Heritage Railway July 2016 preview

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HELICOPTER TRACKS DOWN SCOTSMAN TRESPASSERS

ISSUE 217 June 30 – July 27, 2016

GREAT CENTRAL MILLION SHARES SALE BOOST COUNCIL BACKS MAJOR EXPANSION DRIVE

IE LIZZ ACK IS B

GREEN LIGHTS FOR COLNE VALLEY, LYNTON & BARNSTAPLE AND SOUTHWOLD COMPUTER GLITCH STOPS TORNADO IN ITS TRACKS QU E E N’S AWAR D FO R E AST L ANC AS H I R E AN D CHASEWATE R

CONTENTS ISSUE 217

June 30 – July 28, 2016

News

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Headline News

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Council buys a million GCR shares; Broadway share issue passes halfway mark; Colne Valley, Lynton & Barnstaple and Southwold schemes approved; Queen's Award for East Lancashire and Chasewater, and computer glitch stops Tornado.

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News

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Helicopter snaps Flying Scotsman trespassers; Lavender Line gives arson-hit Swindon & Cricklade two DEMU cars; Leighton Buzzard sets new narrow gauge record; four locomotives on each Steam on the Met train in September; Falklands hero Simon Weston becomes Patriot patron; £1 million government windfall for heritage lines; green light for Helston Railway; North Yorkshire Moors Railway battles to maintain steam services;10 years' jail for Ravenglass would-be hero; Class 50 pair first to haul a charter over new Swanage Railway crossing, and ride behind Flying Scotsman for £5!

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Regulars Centre

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Royal Scot at Conwy Castle by Derek Phillips

Mainline Itinerary

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Steam and heritage diesel railtours.

Railwayana

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Geoff Courtney’s regular column.

Main Line News

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Clun Castle boiler steamed; Royal Scot for Borders Railway trips; Tornado to head special to Severn Valley Railway and Scotsman, Scot and a Jubilee on the ‘Cambrian Coast Express’.

With Full Regulator

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Don Benn reports on Tornado’s run from King’s Cross.

4 Heritagerailway.co.uk

Off the Shelf

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Features FAMOUS BRITISH LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS Frederick W Hawksworth Great Western Railway

In another occasional series of historical reviews of Big Four locomotive engineers, Cedric Johns highlights the career of Frederick W Hawksworth who succeeded Charles Collett in 1941…

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Latest book and DVD releases.

Platform

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Where your views matter most.

Up & Running

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Guide to railways running in July

The Month Ahead

106 Find us on www.facebook.com/heritagerailway

CONTENTS: LMS 8F 2-8-0 No. 48624 passes Swithland sidings on the Great Central Railway with coal empties at sunset. PETER ZABEK COVER: LMS 4-6-2 No. 6201 Princess Elizabeth passes Wilmcote with a test run on June 16.

RICK EBORALL

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Thunder on Blue Ridge

FROM JUST £20*

Big American main line steam is increasingly rare. David Rodgers reports on the revival of one the largest US steam engines.

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See page 30

A century of beach life!

50 years on – the Fowler 4F

The Fowler 4F 0-6-0 was a very basic design of steam engine. B J Crosse recounts the history of a surprisingly longlived class.

Could the record-breaking success of the Fairbourne Railway’s Centenary of Steam Spring Bank Holiday gala weekend, which saw four of the line’s original 15in gauge engines return to the now-12¼in gauge outfit, pave the way for a new dual gauge incarnation, asks Michael Whitehouse.

Write to us: Heritage Railway, Mortons Media Ltd, PO Box 43, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ.

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NEWS

Flying Scotsman on tour

By Brian Sharpe

THE legendary and perhaps too popular LNER A3 Pacific No. 60103 Flying Scotsman is now in its most intensive period of use since its return to steam at the end of last year, hauling sell-out main line railtours and still drawing huge crowds to the lineside wherever it goes.

The engine had a short programme of working dining trains on the Southern andWestern regions for Steam Dreams where it inexplicably fell foul of severe gauging restrictions, particularly through many station platforms.The engine’s dimensions have not changed yet where it regularly hauledVSOE Pullman trains at 75mph up to 12 years ago, it now has to slow to sometimes 10mph.

