Steam loco bogies used under a radio telescope?

[rodent279]

I'm pretty sure that I've read somewhere that some redundant steam loco bogies (GWR Castle class I think) were used under a radio telescope array somewhere near Cambridge. Can anyone verify this?

[Steamport Southport]

Yep. But it was Jodrell Bank. The one before the newer telescope.

 

List of locos used in one of the magazines a few years ago. But altogether there was about a dozen or so bogies used.

 

 

 

Jason

Edited June 20, 2023 by Steamport Southport

[TheEngineShed]

This was a posted link to a twitter feed...

 

[Michael Hodgson]

There is still a radio telescope array on a former railway near Cambridge.  It is called the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, and built on the track bed of the old Oxford- Cambridge line at Lord's Bridge Station.  The track was relaid at a gauge of abut 20'  to carry mobile antennas, so steam loco bogies would not have been much use.

 

They won;t be relocating the observatory for the new East-West railway link, that will be on a new route in the Cambridge area.

[lather]

2 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

The track was relaid at a gauge of abut 20'  to carry mobile antennas, so steam loco bogies would not have been much use.

 

Now that's what you call Broad Gauge!! 😄

[rodent279]

4 hours ago, lather said:

 

Now that's what you call Broad Gauge!! 😄

Eat your heart out Isambard!

[adb968008]

On a tangent to this, I recall reading one of our South East English piers was strengthened using Bulleid pacific coupling rods.

 

 

[5944]

19 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

Yep. But it was Jodrell Bank. The one before the newer telescope.

 

List of locos used in one of the magazines a few years ago. But altogether there was about a dozen or so bogies used.

 

 

 

Jason

It was only the wheels themselves that were used under the telescope. Even the axles were disposed of I believe. There's a photo here 

showing what the "bogies" looked like - definitely not Castle ones!

 

Showing

[Steamport Southport]

Not according to the article that was in one of the magazines. It shows the bogies in use on a circular track with a huge girder on top.

 

Can't remember what magazine it was though. One of the "quality" ones rather than a more general one. I'm thinking Railway Magazine in the 1990s.

 

 

Don't forget there have been many rebuilds of the telescope. Even looking at the photo with the electric, it's vastly different today.

 

There is also more than one telescope. Was it the Lovell telescope, MKII or MKIII?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodrell_Bank_Observatory

 

 

Jason

[adb968008]

1 hour ago, Steamport Southport said:

Not according to the article that was in one of the magazines. It shows the bogies in use on a circular track with a huge girder on top.

 

Can't remember what magazine it was though. One of the "quality" ones rather than a more general one. I'm thinking Railway Magazine in the 1990s.

 

I recall seeing the same image, iirc when they were replaced Didcot examined them but found them severely cracked.

Edited June 21, 2023 by adb968008

[D7666]

IIMU there were two stages to this. First they used complete GWR bogies, or tried to, then there was a rebuild that reused the wheels (and or axles) only dispensing with the GWR bogies.

 

And I heard that way before the days of internet chatter groups etc. Indeed before the internet was invented and polluted by the likes of wikidribble that so many place so much faith in..

 

My understanding dates back to 11/1974 seeing Jodrell Bank from an Adex on a school spotting trip, the teacher leader of which was a GWR fan.

Edited June 21, 2023 by D7666

[009 micro modeller]

7 hours ago, adb968008 said:

On a tangent to this, I recall reading one of our South East English piers was strengthened using Bulleid pacific coupling rods.

 

 

On a similar theme, I understand some of the frames from the 3ft gauge De Winton locos used at Penmaenmawr in the granite quarries were reused (filled with concrete but still rolling) as some sort of counterweight for the conveyor/loading system on the aggregate loading piers nearby. I’m not sure if any remain as part of this set up these days though (I’m aware of the loco that’s still in the quarries but that’s a different topic).

[D7666]

17 hours ago, rodent279 said:

Eat your heart out Isambard!

Which is not as wide as that supporting some freightliner container gantry cranes. And i have no doubt there are other examples.

 

[DavidB-AU]

From what I read, the GWR bogies and what is now the outer track were replaced in the 1968-69 upgrade. An inner track with 4 additional bogies (don't know what type) to take some of the weight was added at the same time. A blog post by Didcot Railway Centre says they did look at the wheelsets out of the GWR bogies some time after they were replaced, but were found to be too badly damaged.

 

While we're on the subject, the Australia Telescope Compact Array sits on a 3.2 km long track made from Australian Standard 68kg/m rail to a gauge of 9.6m. The Australasian Railway Association officially recognised it as a "railway" which would make it the widest gauge in the world.

 

 

The complex which includes the ATCA is named the Paul Wild Observatory. Astronomer Paul Wild was a lifelong railway enthusiast and as child in the UK wanted to be a train driver specifically to drive a GWR King class.

[Southernman46]

On 20/06/2023 at 23:25, TheEngineShed said:

This was a posted link to a twitter feed...

 

My Grandfather served on HMS Royal Sovereign as a Royal Marine and loader in "X" turret