Hi Guys, Here in Scotland we lost our mainline steam in the mid/late 60s. However small steam engines remained working in coal mines and industrial premises till about 1981. Today a few preservation railways in Scotland run steam trains during the summer months and some winter working too. Probably the most scenically beautiful steam workings are the summertime trains on the West Highland line between Fort William and Mallaig. The railway scenes for the recent "Harry Potter" films were filmed on this line. www.westcoastrailway.co.uk www.road-to-the-isles.org If any of you like golf ,have a look at the "Traigh" golf course link.Check the photo album, One beautifull golf course guys! Davy
Davy, thank you for two very nice sites. I especially like the steamer audio on the "West Coast Railway". I have never been anywhere next to UK Steam under fire, so I have no reference. However, the audio makes UK steam sound so much more elegant and ladylike than US steam that I can't imagine it lugging 5,000 Tonnes up a 1.5% grade around a series of 10 degree curves. Without meaning any disrespect, the audio makes me visualize a UK steamer at an afternoon tea delicately sipping a cup of Lapsang-Suchong, while I visualize US steam as a Big Boy pounding up Sherman Hill at 40 per after swilling a Mug o'Mud that has been simmering on a coal stove since late last evening .... UGH! Sorry, but my imagination just gets carried away sometimes. P.S. Welcome to the TrainBoard! Most of us are just a bunch of Rail Freaks, and love every minute of it. [ 06. August 2002, 01:06: Message edited by: Hank Coolidge ]
Hi Hank, British steam locos and trains run on the same standard gauge track as those in the states but are all-round much smaller in height and width than the American and mainland European counterparts. Seemingly this small loading gauge was originally down to the British landed gentry back in the early days of trains not wanting their landscapes to be destroyed by large ugly trains. so they forced as small a loading gauge as possible on the railway companies. Where American steam locos will stand about 15 to 16 ft tall, British stuff stands about 13ft. Within those constrictions the British built some extremely efficient ,powerfull and fast locomotives the equal pound for pound of bigger overseas engines,but nothing to compare in size with Big Boys ,Challengers etc., etc.,. British engines generally were probably the most elegant and clean lined uncluttered engines in the world. But I like steam engines in all shapes and sizes ,from Thomas the Tank to the BIG BOY. I love them all! All the best DAVY
Hi there Davy, welcome to Trainboard from another of the UK contingent I've been out this evening photographing our summer steam train, the Dawlish Donkey.
Hi Davey, welcome aboard. I have some photos of steam in Scotland, taken in the sixties, and will post some here shortly.
Davy, I'll reply to your email properly this evening, but thanks & the pics looked great, I have to admit to being an diesel & electric fan mainly myself, but I like steam, particularly regularly working steam...there is a great atmosphere with it. Last night I really enjoyed listening to the BR standard pulling away from it's signal check at Dawlish Warren and making it's station stop, and then accelarating away up the valley, you could hear it for several minutes... Alan, looking forward to your pics
Hi guys, Alan ,checked out your website, My God , I would kill for Gauge 1 models like that! Superb. I am so.......jealous!! Seriously Alan you are one hell of a modeller. We need the likes of you to give US 1/29th scale steam a kick up the backside.1/29th is crying out for more steam models. Martyn ,glad you enjoyed the pics. Look forward to hearing from you later All the best DAVY
A few pics from 1959. 56239 shunting at Polmadie shed, Glasgow D34 4-4-0 62496 Glen Loy, at Eastfield shed, Glasgow J36 0-6-0 65222 Somme at Polmont shed
.......and 1960 ex-North British J37 0-6-0 64583 runs through Edinburgh Princes Street Gardens A4 60027 Merlin shortly after arriving with the "Elizabethan" non-stop from London King's Cross, runs through Princes Street gardens to Haymarket shed for servicing and a well-earned rest another A4 60009 Union of South Africa, sits at Haymaket shed, Edinburgh, awaiting it's call to head south with another express
Hi Guys , Alan you just took me down memory lane ,right back to my childhood and early youth.I remember all these locos well. Eastfield steam shed was demoished and replaced with a modern diesel shed. Sadly it is now demolished too. Eastfield is no more. The only serious shed left in Scotland is Motherwell, a few miles from where I live. This is EWS's main diesel depot in Scotland. Cleaned upwith a modern roof etc ,the old stone steam shed happily still survives. Thanks for posting the pics Alan,and sounds like you made Babs a happy lady too! Cheers DAVY
Great photos Alan!!! Why do the shunting engines have interior cylinders, whereas the road engines, at least the A4's, have external cylinders? I don't remember hearing of any US engines having only internal cylinders. Many US Classes had an internal cylinder in addition to their main external cylinders.
