Steam Days January 2022 - Preview by Mortons Media Group Ltd

100 YEARS OF THE CORRIS RAILWAY ‘TATTOO’

January 2022 | £4.95

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‘PRINCESS ROYAL’ IN FULL COLOUR SURVIVORS

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JANUARY 2022 £4.95

WALSALL-DERBY-NOTTINGHAM-GRANTHAM 1958-62

HASTINGS – THE ‘SCHOOLS’ PLAYGROUND

THE LOCOMOTIVES OF KITTYBREWSTER SHED

No 389

Cover: An iconic locomotive, in part due to the British Royal line of succession, Princess Elizabeth becoming Monarch while the locomotive was still in everyday service, Stanier ‘Princess Royal’ Pacific No 46201 Princess Elizabeth heads an up Anglo-Scottish express at Harthope in the Clyde valley. By this time it was operating from Carlisle’s Upperby shed, while No 46203 Princess Margaret Rose, the other ‘Princess Royal’ class to see preservation, was Kingmoor-based. Colour-Rail.com/SC1205

January 2022

Trains of thought

Corris Railway No 4 – the first 100 years Withdrawn in the last year of the Corris Railway, John Simms offers an overview of this 0-4-2ST’s service, including salvation and then long term use as on the preserved Talyllyn Railway, as well as Corris homecomings.

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The locomotives of Kittybrewster engine shed Focussing on the LNER and BR (Scottish Region) years, Roger Griffiths and John Hooper review the evolving allocation of this former GNSR site, as well as providing ‘observations’ to highlight some visiting locomotives.

EDITORIAL & DESIGN Rex Kennedy, Andrew Kennedy, Andrew Wilson, Roger Smith and Ian Kennedy 64 Littledown Drive, Bournemouth BH7 7AH 01202 304849 red.gauntlett@gmail.com ADVERTISING Craig Amess 01507 529537 camess@mortons.co.uk Fiona Leak 01507 529573 fleak@mortons.co.uk Group advertising manager: Sue Keily skeily@mortons.co.uk Publisher: Tim Hartley Publishing director: Dan Savage CUSTOMER SERVICES General Queries & Back Issues 01507 529529 Monday-Friday 8.30am-5pm Answerphone 24H help@classicmagazines.co.uk www.classicmagazines.co.uk

Brand new to Kittybrewster shed in November 1952, BR Standard ‘4MT’ 2-6-4T No 80005 is seen at Ballater station. Douglas Blades/GNSRA Collection

STEAM DAYS in Colour 205: Stanier ‘Princess Royal’ survivors Introduced in 1933-35, two of the class survived into preservation, Nos 46201 Princess Elizabeth and 46203 Princess Margaret Rose – we look back at their latter day BR service years and the step into preservation.

Travelling from Walsall to Grantham: 1958-62 Living near Wolverhampton there was little opportunity to see ex-LNER locomotives, so Mike Page made a series of journeys to the East Coast main line and witnessed changes being made on the various routes travelled.

Hastings – Playground of the ‘Schools’ Chris Gordon Watford outlines what the newly formed British Railways inherited from the Southern Railway in the Hastings area, and provides his own photographs taken in the 1951-54 period.

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JANUARY 2022

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TRAINS of thought

Next month... The Border Railway – Hexham-Newcastle Rhondda sheds of the Taff Vale Railway: Ferndale, Pwllyrhebog, and Coke Ovens Tile Hill station (L&NWR) remembered – 1954 Freedom of the New Forest The East Kilbride and Neilston lines – in full colour On sale Thursday, 20 January 2022

Steam Days Magazine GWR ‘Star’ class No 4007 Swallowfield Park – originally named Rising Star from new in April 1907 through to May 1937 – is seen at rest with sister engine No 4051 Princess Helena on Worcester shed in October 1950.

