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Steam Locos

Preservation​

Rescue: 1951–1960​

A small steam locomotive stands beside a banked area. On the left hand coal bunker is painted TAL-Y-LLYN RAILWAY. The track is covered with grass, and the rails are barely visible. In the foreground are some disused rails.

Locomotive No. 2 Dolgoch at Abergynolwyn in 1951, early in the preservation era

The author and biographer Tom Rolt visited the line in 1949, along with the locomotive engineer David Curwen. In the summer of 1950, Rolt wrote a letter to the Birmingham Post newspaper suggesting that a rescue of the Talyllyn be undertaken. He received sufficient positive response for a meeting of interested enthusiasts to be held on 11 October 1950 at the Imperial Hotel in Birmingham. Around 70 people, including Patrick Whitehouse, attended the meeting, with Rolt proposing the formation of a committee to look into the acquisition of the railway. With the support of the meeting, the committee – with Rolt as chairman and Whitehouse as Secretary – met for the first time on 23 October and immediately entered into negotiation with Haydn Jones' executors.

The transfer of ownership to the committee was legally complex, but both parties agreed that all shares in the railway company would be transferred from Haydn Jones' estate to a new company called Talyllyn Holdings Ltd., whose board consisted of two directors from the executors and two from the committee. The transfer took place on 8 February 1951, at which point the newly formed Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society effectively took control of the railway.

and as Heartland said: It was at moor st old station
 
0-6-0T These models were available by collecting vouchers from the cereal boxes and some payment,:grinning:
1936a.JPG
 
I was very pleased to see the reference to Derek Harrison (aka Mr Snow Hill) and his book. Many years ago, we members of the Wolverhampton Model Railway Club had a very good illustrated talk by him, at the end of which I bought a signed copy of his book, which I still have. Sad that he is long gone!
 
When did a locomotive become a locomotive that is the question.
Here in the Midlands we had Agenoria which worked on a level section of track between inclines much like in the North East, but early forms of steam traction there had another term the travelling engine, to distinguish them from the fixed stationary hauling engines.
 
Information on the early history of steam locomotion is very patchy. Your question is a good one, because I have heard of other stationary engines being turned into locomotives. The Pen-y-Darren tranway loco comes to mind, but I'm sure there are others.
 
Ask Siri and it points to Wikipedia…

Etymology[edit]

The word locomotive originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus "place", and the Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine,[1] which was first used in 1814[2] to distinguish between self-propelled and stationary steam engines.

The note [2] referring to Sea Scale colliery in 1814, can be seen in the Newspaper Archives. I can’t find any earlier mention when applied to engines.
 
Not sure how clear this but it was taken at The California State Museum in 1997.
My sister lived in California and I went to stay with her for a couple of months.
Just look at the size of it. I am 5' 8" and it just dwarfed me. It was a great day out.
Ken
 

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dandyboy said:
Not sure how clear this but it was taken at The California State Museum in 1997.
My sister lived in California and I went to stay with her for a couple of months.
Just look at the size of it. I am 5' 8" and it just dwarfed me. It was a great day out.
Ken
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Nice pic, Ken.

Can't make out which loco it is, but it just goes to show what a large scale US locos were built to. IIRC they were permitted to be nearly 16 ft tall?

Sadly here in the UK, being pioneers, we were limited by the size of bridges built over the early railways, which meant we were restricted in height to about 13 ft. This has always compromised the design of our locos and rolling stock.
 
TerryD147 said:
Nice pic, Ken.

Can't make out which loco it is, but it just goes to show what a large scale US locos were built to. IIRC they were permitted to be nearly 16 ft tall?

Sadly here in the UK, being pioneers, we were limited by the size of bridges built over the early railways, which meant we were restricted in height to about 13 ft. This has always compromised the design of our locos and rolling stock.
Click to expand...
Not sure myself Terry. It was taken more than 24 years ago.
I think they needed to make them big because of what they were pulling. When I was over there I can remember stopping at a level crossing and this massive Diesel freight train went through, it took about twenty minutes.
I have also changed my user name now.
Ken
 
TerryD147 said:
Nice pic, Ken.

Can't make out which loco it is, but it just goes to show what a large scale US locos were built to. IIRC they were permitted to be nearly 16 ft tall?

Sadly here in the UK, being pioneers, we were limited by the size of bridges built over the early railways, which meant we were restricted in height to about 13 ft. This has always compromised the design of our locos and rolling stock.
Click to expand...
Terry, another reason that the locos in the US are so large(not always) was the great distances they traveled and size of wagons they pulled. When I first got to the US I went to a museum in NJ and was amazed at the size. Your comment regarding bridges etc is very valid, in the US a coast to coast run would be 3,000 plus miles and similarly in Canada. Canadian Pacific locos are huge particularly in Western Canada for logging and mining.
 
If people want to see large US freight trains there are plently of Virtual Railfan sites on the web with live action. Fort Madison is a good location with around 69 trains per day plus a few Amtrack services. There is also the adjacent Mississippi river with a lot of barge traffic which requires the swing bridge there to open. At the moment there is a lot of road work going on plus a re-development of the marina.
Don't forget the replica of Fort Madison and, of course, the static display of Santa Fe 2913 a 4-8-4 loco from the 1940s.
Regulars there will talk about 'block' and 'no block'. Very long trains that stop at Fort Madison yard for a crew change can leave the crossing 'blocked' for some time, sometimes when the train has nominally cleared the crossing but not far enough forward to release the barriers.
 
If you are in ROANOKE, VA at any time you will find that the former railway station is now the O.Winston Link museum.
 
Pedrocut said:
Birmingham Weekly Post, February 1960. Submitted to picture competition…

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Officially known as a "Station Pilot", its job was to shunt empty coaching stock in and out of platforms as necessary, and to and from storage in carriage sidings. I wonder if the photographer is the same Peter Cartwright who was involved with model railway shops in the Birmingham area later?
 
The Dartmouth Steam Railway - Paignton to Kingswear have run such a train for a few years now.
Many heritage lines have followed suit particularly with Covid and the difficulty running Santa Trains.
 
Radiorails said:
The Dartmouth Steam Railway - Paignton to Kingswear have run such a train for a few years now.
Many heritage lines have followed suit particularly with Covid and the difficulty running Santa Trains.
Click to expand...
I've been on that line many years ago...
Dave A
 
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