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Hi there folks. Welcome to episode 8. In this one: Section 1: F2 pics from Cowdenbeath Section 2: Out and About 1 – Rivals Reunited at Didcot Section 3: Out and About 2 – The Driffield Truck Show Section 1 Cowdenbeath World Final Weekend – Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th September 2025 Macaroni Pie A new car which was finished in March finally debuted for Graeme Shevill Steven Burgoyne’s transporter The NI contingent: Shea Fegan Graeme Fegan Gavin Fegan Dylan Fegan Early weekend problems for Tommy Farrell Dennis Middler made a welcome return The ex- Adam Paling car Gerrit Huussen Bram Leenhouts in the ex-Leah Sealey car Grid walk time Ernie Burgoyne had refurbished the 2002 World Championship winning car of Chris’. It looked fabulous! This is how it was when I called in to the garage two years before! The WF top 3 trophies The defending World Champ interviewed by the grid girls Heart sunglasses B96 Guinchy outside pole Gordon on pole Nascar on the grid The grid was split pre-race for the intros A brief summary of the race: A clean first start with 7 keeping ahead of 647 who had passed 183 into the first lap. Caution flag for debris, and a stranded car in turn 3. Complete restart. No outside assistance. Drivers are allowed to get out to check their cars. A short-lived restart sees 674 up the turn 3 fence and landing on H124, with 127 also involved. 183 had moved ahead of 647. Another stoppage straight after the restart with 629, 618 and NI940 piled up in turn 4. 7 maintained the lead position. 7 maintained the lead until the end with 647 unable to challenge. 183 in third came upon a slow-moving NI998 down the back straight who applies the brakes. Charlie promptly spins him around and continues. Graham stays put. At race end as Gordon celebrates with doughnuts in turn two Guinchy stops next to NI998 on the back straight. NI918 who had retired rejoins the track and parks alongside creating a Fegan sandwich with a Guinchard filling. After many hand gestures the three part. Result: 7 647 183 16 547 1 880 15 H440 776 213 126 Gordon’s mum Evelyn joined the victory lap on the DPC truck Love it! A bit of work to do on H124 ‘The Flying Pig’ - Heritage F2 A good payout on the 50/50 for one lucky person on WF day Sunday morning repairs The 2025 World Champ interview Andy Smith dropped by for a chat Dylan Fegan raced Shea’s car on Sunday as the engine in his own was tightening up Ready for home A few days later Evelyn Moodie posted this: Well, it has taken me a few days to recover but I couldn’t let it pass without posting this World Champion – 5 Times! I am beyond proud to share that my son has just won the World Championship for the 5th time! To say it was special would be an understatement—it was emotional, unforgettable, and a moment our whole family will treasure forever. What made it even more poignant was that he won it at his home track, in front of his fans. As a wee boy, he watched his dad nearly win the championship there in 1990, coming second, and he always dreamed of putting #7 on that trophy. To see him achieve that dream brought tears to so many of us. I managed to watch the first start, but the nerves got the better of me, and I ended up sitting at the back (Kalms are useless, lol). The atmosphere was palpable, and by everyone’s reactions, I knew it was going to be close. When the place erupted, I knew he had done it! I watched it again on 24.7 TV—the coverage was phenomenal, and I highly recommend getting the replay, whether you were there or not. A huge thank you to Racewall, their staff, and everyone involved in putting on such a spectacular event. The organisation and effort that went into it must have been immense—they truly deserve every bit of credit. Oh, and that firework display would have impressed Disney The VIP hospitality tents were amazing. Watching the world finalists come through the tunnel, with fire flashes on either side and waving their country flags, being presented with personalised plaques, was special. And then the drivers parade lap being piped round by the two boys on the pipes, standing majestically high on the photographers’ platform, reminded me of the lone piper on the castle rampart at the Tattoo. Special thanks to Richard Kaleta, professional as ever in his Gold Jacket, and the photographers capturing these precious memories. A personal shoutout to Gareth Borthwick, my knight in shining armour, for helping me get on the back of the truck to celebrate the parade lap—it wasn’t an easy task, but he made it happen. The race itself—well, I wish I had watched it instead of being a nervous wreck! Every driver deserves credit, a few making history, especially our two incredible females from the Smith Dynasty—they have guts those girls but it’s in their DNA. To the fans—you were magnificent. The memory of that parade lap will stay with me forever. And lastly, hearing Gordon, his voice breaking with tears in his eyes, say: “All I ever wanted was to race a stock car, and I haven’t done too bad”… that moment will stay with me forever. "Congratulations, champ—you’ve made us all so proud!" Out and About 1 Rivals Reunited From 14 May to 2 June 2025, two legends of steam; Flying Scotsman and Pendennis Castle, brought over a century of steam-powered history roaring back to life at Didcot Railway Centre as they celebrated the 100th anniversary of their 1925 meeting. The historic reunion marked a special chapter in railway lore, as these two giants of steam have not just their iconic status in common but something of a shared history: both were exhibited at the British Empire Exhibition in 1925; both were once owned by the late Sir William (Bill) McAlpine in the 1970s and both have steamed in Australia in the 1980s. Now, they came together once more for an unforgettable celebration of British engineering and heritage. No 4079 Pendennis Castle In the 1920s, Great Western Railway's Pendennis Castle made waves when it was lent to the LNER for head-to-head trials with Sir Nigel Gresley's groundbreaking Pacific locomotives. Taking on 16-coach trains on the East Coast Main Line from King's Cross, this mighty Castle-class loco proved its mettle—outshining its rivals and earning the admiration of an entire generation. In 1925, Pendennis Castle was proudly displayed alongside Flying Scotsman at the British Empire Exhibition in Wembley. A cheeky sign proclaimed it to be ‘the most powerful passenger express locomotive in Britain’—and its performance certainly backed up the claim! No.4079 left England in 1977 for Australia, where she was looked after by the Pilbara Railways Historical Society. A highlight of the Australian sojourn was a visit to Perth in 1989 to operate alongside her old rival Flying Scotsman as the climax of a tour during the country's bicentennial celebrations. In 2000 Pendennis Castle was offered to Great Western Society and following a 10-week voyage finally regained British soil at Avonmouth. She has s since been fully overhauled and now regularly features at Didcot open days. The Global Star: Flying Scotsman What more can be said about Flying Scotsman, the most famous steam locomotive in the world? Designed by Sir Nigel Gresley and introduced to service in 1923, it quickly became a symbol of speed, innovation, and style. Named after the iconic daily London-to-Edinburgh service that began in 1862, Flying Scotsman achieved fame as the first locomotive to officially hit 100mph. Over the decades, it has captivated millions, becoming a global ambassador for Britain's railway heritage. She is now in the care of the National Railway Museum. Pics from the day: GWR Trolley This was used at Paddington for a very solemn purpose. Especially in and around London there were many Irish or descendants of Ireland who once passed away wanted to be buried in Ireland. The journey from London to Ireland by the GWR was via the ferry at Fishguard. Coffins were carried from London to Fishguard by train for their onward journey to Ireland. Rather than expose those passengers at Paddington to seeing a coffin being walked along the platform, this trolley was built to carry the coffin to the train undercover. 1942 Dennis Fire Tender formerly used at Swindon Works to protect the massive railway engineering complex. Cookham Manor As long ago as 1901 the traffic department of the Great Western asked for this type of locomotive. It was a very long time in coming, although the ‘Halls’ and ‘Granges’ filled the need except that they suffered route restrictions due to their heavier weight. The first twenty ‘Manors’, built before World War 2, incorporated the wheels and motion of withdrawn 43XX class engines. The last ten were built by BR in 1950. The 'Manors' were originally allocated to various English depots, but in 1943 several were transferred to the North Wales area, being the first modern passenger engines seen there. Detail design modifications over the years have greatly improved the performance of the class. Their light weight makes them ideal for use in preservation: no fewer than eight have survived. 7808 ‘Cookham Manor’ was built in 1938 and was withdrawn in 1965. She is the only ‘Manor’ obtained directly on withdrawal by BR. Bought by a Society member in 1965, she ran from Gloucester depot in steam to Ashchurch, where she was based with 6697, until they both came to Didcot in 1970. A very sprightly member of her class and held in high regard by crews, before withdrawal she had, very unusually for her class, been fitted with a larger 4,000 gallon tender. The remains of tank storage structure now used to store all sorts ODA 113026 21-ton, 2-axle 5-plank air-braked open wagon This vehicle was originally built as part of a large batch, constructed mainly at BR Wolverton, between 1949 and 1958, designated SOV and intended primarily for steel traffic. Some of these wagons were adapted for Ministry of Defence (MoD) traffic in 1983, by being fitted with air brakes and revised (UIC double link) suspension arrangements, at BR Shildon. Subsequent reduction in MoD requirements saw many of these wagons scrapped or put into departmental use. 113026 was in use by the Signal and Telegraph department and carried their red and yellow SATLINK livery. Most recently it has been stored out of use at Stafford, being delivered to Didcot in late December 2011. As an air-braked vehicle, it is approved for use on Network Rail and used to transport supplies between the west yard and the Railway Centre. The current Turntable is on the site of the 1932 Great Western one but is a replacement table, as the original had been removed by British Rail before the Great Western Society arrived at Didcot. The Turntable is 70 feet (21m) long and is capable of accommodating the largest tender engines. It is operated by hand either directly by pushing on extension levers or by operating a geared winding mechanism. The Class 31, or Brush Type 2, locomotive was one of the models ordered by British Railways to replace steam traction. 263 locomotives of this class were built by Brush Traction from 1957-62 and numbered in two series: D5500-D5699 and D5800-D5862. The first locomotive was completed at the end of September 1957 and entered service in November of that year. The diesel electric locomotives had a wheel arrangement of A1A-A1A 31270 entered service on 1 June 1961, originally carrying the number D5800 and allocated to March depot. It was withdrawn from mainline service on 30-May-2000. Since then the privately owned locomotive has been based at locations including Peak Rail, Colne Valley Railway, and most recently Nemesis Rail at Burton-on-Trent where it had been undergoing repair. It arrived at Didcot Railway Centre on 26 August 2023. 5227 The 5205 class were 2-8-0T locomotives designed for short workings from coal mines to ports in South Wales. They were a development of the 4200 Class introduced by the Great Western Railway in 1910. They retained the straight frames of the 42xx, but had outside steam pipes, and 19" diameter cylinders giving them slightly more power than their predecessors. 70 of the class were built, between 1923 and 1940 - 5205-5274. Twenty 5205s, 5255-5274 were converted to the 7200 Class in 1934/6 5227 was built at Swindon in 1924 and was withdrawn in 1962. She survived at Barry Scrapyard to become one of the 'Barry Ten', being the last unsold locomotives at Woodham Brothers in 1990 when Dai Woodham retired. The 'ten' were taken on by the Vale of Glamorgan Council and stored for another twenty years in scrapyard condition before being sold. The locomotive arrived at the railway centre in August 2013, to be used as a source of parts, principally the axleboxes for the project to build 47xx 2-8-0 No 4709. More recently it has been agreed that the boiler and pony truck will be removed from the locomotive and will be going to the Churchward County Project to provide a boiler for new build ‘County of Montgomery’, as originally set out in the 'Three Counties' agreement with Vale of Glamorgan Council. The remainder of the locomotive has been sold to an individual who intends to restore the locomotive to working order, including manufacture of parts to replace those removed for use in other projects. The locomotive is expected to remain at Didcot Railway Centre. 18000 is one of a pair of prototype gas turbine power engines ordered by the GWR from private companies but were not delivered until after the big four railway companies, as they were called, had been nationalised. 18000 was constructed by Brown Boveri in Switzerland and spent its working life hauling trains from Paddington before being withdrawn from service as uneconomic in 1960. The locomotives, as one-offs, were both unreliable and prone to failures and spent much of their short working lives in Swindon works either being repaired or modified. After with withdrawal 18000 was offered to the European Office for Research and Development and was moved back to Switzerland, where the gas turbine was removed and the locomotive modified to be an unpowered test bed. Once these experiments were concluded the locomotive was put on display outside the Mechanical Engineering Testing building in Vienna in 1975. The loco was eventually secured for preservation in the UK in the early 1990s and initially put on display at the Crewe Heritage Centre and after a spell at the GWSR was moved to Didcot Railway Centre in 2011. The loco has acquired the nickname 'Kerosene Castle'. In early 2022 it was announced that work would begin on a two-year conservation project to repair corrosion on the bodywork and return the locomotive to the black and silver livery it carried when first in service. The locomotive outside the shed shortly after arrival at Didcot Railway Centre - 30-Jul-2011 Official works photograph An artist's impression based on drawings supplied by Brown Boveri within their original tender No. 1 Cab Desk in original condition No. 2 Cab Desk - 30-Jul-2011 The engine space - 30-Jul-2011 No. 18000 as a Testbed for Research into Wheel-Rail contact At that time BR, and almost all other European railways, participated in the Office for Research and Experiments (ORE) of the UIC, the International Union of Railways. ORE sponsored technical activities of general interest to the railway industry, such as research and standardisation. The activities themselves were carried out by experts in the participating railways and certain other technical institutes. In those days the suppliers of railway equipment were hardly involved, they also had an entirely separate organisation to coordinate activities they considered relevant and useful. In the 1960s ORE had installed an international working party to investigate the parameters which influence the adhesion between wheel and rail. One of the themes to be researched was the effect of vehicle design parameters on adhesion. When 18000 became surplus to BR’s requirements a proposal was developed to convert her to a test vehicle in which a number of traction design parameters could be varied. 18000 was completely rebuilt in the Bellinzona workshops of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) for this purpose. Almost all of the original technical equipment was removed from the body and from the bogies. The wheel arrangement was changed from A1A-A1A to 1A1-3. That is, one bogie was fitted with one driving wheelset and two carrying wheelsets, the other was provided with three carrying wheelsets. The new driving wheelset and its associated test equipment required a major reconstruction of that bogie, and local remodelling of the vehicle body, leading to the ‘blisters’ on the underframe. It was possible to fit different types of traction motor, and to vary the axle load, transmission stiffness, sanding parameters, etc. The traction motor was fed by the equipment of another specially adapted locomotive, which ran in tandem. The choice of a suitable tandem locomotive made it possible to investigate the effect of different traction control systems and catenary voltages. Part of the original engine compartment of 18000 was occupied by the traction motor and mechanical transmission, which projected above the floor; the rest of the compartment was fitted out as a room for the measuring equipment, and for meetings of the test team. Trials with various traction configurations took place between 1970 and 1975. The test team was manned by personnel of the Vienna Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (where 18000 was displayed before being repatriated) and, as required, by traction experts of the SNCF, DB and SBB. BR played a major role in the statistical evaluation of the measured data. Interestingly, the test team affectionately bestowed the name Elisabetta on their unique vehicle, as a reference to her British origins. The photos were taken during a test run on the French-German border in late 1972. For these trials 18000 had been fitted with a Monomoteur type DC traction motor of the SNCF, which was fed by the thyristor traction equipment of the tandem locomotive of the SNCF series BB15000. The international character of the trials was underlined by the use of a multi-current DB locomotive (series 181) to haul the composition back to its starting position after each measuring run. 18000 during a test run on the French-German border in late 1972 The Didcot Transfer Shed Brunel originally built the Great Western Railway to his unique broad gauge of 7 feet between the rails as he thought this would give extra speed and comfort. But as the railway network expanded the Great Western had increasing problems with transhipping goods onto the standard gauge, or 'narrow gauge' as they called it, of the other railways and its broad gauge was finally abandoned in 1892. However, at Didcot Railway Centre the Great Western Society has recreated a section of broad gauge railway using materials recovered from a disused railway near Burlescombe in Devon together with the relocated Didcot Transfer Shed built in the 1850s to trans-ship goods between broad and standard gauge trains. Much of the recreated railway is laid as mixed gauge track, capable of carrying both broad and standard gauge trains. The view out of the shed Auto-trailer 190 Auto-trailer 190 was purchased in 1970 along with 92 and 212 (now restored to original condition as Steam Railmotor No.93). Its restoration started as early as 1971 but completion was going to be a long haul. The final result not rolling out of the C & W workshops until 1996. It is typical of the auto-trailers built in the thirties for the mass of branch lines that the GWR owned. Originally being hauled by the '517' class 0-4-2T locomotives, and later by 48xx/14xx 0-4-2T (the so called Auto-tanks), the 64xx 0-6-0PT locos, and lastly BR added Auto gear to the 45xx and 4575 classes. The interior (gutted prior to entering Departmental Service) has been completely re-created, using in part recycled oak, working mainly from photographic evidence. Some of the structural framing was made with timber from Wroughton Church when the structure of the bell tower was replaced with steel. The chair legs were made from off-cuts from the church oak and the rest of the interior furniture from new wood. The upholstery is a replica of the GWR 1937 pattern. 1340 ‘Trojan’ Trojan was built by the Avonside Engine Company of Bristol in 1897 (Works No. 1386) for Messrs Dunn & Shute of Newport Town Dock. She was purchased by the Alexandra Docks Railway in 1903, remaining unnumbered. This company owned around 100 miles of dock sidings in the Newport (South Wales) area, and a 'main' passenger-carrying line of 10 miles or so. On absorption of the Alexandra Docks Railway into the Great Western in 1923, ‘Trojan’ received the number 1340. She moved freely around GWR territory, and although based mainly at Cardiff Cathays and Radyr depots also worked for a time in Oswestry and Greenford, London. Withdrawn from Cardiff by the GWR in July 1932, she was sold to the Netherseal colliery at Burton-on-Trent, who passed her on to Alders (Tamworth) Ltd in 1947. After several years of negotiations she was finally released to one of the Didcot regular workforce arriving at the depot in April 1968. The locomotive has been under restoration for many years at Didcot. The main stumbling block has been the boiler, the original was in a very poor state and was scrapped at Didcot quite a few years ago. A substitute was purchased and sent to Chatham for modification. This job was never completed, and the stripped-down boiler was returned to Didcot and rebuilt on site. The locomotive entered traffic, for the first time in preservation, in 2002. With the expiry of the boiler certificate the locomotive was withdrawn from traffic in October 2011 and was overhauled once more, this time by Loughborough-based engineering company, Locomotive Maintenance Services. She returned to Didcot in March 2021 and is currently part of the operating fleet. No. 9113 'Prince of Wales' Eight ‘Super Saloons’ were built by the GWR to run between Paddington and Plymouth on the ‘Ocean Special’ trains in connection with the transatlantic liner services. Their construction followed on from experimental use of some Pullman coaches on the ‘Ocean Specials’ and a full Pullman Train – The ‘Torquay Pullman’ in 1929 and 1930. Hire of the Pullman coaches, with their attendants, was found to be too costly by the GWR, which consequently set out to design the finest coaches that they would ever build as a replacement. The Super Saloon design obviously owes a great deal to the 1929 Riviera Dining Cars having similar body shapes to the full 9’ 7” width allowed by the loading gauge and with similar recessed doors. Internally the carriages were equipped with fold-down tables and free-moving wing-back chairs. As was fitting for coaches used for such prestigious trains all were named after members of the Royal Family. 9111 ‘King George’ – Built 1931 – Preserved on the South Devon Railway 9112 ‘Queen Mary’ – Built 1932 – Preserved at Didcot Railway Centre 9113 ‘Prince of Wales’ – Built 1932 – Preserved at Didcot Railway Centre 9114 ‘Duke of York’ – Scrapped 9115 ‘Duke of Gloucester’ – Scrapped 9116 ‘Duchess of York’ – Built 1932 – Preserved on the South Devon Railway 9117 ‘Princes Royal’ - Scrapped 9118 ‘Princess Elizabeth’ – Built 1932 – Preserved at Didcot Railway Centre When Southampton became the major transatlantic port, boat trains to Plymouth declined both in number and prestige. As a result the saloons had to be found alternative work befitting their status and were often seen on special trains from Paddington to Newbury Racecourse in connection with race days as well as being used by private parties. The special stock was always kept at the bottom end of the Carriage Shed at Old Oak Common under the watchful eye of the coach inspector and maintained in immaculate condition ready for special journeys at short notice. Three of these coaches were preserved by the Great Western Society in 1966/67 and subsequently moved to Didcot in 1976. No. 9113 'Prince of Wales' is the third of eight built, and the first of the series to be fitted out by Swindon's Saloon Gang. Internally it is finished in French polished dark English walnut, with gold-leaf hairlines outlining the panelling. Structurally quite sound it is currently being substantially rebuilt so that it can be returned to service. To date the timber framework has been repaired and the vehicle has been completely repanelled. Current work is to refit the windows after which work will commence on returning the interior to as new condition. Dreadnought Once GJ Churchward was appointed GWR Chief Mechanical Engineer in 1902 he set about modernising the Great Western’s locomotives and rolling stock. The first major change in coach building came about with the introduction in 1904 of the ‘Dreadnought’ carriage. These, replacing the graceful but antiquated 50’ long clerestory coaches, with their 70’ length, 9’6” width and external doors only at the ends and in the centre of the coach, must have come as quite a shock to the travelling public. The ‘Dreadnought’ carriages could carry up to 72 passengers, compared to the clerestory’s maximum of 48. The nickname for this type of coach comes from ‘HMS Dreadnought’, a 527ft long battleship which entered service in 1906 and subsequently to the class of ships which followed. As the design was so revolutionary similar battleships built after her all became known as dreadnoughts, and earlier battleships as pre-dreadnoughts. The nickname is perhaps also indicative of a similar shift in technology on the railways. Unusually, the side corridor, changes sides half-way along the coach, possibly with the intention of better weight distribution. The Dreadnoughts were not popular with staff and passengers and only saw a few years service on the Cornish Riviera Limited before being replaced and relegated to less glamorous traffic. No. 3299 is a third-class coach built in 1905 as part of the last batch of Dreadnought coaches by the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon company. It was built as a spare coach to fill in for maintenance on the main sets and to bolster summer holiday capacity. After being withdrawn from passenger use in 1951 it was used at Newquay as a dormitory for summer service catering staff. It was purchased by GWS member David Rouse, and gifted by him to the Great Western Society in 1964, becoming one of their first coaches. It was initially preserved at the Society’s base in Totnes, before coming to Didcot in 1967. The vehicle requires a major restoration, to which some thought is now being given. In 2022 the body was temporarily separated from the frames, so that the frames and bogies could be jet-blasted and given a protective coat of paint. A specific fund for the restoration of the Edwardian coaches, starting with the Dreadnought was launched in 2022. Paddington station in 1908 with a train of Dreadnought coaches at platform 8 on the extreme right and clerestory-roofed coaches at platform 5. Most of the other coaches in the photograph are clerestory roofed. Churchward thought big in both locomotives and coaches! This is 4-6-2 No 111 The Great Bear at the head of a train in which the first three vehicles are Dreadnoughts. No 3299 as first preserved in 1964 and parked on the cattle dock siding at Totnes. Between the left-hand door and the centre door is the corridor side with four compartments. Beyond the corridor crossover the five sets of three windows are the compartment side, with a droplight as the centre window in each set. The last window before the right-hand door is the lavatory. Phantom 08604 was shedded at Tyseley near Birmingham where one of the GWS volunteers, Simon Grego, was a fitter. The engine became well known as he repainted the loco in full BR lined-out green. She was withdrawn after shearing a crank pin key and had been purchased by a private individual from BR and the owner was looking for a place to keep it. Enter once again Simon. He made contact with the then Locomotive Manager, Richard Preston, who negotiated with the owner for the loan of the loco to the GWS and its movement to Didcot. Once at Didcot she required an extensive overhaul. One of the wheelsets had to be exchanged and the traction motor repaired, the engine had seized and had to be freed up, and the cab was devoid of some fittings which meant a partial re-wire. On the expiry of the loan agreement the loco was purchased outright by the GWS and now forms a very important part of the site's plant and equipment. The locomotive spent some time in a fictitious black war department livery with the number WD40, and then in the 'Tyseley' BR lined-out green, but in August 2010 she was repainted into an earlier plain green livery. In August 2017 the livery changed yet again, this time to BR Blue. She is now used for shunting the yard and sometimes works demonstration goods trains and very occasionally passenger trains at Open Days and Special Events. 1014 ‘County of Glamorgan’ The ‘County’ class of locomotives were the final development, by the GWR, of the 2-cylinder 4-6-0 locomotive, previous examples of which include the ‘Saints’, ‘Halls’, ‘Manors’, ‘Granges’ and ‘Modified Halls’. The first ‘County’, 1000 ‘County of Middlesex’ was outshopped from Swindon Works in 1945 and was effectively an enlarged Modified Hall, utilising the almost identical frames, cylinders and bogie, with larger driving wheels, and a larger boiler based on the Stanier 8F design but with a much higher pressure. A total of 30 County Class locomotives were built between 1945 and 1947, and re-used most of the names originally used for Churchward’s earlier 4-4-0 County class, the last of which was withdrawn from service in 1933. The last of the class, No 1011 County of Chester was withdrawn in 1964 and all were scrapped. GWR 2-cylinder 4-6-0 development is well represented in preservation with several examples of Halls (such as 5900 ‘Hinderton Hall’), Manors (such as 7808 ‘Cookham Manor’) and Modified Halls (such as 6998 ‘Burton Agnes Hall’). However, missing from the list were the Churchward Saint class, Collett’s Grange class, and Hawksworth’s County, none of which survived into preservation. The Great Western Society has constructed a new Churchward Saint - 2999 ‘Lady of Legend’, and the Betton Grange Society have repeated the process by completing their locomotive No 6880 Betton Grange leaving a ‘County’ as the missing link ... 1014 ‘County of Glamorgan’ - David Bradshaw, a GWS member, instigated a proposal to remedy the missing County. He calculated that amongst the last group of unrestored locomotives, once stored in Woodham's scrapyard at Barry, were sufficient standard parts to form a basis for a County - with minor modifications and some new-build components. After a long gestation period the G.W. County Project was launched in 2005 to recreate a Hawksworth ‘County’ 10XX 4-6-0 at Didcot, utilising the frames of Modified Hall 7927 Willington Hall, and a Stanier 8F boiler from 48518, from which the original County boiler was derived. Marking the contribution of Vale of Glamorgan Council and Barry scrapyard, it was agreed the completed locomotive should bear the identity 1014 ‘County of Glamorgan’. The original locomotive of this name was withdrawn in 1964 and scrapped at Cashmore's in Newport. Shortly before Christmas 2004 agreement was reached with the Vale of Glamorgan Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund for the Great Western Society to acquire the frames of ‘Modified Hall’ 4-6-0 7927 ‘Willington Hall’ and the boiler from Stanier 8F 2-8-0 48518. After the initial frame conversion work had been carried out at Llangollen, the chassis was moved to Didcot where all subsequent construction has been carried out. Since the launch, the frames of 7927 have been altered to the County pattern, a new set of 6’3” driving wheels cast and fitted and a new cab and splashers have been manufactured and fitted. New motion has been produced, and outside coupling and connecting rods, slidebars, and crossheads have been forged and fitted. A new tender has been made to the original Hawksworth design and is close to finishing. The boiler has had the firebox overhauled and a new barrel and smokebox fitted, and it was planned to be returned to Liverpool for HBSS to complete it. Whilst it is away the inside motion, lubrication system, superheater header and a multitude of other components will be made ready for fitting when the boiler returns. A number of items have been saved from dismantled Counties, including the double chimney from 1006 County of Cornwall, the regulator handle from 1014 County of Glamorgan, and the reverser wheel from 1013 County of Dorset. 5322 Introduced to fill an urgent need for a general-purpose type, the 53xx were an immediate success, and the fact that 342 were built (after 1932 with side-window cabs) is a measure of their usefulness. They served throughout the GWR system. From 1936 to 1939 one hundred were withdrawn and the wheels and other parts incorporated in new 'Grange' and 'Manor' engines. Withdrawal of life-expired class members started in 1948, but some remained almost until the end of steam. 5322 was one of twenty GWR 2-6-0s built in Swindon in 1917, during the Great War, and sent when new to France. This was in response to a call from the army in the summer of 1917 for the British railways to supply a further 160 locomotives to help with transporting supplies from the Channel ports to the front line. Frank Potter, General Manager of the GWR, reported at the time to his board of directors that these locomotives, “should as far as practicable be of one type, i.e. 0-8-0, and of high power, and arrangements were therefore made for them to be supplied by as few Companies as possible, these Companies in turn being allocated engines from the stock of other Railway Companies. In the case of the Great Western Railway, we have no engines of the 0-8-0 type, and it was impossible to release any of the 2-8-0 class as they are employed exclusively on the Admiralty coal traffic.” It was therefore decided that the GWR would supply 2-6-0s, which Frank Potter explained: “The Great Western type of 2-6-0 engines is in point of power and efficiency practically equal to other Companies 0-8-0 engines”. Nevertheless, the GWR drove a hard bargain, as Frank Potter continued: “The whole of our stock is, however, badly needed for traffic work in this country, and it was, therefore, stipulated that the materials should be supplied by the Government to enable new engines of the class to be built, an output of five per month being aimed at.” A serving officer with the ROD, C E R Sherrington, recalled an encounter with 5322 in France in 1918. He wrote an article about it for the Great Western Echo in 1973: “That night nearing the level crossing at Pont des Briques, where one turned off for the Mess, an eastbound train was rapidly overtaking me. A glance at my watch led me to hope that it was RCL* 21 running on time from Calais (Rivière Neuve) to St Omer, Hazebrouck and one or more railheads. There was no mistaking the type of locomotive – by the beat of its exhaust – a GWR Mogul, thus confirming that it was, almost certainly, one of the 53s doing such splendid work on those supply trains for the II Army. She overtook me at the Pont des Briques crossing, with its metal rolling gates, and it was easy to see her number in large white letters on the tender – ROD 5322. Behind her were the customary 44 or so wagons, the supplies for two divisions. The gross load was some 770 tons: the wagons were not vacuum fitted, but, of course, had the French screw couplings. The Great Western Moguls were admirable locomotives for this work: their predecessors on it, the Beyer Peacock 4-6-4 tanks, which were built for the Netherlands but never got there, were splendid machines but had inadequate brake power, being designed for suburban passenger trains. The LNWR class 27 0-8-0s, though fine pullers, had small diameter wheels for this work, and were more suited to heavier, slower, trains.” * RCL stood for Ravitaillement Calais Ligne The saying ‘Old Soldiers never die’ was never truer than with this engine. Demobbed in 1919 at Chester, she was withdrawn from Pontypool Road depot in April 1964. Miraculously, as the sole surviving early 53xx sent to Woodham Bros of Barry that avoided the cutter's torch, this gem was spotted there, and by 1969, after considerable persuasion needed to secure its release, she was acquired by a Society member. The first ex-Great Western locomotive to leave the scrapyard for preservation, she was towed to Caerphilly in 1969. There, a small but devoted band of members of the Society's South Wales Group restored her, in the open, to working order. The move to Didcot took place in 1973, she continued to be used on open days until around 1975 when she was stopped for various reasons. The owner at that time believed that items of historical value should not be restored, but maintained in the condition they are in. This meant that the engine stood as she was, static display only. The locomotive then passed into the ownership of the Society, and a fund was started to restore the engine. Thus, since the early 90s various bits have been overhauled, the cab was completely refurbished, the wheels and motion have been tended to, the boiler has been removed, and the tender stripped down. Slowly the engine was returned to its 1919 appearance until she was finally ready to return to traffic in November 2008. In November 2011 the locomotive was disguised as a Russian locomotive and starred in a film version of Anna Karenina. In May 2012 she was turned out in BR black livery. The locomotive was withdrawn in Summer 2014 with boiler problems. Western Fusilier When British Railways was formed, the western region fought to keep the independent spirit of the Great Western alive. Whilst other regions primarily used electric transmission Swindon developed a fleet of diesel locomotives with hydraulic transmission. There were three larger bogie arrangement classes; Warships, Hymeks, and Westerns, and one smaller 0-6-0 class, most of which were built at Swindon works by former Great Western staff. The largest and most powerful of the fleet were the C-C Class 52 ‘Western’ diesels powered by Maybach engines with Voith transmission. Although the class were successful, their lives were always going to be short as they lacked Electric Train Heating (ETH) which was becoming standard with the introduction of more modern coaching stock. The class were moved onto freight traffic before being withdrawn in 1977. D1023 “Western Fusilier” was built at Swindon in September 1963 and was withdrawn in February 1977 having operated various runs including the last ever Western hauled rail tour = the ‘Western Tribute’. In 1973 she was the last ever hydraulic to have a general repair at Swindon. The loco was preserved as part of The National Collection and was placed on display in the National Railway Museum (NRM) at York in 1977 and has been in the museum’s care ever since. The locomotive has been placed on loan to Didcot Railway Centre for a period of five years commencing January 2023. The locomotive is not operational and the NRM has no plans to put it into working order. Burton Agnes Hall A continuation of Collett's numerous and highly successful ‘Hall’ class, the ‘Modified Halls’ incorporate improved features introduced by his successor F W Hawksworth, as a prelude to his own new designs intended for post WW2 service. They ran throughout the Great Western system, and many survived until the end of BR Western Region steam. For some time after nationalisation of the railways in 1948, the newly formed BR continued construction of certain of the established designs of the absorbed companies. The ‘Hall’ class was one of these, building of which was not completed until the end of 1950. 6998 ‘Burton Agnes Hall’ emerged from Swindon Works in January 1949, going initially to Cardiff's Canton depot. She survived until withdrawal by BR from Oxford in January 1966 after being honoured as the engine chosen to work the Western Region's last steam-hauled passenger train. In markedly better condition than the other survivors, she was selected by the Society to represent the typical two-cylinder Great Western tender locomotive, no others at that time being expected to survive. The locomotive was purchased by the Great Western Society in January 1966 for the sum of £2,500, and on 2 April worked light engine under her own steam from Oxford to the Society's Depot at Totnes via Didcot, Reading West, Newbury, Westbury, Taunton, Exeter and Newton Abbot. She remained at Totnes until the end of 1967 when she worked an epic railtour from Totnes to her new home at Didcot on 2 December that year, hauling No. 1466 (also in steam), Dreadnought No. 3299, all third No. 5952, and auto-trailer No. 231. At Didcot the locomotive has been in virtually continuous service, also with plenty of main line and preserved railways use, ever since. She was withdrawn from service in 1996 and is stored complete awaiting its turn in the queue for overhaul. Drysllwyn Castle Designed as a more powerful, updated version of Churchward's renowned ‘Star’ class of 1906, the ‘Castles’ were an immediate success, and achieved an enviable reputation for speed during the interwar years on such trains as the one-time world's fastest, the Cheltenham Flyer. A total of 171 ‘Castles’ were in service by 1950, which included 25 converted from 'Stars' and one from ‘The Great Bear’, Britain's first 4-6-2 (Pacific) wheel arrangement engine. Eventually displaced by dieselization, eight engines of this class survived into preservation. Most were named after castles in the Great Western's territory, 12 after second world war aeroplanes, and 24 carried miscellaneous names. In 1937 it was decided, some say demanded, by certain Earls that new small engines intended to carry their names should not do so, instead 21 ‘Castles’, between 5043 and 5063, were commandeered and re-named. 5051 ‘Drysllwyn Castle’ was built at Swindon in May 1936. She was renamed ‘Earl Bathurst’ in August 1937 and carried that name for the rest of her GWR and BR life. Both names are regularly used on the locomotive at Didcot. Stationed almost exclusively at Landore (Swansea) depot, for working to London and the Midlands, she was rarely seen elsewhere. Withdrawn by BR as surplus to requirements, from Llanelly depot in 1963, she was sent for scrapping to Woodham Bros. of Barry, from where it was rescued by a Society member, and brought to Didcot in February 1970. Out shopped in 1980 she took part in the Rocket 150 celebrations at Rainhill in May of that year. She then ran many main line specials in the early years with Didcot's vintage train until 1986 when the main line ticket ran out. The engine then ran at Didcot until the boiler certificate ran out in 1990. Following a second overhaul she was returned to service, and enjoyed runs out on the mainline once more, and visits to other preserved railways as well as Didcot duties. In 2008 the latest boiler certificate expired and the locomotive is now on static display until such time as a further overhaul can take place. Diesel Railcar 22 The GWR built 38 Railcars between 1933 and 1942. The earliest batch of railcars proved very popular with passengers, and so later batches were fitted with standard buffers and drawgear. This allowed the railcars to tow a coach behind them at peak periods and also allowed them to act as the local pick-up goods train during off-peak periods - these railcars could often be seen with one or more goods vans in tow on the branch lines. The final four GWR railcars were built as single ended versions with a pair operating back-to-back, or as a three car unit with a coach sandwiched in the middle - these were the ancestors of the Diesel Multiple Units. Number 22 was built in 1940. Accommodation is provided for passengers in two open saloons with a total of 48 seats, and there are driving cabs at each end. It is powered by two AEC 9.6 litre, direct injection 6-cylinder engines through a Wilson epicyclic gearbox. The engines are of very similar specification to those used in London Transport buses for over 50 years. Externally it has been almost completely repanelled and last underwent a complete repaint in 1992/93. The Railcar entered service from Newport shed on 18 September 1940. She was allocated to a number of different sheds, including Reading, and during her later days she worked around the Worcester area and frequently ventured onto the Severn Valley line. She was withdrawn from service in 1962 and stored at Swindon, from where she was bought by the Midland Group of the Great Western Society for preservation in 1967. She initially worked on the Severn Valley Railway before coming to Didcot in 1978. Number 22 is one of only three GWR railcars to survive into preservation and is currently the only operational example. Number 4 (one of the earlier streamlined versions known as the ‘flying bananas’) is preserved as a static exhibit at STEAM - the Museum of the Great Western Railway, while Number 20 (one of the same batches as Number 22) is currently undergoing restoration at the Kent and East Sussex Railway. Pendennis Castle was used to push the Flying Scotsman back into the shed: Alongside Drysllwyn Castle Burton Agnes Hall joins in Pendennis Castle heads to the ash siding Trojan is ahead The view halfway up the coal stage ramp The incline to the coaling stage Inside the coaling stage After leaving the event: On the mainline was BR Class 33, D6515 (also known as 33012 and named "Lt Jenny Lewis RN") owned by the 71A Locomotive Group and based on the Swanage Railway. As of July 2025, the locomotive has been utilized by Hanson & Hall for freight services, which included traversing the wider area. A number of Class 66s were at Didcot Parkway Out and About 2 The Driffield Truck Show Truck It brings together vintage trucks, custom art-painted builds, fleet displays, and thousands of passionate enthusiasts. Enjoy the pics: # Next time: In the last one of this off-season we have a Ticket to Ride: and a walk around the area of an abandoned Nottinghamshire colliery:

Hi Clive thats great. No hurry. let me know costs/postage etc when you are ready

I have the 2024 one, remember now 2025 got damaged by the heavy rain . I will check the loft for 2022, know we attended as only missed one since 1977. But I have been giving quite a lot away.

I hope mentioning F2s on here isn’t like swearing 🤬 Any complete F2 tarmac cars for sale? Send me a message Cheers

Hi Gary thanks for replying. Yup, got that one but appreciate your offer.

Hi Clive thank u for reply. will speak when you are back. Happy to purchase. Let me know details etc.

Sorry, Im a numpty. Just 20 years away from what you asked for 🙂

I've got 2004 on ebay at the moment ending tomorrow https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/257361716784

Hi Currently away from home. Back next week, I think I have them, if so they are yours Clive

Hi. Anyone selling World Final Programmes 2022/2024/2025 please? Many Thanks Paul Drew

Thank you for your kind words, very much appreciated.But don't forget it's a team effort. I couldn't have done it without you. Your enthusiasm and knowledge is first class. Stanton Ben.

Hi there folks. Welcome to episode 7. In this one: Section 1: F2 pics from Taunton Section 2: Out and About 1 – Dinorwic – Part 2 Section 3: Out and About 2 – Duxford on BEA 2 Section 1 Taunton Saturday August 23rd 2025 – World Championship Semi-Finals A terrific turnout of 80 BriSCA F2 Stock Cars were in action for the World Championship Semi-Finals as they returned to Smeatharpe Stadium for the first time in 16 years. The O’er the Border Trophy, Nostalgia Trophy, and Chequered Flag Trophy were also up for grabs on a night featuring a deluge of silverware. The first Semi-Final was particularly hit by withdrawals, allowing eight reserves to join the grid behind the 20 remaining qualifiers. A fine start by polesitter 183 Charlie Guinchard put the silver top into a clear lead while second and third qualifiers 674 Steven Burgoyne and 213 Tom Bennett both lost ground as they took to the outside line to avoid a spun 461 Tom Davison. That allowed 1 Luke Wrench and 776 Dan Roots to jump into second and third from rows four and three, respectively. 547 Lewis Burgoyne and 992 Harley Burns slotted into fourth and fifth as the elder Burgoyne, 355 Aidan Grindey and Bennett all dropped into the lower half of the top 10. Further back, home star 127 Matt Stoneman was making rapid progress from 19th on the grid. He had broken into the all-important top 10 within the opening five laps. Despite his difficult start, Steven Burgoyne had plenty of pace in his car, and he picked off Burns and his nephew Lewis to run fourth before half-distance. The top three of Guinchard, Wrench and Roots were well spaced as the race settled down, but with plenty of backmarkers to deal with, they could not ease up. Roots was first to suffer in traffic, sent into a spin after an intervention from 564 David Shearing. Second-placed Wrench then got hooked up with 239 Michael Johnston and was fortunate that a wallop from Shearing helped separate them without him losing position. Roots’s drama promoted Steven Burgoyne to fourth and the charging Stoneman to fifth, while Bennett took sixth as Lewis Burgoyne got crowded out and shuffled back. Guinchard had effectively checked out, but in the closing few laps he found the backmarkers increasingly difficult to deal with – much to his chagrin. He perhaps didn’t realise that such was his pace, he was now among the cars that were in an almighty scrap for the final qualifying places and none were going to give an inch as they traded hits. Guinchard had enough in hand that he could exercise caution where needed and still take a relatively comfortable win, from Wrench, Steven Burgoyne, Stoneman and Bennett. Burns broke free of the massive battle behind to finish sixth ahead of 618 Ben Lockwood and Roots, who did well not to lose more ground in his earlier moment. 880 Jack Witts, who joined the field as a reserve, and 155 Archie Grindey just got the better of 184 Aaron Vaight to grab the final two qualifying places. Another four reserves joined the grid of Semi-Final 2, which began with a pile-up extinguishing the hopes of local star 24 Jon Palmer and one-time world champion 101 Kelvyn Marshall, along with 411 Reece Winch. Out front, 7 Gordon Moodie was as much in command as Guinchard had been in the previous race. Outside front-row man 100 George MacMillan Jr had managed to get to the inside and slot into second ahead of fellow Scot 647 Chris Burgoyne. The three began to close up as they dealt with traffic and it was MacMillan who lost out as he tangled with 605 Richard Andrews. That promoted 915 Jamie Jones and 463 Ryan McGill into the top four but they were some way adrift of the multiple world champions out front. Moodie was largely untroubled en route to his seventh semi-final win in the past eight editions and Burgoyne was also comfortable in second. McGill tracked Jones for most of the race, unwilling to take too big a risk until the final bend; when he did make his move, it didn’t pay off, so Jones took third and McGill had to settle for fourth. 3 Liam Rennie got the best of a good scrap with 16 Craig Wallace and 667 Tommy Farrell to finish fifth. Having lost ground early on, 931 Rebecca Smith latched onto the trio, and when Farrell got turned into the wall exiting turn four, she was able to benefit. Smith came through to sixth, securing her World Final debut. Wallace was seventh, ahead of fellow Scot 629 Euan Millar. 126 Jamie Avery and 186 Kasey Jones completed the qualifiers. The meeting final takes on extra significance on Semi-Finals day. Not only did it carry the O’er the Border Trophy, it would also decide which semi-final’s qualifiers would start on the inside line for the next month’s World Final at Cowdenbeath. Thirty-four of the 38 qualifiers took up their places, with coloured ribbons carried by the World Finalists to signify which semi they had qualified from and, therefore, which ‘team’ they were on. Any hopes that Guinchard had of securing pole position for himself, without needing the assistance of others, were soon ended when he was pushed wide by Wrench and retired with a puncture. Rebecca Smith was also a victim of the frantic scrambling for places as she thundered into the Honiton bend wall with 890 Paul Rice and ended up on her roof. McGill had just taken over from long-time leader Purdy at the time, with the impressive Winch following through into second. As McGill raced clear on the resumption, Avery pushed Winch wide to take second but could not catch the flying Scotsman in front. McGill took the win from Avery and Winch with Moodie making it three drivers from SF2 in the top four, but ultimately he had McGill to thank for securing him pole position for the World Final. (The above report with credit to Crispen Rosevear) Results: Ht.1 844 Ht.2 (SF1) 183 1 674 Ht.3 (SF2) 7 647 915 CONS 1 727 CONS 2 411 Final 463 126 411 GN 390 A few of the many cars in the pits: Steven Gilbert Alfie Brimble John Hogg Mika Millar Charlie Fisher Phil Mann Neil Hooper Chris Burgoyne Connor Blake Liam Rennie Ryan Sheahan Gary Kitching Reece McIntosh Sy Harraway Jason McDonald Adam Langridge Gordon Moodie Gary Walker Team Burgoyne The line up for practice Buster had recently won the Irish Open Championship in the Saloons Two very smart Scanias Info for the drivers Results: Ht.1 844 Ht.2 (SF1) 183 1 674 Ht.3 (SF2) 7 647 915 CONS 1 727 CONS 2 411 Final 463 126 411 GN 390 Out and About 1 Dinorwic – Part 2 We continue our look around this magnificent site: The Duke and Duchess of York paid a visit to Dinorwic in 1899. The caption mentions them ascending one of the inclines. A commemorative plaque survives on this old doorway We are making our way to the lodgings for the men who did not live locally A few ruined buildings from an earlier time before the quarry existed are encountered An upside-down truck slowly being consumed by nature With a drum house in the background this lookout building was an ingenious use of the slate. With the slanted opening It enabled a clear view of approaching trucks on the tramway. A huge slate slab overhang would help to keep the rain off. A set of points at the base of the nearby incline Twin tracks We have arrived at Anglesey Barracks The barracks arrowed on the map Dinorwic Quarry employed over 3000 men at its peak and many of these workers lived locally or caught the quarry train on the Padarn Railway to work each day. However, men from Anglesey, in particular, required to lodge or barrack at the quarry each week. They left home early on a Monday morning and returned on Saturday afternoon. Provisions for the week were carried on their journey. One of their homes for the week was the Anglesey Barracks high up in the quarry. The barracks consist of two identical blocks of 11 units facing each other across an unmade street. Each unit has a living room with a fireplace, and a bedroom, with space for four men. Amenities were few - no electricity, soft mattresses, toilets or running water, just basic furniture and little else. Windows were provided only onto the street. This way of life survived until 1948 when an unannounced visit by the local Public Health Inspector saw the barracks condemned as unfit for human habitation. After that the quarrymen from Anglesey travelled daily by bus. The one toilet for the whole barracks! We make our way to the top of the nearest incline At the winding house The twin tracks converge Double cable reels The smell of bearing grease is still very strong – perfume of the gods! The large brake lever Looking down the incline A workshop dating from 1938 Rock art overlooking the Electric Mountain A very steep incline in the distance (arrowed) Double bore tunnels sealed up A significant length of steel cable An access hole has been made through the base of this large incline Old trucks left Sleepers and a rail chair remain The trackbed is the only thing not covered by the slate Old rails used as support A rare stone sleeper A man on the road to the left gives scale to the size of this huge pit Slate in all its beauty Looking down on a blondin tower with Llyn Peris in the background. Notice the old telegraph pole to the right made from an old rail. Stanton Ben demonstrates the reverse method of getting down to it as the slate was very loose at this point and there is a huge drop off at the tower A handy ladder to get to the top for a photo Timber, iron, and lichen make a colourful combination From below The long drop is beyond the building From a distance the drop can be seen! After a very careful descent down the slate a point lever and set of rails come into view The trackbed has slid into the abyss below The rails are suspended in mid-air The blondin tower above Another classic drum winding house A very long brake lever for leverage to the right Ben demonstrates the lever action Not a lot left of the brake band on the right end of the drum The bearing grease has stood the test of time and was just as if had been applied that day A product of Llewellyn Wynn Williams 1896 of Railway Appliances Works, Cathcart, Glasgow. 1912 Patent for railway signal levers. 1925 Llewellyn Wynn Williams named as the proprietor of Llewellyn and Sons, Houghton Bridge Waggon Works, Greencroft, West Darlington. These rails lead to an old weigh-house Manufactured by Henry Pooley One of the company’s products Henry Pooley and Son was a renowned British mechanical engineering firm, founded in Liverpool in the late 18th century (c. 1790), that became a dominant manufacturer of weighing machines and industrial scales. Known for introducing railway weighbridges around 1835, they were a major supplier to railway companies and industrial sites before merging with W & T Avery in 1913. Not a lot left of this one A tight squeeze to get in here All the weight above is supported on old rusting rails A very, very long way down! Ben considers the way ahead They sure did build them close to the edge! Another blondin tower with adjacent ladder Railchairs still in situ in this tunnel We took the right one at this junction At the end was a room with a view Back outside and another points lever Two brick halves Adamantine bricks were high-quality, durable refractory bricks produced by Charles Davison & Co. Ltd at the Ewloe Barn and Old Ewloe works in Buckley, Flintshire (North Wales), active from the late 19th century until 1951. Often stamped "Industria Britannica," "Adamantine," and "Made in England" (despite being made in Wales), these hard, specialized bricks were used for industrial purposes. 'Adamantine' possibly holds the record for imprinting no less than 76 letters on one brick! Old Ewloe Brickworks, Buckley in the parish of Hawarden. The brickworks known locally as Davison's Top Yard, and Davison's Bottom Yard were Old Ewloe and Ewloe Barn Brickworks respectively. Etna Brickworks was taken over by Charles Davison who used the clay for his other works and Etna, near to Old Ewloe, was also called Davison's Top Yard. Charles was one of the promoters of the Buckley Railway Company. He opened his first works at Ewloe Barn about 1840 and subsequently the Old Ewloe Works in Etna Road in 1862 adjacent to John Royle & Co.'s Etna Works. Davison's company also acquired the nearby Globe Works. The business was then conducted successively under the Hurlbutts, the Steins, and The General Refactories. Ultimately, only Old Ewloe remained and was closed down during the 1970s. After complete demolition and clearance, the site was used as a council refuse dump. From about 1996 the whole area was transformed into The Etna Park and Heritage Trail. Buckley was the centre of Flint's brick industry with around 25 brickworks and home to some very well-known Welsh brands. The rails holding this lot up are buckling under the strain! An engine shed with pit Some more view of the wastelands at the spoil tips Trucks left behind Steel cables and rails from what once was The remains of two railway wagons can be seen at the bottom of this incline. These both provided a level surface on which the small quarry wagons could sit. The descent of laden quarry wagons on one of the large wagons hauled up the empty wagons on the adjacent track. They are steeper than they look Pulley with cable at the top The view down A lone wagon, twisted rails, and a points lever complete this scene of abandonment A wet day saw us back again for a short while until the driving rain and wind made photo opportunities difficult: A grey-looking Llyn Peris with the trackbed of the Padarn Railway above The access road to the Electric Mountain A very steep twin incline with the remains of the level surface railway wagons at the bottom The incline from a distance shows how steep it is They have the right idea A barren and grey landscape A lone photographer under his umbrella at the base of this mass of rock A lonely tree battles the elements Fully loaded trucks left behind when the quarry shut Discarded drive-wheels An old winding house in the foreground stands guard over the newer facility below This completes our look for now at this truly spectacular site. After four visits we have still not seen it all! It ranks as one of my all-time favourite explores. Many thanks to Stanton Ben whose suggestion to visit it, and his recces beforehand made for many memorable hours in his knowledgeable company. He is truly a slate guru! Out and About 2 A day at Duxford On the 29th April 2025 a group of us met at Epping station for a highly anticipated trip to the Imperial War Museum’s Duxford facility aboard a completely restored 59-year old, front-entrance Routemaster (BEA 2), looking splendid in its BEA livery. The regular commuters were confused when a non-red bus turned up! Glorious weather accompanied us throughout the day. We had a good high-speed run up to Duxford; the bus performed faultlessly and was very comfortable as we headed along the M11. On arrival the bus was driven on-site to be parked up next to BEA-liveried Hawker-Siddeley HS 121 Trident 2E G-AVFB, which dated from 1967 – just a year younger than our bus – for a unique photoshoot. Not since (or even during?) their working lives had they been pictured together. G-AVFB was built at Hatfield with three Rolls-Royce engines and was the second of 50 Trident 2 aircraft destined for BEA. It was the first airliner with fully automatic blind-landing equipment, able to land in all weathers, even in fog. She first flew on the 2nd November 1967 and was delivered to the airline on the 6th June 1968. Between March 1972 and May 1977, she was leased to Cyprus Airlines. Upon return, she was placed into storage until December 1977, when she went back into service with British Airways until March 1982. She was then stored at London Heathrow until entering preservation at IWM Duxford on the 13th June 1982. BEA 2 was the first BEA Routemaster to enter service between West London Air Terminal and London Heathrow airport in October 1966. It was one of 65 purchased by BEA but operated on its behalf by London Transport from Stamford Brook Garage. Every one of these buses was needed for the peak summer traffic. Approximately 30 of the original 65 survive to this day. BEA 2 was repainted in 1970 into the clockwork orange and white, and succumbed to British Airways’ blue and white corporate colours in 1973. The bus has been repainted in its original livery which it shares with BEA 1, also preserved. The opening of the Piccadilly Line extension to Heathrow and the relatively poor location of the West London Air Terminal ultimately spelt the end of the airport service, but BA found a willing buyer in LT as it wrestled with the engineering problems of the 1970s BEA 2 became RMA 14 and moved on to being used as an Aldenham staff bus based at Fulwell Garage and, ultimately, was transferred to Bus Engineering Ltd. This meant that BEA 2 avoided losing its staircase as others did on being converted into driver training buses; indeed, it managed to retain most of its original features. After a further sale to Green Rover near Watford, it gained RM blind boxes and was used until 1993. After that, it passed through several hands for preservation, before landing in 2019 with the current owners in the BEA2/RM5 Group. The restoration work started but soon coincided with the Covid lockdown. This was pretty terminal for any sense of budget or timescales to fulfil the ambition to restore the bus back to its original condition. That has now been achieved, with fine attention to detail. It is the intention to make BEA 2 available for the usual round of events in the bus preservation world. The only constraint has been working through all the mechanical issues which have surfaced on a bus which basically has not been used for 30 years; but they are pretty much there now. Viewed from the inside of a VC10 parked alongside This aircraft was operated by British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) from 1965 to 1979 and is in the colours of BOAC-Cunard, a brief partnership between the airline and the shipping line. It also starred in the airline’s 1965 advertising campaign – “swift, silent, serene”. On retirement from passenger service, many VC10s served with the Royal Air Force as transports and tankers until 2013. A great rear end Inside we start with the mighty Tornado. This brought back memories as I worked on this when new at Warton. Panavia Tornado GR4 ZA469/029 was delivered here by road from RAF Marham, Norfolk. This is the second example of the Tornado ‘bomber’ on show here – Gulf War veteran GR1B ZA465 is resident in the AirSpace hangar. ZA469 at Blackpool Airport Fordson WOT1 6x4 Barrage Balloon Winch Truck This Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3 crash-landed in Sussex during the Luftwaffe’s last major daylight raid on London in 1940. While on a bomber escort mission it was suddenly attacked over Eastbourne by Spitfires of 92 Squadron. When the engine failed the aircraft was belly-landed in a field. The pilot was taken into custody by the local Home Guard and police. His aircraft was sent on a tour of North America to raise funds for Britain’s war effort. The tail fin and engine are from a Heinkel He 111 E recovered from a frozen lake in Norway. The aircraft is believed to have landed there due to engine trouble during the German invasion of Norway in April 1940. Supermarine Spitfire Mk 1A This Spitfire was flown by Geoffrey Stephenson, commander of 19 Squadron when he was shot down over Dunkirk on 26th May 1940. Crash-landing on a beach near Calais he was captured and held as a prisoner-of-war until 1945. Hawker Hurricane Mk I V7497 This Hurricane flew against the Luftwaffe in late September 1940, serving with 501 Squadron. It was shot down over Kent whilst being flown by Pilot Officer Everett Rogers, who bailed out unhurt. Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG 21 This Soviet supersonic jet fighter entered service in 1959. It was designed to be faster than any other production fighter aircraft at the time. This aircraft was in service with the Hungarian Air Force. The Royal Anglian Regiment Memorial Second World War Fighter Pen The fighter pens were built to protect RAF aircraft from bomb blasts during the Battle of Britain in 1940. It was later used by the United States Army Air Force’s 78th Fighter Group, who were based here at Duxford from 1943-1945. To protect the fighters, twelve pens were built on three sides of the airfield. Each pen could accommodate two aircraft, so 24 fighters could be sheltered in total. The pens were often placed near areas of natural camouflage, such as hedges or, in the case of this one, a line of trees, to make them more difficult to spot from the air. Two pilots chatting on top of a fighter pen at Duxford, which is protecting a Hawker Typhoon Mk. IB of 181 Squadron, late 1942 Plenty of military kit on show Bristol Bloodhound Mk 2 This anti-aircraft guided missile was part of Britain’s air defence system from 1958 to 1991. This one came from No 85 Squadron at RAF West Raynham in Norfolk. German Tiger 1 Heavy Tank Soviet T34/85 Medium Tank Soviet Josef Stalin 2M Heavy Tank PLUTO Pump (Pipe Line Under The Ocean) PLUTO was laid across the English Channel to provide the Allied armies with the fuel vital to sustain their offensive. Pumps were used at a series of relay stations to maintain a constant pressure and flow of fuel. German Jagdpanther tank destroyer Although only 382 were built, the ‘hunting panther’ was the most successful German tank destroyer of the Second World War. This example was a command version with provision for extra radios. The rippled plaster coating was applied for protection against anti-tank mines. It was knocked out by Allied gunfire in North-West Europe and brought to England for evaluation by the British Army at Chertsey. Bedford OYD This British 3 ton 4x2 general service truck was used until the 1960s. One of the most common British vehicles of the Second World War, 72,385 were built before 1945. Thornycroft Antar Tank Transporter Originally developed as a private venture the Antar was, with modifications, adopted by the British Army in the 1950s. They replaced wartime units and served until the mid-1980s. Centurion Tank Mark 3 The Centurion was the first British post-war battle tank. It first saw action in the Korean War and has since proved itself to be one of the best tanks ever built, serving around the world. International Harvester M386 TEL This American Tractor, Erector, Launcher (TEL) vehicle, based on the M54 5ton truck series, was used to operate the Honest John missile. Thirty-six were in service with the British Army from 1961 to 1982. The Honest John nuclear missile was in service with US and British armies from 1953 to 1974. It is an unguided rocket fired form the mobile launcher. With a range of up to 23 miles its purpose was to destroy areas in the rear of the enemy front line. GKN Saxon (Internal Security Patrol Vehicle) Developed by GKN the Saxon ‘battlefield taxi’ armoured personnel carrier Patrol was an upgraded variant used for counter-insurgency operations. This one served in Afghanistan during 2007-2010. This internal railway line is a 60cm narrow-gauge trench railway system. It was established to demonstrate the light railways used during the First World War to transport troops and ammunition. The line operated for a short period in the early 1990s (around 1992), featuring two Motor Rail locomotives and coaches in a "top-and-tailed" arrangement. The track originally featured a loop at the western end of the airfield and a spur running into the Land Warfare Hall. The line is no longer operational, having ceased operation over 25 years ago due to issues with running near taxiways and the construction of a fuel storage complex over part of the track. Some track remains in-situ, particularly around the Land Warfare Hall area. The museum holds War Department Light Railway (WDLR) equipment, including a protected 40HP Motor Rail (LR3085) and a 20hp Motor Rail. There was previously a plan to run a Baldwin 4-6-0T steam locomotive on the line, but it was never realized, and the locomotive was later transferred to the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway. The Land Warfare Hall, where the railway equipment is displayed, has been subject to closure and redevelopment, leaving the future of these specific rail exhibits in question. The American Air Museum at IWM Duxford stands as a memorial to the 30,000 members of the US Army Air Forces who died while flying from Britain during the Second World War. It tells the story of the people - from civilian to Private to President - whose lives were shaped by their experiences of conflict from the First World War right up to the present day. The American Air Museum is also home to the biggest collection of American military aircraft on public display outside the United States. In reality this is 43-31171 but is on display at the IWM Duxford to represent B-25J 43-4064 that served with the 488th BS, 340th BG, 12th Air Force in the latter stages of the Second World War from its base in Corsica. This was the BG that formed the inspiration for Joseph Heller's satirical novel Catch-22. Heller served as a bombardier in the 488th Bomb Squadron and had extensive experience flying bombing missions in Mitchells. Boeing B-52D Stratofortress American strategic bomber military aircraft, built by Boeing Airplane Company in 1957 and used by Strategic Air Command (SAC), United States Air Force (USAF) on over 200 missions from 1957-1983. Completed 14,000 flying hours during its service including flying 24 hour nuclear alert missions from 1957-1966, and periodic duties in South-East Asia during the Vietnam War from 1966-1978. This included flights on Operation Arc Light close air support missions, on strategic operations against North Vietnam, Operation Linebacker (May -December 1972) and Operation Linebacker II (December 1972). General Dynamics F-111E A veteran of Operation Desert Storm. Many F-111E’s were operated by the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) at RAF Upper Heyford in the UK from 1970 until 1993. The 20th TFW conducted numerous training exercises during the Cold War and stood ready to go into bat for NATO against the Soviets and the Warsaw Pact nations. Fortunately, it was never required in this role but 20th TFW F-111E’s acted as an airborne reserve in 1986 to F-111F bombers during Operation El Dorado Canyon airstrikes against Libya. Over the years a number of F-111E received upgraded avionics and engines. The type also saw service during the Gulf War from 1990 to 1991 and the last were retired from the USAF inventory in 1995. This particular F-111E (67-012) was the last operated by the 20th TFW at Upper Heyford. Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is the highest-flying and fastest military jet aircraft in history. The SR-71 Blackbird at IWM Duxford has flown higher than any other. It set the world record for sustained altitude flight in 1976, flying at 85,000 feet. Blackbird was developed in the 1960s as a high-flying Cold War reconnaissance jet. It is still considered by many as the most advanced aircraft of its type, flying at three times the speed of sound, faster than any weapon that could be fired at it. Boeing B-29A Superfortress A former United States Air Force B-29A, it was recovered from the China Lake range in 1979, restored to flying condition as G-BHDK and flown across the Atlantic to Duxford, arriving in March 1980. Painted as 461748 to represent an aircraft of the 501st Bomb Group United States Army Air Forces and named 'It's Hawg Wild'. On loan from the United States Navy. 9.2 inch Coastal Defence Gun Originally installed at the Spur Battery in Gibraltar during 1902, this gun was typical of those used across the British Empire to protect strategically important coastal sites. The Battery was 1,130ft above sea level and 250ft below the top of the Gibraltar Rock. It was used in action during the First World War when it took part in the bombardment of German Submarines spotted off the coast on 31st December 1915. The barrel was replaced in 1929 and in 1935 it was converted from a Mk5 to a Mk7, with increased armour and updated control systems. It was last fired in 1973 when 29 rounds were fired at a towed target, which received several direct hits. Replaced by an Exocet guided missile system, it was dismantled by Royal Engineers and installed at Duxford during 1982. A very good day here with more to see but BEA2 is awaiting our high-speed return trip! Next time: “Rivals Reunited” Some beauties from the Driffield show