JANUARY 2022

he year 2022 marks 80 years for me as a railway and bus enthusiast, and when I look back over those years and think of the changes I have seen to the transport scene in Great Britain I feel very lucky to have experienced those changes – some for the better but most not so, as I am often told that I ‘live in the past’, but those past memories are still special and precious to me. In fact, over all those 80 years, I have not only been a railway and bus enthusiast, but I was always interested in everything ‘on wheels’, including commercial vehicles and cars. However, having paid one visit to the viewing deck at Heathrow airport with my Ian Allan civil aircraft spotters book I could not gain much interest in that form of ‘spotting’, so I gave that a miss. I feel that I have been so fortunate, living in Worcester until 1968, to have witnessed, in the 1940s, many of the old GWR classes of locomotives like the ‘Dukes’, ‘Bulldogs,’ Aberdares’, ‘Saints’, and ‘Stars’ as Worcester was a large important rail centre, and I can sometimes close my eyes and picture them on shed as looked down on to Worcester shed from Railway Walk after school on most days and during school holidays. I left Worcester Royal Grammar School in 1950 and even prior to that year I was a keen cyclist chasing trains and buses armed with notebook and pencil and my Ian Allan spotters books, and my usual refreshment prepared by my mother (usually my favourite tomato sandwiches). My cycling days would take me to Birmingham, Gloucester, Hereford, Cheltenham (for buses at its famous coach station), Stratford-upon-Avon, Stourbridge, Stafford, Tamworth, to name but a few, and of course to Swindon Works for its ‘open’ afternoons for one shilling. The distance from Worcester to Swindon was 60 miles, (five hours cycling each way), but it was well worth the effort. Longer cycle journeys would take me into South Wales where the variety of both locomotives and buses was amazing, and a memorable 600-mile trip around Devon and Cornwall in 1951 on just £5! Train journeys in my school days would have my trains hauled by a variety of GWR engines, my favourites being Queen Boadicea, Swallowfield Park, Bride of Lammermoor, Pershore Plum or one of the Worcester ‘Castles’, and I was once the proud owner of the nameplate off Great Western ‘Star’ class Prince Albert. Every summer in the school holidays I would go by train to Gatley, near Manchester, where my aunts and uncles lived, offering me amazing days on Manchester (London Road) station. Other train journeys took me to Tamworth with hoards of other spotters — an amazing place to visit with LMS expresses on the low-level West Coast main line, and also the Beyer-Garratts on the high-level line, with trains passing every 3-minutes. I am sure many of you will remember that great spotting location. My National Service from April 1952 to April 1954 was with the Worcestershire Regiment where the regiment’s depot was very close to the Birmingham to Bristol Midland main line, so that was very handy, and while on duty for the last King’s Prize at the Bisley rifle ranges, working four hours a day one day and then eight hours the next, I spent my leisure hours on the grassy bank at the nearby Brookwood recording Southern expresses passing, including the ‘Bournemouth Belle’ – happy days! I have been most fortunate to have experienced my early life by the lineside, on stations, and chasing buses, and could tell you so much more of my experiences as a train and bus spotter, as those recalled here only briefly take me up to the mid-1950s, days I would not have missed for the world. My interest continues to this day, with many more engine shed and bus garage visits from the 1960s and beyond, but not with the glamour of those halcyon days of steam and half-cab buses, Burlingham ‘Seagulls’, and Bedford ‘OBs’. Writing a few books on railways and buses over the years has helped me to recall my life with notebook and pen. Enjoy your own memories, and it would be nice to know if there are others out there who have also enjoyed 80 years of spotting, in any form.

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Corris Railway No 4 – the first 100 years A ‘Tattoo’ class locomotive withdrawn in the last year of the Corris Railway, 1948, John Simms offers an overview of this 0-4-2ST’s service to date, including salvation and then long term use as ‘Edward Thomas’ on the preserved Talyllyn Railway, as well as Corris homecomings.

A circa 1924 view records Corris Railway No 4 at Machynlleth station with two passenger coaches, the Corris station being to the north side of the standard gauge railway in Machynlleth but at a lower level. Passenger duties from here ran through the Dulas valley to Aberllefenni, the coaches in view being Metropolitan No 7 and a rebuild from a pair of ‘tramcars’; there is no brake vehicle yet in the formation. Jane Kennedy Collection ‘Tattoo’ class advertising as used by the Hunslet Engine Co Ltd, and most likely by Kerr, Stuart & Co Ltd before that, 1930 seeing Hunslet purchase the goodwill of the Stoke-on-Trent based firm that had roots back to 1883. Interestingly, the document states the gauge to be 2ft 6in, but with the note ‘can be modified to suit requirements’, along with these details: cylinder size 7in diameter x 12in stroke; diameter of coupled wheels 2ft; diameter of bogie wheels 1ft 4 ½in; rigid wheelbase 3ft; total wheelbase 7ft 6in. Jane Kennedy Collection

