Railway Archive [Steamindex Volume 5]
Key to all Issue Numbers

Publisher: Lightmoor Press
Note from henceforth author names will not be inverted as its is hoped this may assist retrieval via search engines

Issue 44 (September 2014)

Bill Aves. New light on the L&NWR steam railmotors and the LM&SR Sentinel railcar trials. 2-18.
SRM is used as an abbreviation for the LNWR steam rail motors, although KPJ prefers steam railcar for all such units. Strangely this article was read on Platform 9 of Stirling station where KPJ got as close as he ever got to a Sentinel railcar when it was working services to Alloa and Alva in 1946 and he used to meet his father returning from work in Edinburgh (KPJ hoped to travel on it, but this never happened), but this was an LNER vehicle
The text notes other services worked by both species of railcar and describes, but does not illustrate (see LNWR page), the two-car SRM No. 7 which was used unsuccessfully on Delph Donkey services. Services described herein: Dyserth, Bethesda and Nantlle in North Wales, Oxford-Bicester and Bletchley-Bedford, Charnwood Forest Railway (Shacklestone Junction-Coalville (East)-Loughborough (Derby Road); Leamington-Daventry-Weedon-Northampton; South Acton to Hammersmith and Chiswick; Oldham (Clegg Street)-Delph; Ditton Junction-Widnes-St, Helens (Shaw Street); Garstang & Knott End Railway and Beattock to Moffat branch.
The Sentinel units (see also not very satisfactory Sentinel page). The majority of the LMS units were of the articulated type, but a later purchase (No. 4349) was a rigid vehicle. The prototype car was purchased from Sentinel and given the number 6177 and this (or another nloanedv by Sentinel) was evaluated on the Langley Mill-Ripley-Butterley servive; on the Bicester service from Oxford; from Highbridge to Burnham-on-Sea and on the Isle of Axholme Joint Railway. Most went Scotland working from Ayr, Perth an Hamilton, and on the Wanlockhead branch. The paucity of push & pull services on the LMS in Scotland is noted. John M. Hutchings letter in Issue 45 p. 81 makes several points about LMS Sentinel railcars..

Neil Parkhouse. More West Gloucester and Wye Valley colour. 19-29.
Most of the photographs were work of John Ryan, but there are some Internet acquistions plus one by Alan Jarvis

Mike G. Fell. The railway through Stone, Staffordshire. 30-51.
Illustrations:

Fly shunted: In deepest, darkest Wales... 52
1076 class (Buffalo) 0-6-0ST No. 1250 at Hendreforgan station  with freight which probably originated at Blaengarw with white painted iron mink probably owned by Spillers & Baker for transport of flour: 1907. See also letter from Robin Simmonds in Issue 45 p. 80 and from J. Moore in RA46 p. 67

Mystery pic 1. 52
Two four-coupled tank engines in South Wales in 1907: one 0-4-0ST probably built by Hudswell, Clarke & Rogers: two sets of buffers on nearest locomotive (one for hutches as shown here and the other for main line wagons). See letter from Andrew Neale in Issue 45 p. 81* and from John Hutchings in RA46 page 67

Peter Tatlow. A.C. Johnstone: railway photographer. Part 2: The LB&SCR in 1913-1914. 53-6.
The photographs taken at Littlehampton station and at Bognor station may have been of terminating trains run for Sunday School excursions.

Brian Armin. The Hopwood Collection Part 18: The Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway. 57-65

'Down Postal'. 66

More on the telpher at Manchester Victoria Station. Jeffrey Wells.
Introduced by Sir John Aspinall in 1895 to convey parcels across the tracks from the Parcels Office to the platforms. The device was powered by an electric motor and driven by a porter who sat on the machine which conveyed large baskets of parcels, It was destroyed during WW2 in a bombing attack.

High endeavours. Michael Messenger
Critical of article for failing to interpret letter writer's own work (Carandon & Looe) correctly. Notes that the Railway Clauses Consolidation Act (1845) was not applied to the L&CR until 1860 and this may explain the inadequate protection for road crossings. The observations about the junction at Moorswater and the residual use of Moorswater are amplified and corrected. See also letter from same writer in RA 48 p. 20..

A platform conundrum at Nantyderry — further musings. Roger Smith
Citing Bob Yates The South Staffordshire Railway. Volume 1 (Oakwood Press, 2010) notes that on page 44 pictures of Brownhills station show dangerous platform configurations.

Mystery pic 2. 66
Lübecker dredger (very large) working on excavation with Andrew Barclay 0-6-0ST built in 1926 and named Laleham and numbered 154? with train of 5-ton tippng wagons. See letters from Robin Simmonds on page 80 (Issue 45) and Andrew Neale (p. 81)

John Alsop. Wish you were here? Railway postcards of Middlesex. Part 2. London Transport Lines and the Great Central Railway. 67-80; rear cover

Issue 45 (December 2014)

Jeffrey Wells. The Hull & Hornsea Railway 1861-1866. 2-21
Opened on 28 March 1864 and closed 19 October 1964.

Jack Meatcher. Another look at the Wantage Tramway Company's local delivery fleet. 22-4.
See also Issue No. 26 page 28. On page 22 there is a reproduction of the horse-drawn road transport fleet with the railway yard in the background in a busy state. Meatcher suggests that business might have been deliberately increased to promote the line. There are also five pictures based on colour photographs taken by the author in 1998 of buildings still standing at that time.

Mike G. Fell. The railway through Stone, Staffordshire. Part 2. 25-32
Elimination of steam traction, substitution by diesel and then electrification. The Hixon disaster of 6 January 1968 caused by the ill-informed police, and the mis-management of a low loader owned by Robert Wynn & Sons Ltd conveying a transformer led to it grounding on the level crossing and being hit by an express leading to eleven extra road traffic deaths including the footplate crew. One of the tractor drivers put his own life at risk in attempting to avoid the tragedy. The Ministry of Roads (alias Transport) attempted to close the railway to avoid further risk. The Grade II listing of the station and the excellent current train service.

*with Stephenson motion, double chimney (note blower sending jet of misplaced steam into air), white disc and electric lighting in use, serif number on smokebox and "LMS" still on tender. Locomotive still extant and shivering in Norfolk minus its absurd double chimney

Neil Parkhouse. The Devizes Branch in colour. Part 1. 33-48 + front (fc) & rear covers (rc — upper)
Colour photographs taken by the late Paul Strong who lived in Stert near Devizes: some photographs taken from his back garden in Stert and others taken during diversion of trains through Devizes due to a landslip at Lydeway. KPJ suspects that honeymoon return journey from St. Agnes on through train to Paddington on 16 September 1961 must have gone that way: journey chiefly memorable for lack of lunch on train; hunger not assuaged until dinner in dining car on A1-hauled evening train to Wakefield (which headed north at a rate had thought was Deltic hauled).

Brlan Arman, The Hopwood Collection 1901-1926. Part 19: The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway. 49-55
Cites Bradley as source for information about locomotives, only the first three photographs (taken at Highbridge Works) were taken by Hopwood, the remainder come from the Ponteau Collection and augment material from that collection published in Issue No. 20 page 60 et seq (pictures of S&DJR 66 lower et seq)

Peter Tatlow. A.C. Johnstone: railway photographer. Part 3. The L&NWR in 1913-1914. 56- 9.
Last two photographs taken by Samuel Bell [Sam] born in Watford in 1902 is Peter Tatlow's late father-in-law.

John Alsop. Wish you were here? Railway postcards of Middlesex. Part 3. London & South Western and Great Western Lines .60-79 + rear cover upper)

See also letter from Malcolm Parsons on the semi-defunct County of Middlesex and its boundaries

'Down Postal'. 80-1

Wilmington Swing Bridge. Mick Nicholson
Re Wilmington swing bridge, which featured on the front cover of RA30 (and elsewhere): thanks to a local historian, some new information has come to light and can now can confirm the bridge was first used on Sunday 5 May 1907 (Hull Daily Mail)

Cornish matters. Maurice Dart
Re article on the Liskeard & Caradon Railway: on p.16 it is stated that, in GWR days, Moorswater shed became a sub-shed to St. Blazey. This is partly correct but from around 1931 until part way through 1943 it was transferred to Laira's parentage, after which it reverted to St. Blazey's ownership. But at times, if St. Blazey was short of a locomotive, then Laira supplied one 'on loan'. I witnessed this in August 1945, when I took my first journey on the branch and the train was hauled by Laira's No. 5567. There is a photograph of a similar occurrence in late 1959, when Laira's No. 5531 was working on the line. As an aside, on arrival at Looe in August 1945, with my mother, we walked into the town and when I saw the rails continuing along the quay we decided to follow them. I was walking between the rails when I was surprised to hear a whistle and found that No. 5567 was slowly following us and moved to one side quickly! In the same article, two photographs of Moorswater shed on p.36 have the date quoted as 'probably after closure in September 1961'. Some of the buildings in the photos were long gone by then and I have copies of the original photos dated 1933.
Re article on the L&SWR, the caption for the top photo on p.53 states that Beattie Well tank No. 30587 survived at Weybridge until December 1962 whereas the location was Wadebridge.

Fairlie controversial. Mike Barnsley 
Re Fairlie 0-4-4T which made a brief appearance on the East & West Junction Railway in 1877. After exhibition in Paris in 1878, she was put up for sale, and was subsequently bought by the Swindon, Marlborough & Andover Railway (SM&AR). The assertions that the locomotive was less than successful and was little used are certainly in line with the well-known writings of E.L. Ahrons. However, other sources show that this was an over simplification and that Ahrons did not know the full story. The SM&AR minutes state that Fairlie offered to loan the locomotive to the railway in September 1881. The company only decided to make an offer for her in March 1882, so initially she must have given them six months satisfactory service. In the same month, when the line was completed between Grafton and Andover, newspapers reported that she was used to haul the inspection train.
However the flexible joints required for the power bogie were always a weakness in Fairlie locomotives and, in January 1883, it was reported that her steampipe was giving way. Fairlie suggested a modification, which cost £120. At the very least it alleviated the problem for a time as, in December 1883, the SM&AR Locomotive Superintendent, L.T. Hayden, recorded her running from Swindon to Andover in 77 minutes, against a scheduled 91 minutes. Clearly, on a good day, the engine was capable of excellent performance. However, such brisk running would only have been achieved by high fuel consumption, which was amongst Ahrons' criticisms and one of his reasons for the Fairlie not seeing much use.
After the northern extension to Cirencester was opened at the end of 1883, the SM&AR only had seven locomotives for working 48 miles of line and it seems likely that the company would have needed use of the Fairlie. The company minute books record that two of the other locomotives were in need of repair in 1884 and an article in the Locomotive Magazine of 1900 claimed that the company borrowed the 'River' Class 0-6-0 No. 111 Test from the L&SWR but no mention was made of any further problems with the Fairlie. However, author T.B. Sands gives 1884 as the date that the locomotive foreman was complaining that the Fairlie was of little use on account of her poor reliability. If the date is correct, it suggests that the modifications had not been entirely successful.
The locomotive situation then changed dramatically. Firstly, at the end of May 1884, the SM&AR obtained an eighth locomotive. Then, in November 1884, the company, now optimistically calling itself the Midland & South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) despite the fact that it had not reached any further north than Cirencester, was declared bankrupt. As a result, from February 1885, services were greatly reduced, those to Cirencester being cut to a minimum, while the passenger service to Swindon Junction was discontinued altogether. The train miles for the second half of 1884 had totalled 115,274, for the first half of 1885 they were only 90,274, a reduction of around 20%. With the need for locomotive power considerably reduced, it would not be surprising if the other locomotives were generally used in preference to the unreliable Fairlie The minutes next mention the Fairlie in March 1889, when it was recorded briefly that she had been involved in an accident. Newspaper reports state that she had been given an overhaul towards the end of 1888, and had returned to traffic early in 1889. Then, as she was hauling a passenger train into Marlborough, a carrying spring broke. Her motion was thrown so badly out of alignment that it disintegrated.
The cost of repairs was estimated as £500 and the bankrupt M&SWJR did not have that sort of money. When Sam Fay arrived to take over the company in 1892, the Fairlie was still lying crippled in a siding at Swindon and he was only too glad to accept an offer of £200 for her as scrap. Ironically, it wasn't one of her perceived faults which had resulted in her final demise but a spring failure that could have happened to any locomotive. ,

