This film is part of Free
Camwell Personal Film No. 106: Crewe Sorting Sidings North
The wires may be up but there are plenty of steam locomotives in the Crewe area - Patriots, Black 5s and Britannias galore!
Overview
Through the lens of renowned railway enthusiast William Arthur ‘Cam’ Camwell, visit Crewe in late 1965 where the overhead wires can be seen in the background but steam is still king. Jintys, Patriots, Black 5s, 8Fs and Britannias can all be seen on shed and still in steam. Patriot 45531 became the last Patriot to be withdrawn from Kingmoor shed in October 1965, but she's seen here in steam awaiting her next turn.
A stranger on shed is GW Manor class 7812 ‘Erlestoke Manor’, which was based at Shrewsbury before withdrawal. Withdrawn officially in November 1965, it appears here to already be in a stored state - while no original Patriot locos survive today, a lifeline was thrown to 7812 as it was later sent to Woodham Bros of Barry for disposal. Like many ‘Barry’ locomotives she happily survives in preservation today. Bescot, Lancaster Green Ayre and Castle stations are seen for the last day of the Morecombe - Lancaster Overhead Electric route on 2 January 1966.
