JAMIE'S RANDOM UK RAILWAY PICTURES

[ba14eagle]

In your first photo at Pembroke Dock - looking towards the buffer stops - note the gap in the houses - a branch used to run down through here to a waterside depot (I cant remember exactly what it was, but if my memory serves correct, it could have been armaments / ordanance). A former work colleague, whose Father was a driver at Carmarthen, recalls seeing a Western working down there.

[jamie92208]

Yes in 68 things were quite bleak.  I actually stopped trainspotting for 3 years I was so disheartened after steam finished as we had steam through Settle till the very end.  However quite a few dreams have been fulfilled.   Who would have thought that I would be able to ride the first portion of the Waverley route or see a Big Boy in steam, so dreams can come true.

 

Anyway back in 2014 we are still high in the Welsh valleys.  It's still 23rd April (My eldest's birthday). After Aberdare and a filling sandwich we went back down to Pontypool.

And the footbridge gave a good view up the valley with the first of the junctions visible behind the pacer.

Then it was time to head up the Rhonda Valley to Treherbert.

Just to prove we got there.

And looking back down the valley.

Heading back down there are a lot of reminders of the areas past.  Also some very sure signs of poverty and deprivation and also a huge amount of Japanese Knotweed.

I had never realised just how tights and confined some of the valleys were.   Anyway then it was back to Cardiff and another night in the same B and B opposite the stadium overlooking the river. 3 more pages completed.

 

next morning we headed down to the station and a bit of freight action with a 56.

Then a 66 on a steel train.

More to come next time.

 

Jamie

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by jamie92208

[BMS]

Looks like Pontypridd not Pontypool; if the lattter it is a hell of a long way round?

[pH]

53 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Yes in 68 things were quite bleak.  I actually stopped trainspotting for 3 years I was so disheartened after steam finished ...

 

I stopped actual 'spotting' for over 52 years, and counting. (Not totally true - I underlined 4 more diesel numbers in my combine after September 1968.)

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, BMS said:

Looks like Pontypridd not Pontypool; if the lattter it is a hell of a long way round?

Thanks for that. Now corrected.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Good evening, it's dark and windy here but dry at the moment.  However it was sunny in Cardiff on the 24th April 2014.  

Here's a clearer shot of the 66 on the steel train.

That was followed by our friend the Red 60 on the Robeston tanks.

Then I headed for Swindon as the only line that I needed to complete Mainland GB was the line from Thingley Junction to Bradford South Junction.  That was done and I headed back to Bristol to meet Keith and then Cross Country Home.

We then move on to June and we were in Bournemouth for a week. I had a very interesting trip to the testing tank at Haslar, in connection with a horse tram restoration project. No it wasn't underwater, the remains were in the basement under the tank.

Anyway en route this 313 came into, Havant.

This was the station is case I've got it wrong.

Next is a Colas 70 on 20th June, I think it's at Doncaster.

And finally a foreigner but probably familiar to some.  An English Electric export 20 in Lisbon, heading across a main road junction down towards the docks.

This was the 19th September. They do sound like class 20's and have English Electric equipment though most were built under licence in Portugal.  Still going strong though some have been withdrawn.

 

Jamie

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by jamie92208

[Bedlington North]

On 19/01/2021 at 18:33, jamie92208 said:

Yes in 68 things were quite bleak.  I actually stopped trainspotting for 3 years I was so disheartened after steam finished as we had steam through Settle till the very end.  However quite a few dreams have been fulfilled.   Who would have thought that I would be able to ride the first portion of the Waverley route or see a Big Boy in steam, so dreams can come true.

 

Anyway back in 2014 we are still high in the Welsh valleys.  It's still 23rd April (My eldest's birthday). After Aberdare and a filling sandwich we went back down to Pontypool.

And the footbridge gave a good view up the valley with the first of the junctions visible behind the pacer.

 

 

 

I'm sure this is Pontypridd, not Pontypool. 

Edited January 20, 2021 by Bedlington North

[brushman47544]

39 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

 

This was the 19th September. They do sound like class 20's and have English Electric equipment though most were built under licence in Portugal.  Still going strong though some have been withdrawn.

