50 Years since the end of BR Steam!

[Old Gringo]

Following on from post 525:

 

Last Rites at Stockport on May 4th and May 5th - part two: Bruised and dirty!

 

For this last day of steam action at Stockport, my mate Frank had borrowed his Dad's motor and upon arrival at Heaton Mersey shed alongside the mucky river that spawned the worldwide phenomenon [1], we soon learned that the last working off the shed was a trip freight to Godley Junction around mid-afternoon.  After trudging around the shed and taking another couple of fuzzy pictures of filthy engines, Frank decided we should set off for a spot near Woodley Junction to 'Lineside' this final freight working on the short stretch 1 in 61 gradient.

 

Eventually, we climbed over a fence near Woodley and struggled through some briar patch to find a spot to take a picture of Class 8F, No. 48115, complete with smoke-box wreath working hard upgrade towards Woodley Junction.  Then back to the motor to arrive at Godley Junction sidings not long after the 8F had deposited its train.  IIRC, the duty was supposed to include working another train back to Heaton Mersey, however, as the engine was being turned a fault developed.  Driver Thorley, who we'd met down at the shed earlier in the day, declared that one of the injectors was inoperable and so the engine was failed, to return light back to shed asap.

 

Somehow, Peter and myself found ourselves on the footplate as two passengers back to Stockport with Mr. Thorley and his young fireman (who was probably only a couple of years older than ourselves).  And so it was that we rode on the last 8F from Godley Junction to Heaton Mersey shed, on a grey late afternoon, exposed to the everyday conditions of freight work in the age of steam.

 

It's around six miles; from Godley down past Hyde, followed by a short rise to Woodley Junction, then a long downhill section through Brinnington, past the (closed) Tiviot Dale station and then diving into the series of tunnels and sandstone cuttings before passing under Wellington Road and beneath the towering LNWR viaduct to reach the desolate wasteland of Heaton Mersey sidings.

 

Although not really any great distance, it was possibly the most hair-raising experience I've ever had on rails. [2]  This was not the glamour inspired by Sir Ralph's cab at KX just five years before. Here, we were exposed to the hard and dirty work of the steam railway; graft at its cutting edge, clinging on grimly whilst the tired 8F bucked, swayed and jolted over every rail-joint between Godley Junction and Stockport. 

 

 

Driver Thorley pushed that heaving, clanking lump [3] homewards and looking back 50 years later, only now do I wonder what to?  Was this his and the young fireman's last trip?  What did Monday, May 6th 1968 hold for them both?  Of course, we were completely oblivious to those questions and after thanking them profusely for our fantastic footplate ride, climbed down from the cab, dirty, bruised and well pleased.  We were dropped near to the coaling stage at the shed, just out of sight of the 'Bobby' in Heaton Mersey West signal-box, which controlled the entrance to the shed-yard, although he may well have seen us.  How many footplatemen wore a maroon jacket similar to Brian Jones of the Stones, whilst at work?

 

We assumed 'our' engine would be withdrawn later that evening.  But, it must have been just a simple repair required, as No. 48115 would turn up later at Rose Grove and still be fizzing around for a few more weeks.  According to records I've seen since, Stanier 8F, 48720 was the last to leave Heaton Mersey shed under its own power on the Sunday morning.  RIP Heaton Mersey shed, January 1889 - 6 May 1968.

 

For Peter and me, it was a hasty trot back up the hill to Stockport Edgeley station to catch the next train to Manchester Piccadilly and then a dash across the City centre to Victoria Station for (what we assumed was to be) the last time the Belfast Boat Express would be hauled by a steam locomotive.

 

More next time, perhaps, on how the evening turned out.

 

All the best,

John

 

Notes:

[1] The Mersey Beat! (mentioned by Fat Controller in post 518).

[2} Although descending Beattock Bank, in the ducket of the parcels section of a coach right behind the tender of a Black Five, pushing a long way over 90mph on a special in August 1966, came extremely close!

[3] Built at Crewe in April 1939.

[jamie92208]

Those are great John.   It was interesting that you should mention Brian Jones.  I don't know if this has been mentioned before but he did have an interest in old forms of transport. On at least one occasion he turned up at Crich Tramway Museum as a volunteer.  This was in the very early days and I don't have the dates but I believe that there is a photo somewhere.

 

Those reminiscences bring back so many memories and combined with the fabulous music that our generation took for granted are like gold dust.

 

Jamie 

[Trev52A]

@ Old Gringo

 

Fabulous descriptions, John!

I'm sure I've seen a published photo somewhere of an 8F with a wreath on the front - could it have been 48115? If I can locate it I'll give you the details of where to see it.

Can't wait to find out if you managed to ride the last steam-hauled Belfast Boat Express! There are pics in the railway mags of the day showing the final workings, both up and down trains.

 

More please!!

 

Cheers

Trevor

[bike2steam]

@ Old Gringo

 

Fabulous descriptions, John!

I'm sure I've seen a published photo somewhere of an 8F with a wreath on the front - could it have been 48115? If I can locate it I'll give you the details of where to see it.

Can't wait to find out if you managed to ride the last steam-hauled Belfast Boat Express! There are pics in the railway mags of the day showing the final workings, both up and down trains.

 

More please!!

 

Cheers

Trevor

 

Page 97, Foxline Publications, 'Scenes from The Past' series Part 39, 'Heaton Mersey-9F'.

Edited May 8, 2018 by bike2steam

[Old Gringo]

As Paul says in post 529: Page 97, Foxline Publications, 'Scenes from The Past' series Part 39, 'Heaton Mersey-9F'.  - there is a photograph by Peter Hutchinson of No. 48115 shrouded in steam on the turntable at Godley Junction, complete with smokebox decorations.

 

Postscript to Stockport on May 4th and May 5th: Extra reading and proper pictures too!

