Dai Woodham
Dai Woodham,[1] MBE, BEM (5 September 1919 – 12 September 1994), born David Lloyd Victor Woodham, is known as the man who saved over 200 former British Railways steam locomotives from the scrap heap. Many of them were purchased by preserved railways and locomotive preservation groups and are now in active operation, including some permitted to haul passenger trains on the main line system.
His family owned Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry Docks, Barry, Wales. In the 1930s, the Woodhams started to trade in scrap metal and, in 1957, the company began dismantling railway wagons, as a result of the 1955 Modernisation Plan which sought to reduce the British Railways wagon fleet from over one million to just 600,000, and to scrap and replace around 16,000 steam locomotives with new "standard" designs, as well as diesel- and electric-powered types.
In 1987, Woodham was awarded the MBE in recognition of a number of his business initiatives in the Barry Docks area.[2] He had already been awarded the British Empire Medal for bravery while serving with the Royal Artillery in Italy in World War II.
In 1994, Dai Woodham was diagnosed with lung cancer and died on 12 September that year.[2]
References
- ↑ Owens, David (2018-07-15). "Inside Wales' locomotive graveyard". Wales Online. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 John Daniel (2013). "The Barry Scrapyard story, part 3". www.greatwestern.org.uk. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
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