Category Archives: History

Strange days…

22 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by in History, Hs2, Musings, Photography, Politics, Railways, Travel

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Today’s been another one where I’ve been tied to the office as I’ve continued to make inroads into scanning my old slide library in order to get them onto my Zenfolio website. Mind you, it does free up an awful lot of physical space too – and now they can be seen by anyone and I can access them anywhere!

Yesterday I added another batch of old rail pictures from 1990. This morning I was up at Sparrowfart to start scanning more travel pictures from Brazil, this time from the Island of Fernando de Noronha which I was lucky enough to visit in 2002. I have to say it’s been one of my favourite Islands. It’s pretty unique and (at least in those day) unspoilt. It’s now a world Heritage and conservation site and the main reasons to go there are to enjoy the wild coastlines, beautiful beaches and the flora and fauna. I must admit, scanning these pictures is really giving me itchy feet! Anyway, here’s a link to the gallery. I’ve still plenty more pictures to add and I’ll alternate them with the railway shots.

Here’s a selection of both as a sample.

In 1990 this scene was nothing out of the ordinary. Now… On the 12th May 1990 one of the two shunting engines that acted as Euston station pilots trundles around the entrance to platforms 15-18. These were used to shunt mail trains – one of which can be seen through the arch, stabled in the Downside Carriage shed. These engines would also be used to swap coaches in/out of rakes used on the main-line expresses in the days before we had fixed formation trains like the Pendolinos, although most of the day they sat idle. Now, this whole area is being swept aside to build the new HS2 station. The pilots are long-gone as mail trains disappeared from Euston back in the late 1990s. The carriage shed was demolished last year and the site is where the new HS2 lines will emerge from the tunnel from Old Oak Common to enter the new HS2 station which will be built here and to the left of the picture.

This is the stunning island of Fernando de Noronha off the North-East Coast of Brazil. It’s a fascinating plce with a rich history, beautiful beaches and abundant wildlife. This is a view of Moro do Pico, at 323 metres tall it’s the highest point of the island.

Whilst scanning archive pictures I’ve also been keeping abreast of various news. Originally I thought I might need to take a trip down to London today to visit the latest national StopHs2 protest, but as I predicted the other day – it’s turned into a damp squib that wasn’t worth bothering with. If it had happened it would have been the first national StopHs2 demonstration since 2004. As it is, the Stop Hs2 website lowered expectations yesterday when they published this excuse.

“On Wednesday, Elizabeth Cairns and Matt Bishop invite you to join them in Parliament. This event will NOT be happening in Portcullis House, no matter what Facebook says, and there is no rally in outside Parliament either. Stop HS2 will also be launching our latest briefing for MPs that day, but that is a separate thing, so sorry for any confusion as the two things got a bit mixed up!”

Really? So what WILL be happening? Not a lot it seems. This is a classic example of someone writing cheques they can’t cash. I don’t think Ms Cairns actually understood what this entailed. Hence this…

“I’m asking people to come as individuals, to use your democratic right to visit parliament, lobby your MP and make your voice heard. I will be there with my family from 11am and plan to stay in the public spaces (st Stephens hall) peacefully as long as I am able to be there and welcome anyone who wishes to join me.“

OK, so no-one’s actually made an appointment to see their MP then? By the way, here’s today’s Order paper. Somehow, I think many MPs may have better tings to do…

Later, this video appeared on Facebook. Apparently, all of 6 MPs were lobbied and that was a ‘success’. Excuse me if I’m underwhelmed! Meanwhile, back in the wider world, Grant Shapps, the Transport Minister has yet again confirmed that an announcement on Hs2 will be made next month.

Daft anti HS2 stuff aside I was saddened to hear that today, yet another of the Monty Python team has passed away. We lost Neil Innes at the end of last year. Today, Terry Jones joined the choir invisible after battling a rare form of dementia since 2017. There’s so much that I could write about this subject, but this isn’t the blog to do it in. Suffice to say I feel so much for Terry’s family. It’s an awful thing to happen. Dementia and mental illness rob you of the person you loved. It takes their essence and leaves a husk. Personally (having experienced lost a for few loved ones in my time) I think it’s one of the worst things to have to cope with. My heart goes out to them, but I’m also grateful that Terry (and Neil) have left us all with so many happy memories – and a huge amount of laughs!

