Dai Woodham may not have initially planned to ‘save’ locos but he ultimately gave every cooperation to people and organisations trying to save the locos. RIP Dai, the preservation world owes you an almost unquantifiable debt of gratitude.
Exactly as he said, It was due to luck. Dai Woodham found it was easier to scrap the continual supply of goods wagons than the locos, so they mostly stayed where they were. As time went on, he seemed to 'come around' and saved what he had left and that is the incredible thanks that we owe the guy. Had it not been for the massive amount of wagons he scrapped, the locos would have gone before the preservation movement really kicked in. The guy deserves a place in history for his efforts.
As a kid, I visited this yard with my father a few times. I was always in awe of the size of these beasts. Saddened to see them rotting away. One loco I remember had written on it was 'hands off shep'. Being a fan of Blue Peter I could only think of John Noakes dog called Shep and it made no sense, until a few years ago, when to my absolute delight that very engine was televised running on the Artist David Shepherds preserved line. It was a Black Five.
Barry Island is key. Without that Scrapyard, several classes would be extinct. These classes are... GWR 4300 moguls GWR 2-8-0 tank engines (the GWR is the only one of the big four to have a tank engine with 8 driving wheels be preserved, all others were scrapped, despite efforts made by the Bluebell Railway to save a SR Z Class) GWR 7200 mikado tank engines GWR 2884 Class The GWR 4575 and 5101 Prairies The original Hall Class (With only a single 6959 modified Hall surviving) LSWR S15 Class SR Q Class SR U Class SR N Class LMS Stanier Class 5MT 2-6-0 (AKA: the Stanier Moguls) SR Rebuilt West Country Class (only a single unrebuilt example would survive.) MR 3835 Class (first to leave the scrapyard) S&DJR 7F Class All of the BR Standard Moguls (every Class 2 mogul and Class 4 mogul were saved from Barry) The one and only BR Standard Class 8. That said, some Classes did not make it out and are now extinct. 2 classes of Diesel and 2 classes of Steam. The BR Class 41, two of them went to Barry. One scrapped in a couple of years, but Ark Royal was denied preservation due to being too far gone. Ark Royal spent more time in that scrapyard than she spent working, about 9 years working, 12 on the scrap siding until it was torn apart in 1980. A BR Class 21 was there, no real effort was made to save it. Was cut up in 1980. The only other diesel at Barry was a Class 15, and that class has a single survivor. Barry had 3 GWR 5400 Panniers, all scrapped. This was during the early years where engines were being scrapped first. And a single GWR 3150 Prairie met its end there. No other 3150s survived. Also during the early years. Of the engines during this early period, GWR 5552, a GWR 4575 tank engine, is the sole survivor.
I'd guess that all the technical drawings of these locomotives still exist, so they could be built from scratch if there was the demand. Some preserved heritage lines operate with locomotive examples that never ran on their lines back in the day, and might want an authentic newbuild engine design that did, for example.
There's something in Barry for both the scrapping enthusiast and the preservation enthusiast. Dai Woodham did cut up over 80 locos, mainly GWR types. He loved scrapping GWR locos due to the thick copper fireboxes and he had only paid for some of this weight as steel. There was a lot more copper than he thought. Woodham's employees even went on a workshop course at Swindon C shop on how to scrap steam locos. It's a shame he didn't cut up more GWR types.
I was at a conference in Newport around 1978, but had a free afternoon, so I looked up how easily I could get to Barry and went. I am SO glad that I did. What a sight. What a unique experience. And what an emotional place, seeing these once proud engines slowly rotting in the salt air. It was drizzly too, which added to the whole sad atmosphere of the place. I wandered slowly down the long lines of rusting hulks of these once much loved locos and then turned a corner, to be faced with the "Please....don't let me die" one, it's smoke box door, swinging slowly in the wind. I'm not afraid to say that did me in. In floods. Still makes me sad and have goosebumps even now. I left truly saddened, but glad that I had at least seen this incredible, iconic and unique place for myself. However, a few years ago I was at the Great Central Railway. I told this guy there about this and he said, "Come with me." He took me to the stabling yard. And there, resplendent and ready to haul the next train to Loughborough, was that very same engine. "We didn't let her die" he said proudly. I shook his hand and it made my day. Big respect to Dai Woodham. I admit it was purely a business decision, but a very fortunate one and having met him to gain permission to wander his scrap yard, the man was a true gentleman and a very honourable and respectful man. I'd say at least half or even more of today's UK heritage railways, owe their motive power to Dai and his business decision.
In 1972 I worked for Butlins at Barry Island and it was the saddest sight ever coming in by train and seeing all those steam engines rusting away there. I'm so glad that so many were rescued.
As a teen, I used to visit that yard and climb over the locos. Glad most were saved. Many had unnecessary damage - flame-cut chunks from driving wheels, cut connecting rods, and the like.
I have fond memories of Dai Woodham's yard in Barry. Back in 1967 I had just started work in the area and was lodging in Barry. The docks were a great place to take the dog for a walk with no entry restrictions and also very quiet in the evenings. Wondering through the rows of engines I never thought that the majority of them would, one day, be running again. Then off to the lock to watch the Geest banana boat coming in from the Caribbean.
The story of Barry Island Scrapyard actually inspired Christopher Awdry to write a book: Barry the Rescue Engine. However, this was around the time that Season 2 of the TV series was being made, and they needed to fulfil their condition of only having Awdry-written stories. Because of that, Barry’s book was (ironically) scrapped, and that’s how we got the lamo episode that was Better Late Than Never. Sometimes, I don’t know how I should feel about Britt Allcroft…
As Kid I was fortunate enough to get taken there to see the 'old' engines, I guess now I'm doubly fortunate as I get to see some of them back in use as well
Two points not mentioned . When these steam enthusiasts went to the owner of Barry scrap yard and said they wanted to buy an engine . But did not have the money yet . But would have it in a few years . He agreed to keep them for them until they could pay . This was all by word of mouth never a formal contracted . He kept his word , some times it took several years before they had collected the money . The second point , if you ever see a photograph of steam engine with the number painted on it in white paint . It is a engine that was bought back from the scrap yard by British rail . The reason being the new diesel engines where much slower coming on stream then expected . So to make up the short fall old engines had to be brought back into service .
Thanks for sharing those cool details with us. It sounds like the owner felt something for the engines and really didn't want to scrap them, so he focused on scrapping the freight wagons instead. I would have felt the same way.
@@jasonbrown7258 Same. If I owned a scrapyard, I would be keeping any car that could be repaired. I hate seeing machines die, whether they're new or old. I have a major soft spot for cars of the 80s and 90s. Especially the 80s. So many fascinating gadgets went into that generation of cars, and the retrofuturistic styling of the interior is the best.
@Jan Brady I would never be able to let the cars go. Every piece would have to go towards a restoration, from the surviving glass to the lug nuts. My old boss has a collection of vintage cars that he has no idea what to do with. He doesn't have the money to restore them properly, but he can't stop saving them from their deaths. He has probably between 20 and 30 cars sitting tarped and untarped, some in buildings and most outside. He has a '40s Cadillac that I absolutely adore. He offered it to me for what he has in it, which is about a third of it's value in it's current condition, which is crap.