t was during 1921 that Kerr, Stuart & Co Ltd constructed a small 0-4-2ST for a narrow gauge railway in Mid Wales and despatched it from Stoke-on-Trent to Machynlleth. Carrying the works No 4047 and built as a ‘Tattoo’ class locomotive, it is very unlikely that the men who made the engine, or saw it as it travelled to its new home, thought that it would still be active a century later, let alone that it would have had a key role in the history of British railway preservation and become a thinly disguised favourite character in stories for younger children. No 4047 had been ordered to work on the 2ft 3in gauge Corris Railway, on passenger and freight trains in the Dulas Valley between Machynlleth and Aberllefenni, with its new home to be the locomotive shed at Maespoeth Junction, south of Corris itself, where the horse-worked Upper Corris branch left the steam-worked main line. Even the main route had many curves, a legacy of its origins as the horse- and gravity-worked Corris, Machynlleth & River Dovey Tramroad, as well as some steep gradients along its length. From the start of steam operations in 1878 the Corris Railway had used a trio of 0-4-2STs (originally built as 0-4-0STs) that were constructed by Henry Hughes & Co of Loughborough and known as ‘Falcons’. 6

By the end of World War I the ‘Falcons’ were becoming old and worn and that led to the decision by the Corris’ owners, Imperial Tramways, to buy a new locomotive. By this time the Hughes Company had become part of Brush, which precluded any idea of buying another machine to the original design, and a ‘Tattoo’ looked suitable. In the meantime, a major cannibalisation and rebuilding of the original trio of locomotives was underway to produce one working Hughes engine, which eventually carried the number 3, mainly because that was the number on the cab that was fitted; it appears, for example, that one www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

main frame plate is from No 3 and the other from No 1. The fresh arrival from the Potteries became Corris No 4, although it did not display that number in CR service. Although the new engine was a member of the ‘Tattoo’ class, it was not built entirely to the standard design, which is better represented by Stanhope as the surviving example of ones built for gauges of 2ft 5in and less. Corris clearances were very tight as to width and this meant that CR No 4 has inside rather than outside frames to allow the cylinders to fit within a width of 5ft 3in. Personal tastes will dictate which an onlooker

An early view of No 4 shows the already cracked chimney and its clamp repair, and in this case we are looking at the less often photographed side of the locomotive. Sections of the Corris Railway had very limited clearance and, as all the station stopping points were on the right-hand side as one travelled up the line, there was no need for doorways on the carriages on the opposite side, and likewise there was no entry/exit on that side for the locomotive crew. Jane Kennedy Collection

finds more pleasing but those tight dimensions can be appreciated on the re-opened part of the line with the small gap between the locomotive and carriages and the church wall at Corris station. The height was also less than was usual for the design. The ‘Tattoo’ may have looked the part and was certainly put straight to work in Dyffryn Dulas, but it did experience some problems as originally built. Early on the chimney was lost local legend says that it struck one of the overbridges just north of Corris village during an enthusiastic trial run, but a tree branch collision seems more likely. Whatever the cause, the chimney had to be held together with a band. Nor did it steam as well as expected. Humphrey Household, who travelled on the CR in 1925, photographed it with a badly scorched smokebox, showing that there were problems. However, with No 3 undergoing a very heavy overhaul/rebuild, the new engine had to do the work and it did do the job until the return of the ‘Falcon’ allowed the younger engine to receive a new boiler with different sized tubes. After this, No 4 steamed well and has continued to do so to this day, without hot coal being carried through the tubes to the smokebox when the engine was working hard. In 1930 the Great Western Railway acquired the Corris line without any great degree of enthusiasm for adding another narrow gauge line to its empire. However, what the big company did like the look of was the network of bus services that the Corris had built up in Mid Wales and which competed with GWR road services, amongst others. The citizenry in the villages along the line certainly preferred the buses to the line’s railway carriages, which were by then approaching 50-year-old. By the end of 1930 the CR became freight only, with locomotives Nos 3 and 4 sharing the duties. As well as age and origin, there were other differences between the two engines, an important one being adhesion in what is often

