Abandoned cache of locomotives and other stuff.

[Rumblestripe]

I follow this guy ("The Bearded Explorer") on YouTube mostly he does abandoned properties and occasionally classic cars, he never takes anything other than photos and tries to leave everything undisturbed. He doesn't tell us where it is to avoid less scrupulous visitors so please if you know don't say.

 

In this video posted today he goes to a barn and shows us several locomotives, a few carriages, a rail mounted crane all stored in barns and shed that are literally falling down. I thought it might be of interest on here.

[009 micro modeller]

1 hour ago, Rumblestripe said:

I follow this guy ("The Bearded Explorer") on YouTube mostly he does abandoned properties and occasionally classic cars, he never takes anything other than photos and tries to leave everything undisturbed. He doesn't tell us where it is to avoid less scrupulous visitors so please if you know don't say.

 

In this video posted today he goes to a barn and shows us several locomotives, a few carriages, a rail mounted crane all stored in barns and shed that are literally falling down. I thought it might be of interest on here.

Collection X?

 

Edit: this seems to confirm it is as Henschel 16073/1918 (featured fairly early on the video) is indeed a Rampton Trust loco: https://www.steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive.cfm?Display=23075

 

(This link also suggests which county it’s in, although nothing more specific than that, which is appropriate as it’s a private site.)

 

There are other details though that help to confirm - one of the locos has a painted message about ‘sale to Brecon Mountain Railway’ (the BMR was once partly under the same ownership). Then there’s the international (but mostly narrow gauge) nature of the collection - ‘666’ looks Indian, based on the livery, and the big loco next to the first (Manx?) coach looks South African, probably confirmed by the bilingual warning notice (‘elektriese drade’ is Afrikaans apparently, and presumably it’s the equivalent of the similar notices fitted to British locos, so would have to be somewhere where the loco might run under the electric wires - does this mean it’s 3’ 6” gauge?).

 

In the video, I did like that he also seemed extremely concerned about being respectful and not damaging anything, perhaps in contrast to some other urban explorers.

Edited June 3, 2023 by 009 micro modeller

[25901]

Almost as good as the 08 parked in a farmers field in Yorkshire lol

[009 micro modeller]

1 hour ago, 25901 said:

Almost as good as the 08 parked in a farmers field in Yorkshire lol

Only ‘almost as’?

 

Actually I can’t remember exactly where that one is. If it’s the one I’m thinking of is it slightly to the east of York, fairly close to Sand Hutton?

[Steamport Southport]

How you can find something that isn't lost is a bit strange....

 

Haven't a couple of the Belgian locos just been sold to a narrow gauge railway in Belgium for restoration?

 

 

 

Jason

[009 micro modeller]

1 minute ago, Steamport Southport said:

Haven't a couple of the Belgian locos just been sold to a narrow gauge railway in Belgium for restoration?

I thought quite a few of them were being sold, or possibly in some cases moved to Rheidol, and hasn’t one of the Isle of Man coaches gone back there?

[sir douglas]

So its likely Rampton's farm then

[Colin_McLeod]

What's left of the Strategic  Reserve ?

😀

[Michael Hodgson]

37 minutes ago, sir douglas said:

So its likely Rampton's farm then

...which can easily be located using Google.  The Railway Magazine obituary of "Preservation's Mytery Man" shows a narrow gauge steam loco (minus its bogies) being craned off a low loader outside a corrugated barn, the photo attributed to the Vale of Rheidol archive, another line of which he had resigned as director.

https://www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/11993/the-lasting-legacy-of-preservations-mystery-man/?fbclid=IwAR027VsVgMJBL1dRwPwS55cCshOxasBHuOh7pRiOW6rL_N8M_GzXe4GrbOI

 

It seems that he valued his privacy, which should be respected.  However assuming the family did not share his interest, they will be facing the problem of what to do with his collection, though of course his business may have higher priority and issues like probate can take a considerable time in complex cases, so it seems reasonable to assume that these locos will come up for sale at some point. 

 

His death was reported at the time on this thread

 

 

[25901]

10 hours ago, 009 micro modeller said:

Actually I can’t remember exactly where that one is. If it’s the one I’m thinking of is it slightly to the east of York, fairly close to Sand Hutton?

Your in the ball park but can't give location as it has now been moved due to urban explorers, and owner want this loco to be private

[009 micro modeller]

9 hours ago, 25901 said:

Your in the ball park but can't give location as it has now been moved due to urban explorers, and owner want this loco to be private

I remember seeing a photograph of it somewhere, it was slightly different from the Rampton collection though as I think it was just one loco on its own.

[Vistisen]

21 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

How you can find something that isn't lost is a bit strange....

 

Haven't a couple of the Belgian locos just been sold to a narrow gauge railway in Belgium for restoration?