 

What that caption doesn't say is that my pal Frank was taking a picture of Driver Thorley and another enthusiast leaning on either end of the 8Fs buffer beam.  Whilst watching in the foreground were L-R; the young fireman, my school-mate, Ambrose, yours truly (with trademark 1968 jacket and grease-top hat) and my pal, Peter, who in a short while would be clinging to the other side of the tender as we careered towards Stockport on that grey day in May!

 

On the opposite page are pictures of the 9F and the threesome, but with a misprint, the 8F noted as 48359 was definitely 48356, which is confirmed on the previous page (and by my own notes).

 

Here are some more references for anyone interested in Steam around Stockport with 'proper' in focus photographs of the final days of steam:

 

Scenes from the past: No. 1, The Railways around Stockport, Gregory Fox, 1986, Foxline Publishing, ISBN 1-870119-00-2.

Scenes from the past: No.13, Stockport Tiviot Dale, Gregory Fox, 1991, Foxline Publishing, ISBN 1-870119-17-7.

Scenes from the past: No. 35, Stockport Edgeley Motive Power Depot, Michael Stokes, 1999, Foxline Publishing, ISBN 1-870119-61-4.

Scenes from the past: No. 39, Heaton Mersey Motive Power Depot, Michael Stokes, 2000, Foxline Publishing, ISBN 1-870119-64-9.

Scenes from the past: No. 40/1, Railway Memories of Manchester and Stockport, Raymond Keeley, 2000, Foxline Publishing, ISBN 1-870119-65-7.

Stockport in the Days of Steam, Paul Shackcloth, 2002, Steam Image, ISBN 0-9543128-0-5.

 

All the very best,

John.

[bike2steam]

Michael Stokes put together a few other books on the history of transport in the Stockport area, but can't for the life of me remember the publishers.

[Trev52A]

@ bike2steam & Old Gringo

 

Regarding the photo of the 8F with the smokebox wreath, the picture I remember is probably in an old Railway World or Railway Magazine - I'll have to find it now!

Perhaps it is the same picture in the book you both mention, which I haven't actually read.

 

Cheers

Trevor

Edited May 9, 2018 by Trev52A

[Old Gringo]

Following on from post 526, and the last weekend of steam at Stockport:

The Final Run of The Belfast Boat Express behind steam in May 1968!

 

The previous notes about Saturday May 4th 1968, left Peter and myself hot-footing it across the city centre of Manchester, headed for the ex-Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway's Victoria station, hoping to ride behind steam for the last time on the Belfast Boat Express.

 

First a little background as to why we were so determined to ride on this train.  Following July 9th 1967 and 'Waterloo Sunset' [1], the end of steam on the Southern region, it was a lot more difficult to find passenger trains hauled by steam locomotives, let alone those classed as express duties.  North of Crewe and in the West Riding, a few excursion trains and extras might still turn up behind a steam locomotive and for a brief period the last ex-LMS 'Jubilee' 4-6-0s were noted on holiday specials.

 

After the last engine sheds were closed to steam on the North Eastern region, between September and November 1967, it became increasingly rare to find a steam-powered passenger train.  However, there were still a few exceptions and the Belfast Boat Express, running between Manchester Victoria (depart, 20:55) and Heysham, was the only one that I could reach easily and within my limited budget!

 

So it was that Frank, Peter, myself and many other enthusiasts travelled on this train as many times as we could, as it became famous for some spirited running with a few enthusiastic crews [2].  From my notes it appears that the first time I rode on the B.B.E. was on the 11th November 1967, with Carnforth shed's Stanier Five, No. 45390.  But, on that occasion, because of the connections necessary to get back home before midnight, I only managed the first 11 miles as far as Bolton Trinity Street.

 

That trip was enough to persuade me to travel again two weeks later (on 25th November) and on that run I made it as far as Preston behind another Carnforth Five, No. 44894.  Around that time, we met some of the lads who formed 20:55 club: a gang of regular enthusiasts who had travelled and recorded many journeys on the Saturday train of this last steam-powered express turn.

 

Five months later and the down Saturday night train from Manchester was believed to be the last steam duty and Frank asked me to paint a small headboard to commemorate the fact.  We 'found' a couple of brackets and bolted them to a section of solid board, to which I attached a smooth piece of hardboard sign-written with "4th May 1968, End of Steam, Belfast Boat Express, Manchester to Heysham".  This was to sit on the re-positioned smokebox bracket, whilst the curved red and white headboard was mounted above the handrail.

 

On the 4th, Frank had taken charge of 'our board' (at Godley) and it was already in position on the smokebox of No. 45342, by the time Peter and myself arrived at Victoria, about 20:45!  I got to see it briefly and Vernon Sidlow took the photograph below.

 

 

However, before departure, an altercation took place and then the sign had to be retrieved from the ballast, to travel in our compartment as far as Preston [3].  Apparently this wasn't going to be the last steam turn, our information had been wrong and it would be the Sunday evening's train!

 

Several of my friends and members of the 2055 Club (who, along with the MNA, were partly responsible for the finish of the last engine), carried on to Heysham and slept in coaches / vans, so that they could ride on the last up train on Sunday, powered by 45025.  And that was it for regular 'express' steam, excepting for the plethora of specials later in the year.

 

Now, where were we going to have to travel to for the next steamy fix?  You'll all be pleased to know that I only have three more trips left before the August Farewell tours.  But, surely, there's a lot more with stories of the last thirteen weeks?

 

All the very best,

John.

 

Notes:

[1] Waterloo Sunset, released 11th May 1967, the haunting melody by the Kinks that reflected so many enthusiast's feelings of the mid-Summer demise of steam operations on the Southern Region.  'Sunset' only made No. 2, held off the No. One spot between 8th June and 19th July, by Procol Harum's, 'Whiter Shade of Pale'.  

[2]  Loads varied between 7 or 8 coaches and a van, around 250 - 280 tons.

