Have been talking about these in another thread (OT) and seems like a lot of folks are interested so.....
I am in that I grew up in the age when these were common place and seeing the pics again brought back many fond memories.
To kick off these are the ones we used to travel on as kids to just about everywhere.
British Steam Locomotives Photo Gallery by Ian Bell at pbase.com
Hi John ... Have been a big fan for many years ... Have a look at the Link below still some are working here
The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland - Events
That's great Max the Portadown 400 is the same as the small locos we had go through our village.
Here is some old footage you might recognize too the old Pathe news we had in the cinemas between or before the feature films. Pity the quality is not better though.
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/steam-trains
I used to work on British rail as what was known as a junior shunter before I started my nursing career. It was very dirty and extremely dangerous job coupling and uncoupling those old coal wagons and the mainline London trains. They were of course third rail electric by then and steam had been phased out.
Yes i can imagine how hard that type of work would have been John ... Its been a few years since i have traveled on them but it is always a fun day out they serve tea and drinks in the buffet car .. Plus i always got to see the seaside resorts .. Seems to be a big following here for Steam Trains and i hope it continues that way in the future
No I don't like them at all, I love them. The noise and the smell it seems as if they were alive.
Yeah I know ate I said in the other thread we used to like the smell of the smoke and hung our heads out of the windows when going through tunnels etc - mind you we were bullet proof then do it now and I would get decapitated LOL!!
My ex father in law (dead now) was taught on steam trains ( was going to say trained on steam trains LOL!!) to drive on British Rail and ended up on the third rail electrics operating out of Epsom in Surrey.
My paternal grandfather was a railroad conductor. I still have his American Watch Co railroad watch, made in 1874-1875, based on the serial number. Despite looking well worn, it still runs! I wind it (with a key!) every year on New Years Day.
One of my paternal uncles was Road Master for the Frisco Line's big yard in Memphis and another uncle was an electrician for another rail line in Missouri before becoming a wax sculptor.
My daddy was a machinist (tool & die and model maker) and I took some machine shop classes in college (including pattern making and sand casting) and worked a short while in a heavy machine shop (mostly metal fab). I watched the clip at the end of the last video on How to Make a Steam Locomotive and was fascinated to see the large scale machining being done.
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