Prototype Barry 1967 and 1968

[Dangerous Davies]

This post has reminded me of trips to Barry, initially with my father and later on with schoolmates (I lived at Radyr so not too far for an 11 year old).
I remember the two D600 Warships Active and Ark Royal in a siding near one of the docks roads but the clearest memory is of eating my sandwiches in the smokebox of 71000 Duke of Gloucester after the weather turned on us. One of the older boys said that one of its cylinders was in the science museum and the other had been removed to balance the loco up for transportation. I never thought I'd see that one going again!
Finally I remember a King class loco with its trailing drivers having been cut above rail level to allow it to negotiate the curves of the docks. I believe that this was 6023 but after fifty or so years I can't be sure.

Thank you for posting the photos and covering notes Brian.

Cheers

Dave

 

[Mike Garwood]

I can still remember the days my Father took me to Barry to see the lines and lines of abandoned engines. To me, it was so sad to see these giants of industry languishing in rust, pieces missing, forgotten by most and only missed by the few. Even now I find it hard to read about the Barry miracle. Yes, I'm very sentimental, if you hadn't guessed. And I do believe we look at the operation of these beasts through rose tinted glasses. The pictures Brian has put up are just as I remember it...Great days out with my Dad.

Mike

 

[Dan Randall]

I was fortunate enough to visit Barry on just one occasion, whilst still at secondary school, with my friend, Pete Fitzwater (a.k.a. Bogusman on WT). Stan Smith, a friend of Pete’s father, had an interest in railways and very kindly drove the three of us, all the way from Slough to Barry, in Pete’s dad’s Austin Maxi.

I only possessed a basic Instamatic camera back then and seem to have a total of just six pictures from the day, but only three of those, are worth showing here!….

That’s Pete in the foreground and me on the cab roof. Check out those flares!


Another of Pete.


Finally, Stan, our chauffeur for the day. It was over 40 years ago, but if you’re reading this Stan, thank you so much!
(I can’t help noticing he’s holding a (decent!), camera, but sadly, I’ve never seen any of his pictures from that day).

With apologies for the thread hijack Brian!


Regards

Dan

 

[oldravendale]

Thank you Julian, Dave, Mike and Dan for your contributions - no hope of a thread hijack here, Dan.

Julian - even though I had a camera there are so many other things I could have photographed. Nowadays I'd rather absorb the experience than take photos. I realised that I was remembering things through the lens of a camera rather than in actuality.

I lived in Harrow at the time of the visits to Barry. At that time, (only short sections of M4) the journey was a trudge down the A4, leaving early in the morning and getting back late, sometimes with an entertaining stop on the way enforced by the local plod although they never issued me a ticket.

Dave - there is a photo of the two Warships coming up, but a while to wait as it was taken at the end of the 1968 visit which we've not even started yet. You may be correct about the wheels being cut on one of the Kings - I don't remember. They both appear in the 1968 pictures so my basic research on them when I get to put them on WT may reveal all. I remember one of the Jubilees had cut wheels after a derailment.

Mike - I visited Barry twice because the thought of any of the locos coming out for restoration was so unlikely that it was my last opportunity I thought to photograph some classes I'd never seen in operation. The preservation of so many is sort of a happy accident. If it had been known that such things were possible I wonder how many of the other yards would have held on to locos for resale. Actually probably not many as sentiment had no place and cash flow would have been the driving force.

Excellent pictures, Dan, because they are so much more personal than my pure record shots. I reckon your visit was probably after mine as I note at least one of the locos has some preservation graffiti on it.

More pics to follow......

Brian

 

[oldravendale]

Three locos to look at today. First is 2-8-2T 7200, one of the classes I'd never previously seen. It was withdrawn from Llanelly in July 1963 and went to Woodham's in the following October. It left Barry in September 1981 and moved to Quainton Road. I remember seeing it there, still derelict, on several occasions and was quite sad about the apparent lack of any real effort to restore it. I'm pleased to say that restoration started in 1996 and considerable progress has been made. We may yet see it in steam! Quite where it can then run is another question. Undoubtedly it is a most impressive loco but there will be few heritage railways with the infrastructure to make this possible. Possibly the GCR - there may be others - but I've heard of no plans to move it away from Quainton.

My notes say "Note Great Western grinning through on the side tanks" but I can't see that here!



Next is another of the same class, 7202. This was shedded at Barry and withdrawn in June 1964. It was purchased by the GWS in 1973 and it left Barry in 1974. It is currently under restoration at Didcot with the hope that it may steam in 2023.



Finally for today three photos of 2-6-0 7325. Withdrawn from Pontypool Road in April 1964 it was purchased for the SVR in 1974. It has had two periods in steam and is currently on the SVR awaiting overhaul.



