Backtrack Volume 31 (2017)
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Published by Pendragon, Easingwold, YO61 3YS
GWR 'King' 4-6-0 No.6006 King George I is monarch of all it surveys at Swindon Works in February 1960. Trevor Owen. front cover
Notes from a small island. Michael Blakemore. 3
Editorial with title reminisicent of Bill Bryson, but considers one
of the smaller, and more democratic British Islands noted for its antique
railways.
One current feature which has particulartly, as they say, 'floated my boat'
is 'By Steam to the Steamers', Malcolm Rivett's survey of the railway connections
with sailings to and from the Isle of Man. The reason for my interest is
that when I was a lad in Bury in the 1960s the summer holidays - or that
part of them not occupied by the family fortnight away - stretched ahead
with seemingly limitless opportunities for days out, mostly local explorations,
picnics and simple pleasures of that ilk. In those far-off days whereof I
write we had no car, but then neither did many families, so the local bus
and coach operators stepped forward with their programmes - who remembers
Ribble, Warburton's, Yelloways, Fred Craven? - to run us to the usual seaside
resorts, Chester, Alton Towers, Hardcastle Crags (the 'Switzerland of the
Pennines' if you believe it) and so on. Evening outings were promoted
to the futuristic world of Manchester Airport viewing gallery and (improbable
as it might seem) Charnock Richard services on the M6, joined later by Lancaster
services as a tantalising alternative, at the time the only contact most
us had with the sleek connotations of aeroplanes and motorways. But good
old British Railways was on its marks as well with a range of excursion fares
and one of its most attractive offers was a combined train and boat ticket
to Douglas, Isle of Man - there and back in a day.
The adventure started by taking the train from Bury's Knowsley Street station
on the Central Lancashire line between Rochdale and Bolton: steam-hauled
(a Standard Class 4 as I recall) in non-corridor compartment coaches. Many
of its trains continued beyond Bolton towards the Lancashire Coast or, in
our case, Liverpool Exchange and from there an easy stride took us to the
Landing Stage where the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company's boat awaited us.
There is something special, I think, about leaving a country by sea, even
if only to cross to the Isle of Man. I watched Liverpool and its famous
waterfront recede as we sailed into the Mersey and then first parallel to
the coast, with Blackpool Tower still a clear and distant shape, until we
left the land behind us. On board a proper ship you could stroll ' around
the decks, imagining yourself bound for the 'New World' while taking in the
tang of the salty air and the churning foam as you ploughed through the briny.
You could descend to look down over the engine room where there was generally
a man with an oil can going round its machinery and before reaching the island
you could partake of a decent lunch in the dining saloon.
There wasn't time enough in Douglas, unfortunately, to travel on the Isle
of Man Railway but I did note that its fine terminus station was looking
rather shabby. The second visit occurred after the railway had experienced
closure but in the first year after its revival under the 'Ailsa regime'
and one of its bright green engines did hint at cautious optimism. We did
have the chance to ride the length of the famous horse tramway, though!
incidentally, today's Manx government seems strangely ambivalent about the
horse trams at the moment; perhaps they have an 'image problem'. Hopefully
it will come to appreciate what a distinctive historic asset it has.
In the succeeding years the Isle of Man suffered a downturn in its tourist
popularity as holidays abroad became more affordable, with the island further
disadvantaged by its relative inaccessibility for the 'short break' market.
It was not until the 1990s that I made the crossing again - this time to
stay on the island and enjoy the Isle of Man Steam Railway's remaining line
to Port Erin along with its two vintage electric railways to Ramsey and Snaefell
Summit. The Isle of Man and its railways seem to have weathered some awkward
times and now seem in good heart- which is more than can be said for the
'big railway' which took me from Bury to Liverpool to board my first 'packet':
it closed in 1970!
Visiting Kentish Town and Cricklewood. Geoff Rixon.
4-6.
Colour photo-feature: Jubilee class 4-6-0 No. 45622 Nyasaland
at Kentish Town on 9 June 1962; No. 45598 Basutoland at Cricklewood
in 1963; No. 45639 Raleigh at Kentish Town on 9 June 1962; BR class
5 No. 73092 (in green livery) at on 23 March 1963; rebuilt Scot No. 46112
(minus nameplate: see letter from Leonard Rogers) at
Cricklewood 0n 23 February 1963; Class 5 No. 44984 at Cricklewood in September
1963; Jubilee No. 45569 Tasmania at Cricklewood on 4 August
1963.
Alistair F. Nisbet. Claims against railway companies. 7-12.
In May 1910 a Forfar solicitor claimed damages from the Caledonian
Railway when he had been prevented from speaking to a client on the station
platform as he had been withheld by the Company's staff as he did not possess
a platform ticket. The solicitor lost his case against the railway. The accident
on the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway at Pardoran Siding near Linlithgow
on 13 October 1862 led to several claims for compensation from passengers,
one of whom was Henry Bardner, a factor on an estate who was severely
injured. The railway lost the case for £3000 compensation and sought
to appeal, but the Lord President refused to set aside the verdict. A minor
shunting bump at Perth caused by the Scottish North Eastern Railway led to
claims for damages from a group of Professional Pedestrians which the railway
tried to fight, but was eventually settled out of court. Mrs Janet Carr claimed
that she had injured whilst alighting from a train at Springfield in Fife,
but the case was lost, as was an appeal to the Court of Session. William
Gant was severely injured whilst attempting to board a moving train at Plaistow.
The London Tilbury & Southend Railway sought to limit the claim by arguing
that it was a workmen's train, but Gant argued that he had paid a higher
price to travel on the train. Unfortunately the final outcome is not
known. John Mitchell whilst alighting at Strichen on 1 May 1893 was
injured as the train was too long for the platform and he sought damages
ftom the Great North of Scotland Railway. The Railway attempted to fight
the case and it eventually came before the Sheriff-Principal who rejected
the Company's appeal. On 22 September 1906 Mrs Janet Neilson sustained injuries
when she attempted to alight at Cupar from a train which had overshot the
platform. The North British Railway attempted to fight the claim, but eventually
settled out of court. Mrs Isabella Gray sued the GNSR for a large sum for
severe injuries sustained when she was struck by a locomotive whilst crossing
the line at Ruthrieston. The Company contested the case as she have used
the footbridge: the result of the challenge is not recorded. Finally (and
this has a 2017 resonance) the Great Eastern Railway was taken to court in
Stowmarket for blocking Stowupland level crossing. The case was lost, but
the railway company's application for costs was rejected. Illustrations:
Forfar station exterior and platforms; Perth platforms c1912; Springfield
station in July 2012; Plaistow station pre-LTSR electrification; Strichen
station; Ruthrieston.station; and contemporary Stowupland level crossing.
To the North East Coast Exhibition. 13
Advertising material for excursions run by the LNER to an exhibition
organized to promote industrial activity during the depth of the Financial
Depression: it ran from May to October 1929. The material is in the David
V. Beeken Collection.
John Jarvis. From gravel to buddleia. 14-19.
Situated off London Transport Watford branch the former gravel
workings were used by London Transport to dump waste materials such
as ash, concrete from tube permanent way, spent ballast and conductor rail
insulators. For a time the residual Metropolitan Railway locomotives of 0-6-2T
and 0-4-4T were used, but were replaced by former Great Western/Western Region
57XX pannier tanks which were adorned in Metropolitan red. Later battery
electric locomotives took over and as they topped aznd tailed the trains
tha former brake vans, some of which had been built by Hurst Nelson, ceased
to be needed. Illustrations (all colour): L90 (ex 7760) with Ashford Works
brake van in Croxley Tip in July 1969; Class 5 4-6-0 No. 45114 passing under
Croxley Hall farm bridge with up train from Nottingham in November 1965;
pannier tank with Ashford and Hurst Nelson barke vans in January 1971 passing
magnificent Croxley Hall sub-station; L90 taking water at Watford station;
Croxley gravel workings in 1914 and 1961 (Ordnance Survey 1:2500 maps); Croxley
track diagrams; battery locomotives L30 and L22 at Northwood in snow in March
1970 with Croxley Tip train; L90 with Hurst Nelson brake van in Croxley Tip
in april 1969; return working near Pinner inb August 1969.
Malcolm Rivett. By steam to the steamers: the story of the Isle of
Man boat trains. – Part One. The first 100 years. 20-4.
Liverpool was the main departure point, but Riverside station was
not used and passengers made their own way from the City's stations, but
most of these provided train seervices to connect with the the Isle of Man
Steam Packet Company's vessels. The Furness Railway attempterd to encourage
traffic via Barrow at Ramsden Dock or at Piel Pier, but was dependent upon
other companies and the Midland Railway decided to develop Heysham and its
own turbine steamer the Manxman. The LNWR and Lancashire & Yorkshire
Railways encouraged traffic via Fleetwood and Blackpool Corporation ran boat
trams to Fleetwood to encourage day return traffic to Douglas.There were
sailings to Greenock and even to Glasgow, but Ardrossan was the major departure
point using the Caledonain Railway's Montgomerie Pier. Illustrations: Prince's
Landing Stage in Liverpool (probably pre-WW2); Ramsden Dock station and docks
(amazing "aerial" view from 1890; Midland Railway publicity material for
turbine steamer Manxman; Fleetwood station interior with second class refreshment
room (therefore pre-WW1); central Liverpool stations showing tram routes
and Overhead Railway (1935) ; Jubilee class 4-6-0 No. 45584 North West Frontier
at Dobbs Brow Junction (caption not clear as to where train is going); LMS
advertisement promoting The Manxman train
Alan Bennett. Shakespeare Country: the Great Western
and its celebration of Englishness. 25-7.
The texts by Maxwell Fraser receive closer scrutiny than other articles
on Great Western publicity material noting in particular the use of the words
"museum" and "relics", and as usual mention is made of the significant American
market potential. M. Dewar, the Company's Publicity Officer from 1934 requested
her to use less florid language. Illustrations (coloured covers of publicity
leaflets): Shakespeare Country 1939; Rambles in Shakespeare Land
and the Cotswolds, 1938; Shakespeare Country British Railways
1955; Shakespeare Country 1961 and Shakespeare Country 1949
(which showed Harvard House and Garrick Inn).
Peter Butler. The junctions at Firbeck. 28-30.
The South Yorkshire Coalfield was relatively late to be developed
and the South Yorkshire Joint Railway was unusual in that all the formerly
competitive railways came together to serve it with a line going north from
Dinnington. It was owned by the Midland, Great Central, Great Northern, North
Eastern and Lancashire & Yorkshire Railways. It served mines at Firbeck
and at Haworth. A limited passenger service was operated between Doncaster
and Shireoaks. This ended in 1926, but excursion traffic lasted longer.
East Anglian stopping points. Dick Riley. 31.
Colour photo-feature: Woodbridge station in October 1956; Long Melford
on 18 May 1957 with train in platform, and Linton station on 27 April 1958
(with limousine parked outside).
'Kings' of the road. 32-5.
Colour photo-feature: majority fitted with double chimneys: No. 6000
King George V at Paddington with bell and headboard for Bath Festival
on 3 June 1959 at Paddington with train for Bristol; No. 6005 King George
II approaching Warwick in 1958; No. 6011 King James I at Old Oak
Common with Birmingham train with GWR coaches at front of train on 21 December
1962 (M. Smith); No. 6021 King Richard II at Leamington Spa in October
1961 (caption mildly incorrect); No. 6025 King Henry III at Paddington
leaving with train for Pllymouth on 29 May 1962; No. 6021 King Richard
II passing White Waltham with dopwn ex[press formed of carmine
& cream (and some chocolate & cream) coaches; No. 6023 King Edward
II climbing to Dainton in June 1958 with 15.30 Paddington to Penzance
(P.W. Gray); No. 6009 King Charles II at Shrewsbury in September 1961;
and No. 6015 King Richard III near Sear Green with 07.40 Birkenhead
to Paddington in September 1062 (J.P. Mullett): nearly all in excellent external
condition with nameplates gllinting even though about to be withdrawn from
service. See also letter on page 253 from Leonard Rogers
who amplifies some of the information.
The Jutland 'Jubilees'. notes (mainly on origins of names) by
A.J. Mullay. 36-7.
Black & white photo-feature of Jubilee class 4-6-0 with names
associated with the WW1 Battle of Jutland:: No. 45699 Galatea (cruiser
which fired opening volley) locomotive on up Thames Clyde Express
in June 1955 passing Trent Junction; No. 5677 Beatty at Crewe North
MPD in late 1930s (Beatty was a commander of a battle cruiser and subsequent
admiral); No. 5715 Invincible and Royal Scot No. 6163 Civil Service
Rifleman near summit of Shap in 1930s (HMS Invincible was sunk during
battle); No. 45654 Hood passing Wellingborough in May 1959 with exptress
for Bradford (Admiral Hood died on the Invincible); No. 45647 Sturdee
at Leeds City in 1964 (Sturdee was another admiral) and No. 5714
Revenge at Carlisle Kingmoor on 10 April 1939 (HMS Revenge
was an oil-burning battleship)
Jeremy Clarke. Inherited express passenger locomotives
of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway. 38-45
On the London Chatham & Dover Railway at the time that the working
agreement with the South Eastern Railway came into operation, the influence
of Crampton was still vaguely seen in
a few locomotives rebuilt by Martley, but the main influence was
Wiliam Kirtley and his draughtsman
Robert Surtees. On the South
Eastern James Stirling (who like
Kirtley came from a family of engineers) was the dominant influence.
Illustrations (all 4-4-0): M3 class No. 647 at Longhedge on 6 October 1920;
F class No. 1078 at Stewarts Lane in 1934; F classe No. 103 at Bexley with
strawberry traffic; B class No. 34 at London Bridge c1923; F class No. 240
at Folkestone Junction on 28 June 1893; M1 class No. 635 at Sheerness on
16 October 1920; F1 class No. 1205 at Lewes East Junction with a train for
London in 1933 (George R. Grigs); F1 No. A249 at Honor Oak Park with birdcage
set with a Redhill to London Bridge train (George R. Grigs); F1 class No.
110 passing Paddock Wood with train of military tanks from Richborough to
Aldershot; B1 class No. A448 (caption error quoted as B448) at Lewes witha
Brighton to Maidstone West train formed of immaculate birdcage set in 1929
(George R. Grigs); B1 class No. 1448 at Dartford on 26 April 1947 (R.C.
Riley)
Lincolnshire signal boxes. Dafydd Whyles. 46-7.
Wrawby Junction interior; Immingham West exterior (on Associated British
Ports land); Immingham Reception sidings exterior; Goxhill interior with
signaller Graham Smith operating gate wheel; Heckington rocker frame; Ancaster
inhterior; Boston Docks exterior.
James Rogers. Ripon – a city no longer with a railway. Part One.
48-55.
There are real (as in royal) cities and most enjoy train services:
St. Andrews, St. Davids, Wells and Ripon are disgraceful exceptions along
with Walsingham which now enjoys basilica status. It was served by the Leeds
& Thirsk Railway which was incorporated in 1845 and rapidly served the
city from the Thirsk end in 1848 and more fully in the following year. It
became the Leeds Northern Railway when it was extended from Melberby to Stockton
via Northallerton. The viaduct adjacent to the River Ure was originally timber,
but this was replaced by a masonry structure except for the actual crossing
where an iron structure was erected which received an extensive repair in
1959. Includes a list of station masters who served at the station. Illustrations
view from station towards the North Bridge (road bridge) and Cathedral (coloured
postcard); (remainder J.W. Hague unless noted otherwise) Class 4 2-4-4T No.
80116 approaching with two coaches from King's Cross; A3 No. 60084
Trigo crossing River Ure with down Queen of Scots; map; B1
No. 61019 Nilghai light engine in Ripon station; B1 No. 61069 and
A2/3 Herringbone cross viaduct with Newcastle to Liverpool train in
1950s; miltary booking office and subway entrance in 1971; BR Class 4 2-6-0
No. 76021 with Thirsk to Leeds empty atock on 4 February 1953; Class 5 No.
45075 approaching Ripon from north; Q6 0-8-0 passing station with southbound
freight; and B16/1 and A3 on southbound express ;
Michael B. Binks. The origins, diagnoses and historical prevention
of track failures. Part Two. 56-60
Rial failures: most can only be detected by ultrasonic equipment,
ferro-magnetic testing or dye penetration. Vertical head and web splits are
visible and can be measured by callipers. Wheelburns are cauded by slipping
wheels. Star cracks radiate from bolt holes. Taches Ovalles start as shatter
cracks during manufacture. Alumino-thermal defects are caused by faulty onsite
welding and squats are fatigue defects generated in the wheel contact zone.
Water is a major agent in track bed deterioration. Softwood sleepers are
liable to rot and if a concrete sleeper is damaged water may enter and corrode
the metal reinforcement. Flooding may scour out the ballast and leave the
track without support. It may also lead to the collapse of embankments and
cuttings. Railways constructed too near the sea may suffer repeated damage.
Wet tunnels lead to rapid rail wear. Mining is also the cause of subsidence
and track failure. Illustrations: 8F No. 48665 at Bourne End with train of
track panels on 20 March 1963 (colour); baseplate movements caused by loose
chair screws; portable power tool to tighten fishplate bolts (R. Bance &
Co. Ltd.); switch rail damage (Bill Butland); timber sleeper damage (Bill
Butland); squat defect (Bill Butland); Network South East livery train and
locomotive No. 47 583 County of Hertfordshire at Reading in 1988 (colour);
embankment slip due to undermining; cyclic top.
Readers' Forum. 61
Somerset's Railway. Peter
Davis
Since the Bristol and North Somerset Railway ran all the way to Frome
– the later (October p.604) statement "there was once a mineral branch
north west to Radstock" makes no sense at all. A passenger service ran from
Bristol Temple Meads to Frome until 31 October 1959 – I rode on the
last trains – and the line was double track between Radstock and Mells
Road. There was, however, a mineral branch, the private Newbury Railway,
off this line to Vobster quarry and Newbury and Mackintosh collieries; and
the other mineral line, from Hapsford Junction to Whatley quarry, is as far
as I know still open. The remainder of the line between Hapsford and Radstock
was mothballed years ago and has been the subject of disputes among rival
interests over retention as a heritage railway or conversion to a cycle track.
The B&NS could almost claim to be a cross-country main line since, post-World
War II, it hosted a daily 'express service', the 'Boat Train' connecting
with the up Channel Islands service from Weymouth at Frome. Leaving there
at 17.55, it called at Radstock and Pensford only arriving in Bristol TM
at 18.52.
On p.602 the branch from Hallatrow to Camerton, later extended, incorporating
parts of the closed Somerset Coal Canal, to Lympley Stoke, is mentioned and
we are told that "Hamerton would benefit from a second platform (a bay) for
the branch trains and then a third as the line was extended to Lympley."
Presumably for "Hamerton" read "Hallatrow". Hallatrow became a crossing place
in the remodelling of 1909 before which there was a single platform and a
goods loop to the north which extended south into a headshunt with a platform
face on the far side of the station building. The existing track plan is
ambiguous as to whether on not this was purely a loading bay or used for
Camerton departures. Specific photographic evidence is tantalisingly lacking
but clearly shows a fence between the down platform and this bay. Mike Vincent
in his excellent book, Through Countryside and Coalfield, OPC 1990,
gives no clue as to the way Hallatrow was operated as a junction.
Whereas mixed trains ran on the original 1882 Camerton branch, the through
trains between Hallatrow and (usually) Freshford were either steam railmotors
or a '517' 0-4-2T and auto coach.
The junction on the Bristol & Exeter main line for the Yeovil branch
was at Durston (not Durlston) and there was never "a further branch ... north
east towards Castle Cary" (both p. 603). The 'cut-off' between Castle Cary
and Curry Rivel lunction west of Langport opened in the summer of 1906 and
was an entirely new line as was the three-mile section from Athelney Junction
to the split-level Cogload Junction.
Finally, not mentioned, the branch from the East Somerset Railway to Merehead
quarry is still open from Witham; it also forms the main line connection
to the heritage East Somerset Railway. Otherwise a very interesting article
with lots of human interest stories.
The train ferries. Paul
Joyce
Having just read R.A.S. Hennessey's very fine article on train ferries,
I then randomly picked up Ian. H. Lane's Plymouth Steam 1954-1963.
In it he states "The [Plymouth] breakwater is two miles offshore from the
Hoe, a mile long ... The engineer commissioned to undertake its construction
was Sir Joshua Rennie. Some of the stone was obtained from Quarries beside
the River Plym at Oreston, and there, a 3ft 6in gauge railway was built.
The stones were placed on wagons which were run onto the ships, which were
fitted with rails in their holds, and taken out into the Sound. In the earlier
years of work the stone was off-loaded by crane at the breakwater site.
Eventually, however, rails and turntables were placed on the partly built
breakwater. The wagons were lifted off the ships with their loads and returned
to the ships empty when they had deposited the stone at the required place."
'Let's go Glasgow Electric'. Stephen
Abbott
To add to John Macnab's letter (November issue), a detailed Scottish
Region account of the emergency reintroduction of steam trains was published
in Trains Illustrated, July 1961. The notes which follow are a brief
summary.
At 01.38 on Sunday 18 December 1960 it was agreed to run no trains at all
that day and to re-establish the steam service by Monday morning. The 72
electric sets were gradually moved under their own power to stabling points
including Ardmore and Hyndland, the process completed by 16.25. By 21.30
the 42 steam locomotives required had been transferred (some out of storage)
from Glasgow area sheds and as far afield as Ardrossan, Hurlford, Bathgate
and Hawick, to Eastfield, Park head, Kipps, Dumbarton, Helensburgh and Balloch.
Helensburgh and Balloch sheds had to be reopened and coaling facilities provided
at Bridgeton and Clydebank Dock Junction (replacing Hyndland). Soon after
08.00 a special stores train was arranged to run from Parkhead to Helensburgh
conveying coal, oil, brake blocks, firebars, headlamps, shovels, etc.
At 14.00 representatives of the enginemen's local departmental committees
were briefed and returned to their depots to help prepare rosters, completed
by 21.30.ln all 294 footplate staff living over a wide area needed to be
advised of their Monday duties. A few could be reached by telephone, but
most had to be contacted by messenger, staff volunteering to help using their
own cars and motorcycles.
Meanwhile 272 coaches in 36 sets had to be assembled, mostly from stock stored
at Bellahouston, Crookston, Smithy Lye, Rutherglen and in the Glasgow North
District. These were inspected on Sunday morning and worked to suitable points
for attention, where it was found that 100 rotary valves and 200 steam pipes
had been pilfered during storage. Replacements were brought in from local
depots by road transport and from Edinburgh and elsewhere by passenger train,
but it was also found necessary to remove components from vehicles under
repair in the main Glasgow works. Batteries also had to be brought in to
replace those which had gone flat. By 18.30 examination and repair of coaches
was nearing completion and as many staff as possible were released for a
short rest. At 23.00 staff were booked on to clean and service the coaches,
which had become very dirty during storage and steam heat them using specially
provided locomotives.
Timetable compilation was mainly down to four men; one worked out east-west
timings, another west-east, a third checked for conflicts at junctions and
the fourth determined complementary changes on the Riverside line. Stations
and depots were kept informed of the general nature of the proposed train
service and timetables and diagrams were distributed overnight on Sunday/Monday
- in some cases station masters asked for delivery to their own homes and
undertook to answer the door promptly at 04.00! The diagrams were too late
to be linked with early rostering arrangement so staff were detailed at each
terminal point on the Monday morning to advise the driver of each incoming
train of his next turn, until rosters could be adjusted later in the day.
With only a few hitches, the Monday morning train service operated to plan.
A sad but necessary task was removal of the signs at Queen Street advertising
the electric train service.
The new colour light signalling for the electric service included additional
signals in tunnel sections. These reduced head ways with no danger of signals
being obscured by smoke and the power doors prevented passengers from alighting
from trains stopped at signals. For resumption of steam working, to avoid
stopping a steam train in a tunnel, the signalling controls had to altered
to prevent a station starting Signal from clearing until the line was unoccupied
into the station ahead.
Two new stations at Garscadden and Hyndland had been built with 420ft platforms
to accommodate six-car electric trains. As both are on a gradient of about
1 in 110 the Ministry ofTransport required them to be lengthened to 500ft
to provide a margin for braking with steam traction. Platform extensions
in timber were completed in 36 hours from approval of the work.
To echo Mr. Macnab, this was a remarkable effort, on a par with the gauge
conversion west of Exeter in 1892 - but that had been planned for many months!
Further response from the man then on the ground page 125
'Let's go Glasgow
Electric'. John Macnab
An error of my memory banks has revealed itself within a sentence
of my letter published in the November issue whereby I state that "If I recall
aright" (which I now find wrong) that the lady in charge of the office typing
pool was honoured in some way for her work during the 'Blue Train' crisis.
A lady was so honoured some ten years later totally unrelated to that particular
occasion. Apologies for that - I wish to set the record straight.
LNWR via Market Harborough. Stephen
Spark
In your colour interlude on the LNWR Market Harborough line (September,
p. 527) the caption suggests that grass behind the Met-Cam DMUs was set alight
by a previous steam-hauled train. It is surely more likely that this was
the result of controlled burning to prevent exactly that problem occurring.
You will note that the blackened vegetation ends exactly at the fence line,
which would be unlikely if set alight accidentally.
I was brought up next to the Guildford New Line and remember my mother's
frustration as the PW gang chose the best washing day to fill the air with
smoke. It was unpleasant while it lasted, but the practice resulted in the
neat, well- maintained lines ides we associate with the 1960s railway scene.
A bonus was the magnificent display of primroses that passengers were able
to enjoy in spring and similar splashes of colour from wild flowers in summer.
The men knew their job, for I never saw the flames flick through the fence
into our garden.
Finale of the A4. Eric
Oates
Thank you for the splendid article by Allan Trotter in respect of
the last days of the 'Streaks' in Scotland including his account of the BR
Farewell Special with No.60019 Bittern on 3 September 1966.
I fear, however, his notes of locomotives seen that day at Aberdeen Ferryhill
may have become a little blurred. The then-recently withdrawn NO.60034 Lord
Faringdon was by this time stored at Perth shed, where the tender swap with
No.60024 Kingfisher had taken placed on or about 24th August 1966.
The tender-less A4 he described at Ferryhill on the final weekend was in
fact No. 60004 William Whitelaw which had given up its corridor tender
to No.60009 Union of South Africa for subsequent purchase and preservation
by John Cameron. This latter A4 too was stored out of use at 61B at the same
time. So our lucky author would have in fact seen four A4s on the Saturday
of the BR special: Nos. 60004, 60009, 60019 and 60024. I was fortunate to
get to Aberdeen the following morning and have my notes from that visit to
confirm these details. I then joined the South West Railway Society Granite
City tour for the southbound journey to Edinburgh with Kingfisher
before Bittern then took over for the run to York and its own
purchase by the late Geoff Drury.
Clearing the air. John C.
Hughes
In my article on the ventilation of the Mersey Railway, November issue
p. 696, I said that after leaving the board Francis Fox issued a pamphlet
claiming that the company was saving money by running the fans more slowly
and using cheaper fuel in the engines. I have now discovered that this
information was originally provided when Fox was giving evidence to the
Parliamentary inquiry into the ventilation of the Metropolitan Railway. This
was in March 1897, at a time when Francis Fox was still on the board of the
Mersey Railway and presumably knew whereof he spoke. This inquiry also produced
some detailed information as to air quality at various points on the Mersey
over a period of two days, suggesting that it was not too bad and certainly
a lot better than the Met. Unfortunately, the Mersey's management did not
need much notice of the inspection to ensure that the fans were going at
full belt and that the engines were provided with the best fuel
available.
Down South. Roy
Hobbs
Small error in the caption to the top photograph on p. 683. The train
is departing Woking, rather than Lewes.
Book Reviews. 62
The Royal Arsenal Railways — the rise and fall of a military railway
network. Mark Smithers, Pen and Sword Transport, hardback, 171 pp.
Reviewed SDW *****
It must be rare for a reviewer to be presented with a volume which
is likely to become to be regarded as the 'standard work' on the subject
matter considered - but this might just be one of those occasions!
From the 1820s through the high Victorian days of Empire and on to the two
world wars of the last century until its closure in 1967 the Royal Arsenal
at Woolwich provided a significant proportion of the military might of British
forces. Initially three 'factories' the sites were amalgamated in 1891 and,
as at that time, railways were seen as the transport panacea, the Royal Arsenal
Railways became an official entity.
This beautifully-produced book falls neatly into three parts, the history
of the system, a consideration of the locomotives and rolling stock used
on three gauges, 18 inches, two foot and standard gauge, within the system
and a survey of the surviving remains of the system, both in situ at Woolwich
and dispersed at various museums and preserved railways around the country
in action. The book is lavishly, and appropriately, illustrated and has three
remarkable maps at its heart. Copious appendices cover such wide-ranging
topics as Arsenal staff, locomotive details ranging from 'pen pictures' of
those supplied by Manning Wardle to histories of those machines on the 18
inch and standard gauges. There is a useful index.
Surely going to be the standard work on the subject, a worthy addition to
the store of railway literature - well-recommended!
Dark days and brighter days for Northern Ireland Railways. Edwin
McMillan. Colourpoint, 288 pp. softback, Reviewed by DWM ***
Books of railway reminiscence have become fairly commonplace over
recent years, usually involving themselves with tales of the footplate or
signal box or, on occasion, the higher levels of railway management. This
book takes an entirely different angle; written by an enthusiastic railwayman
- and obviously a railway enthusiast, it is a very detailed account, from
platform level, of the trials, tribulations and eventual triumph of the railways
of Northern Ireland through the awful times of 'The Troubles' and on into
the less turbulent present.
The book falls conveniently into three parts: an outline of the author's
railway career, a detailed account of incidents and occurrences during 'The
Troubles' and a more general account of railways operations. As well as the
development of stations, special trains and operational accidents and incidents
this latter section includes the formation of 'The Railway Patrol' - the
author's remarkable initiative to deal with the little-addressed topic of
anti-social behaviour, vandalism and trespass on the railway.
The detailed account of the attacks on the railway by terrorists is a darkly
Northern Irish episode. The 'diary' style of the book works very well here
and the damage and disruption caused by the explosions, fires and derailments
is graphically illustrated.
Throughout the book the photographs are a splendid and apposite selection,
many of the author's own taking and, as ever, the Colourpoint 'style' has
assured a book of considerable quality. To the best of your reviewer's knowledge
there isn't a 'formal' history of Northern Ireland Railways in print at the
present time. Were one to appear then this personal account would complement
it brilliantly - a detailed story with a human touch and well worth a read.
Swindon Works — the legend. Rosa Matheson.
History Press, 192 pp. Reviewed by DMA. ***
Every day men and women went into Swindon Works and every day locomotives
and rolling stock, green, black, chocolate and cream came out. Every evening
a tide of people left the Works football crowding the nearby streets. Every
day those people coming out were more experienced, heavier with knowledge
than they had been in the morning; the Works producing engineers as well
as locomotives. Rosa Matheson's book is largely about the people who went
'Inside', their larks, accidents and experiences. She describes well known
figures and gives a voice to many otherwise anonymous workers from 1840s
to 1980s. Some loved their work and the sense of family, others (Alfred Williams
for one) came to hate it, but all were shaped and transformed by their time
behind those tall stone walls.
One product of Swindon Works that Matheson does not mention is
Christopher Hinton (Material herein
used to form part of new entry). While Matheson may not mention Christopher
Hinton she does introduce a procession of Swindon characters and their memories
of their time inside. lan Williams (great-great nephew of Alfred) captured
the camaraderie of the place: "To be honest, the rail works was one huge
storybook where almost everyone knew everyone someway or other, and if you
were on your own anywhere in the town, in a pub or club, cafe or bar, there
would always be someone else who recognised you from 'the Works' and came
across and chatted to you, so in a manner of speaking if you worked in the
Works, you would never be alone wherever you went in the town."
With chapters on 'What was Swindon Works?', 'Fascinating Facts and Figures',
'Myths and Legends' and 'The Not-So-Good Bits, this slim book is not a reference
volume to complement a fine library, it does not reveal new information.
It is, however, a book you would buy for a young person in your life hoping
that they might put down their phone for a few minutes to learn about their
ancestors and the railway factory that made their town and made it famous.
Matheson herself says" As writers and publishers of history we have, I believe,
a duty to bring this history to new and younger audiences, as well as faithful
followers, so that the history of their forbears will not be lost ... "
Surrey with the frost on top. David Idle. rear cover.
Rebuilt Bulleid Pacific No. 34059 Sir Archibald Sinclair on
10.18 Bournemouth to Waterloo on 28 December 1965 near Woking with frost
on ground.
Rivalries . Alistair F. Nisbet. 67
Guest Editorial; inter-company rivalry as maifested between the Caledonian
and North British Railways and as perceived through memberships of the North
British Study Group, the Caledonian Railway Assiciation and the Great Eastern
Railway Society [and as the purveyance of false information is much in the
news those seeking non-information on competition between the Great Eastern
and the Caledonian should be trumped]. The saddest manifestation of extreme
competition were the remains of the unopened stations on the Caley lines
south of Paisley still mouldering in the 1950s: has a recent book on these
been reviewed in Backtrack? See letter from Robert Darlaston
(p. 254) on failure to anticipate the need for extra heavy rail capacity
between Birmingham and Wolverhampton
Beyond Euston. David Idle. 68-71.
Colour photo-feature: Class 5 4-6-0 No. 44909 passing under Bletchley
flyover with down coal empties on 8 Febnuarty 1964; Jubilee class No. 45604
Ceylon on Bushey water troughs with 07.30 Birmingham New Street to
Euston on 23 November 1963; Class 2 2-6-2T No. 41239 inside Willesden shed
on 8 March 1964; diesel electric No. 10001 descending Camden bank with empty
stock for 10.10 Euston to Perth on 10 May 1964; Caprotti class 5 No. 44744
picking up water from Castlethorpe troughs with electric catenary in place
on 15.00 Euston to Nortampton on 30 July 1963 (NB desination boards on coaches
and Stanier articulated twin at front); rebuilt Patriot No. 45512
Bunsen at Bletchley on parcels train on 30 July 1963: Britannia Pacific
No. 70024 Vulcan passesd Hunton Bridge, south of King's Langley on
22 June 1963; Class 2 2-6-0 No. 78039 passes through the Euston rebuilding
chaos on empty stock on 13 June 1964; No. 78003 at Willesden
motive power depot on 8 August 1965 (71 lower) see
also letter on page 253 from Ray Fisher about diesel hauled train in
background which was not on North London Railway, but on the Midland Railway's
1868 connection.
Alistair F. Nisbet The road engine. 72-9.
"Road engine" is a Nisbet neolgism relating to locomotives appearing
on public roads preferably with bells and cowcatchers (Dundee's lacked both).
The Y9 0-4-0ST haunted Dundee Docks and most of them were fitted with tenders
known as runners. They were accessible to the public within Dundee Docks
(KPJ remembers Dad chatting to the driver of one in that location in 1948)
Alistair's memories are a wee bit later and more detailed. The history
of Dundee's industries and trade, based firstly on linen for sails,
then on jute (and on the whale oil needed to transform it into a textile)
led to the development of docks along the Tay estuary. Railway development
was early in Dundee, sufficiently so for more than one gauge to co-exist
for a time and these railways used the city streets for access, hence the
title. Table of places where trains used to run along the road (which sadly
lacks Sheringham where almost the entire volunteer workforce is required
to pass a train from the real railway onto the NNR). Illustrations: Y9 0-4-0ST
No. 68110 with train passes Dundee East station on 7 May 1955 (G.M. Staddon);
No. 8110 on shed at Dundee; No. 68100 shunts wagons across Dock Street; No.
68107 passing Dundee Corporation singe deck bus in Shore Terrace; J37 0-6-0
No. 64600 shunting near Camperdown Junction on 5 October 1962 (C.C. Thorburn);
No. 68100 on shed at Dundee (P.H. Groom), map of Dundee Docks; Y9 No. 68123
alongside East station (G.C. Bett); J37 No. 64600 passing Camperdown Junction
signal box; 5 October 1962 (C.C. Thorburn); No. 68123 shunting in Dock Sttreet
on 16 September 1954 (G. Pearson); road tractor crossing South Union Street
with mineral wagon on 7 August 1961; (C.C. Thorburn); North British diesel
hydraulic No. 11703 near docks; LBSCR D1 0-4-2T No. 2215 in Grove Road, Deptford
in yeaars subject to the Blackout; AEC double deck bus about to cross embedded
railway line in Ebbw Vale. Further information on p. 253 from
Graham Akers (white hot ingots on Ashton Old Road);
Tim Edmonds (Westward Ho! & Appledore);
Bill Housley on Internet source on Port Sunlight;
Bill Armstrong: Alford & Sutton, Westward Ho!;
Bridgwater Docks and Barry? Letter on page 317 from Jim
Dix on use Huddersfield tram tracks to convey coal to mills from a connection
to the L&YR: KPJ Huddersfield, like Glasgow deliberately set its gauge
to slightly narrower than standard to accept standard guage wagons,
but according to Bett and Gillham the coal was conveyed in special tramway
vehicles
Federico Tak. The railway navvy in nineteenth century
Britain. 80-2
Probably underplays the role canal and road construction in the eighteenth
century played in the development of the navvy: Standedge Canal and Telford's
"fast transit" canals and roads, especially that to Holyhead preceded most
major railway constuction. Most of the skills were applicable to any major
works. Equally, the methods of payment in kind, the squalour and the disease
were not unique to railway construction, although conditions at Woodhead
did engage the attention of social reformers like Edwin Chadwick. Books by
Coleman,
Cowley and
MacAmhlaigh are cited. Illustrations:
Alan Fearnley painting of Ribblehead Viaduct under construction in 1870s
(but showing construction in wrong direction); photograph of Dent Head Viaduct
under construction; and death certificate. See also letter
from Stephen Berry on p. 253.
Bill Taylor. The railway in Court: dispute over running
powers. 83-5
Predominantly one case which eventually was taken all the way the
the House of Lords and was overtaken by history. Most disputes concerning
running powers were capable of being resolved by the Railway & Canal
Traffic Commission. The dispute examined was between the Midland Railway
and the Great Central Railway, partly in respect of rights granted to the
Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway. Very specifically they concerned
traffic from Shirebrook Colliery over the Warsop Curve at Shirebrook Junction
wherein the Great Central sought to use the Curve for traffic from Mansfield
collieries. The case was handled by the Great Central's solicitor Dixon Davis
and heard by Mr Justice Neville. Judgement was given on 24 October
1913 which upheld the Midland's restrictions on the use of the Curve. By
this time the Great Central had gained access to Mansfield via the Mansfield
Railway and in 1914 such disputes were contrary to the War Effort. Illustrations:
Shirebrook Junction c1908 (MR official photograph); Shirebrook station (MKidland
Railway) on 28 August 1961 with BR Class 4 4-6-0 No. 75062 arriving with
train formed of Gresley corridor stock from Yarmouth Vauxhall; Worksop station
with 07.49 to Sheffrield Victoria headed by B1 No. 61127; K1
No. 62019 with train of cement containers from Streetley at Whitwell
on 6 June 1962. See also caption apologia.
Malcolm Rivett. By steam to the steamers: the story of
the Isle of Man boat trains. – Part Two. The heyday and the long decline.
86-91.
How the Great Western competed for traffic to the Island; the Manxman
service from Euston; the brief surge in post 1945 traffic followed by
the loss of surface traffic to the Island to air and competition from warmer
islands elsewhere. The Isle of Man Steam Packet Co. was slow to accommodate
road vehicles and to switch from steam power. Illustrations (all colour unless
specfied otherwise): schematic map of LMS and GWR services to Douglas via
Liverpool, Fleetwood, Heysham and Ardrossan for 1938: Lady of Mann
(b&w: Isle of Man Steam Packet Co. vessel); GWR brochure cover
(b&w); LMS and GWR brochure cover of 1939 showing railways on Island
and flights from Ronaldsway; Manx Tourist Board 1956 advertisement in British
Railways Wales and North West Holiday Guide; handbill Halifax to Douglas
via Fleetwood (1957) and rebuilt Scot No. 46164 The Artists' Rifleman
climbing Camden bank on down The Manxman on 7 July 1954; advertisement
in Shields Weekly news aimed at elderly people for through traain from Newcastle
to Liverpool Riverside for Douglas on 8 June 1968; advertisement showing
electric train and fares; rail bus No. 144 017 at Lancaster forming boat
train for Heysham Port on 23 July 2016 and model of Isle of Man ship in glass
case at Blackburn station on 22 September 1979 (J,S. Gilks).
Michael Yardley (p. 253) mentions another late steam
working run in connection with Manx sailings
Eric Bruton's A3 Pacifics. 92-5
Black & white photo-feature: No. 60037 Hyperion (blue livery)
on 12.00 departure from Edinburgh Waverley up Queen of Scots Pullman
on 8 June 1951; No. 60110 Robert the Devil (apple green) at Marshmoor on
15.30 King's Cross to Newcastle on 15 April 1950; No. 60096 Papyrus
(apple green) on 08.24 Grantham to King's Cross passing Hatfield on 16 April
1949; No. 60043 Brown Jack (Brunswick green) climbing Cockburnspath
bank with up Queen of Scots Pullman on 26 June 1954; No. 60037
Hyperion passing Haymarket station en route to Haymarket shed oin
evening of 8 June 1951; No. 60055 Woolwinder on Sunday King's Cross
to Glasgow express on 5 March 1950 approaching Welwyn Garden City; No. 60108
Victor Wild (blue livery) on 19.21 King's Cross to Peterborough stopping
train leaving Hadley North Tunnel on 2 August 1951; No. 60041 Salmon Trout
climbs through roack cutting on approach to the Forth Bridge with 12.08
Perth to Euston on 29 June 1954.
The South Eastern & Chatham L Class and the L1 4-4-0s.
96
Colour photo-feature: L classs No. 31774 at Tumbridge Wells West c1956;
L1 class No. 31706 on Tonbridge shed in polished state on 11 June 1961 (R.C.
Riley); L No. 31770 ar4riving Lewes with faded red birdcage set on 1 September
1956 (Ray Oakley) see letter from Neil Knowlden who objects
to caption wording; L No. 31772 leaving Tonbridge with red birdcage set;
L1 No. 31754 passing St Mary Cray Junction with Dover tio Victoria train
formed of two green coaches plus carmine & cream set; L1 No. 71753 at
Dover Marine on 12 July 1958 (Trevor Owen); and L1 No. 31759 at coaling stage
Ashford shed on 12 September 1954 (Trevor Owen).
Allan Trotter. Swindon-built diesel multiple units in
Scotland. 99-101
Very strange piece that whilst noting some of the muddle relating
to the Inter-City and other related Swindon built units there is no photograph
of one of the original trains; the interiors of which mirrored contemporary
locomotive-hauled stock with compartments, guard's vans and
buffets. Illustrations (all colour): ex-Edinburgh-Glasgow driving motor
brake second on train for Ayr at Kilwinning (which had maroon background
station nameboards in June 1977; Aberdeen bound three-car set in original
dark green livery at Elgin in April 1968; two Ayrshire units at Ayr with
Glasgow service in September 1976; driving motor second leading Class 126
(corporate blue & grey livery) arriving Glasgow Central in June 1981;
Ayrshire unit in corporate blue & grey livery at Barassie with Ayr service
in April 1982; and eight car train leaving Inverness for Aberdeen in October
1975 (picture would frighten Abellio Lesser East Anglia which operates a
single car unit on last train from Norwich to Sheringham on Saturday nights).
See also letter from John Macnab
David J. Hayes. A Wednesbury winter's night. Part Two.
102-9
Part 1 see previous
Volume. Based on train register from Wednesbury No. 1
signal box and Working Timetable appropriate for Thursday 9 December 1976.
Dudley Freightliner Terminal had opened in November 1967 and closed in September
1986. It even had a weekly service to Norwich!. Illustrations: Class 25/3
No. 25 273 leaving Wednesbury Exchange Sidings probably for Bescot Yard on
27 June 1977 (Michael Mensing); No. 46 053 with load of steel probably bpounf
for Wolverhampton Steel Terminal passing Wednesbury on 13 July 1977 (John
Whitehouse); Nos. 20 180 and 20 181 exit Wednesbury Exchange Sidings on 13
July 1977 (John Whitehouse); Nos. 20 047 and 20 008 pass under former GWR
Snow Hill to Wolverhampton main line on 14 July 1977 (John Whitehouse);
Class 31/1 No. 31 254 with load of steel probably from Scunthorpe to
Brierly Hill on 14 July 1977 (John Whitehouse); Class 47 035 with Dudley
to Glasgow Gushetfaulds Freightliner passing Ocker Hill Power Station on
14 July 1977 (John Whitehouse); Wednesbury No. 1 signal box interior with
signalman Ian Johnston at work in 1980s; Class 45 075 with empty bogie tank
wagons from Wednesbury Exchange Sidings passing Ocker Hill power station
on 11 May 1977 (John Whitehouse).
Chris Fox. Namings and centenaries: a review of four
examples of British Railways paperwork. 110-11
London Midland Region produced The story of New Street by F.W.
Grocott to mark its centenary in 1951 (unattractive cover shown in colour);
Western Region brochure: Centenary Royal Albert Bridge, Saltash; Western
Region brochure Naming ceremony of the last steam locomotive built
by British Railways (No. 92220 Evening Star) and Souvenir of
two locomotive naming ceremonies on the Western Region of Briish Railways
(Type 47 D1661 North Star named by Ray Gunter and D1662 Isambard
Kingdom Brunel by Lord Mayor of Bristol, K. Dalby. (all with colour
illustrations of covers). See also comments by Robert Darlaston
on page 254 and from Nick Daunt on p.
253
Jeffrey Wells. More Great Western Railway improvement
schemes. 112-19.
Based mainly on reports in Railway Gazette for period 1933
to 1935 and reflecting investment funded by Government Guaranteed Loans.
Projects included improvements at Cardiff General station, a new locomotive
depot at Didcot, a new marshalling yard at Swindon and quadrupling of the
track on the main line to, and beyond, Swindon and on the approaches
to Birmingham. Illustrations: No. 5096 Bridgwater Castle and
No. 6338 at east end of Cardiff General in September 1962 (colour: Barry
Gant); Patform 1 at Cardiff General c1920; unpleasant rear of Cardiff General
facing Temperance Town; Cardiff General frontage on 30 June 1964; map
(Cardiff General); Taff Vale Railway Class A 0-6-2T No, 377 at Riverside
station in early 1950s; Didcat station on 11 November 1932; Swindon station
in 1930s; No. 2945 Hillingdon Court on westbound express passing Wantage
Road in early 1950s; Attocks Green & South Tardley station c1910; Solihull
station pre-1939; No. 4115 at Knowle & Dorridge end 1950s (colour).
See also letter from Terry McCarthy on p. 190 who considers
caption to initial illustration (No. 5096) is incorrect and that text is
misleading on connections to former TVR and RR lines in Cardiff from
GWR
Pick a colour. Paul Aitken. 120-1
Colour photo-feature: No. 56 118 in Loadhaul livery at Penmaenmawr
on 2 June 1997; No. 47 818 in Porterbrook livery at York on 22 July 1997
see also letter from David Cable on page 190; No. 37
242 in Mainline livery at Penmaenmawr on 2 June 1997; No.56 072 in Transrail
livery at Carlisle on 11 September 2003; No. 66 050 in EW&S red livery
at Carlisle on 27 September 1997 (with Nos. 37 098 in Dutch livery and 37
513 in Loadhaul livery
David Wadley. The Metropolitan Railway Appendix to the
Working Timetable, August 1921. 122-4
Instructions for cleaning up luggage vans after carrying watercress
from Chesham; fish from Monument, applying asbestos dust as well as
sand to electrical fires, horse traffic, notices informing if skating available
on Ruislip Lido and bookingv seats on Pullman cars: all on a railway to become
part of London Transport within twelve years. Illustrations: 0-6-4T No. 94
Lord Aberconway on breakdown train at Neasden in 1934; Wood station on Brill
branch in 1935; Verney Junction c1935: see
letter from Tim Edmonds which gives date as 9 May 1936, and Monumennt
station in 1933
Readers' forum 125
Let's go Glasgow Electric. Robert
Herriot
I have been following this quite avidly as I grew up in Lanarkshire
and in 1960, and for some years afterwards, travelled by train from Shettleston
to Coatbridge Sunnyside to go to school. My memory of the 'Blue Trains' is
slightly at odds with that of John Macnab in your November issue. On the
Friday afternoon we all arrived at Sunnyside to hear that there had been
an explosion on a train and that they were not running. We heard from the
station staff that 'arrangements' were being made but there was no indication
what these might be, While we waited no eastbound trains came through so
it seemed that all services had been suspended. I suppose that bus substitution
was out of the question as it was late on a Friday with the rush hour about
to start and further it covered the whole of the NB tracks on the north side.
What had been arranged eventually materialised in the form of a Vl/V3 and
a string of carriages. I got home somewhat late but I can't remember what
happened for the rest of the day and Saturday. See also
letter from John Macnab on pp. 253-4.
Let's go Glasgow Electric. John Macnab,
With reference to the fulsome detailing of the emergency events of
18th/19th December 1960 in the July 1961 issue of Trains Illustrated,
I handed my copy of the magazine to be read by those in the Glasgow North
operating office (particularly to the control staff so involved) who had
participated and to give themselves a congratulatory pat on the back.
My own article 'Blue Remembered Trains' published
by Backtrack in the December 2000 issue also touches on this and includes
a photograph of the hastily extended platforms at Hyndland along with a
J37-hauled service. We were somewhat pushed for steam motive power! In another
accompanying photograph EMU stock is shown en route to Manchester double-headed
by two steam locomotives with covering/barrier LNER coaches for the necessary
buckeye coupling connections as well as braking power.
We did find ourselves somewhat short of non-corridor stock that summer of
1961 and the Eastern Region sent around 100 coaches of various permutations
and articulations to help out. They were, for the most part, displaced stock
from Great Eastern and Marylebone suburban services and given a temporary
reprieve from the breakers. All, however, were withdrawn and condemned by
us the following summer. Th; restoration of services in October 1961 did
not warrant the same degree of journalistic coverage - that of the previous
year was truly an emergency.
A steady climb. John
Macnab
Within article (on Beattock) mention is made (p. 712) of a single
coach being propelled on the Beattock-Moffat branch in the years from 1949
until 1952 notably by ex-L&YR 2-4-2T's that had provision for push-pull
working. In this connection the 1953 allocation of coaching stock to the
Scottish Region has a 1938-built composite non-corridor No.SC 179HM of Dia.
261A, or alternatively 1921A, and classified as motor-fitted stock that would
appear to be the one used on this service. Hence the need for the guard to
"keep a sharp lookout" as quoted it remained in general use on withdrawal
of this particular service as a 'normal' composite until, on condemnation,
broken up in Ardmore Yards in May 1964. The single brake third non-corridor
on the 'Siege' service also illustrated on p 712 and unfortunately unidentifiable
may also have been of interest as an individual vehicle.