So it would seem Barry's main priority of scrapping was wagons. Good thing it was, otherwise the number of engines that were rescued from there wouldn't be here today.
I guess they knew that the price of copper would only rise so, why not leave the locos until last? I remember going by train into Norwich in 1963 and passing an entire line of GW Halls, buffer to buffer with enough coal in the tenders to supply a house for a year. Of course, they were for Bird's scrapyard in Norwich.
Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of taking a trip on board one of the restored carriages & locomotives here in Cape Town, South Africa. It was such a joy to re-live the romantic Era of travelling by steam engine. The locomotives that were brought to South Africa back in the day were no doubt manufactured in Britain. We traveled from Cape Town Harbour to Elgin & back again. The train trips are run by the Ceres Rail Company nowadays.
i remember going to Barry island as a kid late 60's, 70's and 80's and seeing the trains all lined up. As the years went by i would see the stock of trains getting smaller and smaller each year. Its lovely to see that most had been saved.
Used to go to Barry island as a kid in the 60's on summer trips organised by the Sunday school. Used to pass the yard on the way to the fair. It was always exciting to see steam engines.
NOT only the Barry island scrapyard is the perfect place, there are some scrapyard that instead that they will focus on steam locomotive, they focused on anything like cars, busses or even boats, there are some of them in America and canada like the Barry island's scrapyard
I've been in a place like it in Germany a few years ago. It was on a tour from Railtrails in the U.K. It wasn't really a scrapyard but a yard with a lot of locos sitting there as , I think, parts sources for other locos.
There was a scrapyard east of Toronto, Canada that had military vehicles, streetcars and many cars going back to the 1930s. I've seen pictures of the place but it's all been cleared out.
Here in the states there was a B&O railroader named Ed Striegel who served during World War II and Korea who was in the scrapping business and would save 2 B&O locomotives that being P-7 Pacific 5300 and a 1918 built 2-8-2 Mikado, Later on he kept 2 Reading T-1 class 4-8-4 Northerns and in 1974 a broker Ross Rowland bought them out of the junkyard for the American Freedom Train which toured the country in 1976 for the bicentennial
One of my primary school substitutes talked to me about when he was younger he used to play around in the scrap yard when he found out that I had an interest in steam locomotives he was a nice teacher and after year 5 I never saw him again
As someone who lives in Barry I live with a view of a lot of the sidings that those trains were on there's still a few bits left of coal wagons etc glad to see a bit of the history being explored
I love the poetry you often bring to your endings. It's phenomenal just how many engines were accidentally protected by a single scrapyard. Though I think we're more preservationally-minded now, I wonder how much history we're accidentally saving in a similar manner.
Whatever his intent was, if it wasn't for Dai Woodham and his scrapyard, the steam railway preservation scene (and the country as a whole) would be so much worse off. I think it's about time we had a steam loco named after him - "Dai Woodham"' or even one named "Barry scrapyard". That place is just as legendary. And both of those names would be an education for the younger, upcoming generation(s), who are not in the know.
As a kid there was a train documentary I used to watch over and over, and there's a secene that must've been filmed here and the train with the sad face on it always upset me so much. Glad I can finally put a location to that memory :)
I used to visit Didcot GW Society with my Father, who was an absolute NUT. Saw many great engines in steam and working..History of this Country’s engineering…..
I just saw this and it brings a memory back to me. As a small child I remember an old train engine near the city hall in the north Idaho town I grew up in. For years school children went on field trips or had pictures taken on the old steam engine. Then the old sawmill went away the land was repurposed as a park. I went to a school reunion and took my Dad along to get him out of the house. We went by the park and I remembered seeing the train engine in a different spot. Dad told me the train was lucky that it wasn't scrapped. Dad was in a sort of partnership with the local junkyard in the early 1960's. The city contacted Dad and Joe asking to cut the engine up for scrap. Dad told me they penciled it out and it would have cost more to chop it up than it was worth so they turned the job down. Funny how things work out sometimes.
By the end of the Barry years, many that remained were in a frightful state, the salt air having claimed most of the cabs and light steel sheeting. However, much of the bones of these locos was intact. So although preservation was never going to be easy, the main structures were usually intact enough to make a go of it. Braunton comes to mind. All the light sheet steel/lagging gone and much of the drivetrain, but there was enough for the preservation groups to say yes, we can. We have the knowledge, we have the fitters, turners, laggers, coppersmiths, boilermakers/welders, painters, drivers, stokers et al. Furthermore they had the desire.... If not for the input and sheer will of the aforementioned, nothing would have come of the preservation movement, and there would certainly be no "new builds" either in-build or on paper if it hadn't been for the genesis of the movement, Dai Woodham himself, and thousands of enthusiasts with enough skills and gumption to see it through....
The UK was very luck to have the Barry scrapyard. In NSW Australia almost no one got to buy locomotive that were being scraped it is just luck we have what we have left
It was stupid wasn't it all because our government was too interested in keeping money for itself then just said fuck it scrap everything we had rail wise was gone no idea how the 3801 was nor scrapped I'm thankful it wasn't though since my pop was a turner and fitter in the 1970s
@@djpuglife2230 3801 was only saved after its early 1960s failure on a goods train at Campelltown after the RTM agreed to pay the extra for its overhaul as opposed to another 38. The RTM though is not altogether to be praised as they let the last other streamliner - 3803 - go to scrap in early 1968, and the last other 38 not to survive - 3827, which was said to have been a top engine. The State Government takeover in recent years of the Thirlmere operation has not been without its pitfalls, just like most cases of heritage where bureaucrats try and take over without understanding properly what it is they are trying to "improve."
@@tobys_transport_videos yes that is correct still a bunch of fuckwits though once again just trying to take money without making money or going into serious debt which in turn fucks everything over and the whole cycle is repeated
@@djpuglife2230 Quite true. Look at all the 19th Century engines that were in the "Too Hard" basket at the far south end of the Thirlmere museum for many years. I look at what the Brits have achieved in around 55 years and wonder why we can't achieve something positive with our remaining steam locos.
I LOVE scrap yards. Especially the ones that let you walk around looking at stuff to buy. As a blacksmith, I have a couple of scrap yards where I look for special types of steel.
I remember, back in the 1960s, requesting a purchase of a GW safety valve bonnet and being informed that all non ferrous that was easily removable had been stolen. When, in 1973, I was working on a loco reserved for purchase, we just drove in at a weekend without being questioned or seeing anyone official about. I saw some local chap removing a lavatory bowl from a horse box-he said that somebody would only put a hammer to it.
Spent my whole childhood playing in this Train graveyard, better than the fairground and better than any museum to me as a child. The place was Magical. I think there was over 200 trains there, not sure. Its great these trains were saved.
I was in Barry in 1975/76 for a number of months, one of 4 officers from BP who where looking after 6 'bird' class tankers which were laid up. Went exploring around Barry and saw this 'scapyard', more of a museum if you ask me. A sad sight to see all these fantastic machines rusting away.
From what I've been able to pick up on, Thompson B1 no. 1264 was the only Ex-LNER locomotive to go to Barry Scrapyard, quite a shame as had more Gresley, Peppercorn, and even Thompson engines ended up there we could've had better LNER representation in the preservation era.
