On January 1st 1948, the former 'Big Four' railway companies: London North Eastern Railway (LNER); London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMSR); Great Western Railway (GWR) and Southern Railway (SR) were amalgamated to form the new British Railways. A total of  20,211 steam locomotives were taken into State ownership consisting of: 1,838 from the SR, 3,856 from the GWR, 6,525 from the LNER, and 7,805 from the LMSR. The rest was made up of service engines and Departmental locomotives.

(Above-Left) From Gresley's A4 to the EE Co's Deltics...I will start and finish this page at Darlington, albeit the above photo is far removed from the transitional period of the 1960s, but I hope you'll forgive the inclusion of this shot of Gresley's famous Class A4 No 2509 Silver Link in charge of the southbound 'Silver Jubilee' train set at Darlington in 1936. Like the Deltic fleet some thirty years later, the LNER's Class A4 achieved a spectacular and quite unique intensity of operation on the ECML, and no other locomotive made such an remarkable impact than the doyen of the class, No 2509, which averaged a speed of 100mph for 43 miles during its famous press run on the 'Silver Jubilee' on 27th September 1935. The train was named to mark the Silver Jubilee of King George V, and the first four A4s Nos 2509-12 all carried names with a silver theme and emerged from Doncaster in a silver-grey livery to match the train.



(Above-Left-Below) Harking back to the days when a steam locomotive's nameplates, number plate, shed plate and works plates (builders' plates) could be bought at scrap value from British Railways stores in the Sixties, I wonder how much this lot would have cost back in 1961…ten quid perhaps! One thing for certain, they're worth a darned-sight more today. Introduced to traffic in February 1928, Class D49/1 No 62711 Dumbartonshire was withdrawn from Hawick shed (64G) on 1st May 1961, and is awaiting the oxy-acetylene torch at Darlington North Road Works (the loco was cut up at the end of the following month). Behind it, sister D49/1 No 62718 Kinross-shire awaits the same fate…now I'm not familiar with the current auction house scene, but in this one photo alone we can safely assume that between both engines there is a total of: four nameplates, two number plates, two shed plates and four works plates…if anyone has any idea of the value, I'd dearly love to hear from them. (Left) Well, it would appear that the nameplates alone are worth in the region of £24,000! A brass locomotive nameplate that had never been offered previously at auction, was sold at the famous Sheffield Railway Auctions on 12th September 2009. The plate was carried by the LNER Class D49/1 'Shire' 4-4-0 No 62703 'Hertfordshire'. The D49/1 was built at Darlington in December 1927 as No 256. The loco became 2703 from January 1947and renumber 62703 by BR in April 1949. The engine was withdrawn in June 1958 after it fell into the turntable pit at Bridlington and broken up at Darlington in October the same year. The plate measures 57" x 6½" with lightly polished brass lettering on a green background. However, a small hairline crack and slight bending at the bottom centre of the plate - probably caused by the mishap at Bridlington! - didn't put off bidders...the plate sold for £8,000. (Above-Left) A beautifully presented display of just some of the lots for sale at the Sheffield Railway Auctions...click here to visit the site. Pure nostalgia! (Below) A healthy-looking No 62703 slows on the approach to Seamer Junction with a train from Hull to Scarborough.

BR STEAM DAYS AT DURHAM

(Above) Fast-forward ten years and the ever-increasing demand for faster speeds on the East Coast Main Line meant that major trackwork alterations were necessary together with the replacement of aged semaphore type mechanical signalling. The track layout at Durham assumed a new guise in December 1969, when the four tracks were reduced to two 'down' lines and one 'up', and connections to the bays were removed. The remodelling allowed the 30mph speed limit to be raised to 50mph. Here 'Peak' class D154 (later Class 46 No 46017) slows for the Durham stop with the 16.15 Newcastle-Bristol on 6th September 1969. Gateshead took its first delivery of Class 46s during the first week in May 1962.

BR STEAM DAYS AT NORTHALLERTON

(Below) A lovely shot by Roy Lambeth of Class V2 No 60828 in the Wenslydale Bay at the north end of Northallerton's down island platform. Behind the camera are two water columns - one either side of the bay line - each with a water tank at ground level to catch any overspill. Roy recalls that one of them contained several large species of goldfish and carp that had been reared by the station master's wife. The fish were so tame they would take food from his hand - memories! Some things you never forget...

