Quainton Road Station, six miles North of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, was bought by the Quainton Railway Society, and in Easter 1970 hosted a three day steam loco rally. The picture on the left shows tank locomotive ‘Sir Thomas’ being unloaded at the station.

One of two saddle tank locomotives (shown right) retired from the Blue Circle cement works at Swanscombe, Kent, also went to Quainton Railway Society at about this time; the other going on for a new lease of life at the Middleton Railway Trust in Leeds.

In the same year, the ‘Bluebell Line’ celebrated it’s first ten years under private ownership.Wearing the formal attire from the 1880’s, several dozen members of the  Bluebell Railway Preservation Society watched as Bishop Warde cracked a Champagne bottle against engine No. 27.

Thousands of holidaymakers will visit the Isle of Wight this Summer by BR train and ferry

ALL SET FOR THE INVASION

BR’s line on the Isle of Wight is on the brink of another bumper Summer.

When suitcase laden holidaymakers leave the BR ferries they’ll find that trains are different here. Instead of familiar BR coaches standing in the platforms, there’ll be tube trains straight from London’s Underground.

The picture to the right shows one of the blue painted ex. LT EMU’s, complete with BR double-arrow flash, running into Ryde Pier Head station where it connected with berthing British Rail ferries to and from Portsmouth Harbour.

Click HERE for a small collection of pictures of Cowes station after closure with the track still down.

The picture to the left shows an unidentified example of the Island’s 02 class tank locomotives heading away from Ryde St John’s Road towards Smallbrook Junction.

Further information on the remaining sections of the Isle of Wight railways along with other interesting topics may be found on Dave Parker’s highly recommended ‘Isle of Wight Nostalgia Site’

A motor bogie in Ryde repair shop in 1970. (right)

The picture below of ‘Princess Elizabeth’ appeared in the ‘Observer’ on the 31st. May 1970 and simply stated that the engine had been restored to running order by the Princess Elizabeth Locomotive Society; also reminding the reader that the locomotive still holds the world high speed record for continuous high speed traction by a hand-fired steam locomotive

Flag waving Blackburn railman Tom Mercer stands alongside LMS class five 44806 at Blackburn goods yard on her way to a secret hideout. The loco was rescued by the East Lancashire Preservation Society who hope to reopen the line from Haslingden Grane Road to Stubbins Junction.

The picture opposite shows one of the difficulties of owning a full sized steam locomotive, i.e. where to keep it. In 1971, eight such locomotives resided on a private stretch of track leased from the Army at Liss in Hampshire, but whilst they felt that it was a going concern, out of the blue they received a notice to quit. Efforts to negotiate a new lease were unsuccessful and in the end the group split up and relocated to different sites around the country

In the Daily Telegraph, Monday, June 7th. 1971, the photograph (to the left) showed L94, one of the last London Transport steam locomotives, passing the Barbican station on it’s way to Neasden. Two thousand enthusiasts followed in four tube trains paying £1 for a commemorative ticket for the day.

Brighton Belle Passes By

A way of life comes to an end upon the withdrawal of the Brighton Belle, the only all-Pullman electric multiple unit in the world. Since the electric Belle train took over from steam on January 1st. 1933 it had become a regular haunt of the rich and famous such as acress Dora Bryan, playwright and humourist Alan Melville and actor Lord Olivier.

In the picture to the right, some of the staff who were regularly employed on the Brighton Belle, pose for the photographer at Brighton station.

There were three Brighton Belle units built ready for service in January 1933. Each unit had five coaches and accommodation for 40 first class and 152 second class passengers. Power was supplied by a ‘third rail’of 660 volts to drive two 225hp motors on each motor bogie; which made eight motors to each five car unit. The two first class cars in each unit had names. At one time these names: Hazel, Doris, Audrey, Vera, Gwen and Mona were displayed on the outsides of the cars, but were later carried on plaques inside. The units were specially built for the Pullman Car Company by Metropolitan Cammel Carriage and Wagon Company at their Birmingham works.

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LINKS:

PRESERVED RAILWAYS 2001  IMAGE CDROM

SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION JUBILEE 2002 ISSUE NOW AVAILABLE with  400 HIGH RESOLUTION railway images!! PLUS  6 x BONUS MPEG VIDEO CLIPS of the MID HANTS STEAM GALA FEATURING 6024 AND 92212 tackling the 1 in 60 MEDSTEAD BANK. Only 50 COPIES will be produced.

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