This is a tragedy as the Ex- LNER locos were some of the finest on the network. There should have been at least a couple of A1s, A2s, A3s and V2s and K3s and many of the lesser known LNER classes weren't represented at all in preservation. I know you can't preserve everything but the LNER faired very badly yet it had some of the most famous locos out of all the 'big four'. Drapers at Hull broke up a lot of LNER pacific locos yet they saved a Black 5 for God's sake!
@@sugarbertie1143 As a Southern enthusiast - I'd agree with you about the LNER locos. I'd also claim that LNER classes - and particularly the Gresley designed classes, and later ones that took their design cues from them - were the best looking locos in the country. The LNER certainly deserved to have an equal proportion of locos saved, as the other three of the Big Four did.
@@cr10001 You are correct there. My next favourites after the LNER were the Bullieds so I did have have a soft spot for Southern examples as well and it's great that there are some great ones still with us. What a shame though that we've only got one A3, one V2, one A2, and had to build a new A1. I had a friend that told me he had chance to buy 60886 (V2) but couldn't raise the funds! I wish he hadn't have told me. If only!!
@@sugarbertie1143 what I find surprising is how little LNER 0-6-0's were saved. There were hundreds of them! And hardly any are still around, tank or tender.
I went to Barry in 1979 and it was a magic place and had a certain atmosphere and smell like the graveyard it was, so much that I went back a couple of years later. Luckily I saw the two North Britsh diesels D600 and D6122 that were there and as unique as they were they were broken up. Such a tragedy.
I’ve saved a few machinery from the scrap yard a few times as well as some whose previous owners couldn’t get em to move. This scrap yard is a freaking gold mine! There was one tractor that was too far gone… saved the engine then traded the tractor & its attachments for 2 other tractors. One was kinda rough then plucked the transmission, & engine then scrapped the rest.
*A testament to British skill and respect for history - and I'm an American... We've managed to save a few steam gems in our country, but the Brits seem a bit more dedicated*
As an American I admire the British saving their history, be it farms, factories, ships, rail lines, housing, textile and historic monuments. Someday I'll bring my brother to Britian to visit the railroad museums. He is an "operator" or engineer in an American transit system.
Google Dai Woodham who ran the scrapyard in Barry. I read an interesting interview with him. Apparently the reason so many locomotives survived was because the cutters in the scrapyard found freight wagons easier to process. locomotives had the gas axe put through them only if there were a shortage of wagons to take care of and the cutters needed work. Woodham himself said it was never his intentention to help preservation groups but it was the way things worked
Reminds me of Reading 2100 & 2101. After the Iron Horse Rambles program was canceled, these two went to a scrapyard in Baltimore (which I can't remember the name of) to be cut up, but were held for preservation, later heading to Ross Rowland's American Freedom Train project
Dad took us to this place whilst on a family holiday to butlins holiday camp in the early 70s.... We live in Crewe and all worked it the works there....
When I was growing up in Bathurst NSW there was a lot of old steam locomotives parked in the yards. The chief Engineer for NSW Railways had them all cut up because he didn't want and of these locomotives to survive.
Have a similar site at Rockhill, PA. The East Broad Top railroad locomotives, cars, track, buildings, and equipment were bought by a scrapper way back. It's a reasonably complete narrow-gauge railroad that operates as a tourist spot. Last I knew they had partly reactivated the machine shop for part making purposes.
I can't see how the scrapyard was "broken into", as it was not gated or fenced and was accessible just by driving along the road. I and my fellow GWS members based at Caerphilly works spent many an hour preparing 5322 prior to its move by rail to Caerphilly (behind a 08 shunter), and 5051 prior to its move by rail to Didcot (behind a Hymek). Being on the riding crew with both locos was great fun, although 5051 was moved in winter with snow on the ground so it was very cold indeed. Luckily, the rear cab of the Hymek hauling us provided a warm relief.
During my travel to southern china,i was waken early morning by the distict sound of old coal fire steam engine ,it was amaze to see this old steam engine still being used
So while Britain doesn't have many surviving tanks, planes, or ships from the old days, they saved their transport history. Glad they love the old girls so much, locomotives are works of art.
Scrap yards are often among the most interesting places for fans of the particular machines -- as an aviation fan the Boneyard in Tucson Arizona at Davis Monthan AFB has had thousands of retired AC but sadly, after a time, many of them are chopped up for scrap. Pretty much all the B-52G's I worked on are gone. How great it is that the Barry Island Scrapyard were able to keep many of the retired steam engines and, because the wagons were a priority the engine were mostly left as is.
As an added bonus, in 1963, The Beeching Report advocated the wholesale closure of lines, many of them branch lines. Hey presto! a whole new Heritage Railway industry was born as restored steam locos now had somewhere to operate as BR's policy on steam on mainline railways was very "anti-" after 1968.
Beeching was the scapegoat who was brought in by, and did the dirty work, in the spotlight, for the scumbag Marples, the minister of transport, who made Beeching close the maximum of railways (lines, goods depots, passenger stations etc.), So putting 1000's of faithful railway employees out of work (and costing the country (taxpayer) millions of pounds in dole money, whilst forcing millions of revenue(fare) paying passengers onto the roads, and giving his road building company huge money making contracts so he could get rich quick. Marples should never have been allowed to hold the post of minister of transport, while being the half owner of one of Britain's biggest road building companies. And it was he who ordered the closure of the Midland line thru the Peak (Derby to Manchester), despite the line being financially viable. Marples owned quarries in Leicestershire, and they had competition from the quarries in Great Rocks dale, near Buxton. Closing the peak line got rid of the competition for him. And he's the same guy who was later found to be fiddling his tax returns and depriving the treasury of huge sums of money, but he got wind of an impending investigation, and fled the country with his wife, to live in the Mediterranean, before he could be arrested. Something obviously stinks there, as he was never brought to book for what he had done.
Visited the yard in 1970 /1971 and there were many good trains there; climed over many. As you say could have one for the scrap metal worth. This was the prupose of the visit as a metallurgist looking at the value of extraction and processing of various metals and alloys.
This is really awesome that they managed to save the larger portion! It's kinda similar we have in Russia - during USSR allot of engines were scrapped, as they were replaced by electric and diesel. However in modern Russia the steam engines that were still in line to be scrapped have been spared as "Backup storage" along with some diesels. They are virtually considered strategic backup, even tho many of them would need plenty of restoration work, before they can run again. The restored engines like "L"-class - ""Lebedyanka" are actually very powerful, that they are even allowed to shunt the freight trains from composition yard out of the city to the mainline! And those grandpas pull a decent length freight train! Also saw couple videos they managed to use two steam engines to pull 40 coal cars on the mainline! Think Steam engines should continue to be preserved in all countries. They are beautifl, historic, and can always come for the rescue in case you are out of electricity or diesel. Steam engine just need water- the rest they can run on anything that burns! Like in Cuba they use used car tires as fuel.
No day trip to Barry Island would be complete without a look through the scrap yard. I have vague memories that the coach park was next door to the scrap yard and that you could climb through holes in the fence
@@thecatfather857 And quite conceivably something more appropriate. I don't know what GW fans think, but to me the sight of a Hall in Midland Red makes me cringe. As was Taw Valley in red - fortunately for Southern enthusiasts, the film director rejected her as 'looking too modern', so we were spared that humiliation.
