‘That Was the Year That Was – 1971, by Geoff Plumb, 4th July 2023

4^th July Meeting 2023

For our July meeting, which is the last one of ‘the season’, we welcomed Branch Chairman Geoff Plumb for his regular annual slot for his series of ‘THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS’ and this time was the turn of 1971. January saw Geoff visiting the NYMR for some volunteering with the P. Way gang, before heading south to the site of Kirkham Abbey Station [closed 1930] where we saw the Signal Box and station house. Some Yorkshire collieries followed, Peckfield near Micklefield Station, with D1875 [later 57001], an 0-6-0ST Hunslet  Austerity converted to Gas Producer and other side tank 0-6-0Ts. Over to Water Haigh Colliery near Woodlesford with 0-6-0T ‘Whit No.4’, then Primrose Hill Colliery for another 0-6-0ST ‘ASTLEY’.  And Wheldale Colliery, Castleford was next with 0-6-0ST ‘FRANK’ No. S.115.

In February we popped over to Germany (during the decimalisation of the currency in the UK)  where Class 01¹⁰ Pacifics were seen at Rheine along with 2-8-2s, 2-6-2s, 2-10-0s and DMUs, also shunters and V200 diesel-hydraulics.

Back in England we had a long shot looking Up at the site of the disused Finchley Road Station from West Hampstead on the MML where the coal yard on the RHS was still working, this is now a big Sainsburys! We then went South of the Thames [obviously wasn’t night time] to Wimbledon Station with views of ‘A’ signal box which is listed and still in situ along with Classes 33, 73, 74 and a Warship No. 814. We then moved along to Merton Park Station, a station on the Wimbledon to West Croydon line now a stop on the Croydon Tramlink, and also a junction for the line to Tooting and a goods service to Merton Abbey which lasted to the early 1970s; here we saw Cl.73 E6024 coming off the branch from the Abbey.

We are now back to Germany and saw action at Köln, Wuppertal for the monorail ‘Dangelbahn’, with a trolleybus beneath along the street section, then we popped along to the steam shed at Vohwinkel. Returning to Köln we saw a blue 110 electric, a red/cream 112 and ET204 A & B on the Köln - Bonner Eisenbahnen. At Bonn we saw another 112 and ET57 A & B of the KBE. Over to Koblenz with an old Class 141 amongst others. Next stop was Bullay Bridge on the Koblenz-Trier line. The double-deck bridge, which carries the railway from the station to the Prinzenkopftunnel is a nationally known work of railway construction. We saw many classes crossing this bridge including Kleinlok, 605 DMU, 216 diesel, 001 Pacific, 023 2-6-2, 044 and 050 2-10-0s. Moving along to Horb was a selection of Prussian P8s and 2-10-0s plus V200s. At Crailsheim Classes 023, 050, and 003 Pacifics were in evidence, and an 023 was also at Aalen. More 001s on the famous ‘Schiefe Ebene’, 5 miles at 1 in 40, on the line from Bamberg to Hof. At Aschaffenburg was an electric 144, 2-10-0 052, and 065 2-8-4Ts . An 086 2-8-2T and an 094 0-10-0T were seen on the lines around Mayen Ost. An 082 0-10-0T was driven out of the shed at Koblenz for the photographer and the last stop in Germany was at Hohenbudberg shed (Krefeld),  where the last G8 055 0-8-0s were based.

Back to Blighty saw Class 37 6931 on the RCTS ‘Heart of Wales Railtour’ with shots of Llandrindod Wells and Llandovery Signal Boxes. The tour continued to Dai Woodham’s Barry Scrapyard where small Prairie 5572, 34016 ‘BODMIN’ and 45690 ‘LEANDER’ were all seen in a sorry state but are all now in Preservation. On the day of ‘The Last Steam Train on the Underground’ L94 was at Farringdon, L90 at Neasden Depot along with ESL118, a former T Stock pair of carriages used as an Electric Sleet Locomotive and Met. Electric Locomotive No. 12 ‘SARAH SIDDONS’. Later that day at the Leighton Buzzard NGR we saw ’PIXIE’ at Pages Park and along the line. Then, over in Llandudno we visit the Great Orme Railway spotting cars 6 and 7 on the top section and 4 and 5 on the bottom section. Moving along to Blaenau Ffestiniog we see the old BR and FR stations and rather unusually it was sunny! Ffestiniog Railway No. 10 ‘EARL OF MERIONETH’ was seen and ex-Penrhyn Railway ‘LINDA’ around Tan-y-Bwlch, over on the Talyllyn Railway was ex-Corris Railway No. 4 ‘EDWARD THOMAS’ and No. 3 ‘SIR HAYDN’. Nos. 9 ‘PRINCE OF WALES’, 8 ‘LLYWELYN’ and 7 ‘OWAIN GLYNDŴR’  were all in action on the Vale of Rheidol Railway. On the way home 45110 was on the Severn Valley Railway. Down to the South East coast and at the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway Nos. 3 ‘SOUTHERN MAID’, 7 ‘TYPHOON’, 1 ‘GREEN GODDESS’ and 8 ‘HURRICANE’ were all in steam around New Romney. Up to Norfolk and a visit to Bressingham, the wonderful invention of owner Alan Bloom back in 1961 where there are four railways on site and 70013 ‘OLIVER CROMWELL’ was in residence. Fancying a clotted cream tea he headed off to the Seaton Tramway, a 2’ 9” gauge line which nowadays runs from Seaton through Colyford to terminate at Colyton. Both these stops were formally stations on the Seaton Junction to Seaton Branch. At the time of Geoff’s visit they were working on batteries as the overhead wires were not in place, Up to New Holland Pier where we saw LNER paddle steamers PS ‘LINCOLN CASTLE’ and PS ‘WINGFIELD CASTLE’ were plying their trade between here and Hull, a departing DMU was also seen..

Back to Germany, this time the East, where an 01⁵ Pacific was at Hamburg with a cross-border express, and on the ‘Molli-bahn’, a 900mm gauge line, was Class 99 2322-8 2-8-2T. Rostock Shed housed an 03, 44s and 35s, then heading south we saw another 35 2-6-2 and 52s at Berlin Schöneweide. At Zittau was another 750mm gauge system as well as a Czech Railway 2-10-0 Class 556. Over to Dresden and several of the 750mm gauge lines were visited where a variety of the Class 99 locomotives were going about their business, including articulated Saxon Meyer 0-4-4-0Ts.  Near Dresden was an E04 electric loco and a dumped Class 18⁰ Saxon Pacific. At Aue Depot was a Prussian Class 58 2-10-0, and a Saxon 94 0-10-0T with 02 and 03 Pacifics at Halle Depot.

We finished the evening with shots of 6000 ‘KGV’ near Sonning and Didcot, also at Swindon, with the ‘Return to Steam’ special.

This was just some of Geoff’s 1971 photos on the evening, he showed 300 in all, but this was a good taster.

Sadly, only 22 turned up, although the weather was awful and had been heavy rain for most of the day.

Rob Davidson, Branch Secretary