Table of contents for Volume 37 No 5 - May 2023 in Backtrack

It was a fine dry Monday evening when I reported for duty at Bury Motive Power Depot. I had been employed as a Passed Cleaner at Bury for about eighteen months and was now being rostered for a full week's work on the footplate on a regular basis instead of day to day. As I have told many times before during my working career, my preference for night work was well known. I was pleased to be rostered all week with Driver Arthur Tennant, our starting time being about 8.00pm. I had previously worked with various drivers on most jobs but the Bacup–Moston run had so far eluded me. When I arrived Arthur was standing at the window of the office booking on duty. Seeing me waiting there for my…

FROM THE PENDRAGON ARCHIVES…

Aconsiderable number of collisions has taken place over the years where a slow train, often a goods, has perforce had to be moved out of the way of a faster non-stop train. This was done in one of two basic ways – shunt into a siding leading from the same track or shunt across from one line to the one going in the other direction and hope that the signalman will remember that you are there when accepting an oncoming service on that track. There was rather less frequently a third option – that of shunting into a siding on the opposite side of the line. This is the story of how no fewer than four trains were involved in an incident which involved shunting across from one track to…

In Part One of this article I reviewed the background, opening and operation of the Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Railway (BP&GVR) its traffic and its locomotives and rolling stock. In Part Two we travel the line and take the story to its sad and somewhat inevitable end. A journey from Burry Port to Cwmmawr Let us now take an imaginary trip along the BP&GVR. The 12¾-mile ‘main line’ route from Burry Port to Cwmmawr is single track throughout. In earlier BP&GVR days the rails were flat-bottom steel 75 and 81lb per yard, not chaired but secured by bolts to sleepers. For our journey in 1952 we observe that the running track is generally characterised by a mass of weeds. Most trains on the branch consist of a locomotive and…

Wednesday April 12th 1967 was a grey day in the White Peak of Derbyshire but with the final closure of the remarkable Cromford & High Peak line less than three weeks away (due on Sunday 30th April) it was important that the ‘last rites’ should be recorded. Motive power for the day's activities was provided by J94 0-6-0ST No.68012, one of the last High Peak survivors of ‘Heydon's Tanks.’ With the withdrawal from service of the 0-6-0T North London tanks in 1956 the then District Traffic Inspector at Rowsley, John Heydon, thought that a number of J94s might prove adequate replacements and so Nos.68006/13 and 30 were transferred from Bidston on the Wirral to the wilds of Derbyshire. These three were later joined by Nos.68012/34/68 and 79. No 68012 was…

Early railway construction is often associated with the north of England, but there were notable early railways in the south. The Surrey Iron Railway (opened 1803), the Canterbury & Whitstable Railway, (1824), the London & Greenwich Railway (1836) and the London & Croydon Railway (1839) were all locally, rather than strategically, important, although the promoters of the last two might have had wider ambitions, with Dover and Brighton in mind respectively. By the mid-1830s the potential of the railways as movers of people, as well as goods, was recognised, and lines from London to the towns of Dover, Brighton and Southampton were seen as worthy of investment. Only Dover and Brighton are relevant in this account of the construction and operation of the line from Hastings to Tonbridge, whence London…

Tehe ironworks which created and dominated the town of Consett, County Durham. was well known for its railway connections. Opening in 1840, just to the north of the Stanhope & Tyne which started running in 1834 (although the western section, closest to the works, closed in 1839), the works and the nearby town were situated at over 800ft above sea level. The demanding climb up from the coast saw the deliveries of foreign iron ore to the works in the final 30 years to its closure in 1980 particularly popular with enthusiasts, with strenuous effort required from the steam and later diesel locomotives hauling – and banking – the trains. Other inputs to the works included similarly large amounts of coal and limestone as part of the metal-making process, and…

Two Palaces To begin this story we need to step back in time to Hyde Park in London on 1st May 1851. There Queen Victoria and Prince Albert inaugurated the great exhibition of international achievements, within a giant and innovative building, a symbol for the age. When the outstandingly successful exhibition ended the Palace was dismantled and its components used to create a similar building on Sydenham Hill in South London. This ‘Crystal Palace’ was to be a centre for displays, musical recitals, circuses and other such events. Not to be outdone by developments south of the Thames there were soon calls for a similar venue in North London and entrepreneurs bought Tottenham Wood Farm, a largely undeveloped area high above Wood Green. This was to become the 240-acre ‘Alexandra…