Not many West Riding-allocated tanks escaped me but this one did. Transferred in from Trafford Park in November 1966, Fairburn 42267 is seen at Halifax on 8 April 1967 having arrived with a lightweight parcels service. This 20-year-old Wakefield locomotive was withdrawn the following month.
An unknown location sees a collection of like-minded friends from all over Britain – it was obviously a cold morning and, guessing by the fatigued expressions, almost certainly after an overnight bash. From left to right they were Roger Price, David (Pest) Cameron, Richard (Joe) Jolliffee, Bob (Doze) Thompson, Keith (Wild Bill) Widdowson, Reg (Redged) Elliot, Dave (Mytholmroyd) Hill, Lenny Chard, Pete Bowyer, John (Prestatyn) Hobbs and ‘The Hat’.
One of 55E’s two Fairburns, life-long resident 42149, at Normanton on 22 April 1967. Although being withdrawn three months hence I had fortunately caught her into York the previous October.
About to be detached from the 04 25 Manchester Victoria to York, the Newton Heath foreman had returned Holbeck’s 4-6-0 45211 back to the NER on 22 April 1967. She was withdrawn a mere three weeks later aged 32.
What a winner this catch was! Anything could be turned out by the Normanton foreman to take the 04 25 ex-Manchester forward to York. On 22 April 1967 55E’s Flying Pig Ivatt 4MT 43043 was supplied – this Horwich-built Mogul surviving until the October cull. This was one of two remaining booked steam passenger services into York (the other being the 17 47 FO ex-Manchester) and was to be dieseled within weeks.
Holbeck’s 44852 is at the helm of the 10 05 Devonian out of Bradford Forster Square on 22 April 1967. This Crewe-built 33-year-old was to work this Paignton-bound departure the 13½ miles to Leeds City. The extensive sidings in the background are where the present relocated station has been built.
With withdrawal just two months away Low Moor’s 2-6-4T 42116 awaits the off at Bradford Exchange with the 11 00 portion for Wakefield Westgate on 22 April 1967, en route to Kings Cross. She, together with sister 42184, had monopolised the afternoon Stockport departure the previous year.
Leeds Central station had just eight days remaining before closure – services being concentrated on the adjacent Leeds City. Holbeck-allocated Fairburn 42699 awaits her next duties on 22 April 1967 – her own demise coming in seventeen days’ time.
Anyway, rant over, back to Leeds and having undertaken the short walk to the Central station we found Newton Heath’s 44846 at the head of the 03 32 departure for Halifax. Travelling via the then freight-only spur between Laisterdyke and Bowling Junction this four-coach set, upon arrival at Halifax, formed the somewhat circuitously routed 08 48 portion to Wakefield Westgate via Huddersfield. I also believe the 03 32 upon which we travelled was the last (I am prepared to be corrected – any amendment can be put through at reprint) booked steam working out of Leeds Central, the station closing after the final departure, a DMU for Harrogate, that evening. The Black 5 duly took over the 02 10 York at Halifax and after alighting at Hebden Bridge the welcome sight of Holbeck’s 45219 hove into view with the eastbound York train. I wasn’t to catch any other required locomotive that day.
After arrival into Normanton, with nothing worth travelling with on its forward journey to York, we headed south to Cudworth to pick up the 07 06 Sheffield Midland to Leeds City, which turned up with Holbeck’s 45075. A newly delivered D7570 took us over to Bradford Forster Square in order to catch the 10 00 The Devonian departure with another 55A Blackie, 44826. My last departure out of Leeds Central (albeit with D1764) took us to Wakefield Westgate where, after catching 44826 again on the 12 24 portion as far as New Pudsey, we changed onto Fairburn 42196 on the 14 19 arrival into Bradford Exchange. This was the fourth Saturday on the trot travelling on this portion and, with nothing in circulation that I hadn’t already had a run with, I called it a day and set off on a 105-mile DMU journey over Ais Gill to Carlisle for another ride with a Brit into Scotland. Upon returning to London, did I go straight home? Not a chance: a further 216 return steam miles to Bournemouth were enjoyed before wending my way home after another sixty-hour bash.
