Oldun

Woodhams scrapyard is probably the most important scrapyard in British history.

You see many preserved steam locos these days, but did you ever wonder where they came from?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/taffyta...7621170710769/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodham_Brothers

Show us your photos of these preserved locos and check its number on the list in Wiki to see if it came from Barry Island.

Funkii Munkii

Very Interesting, I notice the 3 Warships on the second page snuck in there.

Booths of Rotherham was the Diesel lovers equivalent of Barry

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

And NONE were preserved.

Preservation, in this country as a whole, has been hotch-potch and piece-meal.

Locos have been preserved just because they were in the right place at the right time.

To give you examples, out of the A4 class, the country preserve3d "Mallard" of course.
We also have "Sir Nigel Gresley", named after the great man.

And what else? "Bittern"......WHAT? I hear you say? And I agree.
Where are "Silver Link", (The doyen of the class) and Silver Fox, the loco only just beaten to the record by Mallard? Gone.

Yet "Union of South Africa" is preserved? Which? Yes, Union of South Africa, which had to run without it's name plates for years because we fell out with South Africa over apartheid.

We also sent two A4's abroad, "Dwight D. Eisenhower" to the USA, and "Dominion of Canada" to Canada.

But we scrapped Dominion of New Zealand and "Commonwealth of Australia"......

Go figure.......

Oldun

Here they are back on home soil, even if the Mail captioned them as L4 locos!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...ocomotive.html

Roll on next year!!

Oldun

The initial problem with diesels was that the older generation of rail enthusiasts didn't like them much (a bit like Classic vs Hatch ) so there was no great rush to preserve them.

It was a great pity, I grew up just a couple of hundred yards away from 8A shed in Liverpool which was a steam shed, but BR housed one of the first modern diesels, D1, in there for a short time during its trial period in the summer of 1959, I remember seeing the gleaming new loco amongst the filth of the shed, it was always parked at the 'clean' end of the shed away from the steam locos being prepared for the day.
My next door neighbour was a driver at 8A and often I would walk up to the shed with him to look at any unusual visitors that were there, he even got me a footplate ride on the prototype blue Deltic (1955?) from Lime Street to Edge Hill station when he was driving it.

wayne9t9

Went there on a school trip. Too young to appreciate it and was petrified the teacher was going to hand out wire brushes to clean off the rust.

Chip

That article could have been written by me. I Spent many an hour strolling around there as a kid.

Chip

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Look at the conditions of the two locos: Dwight D. Eisenhower has been kept polished to within an inch of it's life, Dominion of Canada has been alowed to rust and looks like the streamlined casing top has never seen an oily rag

I too remember Edge Hill shed, 8A in Liverpool. Along with 27A, Bank Hall, also Liverpool, it was one of the sheds spotters from other areas dreamed of going round.

Sadly, by the time I went, 1966, Edge Hill was all but closed, and Bank Hall was a shadow of it's former glory.....although there WERE two Jubilees painted green present.

finalzero

Stunning mate!

I have started to get into that kind of photography, set pieces, close up of machinery especially decaying items landscapes.

Some really talented folks on this site:

http://lostonplanetearth.net/

I am not a big fan of HDR though, still prefer to use traditional digital graphics art and design techniques with a tablet freehand.

Busterbulldog

iTrader: (1)

When i saw this thread I was expecting pics of the funfair...now thats proper scrap.

Allan

iTrader: (1)

images, love this sort of stuff.

Leslie

I remember seeing one of the Union Pacific Big Boy loco's once. Now that was an impressive one to see-what a monster that was!

Les

Carlh

I remember visiting barry island when I was a child and seeing all the scrap trains next to the car park. Loads of people would wander over to take a look.

Such a shame its gone

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Well, yes and no.

if it had stayed it would have either been cut up or rusted away to nowt.

Most have gone to preservation.

I visited in 1970, you should have gone then, lines and lines and lines of locos waiting the torch. Weeds and flowers growing out of them and through them, and no sound, just the wind.........eery and sad.

I remember a programme around that time, with shots of Barry at the end, where someone read this poem:

My engine now is cold and still

No water does my boiler fill

My coke affords its flame no more

My days of usefulness are o'er

My wheels deny their noted speed

No more my guiding hands they heed

My whistle too has lost its tone

Its shrill and thrilling sounds are gone

My valves are now thrown open wide

My flanges all refuse to guide

My clacks also, through once so strong

Refuse to aide the busy throng

No more I feel each urging breath

My steam is now condens'd in death

Life's railway's oe'r each station's past

In death I'm stopp'd and rest at last

Farewell dear friends and cease to weep

In Christ I'm safe in Him I sleep

If you are wondering how a loco can be safe in Christ, it's actually an epitaph of two enginmen killed at Bromsgrove when the boiler of their 19th century loco blew up.

Osimabu

iTrader: (2)

Sadly for me, no locomotives from my beloved M&GN Joint survived into preservation. All we have is the Ivatt 4MT (43106) at the Severn Valley which started its life at South Lynn, but not in the Joint's heyday of course.