@@cr10001 Ironically, the preserved line where Harry Potter's train scenes were filmed is now worked by former LMS locomotives, which would've historically worn the Midland Red livery.
If you want to review a locomotive that was created by British Rail and only became a good design after being saved by railfans, then look no further than the BR Standard Class 8
While on a road trip with my dog this summer I drove past a scrap yard for school buses right on the edge of a main highway somewhere in Georgia. I was kind of in a rush to be somewhere so I didn't stop by but I really wish I would have. Ive been trying to hunt down an air ride seat for my E450 shuttle bus...... Maybe ill make my own.
What a cool story! And so encouraging. How often do we have moments in our own lives that are dark, but when that season passes we see that it was for our ultimate best?
A Canadian Scrapyard Story: In the 1960s, a Canadian Pacfic "Royal Hudson" locomotive 2860 was on the scrap heap. She was saved and restored for passenger excursions north of Vancouver BC - I took that trip with my grandfather a few times in the 1980s. In restoration, the trailing truck with its slow-speed booster cylinder was missing, having been sold from the yard before the locomotive was purchased. They borrowed one from the actual Hudson that hauled the King George VI on his 1939 visit, the reason why this class of locomotives became Royal Hudsons. When that locomotive was restored for a museum, they went around hunting for a replacement truck for 2860. They found one at a mine, where it had been in use since being purchased from a scrap heap back in the 1960s... it was 2860's original, the whole reason she was missing hers all these years! No more mainline running for her, but she occasionally steams up at the West Coast Railway Museum in Squamish BC.
Always glad to see engines saved from the cutters' torch. Thanks for the upload, ToT! Fascinating how the future Hogwarts express was among the rusting engines.
I was fortunate to see all these steam in the mid 70's when on holiday in Barry. I would have spent a couple of days in there if my wife and kids would have let get away with it. Spectacular to say the least.
I’ve been a scrap yard digger most of my life.. everything from antique engines to motorcycles. And every car part I’ve almost ever needed. Hell the van I drive now is a 97. Over 300k and still running strong on the original 4.3L. I’d love to find an old hit and miss or small steam engine
yes. Only 4. And all of them you could call failed. The 15s had unreliable engines that were a cause of a lot of maintenance. A single 15 survived. Not from Barry. The 21s were North British Locomotive Company engines. NBL Co going bankrupt doomed many of their diesels to withdrawal or spare donor status. Didn't help that NBL built diesel locos tended to be unreliable. NBL was great with steam, but was unable to adapt to diesels. The 21s had issues with their engines being unreliable, NBL going bankrupt meant BR couldn't get warranty repairs and the class struggled on for around half a decade. The BR Class 41s, also built by NBL, were built to see if the design could compete with the 40s. All 5 were forced upon the Western Region, who did not like them. The 41s were obsolete nearly right after arriving on the Western Region. The BR Class 42s were lighter and stronger. They were at least reliable, but their small class size led to all 5 being withdrawn in 1967. 2 went to Barry, neither made it out. The 41 could have been better, but NBL's inexperience with diesels caused issues.
@@godzillahomer NBL sounds like they had similar problems to Baldwin and Lima (which ultimately wound up merging) with switching to diesel production. Ultimately, of the steam locomotive builders in the USA, even Alco wound up bankrupt and bought-out although Alco designs kept getting built in Canada and India into the 1980s. Ironically, former railway accessory company Fairbanks-Morse, most famous for their ‘Trainmaster’ diesels, owns the Alco prime mover designs now. Bombardier got the Canadian subsidiary of the Montreal Locomotive Works.
Hey, you know what this place looks like? Looks like PUMPKIN HILL!
This probably seems crazy, crazy, a graveyard theory.
A ghost tried to approach me he got buried
I thought this song sounded familiar
ok that was a great reference
I thought that music sounded familiar 😂
Dai Woodham may not have initially planned to ‘save’ locos but he ultimately gave every cooperation to people and organisations trying to save the locos. RIP Dai, the preservation world owes you an almost unquantifiable debt of gratitude.
Exactly as he said, It was due to luck. Dai Woodham found it was easier to scrap the continual supply of goods wagons than the locos, so they mostly stayed where they were. As time went on, he seemed to 'come around' and saved what he had left and that is the incredible thanks that we owe the guy. Had it not been for the massive amount of wagons he scrapped, the locos would have gone before the preservation movement really kicked in. The guy deserves a place in history for his efforts.
True, After all without his efforts the preservation movement in Britain would've not become the way it is now
As a kid, I visited this yard with my father a few times. I was always in awe of the size of these beasts. Saddened to see them rotting away. One loco I remember had written on it was 'hands off shep'. Being a fan of Blue Peter I could only think of John Noakes dog called Shep and it made no sense, until a few years ago, when to my absolute delight that very engine was televised running on the Artist David Shepherds preserved line. It was a Black Five.
@Lawofimprobability nah an aircraft cannot be restored as its fuselage if worn, can pose threat to life
@@Amorousstake4 I mean if they aren't set to fly ever again and go to a museum, then they can be saved
Barry Island is key. Without that Scrapyard, several classes would be extinct.
These classes are...
GWR 4300 moguls
GWR 2-8-0 tank engines (the GWR is the only one of the big four to have a tank engine with 8 driving wheels be preserved, all others were scrapped, despite efforts made by the Bluebell Railway to save a SR Z Class)
GWR 7200 mikado tank engines
GWR 2884 Class
The GWR 4575 and 5101 Prairies
The original Hall Class (With only a single 6959 modified Hall surviving)
LSWR S15 Class
SR Q Class
SR U Class
SR N Class
LMS Stanier Class 5MT 2-6-0 (AKA: the Stanier Moguls)
SR Rebuilt West Country Class (only a single unrebuilt example would survive.)
MR 3835 Class (first to leave the scrapyard)
S&DJR 7F Class
All of the BR Standard Moguls (every Class 2 mogul and Class 4 mogul were saved from Barry)
The one and only BR Standard Class 8.
That said, some Classes did not make it out and are now extinct. 2 classes of Diesel and 2 classes of Steam.
The BR Class 41, two of them went to Barry. One scrapped in a couple of years, but Ark Royal was denied preservation due to being too far gone. Ark Royal spent more time in that scrapyard than she spent working, about 9 years working, 12 on the scrap siding until it was torn apart in 1980.
A BR Class 21 was there, no real effort was made to save it. Was cut up in 1980. The only other diesel at Barry was a Class 15, and that class has a single survivor.
Barry had 3 GWR 5400 Panniers, all scrapped. This was during the early years where engines were being scrapped first.
And a single GWR 3150 Prairie met its end there. No other 3150s survived. Also during the early years. Of the engines during this early period, GWR 5552, a GWR 4575 tank engine, is the sole survivor.
I thought there were more Modified Halls still around rather than just one, like six or seven or so.
@@dominicbarden4436 only one modified hall did not come from Barry. Most 6959s were saved from Barry.
@@godzillahomer Ah ok, I must've misread that bit. Thanks for clearing it up.
