BATH RAILWAY SOCIETY

President: Pete Waterman OBE DL

Chairman: John Froud    

 Email: bathrailwaysociety@gmail.com

DECEMBER NEWSLETTER 2020

Dear Member,

We are once again in the midst of a lock down which hopefully will be soon coming to an end.  There does now seem to be some hope with vaccines in the future, and the committee continue to monitor the situation and keep our fingers crossed for a resumption of meetings sometime in 2021.

Our heritage railways have taken a big hit this year with a loss of revenue, and all being well, some will be able to re-open in time to get some form of ‘festive’ traffic and get the finances flowing again. Do go and support them if you can, as I’m sure they will be pleased to see you, but do check before travelling as some railways may require pre-booking or may not be operating at all.

In the last newsletter our new website was mentioned as being up and running. We have become aware that there is a problem if you access it via Google. It takes you to our old site, and if you go into Newsletter, last March’s comes up! We are trying to get this problem resolved. You should be able to access the new site by going to: -   www.bathrailwaysociety.co.uk or pasting this in your browser.

Do let us know what you think of the new website, and we welcome your feedback on all things.  Also, have you done anything interesting or heard any railway related stories which might be of interest to share with the membership via the newsletter, please do get in touch via the email address above. We would like to hear from you at these difficult and challenging times. Thank you to those of you who have been in contact and sent in items for the newsletter, and I hope you enjoy this extended edition.

In the last newsletter we gave a link to a film of Bath Spa and Freshford stations and asked if you could identify the railway personnel in it. We have had some success and can tell you that at Bath Spa we saw Station Master Albert Stowe and Relief Signalman Arthur Merritt. Over at Freshford the Gardner was Porter Ted Davis while up in the box we saw Signalman Mervin Holbrook. Thanks to Tim Hughes for the information, but another question has been posed. It is believed that Albert Stowe had a brother who worked for the railways and may have been at Blandford Forum. Can anybody confirm this?  

If you have £1.5m to send and fancy living in an old railway station then, Droxford station on the former Meon Valley line in Hampshire is for sale. Having two platforms, it closed to passenger traffic on February 7, 1955 and to freight on April 30, 1962. The station at Droxford has war time history as on June 2, 1944, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and members of his war cabinet met the Overlord (D-Day) commanders including US President Eisenhower and the French leader Charles de Gaulle, the Canadian President William Lyon McKenzie King and the South African leader Jan Smuts on the Royal Train, in the siding at Droxford. Tens of thousands of troops were already camped throughout the area, preparing for the invasion of France. After closure, Droxford station also became a preservation centre for the Southern Locomotive Preservation Company and a developing centre for the 'Pacerailer' (Sadler Rail Coach) railbus. However due to vandalism both schemes were abandoned and the tracks were finally lifted by 1975. The SLPC moved their preserved stock to the Bluebell Railway.

Network Rail will be working to the north of Bristol Temple Meads from Sunday December 27 until Sunday January 10. This is for the installation of a new signal gantry as part of a major track remodelling scheme in the area designed to increase capacity and reduce congestion, part of which is for the proposed Metro West services. As a consequence of this, buses will replace all trains from Bristol Temple Meads to Bristol Parkway, Bath Spa and Severn Beach on Sunday December 27. On that date, services between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads will start/terminate at Bath Spa and services between Cardiff Central and Portsmouth Harbour will be diverted and won’t call at Bristol Temple Meads. From Monday December 28 to Sunday January 10, timetables in the Bristol area will be amended as platforms 3-6 at Bristol Temple Meads will be out of use. Services on South Western Railway into/out of  London Waterloo will also be subject to change over the holiday period, so do check all journeys carefully before travelling.

The last passenger trains to Wadebridge in Cornwall ran 42 years ago this month. Although the station had been closed to passenger traffic from January 30, 1967 (Bodmin to Wadebridge services), it remained open for freight, particularly for powdered slate from Delabole quarry, but this traffic ceased in September 1978. The Bodmin Lions Club ran two sold out shuttles from Bodmin on December 17 that year formed of two x three car DMU’s. The profits raised went to charity. This however may not be the last passenger train to the town. Plans are still being examined to extend the Bodmin and Wenford Railway from the end of its running line at Boscarne Junction to a proposed new station at Wadebridge Guineaport. It is not now possible to reach the original station at Wadebridge.

31 years ago this month on December 30, Network SouthEast/British Rail ran five return trips down the Weymouth Quay Line using 33117 and 73104 + TC Sets 8001 8023. These trips were to celebrate 100 years use of the Quay branch and tramway. Sadly the rails in the streets of Weymouth are currently being dug up and cut up for scrap.