A steady climb. C.A. Allenby
The fatal accident near Beattock Summit mentioned by A.J. Mullay in
his informative article occurred on 8th June 1950 at Harthope, about a mile
and a half south of the Summit, caused by a fire on the 11.00 Birmingham
to Glasgow which resulted in the death of five passengers.
Whilst not as serious, two collisions in the Beattock vicinity were of sufficient
concern to the Railway Inspectorate for them to produce official 'Railway
Accident' reports for the Ministry of Transport. On 18 May 1969 the 21.30
Euston to Inverness passenger train failed a mile and a half north of Greskine
signal box. Assistance was rendered by the 22.15 Euston to Glasgow passenger
train with the Beattock pilot coupled to the rear. Unfortunately the Inverness
train initially pulled away from the Glasgow train, they were not coupled,
only for it to then to come to a sudden stop. The inevitable collision resulted
in the death of the Glasgow train driver and slight injuries to a total of
nineteen passengers and two sleeping car attendants from the two trains.
On 6 October 1971 the Class 6 01.40 Motherwell to Margam steel train lost
control descending Beattock bank owing to the brake power being insufficient
and was running at a speed estimated to be 80mph when it ran into the Class
8 (maximum speed 35mph) 00.30 Motherwell to Carlisle mixed freight train
at a point just under two miles south of Beattock station. This resulted
in the death of the Carlisle freight train guard.
The departure list. George
Smith
I am advised, by Tom Hutchinson, that the picture on p751 is of Black
Boy Incline, Shildon, not the nearby Brusselton incline. However, my comments
on the public's lackadaisical attitude to early railways are still relevant.
I can only offer apologies and say in my defence that the picture I used
came from an old postcard that someone marked up 'Brusselton Incline' on
the reverse.
High Speed Trains. L.A.
Summers
I was interested to see your evocation of the career of the BR High
Speed diesel trains, now Class 43, with which, apart from the last suggestion,
and possibly, surprisingly, I largely agree. There is no doubt that these
sets are a significant success story not matched by their imitators and
successors. That said, let us be clear that this does not support the view
that main line dieselisation on BR was a successful replacement policy for
much more expensive electrilication. The evidence shows that diesel locomotive
utilisation was, in many cases, no better than when steam was being deployed
intelligently and that the supposed economic advantages were only achieved
with long-term operation. It was realised, first on the Continent, possibly
in Italy, that the diesel locomotive-hauled train had many of the same restraints
as a steam-hauled one and that this could best be improved by building high
power railcar (or DMU) trains. The FS Settebello sets were an expression
of this change in approach. This, I suggest, is the reason why locomotive-
hauled passenger trains are rare, replaced by railcars that can run in any
direction without the restraints incurred by both steam and diesel locomotives.
As an aside I believe that it would have been possible, had the desire existed,
to improve both steam and diesel locomotive utilisation by providing a driving
van at the rear of a train, but that is a different matter. Also, while saluting
the HST let's not suggest that we approve of the Government's asinine truncation
of the GWR main line electrification project. Short-termism of this kind
has bedevilled the railway infrastructure for far too long. The WR main lines
should have been electrified 35 years ago.
Ups and down the City roads. Michael
Elliott
The Scammell Scarab shown in the illustration on the rear cover of
the December 2016 edition is of interest in that the vehicle concerned -
KLC 268 - is one of around one hundred Scarabs that received a non-standard
cab built in the Eastern Region workshops at Temple Mills rather than the
steel cab supplied by Scammell. The KLC registration number is one of series
issued by the London County Council to commercial vehicles from September
1949; the Scarab was introduced in 1948as a replacement for the original
model MH Mechanical Horse that went into production in 1933. The Temple Mills
workshops continued to build bodies for British Railways road vehicle fleet
into the 1960s.
Visiting Kentish Town and Cricklewood. Leonard
Rogers
Unlike those on many remaining named steam locomotives in 1964 and
1965, which were removed as an anti-theft measure, the Sherwood Forester
plates on 'Royal Scot' No.46112 were taken off as early as September
1961, although the locomotive was not withdrawn until April 1964. At this
time the name was transferred to brand-new No.D100, the first of over twenty
of Class 45 to receive regimental names, most of which had previously been
carried by 'Royal Scot' or 'Patriot' Class steam locos. No.46112 was an Annesley
locomotive at the time of Geoff Rixon's photograph and, in all probability,
would have worked into Marylebone. Cricklewood was the servicing base for
GC line steam after the closure of Neasden in June 1962. Notice that the
supporting brackets for the nameplates have been neatly removed - many
locomotives which had their plates removed in later years had supports and/or
backing plates crudely left in situ.
The train ferries. Bert Blissett.
Although it is always difficult, with the passage of time, to define
'cause and effect', my recollection of the last two cross- Channel train
ferry services (Harwich- Zeebrugge and Dover-Dunkerque) is that the proposed
Channel Tunnel weighed much less importantly in the equation in the 1980s
than is implied in the articles. The major investment made in the late 1980s
in this activity involved the building of a large new ship (the Nord-Pas
de Calais) for SNCF's Armement Naval, specilically to concentrate the
remaining railborne traffic on one single route (the shorter one, permitting
three and occasionally four round trips per 24 hours, with a single vessel).
In order to achieve this, significant new investment was made at both Dover
(Admiralty Pier) and Dunkerque (Port Ouest). Once the NPC entered service
(indeed some months prior to that), the days of the Harwich operation were
numbered, with or without the prospect of transfer to a future Tunnel, and
irrespective of the sale of Sealink.
One minor detail among many that could be added: in 1972 the Cambridge
Ferry made ten voyages from Harwich to Dublin transporting rolling stock
to ClE. For a comprehensive account of the last years of Britain's train
ferry activity, I can highly recommend the article by D. Ratcliffe and Ernie
Puddick in Rail Express, Feb. 2006. One further detail: the NPC ceased
conveying rail freight traffic not in 1994 as stated, but on 22 December
1995, long after some freight flows had commenced using the Channel Tunnel;
one unresolved dilemma concerned the highly-profitable flows of dangerous
goods which were banned from the Tunnel but were insufficient to sustain
a vestigial train ferry operation.
On a totally different tack, I was surprised (in the author's justified encomium
of Follet Holt) to see the Entre Rios Railway described as "prestigious".
In its London boardroom perhaps: but in Argentina it was a byword for impecunious
and unreliable rail transport, a bit like the Eastern Counties Railway or
the London, Chatham & Dover Railway in UK. It was built to serve the
low-lying and backward area known to Argentinians as 'Mesopotamia', between
the Parana and Uruguay rivers, which (with its railway) was frequently flooded.
Until the first of these rivers was bridged in 1977 by the Zarate-Brazo Largo
viaduct, a journey between its catchment area and Buenos Aires involved the
ferry crossing (to/from Ibicuy) mentioned by the author. Efficient these
ferries may have been, but they nevertheless added to the impression of an
interminable and unpredictable journey: their passengers' views may have
been coloured by memories of the collision in 1926 of two of the ferries
(the Maria Parera and the Lucia Carbo), the former sinking
in less than fifteen minutes. Finally, in support of the author's thesis
of British-inspired train ferries elsewhere in the world, he might have mentioned
the Romanshorn-Friedrichshafen operation on Lake Constance (opened 1869)
where, as Ransome-Wallis relates, "the steam ferry ship to operate these
services was designed by an Englishman, J. Scott-Russell, a Member of the
ICE and, in his day, an authority on ferries".
Bob Farmer's Index Bob Farmer's usual page-by-page index to Backtrack Vol.30 can be had from him at bob.rosemary.farmer&gmail.com
Book Reviews. 126
Matthew Murray 1765-1826 and the firm of Fenton, Murray
and Co., 1795-1844. Paul Murray Thompson. 498pp, 100 b&w
illustrations, softback, privately published in a limited edition of 500
by the author. reviewed by MR *****
The author is a direct descendant of Matthew Murray and came to his
subject from that personal connection and has thus found the time and had
the patience for his researches that otherwise may have had time limitations.
The result, this considerable volume, is as he admits "more of a source history
of the records" than a typical biographical narrative. For the cognoscenti,
however, this compendium, including contemporary drawings and engravings
will be of inestimable value. Some previous writings have suggested that
Murray might have been born in Stockton-on-Tees but here it seems clear that
he originated in Northumberland and grew up and received his early work
experience on Tyneside.
He has become known as 'the Father of Leeds Engineering', his early work
in that city being associated with John Marshall and the attempts to introduce
and improve machinery for the production of textiles other than cotton; in
particular linen from flax.
When he became involved in his own partnership and the building and growth
of the Round Foundry in Water Lane, the range of his interest grew considerably.
He made many improvements to the steam engine and was to manufacture a great
number of engines for many applications including marine ones. Other innovations
involved machinery and also structural ironwork for the erection of fireproof
mills and factories.
He will be best known to readers of this magazine for being the first commercial
manufacturer of steam railway locomotives: those built to John Blenkinsop's
rack system although Blenkinsop's patent only covered the rack rail and pinion
gear arrangement (the high pressure non-condensing engine was Trevithick's).
Murray's contributions were much longer-lasting: two cylinders set at 90
degrees and the 'D' slide-valve. The Round Foundry constructed seven of these
locomotives before Murray ceased their manufacture. He was well aware of
the safety concerns around high-pressure steam especially when such equipment
was in the hands of the careless. Most land and marine boilers worked at
low pressures at that time.
Thus he turned down George Stephenson's request to quote for a locomotive
engine for the Stockton & Darlington Railway, although just before his
death he proposed a machine with a seperate boiler and engine units with
chain coupling between their axles, ostensibly to reduce axle weight and
prevent rail breakages (especially where cast iron was used).
A few years after his death in 1826, the company changed its policy and 71
locomotives were built for twenty railway companies in England and continental
Europe between 1831 and 1842 and notably 23 for the broad gauge Great Western
Railway. Twenty were express passenger 'Firefly' Class 2-2-2s and their designer
Daniel Gooch was to report that they were the best made of the seven firms
which had supplied the type to his company. Fenton, Murray & Jackson
closed in 1844. A series of events concerning debts and bankrupcy brought
the end just as the 'Railway Mania' was reaching its height.
This is not a book for reading in bed – it weighs in at over 41b! However,
it is printed on the best quality paper and in a large font with wide line
spacings, making it easy to follow the mix of text, extended quotations and
transcribed documents, even for elderly eyes. The only quibble is with the
index which is rather inadequate and a few numbered sub-headings in each
chapter in conjunction with an extended contents page would help to navigate
through a complex work. This is essential for anyone interested in industrial
and mechanical engineering developments in this period and beyond.
Commuters: the history of a British way of life. Simon Webb.
Pen and Sword History. paperback. 150pp. Reviewed by GBS ***
At some times and in some countries it seemed that commuter traffic
around great cities would be the last refuge of passenger travel by rail,
and commuting is so bound up with the economy and social life of modern nations
that it is surprising that it seems never to have received the comprehensive
treatment it deserves. This popular survey of the topic in Great Britain,
down through history and covering all transport modes, is therefore welcome.
Though short the book is wide-ranging. It covers the distant origins of the
journey between home and work, long before the term 'commuting' was coined
and imported from the United States. Travel on foot, by boat, by bus and
tram, by train, and by motor car are covered in lively style. There is a
pleasing diversion into literary coverage of commuting habits, as well as
rather more recherche discussions of the etymology of the word and of the
social stratification latent in different modes, such as the popular associations
of the tram and the more refined ambience of the bus (although one wonders
if steady embourgeoisement really caused the triumph of the latter, as implied).
The separation of home and work, a crucial factor in industrialisation and
hence the birth of the modern world, depended on public transport, and the
process is well described. There is an index and a selection of illustrations,
together with a bibliography.
This is an accessible summary of a complex and important subject, supported
by an interesting range of anecdote and reference. Sadly, it would have benefited
from more careful research and editing, and is slightly marred by avoidable
howlers. For example, the unusual Gravesend and Northfleet line was not the
'first electric tram to run in Britain'; and the Northern City Line, site
of the appalling 1975 accident, most certainly did not run between 'West
Drayton, a station near near London Airport, and Moorgate'. A useful
introduction, but the definitive book on the subject is still to come.
Stephenson's Rocket 1829 onwards – Owners' Workshop
Manual An insight into the design, construction, operation and maintenance
of the iconic steam locomotive. Richard Gibbon. Haynes Publishing. 160pp.
Reviewed by RW ****
Although this book, which was produced in conjunction with the Science
Museum, is in the form of the well known Haynes car service manuals, it is
not just a manual but a full account of the origins of this most famous
locomotive and its various replicas which have been made since 1829, together
with the those of Novelty and Sans Pareil, built for the 1980 Rocket 150
celebration.
After an introduction, the book continues with the development of steam-
powered railways. particularly in Durham, andthe planned Liverpool to Manchester
(L&M) Railway proposing a competition for the best locomotive, culminating
in the Rainhill Trials of 1829. The book then deals with with the opening
of the L&M itself and the part played by Rocket in the early operation
of the line. Chapter Two deals in detail with the construction of Rocket
itself, with particular reference to the original locomotive in its present
form and the sectioined replica made for the Science Museum in 1935. Chapter
Three contains accounts of their various experiences from people who had
travelled in trains drawn by Rocket itself, or a replica, either as a passenger
or on the footplate as crew.
The next chapter starts with a Rocket maintemance chart as for a car, showing
the daily lubrication points, together with the other essential maintenance
tasks such as boiler washouts, which have to be performed at regular intervals
in order to ensure continued efficient operation. Chapter Five discusses
the ten known replica Rockets which have been built since 1829 up to 2010.
Chapter Six discusses how full size working replicas of pioneer locomotives,
as at Beamish, can bring railway history vividly to life. The book then describes
the two replicas, Novelty and Sans Pareil, the other main contenders for
the L&M £500 Prize, and their part, with the replica Rocket, in
the 2002 renactment of the Rainhill Trials (actually held in Wales) for a
BBC television programme, continuing with the recent replica Rocket, made
in 2010 .
The last chapter discusses how Rocket (apart from having no brakes) became
the template for almost all the steam locomotives which followed for over
150 years. The book ends with a glossary of technical terms, some supplementary
information and a comprehensive index.
Flying Scotsman LNER Class A1/A3 Pacific 4472, 1923
onwards. Phil Atkins. Hayes Publishing, Reviewed by APT ****
Why is LNER Class A3 4-6-2 No.4472 Flying Scotsman so famous
and popular with the public? It was certainly not the best member of the
class performance-wise, but it was the first steam locomotive to be officially
credited with 100mph and also it was the first Pacific delivered to the newly
formed LNER.
Undoubtedly, a further reason for the popularity is that the name it carries
it overcomes that common confusion present in the public's mind - namely
the differentiation between a train and a locomotive - it is so much easier
when they are called one and the same. The name Flying Scotsman was
only applied to the engine when it was displayed at the British Empire Exhibition
at Wembley in 1924. Although it had long been applied unofficially to east
coast 'Scotch' expresses, it was only also in 1924 that it was applied officially
to the 10.00am(ish) service for Edinburgh and, of course, its corresponding
up working.
In preservation, the engine has long been popular with the public starting
right from the moment when Alan Pegler bought it from British Railways and,
in a series of well publicised runs, was able to operate it over the national
network, enabling thousands of spectators and enthusiasts to see it - your
reviewer being one. Subsequently the engine has experienced more drama and
excitement than perhaps any locomotive is entitled to, including trips to
the USA and Australia, plus several changes of ownership prompted by bankruptcy.
These adventures culminated in a dramatic rescue by Sir William McAlpine
to avoid it being broken up for scrap to payoff debts. Then, in 2004 –
this time to prevent it possibly going abroad - the locomotive was saved
for the nation by the NRM purchasing it under sealed bids for £2.31
million – somewhat more than the £3,000 Alan Pelger paid for the
engine in 1963 – and representing an annual price rise of 18 per cent.
Initially the NRM intended to use No.4472 to haul charter trains out of York
but it quickly became apparent to its latest owner that the engine was in
far poorer condition than the museum had been led to believe. The decision
was taken in September 2004 to admit the engine to the NRM workshops for
a 'heavy intermediate repair'. Unfortunately, on leaving the workshop in
May 2005, the repairs did not have the desired effect of improving
itseighteen-month heavy general repair in January 2006, which was intended
to be a full restoration of the locomotive.
It was then that the problems started in earnest. It would prove to be one
of the extremest overhaul and renewal projects undertaken so far in the heritage
railways sector but this was not realized at the start. Secondly, the NRM
found itself to be ill-equipped to carry out the overhaul. The work started
without a plausible restoration plan, using the museum's in-house technical
staff who, in fairness, were not geared up for a multi-million pound restoration
scheme. Unfortunately, the NRM did not have the professional engineering
capacity or experience to describe in sufficient detail the work required
using drawings and detailed specifications in modern electronic format. This
prevented it from having parts of the restoration carried out by large-scale,
commercial, non-railway engineering companies. Consequently, it had to rely
on the small 'cottage industry' companies that have sprung up since 1968
in support of the heritage railway scene.
Such a large project. being almost wholly dependent on such comparatively
limited engineering capacity. ensured it inevitably took a long time to complete
– even if this was not anticipated at the outset. That it took ten years
was partly due to the NRM's inexperience in managing such a large project.
A deficiency in project planning and management meant mistakes were made,
procedures such as checking the frame structure for cracking and alignment
was performed late and out of sequence, consequently some work had to be
done twice. But anyone who had seen the engine running during one of its
many appearances in 2016 will not be left in any doubt that an excellent
restoration and rebuild has been done.
The book is subtitled an insight into maintaining, operating and restoring
the legendary steam locomotive - and that precisely sums it up. The latter
half describes the restoration in some detail accompanied by a large number
of photographs illustrating the different stages and processes involved in
the rebuilding.
The first half looks at the genesis of the Gresley Al Class Pacific, its
metamorphosis into the A3 Class, together with chapters on how Flying
Scotsman was originally constructed, together with something of its
operational life. Once again, these chapters are accompanied by photographs
of the procedures and parts of locomotive anatomy together with some drawings.
Altogether, a book that should particularly appeal to the enthusiast who
is not just interested in Flying Scotsman, but who is also keen to learn
just how much work and effort goes into the restoration of steam locomotives
so that they may continue to run in the 21st century.
Anyone for Rugby. Geoff Rixon. rear cover
Platform scene at Rugby Midland with footplate crew chatting up a
couple of blond dolly birds in July 1962
Great Eastern B12 4-6-0 in Scotland: LNER No. 1543 at Kittybrewster shed, Aberdeen, in September 1949. J.M. Jarvis. front cover
Changing at York. Tom Heavyside. 132-4
Colour photo-feature (all in locomotives and passenger rolling stock
in business-like corporate blue livery except possibly scruffy Type 37):
No. 46 027 on Newcastle to Liverpool service formed of Mark 1 stock with
mini-buffet (a few years before it would have had a proper dining car) on
21 May 1977 (Minster and North Eastern Railway offices very visible); No.
56 106 with empty oil tank wagons for Teeside at north end of avoiding line
on 28 June 1986; Deltic No. 55 106 Royal Scots Grey on up Talsiman
on 21 May 1977; No. 37 208 at Chloners Whin with down freight with train
ferry and Speedlink wagons; p. 133 lower: No. 47 462 on heavy
express pasing Drinhouses Yard on 15 May 1981. Further
information in letter from David J. Hayes on page 317; No. 47145 on Newcastle
to Paignton express approaching from north on 28 June 1986; No. 45 142 on
Scarborough to Holyhead seevice on 28 June 1986.
What about the Workers? 135
Black & white photo-feature: Class 5 4-6-0 No. 5219 in Bank Hall
shed in very posed photograph of engine cleaning; Waterloo A signak box in
very posed photograph taken on 27 October 1936 just before it being replaced
by new power box; blacksmiths queue for cup of tea in Stratford Works; fitters
working on motion of an A4 Pacific inside King's Cross shed in 1953 (photograph
taken in association with British Transport Film Elizabethan Express of
1953; propoganda photogrph taken during General Strike of 1926 of Royal Navy
ratings manually shunting wagos in Nine Elms goods depot;
Edward Gibbins. The closure of the Midland & Great
Northern Joint Line - Part One. 138-44
Argues that LNER might have been forced to press for closure in the
late 1930s, but for the outbreak of WW2 (but Gibbins does not outline its
strategic significance,. if any, at that time). The lack of traffic, both
passenger and freight, is emphasised and the difficulties of operating a
long mainly single track line, especially in the few periods of very high
traffic. In many cases it was quicker to use many of the alternative routes
which had also formed part of the LNER. KPJ: the only portrion still open
is between Sheringham and Cromer and thence over the sole remnant of the
Norfolk & Suffolk Joint Railway leading onto the Cromer main line.
Illustrations: M&GN Class C 4-4-0 No. 80 leaving Norwich City on 26 June
1929; M&GN Class D? (C) 4-4-0 No. 17 at Yarmouth Beach pre-WW1; CLass
D 0-6-0 No. 72 at Yarmouth Beach on 12 July 1937; 15.12 Nottingham
to Yarmouth express passing Edwalton headed by M&GN 4-4-0 No. 53 assisted
by (inside) Fowler 2-6-4T which presumably came off before the train reached
the Fens in 1933; Weston station on 5 August 1958; J3 0-6-0 No. 86 on freight
near Thursford on 4 July 1936 (H.C. Casserley: car visiblke on lane parallel
to railway); F3 2-4-2T No. 8097 at Sheringham with train formed of three
interesting corridor coaches for service via Overstrand?; J6 0-6-0 No. 64172
at Spalding Town with last 09.55 Saxby to King's Lynn on 28 February 1959
(T.J. Edgington); Ivatt Class 4 2-6-0 No. 43107 shunting at Yarmouth Beach
in September 1958 (colour: E.V. Fry)
Mike Fenton. The Brimscombe bankers. 145-9.
The Trans-Cotswold railway was both set in beautiful scenery and demanding
as there was a long 1 in 60 climb from the west which in steam days demanded
the use of banking engines for freight and some passenger trains. The author
is unfortunate not to have traversed the line in the days of steam, but relied
upon the memories of Jeff Pegller who worked on the banking engines and the
somewhat better known Chalford Autos from the 1940s until the demise of steam,
and Lionel Padin, a Chalford local historian. The Cheltenham & Great
Western Union Railway was conceived in response to a London & Birmingham
Railway threat to serve Cheltenham by a branch off from Tring. It was a broad
gauge line and linked Swindon with Gloucester and Cheltenham via Sapperton
Tunnel responding to the route of the Thames & Severn Canal. The bankers
latterly were Great Western 2-6-2T locomotives of the 51XX varieties.
Illustrations: 43XX on freight with 61XX as banker: 2 colour views by Roy
Denison taken on 6 April 1963 both taken from across Thames & Severn
Canal: first alongside large water tank at Brimscombe; second view of banker
working hard as begins ascent; passenger train approaches Sapperton Tunnel
on 9 May 1961 (colour: Roy Denison); gradient profile; track plan pre-1964;
Brimscombe station with baulk permanent way still in place in 1880s and two
saddle tanks on running lines: 1076 class 0-6-0ST assisting Atbara class
4-4-0 on express at Stroud c1903; 2721 class 0-6-0ST No. 2768 at Brimscombe
c1905; smoke everywhere L.E. Copeland photograph taken from Rack Hill in
1934 with heavy freight making ascent (note spare railmotor trailer); Brimscombe
East signal box in April 1934 (L.E. Copeland); Hymek diesel hydraulic No.
7088 on light 12.25 Gloucester to Swindon passing No. 6106 on 16 September
1964 (W. Potter); 51XX No. 4142 banking a freight viewed from Cowcombe Hill
and banker returning down bank on 23 July 1962 (W. Potter); 3150 class No.
3164 at Sapperton Sidings signal box with Driver Wally Green; No. 4141 and
No. 7003 Emley Castle head up Cheltenham Spa Express up bank
on 23 July 1962 (Humphrey Household); Class 3 2-6-2T No. 82039 with No. 4100
climbing bank on 12.45 Glouceswter to Swindon on 5 June 1965 (W. Potter);
winter with snow at Brimscombe in early 1950s; 9F 2-10-0 on freight and No.
4100 at rear of freight on bank on 12 June 1965 (W. Potter).
See also letter from Michael L. Roach on p.
317.
Miles Macnair. Getting a quart out of a pint pot. Part
One. Boosters and steam tenders. 155-9
The text is headed by a Robin Barnes painting (colour) of an Archibald
Sturrock steam tender with the cab of the locomotive enveloped in steam.
The text attempts to show that Sturrock may not have been the first to adopt
the technique and was certainly not the last as shown by many other examples
mainly taken from material in the Locomotive Magazine, but some from
Drury .
Verpilleux, working with
Seguin in France was probablly the first in 1843
(see Locomotive Mag., 1934,
40, 174) and subsequently modified the locomotive with a larger
boiler (illustrated). Sturrock's programme is covered by
Grove which Macnair raises to the
status of "definitive work" and the books and
Backtrack article by Vernon as well as the
steamindex GNR page. Charles
Sacre of the Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire also particpated in
the steam tender project by ordering ten steam tenders from Neilson. Macnair
adds an additional ill-omen for Sturrock: that he did not get on with
Packe who virtually owned the
Great Northern and left assisting in the foundation of the Yorkshire Engine
Co. Some of the redundant steam tenders were converted by
Isaac Watt Boulton into saddle tanks.
The Eastern Railway in France built at least one steam tender locomotive
to work in the Viosges mountains and
Neilson & Co. built ten to work
on the Cordoba & Belmez in Spain and these lasted seven years.
Neilson also supplied four steam tenders
to the Caledonian Railway and these were attached to Connor 189 class
2-4-0 engines, but these were inadequate: but were more satisfactory when
attached to the more powerful 197 class.
The programme failed to be enlarged as it had been intended to fit them to
the first twelve of a new class of 0-4-2 in 1861, but the mofied tenders
were cancelled.. The steam tenders were useful for providing extra braking
power. The concept did not die but emerged in
three vast Mallet compounds built for
the Erie Railroad with steam tenders given a Whyte classification of
2-8-8-8-2 and known as Triplexes (illustrated). Once the grate area had been
increased the three worked as bankers until 1927.
Drury states that Baldwin supplied a similar
locomotive to the Virginian Railroad (see
also Locomotive Mag., 1917, 23, 85) for banking between
Elmore and Clark's Gap, but it was too large to negotiate a tunnel on the
intended incline and had to be cut down into two locomotives. Rather more
successful was the programme instigated by J. Hainen on the Southern Railway
(USA) to fit steam tenders based on withdrawn 2-8-0 and 2-6-0 locomotives
to augment the power of 2-8-2s working
between Asheville North Carolina and Hayne South Carolina. These enabled
an extra 300 tons to be handled over relativelly long distances.
A Poultney steam tender was fitted
to 15 inch gauge River Esk 2-8-2. (illustrated). Finally
a turbine was fitted to the tender of a reciprocating steam locomtive: this
was both described in the Locomotive
Magazine and demonstrated by Henschel
to members of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers (illustrated).
See also letter from Paul Craig on Sturrock 's
resignation
Representing the Eastern Counties. 160-3
Colour photo-feature: D15 with Belpaire boiler in LNER lined black
livery No. 891 at Bishops Stortford in 1938; B12/3 No. 8537 in apple green
livery with polished brass beading on splashers at Broxbourne in June 1939;
D16/3 No. 62546 Claud Hamilton at Yarmouth South Town shed with Mark 1 open
second in carmine & cream livery in May 1956 (Bruce Chapman); E4 2-4-0
No. 62785 on Cambruidge shed with B17 and B1 nearby on 20 May 1957 (R.C.
Riley); B12/3 No. 61571 near Stratfotrd c1958; B12/3 ex-Works at Stratford
on 14 November 1954 (Trevor Owen); B12/4 No. 1524 with small round-top boiler
in apple green livery at Kittybrewster, Aberdeen in August 1947 (J.M.
Jarvis: see also front cover); D16/3 No. 62613 at King's
Lynn on 1 June 1960 (R.C. Riley: see also rear cover);
B12/3 No. 61561 leaving Framlingham on 2 May 1958 with train of carmine &
cream teak corridor stock robably on Framlingham Ciollege working (R.C. Riley).
Another collection
James Rogers. Ripon — a City no longer with a railway.
Part Two. 164-70
Studley Royal, when a residence of the Earl and Countess de Grey was
an important calling point for British Royalty including the Prince and Princess
of Wales in 1863; a subsequent Prince of Wales on 14 August 1902 and as King
on 12 August 1913. Studley Royal has since declined into a UNESCO World Heritage
Site, and remains unworthy of railway communication. The City's loss of its
train service is a further tarnishment of Barbara Castle's false political
image (are there any untarnished politicians?). Illustrations: Deltic No.
9006 on down Queen of Scots Pullman crossibg River Ure c1962; D20
No. 62387 on a doiwn stopping train (J.W. Hague and all remainder); A1 No.
60153 Flamboyant approaching from north on express; two BR Class
4 2-6-4Ts Nos. 80117 and 80118 on empty stock north of the station in 1958;
WD No. 90068 with down freight north of station; B1 No. 61062 running into
station with northbound CTAC Scottish Tours Express with Ripon Cathedral
visible in background; A1 No. 60154 Bon Accord with down express;
J25 0-6-0 No. 65726 with freightlette; Type 37 diesel electric with train
of ammonia tank wagos en route from Heysham Moss to Newport (Teeside); Baywood
Chemicals alias Ripon station in December 1971.
Jeffrey Wells. A Lancashire alliance 1863-1870. 171-7
Lancashire Union Railway: joint railway between Lancashire & Yorkshire
and London & North Western Railway. The Earl of Crawford and Balcarres,
Lord Lindsay, John Lancaster, Alfred Hewlett and James Diggle wished to promote
a railway between the Wigan coalfield and East Lancashire as typified by
Blackburn an Burnley. The Lancashire Union Railway sought to meet this transport
need. The London & North Western Railway was supportive, but the Lancashire
& Yorkshire Railway was hostile, but eventually agreed to a joint line
authorised on 25 July 1864. The Civil Engineers of both companies were
responsible: William Baker
and Sturges Meek. The railway
opened on 1 December 1869. The Blackburn Standard, Preston Guardian
and Liverpool Mercury are the main newspaper sources quoted.
Illustrations:. Cherry Tree station on 5 August 1964; Febiscoweles Three
Arch Bridge on 18 June 1966; Withnell station; Brinscall station; Heapey
station; Chorley statiojn c1921 and 5 August 1964; Adlington station; Red
Rock station and Boar's Head station and junction c1925;
Morfa Mawddach in Limbo. Max Birchenough. 178-9
Colour photo-feature: Five colour views taken in April 1968 with much
falling into disrepair
Jeffrey Wells. The Great Silence and the railways - 1919. 180-1
On 11 November 1919 at 11.00 two minutes silence was observed throughout
the United Kingdom to commemorate the dead who had fallen during WW1: newspaper
reports on how this was undertaken on the railway at Dundee, Hull, Longdown,
Crewe, Stafford, Bristol and at various stations in London. Illustrations::
(none of the actual "event"): Crewe Platform 4 1930s; Longdown July 1903;
Stafford c1910.
Michael H.C. Baker. Beyond Clapham Junction. 182-8
A mixture of autobiographical material with indications to what many
readers may have missed as their sardine-like transits were endured, assuming
that the archaic fireman's union members permitted such ventures on their
approaches to Waterloo or Victoria possibly by Eurostar (which briefly
enabled one to arrive in Central London having enjoyed dinner on the train
— must have been like arriving on the up Bournemouth Belle).
Illustrations: London Transport trams on conduit track outside
Clapham Junction station in 1935: see letter from Graham
Smith for more precise location and notes on the mainly unvestibuled
E/1 class former London County Council tram cars dominating the street scene
at Vauxhall; Marsh 4-6-2T No. 32326 (malchite green) with an up Oxted train
in 1949 at Clapham Junction; M7 0-4-4T No. 30248 approching Earlsfield with
empty stock; LBSCR B4 4-4-0 No. 210 with LBSCR Royal Train
under wires south of Clapham Junction c1910 see also
letter from Bill Armsttrong on page 254 who writes about the boiler
classification of this Royal performer and other LBSCR locomotives; 4
SUB No. 4352 approaching Clapham Junction c1955; Lord Nelson No. 30855
Robert Blake in Wandsworth cutting with up Ocean Liner Express on
2 June 1959; King Arthur No. 30788 Sir Urre of the Mount in Clapham
sidings in November 1961; LBSCR parcels office at Clapham Junction extant
"today" (colour); C class 0-6-0 No. 31510 on empty stock approaching Vauxhall
on 1 July 1961; interior of Battersea Park station on 6 September 2006 (colour);
Battle of Britain class No. 21C163 in malchite green at Stewarts Lane in
1947; E4 0-6-2T No. 32500 detached itself from empty stoack on approach to
Clapham Junction in November 1961; Eurostar departing from Waterloo International
with Big Ben behind (colour)
John C. Hughes. Carruthers (and others). 189
Advertisement for Dr Tibbles' Vi-Cocoa from Liverpool Daily
Post (22 March 1900) showing L. Carruthers making a drink in a signal
cabin on the Liverpool Overhead Railway. In 1902 James Logan Carruthers was
convicted of fraud from the LOR (Liverpool Echo, 8 November
1902)
Readers' Forum. 190
Dispute over running powers. Editor
A gremlin struck and transposed the photograph captions, as eagle-eyed
readers doubtless noticed. Apologies all round. Ed.
Snaigow and Durn. John Roake
David Williams, in his piece about Snaigow and Dum states
these locomotives, as had many other Highland Railway locomotives in the
past, carried the names of the residences of directors of the Highland Railway,
a statement which has been made many times before. But is this actually correct,
even if the result is the same? In the Scottish Highlands it was (is?) usual
to speak or refer to an untitled gentleman in possession of an estate
colloquially by the name of that estate. Thus the Highland Railway was following
the practices of other railway companies by naming their locomotives after
the directors of the company, it just so happening that in Highland circles
those directors shared their names with that of their estates.
Swindon-built diesel multiple units in Scotland.
John Macnab
Trailer Composite Corridors Nos. 59402-12 are shown to be both as
working Edinburgh- Glasgow and Glasgow-Ayr and Stranraer services. That shown
for the latter is correct. There is also no mention of the two Trailer Buffet
Firsts Nos. 59098/9 that formed part of the 'Ayrshire' allocation. It is
correct that Motor Seconds Nos.79088 and 79168 transferred to Ayr with Trailer
Firsts 79470/9 becoming, in effect, surrogate Class 126 along with their
Ayr counterparts on the inception of TOPS. Incidentally, we in the coaching
rolling section at Glasgow HQ never referred to trailers within these sets
having a differing TOPS number, eg Class 188, simply regarding the unit(s)
as one class. Prior to this in the 1960s several individual Edinburgh-Glasgow
Motor Seconds were 'loaned' to Ayr depot from time to time. There was never
to my knowledge a reciprocal movement. Of the Aberdeen-Inverness sets one
was borrowed for several years in the early 1960s to work a Glasgow Queen
Street-Oban summer timetabled service routed via Crianlarich Upper and Lower.
The photograph on p101 of a lengthy DMU working departing for Aberdeen shows
an anomaly in that the leading Class 120 appears to be without its Trailer
Buffet Second.
One other Swindon aspect of these units was that all bore, when new, the
Regional owning prefix as 'Sc' as opposed to the normal. shall we say correct,
SC The only other builder to do likewise was Craven's of Sheffield for the
Class 311 EMUs.
Pick a colour. David
Cable
The caption to the photograph (February) of the Class 47 in Porterbook
purple and white needs amplifying. There were five locomotives carrying
variations of the Porterbrook house colours: two Class 47s, Nos.47 807 and
47 817, Class 55 No.D9016, Class 57 No..57 601 and Class 87 No. 87
002, the latter carrying a different style on both side of the bodywork.
Interested readers can see photographs of all of these in my book Lost
Liveries of Privatisation, published around six years ago by lan Allan.
As a matter of interest, Porterbrook also leased out three Class 170 DMUs
(Nos.170397-9) which carried various non-standard colours.
More GWR Improvement Schemes. Terry
McCarthy
The caption of photograph on p. 112 of the February issue has incorrectly
interpreted the positions of the locomotive shown. No.6338 is not on a platform
road, but is on the up relief line It is unlikely, therefore, to be preparing
'to leave with an up local'. More probably it is on a goods train, awaiting
the signals on the gantry to change. Furthermore, I venture to suggest No.
5096 is passing on the down relief, as suggested by the direction the safety
valve steam is blowing, possibly heading for Cardiff Canton shed. The track
visible behind No. 6338 is the up through Platform 2, while the outer rail
of the down platform track can be seen between the edge of Platform 3 and
No. 5096.
Also on p. 113 the last sentene, at the end of the third paragraph under
the sub-heading 'Cardiff General Station' states: "The TVR was the first
steam operated railway connecting the inland collieries and ironworks to
the port of Cardiff and from 1840 to 1923 the TVR steadfastly remained
independent and aloof of the mighty GWR."To be accurate, the TVR was incorporated
in 1836, but amalgamated with the GWR on 1st January 1922, following the
passage of the Railways Act, 1921.
On p. 114, under the sub-heading 'Cardiff General station improvements 1933/4',
the second paragraph is rather ambiguous. The TVR gained access to Cardiff
General with the construction of a link. between the Queen Street-Bute Road
line in 1896, which enabled the TVR to link its Valleys and Penarth and Cadoxton
lines for through passenger services. However, the Rhymney Railway line did
not gain access to Cardiff General until July 1928, when the former RR route
was connected to the TVR route into Queen Street station and onwards to Cardiff
General.
L and L1 Class 4-4-0s. Neil
Knowlden
On p97 (February) caption No. 31772 was "leading a Chatham
'birdcage' carriage" is a little misleading as all such vehicles had been
formed into permanent formations for many years and "a Chatham 'birdcage'
set" might have been appropriate phraseology. In fact, these sixty-footers
always had been in sets of three (apart from a couple of sets augmented at
different dates) with a 'birdcage' at both ends and another typical set is
shown in the upper photograph but you might notice the 'plain' roof at the
far end in the middle photograph so this is undoubtedly set No. 571 which
included brake third 3464. Nobody seems to have discovered why this coach
had no 'birdcage' though it's been suggested that it might have been involved
in an accident; the fact that the next batch of trio-sets was built without
'birdcages' may not be irrelevant.
Book Reviews. 190
Great Western aspects - commuters: the history of a British way of
life. Simon Webb. Pen and Sword History. 150pp. Reviewed by GBS ***
At some times and in some countries it seemed that commuter traffic
around great cities would be the last refuge of passenger travel by rail,
and commuting is so bound up with the economy and social life of modern nations
that it is surprising that it seems never to have received the comprehensive
treatment it deserves. This popular survey of the topic in Great Britain,
down through history and covering all transport modes, is therefore welcome.
Though short the book is wide-ranging. It covers the distant origins of the
journey between home and work, long before the term 'commuting' was coined
and imported from the United States. Travel on foot, by boat, by bus and
tram, by train, and by motor car are covered in lively style. There is a
pleasing diversion into literary coverage of commuting habits, as well as
rather more recherche discussions of the etymology of the word and of the
social stratification latent in different modes, such as the popular associations
of the tram and the more refined ambience of the bus (although one wonders
if steady embourgeoisement really caused the triumph of the latter, as implied).
The separation of home and work, a crucial factor in industrialisation and
hence the birth of the modern world, depended on public transport, and the
process is well described. There is an index and a selection of illustrations,
together with a bibliography.
This is an accessible summary of a complex and important subject, supported
by an interesting range of anecdote and reference. Sadly, it would have benefited
from more careful research and editing, and is slightly marred by avoidable
howlers. For example, the unusual Gravesend and Northfleet line was not the
'first electric tram to run in Britain'; and the Northern City Line, site
of the appalling 1975 accident, most certainly did not run between 'West
Drayton, a station near London Airport, and Moorgate'. A useful introduction,
but the definitive book on the subject is still to come.
Southern Style Part Two - London, Brighton &
South Coast Railway. P.J. Wisdom. HMRS. Reviewed by B.C. Lane
****
Like the previous volume in this series (The London & South Western
Railway published in 2014), this 117-page softback book deals with all the
liveries of the LB&SCR in depth and will be an invaluable addition to
modellers of the company. While locomotives take prime position, carriages,
goods stock, road vehicles, structures and signage are all well covered,
even Pullmans and shipping too. An additional folder includes fifteen specimen
colour samples for modeller (including the three shades of grey) which include
reference numbers to the Humbrol range of paints. There are 170 mono photographs
including several colour plates mainly of preserved items. The team which
put the volume together must be congratulated on the depth of information
available on this topic.
If there is one thing that lets it down it is the standard of some of the
line drawings illustrating the various liveries. Numerous instances of lining
panels where the lines are not concentric or properly formed let the standard
down and one cab side diagram bears little resemblance to the true lining
as illustrated in Brian Haresnape's 1985 book on Stroudley locomotives or
to the many scale drawings from the pen of J. N. Maskelyne, both of which
form a respected alternative reference to the niceties of the old livery
styles. That aside, this book will be a valuable addition to many a modeller's
book shelf.
Imagery and information. Kevin Robertson. Noodle Books, 112pp,
Reviewed by DMA
More of a Commonplace Book than a commonplace book, this is an absorbing
collection of photographs and prose. The only thread running through it is
the Great Western itself, otherwise the matter is distinct by time, location
and topic. In the introduction Robertson describes the book as " ... a collection
of pieces perhaps slightly off beat but also I hope of interest... Neither
does it follow a theme, instead the idea was to include what I have personally
found of interest - and I Sincerely hope you do to".
The book pokes through dull red embers of the Great Western. The first chapter
is on 'The End of the Broad Gauge' with a photograph of four 'Rover' Class
locomotives lined up all forlorn in May 1892 at Newton Abbott, ready to be
taken to Swindon for cutting up. There is also one of a genial C. B. Collett
beside that coffee pot engine Tiny. 'The New Railway' is an account of the
building of the Badminton line. This is illustrated with contemporary photographs
taken by David Smith, a navvy missionary who looked after the moral and spiritual
welfare of the men and boys engaged on the work. The images show the different
phases of construction from half excavated cuttings to the finished line
and the navvies themselves. There are chapters on the accidents at Loughor
(1904) and Slough (1900) and colour photographs which include Great Western
coaches in plum and spilt milk, the Fairford branch in 1961 and some railway
inclines at Somerset colleries.
Much of the book is taken up by a history of 'The GWR Economic System of
Maintenance'. This was a method by which permanent way gangs could, through
a key, take occupation of a lightly used line and so avoid the need for flagmen.
To quote Robertson " ... the system may be described as being one where a
section of single line is sub-divided into small sections with a key box
at intervals along that section. One key, which will fit into any of the
boxes in a given section, is provided and which, when withdrawn, prevents
the signalman at either end from obtaining a 'token' and so allowing a train
to pass". This system included the use of telephone huts so that the gangers
could communicate with the signalmen and of trolleys, first hand and then
motor, which allowed a given number of men to cover a greater length of line.
Even in the Edwardian heyday of the country railway there were concerns over
the cost of maintaining lines which had limited revenue. The book describes
in detail how the system evolved and how it was rolled out on different lines.
There are photographs showing the equipment (sophisticated technology at
this time) and the men at work. The system came to be copied by other railways.
One snippet that caught my eye related to the introduction of this method
on the Shipston-on-Stout branch in 1905. Even at that late date one of the
nine men in the gang was retained to maintain the four miles of horse tramway
that went north from Longdon Road. This was a remnant of that piece of the
Georgian industrial revolution, the 1826 Stratford and Moreton Tramway. A
snippet to transcribe into my own Commonplace Book, if I ever get to start
one.
Distant delight. R.C. Riley. rear cover
D16/3 No. 62522 on up local passenger train passing distant signals
for Ely North Junction on 26 April 1958 (what was building on right?)
LMS Fowler Class 4 2-6-4T No.42414 at Shap Wells assisting
northbound freight up to Shap Summit on 26 September 1964. Gavin
Morrison. front cover
See also feature on LMS 2-6-4Ts
Valediction to Old Oak Common. Dick Riley. 196-8
Colour photo-feature: Castle class No. 5049 Earl of Plymouth;
Modified Hall No. 6994 Baggrave Hall on 5 May 1956
(see Editorial letter on page 317); 61XX No. 6135 in
lined green livery on 23 June 1957. 47XX No. 4704 in lined green livery on
27 October 1957; Star class No. 4056 Princess Margaret in lined green
livery on 23 September 1956; No. 6937 Conyngham Hall and No. 4703
within gloom of roundhouse; and D1000 Western
Enterprise in desert sand livery D1035 Western Yeoman in maroon
along with two Hymeks on 11c April 1964 (all locomotives outside except
for pair noted),
Birmingham Snow Hill and Moor Street. John Edgington. 199
Photo-feature: black & white images: Snow Hill station Colmore
Row frontage on 12 November 1966; No. 1414 with auto coach on 18.17 service
to Dudley in Snow Hill on 3 August 1967; No. 6000 King George V arriving
on 09.10 express from Paddington en route to Birkenhead on 27 December 1960;
No. 46237 City of Bristol on 09.10 express from Paddington en route
to Birkenhead on 25 April 1955 (in previous photos locomotives would be changed
at Wolverhampton); ACV lightweight diesel train arriving on 16.10 from Solihull
on 31 August 1955; preserved 45XX No. 4555 on up freight on 8 August 1964;
Moor Street station exterior on 5 May 1968; 15.35 diesel railcar for
Stratford-upon-Avon in Moor Street on 13 July 1968; colour image taken by
K. Hughes of old posters discovered in 1972 after Snow Hill had closed, including
ones of the Broads, Edinburgh and Cardiff Castle.
Alan Taylor. North Eastern Region freight in the early
1960s. 202-7.
The North Eastern Region carried 25% of British Railways freight.
The Teeside steel and heavy chemicals industries plus coal from the Yorkshire
Coalfield were major contributors and in 1960 the Region's earnings from
freight were twice those from passengers. The completion of quarupling of
the track between York and Northallerton assisted in increasing productivity
by eliminating the banking on the route via Ripon and Harrogate. Modern
marshalling yards were constructed on the Tees (with two humps), Tyne and
at Healey Mills. The Tees Yard was opened by E.T. Judge the Managing Director
of Dorman & Long on 21 May 1963. Thornaby motive power depot near the
Yard was the most modern in Britain. Construction of the Tyne Yard involved
neggotiations with the National Coal Board not to mine beneath the site;
the transport of colliery waste to level the site in addition to that optained
from openiong up the tunnel at Corbridge. Dringhouses Yard handled much of
Rowntrees output of chocolate confectionery and was a major sorting centre
for Class C express freight with services like the Humber Clyde. Steam
productivity was increased at Healey Mills by including a turntable in the
plans. Like the other yards it included space for overhead electrification.
Lord Roberts, Chairman of the NCB, opened this yard on 23 July 1963. Dowty
Automatic Wagon Control was installed in the yards. Block train working included
Yorkshire coal, iron ore for Consett from Tyne Dock and bagged fertiliser
from ICI at Billingham. Illustrations: WD Austerity No. 90171 climbing towards
Hebden Bridge with load of power station coal on 27 January 1960 (colour:
Gavin Morrison); B16 Nio. 61456 passing Pilmoor with up fast freight in
containers in late 1950s; Q6 No. 63399 outside Thornaby motive power depot
on 12 March 1962 (colour: Gavin Morrison); Q6 No. 63396 with coal train at
Penshaw Moor on 4 July 1962; J27 No. 65879 with coal empties climbing Seaton
Bank on way to South Hetton Colliery in September 1967 (colour: Roy Hobbs);
No. 40 006 leaving Tyne Yard with empty ballast hoppers on 28 August 1974
(Tom Heavyside); No. 47 042 passing Dringhouses Yard in York with up fast
freight on 7 April 1979 (Tom Heavyside); 9F 2-10-0 No. 92066 with train of
iron ore hoppers with No. 92067 banking at rear at Annfield Plain in September
1960 (Trevor Owen). See also letter from Paul Craig on
p. 317.
Mike G. Fell. Whitmore. Part One. 208-13
Construction of the Grand Junction Railway between Crewe and Stafford.
Mainly concerns the contract let out to
James Trubshaw to construct
the section between Stafford and Whitmore. The original structures
and perment way are detailed: stone blocks were used in the cuttings; wooden
sleepers on the embankments. Difficulties included hard to work clay and
excessive water which needed to be drained. The section from Whitmore to
Crewe was known as the Madeley contract and was granted to
Thomas Townshend. On 1 July
1837 a senior party set out from Liverpool Lime Street for Whitmore. Rope
haulage took them up to Edge Hill where 2-2-2 locomotives Zamiel and
Saracen took them onto Warrington. The Manchester Guardian
report is not clear what motive power was provided for the onward journey
to Whitmore, but was impressed by the ability to climb. On 4 July the first
train ran from a temporary syatiion at Vauxhall in Birmingham to Whitmore
hauled by Wildfire. Whitmore was connected by omnibus to Newcastle
and the Potteries and to Shrewsbury by stagecoach. A serious accident occurred
on 11 February 1845 when two trains collided and two Irish pig-drivers were
killed. Lt. Col. Sir Frederic Smith
found that the driver Ireland was to blame for running at excessive
speed. Illustrations: Joseph Locke (colour reproduction of portrait
painted by Siir Francis Grant); map; Whitmore station from roadside including
stationmaster's house; model of GJR 2-2-2 No. 8 Wildfire; engraving
of summit rock cutting from Thomas Roscoe The book of the Grand Junction
Railway; Webb Jubilee class four-cylinder compound with
10.25 express from Euston on 25 September 1900 p. 211 see
also letter on p. 445 from Peter Davis; two up trains
approaching water troughs, one hauled by Whitworth 2-4-0 No. 635 Zamiel
and the other by Problem class 2-2-2 No. 134 Owl c1900 (P.W.
Pilcher); see also letter from Peter Davis with further
information two Webb three cylinder 2-2-2-0 compounds Experiment No.
1113 Hecate and Teutonic No. 1304 Jeannie Deans double-head
express on Whitmore troughs ( P.W. Pilcher) page 212;
page 213 upper: 0-4-2 crane tank inserting
a "ferret" into the water main at Madeley on 12 June 1938 (Nigel Payton);
Claughton No. 5925 E.C. Trench, Precursor No. 5282 Champion
and Royal Scot No. 6143 The South Staffordshire Regiment (W. Leslie
Good)
Edward Gibbins. The Closure of the Midland & Great
Northern Joint Line - Part Two. 214-20.