I'd guess that all the technical drawings of these locomotives still exist, so they could be built from scratch if there was the demand. Some preserved heritage lines operate with locomotive examples that never ran on their lines back in the day, and might want an authentic newbuild engine design that did, for example.
Tough steam locomotives were animals
Scrapyards are often disliked by enthusiasts but this one is not one of them
Respect
There's something in Barry for both the scrapping enthusiast and the preservation enthusiast.
Dai Woodham did cut up over 80 locos, mainly GWR types. He loved scrapping GWR locos due to the thick copper fireboxes and he had only paid for some of this weight as steel. There was a lot more copper than he thought. Woodham's employees even went on a workshop course at Swindon C shop on how to scrap steam locos. It's a shame he didn't cut up more GWR types.
The issue with scrapyards is all a timing thing. If they kept the scrapped thing for an extended time it would be a junkyard and those are treasures.
Everyone got to make a dollar.
What's the purpose of this comment? He literally stated this in the video and you posted a comment about it
I was at a conference in Newport around 1978, but had a free afternoon, so I looked up how easily I could get to Barry and went.
I am SO glad that I did.
What a sight. What a unique experience.
And what an emotional place, seeing these once proud engines slowly rotting in the salt air.
It was drizzly too, which added to the whole sad atmosphere of the place.
I wandered slowly down the long lines of rusting hulks of these once much loved locos and then turned a corner, to be faced with the "Please....don't let me die" one, it's smoke box door, swinging slowly in the wind.
I'm not afraid to say that did me in.
In floods. Still makes me sad and have goosebumps even now.
I left truly saddened, but glad that I had at least seen this incredible, iconic and unique place for myself.
However, a few years ago I was at the Great Central Railway. I told this guy there about this and he said, "Come with me."
He took me to the stabling yard.
And there, resplendent and ready to haul the next train to Loughborough, was that very same engine.
"We didn't let her die" he said proudly. I shook his hand and it made my day.
Big respect to Dai Woodham.
I admit it was purely a business decision, but a very fortunate one and having met him to gain permission to wander his scrap yard, the man was a true gentleman and a very honourable and respectful man.
I'd say at least half or even more of today's UK heritage railways, owe their motive power to Dai and his business decision.
For those curious, she’s 48305, and just finished a ten-year overhaul in 2021. Honestly feels like something out of The Railway Series.
In 1972 I worked for Butlins at Barry Island and it was the saddest sight ever coming in by train and seeing all those steam engines rusting away there. I'm so glad that so many were rescued.
As a teen, I used to visit that yard and climb over the locos. Glad most were saved.
Many had unnecessary damage - flame-cut chunks from driving wheels, cut connecting rods, and the like.
Seeing scrapped engines breaks my heart. Some engines didn't even work for 10 years.
Same
it was worst, some of the engines that were scraped were just completed and never even had a chance to run
@@Mamorufumio not true
Main painfull time is when not atleast 1 is reserved for preservation
@@Locomotiveman1994 it’s not true or Force there is no right answer lol
I have fond memories of Dai Woodham's yard in Barry. Back in 1967 I had just started work in the area and was lodging in Barry. The docks were a great place to take the dog for a walk with no entry restrictions and also very quiet in the evenings. Wondering through the rows of engines I never thought that the majority of them would, one day, be running again. Then off to the lock to watch the Geest banana boat coming in from the Caribbean.
Here I was watching this for the insight on this subject, and this man just brought me back to Pumpkin Hill on top of it. Ace work there.👍
Nice to see you here!
The story of Barry Island Scrapyard actually inspired Christopher Awdry to write a book: Barry the Rescue Engine. However, this was around the time that Season 2 of the TV series was being made, and they needed to fulfil their condition of only having Awdry-written stories. Because of that, Barry’s book was (ironically) scrapped, and that’s how we got the lamo episode that was Better Late Than Never.
Sometimes, I don’t know how I should feel about Britt Allcroft…
As a fellow thomas fan, I agree
I know I am changing the subject a bit but season 25 would have Reverend.W.Audrey spinning in his grave
@@lewisgabbitas2849 oh yeah
@@lewisgabbitas2849 in that case I would take better late than never over watching dog crap any day.
@@trainfan998 yeah, don’t watch it
I still find it amazing how out of 297 engines sent there, 213 were saved. PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong
might be single digits off but close enough.
You totally are not wrong
Pretty sure he said that in the video.
As Kid I was fortunate enough to get taken there to see the 'old' engines, I guess now I'm doubly fortunate as I get to see some of them back in use as well
Two points not mentioned . When these steam enthusiasts went to the owner of Barry scrap yard and said they wanted to buy an engine . But did not have the money yet . But would have it in a few years . He agreed to keep them for them until they could pay . This was all by word of mouth never a formal contracted . He kept his word , some times it took several years before they had collected the money . The second point , if you ever see a photograph of steam engine with the number painted on it in white paint . It is a engine that was bought back from the scrap yard by British rail . The reason being the new diesel engines where much slower coming on stream then expected . So to make up the short fall old engines had to be brought back into service .
Thanks for sharing those cool details with us. It sounds like the owner felt something for the engines and really didn't want to scrap them, so he focused on scrapping the freight wagons instead. I would have felt the same way.
If I owned a scrap yard I probably wouldn't make much money and become a hoarder instead.
@@jasonbrown7258 Like Jerry Turner... he has some Gems.
ua-cam.com/video/ThClalERfCQ/v-deo.html
@@jasonbrown7258 Same. If I owned a scrapyard, I would be keeping any car that could be repaired. I hate seeing machines die, whether they're new or old. I have a major soft spot for cars of the 80s and 90s. Especially the 80s. So many fascinating gadgets went into that generation of cars, and the retrofuturistic styling of the interior is the best.
@Jan Brady I would never be able to let the cars go. Every piece would have to go towards a restoration, from the surviving glass to the lug nuts. My old boss has a collection of vintage cars that he has no idea what to do with. He doesn't have the money to restore them properly, but he can't stop saving them from their deaths. He has probably between 20 and 30 cars sitting tarped and untarped, some in buildings and most outside. He has a '40s Cadillac that I absolutely adore. He offered it to me for what he has in it, which is about a third of it's value in it's current condition, which is crap.
So it would seem Barry's main priority of scrapping was wagons. Good thing it was, otherwise the number of engines that were rescued from there wouldn't be here today.
I guess they knew that the price of copper would only rise so, why not leave the locos until last? I remember going by train into Norwich in 1963 and passing an entire line of GW Halls, buffer to buffer with enough coal in the tenders to supply a house for a year. Of course, they were for Bird's scrapyard in Norwich.
We went to look at the yard in 1976, it was a sad sight seeing all of these rusty locos sitting there waiting for disposal, glad alot were saved
Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of taking a trip on board one of the restored carriages & locomotives here in Cape Town, South Africa. It was such a joy to re-live the romantic Era of travelling by steam engine. The locomotives that were brought to South Africa back in the day were no doubt manufactured in Britain. We traveled from Cape Town Harbour to Elgin & back again. The train trips are run by the Ceres Rail Company nowadays.
i remember going to Barry island as a kid late 60's, 70's and 80's and seeing the trains all lined up.