So summing up those four weeks, although catching recent tank transfers in from the LMR, there was, in comparison with last year, a noticeable absence of the LNER B1s – three of which, subsequent research has revealed, were still on Wakefield’s books. And I was disappointed with the increased proliferation of Type 2 diesels on the Forster Square portions – there were still some Holbeck Black 5s and tanks I would like to have caught. You can’t win them all! Two weeks later, on 5 May, Yorkshire’s first motorway link to London, the M1, was completed – further eroding the falling passenger numbers using rail.
Holbeck-allocated Black 5 44826 calls at the recently opened New Pudsey station, 3½ miles out of Bradford, on 29 April 1967 with the 12 24 portion from Wakefield Westgate to Bradford Exchange.
A second view of Stanier 5MT 44826 at New Pudsey – this Crewe-built 33-year-old surviving until the October cull that year.
After an hour’s wait from the previous shot, Low Moor’s 42196 arrives at New Pudsey on 29 April 1967 with the portion off the 10 20 Kings Cross to Leeds Central. Leeds Central station closed later that day and from the following Monday the few remaining Kings Cross/Bradford through services were routed via Leeds City.
14
THE WEST RIDING FINALE
DURING THAT SUMMER of ’67 steam sheds were closing akin to a pile of dominoes – Manningham in April, Wakefield in June with York becoming diesel only the same month. By July just three – Holbeck, Low Moor and Normanton – remained, the four others in the coalfields of Durham and East Midlands not having passenger work. With Leeds Central having been closed in the April of 1967, resulting in the cessation of the steam-operated portions, there was little to entice haulage bashers such as myself to the area. One of the few remaining trains where steam power could be guaranteed was the Calder Valley-routed 02 10 York/Manchester mails service, which during that June I often used as a means to access the still steam-saturated LMR.
From the following month, after the cessation of steam on the SR, a notable increase in ‘clientele’ from the south helped swell the numbers participating in this nightly charade to worryingly overcrowded proportions. On one occasion (22 July) information as to the locomotive that was to take over at Halifax (upon reversal) coupled with a not-required tank on it at Normanton led me to abandon any attempt at obtaining even standing space on the westbound train. I headed south to Sheffield that morning and, having endured a two-hour fester at the Midland station, I travelled out on what had become the sole remaining steam departure from the city – the 07 06 for Leeds (45428). It was all coming to an end. With the NER steam cull at the end of September all that was to remain was Newton Heath’s provision of Black 5s for the 03 32 Leeds/Halifax and Manchester on the westbound service and from Manchester to Normanton on the eastbound – the latter (already reduced to steam operation MO) going diesel weeks later. In just twelve months the six-locomotive circuit had changed to one.
After the cessation of the WCML summer Saturday-dated services that year several non-railway activities, including an office weekend outing to Jersey, resulted in a hiatus of steam chasing. I felt, however, out of sheer nostalgic respect for the area that one final visit had to be made. By now the allocation of steam within the NER had diminished to a mere 124 – the LNER examples including just four Q6, seven J27 and three B1s – only the latter, all subsequently reallocated to Low Moor, surviving beyond the beginning of September.
So now to the last weekend of steam passenger trains in Yorkshire. On Friday 29 September, an evening when the inaugural episode of the cult The Prisoner, starring Patrick McGoohan, was aired I travelled from Kings Cross to York to connect with the last steam-worked (from Normanton) 02 10 York/Manchester. Topping the charts then, somewhat prophetically, was Engelbert Humperdinck’s The Last Waltz. I had selected this route rather than run the risk of a missed connection at Normanton out of the 02 00 ex-Sheffield. An hour’s mooch around a now steamless York was en
dured before the stock for the 02 10 departure for Manchester was platformed, at the head of which, filling the air with her obnoxious fumes, was ‘Long Pong’ D258. I can’t remember there being many, if any, enthusiasts on board – the situation changing dramatically upon arrival into Normanton with the expected invasion of chasers materialising. What steam, on this final night, was to take forward to Halifax? LMS 2-6-4T 42689, a locomotive I had never witnessed in my travels, was the answer. Where had she been hiding? Research for this book revealed this ex-Scottish Fairburn had, upon arrival in the NER, been allocated to Leeds Neville Hill before spending time at Huddersfield and Royston, arriving at Holbeck in April ’67 and finally being transferred to Low Moor in her final month. That was a good start to the visit, only to be further improved with a required Edge Hill 45287 taking over at Halifax.
