File: 2021002-0518
Dean Forest Railway, Parkend Station, at Parkend, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom, on Wednesday 22nd September 2021.
About this photograph.
The train led by the engine called Swiftsure had arrived at Parkend Station, and the staff operating the train were making preparations for the return journey to Norchard.
Here, one of the engineers is seen refilling the loco’s tank with water. The photograph was converted in Adobe Lightroom into black and white for a classic feel to the engineer doing the work.
Swiftsure is a Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST class of steam locomotive designed by Hunslet Engine Company. This engine was built in 1943, and bears the number 75008 painted on the side.
It was a visiting steam loco, having visited before in 2017 and 2018, she was back at Dean Forest Railway from June 2021 onwards. At the current time of writing, she is reported to be still operational.
My best friend and I were at Dean Forest for a weekdays holiday, and she wanted to have more day outs rather than being stuck at the cabin, so I came up with two different day out ideas. The visit to the Dean Forest Railway was one of the ideas, and my best friend enjoyed the rides.
I took the opportunity to try to find some interesting shots, rather than taking memorable photos of the holiday.
About the overall subject.
The Dean Forest Railway is a 4 to 5 miles long heritage railway, still running vintage steam, and classic diesel trains, as a tourist attraction in the Forest of Dean.
It started in 1799 as an idea for a horse-drawn tramway, linking the Forest of Dean to the rivers Severn and Wye, for the transportation of coal and iron materials.
Between 1800 to around the 1870s, it went through so many processes. Like building lines and branching out, changing company names, financial problems, rival companies, converting from horse-drawn tramway into steam powered railway, merging companies, change of railway gauge sizes, and so many other factors.
It became known as the Severn and Wye Railway during those years.
From around the 1870s onwards, in order to cope with financial difficulties, and to help with funding, they started fee-paying passenger services in addition to the goods carrying services. But ongoing financial problems, lack of traffic, and many other factors, continued up until around the 1940s.
After the Second World War (1939-1945), the railways in this area started to go downhill, mainly due ot declining coal industry in the area, lack of passengers, improvements in transportation elsewhere, and the nationalised of British railways.
Many stations and lines started closing down, or completely shut down, during the 1950s and 1960s.
Starting from the early 1970s onwards, a railway preservation society was formed to try to buy and save as much of the old railway, and run it as a heritage railway for tourism, and was then named as Dean Forest Railway.
At the current moment, the Dean Forest Railway is approximately between 4 to 5 miles long between Lydney and Parkend, with Norchard station as its home base, but they are hoping to extend the line to 7 miles in near future.
They run a range of mostly steam trains to 1960s diesel trains, with various carriages, and at least 5 stations.
For more details, simply Google “Dean Forest Railway” for history or for visiting.
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