The Border Reiver

I visited th North East many times in the 1960s and took numerous photos while bunking the sheds. Most of the roundhouses could only handle small locos. Here is some info on some of them in the 51 and 52 range as far as I can remember it: 52A Gateshead had a straight pacific shed and I think 4 small roundhouses before the diesel shed conversion was done. There was one left at the west end of the shed latterly used to store locos. The pacifics had their own straight shed 52B Heaton straight shed. 52C Blaydon had double roundhouses under one roof. I have no photos of the shed as stopped visiting there when it closed to steam in 1963, before I bought my first 35mm camera. 52E Parcy Main which I think was a straight shed. 52F Blyth; South straight shed; North roundhouse 52G Sunderland shed west facing side overlooked a roundhouse with a large turntable for stabling steam locomotives. The smaller shed comprised of two two-track dead-end straight sheds built in 1861. The roundhouse shed was demolished in 1968. Here 52H Tyne Dock had a straight shed and I think 2 roundhouses, one by the mid 1960s was dilapidated and without a roof. 51A Darlington had a straight shed and a very small ornate roundhouse built in 1866. 51C West Hartlepool had a straight shed and roundhouse. 51F West Auckland had a roundhouse, with a square shed building and a single turntable. Only visited there once when I was 12. 51L Thornaby had a straight shed and roundhouse. The roundhouse might have been large enought to accomodate a pacifoc loco as I saw The Great Marquess on one of the spurs in the 1970s

Ah... Thanks for pointing that out. I have lost my notes for that trip and my catalogue has a ? beside the location.

On the 4th August 1968 my friend and I took our Triumph motorcycles to record the last steam specials on the around the Blackburn area. On the 5th we went down again to visit Rose Grove, Lostock Hall and Carnforth sheds. Lostock Hall looked like there was some kind of fete happening by the amount of people going round the (then working) shed! Here is a photo of the shed yard with 70013 in the centre surrounded by the hordes and a shot of a 8F pretending to be 70013 on Rose Grove shed. Does anyone knows its real number? Edited to add Rose Grove

Standing near that hut (bottom right) was one of my favourite locations for photographs

Ye Agreed. It is heading north on the freight avoiding line. Taken from Caldew bridge. Have taken many shots from there. Castle on right out of site, brewery on left and No. 3 signal box in distance.

I have managed to scan the photo I took of it. Taken in Kingmoor shed yard circa 1964. A windy day going by the power station chimney.

I have a photo.. definitely had a tablet catcher recess

Here is a shot I took of 60010 on Darlington shed in November 1965. It is on the works dead line and without its chimney. I also have a shot of 60020 in Darlinton works yard taken on Easter Monday, 30th April 1964

Looking at the 50th Anniversary of the End of Steam over Shap thread. I also took a photo of the first one you posted of 70029 on 15th July. By my reckoning you were about 20 yards to my left and looking at the post by the first coach, we must have pressed our shutters around the same time I will add some photos to the 50th Anniversary of the End of Steam over Shap thread soon.

We were at Shap Wells on the 15th July 1967... The scans need processing in a paint package to mainly remove the scratches and sharpen, etc. However, I read an article in amateur photographer about 20 years ago that you can use brasso, yes brasso to remove scratches on the non emulsion side of film. I have successfully used this method to clean up films with minor scratches. This film has some deep scratches which can be treated with brasso but it will take hours to remove them as they are quite deep. I have been scanning in my photos from 1980 to 2005 since mid October to date and have done 7,500 so far. Again, these need processing in a photo package. Here is one of 48677 on Shap on the 29th that hasn't been processed..

In the so called summer of 1967, my friend and I rode our Triumph motorbikes to Shap on four Saturdays in July/August to photograph the last days of steam up the bank. On 29th July we went to Greenholme, no sooner had we got there when it started to rain. If you havn't been to Shap, when it rains there, it rains! I managed to take a 36 shots of passenger and freights, which due to the weather and the film somehow getting a number of scratch marks, were not that brilliant. The only good news that day is that we found a tarpauline, which must have blown off a freight train and with the aid of a few branches managed to build a biviwak and only ventured out when we heard trains coming. There we a few other photographers there that day standing in the rain all day. They must have been soaked to the skin. Here is a photo of Britannia class 70045 Lord Rowallan on a down passenger going up the bank and one of us in our biviwak taken with a timer on the camera; i'm on the right.

The train did not turn at Preston and yes, I was still in the first coach upon arrival at Blackpool. Carlisle home games then attracted around 10,000. 12,675 were at the Blackpool replay on the 30th. I remember for one away 3rd round FA cup match in the 1960s, 3 footy specials ran from Carlisle. I think we were playing Wolves. The most interesting footy special was on 4 November 1961 when Carlisle were away to Darlington. Standing at platform 4 the train duly pulled in behind Canal A3 60093 Coronach. We travelled out via Newcastle passing through the station over the high level bridge past Gateshead shed and down the ECML. As we passed the many trainspotters to be found along the route to Darlington in those days, I noticed that they were jumping up and down in an excitable way. Possibly due to having seen a rare Canal A3 on the line. PS we won 0-4...

