An unidentified Webb Coal Tank (but fitted for motor train working) heads a goods up a 1 in 45 grade in South Wales. The original print says no more than that, so the location is unknown.

Sirhowy station with its typical ‘Crewe’ wooden buildings. The smooth area between the tracks is wooden boards covering point rodding from the box behind the shelter on the left to the crucial points at the north end of the station which control entry to the sidings. The runaway wagons, having reached the bottom of a 1 in 42 incline, must have been travelling very fast as they came from the right, through the platform nearest the camera, and on towards Tredegar.

The caption on the back of this print says ‘an unidentified 0-6-2 Coal Tank coming down the bank at Waenafon towards Brynmawr’ but the engine seems to be making a lot of smoke if it really is drifting downhill. The view captures well the atmosphere of the countryside in that area.

This is the brake adjuster of the preserved Coal Tank, photographed in 1998. The pullrods  are double, the inner one being just visible behind the wheel and sandpipe . To adjust the brakes the pin must be removed and re-inserted in one of the oilier holes. Presumably there is a nut and split-pin on the oilier end of the bolt. With the brakes on, the pin would be held firmly in place so it would be necessary for the brakes to be off during the entire operation. It will be seen that the adjustment is very basic with just three alternative positions. The pullrods on some oilier Webb engines were wider at this point, allowing for two rows of overlapping holes.

This quiet, peaceful scene at Tredegar station in 1948 must have been little different from that in 1902 when the disaster struck. One of the damaged engines was standing just about where this one is!