Confusion on the 'Met'. Roger N. Holden 
There are some confusions between the Metropolitan Railway and the Metropolitan District Railway in John Alsop's 'Railway Postcards of Middlesex Pt.2' in RA44. The section of line between Mill Hill Park (renamed Acton Town from 1 March 1910) and South Harrow was constructed by the Metropolitan District Railway. Thus Sudbury Hill station (bottom photograph p.74) and Sudbury Town (middle photograph p.75) should be described as Metropolitan District, not Metropolitan stations. In case this was not clear, the postcard of Sudbury Hill calls it the District Railway station. Also, the photograph of the single car train at Sudbury Town at the bottom of p.75 correctly describes it as a Metropolitan District train but this cannot have been taken before 1 March 1910. The section of line between South Harrow and the Metropolitan's Uxbridge Branch at Rayners Lane was in fact built by the Metropolitan Railway but always worked by the Metropolitan District, which did not extend their service over it to Uxbridge until 31 March 1910. This train will have come from Acton Town.

`Met' Tank Identified. Alan Woodard.
Re photograph on p.73  the tank engine is No. 1, now in the ownership of the Quainton Road Preservation Society, which has been used over the last two years in the Metropolitan Railway celebrations — the 150th and recently the Chesham Branch 125 celebrations. The third and fourth Saloon coaches are those built for the use of Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, who lived in Wendover. There is another photograph of this train at Ruislip on p.52 of the book Metro Memories by Ron Pilgram and Dennis Edwards, published by Midas Books in 1977.

In a Muddle in Wales. Robin Simmonds 
Hendreforgan (RA44 p.52) was not the junction for the Garw Branch but was rather the junction for the 2 mile long branch to Gilfach Fach Colliery. The junction for the Garw Branch was at Brynmenyn, some 5½miles further west, as illustrated in the postcard view below, which was posted on 15th August 1908. As at Hendreforgan, facilities at Brynmenyn were minimal, with just a short siding off each of the Down lines. Behind the photographer is the junction for the connection to the Pencoed Branch.
Re Mystery Pic 2 (p.66) writer possesses postcard view of one these Lübecker land dredgers engaged in improvements at Port Talbot docks, posted 19 June 1912. An account of these machines can be found in K. Haddock, Giant earthmovers: an illustrated history, MBI Publishing Co., 1998.

Mystery Pictures. Andrew Neale
Re photograph on p.66 of RA44: this was taken at S. Pearson & Son Ltd's contract for the construction of the Queen Mary Reservoir near Shepperton in Middlesex, for the Metropolitan Water Board, which lasted from 1919 to 1924 and employed a large fleet of 6-coupled standard gauge steam locomotives. Work on the reservoir had originally begun just before World War 1, started by another contractor, Dick, Kerr & Co. Ltd, far better known for their building of electric tram cars and one of the three constituents of the English Electric Co. Ltd. Labour and material shortages due to the war eventually forced work to cease in April 1916 and the contract was re-let to Pearson in 1919. Laleham (named after a nearby village) was one of seven new locomotives built especially for the contract, the rest being second hand. It was a Barclay standard 0-6-0ST design with 14in x 22in outside cylinders, which left the maker on 29 December 1922. On completion of the contract, some locomotives moved on to Pearson' similar job building the Silent Valley Reservoir in County Down, Northern Ireland and the rest, including Laleham, put up for sale. With the glut of second hand locomotives then on the market, the newest ones in particular proved hard to sell and were left on site for some time. Eventually, Laleham and some others were purchased by the dealers George Cohen and sent to their Canning Town works, probably in late 1927. Cohen immediately advertised Laleham for sale and eventually sold it to the Harton Coal Co. Ltd for their Bold Colliery in County Durham but it later spent some years on the Marsden, South Shields & Whitbum Colliery Railway, before eventually returning to Bold, where it was cut up on site in June 1964.
Re seond mystery picture (p.52): the two locomotives are an early 'W4' Class Peckett 0-4-0ST on the left and a Manning Wardle 0-4-0ST on the right, which has had its cab somewhat rebuilt. The double buffers fitted to the Manning and the wagons definitely suggest a steelworks location and the Manning must surely have at least 12ins and probably larger cylinders to be of use in such a situation. So far so good but although Dowlais Iron Works did have a 'W4' Peckett (Peckett Works No. 834 new here on 29 May 1900) neither its name or number (No. 33 Lady Cornelia) can be seen in the photograph and their only Manning Wardle 0-4-0ST was a very early Class 'F' with only 10ins cylinders that was reputedly converted to 3 foot gauge about 1905. Again in all the pictures of Dowlais locomotives that I have seen none are fitted with double buffers. Peckett supplied plenty of 'W4' 0-4-0ST to South Wales industries but large Manning Wardle 0-4-0STs were rather scarce in this area so hopefully some one else can answer this query more completely. (John Fletcher has suggested that this is most likely somewhere in the north east. Ed.)

Oil not gas. Peter Tatlow
RA44, p.17 lower — Rhuddlan station would have been too far out in the country to be on town gas. Instead, lamps would be oil lit, the lanterns for which were totally removable, leaving merely the frame shown.

L&NWR Steam Railmotors. John M. Hutchings 
Re Bill Ayes article in RA44: Sentinel referred to their passenger vehicles as Rail Coaches in the early years rather than Railcars, so I have used this term in my comments. Bill mentions trials with Sentinel-Cammell rail coaches No's 5654/55/57 and 6177. The first three were basically of similar design but No. 6177 incorporated a number of improvements based on the initial LM&SR trials with No. 5655 in 1925. In the few surviving official Sentinel documents relating to this rail coach, it is always referred to as 'LMS Trials Coach No 2' and was built specifically for the LM&SR in the expectation of a firm order. The differences between No. 6177 and the earlier rail coaches are currently being researched for my forthcoming book on Sentinel rail vehicles. Incidentally, Bill associates the running No. 2233 with this rail coach after it became LM&SR property and mentions that some sources give it running as 2232 at one time. To further muddy the waters, Sentinel recorded the LM&SR running No. as 2223 in spares orders and it would be interesting to know which one is correct. Does anyone have a photograph of this rail coach in service? The photograph of rail coach No. 4151 at the top of p.16 may have been taken at Grangemouth, as there is a front view taken at the same time that is annotated thus. The lower view of the same vehicle was actually taken at Hamilton Central, not Perth. In the original photograph it is just possible to read the station name in the glass panel of the station lamps. No. 4151 is recorded as running from Hamilton in 1930.

Bath Road Halt. D. Hadley. 
The following illustration from postcard, purchased for 1s 6d not later than 1971, in the mistaken belief that it showed a GWR steam railmotor, may be of interest to you, your readers and Bill Aves. It shows Bath Road Station (as the nameboard referred to it) on the North & South Western Junction Railway's line between South Acton and Richmond, mentioned in Bill's article on L&NWR steam railmotors in RA44. See also long letters from Clive Croome in RA46 pp. 67-8 and from Robert Humm and Bill Aves.
Circa 1909 view of Bath Road Station — note the nameboard — which was situated south of South Action station on the N&SWJR line, which ran between Willesden Junction and Richmond. The railmotor service began in this year, with halts also being provided at Rugby Road and Woodstock Road. The latter was illustrated in the article in RA44 but we only had a picture of the remains of Bath Road in 1933, some sixteen years after this short-lived passenger service had ceased. The railmotor is not identifiable. The driver has presumably just collected the single line token from the signalman but the person leaning out of a window is a passenger and the signalman is now posing for the photographer. Step access to the simple wooden platform was from the rear by the signal box. Note the three identical L&NWR New Line posters (two of them on a North London Ry poster board), exhorting potential passengers to 'Live In The Country'. In the background is part of Bath Road goods depot, the lines of which are spanned by a multi arch viaduct carrying the Piccadilly & District Railway's connecting line between Turnham Green and Acton Town; a 4-car clerestory roofed set can be seen heading across.

Issue 46 (March 2015)

Nick Deacon. Aspects of the Hull & Barnsley Railway. Part 1: Colonel Smith and the Birth of 'Hull's Own Railway'. 2-17
The North Eastern Railway was distrusted by the Corporation of Hull as it appeared to favour ports in the North East notably Hartlepool and had attempted to acquire the Hull Dock Company. Further, it had entered into the Humber Agreement in 1870 with the other railways which served the estuary. Part 2 see Issue 47 p. 33 et seq and errata noted by Author: Issue 49 page 79.

Fly Shunted 1: Stafford Common Signal Box and GNR No. 1012. 18

A.J. Mullay. The Railways of Annandale. 19-31.
Annandale is the key to the West Coast Main Line and the M74 motorway: the former received encouragement from the Government and was mainly financed from England, although John Hope-Johnstone, a local MP, fought hard for the Annandale route. Joseph Locke was the engineer of what was to become the Caledonian Railway. The Moffat Railway linked the main route to the tourist town and was completed on 2 April 1883. A hydro (hydropathic) spa hotel encouraged traffic on the branch, but this was burned down after WW1. Long distance commuting to Glasgow was encouraged by the Tinto Express which called at Beattock station. The branch closed to passengers in 1954: Mullay argues that it should have remained open. Corncockle Quarry had its own railway to convey its high grade sandstone to the main line railway: its locomotives included C.C.R. and Urmston: another was requisitioned for use at Gretna during WW1. Another quarry at Corsehill near the exit of the River Annan into the Solway exported sandstone for the brownstone buildings in New York. The Chapel Cross (Chapelcross) plutonium production and electricity generating plant had a 5ft 4in guge railway which used diesel mechanical locomotives, but is not illustrated. 

