Anoraks Coronary .. Greetings Ladies and Gentlemen .. and Last Chance Val. . From what the specialist tells me, I guess Im the healthiest corpse in the county, more than able and up for a good old session of yer ould rumpy-pumpy! .. Im firing on all four cylinders! .. Thank you for all your comments which I only got around to reading earlier this morning! .. Im often tempted towards writing about music, you know, Rock, Soul, R&B (as WE seniors know it!) Blues, especially electric Blues and (some) Jazz, ie; Ella, Cleo, Monk, Cannonball and the Yardbird etc, etc. .. do Manhattan Transfer blow your mind? .. Im sure they listened to Spanky & Our Gang at some stage during their development? .. I also like, Franco-Crosti Boilers .. not referring to you, madam! .. Were down the Vineyards this morning .. not the one Im hoping to inherit in Newent (Lord & Lady Baden-Powell are buried there you know and Joe Meek - in the graveyard, not the vineyard) but the one just up from Lansdown Station. . Photographer R. Stanton, snapped this scene on 12th May 1961 from St Marks Bus Depot Lane, looking down into the Creek .. I didnt know that bit! .. After the nationalisation of our railways in 1948, Britains last great locomotive designer, Robert Riddles was put in charge of drawing up a ideas for a new generation of powerful engines which would see us through many years to come. . and Riddles made a fantastic job of it by introducing the Britannias, Clans etc, etc, and one of my all time favourites, the 2-10-0 9F class, of which, #92220 Evening Star became the last steam locomotive constructed by British Railways in 1960! .. Ten of the 250 9Fs were built in 1955 with a peculiar looking, double barrelled, experimental Franco-Crosti Boiler. . When in steam the smoke was emitted from a chimney about halfway along the right hand side of the loco. . I saw one as a whippersnapper and thought it had a very serious leak!. What appeared to be the conventional chimney was only used during fire-raising! .Without having to do a load of research, I think this Franco-Crosti caper was something to do with experiments into ways of being more economic with coal, by burning it twice or with two boilers in one .. or something like that! .. Anyhow.. the Franco-Crosti Boiler proved unsuccessful and they were converted into the normal fire breathing, smoke belching monsters we loved! ..All the 9F Franco-Crosti variations were shedded at Wellingborough from where they operated all over the former Midland Region mainlines on heavy freight workings, especially to Cricklewood, where the craic was good! . . In the photograph, BR Standard class 9F, #92026 no longer with Franco-Crosti Boiler, but still looking very foreign in its appearance, is heading a train of empty Esso tank wagons on its journey from Birmingham to Eastleigh and within seconds will shake the crap out of Lansdown Station! .. I loved it when freights thundered through!
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 07:29:27 +0000