North East England - Steam Days Screenshots - Large Screenshots Possible

1926 ECML Birtley

To the south of Birtley in County Durham on the up slow ECML heading towards Ouston Junction.

1951 ECML: Bensham and Great Northern's Twilight Transit

North East England during the steam era. Thompson A1 Pacific "Great Northern" hauls an express freight on the ECML south of Gateshead in the morning twilight. Any inhabitants of the terraced houses who are not deep sleepers will be getting an early morning wake up call as the A1 opens the regulator to maintain speed up Bensham bank from Low Fell to King Edward Junction.

1959 ECML - V2 2-6-2 with Down Class 4 Express Freight

North East England during the steam era. A weathered Gresley V2 2-6-2, number 60941 of York shed on a down express goods climbs the bank towards bensham station the King Edward junction, where it will take the slow lines to cross over to Newcastle and the avoiding lines.




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1958 ECML Newcastle Central

BR Gresley Class V2 2-6-2 wends its way past Newcastle Central station with an express freight bound for Scotland, seen from the ramparts of the castle keep.

Nice shot in post #724 by borderreiver. Very atmospheric!

Rob.

Thanks Rob. Some artistic license with the signalling since colour light signalling reached Newcastle in 1959.
While L.N.E.R. upper quadrant signals had arrived at Newcastle relatively early on, in some places N.E.R. lower quadrant signals could be found still in situ several decades on from the grouping, even on the ECML. Ron Buckley's book on Steam in the North East shows N.E.R. lower quadrant signals at Alnmouth on the East Coast Main Line with Class A4 pacifics passing by in 1939.
The gantry on Durham viaduct with its wide set of miniature shunting arms seems to be lower quadrant in to B.R. days.

1920 East Yorkshire, the 8:36 a.m. Beverldy to Hull Steam Autocar service

North East England during the steam era. In a screenshot which is right out of the "truth is stranger than fiction" photo album, here is a depiction of a real life train, the N.E.R. 8:36 a.m. Steam Autocar departure from Beverley in East Yorkshire for Hull Paragon station. Set number 392, was a twin steam autocar set based at Hull Botanic Gardens and powered by a fifty year-old veteran 0-4-4T Fletcher BTP Class engine. It was required by the passenger carriage woring roster to attach set 393 at Beverley on weekdays upon arrival at 8:03 a.m. Set number 393, described in the roster as a "made up set" consisted of six bogie carriages. These were two 52ft Composites, two bogie ordinary brake thirds and two bogie ordinary Thirds. The Brake Thirds and Thirds were permitted to be of any available length to hand, which for the N.E.R. meant either a 49ft or 52ft long carriage, though some 45ft long bogie carriages were built to work on the Pickering to Whitby line, which between Pickering and Grosmont is now the site of the North Yorkshire Moors Heritage Railway.

The sixteen First Class and one hundred Third Class seats of the twin autocar were thus increased by forty-two First Class seats and around two hundred and twenty four Third Class seats. What is more, the First Class compartments of the Composite were the full length 7ft 3 inches provided by the company in ordinary stock and not the miserly 6ft 4 in length provided in the Driving Van Composites, reflecting the fact that they were converted from existing 52ft Van Thirds. The train was normally packed with passengers travelling to work in Hull, though with an arrival at Hull Paragon at 8:53 a.m. there was not much time available to reach the workplace by 9 a.m. However, the BTP engines in the twin steam autocar did successfully operate the service and did so for years. The RCTS describe Hull's steam autocars as being much heavier than normal and the set 392 & 393 combination meets that description completely. The BTPs as Class G6 were still doing it in 1926 but they were all gone from the L.N.E.R. N.E. Area by November 1929, with Guisborough being the last bastion of G6 steam autocar operation.




Set 393 was detached at Hull following arrival. It would work back to Beverley at 5:45 p.m during the evening peak, but not behind set 392. She would leave Hull at 6:20 p.m. for Brough with two carriages on the rear to increase accomodation. One being a 52ft bogie Composite and the other a bogie Third. it would keep these carriages on the 6:56 p.m. return working back to Hull, which would require the twin autocar set to run round the two strengthening carriages at Brough in order to place them at the rear of the train.

