#railway preservation

[weirdowithaquill]

Traintober 2023: Day 1 - Free Day

Preservation on Sodor:

Sodor must be one of the most interesting places to look at when it comes to railway preservation, if not also road, sea and air preservation. For starters, the island’s railways are all still primarily run by vintage steam traction – but there’s also Harold, who is in his 60s or 70s at this point, Bertie the bus (who is nearing 100), Trevor and Terrence and George – not to mention the fact that the island seems to continue to have antique ships within its waters, including steam ships and fishing trawlers.

But of course, I want to focus on the railways – and in particular how Sodor must be the British hub for heritage railways, museums and other attractions. For starters, Sodor has by far the largest heritage railway system in the world for its size, with over 80 miles of mainline, several branchlines, a narrow-gauge railway, a mountain railway and a miniature gauge railway. It also has a massive fleet of engines – 80 by the Reverend’s count on the NWR alone – making it possibly the single largest working heritage railway in the UK, if not Europe. This would instantly attract many preservationists wishing to run their locomotives, meaning that mainline excursions and visitors would be a frequent sight on the island. This in turn would bring in tourists, who would make money for the NWR and the railway the engines belong to, as well as helping the Fat Controller if one of his enignes is unable to work. It would also give us as railfans the chance to see unique motive power on a variety of trains - like a Coronation Class pulling a slow goods, or a Hughes Crab on a China Clay train - things we don't get to see anymore. 

Furthermore, Sodor is home to Crovan’s Gate Works, the largest steamworks of its kind in Britain. For its influence, I am going to turn to 60163 Tornado. When Tornado was built, her boiler had to be manufactured in Germany because there was just no one in the UK able to produce a boiler of the type, while the superheater header needed to be attempted by three foundries before it was assembled correctly. Crovan’s Gate Works, which is able to maintain a full fleet of engines including Gordon – who is also an A1 with many similarities – would have been able to do both in a far timelier manner. The same would go for all locomotive repair programs in the UK. Crovan’s Gate would either host locomotives or manufacture parts for them, becoming a hub for preservation across the country. Engines like Stepney or Green Arrow would be able to be overhauled at the Works, rather than be taken out of service. This would effect how many steam engines are in working order in Britain, if not Europe, as the refurbishment time would be significantly shortened - something that is compounded if said locomotive shares any components with a Sodor engine - like Talyllyn, Dolgoch, Flying Scotsman or any of the Black 5s, Panniers or Autotanks in preservation. 

This brings me on to the last point: International Tourism. Sodor must be one of the most visited locations in Britain in this universe. For starters, there’s all the fans of the book and TV series (which are both canon and referenced in the books). This means that Sodor would have tens of thousands of families coming to the island from around the world annually to see the ‘Eight Famous Engines’ or the ‘Steam Team’, bringing in a massive amount of revenue for hotels, local businesses and the railways themselves. But there would also be the railfans who come with the aforementioned railtours, as well as international railfans who want to see steam in action in a mainline setting – something nearly impossible anywhere on the planet. Sodor has at least one airport (and probably two, considering in real life there is an airport on Walney Island near the real-life Vickerstown), six ports connected to the NWR, and a rail and road link to the UK. The island has the infrastructure to handle the flocks of tourists, and this would in turn benefit much of the rest of Northern England. This would majorly benefit the preservation world by bringing in funding for Sodor, which is in turn able to fund things like track upgrades, or overhauls for engines beyond their own railway. It also gives other railways a good place to promote themselves, as Sodor has a guaranteed market for tourists who may travel to these other railways. 

You cannot understate how much these books have done for Sodor, and for railway preservation as a whole.

So, Sodor is at the very least a centre for preservation in the UK, with railtours, overhauls and masses of international tourists – but it’s also where a lot of engines were likely rescued from. We see it in Oliver and Douglas, but engines know of Sodor and its safety. I can imagine an alternate universe in which engines keep turning up throughout the 1960s, being brought to safety on Sodor and then sold to heritage railways, being overhauled at Crovan’s Gate before moving to their new homes. Sodor would act as an intermediate in this era, being able to do the paperwork to preserve engines due to its position in the national network while also being aligned with the cause of the heritage railways. Sodor is a safe haven for steam, and this would have a significant impact on its position as a preservation hub for the UK.

Back to the Master Post

[mrtheengie]

Do you ever get lost on your way to McDonald’s and end up in West Yorkshire?

[trainmaniac]

J17 BR 65567 at Doncaster Works being cosmetically restored for preservation in the National Collection 04-06-1963 by Paul Kearley Via Flickr: The photographer is unknown. A digitally restored image from an original negative in my collection.

[lomotunes2008]

Here's a list of engines that nearly got saved, but got scrapped anyway :(

1. Ben Alder

Ben Alder was built in July 1898 by the Highland Railway of Scotland. It worked uneventfully for many years, before being withdrawn in 1953. It was meant to be restored, along with several other vintage Scottish engines, but these plans fell through. It was moved around various depots and yards before being scrapped in the late 1960s.

2. Prince Palatine & Salmon Trout

Prince Palatine and Salmon Trout were both members of the LNER A3 class (the same class as Flying Scotsman). They both worked until roughly 1966, 3 years after Flying Scotsman was preserved, but were sadly scrapped in a quiet corner of St. Margarets in Edinburgh.

