CREWE RAILWAY HERITAGE CENTRE - CHESHIRE
A Princess, a Duchess and a Royal Scot
With the recent inauguration of a new royal princess, by marriage, rather
than manufacture, though more likely to have an airplane named Kate than
a train, and a movie about a stuttering prince, perhaps a bit of nostalgia
for matters royal resurge, but at the Crewe Heritage Railway Center the royals
are all made of iron and powered by steam. The heritage center at the Crewe
railway works was the birthplace and is still the home base of some of the
great powerful steam locomotives of the mainline rails which roam the country
for contract excursions and appearances at historic heritage railway events.
At any given time, a visit to Crewe will likely find a famous steam engine
of bygone days, returned home for refurbishment and maintenance, though the
historic rail yard is perhaps only a shadow of its great past.
The Crewe Railway Works in Cheshire was once one of the great industrial
steam railroad works in the British Isles. First opened in 1840 for the Grand
Junction Railway, the Crewe engine works produced its first steam locomotive
in 1843. In 1845, the Grand Junction merged with England’s first passenger
line, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (see Manchester
Steam), then a
year later with the London Birmingham and Manchester Birmingham to become
the London and North Western, and in 1923, joining the London, Midland and
Scottish Railway. The Crewe Railway Works had its own Bessemer converter
and furnaces to produce its own wrought iron and steel. At its height the
Crew engine works employed 20,000 housed in their own villages and produced
one locomotive a week. By the end of the steam age, Crewe had launched 7,000
engines onto British rail lines. And later manufactured diesel engines and
high speed electric stock as well.
Today the Crewe Heritage Center is found tucked behind a shopping center
on the edge of the town of Crewe, the yards and shops of the
steel and steam era replaced with real estate developments. The coal
age meets modern eco-era is marked by the wind turbine propeller dominating
the shopping market’s parking lot. At the Crewe Heritage center, you’ll
find the great steam engines lined in the yard, tended by work crews preparing
the behemoths for another run away from home on charter or just keeping the
boilers alive. While there is no guarantee of what operating locomotives
you might see at Crewe, often away on charter service, Crewe is home to at
least three great
engines of Britain’s steam glory days.
The Princess Elizabeth, number 6201 was built at Crewe in 1933, the second
of the Princess Class of powerful main line locomotives from the LMR railway
and named for the then 7-year-old eldest daughter of Albert, the Duke of
York, (Bertie) risen to King George VI as portrayed in the movie The King’s
Speech. The real princess is now the queen, and the Princess Elizabeth, or “Lizzie”,
ventures out from Crewe to haul heritage rail coaches generally in the north.
The Duchess of
Sutherland was one of the great last steam engines of the 1930s, only eclipsed
by her speed record breaking brother engine the Duke
of Gloucester. The Royal Scot 6100 was not built at Crewe, and rechristened
from earlier model after the original named for the famous military regiment.
The Royal Scot toured America and Canada railroads after being exhibited
at the Chicago Exposition in 1933. Also featured at the Crewe Heritage
Centre is the prototype of a high speed electric tilting train, the Advanced
Passenger
Train, (ATP) from the 1980s.
Visiting Crewe Heritage Centre
Aside
from spotting the great historic engines, the Crewe Heritage Centre has
working signal boxes with signaling demonstrations, vintage busses and
a collection of ice cream trucks, as well as a riding miniature railway
and model N, HO and OO railroad layouts display. The Crewe Heritage Centre
is
open weekends and bank holidays from Easter to the last of September, 10am
to 4:30pm with the last admission at 3:30pm. Day tickets are £5 for
adults £2 for children and seniors and £10 for a family ticket.
The admission ticket price includes a free ride on the miniature railway.
If you travel by train on the Manchester-Crewe or Derby-Crewe rail lines
there is a buy-one get-one free admission deal. © Bargain
Travel Europe
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Web Info
Crewe
Heritage Centre
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See Also:
CREWE HALL MANOR & HOTEL - CHESHIRE
HACK GREEN NUCLEAR BUNKER - CHESHIRE
NARROWBOAT
CANAL CRUISING - NANTWICH
DIDCOT
RAILWAY CENTRE - OXFORDSHIRE
BRUNEL'S SS GREAT BRITAIN SHIP - BRISTOL
