BATH RAILWAY SOCIETY

President: Pete Waterman OBE DL

Chairman: John Froud    

 Email: bathrailwaysociety@gmail.com

OCTOBER NEWSLETTER 2020

Dear Member,

Welcome to our latest Newsletter and we hope you are still keeping safe and well?

There is a competition with this newsletter. No prizes, it’s just for fun for the autumn nights!

In the last newsletter I mentioned an enquiry the Society received about the name of the Station Master (person in charge) at Oldfield Park station in the 1950/60’s, and his first name was Bob. I am pleased to say we did have an answer and the name is Robert (Bob) Henry Morgan. We thank Robert Coles for providing the information and have passed it on to the enquirer.

Also with the last Newsletter, in the email, a mention was made about the latest book by our member Colin Maggs. Unfortunately news of the book was received too late to insert details into the Newsletter for those who receive it by post. So just to repeat, Colin has now completed his 105th book on ‘The Bristol to Portishead Branch with the Bristol Harbour Railway and Cannon’s Marsh Branch’. It has been published by Oakwood Press and costs £18.95, ISBN 978.0.85361.745.7 @ 192 pages. Our congratulations to Colin and we look forward to hearing about his 106th book!

A new Valley Line station is being proposed on the Rhymney line in Cardiff, between Queen Street and Heath High Level stations. It will be known as Crwys Road and it is included in the Transport for Wales' proposals for station openings. It should be completed by December 2023.

Great Western Railway has announced that it will be naming one of its IET Trains and honouring Tul Bahadur Pun VC, a veteran of the 6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles in WWII. The VC is the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Tul Bahadur Pun later achieved the rank of Honorary Lieutenant. In addition to the Victoria Cross, he was awarded 10 other medals, including the Burma Star. He died in Nepal in 2011. The train will be named in the lead up to this year’s remembrance Sunday and will mark 75 years since the end of World War II.

The station footbridge at Castle Carey station is to be repaired by Network Rail. A temporary footbridge has already been constructed. This was built for use during the Glastonbury Pop Festival, which of course did not take place this year. 

The Cholsey & Wallingford Railway is improving its terminus at Wallingford by creating a Victorian style station. A former canopy obtained  from Maidenhead station together with its cast iron columns have been erected and work is due to be completed later this year. Several columns from Burnham (Bucks) have also been used, and authentic GWR lampposts and seats have been acquired. Passenger services ceased on the line in 1959, and it was secured in 1981, by the CWR Preservation Society. This now plans to enhance the facilities that the railway offers and to improve the Wallingford site.

The Helston Railway in Cornwall has acquired a Class 127 two car DMU from the Great Central Railway. Car 51616 has already arrived at the railway, while 51622 is still to be delivered. It is hoped to have the unit in service on the line next year.

The Bodmin & Wenford Railway has eight old china clay hood wagons which it is now considering restoring to form a ‘rake’ for use as a demonstration train. China clay hood wagons were once a common sight up until 1984 on the line, running to/from the driers at Wenford Bridge via Boscarne Junction the current terminus of the line. The railway is planning to extend beyond Boscarne Junction towards Wadebridge alongside the Camel Trail. Known as the Rail Trail project, phase one would see the railway extended to Nanstallon Halt, phase two to Grogley Halt and phase three to Wadebridge Guineaport which is on the eastern outskirts of the town.

50 years ago this month, the line from Barnstaple Junction  to the North Devon seaside town of Ilfracombe was completely closed from Monday October 5, 1970 with the last services running on Saturday October 3. One of the trains to run on the last day was a rail tour operated jointly by the Locomotive Club of Great Britain, Plymouth Railway Circle and the Railway Travel and Correspondence Society. This ran up to Ilfracombe before heading back to Barnstaple for a run to Torrington and Meeth. The train was formed of a three car DMU and was called the Exmoor Belle. Today much of the track bed to Ilfracombe still remains intact and there are now proposals to build a light rail system from Barnstaple station to Braunton and Government funding has been applied for to look at the proposals further.  The North Devon Local Plan urges the protection of the old railway route to allow for future re-instatement, but one piece of infrastructure missing is the former railway bridge over the river at Barnstaple.

It was 60 years ago this month when two barges collided with, and destroyed, a section of the famous Severn Railway Bridge on October 5, 1960. This severed the rail link over it on the line from Berkley Road to Lydney Junction. Sharpness then became a branch line terminus station!