[3]  And I still have it, although slightly dented!

 

Morning edit:  For those interested in more about the last run of the Belfast Boat Express and the last months of steam operations, two 'bookazines' were published to celebrate the 40 year anniversary of the 'End of Steam' in 1968.  They turn up regularly on the second hand stalls of the heritage railways.

 

'Steam -The Grand Finale', by Alan Castle, July 2008, published by Heritage Railway Magazine & Mortons Media, ISBN 978-1-906167-10-3.

There is a feature on pages 32 to 39 all about the Belfast Boat Express.

'FIRE', edited by Howard Johnston & Danny Hopkins, published in 2008, by Steam Railway & Bauer Publishing, ISBN 978-1906312-04-6.

[The Lurker]

 

Now, where were we going to have to travel to for the next steamy fix?  You'll all be pleased to know that I only have three more trips left before the August Farewell tours. 

Thanks for your posts. I think most of us will be far from "pleased" that you only have a few left to share! Having said that, I am very glad you are able to share the trips you made.

[Old Gringo]

IMO, this topic needs a bump?  And following on from post 533, (the mini-essay about the last weekend of steam at Stockport in May), sincere apologies, as I'm ten days late with this update from Fifty years ago!  All of those who have followed the '50 years ago' topic from the beginning were spoiled rotten by all those super photographs posted right back in January. Thanks again to Trevor for starting the story off, which has certainly allowed some of us to wallow in the nostalgia, memories and the music of that time.

 

It looks like there were at least a dozen (or more) 'RMweb regulars' besides Trevor and myself, who were wandering around those dusty platforms and gritty engine sheds.  And I'm sure I must have walked in the footsteps of many of you including Paul, Chris, Jamie, Jonny, Jim, Apollo and of course, Trevor, to name those that I know now were in the same place on either the same day, or just before or after!  So, to answer the question asked at the end of my last diatribe - "Where were we all going to have to go now for the next steamy fix?" - here's  another bundle of my memories from that crazy summer of 1968.

 

A June day out - Young Girl, Would you like to see steam?

 

At the Number One spot for four weeks from 22nd May 1968 was the sugary up-tempo ballad, "Young Girl" [1].  And, I am sorry to report, but with the closure of Stockport's sheds, this young lad's thoughts had been finally influenced by all that mushy pop music and them shorter and shorter skirts!

 

Quite what attracted Miss X to me I've no idea, especially as it was her sister that I had been sketching at the local Art class on Friday nights! [2]  However, by Whitsuntide, when my pal Rob suggested that we should go and have a look at a few of the last sheds still operating with steam . . . well I thought, "X, dearest, how would you like to see a steam engine up close and dirty?"  By June, there were only six sheds left operating steam locomotives: Newton Heath (9D) to the East of Manchester, Patricroft (9H) on the West side of the city, Bolton (9K), Rose Grove (10F) up near Burnley, Lostock Hall (10D) just South of Preston and Carnforth (10A) gateway to the Lake District.

 

The Rolling Stones had released 'Jumpin' Jack Flash on the 29th of May and it really was only going to be "a gas, gas, gas", [3] because looking at our limited finances at the beginning of the week (and planning a not too exhausting day for a first time shed-basher), we decided to visit just three sheds on Wednesday 5th June 1968.

 

The day began with an EMU ride to Manchester Piccadilly, which whined past the now empty shed at Stockport Edgeley and the sad line of remaining dead engines awaiting towing to the breakers' yards.  A quick step across the city centre to Victoria station and then, it was an eight minute DMU trip up to Dean Lane, arriving at 11:58am.  Aidan Fuller's 'Basher's Bible' [4] says, "A broad path leads to the shed from the west side of Dean Lane - Walking time less than five minutes".  At the huge Newton Heath shed the first cop for a new recruit to the art of bunking sheds dressed in mini-skirt and sling-back shoes was one of Sir William's "Madchen fur Alles", Black Five No. 44910.

 

And the question on all your lips reading this, "Are sling-backs really the best shoes for walking on ash ballast?"

 

Also present on that dull Wednesday lunch-time, at what was once the 'top shed' of the pre-Group Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, were twelve more mechanically sound Fives and eleven serviceable Eights, plus one visiting B.R. Standard Five, 73069 from Patricroft shed.  In the yard, four withdrawn Stanier Fives had been joined by one life-expired B.R. 9F, 2-10-0, 92054.

 

Just over half an hour after our arrival at the shed that spawned the most famous football club on the planet, we were on our way back to Manchester Victoria station, where we had ten minutes to spare before catching the 13:10 DMU bound for (sunny) Bolton, arriving 13:26.  The shed visit here was completed in 75 minutes, which included over half an hour's brisk walking in the afternoon sunshine to and from the delightfully named Back Crescent Road!  Bolton shed had eleven serviceable Fives, including some of those with starring roles to come in two months' time, numbers 44781, 44871 and 45110; plus seven serviceable Eights, along with another dozen withdrawn Stanier-designed  engines.

 

The 14:45 departure from Bolton Trinity Street brought us into Rose Grove at 15:38, on this now hot and dusty afternoon!  "Turn right outside the station and first left into Lower Rose Grove Lane  - less than five minutes", phew!  Here the magnificent seven working Stanier Fives present included Lostock Hall's 45305 and amongst the nineteen serviceable Eights was 48666, which appears in many of Rose Grove photographs.  Two of Carnforth's B.R. Standard Fours were here too, numbers 75019 and 75027.  Surprisingly, according to my notes, there were only two withdrawn Stanier Eights in the yard.

 

And 48 minutes after our arrival at the improbably named Rose Grove, we set off to retrace our trains homeward bound via Bolton and Manchester.  What a day, but unfortunately it didn't have an ending like 'Casablanca'.  I may have needed more than the Equals 1st May release to convince Miss. X to carry on with the start of a beautiful friendship! [5] However, I had been bitten by the steam bug again and the chase was still on, but, what was I going to do with that motorbike I'd acquired, that needed the lights rewiring before I could use it?