Fly Shunted 2: Gretna Munitions Factory. 32
Upper photograph swhows Gretna Township railway station in about 1917 and lower is an aerial view in late 1920s of part of township and factory. Created during WW1 to manufacture Cordite and was vast with 125 miles of railway track

Neil Parkhouse. The Devizes branch in colour Part 2 . 33-47

Brlan Arman. `Ugly ducklings or beautiful swans?' The Bristol & Exeter Railway 4-4-0 saddle tanks. 48-62
Ahrons Locomotive and train working in the late ninenteenth century Volume 4 called the 4-4-0T class amongst the ugliest engines which ever ran. Pearson was a very competent engineer and made the atmospheric system in South Devon. He was deeply religeous, but Puritanical and a just and considerate leader. The class is considered in very considerable detail, noting the differences between the various batches and giving the Works numbers for all the locomotives. An accident at Exeter on19 October 1858 was caused by a 4-4-0T No. 47 ran into the rear of the Mail train when hauling a military special to Plymouth: Colonel Yolland criticised the lack of a cab on the 4-4-0T. The Norton Fitzwarren was a much more serious collision as is shown in the photograph. See errata Issue 47 p. 79.

Peter Tatlow. A.C. Johnstone: Railway Photographer Part 4: The GWR at Hayes, Middlesex in 1913-1914. 63-6.
All taken on 13 June 1914. See also long letter from Huw Edwards in Issue 47 p. 79

`Down Postal'. 67

GCR 2-4-0T misidentified. John Quick. 
Re view of a GCR 2-4-0T on p79 of RA44 for small errors in the caption: locomotive, No. 448, is from Class 12AM, which was the new classification given them by the company after rebuilding. The three 12-wheeled trailers were built by the GCR to work with the 2-4-0Ts and were numbered 4, 5 and 6. The vehicle in the photograph is more than likely No. 4. ,

Hendreforgan Station. J. Moore 
Re p52 of RA44: Hendreforgan station was situated about 1¼ miles south of Gilfach Goch station in the Little Ogmore Valley (Cwm Ogwr Fach). It is indeed the junction for Gilfach Goch, not Blaengarw. The railway from the Ely Valley line near Tonyrefail to Hendreforgan (Gellirhaidd Junction) was extended to the collieries in Gilfach Goch in the 1860s. The line from Hendreforgan to Tondu via Blackmill in the Ogwr Fach Valley was laid some time afterwards. When a passenger station was opened in Gilfach Goch, passenger trains ran to Bridgend. This involved a reversal at Hendreforgan for the final part of the run to Gilfach Goch. No passenger trains ran between Hendreforgan and the Ely Valley Railway.

Mystery picture RA44. John Hutchings 
Andrew Neale's comments re the mystery picture on p52 of RA44 are very interesting but I think he has missed a crucial point. Close study of the original print, courtesy of the editor, confirms that the Peckett 0-4-0ST actually has inside cylinders. There is no sign of a connecting rod and the front boss of the coupling rod is just visible between the knees of the man standing by the front buffer beam. It also appears to be fitted with a double set of buffers, same as the Manning, Wardle. This narrows the field somewhat and I would suggest that the photograph was taken at Nevill, Druce & Co., Llanelly, and depicts Peckett Works No. 492 of 1890, with Manning Wardle Works No. 493 of 1874 in front. According to the Industrial Railway Society's Industrial Locomotives of Dyfed & Powys, the Peckett was delivered new to this location and a works photograph confirms the general appearance, also the double buffers. The Manning, Wardle was an 'H' Class with 12in x 18in cylinders, also new to this location but, as Andrew comments, the cab has been rebuilt at some time. Both these locomotives were said to have been named at Llanelly, the Peckett as Pioneer and the Manning as Active, but if the names were painted they could well have become virtually invisible in later photographs. The other interesting point in this photograph is what looks like a brake van at the other end of the wagons. Although too far away for positive identification, does its general appearance match vehicles used on any of the smaller railways in this part of South Wales?

Vulcan at Stone. Brian Rumary 
In the photograph on p45 of the article 'The Railway Through Stone', it may not have been noticed that the locomotive Vulcan has apparently been prepared to be moved `dead' in a freight train. Note that the connecting rods has been removed and appear to have been placed cross-wise on the footplate in front of the smokebox. Also, the cross-head has been moved to the 'full aft' position and a heavy piece of wire has been threaded through the gudgeon pin hole to lash it in that position to the slide bar bracket. As the locomotive is in good condition and a letter ' S' can be made out on the tender behind it, may I suggest that this was taken at a works on the Southern Railway just before it set out on its journey to Taylor Tunnicliff in Stone?

NER loco misidentified. W. Clarke 
Re photograph on p10 of RA45 cannot be of an NER `131' locomotive - they were 0-6-0 tender engines and this is a tank locomotive. Re the picture of No. 45302 on p30; the electric warning flashes were to warn staff about overhead electrification, not for permitting a locomotive to run under the wires - a diagonal yellow stripe on the cab side showed that an engine was Not Permitted under wires.

Premier Line matters. Bill Aves
Re Hadley for the excellent photograph of Bath Road Station, an illustration of the kind of halts built for the rail motor and motor-train services the company introduced in the decade before the Great War. It is very difficult to identify the SRM in the picture, because of the oblique angle, but the window layout appears to be that of one the second batch of three, No's 4 to 6.
The 2-4-0T No. 1001 shown in the photo on p59, was not one of the first fifty engines built in 1876-79 but was one of the five later 4ft bins 2-4-2Ts rebuilt as motor-fitted 2-4-0Ts in the summer of 1908, having been built at Crewe in November 1884. I am also a little doubtful that it was photographed in the Watford area — if so, it was probably in service on the St. Albans, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth, or Harrow-Stanmore services. It was used on the Red Wharf Bay line in Anglesey in 1909 (from Bangor shed — sub-shedded at Amlwch), was apparently photographed at Llandudno Junction in 1915, and by 1926 was on the Wirral. It may also be relevant that it was not given its LM&SR No. 6432 until April 1928 and this could well be a post-Grouping picture.

Middlesex Boundaries. Malcolm Parsons 
The many changes to county boundaries in 1974 (and subsequent changes) can be a problem for compilers of geographical items such as John Alsop's Postcards series, of which the three-part Middlesex coverage has been of great interest to me. The inclusion of most of Middlesex into Greater London occurred earlier, on 1 April 1965. However, the south west corner preferred to move in with Surrey. This included not just the Shepperton Branch but also the Windsor-Reading line through Staines and Ashford. In the case of the latter, where the railway needed to distinguish it from its Kent counterpart, the suffix Middlesex was retained, Surrey was briefly used after privatisation before the renaming of the Kent station Ashford International (for Eurostar trains) removed the duplication. (The Royal Mail, incidentally, still uses Middlesex for the whole of the former county area!) Staines Great Western station managed to be a Middlesex station for all its regular passenger service, the last trains on the branch from West Drayton running on Saturday 27 March 1965 — the GLC/Surrey changes occurring the following Thursday. Colnbrook station also 'moved' into Surrey but is now, along with the actual village, in the unitary authority of Slough (Berkshire formerly Buckinghamshire). Some years ago a picture album book featured the last days of steam in Buckinghamshire and made great play that three of the 'Big Four' companies served the county. While not regularly used by steam passenger trains since electrification in 1930, the Windsor line through Wraysbury and Datchet was at that time still in Buckinghamshire so it, like Middlesex and the County of London, had lines once-owned by all of the Big Four — along with London Transport. Another frequent confusion in the London area is between the Metropolitan and Metropolitan District which Roger Holden has happily clarified (letters RA45). However, on the opposite page (inside back cover) your caption writer invents the Piccadilly & District Railway! Until the formation of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933, the Piccadilly tube line was formally the Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway. Like the District and most other tube lines — but not the Metropolitan — it was part of the Underground Electric Railways of London Group. On the far left of the picture, Stamford Brook station can be seen on the viaduct. As this did not open until 1912, it would seem that the view was taken a little later than the circa 1909 suggested, Even without county boundaries there is plenty of confusion about that line too. As Mr Alsop says in the Turnham Green caption, the line was built by the L&SWR although various companies had running powers. The District was sole provider of passenger services from 1916, the Piccadilly not being extended west of Hammersmith until 1932.

North & South Western Junction Railway. Robert Humm.
Re letter from Hadley and the caption below the photograph of Bath Road Station? Bath Road was not on the line between South Acton and Richmond but on the 1¼ mile single track branch from South Acton to Chiswick & Hammersmith. The terminus was situated on the north side of Chiswick High Road, about half way between the then village of Hammersmith and the small settlement referred to as `Chiswick' (though strictly it should be called North Chiswick or Tumham Green to distinguish it from the ancient Thameside village of Chiswick some three-quarters of a mile to the south). In the 1850s it was a sparsely populated area of pasture and market gardens, and the branch was built under somewhat shady financial circumstances. An existing farmhouse was utilised as the station building.
As the caption states, three intermediate halts were opened in 1909 when the steam railmotor service was introduced. Yet the branch had had a passenger service since 1858, operated at first by the N&SWJR's solitary tank engine and subsequently by a couple of North London Railway 4-4-0Ts stationed at a 2-road locomotive depot at South Acton. Freight traffic was substantial and continued until 1965.
From 1909, tickets were issued by the guard aboard the railmotor and the Chiswick & Hammersmith ticket office was closed. In later years, the building was used as a house and shop. When I moved to Chiswick in 1973 the station was still extant, though I think boarded up. It was demolished about 1975-76 and houses built on the site. At that time the Bath Road level crossing was clearly identifiable. Most of the rest of the route has also been built over. One ghostly legacy is that the boundary of today's W4 and W6 postal districts runs along the erstwhile trackbed.
It is incorrect to say that the North & South Western Junction Railway (the main line' that is) ran from Acton to Richmond. The line commenced at North & South Western Junction immediately south of Willesden Junction Low Level station (L&NWR) and terminated at Old Kew Junction some 22 chains west of Kew Bridge station on the L&SWR Hounslow Loop. Passenger trains from Broad Street to Richmond left the N&SWJR and joined the L&SWR at Acton Junction, a few yards west of South Acton station. At Brentford Road Junction they reached the former L&SWR Richmond to Hammersmith and Kensington (Addison Road) line. From Gunnersbury station to Richmond, the route was shared with London Transport's District Line service, both terminating at the bay platforms on the north side of Richmond station.
Further information can be found in Michael Robbins' North London Railway, the late Alan A. Jackson's London's Local Railways, the reprint of the 1914 Railway Junction Diagrams, and various issues of London Railway Record.