Part 1 see page 138. Responses to closure proposals were received
from Holland County Council included that of Spalding Rural District Council;
Bourne Urban District Council, South Kesteven RDC most of which made vacuous
proposals on the basis that they would cost nothing to the rate payers. The
few replacement bus services did not last long. Illustrations: Class 4 2-6-0
No. 43145 with a train of Canaries supporters from Norwich (birding is major
industry out there) at Fakenham West en route to Sheffield on 28 February
1958 (colour: David Lawrence); No. 43092 and agricultural tractors on Cross
Keys swing bridge; B12/3 No. 61540 and B17 in engine shed at Cromer Beach
on 19 September 1954 (T.J. Edgington); No. 43150 shunting empty passenger
stock at Melton Constable on 6 August 1955 (T.J. Edgington); Holbeach
station on 5 August 1958 (note concrete signal post); J17
approaching Corpusty & Saxthorpe station with a local freight on 8 August
1958 (caption states "west" of Melton: letter from
R. Lloyd Jones (in Cardiff) states "east" KPJ (viewing from north tempted
to state "south"); No. 43161 on final 09.08 Yarmouth Beach to Birmingham
New Street at Spalding Town on 28 February 1959; No. 43108 at Melton
Constable on 28 February 1959 (colour: David Lawrence).
Take the motor car. 221
LNER publicity material From the David V. Beeken Collection dated
April 1932 encouraging motorists to take their vehivles by train and travel
as passengers (2 colour images)
Eric Stuart. Aldgate to Glyncorrwg. 222-3
Great Western Main Line & City close-coupled coaches were introduced
in 1922 to replace older stock for services from Windsor, Uxbridge (Vine
Street) and elsewhere to Liverpool Street or Aldgate which were worked by
steam to Paddington (Bishop's Road) and then were taken over by Metropolitan
Railway electric locomotives with similar return workings in the evening.
The workings ceased in 1939 and were never resumed. The rolling stock continued
in service and some was used to provide colliers' services to South and North
Rhondda pits at Glyncorrwg which were worked by being pushed up the hill
(but not in normal push & pull fashion, although the driver travelled
in the leading vehicle with control of the brake). Illustrations (all by
H.C. Casserley): set at Uxbridge (Vine Street) on 1 October 1955; 57XX No.
9617 at North Rhondda Halt with 15.00 working to Glyncorrwg. Originally published
in Underground News. See also letter from Stewart
Clark on page 445.
The LMS Class 4 2-6-2 tanks. 224-7
Colour photo-feature: Fowler type No. 42384 leaving Saddleworth station
with Manchester to Huddersfield stopping train on 14 May 1960 (bungalow we
used to live in just out of sight top left) (Gavin Morrison); Fairburn version
No. 42141 at Whitehall Junction with Bradford portion of express from Bristol
on 16 April 1962; Stanier version No. 42664 passing Bowling Junction with
Leeds portion of express from Liverpool on 2 July 1966 (Gavin Morrison);
Stanier No. 42478 and Fairburn No. 42110 outside Crewe Works with Mobile
Test Unit No.s behind in 1958 (Derek Penney); Fairburn No. 42210 banking
train of vans at Shap Wells in snow on 28 November 1964 (Gavin Morrison);
Stanier No. 42665 on Tebay shed in 1966 (Derek Penney); Fairburn No. 42142
leaving Bradford Exchange with through coaches to King's Cross (working to
Wakefield) on 31 May 1966 (Gavin Morrison); Fairburn No. 42273 with express
from Edinburgh Princes Street at Bridge of Allen in 1958 (Derek Penney);
Stanier No. 42587 on last day of Birkenhead to Paddington through workings
leaving Hooton on 5 March 1967 (Gavin Morrison); Fowler No. 42320 leaving
Hellifield with 12 noon all stations to Carlisle on 4 November 1961
(Gavin Morrison); Fairburn No. 42106 on 16.08 Victoria to Tunbridge Wells
near Clapham junction on 20 June 1959 (R.C. Riley), See also
front cover .
Stephen Roberts. Herefordshire's Railways.
228-33
"There can be few counties in England which have seen such a contraction
in railway services as Herefordshire". The county town has less than 60,000
population, but is a cathedral city. Only four passenger stations remain:
one is in a minor settlement at Colwall. Ross-on-Wye is the major centre
without proper railway access and the closure of the Hereford to Gloucester
line caused a major breach in the transport network. Illustrations: map;
Leominster station on 27 June 1950; Kington station in July 1957 (2 years
after closure to passengers); Kingsland station, c1910; 0-6-0PT No. 7420
at Presteign with 18.00 to Kington on 27 September 1947; Hereford station
with Saint class No. 2937 Clevedon Court on 16.00 to Cardiff and 43XX
No. 7308 alongside on 8 May 1963 (T.J. Edgington); Fencote station in September
1952; Bromyard station with hop-pickers specials c1910; Dorstone station
(Golden Valley Railway); Ross-on-Wye station with 2251 class 0-6-0 No. 2286
on freight; Symonds Yat station. See also letter on page
317 from Michael Horton
Jeremy Clarke. Southern pre-grouping 0-6-0 freight
engines. 234-9.
340 0-6-0 tender locomotives were acquired: 15% of the total. The
oldest were Beattie-designed double frame locomotives built by Beyer Peacock:
these were withdrawn in 1923; similar single-frame engines were withdrawn
in the followuing year. The one remaining Stroudley C1 Class was also withdrawn
in 1924, The Robert Billinton version (C2) were known as 'Vulcans' as the
were supplied by Vulcan Foundry. Marsh produced a slightly larger boilered
version: the C3 class. This boiler was also fitted to the C2 type and greatly
improved performance: they were classified C2X. Most Brighton locomives had
domes, chimneys and cabs reduced in height to enable them to run on the other
sections. The SECR contributed the Stirling O class which had originally
been fitted domeless boilers, but had all been reboilered by the Grouping.
Amongst their final duties was shunting onto the train ferries at Dover where
their light weight was useful. The Wainwright C class was designed by Robert
Surtees and was capable of mixed traffic work:
Nock noted their ability to substitute
for passenger engines and run nearly to schedule. No. 685 was rebuilt
as a saddle tank for shunting work. The LSWR. the largest and richest constituent
provided only 71 of this wheel arrangement: the Drummonf 700 Class and the
Adams 395 class: the former were known as 'Black Motors'. Locommotives of
the Adams 395 class were small and light. Fifty had beeen sold to the War
Department prior to the Grouping. Illustrations: C class No. 1268 on Ashford
shed in September 1937 (colour: J.P. Mullett); C2 class No. 552 with LBSCR
lamp irons and Salter safety valves; C2X Nos. 32544 and 32444 and K class
2-6-0 No. 32346 on Norwood Junction shed in July 1956 (colour: P. Glenn);
C2X No. 32449 with permanent way train at Three Bridges on 4 October 1959
(E. Bruton); C2X No. 554; O1 No. 31430 at Dover Marine on 19 July 1958; 700
class No. 30699 ex Works at Eastleigh in 1954 (colour); O1 No. 31258
at Dover Harbour with a ferry wagon on 1 February 1959; C class No. 1592
at Chelsfield with a train of six-wheel carriages presumably a hop pickers
special in early 1930s; Beyer Peacock double frame No. 273-A at Strawberry
Hill on 29 July 1922; Beyer Peacock single frame No. 0229; Adams 395 class
No. 3093 with LCDR M class boiler; 700 class No. 697 on Nine Elms to Feltham
freight passing Queen's Road, Battersea on 27 September 1946.
See also letters from Neil Knowlden and
Rory Wilson on page 317.
Neil Taylor. On the street where you live. 240-1
Colour photo-feature of street signs: all in South Wales (two including
Welsh version): all now far removed from their associated railways (most
obviously at Crumlin): Railway View Golygfa'r Rheilffordd at Tredegar in
Gwent; Great Western Avenue Rhodfa Orllewinol Fawr in Bridgend; Halt Road,
Rhigos, Hirwaun; Incline Row, Taibach, Port Talbot; Sidings Terrace, Skewen,
Neath; Upper Viaduct Tce [Terrace] in Crumlin, Neath.
Malcolm Timperley. A good run for your money. [club
cars]. 242-6
Harold Bowman, an iron founder, commuted between St. Annes and his
business in Manchester by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway. In October
1895 he formed the Lytham St. Annes and Blackpool Travelling Club which
negotiated with John Herman
Stafford, General Manager of the railway to provide a carriage for the
exclusive use of its members; all of whom would alrready hold first class
contracts (the term used for season tickets in the North West). By 1902 three
bogie vehicles were in use attached to different Blackpool services. The
Clubs had strict rules and a steward who served non-alcoholic drinks. Next
on the scene was the Bridlington-Hull Saloon Committee for which the North
Eastern Railway provided a six-wheel saloon from 1903. Similar services
wereagreed between Withernsea and Hull and from Harrogate to Leeds. The LNWR
provided the iniative for a Llandudno to Manchester service by accelerating
the service in 1904 and by providing special saloons from the summer of 1906
which provided breakfast on the inward and dinner on the return service.
This was followed by aq club car for the Windermere to Manchester service
which also called at Lancaster and Preston. A special stop was made at Barton
& Broughton to pick up Henry Astley-Bell, a cottton magnate. Following
WW1 the LNER expanded its services by extending the Bridlington service back
to Scarborough, by providing a Scarborough to Leeds service and by intigating
a Harrogate to Bradford service. The LMS built a new car for the Blackpool
service in 1935 and a club car for the Coronation Scot train which went to
the USA and post-WW2 was used on evening business services from the long
platform at Exchange/ Victoria (KPJ personal observations). On 3 November
1924 the locomotive on the return club train broke a tyre approaching Lytham
which led to the deaths of 14 passengers and Driver William Crookes. Matlock
District Council approached the LMS in an attempt to provide a club car to
Manchester. KPJ remembers that in the grim post-war period the evening departures
to Llandudno, Blackpool and Southport were still called "club trains".
Illustrations: Hughes 4-6-0 on Blackpool club train; female steward
for club car during WW1; L&YR interior of club car c1905; exterior of
six-wheel Bridlington to Hull club coach; LNWR twin club saloons Nos. 234
and 235 at Wolverton Works for Llandudno service; interior view of No. 234;
smoking section L&YR club saloon; NER bogie clerestory vehicle built
1889 deputed to club car use; interior Scarborough to Leeds club car and
interior of Scarborough-Brdlington-Hull car. See also letter
from Eric Stuart page 381 and from Eric Rawc;iffe on
Saturday srvices on LYR and on preserved vehicle on page 509.
Alistair F. Nisbet. Curious aspects of passenger behaviour. 247-52.
On 28 April 1913 Crewe received a Royal visit. On the same day an
escaped lunatic, Francis Dudley Marriott caused mayhem in the town and during
attempts to recapture him he fell on broken glass and died as a result. The
railway compartment was the location for murder, molestation, indescent assault
and for the release of pet mice between Glasgow and Paisley to intimidate
lady passengers, one of whom smuggled her cat onto the train to achieve revenge.
The wearing of kilts was found to be offensive to some. Illustrations (in
some cases far removed from incidents described in text): Ambergate station;
Snaresbrook station; J37 No. 64598 on freight at Johnshaven station; George
Hudson (portrait); kilted and bearded soldiers; Marsden station staff in
1908; Crewe station; new quadruped (cartoon); Middleton Junction
station.
Readers' Forum. 253-4
'King' country. Leonard
Rogers
The train being hauled by No. 6011 (photograph top of p33) was 10.50
Paddington to Shrewsbury, a Christmas period 'relief' working, which the
locomotive hauled throughout that day. (see report in Modern Railways,
Feb. 1963, p138.) This was one of the last reported workings by this locomotive,
one of the last four of the class, which were all withdrawn at the end of
the month. Incidentally, No. 6018 took the 13.25 'relief to Penzance out
of Paddington as well that day.
The train hauled by No.6021 illustrated on the lower half of p33 carries
headcode V07. This indicates that it was the 11.40 Birkenhead-Paddington,
due at Leamington around 15.30. 5uch a time is consistent with the angle
of the shadows, given the time of year and the fact that Leamington station
lies roughly west-east. Lastly, if the headcode A05 is correct for the train
which No.6025 (top of p34) was hauling, it will have been the 07.25
ex-Wolverhampton, rather than a working from Plymouth.
The railway navvy in Great Britain. Stephen
Berry
One of my great, great-grandfather's was a navvy. Born in 1812 in
Wivelsfield, Sussex, he was the son of an agricultural labourer and no doubt
started his working life in a similar way, but by 1841 the Redhill to Tonbridge
line was in the course of construction and he was living in a shanty town
at Bletchingley, near Godstone, in Surrey. In 1851 he was in lodgings in
Little Gonerby, Grantham, working on the East Coast Main Line at Grantham.
I have some evidence that he was working near Maidstone in around 1855 and,
shortly afterwards, on the Cornwall Railway at Devonport. It was here that
he was in lodgings and where he met my great, great-grandmother, who was
a niece of the proprietor. In January 1861, when he was 48 and she 17, they
eloped to Bristol, marrying at Temple church (very near the station). He
obviously decided to relinquish his former hard lifestyle as the couple returned
westwards and settled down, firstly in Liskeard and subsequently in Looe,
as he took employment on the Liskeard & Looe Railway as a lengthsman,
responsible for track maintenance. He lived to the ripe old age of 69 -
ironically dying not of hard use as a navvy but because a maypole fell on
him! He certainly doesn't seem to fit the generally accepted picture of a
railway navvy but I suspect that, as in many instances, we hear far more
about the really wayward characters than those who simply carried out their
work honestly and got on with life.
Namings and centenaries. Nick
Daunt
Re London Midland Region publication, The story of New Street,
both because I grew up in Birmingham and I have a copy of this booklet myself.
Although I would agree that the LMR could have chosen a better day to take
their cover photograph, I am sorry that Mr. Fox finds the frontage of the
Queen's Hotel above the main entrance to the station "grim" and "unappealing".
Of course, this is a matter of personal taste, but I would point out that
the fine Italianate architecture of the building can be seen to much better
advantage in the 1904 view on p9 of the booklet. The Illustrated London
News of 10 June 1854 had an excellent engraving of the then new
hotel together with a most enthusiastic description of its architectural
details. By the time of the cover photograph to which Mr. Fox objects, the
building had been disfigured by British Railways with singularly unattractive
lettering and a totally inappropriate clock. Furthermore, like so many of
our public buildings in the 1950s, it was covered with a thick layer of soot.
Imagine what it would look like if this were to be removed - as has now happened
at many of our finest Victorian stations. I must admit that the rear of the
hotel, overlooking the station itself, was truly grim, with its unadorned
brick and unsightly clutter of down-pipes and fire escape ladders. But this
had never been intended to be seen by passengers, being hidden by the overall
roof which covered the LNWR side of the station. When this was removed after
the Second World War the rear of the hotel was revealed in all its ugliness
It forms the background to many a classic 1950s shot of 'Jubilee-hauled London
expresses standing at Platform 3.
Unfortunately I missed the centenary exhibition at the beginning of June
1954, whereas my spotting career did not begin until near the end of the
summer holidays of that year. The three locomotives present were LNWR 2-4-0
No.790 Hardwicke, Midland 2-4-0 No.158A and LMS 4-6-2 No. 46235 City
of Birmingham. At that time, Stanier Pacifies were banned at New Street
because of the limited clearances in the tunnels. According to spotter lore,
No. 46235 was towed dead into the station with its out-of-gauge parts removed.
The ban was lifted in August 1959, after which 'Semis" did begin to make
appearances at New Street, although I never saw one. There is a fine colour
picture of No. 46245 City of London on a Euston express taken on 5
August 1963 in Railway Liveries, BR Steam 1948-1968, by Brian Haresnape,
revised by Colin Boocock (Ian Allan, 1989), with the rear of the hotel in
all its glory. As for City of Birmingham, it is now rather badly displayed
in the Thinktank museum in the city. [KPJ: suspect that Grocott was LMR public
relations officer in Birmingham, but cannot confirm:: e-book available from
Transport Treasures see Steamindex home page]
The road engine. Graham Akers
Re other street railways: one existed in the Openshaw district of
Manchester — a standard gauge railway ran from the factory gates of
Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth's steel processing factory in North Street,
down the centre of Wood Street, across Ashton Old Road (one of two arterial
roads to the east) and through the gates of the Whitworth Bessemer Steel
Works (being about 250 yards in the road). White hot ingots of up to 250
tons were moved from the steel making plant to the processing plant where
many were forged into naval guns. A sketch of such a movement was made by
Frank Wightman in 1927 and appears in A history of Gorton and Openshaw
by Ernest France. The movement was controlled by two flagmen and used two
tank engines, one at either end of the train. Barrier wagons were interposed
between the locomotives and the bolster wagon carrying the load. It would
give H&S nightmares today. Despite the heat shields the ingots must have
warmed up the houses in Wood Street nicely as they slowly passed! The railway
remained in use until the 1950s when as a small boy I witnessed a few movements
of rather more modest loads across Ashton Old Road.
The road engine. Tim Edmonds
Re omission from the list for England is the Bideford, Westward Ho!
& Appledore Railway in North Devon. This short-lived line (1901-1917)
began from a platform-less station in the middle of the road on Bideford
Quay and continued round the corner along Pill Road for a short distance
before reaching reserved track for the rest of its route. The arrangements
on the Quay led to conflicts with Bideford Corporation, who were concerned
about the dangers to pedestrians and vehicular traffic and the locomotives
were all fitted with skirts covering wheels and motion, tramway-style.
The road engine. Bill Housley
Re additional street railways: Lever Brothers Railway at Bromborough?
More specifically the area at Brothertons Ltd. and Stork Margarine known
as 'Port Rainbow'. Rather than me describe it, there is a large selection
at the 'Britain from Above' website (http://www.britainfromabove.org.
uk/asearch?search=bromborough) which, when logged into, shows 'zoom-able'
views of this area (on some, steam locomotives can be discerned). The line
climbed a short gradient, crossed a road on a curve and then ran parallel
to it for a couple of hundred yards before turning into the Stork
complex.
The road engine. Bill Armstrong
Re other street railways: Alford & Sutton Tramway; the Bideford,
Westward Ho! & Appledore Railway. I think that the GWR's Bridgwater Docks
branch may have also partly run along the public highway and did the ex-Berry
Railway E Class 0-6-0Ts do so when venturing out on to the breakwater at
Barry?
By steam to the steamers. Michael
Yardley.
Re working to and from Riverside station in 1968: as this occurred
during university term he was away from the city and was unaware of it. Normally
the tortuous and slow passage through Waterloo Tunnel and across the docks
to Riverside would have taken too long to be worthwhile for trippers to the
Isle of Man and Riverside was normally only used to connect with deep-sea
liners, latterly only Canadian Pacific. One associated train service not
mentioned was the 14.20SO Liverpool Exchange-Manchester Victoria which ran
in the summer peak after the Liverpool Exchange-Bradford/Leeds service was
taken over by DMUs providing a regular two- hourly service to Harrogate.
The 14.30 left Exchange, the nearest of Liverpool's main termini to the Princes
Landing Stage, not long after the arrival of the Douglas steamer and presumably
the number of passengers wanting to travel to Manchester was too many for
a three-car DMU. The 14.20 was steam-hauled until 1967 and was for some time
the only booked passenger working over the Westwood Park line which avoided
the congestion and speed restrictions at Wigan Wallgate. No equivalent return
working appeared in the timetable so presumably an ECS working was required.
Beyond Euston. Ray
Fisher
Caption correction: engineering train standing on the viaduct is not
on the North London line itself, which runs well to the left of the picture,
but on the Midland's 1868 connection from the NLR at Acton Wells Junction
to Cricklewood (freight-only since 1902). The line also linked with the Great
Central at Neasden (alongside the Metropolitan) as soon as it opened in 1899
but no connection with the West Coast Main Line was made until a single track
was laid as late as 1963. This and its steel girder bridge are clearly shown
between the two locomotives. Bridge and viaduct both cross the Paddington
branch of the Grand Union Canal that runs parallel to the yard tracks. I
am a little puzzled by the activity around the engineering train given space
limitations on the viaduct and wonder whether it is actually standing on
the wrong line.
The Metropolitan Railway Appendix to the WTT and A Wednesbury
winter's night. Tim Edmonds
The photograph of Verney Junction on p. 123
captioned 'date unknown' and credited to the London Transport
Museum was taken by H.C. Casserley. I have a booklet called Service Suspended
written by Casserley and published by lan Allan in 1951 which includes
this picture on p15 with a date of May 1936. The same picture appears on
p. 69 of Forgotten Railways: Chilterns and Cotswolds by R. Davies
and M. D. Grant, published by David & Charles in 1975, gives the more
precise date of 9 May 1936.
In the general comments department, I must say how much I have enjoyed the
two-part article 'A Wednesbury Winter's Night' by
David J. Hayes. With a judicious mix of facts based on primary sources
and pertinent photographs, plus some artistic licence in spinning a tale
around them, the author has produced something which is extremely readable,
highly informative and brings out the atmosphere of the working railway in
an industrial townscape long since departed. Excellent!
"Let's go Glasgow Electric'. John
Macnab
To clarify further the problems concerning the Glasgow 'Blue Trains'
in December 1960, I can perhaps enlighten Robert Herriot in that the incident
he refers to as happening on Friday 17 December was the culmination of a
series of mishaps (not quite exactly, another took place just before midnight
on that date) with the transformers on the units concerned. Prior to this
from the commencement of 'Blue Train' services the previous month there had
been such as overhead wires down, blown fuses and jammed sliding doors which,
by and large, Glaswegians bore with stoicism.
However, on Monday 13 December a service on the Balloch branch suffered a
transformer explosion in the guard's compartment, ripping open the carriage
roof and bringing down the bulkhead between the guard's compartment and the
passenger saloon, injuring eight people, including the guard, and necessitating
their removal to hospital. (An earlier similar incident had occurred at Charing
Cross on 30 October before the start of public services). Another less damaging
failure occurred the following day, Tuesday 14, which heralded the despatch
to Glasgow from London of the Chief Inspecting Officer for Railways from
the Ministry ofTransport to hold an official inquiry. Before the inquiry
convened which had technical engineering experts to hand there were the further
mishaps on Friday 17 that would appear to include the one which Robert Herriot
encountered.
With seventeen sets already unserviceable by way of the above incidents and
other faults, the General Manager and his departmental chiefs decided to
withdraw the electric units in the interests of safety and revert to steam
operation. It was somewhat disappointing as the trains, prior to public service,
had covered a considerable amount of service test running with no transformer
problems. I do believe that the Great Eastern lines in the London area also
had transformer problems and failures with new EMUs (Class 302) but with
less calamitous results. The rest is now history. In passing, bus substitution
as mentioned by Robert Herriot was not generally an option in those days
in the event of individual train failures or service disruptions.
Rivalries. Robert Darlaston.. 254.
In his guest editorial Alistair F. Nisbet requests examples of railway
rivalries. One such long-running affair is coincidentally
mentioned by Chris Fox on p. 110 of the same issue, drawing attention
to the omission of Western Region lines from a map of the Birmingham area
published by the LMR.
Rivalry between the LNWR and Great Western in Birmingham lasted for well
over a century. An early manifestation is Duddeston viaduct, built by the
GWR in 1852-53 from Bordesley towards the LNWR at Curzon Street, which was
never used. Much of it still survives. The LNWR enforced its completion despite
the line clearly being irrelevant so, as
E.T. MacDermot stated in his GWR
history, "the derelict Duddeston Viaduct... still stands, a melancholy
monument to the ill-conditioned spite of a great Railway Company" lie the
LNWR]. Petty rivalry continued down the years to the occasional inconvenience
of passengers. About 1958 I was in New Street's Enquiry Office when a person
asked for a train to Leamington Spa 'about 3 o'clock'. Quick as a flash and
without reference to her timetables, the clerk replied '2.55, change at
Coventry', condemning the traveller to a journey of 63 minutes when he could
have caught the 3.00pm from Snow Hill reaching Leamington in 24 minutes.
I also remember an LMR inspector in Birmingham remarking dismissively: 'Pah!
The Western Region is only a holiday line'.
In 1963 it seemed that the LNWR's heirs had finally won when WR lines north
of Banbury were transferred to the LMR. Despite their omission from the Beeching
'Reshaping Report', two of the four GW routes out of Birmingham, including
Snow Hill itself, were quickly put up for closure. The line to
Stratford-upon-Avon luckily survived but only by virtue of a High Court
Injunction issued the afternoon before the last train was due to run. Snow
Hill and the Wolverhampton line weren't so fortunate, closing at the LMR's
second attempt in 1972, after services had been vindictively reduced to three
trains each way in the morning and evening. Of course, closure was not solely
a result of the feud: undoubtedly sheer harsh economics were the driving
factor. Nevertheless, the LMR's approach was sadly negative and lacked any
constructive attempt to create an economical operation from a slimmed down
Snow Hill. Moreover, at the time, there was undoubtedly a smirk on the face
of some LMR men that Snow Hill had at last been eliminated.
Fortunately, that was not the end of the tale. Changed attitudes saw a new
Snow Hill open in 1987 and British Rail reintroduced a London service in
1993. But despite its use by the trams of the Midland Metro, the removal
of the Snow Hill-Wolverhampton line from the national network resulted in
the loss of a fine main line crossing the Midlands from south to north west.Were
the line still available, it would provide relief to the now heavily congested
Stour Valley route out of New Street. Closure of the former GW route remains
one of the most ill-judged decisions of the reshaping era and inter-company
rivalry made a modest contribution to its abrupt decline.
Beyond Clapham Junction. Bill
Armstrong
Re LBSCR 4-4-0 No. 210 in picture — is a B2X and references to
B4 and B4X in the related caption should be to (Marsh classifications) B2,
B3 and B2X. Classes B4, HI, H2, 13, J1, J2 or L (all of which first appeared
before 1914, or in the case of the L, during that year) should be considered
to be underpowered.
Book Reviews. 254
Atlas of the Southern Railway. Richard Harman and Gerry Nichols.
Ian Allan Publishing, 2016. 224pp, A4 landscape, Reviewed by JC. *****
In the reviewer's experience no other publication on this subject
comes close to the fine detail presented here. The list of sources is itself
indicative of the efforts made to confirm the accuracy of the layout of the
whole Southern Railway - and other lines in its area - at grouping in 1923
and on the eve of nationalisation at the end of 1947. lt is presented in
146 maps, each with a scale, the more complex parts of the system being shown
in larger scale highlights with some of those highlights further highlighted.
Stations are laid out in full with sidings and other facilities included.
Any changes made during the 25 years of the Southern's existence also feature
where appropriate. This is particularly relevant and useful for routes that
were electrified up to 1939.
Production is on high-quality and heavy, bright white paper which provides
absolute clarity to the black lines of the layouts, essential particularly
to show sidings and other non-running lines which are in finer print than
the main routes. The book is bound in very stiff board covers with a Southern
green background.
There is a contents page and a preface which explains some of the difficulties
faced in obtaining precision on mileages. Apparently even official documents
tend to differ. The map keys and the maps themselves follow. The book is
concluded with an extremely comprehensive index, not just stations but items
such as locomotive sheds, EMU depots, signal boxes, tunnels, private sidings,
and re-namings. Everyone of the items noted is defined, the map location
and the original owning company identified, and other relevant information
noted. Despite its small print the index requires no fewer than 32 pages,
an indication of how comprehensive the book is. But further indexes segregate
these into particular sections, bridges and viaducts, depots, sheds and works,
industrial and military railways, level crossings, locations and signal boxes
and private sidings - an astonishing number here - as well as stations.
The book obviously would appeal principally to those whose particular interest
lies with the Southern Railway, though I would tend to refine the definition
further to those whose interest in it is specifically historical. In that
light it has no peers when it comes to accuracy and detail or the fineness
of production. In that light it is excellent value for its price and is highly
recommended.
A contemporary perspective on LMS signalling: Volume 2, Semaphore
swansong, Allen Jackson. Crowood Press. 192 pp. over 400 colour
illustrations. Reviewed by RF ***
KPJ: this is a mess and has been adjusted: These three books! The
heading refers to one! The others are a similarly titled one on GWR semaphore
signalling and Volume 1 of that on LMS semaphores. These are produced in
a uniform format and have a similar purpose. In 2003 the author recognised
that mechanical signal boxes, and especially semaphore signals, were fast
disappearing and set out to record photographically what remained. Over the
following ten years or so he has clearly spent a considerable amount of time
visiting locations where traditional signal boxes and signals remained and
photographing pretty well everything that existed. Inevitably this primarily
meant secondary routes where absolute block signalling predominated during
the period of the survey. The result was these three books. Each book starts
with some introductory material, but the main content is a fairly comprehensive
illustrated walk through of a selection of routes featuring this type of
signalling. In a few cases the routes have been resignalled since the survey
was undertaken, so these sections of the books have already become history.
The author states that the objective in writing the books was to 'appeal
to the interested lay person rather than the signalling professional' and
this does need to be borne in mind by anyone purchasing the books. The main
thrust and strength of the books is in reviewing and illustrating the signalling
on the selected routes. In the process, the author inevitably describes the
functions and working of the block system and the many types of equipment
and practices encountered in the survey. Herein lies the weakness of the
books. While the author does make a good attempt at explaining some of the
complexities of signalling in lay terms, in places the descriptions can be
a little strange and misleading. The text and captions would have benefited
from a review by someone with a more detailed knowledge of operating and
signalling practices and the functions of equipment. Beyond a simple introduction
to signalling, those looking for a more thorough understanding of absolute
block and mechanical signalling are best looking elsewhere.
The strength and value of the books lies in the route surveys. Each contains
a short introduction to the route and its characteristics followed by a short
description of each signalled location with basic details of signal box and
principle features. There is much useful information on the routes as they
are or were in the early years of the 21st century.
The LMS Volume 1 covers Midland, Lancashire & Yorkshire, Furness, Glasgow
& South Western and North Staffordshire Routes, while Volume 2 covers
London & North Western, Caledonian and Highland routes.
As a record of the signalling which was in use on the chosen routes over
the 2000 to 2015 period, which was the main aim of the author, these books
are a useful permanent record of what existed. This value will increase as
Network Rail implements its extensive signalling modernisation plans, meaning
that within the next ten years or so very little of what is depicted in the
books will remain in use. Thus the books are a useful reference of the last
days of absolute block signalling using traditional signal boxes and
predominantly semaphore signalling. With a cover price of only about 5p
per photograph the books are very good value for money for the illustrations
only.
The LNER Magazine 1927-1947 complete? Working timetables?
Locomotive drawings?
These and hundreds of other items are available to purchase in digital
format - some as CDs or DVDs to be posted to you, but most as files for
instantaneous down load (at very reasonable prices, many less than £l).
To see more, visit www.gersocietv.org.uk. In the left hand column select
Sales, then go to the FILES EMPORIUM. You don't need to be a member of the
GER Society or a GE specialist to benefit. Thus one of our recent projects
has been to digitise the Railway and Travel Monthly- all 152 issues,
from its launch in 1910 to its demise in 1922, Nearly every railway is covered,
in a very similar way to the Railway Magazine of the time, and as
a bonus come some valuable insights into developments in other modes of
transport, especially shipping. To learn more, find its entry in our Files
Emporium (the big blue 'Search the Emporium' button will help you). There
you can see some sample pages and download for free a 51-page list of the
full contents of every issue. The pair of data DVDs costs £15 plus
£1.20 towards postage: for that you get more than 12,000 word-searchable
pages!
All in a day's work. Robert Sandusky. rear cover
Doncaster Platform 4 with pink & cream Gresley corridor stock,
driver and fireman, school boy with blazer on 14 June 1958
BR Standard Class 5 4-6-0 No.73069 on the vacuum-worked turntable at Carnforth locomotive depot early on the morning of 6 July 1968. David Rodgers. front cover
Class 56s on the coal. Keith Dungate. 260-1
Colour photo-feature: Nos. 56 091 in British Rail corporate blue livery
on merry-go-round coal wagons leaving Healey Mills Yard on 30 September 1986;
56 098 in grey sector livery passing through Doncaster station on MGR empties
on 27 March 1995; 56 114 in EWS red livery at Milford West Sidings with MGR
for Drax Power Station on 2 May 2001; 56104 in Railfreight Coal Sector livery
passing Milford Junction on 16 February 1990; 56 056 in Transrail transient
livery near Hambleton Junction with loaded MGR (from Wardley opencast mine)
on 30 March 2000.
Alistair F. Nisbet. Railway Post Offices. 262-7
Statistics are tabulated for the firm existence of post offices on
each of the Scottish railways: North British (including Northumberland),
Caledonian, Glasgow & South Western, Great North of Scotland and Highland
Railways. Most of the locations were remote, some such as Riccarton Junction
and Tillynaught were extremely so, but Thorntonhall was on the edge of Glasgow.
The West Highland line had them at Rannoch, Gorton and at Bridge of Orchy.
The Neath & Brecon Railway had a Post Office at Colbren Junction. Martin
Mill, Baynards and Mill Hill on the Great Northern all offered Post Office
services. The Post Office was highly bureaucratic and there was a tonnage
of correspondence between it and the railway companies including on such
sensitive issues as the payment of War Bonuses due to staff following WW1.
Railway sub-offices (RSO) receive special attention: these were post offices
which received mail directly by train. these were initiated in 1856 and ceased
in 1906, but postmarks exist dated 1944. One example was Bangor where presorted
mail was unloaded from the Irish Mail for forward transit to destinations
on Anglesey. Others were at Blisworth, Clacton-on-Sea (an odd location, but
possibly for Mersea Island), Alnmouth, Bellingham, Brixham, Bexley, Skye
and the Orkneys. There is a Railway Philateley Society. Stations illustrated:
Lochluichart c1910; Newcastleton; Wolferton (where Sarah Saward was post
mistress and Sandringham was served); Nisbet; Martin Mill (with electric
traction); Amberley on 12 June 1968; Baynards; Rannoch and Frant.
Glen Kilday. The Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Railway.
268-74
Based on day out by two fouteen year olds in 1963 when they were given
a tour of the works at Philadelphia (County Durham) and footplate trips on
two locomotives including one to the staithes on the Wear near Sunderland
which involved travel over British Railways lines. Bradyll was seen
after it had been used as a snowplough and before transfer to Locomotion
(NRM at Shildon where it is preserved and is possibly Nelson No. 2)
Illustrations (all by author unless noted otherwise): 0-6-2T No. 31 at
Philadelphia on 20 May 1965 (colour: Alan Tyson); map of Lambton Railway
in 1904; 0-6-0ST No. 38 at Philadelphia on 20 May 1965 (colour: Alan Tyson);
plan of Philadelphia works, c1907; 0-4-0ST No. 33 (Hawthorn Leslie WN 2827/1910);
Bradyll (see text); 0-6-2T No. 31 (Kitson WN 4533/1907) under overhaul
in Philadelphia works; No. 10 (Robert Stephensom WN 3378/1909) and stripped
down 0-4-0ST No. 49 (Manning Wardle WN 2035/1924); No. 28 Hawthorn Leslie
0-4-0ST WN 2530/1902); No. 29 Kitson 0-6-2T WN 4263/1904 outside main
engine shed; No. 52 0-6-2T Neilson Reid WN 5408/1899 (ex-Taff Vale Railway
No. 85 and GWR No. 426); No. 29 in shed yard with part of No. 3 (Vulcan Foundry
0-6-0ST) visible; No. 5 (Robert Stephenson WN 3377/1909 taking water at New
Penshaw; and No. 5 descending into Deptford Tunnel viewed from
footplate.,
Back to the Settle-Carlisle Line. 275-7.
Black & white photo-feature: class 5 No. 45056 at Ais Gill signal
box with southbound freight; Blea Moor with permanent way gang at work; Garsdale
railway station (BR period); railwaymen's houses at Garsdale; Ais Gill Viaduct;
Horwich 2-6-0 No. 42906 with train of new steel wagons; Type 45 on down
Thames Clyde Express passing closed Dent station on 3 May 1970.
Dublin Amiens Street — in the rare ould times. Trevor Owen;
notes by David Mosley. 278-9.
Colour photo-feature: VS class 4-4-0 No. 207 Boyne (blue livery);
T2 4-4-2T No. 65? on train for Howth or Drogheda in 1957; VS class 4-4-0
No. 210 Erne departing on express for Belfast; diesel multiple unit
No. 612 in blue & cream livery; engine shed in June 1961 with Q class
4-4-0 No. 132, VS 4-4-0 Lagan as UTA No. 58 and 670 class 0-6-2T No.
673.
David Joy. South of the Solway. 280-7
The Caledonian and North British Railways in Cumberland; and their
entries into Carlisle. The Carlisle Canal, 11¾ miles long, opened in
1823. The Newcastle & Carlisle Railway was incorporated in 1829 and opened
in 1838 with a terminus adjacent to the Canal. The Canal was converted into
a railway which opened to Port Carlisle in 1854. Horse drawn dandy cars were
used on the Port Carlisle section until replaced by steam haulage in 1914.
Sentinel railcars were used by the LNER (see
NBR Study Gp J., No. 26 p. 13), but the line closed in 1932. The
line abounded in curves and was extended to Silloth on Moricambe Bay in 1856.
The Caledonian Railway encouraged the creation of the Solway Junction Railway
between Kirtlebridge through Annan and across the Solway to Bowness and thence
to Brayton Junction on the Maryport & Carlisle Railway. The objective
was to ease the conveyance of iron ore from West Cumberland to Lanarkshire.
The Solway Viaduct was the longest bridge in the world until the opening
of the Tay Bridge, but was seriously damaged by ice in 1881, partly by damage
to the cast iron columns and partly by ice flows: the line did not reopen
until May 1884. Another difficulty was crossing the peat moss south of Bowness.
It was originally envisaged that the line would duplicate part of the railway
to Silloth, but running powers were obtained between junctions at Kirkbride
and Abbeyholme. Illustrations: preserved Scottish Region GNoSR 4-4-0 No.
49 Gordon Highlander and CR 4-2-2 No. 123 at Silloth on 13 June 1964
(colour: Gavin Morrison); poster advertising opening of Carlisle & Silloth
Bay Railway on 28 August 1856; Sir James Graham cuts first sod of Carlisle
& Silloth Bay Railway at Drumburgh; map (Scottish railways in England;
Silloth station, flour mill and dock sidings, c1900; sanatorium at Silloth
developed by Richard Hodgson (chairman NBR); J39 0-6-0 No. 64912 at Silloth
with long passenger train in June 1956; Solway Viaduct; Solway Viaduct after
damage by ice flows in winter of 1881; Bowness station in 1930; LMS 18 inch
goods (Cauliflower) 0-6-0 No. 8414 on freight to Brayton from Abbey Junction;
NBR Dandy car No. 1 at Port Carlisle; crowd watching and travelling on final
Dandy car from Port Carlisle on 4 April 1914; NBR 0-6-0T No. 22 on horse
replacement service on Port Carlisle branch; Diesel railcar at Silloth on
25 May 1959 (J.S. Gilks); Type 2 diesel electric No. 5310 with train formed
of LMS corridor stock at Kirkandrews on 6 September 1963; Solway Ranger
hauled by GNoSR 4-4-0 No. 49 Gordon Highlander and CR 4-2-2 No. 123
at Kirkbride on 13 June 1964 (colour: Gavin Morrison). See
Letter from Harry Liddell on page
445
Carnforth and Cumbria. David Rodgers. 288-92.
Colour photo-feature: BR Class 4 4-6-0 No. 75048 and Britannia No.
70013 Oliver Cromwell inside Carnforth shed on 9 July 1968; No. 45390
in Barrow yard on 1 August 1968; Class 5 No. 44894 shunting in Kendal goods
yard on 1 August 1968; BR Standard class 5 No. 73069 backing out of
shed on 6 July 1968; No. 44871 at Carnforth on 10 July 1968; Class 4 4-6-0
No. 75048 passing Kent's Bank station with 07.53 trip freight from Carnforth
for Ulverston including fuel tank for Glaxo at Plumpton Junction; No. 75048
dropping fire inside Carnforth shed on 10 July 1968; No. 44894 on Winderrmere
to Carnforth freight approaching Oxenholme on 1 August 1968; No. 75048 passing
Grange-over-Sands with return trip freight on 10 July 1968; No. 45390 with
coal empties climbing Lindal bank (1 in 79) on 1 August
1968.
Michael J. Smith. District Railway electrics.
293-9
Electric multiple units from class A to class N. A class was formed
of cars designed for Brooklyn Elevated Railway, but built by Brush Electrical
Engineering and intended for the Ealing & South Harrow Railway. They
could run as single car trains or as seven car trains. The B class was built
in bulk for the full-scale conversion of the Distr4ict Railway to electric
traction. The motor cars were built by Brush and by Metropolitan Amalgamated
at Ashbury and Lancaster. Other cars were built in France at Ateliers de
Construction du Nord de la France at Blanc Misseron with some mainly trailer
cars built at Pantin, Ivry, St. Denis and Lunéville. The C stock was
built by Hurst Nelson (KPJ big thrill finding works photograph of it in "Hurst
Nelson Collection" at Motherwell) and was the only Underground stock built
in Scotland. For a time C stock was used on LNWR services between Willesden
Junction and Earl's Court. C classc stock worked on Hammersmith & City
services from 1936 until bomb damage severed the link at Hammersmith in 1940.
The E stock had elliptical rathr than clerestory roofs and was built by the
Gloucester Crriage & Wagon Co. The F stock had oval cab windows and eliptical
roofs and were incompatible with all othe District line stock. It was ordered
in 1919 and supplied by the Metropolitan Carriage & Wagon Co. It ended
its life working Metropolitan Line services to Uxbridge and after modification
on the East London Line. The later stock was neat in appearance and returned
to a simpler clerestory roof. Some was owned, but not operated by, the LMS
for services to Upminster. Illustrations: motor car No. 3 (A class) at South
Harrow; South Harrow car sheds with A class stock when new; A class control
trailer; B class trailer when new; B class train at Ealing Broadway in 1908;
B class working as single car at Sudbury Town en route for Uxbridge; C or
D class unit at Aldersgate Street on Inner Circle service and Midland Railway
0-4-4T outward bound on Widened Lines; C or D class unit at Shoreditch
(note District lozenge station sign on wall) with service for New Cross
via East London line through Thames Tunnel; C stock motor car at Putney Bridge
on Edgware Road service on 21 May 1952; E stock at Kensington Olympia in
September 1953 (A.J. Pike); F stock at Rayners Lane on Uxbridge working;
F stock exiting Thames Tunnel at Wapping en route to Shoreditch; former G
stock motor car in Q stock at Wapping on 16 September 1971; H stock at Kensington
Olympia in September 1953 (A.J. Pike); K stock motor car. See
also letter from George Moon on marker lights for route indication rather
than headlamps.
Tony Robinson. The Great Western in Wirral. Part One.
300-5.
Author is son of late locomotive shed master at Mold and elsewhere:
see Oakwood RS 21. Partly
based upon childhood memories oh journeys between Chester and the Mersey
on the Western Region trains powered by ex-GWR 51XX tank engines and the
difference in the rolling stock which had high sills on the window frames
and noisy dynamos (KPJ never noted these, but felt the lack of intermediate
arm rests in the corridor third compartments and the swish of the vacuum
pumps). The Birkenhead & Chester Railway opened on 30 September 1840.
Part 2 see page 426. Illustrations: 51XX Nos. 4159, 5186
and 4121 in Birkenhead Woodside station just prior to nationalisation; map
of GWR in the Wirral; 57XX No. 7714 with 09.55 to West Kirby in April 1952
at Woodside (Mike Bland); 35XX 0-4-2T No. 3575 with West Kirby trsain at
Woodside in 1932 (H.C. Casserley); modified Hall No. 6959 Peatling Hall
waiting to work 20.45 fitted freight to Paddington with classic Liverpool
frontage behind in 1962 (colour: C. Greenwood); map of GWR Morpeth Dock;
20XX No. 2082 in Morpeth yard in 1955 (G.D. Hawkins); open cab 0-6-0PT No.
2011 with warning bell and shunters truck at South Reserve Sidings, c1956;
Grange at the Sough with Brook Street Junction signal box; engie sheds at
Mollingto0n Street in summer 1948; 28XX No.3829 on 70ft turntable in May
1958 (J.A. Pedern); No. 4704 on shed c1950; 0-6-0PT No. 2069 on shed in 1959
(colour: P.J. Hughes) .See also letters from Chris Magner
and John C. Hughes on page 445
Signalling spotlight: Scottish signal variety. Roy Hobbs;
notes by Richard Foster. 306-7
Colour photo-feature: Gleneagles bracket signal (ex-Caledonian Railway;
Meigle level crossing on Alyth branch with simple signal and ground
frame photographed 23 April 1962; Rothbury station ex-NBR bracket signal
with lamp for main signal lowered photographed in 1962; Keith Junction with
signal post made from bullhead rail and rotating ground signal mounted on
lower part of post (former Great North of Scotland Railway) photographed
23 April 1962; Greenock Princes Pier signal gantry with signals for both
directions mounted thereon (there is muddle in caption of last by introducing
Gourock which had no connection with GSWR Princes Pier, but was constructed
by profligate Caledonian! (see letter from Stuart Rankin
which slightly muddies the waters!
Jeffrey Wells. Railway excursion traffic 1830-1899.
308-15
Early railways (Liverpool & Manchester; Leeds & Selby and
Bodmin & Wadebridge) quickly developed excursion trafftc, and this followed
earlier efforts made by the owners of canal boats and coastal vessels to
encourage non-essential travel. The mechanics institutes encouraged travel
as a form of betterment for the labouring classes. The temperance and the
Sunday School movements also sought to divert the masses away from chaep
alcohol and other social evils. The Great Exhibition held at the Crystal
Palace was a great spur for railway travel. The rise of seaside resorts like
Scarborough and Blackpool was greatly assisted by railway excursionss. Thomas
Cook of Leicester was a great organizer of travel. The Caledonian Railway
r an excursions to Moffat, Tilliedudlem and to Lanark to visit the Falls
of Clyde where the text incorrectly states that it was the location of the
first hydro electricity staion: see letter from Peter
Tatlow and real shocker from R.A.S. Hennessey on p.
574. Illustrations: modest gathering outside Blackpool Talbot Road
station possibly awaiting arrival of passengers off train; Jubilee 4-6-0
No. 45581 Bihar and Orissa near Lea Road on excursion en route from
Leeds to Blackpool during Easter 1967; L&YR 4-4-0 No. 675 at Southport
Chapel Street in 1896 (T.F. Budden); Croston station with Weslyan Sunday
School awaiting train for Southport; crowd outside Fleetwood station awaiting
boarding Lady Moira for transit to Barrow; Fleetwood station
concourse.
Go West Trevor Owen. 316
Colour photo-feature: 45XX No. 4593 and BR Class 2 2-6-2T No. 82040
at Yeovil on 30 May 1964; Ivatt 2-6-2T Nos, 41301 and 41284 on Dorset
Belle near Corfe Castle on 27 February 1966 (KPJ: presumably reached
by photographer in Jowett car or van); Ilfracombe station viewd from above
in July 1963.
Readers' Forum 317
Roy Hobbs. 317
I'm sorry to have to note the death earlier this year of that fine
photographer Roy Hobbs. Roy was a good supporter of Backtrack over many years,
going back to David Jenkinson's time, photographing not just locomotives
and trains but also the wider railway scene. Some of his work can be seen
in the 'Signalling Focus' feature this month. Ed.
Valediction to Old Oak Common. Editor
Acting on 'information received', the opening photograph in Dick Riley's
colour feature on p. 196 of the April issue is not actually at Old Oak Common,
but at Swindon shed.
Changing at York. David J.
Hayes
Picture 133 lower shows Dringhouses Yard in the background, which
was once an important Speedlink wagonload hub for the area. Visible in the
yard are Railfreight vans with white painted roofs. These were used for
Rowntree's confectionary from the company's plant at York, which was reached
via the Foss Islands branch from Burton Lane Junction on the York to Scarborough
line. The white roofs of the vans reflected sunlight, thus preventing the
Rowntree's chocolate products from melting! Rowntree's ceased using rail
transport in 1987 and Dringhouses Yard, once an important gathering point
for their York-based traffic output, closed shortly after.
Beyond Clapham Junction. Graham
Smith
The caption for the photograph at the top of p. 182 of the March 2017
edition should refer to the location as "outside Vauxhall station" rather
than outside Clapham Junction. It is, however, a very interesting scene,
almost certainly dating from summer 1936 or possibly 1937. The length and
angle of the shadows suggest a morning in summer. Four of the five trams
visible are standard E/l class tramcars still retaining open platforms
('unvestibuled'). Although work to fit windscreens and enclosed vestibules
to these cars commenced in Charlton Works in summer 1935, at the rate of
five cars per week, it took until 1940 to complete approx. 350 unvestibuled
E/l class cars still remaining in service (many others having been displaced
by trolleybuses in the meantime). The fifth tramcar, in the lower right-hand
corner is also an E/l class car but has received a 'rehabilitated' body.
These were extensive rebuilds of the former bodies – almost a brand
new body – mostly (re)constructed in Charlton Works between October
1935 and the beginning of 1937 (although prototypes were completed somewhat
earlier). They featured many improvements, including enclosed vestibules,
revised side panelling and destination displays, single, reversible trolley
poles and passing point displays on small boards beside the platform entrances
(instead of long side boards beneath the lower deck windows). Originally
intended to cover 250 rebuilds, the rehabilitation programme was eventually
curtailed after just 154 bodies. These were usually allocated to specific
services, one being service 78 between Victoria and Norwood on which this
car operated. It was probably the first service to receive 'rehab' cars,
as a result of Trade Union representations from Norwood Depot, but still
probably did not until early 1936. The nearer of the two E/l class cars in
the middle of the photograph is bound for Craven Park on service 28 –
then following a meandering route between Borough station and Harlesden via
Embankment, Putney and Hammersmith (crossing the Thames three times). This
service was cut back to Clapham Junction from 12 September 1937 when trolleybuses
were introduced on 628 between Clapham Junction and Craven Park. The other
car is working service 8, a circular operation between Victoria and
Tooting/Brixton. E/1 class cars on this service would be displaced by more
modern 'Feltham' cars in stages from 15 November 1936 until summer 1938,
'Felthams' having been replaced in West and North London by new trolleybuses.
I would certainly not envy the task of the two police constables on point
duty!
The Brimscombe bankers. Michael L.
Roach
Writer travelled through Brimscombe on a Paddington to Gloucester
train in July 1963 hauled by Hall Class No. 6963 Throwley Hall of
Old Oak Shed with twelve coaches behind. The locomotive performed very well
sustaining 60 to 65mph on the level in several places with a minimum of 28mph
on the westbound climb to Sapperton Tunnel. Arrrival at Gloucester Central
was two minutes early. There was only one occasion when he stood on the platforms
at Brimscombe and enjoyed the ambience of the station and its trains. That
day was Monday 12 October 1964 and I was only just in time as the station
closed completely when the last passenger trains called only nineteen days
later. The station had already closed to goods the previous year. There was
still a fair amount of steam around Gloucester at the time of my visit but
it would decline rapidly after the end of the month and the withdrawal of
passenger services from Gloucester to Chalford and Gloucester to Hereford,
both of which were all steam. During my short spell at Brimscombe station
I saw a steam freight looped to allow a Chalford auto to pass and then saw
the freight depart behind No.6955 Lydcott Hall of Severn Tunnel Junction
shed. There was no sign of the banking locomotive while he was there. That
morning the locomotive shed was being demolished, having closed twelve months
earlier.
