BATH RAILWAY SOCIETY

President: Pete Waterman OBE DL

Chairman: John Froud    

 Email: bathrailwaysociety@gmail.com

MARCH  NEWSLETTER 2022

To accompany our March 2022 Newsletter and  to mark the 56th anniversary of the closure of the Somerset & Dorset Line, Mike Ware kindly sent in an article  taken from 'The Times' newspaper dated March 4, 1966.  You can find it at the bottom of our archive section here.

Dear Member,

At our zoom meeting on February 3, Robert Howes presented the second half of his talk covering the USA and Canada, and we thank Robert for putting his two talks together. Over 20 members participated in this zoom meeting.

We will be returning to our monthly meetings at the Bath Museum of work on March 3 at 7.30pm. (Doors open 7pm). Our guest speaker will be Alan Price who will be presenting ‘The early years of the Great Western Society’ plus a quick look at where they are today.  The committee has taken the decision to continue meetings at the Museum as it provides a better airy environment than the St Mary’s church hall.  It is appreciated that some of you have concerns about parking for our meetings at the Museum, but just to reiterate, the zoned parking restrictions in the area do not apply after 7pm, and it should be possible to find on-street parking.

It is with regret that we have to announce the passing of member David Norman. He originally worked on the Somerset & Dorset, and was the fireman on 80043 on the last day. David was keen at videoing steam through Bath, usually from Brougham Hayes Bridge. He was a good friend of John Swatton, who died in November. Funeral details are not known at present, but will be advised in due course.

The answer to the competition in the February Newsletter when you had to find the name of the town with a Funicular Railway was Aberystwyth. Well done to anyone who had the correct answer.

The West Somerset Railway PLC has announced that negotiations have been concluded with the Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust over the Washford site. The Trust have now relinquished their occupation of the station and signal box. Steps are under way to recruit a team to manage the station from now on, and hopefully from the start of the coming season. The S & DT will continue to occupy the remainder of the site, including the buildings and yard, until 23rd November 2023.

On March 6, the Somerset & Dorset Trust have arranged for Class 7F – 53808 to run two round trips on the Mid – Hants Railway at a fare of £12. Bookings are open at https://www.sdrt.org/ and seats are limited. This is to mark the 56th Anniversary of closure of the Somerset & Dorset Line.

Construction of a brand-new railway station on the Severn Beach branch line to link in with the Portway Park & Ride site has commenced. The £4.2m project in Shirehampton, forms part of wider plans to enhance the local rail network through the MetroWest programme. The new station should open later this year and be served by two trains per hour in each direction.

A further 600 yards of track is about to be laid by the Swindon & Cricklade Railway as they extend northwards towards the town of Cricklade. They will then have to re-instate a bridge which was removed shortly after the line closed, before they can go any further. The Railway’s first public running days this year will be on March 5 & 6.

The Somerset Dorset Railway Heritage Trust at Midsomer Norton has launched an appeal to raise £10,500 for the refurbishment of all the compartments in SK coach M26049. So far they have raised £2,340.00. Details of how to donate can be found on their website. Steam locomotive Austin 1 (Kitson No. 5459) will be staying for use at the SDRHT for the remainder of the year. The locomotive is owned by the Llangollen Railway Trust.

£4,000 is required to move two former LSWR coaches from the Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway to the Mid-Hants Railway for restoration. It is believed the two coaches were used to carry passengers from London Waterloo to Southampton Docks to board the ‘Titanic’ on its maiden voyage. The coaches have been acquired by the ‘Titanic Boat Train Heritage Trust’ and have been stored at the P & B Rly for over 30 years. They are in a very poor condition and will need much work to restore them.

50 years ago this month on March 18, 1972, a tour organised by the RCTS, which originated from Bristol Temple Meads, ran into some trouble! Formed of a six car DMU (51581+59587+51585 & 51094+59425+51066) the train was titled ‘The Rhymney Rail Tour’ to visit various curves, valley lines and colliery branches in South Wales as the title suggested. Problems started as soon as the tour began when two of the DMU's engines failed. This caused time to be lost on some of the heavily graded parts of the route. During the climb up to Taff Merthyr Colliery another engine overheated and it had to have coolant replenished. Finally on the 1 in 40 climb to Cwm Bargoed the DMU gave up completely, stalling over a mile short of its destination. Class 37, 6998, was then summoned from Radyr to assist and haul the failed DMU. On return to Cardiff, the Class 37 was removed and the DMU was coaxed back to life, but to avoid any difficulties returning to Bristol on the climb out of the Severn Tunnel, Class 47 1923 was added as a precautionary measure at Severn Tunnel Junction back to Bristol. Due to the problems encountered, a ‘Rhymney No 2’ tour was run on October 14 that year, this being free of charge to those on the original tour.

