Bill Jamieson

Mark, My apologies for not responding sooner to your January post. My first visit to the station in Duns would have been in 1957 (possibly during the school Easter holidays) and the loco involved that day was J39 No. 64711. J39s were the regular power until late 1962 when the last Tweedmouth examples were withdrawn, and for the next year Ivatt class 2 2-6-0s were the norm - there had been a couple of these at 52D in earlier years (46476 & 46482) and I'm fairly sure they had appeared at Duns on occasion from 1958/9. The Ivatt 2-6-0s were replaced with three BR Standard Class 2 2-6-0s (78012/24/5) at the end of 1963 but they in turn only lasted a year before giving way to 77002/4, which worked the by then thrice-weekly freight until June 1966 when Tweedmouth closed to steam. Thereafter I only visited the station on a handful of occasions (by that time we no longer lived on Cheviot Way), when I noted EE and Brush Type 4 diesels being used. The use of a 1Co-Co1 machine seems a bit surprising given that D181 had come a cropper the previous August. Of course there were occasions in steam days when other locos substituted and I have vague memories of locos of classes K3 and V2 turning up, while visits by classes B1 and K1 are clearer in my mind. The most notable visitor was an unidentified Pacific (probably an A2) which was spotted from our Cheviot Way living room window at school dinner time (it was never lunch in these days) in about 1962. There's an interesting article about the Berwickshire Railway in Railway Bylines Annnual No. 4 which gives information on the motive power used in earlier years. After closure, I measured up most of the buildings at Duns and Edrom - I'm not 100% certain where my notebooks are but I should be able to find them if they might be of interest. Bill

Tait does ring a slight bell (although there were other Taits in Duns which might be confusing me). I still have a picture in my mind's eye - always wore a bunnet I seem to remember. Regards, Bill

As has been stated earlier the loco will be either 77002 or 77004 and as it appears to be summer the year must be 1965. I wonder if I knew your great uncle - during the school holidays in 1963, my friend Adam Turnbull and myself were 'employed' in the goods shed. I seem to remember the two BR men we knew were a Welshman (not surprisingly known as Taffy) and a local chap whose surname was, I think, Mackie. I would be pleased to see any more photos of Duns as that is where I was brought up. Until 1964 we lived out of shot to the right on Cheviot Way, which at that time had a clear view down to the railway, although there are now houses in between (and no railway of course!). Regards, Bill

Thanks John, looks like your's is going to be the only response - will investigate that suggestion. Bill

I'm just back from a short visit to Germany and most of the current issues of their railway magazines record the sudden death on 18th Octber at age 80 (following an unspecified accident) of the well known photographer Ludwig Rotthowe. I have only come across his work in magazines but on the basis of what I've seen I would rate him as one of the most interesting German railway photographers of his generation. A quick web search reveals that he has authored a number of photographic albums over the years and if anyone here has any of his books I would be interested in your opinion of them. Bill https://www.trauer.ms/traueranzeige/ludwig-rotthowe-2017-10-18-telgte-16348169

The shots I showed earlier this year were all from my first foreign venture in the late summer of 1974. With the demise of the 012 Pacifics imminent, I made a second foray to Germany in early May of the following year, but only allowed two days on the Rheine - Emden line, nowhere near enough time to do it justice, especially when it rained for the whole of the first day and the weather was mediocre on the second. I returned home with less than a full roll of exposures and although I developed the film promptly it was put to one side and I never printed anything from it. More recently I've scanned about half of the shots but thanks to poor storage of the film there was so much work required to clean the scans up in Photoshop that I baulked at doing so. However I recently worked up enough enthusiasm to sort out this one picture which looked quite promising, having been taken during a spell when the sun was shining, albeit weakly. The date is 10th May 1975 and the location is just south of Lathen, where southbound trains were faced with just about the only significant adverse gradient between Emden and Rheine. Oil-fired 2-10-0 No. 043 167 and 2-8-2 No. 042 083 are approaching the summit (which if I remember correctly was in a cutting just before the level crossing with the then B70 main road). The normal motive power for these 4,000 t iron-ore trains was two 2-10-0s, but the use of a class 042 was by no means unusual, although perhaps the 2-8-2 would normally have acted as pilot.

I'm sure there's a Robin Barbour shot of a freight being banked over Shankend Viaduct by a class 2 2-6-0, which suggests that banking still took place fairly late on. Bill PS Here it is - https://www.railscot.co.uk/img/23/78/

Rather a tenuous WR connection, but I think it's worth mentioning that today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the last day when there was a signicant amount of steam activity on class 1 passenger workings at Carlisle. Most notable were the arrivals of 45562 Alberta and 45593 Kolhapur on the dated SO 1S52 06:40 Birmingham - Glasgow and 1S67 09:20 St. Pancras - Glasgow respectively. Unfortunately I didn't witness such events myself, but I did see both Jubilees on Kingmoor shed the following day - hard to credit, given the amount of active steam locos on shed, that 12A would close only four months later. Incidentally, the dated Dundee to Blackpool working routed over the WR had done its last 1967 run the previous Saturday, 19th August 1967 - 45285 worked the up train (1M31) forward from Carlisle but I've been unable to establish what brought in the down working (1S54). Bill

