BATH RAILWAY SOCIETY

President: Pete Waterman OBE DL

Chairman: John Froud    

 Email: bathrailwaysociety@gmail.com

JULY / AUGUST  NEWSLETTER 2022

Dear Member,

SOCIETY MATTERS

Our June meeting at the Bath Museum of Work, was our AGM when one member of the committee stood down. Jon Hughes has been our treasurer for 30 years and joined the Society circa 1967. Jon has worked tirelessly for us during his time on the committee and keeping our finances in check, and we of course thank him for all the work he has done. Jon was presented with a Carriage Print and made a Honorary Member of the Society.

I am pleased to advise that Richard Blunden has kindly agreed to take the position of treasurer and was duly elected at the AGM.

Subscription rates have had to be increased, due to rising costs, and membership is now set at £22 per year with the Newsletter by email. If you have the newsletter by post, then regrettably, an additional fee is having to be charged of £10.  We had been enjoying free postage and printing, but unfortunately this has now ceased. In the past, some members opted to supply SAE’s, but this did have some problems, so we will not now be accepting them. The guest fee per meeting will now be £5. Membership fees will be due by the September meeting, and the preferred method of payment is now by bank transfer to Sort Code 30 94 80, Account Number 2294977. If you choose to pay this way, could you please include your name in the reference, and then also confirm you have paid by emailing bathrailwaysociety@gmail.com with your name and date of payment.

If anyone has changed their email address/contact details, could you advise us at bathrailwaysociety@gmail.com additionally if you have an email address, but receive the Newsletter by post, we would appreciate you considering going ‘electronic’. It will greatly help reduce time spent printing and sending out.

The remainder of the committee remain the same, and we of course welcome Richard onto it. The committee is: John Froud (Chairman), Bob Bunyar (Vice –Chair), Robert Howes (Secretary), Richard Blunden (Treasurer), Mike & Davina Ware, Mike Dodd and Kevin Plummer.

As always, we thank Davina for providing the tea/coffee and biscuits at our meetings, but please note, the suggested donation for refreshments will now be £1. Again rising costs!

We do need to increase our membership to keep the Society flourishing. If you know of anyone who might be interested in joining, please do tell them about us, or better still, bring them along to a meeting to see for themselves.  Mike Ware does our advertising and he would be very pleased to hear from you if you know of places where we could advertise and put up posters, free of charge. Also if you know of any local community newsletters or papers, both in and outside the City, where we might be able to get a mention, then do please get in contact with Mike at davinaware@yahoo.co.uk and provide him with the details.

Following the AGM we had a talk from our guest speaker, Andrew Ardley from South Western Railway who gave an insight into the future plans and aspirations of SWR particularly in the Wessex Area. This covers the lines mostly in Devon & Dorset, but which of course also run through Wiltshire and Somerset. It was a most informative meeting and no doubt we may see some of the changes and upgrades he mentioned sometime in the future.

Please note: This is the ‘summer’ newsletter and it will cover both July and August due to holidays. The next newsletter will now be for September.

NEWS ITEMS

Network Rail will be carrying out major engineering work between Friday July 1 and Saturday July 10, and also on Sunday July 17, and then until midday on Sunday August 14. During the works no trains will run through the Severn Tunnel. Trains between London and South Wales will be diverted and they won’t be calling at Bristol Parkway. On the weekdays affected, some services will run between London and Bristol Parkway at peak hours. Services between Cardiff and Taunton/Portsmouth Harbour will terminate at Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway respectively. Buses will replace trains between Bristol Parkway and Newport, and on Friday July 8 and Saturday 9, also between Bristol Parkway and Bristol Temple Meads.

On the Newport to Gloucester line, buses will replace trains from July 18 to September 3 as major works are taking place at Lydney to make a cliff face safe. Do check if you are going to travel on the routes during these times.

