European Railroad Discussion > The GWR Didn't Bother with Names on these Locos. A. E. Brown

Not the sleek 4-6-0's we are accustomed to seeing on the GWR, but they served a purpose.  A bonus view follows.

1.  BR 5381 - Oxford 7-31-55
2.  BR 5766 - Lambourn, Berks. 2-25-56 [This is how the negative was captioned and while I don't question that this is accurate for the bonus view below, I wonder whether this view might actually be Oxford.  Looking at Google Earth it appears that the branch is long abandoned and doesn't appear that as much track as is seen in this photo would ever have been located there.  Any thoughts?
3.  BR 5808 - Oxford 4-15-56

Gordon

 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/21 07:20 by gbmott.

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. . . the bonus is 5766 with her train at Lambourn.

Gordon

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Another good posting. Those locomotives have a fairly ancient look. I'm surprised the truncated locomotive cab lasted so long in that green and rainy land!

Another fine set -- thanks, Gordon. Interesting to see Mr. Brown take an interest in the smaller engines, and to see two views at Oxford. It's not one of the more common photo locations, in my experience.

I continue to look forward to these posts, and to Mr. Brown's excellent images.

MC

The topography of no.2 certainly could be Lambourn, it's definitely not Oxford. Lambourn was, and remains, a centre for the horse racing industry, which would have used the railway to transport horses around the country before the advent of reliable road transport. So the layout would have been rather more extensive than in towns of a comparable size elsewhere.

Thanks for the insight.  Google Earth shows an area called "Old Station Yard" that is now a housing estate which would support your thought that there was more physical plant than at a typical small town station.  There is a street named "Station Road", but otherwise nothing to even suggest the route through town. Was the line abandoned quite a long time ago?  Part of the Beeching cuts?

Gordon

gbmott Wrote:
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> Was the line abandoned quite a long time ago?  Part of the
> Beeching cuts?
>
> Gordon

The Lambourn Valley Line closed to passengers in 1960 so pre-Beeching, freight traffic remained to the USAF base at Welford until 1973.

I think the second photo is certainly Lambourn.

If you go to this page Lambourn 1950 to 1960 - THE LAMBOURN VALLEY RAILWAY and scroll down to the 23rd (I think - they are not numbered) photo from the top, which is uncaptioned, you can see that the telegraph pole and wires match, the 'H' shaped chimney matches, and the storage shed to the left of the loco matches.   It turns out that the loco in photo 2 here is concealing the Lambourn signal box, a few panels of the woodwork of which can be seen below the rear buffer-beam if you look closely!

 

86235 Wrote:
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> gbmott Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Was the line abandoned quite a long time ago?
>  Part of the
> > Beeching cuts?
> >
> > Gordon
>
> The Lambourn Valley Line closed to passengers in
> 1960 so pre-Beeching, freight traffic remained to
> the USAF base at Welford until 1973.

RAF Welford is one of the largest munitions storage areas in Britain so it made sense that the rail connection was maintained until munitions were no longer shipped by rail in the UK.