Steam Days magazine February 2025 issue **20 PAGE FREE PREVIEW**

THORNTON JUNCTION AND ITS FIFE COALFIELD DOMAIN

February 2025

www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

BYWAYSTOBRECON: THELASTPASSENGERYEAR

PLUS

PULL & PUSH SERVICES – LMS INHERITANCE

THE BRILL BRANCH OF THE ‘MET’ AND LT

BASINGSTOKE BECKONED AND DELIVERED

THORNTON JUNCTION AND

ITS FIFE COALFIELD DOMAI

N

www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

February 2025 | £5.40

BYWAYSTOBRECON: THE LAST PASSENGERYEAR

No 426 4

Trains of Thought

5

Byways to Brecon in their last passenger year – 1962 A Mid-Wales railway hub with routes from Hereford, Newport, Neath and Moat Lane Junction, the threat of closure for these lines gave Robert Darlaston new focus in his quest to enjoy all before it was too late.

18

The Brill branch of the Metropolitan Railway and London Transport Linking to the Met & GCR Joint line at Quainton Road, the ‘Met’ took over this rural byway from December 1899 and a transformation began. Bruce Laws takes us on a trip along the route and considers the changes, through to closure by London Transport in November 1935.

30

Basingstoke beckons, twice over Peter Kerslake recalls how diminishing steam activity at home led three friends to head for pastures new on August bank holiday Saturday 1965, visiting the Waterloo main line, and then returning a year later.

PLUS

February 2025 £5.40

PULL & PUSH SERVICES – LMS INHERITANCE

THE BRILL BRANCH OF THE ‘MET’ AND LT

BASINGSTOKE BECKONED AND DELIVERED

Cover: The last passenger train to traverse the Mid-Wales Railway pauses at snowy Llanidloes on December 30, 1962. An SLS special billed as ‘Farewell to the Brecon lines of the Cambrian and Midland railways,’ Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0s Nos. 46509 and 46504 will continue to Brecon once watering is complete. The following day saw the route south of here closed and Brecon lost to the passenger network. A N H Glover/ Kidderminster Railway Museum

February 2025

EDITORIAL Consultant editor: Rex Kennedy.

Editorial: Andrew Kennedy, Roger Smith.

Redgauntlet Publications, Unit 1, Old House, Llansoy, Monmouthshire, NP15 1DF 01291 794599 SDEditor@mortons.co.uk Production editor: Lucy Wood DESIGN Druck Media ADVERTISING Andrew Bruce 01507 529455 abruce@mortons.co.uk Fiona Leak 01507 529573 fleak@mortons.co.uk Group advertising manager: Sue Keily skeily@mortons.co.uk CUSTOMER SERVICES General queries and back issues: 01507 529529 Monday-Friday 8.30am-5pm Answerphone 24H help@classicmagazines.co.uk www.classicmagazines.co.uk MORTONS MEDIA GROUP LTD Publisher: Tim Hartley Publishing director: Dan Savage Sales and distribution manager: Carl Smith Marketing manager: Charlotte Park Commercial director: Nigel Hole ARCHIVE Enquiries: Jane Skayman 01507 529423 jskayman@mortons.co.uk ORIGINATION AND PRINTING Acorn Web Offset Ltd, Normanton,West Yorkshire DISTRIBUTION Seymour Distribution Ltd, 2 Poultry Avenue, London, EC1A 9PU Enquiries line: 0207 429 4000 © Mortons Media Group Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

We are unable to guarantee the bona fides of any of our advertisers. Readers are strongly recommended to take their own precautions before parting with any information or item of value, including, but not limited to money, manuscripts, photographs or personal information in response to any advertisement within this publication

Mortons Media Group Ltd, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR.

FEBRUARY 2025

The fireman loosens up the contents of the bunker of Johnson 0-4-4T No. 58065 at Southwell, in between trips to the main line station at Rolleston Junction in April 1959. The rapid deployment of Ivatt’s motor-fitted 2-6-2T tanks in the postwar years decimated pre-Grouping LMS loco types on pull-push duties and the service here, withdrawn just two months later, was the last outpost. G H Hunt/Colour-Rail.com/BRM1579

36

Subscriptions

38

Pull & push – the LMS inheritance At the Grouping, proven motor train operations of L&NWR, L&YR and Midland Railway heritage were all absorbed into the largest of the new ‘Big Four’ companies. John Macnab and Eric Stuart consider their subsequent use.

47

Thornton Junction post-Nationalisation Its environs, engine shed observations and Fife coalfield role The village of Thornton found itself at a major railway hub, its engine shed enjoying a symbiotic relationship with local industries, in particular the dominant coal business – Roger Griffiths and John Hooper marry up BR steam-era sightings with some of the primary locations served at that time.

65

Tail Lamp www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

3

TRAINS of thought

I Next month…

Christchurch stations Sleeper predicament at New Cumnock Early preservation pioneers – the Dowty RPS at Ashchurch The name’s the same: Hurricane Steam to Stamford in colour On sale Thursday, February 20, 2025

t is very nearly all the Bs in this issue of Steam Days – Basingstoke, Blackrod, Bowhill, Brecon and Brill – albeit two are but glimpses within a wider feature, an LMS pull & push section and one embracing the role of Thornton Junction shed and its locomotives in serving the Fife coalfield. We do like to dart about the nation when it comes to the mix for each issue, but often I wonder if it is more than just the trains or locations in an article that sparks a memory, and sometimes just the circumstances of the day, especially with personal recollections. This month, that notion is really inspired by the article ‘Basingstoke beckons, twice over’ by Peter Kerslake, although the exact circumstances of the trip for him and his two friends, in terms of where they were in life in August 1965 and a year later, are unlikely to be replicated by many readers at any moment in time. However, the idea that the railways we were brought up with are changed and that there is need to look for something new certainly can.

In a couple of previous articles, Peter has made no secret for his love of the Great Western King class, and that was clearly his railway too, in Plymouth and Gloucester, so the idea that venturing out to find Southern Railway steam once Western steam was ebbing away and then lost might ordinarily seem natural, given that Plymouth had one of the Southern Region’s West of England main line termini, but we all have our allegiances, even with two railways on our doorstep. Often, these are simply where we were brought up, or our first railway experiences or cherished memories, but the natural order on the railway is one of change and so, inevitably, we venture out into the unknown – well, unknown to us, at least. I wonder, where was your ‘what happens next?’

Quite a few of us have made ‘now or never’ pilgrimages to see the last runs of a class, and travel behind one too, and of course there are the steam chasers, who went hunting for whatever was left. It is perhaps ironic that even a class so large to be seemingly omnipresent can ultimately end its days as a head-turner; but, then again, there are those too that sought out new horizons – industrial steam, perhaps? Or further afield, so often starting with France, Germany or another European railway that was still using steam beyond August 1968… if you knew where to look. Steam, it seems, can be in the blood.

As for Peter, and many others, the Waterloo main line was, in the summer of 1965, still a place of top link power, and he liked his big engines, hence the station beckoned the trio of friends more than once. It was a haven for spotters and, impressively, once the engineering work for the Bournemouth main line electrification began to be complete and the permanent way slacks were lifted, some of the route’s last Bulleid Pacifics were still capable of 100mph moments to provide lasting memories.

