Memories of Marlborough - Full

Memories of Marlborough Station

£19.95

Richard James

TRAINS NO MORE. From an important independent cross-country route through the status of a vital link between the Midlands and the South coast and ending up as a rural backwater, the erstwhile Midland & South Western Junction line through Marlborough had witnessed it all. Here for the first time is a personal account of the station and its environs in its final years and compiled by someone who really was in the know, Richard James the son of the last ISBN 978-1-913893-64-4 Marlborough station master.

Memories of Marlborough Station

Compiled from the recollections of Richard James

Memories of Marlborough Station

Compiled from the recollections of Richard James 1

This book is dedicated to my late wife Jill who for some forty five years accepted my obsession with all things railway with a mixture of bewilderment and sympathy for the afflicted. I miss you so. © Design: Transport Treasury 2025.Text: Richard James. Images as annotated.

ISBN 978-1-913893-64-4 First published in 2025 by Transport Treasury Publishing Limited. 16 Highworth Close, High Wycombe HP13 7PJ Totem Publishing is an imprint of Transport Treasury Publishing.

The copyright holders hereby give notice that all rights to this work are reserved.

Aside from brief passages for the purpose of review, no part of this work may be reproduced, copied by electronic or other means, or otherwise stored in any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the Publisher. This includes the illustrations herein which shall remain the copyright of the copyright holder. www.ttpublishing.co.uk Printed by Gutenberg Printing Ltd. in Tarxien, Malta.

‘Memories of Marlborough Station’ is one of a series of books on specialist transport subjects produced in strictly limited numbers under the Totem Publishing imprint using material only available at The Transport Treasury.

Front cover: The daily incursion into Western Region territory. A Southern ‘U’ Class 31622 calls with the 1.52pm Cheltenham St James to Southampton Terminus service. Graham Smith Rear cover: The once troublesome interloper is no more. In 1964 the Western Region finally achieved what the GWR long wanted to do, rid itself of a rival.

Frontispiece: Station House didn’t exactly blend into the landscape. Known as ‘The Black House’ by many of the locals it was built by the MSWJR whose station appears in the centre of the photo. Behind the house looms the former engine shed of its nemesis, the GWR whose original branch line from Savernake terminated here. Initially through trains between Cheltenham, Swindon and Andover traversed the branch via a junction but a combination of GWR intransigence towards this upstart, capacity constraints and the difficult gradient profile resulted in the creation of an independent line south from Marlborough which opened in 1898. John Langford took the photo from Savernake Forest bank on Sunday 27 August 1961. Whilst there are plenty of wagons in what became the Low Level and High Level sites after the 1923 Grouping and GWR absorption, it masks the fact that freight volumes were in decline due to the growing dominance of the road haulage industry. The competition is on full view parked in front of the goods shed extension - an eight wheel AEC belonging to BRS Swindon. John Langford / Photos from the Fifties

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Introduction

have no clear recollection as to how I reacted to the news that my cosy little existence in the small Shropshire market town of Much Wenlock would soon come to an end. Being eight years old it was probably a combination of tears and tantrums. How could my parents do this to me? Dad had a new job and that was it!

case of my father with the blindingly obvious one of why on earth he took the position! He no doubt saw his existing job as doomed and therefore considered a move south to be the best option. Ironically Much Wenlock would close in 1962, outliving the passenger service at Marlborough by a year!

Wenlock was all I knew having lived there from the age of two when my father Fred James took up the post of Station Master in 1953. Our house was part of the station building so my playground was a real railway, hurtling up and down the platform on my tricycle, climbing the ornamental rockery that towered up behind the run-round loop and hours spent either in the signal box or on the footplate of panniers and prairies.

What follows is not another history of the railways of Marlborough as that has already been laid out in fascinating detail by fine authors such as Mike Barnsley, Colin Maggs, and Kevin Robertson. These are my own, my personal recollections of the last few years of Marlborough station’s existence, some of the staff I fondly remember and the slow march to its obliteration.

I considered staff members like Ted Tipton, Landy Edwards, Fred Clarke and Bert Bostock to be part of the family- especially Bert as he was the Wellington based driver who would get me up on the engine, plonk me on the wooden tip up seat and take me for a quick trip as the loco ran round its coaches or on occasion the ‘long distance’ run up to Longville with the goods. The latter involved going through Presthope tunnel, the approach to which made me a little nervous especially one day riding on a large prairie Bert said ‘I hope she fits in the hole’! I was to discover our new station also had a tunnel, one that I would pass through many times by train, on foot, and even by car!

My father’s new job was Station Master at Marlborough in Wiltshire, on the line that was once part of the Midland and South Western Junction Railway (MSWJR) from Cheltenham to Andover before it was absorbed by the GWR in the 1923 grouping. By the time of our move however, it was on borrowed time, a financial basket case and a shadow of a once through route between Southampton and the Midlands, now limping on with one through train a day and a handful of local services. I am sure I am not alone in wishing I had asked my parents more questions about decisions made in their lives, none more the

Map courtesy of Stuart Malthouse

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Life before Marlborough

This 1954 photo was taken at Longville, the terminus of the freight only section from Much Wenlock. Having maybe berthed a couple of vans of animal feed in the yard and with no empties to clear, there was time for a team photo, although the reason for the large staff gathering is lost in time. Father and son James are on the right then going towards the engine we have ganger Alec Evans, porter Trevor Williams, clerk Brian Goode, checker Bill Jefferies, driver Bert Bostock and guard Fred Clarke. The name of the fireman is alas unknown. The widening gulf between the cost of providing a service like this and the revenue gleaned from it made route closures inevitable even before a certain Dr Beeching arrived. RJ collection

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A new home / First impressions The move to Marlborough was quite a protracted affair; the process triggered in late 1958 when John Barnby left to become Station Master at Witney.

Maybe his thought process was the same as my fathers - jump ship to something potentially more secure whilst the going was good? The vacancy created by John’s departure was not filled immediately, a sign maybe of a lack of applicants! Dad had been interested in a position at Henley-on-Thames but nothing came of it. Llandrindod Wells was also on the radar but I recall Mum saying later that she would not move to ‘the back of beyond’, no offence to the good folk of that town. So maybe Marlborough was the only available option and one that he took up in the following spring.

The house of course came with the job but as it was in the process of an internal re-paint Dad was accommodated at the St Remy Guest House in London Road, paid for by BR. This John Barnby, Station Master at Marlborough from 1946 to 1958 seen here standing on the down platform.

He succeeded Mr R L Newberry who had been in post from 1937.

Courtesy Mike Fenton

was a stone’s throw from the Roebuck Inn, a favourite watering hole right up to the end of his life.

When the period of BR generosity expired, work was still ongoing to the house. Dad somehow got a single bed rigged up in the small office at the end of the building on the down platform.

I recall him saying the bed came from Wenlock, presumably arriving by rail. On the opposite platform was the Refreshment Room, known to locals as ‘The Fresher’ and being a licensed premises acted as a local for that end of the town and so an even closer watering hole.

For a while weekends were spent together at Much Wenlock but during the working week I was man of the house. Not that I was up to it, especially one night after bed when there came a loud banging on the back door with someone demanding to know when his pigs were going to arrive. I probably hid behind Mum whilst this heated conversation took place on either side of the door. She couldn’t say ‘I will set the dog on you’ as we didn’t have one and Mickey, our warrior of a tom cat, wouldn’t exactly be a deterrent. The chap was persuaded to go home (sober up) and come back when the station opened in the morning. Mum recalled some years later that she hardly slept that night for fear of his return. The perils of living on-site.

Part of the strategy of making the angst of moving less daunting was telling me that Marlborough was a large important station with tender engines working some of the services, both Western and Southern varieties. To someone who had grown up so far on a staple of panniers and prairies this did indeed sweeten the pill!

I probably quickly put in a request for a copy of the Ian Allan ABC covering the Southern.

The first time Mum and I saw our new home was ahead of the permanent move - a scouting trip to look the place over. The logistics of getting there elude me but I think it must have been a staging operation with us travelling first to stay over with

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We had a compartment to ourselves and at some stage we let Mick out of his cat box. Quite unperturbed he commenced a bit of grooming, no doubt thinking this was a much better way to travel by rail than his previous exploits.

He had a habit every now and then of getting down on to the underframe of a coach whilst in the platform at Wenlock, perhaps attracted by the warmth of the steam heating, but then staying put on departure. He would emerge at the first stop, Farley Halt, to be gathered up by the guard who was usually Landy Edwards and kept in custody until the return working brought him home. Once he went missing in action for a couple of weeks, being eventually discovered as a stray around Coalbrookdale station, the third stop from Wenlock and four miles away.

Aunty Mary, Mum’s sister in High Wycombe, and then on to Marlborough the following day. The final leg of the journey, no doubt from Swindon, must have been by bus as by this time the weekday train service ceased after the morning ‘peak’ and resumed in the afternoon.

To my eyes the station was indeed impressive - it had two platforms for a start. Totally engrossed in taking all this in I was oblivious to the fact that Mum was in tears. Standing sentinel over the site from its commanding position was Station House - in its lovely shade of black! Sometime around 1912, the MSWJR had thought it a good idea to coat it with a layer of bitumen, presumably to protect against damp. Dad must have warned her but seeing it first hand was a different matter. Maybe Aunty Mary took me to one side to let Mum regain her composure but more likely I was distracted by the fact that the signals had cleared for something heading south. To my no doubt frustration we didn’t stay long enough to witness it as Dad had booked us in for lunch at the guest house. My one clear abiding memory of that day was walking down Salisbury Road away from the station and looking back to glimpse a light engine cross over the bridge. Certainly not of GWR origin I would later identify it as a Southern ‘U’ or ‘N’ class mogul, a type that I was soon to see on an almost daily basis.

With cat and cat box reunited we got off the train at Marlborough to be greeted by Dad and a station partially bedecked in bunting.

This was the handiwork of Harold Trotman, licensee of the Refreshment Room and who must have unearthed it from a box in the cellar as his way of welcoming us to our new home. Station House was in fact a semi, officially designated Numbers 3 and 4 Salisbury Road. We resided in No 3 with the Ham family next door. Mr Ham was the then Station Master at Grafton but it was Mrs Ham who quickly came round to greet us. She introduced herself and then politely asked if Dad could retrieve what she believed was our cat as it had chased their feline, a beautiful Siamese I recall, into their house, up the stairs and had it trapped

Taking the Mickey

The actual date of our move to Marlborough eludes me, as does how the three of us - Mum, Mickey the cat and I - took the train as far as Cheltenham. From there I know we travelled on the 1.52pm departure for Southampton Terminus, the only through working of the day which took just under two hours to cover the forty eight miles to Marlborough. The service reflected the involvement of both the Western and Southern Regions in the daily running of the train – the former providing the three corridor coaches and the latter the motive power which was invariably a ’U’ or’ N’ class mogul.

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Harold Trotman’s dog Jill, photographed by John Barnby outside ‘The Fresher’ sometime in the early 1950’s. Courtesy Mike Fenton

under one of the beds. Mick had been let out to explore and didn’t hang about establishing a territory. Strangely, for a cat that was comfortable with a railway environment I don’t recall him venturing across to the station - maybe the fact that Harold had a dog had something to do with it.

Once enrolled as a pupil of St Peter’s Junior School for Boys, my daily routine became linked to the train timetable. The first arrival of the day was the 7.05am Swindon to Andover Junction booked to call at 7.52am and my prompt to ‘get up’ which could be a tough ask on a frosty morning when the house was like an ice box. As my bedroom faced east the rising sun would stream through the curtains so I would no doubt be awake anyway.

From my window I could look right across to Poulton Farm and the Downs beyond. Between the two lay the route of the railway which made use of the gap carved out by the Og, a tributary of the River Kennet which it shortly joined. Once under the Minal Road Bridge the line commenced its near horse-shoe curve

Mickey was a prolific hunter as the local rodent and bird population sadly discovered and whilst in Mum’s arms looks alert to something worth pursuing. Aunts Mary (on the left) and Evelyn sit next to Dad on the bench that was acquired, or liberated, following the station’s closure. He would suffer occasional bouts of fever related to malaria contracted out in Burma during the Second World War and may explain his rather gaunt appearance.

around to the station crossing the Kennet on a high stone arch bridge as it did so. I was therefore able to look out for the likes of this service ahead of its arrival, a habit I would do quite often at different times of day. I would also observe departing trains heading for Ogbourne which in the darkness of a winter’s evening was strangely comforting as the carriage lights made their way past Poulton Farm.

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Top: On Tuesday 26 July 1960 the 7.05am from Swindon had at least two passengers for the whole journey - visiting photographers Norris Forrest and Rae Montgomery. It was formed of the usual two non corridor ‘B-set’ coaches with pannier tank No 4697 in charge and displaying a chalked ‘Bristolian 2nd Part’ mock headboard above its smokebox number. Perhaps it was done for the benefit of the two photographers or, who knows, maybe by one of them!

Whilst its illustrious namesake took 105 minutes to cover the 118 miles to Paddington No 4697 would take 18 minutes longer to complete its journey of 34 miles. To be fair, it did have eleven intermediate stops, the longest being some twenty minutes at Savernake Low level where it made a connection into the 7.15am Trowbridge to Paddington. Four minutes were allowed at Marlborough during which time parcels traffic would be unloaded. A regular consignment would be a wooden crate of fresh fish packed in ice that had been transferred at Swindon from what I imagine was the 4.30pm from Grimsby. This was destined for Searle & Bernard in the High Street and an early drop on the town delivery round. Rae Montgomery Bottom: The first arrival of the day from the Savernake direction was the 7am from Andover Junction terminating here at 8.35am and on school days my trigger to head off to St Peters. For the final leg from Savernake it ran as a mixed train as seen here with No 8793 hauling two vans and a brake behind its two coaches.

The ninety five minutes to complete a journey of twenty miles with six stops appears positively sedentary but like the 7.05am from Swindon, considerable time was spent at Savernake whilst the loco retrieved whatever Marlborough traffic was on hand and attached it to the rear. The train crews also swapped over here allowing the Andover and Swindon men to work back to their respective home sheds. Passengers on the whole would be Marlborough Grammar School pupils who joined at Collingbourne, Grafton, Savernake and any who had travelled up from Wootton Rivers on the 7.15am Trowbridge-Paddington.

