Loco sheds and other railway buildings...

[P5BNij]

I haven't been to Scotland for about twenty years but did a fair bit of travelling on the trains up there in the '80s, the atmosphere on some of the branch lines was very different to elsewhere. A bunch of us went up to Thurso in the freezing cold Winter of 1982 behind a 37, taking turns to have a cab ride, the train crew were very easy going.

I used to have a fair collection of railwayana but I've been pruning it down recently, I'll be keeping these though - my other half's parents were from Maidenhead....

[P5BNij]

outnumbered said:

OK, so this is neither a shed or a building, but it is something you don't see any more. Poole Harbour in 1978.

Is that John Entwhistle and Lemmy without a beard on the left...?

The Gwinear Road sign above your post reminded me of something, at Old Oak we had two old hand drivers who were brothers and came from that area of Cornwall, their names..... Albert and Harry Rail!

[P5BNij]

KateV8 said:

P5BNij said:

Great bit of nostalgia there

It's just reminded me that one of the lads I work with 'rescued' the operating panel from Tinsley Yard Hump 'box.

Some of the boxes I've frequented for one reason or another over the years, usually to fill up the enamel brew can....













Does anyone remember steam lances being used on locos to clear snow from pointwork....? This is Padd in January '79....

Would the 'rescuing' of the panel from Tinsley Yard hump box have been around 2003? If so I may have been there when he came walking back to the sidings with his treasure. EWS shunters course.

Yes, spot on, he and his older brother are both shutters at Leicester (Coalville Division!). I don’t know if anyone remembers this but back in the ‘80s there were stories of locos mysteriously being taken for joyrides on the Coalville branch during the night, well - I couldn’t possibly comment on the slight possibility of any connection between the two brothers and said purloining of locos taking unauthorised jaunts down the line to Barron Hill and back again

[P5BNij]

I did some of my class 66 training at Carr Loco, nice bunch up there. We also went to Healey Mills and Immingham, all places I hadn’t seen for about twenty years at the time with lots of changes in between. On one of the days at Donny there were no spare 66s about so we took a 60 for a ride out, at Rotherham some of the local scrotes showered us with stones from a bridge and ran off.

As I type this I’m sitting at Luton Crescent Road yard while my train is being unloaded, wouldn’t it be nice if a Peak flew by on the Up Fast to St.Pancras....?

Edit - I’ve been here barely two hours and had four cups of tea

[P5BNij]

Flying Phil said:

We had a nice Midland Goods shed at the side of Market Harborough Station in 2017

Then it was demolished to clear the route for our new, straight, station

I was on that job for a few weeks, the smoothness of the new P/Way through there is wonderful whereas previously the old point work at the south end of the station used to throw you across the cab at 60mph. The new overhead wiring from Bedford to Glendon and Corby is ugly and spoils the nice views somewhat, but that’s progress.

I’m still at Luton, nursing cup of tea number five

[P5BNij]

Gareth1974 said:

Exterior view of Saltley PSB

The box is just a bare shell now, the Peak is long gone, the cranes have been replaced as have the signals, but the lads in the terminal still speak Brummie

[P5BNij]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

'Rodders' was a good one, I managed to drive all fifty at Old Oak and some were definitely better than others, even with regular major component swaps which might seem odd. 39 was by the worst and spent weeks at a time on restricted local workings such as the Park Royal Guinness factory tripper or endless empty stock runs in and out of Padd. Somewhere in the loft I've got a box full of cab fittings from 50s, fault lights, switches and the like.


D400 in the Pullman Shed at Old Oak in late '72 / early '73 when it was one of the crew training locos, I think 402 was the other one (it took about three years to transfer the entire class from the LMR to the WR). They were usually put on the Bristol jobs first to get as many drivers as possible passed on them....



I'd just prepped these two on the shed shift one day in 1984....



