: : Dai Woodham has a scrap metal company on Barry Island, South Wales. He : had a contract to buy locomotives for the metal content and they : arrived faster than they could be broken up. He had them on temporary : track at the back of a field. : : Then he got steel freight wagons to break - which went on more : temporary track in front of the engines and were simpler to break. : : By the time these were cleared people were buying the locomotives for : restoration. And instead of wanting the "hey, it's a steam engine" : price he sold them whole for the metal value. :
He *never* stopped cutting steam locos, one was cut in the early
1980s, if the supply of scrap wagons had dried up he would have cut a steam loco up rather than laying off his staff - although Woodhams had a good idea as to the condition of all the locos in their yard in the early 1980s the ASLP (?) in conjunction with Woodhams had all the locos inspected - had Woodhams needed to cut a steam loco up they would have cut the worst first - ultimately, even a 'reservation' on a loco would not have saved it unless the money had been handed over! Dia Woodham was a business-man first, a Saint to railway preservation second...