Bill Jamieson

The WR winter timetable for 1968/69 (effective from 30 September) was amended before what is shown in the 6 May 1968 public TT came into force. 1S68 St Pancras - Glasgow was retimed by about an hour earlier requiring 1S65 to be retimed by a similar amount, departing Carlisle at 15:58 rather than 17:00. This worked to my advantage In early December 1968 when I spent an afternoon free of university lectures visiting Kingmoor shed in the hope of getting a shot of 44767 (the Stephenson valve gear Black 5) which at that time was stored in the 12A repair shop (the rest of the shed was full of stored Claytons and Metrovick Co-Bos). Needless to say it turned out to be f1.8 @ a fortnight lighting conditions, so photographically it was a complete waste of time and I was very pleased to find on my return to Citadel station that there was an imminent departure for Edinburgh over the WR - although I possessed the current ScR public timetable I didn't have the amendment notice informing of 1S65's earlier departure time. The 15.58 timing did enable photography of the train along the southern extremity of the line, even in the depths of winter (as stated by 'Chard), but the shot I took out of the carriage window at Newcastleton is so under-exposed as to be not worth uploading here! (from memory the loco was D193 on that occasion). Bill

According to the very recent CRP&A book "Rio Grande Steam Finale", the final revenue earning freight workings took place in late August 1968 as follows:- Tuesday 27 August Durango - Gato (return loco and caboose) Wednesday 28 August Durango - Chama and Alamosa - Chama Thursday 29 August. Chama - Alamosa and Chama - Durango Saturday 31 August Durango - Farmington - Durango Victor Hand photographed both workings on the Thursday (and presumably everything else that week) but only shots of the westbound train appear in the book - the loco involved was 483. It isn't stated whether it had worked through from Alamosa or out and back from Durango. The very last train to arrive in Durango from the east was a non-revenue equipment move from Alamosa on Friday December 6 1968. Bill

On the subject of Volume 7, I've been doing some sleuthing of late and eventually found proof that the unidentified Britannia on page 96 is 70022 Tornado. Bill

Returning to the subject of painted Kontrollziffern on DR narrow-gauge locos, I 've just been working on some scans of negatives taken on the RüKB and I see that 99 4633 was still fitted with the original (ie pre-Kontrollziffer) cab-side numberplates in May 1982, despite having been through Görlitz works for an L7 overhaul just the previous December. Perhaps a certain frugality was the order of the day given that the 0-8-0WTs were expected to be replaced by 2-10-2Ts from Saxony within a year or two.. Although completely irrelevant to this thread, such frugality seems to have gone out of the window by the time the Wall came down because in February 1990 I was able to buy 99 1777-4 and 991791-5 plates from Oberwiesenthal shed staff, Both plates are absolutely pristine and have obviously never been on working locos. I suspect that when despatched to Görlitz for overhaul, all plates were removed, ensuring that when the locos returned to the Erzgebirge they came with a full set of new plates which could be readily converted into Deutschmarks from visiting enthusiasts! Bill

This is very much a long shot but I'm wondering if anyone here has come across this book - https://www.fcaf.cat/portal/llibre-pv-ponferrada-villablino-el-ferrocarril-del-sil/ - and can advise how I might obtain a copy. The email address given in the link appears to be dead. Bill