Road engines. Jim Dye
Writer grew up in Huddersfield and can attest that there was a line
from what my dad called the Midland yard to the gasworks. It was known to
us kids as the 'Beaumont Street Flier' and was steam hauled but I was only
about eight or nine years old in the mid-1940s and cannot remember any details
but these are documented in http:// www.lostrailwayswestyorkshire.co.uk/
newtown%20goods%201.htm [KPJ: does not work for him]. He doesn't think the
power station was connected by rail and in fact they used to ride on the
barges bringing coal for it from the Wakefield area. We would hop on and
off to open the lock gates which the bargees were happy to let us do. Happy
days; can you imagine it being allowed nowadays? Naturally my mum didn't
know or she would have stopped it. Whilst it is somewhat outside the scope
of this magazine it is interesting that at one time Huddersfield Corporation
had two vehicles built to run on the (electric) tramway to take coal from
the old L &YR siding to several mills in the town. The trams were replaced
by trolley buses but you could still see the lines going into one of the
mill yards near where I lived.
Southern pre-grouping 0-6-0 hreight engines.
Neil Knowlden .
On SECR matters, Jeremy C1arke has made an error – though I think
an understandable one – in stating that the SER O Class were rebuilt
to O1 using C Class boilers: the boilers used were, in fact, a type that
had originated on the H Class 0-4-4Ts and were used for reboilering a number
of SER and LCDR classes at the time (4ft 3in diameter x 107¾in between
tube plates x 5ft 8in firebox length, i.e. somewhat smaller than the C boiler
at 4ft 5¾in x 111¼in x 5ft l0in)
[The locomotive history of the South
Eastern & Chatham Railway: D. L .Bradley, RCTS 1961 rev. 1980].
. I'd love to know Jeremy's source that says that C Class No. 499 gained
its BR number in 1947 – several months before the renumbering scheme
had been settled.
incidentally, on the subject of boilers, those fitted to the Brighton's K
Class 2-6-0s were far larger than those on the C2X 0-6-0s and assorted 0-6-2T
rebuilds (dimensions not given) so were not circulated with them, freely
or otherwise, as implied on p235.
Southern pre-grouping 0-6-0 hreight engines.
Rory Wilson
It is as good as certain that no 395 Class were lost at sea (p238,
April). Of the 50 locomotives shipped out, five went to Salonika and the
other 45 to Egypt, Mesopotamia and Palestine. The four locomotives often
listed as lost at sea were in the last shipment and probably went straight
to Palestine.
North Eastern Region freight in the early 1960s.
John Macnab
Freight workings have been largely neglected. New marshalling yards
so described came on the heels of the mid-1950s Modernisation Plan and, as
with others so provided, were welcomed with a fanfare of trumpets and described
as 'wonder' yards by a prominent railway commentator of the time. Alas, as
became readily evident, they were too late in conception.
The bestowing of titled names on freight services certainly went some way
to enhance their appeal, but it was the Scottish Region which was the first
to have a freight service officially named in 1954, that being the 19.15
Glasgow Bell's Yard to Inverness as The Heilan' Piper. Five others
bearing names followed on with 'Piper' used as above on two of them. As these
services were 'piped' (vacuum-braked throughout) it was thought appropriate
to add the purely Scottish 'piper' (music) annotation to them.
Getting a quart out of a pint pot. Paul
Craig
Noted a couple of errors regarding Archibald Sturrock, in particular
around his retiring from the Great Northern Railway and consider that Miles
Macnair has misinterpreted the facts well explained in
Tony Vernon's books.
1. Sturrock did not resign in December 1866; in fact he had informed the
board at the end of 1865.
2. Stirling joined the GNR in March 1866 as Works Managerl Assistant Loco
Engineer.
3. Stirling was appointed on 1st October 1866 as Loco Engineer on a trial
basis.
4. Stirling's report came out before the end of 1866.
5. Whilst it is true that Sturrock had been left a wealthy widower, he had
had the strain of losing two wives within a couple of years and being left
with three young children, but of real import is the fact that his happened
over twelve years before he resigned.
6. At a time when many others were forced by circumstances to work until
they dropped, Sturrock was able to enjoy a long life after the GNR, eventually
dying 43 years later.
7. Knowing Tony Vernon and having discussed much of his work with him, I
do not believe that money was the reason for the resignation of Sturrock,
nor the failure or otherwise of his steam tender project. He had grown up
with the railways and was very much a believer in small companies and no
committees, but by 1866 the GNR had started a locomotive committee managed
by someone with whom he did not get
on, Col. Packe. Personally, I have always thought that Sturrock had got
bored and also was a little out of his depth in more modern evolution of
steam engines.
8. Just to be even minded, there are a couple of errors in the biography
of Sturrock by Tony Vernon. Stirling No.1 is not a 4-2-0, rather a 4-2-2,
and also the tender that is at Shildon and which previously had spent over
100 years behind No.1 is not a Sturrock underframe. All the documentation
within the GNR tender drawings file shows it to be a Stirling underframe
and a Stirling superstructure from slightly later. An error was made by K.H.
Leech and compounded more recently by my late friend Malcolm Crawley, but
a proper crawl all over it a couple of years ago confirmed my idea that it
had never been an outside spring tender underframe.
Herefordshire's railways. Michael
Horton
Addenda. No mention was made that Titley Junction has a small standard
gauge railway, which is privately owned, and only open to invited guests.
Myself and a few friends attended Branch Line Society events, which traversed
the line from the renovated platform at the junction, and steam haulage was
a bonus. Mention was made of the fact that Rowden Mill is a preserved station,
but it is slightly better than a 'non-working' location. A Class 03 diesel
has made occasional trips on the short amount of track available for private
use only. It appears, however, that the locals are not very supportive of
the railway, so consequently operations are kept to a bare minimum. Finally,
it think that it is worth a mention that all the lines on the main network
have featured steam-hauled rail tours, eg the Severn Valley Explorer
on 23 March 2007, which travelled from Bristol Temple Meads to Kidderminster
via Hereford behind No.7802 Bradley Manor, so it covered the complete
main line network in a single day!
Book Reviews. 318
The LMS Turbomotive - from evolution to legacy.
Jeremy Clements and Kevin Robertson. Manchester: Crecy Publishing.159pp,
hardback, colour and black and white illustrations. Reviewed by Phil Atkins.
*****
Only the third Stanier 4-6-2 to be built, LMS No.6202 was the fifth
British steam turbine locomotive to be built since 1910, in the quest to
substantially improve upon the inherently abysmally low overall thermal
efficiency (typically about 5 per cent) of the conventional steam locomotive.
All five attempts are thoroughly described here: the first three employed
electric transmission, and with the very considerable benefit of hindsight
one can only marvel now at the optimism of the earlier proponents, particularly
Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. with their 130¾ ton monster completed
in 1922, which substantially exceeded its estimated weight and for this reason
merely underwent cursory testing on the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway
before being scrapped.
The politics of William Stanier's appointment as CME of the London Midland
& Scottish Railway are thoroughly discussed and given the enormity of
the conventional task that confronted him upon his arrival in 1932 it is
remarkable that he so quickly embarked on this major locomotive experiment.
This was inspired by a recently built turbine-propelled 2-8-0 operating on
a Swedish iron ore line which had demonstrated a fuel economy of almost 23
per cent when compared with conventional three cylinder 0-8-0s on the same
duties. Designed in collaboration with Metropolitan Vickers, Stanier's nameless
'Turbomotive', as it came to be known, was some 2½ years in gestation
and was completed in July 1935, for all the world resembling an inside cylindered
'Princess Royal' but with a double chimney. Particularly after the fitting
of a modified boiler with increased superheat one year later, No.6202 on
test showed a distinct economy in fuel consumption when compared to a standard
'Princess', but not to the 10-15 per cent extent that had been anticipated.
The engine always required the additional presence of a skilled fitter on
the footplate, quite apart from costing more than twice as much as a production
'Princess'. As such the engine performed quite satisfactorily for fifteen
years, albeit with a few substantial periods of inactivity when back in Crewe
Works. Except when being tested between London and Glasgow, the engine invariably
plied between London and Liverpool. Strangely, photographs of it in Lime
Street station, or on Edge Hill shed, appear to be non-existent and are also
extremely rare with regard to its workings north of Crewe when on test
BUT see letter from John C. Hughes on page 445.
No.6202, as BR No.46202, ceased operation as a turbine locomotive in May
1950, although whether this was as a result of a final sudden turbine failure
in traffic is not recorded. After more than two years in Crewe Works it
re-emerged in August 1952 as a conventional reciprocating four cylinder engine,
with the chassis of a 'Coronation' but retaining its unique five-row superheater
boiler and now gaining only a single chimney. An extremely handsome locomotive,
now named Princess Anne, after only two months in traffic it was damaged
beyond economic repair in the terrible Harrow & Wealdstone accident,
although its boiler and tender were recovered and saw further service until
well into the 1960s.
LMS No.6202 directly inspired an enormous 4-8-4 rated at 6,900hp ordered
by the Pennsylvania Railroad, which for metallurgical reasons resulting from
World War 11 was actually later delivered as a unique 6-8-6 in 1944. Partly
owing to serious firebox problems arising from very high steam demand when
starting away (which never afflicted No.6202) it ceased operation only two
years later. In 1945 the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway ordered three 6000hp
coal- fired steam turbine electric express passenger locomotives, which only
saw two or three years' service in the late 1940s before being scrapped in
1950, by which time the Norfolk & Western Railway had ordered a 4500hp
steam electric freight locomotive with a high pressure water tube boiler.
Although showing some promise, it arrived too late and also lasted only three
years.
The authors move on to gas turbine locomotives, of which Britain boasted
three, all initiated in 1946 when the large-scale adoption of the diesel-electric
locomotive in the future was by no means a foregone conclusion, although
the almost steam-like GB 4-6-0 did not commence road trials on British Railways
until fifteen years later in 1961. Only the Union Pacific Railroad in the
USA ever operated a fleet of gas turbine locomotives, which was initiated
in 1948 and increased to become briefly 55 strong in the early 1960s, only
to have become extinct by 1970.
There were other unfulfilled steam turbine locomotive projects not mentioned
here, which included a Nord 4-6-4 commenced in France c 1939, that was later
completed after the war in 1949 as the now legendary reciprocating 232Ul
preserved at Mulhouse. There were also two 2-8-4s in Germany under construction
at Krupp's which were destroyed by Allied bombing.
By way of a postscript, the Swedish turbine 2-8-0 and its two 1936-built
successors, although retired in 1954, all survive to this day in Sweden where
one is still occasionally operated. This book is extremely informative and
well illustrated and thoroughly recommended.
A history of North Eastern Railway signalling; edited by Neil Mackay, North
Eastern Railway Association. 2016, 320pp, hardback, over 450 illustrations,
of which 95 are in colour, and many drawings and signalling diagrams. Reviewed
by RDF *****
This book is the product of many years of research by a group of North
Eastern Railway Association members, which has resulted in a comprehensive
account of the signalling practices of the North Eastern Railway, their
development and the signalling equipment used.
The account starts with the opening of the first lines which were to form
the NER and traces signalling development through from rudimentary lamps,
flags, hot coals and the first fixed signals to the establishment of the
block system and interlocking in recognisable form. A particular feature
of this period was the extreme reluctance of the NER directors to accept
the need for much in the way of signalling and particularly spending much
money on it, resulting in a number of accidents which could otherwise have
been avoided. But then these views were quite widely held at the time and
the same situation existed on a number of other railways. From the early
1870s the NER took a much more positive view and the remainder of the book
is devoted to a study of all aspects of signalling work, policies and outcomes
on the railway. Chapters cover signals, signal boxes, block signalling equipment,
lever frames and interlocking, level crossings and all the other equipment
needed for a fully signalled complex railway. This includes some interesting
material on the systems provided for the safe operation of several swing
bridges.
A particular feature of the North Eastern was its divisional structure, with
the railway divided initially into three and later into two with the old
Central Division split between the Northern and Southern Division. These
were largely autonomous, at least as far as engineering was concerned. This
showed very much in signalling where there were substantial and very visual
differences between the equipment used on each of the divisions. Only in
later years was some degree of standardisation achieved. The NER was also
one of the largest railways to use contractors for the majority of its signalling
work and this, coupled with the Divisions tending to favour different
contractors, also contributed to the variety. The chapters explain, describe
and illustrate the different practices and equipment and put them in context.
In the twentieth century the NER was one of the leading companies in embracing
modern methods of signalling and signalling equipment. It experimented with
a system which would give automatic signals in the cab during fogs and an
automatic cab signalling system, both probably rather ahead of their time.
In the 1900 to 1910 period, extensive use of power signalling was made for
new layout expansion and signalling schemes at Tyne Dock, York, Hull and
Newcastle. These featured miniature lever frames and power-operated semaphore
signals. An innovative system of automatic signalling using the American
Hall system was installed over the ten miles of main line between Alne and
Thirsk in 1904/5 saving the cost of construction additional tracks. This
system remained in use for around 30 years. The background and features of
these schemes are explained and there is some very interesting and thought
provoking information and commentary on the costs of the power schemes and
their maintenance.
There are many drawings of signal boxes, signals and other signalling equipment
and diagrams of signalling layouts which will be of particular interest to
historians and modellers alike, and a final short chapter covers the construction
of models of NER slotted post signals.
Altogether this is a very comprehensive account of signalling on the North
Eastern Railway and the depth of research is evidenced by the fact that the
list of references consulted and chapter footnotes alone runs to thirteen
pages. The book is written in a very readable style with technical aspects
explained well and is very well laid out, with the majority of illustrations
appearing on the same or adjacent pages to the associated text, making it
an easy read. The exception are the colour illustrations which are grouped
together to contain printing costs. If there is a criticism, it might be
that some of the photographs are reproduced a little small to see clearly
some of the details mentioned in the captions, but then the book is already
320 pages!
This book is essential reading and an essential reference work for anyone
interested in the North Eastern Railway or in signalling. It is also a useful
reference for those interested in the railways which adjoined the NER and
whose trains ran over parts of it. There is much that can be learnt from
a comparison of the NER's approach to signalling with that adopted by other
railways. Highly recommended.
Online Railway Studies 01904328482 lifelonglearning&york.ac.uk http://www.york.ac.ukllifelonglearning/pg-dip-railways
Coal delivery. David Rodgers. rear cover
GWR '2251' Class 0-6-0 No.3212 calls at Minffordd with a down Cambrian Coast
line local in 1958. front cover
The Festiniog Railway station is at a higher level in the background.
See also feature on pp. 352-5
University challenge. David Turner. 323
Guest Editorial on University of York Postgraduatee Diploma in Railway
Studies (to be placed with direct link from steamindex homepage)
Via Three Cocks Junction. Tommy Tomalin. 324-5
Colour photo-feature (all with Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0): No. 46401
at front of train from Moat Lane at Pantydwr on 9 June 1962; No. 46501 at
Builth Road with 12.30 to Brecon on same day as previous; No. 46503 on freight
just south of Three Coacks Junction on same day as previous; No. 46515 on
09.55 from Moat Lane to Brecon at Three Cocks Junction on 23 April 1962;
and on 9 June at Three Cocks Junction at 10.50 No. 46503 leaves with freight
for Builth Wells and No. 46510 waits to follow on 11.15 to Builth Road.
Alistair F. Nisbet. Irish Nationalism and the railways
in the Twentieth Century. 326-31
The text, the illustrations and the sources are strangely at variance:
there are no photographs of the actual disruption inflicted upon the railways
in Great Britain and Ireland during what the Irish term "The Troubles".
Instead the photographs depict a mainly rural tranquility which has
almost disappeared due to changes in the economic environment. The sources
(frequently Dundee newspapers) are normally far removed from the incidents
described which might suggest that the City was the source of Irish Nationalism.
The text describes incidents involving trains being held up at Kincasaalagh
on the Burtonport line in 1920; the abandonment of a Dublin to Cork train
at Dundrum due to the police boarding the train at Geddestown; and letters
sent to the North British Railway warning of bombs on the Forth and Tay Bridges.
In 1921 a Cork to Dublin Mail was held up at gunpoint and isolated signal
boxes were burned on several English railways and at Marple the signalman,
Edward Axon, was shot in the groin. At this period there were many attacks
on signal boxes in the Manchester and London area. During the period of the
Irish Civil War in 1922/3 there were several attacks on trains and on railway
property. These included wrecking locomotives at Kildare, burning an express
train at Castlebellingham, blowing up briages and planting bombs at Westland
Row Railway Sation. During the late 1930s there was an Irish Republican Army
plot to blow up trains at Templepatrick dring a Royal visit to Belfast in
1937 and this was followed by a series of bombs being left in luggage at
many stations including those on the London Underground and at Main Line
stations including Birmingham New Street. In 1957 there were two attacks
on the railways in Northern Ireland: one of a crewless freight train being
set in motion near Derry/Londonderry and of arson at one of the City's former
railway goods depots. The late twentieth century incidents are not covered
in any depth. Illustrations: GNR(I) S class 4-4-0 No. 174 Carrantuohill at
Kildare on SLS/RCTS railtour on 17 June 1961; painting of opening train
at Westland Row Station in Dublin with not even a hint of malice in behaviour
of euphoric spectators; Castlebellingham station at peace; County Donegal
Joint Railway No. 6 Columbkill at Derry station in early 1950s (R.C.
Riley); narrow gauge diesel railcar No. 16 at Strabane on 7 June 1957
(Nick Nicholson)(caption states GNR(I) failcar; GNR(I) station at Londonderry
(Norrie Forrest) not Foyle Road, but Waterside See letter
from Alan O'Rourke ; ex-LNWR 2-4-2T No. 6685 in Birmingham
New Street in 1938; exterior of Leamington Spa station on 11 April 1959
(L.R. Freeman); Marple Wharf signal box; Ludgate Hill station with some third
rail in situ. See correcting letter from Alan
O'Rourke
Geoffrey Skelsey. "People travelling on business seem
seldom to travel by train": Oxford and Cambridge object to a closure.
332-9.
Pictures speak louder than words: the map of the Varsity Line in its
heyday shows a railway leaving Oxford heading with determination north east
towards Cambriudge with a single bump in its course where it genuflected
to cross the Great Northern Main Line. The similar irregularities at Bedford
and Bletchley are glossed over which would seem to indicate its LMS origin.
The line was not included in the Beeching Report, but was a later addition
due to the annual deficit of £97,500. The University administrations
considered the closure proposals. The Oxford Registrar was Sir Folliot Sandford
and his opposite number at Cambridge was Robert Rattenbury whom Skelsey
describes as "to say the least, somewhat lacking in common experience": Sandford
even pondered upon whether universities could experience hardship one of
the criteria set for objections. Rattenbury in an exchange of letters with
Sandford expressed the weird notion that "People travelling on business
seem seldom to travel by train" [which reminds KPJ of Leo Jolley's amazement
when going up to Cambridge in the late 1930's about a notice from the proctors
to undergraduates not to park their aeroplanes in the University grounds].
Professor Alfred Steers, the respected geographer, was far more concerned
especially with Cambridge's loss of the link to Bletchley. The Transport
Users' Consultative Committee's hearings were in Bletchley and Bedford which
showed how the significance of through traffic was ignored and the Labour
Minister of Transport, Tom Fraser, rubber-stamped the line's closure. J.A.W.
Bennett, a Cambridge professor, in his Zuleika returns, cleverly
commemorated the loss of the link between the two university cities. It should
be noted that although Cambridge has electric trains on two routes Oxford
is still served by fossil fuel burning noxious antiques. Illustrations: BR
Class 4 4-6-0 No. 75038 (incorrect caption states 2-6-0) at Cambridge with
train for Bletchley in August 1959 (colour); map; Class 4 2-6-4T No. No.
80043 leaving Cambridge for Bletchley in May 1959 (colour: G.D. King); J17
No. 65556 at Old Great North Road with local freight (colour); Bletchley
station with single unit railcar for Buckingham in March 1960; two lightweight
DMUs at Bedford St. John's (colour). See also letters from
Tim Edmonds and Stephen G. Abbott on page
509;
A.J. Mullay. Coal to the sea: 50 Years of the Lothian
Lines. 340-6.
Sadly Mulllay fails to reference the excellent research performed
by the North Britsh Railway Research Group mainly by Donald Yuill
(see NBRSGJ, 2003 (89), 4 and
references therefrom). The Coalmasters on the Lothian Coalfield became
dissatisfied with the handling of their export traffic and proposed building
their own railway to Leith: this propsal was suffficiently strong for the
the North Britsh Railway to gain Parliamentary proposal for a number of
imrovements mainly adjacent to existing lines or eliminating junctions by
bridges. Work on these began in 1913 and finished in 1916. At the same time
the NBR introduced traffic control similar to that employed by the Midland
Railway. Mullay nots that many maps fail to show the additional railways.
Illustration (photographs taken by W.S. Selllar): J37 No. 64582 climbing
over East Cost Main Line and Waverley route on way to Niddrie North on 17
October 1955; map see letter from Author on line omitted
from this map; Niddrie North Junction showing bridge over junction on
17 October 1955; K3 2-6-0 No. 61987 on train of empty steel carriers on spur
from Wanton Walls to Niddrie North on 17 October 1955; interior of Wanton
Walls Junction signal box on 17 October 1959; exterior of Wanton Walls
Junction signal box with tender-first J38 passing with train of mineral
wagons on 17 May 1960; D49 No. 62711 Dumbartonshire (caption notes
misspelled name) on Edinburgh to Dunbar stopping train on stretch of main
line between Wanton Wells and Monktonhall on 17 May 1960; J39 No. 64946 on
heavy coal train on Lothian Lines between Monktonhall and Wanton Wells on
17 May 1960; V1 2-6-2T No. 67659 on Edinburgh-bound stopping train on main
line adjacent previous; V2 No. 60816 passing Wanton Walls signal box on 17
May 1960; A3 No. 60087 Blenheim on 10.50 Class D freight from Portobello
to Carlisle climbs from Portobello East Junction. See also
letter from Graham R. Russell pages 509-10
Miles Macnair. Getting a quart out of a pint pot –
boosters and steam tenders. Part Two. 347-51.
Reference is made to the Eames locomotive which was brought to Britain
to demonstrate the Eames Vacuum Brake system, but had been built by Baldwin
with a device which could adjust the adhesive force available for adhesion
on its single driving wheels (see Moore's
Monthly Mag). Krauss tackled the problem of additional adhesion by inserting
an additional booster axle which could be lowered onto the rails when required,
and applied this to a single driver and to an Atlantic
(see Locomotive Mag., 1928,
34, 296,, but Macnair notes errors). The most successful
booster was invented by Howard
L. Ingersoll of the New York Central Railroad in 1919. This was widely
used in the USA and Canada, but only exploited by Gresley in Britain: Macnair
cites the RCTS Locomotives of the LNER
Volumes 3A on Ivatt Atlantics and more radically on Raven Atlantics producing
a type of 4-4-4 articulated to the tender;
6B for the applicatioon to the too
powerful P1 freight 2-8-2 and
9B (for the Wath hump 0-8-4Ts),
but not the Institution of Locomotive
Engineers paper by Bulleid. An article by T.G. Atkinson in the
Locomotive Mag., 1930, 36,
230 described the reversible booster and the application of boosters
to tenders. George Bothwell invented a geared locomotive and exhibited in
Chicago in 1907. G. Bothwella Russian (Schubersky) invention of a locomotive
fitted with a flywheel in its tender:
see Locomotive Mag., 1934,
40, 130. Illustrations: 4-2-2 Eames locomotive manufactured by
Baldwain in 1880 to demostrate adjustable height driving wheels; Krauss 4-(2)-2-2
built for Bavarian State Railways in 1890 with an additional booster axle
equipped with an extra cylinder which could be brought into action via another
cylinder which pushed the wheelset onto the rails; previous locomotive rebuily
as a normal 4-4-0 and numbered 36 861; Krauss 4-(2)-4-2 Atlantic modified
with extra cylinders to assist adhesion and exhibited at Paris Exhibition
and sold to Bavarian Palatinate Railway and given No. 263; New York Central
2-8-2 with booster on rear pony truck; Gresley C9 4-4-2 or 4-4-4 with rear
pony truck incorporating booster No. 727 at York c1932 (W.H. Whitworth);
diagram of Franklin booster performing role as steam tender; Bothwell USP
882618 hybrid booster/steam tender photograph as built in Chicago in 1907.
See Corrigendum on p. 509.
The '2251s' - A Great Western Railway class put to good
use. 352-5
Colour photo-feature: No. 2255 (in fully lined green, but brass work
painted over) at Machynlleth shed; No, 2217 in green livery at Carmarthen
on 20 July 1962; No. 2286 on Gloucester to Hereford passenger train waiting
at Fawley station for train from Herford to pass in July 1963 (J.L. Champion);
No. 2204 at Barmouth on a passenger train for Pwlheli in Aprile 1960; No.
2214 with single coach at East Garston on Lambourn branch in April 1959 (G.H.
Hunt); No. 2210 (with a copper cap to its chimney) on a freight train
at Warwick on 13 april 1964 (R. Tibbits); No. 2253 at Talerddig with up express
on 22 August 1959 (G.H. Hunt); No. 3207 passing Fladbury with freight for
Worcester (Derek Penney); No. 2227 on express at Cogan Junction
with train for Penarth line on 12 July 1959 (Trevor Owen).
See also letter from Chris Foren on p.
445.
Paul Joyce. Southampton: memories of working in and around the Docks.
356-63
A very brief introduction to the growth of Southampton Docks; tthe
railway which served it and the locomotives which worked within the dock
area, is followed by reminiscences of Tom Turner, Rodney Tizzard and Courtney
Haydon who worked there or at Eastleigh and who worked within the docks when
required. Tommy Nesbit was a driver who had originated at Bricklayers Arms
and was indifferent to authority: it is related how he wore dirty old overalls
yet filled his brew can with coffee from the Pullman car on a special hired
by the J. Arthur Rank organization to take the stars off a liner to London
for a film premier and deliberately obscured their being filmed departure
by clouds of steam from the wide open cylinder cocks. Tom Turner when firing
to Fred Davis on a Merchant Navy hauled heavy boat train recounts how a hot
bearing led to the Pacific being replaced at Basingstoke by a Schools class
4-4-0 and how they managed to restart the load, manage the long descent to
Southampton and ease the heavy train round the sharp curve at Millbrook Junction
without stalling. There are stories about how bulk ripe bananas were smuggled
out of the docks on locomotive tenders beneath the coal and how oranges and
cornflakes were misappropriated. Illustrations: rebuilt Battle of Britain
Pacific No. 34090 Sir Eustace Missenden on The Cunarder at
Ocean Terminal with RMS Queen Mary behind in 1967 (colour: E. Parry
Collection); C14 0-4-0T No. 30589 on Town Quay with boat named Murius
in dock in August 1952 (colour: S.C. Townroe); B4 0-4-0T No. 85
Alderney; five B4 0-4-0T locomotives in Old (Eastern) Docks engine
shed; view of platforms at Southampton Terminus on 5 September 1966 (day
after closure); Southampton Terminus frontage; rebuilt West Country No. 34009
Lyme Regis on Greek Line boat train in September 1963; USA tank on
Harbour Road; USA tanks Nos. 30072 and 30065 in Old (Eastern) Docks; C14
class 0-4-0T No. 77s; USA 0-6-0T No. DS223 at Ocean Terminal with RMS Queen
Elizabeth behind (colour); Southern Railway Schools class on down express
at Southampton Central with T9 in adjacent platform; aerial photograph of
new Western Docks; S15 4-6-0 No. 30508 on freight for Eastren Docks passing
in fron of former South Western Hotel on 10 March 1962 (colour: Les
Elsey)
David P. Williams.. The Z Class Atlantics of the North Eastern Railway.
364-5
Two coloured illustrations of Z class (LNER C7 classs in green livery):
No. 2164 as seen at New England shed in 1935 and No. 2172 outside York locomotive
shed in 1937. It is worth noting
that H.M. Lane took colour photographs of both the earlier Worsdell V
class and later Raven Z class outside York shed in the 1930s and it
is worth noting that the Williams computer colouring system is capable of
matching early colour photographs. Includes a concise history of the class,
including the use of a C7 in tandem with a Gresley Pacific for braking tests
at 100 mile/h in preparation for the streamlined trains.
Mike G. Felll. Whitmore. Part Two. 366-73.
On 5 August 1852 a collision happened between an express train
from Liverpool and a pilot engine at Hatton Coal Wharf. Captain Robert Michael
Laffan reported. The express took on a pilot engine at Crewe and it was intended
that the pilot would come off before Whitmore, run ahead of the express and
be shunted out of the way at Whitmore, However, on this occasion the express
accelerated, leaving insufficient time and space for the pilot to be shunted
off and due to misinterpreation of hand signals caught up and collided with
the pilot. The driver of the express was killed and the other footplate crews
were injured, but the passengers escaped serious injury. Laffan recommended
that trains should stop to detach the pilot. During the night of 4 October
1870 the 00.50 from Euston ran iinto the rear of a freight near Whitmore.
Captain Tyler investigated and
was highly critical of the LNWR telegrapph system and permissive block working.
Whitmore was the source of the water supply to Crewe, both the railway and
the town through aresian wells. The line between Crewe and Whitmore was
quadrupled in 1874: this affected the water troughs and extra platforms had
to be provided at Whitmore. In July 1901 King Edward VII used Whitmore station
to visit Keele Hall to stay with Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia.
On the return journey on 15 July the Royal Train was hauled by Alfred the
great class Webb compound No. 1942 King Edward VII with Gorge Whale
on the footplate. Illustrations: No. 46212 Duchess of Kent (green
livery) on down fast on Red Rose in 1959 (colour: M.G. Paine);
p. 367 (upper): 11.15 ex-Euston hauled by Greater Britain
2-2-2-2 (see letter from Peter Davis on page 509);
Problem class 2-2-2 on up fast with express picking up water (P.W. Pilcher);
Jubilee class No. 45671 Prince Rupert picking up water on norrthbound
express on down slow; Whitmore signal box interior with signalman John Baden
Woodcock (1914-1994) pulling off signal on LNWR tumbler frame photographed
by his son; and same signalman photographed in entrance to
box by Spencer Jackson see also letter from Spencer
Jackson on page 574; Claughton No. 5982 on Birmingham train on water
troughs c1930; No. 6220 Coronation with Coronation train on
demonstration run to Crewe on 29 June 1937; Matisa tamping machine (Alan
Fozard); Super D 0-8-0 No. 49412 on freight (Alan Fozard); two English Electric
Type 1 Bo-Bo on freight on down fast (Alan Fozard); Station House at Whitmore;
No. 46243 City of Lancaster red livery eith BR lining (colour: M.G.
Paine)
"lf patriotic sentiment is wanted..." [Patriot class excluding
rebuilt type]. 374-
Black & white photo-feature based on T.J. Edgington Collection:
No. 5916 E. Tootal Broadhurst with Boots Manufacturing Chemists building
in Nottingham behind; No. 5521 Rhyl at Birmingham New Street on 7
May 1938; No. 45538 Giggleswick leaving Shrewsbury with 07.05 Plymouth
to Liverpool Lime Street on 27 April 1952; No. 45504 Royal Signals at
Manchester London Road on 10.05 to Euston in March 1953; No. 45515
Caernarvon on relief Manchester to Glasgow express at Shap Wells with
banker at rear; No. 45507 Royal Tank Corps on freight at Greenholme
with banker at rear; No. 5983 at Sheffield Midland on an express; No. 45509
Derbyshire Yeomanry leaving Trent with a Manchester Central to Nottingham
Midland train; No. 45544 on fully fitted freight with banker at Scout Green
in August 1960; No. 45549 (with tender lettered BRITISH RAILWAYS) on freight
with banker on climb to Shap in June 1952.
Peter Butler. The final days of Engine Shed Junction Signal Box.
378-9
Notes with four photographs of visit to signal box on 12 May 1978:
writer had a lineside permit to visit surviving Midland signal boxes on Southern
portion of Midland Main Line. Carlton Road Junction siugnal box is visible
through tunnel in one of the photographs. Ginger the signal box cat is visible
in another.
Fifeshire steam. Photographs by David Idle; captions by John Scholes.
380
Colour photo-feature: photographs taken on 25 April 1973 at Frances
Colliery on the Dubbie Braes overlooking the outer Firth of Forth, Dysart.
Locomotive No. 29 Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST WN 1142/1908 at exchange sidings
on cliff and near the screens; and No. 30 (Barclay 0-4-0ST WN
2259/1949.
Readers' Forum. 381
Whitmore. Mike G. Fell,
There is an error (my fault) in the caption to the photograph at the
top of page 213 of the April Backtrack. Although the crane tank is facing
south, the train is actually on the down slow line, not as shown. It probably
travelled from Crewe on the up slow, crossing over to the down slow at Madeley
to gain access to the water main. The photograph was taken on 12 June 1938
which was a Sunday when occupancy of the down slow would be less of a problem
than on weekdays.
Valediction to Old Oak Common . Matthew
Bradley
Re 'Valediction to Old Oak Common' feature (April 2017) showing a
scruffy No. D1000 Western Enterprise [KPJ but in original state with
desert sand livery and chrome ebellishment] and No.Dl035 Western Yeoman
outside OOC's 'Factory' in 1964. However, I believe the true identity of
the maroon locomotive in the picture to be No. D1023 Western Fusilier:
the reason being that to the best of Bradley's knowledge is No.Dl035 would
have still been carrying green livery with red backed number and nameplates
at this time. Also the overhead live wire flashes are slightly higher on
the Crewe-built (Nos.Dl030-Dl073) rather than Swindon-built (Nos.Dl000-Dl029)
locomotives together with the cab-side train crew name-tag clips, which were
only fitted to Crewe-built machines. This means the locomotive in the picture
is definitely a Swindon-built example with its overhead live wire warning
flashes placed lower down on the cab front and lack of cab-side train crew
name-tag clips. Finally, the length of the nameplate appears to match and
one can just make out the word Fusilier.
Help wanted: Reversible trains. Eric Stuart
Before the collective memory disappears, I would like to write an
article on classic, steam worked trains called, variously and amongst others
terms, Push-Pull, Pull-Push, Autotrains, Motor Trains and Railmotors.
Essentially, there were two means of control: pneumatic and mechanical, both
sub-divided, as there were vacuum and Westinghousefor the first, with rods
under the vehicles and cables on the roofs for the second. Different railways
used different systems.
The Southern system is well-documented, but if readers would care to let
me have information of their knowledge of or experiences on any line, I would
be glad to receive it. I would particularly like details of the how each
system worked both in theory and practice (not always the same, from what
I have read!), with diagrams or photographs of the controls in cabs. Also,
any anecdotes of operations. I think the last working was probably in south
Lancashire about 1965/6, so possibly only older readers could help. If I
get sufficient information to write it, the article will not be a money-spinner,
but I would gladly acknowledge contributors. Offers of photographs in the
future would also be welcome. I want to provide a document for history. Of
course, if such a document already exists in some form and I have missed
it, please let me know! Thanks in advance for any help. I would prefer initial
responses bye-mail to ericstuart38&aol.com.
A good run for your money. Eric
Stuart
The article on Club Trains (April 2017) was most interesting and lent
weight to my belief that the late 1930s were one of the best periods for
those particularly interested in transport and specifically rail transport!
Although they were not true Club Trains, such trains as the Southern's 'City
Limited' and other 'business' trains from and to the South Coast —
especially in the Pullman Cars — I suspect got quite 'clubby' in their
atmosphere with regular travelers. More recently, hoi polloi started up different
sorts of clubs, such as Spanish lesson clubs on some trains, such as those
into Liverpool Street.
One feature that was reported at the time was a possible Club Saloon on the
Henley-on-Thames-Paddington through trains. For a while, toward the end of
steam, the through trains were hauled by 'Castles'. But then the Class 123
'Inter-City' DMUs were transferred to work Paddington outer-suburban services
(before going up north and merging with Class 124) and took over the Henley
through train. There were some Class 123 buffet cars and the Western Region
management offered to include one in it. I don't know financial arrangements
were suggested, but it seems the suggestion was not taken up. The 123 buffet
cars were scrapped, apart from one which I think was included in a Class
309 Clacton EMU when the two-car units were augmented.
The closure of the Midland & Great Northern
Joint Line. R. Lloyd Jones
Corpusty and Saxthorpe station (April, p218) was east of Melton Constable,
not as stated.
Book Reviews. 381
Memories of the Withered Arm: travels over the SR lines West of Exeter
1958-62. Peter Barnfield. Bath: Wild Swan Books Ltd., 96pp. Reviewed
by MJS. *****.
I can do little worse than quote the author, from his Introduction:
"This is not a detailed railway history, nor is it a list of train times,
mileages and engine numbers. It is simply an attempt to record my impressions
of journeys over the Southern Region lines to the west of Exeter between
the years 1958 and 1962, in the days before British Railway Western Region
took control of them and began the systematic dismantling of the system."
And these impressions are impressive in detail and vivid in painting a picture,
so much so that you can feel you are there with him, personally savouring
the trials and tribulations, joys, sights and sounds. The 'Withered Arm'
had its own special atmosphere and it is one that, like so many other parts
of the UK, has disappeared without trace, never to be repeated.
The book contains ten chapters that incorporate all the main destinations
of the lines covered, from Plymouth Friary to IIfracombe by way of Wadebridge
and Bude. Titles such as 'Pilgrimage to Wadebridge' and 'With the goods to
Wenford' give a flavour and can only entice the reader to indulge ... and
in that reader will not be dissatisfied, as his easy style, containing fact
and information, combined with his lightness of touch, will carry you along
on the journey without any uncomfortable bumps or unnerving occurrences.
It is a human story humanly told, with photographic illustrations that are
delightful, skilfully captured, with a true photographic eye and all by the
author himself. He obviously had a decent camera for the period and knew
what he was doing; and there 'are no 'front three-quarter' shots here.
Instead, we have the human element and a keen eye for composition and importance
of the moment. He has successfully tried to portray the whole scene, a more
general view of the railway and its surroundings and they enhance the product.
Following on from Bob Bunyar's recent book, this is the second in Wild Swan's
departure from the A4-sized hardback books that give a definitive history
of a subject and, whilst those latter are still to appear, this newer, less
formal style is well suited to the more general reader and his/her pocket.
Being aware of it myself, I particularly liked his encounter with the name
Lanson'. "I didn't remember it featuring in the timetable. Then the realisation
that I was not bound for Lawn/cess/ton at all and that for years I had been
making an utter fool of myself"! A smile came to my face so many times throughout
this book and, with the excellent illustrations, it is a gem. For anyone
cognisant of the lines encapsulated, this is a real gem
Rails through North Kerry – Limerick to Tralee and branches.
Jonathan Beaumont and Barry Carse. Colourpoint, 144pp. Reviewed by DWM
***
A book from the Colourpoint stable is guaranteed to be well produced
— and this volume is no exception, stylishly laid-out with a crisp
reproduction of photographs, both colour and black and white. The authors
too have excellent track records in presenting the story of Ireland's railways,
both in written and photographic form ... and yet? And yet this book, by
its own admission, limits itself to very much a 'niche market' as it sets
out to 'illustrate the twilight years of these lines', thus effectively limiting
itself to the period from 1975 to 2002.
The format of the book is a photographic journey from Limerick to Tralee
and the provides the reader with a healthy diet of images of a surprising
number, for 'twilight years', of freight trains, special workings such as
Gaelic Games and Race Day excursions and the odd steam special, all set against
the background of tidy but effectively- disused stations and the lush green
countryside of the very west of Ireland. For those readers whose interest
is in the 'first generation' of CIE diesels then the book is an absolute
treat in black and orange, with most of the locomotives featured being of
pre-General Motors vintage.
An excellent map underpins the text; there is a thumbnail history of the
lines and a fascinating section on The Great Southern Trail', parts of the
line now having been resurrected as a walking route.
Your reviewer, in spite of being a big fan of 'first generation' Irish diesels
felt a little 'flat' upon reaching the end of the book and was perhaps hoping
for a bit more history and context to the line. And yet, perhaps being left
hoping for more isn't a bad thing? This book is an interesting addition to
the store of written material on the railways of Ireland.
Under the semaphores at Shrewsbury 1987-1994. David J. Parker. Blurb,
92pp, 165 images (137 in colour). Available as a pdf down load or printed
softback and hardback from www.blurb.co.uk. Reviewed by R.D. Foster ****
[KPJ note navigation on the Blurb website is poor due to excessive eagereness
to sell rather than inform]
As the title says, this book is concerned with the 1987 to 1994 period.
Within this it has two themes: a photographic survey of train movements through
the Shrewsbury area and a detailed survey in words, pictures and diagrams
of the signalling in the station area and at the adjacent signal boxes.
A great beauty of this book is that the author has been very good at selecting
a very wide variety of locations for the photographs he has used, meaning
that practically every corner of the railway network in the station area
and on the approach lines features in the illustrations somewhere, giving
the reader an excellent appreciation of the area. The train photographs cover
many different locomotive and train types and cover both passenger and freight
movements. Looking back it is surprising what variety there was in rolling
stock in that era. Such has been the pace of modernisation of railway rolling
stock over the past years that very few of the locomotive and train types
featured are still in regular use, while much of the freight traffic depicted
has disappeared too! The photographic coverage has thus already become a
historic snapshot in time. Perhaps if there is any criticism of the photographic
coverage it is the preponderance of locomotive-hauled trains, but then the
author does admit to this bias!
There is very comprehensive coverage of the signalling in the Shrewsbury
area with photographs, signalling diagrams and operating descriptions for
the six signal boxes. The signalling diagrams have all been drawn to represent
the situation in 1990 in the middle of the book's period of coverage. The
descriptions of the boxes bring out the main features of each layout in a
simple and readable form. This overview is supplemented by a large amount
of information on the signalling and trains in the detailed and very informative
photograph captions. A particularly commendable feature is that practically
all the signals controlled by the boxes are included and described in the
illustrations, either in their own right or with trains passing.
Overall this is a very well thought- through and presented book. For anyone
interested in Shrewsbury and its signalling and train movements in the late
British Rail period this book is probably a 'must-have'. As the signalling
largely dates from the early 1900s it is a useful taster of how things were
in earlier years.
Platform 5 East Croydon. Geoff Rixon. rear cover
September 1963
SR 'King Arthur' 4-6-0 No.30779 Sir Colgrevance passes Bramshot, west of Farnborough, on the South Western main line on 2 March 1957. (Trevor Owen)
Rattling the bones. L.A. Summers. 387
Guest Editorial on Bristol and the slave trade and the funding of
the Great Western Railway by the Society of Merchant Venturers. Summers notes
that Colston Hall (the concert hall) is to be renamed because of it asociation
with Edward Colston, a notorious slave trader. He also notes the use of
Merchant Venturer by the Western Region in 1951 as the name for the
13.15 from Paddington.
The 'Night Ferry' – as introduced in The Times. Arnold
Totorrela. 388-90.
Reports in The Times for 13 October 1936; 14 October 1936:
latter described inauguation of Wagon Lits service which began with official
opening of the berth in Dover and departure of emptyy stock for
Paris via the train ferry Hampton Ferry with the celebrations
in Paris which preceded the departure of the first sleeping car train
from Paris Nord to Victoria. There were speaches by Sir John Simon, Home
Secretary, R.M. Holland Martin, Chairman of the Southern Railway and Sir
Herbert Walker was invested with being mafde a Commander of the Legion of
Honour
Allan Trotter. The 'Night Ferry' – the end of Britain's
first international passenger train. 391-2
Writer/photographer "discovered" Night Ferry via a schematic
map in Glasgow Central which showed British sleeping car services which included
one from London to Dover (early indications of Brexit?) when he was booking
a sleeper to Bristol (now reached by Cross Country via York and everywhere
else). He managed tio photoraph the train in Victoria and at Dover, but due
to French trade unions not in France in spite of making a booking. the
illustrations also feature in the previous article, but all are listed here:
Bulleid light Pacific No. 21C156 and L1 4-4-0 No. No. 1757 on inugural post-war
Night Ferrry at Victoria on 15 December 1947: remainder in colour:
Wagon-Lits sleeping car exterior; Class 33 on Night Ferry at Victoria; sleeping
car exterior; Class 09 with Night Ferry at Dover Marine and Class
73 with train at Dover Marine about to depart for Victoria in 1979 (KPJ:
our charming French next-door neighbour in Welwyn Garden City used to travel
on the Night Ferry to visit her relatives). See
also letter from David Walton on p. 574 on how Heads of State received
red caarpet treatment at Victoria when they arrived off the Night
Ferry..
George Smith. The men from the Ministry: a 'Teutonic Chronicle'.
393-7.
In 1825 the Prussian Ministry of the Interior sent Karl August Ludwig
Freiherr von Oeynhausen and Ernst Heinrich Karl von Dechen to Britain to
study railways and their use of locomotives. Their
report was translated into English
by E.A. Forward more than a century later. Illusstrations: Hetton Colliery
as it appeared in 1827; Karl August Ludwig Freiherr von Oeynhausen and Ernst
Heinrich Karl von Dechen (miniature portraits); Wylam Dilly (as displayed
at National Museum of Scotland; Blenkinsop's First Mover, Stockton
& Darlington Railway wagon as restored; Timothy Hackworth statue at Shildon;
Hetton Collliery (drawing); disc signal used on S&DR inclines; drawing
of coal wagon from Prussian report.
David Thrower. Southern gone West. Part One. Plymouth
and its branches. 398-401
Author argues that the presence of the Southern Railway in Plymouth
has tended to be ignored until recently when the strategic nature of an
alternative route was recognised following the devastation of the Brunel
route by storms caused by Global Warming which trumped access to a whole
region which placed the current fragile British "administration" into "power".
The London & South Western Railway reached Plymouth in 1876 following
strong opposition from the broad gauge Great Western. The route as far as
Okehampton and from Plymouth as far as Bere Alson remains open, but lack
of planning sanity allowed building on the trackbed in Tavistock (the place
most to gain from a restored railway). Illustrations: Plymouth Friary station
on 8 July 1924 with T1 0-4-4T on 13.54 departure for Tavistock and O2 0-4-4T
No. 218 waiting (H.C. Casserley); map; T9 4-4-0 Nos. E403 and 721 leaving
Devonport King's Road on 16.05 to Waterloo on 6 August 1928 (H.C. Casserley);
O2 0-4-4T No. 216 shunting at Devonport King's Road on 30 August 1945 (H.C.
Casserley); Plymouth Friary station frontage in 1913; Adams X6 4-4-0 No.
660 at Lipson Junction with express c1905
'Knights' of the Southern lands. 402-6
Colour photo-feature of Urie/Maunsell N15 or King Arthur class 4-6-0:
No. 30772 Sir Percivale with 5000 gallon bogie tender departing
Farnborough (Hants) in 1960; No. 30454 Queen Guinevere with Drummond
eight-wheel tender on train of Bulleid carmine & cream coaches near Bramshot
in February 1957 (Trevor Owen); No. 30805 Sir Constantine with six-wheel
tender (built for Central Section with ahorter turntables) on 23 July 1953
(J. Davidson); Scotch Arthur No. 30773 Sir Lavaine departing Eastleigh
for Portsmouth on 15 August 1961 (Gavin Morrison); No. 30453 King Arthur
in Eastleigh Works on 6 July 1958 (Trevor Owen); No. 30804
Sir Cador of Cornwall passing Bromley on Kentish Belle
formed of carmine & cream stock plus two Pullman cars and green liveried
coach in August 1958 (Derek Cross) see letter from Bob
Ratcliffe noting that was No. 30806 Sir Galleron plus other detail;
No. 30795 Sir Dinadan with six wheel tender on 12.35 Victoria to Ramsgate
at Shortlands on 22 October 1957; No. 30794 Sir Ector de Maris leaving
Ravensbourne on 27 July 1957; No. 30796 Sir Dodinas le
Savage descending Sole Street bank with Victoria to Ramsgate train
in August 1958 (three previous Ken Wightman) see letter
from Bob Ratcliffe noting the workings of this locomotive; No. 30750
Morgan le Fay at Eastleigh on 24 September 1955 (Trevor Owen); No.
30770 Sir Prianus being coaled by crane at Eastleigh (Ken
Wightman)
John C. Hughes. Down in the Lime Street cutting. 407-9.
Black & white photo-feature: ten photographs taken by D. Ibbotson
and by Author from trains leaving Liverpool Lime Street both before and after
electrification showing remaining tunnels, bridges, tunnels for ventilation
and possible evidence of Joseph Williamson's tunnels which predate Liverpool
& Manchester Railway!
Roger Jermy. The Marshall Meadows Tunnel Railway near Berwick-upon-Tweed.
410-13
Author's Minor railways of Northumberland included what the
local residents called the Seaweed Railway, but may have been used to take
down stone from quarries down to a jetty to load into boats: some of the
stone may have been used to construct the Royal Border Bridge. Contains
warnings about friable nature of sandstone and private land in which tunnel
is located.
Atlantic journeys. 414-15
Black & white photo-feature of 4-4-2 types: Ivatt No. 1459 at
Nottingham Victoria on Sheffield to King's Cross Pullman in 1923; Aspinall
High Flyer of Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway No. 1404 on 16.55 Manchester
Victoria to Blackpool express passing Exchange station; Great Central Railway
8B class as LNER C4 class No. 6091 near Rugby on express which included GWR
coach; North British Railway No. 905 Buccleugh at Edinburgh Waverley
on express for Carlisle; Marsh ex-LBSCR as Southern Railway No. 2038
Portland Bill possibly at Eastleigh; Raven North Eastern Railway three
cylinder Atlantic (LNER class C7) No. 2197 at York in May 1929.
On the London & Birmingham line. 416-19
Colour photo-feature: red Coronation class Pacific No. 46246 City
of Manchester on northbound Mid-day Scot leaving tunnel at Kemsal
Green in September 1961 (A.C. Sterndale); rebuilt Scot No. 46163 Civil
Service Rifleman on up Emerald Isle Express near Northchurch in
November 1959; Rebuilt Patriot No. 45527 Southport passing Watford
Junction with down Shamrock for Liverpool Lime Street on 30 April
1955 (Trevor Owen); Coronation class Pacific No. 46239 City of Chester
(green livery) on Euston to Windermere express leaving Northchurch Tunnel
in August 1962 (J.P. Mullett); Rebuilt Patriot No. 45529 Stephenson
with northbound express freight about to cross Grand Union Canal near Apsley
on strengthened original bridge in 1962 (Celyn Leigh-Jones); Stanier Class
3 2-6-2T No. 40135 with passengr parcels van in Coventry station (Ray Reed);
Class 5 No. 45034 and Jubilee No. 45747 Atlas passing Harrow &
Wealdstone on up The Midlander in summer 1962; Britannia Pacific No.
