Western Times Issue 2

Contents Introduction

3

Moretonhampstead in 1955

by Gerry Beale

5

Locomotive Miscellany from the Archives of R C Riley Castles by the Sea

14

Winchester Booking Hall May 1911

19

The Scottish Twins

20

Experimental Motive Power: The Crocodile

28

Remembering (bits of) the MSWJ

30

The GWR and Wagon Pooling

34

Colwall New Tunnel

46

Book Review

49

Home with the Milk

by R C Riley

50

Modernising the Western: Part 2 - Laira and Plymouth (North Road) Modern Traction

by Paul Cooper

59 63

The GWR Traffic, Locomotive and Engineering Divisions: Part 2

68

The Humble Distant Signal with due acknowledgement to Peter Squibb Partners with Planes

by Amyas Crump

71 72

The Great Western Trust (GWT) - Bulletin No 1

78

The Guard’s Compartment

79

Front Cover: Railcar No W16W standing at Lambourn branch terminus. The ‘streamlined’ cars were not regular performers on this line so this seems to have been a special working, possibly confirmed by the enthusiasts at trackside. At least two enthusiast tours with this type of railcar are known to have visited Lambourn in the 1950s but neither with this particular example. Extensive research has failed to provide a date for the event depicted. The car is clearly fresh from a repaint thus complementing the station buildings which have been neatly finished in fresh Western Region chocolate and cream. The two-tone colours of W16W may not have been to everyone’s taste but this livery was surely preferable to the single green or carmine (for the parcels cars) carried by simialr vehicles in their final years. Railcar No 16, the last of the fully streamlined passenger cars to be built, entered service in April 1936 and started its career at Cardiff. It was deployed in Wales until it moved from Carmarthen to Oxford in December 1950. It was transferred Reading in July 1954 from where it was withdrawn in October 1957, although some records suggest that it returned to Oxford for the last eight months of its career.

Above: The date is Tuesday 1 September 1959 at arguably the most remarkable location to find an 0-6-0PT. Cambusavie was the first stop on the Dornoch Branch after leaving The Mound station, consisting of a short request stop platform that served a cluster of remote farmsteads and the crossing keepers cottage. Here the guard of a mixed train hauled by No.1646, makes his way to open the gates ahead of the early afternoon onward passage towards Dornoch. (See also article commencing page 20.) Douglas Twibell (3-11).

Rear cover: This photograph is believed to date from the early 1960s and portrays the area in the northeast corner of the Concentration Yard (Conyard) at Swindon Works colloquially known as the ‘Smokebox Stack’. Dominating the backdrop is the mass of ‘A’ Shop, with the end gables of the wheel shop nearest the camera and the taller machine and erecting shops beyond. The terraced houses visible are those in Redcliffe Street, most of which were occupied by Swindon Works employees and remain extant to this day, unlike the rest of the scene!

By the early 1940s, the GWR locomotive fleet relied on around 20 different types of boiler (the comparative figure for the LNER was about 160). Here Swindon’s stock of spare smokeboxes shows considerable variety, despite the advantages of standardisation. Most have been painted in red oxide to protect against the elements and the stores’ reference details fastidiously applied in neat white lettering. Two smokeboxes on the lower level seem to have been there for some time, where plenty of rust is in evidence and the labelling seems to have weathered away. Aficionados might be able to identify which boiler type each smokebox fitted. For example that on the left foreground might well be for a Standard No 5 barrel.

Interestingly some components are of non-GWR origin, with the third from the left probably from a Britannia and Std 3 2-6-2T and Std 5 4-6-0 examples in evidence further down the line. Roger Thornton

© Images and design: The Transport Treasury 2021.

ISBN 978-1-913251-25-3 First Published in 2021 by Transport Treasury Publishing Ltd. 16 Highworth Close, High Wycombe, HP13 7PJ www.ttpublishing.co.uk or WesternTimes@mail.com Compiled and designed in the UK. 2

INTRODUCTION ollowing the launch of any new book, the author F knows he will experience a tense period waiting for readers’ reactions. For WT Issue 1, the waiting

As commented upon in the opening editorial, there has been a tendency over a number of years to laud the admirable but the railway was undoubtedly like the curate’s famous egg (i.e. good in parts but not so good in others). Probing the texture of the organisation may throw up some surprises that will confound the perception of a uniformly halcyon past and this issue includes an illustration that reinforces this point; see page 30.

time was indeed short as opinions flowed in almost immediately. This was encouraging as the long-term success of this project will rely in part on active debate with enthusiasts through the pages of WT. Apart from the traditional letters to the editor, it is already clear that there will be discussion through the electronic media. The editorial team would not wish to discourage such exchanges even if it had the power so to do but please bear in mind that many committed GWR devotees, especially of more advanced years, prefer the printed word so an electronic message might not reach as broad an audience as desired.

With the airing of contentious views, the mailbag might present a problem as there is so much to be said that might place pressure on space.

Acknowledgement of readers’ contributions through the “The Guard’s Compartment” will be maximised but only for correspondence direct with the editorial team. Every effort will be made to be comprehensive but editing will be unavoidable. The team intends to be Fast rather than Slow in response hopefully without detracting from the Main point which is to provide Relief to those who wish to know more (reference Issue 1, page 43 and page 79 in this issue).

An early lesson drawn was that the beliefs of the editorial team and the publisher seem to have been well-founded. There is indeed room for a periodical that explores the history of the Great Western and its immediate successor. The cut-off year of 1977 excited discussion over whether this was the correct point at which to draw the line, the grounds being that the cultural spirit of Swindon and all that it represented lived on well beyond that year (and still does). Anyone with memories of the events of 1985 will have no doubts in that regard but the demise of Class D1000 in normal service marked a convenient stage at which to lower the curtain. There is a strong temptation to wax lyrical about the later history of BR’s most charismatic diesel locomotive class, but this would be entering the preservation era which is so well served by other publications.

The request for various company publications is already bearing fruit with the kind offer on loan of several working timetables. Another project concerns accumulation of a complete set of RA Cooke’s Track Layout Diagrams of the GWR and BR WR, an essential reference work. If anyone can provide a spare copy, please contact the editorial team who will check whether the relevant volume is already on file.

Most significantly, a dialogue has started with the Great Western Trust at Didcot. A late decision has been made to allow space in this and hopefully all following issues for a column describing GWT’s plans, developments, new acquisitions etc. The editorial team extends a warm welcome to this venture in the hope that Western Times can lend support to the important work of the Trust and the Museum.

--- o O o--Editors: Andrew Malthouse and Kevin Robertson

It was pleasing to receive replies to the query concerning the unidentified location which turned out to be Gloucester, and to note differing opinions regarding some of the signal equipment on view.

Apart from the technical signalling issues, response to this and other insertions showed that interest in the pre-Grouping era remains vigorous. In dealing with a distant past, definition is ever more challenging, and adherence to rigid certainty can mislead. To this end, the airing of alternative or conflicting views is useful in the dissection and reassembly of a vast jigsaw puzzle.

Editorial Assistant: Jeremy Clements

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 respective copyright holder.

Every effort has been made to identify and credit photographers where known.

3

MORETONHAMPSTEAD IN 1955 GERRY BEALE he late Ivan D. Beale visited the T Moretonhampstead branch on Tuesday 12 July 1955. Using his father’s photographs taken that day,

ownership of private cars began to make the line unviable. Passenger services finished on 28 February 1959 with complete closure from 6 April 1964. The track was lifted around 1966.

his son Gerry has provided the following background information and captions to describe this Devonshire terminus.

Gerry believes that his father chose to survey the branch as he was a railway modeller. Ex-GWR branch lines were then much in vogue amongst that fraternity and the Moretonhampstead line was considered one of the most attractive. Ivan worked in the locomotive works at Eastleigh (where he was engaged in the first Bulleid Pacific rebuild, No 35018 British India Line). He used his privilege ticket to travel on the branch and, as a BR employee, gained access to the station environment to take photographs.

Promoted by local improving landowners, the Moretonhampstead & South Devon Railway opened on 26 June 1866 to link the north-eastern edge of Dartmoor with the outside world. This 12¼-mile broad gauge route had intermediate stations at Lustleigh and Bovey - Heathfield and Teigngrace followed later. It connected at Newton Abbot with the South Devon Railway which also worked the line from opening until absorption into the GWR in 1876.

Conversion to narrow (standard) gauge took place over the hectic weekend of 20-23 May 1892.

During this session a passenger train arrived hauled by 44xx class 2-6-2T (either 4405 or 4406, both then of Newton Abbot), in substitution for the expected 14xx class 0-4-2T. This was the only occasion that Ivan saw a 44xx at work and the engine was duly photographed. In his excitement though he forgot to advance the film resulting in a double exposure. He had no opportunity again as all of the 44xx were out of service by September of that year.

The original plans had envisaged a possible extension to Chagford, roughly three miles distant.

Although not pursued further, a GWR connection was established in 1906 by a road motor service that operated from the station yard. In 1909, sightseeing tours were added that crossed the moor to Princetown and Dartmeet. These services became part of Western National Omnibus Co in 1929, and then Devon General Co in 1934.

After Moretonhampstead, Ivan walked the line to Lustleigh. An account of this trek is planned for a future issue.

Branch operations continued essentially unchanged until after World War 2 when increasing Opposite top: Moretonhampstead station was reached by a footpath down the hill from the town, via the A382 road to Bovey Tracey. Vehicular access was from a turning further down that road. The main building was constructed of local granite with a slate roof. The overall roof which straddled the platform, platform road and run-round loop was built of timber, braced with wrought iron tie rods.

Opposite bottom; The station building and overall roof viewed from the road. These structures were almost identical with those at Ashburton; the same engineer being engaged on both projects. The top portion of the overall roof was originally glazed which was later removed and covered with corrugated iron that made the interior gloomy. The slate covering of the overall roof was also removed and replaced with what appears to have been roofing felt and battens, apparently an interim repair, although the station building retained its slate roof. In the latter part of World War 2, a report suggested that the station should be rebuilt in a 'more modern and commodious way' with a platform veranda replacing the overall roof but only patch repairs were carried out from then until closure.

Right: This curious plaque – reminiscent of a headstone – was erected by the GWR in 1925 for reasons unknown to commemorate the directors of the Moretonhampstead & South Devon Railway.

5

Looking beyond the station towards the buffer stops. The large cattle pens, substantially constructed of broad gauge bridge rail, are evidence of the branch’s once substantial livestock traffic.

The return por�on of Ivan's 1955 'priv' �cket s�ll a GWR issue - which he managed to retain as a memento. We do not know how Issueto 2 he travelled from his home in Winchester Exeter.

This view of the overall roof was taken from the adjacent meadow. The deep side screen was probably provided to give some protection against adverse south-westerly weather at this position high on Dartmoor.

7

Top: This track level view of overall roof and station buildings shows the latitude afforded the photographer by local staff who must have been justly proud of the good order in which the station was maintained. A seemingly unchanging scene that would disappear within ten years.

Middle: The goods shed and in the loading dock there is what appears to be an ex-GWR Thorneycroft light lorry. This would have been used for deliveries to businesses in the town and local area. It is apparent that corrugated iron has been used to replace the original slate roof. This lighter cladding was often applied to ageing railway buildings from the 1930s and 40s onwards.

Bottom: This view of the goods shed shows, on the left, a grounded 4-wheel coach body providing storage for Silcock’s poultry and cattle feed. On the right is what appears to be 6-ton capacity yard crane even though the GWR survey records only a 4-ton crane.

Inside the shed, there was a 2-ton crane sited on the loading deck. Doors to sheds and warehouses, and yard gates were always kept locked when not in use and unauthorised access was sternly forbidden.

Notwithstanding such measures, pilferage was a persistent problem.

Opposite top: A view of the goods yard from the nearby hillside. More warehouse space for animal feed was provided at the southern end of the shed, in this case for Bibby’s. Three Iron Mink vans at the end of the back siding were also in use as stores. At least one van carries a white cross signifying ‘For use at Moretonhampstead only’ and that it is ‘Not to run more than 3 miles on the main lines’.

The corrugated iron hut close to the buffer stop housed the weighbridge machinery.

Opposite bottom: Looking towards Lustleigh from the top of the starting signal, showing the end of the run-round loop and goods yard access by means of a diamond crossing.

The large house to the left was for the manager of the local gas works.

All images Gerry Beale collection.

8

9

WESTERN TIMES

ISSUE 2

Opposite top: A view along the loop with the engine shed on the right. In the foreground there is a whitewashed, granitebuilt platelayers hut with an adjacent timber-built store. Beyond the coal stage which was by then redundant, the water tank was still in use to supply engines.

Opposite bottom: The signal box was an unusual ‘lean-to’ structure against the engine shed and the signalman is keeping a wary eye on Ivan as he takes rail-level photographs. Built for broad gauge locomotives and with sliding doors, the shed which was a sub to Newton Abbot, closed in November 1947. Henceforth the branch train worked back empty to Newton Abbot after the last service. The shed was later used by a coal merchant and a level crossing was installed to provide access for his lorries.

Above: By 1955, the only engine servicing facility remaining was the water tank which was gravity-fed from a nearby farm.

The space between engine shed road and the run-round loop was in use as a store for permanent way materials.

11

WESTERN TIMES

Above: Looking along the loop towards the station throat, the starting signal is prominent with one of the unusual lattice posts introduced at several locations by the GWR in the 1890s. The reason for this design is obscure; the remaining fittings are standard.

Opposite top: In this view, Ivan has apparently started his walk towards Lustleigh and is looking back towards the terminus. The inner home signal to the left has a concrete post that was used towards the end of World War 1 when suitable timber was in short supply. To the right is Moretonhampstead gas works which opened in 1869 and supplied the area through five miles of gas mains until February 1961.

Opposite bottom: A few yards further on from the previous image and also looking back towards the terminus, the railway crossed above the A382 road by this steel girder structure known as ‘Kings Bridge’.

12

ISSUE 2

13

LOCOMOTIVE MISCELLANY FROM THE ARCHIVES OF R C RILEY Dick Riley holidayed in the West County in the summer of 1958 and between 14th and 18th July photographed several trains on the sea wall near Teignmouth. Castles were the most featured locomotives in this series.

Top: The oldest Castle was recorded on Friday, 18th July. This was No 4086 Builth Castle built in June 1925 and withdrawn in May 1962. This engine had been a resident of Laira for over four years before transfer to Swindon shed in April 1957. It is essentially in original condition, except for the later style of outside steam pipe and is working with a Hawksworth tender. The Type B head code is for an ordinary passenger train as is apparent in the non-corridor coaching stock of this Down service, of which the first is a Hawksworth-designed Diagram E167 Suburban Brake Composite. The second appears to be a BR Mark 1 All Third while the identities of the next four that are in sight cannot be discerned. On summer Saturdays, local services west of Taunton were often suspended to relieve traffic congestion. Local passengers had to take their chances by finding room on scheduled express services or seasonal extras which could already be heavily loaded, and were often running late. R12238 Bottom: On 17th July, Old Oak Common’s No 5008 Raglan Castle (built June 1927, withdrawn September 1962) was in charge the 6.25 am Saturdays Excepted Penzance-Paddington (Train Reporting Number 608). This locomotive was fitted with a double chimney and four-row superheater in March 1961 but its survival in this substantially improved form for only 18 months showed how rapidly steam was eliminated in the early 1960s. The train comprises nine coaches, eight of which seem to be BR Mark 1’s in blood-and-custard except for the seventh and eighth in the consist. However, the harmony (blandness?) is disturbed by the fourth coach which is an ex-GWR Composite Diner of 70’ or 71’ 4” length from Collett’s time, but the precise Diagram cannot be determined. R12319

CASTLES BY THE SEA Another member of the class to be fitted with a double chimney late in its career (May 1959) was No 5032 Usk Castle, built May 1934 and withdrawn September 1962. On Friday 18th July, the engine was bereft of Train Reporting Number and headboard but Dick Riley recorded this Up service as “The Devonian” (TRN 563, 8.45 am Monday to Saturday Kingswear-Bradford). The train consists of eleven coaches, apparently all BR Mark 1s of which all but two are in maroon livery. The locomotive had been transferred from Stafford Road to Newton Abbot in April 1958.