 

That photo is taken at Alcantara Terra, the train is just leaving the station and heading down to the sidings at Alcantara Mar, which give access to the container terminal in the docks.

[Phil Mc]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

 

Next is a Colas 70 on 20th June, I think it's at Doncaster.

 

 

Think that may be behind the station at Eastleigh ?

 

cheers,

Phil.

[jamie92208]

Yes that would make sense from the date.

 

Thanks

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Good evening again.   The Tardis has now moved on to 2015.

In May 2015 as the country was in the throes of a General Election campaign we headed north for a week in a cottage on the Black isle.  On the way north, as I was doing the navigating, we just happened to go along the northern part of the A7 following the Borders railway.  We spent the night at Perth and I was allowed out and spent some time on the station. Plenty of Scotrail 170's were about, this service was heading off on the line to Dundee.

 

A service headed south under the impressive trainshed.

 

A pair of 158's then came in from the Dundee direction.

And another 170 headed east.

Then an intermodal came in behind a DRS 66.

And headed on south.

Those were all on 1st May.  On the 7th I had an afternoon out to see the battlefield at Culloden.  I avoided the overpriced visitor fleecing centre but found that the battlefield was a vey poignant place to walk round. On the way home I got a good view of the Culloden viaduct.

And on a slightly smaller scale an old bridge on the remains of the Fortrose branch.  We were staying at Rosemarkie, just beyond Fortrose.

A good week had been had.

 

Jamie

Edited August 8, 2022 by jamie92208

[sir douglas]

i was in Perth with Overlord a few years ago, the station is quirky with the entrance ramp and the central building. does anyboy reading this know why a section of the roof was apparently cut out and replaced?

[jamie92208]

Good evening from a nice and sunny Charente.  We are still in 2015 we were on a break with a church party at Scargill in Upper Wharfedale but I played hooky one afternoon on the 16th May and went down to Swinden lime works. Sitting there was reputedly the heaviest loco in the UK.

Cracoe, built by RFS industries has 8" thick solid steel buffer beams but only 800 Hp from memory.

I think that the weight is about 160 tons and it had to be delivered in 3 parts due to weight limits on the roads.

The quarry used to belong to Spencers Limes who also ran the quarry at Giggleswick.  We then move on 3 days and Keith and I had a trip to Leamington and Banbury to see the 68's in action. Here a 68 heads north as a 168 departs southbound. I think that this is Leamington.

We them moved onto Banbury and 67014 was heading south.

As it departed a Voyager came into view.

Then another DVT appeared southbound.

With 68014 at the rear.

A good day out was had and the world was put to rights, at least on a temporary basis.

 

Jamie

 

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by jamie92208

[Michael Edge]

Cracoe was built by RFS (formerly Thomas Hill, now Wabtec), not Hunslet. It is a massive beast of a loco though - nice photos.

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, Michael Edge said:

Cracoe was built by RFS (formerly Thomas Hill, now Wabtec), not Hunslet. It is a massive beast of a loco though - nice photos.

Thanks for that Mike, for some reason I'd got Hunslet in my head. It is a beast and not often photgraphed.

 

Jamie

[doilum]

Almost as pretty as two Mardy monsters!

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, doilum said:

Almost as pretty as two Mardy monsters!

One things for sure, it will never be seen anywhere else on the network.  Just as aside, the valley was the setting for Calendar Girls, as the original calendar was made bt Rylstone WI.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Good afternoon from a rather wet and windy corner of France.  Here are some more from 2015. 11th September I headed south the London for a pub lunch and general chat with several other members of ER's which for some unfathomable reason got christened the Brains Trust.  Anyway the pub didn't open till 12 so I spent a pleasant hour on the south end of Blackfriars Station watching trains. 377's and 387's passing in front of me along with some mobile ironing boards.

6 days later, Keith and I headed north on a Cross Country service to Edinburgh to sample some new trackage, namely the Borders Railway.   What a fantastic project. I had never expected to see this sign at Waverley.

A 158 ws waiting to take us south to Tweedbank.

