Steam Days

Steam Days is a monthly magazine dedicated to all steam railway enthusiasts. Each issue covers the six regions of British Railways: Western, Southern, London, Midland, Eastern, and Scottish, with the occasional article on Irish railways and the industrial scene. These well illustrated articles in the magazine cover the history of the railways of Britain from the early days of the 1800s through to the end of steam on British Railways in August 1968.

Steam Days

TRAINS of thought

Stephenson Locomotive Society (Midlands Area) specials to Swindon: 1955-58 – with the ‘Stars’ and beyond • Inventive route changes and hand-picked motive power from threatened and much-loved classes were at the heart of the annual SLS rail tour between Birmingham and Swindon Works. Richard Garland talks us through these trains across their second four-year period.

British Railways: 1948 – spring into summer • Andrew Kennedy considers the months when the British Railways identity began to become more widespread and some positive progress was reinforced by a splash of colour.

STEAM DAYS In Colour 222: ‘Royal Scot’ survivors • By a strange twist of fate it would be the first locomotive withdrawn in 1962 and the very last that would survive into preservation from the 70-strong class of ‘Royal Scot’ 4-6-0s; arguably 71 once the experimental ‘Fury’ was rebuilt as ‘British Legion’. The first was saved by holiday camp entrepreneur Billy Butlin who was simply looking for ‘red coat’ locomotives to decorate a number of his establishments and BR offered No 46100 ‘Royal Scot’ as one of the options, which was duly cosmetically restored and initially sent to Skegness. The other example, No 46115 ‘Scots Guardsman’ beat the cutter’s torch as a private purchase by Rob Bill. Haworth, Dinting, and Bressingham are among locations since called home but now both locomotives are active on the main lines and generally operating from Crewe, ‘Royal Scot’, and Carnforth, ‘Scots Guardsman’. We look back to see these two 4-6-0s in everyday service pre-1966.

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Hinton Admiral and its well-heeled visitors • On the edge of the New Forest, Stephen Roberts considers this humble intermediate station and some of its famous passengers.

Keadby and Frodingham engine sheds and outstations • Roger Griffiths and John Hooper tell the story of the main engine shed for Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway/GCR operations at Scunthorpe, and its outstations, as well as the creation of the replacement engine shed at Frodingham and its use through to the end of steam.

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