The Dinting Railway Centre

Small, yes, but a rather nice piece of genuine GCR architecture. I wonder if the building itself could still be salvaged and relocated, perhaps to the GCR or Quainton? Or is it too far gone now?

 

I thank Rail Ranger for his concise summary. A perspective so much better than the heated commentary of the time.

As I recall Dinting there was not just the old steam shed but a concrete display shed. What happened to that as I can’t see it on satellite views.


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Thanks Crantock.

 

I thought ELR acquired it but failed to make use of it. Perhaps it was a different building.

 

Anyone wanting to learn about the Dinting Railway Centre might consider reading the story from those who were there...

"The story is brought up-to-date through the rise and fall of the Dinting Railway Centre"

The 'Dinting Men' moved site and are actively involved with restoring a certain Jubilee jointly with Tyseley Locomotive Works. They aren't all there of course, some of them will be operating 1054 at the KWVR this weekend before it heads off to a couple of other preserved railways this autumn

Bahamas - the story of a steam locomotive, by Peter W Skellon - The Bahamas Locomotive Society Shop - The Bahamas Locomotive Society

All support is gratefully received... thankyou !!

 

I've done some research on the exhibition hall. All I can find is that it was dismantled and the steelwork and the trackwork were saved for future re-use.

 

I'm fairly sure it went to ELR, there was often discussion of the "Dinting shed" being part of the grand Buckley Wells schemes of the late 90s/2000s.

 

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You must have gone on a day when there were loads of locos out on the main line then.
I went to Steamtown a few times as a child - the first time in about 1977 remains one of my earliest childhood steam memories - and over those various visits I rode behind both Flying Scotsman and Sir Nigel Gresley on the shuttle trains, and I think I saw L&Y 1300 in steam as well. I remember on one occasion people were hanging around at the end of the day for Princess Elizabeth to come in off a main line tour (I don't remember if we waited for it though, so probably not). Other memories include an 0-4-0 (maybe a fireless?) being craned onto an isolated bit of track, the 15" gauge railway breaking down and people getting off to push(!), and the fantastic model railway in an old bus(?) out the back.
The last time I went would have been in the early 90s and by that time it was a shadow of its former self, and the yard overrun with Pilkington liveried carriages. It wasn't a great surprise to me that it closed. But it had been great in the 70s and 80s.

(Only mildly on topic... I never went to Dinting!)

The stock was marooned there after BR lifted the rail connection to the main line. It needed a possession, temporary reconnection via track slew, and multiple shunts back and forth to get everything out, and that only happened because they wanted the land for redevelopment. Even then, it's a wonder they didn't just cut everything up where it was. I think we have to thank Andrew Goodman for that, and probably the presence of a couple of exceptionally rare vintage bodies which were deemed to be too important to lose.

It's a brick building... too small to be of any practical use if it were to be relocated, which anyway would be frighteningly expensive, and surely it's industrial and archeological interest is best served by being on its original site? Not everything has to be cleaned up and sanitised for interpretation.

 

Ex MOD now the Llangollen carriage and dmu shed at Pentrefelin .

 

At least two of the vehicles there came to the Bluebell in September 2008 when the site was cleared. One was a the body of a Craven-era (1850s) passenger brake van and is exceptionally valuable, though as of yet it remains unrestored and not on display. The other was the under frame of an LBSCR van, which in due course may be combined with the surviving metalwork of another van body to make a single hybrid vehicle.

Another very important vehicle from there was an 1882 Pullman Car Balmoral, one of the very earliest such cars imported from the USA. This is now part of the Stately Trains fleet and under restoration I believe.

As I recall from a few photos published at the time, stock came out by rail and was tripped across to the other side of the station early one Sunday morning to where it could be removed by road. There is some information here about the recovery work: https://brightonlocoworks.uk/Pullman-Works.php

Tom

 

This is correct, but the passage of time and poor storage meant that by the time use was to be made of it the steelwork had rotted past the point of no viable return and it was scrapped.

 

A couple of my Balmoral work pics from 2010.

Sawdust.

 

Here's a couple of mine taken in April 1979. 5305 was on a railtour and came in for servicing IIRC while 532 Blue Peter was outside the exhibition hall. Bittern, also owned by Geoff Drury at the time, was on display inside.
Ray.

 

Ray, we must have been standing side by side!! Here's my shot of 5305 that day.
I also have a similar one of 532.