BTM in the 1950s

[Injector]

Hi Guys
I am putting a photo of a picture I have hanging on our lounge wall.
It did not come out very well with the flash on the frame glass etc but I think you will like it especially Spotter Dave and stumpytrain , It is what was Platform one with a view of west box and the road that led to Bath Rd shed coal road, also if you look at the right hand edge of the smoke box you can just see the edge of East Box

Sorry but could someone tell me how to put in Photos can't get copy paste
to work and clicking on img* wont work ether [/img]

[BristleGWR]

Unfortunately as you found out you can't copy and paste an image into the forum, you will need to host the file (photo) on a website. This could be a free internet gallery like http://www.fotopic.net or http://www.photobucket.com etc. or your own website/webspace.

Alternatively you could e-mail the photo to Pete (madhattie) at moo@moocow.me.uk who will probably host it for you.

If you do put it in a gallery it isn't always possible to display it as an image on the forum (depends on how the image is accessed by the gallery), in which case just post a link to the relevent gallery/album/photo.

If the photo is available as a url then you can use the Img code to show the image within the forum.

for example I've saved an image at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/irtmainpage/ ... m/dofg.jpg

to display this as an image in the forum click the img icon, then paste the url link after it, then click the img icon again.

the code line should look something like this

[img ]http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/irtmainpage/ ... m/dofg.jpg[/img ]

which creates an image in the post:


Hope this helps

[Injector]

Thanks GWR
Think I will send it to Pete looks the best way

[madhattie]

This is the pic:




Cheers Keith

[DAVE]

Injector
Nice to see the old picture.
Is it definately platform 1?
Looking at the picture, although the old memory is not how it was could it be platform 4 looking back towards 1 and 2.
In my spotting days very few spotters stayed on platform 1 .
We all tended to gather "en mass" at the end of 4 and 5, with the close views of the depot and the platforms where most main line trains southbound arrived at.

Dave Nailsea

[Injector]

Hi Dave
I think you may be right There? I was going by west box but there seems to be to many roads for Platform one could be 4??? long time ago Memory fades away just like the steam trains .

Guess the young ones will never know what it was like then.
We took a pride in our work and our engines, it may have been hard work with lots of coal dust and ash but it was kept so clean you could eat your breakfast off my shovel as I did many times, just don't lean on the regulator or its good bye breakfast "you can find it in the smok box"

[DAVE]

Injector
Trying to date the picture by shed plate on smokebox.
Unable to read on my computer screen, any clearer on original picture?
Have checked back and I can remember 4993 being an 82b st phillips marsh engine in 1963.
Prior to that it was shedded at 83c exeter in 1961 and at 85a worcester in 1960.

[DAVE]

Injector
A little more research on 4993.
Delivered from Swindon works in 1931 to Penzance. Stayed on this shed until 1950 when transferred to Worcester and then 1959/1960 to Reading and then as my previous entry. Its final allocation was in 1964 to Severn tunnel junction where it was withdrawn in Feb 1965 and was scrapped at Bridgend.

Dave Nailsea

[Injector]

Thanks Pete for putting the picture up for me
Thank you Dave for all the info on the engine, I think you were a verv dedicated train spotter.
We never took much notice of where they came from, only knew some of the regular ones on our shed that we used a lot but would get the odd strapper every now and then from another shed. some were good steamers others bad also depended on what coal you had in the tender

I left the railway in 1961 saw the writing on the wall, worked for the Council transport department in Albert rd on nights
When SPM shed had closed and just before they started to knock it down
I walked over there Early one morning from work just to have a last look around.
Walking in to the large side shed, I stood there looking around at what once had been a way of life for all the men that had passed that way.
Now it stood empty and gutted, the roof broken in some places,the smoke shoots hanging over empty pits, the large wooden turntable riped out just home for a few pidgins up in the roof
Almost broke my hart when I walked up the yard to the coal stage pulling a few points just for the last time, I walked in the shed-mans cabin where I once worked in the shed link and there on the wall were the names of the last fireman and drivers to work there, I new them all and I don't think they would mind as I wrote my name at the bottom.