Mystery Number 167
– supplied by Martin O‘Shea
Precursor Tank with its LMS number, 6785, in large numerals on the tank side and LMS roundel on the bunker.
So the date is probably 1925-1930. Its LNWR number was 1981.
But the question is: where was it taken?
| Philip A.Millard — 02-Jan-2015 6.53 PM |
| The long footbridge suggests Whitchurch (Salop) to me. GWR van may help to corroborate. |
| Eddie Bennet — 05-Jan-2015 7.13 PM |
| Reminds me of Bletchley, with the Bedford-Bletchley line carried over the bridge. |
| David Patrick — 05-Jan-2015 8.12 PM |
| Can we be advised by whoever holds the original if what has been assumed to be a footbridge is in fact that. My thoughts are that it is a platform canopy, there appears to be a platform of sorts underneath it, and a platform ramp can be clearly seen beneath and in front of the loco's buffer-beam. I do not think it is the Bletchley flyover as that was surely constructed after the demise of the 4-4-2 tanks |
| Edward Talbot — 05-Jan-2015 10.32 PM |
| I bought a print of this photograph from Martin O’Shea at the AGM. David Patrick is absolutely right. The structure is not a footbridge at all, though at first glance it may look like one, but is a platform canopy, seen more or less side on. By using a glass in the area beneath the canopy and to the right of the engine, a large station name-board becomes legible, WATFORD JUNCTION. From the condition of the engine – LMS number on the side of the tank – the date is about 1930. The Bletchley flyover was certainly built in BR days, about 1960 at a guess. Was it not part of a scheme to serve a new marshalling yard at Swanbourne on the Oxford line, which failed to come to fruition because of a rapid decline in freight traffic? |
| Harry Jack — 07-Jan-2015 5.12 PM |
| 6785 is standing on the shed roads outside Watford engine shed, behind the photographer. The platform is on the St Albans branch. A closer view of the same Watford Junction platform canopy can be seen in the L&NWRS Journal of March 2010 (Vol 6, No 4) on page 42. Another photo on pages 22 & 23 in the June 2011 Journal (Vol 6, No 9) was taken from near the platform end to the left of 6785. These two are identified as by "Brough" - possibly Harold J. Brough (1882-1961) who lived in Cheam, Surrey. |
| Mike Williams — 21-Jan-2015 10.25 PM |
| Harry may be correct about the identity of "Brough" but could it alternatively have been Derek Brough, one-time LNWRS member from Sutton, Surrey and keen collector of LNWR official postcards and small relics? Maybe they were related? |
| Harry Jack — 23-Jan-2015 3.32 PM |
| That's interesting, Mike. It seems that Harold Brough's son was L&NWRS member No 38, Derrick J. W. Brough; he died in June 1999, aged 83. Both were long-standing members of the Stephenson Locomotive Society, so I would guess that one or the other probably took these Watford photographs. |
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