🏁 F1 Stock Car W+Y Finale 🏁 To whet the appetite of the New Season, as is tradition, the opening meeting will host the Trackstar White & Yellow Championship… the race worth over £1000, with thanks to T.M. Browne Construction and Building Maintenance for the additional sponsorship across the top eight places and £50 lap leader bonuses for lap 1 to 9! Plus a massive thank you to Stephen Lawson for the continued sponsorship of tyres for the top three finishers. The F1 Stock Car season gets underway Saturday 14 March, we hope to see you trackside. Kings Lynn White & Yellows Final 2025; qualifiers are below. White Craig Banwell (567) 1 Freya Finnikin (550) Brian Soule (171) 2 Jason Robinson (162) Mark Allen (301) 3 Thomas Balmer (63) Ellie Dickerson (403) 4 Danny Mitchell (404) Craig Liddle (375) 5 Brooke Kitson (523) Jordy Pikkert (H662) 6 Peter Collins (264) Ryan Moore (125) 7 Tom Brown (44) Marc Clayton (499) 8 Nathan Harrison (299) Ryan Matts (10) 9 Tom Taylor (61) Jake Swan (538) 10 Richard Marriott (145) Ash Patch (388) 11 George Crabtree (412) Richard Dickerson (403) 12 Jason Cull (524) Jamie Bower (585) 13 Yellow Colin Goodswen (372) 14 Oliver Wadsworth (31) Thomas Rogers (269) 15 Will Adams (545) Mick Haworth (235) 16 Sam Makim (93) Adam Joyce (157) 17 Michael Allard (349) Chris Brocksopp (338) 18 Jonathan Davison (469) Richard Woods (268) 19 Paul Hopkins (278) Neil Long (79) 20 Karl Mosley (82) Rob Plant (364) 21 Harley Halton (414) Blue Bradley Blythe (352) 22 Sierd De Vries (554) Joelan Maynard (151) 23 Thomas Andrew (453) Jake Harrhy (345) 24 Lewis Hunter (22) Henry Robson (67) 25 Hindrik Gommers (H317) Arjen De Wilde (H511) 26

Bring it on - the new Season is nearly here. Stock Car Racing is Magic …over 70 years of Thrills, spills, racing and crashing where bumping the opposition out the way; is all part of the game and spectacle! The big and brutal F1 Stock Cars, loud and proud Stock Car action, will start their 2026 season right here and what a year for the F1s we had in 2025 and we’re sure that will continue in to 2026. The awesome F2 Stock Cars will be on the line up and racing alongside are the superb bumper-antics of the 1400 Stock Cars who compete in their Gold Roof event here later this season. A great night of Stock Cars, not to be missed. As seen on Top Gear in 2022! Noise, colour, smell, friends, family and . . . awesome Short Oval Motorsport. It really has to be seen live to be believed. Event and driver booking details will be available Tuesday before the event, the Spectator gate will open from 3pm, first race 5pm. The arena boasts great viewing all around (plenty of under cover viewing too!), FREE on site and overflow parking, disabled viewing, licensed bars, ample food outlets and other great facilities. Please do not park on the main road outside the Arena on race days; this is causing issues with traffic and resulting in a number of complaints. There is an onsite car park and an overflow parking field. Car parking at King’s Lynn is provided free of charge, please do use this. We would also to like ask everyone to be considerate of our neighbouring Industrial area and to park respectfully if using that space. Advance tickets are not necessary, but are recommended and cheaper than at the box office and are available now - remember kids 11 and under go free when booked in advance https://www.stockcar-racing.co.uk/ Lets get ready to rumble! Action packed entertainment for family and friends at the Adrian Flux Arena.

BriSCA News added to the Magazines section of the Memorabilia page. Stock Car Magazine covers from 1968 and 1969 added to the Magazines section of the Memorabilia page. Photos of Terri-Ann Smith, Rini van Batenburg, and Mick Quinlan. Oval Track Classic and Stock Car & Hot Rod Heritage added to the Magazines section of the Memorabilia page. Photos of Dave Fox, Rob Speak. Programmes from Aldershot 1960. Stock Car Magazine from 2010-2012 added to the Memorabilia page. Loads of programme covers from Hartlepool. Local press coverage and programme cover of Weymouth 2nd September 1955. Photos of Jaro van de Vondervoort, Sven Woudenberg, Wim Peeters, Peter Susan, Stefan van Rossum. Info about Jim Wilkinson.

Hi there folks. Welcome to episode 6. In this one: Section 1: F2 pics from Taunton Section 2: Out and About – Dinorwic/Dinorwig Quarry – Part 1 Section 3: Odds and Ends – Blackpool Transport Spot Section 1 Taunton Monday August 11th 2025 The summer season’s second Monday evening fixture at Smeatharpe brought a modest showing of BriSCA F2 Stock Cars as they made their last appearance at the circuit before the World Semi Finals date later in the month. The 2/3 format saw Heat wins for 411 Reece Winch, 820 John Ovenden, & 980 Charlie Lobb. The Silverline Trophy final, with its customary clutch start, started badly for a gaggle of blue tops who tangled and slid to the fence on the exit of turn four, and a caution period was ultimately needed for that, as well as 83 Sy Harraway sending himself and 12 Craig Driscoll into the Honiton bend plating. When the race resumed, 126 Jamie Avery incurred damage and retired, which left 980 Lobb as the clear favourite for the Taffy & Bryn Thomas Trophy series. Lobb lost out to 24 Jon Palmer before the midway point as they continued the pursuit of race leader 654 Harley Soper. As the race moved into the final third, Palmer and Lobb edged past Soper, and that is the way it stayed to the chequered, with Palmer winning the glorious trophy originally donated to the sport by his father, the late Les Palmer. With sponsorship of the meeting from Weston & Edwards (including Ablemove), two removal lorries ferried the top three on the lap of honour, which made for an eye-catching spectacle. Ht.1 - 411 Ht.2 - 820 Consolation - 980 Final Top 3 - 24 980 654 GN - 980 Engine change for Josh Weare following practice Billy Webster made a rare appearance and borrowed one of Jon Palmer’s cars A previous driver to have used the wing was Mike James Jon raced his black car Tom Shilling Alfie Flecken up to blue following his Final victory the previous Monday here One of the smart removal lorries from the sponsors The Final top 3 had their lap of honour in the other vehicle James Rygor was helping Craig Driscoll. A bit to do after the Final when Sy Harraway fired himself and Craig into the fence. Out and About Dinorwic Quarry– Part 1 Dinorwic quarry is located between Llanberis and Dinorwic, in North Wales. It covers more than 700 acres of land and at its peak was the second largest producer of slate in the world (nearby Penrhyn was in first place). The first attempts to extract slate here commenced in 1787 when a consortium took out a lease on the site from landowner Assheton Smith. The quarry was moderately successful but ran into financial problems due to higher tax and transportation costs resulting through the Anglo-French War in the early 1800s. Post 1809 under a new business partnership headed up by Smith himself, the quarry started to flourish. The slate vein at Dinorwic is almost vertical and at or near the surface of the mountain, which allowed it to be worked via a series of stepped galleries. Quarrying was spread across a number of sites including Adelaide, Braich, Bryn Glas, Garrett, Turner, Victoria, and Wellington to name but a few. This lasted until the 1830s. The construction of a 2ft-gauge horse-drawn tramway, north to Port Dinorwic in 1824, was pivotal in this success. Whilst this solved the transportation for the quarries above with the tramway coming in from the north-west at around 1,000ft, for the quarries below the tram line including Wellington, Ellis, Turner, Harriet and Victoria, transportation of slate remained an issue. This was solved in 1848 when the lakeside 4ft gauge Padarn railway was built, along with the Padarn-Peris tramway extension. It remained the main transport link for the quarry before closing in 1961. Map of the quarry: The current form of the quarry is little changed from that of the time of World War One, apart from the enlarging of the actual quarry faces, and deepening of the sinks. The quarry was divided into two main sections centred each with their own series of inclines, traversing from the south-west upwards in a north-east direction. The Garret section had nine inclines numbered A1 to A9 with a total of 20 levels coming off them on both sides. At the bottom was Vivian Level at approximately 600ft, and at the top Llangristiolus Level at 2,000ft. Gradients varied from a relatively gentile 1 in 4.1 (A3) to a very steep 1 in 2.2 (A6 and A7). South-east of Garret was the Braich section. Here there were 10 inclines numbered C1 to C10 with, like Garret, 20 levels in total. At the bottom, around the 400ft mark was Sinc Fawr. Braich boasted the steepest incline (C8) at a drum house creaking 1 in 1.9. The total of 40 stepped galleries were joined by a vast internal tramway system. At its peak, in the late 1800s, the quarry employed over 3,000 men and was producing an average of 100,000 tonnes of slate per annum. This was linked to the world-wide boom in demand for roofing slate which were exported all over the UK, Europe, and Northern America. While the quarry’s internal tramways had utilised horsepower up until around the 1860 the quarry then started to use small steam engines. De Winton's of Caernarfon initially supplied five small vertical-boilered steam engines. From 1870 the Hunslet Engine Company also supplied over twenty engines making them the quarry’s main engine providers. The quarry used three “classes” of engines. The majority were “Alice” class and worked in and around the quarry. Two “Port” class engines were larger and designed to work at Port Dinorwic. Finally, two “Tram” or “Mills” class worked on marshalling duties on the Padarn–Peris Tram Line that linked the quarry mills to the Padarn Railway. As late as the 1960s the quarry still had around twenty engines, but these were sold off during the decade. The remaining four engines were sold off when the quarry finally closed in 1969. Built in 1898, George B working at the quarry in 1966 (now rebuilt and in steam at Bala Lake Railway): Quarrymen with a loaded 'flat car' of slate - 'slediad' - ready to be transported to the splitting and dressing sheds, Dinorwic Quarry, early 1960s: And team shot of Dinorwic slate miners, circa 1960: After World War One the demand for slate had peaked and started a slow decline. By 1930 the workforce employed at the quarry had dropped to 2,000 and continued to fall both pre- and post-World War Two. During the 50s and 60s it became increasingly difficult to extract any more slate from the already sheer rock galleries. This was down, in part, to 170 years of unsystematically dumped slate waste which had begun to slide into some of the quarry’s major pit workings. This, and further decline in the demand for slate meant the writing was on the wall for the quarry and the Welsh slate industry in general. The final nail in the coffin for Dinorwic was “The Great Fall” of 1966 in the Garret area of the quarry. It resulted in production almost ceasing permanently. However, production did restart via clearing some of the waste from the Garret fall. Requiring a new access road from the terraces to the rock fall, the yield was small, and all production stopped in 1969. The quarry has since been partly reused as part of the Dinorwic power station, a pumped storage hydroelectric scheme. Construction of ‘Electric Mountain’ began in 1974 and was welcomed by the community for its employment opportunities for the area. Opening in 1984 it is regarded as one of the most imaginative engineering and environmental projects of its time. The quarry's workshop at Gilfach Ddu were acquired by the council and leased to the National Museum and Galleries of Wales. It now houses the National Slate Museum. As of 28th July, 2021 it came under the UNESCO heritage status granted to “The Slate Landscape of North West Wales”. It details six specific areas and Maenofferen is included as the second location described as “Dinorwic Slate Quarry Mountain Landscape”. How this will play out in terms of access to the quarry etc remains to be seen. This diagram drawn by I.C. Castledine is a useful summary of the different levels and inclines: We’ll start our multi-day explore with an evening walk around Llanberis: The Vivian Quarry table inclines This flight of former table inclines brought slate from the nearby Vivian quarry. The second lowest of them, the V2 incline, was restored to working order in 1998 by the National Slate Museum, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The V2 incline, built in the 1870s, has two large railway wagons, both providing a level surface on which small quarry wagons can sit. The descent of laden quarry wagons on one of the large wagons hauled up the empty wagons on the adjacent track. A cable connected the large wagons via a winding house at the top, where brakes regulated the speed. The incline fell into dereliction in 1937. The museum occasionally demonstrates the V2 incline in operation, using a motor because there’s no longer a supply of slate at the top for gravity operation. At the foot of V2 is a traverser The rails carry a low wagon, large enough for one quarry wagon at a time. An empty slate wagon arriving on the curved entry/exit track on the right would be loaded onto the traverser wagon and moved to one of the short tracks leading to the table incline. The procedure was reversed for loaded wagons arriving on V2. Table inclines, also known as tank inclines, were typically used for some of the steepest descents in slate quarries. There were several in the large Dinorwic quarry, higher up the mountain. Where the gradient was less severe, inclines were constructed with narrow-gauge tracks on which the quarry wagons ran directly. The old photo shows the V-series inclines on the hillside. At the bottom are quarry wagons loaded onto transporter wagons on the Padarn Railway. In the bottom right corner is the bridge which carried waste rock to the lakeside for tipping, until replaced by Pont Vivian c.1900. 1g The quarry pit has become the deep lagoon now used by the Vivian Dive Centre. Divers can see surviving quarry huts and other equipment deep under the surface. The ‘Blondin’ aerial ropeway can be seen above the water. The Padarn Railway From Gilfach Ddu a pair of narrow-gauge railway tracks leads south-eastwards up into the woods. This was A1, the lowest in a flight of 10 inclines which brought slate down from the Garret side of the giant Dinorwic slate quarry. This 1902 photo shows an improvised royal train here, conveying the future King George V and Queen Mary on a tour of the quarry. These inclines were also powered by gravity. The weight of descending laden wagons hauled empty wagons up on the adjacent track. A cable connected both sets of wagons and passed over a winding drum at the top, where brakes regulated the wagons’ speed. A similar set of inclines existed at the far end (the Braich, or “branch”, side) of the Dinorwic quarry. The inclines transported slates from workings up to 2,200ft above sea level. Significant civil engineering was required to maintain even descents, with towering dry-stone walls constructed in places. Initially slates were transported from the quarry on tracks and tramways higher up. The land at Gilfach Ddu was built out into the lake by dumping slate waste and became the upper terminus of the Padarn Railway in 1843. From then on, the laden wagons which arrived from the upper levels were placed in larger wagons here for the trip to Y Felinheli, where the slate was placed into ships. Slate which arrived on A1 was processed at the large slate mill at the top of A4 incline. In 1894 a fatal accident occurred when the A6 brake lever snapped off under the hand of brakesman Griffith Owen (because of a flawed bolt). Six men, contravening company rules, were riding on the descending wagons. Two jumped off when they realised the problem. The others held tight and were badly injured when the wagons slammed into a wall at the bottom. Worse was to befall a youth from Clwtybont named JR Owen. He was the sole rider on three empty wagons on the adjacent track. Reaching the top, the wagons flew through the air to the top of the winding drum with such violence that they dislodged the winding-house roof. Griffith found the youth’s body about 50 ft beyond the shed and was too traumatised to describe what he’d witnessed. The owners of the extensive Dinorwic slate quarry built this hospital in 1860, partly out of concern for the welfare of their employees but also to reduce the time employees would miss from their work if they had to travel to the hospital in Bangor and back. Some accidents left men unable to work again, others involved injuries such as bone fractures or loss of fingers. The hospital had its own operating theatre for surgical procedures such as amputation. In 1900 it was one of the first British hospitals to receive an X-ray machine. It ceased to function as a hospital after the National Health Service’s formation in 1948, continuing as a first aid centre until the quarry closed in 1969. The second supervisor here, Dr Thomas Hughes, commuted to the hospital along a lane which led down the hill from his house, Hafoty. The lane, still visible in the woods, became known as the 'Doctor's Road'. In 1890 Robert Mills-Roberts (1862-1935) became the hospital’s surgeon. He hailed from Penmachno, near Betws-y-coed. He had played football (as goalkeeper) for Aberystwyth University, and joined Preston North End in 1888. In that season the club won the championship without losing any matches. The following year he was a member of the Preston team which won the FA Cup. He played for Wales eight times. In his late 30s, he served as a British Army medic in the Boer War and the First World War. Like other doctors here, his appointment was under the control of the quarry management. Dr Mills Roberts was not an entirely independent witness at official inquiries. He had data showing that lung diseases were much more common in quarrymen than in other men. He sent the figures to the quarry manager in 1893 with the advice to “sit on them”. The Mortuary Corpses were transported on old trucks to and from the mortuary behind Part of the Padarn Railway The old engine shed for the Padarn Railway The Glan y Bala Tunnel This tunnel was constructed through the bluff to connect the lower part of Dinorwic Quarry with Gilfach Ddu. Later it was partly replaced by a cutting now occupied jointly by the Llanberis extension of the Padarn Railway and the modern road. Today, the tunnel is used as a cable route from the Dinorwic HEP Station. The tunnel arrowed with the massive Dinorwic site to the right The Llanberis Lake Railway operates on a section of the Padarn Railway trackbed It is the next day now so let us head to the magnificent Dinorwic site. This other-worldly place just overwhelms the senses in every way: A glorious summer morning greets us This building once housed one of Dinorwic’s slate mills. It covers the same area as two football pitches and its size reflects the ambitions of the quarry owners. There were three slate mills located here. The massive No 3 Shed Mill opened in January 1927 (although the date stone makes reference to 1925). It was the largest of the three mills with its 60 sawing tables and 60 dressing machines. On a weekly basis, the quarrymen teams would bring and stack their finished slates in shoulder-high piles, into the open area next to No 3 Shed. It was powered by electricity and produced roofing slates. Another mill known as Ffiar Injan or Fire Engine stood further south-east. It produced slabs of slate and took its name from the steam engine that powered it. Ffiar Injan was demolished in 1970. These mills were unpleasant places to work. They were cold and covered in dust. There were so many accidents that the quarry had its own hospital which we saw last night. The Electric Mountain Acclaimed as a pioneering engineering and environmental success story, Dinorwic Power Station sits within the mountain, Elidir, previously the site of the Dinorwic Slate Quarry. It took almost 10 years to complete the project which involved the building of 10 miles of tunnels, the removal of 12 million tonnes of slate, the pouring of 1 million tonnes of concrete and the use of 4,500 tonnes of steel. The decision to site the station in Elidir has reversed the mountain's fortunes. Once, the slate quarried from its sides provided prosperity for the inhabitants of Llanberis and Dinorwic but the advent of synthetic materials meant the quarries fell into disuse and unemployment followed. Now, the Dinorwic station has provided training and work for large numbers of local people whilst ensuring that the environment has been protected or restored. Behold just a small part of the site: Looking up the A6 and A7 inclines of the Garret side of the quarry. The slate structures built across the inclines are access points to the buried electric cabling that runs up the incline in the concrete troughing This pyramidal incline looks like an Inca temple Tunnel linking Sinc Harriet and Sinc Galed Drill mark from where the explosives were packed in The tunnel leads to another ‘double’ tunnel which in turn leads to the California area. Stanton Ben gives a sense of scale. Ben in the foreground shows how massive the area is at this point The hole on the left wall is the exit point of a tunnel. A chain can be seen hanging from it. The view down Penrhydd incline with a rusted horizontal incline platform visible In the far distance are the 422 steps of the Fox's path link to the north (Garret) side of the quarry with the south (Braich) side. Located to the right of the smithy on the Penrhydd level, they rise 300 feet to reach the Pen Garret level. They were built to enable quarrymen to access the higher workings of the quarry. Brake drum, shoes, and linkage of the Penrhydd incline drum house. It was built to lower slate slab removed from Sinc Penrhydd to the Mills level below for processing and worked entirely on the basis of gravity A view at the bottom of the Penrhydd incline Another flight of steps All sorts of kit lying around half-buried An old engine shed An old pulley Amazing colours which continually changed with the sun’s angle Another incline An old axle Arrowed is a climber at the top of this wall A tram tunnel What is left of a wooden sledge Tunnel junction Incline platform A close up of the steel cable at this drum house The sheaf wheel with the brakeman’s control lever behind A climber seen through the connecting arch cut in order to gain access to a number of galleries Inside the former Compressor House and Workshops for Penrhydd level Let us ascend the Fox’s path The different levels can be seen here. Notice how small the two climbers look near the steps at the bottom. Zig-zags and paths everywhere Blondin winding drum inside one of the winding houses, pillaged for its bearings on closure of the quarry in 1969 The caban A set of points A double incline Arrowed is a miners cabin on a the edge of a big drop A blondin complete with cable There are untold amounts of ladders, chains and knife-edge walkways that the men used to get access to the slate. Here is the top of one of the sets of fearsome ladders. I gave one set a go both down & up Halfway However, there was no way I was going to risk it on these: This ladder needed a shimmy down a chain to reach the top rung A long drop from this one One set had pulled out of the rock at the base and was only held by the top rung There would have been no coming back from a fall into the yawning abyss below Back on safer ground: The remains of a stator assy from a large Ingersol Rand compressor The compressor house The Ingersol Rand compressor The workshop The later Tilghmans compressor B Trwnc incline A lone drum house in the Matilda district The 1 in 3.6 C6 gravity incline to Egypt level. Unlike other inclines at the quarry, instead of the drum being located in a drum house, here it was positioned below the trackway bed. It was operated from a steering cabin using a device similar to that of a ship's wheel. The drum house at the C7 incline was the only other incline that used this set-up. Looking down on Pen Garret from Taylor level A blondin tower and hut Workers mess rooms So on to the jewel in Dinorwic Quarry’s crown; Australia Mill: When you enter the mill it is an awesome sight. Originally opened on 12th March 1923, it contained 36 Ingersoll Rand saw tables and was one of 14 sheds in the quarry. The sawing tables were housed in the main, central part of the mill: The line shaft to work the saws was housed behind the back wall, powered by a compressor. It would revolve along with the belts fixed to each of the wheels along it. It then fed through the apertures in the wall to work a pair of saw tables. After being cut, the slate was then taken to the slate dressing area on the front side of the mill. This area is empty as all of the slate was dressed by hand and no trimming machines were ever installed: When in full flow the mill would fill up with a thick cloud of slate dust. Despite their medical officer's assurance that slate dust was harmless, the company's growing awareness of the long-term effects of pneumoconiosis led to them fitting a dust removal system. Many, however, saw this as merely a token gesture due to it being less than effective. Ex-slate cutter Eric Jones testifies to this: “By mid-afternoon, the air would be so full of dust that it was often difficult to breathe or to see colleagues across the room.” From the far end Railway connected both sides of the shed to facilitate the movement of the raw slate into the mill and the dressed slate out of the mill to be transported down the C5 incline pitch The Australia level C5 drum house. It was in remarkably good condition until recently when a storm caused the roof to completely cave in The winding drum The steel cables run under the railway line Looking down the C5 incline The far end of the cutting shed with turntable pit in the foreground The following nine pics are of the end of the line at this level where the slate spoil was tipped: We'll finish this part of the explore with this superb video which gives an insight into how tough the men and the conditions were: The explore to be continued. Odd & Ends Blackpool Transport Spot Blackpool Transport 857 is a Leyland Olympian ONLXB/1RH with Eastern Coach Works bodywork, converted to open-top. It was new as a closed-top bus in 1987 as London Buses L257, passing to Arriva London in due course. Withdrawn in 2005, it passed to dealer Ensign where it was converted to open-top and sold to Blackpool for City Sightseeing duties. After the rest of the City Sightseeing open-toppers had been withdrawn in 2012, 857 was retained and painted into green and cream in 2014. In January 2025 Blackpool Transport sold this bus on. There is no information as to where it went unfortunately. As Arriva London L257 (D257 FYM) at Victoria 11/2/01 857 seen in Fleetwood during the last year of Blackpool City Sightseeing operations in 2012 A few spares for the 1930s trams on the shelf here at the Rigby Road depot. The paintshop has served the depot well over many years but owing to Blackpool Transport’s unexplained decision to withdraw the Heritage fleet it has now become a storage area. The future looks bleak as there are plans to demolish this, and the bodyshop next door. In April 2025 there were two occupants – The PD3 and Balloon 719. This has been parked up in here for at least the last three years. In a previous life it was the Wall’s Ice Cream tram. It had been fitted with a counter on the lower deck selling ice-cream. This only lasted for a couple of years. There was a lot of arguments because the passengers thought they were free with your fare. It is seen here leading a long line of trams onto Lytham Road to make their way into Rigby Road depot. June 1st 1996 719 is seen during a repaint in May 2007 Next door in the deserted bodyshop is the frame of Balloon 704. This was the prototype Balloon built in 1934. 704 at the Pleasure Beach - Saturday 4th July 1981. (Photograph copyright: Ian 10B) 704 is pictured in Blundell Street on September 29th 2019. 704 has been stored out of use since late 2003, latterly in a semi-stripped condition, and its future has been in doubt a number of times over the years. It has had a very turbulent time in the last few years since being offered for sale. Initially acquired by the Manchester Transport Museum Society, ownership of the car was later transferred to the Lancastrian Transport Trust, but it ended up in outside storage at Marton in 2012. When other trams were retrieved for inclusion in Blackpool Transport’s own expanded collection of historic trams 704 was left all alone and the future looked extremely bleak after another preservation attempt fell through. However, salvation came from a private individual who had not only agreed to buy the tram and give it a more secure future but also arranged for it to be stored at Rigby Road. It was understood that 704 would be placed on loan to BTS for an indefinite period, and ultimately it was planned to be extensively restored to its original open-top 1950s-1960s condition, along with other traditional features. It was to revert to its original identity as 241. This would have filled a gap in the resident heritage collection but would also have provided a very valuable high-capacity addition to the running fleet; bearing in mind that some of the operational Balloon cars were close to requiring similar levels of attention themselves. The restored 241 was clearly going to be a very important vehicle for the future of Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours. 704 was an ideal candidate for such a project as it was the dire condition of its roof which led to its withdrawal from service back in 2003, and having been heavily stripped since then it would have required a major overhaul to be returned to an operational condition anyway. Of course, Blackpool is already home to one open top Balloon car, but ‘Princess Alice’ 706 was never considered an authentic restoration as it has modern features such as hopper glazing, single destination screens and a revised trolley canopy. Restoring 704 would therefore have provided the opportunity to have a much more authentic open top streamliner back in the fleet for the first time since the early 1940s. The idea of two open top double-deckers running together in Blackpool was certainly a mouthwatering prospect. All this is now irrelevant of course as Blackpool Transport/Council sounded the death knell for the Heritage fleet with their sudden decision to withdraw them from public use in December 2024. A couple re-appeared for a short period in October 2025 but that was it. The latest news as of January 2026 is the plan to demolish the fitting shop, body shop and paint shop in the Spring. This is to make room for charging points for the electric buses. This will just leave the tram depot standing with all the original 1930s trams inside. The Western Train is in there along with Princess Alice being simply left to deteriorate. The roof of the depot has large areas of panels missing, and no front doors fitted at all. Consequently rain, wind and the salt air are all slowly eroding these monuments to our transport history. The Rocket tram slowly rotting away Twin-car set with cab damage after a fire when last in service Brush Railcoach 624 - latterly Permanent Way car 259 despite its appearance has quite a robust body & underframe having been withdrawn in 1971 from passenger service and clocking up limited mileage. It remained "operational" around the depot until 2010 when it's trolley was damaged whilst shunting. The salt atmosphere and seagull droppings are causing damage The Western Train & Princess Alice in happier times Blackpool Council do not have any interest in saving any of this. Obviously, the depot is going to be taken down as well and the large area used for yet another car park, or housing. The practicalities of saving all the trams inside there are not viable but at least one of each design could be set to one side and made track-worthy. They have all the infrastructure to hand unlike the majority of successful transport museums, and running lines around the country who have had to start from scratch. I think it is extremely sad that it is all going to end up on the scrapheap. For those of us who have given time and effort over the past years to try and set up the Tramtown visitor attraction it is truly heartbreaking. A town that does appreciate its transport is St Helens. Their museum is a credit. A bus featured in the last write-up is Blackpool Atlantean 362. This is now loan to the museum and was giving rides on a St Helens circular today (Sunday 1st February 2026): Amongst the thirty plus buses inside was this rare Foden: Preserved ex-Warrington Corporation 112, OED217, was one of the final batch of five Fodens delivered to Warrington in 1955/6, a PVD6 fitted with East Lancs H30/28R body Next time: A day to savour

YorStox and Nutts Corner Raceways BRISCA F1 / F2 MAY SPEEDWEEKEND HISTORY IN THE MAKING! For the first time ever, the the giants of stockcar racing Brisca F1 will descend on Nutt Corner Raceway for a history-making Speedweekend that will be furious, spectacular, and absolutely unmissable. Plus BriSCA F2, National Ministox and Classic Stock Cars in action — guaranteeing an all-action, maximum-impact weekend of racing! 🗓 Friday 22nd May Speedweekend Practice ⏰ 5:00pm – 8:00pm 🏁 Saturday 23rd May * Brisca F1 Irish Open Championship * Brisca F2 National Championship * National Ministox Irish Open Championship * Classic Stockcars 🏆 Sunday 24th May * Brisca F1 Irish Masters * Brisca F2 Irish Open Championship * National Ministox Irish Masters * Classic Stockcars 🔥 Three days. Multiple championships. Non-stop action. This is stock car racing at its very best. 📌 Keep the date/Book your trip – you do not want to miss this!

