Photo:
H C Casserley - Aylesbury Motor Train at Quainton Road

This month's picture is of exceptional interest because it was taken as the train was passing the site of the first Quainton Road station. Our member, Henry Casserley was standing on the road bridge on 8th April 1933 when the auto train to Aylesbury was approaching from Verney Junction. The engine, LNER 8307 was a 2-4-2T, Class F7, built at Stratford by the Great Eastern Railway in December 1909. The F7's were twelve in number and were designed by Stephen Holden for use on light passenger duties. Their enormous cabs with high arched roofs and plentiful glazing earned them the soubriquet, Crystal Palace Tanks. GER 1307 became LNER 8307 at the 1924 renumbering and in December of that year mechanical equipment was fitted to the engine at Stratford to permit its use on auto train duties on the Aylesbury and Verney Junction line. 8307 was allocated to Aylesbury shed and was a familiar sight at Quainton until the service ceased on 4th July 1936. It was not until 1941 that she left Aylesbury and withdrawal followed in June 1943. The carriage is interesting too. It is a 12 wheeled vehicle which was one of those built specially by the Great Central Railway in 1906 to be coupled with double framed 2-4-0T's for motor working out of Marylebone to South Harrow. The coach in our picture is 51995 and was built with electric lighting, a rare luxury for a local train in the 1900's.

Notes:
The text in this Quainton Railway Society publication was written in 1973 and so does not reflect events in the 40+ years since publication. The text and photographs are repeated verbatim from the original publication, with only a few minor grammar changes but some clarifying notes are added if deemed necessary. The photos from the original publication are provided as scans in this internet version of this long out of print publication.

Reference:
Our Cover Photograph - Quainton News No. 17 - September 1973