 

More next time on the 'trail of tears'.

 

Notes:

[1] Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, released 17th April and played ad nauseam until it charted!

[2] Fully clothed - well Sixties style: those boots were made for ridin' pillion on motor-bikes!

[3] as it would hit number one during the third week of June.

[4] The British Locomotive Shed Directory, Aidan Fuller, 12th Edition 1963, Ian Allan Limited.

[5] 'Baby Come Back' will make Number One for the Equals on 3rd. July, replacing 'Jumping Jack Flash' by the Stones.

 

Keep on steaming, John.

[Bon Accord]

IMO, this topic needs a bump?  And following on from post 533, and the mini-essay about the last weekend of steam at Stockport in May, sincere apologies, I'm ten days late with this update from Fifty years ago!  All of those who have followed the '50 years ago' topic from the beginning were spoiled rotten by all those super photographs posted right back in January. Thanks again to Trevor for starting the story off, which has certainly allowed some of us to wallow in the nostalgia, memories and the music of that time.

 

It looks like there were at least a dozen (or more) 'RMweb regulars' besides Trevor and myself, who were wandering around those dusty platforms and gritty engine sheds.  And I'm sure I must have walked in the footsteps of many of you including Paul, Chris, Jamie, Jonny, Jim, Apollo and of course, Trevor, to name those that I know now were in the same place on either the same day, or just before or after!  So, to answer the question asked at the end of my last diatribe - "Where were we all going to have to go now for the next steamy fix?" - here's  another bundle of my memories from that crazy summer of 1968.

 

A June day out - Young Girl, Would you like to see steam?

 

At the Number One spot for four weeks from 22nd May 1968 was the sugary up-tempo ballad, "Young Girl" [1].  And, I am sorry to report, but with the closure of Stockport's sheds, this young lad's thoughts had been finally influenced by all that mushy pop music and them shorter and shorter skirts!

 

Quite what attracted Miss X to me I've no idea, especially as it was her sister that I had been sketching at the local Art class on Friday nights! [2]  However, by Whitsuntide, when my pal Rob suggested that we should go and have a look at a few of the last sheds still operating with steam . . . well I thought, "X, dearest, how would you like to see a steam engine up close and dirty?"  By June, there were only six sheds left operating steam locomotives: Newton Heath (9D) to the East of Manchester, Patricroft (9H) on the West side of the city, Bolton (9K), Rose Grove (10F) up near Burnley, Lostock Hall (10D) just South of Preston and Carnforth (10A) gateway to the Lake District.

 

The Rolling Stones had released 'Jumpin' Jack Flash on the 29th of May and it really was only going to be "a gas, gas, gas", [3] because looking at our limited finances at the beginning of the week (and planning a not too exhausting day for a first time shed-basher), we decided to visit just three sheds on Wednesday 5th June 1968.

 

The day began with an EMU ride to Manchester Piccadilly, which whined past the now empty shed at Stockport Edgeley and the sad line of remaining dead engines awaiting towing to the breakers' yards.  A quick step across the city centre to Victoria station and then, it was an eight minute DMU trip up to Dean Lane, arriving at 11:58am.  Aidan Fuller's 'Basher's Bible' [4] says, "A broad path leads to the shed from the west side of Dean Lane - Walking time less than five minutes".  At the huge Newton Heath shed the first cop for a new recruit to the art of bunking sheds dressed in mini-skirt and sling-back shoes was one of Sir William's "Madchen fur Alles", Black Five No. 44910.

 

And the question on all your lips reading this, "Are sling-backs really the best shoes for walking on ash ballast?"

 

Also present on that dull Wednesday lunch-time, at what was once the 'top shed' of the pre-Group Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, were twelve more mechanically sound Fives and eleven serviceable Eights, plus one visiting B.R. Standard Five, 73069 from Patricroft shed.  In the yard, four withdrawn Stanier Fives had been joined by one life-expired B.R. 9F, 2-10-0, 92054.

 

Just over half an hour after our arrival at the shed that spawned the most famous football club on the planet, we were on our way back to Manchester Victoria station, where we had ten minutes to spare before catching the 13:10 DMU bound for (sunny) Bolton, arriving 13:26.  The shed visit here was completed in 75 minutes, which included over half an hour's brisk walking in the afternoon sunshine to and from the delightfully named Back Crescent Road!  Bolton shed had eleven serviceable Fives, including some of those with starring roles to come in two months' time, numbers 44781, 44871 and 45110; plus seven serviceable Eights, along with another dozen withdrawn Stanier-designed  engines.

 

The 14:45 departure from Bolton Trinity Street brought us into Rose Grove at 15:38, on this now hot and dusty afternoon!  "Turn right outside the station and first left into Lower Rose Grove Lane  - less than five minutes", phew!  Here the magnificent seven working Stanier Fives present included Lostock Hall's 45305 and amongst the nineteen serviceable Eights was 48666, which appears in many of Rose Grove photographs.  Two of Carnforth's B.R. Standard Fours were here too, numbers 75019 and 75027.  Surprisingly, according to my notes, there were only two withdrawn Stanier Eights in the yard.

 

And 48 minutes after our arrival at the improbably named Rose Grove, we set off to retrace our trains homeward bound via Bolton and Manchester.  What a day, but unfortunately it didn't have an ending like 'Casablanca'.  I may have needed more than the Equals 1st May release to convince Miss. X to carry on with the start of a beautiful friendship! [5] However, I had been bitten by the steam bug again and the chase was still on, but, what was I going to do with that motorbike I'd acquired, that needed the lights rewiring before I could use it?

 

More next time on the 'trail of tears'.

 

Notes:

[1] Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, released 17th April and played ad nauseam until it charted!

