Barry Scrapyard

Introduction

The photograph on this page of Barry Scrapyard by Martin Addison as part of the Geograph project.

The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk

Barry Scrapyard

Image: © Martin Addison Taken: Unknown

Woodham Brothers scrapyard on Barry Island became the resting place for a large number of steam locomotives following their withdrawal by British Railways. A small number of diesels also found their way here. Leading this line of rusting hulks is D601 Ark Royal - a class 41 diesel hydraulic locomotive built by the North British Locomotive Company in 1958. Of the 297 steam locomotives purchased by Woodham Brothers, 213 have subsequently been sold on to the preservation movement - though not all have been restored as yet. In the rush to preserve steam locomotives and with the general dislike of diesels within the enthusiast community at the time it is hardly surprising that D601 and her sisters did not find a buyer. None of the diesels that went to Barry survived and as a result not a single example of a North British built mainline diesel exists in the UK today. D601 outlived her builders - the North British Locomotive Company went into voluntary liquidation in 1962 as orders dried up and warranty work on the locomotives it had supplied to British Railways dragged it down. A sad end to what was once the largest locomotive manufacturing company in Europe and the British Empire. The story of Barry Scrapyard can be read at http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/barry1.htm .

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0

Image Location

coordinates on a map icon
Latitude
51.395961
Longitude
-3.277774