Ribble Pilot - Issue 48

The Ribble Pilot

The Journal of The Ribble Steam Railway - Issue No.48

Do NOT PRINT See “Cover” attachment

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See “Cover� attachment

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31238 & an unidentified sister await departure from the new exchange sidings with Energy sitting in the foreground. Note more development work progressing in the background.(Steven Brindley)

Do NOT PRINT

Ribble Pilot 48 (Summer 2017) I stood and waited in the rain And hoped to see a passing train Not caring what class it be A Black five or a Jubilee A diesel with a sounding horn Or a pannier tank the worse for worn Yes I stood and waited in the rain But it seems my waiting was in vain For the last train passed here long ago But I stood there and did not know Until a passer – by came up and said No trains will come, this railway’s dead The last one ran in sixty-eight And even that was running late So I thanked him and went on my way And cursed I stood there yesterday... **************************************

The weekend of 24th & 25th June marked 125 years since Preston Dock received its first ship.

Officially called the Albert Edward basin – and the largest single dock in Europe – it has been keeping ships safe for decades.

It was completed and opened in 1892 by Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Victoria’s second son.

To make the Dock the River Ribble was diverted and the dock was dug out and built.

As ships increased in size the channel became too shallow for the newer, larger ships. It became too expensive to keep dredging and the port was closed in 1981 by an Act of Parliament.

The area is just as important as a commercial, residential and leisure operation now as it was to the manufacturing industry as a thriving port.

Here’s to another 125 years of continuing success.

Of course we play our part, as the creation of the new railway line has now become the Ribble Steam Railway of which are so proud today.

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Well it’s nice to be back and the Summer weather has certainly helped. After my big Heart operation (that’s a big op not a big heart!) it is going to take some time to recuperate. Most of my contributions are Computer based so it should keep me occupied whilst recovering. To be honest I described to a few friends that although I’ve got the same old chassis, the engine has had a rebuild ! I can now claim to have a little Italian in me as that is the country of origin of one of my new parts (the other unknown origin may well be a pig farm in Tamworth !!!)

Thanks to all of you who have sent your best wishes one way or another for my speedy recovery and thanks to my Wife Sonia who has kept many of you up to date via my own Facebook page.

Hope you enjoy our 48th Edition of Ribble Pilot, thanks as always to our contributors and Photographers.

Cover credits to Gary Severn.

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SECRETARY SUMMER 2017 The 2017 season is proceeding pretty much as planned (which is always a relief!). This year with a strengthening of our front of house operation both paid and volunteer we have so far had much fewer issues of not running either the cafĂŠ on our running days than was the case in 2016.

Following the retirement from buffet car duties of Chris & Eunice at the end of last season we have also had some new helpers there which has allowed us to keep that running successfully.

That said, Karl Latham our retail manager is always looking for more helpers to spread the load so any offers will be gratefully received. The same applies to covering our train crew duties on operating days.

Dealing with our volunteers more generally in the last issue, I related how we will be issuing a members handbook this year to give everyone a guide of our procedures and policies so it is all in one easy to refer to document. It is progressing and close to being finished so will be out with everyone in the next few months.

We had a very successful Spring diesel gala with our colleagues at Colas lending us a class 60 locomotive for the Saturday of the weekend.

This proved to be very popular and we were inundated with visitors first thing in the morning to the point of having to run an extra train using the railbus which was even then still standing room only. The next such diesel event will be held in October and at the time of writing we are hopeful that another guest locomotive will be there in attendance. At present the details are still being arranged but as they say "watch this space" Our spring steam gala saw the return of a former resident (plus her owner!) from our previous operation at Southport. "Whitehead" belongs to one of our life members and former volunteers Eugene Wheelwright and has been for many years been living at the "Midland Railway Butterley". It was very smart on the front of the trains and nice to see an old resident back in steam on our services. It was also a return visit as we used Whitehead on a demonstration freight train on the Dock Railway many years ago before we actually moved from Southport which just goes to show how long we have been operating on the two different sites.

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This year we again ran a vintage car display on "Fathers Day" it having not been included in our 2016 calendar due to a change in personnel.

Fortunately the weather was kind and we managed to fill about half of the car park with exhibitors. It's always worrying when you see things that are museum items that you can actually remember on the roads! Writing now in July there will soon be a repeat of last years model tram weekend with a large display in the museum of the excellent layout & vehicles belonging to our friends at the Manchester Model Tramway Group.

As I write this in the museum meeting room one of our colleagues John Meredith is busy entertaining visitors in a series of stories and presentations which we have been doing once a month as advertised on the website. Those who have met John will know he is a very good presenter to the public and feedback from those seeing these is very good. John is also involved in our school's visits.

We have also had a main line diesel hauled railtour visit us again since the last issue organized to support the charity "The Railway Children". Unlike previous visits there wasn't a stopover with us but it gave the passengers a chance of "main line" haulage on our line and we received an extremely good piece of feedback from one of the organizers for the efforts of all those who had helped on the day in making it a success.

Whilst ordinary weekend steam days this year are doing reasonably well, I do always in these pages put out a plea that anyone who can help publicise us in any way get in touch with us to see what can be done. That covers anything that might help spread our message to potential visitors. By way of example in the latest issue of "Steam Rly" Magazine, the Fairbourne Rly in Wales related how a campaign of leafleting and postering had made a big difference to their visitor numbers in the last couple of years. We have just had a useful trip to "Tram Sunday" in Fleetwood where "Grant Ritchie" loco was moved up there and kept in light steam by one of our firemen with visitors able to see the footplate. A team of hard working volunteers managed to distribute a lot of leaflets to visitors at the event and if this kind of thing is something you might be interested in helping with then get in touch with us. We don't plan to do these things type of things all the time given our limited numbers of people available plus the cost but the loco has had two "holidays" to such events this year and these things do keep us in the public eye.

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As I related in the last article there is always a never ending list of work to do on and along the railway both to maintain it and carry out improvements. This falls to both our paid staff and volunteers and also sometimes to contractors we employ. This year we sought the services of a company using a specialist road/rail vehicle to do the weedkilling along the line and having seen the work will be employing them again to carry out the task in 2018 albeit earlier in the year. We have had problems recently with the never ending growth of the trees along the railway. Despite both efforts of our staff and some volunteers the job is such some external paid help is going to be used to deal with parts of the line. Having lots of green vegetation looks nice but can be a headache! Other jobs recently done, include replacement of one of the ground Frames, by Russell Walker, to change it to a metal structure from the original timber one which will hopefully prolong it's life. Also in recent weeks one of the pedestrian level crossings has been re-laid by the full time staff.

As I say the list is almost endless of these type of task. Restoration of vehicles is also proceeding in our workshop. By way of example the "Shark" brake van has now been restored to a very smart appearance by a group of our volunteers from what was basically dereliction and attention has now shifted to working on the "Queen Mary" brake van that we purchased last year.

HEALTH & SAFETY 1. Everyone will be familiar with the disastrous event in London in June since when the issue of fire safety has been almost continuously on our news screens ever since. Self evidently safety issues relating to a tower block are different from a railway. However what it did show was that using modern materials can be a source of fire risk in itself and that applies to our buildings as well. At least two other heritage railways have suffered serious fires in recent years in buildings similar in structure to ours. We need to remain vigilant re fire safety and as I have said before in these pages keep escape routes clear and be very careful when doing work in the workshop or elsewhere that could be a potential hazard.

2. On the point of vigilance again some of you will have seen that Rail Accident Investigation Branch are investigating another incident on a heritage line. I won't comment on the detail of that not least because the report is many months off being completed but it is a reminder to be careful and thorough when doing (all) of our activities and ensure "safety first".

You should receive the notice for the Annual General Meeting which is scheduled to take place at our usual venue the Ashton on Ribble Bowling Club on the 5th September. Without wishing to drone on (any more than I do usually) can I repeat last years comments that anyone sending in a nomination or a proxy note MUST do so within the timescales given in the notice and to the correct address if applicable. This point has been the cause of some issues in the past and we need to make sure we comply with our Articles of Association when we have formal meetings.

RSR AGM 2017 8PM - SEPTEMBER 5th Ashton Bowling Club Preston.

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NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the Company Ribble Steam Railway Limited for the year ending 2016 will be held at Ashton on Ribble Bowling Club on Tuesday 5th September 2017 at 20.00 hours precisely for the following purposes: 1.

To receive apologies for absence.

2.

To approve the minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on the 13th September 2016.

3.

To receive the reports of the Board of Directors and the Auditors.

4.

To receive and adopt the accounts for the Company for the year ended 31st December 2016.

5.

To re-appoint messrs Satterthwaite Brooks & Pomfret, Chartered Accountants of Oriel House 2-8 Oriel Road, Bootle, Merseyside as auditors of the Company.

6.

To elect directors. Article 52 provides : "No person other than a director retiring at the meeting, shall, unless recommended by the Directors as eligible for election to the office of Director at any General Meeting unless, not less than three, nor more than twenty one days before the date appointed for the meeting, there shall have been left at the registered address of the Company, notice in writing signed by a member duly qualified to attend and vote at the meeting for which such notice is given, if his intention to propose such person for election and also notice in writing signed by that person of his willingness to be elected". Since the previous AGM Messrs Mahaffey & Masson have retired from their positions as directors. Messrs Burke & Darbyshire are retiring by rotation. Mr Darbyshire is not seeking to be re-elected but Mr Burke being eligible offers themselves for re-election at the meeting. Can I please emphasise that to be valid any nomination MUST be sent to the registered address by the closing date.