a wet part of Wales. Number 4 had a lower adhesion weight overall but did have sanders, whilst No 3 was never fitted with these. When the latter was in traffic and picking up its feet, the regular Corris guard, Robert Pryce Owen would perch above a buffer and pour sand from a can onto the railhead. The footplate was single-manned, with Humphrey Humphreys acting as both driver and fireman. The flow of sand of No 4 could also be affected by seeping damp and on one visit photographer and historian James Boyd found himself walking beside the engine and bashing the pipe with a large hammer to try to keep the grains landing on the rails. Apart from being very dangerous – if the locomotive slipped, the spanner could be violently propelled through the air by the connecting rod – you wonder if this was standard practice or something dreamed up for Boyd! Having acquired a pair of small nonstandard locomotives, the GWR largely left them alone, and because of a gap in the numbering of the locomotive fleet, Nos 3 and 4 kept their identities, with the ‘Tattoo’ acquiring a number for the first time. Both made visits to Swindon Works for overhaul, although it might have seemed logical for main works attention to have been carried out at Oswestry, but there was no fitting of standard Great Western cabside numberplates or brass safety valve bonnets. One fitting that did appear was a GWR lamp bracket in front of the chimney as, for a while at least, ‘Swindon’ did insist that lamps were carried; that work could well have been done by a fitter from the main line shed at Machynlleth. No GWR lettering or crests were applied to show identity. However, the waggons on the line did rapidly gain GW lettering and

numbers, presumably to make sure they were not quietly taken into private use by the owners of the still operational slate quarries. Day to day maintenance of the locomotives was carried out at Maespoeth by Humphreys, with help from Machynlleth shed staff as required. No 4 made a trip to Swindon in 1940 where some confusion arose over the boiler as it appears the paperwork was that from Kerr, Stuart in 1921 and not that covering the 1929 one. In 1943 Corris services had been reduced to three days a week, and at the end of 1947 No 4 was stopped for six weeks for attention to its boiler and firebox. In May 1948 these problems saw it withdrawn from traffic and in the August of that year the Corris Railway closed altogether as a result of threatened river encroachment into the trackbed where the line crossed the Afon Dyfi/River Dovey just north of Machynlleth. Because of the threat of the line being severed, the locomotives were no longer housed at Maespoeth Junction, with No 4 shunted on to a siding in Machynlleth, where it was joined, apparently finally, by No 3 when traffic ceased.

Always known as No 4 at the Corris Railway, the locomotive’s cab-side plate initially read ‘Kerr, Stuart & Co Ltd – London & Stoke’ around the edge, and ‘No 4047 1921’ in a straight line across the middle. In GWR days, however, the plate was modified, as seen, seemingly in lieu of a full blown Swindon Works brass cab side number. Jane Kennedy Collection In the goods-only days of GWR ownership, Corris No 4 awaits departure from Machynlleth on 14 August 1946, although in truth it looks as though the photographer will be joining the train for a trip up the line, so the crew will be awaiting his company. The stock is a mix of wooden-bodied open waggons and slate vehicles that allow large items to stand upright, although in this direction the train is nominally empty of slate business. However, it is clearly not empty of regular and irregular goods, and the first vehicle includes a bicycle. At the other end of the train, a brake van is coupled at the rear. N Fields/Jane Kennedy Collection

JANUARY 2022

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It is fair to say that the two ex-Corris Railway locomotives saved from Machynlleth yard played a major role in the rebirth of the Talyllyn Railway, its own motive power being simply worn out, and it is also true that had the salvation of the TR not been underway, the possibility of Nos 3 and 4 surviving were scant; both the railway needed the locomotives and vice versa. This early view records No 4 as Edward Thomas and hauling three of the Talyllyn Railway’s four coaches, plus the brake van, which in pre-preservation times was already a brake vehicle and travelling ticket office. Jane Kennedy Collection

