Peter Townend - A Life Remembered Additional Resources

Dec 11

Peter Townend – A Life Remembered Additional Resources

In a special extra episode of Green Signals (published on December 11), we remembered the life of rail elder statesman Peter Norman Townend who died on October 18th at the grand old age of 98.

A railwayman whose career began in 1941 at the age of 16, as a premium apprentice for the London & North Eastern Railway at Doncaster ‘Plant’ – as its headquarters was known locally – Peter was undoubtedly best-known for his time as Shedmaster at ‘Top Shed’ at London’s King’s Cross during the last great days of steam, in the later 1950s and early 1960s.

Peter’s is a legendary name to many on and around the railway. After steam went, he served the emerging modern industry with distinction too, as the King’s Cross Divisional Traction & Rolling Stock Engineer and took early retirement in 1984.

To the end of his days, Peter acted as a unique adviser to organisations including the National Railway Museum and the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, during its audacious building of Tornado. No-one understood the Gresley ‘Pacific’ in particular like Peter Townend. In his days at King’s Cross, he had a squadron of 40 ‘Pacifics’ in his care.

We’ve collated below a series of photographs from Peter’s life that were kindly provided by the guests on our special episode: Tony Streeter (Associate Editor, Trackside magazine), Steve Davies (Former Director, NRM), and Mark Townend (Peter’s son).

A scene which probably changed little in a century and more – the shed blacksmith’s shop. CREDIT: Carl Stratmann (‘H.G. Forsythe’)

This was the very rarely photographed entrance off the street to the ‘Top Shed’ MPD offices. CREDIT: Carl Stratmann (‘H.G. Forsythe’)

World record speed holder No. 60022 Mallard (126mph, July 2 1938) prepares to leave ‘Top Shed’ in truly immaculate condition. Yes, the boiler, cab and tender are gleaming – but look also at the motion, the buffers, the front cylinder covers, which are burnished, and the wheels and even the lamps, which are spotless! The tender is piled high ready for a fast main line long distance run and the crew pose proudly for ‘the gaffer.’ CREDIT: Peter N. Townend.

A hydraulic vertical press is being used to either fit or remove the brass bush from the end of what looks like a coupling rod. The bearing face in the bush would eventually wear out and become loose, leading to the distinctive ‘clanking ‘ noise made by a worn-out engine as the rods rattled about on the crankpins, as the wheels turned. The brass bushes would be pressed out thus and the white metal of the bearing face would be removed, renewed, machined (or hand scraped) to the correct size so that the rod was a tight fit on the crankpin, and refitted. The operator could check that the hydraulic pressure was correct by glancing at the pressure gauge above his head. It looks like the fitter bent over has positioned the rod while the operator on the left would work the press at the right moment. CREDIT: Carl Stratmann (‘H.G. Forsythe’)

Top Shed, whilst best known for its passenger engines for the East Coast Main Line, was also home to a fleet of goods engines. BR Riddles Class 9F No. 92041 (built at Crewe in 1954) has its tender topped up beneath the LNER concrete mechanical coaling plant. These – for obvious reasons – were known as ‘Cenotaphs’! CREDIT: Carl Stratmann (‘H.G. Forsythe’)

King’s Cross – ‘Top Shed’ – from the lofty heights of the LNER concrete ‘Cenotaph’ mechanical coaling plant. This mighty depot famously provided express power for the East Coast Main Line and employed more than 1,000 staff (just about all men) managed by Peter Townend, who was just 31 when he was appointed Shedmaster in 1956. At least four ‘A4s’ are dotted around in this view. CREDIT: Carl Stratmann (‘H.G. Forsythe’)

A very smart, suited Peter Townend enjoys a shed forecourt moment of humour with a couple of staff, one mature and one young boy. That is a very serious haircut! CREDIT: Carl Stratmann (‘H.G. Forsythe’)

This was the sort of hard, unpleasant and filthy work which played a big part in hastening the end of steam in the 1950s – it became well-nigh impossible to recruit (especially youngsters, who had traditionally done this kind of work) staff to do jobs like this. This shed labourer is raking char and ashes from a smokebox after a day’s work on the main line. Smokebox char is sharp, fine, very abrasive and is black, like charcoal. On a big shed like Top Shed, the lines of engines awaiting disposal must have seemed endless; disposing the char must have likewise have seemed endless. CREDIT: Carl Stratmann (‘H.G. Forsythe’)