Oh for a Beyer Peacock Class A or a Johnson Class C....

Funkii Munkii

What no Warships preserved (yes 2 were) or nothing in booths was ever preserved ?.

Unlikely anything that ever entered booths ever came out on it's wheels again, anythibng that went to preservation came from the depots and works where they were taken after withdrawl, Deltics foir example all ended up at Donny Works before being sold or cut up.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

sadly, you are mistaken: there were actually TWO classes of loco called "Warships": http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/d600m_in.htm and : http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/d800m_in.htm, not including that the Class 50's ALSO carried warship names, but were not known as Warships, only Class 50's or Hoovers.

The early Warships, the D600 class, are what ended their days at Barry. And none of THEM was preserved.

The later, D800 class all ended their days at Laira (Plymouth), or Swindon works.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

I'm with you there, another example of the hotch-potch preservation thing. Virtually ALL the locos at Barry were of ex-GWR, SR or Standard classes, so more of them got preserved.
LNER classes were not so lucky, and pre-grouping railways even unluckier still.

So we had SIX A4's preserved, only ONE A3, one Peppercorn A2, and no other pacifics, of which there were FIVE other classes.

On the LMS we had FIVE Princess, or Princess Coronation class locos preserved, TWO Royal Scots, (but none unrebuilt), FOUR Jubilees, but no Patriots, rebuilt or unrebuilt.

Totally hotch-potch, with groups preserving what they liked best and no effort to get one of each of the most important classes, or even the most important member of each class.

THEN we are left in a position where someone spends a couple of £million BUILDING a new steam loco to fill the gap.

Yet Drapers at Hull had several of that class to cut up...and he preserved yet another "Black 5"...and EIGHTEEN of that class ended up preserved. Crazy.

Funkii Munkii

You should have been class specific But you are right, the picture shows 3 of the 600'sThe 600's had the flat(ish) front end whereas the 800's had more of a dome, prefer the 800's myself.

For my era we never called 50's warships only Hoovers or 50's You'll probably remember 50007 was renamed Sir Edward Elgar from Hercules, got a lovely Brunswick Green paint job and some nice brass plates inc number plates

Funkii Munkii

Just checked your links,

Osimabu

iTrader: (2)

Sadly, nearly all the M&GN locos were gone even before Nationalisation. Only one survived to wear its British Railways number, and the very last, one of the Hudswell Clark Class B 4-4-0Ts, was cut up at the Longmoor Military Railway in 1953.

I'm not much into large main line locomotives, a couple of replica Joint engines is my dream Euromillions project. All I need to do now is win the blessed thing!

I wonder if the diesels of the current era will ever end up on preserved lines? I'd like to think so, but they are a bit characterless compared to the older ones.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

There are already some built in the late 80's being earmarked foir preservation, class 56 and 58 for example.

The 58's were the last locomotives constructed at "The Plant", Doncaster Works, sadly also no more.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

I do, but I never had the soft spot for the 50's that later spotters had, since it was they who displaced the much mourned Westerns.

I once heard the 50's described as 50/50's, because that was the chance you had of arrival if one was on your train. Then they were completely refurbed at Donny works and came out far better.

Funkii Munkii

After 25 years away I was shocked to see 56's in preservation, and you say 58's also, bloody hell !!

I remember the 58's being built and thinking they looked American and ugly and I think every diesel since has been the same although I stopped being an enthusiast around the mid 80's thanks to cars, music and women !!

Having recently started googling the old scene I was shocked to see how many sheds are gone, Finsbury Park, Tinsley, turn table gone at Old Oak Common for example. Tinsley was a mecca back in the day. Through googling I have found some great groups on Flickr. BR Diesels from the 70's and 80's and especially "British Railways Engine Sheds 1948 to 1994"

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Have a look on www.RMWeb.co.uk.
There's a guy on there making a SCALE model of Toton...all eighteen roads!

Funkii Munkii

Blocked here

I'll have a look when I get home :cheers

Toton and Tinsley were the big 2

Oldun

My favourite diesels are the Class 37 locos.
Turbo whine, burbling exhaust and flaming exhausts. Hmm, sounds familiar.

Frosticles

iTrader: (1)

Last Sunday I went to Barrow Hill which is the last surviving "Roundhouse" to take a few pics as I was bored. First went there in the 80's when it was operational. It's now preserved and open to the public. Some awesome machinery there

Funkii Munkii

Excellent shots

I also went to Barrow Hill as a kid when it was operation, never been back since preservation, must go sometime

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Me too, when is it open?

The biggest three sheds in diesel days were, in order:
Toton, Stratford, Eastfield, (Glasgow).
There were large sheds in each city, some having more than one. VERY few left now, with the demise of the diesel locomotive and it's replacement by multiple units on passenger trains.

Toton the only one left of the big three. Stratford has the Olympic park on top of it and Eastfield is afaik derelict.

Used to get over 100 locos at Toton on a Sunday in it's heyday.
Compare with nearly 300 on Stratford in steam days.....

Here's the thread on Toton, renamed "Boxenby":
http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/ind...boxenby-depot/