Not on this occasion however as Mike Esau’s photo is taken on Saturday 29 August 1959. With the lower bracket signal cleared No 8793 proceeds on to the headshunt in order to access the goods yard where the vans will probably be berthed on the shed road. The pannier and its coaches will then form the 9.06am to Savernake but will remain locked in the yard until the 7.50am Andover Junction to Cheltenham St James - the only through up working of the day - departed at 8.49am. Whilst Mike has ventured track side his fellow photographer John Beckett has remained at the end of the down platform. I hope Mike possessed a line-side pass as he is no doubt being observed by the figure seen under the platform canopy- my father! Mike Esau

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Having photographed No 8793 Mike Esau then ventured back onto the platform to capture No 31801 rumbling over the Salisbury Road Bridge (No 50) with the 7.50am service. This working and its balancing 1.52pm return had become the only one left to thread its way across Lansdown Junction and into Cheltenham Lansdown station where a direct connection was made with services to and from the Midlands and North. Little surprise therefore that the planned simplification of the junction track layout resulted in this link being severed and so as from Monday 3 November 1958 the train was diverted on to the Honeybourne route to call at Malvern Road station before terminating at Cheltenham St James. Any passengers therefore for an onward destination would be deposited at Malvern Road in order to walk across to Lansdown. Not surprisingly the 7.50am became next to useless as a through train with the resultant reduced patronage feeding nicely into the manual for the disposal of loss making lines. Its title was ‘Closure by Stealth’. I was of course in ignorant bliss of such deviousness. To me Dad was right, Marlborough was an important station with imposing locos like these turning up each day. From my bedroom window - the middle one - I could watch the progress of the ‘U’ class and its three coaches as it headed for the next stop at Ogbourne. Why would it ever change? Mike Esau

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Whilst Mike photographed No 31801’s arrival, John Beckett had ventured into the field behind the down platform to take it accelerating away on the falling 1 in 75 gradient. Originally entry to the goods yard was off the running line at this point but in 1933 track alterations laid in the much easier graded headshunt seen behind the loco which must have made shunting operations a little less fraught for all concerned. John Beckett

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Viewed from the departing 7.50am Andover-Cheltenham, pannier No 8793 is on the headshunt about to retrieve its two coaches from the yard and commence the run-round procedure to form the 9.06am passenger service to Savernake - as reflected by the lamp code already in position. Retired Swindon fireman Ken Watts, who I had many conversations with years later whilst volunteering in the Steam Museum Library, would mutter and cuss on seeing a photo like this. The lamp for a stopping passenger service should be put over the top bracket by the chimney, NOT on the buffer beam. It was pure laziness in his eyes! James Harrold took the photograph almost into the sun on the morning of Friday 8 September 1961. More cameras, and passengers, would be out the following day to witness the final run of the Cheltenham train.

James Harrold In 1933 the duplication of facilities at Marlborough was resolved by closing the original GWR branch to Savernake Low Level and converting the MSWJR double track south through the tunnel into two bi-directional single lines protected by signals opposite each other. Where the routes of the former rivals converged at Hat Gate, a connection was laid in so trains leaving Savernake Low level would run over what was the former MSWJR up road. Just how close the rivals were at this point can still be seen by the remains of the bridge abutments on the road into Wootton Rivers, the GWR brickwork being the far superior! A through service from Andover routed via Savernake High Level could therefore quite legitimately overtake a shuttle from Low level somewhere between Hat Gate and Marlborough with the lesser priority one being held at the relevant outer home signal just beyond the tunnel exit.

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Sid Nash’s photo of No 31626 shows it coming off the curve from the tunnel with the 7.50am Andover Junction to Cheltenham St James on Saturday 1 July 1960. It has been routed via Savernake Low Level as had all services following closure of the High Level route in September 1958 pending repairs to the bridges over the Kennet and Avon Canal and the GWR main line at Wolfhall Junction. With the diminished 1958 timetable causing no operational issues ‘pending’ soon slipped quietly under the radar to become ‘permanent’ with track lifted from Grafton South Junction to Savernake High Level by April 1960.

The line from the Marlborough end remained in situ and signalled with occasional trains of redundant wagons moving to High Level for storage pending disposal. Sid Nash / Stephenson Locomotive Society

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On a foul day in 1961 with no shadows to indicate a time of day, No 9773 could well be about to depart with the 9.06am to Savernake where the service made a connection with the 9.25am to Paddington (the 8.15am from Frome) calling all stations to Newbury, then Reading and reaching its destination at 11.15am. (A present day equivalent of sorts starting from Bedwyn at 9.54am will arrive into Paddington at 11.22am, passengers having changed to electric traction at Newbury). On weekdays the coaches off the 9.06am would remain stabled in the bay platform at Savernake Low Level until forming the 5.33pm shuttle. The loco however ran light engine to Marlborough where it was booked to shunt the yard from 10am to 11am before assembling any wagons that needed clearing and tripping them to Swindon Town. In John Barnby’s day there was a much greater frequency of passenger services, both local shuttles to Savernake and through workings between Cheltenham and Andover and Southampton. In 1958 BR found itself between the proverbial rock and hard place. Revenue was falling due to a decline in coal and steel volumes, a rising car ownership and wagon load freight haemorrhaging to road haulage. Costs however were about to rise following an increase in pay rates as recommended by an Independent Pay Panel. In an attempt to balance the books rapid savings had to be made resulting in cuts to many timetables across the country with resultant lengthy gaps between trains. Marlborough would see its services slashed as from Monday 30 June 1958, the very day that the pay increase was implemented. Little protest was raised about the cull and what there was got a polite slap down from John Barnby who was quoted in the Marlborough Times as saying ‘it’s a bit late now’, a reference to the old adage ‘use it or lose it’. Perhaps a more pertinent complaint which John might have struggled to answer was why was there no re-cast of the timetable to make the services that remained more attractive to passengers, particularly between Marlborough and Swindon. A deafening silence would tell it all! Rail On-Line

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On Wednesday 11 November 1959 porter Arthur Clements fills the coal scuttle from the supply wheeled up in the barrow from the stockpile at the end of the platform. The fuel was stored within a large wooden sleeper construction, one that I can’t recall ever seeing being replenished! Would the barn of a Waiting Room warrant being heated given the lack of passengers? For those very patient souls who did want to catch a train, the fire in the smaller Refreshment Room would offer a better refuge on a cold day. The warmth of the welcome however was sometimes questionable as for some reason Harold found serving tea in the afternoon an anathema. On asking for a cup of tea one rather refined lady got exactly that. ‘Don’t I get a saucer?’ she enquired with a degree of irritation to which the response came ‘you won’t find it that hot Madam’. Arthur Clements was to become the lucky recipient of many hours of my assistance in the parcels office where his main duties lay. Whether he welcomed it of course was another matter but he tolerated my presence with kindness and I thought the world of him. I had offered my help in the goods shed but that did not end well. Easily distracted I had left a sack truck where someone could trip over it - with the inevitable result. The victim’s name I cannot recall but having convinced myself he would shortly die of his injuries I fled the scene to seek sanctuary at home where I confessed to Mum uttering the ridiculous plea ‘don’t tell Dad’. I don’t recall what my punishment was but I kept away from the goods shed - and the individual concerned. Heading in Arthur’s direction is my father, just passing the parcels office door. In these days when Distribution Centres for the likes of DHL and DPD can be the size of football pitches, it is difficult to believe that a small railway parcels office was the logistics hub of its era. Just behind Dad is a section of blank wall which will soon have fixed to it the huge advertising hoarding seen resting up against the end of the ‘Gents’ toilet wall.

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Opposite: Having obtained the occupation key from the signal box, the gang can proceed in the Wickham Trolley to their work location, somewhere along the section of permanent way between here and Ogbourne. The ganger in charge was Mr Arthur Gregory, someone who took a dim view of anyone trespassing on his patch, particularly children and rightly so as the hazards were everywhere.

Marlborough tunnel seemed a particular magnet for mischief. A decade or so earlier it would have been Ganger Noah Trotman riding past the open door of the Refreshment Room then run by Vic Bull. At some point thereafter Vic joined John Barnby’s staff as Clerk with his old role being filled by Noah’s son Harold following his retirement from the Metropolitan Police. Quite a contrast! R E Toop

Clerk Vic Bull at his desk in the booking office. Courtesy Mike Fenton

No doubt as a result of Harold’s career - which included being part of Churchill’s personal bodyguard during the war- he carried a certain authority which made me very respectful of him. I recall he would tease me somewhat, but never nastily and I no doubt found favour as a result of the fuss and attention I would give to his then somewhat elderly softie of a dog, Jill. Maybe their respective experiences in the Second World War created a kind of bond as my father and Harold got on well together, particularly across the bar in ‘The Fresher’! My Mum had a more sobering experience one day though when she accepted a lift down to the town in his sports car - a ‘frog eyed’ Sprite. Harold had a reputation for being, shall we say a rather aggressive driver. If I recall correctly there were at least two battered steering wheels fixed trophy style to the wall.

Having pondered the question why Dad accepted the Marlborough job perhaps the answer has been in plain sight all along and has only dawned on me whilst compiling this book. It’s there looming out of the photo - the house. The policy was for the incumbent Station Master to be given the opportunity to purchase their rented residence on closure, providing the local authority did not require the land.

The accommodation at Much Wenlock was integral to the whole building and therefore not easily acquired but the house here was stand alone and although it was a semi in not the best of condition with difficult access, it had a huge garden and would have come at a heavily discounted price. I know Dad’s wish had been to retire to his beloved Herefordshire and maybe he had seen beyond closure as a means to achieve that goal through a later sale of the house at the market rate. Alas, another question that should have been asked earlier. If that was indeed the plan it would be cruelly dashed after closure.

As a footnote, in the view oppopsite a ‘Marlborough’ sign can just be seen hanging from under the canopy and would have been illuminated by the gas lamp above. It, or one of its twins, was acquired on closure for no doubt a lot less than the £1,050 it fetched at a GW Railwayana auction in November 2023. If only I had known.... .

After the lengthy period of weekday inactivity the station kicked back into life with the crossing of two passenger services, coinciding with the end of the school day. The 2.50pm Andover Junction to Swindon Town was booked to arrive at 3.42pm, four minutes ahead of the 1.52pm Cheltenham St James to Southampton Terminus. These were the balance of the 7.05am from Swindon and 7.50am from Andover Junction respectively.

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Top: Having travelled out to Andover in the morning, photographers Norris Forrest and Rae Montgomery returned on the 2.50pm. The loco has been turned prior to departure and has an Andover crew in charge.

They would work home with the return leg, the 4.52pm from Swindon Town. The chalked “headboard” remains! Alongside No 31795 runs in with the Southampton service. Norris Forrest Bottom: With a six minute dwell time, the crew of No 4697 enjoy a breather sitting on the bench. There is more activity on the down platform with parcels traffic to be handled. Norris Forrest

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Norris Forrest had time to take this shot before rejoining the 2.50pm for the journey back to Swindon Town. On the train’s arrival at Chiseldon he may have observed another pannier tank waiting to proceed south. This would be the light engine sent out to Savernake to work the 5.33pm shuttle to Marlborough and formed of the two coaches that had been berthed in the bay platform since the morning. I’m pretty certain that the lad seen beyond the bridge next to milepost 19 ½ observing 31795’s departure is me. Eastleigh based locos allocated to work the Cheltenham service seemed to rotate almost daily. Swindon however turned out regular performers like pannier No 4697, a loco that entered service in February 1945 and remained part of the shed’s allocation for almost its entire working life.

The path climbing up alongside the hedge must have been put in originally for staff to move between the Low Level and High Level sites but was treated by one and all as a footpath to access either the station or the ‘Fresher’ Nobody got shouted at, not even by Ganger Gregory! One resident from nearby Cherry Orchard who liked a few pints would stagger back up the path at closing time. Dad would sometimes observe him swaying from side to side but if that looked as if it might result in equilibrium failure he always managed to gravitate towards the hedge rather than down the bank and on to the line!

Norris Forrest

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Opposite: My favourite Marlborough photo is depicting the afternoon ritual of the two trains crossing and the associated burst of activity with passengers heading home and what I recall as respectable volumes of parcel traffic being unloaded. My father in his familiar trilby hat is seen walking past the first coach of the Southampton service. On the platform to the right of 31809 is the auxiliary token hut with a carrying hoop propped up against the wall. On the opposite platform, the Andover fireman appears to be observing activity in the guards van whilst Harold’s dog Jill, now getting on in years, rests up against the wall of the Refreshment Room hopefully enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun.

Maybe the days of retrieving coins that Harold would throw over into the field opposite are over. Mike Fox photographed the scene on Wednesday 7 June 1961.

This page: It is going home time! 31809 is once again in charge of the Southampton service but on a different 1961 date and taken by a different photographer. In the lower view is a full barrow load of parcels - and flying mail bags by the look of it! Both R E Toop Top right: Spotters memories.... .

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This page, top: No 31818 is in charge of the Southampton service on Wednesday 26 July 1961. Porter Arthur Clements is nearer the camera and just ahead of him also wheeling a barrow is Ronnie Martin. Both appear distracted by something or somebody in the front coach. Ron worked alongside Arthur until June 1960 when he was promoted to ‘Motor Driver’ in charge of the parcels van making deliveries to the town and surrounding area. On this July day his round may have been completed early enough to assist Arthur in collecting whatever is being offloaded from the guards van at the rear. James Harrold This page, bottom: The 4.52pm from Swindon Town photographed on Friday 8 September 1961 with No 4697 once again in charge. The service arrived at Savernake at 5.31pm, so no doubt the guard for the 5.33pm shuttle rode out as passenger on this service. Is this the Andover fireman returning a cup to the ‘Fresher’? And no saucer! This was the last train of the day through to Andover Junction and of use to those Grammar School pupils who didn’t make the 3.48pm departure (the Southampton service).

Having worked the 7.05am from Swindon, the 2.50pm from Andover and now the return 4.52pm, the loco and coaches would stable overnight at Andover before starting the second part of this two-day diagram with the 7am departure. James Harrold Opposite: More passengers! No 9754 runs in with the 4.52pm Swindon Town to Andover Junction on Monday 17 April 1961. Colin Maggs

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Opposite: It is Saturday evening the 26 August 1961. Having worked the 5.33pm from Savernake No 3763 has completed the run-round and now forms the return 6.05pm service. Its final duty of the day would be the 7.56pm Savernake Low Level to Swindon Town. The up starter signal has cleared for one of those rare occasions- a special train working. Transport Treasury This page, top: The special in question was one conveying racing pigeons from Chester for release at Andover Junction.

Here, 6327 is in charge of the returning empties. The loco crew should be happy as they are running about two hours early. At this time of year the grain loading operation will be reaching its peak at the High Level yard - see pages 48/49.

Transport Treasury This page, bottom: With the sun beginning to set the final weekday train of the day, the 7.56pm Savernake Low Level to Swindon Town makes its call one evening between May and July 1961. The three minute allowance from 8.06pm to 8.09pm appears a tight order based on the amount of parcels traffic to be handled, not to mention what looks like a stack of bicycles under the canopy. These were a regular feature at the beginning or end of each Marlborough College term. Jill is also keeping an eye on proceedings! As a timetabled service it terminated at Swindon Town but would carry on to the main line station as a parcels train. It would complete its journey there on Saturdays too but for that one day of the week could convey passengers. Oh, the mysteries of the timetable... . This last train often deposited a few passengers returning from London who had left the Capital on the 5.50pm Paddington to Plymouth, ‘The Mayflower’, which called at Newbury before running non-stop to Taunton and by then in the hands of a Warship class diesel loco. From Newbury it would be back to steam with a Westbury ‘Hall’ on the 7.11pm stopper to Weymouth which arrived at Savernake at 7.39pm.