Hi there folks. Welcome to episode 5. In this one: Section 1: F2 pics from Crimond, Knockhill & Taunton Section 2: Out and About – Chellaston – The lost engine shed Section 3: Odds and Ends – Airedale Bus Running Day Section 1 Crimond - Saturday July 26th 2025 Liam Rennie capped off a good day by winning the Scottish Championship Heat 1 776 514 3 402 184 647 183 454 975 Heat 2 100 854 239 7 674 629 387 16 679 C 50 547 92 979 463 17 339 482 259 F (ScCh) 3 679 776 463 183 547 387 7 50 GN 854 679 975 629 7 674 387 3 92 Crimond - Sunday July 27th 2025 Following successful post-race technical checks 16 Craig Wallace became the new 2025 BriSCA F2 Benevolent Fund Champion. Having avoided the carnage on the initial start when 679 Kieran Howie went for a wild ride upside down as others bounced off the tyre wall Wallace hit the front early in the race and controlled it from there. 7 Gordon Moodie closed the gap mid race on a damp track but he couldn’t get near enough for a last bend lunge, so crossed the line in second ahead of third place finisher 629 Euan Millar. H1 (BenF) 16 7 629 183 776 259 387 979 50 Heat 2 92 16 183 854 3 629 280 259 387 Final 7 16 854 979 183 402 629 92 387 GN 979 183 259 92 629 387 402 854 7 Knockhill Wednesday July 30th Another great meeting here for the F2 WCQR. A notable occurrence was a clash between Chris Burgoyne and Gordon Moodie. Following a few altercations over the past few weeks it all came to a head in the Final. After being spun out by 7 Chris rammed the slow-moving car as it tried to get back on track from the gravel trap. He was loaded up for the rest of the meeting. Heat 1 674 7 514 92 16 402 346 387 184 Heat 2 647 100 24 183 547 463 979 854 NI991 C 975 17 852 246 891 679 454 15 259 Final 674 100 183 184 16 854 547 463 776 GN 854 547 24 239 184 100 183 16 402 Gary Walker Jon Palmer Gareth Miller Charlie Guinchard William Kay Ashley England Dan Roots Ray Weldon Daz Purdy Rebecca Reid Charlie Folan Graham Blundell and Gordon Moodie have a catch up 463, 547 & 346 in the gravel The top 3 in the Final Repairs ongoing to the 7 car after the 647 ramming Front corner work on 647 Taunton Monday 4th August The first of two Summer Monday night race sessions saw good support. The evening started with the annual Ladies Race for the Bill Batten Trophy in aid of the Benevolent Fund. Becky Howell in the Luke Johnson (194) car clouted the home straight plating with sufficient force to bend the bumper and damage a front corner. 409 Payton Cockerill had a healthy buffer at the front, and the former Ministox racer looked very accomplished in the loaned Jon Palmer machine to take the win. Such was the teenager’s enjoyment, that she quickly extended her participation in the rest of the meeting. Heat saw a series of exciting exchanges as Jon Palmer passed 207 Alfie Flecken only for the young Ministox graduate to come back in with an attack to swap places. After a second lap of such duelling, another hit from Flecken sent both him and Palmer into a half spin, as ahead 127 Matt Stoneman took the win. The Final saw Flecken being chased hard by Linfield as behind Palmer made his charge through the field. Flecken looked confident out in front and was able to maintain his lead over the chasing pack. 931 Rebecca Smith had made her way up to second by the time the lap boards came out, but on the final lap Palmer made his move. His last bend challenge saw Smith spin and drop out of the running as Palmer secured second, but it was Flecken who celebrated his win for the magnificent Roy Goodman Perpetual Challenge Trophy. The Grand National for the Ash Sampson Memorial Trophy was led off in the now time-honoured tradition of a ceremonial rolling lap headed by Roy Goodman driving the Sampson car. The race, once it got going, was quickly halted for Joe Willcock whose bumper had been ripped off the 95 car. The focus soon switched to a fine battle between 126 Avery, 980 Lobb and Palmer, with Avery eventually coming out the victor. Heat 1 126 346 186 464 736 12 925 856 509 Heat 2 127 53 24 771 207 100 315 206 926 C 980 569 931 542 83 895 820 468 770 Final 207 24 771 186 980 464 53 126 206 GN 126 24 980 12 736 931 346 315 569 George MacMillan Jnr Sy Harraway Ashley England Joe Giles used a Jon Palmer car. Joe is a 1300 Saloons racer. Alfie Flecken Jamie Ward-Scott Robert Farrell Jnr Jon Palmer Sam Weston Jamie Avery Adam Langridge Matt Brewer in the ex-828 Julian Coombes car Brixham’s Layton Davis The legend that is Roy Goodman now in his nineties The Ladies Race saw meeting ending damage for the Luke Johnson car Alfie Flecken won the Final for the Roy Goodman Perpetual Challenge Trophy A few years ago we had this snowy meeting at Birmingham Wheels: Section 2 Out and About Chellaston Shed Hidden in woods near Chellaston, South Derbyshire is Chellaston Quarry Locomotive sheds. It became home to both the Railway Military Training School of The Royal Engineers and the Melbourne Military Railway in 1939. The section used by the military was between junctions near Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, Chellaston, and Swarkestone. It was named the No. 2 Railway Training Centre (No. 1 being at Longmoor). The engine sheds/wagon repair depot were immediately south of Worthington Junction (formally Chellaston East Junction) and comprised of the engine shed, workshops, army huts, offices and railway sidings. There were 8 or more railway engines based here and in steam daily. They were predominantly used to train Royal Engineer sappers in railway operations until 1st January 1945. This included practising the demolition and rebuilding of railways, and the running and maintenance of a railway line and its rolling stock. The site was handed back to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) after the Second World War had ended. The LMS submitted a bill of £25,265 to the War Department to restore the line but in 1954 the section through Ashby was closed. The sheds were then subsequently used as a wagon repair depot, and then storage dump for disused steam locomotives after the end of steam power during the 1960's. The quarry’s signal box closed in 1966 and the sidings lifted and main running lines singled a year later in 1967. The final lifting of all remaining track was done by Trackwork of Doncaster Ltd in 1988. At one stage there were plans to convert the shed into a railway museum but problems regarding access meant that nothing materialised on this front. The pics: We start by crossing over the Trent & Mersey Canal All is quiet Viaduct over the River Trent On the viaduct before the rails were lifted The disused line crosses the canal at Sarson’s Bridge Up on the bridge Canal bridge 11 Looking back. Notice how the left side is flatter on the top than the right. The right was originally the centre of the bridge when it was dual track. Towards Chellaston East Junction An old piece of rail Both sides of Weston Hill Farm access bridge The location of the bridges mentioned above As we get closer to the location of the shed we come across an old points section Our search begins in here! A section of track and points in the undergrowth 1 + A brick structure comes into view Complete with chimney and fireplace An old sleeper The shed comes into view. If it wasn't for the graffiti on the brickwork it would be easy to miss. An extension to the shed has been added on one side. Note the old light fitting. Inside the shed. Railed access was from the far end. One of the pits The end of the line Brick lined pits The smoke hoods remain As it was in 1989 Electrical switchgear frames A piece of glass remains Back to the woods We’ll now head to the remains of the Royal Engineers Training School. A few things of interest along the way. Another survivor from a different time A lot of swans in this boggy field The River Trent had risen considerably owing to the rain in the preceding days A lockdown project A derelict boiler Another viaduct comes into view In use Disused We end our explore at the Royal Engineers training School Two large 'Typhoon' fans at the rear of the building There were several of these types of buildings which were former offices Odds and Ends The Airedale Bus Running Day – Sunday 12th October 2025 A vey murky start to the 19th Airedale Running Day held at Skipton The West Yorkshire Transport Heritage Trust (formerly the Aire Valley Transport Group) was formed in the spring of 2003 by a group of transport enthusiasts from other societies in the Aire Valley. The aim of the WYTHT is to restore vehicles that are of historical importance back to their former glory and put them on show to the public in order to educate them about the history of road transport. The group has now 70 vehicles in its care making it one of the largest collections in the area. It also has a collection of road and enamel signs, traffic lights, petrol cans and pumps, and also a collection of bus memorabilia inc. ticket machines, enamel and cast signs, badges,...the list goes on. The collection consists of vehicles owned by a number of people along with vehicles owned by the group, whose aim is to present restored examples of interesting and often unique vehicles for display at events throughout the region. The collection is currently housed in a number of places due to the difficulty of finding a single location where they can be displayed together. This coach was delivered in 1948 to Royal Blue, the express coaching subsidiary of Western/Southern National Omnibus Company. It is fitted with a 7.7 litre AEC engine as specified by Royal Blue, the coachwork largely to Duple design, was contracted out to Beadles of Dartford as the coach building capacity during the post war recovery period was overstretched. It features staggered seating to allow a little more elbow room in the 7’6” width of the vehicle. Withdrawn from service in 1960, HOD30 was one of a number of vehicles sold to a china clay company for staff transport which aided its survival until 1968 when it was finally withdrawn. The vehicle was then purchased by Colin Shears who later passed the vehicle on to Peter France, who retained the vehicle until circumstances forced its sale to its present owner Greg Lawson, who set about restoring it with the assistance of David Hudson. Work undertaken has included renewal of all the side pillars, reconstruction of much of the canopy and front roof areas, replacement of the woodwork under the rear dome, and complete refurbishment of the interior trim and seating, the restoration costing around £10,000 in materials. As seen today, HOD30 is representative of many late pre-war coaches with its curved waistrail, and its roof mounted luggage box. Bradford 410 is an AEC RT built in 1947 originally for London Transport (RT172), where it worked until March 1958. It was disposed of to Birds Commercial Motors, based near Stratford-upon-Avon who then sold it to Bradford where it quickly re-entered service in little altered condition apart from a new blue livery. In 1968 after 10 years service from Ludlam Street depot, it was sold directly into preservation and has been restored to a typical condition when operating in Bradford. This bus is believed to be the oldest surviving post-war RT- type bus. It has the early style of body with a narrow destination layout, and a roof box for the route number. CRG6 was one of a total of 260 Bristol REs that were delivered to West Yorkshire Road Car Co Ltd. between 1963 and 1975. CRG1-16 of the ECW bodied series had Gardner engines and CRL 17-22 had Leyland engines. The series 2 RELH was produced from 1967 to 1975. A total of 666 RELH in this series were built and bodied as follows: 443 by ECW, 4 by Duple, 11 by Duple (Northern) and 208 by Plaxton. CRG6 was built in October 1967 and delivered in January 1968. It was stored at Grove Park depot (Harrogate) until 1 April 1968 and then entered service at Hammerton Street depot (Bradford). It was delicensed each winter in October or December, and relicensed usually in March or April. It was renumbered from CRG6 to 1019 in October 1971, and repainted in November 1971. It was repainted again but in NBC white in November 1972. By late October 1973, all CRGs/CRLs had received new blinds to show new express numbers. It was overhauled in the heavy dock at the Central Repair Works in Harrogate in March 1975 with a CoF until 12 March 1980. It was reallocated from Bradford to Skipton from 1 April 1977 to 15 November 1977 and was renumbered from 1019 to 2508 and repainted into dual purpose (poppy red and white) local coach livery with a new logo in October 1978. It was reallocated from Bradford to Central Repair Works as a spare on 1 September 1979 and then delicensed on 29 February 1980 and held for disposal. On 11 April 1980 it was sold to Archbishop Holgate Grammar School York. It was repainted by West Yorkshire’s York depot into Tilling cream with the school’s blue trim. It was reupholstered and fitted with a radio out of ex-West Yorkshire 1067 then owned by the school. It passed in February 1988 to Northern Bus of Anston, but did not enter service, being sold to Neil Mackreath of York in January 1989 in a neglected state for preservation. It then passed to the Bristol RE Preservation Group in January 1990, but in March 1990 returned to Neil Mackreath and Alan Searle. It finally passed to it’s current owner’s in June 1993 for continued preservation. Now owned by Greg Lawson. MTE 635 - Weymann bodied AEC Regent III new to Morecambe & Heysham in February 1951 1953 Bristol KSW6G HAP985 Ex Brighton & Hove Bristol KSW6G which is now owned by members of the group. Operator: Brighton, Hove & District Fleet No: 6447 Chassis: Bristol KSW6G Chassis No: 98.052 Body: ECW H33/28R Body No: 6712 HISTORY Jul 53 - In service with Brighton, Hove & District Omnibus Company Limited, Hove (6447) 1955 - Fleet number changed to 447 1968 - Out of service with Brighton, Hove & District Omnibus Company Limited, Hove (447) Jan 69 - Southdown Motor Services Limited, Brighton (447) (not operated) Feb 69 - W Norths (PV) Limited, Sherburn-in-Elmet (dealer) May 69 - In service with Silcox Motor Coach Company Limited, Pembroke Dock (86) Feb 79 - Out of service with Silcox Motor Coach Company Limited, Pembroke Dock (86) Feb 79 - P Ticehurst & J Shorten, Hove Apr 86 -Brighton & Hove Bus & Coach Company Limited, Hove (6447) Dec 13 - In service with Seaford & District Motor Services Limited, Seaford Out of service with Seaford & District Motor Services Limited, Seaford In service with Marshopper Limited, Seaford Mar 24 - Out of service with Marshopper Limited, Seaford Mar 24 - West Yorkshire Transport Heritage Trust BWW 654B was a 1964 Leyland Titan PD3/4 with front entrance Roe bodywork new to Severn of Dunscroft near Doncaster. It was acquired with the business by South Yorks PTE in 1979 and numbered 1156. It was eventually converted to an engineering department tow car. Originally from Cresswell in Derbyshire, Thomas Severn arrived in Stainforth intending to set up his haulage business to carry coal from the new colliery. At weekends he converted his lorries to buses and by April 1922 he was competing with Blue Line, Reliance, and Roe to carry fare paying passengers between Stainforth and Doncaster. He named his company "Cressy Motor Services", as a reminder of his Derbyshire origins. By the mid 1920s the Cressy buses were operating an additional route between Thorne and Doncaster, along with Renown, Premier, and Felix Motors. In the 1940s this route was altered to take in the nearby Lindholme air base. By the 1950’s the company, instantly recognisable in its green and cream livery, was operating several private contracts, including football specials to Doncaster Rovers, and several works services, such as to the Rockware Glass factory at Kirk Sandal, and Hatfield colliery from Dunscroft. In 1954 the company moved to a new depot on Bootham Lane, Dunscroft, from where it continued to operate until 1980. In service October 1979 ex-Severn's Leyland BWW654B now SYPTE 1156 at the Reliance garage in Stainforth Standing at the Moorends Winning Post terminus of the Thorne-Hatfield-Doncaster service. Now a recovery vehicle, LWR 424 was delivered new in May 1953 to the West Yorkshire Road Car Co, as a double decker. As new it carried fleet number 858, but was renumbered DGW4 in April 1954. It spent all its working life at the Leeds depot being delicensed on 28th February 1969. In January 1970 it was moved to Harrogate, and in July 1970 work started on the conversion to a tow bus, this taking 2 years, with the vehicle re-entering service in July 1972. In its new role as a tow bus it was sent to Bradford depot where it worked until being withdrawn in November 1978, when it was sold to North’s, the Sherburn-in-Elmnet dealers. After a period in North’s yard 4044 was purchased for preservation by the York Historic Vehicle Group, it then passed to Neil Mackereth, and then finally to the Lawson family in December 1993. The vehicle is now being housed at the West Yorkshire Transport Heritage Trust in Keighley, and still tows buses occasionally. KW 1961 entered service in July 1927 with the Blythe and Berwick bus company which was soon to merge with the Harrogate and District Road Car Company and its subsidiary Premier Transport of Keighley to form the West Yorkshire Road Car Company in January 1928. Blythe and Berwick was a company registered in 1919 to amalgamate the charabanc operations of William Hodgson & Berwick and Blythe's parcel delivery service, both started before the First World War. In 1924 they began operating motor bus services in the Bradford area and the network grew to include Baildon, Keighley, Otley, Ilkley and Leeds as well as local services between Bankfoot and Lister Park, and Lidget Green and Clayton. This extensive network led to the company acquiring a large number of Leyland Lions in 1927 and indeed some of these were not delivered until after January 1928. They received WW registrations issued by the West Riding County Council instead of Bradford CBC registrations. KW 1961 was withdrawn in October 1932 and along with many of its sisters was sold to Jersey Motor Transport where it survived the German occupation of the island and remained in service until 1959. Bus preservation at this time was in its infancy and a number of individuals worked as a co-operative to save a number of JMT vehicles for posterity, including sister vehicle KW 474 which has always resided at a transport museum in Lincoln, masquerading as Lincoln Corporation No 1. KW 1961 finished up with Ken Blacker and was housed for many years at the East Anglia Transport Museum at Carlton Colville, nr Lowestoft, but Ken realising that he was not going to achieve a total restoration offered the vehicle to AVTG members in 2010, and much work has been undertaken to restore the vehicle to running order. EHL 335 is one of a batch of half-cab Roe bodied coaches supplied to West Riding Automobile Company in 1952, and were the last half-cab coaches built on Leyland chassis as well as being one of only two batches of half-cab Roe bodied coaches ever built. The other batch was built for Lancashire United on Guy Arab chassis. Already out of fashion at the time of construction they were however used on excursion and express services to the seaside until such vehicles were deemed to be extremely outdated and were then demoted to more mundane duties. After withdrawal the vehicle was acquired by Brooksbanks of Featherstone who used it for a short while on various colliery contract services. Upon withdrawal EHL stood outside the shed for many years and some restoration work was undertaken by a local enthusiast. However, Brooksbanks resolutely determined not to sell it for continued preservation. Eventually Brian Crowther of Black Prince Coaches persuaded them to sell it with a view to restoring it to its original condition. The pressures of running a full time bus operation meant that this was very slow to happen, and eventually Brian was persuaded to sell the vehicle to David Hudson and Greg Lawson. This was the last bus delivered in Halifax Corporation livery prior to the formation of West Yorkshire PTE. UJX 920M is a Leyland Leopard with Plaxton Derwent body and was new in December 1973 After some not entirely successful AEC Reliances, Doncaster Corporation Transport ordered five Leyland Tiger Cubs with Roe bodies. They were 30 feet long by 8 feet wide and were fitted for one-man operation from the outset. They were delivered in red with white window pans. Unusually they were fitted with half-synchromesh gearboxes, with synchromesh on 3rd and top gears only, making them a very rare Tiger Cub variant. In October 1967 numbers 31 and 32 were given high-backed seats from the three Regal III's reducing them to 41 seats, and painted in a pseudo coach livery. Apart from the dual-purpose pair the Tiger Cubs were used on town services particularly Hexthorpe, Hyde Park and Racecourse. Number 33 became South Yorkshire P.T.E. number 1033 after passing to the Executive on 1st April 1974 with the Doncaster undertaking. Of these five Tiger Cubs 33 was the only one that was never altered; it also never carried the S.Y.P.T.E. livery, becoming the PTE's last bus in Doncaster colours. It was later restored by Cobalt (a government job creation scheme), being repainted in the last Doncaster livery of red with purple/white upswept band In 1979 KAD359V a Leyland Leopard with a Plaxton Supreme IV body, originally operated by Black & White Motorways (number 359) and later seen in National Express liveries Oxford July 1980 In the livery of Wreake Travel at Leicester in 1984 KUP949, a 1950 Leyland Tiger PS1/1 with Burlingham body was bought new by Iveson of Cornsay Colliery in County Durham. By 1957 the bus was in service with Baxters of Airdrie who sold it in that year to Ledgards of Armley. It survived in the Ledgard fleet until 1967 and the sale to West Yorkshire. Shortly after purchase KUP 949 spent a short while on loan to Otley Depot, where it is seen at work still in the livery of Baxter's of Aidrie. It next spent a while at Yeadon Depot on the two Otley to Horsforth "Moorfield" services KUP949 is seen parked next to an old BMC lorry (ORN364) belonging to J Grundy on a wet and miserable day in the 1960s Here in May 1968 on Brighton seafront during the HCVC event. In 1970 With Worthen Travel KUP 949 with Maypole Coaches of Lathom. EAV458 carries a C35F Duple A type body and was new in 1948 to Sutherland Transport, Peterhead as number 117. It later passed to W Alexander & Sons as PA197 before moving to Alexander (Northern) as NPA197. It survived with Northern until the early 1970's. They are both seen here at a Blackpool bus rally in 1991. East Yorkshire 194 is a Leyland Leopard PSU3E/4R with Plaxton Supreme IV Express coachwork which was new as in 1979 registered JKH 194V. With Cherry's as WLT 694 standing in North Street, Goole between trips on Saturday service 4 to Barmby-on-the-Marsh. By the time it was photographed it had been re-registered WLT 694 and transferred to East Yorkshire subsidiary fleet, Cherry's as no. 294. It would later be re-registered again as OAT 536V and sold in 1993. It would pass to Classic, Annfield Plain and then to Scarlet Band, West Cornforth before being sold for preservation and restored as East Yorkshire 194 in National white coach livery. UTF732M - Leyland Leopard PSU3B/4R - Duple Dominant New to Ribble, in 08/1974, this smart Leopard was used on local coach and National Express duties. It is seen here in Ribble 'Express' livery when parked on the The Ellers outside the Ulverston depot back in early 1989. Part of the depot still stands today and is a Ford main car dealers. Greater Manchester PTE 6800, OBN300H, a Leyland Atlantean PDR1A/1 built in 1969 with East Lancashire H43/29D bodywork. This had been new as Bolton 300 and was built with an unusual style of seating, sloping fixed windows, roof mounted push up ventilators and forced air systems usually found on coaches. It is seen here in its brief days of Bolton Corporation ownership on service 42 Bolton - Walkden in Farnworth town centre. 300 has a separate entrance and exit for faster stops when used with a combined driver/conductor; and an attractive cream and crimson paint scheme. 300 would still look modern today, but in 1969 it was no doubt the pride of Bolton. At Bury Interchange in 1987 574 CNW was delivered to Leeds City Transport in 1962 as one of a batch of six vehicles which were unusual at the time for LCT as they were Daimler CVG6 with front entrance 70 seat bodywork by Charles H Roe. Up to this date Leeds had always ordered rear entrance bodywork, believing, like London Transport, that backloaders were quicker loading than some of the high seating capacity rear engined vehicles that were by this time available on the market. These vehicles were, however, bought with a specific purpose in mind, in that they were put to use on the Leeds - Bradford service to complement the AEC Regent Vs used by Bradford Corporation. This they continued to do until the route was given over to rear engined double deckers once LCT had become convinced of the latter''s superiority as they could be single manned. They were then used on other routes still conductor operated. After the formation of the West Yorkshire PTE in 1974 they were drafted in to other areas and by withdrawal were the only vehicles from the former constituents of the PTE to have operated in all four areas of the PTE. Upon withdrawal 574 CNW, along with its sister 572, were converted into exhibition buses for West Yorkshire County Council serving to publicise a wide variety of services. 574 was last used as a "Peace Bus". Upon the establishment of the West Yorkshire Transport Museum project both vehicles were presented to the museum where 572 continued in use as an exhibition bus, whilst 574 was despatched to Thornbury Works for restoration as a bus. This work was not fully completed as de-regulation led to the closure of the works before the job could be completed. 574 then stayed with the project until purchased by David Crowther of Classic Coaches, where it stayed until this business went into administration. It then passed to the ownership of Malcolm King, a former LCT employee, before being purchased by Warren McClintock. 574 is seen at the depot after a turn on the 21 to Pavement Lane, Halifax which is next to Causeway Foot This prototype was used by Leyland Vehicles from 1975, however, it was registered with Fishwick in 02/1981. Its body also differs at the rear whereby it has B20 Fleetline 'stacks' rather than the conventional bustle. At Fishwick’s garage Leyland in 1998 Entering Preston bus station Two more views of the rear OCK 366K is a 1972 Bristol RESL with ECW bodywork. It was new to Ribble Motor Services as their fleet no. 366. Hastings & District was its second owner, as their 466. After being withdrawn in April 1992 it saw brief use with South Coast Buses Ltd before passing into preservation in March 1993, first with the Hastings & District RE Group, and from February 2008 with the Lancastrian Transport Trust, who have restored it in Ribble livery. The introduction of driver only 36ft long single deck buses in the 1960s to replace conductor operated double deckers spawned a range of new and sometimes short-lived chassis. Blackpool standardised on the AEC Swift while Fylde chopped and changed. Ribble was an ardent Leyland supporter but turned to Bristol for its single deck bus orders from 1968 to 1971. The Bristol RE was one of the most resilient of the designs and outlasted most of its peers. It encouraged lorry (and occasional bus) builder Seddon to build a similarly inspired RU chassis that was somewhat less successful. Fylde 47 survives as an example. Ribble’s last REs were a batch of 40 (331-370) with the common ECW body delivered between April 1971 and July 1972 with 366 (OCK366K) arriving in the latter month. It entered service at Preston depot but by its first birthday it moved to Aintree operating on Ribble’s Merseyside services. In 1985 after 12 years at Aintree it moved to Blackburn for a brief period before withdrawal at the end of the year. 366 and sister bus 365 were transferred within the National Bus Company to Hastings & District where they saw service numbered 465/466 until 1994. Retirement was active as both were acquired by the Hastings & District RE Group who held an operator’s license and used 466 and other REs on a local tourist service until its withdrawal in October 2000, though its sister was used for spares. Since then it had been stored securely in St Leonards, near Hastings and was offered to the LTT during 2007 and acquired in October. In February 2008 it was prepared for the long journey north by Southdown PSV and returned back to Lancashire for the first time in 22 years. In November 2008, 366 was returned to 1970s style NBC poppy red livery and the bus returned to use during 2009. After active use and an engine rebuild in 2018 366 was treated to a further repaint in NBC poppy red in October 2019. Both ex Ribble Bristol RESL6L sitting outside Rye garage in the earlier Hastings & District colours Seen here as Hastings & District 466 laying over at Rye Station Approach 2nd April 1986 St Leonards 1994 Ex-Ribble RESL OCK 366K undergoing an engine change inside St Leonards depot In Blackpool on the zoo service New in November 1982 as South Yorkshire Transport's 2260, Dennis Dominator/Alexander RH SDT260Y In St Sepulchre Street, Doncaster in September 1994 Pulling out of Doncaster North Bus Station on a journey to Bentley In Sheffield South Promenade, Blackpool Eastern National 2384 (WNO480). This ECW bodied Bristol KSW5G was new to Eastern National in 1953 numbered 4215. It was renumbered 2384 in 1964 and converted to an open-top bus in 1965. After it was withdrawn from service with Eastern National in the 1970s this bus has had a number of owners including Talisman Coach Lines, Colchester - Crosville Motor Services, Weston-Super-Mare - English Riviera Sightseeing Tours, Torquay and Quantock Heritage Motor Services, Taunton. It was acquired by Classic Vehicles of Yesteryear, Shipley in September 2018. Well away from the sea front WNO stands at the western terminus of the 67 in the middle of a housing estate at Kent Elms Corner. At Crosville, Weston-super-Mare At Clacton One of the all time classic bus designs was the BET body for 36ft buses which was placed on AEC and Leyland chassis from the mid sixties until the advent of the Leyland National. Ribble were keen buyers of the breed with bodywork by a number of builders. 811, ARN811C, is a 1965 Leyland Leopard PSU3/3R with Weymann dual purpose body. The grille and the livery application provide the finishing touch. At Newcastle in March 1968 At Ambleside with Ribble 662 in January 1977 With C&H Fleetwood in their Birch Coaches fleet in September 1980 1966 ECW Lodekka FS6B (Bristol Engine) Chassis 23055 In November 1980 she was one of the last pair of Lodekkas in the West Yorkshire fleet. This bus entered service in December 1966. It was allocated to the York West Yorkshire Joint Committee Fleet and thus had a Y-prefix to its original fleet number. In the 1971 renumbering scheme it became 3821 the 3 indicating the York fleet. The main fleet was prefixed 1, the Keighley fleet was prefixed 2, while service vehicles were numbered in the 4xxx series. YDX 221 served continuously in the York fleet until withdrawn in November 1980. For the next 5 years it was a regular attendee on the Rally circuit, but was later sold to a driving school. The second part of its preservation came in spring 1990 when it was acquired by a Keighley based group. Alan Whitaker the transport journalist of the Bradford Telegraph & Argus local newspaper received a telephone call from Albert Taylor (a former driver with West Yorkshire) saying he had found out that two former West Yorkshire Lodekkas were in a yard in Crossflatts, near Keighley and would probably be scrapped unless someone intervenes. Both buses were inspected and YDX 221 was saved (the other 4068 had its bulkhead removed for its role as a driver trainer). £1,400 was paid and the partners were Albert Taylor, Alan Whitaker, the late Bob Cryer M.P. and his wife Anne. They took delivery in May 1990. At the Blackpool REC Rally on the 11th August 1981 At Denholme Blackpool Atlantean 362 has joined the ranks of active preserved buses following a successful MOT pass. Owned by Martin Gurr and Gary Conn whose collection includes Delta 133, PD3 501, Swift 554 362 has been restored under contract by Blackpool Transport (body work and repaint) and Preston Bus (mechanical). 362 was the last of the 62 bus seated Atlanteans arriving in August 1983, having been registered on the first of the month as A362HHG. With eight sisters it replaced the last of the 1965 PD3s and some Swifts. Like the other bus seated Atlanteans in started its life in the off-white livery with green roof, top deck window surrounds, stripe above the lower deck windows and thick band on the lower deck. 362's life was nearly cut short at just three years old when a fire destroyed sisters 310, 335 and 342 on 1 October 1986. It suffered minor damage but had it not been moved in time could well have been destroyed. It is believed this saw the modification of the destination displays from recessed to rubber mounted. February 1987 saw a repaint in original livery - one of the last so treated. 362 then carried two allover adverts - for Mackeson Stout from April 1989 to 1990 when it was replaced by one for Bonanza Family Restaurants which lasted until April 1991. On both the front retained fleet livery to the new design introduced in 1987 of cream with green roof, window surrounds and skirt. This was applied in full at the April 1991 repaint. A second repaint in this scheme (but with black windows surrounds) took place in September 1994 - again shortly before a new livery was designed. This (green skirt and roof band, black window surrounds on a cream base) was applied at 362's April 1996 and September 1999 repaints. Blackpool's early Atlanteans had been withdrawn progressively from 1989 to 1994 leaving 41 still in service. The purchase of Fylde saw much older vehicles join the fleet, so the standard Atlanteans had an extended life. Squadron withdrawals took place from 2002 to 2009. A brand new 362 outside the depot with the Mayor's car - note the two piece doors (rather than usual four piece ones as on 301-354, and the recessed destination glass 362 meets PD3 501 again. This pair only worked together for two years prior to 501's disposal in 1985 Atlanteans were still in regular service in 2001, here 362 works service 20 to Marton Mere on 25th May 2001 At Rigby Road. The paintshop on the right. In the paintshop Blundell Street, near the Rigby Road premises of Blackpool Transport, and on the left is what used to be the Coliseum Bus Station. It is about to start a circular service over old tram routes at the Blackpool Tramway 130th. Year celebrations on 27/09/2015. The 'Balloon' tram that can be just about seen on the right is 720. At Mereside turning circle Bradford 410 is an AEC RT built in 1947 originally for London Transport (RT172) where it worked until March 1958 when it was disposed of to Birds Commercial Motors, based near Stratford-upon-Avon. They then sold it to Bradford where it quickly re-entered service in little altered condition apart from a new blue livery. In 1968 after 10 years service from Ludlam Street Depot, it was sold directly into preservation and has been restored to a typical condition when operating in Bradford. This bus is believed to be the oldest surviving post-war RT- type bus. It has the early style of body with a narrow destination layout and a roof box for the route number. GWT 630 was the first coach to be purchased by South Yorkshire Motors after the cessation of hostilities in WW2, being acquired in 1948. Never a major player at this period in coaching activities, only one other coach was bought afterwards, this being JWT 112. Both had Burlingham bodies, but of slightly differing styles, indeed GWT 630 is unusual in possessing steel rainshields over the windows. JWT 112 was eventually rebodied as a double deck vehicle and its original body transferred to DYG 53, a 1941 Albion Valkyrie. Both vehicles survived into the mid 60s with South Yorkshire but whereas DYG has covered many thousands of miles, it is believed that GWT is an extremely low mileage vehicle for its age. One of the reasons for this is that the heavy sliding doors were very unpopular with South Yorkshire conductresses and they therefore saw little use on stage carriage services in later life. GWT 630 was once described as the most luxurious stores van in the country as its main use was to go to the fish & chip shop at lunchtime, and to ferry spare parts and equipment about when required. Purchased for preservation upon withdrawal the vehicle has had a number of owners. The last one to use the vehicle was Classic Coaches of High Wycombe who certified the vehicle on acquisition. Sold to Red Arrow of Huddersfield on the failure of the Classic Coaches business it was not used being in need of some remedial attention to the bodywork caused by outside storage. Here in 1965 it was part of the general fleet of SYM. Brighton in May 1968 Blackpool – 1974 Economic was a partnership between two former Northern General employees, G.R. Anderson and E.W. Wilson based in Whitburn, Co Durham. This Albion Valiant CX39N was one of 3 new to Economic / E.W. Wilson as No.7 in May 1949. It has an Associated Coach Builders C33F body, and was withdrawn in 1964. After a period of storage HUP236 was purchased by A.L.Purvis of Sunderland in 1972 for preservation and was restored by The Purvis Bros over a 4 year period between 1975-1979. Purchased in 2022 by Greg Lawson for continued preservation and is now part of the group's Half Cab collection of coaches. Beverley in 1975 Plenty of routes to choose from to ride on the bus of your choice throughout the day: Miscellaneous LT in the snow Drivers’ cabs and covered top decks were introduced on London’s buses in the 1930s. Until then, bus drivers, conductors and top deck passengers alike were at the mercy of the weather. A woman conductor collects fares on the top deck of a London General Omnibus Company bus in a snowstorm during the First World War. A ‘snow broom’ clears tram tracks on Victoria Embankment in January 1951. Snow brooms were trams fitted with snow clearing equipment. They were often converted from older vehicles. This snow broom has an open cab, with staff exposed to the elements. Two men can just be seen in the driving area. A double deck tram is following the snow broom. Waterloo Bridge stands in the background. This photo shows an RTL type bus on Route 2A to Norwood. In this photo from 1970, the last time London truly experienced a ‘white Christmas’, the road is relatively clear. Here Stationman Eric England is making sure passengers know where they are by clearing the snow off the station name roundel at East Finchley Underground station in January 1962. That period had been so cold that a build-up of snow caused Big Ben to ring in the new year ten minutes late! Snow obscures the destination blind of this RT type bus on route in Ludgate Hill in the winter of 1951-1952, with the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral only just visible in the background. Slippery roads and poor visibility make for treacherous driving conditions, requiring a great deal of skill from bus drivers. LT Staff clear heavy snow from Leytonstone Underground station platform, Central line in January 1963. Stationwomen Cynthia Palmer (Caribbean recruit) and Nellie Thompson shovel snow into a pile with Station Foreman David Pillay (Caribbean recruit). Snow is still falling as the photo is taken. Sleet locomotives were specialised de-icing vehicles for use on open-air sections of the Underground. Eighteen were built at Acton Works during 1939 and 1940. They were constructed out of two former 1903 Central London Railway motor cars, back to back. The de-icing equipment, including brushes, ice-crushers and spraying gear, was carried by trailer bogies under the central portion. Anti-freeze solution was contained in two 75-gallon tanks. Sleet locomotives became redundant in the 1980s, when de-icing equipment was fitted to passenger stock. Three-quarter view of sleet tender no ST/1, together with the standard-tube stock 'D' motor car to which it is attached. A member of staff is pouring de-icer into the tender from a drum. The wire-brushes and ice-crusher on the side of the tender have been lowered to make contact with the rail. A build-up of ice on the overhead wires was problematic for trams and trolleybuses. This ice breaking trolley head helped keep trolleybuses moving even in wintry conditions. This photo was taken in December 1981. This was one of the coldest Decembers of the century in Britain. Temperatures fell to a low of -25° Centigrade. The picture was taken on the platform of Finchley Central station. Passengers are sheltering from the snow under umbrellas. A 1972 Stock train is waiting to depart from the opposite platform. The low temperatures and snow caused many delays and cancelled services in London Transport. Six random pics to finish off this time: Blackpool Tower and the Big Wheel from Walney Island The interior of the locomotives shed at Kings Cross Station c1928 In Cleveleys is this surviving paving slab from Fleetwood Granite The crossing at the East End of Newcastle Central Station, Dec 1924. On four Sundays in 1924 - Sept 28 and Oct 5, 12 and 19 - the crossing had been renewed using Hadfields Era cast manganese steel. I spent 40 wonderful years as a fitter working on the Tornado. Every day spent with these magnificent aircraft was pure joy. The complexity of these jets certainly taxed the brain. The iron bird would always bite back at the most inopportune time. One job which nobody wanted to do was getting the remains of birds out of the engine intakes after a bird strike. After landing you only had 30 mins down the intake before the heat from the engines made it uncomfortable. The smell was a mixture of fuel, rotting meat and if it was a seagull fish! This was taken at RAF Marham in 2018. This was a bird strike on a Harrier Nowadays part-time driving suits me and a local company close to us in Blackburn is M.K.Transport. The whole fleet is spotless and is a credit to all the drivers who take pride in the job. Here is one of their V8 Scania S650s. Note the words ‘Business Class’ below the door handle: Next time: Join me for the first part of an explore around a truly enormous and awe-inspiring site