So Hebden Bridge was alighted at for the last time – a seemingly regular ‘Splutterbug’ (D7572) on the eastbound for York taking me back to Normanton. With nothing noted in my book as to what took over there, I can only presume it to be another DL. I headed the 10 miles south to Cudworth, boarding the very last steam train out of Sheffield, the 0706 for Leeds City, with a lost looking Lostock Hall 44971 in charge. It had been hoped, at least among the enthusiast fraternity, that the two remaining Jubilees, Alberta and Kolhapur, might have been turned out. Perhaps the authorities, similar to the SR finale debacle the previous July, didn’t want to draw attention to themselves in having taken this length of time to eliminate steam.
Extracts from my notebook.
On 30 September 1967 a lost-looking Lostock Hall-allocated 5MT 44971 drifts into Cudworth with the very last steam train out of Sheffield – the 07 06 Sheffield Midland to Leeds City. She was more fortunate than all her NER-allocated cousins, not being withdrawn until the very end of BR steam the following August.
The very last occasion I travelled over the London extension of the ex-Great Central was on 23 August 1966. Here, at Marylebone, was Hull Dairycoates-allocated 4-6-0 B1 61306 having worked in on the 08 15 ex-Nottingham Victoria, and should have returned on the train I was about to board, the 14 38. She was, however, failed with hot bearings and although disappointed in its replacement, being a ‘Splutterbug’ (Class 25), matters improved when a BR 9F freight locomotive was turned out for the 16 38. Little did I know I was to eventually have a run with her thirteen months later (see next shot).
Bradford Low Moor shed was recoded in its final month from 56F to 55J – B1 4-6-0 61306 proudly displaying her newly acquired smokebox shed code. This 19-year-old North British-built B1 was one of three transferred into Low Moor three months earlier upon the closure to steam of Hull Dairycoates. Bulled up, no doubt by MNA members, for the final steam-working Yorkshire Pullman for London Kings Cross she is seen on 30 September 1967 prior to the 09 55 departure from Bradford Exchange. To partake a run with her the 9½ miles to Leeds we, and there were plenty of ‘anoraks’, willingly forked out a 3/6d supplement. Although she was withdrawn upon closure of Low Moor the following day she is one of two surviving B1s to be preserved and is currently based at the North Norfolk Railway. This was my last day’s visit to what had become my favourite station in the region, Bradford Exchange. Why favourite? Well being a relatively small terminus it epitomised the steam era, oozing atmosphere. Anything could be caught from there – tanks, B1s, Jubilees and Black 5s – just wonderful!
We enthusiasts expected at least one of the remaining Jubilees to be turned out for the final weekend of steam in the West Riding, but excepting the B1 out of Bradford earlier that morning the only other steam working was this. At least Holbeck bulled up their pet Black 5, the now-preserved 45428 seen here at Leeds City on 30 September 1967 with the 14 20 departure for Bradford Exchange.
The ‘intruder’ in Yorkshire on 30 September 1967 was the privately preserved GWR 4-6-0 7029 Clun Castle, which took over a London/Carlisle rail tour at Peterborough. Here she is, ten months earlier, performing similar duties at Stourbridge Junction.
With nothing happening at Leeds we went over to Bradford for what, retrospectively, was to be the highlight of the day. The Low Moor foreman sent out one of his three recently acquired B1s, 61306, for the 09 55 departure out of Bradford Exchange. The locomotive had been externally cleaned overnight by members of the MNA organisation and was a credit to their hard work. This was Britain’s final steam-operated prestige train The Yorkshire Pullman – the white-coated silver-service car attendants making an unexpected cash haul with all us enthusiasts having, not begrudgingly mind, to pay the necessary 3s 6d (32½p) supplement. A disappointing signal-delayed 9½-mile run over to Leeds City was undertaken with a max of a mere 54½mph near Bramley giving us a seven-minute late arrival into Leeds – the starter course of soup not being served until all us degenerates had alighted there! With nothing much going on during the remainder of the morning a couple of fill-in trips to/from Wakefield (sad wasn’t I?) reaped runs with three Peaks and one Brush 4 noting, when passing Holbeck, Black 5 44902 (12A) and the two ‘missing’ miscreant Jubilees in light steam, 45697 Achilles (chimney missing) and 44912 being in the withdrawn line.
