BATH RAILWAY SOCIETY

President: Pete Waterman OBE DL

Chairman: John Froud    

 Email: bathrailwaysociety@gmail.com

MARCH 2023  NEWSLETTER

Dear Member,

SOCIETY MATTERS

I hope you enjoyed the evening of LMS locomotives when Dave Peel presented ‘842 Useful Engines’ - A sample of LMS Black 5’s at Work on BR + LMS Jubilees at the February meeting? We thank Dave for his interesting and entertaining show, and for coming up from Dorset to be with us.

Our next meeting will be on Thursday March 2 when we welcome Douglas Beazer. He will be presenting two topics, ‘The British Military Train to Berlin -The Berliner and The Bridport Railway’. As usual, doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start at the Museum of Bath at Work.

We are pleased to report that our membership continues to grow. We welcome new members James Tanner, John Beck and David Bethell who joined the Society at the last meeting.

Would you please ensure when you are attending a meeting that you are signed in with the treasurer. If he is not at the top of the stairs he will be in the room with his register. We want to keep an accurate count of those attending, and it is also very important should we have to have an emergency evacuation.

Just a reminder, our April meeting will be on the second Thursday, April 13.

In last month’s competition, you had to find the name of the location of the Water Trough. This was situated at Anyho. There is another competition this month later in the Newsletter.

Former longstanding member and Society Secretary Ken Payne has passed away at his home near Castle Combe, aged 100. Ken joined the committee in June 1965, becoming the Hon. Secretary in September that year. It was a position he held for 22 years, finally retiring from the committee in 1990.  He was a very highly skilled and prolific railway modeller, and appeared with his EM gauge layout, the ‘Tyling Branch’ on the front cover of the Railway Modeller magazine in April 1957. He constructed virtually all the engines, coaching stock and all of the wagons and buildings on his layout. He also wrote several articles for the magazine and gave presentations to the Society on his modelling achievements. Ken was also the ‘author’ of the postcards members once received, advising brief details of the next meeting. He was certainly a well-respected member and stalwart of the Society. 

NEWS ITEMS

At the Great Western Society at Didcot, Class 52 diesel D1023 'Western Fusilier', has arrived at on long term loan from the National Railway Museum. It is not currently in running order due to transmission problems. On Saturday March 4, Didcot is to service an excursion from Tyseley hauled by Castle’s 5043 'Earl of Mount Edgcumbe' and 7029 'Clun Castle'. It is planned to show the two visiting Castles in company with residents 5051 ‘Earl Bathurst’ and 4079 ‘Pendennis Castle’ for photographs in front of the shed. A unique opportunity for GWR steam fans to see four Castle Class locomotives together!

In the Bristol area, South Gloucestershire Council has granted planning permission for the new North Filton station, which is due to be built on the former Filton Airfield site. This is in the new neighbourhood known as Brabazon and the station will also serve the YTL Arena Bristol, which is to be constructed within the former Brabazon hangars. Work is also due to start this month on a new station at Ashley Hill between Stapleton Road and Filton Abbey Wood stations. This is part of the Metro West Phase 2, and is due to be complete in 2024. The original station at Ashley Hill was closed on November 23, 1964.

The Avon Valley Railway has launched a £2,500 crowdfunding appeal for their Oldland Common station. They want to restore the station to its 1960’s condition which will enhance the heritage atmosphere. Details/donations can be found at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/oldlandcommonproject

West Devon Borough Council has been successful in a £13.4 million bid to develop a new station and integrated transport hub on the east side of Okehampton. The award is part of the Government's ‘Levelling Up’ fund to build a station and car park, which will be easily accessible from the nearby A30. The station's platform will include a passenger lift with greater accessibility for all travellers as well as cycle facilities and electric vehicle charging points. Usage of the Dartmoor Line is now 220% above that predicated in the original surveys before services recommenced.

LOOKING BACK

It was 60 years ago this month, on March 27, 1963, that Lord Beeching published his report, ‘The Restructuring of British Railways. This of course outlined plans to cut more than 5,000 miles of track and close over 2,000 stations. As we know, dozens of branch lines serving villages and market town stations were culled, along with portions of mainline, which were either closed and ripped up, or reduced to single track status. It was of course short sited policy, and today the Government has the ‘Restoring your Railways’ programme – ‘Reversing Beeching’, Unfortunately most is lost for ever, and only a small number of schemes of reopening will take place, after endless surveys and debate, and at significant cost!

