Newsletter
BATH RAILWAY SOCIETY
President: Pete Waterman OBE DL
Chairman: John Froud
Email: bathrailwaysociety@gmail.com
OCTOBER NEWSLETTER 2021
Dear Member,
The good news is –We are re-starting our monthly meetings on Thursday October 7.
The meeting will take place at the Bath Museum of Work in Julian Road at 7.30pm. The switch from St Mary’s Bathwick has been made as the Museum is far more airy and does not place restrictions on us. Meetings at Bathwick would currently be un-workable, and it is likely that the remaining meetings this year will be held at the Museum. It is your choice if you wear a facing covering or not. Whilst it is appreciated that car parking is more difficult near the Museum, on street parking in Zone 15, which it is situated in, is free of charge after 7pm. We look forward to welcoming you back and seeing you all once again. Please note: we are not collecting any subscriptions until January 2022 when they will be collected on a pro-rata basis. We will not be advertising the meetings as they are for members only, and this is to avoid any chance of overcrowding with too many guests!
The speaker on October 7 will be our Chairman, John Froud. He will be presenting The Hijaz Railway.
We had our first meeting of the season via zoom on September 2, when Adrian Shooter, Chairman of Vivarail, talked about the company's role in battery train technology.
I would like to apologise to those of you who receive the Newsletter via Royal Mail, for the late arrival of the September issue. Unfortunately there was a problem when it went out by email to be printed,
The answer to the competition in the last Newsletter, when you had to find the name of the M&SWJR station, was Grafton & Burbage. There isn’t a competition/quiz this month due to lack of space! Hopefully another one for you in November.
The Society’s eminent author, Colin Maggs, has explored the Branch Lines of Worcestershire on a new DVD released by 1st Take. The script for the DVD has been written, researched and co-presented by Colin, as it explores the varied railway landscape of Worcestershire. The film is a double disc edition, with a running time of 2 hours 44 minutes and its recommended price is £16.95. Further details are available at https://www.1st-take.com/product/branch-lines-of-worcestershire/
At the West Somerset Railway, the Diesel Electric Preservation Group (DEPG) have launched a £100,000 appeal to restore to working order their Class 52 – D1010 ‘Western Campaigner’. The locomotive last ran in 2018 when its B end transmission seized up. The Class 52 will also need other repairs having been out of use, and details can be found at www.depg.org The Railway has also announced that Class 35 Hymek – D7018 will be in action on Saturday October 16. It will haul the 1135 service from Bishops Lydeard to Dunster and the 1325 return service, which will run through to Norton Fitzwarren before returning to Bishops Lydeard.
The Severn Valley Railway has announced that two guest locomotives will star at their Autumn Diesel Gala. ‘Type 2’ locos 24081 and 31466 will take part in four days of diesel traction from September 30 to October 3. Services will start early morning and run through to the evening. The visitors will join the SVR’s own fleet which include D9551, D8568, D1062 Western Courier, 40106 Atlantic Conveyor and Class 50s from a pool of 50007, 50035 and 50049.
Small Prairie Tank 5526 is visiting the Gwili Railway until next January, and it will take part in their end of season gala on October 9. Number 47 ‘Moorbarrow’ and Class 03 – D2178 will also feature. There will be an intensive service with doubling heading, a freight train and evening running.
The Dean Forest Railway are holding a 50th Anniversary Gala on October 23 & 24. There will be an intensive timetable in operation with brake van rides available from Parkend, plus much more.
In the September Newsletter, we recorded the sad news that former member and good friend of BRS, Terry Nichols, had passed away. Brian May has kindly penned the following for us.
The service of cremation for regular B.R.S. presenter and attendee Terry Nicholls took place at the South Bristol Crematorium, Bedminster on Wednesday the 1st of September at 12:45 pm. Having known Terry for over 30 years I made sure I attended in order to pay my respects. On arriving at the crematorium at 12:30 I was not surprised to find that a crowd of approx. 150 friends and family had already gathered including a large contingent of Terry's photographic colleagues. We were soon ushered into the large hall to await the arrival of the cortege which was accompanied by the music ' The Lark Ascending ' by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The service was led by Canon Brian Arman, someone who will be well known to B.R.S. members. Following words of welcome and the blessing of the coffin the attendees were invited to sing the hymn ' All things Brunel and beautiful ' with the words of the well-known hymn altered to reflect aspects of the Great Western, Terry's favourite railway. Terry's granddaughter Sophie read the poem ' Feel No Guilt In Laughter ' after which Terry's son Steve and friend Pete Berry read out their tributes. Whilst Steve recounted that childhood holidays always seemed to involve railway locations such as the camping coaches at Dawlish Warren, Pete recounted an amusing incident that happened to Terry back in the early 1960's. On an overnight journey to Scotland, Terry was pleased to note that at Carlisle a Clan pacific was being attached for the run up to Glasgow. On showing the crew his railway credentials Terry was invited onto the footplate and was asked to ride with them through the night. Climbing Beattock the fireman disappeared into the tender in order to shovel coal forward. On seeing that the fireman was having difficulty the driver beckoned to Terry and said “Here, you're a railwayman, take the regulator and keep an eye out for red signals ". The driver then disappeared into the tender to join the fireman. This left Terry in charge of the locomotive of a 400 ton train heading through the night towards Glasgow. Yes, Terry was a railwayman but he didn't tell them that he was a clerk at Plymouth Laira. Following prayers the poem ' Night Mail ' was read to reflect Terry's experience of that night. The coffin was then curtained off for committal and we said our goodbyes to Terry to the strains of Morecombe and Wise singing ' Bring Me Sunshine '. A celebration of Terry's life was held at The Carpenter's Tavern at Dundry.
