Items added on the 18th February 2018 Those added most recently come first.

Salisbury
Ron Kosys

Salisbury 47710+47714 departing Salisbury with the 1O39 Exeter to Waterloo the 1548 off Salisbury on the 28th July 1991 Copyright Ron Kosys

Bolitho, Liskeard
Roger Geach

Bolitho, Liskeards 47703 with the 08.56 Penzance Manchester on the 5th August 1998 Copyright Roger Geach

'Off Roading' at Christow.
Colin  Burges

Among some slides I have just had digitized are these recording the arrival of my Drewry 0-4-0 Industrial diesel shunter at Christow in April, 1993.
There had been difficulty loading the loco at Exmouth Junction because the 55-ton crane booked for the job had failed and a 45-ton substitute was sent which was inadequate. At Christow this meant that the best that could be done was offloading the loco at the yard entrance.
A while later, when the ground had hardened, I had the bright idea of running the loco down the slope using short lengths of rail which would have to be picked up and taken forward after each short advance. Well, a combination of sloppy controls and my lack of conversancy led to this plan and the loco quickly derailing.
Seeing that that only the flanges sank into the roadway, I applied power and drove the loco on the dirt to the foot of the slope, where it lay gradually sinking until craned in the summer. But the first lift only repositioned it so that I could again drive it along the ground to where the crane could rerail it.
This "off-road" driving had precedent as anyone who has seen the concrete outside St. Blazey shed will know.
Many thanks indeed for this insight into a rather complicated delivery operation.
To see more of Colin's extensive mixed gauge 'Exeter and Teign Valley Railway Preservation site' please click here.

'ON ARRIVAL THE DREWRY 0-4-0 INDUSTRIAL IS CAREFULLY LIFTED OFF THE LOW-LOADER'. . April 1993 Copyright Colin Burges

'GENTLY DOES IT - THE LOCO IS OFF LOADED ONTO RAILS' April 1993 ' Copyright Colin Burges

'RAILS AND RUTS' the loco finally makes it' April 1993 Copyright Colin Burge

A PERTINENT NOTE!' April 1993 Copyright Colin Burge

Yeovil Water Tower
John Cornelius

'One of the early jobs undertaken at 'YRC' was to clean up the water tank
 sections recovered from Morlands at Glastonbury,with those in the best
 condition to be retained for the rebuild. All restoration work was done in the open as we had no under cover protection in those days.
 This series of pics show various of progress with the rebuild,which from
 start to finish took nearly three years. The rebuilt tank is slightly
 smaller than the original and contains about 15,000 gallons of water,
 more than enough to fill the tenders when we have two locos on site
 for servicing at the same time.' 
​Many thanks indeed for your article John and as usual congratulations to the dedicated team at Yeovil Railway Centre. 

You may have wondered where the water comes from - John supplies the answer :-  A water meter is installed at the point where the connection
for our site leaves the mains pipe, near the inspection pit.
Originally when we watered locos we had to use a portable pump to get
water from the tank into the tenders, until pipework was installed across the yard from the tank to the water crane by the turntable.

All the above pictures are the copyright of John Cornelius  many thanks John.

Lost relatives - an Appeal
John Alexander Williams

​I write to you in an attempt to find some information on my great great grandfather a Mr John T Williams who left Carn Brea about November 1865 for Australia. I have in my possession a copy of a reference given to him on the 4th November 1865 which states he was employed by the South Devon ,Cornwall and West Cornwall Railways Engineering Department for approximately five and a half years prior to that date i.e. around 1858,1859. The reference is signed by the following Offiicers in Charge .... H Appleby, Loco Engineer Wm Nichol, Accountant John Richards , Smiths and Boilermakers John Ivey, Engineers & C0 I believe the middle letter in his name was T for Trewin . I also believe he was born around 1847 in or around Carn Brae . Any information would be of great help or if you can direct me to someone who may be of help would be greatly appreciated as there is a chance I am coming to Carn Brea this year and would dearly like to try and get some history on my family . I live in Melbourne Australia and am 73 years old Thanking you in anticipation.
Yours truly John Alexander Williams. Can anybody help?