• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Steam Locos

1581541988638.png
French National Railways (SNCF) 241P A 4-8-2 Most probably 241P17 as this was the one kept in preservation.
35 of these were built between 1948 and 1952. They ran in the eastern (1), western (3) and south-eastern (5) regions of the SNCF. They had an SNCF designed mechanical stoker. All withdrawn by 1973 they were some the last passenger steam locomotives built for the SNCF
 
Good units, problem was they were diesel hydraulic and not diesel electric which the rest of British Rail favoured and as such as a Western design, they were not developed beyond this one class. As Alan says we used to see them regularly in the south west as the Warships moved on (another Maybach based design). 1015 Western Champion one of the preserved ones.

Bob
The other preserved ones are 1010 Western Campaigner, 1013 W. Ranger, 1023 W. Fusilier, 1041 W. Prince, 1048 W. Lady and 1062 W. Courier. Not steam I know, but just to complete my previous post.

Bob
 
The pictures from some of the Birmingham papers are pretty poor, but here is a competition from the Birmingham Daily Post of June 1972.

17669936-1D30-441E-BF54-60B9CB965E18.jpeg
 
The pictures from some of the Birmingham papers are pretty poor, but here is a competition from the Birmingham Daily Post of June 1972.

View attachment 141501
1 is Manobier Castle, GWRs answer to streamlining, 2 is LNER 'streak' -Mallard or aimilar, from the clour could be Silver Link 5 is Southern West Country, Battle of Britain or Merchant Navy 'Spam Can' Is 3 the P4 they are now building a 'Lazurus' copy engine or is itthe turbo engine I think LMS built? 4. No idea, but looks like Dr Richard Beeching is there!! Thanks Pedro, send the £50K and trip to see Big Boy that I have just won, poste haste. 'Big Boy' for non rail is a huge American loco, built for the Union Pacific, put big boy into Wikipedia for details. On you tube there are some marvellous films of it as it toured the states.

Bob
 
Sorry Bob, I made a terrible mistake and called it a competition. The answers are on the same page of the paper.

Oh, the power of having the answers!

1....not Manobier Castle, but the picture was taken at Swindon Works in1935.
2...is Silver Link
5...is Southern railways but not Battle of Britain or Merchant Navy.
 
My laptop (whilst I await delivery of my new power supply for my desktop) is not as good for definition as my usual monitor. No.1 I thought was a King. No.2 is, as Bob says, an A4, No.3 seems to be the ill fated LMS unusual experimental turbine, No.4, no idea and lastly 5 is a Merchant Navy class spamcan.
 
Last edited:
As said the pictures are Poor and it would be hard to make out specific detail.

So yes No 1 is King Henry VII

N°3 is an LMS and in the Picture it is being lowered into the hold of a ship in Southampton for a tour of America, and the World's fair in 1939.
 
N°4 is Minister of Transport, Alfred Barnes in 1951, naming N°7000, Britannia.

N°5 is N°2103 Royal Mail. Picture taken in 1941.
 
Last edited:
Actually the Southern locomotive (photo 5) is a Merchant Navy class which in 1941 would be new. The true number, at that time would have been 21C3 (not 2103) and named Royal Mail after the steamer line, later becoming 35003 under British Railways. SR locomotive 2103 was an 0-6-0 tank engine.
West Country class (which had suggested and have now changed) was not built until the end of WW2 in Europe; the first in 1945.
 
Last edited:
No 3 is 6220 Coronation Scot in Blue, but renumbered as 6100 Royal Scot which went for a tour of America in 1939. Trust me to guess wrong on the GWR streamliner, I forgot they did a King as well, done in 1936 it was not a success and both engines were quickly returned to normal

Bob
 
No 3 is 6220 Coronation Scot in Blue, but renumbered as 6100 Royal Scot which went for a tour of America in 1939. Trust me to guess wrong on the GWR streamliner, I forgot they did a King as well, done in 1936 it was not a success and both engines were quickly returned to normal

Bob
Sorry Bob, but that loco is red, not blue and it is 6229 Duchess of Hamilton which has been renumbered & renamed 6220 Coronation. (6229 was in better condition than 6220, which was blue and masqueraded as 6229 for a time). It is being loaded aboard the Christen Smith heavy lift ship Belpamela for the trip to America to appear at the 1939 New York Worlds fair. It stayed in America for about 3 years and toured extensively before being returned to the UK. On its return, the two locos then swapped identities back, so the presently preserved Duchess of Hamilton is the one which went to the US.

Incidentally, you are right that 6100 Royal Scot did go to the US but it was in 1933, and it was a different type of loco.
 
Last edited:
Ex GWR Hall Class loco 5972 Olton Hall
5972 Olton Hall. Built April 1937. First shed allocation Neath. August 1950 shed allocation Carmarthen. Fitted with 3 row superheater. March 1959 shed allocation Plymouth Laira. Last shed allocation Cardiff East Dock. Withdrawn December 1963. Acquired by Woodham's, Barry May 1964. Sold to Procor (U.K.) Ltd in Wakefield and left as the 125th departure from Barry May 1981.
 
Sorry Bob, but that loco is red, not blue and it is 6229 Duchess of Hamilton which has been renumbered & renamed 6220 Coronation. (6229 was in better condition than 6220, which was blue and masqueraded as 6229 for a time). It is being loaded aboard the Christen Smith heavy lift ship Belpamela for the trip to America to appear at the 1939 New York Worlds fair. It stayed in America for about 3 years and toured extensively before being returned to the UK. On its return, the two locos then swapped identities back, so the presently preserved Duchess of Hamilton is the one which went to the US.

Incidentally, you are right that 6100 Royal Scot did go to the US but it was in 1933, and it was a different type of loco.
A link to the Belpamela:
1947 was the year she sank. My interest in her lies in the lost SNCF locomotives.
 
Ex GWR Hall Class loco 5972 Olton Hall
5972 Olton Hall. Built April 1937. First shed allocation Neath. August 1950 shed allocation Carmarthen. Fitted with 3 row superheater. March 1959 shed allocation Plymouth Laira. Last shed allocation Cardiff East Dock. Withdrawn December 1963. Acquired by Woodham's, Barry May 1964. Sold to Procor (U.K.) Ltd in Wakefield and left as the 125th departure from Barry May 1981.
I have model form Hornbyt it is a castle not a hall.
 

Attachments

  • h p.jpg
    h p.jpg
    191.6 KB · Views: 17
In the Harry Potter films the locomotive carries the nameboard "Hogwarts Castle", it's true ... but, as Radiorails says above, the actual engine is a Great Western Railway Hall class locomotive.
mw0njm, if you look at the steampipe on your model, it's curved. This is a characteristic of Kings and Castles. So your model is a Great Western Railway Castle class locomotive. It has been wrongly numbered: 5972 is a Hall, and, as Radiorails so rightly tells us, the loco in the films is, in fact, Olton Hall in disguise.
 
Last edited:
In the Harry Potter films the locomotive carries the nameboard "Hogwarts Castle", it's true ... but, as Radiorails says above, the actual engine is a Great Western Railway Hall class locomotive.
mw0njm, if you look at the steampipe on your model, it's curved. This is a characteristic of Kings and Castles. So your model is a Great Western Railway King class locomotive. It has been wrongly numbered: 5972 is a Hall, and, as Radiorails so rightly tells us, the loco in the films is, in fact, Olton Hall in disguise.
thanks .for that i never noticed until yesterday i saw the steam pipes and though this is not a hall. 3 were made
 

Attachments

  • harry plopper.JPG
    harry plopper.JPG
    825.3 KB · Views: 14
Back
Top