Andrew Kennedy On Saturday, January 15, 1966, rebuilt West Country 7P Pacific No. 34037 Clovelly hauls the 11.30 London (Waterloo) to Bournemouth (Central) express along the multi-tracked cutting immediately east of Basingstoke station, wan winter sunlight not enough to melt a light covering of snow; of note in Barton Mill Carriage Sidings is a green-liveried BR Mk II compartment first. On the footplate, ahead of a 12.35-39pm stop, the fireman’s shovel full of coal turns a billowing exhaust a dirtier shade of grey as the engine coasts past. Based at Eastleigh shed, Clovelly retains its nameplates and was noted with them as the very end of Southern Region steam came about, this 4-6-2 working the last steam-hauled boat train from Waterloo to Southampton Docks on Saturday, July 8, 1967 – a moment of glory. J Fairman/Kidderminster Railway Museum

4

www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

Byways to Brecon in their last passenger year – 1962

A Mid-Wales railway hub with incoming routes from Hereford, Newport, Neath and Moat Lane Junction via Builth Wells, the threat of closure for these lines gave Robert Darlaston new focus in his quest to enjoy them all before it was too late, not least the N&B route with its woeful service provision.

On the ex-Midland Railway route towards Brecon, 14¼ miles from Hereford, we find Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 No. 46509 at Eardisley with the 12.42pm Hereford-Three Cocks Junction service on Easter Monday, April 23, 1962. This photograph was taken during the course of a road journey with the family, while returning from a visit to our Welsh relations, my father well used to me persuading him to detour to some remote station because “there’s a train due there in a few minutes’ time.”

The missing arm from the bracket signal related to the Eardisley branch, north to Titley Junction and taken out of use in 1940, its course originally that of a horse-drawn tramway; Titley was also on the GWR’s Leominster to New Radnor branch. As for Eardisley, it was opened by the Hereford, Hay & Brecon Railway on June 30, 1863. Initially worked by its contractor, Thomas Savin, the Brecon & Merthyr Railway operated the trains from late August 1865 until September 30, 1868, and then the Midland Railway stepped in. Closed to passengers from December 31, 1962, its last operations were goods-only; Talyllyn Junction to Eardisley was taken out of use on May 4, 1964, and the section to Hereford followed suit exactly four months later. Of note is that Eardisley’s station building is now in use as Welshpool, Raven Square on the preserved Welshpool & Llanfair narrow gauge line. Author

B

y the spring of 1962, proposals had been put forward by British Railways (Western Region) to end all passenger services to Brecon, and also for the withdrawal of freight services from the Hereford, MidWales and Neath lines; this would leave Brecon with just a goods-only provision from the Newport direction. I realised that I must devise a trip which would take in all four lines, although it would have to wait until I could organise some holiday in the summer. Meanwhile, there was the prospect of the family’s traditional Easter weekend trip by car to see our Welsh relations. On this occasion, for some reason, we forsook Three Cocks for our customary picnic break, but my knowledge of the timetable enabled me to cajole my father into a short detour to Eardisley station just in time to see the 12.42pm service from Hereford arrive and depart. The station and train were a tempting sight in the spring sunshine and encouraged me to start planning an itinerary to take in all of the threatened routes before it was too late.

On Friday, July 13, 1962, armed with a Circular Tour ticket, I began a two-day FEBRUARY 2025

The map from the BR (Western Region)1961/62 public timetable offers an overview for my 1962 travels centred on Brecon’s byways, albeit the former Brecon & Merthyr route from Newport as far as Pontsticill Junction is missing; instead it ‘starts’ at Merthyr and heads to a junction east of Brecon, Talyllyn Junction (not named here). My planning took in main lines such as through Chepstow to Newport (table 105), the Cambrian from Moat Lane Junction to Aberystwyth (184), the South Wales main line (104) between Swansea and Neath, and the HerefordWorcester line (164); ‘other’ secondary lines to travel were Aberystwyth-Carmarthen, and via Llandilo to Swansea. R N Smith Collection

www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

5

Flip the map over/turn the page and the missing B&M route is revealed on a close up of South Wales – the Newport-Pontsticill Junction line can be followed along the table 121 markings, through Machen and then north-west from just north of Pengam (Mon.) – so not the New Tredegar branch of the same table – crossing the Rhymney line at Bargoed and continuing onwards over Dowlais Top. R N Smith Collection

Welsh odyssey, aiming to cover all four lines converging on Brecon, plus other lines serving remote parts of the principality; while I give mention here to the full itinerary, the photographic selection centres on the lines serving Brecon. The plan entailed an early start from home to reach central Birmingham in time for the 8.10am service from Snow Hill station. Consequently, I had no time to listen to the BBC news, nor did I stop to buy a newspaper. It was to be several hours before I would catch up with national events.

Meanwhile, I was to remain in ignorance of a major news item that would reveal an alarming glimpse of the future.

The start of my itinerary followed the route of my first journey via Newport, described in my introductory ‘Byways to Brecon’ article in Steam Days October 2024.

From Newport, I headed once more for Moat Lane Junction, 99 fascinating miles away and a journey scheduled to take almost five glorious hours, threading wonderful Welsh Back in July 1959 I travelled from Newport to Talyllyn Junction on the 11.15am service, photographing at Bedwas, Maesycwmmer, and then the high and barren open ground beyond Fochriw, so the visit just short of three years later saw some photographic infilling of other locations from the same service, in this case Fochriw station. This mining community is about mid-way between Bargoed, in the Rhymney Valley, and Merthyr Tydfil, but on the route that skirts the latter to its east side, this being created from Pant as an extension of the Brecon & Merthyr Railway’s first line in a push to reach Newport. A single-track line, loops were provided at certain stations, such as here. Looking back along the train, three passengers board and the home signal is yet to return to danger. Author Pant is now the southern terminus of the narrow gauge Brecon Mountain Railway, and this station, Dolygaer, is on that route but not owned by the railway. Instead, the building is Plas Dolygaer, a Brecon Beacons’ base for Scouts. Opened on March 19, 1863, with the B&MR route from Brecon to Pant, the Up platform is recorded here and, once again, there is limited action on the platform during the station stop for the 11.15am Newport-Brecon service on July 13, 1962; departure was booked for 1pm. The Taf Fechan reservoir is close at hand but unseen to the other side of the station building, the water needs of industrial Merthyr Tydfil, about five miles south, driving the necessity to flood part of this valley from 1858, and then in this particular vicinity 69 years later.

Lost as a standard gauge line from New Year’s Eve 1962, the subsequent Brecon Mountain Railway had a period with Dol-yGaer as its northern terminus, to a point just short of the pictured station, but it now reaches Torpantau, a station just short of the B&MR/GWR/BR facility of the same name. Author

6

www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

Talybont station, as seen from the 11.15am Newport to Brecon train on July 13, 1962.

Looking back, south-east, beyond the train the line rises as the 6¾ miles climb at 1-in38 to Torpantau; when both distance and gradient are considered, few sections of main line railway in Britain compare with this gradient in terms of ferocity. Although the main station building is on the Down (Newport-bound) side, the main running line is that occupied by the train, the stock in the distance being on a long headshunt to the Down loop; the goods yard was likewise on the Down side but goes unseen over my left shoulder. Author

scenery and listening to the splendid sounds of a steam loco drifting in through the open carriage window. En route, I took a handful of photographs to record my journey, largely forsaking locations previously photographed, back on Monday, July 27, 1959, for a new selection. As before, however, there was the usual change of trains at Talyllyn Junction – 43 miles from Newport and just short of four miles east of Brecon – where I picked up the 1.20pm service from Brecon, as I had done previously, to continue to head north, ultimately to the Cambrian main line.

