Midland Railway

14 July 2007 First Visit

Clive and I enjoyed a memorable visit to the Midland Railway Centre where we received a very warm welcome. Standard 5 4-6-0 73129, with the Caprotti valve gear, was the engine in steam.

The centre at Swanwick contains a museum dedicated to the Midland Railway, a large collection of steam and diesel locomotives, engine sheds and carriage and wagon works and is the home of the Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust.

Many thanks to Mal, Paul and Roy who let us join them on the footplate for a trip up the line and made the day such a special one. Paul produces videos on "You Tube" under the guise of "trainmadpaul"

This clip shows the departure from Hammersmith adjacent to the scenic Butterley Reservoir. (5.4mB)

NB Unfortunately, after letting me down when filming at a wedding last week, my desperately unreliable Canon XM2 chose the return trip to fail again. I am beginning to think that Canon should stick to producing their superb still cameras and leave video to manufacturers who know what they are doing!

Many thanks to the signalman at Swanwick who allowed us photograph from the signal box balcony. Here we see the arrival and spirited departure of 73129 from Swanwick Station (5.1mB)

73129 steams powerfully under the disused gantry on the west side of the Swanwick complex. (2.2mB)

The Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust Collection: 46203 Princess Margaret Rose and Royal Special Saloon Number 45000. The external shot of the saloon is courtesy of Clive Hanley. (5.0mB)

Many thanks to Brian Radford who allowed us to photograph the inside of the Royal Special Saloon. This impressive coach was built at Wolverton in 1920 for Sir G H Claughton, Chairman of the LNWR. Later used by Josiah Stamp, President of the LMS, Prince Edward and Winston Churchill, it was regularly used on the Royal Train after the War. It would appear that the bathroom and some of the bedroom fittings are of a much later date!

Warning: The files are of substantial size and will take a considerable time to download for non-broadband users.