Steam Days - March 2022 - Preview by Mortons Media Group Ltd

DEESIDE MEMORIES – WELSH BORDER STEAM

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BRISTOL TO BATH ALONG Great western METALS

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johnson class ‘3’ belpaire 4-4-0s

GNSR ENGINE SHEDS: KEITH AND ELGIN

SR CENTRAL DIVISION PUSH-PULL IN COLOUR

No 391

Cover: Cast aluminium headboards were strong, but prone to fracture, the standard repair being to rivet a plate to the rear of the headboard to act as an invisible ‘bridge’ across the break, rivets being a tell-tale sign of such a repair. It is spring 1954 and No 6995 Benthall Hall is about to leave Bristol (Temple Meads) with the ‘Merchant Venturer’, the wheeltapper having just completed his run of the train. The ‘Modified Hall’ has taken over from a ‘King’ and is due at its destination of Weston-super-Mare at 2.04pm. T E Williams

March 2022

Trains of thought

Deeside steam memories Richard Clarke takes us through his early memories of the North Wales Coast main line and the ex-Great Central Railway line in the Deeside area of Flintshire.

From Bristol to Bath along Great Western metals Features of note on this 12½ mile journey along the Avon valley are described by Colin G Maggs MBE.

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Hauling the 3.30pm Brighton-Horsham push-pull service, Drummond ‘M7’ 0-4-4T No 30328 reaches Steyning on 25 September 1960. R Patterson/Colour-Rail.com/314378

STEAM DAYS in Colour 207: Southern Region Central Division push-pull Based on the former LB&SCR network, the Central Division saw push-pull operations from Horsham, on the Guildford and Brighton lines, to Midhurst, between Three Bridges and East Grinstead, on the Oxted lines and through to Tunbridge Wells, and on to Tonbridge on the Eastern Division.

The Johnson class ‘3’ 4-4-0s Andrew Wilson looks at the Johnson ‘3Ps’ that deserved to be adopted as an LMS standard design rather than the ‘2P’ 4-4-0s.

Great North of Scotland Railway engine sheds Keith and Elgin Roger Griffiths and John Hooper continue their evaluation of GNSR engine sheds and servicing points, embracing the company’s facilities established beyond Huntly on what we know today as the Aberdeen-Inverness main line.

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TRAINS of thought

Next month... Oxley shed’s BR ‘Britannia’ Pacifics The Leek & Manifold Railway Wonders of Wood Green Shed calamities: Act of Man The NER’s coastal lines – in full colour On sale Thursday, 17 March 2022

n this issue of the magazine we take a look at the Midland Railway’s Johnson ‘3P’ ‘Belpaire’ 4-4-0s, one of various classes of this wheel arrangement that worked through MR and LMS days, and on into BR service. Although 22 of these Johnson 4-4-0s were in service at nationalisation, only eight received their allocated BR numbers, the last of these to remain in service being No 40743, which was withdrawn in July 1952 and scrapped in the October of that year. From my early spotting days in the mid-1940s I always felt that all the LMS 4-4-0 engines were handsome locomotives and the ‘2P’ versions regularly frequented Worcester on the Birmingham (New Street) to Gloucester services whose route took in the Lickey incline when hauling their short trains of four-coaches (generally). I would often see one of these trains ascending the Lickey incline being banked by an LMS 0-6-0 ‘Jinty’ tank engine, and my memory takes me back to the sound of the ‘clank’, ‘clank’ noise as these engines coasted into Worcester (Shrub Hill) station with their passenger trains running between Birmingham and Gloucester, with some of these workings going on to Bristol having started from Derby. On visits to Birmingham (New Street) station on occasions I would see more of the LMS 4-4-0s, including the ‘4P’ Compounds that were as plentiful as the ‘2P’ versions, whereas the few ‘3P’ versions that lasted into BR days were based in Leeds, Bedford and Sheffield in 1950, with No 40741 allocated to Templecombe on the Somerset & Dorset line. Being mainly a Great Western enthusiast at heart, the handsome LMS 4-4-0s were a far cry from the Great Western 4-4-0 classes of ‘Dukes’, ‘Bulldogs’ and ‘Dukedogs’, and I was fortunate to see many of the GWR 4-4-0s when living in Worcester that had an allocation of ‘Bulldogs’, and my regular visits to the Cambrian lines in Central Wales on family holidays in the 1940s and 1950s provided me with the sight of ‘Dukes’ and ‘Dukedogs’. Looking back to the 1940s and early BR days, I was so fortunate to witness many classic locomotive types and, of the 4-4-0s, the Southern ‘Schools’ were very special, and seen by me when taking family summer holidays to Bournemouth when I would sit on the station platform there … far more interesting than a day on the beach with the family! No one can take away those special memories of our youth as young trainspotters – days that have long gone. Yes, we had the fresh air and spent days by the lineside without a worry in the world, and most of the time our parents never bothered too much about where we were, or where we were going, as long as we were home for tea! Enjoy your read this month and your own special memories.

