North East England - Steam Days Screenshots - Large Screenshots Possible

Another great picture, - I love that heavy sky and the general lighting of the screenshot. A workaday engine doing the job it was built for- hauling coal.
 
That sky reflects the real world around here over the past few days. I had a five hour drive to do on Friday and I don't recall it being dry for a single minute.
 
BTP Steam Autocar

North east England during the steam era. In 1905 the North Eastern Railway decided to use some surplus Fletcher BTP 0-4-4T locos built during the 1870s to power steam autocars. The objective was to save costs by eliminating the need to run around at terminal stations, which also permitted quicker turnarounds. The downside was a reduction in flexibility, particularly with strengthening, though some did run with a strengthening 6-wheeler. This meant that at the terminal destination a pilot loco had to remove the strengthener and switch ends so the driver could see on the return journey. If no station pilot was available then the steam autocar would have to run round the strengthener! the typical arrangement was the BTP situated in the middle of two driving van composites, though some services ran with a single Driving van composite.

The company converted several bogie Third Carriages to Driving van Composites, designating them Diagram 116. Utilising 52ft carriages for the conversion meant that Third Class passengers did get a little extra legroom compared to that in the typical 49ft ordinary N.E.R. carriage. Compartments were 6ft 4 and a half inches long rather than the typical 5ft 11 and a half inches found in a 49ft carriage. First Class passengers were short-changed though. A 49ft carriage normally had a First Class compartment of 7ft 1 and a half inches in size. the single First Class compartment in the Diagram 116 was the same as the Third Class at 6ft 4 and a half inches, though it did have better upholstery than the Third Class, to give the illusion of premium travel.

Below, in 1913. the 7:45 a.m. steam autocar from Sunderland to Durham approaches Leamside station. The express passenger lamps are correct, as the service ran non-stop between Sunderland and Durham, taking 28 minutes. Another steam autocar would follow, calling at Leamside at 8:38 a.m. but that was the 7:53 a.m. Newcastle to Durham via Leamside, calling at all stations and reaching Durham at 8:47 a.m.



Passing through Leamside station.



Taking the line for Durham at Auckland junction.



The N.E.R. used the steam autocars on more than just "sleepy country branch line passenger services". Carriage rosters for them could be intense and range across relatively long distances. The shuttle service between West Hartlepool and Hartlepool stations was an example of an intensive service. Another roster that started and finished in Sunderland roamed as far as Barnard Castle during the day. There were still a number of steam autocar services operating at the grouping, though the L.N.E.R. would dispense with them by 1928 as Clayton and Sentinel Steam Railcars were introduced. The branch service between Middlesbrough and Guisborough was the last service they were used on. with several BTP locomotives ending their days there.
 
Steam autocars or push-pull sets are a lot of fun to have on the passenger service roster. I use them on my early period BR route. Very nice pictures Frank.
 
1919 E.C.M.L. Z Class and the 10:35 a.m. from London

North east England during the steam era. Among one of the less common sights on the E.C.M.L. was the daily 10:35 a.m. express passenger train from London, which combined at York with Midland Railway through coaches from Bristol to Newcastle. The Midland Railway advertised this in April 1910's Bradshaw's as "The Newcastle Corridor Express Restaurant Car Bristol to Newcastle". The North Eastern Railway passenger timetables for October 1912 to March 1913 also lists the Bristol train as having dining facilities. The July 1914 Through Carriage Working Instructions list the Bristol portion of Brake Third, Composite and Brake Third as non-corridor carriages but it would appear that since at least April 1910 these carriages had in fact been corridor types. The East Coast Joint Stock Company would surely have known this so I do not know why the 1914 T.C.W.I. did not reflect this. A salutory lesson about how multiple sources can contradict each other. Even in "the good old days" nobody was perfect.

Below, the Midland through carriages, two Brake thirds and a Composite fly north behind a North Eastern Z Class top-link express engine.



Approaching Eryholme Junction at speed. the seven East Coast joint Stock carriages are behind the Midland Railway carriages.



North of Eryholme junction.



