Fifty years since the end of steam: Any commemoration planned?

[MatthewRead]

Are there any plans to commemorate this?

 

[Flying Phil]

Are there any plans to commemorate this?

There are several heritage lines putting on events - the Great Central is having two weekends Aug 4/5th and Aug 11/12th with 70013 Oliver Cromwell and 4 other steam locomotives typical of the "End of Steam" (8F, 9F, Standard 5).

 

[MatthewRead]

There are several heritage lines putting on events - the Great Central is having two weekends Aug 4/5th and Aug 11/12th with 70013 Oliver Cromwell and 4 other steam locomotives typical of the "End of Steam" (8F, 9F, Standard 5).

Sadly nothing in Devon where I will be

 

[S Wolstenholme]

The SVR has special events on 4 August and an exhibition and book launch. Please see SVR and KRM websites.

 

[S Wolstenholme]

I am helping an online journalist with research and contacts for the 50th Anniversary. Please contact me if you know of other events, former loco crews from the North West, enthusiasts who travelled on the last excursions etc. Thanks.

 

[theblackwatch]

There are 3 steam specials planned over the S&C on the anniversary day of August 11th:

Pathfinder with Tornado (assuming its repairs are complete)
Cumbrian Mountain Express from Euston (RTC)
The Waverley from York (RTC) with Leander or Galatea

Assuming there isn't a steam ban due to the hot/dry weather....

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

The Tornado tours are looking for alternative (hopefully steam) traction as the A1 Trust have stated that Tornado will not be ready.

 

[ainsworth74]

There are 3 steam specials planned over the S&C on the anniversary day of August 11th:

Pathfinder with Tornado (assuming its repairs are complete)

Tornado is not going to be fixed in time and The A1 Locomotive Trust have announced that it will go ahead but hauled with another locomotive (no detail on which):

...

As a consequence of these delays we have, unfortunately, had to cancel the planned circular tours from Darlington on Sunday 29th July and we are postponing ‘The Mad Hatter’ railtour which will now run in Spring 2019 on a date yet to be confirmed. Our booking agent UK Railtours is contacting all affected passengers.

We have also spoken with our railtour operating customers and recommended that they work with us to identify a replacement locomotive for other trains in mid-August due to the issues described above. It is hoped that the locomotive will be reassembled and operational by this time, but the continued hot weather means that we are not confident that we will be able to complete the necessary running in and main line test runs in time to operate these trains.

As such the following applies to our programme: –

• Sunday 29th July – Darlington Circulars – Cancelled
• Wednesday 1st August – ‘The Mad Hatter’ – Postponed to Spring 2019
• Saturday 11th August – ‘Settle and Carlisle Golden Express 1’ – Hauled by another locomotive
• Wednesday 15th August – ‘Settle and Carlisle Golden Express 2’ – Hauled by another locomotive
• Saturday 18th August – ‘The Bard of Avon’ – Hauled by another locomotive

The above are subject to any restrictions due to high fire risk imposed by Network Rail. Passengers will be contacted directly by the appropriate railtour promoter or booking agent when more information becomes available. It is planned that Tornado will return to traffic on the 27th August with ‘The Canterbury Tale’ from Peterborough to Canterbury and return.

...

Source

 

[pdeaves]

Sadly nothing in Devon where I will be

Unlikely. The end of steam was in the north west so that would be a better place for any commemoration.

 

[Warwick]

'scuse me whilst I adjust my pedant's cap. The end of steam on B.R. was in 1989 on the Vale of Rheidol railway. 1968 was the end of main line steam. 1967 was the end of main line express steam.

 

[Bevan Price]

'scuse me whilst I adjust my pedant's cap. The end of steam on B.R. was in 1989 on the Vale of Rheidol railway. 1968 was the end of main line steam. 1967 was the end of main line express steam.

Another pedant view: 1967 was the end of Southern Region express steam. The final (normal service) express was on 3 August 1968 (21:25 Preston to Liverpool Exchange)
There were 6 "farewell to steam" railtours on 4 August, and the "15 guinea special" a week later on 11 August 1968.

 

[52290]

After visiting Lostock Hall MPD on the evening of 4th of August 1968 I lay in bed with my windows open as it was warm night. My house at Leyland Earnshaw Bridge is only a couple of miles across the fields from Lostock Hall. On the stroke of midnight there was a continuous blast of locomotive whistles as the era of steam on BR ( V of R excepted) came to a conclusion, a sad yet triumphant requiem to a passing age.
I still live in the same house fifty years on and I shall be listening next Sunday night for any ghostly whistling from the Lostock Hall direction!

 

[Cowley]

After visiting Lostock Hall MPD on the evening of 4th of August 1968 I lay in bed with my windows open as it was warm night. My house at Leyland Earnshaw Bridge is only a couple of miles across the fields from Lostock Hall. On the stroke of midnight there was a continuous blast of locomotive whistles as the era of steam on BR ( V of R excepted) came to a conclusion, a sad yet triumphant requiem to a passing age.
I still live in the same house fifty years on and I shall be listening next Sunday night for any ghostly whistling from the Lostock Hall direction!