Steam Days Magazine Fowler ‘2P’ class 4-4-0 No 40489 heads the 7.50am Gloucester to Birmingham (New Street) passenger service near Vigo on the Lickey incline in July 1956. John Edgington/Colour-Rail.com/BRM315

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Connah’s Quay station on the North Wales Coast main line is pictured in 1959, so shortly after the author’s time in the town. We are looking toward Chester, so the River Dee is to our left, the path of the erstwhile Wrexham, Mold & Connah’s Quay direct line to the docks going unseen in the distance as it burrows beneath the route to Holyhead, while the longer-lived spur from the WM&CQR to the Chester & Holyhead line is unseen to the right, behind the down side (westbound) facilities. The station here would close from Valentine’s Day 1966 as BR eliminated local services on this stretch of main line. G Biddle Collection/Kidderminster Railway Museum

between Chester and Holyhead in 1850, and branch lines serving Carnarvon and Llandudno followed in 1852 and 1858 respectively. In 1859 it was acquired by the London & North Western Railway (L&NWR), and the line was subsequently absorbed into the London, Midland & Scottish Railway at the Grouping in 1923. My earliest memories in 1955 were steam engines, mainly of ex-LMS or its predecessors’ origin, and I remember 4-4-0 Compounds and Midland design 4-4-0s. Also from 1955

onwards, regular engines seen were LMS 2-6-2 and 2-6-4 tanks, and ‘Black Five’, ‘Jubilee’, ‘Patriot’ and ‘Royal Scot’ 4-6-0s on passenger and parcel train duties. LMS 0-6-0 engines of Midland Railway heritage in the ‘43XXX’ (‘3F’) and ‘44XXX’ (‘4F’) series, Stanier ‘5MT’ 2-6-0s and ‘8F’ 2-8-0s, and ex-L&NWR 0-8-0s were the mainstay of freight duties. WD locomotives were notable for their absence, although a few were allocated to Mold Junction shed, and Hughes/Fowler ‘Crab’ class 2-6-0s were also

not well represented. British Railways Standard designs regularly seen were Chesterbased 2-6-4 tanks in the ‘80000’ series, ‘Britannia’ Pacifics Nos 70045-49, which were allocated to Holyhead and all un-named in 1955, and engines from the ‘75000’ series (‘4MT’ 4-6-0) and ‘78000’ series (‘2MT’ Mogul) allocated to Chester and Rhyl. Also, I particularly remember seeing brand new BR Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0s Nos 73090-99 of Patricroft shed on workings to and from Manchester as they were being introduced. The arrival at Chester of BR Standard ‘4MT’ 2-6-4Ts in 1957 hastened the demise of the Compounds and the other 4-4-0s, and these engines were themselves replaced by Fairburn 2-6-4 tanks in 1960 following an exchange of locomotives with the Scottish and Southern regions of BR. Regular workings throughout the period were the Club train from Llandudno to Manchester worked by Caprotti-fitted ‘Black Fives’ based at Llandudno Junction shed, Nos 44738-40. An interesting working was the stock of ‘The Welsh Dragon’ – a coastal service that ran in the summer from Rhyl to Llandudno – which was positioned using a local all-stations service from Chester to Rhyl usually hauled by Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2Ts Nos 41216 and 41276. The line was used by named express trains ‘The Emerald Isle Express’ and ‘The Irish Mail’, both of which ran from Holyhead to London (Euston), and the summer seasonal ‘Welshman’, which ran from London (Euston) to Pwllheli. The Holyhead services were generally hauled by Holyhead-based ‘Britannia’ Pacifics until diesels took over in 1959, whilst ‘The Welshman’ was usually a London based ‘Royal Scot’ working.

