End of the Season

My wife tells me that a mutual friend always dispenses with his shorts for the year on this day – the 30^th September. I try to hold out in this respect as long as I can, too. However, whereas he washes, dries, irons, folds and puts them carefully away in a chest of drawers for the duration of the winter, I chuck mine in the bin because the arse has fallen through with too much sitting around on this computer chair.

I have stuck it out until today this year, too. It was cool and wet this morning, so much so that I went to photograph Class 66 No. 66780 The Cemex Express in the car rather than on my bike. I justified this gross waste of precious unleaded because I didn’t want to stand around at the station like “a wet mess”, as my mother used to describe the cat, when he reappeared after rain. I might also have caught a chill before my holiday, and since visiting George Washington’s house at Mount Vernon, it is stamped indelibly in my consciousness that ignoring a soaking from the rain can sometimes have very unfortunate consequences, even for the best of us. Additionally, I thought that I could - with a little detour, admittedly, take in 3 petrol stations to try to fill up before we depart for our imminent holiday in Scotland, where the current forecast is for a further week’s rain. Luckily, I still had enough petrol in my tank to wander around looking for petrol. I was also armed with a tip-off that one of the garages, at least, was dispensing the stuff earlier today.

Unfortunately, all 3 were without and I now have rather less than I started with. On the plus side, The Cemex Express - express being something of a misnomer for a heavy freight train - was busy taking coal to the power station so that we can all have warm homes for Christmas, which slowly approaching festivity is apparently now all anyone is interested in knowing about. At least Ratcliff burns coal and not gas, for which the prices, as well as the fumes, have gone through the roof, so thank goodness for cheap foreign coal imported through Immingham. But, will there be enough turkeys wrapped in plastic and CO2? Will there be enough petrol to bring the relations down in time for a ridiculously large meal and the traditional reopening of family feuds? Will there be enough East Europeans who can be persuaded to return to Amazon in time to send out our Christmas presents? [If I was one of them, I’d be tempted to tell the UK government where they can stuff their turkey.] Please come back. All is forgiven. We love having you here, really, we do.

In GBRf livery, No.66780 was repainted at Eastleigh in 2018 and named at a ceremony at Dove Holes Quarry near Buxton, where its nameplate was unveiled by Pete Waterman in the following year. Cemex is a Mexican multi-national company. In the UK, it is a major supplier of cement, concrete, mortar, screed, aggregate, railway sleepers, blah, blah, blah, with various factories in the North Midlands situated near to the Buxton area limestone quarries and like them just outside the Peak District National Park. I’ve heard anecdotally that there are supply issues also with building materials at present, though as DIY activity is somewhat far down my list of “things-to-do”- in fact, it’s at the bottom - I will not be chasing round retailers and running out of petrol looking for cement anytime soon. My late father-in-law once gave me a massive DIY Guidebook as a Christmas present. Maybe it was a joke, anyway I hope I did not look too disappointed. If only there had been a timely interruption to the supply chain.

The wonky Fiskerton signalbox could have done with the careful application of a suitable Cemex product during its lifetime, as well. 
  

Dyer's Diesels

John Dyer took relatively few pictures of diesels, when compared to his substantial collection of steam images. Amongst them are these shots of Type 2 diesels, photographed in various parts of the country in the late 1950s and early 1960s. D5003 was observed pulling a freight train at Manchester Victoria on 24/3/62, D5006 was heading southbound out of Crewe station in July 1963, D5142 was on Willesden sheds on 26/1/63, D5315 was backing out of King’s Cross in August 1959 and D5571 was at King’s Lynn on 8/6/62.

  

Together Again

After a gap of two and a half years, we were finally back together again for a lads’ train day. We met up at Wirksworth on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway for a return trip to Duffield. Motive power was provided by the Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust’s BR Standard 2-6-4 tank No. 80080, which is on loan from the Midland Railway at Butterley. The Bridge Inn next to the River Derwent outside Duffield provided us with an excellent lunch, taken outside on the terrace, before we strolled back to the station via the footbridge over the Derby to Sheffield main line. We were back on track, at last.

