Download or read book Western Region Steam Locomotive Depots written by Laurence Waters and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2024-02-22 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the opening of the Great Western Railway in 1838 through to the end of steam traction on the Western Region in 1965 the ‘engine shed’ formed an important role in both the infrastructure and operation of the railway. As the Great Western system expanded so did the need for larger locomotive servicing facilities and from the 1870s right through to the 1930s many sheds were rebuilt into larger locomotive depots or in some cases replaced by entirely new structures Nationalisation of the railways in 1948 saw the formation of the ‘British Railways Western Region’. Apart from a few early sub-shed closures the number of Western Region steam depots and sub-sheds remained almost unaltered until the regional boundary changes of 1958. Using black and white and color images from the Great Western Trust archive at Didcot, the book illustrates Western Region steam depots and ‘sub sheds’ that were in operation in the mid 1950s. With many previously unpublished photographs the book should interest modellers, historians and enthusiasts of the Western Region. Today the unique atmosphere of the steam ‘shed’ can be still be experienced at Didcot, where the original 1932 locomotive shed forms the centrepiece of the Didcot Railway Centre.
Download or read book Worcester Locomotive Shed written by Steve Bartlett and published by Pen and Sword Transport. This book was released on 2020-08-31 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WORCESTER LOCOMOTIVE SHED is the third in a series of in depth studies of Western Region motive power depots. This provincial city was a busy and fascinating rail centre with main line passenger and freight services passing through alongside local passenger and freight tripping duties that together provided an endless panorama of railway activity. The Great Western Railway had a major locomotive depot here and this book takes a detailed look at the shed, how it functioned, its locomotives and its operational duties during the latter days of steam. As well as official records valuable detail and reminiscences have been gathered from former footplate and shed staff ensuring that local custom and practice is well recorded in the story. The depots sub-sheds at Evesham, Honeybourne, Kingham and Ledbury are also all covered in detail as well as Worcester Locomotive Works. Worcester was also home to the fondly remembered ex-GWR diesel railcars and it was their last operational base at time of final withdrawal in 1962. Their role in the area is well covered in photographs and words. Taken together the book is both a valuable historical record and a fascinating and readable story of a large motive power depot in the latter days of steam.
Download or read book Western Region Engine Sheds 2 written by David Norman Dunn Preedy and published by Steam Memories on Shed : 1950's-1960's. This book was released on 2018-11-24 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book British Railways in the 1960s Western Region written by Geoff Plumb and published by Pen and Sword Transport. This book was released on 2021-07-30 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An evocative collection of photographs covering the Western Region during a decade of great change. After the Second World War, Britain’s railways were rundown and worn out, requiring massive investment and modernization. The “Big Four” railway companies were nationalized from 1948, and the newly formed British Railways embarked on a program of building new “Standard” steam locomotives to replace older types. These started to come on stream from 1951. This program was superseded by the 1955 scheme to dieselize and electrify many lines, and so the last loco of the “Standard” types was built in 1960—and the steam locomotives had been swept entirely from the BR network by 1968. This series of books is a photographic account of those last few years of the steam locomotives, their decline and replacement during the transition years. This volume covers much of the Western Region, as photographed by the author in his youth, often with limited time or disposable income but always with a passion for his project. While not a complete history, it offers a vivid illustration of how things were in the relatively recent past and imparts information through comprehensive captions, which give a sense of occasion—often a “last run” of a locomotive type or over a stretch of line about to be closed down. In simple terms, it’s a look at a period not so long ago but now gone forever. Praise for the series “Profusely illustrated . . . impressively informative.” —Midwest Book Review “An evocative collection of views of the twilight of BR steam.” —Railway Modeller
Download or read book Steam Memories 1950 s and 1960 s written by D. H. (Don H.) Beecroft and published by Damaris Publishing. This book was released on 2008 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Forget the Anorak written by Michael G Harvey and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2011-11-08 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michael Harvey's book brings to its readers the excitement of trainspotting in the 1950s and '60s, the hobby's heyday. It was the advent of the famous Ian Allan ABC Locospotters books that really gave the hobby its impetus, as they gave trainspotters all the information they required. Forget the Anorak sets out to provide the reader with a personal account of what the hobby entailed - teenagers roaming the railways of Britain, sleeping on deserted platforms on porters' trolleys, 'bunking' dimly lit depots and eluding capture, travelling hundreds of miles on a platform ticket, and stink bombs on the Underground. You'll be able to smell the steam, soot and unwashed socks, and taste the boiled egg sandwiches, the chips wrapped in newspaper and the hot jam doughnuts, all washed down with warm Tizer. Illustrated with Michael Harvey's own photographs and a selection of maps, Forget the Anorak appeals to anyone who experienced the golden days of trainspotting, as well as to anyone interested in the social history of Britain after the Second World War.
