"Preserving the steam locomotive legacy...and more..on film"
September 2011 Edition.
Front Page
PFT/TSP = Patrimoine Ferroviaire et Tourisme / Toerisme en Spoorpatrimonium (Belgium)
PFT/TSP 26.101 is former PMPPW Ty2 3554 (Poland) (C) Marc Petit
Contents:
Welcome..and site news(Steam Tube Documentaries)
SteamTube Photographic Highlights
Steam Tube Video Highlights
On This Day In This Month In Railway History
Around the World in 80 Railways . No 16: Hanoi to Saigon
Surreal Journey-Dick Bodily
HS1-The Journey (C)"RLE Arup, Bechtel, Halcrow Systra/NCE"
Christian Wolmar's August newsletter
Fanfare for The Settle and Carlisle Railway(Butterflyfilmsltd)
Men of Iron ( Windfall Films for Channel 4 TV)
Monster Moves (demandfive on YouTube) 2 Stanier 8Fs repatriated to UK
Software Rview- Dick Bodily-
---‘British Railways Steam Locomotive Sheds & Allocations’ (Engine Shed Society)
Diesel - Steam - Electric! Northern Europe DE FR UK EE LV, August 2 - 13 2011
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Welcome...and site news editorial
It is a pleasure to welcome you all to this September 2011 edition of "On Shed", the monthly magazine of "Steam Tube- The Home of Steam on the net".
We are pleased to have 661 members..a special welcome to those of you who have joined us in the last month........14,065 photographic images, and 3,115 videos.....(As a reminder, please be aware of copyright issues....only upload material that you are responsible for, or where permission has been granted...Otherwise, if in doubt, leave it out. Thank you.)
You will notice that TFC is constantly working at keeping the site fresh and interesting....
Steam Tube TV is one recent addition ...
We have been impressed with the quality of material being uploaded to Steam Tube, and are grateful to our regular contributors for keeping us well informed on mainline steam runnings and heritage railways' galas and regular activities.Thank you.
With that in mind, Steam Tube Documentaries is another opportunity to tell a story, or retell history of say , a locomotive, or a heritage line....
Here is one such example uploaded by Richard Camp..
A short Railway documentary exploring why steam engines appeal to so many people and how they quickly vanished from the railways but made a strong return
Steam Tube would welcome more documentaries in the future......maybe we will have a competition...
You can access this channel from the Home Page..."Get a Steam Tube Channel"...this leads to a group of channels including "The Steam Room...Steam talk for Grown-Ups", Steam Tube TV, and the Photographic Clinic
And don't forget The Railway Chronicle
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On the subject of "putting something back", Malcolm Ranieri FRPS made these comments on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam railway website.......
Photographers - what's their contribution?
When agreeing to take part in 'Five minutes with…' Malcolm Ranieri who, of course, spends a lot of time photographing locomotives and railways, asked if he could respond to a comment made by Kevin Jarvis in his 'Five minutes with…' when he said that he begrudges the fact that photographers make large amounts of money out of photographing our locomotives and without necessarily putting anything back in.
As Malcolm points out, that is certainly not true of all photographers but feels that is a misconception and he makes two points.
Firstly, on the issue of making 'large amounts of money':
"As a published photographer and author since 1985 in the railway and other transport press, I can disabuse Kevin straight away in that railway photography far from a lucrative business. Railway photography is enthusiast-driven and editors can (and do) pick and choose what they publish because there is a ready supply of pictures. Therefore payments are correspondingly lower than in other forms of journalism. They don't compare with a commission, for example, in magazines like 'Country Life'. A half page image in a railway magazine possibly pays up to £40 which would barely pay for the fuel for a trip to Scotland for instance!
"Most are enthusiasts enjoy railway photography as a hobby and it's hard to begrudge them that! I accept there are a few who try to make money out of the hobby and don't put anything back, but that's not unique to railways. I wrote and illustrated the Halsgrove Publishing book on our railway not with a thought for profit but to celebrate and publicise the GWR and with the book now in its second year I have only just broken even - and that doesn't include the many hours spent putting it together, which was of course a labour of love.
"It's a shame Kevin doesn't read the specialist magazines any more because there are some fine photographs in them (including the 37s on our railway). But I do assume he reads the 'Cornishman' and of course this website. Pictures are a vital part of both and appear with not a penny piece paid to the people who take them: they appear because the photographers want to support our wonderful railway."
Malcolm now turns to the point…'without necessarily putting anything back in' which, he believes, is an unfair judgement.
