A King On 'The Merchant Venturer' A Regular Duty For Their Majesties Until The Introduction Of The Diesel Hydraulics.

This Old Oak Common Based Pannier Tank Here Seen Whilst Scuttling Through Ealing On Her Way Home. These Ubiquitous Engines Could Be Found On Anything From Empty Stock And Goods Trains To Shunting, This One Was Earlier Seen Sharing The Local Stopping Passenger Turns With 6100 Class 2-6-2 Tank Engines.

The Amazing Workhorse That Was The 'Grange' Class 4-6-0s Of The Western Region. Here, In Typical Grange Territory, A Heavy Goods Train Is Accelerated Away From London On Its Way To The West. The Fireman Is Evidently Hard At Work On This Pontypool Road (86G) Based Locomotive, As The Latest Shovel Full Blackens Her Exhaust For A Moment.

An Unidentified Castle Class Locomotive Gets Logged By Spotters On The Wide Ealing Central Platform. The Large Train Reporting Numbers Used By The Western Region Could Be A Problem For Train Spotters As They Covered The Smoke-Box Number Plates. However, An Experienced Spotter Would Be Well Able To Read The Cabside Number Whilst It Whizzed Past At High Speed. Not So Easy For The Camera Man However, And I Missed It.

By The Late Fifties Strict Regulation Regarding Livery Application had Been Relaxed To Such An Extent That Southern Region Stock Was Once More To Be Seen In Green, And Western Region Stock Was Being Copiously Re-Painted In Great Western Chocolate And Cream. Western Region High Profile Named Expresses Had Reverted To Their Pre War Glory, With Long Rakes Of Coaches Regaled In The Old Livery, Headed By Gleaming Brunswick Green Locomotives, A Fine Sight. This Express Has One Such Example Close Coupled To The Engine.

This Was A Nice Surprise, As 'Manor' Class Locomotives Were Quite A Rare Sight As Far East As The London Suburbs. This One Is Seen Gainfully Employed On A Special Working (As Denoted By The Train Reporting Number) Tearing Up The Main Line, Bound For Paddington.