A pre-Grouping era Railway Clearing House map with Deeside at its heart shows the complex network of lines established between Wrexham, Connah’s Quay, Chester and the Wirral, which even included the joint L&NWR and GWR Birkenhead Joint Railway. In such areas at nationalisation there was something of a dilemma in regard to practical regional operations, the plan that lines inherited from the LNER should be Eastern Region, LMS become London Midland Region, and GWR to Western Region sitting uncomfortably where a unified network was required – a flurry of changes ensued from 1948 to 1963.

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While virtually on his doorstep, it was clearly a mix of the regular steam-hauled freight activity, varied motive power and convenience that led the author towards photography on the ex-Great Central Railway route, especially on the section between Hawarden and Shotton (High Level). This 1964 scene records Croes Newydd-based pannier tank No 9610 on a coal train bound for John Summers steelworks at Hawarden Bridge. It is descending a 1 in 52 gradient north of Hawarden. No 9610 had been a long-term resident at Wrexham since the transfer of Rhosddu shed (traditionally the GCR and LNER shed in the area) to the Western Region in 1958, and then at the turn of 1960 it had made the short journey across to Croes Newydd – a natural home for a GWR engine, albeit operating from there on ‘foreign’ metals. Author What goes down must come up, at least on this route, uphill from the low-lying steelworks on the Dee. Working hard on the gradient between Shotton and Hawarden in 1964 is one of Croes Newydd shed’s Collett ‘5600’ 0-6-2 tank engines, No 6604 in green livery, with a train of steel wagons from John Summers steelworks. A former resident of Stourbridge Junction shed, it reached Croes Newydd via Tyseley, so the ascent of this hill was thereafter within its domain between late summer 1962 and its withdrawal in the week ending 2 October 1965. Author

Specific items of interest were ex-works engines from Crewe, which used to appear on an all-stations service from Chester (General), arriving at Connah’s Quay around 7pm. The locomotives involved were normally passenger, mixed traffic engines and tank engines of LMS origin that were allocated to sheds all over the London Midland and North Eastern regions, and also a few from the

Eastern Region. I remember also seeing rare ‘Britannia’ Pacifics and Fairburn 2-6-4 tanks from the Great Eastern and London, Tilbury & Southend areas, as well as Scottish Regionbased ‘Clan’ Pacifics and ‘Royal Scots’. Examples included ‘Britannias’ Nos 70007 Coeur de Lion, 70010 Owen Glendower and 70040 Clive of India from the Great Eastern area, and from the Scottish Region, ‘6MT’

Pacific No 72002 Clan Campbell and ‘Royal Scot’ 4-6-0 No 46102 Black Watch. LT&Sbased tanks included Nos 42219 and 42220. Summer Saturdays were the highlights of the year, when there was a continuous procession of trains from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. I used to go to Maud Street crossing in Connah’s Quay where the fourtrack section from Chester changed to two-

In the following year, the author was at work with a different camera, using black and white filmstock and benefiting from a larger, 2¼in square, negative size. Back on the bank to capture more action, the evolution of motive power at Croes Newydd was by now including BR Standard ‘4MT’ 4-6-0 No 75021. It heads away from Shotton (High Level), uphill towards Hawarden and Wrexham with empty steel, and steel scrap wagons. This locomotive was new to Cardiff (Canton) back in November 1953, its path to Wrexham being via allocations to Bristol (Barrow Road), Oxford and Machynlleth sheds. Author

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Although the sands of time were running thin for the LMS ‘4P’ Compound 4-4-0s in 1955, such are the needs of the high season timetable of the coastal main line that No 41120 is pressed into service on a down North Wales Coast express – it is approaching Colwyn Bay station with a colourful rake of coaches typical of the changes of the time, including the so called ‘blood and custard’ livery. New in October 1925, the pictured 4-4-0 was at Chester (Midland) shed at nationalisation and through to transfer to Llandudno Junction shed in early August 1957, its last moves very likely in the autumn of 1958, albeit withdrawal from store was not undertaken until 6 June 1959. Colour-Rail.com BRM1228

