The "Strategic Reserve"?

[18B]

One for the sky program "Myth busters" me thinks

 

question is when and where was this myth first perpeptuated? when did it first appear in the railway press etc??

[Colin]

Sorry - perhaps I didn't make this clear. Mr Enfield Timber purchased it from the Finnish Government, so that would make sense as the loco would've been part of the Finnish Strategic Reserve (assuming they had one of course ).

 

A Google found the following info:

 

An interesting slightly broad-gauge industrial railway steam locomotive from Finland can be seen from the public road at a timber yard in Enfield Highway. The Enfield Timber Company, 1-23 Hertford Road, has on display an 0-6-0 side tank locomotive with outside cylinders built in 1927 by Oy Tampella A/B, Tampere, works number 373. The locomotive carries a running number 792 and is called HEN. It is fitted with a huge balloon spark-arrester chimney so presumably was intended to work, appropriately, on forest lines. The grid reference of the timber yard is TQ 352 966. The railway gauge the engine was built to run on is 1,524mm, which we would call five feet.

 

Brian

 

A timber yard on the Southend Arterial Road at Leigh on Sea also had a Finnish steam loco for a while about 4-5 years ago IIRC - it was a fully restored 2-8-0 painted in a rather bright red which I somehow doubt was very authentic - it reminded me of those cheap Christmas train sets sold in garden centres. Shame as it was an attractive loco which looked very American to me. Apparently it was steamed a couple of times and ran up and down a very short length of track.

I believe that this timber yard might possibly have been a branch of the Enfield business but it has presumably changed hands.

Originally about 14 Finnish locos were purchased around 1990(?) in a job lot and initially stored on an industrial site near Sudbury, Suffolk - I was lucky enough to get free access to them while visiting the owners in my official capacity (being a VAT inspector can have its advantages!). Locomotive types included a couple of quite handsome pacifics and 2-8-2s as well as the 2-8-0s and some chunky outside cylinder 0-6-0Ts; there were also some wooden bodied coaches. There was an intention to instal a 5' gauge railway in a theme park somewhere, but this obviously came to nothing (was it in Cornwall?) AFAIK some of the stock has returned to Finland, while at least 3 locos and a coach were at Ongar the last time I drove past the station.

[45669]

Many years ago, when the story first broke in Steam Railway magazine, a group of enthusiasts were discussing the intriguing prospect of all these engines hidden away at some undisclosed secret location.

 

One of them said in quite a matter of fact way that they were hidden under a hill in Wiltshire, off the Berks and Hants line in the Vale of the White Horse. He was quite certain of his facts and described exactly where this was.

 

The rest of us were flabberghasted! We asked him how he knew and pressed him for more information, but he clammed up saying that he could say no more as he'd signed the Official Secrets Act...

[David_S.]

Would that be the same hill that Arthur and his knights are sleeping in (a much earlier strategic reserve) or a different one?

[45669]

Would that the same hill that Arthur and his knights are sleeping in (a much earlier strategic reserve) or a different one?

 

Must be a different one; King Arthur & Co. are asleep under a hill in North Wales...

[Flying Pig]

One of them said in quite a matter of fact way that they were hidden under a hill in Wiltshire, off the Berks and Hants line in the Vale of the White Horse. He was quite certain of his facts...

Not all of them - the Berks and Hants doesn't go through the Vale of the White Horse

[45669]

Not all of them - the Berks and Hants doesn't go through the Vale of the White Horse

 

My mistake; must be a different white horse.

[Pennine MC]

here we go again

 

It creeps out every now and again

 

Oh I know, Mike It wasnt that long ago it got done on the old forum

 

I remember some of the original articles about this - one was possibly in the first ever issue of "Steam World". The big credibility gap is surely the types which were mentioned such as GWR Granges - good locos in their day but red route availability (limited to main lines) and with inside valve gear, hardly the easiest to maintain I'd suggest.