Wonderful. If you ever want to share any of your memories then there’s plenty of us that would love to hear about them I’m sure...
Is your username from a L&YR Aspinall?
Amazing that you’re still in the same house.

 

[neilmc]

Fifty years ago, almost to the day, we had broken up for the summer holidays and I travelled from Leeds to Carnforth with a few friends. I don't have the spotters books any more but I do recall snippets, walking round the lines of redundant 9Fs on the farthest scrap line, in amongst the wild flowers in the hot sun, and a Metro-Vick diesel which was clearly going to be with us for years to come - not! As we caught the late train back to Leeds I took a last look back at the few Black 5s simmering in the shed yard and became quite maudlin and nostalgic, realising I would never see a live BR steam loco again. I was just 14 years old.

I passed through Carnforth yesterday and much of the infrastructure from 1968 is actually still there, with the fronts of a couple of preserved steam locos visible in the shed. I would have loved a commemoration at Carnforth, with the West Coast diesels moved out of sight and a few locos - say 75029, 70013, 92203, 73050, 42073/85, 48773 and a scattering of Black 5s suitably grimed up and parked up against the buffers, with one or two in steam in the yard. No need for fancy specials. Maybe to be really authentic D5705 could be borrowed to work a pretend train to Barrow only to break down in the station and give Northern an excuse to cancel most of their services, as they did??

 

[delt1c]

Just an after thought ( probably a stupid one). At the end of steam it wasnt uncommon to insert a steam loco between the diesel nand the stock ( to provide heating). Now we have the opposite (OK also to provide security in event of failure). If we want to recreate the past which senario do we follow, steam 1st or diesel 1st ?

 

[MatthewRead]

Just an after thought ( probably a stupid one). At the end of steam it wasnt uncommon to insert a steam loco between the diesel nand the stock ( to provide heating). Now we have the opposite (OK also to provide security in event of failure). If we want to recreate the past which senario do we follow, steam 1st or diesel 1st ?

How long did that continue for?

 

[TBirdFrank]

This weekend must be the biggest disgrace since preservation began with the exception of the SVR and the GCR.

The main line promoters are an absolute insult to what happened fifty years ago this weekend. No steam to Blackpool or over Copy Pit. No steam to Carnforth - you couldn't write it.

As for the preservation world - the idiot East Lancashire management is celebrating fifty years with a Thomas weekend - if I had known how they would turn out they would never have got the assistance they did.

So much for history - and how many of us will be left in 2028?

See you in Leyland tomorrow where the real enthusiasts will be.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

This weekend must be the biggest disgrace since preservation began with the exception of the SVR and the GCR.

The main line promoters are an absolute insult to what happened fifty years ago this weekend. No steam to Blackpool or over Copy Pit. No steam to Carnforth - you couldn't write it.

As for the preservation world - the idiot East Lancashire management is celebrating fifty years with a Thomas weekend - if I had known how they would turn out they would never have got the assistance they did.

So much for history - and how many of us will be left in 2028?

See you in Leyland tomorrow where the real enthusiasts will be.

I guess that depends on what you think railway preservation should be about. The reality of mainline steam is that none of it can now replicate the scenes of 50 or more years ago as the infrastructure has mostly changed beyond recognition, and rightly so. And don't get me started on the bizarre hodge-podge of liveries sometimes found on the coaching stock used. It really isn't the place of the national railway network to provide a platform for re-enactments; specials are fine but they have to fit in with the network's primary purpose of meeting the needs of today's travellers.

The heritage railways are perhaps another matter but with 50 years having now passed since the end of mainline steam they have to cater to various markets in addition to the nostalgistas. We're in the middle of the school summer holidays so the heritage lines depend on capturing the family market to bring in some decent revenue. Make hay while the sun shines! I think what you really would like to see is one railway solely devoted to maintaining a facsimile of the late 1960s. But that would have to include some diesels to be accurate and would still need to find ways (Thomas) of making money.

I hope you have a good day in Leyland. At least the weather forecast is reasonable.

 

[Harbornite]

Wonderful. If you ever want to share any of your memories then there’s plenty of us that would love to hear about them I’m sure...

Indeed.

 

[52290]

Wonderful. If you ever want to share any of your memories then there’s plenty of us that would love to hear about them I’m sure...
Is your username from a L&YR Aspinall?
Amazing that you’re still in the same house.

