A SPECIAL PUBLICATION DEDICATED TO THE HISTORY OF RAILWAYS, FROM THE ARCHIVES OF
Railway Times
www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/archive
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YEAR IN
FOCUS 1900: A curious railway accident
1925: Stockton and Darlington
1898: Waterloo train indicators
1940s: WWII advertising
1898: Abingford box mystery!
1991: Fight to save Barrow Hill MERSEY LOOP TENDER ACCEPTED MERSEYSIDE P.T.A. has agreed to British Railways accepting tenders for the terminal loop underground line and burrowing junction at Hamilton Square, Birkenhead, at a cost of £9,092,525. The Department of the Environment has agreed to pay 75 per cent. An application has been made to the Department of the Environment for a further grant towards construction of the underground link between Exchange and Central Stations, Liverpool, estimated to cost £10,820,000.
Open day at Barrow Hill By Peter A Hogarth BA, reprinted from the January 1972 edition of The Railway Magazine ON Sunday, September 26 1971, British Railways held one of its increasingly popular “open days” at Barrow Hill diesel servicing depot, Staveley, Chesterfield. Despite limited publicity and an unfortunate freak thunderstorm, large crowds were attracted to the event. Local visitors, as well as considerable numbers of enthusiasts who had journeyed from farther afield. travelled to Barrow Hill Station, on the former Midland Railway “old road” to Rotherham. in a six-car d.m.u., which throughout the day operated a shuttle service from Chesterfield. Barrow Hill roundhouse - of M.R. origin, and still perpetuating in its modern role that company's impeccable traditionvcontained a variety of goods vehicles and examples of modern B.R. diesel
power. ranging from shunting locomotives Nos. 2045 and 3209, through “classes "20". ‘‘31'' and “37". represented by locomotlyes 8032. 5543 and 6808 respectively, to class “17" No. 15-18. In the shed yard one had the rare opportunity to compare a rake of the latest Mark IID coaches, headed by another class “47”, No. 1519, with Stanier class “5” steam 4-6-0 engine 45212, loaned for the occasion by the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway Society. Other exhibits of note were the two-car Metropolitan-Cammell D.M.U. housing the plasma-torch equipment developed by Derby Research Centre, a 100-ton bogie tank wagon, and a Freightliner vehicle. Alongside, class “03" No. 2129 and a B.R. second-class coach operated a short-haul passenger service for visitors, at the modest charge of 2p per head, from the shed to the present limit of the defunct mineral branch which gives access to the depot. The spectacle of these exhibits was in strange contrast to memories of the scene only eight years ago,
when, after the closure of Sheffield Darnall shed, ranks of stored “K3”s, “Jubilees” and “Royal Scots” stood silently alongside the Johnson “half-cabs” and Deeley “dock tanks" which for so long marshalled trafific at the nearby Staveley Works. Barrow Hill Station stands forlorn and almost forgotten since its closure in 1954, although the “old road" carries a still considerable volume of freight traffic, running for most of its length through a barren and malodorous wasteland of chemical plants, coking ovens and steel works.
Passenger traffic is normally limited to a few summer Saturday trains. However. should the main line through Bradway Tunnel to Sheffield be closed for Sunday engineering operations, and West of England expresses, or perhaps even then the “old road” regains briefly a measure of a Glasgow-bound sleeper, speeding past the longits former glory. On these rare occasions. one extinguished gas lamps which even now grace may still witness the fine spectacle of London the desolate platforms at Barrow Hill. MORE BARROW HILL: PAGE 4
SUFFOLK STATION REOPENED NEEDHAM STATION, on the former G.E.R. main line, was reopened as Needham Market - by the Eastern Region on December 6. “Paytrains” operating between Ipswich, Stowmarket and Cambridge call there. Serving increased local population, the rural council has contributed to restoring station facilities, last used by passengers on January 1, 1967. A supplementary souvenir ticket, price 10p, has been on sale. BOROUGH MARKET JUNCTION SOUTHERN REGION scheme for removing the bottleneck at Borough Market Junction (R.M. February, 1971, page 99), costing £14m., has been approved by the Government, which will make a 75 per cent. infrastructure grant towards the cost of the work, which should be completed by 1976. TROUBLE ON MARK IID COACHES AFTER a number of incidents, including three fatalities, British Railways has removed the inside door handles from all Mark IID stock in service, some 152 vehicles, and unlocked the windows in the vestibule doors, so that these doors can now only be opened by turning the external door handle. B.R. FARE INCREASES AND THE C.B.I. THOUGH individual fare increases imposed by British Railways in the New Year may be above the five per cent. recommended by the Confederation of British Industries, others will be lower, so that the overall average increase will not exceed the C.B.I. figure.