The sequel to the 1970 film ‘The Railway Children is being released in cinemas around the country this July. Filmed once again in West Yorkshire and on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, ‘The Railway Children Return’ stars Jenny Agutter and Sheridan Smith, Tom Courtenay and John Bradley + new children! Filming took nearly eight weeks in May/June 2021, with most scenes being filmed at and around Oakworth. Jenny Agutter is the only member of the cast of the original film to appear in this new release, which will be in cinemas from Friday July 15. The theme of the original film continues, and it even features a relation of Albert Perks, the Oakworth Station Master in the 1970 film, who has now taken over working at the station.

The Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust at Midsomer Norton is hoping to purchase its resident Sentinel steam locomotive ‘7109 Joyce’. It has been put up for sale by its owner Andy Chapman for £50,000. The locomotive is in full working order and is similar to two Sentinels which once worked on the S & D at Radstock. Looking ahead to September, Ivatt Tank 41312, normally based on the Mid-Hants Railway, is to visit Midsomer Norton in September. It will be working trains on September 17 & 18 and as well as working some photographic charters. Ivatt tanks did of course work on the S & D. See the website for full details.  https://sdjr.co.uk/events/view/the-pines-remembered-part-2

Planning permission is being sought on the Isle of Wight to convert former 1938 Tube stock, Class 483– 483004 into a small café and museum at Branstone.

LOOKING BACK

60 years ago this month on Thursday July 19 1962, Marlborough M&SWJR station saw passenger coaches pull into its platform once again, as it was the departure station of two separate troop trains which were chartered by the army. These were run in connection with exercises that had taken place on the nearby Salisbury Plain. The line had previously closed to passenger traffic on September 9, 1961. Both of the trains were worked by Class 22 diesel hydraulics and their destination was Colchester in Essex. The first train was worked out by D6319 and the second by D6312, with a probable engine change taking place in the London area as it is very unlikely the Class 22’s worked throughout. Both of these locomotives at the time were allocated to Plymouth’s Laira shed. (If anyone has any further information on these workings, could they please get in touch with me?)  bob.bunyar@outlook.com

50 years ago this month in July 1972, track lifting commenced on the closed Swanage branch from Wareham. The branch was closed from January 3, 1972 with the last train running on Saturday January 1 formed of two Hampshire units. BR were keen to rip up the tracks and contractors started work at Swanage station lifting approximately a mile of track per week northwards. A stub of the branch remained from the main line at Worgret Junction for freight traffic in the form of china clay and gas oil from Furzebrook with the line continuing a short distance beyond, as an emergency siding in the event of an incident at the oil terminal. Today the tracks have been re-laid, and it is now the Swanage Railway running between Swanage and Norden with the line also linked back to the national system at Worgret Junction. Plans to run back to Wareham are however currently on hold.

MORE NEWS

At Torrington station in North Devon, the Tarka Railway will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of the opening of the original line when they hold a Gala Weekend on August 6 & 7. Special attractions are being planned including miniature train rides. Further details nearer the date will be available on their website at www.tarkavalleyrailway.org/events  

On Saturday August 13, Loco Services Limited Blue Pullman train will be calling at local stations, when it heads the ‘Cornish Costal Pullman’. The train originates at Eastleigh and runs via Winchester, Basingstoke and Reading West to call at Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham and Westbury before heading to Cornwall where participants will have the choice of destinations. The train will run right through to Penance. Will this be the first time a ‘Pullman’ style train has called at Melksham? Full details of the trip are available at https://midlandpullman.com/

Great Western Railway has donated Pacer Unit 143 618 to the Plym Valley Railway, which operates just over a mile on the former GWR Plymouth to Launceston line, with its headquarters at Marsh Mills. The unit is in full working condition, and it has been stored at Bristol’s St Philips Marsh depot. This will be the second Pacer unit to be preserved at the Plym Valley Railway.

