Defunct preserved railways

You don't have much of an idea what a Barry wreck was really like externally then.

 

Given how many years its been since D7029 has run maybe 80079 will probably end up towing D7029 for scrapping.

 

Not just yet I believe the DTG are slowly making progress with it no mention of a date yet but lets keep those pinkies crossed.

 

Pity D7096 didn't make it.. who'd have guessed 30 years later mint condition hidden power units would be discovered..

 

Really? Where? Or you could look at it 7096's sacrifice meant 7076 lives to work another day, when I was bit younger I did a bit of work on 821 and I made a comment about what shame 818 didnt make it I was told dont look at it like that, the various bits off 818 have meant 821 & 832 can still be enjoyed by those who like them.

 

You could look at it that way, then again Barry Wrecks running on the mainline only survived to be a "sacrifice meant <<insert your number>> lives to work another day... thing is once it's gone.. it's gone... you'd think the diesel guys would learn the lessons the steam guys learned in the 1960's buy what you can, then in the 1970's what was left was "bought for spares" that we can enjoy today... I have a picture of a loco in Barry in the late 1980's looking a real sorry wreck and remember being told it would only survive for spares, that was the last time I saw it.. until last year at London Victoria when I rode behind it... that was 34046.

Whilst lots of the diesel guys like to be "lead into" being convinced that too much is preserved and should be chopped.. remember them saying that are nay doing so for the immediate cash it brings.. not the long term... I remember seeing D818 at Swindon in 1985 before it was cut..it wasn't that bad condition, if it was here today no one would be advocating cutting it.

The subject of power units.. some recent NHS closures have shown up two ex BR Swindon Hydraulic power units.. (i recall reading overhauled in the 1970's.. sat in a dry Genny room for 40 years run 1 hour a month at a hospital in Liverpool to ensure it's working incase of Emergency.. 600 hours in a perfect environment for 40 years...).. one recovered from a scrap years went into D7076 bringing it back to life in weeks, and they have a spare..., instead of years overhauling it's own... there are many more out there... I was at an old 1970's Data Centre not to long ago and it had some EE power units in it of unknown origin, there's an early 70's IT facility in Gloucester that has 4 MAN ones too.. i'd hazard those could be from Swindon...

 

818 was still a BR machine when it was cut up though. Somthing to do with Swindon works closing? You do have a valid point about 'preserved' diesels though. When 20110 was sold to Harry Needle that really saddend me, 20 odd years in pres then sold. We are drifting slightly from the topic in question though.

 

Whilst walking around the back of my local neighbourhood I was walking through a park behind a housing estate on top of a hill around 1 mile from the nearest station..
I was stunned to see rails set in concrete at what looked to be a narrow gauge level crossing... in the middle of what is today a field.

I followed and saw a further set.. and a further one.. with no obvious route to anywhere or any industry ahead of me, and a 1930's housing estate behind i'm not sure why or what for there would be a reasonable sized narrow gauge railway serving no obvious purpose.

A bit of googling found... well nothing at all, no pictures or story.


Then I got lucky on You Tube and found these little gems.. and guess it qualifies as a defunct preserved miniature railway..

 

They sound impressive! Like that Terrier cracking little beastie.

 

Happy to be corrected, I think the EE 16CSVT power unit was developed for marine use (as was the Napier Deltic) but in the 50's case was bolted to a rail chassis and everything else was made to fit round it. Have to say from personal experience that is a big power unit Im a big guy but standing in a 50 engine room that thing towers above me!

 

...Correct. Painted green, it's named 'Alpha' and serves as a yard shunter at Oswestry. You can find a photo and info about it on the old Cambrian Railways Society website, which I've kept alive due to the amount of now valuable historical information it contains: http://www.cambrianrailwayssociety.co.uk/rollingstock/rollstockindex#Diesel . For the record, the current Cambrian Heritage Railways website can be found at http://www.cambrianrailways.com/.

Hope this helps,

Gareth

 

Does anybody know why there is a short length of track and a collection of severely weathered old wagons and a very rusty small diesel shunter at Christow Bridge on the old Teign Valley line ? Is this another failed venture or somebody's unfulfilled pipe-dream?
Maec

 

http://www.teignrail.co.uk/index.php I think?

 

Belongs to a chap called Colin Burgess.
Once upon a time there were a couple of open days there, my Grandma lives in Doddiscomesleigh snd we used to pop down and play on the 2ft gauge railway he has on a Sunday afternoon. So much fun!
He bought the little shunter from BR I believe, it's called Perseus.
He also has a track measuring machine (Which by the sound of it last time I spoke to him, he wanted rid of) and has converted a TOAD into a camping coach. There was the frame of an old GWR goods shed there too.

 

Further steam sheds that have not been saved or, rebuilt on heritage lines are, Tyseley, Whitby, Bury, Oswestry, Boat of Garten.
2A Tyseley, the roundhouse over the remaining turntable was demolished in 1969, a year after the BRM had moved on site. 50G Whitby was available recently but, the NYMR didn't seem to want a genuine 2 road NER shed. It is listed but, not in use as far as I know. 9M Bury a 9 road shed, was right next to Buckley Wells works but, was demolished about 1979 I think. 6E/89A Oswestry was an untouched, abandoned steam shed until 1985, 13 years after the Cambrian scheme was set up nearby. It was reroofed by the company who are there now and, is invisible inside extensions built all around it. Boat of Garten shed site may still be available, I've never been there.

Added to Radstock, Southport, Dinting, Hull Dairycoates, York, Northwich and the sites of Goole and Upper Bank (Swansea), that makes 13 sheds lost or, not wanted. There seem to be 6 preserved sheds today, Aviemore, Carnforth, Staveley Barrow Hill, Didcot, Tunbridge Wells West and Swanage. So, a 13-6 deficit. It seems odd that the steam shed, generally acknowledged as the most atmospheric of steam age locations, has fared so badly in preservation.

 

What about the steam shed that was never shut, Aberystwyth. It was just converted to narrow gauge for the V of R.