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70s Industrial steam


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On 09/10/2019 at 20:26, SouthernBlue80s said:

Fantastic pictures

So the latest date we have a picture/proof of a working non preserved steam loco in the UK, in several locations, is 1983.

 

 

I would venture to suggest that the latest date would be the Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0ST which I mentioned a couple of days ago.  I'll re-post the link, which states that the loco was in use until August 1986.

 

https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/hawthorn-leslie-works-no-3597-falmouth-docks-engineering-company-no-3-0-4-0st/

 

Admittedly, I'm going purely on my memory here, but I recall an article in the local press about the loco in the mid 80's.  which stated that it was usually operated 5 days a week.  AFAIK, it was the only steam loco they had at Falmouth.  I was a volunteer worker with the Plym Valley Railway when it was acquired from Falmouth Docks.

 

John

 

 

Edited by AncientMariner
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8 minutes ago, Dr Gerbil-Fritters said:

What a fantastic thread, and among many highlights I particularly liked these:

 

Capture.JPG.c323009bf25b3c806bf8a2e19a2c1c63.JPG

 

Even in the rather less H&S conscious 1970s this takes the biscuit...

 

and, what are these hoppers?  They are rather reminiscent of the BR iron ore type modelled by Dapol and Bachmann...

Captured.JPG.4c0c718fbeb32abdf0219d843b4ca7d0.JPG

 

 

Probably built by Charles Roberts of Horbury, who built lots of hoppers, both for the steel companies and BR for main-line work, and for internal use by collieries

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2 minutes ago, montyburns56 said:

 

Ahh, but they aren't real steam locos though...... :P

 

 

 

Now, now! :nono:

 

 

I remember at Southport some bloke pointed at our one and said to his kid something like "There's nothing running but that rubbish little diesel". So I pulled the hooter and he turned a funny shade of red. :laugh:

 

640px-Sentinel_%22St._Monans%22_at_RSR.j

 

 

 

Jason

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5 hours ago, Dr Gerbil-Fritters said:

What a fantastic thread, and among many highlights I particularly liked these:

 

Capture.JPG.c323009bf25b3c806bf8a2e19a2c1c63.JPG

 

Even in the rather less H&S conscious 1970s this takes the biscuit...

 

and, what are these hoppers?  They are rather reminiscent of the BR iron ore type modelled by Dapol and Bachmann...

Captured.JPG.4c0c718fbeb32abdf0219d843b4ca7d0.JPG

 

 

 

The three hoppers that appear to be Prince of Wales internal users, the first is an ex LNER design 25 ton ore hopper and is the design with side brake levers. The other two are LMS 20 ton iron ore hoppers with greedy boards added! Standard Wagon were refurbishing withdrawn BR wagons and hiring or selling to industrial users!

 

Mark Saunders

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21 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

When did the last fireless locomotives go?

 

Pretty sure some were still working into the late 1980s, possibly even 1990s. Heysham? Or Glaxo in Ulverston?

 

 

 

 

Jason

 

I've found some pictures of the one at Boots in Beeston in 1980

 

Boots No2 Beeston

 

This picture says it was donated to the Midland Railway - Butterley in 1981. 

 

0-4-0 Fireless Locomotive Boots No 2

 

There's a PDF here that says that the one at Glaxo at Ulverston was still in use until 1991.

 

http://www.mdrs.org.uk/documents/donkey148.pdf

 

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On 12/10/2019 at 10:07, Fat Controller said:

I wonder how late the one at Croda, Four Ashes, site lasted? I saw it moving around the site a few times at the end of the 1970s.

 

There's a picture of a slide on the net that says that it was still in use in 1983.

Edited by montyburns56
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I've found an photostream by a guy called  Gerv Wright that is packed with several albums full of Industrial steam in the 70s including one of Bickershaw colliery with 125 photos in it!

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/60699808@N06/albums

 

I'll post a few of the highlights from it.