Brian

 

[Osgood]

I can just make out a grinning GREAT WESTERN on the 2-8-2T, Brian

 

[Dan Randall]

Me too. I think I can also see the curly lion’s tail, from the first BR logo, just north west of the wheel being held by the lion, in the later logo!


p.s. Brian, I think my Barry pictures date from around 1974/75, though Pete recalls it as being 1977, but yes, certainly later than your pictures.


Regards

Dan

 

[Rob R]

The King with the cut wheels was Edward II.
According to the GWRS website it is now at Didcot in BR blue and a full set of wheels, the replacements being cast as part of the Saint project.

 

[oldravendale]

Thanks Tony, Dan and Rob.

Tony and Dan - I still can't see the "Great Western" but it was definitely there when I took the photo so I'm glad someone else can see it too! And the date of your photos, Dan, somewhere between 1974 and 1977 makes sense.

I guess I'd have got to the cut wheels on 6023 in my 1968 batch of photos eventually, Rob. I'm not sure when that occurred. I'm pretty sure my photo doesn't show it but we'll see when it comes up.

Four pictures today before we open up the SR catalogue. To start with Modified Hall 7927, Willington Hall. This was withdrawn from Oxford in early December 1965. I don't know when it was removed from Barry but I understand the boiler is being used for construction of a new build Grange by the Betton Grange Society and the frames for a new build County by the Great Western Society.



Here is 94XX 0-6-0PT 9466. It was withdrawn from Radyr in July 1964 and left Barry Scrapyard for Quainton in September 1975. It was subsequently bought by Dennis Howells. He must have had friends in high places because the first two overhauls were undertaken at London Transport's Ruislip and Neasden Depots. It's had a varied life in preservation and has been a popular performer on various London Underground specials among other special trains on the main line and it's visited a number of heritage railways. I understand that home base is now the West Somerset Railway although it has been on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway most recently.



Now a 57XX class 0-6-0PT, No 9681. Its last shed was Cardiff East Dock from where it was withdrawn in early August 1965. It left Barry for the Dean Forest Railway in 1975 and was back in steam in 1984. My latest information is that it remains on the Dean Forest Railway undergoing another overhaul.



Finally for today 9682. Its last shed was Radyr from where it was withdrawn in early August 1965. It was bought from Barry in 1982 and overhaul was completed at Southall in 2000. It's since been sold again and is at Dean Forest where overhaul is expected to occur when work on 9681 is completed.



Brian

 

[daifly]

I still can't see the "Great Western" but it was definitely there when I took the photo so I'm glad someone else can see it too!

GREAT

TERN


Dave

 

[Simon]

This post has reminded me of trips to Barry, initially with my father and later on with schoolmates (I lived at Radyr so not too far for an 11 year old).
I remember the two D600 Warships Active and Ark Royal in a siding near one of the docks roads but the clearest memory is of eating my sandwiches in the smokebox of 71000 Duke of Gloucester after the weather turned on us. One of the older boys said that one of its cylinders was in the science museum and the other had been removed to balance the loco up for transportation. I never thought I'd see that one going again!
Finally I remember a King class loco with its trailing drivers having been cut above rail level to allow it to negotiate the curves of the docks. I believe that this was 6023 but after fifty or so years I can't be sure.

Thank you for posting the photos and covering notes Brian.

Cheers

Dave

Great memories. Living in Bath I could have visited Barry, as we did venture further than Bristol Temple Meads sometimes, but found the 37s on coal trains at Newport too distracting!

I can illustrate two of your recollections from the collection I was given though:

This is a really good thread!

Simon

 

[Dangerous Davies]

Hi Simon

Thank you for posting these pictures, the locos are exactly as I remember them! It seems like only yesterday but really it was 50 years ago.

Cheers

Dave

 

[Allen M]

These photos and the scrapping of locos reminds me of a visit to Stafford Road Shed (Wolverhampton) in 1962 arranged by someone with connections from the Stourbridge Model Railway Club.
We were offered brass number plate for £2 each and name plates from £3 upwards depending on length. Nobody took up the offer as it was considered over priced.
My weekly pay at that time was about £12 per week with a bit of overtime.
Were we right? How does value compare now?
Regards
Allen

 

[LarryG]

I wonder how many of us remember clambering up onto long withdrawn locos listed as stored at the back of a shed or in a siding. They hadn't reached 'Barry' condition, but they were often rusty enough to mark ones clothing and 'stain' the hands with orange powder. I recall climbing onto Fowler 7F 0-8-0's during training. Persil missed a trick there...Removes ink, blood and withdrawn engine rust...

 

[oldravendale]

Such evocative pictures, Simon. Probably a year or two after my visits I reckon but not separated by a great chasm of time.

