The history periodical for students of the GWR and BR(W)
Introduction
Ross on Wye - To Close a Station (and a Railway)
Thoughts on ‘The Lonely Giant’
Tender First London Approaches: From the Archives of R C Riley
The Pannier Story: Part 4 - Pre-Grouping Swindon Built Locomotives
The Disposal of Name & Number Plates
Book Review
Banbury in 1950
Welsh Signal Boxes in Colour
The Wellington-Shrewsbury Joint Line by Leslie Price
Trip to the Beach
ACV / BUT Railcars on the Western Region
The Great Western Trust (GWT) - Bulletin No.11
The Guard’s Compartment
Large Prairie No. 4161 is seen arriving from Gloucester on 25 May 1963. Compared with the connection from the main line, the condition of the Monmouth bay rails suggest recent use. The bay starting signal has its balance lever mounted part way up the post which was usual when located on a platform to prevent injury to passengers. Lack of a counterweight is explained by the short controlling wire as the photographer has his back against the signal box. The weight of the spectacle plate would automatically return the arm to ‘on’ in the event of the wire snapping. Mark Warburton courtesy Mrs M Warburton.
No. 6349 awaits arrival of an approaching train and transfer of the single line token before it can proceed toward Grange Court in this undated view. The platform edge has been freshly whitewashed using an ‘L’ shaped brush for this purpose. It is uncertain whether there were set-down and pick-up posts at Ross, otherwise all token exchanges were by hand. The Mogul was a Gloucester Horton Road engine from June 1962 until withdrawal on 10 August 1964. Courtesy Neil Parkhouse.
Traffic Patterns
Studies of freight movements around Ross demonstrate how rail services were intertwined with the fabric of local agricultural activity and commerce. Tuesday was market day and to cater for this event the 8.15am freight which started from the Docks sidings at Gloucester and due to arrive at 9.57am could be delayed beyond its scheduled 11.50am departure if the Ross station master deemed necessary, subject to agreement with Control, presumably at Gloucester. A further local arrangement concerned freight working generally when a through goods load exceeded the line limit. Provision of an assisting engine coupled to the front between Hereford and Ross was authorised but on arrival at Ross would be uncoupled to be attached at the rear between there and Micheldean Road. (The maximum load depended upon train engine. For example, 364 tons was the gross load limit for a Red route engine).
An indication of the intensity of freight operations in 1954 was that a Ross-based locomotive (presumably 0-6-0T) was rostered for three hours of shunting Monday to Friday plus local freight train workings. The roster was:
– Off shed at 7.00am to shunt yard at Ross.
– Work 8.45am freight to Lydbrook and return, shunting as required.
– Work 12.05pm freight to Monmouth and return.
– Shunt at Ross from 6.00pm until 7.30pm.
Alternative timings were also permitted and are believed to have applied following cessation of passenger services.
Locally-orientated perishable traffic to/from stations on the Grange Court-Hereford route reflected the railways’ ‘common carrier’ obligation. A census conducted on an undisclosed date in the 1962/3 period revealed the diversity:
Outward Inward
Cases of milk samples [3] Boxes of fish [39]
Boxes of plums [6] Parcels of meat [3]
Crates of pigeons [13] Carton of pigeon [1]
Parcel of fruit [1] Carton of sausages [1]
Game (boxes or brace?) [3] Boxes of chicks [5]
Salmon [3]
No other information is available (e.g. names of stations involved) but in an era before specialised road transport, it was the railway’s duty to handle such varied, timesensitive loads which was usually discharged with a high level of efficiency.
Above: No. 4161 awaits departure for Hereford on 25 May 1963. The platform canopies included wind breaks and there was a covered cycle store at the end of the down platform. On the other side the appearance of the roof gives the impression of it having been cut off although there is no evidence that the goods line to the rear of this platform was ever intended for passenger use. In the background can be seen the water tower; the purpose of the wooden shed is unknown. At the time, No. 4161 had been a Hereford engine for three weeks following transfer from Gloucester Horton Road. It moved to Worcester on 8 November 1964 from where it was withdrawn a year later and scrapped at Cashmore’s Newport in July 1966. Mark Warburton courtesy Mrs M Warburton.