R12332

The “Torbay Express” was another prestige service, the Up working of which was captured on 17th July 1958 (11.25 am Saturdays Excepted, Kingswear-Paddington, TRN 521). The motive power was No 5034 Corfe Castle of Old Oak Common, built May 1935, and withdrawn September 1962. It had been fitted with a double chimney as recently as February 1961. The train is an orderly rake of nine BR Mark 1 coaches, all in the post-nationalisation version of chocolate-and-cream but lacking the variety so typical of many Western passenger services. R12322

15

ISSUE 2

Opposite top: Built as No 5062 Tenby Castle in June 1937, this locomotive was renamed as Earl of Shaftesbury in November of the same year. This name had been scheduled for fitting to 4-4-0 Class 32xx (the “Earls”) No 3219 which was not completed until June 1938. Following a change in policy, the twenty Earl names (thirteen carried and seven allocated prior to construction) were transferred to Castle Class Nos 5043 to 5062. After 25 years’ service, No 5062 was withdrawn in August 1962. This Down working on 18th July remains unidentified due to the absence of a Train Reporting Number and no specific information in the Archive. The only coaches in view are BR Mark 1s. The locomotive had gone on the books of Bristol Bath Road the previous March. R12330 Opposite bottom: Another renamed Castle, in this case for patriotic reasons, was No. 5079 Lydford Castle built in May 1939. In November 1940, it became Lysander thus recognising the short take-off and landing Westland Lysander aircraft that was used to convey agents to and from occupied France during the war (rather than the Spartan Admiral of Antiquity).

The date is Monday 14th July and the train is again the Up “Torbay Express”. No 5079 Lysander was an early Castle withdrawal, being taken out of service in May 1960; its home had been Newton Abbot since before nationalisation. As with the other view of this service, the train comprises a 9-coach Mark 1 rake in chocolate-and-cream although this is a different set. R12260 Above: No 5092 Tresco Abbey started life in February 1923 as No 4072, the final member of Churchward’s Star Class.

Between 1937 and 1940, the last ten Stars (Nos 4063-4072) were rebuilt as Castle Nos 5083-5092 in the same numerical order, while retaining their names. A further change to this engine was the fitting of a double chimney in October 1961; withdrawal occurred in July 1963. On 14th July, No 5092 of Bristol Bath Road was hauling the 7.30 am Saturdays Excepted Penzance-Crewe (TRN 273). There is a strong ex-GWR element in the composition of this train, most of which has been reliveried in the drab all-over maroon. The first vehicle is a Diagram E146 Brake Composite, apparently still in blood-andcustard while the second is most likely a Diagram H38 bow-ended Composite Diner. The third is a mystery as it has the appearance of a Passenger Brake Van but the presence of five door openings (with attendant commode handles) prevents further clarification. The fourth is a Collett-era Composite, followed by a vehicle that has defied definition, and then a pair of Hawksworth-era coaches, the second of which is still in blood-and custard. The remainder appear to be of GWR origin but no further detail can be discerned. R12259

17

The 5098-series of Castles comprised forty locomotives built between May 1946 and August 1950 and equipped from new with the three-row superheater. Twenty seven of the ‘Hawksworth Castles’ later received double chimneys. All but one of this group were fitted with 4-row superheaters, albeit not always concurrently. Six carried names nostalgically associated with the GWR, including the third-built which was No 7000 Viscount Portal, named after the last Chairman of the company. The pride of Newton Abbot depot from new, it retained its single chimney and original superheater arrangement until withdrawal, which in this case took place in March 1963. The train is the 9.30 am Saturdays Excepted Falmouth-Paddington (TRN 623) on 16th July. In the background, the end of the Down platform of Teignmouth station is just visible, as is also the maroon-liveried second coach of the train which appears to be a Collett-era All Third coach. R12289

WINCHESTER BOOKING HALL MAY 1911

ean Bolan’s superb study displays varying S attitudes among the thirteen figures depicted. A short queue has formed behind the cloth-capped gentlemen who seems to be ending a conversation with the booking clerk while an elegant lady in mauve waits her turn with an equally smartly dressed gentleman next in line. The fifth figure from the left seems to be a dog lover. She has bought her ticket and has time to admire the West Highland terrier held on a lead by a lady who may be mother, governess or guardian to the twin girls seated on the bench. The pair display differing personalities; she on the left looks impatient to be on the move while her sibling is content to sit quietly. Is there a predatory attitude in the porter? There is no sign of this group’s luggage which is presumably outside on the platform. With two children, a dog and cases in tow, the lady in charge is probably the best target for a handsome tip – perhaps a thrupenny bit or even a sixpence. The gentleman passenger to the left of the porter casts an ambivalent shadow. Is he really reading about L&SWR/ LB&SCR joint paddle steam services to watch the Spithead Review of June 1911 or does he have a furtive eye on the lady?

The figures outside contrast with those within. The gentleman in the trilby is engrossed in his newspaper while the stationmaster, armed with knowledge of the working timetable is looking south.

Through the window beyond the lady in mauve, a young man who is probably an enthusiast is also looking for the next train. The dog’s keen hearing has obviously picked up the sound of an approaching outside-framed 4-4-0 plus clerestories rather than that of a L&SWR locomotive that shared services over this route at the time.

Contemporary accounts speak of unbearably hot summers which cannot have been helped by the heavy clothing worn to meet the dictates of fashion.

The scene has a soporific languid quality suggestive of peace, calm, and timeless certainty. Only three figures are alert to the change that the imminent arrival will bring. All but one of the men seem of an age that could render a violent change in circumstance arising from another warm summer three years later.

(The station was renamed Winchester Chesil in 1923.)

19

THE SCOTTISH TWINS here are certain episodes within the annals of T railway history that attain an air of mystique and even folklore status. The export and rumoured

to the small coastal town of Dornoch, a distance of 7¾ miles. Intermediate halts were provided at Cambusavie Platform (request stop), Skelbo and Embo. The route was lightly graded, with the exception of a 1 in 45 quarter-mile section falling away from The Mound station platform and alongside Loch Fleet.

continued existence of Lynton & Barnstable Railway Manning Wardle 2-6-2T Lew to a sugar plantation in Brazil, the plans for a fabled Hawksworth pacific or the secret storage of Stanier 8F’s and Riddles 9F’s as part of a doomsday strategic reserve are prime examples. Falling into this category, albeit with far greater substantiation and evidence of fact, is the unlikely reallocation of a pair of Hawksworth 16xx pannier tanks from the Western Region to the Highlands of Scotland in the later half of the 1950s. This fascinating and somewhat unusual transfer of motive power by British Railways, is still however, a tale of missing information and speculation.

From the outset a key factor in choosing motive power for the line was the need for a very light axle loading, resulting from its light railway construction.

The first locomotive employed was Highland Railway 0-6-0T No.56 Dornoch, later replaced by branch regular Highland Railway Drummond 0-4-4T No.45 (LMS No.15053 and BR No.55053) augmented by No.25 (LMS No.15051 and BR No.55051). After nationalisation the two ex HR 0-44Ts were retained to work the branch, with No.55051 withdrawn in the summer of 1956.

No.55053 was latterly overhauled, but subsequently withdrawn after its leading axle broke at the journal whilst hauling a mixed train on 16

The Dornoch Branch was opened by the Dornoch Light Railway Company on 2 June 1902, but worked by the Highland Railway. The line ran from a connection with the Far North Line at The Mound

No.1646 stands in the idyllic setting of the terminus at Dornoch with the morning departure for The Mound on 3 July 1957.

Beyond the timber station building can be seen the imposing Dornoch Cathedral which dominated the small town, and to the right the well-stocked spacious goods yard. A E Bennett (AEB2262)

20

ISSUE 2

Utilising the primitive facilities provided at the small sub-shed at Dornoch, the fireman of No.1646 replenishes the bunker by hand from inside a 16T standard mineral wagon. The pannier had only been in Scotland a couple of months when this scene was recorded on 3 July 1957. A E Bennett (AEB2261)

November 1956, the shod wheel reported as travelling some way along the ballast before coming to rest!

No.1646 of Croes Newydd shed (84J), which was officially removed from BR(W) stock on 24 February 1957. The physical transfer of the May 1951 built locomotive took place during the month of April and whilst its actual route does not appear to have been recorded, it was sighted stabled in Crewe Gresty Lane Sidings and passing through Hawick on the Waverley Route. This transiting of a 0-6-0PT over such a long distance must have made for an interesting operational challenge and any captured photographs of the journey would prove a most valuable historical record. Upon arrival No.1646 was allocated to Helmsdale (60C) and commenced immediate crew training (including familiarisation with a right hand drive locomotive) and clearance trials on the branch, successfully assuming regular duties by the start of May. It would appear that the modern cab, free steaming and sure footed acceleration of the Swindon locomotive found favour with its new masters, and orientated to work chimney first from Dornoch (as was the usual procedure with the Highland 0-4-4Ts) it was found to be an ideal replacement. So much so that the requisition of a second example was sought in late 1957, resulting in the transfer of No.1649 from St Philips Marsh (82B) on 13 July 1958. As had happened previously this locomotive

Although the branch had already flirted with closure by this time, the enforced lack of motive power prompted the Scottish Region to seek a suitable replacement. Quite why an indigenous locomotive was not selected is one of the first questions to pose, although most of the smaller suitable locomotives had been withdrawn by this time and candidates such as Caledonian 2P 0-4-4T No.55236 which had been utilised in the past, were deemed too heavy for regular use. British Railways 2MT Mogul No.78052 of Inverness shed (60A) saw occasional work on the line between February 1957 and September 1958, though the size of the 2-6-0 was probably considered uneconomical for its permanent use on the lightly loaded branch trains and it is fair to surmise this was only a temporary measure to cover the shortfall. As a result the solution was found further afield, where the Western Region was already finding a lack of gainful employment for its practically new lightweight Hawksworth panniers.

The locomotive selected for the long journey north for assessment on the Dornoch Branch was to be 21

Top: The Scottish Twins engage in a spot of light shunting together adjacent to the Far North Line main platform at The Mound on Tuesday 1 September 1959. It is predicted that this is during the weekly change over of locomotives on branch duty, with No.1649 on the left having just worked in on the morning train from Dornoch (see River Fleet Bridge image), to be replaced by No.1646 for the week ahead.

Douglas Twibell (3-8).

Left: Having now assumed motive power responsibilities for the week, No.1646 stands in the Dornoch branch platform at The Mound awaiting departure on the early afternoon train.

1 September 1959.

Douglas Twibell (3-10).

Crossing the River Fleet Bridge, the only major permanent way structure on the branch, No.1649 climbs the final approach to The Mound branch platform with a typical mixed train formation comprising an ex-LMS Period 1 Corridor Brake Composite (Dia.1755) and a pair of 12T vans. 1 September 1959. Douglas Twibell (3-7).

No.1646 on arrival at Dornoch in the capable hands of regular driver Tom Fraser on 1 September 1959. He was to have the sad duty of operating the final passenger train on the branch just over nine months later on 11 June 1960. Douglas Twibell (3-13).

WESTERN TIMES

No.1649 part way through running round its train at The Mound in the summer of 1959. The neatly proportioned signal box conforms to the Highland Railway practice of a brick base topped with a wooden cabin and characteristic porch, with a slate tiled roof. Neville Stead (NS204424)

was recorded at Hawick on route to Helmsdale by a Mr Kenneth Gray.

rolling stock by No.1646, both panniers sat in open storage for a number of weeks at Helmsdale, before eventual transfer to the roundhouse at Inverness shed to await a decision on their future.

Fortunately during early 1961 the pair were returned to traffic, rostered to conduct shunting duties both around Inverness and slightly further afield at locations such as Dingwall. Interestingly in preparation for this new lease of life both locomotives were fitted with standard lamp irons, replacing the westernised variants that had been retained for the duration of their operation at Dornoch. This is believed to be the only modification of any note undertaken and as no major works visits were recorded, only routine maintenance was received during their tenure in Scotland.

Both locomotives settled into a rotational routine of working the branch trains, in addition to shunting duties at The Mound and at Helmsdale. One was usually out stationed at the small sub-shed at Dornoch, which had rudimentary maintenance and coaling facilities, returning to Helmsdale weekly for boiler washout and inspection. Traffic on the line was hardly strenuous even for a 16xx, with two return passenger trips a day (usually comprising of a single brake composite, with an accompanying 12T van or two) and on very rare occasions short mixed freight workings ran on an ad-hoc basis to service the small yard at the terminus.

This new dawn for the Dornoch Branch was however short-lived, with a combination of operational inconvenience and continuous lack of profitability leading to the inevitable decision to close the line. The last day of passenger operation was to be Saturday 11 June 1960, with the service strengthened to three coaches and No.1649 performing the honours throughout the final week.

Following the closure and the removal of remaining

As was becoming the case across the network, the reduction in traditional railway goods traffic and onset of dieselisation tolled the end for the Scottish Twins, and their official withdrawal came in December 1962. Like their journey to the Highlands, details of the final transportation of the pair for disposal are equally as sketchy. The Engine 24

Later the same afternoon No.1649 crosses the A9 trunk road at the end of the Loch Fleet causeway en route to Dornoch with a very mixed train formation. The background is dominated by Mound Rock, rising some 682 ft above sea level, and from which the junction station at its base and the 1817 Thomas Telford engineered embankment carrying the road and later the railway derived their name. Neville Stead (NS204425)

On 27 August 1959, No.1649 calls at the small intermediate halt at Skelbo with the 2.5pm departure from The Mound to Dornoch. To the right of the locomotive can be seen the single siding leading to a rudimentary goods loading platform, facilities provided at both Skelbo and Embo but seldom used in the later years of the branch. William A C Smith (WS2692)

WESTERN TIMES Record Cards show both locomotives as ‘sold from site’ as scrap from Inverness in early 1963, although it is also recorded that No.1646 had moved to Perth South shed (63A) as early as August 1962 to be used on pilot duties. By early June 1963 No.1649 had also made its way to Perth, where languishing out of use the pair were observed by one of your editors at the back of the shed. Their final journey south continued together to Glasgow Eastfield shed by September and the end came at Cowlairs Works, where both were cut during October 1963.

So came to a close one of the most unusual reallocations of locomotives during the steam era in Great Britain, which prompted Trains Illustrated in the August 1957 edition to report the widest geographical dispersion of a locomotive class in peacetime, with No.1624 temporarily employed at Penzance and No.1646 resident at Dornoch. The editorial team at Western Times would be delighted to hear from any readers with further information in relation to this fascinating episode.

Above: Before working the late afternoon train to The Mound, No.1649 engages in a spot of shunting in the goods yard at Dornoch on 27 August 1959. The locomotive remains in the condition it arrived from Bristol the previous year, still with its BR(W) style lamp irons. William A C Smith (WS2695).

Opposite top: Following the end of its working days in the Highlands, No.1646 awaits its fate in the roundhouse at Inverness shed during mid 1962. Despite the ominous chalk mark on the bunker it appears fully coaled and in working order and the records indicate a transfer to Perth shed and a further period of active service were to follow. Note also the standard lamp irons acquired by both panniers after their tenure on the Dornoch Branch. Derek Potton (652-5).

Opposite bottom: No.1649 paints a forlorn picture, as it stands withdrawn at the rear of Perth shed on 29 June 1963. It was to make its final journey to Glasgow three months later for an inevitable date with the cutters torch. Ken Nuttall (KNL251).

26

EXPERIMENTAL MOTIVE POWER: THE CROCODILE th

n the closing years of the 19 Century the GWR, Iconstruction like other railway companies, started to explore of larger locomotives to obviate

introduced thirteen years earlier. Dimensional comparison with the 0-6-0 in its original form shows just how much larger was The Crocodile:

double-heading, to increase operating speeds, and to cope with heavier trains. Locomotive Superintendent William Dean who had an abiding interest in experimentation entered the field with a prototype designed for freight duties. Although visibly larger than anything that had gone before, the engine’s styling was typical of prevailing Swindon practice with double frames, boilermounted clack boxes, springs on the running plate, and the ornate livery that the company then applied equally to freight and passenger motive power.

Internally, new ideas were tried in boiler design.

There was a specific purpose behind the construction of No. 36 in addition to the general desire for larger freight engines. Railway traffic between southern England and South Wales had been revolutionised with the opening of the Severn Tunnel at the end of 1886. This project had been fraught with many difficulties. Construction had taken 14 years and had incurred substantial cost.

The reward lay in major reductions in journey times and distances through avoidance of the “great way round” via Gloucester. The tunnel itself is 7669 yards long of which slightly more than half is actually below water. In terms of gradients, trains travelling eastwards from Severn Tunnel Junction descend at 1-in-90 over 3½ miles down to the middle of the tunnel where there is a short level stretch. There follows a 3½-mile climb at 1-in-100 through Pilning to Patchway on the English side of the Severn. The tunnel was, and remains, an expensive length of railway in operating terms. The task of pumping out fresh water from the Great Spring (i.e. independent of any incursion from the river) remains unceasing. The facility is closed every Sunday for routine maintenance when London-South Wales traffic is diverted via Gloucester.

