Loco sheds and other railway buildings...
Discussion
RB Will said:
Going back to a previously mentioned place. Went for another good meal at the Weighbridge in Swindon which is in one of the old works buildings.
Excuse the rubbish pictures, they have these hanging on the corridor to the loos.
And how it is now…
Quite a transformation - the last time I was in the weighbridge was 1984, taking photos of Warship D818 which by then was just a shell, it was cut up the following year because the works was closing. I've been to the museum many times since then but never inside the weighbridge building. I remember seeing D1015 'Western Champion' inside being marked up for the cutting torch, luckily it was saved when a group of enthusiasts blagged their way into the works to negotiate a deal, thankfully they succeeded.Excuse the rubbish pictures, they have these hanging on the corridor to the loos.
And how it is now…
We went over to the North Warks line yesterday to see 'Clun Castle' on the Shakespeare Express, here it is topping the climb out of Stratford-on-Avon at Wilmcote...
A few from the Great Central taken in January 2009...
'City Of Truro' on the Glos & Warks...
Collett 0-6-2T 5619 and 4F 44422...
LAMBOURN VALLEY RAILWAY
The LVR ran from Newbury to Lambourn from 1898 to 1973. Passenger traffic ended in the 60s but freight carried on a bit longer. I'm interested because I kept coming across decaying bits of it on my journeys around Newbury, in the same way as I find bits of the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway dotted about.
There's quite a hairy bend on the Lambourn Road with a sharp bend and the buttresses of a bridge to avoid. And a bus shelter a bit further along that said 'repurposed railway' in your head as you drove past. Drove. Past tense. It's away being refurbished at the moment.
The car fettler who set up on his own after being laid off during Covid lives on one of the old country estates. He is entitled to rent because his father worked on the farm. He's a lovely guy who says he had an idyllic childhood. He witnessed the dismantlement of the railway and used to go to watch the work being done. The crew got to know him and he was allowed more and more access until he was allowed on to the footplate. What a lovey memory to have.
Anyway, I was reading the other day about the LVR running parallel to the GWR until it turned north. That didn't happen, I said to myself. The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway shared the GWR track through Newbury from where it joined in the east of the town to where it left west of the town. (Sone of the route of the DNSR was absorbed into the Newbury Bypass.) Intrigued I went to have a look.
Black Boys Bridge, named after the pub, long gone.
So, I'm looking at it and thinking, if it really did run parallel, it means they put that support in, cut the embankment further back, extended the bridge and laid track in the new bit. The GWR ran on the existing two tracks to the left of the vertical support and the LVR on a single track to the right, between the support and the revised embankment.
Surely not.
And that's what they did. Safer and more convenient than crossing the tracks twice for a half mile run to where the line turned north.
Then I thought, I bet that curve is still there, reflected in the way any development has been carried out over the years.
Black Boys Bridge in the red circle.
Last evening I went for a walk around there to investigate the curve. It's there - just - but very disjointed. So, apart from some fences to the west which are still in line with the track, there was little evidence the railway had ever been there in this part of its route. I stood where I guessed West Fields Halt, the first station out of Newbury, would have been and had a look around.
You've got too much time on your hands.
I'm convalescing and need to exercise.
The LVR ran from Newbury to Lambourn from 1898 to 1973. Passenger traffic ended in the 60s but freight carried on a bit longer. I'm interested because I kept coming across decaying bits of it on my journeys around Newbury, in the same way as I find bits of the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway dotted about.
There's quite a hairy bend on the Lambourn Road with a sharp bend and the buttresses of a bridge to avoid. And a bus shelter a bit further along that said 'repurposed railway' in your head as you drove past. Drove. Past tense. It's away being refurbished at the moment.
The car fettler who set up on his own after being laid off during Covid lives on one of the old country estates. He is entitled to rent because his father worked on the farm. He's a lovely guy who says he had an idyllic childhood. He witnessed the dismantlement of the railway and used to go to watch the work being done. The crew got to know him and he was allowed more and more access until he was allowed on to the footplate. What a lovey memory to have.
Anyway, I was reading the other day about the LVR running parallel to the GWR until it turned north. That didn't happen, I said to myself. The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway shared the GWR track through Newbury from where it joined in the east of the town to where it left west of the town. (Sone of the route of the DNSR was absorbed into the Newbury Bypass.) Intrigued I went to have a look.
Black Boys Bridge, named after the pub, long gone.
So, I'm looking at it and thinking, if it really did run parallel, it means they put that support in, cut the embankment further back, extended the bridge and laid track in the new bit. The GWR ran on the existing two tracks to the left of the vertical support and the LVR on a single track to the right, between the support and the revised embankment.
Surely not.
And that's what they did. Safer and more convenient than crossing the tracks twice for a half mile run to where the line turned north.