Its first outing for the RailwayTouring Company was on the‘Yorkshireman’ fromVictoria toYork one-way on Saturday, June 4, running via the Midland main line, Harringworth viaduct, the ErewashValley and Barrow Hill.Watering problems at Kettering caused a slight delay but this was compounded by slowing because of trespassing and it eventually arrived inYork 81 minutes late.The engine is not really being allowed to perform at maximum capacity and much diesel assistance is necessary to help accelerate the train from frequent stops or slowings.

Then it was back to work for Steam Dreams on the‘Cambrian Coast Express’, handling the leg from Crewe

to Paddington via Shrewsbury and Bristol Parkway on June 8. More light engine mileage saw it move from Southall to Barnetby on June 10, via the GN main line and Lincoln. It turned on the triangle at Ulceby before heading RTC’s‘Tynesider' from Cleethorpes to Newcastle and Morpeth next day.

The A3 left the train atYork on the return and then there was a second Tuesday light engine move fromYork to Crewe via Standedge to head another Steam Dreams’tour, this time the first leg of the‘Emerald Isle Explorer’taking passengers to Holyhead on June 15.

Scotsman took the train over at Crewe and also brought the train back from Holyhead as some passengers had opted for the day trip rather than the full tour of Ireland.

Returning to RTC work, the‘White Rose’of June 18 from King’s Cross toYork was handled by Scotsman only north of Newark northbound, although travelling via the Lincoln avoiding line and Gainsborough. No. 60103 worked almost as far as King’s Cross southbound, but turned right at Finsbury Park forWest Hampstead. For the first time for a while, engine and support crew had a week’s rest before a second RTCVictoria-York‘Yorkshireman’ on June 25.

The RTC’s July 2‘Hadrian’will be worked by the A3 from Carnforth over Shap to Carlisle, then toYork via theTyne Valley. After that there will be a series of York-Carlisle runs over theTyneValley route during the summer.

LNER A3 Pacific No. 60103 Flying Scotsman crosses the River Trent over the King George V bridge at Keadby on the approach to Althorpe station at the head of ‘The Tynesider’ on June 11. The Grade II listed bridge, a Scherzer rolling lift bridge, was first opened on May 21, 1916, but the lifting section has not been used since 1956. Built by the iconic bridge building firm of Sir William Arrol & Co of Glasgow, the bridge is somewhat overlooked in comparison to other bridges built by the company, such as the Tay and Forth railway bridges, having had no formal opening ceremony because of the First World War, and little recognition this year, other than by local schoolchildren, of its centenary. GRAHAM NUTTALL

Flying Scotsman at speed near Staveley. ROBERT FALCONER

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NEWS

LMS Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 No. 46512 passes Croftnahaven with a Strathspey Railway evening dining train shortly after 9pm on June 1. JONATHON GOURLAY

The new narrow gauge record!

THE Leighton Buzzard Railway has set a new record for the greatest number of narrow gauge locomotives on a train.

On Sunday, May 29, as part of its Simplex gala weekend, the 2ft gauge line had 17 Motor-Rail locomotives on a single train.The gala was held to mark the centenary of the start of production of hundreds of internal combustion Simplex locomotives by the Motor Rail &Tram Car Company of Bedford for use on the Western Front.

The 4.25pm service departure from Stonehenge works had 16 Simplexes on the front, but one was not driven, and it was rounded off with the National Railway Museum’s protected Simplex No. LR3098 of 1918 on the rear of the four-coach train.

Adjudication was carried out by Clifton Flewitt, vice-chairman of the Heritage Railway Association in Ireland who confirmed that 16 locomotives were running and driven.

The locomotives were driven for a distance of approximately 0.6 miles to Pig Farm occupation crossing where most of them were switched into neutral gear.

Then 40hp Simplexes Nos. 43 and 44 hauled the train to Leedon loop. At Leedon the first 14 locos were detached and after a photographic stop were run back singly to Stonehenge works under an engineers’possession of the line.

The service train continued to Page’s Park station hauled by Nos. 43 and 44.

Railway chairman,Terry Bendall, who had the initial idea to try for this record attempt, said:“This was a fairly amazing sight of 17 locomotives all powered up on one train.

