# Scottish Scrapyard Nov08 (Pic heavy!)



## escortmad79 (Nov 13, 2008)

I don't want to name this yard (& if you know it please don't name it!) as it's a live site & there's something I want out of it! 

I stumbled across this place completely by accident a few weeks ago whilst looking for pictures of steam engines online!

Having found a picture of 2 derelict National Coal Board railway locos in a scrapyard I did a bit of digging & found that it was close & had not 2 but 4 locos in the yard so decided to go & scope it out!






This is what first attracted me to the yard, 2 Andrew Barclay Railway locos (There were 2 trainspotters in the yard taking pictures as I pulled up!)

I got out of my car & took the above shot from outside & then drove back up to the yads main enterance, locked my car & walked into the yard.
I walked in & there was an old fella picking up small bits of metal so approached him & asked him about the trains around the back, he asked me what I wanted to know about them so inquired whether they would be available for sale! (I know a fair amount of engine owners & dealers so thought they could be rescued & restored), I told him that I am a member of a preservation group back in Devon but my main interest was in road going steam rather than railways (which is true) so he asked me to follow him as he had a steam fire engine in one of the sheds.

I followed him into the shed & the first thing I noticed was this:




"That's been hanging there for 20 years!" He told me as we made our way to the back of the shed





There were 2 petrol driven rollers in there, that Barford & a smaller Aveling & Barford, a couple of horse carts, 2 Massey Ferguson tractors, a David Brown tractor & the steam driven fire engine:










In front of the steam fire engine was an old petrol fire engine under cover & in front of that leading back towards the door were 5 old cars covered up, a 1920s Rolls Royce Coupe, 2 Morris Minors, a Bullnose Morris & a Morris 8, hanging from the rafters the other side was anotherold cars body shell!

I asked him whether I could go & see the trains & he pointed out which way to go so I thanked him for showing me inside the shed & walked around the corner where there was a feast of stuff:

A Lister D stationary engine & a sidevalve engine with a cracked head!




Another stationary engine & an ex War Department Ford V8 Flathead engine:




There were 2 of these side by side:




The twisted remains of a Moggy Van!




A third Massey Ferguson:




Another stationary engine & 25 pounder ex WW2 gun!!




A little further up was this old crane losing its battle against the undergrowth!!




Walking up around the back I walked past this big derelict shed:








Next to the shed were these:












Old Merryweather Fire Pump




Stumbled across a pair of Robots in disguise:


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## Scotty (Nov 13, 2008)

that place is great, so many old random motors and a gun. lol


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## escortmad79 (Nov 13, 2008)

Finally I came across the items which had first attracted me to the yard.

As I approached the 2 trainspotters were still there, one of them greeted me before they both shuffled off 

Upon close inspection I discovered them to be in very poor condition having laid out in the open unprotected for the best part of 30-40 years!













Feint but readible livery
























Looking into the smokebox of one of the locos:




Footplate shots:
















Trainspotter:





& finally an obligatory peeling paint shot:


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## sqwasher (Nov 13, 2008)

Blimey!  Nice find! Looks qiite a site full of stuff!


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## zimbob (Nov 13, 2008)

SSR 






*gets coat*


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## Seahorse (Nov 13, 2008)

I'm looking in vain for the Speechless smiley.

This will have to do instead. :notworthy:


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## Foxylady (Nov 13, 2008)

WHAT - A - FIND!!!   
All that amazing stuff...and a WW2 Gun as well!!!
In awe!


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## Pincheck (Nov 13, 2008)

well done and can't blame you fopr keeping it under your hat good luck in getting more pics and info


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## skittles (Nov 13, 2008)

simply fabulous

so you buying the trains

must be quite a job moving them


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## escortmad79 (Nov 13, 2008)

Nah not buying the trains, they're a little too far gone sadly


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## MD (Nov 13, 2008)

nice one mate 
i could spend hours look around there


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## DigitalNoise (Nov 13, 2008)

Hmmmmmm........
Now, wouldnt that 25 pounder make a great garden ornament!!!


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## RichardB (Nov 13, 2008)

I've seen the engines (not trains) many times in the passing but I didn't realise there was all that stuff in there. What an Aladdin's cave!


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## The Duke (Nov 13, 2008)

Wow .....What a find. One of those "once in a life time" occasions.


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## timeteamtom (Nov 13, 2008)

Nice find! All that treasure!


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## Dirus_Strictus (Nov 14, 2008)

The gun is certainly not a 25 pounder army artillery piece. The mounting is naval, you can see the remains of the turret ring and the barrel profile is wrong. It is difficult to gauge the calibre from the photograph; but at a guess it could be a 4 or 6 inch piece of World War 1 vintage, that ended up ashore in some WW2 coastal defense system. A viable alternative could be that it was a WW1 memorial piece donated to seaside town. Many towns and villages were presented with tanks and artillery pieces after WW1. In the areas I have lived in, Doncaster was given a Mk IV tank that sat on a raise plinth outside the old town museum and Otley had an 18 pounder sited near the Meadows Park alongside the River Wharfe. Whilst most of these 'memorials had been removed prior to onset of WW2 and any remaining were victim to the 1939 scrap metal drive, not all the scrap was evidently consigned to the smelting furnace. I have seen photographs of vast piles of wrought iron railings and gates collected in 1939/40, and photographed in the late 40s still sitting in the scrap yard that collected them, so perhaps this gun escaped the smelter also.


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## Foxylady (Nov 14, 2008)

Dirus_Strictus said:


> I have seen photographs of vast piles of wrought iron railings and gates collected in 1939/40, and photographed in the late 40s still sitting in the scrap yard that collected them, so perhaps this gun escaped the smelter also.



I remember reading somewhere...and this may be apocryphal... that Churchill hated the iron railings that were prevalant at the time, and although all sorts of metal items were collected for smelting, the amount of railings taken far exceeded the amount needed because he considered them an eyesore and wanted rid of them. 
Thanks for clarifying the gun, DS. I did wonder whether it's a re-used naval one or not, but my knowledge is scanty re the guns (I'm better with the emplacements  ) and hadn't checked it out.


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## krela (Nov 14, 2008)

It looks like it could be a 4.7" QF ex naval gun of around 1895 vintage.

Difficult to tell from the small photo though.

It most definitely isn't a field gun though.


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## smiffy (Nov 14, 2008)

Those Loco's may well be very rough but down here in the Forest of Dean is a workshop established at an old colliery that specialises in rebuilding steam engines............they've done some really big old famous engines for lots of the preservation organisation folk around the country...Having seen the state of some of the engines when they arrive...nothing (given enough money and somebodys determination to see it running again) is beyond restoring........
Grand find though mate .....looks like a proper good mooch...


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## Dirus_Strictus (Nov 14, 2008)

krela said:


> It looks like it could be a 4.7" QF ex naval gun of around 1895 vintage..



You could be correct, in both calibre and era. That curved extension on top of the 'trunnion' support plate has jogged the 'little grey cells'. I recall seeing photographs of some Naval vessels in Harwich taken early in WW1, some of the Destroyers? or Torpedo Boats? had gun turrets with the roof/front plate join being formed by a piece of curved armour plate. Unfortunately I cannot lay my hands on the book at the moment - it's not where I thought it was, so more jogging of 'lgc' required!


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