Western Times Issue 8 - Preview

ISSUE No.8 - WINTER 2023

Contents Introduction The Princetown Branch

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by Nicolas Trudgian

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From the Archives: Alternative Freight Power

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Behind the Scenes Essentials: Part 1 - GWR Office Furniture

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Book Review

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Remembering Cornish Semaphore Signals

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Forty Pairs of Numberplates: Part 1 - Tank Engines

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Modern Traction: Hymeks in Colour

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‘You’ve Never Had It So Good’ - The 1949 Ian Allan Club Excursion

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The Mew: Ferry Across the Dart

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The Beyer Peacock Quarterly Review

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Slip-Ups With Slipping

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Marlborough Tunnel

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The Great Western Trust (GWT) - Bulletin No.7

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The Guard’s Compartment

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WESTERN TIMES

Above: The magnitude of building a railway across remote Dartmoor can be appreciated in this image of Ingra Tor Halt bathed in sunshine on 7 July 1955. The viewing direction is north-east and clearly shows the sinuous path of the railway with, in the middle distance, No. 4410 descending with a mixed train from Princetown. If your eye follows the long thin dark wall that rises above the train, up left towards the brow of the Foggintor, where the wall stops you can just make out the railway again, this time climbing to the right and, ultimately, the terminus hidden beyond the high horizon. Google satellite images of this stretch show in places both the route of the GWR line and also the earlier, even more serpentine, Plymouth and Dartmoor line of 1823. How thrilling it would have been if the Plym Valley Railway’s repatriated South African Railways Class GMA 4-8-2+2-8-4 Garratt had worked here, as was proposed back in the early 1980s.

R C Riley (RCR 6248).

© Stuart Malthouse 2023.

Above: Dick Riley seems to have visited the line on two consecutive Tuesdays, the 5th (opposite page) and 12th July 1955. Here on the second of those dates we join him for a ride in the Toad brake van at the rear of a mixed train heading down to Yelverton. What a glorious day he must have had. No. 4410 has just come to a stand at Dousland station. Ahead of the locomotive can be seen the wooden extension at the west end of the station’s masonry platform, built to cater for the occasional longer excursion train. The Prairie tank is in plain black livery and none too clean, but the carriages in their cheerful carmine and cream livery and a healthy number of wagons make for a most appealing train. Yelverton is just a mile or so further on and from there the goods wagons will eventually continue down to Plymouth over the Launceston branch.

R C Riley (RCR 6426).

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WESTERN TIMES

REMEMBERING CORNISH SEMAPHORE SIGNALS he semaphore signal is without question an icon of This too is to succumb to the unstoppable march T the railway scene. An essential part of the network’s of modernisation, with the majority of the Duchy’s infrastructure that often goes unnoticed by the general semaphore signals slated for removal by the end of passenger, but to many company employees and the enthusiast fraternity, it is an integral feature that has always received due attention.

2023, although it would appear a stay of execution may drag on into the new year.

The final demise (whichever date is decided upon) is all the prompt that was needed to examine and display a selection of these magnificent structures during the ever popular late 1960s/ early 1970s blue diesel period.

Whilst we are of course thankful many examples still operate on our preserved railways, nothing fully compensates for admiring these sentinels in use for their intended purpose out on the Cornish main line.

The Great Western Railway, as with many things, applied its own style to signalling matters. The ornate ball and spike finials and charismatic lower quadrant configuration only added to the appeal. But these once widespread stalwarts are now almost consigned to history on the ‘big railway’, with Cornwall being one of the last bastions of their operational usage.

Above: The date is August 1968 and North British ‘Warship’ No. D851 Temeraire enters Truro with the 1C30 08.30am PaddingtonPenzance train. Alongside in the down loop, maroon liveried Swindon-built classmate No. D867 Zenith stands with coaching stock for a local service. Behind the Up platform starter signal is Truro East Signal Box, a standard GWR type 7A structure built in 1899. It was to be renamed simply Truro Signal Box from November 1971 following the closure of the west box, which had stood at the other end of the station adjacent to the entrance to the locomotive shed since 1897.

Doug Nicholls.

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MODERN TRACTION:

‘HYMEKS’ IN COLOUR he Type 3 Bo-Bo locomotives colloquially known This was the landscape in which Beyer-Peacock T as the ‘Hymeks’ are regarded by many BR(W) supplied 101 locomotives to the Western Region aficionados as the most aesthetically pleasing of the with Mekydro-design hydraulic transmission (hence collective designs of diesel-hydraulics. Constructed

by Beyer-Peacock Ltd at their Gorton Works in Manchester, the prototype example No. D7000 was delivered to Swindon for acceptance trials in May 1961.

the ‘Hymek’ moniker), and later designated Class 35 under TOPS (Total Operations Processing System).