Introduced in August 1896, No. 36 was the GWR’s first 4-6-0 and one of the first of that wheelbase in the UK. It was a handsome machine and clearly from the stable that had produced the Achilles 4-2-2s and the Duke 4-4-0s. Enlargement was most apparent in its length, thus invoking the nickname “The Crocodile”. The company’s most recent freight type in general service was the Dean Goods, Class 2301 No 36 (as built) Cylinders Boiler

17" x 24"

20” x 24”

- barrel length

10' 3"

14'

- outside diameter - outside length

4' 3"

4' 6" to 4' 7"

5' 4" 1079

1402

114

116

Grate (sq ft)

16.4

30.5

Boiler pressure (lb/ sq in)

140

165

Firebox

Heating surfaces (sq ft) - tubes - firebox

Wheel diameter - bogie - driving Locomotive wheelbase - coupled - overall Locomotive weight Tractive effort (lb)

7' 0

N/a

2’8”

5’0” *

4’ 6” §

15’ 6”

19’ 6”

In addition to building the tunnel, significant investment was incurred to maximise its efficient operation. Marshalling yards were installed to the west of Severn Tunnel Junction station on the Up side, and on the Down side to the south of the line from Gloucester that converged there with the new link. Marshalling yards at Stoke Gifford complemented those at STJ thereby providing the means of optimising assembly of freight trains that traversed the tunnel in both directions. Pilot engines were always provided for heavier trains; banking assistance was never practical as coordination of effort by the two locomotives would be impossible in the perpetually smoke-clogged atmosphere at the bottom of the inclines. Assisting

25’ 0”

- adhesive

33t 0c

- total

59t 10c

47t 4c

13,313

24,933

Later 5’ 2”

§ later 4' 7½

28

locomotives were always based at STJ and in later years these mainly comprised famously filthy Class 3150 2-6-2Ts. The operating pattern was to lead an up train away from STJ, detach at Pilning and then return to base at the head of a Down train needing assistance.

grate was unusual in being level at the back with a rather steep incline down to a level section at the front which must have taken some getting used to, and which was only possible because of the small diameter driving wheels. Serve tubes with rifled bores that improved heat exchange were fitted; the raised firebox and large dome were needed to provide adequate steam space. Originally pumps fed the external clack boxes on the boiler sides but these were replaced after about 12 months with live and exhaust steam injectors. Tradition was evident in the bogie with swing links between the inside frames and with Mansell wheels with timber centres.

Prior to arrival of No 36, a pair of 0-6-0s hauling 35 wagons and two brake vans would reportedly take 18 to 20 minutes to traverse the tunnel. The specific distance covered in that time does not seem to have been recorded but as freight train speeds in those days rarely exceeded 20 mph, the operating average must have been pedestrian. Over the same distance, the Crocodile was capable of hauling 30 wagons and two vans in 11 minutes.

Thus the 4-6-0 could haul a load over 60% greater than a single 0-6-0 could manage in about 42% less elapsed time yielding a major improvement in line capacity.

Records of No 36’s work are sparse and appear to conflict. The engine was under repair at Newport in 1900 which suggests continuing engagement on the duties for which it was intended but this does not accord with reports that it rarely strayed far from Swindon. However, on withdrawal in December 1905 the recorded mileage was 171,400 which equates about 19,000 per annum. For an experimental machine, this seems an acceptable level of usage suggesting that it earned its keep.

Further, its role as progenitor to locomotive enlargement must have been valuable in alerting design staff to some of the issues that greater size and weight would present.

As a test bed, several features were of interest. The boiler was the largest that could be attributed solely to Dean as opposed to later development in the Dean/ Churchward transition period. Although double-framed, the inner pair extended back only as far back as the front of the firebox to allow room for its outside width of 5’ 10”. This was possibly the first use of a wide firebox in Britain. Further the This photograph is not the best quality but views of No. 36 at work are quite rare.

The engine’s condition is as in the official photograph except that the clackbox and diagonal feed pipe have been removed, and a brass cap has been inserted in the aperture in the boiler side.

29

REMEMBERING (BITS OF) THE MSWJ n his book ‘The Western since 1948’ (Ian Allan Iclosure 1979), author Geoffrey Freeman Allen notes that the ex-Midland & South Western Junction

in hallowed territory would have been evident in red-liveried locomotives passing over the GW main line at Rushey Platt, just west of Swindon. Further north, those same engines would have graced the line from Andoversford down off the Cotswolds to terminate at Cheltenham. All that changed with the Grouping and mid-chrome green became allpervading for at least three decades. This led to a tale from folklore from the days before the MSWJR’s modest locomotive works at Cirencester works were closed.

Railway through route with effect from 9 September 1961 marked the first severing of this type of connection by BR Western Region. This sad event heralded a number truncations that saw the network lose a series of cross-country routes that had contributed much to the rural character of the GWR’s sprawling empire. Banbury to Cheltenham, Cheltenham to Stratford-upon-Avon, and Taunton to Barnstaple were three examples of that list.

The works were engaged in the repair of some GWR locomotives which in one case included repainting. The (former MSWJ) foreman at Cirencester indented on Swindon’s stores for what he considered the requisite amount of paint. In due course, the amount supplied was far less than what

The MSWJR as the first to close had ironically been the last to join – by virtue of the Grouping. The company had previously been a thorn in the flesh with its north-south route piercing Swindon, the very heart of the GWR. Prior to 1923, its presence

A fascinating and rare view of Swindon Town before rebuilding. The period around the turn of the 20th century is regarded as a golden era with neat and tidy stations and trackwork where stood gleaming locomotives and rolling stock. For the MSWJ at Swindon Town, nothing could be further from the truth as witness the untidy platform and unkempt foliage around the signal box. The choice was simple: use limited revenue for essential supplies and maintenance, or have a pretty station. The photograph is undated but it must be 1899 or later as it shows a Beyer Peacock 0-6-0 at the Up platform.

These locomotives were delivered that year and this example still has the large rectangular panel on the cabside which was later cut away for ease of maintenance. The year must be pre-1905, when the station was rebuilt with only two lines between the main platforms. The approaching passenger train is in charge of a Beyer Peacock 2-4-0T of 1882. The company had three, and would have liked to have added three more of a slightly enlarged design, but the cash crisis of 1884 prevented their purchase. Beyer Peacock had to dispose of two of these later locos elsewhere, and they went instead to the East & West Junction Railway. With thanks to Sean Bolan (for showing the present writer the image in the first place) and to Mike Barnsley for supplying the scan and caption details.

30

ISSUE 2 had been ordered. He remarked ‘...that will be nowhere near enough – the boiler will turn black almost as soon as it gets hot’ and of course, he was proved right. Another factor might have derived from the rumour that Cirencester took two weeks to paint an engine whereas Swindon required the job done in rather less time. Or perhaps Swindon simply considered that the engine did not warrant that level of attention.

Didcot, Newbury & Southampton. Each concern had its own supporters. The late historian T B Sands had an affinity for both the MSWJ and the DNS producing articles and later books (Oakwood Press). In more recent times, the excellent Wild Swan volumes by David Bartholomew and Mike Barnsley have ensured the MSWJ will not slip into oblivion. Through this brief photographic essay, tribute is paid to the line in its earlier days and then in its closing years. Yet another much lamented casualty of a cross country railway deemed unnecessary in the modern era.

The MSWJR was one of the three north-south cross country routes which author Jeffery Grayer has described as running ‘Against the Grain’, the others being the Somerset & Dorset Joint, and the

In BR days what had formerly been a GWR line throughout was divided between the Western and Southern Regions, the ‘boundary’ being south of Grafton Junction. This explains why in the final years, an SR upper quadrant stop signal replaced a lower quadrant at Grafton station. Southern engines also now began to appear on the through Cheltenham – Southampton services although ‘short’ workings between Swindon, Marlborough and Savernake were still in WR hands.

Here the fireman of Southern ‘U’ No. 31622 has ‘put a bit on’ and opened the blower prior to departure south from Cirencester (‘Watermoor’ to identify it from the ‘Town’ station, which was served by the branch from Kemble). A weak bridge at the station meant the former up platform line had been lifted and for the last few years all trains would be forced to use the down side. Graham Smith courtesy Richard Sissons

31

ISSUE 2

Opposite top: One of the ‘short’ workings referred to above. In this case, a service from Swindon to Savernake and the former Low Level station is in the hands of a grimy pannier tank although small prairies were also regularly seen on these turns. The train is running ‘wrong road’ through the platform but which was common practice here on the local down workings.

Opposite bottom: The same engine as shown on Page 31 and probably the same train, this time recorded at Marlborough – the former Low Level site. On the opposite platform the children are sitting outside what was the ‘licensed’ Refreshment Room. After closure this hostelry remained open for some time being popular in a part of Marlborough otherwise bereft of a drinks establishment. Years later the former landlord would take every opportunity to berate Dr Beeching for the closure of the line, notwithstanding that 1961 was a full two years before publication of the Beeching Report! Graham Smith courtesy Richard Sissons Above: A personal favourite with one of your editors even if in later years. Savernake Low Level (west end) with a Hymek diesel stabled on the short engineer’s siding that ran off the Up Berks and Hants (Extension) railway on the trackbed of the former Marlborough branch. The history of Savernake and its railways convoluted and indeed Tom Sands referred to it as ‘Savernake – a railway crossroads’. The first railway at Savernake was the Berks & Hants Extension railway from Hungerford to Devizes in 1862. This was followed in 1864 by a branch to Marlborough from Savernake. Then in 1881 the Swindon, Marlborough and Andover company opened their line from Swindon as far as Marlborough where a junction was made into the Marlborough branch to reach Savernake. On the east side of Savernake, the SMA continued an independent route through to Andover from 1882. Relations with the GWR however were not good and the result was an independent line from Marlborough running to the north of the GWR branch and then an independent station at Savernake. Here what was the nominally independent Marlborough & Grafton railway linked in with the original SMA route to Andover. The connection between the GWR and SMA at Marlborough being severed and only an interchange siding for goods being left at Savernake. Amalgamation of the companies involved (excluding the GWR) resulted in the MSWJ. There matters rested until post grouping when all was absorbed into the Great Western. In the 1930s the two independent routes between Savernake and Marlborough were combined with all passenger traffic being concentrated at a single station in each town.

After this further rationalisation slowly took place resulting of course in eventual closure. In this view the line of trees running mid way through the image left to right indicated the course of the former M&G (MSWJ) railway. The signal box was appropriately Savernake West and lasted until the introduction of MAS in the late 1970s. Behind the signal box the line can be seen to drop away, indicatng the presence of the Kennet & Avon canal which passed under the railway at this point.

33

THE GWR AND WAGON POOLING Western Times Issue No 1, page 74 mentioned periodic instructions from Paddington to report the identities of wagons stabled in station yards. This was an example of wagon management on the ground in pursuit of efficiency and thus containment of freight operating costs.

homogeneous cargoes were largely moved in privately-owned wagons which for the GWR mainly meant coal. However, with expansion of the private owner wagon fleet what had been a means of containing direct rolling stock investment evolved into an incubus that would cost the industry dear.

From the outset, railway companies had been happy to charge for the movement of merchandise and minerals in railway vehicles owned by third parties. This was a logical extension of the open access principle by which goods traditionally moved over toll roads. These arrangements reduced companies’ direct investment in wagons needed to cope with economic growth and industrial expansion. Vehicles had to be provided for various traffic categories but heavy tonnages of

In the 1850s, the Great Northern Railway as a major coal transporter had attempted to sell this fuel in its own right in the London area, to the alarm of collieries and established merchants. This led to a seminal case (Prior v Great Northern Railway 1858) heard in the Court of Chancery. Several contentious issues were considered but a major outcome was prevention of railway companies from competing with the established distribution network in the sale of fuel to consumers. They were also

Ex-private owner wagons were numbered with a “P” prefix as with No P314127 which had a seven plank body and a 12 ton load capacity. As BR’s renumbering programme progressed, later wagons to be treated were to be allocated identities in the P290351 to P391500 series. Records are incomplete and may not have survived as this later exercise was still being conducted when it was abandoned in 1957. By then the supply of all steel replacements was well in hand and there would have been little purpose in rationalising the identities of increasingly decrepit vehicles with limited life expectancy. The external condition was typical of those towards the end of their careers. The locomotive standing against the buffer stops is Simplex petrol-engined yard shunter No 26, numbered in the steam locomotive series. RCR 6100-7100 (472)

34

ISSUE 2

At Tallylyn Junction on 3 May 1951, the ex-PO wagon in the rake to the right displays evidence of previous ownership despite plank replacement and patch painting. It was still possible to find old timber -bodied wagons in this condition around about 1960/ 1 although by then their numbers were severely reduced. The second wagon in the passing train appears to be an ex-PO vehicle also.

Wales was the last redoubt of the venerable Dean Goods. No 2354 had been built in November 1884 and acquired a superheated Belpaire Type B4 boiler in September 1920. About forty of this boiler had appeared with top feed from about 1913, and this engine might well have been the last in service with this equipment. It was withdrawn in April 1953.

R2199-3948 (10)

limited in how they could charge demurrage for laden wagons standing idle on their rails. The latter presented a serious operating problem as this reduced the incentive for merchants speedily to empty wagons and return them for another load.

Thus merchants used their wagons for two purposes – movement of cargo and mobile storage on arrival from the colliery.

As charging structures were cumbersome to manage, rental agreements were common whereby merchants paid a single composite fee for use of specific sidings for defined periods. By renting rail space, the number of stationary wagons that could be accommodated was limited only by the length of available track. Merchants found it cheaper and often more secure to use wagons for coal storage rather than to invest in “on shore” bunkers. Resultant poor wagon utilisation became an industry plague. Before World War 1, the PO wagon fleet had grown vastly. Its exact size was unknown with estimates varying between 600,000 and 750,000 vehicles. In comparison, railway company-owned wagons totalled around 728,000.

The Railway Clearing House in conjunction with the companies had universally sought to levy demurrage at 6 shillings per day for every wagon that stood idle in a yard, except for days expended in loading/ unloading. This was a significant impost as with the basic freight charge at ¼ penny per wagon per mile, one day’s demurrage equalled 288 miles of travel. With the pedestrian pace of freight services, few wagons would have covered 100 miles in that time either loaded or empty so a daily charge of 6 shillings was a significant penalty. The corollary would have been more intensive usage and thus the need for fewer vehicles.

Conditions were made worse by operating disciplines. PO wagons worked loaded in one direction only and had to be returned empty regardless of whether owned/ operated by colliery or merchant. The situation was little better with railway-owned rolling stock. A wagon that worked 35

316

ISSUE 2 laden onto the metals of another company had to be returned empty to its home system. This necessitated much remarshalling en route and a survey conducted in October 1913 revealed that nationwide a staggering 61% of all movements involved empty vehicles.

By the end of 1914, barriers to progress had moved from political obduracy to bureaucratic indolence in tackling the now crucial imperative of better operating efficiency. Comparison with the adversary’s standards was revealing. German railways, having pooled their wagon fleets in 1909, were achieving vastly superior productivity levels with wagons of higher capacity and more modern design. Railway efficiency had proven critical in previous conflicts (e.g. the United States Military Railroads in the US Civil War and Teutonic organisation in the Franco-Prussian War). This was being applied to good effect in the current conflict.

By comparison, British railways were poorly placed to meet the challenge. The typical wagon was primitive in its modest load capacity, archaic braking system, and general design as exemplified by solid wooden or “dumb” buffers which had remained legally permissible for mainline use as late as 1913. Many PO vehicles were over-aged and/ or poorly maintained, adding to the incidence of failure in service.

It is endemic in freight transportation (be it an Australian road train, a tramp steamer, or a Boeing 747 cargo aircraft) that a return movement empty is a severe drain on profit. A member of the editorial team once knew the Greek owner of a chemical tanker fleet who worked his ships with an extraordinarily low “in ballast” factor. A wellequipped chemical tanker has the flexibility quickly to switch cargo types between voyages and this owner had obviously developed valuable business contacts to maximise the back load potential. How this had been achieved remained a closely guarded commercial secret.

Through his drive to rescue his company from financial collapse in the early 1900s, Sam Fay of the Great Central was fully alive to burdensome cost structures emanating from under-utilisation and duplicated routes. He was a rarity among senior railway management of the time as a progressive thinker who refused to accept the cosy closet of the status quo. A cogent example was his failed attempt to pull off a logical merger with the Great Northern Railway in 1909 through a corporate structure similar to that adopted in 1899 to form the South Eastern & Chatham Railway. This initiative was stymied at the eleventh hour through a petulantly irrational intervention by Winston Churchill as President of the Board of Trade.

Apart from the general condition of PO wagons, another issue concerned those owned by the railway companies. Renewal policies dictated that around 31,000 new wagons were required annually to make good depredations through wear, tear and age. In the two years 1915 and 1916, materials were made available for construction of 29,000 wagons so that by April 1917 the nominal shortage stood at around 33,000 although the reality was more severe as tonnages and miles travelled had grown exponentially. By 1918 rail freight tonnage was roughly double that of the pre-war period.

