SEEKING OUT STEAM’S LAST STANDS
Trevor Gregg recalls in words and pictures his trips to North West England to capture on film some of the steam specials that ran during those last few months of BR standard gauge steam operations, after the rest of the UK had switched over to diesel and electric traction.
The closure ofCarlisle Kingmoor (12A) at the end of 1967 marked abig change in my ability to see and photograph BR steam workings. Carlisle was relatively easy to reach from my home in Blyth – ashort bus trip to Newcastle and then a train journey along the Tyne Valley.
By then, steam haulage had vanished from the Eastern, Western and Southern regions. At the beginning of 1968 steam workings were essentially confined to the Lancashire area bounded by Carnforth to the north, Liverpool to the south, Manchester to the east and Blackpool to the west.
Day trips to Manchester were possible but anything further west or south required an overnight stay. I had just finished school and as I was now a student my time and funds were somewhat limited.
I knew that steam operations would cease on August 4 and I had already decided that for the last week Iwould take a holiday based in Preston to see and experience the end of steam. For the months leading up to this holiday my plan was to try to see some of the numerous specials organised to mark the end of BR steam operations.
The year started off very slowly without any steam photographic activities. At the end of January Iwas photographing the last days of passenger services on the Aln Valley branch in Northumberland. This trip was followed by my first visit to Keighley on March 23 to that, in its fifth year of private ownership, was working ‘The Bronte’ railtour.
