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Saturday 28 February 2015

Lancashier and Yorkshire Railway No1300

1300 was one of the dreadnaughts built at Horwich
 
 
Seen here at Embsay station on the Embsay Bolton
Abbey line

 
Strange to say Horwich is quite close to Bolton
in Lancashire

Great Northern Railway good termini

The good terminus for Bradford was City Rd and
my favourite train spotting place as a lad
 
 
The track in the centre of the picture is the dog
track where every Saturday and Wed evening
the workers of this part of the city could indulge
the wish for a little flutter
 
 
The view above shows Princeville
primary school, which was a very
nicely laid out school for the period.
The city road approach line can be
 seen crossing the centre of the
picture, The bridge was an access
bridge to the dog track and we often
 climbed over the gate to take a
shortcut through to Listerhills.
As a teacher in latter years of
my life I know Bradford to have
been a leader in many educational
matters. The system certainly served
this working class boy well.


 
Halifax North Bridge station, the good yard was
on the other side of North Bridge where the line
ran to link with the L&Y

 
You can see the goods shed through he bridge in
picture

 
 
here a better view from the southern side of North
Bridge showing the GNR goods yard and the link
viaduct to the L&Y line
 
Many thanks to Malcolm Bull for some of these views
 

Friday 27 February 2015

Great Northern Railway, Strines cutting to North Bridge station

Here a Diesel with the track lifted
from Queensbury tunnel exits on
its way down to Halifax
 
 
The first station out of the tunnel was Holmfield
the mill in the background is Holmfield mills and
can still be seen today as a marker to the station

 
The onto Ovenden which was a small station and
Almost always the destination for my mother and
myself

 
The station building can still e seen at Ovenden.
Instead fo going down Lee Bank into Halifax
turn down Old Lane

 
Then Lee Bank tunnel, a short tunnel beneath the
outcrop. Below is the exit facing Halifax


 
Here the entrance to Lee Bank Tunnel facing north
The mill on the left is sometimes referred to as Old
Lane mills but the OS maps call it Lee Bank mills

 
The railway then crossed the valley to Old Lane
Tunnel from where it went into Halifax North
Bridge station


Thursday 26 February 2015

British Railways standard class 4 tanks. The culmination of the basic design.

It came a long way from Hughe's first thoughts
and rough designs
 
 
Undoubtedly a magnificent piece of engineering

 
Many were saved and continue to serve the preserved
railways well.

LMS Fowler and BR stand class 4 tank engines at Leeds Wellington St

I nice comparison can bee seen here
 
 
Certainly the heritage is obvious

 
 
Many thanks to Peter Brumby and Hull Models for
the above pictures
 


 

Wednesday 25 February 2015

Bradford Exchange Sidings and the Fairburn Tanks

Not a common sight but at the side of Exchange
station there were both carriage sidings and
locomotive accommodation.
 
 
The Fairburn tanks were common haulers on all
Bradford lines

 
The Fairburn tanks were the development of an
idea of Hughes which only got as far as the drawing
board. Fairburn completed the job and Stanier
perfected it. They in turn formed the basic
design of the BR Class 2 tanks

 
Only two survived and both are at the Lakeside and
Haverthwaite Railway. Very common sights in my young days.
 
Many thanks to Peter Brumby and Models of Hull.

Queensbury tunnel Great Northen Railway plus map of location

Below is the northern entrance just outside the
station at Queensbury.
 
 
Here the southern entrance through Strines cutting
 

 
Below the Queensbury platelayers gang in front
of the northern entrance to Queensbury tunnel

 
Here the southern entrance showing the depth of
Strines cutting.

 
The tunnel was nearly two miles long and cost the
lives of two men during its construction.
 
My thanks to the Casserly and Alsop collections for
their views of this magnificent piece of civil engineering
 
 
Above a modern map showing the location of
Queensbury tunnel
 
An excellent video of the tunnel and its building can
be seen at

Queensbury station

From the over bridge facing the Thornton
Keighley direction
 
 
The line to Halifax can be seen in the distance
curving away to the left.