Douglas Thompson

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On departure we saw the neighbour waving from the gate at the top of the steps to the house whilst firmly holding the cat wrapped in a towel.

We acquired new neighbours some time before closure but I can’t recall whether this incident occurred in the era of Mr and Mrs Ham or the new folk, Robert and Mary Gray. If it was Mrs Ham she must have been a magnanimous soul considering the way Mick had bullied her cat when we arrived. Robert Anderson Gray was simply known to all as ‘Jock’ and his job was as a checker in the goods shed, somewhat different from his previous occupation as a gamekeeper.

Visits to Mum’s sister Mary and her husband Don in High Wycombe were somewhat of an endurance test for me made bearable by train spotting on the journeys’ there and back and Dad agreeing to take me round as many London termini stations that could be fitted in during one day. Paddington was my favourite, followed by Kings Cross. If I thought a Bulleid Pacific was impressive then a Gresley streamlined A4 loco was something else altogether. Eight of the class are underlined in my ABC, including world speed record holder Mallard and could only have been seen on visits to ‘The Cross’. Poor Dad, I walked him miles but he was so patient and exhausted by the end of the day.

Whilst City of Truro might look as if bits would fall off at anything approaching 100mph, Mallard left no doubt about her capability. Many years later I must confess to a wry smile when I found myself staring at a framed photograph of the record holder dumped in the yard at Savernake having failed whilst working a Plymouth to Paddington express during the 1948 Locomotive Exchanges. It was hung on the wall of the ‘Three Horse Shoes’ pub at nearby Burbage, together with several wonderful paintings of horses - by artist Harold Trotman.

‘Mental Mickey’ and a malfunctioning Mallard.

Not a phrase to be used in the 21st Century but one that I applied to Mickey the cat whenever he would engage in periodic bouts of zooming around the house for no apparent reason.

Doreen Spackman gained employment at Savernake during the war and it is her we have to thank I believe for getting her camera and posing some staff in front of a fallen legend. British Railways had just come into existence, as can be made out on Mallard’s tender, but staff of the former Great Western Railway must have enjoyed this moment. The RCTS Journal of June 1948 records that small prairie No 4563 took over from the ‘A4’ and hauled the train as far as Newbury where the Reading Up side pilot loco Dumbleton Hall was waiting to take over. Previously No 4563 had no doubt been spending a normal day working the shuttles to Marlborough.

After several high speed laps one morning he shot up the chimney breast in the kitchen and there he stayed, presumably balancing on some internal ledge. It would of course be the morning we were off to stay at High Wycombe and the 9.06am to Savernake beckoned. A brief debate followed on what to do but a word with our next door neighbour who had agreed to be on cat feeding duty settled the issue. Go! Recalling that wonderful line ‘can’t go yet, Squire’s not here’ from the railway film ‘The Titfield Thunderbolt’ I look back and wonder if the phrase ‘can’t go yet, James’ aren’t here’ was uttered on our behalf!

Image: Doreen Spackman

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The Saturday train plan saw an additional service to that offered between Monday and Friday. This grew again during the summer timetable months of June to September when another Savernake shuttle appeared. Saturdays also brought a second Southern loco on to the route. Here No 9721 approaches the Minal Road Bridge (No 56) with the 1.12pm Saturday only service from Savernake Low Level to Swindon, a rare service going beyond Swindon Town but largely for crewing purposes. Mike Esau took the photograph on 20 May 1961 and he obviously hadn’t hung about as he had already photographed the same train entering Marlborough station. The loco would have worked the 9.06am Marlborough to Savernake and according to the Working Timetable return light engine to shunt the yard as per Monday to Friday but I cannot recall such a move. More likely it remained at Savernake until forming the 1.12pm departure. I recall Ken Watts saying that during long layovers there he would climb through the fence into the field at the back of the bay platform to look for mushrooms. Mike Esau

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Whilst I could see the 1.12pm service pass under the Minal road bridge from my bedroom observation post, this view of the 12.55pm from Savernake on Saturday 15 July 1961 was beyond my field of vision. The location is half a mile or so beyond Poulton Farm where the line emerges from the cutting to keep company with the A346 Swindon road as far as the approach to Chiseldon. The summer timetable is in place, and for whatever reason the 1.12pm has now become a 12.55 departure. It didn’t make a connection with a service from Paddington and it left Marlborough at the same 1.27pm. No doubt a logical reason for departing it early from Savernake but one that has escaped me. The train may have been attractive for people going to Swindon for shopping or football at the County Ground. The last train back however was still the 4.52pm from Swindon Town so if fans wanted an excuse to leave early at least they had one.

Having started their turn with the 7.05am from Swindon, the 12.55pm was the final leg for the train crew before booking off.

J J Smith / Bluebell Railway Museum

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Some ten minutes after photographing No 9604, John Smith captured No 3666 coming the other way with the 1.05pm Saturday only Swindon to Marlborough, the trains being booked to cross at Ogbourne. The reduced timetable has not seen a diminishing of the standard of track maintenance with both ballast shoulder and cess being a credit to the Marlborough Gang. Noah Trotman would I’m sure have approved. What started life back in 1881 as the Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway has now morphed into the Chiseldon and Marlborough Railway Path, seeing more patronage by folk on foot, bike or horse than conveyed by rail during the line’s latter years. J J Smith / Bluebell Railway Museum

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Top: On Saturday 3 September 1960 ‘U’ Class No 31613 runs in with the 1.52pm Cheltenham to Southampton passing No 3684 and its B-set stabled on the headshunt. This is where the 1.05pm from Swindon resided until emerging to form the 4.03pm to Savernake Low Level. Adjacent to the goods yard was the large premises of coal merchant D W Free & Son and the station’s largest freight customer. A field belonging to the company wrapped round the site’s edge and butted up against the railway fence to the left of pannier No 3684. It too was a source of mushrooms and a temptation for loco crews whilst waiting in between duties. Martin Free, who ran the business when I was there, told me once that his father got a tad annoyed with these raiding parties and on return from a Cornish holiday brought back a sack full of clam shells which he liberally positioned around the field. Whoever spotted them from the footplate must have thought they were about to enjoy a mega fry up ‘on the shovel’, only to be disappointed and no doubt somewhat miffed. The photographer on this day was James Harrold and he got off here to capture the spectacle of three trains at the station in a twenty minute period. James Harrold Bottom: On Saturday afternoons the ritual of the two services crossing each other here was maintained, the difference being that Southern locos were in charge of both trains. Swindon Duty No 74 started as usual with the 7.05 to Andover Junction but on Saturday instead of returning with the 2.50pm, the loco worked the 1.03pm passenger to Southampton Terminus and 4.50pm return.

Once back at Andover Junction the loco would stable in readiness to work the following Monday’s 7.00am to Marlborough; hence the 2.50pm got a step up to Class 4 traction, today in the form of No 31795 and arriving after No 31613 which seems to have stopped partially across the barrow crossing. Grain wagons feature up at the High Level yard with one berthed in the horse dock siding on the left, maybe awaiting some attention. James Harrold Opposite: No 31613 restarts the 1.52pm Cheltenham to Southampton whilst No 31795 remains in the up platform. Looks like I am observing the departure accompanied by Jill.

James Harrold

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Opposite: With the up main starter cleared, No 31795 can get away with at least one passenger onboard.

James Harrold This page: Back to work! No 3684 comes off the headshunt and takes on water before moving to the down platform to form the 4.03pm departure. It has a brake van attached to the rear which presumably arrived in the morning with the 7.00am mixed train.

Passenger services to Savernake Low Level could not depart ‘wrong road’ from the up platform as the connection that gave access to Marlborough High Level yard was not fitted with a facing point lock and unless it had been clamped, the rule book prohibited such a move. Empty stock and goods trains were however permitted to risk all.

So, a quiet Saturday afternoon suddenly had two departures to Savernake Low Level a mere fifteen minutes apart. Why? Those passengers on the Cheltenham to Southampton train routed via Savernake High Level that required an onward journey from Savernake Low Level could swap trains here, thus saving the two hundred yard walk between the two stations. Going forward from September 1958 of course this would be irrelevant as both trains would call at Savernake Low Level. James Harrold

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If I am the lad watching No 31613 depart, who is the interloper getting up on to the footplate? Whilst I was allowed up occasionally for loco run-rounds I don’t recall ever travelling in the cab to Savernake. I did go over regularly to see Christopher Oram who was the Station Master’s son there but my travels were always care of the Guard. For a train spotting nut like me Savernake was heaven, offering up a procession of passing ‘Halls’, ‘Castles’ and ‘Kings’ plus maybe the brave new world of ‘Warship’ diesels. The 4.03pm departure then picked up the rest of the weekday diagram starting with the 5.33pm service and finishing with the 7.54pm to Swindon, my train home. James Harrold

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Rewind to a Saturday afternoon probably soon after the June 1958 timetable cull. The 1.52pm Cheltenham to Southampton has departed having discharged a couple of barrows worth of parcels by the look of it. Ronnie Martin is in conversation with the driver of the 2.50pm Andover Junction to Swindon Town whilst the 4.03pm to Savernake bides its time on the headshunt. Just as I had attached myself to Arthur Clements as his ‘helper’ Ronnie had one too. He was Dennis Dailey who was some three years older than me and can be seen to the right of Ronnie guarding the parcels. Dennis was on site when we first arrived and we were soon acquainted and became firm friends. When Ronnie filled the vacancy of parcels van driver in spring 1960 Dennis went with him out on the road. The all enveloping comfort of the parcels office with its smell of gas and glue was now no longer enough and so I abandoned dear Arthur to join them on the delivery round. Remarkably he seemed to cope quite well without my input. Whether I used my position to get this switch I don’t remember but Dad trusted me and dear Ron seemed happy enough to have two assistants at times. The years of course roll on and by the time I entered the Sixth Form at Marlborough Grammar School I had begun to distance myself from Dennis. An act of arrogance on my part and one that I have pangs of guilt about years later. Dennis passed away in 1982, aged thirty four. Alan Lillywhite

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The additional summer Saturday shuttle left Savernake at 10.40am and formed the 12.20pm return as seen here photographed by Sid Nash on 1 July 1961.

So, perhaps time to undertake a spell of yard shunting if required. The 9.30am Reading to Weymouth connected with the 10.40am departure and may have attracted day visitors to Marlborough, including parents visiting their offspring at the college. No 3666 is approaching farm occupation bridge No 49 just ahead of the tunnel. For a line that closed some three years earlier the opposite track that ran to Savernake High Level looks almost freshly ballasted. The low embankment seen behind the train carried the GWR branch as it started its climb away from the terminus. An addition to the skyline is the new Grammar School nearing completion. S C Nash / Stephenson Locomotive Society

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The GWR timetable of 1947 shows two Sunday round trips between Swindon, Swindon Town and Andover Junction. This pattern remained unchanged right through until closure! It served a purpose as it enabled folk to have a day out at the south coast so long as they returned to Andover Junction in time to catch the 8.35pm departure. We made use of it several times enabling some six hours to be spent at pebbly Portsmouth & Southsea or four and half at sandy Bournemouth. To me the biggest excitement was seeing Southern locos on a whole new scale-Bulleid Pacifics galore. Whilst to me they did not possess the grace of something created by Mr C B Collett they were nevertheless awesome beasts exuding sheer power. The first train was the 9.35am from Swindon, departing Marlborough at 10.18am. Its return leg called at Marlborough at 1.29pm and for whatever reason I never linked it to an opportunity to spend Sunday afternoon going round Swindon Works hoovering up engine numbers galore. I would have needed Dad to be with me and he must have forgotten to mention it - no doubt Sunday and gardening meant a lot more to him. Here No 6327 has arrived with the 9.35am Swindon to Andover Junction on Sunday 27 August 1961. Closure notices are up but standards must be maintained. Porter Arthur Clements obtains a bucket of hot water from the loco in order to wash the waiting room floor, a Sunday ritual. Photographer John Langford has aroused the interest of Harold Trotman, observing from the door of the ‘Fresher’. John Langford

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The same train on the same day, this time photographed on departure by John Head. No 6327 was a regular over the line having been transferred to Swindon shed from Bristol St Philips Marsh in January 1960. These moguls provided the staple motive power for the Sunday services with the same loco working both round trips. Occasionally an engine would be allocated on an ex-works running in turn, examples being a gleaming Ivatt 2-6-0 No 46520 and of all things a Standard 4-6-0 No 75029 which seemed a little incongruous at the head of a mere two coaches. Rail On-Line

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John Head must have been a patient man as he waited to photograph No 6327 on the return 12.35pm Andover Junction to Swindon which departed Marlborough at 1.29pm. The second round trip of the day would be the 5.45pm from Swindon and 8.35pm return from Andover Junction arriving Marlborough at 9.24pm. Both Sunday services once used to convey milk in churns but that traffic had been lost to rail by the time of our arrival. Rail On-Line

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The 12.35 Andover Junction to Swindon departs behind No 5306 on Sunday 3 September 1961, a week before the final day of passenger services over the route. The train has four coaches, double the usual formation. It is likely therefore to be a running in turn for the mogul as it would arrive a week later at the head of the RCTS farewell special. Records show that No 5306 had actually been sent for scrapping at Swindon Works, its frames being cut up on the 12 August 1961. However, due to a slight admin cock-up the documentation showed sister loco No 5351, then happily undergoing repairs in ‘A’ shop, to be the victim of the cutter’s torch! To get around the error No 5351 was renumbered as No 5306, effective week ending 26 August. I’m not sure why Dad was watching the train depart. The two enthusiasts look peaceful enough so perhaps he is standing in as there is no staff member available. It would be unusual as Sunday turns were overtime and normally sought after. I find this photo particularly poignant as to me it marks the approaching end of an era with not only the train disappearing but that of Dad’s job and others too. What I wonder was going through his mind? R J Collection

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During a visit in September 1959 Leslie Freeman took the unusual step of photographing the station frontage. The beer barrels and crates are stacked at the rear of the ‘Fresher’. With regards the main building its windows, from right to left, shine a light into the following: Lounge area for the ‘Fresher’, Parcels Office, Ladies’ Waiting Room, Main Waiting Room, Booking Office (far side of the open door). I’m not sure if it is a railway parcels van parked outside but it is not one I recognise. If it is one then it would soon be replaced by Morris van XXF912 and allocated to driver Ronnie Martin through until March 1964 when it came off worst in an accident involving a timber lorry. Ronnie was unhurt. It was through the open Parcels Office window that the van would be loaded or unloaded. One of its regular collections in the afternoon was from a company in Elcot Lane called Fringe Vision who made or assembled TV aerials. Some extended out of the rear of the van necessitating a red flag being tied to the end of it during transit. It was therefore prudent to alert Arthur Clements to open the window before the van backed up. One day of course the inevitable happened, this being before Ronnie’s time. The tinkling of broken glass reached the ears of Harold Trotman next door and being the excellent artist promptly became the subject of one of the cartoons he would regularly chalk up on a slate board. Alas for the driver concerned his comments at some stage about the antics of the Childrens TV series ‘The Sooty Show’ came back to haunt him as Harold had chalked up a shattered TV screen with an aerial poking through it with the caption, ‘no Sooty tonight’. Leslie Freeman

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This photo of Ronnie alongside his Morris parcels van (the top of the roof is cut off on the print) somewhere up on Marlborough Common was taken by fellow worker Bob Bailey. The daily routine was one of town deliveries in the morning followed by a country round each afternoon. He would cover the Kennet valley to the west as far as Beckhampton and up to Avebury, eastwards to Minal and Axford and north to the Ogbournes and Rockley.

