Reported elsewhere by self, but probably Ca. 1963 I accompanied my father (this, officially with a special pass as I was too young to be left alone overnight - as mum was in hospital, seriously ill) who accompanied many "Out-of-Gauge" special freight trains, generally in an additional guard's van immediately behind the loco. Nearing midnight, a J39 class shunted the train out of Head, Wrightson's sidings adjacent to Thornaby station, ran-round and then proceeded along "The Cuckoo" line (as it was known) towards Ferryhill. However, the 0-6-0 soon "failed" attempting to haul a number of such heavily laden bogie wagons carrying girders for the Forth Road Bridge and we waited not very far from my alma mater (Grangefield Grammar). After the J39 (possibly 64923) limped away, she was replaced by an 'A4' Pacific - none other than 60001 'Sir Ronald Matthews' which hauled this train to I believe Heaton. She uncoupled and ran us back to opposite Newcastle Central, where dad and I had to step over several 'live' DC rails to reach the platforms. Whilst it was arguably silly to miss a footplate ride, I enjoyed looking at that large swaying tender. Wonderful days - and then living in Newlands Road overlooking the railway and Yarm 'tunnel', I saw very many Pacifics on the frequent Sunday "Diversions".
The Home Guard weapons never came into front-line use. These guys and their makeshift weapons were intended as a very last line of defense in case of invasion.
My father was a fireman on these A4 locomotives silverfox or lynx ,For about three years until he was conscripted and served in the army in Egypt,by the time he was demobbed He return to being a locomotive fireman,but His chance of promotion to a locomotive driver had gone as the diesel era was in transition, The locomotive driver brought my mother up through the tender corridor on to the foot plate to see my father ,and as the train was moving rapid , ,she on recalling the story many years later frightened her, as she said everything was shaking,😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
forget winning the lottery all i have ever wanted to do is ride on any A4 footplate on east coast main line this video is fantastic just wish i was in ron smiths shoes dreaming till the day i die. still puts a lump in my throat simply magic.
I have a vinyl LP record which is like new of sir Nigel gresley in 1959 on the run from king's cross to Doncaster and back with bill hoole driving and it did 112 mph
Jaqueline Tarpey, I reply as the BBC Programme Producer from 1984. George showed a great deal of humility in describing the crucial and professional role he played at Le Cateau with the light Infantry. He actually didn't really have much time for our efforts to tell the story of the Old Contemptibles. He saw his role as a highly trained rifleman doing his job, and with a catch in his voice, he showed a pride which was moving. There will never be their like. PH
I was lucky enough to know a great war veteran as a boy, he was a close friend of my grandmother. He never as I recall,talked about his time over in france. God bless those wonderful men like your grandfather, that german general was spot on, very exceptional soldiers Indeed.
Lets also note that todays railway tracks are much, much better than they were years ago. They are using 'long welded rails' now and the clickety clack has dissapeared .
Bloke driving hasn't got a clue! Only BAD drivers caused engines to slip. They are using boys to do this job and not the men that did it before with BR.
Everything is well, when it ends well. In this case, no one was hurt during this exercise, in spite of the incredibly cheap and crude experimental weapon involved. But seriously, after the Dunkirk disaster, where the BEF lost all of its heavy weaponry and vehicles, and a good deal of their personal weaponry too, in addition to the German U - boat menace, choking off overseas supplies and reinforcements frightfully well, the HG had to do a lot with a lot less. At the beginning they didn't have either uniforms, or weapons. It was a real progress, when they started to receive one, then the other. That is the sobering context, what we need to keep in mind.
Wished they'd paint Gresley in garter blue like it was in the 70s and 80s and have the nameplate background in red instead of black, plus the wheels painted red also. It looks much better that way IMO. And why does Mallard have to be stuck in the NRM for?. It needs to on a track and running. I'm guessing it's all down to money, yet the control freaks running the country can spend billions on something most of us don't want like HS2 which is decimating huge areas of the countryside, all for the sake of getting to A-B quicker, and more importantly for the company it's about profits.
