oldravendale
Western Thunderer
That was a large yard indeed. And an unusual and extensive layout.
Here's the next. The neg is, again, truly awful and has taken a total of about eight hours to get to this stage. It has fogging coming in from the right hand side, vertical scratches, a vast quantity of dirt sparkle and two vertical processing streaks. Other than that it's considerably underexposed and not very sharp - possibly a box camera negative - the format is right. However, in view of the subject matter I considered this well worth a bit of effort.
Tim's entitled this "1 of 2. Colchester 1954. Last J70 tram engine used to shunt at Hythe Docks." (I'll start work on the second neg very soon, but it's probably more under exposed than this one although without the processing streaks). So far my research proposes this: At the beginning of 1954 there were four J70s remaining, Nos 68222, 68223, 68225 and 68226, all of which were withdrawn in 1955. 68222 was an Ipswich loco and withdrawn in January, 68223 was a Gt Yarmouth loco and withdrawn 19 July, 68225 was a March engine and withdrawn on 8 March, but 68226 was a Colchester loco and withdrawn on 2 August so fits Tim's description, although he may be a year out in his dating of the photo.
As for Hythe Docks, that's a location I'd never heard of previously so here's a potted history. There was an Anglo Saxon port at Old Heath called from the 12th Century Old Hythe. There were improvements in 1548-9. And it was variously improved through the 17tht and 18th and 19th centuries. Silting appears to have been an ongoing problem until around 1883 when a steam dredger was purchased. By 1892 around 3000 vessels a year were using the port, mainly Thames barges but considerably larger ships could use the port on spring tides. As late as 1984 a total of 2501 ships carrying over a million tons of cargo docked there. The number of ships thereafter gradually declined and the port closed in 2005. Any questions - look it up for yourself!
Brian
Here's the next. The neg is, again, truly awful and has taken a total of about eight hours to get to this stage. It has fogging coming in from the right hand side, vertical scratches, a vast quantity of dirt sparkle and two vertical processing streaks. Other than that it's considerably underexposed and not very sharp - possibly a box camera negative - the format is right. However, in view of the subject matter I considered this well worth a bit of effort.
Tim's entitled this "1 of 2. Colchester 1954. Last J70 tram engine used to shunt at Hythe Docks." (I'll start work on the second neg very soon, but it's probably more under exposed than this one although without the processing streaks). So far my research proposes this: At the beginning of 1954 there were four J70s remaining, Nos 68222, 68223, 68225 and 68226, all of which were withdrawn in 1955. 68222 was an Ipswich loco and withdrawn in January, 68223 was a Gt Yarmouth loco and withdrawn 19 July, 68225 was a March engine and withdrawn on 8 March, but 68226 was a Colchester loco and withdrawn on 2 August so fits Tim's description, although he may be a year out in his dating of the photo.
As for Hythe Docks, that's a location I'd never heard of previously so here's a potted history. There was an Anglo Saxon port at Old Heath called from the 12th Century Old Hythe. There were improvements in 1548-9. And it was variously improved through the 17tht and 18th and 19th centuries. Silting appears to have been an ongoing problem until around 1883 when a steam dredger was purchased. By 1892 around 3000 vessels a year were using the port, mainly Thames barges but considerably larger ships could use the port on spring tides. As late as 1984 a total of 2501 ships carrying over a million tons of cargo docked there. The number of ships thereafter gradually declined and the port closed in 2005. Any questions - look it up for yourself!
Brian
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