photo of the month August 02

Photo of the month August 2002

US Army Transportation Corps Class S160,No 5197,gets away from Darley Dale with the 15.15 from Rowsley South to Matlock Riverside on 4 August during Peak Railway's Warring Forties weekend.

I have a moderate collection of photographs,some taken by my late father in the fifties and early sixties,my own efforts taken at spasmodic intervals over many years right up to the present day and those acquired along the way.The selection to be shown will be taken at random and will include steam,diesel and wagons.The only guideline will be that an illustration will only be included where I feel competent enough to write a caption.

The Warring Forties weekend at Peak Rail is one of the main annual events and this year the star of the show was the 2-8-0 S160 class locomotive,No 5197,on loan from the Churnet Valley Railway until the end of the month.
Built at the Lima Locomotive Works Inc,Lima,Ohio,USA in 1945,with works No 8856,the engine worked overseas as part of the US Army Transportation Corps fleet,and then for a time as Chinese State Railway's class KD6 No 463.With a combined engine and tender weight of 125.1 tons and a tractive effort of 31490lbf,the locomotive is almost as powerful as a Britannia class Pacific and made light work of its duties on Peak Rail.However the engine's staccato chime whistle left the local residents in no doubt that something special was running on the railway.

Photograph © copyright Bill Hudson