End of Steam on the British Railway Network

[DavidB-AU]

On 14/02/2023 at 02:26, Phil Bullock said:

Official end of steam operation on the WR was 31st December 1965 when Worcester Gloucester Oxford and Barrow road depots closed. 

 

There was steam at Croes Newydd used for shunting until November 1966. Here's are pictures from August and September of that year.

 

 

 

 

Of course London Transport used Panniers up to 1971.

[pH]

1 hour ago, Matt37268 said:

What about 80002 used as a steam heating boiler until 1969? I think?

I was only considering active locomotives. (I believe steam heating locos had parts of the motion removed.)

[Phil Bullock]

4 hours ago, DavidB-AU said:

 

There was steam at Croes Newydd used for shunting until November 1966. Here's are pictures from August and September of that year.

 

 

 

 

Of course London Transport used Panniers up to 1971.

Thanks David. Those were ex GWR locos by that date …. Croes Newydd being an LM shed, along with the Birmingham area sheds still using ex GWR tank locos.

 

Will amend my original post to add the S&D date to the WR …. VoR was also LM by that date.

[Phil Bullock]

On 13/02/2023 at 23:17, H2O said:

I'm fairly sure the last steam service that the WR was responsible for was running the northern section of the old S&D. This closed in spring 1966, although originally scheduled earlier.  So later than Jan 1st that year.

Many thanks …. And correct of course, original post now amended to reflect this. 

[Phil Bullock]

On 14/02/2023 at 23:13, H2O said:

Much info at:

 

https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/the-end-of-steam-tables-by-class-region-depot/

 

The problem with that site is the cut off date in the tables - 31st December. Anyone with no other knowledge would assume that no steam worked in 1968 as there were none in traffic at year end.

 

1st January would work better at it would indicate that locos were in traffic in that year….

[Compound2632]

2 hours ago, Phil Bullock said:

The problem with that site is the cut off date in the tables - 31st December. Anyone with no other knowledge would assume that no steam worked in 1968 as there were none in traffic at year end.

 

1st January would work better at it would indicate that locos were in traffic in that year….

 

The number for 1st January 196n is likely to be very close to the number for 31st December 196(n-1)... 

[Wickham Green too]

1 minute ago, Compound2632 said:

 

The number for 1st January 196n is likely to be very close to the number for 31st December 196(n-1)... 

Unless the accountants have had a New Year purge !

[Compound2632]

1 minute ago, Wickham Green too said:

Unless the accountants have had a New Year purge !

 

By the 1960s, I would think they'd be on a New Year splurge.

 

Wikipedia class articles are usually pretty good at giving years of withdrawal, e.g.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LMS_Stanier_Class_5_4-6-0#Withdrawal

though for accounting periods within the year one would have to look at the specialist literature.

 

Anyway, "not yet withdrawn" was not quite the same thing as "still in use".

[Wickham Green too]

Diesel splurge / steam purge ............. an awful lot of Southern classes became extinct at a stroke in 1962 - maybe not exactly at the stroke of midnight 31/12/62 but that was clearly the accountants deadline.

[pH]

12 minutes ago, Wickham Green too said:

Diesel splurge / steam purge ............. an awful lot of Southern classes became extinct at a stroke in 1962 - maybe not exactly at the stroke of midnight 31/12/62 but that was clearly the accountants deadline.

The Scottish Region had a cull of ex-LMS express locos at the end of December 1962 as well: all the region’s 11 Jubilees (from Corkerhill), all the region’s Scots (from Polmadie and Corkerhill) and the first three Duchesses to be withdrawn (from Polmadie).

[rodent279]

Reading this with interest, a question has formed in my mind.

 

The official end of BR steam was (correct me if I'm wrong) 3rd August 1968. The famed 15 Guinea Special featuring 70013 etc, was 11th August 1968.

 

What happened during the intervening 8 days? Were there any mainline steam movements? Was there a time when all fires were dropped on BR owned steam locos apart from the VoR?

