Bill Jamieson

I think there's a lot to be said for having only brief captions adjacent to the photographs, but those in Transition are perhaps just a bit too sparse! That said, the publisher's note included with the book indicates that more extensive captions will eventually be published online and I'm sure most of us who own the book will look forward to these appearing in due course. Bill

Pasted in below is the flyer which gives full details of my new book on the VoR, Beyond '68. I first flagged this up at the end of last year in the 'Narrow Gauge Prototype' section but have had similar printing problems to the Colin Gifford Transition book, which took a few months to resolve. Having cleared promoting the book on RMWeb with Andy Y, I think it's worth mentioning it here as well, as I feel that the photographs should be of wider interest than just to NG enthusiasts. I would just point out that as well as photographs of the VoR, ten pages are devoted to a selection of steam-worked NG lines on the European mainland. These are integral to the introduction - my interest in the VoR was sparked by seeing working steam NG in Austria and the DDR, not the other way round. These will be to some peoples' taste but not to others. The book received a very enthusiastic review from Andrew Charman in the May edition of Narrow Gauge World and if I say so myself, the print quality (in duotone) is comparable with what David Postle has achieved in Transition. Bill BEYOND ’68 The Last Years of BR Steam on the Vale of Rheidol Line During the summer of 2018 a number of events were held to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of standard-gauge steam operation on British Railways. There was naturally extensive coverage of the anniversary in those railway periodicals aimed at the nostalgia market, and a number of books were published or announced, including notable offerings from Colin Gifford, Stephen Leyland and the Master Neverers Association, the last of these a four-volume magnum opus. Continued steam operation of the 1’ 11.5” Vale of Rheidol line beyond August 1968 did warrant a mention in the magazine coverage, but it is probably not widely appreciated that another significant anniversary fell in 2018, both for the line and BR, which actually ran its very last timetabled steam-worked train using one of its own locomotives some thirty years earlier on 4 November 1988, at the close of that year’s Vale of Rheidol operating season. The sale of the line to the Brecon Mountain Railway was concluded a few months later and normal service was resumed in May 1989, but the line was now firmly in the heritage sector, rather than a part of the national network. This album of photographs has been produced to mark a 30th anniversary which otherwise seems to have passed by unremarked, and to redress the photographic neglect (based on a perceived dearth of published photos from the 1970s and 1980s) of a minor but interesting chapter in British railway history. With less than 12 miles of line to cover, this is naturally a somewhat slimmer volume than any of those brought out to mark the end of standard-gauge steam, but hopefully the quality of reproduction and the generous size at which the photographs are used will compensate to some degree for the lower page count. For those who, like the author, are interested in narrow-gauge steam on mainland Europe, ten pages are devoted to the photographic results of his forays across the English Channel in search of ‘real’ working steam between 1975 and 2015, and the introductory text relates how his first visits to Austria and East Germany led to a fascinatiom with the Vale of Rheidol line. 104 pages 292mm x 273mm with 85 monochrome photographs (virtually all one to a page) duotone printed on 170 gsm satin paper. Obtainable direct from the author at ‘Sparrow Castle’, 91 Galashiels Road, Stow, Scottish Borders, TD1 2RQ, retail price £27.50 but offered to RMWeb readers at £26 including p&p for orders placed by the end of June 2019. Payment by cheque or BACS (bank details supplied on request). T 01578 730262 E sparrowcastle@btinternet.com