The Severn Valley Railway has been donated track removed as part of the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Metro extension by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) and the Midland Metro Alliance. More than one mile of track has been lifted from along the disused railway and it will help the SVR with its annual track replacement programme.  The donated track was last used for traffic around 1993.

The inaugural run of the Blue Pullman liveried HST, which was originally scheduled for last month but cancelled due to lock down 2, is now due to take place on December 12. (Also see below)

Bratton Fleming station on the former Southern Railway’s Lynton & Barnstable line has been purchased by Exmoor Associates and secured for future railway use when the line is eventually reinstated. In the short term the former station building is to be leased out as a private dwelling.

At Chippenham, £1.98m is being spent improving pedestrian and cycle access to the station as part of an ongoing package of improvements to the whole station area. A new ticket hall and café have been completed but further improvements will include better security, improved accessibility & frontage, new signage and more places to lock up bikes. The work on the refurbishment of the actual station is seeing £16m being provided by the Swindon & Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership with a potential further £18m of private match funding being made available.

Network Rail engineers and staff are now working on the Coleford Junction to Okehampton line in preparation for the start of passengers services. A large amount of vegetation clearance has taken place at a number of bridges on the route so structural assessments of them can be made. A large quantity of new wooden sleeper has also been delivered to Okehampton and deposited on the site of the former shed for replacement works. Road/rail vehicles and trailers and being used on the line. NR have now stated that services could start to/from Exeter next year, operated by GWR.

Network Rail has also started work on the next phase of the new sea wall at Dawlish. It will take around two years to complete and costing £80m. The first part of this phase will see the wall built eastwards from the station to the coast guard breakwater.

In the past you may have used the website ‘uksteam info’ to get the timings and details of steam tours? It has not been updated since 2019, and news has been released that its creator, Dr David Randles, has now passed away after a long fight with illness. David was a volunteer signalman on the West Somerset Railway at Minehead box, and also had websites covering the WSR, the Great Western Railway and others. His private funeral was being held at the end of November.

Another person to pass away recently was Brian Jackson from Weymouth. Brian was well known as an author of books on Dorset's, and other areas, railway heritage. He was in great demand as a speaker and has visited us at BRS and the former Bath Group of the Swanage Railway/Somerset & Dorset Trust. With his passing we lose someone with enthusiasm and a wealth of knowledge of his subjects.

In the last newsletter, we mentioned the calendar produced by the Campaign to Reopen the Ivanhoe Line (CRIL), whose chairman, Geoff Bushell, was due to speak to us in June 2021.  Sadly, he has died from Covid-19 on November 7. Since January 2018, he had thrown himself into organising CRIL to turn the Ivanhoe Line (Leicester-Burton on Trent – currently freight only) into a contender to receive funds from the DfT’s – ‘Restoring Your Railway’. (Announced by DfT on November 26, through to next round of bidding).  Orders for calendars will be fulfilled. (See the previous Newsletter for details).

Very brief details of the schemes the DfT has taken forward for further funding can be found here: - https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/938907/restoring-your-railway-successful-bids.csv/preview   &  https://youtu.be/Jq3T7eAXfxM

Those of you who enjoyed our summer evening annual visits to Mike Bass’s Strawberry Line Miniature Railway at Keynsham may remember Richard Clayton. Richard, who lived in Twerton, worked at the railway and helped to give us enjoyable evenings there. Sadly he has also passed away in November.

The Westonzoyland Pumping Station’s 2’ gauge light railway in Somerset has reached its target of £20,000 to build a locomotive and rolling stock shed. Work on construction will be starting shortly.

Whilst mentioning tours and looking ahead, On Saturday February 6, 2021, the Loco Services Blue Pullman liveried HST will be running a tour to the Settle & Carlisle Line from Bristol T M with a break in Carlisle. The train will also pick up locally at Keynsham, Bath Spa, Chippenham and Swindon. Prices and booking details are currently not known.