Bath Road Station and Camille Pisarro. Clive Croome. 67-8  
Unfortunately, the caption writer appears to have a vague view of the geography of this part of West London so that most of the statements in the caption need to be revised for accuracy. Firstly, as to location, the view shows Bath Road Station on the N&SWJR Hammersmith & Chiswick Branch. This branch (really a twig) was built in the late 1850s and ran north east from Acton Gate House Junction in a large semicircular loop to finish pointing due south at Hammersmith & Chiswick station, adjacent to Chiswick High Road. Acton Gate House Junction was located north of South Acton station on the main N&SWJR line from Gunnersbury to Willesden Junction. There was a small engine shed located on the branch at the junction (the only shed on the whole NLR system apart from the main shed at Bow). The other two halts at Rugby Road and Woodstock Road were spaced along the branch between Acton Gate House and Bath Road, none are on the N&SWJR main line.
The end of the branch at Hammersmith & Chiswick station is immediately beyond the bridges seen in the view. The platform end was only about 50 yards from the bridge and the trackage in the view is actually all part of Hammersmith and Chiswick station goods yard. The siding to the left of the railmotor is the end of the goods yard access loop. The access points are visible under the railmotor, while a loading gauge is also visible just above it's roof. There was no Bath Road goods yard!
The line on the viaduct in the background, at the time of the view, was owned by the L&SWR and used by the District Railway, GWR and L&SWR. The L&SWR had recently rebuilt this section between Hammersmith (Studland Road Junction) and Chiswick Park to provide two independent pairs of tracks, one for the District Railway electric services to Richmond and Ealing Broadway and the other for the L&SWR and GWR steam services from Richmond to Kensington and Aldgate. As part of the rebuild, a new station was built for the sole use of the District Railway. Called Stamford Brook, it's platform canopy is visible in the top left of the view. The work was completed in December 1911 which dates the photograph to summer 1912 or later. Although Stamford Brook station is on the south side of the line, the bridge across the N&SWJR branch was widened on the north side, so we see the new section of bridge in the view. These bridges still exist and carry large ornate builder's plates dated 1911 for E.C. & J. Keay & Co. in the form of a Staffordshire knot. Although the L&SWR carried out the work, it was at the behest of the District Railway who guaranteed the interest on the capital required and defined the scope of the scheme. The relationship appears to have been very similar to Network Rail and the Train Operating Companies today. At this time, the Piccadilly Line stopped at Hammersmith and would not be seen at this point for another twenty years, while the District Railway line from Tumham Green to Acton Town only starts near Chiswick Park station, about two miles further west from this point.
With regard to the comment in the caption on the single line token. In view of the location of the signal box at the end of Hammersmith & Chiswick station, this might be unlikely. If a token was exchanged at this box, northbound services would leave Hammermith and Chiswick platforms without a token and stop a few hundred yards further up the line for the token exchange, remembering that before 1909 there was no platform at this point. It would be interesting to know what these arrangements were. Annoyingly, the nameboard for the box is hidden behind the gas lamp, otherwise this might give a clue to the status of the box. I suspect that its prime function was to supervise the level crossing, not to act as a block post. It is a mystery to me why the platform at this point merited the status of a station while the other two at Rugby and Woodstock Roads were only ever halts. I suspect that the presence of the signalman counts as a 'staffed' location. Alternatively, it could just be that Bath Road is a reasonably important road while the other two were effectively residential side streets.
Now on to the main reason for the letter — this view is actually quite well known, not as a photograph but as a painting called The Train Bedford Park (shown in inset) painted in 1897 by the impressionist Camille Pisarro. Pisarro was based in Paris but spent long periods living in London. On his fourth visit he stayed at No. 62 Bath Road, which is the house immediately to the right of the signal box in the photograph. The Train Bedford Park was painted from his bedroom window and shows the two signals prominently in the foreground of the painting.
Seeing the photograph shows how accurately Pisarro painted the view, despite the impressionistic technique. In the painting, two trains are shown. Pisarro didn't paint the track layout in any detail but it appears that the nearer train is actually standing on the goods loop while other train is leaving Hammersmith & Chiswick under clear signals. Details of the engines are unclear. The goods engine has a prominent brass valve safety cover but could be one of the NLR 0-6-0Ts, the passenger engine is unclear except is appears to be in a maroon livery. How accurately Pisarro rendered these details, I don't know.
At the risk of adding superfluous details, I should say that Bedford Park is the name of an estate of superior houses laid out in the 1870s as the first Garden Suburb. The Bath Road forms the southern and the branch the eastern edge of the estate so Pisarro named the painting after the desirable area, not the station. Pisarro also painted a couple of other views at this location. One, titled The Railroad Bridge at Bedford Park shows part of the wooden footbridge provided for pedestrians when the level crossing gates were shut. The photograph was taken from this bridge.
One final point. The open character of the land to the east of the branch is apparent in both the photograph and painting, with what appear to be allotments fairly prominent. This is unusual in this area but gives a clue to the pre-railway landscape. In fact, the branch was built alongside the Stamford Brook for most of its length. Stamford Brook was one of the minor streams draining west London and fed into the Thames at Chiswick. At the time of Pisarro's painting, it had been partly covered in but still appears as a green ditch on the east side of the railway in the painting. By the time of the photograph there is no visible sign of the watercourse. This might be explained by the presence of Acton Sewage works further up the line. Built in 1887, the main outfall sewer ran next to the branch alongside Stamford Brook and then continued beyond Hammersmith & Chiswick station to an outfall on the Thames at Chiswick Eyot. The sewage works were rebuilt and expanded in 1905 to cope with extra load and prevent flooding during times of high rainfall. It is likely that Stamford Brook was fully culverted at this time before the photograph was taken. One wonders what the upmarket residents of Bedford Park thought about the sewage works immediately next to their estate.
Sources consulted.
For N&S WJR History: The Railways and Transport of Hammersmith, Frank Goudie and Douglas Stuckey, Forge Books, 2000.
Also the Oakwood Press NLR History by R.M. Robbins.
For the L&SWR Hammersmith to Chiswick Park Rebuilding:
Article in Railway & Travel Monthly Dec. 1911, p500;
also ICE paper 4045 of 21.1.1913 describes the work.
For Acton Sewage Works: The Engineer Vol. 64, 16 September 1887 (www.gracesguide.co.uld engineer). Includes a clear map.
For Pisarro: Camille Pisarro at Crystal Palace, Nicholas Reed, Lilburne Press 1993. (Also Pisarro in West London).
OS Map: Bedford Park 1915 London Sheet 72, Alan Godfrey. Confirms station/halt names and shows footbridges. Photographs: Chiswick Library Local History collection contains a survey of the branch taken in 1965, just before final closure, by the late J.C. Gilham. There are several views of the Bath Road crossing. At this time, the signal box survived but the platform had disappeared.
PS: As a final comment on the Bath Road crossing, this from the magazine Theleme in December 1888 might be found amusing: 'A Barricade at Bedford Park' The Branch of the North London Railway to Chiswick is becoming a positive public nuisance and a regular block occurs almost every morning between the hours of six and seven at the Bedford Park level-crossing. All those who may be riding or driving at that early hour (and surely they are especially deserving of consideration), are often kept waiting a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, if not longer, while goods trains of immense length slowly shunt backwards and forwards before the outraged users of the obstructed highway. Surely some regulations might easily be made (if none exists) that the barriers shall not remain closed for so long a time, for in many cases it is of the utmost importance that one should pass through this the only outlet towards Shepherd's Bush and London. Imagine yourself driving to catch an early train at Paddington or elsewhere and being trapped in this irritating way. A fount of *** would but feebly express your violated feelings.
Because the business of the Goods Yard at Chiswick has greatly increased of late years, everyone else's business must be interrupted. This is the immoral moral of the matter. If more wayfarers were abroad in the early mornings, this abominable nuisance would quickly bring down indignation upon the heads of those directly responsible for so obstructive an arrangement, and quickly prove keen enough to even penetrate the official brain.
Meanwhile deeply regrettable curses daily rend the aesthetic morning atmosphere of Bedford Park, but, unfortunately, fail to reach the drowsy Directors snoring in their cosy feather-beds. See to it you Western Men!
'EARLY BIRD'
(Obviously one of the carriage owning classes!)

The Railway Through Uttoxeter. Jim Woodward. 68-9
Started his forty-four year railway career at Uttoxeter MPD in 1962 and remained on the footplate after its closure in December 1964, at Crewe and Stoke. After leaving the footplate he worked on the permanent way and then moved to the signalling grades, as a signalman at Scropton Crossing, then relief signalman at Uttoxeter covering the boxes between Scropton and Foley Crossing until 1975.He then moved to the WCML at Lichfield Trent Valley as a relief signalman, remaining in the West Midlands area of the WCML in signalling and supervisory roles for the rest of his career.
In the article on Uttoxeter in' RA37 , on p27 mention is made of Tom Waterfield being the resident fitter. During writer's time at the depot, there was also another fitter by the name of George Hall, who he believes had transferred from Stoke. Tom worked on the day turn and George on the night turn. Tom also undertook the depot clerical work and rostering in addition to his fitting duties. When Tom was on leave or off sick, George would cover the day turn duties and the night turn would be covered by relief from either Stoke of Crewe. Writer recalls a fitter from Crewe by the name of Dave Waddock covering on a couple of occasions. By the way, it was Tom Waterfield who interviewed him and started him as a fifteen year old cleaner. The top photograph on p50 is described as near Uttoxeter East Junction; the location is in fact approaching Hockley Crossing and the signal is the Hockley Crossing Up Home, with Pinfold Crossing Up Distant below. The shed building centre left of the picture is at the edge of the cemetary. The railings on the right of the picture were at the side of a footpath from Hockley Road to the recreation ground, which many years previously had an open air swimming pool. Had the location been Uttoxeter East Junction there would be part of the racecourse in view. Illusttrations of certificate to act as fireman on a steam locomotive, also photographs taken at Uttoxeter shed leading up to closure (page 69).

Fly Shunted 3: Last train from Gloucester Midland (Old) Station in 1896. 70
Photograph taken on 12 April 1896: high quality print. Class 1282 2-4-0 locomotive No. 1295 hauling LNWR coaches and MR coaches. See also RA27 for broad gauge at Gloucester at about this period

John Alsop. Wish you were here? Railway postcards of Peeblesshire. 71
The views of the stations serving Dolphinton were taken in Peeblesshire, but the village served was in Lanarkshire!

