![6023 King Edward II train at scrapyard](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/6023_King_Edward_II_train_at_scrapyard.jpg)
Woodham Brothers Ltd is a trading business, based mainly around activities and premises located within
Barry Docks
Barry Docks ( cy, Dociau'r Barri) is a port facility in the town of Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, a few miles southwest of Cardiff on the north shore of the Bristol Channel. They were opened in 1889 by David Davies and John Cory as an alterna ...
, in
Barry Barry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name
* Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...
,
South Wales
South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...
. It is noted globally for its 1960s activity as a
scrapyard
A wrecking yard (Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian English), scrapyard (Irish, British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and ...
(hence its colloquial name of Barry Scrapyard), where 297 withdrawn
British Railways
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
s were sent, from which 213 were rescued for the developing
railway preservation
A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...
movement.
History
Established in 1892 as Woodham & Sons by Albert Woodham, the company was based at Thomson Street, Barry. The company bought old rope,
dunnage
Dunnage is inexpensive or waste material used to load and secure cargo during transportation; more loosely, it refers to miscellaneous baggage, brought along during travel. The term can also refer to low-priority cargo used to fill out transport ca ...
wood and
scrap metal
Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...
from the ships, boats and marine businesses which used the newly created Barry Docks,
which it then resold or scrapped.
Albert retired in 1947, when his youngest son,
Dai, was
demobbed
Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and militar ...
from the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Dai renamed the business Woodham Brothers Ltd in 1953, creating four lines of business under four separate companies, which between them employed 200 people: Woodham Brothers, Woodham Transport, Woodham Marine and Woodham Metals.
1955 Modernisation Plan/Beeching Report
As a result of the
1955 Modernisation Plan
Events January
* January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama.
* January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut.
* January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...
the decision was made by the
British Railways Board
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
in the late 1950s to:
*accelerate the move to diesel- and electric-powered trains, consequently leading to the scrapping of 16,000 steam locomotives
*reduce the wagon fleet from 1.25 million to 600,000
The strategy chosen to replace the steam locomotive fleet initially involved the replacement of steam
shunting and
branch line
A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line.
Industrial spur
An industri ...
locomotives with diesel-electric traction, and the movement of the replaced small steam locomotives to the major railway works for scrapping. In 1958 the
British Transport Commission
The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the se ...
reappraised the speed of the programme, and the decision was taken to accelerate the disposal of the steam fleet.
Although the capacity of the locomotive works was considerable, as a result of the 1958 acceleration the amount of storage and technical scrapping capability of the works became stretched. The British Railways Board decided to out-source via
tender to selected scrap merchants the work of scrapping the steam locomotives.
Woodhams scrapyard
By the mid-1950s, Woodham Brothers was trading mainly as a scrap metal merchants, producing high quality scrap metal for the newly nationalised steel industry. Dai Woodham, as a result of the British Rail decision, negotiated a contract in 1957 to scrap metal mainly from the
Western Region, covering like other scrap merchants the easily handled
railway line
Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...
and rolling stock;
the more complex steam locomotives were to be handled solely by the railway works. As none of the many South Wales-based scrap merchants knew how long the work from scrapping the short-wheelbase
coal wagons from the former
South Wales coalfield
The South Wales Coalfield ( cy, Maes glo De Cymru) extends across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen. It is rich in coal deposits, espec ...
would last, they all chose to scrap these first.
Each lot of metal was bought at an auction as a piece of rolling stock or infrastructure, with each lot having a priority for scrapping as detailed by British Railways. Woodham's premises which were based at Barry Docks, agreed an extended lease with the
British Transport Docks Board {{Unreferenced, date=August 2009
The British Transport Docks Board (BTDB) was a nationalised industry, managing former railway-owned docks in Great Britain. It was created by the Transport Act 1962 and abolished by the Transport Act 1981, which pro ...
, over the former marshalling yards of the almost redundant Barry Docks, close to what were the locomotives works of the former
Barry Railway Company
The Barry Railway Company was a railway and docks company in South Wales, first incorporated as the ''Barry Dock and Railway Company'' in 1884. It arose out of frustration among Rhondda coal owners at congestion and high charges at Cardiff Dock ...
close to
Barry Island
Barry Island ( cy, Ynys y Barri) is a district, peninsula and seaside resort, forming part of the town of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. It is named after the 6th century Saint Baruc. Barry's stretch of coast, on the Bristol Chann ...
. This allowed them to store large quantities of rolling stock that they had bought from British Railways, before they were scrapped.
