Oxfordshire 2010
Didcot, Farringdon, Uffington, Puffington, Blowyourhousedownington.
Pillbox at Farringdon.
Top of Farringdon Folly, sat on a little hill.
The tower stands about 30 metres tall.
Painfully flat fields around farringdon, with Didcot on the left and the hint of some rolling chalk hills on the right.
Wonky tree.
Leaning tree.
Whitehorse Hill, high point of the Berkshire/Lambourn Downs at 261 metres.
View of the flatlands from the hill.
Whitehorse Hill. On the left is the little Dragon Hill (197 metres), then on the left side of the main hill is the white horse. On the right is the rim of the Uffingtom Castle hill fort.
The Uffington White Horse is an incredible 3000 year old art work, which can only be seen properly from the air. It is significantly older than any other white horse in Britain, and has a unique design. There are several others in the same area, but they are all far more recent, and more horse-like in design.
The horse's head, and crazy lips.
The Manger, a dry valley cutting into the hill.
Uffington castle, built around 300 BC. Though only the rings of the hill fort survive, it would have supported a wooden fortress, a massive 250 metres across.
Walking the rim of the earthworks.
Tortoiseshell butterfly.
Corn fields.
Wayland's Smithy, a long barrow burial mound, around 5500 years old. It is relatively long, extending as far back as the trees.
Never mind that it sounds like a Simpsons character.
Despite its huge side, there are only two tiny rooms off the entrance hall. Most of the mound is just a pile of earth, which has been excavated to reveal other hidden structures, but no open chambers.
Abundant flowers.
Didcot power station, an obvious landmark for much of the surrounding countryside.
The Didcot station is also home to the Didcot Railway Centre, home of the Great Western Society. The entry fee may seem high (and the railway parking area even more so), but it's definitely worth it.
The area is a steam enthusiast's paradise. This is a pannier tank engine, one of the two engines that were running during our visit.
The pannier tank engine.
A small (!) crane, designed to lift large loads on and off the rails.
The larger crane, probably capable of lifting a full-sized locomotive (that's an engine to the rest of us).
Classic wood-built transfer shed.
Replica Firefly class broad guage engine. The originals ran on the Great Western Railway between 1840 and 1863.
Firebox and footplate detail. The engine is a 2-2-2 layout in Whyte notation, meaning that it has 2 non-driven wheels at the front, two driven wheels in the middle, and two non-driven wheels at the back.
Second class covered carriage from the same era. The third class carriage (on the left) was basically an open truck with benches, and travellers would have to face backwards to avoid the soot falling on their faces.
Burlescombe and Frome Junction signal box, in the traditional style.
The wide guage saddle tank engine running on the line. The Great Western Railway originally ran from London to Pembroke in West Wales, and as there was no standard guage back then, they used wide guage, supposedly to allow wider engines with more power and stability, to allow higher speeds. However, engines were developed with suspension and raised boilers, allowing them to run faster on the Liverpool line, and the Liverpool Line's narrower guage won the guage wars to become the standard guage used in many countries. Most wide guage engines were scrapped, and the lines replaced with standard guage.
Radstock signal box at Didcot Halt.
Mail catcher, used to collect and distribute mail to passing trains.
Wheels and bogies - the bogie is the separately pivoting part that holds a set of wheels at each end of a carriage, allowing the long carriages to turn sharper corners.
The carriage shed, with many different styles of carriage on display.
The carriage on the right is particularly important, as a royal carriage from the Second World War. Royalty and the prime minister Winston Churchill have ridden in this carriage.
A complete kitchen in a carriage.
Showing the construction of a carriage. With no brakes. According to the graffiti.
Rail bike ... er ... trike. Surely with the front wheels parallel, the back wheel can just twist off the rail...
Queen Mary and a bogie.
Early railcar.
To get the carriages from the single rail track into the multiple tracks of the rail shed, they use a traverser. The carriage is pushed onto the traverser's elevated rail. The tiny engine then pushes or pulls the elevated rail along on its own rails, until it lines up with the destination shed track.
To divert engines between tracks (or to turn them around to avoid shunting), there is a turntable. This is being pushed manually, but also has a manual winding handle to turn heavier engines.
