BATH RAILWAY SOCIETY

President: Pete Waterman OBE DL

Chairman: John Froud    

 Email: bathrailwaysociety@gmail.com

SEPTEMBER  2023  NEWSLETTER

Dear Member,

SOCIETY MATTERS

Welcome back to the 2023/4 season of the Society, and hopefully we will have plenty of interesting talks for you with something for everyone.

We start our meetings again on Thursday September 7 at 7.30pm at the Bath Museum of Work, Julian Road, when guest speaker Colin Brading will be presenting ‘Confessions of a Narrow-Minded Enthusiast (Miniature railways)’. As normal, doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start.

Membership fees are now due, and as previously mentioned, the rates will remain the same for the coming season at £22.00 with a guest fee of £5. If you receive the newsletter by post instead of electronically, then there is an additional £10 to pay to cover postal and printing costs, making that membership £32. Our preferred method to receive fees is by bank transfer, and payment should be made to Acc.  No. 02294977 Sort Code 30 – 94 – 80 Bath Railway Society.  Please state in the reference box your surname. If you are unable to do this, then cheques will be accepted at the meeting, but please have these made out ready to avoid queuing!

At our June meeting Tom Rogers joined the Society. We welcome Tom as a member.

NEWS ITEMS

Exeter’s new station at Marsh Barton finally opened for business on Tuesday July 4. It will be served by mostly services between Exeter and Paignton.

The Bath Stone Quarry Museum Trust has presented to Bath & North East Somerset Council a Stothert and Pitt rail mounted hand crane which is believed to be the oldest surviving Stothert and Pitt crane in the world, having been built in 1864. It is now on display adjacent to the Newark works site, where it was constructed, mounted on a section of 9 feet gauge Bridge rail.

The Swindon Railway Festival returns to the ‘STEAM’ museum on Saturday 9, and Sunday 10, September from 10am – 5pm. Over 20 model railway layouts will be displayed alongside iconic Swindon-built locomotives, and there will also be special exhibitions, trade stands and modelling demonstrations.

The Severn Valley Railway will be holding two Gala Weekends this month. B1 61306 ‘Mayflower’ will play a starring role at the Autumn Steam Gala which takes place over four days between September 14 and 17. This gala will include some overnight services running. Also over four days the Railway will have an Autumn Diesel Bash between Thursday 28 and Sunday October 1. They are aiming to host the largest gathering of operational preserved Westerns and Warships. Two Hymeks from the West Somerset Railway will not now be attending. Photo shoots and excursion days are being planned for this event.  Further details available online where tickets can also be booked in advance.

The Bournemouth and Poole Preservation Club will be holding their annual Classic and Steam Vehicle Show adjacent to Harmans Cross Station on the Swanage Railway between September 8 to 10. The Swanage Railway will be running a full timetable between Norden and Swanage to serve the event. Details at http://bppcltd.com and https://www.swanagerailway.co.uk A service from Wareham to Swanage is also scheduled to operate on Saturday September 9 only. The Swanage Folk Festival also takes place this weekend with bands, Morris & other dancing and stalls in the town.

The Avon Valley Railway will be holding a ‘Salute to Shunters’ 1940’s weekend on Saturday & Sunday September 16 & 17. This will star Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 DM – WD70042 ‘Overload’ alongside resident DM WD70043 ‘Grumpy’. Other locos due to be in action will be the Frys Sentinel 7492, 0-6-0ST No.7 ‘Wimblebury’ and TKh 0-6-T No. 4015 ‘Karl’. There will be an intensive timetable with double and triple headers, freight trains and express trains. Other attractions will include re-enactors portraying the 1940’s. Prices: Adults £12, Concessions £11 & Child 5-15 £8. See the AVR website for full details.