The 1958 decision resulted in Woodham Brothers winning a tender to scrap locomotives, and in 1959 Dai Woodham went to
Swindon Works
Swindon railway works was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1843 in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It served as the principal west England maintenance centre until closed in 1986.
History
In 1835 Parliament approved the construction of the ...
for a week to learn how to scrap steam locomotives: "It was a completely different job from what we were used to." On 25 March 1959, the first batch of engines was despatched from Swindon to Barry:
GWR 2-6-0's numbers 5312/60/92/97 and a single
2-6-2T Prairie tank, 3170 a week later.
However, on delivery of both scrap rail and rolling stock, Woodham's found that commercially it was easier to both comply with the contract terms and conditions and turn a profit if they concentrated on the easier to scrap
rail profile and rolling stock. There was also at least ten times the volume of wagons, which took up more space and reduced Woodham's capacity to bid on more contracts. Hence it was agreed internally to leave the more difficult locomotives until later, perhaps picking up the work when the volume of rolling stock and railway line abated.
From mid-1964, Woodham Brothers won additional contracts to scrap
Southern Region stock, and as a result expanded their Barry Docks yard leases to cover more of the former marshalling yards. In 1965, 65 locomotives had arrived at the scrapyard, of which 28 were scrapped, but the additional volume of Southern rail, wagons and
brake van
Brake van and guard's van are terms used mainly in the UK, Ireland, Australia and India for a railway vehicle equipped with a hand brake which can be applied by the guard. The equivalent North American term is caboose, but a British brake van ...
s meant that the autumn of 1965 was the last year that mass-scrapping of steam locomotives occurred at Woodham Brothers.
Dai Woodham continued to purchase steam locomotives until the end of steam, bringing total purchases by August 1968 to 297 locomotives, including four
Austerity saddle tanks acquired from the
Longmoor Military Railway
The Longmoor Military Railway (LMR) was a British military railway in Hampshire, built by the Royal Engineers from 1903 in order to train soldiers on railway construction and operations. The railway ceased operation on 31 October 1969.
Route
...
, of which 217 then remained at the Barry scrapyard.
The scrapyard continued to purchase withdrawn steam locomotives until the end of steam with the last ones to enter the yard include LMS 8Fs No.
48151 and No. 48305, LNER B1 No.
61264, BR Class 4 Moguls No. 76077/79/
84, and BR 9F No. 92212. All of them eventually left the scrapyard.
Preservation centre
![43924 and 75078 Keighley and Worth Valley Railway](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/43924_and_75078_Keighley_and_Worth_Valley_Railway.jpg)
The rows of redundant steam locomotives were a picturesque sight for holidaymakers travelling to Barry Island, and became a centre for pilgrimage for steam enthusiasts from the emerging steam railway preservation movement.
While there was still a significant number of steam locomotives in the yard, railway preservationists began buying the better examples from the late 1960s in order to restore them to working order. The first locomotive to be the subject of a rescue appeal was
GWR 4300 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4300 Class is a class of 2-6-0 (mogul) steam locomotives, designed by G.J. Churchward for mixed traffic duties. 342 were built from 1911–1932.
Background
In 1906 Churchward fitted a more powerful Standard No. ...
5322, which eventually did leave Barry in March 1969, becoming the third locomotive to leave, but the first to be bought and actually moved from the yard was
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...
3835 Class No. 43924 in September 1968. The engine was taken on by the 4F Locomotive Society, and the engine now resides at the
Worth Valley Railway.
However, this did not stop the engines from being scrapped as a whole, as in 1972, 4MT Mogul No. 76080 was cut up and the following year, 2884 class No. 3817 was cut up as well.
Under the terms of the contract from British Rail, Woodhams could not sell complete locomotives onwards that had been sold to them for scrap, unless payment of a levy was made. Woodham's set the price for each locomotive at its exact scrap value (each type had an exact metal content breakdown from BR, so this was simply taken and multiplied by that day's scrap rate for each metal component), plus the BR levy; with the sale price completed by the addition of
Value Added Tax
A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the end ...
, initially set at 10% but raised to 15% in 1979.
For most of the time that locomotives were being 'rescued' from Barry, it became accepted commercial practice by the company for preservation groups to pay a deposit for a particular locomotive, which was then protected/reserved until the group could pay for the locomotive in full and arrange transport.