Edited February 16, 2023 by rodent279

[eldomtom2]

3rd of August was last scheduled steam-hauled passenger train. There was some shunting etc. carried out by steam on the 4th & 5th, as well as a couple of enthusiast specials. But from a brief look over it does genuinely seem that the few remaining survivors didn't turn a wheel between the 6th and the 10th.

 

On a side note, does anyone know if any of the steam locos used as carriage heating boilers were still being used for that purpose by August? I know the B1s weren't, but they weren't the only ones.

Edited February 16, 2023 by eldomtom2

[russ p]

57 minutes ago, rodent279 said:

Reading this with interest, a question has formed in my mind.

 

The official end of BR steam was (correct me if I'm wrong) 3rd August 1968. The famed 15 Guinea Special featuring 70013 etc, was 11th August 1968.

 

What happened during the intervening 8 days? Were there any mainline steam movements? Was there a time when all fires were dropped on BR owned steam locos apart from the VoR?

 

I believe 70013 ran under its own steam to Norwich the following day. I think it was later hauled to Diss for preservation at Bressingham 

[BachelorBoy]

3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Wikipedia class articles are usually pretty good at giving years of withdrawal, e.g.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LMS_Stanier_Class_5_4-6-0#Withdrawal

 

Buyer beware: all the references are to blogs, not books.

 

[br2975]

1 hour ago, eldomtom2 said:

3rd of August was last scheduled steam-hauled passenger train. There was some shunting etc. carried out by steam on the 4th & 5th, as well as a couple of enthusiast specials. But from a brief look over it does genuinely seem that the few remaining survivors didn't turn a wheel between the 6th and the 10th.

 

On a side note, does anyone know if any of the steam locos used as carriage heating boilers were still being used for that purpose by August? I know the B1s weren't, but they weren't the only ones.

.

BR Standard Cl.4MT 2-6-4T, 80002,  was withdrawn from service at Polmadie in March 1967 but remained in Glasgow past the end of steam haulage until 1969 as a static carriage heating boiler.

.

It was later preserved.

.

[Rugd1022]

There will always be some variation between 'official' and 'real' dates when it comes to withdrawals, end of service life, lines closing etc. Strictly speaking this is off topic but still a case in point : the last day of the WR Hydraulics was officially Saturday 26th February 1977, when D1013 and D1023 worked the 'Western Tribute' tour, shadowed by D1010 and D1048 light engine, but the following day D1013 was used to shunt some wagons and worked a Sunday ballast turn before being shut off 'for good'. There are other examples of Westerns being used several days, weeks or even months after their official withdrawal dates. Another more recent example : 56 059 was withdrawn on a particular day but a slip up in the communications meant that it was 'nicked' to work a late night Rugby - Bescot - Rugby trip job the following day when the booked 66 was declared a failure (I was on board that night and drove the 56 part of the way). The cock up was duly discovered and it was towed back to Bescot the next morning.

 

And veering back on topic - I can't look at a Bullied Pacific without hearing The Kinks 'Waterloo Sunset' in my head 😉

[MarkC]

4 hours ago, rodent279 said:

Reading this with interest, a question has formed in my mind.

 

The official end of BR steam was (correct me if I'm wrong) 3rd August 1968. The famed 15 Guinea Special featuring 70013 etc, was 11th August 1968.

 

What happened during the intervening 8 days? Were there any mainline steam movements? Was there a time when all fires were dropped on BR owned steam locos apart from the VoR?

It's recorded that 48773 was prepared to move from Rose Grove to the Severn Valley Railway under her own power on Monday 5th August - she'd been used on the 4th August specials - but management got wind of it just before she set off and stopped the move. All subsequent moves - other than the clandestine move of 70013 to Diss mentioned earlier - were supposed to be behind diesels, even if the locomotives were in steam. There were one or two cases of moves in defiance of this between 12th August 1968 and the "Return to Steam" with KGV in October 1971 - Flying Scotsman excepted - but 12th August 1968 was the last day of main line BR owned locomotives moving under their own power - AFAIK 70013 was only handed over for preservation after arrival at Diss?