The locos involved would have been (mainly - see below) those which received four digit numbers at the 1949 nationalisation of numerous 'private' lines. By the mid 1970s line closures and withdrawals had reduced these to 14 machines still in service - eight at Wernigerode/Gernrode. five at Putbus and 99 4532 at Zittau. During the first week of September 1977, 99 5906, 6001 and 6102 on the Selketalbahn were running with EDV smokebox door numberplates but still with old-style plates on the cab-sides and bunker each suitably updated with a painted Kontrollziffer. 99 5902 (Gernrode) and 99 5903 (Wernigerode for the Traditionszug to Benneckenstein) were both running with a full set of correct plates. By the time of my next visit to the Harz in September 1980, all the locos working the Selketalbahn had a full set of EDV compliant plates (albeit some of them looked to be home-made painted replacements - no doubt enthusiast theft had hit the DDR by then!) but 99 6101 at Wernigerode only had a correct numberplate on its smokebox door. The cab-side numbers were painted (with the 9s in the correct curly-tailed style), while the plate on the bunker still had the old style 9s so I assume was an original plate but it's impossible to tell whether there was also a painted Kontrollziffer - if so it was probably the very last example of this. 99 4532 at Zittau definitely had a full set of the correct plates in August 1979 as did 99 4632 and 4802 working from Putbus in September 1978 but I can't be sure when the other three locos there received them. The one curiosity I alluded to above was 99 2322 at Kühlungsborn which was photographed (by Hans Müller) in September 1973 with the correct smokebox door plate but otherwise with old 99 322 plates each with a painted -8 Kontrollziffer. Presumably this was corrected on its next visit to Görlitz. Bill PS In the above I have ignored the locos on the Waldeisenbahn Muskau which was really an industrial line and it's not obvious why it was taken over by the DR (in 1951).

PV No. 5 is shunting at Ponferrada - from the direction of the sun, the shot will have been taken fairly early in the morning. On the evidence of the avenue of trees and double track, I would suggest that CP No. E169 has just left Senhora da Hora station and is bound for Trindade, the narrow gauge terminus in Porto. Bill

Thanks for pointing out the side by side option - something I wasn't aware of before - and I certainly hadn't noticed that more recent large scale maps had been added. Somebody in the NLS maps section has certainly been busy! Bill

Although it doesn't answer your query in terms of books, and you may be aware of it already, the National Library of Scotland maps website covers the whole of the country at 25 inches to the mile. While the newest mapping is no more recent than the 1930s or '40s, I suspect that track layouts would be substantially unchanged into the 1960s at most locations. As an example, here's the sheet covering Fratton Yard, or at least most of it - Sod's law probably dictates that whatever location one is most interested in will inevitably spread over at least two sheets! https://maps.nls.uk/view/105989353 Bill

Climbing Borthwick Bank en route to Tweedbank, 15th May 2016

The Hans Müller narrow-gauge album is now available from Amazon UK at just over £36 with free postage. My copy arrived a couple of days ago and overall I'm very impressed. It covers just about all the narrow gauge lines that were still extant in the mid 1960s, so the lines which survive today are not necessarily well covered - the sections on the Weisseritztalbahn, Zittau system and Harzquerbahn are quite brief and I would have to say that the shots in the latter section are a bit lacklustre. However this is compensated by some absolute belters of shots elsewhere - not least the frontispiece, a very atmospheric winter shot which features the obliquely lit side of the shed at Jöhstadt with six feet long icicles hanging from the guttering and just the front end of a Meyer visible . The photographer also had a good eye for composing a loco portrait (in my opinion) and there are a number of such shots of rarities which didn't survive into the computer numbering era. Bill

The Hans Müller narrow-gauge album is now available from Amazon UK at just over £36 with free postage. My copy arrived a couple of days ago and overall I'm very impressed. It covers just about all the narrow gauge lines that were still extant in the mid 1960s (Eisfeld to Schönbrunn is an obvious omission) so the lines which survive today are not necessarily well covered - the sections on the Weisseritztalbahn, Zittau system and Harzquerbahn are quite brief and I would have to say that the shots in the latter section are a bit lacklustre. However this is compensated by some absolute belters of shots elsewhere - not least the frontispiece, a very atmospheric winter shot which features the obliquely lit side of the shed at Jöhstadt with six feet long icicles hanging from the guttering and just the front end of a Meyer visible . The photographer also had a good eye for composing a loco portrait (in my opinion) and there are a number of such shots of rarities which didn't survive into the computer numbering era. Bill

It was the Finale set - yes, strange that their website is not up to date. Bill

Well, my set was delivered this morning although there was no warning on the MNA website that this was imminent. Haven't had a chance to open them yet so can't comment on the content! Bill

I see that Dampfbetrieb der DR Band 2: Schmalspurbahnen is available from Platform 5 at £45.95 + £4.60 p&p. Bill ://www.platform5.com/Catalogue/Non-English-Language-Titles/Non-English-Historical/Dampfbetrieb-der-DR-Band-2-Schmalspurbahnen-EK-EDDR2S