Initially, locomotives were both mostly complete and able to move easily, although British Rail only allowed them to be towed by one of their own diesels, accompanied by a brake van to act as extra braking. Purchased locomotives were hence moved to a holding siding, inspected by British Rail, and then attached to a special train direct to the purchaser's site. However, after some minor incidents involving
overheated axle boxes due to a lack of lubrication, BR banned movement by rail from 1976, and all locomotives were thereafter transported out by road to the
M4 motorway
The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...
.
The movement of locomotives to the holding sidings for inspection was also an issue, due to the deteriorating condition of the track in Woodham's yard. With the need to occasionally move locomotives in order to retrieve another which had been purchased for preservation, derailments would sometimes occur due to the poor state of the track. As Woodham's lacked the necessary equipment to re-rail the locomotives, it was easier to simply cut part of the derailed wheelset away, allowing the movement of the affected locomotive to continue.
During this period, Woodham's also began scrapping locomotive tenders with the intention of then re-selling the rolling tender frames to other users. The majority of these frames were purchased by the Duport Steelworks at
Briton Ferry
Briton Ferry ( cy, Llansawel) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The Welsh name may indicate that the church, ''llan'', is protected from the wind, ''awel''. Alternatively, ''Sawel'' may be a derivative ...
for conversion to ingot carriers.
From the start of locomotive preservation, owners were allowed to remove components from similar types of locomotives to make up a complete kit of bits, on the condition that the donor locomotive was not reserved and that no substantial damage was incurred in removing the parts. However, this policy combined with ease of access to the extensive yards resulted in petty pilfering and trophy/memorabilia collection in the early years, to mass criminal activity. Although Woodham's had allowed weekend working parties to access reserved locomotives, by 1981 illegal removal of valuable scrap had got so bad that Woodham's employed a 24-hour
security guard
A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) from a variety ...
team, and a total ban was placed on weekend working parties.
Barry Steam Locomotive Action Group
As the number of locomotives dropped below 100, the number of wagons coming for scrap also slowed, making it more likely that Woodham's would return to scrapping steam locomotives. Following a meeting of interested parties on 10 February 1979 the Barry Steam Locomotive Action Group was formed with the aim of putting potential purchasers and Woodham Brothers together, as well as funders and financial contributors. BSLAG undertook basic surveys of the remaining locomotives, listing types and conditions and acting as a media liaison point.
However, during the summer of 1980 BR were unable to offer any quantity of redundant wagons to Woodham's for scrap. Rather than lay off staff, Dai Woodham authorized the scrapping of two steam locomotives,
BR Standard Class 9F
The British Railways Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 is a class of steam locomotive designed for British Railways by Robert Riddles. The Class 9F was the last in a series of standardised locomotive classes designed for British Railways during the 195 ...
No. 92085, and
GWR 5101 Class
The GWR 5101 Class or 'Large Prairie' is a class of 2-6-2T steam locomotives of the Great Western Railway.
History
The 5101 Class were medium-sized tank engines used for suburban and local passenger services all over the Great Western Railw ...
No. 4156. By August, more former steel coal wagons had been delivered to the yard, making 4156 and 92085 the last locomotives to be broken up at Barry.
Locomotives scrapped at Woodham Brothers scrapyard
While most steam locomotives made it out of Barry Scrapyard, some were scrapped from 1958 to 1980 and all of the diesel engines, 4 in total, that entered the yard were scrapped, despite some attempts to preserve them.
;2 ×
GWR 1366 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 1366 Class was a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotives built in 1934. They were a useful design and because of their light weight and short wheelbase and were often used on dockside branches or other lines ...
: 1367, 1368
GWR 1400 Class
The GWR 1400 Class is a class of steam locomotive designed by the Great Western Railway for branch line passenger work. It was originally classified as the 4800 Class when introduced in 1932, and renumbered in 1946.
Although credited to Charl ...
No. 1428 was believed to have been sold to Woodham Bros., but in fact it was actually sold to J. O. Williams of Barry and cut up at their yard.
;1 ×
GWR 2884 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 2884 Class is a class of 2-8-0 steam locomotive. They were Collett's development of Churchward's earlier 2800 Class and are sometimes regarded as belonging to that class.
History
The 2884s were designed for ...
: 3817 (scrapped 1973)
;1 ×
GWR 3150 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 3150 Class was a class of 2-6-2T side tank steam locomotive.
History
Churchward based the 3150 class on his GWR 5100 Class, 3100 (later 5100) class. They used the larger and heavier Standard 4 boiler and so had ...
: 3170
;8 ×
GWR 4300 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4300 Class is a class of 2-6-0 (mogul) steam locomotives, designed by G.J. Churchward for mixed traffic duties. 342 were built from 1911–1932.