70001 Lord Hurcombe on down fitted freight leaving Tring cutting in
August 1863; red Coronation class Pacific No. 46254 City of Stoke-on-Trent
on northbound express passing Bushey station in July 1963 (Paul
Riley)
Jeffrey Wells. The formative years of the London &
Birmingham Railway 1832-1838. 420-5.
Article follows the Author's usual style of citing newspaper reports
not necessarily from towns associated with the route: thus the first is from
the Lancaster Gazette of 9 October 1830 noting that two companies had been
formed to connect London with Birmingham. The scale of the undertaking was
huge, in terms of miles (112½), capital (£2 to 3 million) and works.
The Liverpool Mercury of 17 December 1830 included details of gas
lighting would be provided along the road. The Morning Post of
3 July 1830 noted the opposition to the venture by the landed gentry whilst
the Newcastle Courier of 21 July 1833 noted that the House of Lords
had thrown out the Bill. The Essex Standard of 17 August 1833 that
work had started on construction. See also letter from
Robin Leleux who is mildly critical of some of the statements contained within
the article especially on the location of Kilsby Tunnel and on the caption
to the Bourne illustration of Triing cutting. Illustrations: J.C. Bourne
depiction of winding house at top of Camden bank under construction; map;
J.C. Bourne depiction of southern portal of Primrose Hill Tunnel; 5XP Jubilee
class No. 5559 (prior to naming) on northbound express climbing Camden bank
c1935; Precedent 2-4-0 No. 1532 Hampden passing Harrow & Wealdstone
station c1895; lithograph of Watford Viaduct; streamlined Coronation Pacific
No. 6224 Princess Alexandra on down Cororonation Scot on Watford
embankment in 1937; Class 5 No. 5350 with four-coach express leaving Watford
Tunnel in llate 1930s; J.C. Bourne lithograph of Tring cutting under contruction
on 17 June 1837; Tring station in 1900s; J.C. Bourne lithograph of Great
Shaft in Kilsby Tunnel. Part 2 see page 484.
Tony Robinson. The Great Western in Wirral. Part Two.
426-32.
Part 1 see page 300. Birkenhead was left via the
Woodside Tunnel, following which the Cammell Laird shipyard was passed with
connections to it. At Rock Ferry the Mersey Railway terminated in bay platforms
and there were also four main line platforms (this has changed and all passenger
trains rrun from here through to the Liverpool Loop via the Mersey railway
tunnel). Strangely Rock Ferry is not illustrated but see
Volume 27 page 260, or for a GWR image see
Great Western Rly J., 11
page 400 lower. Port Sunlight and the Lever Brothers' soap works are
mentioned, but with an absence of detail (an article by Skelsey in
Backtrack 24 page 716 et seq
showed the station exterior). Hooton receives extensive coverage as the
junction for the major line to Helsby which provided a northern outlet towards
Warrington and traffic from the Shell oil refiner at Stanlow and to the Ince
power station built in association with the nuclear fuel facility at Capenhurst.
Helsby also provided a link to the Cheshire Lines Committee. Hooton
was also the junction for a line to West Kirby, much of which is now the
Wirral Way: an attractive way for horse riders, cyclists and walkers which
has an enormous literature! The Morpeth docks was the location of an extreme
act of bravery during WW2 when GWR shunter Norman Tunna removed burning
incendiary bombs from a wagon containing 250lb bombs: he was awarded the
George Cross. The driver and fireman who poured water onto the bombs were
also decorated. The main fast freight from the docks was known by the staff
as the General. A table gives the names of other services from Morpeth Dock.
The General was worked for many years by the 47XX 2-8-0 class until
displaced by Halls and Granges during the final years of steam. The late
morning passenger working was known as the Zulu and originally avoided
the Chester stop. The Great Western participated in the Grand National
specials business by running first class only dining car specials from Paddington
non-stop to Woodside from whence the ferries were used and met by charabancs
at Liverpool Pier Head: once the road tunnel was opened they rann direct
to Aintree from Woodside. The fare was £5 — or more than a week's
wages. See also letter from Simon Pain on page 574.
Illustrations: Green Lane Junction in the late 1950s ith Stanier Class 5
2-6-0 No. 42977 on up slow line with local passenger train and 43XX No.
6346 on coal empties for Wrexham on up fast line (J.A. Peden); 51XX No. 5176
with train for West Kirbby at Hooton in August 1954 (N.R. Knight); 57XX 0-6-0PT
No. 9728 on long train of vans at Capenhurst in August 1958; 51XX No. 4124
at Helsby on 17.22 to Hooton and Woodside in June 1956 (colour: Daavid
Chatfield); 14XX 0-4-2T No. 1417 with LNWR-style lining, but no crest at
Helsby; 51XX No. 4129 (with GWR on tank side, but no evidence of green livery)
at Parkgate in August 1954 (colour: J. McCann); 47XX No. 4704 crossing E
Bridge with the General fitted freight in late 1950s; tender-first
28XX at Hooton with train of tank wagons from Shell refinery; No. 5103 with
train for Paddington passing Green Lane Junction in September 1958 (J.A.
Peden); E (or Egerton) Scherzer rolling lift bridge installed by Sir William
Arrol & Co. in 1932 as extant (for road traffic) in January 2016; preserved
No. 7029 Clun Castle arriving in Platform 1 at Woodside on 5 March
1967 (colour: Bevan Price).
David Harris. Colonel Howard G. Hill and his two
locomotives. 433-5
This mainly concerns the design, and designer, of locomotives built
under the United States Lend Lease arrangemnts during WW2, namely a 2-8-2
and 0-6-0T shunting locomotives known on the Southern Railway/Region as the
USA class, A Major R. Hart-Davies enters the story as negotiating on behalf
of the British Government: presumably the same "fastidious batchelor", who
acquired Gresley's desk and was a friend of Roland Bond. These negotiations
took place from September 1941 and the Author clearly makes use of Hart-Davies'
memoires (the source being Andrew Dow's
railway quotations). Illustrations: Baldwin 2-8-2 No. 46224 (WN 64511/1942)
at Ankara Open Air Steam Locomotive Museum (colour); remainder S100 0-6-0Ts
acquired by Southern Railway: No. 4326 at Southampton Docks on 30 June 1948
(T.J. Edgington); No. 30073 shunting at Eastleigh on 9 May 1964 (T.J. Edgington);
No. DS238 in malachite green at Lancing Carriage Works on 21 August 1963
(colour: Roy Hobbs)
Alistair F. Nisbet, Some thoughts on passenger accommodation.
436-42
Refers to an article in Volume 29 by May which KPJ thought was rather
thin (David Jenkinson contributed a wealth of articles in the early days
of Backtrack and a major
two volume study) and there is
always Hamilton Ellis's seminal work). The article begins with the dreadful
conditions which the Great Western Railway inflicted upon its third class
passengers (which were treated as freight and may reflect its financial origins
in the Slave Trade see guest editorial). Notes passengers
frozen to death and thrown to their deaths in the Sonning Cutting accident
on Christmas Eve 1841. This led to the Board of Trade asking the railways
how they handled third class passengers and to Gladstone's Regulation of
Railways Act of 1844. Cites a Railway Magazine article of January
1942 describing third class vehicles on the North British Railway. Mentions
Railway Passenger Duty, the replacement of second class on the Midland Railway,
the aboloition of first class on London suburbban trains during WW2, heating
(including use of foot warmers), lighting and ventilation. Illustrations:
interior of restored LNER tourist open stock on Severn Valley Railway; exterior
of Great Western six-wheel third class coach; Great Western six-wheel maximum
ventilation third class wagon; Victorian image of third class compartment
interior; Great Northern Railway four-wheel third class coaxh; preserved
LNWR Coal Tank No. 7799 with LMS brake third on Severn Valley Railway (colour);
Victorian image of lady's exxcessive costume; interior of LNWR first
class comparrtment; cartoon of working class man who had intruded into a
first class compartment; excursion passengers; GWR corridor stock of
1936; BR corridor third classs compartment; exterior of Stagecoach first
class compartment with a 4-VEP. See also letters from Claude
R. Hart and John Glover on page 509.
Western red. David Cable. 443
Colour photo-feature: Western Region Western diesel hydraulic class
in highly attractive red livery: two of the photographs record locomotives
fitted with circular maritime windscrrens: No. D1014 Western Huntsman
approaching Hemerdon Summit with Penzance to Paddington express in 1964;
D1006 Western Stalwart near Ivybridge with Paddington to Plymouth
express in September 1966 (fitted with marine windscreen), and D1039 Western
King (fitted with marine windscreen) with fourteen coach Falmouth to
Paddington climbing Hemerdon Bank (KPJ remembers that heavy trains climbing
to Hemerdon were watched by the guard in case the locomotive, whether steam
or diesel hydraulic stalled).
John D. Mann. A Suffolk tragedy. 444
Photographs of Southwold Railway 2-4-0T No. 3 Blyth at Halesworth
in July 1936, Ron Jarvis's Standard Swallow motor car and group photograph
of Ron and
Jim Jarvis, John Adams and Frank Carrier
in South Wales during Eaaster 1936. Notes on all in photograph except
Frank Carrier.Text describes day
trip from Harpenden to Halesworth where Blyth was moved with a pinchbar from
its shed into the sun and photographed; then on to Southwold where an attemt
to move the other two locomotives failed and the party had to be content
with sea bathing. Cites Chackfield's
biography of Ron Jarvis.
Readers' Forum. 445
Aldgate to Glyncorrwg Stewart
Clark
The two preserved coaches did not transfer directly to Didcot but
spent a number of years at the Severn Valley Railway. This is an important
point as the coaches were among the very early arrivals, delivered via
Stourbridge Junction, behind GWR No.3205, before being present on the first
day of operation out of Bridgnorth. Coincidently with your article is an
image, published in the SVR Working Members Newsletter, showing the scene
at Bridgnorth on that day 50 years ago, with the two coaches and another
pair coupled behind. There is also in existence a YouTube video of the journey
from Stourbridge Junction.
lnevitably I suppose with the arrival of more comfortable stock there was
little work for the two 'Glyncorrwgs' and in the mid-1970s they joined a
considerable cavalcade of vehicles to Didcot. It seems rather sad that they
seem not to appear in publicity there or within the VCT survey.
Coal to the sea - the Lothian Lines. A.J.
Mullay
Yet again the Lothian Lines defy the map-maker. Accompanying my article
'Coal to the Sea' in the May issue, the map on p340 omits the line which
ran from Niddrie North (upper level) down to Niddrie South on the Waverley
Route. It is actually illustrated at the bottom of the lower picture on p341.
This line is also missing in the book The Castle and the Bear, so
my apologies also to Stenlake Publishing as well as Backtrack readers.
The Great Western in Wirral. Chris
Magner
As a long-term resident of Port Sunlight (although now in Bridgnorth)
I enjoyed Tony Robinson's article on the Wirral in the May issue. On p301
the overnight express goods Morpeth Dock to Paddington Goods 'The General'
was the 7.45pm not the 8.45pm. The balancing working was the 9.lOpm Paddington
Goods to Morpeth Dock. Birkenhead men worked to and from Coton Hill Yard
where Shrewsbury men worked double home to London and back. In the WR days
'47X'X locomotives were the mainstay but when one was not available as in
the picture on p30l Old Oak Common usually sent one of its 'Modified Halls'.
No.6990, now preserved, was one example. OOC 'Halls' were always well turned
out. 'Castles' also featured when a '47XX' was unavailable.
When the shed was merged the former GWR staff considered themselves superior
to their Midland colleagues and were known by some of them as 'The Western
Gentlemen.' GWR Birkenhead driver Dennis Williams said of the '47XX' locomotives:
"They were masters of any task." He described Birkenhead's '14XX' tanks
Nos.1417/1457 as the Mini Coopers of the GWR. Such was his loyalty to the
GWR whilst at Birkenhead where he started his footplate career that he was
known as 'Western Dennis'.
Up to 1960 there was a Grand National Special from Paddington to Wood side,
always OOC 'Castle'-hauled which worked throughout. However, for some reason
'Halls' were used on the final two workings in 1959 and 1960.
As the editor of a serious historical publication you will find the following
hard to believe although true. The last 'regular' workings of GWR locomotives
to Birkenhead were the 1965 Whit and August Bank Holiday Mondays Wrexham
to New Brighton trains. Three of the diesel railcar trains on the line were
made steam with Croes Newydd MPD's panniers hauling five non-corridor coaches.
On the 17.56 New Brighton to Wrexham train on August Monday pannier No.46B3
was used with Driver Stokes of CN MPD in charge. Being the travelling tea
trolley man, I was able to promise Driver Stokes and his fireman drinks of
free high quality BR tea if they 'had a go' between Neston and Hawarden Bridge.
No. 4683 with its five non-corridors averaged 42mph start to stop with speed
reaching for a brief moment over 60mph so the crew got their promised reward.
How a tea trolley service was provided on a non-corridor train is another
story for another day.
Up to the end of the Paddington to Woodside trains in 1967 both Paddington
and Woodside guards and sleeping car attendants worked throughout, continuing
a GWR tradition. Many journals say the Paddington to Woodside trains finished
on Sunday 5th March 1967. However, the 21.40 Sunday Woodside to Paddington
did not officially complete its journey until Monday morning 6 March.
The Great Western in Wirral. John C.
Hughes
Re Tony Robinson's article some corrections regarding the early history
of these lines. The Birkenhead, Lancashire & Cheshire Junction Railway
(p301) was authorised under this name in 1846 as an independent company intended
to connect Chester (and Hooton) with Manchester and was only cut back to
Warrington during the post-Mania slump. The Chester & Birkenhead Railway
was built as a double track line but was opened, on 22 September 1840, in
an unfinished – with one or two sections lacking the second track. This
was very likely done to avoid the need for a BoT inspection, the Act introducing
this requirement coming into effect on 10 October following. The second track
was completed within a few weeks. It should be clarified that Morpeth Dock,
mentioned on p303, belonged to the Mersey Docks & Harbour Board; the
GWR had access to it, but that was all. Also, the GWR had a couple more dock
depots on the Liverpool side – Langton and Stanley Docks, both opened
in 1914.
Re review on p318 that states photographs of the
'Turbomotive' at Edge Hill or Lime Street are non-existent
please see Volume 22 of Backtrack page 38 et
seq for Eric Treacy view of this engine at Lime Street that appeared in the
January 2008 issue. Admittedly, I have not seen this reproduced anywhere
else.
Scottish signal variety. Stuart
Rankin
The location of the caption to the signal gantry on p307 (May) is
not Gourock, but Greenock Princes Pier. Gourock, opened in l889, was Caledonian
Railway and the bracket starting signals at Gourock's platform end were quite
different from Greenock Princes Pier, built by the Glasgow & South Western
Railway and opened in 1893. The two termini are now sometimes confused by
people who are strangers to the area, possibly partly because the LMS merged
allocations of engines in the 1930s to the respective sheds for each line,
both in Greenock; Ladyburn on the Caledonian and Princes Pier on the Glasgow
& South Western, with Princes Pier becoming a sub-shed. However, the
routes and termini buildings were entirely different, with the Gourock line
being much flatter. The name Princes Pier applies only to Greenock. The towns
were distinct local authorities up to 1975.
South of the Solway. Harry
Liddell
Writer's memories go back to the early 1930s, when in all but name
it was still very much NBR in style with passenger work virtually monopolised
by ancient members of the D31 Class and freight by the J36; at busy periods
there might be an odd incursion by a GNR Pony or NER D17 but very rarely,
while stock was initially gas lit and air braked although superseded later
in the decade by something slightly more 'modern'. The wayside stations,
their neat gardens with well-kept flower beds sometimes containing the station
name picked out in white stones or maybe sea shells, were a particular pleasure
while Silloth had a unique character all of its own.
Two small points: on p286, as the Dandy is facing north it has surely arrived
at Port Carlisle, while I suspect the colour photograph on the next page
was taken near Kirkandrews where the track had a number of sharp curves but
at Kirkbride was virtually dead straight for several miles.
Railway excursion traffic. Peter
Tatlow
Near foot of p. 313 Wells stated that the Falls of Lanark (or Clyde)
"is the home of Scotland's first hydro-electric power station, opened in
1927." Even as early as 1902, the nineteenth century water turbine generated
supply to the village of Strathpeffer was supplemented by larger plant, while
in 1926 the Ross-shire Electricity Supply Co.Ltd. built a power station on
Loch Luichart, and I am not claiming that any of these were the first in
Scotland. See The Dingwall & Skye Railway, published by
Crecy in 2016, p51 and a. real shocker from R.A.S. Hennessey
on p. 574.
Whitmore. Peter Davis
Having recently rediscovered an NRM 11in by 7.5in print of CR D73,
re view of the 10.25 ex-Euston reproduced on page 211 a
high resolution scan revealed that the engine concerned is No.1915
Implacable, built at Crewe in July 1899 and stationed at Camden. In
addition to the date, the back of the print also bears the following handwritten
note: "woodwork on top of cutting to test paint samples from Crewe Works".
The structure concerned can be seen just inside the boundary fence and appears
to consist of five sections of framework holding six large painted panels.
The location was presumably chosen for its position exposed to the elements.
Whereas the fast lines had been recently been relaid with 951b rails on 23
sleepers (the later standard was 24) per 60ft panel, the slow lines still
consist of 851b rails on ten sleepers per 30ft length.
With regard to the two Pilcher photos on p. 212, the upper
one (of the two up trains) was taken on 8 August 1901 and the lower one,
the double-header about a year later. In the latter view, one of the engines,
probably the Experiment, is working back home 'ALNR' (assisting locomotive
not required) to save occupying a path. Jeanie Deans had left Camden
shed by that time and was allocated to Rugby. By 1904 both these engines
had moved to Coleham shed, Shrewsbury.
District Railway electrics. George
Moon
Author refers to the original headlamp and top marker lights,
American-style, of the A stock (caption, p293). The 'headlight' mentioned
in the caption to the top photograph on p294 is, however, not a headlight
to illuminate the track ahead but a marker light for route-indicating purposes,
necessary in the days of manually-operated signalling. In this photograph
the hinged cover for this light and that below roof level can be seen swung
back, while similar covers for the lamp above it and at corresponding lower
locations at the other side are positioned so as to obscure the lamps. Various
route codes are shown in the other photographs. With the introduction of
the K stock the route-indicating arrangements were tidied up as shown on
p299 (lower) and on the Q38 and subsequent stocks the unused position at
top right of the display was fitted with a ruby lens as a rear light, although
until recent years an oil tail lamp was also obligatory, the lamp iron for
this being provided on, or adjacent to, the cab end door. Route indicator
lamps on the London Underground were gradually phased out with the introduction
from the 1950s of automated programming machines and the Metropolitan A60/62
stock and 1959/62 Tube stock carried instead a pair of marker lights. Only
with the introduction of the 1967 Victoria Line Tube stock and C69 stock
for the Circle Line, part of which shared District Line tracks, were headlights
as such provided. They have been a feature of subsequent stocks and the A60/A62
stock was later so equipped.
The '2251' Class. Chris Foren
Re Trevor Owen's picture of a 2251 at Cogan Junction. The number 51
pasted to a target disc and mounted precariously in front of the chimney
indicates that, rather than being a Penarth line train, it is the 10.00 from
Newport to Barry Island. Hot on its heels would have been the 09.33 excursion
from Aberbeeg (runs as required) and the 09.10 excursion from Blaina, numbered
52 and 53 respectively. Within the hour would come the 09.30 from Blaenavon
(57), the 10.55 from Newport (55, runs as required) and the 09.45 excursion
from Abergavenny (58). The service to and via Penarth at this time of day
was in the hands of diesel multiple units.
Book reviews. 446
The railway goods shed and warehouse in England. John Minnis with
Simon Hickman. Historic England, 128pp. (paperback; also available as
an e-book). £14.99. Available on line from
https:j/retail.historicenglandservices.org.uk. GBS *****
It is seldom enough that a new railway book breaks wholly new ground
and brings to full attention for the first time an important aspect of our
railways. Despite being called Railway Architecture, for instance, Christian
Barman's pioneering work (1950) barely moved beyond passenger buildings and
in many more recent books goods facilities are often all but ignored. Given
the monumental nature of some of the structures, and the overwhelming importance
of goods traffic to almost all railways, this neglect is hard to understand.
So this highly professional and fluent work is largely pioneering and addresses
its subject with the highest design and presentation standards, making it
a pleasure to read and refer to. It is the latest of a series of popular
publications by Historic England, a non-departmental public body responsible
for the protection and documentation of historic buildings and environments.
The complete eclipse of traditional methods of goods handling on our railways,
and disregard of its architectural heritage, has made the task in this context
urgent and overdue: only some 600 of many thousands of structures survive
and only around 100 are 'listed'. The studies underlying this book therefore
came just in time. The buildings covered are, of course, the direct descendants
of similar structures associated with docks and inland waterways, but adapted
in various ways to meet the particular technical requirements of railed vehicles
- a process achieved remarkably quickly and well outlined here. In time the
railway goods shed became ubiquitous and in its heyday must have been amongst
the commonest of all secular building forms since almost every town and many
villages were so equipped.
Seven successive sections deal with the purpose and operation of goods sheds,
their origins in the infant days of national railways, the varying plans
and design of sheds including individual company characteristics, the larger
warehouses and structures in major railway centres, the refinement of the
form in the last century and recent attempts at conservation of what is now
a defunct building type. The book ends with a 24-page gazetteer of surviving
structures and a useful bibliography. There is no index.
The examples studied start with the once-familiar general purpose shed at
minor stations, operated by the station staff and providing secure, enclosed,
under-cover space for goods awaiting the daily train or collection by the
consignee. Then there were the larger structures at busier centres, often
with dedicated staff and a wider variety of traffic. Specialised warehouse
premises reflected the industrial activity of particular towns, such as textiles,
beer, grain or potatoes. The daunting scale of these operations, and the
torrent of paperwork which accompanied them, are vividly evoked. As illustrated
here this specialised building type evolved over time in response to operating
experience and the changing nature of traffics: even between the wars and
after 1948 there was further development in some major centres, although
now of a wholly utilitarian nature in contrast with the embellishments of
traditional designs. The earthquake of change after the 1960s swept all this
away, even the new structures at such places as Peterborough and Hither Green.
Whilst passenger facilities have latterly faced the conflicting demands of
conservation and rapidly growing traffic, no such dilemma surrounded the
goods shed and although in some cases adaptation for other uses has followed,
the type is wholly redundant today.
The work is beautifully produced, with a wealth of colour illustration as
well as awe- inspiring aerial views from the inter-war years showing the
gigantic scale of urban goods yards. Specially produced diagrams and cutaways
capture the functions and methodology of the goods shed and warehouse.
This is an introduction to a vast and overlooked topic, and rarely has your
reviewer put down such a book longing for more.
The Settle-Carlisle Railway 1850-1990: the building and saving of a
great railway. Martin Pearson. Settle: author, 92pp, softback, on-line
from www.foscl.org.uk/shop. Reviewed by David Joy. *****
There is nothing like an unsolved mystery. In popular fiction it can
often remain unfathomable and is forgotten for many a year, only for the
truth finally to be unpicked through the relentless zeal of a detective able
to uncover new evidence. It might seem unlikely in the real world of railways,
but such in essence is the theme of this new book on the Settle-Carlisle
line that is like no other. The detective is Martin Pearson. He devoted three
years seeking the answer to one fundamental question that perplexed all those
involved in the 1980s war of attrition to save the Settle-Carlisle. Why was
the line suddenly reprieved when the battle seemed lost and the Government
was "minded to authorise closure"?
Attempting to find the answers involved sources that many a railway historian
would dismiss as inaccessible. Not so this author, who resolved to use the
Freedom of Information Act with remarkable results. Just as a reviewer should
not spoil it for the reader by disclosing the solution reached by a fictional
detective, so it would be wrong in this case to reveal all.
The way it was unravelled is itself fascinating. The 'dysfunctional' Cabinet
Office was totally unhelpful and ignored letters, enquiries to the Attorney
General's Office brought a negative response and only after threatening to
go before a tribunal chaired by a judge were key documents produced by the
Department of Transport. They reveal a state of affairs often far removed
from radical decision-making and more akin to the classic television series
Yes Minister. This is raw politics applied to railways that is both fascinating
and alarming.
Many of those involved in the drama from Margaret Thatcher downwards are
now gone but there are notable exceptions. They include Ron Cotton, appointed
with a brief to close the line and instead securing a phenomenal increase
in traffic. Above all, there is Michael Portillo who writes a foreword to
the book, re-affirming that he regards saving the Settle-Carlisle as his
greatest achievement but stressing he does not claim "sole ownership of the
act". Yet as he puts it, "the decision bore my fingerprints". The whole saga
of the 1980s is set in the context of the line's past history, including
protracted birth pains when the Midland Railway tried to get out of obligations
to build it in the first place. It should be stressed that this book started
as a scholarly study of decision-making and the text is a step-by-step analysis
rather than continuous narrative. This matters little as it is utterly compelling
and an essential addition to Settle-Carlisle literature.
Great North of Scotland Railway road services. Mike Mitchell.
Great North of Scotland Railway Association. Softback, 128pp, 49 colour,
148 black and white photographs, 10 drawings and maps. £15. Reviewed
by NTS *****
Comprehensive account of all aspects of the GNSR's motor bus and lorry
operation. As its sub-title 'Railway Buses in North East Scotland 1854-1930'
indicates, it also covers the horse-drawn 'Coaches in Connection' to towns
and villages not served by its stations. The Aberdeen-based company usually
made a contract with a local operator for an exclusive service from the stations
with railway control of the fares charged. In some cases the Great North
owned the coaches used by the contractors. Once motor vehicles became available
the GNSR was quick to take advantage of them and was the first railway in
Scotland, and the third in Britain, to operate motor buses to provide feeder
services. It became second (jointly with the North Eastern) to the Great
Western in the size of its road motor and steam lorry fleet.
Great North of Scotland Railway Road Services covers all aspects of the railway's
bus operations including the routes, the fleet, the depots, accidents and
financial results. The book is well illustrated with photographs and plans
of the buses and of the tickets issued. Two chapters cover the road goods
services to GNSR stations and its motor and steam lorries. While much of
the road cartage was carried out by contractors, particularly Wordie &
Co., the Great North became a substantial steam lorry operator.
The GNSR bus services passed to the LNER who pruned the routes, which had
mostly become unprofitable. Following the Railway (Road Transport) Act the
services were taken over by W. Alexander & Sons. Many of the routes are
now operated by Stagecoach, while Aberdeen is the headquarters of fellow
railway franchise holder First Group, the successor to the City's Corporation
Transport. It is ironic that while a century ago railway companies operated
buses, now bus companies operate railways. This book can be highly recommended,
both because it shows how road feeder services served railways from their
earliest day in North East Scotland and also because it throws much new light
on one aspect of what had become by the 1900s a very enterprising railway.
Railway guns: British and German guns at war. John Goodwin, Pen
and Sword Transport, hardback, 122 pages, Reviewed by DWM ***
This is an intriguing book, the title of which possibly doesn't adequately
convey what is contained within. The emphasis, to your reviewer's mind is
rather on 'artillery' rather than 'railways' and the book contains a large
selection of excellent pictures of railway guns and associated equipment
both in action and 'at rest'. The text seems to take a rather disjointed
course. From the first working railway gun in Britain – step forward
the Sussex Artillery Volunteers and the LBSC - it is a short step to the
Western Front and not simply British and German guns but those of our French
and American allies as well. A chapter entitled 'Gunners and Sappers' gives
an interesting outline of the training of troops in the operation of, and
the organisation required for, the movement and deployment of rail-mounted
guns.
Your reviewer found the second half of the book the more coherent and informative
as this deals with the Second World War and the rail-mounted artillery which
faced each other across the Straits of Dover from 1940 to 1944. On the British
side there is a detailed account of operations in Kent and Sussex and this
is mirrored by German activities in the Pas de Calais. The map showing the
scope of Operation Sea lion is fascinating. Your reviewer couldn't quite
see how the humble water column merited two full pages of illustration in
a book of this nature and there seemed to be confusion on pp72 and 74 as
to what actually constitutes a Dean Goods or an ex-Great Eastern 2-4-2T (LNER
Class F4). But, as with many recent railway-related publications, this book
follows another neglected branch line in the story and the author is to be
applauded for bringing this to light. The book has a useful index and a
comprehensive bibliography.
Armoured trains - an illustrated encyclopaedia 1825-2016.
Paul Malmassari, Seaforth Publishing, hardback, 528 pages, Reviewed
by DWM *****
This is a truly weighty tome - in every sense of the word! First
published, in French in 1989, this edition has been expertly translated by
Roger Branfill-Cook, fully revised and updated.
The book comes in three distinct sections. There is an introduction which
outlines the military rationale behind armoured trains. The principal content
of the book is an encyclopaedic study of armoured trains world-wide by country
travelling from Angola to Yugoslavia by way of, for example, the Confederate
States of America, Lithuania and South Sudan.
Each of these 'chapters' contains an outline history, lavish illustrations
and concludes with a sources section detailing further reading and references.
The illustrations are remarkable, ranging from pictures of veritable
'Dreadnoughts' on rails – perhaps not surprisingly used in Russia –
to contraptions which Corporal Jones and his colleagues would have been at
home with had they been on active service in Argentina. And finally appendices
cover armoured trains in art and propaganda (in colour) and there are selected
works drawings of armoured trains and trolleys. There is a comprehensive
index and, as mentioned, bibliographies and other sources are included in
'national' chapters.
Your reviewer was delighted to see the 1940 armoured train of the Romney,
Hythe & Dymchurch included in the Great Britain section of the book –
although dismayed to find the Romney's gauge misquoted as 40cm. Leaving a
matter of centimetres aside your reviewer was delighted to be able to comment
on a book produced by a graduate of the French military academy at St. Cyr.
This is a truly remarkable work, elegantly produced and, as the dust jacket
confidently asserts, 'remains the last word on the subject'.
Island in the sun. rear cover
Colour-Rail image shows Isle of Man Railway 2-4-0T No. 5 Mona leaving
St. John's for Peel in the late 1950s with Ford Popular and an Austin A40
van waiting to cross level crossing.
LNER A3 Class 4-6-2 No.60048 Doncaster is going round the turning triangle at Grantham locomotive depot in March 1959. Derek Penney. front cover
Getting in the zone. Michael Rutherford. 451
By diesel train. 452-3
Colour photo-feature: former GWR angular railcar in carmine &
cream livery at Ledbury Junction on 4 July 1959; Metro-Cammell Class 101
at Bishop Auckland in mid-1960s; former GWR angular railcar in carmine &
cream livery at Barber's Bridge on 4 July 1959; W79978 AC Cars railbus at
Tetbury on 31 March 1962 with BR carmine & cream delivery lorry; Cravens
DMU leaving Wormit for Dundee with Tay Bridge in full view in early 1960s.
The last photograph included a helicopter flying over the Tay and
this led to a letter from Roger Carvell on how a helicopter
assisted in removing casualties from the severe motorway accident at Great
Heck where skimpy protection of road traffic led to the derailment of a
train
David Anderson. The last years of the County Donegal
Railway. 454-9.
Black & white photographs taken by Author on a late visit on 9
September 1959 shortly before the railway closed at the end of 1959. The
first section opened between Strabane and Stranorlar as the Finn Valley Railway
in September 1863. In 1882 the West Donegal Railway opened a 3ft gauge line
through the Barnesmore Gap to Druminin (later Lough Easke). It took a further
seven years to reach Donegal. There were further extensions to Killybegs
(1893), Glenties (1895), Ballyshannon (1905) and Letterkenny (1908). There
was a somewhaat anomalous 3ft gauge line into Derry from Strabane. Illustrations:
Strabane station in 1954 with 2-6-4T No. 6 Columbkille and railcar
No. 12 (colour: Colour-Rail photographer must be known!); map of system in
1950; railcar No. 19 at Stranorlar (colour: Trevor Owen); No. 4 Meenglas
shunting vans at Strabanr; No. 5 Drumboe with ex-GNR(I) S2 4-4-0
No. 192 (as UTA No. 63 Slievenamon at Straban; railcar No. 12 at Donegal
having arrived from Ballyshannon; diesel tractor purchased from Clogher Valley
Railway No. 11 Phoenix at Strabane; No. 4 Meenglas
approacjhing Stranorla with passenger train.
Glen Kilday. The North Eastern Railway and its timetables
in Edwardian days. Part one. 460-6.
The N.E.R. enjoyed a considerable monopoly, only challenged on Humberside
by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway at Goole, the Hull & Batnsley
Railway at Hull and to a lesser extent by the North British Railway in
Northumberland, which was more than balanced by it working express trains
through to Edinburgh. The railway had access to many ports along the East
Coast for exports of coal and to serve a large shipbuilding industry. There
was also steelmaking, and the heavy chemical industry and involved the carriage
of iron ore, limestone as well as coal and coke. Overnight passenger
trains with sleeping cars werer important on the East Coast route. Slip coach
working ceased in 1912. In Scotland through overnight trains were worked
by the Glasgow & South Western to Stranraer for boats to Ireland: these
ran non-stop between Newcastle and Carlisle. Table, compiled by Frederick
A. Talbot in Rail Wonders of the World of Fastest Train in the British Empire:
the 12.02 Newcastle to Sheffield express over the 44 miles between Darlington
and York hauled by 4-4-0 locomotives. Illustrations: Industrial Opportunities
(advertisement not dated, but probably pre-WW1); S1 4-6-0 No. 2111 built
on 1901 on express passenger train; north end of Newcastle Central in July
1931 viewed from Castle keep with famous crossing and semaphore signal gantry;
HBR L1 0-6-0 goods locomotive No. 17; Q class 4-4-0 No. 1902 being coaled
at York shed; Class V/09 Atlantic No. 696 on express; R class 4-4-0 approaching
Wetheral with a stopping train for Carlisle; Alne with Easingwold Railway
train headed by 0-6-0ST No. 2 (K.E. Hartley); 0-4-4T (Class
BTP) on sandwich autocars (push & pull) service at Hinderwell see
letters from Chris Hogg and Les Dowson
on page 574; Class A 2-4-2T No. 425 crossing Royal Border Bridge with
train from Kelso formed of three coach clerestory set.
Clive Baker. The Manx Railway system in 1968. 467-9.
During the Ailsa period when the Marquis of Ailsa attemted to keep
most of the routes in limited operation and the locomotives were painted
apple green. Photographs taken by Author in June 1968, mainly in colour (unless
noted otherwise): all locomotives 2-4-0T. No. 11 Maitland with train
arriving at Sulby Bridge; No. 5 Mona in Douglas station with four
coach train (b&w); combined working to Peel and Ramsey arrives behind
No. 11 Maitland with No. 12 Hutchinson at the rear of the train
before leaving for St. John's; No. 11 Maitland passing Bob Creggan
on West Coast on train for Ramsey; interior of Douglas shed
with 0-6-0T Caledonia painted in Indian red and No. 8 Fenella
(b&w) see also letter from David Mitchell who argues
that Caledonia was painted in Ailsa green at that time; No. 10
G.H. Wood at Union Mills.
DP2 — 'A remarkable prototype'. 470-1.
Colour photo-feature: Brian
Webb in The English Electric main line diesels of British Rail
described DP2 as a remarkable prototype running very successfully
on the London Midland and Eastern Regions from 1962 until 31 July 1967 when
it collided with a derailed cement train near Thirsk whilst hauling the 12.00
King's Cross to Edinburgh and had to be withdrawn: DP2 in black livery? climbing
Camden bank with 19.20 Euston to Inverness in June 1962 (remainder in two
tone green livery): approaching Leeds Central on 18 February 1967 with express
from King's Cross (Gavin Morrison); DP2 at front of Saturday Pullman at
Leeds Central before departure to Bradford Exchange, and at Bradford Exchange
ready to depart from King's Cross (Gavin Morrison); and black & white
image at York locomotive depot following collision on 30 Aust 1967 (David
Milburn). See also letter from David Milburn on p.
702
L.A. Summers. Now shall we have the naming of engines.
472-9.
Begins by noting countries and railways which did, or did not, bestow
names on locomotives and noted how the Federated Malay States Railway bestowed
the regal title of The Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negri Sembilan on
a locomotive. Author attempts to establish the Great Western Railway's official
policy of naming locomotives, but largely fails except in the case of the
Western diesel hydraulic class. Broad gauge locomotives originally carried
names, but lacked numbers, and many were named prior to delivery by the
manufacturer. During the later part of the broad gauge existence all new
locomotives were given numbers and only rarely received names. Illustrations:
Gooch 2-4-0 Victory class Telford with straight nameplate attached
to boiler; Iron Duke "4-2-2" (leading axles not on a bogie)
Bulkeley at Didcot; Queen class 2-2-2 No. 1118 Prince Christian
(all previous broad gauge: remainder standard) gauge: 0-4-2T No. 1475
Fair Rosamund; Stella class 2-4-0 No. 3201; Achilles class 4-4-0 No.
8 Gooch; preserved 4-4-0 No. 3717 City of Truro (colour);
Churchward 4-6-0 No. 171 Albion; Star class No. 4000 North Star;
nameplate of Castle class No. 5069 Isambard Kingdom Brunel; No. 1000
County of Miiddlesex in original condion but painted in LNWR style
BR livery on Margate to Birkenhead train on Hatton bank in May 1953 (R.J.
Blenkinsop); No. 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe on up
Bristolian at Bathampton Junction see letter
from Peter Davis on p. 702.; preserved No. 5043 Earl of Mount
Edgcumbe with different tender and double chimney (colour). See also
letters on page 637 from Stephen Spark and
from Peter Tatlow
A3 Pacific haulage. Derek Penney. 480-3.
Colour photo-feature: No. 60039 Sandwich with single chimney
and LNER tender at Grantham engine shed being coaled by grab crane; No. 60059
Tracery with double chimney and GNR tender; No. 60106 Flying Fox
with double chimney and GNR tender on bridge over River Idle at Retford;
No. 60039 Sandwich with double chimney and German-type smoke deflectors
at Markham summit in late 1962; No. 60080 Dick Turpin with single
chimney and GNR tender on up express from Newcastle approaching Grantham;
No. 60038 Firdausi with double chimney and LNER tender at York in
October 1959; No. 60103 Flying Scotsman with double chimney and
German-type smoke deflectors and streamlined non-corridor tender hauling
up express freight at Ordsall south of Retford in 1962; No. 60056
Centenary with single chimney and GNR tender on empty stock to form
all stations to Peterborogh service on 23 May 1959; No. 111 Enterprise
with double chimney and LNER tender leaving York for north on express;
No. 60062 Minoru with double chimney and GNR tender near Markham Moor
on up express.
Jeffrey Wells. The formative years of the London &
Birmingham Railway 1832·1838 - Part Two. 484-9.
Part 1 see page 420. Text desbes the gradual completion
of the railway with experimental trips made by the management to Box Moor
[sic]; then to Pendley Manor (east of Tring) and to the public on 20 July
1837 as far as Box Moor. In the article little is made of the interim service
offered during the period before the Kilsby Tunnel was opened, although mention
is made to a report in The Morning Chronicle of the death of a guard
in whilst attempting to secure luggage stowed on the roof on a train starting
from Denbigh Hall. Illustrations: J.C. Bourne engraving of Camden locomotive
depot with chimneys of winding engine; No. 46241 City of Edinburgh with
deformed smokebox, blue livery and LNWR-style lining leaving Kilburn Tunnel
on northbound express in 1948; Euston propyleum or portico c1900; Coal engine
No. 2366 on Bushey troughs on up freight train in 1890s (T.F. Budden); Euston
station departure platforms (early engraving); Jubilee No. 45617
Mauritius on up Wolverhamton express in Tring cutting on 20 July 1950;
Wolverton viaduact (LNWR official postcard); No. 46207 Princess Arthur
of Connaught with 08.18 ex-Liverpool exiting Watford Tunnel on 26 March
1952; Rugby station with extensive signage c1910; No. 46220 Coronation
at Coventry station with a down parcels train on 1 May 1960; J.C. Bourne
engraving of Curzon Street station. Letter from Bob Yate
(page 637) mainly on the station in Birmingham
'Schools' out. 490-1.
Black & white photo-feature of Souuthern Railway/Region V (Schools)
class 4-4-0 (all with exception of first fitted with multiple exhaust chimneys:
No. 927 Clifton at Waterloo with an express for Portsmouth; No. 937
Epsom with ugly rimless chimney on down Weymouth express at Brockenhurst
on 30 June 1939; No. 30924 Haileybury still in malachite green on
Dover shed in May 1949; No. 30921 Shrewsbury in black BR livery with
LNWR lining at Eastleigh coaling stage in November 1953; No. 30915
Brighton in BR green livery on Brighton shed on 20 March 1960 (Alan
Tyson)
David Thrower. Southern gone West. Plymouth and its branches. Part
Two. 492-7
Describes layout of Plymouth Friary station including its freight
handling arrangements, but excludes section of GWR That LSWR worked over
including the jointly owned North Road station. Devonport Kings's Road was
the headquarters of the Plymouth, Devonport & South Western Junction
Railway and built on a grand scale with extensive goods facilities. There
was a branch to Stonehouse Pool. Albert Road Halt, Ford station, Camel's
Head Halt, Weston Mill Halt and St. Budeaux Victoria Road station were all
within what might be termed Greater Plymouth. Illustrations: Adams T1 0-4-4T
No. 17 departing Plymouth Friary on 11 July 1924 (H.C. Casserley); T9 No.
E702 still in LSWR livery leaving Mutley for Friary on 8 July 1924 (H.C.
Casserley); Devonport King's Road with WW2 bomb damage on 30 August 1945
(H.C. Casserley); Drummond S11 4-4-0 No. E399 near Friary Junction c1930
(C.R. Gordon Stuart); T1 0-4-4T No. E12 with set of six--wheel passenger
stock at Plymouth Friary c1930 (C.R. Gordon Stuart); T9 4-4-0 No. E717 at
Plymouth North Road on 3 April 1931 (H.C. Casserley); T9 4-4-0 No. E714 with
another T9 on express at Plymouth North Road c1933 (C.R. Gordon Stuart);
When trains stopped here. Roy Patterson. 498-9
Colour photo-feature: Credenhill on former Hereford to Three Cocks
Junction line on 29 April 1961; Daggons Road on West Moors line on 14 October
1961; Wivelscombe on 8 June 1963 and Llangadog on 15 June 1963 (all,
except last, long closed)
Edward Talbot. The photographs of Dr. Tice F. Budden.
500-1
Ted Talbot was lent an album of Budden's photographs owned by Michael
Wrottesley, son of John Wrottesley, a significant author of books on railways.
Born on 6 October 1866 at Canonbury Prk in London. Died 25 March 1949. Educated
at Cleaver House in Windsor and at Gonville & Caius College in Cambridge
being admitted on 1 October 1885. Passed the Natural Sciences Tripos and
awarded Batchelor of Arts in 1888. In 1895 he was awarded MB and BC and practiced
as a dentist in parnership with Henry W. Breese at 5 St. James Court, London
SW1 which was also Budden's home address. The partnership was dissolved in
August 1933. Later he lived at Staneride, Roman Road, Dorking.
David J. Hayes. Ryecroft reminiscences. Part One.
502-8
Heavy freight traffic which passed through Ryecroft Junction, near
Walsall, as hauled by diesel traction during the early 1970s as viewed from
the working timetables. The main axis was the former South Staffordshire
Railway much of which was later closed and the Sutton Park line which is
still a major freight artery. The lack of a map is a major difficulty in
interpretting an area where mototorways and associated link roads were
constructed with gay abandon and no regard for the pollution generated.
Part 2 see p. 603..
Readers' Forum 509
Getting a quart out of a pint pot. Miles
Macnair
Robin Barnes has kindly highlighted a howler that I perpetrated in
Part Two of my article 'Getting a quart out of a Pint Pot' in the June issue.
The main drive cylinders for Krauss No.263 (discussed on p348) were inside,
under the smoke box, whereas the 'cylinders' alongside the firebox were some
sort of 'dampers' to counteract nosing oscillations when the booster drive
was engaged. (Source - Reuter, W. Die Schoensten Der Schiene (TransPress
1993).
Whitmore. Peter Davis
As expected, you have reproduced the companion official photograph
from the 25 September 1900 in illustrating Part Two of Mike Fell's excellent
article on this interesting, and somewhat historically neglected, station
and its environs. In this case the locomotive heading the 1l.15 from Euston
is Greater Britain 2-2-2-2 No. .2052 Prince George built at Crewe
in May 1894 and still allocated there at the time of the photograph. Since
neither the 10.25 nor the 11.15 departures from Euston appear in the public
timetable, and 25 September 1900 was a Saturday, it is apparent that these
were relief trains probably to the Liverpool, Manchester and South Lancashire
Express and Scotch Corridor Express respectively. The ad hoc consist
of both old and new carriages in these trains bares this out. While the only
corridor vehicles in the 10.25 appear to be the first one, a 32ft postal
sorting van, and the last one, a brake composite, the 11.15 (the heavier
train by a large margin) does contain at least five corridor coaches.The
seventh and eighth vehicles are 34ft twin saloons with cove roofs built in
the early 1880s. Originally six-wheeled, this pair has been rebuilt with
bogies.
Oxford and Cambridge object to a closure. Tim
Edmonds
Among the points Skelsey made was the lack of unified management post-
nationalisation, which meant that through journeys were often slow and difficult.
Writer experienced a consequence of this inter-Regional non-cooperation
first-hand in August 1965 when using the line to travel to Hereford at the
start of a cycling holiday in Wales. His local station was Old North Road,
some two miles from home. For local travel to Cambridge the Eastern Counties
bus stopped nearby and was more convenient than the train, but for travel
to the west the railway provided useful connections. In 1965 a holiday had
been planned a few months earlier during the winter timetable, when there
was a nine-minute connection at Oxford between the first train out of Cambridge
(changing at Bletchley) and the first Paddington-Hereford train. The summer
timetable brought retimings on the Western Region such that the Hereford
train now left just before the arrival of the London Midland Region train
from Bletchley, resulting in a two-hour wait at Oxford and a total journey
time of nearly seven hours. [KPJ: still suffers from the non-connectivity
of Liverpool to Norwich "service" at Petrograd alias Peterborough; and if
you wish to see lack of connectivity try to rreach Northampton from
Peterborough by public transport]
Oxford and Cambridge object to a closure.
Stephen G. Abbott
One drawback of the Oxford-Cambridge service was the lack of direct
interchange at Bedford with the Midland Main Line, connecting passengers
having to make their own way between Midland Road and St. John's stations.
Had the connecting line, with its triangular junction at St. John's, been
upgraded to passenger standards Oxford-Cambridge DMUs could have reversed
at Bedford Midland. This link was eventually brought into passenger use for
the diversion of the residual Bletchley service into Bedford Midland from
14 May 1984. When Oxford to Cambridge was added to the list for complete
closure, the Leicester to Peterborough line was reprieved apart from closure
of the least used stations. In part, it seems that this was to ensure that
an east-west route remained within 100 miles of London. The line is now traversed
by the highly successful Birmingham-Cambridge-Stansted Airport service.
Another example of disparate Regional treatment in the Beeching era was between
Lancaster and Leeds. The London Midland Region stations west of Skipton which
were (and still are) lightly used were all retained, but better patronised
North Eastern Region stations south of Skipton were closed. Several have
since been reopened, most successfully at Steeton & Silsden which now
accounts for over 800,000 annual journeys.
Irish Nationalism and the railways in the twentieth
century. Alan O'Rourke
Nisbet's article on terrorist attacks on Irish railways was selective
rather than comprehensive. The incidents mentioned on pp.326-7 were part
of a much larger campaign, known as the Munitions Dispute. When the British
army attempted to send troops or military supplies by train, the engine crews
who were of a nationalist outlook would refuse to work the train and were
sacked on the spot. By 1921 this had effectively closed large portions of
the Irish railway network north and south, including much of the Great Northern
Railway (GNR(I)1, Great Southern & Western Railway and parts
of the Cork, Bandon & South Coast and Londonderry & Lough Swilly
system2
Attacks during the Easter Rising and the following Anglo-Irish War were rather
limited, but there were ambushes on trains carrying British soldiers and
arson attacks on wagons conveying goods from Belfast. In December 1921 the
Anglo-Irish Treaty set up the Irish Free State, but divided nationalists
into a majority, who agreed to dominion status within the British Empire
as a compromise, or possibly a temporary intermediate political settlement;
and a sizeable minority who would accept nothing but a fully independent
republic. The Irish Civil War (July 1922-May 1923) was then fought between
these two groups and as both were nationalists, albeit of differing persuasions,
the attacks on railways in this period seem to fall within the title of Nisbet's
article. In fact, the Republican forces conducted a more aggressive campaign
of sabotage than had occurred in the Anglo-Irish War, as they attempted to
cut Free State Army supply lines. This involved the deliberate derailing
of trains, burning signal cabins and mining bridges. Among the more serious
attacks was the destruction of Ballyvoile Bridge (between Dungarvan and Durrow),
which severed the Waterford-Mallow line, and blowing up Mallow Viaduct, which
meant the only rail communication between Dublin and Cork was a very circuitous
diversion via Limerick, Newcastle West and Tralee. A particularly intense
programme of attacks was in the south east, in counties Waterford, Wexford
and Wicklow where the Republicans attempted to isolate the city of Waterford.
Among the more serious incidents there were the immobilisation of the central
opening span of the Barrow Bridge, after setting it to favour river traffic,
which closed the South Wexford Line (Waterford-Rosslare Harbour), and a
spectacular deliberate wreck of three trains at Macmine Junction. Railway
sabotage in this area is covered in detail in two papers by Dr. G. Hadden'
and incidents on railways across Ireland during the Civil War are well documented
by Bernard Share4 and Brian Mac Aongusa5
Except for the incidents in 1957, Irish railways were spared further terrorist
activity until the Civil Rights protests and the subsequent re-ignition of
the Troubles, from 1969 until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The bombings
and hi-jackings in this period mostly affected the truncated network in Northern
Ireland and the Dublin-Belfast main line, but there were also two incidents
involving the hold-up and raiding of mail trains in the south. The incidents
of this period are covered in contemporary issues of Journal of the Irish
Railway Record Society and a very detailed and personal account of many
of these episodes can be found in Edwin McMillan's account of his long career
on Northern Ireland Railways6
Finally, the photograph of Londonderry station on p328 is not the GNR(I)
one at Foyle Road, but the Belfast & Northern Counties/Northern Counties
Committee terminus at Waterside: the BNCR was the only company in Ireland
to use somersault signals.