47 125 and 31 127 on the blocks at Padd in June '83, behind the camera was an old wooden shack tucked into a dark corner that had a large kettle on the go round the clock for us to top up our mash cans, the largest rat I've ever seen lived underneath it....



1982....

[P5BNij]

Venisonpie said:

P5BNij said:

I'd just prepped these two on the shed shift one day in 1984....

What would preparing a diesel loco entail, it sounds as though they're not quite turn key in operation?

Before you even start the loco up you have to do a visual check all around the outside, checking for damage to the brake rigging, windscreens, couplings, brake pipes, fuel gauges, make sure any sand boxes are full etc, inside the cabs you have to make sure that the safety equipment is present, ie; detonators (they have to be in date too), a working tail lamp for emergencies, fire extinguishers etc. Once the battery switch is engaged you can press the start button, depending on how long the loco has been standing it can take a few seconds or several minutes to fire up. On a 66, it goes though a priming cycle before turning over and firing up. Once it's fired up you put the master key in and this will allow the compressor to build up the air to allow the brakes to be released, you can't take power until the system is charged up properly. When you've got your air up you go through the cab prep, trying out the brakes (both the main air and the loco's own direct air brake), horns, dead man's treadle, AWS, wipers, lights etc, taking power in forward and reverse by one or two notches, then you can take the parking brake off and crack on. On a 66 it takes about fifteen minutes to do both cabs, on a 70 it takes about a fortnight!


Found another nice old shot of Willesden Roundhouse from the early '60s....



Saltley in May 1980....



Early Peak at Toton in 1973....



A misty morning at Bardon Hill in Leicestershire, looking up the bank towards Coalville....



Bescot Yard alongside the M6....



My mate prepping a 47 at Rugby for a trip to Crewe....





Washwood Heath in Brum c.1969, Saltley driver 'Stacker' Steadman's finest hour....

[P5BNij]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Yes the awful Ealing crash is one that's hard to forget, I've read the official report and it's grim. The Old Oak crew aboard D1007 'Western Talisman' were pretty much unscathed but the secondman left the job not long afterwards, if memory serves. It did occasionally come up in conversation in the mess room at '81A', as did several other incidents, such as the one involving D1040 'Western Queen' at Knowle & Dorridge in August '63 and the one involving D1055 'Western Advocate' at Worcester in January '76, both tragic events that should never have happened. I was present when 50 041 turned on its side at Padd with the up Penzance Sleeper on 23/11/83, you could have heard a pin drop once the dust had settled, I was on my way to Old Oak for an early morning turn, when I finally got to the depot and entered the lobby it was heaving with train crew who'd all booked on with nowhere to go.

Here's D1007 in the 'canteen siding' at Old Oak in February '74, just before it was towed to Swindon Works for cutting up along with Hymek D7100....



Didn't know about the Ivatt but know about the Baby Deltic being built from a 37 and North British 22 being built by a group I used to be a member of.

[P5BNij]

matchmaker said:

P5BNij said:

Washwood Heath in Brum c.1969, Saltley driver 'Stacker' Steadman's finest hour....

Is that the sound of an approaching Form 1 I hear?

I'll say....





(The site of this semi legendary incident will soon be underneath HS2)

[P5BNij]

Pupp said:

I drive past the old Wellingborough roundhouse every few days and was very pleased when it was decided to preserve it.... on the opposite side of the new road that now goes by it, sits the remains of the old Midland Works, down by a watercourse, I think something to do with the town’s small former steel making capability. Would love to know a bit more of the history of that site but some idle googling has revealed previous little.

Enjoying the images; very evocative as my old man was a loco driver in Corby steel works

The area around Kettering, Corby and Wellingborough was once littered with iron ore works and branch lines, there's a wonderful series of books on Northamptonshire (and Warwickshire) railways by Richard Coleman which are well worth seeking out, particularly the colour one. Amazing to think that Northamptonshire once had something like sixty five railway stations but no has only six.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=raiwlays+of+northampt...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Railway-Images-Northampto...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Steaming-into-Northampton...