Background
In 1906 Churchward fitted a more powerful Standard No. ...
: 5312, 5345, 5355, 5360, 5392, 5397, 6331, 6334
;2 ×
GWR 4500 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4500 Class or Small Prairie is a class of 2-6-2T steam locomotives.
History
They were designed as small mixed traffic locomotives, mainly used on branch lines. The design was based on the earlier 4400 Class, bu ...
: 4550, 4559
;8 ×
GWR 4575 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4575 Class is a class of 2-6-2T British steam locomotives.
History
They were designed as small mixed traffic branch locomotives, mainly used on branch lines. They were a development of Churchward's 4500 Clas ...
: 4594, 5504, 5510, 5514, 5546, 5547, 5557, 5558
;4 ×
GWR 5101 Class
The GWR 5101 Class or 'Large Prairie' is a class of 2-6-2T steam locomotives of the Great Western Railway.
History
The 5101 Class were medium-sized tank engines used for suburban and local passenger services all over the Great Western Railw ...
: 4156 (scrapped 1980), 4157, 4164, 5182
;3 ×
GWR 5400 Class: 5407, 5417, 5422
;4 ×
GWR 5600 Class
The GWR 5600 Class is a class of 0-6-2T steam locomotive built between 1924 and 1928. They were designed by Charles Collett for the Great Western Railway (GWR), and were introduced into traffic in 1924. After the 1923 grouping, Swindon inherite ...
: 5651, 5669, 6621, 6696
;12 ×
GWR 5700 Class
The GWR 5700 Class, or 57xx class, is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotive, built by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and British Railways (BR) between 1929 and 1950. With 863 built, they were the most prolific class of the GWR, an ...
: 3727, 3794, 5794, 6753, 7702, 7712, 7719, 7722, 7723, 7725, 7758, 8749
;1 ×
GWR 6100 Class
The GWR 6100 Class is a class of 2-6-2T side tank steam locomotives.
History
The class was designed by Charles Collett and introduced in 1931, and were a straightforward development of the earlier 5101 class (and for that matter the 1905 310 ...
: 6115
;1 ×
GWR 6400 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 6400 Class is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotive introduced by Charles Collett in 1932. All 40 examples were 'auto-fitted' – equipped with the remote-control equipment needed for working GWR Autotr ...
: 6406
;1 ×
GWR 7200 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 7200 Class is a class of 2-8-2T steam locomotive. They were the only 2-8-2Ts built and used by a British railway, and the largest tank engines to run on the Great Western Railway.
Rebuild and operation
Origi ...
: 7226
;17 ×
GWR 9400 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 9400 Class is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotive, used for shunting and banking duties.
The first ten 9400s were the last steam engines built by the GWR. After nationalisation in 1948, another 200 we ...
: 8419, 8473, 8475, 8479, 9436, 9438, 9439, 9443, 9445, 9449, 9459, 9462, 9468, 9491, 9492, 9496, 9499
;7 ×
Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST
The Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST is a class of steam locomotive designed by Hunslet Engine Company for shunting. The class became the standard British shunting locomotive during the Second World War, and production continued until 1964 at variou ...
:106/75040 ''Spyck'', 108, 119, 130, 164, 178/75277 ''Foligno'', 203
;2 ×
LSWR Class S15
The LSWR S15 class is a British 2-Cylinder (locomotive), cylinder 4-6-0 freight steam locomotive designed by Robert W. Urie, based on his LSWR H15 class, H15 class and LSWR N15 class, N15 class locomotives. The class had a complex build history ...
: 30512, 30844
;2 ×
SR West Country and Battle of Britain classes
The SR West Country and Battle of Britain classes, collectively known as ''Light Pacifics'' or informally as ''Spam Cans'', are air-smoothed 4-6-2 ''Pacific'' steam locomotives designed for the Southern Railway by its Chief Mechanical Engine ...
: 34045 ''
Ottery St Mary
Ottery St Mary, known as "Ottery", is a town and civil parish in the East Devon district of Devon, England, on the River Otter, about east of Exeter on the B3174. At the 2001 census, the parish, which includes the villages of Metcombe, Fair ...
'', 34094 ''
Mortehoe
Mortehoe is a village and former manor on the north coast of Devon, England. It lies 10 miles north-west of Barnstaple, near Woolacombe and Lee Bay, and is sited in a valley within the hilly sand-dune-like land behind Morte Point, almost direc ...
