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Woodham Bros.Barry.

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morrisobrien

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I have just watched "The Barry Scrapyard Story" on Prime Video.Fascinated.

I thought that Dai Woodham came across as being a very canny,humble person,

and most definitely an ace preservationist!Any thoughts?
 
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I understand that on the path to being canonized as a saint at least two miracles have to be performed through the intercession of the Blessed after their death. Given the sheer number of miracles performed by Dai Woodham (never mind two, he performed over two hundred), I can only guess that their is some sort of admin error on high.
Seriously though, their really ought to be some sort of statue or memorial somewhere to acknowledge what the great man achieved.
 

scarby

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Yes, it is just a pity that in particular class 21 D6122 that stayed there for 12 years was not saved - plenty of preservationists would love to get their hands on that now, but at the time trying to preserve at least one of each diesel class simply wasn't considered a priority at all.
 

Western 52

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Indeed, and add D600 and D601 too! Both heavily vandalised but I expect something could have been done with them maybe as static exhibits somewhere.
 

Ashley Hill

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He was a businessman who saw a market. He still broke up a couple of steamers in 1980 (ish) though when work was drying up. Presumably why the diesels went,too many people concentrating on saving yet another Bullied or Prairie.
 

Peter Mugridge

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Here's mine, all from 8th February 1986 by which time there was only a handful of locomotives remaining at the yard.

35025
35022
5967
80150
92245

...in that order.
 

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Cowley

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I have just watched "The Barry Scrapyard Story" on Prime Video.Fascinated.

I thought that Dai Woodham came across as being a very canny,humble person,

and most definitely an ace preservationist!Any thoughts?

@crosscity started this thread just over a year ago which you might find interesting.

There’s some great photos of the place on there which give a really good feel of what it would have been like in the 1970s.

Here's mine, all from 8th February 1986 by which time there was only a handful of locomotives remaining at the yard.

35025
35022
5967
80150
92245

...in that order.

Superb Peter.
 

Bevan Price

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He was a businessman who saw a market. He still broke up a couple of steamers in 1980 (ish) though when work was drying up. Presumably why the diesels went,too many people concentrating on saving yet another Bullied or Prairie.
Steam only survived at Barry because it was easier / cheaper / more profitable to scrap the huge number of withdrawn wagons in the yard.
 

deltic14

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I have always been fascinated by the Barry scrapyard legend and remember getting my first 'Barry List' and studying what loco's were still in existence. I first visited the yard on March 4th 1982 when there were still 74 locos in the yard but by then the diesels were long gone. Being very partial to Bullied pacifics I took this photo of 35006 which appeared to have been sold. I made a promise to ride behind it when it was restored to working order and 34 years later the promise was fulfilled - many thanks to the team who put it back into service. Present the same day were future mainline stars 73096 and 34046 as well as many that have since become important loco's on various heritage railways including 80104 seen alongside. Currently I have ridden behind 140 ex Barry loco's with two newly restored yet to acquire.

As an aside I have had a couple of holidays in recent years and the scrapyard area is now mostly covered with new housing with no recognition of Dai Woodham or the area's historical significance for our railway heritage. Everyone (except rail enthusiasts) now associates the place with Gavin and Stacey or the absolutely fantastic beaches.

15-04.jpg
 

EbbwJunction1

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Steam only survived at Barry because it was easier / cheaper / more profitable to scrap the huge number of withdrawn wagons in the yard.

I have always held the same view, and do find it strange that people see Dai Woodham as a candidate for some form of canonisation as said above.

I've seen a programme (I can't remember what it was) which said that he didn't have any thoughts for or against preservation, but if someone was willing to give him their money for one of his locos, he'd be fine with it. Another thing that's often ignored is that probably the first thing that was done when the locos got to Barry is that they were completely stripped of any material (copper, brass etc.) that could be sold on at a profit, thus making what remained a hulk.
 

deltic14

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True, Dai Woodham was a businessman and not a sentimentalist as far as his assets were concerned. By making a rational business decision to concentrate on scrapping wagons which were easy and quicker (thus more lucrative) than loco's it gave time for groups of people to raise funds to buy locomotives. Without this many of our heritage railways would not exist in the form they do now. Just consider the operational fleets and requirements of the SVR, MHR and WSR as they are today - they just couldn't operate ex industrials. This 'accident' of history in my view should have some local recognition at least - if only a street name !
 

EbbwJunction1

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That's a fair comment, but some of the comments are way over the top and are, in my views, simply not justified.

As far as erecting a statue or naming a road goes, you'd have to talk to the local authority (Vale of Glamorgan Council) about this.
 

Merthyr Imp

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I visited on 4 August 1968 and took just two photos.

Duke of Gloucester and Manston:
 

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EbbwJunction1

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Yes, as far as I recall, it was in much of the area now occupied by the road (Fford y Mileniwm) and some of the industrial units.

There was also a large area of sidings nearer the dock entrance channel that were occupied by the wagons that were broken up, and these were, I think, where the industrial units are.
 

WesternLancer

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Yes, as far as I recall, it was in much of the area now occupied by the road (Fford y Mileniwm) and some of the industrial units.

There was also a large area of sidings nearer the dock entrance channel that were occupied by the wagons that were broken up, and these were, I think, where the industrial units are.
Thanks - also, looking more closely I can see a long siding curving round and running the full length of the dock beside David Davies Road. I imagine that given the nature of industrial change it has been utterly changed since those days and before, with, I imagine, a vast dock railway complex once having been there.
 

pdeaves

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Thanks - also, looking more closely I can see a long siding curving round and running the full length of the dock beside David Davies Road. I imagine that given the nature of industrial change it has been utterly changed since those days and before, with, I imagine, a vast dock railway complex once having been there.
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/spy/#zoom=15&lat=51.40557&lon=-3.24887&layers=6&b=1&r=30 gives an interesting 'then and now' comparison to show that the site is, really, unrecognisable now.
 

EbbwJunction1

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Yes, it's an amazing change. The current company (Dai died in 1994) still owns the industrial units and, presumably, the unoccupied land.
 

LSWR Cavalier

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Are some ex-Barry locomotives still unrestored? Seems a bit unfair that railways in the UK have too many engines while some on the European mainland have too few
 

EbbwJunction1

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Thanks for that link - superb. Presumably the vast majority of the dock capacity was for coal. I feel somewhat ignorant of this location so must go and learn a bit more.

Oh, yes ... Barry Docks was massive. This is the article from Mr W Pedia, which includes a plan. Barry Docks - Wikipedia

As you'll see, it was built to rival the coal trade at Cardiff Docks, but became bigger and busier.
 

Harvester

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Are some ex-Barry locomotives still unrestored? Seems a bit unfair that railways in the UK have too many engines while some on the European mainland have too few
Quite a few. According to “The Barry List” Eleventh Edition (updated to April 2017) about 150 of the 213 rescued locos have steamed again. More were anticipated to complete restoration in the not so distant future, but some will probably never steam again.
 
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