7.

To transact any other business which may lawfully be transacted at an AGM. 8.

Any member who is not a life member of Ribble Steam Railway Limited is respectfully reminded that in order to attend and vote, his or her membership must be up to date. Any member entitled to attend and vote may appoint a proxy to attend and attend on their behalf. A proxy need not be a member of the Company. To be valid a correctly completed form of proxy must be delivered to the registered office of the Company by 17.00 hours on Saturday the 2nd September 2017.

By Order of the Company Secretary, Michael Bailey Registered office: 3 Lincoln Drive, Old Roan, Liverpool, L10 3LJ —————————————————————————————————————————— RIBBLE STEAM RAILWAY LIMITED ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING ON 5th SEPTEMBER 2017 _____________________ of _______________________________________________ Hereby appoint The Chairman of the meeting or ___________________________________________ To be my proxy at the meeting to vote in any election of Directors at that meeting at the proxy's discretion.

Dated_______________________ 2017 _____________________________ Signed

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DRAFT MINUTES OF THE 42nd ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF RIBBLE STEAM RAILWAY LTD AT ASHTON ON RIBBLE BOWLING CLUB IN PRESTON 13th September 2016.

Present : Mr D. Watkins (Chairman) and 34 members.

The meeting commenced at 8.10 pm.

1. There were apologies for absence from Martin Clarke, Matthew Darbyshire, Liam Diamond, Teresa Hearty, Chris Mills, Andrew & Sarah Murphy, David Soper, Adrian Tomkinson and Russell Walker.

2. The minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting held on the 25th August 2015 were proposed to be accepted by Mr W. Helliwell and seconded by Mr F. Masson. The minutes were adopted by the meeting.

3. Directors report. Copies of this were provided to members in the accounts supplied with the AGM notices. The report was proposed to be accepted by Mr K. Mahaffey and seconded by Mr A. Middleton. The report was adopted by the meeting.

4. The annual accounts. These had been circulated with the AGM notice for the meeting.

There were no questions from the floor. The accounts were proposed by Mr F. Masson and seconded by Mr S. Gibbs. The accounts were adopted by the meeting.

5. Re-appointment of Satterthwaite Brooks & Pomfret as auditors. This was proposed by Mr T. Owen and seconded by Mr M. MacArthur and adopted by the meeting.

6. Election of directors. Four directors messrs Bailey, Mills Vernon and Watkins were retiring by rotation and seeking re-election. There had been no other nominations received for any other person for the positions to be elected. Thus Mr Watkins declared all four retiring directors re-elected to serve a further term.

7. AOB. No issues were raised by any of the members present.

8. There being no further business the meeting was formally closed at 8.15 pm to be followed by a buffet and members question & answer session.

9. Following the buffet Mr Watkins convened the members engagement meeting at 8.40pm. A bundle of documents had been provided to everyone at the meeting which included the

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the proposed four year capital plan and a redacted version of the agenda used at Company Board meetings.

Mr Watkins took the meeting through the four year plan explaining that the length of it was to reflect the duration of the haulage contract with Total Bitumen which expires in 2020. Mr Watkins said that the various items listed were not all necessarily going to be completed but included all the main capital projects the Board would like to see finished in the timeframe. Most were expected to be completed but some shown at the bottom were now put on hold.

10. (i) One such item was purchase of the Council owned loco shed at the end of the line. Mr Watkins said previously this had been valued at ÂŁ250K which was not cost effective to buy and the building internally was smaller than it looked from the outside thereby restricting it's usefulness.

There might also be an associated cost of paying to relocate the Preston Council employees from the shed to another location. (ii) Extending the railway to Savick Brook was now unlikely to take place in the foreseeable future due to the cost and extent of the engineering works. (iii) The adjacent site D2 which we had considered acquiring was understood now to have been let to another party. In any event it was not worth obtaining due to the terms required by the Council and the fact it had contamination issues. The Council would require the full asking price for it in one amount rather than in instalments. (iv) Finally the proposed platform at the Exchange sidings had been put back as the HMRC had ruled it would not make RSR Ltd eligible to reclaim VAT on train fares/ admissions which had significantly reduced the benefits building of it had been thought to bring when balanced with the impact it would have on our operations.

11. All of the other items listed were possible and intended to go forward although the order in the schedule did not show them in any priority order.

The museum continued to acquire exhibits including recently a works plate from one of the original Preston Docks locomotives. It was intended to improve the entrance to the museum.

The diesel loco D2870 was to be overhauled to provide a standby shunting locomotive. The wagon turntable was likely to be completed in 2017 with most of the issues around it's construction now resolved. The plan was to finish the tarmac areas around the museum at both ends to provide better surfaces for pedestrians and vehicles. The museum lighting has now been completed and is a vast

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improvement during the winter. The signalbox has now been started as a project and the base for it is currently being built. There is a plan to erect a canopy on the platform to provide some protection to passengers. Mr Watkins said the overhaul of the company owned steam loco NWGB was going ahead but being held back by resources in terms of labour. Mr Helliwell queried the delay in completing this project and Mr Watkins said the main problem had been sorting out repairing the copper firebox. This had required expert advice and it was now to be repaired by welding. Removing it from the loco boiler was a big ongoing job but nearing completion. Mr Vernon commented the work so far had only cost a small amount and Mr MacArthur said the use of a copper box would ensure a longer life. Mr Watkins said we would also overhaul the other company owned steam loco AG2 once NWGB is complete.

12. There is a plan to fit heating in the museum but this will be dependent upon sorting out the doorways in such a way as to minimise heat loss.

In addition the plan is to create a schools learning centre facility so that school parties can visit on our educational programme without needing to use the cafĂŠ for their work. The schools visits was now a good product which had been made possible by using outside bodies to assist in running it. It was a good sign of it's quality that we had received schools visiting from as far away as Manchester.

13. There is a plan to improve the lighting in the car park. There will also be a coaling stage built to help in coaling the smaller locomotives. Point heaters will be fitted to the catch points in the main line to keep them free of ice etc in the winter months. As time goes on some of the workshop equipment would be replaced due to it's age.

14. In order to strengthen our financial position the intention is to set up ring fenced "business" reserve" and "loco repair" funds. At the moment these type of finances are covered in general funds but charities are generally expect to allocate specific funding to setting up these type of reserves.

15. We intend to complete acquiring the buffet car which currently belongs to the Furness Railway Trust. This would give us a reserve coach for Christmas in the event of one being failed for any reason. It would also give us in the longer term 2 sets of 3 coaches which could be alternated in traffic one in maroon and the other

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in carmine and cream. The intention was reupholster the seats in the two TSO coaches but the correct material was proving difficult to source.

Ideally we would try and acquire some in co-operation with another heritage railway.

16. Mr Watkins then put to the floor any suggestions or comments. Mr Hearty queried if the intention was to allow access to view vehicles in the museum yard area was there a risk to visitors being near the tracks. Mr Watkins said that was not a problem as the actual operational railway lines would be fenced off from the public. Mr Whalley asked about the use of the wagon turntable. Mr Watkins said that once completed it would be able to turn our small tank locomotives at events like steam galas. Mr Billington commented there was not much to see currently stabled in the museum yard but Mr Watkins & Mr MacArthur said there was now an ongoing programme to restore some of the goods wagons to make them suitable to display there.

17. There was a query about the possibility of operating brake van specials at certain events. Mr Watkins said that there was a plan when the vehicles were restored to possibly use them at events like galas at the beginning and end of each day. There are safety issues to manage. Mr Bailey said these trains would not replace using coaches on regular service trains. Mr Tatham said we could look at widening the station platform at the western end to use for brake vans. Mr Watkins said we could look at that. One possibility had been putting the TPO coach there but that was intended to go inside. Mr Stewart asked about what the plans were involving the crane tank "Glenfield" which was in the museum yard. Mr Watkins said that it had been intended to be a museum exhibit but would not fit through the entrance doors due to it's height. The locomotive is privately owned and it was undecided what to do with it. In any event there is no plan to restore it.

18. One item not shown on the schedule was there is a proposal to build a purpose designed joinery shop to replace the current area which is within the workshop.

19. Ms Pinch raised the problem in covering the staffing of the cafĂŠ and the fact it had been closed on Saturday although including herself there were volunteers who could have staffed it. Mr Bailey said that it was hoped the appointment of a new paid manager for the retail side of the company would allow us to manage this better in terms of rostering and we would know there was a staff

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member to help operate it if no volunteer was available.

20. Mr Billington queried the signalbox and the purpose it would be put to once it was completed.

Mr Watkins said it was not decided if visitors would have access to it once fitted out or make it operational in the near term. Mr Billington said we needed to push things forward by paying outside parties to complete a job if we could not do it ourselves due to our pressures of work. He and Mr Rudge gave the example of the point connecting the RSR yard to the main line.

21. Mr Masson proposed a vote of thanks to the steam loco drivers at the gala event for their efforts which was approved.

22. Ms Pinch queried if we were still planning to build a children's playground. Mr Watkins said the problem was finding a suitable location for it although having one would increase visitor dwell time with the benefits that would bring.