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The record-breaking train hauled by 17 Simplexes in action on May 29. LBR “Eleven of the locos involved are either owned by, or based at Leighton Buzzard, and the fact that we were able to do this is a tribute to the volunteers who help to keep the railway running, assisted by our visiting engines and their crews.”

The engines on the train, listed in order from the front were: bow frame 20hp No. LR2478 of 1918 owned by NickWilliams; 20/35hp No. 5260 of 1931 (Abbey Pumping Station); 20/28hp No. 8745 of 1942 (LBR); 20/28hp No 8641 of 1941 (LBR); 20/28hp No. 7108 of 1937 Arkle (LBR); 20/28hp No. 7105 of 1936 Red Rum (LBR); 20/28hp No. 7036 of 1936 No.17 Damredub (LBR); 20/28hp No. 8720 of 1941 Anna (LBR); 20/28 No. 8695 of 1941 (LBR); G Series No. 104G063 of 1976 (Apedale Railway); 20/28hp No. 7129 of 1938 (LBR); 40S type No. 40SD529 of 1984 (Golden Valley Light Railway, Butterley); 32/42hp No. 7956 of 1945 (LBR); 32/42hp No. 7710 of 1939 (Apedale Railway);

32/42hp; No. 7933 of 1941 No. 44 (LBR); 32/42hp No. 10409 of 1954 No 43 (LBR) and 40hp No. LR3098 of 1918 (NRM).

Simplex petrol tractors were ordered by theWar Department Light Railways for use on theWestern Front trench railways, because unlike steam locomotives, they emitted no smoke and did not give their location away to the enemy. Furthermore, the lack of sparks greatly reduced risks to supplies of ammunition.

After the conflict, many Simplexes found a second life on industrial railways, including the then newly built Leighton Buzzard Railway hauling sand from the quarries to the main line transhipment point. Later designs were diesel powered.

The LBR not only has the world’s largest collection of Simplexes, but a substantial collection of GreatWar vintage narrow gauge equipment. It is the base for the Greensand Railway MuseumTrust’s FirstWorldWar Baldwin 4-6-0TWDLR No. 778.

Name the new La’al Ratty train!

THE Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Preservation Society’sTrain from Spain Appeal is inviting readers to help name the Krauss Pacific imported from Barcelona earlier this year.

In return for a £4 donation, suggestions for a name for the locomotive may be made via trainfromspain.org from which entry forms can be downloaded.

The final vote on a name and livery will rest with the membership of the railway’s preservation society, which at an extraordinary meeting last December, gave the group’s council a 99% mandate to proceed with the purchase of the locomotive.

An appeal towards the restoration of the locomotive has so far raised nearly £20,000.

Dieselsbreakdown on Darjeeling The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway long-distance service from Darjeeling to New Jalpaiguri station was temporarily suspended on June 10 after three of its four diesels broke down a few days ago and are presently under repairs.

DHR area manager, Narendra Mohan, said that the diesel-hauled service would be placed on hold until the locomotives are repaired.

However, the steam services from Darjeeling to Ghoom and diesel services from Darjeeling to Kurseong remain in operation.

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NEWS

Visiting Swindon-built green-liveried Ivatt 2MT mogul No. 46521 heads a goods train on May 29. MICK ALDERMAN

Chris Smith firing 9F No. 92214 again, 51 years to the day since he did the same job on the same locomotive. JACK BOSKETT / G/WR

Festival time travel trip for Swindon 9F fireman

By Robin Jones

THE Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s hugely successful Cotswold Festival of Steam held over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend included a redletter day for the line’s fireman Chris Smith.

Back in the steam era, Chris was a British Railways fireman based at Honeybourne, and one of the eight locomotives running over the May 2830 gala was BR Standard 9F 2-10-0 No. 92214, the youngest Swindon-built and British Railways steam engine in working order, visiting from the Great Central Railway.

Rostered as fireman for No. 92214 on May 29, Chris looked back at his records as a teenage fireman and found that he had fired the same engine exactly 51 years – to the minute – before, in 1965!