Issue 47 (June 2015)

Editorial
We begin this editorial with the advance announcement that we have decided to end publication of Railway Archive next year. As this is issue No. 47, it seemed logical to take it up to issue No. 50, due in March 2016, and then bring it to a close. As well as bringing publication of the journal to a neat and tidy conclusion, it also means that anyone who has just taken out a subscription will get the full four issues, whilst moving forward from here we shall now only take on part subscriptions up until it finishes. This will save the complication of having to issue refunds. So having taken what will obviously be a decision that will disappoint our many loyal readers, for whom RA has been the only journal specialising in the pre-Group scene on Britain's railways, we must now explain why.
Sadly, whilst referring to 'our many loyal readers', the truth of the matter is that the 'many' are no longer many enough. Sales of the journal have been on a gentle slide for a number of years since the early years of publication and whilst it has not reached the stage where it is losing money, each issue no longer generates enough revenue to justify the month it takes to put together. Most of this slide is due to the loss of sales outlets since we began publication in June 2002. The closure of various local bookshops which supported us, plus specialist outlets such as Midland Counties (who went a few years ago now) and the Ian Allan bookshop in Cardiff (which closed in February), along with model railway show retailers who have ceased trading, has proved a continual drain on the sales figures. Many readers seem to have prefered to see a copy before purchase, with the result that few of these lost sales have translated into new subscriptions. It is therefore with great regret that we have decided to end publication of RA whilst it is still 'in credit' and certainly before things slide any further.
The one thing we can assure you is that this decision has nothing to do with the amount or quality of the material we are being offered to publish and we have some great articles to run with prior to finishing. We are also already making plans for stand alone RA style publications, which will be able to make use of further material of the type presented in RA, from authors' who are already talking to us about their ideas, so keep an eye on our website for details of such new projects. The freeing up of this time in our schedule will also enable us to publish more books every year, with numerous manuscripts in the pipeline awaiting working on. We will also look to keep up a regular railway content in RA's sister journal Archive, publication of which is not affected by this decision. Please rest assured in fact that whilst we have had to be quite dispassionate in making this decision to finish RA, Black Dwarf Lightmoor Publications Ltd will continue to move forward and that we will continue to publish quality books for your enjoyment. Neil Parkhouse & Ian Pope

Stanley C. Jenkins.  The Steyning Line. 2-32. + front cover and rear cover
On 12 July 1959 the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway was authorised to construct railway from Horsham to Shoreham. The railway was completeed on 16 September 1861 and was converted to double track in 1880. Stroudley D and D1 0-4-2Ts worked the line for many years (the captions incorrectly describe thse as 0-6-0Ts). Later Billinton D3 0-4-4Ts were used. The picturea mainly came from the Lens of Sutton Collection

Nick Deacon. Aspects of the Hull & Barnsley Railway. Part 2: Over the hills to Barnsley. 33-52
Part 1 see Issue 46: photographs taken in February 1882 unless stated otherwise.

Peter Tatlow. A.C. Johnstone. Railway Photographer Part 5: The SE&CR in 1913-1914. 53-6.

Brian Arman. The Hopwood Collection 1901-1926 Part 20: The Great Western Railway at Westbourne Park and Old Oak Common. 57-67
All photographed at Westbourne Park unless stated otherwise

Fly Shunted 1: Froghall Station circa 1865. 68.

John Alsop. Wish you were here? Railway postcards of Rutland. 69-77.

Fly shunted 2: S&DJR and Cambrian 2-4-0s at work. 78
Photographs acquired as lantern slides; Somerset & Dorset 2-4-0 probablly No. 18 in Lyncombe Vale probably with a train for Templecombe in early 1890s. See letter from Brian Lacey in RA 48 page 20 .Cambrian Railways 2-4-0 with short train crossing Barmouth Viaduct in 1890s

'Down Postal'. 79

The Liskeard & Caradon Railway. Nick Deacon 
Dispute Messenger's surprising claim that W.R. Galbraith became the engineer of the line in 1846, rather than Silvanus Jenkin. As related in the text of my article, Robert Coad was the original Liskeard & Looe Union canal engineer who, with a civil engineering colleague, a Mr Brown, surveyed the route of the proposed L&CR in 1842. Coad was joined or partnered (it is unclear which) by Jenkin later the same year, who afterwards in 1846 assumed full responsibility for the line — possibly as a result offaulty original surveying by Coad, which had necessitated the building of the hugely obstructive Gonamena Incline.
Galbraith was born in Stirling in 1829 and after an education at Stirling Academy and Glasgow University, in 1846 was articled to John Errington, a noted civil engineer who at this time was primarily engaged on railway projects north of the border. From 1855, Galbraith, now fully fledged, was mainly employed with Errington on L&SWR extensions west of Yeovil and, on the death of his mentor in 1862, was appointed engineer for new works on the L&SWR. Therefore, it is very unlikely that as a callow youth of 17, Galbraith had any senior connection with the L&CR in 1846. If there is such a connection then I would like to know the source! In MM's book (the 2001 edition), the only mention of Galbraith is where, in his capacity as a consulting engineer, he 'spoke up for the LCR' in 1884, over an issue with the 1882 L&CR Extension Bill. Unless I've missed the blindingly obvious, there is no other reference either in MM's book or elsewhere to Galbraith having any connection with the L&CR prior to this date, so I suggest MM's assertion is incorrect.
As to the application of the Railway Clauses Consolidation Act (1845) to the L&CR, although the Act and it's impact on the company is not mentioned in MM's book (but covered in my article), I welcome the information he has supplied as to when its rulings were finally applied to the L&CR. My investigation of source records primarily at Liskeard Museum failed to uncover this latter fact. However, in this respect at least, I cannot be accused of misinterpretation of MM's work when the allegedly errant material does not appear within the pages of his book! See response from Michael Messenger in RA 48 page 20

Hull & Barnsley corrections. Nick Deacon 
Some minor errors crept into the first of my Hull & Barnsley articles: p. 13,col. 2, para. 2: 'Henshall' should read 'Hensall' p16, map caption: 'Stromeferry' should read 'Stoneferry'. p17, Sources: 'Hinchcliffe' should read 'Hinchliffe'.

Editor's Note:
We have also received an email from NERA member and H&BR expert Nick Fleetwood, querying the fact that the H&BR line diagrams used in Part I were not credited. These were purchased in the 1960s by the late Chris Woolstenholmes (who was NERA librarian and archivist at the time), from an antiquarian book dealer in York. He only let a very few people see them but one of these, who was also permitted to take photographic copies, was Mick Nicholson, After Chris Woolstenholmes died, they were discovered and bequeathed to NERA who arranged for them to be restored, at some expense. Mick supplied us with digital copies of the diagrams for use in the article and explained their source. He received a general credit for assistance with the article but felt that it was not appropriate that the diagrams were credited to him, which is why they were left unattributed. We are quite happy to make it clear, however, that the originals are now held by the North Eastern Railway Association.

The GWR at Hayes, Middlesex in 1913-1914. Huw Edwards
The quadrupling of the line from Westbourne Park to Taplow through Hayes was authorised by powers granted under the Great Western Railway Act of 21 July 1873. The relevant sections of the new lines were opened in stages as follows:
Southall to Hayes opened on 25 November 1878
Hayes to West Drayton opened on 12 August 1878
The new lines were mostly built on the north side of the existing formation and became the relief or slow lines. There are documents and plans in the National Archives which give details of the quadrupling at RAIL 1030/175 to RAIL 1030/178. They include a 2 chain survey of the line before quadrupling. The line from Taplow to Didcot was quadrupled about 1893. The principal source for the above is History of the Great Western Railway, Vol. 2, E.T. Macdermot, revised by CR Clinker 1964, pp 169-170 and p197.
There are fourteen high quality photographs, taken circa 1910 by Robert Brookman at the same locations in Hayes, in From Dean to Churchward, Vol. 1, published in 2008 by Edward Talbot.
The photograph looking east on p63 shows Bourne's Bridge carrying Dawley Road, with Keith Road on the right. This bridge has now been completely rebuilt in connection with the Paddington to Didcot electrification scheme.
Additional Note on Mileposts
In regards to the location of mileposts between Paddington and Bristol, it was standard practice on the GWR to locate them on the Up side of the line. On the main line from Paddington to Bristol, zero was originally taken to be the first Paddington station opened in 1838, on the west side of Bishops Bridge. This station was closed when the new Paddington station in Praed Street was opened in 1854. However, the mileages shown on the mileposts were not amended at that time and still showed zero from the old Paddington station. Between 1880 and 1883, the mileposts were recalibrated to show zero from the new Paddington station. This was done by moving them exactly ¼ mile to the east thus increasing the milepost distance. Shortly afterwards, the new ones were moved to the Down (south) side of the line, probably to prevent confusion between the old and new mileposts. These new mileposts can be seen in some of Robert Brookman's photographs.
Currently, the mileposts are now located on the Up (north) side of the line. The date of change is uncertain but may be as late as the 1930s. There are quite a number of other cases of mile posts being recalibrated:
• Following track alterations about 1900 at Bala Junction, the mileposts on the line to Blaenau Ffestiniog were moved about 8 chains towards Bala Junction.
• After about 1890, the Shrewsbury & Chester Railway showed the distance from Paddington via Oxford instead of from Shrewsbury and Chester.
• On the Chester to Holyhead Railway on the L&NWR, the mileposts showed the distance from Chester until about 1880. After this date they were changed to show the distance from Euston.
In the accompanying lithograph by J.C. Bourne, dated 1846, of a train leaving the western end of Box Tunnel, milepost ¾ can be seen on the Up (north side) of the line, which was in fact milepost 100¾. There is still a milepost at this location but it is now milepost 101 following the recalibration referred to above. However, there appears to be another milepost on the Down (south) side of the line at the same location. During the early days of railways, there were two sets of mileposts installed on many lines, showing the distance from both termini of the relevant line. Thus, as late as 1870, there were two series of mileposts on the London & Birmingham Railway showing the distances from Euston and Birmingham on opposite sides of the line. However, the Box Tunnel picture probably shows a duplication of milepost 100¾ on the south side of the line, since it is exactly at the location of the milepost on the Up side.

B&ER correction. Brian Arman
Re Bristol & Exeter Railways 4-4-0 Saddle Tanks, an error appeared. It has was incorrect to suggest that the class was fitted with Gooch fixed link valve gear. Further inspection of the drawing of a Beyer, Peacock built locomotive reveals that this group of engines at least were fitted with AlIan straight link motion. Although definitive evidence is lacking, since all four groups of these engines were the responsibility of James Pearson it may be assumed that this type of valve gear was common to all. Also lower picture on p.41 shows a Castle not a Hall.

Devizes branch. Alan Rhodes. 80
Re descriptions of DMUs: p. 38, the DMU is a Class 119 Cross-Country set built by the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Co.; p. 42 upper is also a Class 119 but as the view is oblique it is difficult to see the door/window arrangement. The Swindon Class' 120' sets had only two windows at the front/rear. Page 40 upper is a little more problematic! It is not a Swindon Class 120, that much is definite. By the number of doors and livery it is likely to be a high density Class 116, built at Derby. ,

Devizes branch. Tony Wardle
Re  Devizes main line diversions: understands lasted from 21 August to 25 September 1961 (KPJ now knows that return journey from honeymoon in St. Agnes was diverted thus and prolonged to discomfort of wife as we failed to obtain lunch tickets for hungry journey to Paddington). Re photograph p. 45: it may have been No. D845 Sprightly, which was the only locomotive of the class to have the experimental white/grey stripe above the cabs and small yellow surround around the headcode boxes (from August 1961 to February 1964). Re photographs at Seend, especially the branches to the ironworks. Archive 4 covered this in some depth and writer wondered if there have been any further details of the apparently 'homemade' broad gauge steam engine that was illustrated therein? (Sadly no. Ed.) Exploring off a canal trip in 2013, the route of the BG branch to the station was easily traceable.