Logically, that could have been the end of the road, with the engines either being cut up where they stood or loaded onto standard gauge waggons and taken to Swindon Works for scrapping. It is believed that instructions to carry out the latter procedure were issued but that the Machynlleth station master, Campbell Thomas, ignored them. Certainly the out of use locomotives were kept sheeted over and protected as much as possible. Again it is believed that Campbell Thomas hoped that at least one of the two engines might have had a future at the Talyllyn Railway, which had the same unusual gauge as the Corris Railway. It would have been known that by this time the TR only had one working locomotive, Fletcher, Jennings & Co Ltd-built 0-4-0WT Dolgoch, and the Talyllyn Railway did indeed inspect the Corris pair but decided not to offer to buy either. However in 1950 Sir Henry Haydn Jones died – he had kept the Talyllyn Railway going at his own expense, and subsequently, as is well known, a group of enthusiasts stepped in to save and operate the line as the world’s first ‘preserved railway’. With Fletcher, Jennings 0-4-2ST Talyllyn beyond any sensible prospect of a quick return to traffic, and Dolgoch the only motive power and not in the best of health, the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society was soon looking at the two ex-Corris Railway engines. After negotiation with the Western Region of British Railways they were purchased for £25 (reduced from an initial £65) each which, even allowing for inflation, looks to have been a very good bargain. Initially the TR looked to get No 3 into service, but this plan was defeated by the ‘Falcon’ having tyres ½in narrower than Dolgoch and with the Talyllyn track then in a very poor state it persistently derailed and could not be used.

Luckily, a newly-enrolled life member of the TRPS was a director of the Hunslet Engineering Co and he arranged that No 4 should have boiler and firebox repairs carried out free of charge at the company’s works in Leeds. The ‘Tattoo’ returned to Towyn/Tywyn in 1952 and entered traffic, still in works grey paint, in time to allow Dolgoch to take up a more relaxed life as spare engine. Since then, No 4 has been very much a mainstay of the Talyllyn fleet. Although the Corris engines have retained their numbers throughout four ownerships (including British Railways) they were named for the first time at the ‘TR’ with No 4 becoming Edward Thomas, honouring a former manager of the Talyllyn Railway. However, it has also run as Peter Sam, the ‘Thomas’ character created by the late Reverend Wilbert Awdry. One curious twist in the Talyllyn part of No 4’s story was it being fitted with a Giesl oblong ejector, a device originating from Austria. It was supposed to offer the twin advantages of reducing coal consumption and also allowing poorer quality coal to be used. The ejectors had proved very successful in Austria and were eventually fitted to 90 per cent of ÖBB (Österreichische Bundesbahnen) steam engines. British Railways had one Giesl ejector fitted to BR Standard ‘9F’ class 2-10-0 No 92250 and another to Bulleid ‘Battle of

Giesl ejector-fitted No 4 Edward Thomas shunts Midlander at Wharf station, Towyn/Tywyn in September 1958. The diesel is Ruston & Hornsby Works No 200792 of 1940, which had just been purchased by the Talyllyn to assist the ex-Corris engines, its role ultimately becoming purely permanent way and maintenance duties as the serviceable fleet of steam locomotives increased, not least thanks to the return of the rejuvenated Talyllyn and Dolgoch. J I C Boyd/Jane Kennedy Collection

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Britain’ class Light Pacific No 34064 Fighter Command but there is a considerable difference in size between those classes of locomotives and a small narrow gauge 0-4-2ST. The performance of No 4 does not seem to have been greatly changed, if at all, but aesthetically the ejector chimney was not a move in the right direction. The Giesl ejector fitted to No 4 was the smallest constructed and was made by apprentices in Austria. It was lightly constructed as an experimental piece and had an expectedly short working life on the Talyllyn Railway before being removed. No 4 has served the Talyllyn very well. In 1996 though, the saddle tank returned briefly to its old home at Maespoeth Junction as a section of the Corris Railway was being brought back to life. The purpose of the visit was to publicise the Corris Railway Society’s launch of an appeal to build a new ‘Tattoo’ for the line’s full revival, which ultimately saw CR No 7 – a new-build version of No 4 – enter Corris service in 2005 and become the main motive power for the line. In 1996 passenger trains could not yet run on the restored section of line but No 4 was accompanied by original Corris waggons and the CR brake van and it worked demonstration freight trains. In due course, 2002 saw public services resume between Maespoeth Junction and Corris.