 

 

IIRC, the basis for that was that there were gaps in the disposal records for that class, but as you say there were better prospects; even if 4-6-0s had been required, there were surely more than enough Staniers, Standards and B1s

 

Now where's Baby Deltic? I'm sure we compared notes on all those long-stored NBL type 2s

[pointstaken]

A good yarn for a winter's evening in front of the pub fire, probably in the saloon bar of the "White Horse". Yawn !!

 

Dennis

[BR60103]

One of our steam railways in Canada is powered by an engine from the Swedish strategic reserve. http://www.steamtrain.ca/

The problem with the "strategic reserve" always seems to be that Britain was reputed to be starting to import coal, at least that was one reason given for switching to diesels.

[Guest Phil]

One of our steam railways in Canada is powered by an engine from the Swedish strategic reserve. http://www.steamtrain.ca/

The problem with the "strategic reserve" always seems to be that Britain was reputed to be starting to import coal, at least that was one reason given for switching to diesels.

 

 

As well as actually finding locations with sufficient quantities of H2O which are handlable, and human beings who could be pressganged into getting themselves sweaty and filthy working on, and maintaining the things - even if they exist, which they of course don't.

 

As I've commented before - the last week of BR steam in 1968 was pretty much solid Stanier products with an odd BR standard thrown in. Guess they'd already handpicked the better BR Stds for the Strategic Reserve, along with those Granges.

 

 

If the main line steam operators have to resort to driving a "preserved" fire engine across the Home Counties to water just one loco on the mainline, doesn't that tell you something ?

 

Oh, yeah, They havn't been told where strategic reserve hydrant network is at the major stations

 

 

 

Pardon my cynicism

[bike2steam]

Many years ago, when the story first broke in Steam Railway magazine, a group of enthusiasts were discussing the intriguing prospect of all these engines hidden away at some undisclosed secret location.

 

As soon as you mention 'Steam Railway Magazine' the story loses all credibility, the SRM is to the hobby what the Daily Mail is to good honest journalism

 

ps Some one mentioned 'Granges', as a class they broke all records for speed of being broken-up, due to their higher than normal percentage of non-ferrous metal content.

[Mallard60022]

Sorry - perhaps I didn't make this clear. Mr Enfield Timber purchased it from the Finnish Government, so that would make sense as the loco would've been part of the Finnish Strategic Reserve (assuming they had one of course ).

A Google found the following info:

An interesting slightly broad-gauge industrial railway steam locomotive from Finland can be seen from the public road at a timber yard in Enfield Highway. The Enfield Timber Company, 1-23 Hertford Road, has on display an 0-6-0 side tank locomotive with outside cylinders built in 1927 by Oy Tampella A/B, Tampere, works number 373. The locomotive carries a running number 792 and is called HEN. It is fitted with a huge balloon spark-arrester chimney so presumably was intended to work, appropriately, on forest lines. The grid reference of the timber yard is TQ 352 966. The railway gauge the engine was built to run on is 1,524mm, which we would call five feet.

 

Brian

Many European and 'Eastern' countries had steam loco's stored (and still do). Poland has many scattered around the country and many are in working order as we know. Until recently Ukraine had quite a few with some just about steamable, however I believe they have recently almost eliminated the lot.36E GC

[coachmann]

The Strategic Reserve exists under our very noses. It is the British railway system and is there as a nostalgic peice of history in case we are forced to use it while cutting greenhouse gasses by 90%. To add to the nostalgia, we will continue to delight in the spectacle of aircraft guzzling up tax-free fuel and offering cheap flights...

[WIZ]

? [Admin Edit] would't any strategic reserve be of no use what so ever as they would first have to work out who owned each one before they could get tenders to have any asbestos removed and who might want to lease them.Have to work out liverys and what labels and where to place them.As they dont have TOP numbers would they have to reinterduce the E AND D prefixs .How long would that take ?.

Due to metal thefts would they still exist,has anybody seen any old transit flat backs with a load of smokebox doors going past their bedroom windows at two in the morrnig?

Bulgaria had steam engins stored and may still have,these where classed as secret military installations by a ticket collector wanting to know why i was taking photos of them.

 

secret military installation at Kaspican august 1994.

[Mod6]

This topic is now exhausted I think ...