If you were a First Class passenger and needed to disembark promptly once stopped near Paragon's buffer stops then the front First Class compartment was a lot nearer the station exit than the other First Class compartments in either the trailing Driving Vasn Composite of set 392 or the set 393 composites. The trade-off for this "pole position" on arrival was the cramped seating in the Driving van Composite's First Class compartment. With a scheduled journey time of merely seventeen minutes it was probably a tolerable trade-off.

That coach in the front looks like it has eyes.

In a sense that is exactly what they are H. Circular portholes for the driving compartment. the driver standing behind the one on the left side of the carriage working the controls and looking forwards. The 1908 built diagram 162s had the same style of porthole. What is not clear from the drawings is whether or not the porthole/spectacle window could be swung open, as could be done with many N.E.R. locomotive cab windows of the same shape. There were no wipers to clear the glass in wet weather, of which there is plenty in north east England. So, choose between hardly being able to see out or a freezing cold wet face.

Truth is stranger than fiction indeed Frank. I would have never guessed that a push-pull set could be used in such a way.

The N.E.R.A. publication "L.N.E.R. N.E. Area Carriage Roster July 1926" contains the information and while I have had the document for quite a while had not read the roster for Hull's set number 392. There is no surviving carriage roster from the pre-grouping N.E.R. or rather none is known so far to have survived, so the N.E.R.A foreward to the document says it is the closest thing we have to indicate the way the N.E.R. operated its passenger carriages.

The N.E.R.A. document "Passenger Engine Working 1908" is a recent addition to my library and while browsing through it I noticed the term "Engine with Single Coach" or "Engine coupled to Single Coach". When I looked at my copy of Bradshaw's for April 1910 I verified that it is the N.E.R. term in 1908 working documents for a steam autocar. Why they use the term "Steam Autocar" in the public timetable but the terms "Engine with Single Coach" and "Engine with Coach at each end" in the passenger engine working document is unknown. Hull shed is the only site in 1908 to eschew the terms and elected to use "Steam Autocars" instead. In the long run their view prevailed, with "Autocar" and "Twin Autocar" the terms in use by the 1926 Carriage Roster eighteen years later. All I can say is it made researching easier when it came to determining which configuration was officially in use during 1908.

I use "officially in use" because the passenger engine working document and the carriage roster are intentions, minimum specifications if you prefer, as to what the operating department required. It is the year the eighteen diagram 162 elliptical roof Driving Van Composites were built, to add to the thirty-six diagram 116 clerestory roof Driving Van Composites already in use. Changes were obviously afoot for the steam autocars but they did not make it in to the Passenger Engine Working document for July 1st.

The N.E.R.A. document "Passenger Rolling Stock December 31st 1906" actually covers the period 1882 through 1912. In the build reports for 1906 the eighteen diagram 162s are listed but the carriage stock register for December 31st shows forty-four driving van composites on the company stock for December 31st 1907, increasing to fifty-four for June 30th 1908. Evidently somebody required them on company stock at the end of 1907 even though they were officially on the build list as being turned out of shops during 1908. I have already determined that one diagram 116 Driving Van Composite, number 3442 did not find its way on to the build list reports for either 1905 ot 1906 but the listing of carriages in numerical order shows her to be a 1906 diagram 116. What prompted me to look was a build list total of thirty-five but a carriage return at December 1906 of thirty-six Driving van Composites.

Until looking deeper I had not also realised that the first Diagram 116 was converted during 1899, six years earlier than I had previously thought they appeared. The R.C.T.S state that Class G6 (the L.N.E.R. designation for the N.E.R. BTP Class) were autofitted from 1905, but the build lists indicate that one diagram 116 DVC was built in 1899, a further one in 1902, two during 1903 and three during 1904. There was certainly at least one locomotive auto fitted between 1899 and 1902, for testing purposes at least and given many BTPs were redundant by 1899 (fifty were rebuilt to 290 Class 0-6-0T between 1899 and 1908) it seems logical to me that a BTP was the choice for fitting the auto train equipment. With seven diagram 116s on company stock by the end of 1904 I contend that it is likely that there were seven BTP 0-4-4Ts carrying auto train equipment by the same date, though perhaps not officially branded as "Steam Autocars" in public timetables.

Very interesting and informative Frank as it paints in a bit more background to the use of autocoaches. Thanks for that.

