[PRCo] British Preservation Railways - Steam

Mon Mar 7 23:08:24 EST 2011

British Steam Preservation Railways from Fred Schneider
I created this as a separate file in case someone wanted to save it as a separate topic pending a visit to Britain.   For a small nation, Great Britain has more miles of steam preservation railways than anyone could possibly imagine.  Wikipedia lists 78 standard gauge and 42 narrow gauge undertakings!   Furthermore, when the railfans became disturbed that the last A-1 Peppercorn Pacific was scrapped, the only solution in the last 20 years was to build a brand new one!  Can you imagine building a new New York Central J3 Hudson because the last one was torched?  When we don't have enough miles of track, they built a new 25 mile railroad to run narrow gauge trains.  Unbelievable.

Well, here are some of Fred Schneider's favorite preservation lines in Britain, almost all of which were made surplus when Lord Beeching took a meat axe to British Railways in the 1960s and eliminated any track considered unprofitable.

1)  NOT FAR FROM BIRMINGHAM, BRITAIN'S SECOND LARGEST CITY, IS THE SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY, A 16-MILE PIKE FROM SHREWSBURY SOUTH TO KIDDERMINSTER.   Why a favorite?   I love the traditional stations along the line with flower boxes in the windows.   Their machine shop, like the Strasburg here in Lancaster County, is fully competent to overhaul locomotives and not only does their own work but contracts with other preservation railways in Britain to keep their engines running too.

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_Valley_Railway

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AonC0pE7B8M&feature=related

2)  BLUEBELL RAILWAY AT HORSTED KEYNES, SOUTH OF LONDON HAS A LIST OF LOCOMOTIVES AND ROLLING STOCK THAT NEVER ENDS.   The station at Sheffield Park has the nicest little newsstand filled as a museum with magazines and newspapers of a long gone-bye era ... looks just like it would have in steam days.

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheffield_Park_railway_station

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTDcTkdxENw

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTDcTkdxENw

3)  THE MID-HANTS RAILWAY, A.K.A. THE WATERCRESS LINE, IS ONE OF THE FEW THAT YOU CAN REACH BY WAY OF THE NATIONAL RAILROAD NETWORK.   This is easy for visitors to the area who don't have a rental car and don't wish to attempt driving on the other side of the road.   It's only about an 75 minutes by local train from London Waterloo to Alton Station and the connection to the Mid-Hants Railway.  What's important about the line in history?   Well, there's a house in Alresford where Dwight David Eisenhower set up camp during World War II to command our forces.   What was interesting about the railway?   While the average operating speed is only 20 miles per hour, the maximum is considerably higher ... not plastering bugs on your face but still pleasant.   

On my first visit I was amazed to find a chap in the shop with a American mid west accent.   This fellow liked British steam.   He was from Cincinnati and working for the Mid-Hants Railway.   

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watercress_Line

     http://www.watercressline.co.uk/Home

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCFmCqhDLSI

4   IT WOULD SEEM THAT BRITAIN HAS ALWAYS MADE A SHOW OF RUNNING STEAM ON ITS MAIN LINE METALS EVEN AFTER THE LAST FIRES WERE SUPPOSEDLY DROPPED IN THE 1960S BUT NOTHING SURPASSES THE DISPLAY OF MIGHT PUT ON BY 60163, THE RECREATED A-1 PEPPERCORN PACIFIC.   THE TORNADO SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN EVERYWHERE .... HAULING THE ROYAL TRAIN; PULLING STRANDED COMMUTERS IN THE WINTER; RUNNING EXCURSIONS AND EVENING VISITING SEVERAL OF THE TOURIST RAILROADS THAT HAVE INTERCHANGE CONNECTIONS WITH THE NATIONAL NETWORK.   It's worth a trip to England for the ride!  

I recall Harry Grimes, who trained the earliest steam men on the Strasburg Rail Road for some of his expressions.   Harry came to us as a retiree from Reading Company, where he had managed to work himself up to the Queen of the Valley just before they abandoned the last Harrisburg passenger train.   Then he retired.    His expression for a steam engine moving like hell is mirrored in the way the rods moved.   Here, is the Tornado, as Harry would have said, "Pick'n up an' putt'n 'em down."   

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in1On3hEHoI&feature=related

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkAS6PEt7vM&feature=related

6)  OF THE NARROW GAUGES, ONE OF NEATEST LITTLE LINES IS THE FFESTINIOG RAILWAY, BUILT TO HAUL SLATE FROM THE MINES AT BLAENAU FFESTINIOG IN THE MOUNTAINS DOWN TO THE SHIPS ON THE WEST COAST OF WALES AT PORTHMADOG.   The slate business ended before World War II but the tourists blossomed after that.  There were many of these lines and several still exist to haul tourists in the Welch countryside.    

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ffestiniog_Railway     

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov3l4ekw7jU

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2plils8xL6M

7) SOMETHING THAT DESERVES A VISIT JUST TO SEE WHAT THEY'VE DONE.... CAN YOU IMAGINE REBUILDING A RAILROAD THAT WAS TORN UP 74 YEARS AGO BECAUSE NO ONE WAS RIDING IT?  I'M SPEAKING OF THE WELSH HIGHLAND RAILWAY, WHICH REOPENED FROM CAERNARVON TO PORTHMADOG ON FEB. 20, 2011.  Like the FFestiniog, it is a 1-11 1/2" gauge operation, 25 miles in length.   And while you're in Caernarvon, you must also see the castle, which is where the Prince of Wales is crowned ... see the very last video in this series.  

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Highland_Railway

     http://www.festrail.co.uk/

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZKe0IfJ-E4

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qacs0--GimA&feature=related

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn7-MsaDq_s&feature=related

8)  CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT A 15-INCH-GAUGE LOCOMOTIVE WITH DRIVERS LESS THAN 2 FEET IN DIAMETER MOVING AT 25 MILES PER HOUR ACROSS THE FLAT KENTISH COUNTRYSIDE SOUNDS LIKE?   David P. Morgan probably had the best description and that was the one he used to describe a train of bad-order cars bearing down on Selby, Ohio in 1955 on the New York Central in his series that year with Philip Hastings.   He wrote, "With all the implications of the Book of Revelations."    Can you even imagine 15 inch gauge?   I would have to show you the slide I have with my shoe broadside between the rails as a comparison.   Please enjoy the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch.   

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLISENMynEY

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEsCq-ljV3g&feature=related