Edited by P5BNij on Friday 12th March 20:50

Edited by P5BNij on Friday 12th March 20:50

[P5BNij]

Pinkie15 said:

Pinkie15 said:

P5BNij said:

matchmaker said:

P5BNij said:

Washwood Heath in Brum c.1969, Saltley driver 'Stacker' Steadman's finest hour....

Is that the sound of an approaching Form 1 I hear?

I'll say....





(The site of this semi legendary incident will soon be underneath HS2)

Okay, how did that happen? Had a (quick) Google, but can't find anything.

P5BNij said:

Here's D1007 in the 'canteen siding' at Old Oak in February '74, just before it was towed to Swindon Works for cutting up along with Hymek D7100....

Is the Hymek damage at the cab door? If so any idea of the incident

Regarding Stacker Steadman’s little faux pah, the story goes that he was approaching the stop block too fast, applied the brakes but the weight of the tank wagons overcame the braking power and he went through the block, the weight of those tanks also forcing the lighter box vans up into the air, landing on top of each other.

The Hymek was already withdrawn from service before the damage was done to it, it was used as by the depot’s breakdown crane gang for a retailing excercise using inflatable air bags.

Edited by P5BNij on Saturday 13th March 14:50

[P5BNij]

KateV8 said:

Reminds me of a summer in the late 70's when me and two mates (we were about 15) befriended the staff at our local station, a small one between Liverpool and Manchester. We did everything except despatch trains, including brewing up, brushing up, printing and selling tickets and carrying parcels. I suppose we became unpaid labour by we didn't care, we loved it. One time we had to ride our bikes as fast as we could to get the porter out of the local bookmakers, we'd been left in charge of the station and we got a tip off that an inspector was due a visit. The highlight was seeing the 'Brickliner', two 25's hauling open wagons loaded with bricks. P5B may remember this as it originated somewhere in London and split at Trafford Park in Manchester. The portion we used to see was heading for Garston Docks in Liverpool. Happy, simple times that most kids these days wouldn't be interested in.

Yes I remember those brick liner jobs, some came up from London and some from the numerous brickworks along the Bedford to Bletchley branch. Almost the entire route from Bow Brickhill to Kempston Hardwick had brickworks and chimneys on both sides of the line. All of the works closed long ago and most were demolished, but there are still four chimneys left standing at Stewartby, not that far from Marston Moretain where the late Captain Sir Tom Moore lived. Alongside the next station down the line at Millbrook is the motor proving ground often seen on Top Gear and Wheeler Dealers etc.

[P5BNij]

KateV8 said:

Some nostalgia for me and PB5, the brick liner passing through Staffordshire. Photo taken from a magazine article.

Four track section suggests Milford & Brockton - Stafford or onwards towards Crewe

[P5BNij]

KateV8 said:

I've just remembered an episode which seems to come from a time early in the last century yet it was the mid 70's. Me and my mate were on our bikes and were stood at the bottom of the steps of a (now) long-gone box on the Cheshire Lines road. The door opened and the lady signaller invited us up. She sat in a rocking chair chatting to us and knitting. Occasionally she would get out of her chair, deal with the block bells and instruments, throw a few levers then sit and resume her knitting while a dmu went past. It's a lovely time warp memory that has stayed with me ever since.

There are stories just like this on railway forums and in many, many books. Adrian Vaughan started his railway career in exactly the same way, being invited into the box at Challow, between Didcot and Swindon. Before I started on BR I used to can locos as much as possible chatting to the train crews asking about vacancies at various depots.

Found some more shots taken at Old Oak on my last visit when it was still a working depot, although most of the locos present were in store at the time....







A slightly earlier pic inside the Factory with 50 035 during its restoration, some of the staff there tried to get listed building status for it but sadly it wasn't to be....



My younger brother outside the Factory (he's a driver based at Bristol with Cross Country) for a while he was chairman of the Class 37 Loco Group....