Thanks Annie. Another surprise is the lack of six-wheel trailers to act as stengthening carriages in the 1926 roster. I have seen a single shot of a BTP, a single diagram 116 Driving van Composite and a six-wheel carriage trailing the loco. I can't for the life of me find it at the moment to find out if there is also the statement that a six wheeler was the default strengthening option. It certainly appears NOT to be the case in the 1926 roster. Strengtheners then all seem to be bogie carriages.

I thought I'd have a go at the screenshot accompanied by a bit of history format that BorderReiver does so well.

The date is 18th December 1942 and Southern Railway King Arthur number 742 Camelot is seen crossing the Royal Border Bridge in Berwick upon Tweed with the 10 am Edinburgh to Kings Cross. What, you might ask, is a Southern locomotive doing in the North East, and why is it on such an important train?

The answer is, that during the war, the LNER was short of locomotives and requested the loan of 10 4-6-0s from the Southern. They were initially offered Lord Nelsons, but rejected them as it was felt the 4 cylinders would make them a maintenance burden. Instead, after pressure from the government, the Southern sent a group of King Arthur locomotives, from the original LSWR built batch. These locos were based at Heaton, Newcastle from late 1942 until July 1943 when the arrival of USA S160 2-8-0s allowed them to return home. They were mainly employed on goods work, sharing diagrams with B16s and K3s but occasionally saw passenger work too. It is said that the LNER crews liked the King Arthurs, especially the Scottish crews who approved of their Drummond style cabs which were similar to the North British cabs they were used to. Supposedly the King Arthurs were kept noticeably cleaner than other locomotives borrowed from the LMS and GWR.

On the day in question 742 had been working a freight train through Berwick when it was called upon to replace a failed A3 on the southbound passenger working and took over the train as far as Newcastle.

Thanks for the input ed! Yes, I recall reading about the King Arthurs sojurn in exile "oop north" but I did not know the scottish crews liked them for their Drummond cabs. That is a tad cheeky on their part since the Scottish crews on the Border Counties Railway were known to complain about the draughty cabs on their NBR locos! Another little know "foreigner" in northern parts was a GWR diesel railcar, captured in a photograph at Blackhill station during 1944. In modern times there is another southern bird nesting far from home territory, the NYMR S15 number 825 (BR number 30835), a product of Eastleigh in April 1927. According to the NYMR site numbers 830 and 841 "Greene King" are stored at Grosmont, with both being used as parts donors for 825.

Good stuff here also!

Rob.

ECML 1926 - Summer Saturday at Durham

North East England during the steam era. It is the summer of 1926 at Durham. A Raven 3 cylinder Class C7 4-4-2 Atlantic stands at Durham station with the 4.55 pm Newcastle to Liverpool Lime Street express passenger train. It is due to depart at 5.17 pm. This service was formerly the joint L.&Y.R.-N.E.R. service between Newcastle Central and Liverpool Exchange and is now a joint L.M.S.R-L.N.E.R. service. Today's train is using the L.N.E.R. set made up of former N.E.R. corridor stock.

ECML - Summer days at Durham 1926

Northeast England during the steam era. 4.50 pm Saturday 10th July 1926 at Durham.




From left to right, the rear of the 2.42 pm from York to Newcastle just visible at the edge of Durham South signal box, the 4.5 pm steam autocar from Sunderland to Durham and the 5.30 pm for Blackhill via Lanchester. Unseen is the Class D20 4-4-0 hauling the 2.42 pm but the Class G6 0-4-4T is visible in the steam autocar and the former N.E.R. 1440 Class 2-4-0 is in the bay at the head of the 5.30 pm for Blackhill. A 6w van is in the up carriage dock.

The Diagram 7 Locker Composite

The 52ft Luggage Composite with 3 x 1st Class and 4 x 3rd Class compartments, code XCG or XCGV in the carriage roster, was built from 1896 to 1906. 138 examples in total, with only 1904 seeing none produced.





As the 52ft type they were built for long distance passenger trains, particularly express passenger trains between Newcastle and Liverpool. 3rd Class and 1st Class compartments offered more legroom than the 49ft type of carriage. The luggage compartment was convenient for keeping baggage close by on long distance trains. The archives & old police photographs show that the theft of luggage was a real risk at larger, busier stations, with even an army captain being convicted of the offence at Edinburgh Waverley.