He says: "Once again I accept there are those who selfishly do not put anything back, but I believe they are far outweighed by those many enthusiast photographers who do. How does Kevin know photographers taking pictures of the 37s are not volunteers on other railways? Or shareholders; or travellers putting their hands in their pockets to support their favourite preserved lines?
"I realise Kevin means those who have images published, so I'll discuss that. If I use our own railway as an example, I don't think anyone can dispute the fact that photographers like Tony Bowles, who has been a volunteer since day one; Paul Stratford, (Fireman and restoration engineer); myself, (Stationmaster); Jack Boskett (Admin team and diesel department); to say nothing of Ian Crowder (editor of this website and PR officer) or Steve Standbridge (The Cornishman) and many others give their images not just to the railway, but often reinvest any earnings they might get from the magazines into the railway. I have certainly given countless images to many railways for use on all sorts of publications and railway merchandise - postcards, mats, mugs: you name it!
"At the very top of the ladder in preservation, there are many enthusiast photographers who are now key figures in the movement. For example David Williams, chairman of the Severn Valley Railway; Michael Whitehouse, chairman of the Birmingham Railway Museum at Tyseley (and at Festiniog/Welsh Highland) and of course, his father Patrick before him; Richard Jones, general manager of Bodmin & Wenford Railway; John Hunt, prolific photographer from steam days and now chairman of NELPG. All were notable photographers before becoming more deeply involved. I do hope Kevin is not inferring that such luminaries are not putting anything back in to preservation!
"Of course, generalisations are wonderful things and we all use them. But often they don't stand scrutiny and I hope Kevin doesn't mind my making these points on behalf of the railway photographers who are such a vital part of the railway movement."
You can read this interview with Ian Crowder HERE
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Foremarke Hall photo shoot possibility.
As of this writing, we are still awaiting a figure for a potential photo shoot at the GWSR with Foremarke Hall as the performing locomotive. Of course, numbers will play a big part as to this being feasible. So, the more, the merrier..and cheaper per person.
In the event of small numbers, the other option is for lineside passes for a particular day........
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Calendar entries...are still arriving...! The cut off date is 30th September 2011.
Our proposed book "Steam Tube 2012" needs entries....so, please feel free to nominate your preferred entries for possible inclusion in such a book.
In the meantime, enjoy this month's edition of "On Shed", the monthly online magazine of
"Steam Tube (TM) - The Home of Steam on the Net"
Peter S Lewis (Shedmaster)
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SteamTube Photographic Highlights
Steam Tube Video Highlights
On This Day In This Month In Railway History
September
01/09/1905
The Witham (Essex) rail crash in England kills 11.
04/09/1905
William Dean , CME of the GWR (1877-1902) born 1840
07/09/1962
Last 'Cornishman' express ran over the Stratford-upon-Avon to Cheltenham route:
this and other express trains were re-routed via the Birmingham - Gloucester line.
The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway operates over the section of line previously used when The Cornishman train ran in its heyday.
Currently the GWSR is coping with the effects of two serious landslips. Please support the Emergency Fund so that the railway can recover from these setbacks, and move on with its ambitious plans to get to Broadway, and , who knows, to Honeybourne in the future.
15/09/1830
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened.
During the ceremony, William Huskisson MP, became the first person to be killed by a train.
The 'Rocket 150' event held at Rainhill in 1980 marked the 150th anniversary of the world's first inter-city railway and the Stephensons' legendary Rocket locomotive.
Go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/steamtrains/7305.shtml
17/09/1909
Beyer, Peacock and Company of Manchester, England, steam the first Garratt articulated steam locomotive, built to the design of Herbert William Garratt.K Class No. K1 for the Tasmanian Government Railways' North East Dundas Railway.
(MOSI is pulling out all the stops for the 100th birthday celebrations of one of Manchester’s most famous steam locomotives.
It is taking the K1, the first Beyer-Garratt produced by the Beyer, Peacock company, back to its birthplace in Gorton, Manchester, on August 17 to celebrate 100 years since it first steamed off the production line.
The anniversary has special resonance as the town of Gorton is also celebrating 100 years since it became part of Manchester, through its Gorton 100 celebrations.)
The World's First Garratt
17/09/1912
The Ditton Junction rail crash near Widnes, England, kills 15.
The Official Report by Lieutenant-Colonel Yorke
19/09/1882
Oliver Bulleid, CME , Southern Railways (1937-48) born in New Zealand (d 1970)
At Nine Elms MPD
19/09/1906
14 die as a result of the Grantham rail accident on the Great Northern Railway, when a sleeping car train is derailed passing through Grantham statiopn at excessive speed.