References
1. O'Rourke A (2013), The North Kerry Line Newcastle West Ireland: the
Great Southern Trail
2. News paragraphs, Railway Magazine, Vol.47 (July-Dec 1920);
Vol.48 Jan-June 1921)
3. Hadden G. (1953), The War on the railways in Wexford 1922-3, Journal
of the Irish Railway Recard Society 3: 85-111; 117-149 (No.12
Spring 1953; No.13 Autumn 1953)
4. Share B (2006), In Time of Civil War – the conflict on Irish railways
1922-23, Cork: Collins Press
5. Mac Aongusa B (2005), Broken Rails – crashes and sabotage on Irish
railways, Dublin: Currach Press
6. McMillan E. (2016), Dark days and brighter days for Northern Ireland
Railways, Newtownards: Colourpoint.
Irish Nationalism and the railways in the twentieth
century. David W. Green
There is a caption error on p328 of the June issue. Railcar No 16
is a CDRJC railcar and not GNR (I) as shown.
Some thoughts on passenger accommodation.
Claude R. Hart
The article mentioned individual reading lamps above the three seating
positions. He commuted up to London Charing Cross in the 'slab-sided' Hastings
line stock. No matter what time of year the individual reading lamps were
on when he entered his first class compartment. As he was less hurried than
his fellow travelers he took great care to switch off these light before
before alighting; occasionally switching off lights in other compartments.
His mother [and KPJ] always insisted on the light being turned off when the
room was not being used! In the evening on the return journey it was customary
for one to ask one's fellow travelers if they minded having the light on.
One other thought comes to mind. In the long-distant past he is sure the
bulbs in some Southern Region trains had three 'lugs' on each bulb, rather
than the usual two to prevent the theft of the bulbs as they could not be
fitted to domestic sockets
Some thoughts on passenger accommodation. John
Glover
The interior of a second class Mkl compartment vehicle (picture p442,
July) tells only part of the story. Of roughly 2,210 vehicles built, over
60% were fitted with two armrests per side, making the vehicles 48 rather
than 64 seaters. This improved the comfort of East and West Coast Main Line
passengers. But later on, austerity claimed them; the armrests were raised
and sewn into the seat backs, permanently. This made them decidedly uncomfortable
for leaning one's back against. The same thing happened with the brake seconds
and the second class part of the composites.
Similarly, 96 of the 1,350 or so open seconds were built with 2+1 rather
than 2+ 2 seating, for the benefit of diners wielding their cutlery. Some
have survived, the accommodation now seeming positively generous. Compared
with first class, there was a loss of 11in of leg room with the seats in
standard moquette. Balancing conflicting demands for vehicles which may last
up to 40 years in service has never been easy.
A good run for your money. Eric
Rawcliffe
On p242 Author states 'contractors' was the original name for commuters.
Not so: 'contractors' was the term used for season ticket holders. A commuter
mayor may not have been a season ticket holder; similarly a season ticket
holder mayor may not have been a commuter. On p243 is stated that the LYR
Club Carriages were used Monday to Friday and by contrast the NER
Bridlington-Hull service not only was Monday-Friday but also included a Saturday
morning trip. In fact the LYR service included a Saturday morning service
as can be seen from the original agreement held in the National Archives
at Kew but not noted in the references on p246.
No mention is made of the purpose-built LYR Club Carriage that was built
in 1912 to replace the original 1896 Blackpool-Manchester stock, simply a
reference, p245, to the 1935 carriage that replaced it. Ironically, however,
the interior picture on this page is of the very carriage that replaced the
originals in 1912. Anyone can today experience the opulence of the past and
travel in the LYR Club Carriage of 1912 — it is restored to its original
splendour and operates on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. Details
can be found at www.kwvr.co.uk or see www.lyrtrust.org.uk for fuller details
of carriage 47.
By Two Routes to London (February
2016)
Coal to the Sea (June 2017). Graham R.
Russell
Writer concurs with A.J. Mullay in his question 'What was it about
the Lothian Lines?' in latest article. Writer long been puzzled by the various
discrepancies in books. A beautiful 4 inch to 1 mile Geographia street map
probably printed in the 1940s shows the Lothian Lines in what appears to
be very accurate scale detail but is lacking in names and dates. Therefore,
although I know the positions of all the Lothian and Niddrie junctions and
the shapes of all the lines, I do not have the correct names so I have made
up my own for my records. The author refers to difficulties with his 1981
Edinburgh book. His map on the covers has the correct positions of junctions
but no names. Also, single/double track is not shown and the shapes are
distorted. This also applies to all the others which are mentioned. The following
is a new caption for the photograph which is included in both the author's
articles. We are looking north, the main line to Portobello East junction
(1847) went under the central viaduct from two double tracks, the left from
Niddrie West junction (1884) and the right from Niddrie South junction (1847).
This I call Brunstane Park Central junction with the marks on the ground
in the centre being the remains of the superseded signal box. There is a
single track on the far left which would come from slightly below at what
I call Brunstane Park West junction then under the viaduct to Niddrie
Northjunction (whose signal box is top left). The other line to Niddrie North
junction was across the central viaduct from Brunstane Park East junction.
From here, the lines came from Niddrie South junction (Railway No.l0) and
Wanton Walls junction to the east (Railway No.11).
There was a single track from Niddrie North junction across viaducts over
the Waverley Line and the East Coast Main Line. It then went round Portobello
Goods Yard to connect at Portobello West junction with the Leith branch of
the original Edinburgh & Dalkeith Railway beyond Portobello station.
The track was doubled shortly before Portobello.
In his latest article, the author refers to the lan Allan reprinting of the
RCH map which is the same as the one on the covers of his 1981 book. The
map from the North British book by David Ross is repeated on the first page
of the latest article. The names Brunstane Park and Niddrie North are transposed
and one of the lines has been omitted.
Another book is by [Roger] Darsley and [Dennis] Lovett on Galashiels to
Edinburgh. A very early RCH map is included so the Lothian Lines are not
shown but the same photograph as above (credited to R. W. Lynn coli) is included.
They seem to have mistaken the viaduct here for the one which takes the Edinburgh
& Dalkeith Railway branch above the line to Niddrie South junction which
is shown in their other photograph.
Another authority is A. A. Maclean in his Edinburgh Suburban and South Side
book. His junctions are correct except that the overall map has a minor defect
in that the Brunstane Parkjunction is shown a long way north of the viaduct.
The most accurate-looking maps are in the Illustrated Edinburgh Railways
by Smith and Anderson except for the position of Wanton Wells junction. The
changing positions here are described very fully by A. A. Maclean.
Book reviews 510
Rails in the Dales - eight Yorkshire railways. David Joy. Market
Drayton: Railway & Canal Historical Society, 96pp. Reviewed by Michael
Blakemore. *****.
The name of David Joy will be familiar to many readers as a previous
publisher of Backtrack and before that as editor of the
Dalesman magazine and author of the
Regional Railway History
volume encompassing the Yorkshire Dales. In recent years he has written
a series of articles in BT on the Dales lines and they have been the springboard
for this book.
The opening chapter is a concise historical scene-setter for the Dales area
as a whole but the contents thereafter are divided up by Dale. Casualties
there have been, as everywhere, but given the 1960s and all that, much has
survived if sometimes by hook or by crook or by fortuitous fate. In Wharefedale
llkley held on to its railway from the Shipley direction but not from Harrogate
and Otley; the surviving line went on to be electrified. The Grassington
branch lost its passenger service back in 1930 but largely survives carrying
stone traffic. While in Swaledale the Richmond branch fell by the wayside,
Wensleydale had its cross-country line from Northallerton to Hawes, though
lost to passengers in 1953, survive to carry limestone for the steel industry.
When that ceased in 1992 the Ministry of Defence entered the scene to secure
its future for military needs. The Nidd Valley is known for a light railway
built to serve reservoir construction projects for Bradford Corporation.
Masham, a small market town better known by real ale fans, had a branch line
which abandoned its few passengers in 1931 but had an important second coming
during World War II conveying huge quantities of ammunition.
Which leaves the Settle-Carlisle, the famous famous of the Dales lines wherein
lies a long story of obstinacy. The stubborness of the Midland Railway in
its desire to reach towards Scotland, the obstinacy of the LNWR in refusing
to come to an accommodation with the MR, that of BR in trying to close the
line (a 'process', the author points out, which lasted a year longer than
it took to build it) and ultimately the stubborn resolve of the objectors
to save it. And as, we know, they famously did.
The Yorkshire Dales were full of railways, large and (mostly) small, and
their varied histories are clearly explained here with the aid of a good
selection of illustrations. Recommended.
The lost railways of London and Middlesex. Neil Burgess. Catrine:
Stenlake Publishing, 96pp, 158 illustrations, Reviewed by RC. ***
Many years ago this reviewer, in his junior years, was given a picture
booklet illustrating engines on the LNWR, a birthday present by well-meaning
relatives who had no doubt been given a hint - "he likes anything on trains".
I have still have this book, a cherished item. One picture within shows a
down express passing "the long-since dismantled main line platforms" at Chalk
Farm, north of Euston. To a young, enquiring, provincial mind, this seemed
surprising. Surely, London, with the UK's greatest population sprawl, had
no reason to close down railway stations through lack of use?
In reality, as Neil Burgess's pictorial book lists and illustrates by way
of contemporary mono postcards and photographs, the Greater London area was
no different from the rest of the UK when it came to railway closures, despite
the Beeching Report of 1963 leaving the capital largely unscathed. In earlier
decades, however, increasing tram and tube competition spelt the early demise
of some inner London railway stations and lines. Later, heavy bombing by
the Luftwaffe during the 1940/1 blitz hastened the closing of several more
stations, mainly in east London. Complete railway closures resulted in 60
London area stations closing for good. Current operational railways have
lost 116 stations although, as the book reveals, newer stations on more
convenient sites replaced earlier, closed examples.
The book is divided into three sections, railways and stations closed, stations
now closed on lines still extant and finally the London Underground; the
latter, not to be outdone, has managed to close 37 stations to passengers
but the book excludes the Central line's closed North Weald, Blake Hall and
Ongar - they are in Essex. The area covered encompasses West Drayton in the
west, Plaistow to the east, northerly Harrow and finally Norwood, south of
the River Thames. Stations are listed in alphabetical rather than the more
expected railway company order. The reader discovers that on Christmas Eve
1838, the first London station to have the honour of closing was Deptford,
on the London & Greenwich Railway. This is incorrect. Spa Road, in
Bermondsey, was the original London terminus of the L&G and it was this
station (or 'stopping place') that closed in 1838 when its patronage drained
away in favour of the new convenient and bigger London Bridge. Deptford,
rebuilt in later decades, remains open and is claimed to be London's oldest
station.
What is not in doubt is the excellent reproduction of the illustrations,
some familiar, others less so. The detail recorded by early plate cameras
is outstanding and the images are as good if not better than the latest digital
offerings. The contrast in size and build of stations are sometimes
awe-inspiring. The reader will be moved by the massive and palatial North
London Railway's Bow station. Rebuilt in 1870, it put on a great show, literally,
for it included a concert hall. Meanwhile, out in the wilds of west London,
the exposed, wooden-built Yeoveney Halt must have seen passengers whistle
to themselves for entertainment, while awaiting an auto train from Staines.
It is a pity that the publishers have kept this look at London's lost railways
in the steam age. The recent past will appeal to younger purchasers and much
has changed in London since the 1950s. In the early 1990s, at the beginning
of the Docklands revival, the reviewer tramped the steps, up and down, at
shiny new Mudchute and Island Gardens on the infant Docklands light Railway.
Those two stations and their tracks have since disappeared, their names moving
elsewhere. A truly lost railway of London, but you won't find it in this
book.
Bridge on the River Thames [at Kingston]. David Idle. rear cover
Caledonian Railway 4-2-2 No.123 at Glasgow Central before leaving on a special
run to Edinburgh Princes Street. Tommy Tomalin. front cover
Train formed of two preserved CR coaches on 19 April 1965.
On the platform end at Paddington. Robert Sandusky. 516-17
Colour photo-feature (photographs taken during 1958): No. 4987
Brockley Hall backing out; No. 9706 (57XX 0-6-0PT with condensing
gear and other modifications for working to Smithfield over Metropolitan
Line); Castle class No. 5071 Spitfire arriving with Cheltenham
Spa Express formed of chocolate & cream stock; 2-6-2T No. 6165 arriving
with carmine & cream empty stock for express to Swansea; Nos. 5966
Ashford Hall and 4941 Llangedwyn Hall at buffer stops of Platforms
9 & 10
Michael J. Smith. The Metropolitan's diamond logo.
518-20.
The Metropolitan Railway used a "diamond" to indicate its identity
from 1914 until its absorption into the London Passenger Transport Board
in the same manner as the Underground Group used and continues to use the
roundel. The author has been unable to trace any preserved platform signs
based on the diamond logo. The device was used on most jointly owned lines,
and on the Great Northern & City tube, but not on stations north of
Rickmansworth. Notes that Southern Railway introduced a green version of
the logo on the East London Line. Clocks within a diamond shape were installed
at a few major stations: Willesden Green & Cricklewood was the first
in 1914. Others were at Paddington Praed Street and at Farrigdon & High
Holborn. Illustrations: Central London Railway Wood Lane station sign with
roundel; Metropolitan Railway Trips to London excursion leaflet with
diamond logo (dated July 1914); Kilburn & Brondesbury station platforms
with diamond logo on 10 April 1937; Rayners Lane station platforms with diamond
logo probably in 1933 with work in progress on platfforms to accept Piccadilly
Line stock; St. John's Wood Road station platform in 1936 when work was in
progress and old station name board uncovered; King's Cross & St. Pancras
Metropolitan station on 4 April 1936 with N2 No. 4758 arriving with train
for High Barnet (diamond nameboard on platform); and Metro and LNE
Railways notice at Croxley on 2 January 1954. See also
letter from Graham Smith on p. 637 and from Eric Stuart
on page 702 and some survivors from Robert Smith p.
764.
Alistair F. Nisbet. Ladies only compartments. 521-6.
Partly based on letters to The Times, The Scotsman and
similar newspapers both for and against the specific provision of ladies
only compartments. There were problems for ladies who smoked and Nisbet claims
that the provision of ladies only partly disappeared through the elimination
of compartments and partly through the Equal Opportunities Commission. Such
sex discrimination is still practiced in other countries. Illustrations:
mainly cartoons, British Railways window labels, Three Bridges station, King's
Heath station, Newport-on-Tay East station with Class 101 DMU on 13 October
1967
More from the Eastern Counties. R.C. Riley (except
where noted otherwise). 527-9
Colour photo-feature: B12 No. 61543 (still in LNER apple green livery)
at Kittybrewster motive power depot in September 1952 (J. Davidson); D16/3
No. 62530 at March motive power depot (Colour-Rail); B12/3 No. 61572 at Norwich
(KPJ: still around looking magnificent in apple green livery) on 31 March
1960 ; E4 2-4-0 No. 62797 with red coupling rods and side-window cab (for
work on Stainmore route), but at Halesworth on 10 October 1956; E4 No. 62702
at Marks Tey on 9 June 1956; B12/3 No. 61516 on Cambridge shed on 22 June
1958. Further from Eastern Counties page 160
Glen Kilday. The North Eastern Railway and its timetables
in Edwardian days. Part Two. 530-6.
The Tyneside electric services began in 1904 and intrtoduced clock-face
departures including on thge Riverside Loop, Initially they terminated at
New Bridge Street at the old Blyth & Tyne Railway terminus, but were
later extended back to Central via a rebuilt Manors station.Notes that steam
autocars ran between Blyth and Morpeth. next some of the services on the
lines extending into the pennines are conidered. The Stainmore and Hawes
routes receive specific attention.The acquistion nof the Seaham & Sunderland
Railway from the Marquess of Londonderry gradually altered the routing of
trains. Kilday concludes that the NER made efforts to run its trains
at times and on days when customers might best use them and charged
fares less than the other large companies and did not abuse its monopoly.
Illustrations: luggage motor first No. 3239 for original Tyneside electric
services to Tynemouth and Whitley Bay. Illustration: Tyneside electric Luggage
Motor First No. 3239, E1 0-6-0T No. 1720 on station pilot duty at York; Redmire
station, poster advertising excursion from Masham and Ripon to Leeds for
cricket match on 30 May 1911, Gilling station, Kirbymoorside station c1905,
Forge Valley station, BTP 0-4-4T No. 856; Class Q 4-4-0 No. 1904 and J class
4-2-2 hauling train of six-wheel East Coast Joint stock, 901 class 2-4-0
No. 367 at Edinburgh Waverley on 16 October 1894; W class 4-6-2T No. 688
at Whitby, Grosmont station c1910. See alos letter from
Charles Allenby on page 702
A.J. Mullay. 'Rather Unprincipled Persons' : Ministers
of Transport: the first fifty years, 1919-69. 537-41.
The Ministry of Ways and Communications was established under
Sir Eric Geddes, former Assistant General
Manager of the North Eastern Railway, who was appointed Controller of the
Admiralty, then First Lord of the Admiralty where he had been responsible
for the removal of Admiral Jellicoe. As the first Minister of Transport he
was responsible for settling the amount due to the railway companies
for their War effort and then for the Grouping. The story of the Grouping
has never really been told in detail, although there is a suggestion that
the companies were expected to sort out matters among themselves, which they
largely did, with the Midland's Sir
Guy Granet, a service colleague of Geddes, becoming increasingly prominent.
Surprisingly, the ODNB gives much of the
credit for the Grouping to Cyril
Hurcomb, a senior civil servant. Part 2 p. 630
The first official document preceding the Grouping, Command Paper 787 of
June 1920, is indicative of how Geddes considered that railway companies
should operate as monopolies within compact geographical areas with, by
implication, territorial trading to achieve this. Mullay considers this is
difficult to reconcile with the multiplicity and complexity of the LMS and
LNER main lines. On the other hand (KPJ) the Southern Railway was the most
successful of the grouped companies and reflected Geddes' aspirations. Mullay
records that, even more surprisingly, Geddes believed that railway profits
must be capped, and not necessarily by taxation.
What strikes the railway historian, looking at the record of successive Ministers
of Transport, is not how much they have influenced the story of Britain's
railways, but how little.
Willfrid Ashley held the post
for 56 months, making him the third-longest holder of the appointment yet
when invited to the Stockton & Darlington Railway centenary celebrations
at Darlington in 1925 he was quoted by the Railway Gazette as saying
"that he believed that for all time in this country the iron horse and iron
road would be supreme for transportation purposes" in spite of being aware
that the licensing of goods vehicles was increasing by 14% annually.
One exception to the overall mediocrity was
Herbert Morrison, who succeeded
Ashley in 1929, briefly holding the ministerial position during part of Ramsay
Macdonald's government tenure until 1931 and, unusually, striking up a friendship
with his ministry's PS, Hurcomb. With the latter's involvement, Morrison
was responsible for laying the foundations for an authority to control London's
transport, the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB). His book
Socialisation and Transport shows a constructive approach to logistical
problems, although he had little time to introduce his innovations, many
of them adopted by subsequent administrators of a different political hue.
In addition, his 1930 Transport Act introduced badly-needed reforms in
motoring.One of Morrison's successors,
Leslie Hore-Belisha, modified
a number of these innovations and introduced the pedestrian crossing whose
beacons were to bear his name.
John Reith of the BBC was briefly
Minister of Transport for five months during WW2 when he instigated the Coates
Report which propose railway nationalisation. within a National Transport
Corporation. Moore-Brabazon
followed Reith, but as Minister for War Transport. The next occupant
of this post was Frederick
Leathers who was a ministerial adviser on transport and was created a
peer. The major conflict was the extent to which the ministry should
be concerned with reconstruction versus the need to keep transport running.
The former was partly resolved by the Railway Compaanies' Association setting
up a planning commission chaired by Sir Ernest
Lemon.
According to Terry Gourvish, "What mattered
[in transport nationalisation] was political and administrative expediency.
Discussions for the economic operation of road and rail transport was
conspicuously absent. Economies were expected after the creation of a Commission
and the introduction of 'co-ordination' but, as in 1921, these were only
vague assumptions. They were not based on detailed investigations."
This evident lack of 'detailed assumptions' included both legalistic and
technical matters. In the first of these instances, there was confusion in
the wording of the new Transport Act. The role of the new BTC was poorly
defined, with its description leaving open to interpretation whether its
role was supervisory or executive. Certainly, it was to have five Transport
Executive bodies reporting to it – Railway, Road Transport, Inland
Waterways, Hotels and a successor body to the London Passenger Transport
Board – but one part of the Bill described these as assisting the BTC
in running British transport. The first Commission Chairman,
Cyril Hurcomb, even contradicted
himself when describing the BTC to railway students in October 1948, when
he announced "They [the BTC] can carry goods and passengers by rail, road,
and inland waterway within Great Britain, provide port facilities, store
and consign goods, and provide hotels for the passenger", but then he added
"The BTC are [sic] a small body, which makes policy but does not itself operate
transport. In this sense they may be compared to a full-time Board of Directors."
A more dynamic minister than Alf
Barnes would have sorted all this out in the two years before the
commissioners sat down at their first meeting in August 1947.
Equally seriously, the Act's introduction of the TUCCs was seriously flawed.
These new public bodies, Transport Users' Consultative Committees, were a
very necessary addition to the railway scene and should have been a positive
force for good. .
With Hurcomb installed as the
head of the new British Transport Commission, this lack of interest was
redoubled; Hurcomb had no expertise in transport either (apart from shipping)
and rapidly showed ignorance in a number of technical issues which arose.
Hurcomb seemed to believe that cab signalling and track circuiting were rival
safety systems – when they are in fact complementary and essential to
the working of a modern rail network – and BTC minutes show his
preoccupation with using radio communications in railway operation. In this
he was probably ahead of his time although this was hardly a priority, given
the absence of the aforementioned safety systems already available. Additionally,
he was unaware that the absurdly expensive purchase of private owner wagons
was unnecessary, or at the very least should have cost the taxpayer far less.
The structure of the Railway Executive was soon being reviewed critically,
not least by Sir John Elliot who
was later to be its last chairman. Principal cause for complaint in subsequent
years was the Executive's failure to incorporate representatives of the British
Railways Regions and, correspondingly, its own lack of representation, along
with the other Executives, on the British Transport Commission itself. More
immediately, there was puzzlement among civil servants at Barnes's insistence
on appointing Executive members himself – also much to Hurcomb's irritation
– not least because this power was reserved to the Commission chairman
by the new Act which Bames himself had overseen. While Barnes certainly involved
himself in the legalistic detail of the 1947 Transport Act – not perhaps
to everyone's satisfaction – a more technically-savvy minister like
Lord Reith, who made no secret of his interest in running Britain's railway
network, would have been preferable to Barnes. Reith's experience –
which included an engineering apprenticeship and war service with the Royal
Engineers – could equally have been harnessed as head of the BTC.
Illustrations: Stockton & Darlington Railway centenary in 1925 with
Locomotion; Geddes (portrait); Morrison (portrait), Lord Reith (portrai),
Clapham South Underground station c1926, legging barge through Butterley
Tunnel, District Line on Putney service at West Brompton on 21 March 1964.
(T.J. Edgington). Part 2 began on page 630.
See also major omission
(Leslie Burgin) and letter from Kevin
Jones
Steve Banks. LNER Flyers from the air. 542-3.
Three photographs taken from aircraft for LNER publicity in association
with Daily Mirror. Author states that aeroplane may have been from
Elstree, but more likely from Panshanger Aerodrome which iis very near location
of two of the photographs. First shows non-stop Flying Scotsman hauled
by No. 2746 Fairway north of Langley water troughs in summer of 1936 (two
dates in July and two in August proposed). Second shows same train probably
between Arlesey and Biggleswade. The other photograph shows the up Silver
Jubilee on Digswell (Welwyn) viaduct hauled by No. 2510
Quicksilver. Other material cited D.E. White's
Welwyn's railways (usually cited as
Gladwin). Thre LNER Coronation booklet contains a further aeriall
photograph of the Silver Jubilee which is attributed to the Daily
Mirror (this newspaper is an unlikely associate of the LNER's patrician
General Manager). Map from Mile by Mile on the LNER, King's Cross
edition by S.N. Pike (1947). See also letter from
Graham Smith on p. 637
Looking blue. 544
Colour photo-feature of locomotives painted in blue
(for LNER Pacifics see Volume 29, page 736 et
seq. Caledonian Railway 4-2-2 No. 123 with two preserved coaches
at Carnwath on 19 April 1965 (Tommy Tomalin: see also same train at Glasgow
Central on front cover); No. 46231 Duchess of Atholl in ex-works condition
at Crewe in 1951; Merchant Navy No. 35027 Port Line on Golden
Arrow at Victoria; No. 7 Owen Glendwr at Aberystwyth on Vale of
Rheidol train on 2 June 1971 (Class 25 also in corporate Rail Blue in background
with vans in corporate express passenger livery); Princess Royal No. 46206
Princess Marie Louise in Rugby station on down Mid-Day Scot with
Jubilee No. 45684 Jutland (green livery?) on express parcels train
alongside (A.W.V. Mace) see letter from Editor; No.
46254 City of Stoke-on-Trent on down Royal Scot at Rugby in
winter; No. 35012 United States Line on Bournemouth Belle at
Waterloo in June 1951 (Pusey C. Short); three remaining photographs all by
David Idle are of Longmoor Military Railway where blue was latterly the livery:
2-10-0 No. 600 Gordon at Liss with 14.14 to Oakhanger on 28 September
1968; same locomotive at Forest Row on 30 April 1966; 0-6-0ST No. 196 Errol
Lonsdale in Liss Forest with 13.14 Liss to Oakenhanger on 28 September
1968.
John C. Hughes. Major Druitt meets his Waterloo.
548-53.
On 15 July 1903 a Liverpool to Southport express hauled by a 2-4-2T
No. 689 .derailed at Waterloo. This led to the immediate deaths of six passengers
and two who died subsequently. There were also over hundred injured. The
fireman Edward Rigby was also killed and the driver William Lloyd was badly
injured. The guard, George Shepherd, was also involved in an incident on
22 May when the same express experienced a severe lurch at Waterloo which
led to passenger complaints on arrival at Southport. Druitt considered that
the cause of the accident was a broken spring on the leading radial
axle and excessive speed. Hughes considers that Druit's report dated 10 August
1903 is a "wonderfully confusing document". The plaintiffs brough a civil
action against the railway company and this was heard at the Liverpool Assizes
between 15 and 19 February 1904 when Druitt's report was not mentioned. Later
accidents involving the 2-4-2Ts at Charlestown on 21 June 1912 and at Chatburn
on 27 February 1928 are noted. Illuustrations: Waterlooo station with third
rail in place; Ordnance Survey 25-inch plan of 1889-91; four photographs
of accident showing damage to lightly constructed coaches and position of
locomotive; engraving of 2-4-2T No. 1042 taken from The Railway
Enngineer of July 1893 showing double elliptical springs and bridles;
Daily Post impression of legal talent at the Newstead trial.
A trip on the North Wales Line. Alan Tyson. 554-7.
Black & white photo-feature: Class 5 No. 45252 on Sunday excursion
from Manchester Exchange to Llandudno on 18 March 1962 (photographed from
within train); Jubilee No. 45617 Mauritius arriving at Prestatyn on
Potteries to Llandudno excusion on 11 June 1962; rebuilt Patriot No. 45527
Southport on Euston to Holyhead service calling at Rhyl on 13 June
1962; Class 5 No. 44913 at Abergele & Pensarn on Manchester Exchange
to Llandudno excursion on 3 June 1963; No. 45067 at Colwyn Bay on special
for Llandudno on 2 June 1963; rebuilt Scot No. 46152 The King's Dragoon
Guardsman at Llandudno Junction with express for Bangor on 14 June
1962; rebuilt Scot No. 46159 The Royal Air Force passing Conway Castle
on Holyhead to Manchester relief express on 26 August 1961; Class 2 2-6-2T
No. 84021 near Conway Castle with ballast train on 14 June 1962; Fairburn
Class 4 2-6-4T taking on water at Bangor on 24 September 1961; Coronation
Pacific No. 46243 City of Lancaster at Bangor with 10.05 Chester to
Holyhead on 23 August 1961; Britannia Tubular Bridge across Menai Straits
photographed from train hauled by 2-6-4T showing bridge and lions and another
photographer (it is not clear to KPJ whether the train is going towards or
from Anglesey in spite of viewing numerous images on Internet many which
show ugly post fire replacement structure), clock outside closed Holyhead
Station Hotel on 14 April 1963
After hours. Alan Whitehouse. 558-9
Colour photo-feature based on photographs taken on Kodak film with
a single lens reflex camera during the hours of darkness: Class 25 No. 25
201 on newspaper train at Manchester Victoria for York via Bradford and Leeds;
No. 86 321 at Euston with sleeping car train for Holyhead; Class 27 No. 27
051 on Speedlink service in Mossend Yard in 1983; Post Office sorter at work
around 02.00 on York to Shrewsbury mail Travelling Post Office; Class 45
No. 45 057 at Bristol Temple Meads 0n parcels train for Birmingham; Class
81 No. 81 012 on down Caledonian TPO at Carstairs in May 1983.
David Ferguson. The Crieff Lines no more — or are
they? 560-6
Once upon a time there were passenger train services to Crief
from Perth via Almondbank and Methven Junction; from Balquhidder, via
Lochearnhead and Comrie; and from Gleneagles. The final ones from Comrie
to Gleneagles ceased in 1963 after theay had been converted to raibus operation.
RailFuture Scotland has a proposal to reopen the line from Perth to Comrie
(that is via Almondbank). Illustrations: Comrie station on 30 August 1958;
map of branch lines of Strathearn; Metro-Cammell diesel multiple unit at
Crief on 11 June 1956; A.C. Cars No. SC79979 on 15 September 1963 with Duncan
Stewart at controls; handbill for diesel railbus service; diesel railbus
leaving Gleneagles on 15 September 1963; Pittenzie Halt on 7 July 1964; J37
No. 64613 shunts at Almondbank exchange sidings on 20 January 1963; Strageath
Halt; Park Royal railbus No. M79973 leaving Crief for Gleneagles; Crief station
on 4 July 1964; Crief station and yard c1965. See also
comments on p. 702 by John Maccnab and from John
Glover.
Nick Deacon. Churchward and the Locomotive Exchanges
with the LNWR in August 1910. 567-70
CJ. Allen in his Locomotive
Exchanges Chapter 3 begins "We come now to a series
of locomotive exchanges of great importance, which extended over the years
1909 and 1910, and in which th London & North Western was the prime
mover" and then describes the performance of the visiting locomotives, namely
a Cardean class 4-6-0 from the Caledonian, an Ivatt Atlantic and the LBSCR
superheated 4-4-2T. Chapter 4 begins "The fourth exchange negotiated by
Bowen Cooke was of a considerably more venturesome description, for it
broghtt into the limelight for the first time the advanced technique of what
was going on at Swindon." Allen then argues that Bowen Cooke failed to appreciate
the advanced nature of Churchward's Star class and went on to produce
the unsatisfactory Claughton class. On the other hand Deacon argues that
Churchward instigated the trials and cites Nock to justify this. The essence
of the trials was that Inglis, the General Manager considered that Churchward's
locomotives cost far in excess of those of other companies. Deacon does not
cite Allen (and many younger commentators consiider him to be unreliable),
but this has conditioned KPJ's thinking.
M.C. Reed p. 180 London &
North Western Railway (a highly reliable historian) firmly
states that the 1910 exchange was GWR instigated. James Inglis's promotion
from Chief Engineer to General Manager must have been difficult for
Churchward eapecially as his new chief had presented a paper on the
design of permanent way and
locomotives for high speeds in 1903. The extraordinary feature of the
exchange was that the Experiment class was clearly no match for the Star
class especially when working from Paddington to Plymouth and time was lost
on a serious level. Illustrations: No. 4005 Polar Star on Crewe North
shed; No. 1455 Herefordshire on Crewe North shed; Churchwar (portrait);
Bowen Cooke (portrait); No. 1471 Worcestershire passing Westbourne
Park with Hammersmith & City electric train in underpass; No. 1471
Worcestershire at Plymouth; No. 4005 Polar Star passing Kilburn
& Maida Vale with express for Crewe.
Posts and fences. Neil Taylor. 571.
Colour photo-feature of bits & pieces remaining, or formerly remaining
in South Wales: Victorian railings at Port Talbot station; electrtic lamp
on timber pole at Margham on 14 February 2014; remains of loading gauge at
Swansea Burrows yard; telegraph pole near blast furnaces at Port Talbot
Steelworks on 9 December 2013; telegraph pole at Neath Riverside station
on 29 December 2013.
Eric Stuart. D'Aldgate à Arès — the
Metropolitan in the Gironde. 572-3.
Former Metropolitan Railway eight-wheel coaches, surplus upon
electrification, were sold to the Gironde section of the Societé General
des Chemin de Fer Économiques in 1907/8 where they were used on the
Lacanau-Océan branch line. The author states that a photograph has
"recently come to light" of Metropolitan coaches waiting to be loaded at
the Port of Goole (Archive 91
p. 31 shows the act of loading onto Bennett Line SS Africa en
route to Boulogne). Harry Luff, a driver on the London Underground engineers'
train holidayed in the area in 1960 and identified the former Metropolitan
Railway vehicles still in service and reported this in Underground (18)
June 1963. Illustrations: ptr-WW1 excursion at Lacanau-Océan station
formed of Metropolitan Railway vehicles; Metropolitan Railway vehicles at
Fracture jn 1959 and former third class coach at Arès.
See also letter from Robert Barker on page 764.
Readers' Forum. 574
The 'Night Ferry'. David
Walton
In the dear old days, Heads of State of (we hope) friendly countries
would occasionally make State Visits to England and be invited to Buckingham
Palace. In most cases their journey, be it by sea to Dover, Portsmouth or
Southampton, or by air to Gatwick, would be followed by a special train laid
on for them. This train would always pull into Platform 2 at Victoria Station.
A red carpet would be laid across the platform, and would lead to one of
the many mysterious double doors in the station building. The door in question
would be surmounted by a wooden plaque bearing the Royal Coat of Arms. (The
plaque has now been removed.) Once through the door, the accommodation was
rather more Spartan, although would doubtless have been smartened up for
each occasion. The dignitaries would go through the vestibule, turn right
into another chamber and through the door at the far end which gave access
to a large arched passageway. This normally connected the platform with the
public road (a cut-de-sac) outside. In this road would be drawn up, waiting
for them, a military guard of honour and the State Coach or limousine to
complete their journey to the Palace.
But such events only happened a handful of times each year. The 'Night Ferry'
ran every day, arriving at 09.10 and departing at 21.00. The Royal Suite
did not stand idle all this time. The Headquarters of HM Immigration Service,
London, was centred in the building called Adelaide House on the north side
of London Bridge. Every morning three officers would leave the building,
walk up to Monument Underground station and catch a District/ Circle Line
train to Victoria. (No State coach or limousine for us!) There they would
access the Royal Suite (no red carpet, either, for us!) and set up an immigration
control with distinctly old-fashioned desks in the inner chamber. A porter
or policeman would then feed to us the incoming passengers who, on completion
of examination, would follow royal footsteps into the arch (for Customs
examination) and thence into the street. Two officers would return to undertake
the same procedure for the evening departure.
The whole procedure was carried through with the dignity befitting the undeniable
quality of those who had chosen what was, after all, the most elegant and
hassle-free means of travelling between London and Paris. We officers could
not help remarking some very famous names in politics and the arts, who by
this means avoided the hurly-burly and publicity-consciousness of airports,
such as the famous concert musician who had forsworn air travel following
the death of a famous fellow-musician in an air crash.
The formative years of the London & Birmingham
Railway. Robin Leleux
The starting point has to be that Birmingham lies on a plateau over
three hundred feet higher than London and there is no direct or obvious route
linking the two. Both the Chilterns and the Oxfordshire
Cotswolds/Northamptonshire Uplands need to be crossed en route, using either
the Wendover or the Tring Gaps. Eminent rival engineers put forward their
preferred routes and even when Robert Stephenson, as engineer to the nascent
L&BR, favoured the Tring route the company's secretary spent several
weeks in the saddle scouting alternative routes, only to conclude that one
set of difficulties would be swapped for another. So Kilsby Tunnel was hardly
"forced on Stephenson by opponents of the scheme".
Added to which he did not anticipate difficulties there as the boring of
the earlier canal tunnel at Braunston, barely three miles away, had encountered
none; the disastrous quicksand was encountered through inadequate surveying
and Stephenson was lucky to escape with his professional reputation.
Turning to Wishaw's note, quoted in the picture caption for Tring Cutting
on p425, the balancing of cuttings and embankments was a well tried civil
engineering practice, used by Brunel among others. The numerous embankments
and cuttings, especially the high one at Wolverton over the Ouse Valley and
deep ones at Tring and Roade/Blisworth, not to mention the eight tunnels,
viaducts etc, were the result of Stephenson's insistence on keeping gradients
to a minimum: 1 in 330 once Camden Bank had been surmounted. Unlike his friend
Locke, who gaily took his lines over Shap and Beattock, Stephenson was not
anticipating huge advances in locomotive power and efficiency.
Finally, unlike George Hudson and John Ellis who, in developing the Midland
Railway, believed that railways should bend towards centres of population,
Stephenson was an early adherent of the Inter-City principle. The railway
was to link Birmingham with London; if it served other towns such as Coventry,
Rugby and Watford en route, that was fine; other important towns away from
the line, like Northampton and Aylesbury, were to be ignored and perhaps
served by branches later. Appeasing the mighty landowners en route was also
important even at the expense of major earth works or less convenient stations,
as with the Earl of Essex and Cassiobury Park at Watford.
The end result was a superbly engineered and fast railway which was a great
boon to the LMR engineers come electrification in the 1960s. It also stunted
the railway and to some extent economic development of intermediate towns
such as Northampton and Aylesbury well into the present era. Incidentally
the military quickly perceived the potential utility of railways for moving
troops, as it had the canals earlier. Industrial unrest was latent in many
parts of the country but the first Chartist outbreak was not until 1839,
the year after the completed railway had opened.
The North Eastern Railway and its timetables
in Edwardian days. Chris Hogg
The location of the photograph on p464 of the August issue is
Hinderwell.
The North Eastern Railway and its timetables
in Edwardian days. Len Dowson
KPJ: note the following train times have not been converted
to 24 hour clock regime normal for steamindex! Suggest the photograph on
p464 is Hinderwell station, on the Loftus-Whitby line, the station buildings
(background left) and road overbridge (background right) being the locational
clues.
If the photograph had been taken in 1906, then it would show the 1.15pm
Middlesbrough (via Guisborough and Loftus) to Whitby steam autocar service,
which called at Hinderwell at 2.24.
The accompanying caption on page 464 states that no steam autocar services
were specifically identified in the 1906 Whitby tables. However, I have a
1906 summer weekday timetable that shows seven steam autocar departures from
Whitby, which probably required two autocar train diagrams to cover the services.
The first diagram could cover the following weekday steam autocar services:
.
10.00 Whitby Town to Robin Hood's Bay
10.35 Robin Hood's Bay to Whitby Town
11.10 Whitby Town to Middlesbrough (via the Esk Valley Line, reversing at
Battersby)
1.15 Middlesbrough to Whitby Town (via Guisborough, Loftus and the Hinderwell
photo-call)
3.52 Whitby Town to Middlesbrough (via Hinderwell, Loftus and Guisborough)
This steam autocar train then spent the night at either Middlesbrough or
Stockton, but may have returned to Whitby the following day because:
The second diagram could cover the other Whitby steam autocar services, but
started at Stockton:
11.30 Stockton to Whitby Town (via Picton, Stokesley and the Esk Valley Line)
1.50 Whitby Town to Goathland
2.25 Goathland to Whitby Town
4.35 Whitby Town to Sleights
5.00 Sleights to Whitby Town
5.30 Whitby Town to Robin Hood's Bay
6.05 Robin Hood's Bay to Whitby Town
6.35 Whitby Town to Kettleness (shown as a through train from Robin Hood's
Bay)
7.15 Kettleness to Whitby Town
A third steam autocar train was in use on the Scarborough-Whitby-Saltburn
line, departing Scarborough at 10.50, 1.05 and 3.17 to Staintondale, and
back, then at 5.05 to Robin Hood's Bay and back.
Robin Hood's Bay was something of a steam autocar interchange, as autocar
services arrived from Whitby Town at 5.58 and from Scarborough at 5.59. Both
steam autocars then reversed [having exchanged through passengers], departing
for Whitby Town at 6.05 and Scarborough at 6.15.
Scottish hydro-electricity. R.A.S.
Hennessey
The pages of BT may not be the place for thrashing out which was or
was not the 'first' use of hydro electricity in Scotland, although none of
the candidates so far citied can cap Greenock for laying on a public supply
of electricity from hydro-power. This short-lived and largely experimental
installation lasted 1885-87. Many early installations, in that pre-Grid era
were very local, often for country houses or factories.
More to the point, perhaps, is the remarkable Carstairs House Electric Tramway,
(1886-1905), 2ft 6in gauge, powered by 250V dc, running just under a mile
from Carstairs station (Caledonian Railway) to Carstairs House, with a few
short branches. Rolling stock appears to have been a mixed bag, partly
constructed on site, partly bought in, ex-Edinburgh Exhibition, and North
Metropolitan Tramways, London.
With unkind irony, electric operation ceased in 1905 when the owner was
electrocuted by an accident involving its equipment. It ran on, under horse
power, until the mid-1930s.
Knights of the Southern lands. Bob
Ratcliffe
With regard to Sir Cador of Cornwall at Bromley
[p. 404], in fact this is No.30806 Sir Galleran,
complete with the Urie tender from No.32331 which had been gained in September
1958. The summer timetable had finished and with it the last run of the 'Kentish
Belle'. Two Pullmans have been inserted in set 870 to form the 11.35 from
Victoria to Ramsgate, which is here making its call at Bromley at 11.57.
Note the cylinder drain cocks opened and the steam heat is on, leaking behind
the first coach. The next stop will be Chatham and then practically everything
to Ramsgate! The return journey was a bit better, leaving Ramsgate at 5.05pm
and fast from Whitstable to Victoria. The other picture of
note is that of Sir Dodinas le Savage [bottom of p405]. The Hither
Green (73C] 'Arthur', No.30796, had a single passenger duty on weekdays,
the 16.37 Cannon Street to Ashford. On Saturdays it was frequently 'borrowed'
by Stewarts Lane, perhaps for a rounder turn from Victoria to Ramsgate and
then on via Dover and Ashford to Charing Cross. Sole Street bank was a fine
place to record steam in the late fifties, and thank goodness Ken Whiteman
[sic] Wightman did, for the procession of anything from a Merchant Navy to
a Schools or a D1 was never to be seen again once the 'juice' came. On the
other hand, 'Rounder' turns are still possible today, 60 years later on Javelins
from and to St. Pancras.
Whitmore. Spencer
Jackson
Correction to caption: as Jack Woodcock is looking at the down fast
instrument, writer jumped to the conclusion that he was getting a line clear
for the down fast. However, the down fast signals are already off as the
down fast starter lever can just be seen with the white band on it. It's
obviously the down slow home signal lever in his hand. The photograph was
probably 'staged' and was not taken by Jack's son John as the caption states,
but by a visitor to the box and given to Jack's son John later.
The Great Western on Wirral. Simon
Pain
Mention was made to the 'Birkenhead Flyer 'in the article on 'The
Great Western in Wirral 'with a query as to its designation. As a Southern
boy I was brought up to understand that the train of that name ran daily
from Birkenhead to Dover on a real cross·country route via Birmingham
and Reading, thence on the Southern rails via Dorking and Tonbridge before
reaching Dover. Can anyone else corroborate this? Response
from Robin Leleux on p. 702
Research Workshop
Some of your readers may be interested in joining a Research Workshop, which
is being organised jointly by the National Railway Museum and the Railway
& Canal Historical Society at the NRM, York on 18th October. It is intended
that it will be useful both to those who are thinking of making a start on
research and to those who want to develop their skills. An 11.00 start is
planned to allow travel from some distance. There will be a modest charge
for a buffet lunch. As numbers are restricted, bookings must be made in advance
to Grahame Boyes at Flat 6, 4 Little Green, Richmond TW9 1QH or
g.boyes@btinternet.com .
Appeal for information. Thomas Chambers
I am doing a research project into the type of graffiti that was often written
on locomotives by enthusiasts, railway workers and others towards the end
of steam on British Rail and other systems. This was mostly chalked and was
often a phrase such as 'Don't let me go' or 'Steam forever' and perhaps a
face drawn. I have also seen pictures of other types of messages, sometimes
just humorous and sometimes political such as 'Plaid Cymru' on a tank engine
in south Wales. I am interested in seeing photographs of any examples and
would of course respect the copyright of any that I was sent. I am particularly
interested in contacting anyone who actually wrote or drew on locomotives.
kfdangerfield1@yahoo.dk
A Class 303 electric multiple unit at Helensburgh Central in June 2001 in
carmine and cream livery. Allan Trotter. front cover
Former Glasgow Blue Train with another unit in the earlier orange
and black colour scheme behind. See also feature on page
"Britain runs on rails...". Alex Flemming. 579
Guest Editorial:: mainly up-beat assessment of the state of railways
in Great Britain (unless one lives in Hawick or Fakenham or...)
Jeremy Clarke. Maunsell freight engines for the Southern
Railway. 580-7.
The S15 4-6-0 is regarded as a mixed traffic locomotive and therefore
ignored: instead the Z, W and Q classes are considered. The Z class 0-8-0T
was a relatively advanced design with three cylinders, a degree of flexibility
in its short wheelbase to be able to cope with sharp curves, and was
intended to be quiet for working in urban areas. The W class 2-6-4T was also
relatively sophicated, with three cylinders, but limited to freight working
due to the Sevenoaks accident. The Q class 0-6-0 could have vemerged from
Inchicore: Bulleid had hoped to cancel the orer, yet based his own Q1 0-6-0
on it (except for the boiler which was in a different league). Illustrations:
Z class 0-8-0T No. 30956 at Exeter St. David's on 3 September 1960 (colour);
No. 956 at Hither Green on 27 July 1946 (R.C. Riley); W class 2-6-4T No.
31911 banking a train out of Exeter St. David's on 13 July 1963 (colour:
Trevor Owen); Z class No. 30950 with freight at Exmouth Junction passing
coaling tower on 5 July 1961 (R.C. Riley); Z class No. 30952 at Exeter Central
on 10 October 1959 (R.C. Riley); W class No. 31925 at Hither Green shed on
21 February 1960 (R.C. Riley); Q class 0-6-0 No. 30536 on freight at Hamworthy
Junction in August 1959 (colour); W class Nos. 31914 and 31915 bank a ballast
train from Meldon Quarry out of Exeter St. David's on 1 in 37 incline up
to Central on 2 July 1963 (R.C. Riley); Q class No. 531 at Eastleigh in 1938
(clear view of steam reversing gear); No. 30548 at West Moors on freight
on 4 July 1959 (colour: Trevor Owen); No. 30549 with stove pipe chimney and
power reverse at Norwood Junction on 22 May 1961 (R.C. Riley); No. 30534
with Bulleid chimney at Dover Priory on 23 May 1959 (A.E. Bennett); No. 30549
leaving Brockenhurst with through train to Lymington Pier on 11 September
1953 (R.C. Riley); No. 30541 with steam reverse removed? at Furxebrook on
Swnage branch freight on 7 September 1955 (A.E. Bennett). See
also letter from Allan C. Baker on page 764
John Roake. The motor omnibuses of the Great North of Scotland Railway
and the General Post Office. 588-92.
The company was the first in Scotland and third in Great Britain to
operate bus services; starting on 2 May 1904 with a service from Ballater
to Braemar. It used Milnes-Daimler vehicles capable of carrying eighteen
passengers. From November 1907 Post Office mail was carried. In very severe
conditions the transport of mail had to revert that based on horses.
The costs of motor bus operation in 1910 were dominated by the short life
of solid tyres (about 20% of the total). Roake is surprised that no allowance
was made for depreciation. George
Davidson, the General Manager maintained close contact with the GPO to
note cost increases and to adjust schedules. The poor state of the roads
led to vehicle damage and the reconstruction of the north road led to further
problems. Shortage of petrol during WW1 led to reductions in service.
Illustrations: 1910 Milnes-Daimler with bus body; map of bus routes; Maudslay
bus of 1908 at Ballater stationn; bus on way to Culter encoutering cows being
herded in its path; preserved "bus station" in Braemar; two buses at Aberchirder;
touring coach (built pre-1940) on bend at Devil's Elbow; Schoolhill station;
LNER, former GNSR, bus on Ballater to Braemar service via Balmoral.
Eric Bruton on the Great Northern Suburban Lines. 593-5
Black & white photo-feature: N2 No. 9533 orth of Potters Bar N2
No. 69493 entering Hadley North Tunnel with 13.59 King's cross to Hatfield
on 4 March 1951; and returning on 15.35 Hatfield to King's Cross departing
from Hadley Wood clearly showing Quad-Art articulated set on this service;
B1 4-6-0 No. 61121 on 13.40 Peterborough to King's Cross approaching Potters
Bar on 20 Marh 1949; B1 No. 61200 on 14.06 Cambridge to King's Cross slow
coming off Digswell Viaduct on 5 March 1950; L1 2-6-4T No. 67743 leaving
Hadley Wood North Tunnel on service from King's Cross on 2 August 1951.
Jeffrey Wells. Lancashire & Yorkshire Railwy loop lines: a selective
review. 596-602.
Defines four types of loop: a new route parallel to an established
one (Micklehurst Loop is author's paradigm); short line linking two converging
lines to form a triangle to avoid reversals; crossing loops on single track
lines; lay-by siding or goods loop to enable faster trains to overtake (Mrs
Castle see later pursued a policy of removing them). Four loop lines are
then examied. The North Lancashire Loop which linked Blackburn with Burnley
vjia Great Harwood and Padiham received the Royal Assent on 18 May 1866,
but did not open (without ceremony) until 20 October 1877. The Manchester
Loop from Victoria to Thorp's Bridge Junction eased the eastern exit: it
received the Royal Assent on 21 July 1873 and opened on 1 August 1878. The
Bury Loop Line (authorised on 3 July 1891) was built in conjuction with the
new Ship Canal Branch to ease the flow of traffic from Yorkshire towards
the new Docks in Manchester. Finally the Liverpool Loop Line (authorised
24 July 1892)t was associated with the replacement of the inadequate original
Liverpool Exchange station with a greatly enlarged building with new approaches.