One of the fast-starting Caprotti valve gear-fitted Stanier ‘Black Five’ class 4-6-0s, No 44739, heads an up service through Abergele. Allocated to Llandudno Junction shed along with sister engines Nos 44738 and 44740, the first pair were new to the shed on 19 June 1948, while No 44740 entered service at Crewe North, albeit serving there only briefly before joining the Llandudno Junction allocation on 26 June 1948. Prime work for these locomotives was the Club train traffic that dates back to pre-Grouping times when successful businessmen from the Manchester area, in particular, began to take up residency in seaside towns in North Wales, and likewise at places like Southport and Blackpool, and then needed to travel to work. Colour-Rail.com/2973

tracks, often causing a build-up of trains if any late running occurred. Trains originated from London, towns in the West and East Midlands, the Potteries, Yorkshire and Lancashire. These brought a variety of engines not normally seen in the area, such as BR Standard ‘9F’ 2-10-0s from the East Midlands, Canklow-based Thompson ‘B1’ class 4-6-0s on trains from Sheffield, ‘B1s’ from Leicester Central, Farnley Junction-based Stanier ‘Jubilees’ such as No 45581 Bihar and Orissa, Low Moor ‘Black Fives’ from the Leeds/Bradford area, and Hughes/Fowler 2-6-0 ‘Crabs’ on trains from Lancashire, in addition to the usual range of locomotives seen on trains from Manchester and Crewe. On trains from the West Midlands, ‘Black Fives’ based at former Midland Railway shed Saltley would often be used. On one Saturday each year there was a special train from Glasgow, bringing a rare Carlisle (Kingmoor)-allocated locomotive, and I remember seeing Stanier ‘Jubilee’ No 45640 Frobisher on this duty. Steam remained dominant on summer Saturday workings until 1964, despite both a reduction in services, as people took to the car for their holidays, and the introduction of new diesel locomotives and diesel-multiple-units around the rail network. MARCH 2022

Following the introduction of diesels on the main line from London (Euston) to the north in 1959, the North Wales Coast main line saw the regular appearance of Crewebased Stanier ‘Princess Royal’ and ‘Duchess’ Pacifics, and also the unique BR Standard ‘8P’ No 71000 Duke of Gloucester on trains from Crewe to North Wales. These engines either had replaced a diesel at Crewe or were used on trains originating at Crewe. The line was never too busy for freight workings. However, there were regular cattle trains originating at Holyhead and returning empty, and a daily parcels service known as the ‘Palethorpes train’ was often hauled by a named locomotive – the Palethorpes name was given because there were always Palethorpes branded vans in the consist. There were also regular services conveying wooden containers bringing fresh meat from Ireland, and trains of wooden containers for general merchandise destined for Dublin and carried by ferries across the Irish Sea. There were also a few coal trains from Point of Ayr Colliery, near Mostyn, as well as coal trains from England to Connah’s Quay power station. Stanier ‘Black Fives’ and ‘8Fs’ were regular performers, along with Stanier 2-6-0 ‘5MT’ locomotives. At the beginning and end of the summer season there would be regular empty www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

passenger stock workings that could be up to 20 carriages long, often hauled by a Stanier ‘8F’. Unusual locomotive sightings were a former Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway 0-4-0vbt Sentinel Waggon Works locomotive seen at Sandycroft, parked in a siding, and one ex-Great Western Railway locomotive, an 0-6-0 pannier tank allocated to Chester West and passing through Connah’s Quay. Between 1960 and 1965 steam traction still prevailed on Manchester to North Wales workings and on longer distance services to Holyhead and Bangor from Crewe, despite the introduction of diesel-multiple-units operating the shorter distance duties. Steam also remained the dominant power on freight workings. Overall, the types of steam locomotive were becoming less varied as express passenger engines were withdrawn, and the line proved to be one of the last strongholds of ‘Jubilees’, ‘Royal Scots’ and rebuilt ‘Patriots’ – I have photographs of Nos 46148 The Manchester Regiment and 46152 The King’s Dragoon Guardsman in action in 1964. BR Standard type locomotives became more prominent, particularly the ‘73XXX’ ‘5MT’ 4-6-0s and ‘Britannia’ ‘7MT’ Pacifics transferred to the London Midland Region from the Eastern and Western regions. 9

