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Daddy, can I drive?
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Taken on an outing to the Bo'ness depot of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society where there is a substantial railway museum and also a station from which restored and preserved trains run to Kinneil. This is the "driving seat" of a 1907 locomotive, described below in text taken from the SRPS website.
SRPS Core Collection, acquired 1964. Operational. Caledonian Railway blue livery.
Built 1907, CR St.Rollox Works, Springburn, Glasgow, order No.Y84. Cost £1,627.
From 1898, J.F.McIntosh designed a series of standard tank engines for the Caledonian Railway's short distance mineral and passenger trains. The initial design was for 0-6-0T locomotives, then in 1899 came an 0-4-4T design specifically for the Cathcart Circle and the Balerno branch. This was followed in 1900 by the largest and most successful class for general suburban and branch passenger work, the "439" 0-4-4T, a non-condensing version of a design already at work on the Glasgow Central Low Level lines.
These engines had large driving wheels and the standard Caledonian fitting of a Westinghouse air brake, and so they were fast away from station stops and fast into stations as well. The Caledonian built 76 locomotives to this design, and more were built by the London Midland & Scottish Railway after 1923. They were used all over the Caledonian system.
The locomotive (as No.55189) was withdrawn from British Railways service in 1962. As the last example of the class, it held great appeal for the then recently-formed Scottish Railway Preservation Society. The asking price of £750 proved difficult to raise and only a cash injection by Worcestershire farmer Mr W.E.C.Watkinson secured it for posterity.
In April 1965, after restoration at Cowlairs Works and now once again in Caledonian Railway livery, No.419 was delivered to the society's Falkirk Depot. Its first public steaming in preservation was in the autumn of 1971. Since then it has carried the SRPS flag at open days, celebrations and railway events all over Britain, including the Stockton & Darlington 150th anniversary cavalcade in 1975. |
graffer, mickyg has marked this note useful
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Hello John,
I don't pretend to know anything about steam locos, but this is a fascinating collection of shiny and coloured objects, with the big black bulk of the boiler and firebox behind.
The little touch of blue in the corner sets off the rest of the picture beautifully.
Great sharpness throughout.
I'll bet you longed to get in there, and start playing with all those levers and valves. A bit
like opening a new box of Meccano at Christmas as a child.
The lighting here is amazing - is it all daylight?
Regards,
Peter.
- k-2
![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 605 W: 26 N: 503]](https://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-s-g.gif)
(3638) - [2007-11-03 18:15]
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You've made a fine photo of something that could have been boring. TFS. K2
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- rewind
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 117 W: 5 N: 133]](https://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
(1139) - [2007-11-05 9:12]
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Hi John, just the sort of shot I like, old machinery! I love the solid, down to earth OTT engineering of the 19th and early to mid 20th century. Interesting note as always.
Cheers, Les
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- mickyg
(361)
- [2007-11-10 11:39]
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How did I miss this one John .. you are down as one of my favourites but I never got a mail to say you posted this beauty .. superb sharpness and good exposure using natural light. I do like the crop and that touch of blue really adds .. superb work
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 207 W: 93 N: 875]](https://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-g-g.gif){kind=small}