RAIL CAMERAMAN JIM CARTER
RECONNAISSANCE WITH A CAMERA
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The reason railway enthusiasts are ridiculed in some circles is because the po-faced opponents
of our hobby underwent emotional by-passes when they were young, and have no nostalgia reserves of their own from which to draw. Such is the unforgiving climate nowadays, that to express one's feelings about trains is to invite ludicrous charges of soppy sentimentality. Well, excuse me, but what made childhood spotting days so remarkably civilised is that by its very nature the hobby embraced every emotion from great joy and elation to deep despair and unfulfilled hopes, so to run away with the notion that railway enthusiasts are not ‘quite the full shilling’ is way off the mark.
One has only to study the photographs of retired railwayman, Jim Carter, to understand the depth of feeling towards steam - yes, even amongst hardened railmen. Over the years Jim has regaled me with stories from the footplate - and to tell the truth, his gritty hands-on credentials deserves my
respect because he was firing locos when I was still a small boy in short pants. Working for BR gave Jim a definite advantage over the average railway photographer because he could get into places we could only dream of going. Take Crewe North, for instance - only a a kamikaze cameraman would dare enter its hallowed ground without a permit, whereas Jim had unlimited access - 'It was like manna from heaven,' he told me - 'except for those damned poles!' (Right) In this aerial view of the shed yard, there are poles to the left, poles to the right...
Jim Carter’s unashamed adoration for all things Stanier is well know by enthusiasts. If
you combine his eye for a good photograph along with a bevy of buxom 'Duchesses' at Crewe North then you have a magical combination, including this shot (top left) of No 46250 City of Lichfield being turned in readiness for express duties. Beneath it are two typically fine JRC studies of Stanier ‘Coronation’ Pacifics beneath the smoke hoods at Crewe North shed. On the left is No 46254 City of Stoke-on-Trent, and on the right No 46250 City of Lichfield.
By the end of September 1964, the entire class had been ousted by Type 4 haulage on the WCML - and, not surprisingly, Jim was at Crewe North shed to photograph the last working Stanier Pacific No 46256 Sir William Stanier, FRS on the eve of the return farewell special from Crewe to Carlisle. On the back of the photograph he writes – ‘This was the last time I photographed a ‘Coronation’ Pacific at North Shed. In 1964, English Electric Type 4s were hauling most West Coast passenger trains, but
diesels were known to fail, which left Crewe men struggling with second-hand ‘Britannias’ whilst the ‘Duchesses’ were being towed away to the scrap yards with years of good hard work still left in them. Some were out-shopped from Crewe Works and put into store at 5A awaiting disposal. But why weren’t they used in a similar fashion as the A4s in Scotland?’ Indeed, it is hard to understand why the LMR could find so little work for their still serviceable ’Coronations’ - after all, the operating department valued their coal pushing tenders in overhead electrified areas as an insurance against train crews attempting to climb into the tender to trim the coal forward. Instead, the Pacifics were consigned to the scrap heap with indecent haste.
EDGE HILL SHED (8A) LIVERPOOL
WEST COAST MAIN LINE - WINWICK JUNCTION
WEST COAST MAIN LINE - WARRINGTON and WIGAN
NORTH WALES COAST MAIN LINE - CHESTER
WEST COAST MAIN LINE - LUNE VALLEY
Polite notice - all photographs copyright JR Carter. Reproduction prohibited