I'm pleased to say that the second print run in duotone has been completed and delivered to me - in fact I've had the books since the end of March but, having been away on holiday for a few weeks, have only just cleared giving it a plug on RMWeb with Andy Y. Pasted in below is the flyer which gives full details, but I would just point out that as well as photographs of the VoR, ten pages are devoted to a selection of steam-worked NG lines on the European mainland. These are integral to the introduction - my interest in the VoR was sparked by seeing working steam NG in Austria and the DDR, not the other way round. These will be to some peoples' taste but not to others. It received a very enthusiastic review from Andrew Charman in the May edition of Narrow Gauge World and if I say so myself, the print quality is comparable with what David Postle has achieved in the Colin Gifford Transition book. Bill BEYOND ’68 The Last Years of BR Steam on the Vale of Rheidol Line During the summer of 2018 a number of events were held to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of standard-gauge steam operation on British Railways. There was naturally extensive coverage of the anniversary in those railway periodicals aimed at the nostalgia market, and a number of books were published or announced, including notable offerings from Colin Gifford, Stephen Leyland and the Master Neverers Association, the last of these a four-volume magnum opus. Continued steam operation of the 1’ 11.5” Vale of Rheidol line beyond August 1968 did warrant a mention in the magazine coverage, but it is probably not widely appreciated that another significant anniversary fell in 2018, both for the line and BR, which actually ran its very last timetabled steam-worked train using one of its own locomotives some thirty years earlier on 4 November 1988, at the close of that year’s Vale of Rheidol operating season. The sale of the line to the Brecon Mountain Railway was concluded a few months later and normal service was resumed in May 1989, but the line was now firmly in the heritage sector, rather than a part of the national network. This album of photographs has been produced to mark a 30th anniversary which otherwise seems to have passed by unremarked, and to redress the photographic neglect (based on a perceived dearth of published photos from the 1970s and 1980s) of a minor but interesting chapter in British railway history. With less than 12 miles of line to cover, this is naturally a somewhat slimmer volume than any of those brought out to mark the end of standard-gauge steam, but hopefully the quality of reproduction and the generous size at which the photographs are used will compensate to some degree for the lower page count. For those who, like the author, are interested in narrow-gauge steam on mainland Europe, ten pages are devoted to the photographic results of his forays across the English Channel in search of ‘real’ working steam between 1975 and 2015, and the introductory text relates how his first visits to Austria and East Germany led to a fascinatiom with the Vale of Rheidol line. 104 pages 292mm x 273mm with 85 monochrome photographs (virtually all one to a page) duotone printed on 170 gsm satin paper. Obtainable direct from the author at ‘Sparrow Castle’, 91 Galashiels Road, Stow, Scottish Borders, TD1 2RQ, retail price £27.50 but offered to RMWeb readers at £26 including p&p for orders placed by the end of June 2019. Payment by cheque or BACS (bank details supplied on request). T 01578 730262 E sparrowcastle@btinternet.com

Correction - plate 215 was used in Steam Finale North but with the dmu on the left omitted so that it was not immediately obvious to me that I had seen it before. Incidentally, I have always considered this book to be the least satisfactory offering from CTG, probably because the portrait format (almost de rigour at the time for railway photographic albums) doesn't give the space to do justice to the shots. Bill

I haven't spotted any shot that has appeared in a previous book. A great book and the quality of reproduction is a definite step up from what was achieved by Ian Allan in each a glimpse....and ever again (printed in China) - I would just like to see Decline of Steam redone in the same manner as each a glimpse.... with printing of the same quality as Transition. Bill

In the DR 1970 renumbering, the '1' initial digit in the running number indicated that the loco was of 750mm gauge and had either been built for the DR or inherited from the DRG. Locos with '4' as the first digit were also of 750mm gauge but had come to the DR direct from non-state concerns taken over in 1949 or thereabouts (I haven't checked the precise year) - such locos always had four-digit running numbers under DR auspices, so the only change in 1970 was the addition of the computer check digit. The only loco in this category operating in Saxony latterly was the ex-Trusetalbahn 0-8-0T No. 99 4532 which was used at the Rollwagen ramp in Zittau. Bill

Email received from David Postle at Kidderminster Railway Museum today states:- The latest positive news to relate to you all is that I can now give you a definite date for the publication of this book. It is not quite as soon as I would have liked but I will have the completed print-run, bound and delivered and in stock here on May 2nd. As most of you want signed copies, the priority will be to get Colin to sign them as soon as I have them delivered. As this will be a Thursday, and it is Bank Holiday weekend two days later, I would anticipate at this stage that we will be sending your books out during the week commencing May 6th, providing Colin's wrist keeps up the pace! Bill

Is it the bunker-first shot of 99 5904 you mean? If so, here's the going away shot of the loco with part of the consignor's name just visible on the protective covering to one of the loads. I think the full name is Holzwerk Rinkemühle, which had a siding off the Selketalbahn between Silberhütte and Strassberg. Their speciality was barrels which the load definitely isn't - it looks more like sawn timber to me. There was also a siding into a sawmill at Silberhütte, which was perhaps part of Holzwerk Rinkemühle. I was a bit puzzled at first why these wagons should be conveyed in a train from Harzgerode but I see that the full out and back working from Gernrode comprised 69714 10:40 Gernrode - Strassberg 69725 12:41 Strassberg - Harzgerode 69713 14:06 Harzgerode - Gernrode No doubt the wagons were picked up at Silberhütte by train 69725 and were taken up to Harzgerode on its way to Gernrode. Bill