I chose 52290 as this was a Lostock Hall loco in the 1950's. When I was train spotter at Bashalls Sidings just north of Leyland station a member of this class would work a pick up freight to the sidings and distribute wagons to Leyland Motors foundry on the west side of the main line and then would cross over to the other side of the line to Carringtons cotton mill where there was a spur into the factory. The loco would have to back into the mill down the up fast coming off the main line at quite an acute angle with much smoke,steam and wheel squeezing. 52290 sticks in the memory because some wit at Lostock Hall painted the name "Bob" on the loco, so even when the name disappeared it was always Bob to me.
Back on topic, on Saturday 3rd of August 1968 I had planned to travel on the 20.50 or thereabouts to Blackpool South which was to be the last ever regular standard gauge steam train on BR. However on arrival at Preston station rumours were rife that due to a diesel failure
The 21.25 to Liverpool Exchange would also be steam hauled and therefore the very last steam train on BR sg.
I decided to stick to my original plan and stay with 45212 and travel to Blackpool as if I'd gone to Liverpool there was no way I could get back home that night.
The Gods were certainly on 45212's side though. As we pulled out of Preston station towards Fylde junction there was a mackerel sky with bright red clouds and St Walburges tower silhouetted against it. All that was missing was some music from Wagners Twighlight of the
Gods, perhaps the bit where Valhalla goes up in flames!

 

[TBirdFrank]

Shaw - whilst I do not disagree with much of what you say - if for a single weekend on the 50th anniversary the people who run our "preserved" railways cannot acknowledge where their hobby and jobs came from, then they do not deserve our custom or support and have become merely fairground rides.

Thomas has no place on any railway this commemorative weekend.

I was there fifty years ago and will be thinking of those fifty years, what has happened, those who didn't make it and enjoying a pint or two at Leyland tonight and at Kidderminster tomorrow. Shame on those who aren't.

 

[neilmc]

TBirdFrank - I believe that, particularly on an August weekend, the jobs and continued viability of preserved railways come from families with children, there simply aren't that many enthusiast men (and it would overwhelmingly be men) of a certain age to remember steam in 1968 to do a whole host of carbon-copy recreations with Black Fives all across the country. So on most railways you'll find anything small with side tanks painted blue and with a smiley face on the front bringing in the revenue.

 

[TBirdFrank]

QED - plot lost, probably never to be found again.

The night amongst real railwaymen and real enthusiasts was a pleasure.

 

[70014IronDuke]

After visiting Lostock Hall MPD on the evening of 4th of August 1968 I lay in bed with my windows open as it was warm night. My house at Leyland Earnshaw Bridge is only a couple of miles across the fields from Lostock Hall. On the stroke of midnight there was a continuous blast of locomotive whistles as the era of steam on BR ( V of R excepted) came to a conclusion, a sad yet triumphant requiem to a passing age.
I still live in the same house fifty years on and I shall be listening next Sunday night for any ghostly whistling from the Lostock Hall direction!

There is, or was, as you surely know, a website on Lostock Hall created by Alan Castle - but it seems to have been hijacked by some commercial hijackers. At least, I did a search, found this
http://forum.leylandtown.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=2839

And then clicked on the link in that article, and got some silly shoe sellers.

I think it was fitting that the last scheduled steam passenger working should come from a place like Lostock Hall, and not, eg Longsight, or Pomadie or Nine Elms or any one of the 'big sheds'. Lostock Hall was just like scores of other sheds around the country - nothing glamorous, just regular men turning up for duty day after day, night after night, and keeping the country's railways working.

 

[70014IronDuke]

... Back on topic, on Saturday 3rd of August 1968 I had planned to travel on the 20.50 or thereabouts to Blackpool South which was to be the last ever regular standard gauge steam train on BR. However on arrival at Preston station rumours were rife that due to a diesel failure
The 21.25 to Liverpool Exchange would also be steam hauled and therefore the very last steam train on BR sg.
I decided to stick to my original plan and stay with 45212 and travel to Blackpool as if I'd gone to Liverpool there was no way I could get back home that night. ...

You should have gone to Liverpool - there would then have been three of us on the footplate with Ernie Hayes + fireman coming back to Lostock Hall - arr approx 23.30 on August 03. Thank you, Driver Hayes, for the ride and the memory!

 

[Flying Phil]

Several visitors to the GCR today were recounting their memories of 50 years ago ..... and some getting a bit choked up even after all this time....By the end of the day "Oliver Cromwell" was getting quite "work-stained"....fabulous.

 

[TBirdFrank]

I did the SVR today - a bit curate's egg! No book signing because there were no books. 5110 and 8773 cold and silent, 5110 getting oiled over by a bunch of old codgers - who seemed quite familiar somehow! No working Black Five because 5231 failed its boiler test. 43106 on one injector but handling eight with aplomb representing the north west and 7802 which had no connection with 1968 working alongside. A very busy railway totally disproving the comment above about what a railway should do to be profitable. Lugaboruga next week.

 

[yorksrob]

I'm surprised that no one has attempted to undertake a fiftieth anniversary re-run of the 15 guinea special.

 

[TBirdFrank]

Dear Neil - standing room only yesterday at Loughborough - you really need to revise your business outlook!

 

[yorksrob]

Having chatted to some people in the know, there apparently was a steam tour on the S&C yesterday to mark the anniversary of the fifteen guinea special. Can't remember any details though.