Opposite top: During World War 1, the only vehicles pooled were Open wagons, initially the standard 3 to 8 plank size and later the remainder. Eventually there were 445,000 in the pool i.e. about 61% of the railway company-owned wagon fleets.

Assuming that coal was mainly shipped in PO wagons, it followed that the railway companies relied on their Open wagons to carry the greater share of the products and merchandise consigned through them. With mechanical loading assistance limited to the goods yard crane, only cargoes capable of being manhandled could be loaded into vans. Anything heavy or cumbersome items had to use an open vehicle and for sensitive cargoes, wagon sheets provided protection against the elements. Hence the third phase of the pooling exercise embraced wagon sheets (followed by wagon sheet ropes a few months later). The position with wagon sheets had been as unsatisfactory as with the wagons themselves; a survey conducted by one company in November 1916 revealed that it could only account for the whereabouts of 19% of its tarpaulins.

In this view, 0-6-2T No 6601 was passing Coalpit Heath on 20 September 1956 with a lengthy Up freight. The train comprises timber-bodied Open wagons of varying heights and all that are in sight are sheeted. Modern equipment handling facilities had been installed in goods depots so a complete train of sheeted wagons must by then have been unusual. RCR 6100-7101 (608) Opposite bottom: The location in this undated view is thought to be Radyr. The wagon behind the locomotive’s chimney started life as a Diagram N23 Pole 20-ton wagon. This type was introduced in January 1924, mainly for service under hire to collieries and quarries in South Wales. They were equipped with single centrally placed side doors and tipping doors at both ends, and were among the first GWR-designed wagons to be fitted with RCH coil spring buffers. No longer required for mineral traffic, two hundred became Loco Coal wagons under Diagrams N28/ N29 in 1934/ 5. For these duties, the endtipping doors served no purpose and the single side door was inadequate. They were therefore modified by installation of additional side doors either side of the original, as in this photograph. The diagram of its companion to the left cannot be identified. The sign on the end wall of the coal stage building reads “CAUTION ENGINES MUST NOT PASS THIS ARCH”.

Built by Beyer Peacock as Rhymney Railway No 44 in December 1921, this engine became GWR No 40 at the Grouping. It was rebuilt with a tapered boiler in October 1949, only to be withdrawn exactly four years later. R2199-3148 (373)

37

WESTERN TIMES

Above: 0-6-0PT Class 57xx No 7722 (built by Kerr Stuart in June 1930) was at Treherbert (its home depot) on 4 May 1951. A diagram N27 Loco Coal wagon stands in the background. This was a development of Pole wagon Diagram N24 but differed in having solid ends instead of tipping doors, and in reverting to DCIII brakes and GWR pattern buffers. Between 1925 and 1938, 585 wagons were built to this diagram. Its rundown condition seems to have been typical with number, load and tare details virtually indecipherable beneath the rust and grime. RCR 2199 to 3148 (368) Opposite top: The type of formation that Pole sought vainly to eliminate, No 39 (ex-Rhymney Railway No 35 built by Hudswell Clarke in July 1921) was leading a loaded train at Cherry Orchard, north of Llanishen on the ex-Rhymney Railway main line from Caerphilly to Cardiff. This service is a “Control train” carrying target D1. Many mineral services in south Wales did not adhere to fixed timetables but were assigned duties on a day-to-day basis by the control office in response to prevailing traffic demands. Such trains carried a target on a leading lamp iron. The letter denoted the depot from which the locomotive had started the working day and to which it would return (D = Cardiff East Dock); the number identified the route. The date is 15 May 1952 and the liveries look shabby but the train could be typical of the 1930s or earlier. The wagons are timber-bodied and many seem to be ex-private owner. RCR 2199 to 3948 (798) Opposite bottom: On 12 May 1952 Class 56xx No 5653 with a timetabled train of coal empties was approaching Penrhos Junction on the ex-Taff Vale Railway’s Walnut Tree Branch. The two tracks beyond the train had been owned by the Alexander (Newport & South Wales) Docks & Railway while the those in the foreground were installed in 1926 to form a link line between the junction and the northern extremity of the Barry Railway’s Penrhos Branch. The latter’s line north of Penrhos was severed that year as an unnecessary route duplication.

The first nine wagons are timber-bodied and the patch-painted planks betray their earlier private ownership. The lettering on the second wagon clearly states CITY OF BIRMINGHAM ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT. It was normal practice to work empty trains up the valleys chimney first. RCR 2199 to 3948 (777)

Commencing Monday 15 December 1915, and until further notice, Great Northern, Great Central and Great Eastern ordinary open goods wagons having sides of three or more planks, and also the wagon sheets of those companies must be dealt with and used as common stock, for the purposes of these three companies. All other vehicles must continue to be dealt with under existing instructions.

By mid-1915, Sam Fay working in co-operation with the Railway Clearing House had foreseen an emerging crisis and was lobbying hard for the pooling of wagon fleets. Against all the pressing evidence, the Government through the Railway Executive Committee (REC) declined to act on the ludicrous grounds that “the time was not appropriate”. Fay was not to be dissuaded and went ahead anyway leading to the following announcement by the RCH on 13 December 1915:38

39

WESTERN TIMES

The type of wagon and formation that Pole had tried to make universal. Carrying target B26 (B for Barry), 0-6-2T Class 56xx No 6615 was passing through Pontypridd station on the Up Relief approaching Treherbert Branch Junction at the east end of the station. The empty wagons are all 4-wheeled of 20 or 21 ton capacity; the first four and possibly all the remainder in view were of Diagram N32. These were constructed by outside contractors and while there were slight variations in body style and height, they all had two doors either side, a single end tipping door, Morton brakes and RCH buffers. Generally any numbers carried in the GWR series were for temporary purposes only. They usually bore numbers in the builders’ series or in the respective owners/ operators lists. The latter would often carry their own liveries. Many were supplied on “redemption hire” – the equivalent of hire purchase in modern terms. RCR 2199 to 3948 (809)

On 18 January 1916, Fay and the RCH proposed expansion of the scheme to the REC, arguing that benefits would include reduction of shunting within station and yard environs/ avoidance of marshalling empty wagons for return to home systems/ reduction in empty stock mileage/ general reduction in elapsed journey times. These benefits were rapidly acknowledged. The GWR plus the Lancashire & Yorkshire, London & North Western, Midland and North Eastern railways voluntarily joined the pool on 5 April 1916.

industry-wide annual savings in operating expenses estimated at £470,000 – a very large sum in contemporary values.

During and after the war, further wagon categories and associated equipment were added to the pool as follows (note the GWR’s differing participation): 14 Feb 1917 1 Aug 1917

The REC, supposedly in charge of the railways for the duration, started to catch up with events by then asking how the scheme could be expanded. The Common User Committee of the RCH had matters well in hand and by 2 January 1917, the twelve main companies and over 300,000 wagons were in the pool. By May 1918, the pool had grown to 445,000. The results were spectacular with empty movements of railway company-owned vehicles reduced to 20% of pre-war levels. This yielded

3 Apr 1918 3 Jun 1919 1 Mar 1922 11 Aug 1925 4 Feb 1926 40

Wagon sheets to protect merchandise in open wagons Ropes to secure open wagon sheets (all companies withdrew from pool 1 August 1921) Other open wagon types, mainly end-door equipped Unfitted closed vans 4-wheel single & twin-bolster wagons Fitted & unfitted cattle wagons (all companies except GWR) End-door mineral wagons, 12 tons capacity and lower

ISSUE 2 This is a magnification of a photograph appearing on Page 8 of WT Issue No 1, depicting a Southern-bound freight about to change locomotives at Salisbury in pre-war days. The second and third wagons are from Diagram N32, and in the livery of Stephenson & Clarke & Associated Companies. GWR Goods Wagons shows a wagon supplied to this operator with merely “S C” on the sides and the tipping end; here the full company title appears on the end together with the S & C running number (2871) and the tare weight (latter in typical GWR script). The 20-ton load capacity seems to have been notional. There are numerous cases where the capacity is recorded as 21 tons and here the two wagons have certainly been well filled. They were originally provided to the colliery on redemption hire terms.

31 May 1927 24 Jul 1927 31 Dec 1927 5 Sep 1939

11 Nov 1940 9 Dec 1940

4-wheel bolster and cattle wagons (GWR only) Pig-iron wagons 20 tons & lower capacity; end-door mineral wagons 12 to 20 tons capacity GWR withdrew its cattle wagons from pool Wagons: open 13 to 21 tons; plate, long low, lowfit; twins without bolsters; bar iron; plus GWR fitted & unfitted cattle/ GWR fitted closed vans/ GWR double bolsters Banana vans; insulated meat vans; insulated containers plus related chassis wagons Ventilated meat vans; ventilated containers plus related chassis wagons

were to prove too strong. From 1923 onwards the Big Four would be burdened with heavy costs that could have been avoided.

The GWR had always maintained cordial arrangements with the North Eastern Railway. That company had uniquely revolutionised coal traffic in its territory by enforcing the elimination of PO wagons in favour of its standard 20-ton woodenbodied hopper wagon. The benefits realised had encouraged the Caledonian and Midland railways to try to follow suit but their efforts had foundered on the rocks of vested interests.

Whether the NER experience had direct impact on the GWR’s thinking is not known but the 20-ton load capacity seems to have been regarded as the optimum size. Felix Pole, a progressive manager in the mould of Sam Fay, might have been influenced by the NER model with the key difference that hopper unloading (ideal for use with coal staithes at northern ports) would be unsuitable for softer Welsh coal and the typical GWR coal stage.

Nevertheless, the following comparison (author’s estimates) highlights the advantages that the 20ton 4-wheel wagon offered, regardless of its body configuration, and based on a nominal train load of circa 500 tons:

There were imperfections in the pooling process.

For example, companies that had been less assiduous with maintenance gained proportionately more from the new arrangements but in aggregate the programme was a triumph of pragmatic private enterprise. Fay tried but failed to introduce private owners to the pooling principle. Some signed up but their numbers were inconsequential. Ominously, the vested interests of suppliers and merchants Load Capacity (tons)

Length over buffers (feet)

Tare weight (tons)

Total weight Laden (tons)

Wagons required (number)

Total tare (tons)

Train weight (tons)

Train length (feet)

8 10 20 40

19 19 23 45

6 6 9 19

14 16 29 59

62 50 25 12

372 300 225 228

872 800 725 728

1,178 950 575 540

Dead weight (tare) as % of total weight 42.7 37.5 31 31.3

WESTERN TIMES These figures explain Pole’s enthusiasm for the 20-ton wagon that bears his name. The 40-ton bogie coal wagon bestowed no appreciable commercial advantage beyond its convenience in shunting and unloading at motive power depots which probably explains its confinement to shipment of locomotive fuel. Unfortunately the Pole wagon met with resistance from many collieries reluctant to modify their facilities to cope with the 20-ton capacity. The GWR responded by purchasing for its own needs only from those sources that could handle the larger capacity vehicles. In this respect, it exercised considerable buying power; Old Oak Common alone accepted coal deliveries of around 3,000 tons per week.

The requirement to return Toads “empty” was a further imposition on operating costs and efficiency so from 1940 they were effectively pooled. In 1943, the situation was formalised in a process whereby allocations were removed from body sides and Toads were deployed across the system to meet prevailing demand. A certain number (apparently about 130) were excluded from these changes; they retained their allocation details as they remained dedicated to specific duties.

Although almost exclusively deployed on the common user principle in later GWR days, Toads were subjected to special restrictions by British Railways. The “Kremlin” at 222 Marylebone Road ordained that all goods brake vans must be equipped with side duckets but reference to the GWR Goods Wagons by Messrs Atkins, Beard & Tourret (OPC 2013) confirms that only one brake van was equipped with this handy feature. This was a 20-ton wooden-bodied double veranda vehicle built by the LMS to RCH standards and numbered 35927. Each of the Big Four was given a sample in the hope of achieving standardisation across the national network. The GWR was sufficiently unimpressed to refrain from giving theirs a Diagram number in the AA series, despite it staying in service until the 1960s.

So the PO wagon continued in service through the economic Depression of the inter-war years, adding colour and variety to coal trains while imposing additional cost on an industry increasingly assailed by outside competitive pressures – at least until 3rd September 1939. This time around the bureaucrats were not dilatory. On the day that war was declared, the PO fleet was requisitioned en masse.

Compensation and related issues would have to wait for later attention. The priority was to maximise utilisation and hence operating efficiency. (British Railways abandoned efforts to rationalise the numbering of ex-PO wagons in 1957 which gives an indication of the scale of the requisition process).

It being too expensive to carry out modifications, ducket-less Toads continued in service but were excluded from the wagon pool. They could only work within the confines of BR Western Region.

Rattling along at the tail of unfitted goods trains, their label “NOT IN COMMON USE” implied that here was something special – as was indeed the case.

Some vehicle categories were never pooled on account of their specialised nature. An example was the tank wagon built for oil products, although during the war some were confusingly labelled “Pool”. This designation referred to the nature of the cargo (i.e. the low octane pool petroleum spirit then in general use) rather than the ownership and operation of the vehicle.

References: The Railway Clearing House in the British Economy 1842-1922 by Philip Bagwell, George Allen & Unwin Ltd 1968

In 1939, the GWR’s fleet of brake vans (Toads) totalled around 2500. Most had been traditionally allocated to specific depots and yards to meet established traffic patterns, with their home bases duly labelled on the body sides. Wartime brought a sharp increase in the number of special, unscheduled, and unbalanced freight workings.

Robinson Eight-coupled Locomotives by Jeremy Clements, Unpublished 2020

Opposite top: Class 61xx No 6154 and Toad Diagram AA15 No W56682 at Swindon Junction on 9 June 1951. The prairie looks well presented in smart black livery whereas the brake van seems drab. There is no indication of where it might once have been allocated and only number and weight details appear visible. There is no evidence of the “NOT IN COMMON USE” restriction on the body sides. RCR 2199 to 3948 (449) Opposite bottom: Traditionally, most Toads had been allocated to particular stations or yards and were appropriately labelled. Operating demands during Second World War resulted in application of common user principles to brake vans and most lost their designated home locations, except for some dedicated to particular duties. On 6 June 1953, Diagram AA2 Toad No 17727 was at Cynheidre on the ex-Llanelly Mynydd Mawr Railway section with 0-6-0PT Class 16xx No 1628.

This freight-only route had been a late addition to the South Wales network, and featured several steep gradients. The brake van retained its Llanelly allocation plus defined assignment to the ex-LMMR section, re-affirmed by the letters RU (restricted use). Confinement to a particular locality made the standard “NOT IN COMMON USE” somewhat superfluous.

Originally weighing 24 tons, this was one of Diagram AA2 to have its weight increased by one ton, presumably to increase brake power for this difficult route. RCR 2199 to 3948 (1185)

42

ISSUE 2

43

WESTERN TIMES

On 6 July 1955 Class 4575 No 4584 was leaving the Southern station at Wadebridge, Cornwall with a service bound for Bodmin General. In the 1950s, a small prairie and a 2-coach B-Set was the standard formation for branch passenger services in the Royal Duchy (in this case a pair of bow-ended close-coupled 1932-vintage Diagram E145 Brake Composites). Added to the rear is a non-fitted Toad whose diagram cannot be determined but the body panel adjacent to the balcony carries the legend:BODMIN RU NOT IN COMMON USE RCR 6101-7100 (57)

44

Shunting the yard at Chipping Norton with No. 4113 in workaday grime livery involved in a task that had been commonplace for decades but was now drawing to a close. The railways as common carriers had for years been required to accept every item sent for consignment, within the constraints of the loading gauge, whereas competing road hauliers were free to pick and choose. Also goods had to be moved to and from the railhead whereas the lorry could collect/ deliver at the consignor’s/ consignee’s premises.

The writing was on the wall for single wagon freight and ‘smalls’ traffic even before World War 2. The GWR had retaliated by establishing its own road services and often moved freight without using rail transport at all. Generations of shunters, armed with their poles, had worked at locations like this but this occupation would soon pass into history. Chipping Norton closed in December 1962 although No. 4113 was active, on paper at least, until 18 November 1965. As an aside, the loading gauge is rather unusually affixed to the entry/ exit of the goods shed. Tony Molyneaux

45

COLWALL NEW TUNNEL

T

he July 1926 issue of the Great Western Magazine featured the usual eclectic mix of articles ranging from an account of the new locomotive depot at Stourbridge, the afterthoughts of a striker, information about the Royal Hotel at Paddington, reflections on the “family spirit” in business, plus news about staff and social events.

One article that caught the editorial eye concerned the opening of the new tunnel between Colwall and Malvern Wells stations on the Worcester to Hereford route.

