When , and what, was the last ex BR steam engine cut up by a Scrap merchant ?

not sure of anyone knows the fate of Adams B4 dock tank 30089? The Ian Allen books showed this at 'Battersea authorities' in London up to the 1976 edition and then nothing - was it scrapped in the 70's ?

 

https://railuk.info/steam/steam_search.php

This says it was disposed of on 31.5.64. Quite a difference in dates.

 

Thanks polmadie - yes this does seem a bit strange. The 1976 Ian Allen combined volume definitely shows three B4s in existence, 96 Normandy (Bluebell), 102 Granville (Bressingham) and 89 Battersea Local Authority.
Either way, not scrapped after 1969 so not the last!

 

Bradley says withdrawn March 1963 and scrapped at Eastleigh in May 1964.

Peter Cooper's book on the B4s agrees, but adds:

"Meanwhile [late 1963 - TJ], preservation possibilities were in the air. It was suggested that either No. 30089 or 30102 might be housed in a new Science Museum to be built at Southampton. It was also suggested that No. 30089 might be sold to Battersea Borough Council, for display as a static exhibit. [The loco was built at Nine Elms, in Battersea, which was presumably the logic - TJ] But neither of these proposals materialised, and No. 30089 was cut up at Eastleigh in May 1964."​

Tom

 

Thank you Tom - it seems that Ian Allen publishers took another twelve years to discover that number 89 no longer existed

 

Didn't the same combine have something similar about a Standard mogul that was cut up being preserved in Scotland?

 

not that I can see Matt - do you recall the number of said mogul?
I have the 1968 combined volume and no standard 2-6-0s are included nor noted as 'Scheduled for Preservation'. (although I notice that NER J21 65099 / 1576 is listed)

 

It was 75048. I have in front of me my old 1973 combined volume which states that the loco was "to be preserved by the Scottish Railway Preservation Society". Pity it wasn't, but at least we have 75014,69.78 and 79 from Barry to compensate.

 

and 27 and 29

 

That's interesting John - I don't have those volumes to hand. Suggests that 75048 was still existing into the 70s yet sources show Cut at Campbells's Airdrie November 1968

 

I have a memory of visiting Drapers in Nepture St around 1970, ( my Grandfather worked in Customs nr thw William Wright Engraving Dock nearby) the 5305 guys were working on their loco and had built a cabin in the tender space - but i recall a sloped back boiler from a loco on the adjacent loading dock.... are there any photos of this period?

 

I must admit, the repeated inclusion of 30089 and 75048 in the Ian Allan combined volumes so many years after they were scrapped is rather a mystery. I lost interest in collecting numbers a year or so after buying this combined volume and didn't buy another, so I've no idea how long it was before Ian Allan corrected this mistake. The introduction does state the the regional allocation of diesel & electric locos and units were checked as being accurate as to December 1972. The compilers clearly didn't make such a thorough check of the preserved locos

Sorry for the confusion. I hadn't forgotten 27 and 29. I meant to make the point that instead of 75027/29/48, we have ended up with 75014/27/29/69/78/79. which is an improvement on only two members of the class surviving, which would have appeared to be the likely outcome at the end of 1968 if Ian Allan Ltd had done its homework on 75048. My apologies for not being clearer.

 

65099 was a parts donor for 65033, wasn't it?

 

I assume it was, yes although the 68 combined volume makes no mention of 65033. The 59 volume lists only 4 remaining J21s, 033, 070, 099 & 110

 

Last gasps. Not quite the last ones but by way of an update to this thread. 8F 48493 the last loco to be dealt with by Thomas Ward at Beighton arrived there on 27th March 1969. The last Black Five left at Cohen’s Cargo Fleet in April 1969 was 45310.

The last Black Fives delivered to Drapers at Hull arrived on 29th April 1969. 45017 was cut on 30th April 1969 (a flamecut number panel survives), 44894 on 5th May 1969 and 45388 the last steam loco scrapped there on 12th May 1969.

The two LT Panniers which went to Garnham, Harris & Elton at Chesterfield 7739 and 7749 arrived there by road in the last week of January 1970.

Boiler and smokebox remains were reported extant in the yard of Walter Heselwood in Stevenson Road in Sheffield into the late 1970s. The last locos delivered there in October 1968 had been B1s 61050 (Departmental No.30) and 61315 (DepartmentalNo..32).

 

There was some wheels of an engine in an observatory that makes the bit that points at the stars turn round but I don’t know what engine or where it is. Does anyone know this ?

 

I think you're talking about Jodrell Bank, which had bogies from Castle class locos under one of the telescopes.

Doesn't really count as a loco though!

Keith

 

This was at the auxiliary radio telescope at Wardle, near Nantwich, Cheshire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_III_(radio_telescope) gives some more information.
I believe Didcot salvaged the wheelsets, although they had been heavily re-engineered for their new task.

 

in terms of 'bits' of engines that finished their BR service in the 60s, there were plenty of steam tenders to be seen at depots into the 1990s at least. For example, I recorded a B1-type LNER tender at Vic Berry's in February 1991. Whether this was one that went on from one of the departmental steam-heating locos that lingered, or another to become a plough or oil-carrier is unknown to me.