''
;2 ×
LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T is a class of light 'mixed-traffic' steam locomotive introduced in 1946.
Background
The LMS had various elderly tank engines and the operating department required a new smal ...
: 41248, 41303
;1 ×
BR Standard Class 4 2-6-0
The BR Standard Class 4 2-6-0 is a class of steam locomotive designed by Robert Riddles for British Railways (BR). 115 locomotives were built to this standard.
Design and construction
The class was designed at the ex-LNER works at Doncaster ...
: 76080 (scrapped 1972)
;1 ×
BR Standard Class 4 2-6-4T
The British Railways Standard Class 4 tank is a class of steam locomotive, one of the BR standard classes built during the 1950s. They were used primarily on commuter and outer suburban services. They were capable of reaching speeds of .
Backg ...
: 80067
;2 ×
BR Standard Class 9F
The British Railways Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 is a class of steam locomotive designed for British Railways by Robert Riddles. The Class 9F was the last in a series of standardised locomotive classes designed for British Railways during the 195 ...
: 92085 (scrapped 1980), 92232
;1 ×
British Rail Class 15
The British Rail Class 15 diesel locomotives, also known as the BTH Type 1, were designed by British Thomson-Houston, and built by the Yorkshire Engine Company and the Clayton Equipment Company, between 1957 and 1961. They were numbered D8200 ...
:D8206
;1 ×
British Rail Class 21 (NBL)
The British Rail Class 21 was a type of Type 2 diesel-electric locomotive built by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow for British Rail in 1958–1960. They were numbered D6100-D6157. Thirty-eight of the locomotives were withdrawn b ...
:D6122 (scrapped 1980)
;2 ×
British Rail Class 41 (Warship Class)
The British Rail Class 41 diesel-hydraulic locomotives were built by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow during 1957 and 1958. Although they were withdrawn before TOPS was introduced, British Rail classified them as Class 41. All wer ...
:D600 ''
Active
Active may refer to:
Music
* ''Active'' (album), a 1992 album by Casiopea
* Active Records, a record label
Ships
* ''Active'' (ship), several commercial ships by that name
* HMS ''Active'', the name of various ships of the British Royal ...
'' (scrapped 1970), D601 ''
Ark Royal
Five ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Ark Royal'':
* , the flagship of the English fleet during the Spanish Armada campaign of 1588
* , planned as freighter, built as seaplane carrier during the First World War, renamed ''Pegasu ...
'' (scrapped 1980)
Today
![Bulleid Pacific locomotives at Woodhams Scrapyard Barry](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Bulleid_Pacific_locomotives_at_Woodhams_Scrapyard_Barry.jpg)
In the early 1970s, Dai Woodham started building what are now called the Romily Units at the Woodham Road site on No.2 Dock, Barry Docks, for the purpose of giving local business-people access to cheap industrial units. By 1987 he had managed to build up the site to contain 23 industrial units to rent, ranging in size from to , with access to the docks, the railway and the
M4 motorway
The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...
. The main Woodham Brothers business is today based around these
industrial units.
Woodham Brothers continued dealing as scrap metal merchants, and continued scrapping locomotives on behalf of British Railways. Casualties included some of the earlier types of diesels ahead of the remaining steam locomotive stock.
British Rail Class 21
Two separate types of diesel locomotive operating in Great Britain have been given the TOPS classification Class 21.
*British Rail Class 21 (NBL) - a class of 58 diesel-electric locomotives produced by the North British Locomotive Company from 1 ...
No. D6122 was the last of its class to survive, arriving in August 1968 and cut up by Woodhams in 1980 because no one wanted to buy it.
After Dai Woodham announced that he was going to retire, a concerted effort was made to clear the remaining hulks. One result of this was that ten locomotives, known as the
Barry Ten
The Barry 10 was a collection of unsold scrapyard steam locomotives that were removed from Woodham Brothers in 1990 when Dai Woodham retired.
They were then taken on by the Vale of Glamorgan Council. For the next 20 years, the locomotives were st ...
, were taken on by the
Vale of Glamorgan Council
The Vale of Glamorgan Council is the governing body for the Vale of Glamorgan, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. It was run by the Conservative Party after the 2008 United Kingdom local elections, taking over the council from no overall contr ...
and stored in 'scrapyard' condition. All under the care of the
Barry Tourist Railway
The Barry Tourist Railway (formerly the Barry Island Railway) is a railway developed to attract visitors to Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. It is a key element of the Barry Rail Centre which also includes engineering and training f ...