I work in a rubbish dump in ireland and today I found a badge for the old contemptibles organization it was for soldiers from August 5 to November 22 1914 so whoever owned it wore it with pride and survived the horror of war ,the sad thing is where it ended up ,it's marked 162A I'd love to return it to the family whoever they are
Normally the medals are inscribed with the recipient's name, regiment and regimental number. If you have that information, you could always speak to the regimental museum, or try to get a media outlet interested in the story.
this is great i was pretty convinced this was a real video from ww2 at the start i am also part of a home guard re-enactment group and it’s a great piece of history great video
My Great Grandfather fought and was wounded at Festubert - at 33 years old in 1914, he was at the end of his 15 years long Military service, having already fought with the 3rd Batt, KRRC in the Second Anglo Boer War for 3 years. Now with 5 Children at home he was re-instated in 1914 as a full time Soldier again with the 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps, part of the British 2nd Division. The 1st Battalion landed at Rouen as part of the 6th Brigade in the 2nd Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front. He saw action at the Battle of Mons in August 1914, the First Battle of the Marne and the First Battle of the Aisne in September 1914 and First Battle of Ypres in October 1914. He fought at the Battle of Festubert in May 1915 and his record shows that on the 31st of May he was discharged Medically Unfit due to "wounds". This is several days after the battle of Festubert was fought and where he was likely wounded. The 2nd Division lost 5,500 men during the Battle of Festubert and having already served 15 years in the British Army as a Rifleman - he fought in two wars and survived both ... going home to his Family. I continue to stand in awe ... of him and any who fought with him. Lest We Forget.
Bill Hoole killed his fireman in the Oakleigh Park Tunnel. He was travelling, well over the track speed but, He always did that. To show how much compassion he had for his regular fireman, he turned up for his turn the very next day!
@@g7usl Albert Young died because of poorly completed permanent way work. A rail joint had been left 3/4" high and this derailed the trailing axle of the bogie of 60528. The crew heard a rattling noise from the front of the train whilst halfway through Barnet Tunnels. Bill applied the brakes and asked Albert to try to see what was happening and he looked out of the side window of the cab when they exited the tunnel into daylight again. He saw nothing and so got out of his seat to look out of the gap between engine and tender in order to lean out a little further. The driver of a down parcels train working on the slow line witnessed the locomotive and train exiting the tunnel with sparks coming from the bogie. A little later the whole bogie became derailed and quickly started to tear the track to pieces. Albert was caught by a dislodged rail and was snatched from the footplate and was crushed by the overturning first coach. Bill hung on to the two injectors, the ride became smoother as the locomotive tipped on to its side and after demolishing the signal gantry at Bridge Number 37 slid through the bridge without hitting anything a stopped shortly afterwards. Bill was almost waist deep in coal but extricated himself and climbed out. He was badly shaken up and was not able to walk properly and so when the guard came up he asked him to go forward to protect the train. Fortunately the accident had been seen by the signalman at Cemetery box and he sent Obstruction Danger for all four lines and 'phoned Control. Bill tried to retrieve belongings from the tender and then set about trying to find Albert but could see nothing of him and worried about the locomotive and the fire left in the box he made his way back. There were no tools left in the tender but fortunately only a small amount of fire remained and this went out on its own. After hospital treatment he was anxious about his wife and after persuading a doctor to send him home by ambulance he managed to return home before her, removed the bandage from around his head so as not to scare her and then did that most British thing and made a cup of tea for the pair of them. After a cup of tea and something to eat he made his way to Kings Cross to make his report. The accident took place on July 14th and Bill returned to work on July26th. The Joint Inquiry into the incident started on the following Monday and was held by W. E Green the District Superintendent. The Ministry of Transport Inquiry by Lt. Col. R. G. S. Wilson took place on Friday July 23rd. It was found that 60528 had one slightly weakened spring on the bogie but it was concluded that it was probably chance that the derailment had not happened earlier since the high joint had existed for a week before the incident. The speed at which the accident took place was 70 mph but in the absence of the locomotive being fitted with a speedometer Bill could not be blamed for this and no engineer would apply a restriction with less than a 10 mph safety factor. And the speed restriction on the track section in question was 60 mph. If folk are going to pass comment they really need to make sure that they have done a bit of homework.
@@DeCasoU1 I dispute your information. sonny? Any one of Kings Cross/Top Shed men will conform that they eventually found the firemen UNDER THE TENDER! I don't know where you got your information from but they are completely WRONG.
