Garratt loco William Francis

Years ago they had a rather splendid externally unrestored WW2 tank recovery unit (tractor part). I watched it shift Oliver Cromwell with effortless ease!

 

Does anyone know what is actually running this year on the 2', 15'' and std gauge lines?
I went a couple of years ago, and had a really nice day - Rosenkavalier was running on 15" gauge, Statfold on 2' and Martello on the SG.
It seems a real shame that somewhere which was instrumental in looking after so many important locos for such a long time seems to be going through a decline.
Let's hope they can turn it round.

 

I believe St Christopher does a lot of the Waveney Valley services:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/16236990@N08/14273131883

Not sure if both are operational but Bevan & George Sholto have run on the Nursery:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/22905713@N02/14003237141

From this shot Alan Bloom has received a repaint on the Garden railway:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/16236...AcY-nFedyb-nF95F6-noWzHJ-nDoBiY-noWsPx-noWjCn

But I don't think anything currently runs on the Standard gauge bar Thomas days.

Happily Hunslet 'Gwynedd' is undergoing overhaul though.

 

Noise, heat and effort by geoff7918, on Flickr[/QUOTE]

Thanks for finding this shot Spamcan. It is one that I had not seen before. Despite several attempts I never did get to see WF working despite it being quite local, so I would love to see it returned to working order. The location of this photo is less than a mile away as I write, and behind the line of trees is a lane which I use on my way to work most mornings, so really interesting to see it.

Regards
Bob

 

Can we take that as a hint Mr Meanley? Some different grist for the Tyseley mill?

 

Great pics Spam, I've at last tracked down the two I had - you've found the A5 pic, here's the one in the colliery yard, along with an Austerity with a Giesl ejector ...

 

It wasn't meant as a hint but we would never turn away an interesting job!

The photo which Sheff has sent in is also interesting as it looks as though the Austerity is just pushing in a rake of empties from the sidings under the other side of the main road from Baddesley to Bentley. The shallow cutting where the top sidings were has recently been filled in due to some work going on with clearing the pit heap and redistributing it to make way for some yet to be declared construction project. The upper section of the line down to the canal wharf was long since ploughed back into the fields, but the lower section alongside Waste Lane remains as a footpath.

Regards
Bob

 

Bob you must live round our way then (ish). A friend worked at the pit, but by then all the coal was going out via the Midland branch.

 

Yes, Tamworth originally. As you say by the 70's coal by rail was going out by the Midland branch. I had a friend who was one of the drivers out-stationed at Kingsbury branch sidings for working the branch and spent a lot of time going up and down the branch with him on pairs of class 20's. It was a fascinating little railway which was quite tricky to operate as there were some quite severe gradients, in particular getting out of Hall end sidings in the up direction and the long steep climb up past Baddesley village to the colliery. Many of the trains going out of both Birch Coppice and Baddesley collieries were composed of loose coupled unbraked long wheel base hoppers. When IM Properties began re-development of the Birch Coppice site, they had the sense to follow up the suggestions made by North Warwickshire Council's planning officer David Atkin to get the railway reinstated, which they did in conjunction with Merevale Estates who by that time owned the trackbed, I believe. It was a great move which got half of the line reinstated, and there is now quite a bit of rail traffic going up there. As a little bit of self indulgence, you may remember that we got to run a train up there a few years ago, using Dennis Howell's Pannier 9466. A lot of the coal which came out of Baddesley went directly to Hams Hall power station about 8 miles away. There was a plan to close the railway and move it all by road and to that end considerable improvements were carried out to Merevale Lane which connected the pit to the A5 trunk road, but having done this, the colliery, the railway and the power station all closed around the same time. There have been one or two rumours about development of the colliery site but to date it remains derelict.

Regards
Bob

 

I was lucky enough to have a ride on this loco back when it was working at Baddesley we had been going somewhere, something to do with Sentinels and WF was by the A5 crossing so we stopped to have a look.
We were in working clothes and the driver stopped and asked us if we would like a ride on the loco up to the colliery and back. If I recall correctly it was very impressive the way it shoved a rake of empties back up to the colliery.
The rail was greasy and the front engine would occasionally slip but rear engine dug in giving a rather syncopated sound but a very exhilarating ride.
Would like to see it running again.

Cheers Dave

 

Interesting (well I think so!), the Midland had another colliery branch in the area from Stockingford to Ansley pit, which actually ended beyond the colliery and entailed a reversal into the yard. The headshunt pretty much aimed straight at the Baddersley branch, on a similar contour, so it seems that there might have been plans to join the two into one long loop at some time. The Ansley branch is now a cycle path behind our house. Also my miner friend's dad used to fire SuperD's off Nuneaton shed banking up to Arley Tunnel.

 

Apologies for the off-topic post but I was wondering if it was a Diamond T or similar?

 

Headline in next month's Heritage Railway - Tyseley to overhaul Garratt for Shakespeare Expresses! ;-)

 

Might need REG I reckon

 

Now that's taking bustitution to ridiculous lengths !

 

I understand that there was indeed a plot to connect the two branches, although I have never managed to find anything official on the subject. When you look carefully at the large scale OS maps, it would have been quite easy to connect them following contour lines with a bit of excavation of cuttings in the area around the woods at Bentley where it would probably have had to run under a bridge carrying what is now the B4116. Certainly when you look at all the bridges which exist(ed) on the Kingsbury to Baddesley branch they were all constructed to permit doubling of the line, which of course never occurred. It would therefore seem obvious that there was some intent of much heavier traffic, which might have been intended from the two lines being connected.

Regards
Bob

 

Class shot of the Garratt and the Ford Zephyr. I'm pretty sure the A5 doesn't look that empty these days! I would have thought the Foxfield would be the most appropriate railway to run this engine, it being originally allocated to Sneyd Colliery at Stoke-on-Trent.

Regards,

 

William Francis never ran at Sneyd; it was BP 6729, a basically similar locomotive. There were four such locos in the UK. I agree with the sentiment, though.
There's an interesting article on William Francis/Baddesley to be found here:
http://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/11/william_francis.htm

 

With driving wheels only 3' 4" in diameter and a background of a working life in a colliery the Foxfield would be the most appropriate railway for it to be working on. However it could prove a valuable visiting or guest engine on some other lines particularly where adhesion is important. I wonder how high a steaming rate it can maintain? Continuous rates can be a cause for anxiety, and not just with industrials.

Here, in the country that gave birth to the type, this engine is the only standard gauge survivor. An interesting job? Oh, yes. We will have to wait and see. Agreement and funding are the major issues. It would need a good plan, fit to satisfy the new owners. And they may well not be receptive.