FEBRUARY 2025

An edited extract from the BR(W) summer timetable for 1962, showing the schedule for the 1.20pm Brecon to Moat Lane Junction service, complete with miles and chains from Brecon. Note ‘a’ indicates train arrives half a minute earlier, while X denotes that another train is booked to cross; other notes are in the right-hand column and include ‘z’ for three request stops. Author

On Mid-Wales trains, one was almost guaranteed an empty compartment but just occasionally, at some isolated halt, the door would open, and one would enjoy the company of perhaps a local farm labourer for a couple of stops. Such passengers were always very curious to know what someone like me was doing travelling on ‘their line,’ but mostly, conversation would be limited to the weather and how the year’s lambs were faring. Soon the route takes in Three Cocks Junction, the meeting point for the Hereford line, which is noted as 11¾ miles from Brecon in the public timetable, but more

www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

Booked to call at Three Cocks from 1.55-59, the 1.20pm Brecon-Moat Lane Junction is seen at the country junction on July 13, 1962, on the right behind an unidentified Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0. Passing on the left is the 12.30pm Builth Road (Low Level) to Brecon service, while the Hereford line platforms go unseen on the other side of the Refreshment Rooms; the service depicted in our opening view will be on that side of the station, the 12.42pm ex-Hereford being at Three Cocks from 1.48pm and until returning as the 2.15pm Three Cocks-Hereford duty, and thus offering connection with the north-south Mid-Wales route. Author

7

Erwood station was north/east of the River Wye, near to quarries, its village just to the south and on the other side of the river; Erwood Bridge provided access. Despite the railway’s abandonment on the last day of 1962, a visit here today will find much of interest as Erwood Station Craft Centre was established in 1984 and saw restoration of the then derelict station.

As well as a grounded coach, of note is 1939-built John Fowler 150hp 0-4-0DM Works No. 22878, which came from the Swansea Vale Railway Preservation Society in mid-1988. Previously with George Cohen, Sons & Co, Morriston, from April 1973 to March 1983, it also worked at St Athan airfield from July 1969 to circa April 1973, as AMW No. 169, and was previously ex-Ministry of Public Buildings & Works, Burtonwood. RAF Burtonwood opened as a servicing and storage centre in 1939 but in 1942 became the USA’s principal maintenance and supply facility in Europe after America entered the war. It grew to administer numerous satellite facilities in the area and was served by a sizeable rail depot, west of Sankey viaduct on the north side of the Cheshire Lines Committee’s Manchester-Liverpool route. Surplus when the Cold War ended, the site closed in June 1994. Author

precisely as 11 miles 53 chains in the working timetable. Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 hauled, other notable stops on this journey were at Builth Wells, Builth Road (Low Level) for interchange with the Central Wales line, Newbridge-on-Wye, and Rhayader. Upon reaching Moat Lane, on this occasion I was bound for Aberystwyth – previous trips had been homeward bound via Oswestry and Gobowen (July 27, 1959), or Shrewsbury (October 9, 1961) – and so I changed to the Down Cambrian Coast Express.

This arrived punctually behind Collett 5MT 4-6-0 No. 7803 Barcote Manor, its immaculate copper, brass and paintwork glistening in the sunlight. The loco was a credit to the staff at Aberystwyth shed who for several years maintained it in showroom condition, especially for the Cambrian Coast Express.

As No. 7803 pulled into Moat Lane, my attention was entirely absorbed by the sight of the loco and its train, the harsh world of business and economics was far from my mind, but as I sank into the comfort of an empty compartment I noticed a copy of the Daily Telegraph and Morning Post, abandoned by an earlier passenger. I picked it up and, initially with little real interest, I turned the pages until, abruptly, at page 22, my attention was grabbed by a large and detailed map of the British Railways network with the adjacent headline ‘NEARLY 9200 MILES OF RAIL TRACK FACE CLOSURE.’ It was already widely known that Dr Richard Beeching, appointed as chairman of the British Transport Commission a year previously, had initiated studies into rail traffic flows.

The map, the first fruit of his labours, showed freight traffic volumes and revealed that 95%

The art of timetable reading, knowing that your train is booked to pass another and the use of any time window before a booked departure, communication with the guard – “Yes, I am getting back on, but just want to take a photograph” – plus being fleet of foot, can sometimes align to offer an additional lineside photo opportunity. One such moment is recorded at Pantydwr, Radnorshire, with an Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 at the head of the 1.20pm ex-Brecon captured while awaiting the arrival of the 2.55pm Moat Lane Junction to Brecon, before being able to continue on to the next section of single-track route. I didn’t chance my luck by waiting for the incoming train but photographed my own and then jumped back on board. Author

8

www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

Montgomeryshire is first reached where Rhydyclwydau Brook met the Afon Dulas, just ahead of Glan-y-Afon Halt, a request stop, but with the main river then briefly playing a role as the county boundary and crossed five times in little more than 2½ miles, the railway was briefly back in Radnorshire before Tylwch Halt. That halt boasted a loop and was a booked stop, with this view recorded as the train gets back up to speed. Now fully within Montgomeryshire, the Afon Dulas is in view, flowing left-to-right and passing beneath the fourth of the bridges, the river, having originally cut the path through this spectacular landscape, thus keeps company with the train through to Llanidloes, where the River Severn is met and its valley adopted by the railway. For the moment, the track is that established by the Mid-Wales Railway, but one mile 45 chains north of the loop was the site of Penpontbren Junction, which was where the ill-fated Manchester & Milford Railway arrived from Llangurig, four miles 68 chains to the east, and the Llanidloes & Newtown Railway (managed by Cambrian Railways since 1860) provided the rest of the journey through to Moat Lane. Author

for closure. A day which I had planned as a relaxed journey through delightful countryside was suddenly transformed into a nightmare vision of the future – a true ‘Friday the 13th!’

That dire press report provided the world with a preview of the ‘Reshaping’ report which would be published early the following year.

For now, the future waited its turn, as I had every intention of enjoying the present moment. Barcote Manor ran nicely as we hurried down the long descent from Talerddig summit. There was the usual call at Machynlleth, where the Pwllheli portion was detached for a 55xx series 4575 class 2-6-2T to take over, and then further speedy running with the Manor saw us arrive in Aberystwyth a few minutes early. The station had been elegantly rebuilt by the GWR in 1925, and just a short walk away I was soon booked into a local hotel. The overnight stay in Aberystwyth

of all freight traffic was carried on 50% of the network. A second map was to be published the following week, which the newspaper stated would reveal similar problems with FEBRUARY 2025

the passenger network. The report concluded by warning that scores of lines in Scotland, Wales, the West Country, East Anglia and northern England were thus on the danger list www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

Our 1.20pm Brecon-Moat Lane views of July 13 conclude at Llanidloes, as parcels are loaded onto the train. Once the headquarters of the Newtown & Llanidloes Railway (N&LR), the building was a grandiose architectural statement at the junction station for three railways. Almost exactly a century before my visit, this was something of a frontier, the townsfolk somewhat put out that a railway scheme to Aberystwyth would pass to the north of them, while the Mid-Wales Railway was sanctioned to link Newtown and Brecon as of 1859, and then the northernmost part of the same territory was to have the Manchester & Milford Railway built, by Act of Parliament in 1861, and striking off to the south-west. Keen to claim its ground, the M&MR began building what became the Llangurig branch (the rest of the scheme failed), and papering over the legal cracks was achieved in 1862 when the N&LR was born and, importantly, then built through to Penpontbren Junction, where the M&MR and Mid-Wales lines were to start. A drive northwards along the A470 main road today offers a similar view to that shown, the trackbed of the railway – a stub north from Llanidloes after December 31, 1962, but surviving as a branch until October 2, 1967 – offering a course east of the town; Grade IIlisted, the station building survives as offices, but the goods shed is long since lost. Author

9

Left: As procured from a compartment on the Cambrian Coast Express on Friday July 13, 1962, having been discarded on a seat, here is The Daily Telegraph news report of that day, plus the accompanying map.

