The Barry Legacy

A month or two back when discussing a feature on the current state of affairs with the rebuild of ex-GWR 2-8-0T, 4270 with Ian Carpenter, it transpired that he possessed a sizable collection of photos of 4270 taken during the 28 years that her restoration had taken so far.  Those photos will feature in a later blog article.  The existence of these photos started me thinking that it would be a good idea to come up with an article covering her existence at Woodham Bros scrapyard in Barry Island and follow on with a series of articles relating to the restoration progress.  This thought process coincided with the publishing of a book on the history of Barry Island and its famed scrapyard by an internet contact of mine, Dr Peter Brabham who grew up near the yard and consequently has amassed a treasure trove of photos of the yard and the steam locos that were saved there.  Given that the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway is home to a number of locos that are resident or actively under rebuild that survived only because of the miracle of Barry Island scrapyard, I have decided to broaden the scope of this particular article and cover those locos too. 

Churchward 4200 class, 2-8-0T, number 4270
Power class:   E
Route Restriction:   Red
Tractive Effort:  31,450 lbf
Boiler Pressure 200 lbf/sq in
105 (wikipedia has that wrong) examples were built between 1910 & 1923, 4270 entering traffic in December 1919.  The class were principally designed to deal with short distance heavy coal trains from the Welsh valleys to the South Wales docks. Shed allocations included Slough & Ebbw Vale, both in 1945. 4270 was withdrawn in September 1962 and arrived at Barry Island scrapyard in August 1963.  She remained at Barry for 21 years and 11 months and became the 167th loco to be saved, leaving in July 1985 for the Swansea Valley Railway. 

This photo of her taken in 1975 at Barry Island shows her to be in externally at least a reasonable state.

Photo courtesy Dr Peter Brabham

This was about half way through her time at Barry and the '4270 Preservation Society' seem to have spent a bit of time smartening her up with a red primer.  Note she has no buffers and one of the coupling rods at least is stashed away in the bunker.  A couple of years later in September 1977, she was again photographed at Barry, this time in the company of Bulleid Light Pacific, 34028, Eddystone.

Photo courtesy Dr Peter Brabham

 The '4270 Preservation Society' seem to be making good progress, she's looking very smart compared to Eddystone with her top coat of paint on.  A set of buffers have been sourced from somewhere.  The connecting rod has disappeared from the bunker, but as she has all her original ones even now, they must have been stored somewhere for safe keeping.  Compare the previous two photos to this third shot taken in 1988, just a few years after she left Barry Island at the Swansea Valley Railway.

Photo courtesy Dr Peter Brabham

The green top coat of paint, is by now heavily faded.  The salt sea air at Barry has accelerated the rusting process and the bottom of the bunker and side tanks have been completely eaten through.  

As mentioned earlier, the story of the restoration of 4270 after Barry Island will be continued at a later date.

Bulleid Merchant Navy class, 35006, Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company
Power class:  8P
Tractive Effort:  33,490 lbf
Boiler Pressure 250 lbf/sq in  (as built 280 lbf/sq in)
Originally numbered 21C6 when introduced in December 1941 as the 6th locomotive of a class of 30, with an air smoothed casing, she was renumbered 35006 at the nationalisation of the railways and rebuilt in 1959 as a more conventional locomotive.  In 1948 she was shedded at Salisbury.  She was withdrawn by BR in August 1964 entering Barry in December 1964.  She remained at Barry for 18 years and 3 months, leaving in March 1983 as the 144th loco to be saved.

Photo courtesy Dr Peter Brabham

I could only find this one photo of 35006 at Barry.  Subsequent to this photos, she lost her tender to another preservation group, so the one that she is has at the moment needed to be built from scratch. The smoke deflectors and smoke box appear to have received a little attention, but the rest is in a very sorry state.

Whilst normally not on view in the David Page shed at Toddington, both 4270 and 35006 will be on display in the car park at Toddington during the Cotswold Steam Celebration Gala at the end of this month.  You will be impressed by how much both have improved since the photos above were taken.

