avonside1563

The 48150 and 50550 class were both part of the 14" - 18" 'standard' Hunslet family designed well before the outbreak of World War 2. The 18" austerity tank is based around the 50550 class but has lots of detail differences to enable them to be produced cheaply and quickly during WW2 that set them apart from the earlier 18" designs. None of the existing Austerities have working underfeed stokers, the last one that I saw with one that worked was Monkton when first preserved at the Yorkshire Dales railway in the early 80s. Just to show what preservation can achieve the photo below is from a charter at Foxfield on the 29th December 2019... or is it 1969?

I was at Littleton for the 1993 charter and well remember the moment when Littleton drivers Ray Rushton and Tony Maskaant were on the regulators of the locos racing each other down the exchange sidings towards a single line bridge over a lane. All a bit of fun except for the photographers who were riding in the brakevan being propelled by Wimblebury as the locos were parallel to each other and the poitn was getting closer - a lot of worried faces looking out of the verandahs. Lots of great memories of that weekend such as being told to move the locos during a night shoot as the smoke was drifting over the pit head, getting drawn into the downcast shaft and setting off all the underground fire alarms. Or someone calling the fire brigade to a suspected 'car on fire' on the M6 which was just the locos performing run pasts under the motorway bridge. Or standing at the colliery limit by the A449 bridge in Penkridge exchange sidings to see the signalman from Littleton box walk round the corner and ask if we were coming down to the buffer stops so he could get a picture - a nice little move effectively running over the national network to end up alongside the Grand Junction line to Wolverhampton.

Also worth noting that RS8 now has vacuum braking fitted so presumbly could appear on passenger services soon. Now if only there were a suitable industrial railway that holds a diesel gala...

If anyone is interested in some 12" : 1ft scale modelling, Fowler diesel RT1 is currently for sale at the Foxfield Railway. This is the 6 wheeled version and has been cosmetically restored but needs work on the engine and mechanical bits to get it operational again and comes with a spare engine and radiator. If anyone wants to know more please PM,

I have a vague memory that these are associated with the underfeed stoker and may house small donkey engines used to drive them... However I may be miles wide of the mark on that as I cannot find any reference to them at the moment.

If you're referring to the square door on Austerity saddle tanks that's in the back of the cab between the windows then this is to access the top centre lamp bracket which is attached to it so you can swing the lamp inside the cab. It is too high to remove the regulator rod, this entails the cutting of a hole just where the top of the cab joing the bottom!

Menalaus is currently at the Caledonian Railway, Brechin awaiting overhaul.

I think the last steam that could still be classed as working industrial were the two RSH 0-4-0ST at Castle Donnington power station, they were still active well into the late 1980s. I remember going to see them at an open day and having a footplate ride with the inimitable Lionel Gadsby at the power station. This was the same year we borrowed one of the two locos for a gala at Foxfield. The power station and locos apearred in the BBC series, 'The Train Now Departing', still available on iplayer. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p011v86f/the-train-now-departing-5-lines-of-industry

The square door in the back of the upper cab in a Hunslet Austerity saddle tank is for access to the top lamp bracket which is fixed to the door. I cannot comment on Birchenwood No.4 in this respect but I can confirm that sister loco Florence No2 at Foxfield does not have anything other than the 2 rear windows in the back of the cab.

The Knotty coaches will be out and about this coming weekend of 28th/29th September for the Festival of Steam which will feature a selection of road steam including steam rollers, traction engines and steam lorries.

And of course, North Staffordshire locomotive livery was green until the 1880s...

The Foxfield Railway is holding its Autumn Festival of Steam on the 28th and 29th September, 2019. The event will see steam rollers, traction engines, steam lorries and other road vehicles at the railway, along with some of the railway's own fleet of locomotives in action on passenger and demonstration coal trains. There will also be a beer festival over the weekend and a free bus from Caverswall Road station to Foxfield Colliery.

Caught up with my mate at the weekend and he didn't know of any particular issues with the loco and crew on the day in question.