Most of the collections for despatch by rail were centred on Marlborough and completed in the afternoon. Regular business was generated by Wingrove & Edge from their tannery, the nearby rope factory, Pelham Puppets and as already mentioned Fringe Vision.

Ronnie was a keen fan of horse racing and so no doubt had his ear to the ground when making deliveries to the stables of Jeremy Tree at Beckhampton or Sir Gordon Richards at Ogbourne Maizey. With a country round complete and time in hand before making any collections his van would sometimes be seen parked outside the house of a fellow member of the fraternityMarlborough Signalman Jack Christian. This would be after Jack had completed an early turn enabling both of them to watch some afternoon racing on the TV! With the withdrawal of Marlborough’s passenger service on Monday 11 September 1961 the hub for handling parcels traffic switched to Savernake station. Drivers and their vehicles initially remained based at Marlborough working out of the garage that was the former GWR engine shed. For Ron this meant his day now started and finished with runs through the forest to Savernake. During school holidays I would be with him all day and during term I could finish at St Peters and be home in time to accompany him for the tea time run and with a bit of luck be there to cop whatever ‘Castle’ still clung on to working the 2.40pm Wood Lane to Plymouth milk tank empties should it be running ahead of its booked passing time of 5.20pm.

My school friend Roland came with me one day on a trip he still remembers.

Perhaps I was used to it but to Roland he was being driven by a madman with an obsession for hunting down pheasants that wandered aimlessly across the road, even so I cannot recall any casualties. I am haunted to this day by one incident however, when Ronnie decided to overtake a lorry in Cadley dip which to anyone familiar with the A346 through the forest will know is not a wise idea as oncoming traffic can suddenly appear over the ridge. We got away with it. Roland alas didn’t as he had forgotten to tell his parents where he was going that day so ‘copped it’ big time on his return home. Luckily some sixty plus years later we are still good friends!!!

Tuesday morning, 17 March 1964 was like any other- at the beginning.

However, whilst making a delivery to Vincent Head’s shop in the High Street there was an almighty bang outside and Ronnie squeezed through the shop door to find XXF912 somewhat closer to the entrance than where he left it.

Marlborough High Street has a notorious camber from top side to bottom as the Bedford lorry loaded with timber discovered. Alas, the last I saw of a battered parcels van that had carried me many miles around the district, including through awesome snow drifts the previous bad winter, was of it placed on a Lowmac rail wagon awaiting movement to the ‘road motor’ workshops at Slough for repair or maybe scrapping.

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Ron’s replacement. How long he drove this vehicle escapes me but I did ride in it and to me it was a real lorry - it had a cab you had to climb into and jump out of!. The track through the goods shed extended a few yards to an end-loading dock which was used for the handling of agricultural machinery destined for T H Pope who had premises in the town. It was also used for loading XXF912 prior to despatch by the Westbury goods train which had operated four days a week following the withdrawal of passenger services and the complete line closure beyond Marlborough. By the time David Hyde took this photo that frequency had shrunk, as from the middle of May the yard handled only coal traffic. Complete closure was fast approaching. Dad by now had moved to become Assistant Manager at Swindon goods depot. His journey to and from work was as a passenger in Bob Bailey’s car. Bob had likewise transferred to Swindon as a van driver delivering to the Pewsey area which was also where he lived. Ronnie would likewise make the transfer to take up a similar role covering Cricklade and Cirencester, both towns of course having lost their rail link following closure of the ex MSWJR. This rather forlorn photo of the goods shed - the building in which luncheon was served to celebrate the 1898 opening of the new line and where I thought I had committed a capital offence - had a corrugated iron clad timber extension added at some point for the storage and distribution of animal feed and fertilizer. One of the vehicles garaged up at the old engine shed was a flat bed Thornycroft lorry employed on deliveries from the store to the surrounding farms. Its regular driver was Arthur Bushrod and his assistant at the time was Bob Bailey. Once flattened the old shed gave up a secret - the location for the storage of bundles of old excess fare pads and parcels consignment notes dating back to the opening of the line in 1881. Most had been largely shredded by time and mice but there were a few survivors that now reside at Steam Museum, Swindon. David Hyde

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No 6320 restarts what I suspect was the daily goods from Swindon Town to Ludgershall; based on the ‘K’ class lamp code on the buffer beam indicating a pick up goods. It would arrive ‘wrong road’ in order for the loco to run round and draw the cut of wagons on to the headshunt to position them on the relevant siding under the control no doubt of the shunter, Mr Moore. The photo was taken in 1952 but the operation remained a constant in working timetables up until the final run on Saturday 9 September 1961, albeit having timing and destination changes over the intervening years. Its final iteration was as the 11.30am Swindon Town to Andover Junction calling at Marlborough from 12.04pm to 12.20pm. The return working would depart at 2.30pm, spend an hour shunting at Ludgershall and head home with predominantly military traffic from the M.O.D. behind the tender. Surviving for a short while into the James’ era was the daily goods from the Andover direction, departing at 8.15am, calling at Marlborough before proceeding to Swindon Town, crossing the goods coming in the opposite direction at Ogbourne. With the loss of goods traffic to road, what volume there was on offer could now be accommodated on one round trip working so it was not long before the 8.15am was cut back to serve only Weyhill and Ludgershall. The issue of clearing the yard at Marlborough ahead of the arrival of the 11.30am goods from Swindon was addressed of course by the loco off the 9.06am passenger to Savernake returning light to perform this function. The 11.30am goods ran every day except a Sunday and on its Saturday outing could well be operated by a loco on a running in turn so I was a keen observer to see what would pitch up. Watching from my bedroom window one Saturday I duly spied the goods trundling along but with the outline of a loco that had me baffled. I waited until it emerged for its approach into the up platform and was then struck with a dawning realisation that I was gawping at the first loco to exceed the 100mph speed barrier, way back in 1904. Officially of course ‘Flying Scotsman’ holds that honour, a creation of that well known former pupil of Marlborough College, Sir Nigel Gresley. I was down the stairs yelling out to Mum ‘City of Truro’, over the bridge and up the platform ramp before this veteran came to a stand. Looking on in disbelief I heard the driver issue the words all enthusiasts crave- ‘do you want to come up?’ For a moment I thought I was in the company of an actor of the day called Jimmy Edwards as the chap had a similar handlebar moustache of epic proportion. The driver’s name I learnt many years later was Walter ‘Jimmy’ Long, and for about fifteen minutes he was God in my eyes as not only did he let me up on the footplate but let me stay during the shunt process. Pure magic but dear Mum, she was at a complete loss as to my state of heightened excitement. Why oh why did I not have a camera? Perhaps this took place on Saturday 7 May 1960 a week ahead of the loco passing through on a Gloucestershire Railway Society tour to Southampton Eastern Docks, of which I have absolutely no recollection of seeing. H C Casserley

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Colin Maggs’ photo of No 6391 in the Low Level yard has also captured lorry driver Arthur Bushrod, in protective apron, walking alongside Bob Bailey.

Perhaps the mogul is covering the duty normally performed by a pannier tank, that of the 11.00am trip from Marlborough yard to Swindon Town as described earlier. Unusual I must admit. The 1939 England and Wales Register reveals that Arthur was working for the GWR at Marlborough as a Motor Driver. He was born in 1914 and so to me his ‘great age’ meant I called him Mr Bushrod whereas Bob Bailey was always Bob. It would have been fascinating to talk to Arthur about his experiences during the Second World War driving his lorry around the area, the difficulties, and the military presence all around, particularly if he had to drive the roads through Savernake Forest. Alas, I never did. The flatbed trailer parked outside the goods shed was one of a pair, the other being covered, that ran behind a Karrier Bantam unit driven by Thomas Kenny. Whilst Ronnie Martin was the parcels man Mr Kenny worked from the goods shed where wagon load traffic was unloaded. A regular flow that arrived in vans attached at Savernake Low Level to the tail of the 7.00am from Andover Junction was large cardboard boxes containing packs of Kellogg’s Cornflakes for delivery to the town and presumably surrounding area.

Marlborough then had two large food shops in the High Street, International Stores and Stratton Sons & Mead. I don’t recall seeing the flatbed trailer in use but it must be the one that Bob Bailey referred to once when describing the joys of trying to keep your footing on the top of a B.D. container covered in frost whilst attaching the crane hooks for the transfer from rail wagon to road trailer. Most people link containerisation with the shipping industry but as with many things, the railway thought of it first. Bob took a handful of photos relating to the railway, one of which he gave to me - that of Ronnie Martin by his parcels van up on Marlborough Common (p42), I treasure it. In one conversation he revealed he had acquired the ‘Marlborough Signal Box’ cast plate from the foreman of the demolition team by out bidding someone else who wanted it. No doubt the deal was completed in the ‘Fresher’. He invited me round to see it, but alas I never went. After Bob passed away I long wondered what happened to the plate, hoping it didn’t end up down at the tip, I neeed not have worried, it didn’t. At the Great Central Railwayana Auction of March 2019 it was sold for £1,550 - no, not to me. Years before Bob had told me about his acquisition, I went to a talk on the MSWJR given by the late David Hyde, railway historian and photographer. School friend Mick Holdsworth said he would also be interested in coming along. Mick had an interest in many things but after a couple of hours had begun to lose the will to live and dozed off, alas not quietly. Talking to David afterwards and apologising on Mick’s behalf I told him of my interest in the line and Marlborough in particular. David’s main 45a certain signal box plate for the price of a couple of pints in the ‘Fresher’. response was to bemoan how he had been thwarted in his attempt to purchase David was good enough though to sell me copies of photos he had taken around closure and thereafter. Colin Maggs

The back and middle roads at the Low Level goods yard were predominantly used for coal traffic with fertilizer vans occupying the front road. Occasionally an empty mineral wagon would be positioned in the cattle dock to load scrap. D W Free & Son’s premises are on the right with their office seen just behind the cattle pens. Their red ‘Jumbo’ mobile crane with a clam-shell grab would unload the wagons and either trundle back to tip its contents in the hoppers for house coal deliveries or straight into waiting lorries to take to the hospitals at Savernake or Pewsey to feed their boilers. Marlborough gas works was presumably another customer. Bert Barnet, one of Free’s lorry drivers, was asked one day if he would ‘tackle the Jumbo’ and was so good at it that they became a permanent pairing. Ernie Dobson was Martin Free’s transport manager and would often ‘debate’ with Dad over the thorny subject of wagon demurrage. If their hoppers were full the humble 16ton mineral wagon was the best and cheapest storage facility, but of course it was time constrained.

Dad’s response was something like, ‘look Ernie, if it’s not turning, it’s not earning, no different from your road vehicles’. Ernie also had control of a small long distance fleet of lorries transporting coal from collieries in South Wales and the Midlands to premises in Dorset, Hampshire and Berkshire and sometimes further afield. Some would carry grain or scrap as well. This area of the business would develop as rail deliveries of coal ceased with full closure in September 1964. The town had another, somewhat smaller, coal merchant by the name of Cope. Their lorry would load direct from rail wagons into sacks for local deliveries. David Hyde

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Following closure in 1933, the High Level buildings and yard at Marlborough were retained for a variety of uses. The main station building provided accommodation for Ganger Noah Trotman so it is probably no surprise that in the 1939 England and Wales Register his address is shown as Cherry Orchard (The Ark). When Noah moved to one of the post war council houses in St Margarets Mead, signalman Jack Christian took up residence for a period before he too became a tenant as the estate expanded. The building was then boarded up but of course that didn’t stop local children finding their way in. The former GWR engine shed became the road motor garage for up to four vehicles. In addition to those driven by Messrs Martin, Bushrod and Kenny, a Morris FG driven by Dougie Mabbutt was squeezed in. He covered a country round taking in Burbage, Grafton and the Collingbournes, calling at the local stations during the day. Dougie was born in 1901 so I must have referred to him as ‘Mr’ too. I recall he left the railway for retirement around the time of closure. The old engine shed was also the lodgings for half the county’s sparrow population. The bitter winter of 1962-63 must have taken its toll but numbers bounced back to the point where sitting in our back garden became a battle of wills as the sound of constant chirruping would seep into my brain. Following demolition the poor little devils were homeless and having often cursed them especially when trying to do homework, the eerie silence came as a relief tinged with sadness. The High Level goods yard continued to handle a variety of traffic, ranging from huge quantities of military equipment during the Second World War, to the more peaceful role of loading Marlborough College boys’ trunks and bicycles, the storage of track panels lifted from the closed Savernake High Level line and finally as a grain loading facility. In John Barnby’s time a collection of various parcel vans and Siphons would be assembled in the old platform road in readiness for the end of term at Marlborough College. No doubt half the road fleet was allocated to carry out the collections from the various Houses and the story goes that it never rained on such days. Dad however would take the opportunity presented by the long gap between trains to switch the operation to the Low Level station forecourt and up platform where space and handling conditions were far superior. I don’t recall how the loaded vans were despatched, maybe a light engine came out to convey them back to Swindon for onward movement. By one of those amazing coincidences that life throws up, Dad found he was dealing with Howard Lansley, the Finance Bursar at the College and someone he had last seen in March 1944 whilst on leave in India. Douglas Thompson

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The good folk of Cherry Orchard were no doubt curious at first as to what this strange structure was that appeared in 1960 situated between ’The Ark’ and the old cattle pens. Its purpose was to transfer grain from tipper lorry to rail wagon using a donkey engine to power the auger that protrudes track side. The road haulage element from farm to railhead was carried out by vehicles belonging to D W Free, no doubt after a good brush out to remove any coal residue! Once backed up, the small hatch in a rear door of the lorry would be lifted for the grain to pour into a grounded wooden wagon body inside the cover and the tipper elevated at a rate the auger could cope with. Alas, the donkey engine had a tendency to conk out meaning a fitter would attend, but as he had to come from Swindon, this could take some time. Martin Free told me he got so exasperated with delays to his vehicles that he adopted the least worst option, that of purchasing a set of spares from T H Pope and sending one of his chaps up to attend to a breakdown. At the end of the 1960 operation the whole edifice was dismantled and removed leaving the wooden wagon body in situ in readiness for the 1961 harvest. RJ Collection

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A panoramic view taken from the top of the ladder on the end of one of the bulk grain hopper wagons. Whilst a loco had obviously berthed the empty wagons in the yard it didn’t stay on site to draw them forward for positioning to load under the auger; no doubt a pinch bar and muscle performed that task.

