Captain Kernow's layouts
- Thread starter Captain Kernow
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Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
He may well be feeling a bit sad. There have been rumours for some time now of the London Midland Region taking over responsibility for this area of the Western. The talk amongst local footplate crew is of how much overtime they'll make, training on the diesel electrics...
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
A couple of further images:
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
Yesterday I made a couple of videos of Bethesda shunting operations. The layout should have been at the RMWeb Members Day in Taunton, but ill health has confined me to shed and very local trip working only for the moment.
This should have been one video, but 'operator error' has caused it to be two...
This should have been one video, but 'operator error' has caused it to be two...
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
A couple of photos, the first showing the Peckett 'Plantagenet' in it's normal home, on the South Polden Light Railway on the Somerset Levels:
'Plantagenet' was loaned on at least one occasion in the early 1960s to the Vale of Radnor Light Railway. Both railways were members of the Association of Independent Light Railways, which facilitated such inter-company transfers. Here is 'Plantagenet' in the yard at Capel Bethesda:
'Plantagenet' was loaned on at least one occasion in the early 1960s to the Vale of Radnor Light Railway. Both railways were members of the Association of Independent Light Railways, which facilitated such inter-company transfers. Here is 'Plantagenet' in the yard at Capel Bethesda:
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
Never noticed that before, Dave!!!!
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
Army Sentinel from the depot at the top of the valley shunting in the BR yard at Bethesda:
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
Heat but little work in Mid-Wales:
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Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
Bath Road Hymek on a local trip working from Stoke Gifford:
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
5526 was preserved by wealthy enthusiast Patrick Greenhouse in the 1960s and made a brief appearance at Callow Lane, en-route to the embryonic Dart Valley Railway:
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
A few years later, a Bath Road D63XX shunts at Callow Lane:
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
At some point in the early 1950s, the well-known Welsh engineering firm of Taffson, Evans & Jenkins decided to close their rail-connected factory in the suburbs of Cardiff and concentrate their production in their two remaining facilities in the Rhondda Valley and South Gloucestershire.
Taffsons removed all engineering equipment and all other plant and materials before they vacated the premises and the factory buildings in the Rumney area lay empty for a number of years and although the Private Siding Agreement with British Railways was legally terminated, the physical rail connection was never actually removed.
Eventually in the late 1950s, a new owner bought the now semi-derelict buildings, with a view to redevelopment for residential and light industrial use.
The demolition contractors moved in and began to steadily level the site. Imagine the foreman's surprise, therefore, to be told after only being on site for a few days that the previous owners hadn't removed all the contents.
Hidden under a series of tarpaulins at the back of the former Assembly Shop were three old steam locos, all representing types previously thought lost, together with some heavy machine tools.
Even then, the future of the locos wasn't secure, because the foreman in his wisdom called his brother-in-law, who was a scrap contractor and offered them to him in exchange for an undisclosed sum of money. The scrappies turned up a week later with cutting gear and a large lorry. They made short work of the rusting machine tools but ran out of acetylene before they could start on the locomotives.
At this stage, Jonathan Greenhouse, an industrial archaeology student from the University of Aberystwyth visited the site to research his thesis on the history of manufacturing in Glamorgan. Mr Greenhouse had a hunch that these locos might be worth something and hurried away to find a public call box, to call his brother, the well-known and wealthy railway enthusiast P.B. Greenhouse.
Mr Greenhouse immediately realised the significance of the find from the descriptions provided by his brother and managed to find the telephone number of the Barry HQ of the scrap contractors.
The rest is, as they say, history. P.B. Greenhouse managed to purchase all three locos for little more than their scrap value and used his contacts within British Railways, Western Region to arrange for one of the Canton shed pilots and a brake van to be loaned one afternoon. Under the watchful gaze of the local PW inspector and the Divisional Operations Superintendent, the siding connection into the works was temporarily brought back into use and a Canton 57XX gingerly edged into the old Assembly Shop to collect the locos.
Hauled back into daylight for the first time in many years, the significance of the 'find' became abundantly clear to P.B. Greenhouse. Here was a former GW '517' 0-4-2T and two absorbed types of 2-4-0T, 'Lady Margaret' (formerly of the Liskeard & Looe Railway and ex-Cambrian tank loco No. 1197.
Mr Greenhouse had arranged for all three locos to be tripped to Caerphilly Works for overhaul, funded by himself and other private donors.
A few months later, a decision had been taken in conjunction with the directors of the Association of Independent Light Railways for the locos to be taken to Llanddewi on the Vale of Radnor Light Railway, where they would be kept and possibly used on service trains on that and also loaned out to other member railways.
The locos all travelled separately to Radnorshire, as they were not all overhauled at the same time.
The first to be moved was 'Lady Margaret', which was tripped to Ebbw Junction yard and then on a series of freights to Leominster, where she was marshalled in the daily goods working to Kington and Capel Bethesda. Here she is seen arriving in Bethesda yard behind regular branch loco 1458:
Note the resident VoRLR loco (ex-LNER J72 'Jennifer') waiting in the sidings to haul 'Lady Margaret' onto the Light Railway.
Taffsons removed all engineering equipment and all other plant and materials before they vacated the premises and the factory buildings in the Rumney area lay empty for a number of years and although the Private Siding Agreement with British Railways was legally terminated, the physical rail connection was never actually removed.
Eventually in the late 1950s, a new owner bought the now semi-derelict buildings, with a view to redevelopment for residential and light industrial use.