I've heard those stories about visiting sheds and being offered name and number plates at knock down prices, Allen. It never happened to me! And I can only guess that such deals were entirely unofficial. Prices being quoted by the railway works which produced lists of name and number plates quite regularly were certainly more than a £ or two.

Anyway, now we'll move on to the SR and constituents and BR (S). First off two S15s. This is 30499. I believe it spent it's entire life as a resident of Feltham from where it was withdrawn in January 1964 with a brief stint at Old Oak Common during the war. It was purchased from Barry by the Urie Loco Society in 1983 and went to the Mid Hants Railway. It is currently approaching the end of a long restoration programme.



Next is 30506. This was also a Feltham engine, also withdrawn in January 1964. It arrived at Woodham's towing 30499, 30841 and 30847 in August although is reported as having failed on the way so perhaps was towed to Barry anyway. It was bought in March 1973 by the Urie Loco Society and also travelled to the Watercress line. It returned to steam in 1987 and, following a further overhaul, was operational again in 2019.





Brian

 

[Heritagebob]

It goes to show we owe quite a lot to those preservation societies that have managed to rescue and restore some of these once proud beasts for posterity.

 

[oldravendale]

It goes to show we owe quite a lot to those preservation societies that have managed to rescue and restore some of these once proud beasts for posterity.

Personally I'm also very grateful that Dai Woodham didn't scrap all those locos and gave us (well, sold us) a steam future for our heritage lines. That's probably at risk now from the current difficulties in sourcing coal but that's possibly a bit political..... I couldn't care less that we have a multiplicity of the same classes. At least we have some proper motive power even if a bit sanitised.

Anyway, on to today, and in a way developing the theme of "many of the same classes" - another two S15s. This was a class of locos I always liked which probably accounts for so many photos of the same locos. In part that' probably because they were such close relatives of one of the finest LSWR classes, the King Arthurs. First is 30828. This was a long term resident of Salisbury - in fact was never shedded anywhere else - from where it was withdrawn in January 1964. It was bought in 1981 by the Eastleigh Railway Preservation Society and was back in steam by 1993. I believe it is now under overhaul again on the Mid Hants Railway although ownership has not changed.

As a side comment, in researching the history of many of these locos in preservation there are side notes indicating that substantial components have been stolen, worth many thousands of pounds, in most tens of thousands. Doubtless these were taken for their scrap value - a few hundred pounds - but sourcing replacements is a nightmare and leads to significant delays in overhaul and restoration.



30847 arrived at Barry having been withdrawn from Feltham in January 1964 and travelled to Barry in the company of 30499 and 30506. It was saved from destruction in 1978 by the Bluebell Railway. I believe it was restored by 1993 and currently awaits its second overhaul.


Brian

 

[Eastsidepilot]

These photos and the scrapping of locos reminds me of a visit to Stafford Road Shed (Wolverhampton) in 1962 arranged by someone with connections from the Stourbridge Model Railway Club.
We were offered brass number plate for £2 each and name plates from £3 upwards depending on length. Nobody took up the offer as it was considered over priced.
My weekly pay at that time was about £12 per week with a bit of overtime.
Were we right? How does value compare now?
Regards
Allen

....hindsight is a wonderful thing, a name plate for about a quarter of your weekly wages ? you'd snatch it out of their hands nowadays. But like everything we value in life it gets more precious as the years go by.
If I'd kept all the motorbikes I'd built/restored back in the 70's I'd be loaded in my retirement now

Col.

 

[Osgood]

....hindsight is a wonderful thing, a name plate for about a quarter of your weekly wages ? you'd snatch it out of their hands nowadays. But like everything we value in life it gets more precious as the years go by.
If I'd kept all the motorbikes I'd built/restored back in the 70's I'd be loaded in my retirement now

Col.

“If I’d kept” ?

Erm yes well, guess who’s been scrap cutting this week?
It would appear much of the stuff I kept all these years wasn’t exactly everyone’s’ idea of a collectible

Mind you, I simply can’t scrap that 200T press, it’ll have to come home - with a hydraulic pump on the back of the McLaren 5cyl engine I can crush walnuts off the tree to my heart’s content (if I can beat the wretched squirrels to them that is).

Ah - except I‘ve already put most of the hydraulic stuff in the skip………

 

[Allen M]

If I'd kept all the motorbikes I'd built/restored back in the 70's I'd be loaded in my retirement now

Hi Col
And me. But who know what will and what wont go up (and down again).
I suppose that in 1962 we did not foresee the mass scrapping of steam loco that followed.
Another thing I find strange. Why is a Morris 1000 worth so much more that a Ford Prefect, Austin A35 or Standard 10. They where all as good (bad) as each other.

I suppose we should be grateful that mainly volunteers have saved rail and road items for us to enjoy now.

Regards
Allen