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Dai Woodham's Yard


Tim Hale

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Get a copy of "The Barry List" it's only a few quid, and lists all the locos that passed through Woodham Bros. hands, and the ultimate fate of each loco and if preserved, the date it left the yard, current location, condition etc.

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In one interview Dai Woodham explained that the locos were neglected because there were so many redundant wagons on offer, and they could be disposed of much quicker than locos, and the scrap value of steel from a wagon was the same as that from a steam engine (once the non-ferrous goodies had been removed - or stolen !).

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Folk often forget the locos that were cut in the early years like the outside cylinder six coupled tanks eg 1366 and also a batch of ex-WD Hunslet 18" Austerities.

 

Brian R

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The biggest tragedy of Barry was not only that most of the superb 94xx panniers sold to Woodhams didn't survive, but also the loss of the class 29 and original NBL Warship that languished there for so long. Mind you, when I visited Barry in the early 1970s most enthusiasts were disparaging about the diesels. Indeed, one individual who was slapping red oxide on a steam loco gleefully informed me and my companions that they used the two diesels as a toilet. Charming.

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When Barry scrapyard was finally cleared in 1990 the last 10 locos in terrible condition were stored firstly in Cardiff and then later in Barry depot.

Now they are gradually being sold off for various restoration projects mainly for parts.

 

 

Some pictures here

 

Cheers!

Frank

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From recollection, a couple of 9F locos as well as another few standards were scrapped. Apparently Mr. Woodham has always said that he wouldnt have his workforce standing idle, and would only hold off on scrapping steam locos while there were wagons to scrap. When the supply of wagons was not sufficient, the 9Fs were broken up.

 

Nonetheless, we should all be extremely grateful that he did have such a relaxed attiude towards selling the things to preservation societies. He preserved an awful lot of history, and the railway preservation movement would not be half as strong as it now is without his contribution.

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Looking back, the thing that is amzing by today's standards is the total absence of security or Health and Safety - there was no fencing or gates; anyone could wander in.

Mind you, I only ever visited on Sundays - was access still unrestricted on working days?

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Looking back, the thing that is amzing by today's standards is the total absence of security or Health and Safety - there was no fencing or gates; anyone could wander in.

Mind you, I only ever visited on Sundays - was access still unrestricted on working days?

 

The last time I visited the yard was in June 1978! and as far as I can recollect it was a weekday and we just walked around unchallenged with notebooks and cameras.

 

As you say I don't think anything like that would be allowed to happen now.

 

Cheers!

Frank

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Perhaps useful that a few of us did take some notice of the wagons and ignored the rotting hulks

 

Too true Paul, and for that please accept my thanks.

 

As is apparent, I too was devoting more attention to the hulks.

 

Brian R

 

PS

Notice the 'scar' left by the missing NBL builder's plate on D6122, I wonder where that is now (tee hee !).

post-1599-0-02133300-1317363120_thumb.jpg

post-1599-0-81514000-1317363132_thumb.jpg

post-1599-0-92793600-1317363181_thumb.jpg

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Here are a couple from me: gallery_506_572_4533.jpg

 

Did you get more of the lettering on the LNER Diag 207 double door loco coal alongside? Although these have cupboard doors I have never seen one apparently branded as to not to be used for engineering Permanent way work (if that is what it is saying). This would be logical as the cupboard door "so called" SNCF minerals were branded in a similar way to that affect.

 

Paul Bartlett

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Paul,

 

I will look out the negative over the weekend, its in the loft!

I dont think that there is much more on it, but we will see.

And yes all i was focusing on that day was the kettles - tho I did get round to shooting a western and green 37 at Cardiff

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Nonetheless, we should all be extremely grateful that he did have such a relaxed attiude towards selling the things to preservation societies. He preserved an awful lot of history, and the railway preservation movement would not be half as strong as it now is without his contribution.

 

Some of his model collection used to be on display at Barry Island before the council decided to kick everything out. I'm not entirely sure his scrapping policy was *entirely* business oriented.

 

But yes he made a huge difference as a look at the state of preserved steam in many other countries shows.

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