As the years went by i would see the stock of trains getting smaller and smaller each year.
Its lovely to see that most had been saved.
Used to go to Barry island as a kid in the 60's on summer trips organised by the Sunday school. Used to pass the yard on the way to the fair. It was always exciting to see steam engines.
Don’t forget, the ONLY LNER engine sent to Barry, B1 number 1264 was saved as well
NOT only the Barry island scrapyard is the perfect place, there are some scrapyard that instead that they will focus on steam locomotive, they focused on anything like cars, busses or even boats, there are some of them in America and canada like the Barry island's scrapyard
I've been in a place like it in Germany a few years ago. It was on a tour from Railtrails in the U.K. It wasn't really a scrapyard but a yard with a lot of locos sitting there as , I think, parts sources for other locos.
OP: I'm seriously trying to work out what you said.
Like Thomas Muir's yard
There was a scrapyard east of Toronto, Canada that had military vehicles, streetcars and many cars going back to the 1930s. I've seen pictures of the place but it's all been cleared out.
Here in the states there was a B&O railroader named Ed Striegel who served during World War II and Korea who was in the scrapping business and would save 2 B&O locomotives that being P-7 Pacific 5300 and a 1918 built 2-8-2 Mikado, Later on he kept 2 Reading T-1 class 4-8-4 Northerns and in 1974 a broker Ross Rowland bought them out of the junkyard for the American Freedom Train which toured the country in 1976 for the bicentennial
One of my primary school substitutes talked to me about when he was younger he used to play around in the scrap yard when he found out that I had an interest in steam locomotives he was a nice teacher and after year 5 I never saw him again
Steam engines: we're only soldiers,sir. We're meant to be expandable
Barry Island Scrapyard: not to me
More like..
Steam engines: we’re only engines, sir. We’re meant to be replaced.
Barry scrapyard: Not to me, you aren’t.
History is irreplaceable
That little “moral of the story” part at the end really got me. Cheers mate, cheers.
As someone who lives in Barry I live with a view of a lot of the sidings that those trains were on there's still a few bits left of coal wagons etc glad to see a bit of the history being explored
I love the poetry you often bring to your endings.
It's phenomenal just how many engines were accidentally protected by a single scrapyard. Though I think we're more preservationally-minded now, I wonder how much history we're accidentally saving in a similar manner.
Whatever his intent was, if it wasn't for Dai Woodham and his scrapyard, the steam railway preservation scene (and the country as a whole) would be so much worse off. I think it's about time we had a steam loco named after him - "Dai Woodham"' or even one named "Barry scrapyard". That place is just as legendary. And both of those names would be an education for the younger, upcoming generation(s), who are not in the know.
Here in the states steam trips have been going on longer because there were no bans on mainline excursions
As a kid there was a train documentary I used to watch over and over, and there's a secene that must've been filmed here and the train with the sad face on it always upset me so much.
Glad I can finally put a location to that memory :)
The train with the sad face was saved by the Great Central Railway in 1985 and is currently in service. It's a Stanier 8F No: 48305.
A great You Tube video featuring a loco with an unhappy face. The video is called "Scrap or Save"
I used to visit Didcot GW Society with my Father, who was an absolute NUT. Saw many great engines in steam and working..History of this Country’s engineering…..
I just saw this and it brings a memory back to me. As a small child I remember an old train engine near the city hall in the north Idaho town I grew up in. For years school children went on field trips or had pictures taken on the old steam engine. Then the old sawmill went away the land was repurposed as a park. I went to a school reunion and took my Dad along to get him out of the house. We went by the park and I remembered seeing the train engine in a different spot. Dad told me the train was lucky that it wasn't scrapped. Dad was in a sort of partnership with the local junkyard in the early 1960's. The city contacted Dad and Joe asking to cut the engine up for scrap. Dad told me they penciled it out and it would have cost more to chop it up than it was worth so they turned the job down. Funny how things work out sometimes.
By the end of the Barry years, many that remained were in a frightful state, the salt air having claimed most of the cabs and light steel sheeting. However, much of the bones of these locos was intact. So although preservation was never going to be easy, the main structures were usually intact enough to make a go of it. Braunton comes to mind. All the light sheet steel/lagging gone and much of the drivetrain, but there was enough for the preservation groups to say yes, we can. We have the knowledge, we have the fitters, turners, laggers, coppersmiths, boilermakers/welders, painters, drivers, stokers et al. Furthermore they had the desire....
If not for the input and sheer will of the aforementioned, nothing would have come of the preservation movement, and there would certainly be no "new builds" either in-build or on paper if it hadn't been for the genesis of the movement, Dai Woodham himself, and thousands of enthusiasts with enough skills and gumption to see it through....
The UK was very luck to have the Barry scrapyard. In NSW Australia almost no one got to buy locomotive that were being scraped it is just luck we have what we have left
It was stupid wasn't it all because our government was too interested in keeping money for itself then just said fuck it scrap everything we had rail wise was gone no idea how the 3801 was nor scrapped I'm thankful it wasn't though since my pop was a turner and fitter in the 1970s
@@djpuglife2230 3801 was only saved after its early 1960s failure on a goods train at Campelltown after the RTM agreed to pay the extra for its overhaul as opposed to another 38. The RTM though is not altogether to be praised as they let the last other streamliner - 3803 - go to scrap in early 1968, and the last other 38 not to survive - 3827, which was said to have been a top engine. The State Government takeover in recent years of the Thirlmere operation has not been without its pitfalls, just like most cases of heritage where bureaucrats try and take over without understanding properly what it is they are trying to "improve."
@@tobys_transport_videos yes that is correct still a bunch of fuckwits though once again just trying to take money without making money or going into serious debt which in turn fucks everything over and the whole cycle is repeated
@@djpuglife2230 Quite true. Look at all the 19th Century engines that were in the "Too Hard" basket at the far south end of the Thirlmere museum for many years. I look at what the Brits have achieved in around 55 years and wonder why we can't achieve something positive with our remaining steam locos.
@@tobys_transport_videos I couldn't agree more mate it's a damn shame though
I LOVE scrap yards. Especially the ones that let you walk around looking at stuff to buy. As a blacksmith, I have a couple of scrap yards where I look for special types of steel.
I remember, back in the 1960s, requesting a purchase of a GW safety valve bonnet and being informed that all non ferrous that was easily removable had been stolen. When, in 1973, I was working on a loco reserved for purchase, we just drove in at a weekend without being questioned or seeing anyone official about. I saw some local chap removing a lavatory bowl from a horse box-he said that somebody would only put a hammer to it.
i remember seeing these trains in 1974 on a day trip to Barry, I was 13 at the time an was fascinated to see them
Spent my whole childhood playing in this Train graveyard, better than the fairground and better than any museum to me as a child. The place was Magical. I think there was over 200 trains there, not sure. Its great these trains were saved.
The most weirdly hopeful end to a story about scrapping old iron. That's perfect for a night like this.
These stories are always very interesting,Great Job!
I was in Barry in 1975/76 for a number of months, one of 4 officers from BP who where looking after 6 'bird' class tankers which were laid up. Went exploring around Barry and saw this 'scapyard', more of a museum if you ask me. A sad sight to see all these fantastic machines rusting away.
