br2975 Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 (edited) Not my photo - I bought it as part of an album of photos at a local RCTS meeting several years ago. . The original photographer is unknown to me. . We see 56117 shunting Canton Brickyard on 25th November, 1998. . I have no details of the working. . Brian R . PS One weeknight,in the first week of December, 1969 I was stood a few paces to the right of where this image was taken, warming myself in the exhaust fumes of "nine-fiver" D9555 (Class 14 to the youngsters), engaged in shunting the Brickyard / milk depot. . The loco had been officially withdrawn for about seven months, but as with a handful of its' withdrawn classmates, it was in use ( sort of unofficially ) on local trip workings, PW jobs and as Canton depot pilots, to keep them in working order, in advance of being sold into industry, which is exactly what happened. Edited January 20, 2019 by br2975 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted January 20, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 20, 2019 One of my link jobs at Canton in the 70s was the Canton Sidings (Brickyard)-Calvert empty bricks for the London Brick Company, who used it as their distribution point for South Wales. You acted secondman off the shed with a Hymek, or a 37 when the Hymeks were withdrawn, prepped your own train, did the brake continuity test, and worked the train 'back cab' as it was fully vacuum fitted. There weren't many 'day' jobs in my bottom link, but this was one, and it was interesting as you picked up traffic at Lawrence Hill, Bristol, which included a piped brake van to ride in. The wagons were wooden 'pipe' types; IIRC the train speed was 60mph and this was the only regular brake van work we had at this speed. After Lawrence Hill, the train ran via Box and we were relieved by Didcot men IIRC at Swindon; these worked through to Calvert, where the train was propelled along a 'long siding' branch which I think I am right in saying was a vestige of the GC main line; this was the reason for the brake van. I believe this was Hall job in steam days, so Halls, Hymeks, and 37s definitely worked into the brickyard. If you include the rest of the complex, the Brunel goods shed now demolished for the new signal box, then this was shunted by the daily Milford Haven -Paddington fish train, so you can add Castles, Westerns, 47s, possibly Brits, and probably Stars and Saints depending on how far back you want to go in time; this working changed locos at Canton and the arrangement probably went back to broad gauge days. When I questioned why the loco change in the 70s, I was told that a loco that had done a return working from Canton to Milford Haven had run out of coal! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supaned Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 Thanks for all that info gents Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 Amongst traffic I've seen photos of at this location have been steel sheet coil (which I believe went to a works making steel tubes), and aluminium slab and coil. There was other traffic in ferry vans, either unloaded in the open, ot in the adjacent 'milk shed'. In earlier times, I've seen photos of trains from West Wales picking up parcels vans for London; some would have been empty Newspaper vans from the Cardiff area, others were probably tripped across from the parcels platforms at the former Riverside station. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
br2975 Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 In my post above showing 56117, above the signal can be seen a canopy structure, built in the 1980s when newspapers were unloaded here instead of Cardiff Central. . The newspaper vans were tripped from Central by the station pilot and placed under the canopy, which protected the transfer of papers from rail to road vehicles. . This continued until a rake of newspaper vans ended up in flames, damaging the shelter as well. . The owner of the adjacent car lot, a colourful local character by the name of Donald "Curly" Humphries was "allegedly" none too pleased, due to the potential of his stock of former Channel Island registered hire cars suffering damage and reducing his profits. . Aluminium was also unloaded here, bound for Alcan, Rogerstone. . Brian R. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivercider Posted January 23, 2019 Author Share Posted January 23, 2019 A view from Cardiff Central looking west in 1983. 37270 approaches Cardiff Central from the west, included in the formation are a number of the distinctive BR Ford palvans, 14/4/83 A copy of this photo appears in my first book:- 'Railways of the Western Region in the 1970s and 1980s', by Amberley Publishing, which is due for release on 15th March 2019. cheers 16 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 A view from Cardiff Central looking west in 1983. scan0087.jpg 37270 approaches Cardiff Central from the west, included in the formation are a number of the distinctive BR Ford palvans, 14/4/83 A copy of this photo appears in my first book:- 'Railways of the Western Region in the 1970s and 1980s', by Amberley Publishing, which is due for release on 15th March 2019. cheers There's a ferry-van and a VDA as well; I wonder if they were all from Ford. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted January 24, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 24, 2019 (edited) The background of this excellent shot shows the bulk of the Canton Depot Maintenance Shed to the left of the train, which has just run on to the Up Main SWML road presumably from Penarth East Curve with Ford traffic from Bridgend off the Vale of Glamorgan line. This building was of this height to accomodate the gantry crane that ran inside to remove engines and lift them clear of locomotives. To the right of the train, the SWML can be seen dipping past Canton Depot and rising to clear the Leckwith Road bridge; 5 roads, left to right in this view Down Relief, Down Main, Up Main, Up Relief, and Up Goods, with Canton sidings to the right of that. Down in the dip behind the train is Canton Running Shed, the old coaling stage, and the siding on which the Breakdown Train was stabled. Further to the left is the Carriage Shed, then the DMU maintenance and fuelling facilitiy, then the carriage sidings, with the Penarth North Curve running in the midst. Edited January 24, 2019 by The Johnster Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivercider Posted January 25, 2019 Author Share Posted January 25, 2019 Here are three more trains passing Cardiff Central, all heading east. 47241 heads east through Cardiff Central with loaded HTVs, (fitted 21t hops), 14/4/81 37301 also heading east with empty HTVs, 14/4/81 37247 heads east with loaded MDVs (fitted 21t mins), 15/9/81 cheers 13 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmrspaul Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Do you mind me putting links to a couple of my photos from student days - only taken when waiting for a London train taking me to see Julie. https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brclass37/e1b5d4bcc https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brclass37/e5200829 https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/class47/e5f5cdeb0 https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brhaapre80/e10eff5bf https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brhaapre80/e189c649c Paul 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy stroud Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 A copy of this photo appears in my first book:- 'Railways of the Western Region in the 1970s and 1980s', by Amberley Publishing, which is due for release on 15th March 2019. cheers Hi Kevin, Congratulations on the book. Having enjoyed all your threads and photographs on here, I am now looking forward to seeing your book! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted January 25, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 25, 2019 Look at the soot blackening on the canopy valance on platform 2, right where a HST power car comes to a stand, in the 47241 shot, a lovely workaday image on a grey day. The office block in the background has now gone, replaced a larger one. You can see the top of the concrete water tower at the west end of the station looming above the hoppers; this dates from the 1926 rebuilding and is still in use as the station's header tank. LIke many places I suspect, the original supply pipes to the water cranes, gone since 1967, are still there embedded in the ground. As is an unexploded German bomb beneath the Down Main about 2/3rds of the way along, though this may be an urban miff... 37201 is running through no 6, probably heading for the CEJ and the valleys. The train on 4 is a short one of mk1 coaches which has drawn up to the signal awaiting the C O to come off to allow it access to the carriage shed; I have to think Crewe or Weymouth with a 33 at this date. On the extreme left, you can make out the canopy over the curved island platform 8 and 9, the old Riverside platforms for the Clarence Road branch still in use for parcels traffic; a trip over here would reveal adverts from 1964 and I recall a Blue Pullman one. The old WR signage persisted here as well. The shrubbery has been replaced by a bi-directional loop and new platform. Down in the dip is the Parcels Depot, where the Post Office maintained a small establishment of an office and rest room; all gone now and the whole area is a car park. 37247 is on the up main on a much nicer day, late morning if the shadows are anything to go by. There is a chimney looming over the train which is on a workshop in Tudor Road Lane, home of dodgy car repairers and the like. The Tudor pub appears in the background, though IIRC it was a derelict by then; flats were built on this site later. This was on the corner of Tudor Road and the embankment, and in my time on the railway the haunt of ladies of, um, ill repute. Back in the 70s, walking from the station to Canton with a driver and secondman, we called in for a beer and our secondman was approached by one of the girls (girl is a bit of an exaggeration to be honest). He rebuffed her advances rather rudely, which to be fair I thought was un-necessary, she was only trying to make a living. She rounded on him and told him that he'd been much nicer to her the previous Saturday night; he went Swindon Green and Midland Red in that order. This would have been at about 2 o'clock on a weekday afternoon. Happy days; he never lived that one down! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted January 25, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 25, 2019 (edited) Do you mind me putting links to a couple of my photos from student days - only taken when waiting for a London train taking me to see Julie. https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brclass37/e1b5d4bcc https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brclass37/e5200829 https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/class47/e5f5cdeb0 https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brhaapre80/e10eff5bf https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brhaapre80/e189c649c Paul Not if they are this good and bring up so many happy memories, Paul. None of the buildings in the background of the second shot still exist, and the signal gantry has been replaced; only the bridge parapets and the brick wall remain. You were at the London end of Platform 2, a logical place to wait for an up Padd but I imagine an impoverished student would have to walk back past the first class and restaurant car to find second class. Loco would be a 47 or possibly a Western. Again, working from the shadows, it looks like early afternoon on a bright winter day. Edited January 25, 2019 by The Johnster Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivercider Posted January 25, 2019 Author Share Posted January 25, 2019 Do you mind me putting links to a couple of my photos from student days - only taken when waiting for a London train taking me to see Julie. https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brclass37/e1b5d4bcc https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brclass37/e5200829 https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/class47/e5f5cdeb0 https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brhaapre80/e10eff5bf https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brhaapre80/e189c649c Paul Lovely photos Paul. My first visit to Cardiff was about 1970. I remember a visit to Canton open day, but can't recall if it was a grammar school railway society outing, or a family trip with my dad. Either way I had no camera then. cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmrspaul Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Not if they are this good and bring up so many happy memories, Paul. None of the buildings in the background of the second shot still exist, and the signal gantry has been replaced; only the bridge parapets and the brick wall remain. You were at the London end of Platform 2, a logical place to wait for an up Padd but I imagine an impoverished student would have to walk back past the first class and restaurant car to find second class. Loco would be a 47 or possibly a Western. Again, working from the shadows, it looks like early afternoon on a bright winter day. Not this impoverished, long haired, student. Many happy days annoying business people as I used my 1st class free passes, totally legitimately provided by my Dad! Great for being able to kip down in a compartment - I used a train which left Paddington c21.30 on a Sunday evening which went to Cardiff via Gloucester and arrived sometime around 02.30 to 03.00 (and similarly going back to Liverpool on a midnightish departure from Euston which arrived about 04.00). My main memory of Paddington is watching the rats playing on the tracks before the off. These photos are all dated - June 1970 which is stretching the topic a bit! Paul 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted January 25, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 25, 2019 (edited) Good for you, Paul, I'm all for sticking it to the upper middle classes! I hope you smoked as well! In 1970 the stock would have been airbraked steam heated mk 2s with wrap around doors. But your 21.30 down from Paddington was the 'milk train', many years since it had carried any of that and never in the down direction anyway. This would be the train that left Cardiff to run via the Vale of Glamorgan to Bridgend, the Pembroke Dock Sleeper. If you missed it at Gloucester (23.35 IIRC). travelling home for Canton traincrews, you got the 04.30 down which left Paddington at 01.30, and if you missed that, which we often did, it was 09.30 before the next down working, with no advantage to be gained by going via Bristol. It could be a long 5 hours, that... Edited January 25, 2019 by The Johnster 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 I had an excellent day bunking Canton, this would have been around 1978-9. Went from Swindon on the HST to Cardiff, an older lad I met there said he knew the way into the shed so off we went, He had several packets of ciggies, it was the first time I'd ever tried them... spent the return trip throwing up in the lav on a Paddington bound HST and never touched a cigarette since! I wish I had still had my notebooks from the few short years I actually recorded numbers... 1977 - 1981. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