The author was G Tyers who seems to have been involved with the planning and construction, and certainly his knowledge implies a professional interest. As a contemporary account, it provides interesting factual information although details on workings through the tunnel are unfortunately absent. The opening passage of the article is quoted verbatim:

determined to construct a railway from Worcester to Hereford. The line, as laid down by the engineers, wisely or unwisely, was to pass through the hills a little to the south of Great Malvern, and it thus became necessary to bore a long tunnel. Perhaps the opinion of no geologist had been taken as to the quality of the plutonic rock; perhaps the engineers employed had experience only of tunnelling through sedimentary strata; but however that may he, it is certain that the expectations were falsified.

Two contractors in succession threw up the work in despair, the adamantine nature of the rock, fired to a crystalline degree by volcanic heat, having defied their efforts. The third was more fortunate. Not long after he had commenced operations he found that his workmen had passed into a soft layer, in fact a sedimentary deposit buried deep in the syenitic substance of the hills. The spot was examined by geologists both local and from the British Museum and its history became clear. In that period of remotest antiquity which we have described, there had been a fissure in the sub-marine reef and into that fissure there had drifted loose deposit with shells and other organisms of Silurian age, which had been preserved as they were laid down. At some future time a fresh outburst of subterranean energy had caused the mouth of the fissure to be sealed up and its contents were for countless ages embedded in huge rock. The lucky contractor who thus played the part of tertius gaudens finished the tunnel with ease, his fortune made by the accident of some millions of years by-gone."

New Single-Line Tunnel at Colwall “In an interesting book ‘The Story of the Malverns,’

by G. W. Hastings, wherein is described the geology of the Malverns, mention is made of the great struggles that went on during the building of the Great Western Railway tunnel between Colwall and Malvern Wells in 1861, which work took some seven years to complete. The author goes on to say: "Rather more than half-a-century ago it was

Here follows a precis of the rest of the article: This account probably contains some picturesque exaggerations, but it shows the uncertainties that confronted the engineer engaged in major civil works, especially tunnelling, in the 19th Century.

Difficulties in construction had necessitated limited clearances and developments in rolling stock had increasingly made the old double track tunnel a tight fit in both width and height. Conditions were made worse by the 1 in 80 gradient that faced southbound services which contributed to foul working conditions and a polluted atmosphere in the 1567-yard long tunnel. There were cases of footplatemen passing out because of the fumes.

Tests were carried out in various tunnels on the Company's system to explore possible ways of reducing the problem. The only (partially 46

successful) measure was to work banking locomotives with the cab leading.

In addition to poor ventilation, there was the matter of maintenance costs.

The original construction had been of indifferent quality and combined with the geological factors, enlargement would be costly and very difficult. The alternative of boring a new tunnel was also expensive but this option would avoid any disturbance to traffic.

The decision was taken to drive a new single line tunnel almost 1590 yards long and parallel to the old configuration, 44 feet away to the south-east.

Preparations were made to drive the bottom headings of the new tunnel from the Malvern Wells side from one permanent shaft in either direction, and from a temporary shaft some 50 yards from the Colwall face of the structure. Penetration of the hardest rock required compressed air drills and the use of large quantities of gelignite in blasting. (Not mentioned by Mr Tyers is that in 1907 the original tunnel had suffered a partial collapse around the area of one of the ventilation shafts; further, his account makes no mention of these shafts).

The gangs working on the headings from their respective tunnel ends met in July 1925. It was found that over a distance exceeding three quarters of a mile, the alignment error amounted to one quarter of an inch while the error in level was double that i.e. one half of an inch. All concerned must have been

WESTERN TIMES satisfied with this result, given the difficult nature of the rock formations. Ground or spring water can be a major problem in tunnelling and until the meeting of the headings, 200 gallons per hour had to be pumped out. Thereafter, pumping could be eliminated as water then gravitated to the Malvern end of the tunnel.

difference was accounted for by the use of modern drilling equipment whereas in the 19th Century the process relied on drilling by hand, bar and hammer, and use of blasting powder.

Ancillary work with the new tunnel included the remodelling of Colwall station and goods yard, and provision of an extra refuge siding between the station and the tunnel. Messrs. Wilson Lovatt, Limited, of Wolverhampton, were the contractors, and with work supervised on behalf of the Company's Chief Engineer by the Resident Engineer, Mr. H. Bromley. The new tunnel opened on 2 August 1926, and the original bore was taken out of use that day. The contract price for the new work was stated to be £196,080.

The following sections of strata were encountered.

Commencing from the Malvern side, there were 170 yards in the Keuper marls; here a fault was met at the junction of the archzean rock and marl. The archwan rock may be termed as gneiss—a species of stratified rock, composed of quartz, felspar, and mica. This length extends for 541 yards, when another fault was found—the junction between the igneous and the sedimentary rocks. For 179 yards the strata is in this order Woolhope shales and Woolhope limestone, when it joined the Wenlock shales (an ancient marine bed) that extends for 669 yards to the Colwall face of the tunnel. These Wenlock shales extend to another 76 yards in the Colwall cutting, where they join on to the old red marls, which in turn continue to near Colwall station. The lining of the tunnel varied from three to six rings of brickwork, including the "facing up" with blue bricks.

The original tunnel found a new use in 1939 when it was taken over by the Admiralty as a munitions store. For this purpose, the lining was repaired, a concrete floor was laid and by July 1941 a narrow gauge railway was installed; the locomotives were housed in sheds outside. The facility was closed after the end of World War 2 and the ends were sealed with steel sheeting. In recent times there have been requests for the original tunnel to be reopened to increase line capacity. Another proposal has been use as a cycle track. Its current purpose is to house a large bat colony.

The new tunnel was built to a slightly larger section than that normally adopted on single tracks in this country which naturally improved the ventilation.

The gradient at 1 in 90 in the new tunnel was a slight improvement on the old. The depth from the top of the hill through which the tunnel passes to rail level is 599 ft. At the Malvern end, rail level is the same in both tunnels, but the new tunnel at the Colwall end, due to the flatter gradient, is seven feet lower. In 1926, it was speculated that it would be possible if required to reconstruct the old tunnel at reduced cost as there would be no disturbance to passing traffic. If undertaken, the old tunnel would have handled Up (northbound) services.

Further images of these and other tunnels may be found at colwall tunnel - Bing images An undated illustra�on of a Birmingham to Cardiff passenger train leaving Colwall Tunnel hauled by a 53xx appeared in the March and April issue of the Railway Magazine credited to Timothy H Cobb. The view shows the western entrance to both tunnels with what appears to be narrow gauge rails leading in to the older bore.

Excavations in the tunnel amounted to over 64,000 cubic yards. The building of the brick lining accounted for about 12,185 cubic yards, and lastly 1,966 cubic yards of concrete were built into the tunnel and the two faces. Employment on the works was found at times for nearly 500 men, but never fewer than 200 at one time. There were no serious accidents during the three year project. Numerous ponies were used by the contractors for underground movement of materials and spoil, and a resident in Colwall took great care of the animals.

The Malvern end of the old tunnel. By 1943 the new tunnel was fitted with a wire which if broken by the guard or engineman of a failed train, would sound an alarm in the signal boxes at either end. In addition a treadle was provided 100 yards from the north end of the tunnel which would sound a clapper and so indicate to the enginemen their position. Similar arrangements applied in nearby Ledbury tunnel. (Reference Appendix Sec 12. Feb 1943.)

Physical construction of the new tunnel took about thirty months to complete in comparison with the seven years necessary with the original tunnel. The 48

BOOK REVIEW Pannier Supplement No 1 by the Great Western Study Group (No ISBN) - £3-00 (plus UK p & p £1-00): Corrections to A Pictorial Record of GWR Coaches Part One (1838-1913) and A Pictorial Record of GWR Coaches Part One (1903-1948) By JH Russell (Oxford Publishing Co) The reviewer can still recall his surprise and delight on discovering Part One of Jim Russell’s classic in a well-known bookshop in Charing Cross Road almost 50 years ago. That and the following volumes remain constant companions, providing a mass of information about a previously under-recorded element of GWR history. However, the jumbled layout is not always “user-friendly”, necessitating detective work to match up photographs, drawings, lot numbers etc before embarking on the next modelling project. This booklet’s introduction includes an explanation on how this may have come about, and then proceeds to list corrections on a page-by-page basis.

Some address straightforward errors e.g. Part One P133 “Drawing 89. Error in last line of text. K9 were numbered 1062-3 only. 1064-5 were K10.” There is also helpful information such as an explanation of the different underframe types used with Toplights (Part Two P63). Further, Part Two (P128-133) dispels the impression given by Russell that the express articulated sets initially worked as complete trains; apparently twins and triplets were invariably distributed in rakes of conventional coaches and examples are quoted of the duties on which they were employed.

There is a tantalising note regarding Part Two P267 stating that telegraph code names for coaching stock must be treated with caution as they were subject to change, and that this will have to be covered in a separate supplement. This is eagerly awaited.

Despite shortcomings, Russell’s volumes were a monumental achievement. They are now complemented by this useful publication which is clearly the result of much assiduous research, thus forming an essential point of reference for any serious student of Great Western coaching stock. Strongly recommended.

See http://gwsg.org.uk/

Have you had a book on the GWR published recently? If so we would be happy to provide an objective review. Speak to your publisher and ask them to send a copy to the address on Page 2.

49

HOME WITH THE MILK………R C RILEY he late Dick Riley was a supremely gifted T photographer and his work has appeared in a number of books launched by Transport Treasury

that this was nothing out of the ordinary the next day a "County" was piloting a "Castle". For most of my journeys in the West Country that summer the W.R. had seldom provided anything better than a "Hall", so the milk's privileged treatment seemed to warrant investigation.

Publishing, including Western Times. He was less well-known as a writer but this account of his investigations into the operation of West Country milk trains shows that his literary talents matched his competence with a camera. The article set out below first appeared in Trains Illustrated in 1959; it is presented here verbatim.

On the Western Region, milk trains work up to London from Penzance, Wellington (Somerset), Weymouth, Whitland, Carmarthen and Wootton Bassett, each train making several intermediate stops to attach further milk tanks, and in some cases to shed them. The more I looked into them, the more complex seemed the milk train workings, so I decided to concentrate my attentions only on the traffic from the West Country. Penzance was the best place to start my enquiries, for two trains leave there for Kensington at 12.20 p.m. and 6.20 p.m. each weekday and at 12.35 p.m. and 5.40 p.m. on Sundays. The importance of milk traffic need not be stressed, and it was not surprising to learn that throughout the footplatemen's strike of 1955 a milk train was worked up from Penzance each day. That one train, doing the work of two, must have taken some haulage, because the milk

HOME WITH THE MILK by R. C. Riley. First published in Trains Illustrated – March 1959 Our milkman is a jovial character, but not one given to yodelling at the customers on his round. Only the resounding "clonk" of bottles advises us that a couple of pints have been left on the doorstep.

Their delivery on time was one of those everyday features of life that I took for granted until one day, when I was standing on a Devon station, an up milk train caught my eye. As a train it was rather dull just a string of dirty-looking tanks and a brake but the motive power commanded attention. That day two "County" class 4-6-0s were in charge, and to show

Circa 1929 publicy image showing the number of individual churns (300 + 10 gallons in each), that could be accommodated in a single 3,000 gallon milk tanker. The date is significant as this was two years before the introduction of the 6-wheel tank wagons to Diagram O35, built in September/ October 1931. The location is not given but from the backscape it would appear to be a suburban/ semi-inductrial unloading dock at an existing milk depot. The tank appears to be of the 4-wheel type, soon found unsuitable for milk traffic. Its ‘hunting’ movement at speed tended to turn cream laden milk into butter, hence the move to a 6-wheel underframe. Despite introduction of milk shipments in bulk, short distance movement using the type of churn seen here or those of conical shape was never entirely eliminated.

50

ISSUE 2

tank wagons, with their six wheels and rigid wheelbase, do not ride so smoothly as bogie passenger vehicles.

high pressure hoses to prepare them for the next load. There are several different types, the most recent development being the tank on road wheels, which has to be loaded by means of an end on ramp; this has a capacity of 2,000 gallons, while the tank wagons carry 2,000 or 3,000 gallons. Some of the ordinary type carry two tanks on the one underframe, the tanks being of 1,000 and 2,000 gallons' capacity respectively; the reason for this variety is that different qualities of milk must be carried separately - the more expensive and creamier Jersey or South Devon milk, for example, is kept apart from Friesian milk, with its low butter content. The average tank wagon has a tare weight of 14 tons, and when loaded with 3,000 gallons of milk its tonnage is increased to 28; the road-type tank wagon tares 18 tons, but has the same loaded weight of 28 tons.

All milk trains are vacuum-fitted throughout and run with Class "C" headlamps. They must be worked with the same care and attention as a passenger train, for milk does not respond favourably to rough treatment. From the railway point of view it is a lucrative traffic and easy to handle, since loading and unloading are both carried out by dairy personnel. The milk tank wagons are owned by the various dairy companies whose names they carry on small plates barely decipherable beneath the grime. British Railways maintenance extends only to the underframe, axles and drawgear. The tanks themselves are the sole responsibility of the dairy firm.

The uncared for external appearance of the tanks is nothing to go by, for the glass-lined tanks are kept in perfect condition. As soon as they have been pumped dry they are thoroughly cleaned out with

The motive power loading restrictions are of interest, and in simplified form they are as follows for the up milk trains (in tons):Above: On Monday 16 July 1956, No. 6801 Aylburton Grange (a long time resident of Penzance depot) was entering Menheniot with the 12.20 Up Milk from Penzance. The train comprises ten milk tankers, a passenger brake van whose profile suggests that it is of Diagram K41 or K42, and finally a Cordon aggregating a load of c. 320 tons. RCR R7684

51

WESTERN TIMES

On Friday 20 July 1956, 0-6-0 Class 2251 No 2230 of Exeter shed was shunting milk tank wagons at St Davids station. It is departing from Platform 3 (which handled Up Southern Region traffic) towards the camera with two milk tank wagons. It appears that these vehicles had arrived at the tail of a service off the North Devon line, and had been detached at the platform. They would now be added to an Up Western Region milk train bound for west London. Shunting movements at intermediate stops could be quite complex, adding significantly to elapsed journey times.

A Cordon and at least one ex-GWR coach are standing in the siding beside the Exe Valley line bay (Platform 2) while a mainline service consisting of BR Mark 1 coaches has arrived at Platform 1. The Grange which is standing at extreme right in Platform 6 might be in charge of the milk to which the two tankers will be attached. RCR 7762A

In the Working Instructions loads are also laid down for "King" class locomotives equivalent to an additional 45 tons above the "Castle" loads from Plymouth eastwards. "Kings" do not often appear on milk trains, as the express passenger trains have prior claims on their services, but the 6.20 p.m. Penzance is rostered for a "King" class locomotive from Plymouth to Southall. Last summer, before the advent of the diesel hydraulics, the engine in question was diagrammed to work down on the "Cornish Riviera Limited" each weekday, on summer Saturdays only as far as Newton Abbot, whence it assisted the 10.35 a.m. from Paddington to Plymouth. In practice, however, a "Castle" or a "County" is usually provided to work the up milk train.

went up loaded one day return empty the next to their original starting point. For this reason the printed consignment labels are reversible; thus one side may read ''TOTNES TO WEST EALING" and the other "EMPTY, WEST EALING TO TOTNEs".

This assists the regulation of wagons, for although a train load of empties may all look alike, in fact they are privately owned; one of the United Dairies wagons, for example, could not be loaded at a Dried Milk Products Ltd. centre. The milk empties return to the West Country on weekdays at 3.0 p.m. from Wood Lane to Plymouth, and at 7.45 p.m. from Kensington to Penzance.

The whole pattern of milk traffic has changed in the last 30 years with the introduction of glass-lined tank wagons. In the old days, milk trains consisted entirely of vans loaded with ten-gallon churns.

When filled, these churns weigh 130 lb. each and their manipulation is an art. I have watched the junior porters at country stations trying to handle them with an assumed air of nonchalance that failed to deceive, and I had to wait for an Inspector in the London district to show me how it was done; there was no doubt of his skill as he trundled three imaginary churns along the platform, much to the

Each loading centre indents in advance for its wagon requirements and the appropriate District Operating Superintendent's office is responsible for arranging their provision. In the case of stations from Penzance to Totnes, for example, Plymouth Control makes the necessary arrangements.