On March 24, 1987, 35 years ago, an accident occurred just outside of Frome station at Frome North Junction, when two trains collided head on. The 0655 Yeovil Pen Mill to Cardiff Central passenger train departed from Frome Station hauled by 33 032 and  was struck by 47 202 hauling a Westbury Yard to Whatley Quarry empty stone wagon train. Fourteen of the 50 passengers on the train were taken to hospital, but none of them was seriously injured. The driver of the freight train was however seriously injured, and it was three hours before he was released from his wrecked cab. The driver of the Class 33, and another employee in the cab, managed to escape into the engine compartment before the slow speed impact. The accident was caused when 47 202 was driven past a red signal. Both locomotives were condemned the day after the accident, with the Class 33 being scrapped at Eastleigh and the Class 47 at Bath Road, Bristol.

MORE NEWS

At the Severn Valley Railway, contractors have been selected to carry out the works for improvements to the locomotive works at Bridgnorth. These works will improve conditions for staff, but critically, the badly-leaking roof will be repaired, and energy-efficiency measures installed. These include better lighting and insulation.  Another part of the project, which saw £475,000 being raised, will be the arrival of an overhead travelling crane, to allow engineers to move heavy items safely when working on locomotives. Contractors are now due to start work on site in May.

Another successful fund raising appeal at the Bluebell Railway will see work on essential repairs at Horsted Keynes station start at the beginning of March. The first phases of the work will concentrate on the Station House and platform. Subject to the availability of funds, the work will then continue on to Platforms 3 & 4.  ‘The Jewel in the Crown’ appeal to restore Horsted Keynes station has also been shortlisted for a Heritage Railway Association award in the category of “Most Innovative Fundraising Idea”. The awards ceremony is to be held on March 19.

The next meeting of the West Wilts Rail User Group will be the group’s AGM, on Tuesday March 8 at 7pm. This will take place in the coach house of the Swan hotel, Bradford-on-Avon. Formalities will be kept brief and will be followed by a talk entitled "The Somerset and Dorset at Midsomer Norton - Rising from the Ashes" by John Baxter, the WWRUG group Secretary.

The Swindon Model Railway Club is staging its annual model railway exhibition at the ‘Steam Museum’, Great Western Designer Outlet, Swindon on Saturday March 5. It will take place from 10am until 4.30pm.  There will be at least 16 + layouts and four trade stands in attendance. Later in March, the Nailsea & District Model Railway Club will be holding their 2022 show on Saturday 26 (10am – 5pm) and Sunday 27 (10am – 4pm) at Nailsea School, Mizzymead Road, Nailsea. There should be 18 layouts and 4 + trade stands in attendance. The nearest railway station is Nailsea and Backwell [0.84 miles].

When work gets underway to restore the Portishead line for passenger use, parts of the disused line may be donated and re-used to assist the Avon Valley Railway based at Bitton. An announcement is expected by next month on the future programme for the Portishead line re-instatement. The Secretary of State for Transport was due to make a decision on the Development Consent Order by October 19, 2021, but he has delayed his decision until April 19, 2022 or sooner. The re-opening is planned as a key part of Phase 1B of the MetroWest project which will link and upgrade the railway system in the Bristol area, providing an initial frequency service to Portishead of one train per hour with two in peak times.

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Mike Dodd has kindly sent in his boyhood memories of travelling by train in Cornwall:-

During the early 1960s my Mother's sister married and moved from Colerne to Bodmin in Cornwall. In July 1966 my family were invited to stay for a week’s holiday- I was only 9 at the time but have many memories of the trip.

We didn’t have a car then and went everywhere by train or bus, up until then my longest train journey was Bath to Bournemouth on the S and D a couple of times to visit relatives in Bournemouth. A trip to Cornwall was much anticipated!

Leaving Bath Spa we travelled to Bristol Temple Meads where we changed trains for Plymouth, where we changed again for Bodmin. Once beyond Weston Super Mare, where I had been previously, everything was new to me and a fantastic scenic journey unfolded.

On changing at Plymouth we were hauled into Cornwall by a smart green class 42 "Warship". On arriving at Bodmin Road Station we detrained and appeared to be in the middle of nowhere! My aunt who had arranged to meet us "at Bodmin station" was strangely absent. My Father went off to speak to a member of staff (if he could find one!). Five minutes later he was back waving some tickets and explained that Bodmin General Station was our new destination- the town being nowhere near the station in that fine old railway tradition! After a short wait a diesel railcar arrived at the curved branch platform and soon we were rattling down to Bodmin itself.

