Crécy RAIL

Covers Crecy Publishing's large range of railway titles including the OPC, abc and Southern Way imprints, as well as sharing occasional images from our archives

[Crécy RAIL @CrecyRail]

Seeing No 4150 at Bridgnorth yesterday got me looking for a view of one of the 1940s built locos in action. No 4176, one of the very last batch, constructed under BR at Swindon in 1949, is seen on a Newton Abbot to Kingswear local at Torquay in 1951.

[Crécy RAIL @CrecyRail]

Astonishing to think this is probably the first time No 4150 has coal in her bunker for over six décades. Still a little bit of work to do but she’s nearly there. And great to see No 7325 at Bridgnorth for assessment, love to see her back, both perfect locos for @svrofficialsite

[Joe Brown @JoeBrownLondon]

#OnThisDay 12 years ago the last C Stock ran in regular passenger service on the District Line, seen here at East Putney on the last day (Jack Gordon). Not universally popular, these were my favourite trains to drive... I was always happy on the Wimbleware service.

[Joe Brown @JoeBrownLondon]

#OnThisDay 169 years ago the Crumlin Viaduct opened across the Ebbw Valley in South Wales, for its entire life the tallest viaduct in the UK and the third tallest on earth at 200ft/61m. 1962 image two years before closure: John Wiltshire via Peter Brabham https://t.co/xVoFUPQoLc

[Crécy RAIL @CrecyRail]

Having a look at the proofs of the latest Southern Way, No 73, slightly delayed but due this month. From an article on the Devil's Dyke branch comes this view of the unique SR Sentinel‐Cammell steam railmotor No 6, which had been used on the line. https://t.co/KUHES6DStu

[Great Eastern Railway Society @GERrailsoc]

The Record That Still Stands:

How the GE Stratford Works Built a Locomotive in Under Ten Hours

Imagine the scene inside the large, busy erecting shop at Stratford Works on a chilly Thursday morning in December 1891. The Great Eastern Railway’s vast locomotive works in East London were already a byword for efficiency, but on 10 December something extraordinary was about to unfold. At nine o’clock sharp, the frames for a brand-new 0-6-0 goods engine were laid down, and the clock started ticking. Just over nine and three-quarter hours of actual working time later, including the usual lunch break, the finished locomotive, complete with tender, rolled out of the works under its own steam, finished in grey primer. That locomotive was a Y14 No. 930. This build remains a world record for steam locomotive construction to this day. The Y14 was the archetypal “maid of all work” for the Great Eastern, a handsome, purposeful and powerful loco.

Designed by T. W. Worsdell and introduced in 1883, these efficient, inside-cylinder 0-6-0s had 4 ft 11 in driving wheels, 17½ in × 24 in cylinders, and a 160 psi boiler. They weighed a tad over 37 tons in working order and could handle both heavy goods and lighter passenger turns across the GER’s often lightly laid branches. Their simple, robust layout and the high degree of standardisation introduced under Locomotive Superintendent James Holden made them ideal candidates for rapid assembly.

By 1891, Holden had turned Stratford into one of the most organised railway shops in the UK. Components were worked to fine tolerances in the machine and fitting shops, then held in stores ready for use. Jigs, templates and interchangeable parts meant that fitters did not waste precious minutes chasing tolerances or making one-off adjustments. The build of No. 930 was therefore less a frantic scramble from raw castings than a more choreographed high-speed erection.

In the erecting shop, a long, high-roofed hall filled with overhead cranes, traverser pits and rows of engines in various stages of completion, teams of skilled engineers moved with confident precision. Frames were aligned and levelled. Cylinders were offered up and secured. The motion, connecting rods, coupling rods, valve gear and eccentrics, was fitted and timed with the care that only experienced loco engineers possess. Axles and wheels were dropped into place, springs attached, and the boiler and firebox assembly lowered and connected. The smokebox, chimney, cab and footplating followed in rapid succession. Meanwhile, in an adjacent area, the tender was being prepared with equal speed so that the two units could be coupled almost as soon as the engine itself was ready.

Contemporary accounts noted that every major component had been prepared in advance, yet the speed and coordination still astonished observers. At 9.15 a.m. on Friday, 11 December, the engine moved under its own power for the first time. It had taken 9 hours 47 minutes from the moment the frames were positioned to the moment a fully functional locomotive left the works. For comparison, the previous British record, set at Crewe by the LNWR, had stood at around 25 hours. Stratford had effectively halved it. No. 930 did not receive its final livery immediately. Instead, it was dispatched straight into revenue-earning service on the demanding Peterborough to London coal trains.

Over the next five thousand miles, 930 ran normally, returning to Stratford for nothing more than routine attention. Only then did it come back for its proper livery. The locomotive went on to give forty years of hard service and amassed more than 1.1 million miles before withdrawal, proof indeed that the record-breaking build speed had not been achieved at the expense of quality. What made the achievement possible was not just the pre-machined parts or the simple design of the Y14 itself. It was the entire culture Holden had fostered at Stratford: clear organisation, highly trained gangs who knew their jobs back to front, and a production system that treated locomotive building almost like a well-rehearsed industrial ballet.

