The Stationmaster Has Been to an Auction -

[Miss Prism]

Oooh, yes, forgotten about the Dolgelley line...

[Fat Controller]

Agree Brian - the number was written on the back of the photo but whoever wrote the numbers in on various of the photos was clearly blessed with either remarkable eyesight or a very strong (and distorting) magnifying glass as several have turned out to be well adrift and - as in this case - can't really be divined apart from identifying the class and a potential date.  One of the enginemen's caps looks distinctly GWR and that leading wagon seems to have a number or something in quite large numerals at the leading end while teh engine number is fairlydefnitely two digits as far as I can see.  

 

The bufferbeam number might be brought out with some sharpening possibly?

I think I may have had the same glasses when I used to go out train-spotting in my teens.. I wouldn't set too much store by the hat, as my uncle had one in the 1970s, and he'd never even worked on the railway (though his family lived down by Llanelly shed)

[trisonic]

Good buy, Mike. Some interesting stuff there.

 

Best, Pete.

[EddieB]

At a squint, the bufferbeam number on the ex-Rhymney loco looks more like '53' to me.  This would make it one of the locos that wasn't reboilered, and a photo of the same loco (taken in 1948) appears on p100 of Russell's book on Absorbed Engines.

[David Bigcheeseplant]

Not convinced about Cookham.

 

The houses in the background match Cookham on Google earth and the footbridge seems to be the same

[Miss Prism]

I'm warming to Cookham, having looked at the comparison pics 'the other way around'.

[Mallard60022]

Has Gilbert seen the Peterborough one?

15XX - K's - yuch!

P

[The Stationmaster]

Has Gilbert seen the Peterborough one?

15XX - K's - yuch!

P

Gilbert has been sent a personal copy - before you lot got to see it!

[br2975]

Post #45 with the ex-Rhymney tank - the location reminds me of Barry Sidings on the Vale of Glamorgan but I'm not saying that it is!  The Rhymney loco makes it far more likely that it is Aber Junction.  If only we could read the lettering on the target board, which I can't despite zooming it in and out, that would provide a very useful clue. 

 

 

I suspect the Target may be " D7 " which in later years at least could legitimately put the loco at Aber Jct.

 

As for "6669 and 4177 at Radyr (well I'm reasonably sure it's Radyr!)" - I would concur, having stood at the very spot on many occasions (it was the first shed I ever bunked) and 4177 was a Radyr stalwart..

 

Brian R

[The Stationmaster]

Right then, onwards and upwards, or rather a bit westwards in this case (as well as eastwards).

 

Starting at Swansea again with (G)WR 942 (renumbered from 1153 c.1949) and exPowlesland & Mason 'Dorothy' built by Hawthorn Leslie in 1903 and scrapped at Caerphilly in 1955.

 

 

Now at Barry with what appears to be GWR No.247, ex BR No.56 of Class B1

 

 

And back to England for an unidentified Metro standing at the station platform at Oxford with what appears to be a massive wall of sandbags behind it - which suggests this is probably the Up platform and the sandbagged area might include the telegraph office (other information more than welcome).

 

 

And on Oxford shed, but obviously some years earlier, we find 'Fair Rosamund' herself, No.1473 of the 517 class.  A past neighbour of mine where we used to live fired on this engine as a Passed Cleaner - history can be right next to us if we care to look.

 

 

Oh I'm dodging about rather a lot as we go back to Barry to see GWR No 66, ex RR No.26 with an ex BR Class B to the left. 

 

 

And a brief look up the Valleys as 8444 runs into Hengoed High Level  (I was a bit wary of the note on this one which said Hengoed Low level and after a bit of delving I'm now convinced that it is actually the High Level station, the caption has also been altered on the original scan but not the compressed 'net version)

 

Edited October 28, 2013 by The Stationmaster

[Miss Prism]

E129 B-set behind the large Metro tank at the sandbagged Oxford. The E129 was comparatively rare outside of their originally native Bristol division  - is the lettering on the coach end decipherable?

[The Stationmaster]

And a bit more to the east before we head west for the hallowed halls (actually several other classes) at Swindon.

 

So we start with 1458 at its home shed, Southall, in March 1958

 

 

Now what is probably not only a step back in time but a swing northwards to see an unidentified 36Xx 2-4-2T.  My guess at Tyseley was, er, wrong.  According to Dee Ess it's at Moor St alongside the goods shed, but Miss P has since identified the location as Oxford Shed - with confirmatory photographic evidence, thanks Miss P.

 

 

And so to Swindon - starting with 1861

 

 

Followed by 2781

 

 

And newly ex-works 4227 standing alongside the weigh house (which is now home to a micro-brewery)

 

 

While Septr 1957 found 5510 standing up at the east end of the works sidings with part of the main office building in sight behind it to the left

 

 

But GWR 390, ex TVR No.404 of Class A presented a rather sadder sight

 

 

Edited October 27, 2013 by The Stationmaster

[The Stationmaster]

 

E129 B-set behind the large Metro tank at the sandbagged Oxford. The E129 was comparatively rare outside of their originally native Bristol division  - is the lettering on the coach end decipherable?

 

I don't have a sharpening tool (which might work?) but below is the biggest image I can get of the lettering on the coach end - snipped out of the original 2mb scan file which was saved at 1200dpi.  Does it say 'XXXXX Branch' I wonder.  The original print from which the scan was taken measures 78mmx52mm but it might be worth trying a scan at a higher resolution?