23. Mr Watkins asked people to look at the sample agenda from Company Board meetings within the meeting bundle showing the topics that are normally discussed. Health & safety was always listed as item number 1. In both company agendas there are a number of fixed items listed each time. For the RRL meeting there are normally just the 5 RRL directors present when it is held after the conclusion of the RSR Ltd meeting. There was a question as what is "wombling" and Mr Bailey said that covered the tidiness of the railway. Mr Helliwell raised painting the gates and railings at the front of the site. Mr Watkins and Mr Vernon said we had acquired the necessary paint and other materials to do this but to date there had not been the opportunity to complete that job.

The meeting was closed at 9.25pm.

RSR AGM 2017 8PM SEPTEMBER 5th Ashton Bowling Club Preston.

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Museum News Some big changes have taken place in the museum since the last issue went to print. A sort out of the small objects room has allowed us to put a selection of signalling equipment and artefacts on display, and work has started to pull all this together with some new interpretation boards. Hopefully by the time you receive this issue everything will be in place, so do take a look next time you pop in. A new interactive signalling display is also under construction and our thanks go to Russell Walker for his help on this.

At the start of the year we took on a placement student from Lancaster University to work on a project based on the Whittingham Hospital Railway, given that 2017 is 60 years since it closed. This work has been completed and is now on display in the museum alongside St Monans, and the Victorian Coach, both of which represent similar vehicles which would have run at the Hospital Railway.

A model railway display cabinet which was kindly donated to the museum has been put out next to the 00 gauge layout, and the museum's collection of rolling stock and locomotives is now on display for all to see.

The joiners in the workshop kindly built us two sets of steps for use with the TPO when it moves into the museum, it seemed a shame to have them sitting around waiting for the TPO to be finished, so we have temporarily used them to open up the Victorian Coach. Thanks to Furness Railway Trust for allowing us to do this.

More changes are due to take place, with the class 47 cab currently undergoing work in the paint shop moving into the museum. Some new displays should also be ready in time for the Christmas season.

A group of volunteers accompanied Grant Richie to Tram Sunday in Fleetwood to promote RSR, and the events we had on offer. It was hugely successful with a queue of people waiting to take a look on the footplate last most of the day.

Speaking of Christmas, the Santa Specials season will soon be upon us. We had a hugely successful year in 2016, with people from across all parts of the railway chipping in to help out. There's a wide variety of jobs that need to be done each day, and if anyone would like to help out for a day (or more!) drop me an email (karl.latham@ribblesteam.co.uk) or pop into the museum building to see me.

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RSR GALLERY

'Linda' & 'Hornet' in the workshop (Ian Roberts) Peckett 1636/1924, 'FONMON', in the museum (Andy Jackson)

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'Shark' ballast spreading van in the workshop after a repaint ‘ESSO’ Tank Wagon under restoration (see pages 32 & 33)

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Colas Class 70 70807 on Bitumen Tankers Thursday 15th June 2017 saw the first official working of the Colas Class 70 on the Bitumen tankers from Lindsey Oil Terminal to Preston Dock.

70807 crossing Strand Road, Preston with the empty tankers 6E32 to Lindsey Oil Terminal.

Photo by Gary Severn The Class 70 is a six axle Co-Co mainline freight GE PowerHaul locomotive series manufactured by General Electric.

The first two locomotives (70001 and 70002) arrived in Britain on 8 November 2009 at Newport Docks.

The delivery gave GE its first locomotives in service on the British rail network. The first locomotive was given the name 'PowerHaul' at Leeds on 24 November 2009.

In November 2013, Colas Rail announced it had agreed a deal to procure 10 Class 70 locomotives, with new builds to be assembled in Erie, Pennsylvania for entry into service in 2014; the order included the Turkish built demonstrator 70099, renumbered as 70801, and the remainder of Freightliner's original order option of 30 locos. Colas's locomotives have been allotted numbers in the 708xx range.

70802-70805 had already been constructed at the time of the order and were shipped to the UK in January 2014, with the rest assembled and delivered later the same year.

In 2015, Colas announced the purchase of an additional seven locomotives, to be delivered by 2017.

Despite the number range, Colas Rail locomotives remain as Class 70/0 rather than 70/8.

Ribble Rail News: Photos, Videos and Observations always welcomed. www.facebook.com/prestonribblerail/

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Branch Line Society Railtour The Cat and Dock, Thursday 15 June 2017 DRS 66432 & 68026

'Dock and Cat' railtour over the swing bridge on the Ribble branch leg of its tour Photo by Gary Severn

The Branch Line Society ran an exciting loco hauled charter train in conjunction with Railway Children, operated by Direct Rail Services (DRS), traversing unusual lines in the North West, with a leg stretch break in Ormskirk. The train consisted of eleven coaches with four First Class open coaches available for passenger use and was hauled by a Class 68 and a Class 66 operating in top 'n tail formation.

Route:

Stafford (PU 07.30) – Norton Bridge East Chord – Stone – Stoke-on-Trent – Cliffe Vale Down Goods – Kidsgrove – Alsager Up & Down Goods Loop – Crewe P12 (PU 08.15 / RM) – Down Salop Siding (RM) – Down Salop Independent – Down Manchester Independent – Sandbach – Middlewich – Hartford CLC Junction – Acton Grange – Down Helsby – Warrington Bank Quay P4 – x/o to Down Fast – Earlestown P4 – Wigan Up & Down Passenger Loop – x/o to Wigan North Western P5 – Skew Bridge Junction Down Goods – Preston RES (RM) – Ormskirk (RM / break 12.15 – 12.35) – Preston Dock (RM) – x/o to Up Fast – Wigan North Western – St Helens Central – Thatto Heath Down Goods Loop – Liverpool (SD 15.45).

The Society is a UK-based voluntary association for railway enthusiasts. It was established in 1955 and is widely recognised as Britain's leading amateur group for the study of railway infrastructure and history of networks (and not nowadays, despite its title, just minor lines). It pursues its aims by a news service, tours and visits, and the production and distribution of publications.

Unlike many enthusiast groups, the emphasis is on the physical works and on operating arrangements, rather than power and rolling stock. Whilst seeking to record matters of history accurately for archive purposes, Members receive up to 24 newsletters per year. http://www.branchline.org.uk/index.php

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Tanfield Railway’s Legends of Industry 2017

Tanfield Railway base is the P&JR shed at Marley Hill, built by 1854, the world's oldest locomotive shed which is still in use. The railway runs on the Causey Embankment, built by 1725, the first large railway embankment in the world.

The route passes Causey Arch, at 1727 the world's oldest railway bridge, Causey arch, embankment & culvert are grade 1 listed, and have been nominated for world heritage status. Tanfield is full of history. No.3931 'Linda' was one of the star guests at ‘Legends of Industry’.

Photo contributions from Dave Manley / Iain James Paton / Industrial Locomotive Enthusiasts Group

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The Railway has become the home to a large collection of industrial steam engines, with 28 in all, though only three are operational.

Hawthorn Leslie and Company 0-4-0ST, No.2. / 1911 0-4-0ST Sir Cecil A Cochrane Robert Stephenson built 1948 0-6-0T Twizell Robert Stephenson and Company built 1891 One is undergoing repairs and three more are under overhaul for future operation, with the other 21 in sheds on the Marley Hill site.

Find out more http://www.tanfield-railway.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/Tanfield-Railway-108957235311/ https://tanfield-railway.blogspot.co.uk/p/about-tanfield-railway.html

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Furness Railway Trust News It is pleasing to be able to report that good progress has been made on the Trust's current projects over the past few months.

The overhaul and repairs to RMB 1812 are now well on the way to completion, with work being concentrated on the inside of the vehicle in recent times. A great deal of the interior panelling had been removed to enable welding repairs to the exterior bodywork to take place.

This has now been refitted, including the many components around the toilet and servery areas.

We have missed the input from Tom and Trevor Bradshaw who unfortunately have been absent from the team in recent times, but Mike Rigg, David Rimmer and Paul Newton have set about locating items and fitting them back into place.

Significant repairs to the floors around the door entrances have taken up much of John Dixon's time, requiring a great deal of patience and ingenuity to effect. John has now moved on to the equally challenging task of laying fresh lino in the vestibules and servery area. The latter task has involved removing sliding doors and runners and required yet more screws and studs to be labelled and stored whilst the job takes place.

Hopefully it will not be too long before the RMB is ready for traffic and we can then start on the next project.

Railway coach body, which has benefitted from the donation of two sets of shelving which have been kindly donated by one of the Trust's members.

And what a difference that has made in the ability to be able to find paint and tools!

Mike Rigg secures melamine panelling in the RMB

John Dixon cuts lino in the RMB on the 21st July

One of the issues to be faced when completing the RMB has been the fact that it had become a storage area for tools, paint cans and other paraphernalia. This has now mostly been cleared out and a new, more organised, storage area created in the former 1st Class North London

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There has been steady progress on the overhaul of Peckett 0-4-0ST Caliban where Alan Middleton and John Houghton have removed the corroded areas of the running plate and replaced with new steel.

Adrian Tomkinson has taken it upon himself to needle gun and wire brush the whole of the frames, which has sent plumes of rust and orange coloured dust into the atmosphere on many Wednesdays. This has been followed by the application of cans of red oxide primer, undercoat and gloss paint, which should see the frames protected from corrosion for many years to come.

