70014IronDuke
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I went on a Scottish shed bash with the South Beds Loco Club (run by the indomitable Brian Lockey) over Easter in 1965, must have been April.
(The next two pars are about the journey north - pl skip if in a hurry.)
We travelled north on the overnight St Pancras – Glasgow Central sleeper on the evening of Maundy Thursday behind a Clss 45. I forget whether we went via Derby or Nottingham or straight up the Erewash. I do remember the climb out of Sheffield though, past white hot molten steel in the works on Brightside at about midnight 30 and sleepy, smouldering, grimy lines of steam on Holbeck 50 minutes later, and over Ais Gill at an hour when even the hardiest of sheep would be huddled in their pens. North of Carlisle, it was impossible to stay awake after Dumfries. Nor was it worthwhile in any case, it seemed an interminable age trundling through grey-green hills enshrouded with mist (little wonder Rabbie Burns preferred the pubs). .
There was the MPD at Hurlford that we had to look out for, of course, then Kilmarnock and the south-west suburbs of Glasgow. We were into Central by about 07.30 – the first time for years apparently the party had arrived on time. Or so said leader Lockey. So we had an hour plus to kill before the bashing bus had been ordered for 09.00-ish, as I remember.
Well, Glasgow Central then was (and still is, I'm sure, to a point) a real Cathedral to rail. In fact, I'd never experienced anything like it. Now don't get me wrong – I'd seen pacifics of all the 'big' railways' at speed – I'd cabbed 'Mallard' in steam, I'd been hauled by a 'Coronation' (OK - it was only from Wolverton to Bletchley). When I first bunked Reading 81D there had been something like 65 locos – the vast majority steam, including Castles - on shed. I'd seen a fair bit.
But what I hadn't experienced was a major terminus with an intensive steam-worked suburban service. From 07.30 to 09.00 that Good Friday morning, it seemed as if there was a train every five minutes arriving behind a Stanier/Fairburn LMS 2-6-4T or the Standard equivalent – and working out again.
Now, I'm sure my impressions even at the time were exaggerated: that is to say, it was probably more like every 15 minutes between most of the arrivals. (Obviously, many of the suburban workings were Blue Train electrics by then. But even so, the steam activity was exhilarating, especially around 08.30 or so).
We departed around 09.00 to 'do' Cowlairs and St Rollox works, and then sheds on the SW side outside Glasgow, such as Greenock, Ayr and Hurlford, before heading over to Edinburgh for the night. (What the Scots were doing working on Good Friday, I don't know. I thought they were more churchgoing?)
Questions
Specifically at Glasgow Central – which lines at that time were steam-worked? I'm sure one was the Greenock line, but I'm not sure where all these trains came from! Can't have been Greenock alone.
I'm also a bit confused by all the Glasgow sheds and stations – who were the original owning railways?
I know St Enoch, which was already closed, was the G&SW station, and the 67 sheds, starting with Corkerhill, were on that division.
Central, and 66 sheds, starting with Polmadie, were presumably the Caledonian Railway's contribution to things. (Or was Central a joint station with another company?)
But it's the Buchanan Street, Queen Str and the 65 sheds which have me lost.
Queen Street was, presumably, the North British terminus, or whatever went before that, and I suspect Eastfield was the NBR shed?
But which company(ies) was/were behind Buchanan Street? It seems too grand to be the Highland Railway. Did the Caledonian have a hand in here too?
And where does this leave St Rollox shed - I mean, with which railway and what kind of workings?
And there was Yoker. Where did that fit in? Maybe there's more I've forgotten.
Finally (if you are still with me), a question on pre-nationalisation locomotives.
At this time, there were still scores, maybe hundreds of North British and LNER 0-6-0s north (in Fife) and east of Edinburgh – including those venerable J36s like 'Byng', 'Joffre' and 'Maude' that had served in France during WW2.
But on the west side, the former Caledonian 0-6-0s (and of course, their earlier 4-4-0 passenger equivalents) had been wiped out by at least 18 months or more. At that point, the score felt like Reid 50 vs Pickersgill 0.
Were the Caledonian machines vastly inferior to their eastern neighbour's machines, or was this just an accident of the modernisation plan? Of course, most of the 0-6-0s on the eastern side were relatively modern Gresley designs, and maybe the LMS had 'done in' much of the Caledonian stock by nationalisation with 4Fs and Crabs? - so maybe I'm making Reid seem a designing genius and doing Pickersgill down.