 

SVR Autumn Steam Gala 2021

There is something very special about the SVR - wooded slopes, rich red soils, kingfishers on the river, safari park, sewage works - OK, so maybe not the sewage works. Its still my favourite heritage railway setting by miles. Even though the Duchess couldn’t make it to the party, we had two warm, bright days to watch the action at Eardington and Hampton Loade, which we shared with good friends on a relaxing and sunny Friday to round off our week away. Perfect.

Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale

We recently explored this fascinating World Heritage Site, with its numerous connections to the development of the railways. At Blists Hill Victorian Village, a family-oriented visitor attraction where 19^th century-style shops have been added to an authentic industrial location, there is a working replica of Trevithick’s 1802 steam locomotive, which was the first one in the world and built at Coalbrookdale. Also on display is Andrew Barclay 0-6-0 saddle tank [works number 782] of 1896, which operated at Kinlet colliery near Highley.

The Hay Incline operated between 1793 and 1894 to transfer goods between the Shropshire Canal at Blists Hill and the River Severn at Coalport. The tub boats were carried on wheeled cradles and operated mostly by gravity, though a small stationary steam engine was also available to pull tubs back up to the top by a rope attached to a winding drum. 

At the Enginuity Museum in Coalbrookdale, locomotive No. 5 is preserved. It was one of 6 standard gauge 0-4-0s built by the Coalbrookdale Company in the 1860s. Outside the Museum of Iron, and within sight of Abraham Darby’s Old Furnace, where in 1709 coke was first used instead of charcoal to make cast iron, there is a section of original flanged rail used by horse-drawn wagons before the retaining flanges were switched to the wheels themselves.

The SVR north of Bridgnorth

The former GWR line northwards towards Shrewsbury is now used as a cycle way for most of its ten mile course as far as Ironbridge. The intermediate former station buildings at Linley and Coalport remain as private houses, and at Ironbridge and Broseley there is a restaurant, serving “no nonsense bistro food” [according to its website], which may well be a relief to some, I suppose. Coalport station building also has a B&B function and two Mark 1 carriages available for hire. One very small section of track remains in situ, next to level crossing gates near Jacksfield.

 

Much Wenlock

The former station building at Much Wenlock in Shropshire is now a private house. The section to Craven Arms on this ex-GWR branch had closed in 1951. The remaining line to Wellington followed in 1962 and is now a footpath for much of its course.

On the back of the toilet door at a café in the centre of the town, and surrounded by a number of other images, was a picture taken prior to closure of a DMU waiting at the platform. In this shot, taken from a convenient seated position, the station is at the bottom and the bottoms are at the top.

  

Diesel Shunters

As young spotters, of all the things that moved, the humble diesel shunter was the least likely to gain our attention. Before the 08s became the standard shunter, there were other smaller examples with a short wheelbase that were even more suited to the tight curves often found in dockland settings and D25XX Class members were based at Mollington Street in Birkenhead for that purpose. John Dyer photographed three diminutive 1950s diesel shunters. D2239 was at Littleport sidings on 13/6/62, D2505 was at Birkenhead on 7/2/62 and D2507 was shunting the Wallasey and Birkenhead dock system on 7/2/62.

Brush Type 4s

At the time they arrived on the scene, I thought the Brush Type Fours were pretty uninspiring. Built at Loughborough and Crewe, they would soon become ubiquitous. I needed to see just 5 out of the 512 by the time the majority had been withdrawn. As a class, they have certainly displayed longevity, with a significant number of survivors on the main line and the heritage railways today. I’m not sure that John Dyer was that impressed with them in the old days, either, as his collection includes just these 2 shots showing D1734 at Bristol Temple Meads on 1/8/64.

Pooh sticks on the River Greet

Had a game of pooh sticks at Rolleston yesterday with Christopher Robin, Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet. We were all waiting for the Immingham to Ratcliffe coal train, which was hauled by Class 66 No. 66782.