The Official Report
24/09/1917
Bere Ferrers rail accident(England) kills 10 New Zealand soldiers.
25/09/1913
Death of Herbert William Garratt, English steam locomotive builder and inventor of the Garratt
locomotive type. (b 1864)
27/09/1825
The Stockton Darlington Railway opened. It was the first passenger rail service, the steam locomotive travelled at 10mph.
Opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway c1825 painted in the 1880s by John Dobbin, . The image shows crowds watching a train on the bridge over the River Skerne in Darlington
27/09/1919
September 27 to October 6..Railway workers in the United Kingdom stage a strike, called by the National Union of Railwaymen.
During the First World War the cost of living increased rapidly. Fron July 1914 to September 1915, for example, food prices rose 37%. For the duration of the War the government was in control of the railways. Wages were increased, but at a slower rate than the risin in the cost of living. NUR and ASLEF responded jointly and forced the Board of Trade to award wage increases in September 1916 and April 1917. In March 1919 the coalition government indicated that it intended to review the War Wage, with a view to reducing it at the end of the year. The NUR and ASLEF started a second national railway strike in September 1919, which in nine days won both a change in pay policy and the reduction of the working day to eight hours.(Wikipedia)
28/09/1928
3rd class sleeping cars introduced on those British railways providing such a service.
28/09/1883
Formal opening of first electrified section of Giant's Causeway Tramway in Ireland, utilising hydroelectricity.
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Around The World in 80 Railways. 16: Hanoi to Saigon
Total journey between these two cities is 1,070 miles, and according to the timetable, the southwards route to Saigon will take around a day and a half, depending on train type travelled.
Trains between Hanoi & Saigon are sometimes referred to as the 'Reunification Express' by guide books or tourist agencies. However, there are now many trains on this route and no single train officially carries this name.
Between Hanoi and Saigon the scenery is amazing. Easily the best section is between Hué and Danang over the Hai Van Pass, where the train runs along the coast past bays and islands and through the hills. The fierce gradients slow the train down, necessitating an assisting locomotive at the rear.
Introduction to a railway-themed tour being hosted by Scott McGregor around Vietnam in 2010, organised by renaissance tours, Sydney Australia.
Railway crossing on the north side of the Hai Van Pass
DirtyPierreonTour on YouTube)
(satsumannoyaji on YouTube)
Next : Saigon to ??
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Surreal Journey
Some time back in the summer holidays of 1961 I went camping on the Isle of Man as a boy scout with our local troop. The journeys to and from the island involved many changes of transport and not just a little excitement and adventure, as well as quite a bit of rail interest. The whole experience of the two journeys still seems dreamlike and unreal to me half a century on, not least because on both occasions I had been deprived of sleep for twenty four hours beforehand, but also because of the weird things that happened on the way.My mate’s dad dropped off the two of us and our ex-army kitbags at the local coach company’s yard in the next village at about twenty minutes to midnight. He didn’t wait to see us off, Dad’s generally didn’t make much fuss of their kids in 1961 and he seemed confident that the coach would be leaving from there even though we had been told to meet it at Towcester, probably he was keen to get home and get some shut eye himself. Shortly after the proprietor cum driver appeared with a torch and asked us what we thought we were doing in his yard late at night, then noticing our uniforms he added , “Well, you better get on board then’.
We had quite a wait for our train at Northampton Castle and I watched a whole procession of freights head south through the station. Most were 8F or Black 5 hauled, some of them double headers. Their numbers were difficult to read in the inadequate platform lighting on a cloudy night but a warm glow emitted from each of their fireboxes and their drivers and firemen made cheery remarks to we children waiting there. A whistling hum out of the darkness from the always gloomy and at the best of times smoky cavernous West Bridge announced the arrival of our English Electric Type 4 (later to become Class 40) hauled train, an over night Euston – Crewe slow parcels and mail train with a few coaches at the rear. The journey to Crewe took over 5 hours, we spent far more time standing at stations than we did travelling and between stops we rattled along at very respectable pace! Very long stops were taken at Coventry, New Street, Wolverhampton High Level and Stafford. At New Street some of the scouts who had money to spare actually had to time to go to the all night cafe and get a meal. I contented myself my by getting off and watching the parcels, newpapers and mail being loaded and unloaded to and from our train’s vans. I decided to eat the lunch that mum had packed for me to have much later that day, not a good idea in view of what was to happen that day as I was to find to my cost later.