The demolition contractors moved in and began to steadily level the site. Imagine the foreman's surprise, therefore, to be told after only being on site for a few days that the previous owners hadn't removed all the contents.
Hidden under a series of tarpaulins at the back of the former Assembly Shop were three old steam locos, all representing types previously thought lost, together with some heavy machine tools.
Even then, the future of the locos wasn't secure, because the foreman in his wisdom called his brother-in-law, who was a scrap contractor and offered them to him in exchange for an undisclosed sum of money. The scrappies turned up a week later with cutting gear and a large lorry. They made short work of the rusting machine tools but ran out of acetylene before they could start on the locomotives.
At this stage, Jonathan Greenhouse, an industrial archaeology student from the University of Aberystwyth visited the site to research his thesis on the history of manufacturing in Glamorgan. Mr Greenhouse had a hunch that these locos might be worth something and hurried away to find a public call box, to call his brother, the well-known and wealthy railway enthusiast P.B. Greenhouse.
Mr Greenhouse immediately realised the significance of the find from the descriptions provided by his brother and managed to find the telephone number of the Barry HQ of the scrap contractors.
The rest is, as they say, history. P.B. Greenhouse managed to purchase all three locos for little more than their scrap value and used his contacts within British Railways, Western Region to arrange for one of the Canton shed pilots and a brake van to be loaned one afternoon. Under the watchful gaze of the local PW inspector and the Divisional Operations Superintendent, the siding connection into the works was temporarily brought back into use and a Canton 57XX gingerly edged into the old Assembly Shop to collect the locos.
Hauled back into daylight for the first time in many years, the significance of the 'find' became abundantly clear to P.B. Greenhouse. Here was a former GW '517' 0-4-2T and two absorbed types of 2-4-0T, 'Lady Margaret' (formerly of the Liskeard & Looe Railway and ex-Cambrian tank loco No. 1197.
Mr Greenhouse had arranged for all three locos to be tripped to Caerphilly Works for overhaul, funded by himself and other private donors.
A few months later, a decision had been taken in conjunction with the directors of the Association of Independent Light Railways for the locos to be taken to Llanddewi on the Vale of Radnor Light Railway, where they would be kept and possibly used on service trains on that and also loaned out to other member railways.
The locos all travelled separately to Radnorshire, as they were not all overhauled at the same time.
The first to be moved was 'Lady Margaret', which was tripped to Ebbw Junction yard and then on a series of freights to Leominster, where she was marshalled in the daily goods working to Kington and Capel Bethesda. Here she is seen arriving in Bethesda yard behind regular branch loco 1458:
Note the resident VoRLR loco (ex-LNER J72 'Jennifer') waiting in the sidings to haul 'Lady Margaret' onto the Light Railway.
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
The next loco to arrive a few weeks later was the 517 0-4-2T and railway photographer R.C. Wolsley was on hand to record it's arrival in Bethesda yard.
Unusually, the route from Caerphilly was via Swansea, the Central Wales line and Gunstone West Junction, due to engineering works south of Hereford. This involved the train traversing part of the closed section of the Rhyadar section between Gunstone West Junction and Capel Bethesda, retained for occasional military trains from West Wales to the Army depot at Llanddewi and which required the presence of a pilotman to accompany every movement.
Here one of Swansea Paxton Street's 2-6-4Ts arrives with the train:
Mr Wolsley stayed long enough to catch this view of the light railways 'Planet' diesel making ready to depart up the valley with the 517 in tow:
Unusually, the route from Caerphilly was via Swansea, the Central Wales line and Gunstone West Junction, due to engineering works south of Hereford. This involved the train traversing part of the closed section of the Rhyadar section between Gunstone West Junction and Capel Bethesda, retained for occasional military trains from West Wales to the Army depot at Llanddewi and which required the presence of a pilotman to accompany every movement.
Here one of Swansea Paxton Street's 2-6-4Ts arrives with the train:
Mr Wolsley stayed long enough to catch this view of the light railways 'Planet' diesel making ready to depart up the valley with the 517 in tow:
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
Finally a couple of months later, 1197 arrived as part of the consist of the local goods from Leominster, this time pannier 7418 was in charge:
Once again, 'Jennifer' hauled the ensemble onto the light railway:
I'm very grateful to Rob Gunstone for the opportunity to acquire these lovely locos from him.
All three locos are kit-built, but apart from 1197 (which is a Gem kit and still available), I am not sure of the exact provenance. Further examination once I take the bodies off may reveal more in due course. All were professionally built, however, for a collector who, I understand, never actually ran them. I suppose they were kept either in a glass case or in their boxes, but they are all in lovely condition. Rob was fortunate enough to acquire them, when the collection was disposed of and I am very grateful to Rob for the opportunity to acquire them in turn myself.
Once again, 'Jennifer' hauled the ensemble onto the light railway:
I'm very grateful to Rob Gunstone for the opportunity to acquire these lovely locos from him.
All three locos are kit-built, but apart from 1197 (which is a Gem kit and still available), I am not sure of the exact provenance. Further examination once I take the bodies off may reveal more in due course. All were professionally built, however, for a collector who, I understand, never actually ran them. I suppose they were kept either in a glass case or in their boxes, but they are all in lovely condition. Rob was fortunate enough to acquire them, when the collection was disposed of and I am very grateful to Rob for the opportunity to acquire them in turn myself.