Clearing the decks for another week…

18 Monday Nov 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, History, Photography, Railways

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Monday started at 6am as Dawn was up to get into work because Network Rail have taken over the area outside the ACoRP office as a secure compound. They’re using it as a base for kit they need for the rebuilding and refurbishment of Huddersfield station, which was unfortunate timing as ACoRP are having their own contractors carrying out work to the water tower!

Once the alarm clock went off I made coffee then sought refuge in the office to finish of scanning a load of old slides and gave Dawn free rein on the bathroom. There are advantages to working from home. It means one of us gets priority over the ablutions!

The early start allowed me to clear yet another old slide album and prepare the next for scanning by weeding out all the duplicates. By lunchtime I’d added another 40 plus images to my Zenfolio website which you can find by following this link. There’s a real mixture of rail stuff from 2003 but the next album steps back in time to 2002. Here’s a sample of the 2003 slide images. It was this job that persuaded me to bite the bullet and go digital. I was on the train with a freelance photographer who was working for the Telegraph newspaper. Whilst I had a Nikon F5 and F801s loaded with colour slide and high ISO black and white, he had a digital Nikon D1 and it was obvious to me he could get shots it was impossible for me to take. That’s when I realised that it was a case of ‘adapt or die’, so I started saving for the camera kit to allow me to make the transition, which I did a few months later in March 2004.

Remember the old Travelling Post Office trains? Here’s a shot I took on board 1C00, the 23.18 London – Carlisle, the famous ‘Night Mail’ which was immortalised in the poem by WH Auden.

I’m not sure I’ll have time to scan any more slides this week, but there’s lots of pictures in the queue – from the launch of Virgin Trains Pendolino services to the building of High Speed 1 into St Pancras.

Having cleared my desk of lightboxes and slide gubbins I nipped out for a couple of hours to make the most of the gorgeous winter sunshine we were blessed with today. The hills are too high and the shadows too long around Sowerby Bridge so I nipped over to Todmorden to get a few pictures like this to add to the library.

CAF built 195119 working a late running Manchester Victoria – Leeds service.

The pair of us have another early start in the morning so I’m going to call it a day. Sadly the weather’s not predicted to be as good, so I’ll have to play things by ear as I’ve a queue of subjects and locations to photograph as well as all the mundane stuff like paperwork. Whatever happens, expect more pictures – old and new soon!.

More old BR locos head for scrap.

05 Tuesday Nov 2019

Posted by in Class 60s, History, Railways

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Richard Clinnick has published news in the latest RAIL magazine that the first of the BR era Class 60 diesel locomotives have been sold for scrap. Built between 1989-1992, the 100 Class 60s were never the most successful design but they were significant as they were the end of an era – the last diesel locomotives ever ordered by British Railways before the railways were privatised.

Three of the 59 examples of the class that are stored at the DB Cargo depot in Toton are on their way to scrapyards. Raxstar have purchased 60050 (formerly named ‘Roseberry Topping’) whilst 60006 ‘Scunthorpe Ironmaster’ and 60086 ‘Schiehallion’ are off to Ron Hull’s scrapyard at Rotherham. All three locos have been out of service since the 2000s, with 60006 out of service the longest as it was withdrawn in November 2004. The two other locomotives that were on the tender list, 60060 and 60081 have apparently been bought privately.

Here’s a look back at the three locomotives that have gone for scrap.

On the 28th October 2002 60006 ‘Scunthorpe Ironmaster’ in its special ‘Corus’ livery heads West along the North London line and crosses over the East Coast Main Line just outside Kings Cross. It lasted another 2 years before being withdrawn by EWS, although this was the only time I managed to capture it on film!
My picture of 60050 ‘Roseberry Topping’ on display at Doncaster works open day on July 9th 1994 has been used to illustrate the RAIL article. 60060 was withdrawn 12 years later in June 2006. Although purchased for scrap by Raxstar, they have been asking for expressions of interest in it.