Wolverhampton produced tantalising views of GWR locos in the lamplight of the Low Level Station below. Passing above Stafford Road shed I caught glimpses of Castles and an immaculate double chimneyed King caught in the shed lights. Many of my fellow scouts collected engine numbers too and were frustrated that they couldn’t read their numbers. I made a tactless remark (see I haven’t changed much since!!) that I didn’t need any of the Kings and almost certainly I didn’t need any of the Castles either. Unlike the rest of their villages and towns, our village had a bus connection to Banbury, where I did most of my spotting. I also used to spend a week most summers at Swindon as I had an uncle there, not to mention travelling by rail to holidays in Cornwall, so my GWR list was envied by most spotters present.
Approaching Stafford it became much lighter and I was craning back against the window so that I could read the smokebox numbers of oncoming steam engines. My mate who wasn’t at all interested in trains was fascinated at how I could do this. He had a go and complained that he could only get the first two digits of the number. “You’re having me on, you’re making them up”, he accused me. “ Well you see, I’ve got a bl***y better eyesight than you have,” I helpfully explained. I didn’t tell him that I was only managed to read the LAST TWO digits of the said loco, a Patriot, knowing that the first three digits had to be 455. Scots , Stanier Pacifics and Brits were equally easy using the same method. Mind you, Jubilees were harder as you had to read the last three, Black 5 were harder still as you needed the last four and hardest of all were rebuilt Patriots, as at first sight you thought they were Scots and only went for the last two digits and when you noticed the two 5 digits you tended to panic and forget what the last two were .
Allen Reed's film of East Lancs Railway c1995 includes LMS Jubilee Class 4-6-0 No.45596 'Bahamas'
We arrived at Crewe at about 6am and were immediately ushered into a station cafe where we breakfasted on corn flakes followed by delicious eggs and bacon. There was over an hour’s wait before our train to Liverpool departed. As I had a good vantage point where I was and not wanting to leave my kitbag unattended, I didn’t follow the rest of still annoyed from Wolverhampton spotter fraternity and go for a tour of the platforms, they returned later claiming that they had seen brilliant locos that I hadn’t seen and weren’t prepared to tell me where or what they were! I wasn’t too bothered as unseen by them while I had sat there an immaculate green Jubilee fitted with a double chimney appeared light engine and rapidly departed. There was no mention of a double chimneyed ‘Jub’ in my ABC Combined and it was in fact the recently converted ‘Bahamas’ which is still with us preserved. Most of the namers seen were unfamiliar ‘Jubilees’, while countless Black 5s and 8Fs were spotted and ‘Jinty’ tanks seemed to be scuttling about every where. Of course most of the expresses were Type 4 diesel hauled so I didn’t see many Pacifics. It was soon time to head for our train, a ‘Jubilee’ hauled Crewe – Liverpool Lime Street local. Arriving at the platform I saw for myself the brilliant locos that the others had tried to keep from me, in an adjoining bay stood a brace of the brand new AC Electric locomotives that were already working some trains to and from Manchester Piccadilly. Although they were electrics I had to admit to my slightly peeved colleagues that they looked fantastic in their Electric Blue livery with white cab roofs and stainless steel raised numbers.
Pulling out of Crewe we spied an old L&YR saddletank, its identity hidden from view by a low wall. Runcorn Bridge and the Manchester Ship Canal were eagerly looked out for. All too soon we were racing through the outskirts of Liverpool, rushing past Edge Hill shed where unidentifiable Coronation and Princess Pacifics stood high above our train, slowing through the deep stone walled cuttings and short tunnels and then we were into Lime Street. With indecent haste we were whisked through the hustle and bustle of the great terminus and straight onto a double decker bus which had been hired to take us to the pierhead.