However, the 1908 arrival of vestibuled stock with corridor connections meant the previous generation of carriages lacking corridor connectors were cascaded to lesser services. In 1926 the 52ft carriages form the core of the 19 rakes designated as "main line sets" in the carriage roster. However, no Diagram 7 XCG and XCGV found homes in those 19, all of which covered long distance journeys over their roster period of 19 weeks. The lavatory in the Diagram 5 XCL (4-3) was a better choice when paired with an XT and 2 diagram 18 XB (3) offering a large van capacity at each end of the main line set.

I have been looking for the XCG (3-4) in the roster.

In what was the former N.E.R. Northern Division I found 45 XCG (3-4) at work in 1926.

Tweedmouth - 2 XCG with sets 22 and 23, the Berwick and St Boswell's sets having one each.
Carlisle, Hexham and Newcastle - 10 XCG were assigned to the ten Newcastle, Carlisle and Blackhill sets, numbers 55 through 65.
Newcastle and Riccarton - 2 XCG in set 68 as well as a further two in set 68a. These sets are the Newcastle and Riccarton sets and are not prefixed as NB XCG to indicate "foreign stock". The 2 XB(3) in each set similarly are not listed as NB XB(3).
newcastle - 1 in set 71, a made up set working one daily return trip between Newcastle and Morpeth during the early morning, which is hardly a long distance trip. Perhaps the locker was used for newspapers, though the set also ran with the almost ubiquitous Diagram 18 XB(3), providing quite an amount of van space.
Blyth, Morpeth and Newbiggen - one each in the three sets 81, 82 and 83.

Darlington - The 6 Saltburn to Darlington sets, numbers 141 through 146, with one XCG in each 6 carriage set, along with 2 diagram XB(3), a diagram 5 XCL(4-3) and 2 XT, which could be one of any number of different diagrams, though the 167 diagram 14s were their closest contemporary. By 1926 the diagram 127 was also quite numerous with 87 built.
Darlington - The 5 four-carriage Darlington Link A sets, which again, like the Saltburn sets each have an XCG. This time the sets have a pair of XB(4), probably diagram 76 XB(4), one at each end, so rather less van space that the Saltburns, though they did roam further, as far as Kirkby Stephen, Tebay and Penrith. This duty is the closest long distance work they had compared to their halcyon days, though at a more sedate pace.
Darlington - The 8 Darlington Link C sets, numbers 168 though 175 each have one, while the brakes were two XB(5), probably diagram 77 XB(5), offering even less space than the Link As. The Link Cs operated across southern County Durham and to Richmond in North Yorkshire, though one did work up to Newcastle while another worked at least once a day to Battersby on the line to Whitby.
Shildon -1, Shildon relief set, number 180. which roamed between Crook, Bishop Auckland and Sunderland on Saturdays only.

Hartlepool - 6 XCG. 1 in set 215, 1 in 216 with another 2in set 225. Number 215 is the Hartlepool relief set, while 216 and 225 are made up sets. Set 215 kept close to Hartlepool on Monday to Fridays but spread its wings on Saturdays, going as far as Newcastle. 216 was only scheduled to work on Saturdays, with a trip to WIngate and two out to Ferryhill. Set 225 only worked on Fridays with one evening trip to Harrogate, returning empty. It had 2 XTs and 2 XB(5) in the six-carriage set. The remaining 2 XCGs found themselves in sets 217 and 218, which were both described as West Hartlepool and Darlington portions. They were paired with an XB(5) and were both attached to four different sets daily. They were as described, working between West Hartlepool and Darlington, though one trip was only as far as Eaglescliffe. In effect full time strengthening carriages with dedicated routing.

Middlesbrough district - 2 XCG. Assigned as strengtheners. 1 at Middlesbrough with two WT on hand to strengthen set number 193 at 12.50 pm on Saturdays for the remainder of the day. Ended up at Guisborough at 11.32 pm. 1 at Saltburn on hand daily to attach to set 175 at 8.26 am, coming off at Middlesbrough at 9.57 am. Technically, this makes it available to attach to set 193 on Saturdays but there is no explicit means mentioned in the carriage roster as to how it got from Guisborough at 11.32 pm Saturday to Saltburn before 8.26 am. There are two candidates. The Monday 5.14 am steam autocar set 193 to Middlesbrough, with another train taking it onwards to Saltburn, or the more direct 6.47 am departure of set 193 from Guisborough to Saltburn, arriving 7.51 am. Neither attachment is officially recorded in the carriage roster, so for now I will treat the Saltburn XCG as a separate carriage. Makes it 45 at work in the former northern division.