40 years ago on March 19, 1983, Hertfordshire Rail Tours ran the ‘Thames – Piddle Executive’ tour. This started at Watford Junction and headed for Andover where it took the remains of the former Midland and South Western Junction line to Ludgershall running into the former ‘horse’ platform, and then to the boundary at the army camp gates via Ludgershall Military Junction. The train retraced its route to Andover and then ran west and via Laverstock North and South Junctions to Southampton where it reversed to head to Totton and a run down the Fawley Branch. After returning to the main line it again headed west to Bournemouth and Branksome to traverse the remains of the line to Bournemouth West carriage sidings. Continuing west again it went to Hamworthy to take the line down to Hamworthy Quay. There followed a visit to the then stub of the Swanage Branch from Worgret Junction to the Furzebrook oil depot, before its final destination of the unique Weymouth Quay branch, before heading back to Watford. The train was formed of Hastings Units 1017 and 1032. Of the lines visited, the Ludgershall section still remains for occasional military traffic, although the track layout at the camp has now been reduced. It is planned that the Fawley branch will be reopening to passenger traffic at some time in the future, and the Hamworthy branch has been re-laid, and should be seeing freight brought out from the harbour imminently. The stub of the Bournemouth West line is still a servicing depot for South Western Railway, and the line to Furzebrook is now part of the restored Swanage Railway. Passenger trains are due to commence next month running over this line from Swanage to Wareham.

It is hard to believe that the film ‘The Titfield Thunderbolt’ was released 70 years ago this month! Having been filmed around Freshford and on the Camerton line in 1952, the film had its gala premiere at the Leicester Square Theatre in London on March, 5, 1953. This was part of a British Film Academy's award ceremony. It then went on general release from March 6 and is still shown on TV today. A classic!

MORE NEWS ITEMS

Combe Down Tunnel is the location for the ‘Tunnel Ultra Race’. This is a race like no other as runners spend more than two days in darkness doing a one-mile shuttle run, 200 times, in the former Somerset & Dorset line tunnel. It starts at 4pm on a Friday March 31 and finishes on April 2. If you feel energetic and want some exercise, then the entry fee is just £250!

The London Festival of Railway Modelling will take place on March 18 & 19 at Alexandra Palace. Over 35 + layouts including one of Bristol Goods Shed. www.world-of-railways.co.uk/information/the-london-festival-of-railway-modelling

The East Somerset Railway is holding a Steam Gala on March 18 and 19 with two locomotives, 4110 & 46447 in use. There will be some demonstration freight trains operating with the first service at 10.30am. The following weekend, the Swanage Railway is organising a Spring Steam Gala from March 24 -26 involving two visiting plus home fleet locomotives 31806, 34028 ‘Eddystone’ and 34070 ‘Manston’.  The guest locomotives are to be Standard Class 4MT - 76084 and Standard Class 7 - 70000 'Britannia'. From March 27 – 29 inclusive 70000 will be undertaking Driver Experience runs for £550 for a round trip on the regulator. BR Standard 75014 from the Dartmouth Steam Railway is due to visit the Gloucester & Warwickshire Railway for about three months, arriving early this month. See the relevant railway’s websites for further details.

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MEMBERS CONTRIBUTION

We thank Alan Price for yet another very interesting article he has sent in.

The Railway Home Guard by Alan Price

During both world wars key railway workers such as drivers and firemen were exempt from conscription into the armed forces and had ’ Railway Service’ badges issued to them to prevent citizens thinking they were ‘draft dodgers’ ( to use an apt, if American term). However, as the railway war memorials bear witness, many railway servants between the age of 18 and 40 volunteered or were called-up to the forces. Many had to be replaced and so youngsters, women and retirees were brought-in, such as Albert Knight.

