Great Western Pannier tank No. 3650 passed her insurance boiler examination on Wednesday 23 July and the restoration team then took her for a celebratory run on the branch line.
3650 was built in December 1939 and withdrawn in October 1963, when she was sold to Stephenson Clarke for use at an open-cast coal mine at Gwaun-cae-Gurwen. It appears that the locomotive then worked with the minimum of maintenance and was in dreadful condition when preserved in 1969. However, the Great Western Society believed she was worth buying as it might be the last chance to acquire a pannier tank. When 3738 was later purchased from Barry, this was in far better condition and was therefore restored first. 3650 is the result of 20 years dedicated work by her restoration team to repair the damage of six years in industrial use.
The Stephenson Clarke livery is a temporary one for 3650s running-in period. She will then be painted in GWR green, with a ‘shirt-button’ roundel as originally turned out in 1939. The repaint might take place even before the end of 2008, so industrial locomotive enthusiasts should hurry to Didcot to see an industrial pannier. The 3650 team say that for a small consideration they will make the locomotive dirty to give a more authentic industrial appearance.
The locomotive has since been running on several occasions on a trial basis and, if all continues to go well, is expected to be released into traffic at the August Bank Holiday weekend. It is intended that 3650 will be in steam on all three days of the weekend.
On Friday 4 July, three of the four founder members of the Great Western Society were at Didcot to be interviewed for a 60 minute programme in the BBC4 social history television series Timeshift.
The programme is looking at the last years of steam - from 1948 to the early 1960s, and will examine this era of steam, the emergence of trainspotting, the sense of romanticism and how, despite Beeching and the scrapping of steam trains, all this was kept alive through the preservation movement.
Jon Barlow, Mike Peart and Graham Perry talked about how they became trainspotters in the 1950s and how, as 16-year-old schoolboys in 1961, they decided to preserve a 14xx class steam locomotive. The letter they wrote to Railway Magazine in April 1961, seeking funds, was the start of a movement that became the Great Western Society and of the collection now housed at Didcot Railway Centre.
The fourth founder member, Angus Davis, now lives in New Zealand, and TV licence fee payers might be relieved to know that, unfortunately the BBC4 programme budget was not generous enough to fly him back to the UK for the interview!
The programme TimeShift - Last Days of Steam will be broadcast on BBC Four on Thursday 16 October at 9pm. Thursday evenings have a railway theme on BBC4 at the moment.
The Great Western Trust is pleased to have purchased a Great Western ‘2 foot’ gauge slate wagon, after many years of searching for one, finally giving a ‘large’ item to represent the Great Western’s narrow gauge interests.
The GW ran several narrow gauge lines such as the Corris, the Welshpool and Llanfair and the Vale of Rheidol, and GWR owned wagons of this type also featured on narrow gauge feeders to GWR standard gauge lines.
The wagon concerned has not been finally identified but is thought to be from lot 413, Diagram O.49, ordered January 1903 and numbered 51-100.
It is currently in Devon, but should be brought to Didcot within the next few weeks, although it will need some considerable repairs before it can be put on display. Once on display it will enhance the collection at Didcot where GWR vehicles of 7’ 0 1/4”, 4’8 1/2” and 1’11” will be available for comparison.
An unseasonably late overnight snowfall coinciding with a Steam Day at Didcot Railway Centre provided an unusual opportunity to see steam trains in the snow. This is something that we might expect, though rarely get, on the Santa specials, but did not anticipate in April!
As it was a relatively warm day, if you could get out of the wind and into the sunshine, the snow didn't last long, but for a few short hours we could enjoy what the gentleman from the Met Office described rather predictably as 'a winter wonderland'. We would hazard a guess, however that his 'winter wonderland' didn't have any steam trains in it - ours did!
A steam hauled excursion train from Solihull, hauled by Great Western Railway locomotive No.4965 ‘Rood Aston Hall’, visited Didcot on Saturday 15 March. The run marked what was expected to be the final journey of No.4965 before it's next overhaul.
Once the train, named the ‘4965 Adieu’, arrived at Didcot Parkway the locomotive was detached and came to the Railway Centre where visitors and railtour participants saw it being serviced at the engine shed alongside two of the resident Great Western ‘Hall’ class steam locomotives, No.5900 ‘Hinderton Hall’ and No.6998 ‘Burton Agnes Hall’. It was then turned on the turntable before returning its passengers to Solihull.
No.4965 ‘Rood Aston Hall’ is one of the Great Western Railway ‘Hall’ class, until the end of regular steam train operations a familiar sight in the Didcot area hauling a variety of trains from express passenger services to lowly goods trains. It is now part of the collection of the Birmingham Railway Museum.
The nearly complete power bogie and boiler assembly for the Steam Railmotor Project arrived at Didcot Railway Centre today.
The bogie and boiler were delivered separately by road, and then moved by rail to Didcot Railway Centre, where the two parts were assembled using the 50 ton hoist in the lifting shop.
The assembly will be on public display in the Engine Shed during the summer season when it can be viewed at any time the site is open. This, of course, will be the only opportunity for you to see the boiler and bogie ‘in the raw’ before it is encased in the coach body, so don’t hesitate to come and have a look at this unique sight.
A private night photo shoot was organised by Martin Creese and Phil Neale with the intention of re-creating scenes of Laira shed in the 1950s.
Both 5058 'Earl of Clancarty' and 7909 'Heveningham Hall' made appearances thanks to wooden name and numberplates made by Karl Buckingham. However the real star of the show was saddle tank No. 1363 which had been specially repainted into BR black for the event.
Funds raised by the Photo Shoot will help to pay for the overhaul to full running order of No. 1363 which is due to start later on this year. No. 1363 will remain in BR Black until dismantling for overhaul begins.
Didcot Railway Centre hosted 28 students from St Birinus, Didcot, Didcot Girls School and Faringdon Community College for an Engineering Careers Day on Tuesday 22 January.
The students heard presentations from Network Rail on their Advanced Apprenticeship Scheme, including an insight from a third year apprentice. They learned about opportunities for working as signalling engineers, which included a comparison of modern computerised signalling with the 100 year old mechanical computer within the Railway Centre’s own historic signal boxes.
The opportunities for apprenticeships within the heritage railway sector were explained by a demonstration of the locomotive restoration work taking place at the Railway Centre.
The highlight of the day was a practical demonstration of Thermit welding. This is a special process which uses a chemical reaction to weld two pieces of rail together.
The day was voted a success by the students and organisations represented and is likely to be a regular feature at Didcot Railway Centre in the future.
At precisely 10.14 (County of Glamorgan) on Thursday 10.01 (County of Bucks) the boiler of 8F 48518 was being lifted into a rail wagon at Didcot's West Yard for transfer to the Railway Centre. Once there it will be converted into a GWR No. 15 boiler as a major component in the re-creation of County 1014.
The complete locomotive had been moved by John Antell from Barry to Llangollen on Monday 7 January. The boiler was lifted from the frames on Tuesday and Wednesday. To simplify removal the smokebox, which was described as 'paper thin' anyway, was cut through in front of the tubeplate.
The expansion brackets at the firebox end had rusted solidly to the frames and the boiler had to be rocked to free it. First of all the front of boiler was lifted until the forward end of the expansion brackets came free and wedges were placed in the gap. The front of the boiler was then lowered until the rear end of the expansion brackets were released. In the process large amounts of rust and scale fell out of the gaps between the frames and the lower part of the firebox. The boiler was then lifted back onto John Antell's lorry and arrived in Didcot late on 9 January, for unloading on Thursday.