At the 4/5 September 2021 gala at the reborn Corris Railway we find a top and tailed train of two ‘Tattoos’, No 4 on the front and No 7 at the rear, the new build locomotive being at home, with No 4 visiting. This is the restart up Maespoeth bank, immediately south of Maespoeth Junction and the current limit of operations. However, work is underway on the southern extension and the railway’s volunteers have a proven track record, for example they built the four carriages in this train as replicas of those used until 1930. A relative latecomer to the narrow gauge preserved railways of Wales, the Corris has forged a path of recreating the very distinctive character of this line. Within moments the train will stop in Maespoeth platform, with the section through to Corris now open. David Coleman

As part of celebrations to mark its centenary, Corris Railway No 4 once again returned to its original railway – significantly, at 11am on the 28 August 2021 No 4 departed Corris station with a passenger train for the first time since 1930. The train was made up of newbuild coaching stock constructed by Corris Railway Society volunteers that follow the look and layout of the Victorian/Edwardian originals whilst meeting modern safety requirements. CRS volunteers have also restored and built replica waggons and these allowed No 4 to also head demonstration freight trains for photographic charters during its visit.

On the weekend of 4/5 September, Nos 4 and 7 – a brace of Corris ‘Tattoos’ – were the mechanical stars of a gala weekend on the Corris Railway. Visitors to the event included the grandsons of two of the Corris Railway’s engineers who brought No 4 to the line in 1921 and solved its early problems whilst also cannibalising and merging the trio of ‘Falcon’ locomotives into No 3, which served the CR until closure and now also works on the Talyllyn Railway. Also present were descendants of Campbell Thomas and Humphrey Humphreys, respectively the Machynlleth station master and the final Corris engineman. As part of the celebrations, No 4 was temporarily renamed Campbell Thomas. On the following weekend the two ‘Tattoos’ were at Tywyn and featuring in the Talyllyn gala, which further saluted the worthy veteran that has served the narrow gauge in Mid Wales for 100 years. The special weekend on the Talyllyn was the second time No 7 has run from Tywyn and lodged at Pendre. Kerr, Stuart & Co Ltd No 4047 is a small engine whose history should be celebrated. At the end of 2021 No 4 was taken out of service for overhaul. As we look forward to a welcome return to action at the Talyllyn Railway, it is a great delight that less than 15 miles distant we can find Corris Railway No 7 continuing to ensure that visitors can see and travel behind a Kerr, Stuart ‘Tattoo’ 0-4-2ST in Mid Wales as it steams along the beautiful Dulas valley, just as No 4 had done from 1921 through to 1948.

The Corris gala proved to be inspiration for a gathering, the Corris Railway being very in touch with its community. This view records Corris ‘family’: (from left to right) Stephen Hulme, Jackie Jeffrey and David Hulme (with driver Trefor and fireman Sam). The visitors are grandchildren of Corris locomotive engineer Albert Hulme, who was largely responsible for choosing the ‘Tattoo’ design from Kerr, Stuart, and arranging adaptations to the original design to suit Corris’ needs in 1920/21, while Jackie is the granddaughter of Thomas Squire, an engineer who worked with Albert Hulme in the 1920s. The grandchildren had never known of each other’s existence before, nor had ever met until Saturday, 4 September when they joined the railway to ride on the train behind No 4. David Coleman With the Corris gala over, the two ‘Tattoos’ were Talyllyn-bound, this service train on the following weekend notable in that Nos 4 and 7 were operating as a double-header, and here at Brynglas the passing train was being hauled by ex-Corris locomotive No 3, the surviving ‘Falcon’. David Coleman

JANUARY 2022

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ittybrewster engine shed was established with the first section of the Great North of Scotland Railway, from the nearby station on the north side of Aberdeen through to Huntly in September 1854. In due course, the GNSR expanded way beyond its first 39¼ miles, but the need for Kittybrewster engine shed remained constant for almost 113 years. The evolved site was considered in full within our ‘Great North of Scotland Railway engine sheds: Aberdeen to Huntly’ article in the September 2021 issue of Steam Days, so we now cover the changing allocation from 1923, albeit with a few pre-Grouping allocations when known. Being such a key location, it would be easy to just mirror the evolution of the generally long-lived ‘Great North’ fleet, as virtually all of the company’s locomotives spent time on the books, so we will mostly use the alpha-numeric LNER classifications as a pathway. Our data comes from engine record cards and it seems that 112 locomotives of ‘Great North’ origin served from this shed post-1922, and 33 of LNER design, plus one railcar, so these can be seen as the ‘home’ fleet. However, replacement of more elderly locomotives post-Grouping saw the LNER embark on a series of transfers to northern