Howard Fletcher has been busy refurbishing, breaking and repairing he sanding gear as well as machining newly cast lubrication pots for the horn guides. All the components which have been removed from the frames during the overhaul have been patiently freed up, wire brushed and painted with red oxide primer by Fred Jones and Roger Benbow.

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Alan Middleton, John Houghton and Adrian Tomkinson at work with Caliban

Fred and Roger have again also been heavily engaged in cleaning up and priming components.

More items have been machined up by Bill Norcross, and Keith Brewer has recently been making progress with the trial fitting of boiler components and making up lubrication pipework.

The engine and tender drag boxes have both been rebuilt with new steel where required and have been temporarily assembled pending permanent riveting into position. A date has been made for a sand blaster to attend to the tender frames.

The diesel gang of Alan Ogden, Ben Massam and Anthony Jolly have been working away on Fluff and various of the smaller components such as the ammeter have been refurbished ready for re-fitting when the rest of the locomotive is ready.

Fred Jones wire brushing one of Wootton Hall’s brake beams

Howard Fletcher at work on Caliban’s sanding gear

Those entering the FRT shed cannot fail to notice the significant progress that has been made on former Great Western Railway 4-6-0 No. 4979 Wootton Hall. The front running plates have been removed, cleaned and primed, and this process has enabled access to be gained to the front of the frames for attention from the needle gun (thanks to Matt Bedford and George Fletcher) and the paint brush.

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Looking forward, it is intended to undertake some more concreting in the unheated part of the FRT shed, and Ted Tatham has been levelling road three in readiness for this exercise. Outside the shed, the FRT has been able to acquire the portable office formerly used by Amber Trains and this will, at some time in the future, be moved closer to the shed and plumbed in to provide good messing facilities for members.

All of the Trust's operational locomotives have been in action. 'Austerity' 0-6-0ST Cumbria passed its annual boiler survey in April after having winter maintenance to its big ends and receiving a new clack valve. It has again been the mainstay of motive power on The Battlefield Line in Leicestershire. Furness Railway 0-4-0 No. 20 is still located at Locomotion, the annex to the NRM and former Great Western Railway 0-6-2T No. 5643 has been turning its wheels regularly on the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway. Once again, on behalf of the trustees of the Furness Railway Trust, I wish to thank all at Preston who have assisted in any way so far this year. TIM OWEN

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Classic Cars @ Father’s Day 2017

Our BIG THANKS to all the participants who attended the Father’s Day Event.

2018 will be our 10th Annual Show and planning is already underway to make it bigger and brighter with some surprises across the entire weekend.

If You or a Club would like to attend our 2018 Event please email us at the museum.

Full & Further Details will be published on our website and via social media.

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The sun shone and the cars piled in from early on. I am told that we had just under 50 vehicles at the start of the day but quite a few were doing more than one rally and a dozen of them motored off to Scorton amongst other venues.

Apparently, on advice from various owners and car clubs we must not try and move our date as it is becoming synonymous with Father’s Day in the car owners fraternity. We need to get our date in motoring diaries much earlier than we are doing (regardless of the fact it had been posted on our own website for over 10 months after we decided to reorganise the event.

A big thank you goes to Roy Clark for providing an interesting collection of motor cycles to compliment the motor vehicles. Roy pointed out that many visitors found the collection of old bikes an interesting aspect of their visit.

Our thanks also go to John Mulvaney and the members of the Nutcrackers Car Group, most of these vehicles were conversions from other humble beginnings and to hear each vehicles history was fascinating even to a person who was not a petrol head.

So I said to Wayne, “any chance of starting your Ford Popular up and I'll film it” Vroom!

My favourite car of the day. It did the Monte Carlo run in 2013! It was remarkably quiet for a conversion to a Hot Rod. Only 2 pedals to operate as the floor space is... well, not a lot!

Seen quite often bombing to the shops around Kirkham so keep your eyes and ears open if you are in that area.

This event only works if the weather is on our side and this year the sun shone at all the right moments. It is in many people’s opinion ‘very lowkey’ and to be honest could be looked upon as the bare bones of which to build upon, year by year. However it needs continuity and planning by someone with time to take it to the next level.

More added displays of model collections could be added within the museum for over the entire weekend. Maybe a Model Shop stall or some Auto -Jumble? The possibilities are there... Over to you

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Blasts From The Past

Hunslet 1954/1939 'Kinsley' at South Kirby Colliery near Barnsley Efficient at McKechnie chemicals Widnes July 1969

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Peckett 1935/1937 'Hornet' at Bersham Colliery, Wrexham, Wales.

D2148 (in orange livery) at Bowers Row Disposal point at Astley, West Yorkshire.

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RSR GALA GALLERY Saturday 1st April saw 272 & 'Whitehead' busy at work during the Gala weekend.

'Whitehead' Pecket 1163 Gala Sunday 2 April (Mike Taylor)

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272 & Guest loco ‘Whitehead’ ready for the next gala turn (Andy Jackson)

'Courageous' arrives at Strand Road on a rainy Saturday morning.

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Steam Loco Stock List Andrew Barclay 1147/1908 'John Howe' Andrew Barclay 1598/1918 'Efficient' Andrew Barclay 1833/1924 'Niddrie' Andrew Barclay 1865/1926 'Alexander' Andrew Barclay 1950/1928 'Heysham No.2' Andrew Barclay 1969/1929 'JN Derbyshire' Andrew Barclay 2343/1953 'British Gypsum No4' Andrew Barclay 880/1902 0-4-0CT 'Glenfield No1' Avonside 1568/1909 'Lucy' Avonside 1810/1918 'M.D.H.B. No. 26' Avonside 1883/1922 Bagnall 2680/1942 'Courageous' Borrows 48/1906 'The King' Borrows 53/1909 'Windle' BR Ivatt 46441/1950 *Furness Railway No.20 (FRT) Grant Ritchie 272/1894 *GWR 0-6-2T 5643 (FRT) GWR 4-6-0 4979 Wootton Hall (FRT) Hawthorn Leslie 3931/1938 No.21 'Linda' Hunslet 1954/1939 'Kinsley' Hunslet 2890 0-6-0 'Douglas' Hunslet 3155/1944 'Walkden' Hunslet 3696/1950 'Respite' Hunslet 3793/1953 'Shropshire' Hunslet 3855/1955 'Glasshoughton No.4' *Hunslet WD194/1953 ‘Cumbria’ (FRT) *L&Y Aspinall 1300/12322-1896 L&Y Pug 1097/1910 ‘No.19' (L&Y Trust) LNWR Ramsbottom 1439/1865 (NRM) Peckett 737/1899 'Daphne' (Not Viewable) Peckett 1636/1924 'Fonmon' Peckett 1925/1937 'Caliban' (FRT) Peckett 1935/1937 'Hornet' Peckett 1999/1941 'North Western Gas Board' Peckett 2003/1941 'John Blenkinsop' (MRT) RSH 7485/1948 'Agecroft No.2' Sentinel 8024/1929 'Gasbag' Sentinel 9373/1947 'St Monans' USA 0-6-0T No.30072 / 1943 * Denotes currently offsite / on loan

Congratulation !!!

After 10 years on the footplate, RSR Stalwart David Soper finally got round to doing his steam driving test. May 20th was the first full turn as a passed driver. Dave Starkey (left) was the fireman.

‘Lucozade Power! - On The Footplate (photo: Paul Scott) 14th May

AUTUMN STEAM GALA SEPTEMBER 9th & 10th *FOUR LOCO’S IN STEAM *(Subject to availability)

10am to 5pm both days

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Busy Workshop view, June 2017 (Luke Ryan)

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Diesel Loco Stock List

Diesel, Electric & Battery locomotives.

BR Class 03 03189/1960 BR Class 03 D2148/1960 BR Class 05 D2595/1959 BR Class 14 D9539/1965 Diesel Railbus - 79960/1958 English Electric EE2098/1955 '671' English Electric EE788/1930 English Electric VF2160/D350/1956 '663' Fowler 0-4-0DM 21999/1937 "Fluff" (FRT) Fowler 4160001/1952 'Persil' Greenwood Batley 2000/1945 'Greenbat' Howard 965/1930 'Hotto' Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0 DM D629 'Sparky' Hudswell Clarke 1031/1956 'Margaret' Hudswell Clarke D628/1943 'Mighty Atom' North British 27653/1957 BICC Sentinel 10226/1965 'Energy' ex MSC DH23 Sentinel 10282/1968 'Enterprise' Sentinel 10283/1968 'Progress' Thomas Hill 160V/1966 'Stanlow No. 4' Yorkshire 2677/1960 D2870 Permaquip Ballast Packer No.74030/BP036 Permaquip TRAMM 98404/1990/91 Taylor-Hubbard Diesel-Electric 7.5ton crane No.81201

Mark Gill captured the Class 11 looking great in her green livery, meets Colas Class 60 (60087) whilst doing a turn for Ribble Rail on the tankers in mid-May.

D2148 (c. Paul Olivant)

Sentinal 'Energy' draws the bitumen tanks down to the refinery from the exchange sidings , Thursday 15th June

WINTER DIESEL GALA SEPTEMBER 30th & 1st OCTOBER

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RSR DIESEL GALA

Above: D2148 & D2595 on the rear of the return 1245 Below: 60047 on Swingbridge

Both photos from DM47744 on 26/03/17

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Above: D2595 top and tailed with 60047 (Emma Seddon 25/03/17) Below: Class 14 crosses the swing bridge 25 March 2017 (Adam Gibbons)

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British Rail Railbuses WMD British Rail produced a variety of railbuses, both as a means of acquiring new rolling stock cheaply, and to provide economical services on lightly-used lines.

