Steam loco survival myths

hello
back in the eighties i was standing near lapworth with another bunch of photographers waiting for what was at the time a rare steam trip through there
we were standing at the bottom of someones garden after awhile the owner came out and asked what we were doing having explained to him there was a steam loco coming he started to relate the following
when he was younger he used to stand in the same spot train spotting so had a good interest in trains a few years later in 1967 his sister bought a boyfriend home
knowing his interest in trains he remarked that where he had been working that day as a electrician at mod fenny compton
there was a long line of steam locos he showed him his combine to see if he could identify what they were the closest match were gwr 2-6-0's
the boyfriend said that they were lined up outside a bunker were all painted battleship grey with no numbers or names and that he would take a closer look the following week
on his next visit he reported that they had all gone the bunker was bricked up and the tack removed and was stacked up some way away !!
a few of us started to question him but when you take into account the cold war oil shortages the fact that a few years later when the fireman went on strike and the news showed many green godesses coming out of there it starts to become beliveable
fast forward to 1998 the company i was working for alstom had some of the illfated nightstar coaches stored there and i got the job to go down and check them over having passed through tight security i was met by a chap who took me around
at the time there seemed to be rail lines going everywhere a lot more then can be seen on google earth today i thought i would befriend him the best i could and wait to the end of the visit before asking about any strategic reserve
stored outside apart from the nightstock i had come to look at were many different types of rolling stock including apt and lms coaches i was told in no uncertain terms no photgraphy and was shadowed everywhere
eventually as we walked back to the car i brought the subject up and related my story he stopped smiled and said no comment and no matter what i said he would not engage in any conversation regards what was there other then was stored outside -
so im sorry and i know i will be shot down but i am convinced that there is something there fire away
regards

 

I'd be surprised if a Grange and a County were found in that shed.

 

http://www.australiansteam.com/HC380.htm
This was thrown in a tip in 1976.

 

The LMS coaches were the 502 unit and the APT and some other items were NRM vehicles in safe storage. Now all moved away.

 

If you were going to store loco's, not sure what sounds like a 43XX would be my first choice...

 

1967? scrap locos on way to the breakers. Battleship grey? just grimy I'd guess. More likely Black 5s than 43xx

 

A Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0ST has been unearthed in Otago...https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/southland/unearthed-steam-locomotive-possible-project

 

That article is from 2014


Keith

 

Consider it of heritage interest ...

Tom

 

And the picture suggests that the best way to turn the remains into a working locomotive would start with melting them down to raw steel.

 

Pretty much what is happening to D5353/27007 to turn it into D6332...

 

What's happening to 27007!?

 

Still at Alresford the last time I saw it.

 

plans to convert it discussed on here and wnxx.

 

GWR 2489 = WD 142 was captured at Dunkirk and put into service by the Wehrmacht. In May 1945 it was in Dresden and was taken into DR stock and renumbered 53 7607. It was officially withdrawn 19.09.1955 but it is not clear if it ran after 1945 or if this was just a renumbering on paper

 

WD 106 132 188 are known to have been used by the Wehrmacht but did not get taken over by DR

In 1945 188 was in Vienna and was requisitioned by the Russian occupation troops and used by them in Austria. It was withdrawn 15.10.1952 and scrapped

 

I do have a keen interest in all things steam - preference GWR but in all regions- I now (for 42 years|) live in Adelaide, South Australia - originaly from Oxford UK (81F)