Stanier ‘Black Five’ class 4-6-0 No 44963 passes through Shotton at the head of an up North Wales freight of empty coal wagons in 1965. Something of a transitory engine, with six reallocations between 1952 and 1964, July 1965 saw it moved from Stafford (downgraded to a stabling point) to Warrington, and it appears that an 8B shedplate is yet to be found. Beyond the distant lattice footbridge can be seen the low level down platform of Shotton station (there was foot access linking the Low Level and High Level stations), and the former GCR embankment can be seen to the right, leading towards Hawarden Bridge. Shotton (Low Level) was on the ex-LMS route and deemed not worthy of retention from 14 February 1966, albeit a rethink saw it reopen as an unstaffed station from 21 August 1972. Unseen to the right of the locomotive is the sports ground of John Summers & Sons Ltd. Author

Holyhead-allocated rebuilt ‘Royal Scot’ class 4-6-0 No 46152 The King’s Dragoon Guardsman crosses the border between England and Wales at Saltney with an express destined for Holyhead on 23 September 1964. North Walesallocated for three years by this date (and briefly in the summer of 1960 too), its time at Llandudno Junction and Holyhead sheds, the latter from March 1962 through to the turn of 1965, offered some good fast running for an engine running out of top link options, its final 3½ months thereafter being spent at Carlisle (Kingmoor) as something of a swansong. Note the yellow diagonal stripe on the cab-side to denote that this 4-6-0 should not be used under the wires south of Crewe. Author Looking to be a far cry from its days of operating express passenger trains on the Western Region from Laira and then Cardiff (Canton) from August 1951 through to early July 1958, Crewe North-based BR Standard ‘Britannia’ Pacific No 70021, formerly Morning Star, passes through Shotton in the summer of 1965 with a mixed parcel/mail train. The vantage point is that previously seen with ‘Black Five’ No 44963, but by being on the south side of the line the backdrop now includes another ‘Black Five’ on former GCR metals – seemingly on the end of the branch up from Connah’s Quay Docks. To its right is the massive John Summers steelworks, and in the foreground is its sports ground, complete with a huge sign to be read by rail travellers. Author

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In terms of motive power hereabouts, the 1950s was something of a changing of the guard, in part through modernisation, BR Standards and then diesels, but also through the whims of the various BR regions that took ownership. Representing long-standing but threatened GCR heritage, on Wrexham’s Rhosddu shed we find Parker ‘N5/2’ class 0-6-2T No 69267. New as Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway No 534 in December 1893, so pre-dating the re-branding of that company as the GCR, this locomotive was on the books at Rhosddu at nationalisation, and ultimately was transferred away, surprisingly to Tyne Dock, in September 1957. The view is undated, and the tired looking locomotive ultimately ended its days at New England shed on 26 January 1960. P J Hughes/Colour-Rail.com/96563

Ex-Great Central line from Wrexham to Shotton The forerunner of this line was the Wrexham, Mold & Connah’s Quay Railway (WM&CQR), which was incorporated in 1862 to build a line from Wrexham to Buckley, where it connected with the Buckley Railway (which it later acquired in 1873). The latter route ran from Buckley to a connection with the Chester to Holyhead main line at Connah’s Quay and Connah’s Quay docks. The Buckley Railway carried coal and finished brickworks products from the Buckley area, for which the area was famous. The line was sinuous and had steep gradients of up to 1 in 28 between Northop Hall and Connah’s Quay. The WM&CQR later formed an alliance with the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway (later rebranded as the Great Central Railway). This enabled the finance to be raised to extend the MS&LR’s network over the River Dee and into Chester and beyond over the Cheshire Lines Committee tracks (MS&LR, Great Northern Railway and Midland Railway joint) in 1890, and into the Wirral in 1896. The Great Central Railway took full ownership of the WM&CQR in 1901 – this was ratified by act of Parliament in 1904 and took full effect from January 1905. The line was dependent on the mineral workings and became LNER property after the Grouping in 1923.