[2] Fully clothed - well Sixties style: those boots were made for ridin' pillion on motor-bikes!

[3] as it would hit number one during the third week of June.

[4] The British Locomotive Shed Directory, Aidan Fuller, 12th Ed. 1963, Ian Allan Limited.

[5] 'Baby Come Back' made No. One for the Equals on 3rd. July, replacing J.J.F. by the Stones.

 

Keep steaming, John.

 

Love it John, keep them coming!

[bike2steam]

What I can remember, there were never that many 8F's at Carnforth, always plenty of Black 5's, most of the freights in that area, well early 1968, seemed to be B5 hauled. 

[Alcanman]

The current edition of 'Heritage Railway' focuses on the end of steam and features an article by my old school pal and fellow trainspotter, Trevor Gregg.

 

He describes travelling from Northumberland to visit the sheds in the North West in the last months of steam.  Regretfully, I did not go along with him. Other activities had come into my 17 year old  life -

 

work,pubs, girls and saturday afternoons spent at Newcastle were more likely to be at St James Park rather than Central station.

 

https://www.heritagerailway.co.uk/issue-242/

Edited June 16, 2018 by Alcanman

[bike2steam]

 -- Other activities had come into my 17 year old  life -

 

work,pubs, girls and saturday afternoons spent at Newcastle were more likely to be at St James Park rather than Central station.

 

https://www.heritagerailway.co.uk/issue-242/

Sort of similar with me, but a different part of the country, for early 1968, substitute Newcastle, and St. James Park with Wolverhampton and Molineux.   

[jamie92208]

That summer I was only 15 and still at school which was all boys and took up 6 days of the week. If the school 1st 11 was playing another school, us day boys had to stay and watch till 4.30pm. There weren't many girls around and O levels were looming or just being taken depending on the date. However living at Giggleswick we had steam almost to the end across the valley from our house. When we get into August I'll try and rake my ageing brain cells for some memories of those last two weekends.

 

 

Those memories are fantastic John, keep them coming.

 

 

Jamie

[The Johnster]

My little gang had to travel up from Cardiff, and evolved it into a well rehearsed standard procedure.  Home from school, get homework out of the way, eat as much as we could cram down us, and in to town on various last buses.  Up to Crewe on the 00.05 Liverpool and itinerary, my responsibility, to include Liverpool or Manchester, no time for both, and the Rose Grove-Lostock Hall-Carnforth triangle (in the very last months we went straight to Preston from Crewe).  The trick to itinerising was to get back to Crewe for the 20.40 Cardiff, which was the last train of the Saturday evening; we never missed this!  

 

Arrive Cardiff General 23.45, long after last bus, to be met by somebody or other's dad in a car with newspapers on seats, dropped off at home, clothes off and into hot ready drawn bath (mums rolled their eyes at the begrimed apparitions that turned up, but knew what to expect), and clothes into basket for defumigation on Monday washing day, followed by big supper.  We'd be pretty tired by then, despite being unconscious for the North to West section in both directions.  Sunday; lie in followed by debriefing on phones and marking up in Combined Volumes; towards the end of steam I'd actually given up numbertaking in favour of attempted record keeping and timing observations.  

 

We were 15 in 1967 when we started doing this, but parents were happy enough about it once we'd proved ourselves on the first trip.  They drew the line at allowing us to sleep in the empty stock at Newton Heath and do more on Sunday, though; in any case we'd have had to be back at Crewe for 16.30 or something for the last Cardiff and would have been a bit hobbled.  But it is difficult to imagine a group of 15 or 16 year old lads being let loose on the North of England in such an unsupervised way nowadays.  I doubt that the dangers were any more prevalent then than they are now, but awareness of them has changed, as has trust in teenagers' reliability.  We paid for it out of paper round and saved pocket money, and could manage an expedition about every 4 months, with another one fitted in around the Grand National which featured cut price excursions to Aintree, from which the 'Preston Triangle' was easily accessed and you could get back in time to catch it home; we mystified the bejaysus out of the Sporting Life brigade, but were tolerated!  We were hauled by a tender first Black 5 on the return leg of one of these, Aintree-Edge Hill then 47 to Cardiff.

 

We ate on the hoof, a factory canteen figuring somewhere in the calculations, and fish and chips before the final dash back to Crewe, eaten on the D400 hauled train from Preston.  I have some very happy memories of this period of my life, and learned some valuable life lessons about self reliance, dealing with unforeseen problems, and the tolerance of strangers; the people of Oop North, mystified by it all as much as the Aintree punters, were without exception generous, helpful, tolerant, and friendly.  Not always happy, there are some miserable so and sos up there, but always friendly.  I will hear not a word against them to this day; this impression was backed up by other similar but solo expeditions based at my sister's in Selby in '66 and '67.

Edited June 17, 2018 by The Johnster

[Wickham Green]

......... amongst the nineteen serviceable Eights was 48666, which appears in many of Rose Grove photographs.  

8666 carried a conspicuous chalked-on name "THOR" when I pictures her/him/it with my - rather basic - Agfa Rapid camera .... and there was also "ODIN" but I can't make out the number ....

[leopardml2341]

Sadly, being but 5 yrs old, the only railway memory I have of 1968 is being made a promise by my parents to go and see a steam train. It remains, to this day, unfulfilled.

I did get to see steam a year or two later at the fledgling K&WVR, being taken there by my grandfather.

Edited July 3, 2018 by leopardml2341

[Old Gringo]

It must have been around the seventh post that I made in this topic when I realised I was fast approaching my post number 1000 on RMweb and this had me thinking it would be a good idea to make it in a topic that I've really enjoyed contributing to [1].

