Only the GWR and LMS was in a reasonably healthy state no matter what we amateurs might regard was a good railway. With my amateur hat on I'd have been well pleased to see GCR and LNWR 4-6-0s of all shapes and sizes continue right to the end of steam, but thats life.
Yes i liked the look of Robinson's locomotives on the GCR as well (i always have done since 1970). Also i liked there signal boxes as well which were 'very good looking' structures in my humble opinion but the GCR eventually all came under L.N.E.R. domain so that was alright. It's sacrilege to say but the more i see of GWR & LMS locomotives and rolling stock lately the more i like them!. BUT the GNR/L.N.E.R. will ALWAYS be No1 in my book. Micky GNR/L.N.E.R. all the ways...
coachmann wrote:At least we all like steam engines and no one came in with "I like Blue Pullmans"....
Not the blue ones, but definitely the brown and cream ones! I suppose I should be an LMS fan, since my formulative years were spent watching the trains on the Calder Valley route. I was even allowed to "let the steam out of the cutting" as a small boy, when a signalman who was a great friend of ours, took me to look at the Horbury Bridge box. Mars, Glorious, Dauntless and 45513 on the ten-past-eighter, Aspinall coffee pots from up the valley.
Then I actually got enough pocket money together to buy my first ABC from a local shop. Imagine my surprise to find no "fourers" or "fivers" but only "sixers". I'd never seen one! So a couple of weeks later I was on the bus to Wakefield Westgate. One of the first trains I saw was the Queen of Scots storming over the 99 arches and through the station behind an A2 - instantly hooked!
Somehow the LNER has more romance about it, more pioneer spirit. The East Coast Route, the London Extension, the Woodhead Route, the thrill of hearing the chime whistle! Even the Deltics looked and sounded different to everything else around at the time. Just a pity that the model makers don't think the same - in N gauge, the LMS seem to be getting more than their fair share at the moment.
Even as a dedicated NER fan, I still have a fondness for the LNWR and the GCR. I tend to like the pre-grouping railway companies the best anyway. I like the GCR for the aesthetic beauty of Robinson's designs, and the LNWR for the sheer size and scope of the company. To me it has always seemed a shame that MR policies dominated at the grouping. Plus... I have always wondered what the LNER would have been like had Robinson accepted the post as the first CME of that company.
Malcolm
The world is seldom what we wish it to be, but wishes don't change it.
Good man Malcolm, another GCR fan and a fan of CMEs Mr.Robinson's locomotives of the GCR as well as being a LNWR (LMS) fan. I didn't realize that there were several of 'us' about on these boards. Also you being a NER fan i really like the look of Wilson Worsdell's and sir Vincent Raven's locomotives and Walter Smith's experiments into compound working on the NER is worth investigating as well. I do like NER locos. Micky GNR/NER/L.N.E.R. all the way...
I like 'em all, that is the pre-nationalisation types.
Also the NZ 3'6" gauge 4-8-4's and 4-8-2's were / are impressive looking engines, particularly running in preservation. Some of the 4-8-2's were built by NBL,Glasgow.
It's funny that you should say that lead-plug about pre-nationalized railways and locomotives because personally speaking as much as i like ALL STEAM i particularly like steam development between the 1890s-1920 by CMEs such as Dean & Churchward GWR, Robinson GCR, Stirling & Ivatt GNR, Worsdell NER with his chief-draughtsman Walter Smith and several others. Also i am interested in the subjects of 'superheating' and 'compound locomotives' that was going on prior to the great war also i prefer locomotives like Ivatt's atlantic's especially his large boiler atlantic's over some other later designs from a later period. Micky
Micky wrote:Good man Malcolm, another GCR fan and a fan of CMEs Mr.Robinson's locomotives of the GCR as well as being a LNWR (LMS) fan. I didn't realize that there were several of 'us' about on these boards. Also you being a NER fan i really like the look of Wilson Worsdell's and sir Vincent Raven's locomotives and Walter Smith's experiments into compound working on the NER is worth investigating as well. I do like NER locos. Micky GNR/NER/L.N.E.R. all the way...
What you need Micky are:
'The North Eastern Atlantics' by Ken Hoole, published by Roundhouse books 1965.
'Locos of the North Eastern Railway' by O.S. Nock, published by Ian Allen Ltd.1954.
I know these are old books, but there are still copies lying around. I got mine at the bookshop in Kidderminster station on the SVR.
Malcolm
The world is seldom what we wish it to be, but wishes don't change it.
Like Malcolm i am known for my NER likes and just as he has got books from Kidderminster station bookshop on the SVR, i get mine from Bill Bedford (Not our Bill Bedford) at Matlock station and i have picked up a nice selection of out of print books on the NER and the NBR.
If you are after anything in particular its always worth giving him a ring.
I will be making a beeline for the shop in July when Kestrel bring out the Hush Hush book.
Hi interested in the area served by 52D. also researching colliery wagonways from same area.