Our ferry was one of the original Isle of Man Steam Packet boat Company steamers, I think it was ‘Lady of Man’. To me who had never seen close up anything much bigger than trawler it looked large yet strangely antiquated with its tall smoking chimney. The crew looked to me more like fishermen than sailors in their washed out well worn faded blue uniforms of woollen jumpers and cotton trousers. We were fascinated to watch a workman in an old fashioned diving suit complete with attached air pipe submerge to work on a nearby dock wall as we awaited departure time. I was about to set off on my first sea voyage and although I had stayed awake all night for the first time in my life and hadn’t slept at all for well over 24 hours there was no way I was going to miss this experience. One of the scouts soon found that from one of the decks you could get a close up view of the captain of the ship and the coxswain steering the ship. We had not travelled far and were watching these proceedings when suddenly the crew seemed agitated after receiving some message. We realised that something was seriously amiss when the ship began to turn in a tight circle churning up mud from the mouth of the Mersey. Then we headed back at ‘full steam’ towards Liverpool. We asked one of the sailors what was going on. “We have to go back to Liverpool to pick up a VIP,” he replied. “Then why are you taking the covers off the lifeboats?” asked one of my mates. There was no reply. Steaming at full speed and at well over the speed limit for the estuary, up the Mersey we sent a huge wake washing against the shores on either side. The ship’s hooter was being frequently used to warn other ships, including the Birkenhead Ferry which scuttled out of our way, its crew making agitated hand signals to ours. As we eventually slowed to dock at the pierhead, I noticed men in trilbies and white raincoats looking just like what I’d have expected detectives to look like, standing around trying to look inconspicuous. Then a high ranking uniformed police officer, carrying what looked like a ceremonial baton, marched at the head of about fifty police officers down to meet our ferry. We were hustled off the boat at breakneck speed and taken to a huge custom building where we were told that we were under no account to leave, police constables were positioned at each exit. No one knew what was happening and the police would not tell us. We were kept there for two or three hours, then told that we could reboard the ferry and continue our journey. Morning had turned into afternoon and I was already needing my long consumed pack lunch. We were naturally apprehensive about getting on board but our scoutmaster produced a policeman who explained that there had been a bomb scare, that the man responsible for the hoax 999 call had been apprehended was well known to the police as ‘a bit of a nutter’ and had admitted his guilt, claiming that he had done it in as a protest against the nuclear arms race, a protest that was disowned as totally irresponsible by the CND. Furthermore the policeman reassured us that the whole ship had been searched from top to bottom as an extra precaution. Meanwhile our scout troop had appeared on the national TV news hurrying off the ferry as the hoax had made national headlines. A neighbour who had watched this was able to kindly inform my mother that he had spotted me on TV leaving the ferry and that we were safe and sound, she hadn’t seen the news.
Some of the lads tried to get some sleep below deck but as for me the adrenaline had kicked and I was strangely wide awake yet at the same time felt as though I was in a trance. I remember trying to convince myself that it was all a dream. The rest of the journey passed relatively uneventful. I stayed on deck and watched one of the ferry’s cooks very gradually tip a giant bin of leftover food over the rounded stern of the boat. Immediately petrels appeared from nowhere and began feeding on the leftovers. I also saw larger seabirds which I now know were shearwaters, but best of all a largish whale was spotted. Eventually the soon to be familiar form of Snaefell began to rise above the horizon, gradually the buildings of Douglas came into view. As we approached the island seemed to me to take on a magical quality, no doubt induced by my lack of rest and sustenance and the earlier excitement.
Now, on landing ashore I was really feeling confused as a result of the combined pangs of hunger and effects of sleep loss, so nothing surprised me when we discovered that our transport to our campsite was not by coach or bus but by a fleet of Bedford tipper trucks of the kind usually used for conveying road materials! We loaded our kit into the tippers and then were told to climb aboard also into the actual tippers! By now I was too tired to care as we set off in the early evening along the Mountain route of the TT course towards Ramsey but in the opposite direction to that which the TT riders take. The driver of our Bedford, a wild looking young man with ginger hair and a ring in one ear, seemed to think that he was a TT rider. We were travelling much too fast and he would often knock it out of gear to coast down hills relying on his brakes alone, but I was past caring or too scared to be frightened! Mercifully we arrived at our campsite near a hamlet called Lewaigue in one piece and quickly pitched our tents. Senior scouts had meanwhile dug a hearth, erected a fire screen canopy , lit a fire and had already begun preparing supper. By the time we had drunk tea and consumed generous bowls of soup and thick buttered crusty bread it was nearly midnight. I don’t think that I have ever slept as well as on that night neither before nor since.