Illustrations: Great Harwood station looking towards Blackburn in L&YR
period; Martholme Viaduct (colour as extant); Simonstone station in L&YR
period; Aspinall 2-4-2T with passenger train in Padiham station in L&YR
period; Padiham Viaduct as extant; Manchester East Junction in British Railways
period; 10.30 Liverpool Exchange to Newcastle express crossing Smedley Viaduct
hauled by Jubilee No. 45695 Minotaur on 24 May 1952 (Arthur Bendell);
p. 600: L&YR Aspinall Atlantic with express running towards
Victoria passing Queen's Road Carriage Shed where MR 4-4-0 with clerestory
coach was at work see letter from Tom Wray cor4recting
location (Cheetham Hill) and noting ticket platforms; Ivatt class 2 2-6-0
No. 46501 wiuth freight on Bury Loop Line on 24 March 1964 (Ray Farrell);
Ivatt class 2 2-6-0 No. 46416 coming off Bury Loop Line with tank wagons
at Bury Loop Line Junction on 22 April 1965 (Ray Farrell); Hughes 4-6-0 waiting
to depart enlarged Liverpool Exchange station.
David J. Hayes. Ryecroft reminiscences. Part Two.
603-7
Part 1 see p. 502. Great variety
of traffics and routings and motive power. Included freight generated from
sugar beet. Includes a personal appreciation of the late Michael Mensing
whose photographs are reproduced. Illustratios: No. 25 281 approaching
Ryecroft Junction from Lichfield direction on freight on 21 June 1977 (colour);
Nos. 20 151 and 20 030 heading towards Lichfield with a freight; Class 47/4
No. 47 515 coming off Cannock line with coal train formed of 16 and 21 ton
wagons on 22 April 1974; Class 31/1 No. 31 134 hading a block steel train
from the Lichfield direction in snow on 20 January 1978; No. 47 448
on diverted 12.49 Sunday Manchester to Birmingham New Street on 15 April
1979 (David Ronstance) and No. 47 120 hauling No. 85 023 and its train away
from Ryecroft Junction with diverted Swansea to Manchester express
on 14 August 1979 (David Ronstance).
Looking at Leeds. Gavin Morrison. 608-10.
Colour photo-feature: rebuilt Royal Scot No. 46118 Royal Welch
Fusilier passing Stourton with down Waverley on 23 June 1960;
Fairburn 2-6-4T No. 42107 (caption incorrect due to literal);
leaving Leeds Central with Leeds portion of Bradford to Liverpool Exchange
express presumably joined at Low Moor and not wandering down into Bradford
Exchange on 23 September 1960 see letter from Rabbi Walter
Rothschild on p. 764 (KPJ during National Service actually travelled
from Halifax to Leeds in this way en route to York to be examined for Army
spectacles: return was by diesel railcar between Leeds and Bradford); BR
Standard Class 5 No. 73163 and rebuilt Scot No. 46106 Gordon Highlander
on morning express for Liverpool Lime street at Leeds City on 26 June 1960
Holbeck motive potive power depot with Horwich 2-6-0 No. 42875, Class 5 No.
44824 and 4F 0-6-0 No. 44520, the last shunting coal wagons, on 7 November
1960; A3 Pacific No. 40046 Diamond Jubilee having past Holbeck High
Level on the way to King's Cross on 28 August 1961; A4 No. 60007 Sir Nigel
Gresley on 10.00 Leeds Central to King's Cross at Beeston Junction on
12 April 1962; Britannia No. 70015 Apollo and Cllass 5 No. 45200 on
final steam-worked Neville Hill to Red Bank empty newspaper vans; BR Class
3 2-6-0 No. 77001 working local freight at Wortley Junction on 17 September
1963.
Bill Taylor. The railway in court:: doors closing. 611-13.
The earliest contested case involving carriage doors was Fordham versus
the London Brighton & South Coast Railway in 1868. The plaintiff was
joining the train in thec dark when the guard slammed the door shut
trapping the passenger's hand. The jury found the company guilty of negligence.
Jackson was travelling on the Metropolitan Railway westward from King's Cross
in 1878 and attempted to prevent further people boarding at Gower Street,
and again at Portland Road. At the latter his actions caused him to fall
from the train. The case went all the way to the House of Lords, but Jackson
lost as there was no reason for him to leave his seat. Drury had his finger
crushed in the ddoor when the station master at Saltmarsh closed the doors.
The local court at Howden found for Druury, but the North Eastern Railway
appealed and the judgement was set aside. Drury's case was cited in a 1949
claim by Mrs Anna Bird against the Railway Executive for an accident at Hirwaun
in which Mrs Bird's hand was trapped by a porter closing a door. Her initial
appeal was lost, but Lord Justice Tucker overturned the judgement on the
basis that the porter had failed to take sufficient care. An 1873 case in
which Gee fell from a Metropolitan Railway train near Sloane Square due to
a faulty door. The railway tried to evade payment but the judge opinioned
that carriage doors should remain closed when the train was in motion. A
similar case in Liverpool in 1869 (Adams vs L&YR) waslost by Adams because
he had been attempting to close a faulty door whilst the train was in motion:
he should have remained in his seat. A 1947 case (Brookes vs London Passenger
Transport Board came before the King's Bench Division of the High Court.
Brookes had fallen out of an open door between Westminster and St. James.
The door had not been properly shut and Brookes fell out when the train lurched.
Illustrations (none directly related to incidents): Saltmarsh station; Farringdon
station; Metropoitan Railway 0-4-4T No. 78 with branch line service to Chesham?;
Hirwaun station with auto train in 1958; Plumley station with DMU frtom Chester
Northgate to Manchester Central on 25 August 1959
Steve Roberts. Worcestershire's railways. 614-21.
Quite an attractive map, but it fails to show County boundary.
Similarly the text is attractive — but much is in past tense. Illustrations:
51XX 2-6-2T No. 4148 runs into Worcester Shrub Hill with a local train formed
of carmine & cream corridor stock passing cordon gas tank wagon in April
1958 (colour: R. Stenton); Jubilee class No. 45552 Silver Jubilee with
chrome numerals at Worcester Shrub Hill on 12 October 1963 (colour); map
of railways in Worcester area; GWR 196 class 2-4-0 No. 211 at Worcester Shrub
Hill on 23 April 1895; Kidderminster station exterior with mock Tudor building
c1910; No. 7006 Lydford Castle leaving Evesham station with down express
on 9 May 1961 (colour); Evesham GWR station with former Midland Railway station
across car park in May 1962; Class 3F 0-6-0T No. 47276 rear of two bankers
banking passenger train through Bromsgrove station on 11 April 1958 (colour:
Trevor Owen); Broadway station c1957; 14XX 0-4-2T No. 1414 at Stourbridge
Town with motor train in 1950s; 4F 0-6-0 No. 44039 at Worcester Shrub Hill
on Gloucester to Birmingham New Street on slow passenger train in 1958;
Ivatt Class 4 2-6-0 No. 43041 at Evesham (Midland) with GWR station in background
(colour: Bruce Nathan); Jubilee class No. 45682 Trafalgar hauling
northbound summer Saturday extra through Blackwell station on 18 August
1962 (colour: Trevor Owen); Evesham (Midland) platforms; Worcester Foregate
Streeet platforms and signal box in 1950s; GWR 56 class 2-4-0 No. 722 at
Great Malvern; Redditch station platforms c1910; No. 5065 Newport Castle
at Worcester Shrub Hill on 3 November 1961 (colour).
See letter from Nick Daunt in next Volume p. 125
Robert Emblin. The curious incident of Manning Wardle's
Class N. 622-5
Manning Wardle 0-6-0ST locomotives were sold ranked by power, with
class K the least, and class Q the most powerful. Class N consisted of seven
engines, but these were declassified after manufacture. These were Works
Numbers 387/1873 sold to Logan & Hemingway; 38/1973 sold to Hucknall
Colliery; 4881/1874 sold to New South Wales in Australia; another of 1875
sold to Logan & Hemingway; 519/1876 sold to Cropple & Macauley; 630/1877
sold to Wharton Hall Colliery; 638/1879 sold to Wm Mort & Co. and 739/1879
sold to New South Wales. It appears that the locomotives sold to Logan &
Hemingway lacked sufficient power and this hypothesis is subjected to statistical
analysis. Cites Phillipson. Steam locomotive
design: data and formulae. Illustrations: MW WN 1210 (Class L), sold
to Logan & Hemingway in 1890; then to Cranston Ironworks Quarry where
named Sir Berkeley (photographed in early 1950s); MW 641 Sharpthorn
(Class K) owned Bluebell Railway with toy freight (colour: Jon Bowers);
MW 1955 Charwelton — unclassified built for Park Gate Iron &
Steel Co. Ltd. of Charwelton and transfer4red to Sproxton Quarry in 1942,
now owned Kent & East Sussex Railway (colour: Helmut Zozman); MW 2047//1926
Warwickshire built for Rugby Portand Cement's New Bilton works
photographed on Severn Valley Railway at Bridgnorth (colour: Bob Turner).
See also letter from Darryl Green in Volume 32
page 189
Allan Trotter. The Glasgow Blue Trains. 626-9.
Services on the northside of the Clyde started on 7 November 1970.
Prior until then test running had been observed by Trotter, at the risk of
being hit by a chalk missile from a teacher in the Thorntree Primary School
in Shettleston. Illustrations (all by author, all in colour): blue Blue train
in Milngavie station in 1962 with train for Springburn; train interior with
paramic view forward; unit in over-all corporate British Rail at Springburn
in April 1969; two units in orange Strathclyde Transport livery at Bellgrove
Junction in January 1986; two units in orange livery departing Glasgow Central
station in February 1989; unit in carmine & cream Strathclyde Passenger
Transport livery at Bowling in June 2001. See also yet
another letter from John Macnab on page 764.
A.J. Mullay. 'Rather Unprincipled Persons' : Ministers
of Transport: the first fifty years, 1919-69. Part Two. 630-6.
Part 1 began on page 537. Churchill appointed
Lord Leathers as co-ordinator
of transport, fuel and power with another minister to report on transport
in the Commons. The first such was
John Scott Maclay, but he
suffered from ill-health and did not last long under Churchill. But he fared
better under Macmillan and as Christopher Harvie
in the ODNB concludes his excellent biography "Maclay's career was enigmatic.
From occupying only minor office—and without enjoying any great success
in it—he became, during his five-year tenure of the Scottish secretaryship,
the essential creator of the institution as it was to preside over Scottish
affairs between then and the creation of a Scottish parliament forty years
later. A modest and unpretentious man, he was motivated by a strong sense
of public duty, and was described by a former parliamentary private secretary
as ‘the most saintly character I knew in politics’"
Mullay states "belatedly, railway modernisation was very much in the air
in the first half of the 1950s. Curiously, no minister is historically associated
with the 1954 Plan, but in any event it was preceded by an earlier version
prepared by railwaymen themselves. In its final year of existence, 1952,
the Railway Executive drew up a Development Plan for the long-term modernisation
of the railways. This £500 million scheme envisaged 2,900 route miles
of main line electrification at a cost of £160 million and DMU provision
at £17 million. Extensive electrification would use power stations burning
lower-grade coal, releasing more high-calorific fuel for export",
Alan Lennox-Boyd followed: Mullay (mainly through the work of others: Gourvish,
Chrisopher Foster and Stewart Joy)
is critical of the lax control, especially in costing and purchase decisions
on railway modernisation during this period. Mullay is also highly critical
of decision makers failing to place railway safety high on the list of
objectives: especially track circuiting and automatic train control. During
the debate on the 1953 Transport Act Churchill was critical of both
Hurcomb and
Latham (Chairman of the London
Transport Executive) which led to the latter's resignation.
Harold Macmillan brought in Ernest
Marples as Minister of Transport and he established the
Stedeford Committee whose
members included Richard Beeching and
David Serpell and whose
deliberations remained secret and not available to Bonavia. The committee
very close to calling a halt to the West Coast electrification and Serpell
was very much in favour of diesel traction (à la Grayling), but one
positive feature emerged, namely canals became the responsibility of the
Department of the Environment.
Harold Wilson eventually came to power and appointed
Tom Fraser as Minister of
Transport and he was replaced by
Barbara Castle, She inturn
was replaced by Richard Marsh
and finally in this group by Fred
Mulley. Richard Marsh, who did not wish to become Minister of Transport,
later became Chairman of the British Railways Board. The illustrations of
David Steel watching the final sleeping car train departing from Hawick are
a stark reminder of the brutal slaughter of the former railway network which
took place under a Labour administration: Marsh later admitted that this
was his "biiggest mistake" (and may explain why the far more moribund Settle
& Carlisle line has remained open) Illustrations: Britannia class
No. 70001 Lord Hurcomb heading The Norfolkman up Brentwood
Bank on 24 March 1951; J71 class No. 1758 at Alne with train for Easingwold
on the indepedent Easingwold Railway probably in the 1920s; opening ceremony
for new Woodhead Tunnel on 3 June 1954 with Bo-Bo No. 26020. Allan Lennnox
Boyd, Sir Brian Robertson and possibly Frank Jones with fag in mouth (KPJ
I doubt if I have ever seen this photograph before); Crewe station with AL3
No. E3025 in 1960s; EMU (later Class 310) at Bletchley on 18 July 1967; Allan
Lennnox Boyd (portrait); Marple Wharf on the Macclesfield Canal in August
1990; Barbara Castle (portrait); demonstration at Summerseat in January 1967
to protest against closure; A3 N0. 60093 Coronach beyond
Falahill Summit on Carlisle train on 15 April 1961 see
letter from Robert Smith on p. 764 reqesting a rather sterile quest;
protest at Newcastleton interupting passage of final up sleeper on 5 January
1969; David Steel MP and Peak class D60 Lytham St. Annes with delayed
deeparture of sleeper (was there any other railway closure which involved
a sleeping car train?) and campaigners outside No. 10 Downing Street (David
Steel, Earl of Dalkeith and Madge Elliot): Harold Wilson was the occupant!!
(three last colour: Bruce McCartney). Frank Walmsley
plea on behalf of St., Barbara See Volume 32 page 62
Gibbins letter in next Volume pages 253-4
demolishes Labour Party myth [only interested in lorry driver vote]
Readers' Forum. 637
The Metropolitan's Diamond logo. Graham
Smith
The last stations I recall still displaying the Metropolitan diamond
logo were the Northern City line platforms at Essex Road, Highbury &
Islington, Drayton Park and Finsbury Park which, as far as I can recall,
all still displayed the red diamond logo at least until 1964. During September
1964 the former Northern City line terminus at Finsbury Park was closed to
be rebuilt as through platforms for the Victoria Line, with Drayton Park
(the only open-air station on the line) becoming the northern terminus. It
was probably at this time, or within the following year, that all the diamond
logo nameplates were replaced on the Northern City line platforms. This appears
to have been achieved by removal of the Oxford blue bar station nameboard,
then pasting a large pre-printed poster-style station name on LT-style bullseye
over the top of the former diamond enamelled plate. It all now seems a complete
waste of time and effort in the 'interests of standardisation' - there was
nothing wrong with the old signs! During the ensuing decades, of course,
these stations were transferred to British Rail ownership, becoming part
of the Great Northern suburban electrification. On a visit to Clapham Museum
on one of its 'Open Days' in the late 1960s, when access 'behind the scenes'
was possible, I recall seeing a green diamond station nameboard sign from
Whitechapel in one of the museum store rooms. It was in dire need of
refurbishment, so I cannot say whether it passed to Covent Garden or Acton,
or went for scrap when Clapham Museum closed.
The formative years of the London & Birmingham
Railway. Bob Yate
Re illustration of the L&BR station in Birmingham on p489 of the
August issue. The caption to this illustration perpetuates the long-standing
myth that this building is the entrance to that station. The facts are that
this building was actually a hotel, named 'Queen Victoria' (latterly becoming
known simply as 'Victoria Hotel') and is in New Canal Street, not Curzon
Street. This is confirmed by several maps and plans dating from 1837, 1840,
1842 and 1845. Francis Wishaw commented in 1842 that "A stranger arriving
at the station for the first time from Birmingham, to leave by the railway,
would naturally take the Victoria Hotel in Canal Street (sic) for the railway
offices ... As it is, the passenger shed and offices are at some distance
from the Hotel, and placed at right angles thereto."
In Cheffin's London & Birmingham Railway (1840) he describes it
as follows: "It consists of a noble stone building, with arches on either
side, and having a portico within four massive Ionic columns in the front,
and four three-quarter columns. The entrance to the Station is to the left
of this building, on approaching it from the town, and the exit on the right,
through archways before named ... The building has been fitted up with every
convenience as an Hotel, and the Directors have christened it by the name
'Victoria'. The main entrance into the hotel led to a spacious square hallway,
which ran the full height of the building, and was lit by lantern lights
in the roof. From the hall, entrance was given to the refreshment room and
flights of stairs led to the rooms on each of the floors at the back.
Thus departing pedestrians passed through the archway to the left of the
hotel and carriages through a gateway alongside. Arriving passengers passed
through a similar archway and gateway to the right. Booking offices and waiting
rooms were situated alongside the departure platform, although facilities
for arriving passengers seem to have been limited to a cab rank alongside
that platform. The hotel proved so successful that in 1840 an extension was
made to the left of the hotel on the site of the former departure archway.
Enlarged refreshment rooms were included in the extension. Consequently the
departure entrance was moved further to the left, actually around the corner
into Curzon Street. Finally, it should be mentioned that both the L&BR
and GJR stations were initially known as 'Birmingham' (there being no other
stations there at that time). Whilst only the GJR station was built alongside
Curzon Street, with the limited opening of New Street station in 1852 both
stations officially became Curzon Street (it sounded better than 'New Canal
Street').
LNER Flyers from the air. Graham
Smith
Mention is made of the meandering River Mimram passing beneath Digswell
Viaduct, as visible in the aerial photo of the up Silver Jubilee.
ln this area, the river had a particularly important transport significance,
for it marked the boundaries between several council areas which, in turn,
were the northern boundary for London Transport's 'Special Area' #150; the
area within which LPTB was the supreme transport authority for road and (possibly
to a lesser extent) rail transport. Outside the 'Special Area', London
Transport's powers of objection were limited to those of any other bus or
rail operator within an area extending a further ten to fifteen miles outward
from London ('the London Transport Operating Area'). The meandering streams
which formed the boundary of the 'Special Area' often led to disputes over
which sections of road –- and probably even which sections of railway
line - were within or outside the 'Special Area'. This was the case in the
Welwyn area, where the Mimram crossed and recrossed beneath the Welwyn-Codicote
road several times and Birch buses travelling between these villages would
enter and leave the 'Special Area' several times along this two mile stretch
of road!
[KPJ: during WW2 on tedious journeys from Edinburgh to London thought he
was nearing London when he first saw Lincoln green buses somewhere north
of Welwyn, but the real wonder was the swimming pool in a garden of one of
the houses beneath the Viaduct, but its presence (former presence?) could
not be fully confirmed from the adjacent road.]
Now we shall have the naming of engines.
Stephen Spark
In this utilitarian era of Gradgrindish accountancy we may ask why
locomotives were named at all. Builders and operators of the earliest engines
probably followed stagecoach practice — one thinks of Novelty,
Experiment and Sans Pareil. Also, in the directors' minds the
new 'iron horses' were replacements for their flesh-and-blood predecessors
and it would never have done to inflict mere numbers on thoroughbreds like
the 'Iron Dukes'.
Summers suggests that locomotive builders followed shipbuilding traditions
and it is likely that some locomotives were specifically named after naval
ships. Wikipedia lists nearly 450 broad gauge locomotive names (GWR and
constituents), of which 243 were also borne by naval vessels.
The Royal Navy has a long tradition of inflicting bizarre names on its fighting
ships, from HMS Pansy, Dwarf and Spanker to Black Joke,
Carcass and Happy Entrance. The demoralising effect on the
unfortunates who served in HMS Cockchafer or HMS Tickler can
only be imagined! Far from being the GWR's 'low-brow joke', Flirt was
a name carried by six naval vessels between 1592 and 1897. Coquette,
too, has a naval origin. That still doesn't explain why someone at Paddington
or Swindon thought they were appropriate for the 'Standard Goods' however.
Presumably, what suited the Senior Service was considered good enough for
God's Wonderful Railway. Some of the apparent oddities that puzzled Summers
do fit a pattern. While certain of the 'Sun' Class adopted astronomical and
animal themes, others were named after weapons. Along with Javelin and
Lance there were Assegais (a spear), Creese (now spelled
kris, a dagger), Djerid (another spear), Stiletto (a thin dagger)
and Yataghan (a scimitar-type sword).
The Great Western, perhaps with its rival at Waterloo in mind, displayed
a certain belligerence in its naming policies, but it also had a liking for
ugly monsters. Brontes ('Premier' Class), Pyracmon and
Steropes ('Pyracmon' Class) were all members of the troublesome one-eyed
Cyclopes clan in classical myth and the theme continues with the Biblical
beast Behemoth and Shakespeare's Caliban (two more 'Pyracmons').
BG names from a more conventional bestiary include Alligator, Camel,
Dromedary, Elephant and Mammoth.
We often associate the nineteenth century with high moral seriousness, but
the Board had a Georgian outlook in approving engine names on classical themes
and even magic. What did Victorian evangelicals make of Witch, Wizard
and Worlock, never mind 'Fire Fly' Class Lucifer? Like
Lalla Rookh and Peri, referring to Thomas Moore's Oriental
romance of 1817, they harked back to an earlier, less strait-laced era. Other
railways, especially the LNWR and — whisper it — the South Western,
were similarly inspired. Volcanoes were popular in the early days and not
just in the UK. Overseas railways had their 'namers' too and, like the GWR
and LSWR, the Mauritius Government Railways could boast Hecla, Etna
and Vesuvius. All three railways also had a Dart, Firefly, Hercules,
Atlas, Ajax, Titan and Cyclops. More than half the MGR's fleet
bore names. The Nigerian Railway Corporation also named many of its locomotives,
mostly after rivers. In more recent times French (SNCF) and (Swiss) SBB electrics
have carried attractive nameplates.
Re plate from No.5069 Isambard Kingdom Brunel (illustrated p477):
the 'CASTLE CLASS' addition is not in Gill Sans, as the shape of the 'C'
looks quite wrong for Gill, even the Condensed variant. Gill Sans is, of
course, associated with the LNER and was based on the typeface Eric Gill's
teacher, Edward Johnston, designed for the LPTB. The Johnston face is still
employed, in modified form, by Transport for London.
The Great Western, though, was known for its use of the Egyptian font on
its nameplates, using beautifully cast brass letters attached by brass dowels
to a backing plate. In broad gauge days, this plate was between
3/32in and 5/32lin thickness and on the 'Rover'
Class was kept to a bright steel finish, no doubt by the frequent application
of an oily rag. On other BG classes the backing plate was painted black,
which is the finish now applied to the 'Rover' Class plates on display at
STEAM and elsewhere. We have lost something in that labour-saving change,
though: the glint of the sun on polished brass letters against a shining
steel background must have added to the glamour of those marvellous engines.
The end of the broad gauge brought about a frenzy of railway enthusiasm and
souvenir hunting not matched until the 1960s. Even hard-headed Board members
were not immune from this wave of nostalgia for Brunel's grand vision. General
Manager J. L. Wilkinson and directors Col. Edgcumbe, A. P. Heywood-Lonsdale
and Charles Mortimer all bought 'Rover' Class nameplates; other plates were
displayed in the boardroom and the Secretary's office at Paddington and the
Mechanics' Institute at Swindon. For his trophy, Alma, Mortimer had
the letters attached to a new plate, 3/16in thick, probably
just to improve its appearance, although perhaps the original had been damaged
when it was removed from the engine. To display his plate properly at his
new house, Mortimer had Swindon Works craft a very fine splasher-shaped mahogany
board, which also bore the GWR coat of arms flanked by the crests of London
and Bristol. This emulated the style introduced for the 'Achilles' Class,
seen in the view of No. 8 Gooch on p. 474. The arrangement admirably
complemented what is surely a strong contender for the UK's most attractive
steam locomotive design. This letter led to an important
contribution from Rodger Hennessey on the longevity of clarendon or Clarendon
type characters which were used at Swindon for lettering and may
have been instigated by Brunel; Roger also corrects note on London Underground
lettering (KPJ: Brunel's involvement with clarendon, an Egyptian style
type face would fit with his pylons for the Brstol Suspension Bridge
Now we shall have the naming of engines. Peter
Tatlow
Summers is incorrect in suggesting that "no major class of British
2-6-0 or 2-8-0 has carried a name except in Northern Ireland". He has failed
to notice several well-known classes of locomotives with only a leading pony
truck rather than a bogie, which were named. To commence, however, I am not
sure of the date of Felix Pole's and Lord Churchill's exchange of correspondence
and this may well have been prior to the naming1 of the first
of the LMS NCC's 2-6-0, No. 90 Duke of Abercorn in January 1934 or
as we shall see others. Even so, probably prior to this, the Southern Railway's
2-6-4 'River' Class of nineteen two-cylinder and one three-cylinder engines
had, from May 1925, briefly carried names of rivers in its territory before,
following the disastrous accident at Sevenoaks on 24th August 1927, these
engines were rebuilt as tender engines in 1928 and were thereafter
unnamed2
Summers has also overlooked that the LNER applied names to some of Gresley's
2-6-0 Class K2s that had been transferred to the Scottish Area for the purpose
of working on the West Highland line from Glasgow to Fort William and Mallaig,
the first being LNER No.4692 as Loch EiI in February 1933, soon to
be followed by a dozen more following the theme of lochs3.
Furthermore, this set a precedent for the naming of his three-cylinder
development in the form of the Class K4 introduced in January 1937, all six
of which were named after Highland chieftains associated with the
district4. In the interval, however, Gresley introduced his
magnificent 2-8-2 P2 Class of six engines in May 1934, all of which were
named after high-ranking Scottish figures associated with the intended route
of working. These were followed by the first of his eventual 184 Class V1
1-6-0s, No.4771 Green Arrow appearing in June 1936, but only another
nine were named5. Finally, the scaled-down version of 2-6-2 for
use on the West Highland line, the V4 arrived February 1941, the first of
which was named Bantam Cock6
In conclusion, all the other three grouping companies at least flirted with
naming locomotives without a leading bogie, but perhaps the GWR was wise
at the time to avoid naming such, especially in view of the fate of the 'Rivers'!
References:
1. Scott W., Locomotives of the LMS NCC and
its predecessors, Colourpoint, 2008, p. 101 et seq.
2. Elsey L., Profile of the Southern
Moguls, OPC, 1986.
3. Locomotives of the LNER, Port
6A, RCTS, 1984, p.59 et seq.
4. Locomotives of the LNER, Port
6A, RCTS, 1984, p144 et seq.
5. Locomotives of the LNER, Port
6C, RCTS, 1984, p.70 et seq.
6. Locomotives of the LNER, Port
6C, RCTS, 1984, p.121 et seq.
Cambrian colloquy [Dovey Junction]. L.V. Reason. rear
cover
On 31 May 1960 2251 0-6-0 No. 2205 waits to leave from left
hand platform whilst Manor class waits at other platform. See
Editor's letter which attempts to relate what's going where.
GWR 42XX 2-8-0T No.4273 heads a down freight through Whitland station on the West Wales main line in March 1962. P. Alexander. front cover
The balance of power. Michael Blakemore. 643
Editorial thoughts on British traction policy. Current Modern Railways
has similar thoughts. Why not replace electric traction on services to
Epsom and Amersham with more economical Pacer units.
Alan Taylor. The West Coast Main Line electrification.
644-53
Electrification to Manchester and Liverpool formed part of the 1955
British Rilways Modernisation Plan, Illustrations: Class AL4 No. E3037 passing
Jodrell Bank heading south (colour); Class AL1 No. E3008 at Liverpool Lime
Street on 25 June 1964 (C.R.L. Coles); Class 304 electric multiple unit arriving
at Crewe from Liverpool on 22 August 1964 (colour); Wilmslow power signal
box on 29 June 1959; AL1 No. E3005 and a Class AL4 at Crewe station having
arived ffrom Manchester in 1961 (Kenneth Field, colour); Oxford Road station
with electric multiple unit on 14.50 to Alderley Edge inApril 1966 (colour);
Manchester Piccadilly Platform 13 with Class 304 having arrived from Crewe
in 1961 (Kenneth Field); Class AL5 No. E3059 arriving Runcorn with a down
express in 1961 (Kenneth Field); AL5 No. E3064 on express at Nuneaton with
8F in background on 31 August 1964 (K.C.H. Fairey, colour); No. 45593
Kolhapur with yellow stripe across cab arriving Carlisle in summer
1967 (colour); Class AM10 (later 310) on Birmingham service at Hemel
Hempstead on 1 July 1980; AL1 No. E3002 at Crewe station with emu in background
(colour); AL6 No. E3107 and Class AL3 No. E3033 arriving with express at
Euston in April 1967 (colour); AL1 No. E3005 on engineers' train approaching
Watford Junction from the north in October 1965 (C.R.L. Coles); Class 5 No.
45000 on passenger train at Euston during reconstruction on 10 September
1964 (T.J. Edgington). See also letters from Stephen
G. Abbot and Robert Day in Volume 32 page 62
At work in Derbyshire. David Rodgers.
654-7
Colour photo-feature: 8F 2-8-0 No. 48191 climbing through Chinley
station with a Gowhole to Buxton coal train on 24 February 1968; same
train approaching Buxton yard passing another 8F No. 48471; No. 48182 on
manual turntable at Great Rocks on 20 April 1968; No. 70013 Oliver
Cromwell on special crossing Monsal Dale Viaduct on 1 July 1968; No.
48191 near Buxworth on 24 February 1968; No. 48191 reversing train at Chinley
South Junction; and with obvious heavy carbon footprint approaching Peak
Forest with train of coal for Buxton and 70013 about to enter Cowburn Tunnel
with filthy exhaust plume à la Trump
Malcolm Timperley. A bridge too far – Dinting 1855.
658-62
A group of Glossop Sunday School teachers returning from an
outing to Belle Vue in Manchester on 18 Sepetember 1855 on the 21.00 train
for Hadfield halted on Dinting Viaduct and three of the party fell to their
deaths presumably assuming that they had reached Dinting station. T.M. Ellison,
Deputy Coroner for High Peak returned a verdict of accidental death and the
Inspecting Officer H.W. Tyler recommended the installation of telegraph and
the movement of the sinal which had halted the train nearer to Dinting station.
Edward Watkin, for some trump reason, accused one of fatalities of commiting
suicide: a very serious charge at that time as it affcted inheritance and
is further illumation on this extraordinary character. Those killed were
Jane Eliza Hadfield, Thomas Priestnall and Thomas Healey.
Geoffrey Skelsey. 'Out of date – yet potentially
valuable', the decline and revival of the Birmingham West Suburban.
663-9.
The Gough-Calthorpe Estate dominated transport development in Edgbaston
to the south of the City with limited covenannts which restricted urban growth
except on large plots. The Worcester & Birmingham Canal was tolerated,
but the Birmingham & Gloucester Railway entered the City Centre from
the east after following the Camp Hill route. The Birmingham West Suburban
Railway was conceived as a singlle tracy railway parallel to the canal with
a City Centre terminus at Granville Street near the Canal Basin and a southern
terminus at King's Norton. Authorisation was obtained in 1871 and it opened
in 1875. The Midland Railway through legislation in 1879 and 1881 used the
line as a link in a new approach to New Street from the west involving tunnels,
sharp curvature and steep gradients. Granville Street became a goods
station and the rest of the route was doubled. The Cadbury Bournville factory
and estate were located near the line. Electric trams and later buses captured
much of the local traffic. King's Norton acquired an enlarged station in
1926 with four platforms.Station closure began in 1925 with Church Road,
then Somerset Road in 1930. Passenger services were suspended on the Camp
Hill line during WW2. Diesel multiple units were introduced on the Redditch
service on 25 April 1960 and this led to increased traffic with some
passengers also from Bournville and Selly Oak. Redditch was desinated as
a New Town. For a time services were limited to peak hours, but the
building of the Queen Elizabeth Teaching Hospital and schools funded by the
King Edward Foundation on Calthorpe land modified demand and in 1978 a new
train serviice was introduceed working through to Litchfield marketed as
the Cross City service. Sunday services were introduced and Tyseley depot
had to maintain near life expired units. Electrification was approved in
1990 and began in 1993. John Edgington and Robert Darlaston are acknowledged
for their assistance. Illustrations: No. 73068 on summer extra to Exmouth
on BWSR where it is very close to Worcester & Birmingham Canal on 18
June 1960 (Robert Darlaston); Birmingham New Street with 17.47 to Worcester
Foregate first stop Kings Norton in August 1962 (Robert Darlaston); Church
Road station c1925 looking towards Edgbaston Tunnel; B1 4-6-0 No. 61315 climbing
through derelict Five Ways staion remains in 1962 (colour: P. Riley); Birmingham
Corporation tram No. 165 on Bristol in Calthorpe Estate area c1902 (coloured
postcard); Birmingham Corporaton AEC double-deck bus on route 1 in Priory
Road; four car DMU at Selly Oak on 17.32 New Street to Redditch in June 1962;
LMS publicity material from 1938; British Railways publicity material for
services to Ashchurch via Redditch; Metro-Cammell DMU at Redditch with mail
being loaded; Class 323 on electrified service near modernised canal near
University Station in March 1995 (colour). See
also letter from James Lancelot on BR deliberate run-down of servie to Redditch
Also letter from Edward Howell Volume 32 p.
253.
Dark matter. Keith Dungate. 670-1
Colour photo-feature: all photographs taken during hours of
darkness (at night): Class 56 No. 56 055 in Load Haul livery at Gascoigne
Wood with train of coal for Drax Power Station on 11 February 2002; Class
31 No. 31 437 on arrival at Leeds City on 17.57 from Carlisle on 14 February
1990; Class 47 No. 47 474 Sir Rowland Hill in Royal Mail livery at
Guildford whilst working 17.40 Liverpool Lime Street to Dover mail on 1 May
1990; Class 73 electro-diesel No. 73 117 University of Surrey at Purley
station with engineering works train on 23 July 1992.
The Great Western's eight-coupled tanks. 672-5
Colour photo-feature: 72XX 2-8-2T No. 7205 near Westbury on long freight
including cattle and coal wagons (P. Gray); 42XX 2-8-0T No. 5218 passing
Crumlin Low Level on coal train with Crumlin Viaduct above in June 1962;
No. 7202 at Salisbury on 24 May 1961 caption notes that bunker held six tons
of coal (verified Locomotive Mag.,
1934, 40, 330) (K.C.H. Fairey); No. 4287 with train from Ebbw
Vale steelworks loaded with steel products passing through Aberbeeg station
on 1 August 1959 (Trevor Owen); No. 7204 in Goodrington yard shunting wagons
loaded with containers on 30 August 1961 (G. Parry); 42XX No. 5205 with train
of iron ore from Banbury to South Wales approaching Stratford-uon-Avon
in August 1962 (B. Metcalf); No. 7210 on train of coal empties passing closed
Abersychan & Talywain station en toute to Blaenavon on 14 January 1961
(Trevor Owen); No. 4294 in Swindon Works on 5 February 1961 (Trevor Owen);
42XX No. 5237 at Oxley shed in April 1962 (Geoff Rixon)
See also letter from Michael Horton on unusual location
for this class and was probably hauled there dead.
David Thrower. Southern gone West. Plymouth and its
branches. Part Three. The Plymouth branches. 676-82
Branches to Turnchapel, Cattewater, Sutton Harbour and Keyham.
Illustrations (all by H.C. Casserley): Plymouth Friary station with T1 0-4-4T
No. E15 and O2 0-4-4T No. 233 with gate push & pull vehicles on service
for Turnchapel; O2 No. 200 at Lucas Terrace Halt with 19.50 to Turnchapel
with Friary locomotive depot in background on 5 August 1928; O2 No. 218 (letered
LSWR) with four coaches with 12.12 ex-Friary crossing Hooe Lake inlet approaching
Turnchapel on 8 July 1924; O2 No. 233 propelling gate set across Hooe Lake
swing bridge on 14 June 1926; No. E233 arriving Turnchapel across Hooe Lake
swing bridge on 14 June 1926 (caption writer must have missed or added
something?); Plymouth Friary station with snow on 27 December 1927 with Adams
0-4-4T; O2 No. 207 at Lucas Terrace Halt with Turnchapel service on 22 May
1935; and same train at Turnchapel terminus;
James Johnson. The Railway Mission. 683-5
Sometimes known as Tin Tabernacles from their prefabricated structures
based on corrugated iron. The Railway Misssion was formed in 1881 with
encouragement from the railway companies to increase sobriety in their staff
and eliminate drunkeness. The Railwaymen's Christian Association also
provided convalescent homes in Southport and St. Leonards-on-Sea.
Illustrations: chapel at Bury St. Edmunds; Isaac Dixon & Co. advertisement
for iron churches, chapels, mission rooms etc.; Mission Church at Wadhurst
in Sussex; church built in 1898 to serve community at Westhouses locomotive
depot in Derbyshire; William Cooper Ltd advertisement for churches or chapels.
See also Editorial addenda on p. 764 and
long letter from Dudley Clark, Archivist &
Historian of the Society
Lesser London. 686-8
Black & white photo-feature: Bow station (North London Line in
LMS period); Limehouse station closed in 1926, but entrance as photographed
in 1969 see also letter from Andrew Coleborne on
date for this photograph; Farrigdon & High Holborn station exterior
on 20 April 1964 (T.J. Edgington); Willesden Junction station exterior c1900
(with LNWR notice of services); Fenchurch Street station country end with
GER 2-4-2T on 29 August 1911; Gloucester Road station exterior on 3 August
1974 (T.J. Edgington); Farringdon in 1978 with dmu for Luton
approaching in June 1978 (Roger Carvell) see
letter from Graham Smith in next Volume page 62;
Mildmay Park exterior of closed station in 1960s
see also letter from Andrew Coleborne on date
for this photograph; Mornington Crecent station exterior on 28 February
1963 (T.J. Edgington);
John Edmondson. The view from the train: Charles Dickens on railway
development and rail travel in Dombey and Son. 689-93
"Everything around is blackened. There are dark pools of water, muddy
lanes, and miserable habitations far below. There are jagged walls and falling
houses close at hand, and through the battered roofs and broken windows,
wretched rooms are seen, where want and fever hide themselves in many wretched
shapes, while smoke, and crowded gables, and distorted chimneys, and deformity
of brick and mortar penning up deformity of mind and body, choke the murky
distance. As Mr. Dombey looks out of his carriage window, it is never in
his thoughts that the monster who has brought him there has let the light
of day in on these things: not made or caused them." is probably a depiction
of Coventry.
Here Dickens is making use of another 'shock' of rail travel. Middle class
travellers were now confronted with disturbing sights that were new to them
and that would never otherwise have been revealed to them. Gustave Dore's
famous sketch of the view of poor dwellings from a train window makes the
point. Passing close by, the train passengers have a bird's eye view into
the houses and gardens of the poor and glimpse living conditions and how
life goes in areas into which they would hardly ever have ventured. The
travellers are, of course, safely isolated in their carriage from the poverty
that is revealed to them, but it is nevertheless made unavoidably apparent
in the view from the train. In the passage quoted above, Dickens stresses
that the train is just the instrument of revelation – the fault, he
implies, lies with the values represented by Mr. Dombey, who gives no thought
to the nature or cause of what he sees. The isolation of the railway traveller
from the world outside here stands for a complacency or lack of engagement
on the part of the rich and powerful in society with the dire social problems
that surround them. In Dombey and Son, to summarise, Dickens makes use of
social, economic and psychological aspects of railway development and rail
travel as he weaves into his narrative the varied and complex responses to
the profound changes accompanying that transport revolution. The train brought
with it construction, destruction, growth, death, progress, fear. It changed
the nature of travel, the way we perceive the world and our notions of place.
Dombey and Son is both a product and an illumination of those changes.
Illustrations reinforce the message: J.C. Bourne coloured lithograph of the
building of the retaining wall through Camden Town in 1836; chimneys of winding
engine for incline up from Euston and engine house at Camden Town from Thomas
Roscoe's The London and Birmingham Railway [Ottley 6304]; The
Toodle family (Phiz); The Railway Dragon (George Cruikshank); Railway
Chronicle Travelling Chart [Ottley 7914]; The First-Class Carriage
(Honoré Daumier) Over London (Gustave Doré)
Alistair F. Nisbet. Harry Pitts and the Aldersgate
explosion. 694-8
On 27 April 1897 a Fenian, Irish terrorist, probably left a bomb on
a train at Farringdon Street which exploded at Aldersgate Street wrecking
a Metropolitan Railway first class carriage and damaging a coach belonging
to the London Chatham & Dover Railway on an adjacent track was also damaged.
Two died from their injuries: Harry Pitts and (later) William Spencer Hall
who had been in the damaged coach, recovered, but died later with an inquest
held on 12 October. Vivien Majendie, the Home Office explosives expert attended
both coroner's hearings. Illustrations: Aldersgate station c1923 with
Metropolitan Railway electric train on left and Midland Railway 0-4-4T No.
1380 with condensing gear see letter from Michael
J. Smith who sorts out location and correct ownership of electric train;
inkstand made from battered remins of Metropolitan Railway carriage (colour);
London Transport (ex-Metropolitan Railway) 0-4-4T No. L48 at Farringdon prior
to hauling Railway World
special to Quainton Road on 23 May 1954; Metropolitan Railway) D
Clas 2-4-0T No, 75; Metropolitan Railway
electric locomotive No. 7 Edmund Burke entering Aldersgate; Fowler
2-6-2T No. 40038 at Aldersgate with Moorgate to St Albans tran on 13 May
1960 (James Harrold)
Martin Baggoley. The Dover Priory murder. 699-700.
On 30 April 1868 Thomas Wells, a carrriage cleaner on the London Chatham
& Dover Railway shot and killed the station master Edward Adolphus Walsh.
Wells was subjected to judiciaal murder at Maidstone prison on 13 August.
Illustraions: cartoon showing shooting and ghoulish card showing various
"dignatories" and hangman above the drop and weeping women outside
Book Reviews. 701-2
Southern Urie and Maunsell two-cylinder 4-6-0s. David Maidment,
Pen and Sword Transport, hardback, 264 pages, DWM ****
This is one of the publisher's 'Locomotive Portfolios' series. It
is a beautifully produced book, lavishly illustrated in both black and white
and colour, and Backtrack readers who are devotees of the locomotives
of the Southern will be delighted by that with which they are presented –
as will anyone with an informed interest in the steam locomotive, its development
and operation. The meat of the book is in the chapters which concern the
design, construction and operation of the successive classes of locomotive,
H15, N15, N15x and S15. The text is, as already mentioned, supported by splendid
panoply of photographs and performance logs where appropriate.
Your reviewer was taken by the context given to the story by the brief overview
of the work of the formidable Dugald Drummond – a shame his 4-6-0s weren't
as formidable as their designer! – and by the pen pictures of the engineers
who tidied up the mess, Robert Urie and Richard Maunsell. The author's own
reminiscences of travelling behind particularly the 'King Arthur' Class bring
a nice personal element to the book. There is some fascinating 'Arthurian'
information provided, your reviewer didn't know that about 'Sir Harry le
Fise Lake' and as for Sir Uwaine and his lion – just delightful! Perhaps
more to the railway point is fireman Solly's account of a run on the same
'Sir Harry' from Ewer Street (between Waterloo East and London Bridge) to
Dover Marine with a train of Continental fruit and vegetable vans.
Those locomotives in preservation are given a chapter of their own, there
is a crystal-clear appendix of weight diagrams, a useful bibliography and
two indexes - one for text and another for photographs.
This authoritative book comes well- recommended!
Midland Main Lines to St. Pancras and Cross Country Sheffield to Bristol
1957-1963. John Palmer. Pen & Sword Transport, hardback, 207
pages, DWM *****
It took your reviewer a few minutes to fathom out the title of this
book and some brackets, placing Sheffield-Bristol directly after Cross Country
and leaving the dates to stand alone, wouldn't have come amiss.
But this is really the most minor of criticism of a truly remarkable book
which details the story of traffic and motive power on the 'grand cross 'of
the routes of former Midland Railway – epicentre Derby! – during
the rapid changes of the late 1950s and early '60s.
Written with style, authority and considerable personal insight by an
enthusiastic professional railwayman the book is intended, according to the
preface, "for those with an interest in the detail of railway operations,
for those with a passion for locomotives and for social historians". In these
objectives it succeeds admirably.
The book divides neatly into three sections. The first section sets the scene,
a very serviceable outline of the development of the former Midland Railway
routes under consideration is provided along with an excellent selection
of maps and plans. This is supported by a chapter on how the railway operated
at the time and a consideration of the locomotive depots along the route
and the motive power which they provided.
The 'meat' of the book is an individual consideration of the development
of services and motive power of the years 1957-63. In the most general terms
these chapters cover a trend from Class 5 power on expresses, with regular
double-heading, through the increasing provision of Class 6 and 7 power,
as a function of increasing dieselisation elsewhere and the electrification
of the West Coast Main Line to the arrival of the ubiquitous Peak Class diesels
in the early sixties. But these are the bare bones; each chapter is splendidly
supported with personal reminiscence, operating background and the delights
of such as football and pigeon specials, 'foreign' motive power, Co-Bos,
Derby Works Open Day, 9Fs on summer reliefs and the Midland
Pullman.
All in all a really comprehensive study of railway operation in a time of
great upheaval, splendidly illustrated both in black and white and colour
and, remarkably, including a dozen pictures from the National Collection.
The third part of the book is a fascinating miscellany. A series of performance
logs is supplemented by four 'pen pictures', fireman, freight and passenger
rolling stock inspectors and fitter and the piece de resistance, a section
entitled 'You'll never believe what's been through!'. This is splendidly
overt 'trainspotting' chapter, a marvellous look at 'out of the ordinary'
motive power seen up and down the various lines in the years under consideration
– and as a regular on the platforms at Derby what a lot of A3s –
even A2s and 'Clans' – I missed!
And by now the reader will now have seen through the reviewer's enthusiasm
for this book; it is a brilliant publication – but personally it covers
the years and the places which led to a lifetime's interest in the railway.
Highly recommended!
Great Northern outpost. Vol 2: The Halifax,
Thornton & Keighley Railway. Alan Whitaker and Jan Rapacz.
Willowherb Publishing, Hardback, 112pp. DJ ****
When there is a concept of covering less than twenty miles of railway
in two volumes, there are bound to be doubts as to whether the project will
be completed. Commercial considerations have often resulted in a second volume
failing to appear, but happily this has not proved to be the case with this
two-part pictorial portrayal of the Queensbury Lines.
The first volume covering the Bradford & Thornton Railway
was reviewed in the September 2016
Backtrack. Only a year later comes its companion work taking a
Similarly detailed look at the other lines in this Great Northern outpost
– Halifax to Queensbury and Thornton to Keighley.
The authors again deserve high praise for bringing together over 100 largely
unpublished colour photographs of railways that ceased to carry passenger
traffic in 1955 and had vanished completely by the mid-1960s. Happily, the
present trend of convincing but artificial 'colourisation' of mono images
has been almost entirely resisted, the only exception being the St. Paul's
terminus of the Halifax High Level Railway which defeated all efforts to
find the real thing.
Thus there is no photograph at all of the Queensbury Lines' moment of motive
power supremacy in late 1957, when in great secrecy A3 No.60081 Shotover
repeatedly traversed the closed Lees Moor Tunnel. Nevertheless, the point
is well made that there could scarcely be a more fitting location to help
scientists determine the effect of sulphurous fumes in a confined space.
Footplate crews regarded it as an absolute hellhole, curving through more
than a right angle in its 1,533yd on a 1 in 55 gradient without a single
ventilation shaft.
As with the first volume, this is not a book for those prone to depression.
Less than half the pictures show a train – and even then the locomotive
is generally in deplorable condition amidst run-down surroundings. Over 30
pages are devoted to the sorry spectacle of tracklifting. Yet the same conclusion
remains. For those wanting a definitive pictorial record of a remarkable
railway in the last throes of its existence, it could scarcely be bettered.
A history of the East Coast Main Line. Robin Jones. Crowood
Press, (www.crowood.com). 240 pages, softback. GM ***
A couple of generations ago the contrasting characters of the 'great
main lines' out of London were a staple of popular railway literature. A
moderately-knowledgeable railway student, taken blindfolded to one of them,
would within moments of unmasking have been able to identify the route, from
the rolling stock, architecture, colours, even the smell. Apart from the
ever-vibrant kaleidoscope of successive train liveries most of the idiosyncracy
has now gone.
It is good therefore to be reminded by Robin Jones's new book of the atmosphere
and lore of the mighty East Coast Main Line and to learn more about aspects
of its long story. Those who want a formal, academic history must look elsewhere
– the definitive publications of the North Eastern Railway Association
are an excellent start – but there is scope for more popular, informal
studies and this is a good one of its genre. It is a personal, episodic overview,
but one which captures well the essence of a proud railway.
As an experienced senior journalist and Editor of Heritage Railway magazine,
Robin Jones has a keen eye for a good story and a telling anecdote. His is
a lively and discursive narrative, rich in supporting detail and well presented
by the publisher: in an era when all too often illustrations are muddy and
ill- presented it is a particular pleasure to find here a wealth of crisp
images, well-sized, most in colour and many by the author, picking out unusual
and memorable scenes along the route. A good range of historical images include
some new to your reviewer. The story covers the 'pre-history' of the route
in the form of the Great North Road and the turnpikes, the gradual formation
of today's trunk line from disparate local elements, and the competitive
spirit which engendered both the 'Races to the North' and the battle of the
streamliners between the wars. The epic story of the Tay and Forth Bridges
takes us north to Aberdeen. There are accounts of some of the great figures
connected with the line, such as Hudson, Sturrock and Gresley, and a sensible
and balanced account of the Beeching era. The IvattAtlantics, the A4s, 'Deltics'
and electrification are well covered, as is the heroic run of Mallard
down from Stoke. Interesting sidelines include Gresley's study of the German
'Flying Hamburger' diesel train (rejected in favour of the stream liners),
a glimpse of the abandoned Leamside line, King's Cross station, the National
Railway Museum and of course Flying Scotsman and Tornado. As
the route faces the latest in its successive makeovers, with the impending
arrival of the 'Azuma' trains, it is a good moment to look back with Robin
lanes and savour to the full their goodly heritage.
Schoolboy, servant, GWR apprentice: the memoirs of
Alfred Plumley 1880-1892; edited David Wilkins. History Press. LAS
[L.A. Summers?]. ****
In the late 1970s and early 1980s there appeared a number of railway
books written by ex-engine drivers and others detailing their career experiences.
I worked closely with my father on the book that he contributed to the genre
and over time my experience of that publisher-contact has become very revealing.
To read one was very often to read them all, same shed backgrounds, same
workmates, same locomotive experiences. This is the main reason why such
publications are little seen now. But part of the explanation must also be
the imperative that my father's publisher made clear, no social or family
detail, no diesels, "our readers are not interested in those things".