THOUGHTS ON ‘THE LONELY GIANT’
The first decade of the 20th Century was a fascinating period in the steam locomotive epoch as Chief Mechanical Engineers confronted market demand for heavier, more comfortable trains and reduced journey times, and thus the need for a quantum leap in tractive power. Without indulging in design comparisons and partisan debate, perhaps the judgement of the entertainingly iconoclastic engineer and author Prof W A Tuplin will suffice. He maintained that only one British railway company ever fully mastered the challenges presented by the four-cylinder 4-6-0.
The reasons behind Churchward’s attempted emulation of his wonderful Star Class through The Great Bear has fostered endless discussion to which little fresh can be added. However, some years ago when working as a commercial model builder in Gauge O and larger, a customer presented a pair of 7mm scale BR Class 9Fs in need of attention. No. 92220 (the Beauty) required minor attention while an accompanying Franco-Crosti boilered machine (the Beast) needed more extensive surgery. Work completed, the pair stood temporarily on the workshop’s cripples siding together with the author’s GWR No. 111. It was immediately striking how the 2-10-0s, usually regarded as ‘large locomotives’, were dwarfed by Churchward’s ‘Lonely Giant’. On its introduction in February 1908, the impact upon those of a traditionalist mindset must have been stunning.
Unfortunately, little was published to confirm or deny that this impressive size could consistently translate into road performance. It is believed that an early intention had been employment in a mixed traffic capacity. To this end one Sunday morning in 1909 it was subjected to a test run eastward from Stoke Gifford yard with a specially assembled train of 100 wagons that yielded a gross load in excess of 1000 tons. Specific journey details are unavailable but the
target ‘inclusive’ (presumably average) speed of 40 mph failed to be achieved, although a maximum of 50 mph was reached.
Two comments on this exercise seem relevant. Driving wheels of 6’ 8½” diameter were incompatible with freight haulage. Also, the day-to-day feasibility of such lengthy trains threatened stowage limitations like those that impeded operational flexibility with 100 wagon loads hauled by 2-8-2 Class P1 on the East Coast Main Line. Nevertheless the test helped prove what was probably already obvious – that the locomotive could competently handle unassisted the heaviest passenger trains of around 400-430 tons.
Only one fully recorded log of a journey with No. 111 has apparently survived (published by OS Nock in one of his works) and paucity of published reports probably added fuel to the speculation that the locomotive was a design failure. However in his self-published work The Great Bear – Britain’s First Pacific Locomotive, Charles Fryer provides some helpful anecdotal evidence. (Fryer is a name possibly unfamiliar to English enthusiasts but he is regarded as a reliable authority; for many years he was the organist at the Protestant Cathedral in Cork, Ireland – hence his nickname ‘the Holy Fryer’).
He noted that on one occasion, No. 111 with a load of 200 tons had arrived one minute down against a two-hour booked schedule Paddington-Bristol via Badminton which on a journey bereft of any signal checks was unimpressive. On the other hand, another working of this train when loaded to 400 tons was completed in three minutes under schedule. Both journeys were noted by W J Scott who also reported a comment by an Inspector that it was general practice to work under ‘easy steam’ to avoid over-heating the trailing truck axle bearings.
The Great Bear as built prior to replacement of original superheater with the No. 3 type. Awkwardly located front foot step in situ.
BANBURY IN 1950
Most reading this piece will recall their own local station from years ago. Perhaps it was on a branch line, perhaps on a main line but one where, (when permitted by ‘higher authority’) we might while away the hours watching the comings and goings. Some were also fortunate enough to befriend the staff and local engine crews culminating perhaps in visits to inner-sanctums, offices, signal boxes and even an illicit footplate trip on a shunting engine. Pity then the enthusiast who lived on an electrified suburban line where the rush of trains might preclude this otherwise innocent behaviour. Pity too the enthusiast of today, who runs the risk of banishment or even arrest when attempting to pursue his hobby in the 21st century.
