Steam Picture of the Week

Here is Just one of the photo’s I took with my first camera when 15 years of age and working as an engine cleaner at Saltley along with a few others of you and able to wander round the shed at will. As you can see it’s not wonderful but every picture tells a story. 9F 92029 ex Crosti boilered 2-10-0 was one of the sheds allocation and what a state it’s in. The front end on the fireman’s side

We called into Port Elizabeth to see the last Pacific’s working in South Africa and also spent some time sorting out a puncture to our campervan, in fact it was a shredded tyre that disintegrated if memory serves me right, the roads were terrible. Here is the front end of South African 16R 791 standing at Utienhage depot. This is where these Pacific’s worked too. Every thing looks robust about this engine, Walschaerts valve gear on view large solid cross

South African 19D 2721 4-8-2 slogs uphill on the climb from Vickers through some pretty rugged terrain working a freight from Aliwal North to Barkley East high up in the centre of the country. We were well over three thousand feet up here and it was freezing cold at night in our camper. This was a very numerous class and were to be seen almost every where on the South African Railways being very versatile especially on the branch lines

I took this picture late last year on the Severn Valley Railway spending a very wet afternoon around Arley photographing 60163 “Tornado”, 34027 “Taw Valley” and 46100 “Royal Scot”. The autumn trees were still looking good with their colours even though it was dull. I moved on later near to Bewdley as the sky finally cleared and here are almost the last rays of the setting sun as it drops below the horizon and catches the scene at Dropping Well

I took these pictures whilst venturing out during some heavy snow fall in January 2010. Great Western Manor 4-6-0 7812 Erlestoke Manor is at Northwood Halt on the Severn Valley Railway working a Kidderminster to Highley train. The trains were not going onto Bridgnorth due to a bad land slide that had blocked the line and this was in the process of being repaired. The engine crew look huddled up on the footplate, the storm sheets is up under the