North Norfolk Railway, a couple of clips and some stills from 2017.

The featured photo was not taken by me.

More from Neil Clarke’s Collection – Swanage Railway

Swanage Railway, visited and photographed by Neil Clarke.

Photos taken around the 1990s/2000s

A few from John D, 2019

 

The Swanage Railway

Located in the Isle of Purbeck, the rebuilt Swanage Railway is the perfect place to enjoy a great family day out on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast.

The heritage railway attraction operates full-size steam and diesel passenger trains along the five and a half miles of line from Norden to Corfe Castle and down to the Victoria seaside town of Swanage.

The line has stations at Corfe Castle and Harman’s Cross as well as a halt at Herston, on the outskirts of Swanage. There are refreshment buffets at Norden and Swanage stations with picnic tables at most of the stations so you can soak up the atmosphere while enjoying a picnic.

Our station shop at Swanage is well stocked with souvenirs, railway books and DVDs, a large selection of items for model railways as well as clothing, railway prints and gifts for all ages.

If you are looking for something special, you can book on one of our dining trains or attend one of our special events such as a footplate experience on a steam locomotive or railway photography day.

Whether you are a railway enthusiast, looking for something to do with the family or planning a visit to the beach, the Swanage Railway will provide interest and enjoyment for all.

There is convenient parking at Purbeck Park, next to Norden station, and a five minute walk from Swanage station in the Victoria Avenue car park.

https://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/

1966 – A2 Commemorative Railtour

One of the last steam-hauled trains on the West of England mainline was a far from auspicious occasion, ‘A2’ Pacific No 60532 was brought down from Scotland for the Locomotive Club of Great Britain’s ‘A2 Commemorative Railtour’ on 14 August 1966. Here the train is photographed near Crewkerne en route from Waterloo to Exeter where, after stalling on Honiton bank thanks to a shortage of steam, ‘Blue Peter’ scuttled off to Exmouth Junction shed for attention.  The locomotive did manage to continue to Westbury where @Britannia’ Class Pacific No 70004 ‘William Shakespeare’ took over for the return leg which was by the direct route to Salisbury thence Andover to Waterloo.  (Photo: M.J.Fox/Rail Archive Stephenson.

Three snowy scenes from the 1960s

Despite the Arctic temperatures there were times when conditions were conducive to producing some startling photographic images and here we see one such picture. With maximum temperatures in the Gloucester area as low as -4 Celsius, and -7 the following day, we see Collett ‘Hall’  class 4-6-0 No 4980 ‘Wrottesley Hall’ in charge of a freight working at Frampton Mansell, between Stroud and Kemble on 22 January 1963.  In the frigid but still atmosphere the billowing white exhaust marks the progress of No 4980 as it battles the elements and the dead weight of its train.  Despite a white-hot fire when working hard the cab of steam locomotives such as 4980 could be draughty and bitterly cold in these conditions.  (Photo: B.J.Ashworth.

The weather at the beginning of January 1963 saw no let-up in the freezing temperatures and hard-packed snow and ice. The knock-on effect of this was that it was almost impossible to keep the main line water troughs operable.  On 12 January 1963 Princess Coronation Class Pacific No 46235 ‘City of Birmingham’ of Crewe North shed restarts a very late express for Euston after stopping at Tring for water due to Castlethorpe water troughs being frozen.  Tring was the only place south of Rugby where water was still flowing freely and the chaos this brought to the timetable is easy to comprehend.  The photograph was taken from the signal box steps.  (Photo: Patrick Russell/Rail Archive Stephenson.

A thick blanket of almost virgin snow covers the Western Region main line at Foxhall Junction, Didcot. Looking west towards Wantage Road and Swindon, the snow has created a fairy-tale landscape.  Falls of snow such as this always bring with them a silence which muffles the usual sounds of nature and man. A few sets of footprints show that the permanent way men have been out to inspect the track and ensure that the points are clear.  No doubt the signalman, ensconced in his box, has the fire in his stove well banked-up and his kettle on the boil to provide piping-hot tea for any callers.  (Photo: David Anderson.

Merchant Navy 35016 ‘Elders Fyffes’ & A3 No 60039 ‘Sandwich’

Merchant Navy 35016 ‘Elders Fyffes’

& A3 No 60039 ‘Sandwich’

The last ‘Titled’ run of the ‘Atlantic Coast Express’ was on Saturday, 5 September 1964, and during that final year, on Saturday, 18 April 1964, we see the down titled train, hauled by ‘Merchant Navy’ Pacific No 35016 ‘Elders Fyffes’ accelerating through the dip immediately west of Wilton station, to the west of Salisbury, creating a superb sight. (Photo: Hugh Ballantyne.