GWR locomotive matters.  John Hil
Re errors in the Devizes Branch article: page 41 lower is a Castle, as shewn by cab roof shape shared with the 'King', curly outside steam pipe to cylinders, flat sided cylinders and the slide bars and motion bracket. I think all other tender locomotives had a radius cab roof, centred somewhere around the firehole. Page 47 lower is a Grange, identified by the lifted running plate over the cylinders, almost vertical steam pipes and the 5ft 8ins wheels. The cylinders were the 1936 revised design, which re-instated the steam chest volume of the original Churchward cylinders. Some of this volume had been lost in the 'Collet' outside steam pipe modification, which did have benefits from a fitting and maintenance point of view, in particular, more room to work in the smokebox. The Grange/Manor cylinder block had the benefit of both steamchest volume and outside steampipes.
Writer knew two senior GWR enginemen who held that a '29' re-cylindered with Collett cylinders, when the originals had to be replaced, had 'lost their edge' over the original Churchward cylinders and obviously someone fairly powerful at Swindon felt the same, for the cost of a new complex pattern would have been significant and in need of justification to the holder of the purse strings. I cannot believe that in a costed business organisation, the new block would have been authorised just to use up the pool of  43XX components from withdrawn locomotive chassis, without some other significant benefit other than just to provide the running department with more 4-6-0s. A 43XX in good hands could be a real 'cracker'.
They turned out to be probably the most efficient conventional steam cylinders put on a locomotive in this country and in all my contact with Great Western enginemen from 1942 onwards, as an enthusiastic child and on to the end of steam when fairly well grown up (fortunately never completed), found them as a class to be held in much esteem by firemen, those who got the wet shirt and drivers alike. The efficient use of steam is perhaps the most desirable feature of any steam power unit and G.J. Churchward more than any other locomotive engineer of his time and for many years after, recognised this.
Finally, on turning out an old suitcase, I found that I had a number of drawings from North British Locomotive, enough to build a model of a 'Ja', which I have now no intention of doing! What a lump it would be even in only 3'l,in. gauge, at I in. to I ft. Would any RA reader be interested in these, for the postage cost (to me) and say £10 to their local Air Ambulance? There is also a wodge of Swindon drawings for the '29XX' 'Court' series.

Mystery pic. 80
Another unidentified scene from John Alsop, which he is hoping that readers might be able to help with. Clearly a narrow gauge system – 2ft 6ins gauge? – we have most probably an 0-4-0 saddle tank on the left with side-tipping wagons alongside. A sand or gravel quarry seems likely. See letter from Andrew Neale in RA 48 p. 20. and from Brian Lacey on same page.

Number 48 (September 2015)

Jeffrey Wells. Large town and city stations of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway.  front cover; 2-19

'Down Postal'. 20

Mystery narrow gauge locomotive and Lucas & Aird matters. Andrew Neale
The narrow gauge saddletank shown in the 'Mystery Picture' p.80 RA47 is undoubtedly an example of Bagnall's standard 2ft gauge 0-4-0ST with 6ins x 9 ins outside cylinders, of which a large number were built over many years fitted with a variety of valve gears. As the photograph is taken at a sand or gravel pit probably in the I 920s, the obvious candidate is Bagnall No. 2079, ex-works on 13 November 1918, one of a batch originally built for the Ministry of Munitions and mostly intended for use on aerodrome construction works. However, this particular one may have originally been used to help build a National Filling Factory at Greenford, a contract managed by Joseph Lyons & Co. Ltd , who ordered spares for this locomotive on 27 May 1920. In March or April 1922, it was resold to Flint County Council through the agency of R.H. Mansell of Slough. The Council employed it on the construction of the new road from Rhyl through Prestatyn to Gronant and, on conclusion of the work, it returned to Middlesex, being bought by the dealer R.H. Neal Ltd of Ealing in January 1924, who probably shipped it directly from Rhyl to their customer, Messrs Concrete Aggregates Ltd of Chiswick. Concrete Aggregates were a subsidiary of the Ham River Grit Co. Ltd and had just opened a large pit south of the railway line and east of the road from Richmond to Chiswick, which was served by an extensive 2ft gauge rail system. This employed several steam and petrol locomotives of different types but the Bagnall was soon transferred — by April 1925 to the company's large gravel pit at Ham, across the border in Surrey and hence the photograph was probably taken here soon after. The Bagnall was photographed at Ham by the late George Alliez on 26 March 1932, by which time it and the other steam locomotives were little used, as the pit preferred their fleet of Motor Rail petrol locomotives. Despite this, it lay at Ham out of use until ultimately scrapped about 1948, some two years before Ham Pits closed completely around 1950.
Re the first part of the H&BR article in RA47, although our knowledge of Lucas & Aird's locomotives and the contracts on which they worked are very incomplete, I can say that the saddletank in the picture on p.41 is not a Manning Wardle. Although it might be built by Kitson, another possibility is Fox Walker No. 139, an 0-6-0ST built by them about 1871 which is believed to have been owned by Lucas & Aird at some point. The Kitson 0-4-0 well tank shown on p.39 is probably Kitson No. 2363 of 1881 , which carried the name Buddy Court and that is presumably what is painted on the side. I think the contractor's locomotives shown in the other pictures are all by Manning Wardle, of which Lucas & Aird owned a very large number.

Mystery narrow gauge locomotive and S&DJR matters. Brian Lacey.
Re the 'Mystery Picture' on p.80, initially I thought the locomotive was one of Bagnall's 7ins x 12ins cylindered variety. In an effort to get an idea of the gauge 1 measured the width of the buffer beam and the track gauge where it goes into shadow below the locomotive. The width of the buffer beam on a 7ins x 12ins engine was 5ft 6ins which, when proportioned against the track gauge, indicated a prototype gauge of 2ft 3ins. Checking against the list of locomotives in the article in The Narrow Gauge Issue 99 entitled 'The 7ins Bagnalls' showed no locomotives of this type were built to 2ft 3ins gauge. Back to square one.
The locomotive must, therefore, be one of the 6ins x 9ins cylindered types and this was confirmed by the positioning of the safety valve bonnet nearer the cab roof than in the 7ins x 12ins engines. One feature that had originally led me to think that it was a 7ins x 12ins engine was the presence of a sandbox on the rear of the saddle tank, something that was seen on several of these but which I hadn't seen on a 6ins x 9ins one before. Carrying out a similar exercise on the buffer beam/track and using the known (from GAs) width of a 6ins x 9ins engine gave a track gauge of 2ft. Using the list of such engines in the article entitled 'Margarets and Mercedes' in Issue 89 of The Narrow Gauge, gave a list of possible candidates based purely on track gauge. The design of the locomotives changed circa 1915, so I have ignored ones built after that date.
There are a couple of points to note concerning the locomotive. It appears to be in Bagnall's standard green livery, which seems to be in pretty good condition, so the locomotive is probably fairly new. There is a small nameplate on the saddle tank and judging by the size, it is only likely to be big enough to accommodate about five or six characters. There appear to be the letters 'and' visible on the print, partially on the locomotive buffer beam and partially on the gentleman standing between the locomotive and the skip (which has the appearance of being a Bagnall product). The painted (?) number 62 on the skip is interesting. I am sure I have seen this practice in a photograph somewhere before but, unfortunately, I can't recall exactly where at the moment, as this might help identify the location.
Turning now to the locomotive list, many of the candidates can either be ruled out by photographic evidence or by their implied working environments. All of the slate quarry locos can be ruled out, as can those supplied to iron and steel works. The Cliffe Hill engines were devoid of cab roofs. Those supplied to waterworks and contractors are also unlikely, as is the Bosley Mill engine, which doesn't leave a lot of choice left, mainly the granite quarry and ironstone quarry engines. However, at this point in time I can't provide a definitive answer.
The photograph of the S&DJR 2-4-0 on p.78 has appeared in print before. It was on the front cover of HMRS Journal Vol. 8 Issue 7, albeit slightly cropped and flipped horizontally (i.e. one version is printed the wrong way round). The editorial to that issue described the photograph. Clearly the locomotive is in an intermediate state (footplate curved over the driving wheels and a Johnson boiler) in between its original Vulcan Foundry condition and its final condition with a straight footplate and Johnson boiler. HMRS President George Dow dated the picture as not later than mid-1881 and not earlier than 1876.

More on Cheesewring. Nick Deacon 
Re p.67 of RA47 in Brian Arman's article about Westbourne Park and OOC there is a picture of No. 1311 Cheesewring, In my delvings on the L&CR, he might be interested to know that another likely employment of No. 1311 during WWI was not just at the OOC coal stage but also at the Ministry of Munitions Chemical Shell Assembly Station (CSAS) at Greenford (also known as National Filling Factory (NFF) No. 28) and also at the nearby NFF No. 7 at Hayes. In 1915, Cheesewring had been reported as being 'out of use' but serviceable at Moorswater and it is likely that with her short wheelbase and imminence of disposal, the GWR saw her as an ideal candidate for work within the severely curved factory sidings. Supporting this view is the fact that No. 1311 was fitted out with a set of dumb buffers positioned within her standard set to work the narrow gauge factory lines, which in many locations were set between standard gauge rails. What would have confirmed this hypothesis was the existence of a spark arrester but no evidence of this has come to light. Predictably, No. 1311 was withdrawn in the summer of 1919, doubtless having reverted by then to coal stage work and other odds and sods but, in the nick of time, she was recorded at aoe by J.N. Maskeleyne and H. Gordon Tidey just four weeks before she disappeared forever.

High endeavours. Michael Messenger
Re Nick Deacon (letter, RA47) has misread my letter in RA44. I said that William Galbraith, not Silvanus Jenkin, was engineer of the North Cornwall Railway. Nick Deacon said that Jenkin was the engineer of this L&SWR-backed line from Halwill Junction to Wadebridge and, later, Padstow.
Having read all the L&CR and L&LR minutes, as well as numerous Board of Trade files and Parliamentary reports, I am very well aware of Silvanus Jenkin's role with the Liskeard & Caradon Railway.
The only way to appreciate the purpose and intent of an Act of Parliament is to read the Act. For those who have not had this opportunity to do so I have included some additional information in the revison and update of my book, Caradon & Looe; rhe Canal, Railway and Mines, the third edition of which is about to be published.

Derelict coach body. John Hill 
My son was on holiday in Scotland recently and adjacent to their accommodation on a farm was this coach body. They were about 12 miles from Inverurie and how easy it would be to assume that this was of GNSR origin. See letter from Keith Fenwick in RA 49 on this GNSR coach.
I learnt my lesson about this sort of assumption many years ago, when I measured up the tender oil tank that was on the top trackbed of the old West Somerset Minernl Railway and used by a farmer for water storage. It was generally assumed to be ex· GWR for a Churchward tender, for the carefully thought out limited oil firing scheme of 1946 (see RA12). This was aborted by BR when their massive oil-firing programme on a national scale was derailed as there was no money available to buy oil fuel in those quantities, having spent millions on the plant to handle it.
It was whilst driving home afterwards without really thinking about it that I realised that there was no relationship between the measurements I had taken and any GWR tender; it just would not fit. It turned out to be an ex-Southern design to fit a Drummond 'water cart' tender, not what one would expect with the Brendon Hills being in Great Western territiry and a long way from the Southern and Eastleigh.
Simon Bowditch relates that when interested in the Brendon Mines some years ago, a local farmer told him that the tank had in fact been purchased new from the River Dart shipyard of Philip & Son and had never run behind a locomotive. Did Phillips have a contract from BR to fabricate tanks? They certainly built buoys and landing craft as well as fine ships, starting in 1858 and up until they closed in the 1990s. He also told me that there was a disintegrating SER coach body about 5 miles north west of South Molton at that time, so geography and origin have no connection in this case either. Can anyone identify the coach body pictured here?