Although there are seasonal fluctuations in the milk supply, average requirements do not vary a great deal from day to day, and usually the wagons that 52

Hemyock station and adjoining dairy was probably the most rural and picturesque point from which milk tankers commenced their journey. The 7-mile Culm Valley branch abounded in sharp curves so speeds were little more than walking pace at several places. Class 14xx was the only type permitted over the line and on Wednesday 23 July 1958 No 1449 was departing from the terminus for Tiverton Junction with five milk tankers and a 1920-vintage 51’ ex-Barry Railway Non-Corridor Brake Third. This coach was dedicated to the branch and retained gas lighting as the speeds were inadequate to re-charge the batteries of an electrically-lit vehicle. RCR R12467

delight of some nearby passengers who had seen nothing quite so entertaining since Chaplin's "Modern Times"! Churn traffic, which has been declining for years, has lessened even more since a recent regulation that requires milk to be factory bottled before sale. Like the tank wagons, the churns are dairy property, but farmers often have other ideas, and find their own uses for them - it has not been unknown for dairy inspectors to find missing churns tucked away in an unsuspected corner of a farmhouse, filled to the brim with banknotes.

By courtesy of the Western Region I was able to travel up to London on a milk train. The normally recognised milking times mean that the 12.20 p.m.

Penzance is lightly loaded in the early stages of its journey and picks up more vehicles later on, while the reverse applies to the 6.20 p.m. For this reason I chose to make the journey out of Penzance on the latter. No. 1002 County of Berks was in charge, manned by a Penzance crew and the load consisted only of two tanks, one for Wandsworth Road and one for Queens Park, with a bogie brakethree for 84 tons.

Milk production in Britain is controlled by the Milk Marketing Board, and it is their responsibility to decide the destination of all traffic despatched from the loading centres. Lorries collect the milk from the various outlying farms, whence it is taken to the district distribution centre to undergo pasteurisation. It is then pumped into road tankers, which carry the milk to the nearest rail-loading centre. At Penzance the milk is brought to the station from Newbridge, for example, while at St. Erth the distribution centre is beside the line and the milk is pumped direct into the rail tank wagons.

Generally speaking, the liquid milk production figures vary according to the time of the year, and are dependent also on the amount set aside for processing purposes.

The day I had chosen for my journey was a weekday in mid-July, and so inevitably it was cold and grey with winds approaching gale force.

County of Berks ambled along the coast to Marazion and then turned northwards to our first stop at St. Erth, six miles from Penzance. We backed gently into the sidings just beyond the station to find five more tanks waiting, three for Mitre Bridge and two for Wood Lane. There was plenty of time to chat with the train crew, for nearly half-an-hour is allowed at St. Erth. After Mostyn Hall had hurried through on the up "Postal", the signalman reset the road, the disc came off, and we shunted back on to the main line to continue our journey.

53

WESTERN TIMES Until a few years ago milk trains called at Camborne, but they now pause at Dolcoath siding, about a mile nearer Carn Brea. The siding takes its name from a derelict mine nearby, and as it is on a sharp curve engines are not allowed to shunt out to the up line when a down train is signalled. Our train was left on the up line while County of Berks went into the siding to collect two more tanks, one for Wood Lane and one for Queens Park. This brought our load to ten vehicles for 280 tons, which remained unchanged to Plymouth. At Truro we called for five minutes, during which the engine took water and a Newton Abbot crew took over.

up, the signal came off and we jogged along slowly, crossing the Royal Albert Bridge in the fading light and halting in Plymouth station at 9.17 p.m., still 17 min. early in spite of the delay.

At Plymouth opportunity is taken to marshal the train into its correct formation, and on this occasion one more tank was added. It had been worked in from Saltash on the rear of the 6.15 p.m. auto-train and was destined for Queens Park. County of Berks drew forward into the shunting neck, and as soon as the station pilot finished its work the train engine for the rest of the journey, No. 4086 Builth Castle, backed down. After it had coupled on, County of Berks rejoined it to act as assistant engine as far as Newton Abbot; a Penzance engine, it would return home with the 1.10 a.m. fitted freight from Hackney Yard. That was the extent of my journey on that occasion, but I stayed on the platform to watch the train leave at 10 o'clock. It would be unlikely to pick up any more vehicles, except perhaps at Taunton; a pannier tank would take over from the main line engine at Southall, and after pausing to detach at Wood Lane the train would reach Kensington about 5.30 a.m.

One feature of the running was the quick response of the hard-riding train to any change of gradient.

After running quite briskly downhill the deceleration of the train when it reached an adverse gradient was much more marked than on a passenger train.

So it was that our descent from Polperro Tunnel brought us to a brief 60 m.p.h. before we reached Probus & Ladock platform. This little station, closed in December, 1957, is perhaps the only one on British Railways to shut down as a result of myxomatosis, for the greater part of its revenue came from its one-time rabbit traffic.

There is no milk traffic originating from Plymouth, but milk tanks are worked into North Road on branch trains from Lifton and from Saltash. The former come down on the 2.10 p.m. or 5.40 p.m. trains from Launceston on weekdays, but as there is no suitable train in the sparse Sunday service, a "45XX" 2-6-2 tank works the milk empties to Lifton in the morning, returning at 2.40 p.m. with the loaded vehicles. From Saltash the 3.0 p.m. and 6.15 p.m. auto-trains bring the tanks into Plymouth and the empties are worked back similarly. To avoid shunting across the main line at Saltash on a busy summer Saturday it is the practice on Fridays to obtain sufficient empty tanks to cover the whole of the week-end traffic. The auto-trains are allowed to take two loaded tanks from Saltash to Plymouth.

The 1 in 67 climb to Grampound Road reduced speed to 27 m.p.h., and then we were coasting briefly down the bank before tackling the next climb to Burngullow. The first bit of sustained running at 60 m.p.h. followed over the four-mile descent from St. Austell to Par Harbour, terminated by a deft brake application for the restriction through Par station, and then County of Berks hammered away again up to Treverrin Tunnel. The nineteen miles from Truro to Par, for which 32 min. are allowed, had actually taken 25! min., a creditable effort. At Lostwithiel there is another milk loading centre, where the 6.20 p.m. calls if required. On this occasion, however, the 12.20 p.m. had picked up all the traffic, and so with scrupulous observance of the speed restriction we swept through the station, glancing up to Restormel Castle on the hillside as we settled to the task of the ten-mile climb to Doublebois. Speed did not fall below 36 m.p.h., and down the other side was held to a restrained 45 m.p.h. before crossing Moorswater Viaduct. So, by missing the Lostwithiel stop, we were 17 min. before time through Liskeard, and the hard work was virtually over.

Some months elapsed before I had another opportunity to travel on a milk train, and it was a sunny day in late October. As the load of the 6.20 p.m. is usually complete on reaching Plymouth, I decided to resume my journey from Plymouth on the 12.20 p.m. from Penzance. Unfortunately I was out of luck, for there was very little traffic that day and we had a lightweight load. I learned that peak loading had been reached a month earlier, but much of the production was now being dried.

Procedure was the same as with the 6.20 p.m.

Penzance. The train arrived behind No. 6965 Thirlestaine Hall, which ran forward while shunting took place. A loaded tank from Lostwithiel to Torrington was detached, to resume its journey by the S.R. route. Then No. 1015 County of Gloucester backed down and Thirlestaine Hall

My favourite part of the journey was still to come. It follows the attractive rose-lined station of Menheniot as the line crosses the viaducts overlooking the wooded valleys far below, and culminates in the sight of the St. Germans river. At St. Germans we were brought to an unexpected halt-for an appropriate enough reason - a cow had been seen straying on the line! It was soon rounded 54

ISSUE 2 Milk from the West Country was discharged at the Milk Marketing Board Depot at Kensington Olympia and the empties were then worked back to staging points as the first phase of the return journey. This train, consisting of four tankers, what appears to be a Fruit C, a passenger brake van, and then at least another six tankers has arrived at West Ealing on Monday 11 April 1955. It is being reversed by 0-6-0PT No 9708 into the sidings between that station and Drayton Green on the West Ealing Loop.

Later the train will be drawn back into West Ealing station and a main line locomotive will take over to haul the return working westwards down the Relief line.

To reach West Ealing, No 9708 would have returned northwards up the West London line from Kensington Olympia to North Pole Junction and then over the Victoria Branch to the Paddington-Bristol Down Relief before branching off at Old Oak Common on to the Acton and Northolt line. The train would then have proceeded through North Acton, Park Royal and Perivale before taking the east curve immediately before Greenford onto the West Ealing Loop. This circuitous course minimised movements over the Paddington-Bristol route. RCR 5709

returned to assist as far as Newton Abbot. On leaving Plymouth the train was made up of tanks routed:

remarked, "but this is one of the good ones".

Certainly it was gleaming in its new green livery and seemed in fine fettle. During the summer this train leaves North Road at 4.20 p.m., but the winter service was in operation and it was not due to leave until 5.0 p.m. In fact we left as soon as we had the road, about two minutes before time.

St. Erth - Mitre Bridge (2), St. Erth - Cricklewood, Lostwithiel - Queens Park, Saltash Queens Park; with a rear-end van, this made six vehicles for 168 tons.

We were quickly through Plympton, four miles out, and tackling the three-mile climb of Hemerdon bank. How those tanks seemed to drag! The load was only about half the maximum permitted and yet those two engines were making heavy weather of it. As we climbed higher and emerged from the woods we were able to enjoy one of the most dramatic sunsets I have ever seen, and it heralded a glorious starlit night with a full moon throughout the journey. Minimum speed on the bank was 21 m.p.h., and Hemerdon box was passed with a minute in hand, but this was of little avail for it was evident that we were catching up the 4.25 p.m.

Plymouth Millbay - Paddington parcels train, which had left North Road fifteen minutes ahead of us with twelve vans behind Nos. 7916 Mobberley Hall and 5048 Earl of Devon. We were checked all the way from Ivybridge and then brought to a brief stop at Tigley box. A five-minute run thereafter brought us to a stand outside Totnes station, where the two engines came off, collected another tank from the siding and added it to the head of the train; the addition was for Wandsworth Road and made the load 196 tons.

Provincial readers may not be familiar with some of the London destinations mentioned. The workings in this area are complicated and could form the subject of a whole article, but the following are the usual London destinations of West Country milk traffic:W.R. - West Ealing, Wood Lane. L.M.R. - Bollo Lane (South Acton), Mitre Bridge (Willesden Junction), Queens Park, Cricklewood, Marylebone.

E.R. - Ilford.

S.R. -

Wandsworth Road, Stewarts Lane, Morden South, Mottingham.

These are not the only London centres, but the ones to which traffic from the Western Region is directed. Each depot belongs to one or other of the big milk combines.

A Laira crew was in charge of County of Gloucester as far as Exeter, "I don't like the breed," the driver 55

WESTERN TIMES We left Totnes 10 min. early, breasted Dainton Summit at 27 m.p.h. and ambled down the other side, to be held outside Newton Abbot for 9 min., so that we came to rest in the station on time. Our pilot was quickly cut off, and then we were away to enjoy the delightful run along the sea wall from Teignmouth to Starcross. At Exminster we overtook the Millbay parcels that had delayed us earlier,' and reached Exeter St. Davids two minutes before time.

An Exeter crew took over County of Gloucester and worked the train as far Westbury. Exeter handles only milk tanks from Crediton, S.R., which arrive at 5.52 p.m., and are shunted into a siding beside Exeter Middle Box to be picked up by the milk train engine. On this occasion there were no tanks waiting and we restarted punctually at 6.55 p.m.

elimination of the Tiverton Junction stop brought us into Taunton 10 min. early. No milk traffic originates from Taunton or any of its branches, but Taunton is advised by Exeter Control of the formation of the train and takes the opportunity to remarshal the tanks added at stations since Plymouth in correct sequence.

When I made my enquiries at Taunton it was the evening of a Saturday in late July, and it says much for the patience and kindness of Inspector Bishop that I should have had so cordial a reception after what had been a harassing day for him. On that particular day the 12.20 p.m. Penzance was something like a train, made up of tanks for Staverton (2), Morden South (4), Mottingham (2), Wandsworth Road (1), Queens Park (1), Cricklewood (1), Mitre Bridge (4), Ilford (1) and a van, 17 vehicles for 476 tons. The train engine was of a type encountered on the milk trains only on busy summer week-ends, 2-8-0 No. 2820. Apart from the Staverton tanks, which would be detached at Westbury, all the destinations were in the London area. Sometimes the 12.20 p.m. Penzance will bring from Exeter a tank or two from Crediton to Marylebone; these are detached at Taunton and worked forward via Oxford on the 11.20 p.m.

Taunton-Wolverhampton parcels train.

Fifteen miles east of Exeter is Tiverton Junction, a station where the milk traffic is of special interest. It comes from Hemyock, terminus of the exquisite little Culm Valley branch, seven miles in length.

Passenger traffic on the branch is not very significant but it is assured, for the passenger coach provides the brake van for the milk trains.

The coach in question is a brake second that was built for the Barry Railway; it was converted from electric to gas lighting as recently as 1950, for its short journeys on the Culm Valley branch are too slow for the dynamos to work effectively. The little "14XX" 0-4-2 tank is permitted to take 140 tons up to Hemyock and 180 tons back to Tiverton Junction.

County of Gloucester's train needed no shunting, but guards were changed, and then punctually at 8.9 p.m. we pulled out of Taunton. The schedule allows for stops at Castle Cary and Frome, but neither was in fact necessary. I learned that since the 1955 strike the Frome traffic has been sent to London by road tank (this is certainly not the longest journey made by these cumbersome vehicles, for one drives up daily from Totnes), and such traffic, once lost to the railway, comes back only in bad weather when the roads are icy. In consequence we were able to make a brisk run with speeds of 68 m.p.h. at Somerton and 70 m.p.h. at Keinton Mandeville, though we had to reduce to rather less than 10 for a bridge reconstruction slack at Alford. We recovered to 58 m.p.h. through Castle Cary, but the long drawn-out climb to Brewham brought this down to 43 m.p.h. At Fairwood Junction we were stopped by signal for 4 min., but this was scarcely surprising since we ran into the loop line at Westbury 28 min. ahead of schedule.

Both engine crew and guard were changed here.

Loaded tanks are usually worked from Hemyock on the 3.0 p.m. or 5.55 p.m., and at peak periods on the 7.52 p.m. also. When I visited the station last July seven or eight loaded tanks a day were being worked away, either on the 12.20 p.m. from Penzance or on the 3.42 p.m. Exeter-Taunton local, in the latter case to be attached at Wellington to the 5.55 p.m. milk train from there to West Ealing. On summer Saturdays there is no local, and the milk train then starts from Tiverton Junction, a Taunton "Hall" providing the motive power. On Sundays the train starts from Exeter at 3.53 p.m., but usually runs "Engine & Van" only as far as Tiverton Junction, where it picks up perhaps half-adozen mIlk tanks and probably as many meat containers for Smithfield, for the meat traffic is of greater significance than the milk traffic at this little country junction. At Wellington, as mentioned above, the milk traffic is of sufficient importance for it to be the weekday starting point of the 5.55 p.m. milk train.

This train runs via Highbridge, Bristol, Bath and Trowbridge, regaining the main line at Westbury.

Eight minutes ahead of schedule, at 9.50 p.m., we left Westbury with a Reading crew in charge of County of Gloucester. More signal checks followed at Edington, Lavington and Grafton Junction, but we worked up to 63 m.p.h. before being brought to a stand for several minutes at Enborne Junction.

The Bedwyn-Newbury stretch of 13 miles is quite tightly timed, with its 15 min. schedule, and the

On the occasion of my journey we did not call at Tiverton Junction, but we were on the tail of a train that I was unable to identify and nearly every signal was against us between there and Norton Fitzwarren. In spite of the signal checks, however, 56

ISSUE 2 check prevented us from maintaining the booking; 2-6-0 No. 9313, standing on the centre road at Newbury with a ballast train, may have been the cause of the trouble. After a brief pause at Newbury Racecourse to set down crews for one of the longdistance night freight trains, we were off again, now 4 min. late, to maintain a steady 62 m.p.h., apart from a brief easing through Midgham and over Aldermaston troughs. A severe check at Southcote Junction just prevented a punctual arrival at Reading West, where Old Oak Common enginemen took over. From here the schedule of 46 min. to Southall is more than ample, so we ambled quietly up the main line at a mere 50 m.p.h., secure in the knowledge that at this time of night we were not holding up any other trains. At Hayes we crossed to the up relief line and drew into Southall on time at 12.12 a.m.

line past the deserted halts of Drayton Green, Castle Bar Park and South Greenford. From here we followed the spur round to Park Royal and North Acton to arrive in the milk sidings of Wood Lane depot at 12.49 a.m. There was time for a brief inspection of the ground frame here, and to note that the main line crossover points were electrically interlocked with Viaduct Junction box. No milk tanks were to be detached, but the main line engine came off, to be replaced by pannier tank No. 9704.

A few minutes' more travel sufficed to bring us into Kensington (Olympia) at 1.8 a.m.