The hard part seems to be stopping it at the right point. That's many tons on there.
Not all of their engines are in working condition. There are several projects there, such as this saddle tank engine.
And these boilers. The pipes taking the hot air through the water in the boiler are clearly visible.
Flywheel and pistons.
Parts. One careful owner. 100 years ago.
One of several red kites circling bizarrely over Didcot.
WWII bomb shelter.
Interior, complete with motivational posters.
Saving the best for last; the engine shed, holding most of the site's 20 or so engines. Most of these are in working order, but some are missing parts (such as the 0-6-0 pannier tank engine, which currently has no pistons).
Two 2-6-2 side tank engines. The tanks are sloped to improve visibility from the cab's tiny windows.
Bonnie Prince Charlie, a 0-4-0 saddle tank engine.
The cab. Some of the levers are used to maintain the water and steam pressure, but the main levers act as a gear lever and accelerator.
Engines. Loads.
A huge 2-8-0 tender engine. The water and fuel are towed behind the engine in the 6-wheeled tender. The front wheels are pivoted to allow it to turn sharper bends, but the 8 unpivoted wheels would be a problem on tight bends, as the rails cannot be spaced further apart without dropping shorter engines into the gap between them.
0-4-0 well tank engine, where the water tank is slung in the narrow space between the wheels.
Restoration in progress, consisting of a firebox and boiler, but almost nothing else.
Fire box of a working engine showing the pipes taking the air through the boiler.
Overdose of coke.
Complex cab from a tender engine. The same basic priciple applies, where there are two main levers used for driving, and the rest maintain the boiler.
The pistons have an upper unit controlling the valves that determine if the piston should push one way or the other. A sliding hinge then allows the rotation of the wheels. The piston on one side operates at ¼ of a cycle away from the piston on the other side, so that there is always one piston pushing or pulling when the other has reached the limit of travel in either direction.
The drive shaft then transfers the drive from a piston to all of the drive wheels on that side. The wheels are counter-weighted to offset the weight of the drive shaft.
Wheels of the train of engines.
Converging lines at the end of the visit.
Pillbox at Farringdon.
Top of Farringdon Folly, sat on a little hill.
The tower stands about 30 metres tall.
Painfully flat fields around farringdon, with Didcot on the left and the hint of some rolling chalk hills on the right.
Wonky tree.
Leaning tree.
Whitehorse Hill, high point of the Berkshire/Lambourn Downs at 261 metres.
View of the flatlands from the hill.
Whitehorse Hill. On the left is the little Dragon Hill (197 metres), then on the left side of the main hill is the white horse. On the right is the rim of the Uffingtom Castle hill fort.
The Uffington White Horse is an incredible 3000 year old art work, which can only be seen properly from the air. It is significantly older than any other white horse in Britain, and has a unique design. There are several others in the same area, but they are all far more recent, and more horse-like in design.
The horse's head, and crazy lips.
The Manger, a dry valley cutting into the hill.
Uffington castle, built around 300 BC. Though only the rings of the hill fort survive, it would have supported a wooden fortress, a massive 250 metres across.
Walking the rim of the earthworks.
Tortoiseshell butterfly.
Corn fields.
Wayland's Smithy, a long barrow burial mound, around 5500 years old. It is relatively long, extending as far back as the trees.
Never mind that it sounds like a Simpsons character.
Despite its huge side, there are only two tiny rooms off the entrance hall. Most of the mound is just a pile of earth, which has been excavated to reveal other hidden structures, but no open chambers.
Abundant flowers.
Didcot power station, an obvious landmark for much of the surrounding countryside.
The Didcot station is also home to the Didcot Railway Centre, home of the Great Western Society. The entry fee may seem high (and the railway parking area even more so), but it's definitely worth it.
The area is a steam enthusiast's paradise. This is a pannier tank engine, one of the two engines that were running during our visit.
The pannier tank engine.
A small (!) crane, designed to lift large loads on and off the rails.
The larger crane, probably capable of lifting a full-sized locomotive (that's an engine to the rest of us).
Classic wood-built transfer shed.