In what was the former N.E.R. Southern Division I found 12 at work in 1926.

Scarborough - 2.
Set 244, the Scarborough and Hull set there was a single XCG. Despite its name, it went from Hull to York on one round trip daily. A Club Saloon was attached for the 8.25 am Scarborough to Hull and 5.8 pm return.
Set 274, the No.2 Scarborough and Pickering set has a single XCG(3-4), working with two XB(5).

York - 2.
Set 247 is the first mention of an XCGV, the York and Doncaster set, paired with an XBV(5). Three round trips daily. Any diagram 7 XCG which worked in the Liverpool sets would have been an XCGV but no numbers exist for how many were so fitted. At least one in 1926.
Set 289, made up set. Unusually, it has just two XT for company, no XB, XC or XF. Mondays only operated to Normanton, departure 1.40 am, returning 8.58 am attached to set 230. The 1.40 am was set 8 MX, a main line set.

Harrogate - 3.
Set 314, the Harrogate and Bradford set was home to one more XCG and in the rare company of an XFL and two XB(6). Only four diagram 86 XFL were built. The XB(6) were possibly either the single diagram 128, number 1046 of 1907 or one of only eight diagram 144s built in 1908. The XCG, itself a relatively specialist carriage was the most common bird in this flock! Set 314 also worked with two club saloons, a First and a Third, from Harrogate to Bradford during the morning, returning on the evening, though Saturdays saw them return on the 12.6 pm.
Set 330, the Harrogate and Ilkley set. This four-carriage set was quite upmarket, with 53 First Class seats, but not as much as set 314, working with a diagram 5 XCL(4-3) and two diagram 77 XB(5).
Set 331, the Harrogate and York set. Working with two diagram 77 XB(5). A one-way Harrogate to York journey during the morning but the evening was more complex. York to Wetherby via Harrogate, return to Harrogate and then one more evening round trip between Harrogate and Wetherby, with two on Saturday evenings. The 11.0 pm Saturday departure from Harrogate would have been popular after an evening out at the theatre, cinema or dance hall.

Leeds - 1.
Set 337, the Leeds and Thorpe Arch set. Working with an XB(6) on one round trip Saturdays excepted.

Hull - 4.
Set 350 to 353, the Hull Link A sets. Five carriage sets with diagram 7 XCG(3-4), diagram 5 XCL(4-3), one XT and two diagram 18 XB(3).

The whole N.E. Area had use for 57 XCG (3-4) carriages on scheduled rosters. This leaves 81 unaccounted for.
The carriage returns between 1906 and 1912 cover 52ft diagrams 7, 78, 107 and 123 of the XCG type.
The two XCG (3-4) to Diagram 78 had chairs in either one First Class compartment (No. 1039) or two First Class compartments (No. 3058).
Diagram 107 was a single carriage, No. 2761, XCG (1-5), produced in 1899 by the simple expedient in the shops of downgrading two First Class compartments of a newbuild Diagram 7 XCG (3-4) and refitting with Third Class seating.
The Diagram 123 was an elliptical roof version of XCG (3-4).
These came to 142 carriages between 1910 and 1912.
There is no way to distinguish between Diagram 7, 78 and 123 XCG (3-4)s in the carriage roster.
If I have to speculate, I'd say that the Diagram 78s were at Harrogate.

Some XCG might have been held in sidings as spares or strengtheners (one explicitly so at Middlesbrough with a likely second one at Saltburn). Perhaps an XCG could stand in for an XC or WC as a strengthener. In my opinion there may have been significant numbers of redundant XCGs in the sidings for use as excursion carriages. the N.E.R. built carriages expressly for excursion traffic but these were not sufficient to cater for the traffic.

King Arthur Roaming in Northumberland

Following edh6's post on some SR N15 King Arthur 4-6-0s being assigned to the north east in 1942 during WWII here is an N15 heading north in Northumberland on the East Coast Main Line with a freight train bound for Scotland.




Passing Chevington station.