Stox Scene added to the Magazines section of the Memorabilia page. Photos of Harry Walsh, Karl Roberts, Eric Graveling. Photos of Mark Gibbs, Andy Hodgson, Mark Poole, Paul Hopkins, Simon Gill, Sean Willis, Dave Clarke, John Dowson, Louis Goodwin, Dave Wilson,Walter Jackson, Mark Allen, Karl Mosley, Mick Noden, Tim Warwick, Steve Malkin, Jayne Bean, Andy Kennedy. Photos from Northampton 13th April 2025. Photos of James Tucker, Graeme Robson, Richard Woods, Niels Tesselaar, Jacklyn Fairhurst, James Hall-Morton, Joe Booth, Brooke Kitson. Photo of the 1982 World Final grid. Photos from the Skegness 1991 World Semi-Final.

Photos of Paul Hines, Dave Berresford. Photos of Phil Wheelton, Lesley Jones, Danny Wainman, Des Chandler, Geoff Nickolls, Graham France, Jack France, Lee Fairhurst, Derek Fairhurst , Pete Lowe, Jordy Pikkert, Will Hunter, Shaun Blakemore, Steve Cooper, Garry Townsend, Steve Ferris, Derek Brown, Mark Peters, Daniel van Spijker, Pete Bailey, Mick Haworth, Rich Bryan, Joe Nickolls, Mick Rogers, Ian Brickley, Gary Castell, Graham Atkinson, Jonathan Gibson, John Riley, Paul Redfern, Rob Harrad. New stat page: How many drivers have qualified for the World Final from the World Consolation? New stat page: How many drivers are the wife of another driver? New stat page: How many Dash For Cash races have been held? New stat page: How many drivers have achieved the Triple Crown of winning World, National Points, and British Championships during their career? Photos of Les Wesley, Les Muncaster, and Bill Pilling. Meeting report from Hartlepool 18th August 1985. Photos of Barry Redman, Klaas-Pieter Zuidewind, Ray Kelly, Martin van der Wal, Mark Webster, Mika Ronitz, Ellie Dickerson, Aaron Leach, Tim Warwick, Jack Ryan, Jacklyn Fairhurst, Thomas Andrew. Photo of Mac McKinney. A couple of 1950s photos of Bradford. Photos of Norman Ingham and Chris Barone.