More News
At the Great Western Society depot at Didcot, work has started making the foundation rebar trusses for the Heyford station reconstruction. Twenty two of these trusses are required. The foundations have to be fairly robust as the stone building is heavy and the ground at Didcot is made-up of about 4 metres of loco pit ash which is not load bearing. Although it is usually a bit of firebar, every time the construction team strike a piece of buried metal, the cry goes up that they've finally found the 'lost Grange'! So far the only interesting thing found is a rectangular cast plate with the word 'CONSTRUCTION' cast into it, which apparently is off a grampus type wagon of the 1880s.
On Sundays, October 3, 10 & 17, the Avon Valley Railway will be celebrating all things chocolate when their Sentinel locomotive from the old Keynsham chocolate factory will be in steam. Rides behind this special engine will be available and there will be displays on its history and the factory it served.
The Mid Hants Railway will be recreating the Somerset & Dorset line in the 1950/60’s period at a gala from October 1 to 3 inclusive. In addition to their home fleet of 53808, 76016 and 41312, visiting 34092 ‘City of Wells’ and 80150 will be joining the line-up. See the MHR website for full details.
50 years ago this month on October 2, British Rail (WR) ran the last through train to Ashburton on the then Dart Valley Railway. The train originated at London Paddington and was hauled by Class 47 – 1660 via the Berks and Hants to Totnes (BR) where it then propelled the train onto DVR metals. Here steam took over in the form of 6435 and 1638 for the journey up to Ashburton. The train was hauled by 4588 back to Totnes Riverside (DVR) where 1660 took over taking it back onto BR metals and into Totnes station. It then ran round before heading back to London via Bristol TM and Bath Spa.
In October, Network Rail will be carrying out essential maintenance work inside and on the approach to the Severn Tunnel. This will mean changes to the weekend timetables, with long distance services between London and South Wales diverted between Swindon and Newport, and buses replacing trains between Newport and Bristol Parkway. Work will be suspended on Saturday October 30 to support fans travelling to and from the Wales vs New Zealand rugby international. More information about the work is on www.GWR.com/Upgrade. Journey planners and information systems have been updated to show the revised timings, and customers can check their journeys on www.gwr.com
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Mentioning a ‘Clan Class’ above, associated with Terry Nicholls, is a good opportunity to include this piece by Alan Price titled
‘Clash of the Clans’:-
It’s difficult these days to explain to those still interested in railways, how parochial steam locos once were. An engine shed would have an allocation of the different types suited to the specific duties that shed had to cover and often a loco would spend the whole of its ‘life’ at that shed or in that immediate area. By the end of 1961 my ABC of ex GWR steam locomotives was looking pretty impressive but I began to notice a certain predictability in the appearance of some ‘namers’ and a definite reticence from others. West Midlands sheds and in particular 84A -Wolverhampton (Stafford Road) were responsible for almost all my unseen ‘Castle’ and ‘King’ classes.
But the rarity of 5072 ‘Hurricane’ or 6007 ‘ King William 111’ was as nothing compared with the ‘Clans’ which acquired a mythology of their own among the ‘Cardiff General Platform 2 East End Fraternity’ and a status somewhat akin to the Holy Grail. It was rumoured that someone’s friend’s father had actually seen one once but nobody was really sure where, whose friend, if they were sober at the time or which of the ‘territorial ten’ it actually was.
In 1962 I was introduced to the Cardiff & District Railway Enthusiasts’ Society, who I have since found were the previous ‘Platform 2 Club’, now graduated to more grown-up pursuits which allowed them to title themselves ‘railway enthusiasts’ – spotters no longer. They were all about 5 years older and ran coach trips to Running & Maintenance Depots – otherwise known as ‘shed bashing’.
A typical Sunday out for them would be a start from Splott at 2 a.m. picking-up around Cardiff and Newport then off to Manchester via Northwich, Preston, Bolton and Stockport, returning around midnight and all for the princely sum of 26/-. Sometimes they even had shed passes but often not. Nobody seemed to mind, except the shed foreman at Sutton Oak who appeared in the coach doorway incandescent with rage about the 52 kids who had disturbed his Sunday peace and demanding to know who was in charge? He left disgruntled but satisfied that as we were all ‘Scotch’ it would be pointless to pursue the matter further.
I forget how I heard about ‘The Northern Venturer’ or for that matter how I managed to persuade my poor (in both senses) parents that the £11 it would cost to get rid of me for 8 days was a worthwhile investment.
The plan was to travel up the west coast through central Scotland and back via Newcastle and Leeds – 83 engine sheds, 3 works and 4 storage areas. Irresistible!