Railbuses are a very lightweight type of railcar designed specifically for passenger transport on little-used railway lines. As the name suggests, they share many aspects of their construction with a bus, usually having a bus body, or a modified bus body, and having four wheels on a fixed wheelbase, instead of on bogies. Some, but not all, of the units were equipped for operation as diesel multiple units.

In the late 1950s, British Rail tested a series of small railbuses, produced by a variety of manufacturers, for about £12,500 each (£261,000 at modern day prices). These proved to be very economical but also somewhat unreliable. The lines they worked on were mainly closed during the Beeching Cuts and, being non-standard, they were all withdrawn in the mid-1960s.

The British Railways Waggon und Maschinenbau railbuses were delivered in April 1958. They were based at Cambridge until 1964. They were withdrawn in 1966 and 1967. The WMD railbuses were 5 of the total of 22 delivered in 1958 from five manufacturers (the rest British). They were planned to have "extensive trials".

The underframe, power equipment, transmission and brake gear were similar to the Uerdingen railbus, common on the German Federal Railway.

They were shipped via the Harwich-Zeebrugge train ferry. It was hoped they might be the answer to increasing losses on rural branch-lines. In the first year of the railbuses they saved £66,000 in operating costs, but the branches were still losing £4,000 a year (£85,000 at modern day prices).

However, at the time, such losses were unacceptable, and the lines they worked were closed.

The underframes were built of channel shaped cross-beams welded to flanged plate longitudinal girders. The corrugated steel floor was welded on top.

The body was formed of alloy panels rivetted on a light steel frame. Roof plates were crimped to increase rigidity. The body was suspended from four points on the frame, connected by hydraulic shock absorbers.

Unlike most BR diesel units, the accelerator was foot controlled. Also unusual at that time, were the power operated central doors and air powered disc brakes.

Initially the buses worked the Maldon, Braintree, and Saffron Walden lines. They had too few seats for the Braintree branch and were used on the Mildenhall line from July 1958.

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Mildenhall closed in 1962. E79961/3/4 had their Buessing engines replaced by AEC A220X engines, also of 150 hp, in 1962-3, due to the cost of importing replacements from Germany.

Their other branches closed in 1964, after which they spent most of their time in store at Cambridge. In 1965 79963 and 79964 were trialled on the Alston Line, but couldn't haul parcels vans and had heating problems in winter.

79961 and 79964 were transferred to serve Millers Dale in 1966, but that branch closed in 1967. M79961 was the last to be withdrawn in August 1967 and was scrapped at Rotherham in 1968.

Official Photo of 79660 in Germany Into Preservation: 79960 Ribble Steam Railway (on loan from North Norfolk Rly) / Operational.

79962 Keighley and Worth Valley Railway / Operational.

79963 East Anglia Railway Museum / under extensive overhaul.

79964 Keighley and Worth Valley Railway / Operational.

The other 4 buses have been preserved. They have been transferred a number of times between preserved railways. In 1966 79960 and 63 were sold to the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway Society (later North Norfolk).

In 1976 79963's AEC engine failed and was replaced. 79962 and 64 were bought by Keighley and Worth Valley Railway in 1967. To solve a problem with them slipping, they were turned round, so that the driving axle was at the rear on the uphill runs.

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Article compiled from various sources CSM

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Back To The Sixties - ‘FONMON’

Peckett 15" 0-6-0ST No.1636 of 1924 "Fonmon" shunting at the Tumen Asbestos Works, Rhoose, South Wales, 10/68. Note the outside reversing gear, very unusual for a British steam industrial loco. The loco appears coated in asbestos dust!

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The West Lancashire Light Railway at 50 The West Lancashire Light Railway is a two-foot gauge passenger-carrying railway. It runs for about a quarter of a mile around a fishing lake (originally a quarry) in the village of Hesketh Bank.

From small beginnings in the 1960s it has grown to include a number of historic steam locomotives, which have been restored on site.

There are many examples of small industrial diesels that were once commonplace in Lancashire and surrounding areas.

The Railway is operated entirely by volunteers, and is funded by a combination of membership fees, fare income and donations. In 2006 the Railway became a registered charity.

In 1967, six schoolboys became concerned by the rapid disappearance of narrow-gauge railway systems in the area. They decided to try to save some items of interest.

A site was found at Hesketh Bank and some equipment acquired. In September 1967 work began on laying the first 150 yards of 2ft gauge track, using redundant rails and a set of axles on which the first item of rolling stock was built.

The group continued to acquire more items of rolling stock from nearby industrial sites, and work started on the construction of an engine shed and workshop.

In 1969, at an auction on closure of the Dinorwic slate quarries at Llanberis, North Wales, the group were fortunate in acquiring the remains of a steam locomotive.

The locomotive, the Hunslet quarry engine Irish Mail, was incomplete, with the boiler and other vital parts missing.

Undaunted, the group continued to search for suitable parts to rebuild the locomotive, and over the next ten years acquired or made the parts to restore Irish Mail to working order.

In 1980 the railway saw its first steam-hauled trains in operation. The Railway’s collection has continued to expand, and currently consists of eight steam locomotives, although not all are in working order.

The search for additional diesel locomotives and rolling stock items carried on, and today the Railway has a comprehensive collection.

Fiftieth Anniversary Gala Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th September Visiting locomotives: Alice, Stanhope, Cloister Traction engines & steam roller Drive a diesel!

Live-steam model railways, Fairground Beer tent, with WLLR own-label beer Catering van & cake stall Vintage bus rides Traditional games, Rivington Morris dancers (Sunday) Live entertainment during the day

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Tank Wagons

Whilst RSR have several types to restore, Tank wagons have never been common on the railways but they are and remain much more common than railway company tanks.

The railways were exempted from providing rolling stock for cargo that might cause contamination under the 'common carrier' obligations written into their various Acts of Parliament. This section deals with tank wagons for tar, oil products and chemicals. Milk was a rather special category and specialised milk tank wagons only appeared in the late 1920's.

Tank wagons for transporting liquids of various kinds were in use from the 1840's and limited quantities of oil products were moved in this way from about the 1860's. Most oil was actually shipped in wooden barrels and oil tank wagons did not become common until the later 1920's when people started building specialised rail-connected reception facilities.

Where tank wagons were inappropriate or

unavailable barrels, casks, steel drums and 'tins' were routinely used for transporting all sorts of liquids. There was a terrible accident in 1868 when a passenger train hit some run-away wagons loaded with wooden barrels of paraffin.

Paraffin (or kerosene) was widely used for lighting and heating from the late 1850's and

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heating from the late 1850's and remained popular for small portable domestic heaters until the late 1970's.

After World War Two it was usually supplied in one or two gallon tins and five gallon metal containers, in earlier times horse drawn wagons fitted with a tank were common in British streets. Petrol was supplied to motorists in two gallon tins right up to the 1930's when petrol pumps became more common. A lot of liquid products such as lubricating oil and the like are even today routinely shipped in metal barrels and tin cans.

Cylindrical tanks became mandatory for all Class A liquids in 1902.

Insulated or 'lagged' tanks are needed where the liquid needs to be kept cool (milk) or where heating is required to make the liquid flow (thick oils and bitumen). The insulation used was usually cork for cold liquids or asbestos fabric for hot cargo. On the heated tanks there was sometimes a group of steam pipes visible on the end). Bitumen (or tar) sets solid at normal temperatures but it is not very flammable and the railway bitumen tanks built after the 1940's often have 'flame tubes' fitted. These tubes entered the tank low down at the ends and lead up the chimneys on the top. At the discharge point a gas 'lance' (a metal tube on the end of a flexible hose) was lit and inserted into the tube to heat the cargo so it would flow.

Liquid chemicals shipped in bulk include the products of the town gas works; ammonia liquor, tar and naphtha. Tank wagons were also used for various alcohols, cleaning fluids and of course acids. Of the acids sulphuric is the most important but a lot of hydrochloric acid was produced as a by-product of various processes and a number of tanks were built for this traffic. Since the 1960's bulk shipments of nitric and acetic acid have become more common.

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Several of these liquid chemicals 'eat' metal and, until the technology was developed to coat the inside of tanks with rubber or glass, wooden tanks were used.

To hold the tank down in the frame there would be either wire rope strops passed over the top or flat metal straps (sometimes both). The wire rope strops were not used on new builds from the mid 1920s, on cylindrical tanks these rope strops were usually crossed to either side of the dank filling dome. On wagons built after the mid 1920s, without the wire strops, a longitudinal bar was added between the end frames. The straps or strops were secured to the chassis with some form of tensioning adjustment. At either end of the tank there would be quite solid supports to stop the tank shifting along the wagon in transit or when being shunted. These usually consisted of a pair of vertical posts with a hefty cross piece at the top. The cross pieces had holes in the ends through which metal rods were passed, leading down to somewhere about the middle of the chassis where they were bolted in place. The ends of the rods were threaded where they passed through the end timbers and nuts were then tightened onto these to hold the assembly in place. The metal rod running along the side of the tank between the two end timbers (introduced in the mid 1920s) also had tensioning bolts on the ends.

