21" ex-Butlins locos at Midland Railway Centre

Welcome to Miniature Railway World Forums, we hope you enjoy your visit.

You're currently viewing MRW Forums as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.

Join MRW Forums now!

If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features.

21" ex-Butlins locos at Midland Railway Centre
Topic Started: 17 Sep 2009, 07:34 PM (261 Views)
Timbo	17 Sep 2009, 07:34 PM Post #1
Timbo Posts: 1,367 Group: Moderators Member #53 Joined: October 24, 2006	I visited last week. The locos are under restoration, with one complete coach and chassis parts for a couple more. There are plans to extend the 50m running line to a couple of hundred yards, along the standard gauge headshunt and back along the storage shed. It's an odd location for them to live in, but make an interesting comparison with the full-size Princess loco housed there. Difficult to get photos of the locos due to very tight clearances, but there are some particularly excellent interpretation boards behind them, in part sponsored by HLF. These are expertly designed and executed. There was at least one that I didn't photograph. Peter Scott has written a thorough and informative account of these locos and their sisters. His book is no longer available but if you see a copy on the secondhand market, grab it with both hands. It is a fascinating account. A visit to the Midland Railway Centre is recommended; the site is sprawling and full of 'junk' - whilst not particularly tourist-friendly there is a wealth of unusual equipment and delightfully degrading branch line ephemera (including two overgrown branch lines that head off into the woods...) a 3.5/5" gauge circuit and the 2ft Golden Valley Railway. And of course enough stock to provide a reconstruction of a 1960s/70s diesel or steam depot. Full size versions viewable here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/timmydunn/sets/72157622397832102/
	Tim Dunn MRW Moderator www.bekonscot.com www.meteorite.co.uk


colinpeake	18 Sep 2009, 07:39 AM Post #2
MRW Digest Editor Posts: 1,659 Group: MRMT Trustees Member #6 Joined: August 15, 2006	Thanks Tim, really must go and take a look at them but the place always seems so off-putting to me, I last went over ten years ago and it was a linear junk-yard then... Looking at the information boards I see the oft-repeated but completely untrue story about one of these locomotives running at Skegness after the Glasgow exhibition is repeated, with the extra spin of them both being there at some stage! This is where Peter Scott's book becomes invaluable, his research debunks this myth, and proves that both locomotives went straight to Clacton after Glasgow and Skegness was a 15" line with Barlow equipment followed by a 2' line with Chance stock. Colin
	Colin Peake MRW Digest Editor Miniature Railways - Colin Peake's Photos


MuzTrem	18 Sep 2009, 05:24 PM Post #3
Operations Manager Posts: 920 Group: Friends of MRMT Member #65 Joined: December 5, 2006	Thanks for the pictures Tim Personally I think the Hudswell Clarke "Princess Royals" are a very attractive S/O design and I've always felt it's a shame these two don't have a longer line to stretch their wheels on. Did anyone ever solve the mystery, posed by Robin Butterell in "Small World" many years ago, as to why the Scarborough and Golden Acre Park locos were built to 20" gauge but the Blackpool and Butlins ones to 21"?



DGH	18 Sep 2009, 05:45 PM Post #4
Operations Manager Posts: 727 Group: MRMT Trustees Member #30 Joined: August 23, 2006	Possibly. I have discussed it through with Ron Readman who considers that the reason was a general business decision to make sure that there was not the second hand market available like the 15" Bassett Lowke locomotives. i.e. if you had a 21" gauge railway like Blackpool, then buying the 20" gauge stock from Golden Acre Park would be a waste of time as they would not fit. David



P Scott	18 Sep 2009, 08:25 PM Post #5
Cleaner Posts: 161 Group: Friends of MRMT Member #60 Joined: November 24, 2006	Thanks for that kind comment Colin. They have a copy of my book at Butterley, but obviously have chosen not to read it, or ignore its contents! The source was the Clacton local paper of the time. Peter S.


« Previous Topic · 20" and above · Next Topic »