Download or read book The Great Western Steam Retreat written by Keith Widdowson and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2022-01-06 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In mid-1964, Keith Widdowson got wind that the Western Region was hell-bent on being the first to eliminate the steam locomotive on its tracks by December 1965. The 17-year-old hurriedly homed in on train services still in the hands of GWR steam power, aiming to catch runs with the last examples before their premature annihilation. The Great Western Steam Retreat recalls Widdowson's teenage exploits, soundtracked by hits from the Beatles, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones, throughout the Western Region and former Great Western Railway lines. He documents the extreme disorder that resulted from that decision, paying tribute to the train crews who managed to meet demanding timings in the face of declining cleanliness, the poor quality of coal and the major problem of recruiting both footplate and shed staff. This book completes the author's Steam Chase series and provides a snapshot into the comradery that characterised the final years of steam alongside the long-gone journeys that can never be recreated.
Download or read book Glory Days Western Region Steam Around London written by Kevin McCormack and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2019-09-15 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A photographic tribute to the former GWR in the postwar years up to the end of Western Region steam on 31 December 1965.
Download or read book GWR Collett Castle Class written by Keith Langston and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2015-03-30 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 'Castle' class 4-6-0 locomotives designed by Charles Collett and built at Swindon Works were the principal passenger locomotives of the Great Western Railway. The 4-cylinder locomotives were built in batches between 1923 and 1950, the later examples being constructed after nationalisation by British Railways. In total 171 engines of the class were built and they were originally to be seen at work all over the Great Western Railway network, and later working on the Western Region of British Railways. The highly successful class could be described as a GWR work in progress, because further development took place over almost all of the locomotives working lives. In addition to inspiring other locomotive designers the 'Castle' class engines were proved to be capable of outstanding performances, and when introduced were rightly described as being 'Britain's most powerful passenger locomotives'. Some of the 'Castles' survived in service for over 40 years, and individually clocked up just a little short of 2 million miles in traffic. In this book, Keith Langston provides a definitive chronological history of the iconic class together with archive photographic records of each GWR 'Castle' locomotive. Many of the 300 plus images are published for the first time. In addition background information on the origin of the names the engines carried, including details of the many name changes which took place, are also included. The extra anecdotal information adds a fascinating glimpse of social history. Collett CASTLE Class is a lavishly illustrated factual reference book which will delight steam railway enthusiasts in general and in particular those with a love of all things Great Western!
Download or read book Steam Railroads of Northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota written by Jim Angel and Ashley Mantooth and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2019 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Steam railroading became an integral part of the communities in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota in the late 1800s. The railroad provided hundreds of jobs and the ability to transport both goods and passengers across the Midwest. The Chicago & North Western Railway, the Chicago Great Western Railroad, the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway, the Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific Railroad, and the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad (called the Milwaukee Road by employees) served five principal gateways, which included Chicago, Illinois; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; Omaha, Nebraska; and Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri. Operating steam engines required tremendous manpower, and by the 1920s, some steam passenger trains were replaced by more efficient motor cars, fueled by oil-powered engines. Steam engines could no longer compete with the reduced operating costs, smaller crew requirements, and time savings provided by diesel, which ultimately led to the fall of steam in 1955.