I also saved the editorial comment mentioned at the bottom of this piece; under the headline ‘Railway Economics,’ the opening gambit reads: ‘Dr Beeching’s task is to make the railways pay. It is therefore difficult to raise any general objection to a policy designed to cut the services and close the lines which are adding to the railways’ already formidable losses.’ Suffice to say, many of us have opinions on this subject!

Author’s collection

Above: The first of the infamous Beeching maps, this one for freight: basically, the thicker the line, the more traffic, with dotted lines representing railways with up to 5000 tons of goods traffic per week, so the most vulnerable to closure. The passenger map was to follow, and there would be a separate map section delivered as part of the infamous Reshaping of British Railways report published in March 1963; I look at those Beeching maps and think of all those lost opportunities for covering lines, not to mention the loss of useful transport links. Author’s collection

was very welcome as it gave opportunity for an enjoyable summer’s evening trespass in the old Vale of Rheidol engine shed, where the narrow gauge line’s Nos. 7 and 9 slumbered gently in steam, ready for trips the next day.

My route the next morning took the line through Tregaron and Lampeter to Carmarthen, 56 miles from Aberystwyth, taking a leisurely two hours 20 minutes and travelling behind British Railways Class 2 Mogul No. 78005. This was to be my only journey on a line of remote rural delights where several stations bore intriguing names: for example, Caradog Falls, Strata Florida, Olmarch and Derry Ormond. Surely this lengthy cross-country route, with its thrice-daily train, was the most sequestered corner of the Great Western network, far removed from the bustle of Paddington in spirit as well as geography.

On reaching Carmarthen, my direct route would have been on the South Wales main line through Swansea to Neath, where I could once more join a train making for Brecon, but time allowed a detour, so I forsook ex-GWR metals for those of the London & North Western Railway (later LMS) branch connecting Carmarthen with the Central Wales line at Llandilo. By 1962, operations on the branch had 10

www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

been thoroughly ‘Westernised,’ so it was a pannier tank that headed my train and provided a pleasant ride of 15 miles up the attractive Towy valley. One of the intermediate stations was at Drysllwyn, only yards from the castle which gave its name to Collett 4-6-0 No. 7018, the first Castle class loco to be equipped with a double chimney, a development in 1956 that greatly enhanced the performance of the class over the next few years.

At Llandilo, another pannier tank arrived with a Central Wales line local service from Llandovery, which took me south to the old L&NWR terminus at Swansea (Victoria), a sadly shabby station following an air raid in the war. A feature of the approach to Victoria was that the line ran alongside the beach, with splendid views to Mumbles Head. Sand from the beach regularly blew onto the tracks, rendering the sleepers invisible for several hundred yards – at least locos should have had no adhesion problems on that stretch! After arrival at Victoria, a short walk across Swansea took me back to former GWR haunts, reaching High Street station to catch the 3pm service to Pontypool Road. I travelled on that train as far as Neath (General), from where I planned another short walk, this time to the nearby Riverside station for my train to Brecon.

In a thunderstorm, 5700 0-6-0PT No. 3753 attempts to leave Neath (General) against adverse signals with the 3pm Swansea (High Street) to Pontypool Road service on Saturday, July 14, 1962. The light and weather is far from camera-friendly and the loco, on the move at this point, had already passed the signal at danger, see top right, a pair of centre-balanced starter signals hung from a small gantry at the end of the canopy. The point immediately ahead of the loco is for the two routes from Neath Loop Junction, linking from the Up main platform but in the Down direction, left to the Down main line, the Swansea District route and soon to pass over Neath (Riverside) station, or right for the Vale of Neath, the required route on this occasion. Of note is that the line immediately in front of Neath West Signal Box had a sand drag, so was not a main running line.

Author

The Pontypool Road train needed to reverse at Neath, and I waited to watch as Collett pannier tank No. 3753 backed on to what had been the rear of the train.

Meanwhile, a thunderstorm had developed, and torrential rain was pouring down. Perhaps the storm distracted the driver, but as soon as the guard waved the ‘right-away,’ the driver opened the regulator, and No. 3753 made a brisk start – just as I took a hasty photograph.

For the driver, alas, the starting signal had not been cleared; immediately, a couple of platform inspectors materialised, blowing whistles, shouting and waving. Fortunately, the driver noticed and quickly halted his train, but an inspector was straight into his cab, notebook and pencil at the ready. That incident recalled another occasion with a potential for disaster I witnessed a few years earlier. I had been on Pontypridd station where a Treherbert to Cardiff train was waiting at the curved, main down-valley platform, when a following Merthyr-to-Cardiff train hurried into the same platform, having evidently passed a signal at danger. The driver made a full brake application, and the train screeched safely to a halt with the loco wheels locked and sparks flying. On that occasion too, an inspector was quickly on the footplate Below: The complete public timetable for services over the former Neath & Brecon line for summer 1962. The Working Timetable also showed an unadvertised workmen’s train at 6am from Neath, arriving at Colbren Junction at 6.51am, which might have formed the 8.10am school train back, but no empty coaching stock workings were shown.

Author’s collection Above: Neath’s Riverside station in the rain on July 14, 1962, showing wartime-built 5700 class 0-6-0PT No. 3687 with the two-coach 4.10pm service to Brecon. The signalbox is just out of view to the right, and unseen over my right shoulder and behind me is the main line crossing the N&B route on a bridge, the nearby bracket signal denoting the two routes available from N&B Junction just north of the bridge: the taller of the two home and distant signal sets is for the link to the Vale of Neath line, while that to the right side (as we look south) is for the Neath & Brecon route. Author

FEBRUARY 2025

www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

11

Just 11 miles into the journey from Neath and coal mining activities and communities are already behind us, the villages beyond Onllwyn smaller in size and the landscape quite different. With hard climbing ahead, the crew of No. 3687 top up with water at Colbren Junction station on July 14, 1962, the time needed allowing me a photograph of my train; at least two other railway enthusiasts have a similar idea, inspecting the station. The line on the right is to Swansea and was once used

by Midland Railway trains from Birmingham to Swansea (St Thomas), although such a link ended in LMS days, from September 12, 1932, albeit the related terminus continued to see use for Brynamman (East) passenger work until September 25, 1950. Author

Beyond Craig-y-Nos, No. 3687 nears the summit as it heads into the Brecon Beacons with the 4.10pm Neath to Brecon service. For the most part, it is the Afon Tawe that played a role in sculpting the land hereabouts, running half a mile or so west of Craig-y-Nos, between its station and 1841-43-built castle, the former home of Adelina Patti but later a hospital and today a hotel and wedding venue. However, many small tributaries are crossed, and at the point of this photograph it is the valley of the descending Nant Tywynt that is climbed, not only by the railway but by the main road towards Sennybridge. Also, the Nant-y-moch is seen tumbling down the hillside and beneath the road shortly before the A4067 passes under the railway, just before the summit, 1245 feet above sea level, while the high ground to our right peaks at Fan Gihirych (2381 feet).Author

taking down particulars from the unfortunate driver.