Brian Arman. Pouteau at Paddington: The GWR in transition. 21-30.

Nick Deacon. Aspects of the Hull & Barnsley Railway Part 3: The Alexandra Dock. 31-52.
James Abernethy was the engineer and a lengthy biography is given of the man born in Aberdeen in 1814. See also letter from Mike G. Fdell on the reopening of Alexandra Dock in 1991. Part 4

Peter Tatlow. A.C. Johnstone: Railway Photographer Part 6: The Midland and the London, Tilbury & Southend Railways in 1913-1914. 53-9

Neil Parkhouse. A pumpkin for Thoresby: an 1878 comic sketch. 60.
Hand drawn cartoon on postcard accepted by Her Majesty's Royal Mail for delivery to St. Catharine's College in Cambridge.

Barnstaple Town Station 1874. 61
Photographer Archibald Lewis Cocke (Coke) who died in 1896: shows bridge in background

Brian Arman. Didcot West Junction circa 1893. 62
Dean 2-2-2 3001 passing on express train with little evidence of former broad gauge in permanent way: loading gauge displays its former broader coverage. See mea culpa letter from author: not a 3001 class, but might be a Sir Alexander type

John Alsop. Wish you were here? Railway postcards of the L&NWR in Anglesey and Carnarvonshire. 63-80; rear cover
Names are those used on the postcards and may not reflect current Welsh usage

Number 49 (December 2015)

Allan C. Baker and Mike G. Fell. The Railways at Trentham Part 1: Trentham Station, the Dukes of Sutherland and the Florence Colliery Railway. 2-24.
Includes biographical material on those who worked  at Trentham notably stationmaster Arthur Carr Pennington who was born on 17 March 1869 and who ultimately became strationmaster at Stoke in 1919, but did not enjoy good health and died on 17 August 1925. The dukes also receive attention noting their proneness to unpleasant behaviour towards their fellow human beings, notably their displecemnt of  them in favour of sheep in the Highlands and their brutal treatment of the miners at the colliery.

Brian Arman .The Hopwood Collection 1901-1926 Part 21: Porcelain, iron & coal — three 'great little railways' of England. 25-35.
The North Staffordshire Railway was centred in Stoke-on-Trent yet none of the photographs were taken nearer than Stockport on the London & North Western Railway's approach to Manchester and two were taken in Llandudno to which the company ran a summer service. The East & West Junction Railway was photographed at Stratford-on-Avon during the brief period when the railway nearly became part of the Great Central Railway but shortly afterwards the Stratford-on-Avon & Midland Junction Railway was formed and this became part of the LMS. In 1904 the locomotive stock appeared to consist of whatever could be afforded, although wisely Beyer Peacock products predominated. The Maryport & Carlisle was small yet financially successful and even built some of its own locomotives under the direction of George Tosh.

'Down Postal'. 36

Anglesey amplifications. Huw Edwards
Re 'Railway Postcards on the L&NWR in Anglesey and Carnarvonshire':
1. Amlwch Station (p66) - The photograph shows the ticket platform at Amlwch. More information on the engine shed is given in LNWR Engine Sheds by Hawkins and Reeve published in 1981: 'A small one road building opened when the station and goods shed opened on 3rd June 1867, a year after the line was opened to goods traffic. It was a through shed with a slated pitched root and until 1914 at least, simply accommodated the single loco overnight. In 1925 two locos were officially outstationedjrom Bangor and eight men were based at the shed. It was closed on 14 September 1931.'
2. L1anbedrgoch (p66) - L1anbedrgoch in fact opened on the same day as Red Wharf Bay & Benllech (24 May 1909) not on the same day as Pentraeth (1 July 1908). The photograph was taken looking north towards Red Wharf Bay.

H&BR Correction. Mick Nicholson 
RA48, p38, middle picture: This is certainly not Alexandra Dock. It is Springhead Jubilee Sidings and New Yard, a collection of approximately sixty sidings used for the storage of loaded mineral wagons awaiting tripping to the dock. The attached view [right], which is almost certainly taken from Locomotive Junction signal box, is looking south east, towards what is now Anlaby Road. This near identical view is looking slightly more eastwards and shows three H&BR brake vans in the 'Van Kip'.

Philip's Shipyard, Kingswear. Bill Aves
Re John Hill's piece in 'Down Postal', regarding Philip's shipyard at Kingswear. Certainly during the winter of 1946-7, and probably for several years after WW2, they were building a succession of light vessels for Trinity House. Splendid, except for the 24hr plus fog signal tests that were undertaken before they were commissioned, certainly keeping the inhabitants of Dartmouth — including the Cadets at the Ccllege — i awake at night.

Mystery coach body . Keith Fenwick
The coach illustrated in RA48, p20, is a Great North of Scotland Railway Diagram 54 Full Brake dating from 1884-5. Compared with photographs I took in 1993.tle coach then had a full roof covering and there were more side panels, although not are original. No doubt a puff of wind will soon complete the job.

Fly shunted: Syrnond's Yat cl885. 36
Passing loop, platforms and River Wye: from a lantern slide

Nick Deacon. Aspects of the Hull & Barnsley Railway Part 4: The passenger stations. 37-71.

Peter Tatlow. A.C. Johnstone: railway photographer. Part 7: The Eastern Group — On GCR, GNR and GER lines in 1913-1914. 72-8.

John Alsop. Wish you were here? Railway postcards of Hampshire. 79-96; rear cover

Number 50 (March 2016)

Allan C. Baker and Mike G. Fell. The railways at Trentham Part 2: The Trentham Park Branch, the Trentham Gardens Miniature Railway and the LM&SR and BR eras at Trentham Station. 2-24
The Trentham Park Branch received its Royal Assent on 21 August 1907; having received the  encouragement of the Duke of Sutherland. Includes details of Baguley locomotives on Trentham Gardens Miniature Railway; the decline of the Gardens and biography of Tasker. See also Archive No. 90 for more pictures and information on the Miniature Railway

Jeffrey Wells. Alterations at three Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway tunnels: the Midland connection. 25-31.
The Midland Railway had obtained running powers to Manchester and Liverpool from its Settle & Carlisle line and Hellifield and wished to operate Pullman cars over it and this required modifications to the tunnels at Farnworth (very recentlty completely rebuilt for electrication), Sough and Wilpshire. At Farnworth an extra tunnel was added (this was the one completely rebored for electrification); at Sough the track was lowered with difficulty, but is now limited to single track, and at Wilpshire the track was lowered.

Bill Aves. The London & North Western Railway's motor-fitted trains and F.W. Webb's 4ft 6ins tank engines. 32-44
The text covers greater ground than the illustrations and includes the convoluted story of the 2-4-0T (introduced from 1876) and 2-4-2T designs and their rebuildings and replacements and their fitment with push & pull gear

Peter Tatlow. A.C. Johnstone: railway photographer Part 8: the L&SWR in 1913-1914. 45-51

'Down Postal' page 52

Didcot West correction. Brian Arman
Re photograph of Didcot West Junction and its caption. The locomotive is hard to define and he should have been more cautious because it is clear that the engine is not a 3001 Class 2-2-2 but one of the earlier Armstrong types, either of Classes 157 or 55, in other words a 'Sharpie' or a 'Sir Alexander', probably the latter.

Various observations on RA49. Peter Tatlow.
a) p. 11 - The 3rd Duke of Sutherland seemed to have a penchant for fire engines. As a director of the Highland Railway, in February 1865 he and Fraser-Tytler, a fellow director, had an interview with Captain Shaw, head of the London Fire Brigade, with a view to the Company purchasing a fire engine; the result of which was that Capt. Shaw recommended hand engines in preference to those worked by steam and offered to supply a pair of such in perfect order, complete and ready for work, for £240. But, on 1 March, after consideration the Board declined to accept the offer.
b) pp. 16-17 - Re means of lubrication of Florence wagon No. 1000, No. 1017 is definitely oil lubricated, being fitted with 1923 RCH standard split axle-boxes.
c) p. 80 - The footbridge at Liss, of a style similar to that at Bentley (p86), was replaced on the night of 1st/2nd April 1967 by the ex-LB&SCR one redundant from Cranleigh.
d) Rear cover - Re West Meon Viaduct's light lattice work, in the form of an arch: doubt if load carrying but merely decorative, perhaps to represent the concrete arch that might have been. Instead the plate girders will be carrying the load.

Aspects of the Hull & Barnsley 1. Mike G. Fell
Re feature on Alexandra Dock re-opening of the dock. The Humber Sand & Gravel sea dredged aggregate business initially operated from the western lead-in jetty to the dock in the River Humber. The dock itself was re-opened in its entirety on 16 July 1991 — its 106th birthday! Initially only the middle set of lock gates was used, a level being made across each high water period. The inner and outer sets of gates were restored later. The sea-dredged aggregate business moved to an in-dock berth once the dock had re-opened for traffic. The first commercial vessel to enter the re-opened dock was the Russian motor vessel Pioner Yakutii(4,814grt) with a cargo of timber from Igarka.
For the new Siemens' development, the western end of the dock has been filled in and a new 650m quay wall is being constructed where the old river pier used to be. The new quay will accommodate three offshore wind turbine installation vessels, which are too wide to pass through the lock. The two graving docks will remain operational. Writer was responsible for the Port of Hull from 1987 until his retirement in 2003 and personally recommended the re-opening of Alexandra Dock to the Associated British Pons main board, which was happily approved and quickly implemented.

Aspects of the Hull & Barnsley 2. Mick Nicholson
The photograph of Eastrington, RA49, p56, can not have been taken later than 22 November 1939: the date the goods yard connections No's 14 and 17 on the drawing were taken out of use. Close examination of the picture shows that at the time it was taken the yard was still in use. The Point Disc associated with No. 14 points is still ill situ and also a wagon appears in the goods yard.

