This photograph taken at Thornaby sheds shows my granddad Thomas Birtle with two colleagues, quite possibly fitters, next to the cab of steam locomotive 63437. This was a type Q6 loco and this class of engines hauled heavy goods such as steel and coal around the north east. Date wise I believe it to be between 1959 (when Stockton sheds closed) and 1964 (when Thornaby stopped dealing with steam locos). My cousin, John is pretty certain it is late 1963 early 1964…
The second photograph shows Thomas Birtle working at his desk. His role was clearly one of administration. The final photograph shows him standing outside his office/cabin within Stockton sheds.
Photographs and details courtesy of Martin Birtle.
My father used to work at Thornaby Shed from 1960 – 1963. Did anyone commenting on these pictures work at 51L during this time?
I remember the faces, the guy with the flat cap was indeed a foreman. I was a fireman at Stockton the shedmaster was Jack Noddins .He was deeply involved in Pigeon racing Stockton station was a favourite spot for releasing them from the specially adapted wagon trains.
There was indeed a total of 284 steam loco,at Thornaby the following types were Ivatt 4MT (12)
Ivatt 2MT (1) V2 15 B1 (18) K1 (6) K3 (3) Q6 (50) J39 (16) J25 (1) J26 (43) J27 (14) V3 (2) (5) J94 (7) J71 (6) J77 (1) J72 (18) J50 (4) A5 (4) A8 (5) BRSTD (4) BRSTD (3) WDs (49) I do have all the numbers but I won’t have enough room to print them. I believe NYMR have a Ex Thornaby Q6 63398 ?
Yes we had to buy back withdrawn steam engines from the scrap dealers in order to carry out our rostered work at a cost of 3 times the amount we sold them for, the scrap dealer was laughing all the way to the Bank.
I seem to remember that the bogied wagons used for pigeon release were called “Siphons”.
Indeed Martin, in actual fact the original hope was to have Thornaby as an all diesel depot by the end of 1962. This was delayed due to new diesels being directed elsewhere and teething troubles with the new locos,which gave steam a slightly longer innings at 51L. I wonder if 63437 has worked down into the Teesside area and has hit mechanical trouble, hence the repair needed at Thornaby. The facilities at Thornaby must have seemed like heaven to men used to the older sheds it replaced in the area. Middlesbrough, for instance, was by 1958 largely roofless and looked quite derelict.
In the late 50s and early 60s George Wren was the Shed Master at Thornaby MPD.
Wonder if two other men in the photo are possibly supervisors – running foreman etc- by their dust coats. Fitters often wore boiler suits. The Q6 appears to be under repair as the motion rods have been dismantled and removed. 63437 spent much of the later 1950s in the Newcastle/Sunderland area allocated to Blaydon/Sunderland etc. Withdrawn 1967, the year B.R. steam ended in the north east.
The Q6 appears to be under repair as the motion rods have been dismantled and removed.
Anon – well spotted, hadn’t noticed it myself! Well done!
You may well be right. My cousin John Hardy reckons this picture was taken in 1964 just before Tom Birtle retired from the railways. 63437 was at Thornaby for major repairs. Withdrawn on 31st July 1967 it was the 3rd last working Q6 in the area.
When Thornaby sheds opened in 1958 it is amazing to think that including shunters there were something like 200 steam engines allocated to it. By the end of 1964 they were all gone.