 

 

 

Jason

Does this count?

https://hemmeligesteder.dk/den-genfundne-bro-eng.php

 

This narrow gauge bridge was built in 1899, covered by a dam in 1929. When the whole railwayline was being turned into a walking, riding, cycling route in 2014, they struck metal, and found there was still an intact bridge. The decision was made to uncover it and restore it. It is worth a visit, and just further up the line there is a preserved railway

Edited June 5, 2023 by Vistisen

[Bucoops]

6 minutes ago, Vistisen said:

Does this count?

https://hemmeligesteder.dk/den-genfundne-bro-eng.php

 

This narrow gauge bridge was built in 1899, covered by a dam in 1929. When the whole railwayline was being turned into a walking, riding, cycling route in 2014, they struck metal, and found there was still an intact bridge. The decision was made to uncover it and restore it. It is woth a visit, and just further up the line there is a preserved railway

 

Wow that's amazing! 

[sir douglas]

Keeping everything locked up isnt surprising after hearing about how he used to have open days several decades ago and trains running on that track at the start of the video but smaller stuff on display, anything not nailed down kept getting stolen

[PaulRhB]

On 03/06/2023 at 20:21, 009 micro modeller said:

In the video, I did like that he also seemed extremely concerned about being respectful and not damaging anything, perhaps in contrast to some other urban explorers.

There’s a certain irony that he’s being respectful in his words and claiming it’s abandoned yet he doesn’t want to move tarps because it might cause too much noise! So it can’t be that abandoned if he’s worried a bit of scraping noise?!? 
Sounds more like I’m creeping around someone’s outbuildings trying not to get caught. 

[Andy Kirkham]

1 hour ago, Vistisen said:

Does this count?

https://hemmeligesteder.dk/den-genfundne-bro-eng.php

 

This narrow gauge bridge was built in 1899, covered by a dam in 1929. When the whole railwayline was being turned into a walking, riding, cycling route in 2014, they struck metal, and found there was still an intact bridge. The decision was made to uncover it and restore it. It is worth a visit, and just further up the line there is a preserved railway

 

I think "dam" is probably a mistranslation of the Danish word for both "dam" and "embankment", which (I've just looked it up) is dæmning.

Edited June 5, 2023 by Andy Kirkham

[Joseph_Pestell]

38 minutes ago, PaulRhB said:

There’s a certain irony that he’s being respectful in his words and claiming it’s abandoned yet he doesn’t want to move tarps because it might cause too much noise! So it can’t be that abandoned if he’s worried a bit of scraping noise?!? 
Sounds more like I’m creeping around someone’s outbuildings trying not to get caught. 

Easy enough to pull off a tarp. Difficult to put it back again on your own.

[Vistisen]

1 hour ago, Andy Kirkham said:

 

I think "dam" is probably a mistranslation of the Danish word for both "dam" and "embankment", which (I've just looked it up) is dæmning.

You are right... and wrong. 
The danish word 'dæmning' is used for both dams and embankments, there is also a word 'dige' which google also translates as 'dam',  but the correct translation would be dykes as these are man made earthworks arround low lying land to keep the sea out. A third word 'vold' would also be translated as embankment og earthwork is used when the embankment  was created for defensive purposes. 

 

In this particular case It was an embankment that had a river running through it via a couple of pipes. This river is actually the longest river in Denmark and even at this inland section has ( by Danish standards) a hight flow rate. By going onto google earth and looking back the historical photos it can be seen that there ia a larger area of water on the upstream side of the embankment. So while being en embankment, it did also act as a dam😀.  But I admit that is is problably the result of having lived here for 33 years that caused me to use the word 'dam' when 'embankment' would have been (to people thinking in English) a better translation.
 

Edited June 5, 2023 by Vistisen

[PaulRhB]

47 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

Easy enough to pull off a tarp. Difficult to put it back again on your own.

Which he says but he also specifically says it’s too noisy at 7:30 😉 It shows he knows it’s not abandoned, he’s creeping around whispering, worried about making noise. If he genuinely thought it was ‘abandoned’ he’d be delighted to ask anyone in earshot what the story is. 
Irresponsible trespass to make money on YouTube and you’d probably stand the best chance of a civil prosecution using the video as evidence it’s done for financial gain from his comments clearly showing it’s sneaking around! 

Edited June 5, 2023 by PaulRhB

[RodneyS]

There's another video here.

 

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by RodneyS
First link didn't work

[Luke Piewalker]

I watched one of his videos, once. They like to be all dramatic and secretive about their locations but it's rare that it's that hard to figure out. I guess it makes for more views if you give people a tale of epic trek over hill and dale, dodging security to find a super secret remnant of cold war history or somesuch, but I found he was laying it on a bit thick.

[papagolfjuliet]

On 04/06/2023 at 12:20, Steamport Southport said:

How you can find something that isn't lost is a bit strange....

 

Haven't a couple of the Belgian locos just been sold to a narrow gauge railway in Belgium for restoration?

 

 

 

Jason

 

One of them went to Pairi Daiza Zoo in Belgium, the other to this line at a bakery and farm shop in Essex. 

 

[papagolfjuliet]

The Pairi Daiza line is a very impressive outfit.