Loaded wagons would be conveyed as part of the 11.00am daily trip working to Swindon Town. Their final destination, I recall, was the flour mill at Cardiff.

John Langford took the photo on a fine Sunday morning of 27 August 1961 and with the down starting signal cleared presumably ahead of No 6327 arriving with the 9.35am Swindon to Andover Junction. Just beyond the bracket signal are two sets of crossovers with the original connection between the two rival companies trailing off to the right. This link was removed in 1898 when they literally went their separate ways only to be reinstated in 1926 when two became one under GWR ownership. The timber shed with the Wickham Trolley outside was the lair of Ganger Arthur Gregory and his team. The new Grammar School is nearing completion- seen to the right of The Ark and the unmade road that is Upper Churchfields. The GWR boundary fence can be seen to the left of the lane and today whilst all trace of The Ark and the railway formation has vanished a short section of spear fencing defiantly remains. Transport Treasury

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Left: 5306 swings over to head for Savernake Low Level with the 9.35am Swindon to Andover Junction on Sunday 3 September 1961.The connection giving access to the High Level yard is in full view as is the large rail connected warehouse that belonged to The West of England Sack Company. Erected sometime after the Second World War, it had ceased to operate by the time we arrived on the scene. Presumably its function as a storage and distribution facility for hessian sacks was quickly overtaken by bulk grain handling methods. Having said that, I accompanied Ronnie Martin and Bob Bailey in the Thornycroft lorry one Sunday to load grain sacks at what was probably Baydon Hill Farm as our destination was just beyond the village of Aldbourne. Why Marlborough was tasked with this collection I don’t know, as the load point was outside its zonal area. I’m sure Ronnie and Bob didn’t mind as Sunday meant overtime. Which summer this was I can’t remember but do recall Ronnie descending Round Hill Down on the loaded run back very gently with the Thornycroft in low gear! No pursuit of wandering pheasants that day. The sacks were transferred from road to rail in the Low Level yard, making an interesting comparison with modernity on display up at the High Level yard. The empty warehouse, or rather its painted green end door, did have one useful function as a target during football or tennis practice. Cresselley Photos Right: The daily routine was spiced up occasionally by the appearance of special train workings. Most common were those for Marlborough College pupils, followed by ones for enthusiasts and then of course ‘Trip’ trains from Swindon Works to the south coast. A one-off did bring folk from Swindon to attend an October Marlborough Mop Fair but idiots vandalised the coaches on the return leg, hence it was not repeated. A week after my footplate ride on ‘City of Truro’ courtesy of Jimmy Long, the old girl was back on 14 May 1960, passing through on the Gloucestershire Railway Society’s five coach special to Southampton Eastern Docks. Following withdrawal from service in 1931 it took Mr Collett to save this icon from scrapping by having it donated to the LNER as an exhibit in their recently opened York Museum. I wonder if Sir Nigel Gresley had allowed himself a wry smile. B R Western Region brought the loco back into operational use in 1957, finally retiring it in 1961 to be part of the National Collection. Gloucester Railway Society

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If ‘City of Truro’ represented the past, the future arrived at Marlborough a couple of months later. On Sunday the 10 July 1960 the wonderfully named ‘Reading Society of Model & Experimental Engineers’ ran this DMU special on a circuit from Reading General to Swindon via Southampton and Andover Junction. During the layover at Swindon the members headed for the afternoon tour of the Works. First though, a quick pause at Marlborough which no doubt pleased Harold as takings in the ‘Fresher’ were boosted. Despite the DMU having red marker lamps it carries the obligatory tail lamp to show watching signalmen that the train was complete and had not become divided. The future took a bit of getting used to as signalmen would sometimes receive the bell code from the preceding box advising that a unit had passed without a tail lamp and to ‘stop and examine’. I have no idea why a pannier tank is recessed on the headshunt. There was no freight activity on a Sunday so perhaps the Engineering Department were carrying out line repairs somewhere along the route. H Gordon Hands

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The first two weeks of July was ‘Trip’, where Swindon Works shut and staff and families headed off in special trains for their annual holiday by the sea, the West of England and Weymouth being popular destinations. Two trains loaded at Swindon Town station with one heading for Portsmouth Harbour whilst the other went to Bournemouth and Poole. Old friend 6327 passes the redundent advanced starter for the Savernake High Level route with the Swindon Town to Portsmouth Harbour special, No 15, on Saturday 1 July 1961. Sid Nash / Stephenson Locomotive Society

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Having photographed (Trip) train No 15, Sid Nash went to the other end of the tunnel to capture No 16, this one destined for Poole. No 31613 has Southern Region Bulleid coaches in tow so it must have travelled up presumably from Eastleigh as empty stock that morning. An ‘atmospheric’ photo maybe for Mr Nash’s benefit! The Savernake High Level route is devoid of track as far as the tunnel (the edge of the south portal just seen in the background) with the panels now stacked up in the High Level yard. The redundant up fixed distant stands forlorn, one of several signals on the High Level route that received new tubular metal posts not long before closure! An old railway adage went that if the Signalling & Telegraph Department (or the painters) turned up on a branch line then closure notices wouldn’t be far behind. Sid Nash / Stephenson Locomotive Society

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The original GWR branch to Marlborough avoided high ground to the south of the town by skirting around it, albeit with steep gradients at either end, but in doing so removed the need for a tunnel.

Thirty years later in 1894 the newcomer had concluded an independent line was the only way to secure its future and therefore had no choice but to bore a 647 yard long tunnel through the chalk with cuttings 70ft deep at either end.

Therein lay the problem that would bedevil the company and its successors right up until closure - material falling from the steep sides on to the running lines. Work commenced in 1896 taking just two years to complete the tunnel, a new station at Savernake and with it nearly seven miles of double track railway to join up with the existing formation at Grafton South Junction. By today’s standard that is some achievement. Here No 3684 is about to enter the tunnel with the 4.03pm to Savernake Low Level on Saturday 3 September 1960. James Harrold was obviously keen on taking photos from the carriage window. Perhaps I was travelling in the Guard’s compartment in the rear coach heading over to see Christopher Oram? Dad no doubt drummed into me the importance of not trespassing on the railway so walking through the tunnel in the company of Arthur Clements was legitimate and safe from the wrath of Ganger Gregory. I would on occasion accompany Arthur during his weekly trip to replenish the paraffin in the lamps of the up outer home and fixed distant signal which were 738 and 1,938 yards from the signalbox respectively. As neither was visible to the Signalman both were fitted with lamp repeaters which triggered a bell in the box should their flame go out. Despatching someone out on a wet and windy dark evening to fix the problem didn’t exactly make you popular. James Harrold

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This none too good image is the only view I have found of two trains emerging from the tunnel and heading in the same direction. The up outer home bracket signals show priority has been given to the through service routed via Savernake High Level. Bert Horn was an Andover based fireman in the 1950’s and one day when working the 8.15am goods to Swindon Town approached the tunnel having swapped roles with his driver back at Savernake High Level. On seeing his up outer home signal at danger he applied the brakes but the heavy-weight of army equipment behind the tender resulted in the train coming to a stand a short distance beyond the signal. Bert was fretting as a SPAD (signal passed at danger) was not good news. His driver however was relaxed, asking Bert if there was a white diamond on the signal post indicating a track circuit which if there was would alert the Signalman to his misjudgement. There was not one and with the train out of sight in the cutting the panic eased but for Bert it was lesson learned. The telegraph pole that can be made out on the top left of the photo survived for decade’s thanks presumably to its inaccessible position. Rev Selman

Approaching the up fixed distant signal is the 2.50pm Andover Junction to Swindon Town service. A footpath crossed the line here as shown by the stile but would appear not to have a ‘Beware of Trains’ warning notice. Many years later when friend Richard Dlucik and I crossed the formation at this point, there was a sign, but facing towards the tunnel stating ‘Warning, deep water’. We didn’t investigate! The photographer is John Smith and no doubt like Sid Nash a year later was out to capture the returning Trip specials. The date given is 16 July 1960 which being a Saturday should have meant a ‘U’ class in charge of the train and not pannier 9790. Obviously something happened that day! J J Smith / Bluebell Railway Museum

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Soon after passing the up fixed distant the line curved towards the tunnel and loco crews got to see through the tunnel as to whether the up outer home was on or off. In July 1944 single line working was introduced through the tunnel as sections needed relining. The route had been intensively used during the run up to D-Day with signal boxes open 24 hours a day so having a block like this imposed so soon after would surely have raised some unease within the military. There must have been a pressing need for the work to start and it wasn’t a quick job with temporary single line working through the tunnel- it would be August 1946 before normal service resumed. Ken Watts, the Swindon fireman, told me that the men from the US Army RTO (Rail Transportation Office) who were based in the High Level yard at Marlborough had a much quicker solution - blow the thing up. The idea of a considerable tonnage of brick and chalk hurtling skywards probably did not sit easily with their British counterparts. Ken was a great one for embellishing stories but he might have picked up on the chatter from some of the rather more gung ho troops on the ground. J J Smith / Bluebell Railway Museum

Hat Gate, where once two rival railway companies converged (insert) On train journeys to Savernake two

features here always drew my attention. On one side the shallow cutting was suddenly breached and became set back as it rose in height to allow a farm overbridge to be accommodated. The opposite side revealed a low embankment with a distinct line of fence posts trailing away across the fields. They had to be signs of earlier railway activity but it took an age for me to work out their origins. The latter should have been obvious - this was the formation of the original GWR branch from Marlborough closing in to within a stones throw of its old rival. In 1933 the GWR conjoined the original branch line and the MSWJ at Hat Gate (see map on page 3 and where it is referred to by its alternative name of North Savernake Junction), this was also the closest point of the two lines north of Savernake. The original GWR branch line was now closed with the route from Savernake Low Level making a connection into what had been the former Up line from Savernake High Level. This resulted in the parallel running described elsewhere. John Smith’s view of 16 July 1960 is looking towards Savernake with the now single line on the left going to Savernake High Level and that to the right the former MSWJ now slewed into the formation of the Marlborough Railway to reach Savernake Low level. Bluebell Railway Museum 56

North Savernake Sidings

Another ‘from the window photo’ taken by James Harrold whilst travelling on the 4.03pm Saturday service from Marlborough reveals the other mystery feature. I had heard talk of an explosion in Savernake Forest that took place not long after the end of the war but had never joined the dots to work out I was looking at the spot where the connection had been laid in to serve North Savernake Sidings where the blast happened. As the High Level yard at Marlborough became overwhelmed with ever increasing supplies of USA military equipment for stockpiling in the forest ahead of D-Day, this new facility was brought into use in August 1943. Following the end of the conflict the sidings took on a new role handling train loads of armaments brought back from Europe, both Allied and German, for storage and then forwarding by rail to ports such as Silloth in Cumbria for eventual dumping at sea. The explosion occurred on the afternoon of Wednesday 2 January 1946 whilst the loading of a train for Silloth was nearing completion.

It was never fully established what triggered the initial explosion but fires set off a series of further blasts claiming in all the lives of eight men. The GWR recognised the bravery of the Marlborough staff on site that day culminating with a short ceremony at Paddington in March where cheques were presented to them. (Another memo relating to the awards stressed the need to make each individual aware that the amount they received was liable to income tax deduction!) I would often see Harold Moore, Bert Baldrey and of course our next door neighbour Les Ham going about their normal routine with no knowledge of the extraordinary and terrifying event they had experienced. Harold Moore was awarded the British Empire Medal. Just to the left of the tracks as they curve towards Marlborough is Park Farm and badly damaged by the explosions that occurred a few hundred yards away. James Harrold

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Mike Esau’s photo of pannier No 3623 hurrying along is taken at roughly the same spot, albeit sometime in 1961 as the former Savernake High Level line has now been lifted. Once beyond the bridge at Hat Gate the line is on a steep falling gradient to Savernake Low Level, not a problem for a pannier tank and two coaches. For the daily Swindon Town to Andover Junction goods however a four minute allowance was given for it to come to a stand in order for the wagon brakes to be pinned down. Mike Esau

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The Stations of Savernake

Savernake Low Level station building was one of four built to the same design, the others being at Bedwyn, Pewsey and Woodborough. All were slated for closure under the Beeching Report but thankfully Pewsey and Bedwyn were retained, the former still with its original building and the latter sporting a bus shelter. I was far too busy observing trains and being in the company of Christopher Oram to take in the fine architecture of the main building with its diamond shape pattern of lighter coloured brick on the end of the building, no doubt to please the Rt. Hon. Lord Earnest Bruce M.P. The Third Marquess of Ailesbury whose estate the railway cut through and whose forest lodge houses carried a similar design. John Langford has clambered up the signal ladder to take this view looking west on a quiet Sunday morning, 27 August 1961. The Marlborough bay is on the right just beyond the bridge carrying the Burbage to Durley road. The descending white posts indicate the passenger route down from the road whilst to the right of the gate is the vehicle access slope which entailed a very sharp bend. The small goods yard on the right is where Mallard was rested after its fall from grace. Transport Treasury

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Plenty of parking available on the station forecourt, anywhere will be fine. On the right is the parcels office where from Monday 11 September 1961 Ronnie Martin’s parcels van would be a twice daily visitor. For a period during the early part of 1963 the snow and ice on the approach road to the station meant parcel collection and delivery was switched to Bedwyn where conditions were deemed marginally better. Above the building’s roof line is Station House, home to the Oram family. Mr Oram had responsibility for both Savernake stations until High Level closed in 1958. Leslie Freeman

Years before, John Barnby took this rather personal photo of Station House as it was his family home between 1914 and 1919 when he was a small boy. The lane to the right gave access down to the Kennet & Avon Canal which passed diagonally under the house and station in a tunnel. I suppose there was inevitability that John would follow his father George on to the railway. His first appointment was with the GWR as clerk at Maiden Newton. Courtesy Mike Fenton

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The 7.15am Trowbridge to Paddington stopper arrives behind a Westbury ‘Hall’ class loco. The bay platform has just received the 7.05am Swindon to Andover Junction service but is now vacant following its propelling move back on to the branch. Once the Paddington has cleared it will enter the up platform to continue its journey along the main line for a short distance before branching off at Wolfhall Junction. Rae Montgomery

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Photographers Rae Montgomery and Norris Forrest have got off the 7.05am prior to the shunt move out of the bay. The chalked headboard ‘Bristolian 2nd Part’ reveals the date as Tuesday 26 July 1960. Savernake West Box down branch home signal has now cleared for the 7.00am Andover Junction to Marlborough service behind No 3758. Rae photographed the ‘Hall’ seen on p61 whilst Norris captured the two panniers. Both Norris Forrest

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Having worked the 12.20pm from Marlborough No 3666 has completed its run round and is propelling the coaches into the bay platform to form the 12.55pm departure to Swindon. On display is a rather unusual position to hang the tail lamp during the move.The photographer is Dick Riley and taken on Saturday 1 July 1961 - not long after Sid Nash took his view of No 3666 with the 12.20pm approaching the tunnel, seen on page 36. R C Riley

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No 92203 has reached the summit after the steady climb from Westbury. From here it is downhill to Newbury. James Harrold photographed the 9F on Friday 23 October 1959 and has noted the time at 2.00pm. The Swindon built loco is only six months old but already has that weathered look. It could be working the 6.25am Tavistock Junction to Old Oak Common vans, running some ninety minutes late. The artist David Shepherd purchased the 9F direct from BR following withdrawal in 1967. His other acquisition was the Standard Class 4 referred to earlier, No 75029. The B-Set has been in the bay most of the day, waiting to form the 5.33pm to Marlborough. A girder over bridge can be seen in the top distance just below the tree line; indicating the route the MSWJR took as it skirted around the GWR station. James Harrold

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Above: Another photo taken from the carriage window, this time James Harrold is on the 4.52pm from Swindon Town to Andover Junction behind No 4697. Small prairie No 5570 has completed its light engine move and has attached to the coaches to start off the evening diagram with the 5.33pm shuttle to Marlborough. Held beyond the bridge is the 2.30pm Andover Junction to Swindon Cocklebury Sidings goods behind recently overhauled Mogul No 5306 (alias 5351) It is somewhat late today as it normally crosses the 4.52pm from Swindon Town at Marlborough.

