Jump to content
 

North Staffordshire Railway Derby to Crewe line


Recommended Posts

22 hours ago, DonB said:

Thanks Martin,  I have mislaid my copy of the IRS No.122 -- Which is very careless of me since I worked for Ley's for 25 years and wrote the IRS article.

It took me about 4 years to gather all the information about the sidings, I pestered anyone leaving for any historical items or photos that may have been lurking in desk drawers, and I was allowed access to a basement full of historical   bits and pieces. 

On the 50th anniversary of the 1875 foundry opening, all employees were photographed at their place of work. I found the original 5"x 7" glass plates which should also be in the Derby Museum stores.  All my original finds were passed on to a Colleague (Bob Read) who wrote a history of the works.

There was follow up information in the IRS journal a few months later. 

The foundry closed in about 1995, and is now an Industrial estate although the wall bordering the Railway was still standing when I last passed over the rail bridge a couple of years ago.

Just out of interest whereabouts were you in Leys? I ask as I worked there from 1969 -1983 in the Millwrights (Fitters) shops, mostly in 1958 foundry but also elsewhere as I used to replace conveyor belts, I took over from 'Bomber'Hill doing this, until the great sell-out and shutdown when I was declared redundant in April 1983. 

I remember some old, ex-NCB, ex- Private owner wagons, which eventually fell apart next to the weighbridge. In some spare time whilst waiting for the vulcanizing machine to cook a conveyor I spotted that the original livery could be made out under the black goo from the NCB paintshop as the sun shone at an angle and eventually traced out in chalk the outline of the "Suncole" logo and rest of the lettering , and for years i had a "Wrigleys" wagon builders plate off one of them but can't now find it, lost or given away in the (too many) intervening years I guess.

   

Phil Traxson (ex-Derby now Porthmadog)

Edited by Phil Traxson
  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

On topic. Leafing through backnumbers of the Midland Railway Society Journal, I cam across a couple of photos of North Stafford trains at Derby [No. 4 (Spring 2017) p. 24].

 

One is an H.C. Casserley photo, Tues 24 Aug 1920. New C Class 0-6-4T No. 4 awaiting departure from platform 3. Behind the engines is a NSR horsebox of rather up-to-date appearance; the rest of the train is not visible.

 

The other shows a Belpaire-boilered New L Class 0-6-2T passing London Road Junction signal box on the "West Branch" - the B&DJR route - at a date before Dec 1925. The caption says the engine is unidentified but the number on the bunker side is certainly a 1. This makes it one of four built in 1923, twin to the preserved No. 2 formerly in the National Collection but now at Foxfield. The engine is, nevertheless, in full NSR livery. The train is a uniform set of LNWR 57 ft non-corridor carriages in LNWR livery - D333 brake third, D176 composite, D283 third, and probably another D333 brake third. (These final LNWR designs of non-corridor carriage, built from 1913 onwards, were functionally identical to the LMS standard non-corridors built throughout periods 1, 2 and 3.) The engine has a train reporting number 254 on its smokebox, suggesting an excursion - to North Wales perhaps? 

  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

If one is looking for NSR track plans, it seems Swift Volume 4 by the Signalling Record Society is your best bet. The trouble is, the Swift books depict the locations as they were in the mid-to-late 1950s. Is using these maps too risky if one wants to accurately depict these lines in their pre-Grouping state?

 

Here are track plan resources for other threads I've made:

Cheshire Lines Committee

Manchester Central-Liverpool Central

- Swift 13

 

Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Railway

Didcot-Southampton

- OPC An Historical Survey of the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway

 

London & North Western Railway

Cambridge-Oxford

- Swift 7

 

Chester General-Holyhead

- OPC An Historical Survey of the Chester to Holyhead Railway

- Swift 10

 

North Staffordshire Railway

Derby-Crewe

- Swift 4

Link to post
Share on other sites

Does anyone here know what engines worked on the OWWR line and Shropshire area in the early 20th century? I'm trying to figure out what GWR engines could go onto the NSR from Wolverhampton over the Chase Line to Uttoxeter.

 

@Miss Prism: I think you're the Western guy around here?

Edited by GWRSwindon
Link to post
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Miss Prism said:

Depends what you mean by 'early' 20th c.

My guesses would be Standard Goods, Dean Goods, several forms of 2-4-0s and the big saddle tanks.

 

Sorry, 1905 to 1914 was my intended time frame. I had known the Armstrong Goods tended to work in the Northern Division, but not a great deal else.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
21 minutes ago, Miss Prism said:

several forms of 2-4-0s

 

That's what Ahrons says for the late 19th century (unfortunately he doesn't give much notice to goods engines). I don't get the impression that beyond Wolverhampton was in the forefront of the Churchward revolution. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

The GWR ran through Wolverhampton, and interchanged traffic, such as coal off the Cannock coalfield, with the LNWR and MR in their local yards, and they were the companies who owned the lines serving that at area. The GWR didn’t have any through running powers over their lines, so I’m afraid the idea of seeing GWR engines using that route to get as far as Uttoxeter just wouldn’t have happened.

Link to post
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Northroader said:

The GWR ran through Wolverhampton, and interchanged traffic, such as coal off the Cannock coalfield, with the LNWR and MR in their local yards, and they were the companies who owned the lines serving that at area. The GWR didn’t have any through running powers over their lines, so I’m afraid the idea of seeing GWR engines using that route to get as far as Uttoxeter just wouldn’t have happened.

True, this is assuming the GWR had acquired the Chase Line and extended it to Uttoxeter. I believe this was suggested, either in this thread or another one that escapes me, by James Harrison perhaps?

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
2 hours ago, Northroader said:

The GWR ran through Wolverhampton, and interchanged traffic, such as coal off the Cannock coalfield, with the LNWR and MR in their local yards, and they were the companies who owned the lines serving that at area. The GWR didn’t have any through running powers over their lines, so I’m afraid the idea of seeing GWR engines using that route to get as far as Uttoxeter just wouldn’t have happened.

 

The Great Western did have running powers over the Midland Wolverhampton-Walsall line, exercised in the form of two daily goods trains each way for most of the period 1876-1939, worked by 0-6-0STs or PTs according to date [R. Yate, The Midland Railway route from Wolverhampton (Oakwood Press, 2018)]. That, I think, was as close as the Great Western actually got to the Cannock Chase coalfield.

  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

@Compound2632

How could things have gone if the NSR managed to acquire the South Staffordshire Railway, assuming the line was built later. The NSR with a connection to the OW&WR could be interesting.

 

GNR fans: does anyone know what engines worked the Stafford & Uttoxeter Railway in the years 1905-14?

 

Railways included in this universe's NSR:

GCR (Macclesfield to Stoke?)

GNR (via Stafford & Uttoxeter)

GWR

LNWR

Midland (at Derby and Burton)

Edited by GWRSwindon
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...