In that respect this book is quite different and the better for it. The editor,
David Wilkins discovered its text, written almost entirely anonymously, in
a saleroom, hidden in a battered box beneath a table. After a good deal of
research and assistance from various organisations he has succeeded in
identifying the author and the places and circumstances of his life from
the age of five to eighteen. Alfred Plumley was born in 1874 to a rural family
in north Somerset, above the poverty line but still in daily awareness of
the workhouse. His education was scanty, his school experiences directed
by a schoolmaster who was clearly a sadist (of which there were still a few
even in the late 1950s) and at the age of twelve he became a pageboy –
in reality an odd job boy – in the big house where his father had recently
become second coachman. He remained there until he was sixteen years old
when, through the patronage of his 'mistress', he became a lad porter on
the GWR at Worle, on the Weston-super-Mare branch. Throughout this section
of the story the record of country life and its people is told in a simple
straightforward manner that accepts the status quo with very little challenge.
When he does offer criticism, it is individuals not the system that he takes
to task.
Though he had no prior interest in a career on the railway Alfred takes to
it immediately. He gives a clear and graphic account of his life first at
Worle and later at Bristol Temple Meads, bringing to life, amongst other
things, the long forgotten necessity to trudge along the line every morning
to collect the signal lamps and to clean them to a scrupulously high standard
before taking them back in the evening. He refers to signal gantries that
were 'terrifying' to climb at the best of times but potentially fatal during
frosty weather. His account of the great freeze of 1890/91 when, as is well
known, the down Zulu express reached Plymouth eight days late, conjures
up the misery that railway work could actually be, in reality; none of this
modern sunny myth-making. His service began shortly before the last broad
gauge train runs and he laments its passing with the same regret as those
twice his age. He makes friends easily and appreciates his first elderly
'kindly' station master, very different to the situation at Temple Meads,
the station master of which place is not even mentioned. At age eighteen
when Alfred is confirmed as a GWR employee the account ends. And that is
a great pity for he continued in GWR until his retirement and there must
have been much more that he could have written.
This book is not intended directly for those knowledgeable about railways.
Some of the editor's explanations are rather simplistic and his description
of the advantages of the Pacific locomotive layout is questionable, especially
in GWR regions! For all that, it is very readable, a veritable 'page turner'
that I could hardly put down.
Given the paucity of exactly relevant material it is well illustrated, though,
as always with this publisher one could wish for better reproduction. For
those whose interests are restricted to engines, coaches and trains it will
be of medium interest but for Backtrack readers, with a wide and deep interest
in railway history, this is one more essential resource for knowing the real
GWR.
Readers' Forum. 702
Cambrian colloquy. Editor
I'm advised the photograph at Dovey Junction on the back cover of
the October issue is at the east end of the station looking towards Machynlleth.
The '2251' on the left would have come in from the Cambrian Coast while the
'Manor' on the right has arrived from Aberystwyth and is about to depart
towards Shrewsbury.
The Manx Railway System in 1968. David
Mitchell
On p469 the caption of the shed scene states that for the 1967 reopening
Caledonia was re-painted in the Indian Red livery. This was not so.
It was painted 'Ailsa green' in 1967 for the reopening and after the collision
at Union Mills it worked a few trains in green. It was repainted in the red
livery sometime in early 1968 and worked a special for the Supporters'
Associatiom on 2 June 1968 from Douglas to St. John's. As far as I am aware
this was the only time it worked a train in the red livery and was put in
the Port Erin Museum a little later.
The Crieff lines no more. John
Macnab
The camping coach noted at Comrie in August 1958 (p560) was the first
year one had been situated there, the last year being 1963. The Metro-Cammell
twin DMU as illustrated at Crieff on llth June 1956 was on loan for a period
of time from the ER to the ScR "as a demonstrator" which included
Gleneagles-Crieff-Comrie workings. AC Cars railbus 79979 (date on p561 should
read 1958 not 1963) was one of ultimately five in total (the other four came
to Scotland in due course after a sojourn on the WR). The eleven rail buses
given note for ScR routes covered other types such as Park Royal (as per
79973 on p565), Wickham and Bristol/ECW. As stated and on other workings
their day to day appearance was honoured more in the breach than the observance.
I have come upon an article 'I remember Crief!' by
R.D. Stephen in the April
1956 issue of Trains Illustrated magazine which gives some historical
background as well as some interesting happenings and events in the LMS days
of the inter-war years.
Mention is made of the use of a Sentinel steam railcar on the Methven branch
prior to its closure in 1937. Stated to be mainly employed on the branch
itself to and from Methven Junction, it made occasional forays to and from
Perth. (A Sentinel also popped up at Strathpeffer in the Highlands around
this time.)
Subsequent letters to the editor on the article gave notice that the line
was very busy during the summer months with excursion traffic most of which
were worked by LMS Fowler 2-6-0s. The first Sunday excursion from Dundee
West to Oban in 1934 was routed via Perth and Balquhidder and would appear
to have been worked forward from Perth by the only locomotive available -
a Caley Jumbo 0-6-0 that manfully struggled forward with no fewer than twelve
coaches in tow. On the necessary reversal at Balquhidder the driver baulked
at the prospect of tackling the ascent to Glenogle unaided and a locomotive
was appropriated from Balquhidder sub-shed to assist as pilot - another Caley
Jumbo! Off went the ensemble to Oban (and presumably on return).The
'powers-that-be' were not amused on subsequently hearing of this, especially
using the Balquhidder Jumbo without permission! Following this episode all
further such workings from Perth were entrusted to former Highland Railway
Castles and Clans.
Engineering operations and weather- related diversions from the Callander
route had Oban services run to and from Balquhidder and Crieff to Gleneagles
and on one occasion all services to and from Perth diverted saw a London
train complete with a 'Royal Scot' locomotive at Crieff. Varied types of
locomotives seen over the years included Gresley 2-6-2Ts and Stanier 2-6-4Ts
on the early morning mail trains from Stirling, a former Caledonian Railway
Pickersgill 4-6- 2T and, strangest of all, a Great Northern Ivatt 4-4-0 on
a ballast train in 1947.
The Crieff lines no more. John
Glover
David Ferguson discusses the introduction of railbuses, in which he
states that to enter these vehicles at the new low level halts of Strageath
and Pittenzie, the railbuses had retractable steps (bottom of p562). However,
in the photographs of both these halts (pp. 564/5), portable steps are shown
a distance from the platform edge. They are totally without handrails. For
what purpose were these intended? Or was it merely insurance against a locomotive
and coach(es) being substituted? If so, was it the guard's job to position
the steps and help passengers board or alight? There seems to be no lighting
for use after dark. I hesitate to use the word 'primiitive', but it does
indicate how far we have come in nearly 60 intervening years.
DP2 – a remarkable prototype. David
Mitchell
On p470 of the August issue DP2 is shown arriving at Leeds Central
on a ordinary express. The Pullman arrived a little later and DP2,
having been released from the stock of the train it had brought in, then
detached the Bradford portion and worked it to Bradford Exchange. I recall
being very pleasantly surprised when DP2 turned up.
The NER and its timetables in Edwardian days.
Charles AlIenby
Further detail to captions of photographs of Gilling and Kirbymoorside
stations which accompanied Glen Kilday's article. Although the village is
known as Gilling East, so as to differentiate it from Gilling West some two
miles north of Richmond (Yorks.), the station was always known simply as
Gilling in public timetables with a footnote 'for Ampleforth College, even
though the station nameboard in the photograph displaying 'Gilling Junction'
clearly begs to differ! The small wooden building to the left of the signal
box, its structure subsequently adjusted so it became parallel to the railway
when the new signal box was commissioned in 1906, remained in place, identified
on the door as the 'Porters Room', until shortly after the 10 August 1964
closure. Following a sojourn in a local farmer's field it eventually ended
up on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway on Platform 1 at Pickering station.
Unsurprisingly it is known as the Gillingham Building and is used by the
station staff between trains. A worrying aspect of the photograph, although
most probably staged, is the bracket signal for the train's movement on to
the single line towards Coxwold which is 'off' even though no-one has considered
it necessary to close the south side hand-worked level crossing gate against
the road.
Kirbymoorside station was referred to as Kirby Moorside until 1948 (the station
nameboard offers an unofficial Kirby-Moorside), whereas the town has been
known as Kirkbymoorside for a considerable time. A replacement signal box
was provided in 1908 close to the same location as the one shown at the Pickering
end of the platform. The 'Occurrence Book' states "Monday June 15 1908 Closed
Old Signal Box 9.33am Opened New Box 9.33am F. Clark RS (relief signalman)
J. Nash (signalman)".
As a postscript, J. Nash was a signalman at Kirby Moorside (as it was then)
for 34 years from 1877 (first entry 21 May) to 1911 (last entry 11 June).
His death is recorded as having taken place on 27 April 1912.
'Now we shall have the naming of engines'.
Peter Davis
On p478 lower photograph is described "date and place not known".
The location is west of Bathampton Junction just east of the site of Hampton
Row Halt. The photograph was taken from the Kennet & Avon towpath. This,
of course, means that we have here the down train, 08.45 ex-Paddington. No.5043
Earl of Mount Edgcumbe was an Old Oak Common engine (the down train
was an OOC turn whereas the up train was a Bath Road turn) which emerged
from Swindon Works with a double chimney in May 1958. The reporting number
124 described this train during the 1958 summer timetable period; it changed
to 212 for the winter of '58 timetable. The following year the number became
204 and diesel haulage was introduced. So the picture was taken between 16
May and 11September 1958 probably in high summer judging by the copious foliage
in evidence.
The Great Western on Wirral. Robin
Leleux
As a 'Southern boy' too, may I answer Simon Pain's query posed in
the September issue? I was brought up in the early 1950s (1950-55) alongside
the Reading-Redhill line at Chilworth, between Guildford and Dorking. For
us boys the 'Birkenhead' as we called it was the prestige train of the day,
not so much for its locomotives which were invariably a Maunsell Mogul (usually
a U, sometimes an N) but for the string of carmine and cream corridor coaches,
speeding by non-stop, for our usual fare was three-coach stoppers. The westbound
service came through each day just before dinnertime (I nearly got run over
one morning dashing home to be in time to see it) while the eastbound one
passed soon after 14.00. Of course we never knew where Birkenhead was, just
it was a very long way away; even the Kent/Sussex coast was outside our
restricted horizons. See also letter from Mike
Lamport on how he "Birkenheads" were viewed from Kent where they were
known as the "Contis"
The Metropolitan's diamond logo. Eric
Stuart
The term 'lozenge' has often been used for the diamond shape. For
many years (I would estimate at least 30 and probably more), the Watford
Observer newspaper carried the logo at the head of its front page. Visting
the area recently, I obtained a current copy and noticed the Met logo was
no longer on the paper. I do not know how long ago it was dropped. I wonder
how many readers of the Watford Observer realised the significance
of the Met logo. [KPJ delighted that the lozenges were found as after protracted
searches in both electronic and hard copy material he failed to find any
reference to what he originally thought were so-named]
By diesel train. Roger Carvell.
The colour view of Wormit station with a Cravens DMU mentions in the
caption the RAF yellow helicopter overflying the Tay Bridge. It is an RAF
Westland Whirlwind rescue helicopter, a licence-built version of the USA's
Sikorsky S-55 and later much improved upon by Westlands at Yeovil.
The RAF's yellow helicopters were a familiar feature of our coastline and
remote countryside for over 60 years and many a holiday resort witnessed
a 'rescue' demonstration by such machines when a crew member would be dunked
in the sea and then winched up by a fellow airman leaning out. Such displays
were as popular with holidaymakers on the sea front as fish and chips and
the 2015 disbandment the RAF's two yellow helicopter rescue squadrons which
had detachments all around the UK was met with great sadness.
Where is the railway connection? The tragic accident at Great Heck in February
2001 involving a GNER express, a Landrover and a Freightliner coal train
brought an immediate response from 202 (E Flight) Squadron, based at RAF
Leconfleld. Its big yellow Westland Sea King helicopters (another licence-built
US design) landed in an adjacent field and then ferried the dying and badly
injured passengers to hospital.
Perhaps Backtrack readers know of other instances of railway passengers and
crews rescued by helicopters?
Head for the hills. M.H. Yardley. rear cover.
No. 45593 Kolhapur on 06.40 Birmingham to Glasgow near Streeton
& Silsden on 20 August 1966.
London & South Western Railway B4 0-4-0T No.30096, named
Corrall Queen by its industrial owners, at their coal wharf in Southampton
Docks on 16th December 1972. (David Idle) front cover
See also pages 724
Credit where it's due. Michael Blakemore.
707
Death of Thomas John Edgington on 14 September 2017 in York. Photographer
from Birmingham and great assister to Backtrack. Worked in New Street
Control Office during WW2 and latterly in Public Relations Office at Euston
until joining NRM in 1975.
Iron ore for Llanwern. David Cable. 708-9.
Colour photo-feature: No. 37 301 plus two further Type 37
locomotives haul empty iron ore wagons past Stormy Down in March 1976;
Class 59 owned ARC (Amey Construction Ltd) No. 59 102 Village of Chantry
hauls empty iron ore wagons past Duffryn (Newport Transporter Bridge can
be seen in background if one looks to right); Class 56 Nos. 56 032 and 56
033 with full load for Llanwern at Stormy Downin September 1979; Foster Yeoman
No. 59 004 Paul A. Haywood crossing River Usk at Newport in July 1997
with load of ore; Class 60 No. 60 006 Scunthorpe Ironmaster in British
Steel blue livery with load for Llanwern passing Coedkernew
Miles Macnair. Tackling the gradient. Part one.
710-13
KPJ has been looking at pictures of the early Blenkinsop and Murray
Middleton Railway locomotive for nearly a century and had always thought
that the toother track was only on one side of the locomotive (perhaps a
model in the Science Musem had not helped). Macnair makes it clear that the
rack mechanism was on both sides. The concept was taken up by
Colonel John Stephens [sic]
Stevens, but with a central rack and demonstrated on his estate at Hoboken
in New Jersey. William Henry James patented
a form of distributed power transmission through shafts and gears to assist
vehicles climb gradients. Elijah Galloway
interpreted this concept and included a drawing of this in his History
and progress of the steam engine. The extraordinary Neath Abbey
Perseverance which ran on the Dowlais Tramroad and had cog wheel drive
as well as a drop down double chimney and is the subject of one of Robin
Barnes superb paintings reproducced in colour is described at length. Another
Neath Abbey machine Dowlais is also described and illustrated.
Unusual railways by Wilson and Day
is cited and Macnair argues that Lowe is
incorrect in his entry on Neath Abbey about thses locomotives. Moves upwards
towards Sylvester Marsh's Mount
Washington cog railway with 1 and 4 and steeper (Jacob's Ladder at 1 in 2.5)
gradients in USA. This somewhat crude, but lasting system led to the more
refined Riggenbach,
Abt, Locker [sic]
Locher-Freuler and
Strub systems.The Swiss Karl Welti
system employrd a clutch to mesh with a chevron pattern of steel bars was
used on a system near Lake Zurich but was abandoned after a fatal accident.
Grassi, Velline and Tubi locomotive is illustrated at a highly improbable
angle passing mountain goats. The Never-Stop Railway at the Britsh Empire
Exhibition greatly intrigued Kevin's Mother (on a par with Wagner's |Ring
Cycle) and is illustrated with a diagram which shows the screw mechanism
(inventors Benjamin Ratcliffe
Adkins and William Yorath
Lewis). Harrison's steep gradient locomotive of 1869 concludes this part.
See also letter from Ian Smith of the Middleton
Trust on Blenkinsop locomotives
Jeffrey Wells. Life, death and other matters —
The Great Western Railway in 1870. 714-18.
CitesMacDermot,
but not clear if following is a direct transcript: The
Great Western Railway offered the public dilapidated stations, late and cancelled
trains, high fares, inferior carriages and insufficient siding accommodation
to handle the increase in goods traffic: except for the last nothing changes.
Illustrations: Rossett station where a suicide occurred in February 1970;
43XX No. 7317 passing Priestfield with a short freight (this was location
of failure of telegraph system in February 1870); Churchill station where
a wagon wheel had disintegrated and caused a pile up of the following freight
train in March 1870; 0-6-0ST on express for Oxford at Moreton-in-Marsh (where
rider had been thrown from his horse killing him due to a passing train);
calm horsse on station premises at Moreton-in-Marsh; Wrexham station; Windsor
station c1905; Banbury station with what the caption
writer calls a G.W.R. 2-6-0, but is clearly a double-frame 2-4-0 (actually
a GCR 12A class with GCR coaches) and coach in opposite platform with Pullman
gangway and lowered Buckeye coupler with passengers in Edwardian attire (coloured
postcard from John Alsop collection).
See Railway Archive No. 24
page 74 upper for black & white reproduction and more accurate caption:
incorrect orientation noted by S. Tamblin in Volune
32 p. 125). Part 2 see Volume 32 page
59
Alan L. Bailey. The former LNW routes out of Leeds.
719-23.
See also earlier article.
Area mainly perceived by a locomotive spotter from the "tin bridge" (not
illustrated nor seemingly on map) in an area once transversed by KPJ, but
since rationalised and modernised. The viaduct route had been opened in 1882
to avoid congestion with trains arriving from the Huddersfield direction
and possibly going forward onto the North Eastern and began near Farnley
Junction, but has now been closed. It was sharply curved and arrival in Leeds
was accompanied by wheel squeals.The engine sheds in the area (Farnley Junction
and Copley Hill) were a draw to the young enthusiasts. Illustratiuons: B1
No. 61319 pilot to Class 5 4-6-0 on Heaton to Red Bank nrewspaper van empties
passing Farnley Junction splitting distants on 4 March 1966; map covered
with red squiggles; No. 45075 passing disued Farnley & Wortley station
in July 1964; Class 5 No. 45018 assisting Crab 2-6-0 on Heaton to Red Bank
nrewspaper van empties near site of future Gelderd Road Junction in July
1964; B1 on Cleethorpes to Leeds Central service at Worley South Junction
in April 1965; two O4 class 2-8-0 Nos. 63584 and 63605 on GN bridge across
LNWR low level goods route; Brush Type 4 No. 1111 on King's Cross to Bradford
direct express at Worley South Junction in June 1969; Type 45 No. D71 The
South Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's) on 12.28 Leeds to St.
Pancras train rounding curve to Gelderd Road Junction on 8 April 1968; looking
down onto Holbeck traction depot from Viaduct Route on 10 April 1993; Deltic
on 17.50 Leeds to King's Cross on former Viaduct Route on 23 August 1976;
Class 47 hauled Newcastle to Liverpool express passes under No. 37 249 on
train of empty Cartics on the low and high level lines at Copley Hill-Wortley
South on 15 August 1980.
Shunting Dibbles Wharf. 724-5.
Colour photo-feature: of Dibles Wharf (see
letter from John Roake): former LSWR outside cylinder 0-4-0ST BR No.
30096 (once named Normndy) was sold to P.D. Fuels and named Corrall
Queen where it survived until 1972 when it was acquired by the Bluebell Railway.
Photographs with gas holders (gasomters) in backbroud taken ijn May
1968 and on 17 December 1972 by David Idle and by John Tizzard.
Alistair F. Nisbet. Robberies on the rails. 726-33
Based on newspaper reports, many of which were far removed from the
scene of the crimes. The first took place at the Norwich terminus of the
Norfolk Railway where a box of cash containing £800 in gold and silver
coins was stolen and the thieves (probably employees) were not caught. At
the Newtyle Railway terminus in Dundee a chest containing valuables and cash
was stolen in December 1859, but the culprit, John Geekie was caught and
sentenced to three years in prison at Perth Sheriff Court on 11 April 1860.
Twelve brace of grouse took off from Perth General station, but a carter
named Duncan Lamont escaped conviction by claiming that he was drunk whilst
the birds were removed from his cart. The tedious crossing of Fife exposed
passengers to card sharps who attemted to remove the large amount of cash
from a ship's mate who had been paid off in Bristol in 1854, but the action
of the passengers impeded this crime. The theft of milk by an engine driver
at Thornton in December 1896 led to his appearance before Sheriff Armour
at Cupar (this tale has ben relared before
by Nisbet) The theft of beer and whiskey, especially the latter
led to detectives concealing themselves in wagons in an attempt to apprehend
the culprits: this has also been described in the
NBR Study Gp J. by Cattenach,
but Nisbet is able to add further cases on the Border Counties Line in 1867,
at Dundee in 1885 and from the many railways which congregated at Carlisle.
Illustrations: highwayman at work (woodcut); Bristol original station
(engraving); Norwich Victoria station (photograph); Perth General station;
police apprehending pickpocket (cartoon); Whitby Town station with DMU with
trailing LNER six-wheel van; Glasgow Central station in electronic age; D49
at Reedsmouth Junction with train for Riccarton Junction;
731: A3 No. 60052 Prince Palatine on freight at
Thornton not in "1952": see letter from Leonard
Rogers; WD 2-8-0 No. 90468 in Thornton Yard on coal train; Barnard Castle
station after train service hadd ceased.
Bushey water troughs in London & North Western Railway
days. Tice F. Budden (photographer) Edward Talbot (captions).
734-5.
Black & white photo-feature: Precedent 2-4-0 No. 1105
Hercules on up fast line c1898; three-cylinder compound Teutonic class
No. 1305 Ionic with up express from Manchester via Stoke c1898; 2-2-2-2
Greater Britain class No. 526 Scottish Chief with down 14.00 Corridor;
Special DX 0-6-0 on up excursion; Teutonic No. 1309 Celtic on up express;
Special DX 0-6-0 on down coal empties. See also
letter from Tim Birch. and long letter from
Peter Davis (which has led to some modification of this precis.
Summers out west. Dick Riley. 736-8.
Colour photo-feature: No. 6026 King John passing Teignmouth
on up Mayflower on 14 July 1958; No. 4088 Dartmouth Castle on
down express formed of LMS stock in carmine & cream livery entering Royal
Albert Bridge in July 1955; No. 6811 Cranbourne Grange on up train
of ex-LMS empty stock on 14 July 1958; No. 6868 Penrhos Grange (lined
green livery) on down express formed of carmine & cream stock on 14 July
1958; No. 5020 Trematon Castle on 06.25 Penzance to Paddington on
16 July 1958; No. 4077 Chepstow Castle in sparkling condition with
filthy No. 7814 Fringford Manor assisting wait to leave Plymouth Millbay
Docks on 5 July 1955; 51XX No. 4117 on Exeter to Newton Abbot local train
leaving Parson's Tunnel.
Edward Gibbins. The fate of the Stainmore Route. Part
one. 739-45.
An examination of some of the absurd and expensive proposals to keep
the Stainmore Route open for both freight and passenger traffic. The route
had been opened in 1861/2 as the South Durham & Laancashire Union Railway
and the Eden Valley Railway and ran from Bishop Auckland to Tebay and to
Penrith with a junction at Kirkby Stephen. It carried coke from the Durham
Coalfield to the iron ore producing area near Ulverston and iron ore from
Whitehaven to Teesside. There was very little local traffic as the Summit
was nearly 1400 feet above sea level. The passenger servicce was three per
day in each direction, latterly performed by DMU. The line was in both the
London Midland and Eastern Regions. It was steeply graded: 1 in 57 ruling
gradient eastbound. Objectors included hoteliers (who did not know how their
guest rrived) in the Lake District, the MP for Bishop Auckland, the Ramblers'
Association and the district councils. The Ministry of Defence did not appear
to be interested. Hearings were set up by the Transport Users Consultative
Committee (TUCC). The major freight users were bot concerned by their ore
and coke being carried via Carlisle and Newcastle. Illustrations: J21 0-6-0
No. 65033 with special formed of Gresley corridor stock at Stainmore Summit
on 7 May 1960 (colour: Gavin Morrison): two class 4 2-6-0 Nos. 43056 and
76050 pass closed Ravenstonedale station on train from Blackpool on 12 August
1961 (colour: Trevor Owen); two Class 4 2-6-0 (No. 76045 leading Ivatt type
behind) crossing Belah Viaduct with train from Blackpool (Cecil Ord); No.
43018 with westbound coke train with banking at rear near Stainmore Summit
in spring of 1960 (Cecil Ord); J21 No. 65047 with unseen No. 65089 at rear
on eastbound freight on 25 July 1952 (T.G. Hepburn); No. 43102 with four
coaches from Blackpool pass Summit c1960 (Cecil Ord); Kirkby Stephen East
with eastbound passenger train and J21 and Clss 2 2-6-0 in yard on 25 July
1952 (T.G. Hepburn); No. 43027 and Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0 pass Merrygill signal
box with another Class 2 at rear (Cecil Ord): Britain's woeful productivity
is exemplified by these pictures!
The Vale of Rheidol Railway. 747-9
Black & white photo-feature: Caption asserts that first part
of British Railways to be sold offf into private ownership,
but refuted by David Pearson. Most (but not
all photographs taken by T.J. Edgimgton; several liveries displayed): Davies
& Metcalfe original 2-6-2T No. 9 with coaches paited carmine & on
one of many sharp curves; No. 8 in plain green livery at Aberffrwd crossing
loop on 17 July 1955; No. 9 Prince of Wales in VoR station at Aberystwyth
in 1960 (Roy Cole); No. 8 Llywelyn leaving Devil's Bridge with packed
train on 30 August 1963; No. 9 Prince of Wales passing Crosville garage
with old Bristol low-bridge double decker on train from Devil's Bridge on
4 June 1963; No. 9 Prince of Wales in Swindon Works on 30 March 1960;
No. 9 Prince of Wales at Devil's Bridge in 1960 (Roy Cole); No. 9
Prince of Wales in corporate Rail Blue livery with train to match
rounding curve above Aberffrwd on 27 August 1969 (A. Robey); No. 8
Llywelyn and train in Rail Blue livery in former Carmarthen line platforms
in Aberystwyth station on 13 June 1977; No. 7 Owain Glyndwr with special
livery in engine shed at Aberystwyth; Cambrian Railways Bagnall 2-4-0T No.
3 outside its shed in Aberystwyth in 1921
Secondary considerations. Trevor Owen. 750
Colour photo-feature: Class 5 4-6-0 No. 45430 near Entwhistle
on Bolton to Blackburn line on a parcels train on 15 June 1966; BR Standard
Class 4 2-6-0 No. 76062 leaves Burghclere with freight for Newbury on 5 March
1964; Fairburn 2-6-4T with five coach train for Gourock? with
view across Clyde on 20 April 1965 see letter
from Leonard Rogers who states that train was for Wemyss Bay not Gourock;
2251 class 0-6-0 No. 3205 passing Filleigh with Exmoor Ranger tour heading
towards Tauntom on 27 March 1965; Standard Class 4 4-6-0 Nos. 75053 and 75063
on Cambrian Coast Express near Carno on 29 December 1965; 56XX 0-6-2T
with another at rear on coal train in proximity of Groesfaen Colliery on
3 April 1965.
Bruce Laws. Les Beet: extracts from a steam locomotive
driver's life. Part one. 753-9.
Author is nephew of Alfred Leslie Beet, who was born in Nottingham
in October 1904. Began work as a cleaner in about 1918 at Colwick and promted
to driver in about May 1941. Les gave the author a footplate ride from Grantham
to Nottingham on an L1. Les was a Notts County supporter and lovr of cricket
at Trent Bridge, but was obliged to move to Ipswich to gain promotion, but
returned to Colwick after marriage and eventually bought a house in Nottingham.
Illustrations: portait; Colwick engine shed in GNR period in 1907; L1 2-6-4T
No. 67750 at Darlington on 1 May 1949; Colwick depot with R1 class 0-8-2T
No. 3131 and J6 0-6-0 No. 6573 in c1928 (D.S. Barrie); Colwick shed viewed
from public road with railwaymen returning home in 1912; Ipswich shed
c1900 with shear legs and P3 4-2-2; Ipswich Docks Lower Yard with GER 0-6-0T
in BR period; Ipswich station with B17 on down express; page from Les's 1940
log book. See also letter from Roger A. Smith
and from Michael Elliott
Alex Flemming. Impressions of a young trainspotter on
the Hog's Back at Harringay. 760-1
Earlier a very famous railway historian (Alan Jackson) watched the
trains go by from the Hog's Back
(Railway Archive Number 10
page 4). Flemming did see most of the Pacifics, although the Haymarket
A4s tended to fly only during the summer. The A4s were the most popular.
The wonderful Deltics barely get a mention. The condensing N2 class and Quad-arts
were seen, but the wildly unsuitable diesel railcars, Baby Deltics which
followed are too dreadful to mention. Illustrations; B1 No. 61409 on 06.50
Grimsby to King's Cross passing Harringay on 4 April 1959; N2 No. 69536 with
Quad articulated set at Harringay; prototype Deltic at Harringay (Ben
Brooksbank)
Signalling spotlight: North Eastern Railway signal boxes. notes by
Richard Foster. 762
Colour photo-feature: Relly Mill in June 1968 (S.C. Dent);
Parkgate (Darlington) in June 1969 (S.C. Dent); Norton-on-Tees; Grosmont
on 14 September 1964 (J.S. Gilks).
Readers' Forum. 764
The Railway Mission. Editor
In the above article in the November issue, the acknowledgement for
the illustrations was unfortunately omitted. They should all have been credited
to 'Collection of Cam rose Media'. Ed.
Looking blue. Editor
The splendid but uncredited view of No.46206 Princess Marie Louise
at Rugby, from the Colour-Rail Collection, in the September issue was
in fact actually taken by the Revd.
A. W. V. Mace. .
Recent departures. Amyas Crump
For all those who have enjoyed the wonderfully evocative photographs
from the camera of Peter W. Gray (1927-2017) over many decades, it will be
a great sadness to hear that he passed away on Monday 2 October, just short
of his 90th Birthday. A prolific photographer since the 1940s – both
here and abroad, many will also recall the slide shows that he regularly
undertook until a fall in April 2016 curtailed his travels. A very gentle,
modest and private man – yet always with time to engage with and support
the many of us whose knowledge and experience was but a fraction of his.
He was an inspiration to many and will be deeply missed by all who knew
him.
Richard Casserley, Editor
The editorial pays tribute to John Edgington who died in September
but in October we also bade farewell to Richard Casserley. Richard was the
son of the great Henry and guardian of HCC's wonderful photograph collection.
He has been helpful and generous to Backtrack on many occasions, not
least with regard to the 'Southern gone West' series currently running, and
I shall miss being able to call on his encyclopaedic knowledge of his family's
picture archive.
'Rather unprincipled persons'. Robert
Smith
Has nothing to do with Ministers of Transport, but merely notes a
caption on p635 recording a locospotter's graffito seen at King's Cross "Died
here waiting for Flamingo": the caption showed fellow Carlisle Canal A3 No.60093
Coronach on a southbound train beyond Falahill Summit (an equally
improbable visitor to King's Cross)..Smith was reminded of a message in similar
tone that he saw in around 1959 on the platform fence at Kenton on the
Euston-Watford dc lines that said "Died here waiting for Black Watch". I
had no idea what it meant at the time, but soon found out, and it set me
off on my trainspotting and railway enthusiast career. I have never been
able to resolve the question of whether No.46102 ever ventured as far south
as London. If so, I never saw it and have never traced any photographic evidence
of it anywhere south of Crewe. Can any reader help? ,
The 'Met' in the Gironde and The Metropolitan's Diamond
logo. Robert Barker
After electrification in 1905 the Metropolitan Railway
engaged the firm of Wheatley, Kirk, Price & Co. as
agents to sell redundant locomotives and coaches, to which end they printed
about 3,000 copies of a sales catalogue. Sadly a copy has not survived among
the company documents in the London Metropolitan Archives but a minute book
records that it elicited enquiries from as far afield as Norway and even
China. Doubtless the Societe Generate des Chemins de Fer Economiques received
a copy and spotted a bargain.
Turning to the Met's logo, two red diamonds on blue bars
survive embedded in a tiled station facade, together with the words 'Metropolitan
Railway Farringdon & High Holborn Station' and poorly erased 'Parcels
Office'. The diamond-shaped clock at Willesden Green also remains alive and
ticking.
The Glasgow Blue Trains. John
Macnab
The above article (October) makes mention that the full electric services
concerned commenced in November 1960 (5 not 7), but it was only some six
weeks later (not as stated after some months in service) in the early hours
of Sunday 18 December that the electric units were withdrawn after a series
of incidents. No fatalities were incurred although in one instance a guard
did suffer serious injuries. Steam workings recommenced on the Monday morning
of the 19 after what can be best described as an extraordinary railway logistical
exercise. The restoration of the full electric service took place on Monday
2 October 1961.
Although involved personally in much of this I cannot recall sidings east
of Craigendoran given the name Colgrain although a group of sidings known
as Ardmore between Cardross and Craigendoran may be that which is referred
to but I do not recall them being used to store driving trailer cars of sets
whilst the power cars were away for rectification. A remedy to work air-braked
units with nominally vacuum-braked locomotives was to employ the handful
of remaining former CR 4-4-0s with Westinghouse pumps to do the needful.
In point of fact, when brand-new from Pressed Steel factory at Linwood, Paisley,
to Hyndland depot it is recorded that similar fitted CR 0-4-4Ts provided
the haulage. The word 'unfitted' was not used in this connection! The
steam-hauled workings to and from Hyndland depot to Manchester of power cars
used one of the first instances of 'barrier' stock, ie a couple of Gresley
corridors to give braking power.
Maunsell freight engines for the Southern Railway.
Allan C. Baker
A few comments on Jeremy Clerk's article in respect of locomotive
valve gears may not go amiss in helping readers to a better understanding.
The author would lead us to believe that one of the differences between the
Gresley and Holcroft designs of conjugated valve gear, whereby two independent
sets of gear can be arranged to operate the valve of a third cylinder, is
that one is affected by expansion of the valve spindles and the other is
not. In fact, the geometry of the two arrangements is similar and either
gear can be used, space envelopes permitting, at either end of the cylinders.
Some Gresley engines had the designer's arrangement behind the cylinders;
for example the B17 and the D49 Classes. No more, in the case of the prototype
N1 (and by the way, the prototype U1), was the gear driven from the combination
levers (levers note, not links as referred to by the author; levers and links
have quite different functions in mechanical engineering); it was from the
valve rods, the connection being close to where the combination levers attach
to the valve rods, hence perhaps, the confusion. If the gear had been driven
from the combination levers, it would only have imparted the lap and lead
motion on the valves and not their main travel. The author refers to the
arrangement of operating the valves of the inside cylinder on the Z Class
(and by inferance the later N1 and U1 engines) as Marshall drive d and in
this he may be confused with N Class number 1850, which in 1934 was
experimentally fitted with a valve gear, the invention of J.T. Marshall.
This involved separate sets of valves, piston for inlet and slide, situated
below the cylinders, for the exhaust, along with in effect, two separate
sets of valve gear. Trials with this engine were not a success and the equipment
was soon removed. The design of Walschaerts valve gear for an inside cylinder
where there is insufficient room for the conventional arrangement of connecting
the combination lever via a link to the crosshead, to give movement in phase
with the main crank for the valve lap and lead, has nothing to do with Marshall.
It is no more than a slight re-arrangement of the gear's more familiar form,
such that an eccentric in phase with the main crank drives the combination
lever, rather than the cross head. The W Class engines had this arrangement
too and not a form of conjugated gear as described in the article, as,
incidentally, did the LMSR Stanier three-cylinder Class 4 2-6-4 tank engines
and for the same reason, that of insufficient room due to the incline of
the cylinder, necessary to allow the drive to be on the intermediate coupled
axle.
Now we shall have the naming of engines.
R.A.S. Hennessey
In the course of his correspondence about GWR, (Stephen Black, BT
October 2017) there is mention of the lettering form favoured by the GWR
for its locomotive names the 'Egyptian', often called 'Swindon Egyptian'.
This term has been so often employed that it has become virtually a standard
usage. But it is really a misnomer. 'Egyptian' letters, a form of slab serif,
have chunky, rectangular serifs. The form used by Swindon for locomotives
(and very often for carriages) is strictly speaking a Clarendon, often rendered
clarendon with a lower case 'c', to distinguish it from a printer's font
of the same name, confusingly a form of near-Egyptian dating from 1845. The
strokes of the Swindon form lead into serifs with gentle, minimalist arcs.
The leading expert on these forms, the late Alan Bartram (who had an appreciative
eye for GWR lettering in his definitive English Lettering from 1700 to
the Present Day not available in Norfolk as usual) suggested that this
Clarendon grew out of a well-established English Vernacular, of which it
was a bold, stylish form. Bartram also speculated that Brunel himself might
have drafted the Swindon form. It was of a family becoming popular in the
first quartile of the nineteenth century. There is more to all of this than
a footnote to the long history of locomotive naming. The Clarendon was used
by the GWR throughout its existence, say over 110 years; its use continued
under BR (W) - see diesel-hydraulic 'Warship' class nameplates. This record
must be one of the longest to date in the history of corporate graphics,
if not the very longest. One might dare to suggest that, with deference to
the Ford or Rolls-Royce logos, or the Citroen chevrons, it will be hard to
improve upon it for nobility, elegance and prestige.
PS: Edward Johnson's 'Underground' lettering was designed for the London
Electric Railway Co. c1916, not the LPTB which inherited it in 1933 and
thereafter intensified its usage.
Look at Leeds. Walter
Rothschild
Re shot on p608 of No.42107 heading "an L& Y route express" –
you assume that this would reverse at Bradford Exchange and gain a larger
locomotive there. Other readers will no doubt be able to correct me and add
details but for many years the Leeds-Liverpool expresses did not go down
the hill into Bradford to reverse but instead took the avoiding line from
Laisterdyke to Bowling Junction and train portions were combined at, I believe,
Low Moor. This was just before my own 'conscious' period of observing operations
and by then most trains were dieselised and of course for DMUs there was
no problem in reversing – albeit Bradford Exchange remained to a large
extent two parallel termini under the same overall roof. On the eastern (GN)
side were two carriage sidings where a few Mark 1s always seemed to stand.
At work in Derbyshire. Alan
Eatwell
The caption to one of the David Rodgers photographs in the November
issue observes that No.48191 had been "a pet project for the (unofficial?)
cleaning gang" and I can now satisfy the question in that the cleaning gang
involved was indeed unofficial and as a fifteen-year-old at the time I was
among them. The composure of that gang is now all a bit vague, but may have
included members of the infamous MNA – Master Neverers Association.
The contingent with whom I was involved, however, was from the Severn Valley
and we gathered at Birmingham New Street on the evening of Friday 23 February
1968. We caught a train to Stockport whereupon we descended on Edgeley shed
and made an unchallenged inspection of everything there, including the late
David Shepherd's 9F No.92203 with 'Black Prince' already chalked up on its
smoke deflectors.
Subsequently we caught a further train on to Buxton, met up with others from
elsewhere and by informal prior arrangement we were offered the relative
comfort of the steam shed's mess room by the night foreman. No. 48191 had
previously been brought in from the cold for our convenience and so we set
to cleaning. This was in anticipation of the following morning's goods train
to Gowhole, upon which we had officially chartered an additional brake van
in which to ride, as can be seen to be well occupied in David's photographs.
The steam shed was in its final weeks if not days, stock was low in the stores
and while there were still wipers and lubricating oil, there was no paraffin.
As was inevitable by that time the 8F was in a bit of a state and something
more soluble than lub oil was required to cut through the accumulated muck.
Our new-found friend the night foreman was approached with our problem, which
he promptly resolved by escorting us to the modern traction depot across
the tracks and providing us with buckets of diesel! I don't recall that a
risk assessment was high in our priorities and the itching must have soon
worn off, but the end result of what we achieved is forever preserved in
David Rodgers's photographs.
LYR Loop Lines. Tom Wray
Re phoytograph on p600 in the October issue of Cheetham Hill (not
Queens Road as stated in the caption) carriage shed, the Atlantic in the
foreground is not running on the loop line but coming out of Queen Road carriage
sidings prior to taking a residential train from Victoria station to the
Lancashire coast.
Of much more interest are the ticket collecting platforms on the up slow
and fast lines alongside the carriage shed above the train. Before the
introduction of ticket barriers at Victoria station in March 1913 most trains
had to stop for a few minutes for the collection of tickets at these
platforms.
Book reviews. 765
A detailed history of the Stanier Pacifies: the Princess
Royals, the 'Turbomotive' and the Coronations locomotives of the LMS
series. John Jennison. Railway Correspondence & Travel Society.
264pp. hardback. Reviewed by Michael Blakemore. *****
This is a work the world (ours, anyway!) has been waiting for - in
the already highly acclaimed LMS locomotive history series, the volume on
its largest and most prestigious engines.!n reviewing it, it's hard not to
simply say 'for everything you need to know on the subject, enquire
within'.
We are led through the evolutionary process, via unrealised pre-Stanier
proposals, to the emergence of the 'Princess Royals' and on to the famous
'Euston-Glasgow in Six Hours' in November 1936. The 'Coronation' design followed
and consideration is given to the influences in Germany, the USA and of course
on the rival LNER which went into the development of a streamlined design.
Fact- finding visits to America in the 1930s had led to a 1935 report showing
the LM5 was already considering a high-speed streamlined service. Descriptions
of both Pacific types come with an immense amount of detail: technical, boiler
changes, allocations, mileages, liveries, work performed - you mention it,
you'll almost certainly find it.
Included within the work is the 'Turbomotive', the experimental non- condensing
turbine locomotive which came about from an impressive demonstration in Sweden.
Plenty of descriptive detail of transmission, control and gearing is given,
with some good accounts of the machine's performance in service which led
to the conclusion that it was by and large a successful and promising performer
- very much 'a near miss' in technology design. The failure of the forward
turbine in 1949 and the very different world inherited by British Railways
inevitably meant the end of the project. As No.46202 it was rebuilt into
the conventional but short- lived Pacific Princess Anne which perished in
the Harrow & Wealdstone disaster. Compilation of a book of this sort
on this scholarly scale is a tremendous undertaking and the RCTS and those
responsible for the huge amount of research which has gone into it cannot
be too highly commended. Five stats without question!
Memories of West Country railway journeys, 1960-62. Peter Barnfield,
Wild Swan Books, 120pp, Reviewed by DAT ****
This is a companion book to Memories of the Withered Arm, published
in 2016 by the same author and to the same format. It adopts the very personal
approach of recounting one enthusiast's experiences, now approaching six
decades ago, when travelling on the still largely steam-operated routes of
the much-loved West Country rail network, a network that was to undergo dramatic
change imminently. Indeed, looking back over those years serves to emphasise
how similar the railways were then to those of the Edwardian era and how
utterly different they would become just ten years later, with even busy
branch lines closed and lifted.
The 'Withered Arm' volume having covered the ex-SR routes, this volume deals
almost exclusively with the dominant ex-GWR system. Individual chapters deal
with the C1evedon auto, the night train to Penzance, Martock (on the
Durston-Yeovil branch), Chard, the Somerset & Dorset's branch to Burnham-on-
Sea, the Kingsbridge and Uffculm lines, the Plymouth-Launceston route, a
Bank Holiday on the Looe branch and finally the Fowey branch. There is a
useful map on the rear inner cover. The text is illustrated by 122 black
and white photographs, taken at the time by the author. The style of the
text and these photographs are very successful in making the reader, whether
a GWR fan or not, feel very much as though they are making the actual journeys,
with plenty of description of what the enthusiast used to find and anecdotes
about the operating practices of the day. Although most subjects are naturally
GWR steam locomotives, the occasional SR type makes an appearance, such as
at Chard Junction. Some of the photographs are a little dark, accurately
reflecting the fact that the sun did not always shine in the West, but all
are sharp and there are plenty of interesting general views full of that
historical detail of crucial value to the modeller.
This is a lovely little book that would make a great travelling companion
to a West Country holiday today, whether by rail or road, and is a pleasing
addition to the already vast library of books on a West Country era that
is now a memory, although we still fortunately have the preserved lines.
Indeed, reading this book in a genuine ex-GW coach on a quiet (even wet!)
day on the South Devon Railway today would be a treat indeed.
The Turbomotive - Stanier's Advanced Pacific. Tim Hillier-Graves.
Pen & Sword 2017. Landscape format 206 pages, approximately 190 black
and while illustrations, 11 in colour, 20-plus drawings and diagrams. Reviewed
by ACB. A.C. Baker?
This book is another in an increasing range by this comparatively
new publisher in the railway book market, which is all the more welcome with
the demise of old established names like lan Allan. Its title, however, is
somewhat of a misnomer as strictly speaking, the locomotive was not a Pacific.
Incidentally, I don't think I have ever seen it referred to as the Turbomotive'
in any official context. [KPJ
see Bond's view on this "abberation"] This name was very much an invention
of the press and enthusiast fraternity. In the early part of my railway career,
I came across a few men who had been involved, including a fitter who was
one of those trained to ride with it. To a man, they referred to the engine
as simply The Turbine'. I guess it is inevitable that this book will be compared
with the earlier one by Clement and Robertson, published Crecy and reviewed
in the May issue. Although they both cover similar ground they do present
different angles on the subject matter, this one, for example, devoting far
more attention to the locomotive as rebuilt, along with the terrible accident
at Harrow, including the clearing-up operations and subsequent enquiry. While
touching on earlier and subsequent forays into turbine propulsion, it is
far less comprehensive. The author as his credentials for writing outlines
research undertaken by his father and uncle, who between them collected much
of the material. The book is profusely illustrated, including a rather nice
colour section of contemporary publicity-type material, although the author
has clearly gone for quantity rather than quality with in many cases rather
perfunctory and sometimes incorrect captions. In fact some have no captions
at all. The technical drawings of the turbine and ancillary gear in particular
would have benefited from more explanation. His description of the
characteristics of various designs of steam turbines, and in particular
condensing verses non-condensing, leaves something to be desired.
The author devotes a lot of space to biographical details of various people,
some of whom were heavily involved with the project, others less so, some
of which has little or nothing to do with the subject of the book. For example,
why do we need a potted biography of Hugh Scanlon, one time President of
the AEU, just because he was an apprentice with Met-Vie? I rather think the
author lets his enthusiasm run away in suggesting to readers that the engine's
driver on the occasion of the Harrow accident could not hide his sense of
pride in driving this magnificent locmotive and appreciated its status, when
answering questions at the enquiry. Having been involved with and often managed
footplate crews for much of my career, I very much doubt that this was the
case any more than other engines he might have driven. In fact the whole
book has an emotional background as the author enthuses over his subject
which occasionally leads to a lack of objectivity.
A particularly interesting feature are some notes by Alfred Ewer, one-time
DMPS at Willesden, including how he felt the engine's availability might
have improved had his staff been allowed more leeway in what attention they
were allowed to undertake, rather than despatching the engine to Crewe Works
for almost every problem. One issue neither book addresses is how they managed
to fit the 'Duchess' cylinder layout into the rebuilt locomotive bearing
in mind the smaller diameter driving wheels and that the British loading
gauge is at its most restrictive, down towards rail level. I am told drawings
do exist at the NRM, although none of the authors appears to have tapped
them. While the earlier book claims the rebuilt locomotive had completely
new main frames, this one claims only the front end was renewed. Neither
book tells us whether the roller bearings for the coupled wheel sets were
retained while photographs of the locomotive after the Harrow accident, with
the leading wheelset removed, show the wide horn-gap confirming that the
roller bearings were retained, which to my mind confirms that the bulk of
the main frames were reused. However, it would be interesting to know if
the roller bearings from the leading coupled wheelset were adapted to the
new crank-axle or whether new ones were required and if so, presumably they
would have been of the same design as the last two Pacifies. Nos.6256 and
6257.
Rails to the Front: the role of railways in wartime. Augustus J.
Veenendaal and H. Roger Grant, Karwansaray Publishers, Zutphen, The
Netherlands, 250 pp., hardback, Reviewed by DWM *****
The commemoration of the centenary of the Great War has seen a plethora
of new books published on the subject. The role of railways in the conflict
has not been neglected and many of the books which have appeared have been
quite specific, the role of armoured trains, rail-borne artillery, the narrow
gauge lines of the Western Front being some of the subjects considered recently
by your reviewer for the pages of Backtrack. This stylish volume, produced
by an American professor and a Dutch historian, first appeared in 2013, solely
in Dutch, to support a major exhibition at the Netherlands Railway Museum
in Utrecht. This English language development casts its net a little wider
- whilst retaining a most acceptable US/Dutch flavour - and gives a comprehensive
view of the role of railways at war from the Crimea up to the end of the
twentieth century.
The meat of the book is a series of 'case studies': perhaps this is a consequence
of the original publication's link with the previously mentioned museum
exhibition? The role of railways in war from the Crimea, through the American
Civil war, 'imperial adventures', including Russia's expansion into Asia
and the two global conflicts, is considered as is the role of the railways
on the Home Front. Interestingly enough, and perhaps not surprisingly in
the light of the authorship of the book, the Home Front given the greatest
prominence, two chapters, is the American - and fascinating reading it is
too! The almost obligatory chapter on the armoured train is to be found,
but what a contrast in the photographs of Britain's finest at Dymchurch and
the Fuhrer's 'Schwere Gustav'! These two photographs are just two examples
in the eclectic way in which the book is illustrated. The pictures, from
private collections as well as from museums such as the Dutch Railway Museum,
the Library of Congress, the Imperial War Museum and, remarkably enough,
the National Railway Museum illustrate splendidly all aspects of the railway
at war.
The book has an extensive index and a bibliography which extends to five
pages. Elegantly produced, beautifully illustrated and written in a style
which is both authoritative and accessible this book comes highly recommended.
Exploring Dumfries and Galloway's lost railway heritage - a walker's
guide. Alasdair Wham, Oakwood Press, 200 pp., softback, Reviewed
by DWM ****
This is an interesting book which works on three levels. It provides
a most serviceable account of the railways of the south west of Scotland
- and it has an extensive bibliography for those who wish to find out more.
It is also no mean photographic record of the railways of the area, both
historically and in the present day and, as indicated in the title, it details
walks of reasonable length for those enthusiasts who wish not simply to read
about what has gone before but also to go out and see what remains.
After two chapters of historical and geographical introduction the book falls
comfortably into four sections. The Port Road and its branches and the Girvan
and Portpatrick line as far north as Glenwhilly form the first two chapters
and the Glasgow & South Western main line through Nithsdale and the current
West Coast Main Line the second two. In the latter case the text is more
a matter of history and the walks, most sensibly, are along disused branch
lines such as the one at Wanlockhead. Your reviewer made a brief visit to
Newton Stewart some months ago and, being a Derbyshireman was, at times,
at a loss to work out what had been where in railway terms. This book would
have proved invaluable.
Anything produced by the Oakwood Press is a sure guarantee of quality and
this book is no exception. It is splendidly produced and written with obvious
affection for the area it covers. It is favoured with two clear maps and
a comprehensive text which covers a lot more than just railways; on page
55, however, locomotive number 45714 may well want to take revenge on the
sub-editor for being blandly referred to as 'Jubilee'!
Index to Volume 31 766
This is the way the auto train runs,
On a cold and frosty morning. Trevor Owen. rear cover
14XX No. 1453 propels Chalford to Gloucester push & pull train
past St. Mary's Crossing (Trevor was living in Dellcott Close at that time
where his father would relate what Trevor had been up to: both father &
son were enthusiastic restorers of Jowett Javelin cars and Bradford
vans)