The LNER Encyclopedia

My favourite locos as a kid were the ex-NB C16 tanks which had a particularly sharp barking exhaust. In latter years a small elite number were fitted with push-pull equipment for working the Craigendoran to Arrochar shuttle.
A couple of memories of those days.

then getting the "jeannie deans"across the clyde to greenoch then on to arran

I always had a soft spot for K3s. I think it was their large boiler that made them look like powerful locomotives, and maybe that they were a welcome break from the diet of B1s and Ivatt 4MTs on excursions to the East Coast.

I think my nostalgia increased when I discovered to my horror that a class of almost 200 locos had been rendered extinct by 1963 and I had seen only about 20% of them at most.

The Craigendoran-Arrochar shuttles were C15 tanks, not C16!
And here is the LNER steamer!

Ay up!

Mine was either a B12 or Brit, both influenced by Triang models.

The A4 was always my favorite, in either LNER or BR condition. Both for seeing 60008 at an early age, and also from one being illustrated on a large railway wall poster I had when I was young (long since scrapped).

From the same poster again, I also remember a blue A1 Peppercorn pacific being featured on it. Had no idea what it was back then but it was shown in BR Blue.

My favourite class is.... not the V2

Green Arrow may be my favourite loco, but the later developments on the V2's (especially the outside steam pipes) puts me off them. My favourite is infact the K4. So much character in the (relatively) little workhorses

blackout60800 wrote:My favourite class is.... not the V2

Green Arrow may be my favourite loco, but the later developments on the V2's (especially the outside steam pipes) puts me off them. My favourite is infact the K4. So much character in the (relatively) little workhorses

I always thought 60009 was your favourite loco?

She of course is my favourite loco with the K4 coming a close second.

Jamie

Ay up!

I like the Green Onion meself but these days prefer Garter Blue with valences.

Look forward to Bittern reappearing in silver......

bittern has been in silver ,allbeit before it was restored to running order(while it was static at middle engine lane)

jamieP wrote:I always thought 60009 was your favourite loco?

She's a very close second, with 61994 third and Lode Star after her

G&SWR 4-6-4 Baltic tank in original livery. Had the good fortune to bump into its designers grandson at the GCR ealier in the year.

I grew up in Dunfermline, Fife and did all my trainspotting from an embankment above the water stand. It was exciting to have an express engine disconnect from its train and back onto that siding below me where I could feel the heat from it and hear it "panting" as it sat there taking on water. (Stilll don't know what that sound was!)

I was too young to know anything about schedules or train classes and I just loved big express engines. I suppose the ones I remember must have been from "local" sheds and I still remember many names ... Spion Kop, Spearmint, Windsor Lass, Blink Bonny (Ay Up!), Pretty Polly, Papyrus and Cicero to name a few. There were also Springbok and Impala on the scene but I don't know what class they were.

One more great memory ... when we emigrated to Canada (age 12) we took a train across the Forth bridge to Edinburgh to board the night Scotsman (June 14th, 1951). Dad took me down the platform to see what engine was on duty ... I wish I could remember but can't!!. The driver took me into the cab for a quick look around then we were off. I slept not a wink all night and was off the train at new stations getting every train number I'd never seen.

Wonderful days.

Saint Johnstoun wrote:The Craigendoran-Arrochar shuttles were C15 tanks, not C16!

Jeanie Deans.jpg

And here is the LNER steamer!

I stand corrected!! Had many a sail on Jeanie as well!

Ay up, Albergman!

The "panting" you heard was the Westinghouse pump. Makes a loco so fitted sound like it's pawing at the deck and chafing at the bit.