Along the way the line follow a curve round Borthwick Castle. Some 10 years previously I'd attended a nephew's wedding there.  Late that night, with several measures of Scottish Medicine on board I had stood outside the doorway that can be seen and in the moonlight had seen the overgrown trackbed and mused of seeing a hard working A3 heading south with the intermittent glow as the fireman kept the firebox full.  I dreamed that one day a train would run again but never expected to be able to take this photo.

We got to Tweedbank to find that a special was there with Union of South Africa in command. A great sight,

And there the view back north.

When we got back to Edinburgh, our first task was to get a bus down to the cemetery where the Quintinshill memorial is to all the soldiers killed in the disaster.  Well kept and very poignant.

Hopefully some more in due course.

 

In the period between the last photos being taken and this set we had a holiday in France and made the momentous decision to move out here and also found a house.  

 

Jamie

 

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

Good morning.   A bit of a mixed bag here to bring 2015 to a close.  We start in Edinburgh still on the 17th September.  After our visit to the Quintinshill Memorial we rode the Edinburgh tram system which was well worth doing.

We then move on the the 14th November.  I had a trip up to the Dales and took the opportunity to photograph the new siding being laid at the Arcow Granite quarry near Helwith bridge.  This used to be rail connected via a triangular junction near the village. the branch originally served two quarries, Arcow and Foredale.  They rail connection was lost on the 60's and Foredale closed but Arcow and nearby Dry Rigg are still in production producing some highly sought after granite that is ideal for making anti skid road surfaces. There had been various attempt over the years to revive rail traffic including one scheme that had a loader installed at Hellifield. However there was opposition to that as lorries would still have to use narrow roads from the quarries down to the A65 at Settle. Eventually a scheme was worked out that laid a siding into the Arcow quarry from a trailing connection with the northbound down main on the S & C. Here is is under construction on a rather grey and damp day.

And a closer view of the loading sidings.

As you can see it is not the driest of places.

Behind where I was taking the photos runs the trace of the self acting incline that used to bring limestone down to the kilns from Foredale at the top of the hill.  This was quite an extensive system that had another overhead rope worked incline within the quarry. The kilns were at the bottom of the incline with a lift to take coal up to the top of the kilns in narrow gauge tubs.   Some of the incline has now gone after a landslip in, I think the 80's.  

 

On my way home I called at Long Preston to take some photos and got this one of part of my old layout that's on display there.

I had done a lot of research into the Private Owner wagons that worked into the dales quarries and that would have run through Long Preston. I then commissioned half a dozen sets of different transfers from Powsides. This was the one for the village coal merchant who had 3 wagons at various times.  The livery was obtained by interviewing a couple of old guys in the village using a wagon model as a prop then sketching what they told me.

Swinden limeworks featured a few days ago. The sister quarry is at Giggleswick and it's output used to go out through Giggleswick station via an overhead ropeway that was taken down in the 50's. Thus livery was found in a book of PO liveries, one of a series of 3 volumes produced in the 60's. 

Finally Tot Lord, as he was known, was a local entrepreneur in Settle, I went to school with his grandson, who was also known as Tot.  I was aware that they had some wagons from the registers at Kew and eventually found a sketch of the wagon sides in an advert on the local Wesleyan Methodist church newsletter from the 1920's that another schoolfriend's father dug out for me.   The research was interesting and rewarding.

We'll move on to 2016 next time. The title of the thread does warn that the pictures are random.

 

Jamie

Edited August 8, 2022 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

Good afternoon, it's not actually raining at the moment which make a change.  Anyway the Tardis has crawled over to 2016 from the previous year.  These were all taken on the 12th January on a fairly grey morning. I had got wind that the Network Measurement Train, AKA the flying banana was coming up to Leeds so I went down to the area near where Copley Hill sheds were to try and find a vantage point.  There is still a long footbridge over the railways in this area, much used on football match days for access from the Wortley area to Elland Road. Anyway, despite all the tree growth I found a spot.  First to appear was a Voyager heading south.

Then a IC225 set heading to London. 