Although I'm not a modeller myself I will be really interested to see how this develops. Foxlow Junction was a great place for lineside photography and I made a few visits there in the early 1970s. There would be a logic in modelling the section between the Hall Lane and works railway overbridges, but I hope you can incorporate the two fine bracket signals on the up approach which were to the east of the latter - see attached shot of D9 'Snowdon' on 20th September 1971. Apologies for taking so long to respond but I only found this thread earlier today. Bill

I probably saw my first V2s while on holiday at Stonehaven in the summer of 1957. I have a feeling that there were black examples still around then, but I would be lying if I said I was certain! However I notice that in the May edition of British Railways Illustrated there's a shot of a black Great Central line V2 at Rugby Central, thought to have been photographed in 1958, so I would have no qualms about agreeing with what Mad McCann said earlier this week. Bill

I was speaking to Bruce this afternoon and he tells me that he has had a long phone conversation with a Galashiels enthusiast who well remembers 69510 turning up on the 16:15 school train from Hawick. The 1959 public timetable shows this train terminating at Melrose but presumably it worked ecs to Galashiels for the loco to run round. Bill

Not sure if this has been posted here before:- http://www.railpictorial.com/piwigo/picture.php?/2998/category/13 Bill

There's also a Transpress book entitled 'Die Rübelandbahn' by Werner Steinke, although I've no idea whether it's still in print. According to the author, Abzweigung Wechsel to DAH closed at the winter 1964 timetable change, which seems a bit vague as he gives a precise date of 1:11:68 for closure of the Königshütte to Tanne section. Bill

According to the KWVR website, 80002 arrived at Keighley in May 1969. I recall seing it stored inside the triangle at Cowlairs during the winter of 1968/69, so it seems likely that it went straight from there to the KWVR, particularly as Phil Bullock reckons it was still at Cowlairs as late as April 1969. Bill

I'm sure I've read somewhere that Hawick actually wanted another V3 but ended up with an N2 in the way that pH describes. Bill

Did the N2 not go to Hawick as belated replacement for a withdrawn C16 4-4-2T? I guess that implies it would most likely have seen use between St. Boswells and Kelso, but I suspect it also appeared on the afternoon school train from Hawick to Melrose. Afraid I can't offer any proof at the moment though. Bill

That is probably the major factor, a less significant one is the change from jointed track to cwr - the latter allows an increase in the the permissible cant deficiency from 90mm to 110mm (at least these are the figures given in the 1971 edition of 'British Railway Track' and I suspect they haven't changed since) and hence an increase in the maximum speed. Bill

Very unusual - indeed possibly unique - to see a loco working bunker first out of Gernrode. Bill

You're welcome, David. All the best, Bill

Dave, I'll happily be proved wrong, but I've never come across this location being called Netzburg before. There is a hill called the Netzberg on the west side of the line a bit to the north, but usually the location is referred to as "the Behre viaduct near Ilfeld". Until 1924 there was a coal mine very close by (is it not a 'heritage' site these days? - it's a few years since I've travelled over the line and my memory is a bit hazy) - the Steinkohlengrube " Wentzelzeche Teutschenthal" but that would be a bit of a mouthful! Cheers, Bill PS No, it looks to be another old mine nearer Netzkater that is now a tourist attraction.

According to the Transpress book "Harzquer- und Brockenbahn" (1990 edition), it was indeed an old tender, mounted on Rollwagen No. 99 06 71, and served as a water carrier for the fire-fighting train (dient als Wasserwagen für Feuerlöschzug). Bill

These are Rollwagen - although serving the same purpose, Rollböcke were two-axle trucks, each carrying a single axle of a SG wagon. They were also used in the Harz, but only for short distance traffic e.g. from Wernigerode to serve the various factory sidings as far as Hasserode and also, I presume, from Nordhausen to the various sidings within the town, but I spent very little time at that end of the line so I can't speak from personal observation. Bill

You're welcome Steve, I'm just sorry that, like Trevor, I'm now scraping the barrel, at least as far as lineside shots are concerned. Mind you, I think Trevor was being a bit modest when he used that term when referring to his two latest offerings! Although I could show more shed shots at Rheine, I feel that would get a bit tedious. Cheers, Bill

Yes, a nice portrait but I'm certain the caption is in error - this shows the NB Atlantic sitting at the up platform at Galashiels with the blower on. That turnout in the foreground is the trailing connection from the down loop - see https://www.flickr.com/photos/28083135@N06/27960165141 Bill

Trevor, that's a really interesting location (and one I never knew). A coal fired loco slowing for the stop would probably have produced more smoke but I suppose with an oil-fired one the supply of oil to the burners would be turned off completely; all the same, it's still a worthwhile shot. Do you know exactly what time of day it was taken? - it should be possible to work out the probable identity of the loco from the diagrams (which appear in WS), if you'd seen the corresponding northbound working earlier in the day. Possibilities are D1736 13:35 ex Norddeich Mole (loco worked north on D1731 09:12 ex Rheine) or E2730 15:09 ex Norddeich Mole (loco worked north on D735 11:01 ex Rheine). Given the Silberling behind the baggage van it was perhaps more likely to have been the E train? Cheers, Bill