3. Miles Beevor

Miles Beevor was one of the last A4's in service, but was once again scrapped before anyone could save it. What's worse is that it was once stored alongside Duke of Gloucester (a prototype engine that did end up being saved) but still wasn't bought by anyone.

4. Black 5 44781

44781 was one of the last steam engines on BR. It helped to pull the last train powered by a steam engine on BR metals. Did it get saved because of this? No. It was sold to a movie company who used it in a crash scene for some kind of action film. It was scrapped soon afterwards.

5. Basically every Scottish engine

Scotland has next to no old engines preserved. Most of our engines were scrapped very quickly and only a very, very small number of them were preserved before being pulled apart. There are hundreds, literally hundreds of engine classes from Scottish railways that no longer exist in any form other than photos and memories. There are 3 Caledonian engines, 2 NBR engines, 1 GNoSR engine, and 1 HR engine. All of the railways that these engines came from once had hundreds of engines of all different shapes and sizes, each with a unique purpose, each with a unique story. Almost all of them have long since been lost to time.

Sorry for that little vent lol. ANYWAYS that's the end of this post. Idk how I should end this so... Bye!

[aneverydaything]

Day 1849, 16 July 2023

[richwall101]

Corfe Railway Station and Corfe Castle on the Preserved Swanage Railway Line in Dorset UK.

[opelman]

But if I should become a stranger you know that it would make me more than sad... by Treflyn Lloyd-Roberts Via Flickr: Caledonian Railway pair 419 and 828 steam south over Avon Viaduct on the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway under gloomy skies at the end of an "In Search of Steam"/Scottish Railway Preservation Society photo charter. Locomotives: Caledonian Railway 439 Class 0-4-4T 419 and 812 Class 0-6-0 828. Location: Avon Viaduct, Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway, Falkirk, Scotland.

[guerrerense]

Vordernberg Styria Austria 14th July 2024 por loose_grip_99 Por Flickr: Vordernberg was a hub of the Erzbergbahn steam operations with the standard gauge rack railway to Eizenerz and the Iron Mountain starting here. ÖBB class 97 0-6-2T 97.217 was built in 1908 by the Floridsdorf Locomotive Works. It was withdrawn from service on 25th May 1978 at the end of steam working and mounted here as a reminder of the intensive iron ore trains in 1980.

[passengerpigeons]

stealth camping

[hazel-of-sodor]

Its 4/4, it just so happens I just finished the A1/A3 Pacifc, including an updated pre-rebuild Gordon. I didn’t plan to post this on Gordon Day, it just worked out this way. Representing the A1, is 4480 Enterprise, who is Gordon’s running mate on the Wild Nor’Western in my AU. Representing the A3, is Flying Scotsman himself. I will be making more liveries and variant for these, as they are one of my favorite engines of all time.

[graintrainbrain]

The life of a locomotive. This GMD-1 unit has worn a few faces since it was first built in the late 50s:

1) In as-delivered Northern Alberta Railways livery, leading the last passenger train from Dawson Creek to Dunvegan Station in Edmonton, 1974.

2) Working behind CN 1069 on the Coronado Subdivision near Redwater, Alberta, renumbered 1079 and wearing a fresh coat of CN red and black following CN’s acquisition of NAR, 1985.

3) Looking rough and ready to retire in Edmonton in 2013, around twenty-five years after a significant rebuild and another renumbering, this time to 1179.

4) Sitting on display at the Alberta Railway Museum in 2018, after a cosmetic restoration including a the return of number 302 and the name "Chief Moostoos", which the locomotive was given for NAR’s 50th anniversary in 1979.

[i-have-funny-hat]

Went to Barrow Hill for the small model railway show the Deltic Preservation Society was hosting.

Almost got caught in heavy rain but it gave me some great photos!

[eltristanexplicitcontent]

The most attractive #steam #locomotive in Preservation?

[fabrefactione]

Unpreserved Atlanta, pt. 1

Terminal Station in 1936. x

Built 1905, Killed 1972

A federal courthouse and federal offices now occupy the site. And a parking lot, of course!

FDR's funeral train, 1945

In color, 1951 x

Details, from right before demolition, 1972 x

Interior, from when very few trains ran through the station, 1970 x

Train travel in Atlanta is now obsolete. Only one passenger route runs once a day through the city, south to New Orleans and north to New York. The public transit rail barely goes anywhere. In a city that was built on being a railroad center, and is now one of the worst cities for car traffic in the country.

[lomotunes2008]

We're now running substantially less colourful trains 🎉

[mjalford98]

British Rail class 50s no 50007 & 50049 double head a southbound train of InterCity carriages under the wires of the West Coast Main Line, passing over the River Penk on the approach to Penkridge with the returning "Grampian Highlander" railtour organised by Pathfinder.

I took these shots from the nearby road bridge, setting up my DJI gimbal camera on a tripod to film the train while I took the still images on my Fujifilm camera, whose annoying electronic shutter squeak can be heard in the video. This was also on a tripod, which was great for getting a full set of reasonably sharp images, from which I could then select the best composition - shame about the noise, but I'm not too bothered. I actually think the bit of noise helps make the shot feel like it might have been taken in the 1980s, when trains looked just like this, and of course the timeless landscape only lends more visual interest and period atmosphere to the scene. Good for prints, merchandise, and stock photo/video downloads, so I'm quite excited to have bagged these, even if I'm currently £50 poorer for it!