Steam Memories: March 2015

Tuesday 31 March 2015

Haworth on a late summer's busy day

It is amazing how nature has taken over the old

station at Haworth

Haworth was essentially a small mill town, now it

is very rural. With of course the wonderful history

of the Bronte sisters and the books they wrote.

The 'Chinese Engine' at the NRM York

Chinese Government Railways Steam Locomotive 4-8-4 KF Class No 7

The Chinese locomotive is the largest single locomotive in the museum - over 15 foot tall and more than 93 feet long. These locos were the largest single-unit locomotives ever built in the UK. It was presented to the museum by the Chinese Government in 1981.

Steam Locomotive, Chinese Government Railways, KF7 class 4-8-4 No 607, designed by Colonel Kenneth Cantlie, built by Vulcan Foundry in 1935, withdrawn in 1981

Stanier Black Five 45305 Alderman Draper

Here 45305 was having a spell at the NRM

A superb engine and saved because it was the

cleanest of three due to be scrapped at Drapers

in Hull

The last of the line Evening Star

Frome Mick Higgins visit to the NRM York

Many thanks Mick Higgins

London Brighton and South Coast Railways Gladstone

LBSCR Gladstone showing where the crest was

places when conveying Queen Victoria

I am sure the Queen had a much grander conveyance

to and from the station

NRM York

The National Railway Museum York

You will have a very good day out

Ancient, Stephensons Rocket

And modern, Class 31 Diesel locomotive

The heraldry of the railways

The royal crest carried by Queen Victoria's train

Sir Winston Churchill

The luxury of the Pullman's

Somewhat better than our present day mundanety

King Edward VII saloon at the National Railway Museum.

Queen Victoria refused to allow any of her trains to travel more than 40mph in daylight and 30mph at night. It is said that she had a special signal installed on the roof of one of her carriages so she could instruct the driver to slow down if she felt he was going too fast.

Edward VII (1841-1910) took an active interest in the design of his carriages. He requested this be styled similar to the Royal Yacht.

LNWR King Edward's Saloon (LMS) No. 800 - 1977.

Number: DS050167-19783

King Edward VII's Royal Saloon. Built in 1903.

LNWR King Edward VII's 65'6" Saloon in LNWR plum & spilt milk livery; designed by C A Park of the LNWR and built at Wolverton, 1903. The LNWR did not number it's Royal coaches. At the National Railway Museum York

The above are from the lens of Mick Higgins

Sorry about the reflections

NRM York Get up close see what the driver saw

See the engine from the drivers position, get on the

footplate

London Brighton & South Coast Railway, 0-4-2 No 214, "Gladstone", designed by William Stroudley, built at Brighton in 1882, withdrawn 1927.

Steam Locomotive, Midland Railway, 4-2-2 No 673, Midland Spinner, designed by S.W. Johnson, built at Derby in 1897, withdrawn in 1923

Compare with complexity of the Southern Railway

and a Battle of Britain Pacific

The National Railway Museum York

We are undoubtedly well blessed with one of, if

not the finest railway museum in the world

York is a wonderful city with lots of history to see

and you can easily spend a day in the NRM alone

Always lots to see and exhibits do change

LMS Princess Coronation Class 'Duchess of Hamilton'

A few more from Micks visit to the NRM at York

LMS streamliner 'Duchess of Hamilton'

Some said they looked like a bathtub

upended with go faster stripes

However they did speed up the Euston Glasgow

service though the Princess Royals did their fair

share of that work too.

Many thanks Mick Higgins

Monday 30 March 2015

B of B pacific 'Sir Winston Churchill' and the funeral train

The project to reunite Sir Winston Churchill's funeral train has been achieved. Staff at Locomotion; the National Railway Museum at Shildon prepared the carriage that carried his coffin for its historic journey. The newly cosmetically restored parcel van is now playing its part in the national events marking 50 years since the his state funeral.
The workshop team at the Co Durham museum moved Southern Railways goods van S2464S from the workshop where it has been undergoing comprehensive restoration work for the previous 3 months to transform it back into its 1965 condition, ready for its journey by road. On loan from the Swanage Railway, which brought it back from the US, it now takes pride of place in a display of the funeral train at the York National Railway Museum. Churchill's Final Journey (30 January -3 May) and will tell the moving story of the state funeral using archive TV news footage and a variety of personal recollections of the steam hauled funeral train.

Millions of people around the world watched the former prime minister's state funeral on January 30, 1965, in which his coffin was placed into the South Railway parcel van S2464S.

Following his death, the train carriage – which once carried basic goods such as vegetables and newspapers - ended up in Los Angeles before being brought back to the UK in 2007.