LOOKING BACK

60 years ago this month, the Cheddar Valley line between Yatton and Witham closed to passenger traffic on September 9, 1963. This line served Congresbury (junction for Wrington), Cheddar, Axbridge, Wells, Shepton Mallet and other smaller stations. Normal goods traffic did continue over the line until 1964 when the section from Yatton to Cheddar completely closed. Cheddar back to Witham remained open for goods until November 1965, and even then a private siding kept the line in place until March 1969. This served a quarry at Draycott and there was also seasonal strawberry traffic. On November 18, 1968 the Locomotive Club of Great Britain (Bath Branch) ran a railtour, to Cheddar via Witham, as part of its itinerary, and this was followed by an RCTS special on May 31, 1969, days before the remaining line was completely closed back to Cranmore. Under the DfT’s ‘Restoring Your Railways’ scheme, there is a proposal to reopen the line to passenger services to Shepton Mallet. Mendip District Council has committed £320,000 towards developing a full business case which would see services restored to Frome. This would of course involve using the existing tracks of the East Somerset Railway at Cranmore.

A little later, 55 years ago, on September 5, 1968, Paul Pearman gave a talk to the Society about ‘Operating in WR’s London Division’. This was mostly about a new track layout at London’s Paddington station which was being brought into use to give more flexibility for operating services in and out of the station. Paul was a career railwayman and also a member of the Society in the early 1960’s. During his career he had been a Station Master at Bath Green Park station and had also given talks to the Society on his work there. Promotions then took him to Bristol and to the London Division of the W R.

MORE NEWS ITEMS

LSWR T3 No. 563 has arrived back at the Swanage Railway after an extensive overhaul at the Flour Mill Workshops in the Forest of Dean. It last steamed in 1948 and it will be undergoing running in and crew familiarisation before entering service, hopefully in October. The 4-4-0 was built in 1893.

MEMBERS CONTRIBUTION

Footplate rides in the 1960s by Graham Vincent

Living in an age obsessed with over-regulation and absurd health & safety restrictions, it seems astonishing looking back 50 years that footplate rides, intrinsically quite dangerous for the unwary, were so easy to come by....

Born and brought up in Hereford, my early “spotting” was done there, between 1958 and 1965. Motive power was an interesting combination of both GW and LMS power, so there was a lot of variety. The three summers 1960-62 inclusive, were probably the best period, with Cardiff Canton’s “Kings” working through Hereford up to Shrewsbury on a regular basis, with expresses on the “North & West” route. Other classes  making regular appearances on the long-distance through trains [there was even a through Plymouth-Glasgow sleeper at that time] were GW “Castles”, “Counties”, “Halls” & “Granges”, and LMS Black 5s, “Patriots”, “Royal Scots” & “Jubilees”, as well as Cardiff Canton’s, and later, Crewe-based “Britannia” Pacifics.

Apart from one or two rides on the Hereford station pilot, generally 5952 “Cogan Hall”, my first “footplate” of any length occurred on Friday 26th October 1962. “Castle” No. 7007 “Great Western”, the last of the class built by the GWR, [Nos. 7008-7037 were completed by BR during 1948-1950], had brought in the 5.15pm Paddington-Hereford “Cathedrals Express” [arrive Hereford 8.59pm, but with a timing of three-and-three-quarter hours from London, hardly an “express”]. I joined the loco for the run round the Brecon Curve and down to Barton running shed, later walking back through darkened streets to collect my bicycle at the station. G. Freeman Allan described the “Cathedrals Express” headboard, with its bishop’s mitre, as “absurdly florid”, although I thought it was quite attractive. In any event, it was carried by No. 7007 that night...

The Hereford-Gloucester line provided rich pickings during 1963-64. We were usually allowed up on the footplate at Holme Lacy, the first station out of Hereford, and put down at Grange Court Junction, to be out of view of officialdom. On 7 August 1963, Churchward mogul No. 6365 provided power for the 2.43pm Hereford-Gloucester, and was ridden between Ross-on-Wye and Grange Court. This was a run of twelve-and-a-half miles, and included passage of Lea Tunnel, [“shafts of light from the firebox illuminating the inky gloom” says my log of the day] between Mitcheldean Road and Longhope.

5 November 1963, bonfire night, saw myself and school friend Colin Keates  [Colin’s father Syd Keates, was a Hereford guard, and was able to pull a few strings] join the crew of 2-6-2T No. 4107 at Holme Lacy, for the eighteen-and-a-half mile run to Grange Court, the engine running bunker first. Leaving Ballingham, the train crossed the River Wye before immediately plunging into Fawley Tunnel, where the regulator was opened wide for a noisy climb to Fawley station.

