West Coast Railway Co open day July 27 08

[Steve B]

The West coact railway company open day has been a very long time coming, the site was a very big steam depot back up till the very end of steam in 1968, it later was sold as a museum and named Steamtown which was the home to locomotives such as Flying Scotsman, in the late 1980's money was slowing down any progress and Steamtown eventually closed it's doors forever as a museum. The present owners have a fleet of diesel and steam loco's as well as a large number of passenger coaches which forms west Coasts business as the UK's leading hirer of loco's and coaches for railtours and such like.

One of the highlights was the return to steam of 70013 "Oliver Cromwell" which was the last steam loco ever used in Britain in August 1968

And here she is

and another fantastic achievement,,, Royal Scot class 46115 "Scots Guardman" only painted a few days ago

5690 Leander next to a Morris Van

and inside the shed, the drivers notice board

the children next to "Hogwats Castle" from the Harry Potter film, this is the home of this loco

Sorry to the dial uppers

 

[OldGettysk]

Thanks Steve ,some really nice photos of some real old beauties. And your children are adorable !!!!!!!

 

[Steve B]

Thanks Paul, And there is more to come, this place is a real gold mine from the past
A panorama showing the steam line up, from left is 30777 70013 46115 an 0-4-0 and 5690

and inside the steam shed is a bit of a mess

and a class 60 painted in "The teenage Cancer Trust" colours

The only remaining concrete coaling stages in the UK are here, sadly inoperative, to the left is the original water tower, it's huge and goes a long way to show just how busy this place was

It worked like this, you placed a loaded coal car here onto a hoist which the track was also part of it, you chained it down then hoisted it up and tipped it out into the bunker

the top of the hoist

 

[Selector]

Steve, what a great day that must have been. I would have tried for an overnight and then much of the next day, although I'd probably have to be on my own. Wonderful images. Very classy steam.

-Crandell

 

[Steve B]

Cheers Crandell some of these fine machines have to go home, lucky for me they should pass right by our house this week,,, and i'm on holiday / vacation all week

 

[jbaakko]

Wow, looking good, wish I could have been there!

 

[UP2CSX]

Steve, great pictures. Looks like some of the motive power still has quite a bit of work ahead to get it running, or at least presentable. Is that prime mover with the two cute kids by it a Deltic diesel? I 've read about them but never seen one.

 

[Steve B]

Not 100% sure Jim but i think it's an English electric unit for a class 37, thats one of the bonneted locos with three screens, the Deltic is bonneted but only has two windscreens,,, and is uglier. The Deltic power unit is an 18 cylinder with the cylinders going off in three directions, and there are two of them which scare children when they are started,,, they did on sunday

 

[UP2CSX]

Steve, you're right, should have noticed the lack of a thrid cylinder bank. That's funny about them scaring the kids. When the RN first tested the Deltic in an ex-Geman E-Boat, the start-up sequence was so loud that people called the police for miles around, fearing there had been an explosion. They were an interesting engineering design and worked well for RN vessels like minesweepers, where the small magnetic signature and low speeds didn't put too much strain on the engine. Never did work out too well on the railroads though.