From what I've been able to pick up on, Thompson B1 no. 1264 was the only Ex-LNER locomotive to go to Barry Scrapyard, quite a shame as had more Gresley, Peppercorn, and even Thompson engines ended up there we could've had better LNER representation in the preservation era.
Yes, I was going to comment that. That's one reason why so relatively few LNER locomotives got saved.
This is a tragedy as the Ex- LNER locos were some of the finest on the network. There should have been at least a couple of A1s, A2s, A3s and V2s and K3s and many of the lesser known LNER classes weren't represented at all in preservation. I know you can't preserve everything but the LNER faired very badly yet it had some of the most famous locos out of all the 'big four'. Drapers at Hull broke up a lot of LNER pacific locos yet they saved a Black 5 for God's sake!
@@sugarbertie1143 As a Southern enthusiast - I'd agree with you about the LNER locos. I'd also claim that LNER classes - and particularly the Gresley designed classes, and later ones that took their design cues from them - were the best looking locos in the country.
The LNER certainly deserved to have an equal proportion of locos saved, as the other three of the Big Four did.
@@cr10001 You are correct there. My next favourites after the LNER were the Bullieds so I did have have a soft spot for Southern examples as well and it's great that there are some great ones still with us. What a shame though that we've only got one A3, one V2, one A2, and had to build a new A1. I had a friend that told me he had chance to buy 60886 (V2) but couldn't raise the funds! I wish he hadn't have told me. If only!!
@@sugarbertie1143 what I find surprising is how little LNER 0-6-0's were saved. There were hundreds of them! And hardly any are still around, tank or tender.
It’s nice to hear about rail enthusiasts uniting to save these beautiful machines from the cutter’s torch
I went to Barry in 1979 and it was a magic place and had a certain atmosphere and smell like the graveyard it was, so much that I went back a couple of years later. Luckily I saw the two North Britsh diesels D600 and D6122 that were there and as unique as they were they were broken up. Such a tragedy.
I’ve saved a few machinery from the scrap yard a few times as well as some whose previous owners couldn’t get em to move. This scrap yard is a freaking gold mine!
There was one tractor that was too far gone… saved the engine then traded the tractor & its attachments for 2 other tractors. One was kinda rough then plucked the transmission, & engine then scrapped the rest.
Its called Frankenstein rebuild. Get parts on multiple units to form 1 single working unit.
*A testament to British skill and respect for history - and I'm an American... We've managed to save a few steam gems in our country, but the Brits seem a bit more dedicated*
I wish we had such a scrapyard in the Netherlands...
As an American I admire the British saving their history, be it farms, factories, ships, rail lines, housing, textile and historic monuments. Someday I'll bring my brother to Britian to visit the railroad museums. He is an "operator" or engineer in an American transit system.
This makes me think of The Great Escape, including the 50 killed (the engines that couldn't be saved).
Google Dai Woodham who ran the scrapyard in Barry. I read an interesting interview with him. Apparently the reason so many locomotives survived was because the cutters in the scrapyard found freight wagons easier to process. locomotives had the gas axe put through them only if there were a shortage of wagons to take care of and the cutters needed work. Woodham himself said it was never his intentention to help preservation groups but it was the way things worked
Reminds me of Reading 2100 & 2101. After the Iron Horse Rambles program was canceled, these two went to a scrapyard in Baltimore (which I can't remember the name of) to be cut up, but were held for preservation, later heading to Ross Rowland's American Freedom Train project
Dad took us to this place whilst on a family holiday to butlins holiday camp in the early 70s.... We live in Crewe and all worked it the works there....
So happy to see some preservation.
When I was growing up in Bathurst NSW there was a lot of old steam locomotives parked in the yards. The chief Engineer for NSW Railways had them all cut up because he didn't want and of these locomotives to survive.
Have a similar site at Rockhill, PA. The East Broad Top railroad locomotives, cars, track, buildings, and equipment were bought by a scrapper way back. It's a reasonably complete narrow-gauge railroad that operates as a tourist spot.
Last I knew they had partly reactivated the machine shop for part making purposes.
i remember visiting there in roughly 1980. Our school stayed at the Butlins on Barry Island and one of the day excursions was to the train scrapyard.
I can't see how the scrapyard was "broken into", as it was not gated or fenced and was accessible just by driving along the road.
I and my fellow GWS members based at Caerphilly works spent many an hour preparing 5322 prior to its move by rail to Caerphilly (behind a 08 shunter), and 5051 prior to its move by rail to Didcot (behind a Hymek).
Being on the riding crew with both locos was great fun, although 5051 was moved in winter with snow on the ground so it was very cold indeed. Luckily, the rear cab of the Hymek hauling us provided a warm relief.
During my travel to southern china,i was waken early morning by the distict sound of old coal fire steam engine ,it was amaze to see this old steam engine still being used
I remember seing all the old engine's on day trips to Barry Island when i was a kid
So while Britain doesn't have many surviving tanks, planes, or ships from the old days, they saved their transport history. Glad they love the old girls so much, locomotives are works of art.
This is true of electronic "graveyards".
What is old now, becomes fun to collect, and use again!
Can't we all just appreciate how sweet the ending was!
Even if some things are thrown away, we can always dig through the garbage and find a place for them. Just like old steamies and diesels.
I remember this well,a sight that always welcomed any visitors to Barrybados!!!
Scrap yards are often among the most interesting places for fans of the particular machines -- as an aviation fan the Boneyard in Tucson Arizona at Davis Monthan AFB has had thousands of retired AC but sadly, after a time, many of them are chopped up for scrap. Pretty much all the B-52G's I worked on are gone. How great it is that the Barry Island Scrapyard were able to keep many of the retired steam engines and, because the wagons were a priority the engine were mostly left as is.
Steam Locomotives were still in use when I made my first trip to India in 1979. It was amazing to see them!
I saw loads of engines,big ones at that,on the way from West Germany to Berlin,on the military train,that was in 79
The world we all live in and love would be totally different today if it wasn't for how this panned out!
The Barry yard was a great place. I visited it a few times.
Despite how faintly it plays, I couldn't help but notice Punkin Hill playing in the back of this video
We use to have family holidays at Barry Island, and this was the highlight of the train journey down.
This is nice! I've always liked steam engines, modern trains are comfortable and all but lack the character of steam engines.
As an added bonus, in 1963, The Beeching Report advocated the wholesale closure of lines, many of them branch lines. Hey presto! a whole new Heritage Railway industry was born as restored steam locos now had somewhere to operate as BR's policy on steam on mainline railways was very "anti-" after 1968.
Beeching was the scapegoat who was brought in by, and did the dirty work, in the spotlight, for the scumbag Marples, the minister of transport, who made Beeching close the maximum of railways (lines, goods depots, passenger stations etc.), So putting 1000's of faithful railway employees out of work (and costing the country (taxpayer) millions of pounds in dole money, whilst forcing millions of revenue(fare) paying passengers onto the roads, and giving his road building company huge money making contracts so he could get rich quick. Marples should never have been allowed to hold the post of minister of transport, while being the half owner of one of Britain's biggest road building companies. And it was he who ordered the closure of the Midland line thru the Peak (Derby to Manchester), despite the line being financially viable. Marples owned quarries in Leicestershire, and they had competition from the quarries in Great Rocks dale, near Buxton. Closing the peak line got rid of the competition for him. And he's the same guy who was later found to be fiddling his tax returns and depriving the treasury of huge sums of money, but he got wind of an impending investigation, and fled the country with his wife, to live in the Mediterranean, before he could be arrested. Something obviously stinks there, as he was never brought to book for what he had done.