Thanks for any thoughts (and facts!).
(The next two pars are about the journey north - pl skip if in a hurry.)
We travelled north on the overnight St Pancras – Glasgow Central sleeper on the evening of Maundy Thursday behind a Clss 45. I forget whether we went via Derby or Nottingham or straight up the Erewash. I do remember the climb out of Sheffield though, past white hot molten steel in the works on Brightside at about midnight 30 and sleepy, smouldering, grimy lines of steam on Holbeck 50 minutes later, and over Ais Gill at an hour when even the hardiest of sheep would be huddled in their pens. North of Carlisle, it was impossible to stay awake after Dumfries. Nor was it worthwhile in any case, it seemed an interminable age trundling through grey-green hills enshrouded with mist (little wonder Rabbie Burns preferred the pubs). .
There was the MPD at Hurlford that we had to look out for, of course, then Kilmarnock and the south-west suburbs of Glasgow. We were into Central by about 07.30 – the first time for years apparently the party had arrived on time. Or so said leader Lockey. So we had an hour plus to kill before the bashing bus had been ordered for 09.00-ish, as I remember.
Well, Glasgow Central then was (and still is, I'm sure, to a point) a real Cathedral to rail. In fact, I'd never experienced anything like it. Now don't get me wrong – I'd seen pacifics of all the 'big' railways' at speed – I'd cabbed 'Mallard' in steam, I'd been hauled by a 'Coronation' (OK - it was only from Wolverton to Bletchley). When I first bunked Reading 81D there had been something like 65 locos – the vast majority steam, including Castles - on shed. I'd seen a fair bit.
But what I hadn't experienced was a major terminus with an intensive steam-worked suburban service. From 07.30 to 09.00 that Good Friday morning, it seemed as if there was a train every five minutes arriving behind a Stanier/Fairburn LMS 2-6-4T or the Standard equivalent – and working out again.
Now, I'm sure my impressions even at the time were exaggerated: that is to say, it was probably more like every 15 minutes between most of the arrivals. (Obviously, many of the suburban workings were Blue Train electrics by then. But even so, the steam activity was exhilarating, especially around 08.30 or so).
We departed around 09.00 to 'do' Cowlairs and St Rollox works, and then sheds on the SW side outside Glasgow, such as Greenock, Ayr and Hurlford, before heading over to Edinburgh for the night. (What the Scots were doing working on Good Friday, I don't know. I thought they were more churchgoing?)
Questions
Specifically at Glasgow Central – which lines at that time were steam-worked? I'm sure one was the Greenock line, but I'm not sure where all these trains came from! Can't have been Greenock alone.
I'm also a bit confused by all the Glasgow sheds and stations – who were the original owning railways?
I know St Enoch, which was already closed, was the G&SW station, and the 67 sheds, starting with Corkerhill, were on that division.
Central, and 66 sheds, starting with Polmadie, were presumably the Caledonian Railway's contribution to things. (Or was Central a joint station with another company?)
But it's the Buchanan Street, Queen Str and the 65 sheds which have me lost.
Queen Street was, presumably, the North British terminus, or whatever went before that, and I suspect Eastfield was the NBR shed?
But which company(ies) was/were behind Buchanan Street? It seems too grand to be the Highland Railway. Did the Caledonian have a hand in here too?
And where does this leave St Rollox shed - I mean, with which railway and what kind of workings?
And there was Yoker. Where did that fit in? Maybe there's more I've forgotten.
Finally (if you are still with me), a question on pre-nationalisation locomotives.
At this time, there were still scores, maybe hundreds of North British and LNER 0-6-0s north (in Fife) and east of Edinburgh – including those venerable J36s like 'Byng', 'Joffre' and 'Maude' that had served in France during WW2.
But on the west side, the former Caledonian 0-6-0s (and of course, their earlier 4-4-0 passenger equivalents) had been wiped out by at least 18 months or more. At that point, the score felt like Reid 50 vs Pickersgill 0.
Were the Caledonian machines vastly inferior to their eastern neighbour's machines, or was this just an accident of the modernisation plan? Of course, most of the 0-6-0s on the eastern side were relatively modern Gresley designs, and maybe the LMS had 'done in' much of the Caledonian stock by nationalisation with 4Fs and Crabs? - so maybe I'm making Reid seem a designing genius and doing Pickersgill down.
Thanks for any thoughts (and facts!).
