|
Live Steam Locomotives and Lines Today by Eatwell & Cooper-Smith W/ DJ
Live Steam Locomotives and Lines Today by David Eatwell & John H Cooper-Smith
Hard Cover w/ dust jacket Address label and inscription first blank page
120 pages
Copyright 1980
CONTENTS
Introductionpage vi
The Severn Valley Railway8
The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway20
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway36
The Bluebell Railway50
Some Narrow Gauge Lines60
A Few More Preserved Lines78
Centres Not Concerned with Steam on British Rail94
The British Rail Connected Centres104
Index120
INTRODUCTION
We British, it seems, have always loved our railways ... after all, we did invent them! ... and in particular, we have, often passionately, loved our locomotives, at least since the days of the `railway mania' back in the last century when the smooth lines and latent power of those hissing monsters began to be noticed by an ever increasing number of admirers whenever they took to the rails.
As the railway network spread throughout the country, more and more locomotives were needed to work it, and as all the railways were privately owned, each separate company had to set about the task of providing the locomotives for the job; the bigger companies having workshops for the purpose. In this way, many hundreds of different locomotive types emerged, since each Chief Mechanical Engineer had his own ideas on design, and built the locomotives to suit his requirements, whilst the many private builders were doing the same for those lines unable (or unwilling) to produce their own motive power. New designs quickly followed earlier ones, the majority of which have unfortunately not survived, but occasionally the odd example or two escaped extinction for one reason or another until, when eventually these veterans of the track really were time-expired, someone somewhere, realised that perhaps future generations might like to see machines which had been built way back near the very birth of the railways, and some were preserved.
The earliest of these, Wylam Dilly of 1813, is in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, and other early `wonders' are at York and Darlington, whilst the most famous of all, Stephenson's Rocket is in the Science Museum in London along with another 1829 locomotive, Sanspareil. These static exhibits, `stuffed and mounted' on lengths of track little longer than the locomotives themselves, are not, generally speaking, meant to be used any more, but recently there has been a move to construct full-sized replicas of some of our more important relics, and these duplicates actually steam! A modern reconstruction of George Stephenson's 1825 Locomotion No. 1 led the cavalcade of famous locomotives at Shildon in 1975, and more recently copies of Rocket, Sanspareil and Novelty have all been constructed from the original drawings for the re-enactment, in 1980, of the Rainhill Trials. Who'd have thought, when British Rail banned steam from its lines in 1968, that newly constructed steam locomotives would be running along them some dozen or so years later?
But such show-cases are, by their very nature, something of a rarity, and it is to our privately run railways that we must go if we are to see regular steam-hauled trains today, and to the steam-centres if we are to see those locomotives which British Rail have had second thoughts about and which now are allowed on their metals ... sometimes. Not all of them are always accessible to visitors, but where trains do run, this is made perfectly clear in the published time-tables, and Open Days at the steam-centres are almost invariably advertised well in advance giving visitors the opportunity to sample the nostalgic delights of a steam-hauled ride. Many dozens of such locations exist throughout the mainland of Britain, and we, the authors, have done our best to use as wide a selection of our photographs as we can in this volume. It will be seen, however, that to include pictures of every railway or even of every class of locomotive that has been preserved is impossible, so to those whose lines or locomotives have been omitted we offer our sincere apologies. In mitigation, perhaps, we might just mention that our intentions have not been to be comprehensive, merely representative. In our chapter headings and selection an inclusion or omission here is in no way an indication of importance, or lack of it!
A particular aim has, however, been to include specimens of as many different types of the steam locomotives working in this country as we can (excluding industrials), irrespective of their gauge (down to 15 inches) or country of origin, and without being drawn in to the controversy over the meaning of the word `preserved'! Thus, we show pictures of the Vale of Rheidol Railway and the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, for example, as well as Flying Scotsman (purchased from British Rail in working order), King Haakon 7 (brought over from Norway in working order), and Greene King (rescued as a rusting hulk from Barry scrapyard and subsequently completely restored), thereby embracing all these, and many other, forms of pleasure steam-railways within the general term `preservation'.
In our previous volume Return to Steam, we dealt with steam on British Rail since the 1968 `ban', whilst here we concentrate on the other side of the preservation movement, the non-BR lines. In most cases though, these belonged to British Rail until that organisation decided to give them up as uneconomic, and they were taken over and re-opened by private groups and individuals who turned them into the highly successful ventures that we know today. Each attracts an ever increasing number of annual visitors, and the published accounts usually show a continually healthy position, and deservedly so. This is in no small way due to the dedication and sheer professionalism of the staff. That these locomotives are working at all is often something of a minor miracle as spare parts become more and more difficult to obtain, and it can even be necessary to have some made `one-off abroad, and at enormous expense, too. The expertise of some of our top engineers must also be acknowledged, for without their know-how, the tasks of restoration and maintenance would surely be impossible. The lover of steam locomotives today owes a debt of gratitude to all those workers, mainly unpaid volunteers, who give up their time and get their hands dirty in order to keep the wheels turning so that the tens of thousands of visitors who make the journey each year for a `whiff of steam' or a `ride in the past' shall not be disappointed. We thank them all, very, very much.
DAVID EATWELL, JOHN H. COOPER-SMITH 1980
All pictures are of the actual item. There may be reflection from the lights in some photos. We try to take photos of any damage. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.
Shipping charges
US Shipments: Ebay will add $1.25 each additional items, there are a few exceptions.
Ebay Global shipping charges are shown. These items are shipped to Kentucky and forwarded to you. Ebay collects the shipping and customs / import fees. Refunds may be issued if you add multiple items to your cart and pay with one payment. For direct postage rates to these countries, send me an email. Shipping varies by weight.
Payment options
Payment must be received within 7 days. Paypal is accepted.
Terms and conditions
All sales are final. Returns accepted if item is not as described. Contact us first. No warranty is stated or implied. Please e-mail us with any questions before bidding.
Thanks for looking at our items.
|