Work on dismantling the Weymouth Quay tramway will be re-starting this month. Dorset Council engineers will start removing the line at King Street and then continuing along Commercial Road. Road closures will be in place while the work takes place.

Severn Tunnel Junction was the largest freight marshalling yard on the Western Region of British Railways, once stretching for over two miles along the Welsh bank of the River Severn.  At its height it was a goods yard, junction, station and loco depot, but it was also an important railway community and small town as well.  Now a new book is on sale by P D Rendall, telling the story of the ‘junction’ with over 150 photographs.  It is published by The Crowood Press @ £20.

The ‘Old Station’ at Bristol Temple Meads has changed hands from Bristol City Council to Network Rail ownership at a cost of £3.1M. The former Grade one Brunel terminus station will not see any changes for the time being, and it will now be maintained by NR. Eventually the building will be incorporated into future plans for the Temple area including the operational Temple Meads station.

How about a calendar as a stocking-filler for your railway enthusiast friends at Christmas?  The Campaign to Reopen the Ivanhoe Line (CRIL) is promoting the reintroduction of passenger trains on the freight-only line between Burton on Trent and Leicester.  It is one of the groups bidding for government funds under the scheme to reopen lines and its Chair, Geoff Bushell, is scheduled to speak to us in June 2021, if we are able to hold meetings by then.  CRIL has produced a calendar for 2021 with historic photographs of the line when it was still used by passenger trains as well as recent shots of freight trains.  A limited number are available on a “first come, first served” basis @ £8.50 + £1.40 postage = £9.90. You can order by email to chair@ivanhoeline.org providing your full address and post code and make payment through PayPal to admin@ivanhoeline.org  adding “calendar” as the reference. Alternatively you can write to: CRIL Calendar, PO Box 8382, Swadlincote, DE11 1GY enclosing a cheque payable to “Campaign to Reopen the Ivanhoe Line-CRIL CIC”.

Plans to re-open the line to Okehampton to a regular service from Exeter are progressing. Network Rail has recently carried out investigatory walks of the entire route from Coleford to Meldon together with drone examinations of the line. The examinations revealed no insurmountable problems, although some track relaying, de-vegetating, drainage and fencing issues are necessary. In addition there is a requirement for better signalling arrangements and GSMR communication masts. Senior Network Rail

Officials have also visited Okehampton station and their initial costings are based on taking over the whole of Platform 3.  Although modern lighting, Information screens and help points will be provided, the 1950’s station ambience, paint colours and heritage features would be respected. The complete business case will be presented to the DfT this autumn for a decision to be made early next year.

The Heart of Wales Line (Central Wales Line) is likely to remain closed throughout until January 2021 following damage caused by flooding and landslips in August near Llandrindod Wells.  Network Rail are hoping to restore a partial service on the line to serve Llandrindod Wells in November.

Bob Bunyar – BRS Vice Chairman 

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

Take the first letter from each of the answers and then unscramble them. These letters will make up a three word name of a well-known railway person. It’s just for fun, no prizes given. Hope you enjoy it? The Answer will be given in the next newsletter.

You change here for the rail air coach to Heathrow and rail connections to Maidenhead, Wokingham and Bramley.

Simms Metals has a scrapyard at this South Wales town which once had a station called Dock Street.

The location of the main Great Western Railway works where you can now go shopping

The first station west of Bristol Temple Meads

The terminus of a branch line from Par, popular with surfers. 

A former junction west of Newton Abbot where the line to Paignton diverges.

There is a preserved LSWR signal box here on the former line between Fremington and Bideford.

A Wiltshire town with a through M & SWJR station and a GWR branch terminus from Savernake.

The town that is home to the Great Western Society depot.

The first name of the station just west of Bath Spa. 

A town in Somerset originally served by the GWR and S & DJR, which often suffered traffic congestion due to crossing gates.

A station on the West Somerset Railway famous for its castle.

A terminus on the Severn Valley Railway that connects with Network Rail.

This City has a station called Piccadilly, and it also has trams.

Speke Junction and Edge hill were once sheds in this City’s area.

First station out from Paignton on the Torbay Steam Railway

A town in Hampshire which had a works and today still has companies overhauling railway rolling stock and locomotives.

Many towns and cities have these places of learning and Birmingham has a station south of New Street of this name.

The name of the locomotive in a carton TV series based in Wales who had ‘Jones the Steam’ as his driver.

A narrow gauge line ran to here from Lynton. 

Once the terminus of a GWR branch line from Upwey.

Re-arrange the scrambled first letters.

Answer is a railway stations name on a former GWR line:- 

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