17-07-2013, 06:35 AM
1
Playing trains!
Yesterday had a day out at the National Railway Museum, York. Special 'Mallard' Exhibition. It was brilliant. When we first arrived the queue reached from the main entrance all the way back to the Postal Sorting Office - for those who don't know York, that is a distance of quarter of a mile !! Once the doors opened that was such a mad rush - everyone wanted to be in out of the blazing sun.In the main exhibition hall there is a huge turntable - Mallard and her 5 sisters were arranged on one half of of it, but you could hardly see them for the crowds. Of the 35 A4-Class locomotives ever built only these 6 remain, and it is the first time they have all been together since the 1940s.
Mallard and Dominion of Canada had steps going up to their cabs so people could see inside - but the queues to go up were hugh and you were only allowed a couple of minutes each, so I didn't wait. They are all leaving tonight to go on display at NRM Shildon - then they will return here in October, before being dispersed. Mallard will stay in York, Bittern will be doing a few 'feature' runs from Bristol until Winter - not sure about the others. Three of them are privately owned - imagine that - owning one of these beautiful engines !!
NRM York restored the american one - Dwight D Eisenhower, so that should have generated some income for us, and NRM Shildon restored Dominion of Cananda. They were certainly an impressive sight. I did take photographs but, as I was always either too far away or up too close, they are not brilliant - what I did do was fight my way to the front and photograph each of the name plates:
Mallard, Bittern, Union of South Afria, Dominion of Cananda, Dwight D Eisnhower, and the man who designed them - Sir Nigel Gresley. UofSA and Eisenhower were in green livery and the rest in the LNER garter blue that we associate with Mallard.
Within the NRM there is a side room with an amazing model railway layout and, especially for this exhibition, all the trains in the layout were being drawn by A4 Class locos! Hornby, the toy makers, have brought out limited editions of each of the 6 locos, and it is Hornby who have sponsored this historical exhibition in commemoration of Mallard's unbroken World Speed record.
Someone (elsewhere) commented that Mallard was not made as much of as the Flying Scot - well - she is made a great deal of in NRM York, and we are very proud to have her here almost permenantly - she does occasionally go on visits down to Shildon - but she is ours really !! I don't think she has been in the media as much as the Flying Scot because they have done such a brilliant job of restoring her that she is not as 'high maintenance'. She is always the first one that people go to see and always has a crowd of photographers around her. Even when we had 'Hogwart's Express' here - Mallard was still the centre of attention.
I am happy to report that there are no longer any plans to close NRM York - it is safe for the moment. It is government funded though - so who knows what might happen in the future. Any/all donations that are given are entirely used for the restoration and maintenance of the engines - not the upkeep of the museum itself.
I really did enjoy the day - it was hot, crowded, sticky and redolent of engine oil - but I had to be dragged out !
17-07-2013, 08:49 AM
2
Re: Playing trains!
I come from a 'railway' family darlin' - both my Grandads and a couple of uncles worked on British Railways (as I did too), the only one who missed out was George (my Dad) - he became a mechanical engineer and toolmaker.One Grandad had the job of inspecting the boiler tubes of the steam engines. After they had completed a 'run' the engine would be shunted into the engine shed, the fire box removed and my Grandad would crawl into the space and inspect the water pipes looking for leaks. I can remember meeting him with my Gran waiting at the entrance to the works and watching him come through the gates with his clothes smoking, from the heat of the fire box. Health & Safety in those days didn't exist.
17-07-2013, 09:38 AM
4
Re: Playing trains!
Originally Posted by Uncle Joe
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I come from a 'railway' family darlin' - both my Grandads and a couple of uncles worked on British Railways (as I did too), the only one who missed out was George (my Dad) - he became a mechanical engineer and toolmaker. One Grandad had the job of inspecting the boiler tubes of the steam engines. After they had completed a 'run' the engine would be shunted into the engine shed, the fire box removed and my Grandad would crawl into the space and inspect the water pipes looking for leaks. I can remember meeting him with my Gran waiting at the entrance to the works and watching him come through the gates with his clothes smoking, from the heat of the fire box. Health & Safety in those days didn't exist.
17-07-2013, 09:42 AM
5
Re: Playing trains!
Originally Posted by solo
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Oh I have gone all nostalgic now and this has made my day. I much prefer steam to modern engines. There is something so satisfying about the sheer power and noise of the old engines 17-07-2013, 10:18 AM
7
Re: Playing trains!
Originally Posted by Silver Tabby
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If any of them are still around, Uncle Joe, should ask them to write notes of their experiences - it would make a wonderful book ! If they are not around - perhaps you could do it??
No darlin' - they both died many, many years ago. I have my own stories about my time on British Rail. In 1969 they 'lost' a whole train - was missing for several days. Was my job to trace where it had gone. I Found it!!! - but to this day no-one can tell you what happened to the three steel girders each 200ft long weighing 150 a-piece which were loaded on this train.
17-07-2013, 10:37 AM
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Re: Playing trains!
Originally Posted by Silver Tabby
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Sorry, Solo, I think you have to click on my name and the albums appear on the right hand side of my profile.I think that's how it works ....
Just viewed them. Great pictures and thank you for explaining
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