hiya,
tell you what laybuy if the pic is one of charlies fish boys doubt if mallard could beat it, i used to knock on a bit but couldn’t live with those guys any chance of puting that pic on here i bet there’s a lot of old fogies like myself would love to see it.
thanks harry long retired.
Mid 70s,Walsall,aye,get the photo on laybuy,we all want to see it.
Could it have been a Marathon I wonder? The LNER loco “Mallard” class A4 did 126mph down Stoke Bank between Grantham and Peterborough in the 30s.Now I remember Charles Alexanders motors well but 126 mph downhill…Harry were they really as fast as that? 
Maybe they were faster uphill,they were certainly the quickest on the A1 at night,I can testify to that.
.
stravaiger:
Fast ? ? Some oldtimers swear the fish were alive on arrival…jim
Now then Jim that is quick!
The only others on the A1 at night that could get near Charlies motors were Towmasters and Eldiss,maybe Smith of M and the odd Scottish and Newcastle motor could be in the play-offs but Charles Alexander and Partners reigned supreme when I was on trunk.
curnock:
going back to the early to mid 70’s,there was always a chas alexander wagon parked up on a weekend in walsall,am trying to picture the vehicle type but need a bit of time to remember.
at one time there was a scammell routeman artic,then a four wheeler ergomatic not sure if it were an albion or leyland
curnock:
curnock:
going back to the early to mid 70’s,there was always a chas alexander wagon parked up on a weekend in walsall,am trying to picture the vehicle type but need a bit of time to remember.at one time there was a scammell artic (routeman cab),then a four wheeler ergomatic not sure if it were an albion or leyland
It’s not a beaver it’s a lynx.
Laybuy
hiya,
laybuy what a picture, used to do a bit of dundee trunk back in the very late 50s and where the old a74 ran close to to the railway line on beattock i used to get blown off with the steamers heading north frighten you to death if you hadn’t seen them in youre mirror, southbound was ok you you could see them coming,thanks again for the picture it’s a corker.
thanks harry long retired.
Yup, that’s a fabulous picture laybuy.
Alexander’s had the metallic paint job in my time, which was pretty unique.
They said the only thing that slowed them down was the weight of the driver’s wallets. Guess they earned it though.
Hi LB76
There are some Charles Alexander pictures on public.fotki.com/mrmunkle - you’ll have to send an e-mail first to get the password but this is no problem.
boballoa
.
That Charles Alexander Lynx and the Class “A4” Pacific is one of the best photos I’ve seen in a long time.Thanks Laybuy for posting it .Any idea where the pic was taken? I presume somewhere on the A74,but those locos were used on Edinburgh/Glasgow - Perth/Inverness trains in the latter days of steam.I notice it has been relegated to freight work so it would have been nearing the end of it’s service.
Anorak off now.
to me the photo looks to be on a back road or a lay by and the ropes have no hitches in
laybuy:
It’s not a beaver it’s a lynx.
Laybuy
Fantastic photo, when was it taken? I am guessing that is a staged photo of a restored lorry taken fairly recently? Although I’m no gricer, I can’t imagine that class of loco pulling a goods train in the day.
They did Harry now and again and here’s a photo.However I made a glaring mistake,that class would never be seen on the West Coast line in BR days which was the old LMS Euston-Glasgow line so it wouldn’t be the A74. This loco was built in LNER days and would be seen on the East Coast main line between Kings Cross and Edinburgh.So maybe the posed photo was taken between Newcastle and Edinburgh on the A1,nearer to Charles Alexander’s stamping ground.Not as it matters,still a great photo. 
surely there must be a train buff to tell us where and when i must have had photo 20 odd years :
laybuy:
surely there must be a train buff to tell us where and when i must have had photo 20 odd years :
The last A4 was taken out of service in 1966 Laybuy,so the photo must predate that.Now I’m not too knowledgeable about railways but that A4 in your photo looks in reasonably clean condition and some in their later lives were based at Edinburgh(Haymarket)shed and others at Aberdeen(Ferryhill) and it’s said the Haymarket locos were kept cleaner than the Aberdonians.Maybe it’s running insulated fish vans to the southern markets,changing over at Newcastle,although it’s got what looks like a tanker on the front wagon.Looking at the cabside,although I can’t read the loco number it may well be a pre-nationalization photo,the LNER had large 4-digit numbers and after nationalization BR had smaller 5 digit numbers.It doesn’t appear to have a number on the smokebox either so I reckon it’s a pre 1948 photo.
Anyroad I’m open to offers.
On reflection, I guess it is a photo Charles Alexander had taken when the truck was brand new- the paintwork is in mint condition. So I guess all we need to do is to find out when this registration number was issued.
By a strange coincidence, my eldest son is called Charles Alexander.
Charles Alexander Monk, obviously! 
That is a cracking picture. With regard to where, and when it was taken, I have a strong feeling that it would have had to be somewhere on what used to be the London North Eastern Railway line.I would guess sometime in the late 1940,s, to Mid 60,s . The A4s which were mostly used on Express Passenger trains, were also occasionally used on Express Freight trains. The engine is carrying headlamps in what was known as Middle and Right position. This signifies that it was an Express Fitted Freight train. The engine Coal Tender seems to be a bit low ( at the start of it,s journey the coal would be visible above the sides of the tender) which suggests that the picture could have been taken anywhere between Aberdeen and London. ( I was a Steam Engine fireman between 1950 and 1965 (with a break of 5 years in the Army).Hence my knowledge of the Lamp Settings,and my comment on the state of the Engine coal tender.
Any preserved A4 Pacific , and I think Mallard might be the only one, would nowadays be used only on a few Special passenger trains per year. So the last bit of my guesstimate is that it was taken as both Charlies man, and The A4, were heading South, both of them Full of lovely Fresh fish.
I,ll put me anorak away now. If I am totally wrong about this, I,ll be quite happy to be put right.
Sat.0900. After a night,s kip, I now realise that the" laybuy "picture, and the Chris Webb picture, are probably not of the same engine, on the same day, at somewhere near the same location, as I first mistakenly thought.The Chis Webb engine has a full tender of coal, indicating that it is at the start of it,s days work. The “laybuy” engine,s tender is low in coal, and is therefore ,towards the end of its days work. Also the truck with the tank on, is missing on the Chris Webb picture.
If I am wrong about the rest of it, then I must plead the Fifth Amendment, and put it down to the fact that I am senile , and in any case, it was past me bedtime, and I got carried away with that great picture, and the memories which it brought back. 
hiya,
the back of my house looks over the east coast main line and i see the old mallard on the odd occasion pulling specials a fantastic sight it is too.
thanks harry long retired.