The station call at Newcastle Central station will be busy. There will be an engine change, for another Atlantic 4-4-2 of V or Z Class, of Gateshead shed, while the Midland Railway carriages are detached from the front and an N.E.R. portion for Alnmouth will be attached at the rear. This N.E.R. portion will be non-corridor carriages, so those passengers will be isolated from the E.C.J.S. portion.
 
July 1914 Newcastle Central

More N.E.R. Atlantic depiction. Here, during July 1914 and the fading summer sunlight a Z Class Atlantic stands in the shade of Newcastle Central station after bringing in the 2:20 p.m. from London Kings Cross. This being a Saturday it is the last daytime express passenger train from London for Edinburgh. There will be no further daytime express passenger train out of Kings Cross for Scotland until 9:50 a.m. on Monday. The only option for travel to Scotland from London is by the overnight trains departing on Saturday and Sunday nights. Even during the summer, if a passenger wishes to get to Fort William or Mallaig on the West Coast of Scotland there is no overnight sleeping car train leaving London on Saturday or Sunday.



On Saturdays the East Coast 6-wheel Diagram 37 Luggage van is replaced by a Great Northern Gresley 61ft6in Corridor Brake Composite, which would be detached at Newcastle. Any passengers in the Brake Composite who wished to dine en-route would have to make their way through the 56ft 6in Corridor Brake Van separating it from the rest of the train. All brake vans running on the East Coast Main Line had specific instructions relating to each of them regarding the loading of baggage, mail and other packages. the N.E.R. Timetable for October 1912 to March 1913 has several pages on charges for carrying baggage, parcels, packets, bicycles, tricycles, sociables, scissor grinders, hand carts, perishable items and other items (such as Harps and Violoncellos, bass viols and drums!). It mentions "Children's mail Carts" and "Children's Folding Mail or Gamage Carts". I wonder, just what were "Gamage carts"?

The brake may well have been well loaded with baggage and other items. The Brake Composite will not linger long at Newcastle, heading south on an overnight Up train from Newcastle to London.





The fading summer sun can be a metaphor for the fading of the pre-war world. Few in Great Britain realised at this time that within the month they would be at war with the German and Austrian Empires. The Austrian ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated at Sarajevo on 28th June 1914 but in July the news regarding the deteriorating situation across europe still viewed the situation as "foreign stuff" and going on "far away" from home. By the time peacetime summer trains ran again, five years on during 1919, the world would have changed almost beyond recognition.
 
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1919 Screenshots in Contemporary Style

A small diversion for the bank Holiday weekend.
Two screenshots of a N.E.R. BTP Steam Autocar approaching Leamside station with the 7:45 a.m. express passenger service to Durham.
Both are in the best quality styles available to wealthy photography enthusiasts in 1919, the autochrome process and the platinum process.
Technically, anyone with a camera taking photgraphs not destined for commercial work was a relatively wealthy individual.
The equipment, the film and processing were all out of reach of most people.

The autochrome shot: An early means to produce colour shots pioneerd in 1904 by the Lumiere brothers.



The platinum process shot: Using platinum and contact between the paper and the negative to produce stable, long-lasting photographs.

 
Certainly interesting effects Frank. I suppose it should make us thankful for the pre-grouping era photos that we do have available to us.
 
Thanks Annie, of course we will now never know just how much has been lost to us over the years. I know from an enthusiast who happened to be visiting Darlington works during the early 1960s that they were throwing out piles of old documents and burning them. I think he was with a friend who had a small car and they rapidly filled it. After that, because they were out of room, everything just went up in smoke.
 
The GNR brake (composite? I can't quite see) shown in post #527 looks interesting.

Nice vintage shots in post #529!

Rob.
 
North Eastern Railway 1919 Cigarette Card Collection

Some vintage cigarette cards from 1919.......







Only kidding, just some autochrome style fixing of some screenshots.
 
Yes robd its a
GNR brake composite to D171, available in GNR, LNER early, LNER late and BR liveries from Paulz Trainz

 
A closer look at the 61ft 6in Diagram 171 GNR BCK of 1909





By 1935 in LNER days on the S Area GN Section, the four Diagram 171s were working the following through carriages:

Harrogate attached to the 10:10 a.m. London Kings Cross to Leeds
Saltburn attached to the 5:30 p.m. London Kings Cross to Newcastle
 
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