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Memories of Steam from Glasgow to Aberdeen by Michael Wlech w/DJ
Memories of Steam from Glasgow to Aberdeen by Michael Wlech
Hard Cover with dust jacket
197 photos
Copyright 1993
The line from Glasgow to Aberdeen has never ranked as one of Scotland's classic rail routes, largely because it lacks the spectacular scenery of other Scottish lines. This, coupled with the route's unremarkable motive power, ensured that it seldom attracted the attention of steam enthusiasts. But the line suddenly gained a higher profile in early 1962 when the Scottish Region decided to speed up services between the two cities with new three hour express trains using steam traction. This development, completely against the tide of spreading dieselisation, was greeted with varying reactions from enthusiasts from outright disbelief to total amazement. On 22nd February 1962, however, a trial run - using Class A4 Pacific No. 60027, Merlin - took place and was declared a complete success.
On 18th June the new services started using a pool of Sir Nigel Gresley's legendary Pacifics, largely based at Aberdeen Ferryhill shed. The locomotives immediately proved popular with the footplate crews, some of whom were former LMSR men who were unaccustomed to LNER-designed motive power. They took a renewed pride in the job and strove to maintain demanding schedules with enthusiasm, rekindling memories of steam's great days. Enthusiasts flocked to the line from afar to marvel at the sight and sound of the Class A4 Pacifics and variety of other steam power still at work. Despite constant attempts to replace them, the A4s repeatedly repelled the challenge of the diesels, until September 1966 when the last two survivors were withdrawn from service.
This album is a unique pictorial record from 1948 to the end of steam traction on the line. Using some of the finest action photographs available it vividly brings to life the route's varied steam power which is depicted in a variety of weather conditions and moods. It will revive happy memories of the glorious era when steam still ruled the rails from Glasgow to Aberdeen.
CONTENTS
Plate Numbers
Glasgow Buchanan Street to Stirling1-36
Stirling to Perth37- 85
Perth to Kinnaber Junction86- 114
Brechin branch115- 121
Perth Princes Street to Kinnaber Junction122- 158
Inverbervie branch159- 163
Kinnaber Junction to Aberdeen164- 197
PREFACE
When I reflect on my experiences of BR steam my overwhelming feeling is that I was simply born too late to see the best. I was only eight years old when the Modernisation Plan was announced, but by the time I had left school and started 'chasing' steam in earnest diesels were already in charge of most main line passenger trains with steam being banished from huge tracts of the country. Those locomotives which remained were in increasingly run-down condition and I will always remember the classic words of a BR motive power superintendent, quoted in the railway press, who said the locomotives in his area 'were kept going with string and a prayer'. That certainly seemed an apt statement which just about summed up the desperate plight of much BR steam traction in the mid-1960s. I greatly regretted that I had missed the so-called 'glorious years'. Ten years earlier the BR scene offered a feast for the steam enthusiast but I had to make do with leftovers! Wherever I went the locomotives nearly always seemed to be indescribably filthy and the semi-derelict sheds in which the locomotives were maintained often seemed to be in worse condition than the engines themselves.
Of course, there were exceptions to this generally depressing picture, the exploits of Leeds Holbeck shed's 'Jubilee' 4-6-0s and usually sparkling condition of Salisbury's Bulleid Pacifics spring immediately to mind, but for me the undoubted highlight of BR steam's twilight years was the four and a half year reign of the Gresley Class A4 Pacifics on the Glasgow to Aberdeen three hour trains. On this route it was a refreshing change to find a fair proportion of the passenger engines kept in clean condition. Despite Scottish Region's repeated attempts to oust steam from these services there was a degree of commitment to maintain the Class A4s in reasonable condition using the heavy repair facilities still available at Cowlairs, Darlington and Inverurie works.
Thankfully the A4s were not subjected to the apparent policy of decay and neglect which seemed to be so prevalent throughout the other areas where steam survived and right up to the end were still capable of performances worthy of the class during its heyday, though it must be said that train loads were modest compared to East Coast expresses. I would certainly like to think that sentiment was not a factor in steam traction's survival on the Aberdeen road long after other principal Scottish lines had succumbed to first choice motive power due to their speed and general reliability. Certainly the latter quality is one which the diesels of the time noticeably lacked!
In this album I have attempted to portray everyday scenes on the Glasgow to Aberdeen routes during almost twenty years of BR steam from 1948 to 1967. Generally the routes were not as widely photographed as other, more scenic Scottish lines, and it was not until the mid-1960s that the lines received much attention from railway photographers. The Class A4s acted like magnets, attracting followers of steam from the length and breadth of Great Britain, who wished to photograph and travel behind the last of Sir Nigel Gresley's streamlined masterpieces. Consequently many of the photographs feature A4s, and most were taken during the final three years of steam activity on the line, which will be best remembered by the majority of enthusiasts. Originally I had hoped to include some pictorial coverage of each of the branch lines which are associated with the Aberdeen lines, but many of these were closed in the 1950s and I have been unable to trace sufficient material to do them justice. I have, however, decided to include the Bridge of Dun to Brechin and Montrose to Inverbervie lines both of which remained open to freight traffic for some years and for which I was able to obtain a reasonable selection of photographs. I have also included a short historical summary for each section of the route which provides basic information regarding opening dates etc.
I would like to thank my publisher, Stephen Mourton, of Runpast Publishing for allowing me control of the choice of the illustrations and layout. The Glasgow to Aberdeen lines were among the last in Great Britain where steam traction was maintained in good fettle and regularly rostered for demanding long distance high speed passenger turns, and so occupy a special place in the history books. This is not a history book however, but an album of photographs from which I trust readers will derive much enjoyment. If this volume provides readers with as much pleasure as I have obtained compiling it then my efforts will have been worthwhile.
M.S.W.
Burgess Hill, West Sussex
June 199
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