Aspects of the Hull & Barnsley 3. J. Richard Morton
Nick mentions the old railway at Kirk Smeaton, which was indeed built to serve quarries at Wentbridge and Smeaton and take their limestone down to the Aire & Calder Canal (Knottingley & Goole Branch) at Heck basin. This was the Heck Bridge & Wentbridge Railway, authorised by Royal Assent on 5th May 1826 which, coincidentally, was on the same day as the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, although there the similarities ended. Whereas the L&MR was a spectacular success, the horse drawn Heck Bridge line was not. Planned to run for seven and a half miles, it was never fully completed and probably never carried traffic along its full length. In short, it was a hopeless failure, largely because its cost was greatly underestimated and its finances were in complete disarray from the outset. To make matters even worse, the Aire & Calder actively opposed the railway, even though its purpose was to act as a feeder to the canal. The final straw was when the price of building stone, the product on which the new line relied, collapsed in the London market. Thus the line died even before it could live and it lapsed into almost total obscurity - even its gauge is uncertain, although 3ft 6ins is most likely, with edge rails. Today, just one bridge, Heck basin and some earth works remain, together with the occasional stone block sleeper that turns up in a field.
The photograph of Cudworth shed (p40) was taken on a Sunday afternoon in 1925. All the engines are fully coaled with smokeboxes facing towards Hull, always the favoured operating direction for Cudworth crews whether on main line or pilot work.
Moving on to the picture of tbe Sentinel steam railcar No. 226 Ebor (p67), this is actually taken at Cudworth's platform 5 in the summer of 1928. As late as 1952, platform 5 was still designated as the H&B platform in Cudworth Station North signal box and the H&B station itself had become carriage sidings. The railcar is working the 4.00pm service to Kirk Smeaton and then possibly down the branch to Wath, which lost its passenger traffic from 6th April 1929. To the left of the railcar is the canopy valance of the old H&B platform and above the railcar is the 1885 lattice string footbridge which connected it to the Midland station's footbridge. Incidentally, this was the only station footbridge on the entire H&B. The 2-cylinder, chain driven railcar was new to traffic on 21st March 1928 and came to Cudworth shed even before it was officially allocated to Gateshead and then to West Hartlepool from September 1928. Thus in the photograph it is almost brand new. Quite what the fitters at Cudworth made of the newcomer is anybody's guess, as they had never seen anything like it before! It lasted until September 1939.
Finally, the remarkable photograph of Cudworth shed (p41), which was taken by fireman Jack West with his Box Brownie camera in 1948 from the mechanical coaling plant's l-ton hopper feed. The unique electrically controlled plant was built by the L&NER in 1928 and suggests that they made this investment fully convinced of the shed's future, sadly misplaced. The hopper was lifted on a metaJ girder elevator, which fed the 50-ton storage bunker — this had two delivery shutes. It replaced a hopelessly inadequate small crane and loading platform, though these were retained in the event of breakdown or maintenance. Jack still smiles quietly at the thought of this foolhardy photographic venture, which relied completely on the skills of the shed man operating the controls. but it is a very good photograph! In the background of the picture Royston locomotive depot can just be seen.
Whilst it is entirely reasonable to suggest that Cudworth's shed roof was a victim of colliery subsidence, the explanation is much less prosaic. As an aside, it is worth pointing out that the shed building was very solidly constructed on a concrete platform in anticipation of that very subsidence with which the entire district was afflicted. Jack joined the railway as a cleaner at Cudworth shed on 20 July 1944 and shortly afterwards disaster struck in the shape of a major roof fire. As was usual on a Saturday night, the Cudworth allocation was being lit up by the fire-raisers in preparation for the early start on Monday. There were very few staff on duty to notice that a spark had lodged in the roof and begun smouldering away; the fire brigade later estimated that this had been going on for approximately twelve hours before bursting into flame. The fire took hold very quickly through the tinder dry timbers of the north light roof and the fire brigade was called — the flames were clearly beyond the shed staff's ability to stop them spreading. Fortunately, the Cudworth UDC brigade arrived very quickly and immediately began to pump water from the adjacent Boulder Bridge Dike. Incidentally, the water of the dike included the products of the shed's toilets which emptied directly into the brook - the smell had better be left to the imagination rather than description! Nevertheless the local fire brigade did a very fine job and was able to control and contain the fire, preventing it from spreading to the roof above the four roads closest to the running lines. The roof over the other four roads was beyond saving and after the fire, what was left of it was condemned by the district engineer. J25 0-6-0 No. 5703 had been at the back of the shed road closest to the side wall and its cab was badly damaged. Little did Jack know that this incident would give him the coldest and most uncomfortable footplate experience of his entire railway career, as he was rostered to travel with the cold No. 5703 and a brake van all the way to Springhead shed in Hull. From there, the engine was hauled to Dairycoates shed for repair but the damage was too extensive even for their resources and No. 5703 was taken up to Darlington Works, where a light casual repair took a couple of weeks from 15August 1944. Because of wartime conditions, I suspect that the fire was never reported in the local press, the much respected and very thorough Barnsley Chronicle.
When the repaired No. 5703 returned to Cudworth, it was not long before Jack found himself on the footplate of the engine again, this time as fireman. The black out of World War II was still in force and Jack and his driver were working a pilot duty in the H&B sidings, pushing long strings of empty wagons up the yard. With a signal clearly off and a waved green lamp from the shunter, No. 5703 proceeded to shove a rake up the yard on the through line to Cudwortb North. Unfortunately, in the pitch blackness, the crew did not realise that they were one line over, which was a siding. There was a mighty bang and much dust although up on No. 5703 it was not entirely clear what had happened, as neither Jack nor his driver, a Scotsman, could see anything in the darkness. Quite a lot of wagons had gone through the buffer stops and a 'please explain' notice awaited them back at the shed!
Jack was to stay at Cudworth until the shed closed on 30th July 1951, when he transferred across to the almost adjacent ex-LM&SR shed at Royston. There were just sixteen men, six engines (04s No's 63751, 63754, 63772, 63845, 63849 and 63857) and a van load of spares to go to Royston - the old H&B was obviously near to its end. At the same time, a very short link was put in between the turning triangle at Royston shed and Cudworth Yard North (H&B), to give engines from Royston direct access to the H&B yards. The 04 interlopers were hardly welcomed at Royston and only stayed for one month before being exchanged for six WD 2-8-0s from Colwick - these were engines that Royston was very familiar with. The arrival of the men from Cud worth was also far from welcome, as several Royston drivers lost seniority, some having to return to being passed firemen. However, as time went by this was largely forgotten and Jack stayed at Royston until September 1971, when that shed also closed. His career finished at Healey Mills in 1993.
Jack West was a fourth generation footplate man. His great-grandfather, William (Bill) West, was an engine driver with Lucas & Aird, the contractors who had built the H&B, and once the line was complete he moved with his family from Hull to Cudworth to begin working on the new railway. William was followed by his son, another William, onto the footplate at Cudworth shed and he too was followed by his son, Laurence Jones West. Next came Jack himself; even Jack's mother Annie Elizabeth worked on the railway, being a porter at Cud worth station during World War 2. Thus, from 1885, the only time when a West was not working from Cudworth shed was when Laurence left to serve in the Royal Navy during the Second World War.

Peter Townend. The first three cylinder locomotive. 53-8.
Also describes Union built for the Bolton & Leigh Railway by Rothwell, Hick & Rothwell in 1830

There are also six photographs of model of a three-cylinder locomotive extant in Bolton Museum: model sold to museum by Amelia Hick, granddaughter of Benjamin Hick in 1910. Model was probably built for show at tyhe Great Exhibition of 1851.

Brian Arman. The Hopwood Collection 1901-1926 Part 22: Alpha and Omega: the beginning and the end. 59-68.

Mike Arlett. Operational oddities at Midford S&D. 69-73.
The steep 1 in 50 exit from Bath ended with Devonshire Tunnel — a long unventilated single bore: freight trains were normally banked, but the banker did not enter the tunnel. Photographs taken by Ivo Peters show freight trains climbing the bank and their banking engines. Special signalling arrangements had to be made for the banking engines and for traffic to the Bath Co-op Siding part way up the incline.

Giles Brown. The Wellingborough smash Friday 2nd September 1898. 74-83
Serious accident caused by Post Office barrow falling into path of express. Lieut. Colonel Yorke was the Board of Trade inspector. Both footplatemen and five passengers were killed and many passengers and on-train staff  received serious injuries. Two brave railway and Post Office tried to retrieve the barrow before the impact.

Fly shunted: Brough Station, July 1869. Stephen Rowson and Michael Lewis. 84

John Alsop. Wish you were here? Railway postcards of South Staffordshire. 85-96; rear cover
Special Corbyn feature:

Supplementary Index

Searching Steamindex has shown that it is difficult to find the useful Wish you were here series if the exact location is not known. "I am sure that there was one on Cumberland, but in which Issue? So it is hoped that the following may help.

Aberdeenshire (John Allsop) Issue 5 page 85
Anglesey (John Alsop) Issue 48 page 63
Ayrshire  (John Alsop and Neil Parkhouse) Issue 12 page 85: note called South West Scotland as includes two from Wigtownshire
Berwickshire (John Alsop) Issue 26 page 69
Caithness (John Alsop) Issue 34 page 67
Cambridgeshire (John Alsop) Issue 37 page 71 note photographs of Bernard W. Groom (many Cambridgeshire, but also elsewhere)
Carmarthenshire (John Alsop) Issue 16 page 83
Carnarvonshire (John Alsop) Issue 48 page 63
Cornwall (Peter Treloar) Issue 13 page 83
Cumberland (Allan Alsop) Issue 6 page 87
Derbyshire (John Alsop) Issue 28 page 67
Devon (Neil Parkhouse) Issue 19 page 71
Devon: LSWR locations  (Neil Parkhouse) Issue 20 page 72
Durham (John Alsop) Issue 14 page 83
East Lothian (John Alsop) Issue 26 page 69
Essex (Nigel Bodidge) Issue 15 page 83
Flintshire (John Alsop) Issuue 23 page 72
Glamorgan (Neil Parkhouse) Issue 1 page 88
Glocestershire (Neil Parkhouse) Issue 7 page 88
Hampshire (John Alsop) Issue 49 page 79
Hertfordshire (West) (John Alsop) Issue 31 page 67
Invernesshire (John Alsop) Issue 34 page 67
Ireland — North and South (but mainly when all United Kingdom) (Neil Parkhouse) Issue 3 page 87
Kent (Paul Laning) Issue 8 page 89
Lanarkshire (Neil Parkhouse) Issue 21 page 71
Lancashire (John Alsop) Issue 29 page 67
Lancashire (Jeffrey Wells) Issues 30 page 67 and 32 page 69
Leicestershire (Andrew Swift) Issue 4 page 89
Lincolnsshire (John Alsop) Isuues 35-69 and 36-64
Middlesex (Eastern) (John Alsop) Issue 43 page 61
Middlesex (London Transport & Great Central lines) (John Allsop Issue 44 page 67
Middlesex (LSWR and GWR lines) (John Alsop) Issue 45 page 60
Monmouthshire (John Alsop and Neil Parkhouse Issues 41 page 67 and 42 page 65
Norfolk (John Alsop) Issue 18 page 71
Northamptonshire (Andrew Swift). Issue 2 page 87
Oxfordshire (Neil Parkhouse) Issue 24 page 69
Peebleshire (John Alsop) Issue 46 page 71
Renfrewshire (John Alsop) Issue 38 page 71
Rutland (John Alsop) Issue 47 page 69
Shropshire (Neil Parkhouse) Issue 11 page 86
Somerset (North) (Neil Parkhouse) Issue 17 page 83
Staffordshire (South) (John Alsop) Issue 50 page 85
Suffolk (John Alsop) Issue 39  page 71
Sussex (West) (John Alsop) Issue 9 page 88
Sutherland (John Alsop) Issue 34 page 67
Wales: narrow gauge (Peter Treloar) Issue 25 page 71
Yorkshire (Saddleworth) (John Alsop) Issue 29 page 67
Yorkshire (West: Great Northern lines) (John Alsop) Issue 10 page 86
Yorkshire  (West L&YR lines) (Jeffrey Wells) Issue 30 page 67 and 32 page 69