Dreaming of Wolverhampton

It sounds unlikely, perhaps, but I did. I only went there once - on my own [I think] on 4/8/62. I had missed a visit to Stafford Road works and sheds that my friends had made a short time before, and I wanted to “catch up” on some of the stuff they had seen. I had no permits, so I spent a few hours on Low Level station and then came home, travelling both ways on the through trains between Birkenhead and London Paddington, via Shrewsbury and Chester.

These trains reversed at Chester, but certainly did not always leave from the bay platforms closest to the entrance that were used for most GW line destinations. The Western diesel is shown leaving for Paddington from the main down platform in September 1962, whereas the 2-6-4 tank has brought a Paddington special train into the bay in 1967, after regular services on the route had finished. Sometimes the through platform on the far side of the station had been preferred for these services.

It was certainly a productive day out. I saw 3 Counties, 12 Castles, 5 Kings [cabbing 6014], 1 Manor, 3 Granges and 17 Halls. The writing was already on the wall, however, as 3 Western diesels also put in an appearance and within a few months all the Kings had gone. Dream on, I say.

The T9s

The LSWR Drummond Class T9 4-4-0s were elegant locomotives. Introduced in 1899, they subsequently became known as the Greyhounds, being able to put on a turn of speed. They were primarily employed on passenger duties in the West Country. No. 30120 has been preserved as part of the National Collection and is on loan to the Swanage Railway. They had all been withdrawn from service by 1963. John Dyer caught up with No. 30313 at Eastleigh works in 1961 and No. 30718 at Exeter St David’s in the previous year.

  

Riverside View

This is where the River Greet passes under the formation on the edge of Rolleston, shortly before it joins the Trent. The gated crossing leads to a footpath and a farm, which are close to Southwell racecourse. The mid-day oil tankers from Kingsbury sidings to Humber refinery were hauled yesterday by Class 60 No. 60054.

A lady and her daughter passed by while I was waiting and she asked me whether I was expecting to photograph something unusual. I explained my purpose there and said that there had been some notable steam specials using this section over the years. I added that I looked forward to that being repeated in the not too distant future.    

Morton Crossing on Monday

It was groundhog-day at Morton crossing, in time for the lunchtime return of oil tankers to Humber refinery. Where the lineside is not overgrown with vegetation, it’s packed with unsightly metal fencing and techno-gubbins. It should still have been a simple matter of timing, however, for me to keep the loco’ clear of obstructions. Work in progress.

NRM Blog

I received an email flagging up a recent blog item that had been issued by the National Railway Museum. Under the banner “Things to do at Home”, they reimagined a series of ten vintage posters from their collection and replaced the original captions to suit the [then] current restrictions on movement around the country.

The theme of the message was that we can’t go there now but could look forward to a time when they can be revisited. Included in the list was this iconic image of the outdoor bathing pool at New Brighton. Septimus Scott pictured his bather on the top diving board - which I can remember was very high up, indeed.

I pointed out to the author that nobody would be going back there and doing that again, because the wonderful Art Deco pool was knocked down in 1990 after severe storm damage. It was then decided that it was too expensive to fix.

They haven’t got back to me.

Adams Class B4

These diminutive 1F 0-4-0 tanks had almost all gone, with just three members left, by the time of my summer 1962 combined volume. Twenty-five had been built for the London and South Western Railway between 1891 and 1908, for use as station pilots and dock shunters.

John Dyer photographed them at Eastleigh works [No. 30102] on 26/4/60 and No. 30096 at Winchester City station on 27/8/61. Two examples have been preserved, one on the Bluebell Railway and one at Bressingham Steam Museum, at Diss in Norfolk.       

The Southern’s USA Tanks

These Class 3F 0-6-0 short wheelbase tanks were used for negotiating bends with tight curves in dockland settings, most notably at Southampton. They were built during the Second World War by the USA Transportation Corps and shipped to Britain for use by the War Department. Ultimately 14 locomotives were used by the Southern Region and numbered 30061-74.

John Dyer visited Southampton docks on 29/8/1961 and found Nos. 30061 and 30070 at work there. I saw ten members of the class during BR days, including the four examples that have since been preserved.