 

Mark

[Compound2632]

9 hours ago, BachelorBoy said:

Buyer beware: all the references are to blogs, not books.

 

Yes, one would have to dig down to discover where the blogs got their information.

 

But, as a point of interest, as you have the books, is the information in fact accurate?

[craneman]

On 13/02/2023 at 21:33, rodent279 said:

I suppose if one wants to be really pedantic......when was the last steam crane taken out of use?

Not the answer to your question but interesting to note that the last lift undertaken by a steam breakdown crane working on the national network took place on Sunday 13th August 1989, in South Devon.

[Andy Kirkham]

On 15/02/2023 at 16:53, The Johnster said:

but that Tuplin's account of a Great Central driver who left his loco in the charge of a fireman while he clambered around the tender footplating to perve on a courting couple in the leading compartment between Leicester and Rugby, only to fall to his death within a few miles of Leicester while the fireman took the train to Rugby, to be a complete fabrication, and consider his other footplate tales in the same light.  There's a difference between exaggerating and fabricating!

 

 

When I read this I took it to be a manifestly fictional short story whimsically interpolated into the documentary narrative.

Edited February 17, 2023 by Andy Kirkham

[pH]

On 15/02/2023 at 17:55, Matt37268 said:

What about 80002 used as a steam heating boiler until 1969? I think? (It’s rather late and I’m about ready to fall asleep, but It’s worth a check out) 

I think this might be the only Standard Tank that didn’t end up at Barry. 

 

On 15/02/2023 at 19:08, pH said:

I was only considering active locomotives. (I believe steam heating locos had parts of the motion removed.)

By pure chance, I came across this picture and its interesting caption:

 

https://www.railscot.co.uk/img/79/982/

 

It says 44997 was used for steam heating at Craigentinny after withdrawal, until July 1967. However, it wasn’t static; it ran to and from St Margaret’s shed for coal and water. So this is another candidate for last active BR-owned steam engine on the Scottish Region. (I wonder if there were any pictures taken of these trips.)

[Phil Bullock]

16 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

And veering back on topic - I can't look at a Bullied Pacific without hearing The Kinks 'Waterloo Sunset' in my head 😉

Me too Nidge. Children of a similar age I think! 

[LMS2968]

7 hours ago, Andy Kirkham said:

 

When I read this I took it to be a manifestly fictional short story whimsically interpolated into the documentary narrative.

It happened, but on the electrified North Eastern Railway. The driver of the e.m.u. tied down the dead man's handle with handkerchiefs then clambered along the footboarding for a look. There was no fireman. He was knocked from his perch and the train ran through a signal at danger at a junction into the side of a passing train.

 

It's somewhere in one of my books but can't find it at the moment.

 

 

* Found it! 'Trains in Trouble Vol 3 by KenHoole, Atlantic 1982 ISBN  0 906899 05 2. It happened at Manors in 1926, so LNER rather than NER.

Edited February 17, 2023 by LMS2968
More information

[Matt37268]

On 16/02/2023 at 03:08, pH said:

I was only considering active locomotives. (I believe steam heating locos had parts of the motion removed.)

The ER B1s had their draw hooks removed, I don’t think 80002 had its motion dismantled. 

[30851]

On 15/02/2023 at 23:24, Phil Bullock said:

Thanks David. Those were ex GWR locos by that date …. Croes Newydd being an LM shed, along with the Birmingham area sheds still using ex GWR tank locos.

 

Will amend my original post to add the S&D date to the WR …. VoR was also LM by that date.

 

Does the U.S.A shunter, DS234 (ex 30062), at Meldon Quarry count in this discussion of the last WR allocated steam. All sources I can find says it lasted in service until Aug 66 when it finally failed. Supposed to have been replaced by 30064 but seems that didn't happen.

 

Rob