Yes, 70013 did work the return journey. I don't know how it was turned as I was more interested in the match and getting a few pints in before returning to Carlisle. Six Bells Junction is incorrect as it shows Blackpool North as the destination; It was definitely Blackpool South. Someome sent me this photo a while ago. I don't know who took it but it shows the train passing Upperby shed and was taken from the footbridge. I am in the first coach leaning out of the window

I was on the football supporters special from Carlisle to Blackpool on 26th December 1967. Hauled by 70013, it was the last steam hauled pasenger working out of Carlisle before the end of regular steam duties. It also proved to be the last steam hauled passenger service over Shap. Annoyingly, due to a police request, it terminated at Blackpool South station and 'us fans' had to walk over the old uneven freight yards to the football ground. Today with H&S, this would definitely not be allowed.

While on a Railrover in 1966, I payed a visit to Newport diesel depot and took this photo on 18th August showing the depot with classes 08, 14 and 37. The clock shows 0715 so I must have been an early riser.. or the clock was broken. I also made a nostalgic visit next door to see the remains of Newport Ebbw Junction Shed. I was there the previous August and the shed was bustling. A very sad sight indeed with the beams of light shining through the shed...

Nottingham Victoria was the farthest north that Great Western locomotives ventured down the Great Central, except on rare occasions. One of these occasions took place on 15 August 1964 when engine No. 6858 Woolston Grange working the Poole to Bradford/Leeds train, and which normally would have come off at Leicester or Nottingham, managed due to an oversight by control, to reach Huddersfield. However, en route, it had hit the platform edge at Berry Brow station between Penistone and Huddersfield. The loco was quickly removed to Huddersfield shed where it languished well inside until it was towed to Crewe as an out of gauge load two weeks later.

On 2nd April 1966 a few of us that lived in Carlisle, despite severe blizzard conditions ovenight, decided to go to to Carleton (2.5 miles south of the station) on a local bus to photo 4472 Flying Scotsman on the 'Stephenson Locomotive Society / Manchester Locomotive Society Lakes & Fells Rail Tour'. The train was coming up the Settle line then down the WCML to Penrith, then on to Keswick hauled by 2 Ivatt 2-6-0 locos. After we got off the bus. we struggled along a footpath through two foot snow drifts to the railway line and waited. Unknown to us the train was delayed waiting for a snowplough to reach Hellifield resulting in departure from Hellifield 54mins late. Meanwhile we were all freezing while standing in snow at the entrance to the cutting at the end of the embankment. Eventually, 79 mins late, we saw a plume of smoke approaching. My friends had decided to go to the cutting a couple of hundered yards from where I was standing by the embankment. As the train approached I fired off a couple of shots, the latter one resulted in the photo below. However, immediately as I clicked the shutter, a class 40 on a long down freight hurtled past. Needless to say my friends never got any decent photos due the the freight. To say they were annoyed is an understatement and they expressed their annoyance very verbally indeed!

The building above the 47 brings back fond memories of when I used to bunk round Gateshead shed in the 1960s. There was some wooden steps at the back of this building which we used to use, then along that building, then turn right past the works into the shed yard. You can see where the steps used to be by the dark stain bottom left to top right on this photo taken on 15/4/2009.

Here is a photo I took of 60027 Merlin at Kingmoor on 22 July 1965. It had a yellow cab stripe and electrification flashes.

I received this photo recently from someone asking for information on it. From the RR and No. 16 I thought it could be a Rhymney Railway A class 0-6-2T tank locomotive introduced into traffic in 1910 and designed by the railway's engineer Hurry Riches. Can anyone confirm this?

I was taking photos north of Carlisle station at Caldew Junction on 20 August 1992 when a down express approached headed by Class 87 87012. As it drew near there was this almighty bang and I noticed two 'waterfalls' of liquid starting to pour out of the loco. It started to slow down and went about a quarter of a mile before stopping near Etterby Bridge at Kingmoor. Anyone and idea what caused this? The truncated track at the bottom all that is left of the freight avoiding line.

Nay, I'm not on your picture. Cant remember where I took the photo, possibly Stalbridge. It was New Years Day and we had consumed a fair bit of ale the night before

I was on the Mendip Merchantman Tour. Here is a photo of 35011 I took on the day.

J94 68067 Ex WD to LNER Jul 1946. Sold to NCB Manvers Main Colliery 10 Feb 1963

70004 was sheded at Carlisle Canal for a few months in the middle of 1963. Here is a shot of it being repaired in Canal shed. Its condition is far from its immaculate Golden Arrow days.