The works employed thousands of men across specialised departments, boiler shop, machine shop, wheel shop, smithy, all feeding components into the hungry beast better known as the erecting shop with clockwork regularity. On that December day, the system performed at its absolute best. The record was not beaten in the steam era, and attempts elsewhere, even with more modern methods, could not match the combination of preparation, teamwork and sheer craftsmanship displayed at Stratford. Today, only one Y14 survives, and for that we must be grateful; it is preserved on the North Norfolk Railway, giving enthusiasts and tourists alike a lucky reminder of the class that once dominated East Anglian goods and branch-line work.

Standing in front of that preserved engine, or studying old photographs of Stratford’s busy erecting shop, it is possible to feel the pride and understand the sheer mechanical theatre of that December morning in 1891. In an age before mass-production lines and computer-aided everything, a group of Victorian railwaymen proved that with the right design, the right organisation and the right people, a complete steam locomotive could be built, steamed and sent out to earn its living in less time than most of us take to complete a long working day. That remains one of the most remarkable engineering achievements in railway history.

[Crécy RAIL @CrecyRail]

Yesterday the ticket inspectors and I visited @railway200 train and compared notes afterwards. The theme of it is ´Inspiration’, none of us were. It must have cost a fortune to set up and drag round thé network but we all felt it was utterly pointless. The air con was nice though

[Crécy RAIL @CrecyRail]

Today’s office was the exquisite GWR brake No 650. With the lights on going through Bewdley tunnel, its beautiful art deco interior looks superb, you’d almost expect to see Hercule Poirot shuffling along the corridor. The exterior view certainly wasn’t taken today! Scorchio!

[Crécy RAIL @CrecyRail]

A while since I’ve had a look round Bridgnorth works. No 4150 is now very close to entering service, possibly next month, valve settings were being adjusted today, the last @svrofficialsite ex Barry loco to be steamed Also, Dunrobbin is the most complete it’s been in years.

[Crécy RAIL @CrecyRail]

Salad days, a train of vans containing Channel Islands tomatoes is leaving the docks and heading onto the tramway at Weymouth on 19 August 1955 headed by outside cylinder Pannier No 1370.

[Crécy RAIL @CrecyRail]

Class 14 D9551 on a Great Western set forming thé 10 45am ex Bridgnorth today. @svrofficialsite

[Crécy RAIL @CrecyRail]

The #Rail200 train is stabled at Kidderminster station @svrofficialsite this week and open to visitors. Many enthusiasts will be equally interested by what its buffered up to at the end of Platform 2. I can’t guarantee today’s crazy cloud formation if you come later in the week.

[Ian Dinmore ACIRO 🇪🇺 @Tarka_Man]

@CrecyRail Ashburton, before we lost it 🙁

[Crécy RAIL @CrecyRail]

There is something magical about West Country branch lines, most of which had closed before I could get anywhere near them. I could look at pictures like this all day. No 6438 at Marsh Mills on 25 August 1962 with the 4.30pm Tavistock to Plymouth Autotrain.

[Crécy RAIL @CrecyRail]

The light four coach load of this Doncaster to Grantham stopping service, seen approaching Retford on 14 July 1960, will not be greatly taxing the loco or the crew of A3 Pacific No 60085 Manna.

[West Coast Railways @westcoastrail]

Spotlight – LMS Royal Scot Class 6115 Scots Guardsman

Following the nationalisation of Britain’s railways in 1948, it was renumbered 46115.

On 20 June 2012, Scots Guardsman took part in the 2012 Summer Olympics Torch Relay, carrying the Olympic Torch from York to Thirsk.

[Train Songs Central @trainsongsbook]

'That was the day that I learned to cry, and hate the sound of a train'
- 'The Sound of a Train' by Dennis Locorriere (2010), the voice of Dr Hook & friend of @trainsongsbook, whose death was announced over the weekend
#RIPDennis
📷 John Bjorklund

[Chris Sykes @N_Amberfield]

Deltic prototype DP1 has just emerged from Peascliffe tunnel north of Grantham, still under evaluation here in August 1960

[Crécy RAIL @CrecyRail]

You can catch the Elizabeth Line from Forest Gate today but back in March 1951, you could see workings like this, as a short milk train headed by 0-6-2T N7/3 class No 69635 approaches the station.

[Crécy RAIL @CrecyRail]

@87027wolf @LukeLukesenior This man is putting himself unnecessarily in peril. By not standing in the six foot and waiting for the loco to buffer up before going under, he might be saving a minute at most. If the management tolerate this sort of operating practice they are equally culpable.

[Crécy RAIL @CrecyRail]

I think this both terrifying and utterly stupid. Don't try this at home or on your local heritage railway folks.

[Martin @Martin_H_1986]

No six foot… two foot… in Portugal!