Chris said:“Steam was coming to an end and young firemen could quickly find themselves working main line trains. One of the‘turns’was to take over from the crew of a coal train from South Wales, and take it on to Oxford.

“This was a very heavy train and I had fired similar 9Fs before and hugely enjoyed this work. The engines steamed well and were more than capable of handling heavy coal trains and in fact, I got to fire the same engine

a few more times before it all came to an end a few months later, when diesels took control.

“It was an uncanny coincidence,” he said.“And I have to say that I felt quite nervous and emotional as I climbed up on to the footplate once again.

“But after the first couple of shovelfuls of coal went into the firebox, I really felt at home and the memories came flooding back.

“I was like a dog with two tails – I didn’t stop smiling all day!

“No. 92214 was only six years old when I first fired it and although the boiler was good and it was mechanically sound, it was pretty filthy and uncared-

for – after all, it was a freight engine, soon to be sent for scrap. Today it is absolutely immaculate and just like new.

“It was an experience I shall never forget – it was as if those 51 years had just melted away and I was a teenager once again!”

More than 4500 passengers were carried over the‘Swindon Built’ weekend – themed to mark 175 years since the Great Western Railway’s works was established in the town.

A spokesman said that the railway is enjoying a bumper year as passenger numbers are significantly up, even compared with last year which was a record year.

Visiting from the Great Central Railway, BR Standard 9F 2-10-0 No. 92214 heads away from Gretton on May 29. STEVE SIENKIWIECZ

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FAMOUS BRITISH LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS

FREDERICK W HAWKSWORTH

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY I

In another occasional series of historical reviews of ‘Big Four’ locomotive engineers, Cedric Johns highlights the career of Frederick W Hawksworth, who succeeded Charles Collett in 1941…

n retrospect, the final years of Frederick Hawksworth’s engineering career at Swindon were cut short by political events beyond his control when the 1945, postwar general election swept Clement Attlee’s Labour government into power.

Three years later the Great Western’s proud traditions were replaced by a newly-formed, politically-managed organisation proclaiming it to be British Railways.

Not only did Nationalisation threaten Swindon’s reputation for excellence and all that it had stood for over the generations

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starting with Gooch and Brunel, it spelled the end of the ‘Big Four’ as we had grown up to know it collectively and individually.

‘Vote Labour’

Ironically, thousands of railwaymen contributed to this historic change in the country’s railways by voting Labour. Indeed, as a small boy ruling off names and numbers in my very first ABC I well remember seeing numerous Swindon-built engines carrying the politically motivated message ‘Vote Labour’. In the majority, the message was

given prominence by the use of work-stained smokebox doors suitably daubed in white chalked capitals…

But back to the beginning, Frederick Hawksworth was a Swindonian by birth and a Great Western man by family tradition. His father was a member of Swindon’s drawing office team and his uncle a foreman at Shrewsbury. It was he who first introduced the young Frederick to the power of steam when he took him for a cruise on the River Severn in his coal-fired launch…

As it was, Hawksworth entered Swindon

Scotsman, Scot and Jubilee on the ‘Cambrian Coast Express’

FROM some of the advance publicity, the public could have been forgiven for thinking that Flying Scotsman was going to travel round the Cambrian Coast, currently out of bounds to all steam engines. Nevertheless, Steam Dreams’ four-day trip to the Principality proved to be an interesting recreation of the famous GWR express adapted to 21st century circumstances.

The secrecy now surrounding any detailed timings for Flying Scotsman has spread to many other steam workings and right up to the last minute it was not clear which legs of the tour would be steam and which engines might be involved. By Friday, June 3, though, LMS Jubilee No. 45699 Galatea was heading from Carnforth to Southall, Royal Scot 4-6-0 No. 46115 Scots Guardsman was en route for Chester and it was known that byTuesday 7th, Flying Scotsman would be at Crewe.

And so on Sunday 5th, a maroon LMS Jubilee incongruously steamed out of Paddington at the head of the‘Cambrian Coast Express’, taking the correct route through the Chilterns over Saunderton bank. At Leamington though, the train left the GW main line and ran via Birmingham International and Bescot to regain the route of the‘CCE’at Wolverhampton for a punctual arrival at Shrewsbury.