60086 ‘Schiehallion’ sits in the stabling sidings at Didcot on the 21st August 1995. It was one of the locomotives allocated to Mainline freight, one of the three companies the BR freight sector was broken up into ready for privatisation. It, Loadhaul and Transrail were all bought by EWS and amalgamated. 60086 was withdrawn by EWS as long ago as October 2005.

Rolling blog: Belgium day 3. Battlefield tour.

26 Saturday Oct 2019

Posted by in Belgium, History, Travel, World War 1

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Today the six of us are off on our own private trip (hosted by Quasimodo tours) to some of the major First World War battlefield sites around Ypres. Despite four years of bloody fighting and all the lives lost, the front line around the town moved back and forth littke more than 4 miles between 1914-18. Here’s the map we’ve been given as a guide.

10:30.

Our first stop. The German war cemetery at Langemark. 44,000 Germans (and two British) soldiers are buried here. 1000s of the Germans are 18 year old volunteers who had less than a months drill training before being sent to the front

19:33.

To be honest, today has been too much to absorb and try and blog about at the same time. We’ve visited a vast array of sights on what was a fantastic and informative tour, but that was also deeply moving. The sheer scale of the slaughter and destruction is hard to take in. I’ll blog about this in detail in the future. Right now I’ll just leave you with a few pictures from the day.

Just some of the names of the German soldiers at Langemark.
The Canadian war memorial.
Row upon row of memorials at the main British cemetery at Tyne Cot.
The excellent and informative museum at Hoodge Crater which is packed with memorabilia from the war.
Just some of the recovered artefacts at Hoodge Crater, which is actually built atop the remains of the crater itself.
Hill 60 has lain untouched since the end of the war and gradually been reclaimed by nature. It still bears all the scars and shell craters left behind.
Hill 60 sums up the futility of the fighting. 10s of 1000s died fighting over the land which swapped hands several sides.

Mytholmroyd station building. A look inside…

06 Friday Sep 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, Community rail, History, Mytholmroyd, Railways, West Yorkshire

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I’ve been meaning to blog about this for ages but never had the time. Today’s miserable weather’s put a damper on other photographic activities as it’s chucking it down here in the Calder Valley so I’ve finally found the opportunity.

Some of you may have noticed the old station building at Mytholmroyd as you passed by on the train. It’s on West end of the Leeds bound platform. What you may not have appreciated from the train is just how big a building it is! Here’s how it looked from the platforms in April 2015.

Here’s a recent view showing what it looks like from ground level. In effect it’s two buildings. The back part of the building (to the left of the drainpipe) was the stationmasters residence. The public part of the building is to the right of the drainpipe.

It’s spread over three-floors and there’s a warren of rooms inside. Built in 1874 by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, it was given a grade 2 listing back in 1984 when it was closed by British Rail. It’s been derelict for over 30 years but the friends of Mytholmroyd station have been trying to get it reopened as a community space and waiting rooms ever since 2007. It was a long process as the building is owned by Network Rail. In 2015 the station building was specifically included in the successful Arriva North Franchise Agreement, which stated that (no later than 2025) the franchise shall ” redevelop for social use redundant or under- utilised buildings at stations including Mytholmroyd and Cottingham”.

With that commitment agreed, negotiations continued with various interested parties, including the Railway Heritage Trust. The original group of station volunteers was joined by representatives from the local community and a Northern Rail director; and an application for Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)  was granted in September 2017.

The negotiations culminated in work commencing in March 2018 by Network Rail contractors CPMS who removed asbestos and made the building safe in preparation to repoint and plaster parts of the interior. Local interior designers JSB Ltd assisted with the restoration of the original woodwork, fireplaces and windows.

Northern Rail is planning to include the building within their (operational) station lease from Network Rail. The Station Partnership and CIO would have a licence from Northern – with no responsibility for building maintenance etc.

Northern are planning a public Waiting Room and toilet on the second floor with access from the station platform. They would welcome suggestions for a small trading outlet within the building that would be relevant for rail passengers and be suitable for the general community/social use concept.