Tuesday 24 February 2015

43924 comming down the mountain! Well the grade from Ingrow

You can tell when a train is arriving as you can
here the warning bell ring in the station
 
 
The path down the side of the line is about midway

 
Undoubtedly the best place for taking photographs

 
Here 43924 makes the return trip
 
By the way this bank and bridge is where they filmed
the recent 'Great Train Robbery' They used the K&WVR's
type 37 diesel and coaches.

Keighley station and 43924

43924 makes a picture and the trees make a superb
background at Keighley on a summers day
 
 
Keighley is an old industrial West riding town
that is now rediscovering its rural roots.
 
 
A gateway to the Yorkshire Dales in many directions
 

Minehead on the West Somerset a few random pictures of the Mogul

Here a few unpublished pictures of the rebuild mogul
 



Johnson 115 class from an old post card

 
Samuel Waite Johnson introduced his 115 Class of 4-2-2s in 1887. 
As would be the case with William Dean's Achilles Class on the Great Western, the development of sanding applied directly by steam to the rails in front of the 7' 91/2" driving wheels controlled wheel slip but did not eliminate it completely, thus leading to the 115 Class being known as "Midland Spinners".
Despite this, 115 Class locomotives could handle a typical 250 ton Midland Railway express and even a 350 ton load under dry conditions and at speeds of up to 90 mph.  Thanks to the Midland's practice of building low powered locomotives and relying on double heading to cope with heavier trains as well,  many "Spinners" enjoyed working lives of up to 40 years and  made ideal pilot engines for the later Johnson / Deeley 4-4-0 classes.  The final ten - and enlarged - Midland 4-2-2s did not leave Derby Works until 1900.
In the Midland Railway 1907 renumbering scheme, the 115 Class were assigned numbers 670–684 and during the World War One most were placed in store - but surprisingly pressed into service afterwards as pilots on the Nottingham to London coal trains. They could also be seen on local stopping trains later in their lives.
Twelve locomotives survived to the 1923 grouping, keeping their Midland Railway numbers in LMS service. Nevertheless by 1927 only three of the class remained, with the last engine, 673 ( built in 1899 and formerly 118) being withdrawn in 1928 and preserved at the National Railway Museum at York. Several pictures of which of my own I have published in previous entries.

Monday 23 February 2015

The Vintage Carriages Trust Ingrow on the K&WVR

A very good point about the K&WVR
is that there is so much in a short
stretch of line.
 
 
The Vintage Carriages Trust at Ingrow
is always very well worth a visit.

 
Situated at the bottom of Ingrow yard
 

 
The Exhibition hall is always open
12 months of the year

 
With good displays of the Vintage Carriages

 
An excellent shop where you can also get a coffee
on cold days

 
You can also view on going work in the workshop
 

Riddles 2-8-0 Auterity in warmer times reminding us of the comming spring

Well hopefully. 90733 was in charge at the weekend
and on a cold but bright day
 
 
a reminder was welcome of the coming warmer weather

 
Here last August, wasn't it a lovely summer.
 

Derby Lightweight Diesel Multiple Unit Class 108 No’s. M50928 & M51565

I took this picture some time ago just before the
Derby DMU was taken out of service.
 
 
Introduced during 1954, Class 108 Diesel Multiple Units were the first DMUs to be introduced in the West Riding of Yorkshire. All were to be built by the British Railways works at Derby and designed primarily for use on local and branch line work, very much like the work required here on the Worth Valley Railway.
When new, both of the cars which now form this KWVR set were originally paired together and started their working life in Leeds. The pair was eventually split, however, and coupled to others, each probably having several partners during their working lives. This can be appreciated from the internal differences in each car. One remains more or less as it was built (as can be seen from the domed light shades) whilst the other was given a full refit during its life (as can be seen by the use of fluorescent lighting throughout).
Having worked services on the Railway for many years, the pair are now stored out of use at Haworth awaiting attention to bring them back into service.

http://kwvr.co.uk/


 

British Railways standard class 4 75078

I don't know what the little suited bird on the
tender is meant to say. Maybe just that engineers
sense of humour from the maintenance dept.
 
 
I am sure it will be lined out for next weeks winter
steam festival

 
Glad I caught it with a little snow still on the ground

 
Just adds that bit extra to the atmosphere. Which I
might add was blinking cold that day.