Meanwhile at Neath, the rain had eased, and so I set off on the short walk to find my train onwards to Brecon. Over at the Riverside station, the 4.10pm service to Brecon was a welcoming sight, waiting behind 0-6-0PT No. 3687, ready to offer my first ride on the former Neath & Brecon Railway, but passengers were few, numbered in single figures. By that time, Riverside station had a neglected air, and its imminent demise was all too evident. Services had been reduced to two departures Mondays-Fridays: on the route to Brecon, my train operated on all weekdays, so included Saturdays, and the 11.25am to Brecon was Saturdays only (SO), while on the route to Pontypool Road – via Glyn Neath, Hirwaun, Aberdare, and Hengoed – there was a 4.20pm Saturdays excepted (SX) Neath (Riverside) to Hengoed service. The latter Vale of Neath line duty was listed on Table 137 and the use of Riverside station, rather than Neath (General), was in the footnotes.

The two routes from Neath (Riverside) parted company immediately north of the station, N&B Junction being straight ahead for Brecon or right for Neath Junction on the Vale of Neath route, where the direct line from Neath (General) was met.

Like on the Brecon & Merthyr line, the early part of the N&B journey was in typical South Wales mining valley territory, passing several collieries, these being spotted in 1962 with well-used sidings. All mining activity ceased in the next couple of decades but currently there are plans to develop a Global Centre of Rail Excellence at Onllwyn on this section of the Neath & Brecon line, for testing and developing railway technology for the Booked to average about 18mph to this point, No. 3687 pauses at the single-platform Cray station with the 4.10pm service from Neath (Riverside) on July 14, 1962. Running ahead of schedule, passenger trains were not numerous here and children watch while it waits ‘right time’ in the unlikely event of a prospective passenger turning up, most likely for Devynock & Sennybridge or Brecon, respectively 3½ and 12¼ miles away. The location was useful for a goods loop but never had a large population, the station being unstaffed as early as June 1, 1942. Gallantly remaining as a stop until the line closed at the end of 1962, the main building, on the right of this scene, is now lost, a large bungalow occupying the site, and while the local school is long since closed, it does survive as a residence. Author

12

www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

Viewed from the barrow crossing at Brecon station (there was no footbridge), on the evening of July 14 we witness the meeting of two services, one from Brecon and another from Newport. On the left is the rear of my train from Neath, which was booked to arrive at 5.51pm; its stock continued as the 6.15pm service to Newport, but with the locomotive that arrived from Newport. Meanwhile, the incoming Neath-based loco, No. 3687, is seen on the right at the head of the 6.20pm Brecon to Neath (Riverside) service, the duty comprising carriages that arrived in Brecon at 5.36pm as the 3pm from Newport. This Brecon station was provided in 1871 as a Joint facility and was known as Free Street – it superseded the B&MR’s Watton and N&BR’s Mount Street passenger facilities, to its east and west respectively, and thus created an interchange. Author Below: Family time on Saturday, August 4, 1962, proved to be a good fit for a photographic interlude at the overbridge immediately south-east of Llanstephan Halt on the MidWales line two stations north of Three Cocks Junction. The train approaching is the 1.20pm from Brecon to Moat Lane Junction, the River Wye just out of view behind a screen of bushes on the far side of the field, while the high ground of the Brecon Beacons provides the backdrop. The stop at Llanstephan for this train was officially booked from 2.10½-2.11pm.

On this occasion the locomotive is Ivatt 2MT No. 46511, the type being prevalent on this route in its last years. Author

future – it is a remarkable change for what at the time of my trip was definitely a neglected and scruffy railway backwater.

After a water stop at Colbren Junction, we entered fine mountain scenery, and I listened to the splendid bark of the pannier tank’s exhaust as No. 3687 attacked the stiff 1-in-50 climb to cross the edge of the Brecon Beacons. One of the remote stations on this section was at Craig-y-Nos (Penwyllt), just east of the one-time palatial home of the opera FEBRUARY 2025

singer Adelina Patti (1843-1919), who had a private waiting room at the station which was carefully preserved following the station’s closure in 1962. At Cray, our train was ahead of time, so we waited for a few minutes at the grass-grown platform, the longer stop offering an unexpected chance to gain an additional photograph from the trackside. A group of children playing in an adjacent field came to stare in amazement at the remarkable and rare sight of a train in their local station. The www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

last two stations before Brecon, Aberbran and Cradoc, had long since been unstaffed. Nature had taken over and they seemed to have been given up for dead. As we approached, the train slowed in case a passenger showed up unexpectedly, but (to quote Edward Thomas’ Adlestrop) no one left, and no one came on the bare platform. The diminutive derelict timber buildings slipped slowly past the carriage window before the driver accelerated gently for the last lap of the journey over 13

Moments later, the same train is recorded in the 30-second stop at Llanstephan, Radnor Halt, this being the ‘going away shot.’ Given a two-line nameboard, ‘Radnor Halt’ was below, the Radnor qualification doubtless included to prevent possible confusion with Llanstephan, near Carmarthen, and ‘Halt’ purely denoting that it was unstaffed. Such things were noteworthy when it was added to the network from March 6, 1933, but became more commonplace in BR days when many once busy country stations lost their staff.

Once opened, this Llanstephan stopping place remained in use until the end of public passenger services on the Brecon lines, which sadly proved to be less than five months away.

No. 46511 is about to set off for Moat Lane Junction, next stop Erwood, the guard having closed the door after a solitary passenger alighted. Author

the dying Neath & Brecon Railway. My train reached Brecon a few minutes early, thus slightly extending the scheduled nine-minute wait between trains.

I was soon on my way again, this time behind a Collett 2251 class 0-6-0, having joined the 6pm service to Hereford, where I would pick up the connection back to Birmingham. To the traveller on the four lines leading to Brecon, it usually seemed that trains were few and passenger loadings minimal, but Brecon station between 5pm and 6.30pm on a Saturday offered a different impression.

In that period there were arrivals at 5.25pm

from Moat Lane, 5.36pm from Newport, 5.51pm from Neath and 6pm from Hereford.

Departures were at 5.05pm to Moat Lane, 6pm to Hereford, 6.15pm to Newport and 6.20pm to Neath. All except the Neath trains mustered fair passenger loadings and there would be a modest queue at the booking office window, while the thump of the ticket dating press was a regular sound as passengers booked for a wide range of destinations.