br2975 Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 My first visit to Cardiff was about 1970. I remember a visit to Canton open day, but can't recall if it was a grammar school railway society outing, or a family trip with my dad. Either way I had no camera then. Kevin, , The Canton Open Day was Saturday 7th. November, 1970. . I had to finish on the milk round early to get there - Saturday was our collecting day ! . I still have details of the locos on shed that day, should you be interested. . Nice to catch up today, sorry I missed you before you left. . Brian R 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivercider Posted January 28, 2019 Author Share Posted January 28, 2019 Kevin, , The Canton Open Day was Saturday 7th. November, 1970. . I had to finish on the milk round early to get there - Saturday was our collecting day ! . I still have details of the locos on shed that day, should you be interested. . Nice to catch up today, sorry I missed you before you left. . Brian R Hi Brian, it was good to meet up again, and I enjoyed the show. Sorry I did not say goodbye, I could see you were busy and I had to set off for my train home. Thanks for the date of the open day, that must have been the one I went to, I started at grammar school in September 1970. A list of the locos present would be great, I still have my first spotting book so it would confirm some of the non-local sightings I marked off, cheers Kevin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivercider Posted February 26, 2019 Author Share Posted February 26, 2019 (edited) Time to head up the Valleys now, I made a number of visits to the Cardiff Valleys in the early 1980s. One trip I went by train to Quakers Yard, then with the aid of an OS map walked across to Deep Navigation and Trelewis. 37255 and 37300 stand at the site of the former Trelewis Halt (which closed in 1964) with a loaded MGR train from Deep Navigation Colliery for Aberthaw. Edit - that is Deep Navigation cilliery in the background. 24/5/83. 37251 shunts HKVs (iron ore hoppers) loaded with colliery shale from Trelewis before departing for the tip at Nelson Bog, Edit - that is Deep Navigation Colliery in the background. 24/5/83. cheers Edited February 27, 2019 by Rivercider additional information 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Horse Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Cracking photo's as always. I love your photographic up-dates, so many of them cover places I visited as a kid when trainspotting but sadly I didn't know too much about photography at the time and I didn't get any even half as good as all of yours. Thanks 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivercider Posted March 10, 2019 Author Share Posted March 10, 2019 (edited) A couple of class 08s at work at Radyr. 08195 has been down to Cathays carriage and wagon shops to shunt, and now rumbles into Radyr with a long raft of repaired wagons, 26/6/81. Radyr yard pilot 08898 makes a shunt move, 26/6/81, Edit - a copy of this photo appears in my first book 'Railways of the Western Region in the 1970s and 1980s' by Amberley which is released this a week 15 March 2019. cheers Edited March 11, 2019 by Rivercider additional information 16 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernBlue80s Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 I always enjoy your Western Region shots from the 80s. Great modelling inspiration. Keep em coming 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivercider Posted March 11, 2019 Author Share Posted March 11, 2019 Now some class 37s at Radyr, I think there were normally six or seven outbased at Radyr to work trips in the Valleys. 37248 has brought a train of MDVs (21t mins) down the valley and stands at Radyr waiting acceptance into the yard. 28/11/80 37248 still stands waiting acceptance into the yard as 37286 leaves the yard light diesel, 28/11/80. I don't think HUOs (24t hops) were common in South Wales. In the early 1980s a pool of them were employed on a flow of coke from Nantgarw that went for export through Barry Docks, where hopper discharge equipment was specially installed. Here 37235 leaves Radyr with empty HUOs for Nantgarw, 3/11/81. cheers 16 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted March 12, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 12, 2019 HUOs were a real rarity in South Wales (hence my failure to purchase any of Accurascele's excellent rendering of them) and I never saw a single one in Radyr Yard during the whole of my time working there (1973). But back then at least we had a decent fleet of EE Type 3s (later renumbered Class 37) with a total of 14 -16 Radyr based diagrams - all under our local control. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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