 

Agecroft Power Station 1977

 

879

 

A Class 20 and an Andrew Barclay playing chicken at Bedlay Colliery in 1979

 

Bedlay Colliery - Class 20 & HC 895

 

Bickershaw Colliery 1976/7/8

 

738 Gwyneth & No 8 at Bickershaw Bickershaw Colliery, Warrior

 

A striking mix of old and new technology in this 1983 picture

 

1476

 

Backworth Colliery 1975??

 

517

 

Bold Colliery, Whiston 1980

 

Bold Colliery, Whiston

 

Mystery location 1978

 

986 719

 

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On 09/10/2019 at 20:10, montyburns56 said:

Bedlay Colliery

 

These all seem to be from 1981 so another one to add to the list???

 

Coal from Bedlay Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST No.6 (bld. no.2043 of 1937),Bedlay Colliery.April 1981 1981SEP01RLPF002cs NCB Bedlay Colliery c May81jpg_NEW Bedlay Colliery NCB Bedlay Colliery b May81jpg_NEW 81222-NCB17-Bedlay Colliery Bedlay Colliery

 

1978

 

NCB No. 9, a Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T, Bedlay Colliery, Glenboig, 04.1978. NCB No. 17, an Andrew Barclay 0-4-0T at Bedlay Colliery, Glenboig, 05.1977. Hudswell Clarke 895 at Bedlay Colliery

 

 

I have it on good authority that on the 11th of December 1981, at 12:04 p.m., driver John Todd closed the regulator  N.C.B. 0-4-0PT  No.17, after working the last train of coal from Bedlay colliery to the exchange sidings.  It was the end of conventional steam locomotive working in Scotland, but as as been pointed out elsewhere the Sentinels kept going at Coatbridge for another three years.  The R.B Tennants Locomotives were four Vertical-boilered Sentinel 0-4-0T, "Robin" is preserved at Summerlee,  "Ranald" and "Dennis" are partially retored at the SRPS at Bo'ness.  "John", which was for a while placed on a plinth at the entrance to Dick Engineering in Coatbridge, is also now at Bo'ness but due to it's time in the open is a derelict hulk.

 

jim

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7 hours ago, luckymucklebackit said:

 

I have it on good authority that on the 11th of December 1981, at 12:04 p.m., driver John Todd closed the regulator  N.C.B. 0-4-0PT  No.17, after working the last train of coal from Bedlay colliery to the exchange sidings.  It was the end of conventional steam locomotive working in Scotland, but as as been pointed out elsewhere the Sentinels kept going at Coatbridge for another three years.  The R.B Tennants Locomotives were four Vertical-boilered Sentinel 0-4-0T, "Robin" is preserved at Summerlee,  "Ranald" and "Dennis" are partially retored at the SRPS at Bo'ness.  "John", which was for a while placed on a plinth at the entrance to Dick Engineering in Coatbridge, is also now at Bo'ness but due to it's time in the open is a derelict hulk.

 

jim

 

Thanks for the info!

 

I just love this picture from Bedlay in 1977.

 

Hudswell Clarke & Class 20 at Bedlay Colliery

 

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Love the shot of Airedale#2. I hadn't seen this before, in fact this is an individual loco that seems to have largely escaped the lens. This takes my heavy weathering to another level. Maybe I have room for a fourth 15" Hunslet.

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On 11/10/2019 at 10:37, sir douglas said:

i dont know for sure of the which locos or which years but some of the castleford area locos like airedale, fryston or allerton were still going into the mid 80's

Steam was pretty much finished by 1980. S134 was in store at Allerton Bywater but was recommissioned by Hunslet engineers in 1981. It was used to obtain performance data on the internal line between Wheldale and Fryston. A hard winter made it a popular substitute for frozen diesels and it's final months were captured by many photographers. "Wheldale" might be the most photographed austerity of all. By summer 1982 it was on its way to Embsay.

One of the Bickershaw photos has no7 being coaled with a payloader. This is the same livery that S134 wore in the final deployment. In 1978 both locos were painted green by the BBC as they doubled for each other in a film called "The Hills of Heaven".

I have asked before without success, but if anyone has any information about this filming I would be most grateful to hear from them.

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