 

THORNABY TEESSIDE

(Above-Below) Thornaby Traction Maintenance depot (51L) was built primarily as a steam maintenance depot to replace the NER's steam sheds at Middlesborough (51D) and Newport (51B). Completed in 1958 in close proximity to Tees Yard, the depot was designed initially to accommodate diesel traction alongside steam, with conversion to a full diesel facility at a later date. The depot consisted of a straight running shed and repair shop with facilities for major repairs, engine replacement and classified overhauls. I had trouble dating these shots and so asked railwayman Russ Piggott if he had any ideas; he writes - 'I reckon the Tees Yard shots date from 1985 as the up receptions are in the process of being lifted and it looks like the down hump is also closed (the hump closed in '85). The amount of stored coal wagons leads me to believe it could have been taken during the miners' strike; also the staging sidings (behind the centre lighting tower) doesn't look to have any 'MGR sets' staged. There always seemed to be at least one staged on there when the pits were open. Thornaby crews still worked a lot of turns to Horden and Easington back then, the diagrams were Tees-Horden or Easington, load, then work to York …leave the wagons in the up arrivals, loco over to the Down departures then work the empties back to Tees and relief...' Thanks Russ; these super-wide images of Tees Yard (with Thornaby Dpot in the background) have been cobbled together from a number of individual 500mm telephoto shots taken side-by-side from the A19 trunk road viaduct straddling the yard. Click on photos once, then again to see full-sized images. A word of helpful advice when viewing these images. Press F11 on the keyboard to empty the screen of all extraneous clutter (tool bars etc) revealing a full-size webpage on screen...it really does make a difference!  After viewing, move cursor off the image and right-click to return 'back' to the page. You can press F11 on the keyboard at any time to return to the original screen.

(Right) Photo-link to Phil Hodgett's superb page on the Port of Blyth deep in NER territory on the Northumberland coast. 

(Above-Below) The Thornaby site also incorporated an octagonal-shaped roundhouse at the rear of the building containing a 70ft turntable feeding 22 stalls. On May 27th 1970, Ian Carr took this interesting shot of withdrawn Civil Engineering Dept. 4-wheeled shunters Nos 56-57/82 awaiting disposal inside the concrete and glass roundhouse. Introduced to traffic in 1955, these Ruston & Hornsby 88bhp diesel mechanical shunters were used at the Dinsdale Civil Engineering Depot near Darlington. For the record, Thornaby roundhouse was demolished in March 1988. (Below) The hexagonal roundhouse provides a backdrop to this shot of Class 31 No 31105, Class 37s Nos 37165/193 and Class 47 No 47041 at the rear of the depot 

Following nationalisation in 1948, six new BR Regions were formed, their new boundaries corresponding closely to the lines of the former 'Big Four' railway companies. Britain's railways was now made up of the Western Region, Southern Region, Scottish Region, Eastern Region, North Eastern Region and London Midland Region - the old LNER being divided a mongst the two newly- formed Regions: Eastern and North Eastern, whilst the Scottish Region was composed partly of the former LMS and LNER. Over the years, the Regional boundaries diminished significantly, including the North Eastern Region which was absorbed into the ER in 1967. As a result,  many locomotives (from an operational standpoint) worked beyond their arbitrary Regions, so in many ways it is meaningless to classify any particular class of locomotive as belonging to any one of the six Regions during the transition from steam. For example, it was not unusual for the Stanier 'Black 5' and in particular the new BR Standard classes, to be found working hundreds of miles from the Region they were initially allocated.

From 1948, steam locomotives were carrying their new BR numbers with the exception of the Great Western engines which retained their brass and cast iron cabside number plates below 10,000. The Southern engines were numbered in the 30,000s, the LMSR in the 40,000s and 50,000s, and the LNER engines appeared in the 60,000s. The new renumbering scheme also embraced a small number of diesel locomotives (mostly 0-6-0 shunters belonging to the former LMSR and LNER) which were allocated the numbered series in the 10,000s, while a small quantity of electric and gas turbine locomotives appeared in the 20,000s. Finally, the batch of WD 'Austerity' freight locomotives, built to Ministry of Supply design, and working on loan at the time of nationalisation, were purchased by BR in early 1949 and renumbered in the 90,000s.

