It’s now more than 50 years since steam ended on BR. Luckily, by the late 60s and early 70s, some within our group of friends were driving cars – either their own or their parents. This enabled us to search out steam on the newly forming heritage railways, instead. On our first such venture, Andy took us to a snowy K&WVR in February 1969. On the way, we called in at Birkenhead sheds and Spring’s Branch, Wigan, which, unsurprisingly, were both full of diesels, though I was struck that no-one seemed at all bothered that we were there, much like it had been in the last days of steam.
We did not travel on the K&WVR but visited both Haworth yard and Oxenhope, at the top of the line. It was freezing but I don’t think you really notice the cold when you’re 20. My somewhat cursory and scratchy notes, written on a scrap of paper on the day, record the locos that were present at Haworth. Little did I know that I would drive Joem, myself, one day [though only for a short time!]. We were also heartened, no doubt, to see that Scots Guardsman had been rescued for the future – another engine that would cross our paths again.
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