My earliest memories of the line start in 1955 when walking to and from primary school, as a pupil I had to pass alongside part of the old Buckley Railway line near Connah’s Quay docks. I remember seeing Wrexham (Rhosddu) based ex-LNER tank engines which shunted at the docks and worked local mineral trains to Buckley Junction. Among the engines seen were North Eastern Railwaybuilt ‘J72’ 0-6-0Ts Nos 68671 68714 and 68727 and Great Eastern Railway-built ‘J69’ 0-6-0Ts Nos 68531, 68553, 68585 and 68578. The link from Connah’s Quay docks to Shotton (High Level) was used to provide the dock engines after the partial closure of the old Buckley Railway line from Connah’s Quay to Northop Hall – this was when Bidston shed took over the duties; the remaining ‘J72s’ at Rhosddu were transferred to Bidston. Before my parents bought a car in 1957 I made regular shopping trips with them, travelling between Shotton (High Level) or Hawarden to Wrexham, as well as the occasional journey to Liverpool, changing trains at Bidston. On trips to Liverpool, larger ex-GCR ‘O4’ class 2-8-0 locomotives from Gorton could be seen, and also Bidston-based BR Standard ‘9Fs’ Nos 92045-47 on iron ore trains from Birkenhead Docks to the John Summers steelworks. I remember seeing former Great Central engines on passenger services, including Parker ‘N5’ class 0-6-2Ts

Nos 69267 and 69290 and Robinson ‘C13’ 4-4-0Ts Nos 67428 and 67442, and others based at Chester’s Northgate shed. Their duties were being taken over by ex-LMS and BR Standard type locomotives. These included Stanier ‘3P’ 2-6-2Ts, of which Nos 40085, 40086 and 40110 come to mind, BR Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-2Ts Nos 82020 and 82021, and BR Standard ‘2MT’ 2-6-2Ts Nos 84000 and 84001. After 1957 I made regular trips on my own to Wrexham, sometimes travelling onward to Shrewsbury or Wolverhampton by changing trains between Wrexham (Exchange) and Wrexham (General) stations, which were adjacent to one another. The year 1958 saw the influx of former GWR types following the transfer of Wrexham (Rhosddu) shed from the London Midland Region to the Western Region of BR. LMS ‘4F’ 0-6-0s such as Nos 44058 and 44307 had seen use on freight duties and LMS 0-6-0T ‘Jinties’ Nos 47284 and 47491 on shunting work but the ex-LMS engines were transferred away to other LMR depots after the WR takeover. Incoming engines then transferred to Rhosddu included ex-GWR Collett 0-6-2Ts in the ‘56XX’ and ‘66XX’ series, Collett 0-6-0s in the ‘22XX’ and ‘32XX’ series, BR-built Hawksworth 0-6-0 panniers in the ‘16XX’ series, and ex-GWR 0-6-0 pannier tanks. The 0-6-2Ts were ideally suited to the gradients on the line with their South Wales

A view from the southbound platform at Hawarden station on the ex-GCR line through Deeside. Arriving bunker-first with the 9.38am Wrexham to Seacombe three-coach train is BR Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-2T No 82021, and passengers are waiting. The picture dates from 3 July 1959, so the author was living in Hawarden at the time, having moved from Connah’s Quay, and using this line for trips into Wrexham. Interestingly, the BR ‘3MT’ era here was only a brief window, a stop-gap as the Western Region endeavoured to work the recently ex-London Midland Region line (with some inherited motive power) until diesel-multiple-units became available. No 82021 reached Wrexham (Rhosddu) shed in the tenth four-week period of 1956 and would be homeless at the turn of 1960, Rhosddu having closed, but with Shrewsbury shed beckoning. A Linaker/Kidderminster Railway Museum

