Rail 150

Rail 150 at Shildon included 4 SVR locos (Wikimedia Commons)

The Rail 150 celebrations took place at the large railway wagon works in Shildon, Co. Durham, in 1975. It was held to mark the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1825.

It comprised an exhibition of locomotives and rolling stock from 24 to 30 August, followed by a ‘Grand Steam Cavalcade’ of locomotives on 31 August from Shildon to Heighington.

Other events included the opening of North Road Station Museum at Darlington and the Timothy Hackworth Museum at Shildon.

Contents

SVR involvement

During summer 1974 the SVR received a request from the organisers to provide a number of items of SVR rolling stock for the forthcoming event. The original request was for five locomotives; 43106, 70000 Britannia, 8233, 600 Gordon and 813, together with four carriages; GWR 1145, GWR 5883, LMS 12992 and LNER 10078.

A total of 65 locomotives had originally been planned to be exhibited at Shildon, although this was eventually reduced to around 35 by BR inspections and non-readiness. The SVR's only non-attendee was 70000 Britannia, whose restoration including firebox repairs was still in progress (and would not be completed until 1978). Work on transforming Gordon from a working locomotive into a 'museum exhibit' began in mid-June and included a repaint into fully lined Longmoor Blue livery. The time for preparing the SVR's other attendees was even more limited, with both 43106 and 8233 in regular SVR service until early July before cleaning and painting could begin. At the same time BR needed the locomotives to be delivered earlier than anticipated, due to their difficulties on finding sufficient crews with steam experience in an area of the country which had been 'steam-free' for almost eight years. For several weeks all three locos were …worked on furiously in Bridgnorth yard with "...a great deal of weekend, weekday and evening activity." GWR 813, which had spent a number of years undergoing restoration, was re-assembled and cosmetically restored, including painting and lettering at Bewdley, travelling to Shildon by road to appear as a static exhibit.

None of the four SVR carriages originally requested appeared at the event. Restoration work on 5883 was unfinished, with its place at Shildon taken by 'Clapham' Buffet 9631 whose restoration had taken priority. LNER 4236, which had arrived on the SVR in April 1975, was hastily repainted into LNER brown "imitation varnished teak" livery, providing an LNER representative in place of 10078. LMS 26986 was touched in and revarnished before replacing LMS 12992.

On 28 July 1975 600 Gordon travelled light engine from Bridgnorth to Urlay Nook near Stockton. It was followed on 11 August by LMS 8233 piloting 43106 (also in steam), together with carriages LMS 26986, 'Clapham' Buffet 9631 and LNER 4236. The David Cooke Collection includes images of 8233 piloting 43106 on the three-coach train leaving Kidderminster station and on the mainline.

In the cavalcade, 600 hauled ex-Metropolitan Railway electric locomotive No. 12 'Sarah Siddons'.

Then future (and now former) SVR residents 1000, 5690 Leander and 6960 Raveningham Hall also took part.

Mainline excursion trains

As part of the Rail 150 celebrations steam hauled excursion trains were run from various parts of the country on Sundays in September 1975, with steam haulage between Sheffield and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Serendipitously, on 14 September D1013 Western Ranger (still then in BR service) hauled one such train, The Bristolian-Tynesider, from Bristol Temple Meads to Birmingham New Street and return.

See also

• The Severn Valley Railway on the main line
• The Severn Valley Railway in Preservation: 1975