My family continued to make regular visits by road to our Welsh relationsand during the summer of 1962 I contrived on a couple of occasions to return home by train via Neath

Two days later, and it is another rainy day in Neath, in this case Monday, August 6, 1962. Just over three weeks since my first trip on the N&B line, the same 5700 is again on the Brecon train – at this stage the nearby Neath N&B shed had about a dozen of these engines, all outstationed from Neath’s Court Sart depot, its parent, and for many years these 0-6-0PTs had a stranglehold on the N&B shed’s duties. Viewed from the Bridge Street access steps to the only used platform at Riverside station, No. 3687 waits with the 4.10pm service to Brecon, while a Hymek diesel-hydraulic takes the 11.55pm London (Paddington) to Pembroke Dock service along the main line. Hymek production was ongoing at this time, Cardiff Canton having received 15 of these locos brand-new since February 26; the Type 3 has just departed from Neath (General) and then crossed over the River Neath.

Looking north, the view includes the Neath & Brecon Junction box and shows the cramped Riverside station site hemmed in by the main line bridge, river, Bridge Street and Cadoxton Road, N-E-S-W respectively. Author

14

www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

and Brecon. Strangely, the cheapest fare involved booking a day return from Neath to Brecon, which was less than the single fare.

At Brecon, I would join the queue to rebook, boldly requesting a single to Birmingham in the vain hope that such additional revenue might stave off closure.

My final trip on the Brecon lines was on September 15, 1962, an interesting itinerary starting with the 10.05 diesel-multiple-unit service from Birmingham (Snow Hill) to Pontypool Road. From there, I set off west behind a Collett 41xx 2-6-2T for Nelson & Llancaiach, making my only journey across the famous Crumlin viaduct. Even on a day of mist and rain, that was a spectacular experience, and I remember looking down to the valley, more than 200 feet below, and watching a seemingly miniature Churchward 4200 class 2-8-0T battling up the valley with an iron ore train bound for Ebbw Vale. After rebooking at Nelson & Llancaiach, I joined the 3.15pm train from Ystrad Mynach to Dowlais (Cae Harris), terminus of the Taff Bargoed Joint line. My train was hauled by a Collett 5600 class 0-6-2T, which on the 1-in-43 slog through Bedlinog exhibited all too evidently, the fore-and-aft motion of a two-cylinder locomotive in need of some attention.

Following closure to passengers in 1964, the line remained in use for open-cast coal extraction at Cwmbargoed until 2023.

From Cae Harris station, it was a stiff uphill walk of just over half a mile or so north-east to the aptly-named Dowlais Top station, which lay 1250 feet above sea level and was on the Newport to Brecon route of the Brecon & Merthyr Railway, and subsequently the GWR. I chatted with the booking clerk and was delighted to be offered an economical souvenir, a Great Western Railway child’s monthly return to Pantywaun Halt, a small mining outpost on windswept A return ticket issued at Neath in lieu of a single from Neath (Riverside) to Brecon.

Given the lack of trains on the N&B route, on Mondays-Fridays it was actually only possible to use this cheap day return ticket in full if you caught the 4.10pm service to Brecon and returned from there at 6.20pm, so enjoying just 29 minutes at your destination; the Saturday option was better, the 11.25am service aiding a stay of five hours 13 minutes.

Author’s collection

About 1¾ hours later, after my trip along the N&B route I took this photograph at Brecon – an Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 arrives with the 4pm service from Hereford. The train is going behind the south-side platform, an island. Having arrived on the 4.10pm from Neath, on arrival I have walked beyond the front of my train, purchased a new ticket for the next stage of the journey and then joined the 6pm to Hereford. In the east-facing bay, my Hereford train is just in view, far left, complete with a pannier tank at its head, the service being my vantage point. We will pass the main Brecon goods yard as we pick up speed away from the station, the yard being on the right, while the distant high ground locates Talyllyn tunnel, Talyllyn Junction and its triangle of lines being on the east side of this. Author

My single ticket from Nelson & Llancaiach to Dowlais (Caeharris) was not collected so remains in my collection. As a reminder of the day’s activities, I don’t have much else as my trip on September 15, 1962, suffered from torrential rain at the start of the day and photography was pointless. Author’s collection

A general view looking back to Brecon from the departing 6pm service to Hereford on Monday, August 6, 1962. The trains in the station are, from left to right, the 4pm from Hereford, the 6.20pm to Neath (Riverside), and the 6.15pm to Newport, the latter formed of the carriages off the 4.10pm service from Neath (Riverside); the pannier tank at the right will take the Newport train. Valleys lines tend to be Up for the uphill direction, so it is easy to see how, as the final sections of railway into Free Street station were both Up for the B&M and N&B (contrary to the direction of the Hereford and Mid-Wales services north of Talyllyn Junction), Up was the status of all arrivals into Brecon station and, conversely, all departures started as Down trains. Author

Also from my time at Dowlais that day is this GWR ticket that was still in stock at Dowlais Top station, a third class child’s monthly return to Pantywaun Halt, just 75 chains away, towards Bargoed and Newport. Printed tickets from previous eras were a treat to find and purchase, as here. I believe that in the early 1950s some B&MR ones from the same route were still in stock elsewhere at one of the less busy stations, so they had been in stock for about 30 years or more! Author’s collection

I don’t have my Dowlais-Brecon ticket from September 15, 1962, but my Brecon to Hereford single ticket was not collected as from Hereford the return leg of my original return ticket from Birmingham was valid and immediately used to complete my journey.

Author’s collection

As for the weather, on September 15, by the time I reached Brecon the rain had ceased and so a couple of photographs were taken, including this west-facing view. From Dowlais Top, I caught the 3pm train ex-Newport, which is seen on the left and had arrived at 5.36pm; its carriages will go forward at 6.20pm to Neath, but the loco returned to Newport heading the 6.15pm departure from the main platform, where passengers are already awaiting the arrival of their train from Neath, due at 5.51pm. On the right is the stock of the 6pm service to Hereford, waiting in the bay, my train, so I will now cross-over to the booking office to buy my next ticket, to Hereford. Author

FEBRUARY 2025

www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

moorland a mile to the south. After a short wait, pannier tank No. 3700 arrived with the 3pm (SO) service from Newport to provide my final ride over airy Torpantau summit. On reaching Brecon, it was necessary to rebook to Hereford, whence the return half of my 15

It is Thursday, November 8, 1962, and with time now limited for the Brecon lines, Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 No. 46509 leaves Hereford with the 12.42pm to Three Cocks Junction. Such was the alignment of lines at Hereford that Three Cocks and Brecon services headed north-west out of the station, along the Hereford-Shrewsbury main line, before diverging at Brecon Curve Junction; the ex-GWR & L&NWR Joint line to Shrewsbury is seen, distant left. This eastfacing scene is taken from the footbridge overlooking Burcott Road level crossing as the train traverses Brecon Curve and continues through to Barton & Brecon Curve Junction, where the original Hereford & Newport main line was momentarily gained/crossed before the train curved west. Brecon connections here were part of two triangular formations with the two Shrewsbury-Hereford-Newport routes, the later one through Barrs Court station and earlier one through Barton. Author

ticket purchased that morning would cover my return to Snow Hill. I noticed that the fare on the Brecon ticket was printed as 6s 6d (32½p) but had since increased by 50% to 9s 9d (49p) – in real terms, taking inflation into account, the price should be £8.49 now, but sadly, even if it were possible to make the same journey, I’m sure that the modern railway would be far more expensive. I was glad to retain that ticket as a souvenir of the last of so many delightful journeys on the Brecon lines.