(An Isle of Man selection)
It rained most of the next morning so most of us wisely stayed in our tents as the driving rain so typical of Mona’s Isle battered down relentlessly. A couple of times I thought I could hear something that sounded like my distant long ago memories of the sound of London trams. Two lads who were cousins and who were always determined to make the best of things, ‘Moppy’ and ‘Gong’ by nickname, set off intrepidly to look for a bus to nearby Ramsey, They returned sooner than expected with Frank Sinatra style ‘Kiss me Quick’ trilby hats and a deck of cards, then proceeded to play a mysterious card game they called ‘Sh**house’ for coppers for much of the next fortnight. They did however inform us that they had been so quick because they had caught a tram just a few yards up the road and that there was a frequent service to and from Ramsey. As soon as it stopped raining we went to investigate this unlikely ’tram than was running through the middle of nowhere’ story. We came to an ungated level crossing where two railway tracks crossed the lane. A sign said ‘Lewaigue’ and there was a rudimentary corrugated ‘tin’ shelter too. Between the tracks stood smart green T- shaped gantries from which were suspended electric wires. The trackbed was quite deeply ballasted, more like a railway than any tramline that I could remember. The gauge looked less than standard, but more than narrow gauge, perhaps a metre wide. Then a strange vehicle was seen and heard heading towards us through the distant heat haze of what was turning into a fine afternoon. An immaculate vintage saloon style single decked tram pulled up. On its front was an headlight and its gold painted number. It was painted red and white with varnished teak panelling. Along its side was proudly proclaimed ‘Manx Electric Railway’, in ornate gold lettering, but its reversible trolley pole pickup betrayed the fact that it was a tram rather than a train. Behind it hauled a ‘toast rack’ open trailer which had reversible wooden bench seats. Its driver wore a smart red uniform overcoat and black train driver style cap. We boarded the trailer and soon discovered that it was equipped with wooden slatted roller blinds which could be slammed down when it rained. We were to use these trams most days over the next two weeks to travel to and from Ramsey and also as far as Laxey. Here we transferred to a differently styled tram, which took us past the Laxey Great Wheel and across the TT course near the Bungalow to the cloud enveloped summit of Snaefell.
There was still much poverty on the island in those days and one day we were surprised to catch two bare footed ragged children pilfering from our food tent. They explained that they were very hungry and apologised profusely. Rather than tell on them we invited them to join us at teatime each day and so had no more thefts. The night before we returned home, having packed our tents, we were allowed by the farmer to sleep in what turned out to be a rat infested barn, just next to the tramway. The pattering of tiny feet kept us awake all night. The next morning we discovered another reason for us sleeping there was that our scoutmaster had privately hired a tram pair to take us to Douglas before the normal services ran. The journey along the cliff near Laxey is breathtaking, especially from the ‘toastrack’ trailer. At Laxey we waited for a while by the green corrugated metal station building which had ‘Laxey’ painted in huge capitals on its roof and watched a single green Mountain Railway tram set off collecting its power by means of strange lyre shaped pantographs.
As we approached Douglas the scenery changed frequently , sometimes the tram ran alongside roadways, sometimes it passed delightful wooded glens than ran down towards the sea. On alighting at Derby Castle, some way from the harbour, we were further delighted to discover that we were about to be transferred to horse trams that would take us to our ferryboat, this time a slightly more modern steam turbine packet boat named ‘Mona’s Isle’. A similar boat ‘Tynwald‘ was moored up nearby.
The weather which had been fine for a week was on the turn, a storm was brewing up and our passage to Liverpool was rather rough. Many people on board were seasick but I didn’t seem to be affected and quite enjoyed the trip. We were told on arrival that the wind speed had been at times Force 8 and that no more ferries would be running until the coming storm abated.
Back at Lime Street we had a bit of time to spare and I was able to spot some ’cops’. Among the trains admired and copped by most of other enthusiasts present among our party were the new nicely styled Swindon built Trans Pennine DMUs which had been introduced on the Lime Street to Hull services earlier that year. I thought it prudent not to mention the fact that I’d seen the first one leave Swindon Works on its delivery journey the previous summer. Strangely I can recall very little of the train return journey as I was not only tired but now suffering from delayed reaction sea sickness, although as it was in broad daylight all the way I was able to spot more engines en route. I have it in my head that we returned to Crewe on an electric multiple unit but that is unlikely as the power was not officially turned on I think until the following January. Perhaps someone reading this can provide accurate information as to when the first electrics ran from Liverpool to Crewe. The train beyond Crewe was definitely a dreaded Type 4 hauled express which went via Birmingham. What I will never forget though was that passing Monument Lane shed I saw the last three LMS Compounds standing forlornly in the shed yard and recently withdrawn. I’d always wanted to see one and never had, previously missing by seconds the Midland 1000 when it passed my village station on a railtour some months earlier, so that was the icing on the cake to an enjoyable holiday.
We left the train at Rugby to return by coach as our train was not going to Northampton. When we got back to Towcester, just about everyone’s parents including dads were unexpectedly there to meet us and all of them concerned about our safety after hearing of the bomb hoax on our outward journey and the stormy weather on our return passage.