He started in the GWR’s Signal Works in Caversham Road, Reading in the 1893 and spent his entire working life as a Tracer in the Drawing Office. This was the lowest paid grade for staff who traced and amended original drawings onto linen based transparent paper using bow pens and Indian ink prior to being made into blueprints. One of the few jobs in the grade that required any personal initiative was to draw from the locking sketches, the colourful framed diagrams that hung in every signal box. While Drawing Office staff could progress to becoming Draughtsmen, Albert made this his speciality - his name recorded by the letters ‘AK’ on the hundreds of these minor works of art. He lived in Caversham close by the River Thames and in July 1907 is recorded as having recovered a body from the river. No doubt affected by the experience he learned to swim, which was unusual at the time and became the leading light of the works ‘swimming club’. Apparently in all weathers, he would swim - in the eighty thousand gallon water tank on the works roof. Albert took well- earned retirement in 1938 and was presented with a wireless by his colleagues. However, Hitler had other plans and when Poland was invaded, Albert returned and drew or amended the many diagrams needed for wartime new works, filling-in his spare time running the Local Defence Volunteers detachment – forerunners of the Home Guard. He finally retired in 1944.

During the ‘second business’ aerial bombardment brought the war to everyone’s back door and most men who were not in the forces ‘did their bit’ by joining the Home Guard. Units were formed from the staff at important railway locations where they were used to watch for saboteurs, man anti-aircraft batteries, patrol goods yards and adjacent premises. Although the antics of Capt. Mainwaring and the Westgate-on-Sea Company is fiction it is often said that the reality was not far removed and tales are many.

Despite being a railway junction of crucial importance to the war effort and surrounded by numerous military establishments, railway Didcot was never bombed but an anti- aircraft gun was sited on the roof of the Provender Store – a huge multi- storeyed building in which the GWR prepared fodder for the 3000 horses they possessed. This was manned by the Home Guard and on one occasion a sneak raider, trying to bomb the Central Ordnance Depot at Milton, flew right over without any reaction from the gunner. When asked afterwards why he hadn’t opened fire, his response was, ‘Well nobody told me too!’

Home Guard units were often formed from off -duty railwaymen and the unit at Tiverton Junction seems they had their very own Private Pike. They used the signal box as their centre of operations and mess room. One evening of cards and tea the youngster removed a detonator from the cross trees of the block shelf and enquired of his mates what it was? Glancing over his shoulder someone casually replied, ‘That’s a fire lighter….’and having achieved the satisfactory knowing smiles from his mates went back to the game. It was then they heard the clang of the Romesse stove lid going down.

There was quite a lot of activity in the following few seconds. Cards flew in the air, tea was spilled, several people tried to go down the stairs at once and others took cover where they could. Signal boxes are very similar to greenhouses – great places to grow tomatoes but absolutely useless at containing an explosion. The result was spectacular. The contents of the stove blew out of every orifice together with much soot, several windows were cracked and in a moment the once immaculate signal box was turned into a smoky scene of devastation. It took quite a while for all the lumps of burning coal to be hunted down and extinguished but the polished linoleum was never the same again.

Lever number 32 had a large hole in it towards the top of the handle. Caversham Road would never have sent out a lever in this state and so whatever happened must have occurred after it was installed in 1932. Apparently, it was the result of someone ‘toying’ with a Lee Enfield 303 and loosing ‘one off’ – ‘stupid boy!’

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Next month we hear from John Beck about the ‘15 Guinea Special’ on August 11, 1968 at Liverpool’s Lime Street Station.

Please do send in your memories/articles to share in the Newsletter, anything to do with railways, even loosely would be fine as I’m sure we would like to read them. Please send them to either bathrailwaysociety@gmail.com or bob.bunyar@outlook.com

COMPETITION

Earlier in the Newsletter it was mentioned about new stations being provided for North Bristol. The City and its outer surrounds once had a large number of stations, but sadly many were closed in the 1960’s. In this month’s competition you have to find the name of one of these closed stations. As usual all you have to do is find the name by taking the first letter of each answer, then re-arrange the scrambled letters to find it. There are no prizes, it’s all for fun!

• Cashmore’s once cut up locomotives, and currently Simms do, in the docks of this South Wales City, once a town.

• Brunel’s first name

• The name of the place where locomotive trials were held from October 6 to 14, 1829.

• Name of Hall Class 5972

• Name of Class 52 Class diesel, D1058 Western …..

• Severn Valley Railway station used for the filming of the TV series ‘Oh Doctor Beeching’!

• Terminus of a branch line from Kemble which also served a halt at Culkerton.

• The City which has the disused LNWR Swing Bridge over the Sheepwash Channel, now restored

• The surname of the designer of 2-6-2T 41312, based on the Mid Hants Railway

• This Gloucestershire town once had stations at Malvern Road and St James

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