 

To digress from the topic for a moment:  Whilst I've been cobbling together my posts for this topic I have been forced to look again into my two battered notebooks from the Sixties, rummage through a box of old and tatty photographs and flick through the 640 pages of the 'Guinness Book of British Hit Singles' on several occasions [2].  This process has been fraught with danger as the notebooks were on a rather inaccessible shelf, which decided a couple of weeks ago to relieve itself of its contents, (as I was attempting to return the notebooks and other assorted detritus to said shelf).  However, as with all minor catastrophes, there was another [beneficial] result.  A bound copy of 'Railways' magazine flew past me and fell open at a page describing a Tour of Wales, made by the legendary T.R. Perkins, in 1900 - just fifty years before I was born [3].  But, what's so special about that I hear you ask?

 

Well, here we are enjoying (I hope) and celebrating another rather unusual 50 year anniversary, which appears to mean quite a lot to a number of railway enthusiasts; now grey-haired, bleary eyed, train-spotters, often found waving mobile phones in front of some 'old friends' from the past (43106, 45110, 48773, 70013, to number just afew).  I've found that as I'm writing this stuff, sometimes it seems just a couple of years ago, not half a flippin' century.  Describing how the places appeared, what was there and sometimes how we felt has been written about so many times before and also by much better scribes than yours truly that I began to question why I was doing it?  Some kind of therapy, perhaps?

 

However, the 50-year anniversary of the last summer of British railways steam operations also falls in the year of the centenary of the end of the First World War, which was known in my childhood as 'The Great War' (1914-1918).  And for the first time in the last fifty years, I've begun to reconsider the events of 1968 in a totally different context.  Whatever must some of those old soldiers, who would be close to my age back then, have thought of that crazy year of 1968; with lots of scruffy kids running around chasing filthy steam engines and a bearded bloke appearing on that new-fangled 'colour' telly - dancing around on stage with a ring of flames burning on top of his head and shouting "Fi-ya"? [4]  What were those railwaymen thinking too, watching their jobs disappearing as fast the engines themselves?

 

Ah well, enough 'junior' philosophy by yet another recycled teenager!  Let's get back to those all important steam trains in my post number 1000!

 

Just another June day in Lancashire

 

My previous note (Post 535 / personal post number 999 - Probably should have called the emergency services right then!) was all about two lads and pretty girl in a mini-skirt on a Wednesday afternoon's shed bash to Codes 9D, 9K and 10F (Newton Heath, Bolton and Rose Grove, near Burnley).  Ten days later, on Saturday 15th June, Pete, Frank, Rob and myself undertook another excursion to some of the last sheds with steam.  However, this time we began West of Manchester at Patricroft (coded 9H).  No details of how we got there remain, but I suspect that Patricroft may have been a Salford Corporation No. 64 bus from Deansgate.

 

The Pre-Grouping line which used the marketing slogan 'The Premier Line' was the London & North Western Railway.  This famous company began with the amalgamation of The Liverpool & Manchester Railway, with the London & Birmingham and The Grand Junction railways (plus others) and Patricroft, near Eccles, was its major shed on the West side of the City of Manchester.  Longsight, coded 9A, was the other important ex-LNWR shed hereabouts, situated on the south side of 'Cottonopolis' and given over to diesel and electric locomotives in 1965.

 

Situated amidst a triangle of lines alongside the original Liverpool & Manchester route, Patricroft was an unusual shed, because it had been constructed in two parts, set at a right angle to each other.  The first section (Old shed) of 8 roads was built in 1884/1885 and faced roughly South.  The later 10 road shed (guess what - New shed) was built in 1904/1905 and faced East.  Patricroft was Coded 26F for a long time, a sub-shed of the (ex-L & Y's) giant Newton Heath shed group.  However in 1963 it was recoded 9H, which was often seen daubed energetically onto the smokeboxes of their engines, where the missing cast-iron shedplate used to be bolted on.

 

In the 'Old shed' at Patricroft we found fifteen engines:  Two serviceable Stanier Fives (both ex-Edge Hill, closed in May), four serviceable Standard Fives, eight Stanier Eights (of which only two were condemned) and one dead 9F 2-10-0, No. 92218, originally from Speke shed.  Although the 'New shed' held more locomotives, (24 in total), only three appeared road-worthy, 45055 (ex-Speke) and two Caprotti-fitted Standard Fives, 73133, 73134. All the rest were condemned; one Stanier Five, nine Stanier Eights and eleven B.R. Standard Fives, including number 73000 itself.

 

Back to Manchester Victoria and again on this trip, smartly off to Bolton.  A quick jog from the station to the shed, revealed 24 serviceable locomotives at 9K (14 Fives and 10 Eights) and ten more withdrawn engines in the yard.  Several 'old friends' from Stockport' finished up here and had already ended up with rods removed in the yard.  Somebody climbed the coaling plant and took a shot of me waving my arms about, which I used as my original avatar when I first joined RMweb back in November 2010.

 

Insert photo here, when I can find it!

 

Back on Trinity Street station and we had a change of plan; instead of travelling to Rosy Grove (10F) up near Burnley, we headed for Preston and Lostock Hall (10D) shed.  This ex-Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway shed, situated south of Preston, was right alongside Lostock Hall station, so another "less than 5 minutes walking time" in Aidan Fuller's 'Basher's Bible'!  Surprisingly, it was my first visit to this shed and thirty-one steam locomotives were present on that hazy Saturday afternoon in June. Seventeen Fives (4 dead), Eleven eights (3 dead) and then a bonus, three  Flying Piggies were still there!  These were the last of Ivatt's delightful 4MT 2-6-0s; 43106 was stored inside the shed (see Trevor's sketch earlier in the topic) and withdrawn examples, 43019 and 43027, both lying forlorn and rusty in the yard.

 

Luckily 43106 was saved and is still with us in 2018.  This engine is rostered to be working on the Severn Valley Railway during the weekend of the August 4th celebration See this link for more details:  http://www.svr.co.uk/SEItem.aspx?a=132

 

Back to Manchester Victoria in 1968, where we spent the late evening watching four more live Fives bustling around the station in the fading light, before returning home.  What is it that is so special about the steam locomotive?  Why were we so obsessed back then and why still 50 years later?