Replica Firefly class broad guage engine. The originals ran on the Great Western Railway between 1840 and 1863.
Firebox and footplate detail. The engine is a 2-2-2 layout in Whyte notation, meaning that it has 2 non-driven wheels at the front, two driven wheels in the middle, and two non-driven wheels at the back.
Second class covered carriage from the same era. The third class carriage (on the left) was basically an open truck with benches, and travellers would have to face backwards to avoid the soot falling on their faces.
Burlescombe and Frome Junction signal box, in the traditional style.
The wide guage saddle tank engine running on the line. The Great Western Railway originally ran from London to Pembroke in West Wales, and as there was no standard guage back then, they used wide guage, supposedly to allow wider engines with more power and stability, to allow higher speeds. However, engines were developed with suspension and raised boilers, allowing them to run faster on the Liverpool line, and the Liverpool Line's narrower guage won the guage wars to become the standard guage used in many countries. Most wide guage engines were scrapped, and the lines replaced with standard guage.
Radstock signal box at Didcot Halt.
Mail catcher, used to collect and distribute mail to passing trains.
Wheels and bogies - the bogie is the separately pivoting part that holds a set of wheels at each end of a carriage, allowing the long carriages to turn sharper corners.
The carriage shed, with many different styles of carriage on display.
The carriage on the right is particularly important, as a royal carriage from the Second World War. Royalty and the prime minister Winston Churchill have ridden in this carriage.
A complete kitchen in a carriage.
Showing the construction of a carriage. With no brakes. According to the graffiti.
Rail bike ... er ... trike. Surely with the front wheels parallel, the back wheel can just twist off the rail...
Queen Mary and a bogie.
Early railcar.
To get the carriages from the single rail track into the multiple tracks of the rail shed, they use a traverser. The carriage is pushed onto the traverser's elevated rail. The tiny engine then pushes or pulls the elevated rail along on its own rails, until it lines up with the destination shed track.
To divert engines between tracks (or to turn them around to avoid shunting), there is a turntable. This is being pushed manually, but also has a manual winding handle to turn heavier engines.
The hard part seems to be stopping it at the right point. That's many tons on there.
Not all of their engines are in working condition. There are several projects there, such as this saddle tank engine.
And these boilers. The pipes taking the hot air through the water in the boiler are clearly visible.
Flywheel and pistons.
Parts. One careful owner. 100 years ago.
One of several red kites circling bizarrely over Didcot.
WWII bomb shelter.
Interior, complete with motivational posters.
Saving the best for last; the engine shed, holding most of the site's 20 or so engines. Most of these are in working order, but some are missing parts (such as the 0-6-0 pannier tank engine, which currently has no pistons).
Two 2-6-2 side tank engines. The tanks are sloped to improve visibility from the cab's tiny windows.
Bonnie Prince Charlie, a 0-4-0 saddle tank engine.
The cab. Some of the levers are used to maintain the water and steam pressure, but the main levers act as a gear lever and accelerator.
Engines. Loads.
A huge 2-8-0 tender engine. The water and fuel are towed behind the engine in the 6-wheeled tender. The front wheels are pivoted to allow it to turn sharper bends, but the 8 unpivoted wheels would be a problem on tight bends, as the rails cannot be spaced further apart without dropping shorter engines into the gap between them.
0-4-0 well tank engine, where the water tank is slung in the narrow space between the wheels.
Restoration in progress, consisting of a firebox and boiler, but almost nothing else.
Fire box of a working engine showing the pipes taking the air through the boiler.
Overdose of coke.
Complex cab from a tender engine. The same basic priciple applies, where there are two main levers used for driving, and the rest maintain the boiler.
The pistons have an upper unit controlling the valves that determine if the piston should push one way or the other. A sliding hinge then allows the rotation of the wheels. The piston on one side operates at ¼ of a cycle away from the piston on the other side, so that there is always one piston pushing or pulling when the other has reached the limit of travel in either direction.
The drive shaft then transfers the drive from a piston to all of the drive wheels on that side. The wheels are counter-weighted to offset the weight of the drive shaft.
Wheels of the train of engines.
Converging lines at the end of the visit.