‘Railways and Me – Full Circle’, by John Dyer, 3rd January 2023

For our January meeting we resumed with a Zoom to let people stay in the warmth of their homes and welcomed GWSR Volunteer John Dyer presenting ‘Railways and me – Full Circle’

John was born on the Wirral, and we started with many local scenes, firstly with a 6-car EMU with wooden bodies and verandas at the end of each car except where the driver’s cab was and these lasted until 1956. Some lovely shots along the length of ‘The Dockers Umbrella’ which was the Liverpool Overhead Railway with the stock of the line, Sentinel lorries, small tank engines etc. The MD&HB locos all had bells on which clanged when they were crossing the roads around the dock areas on both sides of the Mersey. A Jinty was seen at Bidston along with 9Fs on Shed [6F]. At Birkenhead there were 0-4-0 Dock tanks along with 0-6-0 No. 4. Most unusually, a WD 2-10-0 ‘Austerity’ No. 90763 was photographed during a short allocation here, these were usually only seen in Scotland.

A great shot at Crewe  in 1958 of the prototype Deltic where also were Works Shunters W7 and 9. 46119 “LANCASHIRE FUSILIER” was at Edge Hill,  and several types were seen at Wrexham and Croes Newydd Depot, with a Dukedog 4-4-0 + 2251 0-6-0 at Ruabon and many types were then seen at Chester, Shrewsbury and New Brighton and a solitary shot of 41231 at Seacombe terminus just before closure in 1960. 82031 was at Neston with 4683 at  Wallasey Grove Road before a family holiday in Wales with visits to the Talyllyn Railway in 1958 and The V of R in 1961.

John and his friend did a Summer Holiday cycling trip in 1960 staying at Youth Hostels and cycling up to 100 miles a day visiting stations, depots etc. on the way. Starting from Wallasey it was over the Pennines to York then Newcastle, Edinburgh, Perth, Dunblane, Glasgow, Carlisle, Oxenholme and back home and amongst the photos were a Y9 68095, a Patriot, V2, Q6, J72, J39, V1, “HYPERION”, “NORTHUMBERLAND” and A4 “MERLIN” were at Waverley, “LOCH RANNOCH”, 55208 and 57252 at Perth, a Duchess and a Clan at Glasgow Central a variety of stock at St. Enoch, a few at Carlisle and “CITY OF LIVERPOOL” at Oxenholme finishing at Gorton Shed before the final few miles home.

After the break he went on a similar tour in Summer 1961 but this time on his own. His journey this time was from Wallasey down to Swansea, Cardiff, Bath, Swindon, London, Brighton, Winchester, Southampton, Bournemouth, Axminster, Exeter, Wadebridge, Marlborough and Wallasey. The highlights this time were “EARL OF PLYMOUTH”, 2876, “KING WILLIAM 1” 7221, “BIGGIN HILL”, 7Fs at Green Park, The Blue Pullman, “HEREFORD CASTLE”, “MAINDEE HALL”, “46 SQUADRON”, a USA Tank at Southampton Docks, a T9, a Beattie 2-4-0 Well Tank and O2 30199 at Wadebridge, G16 30484, 30583 at Lyme Regis and Axminster, “LORD NELSON”, “SHREWSBURY”, LMR 600 “GORDON” at Eastleigh, a pair of Ivatts, and he snapped a Maunsell N Class at Marlborough not long before closure. He also did the depots at Bricklayers Arms and Nine Elms. For both these tours he had permits to go around the depots and even picked up local trainspotters to take around with him!!

A visit to the continent during 1958 saw shots of SNCF 4-6-2 near Paris, some RENFE in the form of 2-8-2 141F at Barcelona, a 4-8-4, DMU and electric locos.

Back home saw 26010 at Sheffield Victoria, a B1 61122 and others, a Director, 62667 “SOMME”, “RUDYARD KIPLING” and 46206 at Preston. “CITY of STOKE-on-TRENT” was spied at Chester, and a visit to Gorton Works was fitted in on the way to Wakefield for an A4 and “SIR NIGEL GRESLEY” at Doncaster 10201/2/3 were seen at Euston and Derby Works. A lovely Aspinall 2F was at Horwich, whilst having an overhaul at Oswestry Works was W&LLR 822 “EARL”. A Fairburn tank was at Wigan NW, a Crab at Manchester Victoria, and quite a few locos while shed bashing at Oxley Roundhouse, Oswestry, Aintree, Machynlleth and Kings Cross.

Early electric locos were at Rugby, along with Diesel DP2, “BUTLER HENDERSON” at Gorton Works, 45641 at Derby, and at Wigan a Britannia was pulling a line of scrap locos.

In his RAF days, time was spent in Scotland where we were treated to CR 123, Jones Goods, “GLEN DOUGLAS”, J38 65901, and 54398 “BEN ALDER”. When he was posted abroad we saw a Sabah State Railway at Jesselton in December 1964. Next was Malayan Railways 4-6-2 564.28, 20108 Diesel loco along with a couple more 564s. An OBB loco was leaving Charlottenburg.

John was a Guard on the GWSR until recently and  is still a Booking Office Clerk and the last shots were taken at the railway, where we saw 9F “BLACK PRINCE” with David Sheppard driving, “KGV”, “RAVENINGHAM HALL”, “GREEN ARROW”, “BRADLEY MANOR”, “CITY OF TRURO” and “WADEBRIDGE” with a great shot of ex GWR 0-4-0ST 1144 on the track in Gotherington Station Yard.

We had over 100 register for this show with 85 actually tuning in on the night and the feedback was very positive for this show. John had not presented before, and l rather bullied him into doing it and so glad l did!

Rob Davidson, Branch Secretary