That's awful! A lot of those closed rights-of-way would be really useful today!
crazy how the car industry has caused so much brainwashing and damage throughout the decades.
Incredible- more historic than the giant scrap aircraft yards out in the US deserts.
The numbers on this are absolutely crazy!! Great video
Visited the yard in 1970 /1971 and there were many good trains there; climed over many. As you say could have one for the scrap metal worth. This was the prupose of the visit as a metallurgist looking at the value of extraction and processing of various metals and alloys.
Superb little video there. Well structured, comprehensive and easily digestible. Good for learning.
The Story of the Infamous Barry Island Scrapyard is the perfect video to start off the New Year! Welcome Back, Mate!
Infamous? Famous in railway circles in many countries, thank you!
This is really awesome that they managed to save the larger portion!
It's kinda similar we have in Russia - during USSR allot of engines were scrapped, as they were replaced by electric and diesel. However in modern Russia the steam engines that were still in line to be scrapped have been spared as "Backup storage" along with some diesels. They are virtually considered strategic backup, even tho many of them would need plenty of restoration work, before they can run again. The restored engines like "L"-class - ""Lebedyanka" are actually very powerful, that they are even allowed to shunt the freight trains from composition yard out of the city to the mainline! And those grandpas pull a decent length freight train!
Also saw couple videos they managed to use two steam engines to pull 40 coal cars on the mainline!
Think Steam engines should continue to be preserved in all countries. They are beautifl, historic, and can always come for the rescue in case you are out of electricity or diesel. Steam engine just need water- the rest they can run on anything that burns! Like in Cuba they use used car tires as fuel.
Passed these every summer when we had day at the Island,as live in cardiff....loads have been saved
No day trip to Barry Island would be complete without a look through the scrap yard. I have vague memories that the coach park was next door to the scrap yard and that you could climb through holes in the fence
i love how after the very educational video I found myself bumping to the pumpkin hill theme.
So if it weren't for procrastination in Barry scrapyard, we would've not gotten the most famous movie locomotive, the Hogwarts Express!
They probably would’ve found another.
@@thecatfather857 And quite conceivably something more appropriate. I don't know what GW fans think, but to me the sight of a Hall in Midland Red makes me cringe. As was Taw Valley in red - fortunately for Southern enthusiasts, the film director rejected her as 'looking too modern', so we were spared that humiliation.
@@cr10001 Ironically, the preserved line where Harry Potter's train scenes were filmed is now worked by former LMS locomotives, which would've historically worn the Midland Red livery.
Finding spare parts amongst junk is often a good solution if the part is not produced anymore.
If you want to review a locomotive that was created by British Rail and only became a good design after being saved by railfans, then look no further than the BR Standard Class 8
While on a road trip with my dog this summer I drove past a scrap yard for school buses right on the edge of a main highway somewhere in Georgia. I was kind of in a rush to be somewhere so I didn't stop by but I really wish I would have. Ive been trying to hunt down an air ride seat for my E450 shuttle bus...... Maybe ill make my own.
What a cool story! And so encouraging. How often do we have moments in our own lives that are dark, but when that season passes we see that it was for our ultimate best?
A Canadian Scrapyard Story: In the 1960s, a Canadian Pacfic "Royal Hudson" locomotive 2860 was on the scrap heap. She was saved and restored for passenger excursions north of Vancouver BC - I took that trip with my grandfather a few times in the 1980s. In restoration, the trailing truck with its slow-speed booster cylinder was missing, having been sold from the yard before the locomotive was purchased. They borrowed one from the actual Hudson that hauled the King George VI on his 1939 visit, the reason why this class of locomotives became Royal Hudsons. When that locomotive was restored for a museum, they went around hunting for a replacement truck for 2860. They found one at a mine, where it had been in use since being purchased from a scrap heap back in the 1960s... it was 2860's original, the whole reason she was missing hers all these years! No more mainline running for her, but she occasionally steams up at the West Coast Railway Museum in Squamish BC.
Always glad to see engines saved from the cutters' torch. Thanks for the upload, ToT!
Fascinating how the future Hogwarts express was among the rusting engines.
GRAMMAR! 3:16 - "have since ran again?" Maybe "have run again?" Thanks for sharing and the very best of luck!
aww one of the childhood play grounds for us barry island kids
Awesome story and nice little outro, happy new year and hope you're doing well!
Another great little story - keep it up!
That "one owner only" sign on that rust heap is cracking me up =)
The whole area is now used by Transport for Wales, all the preserved stock has been removed. June 2022
Brilliant video
Brilliant result
I was fortunate to see all these steam in the mid 70's when on holiday in Barry. I would have spent a couple of days in there if my wife and kids would have let get away with it. Spectacular to say the least.
These videos are always fascinating
You're blowing up my man, great job
I’ve been a scrap yard digger most of my life.. everything from antique engines to motorcycles. And every car part I’ve almost ever needed. Hell the van I drive now is a 97. Over 300k and still running strong on the original 4.3L. I’d love to find an old hit and miss or small steam engine
However all the Diesels that came over to Barry were scrapped...but they were in such few numbers
yes. Only 4. And all of them you could call failed.
The 15s had unreliable engines that were a cause of a lot of maintenance. A single 15 survived. Not from Barry.
The 21s were North British Locomotive Company engines. NBL Co going bankrupt doomed many of their diesels to withdrawal or spare donor status. Didn't help that NBL built diesel locos tended to be unreliable. NBL was great with steam, but was unable to adapt to diesels. The 21s had issues with their engines being unreliable, NBL going bankrupt meant BR couldn't get warranty repairs and the class struggled on for around half a decade.
The BR Class 41s, also built by NBL, were built to see if the design could compete with the 40s. All 5 were forced upon the Western Region, who did not like them. The 41s were obsolete nearly right after arriving on the Western Region. The BR Class 42s were lighter and stronger. They were at least reliable, but their small class size led to all 5 being withdrawn in 1967. 2 went to Barry, neither made it out. The 41 could have been better, but NBL's inexperience with diesels caused issues.
@@godzillahomer these are basically what I call The Unlucky Diesels, which I made a video about on my channel
@@godzillahomer NBL sounds like they had similar problems to Baldwin and Lima (which ultimately wound up merging) with switching to diesel production. Ultimately, of the steam locomotive builders in the USA, even Alco wound up bankrupt and bought-out although Alco designs kept getting built in Canada and India into the 1980s. Ironically, former railway accessory company Fairbanks-Morse, most famous for their ‘Trainmaster’ diesels, owns the Alco prime mover designs now. Bombardier got the Canadian subsidiary of the Montreal Locomotive Works.
@@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis yep. plus, NBL used to be the biggest non-American locomotive builder.
Is this video a reupload? I swear I remember it from a few months back.
Either way, it's a fascinating story and I did enjoy watching it again.