Northern envisage that the operation of the building will be through a Management Board consisting of themselves, the Station Partnership together with the CIO and users / tenant(s).

Proposals include –

Second Floor – step-free access from the station platform. Welfare accommodation for Northern Rail staff. A General Waiting Room – which may include an Art Gallery and station history display. Toilet. Rooms for Railway Education project.

First floor – steps only access. Studios for local artists and office/meeting room for Station Partnership, the CIO and the building Management Board.

Ground floor – step-free access. Flexible use which could include a small trading unit, a Reading Café incorporation of a library, meeting/conference facilities including a small catering area. Secure storage area for the Station Partnership equipment including an accessible water supply.

In March 2019 the first phase of the restoration of the building was complete. In May I was lucky enough to be invited along to have a look inside. Here’s what we saw.

The tour group gather in the booking hall on the ground floor as Geoff Mitchell from the station friends group gives us a run-down on what’s been happening with the building.
Looking behind me from the last picture. The wooden structure to the right is the old ticket office. Note the original stone steps leading to the second floor. The restoration work has been done to a very high standard.
Here’s the original ticket office desk which was still in-situ. It’s been cleaned and restored.
Climbing the stairs from the ground floor.
One of the top-floor rooms that have a doorway out onto the platform. This one is on the street side of the building. You can see the way it’s changed uses over the years.
Looking to the right of the previous pictures you can see through to the other top-floor room that opens out onto the platform. Some of the original plasterwork and paint colours remain.
One of the top-floor stone fireplaces that have been lovingly restored.
Another of the fireplaces. None of us could work out what the wooden framework above had been used for.
One of the rooms in the old Stationmaster’s residence.
One of the winding staircases in the old stationmaster’s residence. This side of the building had been abandoned since the last stationmaster had departed.
Shadows and light on exposed brickwork.
The ground floor of the old stationmasters side of the building had been altered over the years with one of the walls having been taken out to give access to the exterior hoist up to the Leeds bound platform. Thousands of chickens were shipped through here in the days of the railways being a general carrier. A goods train would pull up at the platform and boxes of chickens would be loaded straight onto it. Now the lift has gone and the doorway’s been bricked up as part of the restoration.
A view taken from the yard outside where the lift used to be. The quality of the restoration work is evident.
Another relic that remained on the premises. The station safe!

Ireland: day 6.

13 Tuesday Aug 2019

Posted by in Abandoned railways, Food and drink, History, Ireland, Railways, Travel

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Today’s been very much governed by the rain which has put the mockers on a lot of things, including any walking and also the change to get any decent scenic pictures of what’s a beautiful bit of Ireland. To be honest, the day started slowly anyway as poor Dawn went down with a migraine yesterday evening, which left her feeling woozy, so she had an early night and a late morning start. At first, the weather looked promising, so we stuck to our plan of driving over to pretty Kinsale on the River Brandon. But then we pushed our luck and ventured further West. Our first stop was at Courtmacsherry which is an attractive little village that’s spread out along a single long street on the southern shore of Courtmacsherry Bay. We stopped for coffee and cake (a rare holiday treat) at the Travara Lodge, a B&B with a lovely café on the ground floor and a garden on the banks of the Bay. You have to admit, the cakes do look tempting and the Pecan pie was gorgeous.

Like many places in Ireland, Courtmacsherry once had a railway station. The Timoleague and Courtmacsherry Railway finally closed in 1960 after many years when it was only used for summer excursions and freight. Part of it remains as a footpath which is marked by an old semaphore signal arm on a makeshift post.

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Looking towards Courtmacsherry

The old station building in Courtmacsherry survives as a residential property.

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The village also contains a memorial to the sinking of the liner Lusitania which was torpedoed in May 1915 and sank in 20 minutes, with the loss of 1,198 lives. The ship went down not far off the coast from the village.