(C)Dick Bodily
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HS1-The Journey (C)"RLE Arup, Bechtel, Halcrow Systra/NCE"
RLE, the consortium of Arup, Bechtel, Halcrow and Systra has released “The Journey”, a unique engineering route map for High Speed 1. RLE has been responsible for the design and project management of HS1. Working on behalf of London Continental Railways, RLE represents the very best in engineering excellence.
Produced in association with the UK’s New Civil Engineer (NCE) magazine, The Journey takes you on an engineering voyage of discovery.
From 14 November 2007, it will take just two hours 15 minutes to get from London to Paris by train, after the second section of High Speed 1, opens. It will take a Eurostar train only 31 minutes to reach Folkestone from St Pancras, shaving 15 minutes off the journey time.
High Speed 1 (HS1) has been hailed by industry and Government as a magnificent engineering achievement and a beacon of technical excellence.
For the graphic of "The Journey" CLICK HERE
Copyright rests with "RLE Arup, Bechtel, Halcrow Systra/NCE"
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Christian Wolmar's August newsletter
A shorter newsletter than usual because its summer and quiet out there, as long as you are not near a riot zone. Certainly with hackgate, famine in Somalia and now London’s burning (my stepdaughter’s boyfriend’s bike shops was relieved of its 25 bikes yesterday), there is little space for transport issues, apart from the closure of the consultation on HS2 which attracted some attention.
I have written about that in the latest Rail which will be on the site next month, as I picked holes in both the anti and pro cases. The argument does seem, at times, to degenerate into naked propaganda on both sides. While I am sceptical, to say the least, of the case for HS2, some of the arguments deployed against it are very narrowly focussed and nakedly anti-rail. And on the other hand, claims like HS2 will create one million jobs are fatuous nonsense with no analytical basis
However, there is one important piece of news. As an experiment, a publisher, Kemsing, has put my book, Down the Tube, on the Public Private Partnership of the London Underground as a Kindle book on Amazon. Apart from slight updating and a new foreword – and correcting the error on the first page – it’s pretty much the text I wrote in 2002 which, euh, predicted the demise of the PPP. Re-reading it for this edition, I certainly found it relevant and, indeed, important. It was after all Gordon Brown’s second most costly mistake after messing up the economy through relying on his banker friends.
The Kindle version is available for just £6 here If this works, I will put my book on rail privatisation, Broken Rails which is also out of print, on Kindle, too.
Given the paucity of news, and the fact that I am in the final stages of writing my book on the US railroads – 95,000 words done, about 20,000 left – there are only the two Rail columns added to the site. The first welcome the new boss of the Office of Rail Regulation and suggests that ensuring its reports are written in comprehensible English would be a good start. The second argues that the opposition by the unions to vertical integration for Merseyrail might backfire.
I am giving lots of talks in September and October, and there is now a calendar on my site. I am always happy to do these talks for railway societies and other groups, and I have PowerPoint presentations on all my books.
Finally keep on clicking on the ads on the site. Every click helps pay for the site. Thanks , and have a good rest of the summer when the sun comes out.
Christian
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Fanfare for The Settle and Carlisle Railway(Butterflyfilmsltd)
Peter Hine of Butterflyfilmsltd has kindly given "On Shed" permission to feature his tribute to the Settle and Carlisle Railway-Fanfare for The Settle and Carlisle Railway.
The film is a tribute to Graham Nuttall, the first Secretary of the Friends of the Settle - Carlisle Line.
and his faithful Border Collie dog Ruswarp . Read the moving story here
Now, enjoy the film...
We shall look forward to the next film on the S & C, Peter.
Thank you.
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Men of Iron ( Windfall Films)
This is the Windfall Film's description of this 2004 series of 3 times 50 minute programmes for Channel 4..
The Series
"They change the British landscape at will, and accelerate every aspect of life. One man emerges as a true colossus among them – although he is only 5ft 3. Isambard Kingdom Brunel has an insatiable desire to build things that other engineers claim are impossible. 
Episode One looks at rivalries
Episode 2 charts the GWR progress and bridge building
Episode 3 The final part reviewing the generation of Victorian engineersBrunel is not just an engineering genius, he is also a showman - flamboyant, arrogant and filled with a fiery temper.
The other giant in the engineering world is Scotsman Robert Stephenson - who couldn't be more different: meticulous, careful and by the book.
Their story is one of friendship and intense professional rivalry - and when it ends they will have changed the world forever.
The series includes interviews with , amongst others, Adrian Vaughan , respected railway writer and author of works on I.K.Brunel..
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Monster Moves (demandfive on YouTube)
Two Stanier 8Fs Repatriated to UK from Turkey
This film looks at the repatriation of two Stanier 8Fs (Churchills) from Turkey.
