Once more, unto the breach dear friends....

I was digging out a shot I was asked to provide for a British railway enthusiast magazine this morning and I decided to remain with the nostalgia today and tomorrow and post a shot from our trip to the UK in 2015. In railway photography, usually one of the least favoured shots is the rear three quarter but I find this one of the train enveloped as it is in early morning steam and smoke to be one of my favourites. For those with a technical bent, here are the details of the shot. Taken at Grosmont Station of the first train of the day heading to Pickering on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway which is one of the elite amongst preserved railways in the UK. This was a September 2015 "gala" weekend with I believe six locomotives or more in steam and the day before having them all moving about me was like I was swooning in a Mills and Boone paperback! The line joins here with the present day line to Whitby (remember Captain Cook) on the railway network. The Grosmont national network railway station is just to the right, you can stay in Whitby and catch a normal train down but some trains from the NYMR also run into town (great place to stay a while, lots of historical connections and things to see and do).

The locomotives are about to pass into a tunnel and the railway's loco shed and workshops just onto the other side. Pedestrian access to these is allowed but it is also through a pedestrian tunnel.

The railway was a victim of the notorious Beeching cuts of the early 60's and closed but later resurrected and rebuilt by enthusiasts (refer below). The line runs through the North York Moors National Park a place of great natural beauty. The village of Goathland is just down the line, where the filming of the TV series Heartbeat was centred. For all you fans!

The front locomotive is an Unrebuilt Bulleid (designer) West Country class 4-6-2 no. 34092 "Wells" (variously "City of Wells") which entered service in September 1949 and was withdrawn in November 1964. Bulleid was the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Southern Railway and designed these technically advanced (too advanced - many were eventually rebuilt to remove the unsuccessful features) locomotives, 110 of which were built into the post 1948 British Railways nationalisation era until January 1951.

The second locomotive is no. 76079, a British Railways Standard class 4 2-6-0 which entered service after building in February 1957 and lasted a mere ten + years in traffic when it was withdrawn in November 1967. 115 of these were built and had short lives owing to rapid dieselisation in the 1960's.

Both locomotives were amongst the 213 saved in scrap condition from the famous Woodham's Barry scrapyard in Wales from where, at great cost both were restored to life. Other members of both classes have been saved and/or preserved including rebuilt examples of West Country/Battle of Britain classes (which were virtually identical, class name depended on whether their names were of West Country towns or Squadrons and similar WWII names. See the link below for details.

The beautiful coaches are Gresley teak coaches of London and North Eastern Railway origin.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaches_of_the_London_and_North_E...

Some more reading for anyone interested.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Yorkshire_Moors_Railway

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR_West_Country_and_Battle_of_Bri...

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BR_Standard_Class_4_2-6-0

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodham_Brothers

Taken on: September 27, 2015

Tags:

railway preservation Great Britain

British Railways

preserved steam locomotives

Grosmont, NYMR

North Yorkshire Moors Railway « less

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