From here Class 37 diesel power was necessary for the Cambrian section to Pwllheli. Steam Dreams’Marcus Robertson commented: “This has to go down as one of our best trips,” and

LMS Royal Scot 4-6-0 No. 46115 Scots Guardsman passes Llanfairfechan with the ‘Cambrian Coast Express’ returning from Holyhead on June 8. NEVILLE WELLINGS said one of the highlights occurred at Barmouth which, "at 28°C was the hottest spot in the country and most of us were relaxing with ice creams on the beach while waiting to cross a service train!”

Passengers had a leisurely couple of days in Wales before the return steam run all the way from Holyhead to Paddington on Wednesday 8th.

Although Scots Guardsman was

rumoured to be working the train along the North Wales coast, it had not been seen in action for 12 months or so and it was a pleasant surprise to see it take its place at the head of the train, making two different class members to have worked to Holyhead within two weeks.

No. 46115 took the train to Crewe where Flying Scotsman took over for a circuitous run to Paddington via Hereford – where Marcus said he had

never seen so many children watching the train go past – and Bristol Parkway, with just a few minor delays caused by lineside trespass.

The train only touched the original route of the‘CCE’at Shrewsbury and for the last few miles into Paddington but it had been a memorable trip with three different steam engines, though certainly not ones ever associated with the train in real steam days.

LNER A3 Pacific No. 60103 Flying Scotsman takes the Welsh Marches route at Sutton Bridge Junction, Shrewsbury, where the Cambrian route diverges for Welshpool. BRIAN SHARPE

Write to us: Heritage Railway, Mortons Media Ltd, PO Box 43, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ.

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MAIN LINE NEWS

WITH FULL REGULATOR LOCOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE THEN AND NOW

Tornado pauses at York on the outward journey to Scarborough. BRIAN SHERRINGTON

TABLE ONE: BABWORTH LOOP TO YORK Date Train Loco Load Driver Fireman Inspector Recorder Position Weather

Saturday, June 4, 2016 0807 Kings Cross‘Scarborough Flyer’ A1 Class 4-6-2 No. 60163 Tornado 12 coaches, 436 tons tare, 470 tons gross Steve Hanczar Wayne Thompson Sean Levell Don Benn 2 of 12 Misty, sunny spells developing. Calm

Babworth Loop Botany Bay Xing Sutton Xing Ranskill MP 146 Bawtry Pipers Wood Rossington Xing Loversall Carr Jct Doncaster Arksey MP 159 Shaftholme Jct MP 162 Moss Xing MP 164 Balne Heck MP 168 Templehirst Jct MP 171 MP 173 Hambleton North Jct Stoker Wood MP 181 Colton Jct Copmanthorpe MP 186 Chaloners Whin York

miles 0.00 1.75 2.78 5.06 7.07 8.73 10.58 12.45 13.08 17.07 19.11 20.07 21.37 23.07 24.11 25.07 27.01 28.27 29.07 30.33 32.07 34.07 36.02 39.07 42.07 44.07 45.87 47.07 47.67 49.54

sched 00.00

15.00 25.30 32.00

42.00 47.00 54.00

63.00

mins 00 05 06 08 10 12 14 15 16 19 21 22 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 34 36 38 41 42 44 45 45 49

secs 00 12 24 41 31 10 03 40 11 30 15 50 00 29 19 06 40 43 24 23 52 30 07 36 02 35 08 10 55 52

* brakes or speed restriction start to stop average: 59.61mph net time 49 minutes average speed Mileposts 162 to 186=73.16mph

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speed 27 56 64½ 66 61½ 55½ 72 75 55*/50* tsr 56½ 64 67½ 72½ 74 75 72 70½/73 72/70½ 73/72 74 71½ 74/73 74½ 73½ 74 73 64* 53*

By Don Benn AS I had never had steam betweenYork and Scarborough and with the added attraction of accumulating more miles behind new build (or not so new now) No. 60163 Tornado, I made an early booking on UK Railtours’June 4‘Scarborough Flyer’trip.This had the added benefit of timing on the East Coast Main Line which has full mileposts on both sides and even with GPS I still consider that taking milepost times is important for the true efficacy of the train running logs.

