The Countdown - or rather the count UP.

  • Please bear with us on the new site integration and fixing any known bugs over the coming days. If you can not log in please try resetting your password and check your spam box. If you have tried these steps and are still struggling email [email protected] with your username/registered email address
  • Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!
You must log in or register to see images


The last scheduled 'Castle' class train was officially announced and No.7023 'Penrice Castle' was selected to haul the final train from Worcester to London. The photograph below shows No.7023 before working that final train, the 11:10am to London on Saturday 7th September 1963.
The photograph which is published by courtesy of the Worcester Evening News is taken at the exit from the 'passenger' shed at Worcester and obviously has some official support as such a location would have been 'out of bounds' to an ordinary enthusiast. The choice of 'Penrice' for this final train was perhaps unexpected as lifelong Worcester engine No.7005 'Sir Edward Elgar' would have been the obvious choice but perhaps the former engine was in better mechanical condition and the authorities did not want to risk the embarrassment of a steamer breaking down on the way to London.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wooperts_duck
You must log in or register to see images


GWR 4073 'Castle' Class 7025 'Sudeley Castle'
Great Western Railway 4073 'Castle' Class 4-6-0 steam locomotive 7025 'Sudeley Castle' at Old Oak Common Depot in 1962.
7025 was designed by Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway Charles Collett and built at Swindon Works by British Railways in August 1949. 7025 was withdrawn in September 1964 and sent to Birds Yard in Swansea for scrapping.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Makemstine Roger and Wooperts_duck
You must log in or register to see images


-GWR 4073 Castle Class 7027 Thornbury Castle Preservation Society

7027 was built at Swindon and in 1949 began its working life at Plymouth Laira. In 1959 it was allocated to Old Oak Common and lastly to Reading from where it was withdrawn in 1963.
It was sent for scrap to Woodham Brothers in 1964 where it remained until August 1972 when it was sold to the Birmingham Railway Museum (Now called Vintage Trains).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wooperts_duck
You must log in or register to see images


Recently returned to service following an overhaul at Tyseley Locomotive Works and now awaiting it's return to the mainline 7029 Clun Castle is seen steaming away on the turntable at Tyseley Loco Works during a photoshoot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wooperts_duck
You must log in or register to see images


Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn Works No 7031 54 Pen Green 0-6-0ST
This locomotive was built by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn in 1941 and it spent all of its working life based at Stewarts and Lloyds at Corby where it hauled iron ore wagons.
It was withdrawn from service in 1969.
The locomotive was purchased by two members of the East Anglia Railway Museum’s Bishops Stortford branch and arrived at the museum in 1973. It was then fitted with vacuum brakes and steam heating equipment in order that it could work passenger trains. In 1974 it was given the name Penn Green after the shed complex where it was based.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Wooperts_duck
You must log in or register to see images



Old Oak Commons BR/WR Castle No. 7033 'Hartlebury Castle' rolls into Birmingham Snow Hill Station with the down 'Cambrian Coast Express'.
To the young spotters delight, Old Oak Commons (81A) clean BR/WR built Castle Class steam locomotive No. 7033 'Hartlebury Castle' rolls into the atmospheric sun kissed Birmingham Snow Hill Station with the down 'Cambrian Coast Express' as passengers await their ride home or look forward to a holiday on the sunny Welsh coast.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wooperts_duck
You must log in or register to see images


British Railways built Castle class No 7037 'Swindon', the last member of the class to be built, is seen entering Platform 7 at the head of an up Class A express service on 12th August 1961.
Built at Swindon in August 1950, No 7037 did not receive its allocated name until November of that year.
Its first shed was Swindon and it remained in service until March 1963 when it was withdrawn from Swindon shed to be scrapped by J Cashmore of Newport.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Makemstine Roger and Wooperts_duck
You must log in or register to see images

The Union Pacific's first group of class 4-8-2s came from the American Locomotive Company's Brooks Works in 1922 with the Young valve gear, as shown here on No. 7038 in a photo purchased from an eBay seller, location and photographer unspecified. These class MT-1 4-8-2s were the only UP engines to feature this type of valve gear, promoted by the Pyle-National Corporation. In the mid-1930s their valve gears were changed to the Walschaerts configuration, dating this image probably to that time, and they were given one-piece cast-steel frames. Before the advent of the 4-8-4s in 1937 they were the UP's premier passenger power, one (No. 7002) even being streamlined. Members of the MT-1 class rolled on 73-inch drivers; they sustained 200 p.s.i. of boiler pressure and had cylinder dimensions of 29x28 inches. With a grate area of 84 square feet, they had 4974 square feet of evaporative heating surface and 1241 square feet of superheating surface. They weighed 350,250 pounds and developed a tractive effort of 54,838 pounds.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Makemstine Roger
You must log in or register to see images


Ji Tong Railway No. 7040 is a class QJ built in 1986 by the Datong Locomotive Works for the Ji Tong Railway Of China. It was acquired by the Lexington, Kentucky-based RJ Corman in 2008, and operated until 2013, when it was placed on display in a specially built glass display building in Lexington. In 2020, Corman donated the engine to the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Makemstine Roger
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back