These engines were the versatile and effective endproduct of a joint venture of the type to which Wilmot had alluded. Sadly, they proved a blind alley following a further change in BR motive power policy which marginalised diesel-hydraulics as non-standard. The ‘Hymeks’ operational careers were cut short in yet another example of changing customer preference that had so often been the nemesis for independent locomotive manufacturers.

The 1955 Modernisation Plan which foretold the early demise of steam traction across British Railways was seen as an opportunity by Beyer-Peacock. The company began to search for alternative engineering products, while re-organising part of Gorton Foundry to participate in construction consistent with BR’s new policies. This can be summarised in an extract from Harold Wilmot in his Chairman’s Report for 1963, where he states ‘....the manufacturer makes less and less of the complete vehicle today. He has to purchase a number of important components, such as diesel engines, generators, traction motors and control equipment. He is therefore more concerned with the techniques of design, purchase and assembly.’

The first locomotives (D7006/ D7081) were withdrawn from service in September 1971, and the final examples in regular traffic were (D7011/ D7017/ D7018/ D7022) which succumbed in March 1975. Four examples were to survive into preservation (D7017/ D7018/ D7029/ D7076). They are remembered as probably the most reliable and successful of all the diesel-hydraulics.

Above: The class prototype No. D7000 stands by the west doors into Swindon Works ‘A’ Shop, shortly after delivery from Beyer Peacock Ltd in early May 1961. The immaculate machine had just been fitted with Western Region AWS equipment and was undertaking acceptance inspections and running trials prior to the official release into traffic and allocation to Bristol Bath Road.

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ISSUE 8 Right: This broadside angle view of The Mew illustrates the vessel following its conversion to oil firing and the provision of a shorter funnel. The board on the promenade rails states: BR Steam Ferry Kingswear & Dartmouth

On the Kingswear bank, numerous coaches can be seen stabled in the Hoodown Sidings, awaiting their turn to work back up country.

The busy nature of this stretch of the River Dart can also be gauged by the number of ships transiting or moored in the channel. The date is summer 1949.

Sydney Roberts.

Below: This charming watercolour painting by George Sidney Cooper (1935-1998), portrays the ferry heading across the river for Dartmouth.

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ISSUE 8 The photograph below appeared on Page 34 of the July 1931 issue of BPQR under the heading:

4-8-2+2-8-4 Beyer-Garratt for Caminhos de Ferro Benguela (Benguela Railway, Angola) whose 168.5 tons produced 52,360 lbs (85%) tractive effort. This demonstrated the pannier’s superiority in delivering 435 lbs of tractive effort per ton compared with the Garratt’s paltry 311 lbs!

0-6-0 TANK LOCOMOTIVE FOR THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY 4 ft 8½ in GAUGE

The pannier was one of a batch built that year with running Nos. 8700-24 (Beyer Peacock works Nos. 6680-6704) under Swindon Lot No. 273. Six commercial manufacturers built class members under a government-sponsored scheme to relieve unemployment. Points of detail are the manufacturer’s plate on the leading splasher and the tanks with prominent vertical and horizontal weld lines which at a distance might be mistaken for rivets. The only contractor-built 57s with rivetted tanks were Nos. 6700-24 & 8725-49 (Bagnall), Nos. 7700-24 (Kerr Stuart) and Nos. 6725-49 (Yorkshire Engine). All others plus those built at Swindon (Nos. 5750-99) had welded tanks.

Summarised in the accompanying text were leading dimensions for No. 8714 (Beyer Peacock Works No. 6694) including tractive effort (85%) at 22,510 lb and total weight of 51.75 tons. On Page 35 opposite, similar information was provided on timber-burning

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Priced at six old pennies (6.d) per issue, BPQR was an informative periodical which covered company staff news and social events, briefings on the company’s latest products, descriptive accounts of territories to which products were sold, and detailed expositions on technical subjects e.g. modern boiler design and rotary cam valve gear.

There were accounts of events on railway systems at home and overseas, and also of competitors’ activities, even including arch-rival North British Locomotive Co. Pictured (right) is the second half of a two-page article that appeared towards the end of the July 1932 issue, and typifies the specific interest such an independant publication can be to the student of all things Great Western.

By then the Depression was taking its toll and Beyer Peacock was fighting for survival. In July 1932, a locomotive was under construction which was the largest ever built in Europe but No. я-01 for Soviet Railways failed to secure further orders. Following its shipment, most personnel were laid off and much of Gorton Foundry was mothballed. Against this economic backdrop The Beyer Peacock Quarterly Review was a luxury the company could ill afford and production of this interesting publication ceased. It was never revived.

