Chapters of Steam [antikvár]

Introduction Since its closure by British Railways in 1962, the Worth Valley Railway has acquired, or played host to, a range of steam loeoniotives without parallel in Britain. Few indeed can have been the members of the embryonic Keighley and Worth Valley Railway Preservation Society who, in the early 1960s, envisaged that one day services on this now famous branch line would be worked turn and turn about by a fonner regular engine on the celebrated 'Golden Arrow' Pullman train and an American-built 2-8-0 purchased from behind the Iron Curtain: that such revered steam locomotives as Flying Scotsman, Evening Star and even Lion would ever traverse Worth Valley metals: or that Haworth would eventually aspire to the heights of a main line servicing depot, preparing locomotives to work charter trains over the nationalised network. Great things have been achieved since those early davs. Since 1965 more than fifty steam locomouves have, at some time or other, been resident on the Worth Valley Railway. More than forty of these have made public appearances in steam. This is a remarkably high percentage when one considers the tribulations inherent in steam preservation. Since we are fast approaching the twentieth anniversary of the first arrival of rolling stockât Haworth under Preservation Society auspices, this moment seems opportune to pay tribute to the multi-faceted character of the Railway's motive power and the unpaid, unsparing efforts of all the volunteers who have presented us with such a dazzling mobile feast. The present album addresses itself to this not inconsiderable task. My aims in selecting the illustrations for 'Chapters of Steam' have been essentially twofold. First, to provide some tangible record of the multifarious careers of all diese engines, illustrate which dudes they performed prior to retirement and show how, almost miraculously, many scenes from their past have survived into preservation. Second, to chart how the Worth Valley Railway itself has evolved under private ownership. It is becoming increasingly modish in railway publishing circles for The start of it all. A work-stained 'BI' 4-6-0 No. 61161 hauls Barton Wright 'Ironclad' 0-6-0 No. 957 and Gresley 'N2/2' 0-6-2T No. 69523 past Shipley Guiseleyjunction, en route to Keighley, on 26th February 1965. Also included in the consignment IS a former Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway four-wheeled carriage of 18 76 vintage. By this date. Pug 0-4-OST No. 51218 and Mannmg Wardle 0-6-0ST Sir Berkeley had already beL delivered to Haworth. Nos. 957 atid 69523 were drawn up the Worth Valley to their new home on 6th March 1965 by Captain W.G. Smith's Great Northern Railway ¦J52' 0-6-0ST No. 1247. The Ilkley line can be seen diverging at the lift of'^:he picmre.lilst the embankment above the tram carries the now-closed G.N.R. route to Idle. H c, w f- Robin Lush