Then I thought, I bet that curve is still there, reflected in the way any development has been carried out over the years.
Black Boys Bridge in the red circle.
Last evening I went for a walk around there to investigate the curve. It's there - just - but very disjointed. So, apart from some fences to the west which are still in line with the track, there was little evidence the railway had ever been there in this part of its route. I stood where I guessed West Fields Halt, the first station out of Newbury, would have been and had a look around.
You've got too much time on your hands.
I'm convalescing and need to exercise.
Here you go Dicky... https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/newbury.htm...
The last special which ran as far as Welford Park in '73...
The locos used on the track lifting trains from Welford Park to Lambourne were North British built Class 22 Diesel Hydraulics D6343, D6350 and D6354. I think I've it mentioned elsewhere, but it's well worth seeking out local photographer (and signalman) David Cannings books which cover the Newbury area...
The last special which ran as far as Welford Park in '73...
The locos used on the track lifting trains from Welford Park to Lambourne were North British built Class 22 Diesel Hydraulics D6343, D6350 and D6354. I think I've it mentioned elsewhere, but it's well worth seeking out local photographer (and signalman) David Cannings books which cover the Newbury area...
RB Will said:
It is one I need to look into more too being local ish, and my brother used to live in Lamb, be interested to see what is left of it around there.
Nothing to see in Lambourn itself other than railway inspired road names. A bit of interest, though, for a railway with 'valley' in its name, is that Lambourn Station was at one of the highest points in the town.Drive to East Garston and you can walk a bit of the line.
The section of rail reminded me of the three (I think) lengths of different rails fastened to a wall on the station approach from Eastbourne Terrace at Paddington. Gone now because of the Elizabeth Line.
The reason I asked you all here this afternoon was to share a couple of pictures I took at Marylebone Station in the late 80s during a cold bit of winter.
It must have been exciting when they popped. I didn't ask, I just assumed it was the hydraulic fluid freezing that did the damage.
Working at Wembley Park I preferred going via Marylebone. Loads of people got off the train and three or four got on. Much better than going on the Underground from Baker Street. I used to have breakfast there most mornings. All very civilised. A very long wooden trimmed escalator too IIRC.
It must have been exciting when they popped. I didn't ask, I just assumed it was the hydraulic fluid freezing that did the damage.
Working at Wembley Park I preferred going via Marylebone. Loads of people got off the train and three or four got on. Much better than going on the Underground from Baker Street. I used to have breakfast there most mornings. All very civilised. A very long wooden trimmed escalator too IIRC.
LastPoster said:
Isn't water unusual as a liquid that expands at freezing point?
Is it the case that something hit the buffers when they were frozen and that caused the failure?
I did wonder if someone had used water instead of the correct fluid. There were four buffers on two lines, all burst IIRC. Nothing on the internet about it that I can find. Expensive but not very newsworthy.Is it the case that something hit the buffers when they were frozen and that caused the failure?
DickyC said:
Nothing to see in Lambourn itself other than railway inspired road names. A bit of interest, though, for a railway with 'valley' in its name, is that Lambourn Station was at one of the highest points in the town.
Drive to East Garston and you can walk a bit of the line.
The section of rail reminded me of the three (I think) lengths of different rails fastened to a wall on the station approach from Eastbourne Terrace at Paddington. Gone now because of the Elizabeth Line.
Would this be the railway line that there are traces of at Welford Park? The 'Park' opens it's gardens a few times every year for charity. We regularly go up to see the Snowdrops in bloom. Parking is opposite the park on the other side of the road and there is what looks like a livestock loading platform and some visible signs of a railway although notmuch in terms of track, fencing, etc.Drive to East Garston and you can walk a bit of the line.
The section of rail reminded me of the three (I think) lengths of different rails fastened to a wall on the station approach from Eastbourne Terrace at Paddington. Gone now because of the Elizabeth Line.
yellowjack said:
Would this be the railway line that there are traces of at Welford Park? The 'Park' opens it's gardens a few times every year for charity. We regularly go up to see the Snowdrops in bloom. Parking is opposite the park on the other side of the road and there is what looks like a livestock loading platform and some visible signs of a railway although notmuch in terms of track, fencing, etc.
That's the one. I tried to find Welford Park Station on a day when it wasn't open to the public and got nowhere. There was a branch line to RAF Welford at one time. 
I posted about the Weighbridge in Swindon in its current format as a restaurant earlier in the thread.
Here is the intermittent stage between actual railway building and restaurant. Here it is as Archers Brewery and no housing estate built next to it.
Little further along the line 3 different ages of the turntable
And a little further along in what is now the Outlet
Here is the intermittent stage between actual railway building and restaurant. Here it is as Archers Brewery and no housing estate built next to it.
Little further along the line 3 different ages of the turntable
And a little further along in what is now the Outlet
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