by andyhunt873 » Tue Mar 21, 2017 1:10 pm
Chris,
Yes, these photos are very close to the bone!
I have spoken to John who owns the site, he tells me his father Geoffrey took the pictures.
There are two photos of Stanier 8F 48218 pulling a works train, the first is just past the Grandfather's house, the second one I can actually see my Grandfather's house along with the wall I sat on.
At the risk of being told off again by John about keeping the topic to "operating a closed line", I have a problem with the dating of these photos - according to the brdatabase website, 48218 was withdrawn 30/9/1967, and scrapped during Feb 1968 - the photo caption is "Probably the last engine to run on the line".
If it was the last engine to use the line, I would only have been 14 to 15 months old at the most - and I think that's pushing it date wise.
Also, if they were pulling up the remaining line, why would they use such small wagons? surely a single track length was longer than the wagons used, and I don't think they would have cut them up into little pieces.
Regard to operating a closed line:
I read today via a website regarding the Llangollen line and it's closure, it was required that a closed line should remain in place for 3 years - just in case it needed to be re-opened.
Sorry John if you consider this "off track" (no pun intended!) but I have no one else to ask regarding these questions.
And I am new to this.
Thanks,
Andy.