagined from memory would be an uninterrupted view of the site, I found that it was completely hidden behind a screen of trees and bushes. Having eventually found the path that leads from the end of the approach road, there was a good view of the shed yard and the large collection of out of service Class 60s, most of which are stored in two long lines on the up sidings.

There are various enthusiasts’ websites available that list what one should be able to see from there, as by no means all the numbers are visible. Not all the online information is up to date, however. For example, this year No. 60006 has been scrapped and two other locomotives, also formerly listed as having been present, were sold to the Wensleydale Railway.