It was therefore disappointing to see the poor schedule given to No. 60163 between King’s Cross andYork, no less than five hours and two minutes with seven stops totalling 55 minutes and some very slow intermediate times.This compared to an overall four hours two minutes with four stops adding up to 47 minutes for the trip on September 19, 2009. As Tornado is one of the most powerful and reliable steam locomotives on the main line and has extended water capacity of 6,000 gallons it is difficult to understand why this deterioration in scheduling has taken place.

One problem arising from the easy timings is that a steam engine being worked easily and then having protracted stops is more likely to have problems with the fire clinkering compared to one which is being worked hard and producing a good pull on the fire for extended periods. So, Network Rail and you train planners out there responsible for such things, have faith in this superb modern engine and give it some decent 60mph plus start to stop times over longish distances. Not only will this help with train pathing but it will assist the enginemen and also the passengers by giving them more time at their destinations.

The same, incidentally, could be said about other class 8 locomotives such as No. 35028 ClanLine and No. 46233 DuchessofSutherland. Having said all that at least with Tornado, UK Railtours and DB Cargo, you can be fairly certain of a pure steam run, unlike the lottery which now pervades the scene elsewhere, plus the apparent confusion about load limits and‘banking’engines.

I have not only set out the detail of some of the running of No. 60163 on June 4, 2016, but also by comparison some of the times and speeds of the same engine on September 19, 2009, although the best sections of the latter were included in my column in issue 208. It was only by sheer chance that anything like a fast time was achieved on the‘Scarborough Flyer’as will be seen.

We had 12 on for about 470 tons, with driver Paul Major, fireman WayneThompson and Inspector Sean Levell from King’s Cross on a misty and damp morning.The train was away on time from platform

one and soon past Finsbury Park inside the seven minute booking doing 36½mph on the slow line where we remained until the Potters Bar stop, reached in 21 minutes 9 seconds, a gain of nearly three minutes on schedule, with a maximum speed of 54 at Alexandra Palace.

After picking up more passengers, we left on time and, with safety valves lifting ran easily down to Hatfield, reaching 62½mph in the dip after the station and then running with speed in the 50s past our booked pathing stop at Digswell Junction to reach 66½ at Langley Junction and through Stevenage without stopping, now nearly eight minutes early. It appeared that a semi fast train in front which we should have followed had been cancelled and so we now had even more time to waste.

This meant that although we were fast line there was no need to hurry and therefore the maximum on the racing stretch after Hitchin was a subdued 72½mph at Cadwell. As booked, and with the safety valves lifting again, we crossed to the slow line at Sandy and continued sedately on our way to the water stop at Holme, reached in 63 minutes 49 seconds for the 56.01 miles from Potters Bar, unchecked and now seven minutes early. From there we lost a little time on the usual impossibly tight schedule to Peterborough where Steve Hanczar took over the driving from Paul Major.

Wayne was obviously doing good work with the fire as the safety valves were lifting again when we got away spot on time to make the climb to the pathing stop before Stoke Junction, to let the 10.09am King’s Cross to Leeds get past us and make its Grantham stop.

Even though there was no hurry, Steve got No. 60163 up to 62½ mph before Essendine before allowing speed to fall to 50mph at the top of the 1-in-200 at Milepost 96 and easing for the stop, reached eight minutes early.

The Leeds train was on time and although it was due to make a Grantham stop, I wondered if it would enable us to have a clear run behind it to the Babworth loop water stop, and maybe perhaps scrape an even time section. Unfortunately not as after we reached 63½mph past Great Ponton we were stopped by signals at Milepost 104¾. As Wayne told me afterwards the platforms at Grantham were full with the Leeds train still there and a‘unit’also involved.

The restart was very slow as we were still getting adverse signals and it was not until after Peascliffe tunnel that there was some noise from the engine. At Barkstone South speed was 70mph and then came one of those lightning accelerations which Tornado is capable of as speed rose very quickly to 77½mph at Find us on www.facebook.com/heritagerailway

US STEAM

THUNDER ON BLUE RIDGE Big American steam power in action is an increasingly rare spectacle on the main line in the 21st century.