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MEMBERS CONTRIBUTION

Mountain Panic by Alan Price

My Uncle Bob was called-up for his National Service in February 1948, told to report to Brecon Barracks at 16.00 on an appointed day and given a railway warrant to get there. He took the train from Cardiff (Queens Street) to Brecon changing at Bargoed, after which the line becomes wild and bleak, climbing as it did to 1310 feet above sea level at Torpantau amid the moorland wilderness that is the Brecon Beacons

Bob duly reported to the South Wales Borderers Depot in time and found himself with about a dozen other new recruits who were duly processed into the army and kitted-out.

‘When do we get something to eat Sergeant?’ somebody asked unwisely.

‘Eat! Eat!  You aint going to get nuffin’ to eat sonny until you’ve earned it. Initiative test first. Sort out the ones who are real soldiers from the ones only fit for the Pay Corps! ‘

So clad in unyielding new boots, itchy uniforms, great coats and gloves they were bundled into an army 3-ton truck waiting outside which took them off into the snowy darkness and after about an hour dropped them in the middle of nowhere.

‘Right. This ‘ere is a compass and this ‘ere is a torch to see it wiv. Brecon is norff (he pointed vaguely in that direction over a barbed wire fence) about 8 miles. It’s now 21.00 and it should take you about 6 hours to find your way back. If you can get to the cookhouse before seven tomorrow you’ll get some breakfast. If you can’t; you’ll go ‘ungry .’

As the truck’s tail light disappeared back down the track the pathetic group instinctively gathered around Bob as their only hope of ever seeing their mothers again. Clearly the way north was not easy going ; no obvious track and disconcertingly steep but during the course of the truck journey Bob had noticed several railway bridges and realised that the line he’d recently used couldn’t be far away in the direction the truck had disappeared. What if he could find the railway and use the train for an easy ride back to Brecon? So, like a kahki Pied Piper he set off into the darkness, his ‘followers’ close behind in mortal fear of losing him and being condemned to wander forever in this snowy wilderness.

After a while a narrow stone bridge appeared and to their left a light. Not only was this the railway but it was also a station. They had found Torpantau and all they had to do now was to wait until some sort of train arrived. After some hours whistles could be heard and then the laboured coughs of a pannier tank working hard. Eventually a goods appeared and with a clatter of loose coupled wagons came to a stand in the platform while the engine watered and the guard pinned down brakes for the long decent to Talybont-on Usk ; the infamous seven mile bank with its midway runaway siding at Pentir Rhiw – an even more remote location.

It didn’t take long for them to get into a tarpaulin covered wagon and huddle themselves in the corner. In due course the train started and with only a few stops eventually arrived in the goods yard at Brecon (Watton) right behind the barracks and about the time the cookhouse would be opening-up for a nice fried breakfast and a huge mug of warming tea. With a spring in their step and the smug knowledge that they had already bucked the ‘system’ they made their way out of the goods yard gates beyond which was …… the Sergeant and the 3-ton truck already waiting for them. An hour later they were back where they’d started. The sergeant had seen that trick before but had found the one in the group who was either going to be trouble or make Lance Corporal.

Thank you Alan for yet another entertaining story with a touch of humour! You can just picture the story. If you have one to tell, please do send it in or get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.

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COMPETITION

Many lines now have names to help with their publicity and promotion. Such line names include the Tarka Line (Exeter – Barnstaple), the Maritime Line (Truro – Falmouth), the Robin Hood Line (Nottingham to Worksop) and the Marston Vale Line (Bedford – Bletchley). In this issue's competition you have to find the name of another of these ‘named’ lines by answering the questions to form the name. As always, take the first letter of each answer (unless specified differently) and then un-scramble the letters to work out the answer. It’s all for fun and no prizes are given, with the answer being announced in the September Newsletter.

THE - - - - - - LINE

You can see from Pullman Cars Nos 13 and 14, but what is their title

The name of an express train that runs from Belfast to Dublin (Omit ‘The’)

What was the Christian name of Edmondson, who pioneered the card ticket

What was the name of the light ‘valley’ railway that ran from Tiverton Junction to Hemyock

This station is between Freshford and Bradford on Avon

Name of Class 42 ‘Warship carried by D801

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