Why was British Rail in such a hurry to get rid of steam engines in the late sixties?
Modernisation, also the belief that the travelling public wanted trains that were clean and efficient (steam trains aren’t either of these). However, the rush to withdraw and scrap the remaining steam stock meant that the BR depots could not cope, and so much of the work was farmed out to private contractors, including one Dai Woodham of Barry, South Wales. Dai Woodham took delivery of several hundred condemned engines, but with a massive contract to scrap condemned goods wagons, caused again by hasty modernisation, the locomotives were put into storage in the sidings. The Heritage movement was now gathering momentum and preservationists soon started making Woodham’s offers for the scrap locomotives, either to restore to working order or cannibalise to rebuild others. In total almost 200 locomotives were saved, ranging from small tank engines to heavy-duty passenger and goods locomotives.