Hi there folks. Welcome to episode 4. In this one: Section 1: F2 pics from Buxton & Taunton Section 2: Out and About – Poland part two - Auschwitz II Birkenau, the Wieliczka Salt Mines & scenes around Krakow. Section 3: Odds and Ends – Miscellaneous Section 1 Buxton Saturday July 5th A feature of this meeting was a big hit on Tom Bennett from Euan Millar: Heat 1 183 161 101 581 915 533 223 359 463 387 324 Heat 2 880 727 578 390 9 355 821 213 667 461 46 C 155 618 142 127 16 402 931 186 776 184 92 Final 880 727 101 931 9 355 183 155 533 223 GN1 727 101 183 7 387 127 667 581 161 618 GN2 578 390 355 16 8 405 931 1 9 461 Buxton Sunday July 6th F2 Nationals A great weekend for Jack: H1 (F2 Nat.) 184 880 355 578 142 46 183 127 581 Heat 2 880 727 161 127 618 183 213 8 9 Heat 3 727 101 7 461 324 355 581 180 16 Final 880 727 355 578 183 7 101 142 387 GN 727 155 183 992 7 324 355 101 180 Taunton Saturday July 20th The first of two days remembering stock car royalty featured BriSCA Formula Two Stock Cars contesting The Master Trophy, in memory of Bill Batten, for the third time. Fifty BriSCA F2 Stock Cars arrived at the track. As on this occasion in previous years, the cars were split by grade to contest four heats. There was a fitting win for Bill Batten’s great-nephew 667 Tommy Farrell in heat four, crucially pulling away from 127 Matt Stoneman on the final lap to prevent a last-bend challenge. Ahead of The Master Trophy Final, the now-traditional rendition of Hey Jude was a poignant reminder of the man the trophy is named after. A pile-up among the rear half of the field cost several a lap as 881 Jamie Ward-Scott made the early running ahead of 206 Matt Brewer. Both Stoneman and Farrell avoided the early chaos and broke into the top 10 within just two or three laps. It took them little longer to depose the likes of Soper, Brimble and Avery as they climbed to third and fourth and set about chasing down the lead duo. Into the second half of the race, Stoneman caught and passed Brewer, with Farrell doing the same a lap later. Ward-Scott offered little resistance to Stoneman as he took the lead with six laps remaining, and Farrell took second from the erstwhile leader on the following lap. As the laps wound down, Farrell made some progress into Stoneman’s advantage but he could not get close enough to mount a challenge. So it was Stoneman who took the flag and the £667 prize money, his first feature final since returning to action in his new self-built car. He celebrated in style with tyre-smoking donuts and was joined by customer Farrell for further nose-to-nose burnouts. Heat 1 844 881 206 53 131 Heat 2 605 654 454 235 Heat 3 578 315 126 960 468 980 Heat 4 667 127 155 83 184 C1 186 27 979 542 207 676 581 418 8 525 C2 324 856 Final 127 667 881 980 186 126 27 468 206 542 Saturday pics: Taunton Sunday July 21st Day two of the summer speedweekend at Smeatharpe featured the BriSCA F2 Stock Cars Colin Higman Tribute Trophy. 43 of the 49 drivers who had competed on the previous evening returned to the track. A torrential rain shower at the end of pre-meeting practice made the track conditions treacherous. The 32-car Colin Higman Tribute Final was halted early on with Farrell, Flecken, Goddard and Jimi Marshall stuck in the fence on the Honiton bend. 53 Phil Mann led the restart and created a gap at the front of the field but spun out of the race when he tangled with a backmarker on the back straight. 128 Jake Ralfs also spun on the back straight, coming to rest facing the fence on the entry to turn three, which necessitated another yellow flag stoppage. By now, Weston had hit the front and his restart was good, helped no end by Palmer, Vaight and Stoneman battling between themselves for second place with the positions swapping lap after lap in an extraordinarily entertaining bout of Stock Car racing. All the while though, that was allowing Weston to build an unassailable lead. 27 Kieren Bradford and 186 Kasey Jones tangled with a couple of laps to go, with Jones' car stopping on the middle of the pit bend as the race was completed. Weston reeled off a fine win to grab the £778 first prize, sealing a return to the star grade amidst plumes of tyre smoke following celebratory donuts. Vaight led home Stoneman and Palmer in the battle for second, but Stoneman was relegated to fifth after the race for passing a car on one of the restarts before the green flags appeared. Sunday pics: Sam Weston won the Colin Higman Tribute Trophy Section 2 Out and About AUSCHWITZ II BIRKENAU The close streets and heaviness of Auschwitz I are replaced by acres of grass, clear skies and two parallel railway tracks that come to an ominous, and very final stop. There’s a warped tranquillity in Birkenau. Yellow wildflowers grow beneath the guard towers. You can see nearby villages and rolling hills. There’s the warble of distant birdsong. It’s hard to imagine that up to 20,000 people per day were killed and burnt here. Apparently, the nearby residents, the ones who hadn’t been rounded up in the first few years of Nazi occupation, could see and smell the smoke for miles. They slept with the distant glow of the ovens outside their window. Until you stand in the gas chambers, hear the eerie silence around the ash pools of Birkenau and see the dusty wooden bunks where prisoners would huddle together – you won’t understand it. Birkenau was the largest of the more than 40 camps and sub-camps that made up the Auschwitz complex. In 1941 the SS authorities began expanding the Main Camp and building a new camp on the site of a neighbouring village called Brzezinka (Birkenau in German). First, they evicted the inhabitants of several nearby settlements and converted the evacuated area into a ‘zone of interests’, within which the camp had its own arable and animal husbandry farms. In 1942, on the site of the village of Monowice (Monowitz) they founded a third camp, called Buna (or Monowitz), near a chemical factory complex built by the German IG Farbenindustrie concern. In time, Auschwitz became the largest Third Reich concentration camp complex. During its three years of operation, it had a range of functions. When construction began in October 1941, it was supposed to be a camp for 125,000 prisoners of war. It opened as a branch of Auschwitz in March 1942 and served at the same time as a centre for the extermination of the Jews. In its final phase, from 1944, it also became a place where prisoners were concentrated before being transferred to labour in German industry in the depths of the Third Reich. The majority—probably about 90%—of the victims of Auschwitz Concentration Camp died in Birkenau. This means approximately a million people. The majority, more than nine out of every ten, were Jews. A large proportion of the more than 70 thousand Poles who died or were killed in the Auschwitz complex perished in Birkenau. So did approximately 20 thousand Roma and Sinti, in addition to Soviet POWs and prisoners of other nationalities. At Birkenau prisoners lived in brick barracks and wooden barracks. The former were built in sector BI, the oldest part of the camp. They had only one entrance and 17 barred windows. Inside there were 60 brick partitions, each with three levels of bunks, creating in total 180 bunks, on each of which four people were to sleep. According to SS plans, each of these barracks were to house over 700 prisoners. Initially these blocks had dirt floors, but with time these were covered with a layer of bricks or concrete. The entrance into these barracks was through double doors in the gable walls. The interior was originally intended for 51 horses. Two partitions nearest to the entrance were reserved for the prisoner functionaries, whereas two partitions at the very end of the barrack had containers for human waste. Prisoners in the brick barracks slept on straw strewn on the wooden bunk planks, whereas in the wooden barracks the wooden beds or berths were covered with paper mattresses stuffed with so-called wood wool. The prisoners were issued with blankets that were usually dirty and badly worn. They were practically unheated in the winter, apart from two iron stoves that were quite inadequate for such a large interior. The barracks lacked sanitary facilities, which only started being installed in 1944. DEPORTATION OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN TO AUSCHWITZ In March 1942 German Nazis also started sending women to Auschwitz. In total they accounted for some 30 per cent of registered camp inmates (130,000 out of the c. 400,000 registered) and presumably half the Jewish victims murdered in the gas chambers directly after arrival. Initially women inmates were held in an isolated part of the Main Camp, then from August 1942 onwards in Birkenau (first in sector BIa, and from July 1943 also in BIb). Also, in 1942 the Nazis started sending to the camp whole families with children, first Jewish and Polish and later also Roma and Belarusian. In total over 230,000 children and youths were deported, the decided majority Jewish. And most of the Jewish children and youths were murdered in the gas chambers. Those children and youths who became inmates were chiefly held in Birkenau, whereas smaller groups were held in the Main Camp and some of the sub-camps. Initially they performed odd jobs, but with time most of them worked together with the adults. Very young children, chiefly Poles and Belarusians were sent away from the camp to be Germanized. Moreover, some of the Jewish and Roma children became the victims of pseudo-medical experiments conducted by SS physicians, chiefly Dr Josef Mengele. When the women’s camp was first set up, pregnant women were deemed unfit to work and therefore, regardless of nationality, put to death. In the first half of 1943, the camp authorities stopped killing women who were pregnant or in labour, but they continued murdering the newborn babies. Then presumably in May 1943 newborn, non-Jewish children stopped being killed, too. However, on account of the camp’s extremely inhospitable conditions, most of these children soon died, anyway. The few infants that managed to live long enough were registered as ‘newly arrived’. With certain exceptions they, too, received prisoner numbers, which were tattooed on a thigh or a buttock and only very rarely on their arm. Children born to Jewish women had no right to live and were murdered immediately. This practice ceased only in October 1944. The Nitka sisters: Adèle aged 9 and Paulette aged 2 – Jewish girls born in France and until their arrest living in Paris. On 21 August 1942 deported from the Drancy camp to Auschwitz in a transport of 1,000 people, including 320 children aged 2 to 12. After selection on the ramp, they and all the other children from the transport were killed in a Birkenau gas chamber. The survivors accounts that follow throughout the remainder of the text make for harrowing reading. “As the first Kutscher [carter] I delivered building materials to the FKL [Frauenkonzentrationslager – women’s concentration camp] and transported rubbish out. There I saw the tragedy of those delicate women from the rich countries of Europe. Before they went to the gas chamber, they had to live out their terrible fate. They received striped uniforms or clothes that did not fit. At work and when they were being beaten, their trousers would rip at the hips. In the mud the wooden clogs would fall off their feet. They would also fall over in the mud and snow, hurried by female Kapos with blows and shouts. They were not really shouts but coarse roars that would terrify a man. Sick and weak, … the women’s lives ended fast. Onto my cart they would load dirty straw with spades. There were no pitch forks. During selections for the gas chamber … they were loaded onto heavy carts. With sticks, they were beaten and packed so tightly that no one could move. Once women bound for the gas chamber passed my cart … One of them, a blonde… stretched out her arms and with crazed eyes shouted in my direction. I still see the face of that distraught woman… .” ADAM STRĘK Born in Magnuszewice on 1 December 1920. Brought to Auschwitz on 8 October 1940 in a combined transport from Tarnów and Krakow. Registered in the camp as Polish political prisoner 5830. On 12 March 1943 transferred to Buchenwald, survived. “We, the children, were given improvised toys made by the prisoners. These were balls made out of rags, dolls with buttons for eyes, puppets out of plywood that performed various tricks with the pull of a string… The children were not idle. They did cleaning outside, wove straw mats which were next sewn together by elder children and sick adults, and valenki boots for German soldiers. I also have evidence of ‘mercy’ [of Marie Mandel] on my body. We were sitting and working, weaving straw mats, I and two Belarusian sisters, Nadia and Dusia Zhuravliev. She came up unnoticed, we did not manage to stand to attention in time and the crop immediately fell on the little sisters, whereas I got a boot kick in the arm, below the elbow. The pain shot through my body. I wanted to get up, but I could not support myself with my arm and then I was struck in the tailbone. A burning sensation ran through my spine, I couldn’t even cry out, the voice of pain and fear withered in my throat.” The first night in Birkenau: In the night they took us to the block. We were led by an inmate functionary holding a candle and in twos or in threes she would simply shove us into a wall. Unable to see anything, I was deafened and stupefied. ‘Climb’ screamed the functionary and went on… I stood there alone and at the level of my waist there was a huge slab. Then from deeper inside a voice said: ‘Come on, climb in.’ ‘But how and where,’ I replied. ‘Raise your leg and get on to what is here,’ I heard. So I raised my leg, clambered up and felt someone’s feet. ‘Move here, closer to the wall,’ said the same hoarse voice. Then the stench hit me, something so unpleasant that I wanted to run out of that block and sleep outside. ‘Maybe I should leave, it’s so cramped here,’ I said. The same voice said: ‘Don’t leave, for they’ll beat so, you won’t be able to pull yourself together.’ I somehow overcame that terrible revulsion. … ‘My God, you are so young,’ sighed the voice. And then she started to cover me up. It must have been an elderly woman. … Wrapping me up, she said: ‘I know it stinks here, the first impressions are terrible, but you’ll get used it and you’ll stink, too …’ ZOFIA STĘPIEŃ-BATOR Born in Radom on 2 June 1920. A girl guide who during the war served in the Grey Ranks (Szare Szeregi). Arrested on 16 October 1942 in Radom and transported from the local prison to Auschwitz, where she received prisoner number 37255. After the evacuation of Auschwitz in January 1945, she was held in Ravensbrück, then transferred to Neustadt-Glewe, from where liberated. In the summer of 1945 returned to Poland and together with her husband settled in Nowa Huta. “The camp’s sanitary conditions were terrible. There was no light. Only the block overseer had a candle. We recognised each other by only our voices. Under our feet there was just clay. Only later the women had to lay bricks to make a kind of floor that could later be cleaned. The room overseers, who had to look after this block, shaped the bricks to make it look a bit more respectable. When I arrived in 1943, it was an image of misery and despair. More lice than one could possibly imagine. Because I arrived in winter, we received only dresses made out of those nettles, in stripes, and an over garment with no lining, nothing. It was cold. Immediately after I came to Block 7, a prisoner offered to sell me a sweater. That is, in exchange for some bread. I was new to the camp, so I thought to myself that I would give up just one portion of bread and I would have a sweater. The winter then was so cold. I was so pleased that I had managed to acquire a sweater. I put it on and the next day I went to work. We were planting saplings and all the time I was moving. It never occurred to me that in the sweater there were lice. My arms were in motion all the time and I did not understand why my back was itching so much. This was Friday. It was not until Sunday, because on Sunday we did not work, that when I turned up that black sweater, I saw the other side was quite beige. In every single stitch sat a louse. At the time all [the other prisoners] were sitting there. My God, that image I’ll never forget, Sunday, this was the eradication of insects. I did not know what to do, should I or shouldn’t I put that sweater on. I killed as many as I could, but it was impossible to eradicate all of them.” In the first year or so water in sector BI was only available in the kitchen barracks, to which the prisoner had no access. This lack of washing facilities (though some did at least try to wash or rinse their clothes in puddles) meant that for a long time prisoners were constantly dirty. Physiological needs could be only attended to in uncovered trenches. Moreover, in the barracks, usually built without adequate insulation, the prisoners lived in exceeding dampness and were greatly troubled by lice and rats. It is therefore hardly surprising that there were such frequent epidemic outbreaks of infectious diseases. STANISŁAWA PAŁKA (in the camp RZEPKA) Born in Limanowa on 2 April 1921. During the occupation belonged to the ZWZ-AK [Union of Armed Struggle/Home Army], for which arrested on 17 September 1942. Transported from Tarnów prison to Auschwitz on 6 January 1943, where received prisoner number 28050. First employed in building Kommandos [work squads] and next as a clerk in the Politische Abteilung (the camp’s Gestapo headquarters). Evacuated from the camp on 18 January 1945 and three days later in the village of Radlin near Wodzisław Śląski, managed to escape. “In the morning, assembled in fives, we were led to the washroom. A block like ours, but instead of bunks, along both sides of the interior there were pipes with taps. All of us ran to the taps. For many days unwashed, we had longed for contact with water. To my delight the first droplets dripped from the tap. They had the consistency of mud and a yellowish colour from excessive rust. Taking no notice of this, I splashed my hands and face. To feel moisture it was so wonderful! Next to each tap there was a bar of soap … The bar of soap was too big to fit into my small hand. I rubbed it in various ways, but it wouldn’t lather at all. Well, I’d just have to wash without lather. The most important thing was to wash off the dirt. ‘Soaped up’, I turned the tap, but to no avail. I turned it one way, the other way, but the tap remained dry… The soap’s pungent smell was suffocating, it irritated my throat … And the tap was still dry. Then there was sudden movement around the blocks. Whistles summoned us to roll call. I had no choice and ran with everyone else towards roll call square. When I returned to the block, to my bunk, I felt quite dejected. With stinging, irritated skin, I still stank. Yet at the bottom of my heart there was still an ember of hope that next time, despite everything, next time there’d be water in the taps! Wasn’t that why they had installed the taps? …” The situation was not much better in other parts of the camp. For example, sectors BIIb, BIIc, BIId and BIIe each had 32 prisoner barracks for which there were only three washroom barracks and three barracks with toilets. In Birkenau, as in Auschwitz I, possibilities of using these sanitary facilities were further limited by inmate functionaries, who usually allowed prisoners only a few minutes in the washrooms or toilets before going to work and then after returning from work. Nor could they use these toilets at night. Instead, there were buckets in the blocks where prisoners slept. Although bathhouses were also built in Birkenau, inmates were allowed to use them only very rarely. And when they did, they had to undress in their barracks and go to the bathhouse, regardless of weather conditions, naked. For many this led to a rapid deterioration of health and death. FOOD The prisoners received three meals a day. In the mornings all they were given was half a litre of ‘coffee’ (a watery ersatz grain beverage) or ‘tea’ (a herbal beverage). The noon meal was about a litre of ‘soup’, usually comprising some potato, rutabaga as well as small quantities of kasha (groats), rye flour and Avo food extract. For supper the prisoners received about 300 grams of black bread and either 25 grams of sausage, black pudding or margarine, or a tablespoon of marmalade or some cheese. One must stress that the nutritional value of these meals (with inadequate animal protein, fat, vitamins and minerals) was very low. “We had these red bowls, red, half-litre tin pots into which we got our Kaffee (coffee), in fact chamomile or some other weed. At first we couldn’t drink it, we couldn’t put it to our lips, but later we fought over it, because it was hot. I also discovered that it could be used to least wash your face and hands a little. When we returned in the evenings, we got a little soup, it was with turnips of a dreadful kohlrabi sort [German Kohlrübe – turnip], it was like wood. It was ladled out by a woman who was simply bad, a room overseer. She would ladle out just thin, watery soup, and when she was getting near to the bottom of the large pot, where the turnips or kohlrabi had settled, which, however bad, the famished prisoners wanted to eat, she would close the pot and start ladling thin soup out of a new one. The thick soup she would later sell in exchange for bread and various items the women brought back from their Kommandos [work squads]. If someone complained or protested, they would be hit on the head with the ladle.” HALINA BIRENBAUM Born in Warsaw on 15 September 1929, a writer, translator and poet. During the Second World War she was initially in the Warsaw ghetto and subsequently in German concentration camps, first in Majdanek, then in July 1943 she was transferred to Auschwitz, where she was registered as prisoner 48693. From Auschwitz, transferred to Ravensbrück and next to Neustadt-Glewe, where she was liberated in 1945. In 1947 she moved to Israel, where she set up a family and lives to this day. “We chewed this clay-like bread, washing it down with a dark, cold and bitter beverage called coffee. A spoon sharpened by hand served as a knife. We cut the piece of bread in half and spread the margarine on it. Eating this ‘sandwich’ was a pleasure. The best [moment] of the day. Unfortunately, it ended with a strong and painful contraction of the aroused intestines that were now demanding more. I remember ‘arranging’ two loaves of Buna bread, 700 grams each, and two full bowls of thick soup, four litres in total, and this entire treasure I consumed in one sitting. The margarine tasted like almond butter, the spongy bread, what wonderful properties … Mine, for instance, tasted like the poppy seed roll I had on Saturday mornings at home. Hunger is the best cook.” DAN ARAD (in the camp TEODOR HERSCHDÖRFER) Born in Krakow on 8 September 1922. On 5 November 1943 brought from a labour camp in Szebnie to Auschwitz, where he was registered as a Polish Jew, prisoner number 161205. Initially held in Birkenau and next in Monowitz (Buna), from where he was evacuated on 18 January 1945. During the march through Gliwice he escaped with other prisoners. Provided shelter by a Polish family, he remained in hiding until the arrival of the Red Army. “The food here [in the Jawischowitz sub-camp] is even worse than in Majdanek. … It was on account of the smell that the soup was emitting. It comprised cooked rotten turnips and potatoes that were cut but unpeeled. With unfeigned envy we looked at what was given to the camp’s pigs, several dozen of which lived in a very decent pigsty.” Inadequate quantities of food and its low calorific value, combined with hard labour, inevitably contributed to the destruction of the body, which used up available reserves of fat, muscle protein and internal organ tissues. This led to progressive emaciation and starvation disease, the direct or indirect cause of a significant number of concentration camp deaths. Prisoners suffering from this disease were called ‘Muselmänner’ and fell victim to the selections carried out by SS physicians. As unfit to work, they were sent to the gas chamber. The situation somewhat improved in the second half of 1942, when the camp authorities allowed prisoners to receive food parcels. However, as stated earlier, this privilege did not include the Jews or Soviet prisoners of war. NATAN ŻELECHOWER Born in Warsaw on 8 October 1904. Transferred from the Lublin (Majdanek) concentration camp to Auschwitz on 1 July 1943. Registered as Polish Jew, number 127262. After a short stay in Birkenau, sent to Jawischowitz sub-camp, where employed in the construction of a power station and next in the Brzeszcze coal mine. In January 1945 evacuated to Buchenwald. “We were led to a huge amount of manure … Many horse-pulled carts drove up, onto which we loaded the manure with pitchforks. Work was at a very fast pace as the SS horse masters harried us with whips. Suddenly a flock of rooks cawed right above us and then flew down so low that we could reach them with our pitchforks. What was it? What had happened? … Three corpulent prisoners had pushed through a two-wheel tanker and started pouring out of it the remains of the SS canteen straight onto the manure. What was happening! Clamouring prisoners and the terrifyingly shrill cawing of the birds flying just above the heads of these paupers. The rooks audaciously sat on the heads and arms of these famished wretches, pecking at the bones clutched in their hands as they tried to return with this precious prize to their work place. Words cannot describe this struggle between starving prisoners and screeching birds over disgusting bare bones, dripping with stinking manure. Then SS men rushed in from somewhere, with a great racket chasing the prisoners away, then assailing a weakling that had fallen over… A typical concentration camp Muselmann: yellow complexion, no body, just skin and bone, slow, uncoordinated movements, visible teeth and those terrified, desperate eyes, pathetically gazing at the now lost huge bone. They took him away together with that hideous bone.” CLOTHING Clothing quite inadequate to concentration camp conditions also had a negative influence on prisoners’ health. When they were received in the camp, both men and women had to leave in deposit their clothes and underwear. Next the prisoners were sent to be washed, after which they were issued with concentration camp clothing, made of denim in grey-blue stripes (and popularly called ‘stripes’). The men received: shirts, long johns, tunics, trousers, caps and clogs completely out of wood or wood with a leather top. The women received: blouses, skirts, used underwear, tunics, headscarves and clogs. Coats were issued in winter, sewn out of a thicker material which nevertheless failed to protect prisoners form the cold. That is why, despite the danger of being punished, prisoners would frequently put pieces of newspaper or various types of material under their tunics. The lack of appropriate clothing, especially in winter, malnourishment and work in difficult conditions led to infections that resulted in the deaths of many prisoners. “The first rags I received were: a dirty, frayed, louse infested shirt, striped and disgustingly soiled panties, an equally dirty and unpleasant striped uniform, a striped tunic (over garment) that was torn, the stockings, one to below the knee, the other normal, and, moreover, one beige, the other black, while on my cropped head a cap that had once been white, with spots left by lice, their nests in the hem and to this well-worn clogs.” The inadequate number and low efficiency of laundries, the lack of disinfecting materials as well as limited access to sanitary facilities meant that prisoners rarely had the opportunity to change and wash their clothes. That is why clothes were louse ridden as well as soiled with mud, blood, excrement and urine. This compounded the suffering of prisoners and often became the cause of diseases. Moreover, uncomfortable clogs caused abrasions on the feet that developed into difficult to heal wounds. “… those cursed clogs were too large and caused blisters on my feet, and I could not exchange them with anyone in our transport. The constant movement, constant running did not allow me to exchange clogs with anyone from beyond our transport. We were all in the same situation. And those familiar with camp conditions know if you became less able to move quickly around the camp, you were just one step away from becoming a ‘Muselmann’ and death.” ZBIGNIEW DAMASIEWICZ Arrested on 3 May 1940 and subsequently sent to Tarnów prison. On 14 June 1940 deported to Auschwitz, where registered as prisoner number 260. Remained in Auschwitz until August 1944, when transferred as a punishment to Sachsenhausen and thence to Natzweiler. In April 1945 moved to Dachau, where on 29 April 1945 liberated by the US Army. “I arrived at Auschwitz dressed in beautiful, good quality clothes. I had trousers, a jacket and knee boots. On arrival to the camp all this was taken away. I only managed to keep my toothbrush and some toilet paper. … What I received ‘in return’ for my confiscated clothes was terrifying. The dress was too large for me and had a piece of string to serve as a belt. Moreover, I was given shoes that were not a proper pair. One… had a high heel and an incomplete fastening (lacking a button), the other … had a flat sole and shoelace holes but no shoelace.” WORK IN THE CAMP - ORDER OF THE DAY Slave labour was another means of destroying prisoners. With time, however, as the war dragged on and the Germans increasingly encountered setbacks on the front, the significance of work as a method of extermination decreased. Instead, the slave labour of Auschwitz prisoners became more important to the German economy. In the camp the workday began very early in the morning. At the sound of a gong the prisoners got up and, constantly harried by inmate functionaries, tidied their dormitories. Next, they tried to wash, attend to their physiological needs and finally drink some ‘coffee’ or ‘tea’. At the sound of the second gong they ran to the square to be counted during roll call. If there were any discrepancies in numbers, roll call dragged on, which, especially in times of bad weather, was exceptionally tiring for the prisoners. After it was over, the order was given to form Kommandos (work squads). These work squads of prisoners marched out accompanied by the music of the camp orchestra. Prisoners who worked far beyond the camp (and marched out earlier) or within the camp did not attend roll call. Morning roll call was abolished in February 1944 in order make full use of the working day. Both within and outside the camp the prisoners were often made to work beyond their strength. They usually had only their bare hands or primitive tools and no means of transportation. They worked demolishing the houses of evicted inhabitants, on various building projects (including the expansion of the camp and construction of the vast Buna Werke chemical factory complex), loading and unloading all sorts of materials, in the camp workshops, kitchens, warehouses, bathhouses and prisoner hospitals as well as sorting the property of Jewish victims. Starting in 1942, they were gradually employed in mines and industrial plants, chiefly in Silesia and western Lesser Poland. Some of them performed various ancillary tasks in the camp administration, in the construction division offices, surveying, draining fields as well as on arable, livestock and fish farms. Much of this work was also performed by women prisoners. At work and outside work prisoners were pitilessly forced to be absolutely disciplined. They were terrorised by SS guards and inmate functionaries, who shouted at them, beat them and applied various cruel forms of harassment to instil a constant feeling of fear and at the same time make them perform their work faster. Most prisoners succumbed to the pressure and quickly lost strength, which generally led to physical exhaustion and hastened their demise. “Movement begins. From all sides we hear cries: ‘Arbeitsformirung’, ‘form up’ … The Aufseherinnen (female supervisors) and Kapos of various Kommandos (work squads) already run to round up their people. The chaos is beyond description. Total frenzy… You have to get in line at once… Women jostle… mud splatters … They fall over … Crying… cursing… the sound of beatings, summoning… and haste, that crazy, nerve fraying haste… Kommandos, already formed, proceed swiftly to the Lagerstrasse, lined up one after the other. Tens of thousands of female prisoners of various nationalities have to assemble this way every day for ‘Arbeitsformirung’ and thus set off to work. They’re on their way… the orchestra begins to play… They march to the beat of the drum: links… links… links… links und links… Steady, steady, arms taut, heads held high, you cannot go out of step because you’ll get a fist in your face… Everything has to be korrekt. For an improperly knotted headscarf (we were allowed to wear them because all our heads were shaven), for an unsewn collar button, a dress belt, a torn skirt you are beaten, beaten, beaten. Ulcerated, blistered, sore feet in wooden clogs do not always keep to the beat of the drum and then woe betide their owners. Heads battered until blood flows from the nose. Eyes without tears, because you are not allowed to cry, as this provokes even greater rage. The SS waits for them at the gate, the guards, with dogs, and under their escort they set out into the field to work…” In the summertime work lasted for 10 to 11 hours, while in winter it was reduced to 9. At midday the prisoners had a break, during which they could consume a meal. The break usually lasted an hour but could be lengthened or shortened depending on the time of year. Initially, after the break, there was a roll call, but later this was abandoned. The exhausted prisoners returned to the camp before dusk, escorted by SS guards and, as in the morning, to the music of the camp orchestra. They would frequently carry the corpses of their colleagues who had died or been killed during work. After their return, there was the evening roll call, which like the morning roll call, could be extended if not all the prisoners were accounted for. Once roll call was finished, the prisoners received a portion of bread with some addition. From then on they had free time to try and wash, go to the toilet or meet friends in other blocks before the first gong, which gave the signal for all prisoners to return to their own blocks. At 21.00 the second gong sounded to signal night silence. “The prisoners assemble in ten long ranks. Every so often another group returning directly from work joins. Everyone is tired, dirty and soaked, for today it rained for a couple of hours. Alas, there is no time for rest, you have yet to survive roll call. This is one of the most tiring and hated by prisoners ceremonies, so much celebrated by the camp authorities. A group of prisoners from one of the Kommandos carry in their arms two of their colleagues. They proceed to the end of roll call square … and lay down those whom they have brought. These cadavers also must to be present at roll call. This is their last roll call. Tomorrow there will be nothing left of them. Already six corpses are lying there. The new arrivals are laid down evenly next to them in the same row. The Blockführer must see them, so that they can be easily counted. They lie there staring at the sky, eyes open wide. … Almost all the prisoners are here. Room overseers run in between the ranks, correcting them, the clerk counts. There is a discrepancy. He is clearly worried. It turns out someone was standing out of line. A sick, barely able to stand Greek [Greek Jew]. He gets a hard kick from one of the room overseers and is now standing in line with all the rest. … Most of the prisoners stand with lowered heads, staring vacantly at the grey, loamy soil. Before them appears the block supervisor. The sacramental ‘Stillstanden’ [attention], and soon after ‘Mützen ab!’ [caps off]. One movement and the closely cropped heads are uncovered. The block supervisor, standing taut, reports the number of prisoners in the block. At the front motionless figures, seemingly lifeless, dead for this moment in time, as the slim … SS-man with his dry look passes. It is the Blockführer. He stops at the end, casts a glance at those dead prisoners lying motionless on the ground. He checks the number recorded in the book, signs it and walks away. … Well, this time the numbers agree. Everyone’s satisfied. Nobody has escaped or got lost. We will not have to stand for an hour, two hours or more. PUNISHMENTS IN THE CAMP The system of punishments was another means of exterminating prisoners. In Auschwitz punishments were executed according to regulations on the basis of orders issued by the commandant or Lagerführer as well as reports submitted by SS guards or inmate functionaries. The most commonly punished offences included: any attempt to acquire additional food, evading work or failure to perform work properly, failure to perform any activity within regulation time or in the right place, wearing clothing items contrary to regulations or attempting to commit suicide [!]. The most frequent forms of punishment included: floggings, incarceration in Auschwitz I Block 11 cells, being suspended on a post or put into the penal unit. The punishment of flogging was generally performed in public, usually during evening roll call and most often on a specially devised table. The prisoner’s legs were held immobilised in a wooden box, his trunk rested on the table and his hands were stretched out before him. The flogging was performed by SS personnel or inmate functionaries with thick sticks or whips. The punished prisoner himself had to count the number of strokes in German. If he made a mistake in counting, the punishment was repeated. Officially, the maximum number of strokes was 25, but in practice it all depended on the SS or inmate functionary performing the punishment. As a result the prisoners often had phlegmonous abscesses on their buttocks, injured kidneys as well as torn muscles and skin. “… I received from a civilian worker, a Pole, two small packets of butter. I hid them in the attic of a new building under some bricks but did not realise that another prisoner had observed this. He informed the Kapo … Suddenly they started searching for me. When I entered the Kapo’s booth, my heart sank. On the table I saw the two packets of butter, standing beside it the Kapo and the SS man Kaduk … They took down my number and sent me back to work. Hence the penal report … Before my punishment they checked if I had any earlier wounds on my backside … There were five of us: apart from me, a Russian who had been caught shirking, a German who had stolen a parcel from a colleague … as well as two Poles who were being held in Block 11 … The flogging was conducted on a special bench … the actual strokes were administered by two block supervisors, while the bunker Kapo (a Jew called Kozelczuk) held down the prisoners hands and head. Our legs were put into a special box, so that when we were prostrate we could not straighten them. The first to be flogged was a Pole, he received 25 lashes and shouted to the high heavens. The other Pole also shouted. As did the Russian, for which he was given three additional lashes. The German got 20 lashes. I was to be punished last. I decided not to shout or cry. It is easy to make such resolutions, far more difficult to fulfil them. … They read out my sentence: 15 lashes. I prostrated myself on the special flogging bench, and although during the whipping a cold sweat came over me, I was silent … Not once did I shout. My fingernails dug into my palms and my teeth bit my lips so hard that blood trickled. … Then they examined us again to see what wounds we had after the flogging. … We performed a short gymnastic exercise to make the blood circulate faster. Next we were all sent back to our blocks, with the exception of the Poles, who were taken back to their cells, and later shot.” Prisoners were also punished in Block 11, in ordinary cells, in so-called dark cells, or in standing cells. Prisoners were put in these cells because they were suspected of sabotage, contacts with civilians, planning to escape or because they had been caught during an attempted escape. Ordinary cells usually had windows partly bricked up from the outside and those inside could sleep on wooden bunks. In the dark cells, instead of windows there were vents, metal shutters on the outside with punched ventilation holes. In these cells prisoners slept on the bare floor. Incarceration in these cells ranged from several days to several weeks. These cells were also used to hold those sentenced to death through starvation for attempting to escape or those taken as hostages for the successful escape of another prisoner. The standing cell was introduced at the start of 1942. There were four such cells, each with a surface area of 1 sq. m. The only source of air was from a 5x5 cm opening covered with metal sheet that had holes punched in it. The entrance was an opening near the floor which was closed with a metal grate and a wooden door. At night each such cell could hold four prisoners who the next day had to go to work. This punishment lasted from a few days to up to twenty days in a row. Some prisoners did not survive these conditions and suffocated from the lack of air. The so-called ‘post’ was an exceptionally painful punishment most usually executed in the attic of Block 11 or in its courtyard. The sentenced prisoner was suspended by his hands tied behind his back from a hook on the post at such a height that his feet did not touch the ground. This punishment lasted from one to a few hours, though longer punishments were usually divided into hourly stints. The intense, piercing pain caused the prisoners to lose consciousness. Other effects included ruptured shoulder tendons. Thus, some prisoners were unable to move their arms, deemed unfit to work and therefore sent to the gas chamber. “Working on the scaffolding, knocking down plaster from a block that was to have an added floor, I noticed that a passing SS man had discarded a cigar butt. I looked around to make sure no one was looking, climbed down and picked it up. At that moment I froze, for from behind the corner of the block came [Rapportführer] Palitzsch. He ordered me to show him what I had in my hand. In my fright I forgot to take off my cap. ‘Du Hund Mütze ab’, he roared, then struck me in the face, took down my number and left. At evening roll call my number was called out. The interpreter, Count Baworowski, translated Lagerführer Fritzsch’s words: ‘For evading work and failing to honour the Raportführer he is to receive the punishment of one hour on the post.’ After roll call, the Blockführer took me to Block 2, summoned the block overseer and led me up to the attic, where I was hung. My hands were bound behind my back with a chain and I was made to stand up on a stool while the other end of the chain was tied to a beam, and then they kicked the stool from under my feet. This was agony beyond description and as I hung there, they swung me. When I fainted, they poured water on me. After that terrible hour, I was untied, got kicked in the backside and fell down the stairs. In my collarbones I felt my arms were disconnected, I was unable to move them, and my wrists were wounded by the chain. For a couple of weeks I had to hide, not to fall foul, for I was unable to work. Thanks to the colleagues who looked after me, I survived and got better, though for a year I still felt pain in my collarbones.” EXECUTIONS AT BOTH CAMPS Auschwitz was also a place where the SS carried out executions. Officially, the decision to execute prisoners suspected of committing serious crimes was made by the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA). In practice, however, some of the executions were carried out on the orders of the Auschwitz Political Department. At first, sentenced prisoners were shot dead in gravel pits (from which gravel was also extracted) around the camp, but later these shootings were conducted in the closed courtyard of Block 11 (Auschwitz I). Those sentenced to death were led out of cells in the basement of this block and on the ground floor they had to strip naked. Next they were led out into the courtyard and made to stand before a specially constructed wall. There they were killed with a shot in the back of the head from a small calibre pistol. It has been estimated that almost 1,000 prisoners previously held in Block 11 cells were killed in this way as well as the previously mentioned 4,500 ‘police prisoners’ sentenced to death by the court martial. The number of executed inmates who had been summoned straight from the camp as well as the numbers of Soviet prisoners of war and Poles delivered from outside the camp to be executed are not known. “In front of the Block 11 courtyard brick wall there is a black screen. This screen, consisting of black insulation panels, became the final milestone for thousands of innocent people: patriots, who did not wish to betray their country for material benefit; prisoners who had managed to escape the Auschwitz hell, yet whom bitter fate had allowed to be caught; nationally aware men and women from all the countries occupied by Germans. They are shot by Rapportführer [Gerhard Palitzsch] or the jailer. They use a small calibre handgun with a magazine for 10 to 15 rounds. Aumeier, Grabner and their dog’s body lackey hiding behind his back the pistol ready to fire, stand nonchalantly, intoxicated with the sense of power. In the background a few terrified corpse carriers wait with a stretcher, ready to perform their sad duty. They are unable to hide the expression of terror on their faces. Near the black wall stands a prisoner with a spade. Another prisoner, a strongman selected from among the cleaners, brings out the first two victims, at the double. He holds them by their arms and presses their faces against the wall … . Although they are tottering skeletons – more than one has languished in a stinking basement cell where an animal would not cope – barely able to stand on their feet, many of them in the very last second call out ‘Long live Poland!’ or ‘Long live freedom!’. In such cases the lackey executioner hurriedly shoots the victim in the back of the head or forces silence with violent blows. … Regardless of whether they are men or women, young or old, almost without exception you saw the same picture: these people mobilised with what little strength they had left to die with dignity. No whining for mercy, but often instead with a final glance of utter contempt, to which those primitive henchmen murderers could only respond with sadistic rage. Shot after barely audible shot, the victims fall, wheezing. The executioner has to confirm that the shot fired several centimetres from the back of the head was accurate. He presses his boot against the victim’s forehead to see if the eyes were lifeless. Aumeier and Grabner observe professionally. If the victim continues to wheeze, one of these two SS Führers orders: ‘Do that one again’. A second shot in the temple or eye finally ends a miserable life. The stretcher-bearers run back and forth, loading the corpses onto their stretcher and dumping them on a pile at the other end of the courtyard. The pile of corpses rises. Long after they have been shot a steady stream of blood oozes out of the hole in the occiput and spreads out on the back. Mutely, showing no emotions, the prisoner with the spade covers the frothing puddle of blood with sand. He does this every time after the two corpses are taken away. The executioner mechanically loads his pistol and conducts execution after execution. When sometimes the handgun jams, he allows it to rest and whistles a tune or deliberately starts a quite phatic conversation with those standing next to him.” Every so often there were executions by hanging. These were usually the hangings of one or several prisoners who had been caught trying to escape. They were conducted in public, most often during roll call to terrorise the inmates. One of the most infamous executions was the hanging of 12 prisoners from the surveyors’ Kommando. This was carried out on 19 July 1943 as punishment for the escape of three of their colleagues. Equally well known in the camp was the execution of Edward Galiński and the attempt to execute Mala Zimetbaum, who had together escaped on 24 June 1944, but were a dozen or so days later captured. The very last hangings were carried out on 6 January 1945. On that day four Jewish women were hanged because they had provided the Sonderkommando with the explosives next used in their revolt. In 1941 the camp authorities retaliated against prisoner escapes by sentencing other prisoners to death through starvation. The victims were hostages selected during roll call from the same block or Kommando as that of the prisoner who had escaped. They were taken to the dark cells of Block 11 and left there without any food until the escaped prisoner was found. However, in all known cases the hostages died of starvation before this happened. During the selection of hostages on 29 July 1941 the Franciscan monk, Fr. Maximilian Kolbe volunteered to take the place of one of the selected prisoners. After two weeks in the starvation cell, he was ultimately killed with an injection of phenol straight into his heart. PRISONER ‘HOSPITALS’ Living conditions in the camp meant that a considerable number of prisoners relatively quickly succumbed to various diseases. The lack of sanitary facilities, being forced to wear dirty clothes and overcrowded living quarters led to the spreading of skin diseases, especially scabies. In the winter as well as late autumn and early spring there were numerous cases of colds, pneumonia and frostbite, often leading to necrosis of the extremities. As a result of vitamin deficiency and infections many prisoners had boils, abscesses and ulcers. The brutal treatment the prisoners received from the SS and inmate functionaries led to numerous cases of broken limbs, muscle and joint injuries as well as phlegmons on the buttocks. In the years 1942–43 there were epidemics of various diseases, above all typhus, which claimed the greatest number of victims. Many inmates suffered from tuberculosis, meningitis, pemphigus and dysentery. Another common problem was starvation, leading to extreme physical exhaustion. These diseases were usually terribly severe and in camp conditions very difficult to cure. The SS authorities did set up hospitals for the prisoners (so-called Revier – sickbay), but, on account of the terrible conditions and hopelessly inadequate medical care, in many cases becoming a patient resulted in death. Especially in the initial period of the camp’s existence prisoner patients had to lie in overcrowded hospital rooms, in dirty shirts or naked on paillasses saturated with faeces, urine and purulent secretions. In addition, the hospitals were infested with fleas and lice, whereas the barracks in Birkenau were also plagued by rats. In such circumstances the provision of medical treatment was extremely difficult, all the more so because these hospitals lacked medical equipment and medicines. And yet despite this, many a time the treatment provided by prisoner physicians had positive effects, while a stay in hospital also allowed some prisoners to rest and recover their strength. On the other hand, prisoner hospital patients were subjected to selections conducted by SS physicians until November 1944. The selected patients faced death in the gas chamber or by means of an injection into the heart, most usually of phenol. As mentioned earlier, these selections initially concerned all prisoner patients, but from the spring of 1943 only the Jews. “‘Show me that leg,’ says the physician. The prisoner raises his leg and shows it to him. ‘My, it’s swelled up like a bubble,’ interjects the Pfleger [male nurse]. The physician shakes his head and says: ‘We’ll cut!’ The Pfleger takes a large nearby stool … and turning to the prisoner: ‘Turn your back to it and place your leg on it.’ He points to the stool. … ‘But no comedy or shouting! It’ll hurt a bit!’ The prisoner grits his teeth and observes the physician as he selects from among the several surgical instruments lying on an adjacent stool a fairly large scalpel, immerses it in some solution … and approaches him. The physician grabs the prisoner’s leg above the ankle and with one motion cuts the swelling. The prisoner is struck by intense pain, he feels he is about to black out and fall over, but he doesn’t, supported on one side by the Pfleger. At the same time he experiences a sense of relief, the feeling of something being released from the swelling. It is a vast quantity of puss. Then another pain, even more intense than the first. That is the physician cleaning the wound with a tampon soaked in a very powerful disinfectant. ‘And that’s that,’ he says not even looking at the prisoner. ‘Bandage!’ The Pfleger responds by bandaging the wound … pats the prisoner on the back and says: ‘You were quite calm, you’re not yet the Muselmann you appear to be.’” EXPERIMENTS Some of the physicians at Auschwitz conducted diverse pseudo-medical experiments on male and female prisoners. Among them was Prof. Carl Clauberg, who worked on a method for the mass sterilisation of female prisoners. Under the pretence of carrying out a gynaecological test, he introduced a chemical into their genital tracts. This chemical caused inflammation and after a few weeks the fusion and effective obstruction of the women’s fallopian tubes. Other effects of these experiments carried out on his victims, Jewish female prisoners, included fever, peritonitis and profuse bleeding of the genital tracts. As a result some of them died, while others were deliberately killed in order to conduct post-mortem examinations. Sterilisation experiments on groups of Jewish male and female prisoners were also conducted by the medical doctor Horst Schumann. Using two Roentgen cameras he beamed x-rays onto men’s testicles and women’s ovaries to try and determine the optimum dosage of radiation required to cause total infertility. Consequences of this irradiation included severe burns, radiation dermatitis and hard to heal purulent lesions. After a few weeks some of the male and female prisoners were surgically castrated for the purpose of subjecting their organs to laboratory tests and obtaining comparative histological material. Other prisoners, however, as a result of selections in the camp, were sent to the gas chamber. Another physician, Dr Josef Mengele, conducted anthropological research into various racial groups, especially the Roma, as well as the phenomenon of twins and the physiology and pathology of dwarfism (hereditary traits in twins and dwarfs). The Jewish and Roma twins as well as people with other congenital anomalies at his disposal were subjected to medical scrutiny, including anthropometric, morphological, dental and surgical examinations. Next, they were photographed, plaster casts were made of their jaws and prints were also taken of their fingertips and toes. Once these tests were completed, those examined were killed with an injection of phenol into the heart, so that autopsies and comparative examinations of the internal organs could also be carried out. Mengele was also interested in people who had different coloured irises (heterochromia). He put various types of chemicals on their eyes, which caused numerous complications, including blindness. Moreover, Mengele studied the causes and possible treatment of noma faciei (gangrenous stomatitis or water cancer), a disease that affected the Roma in the so-called Gypsy camp. The sufferers, a large proportion of whom were children, for a while received pharmacological treatment and were given a special diet. Then on Mengele’s instructions selected children were killed and their bodies (or body parts) were next sent to the SS Institute of Hygiene in Rajsko for histopathological tests. In 1944 Emil Kaschub, a Wehrmacht physician, was directed to Auschwitz to study methods of scrimshanking (pretending to be ill) practiced by German soldiers. This was especially a problem on the Eastern Front, where there were cases of self-inflicted wounds, sores or induced fevers. In his research Kaschub injected or rubbed into the skin of prisoners all sorts of toxic substances. He also gave them oral medications to induce the same symptoms as were reported by German soldiers. His victims were dozens of Jews, in whom he induced inflammations, purulent lesions and hard to heal ulcers, leading to tissue necrosis. As a result of selections in the camp, some of these prisoners were later sent to the gas chamber. “They transported me to the Auschwitz camp in June 1944. At the start of August 1944 hunger had caused my legs to swell and as a patient I was put into Block 19 … in Auschwitz. Around 22 August 1944 a committee headed by the camp’s chief physician, Dr Klajs [Klein]came to our Block 19. With them came SS Senior Sergeant Emil Kaszur [Kaschub]. While reviewing the patients, they selected 20, all my age, and sent us to Block 28, where we were put in isolation ward No. 13. Emil Kaschub forbade the SS guards to let us out or have any contact with other people. We were let out of the ward only once every 24 hours to attend to the call of nature. For the rest of the time we had to make do with buckets left for us in the ward. The day after we were sent to ward No. 13, Emil Kaschub, accompanied by prisoner attorney Dr Sztern [Schtern] and Hungarian [prisoner] physician Szwarc [Schwarz], began conducting on us various experiments. Emil Kaschub personally took each of us and with a special saw removed the surface layer of skin on our calves. Into the wounds of some he rubbed in a paste, and into the wounds of others he rubbed in a liquid. This he did to all 20 of us and next he observed the progressive irritation or contraction of the skin. Every day he took photographs of our wounds and whenever the wounds he needed reached the stage of full decomposition in all our cases he cut out the affected cells together with the muscle tissue and took them away. Not only I was subjected to these experiments, but also my friends from the camp. … When taking photographs of our wounds, Emil Kaschub had each of us put on a table. The windows would be covered and he would take the photographs under the light of reflectors. Then he would ask: ‘Does it hurt?’ And we answered that it did, he would respond: ‘But the German soldier has to suffer all sorts of inconveniences for you, you filthy Jews.’ In the years 1941–44 SS physicians Friedrich Entress, Helmuth Vetter, Eduard Wirths, and to a lesser extent Fritz Klein, Werner Rhode, Hans Wilhelm König, Bruno Weber as well as Victor Capesius (pharmacist and head of camp’s pharmacy) tested the effectiveness of new drugs and medicines given in various forms and in various doses to prisoners suffering from infectious diseases. In many cases the prisoners were deliberately infected for the purpose of these experiments. Consequences of these experiments frequently included vomiting blood, diarrhea and circulatory disorders. When some of these prisoners died, autopsies were carried out to determine whether the applied drugs caused any changes in the internal organs. The photos: The “Gate of Death”/”Hells Gate” One of the numerous watch towers Railway wagon with brakeman’s cabin Within the camp here is where the trains unloaded Rows of barrack foundations with just the chimneys remaining as far as the eye can see The end of the line The gas chambers have been demolished and just rubble remains This set of gates led to another gas chamber This has also been demolished These barracks had a number of purposes 1-24, 26-29, 31-35 – Prisoners barracks: some of which were used for sick prisoners. 25 – Female prisoners selected by the SS to be murdered in the gas chambers (the Death Barrack) 28 – Barrack used as an ‘Infirmary’. Women as well as the babies born in the camp were murdered here by phenol injections into the heart. 30 – In this barrack prisoners were used for criminal sterilization experiments by SS doctors. 31 – In this barrack Jewish children were kept for use by the SS doctor Josef Mengele for medical experiments. Only the chimneys remain here of the many barracks The latrines Bunks One inefficient heater for the whole barracks which was usually not working Minimal washing facilities Rows and rows of bunks Between 4-7 people slept on each level on straw with some lice infested blankets. If you slept on the bottom you were sleeping in the mud. The wood felt damp to the touch Walking through these barracks you can feel the spirits of those who passed. What happened to these innocent people was horrendous. It is truly amazing that anyone survived with what they were made to endure. Beyond disgraceful, cruel and a totally pointless waste of human life. One of the most immediate feelings i felt upon leaving Birkenau was the realization that i had the freedom to walk away, a choice denied to millions who were brought to this same spot. The Wieliczka Salt Mine The mine is in the town of Wieliczka, near Kraków in southern Poland. From Neolithic times, sodium chloride (table salt) was produced here from the upwelling brine. Excavated from the 13th century the mine produced table salt continuously until 1996, as one of the world's oldest operating salt mines. Throughout its history, the royal salt mine was operated by the Żupy Krakowskie (Kraków Salt Mines) company. Due to falling salt prices and mine flooding, commercial salt mining was discontinued in 1996. The Wieliczka Salt Mine is now an official Polish Historic Monument and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its attractions include the shafts and labyrinthine passageways, displays of historic salt-mining technology, an underground lake, four chapels and numerous statues carved by miners out of the rock salt. The mine is so huge that you can visit only 2% of the salt labyrinth Over more than 700 years, 26 shafts were struck in and 9 million m³ of post-excavation voids were drilled 9 levels 150 miles of galleries 1100ft at the deepest point The pics: The salt resembles cauliflower Primitive roof supports Miles of underground rails Horse gins were used An upper gallery St Kinga’s Chapel is breathtaking It was created by miners who carved it by hand out of salt rock over 67 years, from 1896 to 1964. It was created to be a large, dedicated place for miners to pray and celebrate Mass, as a tradition of creating smaller chapels in the mine had begun much earlier. The chapel is entirely made of salt, including its floor, walls, ceiling, sculptures, and chandeliers. Some of the amazing sculptures The deepest level is almost completely flooded and inaccessible to the public except for divers Wooden supports are a crucial and prominent feature in the mine, serving both as a historical testament to the miners' engineering skills and a necessary structural component to prevent collapses. They are particularly impressive in chambers like the Michałowice Chamber, which features massive timber constructions that support the high ceilings. Beyond structural support, wood was also used for ventilation doors, lifts, winches, and graduation towers, with the salt preserving the timber. Above the mine now: The AM 50Z is a roadheader machine used in the mine and other underground mining operations for excavating galleries and roadheadings. It has a rotating cutter head at the front, used to cut and excavate rock and other hard materials. The AM 50Z-w was designed for: Excavating galleries: It was used to create underground tunnels and chambers. Mining operations: While the historic parts of the mine used simple hand tools, modern mining and maintenance operations employ advanced machinery like the AM 50Z-w Winding mechanism The lift shafts A steam locomotive has been set as a technical monument: Tkp "Slask" Steam locomotive 0-8-0 - This type were produced in the Locomotive Factory in Chrzanow. "Slask (Silesia - a region in southern Poland - R.K.)" It was used at the mine during the years 1957-1980 for manoeuvring works at the inner side-track, for transportation of goods and coal, and for putting aside the produced salt to the side-track of the railway station in Wieliczka (Currently the station is being demolished) Despite being designated as TKp-2316, this is actually TKp-2816. The LD31 is a type of electric narrow-gauge mining locomotive which was used at the mine. It was manufactured in Poland by the company FUM "Fabud" (Fabryka Urządzeń i Maszyn Górniczych), located in Rybnik. Its primary use was for transporting salt ore and materials within the mine's extensive network of underground passages and was part of a historical underground railway system which included horse-drawn railways in earlier times. Parked at the salt mine There are many old buildings around Wieliczka Park Station EN76B is the classification for a specific configuration of the Pesa Elf 2, a modern electric multiple unit (EMU) train used by regional operators in Poland, such as Koleje Małopolskie. The "EN76" designation refers to the four-section version of the original Pesa Elf train, and the "B" denotes a specific variant or operator's series within that family. Type: Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) for commuter and regional service. Manufacturer: Pesa SA, a Polish rolling-stock manufacturer based in Bydgoszcz. Sections: The base EN76 class consists of four sections or cars. Top Speed: The design speed is up to 190 km/h (118 mph), though the operational speed for most units is around 160 km/h (100 mph). Power System: It uses a 3 kV DC overhead electric system, which is standard in Poland. Low Floor Design: The "Elf" (Electric Low Floor) name highlights its accessibility, designed for platforms with a height of 55 cm (22 in). Operators: Various Polish regional operators use Pesa Elf units, including Koleje Małopolskie, Koleje Dolnośląskie, and others. Around Krakow: The transport system runs rings around anything in the UK. Clean, well maintained, on time, plenty of options, and very cheap. The electric buses charge up at designated stops on each route A great tram system C & A still going strong here As soon as any undesirables start gathering the police are there within minutes to remove them Bendy-buses are used Some magnificent buildings A very relaxed atmosphere Rolling stock passing through Krakow Glowny Station: At the end of the 1980s, the PKP needed a new locomotive series for fast passenger service between Warsaw and Kraków that could cope with the demands of continuous service at 160 km/h. The EP05 locomotives, converted from the EU05 in 1973, were limited in number and showing their age. Therefore, Pafawag constructed a new 104E locomotive in Wrocław. The locomotives comprehensively met the expectations placed on them, prompting the PKP to purchase 45 more locomotives by 1997. The EP09 was used nationwide and almost completely replaced the EP05. EP07s have driving cabs at each end of the locomotive. The locomotive is equipped with a multiple unit control system, which allows a single driver to drive two coupled engines from one cab. This engine is able to pull passenger trains of up to 640-long-ton; 720-short-ton weight with a speed of 78 mph and freight trains of up to 2,000 long tons; 2,200 short tons weight with a speed of 43 mph. Alstom EMU250 (series ED250) is a seven-car standard gauge high-speed electric multiple unit from the Pendolino family, manufactured by Alstom at the factory in Savigliano, Italy, as the Alstom ETR 610 model, commissioned by PKP Intercity. A total of 20 units were produced, and since 14 December 2014, they have been operating Express InterCity Premium trains on routes connecting Warsaw with Bielsko-Biała, Gdynia, Gliwice, Jelenia Góra, Katowice, Kołobrzeg, Kraków, Rzeszów, Wrocław and Szczecin. Pesa Acatus Plus is a family of electric multiple units (EMUs) manufactured by Pesa in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Designed as an advanced version of the Pesa Acatus II, it serves as a cost-effective alternative to the Pesa Elf. The Acatus Plus is operated by Polregio and Koleje Małopolskie, with a total of 13 units produced: nine 3-car and four 2-car units. A friendly wave as the EP07 departs At night the buildings are illuminated. Everywhere is very clean. On the Vistula River Krakow is well worth a visit 👍 Odds and Ends Cars parked on the platforms of the closed Blackpool Central station in 1966 West Coast Main Line - The Ribble Viaduct at Preston Also known as the North Union Railway Bridge, this bridge carries the West Coast Main Line over the River Ribble and Miller Park towards Preston Railway Station. It was originally built 1837-8, for the North Union Railway Company. As the railways expanded, the width of the viaduct was doubled in 1879-80 which can be seen in the pic above. In 1862 A good view of the doubled width Miller park was opened in 1867 and was created on land extending from the East Lancashire Railway to the North Union Railway embankments and was laid out on eleven acres of land which was donated to Preston Corporation by Alderman Thomas Miller, a principal partner in the firm of cotton manufacturers, Horrocks, Miller & Co. Miller Park was designed by Edward Milner the landscape designer from London and was assisted by out-of-work cotton operatives during the cotton famine. A manhole cover survives from the early days Not as old as they look but still visually appealing This urn is an original Victorian masterpiece. The detail is still sharply defined even after years of weathering. The Ivy Bridge Every effort was maintained to protect the quiet and serene ethos of the park and in particular the East Lancashire Railway bridge, known as Ivy Bridge, was no exception. This bridge was purposely designed to fit in with the surroundings with its picturesque stone bottle type balustrade and the ivy which festooned its whole structure to ‘create an impression of a walkway in the grounds of a country mansion’. When Victorian and Edwardian visitors to the parks strolled along the walkway towards the bridge they would only really notice that it was a railway bridge by virtue of the occasional steam train blowing its whistle whilst crossing the bridge. The image above is of the Ivy Bridge in 1906 and under the bridge are the old iron gates that were locked each night. The bridge carried the East Lancashire Railway line to Preston Junction (Todd Lane) and beyond. Following closure of the line in the early 1970’s the bridge became redundant. It has now been fully restored as part of the ‘Remade Project’ and carries a cycle and walkway. The policeman in the image looks as though he is about to close the gates for the day. With this we leave the park and move on to: Volvo FH540 from Guy Crane Hire UK moving a container into position in our yard Sunset through Blackpool Tower Lightning strike Busy for a fireworks event At Park Royal we have Routemaster RM2201 – CUV 201C when brand new in April 1965 Two pics from Paul Redmond when in service At Victoria in 1987 (Paul Featherstone) Anyone familiar with the route to St Day from the north along the A30 will recognise this location: 50007 + 50049 rush past Wheal Busy just to the east of Redruth with the historic Hallenbeagle Engine House behind the train. This was the final run in GBRf livery before both were repainted into large logo livery. The grey primer is starting to appear on 50007. To finish we have a lovely atmospheric winter shot of Rose Hill Garage, Isfield, This now has houses on the site (Credit Tim Heasman) Next time: Join me as we look for a long-abandoned engine shed residing lost and lonely hidden deep in the woods:

