steaman

Several of the Lilleshall loco fleet had removable rear spectacle plates and I thought i'd have a go at creating a cheap & cheerful version of 2794 with the rear spectacle plate fitted. I know that there will no doubt be historical inaccuracies with my approach, but I decided to convert a Hornby 27XX to become 2794. I purchased the loco second hand for £30 and here is what I did:- 1) Remove the cab roof 2) The roof looked like this 3) Make a new cab roof from .030" plastic sheet 4) Make a rear spectacle plate from .030" plastic sheet 5) Fit roof & spectacle plate to loco 6) Purchase from Narrow Planet some 2794 GWR pattern numbers & fit + make small Coal Board registration plate from excess sheet supplied with the 2794 number plate. 7) Carefully remove the original Great Western lettering from the pannier tanks with wire wool and apply a thin coating of olive drab paint to give a dull finish. The next loco for conversion is the 0-4-0 Barclay into Alberta. Regards Steaman

I came across this un-used wagon label earlier this year. It seems to indicate that the Lilleshall Co performed rolling activities for other steel manufacturer's. I would be interested if anyone can shed some light on the logistics of this operation eg where was the steel rolled & how did it get from the mainline to the steel rolling plant & how did it leave? If anyone can provide an insight into the operational nature of this that would be appreciated. Cheers for now Steaman.

Just to advise, if anyone is interested, that on Monday 26th March 18 (all being well) at the Telford Railway Society, there will be several photos of the Lilleshall company railway system presented in an illustrated talk. There will also be many views of the main line railways during the 1950/60's around the Telford area. The show starts at 19:45 hrs in the Maddocks sports & social club, Oakengates.

As below I do have a higher resolution version of the words chalked onto the buffer beam of the crane. The addition of chalked inscription to items of rolling stock appears to be quite popular on the Lilleshall - see previous "Return To Boot Hill" on the rear of the Peckett. The photo below along with 3 of the other recent Lilleshall system photos posted by Killian Keane (With no credit!) was taken by A.J.B.Dodd. Regards Steaman

Here is a view of Llanfyllin taken by A.J.B.Dodd that I hope will help provide some useful detail.

Here is a recently scanned view of Lilleshall Peckett No 10 working in the area of Priorslee furnaces, taken by A.J.B.Dodd sometime in the mid 1950's. This was a very thin Neg, hence the darkness of the picture, but 1/2 an hour in Photoshop has provided us with this image.

Wagon Details: I thought I'd try and scan in some wagon detail in an attempt to provide some modelling information. These are 60 year old negs by A.J.B.Dodd that I have attempted to obtain the wagon detail from, with limited success. I do hope that they may provide some useful background. In addition to these wagon views are 2 of the photographs from which the detail has been obtained. These are of Lilleshall Running No 1 the 0-6-2 Taff Vale tank loco Works No 305 from 1895. Plus Lilleshall Running No 11 the 0-6-0 Barclay works no 1486 of 1916.

I know that I haven't been posting very uplifting images of the Lilleshall/Granville loco fleet, but I came across an old faded colour print taken by AJ.B Dodd, at the bottom of a chest of drawers last night. The image appears to depict the demise of "Constance" plus another unidentified loco. I know its not a great shot, but if anyone can confirm my guess that the more distant loco is "Constance" that would be appreciated. Once again, in a similar manner to the Peckett, the loco shown would appear to have a removable top half of the rear cab. Below are the before & after Photoshop versions. Steaman.

What a fascinating couple of photographs. I never knew that such a system existed and excellent that you have recorded it and created a great historical record for us all to enjoy. Great stuff!

Here are some further photos of the Granville colliery system in colour taken by A.J.B.Dodd during the 1960's. Of interest is the derailment of Hunslet 2895 - by means of a bit of planning and the assistance of the yellow digger, normality was restored. In the shed at the Granville is an unidentified 16 inch Hunslet alongside another stripped loco. At work just along from the engine shed at the Granville AB2246 is seen with a nice selection of NCB wooden body wagons. A bit further away from the engine shed and on the climb from the exchange sidings, is No 8 working a train load of empty HAA wagons up to the colliery loading point. Slightly closer to the engine shed is Hunslet 2895 working past one of the distinctive beehive shaped lineside huts, this time with a rake of 16 ton trucks - pre HAA. At the risk of being branded a heretic & doom monger, here is the fate of one of the Hunslets at the Granville - Unfortunately I don't know which one. That's all for now. Steaman

Here are some static locomotive pictures taken by A.J.B.Dodd of 2 of the locomotives that worked on the Granville colliery system at one time or another. The first is of Barclay loco No 2246 of 1948 and the second is of Hunslet loco No 3776 of 1952 (Identified as No 8). This latter loco was delivered new to Baggeridge colliery and left the Granville for further NCB use, eventually being preserved.

There are not too many photos published from the last day special with Alberta. Here are 2 views taken by A.J.B.Dodd from inside the wagons as the special ran along parts of the railway system.

I agree that there appears to be 2 cab styles used on No 10, Here is a rear view of the half cab version as fitted to with No 10 coupled to "Alberta" in the new yard engineering works. The cab rear appears to have a chalk message which reads "Return to Boot Hill or Return To Boot Mill" which I'm not sure will mean anything to anyone?

Just scanned this neg by A.J.B.Dodd of Lilleshall No 10 Peckett with just hours left to live. The (gas) axe man has arrived with goggles ready for action. The previous shot uploaded shows the results of his labours.

Here is a photo to illustrate slag tipping operations, admittedly in China, but I would imagine the process followed in the UK would not be so different. Taken on the 28th Jan 1996, we see SY loco No 0571 with a train of loaded cauldron wagons in the slag tipping area at Anshan steelworks. There are two parallel lines on top of the embankment, one as we can see with the cauldron wagons, and another one behind, that has a steam crane on it. The loaded train arrived at the tipping area and the cauldron wagons were pneumatically activated/tipped. The steam crane, with a large iron ball on the end of the jib, swung out and hit the side of the cauldron wagons in order to dislodge any remaining slag. This was done with considerable force, and there was evidence of some of the cauldron wagons being knocked from the embankment. The yellow excavator down below, was used to move the slag away from the tipping point, thus keeping the area clear for further slag to descend. The whole area was quite hazardous/ hot, so it was always wise to keep a safe distance! I hope this may be of interest. Kind Regards, Steaman.