James Harrold Right: Time for a few words before the 4.52pm service resumes its journey to Andover Junction. It is 8 September 1961, the final Friday before the withdrawal of passenger services. No 5306 is on the move on to the branch but with the 5.33pm already in the section will be held at the branch starting signal. Hopefully the climb to Hat Gate won’t be a problem. The late running may be the result of shunting and clearing the yard at Ludgershall as this working too has only one more day to operate. The loco has been turned out from the Works in unlined green livery perhaps with its role at the head of the RCTS farewell special in mind! James Harrold

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It is Saturday evening 8 July 1961 and John Smith is by Savernake West box to photograph ‘N’ class No 31413 as it approaches the main line with the 7.10pm empty stock working from Swindon Town to Andover Junction. This was the return leg of the 3.26pm from Portsmouth Harbour which conveyed Trip staff and families home after their week’s holiday on the south coast or Isle of Wight. The Andover loco crew are obviously unaware that an empty stock move warrants a different lamp code to that displayed. Ken would not be impressed! The loco is underlined in my ABC so I must have observed its passing.

J J Smith / Bluebell Railway Museum

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John stayed put to photograph No 5956 Horsley Hall depart with the 7.05pm Newbury to Weymouth service. Marlborough passengers returning from London on the 5.50pm ‘Mayflower’ would have changed at Newbury on to this service. Meanwhile the 7.54pm to Swindon waits in the bay platform behind No 7421, and which is already signalled for departure. J J Smith / Bluebell Railway Museum

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The MSWJR station at Savernake, later ‘High Level’, although not shown as such on the running in board - was about 200 yards north of the GWR ‘Low level’ building. A far less ornate design but at least the Marquess of Ailesbury didn’t have to frequent it - the building on the right was at one time his private waiting room. Leslie Freeman’s photo is taken on 19 September 1959, a year after closure but still in use for wagon storage. The view is looking towards Marlborough, the direction the rake of redundant bogie bolsters would have come from. Leslie Freeman

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This view is looking towards Hat Gate and Marlborough, with the same bridge in the distance as seen in the previous James Harrold photo (p65) depicting the ‘9F’. A year or so after this 1959 view was taken track lifting commenced from here, advancing in stages back to Marlborough. Bare ballast would soon be the only indicator of where a double track railway had once been. The cottages alongside the line were not railway related. Leslie Freeman

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Wolfhall Junction Top: A short distance to the east of Savernake Low Level is Wolfhall Junction where trains destined for Andover swung across the GWR main line, negotiated a short section of single track over the Kennet & Avon Canal and climbed to meet the former Savernake High Level route at Grafton South Junction. The embankment that once carried the MSWJR over the main line at the spot where there is now a gaping hole looks remarkably tidy considering closure took place three years ago.

Leslie Freeman Bottom: James Harrold took the 1.52pm from Cheltenham St James service through to Southampton Central on Wednesday 26 July 1961.

With the official closure notice imminent the irony of course was that passenger revenue would ‘spike’ as folk took the opportunity to cover the route before the axe fell. No 31818 is about to cross the canal bridge and head past the remote outpost of Grafton South Junction signal box just discernible in the right distance. James Harrold Opposite: ‘The Last Picture Show’: James Harrold returned on Friday 8 September 1961 to travel the line for the final time. He is a passenger on the 7.50am from Andover Junction behind No 31808 and in his usual ‘window style’ way has taken the photo by Wolfhall Junction’s up home signals with trusty 4697 waiting for the lower arm to clear before entering the short section to Grafton South Junction at the head of the 7.05am from Swindon.

The time honoured wave between Andover Shed loco crews at this spot will be history after tomorrow. Across the field on the right is the low embankment that carried the line from Savernake High Level. James Harrold

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The Ogbourne Outlier.

A list of Station Masters appear in the back of an illuminating book on the MSWJR titled ‘Swindon’s Other Railway’ and shows a Mr Cox being in post at Ogbourne from 1950 to closure in 1961. I am pretty sure my father had responsibility for the station right from the time he took up the job at Marlborough.

Sometimes in the school holidays I would travel with him to Ogbourne on the 2.50pm Andover Junction to Swindon Town train booked to arrive there at 4.02pm. This was presumably the weekly ritual to talk to who was in the booking office, usually Mr Caswell, and to check and sign off the train register in the signal box. Two things I recall Dad saying about these visits. One was the almost overwhelming aroma of ‘Brasso’, as with little else to do the place was polished and polished. The other was getting proper tea on the visit to the box if Sid Henley was on duty. Sid had been in service as a valet before joining the railway and so the quality of his beverage was far superior to the usual ‘cabin tea’. Perhaps Dad even got a saucer! Sid transferred to work in Marlborough box opposite Jack Christian in the summer of 1960. Dad’s journey home would be at 5.09pm courtesy of the last down train of the day, the 4.52pm Swindon Town to Andover Junction. Ahead of that however the light engine came through on its way to Savernake to work the 5.33pm Marlborough shuttle. The loco would be halted and permission sought for me to travel back on the footplate. It was never denied and with it stopping in the platform at Marlborough purely to let me off made me feel at least ten feet tall.

A quiet Saturday afternoon, similar to any other afternoon! Passenger numbers here were virtually non existent. The view is looking towards Marlborough and with up and down signals cleared it indicates the box is switched out. In January 1943 the passing loop was extended in order to handle the lengthy trains of military equipment passing over the route in the build up to D-Day. The original box on the up platform was replaced with a new brick built structure quite a distance away, hence the need for an auxiliary token hut at the end of the down platform. J J Smith / Bluebell Railway Museum

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The peace is disturbed by No 31809 arriving with the 1.48pm Cheltenham St James to Southampton Terminus service. The signal box is obscured by the rear coach. Without wishing to be accused of plagiarism the wonderful poem, ‘Adlestrop’ by Edward Thomas could so easily reflect slumbering Ogbourne.

‘The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat No one left and no one came On the bare platform. What I saw Was Ogbourne - only the name’ Image credit J J Smith / Bluebell Railway Museum

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Above: No 31791 approaches the end of the long loop with the 2.50pm Andover Junction to Swindon Town service. It would have crossed No 31809 at Marlborough. The box can be seen in the distance and being switched out on a Saturday afternoon gives the impression of a train running ‘wrong road’.

John Smith took this view on Saturday 8 July 1961. J J Smith / Bluebell Railway Museum Opposite: During my stint volunteering at Steam Museum Library in Swindon I met some wonderful characters who fired or drove over the line through Marlborough. One was driver Fred Simpson who would have the dubious honour of being in charge of the final Sunday morning service to Andover Junction and back. Fred told me that he worked specials to Ogbourne during the loop extension including conveying materials for the construction of the new box. He told me that American troops assisted with the work and that supervision was constantly required to stop them chatting to one of the wartime signalmen in the existing box who happened to be a woman! It would have been lovely had Fred asked me ‘Were you the lad we gave a ride to from Ogbourne?’ But he never did. Transport Treasury

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Having just crossed over the main Swindon road, the morning trip working from Marlborough to Swindon Town enters the loop where it will wait to cross with the 11.30am Swindon Town to Andover Junction goods, often behind old faithful No 6327. The trip consist includes grain wagons loaded up at the High Level yard and hauled by a pannier tank. The road bridge was notorious as it was on a horrible skew with unpleasant results for hapless drivers on more than one occasion. Despite the hazards it was two and a half years after closure before the bridge was dismantled. David Hyde

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No 31794 departs with the 1.48pm Cheltenham St James to Southampton Terminus on Saturday 26 August 1961. The grain wagon dumped in the yard was presumably put off from the 11.30am goods due to some defect as no loading took place here. Following complete closure on Monday 11 September 1961 the yard continued to handle coal for a while, albeit overnight. One or two bulk tipper lorries belonging to D W Free would often be seen parked up there.

Having loaded coal at collieries such as Gedling in Nottinghamshire it was uncanny how drivers like Ron Greenaway, Len Marsh and Michael Hale would run out of hours five miles from home forcing them to book off, hitch a lift and claim night out expenses! Listening to these chaps in the ‘Fresher’ I soon discovered what the term ‘dodgy night out’ meant! If no other passing lorries were about to pick them up, the Royal Mail van on its way back from Swindon station would collect any stragglers. Prior to closure of course the mail bags went on the last train of the day from Marlborough. Transport Treasury

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‘This is the End. Beautiful Friend’ (The Doors 1967) In early March 1961 what had long been anticipated became a reality.

The last full week of operations went on as if nothing would change but of course everything would. On Saturday 9 September and Sunday 10 September the usual train plan was in place, enhanced on the Sunday by two farewell specials passing through. Of course, there was more passenger activity over these last days plus more photographers out to record the end of an era.

Mr H Bastin, the District Traffic Superintendent for BR Western Region based at Bristol Temple Meads issued what in effect was the line’s death warrant. It came in the form of a letter headed ‘Proposals Regarding the Midland and South Western Junction Line’. I wonder if Mr Bastin’s use of the word ‘Line’ instead of ‘Railway’ was deliberate, reflecting those old company rivalries that linger long down the years?

The proposal of course was the permanent withdrawal of the passenger service between Cheltenham and Andover as an investigation into the economics of the line had established it to be ‘unremunerative’.

Attached to the letter was a detailed report on operating costs and revenue with closure showing a net estimated saving of £113,118 per annum.

The famous, or infamous, passenger count was included showing Marlborough’s throughput was an average of eighty nine passengers a day, the bulk of which were school pupils. The count took place through the week ending 19 November 1960 so avoiding the accusation of carrying it out in school holidays in order to deliver the result BR wanted. The printing and postage costs for the letter and report must have been huge as every local authority and business associated in any way with the line was on the distribution list.

Mr Bastin then handily ducked out of the firing line of any protest by directing responses to Mr P H Sims, Secretary of the local Transport Users’ Consultative Committee (T.U.C.C), as per the Transport Act. The latter had no need to panic as there would be no mass revolt for him to deal with. The general reaction was largely one of indifference summed up by probably two words; ‘so what?’.

The local bus services were deemed adequate to cope with the extra patronage and some Wilts and Dorset 709 services between Swindon and Salisbury would divert via Savernake Low Level station with timings similar to the Marlborough trains in the morning, afternoon and evening periods. Freight and parcels facilities were going to be retained, so too the Paddington- Marlborough special train operated for College pupils at the beginning and end of each term. A complaint did come from Searle & Bernard in the High Street relating to delays in the fresh fish deliveries. I don’t know how that got resolved.

Closure notices were posted in early August, following the T.U.C.C. announcement that they had approved it. The date tied in with the end of the summer timetable. I wonder how many queries Dad answered from folk ringing the station number- Marlborough 8! David Hyde

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The Southern Region obviously hadn’t seen it a necessity to turn out a pristine loco for the Saturday and final run of the 7.50am Andover Junction to Cheltenham St James! Still, it was good to see 31791 for the last time. The track panels still remain stacked up in the High Level yard. John Beckett didn’t hang about as he made it to Ogbourne in time to capture the train’s arrival there. John Beckett

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The heads leaning out of the windows must mean this is a last day service! No 31791 returns with the 1.48pm Cheltenham St James to Southampton Terminus service. Hidden behind is small prairie No 5570 stabled on the headshunt with the 4.03pm shuttle to Savernake Low Level. Waiting in the up platform is No 31816 with the 2.50pm Andover Junction to Swindon Town. D Hepburne-Scott Rail On-Line

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Mr Hepburne-Scott did a flyer as well for he got to a point near New Buildings south of the tunnel to photograph 5570 in full flight. The 7.54pm Savernake Low Level to Swindon would be the final part of this final diagram and no doubt I watched it from my bedroom window as it passed behind Poulton Farm in the fading light. Sunday morning started as usual with the arrival of the 9.35am Swindon to Andover Junction but strengthened to four coaches, one being of LNER origin, and with No 6395 in charge. I doubt if Arthur Clements bothered asking driver Fred Simpson for the usual hot water supply to mop the Booking Office floor. The RCTS special came through at around 12.15pm behind No 5306 which worked the train from Swindon. It didn’t stop at Marlborough on the outward run to Andover Junction, no doubt to the disappointment of Harold Trotman who was hopeful of boosting his Sunday takings. Following down behind No 5306 some forty minutes later came the SLS special and it did stop as it was booked to cross with No 6395 on the returning 12.40pm Andover Junction to Swindon. Harold was pleased. He told the Marlborough Times Reporter ‘I wish they closed the railway every day’. The paper also stated that a ‘For Sale’ sign hung from the ‘Fresher’ door. Rail On-Line

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This page, top: Prior to the 1958 timetable cull a Manor class loco would make a daily appearance at Marlborough with the 10.00am Cheltenham Lansdown to Southampton Terminus train and the 4.36pm return. Some thought therefore had gone into the choice of loco to work the SLS special as No 7808 Cookham Manor was a regular on this duty, albeit in far less pristine appearance than the one today. John Edgington’s photo includes two young lads on the left - I am the one in the pale jumper. T J Edgington This page, bottom: At some stage the Manor blocked the barrow crossing by drawing its coaches up to the signal box. Maybe this was to stop its passengers walking across in front of the 12.40pm from Andover Junction which would appear round the corner very shortly. Or perhaps in order to avoid the rear coach fouling the points at the end of the loop? Or both. Those enthusiasts not in the ‘Fresher’ went somewhat feral, wandering trackside, invading the ‘box or climbing the ladder of the down home signal.

Transport Treasury Opposite, main: The double headed 12.40pm from Andover Junction sweeps off the curve from the tunnel. No 6395 now has No 6327 tucked inside. This constantly baffled me resulting in an interesting debate with Fred Simpson at Steam Museum years later. Fred was dismissive of me when asking why this happened.

He would not accept the fact that two locos worked the train until I showed him this photo whilst on the footplate of No 92220 Evening Star during its fiftieth birthday celebration inside the Steam Museum. Transport Treasury Opposite, insert: Bob Grainger was on hand to photograph the exchange. Fred was gracious in defeat. ‘Richard, I stand corrected’. He was ninety years old at the time so maybe I should allow a little bit of faded memory. Fred would live to be ninety six.

The mystery of No 6327 was blindingly obvious really. The loco on the 7.05am from Swindon on a Saturday laid over at Andover to work the following Monday’s 7.00am to Marlborough. On Monday 11 September 1961 however there would be no such service, or any other, so the Sunday 12.40pm was the way of getting No 6327 home. Its crew must have travelled out ‘on the cushions’ with the 9.35am train. Even so, the mystery remains as to why a mogul was allocated to a duty normally reserved for a pannier tank. Also lost in time is the curious case of where did Saturday’s ‘B-Set’ go? Bob Grainger

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Above and right: The RCTS special did make a photo stop on its return leg in the afternoon by which time ‘The Fresher’ would have closed - or perhaps not? It was booked to call from 2.31pm to 2.41pm so not a lot of time to wander far to take photos. When I showed my parents photos like this, Mum’s reaction was one of mortification; ‘oh no, everyone can see our line of washing’. She was confined to bed on that last Sunday due to a very bad back. The task of doing the washing must have fallen to Dad and of course once it was hung out the day turned wet! He of course was on duty at the station keeping an eye on all the proceedings and being photographed by the local paper alongside the guard of the RCTS special, Mr Griffiths. For this sombre occasion Dad has abandoned his usal trilby for an official cap he found from somewhere. R K Blencore and Marlborough Times Opposite page: No 5306 will no doubt ‘whistle up’ to encourage all to rejoin the train once driver Don Woodley has got back up onto the footplate. An hour or so later No 7808 swept through with the returning SLS special.

Transport Treasury

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Opposite: Looks like the rain has stopped and the washing has been taken in. No 6395 about to depart with the final 5.45pm Swindon to Andover Junction service. Photographer John Beckett has an audience - an unknown family and the fireman. Driver Fred Bennett is just visible in a pale or even white shirt! No 6395 itself has an observer sitting on the brick wall next to the steps up to the house-me! At 9.24pm or thereabouts on Sunday evening 10 September 1961 I stood on the platform outside the ‘Fresher’ as No 6395 emerged out of the dark by the signal box with the final train to Swindon, the 8.35pm from Andover Junction. Its lamp on the top bracket casting a glow on a small wreath hung underneath. Within a couple of minutes it was on its way, this time the red tail lamp indicating its progress, accompanied by the clatter from the up starter signal as it was returned to its on position and the spectacle glass changing from green to red. With school the next day I had been allowed to stay up late but still had time to observe from my bedroom window the carriage lights progressing towards Ogbourne.‘I shall not pass this way again’ as the words from a Quaker saying goes. For the signalman on duty there would be the usual half hour wait until the train out of section bell code was received from Swindon Town ‘B’ box, those at Ogbourne and Chiseldon being switched out on a Sunday. A final entry in the train register, book off duty and head no doubt to the ‘Fresher’ for a pint with Dad and a few others to reflect on it all. John Beckett

carefully assisted up on to the buffer beam by no doubt a rather reluctant Station Master. On the right in the jacket is driver Fred Bennett. The chap in the middle with the stick must be eighty-seven year old Thomas Winchcombe from Ogbourne St George. On the 27 July 1881 the line from Swindon Town to Marlborough opened for traffic, the same day a seven year old Thomas travelled from Ogbourne to Marlborough on the train with his mother. They walked back. Eighty years later he was on the last train but for whatever reason the timetable shows it didn’t stop at Ogbourne. Hopefully he got a lift home from Marlborough! Andover Museum

This page: This was Andover Junction station prior to the departure of the 8.35pm service. The town’s Mayor, Councillor B P E Machin has been

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All change!

The morning of Monday 11 September 1961 must have had a surreal feeling about it. The sun rose over the forest bank as it always did but my alarm clock in the form of the 7.52am arrival from Swindon was silent. I must confess to not thinking about those members of station staff on the passenger side in particular who had lost their jobs. The goods operation remained functioning which meant Dad was still in post, as was Arthur Clements, Jock Gray and the motor drivers including Ronnie Martin whose day now started and finished with journeys through the forest to the parcels office at Savernake Low Level station. My thoughts that morning centred I’m sure on whether I could get back from school in time to do the Savernake run. The answer of course was yes!

I suppose reality struck home more in the evening when going to bed noticing that both signal box and station were in darkness although the ‘Fresher’ was open as always. This strange new normal had a brief time warp eleven days later when on the afternoon of Friday 22 September the usual College special arrived from Paddington. It was reported in the Marlborough Times quoting Dad as saying ‘the special facilities afforded the college will remain undisturbed by the closure’. College trunks would therefore continue to be handled as shown opposite with Tom Kenny helping out with either deliveries or collections. This undated photo was probably taken by Bob Bailey.

An unreported passenger working arrived one afternoon in October 1962 behind a pair of grimy 43xx moguls. It conveyed troops destined for the camp at Ogbourne St George. Whilst the locos ran round I had a walk through the empty coaches hunting out any abandoned goodies. Dennis was with me and we emerged back on to the platform clutching some Lyons fruit pies and various ‘revealing’ magazines. Dividing up the spoils, Dennis very generously let me have all the pies! At the time I had no appreciation of the chilling significance of this special train. David Bailey’s 2005 book ‘The Story of Chiseldon Camp’ however linked it to the Cuban Missile crisis and Exercise ‘West Lon’ which rehearsed the movement of large mobile columns in the event of a nuclear attack on a major city. Little did I know; as I munched through another fruit pie in ignorant bliss.

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With the line between Marlborough and Swindon Town closed completely, the replacement goods service initially operated four days a week starting from Westbury and which requiring a reversal at Savernake Low Level. Having shunted the yard and assembled the return working in the up platform, No 5526 runs round under the control of signalman Jack Christian.

No 5526 makes a spirited departure with both fertilizer and coal empties in tow. There is also a ‘lowmac’ in the consist, no doubt having arrived loaded with agricultural equipment for T.H.Pope. The up home signal on the left has suffered a broken spectacle glass thanks to ballast wielding youths. Not guilty!

The era of being confronted by Ganger Gregory had now been consigned to history, meanwhile track panels from the former Savernake High Level route remain stacked in the yard. The photograph was taken in 1962 by Adrian Vaughan who then hurried through the forest to capture the train arriving back at Savernake. He succeeded!

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Left: In May 1964 the yard closed to general goods traffic, from then on handling only coal. With the cost of maintaining a five mile section of infrastructure from Savernake now swamping the revenue it generated, the inevitable closure took place on Monday 7 September 1964. The photo shows one of the last, if not the last, goods train prior to departure back to Westbury. What I wonder was the empty grampus wagon doing berthed on the weed infested down platform road? Perhaps there were some remaining items of value to be collected at a later date, prior to the vandals and the scrap men descending.

Demolition has already commenced as the wooden building that stood on the down platform has been erased. Parked to the left of the Fresher is Cope’s brown Morris FG lorry. Maybe driver Bill Parton has popped in ahead of commencing his delivery round of bagged coal from the yard.

Right: Remarkably Jack Christian remained in post until 17 October. ‘The Marlborough Times’ photo shows him studying what is no doubt the racing pages.

The redundant duster is a poignant reminder of busier times.

Opposite top and bottom: The final college special from Paddington ran on Friday 1 May 1964, a memorable occasion to say the least. It was hauled by Class 35 Hymek No D7096 and long regarded as the first diesel loco to arrive at Marlborough. I’m not certain of this ‘first’ accolade, as I recall being on hand to witness a very smart two-tone green liveried class-mate pitch up on a goods from Westbury and being given an internal tour from one cab end to the other by the driver. Maybe this was ahead of 1 May and a tester to see if it didn’t clobber the platform edging or adjacent rolling stock during the run round.

Unlikely I know as the passage of many a wide cylindered Mogul or Manor had not left a mark and yet the 1961 working timetable for example prohibited diesel locos performing such a move!

College specials always eluded me as their timings clashed with school hours - until 1 May. As I cycled up Salisbury Road that afternoon I noticed a maroon coach above the bridge. My first thought was that it shouldn’t be there so quickened the pace to the station to find a whole rake of empty coaches sat in the up platform road without a loco anywhere in sight. At this stage I had no idea what had brought the train in but once I had cycled over the bridge and up the path to get to the house I spotted a Hymek at a slightly odd angle just beyond the crossovers on what was the remaining stump of the line to Savernake High Level. The track beyond had been lifted; as David Hyde’s photo shows, and the two sleepers chained to the track to act as an impromptu buffer stop proved no barrier in preventing a 74 ton diesel loco from ending up in the ballast.

The obvious questions of course were why Jack Christian didn’t route the loco over the facing crossover, and why Driver Neate from Westbury failed to react in time to prevent the eventual outcome? I walked up for a closer look and my lasting memory is the overpowering smell of diesel from the ruptured fuel tank. I then went over to Savernake with Ronnie Martin as usual but on this occasion relegated to the back of the van as my front seat was occupied by Driver Neate on his way home to Westbury. I must have stayed up quite late in the hope of seeing the Reading breakdown train arrive to sort the mess out but no such luck. I went to bed however with the lights from the signal box burning brightly for one final time. When I got up next morning both the empty coaching stock and the loco had been removed. Top left Mike Barnsley collection

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Word of the mishap spread quickly, as a reporter from the ‘Marlborough Times’ arrived to capture the scene. The story also appeared in the ‘Daily Mail’ referring to Marlborough station as being closed three years earlier by Dr Beeching - but then why let the facts get in the way of a good story? At least the reporter got the weight of the loco right. Had dear Harold Trotman still been running the Fresher he would have had a field day with cartoon sketches on his slate board. RJ collection

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The Fresher and walking its dogs The last goods train may have departed but the railway estate in terms of buildings and track remained the property of British Railways and therefore intact until such time as the dismantling, demolition and disposal process kicked in. The Fresher therefore lived on, finally calling last orders on Saturday 25 September 1965 by which time it stood in the midst of dereliction.

Harold Trotman moved out soon after passenger services had been withdrawn and was replaced by May and Ron Greenaway.

With Ron still driving for D.W.Free & Son it was left to May to run the show during the day. The tradition of keeping a dog on the premises was maintained with Cocoa now in residence.

The period from 1963 until 1965 saw signalman Jack Christian take up the reins. As he was still covering a morning shift in the box he must have had help which I think came from his son Roy. The derailment probably led to poor Jack being on the receiving end of much unwanted comment and advice; such as to stick to pulling pints rather than point levers! Meanwhile Cocoa ia seen outside the Fresher.

Adrian Vaughan

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Above: Jack Christian’s guard dog came in the form of an extremely unpredictable Jack Russell called Jinx, seen on the board crossing in October 1964 keeping a watchful eye on photographer Edwin Wilmshurst. I think it was in this final era when a table football machine appeared and saw intensive use, especially by me and team mate Ronnie Martin. A formidable duo.

On the last Saturday night the place was heaving and I remember we dragged the table out on to the platform, managed to adjust it so it didn’t demand 6d in the slot and played on into the darkness.

Right: Our moggy, dear old Mickey went to the cattery in the sky towards the end of 1963. The replacement came in the shape of a black and white mongrel pup who we gave the name Skipper to. He appears in the photo with Mum on the right, May Greenaway is on the left, with Jock Gray and me in attendance.

It was taken one afternoon in 1965 as evidence of the spoils from the station’s demolition is on view. The window on the left was one from the signal box and would be incorporated into Dad’s new build garden shed, with timber liberated from the goods shed extension - some can be seen stacked against the hedge. Apart from Skipper the photo (just) includes both Fresher dogs, Jinx and Cocoa. What started off walking our dog somehow developed into a routine of taking all three of them, mostly without too many punch-ups along the way. We must have walked miles with the dogs both over the fields above the tunnel or through it to those on the other side- keeping a watchful eye for Mr Hurd from Brown’s Farm. As Jock Gray had been a gamekeeper, he had dogs that were well trained. He despaired at times at the level of control we had over this bunch. On our return Cocoa would just head off back to the Greenaway home in Salisbury Road. Jinx however took some persuading to return to the Fresher, his energy levels still sufficient to get into the house and shoot upstairs. The very steep staircase proved no obstacle to Jinx ascending but he wasn’t too keen on the descent. Attempts to pick him up risked losing your hand so the broom was called for and once over the top gravity took over.

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Upon leaving Savernake forest towards Marlborough, drivers descended the 1-7 Postern Hill, quickly passing under Bridge No 50 before heading down Salisbury Road and into the town. How many I wonder turned right up to the station attracted by the signage that adorned the Fresher’s roof in its latter days?

Just visible and still standing guard at the rear of the down platform, is the row of cylindrical ‘Dragons teeth’, an anti tank obstacle and one that no doubt proved a challenge to whoever was tasked with clearing it.

By 1965 the bark from a Great Western engine as it left the station was but a distant memory; lorries changing gear as they topped Salisbury Road became a somewhat more intrusive sound, none more so than that from a Commer, a British truck fitted with a 2-stroke engine and renowned for its racket.

Archie Hibberd drove one for D.W.Free & Son and having left their yard loaded with coal would change up just beneath my bedroom window, usually early in the morning. He, or some of his colleagues, would often return laden with scrap from Thomas Ward at Ringwood where they dismantled steam locos brought in from Eastleigh. I often wondered if any ‘U’ or ‘N’ class engines that had once passed over Bridge No 50 now passed under it in bits on the way to a South Wales steelworks.

Remarkably the bridge remained in place until Sunday 5 November 1967 with dismantling taking place on a thoroughly miserable wet day. The main steel beams would later be re-purposed in the construction of a road salt hopper when the County Council transformed the Low Level site into a highway depot.

Following its removal access to the house was then either via Cherry Orchard or a steep path that we cut into the bank to emerge on to Salisbury Road at the end of the retaining wall. Being chalk of course it could be quite slippery despite a top dressing of liberated ballast chippings. There was no hand rail for quite some time so it would certainly have failed a 21st century risk assessment! Coming home in the dark made the ascent interesting, but we survived.

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The scrap man cometh After the signal box was locked up for the final time, a period of dormancy fell over the station until the demolition contractors arrived on site. The lead removal contract was awarded, I believe, to The George Cohen 600 Group and by the early part of 1965 they had made considerable progress in the track removal phase. Whilst the Low Level buildings had remained largely free of any vandalism, thanks no doubt to the Fresher remaining open, the poor old ‘Ark’ up at the High Level had been reduced to a bare shell and considered a danger by the Town Council. They wrote to BR urging its speedy removal. One Councillor was quoted as saying ‘its appearance is certainly not improved by the political slogans painted all over the station’. The building was demolished in 1965 one year over its centenary.