Esso were the first oil company to move towards larger four wheeled tanks, a fifteen foot wheelbase thirty-five ton capacity anchor mounted tank was introduced in 1957 and similar tanks were subsequently used by other companies carrying a range of liquids.

The 'Esso' tank came in two varieties, class A tanks had a body just over twenty five foot long, the Class B tank was twenty two and a half foot long, both were about seven foot in diameter.

These tanks had no 'skirt' at the base, they were supported on four metal brackets, each about a foot wide, mounted two to a side.

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One point worth noting is that the lagged tanks sometimes had flat ends. The tank inside was domed as usual but the cladding was formed into a flat-ended tube often with a slight rim, similar to that on a steel drum, around the outside edge at each end.

An alternative often seen on lagged tanks was to form the end into a shallow cone shape. The British Railways standard forty five ton bitumen wagons had this kind of end.

The chassis was usually a standard wagon type.

Milk tank wagons and some oil tankers (mainly bogie types), were unusual in being privately owned tanks mounted on railway owned underframes, the owner being responsible for maintenance of the tank whilst the railway company maintained the chassis.

The chassis was usually a standard wagon type.

Milk tank wagons and some oil tankers (mainly bogie types), were unusual in being privately owned tanks mounted on railway owned underframes, the owner being responsible for maintenance of the tank whilst the railway company maintained the chassis.

More: see http://www.ribblesteam.org.uk/exhibits/wagons

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‘Lest We Forget’

WAR MEMORIALS.

In addition to these there were many local memorials paid for by local staff, and some railways, noticeably the Great Western, created Rolls of Honour, recording all their staff who fell in the war, which were placed in major stations around the system.

Members of railway staff have always responded to the call of their country in times of war, and sadly many members of railway staff died on active service. As a result Britain’s railway companies have honoured their fallen staff with a large number of war memorials.

The oldest such memorials date to the Boer War, but few survive from that period. The most noticeable are those of the Midland Railway at Derby Station, and the London & North Western Railway in the Queen’s Park in Crewe.

In the First World War somewhere between 20,000

In the Second World War far fewer railway staff lost their lives on active service; those who did are generally commemorated on the main memorials of the ‘Big Four’ railways. However, more railwaymen died in bombing raids, and in other ways on duty at home, and there are several local memorials to many of these people, such as the driver Gilbert and and fireman Nighthall who, in June 1944, heroically uncoupled a burning wagon of bombs from its train, and drew it clear of the village of Soham saving many lives, although Nighthall lost his own, and Gimbert was severely wounded. and 30,000 railwaymen died, and they are honoured in a series of war memorials. Most of the companies that existed at that time created memorials for their staff, varying from the grand Lutyens memorials of the Midland Railway in Derby and the North Eastern Railway in York to a simple plaque in Salehurst church commemorating the single member of the staff of the Kent & East Sussex Railway who was killed in the Battle of Loos in 1915.

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During five years leading up to the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War the Railway Heritage Trust, using money from a legacy, worked with the industry and with the Imperial War Museum’s War Memorials Archive to identify and record all the surviving railway memorials. Several paper memorials have been found in museum and private collections, and arrangements have been made for copies to be displayed at appropriate locations, including Cardiff, Stratford upon Avon and Bristol.

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One memorial had moved (unofficially) to a private collection and has been recovered, also funded were the recreation of lost stone and metal memorials at Marylebone and Attenborough. The Trust have also worked closely with Network Rail to restore the Great Northern Railway memorial at Kings Cross, and to ensure that the seven railway staff whose outstanding bravery led to them winning the Victoria Cross, and the fourteen still in railway service who, with equal courage, won the George Cross, are suitably commemorated by the industry.

Train (1915) Helen Mackay Will the train never start?

God, make the train start.....

She cannot bear it, keeping up so long; and he, he no more tries to laugh at her.

He is going. She holds his two hands now.

Now, she has touch of him and sight of him.

And then he will be gone.

He will be gone. They are so young.

She stands under the window of his carriage, and he stands in the window.

They hold each other’s hands across the window ledge, and look and look, and know that they may never look again.

The great clock of the station, how strange it is.

Terrible that the minutes go, terrible that the minutes never go.

They had walked the platform for so long, up and down, and up and down the platform, in the rainy morning, up and down, and up and down.

The guard came by, calling, “Take your places, take your places.”

She stands under the window of his carriage, and he stands in the window.

God, make the train start! Before they cannot bear it, make the train start! God, make the train start!

The Trust hold a list of all the ‘Railway’ war memorials of which they are aware, and are always willing to help researchers locate the memorials of a particular railway.

The Trust do not hold records of the names of those railwaymen who fell: you can access a full list through the National Railway Museum. http://railwayheritagetrust.co.uk/ *** Opposite Poem: “Train” is taken from a book of poems entitled ‘London: One November’, published in the middle of World War One. The authors’ consistent charitable work during her long life often centred on supporting the soldiers of both wars.

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The three children, there, in black, with the old nurse, standing together, and looking, and looking, up at their father in the carriage window, they are so forlorn and silent.

The little girl will not cry, but her chin trembles.

She throws back her head, with its stiff little braid, and will not cry.

Her father leans down, out over the ledge of the window, and kisses her, and kisses her.

She must be like her mother, and it must be the mother who is dead.

The nurse lifts up the smallest boy, and his father kisses him, leaning through the carriage window.

The big boy stands very straight and looks at his father, and looks, and never takes his eyes from him.

And knows that he may never look again.

Will the train never start? God, make the train start!

The father reaches his hand down from the window, and grips the boy’s hand and does not speak at all.

Will the train never start? He lets the boy’s hand go.

Will the train never start?

He takes the boy’s chin in his hand, leaning out through the window and lifts the face that is so young, to his.

They look and look and know that they may never look again.

Will the train never start?

God, make the train start!

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Preston to Southport direct trains could be brought back!

Transport Minister Chris Grayling (fourth left) at Southport train station with (from left): Southport councillor Harry Bliss, West Lancs councillor Sam Currie, Liverpool City Region metro mayor candidate Tony Caldeira, and Sefton Conservative deputy leader Simon Jamieson. c.Tarleton Photography

Preston and Southport could be re-connected by a direct railway service for the first time since the 1960s.

Transport minister Chris Grayling has hinted bringing back the Burscough Curves – removed in the Beeching cutbacks – would be a ‘quick win’.

Mr Grayling was in Southport in late April this year.

The Tory minister told the local paper: “Re-opening the Burscough Curves and reinstating direct rail links between Southport, Preston and Ormskirk is a project I am going to take a close look at. “I have spoken to the team in Southport today about the prospect of re-opening the Burscough Curves, and I want to look at this and see what we can do. But this is clearly one where I can see the benefits. I am looking at projects like this where we can increase rail connectivity in the region by reviving previous routes which have been lost for half a century. It is the kind of scheme we are looking to do more of in the future.”

Source: blogpreston.co.uk/

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Shed Of The Year Award?

No! it’s The new side entrance at Preston Station.

Preston photographer Paul Melling snapped how it was developing and it drew a strong reaction from Prestonians. Described as a ‘carbunckle’ and ‘how the hell did that get planning permission?’ are just some of the responses on social media. £1.5million pounds are being spent on a major revamp of the mainline station, creating a new side entrance is one part of the project.

Comments included - “It’s crazy. They did a good job on the other side too.” "Planning gone mad. What are they thinking sticking a grey box at entrance of a listed building?”

Others are amazed at how it is worse than Crewe Station.

"Wow! – the new entrance at #Preston Railway Station isn’t exactly sympathetic to the existing architecture!"

Work on the station began in April last year and sees new shops and a concourse, as well as a new bike hub.

It was due to take six months but has gone on much longer – not least because of a roof collapse part way through in gale-force winds.

The work on the station is needed for if the HS2 project is extended up to Preston along the West Coast Mainline.

What do you think of the side entrance?

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What lies beneath Preston Railway Station?

Preston Blog explored...

Meanwhile, In A Galaxy Far Far Away...

On Thursday 8th June a private tour of the underground of Preston Railway Station was given

by Steve Mourby. Steve has worked at the station for 12 years and used to be in the military. He became interested in the station when he attended the station buffet, honouring the men who went to war and 400 female volunteers that worked at the buffet from 1914 to 1918 serving soldiers and sailors during WWI. Starting the tour a lot of information was given about the history of the station and how the slope use to be made of wood and that there use to be around 12 platforms before the budget cuts in the 1960s.

There was a visit to see the ‘bakehouse’ which is now mainly used as storage. Standing underground in the ‘bunker’ it was explained that it was used as stables but now with it no longer being in use it used for ghost tours and to perform séances as it is said the station is haunted.

The team leader, Andrew Clare came into contact with a ghost apparently and stated: “it was an old member of railway staff, walked into one of the offices and I said hello to him and he just disappeared. And you could feel pins and needles and the cold around you.”

The underground has a lot of tunnels underneath the tracks that can go as far as Fishergate, going through one of the tunnels you could see that many components of the underground is now used for storage but when you are down there you feel like there is a presence around you.

Standing underneath the tracks, more detail was given about the underground: Every year, the Harris Museum have a heritage open weekend of the city and everything is open celebrating history, such as the station, the museum, the churches and more.

