Barrow Road Mpd

[Hobbler]

I see on RMweb that someone is building a model of Barrow Road and although its early days it certainly looks as though it will be well worth seeing when completed.

This set me off thinking about some of the more unusual locos I saw on my regular visits to the shed in the 1950's and 1960's.

On my first ever visit there was an unusual engine which I later learnt was a Beyer Garratt and this was apparrently allocated to the depot for a period . Does anyone know if this was for a particular purpose ?

A couple of ex L & Y Pugs were also there and I presume these would have been for use on the tight curves of the Avon Wharf branch . I wonder if these were also the same ones used at Radstock due to the tight clearance on "Marble Arch" or if that were others from the same class .
Certainly the Radstock Sentinel was often to be seen on the stub roads by the fitting shop at the back of the shed.

Occasionally an LNER B1 would be on shed having worked a saturday Sheffield to Weston service and LNER V2's are also said to have been seen there on at least a couple of occasions , other LNER classes may have worked in the Bristol area - anyone know ?

The shed had its own allocation of Jubilees - Eire , Kempenfelt and British Honduras were regulars - does anyone remember any of the others?

Lastly does anyone know if any examples of Royal Scots , Patriots or Princesses visited the shed - there were certainly rumours going around the Bristol trainspotting fraternity at the time but personally I never saw any of these classes there.

[Shovel]

My dad was a signalman at Engine Shed Sidings Box and I remember the Patriots and Royal Scots.
Patriots on shed in 1956 where Royal Signals;The Royal Pioneer Corps and the favourite of the shed foreman Lady Godiva.
Royal Scot's that have visited Barrow Road are Royal Scot;Royal Welch Fusilier and The Prince of Wale'sVolunteers (South Lancashire.
Other Jubilee's Alberta,Kolhapur,Ghana'Shovell,Galatea'Rooke and Kempenfelt.

Spent many a Saturday afternoon in the shed helping with preparing loco's for duty.

[horace]

Gordon highlander was there on one occasion the Scot with BR style deflectors

[DAVE]

Barfleur, Trafalgar and the now preserved Leander were the last Jubilees to be allocated to this shed in the late fifties early sixties.
51218 was from memory a saddle tank that used to do lots of shed shunting etc.
Never saw a V2 on shed but certainly B1's were regular visitors in the early sixties.
Scots and Patriots were quite regular visitors several of each class found there way into my Ian Allan combined manuals, why I got rid of them still bugs me to this day!!!
Always found the shed to be quite difficult to "bunk" round, our greatest success was over the wall at the back of the shed adjacent to the mainline.The stairway at the front from Barrow road seemed to offer a good view to the shed foreman who despite the smoke that always seemed to envelope the area managed to catch us on several ocassions when we attempted this entry point.
We never failed to "bunk" round St Phillips Marsh however and always found the foreman there to be most "accomodating" on the ocassions we bumped into him!
Dave

[Mat]

http://images.google.co.uk/images?sourc ... a=N&tab=wi

[James]

http://images.google.co.uk/images?sourc ... a=N&tab=wi

Er...ok?

[horace]

Never saw a Garratt at barrow road, but did see one in Nairobi 5000 miles away!!

[Hobbler]

Barfleur, Trafalgar and the now preserved Leander were the last Jubilees to be allocated to this shed in the late fifties early sixties.
51218 was from memory a saddle tank that used to do lots of shed shunting etc.
Never saw a V2 on shed but certainly B1's were regular visitors in the early sixties.
Scots and Patriots were quite regular visitors several of each class found there way into my Ian Allan combined manuals, why I got rid of them still bugs me to this day!!!
Always found the shed to be quite difficult to "bunk" round, our greatest success was over the wall at the back of the shed adjacent to the mainline.The stairway at the front from Barrow road seemed to offer a good view to the shed foreman who despite the smoke that always seemed to envelope the area managed to catch us on several ocassions when we attempted this entry point.
We never failed to "bunk" round St Phillips Marsh however and always found the foreman there to be most "accomodating" on the ocassions we bumped into him!
Dave

Considering the amount of time and effort that went into saving up the 10/6 for the Ian Allan combine plus the plastic cover I really wish I had kept mine as well .

The Marsh was always a relatively easy to bunk - not so with Barrow Road or Bath Road . My mate and I did however have some success when we came up with a cunning plan. Both of us were tall for our age and could easily be mistaken for late teens early twenties . Both our fathers worked for the railway so it was relatively easy to get hold of sets of overalls , greasetop hats , bags and tea cans and with this lot on we would stroll nonchantley into the shed and no-one took any notice of us as long as we were not too obvious in our numbertaking. Did come unstuck one day when we walked round the back of a tender and there a few feet away was a party of suits from Transom House including the Divisional Manager . Worst of all was that one of the group was a close friend of my Dad , he looked at me - did a double take and rapidly engaged the DM in animated conversation while we made a quick exit . The next time he saw me at a Staff Association do he took me to one side and didnt half give me a piece of his mind - he didnt tell dad though.

[Hobbler]

A bit more remembered information .

The Beyer Garratts were usually to be seen working the Toton - Westerleigh coal traffic and would overnight at Barrow Rd before taking empties back next day.

The L & Y pugs in the mid 1950's were 51202 and 51212 and were at some stage replaced by 51217 and 51218 but I dont know when or why .

The V2's were 60954 in 1959 and 60945 in 1963.

K1 and K3 class engines were also supposedly seen in the Bristol area as well as several other LNER types but I dont know when.

[stumpytrain]

My dad was a signalman at Engine Shed Sidings Box and I remember the Patriots and Royal Scots.

Would it would be possible to contact your father? I would love to ask him a few questions about the workings of the signal box and it's relationship with Bristol East esecially.

Cheers,
Alex

[stumpytrain]

Just a thought, where would it be possible to find the allocations for Barrow Road through the years (and Bath Road / St. Phillips Marsh)? It would be an interesting addition to the site!

Alex

[BristleGWR]

Is this what you are looking for? http://www.locosheds.co.uk/shedcodes.asp

[stumpytrain]

Is this what you are looking for? http://www.locosheds.co.uk/shedcodes.asp

That's pretty uselful, thanks! It would be nice to have a little more information though don't you think like the months that engines arrived/left...

Alex

[Hobbler]

Is this what you are looking for? http://www.locosheds.co.uk/shedcodes.asp

Thats a usefull site but I fear some of the information may be a bit suspect .
For example they show the demolished S & D shed in Waterloo Road ,Radstock as having been built by the GWR which it obviously was not and there is no mention at all of the Radstock GW shed which as far as I know is still standing.