Download or read book Black Country Steam Western Region Operations 1948 1967 written by Paul Dorney and published by Pen and Sword Transport. This book was released on 2022-08-09 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The railway lines of the heavily industrialised Black Country were of considerable commercial importance to the fortunes of the Great Western Railway and its successor, the Western Region of British Railways. Nevertheless, they received little attention from both photographers of the railway scene and contemporary railway publishers alike. Perhaps understandably, photographers, particularly in the post-war austerity years, chose to eschew the grimy industrial landscape of North West Worcestershire and South East Staffordshire and save their expensive film stock for more idyllic scenery elsewhere. The book seeks to redress that previous lack of attention, by presenting a significant selection of hitherto unpublished photographs, principally by locally based enthusiasts, accompanied by informative captions. Throughout the period from nationalisation to the ultimate demise of steam it follows the respective former GW routes through the region in a logical manner, depicting the wide variety of the locomotive power employed to haul the diverse traffic generated by the local industry, and the sidings and yards that served it. Coverage is also given to local locomotive running sheds and maintenance facilities. Most of the featured lines have now closed, as is also true of much of the heavy industry. A resident from the immediate post-war years would find the area unrecognisable, but it is to be hoped that the book will rekindle memories of a landscape now lost forever.
Download or read book British Steam BR Standard Locomotives written by Keith Langston and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2012-11-19 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of post second world war steam locomotive design and construction in Great Britain, the perfect gift for railroad history buffs. After WWII the existing railway companies were all put into the control of the newly formed British Transport Commission and that government organization spawned British Railways, which came into being on January 1st 1948. The railway infrastructure had suffered badly during the war years and most of the steam locomotives were “tired” and badly maintained and or life expired. Although the management of British Railways was already planning to replace steam power with diesel and electric engines, they still decided to build more steam locomotives as a stop gap. Some 999 Standard locomotives were built in twelve classes ranging from super powerful express and freight engines to suburban tank locomotives. The locomotives were mainly in good order when the directive came in 1968 to end steam, some trains were only eight years old. There still exists a fleet of forty-six preserved Standards of which 75% are in working order in and around the UKs preserved railways, furthermore three new build standard locomotives are proposed. Steam fans who were around in the 1960s all remember the “Standards.”
Download or read book West Coast Main Lines 1957 1963 written by John Palmer and published by Pen and Sword Transport. This book was released on 2022-08-09 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout its length from London to Glasgow via Crewe and Carlisle, with a loop through the West Midlands and spurs to Holyhead,Liverpool and Manchester, the West Coast Main Line has consistently provided interest for those many with more than a passing interest in trains and travel. This book outlines the history of the route,its physical characteristics and sets the scene for the various passenger and goods traffic flows that sustained it; it then details the arrangements for motive power and train working through the era of change that was 1957 to 1963. The level of interest - as evidenced daily by the presence at the lineside of hordes of young spotters and other observers - was particularly high at that time as processions of trains hauled by fine express passenger locomotives and those more suited to other traffic passed by. The book also goes 'behind the scenes' to provide insights into the daily and seasonal challenges of managing that section of a wider railway network, as directed by the varying terms of relevant legislation, and a government increasingly concerned to shape the railways for the changing needs of the public, industry and the economy. The book will be of particular interest to those who simply recall those days by the lineside, those with an interest in detailed arrangements to provide and maintain suitable motive power, those with an interest in how the railway served the needs of the nation and modellers who seek information. The book is illustrated with color and monochrome images and supported by maps.
Download or read book Signalling and Signal Boxes Along the LSWR Routes written by Allen Jackson and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2017-05-15 with total page 127 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Allen Jackson's illustrated look at signalling and signal boxes along the routes of the London & South Western Railway.
Download or read book BR Steam Motive Power Depots written by Paul Bolger and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Broad Gauge Locomotives written by Geof Sheppard and published by Noodle Books. This book was released on 2008-09 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Compiled from contemporary records and exciting new research by Geof Sheppard and fellow members of the Broad Gauge Society, this sensational new volume is beautifully illustrated with both familiar and newly uncovered pictures. In addition, the book contains a full index of all locomotive names and numbers as well as appendices listing all the various builders and operators.
Download or read book The British National Bibliography written by Arthur James Wells and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 1704 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: