British Railways standard steam locos

Date might be 25th April 1958

What a splendid scene to be taken by a railway-loving parson!

Location and date from bazz3218us - many thanks Wells East Somerset 1953. Dated from the new 46527 & the coal stack to the right which was removed in 1953, It had been put there in the 20s as a coal reserve, The coal was loaded into trucks & taken to where required it was not much good having been in the open all those years My Father at the time a fireman at Wells said that they would come in on a Sunday to load it & got paid pre truck load.

I have no idea where this was taken - it is a location that I haven't seen before in Dad's photos - but that is probably because it was more of a snapshot than most. Obviously he didn't make it to the platform in time! The date comes from the envelope this batch of negatives is stored in.

Photograph by John Sutters

Photograph by John Sutters

My father has put '?1959' in pencil beside this photo.

A couple small prints of Alan Newman's photos found in John's Sutters' loco spotting log books

Added to the Vintage Photos Theme Park for the June theme of 'The 1950s', this photo which has a bit of damage around the front of the side tank and valve gear, shows a train that could not have run 15 years later, as its tracks had been removed as part of the infamous Dr. Beeching railway 'rationalisation' in the late 1960s. However in the next few years it should be possible to retrace its route, as the link between the two famous university cities of Oxford and Cambridge is being restored. There was an earlier upload of this photo, unrestored, at www.ipernity.com/doc/philsutters/26494183