Help and appeals page, information exchange.
Part 1 - requests for help from members | Part 2 (Below) SLS What where when? picture series (updated to latest image entry date below
Index of previously resolved What where when and other queries.
Help requested
Brecon & Merthyr Line film?
Does anyone know of a film made of the Brecon & Merthyr line? The contact wishes to remain anonymous at the moment but has been told that a person in the Exeter area made a detailed film of such a journey. The contact is aware of the commercially produced DVDs & You Tube clips etc. Further, has any member film of Brunel’s Merthyr Tydfil railway station please?
Any information to Brian Dotson, e-mail: Brian Dotson brian.dotson5@gmail.com or ( 01597 824408 or Genrowan, 5 Pentrosfa Crescent, Llandrindod Wells, Powys, LD1 5NW.
Thanks.- John New/Brian Dotson (Added 23 June 15)
Train timing Logs
I would be very grateful to receive from members any train timing logs they may have on the following routes:
Peterborough-Wellingborough-Northampton and Northampton-Bedford.
Further, if any members have any runs behind Victorian-Edwardian tank engines or logs behind steam engines in the Class 2 - Class 4 range I would be extremely grateful.
Please send any material to the following address: A. James, 45 Springfield Avenue, Thrapston, Northants, NNI4 4TL or ( 07887 835224)
Pontypool Shed (86G)
Details about locomotives allocated and/or transferred to the shed from 1963 onwards appear to be difficult to obtain. Any members who can help Harry Rawlins of Abergavenny with details for his database on the shed please ( 01873 854103 or send to 48 Belgrave Road, Abergavenny, Gwent, NP7 7AG.
Digital images of steam engines that were in the Ian Allan 1959 ABC books
Since 1976 I have been collecting pictures and more recently digital images of steam engines that were in the Ian Allan 1959 ABC books. The majority are included within my personal collection of books, magazines and DVDs but as well as these I have approached all the usual library sources and spent many days researching at the National Railway Museum.
Presently I still need 4 locomotives, namely:
LMS ‘Jinty’ 47568 allocated to Farnley Junction throughout the 1950s until being cut in 1960.
LMS ‘Jinty’ 47573 allocated to Wakefield from 1951 to being cut in 1960.
LNER J39 64793 allocated to Ipswich from 1948 until being cut in 1960.
WD 2-8-0 90286 allocated to Mexborough throughout the 1950s until being cut in late 1962.
As it is a trainspotting thing I am not bothered about the quality of these pictures or images. I am aware that many members will have travelled far and wide and wondered if any member or any of their friends might have a picture or an image?
Engine cleaning materials?
A request has been received from a Railway & Canal Historical Society member who understood in 1958 from a retired Doncaster driver that the GNR and GER used tallow for cleaning engines, the Midland used Vaseline, and the LNWR soap and water. The LNWR practice was strictly enforced and grease was allowed only on the wheels.
If any reader could verify or otherwise expand on this information, please advise Brian Lewis at e-mail: dbl_sls@yahoo.co.uk or write to 39 The Ridings, Berrylands, Surbiton, Surrey, KT5 8HG. This information has also been posted in the members section of the Society’s website.
Railway Related War Memorials
The Railway Heritage Trust is assembling a list of Railway Related War Memorials and is keen to know what sort of memorials exist in Wales, particularly South Wales. Besides this location, condition and likely ownership would also be most helpful. The trust is particularly interested in memorials from the pre-1923 companies that may not be known to NRM/UKNIWM. NRM/UKNIWM are already aware of the ones at Cardiff Central, Barry Dock's Offices, Cardiff Pierhead Building and Swansea Industrial & Maritime Museum. If anyone has knowledge of these memorials etc and/or any snippets of information etc then please contact The Journal Editor
Images forwarded by members - help wanted as outlined please. (section last revised 8 Aug 2015)
1 ) Poole Harbour / Hamworthy - Details now discovered (For image and answer see Poole Harbour Shunter) - Index to the other now resolved WWW queries here.
2) Royal train passing Shawford in down direction. The trees are in full leaf so a summer day sometime between late 1966 and, at the latest, July 1972 although probably earlier than 1972. Can any one provide further details as to date, locomotive and destination? If it helps for dating this the station signs have already been updated from the green enamel roundels to the then "modern image" corporate BR white/black and as can be seen the canopies had not yet been demolished.