(Above) This is a general view of the Inward Marshalling Yard at Hull during early British Railways days in July 1954. In the foreground, a Class DEJ4 BR/English Electric 350hp shunter No 13075 propels Esso tanks into the sidings. Photo © GEC-Alstom. (Below) Prior to the introduction of block trainloads on Britain's railways, the movement of loose-coupled rail wagons in marshalling yards was acknowledged as being the most mechanically demanding for steam power. The long periods of 'stop-start-forward-reverse' method of operation gave the diesel a definite advantage over steam for several reasons. Perhaps the most obvious is that a diesel can be operated by one man as opposed to a driver and fireman working on the footplate of an 0-6-0 tank or tender engine - both of which were commonly found in big yards in steam days. Also, the diesel shunter can carry sufficient fuel to keep them working longer than an 0-6-0 steam locomotive, which by its very nature, had to replenish its coal bunker and water tanks at the nearest loco facility.

HELP! Bryan Blundell recently contacted the site requesting photos of any ex-NER Timber Snowploughs that operated around the NE region. Out of 20 timber ploughs, 3 survive - 1 at the NRM, 1 at Beamish and a 3rd at the NYMR that Bryan is currently in the process of restoring. Bryan's plough was featured in the BTF film 'Snowdrift at Bleath Gill'. This photo at Waskerley is of plough No 18 (Bryan's) and No 20 (now at Beamish) possibly mid-1930s, photographer unknown. Both ploughs spent most of their working life around the Darlington area prior to withdrawal circa 1974. Bryan is also seeking photos of the 4 steel-bodied ploughs, which ended their days at Holbeck and Mirfield. If anyone can help, Bryan can be contacted at bryanandchristine-at-tiscali.co.uk - please note this is not a 'clickable' email address via Outlook Express. You will have to replace the '-at-' with '@' and email manually'. Any help with photo material is much appreciated. (Below) Picturesque setting of Whitby shed (50G) on the Yorkshire coast.

In 1948, the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission (BTC) announced its preference for developing future steam power rather than dabbling with new, untried diesel traction. This led to the Locomotive Interchange Trials, supervised by RA Riddles, then member of the BTC's Railway Executive who was responsible for mechanical and electrical engineering. He was assisted by ES Cox, then executive member of the British Transport Commission for design - both ex-LMSR men, who doubtless had in mind their well intentioned plan for evaluating the relative performance of former companies engines in normal operating conditions. However it came as no great surprise that out of the twelve new BR standard classes (numbered in the 70-80,000s and 92,000s) many designs incorporated the latest features taken from LMSR practicw. (Below) I recently received a letter from Cecil Ord's daughter, Madeline, regarding her late father. Madeline writes - 'Hi, when dad died in 1967, his photographs and plates were dispersed, with a large number going to Peter Wilson of Darlington. My sister and I have little idea of where these and others now reside; despite several enquiries we have drawn a blank. Only out of curiosity are we wondering if you are able to help with the whereabouts of his photographs or plates. We would like to think they have found a good home! Many thanks, Madeline.' If anyone can help, Madeline's email is: mv.ord12@gmail.com (please note this is a non-clickable address to avoid spam, but you can email manually).

(Above-Below) In 1951, the 'Britannia' Class 7MT Pacific was the first of the twelve new British Railways Standard types to appear. Designed at Derby and built at Crewe, with sections also designed at Brighton, Doncaster and Swindon, beautifying was not on the agenda, the basic ethos being simplicity in construction, lower coal consumption, and longer mileage between classified repairs. The new 7MT Britannia class was a straightforward 2-cylinder design, and probably more of an amalgam of former companies engines than any other Standard type. The boiler, cylinders and valve gear came from LMS practice, the main frame and trailing truck from the Southern Railway, and the crossheads and slidebars were influenced by the LNER, whilst the GWR inspired the mechanical lubrication and various other steam fittings. Sporting a Stratford shedplate (30A) on the smokebox door, the doyen of the class, No 70000 Britannia, heads south from York. (Below) Following an accident involving No 70026 on the Western Region the smoke deflector handrails were replaced by grad holds on the WR's allocation of Class 7MTs, and the Eastern Region's No 70000 was similarly treated as seen below.