, eight locomotives are still in Barry only a few hundred yards away from where they were removed, while two are under restoration at different locations around the country.
GWR 4575 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4575 Class is a class of 2-6-2T British steam locomotives.
History
They were designed as small mixed traffic branch locomotives, mainly used on branch lines. They were a development of Churchward's 4500 Clas ...
No. 5553 was the last steam engine to leave Woodham Brothers, in January 1990 for the
West Somerset Railway
The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc); which is ...
. The last member of the
Barry 10
The Barry 10 was a collection of unsold scrapyard steam locomotives that were removed from Woodham Brothers in 1990 when Dai Woodham retired.
They were then taken on by the Vale of Glamorgan Council. For the next 20 years, the locomotives were st ...
GWR 2800 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 2800 Class is a class of Churchward-designed 2-8-0 steam locomotive.
History
The class was designed by George Jackson Churchward for heavy freight work. They were the first 2-8-0 locomotive class in Great B ...
No. 2861 left the yard in May 2013 for the
Llangollen Railway
The Llangollen Railway () is a volunteer-run heritage railway in Denbighshire, North Wales, which operates between Llangollen and Corwen. The standard gauge line, which is long, runs on part of the former Ruabon – Barmouth GWR route that c ...
.
A total of 213 locomotives were 'rescued' from Woodham's yard and many have been restored from 1968 to 1990. By March 2019, 151 ex-Barry locomotives had been restored to working order (the 149th, 150th, and 151st, being
BR Standard Class 4 2-6-4T
The British Railways Standard Class 4 tank is a class of steam locomotive, one of the BR standard classes built during the 1950s. They were used primarily on commuter and outer suburban services. They were capable of reaching speeds of .
Backg ...
No. 80097,
GWR 6959 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 6959 or Modified Hall Class is a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive. They were a development by Frederick Hawksworth of Charles Collett's earlier Hall Class named after English and Welsh country houses.
Backgroun ...
No. 6989 ''Wightwick Hall'', and
BR Standard Class 9F
The British Railways Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 is a class of steam locomotive designed for British Railways by Robert Riddles. The Class 9F was the last in a series of standardised locomotive classes designed for British Railways during the 195 ...
No. 92134 respectively ), although many of these have since been withdrawn for overhaul and are out of use or awaiting further work.
In popular culture
On their 2008 debut album, London band
Silvery
Silvery are a London-based 4-piece indie rock band, signed to Blow Up Records (the label of the Britpop night club Blow Up). Their sound was described by journalist David Quantick in The Word as "Splenetic, frenetic, kinetic" and in NME as " ...
released "Warship Class", a song about a childhood trip to the scrapyard in search of the remaining
British Rail Class 41 (Warship Class)
The British Rail Class 41 diesel-hydraulic locomotives were built by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow during 1957 and 1958. Although they were withdrawn before TOPS was introduced, British Rail classified them as Class 41. All wer ...
locomotive - D601 - 'Ark Royal'.
One of the engines rescued, and arguably the most famous one of them all, from Barry Scrapyard is
GWR 4900 Class
The Great Western Railway 4900 Class or Hall Class is a class of 4-6-0 mixed-traffic steam locomotives designed by Charles Collett for the Great Western Railway. A total of 259 were built at Swindon Works, numbered 4900–4999, 5900–5999 and ...
No. 5972 Olton Hall, which was rescued in 1981, restored to working order in 1998, and became a pop culture icon in the 2000s for being a part of the
Harry Potter films
''Harry Potter'' is a film series based on the eponymous novels by J. K. Rowling. The series is produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and consists of eight fantasy films, beginning with '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's St ...
.
Several books have been published about the area, its history, and Dai Woodham's work in railway preservation.
Locomotives saved from Woodham Brothers scrapyard
For the full list, see the article
List of locomotives saved from Woodham Brothers scrapyard.
References
*
* (There are at least 8 editions of this booklet: the 8th edition lists all those rescued from the scrap heap.)
*
External links
Woodham Brothers*
ttps://www.flickr.com/photos/taffytank/sets/72157621170710769/ A set of 100 images of Barry Scrapyard by Dr Peter Brabhambr>
A photographic record of Barry Woodhams Scrapyard on FLICKR
{{coord missing, Glamorgan
Barry, Vale of Glamorgan
Real estate companies established in 1892
Companies of Wales
Railway scrapyards in the United Kingdom
Rail transport preservation in the United Kingdom
Organisations based in the Vale of Glamorgan
1892 establishments in Wales