Arriving eventually at Bodmin General which was well kept and retaining all of its steam railway features we were eventually met my relieved Aunt--she had forgotten to tell us to change at Bodmin Road!

Her house was not far from the station and after settling in I was delighted to see that the Bodmin to Wadebridge and Padstow line ran at the bottom of her garden and afforded a great view of passing trains. Passenger traffic consisted of WR 3 car DMU sets, railcars and a couple of loco turns powered by Class 22's or D63xx as they were known then. The line was busy with freight mainly in the form of china clay with a small amount of general freight this being in the hands of class 22 locos and an 08 shunter that was based at Bodmin station.

After a couple of days, the weather being fine a trip was planned to Padstow--- by train of course! The trip down was made by 3 car DMU and I remember being impressed by the size of Wadebridge station en route however the recently disused loco depot and turntable made for a sad sight.

After an enjoyable ride to Padstow a day was spent on the beach. Being a bit of an aircraft spotter as well, I was excited to see and hear RAF Shackleton aircraft growling sedately overhead “bashing the circuit " at nearby RAF St. Mawgan. We returned to Bodmin later in the day, again by DMU.

A second trip to Padstow took place later in the week and we were in for a surprise. The outward journey was by DMU, but we returned a little earlier. On arrival at Padstow station our train to Wadebridge was headed by one of the notoriously unreliable Class 22 locos, and formed of two Hawksworth coaches and a BR mk1, all in faded maroon livery. No problems on that day as the chunky little diesel showed a remarkable turn of speed arriving at Wadebridge early!

Here we were in for a wait before proceeding on to Bodmin General, however a member of station staff directed us to the adjacent platform where a shiny, diminutive AC railbus was waiting. We were told the railbus was running to Bodmin North station! Where was that? "Oh it's in the town "we were told.

Upon boarding the railbus seemed quite full, everyone appeared to have a camera, notebook and duffelbag! The guard told us it was a railway society trip over the soon to be closed route, but we were most welcome!

I remember the journey as very scenic with several diminutive halts on the way, the friendly guard sat by us most of the way chatting about the history of the line and the impending closure. We appeared to be the only "normal" passengers that day-- everyone else being a member of that strange species known as "Gricers"!

On arrival back at Bodmin North we then had to find our way back to my Aunt's house from a part of town hitherto unvisited- we did make it!

So there you have it Bodmin's 3 stations, sadly all these wonderful stations and routes were to close to passenger traffic 7 months after our visit although some sections remained open for freight for some while afterwards. Happily today thanks to the Bodmin and Wenford Heritage railway it is possible to travel over some of the route described and maybe more at some stage in the future.

Many thanks to Mike for sharing this with us. If you have a similar reminiscent or story to share, please do send it in.

For your information, the Bodmin & Wenford Railway re-opens on Tuesday March 15. The railway still has aspirations to go back to Wadebridge, and as part of the Government’s £500m ‘Reversing Beeching’ scheme, it has made two applications, one for the re-opening of the Boscarne – Wadebridge line and another for the provision of enhanced services between Bodmin and Bodmin Parkway.

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

In addition to the many heritage standard gauge lines in this country, there are of course numerous narrow gauge lines. Some of these were originally built on their narrow gauge formations, while other narrow gauge lines have been constructed and now run over the formations of former standard gauge lines. The Gartell Railway and Launceston Steam Railway are such lines, and for this month’s easy competition you have to find the name of another such line that has been built on a standard gauge formation. The word Railway has not been included, and 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 next Newsletter.

• Terminus of the ‘Atlantic Coast Line’ from Par

• Name of the Rocks Railway in Bristol

• Name of The British Railways Class 41 diesel D602

• The first name of the character played by Jenny Agutter in the 1970 Railway Children film. (not her nickname)

• The station between Tresmeer and Camelford on the once North Cornwall Line

• Southern Region shed in Devon that had the code of 72A and closed to steam in June 1965

• Station served by Chiltern Railways between Oxford Parkway and Bicester Village.

• Name carried by D1566, now preserved

• The GWR station at Radstock was South station, what was the Somerset & Dorset station known as

• Surname of the designer of the Lord Nelson and Schools Class locomotives

• The name of the London Transport Museum Depot which holds open days

• Battle of Britain Class 34067 which is preserved

• Sheringham station is the headquarters of this heritage railway, known as the "Poppy Line"

• Station between Portsmouth Arms and Chapelton on the Barnstaple (Tarka) Line

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