Taking a gamble and really sticking our necks out we ventured further West through Clonakilty and Skibereen as far as Baltimore, a village with a harbour that serves as the ferry terminal for boats to Cape Clear, Sherkin and Hare Islands, as well as trips around the famous Fastnet lighthouse. The area’s popular with boaters so the harbour’s busy with yachts and other small craft. In the right weather it must be an absolutely stunning bit of coastline. Today was not that day! As usual, we arrived the same time as the rain which cut visibility to a few hundred metres. We cut our losses by taking up refuge in the local pub which had been recommended by a friend. Bushe’s Bar overlooks the harbour and contains a vast array of nautical memorabilia including lifebelts from some of the ships wrecked in the area over the years. The place is popular with both locals and visitors and serves food as well as a good selection of drinks. It’s certainly worth a visit. On a sunny day the barrel tables outside are especially popular.

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We hung around for a couple of drinks, hoping the weather would clear, but it wasn’t to be, so we gave up and headed back to Kinsale to eat at another recommendation, Fishy Fishy is (as the name suggests) a seafood restaurant just back from the River Bandon that specialises in locally caught fish. The menu isn’t huge, but what you get is delicious. I went for this, pan cooked Hake.

Suitably stuffed, we’re now lounging at our Airbnb before exploring Cork and Cobh tomorrow – and praying for better weather!

Not a (real) train in sight…

26 Friday Jul 2019

Posted by in Architecture, Brexit, History, Politics, Railways, Travel, Worcester

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After the past few days gallivanting around the country today’s been a time for consolidation at home. I even treated myself to a lie-in and didn’t switch on the computer until 07:30! Mind you, it had been a hot and humid night – hardly the best for getting a good night’s sleep. The really hot weather had departed by the morning, leaving us with an assorted bag of cloud cover and the occasional bit of sunshine to help dry out the effects of the overnight showers. Much of the day has been spent editing pictures of railways rather than travelling on them, but that will change again tomorrow. I’ve added over 100 pictures to my Zenfolio website, which you can find if you follow this link to the ‘recent’ section of the website as it’ll show you which galleries they’ve been added to. Here’s a couple of samples just to whet your appetite.

These are the beautifully restored station waiting rooms at Worcester Shrub Hill. They’re unique and are constructed out of cast iron and tiles, having been built around 1864 by local companies.

DG329521. Restored waiting rooms. Worcester Foregate St. 25.7.19.crop

A plaque nearby lists the details of these extraordinary structures.

DG329525. Restored waiting rooms. Worcester Foregate St. 25.7.19.cropWorcester Shrub Hill is an anachronism in several ways. Not only does it have these waiting rooms, it also has some of the finest surviving examples of Great Western Railway lower-quadrant semaphore signals. The fact these control the very latest generation of high-speed trains built by Hitachi is quite something, as you can see from this picture. In the foreground is a two car Class 172 which has recently been transferred from the Gospel Oak-Barking line in London to become part of the West Midlands Train fleet. In the background is 800322, a 9-car Hitachi built Class 800 operated by GWR. The variety of GWR signals is evident.

DG329539. 172003. 800311. Worcester Shrub Hill. 25.7.19.crop

Having loaded up the pictures the rest of the day’s been spent catching up on less exciting matters – paperwork. My desk seems to be awash with ACoRP marking forms receipts and bits and bobs. So much for the ‘paperless office’! At least it’s not like the old days when it would’ve been piled high in slides, negatives and prints too…

Finally, late in the day I managed to get out for a stroll and get some exercise away from a screen. As the weather has cooled down I didn’t need to head straight for a shower either, which was a relief. This evening will probably consist of much of the same as we’re off to Liverpool for a weekend in the city with some friends. If I’m lucky I might be able to do some scribbling whilst I’m there. One thing I will be doing is taking a break from watching the unfolding political disaster that’s Boris Johnson’s new Government. It’s truly depressing to see the people he’s actively courting. It’s the most right-wing and dangerous bunch of any Tory Government I can remember. There’s a toxic mix of former Leave campaign members, the right wing-press and lobby groups like the Taxpayers Alliance. My one hope is that there’s so many big egos there with dodgy pasts and flexible morals that it can’t be long before the whole thing starts to fall apart when it become painfully obvious they can’t deliver on the lies they’ve told over the years. But what damage will they do in the meantime?

