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MIDLAND ARCHIVE

VOLUME ONE

Images from the R. C. Riley Archive Compiled by Peter Sikes

MIDLAND ARCHIVE

VOLUME ONE 1954 – 1965

Images from the R. C. Riley Archive at The Transport Treasury Compiled by Peter Sikes

Above: Rebuilt

4-6-0 No.

Bank on 21st August 1955. The length of the 15 coach train gives a good indication of the incline out of Euston. The destination board on the first coach indicates that this is a London to Blackpool service. RCR 6580

Below: The penultimate Patriot 4-6-0 No. 45550, paired with a high-sided tender is seen passing Camden shed on 21st August 1955. 45550 gained its ‘modified old standard’ 3,500 gallon tender in December 1942 from ‘Jubilee’ No. 45616 and ran with it until May 1956 when it was transferred to classmate 45539 and then to 45515. The tenders were modified by extending the side sheets upwards with the removal of the coal rails. The front and rear coal space fenders were also extended upwards giving a coal capacity of 7 tons. RCR 6591

‘Royal Scot’

46142 The York & Lancaster Regiment descending Camden

Fowler class 3P 2-6-2T No. 40026 awaits departure time at Moorgate with a suburban service alongside a Metropolitan service for Watford and an unidentified NBL class 29 on 14th May 1959. 40026 was one of a batch of 20 locos (40021–40) of this class fitted with condensing gear for working around London. The class totalled 70, all of them being constructed at Derby Works between 1930 and 1932. No. 40026 was one of the last of the class to be withdrawn in 1962.

Moorgate station dates from 1865 but increased traffic required the line from King’s Cross to be widened to four tracks the following year with completion in February 1868. Suburban services from the Midland Railway ran via Kentish Town and the Great Northern Railway ran via King’s Cross. RCR 13309

Below: Another Drummond ‘Jumbo’ No. 57311 works tender first with a coal train through St. Rollox on 28th May 1959 as Ivatt Class 4MT 2-6-0 No. 43140 passes at the head of a local passenger service. Note the wooden bodied former private owner wagon (third from the engine) still in use. RCR 13508

Above: Caledonian ‘Standard Goods’ class 2F 0-6-0 No. 57251 dating from 1883 pictured on St. Rollox shed on 28th May 1959. Designed by Dugald Drummond, a total of 244 were built between 1883 and 1897; split between classes 294 and 711 they went by the nickname of Jumbo. They had long working lives and 238 were taken into British Railways ownership in 1948, the last of the class being withdrawn in 1962. RCR 13506A

Johnson Midland Compound 4-4-0 No. 1000, looking resplendent in its original Midland Railway livery, draws admiring looks from the engine crew at Derby shed prior to working the second leg of an SLS Special (M855) to Nottingham via Toton Yard that took place on 27th September 1959. The special originated at Birmingham New Street, arriving at Derby via Burton-upon-Trent, then on to its final destination, Nottingham Midland. RCR 14303

Top left: I think it’s a fair bet that Dick Riley travelled on this train as it ambled its way through the Leicestershire countryside as we now see No. 58143 ease over the crossing as it departs Glenfield station. Passenger services to this small station ceased on 24th September 1928 with goods traffic continuing until withdrawn on 6th December 1965, although trains continued from Groby Granite sidings until September 1967. Ammunition sidings were located at Glenfield during the First World War. RCR 16431

Below left: We now see the train arriving at a dilapidated Ratby station. A siding first appeared here in 1850 while the station was completed in 1876 with the platform being extended in 1887. The public house to the left of the engine issued tickets before the station buildings were completed. The pub is still open and is appropriately called The Railway Inn. The goods yard closed on 4th October 1954 and the sidings were lifted in 1959, and as at Glenfield passenger services ceased on 24th September 1928. RCR 16441

Above: The Leicester & Swannington was officially taken over by the Midland Railway on 27th July 1846 who then built a through route from Knighton Junction (a couple of miles south of Leicester) to Burton-upon-Trent by utilising the Desford to Coalville section of the Leicester & Swannington, thereby creating Desford Junction which connected the line to Ratby, Glenfield and Leicester West Bridge. Two signal boxes had been provided at Desford Junction in 1876, these were subsequently replaced by one in 1882. This signal box was then replaced in July 1917 by the one pictured above which had 40 levers. It was unusual in that the name was displayed on the box and repeated in the ‘V’ of the junction (located above the oil drum). RCR 16445

Above: Ex-LMS ‘Royal Scot’ No. 46160 Queen Victoria’s Rifleman works 1V83, a summer Saturday service from Birmingham to Newquay, and is pictured near Hereford on 18th August 1962. No. 46160 entered service with the LMS in August 1930, being rebuilt with a taper boiler in February 1945, lasting a further twenty years until withdrawn in the week commencing 1st May 1965. When photographed the loco was allocated to Saltley (21A). A fuelling point can be seen to the right of the last coach of the express which may explain the presence of the DMU. RCR 16734

Top right: Stanier 8F No. 48474 seen on a Permanent Way train near the village of Wickwar in Gloucestershire on 24th June 1962. Located on the main Bristol–Birmingham railway line it was served by a station that opened with the line in 1844, this was closed in January 1965. To the south of the village, the line passes through a 1,401 yard tunnel. RCR 16621

Below right: Bristol Barrow Road shed is the location, on 5th October 1962, for this shot of Fowler 4F 0-6-0 No. 44092 and ex-L&Y ‘Pug’ No. 51218, which on close inspection, has its smokebox door open while buffered up to the 4F. Built by Kerr, Stuart to an LMS order, No. 44092 dates from November 1925, being withdrawn by BR in September 1964. No. 51218 was built in 1901 at the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway’s Horwich Works as No. 68. Acquired direct from British Railways in late 1964 and delivered directly from Neath, South Wales, where it had ended its working days in June of the same year, to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway becoming the first locomotive to arrive there on 7th January 1965. RCR 16821

The name R. C. ‘Dick’ Riley will be familiar to several generations of railway enthusiasts. Starting in 1937 Dick Riley captured over 18,000 black and white UK railway images, only a small proportion of these photographs have ever been seen. Hopefully that may be addressed with volume one of ‘Midland Archive’, part of a series dedicated to specific railway themes. It is clear to see that Dick had a passion for all things railway – locomotives, trains of all kinds, infrastructure and railway staff. You will find examples of all of these in this book, showcasing some of the best of his photography as well as a fascinating selection of his images recorded from 1954 to 1965.

Published by Transport Treasury Publishing Ltd. £14.50