P126 rests in the sunshine on a deserted Long Rock shed. DMUs were only occasional visitors on my mainly daytime visits, but you can imagine how I felt only seeing a scene like this after a long walk from the station, out and back. 7####AA01-LRK–P126-PARKD
With the exception of preserved loco 821 “GREYHOUND”, noticed a few times in the Reading area, I never saw another ‘Warship’ from the end of 1972 until the grouping around Swindon’s turntable. I ought to have known better, but it was still a shock to find out that Westerns were beginning to follow the 42/3’s a few months later, parked up in various states of cannibalisation in the sidings at Laira. Although not a particularly attractively styled locomotive, the Warships certainly provided variety by their various types of livery, conditions of appearance and the personalisation they carried through nameplates. In my opinion, their curved front complemented the slab slope of the Westerns, and they somehow seemed “right” together.
A comparison of the cabs of D1047 “WESTERN LORD” and D870 “ZULU” at Swindon in 1963. ‘ZULU’ features blank destination blinds and her wheelset also carries reference stripes, suggesting she’d been in the Works for attention. 630505A01-SWW–LOCOS-PARKD
So; the days of a Warship leading out a motley rake of vans and tanks from Penzance goods to the calling-on siding beside Long Rock depot’s coaling tower – wheels sometimes spinning over a bad joint opposite the vantage point I frequently watched shed movements from – were no more. I was on my second logbook by now – a mixture of carefully- and hurriedly-made entries and I took the opportunity to change symbols for each locos occupation. My first book had begun to get grimy, with resultant rain damage, occasionally a loose page, and the entries scrawled, and even in book two, rain sometimes “spread” the felt tip entries and scrawling-outs, making them difficult to comprehend, but the majority were quite straightforward.
One of the symbols I needed to devise “on the hoof” was for “Dogfish” hoppers, which didn’t appear in my earliest two Log Books as I’d never seen any until this year, on a visit out of Cornwall. Permanent Way work was mainly done with ‘Grampus EW’ wagons. 7####BF01-UNK-D10##-BALST
Westerns were appearing more frequently with their “D” prefix painted out, or sometimes missing altogether. The condition of the locos became so variable that I started to enter against each number in my book a code from A to D of good to bad appearance, which was initially applied religiously, but after a year or two just exceptionally. Eventually the scale in my mind was inadequate, so from time to time I wrote ‘A+++’ because a diesel was so pristine, or ‘Z-’ because one was so decrepit, but in 1973 it usually only varied between A and C. I noticed 1065 “WESTERN CONSORT” seemed to have had the grime on its lettering and surround filed off to become legible, and I suppose on average about half the Westerns I saw had their D-prefix diminished in some way.
Neglect amid dilapidation, yet it’s amazing how cosy and familiar this sort of sight was. D1065 “WESTERN CONSORT” awaits refuelling on Long Rock – in 1973 I rated its external condition as ‘D’ in my log. D1065 was a frequent visitor to Penzance. 740718A01-LRK-D1065-PARKD
In April the breakdown crane unusually arrived and was parked in the goods yard along with flat wagons carrying what seemed to be girders. I expected this to be used for relaying the down line from Ponsandane to the station with continuous rail, stretches of which had been dropped alongside the track there. New lifting barriers had been fitted next to the box by the end of May that were similar to Long Rock’s, but certainly not as interesting as the ones they replaced.
I usually used Ponsandane crossing when I went to the Sheds, keeping to the seaward side of the line on the way out, and the depot and goods yard on the way back, crossing to the sea again here, unless it was getting dark, or rain was coming in off the sea. 710601A01-PDN-PLTFM-VI_NW
Ponsandane Signal Box’s had huge double wooden gates opened when a big wheel similar to a ship’s helm was turned in the box, and fitted into place by rods. A smaller single leaf gate permitted pedestrians across, and although sometimes the gates were locked open for the passage of a train, the signalman could see across to the station, and if the train was far enough away, might be pleaded upon to open the small gates for a quick foot crossing. Because of virtually non-existent road traffic across the line by this time, the large gates would normally be locked against such vehicles, and it was only occasional seaweed collector’s pick-up trucks or horses off to exercise across the sands that provided a reason to release them.
Summer flowers, grasses and sand dunes are coated with exhaust as a very dirty D1072 “WESTERN GLORY” races along the bi-directional track at Ponsandane. Someone has written ‘LAZY’ in the grime covering the yellow warning panel. 74###AI01-PDN-d1072-PAS_U
I noticed at this time that “WESTERN EXPLORER” had noticeable screw attachments on its nameplate, and patches where old red paint showed through; “WESTERN GOVENOR” had rivets and not screws in one nameplate; and on a visit to Laira in early June, four of the seven Westerns in the scrap lines were without plates or numbers, so I wondered whether 1002 and 1054 had been prepared for scrap and then reprieved. However on this day I saw 23 Westerns that were or seemed to be operative, so the bulk of the fleet still seemed healthy.
The body side of D1022 – a loco that lasted pretty-well until the final withdrawals – has suffered scouring, but the nameplate still has complete beading and lettering. The grimy area below has two holes that show it has lost its builder’s plate. 761128A01-OOC-D1022-NAMEP
‘Railway Magazine’ confirmed the demise of the first members of the Western class in one month’s issue, and I was particularly struck that 1018 was the first listed, as I had seen it in pristine condition not all that long ago at St. Erth, one stop up the line, where Westerns would shunt the milk tanks from the Creamery there and take them eastwards. It seemed such “overkill” for this duty as sometimes the trains consisted of only a handful of tanks, but minor duties like these were commonplace for the class. I saw, for instances, Westerns Lady and Explorer double-heading a 6-coach up passenger in May and a double heading of Western Campaigner with Samson on a mere freight duty at Liskeard in June. These high power to loads were exceptional, of course: at the other end of the scale 10-coach trains and larger, hauled by single Westerns, were still often to be seen!
The Second Man stands as a ‘Western’ rumbles across the sand strewn sleepers for the last fifty yards into Platform 3 of Penzance Station. Clouds of steam from an adjacent train’s heating ooze into the wet environment from an insecure coupling. 730601B01-PNZ-D10##-PAS_D
From the start of the college term my loco log got far fuller as I travelled to Redruth and back each weekday, now covering the rail track of about a quarter of ‘The Cornish Riviera’. From the beach at Marazion rails swung to the north coast beaches through agricultural land, then up hill to the Camborne/Redruth mining area and beyond. As Redruth station was a couple of hundred yards from the college outpost where I trained, I would sometimes eat a packed lunch on the platform, or walk on to Drump Lane Goods a quarter of a mile further on where shunting by a large loco would take place. On my afternoon journey’s home, I occasionally saw a Western at Dolcoath milk siding, or shunting at St. Erth where loaded tanks began their journey. 1003’s ‘A’ cab had a slightly damaged front side, I noticed; 1034’s nameplate read “WESTERN RAG N” from missing letters; and generally-speaking, Western nameplates were getting very decrepit – 1036 and 1057 being particularly bad examples. But the locos still were operational, and a pleasure to see!
D1067 “WESTERN DRUID” approaches the Camborne/Redruth By-Pass railway bridge with the down ‘Cornishman’ a couple of years after my forays here from college ended by a switch to the main campus at Pool. 750603A01-RED-D1067-PAS_D
Example of a Loco Log entry during 1973
Sat 16/06/1973 Penzance to Long Rock, return
D10– PassU 1B85 7576& PassD 5L16 (86A) 7656 PassD 5L16 (84A) D1062 ShunS 1B05 WESTERN COURIER (D) (84A) 7576& LtEnU 5L16 (86A) 7656 LtEnU 5L16 (84A) 4181 ShunG (84D) D1056 PassD 1V08 WESTERN SULTAN (C) (84A) D1046 LtEnD 7B56 WESTERN MARQUIS (B) (84A) D1046 PassU 1E21 WESTERN MARQUIS (B) (84A) D1003 Parkd WESTERN PIONEER (B) (84A) M50379 Parkd C.C.E.D.V.I.U.No.1 1664 Parkd GEORGE JACKSON CHURCHWARD (87A) D1003 LtEnD 1B89 WESTERN PIONEER (B) (84A) D1003 PassU 1A19 WESTERN PIONEER (B) (84A) D1068 PassD 1B55 WESTERN RELIANCE (C) (84A) [NOTE: Much greater use of MkII coaches] D1056 PassU 1M96 WESTERN SULTAN (C) (84A) D1068 PassU 1A45 WESTERN RELIANCE (C) (84A) D1062 GoodU 1A01 WESTERN COURIER (D) (84A)
The Eric Curnow Collection 