Tours can last long as 40 minutes to an hour depending on how many people there are in a group.

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Stardate 2017-07-29 and new recruit Brent meets retired Buffeteer Chris.

Meanwhile on the planet Whistle Stop...

Karl & Maisie awaiting your orders for Lunch.

Starship 272 approaches base after another sedate run down the line & back (more tablets nurse!)

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Fleetwood’s tramways

Towards the end of the 19th century transport in Fleetwood was nice and leisurely, the fastest things on the roads were horses, and they were not making any holes in the ozone even though they did leave more trademarks than today’s dogs do. But in those days their trademarks were worth having, and kids used to be sent out by their Dads to collect this harvest of droppings for use on the garden. One old Fleetwood resident once confided to me that he liked to put it on his rhubarb. “Silly beggar,” said his wife with a giggle, “I’d rather have custard on mine!”

But when, in the early 1890s, Blackpool Corporation was experimenting with an electric tramway service along the Promenade to cope with the hordes of visitors, Fleetwood watched with careful interest, for they were anxious to encourage Blackpool’s visitors to come to Fleetwood and for Fleetwood’s visitors to be able to go to Blackpool quickly and easily. The usual method of travel between the two towns for visitors was by means of horse-drawn landaus which were slow and costly, prohibiting the trip to all but the well-to-do. A cheaper method was by train, but that was still fairly expensive, being 9d (5p) each way and the trains were not all that frequent, or easy to get at.

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From the start Blackpool had trouble with their tramway system, and Fleetwood was canny enough to keep a watching brief while Blackpool struggled to solve their problems, the main one being how to find a fool-proof way of getting the electricity to the trams. For aesthetic reasons people did not want overhead cables. Electricity, gas and water went underground, they said, not overhead. What if someone caught their umbrella in the wires overhead and were electrocuted? Well, unless they were caught by a very high wind and blown up in the air, that did seem a little unlikely, but to those who hated overhead wires any probability was a good excuse. So initially the supply came from conduits in the centre of the tracks in the road, but being on the coast and subject to high winds, the conduits were forever filling with sand and were useless. There were many other problems as well and reluctantly Blackpool abandoned the conduit system, going back to horse-drawn trams until they could decide on something better.

Fleetwood, however, saw nothing wrong with the overhead cable system, pooh-poohing the idea of people being electrocuted this way, and in 1897 the Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramway Company was formed. (Despite its name it had nothing at all to do with the Blackpool Corporation tramway service.) In July that year 400 navvies moved into the town to start laying the tracks down the centre of West Street and East Street, but as it was the middle of the season there was virtually no accommodation for such a large crowd of workmen, and many of them were glad to sleep on the floor of apartment houses paying 4d or 6d a night for the privilege of doing so.

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running express trams for a return fare of 10d (5p) and the great attraction of the 8 mile high speed tram ride along the coast – there were only three stops between Gynn and Fleetwood – was irresistible and the Fleetwood to Blackpool service became the most profitable tramway service in the country. Which probably did not please Blackpool at all as it merely took heir visitors out of the town and was of no benefit to the Blackpool amusement caterers or rate-payers.

Twelve months later at 2am in the morning of July 13th 1898 the residents who lived on West Street and East Street were wakened by what sounded like a herd of elephants squealing their way down the main street and, with mixed feelings (which some people still have), realised that the tramway had come to Fleetwood, for this was the trial run of the first tram. Later that day two tram loads of VIPs set off from Dickson Road in Blackpool for Fleetwood. The tram had to pass a protest demonstration from owners of horse-drawn landaus and other means of transport, but it arrived in Fleetwood amid the cheers of large crowds and afterwards the VIPs had a lunch in the newly opened Mount Hotel.

The service was not universally welcomed, all the clergymen from the churched on West Street and East Street complained that the noise of the trams was drowning out their Sunday sermons.

But short of shouting a bit louder there was not a great deal they could do about it, for the trams were here to stay.

In Fleetwood the cables were carried by the ornamental arms of posts in the middle of the road and when Blackpool saw that they did, indeed, look quite attractive and were completely successful, they decided to ignore the critics and follow suit, altering all their tracks accordingly.

(Isn’t it nice to know that sometimes Fleetwood leads the way even to Blackpool?!) At that time Blackpool were using young bots and youths as guards and drivers for their trams and were, unaccountably, losing money on the service. The youngsters were paid very low wages and – perish the thought – could they have been making up their own wages from the fares? – but the Fleetwood Tramway company employed men, paying them the then very high wage of 24s 6d (£1.22 and a half new pence), with a vigilant ticket and inspection routine, thus ensuring that the company got the major part of the takings. Further along the coast Lytham, too, was trying its own tramway service using trams which were powered by gas but the power was not enough to get a fully loaded tram over the railway bridges along Lytham Road and for those occasions passengers had to get out and help to push the tram over the bridges! A practice not always appreciated by a well-dressed passenger!

The coastal tram ride caught on immediately with both Blackpool and Fleetwood visitors, and became so popular that it worried not only the landau owners but also the railway company who took a poor view of this new opposition. They reduced the train fare and increased the number of trains, so the tramway company retaliated by

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The terminus for the Fleetwood tram was on North Albert Street just past the cottage hospital, with depots on Copse Road and Red Bank Road at Bispham (where Sainsbury’s now are). From North Albert Street the trams ran along the coast to Dickson Road in Blackpool, and passengers wanting to carry on along the Blackpool promenade had to change at the Gynn from the Fleetwood tram to the Blackpool tram. At the Fleetwood terminus the company built a depot for four trams with a waiting room and office on the land behind the North Euston Hotel. It was also intended that there would be a refreshment room there and outside was to be a turning loop but neither of these ideas were carried out.

Along the route brick built stations were erected and were identical to each other, the only one of these now remaining is the one outside Rossall School, but the ones at Cleveleys and Bispham were exactly the same in size and design. These stations were fitted with toilets and at each was a uniformed official whose duty was to help ladies on and off the vehicle and to assist with the luggage. What a difference today – if you ask some conductors to help you, you usually find he suffers from terminal deafness!

In 1899 there were plans to run a tram to Poulton from Blackpool and then on to Thornton and back to Cleveleys, a circular tour which would have certainly been popular, but like so many ambitious enterprises it never got off the ground, although another Grand Tour was actually started, however. For 2s 7d (twelve and a half new pence) you could take a tram from Blackpool to Fleetwood, cross to Knott End by ferry boat, continue by road on a charabanc to Pilling, catch a train to Garstang and then by coach back to the starting point. Whether this journey took too long or was too expensive is not recorded, but I don’t think the idea survived very long. Now they are talking of reviving the service

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– well, nearly. It is thought that when the barrage across the Wyre is complete a tram will run from Fleetwood across the barrage to Knott End. Which may, or may not, please the Knott Enders. But when the barrage will be completed is another question again.

In 1919 the Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramway Company decided to sell out, offering the service to Fleetwood Borough Council, who turned the offer down. Instead it was bought by Sir Lindsay Parkinson who sold it to Blackpool Corporation without making any personal profit, and from that date the Blackpool Corporation and the Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramway services were united.

Later, in 1924, the trams were re-routed past Bold Street, and the Ferry office and on to Pharos Street, thus avoiding the need for the loop. This meant that the spot behind the Euston was no longer required, although it had a brief period of fame when, in 1969, it was the home for a couple of years of the famous Fisherman’s Friend tablets which were made there before moving to their present factory on Copse Road. Virtually all traces of the Blackpool and Fleetwood tramway service have now gone but fortunately the service continues and brings thousands of visitors each year to Fleetwood, benefiting the traders and the market, and there is an affectionate reminder of those early days in the annual and highly popular Tramway festival.

When the Fleetwood Tramway service started, the first tram went down the main street at 6am in the morning (to the annoyance of the residents who lived above the shops) and the drivers on the early shift were usually up and about by five a.m. for they had to walk to the depot. *** Fleetwood Remembered ***

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Barry McQueen, Town Crier. A gent and a celebrity! At North Euston Hotel, Fleetwood.

A massive thank you to Karl Latham, Bez LX, Ben Valentine, Sid, Brent & Neville and the Poulton & Wyre Railway guys for their help and support and turning out with us for Tram Sunday and for their continued support for Ribble Steam Railway & Museum. We had plenty of pictures taken and many happy moments. Thank you to all the public who stopped by and formed a queue to board our very own Grant Ritchie 272.

Tram Sunday, or to give the event its full title ‘The Fleetwood Festival of Transport’ was launched in 1985 to celebrate the centenary of the Blackpool to Fleetwood tramway.

As the first generation trams disappeared around the country only Blackpool and the Isle of Man retained the original tramways. Fleetwood became unique in having trams running down its High Street and it is still the only town in Britain having trams running the full length of its main street, sharing the road with private and commercial transport.

Tram Sunday is more than a tram festival, attracting all forms of heritage transport. The street festival extends all the way from Fisherman’s Walk to the Ferry Terminal and attracts more than 70,000 visitor each year. The trams from Blackpool have to terminate at Fisherman’s Walk with the heritage trams displayed at the Ferry Terminal!

This year was the third occasion we have been pleased to support this event. In 2006 we exhibited our Andrew Barclay JN Derbyshire, in 2008 another Barclay John Howe which was celebrating its own centenary and this year the Grant Ritchie which was probably the oldest exhibit dating back to 1894.