(Below) When production of the new BR standard locomotives was launched in 1949, the decision caused some controversy amongst railmen, who argued that there was no need to develop a new standard class type, since there were plenty of locomotives of equal ability already available throughout the BR Regions.  It was only to be expected that many locomen had an in-built loyalty towards former company's engines, so the new BR standard classes received a mixed reaction. Perhaps the most successful Standard class locomotive was the 9F 2-10-0s. These big freight engines had 5ft coupled wheels enabling them to work fast fitted freights at 60mph, and a turn of speed of 90mph was recorded when a Pacific  failed on the ECML. Here, the 'panning' technique gives the illusion of great speed, but in fact the 9F passed the camera at a little over 30mph. 

(Above) The Stainmore line was built to transport Durham coke to the West Cumberland blast furnaces, and pig iron eastwards to the steelworks on Teeside. The route also carried seasonal and excursion trains between the north-east of England and the Lancashire resorts of Blackpool and Morecambe. In LNER days it was mainly worked by NER class J21 and J25 0-6-0s, but these were replaced in the 1950s by the new BR Standard Class 3MTs. The doyen of the class, No 77000, pilots a BR Standard Class 2 2-6-0 through Ravenstonedale station with a return summer excursion from the Lancashire resorts. This combination of locomotives, either double-headed or providing banking assistance at the rear, was typical of the steam rostors during the final years on this steeply graded line between Darlington & Tebay. Photo © A Metcalfe collection.

Fred Wagstaff recently made contact (via the Guest Book page) seeking old photographs of North and South Blyth Sheds. During our exchange of emails it struck me that Freddy's anecdotes ought to be shared with others, therefore I'm pleased he agreed to write something about his 49 years service with British Railways, starting as a cleaner at Bournville in 1953. From there he moved to South Blyth, made fireman at North Blyth, then National Service. Following closure of North Blyth he moved to Cambois MPD, and after 30 years in the line of promotion finally made Driver at Gateshead MPD. I'm sure Freddy's memories of steam days will appeal to everyone. Click on photo to read Fireman Fred's reminiscences of life on the footplate in the North-East of England...

In many ways, this page has been the most difficult because the newly-formed Eastern Region covered the southern area of the old LNER, comprised of three main companies with lines running into London: the Great Northern Railway, Great Central Railway and the Great Eastern Railway. At the same time, the newly-formed North Eastern Region was responsible for the northern area of the old LNER, which basically covered the same area as that of the old North Eastern Railway prior to grouping in 1923. Indeed, apart from a few minor adjustments to Regional boundaries, the resultant Eastern Region from 1967 onwards covered the same network of lines as the old LNER.

(Above) As mentioned earlier, BR's Regional boundaries diminished significantly over the years, therefore it is meaningless to classify any particular class of locomotive as belonging to any one Region during the transition from steam. For example, this ex-North British Class D30 4-4-0 heading a local train away from Wall station Northumberland, is typical of the inter-Regional workings to be found on the ex-NBR's lines crossing the Anglo-Scottish border. To help younger readers, who were not around to witness steam days - and wonder at  the complexity of its origins -the picture gallery (below) might throw some light on the subject.  Doubtless there will be many enthusiasts who disagree with my choice of steam locos - you'll have your own favourites, surely - but the gallery does illustrate the difficulty BR faced in standardising the steam fleet, particularly in view of the huge number of BR steam classes involved - many originating from pre-Grouping days. I do recommend visiting the  LNER Encyclopedia website which provides a treasure trove of information about LNER locomotives based on the old Whyte wheel arrangement...

(Above-Below) Like most young train spotters in the Sixties - aspiring railway photographers each and every one - Roy Lambeth used pedal power to get around - no safety helmets or elbow-knee pads in those days. On 27th March 1966 Roy made the round trip of some 36 miles by pushbike from Durham to Tyne Dock, and was rewarded with these shots of Class 9Fs Nos 92098 (above left) and 92060 (above right) working the Tyne Dock-Consett iron ore traffic through Green Lane Junction, which, in steam days was perhaps one of the most photographed locations anywhere in the North-East. The Standard Class 9F 2-10-0s were fitted with Westinghouse Air Pumps mounted on the running plate to operate the air doors of the purpose-built hoppers - these photographs will be of interest to the most fastidious modellers, so too will Roy's 'Rail Cameraman's page, which features more photos of the Tyne Dock-Consett iron ore traffic. click here for link.  (Below) Later in the day, Roy photographed this grubby pair of WD 2-8-0s Nos 90152 and 90207 awaiting their fate at King's of Norwich Scrapyard at Fighting Cocks on the original Stockton & Darlington line.