The difficulties involved, and the trials and tribulations in carrying out the rescue of these two locomotives is shown. But optimism wins the day...!
The link to the film is HERE
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Software Review - Dick Bodily
‘British Railways Steam Locomotive Sheds & Allocations’ (Engine Shed Society)
A simple idea but a brilliant one. All the known allocations of every steam loco that ever ran in BR days have been recorded by the’ Engine Shed Society’ on a series of 4 Microsoft ‘Excel’ spreadsheets and put onto one disk. In addition there are two separate spreadsheets listing all the steam shed codes used by BR, listed both by shedcode ( ie. beginning with 1A) and by shed name alphabetically.
In the 4 loco spreadsheets, one for each of the ‘Big Four’ (with BR Standards lumped in with the ex-Southern Railway locos), the locos are listed numerically in the first column. Moving to the right across the spreadsheet, other columns list allocations and dates, followed by the approximate withdrawal date and finally the loco’s engine class. For instance, I wanted to find out if my suspicions were justified that the 18A shedplate carried is an inappropriate shedcode to be on the preserved Stanier 8F No 48305. By scrolling down to the loco’s number on the ex LMS spreadsheet I discovered that when BR was formed it was shedded at Wellingborough, then followed a lengthy stay at Northampton (when I used to see it on the SMJ), later becoming a Crewe South engine, then on to Northwich and finishing up at Speke Junction. I was able to double check that none of these sheds ever carried a 18A code by looking at the shedcode spreadsheet. So probably not appropriate for it to be masquerading as a Toton loco then! Unless it was there in LMS days, mind you it wouldn’t have had a BR number and livery then.
The shed code and name spread sheets give full details of changes to shed’s shedcode with dates and also list final shed closure dates.
You might already have the excellent ‘Shed by Shed’ series of books which are indispensible for looking up a particular shed’s locos and might wonder why buy this package? Well, as already described this lets you easily follow the progress of any given loco from shed to shed something that the various books published can’t let you do so easily. Also this goes back to 1948 not just 1950. But the main reason I’d give is value for money, the disk only costs £8 inc P&P!
So I’ll keep my ‘Shed by Shed’ books handy when I want to look up the classes and engines that were allocated to my local sheds, but use this to discover where they were allocated before and after. In fact I think I will use this for most loco allocation enquiries.
You’ll need Microsoft ‘Excel’ to use the spreadsheets. I should imagine, although I haven’t tried it, that it’s quite easy to accidentally alter the spreadsheets but this shouldn’t happen providing you don’t click on a cell when viewing, and move up and down or across with the arrows and slidebars. Whenever I leave the ex- SR spreadsheet I get a message asking if I want to save the changes to the spreadsheet to which of course it’s important to click on ‘NO’. I’ve downloaded it onto my hard drive so that I don’t have to keep loading the CD disk and the whole package only takes up less than 4Mb of memory, less than a single quality J-peg image! To read the short notes and instructions you’ll need Microsoft ‘Word’ also but I would say these are not essential. I’m no computer expert but I can’t see why you can’t just use ‘Excel’ to access the spreadsheets without needing ‘Word’
To get your copy send a cheque for £8 to the ‘Engine Shed Society’, c/o Harry Maeers,160 Dorchester Way, Clifford Park, Walsgrave, Coventry, CV22LU.
By the way I’m not a member of The Engine Shed Society (if I was the package would only cost me £6!) and have no financial or other interest in this project. It’s just that I’ve found it to be an excellent piece of software and thought other members of the Steam Tube website might like to know about it.
(C) Dick Bodily
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A Film from Roni
In the early days of Steam Tube (TM), one of our most prolific contributors was Roni
Roni has uploaded 338 images and 101 videos to Steam Tube.It would be true to say that Roni has railways in his blood!! The quality of his work has been a source of constant delight to us , and I daresay that the quality he produces is what most of us would aspire to!
It becomes apparent that Roni's work is not accidental, but the preparation he undertakes is self evident...locations, times, details of trains and locations..and so on. Most of us have learned quite a lot from his work, I am sure.
Well, being a busy person, Roni forgets to sometimes upload to Steam Tube...perhaps its because his work often includes all types of locomotive traction...
So, as an extra delight for this edition of On Shed, we are pleased to include ..
Diesel - Steam - Electric! Northern Europe DE FR UK EE LV, August 2 - 13 2011
Thank you, Roni!
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Till next month......
Peter S Lewis (Shedmaster)
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