happy new year everyone

Here are some shots I took at Tanfield Railway in thick snow.......

60532 "Blue Peter"

Class A2 Blue Peter.....these pictures taken in 1992 on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway,  the last year of her boiler certificate........she has since been restored to full working order.

60017 Silver fox

my favorite loco as a kid was 60017 Silver Fox....i often saw her at Gateshead sheds in the 1960's.

here's her nameplate and badge in the railway museum york....



And here she is as i remember,  pulling out of Newcastle Central station ...

north yorkshire moors railway

A typical day at Goathland station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

4472 Flying Scotsman

Here are some details of 4472 Flying Scotsman taken before her refit..... I still think apple green is soooooooo wrong with them blinkers and double chimney, like that she's a child of the 50's & 60's and should be in Brunswick Green, and the National Railway Museum is letting us all down with this historical double take !!!!!!!!mistake.....................

them dreaded blinkers

front bogie

D9016 Gordon Highlander

Here is Deltic D9016 Gordon Highlander at the deltic festival at shildon. This is my favorite colour scheme from British Railways...very elegant. 

parked in the sidings with Royal Highland Fusiliers ,away from the others, because they had been running on the demonstration track.

view of the cab.

the name plate.

detail of the regimental crest...my uncle's regiment in the first world war.

deltic festival Shildon

On sunday i went to shildon to see an event where all seven survivors of the Deltic class of locos were brought together for the first time...two others were parked up the tracks

Here they started up all the working examples...i have not heard this since i was a kid when they ran past my house in the 1960's...that two tone horn brought back memories of lying in bed and hearing it in the night. 

A good crowd appreciates a great sound...i got lots more pics and i'll publish more of each individual engine soon

Ashington No1..."Jackie Milburn"

this is a photo i took a few years ago of Ashington No5 also named "Jackie Milburn"who was a famous footballer from the mining village of ashington who played for Newcastle united in the 1950's. Ashington was also the birthplace of Bobby and Jack Charlton and this engine worked at the local coalmine. It has recently been restored and i hope to see it soon.

Bellerophon




Here is Bellerophon as a guest engine at Tanfield Gala a few years ago



Bellerophon was built in 1874 for the Haydock Foundry ,  to a design of Josiah Evans, the son of the owner,  and is one of the oldest working locos in the world.

Bellerophonreally looks like a typical victorian contraption......using a Gooch/Stephenson link motion driving the rear axle

getting ready to pick up carriages for the next train ride.

REady to roll.....

O.K ........Let's go !!!...

60007 sir nigel gresley

My favorite loco...here she is at the North Yorkshire Moors railway just after a full refit.

HST at Newcastle



HST coming into Newcastle Central station



Still in the colours of GNER but now run by National Express....hence the white stripe

60019 bittern

60019 Bittern....at Newcastle on her first run out after an extensive refit

A good crowd to welcome her in.

Renishaw ironworks No6....Tanfield railway




 

Here's Renishaw Ironworks No6 chuffing through Causey woods on the Tanfield railway.





3440 city of truro

Built at Swindon in 1903,  designed by George Churchward for the Great Western Railway and considered to be the first steam loco to reach 100 mph.....( probably downhill , with a tailwind ) 

Detail of the cab and the motion....a beautiful Edwardian engine.

Here she stands with another great old timer, Prince from the Ffestiniog railway. Prince was built in1863 and is considered to be the oldest surviving narrow gauge locomotive in the world.

No 266 wellington, Tanfield railway

Built in1873 in Gateshead by Black Hawthorn & Co, Wellington now resides at the Tanfield railway. This photo was taken in about 1989.

Wellington has not run for a number of years, but is now getting a refit and may run again in a few years time.

These locos were mainly used in collieries and engineering works and by 1896 over 1000 engines had been built and some had very long careers.

sans pareil

this is the replica of Sans Pareil,  built in 1829 by Timothy Hackworth to  compete in  the Rainhill trials.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

This is the original engine at Locomotion.

Sans Pareil went on to work on the Liverpool manchester and the Bolton legh railways before being used as a stationary engine at a coal mine.  In 1867 it was preserved in the Museum of  Science and Industry along side other early locomotives...

60009 Union of South Africa

Built at Doncaster in 1937 and named after the newly formed Union of South Africa....here she stands outside the shed where she was built.

These next shots were taken in Heaton shed in Newcastle.

The Springbok plaque on the side was donated by a Bloemfontein newspaper owner in 1954

Union of South Africa has run up more miles than any other preserved loco, and at the moment she is having a full overhaul at the Crewe Heritage Centre.