Loose_Grip/Pete's photos with the keyword: years

Only 50 years later! No steam engines or snow this time. Verdun is overshadowed by the terrible slaughter of the First World War battle but today it is a very pleasant small city. This view over the river Meuse and the Notre-Dame cathedral was taken from our hotel room window at the Jardins du Mess. Before our stay I had wondered about the hotel name and in what condition we would find it.... In fact the Mess refers to the officer’s mess, the role that this building played in WWI.

Verdun station in the snow. The semaphore signal is pulled off & North British 2-8-0 140C246, built in Glasgow in 1917, slowly pulls away light engine by the bridge prior to dropping on to its cement train in the station to the left & departing tender first around the bend in the distance to the north. These trains still ran in August 1972 when I passed through Verdun again & lasted until September 1975 I believe. A locomotive of this class, 287, pulled the last regular steam train on the SNCF between Troyes & Sainte Colombe on 24th September 1975. According to AJECTA who have restored 231 there are eight of these engines preserved, 246 is not one of them. I participated in several railtours pulled by 140C231 in the late 1980s when I lived in Paris - must scan some of those photos.

It's 50 years since the end of regular BR steam but here are two British Railways Standards passing on a double track main line today! Who would have thought? Pacific 70013 Oliver Cromwell seen storming up the bank out of Rothley was running on that day in 1968 although our engine, 2MT 2-6-0 78018, was languishing in Woodham's scrapyard in Barry at the time. The train reporting number 1L50 was an RCTS special hauled by 70013 on August 4th 1968 from Lostock Hall - Euxton Jn - Chorley - Bolton - Salford - Manchester Victoria - Miles Platting - Reddish South - to Stockport Edgeley. Recreating the Experience indeed!