 

 

(Above-Below) On 25th April 1966, Roy Lambeth left home in the early morning and cycled the 45 miles from Durham to North Blyth via the Tyne pedestrian tunnel at Jarrow and West Sleekburn. On arrival at North Blyth, the sun was all wrong for photography and this snatched shot (above) of 63362, 63386 and 62010 awaiting the cutter's torch at Hughes Bolckow Scrap Yard is all he took at North Blyth. It was hardly the most inspiring start to the day's photography, but after cycling back to West Sleekburn Level Crossing Roy had better luck with these shots of Class K1 No 62002 and Class J27 No 65859 heading coal trains to the North Blyth Power Stations. Click on photos to enlarge images.

(Above-Below) On the way home, Roy called in at Tyne Dock Junction before heading back to Durham - a round trip of over 100 miles on a heavyweight Raleigh Tourer with totally enclosed chain! (Above) Class Q6 No 63381 passes light engine. The mass of lines all belonged to BR giving access to various parts of Tyne Dock Bottom and Tyne Dock Coal Staiths. The upper quadrant signals are on the BR operated lines and the lower quadrant signals are on the BR lines used by the NCB, all controlled by the BR signal box. BR introduced bogie iron ore hoppers for this service, each with a capacity of 56 tons. Initially a batch of Thompson 1944-built class O1 2-8-0s were fitted with Westinghouse Air Pumps mounted on the running plate to operate the air doors of these hoppers. These trains were made up of 6 wagons and a brake van, and operated every 40 minutes whenever an iron ore bulk carrier arrived at Tyne Dock. They were banked by tank engines out of Tyne Dock to the top of the bank, then hauled by the O1s via Brockley Whins flat crossing, Washington (on the Leamside Line) to South Pelaw Junction where they took on another banker, often a Raven Class Q7 or Q6, or another O1 - the ensemble then setting about the rigorous 1 in 36 climb via Beamish and Annfield Plain to Consett. (Below) In later years, the Class O1s were replaced by Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 similarly fitted with Westinghouse Brake. The extra power of the 9F allowed each train to be loaded to 9 bogies plus Brake Van. Here Riddles Class 9F No 92061 pounds up the incline at Simonside and passes beneath the 71-lever Green Lane Bridge box on its way to Consett with a train of iron ore. 

(Above) When the War Department needed a shunting locomotives for railway operations in military use, RA Riddles CBE, then Mechanical and Electrical Engineer for the LMSR, attached to the Ministry of Supply as Deputy General of Royal Engineering Equipment, approved a design based on the Hunslet 'Austerity' saddletank. The Hunslet Engine Co was the main contractor, but as the company could not meet deliveries for the large number required for war service overseas, the work was sub-contracted to Hudswell-Clarke, Bagnall, Stephenson & Hawthorn, Barclay, Yorkshire Engine Co and the Vulcan Foundry. After hostilities ceased, the 0-6-0ST was the most numerous steam locomotive in use in private industries, particularly at collieries and steelworks. The LNER acquired 75 locomotives and designated them Class J94 numbered 8006-8080 in the fleet. Sporting a Darlington (51A) shedplate on its smokebox door, No 68024 is being prepared for its next turn of duty - the majority of J94s were to be found on the North Eastern Region. Several Class J94s have found their way into preservation where they are still performing short-haul duties for which they were originally designed. Photo © EA Wood-D Hey collection.

(Below) The batch of WD 'Austerity' 2-8-0 freight locomotives, built to Ministry of Supply design, and working on loan at the time of nationalisation, were purchased by British Railways in early 1949 and renumbered in the 90,000s.  The 'Austerity' 2-10-0s were a development of the earlier WD 2-8-0 locomotives designed by Riddles at the Ministry of Supply for use by the British Army overseas during World War 2. Among the first batch of 100 was No 600 Gordon, which was allocated to the Longmoor Military Railway. The loco was withdrawn following closure of the military establishment in October 1969. Here, an ex-works No 90156 accelerates an 'up' freight from the 40mph speed restriction at Selby in June 1954. Photo EA Wood-D Hey collection

AROUND THE REGION

 

 

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