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Rusty old
'Ladies'
...awaiting knights in shining
armour to come and rescue them from becoming piles of Ferric Oxide!
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A
Cowbridge friend of mine, Mike Wilcock (well known in locomotive
circles in South Wales) has now completed a 100 min. DVD of the
railway since 2001 inc the Barry 10, delivery of locos, the
Waverley at Barry, and much more as they say.
(One of his pictures on the right:)
It's selling for £12 with profits to the railway. The Ian
Allan bookshop will also be selling it and a Christmas special
too. E-mail me if you need more info... |
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Hello Mike
I've found yours and some other similar sites related to the Barry
Scrap Yard and thought i may share this with you and ask a question.
Having now just turned 40, it seems many years ago when at the tender
age of 11 being on holiday on a school trip in summer 1977 to Butlins
Holiday Camp ( now no longer i believe) at Barry Island. Myself and some
pals slipped off for an impromptu trip around Barry. The reason was of
course to get to the "Yard full of Steam Trains", being lads of that age
it was only natural to be drawn away from the confinement of a just out
of season holiday camp. Finally getting into the yard, we were unable to
contain our excitement, the thrill of leaping on and off these, to us,
huge engines and exploring much of the site is a memory that will last
for years. At the time there was also some relatively modern engines
which were awaiting their fate, looking rather sad too, but it was of
course, the old steamers that were of major interest to us boys. What is
good to see is that some of those engines are now hopefully restored and
perhaps running and I was thinking, how many old ladys are still there.
There is a possibility of me having a
trip to north Wales sometime in 2006 with the chance of having a
nostalgic trip to Barry, and I would like to know if the yard is still
hording any remaining engines, and whether it would be worth my while
making the trip to Barry island, any information would be of great help,
as it shows from your site there is still much interest in Barry and its
Yard.
[all long gone, but fortunately, to
restoration groups around the U.K.]
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Rob Peters |
Ron Perry of Buxton, Derbyshire offers:
Permit me to don my anorak! I remember Barry scrap yard
when there were over 200 locos in a state of just about completeness on the
site circa
1966-68. Many of the locos originated from the Southern Region of British
Railways (e.g. the featured Merchant Navy class 35006) and were towed in
batches of three or four from there to Barry behind a diesel loco. At the
time the powers that be were unhappy about towing vulnerable derelict locos
through the Severn Tunnel and so they were forced to take the long way round
to South Wales via Gloucester. As a lad of 15 I remember watching scores of
the locos make their last journey on BR metals and climbing on to their
footplates when they were diverted from the path of faster trains into a
refuge loop at Charfield (then my home) on the main Bristol - Birmingham
line en route to Barry.
A mate of mine at the time always carried a screwdriver and adjustable
spanner in his bike saddle-bag which he used to excellent effect to de-nude
the loco cabs of certain brass items (steam pressure gauges, et al). I
wonder whether he relinquished these when loco preservationists were looking
for original artefacts??
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One of the many steam locos which used to
live on a sad siding on Barry Island, South Wales. The good news is that this
engine like the many others have all been sold off to Steam enthusiasts
all over Britain and have probably been fully restored and in steam again.
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On the footplate, a good friend of mine, Alan
Miller, currently making TV programmes from his base in Pershore and also
working on track works on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway for his
sins. |
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Wanna buy a train? Where is it now? |
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Say no more.
Not the case now we're in the third Millennium.
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| Going, going, gone: to The 35006 Locomotive
Company Ltd where it is being lovingly restored. A recent e-mail put me in
touch with the Society and I am very happy to provide an update on this
particular locomotive. |
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For more recent pictures of Cardiff, click here |
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