Gems from
Mike Morant
Mike Morant
My sincere apologies to Mike Morant for failing to enter up the following pictures he sent me in January. An oversight I'm afraid, perhaps due pressure of various other things maybe - anyway enjoy these rare views from Mikes extensive collection. They have also been entered up in the relevant section. KJ
LCGB: Somerset & Dorset Rail Tour 5/3/66 This tour ran on the penultimate day for the S & D and is notable for being the only known occasion when that railway played host to a Merchant Navy pacific and also the exquisite sight of spotless double-headed Bulleid light pacifics which took over haulage duties from Evercreech Junction to Bath followed by the return as far as Bournemouth Central. West Country no. 34006 Bude and Battle of Britain no. 34057 Biggin Hill are depicted here departing from Templecombe Upper on that last leg. [Mike Morant collection]
Former LSWR Adams designed 0415 class 4-4-2 radial tank no. 0125 at Lyme Regis in September 1933. 0125 had been built by Robert Stephenson & Co. and entered LSWR service in September 1885 as its no. 125. The zero prefix to indicate a duplicated stock number was applied in July 1911. In November 1933, shortly after this shot was taken, futher renumbering to 3125 occurred. March 1949 saw the application of its BR number 30582. Withdrawal came at Exmouth Junction in July 1961. [Mike Morant collection]
Home Counties Railway Society: Mendip Railtour 6/10/63 This tour started from Paddington with Stanier 4-6-0 no. 45552 Silver Jubilee as the motive power as far as Bristol, Temple Meads. Former GWR prairie tanks 4103 and 6148, both allocated to 82E Bristol Barrow Road shed at the time, were in charge for the next 3h 45m and took the participants to Westbury with lengthy stops at Yatton, Cheddar where this shot was taken and Wells. The Cheddar valley line had closed to passenger traffic about a month prior to this trip. [Mike Morant collection]
Many thanks Mike.
Royal Scot heads the Dartmouth Express
David Tozer
David Tozer
170624 46100 Royal Scot passes Stoke Canon with the Dartmouth Express. Copyright David Tozer 24.6.2017
170624 Plenty of smoke as 46100 Royal Scot leaves Exeter St David's on its return run to Woking. Copyright David Tozer. 24.6.2017
Has The Curse Of 37069 Happened Again??!!
Karl Hewlett
Karl Hewlett
For one that was looking forward to 'The Mazey Day Cornishman' railtour and being caught up in 'will it won't it' turn up at Lostwithiel with numerous things going wrong such as 069 refusing to do anything, 059 on low Amps, a brake fault with one of the coaches, go to or not going to Paignton and now talk of it not getting back to Worcester because of an engineering blockade, has the curse of 37069 happened again??!!
Now for over a hundred years there has been strong beliefs by footplate crew of locomotives that are cursed or jinxed, this could be anything from locos dropping on top of workmen whilst being constructed to crashes and tragic circumstances. Some enginemen would say poppycock laddie, whilst others would swear on their life these tails are true. Examples of locos that fall into this category are 47216/299 which BR had Immingham staff practically sworn to secrecy because a medium had predicted this loco would be involved in a horrific pile up, it later did at Wrawby Junction despite its renumbering to 299 in hope to prevent this. The loco was practically rebuilt and even then it had several misdemeanours afterwards. There have been stories of some crew when booking on and checking the roster to see 299 allocated to them, they would refuse to take it out. Great Train Robbery loco D326 (40136), has been in several scrapes including another serious one not connected with the robbery, I believe no less than five accidents in total. back to steam days when a Jubilee being constructed fell on top of a erecting shop member and killed him, this loco would never run smoothly even when it was stripped to it's last nut and bolt and reassembled with new parts its problems stayed with it to the scrap man.
Now we come to another another jinxed loco, 37069. This loco was running along the EMCL in pre TOPS days (D6769), when the driver swapped places with the secondman so he could get some road knowledge in. This took place between Northallerton and York and soon after this swap occurred a Deltic headed train in the opposite direction kicked up debre from the trackside and this flew the front cab window hitting him on the head which he died instantly. Since then 37069 has be dubbed jinxed because of unexplainable things have happened more than once such as the horn being unexpectedly blown, fire bottles discharging themselves, an airy feeling of not being alone in the cab and some drivers have even reported seeing a ghostly aberration at the controls of the loco. Which loco packed up at Worcester and refused to play ball; 37069. All the other problems since, has the curse of 37069 returned to haunt The Mazey Day Cornishman?
Regards, Karl (Friends Of Penmere Station).
Many thanks for a most interesting article Karl.
Now for over a hundred years there has been strong beliefs by footplate crew of locomotives that are cursed or jinxed, this could be anything from locos dropping on top of workmen whilst being constructed to crashes and tragic circumstances. Some enginemen would say poppycock laddie, whilst others would swear on their life these tails are true. Examples of locos that fall into this category are 47216/299 which BR had Immingham staff practically sworn to secrecy because a medium had predicted this loco would be involved in a horrific pile up, it later did at Wrawby Junction despite its renumbering to 299 in hope to prevent this. The loco was practically rebuilt and even then it had several misdemeanours afterwards. There have been stories of some crew when booking on and checking the roster to see 299 allocated to them, they would refuse to take it out. Great Train Robbery loco D326 (40136), has been in several scrapes including another serious one not connected with the robbery, I believe no less than five accidents in total. back to steam days when a Jubilee being constructed fell on top of a erecting shop member and killed him, this loco would never run smoothly even when it was stripped to it's last nut and bolt and reassembled with new parts its problems stayed with it to the scrap man.
Now we come to another another jinxed loco, 37069. This loco was running along the EMCL in pre TOPS days (D6769), when the driver swapped places with the secondman so he could get some road knowledge in. This took place between Northallerton and York and soon after this swap occurred a Deltic headed train in the opposite direction kicked up debre from the trackside and this flew the front cab window hitting him on the head which he died instantly. Since then 37069 has be dubbed jinxed because of unexplainable things have happened more than once such as the horn being unexpectedly blown, fire bottles discharging themselves, an airy feeling of not being alone in the cab and some drivers have even reported seeing a ghostly aberration at the controls of the loco. Which loco packed up at Worcester and refused to play ball; 37069. All the other problems since, has the curse of 37069 returned to haunt The Mazey Day Cornishman?
Regards, Karl (Friends Of Penmere Station).
Many thanks for a most interesting article Karl.
Somerton
John Cornelius
John Cornelius
An early track machine. Copyright John Cornelius