Unlike the section towards Swindon where a trusty Ruston Bucyrus 22-RB crawler crane uprooted track panels and stacked them on to a loco hauled flat wagon moving ahead of it, the Marlborough contract was handled differently.

The rails were cut to short lengths and loaded on to flatbed lorries for despatch. Whether the vehicles waited in the station yard for the rails somehow to come to them or they reversed over the ballast to the loading point I can’t remember. Whatever method was used it resulted in the flattened ballast as shown in the photo.

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Opposite top: One of the contractors, a charismatic Irishman, possessed a black Ford Popular and one day drove Dennis and me through to the other end of the tunnel. Rubber tyres replacing steel wheels, the demise of the country branch line encapsulated in one short bumpy journey. David Hyde Opposite bottom: Nothing left for Jumbo (Free’s red mobile crane) to do. In the distance the lower arm on the bracket signal has somehow been pulled off to allow the proverbial ghost train into the yard. David Hyde Vehicles approached the station or yard by one of two roads - one below where David Hyde stood to take the photo, the other climbed up to the left of the back siding. When it came to the demolition of the station building and platforms, the rubble would be tipped into the road in the foreground to a height level with the yard.

Parked under the goods shed canopy is the lorry belonging to woodman Frank Brooker. His son Charlie secured the lovely oak counter from the booking office and incorporated it into a house alteration. Alas so much excellent timber was simply burnt.

Time, gentlemen please!

This page, top: Some six years after I had stood on the platform staring up at City of Truro, this is all that remains, and it too will soon be a memory.

The photo was given to us by May Greenaway and is dated 23 August 1966, which if correct, begs the question why did it take so long to complete this final phase of clearance? The lead flashing has gone off the roof as have a proportion of the roof tiles. Every window had by now been smashed and the inside pretty much gutted. The building could never be described as elegant, certainly lacking the style of its GWR neighbour, but it deserved a somewhat more dignified demise than this.

This page, bottom: The tunnel’s north portal photographed in May 1968 shows the results of nearly seven years of chalk accumulation on to what had been a double track railway. Despite bricking up the tunnel mouth, a door has proved no barrier to access. Those Grammar School wimps who opted out of rugby on a Wednesday afternoon (that included me), were despatched on a cross country run. The route devised included a short section of mass trespass by clambering through the boundary fence on one side of the cutting and exiting via the other; assuming you made it across the top of the tunnel mouth in one piece. Perhaps this act of terror was conversion therapy - getting clattered at rugby wasn’t so bad after all. Where was Ganger Gregory when you needed him...? Transport Treasury

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The Railway Children- big and small.

Pupils leave the last college special from Paddington. Why bother walking through the coaches to get to the platform! RJ collection

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Top left: Smiling for the camera outside the Fresher are the Greenaway children; Mary with brother Stephen on the far right. They are joined by cousins Roger and Matthew Reynolds. Cocoa seems to have spotted a ghostly figure lurking by the Parcels Office door. It could be either Dad or Arthur Clements. Courtesy of Mary Claridge Top right: Trespassers will be shouted at - or not as this is after the 1961 withdrawal of passenger services. A young William and Anne Free, Martin’s children, venture trackside with the cutting to the tunnel seen to the right of the photo. Kay Free, courtesy of William Free Left: A photo taken by Dad’s woodpile during the summer of 1960. In front of me are Mr & Mrs Gray’s grandsons, a serious looking Eric and a smiling John. The vertical white rail is a giant door stop for the road vehicle garage (the former High Level engine shed). After dark the post was a good marker as it was at the top of a short sloping path that gave access to the garden and the back of the house. The lorries could still use the garage as there is a gap between the empty grain wagons waiting their turn to be loaded.

RJ collection

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The Railway Photographers Mike Esau is photographed on the platform by his brother David. I owe them and their diminishing band of brothers who captured scenes of Marlborough station, a huge debt of gratitude. It never dawned on me to obtain a camera during the brief years we lived with an operational railway - but then I couldn’t have afforded one at my age anyway. Reading the history of the line in Colin Maggs seminal work, proved the catalyst for seeking out and acquiring photographs of the MSWJ. Whilst my father was never a sentimentalist about the railway, he always showed great interest in seeing the Marlborough pictures I had acquired. It would often trigger a story or memory which I had the wit to add to the relevant photo. I wish I had asked more. David Esau

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Insecurity What my parents long feared became a reality with the arrival of a letter from British Railways dated 26 April 1966. The Grays’ next door received a similar letter.

‘BR Western Region, Paddington.

been conned and in the process he had also been robbed of the opportunity to acquire the house. Of course it did not change anything except for delaying the inevitable by twelve long years.

The council soon learnt they had an extremely grumpy tenant on their hands that kept prodding them about being re-housed.

From a local authority point of view, it was best to keep the James Family under the roof they had, whilst priority was given to working out a strategy for developing the former Low Level and High Level sites.

Dear Sir, Following the closure of the Marlborough Branch, the Wiltshire County Council have prevailed upon the Board to sell to the Council all of their property in the vicinity of the two old stations for the purpose of the construction of a town by-pass road.

Then in 1971 Wiltshire County Council wrote to Dad stating no undertaking about re-housing had been given to British Railways.

War was declared.

Terms for the sale of the property have been agreed and I anticipate that the matter will be formerly completed in about three months time.

The sale includes the house which you rent from the Board and in due course I will write further about the payment to the Council. As far as I can tell from the Council’s plans, your house will eventually be demolished, but as you may or may not be aware, you have considerable security of tenure and the Council will offer you alternative accommodation before embarking upon any demolition work,.

The subject of this letter is to let you know what is happening.’

The reassurance that Wiltshire County Council, the new owners, would offer alternative accommodation before knocking the place down gave some comfort at least! A year on from purchasing the land for a Marlborough north/south by-pass the plan was shelved, never to be dusted off. British Railways were unaware of this change until Dad informed them and that in his opinion they had

Somehow I cannot imagine the Clerk of the County Council howling to the heavens King Henry style, ‘...will no one rid me of this troublesome Station Master?’ but had he done so his prayers would eventually be answered in 1978 by someone armed with nothing more dangerous than a stepladder and a paint brush.

William Bright, tradesman, lived with his family in one half of a semi-detached bungalow built in the 1920s by Martin Free’s father Douglas for his key workers.

On receiving news that the Bright family were moving out, my father approached Martin with a view to becoming the new tenants. With the continuing uncertainty and worry as to where the council would eventually house them, a small bungalow a few hundred yards from Station House would be a blessed solution.

Thankfully Martin Free took them on and no doubt with a sigh of relief from the council, my parents completed the move during the summer of 1978.

They would remain in the bungalow for the rest of their lives.

Dad never did make it back to Herefordshire.

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Left: Fred James and his trusty pal Skipper. In 1976 Dad, a wonderful gardener sent a somewhat desperate letter to Wiltshire County Council enquiring if there was any point planting vegetables that year. The reply from the County Solicitor was wordy, full of ifs and buts as a planning application for a housing development was being considered by Kennet District Council but basically it was a case of ‘ up to you mate’. Over the years the potato yields had been impressive, the ground enriched by years of John Barnby’s free range chickens!

Right: Jock Gray passed away in 1967 and when his widow Mary moved out the windows were quickly boarded up as there was no intention to re-let the property. Nature soon reclaimed Jock’s garden and the top half of Dad’s as he gradually shrunk his plot to a more manageable size. A new tenant appeared at some stage in the shape of someone’s pony progressively munching its way through the vegetation down to what was the lawn on the left of the Gray’ house. After an enjoyable evening out poor Mum got the fright of her life on her return when a startled pony reared up out of the darkness in front of her.

The picture shows Mum and pony getting acquainted whilst behind her is the new greenhouse which incorporated windows from the signal box.

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Left: Following the fate of the main station buildings, an empty Station House was soon broken into and trashed. The council therefore appointed a local builder to make the place secure by boarding up the doors and windows, Chris Daven-Thomas was duly despatched to complete the task.

I took this sad photograph in August 1979 a few weeks prior to demolition.

The lost soul in the wilderness is Jill, my wife of nearly a year. I must have briefed here pretty well as she didn’t burst into tears, unlike Mum on her first visit to the black house in 1959.

Bottom; Kennet District Council granted a planning application for housing on the station site soon after. This January 1981 photograph shows just how quickly all trace of a railway can be eradicated. The privet hedge which was the boundary between the house and the line is the lone survivor. A clue to prove the house ever existed is the Christmas tree planted after one festive season many years earlier by either the Ham or Gray family. It can be seen in the pony photo opposite. The council depot looms up on the other side of Salisbury Road together with what looks like a mountain of rock salt.

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Left: In 1978 I failed in my duty to retrieve some long forgotten books and magazines from my bedroom prior to the folks moving to the bungalow. There was a wedding to organise so this task simply slipped off the ‘to do’ list, but in Chris Daven-Thomas I had a saviour. Chris had also been a train spotter so instantly recognised a small book lying amongst the detritus strewn around inside Station House - my Ian Allan ABC Combined Volume. Thankfully he rescued it prior to commencing the boarding up operation.

Fast forward 30 years and the February 2009 issue of ‘Steam Railway’ magazine arrived in the post as usual and I commenced the usual routine of scanning the latest news first and articles and letters last. However, something caught my attention as it contained the word ‘Combined’. What followed was me giving a whoop of delight which Jill heard from the kitchen and instantly linked to a big Premium Bonds win.

The letter was written by Chris Daven-Thomas enquiring if a Richard James of 3 Salisbury Road, Marlborough was known, and if so perhaps he would like his ABC back! Whilst this was indeed on a par with a lottery type win to me, Jill’s excitement strangely evaporated. A phone call quickly followed, with Chris expressing amazement that his letter had yielded an instant response and me hoping at the same time to convince him I was indeed the rightful owner and not some imposter. A clear out of some old boxes in Chris’ loft had revealed the ABC which he too had forgotten about. With my address in best handwriting on the inside cover a return to its owner might be achievable - so long as he was a reader of ‘Steam Railway’. The result was a ceremonial handover at Midsomer Norton’s restored S&D station some weeks later. (See also sample on page 21. ) Richard left - Chris right. Richard Dlucik Opposite: In the summer of 1959 this scene was one that I had already become accustomed to and simply took for granted. A loco and two coaches waiting to form the 4.03pm Saturday only service to Savernake Low Level as it would do every weekend. The only change would be the vegetation growing back despite the best efforts of Ganger Gregory’s team. Transport Treasury

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Memories in colour

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The 4.03pm service is once again on the headshunt but for the final time. It is Saturday 9 September 1961 and what I thought eternal turned out to be ephemeral. A gleaming Mogul No 6395 passes with the 2.30pm goods from Andover Junction to Swindon Town. Normally on a Saturday it would run as engine and brake van only but as this is a final run it has cleared empty wagons from the MOD at Ludgershall. I would look forward with eager anticipation to weekends to see if an ex works loco like No 6395 would appear on a running in turn. A wonderful contrast to the usual grimy variety like that of No 5570 on the headshunt. Mark Warburton courtesy Mrs M Warburton

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A Gerald Daniels photo taken in 1960 showing the afternoon three train scenario. Note the horse box berthed in the dock siding on the right.

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It is 8.47am on a beautiful Tuesday morning in late August 1961. Our neighbour Jock Gray heads for work in the goods shed whilst No 31809 is about to overtake him with the 7.50am Andover Junction to Cheltenham St James service. I wonder if the photographer muttered under his breath as Jock emerged at the bottom of the steps to ruin his clear field of vision! Beyond and under the end of the privet hedge was a fine crop of cabbages, enough to feed half of Cherry Orchard. Nearby was a cleaned out drum courtesy of the tannery. This was strategically placed close to the water column and with my assistance filled in the evening for Dad to dip his trusty metal watering can into. Chris Leigh collection

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High Level with the engine shed and water tower still standing. To end on a lighter note, or rather a heavier one, as it involves elephants. This photo by Gerald Daniels reveals two horse boxes berthed on the siding at the end of the Low Level down platform. (Bridge No 50 lies between the platform end and the dock.) The small patch of yellow just visible on the far right of these is the straw bedding and manure brushed out after the occupants were unloaded.

This was the period when a travelling circus moved around the country and real jumbos travelled by rail from town to town. This was Marlborough’s turn.

The ‘free gift’ courtesy of the elephants was transferred across to the garden for use in the runner bean trench the following year. Staff were sceptical.

‘Too strong Guv’nor, it will kill the beans’. A year or so later Dad would come to ask Arthur Clements where the tall step ladder was? Decorating, enquired Arthur? No, replied Dad, he couldn’t reach the top of his runner beans! Gerald Daniels

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What if...?

Could Marlborough have maintained its passenger service through the decades to now see Class 165 Turbos terminate here as opposed to taking the car or mini bus to join one at Bedwyn for journeys to Newbury, Reading or Paddington?

Back in 1961 the T.U.C.C. could see no ‘hardship’ as a result of closure and it would have been a brave BR Manager indeed to have argued for a pause on grounds that in future decades it may prove beneficial. His career progression would have probably ended there and then.

In 1967 the 78 mile Central Wales Line survived a second closure attempt, reprieved on social grounds. The fact that the route passed through six marginal constituencies was of course never a factor. Had whoever painted ‘Vote Labour’ (page 97) on the wall of ‘The Ark’ ahead of the 1964 election actually been on to something, then maybe politics would have triumphed over economics here too but it was never a remote chance. So alas we are where we are, a town devoid of a bypass and a railway and undergoing slow strangulation by traffic.

Dad paid a visit to the old house soon after it was flattened in October 1979, not out of mourning but to see what timber could be salvaged to burn on the open fire! The council may have considered the property to be in poor condition but the timber joists proved otherwise. He managed to saw several into small blocks but one did not end being burnt as it had the company initials MSWJR stamped into it. The clock came from the station and may well have been the one seen in the signal box interior view on p92.

Marlborough joined the railway map in 1864 and was erased from it in 1964. Its short existence can be measured almost by one lifetime, that of Thomas Winchcombe - page 89. With infrastructure projects now costing mind boggling amounts and those that do get approval proceeding at glacial speed, will the 2064 transport map around Marlborough I wonder look radically different? Let’s at least hope electrification has extended to Bedwyn and hopefully westwards by then.

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Memories of Marlborough Station

£19.95

Richard James

TRAINS NO MORE. From an important independent cross-country route through the status of a vital link between the Midlands and the South coast and ending up as a rural backwater, the erstwhile Midland & South Western Junction line through Marlborough had witnessed it all. Here for the first time is a personal account of the station and its environs in its final years and compiled by someone who really was in the know, Richard James the son of the last ISBN 978-1-913893-64-4 Marlborough station master.

Memories of Marlborough Station

Compiled from the recollections of Richard James