On the first day we got as far Carlisle and the last shed we did before stopping for the night was Kingmoor which had some 123 locos on, many of them out of the top draw ( 60100 ‘ Spearmint’) but they were as nothing compared with 72005 ‘Clan Macgregor’ and 72007 ‘Clan Mackintosh’ before which I stood in awe. And more was to come. The following day I saw ‘Clan Mackenzie’ on Polmadie and 72000-72004 in store at Parkhead. On the last day we did Holbeck and there was 72009 ‘Clan Stewart’. So I’d seen nine of them and armed with this, it was with inflated pride and confidence that I next met the ‘Platform 2 Club’ where the conversation went something like this.
’I’ve seen nine Clans….’
‘You aren’t half a liar you are! Anybody can put a line under anything and say they saw it!’
No further explanation was required from me – they all moved away leaving me feeling I’d been ‘black balled’ by the Handicap Committee for cheating at golf.
On the 14th.April 1964, 72006 worked the 07.25 Carlisle – Margam goods throughout and was presumably serviced at Duffryn Yard before returning on the 22.06 Margam - Bordesley Junc. freight on the 16/4/64. It is the only known occasion a Clan worked through Cardiff and I didn’t see it. It would have made a nice twist to the story if I told you I had and that it was ‘Clan Macleod’ but I wouldn’t tell you fibs would I?
I am of course delighted with the progress being made on the new 72010 and I know that this was the intended name before the rest of the build was cancelled but am I alone in thinking Clan ‘anything’ would have been a better name than ‘Hengist’?
Thanks Alan for another interesting article.
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We now have an article submitted by John Froud.
6th April 1974
This October marks the 50th anniversary of steam returning to BR’s mainline when King George V ran a special train from Bulmers at Hereford to Tyseley, via the Great Western Society at Didcot. On that momentous day, 2nd October 1971 my father took us to his old spotting haunt at Stoke Gifford to see KGV on its ‘Return to Steam’ special – we were not alone! Crowds thronged the tracks in eager anticipation, standing on the construction site that was to be the first of a new generation of park and ride stations, Bristol Parkway which opened on 1st May the following year. In contrast, two days later Stoke Gifford marshalling yard closed.
Fortunately, the day proved to be a success and throughout the 70’s steam operations on BR metals expanded across the country. With Hereford being a centre for tours over the north-west route and across from Oxford via Worcester we were close enough in Bath to enjoy this renaissance.
I acquired my first camera in 1973; a clunky Russian Zenit E, but an excellent lens for black and white photography. With this I was able to capture some unforgettable occasions in that decade: the Great Western Society vintage train in October 1974, Clan Line visiting Westbury on a ‘Return to Steam on the Southern’ tour (April 1974), our past President’s 9F, Black Prince and sister engine Evening Star in several locations during 1975 and what was then thought to be the final sight of Pendennis Castle, prior to its departure to Australia in 1977.
Looking back you realise how much railway infrastructure has disappeared in the intervening period and indeed the wider changes in our everyday lives. For me this is typified in one memorable day - 6th April 1974, which featured two locomotives running on the north-west route: 4472 Flying Scotsman which only the year before had been rescued and returned to the UK by Sir Bill McAlpine following its disastrous USA tour and 4079 Pendennis Castle.
How we obtained timings in those days, before mobile phones and the internet I do not recall, but our first venue was Llanvihangel Bank and 4472 running northbound, crested the summit in hazy, early morning sunshine, with second tender (in blue and grey livery) allowing her to run direct to Shrewsbury. At the tail end of the train was an observation car, Caledonian Engineer’s Saloon No.41.
A brief dash north captured 4079 at Pontrilas making a perfect picture with signal box and semaphores still in place. With the Castle watering at Hereford we were able to overtake the train and see her later emerge from Dinmore Tunnels.
We could now take a well-earned lunch, but found ourselves engaged in a lengthy discussion with a ‘gentleman of the road ‘– another feature we might consider lost from our countryside. My father was always convinced that he was after a selection of our sandwiches!
The afternoon saw Scotsman rush through Moreton on Lugg where the signal box, traditional crossing gates and semaphores all added to the atmosphere. However, the feature that stands out in my photograph is the proliferation of telegraph poles each supporting up to 50 wires and how this reminds me of a later occasion when in inclement weather I sheltered in a platelayers hut and heard the eerie, unearthly sound that the wind made through the wires.
We saw the Castle again at Shelwick Junction, before our final shot in fading light of her leaving Hereford shortly after crossing the River Wye.
No instant digital results in those days, but films developed on the Saturday night and god willing a successful darkroom printing session on the Sunday.
Happy days.
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Many thanks John, and don’t forget, if you have an article or story you would like to share with the membership, please do send it in. We’d love to hear from you.
More News. At a meeting in Weymouth on September 7, Councillors agreed to the spending of capital funding above £500k for improvements to the area, known as the Weymouth Station Gateway Project.
We look forward to seeing you all back on October 7 at Bath Museum of Work, Julian Road. If you have any questions or concerns, please do contact us via the details at the top of the Newsletter.
Bob Bunyar
Vice Chairman