[P5BNij]

Yes I ought to have mentioned the books, both well worth a look, he's also a good and quite prolific photographer. Another signalman turned photographer is David Canning who lived and worked in the Newbury area over the same period that Adrian was active, he has done several books on signalling with some funny stories and a couple on the Diesel-Hydraulics.

More bits 'n' bobs -

Bobbies and motorbikes often go together..... the pic isn't wonky, the box has always had a lean to it....



Railtour time at Brum new St in 1975, the short arse kid in the middle of the pic with the green parker and purple flares is yours truly....



Cold English Electric start ups at Bodmin General with 37 142 and 50 042 being cranked up....



A mate and I went up to the East Lancs for a diesel gala some years ago, it rained all day but we got one or two atmospheric photos despite the weather....



West Somerset diesel gala back in 2012....



Severn Valley diesel gala back in 2012....



Perhaps I should have titled the thread 'railway nostalgia'

[P5BNij]

Tim O said:

Love this thread, thanks to all contributors. I spent many a happy hour bunking round Saltley and Bescot in the mid 60’s. Hard to believe we just walked in and helped ourselves.

Question for the west Londoners, is the the huge Car Giant site railway related? Part of Old Oak Common? The buildings have all the hallmarks of old railway buildings but I understand 81A buildings were demolished?

Car Giant's premises is up above Old Oak behind the canal, close to Mitre Bridge Junction where the West London line goes over the top of the Great Western mainline. There are some scrap yard sidings nearby but they're no longer in use

[P5BNij]

Spent many an hour up in the mess room at Bath Road waiting for our return working to Paddington, I remember there was huge tea urn permanently on the go, the same as the one in the mess room at Padd on platform 1. I've just realised it's almost thirty years since Bath Road closed as a working loco depot.

Some more preservation stuff - Hydraulics on the Severn Valley and West Somerset lines in 2012....











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|https://thumbsnap.com/pP4g6QxT[/url]

[P5BNij]

Great story, love it! Sadly I’ve never worked over the East Lancs but have travelled on it a few times. Stories like that were the folk lore of many a mess room in BR days. One of our now retired drivers wrote a really good book called ‘Life On The Leicester Line’ about his time as a secondman based at Coalville, there are some good funny tales in that. Back in 1980 my great uncle wrote one, ‘Country Station Life’ about his time with the LNWR and LMS at Rugby and the various lines radiating from it to Market Harborough, Leicester and Leamington Spa.

I’m on an unusual job tomorrow, working a special ‘jumbo’ test train out of Wembley Yard with a 70, a 66 and two sets of wagons, it’ll be my first time driving a 70 on my own.....

[P5BNij]

AJB88 said:

Yertis said:

Here's a question for you train drivers. Every now and again I see very long trains of weird yellow ballast/hopper wagons, presumably used for track-relaying purposes. These trains have a locomotive at both ends. Is the engine 'pushing' at the rear of the train driven remotely by the chap at the front (like in an HST), or is there a driver in there doing what he's told/using his initiative? The only person I've been able to see in the trailing locomotive has been sat in the rear cab with his feet up reading the paper.

Top and Tailed, sounds like the HOBC (high output ballast cleaner). The rear loco will have powered applied when needed as the thing ways around 2400 tonnes excluding the 2 locos.

We’ve been working this on and off for a few years now, it often weighs just over 3,000 tons fully loaded. The rear loco is there to give power on the gradients, the controls can be set up with the deadman’s isolated so you can still use the reverser and throttle in ‘feet up drinking tea’ mode. Each driver has a back to back radio but the one at the back will know exactly where to apply power and shut off anyway. Everything looks very different going backwards though .

Good call on Annie Furniss on Flickr, another worth a look is ‘Fray Bentos’, a Bristol based photographer who has some very atmospheric stuff shot on his native Western Region, he also recently published a book of Western photos.