55 years ago today on Friday 18 March 1960 the last steam locomotive built by and for British Railways left Swindon Works. It was a BR Standard 9F freight loco number 92220 which is happily still with us. After a competition to find a suitable name for the loco it was named "Evening Star" at an open-air ceremony outside the works where it was built. The story made the national newspapers and national television. Lots more about it can be found on Wikipedia. After a very short working life the loco was withdrawn in March 1965 and set aside as part of the National Collection. March 2015 therefore marks 50 years in preservation for Evening Star. The 9Fs were a very successful design. One curious fact about the class is that of the 251 built not a single one had a speedometer fitted. Many thanks for that Mike.
Good evening Keith, 66090 heads up to Milltown with the 6G07 13:20 Fowey-Goonbarrow, with hazy high pressure light my shot was poor but my wife Jenny (The assistant) took this one.
All the best, Ron Full marks to 'The Assistant' and thanks Dear Cornwall Railway Society.
I was wondering it would be possible please, to add onto the Penmere section of the Falmouth branch, a link for the 'Friends of Penmere Station', a voluntary group who have attended/restored the station for the last twenty one years? The link for our webpage is: http://falmouthalive.org.uk/pg/groups/475/friends-of-penmere-station/ Thank you for your assistance, Regards Karl Hewlett Founder Member Friends of Penmere Station. Pleased to help. Many thanks Roger for the variety. Steve has kindly sent in this old picture (1980 seems recent to me!) of 24054 in the sick bay at Newton Abbot, note the 'Not to be moved' notice on the cab. Steve heard that the loco made it to Penzance - can anybody confirm that please? Perhaps the journey was a bit too far hence the need for attention!! Many thanks Steve. (It has subsequently been found that it was used at Penzance as a steam heating boiler)
Keith, Some comments arising from the key token picture:- 1. All the references which I have seen to Tolcarn Junction have spelt the name without an ‘E’. Are there any other examples of this alternative spelling? 2. When key tokens started to become a ‘collectable’ item in the 1960s, then some (if not all) S&T departments used to cut the key end off before sale to ensure that they could not be re-used in ‘live’ railway equipment. Since then many collectors have re-attached new ends to ‘complete’ their keys, so one has to be wary when buying such things at auctions etc. As an aside, in the case of tablets from the ex-SR lines then the S&T resorted to stamping ‘NOT IN USE’ across the face, not that that would stop you putting it back into a tablet machine if you got the chance :-) 3. As regards “other tokens elsewhere”, it depends what you mean by “identical keys”? This is a good example of a standard ex-GWR Electric Key Token, albeit of the later alloy type rather than the earlier steel version – as such, they could be found across the entire GWR/BR(WR) system. There were (usually) only 4 different configurations of key end, this one having once been a ‘D’ as identified by the yellow paint, so there would have been many other places where similar ‘D’ keys could have been found – just with different names on them of course. If you want to know more about such things in the West Country, then you might like to look at my website - West Country Railway Archives http://www.railwest.org.uk/ Regards, Chris Many thanks for this information Chris. Many thanks also to Martin Duff for his reply as well. More treats to follow from the Mike Morant Collection in due course. Hi Keith, The forecasters for once got it right with sun forecast only for the very far west on Friday (it was cloudy in Camborne but clear to the west). Anyway a few shots from my favourite Cornish branch line All the best, Ron. Thank you Ronald SAD NEWS From Mike Roach Hi Keith , For the benefit of our far-away readers you might wish to record that Western Greyhound Buses ceased trading overnight due to financial/insurance problems. All 150 staff have been made redundant.
Mike Roach Though we're not a bus society it is sad news to hear of a major transport link closing. |
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