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A second view of Croes Newydd-allocated ‘5700’ class 0-6-0PT No 9610, without a front numberplate in 1965, records the engine on an empty goods train of scrap steel wagons from John Summers steelworks, the vast premises seen in the background, as it enters Shotton (High Level) station and makes for the high ground, heading for Hawarden and Wrexham. Completed at Swindon Works in mid-July 1945, this Collett engine was by now a London Midland Region asset thanks to the regional boundary changes of 1963, and ironically much of the Croes Newydd allocation of ex-GWR engines went on to outlive steam on the Western Region, with No 9610 finally withdrawn on 24 September 1966. Author

valleys’ heritage, leaving a few LMS ‘3P’ tanks and BR Standard ‘3MT’ 2-6-2 tank engines in the ‘82XXX’ series to cover passenger services until diesel-multiple-units appeared in 1959. Ex-GWR/Western Region engines that I remember seeing were 0-6-2Ts Nos 5606, 5651 and 6610, 0-6-0s Nos 3204 and 3207, and pannier tanks Nos 1663, 1669, 3749, 4683 and 9610. On freight services there was a regular Gorton ‘J39’ class 0-6-0 working to Wrexham – I remember seeing Nos 64742-45 inclusive, and other class members. The ‘J39’ duty continued until 1962, so into Western Region days and long beyond the closure of Wrexham (Rhosddu) shed in 1959. The workings of the shed were taken over by Wrexham’s Croes Newydd shed, an ex-GWR shed just south of Wrexham (General) station. Following the closure of Rhosddu shed, the 0-6-0s of the ‘2251’ class, and some of the ‘16XX’ panniers, were transferred away from Wrexham, but the remaining GWR 0-6-2T freight locomotives and panniers were transferred to Croes Newydd. This resulted in more class members of the 0-6-2Ts and pannier tanks from Croes

Newydd shed’s allocation appearing on the ex-GCR line. Steam re-appeared briefly on bank holiday weekends in 1962 when BR Standard 2-6-4Ts Nos 80078 and 80079 were transferred to Croes Newydd from the LT&SR section of the Eastern Region, these being used to replace the diesel-multiple-units on the services to Bidston and New Brighton. I never saw large GWR engines on the line but it was rumoured that some occasionally worked through to the John Summers & Sons Ltd steelworks at Hawarden Bridge. The GWR dominance started to end from 1963 when British Railways Standard classes began appearing on freight duties. The regional boundary transfer of Croes Newydd shed from the Western Region to the London Midland Region in 1963 saw a gradual influx of LMS locomotives, with Stanier ‘8Fs’ transferred from Willesden arriving in 1965, and the use of other locomotives from other

LMR depots. Examples seen were ‘8F’ 2-8-0s Nos 48325 and 48665, and Crewe South-based ‘Black Five’ class 4-6-0 No 45000. BR Standard ‘4MT’ 2-6-0s in the ‘76XXX’ series, transferred to Croes Newydd from depots on the LMR, appeared in 1966 and included engines displaced from Scotland, such as No 76095. I have photographs taken during the period 1964-66 of freight workings on the line, when ex-GWR types were being phased out and replaced by LMS ‘8Fs’ and BR Standard 4-6-0s and 2-6-0s. Pannier tanks took on a fair share of the workload, hauling trains that an 0-6-0T could handle. It was an interesting period to see the action on the railway. Some former Croes Newydd-based locomotives have survived into preservation, such as British Railways ‘4MT’ 4-6-0 No 75027 and Collett 0-6-2T No 6697, both of which worked on the line through Shotton (High Level) at some time.

Displaced from Scotland after serving at Corkerhill (from new in August 1957), Parkhead (through 1961) and then Corkerhill again, where it was withdrawn and reinstated in July 1964. From August 1965 Chester (Midland) shed was the new home for BR Standard ‘4MT’ No 76095, which is seen in 1966 with empty coal wagons on the up gradient between Shotton (High Level) and Hawarden. Author

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PLUS MOTO MEMORIES TECH TALK MONTESA COTA 200 BULTACO MATADOR AN HOUR WITH: GERRIT WOLSINK

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R 2018 ISSUE 174 OCTOBER

N48 2018 US$15.99 Aus$14.99 NZ$18.99 UK£5.50 UK Off-sale date 15/11/18

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