This time, the 6pm departure was hauled by a pannier tank. As I headed for home, I gained a final glimpse of Three Cocks Junction, looking attractive in the golden light of the setting sun and evoking childhood memories of joyful family picnics and of veteran Dean Goods 0-6-0 locos.

By that time, the last rites were imminent at Brecon.The Neath line closed on October 15, 1962, and all other passenger services were withdrawn on and from Monday, December 31, 1962; freight over the Brecon & Merthyr line into Brecon lingered on into May 1964. Of the four railways that converged on Brecon, the only section now remaining in occasional use is the five-mile link from Bassaleg Junction 16

(outside Newport) to Machen Quarry. Once a fine double-track line, it is now reduced to an overgrown single track. The final train into Brecon over the Mid-Wales and Hereford lines was a special run on Sunday, December 30, 1962, by the Stephenson Locomotive Society (Midland Area), promoted as farewell to the Brecon lines of the Cambrian and Midland railways; see the front cover picture. On a day of heavy snow, the tracks were quickly covered and wiped from view, just as the lines were likewise lost forever from the railway map.

SOURCES/FURTHER READING The Mid-Wales Railway – R W Kidner – Oakwood Press (2003) The Mid-Wales Line – Derek J Lowe – Book Law Publications (2017) Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain, Volume 11, North and Mid-Wales – Peter E Baughan (David & Charles (1980) The Brecon and Merthyr Railway – D S Barrie – Oakwood Press (1957) GWR Analysis Book – P R Gale – GWR, Paddington (1926) Sundry GWR and BR (Western Region) public and working timetables www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

I conclude with the entrance to the former Neath & Brecon Railway goods yard at Ely Place, Brecon, which closed from September 5, 1955, leaving the nearby ex-N&B Mount Street site (open until December 31, 1962) as well as the ex-B&MR Watton yard, which was east of Free Street station and lasted until May 4, 1964.

Photographed in 1969, one suspects that the local carter’s horse-drawn cart had no problems with access, but later motor vehicles (not to mention modern container lorries) would have had trouble gaining entry! Author

The Brill branch of the Metropolitan Railway and London Transport Linking to the Met & GCR Joint line at Quainton Road, Bruce Laws looks at the Wotton Tramway in the 1899-1935 period.

Far from its original subterranean haunts and still equipped with condensing pipes for working underground, former Metropolitan Railway class A 4-4-0T No. 23 awaits departure from Brill station for Quainton Road sometime after July 1, 1933, the date that the Met was taken over by the newly-formed London Passenger Transport Board, the London Transport branding indicating a brief era for the Brill branch that would only last until the end of November 1935. Ahead of the Beyer, Peacock & Co Ltd-built engine is its outstation home for a week, the two-road timber-built Brill engine shed, a far cry from its allocated home in Neasden. Lens of Sutton Association

M

y earlier article, published in the September 2024 issue of Steam Days, set out the background and context of the Wotton Tramway, taking the story up to the late 1890s and a little beyond.

Initially horse-drawn, the six-mile route opened in two stages, firstly to Wotton, in April 1871, and by the time Brill was reached in March 1872, two steam engines were in use, of the traction engine type. The brainchild of the 3rd Duke of Buckingham, the line was intended to meet agricultural needs and link to the Aylesbury & Buckingham Railway, which it did, albeit via awkward entry via a wagon turntable into the back of the goods yard at the original Quainton Road station.

Two other locos saw use in the early years, and there was vision for the line to become a railway, but there was no signalling, and the permanent way was too light for locos that may achieve the designated minimum speed, so the

Wotton Tramway remained just that. However, a plan to extend to Oxford was floated in 1883 and the idea refused to go away. An 1888 variation, complete with an 1894 tweak, saw the Oxford & Aylesbury Tramroad (O&AT) take over and begin improvements to the permanent way, and thus Manning, Wardle saddle tanks were able to work the line, and bogie coaches were purchased too; the service was much improved by the end of the 1890s.

Meanwhile, established main line railways were floating plans, the Metropolitan Railway entering this story through a scheme for a

The tramway company caption is misleading on this November 1906 postcard that shows the Wotton Tramway link of 1897 leading into the new junction station at Quainton Road, the brickwork of the branch platform still looking quite fresh. The loco is Manning, Wardle & Co Ltd K class 0-6-0ST Works No. 1249 of 1894, bought new by the O&AT and originally named Earl Temple but renamed Brill No. 1 in early 1899. In the cab, driver Harry Cross leans forward, and his fireman is Arthur Bayliss. The mixed train, photographed on arrival from Brill, includes two empty Midland Railway five-plank open wagons after delivery of coal, while the coach is a brake third of Oldbury Railway Carriage & Wagon Company build brought in by the Metropolitan Railway after taking over operation of the tramway. John Alsop Collection

18

www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

London-Aylesbury and Oxford route, the latter part by extending the Wootton Tramway.

Aylesbury was reached, the Aylesbury & Buckingham Railway (A&BR) was taken over, and its line improved, and also Quainton Road got a new station as a proper branch interchange, complete with through running on/off the tramway as of New Year’s Day 1897; a new relationship began to blossom between the O&AT and the Met. Meanwhile, the main line company was also working with the Great Central Railway and aiding its goal of reaching London, achieved on March 15, 1899, using

A commercial postcard that had ‘Brill station, Metropolitan Railway’ as its caption. The MR on the buffer beam of the Manning, Wardle loco indicates that it is now refurbished and in the magnificent Metropolitan Railway maroon livery; the Wotton Tramway was still owned by the O&AT but leased by the Met. The purchased 0-6-0STs were all K class. Huddersfield was sold off in 1901 and it is uncertain if this is Brill No. 1 or Wotton No. 2, the latter built in 1899. The station staff on the platform are bewhiskered stationmaster James Hilsden with Tom Cook and Jack Lewis. The date is unknown, but the yard is now bullhead rail, so it is after the derailment of a Metropolitan D class 2-4-0T on March 27, 1903 – no surprise really in terms of the poor trackwork at the time – and the subsequent relaying of the whole yard here, undertaken between April and August 1903, cost £804. The coach is once again Oldbury-built. John Alsop Collection

Metropolitan metals from Quainton Road.

As for the Wotton Tramway, a Met lease of the line – including an option to buy that was never taken up – saw the Metropolitan Railway operating the tramway from December 1, 1899.

The company’s stock purchases at takeover included three 0-6-0ST locomotives, Wotton No. 2, Brill No. 1 (formerly named Earl Temple), and Huddersfield, as well as two bogie passenger cars, and two others, plus some wagons. While the new operator inevitably started out with what was on site, there was soon change. None of the line’s coaching stock had an active future here; in fact, in 1899 the OA&T had hired in a third class, rigid eightwheel coach from the Metropolitan Company, as the composite coach was said to be a ‘little out of condition’ and no other carriages had a guard’s compartment. The hired-in carriage, oil-lit, had seven passenger compartments, so could seat 70, plus guard accommodation.

For the use of this coach, the track alongside the curved platform at Quainton Road was modified to stop the step fouling the platform.