Dave Rodgers reports on the recent successful revival of one of the biggest US locomotives.

T

he famed Norfolk & Western Railway (not Railroad), immortalised in the classic photographs by O Winston Link was until 1960, the last major steam-operated railway in the USA. Its principal main line ran for 646 miles from the Atlantic coast at Norfolk, Virginia through the beautiful undulating Virginia landscape and Allegheny Mountains to Columbus, Ohio while many branch lines served the very productive West Virginian coal producing region. The railway’s headquarters were in the city of Roanoke, Virginia.

Over the weekend of May 7/8, Norfolk & Western Railway J class 4-8-4 No. 611, which was restored and returned to service in May 2015, was brought out from display in the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke to operate four excursions.

Each day saw a 98-mile morning run east over the famed Blue Ridge to Lynchburg and return. From Roanoke (915ft asl) the line climbs for 11 miles on a ruling grade of 1-in-83 eastbound to Blue Ridge (1216ft asl) which, in steam days, saw double-headed pairs of giant A class and Y6 articulateds (with a Y6 banker) work 10,000 ton coal trains. The return

journey from Lynchburg features another stiff climb with a ruling grade of 1-in-74 from Montvale to Blue Ridge.

After a couple of hours for servicing, each afternoon the train ran over the double track main line west to Walton (84 miles return) featuring the long Christiansburg grade (also 1-in-74) through the twin-bore 663ft long Montgomery tunnel to a 2055ft asl summit in the Allegheny mountains. The complete train was turned on a wye (triangle) at the end of each journey.

Unassisted throughout

Despite the severity of the grades (similar to the climb to Shap), the locomotive was unassisted throughout and conveyed a 20-car train and auxiliary water tank, a gross load in excess of 1600 tons!

The weather over the weekend was generally favourable with a fair bit of sun on Saturday, although Sunday saw some showers and significantly more cloud. Despite the wet rail on Sunday morning No. 611 never faltered on the climb to Blue Ridge. As was to be expected for such an event every available vantage point (right to edge of the ballast) was lined with

No. 611 heads west from Roanoke to Walton under the girder bridge carrying the parallel single track one-time Virginian Railway at Wabun on May 8. Interestingly, this section of the Virginian Railway from Roanoke, VA to Mullens, WV was electrified until 1962. The Virginian Railway merged with the N&W in 1959 and today both routes (the Virginian has the easier grades) are operated by NS.

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With the famous Blue Ridge mountains as a backdrop, No. 611 is seen at full power blasting up the 1-in-83 grade on the 11-mile 300ft climb from Roanoke to Blue Ridge on the outward run to Lynchburg on Saturday, May 7.

Heritagerailway.co.uk 79

PLATFORM

READERS’ LETTERS AT THE HEART OF THE HERITAGE RAILWAY SCENE STAR LETTER

Could enthusiasts run routes better than Network Rail?

REFERRING to Phillip Crossland’s letter, (platform, issue 215) and Mark Rand’s comments in issue 214 concerning the Settle and Carlisle Railway, it seems that most people are more than well aware that Dr Richard Beeching’s 60-year-old view of the future of railways in Britain was extremely short on foresight as motorways and, even more so, country roads become more and more clogged with huge lorries that didn’t even exist when he produced his plan for the future.

As burgeoning populations require ever increasing amounts of supplies and motorists spend more time travelling to and from work than they do at work, it is obvious that mass transportation – which only railways can effectively deliver – needs to be totally rethought in concept.

If Network Rail is no better at seeing future needs now than Dr Beeching was over half-a-century ago, it becomes obvious that someone else has to do it.

That someone else could well be enthusiasts who not only want to preserve and provide a commercial rail link but also have a true main line where they can operate preserved traction.

The infrastructure is already in place – not only over the Midland Railway route to Carlisle and the North – but in many other parts of Britain

The stupendous viaduct in Monsal Dale in the Peak District once carried the Midland Main Line from London to Manchester via Matlock and Buxton, and is now used by walkers and cyclists as part of the Monsal Trail. There have been regular calls for the powers that be to reinstate this route, partially restored

by Peak Rail, in its entirety to add much-needed extra capacity to the network.