Here's a link to my Harzquerbahn shots as well - https://www.fotocommunity.de/user_photos/1764694?sort=new&folder_id=881928 These are only a fraction of what I took between 1977 and 1992 but there is a lot of repetition in the locations I photographed - the opportunities on the northern half of the line were actually quite limited until 1985 when tree felling started to reveal the famous S-curve south of the then former Draengetal crossing loop (since reinstated of course). Beyond Drei Annen Hohne both the main line and the Schierke branch disappeared into the Sperrgebiet, the former only becoming accessible again at Benneckenstein. In early 1990 after the wall came down I spent about a week in the Harz, mainly photographing the newly accessible section between DAH/Elend and Benneckenstein in great weather- I have since seen video of 99 6101 on Rollbock workings at Wernigerode that same week, including into the chocolate factory, which I really should have spent some time following. Too late now! Bill

Paul, I certainly have plenty of photographs with three coaches plus a van on the Selketalbahn, but two coaches with or without a van was also common, and with three coaches there was no certainty where the van would be positioned - all grist to the modeller's mill I presume! The only occasion I can recall seeing a single coach train it had left Gernrode with two, so I presume a fault had developed en route, requiring one coach to be detached at Alexisbad. On that occasion it was a Mallet, so it didn't look too ridiculous, but even two coaches and a 2-10-2T looked all wrong! https://www.fotocommunity.de/user_photos/1764694?sort=new&folder_id=809320 A friend in the village who is a modeller is hoping to get to the Warley exhibition this year and I intend accompanying him - I look forward very much to seeing your layout then. Bill

A bit late in responding, but throughout the 1980s the standard formation on the Harzquerbahn 'mainline' was five coaches plus a full or half baggage van. On the branches to Schierke and Hasselfelde it was one coach less. Towards the end of the DR period in winter 1991/92, when traffic was at a low ebb, three coaches plus a half baggage van seems to have been the norm. Bill

I'm not sure where the label 'Torwoodlee North Viaduct' comes from - I assume it refers to the high, very skewed overbridge nearby but this is named on the Borders Railway engineering drawings as Torwoodlee Road Overbridge (it carries an estate road over the line). Bill

David Postle has recently posted an update on the KRM site. Bill The positive news to relate is that March 2019 is the month when the book finally gets printed. Some of the running sheets were received on 13th February and the quality of the print was just what we had hoped for, so our confidence is high that the rest of the book will now be printed to our exacting standards. Currently pdfs are being completed for the remainder of the book and will be with the printer before the end of this week. The actual print schedule will then become available and will be posted on this site. Arrangements have been made for us to see the remaining running sheets off the end of the press and this will provide an extra layer of quality control now that we have hopefully solved all the technical problems. So as we finally reach the finishing straight with hopefully no more hurdles to overcome, the updates will become more frequent as we post positive dates for each of the stages in the process. The actual dates will become clearer over the next couple of weeks as we progress each stage. Once we know an exact delivery date (now to be counted in weeks rather than months!), then we will try and organise another launch of the book, maybe to coincide with one of the events on the SVR. We very much regret the delays in the production of this book but hopefully we can appreciate that when it finally does arrive, it will be a fitting example of the work of one our finest railway photographers in Colin Gifford.

Oops, brain not engaged yet this morning! - will repost on the correct thread. Bill

David Postle has just posted an update on the KRM site. Bill The positive news to relate is that March 2019 is the month when the book finally gets printed. Some of the running sheets were received on 13th February and the quality of the print was just what we had hoped for, so our confidence is high that the rest of the book will now be printed to our exacting standards. Currently pdfs are being completed for the remainder of the book and will be with the printer before the end of this week. The actual print schedule will then become available and will be posted on this site. Arrangements have been made for us to see the remaining running sheets off the end of the press and this will provide an extra layer of quality control now that we have hopefully solved all the technical problems. So as we finally reach the finishing straight with hopefully no more hurdles to overcome, the updates will become more frequent as we post positive dates for each of the stages in the process. The actual dates will become clearer over the next couple of weeks as we progress each stage. Once we know an exact delivery date (now to be counted in weeks rather than months!), then we will try and organise another launch of the book, maybe to coincide with one of the events on the SVR. We very much regret the delays in the production of this book but hopefully we can appreciate that when it finally does arrive, it will be a fitting example of the work of one our finest railway photographers in Colin Gifford.