Scotland and no less than 104 steam engines of ‘foreign’ pre-LNER Grouping design found themselves on Kittybrewster’s books, as follows: 55 North British Railway (‘C15’, ‘D31’, ‘D34’, ‘D51’, ‘J35’, ‘J36’, ‘J88’, ‘N14’, ‘N15’ classes); 32 Great Eastern Railway (‘B12’, ‘F4’, ‘J69’); 9 North Eastern Railway (‘G5’, ‘J72’); 8 Great Northern Railway (‘K2’). Inevitably, the British Railways (Scottish Region) steam era brought further second-hand engines of ex-LMS origin, 14 in all (‘2P’ 4-4-0, ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0, Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-0 and even a brace of ‘3F’ rated ex-Caledonian Railway 0-6-0s), plus 24 BR Standards, and from October 1958 there were 60 diesels that spent time on the allocation. All in all, the Kittybrewster fleet embraced 286 different steam locomotives, one steam railcar, and the diesels. The tables in this feature include shed codes for brevity, LNER ones created by the Railway Correspondence & Travel Society from late 1931. Although not official, these saw widespread use (the LNER practice of abbreviated shed codes within locomotive cabs started in 1940 and were generally longer). The use of the ex-NBR terminus of Leith Central as a diesel depot (1959-72) post dates the RCTS codes, so we have given it a letter code of LHC as an ex-LNER site.

The LNER shed codes are as follows: ABD Aberdeen (Ferryhill); BGT Bathgate; CAM Cambridge; CAR Carlisle (Canal) and Carlisle (London Road); CLR Colchester; DEE Dundee; DFU Dunfermline (Upper); EFD Eastfield; ELG Elgin; FW Fort William; FW(sub) Mallaig, HAW Hawick; HAY Haymarket; IPS Ipswich; KEI Keith; KEI(sub) Macduff; KIT Kittybrewster; KPS Kipps; LIN Lincoln; LTH Leith Central; MAR March; MID Middlesbrough; NOR Norwich; PBE Peterborough East; PKD Parkhead; PTH Perth; SBH South Blyth; STG Stirling; STM St Margarets; STR Stratford; SUN Sunderland; THN Thornton Junction; WHL West Hartlepool. To maintain continuity in regard to ex-LNER sites, within the locomotive tables the above letter codes are continued into the BR era (certain sheds saw shed code changes in the BR era) while the identity of ex-LMS and a Southern Region site adopt the BR code as in these cases they proved to be long standing, as follows: 60A Inverness; 63A Perth; 66A Polmadie; 67A Corkerhill; 67B Hurlford; 67C Ayr; 67D Ardrossan; 68D Beattock; and 73C Hither Green. The table headings used are: No - the locomotive number, with the first LNER

The LNER influence is to the fore at Kittybrewster in early 1949, with drafted in ex-Great Eastern motive power and a backdrop provided by the shed’s 1932-built mechanical coaling plant. The brace of ‘B12s’ over the ash pits, No 61524 on the left and 61529 at right, were transferred to Scotland on 24 March 1933 and 10 July 1939 respectively. The former engine had been rebuilt to ‘B12/4’ at an Inverurie general overhaul of August/September 1946, receiving a round-topped boiler in the process. Again given a general overhaul, 28 May to 3 July 1948, the 4-6-0 received LNER green livery but no British Railways branding was applied to the tender, nor front numbering or numberplate. Sister No 61529 has an original ‘B12/1’ Belpaire boiler and underwent its last general overhaul at Inverurie in the summer of 1948, when again LNER green paint but no BR signage nor front number were applied. No 61524 would be transferred to Keith shed on 7 July 1953 and taken out of service just four months later, on 5 November 1953, while No 61529 ended its days as a Kittybrewster asset – it faces about one more year’s use before withdrawal on 3 February 1950. Both 4-6-0s would be reduced to scrap at Kilmarnock Works. C J B Sanderson/ARPT

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