Also looking ahead to next year, Pannier Tank 1369 is due to visit the Plym Valley Railway in June/July. This will be the first visit of a Pannier Tank to run on part of the former GWR line to Tavistock and Launceston from Plymouth, known as ‘The Branch’, since 1962. The last pannier tank to run on the line, which closed from Monday December 31, 1962, was 6430. This worked on the last day of services on Saturday December 29, but due to severe snowfalls, trains on that last day didn’t reach their destinations and 6430 working the 7.10pm from Tavistock to Plymouth became stranded at Bickleigh station around mid-night with the crew and passengers having to take shelter for the night in the warmth of the signal box. The Station Master and Signalman had worked tirelessly to try keep the points free of snow and freezing up, but the elements beat them in the end.  It was not until 4pm on the Sunday afternoon that this train was rescued by an engine sent up from Plymouth’s Laira shed. It is also worth mentioning that the 6.20pm from Plymouth to Launceston hauled by 5568 started its journey 70 minutes late and then struggled through the snowfall and did not arrive at Tavistock South, 15 ¾ miles from Plymouth, until after midnight where it was abandon and it froze up. Its passengers were given refuge with a local café specially opened up for them to serve breakfast. The rescue of this loco and coaches did not take place until weather conditions improved, and it was several days after the line had officially closed! The final British Railways operated train to traverse the south section of the line after closure from Marsh Mills to Tavistock South (part of which the Plym Valley Railway now operates on) was in February 1963 hauled by Prairie Tank 4555. This was to collect all the fittings from stations which might have had further use. 6430 and 4555 are of course preserved today.

Avon Valley Railway volunteers have started the task of dismantling Manning Wardle built No. 5 ‘Littleton’. Good progress was being made, but work has had to stop again due to the second lockdown. The loco was built in 1922 for the Littleton Collieries Ltd, near Cannock in Staffordshire and used there until 1972. The AVR is trying to raise funding for the overhaul and details are available on their website. If you fancy a train ride after Christmas, the railway should be operating on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day at 11:30, 13:00 and 14:30. Seats must be booked in advance via their website.

South Wales Fire service took delivery of a new road/rail vehicle last month for use in the Severn Tunnel, should an emergency incident occur. It has been provided by Network Rail and will be based at Newport’s Maindee Fire Station. A similar vehicle is also being given to Avon Fire Service so both the Welsh and English sides of the tunnel are covered. A serious accident occurred in the tunnel on December 7, 1999, when a Class 155 Sprinter Unit on a Portsmouth to Cardiff service ran into the back of an HST 125 on the 0830 Paddington to Cardiff working.  185 passengers were injured, including five seriously.  A report into the accident can be found at: - https://www.jonroma.net/media/rail/accident/uk/hse/HSE_Severn%20Tunnel1991.pdf

GWR have a new timetable starting on Sunday 13 December, with both weekend and weekday changes.  Online timetable journey planners have been updated, and you can download copies of timetable booklets from their website on https://www.gwr.com/plan-journey/train-times As part of GWR’s support for NR improvement work around Bristol and due to the impact Covid has had on the driver training programme, GWR weekend services will finish earlier on Saturday evenings, and start later on Sunday mornings as they are lightly used. These timetables will be in place until May 2021.

It’s a great pity we cannot get together for our festive December meeting and enjoy the mince pies, but we hope you all manage to have an enjoyable Christmas. Stay safe, and hopefully it won’t be too long before we can all meet again in 2021. Best wishes to you all from your committee.

Bob Bunyar – BRS Vice Chairman 

<<<<<<<< COMPETITION >>>>>>>>

Take the first letter only from each answer (first word unless indicated otherwise), and then unscramble them. These letters will make up the name of a SR steam locomotive still with us. It’s just for fun, no prizes given. Hope you enjoy it? The Answer will be given in the next newsletter.

Re-arrange the scrambled first letters.

Answer is a name of a SR steam locomotive still in existence:-

This station was used and became the fictitious ‘Titfield’ station in a famous 1953 released film

A junction on the West London line and depot near Old Oak Common with a cold name.

The name given to diesel locomotive which had their traction motors isolated and were used to provide power for carriage heating on steam tours. Mostly former Class 25’s.

Today, this station is ‘for’ Tewksbury, and it once had a preservation centre

The station between Wellow and Radstock on the Somerset & Dorset line

An isolated railway station at a four-way railway junction in Buckinghamshire, open from 1868 to 1968. It will be on the route of the east west railway when opened in 2025.

The only station between Paddington and Marylebone on the LU’s Bakerloo Line

The name of a loco shed formerly 52A and later GD

The name given to passenger carrying self-propelled vehicles with four wheels on a fixed wheelbase, some were built by Park Royal.

West Country Class 34029

A city which has a depot called Crown Point.

The names of Class 40’s D213, D214 & D215 all started with this letter.

A small halt on the Teign Valley line in Devon between Alphington Halt and Longdown.

The current northern terminus of the Swanage Railway which has a park & ride.

The name carried by Class 44 - D4, which is preserved

A former station on the Bridport branch which had its building removed and re-built at Totnes SDR.

The name of the main passenger carrier providing medium and long-distance services in the USA

The type of card railway ticket first introduced in the 1840’s

King Arthur Class 30749

The base of Vintage Trains in Birmingham

A former junction south of Gloucester on the line to Chepstow once having a line to Ledbury

Schools Class 30917

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