I think this verifies my theory about the locos being on their delivery runs from EE. Bill

Another possibility is the Restoration & Archiving Trust - http://www.gwrarchive.org/index.php Bill

I would agree with your assessment that volume 3 is the best - judged purely on the quality of the photography and not being influenced by favourite lines, loco types etc. Bill

No, the telegraph poles north of Steele Road were on the Up side so it cannot be a train climbing away from there - for anyone who has 'Never Again', refer to pages 170 & 171 of Volume 1. Although I didn't know Kenneth half as well as Bruce, I think I knew him well enough to endorse what Bruce has written in his fine obituary for Kenneth. I'm just glad that he was able to attend the 50th anniversary of closure event in Stow on the 5th of this month, which I'm sure he thoroughly enjoyed, albeit he undoubtedly still felt as keen a sense of injustice as anybody at Hawick having been severed from the railway network. Bill

I would tend to agree with your first thought - is that white house on the right not Wyndburgh Cottage at Langburnshiels? - see https://www.onthemarket.com/details/1048239/ The telegraph poles are on the correct side for it being on the descent from Whitrope in either direction, but the scattering of plantations seems more typical of that towards Shankend as it was in the 1960s. Bill

Afraid not. Mark, it's just a straightforward list in numerical order. Bill

I would have thought it rather unlikely that any of those involved in putting the Hawick list together would have confused a class 26 with a 27 but, that said, I certainly wouldn't rule the typo out as a possible explanation for the appearance of D5383 in the list, and I would suggest that it does put a question mark against it. I will email Kenneth Gray to see whether he can shed any light on the matter. Incidentally I've had the Roger Siviter book for about 30 years and I had never noticed the error before! Bill

Polmadie Type 1s would have been regular visitors to Carlisle and no doubt one was borrowed on occasion for local work - I noted D8124 (66A) on shed at Kingmoor on Sunday 24th July 1966. Once steam had finished completely they would have been daily visitors although perusal of the 1969-70 freight WTT doesn't reveal a huge number of booked turns - one SX and one TFO working into Carlisle Yard for pairs of class 20s. Bill

Hi Ian, I must admit it's only a guess, but none of the 64B locos involved (D8317/8/9/23) stayed very long before moving west to Glasgow. Of course it begs the question as to why D8316, also allocated initially to 64B, was never seen, but a one-off appearance would easily be missed if no enthusiast was around and the wrong signalman was on duty at Hawick (from the evidence of the final train register D. Harkness didn't record numbers, although Gordon Hall, Jimmy Douglas and C. Paterson did). That leaves the case of D8324 which is on the Hawick list but was first allocated to Polmadie. Was that perhaps misdirected to Haymarket in the first instance? - stranger things have happened. By the way, the other two Type 1s recorded were D8006, which had a brief spell at Kittybrewster in late 1958 (presumably for trial purposes), and I strongly suspect was sighted during transfer north or back south, and D8080, which was at Eastfield for most of the '60s. The pick-up freight workings to and from Hawick weren't covered by a discreet diagram - the loco off the 03:15 class 6 freight from Millerhill went back to Edinburgh on the 06:58 class 2 stopper. In the evening the loco off the 16:12 class 2 from Waverley returned north on the 19:40 assured arrival freight to Millerhill - this I think implies that a Type 2 (at least) would always have been used - and D7602 etc would have been fine in the summer. Of course a double-headed Millerhill to Carlisle New Yard freight can't be ruled out. Bill PS It was great to see you in Stow on Saturday afternoon and I hope you enjoyed the proceedings.

D407 appears on the list of locos known to have worked through Hawick - I can't tell you a date but it would have been during the guards' dispute in summer 1968 when certain WCML trains were diverted over the Waverley Route, and would probably have involved either the 09:40 Perth - Euston or. 11:20 Perth - Birmingham New St. / 08:15 return. D449 didn't enter service until well into December 1968 so almost certainly never ran over the line. Seven EE Type 1s were recorded, mostly from the final batch in the D83xx series (possibly on delivery from Vulcan Foundry to Scotland?), and also seven of what became class 27 - all but one from the original 65A batch and just D5383 off the Midland Lines. There are no recorded sightings on the list I have of any NBL Type 2s appearing. Bill