 

Rolling blog: the Big 6 on tour – Waterworld!

07 Sunday Jul 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, Canals, Food and drink, History, Mytholmroyd, Rolling blogs, Transport, Travel

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08:30.

Today, a group of us from our local pub (The Big 6) are on tour again, this time we’re off for a canal cruise from Hebden Bridge to Sowerby Bridge and back. Watch out for pictures throughout the day.

12.11

It’s time for lunch. We’ve been going for a few hours and various people have had a go at steering the barge. We now know who not to trust with the tiller! This was my stint as I’ve been on narrowboat holidays several times before.

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Eventually we moored up for lunch, scoffing lots of delicious food that Ruth and Kath had sorted out and cooked in the galley.

14:47.

We’re now on our way back from Sowerby Bridge and Dawn’s proved to be a natural at navigating a narrow boat. She’s taken us through several bridges and two locks.

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Here’s the full compliment, well, minus me of course as I’m behind the camera!

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We even had our very own wandering minstrel in the shape of Otto Uzans, who brought his accordion along.

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Southern railway nostalgia

05 Tuesday Mar 2019

Posted by in History, Nostalgia, Railways

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I’ve spent the day working from home despite the weather picking up today. Problem was, I’d too many other things to do other than head out with the camera – plus I’d arranged to be at home whilst a parcel arrived for Dawn.

Thus the day was spent editing pictures, uploading more to a client’s website as well as finishing scanning the last of the latest batch of slides to see the light of day after decades in storage. One was a picture of this little oddity, taken at Brockenhurst in 1996.

06202. Swing bridge across the tracks. Brockenhurst. xx.9.96.crop

This is a swing bridge which gave level access from one of the two island platforms to the road as the only other way was over the footbridge. It was installed when the island platforms were built in 1888. The bridge allowed parcels trollies, newspaper and mail to move to/from the station in the days when railways were general carriers. It also allowed passengers in wheelchairs to exit the station. It was refurbished after this picture was taken, when lighter handrails were fitted. Nowadays it’s totally redundant as the station footbridge has been renewed and the new one includes lifts. It was an unusual feature in its day and I can think of few stations that would have had one, the only other one I’ve heard of was Eastleigh, also on the old Southern Railway network.

The picture pile gets smaller…

12 Wednesday Dec 2018

Posted by in History, Photography, Railways, Uncategorized

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After all my travels last week the first part of this week’s been spent at home trying to catch up on paperwork, picture editing and scanning more old slides in an effort to reduce the mountain I have to climb. If you’re interested in last week’s German rail pictures, you can find the full selection here and the travel shots here.

Meanwhile, I’ve made another dent (albeit a small one) in the railway slides. I’m currently scanning a couple of albums from 1996-97. Most of them have never been seen since I took them. A selected few had made it onto my Zenfolio website but now I’m being methodical and scanning complete albums. The beauty of this is that it creates a lot of space! The slide albums contain many duplicated shots because that’s what you did in film days – just in case an important picture was damaged or was out with a client and you needed a copy. I reckon I’m binning at least 30% of the slides I have because they’re redundant now once one’s been scanned. Here’s some of tonight’s batch.

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It’s a reflection on how technology’s changed over the past 22 years. The irony is that I remember working out that each of these cost me about 24p apiece when I added together the price of the film, developing and mounting – plus postage! In theory, I’m throwing away a lot of money!

Here’s a taster of what’s been scanned today.

05815. 37057. Ipswich WRD open day. 15.6.1996crop.jpg

Here’s 37057 at the Ipswich Wagon repair depot open day on the 15th June 1996. EW&S had taken over the BR trainload freight companies (Mainline, Loudhaul and Translink) earlier in the year and this was the first public outing of the new livery. 37057, 60019 and the inspection saloon 999504 had been repainted and were on display. So much has changed since those early days of privatisation!

I’ll try and get some more done soon. Right now I’ve got other tasks in hand, including finalising our trip to New Zealand in December-January, plus, I’ve just found out I’ll be working in Birmingham on Thursday.