In conclusion acknowledgement must be made to the Public Relations & Publicity Officer, Western Region, and to the scores of railwaymen who helped in my enquiries. If I detailed them all the list would be anything but brief, but I must mention the following stationmasters: Messrs. Anthony (Plymouth North Road), Ward (Exeter St. Davids), Ackford (Saltash), Ellis (Tiverton Junction), Bailey (Penzance), Evans and Harvey (relief stationmasters in Cornwall), to all of whom my grateful thanks.

Once more we changed guards, but we could not proceed at once because the Shrewsbury Paddington parcels was just ahead of us, having stopped to shunt some vans into the bay platform.

As soon as we got the road we set off very slowly, took the west curve at Hanwell, and joined the loop

Returning for more. On Sunday 16 July 1957, Old Oak Common’s No. 5939 Tangley Hall was working empties back down the Relief at Tilehurst. The train includes only four milk vehicles. The first, second and fourth are the normal 6-wheeled tanks while the third was one of the relatively few 6-wheel Milk Tank Trailer Trucks (Diagram O37). These were used to carry trailer road tankers that would be hauled to the loading point by a prime mover. Then follows a passenger brake van of Diagram K41 or K42, and finally a pair of ex-Southern Railway utility vans. RCR 10808.

The late Tony Atkins had agreed to undertake the necessary research into Great Western Milk Traffic with the aim of producing a volume(s) on the subject. Sadly he passed before much if any work was undertaken.

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58

MODERNISING THE WESTERN: PART 2 LAIRA AND PLYMOUTH (NORTH ROAD)

Above: Continuing from Issue 1 pages 78/ 79, Dick Riley recorded the old and part of the new at Laira on 9 July 1961. On the left is one of the new depot buildings and in the foreground are sidings housing various wagons associated with the building works. However, the main subject is the steam depot with much on view that explains why engine sheds were such a magnet for enthusiasts. From the left, there is a line of four diesel hydraulics on the short siding beside the four roads leading to the 1931 shed; a Class D63xx is closest to the camera and a D8xx Warship furthest away. Five 4-6-0s or 2-8-0s are stabled on the two sidings that terminated just in front of the stores building. Beyond the breakdown vehicles (a mess van and two tool vans), a 4000-gallon tender has been parked on the short stub siding beside the road that led to the roundhouse entrance.

On the next siding road there are three timber-bodied wagons whose purpose was probably to carry ash and clinker away from the depot. Behind these wagons on the roundhouse entrance road are three 4-6-0s with a Modified Hall closest to the camera. The metal extension to the south side of the main coal stage building was added during the war but photographs of it actually being used are rare. A Class 8750 is standing on the coal stage ramp while a BR standard locomotive is largely hidden by the brick building. This could be a ‘Britannia’ but by this date was more likely to be Class 9F of which eight were allocated to LA between 1959 and October 1960. Even after that, this class still put in appearances. The other five engines are all ex-GWR and the two closest to the camera are a Class 2884 and far right, a Class 28xx. In the foreground stand two wagons loaded with locomotive coal; that on the left with its brake on is a timber-bodied ex-private owner (‘P’ prefixed number) and the other is modern standard BR all-steel open.

The steam depot officially closed in April 1964 but as late as October that year Exmouth Junction shed was still rostering steam power on some Plymouth services via Okehampton so the depot had to provide coal and water for these engines.

The majority were untypical power to appear at an ex-GWR shed including Bulleid Pacifics, Ivatt 2MT tanks and especially towards the end, BR Standard Class 4 & 5 4-6-0s, and Class 4MT tanks. The last ex-GWR inhabitant was ex-shed pilot 0-6-0ST No 1363 which lingered on alone in the roundhouse until rescue and removal to Totnes. The shed and facilities were demolished in December 1966. RCR 15100-939 Left: Milk trains were used for back working vehicles and illustrations include empty Cordons, Fruits C and D, and odd vans but a slip coach – in this case a Concertina type – is thought to have been unusual. Introduction of 70’ Dreadnought Restaurant Cars in 1904 had been a revolutionary step forward in size, length, and interior space making them instantly recognisable when inserted into rakes of Clerestories. The ordinary passenger coaches that followed were equally impressive for their size but unpopular with the travelling public as compartment access was only possible from the corridor. Tradition dictated that every compartment should enjoy access on both sides of the vehicle and the Concertinas were a compromise response to customer expectations with Dreadnought length and width dimensions maintained. There were only two Concertina slip coaches, officially Double Slip Tri-Composite Nos 7685/ 6. This is the compartment side and the division of accommodation moving away from the camera was Guard & Luggage/ Toilet/ 2 x Second Class [later downrated to Third]/ 2 x First Class/ 3 x Third Class/ Toilet/ Guard & Luggage. Their working careers were quite long: W7685 [June 1906 – June 1955] and W7686 [June 1906 – March 1956]. The latter was reclassified Non-corridor Brake Composite in March 1954. The Passenger Brake Van is a 57’ Collett diagram K41 or K42 with seven milk tank wagons in the usual grime. Apparently, the milk industry disliked transportation in outwardly filthy tanks as being at odds with the pure, healthy image of their products. However, as outlined in the preceding article, maintenance and internal cleaning of the tanks was the industry’s responsibility but there seem to have been no measures in place for external maintenance. The preceding article mentions the excessive drag effect of laden 6-wheel milk tank wagons, as compared with bogie vehicles.

Hitherto, the Editorial team has assumed that a loaded tanker weighing c. 28 tons roughly equated a passenger coach but perhaps an additional 20% should be added to take account of the greater rolling resistance. The location is unknown but train depicted is apparently London-bound (with the slip coach being worked back). Using this formula, this train would have weighed: Slip coach – 32.75 tons + PBV – 28.25 tons + seven milk tankers – 196 tons + resistance factor – 40 tons = total load c.300 tons. George Heiron

59

Top: Modernisation at Plymouth on 30 April 1961 (although the qualification was formally dropped in 1958 to this day the station is still known to anyone aged over 50 as ‘North Road’). This view shows the west end of the station with the office block under construction and new Plymouth Panel Signal Box which had been commissioned on 26 November 1960. The rebuilding of North Road station had started in 1938 but was suspended during World War 2, and did not recommence until 1956. The new design swept away the former covered train sheds and provided for seven through platforms, two of which were converted to dead end bays in 1974. The new station buildings were formally opened in 1962 by Dr Beeching (who was known to wonder what railway purpose the new office block would serve). The end result did not please that lover of all things quintessentially English, John Betjeman. As a contributor to the Book of the Great Western published in by 1970 The Sunday Times, he commented “(Plymouth)…dullest of stations and no less dull now it has been rebuilt in copybook contemporary”. RCR R15100-575 Bottom: This view, also dated 30 April 1961, is looking westward with track renewal underway on the eastern station approach with the now closed 59-lever East Signal Box on the right. An unidentified ‘Hall’ and a steam crane are involved in the work which is centred around a particular crossing, under the supervision of the gentleman in the trilby who is probably the local Permanent Way Inspector. The three double compounds in a line that were a distinctive feature at this end of the station were removed in 1974, allegedly to allow HSTs (then in development) to make a faster approach, it being feared that their short wheelbase bogies might encounter problems. This was long before the days when the station would close down for the duration of such a task; there appears to be a lookout near the left hand running line. To the left there is a milk tank standing in the siding by the ‘back lane’, a spot frequented by enthusiasts. In the early 1970s, milk tanks (perhaps cripples) were often parked at this point and the smell on a summer’s day could be enough to encourage pursuit of a different hobby. (For anyone interested in mechanical signalling at Plymouth, former local signalman Larry Crosier produced Mechanical Signalling at Plymouth in 2000, published by the Signalling Record Society. It is highly recommended.) RCR R15100-576

Top: This and the next view of Plymouth were taken on 29 August 1961 by which time glazing was being installed in the office block, later named ‘Intercity House’. This building has been criticised in recent years for its poor quality accommodation with proposals for its demolition. Waiting at Platform No 6 is Southern Light Pacific No 34074 46 Squadron at the head of a Down goods train with the fireman looking back, waiting for the ‘tip’ from the guard. Two platforms to the right a Diesel Hydraulic Warship awaits departure on an Up passenger service. As at Exeter, London & South Western Railway trains used GWR metals and then the routes divided to circumvent the barrier of Dartmoor with the GWR crossing the southern shoulder. Thus the up and down services of the two companies worked through these stations in opposite directions (or alternatively the LSWR went in the wrong way). This could lead to the comical possibility of waving good-bye to a friend as respective trains departed in opposite directions from Plymouth and an hour later passing the same friend again at Exeter, still travelling in the opposite direction. Devonshire railways’ version of Groundhog Day! The 350 hp diesel shunter, still in black livery with the cycling lion emblem in contrast to BR’s efforts to present a modern image to the location, is probably the station pilot. It is standing on the through road in charge of vans, passenger brake vans plus two or three coaches. All appear to be of BR vintage except the second PBV which is almost certainly a Collett bow ender. Steam was still employed as station pilot as late as July 1963 including on at least one occasion now preserved No 4555. RCR R16251-111 Bottom: Finally, No. 4920 Dumbleton Hall of Newton Abbot is departing from Plymouth in the Up direction under express headlamp code with a train comprising Diesel Hydraulic No. D869 Zest (later Class 42) and five coaches. The diesel locomotive, which had then been in service for 48 days, does not seem to be under power and might have failed. A train of this size would not need pilot assistance over the south Devon banks and with steam/ diesel double-heading it was normal practice for the steam engine to be coupled inside if the diesel was under power. The reasons were to allow the diesel crew a clear view forward and to eliminate the risk of ash clogging the air intakes. The new diesel depot at Laira had yet to be commissioned, otherwise D869 would probably have been moved there for workshop attention. The train is passing the double compound that was the focus of attention from the permanent way gang on 30 April that year. Interestingly, bullhead rail was still being used.

In addition to its celebrity as the oldest surviving preserved Hall, No 4920 shared the distinction together with No 4978 Westwood Hall of being the last passenger locomotive on the shed’s books, not leaving until June 1964. RCR R16251-112 Further features in this series are intended for future issues.

62

MODERN TRACTION..…..PAUL COOPER t the time Paul Cooper took these photographs, A he was a management trainee based at Paddington and his position enabled him to make

turned out, he did not continue his career long-term with BR (WR) but Paul was able to make use of some of his time enjoying these charismatic machines in the best way possible.

footplate journeys with Class D1000. As things

Opposite: An unidentified Class 52 heads the 1400 hrs Paddington-Swansea on the approach to Twyford on 18 March 1972 (this is a compressed 350 mm telephoto shot which distorts the perspective).

Above: Class 52 D1068 Western Reliance is being prepared between turns at Ranelagh Bridge on 1 May 1970.

Right: Class 52’s awaiting their next turns at Ranelagh Bridge on 1 May 1970.

On the left is D1020 Western Hero and on the right D1068 Western Reliance.

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64

Opposite top: Class 52 D1042 Western Princess and Hymek D7058 are ‘parked’ around the turntable at Old Oak Common on 29 April 1970.

Opposite bottom: D1057 Western Chieftain and Brush class 47 1681 at Old Oak Common on 29 April 1970.

This page, top and bottom: D1068 Western Reliance heads the 13.45 Paddington-Bristol on 1 May 1970 under Ranelagh Road bridge shortly after leaving Paddington and then accelerating away west. The 52’s were great locos to have cab rides in because of their expansive and tall windscreens. You could see fully ahead when in the front standing between driver and secondman, whereas on a Brush 47, you were constantly having to crouch to see forward. If at full height you were above the height of the windscreen.

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86

ISSUE 2

Opposite top: The Cornish Rivera behind D1022 Western Sentinel speeds through Reading on the Down Main as Southern 2-BIL unit No. 2025 departs platform 4a on the 1124 hrs Reading-Waterloo service. Meanwhile an unidentified D1000 Western draws to a halt on an Up service. Western Tower, the BR (WR) London Division HQ, is prominent in the background. This building, which was demolished in recent times, allowed panoramic views to Sonning Cutting and Reading West Junction.

Opposite bottom: Driver Joe Goatson of Old Oak Common top link drives Class 52 D1022 Western Sentinel on the down Cornish Riviera near Sonning on 28 April 1970. The driver and secondman will work the train as far as Exeter and return with the Up 1438 hrs from Exeter.

This page, top: The speedometer of the loco at 90 mph working the Cornish Riviera on 28 April 1970 on the run down from Savernake. This is a reverse working with Paul travelling in the rear cab. There were two officials travelling with the crew in the front cab – a Traction Inspector and a US railroad official. Paul recalls there was a rule that no more than four people could travel in a cab.

However, when he was based at Old Oak Common, the ageing commuter bus used to ferry staff between there and Paddington offered suffered a failure. A light engine would be substituted with the station announcer advising all staff wanting to travel to OOC to head for ‘the substitute bus service on Platform X’. On occasion, Paul caught this ‘bus’ with around 12 personnel crammed into each cab.

This page, bottom: View from the cab of Class 52 D1022 Western Sentinel on the 10.30 PaddingtonPenzance Cornish Riviera Limited of an approaching class 52 on an up working near Hungerford, 28 April 1970.

All images by the Author.

67

THE GWR TRAFFIC, LOCOMOTIVE AND ENGINEERING DIVISIONS: PART 2 Continued from Western Times Issue 1.

The article raises two key queries. [1] Was it necessary to have divisions of differing sizes?

– but then speculates that the smaller units might be suitable for training managers for larger divisions. [2] It questioned the symmetry between areas of responsibility for each department, commenting that there were possibly pros and cons to this perspective.

Certainly the maps set out in Issue 1 indicate that divisional responsibilities overlapped in numerous locations which must have been confusing in the co-ordinated administration of the business.

The Railway Gazette took the detail presented in the article as an opportunity to discuss the organisation of the GWR commenting ‘…from time to time there have been notable reorganisations of the administrative departments of different railways’ but without quoting any examples.

Various statistics are also contained within the text of the article that were extracted from the GWR pamphlet including the information that the company had 1,055 stations, 117 halts, and 24 platforms (the latter a variant of the halt).

Pictured on the approaches to Paddington station, William Dean 2-4-2T No. 3619 of Old Oak Common shed was built in August 1902 and was to have a service life of just short of 29 years. Nicknamed ‘Birdcages’ in reference to their spacious high-arched cabs, the 36xx Class were designed for fast suburban passenger work in both the London and Wolverhampton divisions until replaced by the Collett Large Prairies from 1930. On the drawbar is chocolate and cream liveried Churchward K22 Toplight Passenger Brake No.1145. Built in 1922 to of Lot.1301, this ‘Snake C’ remained in traffic until August 1960 and survives today as a shop on the Severn Valley Railway at Bewdley. Shaftsbury collection

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ISSUE 2

69

THE HUMBLE DISTANT SIGNAL WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO PETER SQUIBB

O

ne of the editors had lunch recently with Peter Squibb, devotee of all matters Great Western but especially signalling. As a Wild Swan author and modeller of GW signalling par-excellence, Peter’s pedigree goes back ‘a few years’. He is a former professional signal lineman who worked on former GW and SR signal boxes and their locking, as well as later taking his skills countrywide and to the Irish Republic. When the conversation soon turned to signalling, as it so often does, it is certainly worthwhile listening carefully. Peter had brought with him a copy of Great Western Steam, by W.A. Tuplin, published George Allen & Unwin (1958), and took up the story:-

the driver had to acknowledge the warning and cancel the brake application at every ramp, a useful reminder of his location. The economy would have been considerable. Contacts at the lever and the signal, two batteries, a line wire and a relay would have been unnecessary.

BUT, as installed the system was a welcome aid to confident running when visibility was impaired to which the author refers to with warmth and approval within the rest of his text.”

Peter concluded “I confess to being puzzled by the seeming paradox. I am sure someone will put me right!”

No doubt others may well wish to comment but for the present suffice to say that with the driver continually receiving a cautionary message, was there not a risk of it becoming an automatic (no pun intended) action continually to cancel the warning on the basis ‘We’ve never been stopped here before’? With permanent cautionary warnings, train speeds would also have to had been reduced every time visibility was reduced.

Under these circumstances, ATC would have been of little consequence.

“Scanning my bookshelves for something fresh to read in these ‘locked down’ times I noticed this title.

This was my first adult railway book and a birthday present from Daphne, the lady who was my wife for 59 years.

“It is quite learned in content and is miles away from some subsequent offerings that seem to insist that everything that rolled out of Swindon Works was perfect. They were not, claims Professor Tuplin but their excellence was ‘explained simply by intelligent design, careful building, hard driving, hot firing, and not humbly attributed to some wonderful Wiltshire witchcraft.

Perhaps instead we should (again) commend the Great Western for its ATC investment. Similarly we should admire and respect generations of drivers for their dedication to safety.

