Near misses

Fascinating story - certainly not one I've heard before. When did this happen (early 1960s?) and are there any pictures?

 

The ex LT Panniers spring to mind, and while we're on the subject of them how about, 7714 and 7754 in NCB service in South Wales? In what year of the 70's did they last to? Also be interesting to know when WD 600 Gordon left the Longmoor Military Railway that must have been after 1968? Then of course there's the ex Swedish dub dee homeward bound for the Nene Valley then mistakenly cut up...

 

One very near miss was the last Metropolitan Railway F class 0-6-2T in 1962: the money was raised, but the locomotive failed a last inspection with a cracked frame and the E Class 0-4-4T was bought instead.

 

I've just come across a whispering that 60012 Commonwealth of Australia was offered to the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum but nothing came of it. I don't know the truth of it, but I bet some people are rolling in their graves if it is true.

 

Youve misread, I said what Locos survived 1968 (I.e. the start of the Barry exodus)and were not saved

 

GWR Pannier tanks sold to London Transport worked until 1971 and, as far as I know, another one sold to the NCB did, also an LMS Jinty until about 1969. One of the two J94s which were ex LNER and are preserved was with the NCB until the early 80s

 

Was this the one that was discovered in a tunnel along with the example now on the K&WVR?

 

Several ex LMS types (Black 5s, 8Fs and possibly Ivatt class 4s) were still at sheds, after withdrawal at the end of steam, until 1969. I think Rose Grove and Lostock Hall were the last to be cleared out

 

I've heard similar about Dominion of New Zealand; as I understand, the stumbling block was the transport cost to take the loco halfway round the world. How much truth there is in that I don't know.

Tom

 

1502 and 1509 were still in use by the NCB at Coventry in 1969. Later scrapped after parts used in the restoration of 1501. The past is another country...

 

Yes, the story is there were two of them, the KWVR had one and the Nene Valley had an eye on the other, I believe the loco the NVR wanted had 'do not cut' on one side only...

 

On 5/1/69 23 locos remained at Lostock Hall of which 4 were subsequently preserved. As late as April 1969 3 remained - 45017, 45388 & 44899 before going for scrap - strangely enough I came across my notes about them yesterday whilst looking for something else!
Ray.

 

Always wondered why no one wanted to save the other WD, now I see someone had tried to.

Shame, it could've been running as an LNER 07 by now...

 

Built by LNER, but did it ever run under them as an O6?

I certainly understand that was the case with 60012. Pity!

 

It seems crazy, hey! Not to be able to find enough cash to secure a locomotive from the fastest class of steam locomotive in the world, especially at the end of steam when such records were still fresh in the general public consciousness, and called no less than 'Commonwealth of Australia' to boot - downright criminal! What better way to fire the imagination of youngsters and increase footfall through the museum doors than to stick an A4 front and centre.

They were different times I suppose.

 

Mainline steam in New Zealand continued into the early 1970s, so being offered a loco in the 1960s may not have seemed particularly exciting. The gauge is wrong, so there was no possibility of ever running it - even transporting it from port to museum would have been difficult; there was no real equivalent of a national railway museum to act as host (MoTaT was hardly off the ground at that time, for example); and when all is said and done, there is no cultural significance attaching an A4 to NZ beyond the name. Given all that, it's maybe not surprising if there was polite "thanks, but no thanks" when someone suggested shipping 160 tons of scrap halfway round the world, at the expense of the recipients.

Tom

 

True, but at least they weren't fighting the track gauge when it got there! I wonder how, in the 1960s when most roads away from towns were still gravel, you would have transported an A4 across NZ from the port of entry, given that it couldn't go by rail?

Tom