ROBIN JONES where a relatively small investment (when compared to the huge cost of resuming commercial, residential and agricultural land and building motorways) could reinstate railways that haven’t seen trains for decades.

The Settle to Carlisle line is only three times the length of the NorthYorkshire Moors Railway with the principal difference that it connects points of commerce.The increasing traffic that a more efficient operation would generate, would more than repay any

initial costs in reinstating double track where it has been lifted and upgrading what’s left to handle trains of the future.

Such actions would require either substantial Government investment in upgrades or, alternatively, major corporate investment by businesses – but, never forget, it was businesses that originally built the railways and only when Government got involved did their efficiency dwindle.

Italy has built a brand new (in

parts) railway from Venice to Rome at goodness-knows-what cost to Italian taxpayers and investors and are already running 300kmh passenger trains from city centre to city centre – thus eliminating the extra cost and time of travelling to airports and needing to be there at least an hour before departure.

This is happening all over the continent and Britain is getting left behind.

It is just as possible for passengers to travel between any of Britain’s major cities quicker by rail than any other way (including driving on speed-limited roads) but the commitment to rail transport must be 100% and not just some toe-in-the-water exercise.

I have written previously about the potential for underground railway construction using modern technological tunnelling machines (thus obviating the need to requisition valuable land) and, coupled with existing disused railway infrastructure, this could create a very-high-speed rail network second to none in the world, in the country where railways were invented.

PS: Why is it that professionals built the 227,000-tonne Harmony of the Seas Royal Caribbean cruise liner from start to finish in 32 months but it took over three times as long for professionals to overhaul the 96-tonne Flying Scotsman?

David R Holt, Queensland, Australia.

Shiny, polished locos – they’re not for real Flying Scotsman as it appeared before the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924. ROBIN JONES COLLECTION

Flying Scotsman changed with the times I READ, with a mixture of dismay and alarm, the remarks of Mr Clowes regarding Flying Scotsman in Platform, issue 216.

Yes, it was“beautiful”when built, but may I point out that‘handsome is as handsome does’?

The modifications were made during a lifetime in public service as a result of justified needs for improvement – not as a trivial exercise in‘prettification’.

They are, therefore, an intrinsic and indispensable part of the locomotive

90 Heritagerailway.co.uk

that the British public admires.

Is the purist Mr Clowes suggesting that all the other improvements including the black box, ATC, intercom, compressor and electric headlight be done away with as well? If not, I charge “Hypocrisy!”

If so, he should reflect that No. 60103 would never be allowed to turn a wheel for revenue – either privately or publicly – again. It would simply stagnate as a museum piece.

Martyn McGinty, Frome, Somerset

I WAS interested to see that the last North Staffordshire engine, 0-6-2T No. 2/72 may be restored to working order. It’s an extraordinary survival.

However, I also note that the Foxfield Railway is already dreaming of all the different liveries it wants to paint it in – regardless of the fact that (as your picture shows) it has a wonderful, weathered paint finish, dating from its 1960 refurbishment in North Staffordshire Railway livery – after which it worked another five years for the NCB! So – as so often happens with over-restored vintage vehicles – this‘restoration’would actually be destroying a characterful and atmospheric part of the engine’s history.

Those of us who can remember steam locomotives in use know that they were very rarely clean and shiny. And that was part of their charm: their grime was a badge of honour marking the hard work, done in all weathers, and with repaints only at very long intervals.

The layer of oil and grime effectively kept the rust at bay too.

Which is why so many restored locos look so‘unreal’– over-polished and shiny, their paint is barely dry before someone is plotting another livery or a repaint.

Yet go to any vintage car or tractor rally, and the ones that people gather round are the ones that haven’t been restored: they have an oily rag wiped over occasionally, and maybe a bit of tape holds the torn leather together; but it is 1927 leather, not some 21st century imitation.The obsession with restoration (unless of a complete wreck), is a misguided hangover from some childish competitive urge –‘mine’s the shiniest’!

But it’s actually destructive of real history. All this tarting-up not only costs a fortune in paint and manpower – it gives a completely phoney picture of the era that most railways aim to recreate. Really, it’s time to stop!

David Gordon, Hinton St George, Somerset.

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