Biggest celebrity going IN to Barry

While looking forward to seeing ‘Leander’ at the upcoming GCR gala, it struck me that before it was restored to its current guise as the Crimson Vision, it was essentially just another Jubilee. (My grounds for saying this? In the various books I have, Galatea appears much more frequently than 5690. Not exactly scientific I know, but if there was a celebrity Jubilee before the end of steam I imagine it was Silver Jubilee, Alberta or Bahamas).
Anyway, it struck me that a lot of currently popular ‘celebrity’ engines only became celebrities post-Barry - Tangmere and City of Wells have given storming main line performances but, as far as I know, weren’t particularly celebrities in their pre-scrapyard days.

So, my question is this: which engine was the biggest celebrity at the time of going IN to Woodham Bros?

Some possible candidates below:

Duke of Gloucester – unique, but perhaps seen as a failed experiment
Hinderton Hall – first of its batch, though not of its class
Raveningham Hall – first Modified Hall
76084 – last member of its class to be withdrawn

Overall, I’d say Duke of Gloucester, but would be interested to see what others think. Just remember, this is celebrity status on entering the scrapyard, so any feats of derring-do since restoration don’t count.

Finally, for those of you who went to Barry, I’d be interested to know if you went to see a particular locomotive or went for the overall experience. If the latter, was there a particular engine that made an impression? I think 6023 was the focal point for a while, but maybe you needed one of the Halls, or one of the Jinties was your local shunter and you wanted a final photo.

 

6959 Peatling Hall was actually the first 'Modified Hall', Raveningham was the second.

 

I can help you with some of the more notable Southern 'interns'...

35005 Canadian Pacific- The only 'Merchant Navy' class member to have a Berkeley mechanical stoker fitted (in un-rebuilt form).

35011 General Steam Navigation- Allegedly the only British steam locomotive to feature 'Steam' in its name.

35018 British India Line- First 'Merchant Navy' class locomotive to be rebuilt.

34028 Eddystone- The first rebuilt 'Light Pacific' to be withdrawn in 1964.

34070 Manston- The last 'Light Pacific' to be built for the Southern Railway, and the last to be numbered using Bulleid's classification system: 21C170.

34101 Hartland- One of six 'Light Pacifics' to be built at Eastleigh works (the rest were products of Brighton).

Hardly 'celebrities' but interesting all the same:

31806 (U class) was one of the Maunsell K ('River') class 2-6-4T rebuilds, named River Torridge.

30499 and 30506 are both original Urie S15s.

 

ex-GWR 28xx 2807 was a "bit" of a celebrity as it was the oldest locomotive ever to grace Barry Scrapyard (at least the oldest one to survive) and, shortly before it was withdrawn from Severn Tunnel Jct in Mar 63, had been photographed and noted a little bit more than your "average" 28xx. 2807 was never going to be a celebrity loco as such but, by the time it arrived in Barry, it was a little more than just another 28xx. 2803 also lasted well but of course didn't make it to Barry. I would say that the 2 Kings were probably the most notable locos from the GWR point of view. Ironically the large and small prairies have probably been the most useful to the heritage movement!

 

2859 the last loco to be overhauled at Wolverhampton (Stafford Road) works.
Also (to me) 7027 shedded at Reading before withdrawal & had a footplate ride on it in October1963 whilst on station pilot duties. Utter shame to see as it is now at Crewe; frame, boiler & wheels ( drivers only).
http://simonsrailwaypics.fotopic.net/p63051319.html

The No. "27". Look at all the Barry locos ending with 27,
7027
7827
7927
34027
35027
47327
Don't know if I missed any.

 

Well, Leander has got to be my celebrity loco, simply because it was the first loco that I ever remember taking any note of, back in 1956. If you want, it was my first 'cop' and led to what has turned out to be a lifetime sentence.

 

Well when Galatea's running again I think she'll be a celebrity partly because she's a Jubilee, she was considered a project impossible (a overused term in my opinion) and to keep everyone happy she'll be in BR green.

 

I first went in 1971 and at that time we didn't even know which engines were in the yard, although news about DoG being there had got through. That was certainly the one we searched out, I remember hearing a friend calling 'it's over here' and scrambling across a couple of lines to take a look.

As a Southern man I was delighted to see the U's and S15s, with the S&DJ engine one which we were also pleased to see.

Having missed the end of steam jotting down the numbers was as close to spotting in a steam shed as we experienced.

I wonder if anyone else from Langley Park School who came with me that day is on this forum?!!

 

Would have thought B1 No. 61264 was one of the celebrities going in too, being the only LNER locomotive at Barry.

 

D600 would be a bit of a celebrity.

5043 was in a British Transport Film

 

5051 hauled the Royal Train

 

..........but the question was "which locos were celebrities before they went to Barry" and 61264 was a static boiler - hardly a celebrity I would have thought.

 

So did 44901... which is still in Barry!

Then again 34006 Bude was certainly a celebrity locomotive when it went to Barry... sadly she left after delivering 4 other locomotives... mind you its not like we don't have a few Bulleid's about is it.

 

I went with school friends quite a few times in the years 1967 - 69. We always looked out for D of G, the S & D pair and the two Kings as to us at least they were the celebrities.

 

Yeah, forgot about the S&D 7Fs but, as with the Kings, there were two of them so I reckon DoG is still ahead if we're looking for an individual locomotive.

Kinghambranch, apologies for forgetting 2807! Almost as bad as wrongly saying 6960 was the first Modified Hall. I did buy my 2807 raffle tickets at last year's GWSR gala and will look to make another trip when the 2-8-0 makes its triumphant return.

7200 is another good call as it was the first of its class, and I'm sure some of the Manors also pulled the Royal train - 7827 for a start, think it was paired with 7828 for the run.

I'm also interested in the experiences of people who went to Barry and the engine they wanted to see (if any) and which made the biggest impression on them.

I was too young to go myself but my father went in the 70s - he was waiting for an operation and had been told that his chances were 50/50 and he might not make it.
He therefore decided to do a few things he'd alwsys wanted to do, one of which was to go to Barry.
Not sure if going to what was essentially a steam graveyard when you're more then usually aware of your own mortality is great for keeping your spirits up, but he went there and took a few photos. Don't think one engine in particular made an impression, but it was the first time he'd seen Bulleid pacifics - we're a Liverpool family so he used to bunk over the wall of Bank Hall shed as a kid to see 'Clans' and the local Jubilees.

Oh, how did the operation go? Well, I was born two years later so, as you can guess, there was a happy ending!

 

6990 witherslack hall took part in the loco excahanges in 1948.surely this qualifies it as the biggest celebrity? REMEMBER this thread is about locos that were celebrities BEFORE entering the yard

 

Personally "Galatea" for lifting 14 coaches up the Lickey as recounted by Terry Essery, but on balance I suppose 71000 because of its history as a locomotive built to replace 46202 destroyed in the Harrow accident, and considered by Riddles as the prototype for a class 8 engine within the new range of standard steam motive power. The engine represented a departure from the basic standard locomotives with two cylinders, Walschaert gear and piston valves. Had there not been a stop placed on further locomotive development, and 71000 had its design issues sorted, then it would have been regarded as a notable prototype.

 

Speaking from far away (Australia), I'd have to say that 71000 Duke Of Gloucester is, by default, the celebrity Barry arrival. I say default, because I haven't gone there yet.

Everything else, with the possible exception of the two Kings, just do not appear to stand out in published railway history.

You can argue as much as you want about post-Barry Scrapyard, it is not relevant to this thread.