The Class 91 was just visible as it went past the site of Gelderd Road Junction. This used to be a 10 mph junction but now they fly over at 70 getting a run at Beeston bank.  This stretch of line used to see very little traffic until the viaduct line was closed.

Then, a Northern class 322 I think.

Quite a variety as next was a 142 heading into Leeds.

Then came a surprise, another test train with the Overhead line inspection coach topped and tailed by 68's.

And here's the one at the rear.

 

I then moved down to nearer to Whitehall Junction and caught the NMT heading into Leeds as a 150/2 headed towards Bradford. The signal in the foreground is for traffic from Huddersfield.

The NMT  continued into Leeds.

The 68's didn't stay in Leeds long and headed south after only about 10 minutes making short work of the gradient here.

Hopefully more soon.

 

Jamie

Edited August 8, 2022 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

Good evening again.  It's still rather damp down here but we are still in 2016. It's 11th February and I had gone to Lancaster to make arrangements for a special exhibition that was held there in May when we took Lancaster Green Ayre to the city that it was modelled on.   Anyway after a good lunch and talk with David Chandler who organised the show I had an hour to wait for my train home. Two 37's came in on Nuclear Flasks and reversed before setting off the Heysham.

Then a Trans Pennine 350/4 came south.

Next up was a northbound Freightliner Intermodal.

And then a Colas 60 on the southbound Log train.

We now jump forward to 14th June and we were in Bournemouth but the East Cliff lift wasn't working due to a landslide.   I think that it is still out of use.

We then jump to October 14th and en route to ScotGog I called at the site of Kingmoor steam shed, 12A.  It looks a bit different now than it did in 66 when, aged 13, I was shown round by the shedmaster, who was a friend of a friend of my mother.  I remember seeing the last Clan, 72007 I think.

It's .now a nature reserve with some quite good information boards up

Now it's 5th November and I was down at Crich  and Chesterfield 8 was out signed Whittington. This was rather appropriate as I lived in Whittington Moor from the age of 9 months until I was 5. The tram were long gone though in the early 50's.

Hopefully some more soon.

 

Jamie

Edited August 8, 2022 by jamie92208

[Chris Turnbull]

11 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

We then jump to October 14th and en route to ScotGog I called at the site of Kingmoor steam shed, 12A.  It looks a bit different now than it did in 66 when, aged 13, I was shown round by the shedmaster, who was a friens of a friend of my mother.  I remember seeing the last Clan, 72007 I think.

It's .now a nature reserve with some quite good information boards up

 

 

Who would have thought that you could make a nature reserve out of this.  Kingmoor, 23rd August 1967.

 

 

Chris Turnbull

[caradoc]

Maybe worth showing before and after pictures of Kingmoor (and the many other former railway sites which have returned to nature) to the anti-HS2 mob ? 

 

 

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, caradoc said:

Maybe worth showing before and after pictures of Kingmoor (and the many other former railway sites which have returned to nature) to the anti-HS2 mob ? 

They go back to nature surprisingly quickly, self seeded silver birch, which must be the natural tree.  Far better than all the old lines that have been turned into roads.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Good afternoon from a rather grey and misty Charente.  It' still the 5th of November and we are still at Crich where a rather nice Liverpool streamliner coming back into the town terminus.

6 days later on the 11th i headed off to London to meet up with a motley crew of ER's. My preferred way was by Grand Central from Wakefield Kirkgate. A good start to the journey and only £2 to park for the day, unlike Westgate.   Whilst waiting what should come in but a train of imported white vans from France via the Tunnel heading on it's last leg from Warrington Arpley to a terminal at Doncaster. It got the peg and was off.

Then our 180 arrived and off we set to The Cross where we were put into the Suburban station.

Then a quick walk over the road to The Midland's cathedral and both types of Eurostar in the station.

Then downstairs to catch a Thameslink.

The mobile ironing board conveyance took me to Blackfriars for an hour of spotting. Then it was time to head for Shoreditch via the Northern City Line to Old Street.  the 313's were still around.

Then a poignant look into the scene of the tragedy that occurred here at Moorgate.

Then one last look at a 313 before heading off to meet the others at the pub for lunch.

Jamie

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by jamie92208