What the member already knows is that:-
a) IT IS NOT the train of 1 May 1969 in connection with the QEII's maiden voyage as sufficient details differ from published photos of that train to exclude that working from any list of possibles.
b) Assuming the correct code is being displayed (and sometimes it wasn't) 96 is for Southampton Western Docks.
Any observations on the above to the webmaster please.
3) Ghanain locomotive H E P PLUMRIDGE
A close friend of the member's father ran Ghana railways in the early 1950s. She has asked me what happened to a locomotive bearing his name – see illustration. As can be seen from the missing rear end even deduction of the exact wheel arrangement is problematic (4-8-?).
Again, any Readers who can provide information to help to solve this mystery should please contact Peter Prydderch, e-mail: ppltd@btinternet.com or write to 2A Midland Road, Bramhall, Stockport SK7 3DR.
4) Mystery car in goods yard - details now discovered. Details and photo - Index to the other now resolved WWW queries here.
Part 2 Images from the SLS collection(s)
Index of previously resolved What where when? queries.
Latest and/or still unsolved "What, when, where?" below:-
This section will always be flexible as to what content it displays as it is to be used to help find further details of images in our Library and Photographic collections where data is missing. As a historical resource images where the supporting information is now known remain on line with their own individual pages.
Readers who can provide further details about these pictures should write to K. Greenwood, Bradstones, Charlton Road, Holcombe, Bath, Somerset, BA3 5ER or email The Photograph Collection Custodian
UPDATES - current WIP (14 November).
No 198 - Negative Number 26768
No 197 - Negative Number 26894
Locomotive No. 42353 but where and when? (Resolved - Lamport (Northants). Answer page to be created shortly)
No 196 - Negative Number 26809
Locomotive No. 43068 but where and when? (Resolved - Wisbech North. Answer page to be created shortly)
No's 193-7, 191, 187-9, 182 - 185, 180 - 172 plus the earlier queries 170 to 159 are resolved together with photo queries from members No.'s 1 & 4 - Index to the previously resolved WWW queries here.
No. 192 – Negative Number 28417
Readers who can provide further details about the above picture should e-mail: slsphotocollect@btinternet.com or write to K. Greenwood, Bradstones, Charlton Road, Holcombe, Bath, Somerset, BA3 5ER.
No. 190 – Negative Number 24723
No. 186 – Negative Number 27728
A Hawksworth 0-6-0PT at a halt.
This photograph, from Page 245 of Journal (November/December 2016,) is one of a couple in the series which are proving difficult to identify.
Suggestion 2 - In the July/August 2017 Journal, page 152, it was suggested that the location may be South Wales.(See suggestion 1 below) However, Nigel Wassell has suggested that the location is Blaenrhondda, looking east (i.e. towards Treherbert). Assuming it to have been taken in 1962 or earlier, the train is almost certainly a Treherbert - Swansea service. (This update 19 November 2017)
Suggestion 1 - We are grateful to David Morgan who has suggested that the location may be South Wales, between Neath and Hirwaun. But a preferred thought is a Brynmawr to Newport train, i.e. heading down the valley. (Entry made 11 August 2017)
No. 181 – Negative Number 27877
No.171 - Negative 8422: 4-wheel tractor shunter, Wolverton Works, 17 September 1966 (Entry updated 3 June 2014)
The picture shows a four wheel tractor shunter at Wolverton Works. The photograph was taken by R. Cutler at Wolverton Carriage Works on Saturday 17 September 1966. But what was it used for, who manufactured the petrol engine, are there any technical details such as engine size etc known? When was it built and what was the scrap date?
To contact the Society This site uses a Java based email generator to reduce spam. If you are seeing this message either enable Java on your PC or make the obvious changes to the following email address = slsphotocollect_at_btinternet_dot_com';
WWW No.158 – Negative No. = 19347 (Updated 3 April 2016)
It has been suggested that this could be the colliery railway at Banwen in South Wales There is very little in the photo to aid identification. The poor track would tend to suggest an industrial location and not British Railways. There look to be coal wagons in the sidings. There are no visible field boundaries. We have the outline of the mountains as a backdrop. R. Hewitt took the photograph. A correction to the negative number was made in July 2012, thus the number above is correct. Thanks to David Lovell for the suggestion.
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