Seventy years ago Banbury was the local station to John Batts, a youth whose interest in trains and particularly the Great Western (British Railways Western Region), would lead to a career in the WR Signalling Department at Reading. From piecing together snippets of information this would appear to have started around 1950, concurrent with when the accompanying images were recorded. John’s photography skills may at times have been variable, but we have picked out what are the best and the most interesting to present a selection of what might be seen at Banbury (WR) station together with the trains and engines seen both on a regular basis and those that could be described as one-offs.
Above: In 1950, Banbury (MP 86) was a significant railway crossroads on the GWR’s Paddington-Birmingham route where five other lines converged. To the south, the GWR mainline from Paddington via Princes Risborough was joined by the route from Didcot and Oxford at Aynho Junction (MP 80¼), and then at King’s Sutton (MP 82½) by the cross-country secondary line from Cheltenham via Kingham. From the north, a spur south-westerly off the Great Central’s London Extension at Culworth Junction joined the GWR north of the town at Banbury Junction (MP 87¼) thereby providing a useful north to south/ west inter-company connection. Finally, to the east, the LNWR’s secondary line from Bletchley via Verney Junction terminated at Merton Street, Banbury’s other station. Under BR auspices, the GWR station was renamed Banbury General to differentiate it from the ‘lesser’ presence. Apart from passenger connections, Banbury was an important freight interchange point, served mainly by the hump marshalling yard to the east of the mainline between Banbury Junction and the GWR station. The exact date of this view is unrecorded but the year is definitely 1950 when No. 4950 Patshull Hall (Oxley) was standing at the main down platform with a stopping train. In the background at the far platform was locally allocated No. 6839 Hewell Grange. The volume and diversity of rail-borne freight traffic is evident in the crowded sidings.
This photograph, taken at Shrewsbury on Monday 15 April 1968, shows the curtain wall referred to in the text together with the Dana footbridge crossing the station above the DMU and sloping down onto Howard Street. Beyond the train, in the Horse and Carriage Dock, a four wheeled van, with sliding door open, is lodged against the buffer stops. The two-car DMU sitting in Platform 7 is forming the 12.20pm stopping service to Crewe. One of the platform staff and possibly the Guard engage the driver in conversation whilst waiting departure time. The platform looks remarkably deserted.
A freight train rumbles over Belvedere Bridge during the early afternoon on Saturday 27 September 1969. At its head is a Brush Type 4 Co-Co No. 1740 with a rake of empty mineral wagons in tow. They appear to be side-opening steel coal wagons probably en-route from the West Midlands to the North Wales coalfield around Wrexham that finally ceased production in 1986. The headcode 6L62 tells us it is a Class 6 (Express freight train partly fitted with the automatic brake operative on not fewer than 20 per cent of the vehicles) though looking at the wagons this could be disputed so the headcode could be a ‘false flag’. At the time No. 1740 was allocated to the Stoke Division (D05). From its appearance it looks as though it has recently been repainted with BR Blue bodywork and full yellow cab which had first been introduced in 1965.
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Above: Can there be a more ionic beachside location on the Great Western than that at Dawlish? Newton Abbot stalwart No.4098 Kidwelly Castle threads a Swansea to Penzance express between the sea and Marine Parade in the high summer of 1960.
Below: The beach adjacent to St Ives station appears rather sparsely patronised for such a beautiful afternoon, as No. 4570 approaches the terminus with the 5.55pm from St Erth on
July 1960. Perhaps the crowds have already headed back to their hotels for dinner!
Above: Swansea Bay station was opened adjacent to the beach by the Llanelly Railway & Dock Company on 14 December 1867. Passing into ownership of the LNWR, the nearby Swansea Victoria formed the southern terminus of their Central Wales line. Following 1958 regional boundary changes the BR(W) assumed control, as witnessed by 0-6-2T No. 5623 approaching with a local stopping service.
Below: The same train is seen heading west later in the day, consisting of a solitary Collett D125 Brake Third. The station and line were closed in June 1964 as a result of the Beeching Report cuts, and the course of the railway now forms part of the A4067 between Swansea and the Mumbles. Just visible are grey traction poles from the Swansea & Mumbles tramway, which closed in January 1960.