Moving on to our already restored and in service locos:

Churchward 2800 class, 2-8-0 number 2807
Power class:   E
Route Restriction:   Blue
Tractive Effort:  35,380 lbf
Boiler Pressure 225 lbf/sq in
Of a class of 84 locomotives, 2807 was the eighth built at Swindon, released into traffic in October 1905.  The class was principally used for long haul freight traffic.  2807's 1948 shed was Hereford and she was withdrawn on 31st March 1963 after nearly 58 years of service from Severn Tunnel Junction.  She arrived at Barry Island in November 1963 and departed after 17 years and 7 months in June 1981 as the 130th loco to leave Barry.

These two photos were taken of her in 1968, less than 5 years after arriving:

Photo courtesy of Pete Hackney

Photo courtesy of Pete Hackney

 Although 2807 at this time is lacking a tender, she is surprisingly otherwise complete.  Much of the motion is present, along with the copper injector feed pipes and the safety valve cover.

This undated later photo of her in Barry shows her to be in a very sorry state, the motion is completely missing, including pistons and valve gear.  The boiler cladding has gone, probably relating to the removal of asbestos in the yard and also the chimney & safety valve cover have disappeared.

Photo courtesy Dr Peter Brabham

You have to marvel at the amount of work that the Cotswold Steam Preservation Group needed to put in to return her to this sort of condition:

2807 last year at WInchcombe

Hawksworth 6959 Modified Hall class, 4-6-0 number 7903, Foremarke Hall
Power class:   D
Route Restriction:   Blue
Tractive Effort:  27,270 lbf
Boiler Pressure 225 lbf/sq in
Of a class of 71 locos designed by Hawksworth as a development of Collett's 4900 Hall class, which were in turn a development of Churchward's 2900, Saint class.  Foremarke Hall entered service in April 1949, not long after the nationalisation of the railways. The Modified Halls were a mixed traffic class used for all kinds of passenger as well as freight services.  Initially shedded at Old Oak Common, Foremarke Hall ended her BR days on the 30th of June 1964 at Cardiff East Dock shed.  She arrived at Barry Island in August 1964 and left for preservation in June 1981 after 16 years and 10 months becoming the 129th loco to leave Barry.

This photo shows at least the cab part of 7903 in 1979 at Barry:

Photo courtesy Dr Peter Brabham

Instantly obvious are that the tender is missing along with the coupling rods on this side at least.  The boiler cladding is still in place, so presumably there is still asbestos present.  The tool tunnel is clearly visible though, which is more than can be said for the recent Bachmann OO gauge model which got sent back to China for correction.  

The following photos show her at Barry in around 1981 as she was being collected for preservation.

Photo courtesy John Cruxon/Foremarke Hall Group

Photo courtesy John Cruxon/Foremarke Hall Group

Photo courtesy John Cruxon/Foremarke Hall Group

Photo courtesy John Cruxon/Foremarke Hall Group

Note that she has acquired a tender in that last photo.  Again you have to marvel at the amount of work put in by the Foremarke Hall group in order to turn her into this:

Foremarke Hall, in 2005 on the Severn Valley Railway

 Hopefully in the not too distant future I'll be able to bring you finished photos of 4270 and 35006 as they enter service on the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway.

Photos provided by John Cruxon and the Foremarke Hall Group, along with much more information can be found on the Foremarke Hall Group's website.

Photos provided by Pete Hackney can be found on his Flickr site, in particularly his set called Woodham's Scrapyard Barry 

Photos provided by Dr Peter Brabham can be found on his Flickr site and some of them are also in his excellent book Barry: The History of its Yard and Locomotives which I can recommend as being a thoroughly fascinating read (and yes I paid for my own copy).

I have no doubt that many will have read this with a view to informing me of the doubtless many glaring inaccuracies, or omissions.  Feel free to let me know what they are and I'll get them corrected.

And finally, off topic completely, but many thanks to Adrian Dorraine & Sean Nielsen I had an extremely enjoyable day out on the footplate of WD348 on Monday.  I was delighted to see that Brian Peacey's widow seems to have picked up where Brian left off, she was at the bottom of her garden waving to us each time we went past.  I'd like to think that this railway has brought some comfort to her in what is obviously going to be a difficult time for her.