Respite

After the reasonable programme about Flying Scotsman which managed to not use the word Icon this was a real hammy programme. A pity as the manage Chris Price has made a very good start on the railway and Mark the boilersmith is a great member of the team. These programs normally have to introduce a fake crisis or three. "if the passengers don't get their first two courses within twenty minutes someone might die scenario." Since when would a loco with a 5000 gallon tender be short of water going to Levisham light engine! A black 5 hauling the 8 coach dining set equal to 9 mark 1s would have been a better edge of your seat drama. That said I thought the sunny weather and aerial photography really marketed the railway very well indeed so it was good news .

Well said. Whilst being delighted that Hattons are producing these characterful locos Katie in that livery seems a pity. As ICI 2226, it did also run once or twice at the KWVR in the days before the railway opened. It was used on timetable trial trains with Peckett 1999.

It was a very tough place, we used to refer to it as the notorious washery ( meaning Ladysmith washery) where the locoshed was.

Respite didn't roll over. I have photos showing it after its accident. It ended up on top of the stop blocks and a pile of spoil at Haig Colliery.

Le's hope the Hatton's model doesn't have that feature. Industrial locos didn't have shed plates.

Well I must admit I have been proved wrong on the selection of liveries for the Barclay. I was surprised at the choice of Katie as the loco only wore this livery whilst sat on a plinth at a garden centre. It is really an ex ICI Huddersfield loco although it did work at the infant KWVR in its blue industrial livery http://picssr.com/photos/railwaydave/interesting/page34?nsid=22633970@N08 Clearly the attractiveness of the livery is selling more models than authenticity. The liveries chosen seem to be all 'as preserved' rather than 1960s industrial liveries. Some proper NCB liveried wooden wagons and 16 ton minerals would be nice to go with the Barclays and the Hornby Pecketts. The ones in the video are exclusive to Manvers Coking Plant. Following on the heels of the Hornby Peckett a Barclay loco would have been my choice, well done Hattons for some quick work.

Graig Merthyr colliery used coal brought in from elsewhere. Graig Merthyr was an anthracite pit and the local coal burnt through the firebars so 16 ton mineral wagons were used to bring in more suitable coal which was put onto the loco footplate with a big fork, not a shovel. The bunkers on the austerity locos at Graig Merthyr were just somewhere to put the fire irons! I know that at Bedlay colliery with the 0-6-0Ts and also at Bickershaw the locos were bunkered by backing under the screens. At Ladysmith Washery, Whitehaven if the line under the loading hoppers was clear the loco could back up for bunkers but often the method of coaling was shoveling from a heap on the ground or getting a mechanical shovel to do it. Nantgarw and Astley Green used a crane with a clamshell bucket.

Yes! It was in the post office in Grosmont yesterday and as the operating was so awful my train was delayed 25 mins so I went and got it to read. At £4.99 I thought it good value given the high production values it is printed to.

I knew of the Lilleshall Company and that it had its own locos but I hadn't appreciated that the Granville system was part of it. This thread has been very interesting and I regularly check back for updates. I only once popped into Granville and that was when diesels had taken over. A fitter who was working on one of these told me that they finished with steam partly because of the difficulty of getting spares. I got to know No.8 well enough as I saw it working at West Cannock colliery and it came up to Bickershaw. I am really enjoying the fascinating photos Phil, thanks for uploading them.

Don't worry about using steam cranes into the 1960 period. Preston Dock had them and there was a timber yard at Sunderland Harbour that used them into the 1970s. There was also one used at Workington Dock which I saw in use in 1971. It's job was to lighten the loads of iron ore in USC iron ore wagons so that that they didn't exceed 50 tons in weight. The trestle bridge over the River Derwent was the consideration. The iron ore was imported at the dock for use at Moss Bay steelworks. The steam crane was in the loco depot yard and an empty wagon was positioned by it to receive the excess ore from the overloaded wagons once they had been weighed.

The best answer that I have had about the covers over the slide bars on the colliery locos is that it was because of working to the coke ovens at Altham. Coke being very abrasive and the problems with dust would have caused considerable wear. There were four locos on the system that I Know of. The one at the CEGB power station. One at the colliery and another for a single loco at the coke works. There was another at the Nori brickworks. There could well have been another at Whiney Hill Brickworks as well.

Yes there was a steam feed with flexible connections so that locos could be charged on either shed road. They once had done repairs to a loco's reservoir and had to drain it off. When charged with steam and having no water in it only lasted an hour. There is some video of the last day the connection to the colliery was used on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRf55H0PLzM

I got a copy of this yesterday, yes it's a nice book but very expensive for what it is at £24.95 for a paperback. I am also surprised at the small font sized type used, my copy seems to have a smaller typeface on the first ten pages or so then changes. If Wild Swan had been a bit more generous with the number of pages we could have had larger diagrams most of which are too small and larger photos. I would recommend having a magnifier handy.

Really? In all my colliery visits in Scotland, England and Wales I never saw this. What period do you refer to please as it could have been before I started visiting NCB systems.

I haven't seen pit props loaded cross wise in a 16 ton mineral wagon before, they have always been fore and aft, thanks for posting the close up. The big Barclay is at Merthyr Vale Colliery, Aberfan it had seen about six months use at Mardy Colliery in the mid 60s. Note the spilt sand on the running board, all ready to blow over the slide bars and crosshead.

If only people were patient. I bet they will be available second hand including unused ones at toy fairs and model railway shows in a while. I got an M7 unused at a show because someone had maxed out his credit cards probably by buying on ebay at silly prices.

I have to say I am thrilled with my Pecketts. The first surprise was just how small they are, then there is the joy at the running characteristics, they run far better than my 0-6-0s and the haulage abilities are amazing. I had ordered two from Monk Bar models and was so pleased I decided I wanted a blue one as well. Like many I have started another small dedicated layout for them.

No they couldn't because it's in Scotland at Prestongrange! I think you mean the Andrew Barclay, either way a model of one of these would be nice.

Monk Bar models in York are very good, they are very helpful, maintain a very well stocked shop and test any loco they are selling. Their prices are good when you compare them to online sellers taking into account the postage charges you need to add on.

I am liking the look of this new layout.

I just love the track plan! Looks great fun.

I entirely agree with this idea, if you want to run big locos you could increase the depth of the layout and add a 'mainline' at the rear. 4" extra depth would enable it and then you wouldn't have to increase the length of the layout if longitudinal space was a problem. That way you could still include all the elements of Chris Nevard's plan. I think big locos running into the shunting yard itself would spoil the atmosphere which is a very tangible aspect of Brew St.

I attach a photo of a Fife Barclay in typical NCB condition and environment. Note the broken buffer head, bent step and running board (on far side). Also the boiler isn't lagged which was a cost saving exercise used by NCB at Cowdenbeath shops. This is No.6 AB2261 of 1949 now preserved in working order at Oswestry. Photo is thought to be taken at Blairhall Colliery in Fife outside the loco shed.

This kit didn't use one of the Fife class Barclays as a prototype. The loco drawings Kingdom Kits used were of a one off , which was at Ormesby Steelworks Middlesborough. I have never seen a photo of the loco but it was dismantled by 1968 and then scrapped. It had a different boiler to the Fife locos. I have this kit which I got made up by a professional model maker.

" A sister to Islwyn is under restoration at Blaenavon in the form of Llantarnam Abbey which also spent time at Big Arch IIRC. " No this isn't correct. Llantanum Abbey was never at Talywain and isn't really a sister, being a 14" loco. The Barclays at Talywain were much more modern and powerful being 17" locos.