 

 

[gwrrob]

Kingham Branch ?

[The Stationmaster]

Now another lovely mixture starting with GWR No66, exADR No.34 - a standard Kerr Stuart design (with 4243 partially in shot at left).  My assumption is possibly Newport area - now definitely identified as Newport Pill - thanks Brian and Penrhos).

 

 

And further west is GWR 2192, ex BPGV No.1 - and some fascinating lettering on a coal wagon creeping in on the right!

 

 

And now a real oldie - 763, a Wolverhampton built 645 class saddle tank that was withdrawn in 1933.

 

 

Push-pull fitted 5529 at Barry, 12 August 1956

 

 

6685, a nice clean looking 6685 at an unknown location; the engine was at Pontypool Road from 1952 to 1963 but this appears to be somewhere else (?Aberdare??)

 

 

Another ex Barry engine - GWR No. 198, ex BR No.6 of Class B, and marked 'Cond'. Possibly at Barry?

 

Edited October 28, 2013 by The Stationmaster

[Ian Hargrave]

GWR 2192....Vale of Neath Collieries,Aberpergwm....empty to Glyn Neath

 

6685....possibly Gelli Tarw incline ...Aberdare HL to Hirwaun on Vale of Neath line .Or,even in the vicinity of Pontypool Road itself...it was a fairly rural location

Edited October 26, 2013 by Ian Hargrave

[The Stationmaster]

GWR 2192....Vale of Neath Collieries,Aberpergwm....empty to Glyn Neath

 

6685....possibly Gelli Tarw incline ...Aberdare HL to Hirwaun on Vale of Neath line .Or,even in the vicinity of Pontypool Road itself...it was a fairly rural location

It might possibly be north of the station at Pontypool Road although the trackwork doesn't fit that area too well in my mind to be honest.  Looks like I might have to do a bit of VofN research possibly.

[Fat Controller]

2192 'Ashburnham' was at Neath shed from 19/07/1928 until 30/04/1951, when she was withdrawn. She was sent to Swindon, where she was scrapped w/e 19/05/1951.

That shot of the ex AD&R tank almost reminds me of Llanelly shed, with Cefn Bryn on the Gower in the background; the terrace of houses reminds me of those that my Uncle Bill's family lived in, and the wall looks familiar. However, the Cooke plan I have of the railways around Llanelly Dock don't show any tracks orientated in the right way. I did try looking for an allocation for the loco on line, but couldn't find anything. One thing's fairly certain is that the shed was near the coast- there aren't many places that flat in South Wales..

[The Stationmaster]

And more!

 

Starting with another Metro at Paddington and probably taken on the same day as the other view I posted.  The number is difficult to make out so I won't try but this view does allow a more accurate attempt at dating when the photo was taken and it is prior to August 1933 but by no more than a few months at most.

 

 

And another Swindon view with ex-works 9428 standing outside A Shop

 

 

Now another partial mystery - the engine is noted on the print as 6430 and it probably is although the number cannot be clearly see; but what is certain is that it is a 64XX numbered 6430 or higher. The mystery part is the location - noting that 6430 was at Pontypool Road for much of its life - and the rather smart train of seemingly matching clerestory stock.

 

 

And another mystery.  I'm fairly sure the Location is Wellington (Salop) but the engine is not keen to be identified, not helped by the fact that it is noted on the printd as 4450 however it is a 44XX and it has been suggeste that that possibly the number was transposed when it was written on the print which seems a logical explanation of the error (the highest numbered 44XX was 4410!).  From a spot of detective work involving Paul (PD&SWJR) and Richard (Happy Hippo) we have narrowed the engine down to either 4400 or 4406.

 

 

But this one is a lot simpler - GWR No.347, ex TVR Class A No. 75 standing in front of the new coal stage at Cardiff Cathays shed.

 

 

GWR No.332, ex B&MR No.38 and based on the RR Class R design - at an unknown location

 

Edited October 27, 2013 by The Stationmaster

[big jim]

what amazes me is how many different types of "secondary" locos the GWR had!

 

to me the gwr i know from preserved railways is all sparkling clean panniers, prairies and 14XXs etc but there are so many variations on a theme in these photos and some fantastical looking contraptions!!

[Fat Controller]

what amazes me is how many different types of "secondary" locos the GWR had!

 

to me the gwr i know from preserved railways is all sparkling clean panniers, prairies and 14XXs etc but there are so many variations on a theme in these photos and some fantastical looking contraptions!!

This is particularily true of the 'Absorbed' engines of South Wales; whilst the bigger companies had a degree of standardisation, the smaller ones seemed to delight in having as mixed a fleet as possible. Both the BP&GVR and the L&MMR had fleets of a dozen locos each at most, but I doubt if there were more than one or two locos of each type that started out to the same design. As for the Swansea Docks fleet..

[Ian Hargrave]

Sorry this is late......post 11,Neath Riverside.Train is heading to Brecon, Pannier thus is 89B...Brecon.

[The Fatadder]

Loving all these photos of the absorbed South Wales locos,

Thanks for sharing

[Miss Prism]

I agree with PD&SWJR. Could '4450' be a typo for 4405?

[Trains&armour]

Post 66, last photo:

 

Definitly Hengoed high level

 

 

Just decipherable:

 

Hengoed high level

 

change for

 

Cardiff, Caerphilly xxxxxxxxx

 

Don't know really much about the Welsh valleys, but do have a nice photoshop program...