Couple of corrections Dave, 'Jessie' (East Moors 18) is actually an 18" 48150 class Hunslet and 'Brookes No1' is a 14" Hunslet. 'Illingworth' was visiting from the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway (Nee Yorkshire Dales Railway).

Contrary to current popular belief drivers do not open the cylinder drains for effect or to spoil photographs or video, there are many reasons to open the drains some of which are quite fundamental. For instance, if a locomotive has been standing for more than a couple of minutes it is good practice to keep the drains open to avoid a build up of water in the cylinders which, particularly on a piston valve locomotive, can cause damage ranging from scouring of bores or broken rings due to imparement of the lubrication or, worst case, severe damage to the cylinders due to hydraulicing. No owner wants this and so, whilst drivers may sometimes be overcautious, they are not just being spoil sports.

Nothing unusual about having the exhaust running up the front of the cab, plenty of UK industrials had that feature, although it tends to be the more modern ones. The wheelbase looks rather long though, not sure how you can get around that. The later Fowler shunters were quite rounded in appearance, as were Bagnalls. Fowler 0-4-0DH (4220038/1966) Bagnall 0-6-0 'Wolstanton No.3' 3150/1959

I'm sure the guys crewing are perfectly fine, sometimes these steam powered machines throw curved balls... in fact quite often! This is one of the locos a friend of mine tends for at Crewe and he's never mentioned any issues with the crews.

The strings are usually used when a loco is creating vacuum and the brakes haven't released fully, either way the effect of pulling the string is to equalise both sides of the piston, whether its vacuum or atmosphere.

To be accurate, pulling the string does not destroy the vacuum in the brake cylinder, it equalises the vacuum on both sides of the piston thereby allowing the piston to fall under its own weight and release the brakes. It is only necessary to pull the strings until the piston decends, not until you have completely destroyed the vacuum in each cylinder and this can be undertaken with the loco attached and creating vacuum, once you have ensured that loco and brakevan/coach handbrakes are on. Vacuum cylinders are always mounted vertically and the piston sits at the bottom of the cylinder when the brakes are off, therefore to apply the brakes you allow atmospheric pressure (roughly 14.7psi or 1 bar) in the cylinder below the piston which has the effect of pushing the piston up to apply the brakes.

The green Peacock on the Knotties on the 1st September 2019, the change of colour suits the loco very well.

The Foxfield photos are very nostalgic, a little bit of information on them. C2916, the gentleman in the cab of Hawarden is Alan Baker, author of many articles and books on industrial steam and Bagnalls in particular, who was then the owner of the locomotive. J6111, Lewisham suffered from buffer locking due to very short buffers with small heads, the larger buffer head is a plate clamped over the original buffer head to avoid this on one particularly sharp curve, hence why only one side is done. C2458, The old ariel ropeway is seen in the background, this carried pit waste to the new tip on the opposite side of the railway to the colliery. The loco on the left is Bagnall 0-4-0ST JT Daly, now resident on Jersey and on the right on packing is Bagnall 0-6-0ST Topham, currently in store on the Spa Valley railway. C2908, it looks like this is as the train is about to go under the only overbridge on the railway on the Blythe Bridge to Caverswall road on the section of line down to the exchange sidings at Blythe Bridge. This section of line is currently out of use after passenger services started using the new station at Caverswall Road which is next to the bridge. There were also issues with the bridge which had very limited clearances which required the addition of bars to droplight windows on the coaches.

A little bit out of period, but you never know. Plans are definitely afoot for NSR No.2

The Knotty train is out and about on the 1st September with a newly repainted Beyer Peacock which is now sporting a coat of Mid Chrome Green (yet to be lined out) in place of the black it has run in for the last 20 years. Interestingly North Staffordshire Railway locomotives were painted green up to the mid 1880s when a new red-brown colour was introduced.

Let me know if you require any detail photos or more information as I am at Foxfield most weekends.

IRRC Hunslet 0-6-0ST Brookes No.1 at Middleton sports an all welded boiler as a replacement for its life expired rivetted one.