Only the one wagon was up to RCH specification, and only the two better Manning, Wardle & Co Ltd-built saddle tanks lasted beyond the short-term. Their tenure was first undermined when Wotton No. 2 failed in March 1903, leading to a Metropolitan D class 2-4-0T being drafted in from the Aylesbury-Verney Junction line for two trips, and the following year saw the Sharp, Stewart & Co Ltd built 2-4-0Ts in use again, Nos. 71 and 72 being transferred to the line. Also, it is of note that the Metropolitan & Great Central Railway Companies Act of August 1905 established a Joint Committee to take FEBRUARY 2025

over, on lease, the Harrow South Junction to Verney Junction line and the Chesham branch from April 2, 1906, and the same day saw the Joint Committee also assume control of the O&AT-owned line to Brill. With the weighty D class engines having caused track damage – Brill yard was re-laid with bullhead rail after the use on March 27, 1903 – the track between Quainton Road and Brill was re-laid to Met standards in 1910 using track removed from the inner London Metropolitan Railway route but deemed acceptable for a rural branch line; after this improvement, the tramway’s speed limit was allowed to be increased to 25mph.

Notwithstanding the enhancements made by the Met, other lines were built in the area between 1899 and 1910 which offered more direct services to London and the north of England, and the Brill Tramway went into financial decay. Significantly, the Great Central Railway & Great Western found common ground to create a joint route out of the capital, and this led to new railways passing over the tramway at Wotton, and under it at Wood Siding, each with a main line station, respectively Wotton, GCR, and opened on April 2, 1906, and Brill & Ludgershall, opened on July 1, 1910, by the GWR. It was not good news in terms of goods business either, after the early years of the 20th century traffic on the Church Siding branch became very light, and it ceased altogether in about 1910; most of the rails were lifted in about 1915, leaving only a quarter-mile stub at the junction, which survived until the Brill branch closed. Another adverse factor was the 1911 closure of the Brill Brick & Tile Works, which could not compete with the larger and better www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

connected Buckinghamshire brickworks at Calvert, near the GCR main line. The siding to the brickworks was removed, other than the rails on the level crossing, which in 1984 were still in place, albeit tarmacked over.

In other news, upon the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Brill became a centre for training cadets, who were housed in Wotton House and were carried in trains of five passenger coaches. The Kingswood branch was abandoned at the end of 1915, having been used to carry materials for the construction of the GW & GC route, with the track removed in 1920. Also in that decade, two cattle wagons were added to the line’s stock.

The D class 2-4-0T likely saw intermittent tramway use post-1903, while Brill No. 1 and Wotton No. 2 were not sold off until 1915. Not satisfied with the performance and safety of its D class locos, the Met sold them off between 1916 and 1922, but new cover was soon at hand as, with much of its route close to London now electrified, the Met had surplus steam locomotives and it transferred to the Brill branch two A class 4-4-0T condensing steam locomotives built

by Beyer, Peacock & Co Ltd of Openshaw, Manchester, No. 23 (built 1866) and No. 41 (built 1869). The A class locomotives were the first owned by the Metropolitan; in 1863, the first year of operation, the company hired in GWR locomotives. Remarkably, Nos. 23 and 41 were the most advanced locos to regularly operate on the Brill branch, but they were still older than all other rolling stock on the tramway! These two engines worked the route on a week-on/week-off rota, although the Met sometimes substituted other similar engines.

19

Another posed view at Brill, but this time on arrival of a mixed train from Quainton Road, and just prior to uncoupling Met A class 4-4-0T No. 23.

The leading private owner wagons are branded Forest Rock Granite, a Leicestershire business, and the other is incoming coal from Stevens of Oxford (Stevco), the resident coal merchant; the coach appears to be a rigid 8w brake vehicle, the guard’s compartment enjoying end windows.

The loco dates from 1866; it originally had a boiler pressure of 120psi, 5ft 9in driving wheels, a front Bissel truck and a coupled wheelbase of 8ft 10in. After the inevitable rebuilds for longevity, changes were a 150psi upgrade, 5ft 10in driving wheels and an Adams designed front bogie.

The train is alongside the Brill station building, with the goods shed directly behind it. Millbrook House/Kidderminster Railway Museum

The other A class to make Brill its home on a week-on, week-off basis was No. 41, which is recorded in October or November 1935 outside the engine shed as the fireman cleans out the smokebox; note the semi-circular smokebox door. New in 1869, unlike No. 23 the pictured 4-4-0T spent most of its life without condensing equipment. Upon coming up for air more often, the city lines were electrified between 1905 and 1907, the class received cabs, as here. By 1933, when the LPTB came into being, there were just five of the 66 Metropolitan Railway A class locos still in service, Nos. 23, 27, 41, 48 and 49, their weight of 42½ tons making them suitable for use on the Brill line; the coal capacity was 67 cubic feet, and the tanks held 1000 gallons of water. G K J Kerley/Bluebell Railway Museum Archive

Brill station was by that time somewhat little used by passengers, and likewise that was the case at nearby Wood Siding – between them, in 1932, Brill and Wood Siding witnessed just 3272 passenger journeys; that brought in only £191 (about £17,000 today) in passenger revenues. However, helping to balance the books, Brill continued to offer valuable service as a shipment point between the dairy farms of Buckinghamshire and the markets of Aylesbury and London – about 30 carts conveyed milk to Brill station for the first train each morning.

There was also a small quantity of coal traffic; Brill coal merchant George Green received three coal wagons per month. Furthermore, a 20

storehouse at the station remained in use for beer delivered by the breweries of Brackley and Aylesbury. With A class engines now in service, what might be regarded as the classic era of the tramway is at hand, as represented by the lion’s share of the photographs here.

A journey along the Brill branch The poet John Betjeman visited Quainton Road in 1929, toward the end of the reign of the Metropolitan Railway, and watched a train depart for Brill. Years later he summed up the whole thing nicely in his 1973 documentary Metro-Land, commenting: “The steam train stood ready to take two or three passengers www.steamdaysmag.co.uk

through oil-lit halts and over level crossings, a rather bumpy journey.”

Let us now imagine that we have boarded that train for a journey along the tramway. At its head is one of the aesthetically pleasing Beyer, Peacock & Co Ltd-built Metropolitan Railway A class 4-4-0Ts hauling a single coach. Betjeman was right: there are few other passengers!

Following rebuilding by the Met, Quainton Road station has two platforms on the former A&BR line and a third for Brill trains. We depart from the tramway platform at Quainton Road and head off south-west along the single-track line. We are riding one of the four trains per day (each way) that will run until closure of the branch in six years’ time. Serving a lightly populated area, in former times the trains on this line ran only marginally quicker than walking pace, as they were restricted by poor-quality locos running on ungraded, economically-laid track that followed the contours of the hills. With five intermediate stops to pick up and set down goods, passengers and livestock trains needed one hour 45 minutes to travel the journey of six miles from Brill to the junction station at Quainton Road in 1887. Improvements to the line carried out at the time of the transfer to the Oxford & Aylesbury Tramroad and use of better-quality locomotives and rolling stock has reduced our journey time from Quainton Road to Brill to between 32 and 36 minutes.

The first station we reach is Waddesdon – known as Waddesdon Road Siding at the time of the line’s opening but renamed Waddesdon when the line was converted for passenger use, and then Waddesdon Road in 1922. It was heavily used during the construction of Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild’s estate at Waddesdon Manor in the 1870s and 1880s. The station now sees little business other than for shipping milk from nearby farms to Aylesbury and