Remembering the drivers that we lost this year. GEOFF GARTSIDE MICK O'HARA STEVE BIRD BRIAN SPEIGHT BARRIE HOLMES NEIL POKORNY TONY NEAL WAYNE HELLIWELL DEAN WHITWELL ALAN GOTT BRIAN WHORTON BARRY JOHNSON GEGGS STEVENSON RON COTTRELL DUNCAN SCHOFIELD GRAHAM MOULDS JOHNNY PRATT JOHN STIRK DAVE TAPPING MICK STECKO

Hi there folks. Welcome to episode 3. In this one: Section 1: F2 pics from Aldershot & Knockhill Section 2: Out and About 1 – The Harrington Gathering Out and About 2 - Extwistle Hall Odds and Ends – London Transport posters, the Pressed Steel Company of Great Britain, Routemasters on the 159 Run. Section 1 Aldershot - Sunday May 18th 2025 - WCQR 43 cars on hand for this WCQR: The DLRD Volvo FL618 is coming up for 30yrs old The Burgoyne Scania is always immaculate Gordon had been racing at King’s Lynn the previous evening On the Phil Mann wing Jessica Smith – Rebecca in front won Heat 2 Josh Weare Ryan McGill in the ex-183 car scored two victories Charlie Guinchard The Philp Scania A 20yr old beauty Charlie Lobb needed some repairs to the front corner after his first race George MacMillan Jnr Kasey Jones Craig Wallace Aidan Grindey had some repairs to do on the front corner after crashing out of the Final Reece Winch won the Final Heat 1 463 514 213 155 543 569 390 629 16 239 Heat 2 931 915 183 7 674 100 667 186 578 411 Consolation 355 12 776 895 821 285 903 8 223 315 542 53 Final 411 16 7 915 213 390 569 667 183 674 GN 463 915 569 514 667 100 7 183 315 155 Knockhill – Wednesday June 18th 2025 The first of the two Wednesday evening meetings for the F2s drew a large crowd. It was Team Burgoyne all the way as they won three out of the four races. The magnificent transporters and cars of Team Burgoyne Brian Hogg had a run out in John’s car Paul Moffatt – Troy the Plumber Graeme Leckie’s very smart WRC#95 Relatively local lad Reece McIntosh Adrian Finnegan from Downpatrick NI Ray Weldon – Chester-Le-Street Drivetrain work on the 7 car The top 3 in the Final 3rd place takes 1st & 2nd around on the victory lap The next meeting here would not see such friendliness between 7 and 647 however! Heat 1 647 514 463 7 674 547 402 16 213 100 Heat 2 647 7 674 100 463 16 213 514 629 402 Final 674 647 7 100 16 463 514 387 213 629 GN 514 100 463 647 7 16 547 629 213 402 Section 2 Out and About 1 The Harrington Gathering Harrington was the most fondly respected coachbuilder of the 20th century. To celebrate this roughly every five years there is a ‘Harrington Gathering’. It all started back in 1986, a mere 20 years since the last Harrington product – a Grenadier-bodied AEC Reliance – left Sackville works to join the long-established fleet of Greenslades Tours of Exeter, Devon. Even back then, there was a feeling of loss with respect to the Hove based coachbuilder. The mention of a Harrington product brings back memories to many people. From the iconic ‘Dorsal Fin’, to going on holiday on a coach belonging to one of the operators who staunchly supported the coachbuilder for decades – such as Maidstone & District or Southdown. The history of the company: In 1897 Thomas Harrington (1859-1928) started building light horse drawn passenger wagonettes, flys, and landaus at his premises in Church Street, Brighton. Within three years the original works was expanded, and new showrooms were acquired in King Street. The increasing popularity of the motor car meant that this became the mainstay of the business, although commercial vehicle bodywork remained as a sideline. Unlike many, Harrington adapted well when standardisation of body designs by private car manufacturers in the twenties caused the decline of that part of activities. What work there was tended to be for bespoke chassis such as Bentley or Bugatti and this perhaps led to the upmarket image that Harrington continued to foster throughout their existence. In fact, cars continued to be a feature of Harrington work right up to the end of the company, but they were very much the minority. Production of luxury coach and bus bodies became the major occupation of the firm, with commercial vehicle bodies a smaller but significant proportion of the output. In 1930 a purpose-built factory known as Sackville Works was constructed at Old Shoreham Road, Hove. Not as bold as some new factories of the time the cement rendered facade could be described as falling somewhere between art nouveau and art deco. Displayed in large but elegant letters on one side was "Motor Coach Builders" and on the other side, "Automobile Engineers". The front was the narrowest part, and the production area, of conventional construction, spread out behind, on the triangular site. The factory occupied an area of seven acres and by the late forties over six hundred employees staffed the works. The factory may have seemed grand at the time but from the start there was no room for expansion. A railway bound it to the rear and East, a major road to the front and there was a graveyard on the West flank. The site area always limited production to approximately 200 vehicles a year and would be one, although not the main reason that Harringtons ceased trading. As an aside, rather than the factory expanding, widening of the road gate into Harrington's frontage and the spot where many vehicles were photographed later became a very risky place to stand. During the Second World War, work other than war effort stopped completely. The very few passenger vehicles that emerged from the works may be presumed to be either repair of damaged vehicles or for supply to the armed forces. Harrington certainly constructed a number of special vehicles for the Army, Navy and RAF. Part of the works was converted to manufacture air frame components. It is believed that this was primarily for the Westland Lysander aircraft, famed for its ability to land and take off in a small area and much used in contacts with the French Resistance. Another activity where Harringtons were proud to contribute was the production of prototype aircraft components and this eventually became a major part of war work. The techniques such as light alloy construction and jig manufacture were incorporated into post-war coach production, thus ensuring quick and accurate assembly. Prototype work such as this continued even after the war and through the fifties. During the 1950s, a greater use of glass fibre was successfully applied to their products, thus saving on the costly panel beating process. The early process with its use of an oxidising catalyst was particularly risky with regard to fire, or even minor explosion so the glass fibre components were constructed in a separate building behind the main works. Sometimes when curved repair panels for older coaches were required a fibreglass alternative was supplied to replace the original aluminium one. By the early sixties, when the success of the Cavalier coach was resulting in batches of large orders, the limitations imposed by the factory size were becoming more and more apparent and Harrington once again turned to the car side of their business in an attempt to maximise production area. Fortunately, eschewing the complete fibreglass replacement body so popular in the fifties they started modifying production sports cars and making fibreglass "GT" conversions (the "fastback" top was part of the bodywork and was not intended to be removable). Base vehicles were the Sunbeam Alpine, and Triumph TR4. Although hardly a GT, fibreglass was also extensively used in the PSV conversions to the Commer 1500 twelve-seater minibus. These were particularly successful. For the purchaser the attraction of this was that although the conversion cost more than the standard minibus full PSV specification vehicles were exempt from purchase tax and this helped make the project viable. Commercial vehicle bodies were also produced but these tended to be very specialist in nature with most bulk orders being Government contracts of some type. This had taken the form of specialised vehicles, such as a batch of Green Goddesses, Black Marias and RAF crew buses. Harrington had always been a family firm. Ernest G. Harrington and Thomas R. Harrington (the sons of the founder, Thomas) were Joint Managing Director and Chairman until 1960 and were very old indeed. (Thomas R. was 80 when he died in 1963). Arguably, in terms of business development things had been left to stagnate, but the small factory had always provided a good living. The company had made the decision to continue within the limits set by its production facilities at Sackville works. There were other members of the family on the board; Clifford Harrington had been a joint director since the fifties in charge of coach building. It was Clifford who was keen to embrace the best continental influences and was the prime mover behind the styling of the Cavalier and Grenadier. However, it was clear that things had to change. The bespoke work that had "filled in space" around the coach production was beginning to dry up. Harrington had been a Rootes agent since the thirties, the car dealership being run separately from the coach building side (there were showrooms in Hove and Worthing). The result of this special relationship was an intense interest when Harrington approached Rootes to see if there was anything they could do for them on the strength of their initial efforts with the Alpine conversion. It happened that Rootes were being lured into the exotic and expensive world of competition motoring and were looking for a closed body for an Alpine at Le Mans (presumably realising the Harrington output would enable it to be deemed a production model). Unfortunately, dark clouds were beginning to gather over the Rootes Group which would have dire consequences for many companies associated with them. Contrary to an often-reported story, Harrington never became part of the Rootes Group. Early in 1961 the Rootes family gained a financial stake when the Robins and Day group purchased Harrington. Robins and Day were owned by the Rootes family, but privately and outside the Rootes Group. As far as the Harrington family was concerned this should have provided a steady stream of specialist work from Rootes companies and potential for cash injection. Sadly, this was to be far from the case. Later there were some changes in management. George Hartwell came in to take charge of the Harrington Le Mans project. In November 1962, Desmond Rootes came on to the board as Director of Motor Trading. Clifford Harrington resigned from the board and left the firm. Gordon H. Harrington took his place as General Manager, Manufacturing (including coach building). At the same time Geoffrey Harrington was appointed to the Board as Sales Manager, Manufacturing division. The time of the Harrington Alpine was about over by then (an expensive diversion for Rootes which together with the Le Mans programme fell victim to the 1960's recession). The coupe was deleted from the Alpine range in 1963. The conversions on the Commer minibus kept the Rootes connection ticking over until near the end and in fact after the closure of Sackville works the fibre-glass conversions continued to be produced at Rootes in Maidstone although no longer badged as Harringtons. The firm was in a deadlock situation. As far as coaches were concerned no money was made available to develop new models, even though preliminary plans had been made for a replacement for the Cavalier / Grenadier range. The Crusader IV had seen a return to composite construction in order to reduce costs. It was also quite clear that the bespoke method of production that had served Harrington so well on its small site could no longer be made cost effective. This situation draws comparisons to the asset stripping that claimed many well-respected names in the motor industry during the 50's and 60's - especially since Robins & Day kept the Harrington car dealership sites running until the 1980s. Geoffrey Harrington had resigned in April 1965. Late in 1965 it was announced that the coach-building activities would be discontinued in the following year. The last coach was body number 3218, a Grenadier registered FFJ 13D delivered to Greenslades Tours of Exeter. It took part in the 1966 Brighton Coach Rally. It no longer exists, and it is believed that there was no particular feature on it that might have marked it as the last Harrington. Unfortunately, on the closure of the works most of the archive material relating to bodies built and photographs and drawings were destroyed. Later it is reputed that Harrington's official photographer lost much of his saved material in a house burglary. It is unlikely that it will ever be possible to compile a complete record of all the vehicles that left Sackville Works. The factory passed to British Telecom as a motor fleet service centre and was finally demolished in 1999. Plaxton took over the supply of repair panels for Harrington bodies and most of the fibreglass moulds went to Scarborough and in the fullness of time were scrapped. The Harrington name continued in motor sales, following the Rootes empire to Renault, and then as BMW agents until the 1980s. © 2005 N.L.E.Webster Taken from a 1955 edition of Commercial Motor. An advert for the Harrington Contender, featuring the Commer TS3 engine, the maddest diesel engine this side of a Deltic. A few more oldies: This particular gathering was held on a glorious day at Wythall and below are the pics of the magnificent vehicles that had journeyed from all areas to take part. Leyland Cheetah LZ5/Harrington C31F EYA 923, art-deco personified in a coach with its distinctive dorsal fin. EYA 923 was registered in March 1939 in the fleet of Porlock Weir, Porlock & Minehead Motor Services Co. Ltd., whose fleet name was Blue Motors. The chassis is a Leyland Cheetah LZ5 with a petrol engine, and the body work is by Thomas Harrington of Hove. It has an observation coach body with sunshine roof incorporating their famous dorsal fin. It seats 31 passengers. With the season just starting in early 1939 the coach operated on excursion and tours such as “over Dunkery”, “Lynmouth and Doone Valley”’ “Tarr Steps”, “Quantock Hills” and many other day, and half day/evening tours that Blue Motors operated. Later in 1939 when war was declared Blue Motors’ buses were requisitioned so EYA and other coaches began work on the bus service with coach excursions re-commencing immediately after the end of hostilities. EYA continued in service with Blue Motors until 1953 when it was sold to Sherrins of Carhampton (about 4 miles from Minehead). It was Leonard Sherrins first vehicle and Mr Eric Tarr one of Blue Motors’ drivers spent a week teaching him to drive to PSV standards. The next owner was a lady in Swiss Cottage, London who purchased the coach in 1959. She used it to go on holiday in the West Country and eventually purchased a property in St Tudy in Cornwall. EYA was parked on blocks as a sort of summer house in her garden. In 1989 it was given to the West of England Transport Collection at Winkleigh, Devon followed by purchase by its present owner in 1991. A total overhaul of the chassis and bodywork has been completed. A set of correct Harrington seats were fitted and all interior trimmings are now exactly as they would have been when the vehicle first appeared in 1939, including a set of matching knee rugs. A truly remarkable and stunning survivor, this 84 year old vehicle was driven to Wythall and back from Sussex without missing a beat. A magnificent line up Leyland Leopard L2 with 32-seat Harrington Cavalier body new in June 1961 These coaches were introduced in 1961 to replace the 1953 Royal Tigers on extended tours. They had high quality interiors with 32 reclining seats whereas the later batch for express services had 41 seats. They also had air suspension which was unusual at the time and not repeated in any subsequent Ribble Leopard coaches. The tour coaches were only used in the summer months being delicensed in the winter. Most like 1036 were based at Aintree depot. 1036 was first registered on 29 May 1961 and withdrawn after the 1971 season. It went to Norths (dealer), Sherburn-in-Elmet in Feb 1972 soon passing to Regent Coaches of Redditch in May. They withdrew it in Feb 1974 and it was acquired in May 1974 by Jacksons Coaches of Chorley who used it until 1986 mainly on the Works Service from Chorley to British Nuclear Fuels plant at Salwick. In October 1987 it passed to Maypole Coaches who planned to restore it. However, things did not progress, and it was sold to a Ribble Vehicle Preservation Trust member in 1988. For the next 10 years the vehicle owner almost single handedly overhauled all the chassis, axles, suspension, fitted new cross members and renewed much of the bodywork. The vehicle then went to Preston Bus for repaint into Ribble ivory and red livery. The vehicle then came to the RVPT depot where work was finished on the interior. This was completed in 2009 and 1036 has been a front-line vehicle since then. ABO 145B was one of a batch of six AEC/Harrington coaches delivered to Western Welsh in 1964 for extended tour work. Originally ABO had the AEC AH470 engine and AEC 5-speed synchromesh gearbox. She was delivered in the livery carried today with the stylish Harrington Grenadier coach body at a length of 31ft 10in and only 36 luxury seats. After approximately three seasons (the coaches being mothballed each winter), the livery for all Western Welsh coaches was changed to Peacock Blue and Ivory. As four new tour coaches arrived in the late 60s ABO 145B and a number of its sister vehicles went on to work for Greenslades Tours where she stayed for a number of years. ABO is known to have spent at least one full summer season on the Isle of Wight on Greenslades Island Tour work. After leaving Greenslades she passed through a number of independent operators before finding her way to Hall’s Coaches of Biddulph Moor, near Leek, Staffordshire who at that time operated a number of other Harrington bodied AEC coaches. In this 1980s pic it is seen passing through Goldenhill, Stoke on Trent working a mill contract on hire to fellow local operator Turner's. It is believed that whilst with Hall’s the original engine and gearbox were replaced with an AH505 engine and the AEC 6-sped constant mesh gearbox both of which are retained today. It was also whilst with Hall’s, and it is said that Mr Hall was driving, that ABO came together with the stone wall of the village church severely damaging the coach front. The ever-resourceful Mr Hall grafted on the front of a similar Grenadier coach (CIUW 560C new to Timpson’s) to return ABO to the road again. She is an example of the touring coaches seen up and down the country in the 1960s and 1970s, and to some eyes does not look too much out of place today. Entering preservation during 1987 she received the benefit of retrimming of the seats with a period moquette followed by a full repaint in 1989 – its next repaint was completed in September 2014. ABO is now currently based in the north-west having previously been garaged at the same location in Kent for 32 years. 1959 Seddon Diesel Mk19/Wayfarer IV VHO 200 new to Liss and District, one of just 30 examples of the Mk19 chassis. This Seddon chassis was built in 1958 to right hand drive and exhibited at the Commercial Motor Show, London in 1958. The 30 following production vehicles were all left-hand drive and exported. The remaining right hand drive exhibition chassis was purchased by Creamline Coaches of Borden Hampshire who had the Harrington body fitted (seen here) in 1959. This is the ONLY right-hand drive Seddon of this model in the world and she is still working for a living. Purchased by Thornes Independent in 1961 when only 2 years old she has remained with Thornes since. The vehicle is Tachograph fitted and will happily cruise at 55mph. At the 1959 Brighton Coach Rally It is 1963 and Lucy Thornes has prepared Seddon Harrington VHO 200 and Commer Plaxton (HHE 446) for a private hire 1958 AEC Reliance/Wayfarer IV 390 DKK, a Maidstone and District example. When first built this had been exhibited on the Harrington stand at the 1958 Commercial Motor Show. 1961 Bedford SB3/Crusader II 326 CAA new to King Alfred. This was the middle one of a trio of 1961 Harrington Crusader bodied Bedford SB coaches, which were sold off in 1969 and 1970 to Porter of Dummer, thus all three stayed together. At Amberley Chalk Pits alongside sister to 390 LKK above An AEC Reliance 2U3RA with Harrington Grenadier coachwork, new in 1965 as Surrey Motors, Sutton no. 52. It later joined the fleet of Classic Coaches, High Wycombe. With Surrey Motors inside the Maidstone & District Bus Garage, Hastings, East Sussex. Saturday afternoon 24th July 1971. Picking up in Bedford bus station A Leyland PS1/Harrington C33F dorsal fin. JYC 855 is from 1947, and was also a Porlock Weir coach from new and stayed with the company until its amalgamation with Scarlet Pimpernel of Minehead in 1954. It retains their red livery today. Withdrawn in 1960 it passed through a number of operators until John Brenson of Brentwood Coaches undertook a full rebuild. Seen abandoned in a yard From the early years of Harrington coaches, this Leyland Cub LZ2/Harrington C31F CUF 404 exhibited 1936 styling with a normal control/bonnet forward body. New to Southdown Motor Services and originally fitted with a roll-back canvas roof. Post war it revisited Harrington’s and was rebuilt with glass cant windows, with only the roof centre remaining in canvas. Following years of neglect it was rebuilt, a remarkable vehicle to see today. The early Leyland Cub was built between 1931-39, at their factory in Ham, South West London with the name later revived by Leyland for a 1979-87 model. A 1957 Harrington bodied Dennis Lancet UF that was new to Hutchings & Cornelius (H&C) of South Petherton, Somerset. It was withdrawn in 1974 and sold to Tor Coaches of Street who only used it for a couple of months before selling it on to The Brutonian Bus Co. of Bruton, Somerset. It was operated until 1976 when it was withdrawn and left unused in the yard. It was purchased for preservation in 1980 and for the next 24 years was comparatively unchanged standing in a yard near Slough. It passed to a new owner in 2004 and although some panels were removed by way of determining the overall condition of the bus, actual restoration work did not get underway until 2009. YYB 118 is one of only two Lancet UF known to survive from a production of just 62 chassis and is the only one that is anywhere near roadworthy. A set of pics showing the various stages of restoration: Dennis Lancet UF engine before and after Fuel tank before and after Rear end interior Progressing well Refurbished interior The finished vehicle looks magnificent 1963 Leyland Leopard L2/Grenadier C28F 750 DCD is in fact a ‘Grenalier’. Southdown liked the Cavalier front that permitted the use of an illuminated ‘Southdown’ name panel. Subsequent Grenadiers had similar fronts fitted. This ‘front end swapping’ was not a rare occurrence with these coaches. This dorsal fin is a very recognisable coach that has been immortalised in a 1:50th scale model, 1950 full-fronted AEC Regal III/Harrington FC33F KDD 38. Two of these coaches entered service with Soudley Valley in 1950 (one a Leyland Comet). This AEC spent its entire working life working in the Forest of Dean until laid up in 1973. Bought by its current owner, Nick Helliker, it was restored to its current condition, another remarkable survivor. The final dorsal fin is 1951 Leyland Tiger PS2/3/Harrington C35F HVJ 583. This coach was purchased new by Wye Valley Motors with whom it remained until 1972 when it passed into preservation. Harrington had a relationship with the Rootes Group, and Triumph illustrated by the legendary Harrington Sunbeam: 1962 Sunbeam Harrington C-Type with the complete set of Harrington optional extras of the time and owned by the same person for nearly 40 years. Having created a hatchback rear end for the Le Mans, Harrington redeveloped its Alpine to accommodate the much better boot-opening solution of the new design, while maintaining the ease of production of its initial model. The result was the Series C Harrington Alpine. “This is the earliest-known example of the Series C,” says owner Derek Hewitson. “The lady who first bought it was clearly quite forceful. She went to the 1962 Earls Court Motor Show and demanded to buy the very car featured on the stand. “The Harrington team wouldn’t sell it to her but made her one exactly the same. So it isn’t the motor show car, but it is an exact copy of it.” Derek has owned the Alpine for more than 40 years, having bought it in 1984 when struggling to find a decent Volvo P1800: “I had no idea what it was – I just liked it.” “After I’d had it a while I did some research and discovered how rare it was,” he explains. Derek had the Series C restored in 1987. The job wasn’t cheap but has stood him in good stead, and the car remains in much the same condition today. Looking after it has proved relatively simple because it is mechanically almost identical to an Alpine, but there are still challenges. “I’ve been looking for an overdrive switch for 30 years,” laughs Derek. “It was also fitted with a Clayton Dewandre brake servo unit by Harrington as an optional extra. “I’ve not been able to find new seals for it, so I’ve had to use a Girling servo instead.” A superb case of Harrington models Some non-Harrington vehicles now: The rear end of 472 Birmingham Corporation BON472C Daimler Fleetline CRG6LXSD Marshall new in 1965. Although it might look like a double decker that has lost its top deck, BON 472C was one of 24 purpose-built single deck Fleetlines that entered service with Birmingham City Transport between March and September 1965. After undertaking trials with Atlanteans and Fleetlines in 1961/62, Birmingham plumped for the Coventry built Fleetline, standardising on the type for its double deck requirements and large batches with Metro-Cammell and Park Royal bodies would arrive over the next few years. Meanwhile, a batch of 1949-built half cab Leyland Tiger single deckers were in need of replacement and a search was made for a suitable single decker. There was a desire to have a bus with level gangway and as few entrance steps as possible, meaning that underfloor engine types with their high floors and multiple steps would be unsuitable and that a rear engine chassis would be needed. However, the newly introduced types, such as the Daimler Roadliner, Bristol RE and AEC Swift, were too long for many of the maintenance pits at the garages where the buses were to be allocated, so the final choice came down to the Daimler Fleetline and the first order for single deck Fleetline buses (there had been a pair of Yeates bodied single deckers built for Shell-Mex BP as mobile racing car tenders in 1963). The bodywork order was placed with Marshall of Cambridge, a new name for Birmingham, but they produced a neat 37-seat design that incorporated the standard Fleetline engine cover and features that gave a family resemblance to the double deckers in use, although the side windows were set somewhat higher than usual and the BET curved windscreens were unusual for Birmingham. However, these would have been familiar to Marshall on the many BET single deckers they built. As the interior ceiling height was greater than their double deck cousins, these Fleetlines were able to have high mounted forward facing seats over the rear wheelarches. the 24 single deckers were delivered between March and September 1965 and were used on special services for disabled children as well as other routes. All passed to the West Midlands PTE upon its formation in 1969 and some went on to spend time in unfamiliar places away from Birmingham. A handful were reallocated to Walsall and others were loaned to Wolverhampton and former Midland Red garages to cover shortages. In later years they found useful employment on the Centrebus service around Birmingham city centre, but all 24 had been taken out of service by the end of 1981. Happily, two of them, 3472 and 3474, are now preserved. The picture shows 3457 in Dudley Bus Station in late 1974 probably on loan to the former Midland Red Oldbury Garage. Alongside 3457 is former Midland Red 6290 (YHA 290J), an Alexander J-Type bodied Daimler Fleetline that was new in January 1971 and spent most of its life at Dudley. Midland Red began taking Alexander bodied Fleetlines from 1963, building up a fleet of over 300, and 6290 was from the last batch which were equipped for one person operation with dual doorways. It was one of 50 Fleetlines that passed to WMPTE on 3rd December 1973 when the PTE acquired Midland Red’s operations based in what was to become West Midlands County the following April. 6290 was finally withdrawn in October 1982. (Photographer Roy Marshall, copyright The Bus Archive, ref RMMSB-16) A 1967 Bristol RELL6L - Cheltenham District Underfloor engined single-deckers, with their high floors and difficult entrances, became unpopular by the mid-1960s. Operators called for rear-engined single-deckers. Manufacturers rushed out poorly developed models which were mostly disasters. One reliable exception was the Bristol RE with variants covering two chassis frame heights for bus or coach work, two engines (Gardner or Leyland) and three lengths. This bus is to the most popular length of 36 feet (11 metres). The RE remained available to home market customers until the mid-1970s, by which time Bristol was owned by British Leyland which insisted on its replacement by the Leyland National. The first four bus bodied Bristol REs delivered to the Bristol Omnibus Co. were allocated to its Cheltenham District subsidiary. No 1000 was first licensed in June 1967 and, like Bristol's other early REs, was rebuilt in 1969 to front entrance and centre exit, popular at the time for urban driver only buses. It remained in Cheltenham until withdrawal in 1981, by which time it carried standard National Bus Company green livery. No 1000 came directly to Wythall and was rebuilt to original single door form and returned to Cheltenham livery. Western National (Royal Blue) 1411 Bedford OB Duple C29F 1950. This bus appeared in the 'Agatha Christie's Marple' episode called 'The Moving Finger'. 1947 Leyland Titan PD2/3 - Southport Corporation This bus is an entirely Leyland product. It was one of 12 delivered in 1947 to Southport Corporation and is a very early example of the legendary PD2 model, indeed the batch was the first to 8 feet width. It carries Leyland's own coachwork, originally with orthodox covered top. Being a coastal operator, Southport maintained a small fleet of open-top buses. By 1962-3 these Leylands were getting on in years but quite capable of easier work. Six were therefore converted to open-top for town tours but, unlike most such conversions, they became convertible rather than permanent open-toppers. The roof and upper deck windows could be refitted so that the buses could be used in the winter. It was claimed the conversion from open to closed top could be achieved within half an hour. This bus was sold in March 1974 to Banham International Motor Museum, Diss and resold in April 1983 to the London Toy & Model Museum, Craven Hill, London where the upper deck was used for children's parties. It was donated to Wythall in November 1992 but set an interesting extraction job as a building had been erected in front of it! Body restoration has steadily continued since it arrived. Principal mechanical attention has included a replacement engine and full overhaul of the cooling system following major frost damage with a previous owner. 1953 Guy Arab IV - Metro-Cammell DD (27 ft) This was the final development of Birmingham City Transport's classic design of front engined bus. There were around 600 buses built between 1951 and 1954 with this style of body which was one foot longer and featured deeper windows. Internally the straight staircase, polished wood and stainless steel brightwork remained but there was less moquette in favour of cheaper leather cloth. They were the first standard Birmingham buses not to have the upper and lower decks built separately. They were based on Daimler and Guy chassis with easy change preselective gearboxes and bodies by Metro-Cammell or Crossley. Most Guys at home and abroad had crash gearboxes but, after the Second World War, an easy change gearbox was an option although a rarity outside the West Midlands. Initially this took the form of a Pre-select design, attracting the attention of Birmingham City Transport which standardised on such gearboxes. Birmingham purchased 301 Guys of which only six had crash gearboxes. 2976 is a typical Birmingham Guy with Pre-select gearbox and entered service in February 1953 from Acocks Green garage. It moved to Miller Street in October 1967, to Harborne in May 1969, and to Washwood Heath in August 1971. It had been absorbed into the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive in October 1969 and received the new fleet names but still carried its old colours when retired in January 1972. It was purchased for preservation in June 1972 and sold to the Museum in January 1983. Both the original preservation owner and the Museum have carried out a considerable amount of work, including removal of an offside illuminated advertisement panel fitted in the early 60s. The effort was rewarded by successful passing of the appropriate test, allowing 2976 to join the Museum's fleet of full pcv licensed buses in the 2000 season. A 1934 Midland Red Single Decker SOS CON - SOS 8.028 litre with a Short Bros body HA9483 was new in September 1934 as a SOS ON ('ONward') with a BMMO 6.37litre petrol engine and Short Bros 38-seat body. Later, it was fitted with a BMMO diesel engine, returning to service in February 1938 as a type CON ('Converted ONward'). Diesel engines were more economic than petrol, having about one-third the fuel consumption per mile, and a lower rate of tax on the fuel oil. It was based at the following Midland Red garages: Leamington and Hinckley (1935-42), Worcester (1943), Leamington (1944), Leicester Sandacre Street (1944-45), Rugby (1946-1952), Birmingham Sheepcote Street (1952-53), and Redditch (1953-56). Fleet number 1532 was applied in March 1944. Its body was rebuilt by Nudd Bros & Lockyer, returning to service in November 1949. Withdrawn from service in November 1956, it was sold four weeks later. HA9483 was the last of three SOS single-deckers bought by Birmingham Corporation Water Department as staff transport for its works in the Elan Valley. One was later converted into a lorry for carrying pipes. However, HA9483 had a luckier fate by being acquired by the Digbeth S12 Group for preservation in April 1968. Preservation While little or no work was done, HA9483 was fortunately placed into secure undercover storage where it remained for half a century, largely complete, gathering a multitude of cobwebs! HA9483 was donated to the Museum in November 2022 but initially remained in its existing accommodation. It arrived at Wythall in March 2023 after several weeks of preparation to extract it from the corner of the building and manoeuvre it along a narrow track onto a low-loader. AEC Matador 7.7 litre towing Lorry Midland Red bought this World War Two AEC Matador from the War Department in 1947 for use as a recovery vehicle. The company gave it a new body in 1962 using bus and coach parts. The distinctive windscreen was identical to Midland Red's original motorway coaches, nationally famous at the time. The rebuilt Matador soon became a celebrity vehicle among bus people in the area. The Matador was based at Birmingham Digbeth garage for many years and, after the old company was split, passed to Midland Red West. It was eventually sold to North Birmingham Busways as their recovery vehicle. A 1940 SOS SON – 8 litre – Brush SD Midland Red, which served nearly every town and village across the Midlands, had to give up building its own buses and coaches during World War Two. This bus is from the last series of 50 single-deckers in production as war broke out in 1939. Fuel could barely be spared for private cars during the war but there was a huge growth in demand to factories on war work so public transport took the strain. In 1939 Midland Red carried 210 million passengers but this increased to 327 million by 1944, despite the shortage of new buses and loss of staff to the forces. Buses were subjected to continuous heavy overloading, and shortages of maintenance staff and materials. Make-do-and-mend ideas kept them on the road. Heavy renovation was required when peace returned, the body of this bus being rebuilt by Nudd in 1950. GHA 337 finished passenger service in 1958 and found a new career with a showman. GHA 337 was discovered in a scrapyard at Worksop; the body was rotten but it retained most of the key mechanical parts and was bought for preservation in 1978. The bus was stored for many years as it needed total restoration, this being completed in 2012. It has been restored to 1950 condition. CBD 778K No 778 Ex United Counties Bristol VR, new in December 1971 as a series 2 VR but later converted in 1984 to Series 3 spec with a new round front. 1951 Daimler CVD6 Metro-Cammell DD Many enthusiasts refer to the Birmingham Standard Bus but, in truth, they were far from standardised and subject to constant evolution. Operators had to accept different types of bus in the years of shortage after World War Two. Birmingham renewed its fleet with around 1750 buses and the most numerous type, with 438 received, was the Daimler CVD6 with Daimler's own engine - renowned for being smooth but thirsty for fuel and water in comparison to the Gardner engines often fitted. This bus belongs to a contract for 150 buses that introduced the second generation of Birmingham's 'New Look' body with concealed radiators. The upper and lower decks were now built together instead of separately. Deeper windows were introduced, and the interiors were reduced in quality - bus operators were coming under financial pressure, not least due to increases in fuel tax. This bus, number 2707, spent most of its working life from Liverpool Street garage and passed with the rest of the fleet to the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive in 1969. Alongside is a 2002 Dennis Trident 2 Alexander ALX400 2000s West Midlands Low Floor Double Decker From January 2001, the Public Service Vehicle Accessibility Regulations required that all new buses on scheduled services should have easy-access low floors, with specific provisions for the carriage of wheelchairs and priority seats for passengers with limited mobility among other features. Travel West Midlands ordered a total of 360 Dennis Trident 2 chassis fitted with Alexander bodywork to satisfy its need for PSVAR-compliant double deckers. They were delivered in several batches, during which time the manufacturers' names changed from Dennis and Alexander (separately) to Transbus to Alexander Dennis: 4125 to 4224 (April to August 2001), 4305 to 4404 (February to December 2002), 4405 to 4414, always based in Coventry (January 2003), 4425 to 4474 (June to August 2003), 4535 to 4584 (January to March 2004), 4585 to 4634 (July 2004 to January 2005). While Travel West Midlands would have specified its choice of seats, destination equipment, interior colours, etc., this was a combination of chassis and body to be found in many fleets around the country. In the next bay the back end of a mid-1960s Midland Red single-deck bus is visible: A 1966 BMMO S17 fitted with a BMMO 10.5 litre engine and Plaxton SD body Midland Red's first single-deck design built from 1962 to the newly permitted length of 36 feet (11 metres) was the BMMO S16. This was a stretched version of earlier buses, retaining the 8 litre engine and manual gearbox. The extra weight and length meant S16 drivers were hard pressed to cope. The S17 was introduced in response in 1963 and, although looking very similar, the mechanical components were significantly updated by employing the 10.5 litre engine and semi-auto gearbox first seen on the D9 double-decker. The result was a competent and reliable service bus which remained in production until 1966, by which time over 260 had been built. With a modest unladen weight of around 6.5 tons, the S17s were lively and rugged with plentiful reserves of power, well suited to all areas of the company's operations. To speed construction Midland Red sent most S17 bodies to Plaxton or Willowbrook for completion. 5767 entered service from Leicester (Sandacre Street) in September 1966. It was moved to Wigston garage in October 1967 and survived to become one of the last half dozen S17s in service, retiring in September 1979. A 1966 Daimler Fleetline CRG6 - Gardner 6LX - Alexander DD While BMMO was manufacturing its own D9 double-deckers at Carlyle Works, it supplemented its double-deck fleet by purchasing Daimler Fleetline chassis from 1963 onwards. These were fitted with Alexander bodywork, based on a style introduced for Glasgow Corporation, but with two-piece flat windscreens on both decks instead of Alexander's usual curved screens. (BMMO no doubt had a view on cheaper spares!) There were 50 in 1963, designated DD11 type, 149 from 1966 to 1968, designated DD12 type, and 103 from 1969 to 1970 designated DD13 type. There were detail differences between the types, most notably that the DD13 type had a centre exit. GHA 415D (fleet number 6015) is one of the DD12 type and was new in November 1966. It served at Leamington, Kidderminster, Worcester (twice), Evesham (twice) and Tamworth before a few months in store at the end of 1979. It then resumed service at Coalville in 1980 and became part of Midland Red East when the company was split in 1981. Finally, it was withdrawn in December 1983. In 2026 the Harrington Gathering returns and is well worth coming to if you are free that day: Out and About 2 Extwistle Hall Extwistle Hall is a historic Grade II listed mansion which stands on a ridge of land between the valleys of the Don and Swinden Water in a bleak and commanding situation high on Extwistle Moor in Briercliffe, Burnley. The hall was built in the 16th Century in 1585 in the Tudor style by the Parker family, a prominent family at that time and although not medieval it does have medieval connections. Robert Parker had bought the land, which had previously belonged to Kirkstall Abbey, in 1537 after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The Parker family occupied it for some 200 years before moving to Cuerden Hall around 1718. John Parker was High Sheriff of Lancashire for 1653, and Robert Parker for 1710. The house was remodelled in the late 18th century. Extwistle Hall was, first and foremost, designed as a place in which to live. The family who lived there might have regarded it as a Manor House, with Manorial functions, but its primary object, when built, was to provide a home. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I the dubious sport of bullbaiting was at its height and a bullring was situated in the vicinity of the hall. The bullstone, a bulky piece of millstone grit is now built into a nearby wall. The Hall remained the home of the Parkers from the 16th Century to the early 18th Century. It was a curious but tragic accident that severed their association with Extwistle. On Thursday, March 17th, 1718, Captain Robert Parker went out shooting on a day that turned out to be wet and stormy. Consequently at the end of the day's sport he returned to the house thoroughly drenched with rain. He removed his greatcoat and laid it in front of the fire to dry. Unfortunately, he had omitted to remove his powder flask that still contained a large quantity of gunpowder and the result was that an explosion took place. Captain Parker, along with two of his daughters, Mary Townley and Betty Atkinson, and a child, were seriously injured, and there was considerable damage to the dining room in which the accident happened, with two other rooms also set on fire. Unfortunately, Captain Parker succumbed to his injuries and died a month later. A more unlikely tale records that the same Captain Parker, when returning from a Jacobite meeting late one evening, saw a goblin funeral procession pass through the gate at the top of Netherwood Fields. The ghostly cavalcade passed on in deep silence, a train of little men bearing the coffin, on top of which, as it passed, he saw his own name inscribed and this he saw as an omen of his own death if he did not renounce the Jacobite cause. According to the story he severed his Jacobite connections but alas he could not save his life. After this tragedy the family moved to another residence, Cuerden Hall, and the old house at Extwistle appears to have been abandoned to dilapidation, although part of it was occupied as a farmhouse. A former wing on the west side fell down some-time during the first half of the 19th century destroying what is said to have been one of the best apartments, and others known as the ladies' rooms. It is now owned by an Isle of Man based property company, has been unoccupied for more than 50 years, and is listed in English Heritage's Heritage at Risk Register. In early 2012, £2million plans were revealed to save and restore the hall to its former glory, then afterwards to be sold off. The pics: In the surrounding countryside some of the footpaths have been paved with reclaimed mill flagstones The River Don is crossed Followed by the very quiet Houghton’s Farm which appeared deserted The outbuildings, and adjacent Extwistle Hall come into view As it was: And now: The north side wall with moulded coping In front of the house is a small, flagged courtyard 43 ft. long by 33 ft. in width partly enclosed on the west side by the north-west wing, and on the east by the lower buildings. It is now heavily overgrown. The great hall, which is 24 ft. by 21 ft., occupies the eastern end of the first floor of the main block and is approached from the forecourt by a wide flight of stone steps. Again, all this is slowly becoming buried by nature. The stonework, door, and window frames are magnificent. The flight of stone steps The five-light mullioned window above the lower floor This one has small fragments of the original glass and lead remaining A solid archway in to the lower floor A more recent attempt at stabilising the structure has seen the use of Accrington bricks The Enfield Brick & Terra Cotta Co. Ltd was founded in 1893 by Stephen Holgate, quarrymaster, Charles Foster, builder, and others. By 1900 they employed 100 people and produced engineering, and rustic bricks and terra cotta specials. The works were sold to the Accrington Brick and Tile Co Ltd in 1938 when the Enfield company moved to new works at Deerplay. Production continued here until 1978. Internal wall structure The main hall Central joists Corner lintel Stairs to the second level Upstairs Ceiling on the second floor Entrance to the outhouse The south wall of the hall is occupied almost entirely by the fireplace, the Tudor arched opening of which, however, is now bricked up, and the room is in a more or less dilapidated state. A Towneley brick remains. The Towneley Colliery worked to 1948 and was situated along with the brickworks adjacent to the Todmorden to Accrington railway line, on the southern flank of Burnley by Towneley Park. The south side of the hall A high recess with a small window The east face The old gateway to green pastures In the distance an enclosed barn The adjoining stone cattle barn A later brick addition to a doorway An old entrance has been blocked up. Note the wooden lintel. A fascinating place that i very much doubt will ever be restored. Odds and Ends London Transport Posters The London Transport museum at Covent Garden recently held an exhibition of posters from the past: Too much of a good thing – 1910 Bluebells at Kew Gardens – 1920 The new Rose Garden at Regents Park – 1920 The Zoo Alphabet – 1928 Zoo – 1930 Between 6 and 12 – 1930 Power – 1931 - I thought this one stood out really well Aldershot Tattoo - 1934 More light - brighter travel – 1935 Your fare from this station – 1936 Chestnut Sunday at Bushy Park – 1936 See London’s parks and rivers – 1938 Memories of Plough Lane with this one: Torchlight Tattoo – 1939 Please stand on the right of the escalator - 1944 London Transport at London’s Service – 1947 Buy stamps in books – save time - 1955 Books of stamps save time – 1956 Tomorrow to Fresh Woods and Pastures New - 1956 London Transport conducted coach tours – 1960 Fly the Tube to Heathrow – 1987 The Pressed Steel Company of Great Britain Established in 1926 as a joint venture between William Morris, the Budd Corporation and an American bank. The new venture started up by supplying car bodies to Morris's Morris Motor Company, with its plant being located alongside. By the 1950s, the company was making bodies for most of the major car companies in the UK including Rolls-Royce, Rootes, and the Standard Motor Co. The company later diversified into rolling stock, and refrigerators under the brand name Prestcold. In 1966 The company merged with Jaguar and the British Motor Corporation (BMC) to form British Motor Holdings (BMH). When production started at Pressed Steel in 1926-27 the technology was new and untried, thus there was a steep learning curve before anywhere near perfection was reached. The first cars at Cowley using the all-steel technology saw the first Morris Oxfords with ripples in the panels, doors that did not properly close, and windscreen apertures that were so badly formed that rain water would have poured into the car. Poor quality steel was a major problem, and it took until the May of 1927 before the quality was satisfactory. Seen here is a Morris all-steel body that has been transferred to the moving production line and where the operatives are using a jack to adjust the body in order that the doors properly hang and close. A process which improved the quality and speed of the all-steel technology was electric welding. Pressed Steel erected its paint shop in 1926, but between 1937 and 1938, new paint and trim shops were built in preparation for the war effort. The painting process was still a manual operation as can be seen here, but note the absence of protective clothing, goggles and mask. Once the painting was finished the body was ready to be mounted on the waiting chassis. The post-war years gave way to a new generation of cars with then modern styling. In this instance the Morris ‘MO’ Oxford reveals its close relationship with the smaller Morris Minor, the MO being a scaled-up version in styling as well as engineering. The monococque bodyshell has arrived from elsewhere at Pressed Steel to be prepared for the ‘Rotodip’ rust-proofing process. The Rotodip facility was based in the E-Block at Cowley and was one of the most significant investment programmes at the works. The MO Oxford was a lethargic performer with its side-valve engine of 1,476cc developing a very modest 40.5hp to attain a top speed of 67mph via a glacial 0-60mph acceleration of 41.4 seconds. Photographed in 1961, this is the Jaguar line where soldering Mk X bodyshells was undertaken. It is interesting to note the level of clothing and goggles worn by the personnel. The car suffered from poor aerodynamics and was far too heavy. When Rolls-Royce developed its post-war models the firm’s traditional coachbuilders were without the capacity or facilities to produce coachwork in the volume that was required. Nevertheless, Rolls-Royce remained a strictly low-volume car maker, and an approach to Pressed Steel resulted in a contract to produce what were known as ‘standard steel’ bodies for the Bentley Mark VI, Rolls Royce Silver Dawn and, from 1955, the Silver Cloud and Bentley S. In 1975, Rolls-Royce introduced the Silver Shadow with its monocoque bodyshell. The expense of the car demanded it be produced in far greater numbers than previous models. Pressed Steel’s cost for the tooling was £1.4m. Once the unpainted bodyshells (known as ‘body in white’) were built at Cowley they were transported to Rolls-Royce at Pyms Lane, Crewe where they were checked for defects and measured for accuracy. Any imperfections were corrected at Crewe, and once addressed the bodyshells were adapted for right- or left-hand steering as appropriate, and then subjected to anti-corrosion processes, primer and final painting before being united with running gear and interiors. Routemasters on the 159 Run – 20th Anniversary Celebration! This year marks 20 years since the final Routemaster ran in public service on Route 159. For two decades that historic day in 2005 has been commemorated, and while it’s usually a relaxed get-together, this milestone year deserved something special. Last Saturday (Dec 13th) at the Ace Café near Wembley, North-West London, there was exclusive use of the car park from 08:00— perfect for displaying vehicles, meeting fellow enthusiasts, swapping stories, and soaking in the rare sight of so many Routemasters gathered in one place. While this was not a public running day, and the Routemaster Association was not organising free rides, many owners traditionally offer spare seats informally — so there was often a chance to hop aboard. The Ace Cafe was established in 1938 on the then brand new North Circular Road surrounding London. It was a simple roadside Cafe catering to travellers, particularly truckers. With its proximity to Britain’s fast arterial road network, and being open 24 hours, the Ace Cafe soon attracted motorcyclists too. In world war two, the building was badly damaged during an air raid on the adjacent railway marshalling yards. After the war the Ace Cafe was reopened in temporary accommodation and subsequently rebuilt in 1949. Changes in the social order, the growth of the car market at the expense of the motorbike industry, and the expansion of the motorway network saw the Ace Cafe serving its last egg and chips in 1969. The Ace Cafe Reunion is the brainchild of Mark Wilsmore. In 1993 he shared his ideas for an annual event to mark the closure of the original Ace Cafe, a book and film documenting the history of the Ace Cafe, and endeavouring to ensure that the original Ace Cafe re-opened, with relevant products being available. To mark the 25th anniversary of the cafe’s closure, Mark, with friends, formed the organising team for the Reunion and arranged for motorcycle runs to converge at the former Ace Cafe site on Sunday 4th September 1994. They got the planning permission, and ACE CAFE LONDON bought the original Ace Cafe site. As from December 7th 1997, a part of the original and legendary Ace Cafe site was re-opened on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, Bank Holidays and on the first Wednesday of every month. 2001 - and the Ace Cafe is alive and kicking. No – it´s not 1964, welcome back Ace Cafe! The 75th Anniversary in 2013 As it is today Plenty of events Some views inside The timetable for the day: The first to arrive was RM158 RM158 was one of 184 buses fitted with air pipes for suspension but this was never used on the central fleet of buses. Poplar, Walthamstow, West Ham, and Battersea were early allocations. The late 70s/early 80s saw spells at Upton Park and Willesden from where it was withdrawn in 1985. RM848 (on the left) was new in 1961 at Edmonton, later moving to Wood Green. In 1966 she was at Stamford Hill garage, and in 1967 received a new Leyland engine. She was sold in 1986 to Blackpool Transport, working there for 10 years. In 1997 the vehicle was acquired by Reading Mainline Buses, remaining there until 2000. In that millennium year she was bought back by Transport for London and refurbished at Marshalls of Cambridge. In 2001 the bus received a new Scania engine. By 2004 she was on route 9, then transferred to Arriva for route 38 out of Clapton. In 2005 she was re-registered to 448 UXS, and the following year went into private ownership. She was acquired for preservation in 2007, re-registered WLT 848 and is now in London United livery (no cream band). RM2217 was new at Willesden garage in 1965. In 1984 she became a showbus for London Transport, and was fitted with an Iveco engine in 1991. In 1994 she received a branded livery for route 159 out of Brixton. In 1995, when London buses were privatised, she went to Arriva, where she continued working. The vehicle was fitted with a Cummins engine in 2001, was refurbished at Enfield, and returned to Brixton garage. In 2004 she ran on the last day of route 137, and the last crew day of route 73. The same year she was given a Harry Potter livery and sent round the UK on a promotion tour. She has been recently repainted into the South London Esque LBC livery. RML2583 was built 44 years ago in 1966. RML stands for Routemaster Lengthened – it is 30ft long and seats 72. It was originally fitted with an AEC engine but this was replaced by a Cummins C in the RML refurbishment program of the early 90's. This is a slightly unusual Routemaster as it was used by London General to do trips outside London so was fitted with a high-speed diff which means it can quite happily cruise at 50/55 mph compared to the normal speed of 40mph. It began service in London on Route 14 operating from Putney Bus Garage in November 1966. In 1994 the process of privatisation of London bus services began, and the Routemasters were transferred from London Transport to twelve new operating units. RML2583 moved to New Cross Garage in October 1994 under London Central. In July 1995 it was branded for Route 36. In March 2002 it moved to Camberwell Garage for service on Route 12. In August 2002 it began service on Route 11 from Stockwell Garage until 31st October 2003 when it returned to Camberwell and Route 12. Its last day of service was on 5th November 2004 after 38 years on the streets of London and was bought by Ensignbus. In December 2004, Ensignbus held a raffle for thirty-two Routemasters available for £2,000 to those who could prove they had the finances to store and care for them. RML 2583 was bought by the Welsh Museum of Transport in Swansea. In June 2008 London Bus 4 Hire bought RML2583 for advertising and preservation. It was a tight squeeze parking her up Sorted RM5 was the first of the production Routemasters (the first four being prototypes). It began work at Willesden in 1959 on route 8, but was transferred to West Ham as part of the trolleybus replacement programme. She was also operational at Peckham, Sidcup and Palmers Green where she spent eight years on route 29. In 1984 she became a showbus but occasionally worked on passenger services. In 1994 she was transferred to the privatised Leaside Buses which became part of Arriva in 1998. In 2002 she was fitted with a new AEC engine and was seen on the final Routemaster days of various routes in 2004. She was restored to as near original condition as was practical by Arriva London in 2008. Raising the flag A lone RF in the form of NLE 600 arrives RF600 (NLE 600) is a London Transport Country Area Regal Mark IV and was built in June 1953 by AEC at Southall. After 18 years of service with LT at Hertford and St Albans garages, and four years in service with independent operators the bus was sold and has been preserved by a succession of enthusiasts. It was purchased by its current owners in September 2010. RF 600 is a regular at bus running events in London Country and Southdown territory. Alongside NLE 600 is RM2116 RM2116 was delivered to London Transport in December 1964. It operated in standard red livery until 1983 when it was one of several buses of different types to be given a special livery to mark London Transport's 50th anniversary (all buses received the anniversary logo seen to the front of the side of the bus). RM2116 by then a showbus for Seven Kings (AP) bus garage, was one of the batch of buses to receive a red/white/black/silver livery which resembled the 1933 version of London Transport's livery. It was also given the name "Forest Ranger" at this time (applied on the forward part of the white lower deck side window region). Unlike all the other anniversary buses, which were eventually repainted back into standard liveries, RM2116 was withdrawn from service in May 1984 and sold to the LT Sports Association, still in the commemorative livery. It has since passed through a number of owners. RM188 entered service at West Ham in February 1960. After allocations to six garages it was sold to East Yorkshire Motor Services in 1987. After withdrawal by East Yorkshire, it was saved for preservation in 2005. This beauty was my transport for the day. At Aldenham Works RM188 is seen undergoing a tilt test. (Credit to Richard Simons) In Hull in 1995 (Credit to Walsall 1955) The arrival of RCL2233 (Routemaster Coach Lengthened) A brief history: RCL2233 was one of 43 Routemaster coaches built for Green Line use and entered service in June 1965 from Romford on routes 721, 722, 726. Repainted into a simpler Green Line livery in May 1968 it worked route 704 & 705. In January 1970 transferred to London Country, and in 1972 downgraded to bus services. CUV233C was bought back by LT in December 1977 and the following month became a trainer vehicle out of West Ham still wearing her green livery. In December 1978, 2233 was repainted red although still on trainer duties. In 1980 RCL2233 was converted to a bus (doors removed, bell chord installed, re-seated, stanchion fitted) and entered service on the 149 from Stamford Hill until December 1982 when she was withdrawn from service. Brought for preservation by Alan Brown in February 1984 but due to a mix-up the vehicle was nearly scrapped by Norths in Sherburn. Alan restored CUV233C back to her early Green Line livery and rallied her for many years. New owners purchased her from Alan in July 2005 and have since carried out internal re-painting of the drivers cab, stairs & rear-platform area, complete refurbishment of the luggage racks, mechanical work including in late 2006 replacing the B-frame (rear subframe). In addition, all the tyres have been replaced, the registration plates changed to the correct font, the indicator ‘ears’ replaced and a complete new set of destination blinds purchased. Whilst the AEC AV590 (9.6ltr) bus engine fitted to 2233 was a good engine the RCL was under powered being much heavier (8 tons 3cwt) than a standard Routemaster (7 tons 7cwt). It was originally built with an AV690 (11.3ltr). It was decided to find an AEC AV690 engine that the RCL would have had when new. Eventually one was found and it was fitted in February 2010. Now 2233 cruises beautifully with little effort. In 2012 all the seats were refurbished and reupholstered with new foam cushions and the original-style grey Routemaster Coach moquette. In early 2013 the platform flooring was replaced with new ‘Treadmaster’ slats. During 2014 some repainting was done both internally and externally and the underneath silvered again, along with the refurbishment and repainting of the wheels. Many running components have been replaced or refurbished including the gearbox, accumulators, diff oil seal, brake cylinders and rear shock absorbers which are different to standard RM/RML as the RCL has air suspension on the rear. June 2015 was the 50th Anniversary of RCL2233 and the RCL class of vehicle. RM545 (WLT 545) is a unique, one-off AEC famously fitted with a DAF engine in 1988 for London Buses' experimental trials, making it distinct from standard Routemasters. It is a popular subject for enthusiasts, often appearing at rallies and in heritage collections, showcasing unusual engine swaps. It's a standard-length RM model, known for its distinctive engine and preserved condition. RML2440 (reg. JJD 440D) was delivered to London Transport in May 1966, in the dark green livery for use in the outlying 'Country Division' garages. In January 1970 it passed to the newly created London Country Bus Services when the country area was passed from London Transport to the National Bus Company, with the dark green livery retained but the cream band replaced by yellow, and with the application of yellow London Country fleetnames and logo. It lasted in service long enough to be one of the several London Country Routemasters bought back by London Transport, of RML, RMC and RCL class. After being bought in June 1979, it was stored and then overhauled, finally entering service in red Central Area livery in August 1980. As with all RML buses, in the early 1990s it was re-engined (Cummins) and refurbished. It saw use in London into the privatisation era, passing in 1994 into the fleet of London Central, who in July 1995 route-branded it for use on route 12. In April 2004 it was sold to dealer Ensignbus, and a year later sold into private hands for preservation. After restoration to its original London Transport Country Area livery, it has been an active participant in rallies and events ever since. The contrast in the colour green A quality line-up A photo shoot for the drivers With the offer of a donation to the fuel fund I was welcomed aboard RM188 with a choice of seats. It just had to be the front seat where the engine can be heard in all its glory. Before leaving driver Tim announced he was going to make her fly and boy was he right. No quarter was given to any car drivers dithering about, or changing lanes on roundabouts either. He just sent it up the inside! Our destination was the Bull at Streatham 15 miles away which would normally take around 50 mins. With the Christmas shoppers, and Lambeth Bridge closed it added around 30 mins on to the journey but that was a bonus travelling on such a classic vehicle. Bus lanes were only used when it could be seen that they were empty up ahead. A couple of times early in the journey we got delayed behind a service bus that was picking up so we tended to merge in with the traffic at this point. A convoy of four left the Ace and we headed down the A40 Western Avenue towards Paddington. Behind RML2744 on the A40 We soon got split up however owing to the many traffic lights. From there it was along Oxford Street, Marble Arch, Park Lane, Victoria Street and over Westminster Bridge which was absolutely heaving with people. The tourists were loving seeing a proper London bus with the Houses of Parliament as a backdrop. Plenty of pics were taken on their phones, some even standing in the road in front of it! Approaching Parliament Square with the Elizabeth Tower just coming into view on the right behind the tree, and the London Eye on the left. From there it was down to Brixton via Vauxhall for a photo stop of RM5 & RM2217 inside the old tram depot. This was a London County Council Tramways built structure which was opened on 6th March 1924. It was originally intended to house trailer cars that had been used by the LCC on busy routes in South London since 1913. However, before it could open trailer operation was discontinued in 1924 and it instead became a tram depot. There was a conduit change pit at the entrance with power inside the shed being taken from overhead wires. It closed on 7th April 1951. The subsequent history of the depot building is a bit more unusual as it was used for commercial purposes for a number of years following its closure as a tram depot, including a long period as a car showroom. It remained in the ownership of London Transport (and its successors) however so when Ken Livingstone expanded the bus services in the 1990s it became an outstation of Brixton Telford Avenue bus garage (itself a new building built on the site of an old tram depot). Today it is owned by Arriva London and is used for the training bus fleet and overflow from Telford Avenue. The tram tracks are clearly visible in the floor of the depot and appear to be in good order A short distance further along and we come to our destination of the Bull at Streatham. The Bull in Streatham is an historic Young's pub built in 1768 and formerly known as The Pied Bull. They have kept its heritage with the original bar and stained-glass windows. RM2217 joined us Followed soon after by RM158 & RML2583 After returning to the Ace around 16:00 we had a couple of hours before setting off for the Christmas Lights run. A fine end to a fabulous day👍 Next time: Auschwitz II Birkenau

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