Even in pre-1927 days when distant signals were red and showed a red or green light, the railway maintained its excellent standards. It was a record held up as an example by the Board of Trade Inspectors on numerous occasions.

“My qualification to comment on the subject stems from my service as a Signal & Telecommunications Lineman which entailed the installation and removal of both Great Western Automatic Train Control ramps and British Railways Automatic Warning System magnets. Of the BR equipment, Tuplin says that ‘statistics ….indicate that this system will never pay for itself.

Professor Tuplin, for all his acknowledged skill as an engineer and a writer, apparently forgot that 11 years prior to publication of his book the GWR had instigated successful trials using their contact based ATC with four-aspect signalling. A dead ramp at every signal? Hardly.

“Tuplin also suggests that the Great Western ATC could have been improved by leaving all the ramps dead as they were when the associated Distant Signal was fixed at ‘Caution’. This would mean that

Image: Location not confirmed but likely to be the Bristol area. From a photograph by George Heiron.

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PARTNERS WITH PLANES Amyas Crump

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he air industry has come a very long way from the exploits of the well known Wright brothers over a century ago. In GWR territory many would argue that John Stringfellow had achieved powered flight long before, at Chard, Somerset, albeit without a man on board. It would seem wholly appropriate that the GWR should be the first of the 'Big Four' to exercise powers granted in 1929 to provide a tentative air service four years later in 1933.

Given the presence of the Bristol Channel, there was a natural desire to be able to provide a faster route to promote commerce between the South West and South Wales, rather than via Bristol and the Severn Tunnel (or via the Severn Bridge or Gloucester), either one the typical Sunday rail diversionary routes when engineering work closed the tunnel.

In addition the Bristol Channel was served by paddle steamers carrying excursionists in their hordes to and fro between the various ports, harbours and islands around the channel coast; a service that continued until the 1960s.

company 'Petters' had a siding off the TauntonYeovil branch.)

Initial services started on 11 April 1933 between Haldon (approximately midway between Exeter and Teignmouth) and Cardiff's Splott Airfield. It cannot be said to have been an instant and outstanding success financially as cabin space was limited to just four paying passengers.

Consequently there was soon a change by taking on the carriage of mail (at extra cost to the consignee) and extensions of the route to Birmingham and Plymouth, the former meaning there was now a single return journey compared

In 1933 the GW was looking at very different clientele for its air services, in effect a premium market. It therefore entered a wet-lease contract with Imperial Airways which ran the service.

Coincidentally the Imperial Airways charter fleet included a Westland Wessex monoplane registered as G-AAGW, a most appropriate registration from a marketing point of view. Coincidence strikes again as this plane had been built at another GW Somerset outpost, Yeovil (Where the parent

Above: The initial, Art Deco style timetable cover featuring the Westland Wessex was designed by Charles Mayo. The first pilot to fly G AAGW for Imperial Airways was Capt.

Gordon Olley, a former WW1 fighter ace, however he left Imperial in 1934 to set up his own airline, Olley Air Services Ltd - see http://www.airportofcroydon.com/ Olley%20Air%20Services.html.

Olley returned to the fold in 1938 as the third partner in a joint venture with the GWR and the Southern Railway outside of the RAS to connect the Midlands with the Channel Islands with Cowes, Isle of Wight.

Left: Tickets for the initial GWR air service were available through agents who also handled railway bookings, as listed on this handbill. With domestic air travel in its infancy, the boarding pass included useful tips like a warning against opening the cabin door while in the air.

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ISSUE 2 with the original two. Historically it represents one of the earliest regular domestic air services in the UK, which from 1934 was then absorbed in to the combined Railway Air Services operation involving the GWR-LMS-LNER-SR and not surprisingly Imperial Airways. The RAS aircraft using a livery of silver with a red and green stripe. Service operated only in summer months the reason being poorer climatic conditions and passenger comfort.

Expansion brought a new fleet of aircraft to RAS, the De Havilland Dragon, forerunner of the highly successful DH Rapide of which a few are still airworthy today.

For the first year of RAS, 1934, services were relocated from Haldon to Torbay Airport, actually well inland at Denbury. This brought about a most unusual circumstance, in that Denbury was in effect a 'Request Stop' something that so far, your author

Envelope: The envelope was actually posted for a Plymouth philatellic collector, obviously recognising the historic importance of the new service. The GWR Air Mail stamp has also been seen in blue / turquoise.

Top right: The Westland Wessex carried crew and passengers in an enclosed cabin, a by no means universal feature at the time. Despite a reduction in the initial fares of £5 and £3 single, only just over 700 tickets were issued making this a very rare example. In the care of the Great Western Trust, it is reproduced with their kind permission.

Mail was carried from 15 May 1933, subject to a supplementary charge of 3d which was double the then normal postage rate. The surcharge stamp carried an image of the Westland Wessex. A copy of the relevant freight documentation has not been traced.

Bottom right: The RAS logo used from 1934 onwards.

has not been able to find applied on other UK internal air services. With the seasonal nature and relatively short period of operation records are scant, one of the few observers having been a young T W E Roche, whom your author was fortunate to meet in the early 1970s. (Roche was later author of several books reminiscing on the Great Western.) If there were no passengers at Denbury, shortly before the Northward flight ex Plymouth was due, a large canvas cross was unrolled across the field. The pilot being able to see this from some way off, would dip a wing in acknowledgement and head off towards Cardiff.

Wartime brought most services to a halt, the planes being redeployed. One service that was maintained during this time was to the Isles of Scilly but which also brought about the loss of one plane (G-ACPY) together with those on board, the aircraft coming down near St Marys as a result of an attack by an enemy Heinkel 111.

WESTERN TIMES

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ISSUE 2

Air travel was regarded as a seasonal activity and the service terminated at the end of September. G-AAGW returned to Imperial Airways and was subsequently used for pilot training. It is depicted here still in GWR livery except for removal of the coat of arms from the tail plane. The mages on the opposite page and above show the aircraft and its recovery following a soft landing, thought to be near Hurn, Bournemouth. Apparently, it became bogged as it drew to a halt, sustaining undercarriage damage.

Right: With sheer legs in place and with the aid of a chain block, the fuselage has been raised sufficiently to enable a wooden sledge to be constructed. ‘Imperial Airways branding appears below the cabin window. The fuselage wording to the lower right states ‘WEIGHT EMPTY ???’ and on the lower line ‘MAX TOTAL WEIGHT AUTHORISED ???’.

A hardback book Railway Air Services

by John Stroud was published by Ian Allan in 1987.

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WESTERN TIMES Horse power played an important part in the recovery.

A vintage International Titan 10-12 tractor (dating back to 1915-1920) has been hitched to the sledge only to become bogged itself, apparently necessitating the help of horse power.

The final images in the sequence shows the remainder of the fuselage resting on a wheeled frame, awaiting removal from the site using horse power alone. This was not the end of the line for GAAGW as it was repaired and returned to the air until withdrawal in August 1940. These views might assist anyone modelling this unusual piece of GWR history. More information on this unfortunate incident would be welcome.

Unless stated, all images are Author’s collection.

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This looks like a 70’ Concertina Brake 3rd Diagram D43. The panelling appears to be picked out in a darker colour but possibly just the effect of shadows. Source: British Railways Pre-Nationalisation Coaching Stock Part 1 by H. Longworth, Crécy 2018.

No location is given but looks suspiciously like the west end of Bath. George Heiron

THE GREAT WESTERN TRUST (GWT) - BULLETIN No. 1

T

he Trustees are delighted and grateful that the Editors of WT have invited GWT to contribute to this new journal, to explain our purpose, facilities and from our Collection, offer primary source examples to give fresh insights into less well studied aspects of both the GWR and BRWR as transport businesses and their social and commercial impact upon the UK.

across the Railway Centre site, relevant buildings to display our cartage vehicles for better interpretation of the wider transport services the GWR & BRWR once provided.

In Bulletin No1, we should briefly explain GWT, and in future we can then concentrate on exploring our Collection and its insights. Full details are on the Didcot Railway Centre website under Explore; Small Artefacts Museum; Great Western Trust Museum & Archive.

Security of the Collection is ensured through the Trust and affiliated GWS bodies, being bound into the Full Accredited M u s e u m s t a t u s achieved by D i d c o t Railway Centre.

The Trust (Charity 289008) was created in 1984, by the Great Western Society (itself a Charity) this year celebrating its 60th anniversary. This was in recognition that the GWS’s Collection of locomotives and rolling stock and buildings at Didcot Railway Centre, gave only one perspective on the achievements and products of the GWR and BRWR. The Trust very specifically was to own, care for and give public display and study access to all things that were not 4 ft 8 ½ inch or even Broad Gauge operable. Rather a very wide canvas because we range over ALL the GWR & BRWR transport spheres and constituent and joint undertakings. The Core Collection is physically very large, very wide-ranging, and by pure coincidence principally (but not exclusively) spans up to the 1977 D10XX demise, as does WT!

We illustrate one GWR and one BRWR item, reflecting that to run a vast railway business, demanded effective administration and skilled personnel.

First, an official Secretary’s Office internal letter regarding staff attending “Railway Salesmanship Classes”. Beyond its 9th August 1939 date with WW2 declaration imminent, “Session 1939-40” illustrates that this was an annual course of substance. Selling its transport services, was its core activity. If its key staff lacked such awareness, custom would be lost or new custom denied.

Our Collection is focused upon our GWT Museum & Archive building within Didcot Railway Centre, comprising a modest Display Room, coupled to a more recent climate controlled Archive Store Room within our Annexe which also has a Reading/Study/ Conservation room. Our future objective is an Exhibition Hall worthy in scale for the Collection we have, and

Second, to prove consistency of need, we have this February 1963 WR booklet “On Becoming a Manager”. All 8 pages could be republished today, as it really is a clear, concise template for, we quote, “…the first command of men and affairs of British Railways…”

We believe that both GWR and BRWR organisational administration will reward scrutiny.

Peter Rance - GWT Trustee & Collection Manager.

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THE GUARD’S COMPARTMENT Nicholas Trudgian wrote: “The three photos at the end of your very welcome piece (page 79) about the brand new Laira diesel depot have been flipped back to front and should be mirror images of those printed.

In the article the pond is mis-described as the ‘Cattlewater'.

The Cattewater (regrettably, pronounced Cat Water) is part of the River Plym, downstream by about a mile and so in Southern Railway territory. The water seen in the photos was wholly within the Laira site and known as the ‘Mullet Pond’ being all that remained of a tidal inlet filled in so that the yard and loco shed could be built. For many years loco men would fish from this pond and did so until the diesel depot opened, after which oil leaking from the new locomotives soon coated the pond with a noxious film. It is alleged that this was one day ignited by a stray cigarette end! That story was told by a BR fireman who resigned because he could not stand the smell of the diesels. He got a job on a preserved line so that he could continue working with steam.”

to operate “gongs” so perhaps the bell on the signal post was operated from the box by a red and white lever, hence the second balance weight. However, a single stroke would be ineffective and there is no evidence of a battery box so this theory might not be valid.

--- o O o --The editorial team also gratefully acknowledge feedback on other topics.

Martin Crane commented: Page 25: The top photo is taken from is taken from Reading Main Line West Signal Box which is its proper name. Reading West was another station, around the corner. Page 43: Reference the Bottom photo showing No 5026 leaving Goring on the “Down Slow”, the GWR and BR(WR) never had ‘Fast’ and ‘Slow’ lines. They were always designated ‘Main’ and ‘Relief’ so this train was on the Down Relief Line. Page 48: The caption for top photo incorrectly states the location as Swindon.

The Warship is arriving at Taunton and the signals remarked upon are Taunton East Junction Box’ Down Relief Advanced Starting and Down Relief to Down Bays 1 & 2 Advanced Starting. It was renewed in tubular steel form in July 1961 so this coupled with the absence of a yellow warning panel on the locomotive suggests that the date was 1960 or 1961. Page 67: The Lever Frame shown under construction in Reading Signal Works is for Aber Junction in South Wales – the name is on the support plate next to Lever No 1. The frame had 107 levers and the new signal box opened in March 1953 which dates the photo as 1952.

--- o O o --The request for more information about the illustration on Page 7, Issue No 1 elicited interesting and varied responses: Martin Crane: The photo is of the western end of Gloucester station, with the roof of the West Signal Box appearing above the first wagon. The comment regarding the signal having two balance weights suggests that it is indeed slotted, possibly with the Middle Signal Box that existed there until 1938.

Chris Foren advised: Page 20: Regarding the presence of City of Truro at Norwood, on 11th May 1958, it had worked a ramblers’ excursion from Greenford to Haywards Heath as far as East Croydon. His late father and the 10-year old Chris observed the outward run at North Acton. From East Croydon to Haywards Heath the excursion was worked by No 32342, according to the Railway Observer, via Oxted and East Grinstead. Page 40: The coaches are of Hawksworth parentage. Page 45, upper photo: The dmu is not an Inter-City unit but a Cross-country set, one of the final batch of Class 120. Just visible on the front and are the “blue square” coupling codes. Swindon’s Inter-City sets with that design of front end did not have fourcharacter headcode boxes and had the “white circle” coupling code. Page 45, upper photo: The dmu is not a Pressed Steel set (Class 117) but one of the smaller batch of Class 118 built by Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Co. Page

John Simms: Suggested that the location is Gloucester with the West box in the background and an Up train passing over London Road bridge.

The reason for the second (rather than double) balance weight is that when the photo was taken Gloucester Middle Signal Box would have still been operating so the signal which has the second balance weight would have been the Middle Box Down Platform line Starting and West box Down Platform line Home, one slotting the other. The signal behind the platelayers would have been similarly equipped.

Peter Squibb: This location had appeared in a different photograph but did not think that the starting signal was slotted with another box as it is believed that this arrangement would have required three and not two balance weights. Further, the 1907 painting instructions makes mention of levers 79

WESTERN TIMES There appears to be a brief moment of pause in shunting operations on the Custom House Quay at Weymouth, as a Diagram C17 Dean Clerestory Gangwayed Third prepares to be attached to its formation. The locomotive is the unique ex Whitland & Cardigan Railway 0-6-0ST No.1331, which was built by the Fox, Walker and Company of Bristol in 1877.

Delivered as No.3 to its first owners, it was acquired by the GWR and renumbered No.1387 in 1886, before a Swindon rebuild and identity change for a final time in 1926. Destined for a welltravelled career, it worked from Pontypool, Gloucester and Reading Signal Works before its spell at Weymouth between 1927 and 1935, thence to Swindon and finally Oswestry from where it was withdrawn in January 1950. Shaftsbury collection

years, previous omission of the test seems strange.

Perhaps for all the care devoted to the design, this measure was not considered necessary if work only as a slow speed freight hauler was envisaged. - Ed)

46, lower photo: The leading dmu is not as described but a product of Swindon and one of the final batch of Class 120, as illustrated on Page 46.

Page 65: The overhead wires are of the type used by trolleybuses. It is not clear from the photo that there are tram tracks in the road. (Editorial comment: Trams ceased operation on this route from 15 July 1936 when it converted to trolleybus operation, as evidenced by the twin wires in the image dated 1937. It was common practice for trams and trolleys to share the overhead where dual routes converged and during transition between the two modes. Trams used the live wire and the twin-boom trolleys both live and return.

Closer inspection of the photo reveals that the 'intotown' rails [nearer the camera] have been covered with tarmac while the others remain exposed).

Chris also commented on operational procedures for freight trains at Dainton summit. This subject is still under discussion and hopefully an up-date will be provided in a later issue. Further, he kindly provided information on his experiences with the Newton Abbot breakdown train which have been retained for future use.

John Simms advised: Page 24: The Branch Line ‘Cornish Riviera’ was belled from Reading East Main to West Main as one-pause-three and not three-pause-one. [This is down to a gremlin; original draft was correct! -Ed]

Chris Hext stated: Cover photograph/ page 2: The Class 9F was designed initially at Brighton but Swindon introduced the double chimney modification. Chris entered the Locomotive Drawing Office in September 1957 and during the winter of 1957/ 8 he carried out the hammer blow calculations (using five figure logarithms) with a Class 9F dead, under tow at 20 mph and with all rods removed. Apparently, this test which had not been previously undertaken was required by Western Region’s Chief Civil Engineer. These calculations accounted for 10 pages in his newly acquired calculation book which he still retains. He also mentioned that on Sam Ell’s instructions, he prepared the production drawing for the 9F double chimney spark arrester (Given the success of this class which by then had been in service for three

--- o O o --The Editorial team expresses thanks and appreciation for the generous provision of archival material by Mrs M Atkins (widow of Tony), Malcolm Johns and William Lang.

Note from the Publisher: The previously advised subscription service has not yet been implemented, pending a final decision regarding the timing and frequency of issues. This delay is regretted and apologies are offered for any inconvenience.

Further details will be advised as soon as possible.

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