 

More in a couple of weeks (if you can stand anymore), as we draw closer to the end of the 'steam age' in regular service on British Railways.

 

Notes:

[1]  My only excursion into social media and most of the time I lurk and read rather than interject.

[2] 15th Golden edition of 2002: Has anything really happened musically since then? Teehee!

[3] Thomas Richard Perkins (1872-1952), the only railway enthusiast to travel over all the passenger carrying lines in the British Isles. p157 Guinness Railway Book, 1989.  Although I often wonder how far Henry Casserley (1903 -1991) travelled?  However, several lines that Perkins travelled over had been closed by the time H.C.C. began and nowadays it would be impossible to repeat both Perkins, or Casserley's trips, without a time machine like the Tardis!

[4] Released on 26th June 1968, "Fire" by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown would reach Number One the week after the 'Fifteen Guinea Trip' in the second week of August. Of course to some of a certain age the word "Fi-ya" will immediately bring into sharp focus the German Gunnery Commander from the film "Sink the Bismarck" (1958).  More medicine please nurse.

 

Only a few weeks to go now before it's all over in 1968.

More Steamy snippets in July.

All the very best,

John.

 

Postscript added on 1st July:  I knew there was a reason that I wanted to post this on the 30th (but, of course I forgot to write it anywhere!).  The three 9 coded sheds, Newton Heath (9D), Patricroft (9H) and Bolton (9K) all closed officially to steam operations on 30th June 1968.

[jamie92208]

Thanks again John for a lovely and well written piece.   Mentioning the 50th anniversary of WW1 brings back memories.   As I grew up there were many veterans still around. One of them lived at the back of our house.  There was a patch of spare land actually behind our house and Mike, my mate,  and I would play on it and talk to old Mr Kitchener over the fence, whilst also watching the parade of 4f's 8F's 9F, Black 5's and Brits along the S & C on the opposite side of the valley.   Mr Kitchener, (Always Mr to us) was a lovely old guy who had recently retired from running one of three garages in Settle.   One morning Mike and I had problems with a flat tyre on one of our bikes and plucked up courage to go and ask Mr Kitchener for help.   It turned out that he had started out repairing bikes and he showed us how to change a bike tyre and put a new inner tube in.  A very useful lesson that still pays dividends.   However he started talking about his WW1 experiences and though he didn't talk much about the fighting did talk about the many times he had ridden French Trains as his division was moved backwards and forwards behind the western front to support various offensives.   Yet the old Gent had time to teach us two scruffy herberts how to change a tyre.

 

Thanks again.

 

Jamie

[Dunsignalling]

Thanks, John, for an entertaining and thoughtful post. I was staying in Bridgnorth during the week and had a couple of trips behind 43106.

 

She had a small issue (injector, I think) at one point leading to the Class 14 being pressed into service for a couple of runs but appeared to be OK by end-of-play on Thursday and was simmering away in the yard alongside 2857, so should have been all-present-and-correct for the 1940s "do" this weekend.

 

Regards

 

John

[coachmann]

While you guys were chasing anything that chuffed, the Transport Act 1968 was being passed to merge municipal owned passenger transport system into four passenger transport executives. Or as it looked to us bus enthusiasts, nationalization!  So we were making the most of the bus undertakings as we had always known them. The new broom, armed withe treasury money, would soon be sweeping clean and the old familiar would soon be a thing of the past. When we drove over the Pennines to Yorkshire, there was something comforting about seeing the orange, cream and green Halifax bus at Triangle, or the red buses of Huddersfield. We didn't need road signs to tell us where we were .......... The colour of the buses did that! 

Edited July 1, 2018 by coachmann

[Trev52A]

As we are rapidly approaching the actual 50th anniversary it might be time for me to follow in the footsteps of Old Gringo (John) and others (but especially John!) and attempt to put pen to paper (or whatever the email equivalent is!) and record my thoughts and itinerary of those final days in the summer of 1968.

 

So, based on notes I made at the time, or shortly afterwards, I hope to show where I was and what I saw 50 years on from the actual dates. Perhaps others will have been at the same place at the same time as I was.

 

I will upload one picture from each of the days, trying not to duplicate what I have already shown (not easy, as I have used up all the best ones!)

 

Monday 15th July 1968 (exactly 50 years ago!)

 

"And so I found myself at Carlisle at 02.00(1)  about to start on perhaps my final week of seeing and enjoying steam on BR. After duly purchasing my £2 Runabout Rover ticket I went back onto the platform to await my train - the late-running 02.35 to Carnforth(2). D243 eventually arrived with 16 on - quite a heavy load for a Type 4, with all coaches packed. 

We set off at 3.02am at a pace reminiscent of 70038 almost a year earlier(3), past Upperby shed, now host to dmus. Perhaps the light, or lack of it, was playing tricks but I think I caught a glimpse of a couple of tenders in the yard."

(Perhaps I fell asleep during the journey, but my notes resume at Carnforth.)

"Sleepy-eyed, I alighted at Carnforth: dawn was just breaking. The engine shed was mostly hidden from view by the goods yard, but from it came the satisfying sound of shovels scraping against coal as locomotives were prepared for their day's work, punctuated by the occasional blast of the familiar Stanier whistle or roar of steam as safety valves lifted. At 04.40 'Black Five' No 45017 steamed slowly through the station from the Barrow direction with a southbound freight. Steam activity otherwise was thin on the ground at that early hour; the only other engine I saw in action before catching the 07.00 dmu to Arnside (where I would book-in to the Youth Hostel) was 'Britannia' Pacific No 70013 'Oliver Cromwell' which left the shed and headed south, light engine."

 

At which point my well-intentioned diary notes came to a halt! So the rest comes from spotting notes and a long memory!

