Keighley Worth Valley Railway Exhibition

624 8Fs passed into British Railways ownership when Britain's railways were nationalised in 1948. A further 39 (10 requisitioned) were purchased from MEF stock in 1948, and a final 3 (1 requisitioned) from the Longmoor Military Railway in 1957, bringing the total to 666. The 8Fs were concentrated on the London Midland Region, but were also allocated to former LMS sheds on other regions. 48431 below is the only surviving Swindon Built engine. Here at Oxenhope she awaits heavy overhaul

 

 

Of the fifteen engines known to have survived into preservation, three have seen main line operation: Nos. 48151, 48305 and 48773. These have been regular mainline performers in recent years with 48773 & 48305 being withdrawn from operation in the early 2000s. At present 48151 is the only 8F to be certified for mainline use, despite being limited to only 50 mph (due to her wheel size) she has managed to pull in a few mainline trips in recent years, trips include The Fellsman, Scarborough Spa Express, Waverley, Roses Express & recently The Welsh Mountaineer.
Some of the preserved examples have stars on their cabside's indicating that they have specially balanced wheelsets/motion. This practice began under the auspices of British Railways, to denote that locomotives thus treated were able to work fast, vacuum-braked goods services.

 

The Railway has two 3rd Class Pullman cars that are used on the prestigious ‘The White Rose’ dining trains, emulating a style of opulent travel from an age gone by. Delivered new together in 1930 to the LNER as no.’s 83 and 84, on withdrawal the two went their separate ways, to eventually be re-united on the KWVR.

 

Whilst on the Railway they have been named ‘Ann’, in honour of founding father of the Railway, the late Bob Cryer, and his wife, President of the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway Preservation Society, Ann Cryer and ‘Mary’, the wife of the late Bishop Eric Treacy and in whose memory the coach is named.

 

There is a third coach painted in Pulman style.

Built as a standard Mark1 Open Corridor coach, E4588 arrived on the Railway with most of its original interior removed. Rather than restoring the coach back to its original condition, the coach was converted into a bar car, painted in mock-Pullman livery to complement the Pullman carriages and fitted with an authentic bar salvaged from a public house in Leeds.
Named ‘The Jubilee Bar’  to commemorate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977, the coach can occasionally be seen on service e trains on special operating days but more usually attached to the 2 Pullman coaches on ‘The White Rose’ Pullman dining trains.

 

GWR Pannier needs no introduction. At present it

can be seen at the NRM Shildon site

 

The Manchester Ship Canal Railway was the largest privately-owned railway in Britain, with over 200 track miles and even in 1959 had no fewer than 70 steam locomotives. Most of the engines were one of two versions of the standard industrial tank type built by Hudswell, Clarke & Co. Ltd., of Leeds.
No. 31 is a version with short side tanks built in 1903 and arrived on the Worth Valley in June 1967. It was fitted with vacuum brake equipment to allow it to work passenger services along with steam heating equipment to allow for winter duties. Due to the gradients on the Worth Valley line, however, the engine was usually limited to 2 or 3 coaches and was therefore of limited use.
As KWVR traffic increased, passenger work suitable for this locomotive became scarce and apart featuring in the television series “The Railway Children”, forerunner to the well known EMI film of the same name, and Sherlock Holmes, the locomotive has seen little use and now resides out of use at Oxenhope.

My thanks to Wikipedia and the KWVR for the above notes.

http://www.kwvr.co.uk/