A Great Western intruder, in the form of privately owned 4-6-0 7029 Clun Castle, was also evident in the area while working a rail tour. Holbeck’s 45428, scrubbed up for the occasion, was turned out for the 14 20 Leeds City to Bradford Exchange, returning light engine to work the 13 25 Kings Cross/Bradford Exchange forward ex-Leeds City at 16 50. Darkness was now falling and, considering the day a bit of a damp squib, I cut my losses and went over to Preston for the evening’s portions – trains that were to enter railway folklore history by becoming Britain’s last steam-hauled public services.
That was it then as regards the NER’s passenger workings. The few steam movements the next day (as read about afterwards) culminated in Low Moor’s 42152 working the final portion, the 16 18 departure out of Bradford Exchange. The following Monday saw Low Moor shed completely close, Holbeck and Normanton losing their steam allocations but retaining servicing facilities for visiting LMR locomotives.
So how did I fare as regards the catches during my forty-two visits during the final eighteen months of steam in the North Eastern Region? I accrued runs with 119 different locomotives from twelve different classes – with the obvious dominance of Stanier’s Black 5s. The Exchange portions in particular provided a wonderful selection of motive power, among which many Thompson B1s and Stanier/Fairburn tanks were often chanced across. Then there was the initial attraction of the nine Jubilees – without which perhaps the number of visits might well have been fewer. With both Bradford and Leeds stations having been exited/arrived into on just over thirty occasions behind steam, only Leeds City remains today anything vaguely familiar from those wonderful days (and nights!) of yesteryear.
In a résumé of the statistics shown in Appendix 11; in April 1966 there were eighty-one steam locomotives available at six depots available (on paper at least!) for passenger traffic. By that October, taking into account withdrawals and transfers in, seventy remained – of which I’d caught runs with thirty-eight (54 per cent). Not visiting the area during that winter the numbers had fallen, by April 1967, to fifty-six – with my captures reduced to twenty-eight (50 per cent). The withdrawal of Bradford portions and the closure of Manningham and Wakefield sheds further reduced numbers to forty-one by the August of ’67 – of which thirty-one (75 per cent) had fallen into my clutches. There were, excluding Royston’s 8Fs, a mere thirty-one steam locomotives (on paper) remaining at the end; made up of eleven Fairburn/one Stanier tanks, fourteen Black 5s, two Jubilees and three B1s shared between Holbeck, Normanton and Low Moor, of which I required just five – not bad for someone living over 200 miles distant. These withdrawals meant that the Fairburn/Stanier tanks together with the B1 classes of steam locomotives became extinct. The final duty for an NER-allocated steam locomotive was enacted on 4 November 1967 – with Royston’s 48276.
15
AND STILL THEY COME
PERHAPS T
HE NER authorities had hoped, after the October 1967 cull of their own allocation, that they, or more pertinently the foremen at their sheds, would have no further dealings with steam. They hadn’t, however, contemplated the still steam-infested neighbouring region of the LMR forwarding many specials, both freight and passenger, over the ‘border’. In addition to those there were two services that remained diagrammed for steam until the end of ’67. The first of these was the 17 37 (FO) Manchester Exchange to York whose calling points were at Stalybridge (17 55), Huddersfield (18 25) and Leeds City (18 55) prior to arrival into York at 19 34. This was part of a Kingmoor Britannia duty and, taking into consideration to travel on it would cost me a day’s annual leave, it wasn’t until June 1967 when, as was often the case, although booked for a Kingmoor Brit, a 12A Black 5 (44911) was the power. Departing from the Exchange station, this lengthy train was always assisted in the rear up Miles Platting bank, the sight and sound of two steam locomotives being opened up in anticipation of the assault of the climb, no doubt startling unsuspecting commuters waiting on the adjacent Victoria station as they stormed past.
Riding Yorkshire's Final Steam Trains Page 12