 

After dropping off my bags at the Hostel I caught the 09.59 dmu to Ulverston. Why? Goodness knows, but I noted 75048 there before boarding the 11.00 dmu back to Carnforth where I picked up a mainline express headed by D218 'Carmania' at 11.38, bound for Preston. On the way I noted 44897 and 44877, glimpsed in Carnforth shed yard and 45390 further on. At Lancaster we passed 44735.

It was at Preston that I started taking photos when 48191 blasted through with a northbound coal train. (What on earth had I been doing up until then?!)

 

48191 at Preston, 15th July 1968

 

45212 (coal) and 45110 (engine+brake van) were also seen at Preston(4) before I caught the 14.39 dmu to Lancaster. Here 45390 (seen earlier in the day) was now shunting at the north end of the station. The 16.05 dmu from Lancaster took me to Hest Bank - I had presumably gone there in the hope of seeing locos on the water troughs but no luck, and I never tried that again. However I do remember the stationmaster releasing a couple of baskets of homing pigeons on the platform; they circled the station before heading away. Now that would have made an interesting photo!

From Hest Bank I caught the 17.20 dmu all the way back to Arnside, noting D401 and D430 en route. After something to eat at the Youth Hostel I saw the 20.28 Barrow to Preston mail/parcels train heading over the Kent Viaduct and through the station behind a Standard Class 4 4-6-0, presumably in the distance as I didn't make a note of the loco number. Watching this train was always a good end to the day and I did attempt to take pictures of it on several of the following evenings, even though the sun was setting and I was using 'Panatomic-X' film with a speed of only 32ASA!

 

Explanatory notes:

(1) I had arrived on the 00.30 dmu from Newcastle.

(2) This was an overnight Glasgow/Edinburgh to Liverpool/Manchester including sleeping cars. There must have been conventional coaches as I certainly didn't have a sleeping compartment.

(3) Presumably I meant how slow it was! I was referring to a run I had behind the 'Brit' from Carlisle to Penrith on 22nd July the previous year.

(4) Which means I only saw three steam locos at Preston station in about two hours, so they were fairly thin on the ground on that occasion.

 

Tuesday's ramble tomorrow, including unexpected steam-haulage at Lancaster!

 

Trevor

Edited July 15, 2018 by Trev52A

['CHARD]

 

Just another June day in Lancashire

 

On Saturday 15th June, Pete, Frank, Rob and myself undertook another excursion to some of the last sheds with steam.  However, this time we began West of Manchester at Patricroft (coded 9H). 

 

In the 'Old shed' at Patricroft we found fifteen engines:  Two serviceable Stanier Fives (both ex-Edge Hill, closed in May), four serviceable Standard Fives, eight Stanier Eights (of which only two were condemned) and one dead 9F 2-10-0, No. 92218, originally from Speke shed.  Although the 'New shed' held more locomotives, (24 in total), only three appeared road-worthy, 45055 (ex-Speke) and two Caprotti-fitted Standard Fives, 73133, 73134. All the rest were condemned; one Stanier Five, nine Stanier Eights and eleven B.R. Standard Fives, including number 73000 itself.

 

 

Postscript added on 1st July:  I knew there was a reason that I wanted to post this on the 30th (but, of course I forgot to write it anywhere!).  The three 9 coded sheds, Newton Heath (9D), Patricroft (9H) and Bolton (9K) all closed officially to steam operations on 30th June 1968.

 

There is, and I put it no more strongly. a distinct possibility that the above date was that of my only known visit to a live BR steam shed, courtesy of Driver Jack Hassall, of Farm Lane, Worsley, neighbour of my late aunt and uncle, who kindly took me on the footplate of a Class 5 at Patricroft shed.  I was 30 (months).

[Trev52A]

Day 2 of my NW 'Runabaout Rover' ticket...

(As before I am including train times to see if my travels coincided with any other forum member who was there on the same days)

 

Tuesday 16th July 1968

A fairly early start saw me out of the Youth Hostel and aboard the 08.30 dmu to Grange-over-Sands. (Again, I've headed west instead of towards the action at Carnforth - very strange. Incidentally, part of my stay at Arnside coincided with an international cricket match between England and Australia and the chap in charge of the Hostel wanted to chat about the play. As I've never to this day understood cricket and couldn't tell a googly from an l.b.w I just wanted to escape and see the trains!)

At Grange I was in luck and photographed 44963 with a ballast train which followed in the wake of my dmu.

 

44963 at Grange-over-Sands on 16th July 1968

 

Not wishing to outstay my visit I caught a mainline Barrow to Euston train at 09.17, headed by D1748, which took me to Lancaster. Here the coaches were combined with a  Euston-bound train which had arrived earlier behind D416. (That's something else we don't see on the modern railway, do we? Loco-hauled trains combining at intermediate stations.) As a bonus the loco doing the shunting was 'Black Five' No 45268 - brilliant! My final (as I thought at the time) ride behind steam on a normal service train!

D416 took the combined load (now forming the 09.59 ex-Lancaster) to Preston, where I spent four hours on the platforms. During this time I noted 45017, 45110, 45318 (later to claim fame heading the 21.25 Preston to Liverpool Exchange passenger train on 3rd August), 45231, 45073, 44806 and 48765. 

Probably wanting a change of scene (and to make sure I got my money's worth out of my £2 'Rover' ticket!) I boarded the 14.28 to Wigan NW behind D418. I have no recollections of being there - certainly I didn't note any steam workings.

At 16.12 I returned to Preston behind D1622 and then immediately caught the 16.45 dmu back to Arnside.

The Barrow parcels/mail that evening was headed by 44758 at Arnside station, where I also saw 45025 passing though light-engine.

 

Tomorrow:

17th July 1968 - more sightings at Preston plus Lostock Hall, and success with the Barrow parcels.

 

Cheers

Trevor

Edited July 16, 2018 by Trev52A