RAILFREIGHT HISTORY

1960 THE Middleton Railway, Leeds becomes the first standard gauge line in Great Britain to be operated as a preserved railway by volunteers. First services are diesel-hauled and the line carried freight until 1983.

JUNE 20

1940 The first WW2 incident on the GWR. Four wagons and signal wires are damaged, with one wagon completely destroyed, in an attack on Cardiff Roath basin at 00:40.

June 21

1948 ALCO delivers its last steam locomotive, the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad 2-8-4 #9406. The company had started making steam locomotives in 1901.

1966 A NEW regular Freightliner daytime train, linking Glasgow with London, starts. It will run four days a week. There is a balancing northwards Freightliner service.

1970 PENN Central declared bankruptcy, the largest corporate bankruptcy in US history at the time.

June 22

1799 JOSEPH Pease, railway promoter, is born at Darlington, County Durham. He would later become a proponent and supporter of the earliest public railway system in the world and was the first Quaker permitted to take his seat in Parliament.

1937 AMERICAN folk and blues musician Huddie William Ledbetter (1889 -1949) records Rock Island Line, the first of many recordings he made during his career.

The first audio recording of the song was made by folklorist and musicologist John A. Lomax at the Tucker, Arkansas prison farm on September 29, 1934.

1953 AT the Annual Association of American Railroads railroad show, the first Fairbanks-Morse Train Master diesel locomotives and Airslide covered hoppers are displayed. Significantly for the future of the railroads, this is the first occasion that no new steam locomotives are on display at the show.

1959 WAPPING & Salthouse goods depot, which served the Albert, Salthouse and Wapping Docks in Liverpool and was located close to the city centre, closes after 57 years of operation

1972 ERIE Lackawanna Railroad files for bankruptcy after damage by Hurricane Agnes. It is among the properties conveyed to Conrail.

June 23

1823 ROBERT Stephenson, his father George Stephenson, Edward Pease and Michael Longridge form Robert Stephenson & Company in Newcastle upon Tyne.

The engineering and locomotive manufacturer is the first company in the world set up specifically to build railway engines.

If you have any stunning photos of freight trains you might like to see on the cover, send them to freighttracks@gmail.com

Publisher & Editor: James Graham editor@freight-tracks.com

Editorial support: Kim Smith

Designer: Alex Brown freighttracks@gmail.com

Sales Manager: Anthony Smith

Sales Executive: Peter Dolan

Webmaster: Natasha Antony

Contributors: Neil Madden, Chris Lewis, Stuart Flitton, Johnathan Webb. Will Huskisson

All rights reserved, No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the copyright owner. Multiple copying of the contents of the magazine without prior written consent is forbidden. Material sent to the editor, whether commissioned or freely submitted, is provided at the contributor’s own risk. Freight Tracks cannot be held responsible for loss of damage however cause. The opinions and views expressed by authors and contributors within Freight Tracks are not necessarily those of the editor or Freight Tracks. We are unable to guarantee the bona ideas of any advertisers.

Copyright: 1435 Media London 2023