Meteorologists tell us that the winter of 1962-3 was the coldest of the 20^th century, and here we look back at some of the images recorded by the hardy photographers who braved the often sub-zero temperatures to record the every-day happenings on the railways during that winter. In December 1962 we find King’s Cross Top Shed-allocated Gresley A3 Pacific No 60039 ‘Sandwich’ heading north past Markham Moor in charge of a down express.  The low winter sun and low temperature combine to produce a stunning image of an ‘A3’ Pacific in final British Railways condition, complete with Kylchap exhaust and German style smoke deflectors.  (Photo:  Keith Pirt/Courtesy Book Law Publications.

 

Merchant Navy Locomotives

 

Designed very largely for the Eastern Section express turns from which they were regularly dropped due to early unreliability, the Merchant Navys missed their time, and by the time the rebuilds appeared electrification on the Kent coast was already making them partially redundant.

Nevertheless, by the mid-1960s they were in fine form working from Waterloo and gave British express steam a fondly remembered final hour, with smart timings and sometimes spectacular running to Bournemouth, Weymouth and Salisbury.

The distant days of the unrebuilt ‘Merchant Navy’ Class locos (and of childhood enthusiasms) are recalled in this study of the platform at Victoria in March 1954.  35027 ‘Port Line’, one of the ten BR-built engines, leaves with the down ‘Golden Arrow’ Pullman. (Photo: S.C.Townroe/Colour-Rail.

Four months later, ‘Port Line’ was photographed at Folkestone Junction in charge of an up boat train.  (Photo: J.Davenport/Colour-Rail

A Consett 9F

A Consett Iron Ore 9F

 

A 9F on a freight working with which the class will always be associated: the Consett Iron ore trains on the NER.  As many as ten trains a day, consisting of nine wagons plus brakevan – some 800 tons – worked on a circuit system between Tyne Dock and the furnaces of the Consett Iron Company.  The 9Fs were first used on the trains in 1955 and the following year 92060-66 and 92095-97 were fitted with Westinghouse pumps for working the air-operated discharge doors from the wagons.  The air compressors set into the running plate are very evident in this view of 92064 drifting downgrade near Leadgate with a train on Consett hopper wagons in September 1965.  Shedded at Tyne Dock, this engine worked these particular trains for its entire life, which ended in November 1966 when the Class 24 diesel-electrics took over the Consett trains. (Photo J.Richardson.

Ex-LMS Pacific, City of London and Steam over Shap

Ex-LMS Pacific, City of London

and Steam over Shap

It is somewhat rare to see a published colour photo of a non-preserved steam locomotive, but R.C.Riley’s superb winter-light study of ex-LMS Pacific 46245 ‘City of London’ at Camden shed on 16^th February 1958, newly out-shopped in red livery (the first of the class to be so treated) is fully representative of  fine historical colour photography.

The spectacle we have traded for the understated, super-efficient electrics.  The last of steam over Shap, December 1967.  (Photo: Paul Riley.

 

K3 61803 on freight, and a banker

 

K3 61803, recently ex-works in fully lined out black livery heads an east-bound freight train on the GC line and approaches the GN/GC crossing in May 1959.  One of the original 10 GNR Class H4 locomotives (GN 1003, built Doncaster1920) 61803 acquired a group standard cab in December 1939, the original GNR tender having been replaced in January 1926 by a standard LNER version.  The engine was withdrawn in July 1961.  (Photo: Keith R. Pirt.

The inevitable banker, a BR Class 4 4-6-0, about a mile or so up the bank from Tebay in December 1967, helps a northbound freight.  (Photo Paul Riley

A Couple of Steam Train pics from the 1950s

A4 60023 ‘Golden Eagle’ ex-works approaches Retford Station with a down stopping express from King’s Cross to Newcastle in September 1958.  The train straddles the GC main line in this view and the crossing box dominates the scene.  60023 was rebuilt with a double Kylchap exhaust in September 1958 and was subsequently used in Scotland and Ferryhill shed, Aberdeen until withdrawn in October 1964.  (Photo: Keith R.Pirt

Gresley 02/3 2-8-0 63980 moves a heavy east bound coal train for the CEGB River Trent power stations near Ordsall crossing in May 1959.  63980 was built at Doncaster, works No 1948 in December 1942 as one of the final series of 25 engines, it was withdrawn in September 1963. (Photo: Keith R.Pirt