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When time ran out on Preston Docks

Opened in 1892, the Albert Edward Dock was the largest single dock in the country with water area of 40 acres when it first starting welcoming ships from the Ribble. But Preston’s maritime importance was established centuries earlier and really took hold in the first half of the 19th century. By 1860 Preston was home to more than 70 cotton mills and the arrival of the railways from Scotland and London saw the town emerge as a growing strategic presence. In 1853 Preston Council, which already owned riverside quays and warehouse, purchased shares in the Ribble Navigation Company but remained a silent partner for 30 years when the need for improvements to grow trade became apparent.

The Navigation and Preston Dock Act of 1883 saw Preston become one of the few municipal run ports in the country. The importance of a wet dock was prioritised and, following a wave of opposition from ratepayers, a Government inquiry was held and approval granted.

The foundation stone was laid by Prince Albert Edward, later King Edward VII, on July 17, 1885. This date was selected because the Prince was in Preston to attend a meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society of England being held on Moor Park. A special bridge over the old river bed had to be erected at the bottom of Pedder Lane to allow spectators access to the ceremony. Seven years later on June 25, 1892 the docks were officially opened by Prince Albert, the Duke of Edinburgh who arrived in the dock on the open bridge of a steamer and declared the new dock open by sailing through a blue ribbon which had been placed across entrance to the main basin.

2016 marked the 35th anniversary of the closing of Preston dock following a six year-long battle between Dockers and the council. Preston Docks first ran into serious trouble in 1975, six years before its official closing in 1981, when it reported a loss of £1.5m, the biggest deficit in the port’s history. The number of ships visiting the port was recorded at 675 and sank to an all-time-low of 538 one year later.

Port managers’ response was to announce the redundancy of 450 Dockers effectively serving notice on almost a century of transatlantic trade.

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It was clear that something needed to be done.

A Ribble committee was set up, responsible for investigating the possibility of dock closure.

A survey was put out to explore the options available to the failing dock: to see whether it could continue to operate as it was at present with all possible economies; to assess the financial future of the dock with predictions of trade at their lowest expected level; and finally to judge the cost and potential benefit of closing the dock altogether. The committee soon said that a mere reduction in the labour force would not be enough to save the dock - more drastic action needed to be taken.

Closing the dock would not be an easy decision or straightforward procedure: an Act of Parliament was necessary as well as a Private Members’ Bill, which would take about six months to prepare.

Many of the docks assets could be sold, such as dredgers, pipelines, vessels and cranes, generating an estimated £1.4m. However, the closure, which included the costs of paying off outstanding loan debts and offering redundancy pay and compensation, was estimated at costing £3.5m over a span of 10 years, to be paid by taxpayers.

The news that the dock potentially faced closure was broken to workers on Saturday October 16, 1976. The real battle to save it began the following Monday when the dock was brought to a complete standstill as a mass meeting of all 400 dock workers took place to formulate their action and unite their resistance against the closure.

A cooperative of employees and users was formed in an attempt to save the dock and met the Ribble committee chairman Coun. Arthur Taylor to discuss the port’s future and try to persuade him to allow it to stay open. Preston North and South Labour MPs Ron Atkins and Stan Thorpe both came out firmly against the closure. The campaign was further supported by the Lancashire Evening Post, which stated that, “The council...is being tempted into an impetuous and hasty action that may not help the ratepayers in the least, and will damage the economy of the town and a wide area around it.” Shop stewards from ports across England and Scotland also agreed to join the fight against closure. The date was set for Thursday, November 11 for a special meeting of Conservative-controlled Preston Council at which the Ribble committee would present their recommendations and the decision of dock closure would be debated and eventually decided. It was revealed to the dock’s union representatives by Coun Taylor that, despite the best efforts of the dockers, the Ribble committee was going to recommend the closure of the port. The day after the meeting, the details of the committee’s presentation and the decision of the council hit the papers: a Labour amendment to the closure proposal had lost by 44 votes to 11, and therefore Preston dock was to be closed.

Conservative council leader Coun Joe Hood said that Preston could no longer afford to shoulder the burden of running the town’s dock. In protest at the decision, dockers from all Britain’s major ports marched through Preston, with 700 people marching to the Town Hall to hand in a 2,000 name petition against the closure. (Imogen Cooper/LEP) Final day of operation at Preston Dock. October 31, 1981, pictured are some of the last employees at the port Billy Green, Brian Beesly, Berrick Muncaster and Clifford Stevenson.

A suggestion was made of a redevelopment of the dock, which would offer employment for 2,000 people, an increase on the 1,500 who were working in the port in 1976.

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Preston Hauliers - Part 2 W & J RIDING LTD 'The Best In The Long Run' The haulage company of W & J Riding Ltd originated in Longridge near Preston Lancashire in 1922 when Mr William Riding and his eldest son Jim Riding, who were farmers, started to supplement their income by using horse and carts to move coal and cattle food from the local railway station.

Deciding that the future was in using motor vehicles they built a large garage on part of their farmland and named it Daniel Platt Garage, after the adjacent family owned Daniel Platt Farm.

Jim bought a second hand Karrier six tonner which allowed them to do much longer journeys but, unfortunately, the lorry was very unreliable and frequently broke down.

However they soldiered on until 1929 when the Karrier was eventually traded in for a brand new Leyland QH4.

This Leyland QH4 was a great success and from this time on Leyland lorries would be used almost exclusively

by W & J Riding until 1963.

On the 1st July 1948 the company was nationalised and became Unit C132, part of British Road Services Burnley group, with Jim Riding staying on as depot manager.

1924 registered Leyland GH6 6-tonner which is seen here in 1927 loading up with grain on Strand Road in Preston for delivery to one of the many Lancashire breweries that existed at that time.

Three years later, in March 1951, Jim Riding bought a company called Queensgate Motors from his brother-in-law Walter Carefoot.

Queensgate Motors consisted of two Bedford tippers and when de-nationalisation began in 1954 a number of ex BRS vehicles with their valuable 'S' licences were also purchased and added to the Queensgate business.

From here on in the company grew and grew and acquired substantial amounts of work especially from the ICI plants at both Teesside and Lancashire.

On November the 5th 1954 Jim Riding bought back his original depot along with the vehicles from BRS Ltd and retained the original 'W & J Riding' name, even though his father William took no part in the purchase. Jim Riding's eldest son James had already joined him two years earlier in 1952 after leaving university. In 1956 after an engineering apprenticeship at Leyland Motors his other son Tom also joined the company.

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KKA 486 was a Leyland Hippo soon to be converted to an Octopus while ABV 602 was an ERF with a 6LW Gardner engine. In those days anything without a Leyland badge on the front was undesirable so the ERF was not in the fleet long.

In 1963 the haulage company William Metcalfe of Darlington was acquired with seven 'A' licences.

A number of years later, in 1968, a wholly owned subsidiary company called W & J Riding Bulk Haulage Ltd was created and the company moved into the bulk powder business which became a major part of the haulage work that Riding's undertook.

Come 1970 and the successful family owned company of W & J Riding was sold to the Transport Development Group Ltd (TDG) with Tom Riding becoming managing director.

In 1975 Tom Riding decided that all their vehicles would be individually named, many after steam locomotives, which was a nice touch, and in later years their trade mark logo 'The Best In The Long Run' was applied to the front grill of many of the vehicles in the 100+ strong fleet.

From this time on the rest is history with W & J Riding evolving into one of the most famous haulage firms in the country, at its peak operating well over 100 vehicles throughout the UK. Unusually for the Transport Development Group they agreed to retain the familiar W & J Riding blue and grey livery until the retirement of Tom Riding some twenty years later in October 1995 after which time, literally within a period of months, all tractor units in the fleet were rebranded into the bland Transport Development Group Ltd scarab green or blue livery.

TDG Ltd continued to operate from the same depot at Longridge, where W & J Riding had started all those years ago, until they finally moved out in December 2010.

Three months later, in March 2011, TDG were themselves bought out by Norbert Dentressangle whom in turn were bought out for ÂŁ2.3bn by US logistics company XPO.

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Preston Area Railway Group A Facebook Group open to anyone with an interest in Preston's railways, any era any subject. Administered by Gary Severn. www.facebook.com/groups/275299815977364/

86259 seen departing south at Carnforth Saturday 20/05/17

'Flying Scotsman' on it's first light engine test run after a much prolonged rebuild, Carnforth 04/02/17 (Andy Jackson)

86259 seen departing south at Carnforth Saturday 20/05/17

66525 approaches Leyland station from the north with a Crow's Nest to Crewe working Saturday 27/05/17

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As you can see from the small selection of views taken in the area during Spring 2017 that the group and its members cover all forms of traction from Steam to Diesel and to Electric Motive Power. Quite often photos of RSR are also included. It is a good archive of our times as well as sharing of archive photos around the NW area. The group is always open to all...

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319365 on a Preston to Liverpool South Parkway service passes class 66616 on the Hardendale to Tunstead at the south end of Preston station Thursday 18/05/17

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RSR Membership Application Form *Annual Membership runs 1st January to 31st December

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Enterprise & Progress sit on the new line just to the west of the exchange sidings awaiting the arrival of a loaded train off BR. Note the old buildings in the background awaiting to be demolished, the old line passed in front of the chimney seen in the distance. (Steven Brindley)

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