Every few weeks, a locomotive would be ‘stopped’ for boiler washing. An oval ‘mudhole’ was removed from just above the firebox foundation ring at the very bottom of the boiler – that’s a removed mudhole, placed on the running board on the right, with two more above the man’s elbow – and the boiler drained. The near-parallel sided ‘washout plugs’ screwed into the top sections of the firebox and boiler – that’s one next to the mudhole joint on the running board – would also be removed and, once the boiler was drained, a powerful hose was inserted progressively into each to dislodge and flush scale from the top of the firebox crown sheet and from all other boiler heating surfaces and tubes. This shed labourer is using another hose to wash the dislodged scale from around the foundation ring and it would cascade out of the other mudholes (see right) taking the scale with it. Scale had to be removed as it otherwise baked hard onto internal boiler surfaces, impairing its ability to make steam, by preventing firebox heat getting to the water. It’s impossible to do this job without getting soaked, hence this chap’s waders. This is Gresley Class N2 0-6-2T No. 69528 – a suburban tank – with two more ‘N2s’ waiting beyond. Another essential but thoroughly unpleasant job for which BR found it increasingly difficult to recruit in the 1950s. Once a boiler was washed out, all the mudholes and washout plugs had to be very carefully and safely replaced – a process known on the LM region as ‘boxing up’. If a plug was inserted cross-threaded or a mudhole not bedded in absolutely ‘square’ they could blow out with a boiler at full pressure. This was a skilled and highly responsible job. CREDIT: Carl Stratmann (‘H.G. Forsythe’)

Main Line suburban traffic from King’s Cross was handled by Top Shed’s fleet of Gresley ‘N2’ 0-6-2Ts. This pair, Nos. 69580 and 69491, are both fitted with the curving large pipes of the condensing equipment needed for working in the tunnels of the ‘widened lines’ that dived underground at the long-gone York Road station on the eastern side, just outside the train shed (you can still the see the tunnel today) and on the western side adjacent to the suburban platforms, near the German gym., No trace of this remains today. CREDIT: Carl Stratmann (‘H.G. Forsythe’)

Townend had 40 ‘Pacifics’ under his command at ‘Top Shed’. this trio of ‘Streaks’ includes Nos. 60008 Dwight D Eisenhower (which survives in the USA) and No. 60017 Silver Fox, one of the first handful of ‘A4s’ in late 1935. Note the silver boiler side cast fox plate. CREDIT: Carl Stratmann (‘H.G. Forsythe’)

Last-of-class ‘A4’ No. 60034 Lord Faringdon is in the workshops for attention. The LHS connecting rod (which connects the piston and crosshead to the driving wheel crankpin) is the long, tapered rod lying on the floor immediately right of the taller man and to the left of the split coupling rod, on the right. It looks like this is a mechanical repair to bushes, which will be pressed out of the rods as shown in Picture No. 7. The large cylinder end cover has also been removed together with the smaller valve chest end cover above, for examination and maybe renewal of piston and valve rings, which wear and are periodically removed and renewed. It looks like a pir of valve rings are hanging on the buffer. CREDIT: Carl Stratmann (‘H.G. Forsythe’)

‘A2’ 4-6-2s No. 60512 Dante and 60157 Great Eastern await the call at Top Shed, with ‘A4’ No. 60005 Ralph Wedgwood, accompanied by what appears to be an unidentified ‘B1’ 4-6-0. CREDIT: Carl Stratmann (‘H.G. Forsythe’)

Headboards await collection by firemen working trains including the Yorkshire Pullman, The Fair Maid, the Tees Tyne Pullman, The Norseman, The Heart of Midlothian and the Harrogate Sunday Pullman. How many tens of thousands of pounds would this lot raise at an auction today?! CREDIT: Carl Stratmann (‘H.G. Forsythe’)

To save space on the shed front, this gantry carried an array of numerous water ‘bags’ for topping up tenders. The engine on the right is a BR Standard – probably a ‘9F’ 2-10-0 – whilst No. 61974 is a ‘K3’ 2-6-0. CREDIT: Carl Stratmann (‘H.G. Forsythe’)

The rarely seen spectacle of an ‘A4’ with what was known as ‘the cod’s mouth’ which gave access to the conventional smokebox door which lay beyond. These two doors were opened simultaneously from ground level. A ‘starting handle’ type crank was fitted into a hole on the cylinder casing plates on the driver’s side of the engine and turning this cranked the doors into the open position. CREDIT: Carl Stratmann (‘H.G. Forsythe’)

A group of happy Doncaster ‘Plant’ apprentices pause from their working day for a photograph with a rather grubby Mallard. Peter Townend is on the left and he is unmistakably bookended at the other end of the line, by none other than the late Richard ‘Dick’ Hardy. The young man crouching on the running board is David Sandiland. The others at ground level are (L-R) PNT, Bill Taylor, Jack Taylor, Henry Steel, Alan Coggan, and Richard Hardy. RHN Hardy Collection/Transport Treasury.

Our special Green Signals tribute to Peter N Townend was drawn up to present a picture of the man as well as the railway manager and engineer. This group of photographs from the Townend family album, of Peter and Daphne, with Mark and Wendy, continues that theme. With many thanks to Mark Townend for making these family snaps available, to fill out our overall picture of Peter.