Right: A page extracted from the July 1932 edition of The Beyer Peacock Quarterly Review, detailing the record breaking run of No. 5006 Tregenna Castle on the ‘Cheltenham Flyer’ the previous month.

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WESTERN TIMES

THE GREAT WESTERN TRUST (GWT) - BULLETIN NO. 7 ather typical of the GWR leadership, they boldly a Railway’ as it lacked funds subscribed for a complete R chose to upset their counterparts by celebrating line and sought sanction for two truncated sections! in 1935 the anniversary of their Act of Parliament, [Source MacDermot Vol. 1, page 7]. whereas previous railway milestones had derived from railway’s first official opening for service! Hence the 1935 jamboree and it was hardly feasible to avoid the 150th anniversary in 1985, vectored from the same 1835 origin date.

Well, we know the rest is history of course, so by now you are justified in asking why I have muttered on so long on this niche subject. My reason comes forward in my illustration, from our Trust Collection of a glorious, gilt aluminium medallion, which was the adopted style of the GWR all line, all time, Free Pass, engraved to both its own anointed Directors and chosen individuals, and for those of similar rank and importance on the other contemporary railways. In the form of a Maltese Cross, the obverse side has ‘Great Western Railway - Free Pass’ and on the reverse ‘No.70 - The Hon. G C Gibbs L&NE Railway’. This gentleman, another George, was both an LNER Director (B1 No.61248 carried his name) and a Director of the Bankers Gibbs & Co.

However, if ‘an oak doth from a tiny acorn grow’ then one might have seen the GWR choose to use 1833 as the origin of its genesis, when they first tabled a Bill before Parliament and most significantly for us GWR enthusiasts, chose their name! With our wild unfettered media world these days, we are aware of the power of image, and for image in company terms, that means title and product. Way back in 1833 the Victorians were just as conscious of those primary derivatives and to get it wrong, when seeking to obtain very large cash sums from investors, predicated a very short and unsuccessful business, or even failure to get a Bill converted into a Parliamentary Act!

I hope the connection is now clear? There in the 1930s, the GWR had granted this Free Pass to an heir of the Gibbs banking family who’s Counting House had been the scene where the title ‘Great Western Railway’ had been adopted! Did G C Gibbs appreciate that fact?

We are told that on 19 August 1833, the first joint meeting of the London and Bristol Committees of the then ‘Bristol and London Railroad’ was held at the Counting House of Messrs Anthony Gibbs and Sons, 47 Lime Street, in the City of London. Moreover, and crucial to this current ‘WT Bulletin’ that it was at that very meeting that the new name ‘Great Western Railway’ was there and then adopted and the first prospectus of the Company settled [Source MacDermot Vol.1, page 4]. The massive significance of that name change has, I venture, become a mere ‘given truth’ and so what?

So what’s in a name? Well for a Company that continued to exist from 1835 to 1947, one can judge that in its case at least, it mattered rather a lot. Indeed, that the current Rail Franchise which should be ‘GWR 2015’ i.e. to include its later incorporation, shows if nothing else, that those letters, that title, is a lasting and commercially crucial legacy, still worth rather a lot of subscriber investor money!

The wider story of Director’s Passes even into the BR Corporate Era, is yet another story that should be told, and I will add it to my list of potential future Bulletins.

Well, if we first look to its predecessor railways and even canals, it appears that most were entitled using the ‘places connected’ construct and only the Grand Junction Railway (Act obtained on 6 May 1833) and before that the Grand Junction Canal of 1810, The Grand Union Canal of 1814 and the Grand Western Canal (Tiverton to Topsham) of 24 March 1796, included a perhaps pompous ‘Grand’ in their titles. Not a ‘Great’ to be seen. Moreover, I can only find that the then trunk road if we can stretch a description to a pretty dodgy travel experience, between Bristol, Bath and London, was just called ‘The Bath Road’ and ‘The Great West Road’ phrase came very much later. So, from all this I cannot extract any logical ‘lifting’ as it were, of a previous title, to justify the recorded adoption on 19 August 1833.

MacDermot himself rather wants to move the narrative quickly on, so he doesn’t expand on who proposed it, and why it was, we assume enthusiastically adopted.

Peter Rance - GWT Trustee & Collection Manager.

Of course, there are pitfalls in being presumptuous as the counsel for those opposing the said first Bill, demeaned it as ‘neither Great, nor Western, nor even 78

WE S T E RN T IME S ISSUE No.8 - WINTER 2023

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ISSUE No.8 - WINTER 2023

15/11/2023 22:54