13 June 1964 marked the end of services on the Pontypool Road-Neath line, steam worked to the last day. Coming back from Neath, I was invited onto the footplate at Glyn Neath, travelling right through to Pontypool Road, a run of thirty-two-and-three-quarter miles, and which included crossing the great viaduct at Crumlin. The locomotive was one of Pontypool Road’s “5700” class pannier No. 4639. At Nelson & Llancaiach, “5600” class 0-6-2T No. 5662 was seen with the 09.35 train to Dowlais Cae Harris, which journey included the fearsome climb through Bedlinog. This line also closed to passengers that day, although it remains open, just, for coal trains from Ffos-y-Fran open-cast mine.

18 July 1964 saw a day photographing at Gloucester Eastgate, with Class “5s” Nos. 45006 and 73164 on passenger trains from Birmingham-Bristol, and “Jubilee” No. 45674 “Duncan” on a parcels working. It was the last summer of the Gloucester-Chalford “auto-trains”, on which “1400” Class 0-4-2T. No. 1458 was observed. I returned from Gloucester Central at 7.15pm. on a beautiful sunlit evening. No. 4107 was in action again, and was footplated between Ross-on-Wye and Holme Lacy.

By Saturday 10 October 1964, the Hereford-Gloucester line was just three weeks away from closure. I had another trip to Gloucester, taking my first colour slides on a perfect Autumn day with a Russian “Cosmic 35” camera, costing £6 19s 6d. Returning from Gloucester Central on the 7.15pm to Hereford, I footplated “2251” class 0-6-0 No. 2242 between Ross-on-Wye and Hereford. I will always recall the crossing of the river bridge at Backney, where there was a 5mph restriction. Once clear of the bridge, 2242 accelerated away, with a crisp beat heard to perfection from the footplate, in the cold dark night....as an aside, I acquired the Backney Halt station  nameboard from BR for 10s [50p !] It can now be seen in the Kidderminster Railway Museum, to where it was donated in 2002.

April 1965 saw a visit to Surbiton, from where a number of trips were made, including to the Isle of Wight for the “02” Class 0-4-4Ts. On 20th April the destination was Yeovil Junction. Returning from Salisbury in the evening, the 8.47pm train to Woking was headed by “U” 2-6-0 No. 31627. A footplate ride was obtained between Hook and Winchfield. By October the loco had gone for scrap.

By 1966, the pockets of surviving steam were getting steadily smaller, but in the North West there was still a lot of activity. In April 1966 myself and school pal Dave Weston went up to Cumbria, camping for three nights at Scout Green, half way up the climb from Tebay to Shap. My father had generously allowed me the use of the family car for this trip, which was quite an act of faith, as I had only passed my test weeks earlier. Rides on the Shap bankers from Tebay to Shap Summit were easy to come by, and on 6 April, 2-6-4T. No. 42095, banking “9F” 2-10-0 No. 92071, was ridden to the summit & return. The following day, the engine was No. 42225, banking Standard Class “5” No. 73094, another trip to Shap Summit being obtained. I was offered the regulator at Shap Summit, and drove the engine as far as Shap Wells!

My last footplate journey was made on 10 December 1966. The Paddington-Birkenhead line was still largely steam worked north of Shrewsbury. Stanier 2-6-4T. No. 42613 was in charge of the 2.45pm Birkenhead-Paddington, and , heard from the leading coach, made a very slippery start from the cavernous Woodside station, now long gone, grappling to keep the train on the move over wet & greasy rails on the rising grades through the tunnels. 42613 was then footplated across the Wirral between Rock Ferry and Chester, getting up to quite creditable speeds between station stops. The use of tank engines on passenger trains was by then in steep decline, the only other locations at this time being between Leeds & Bradford, the Isle of Wight, [only because of its geographical isolation], the Clapham Junction-Kensington Olympia shuttle, some stopping trains in the Bournemouth area and on the Brockenhurst- Lymington branch.

August 1968 was soon upon us, and suddenly it was all over. I stood near Copy Pit Summit on Saturday 3 August and watched two very dirty & work-stained Class “8F” 2-8-0 come up from Todmorden, light engine, to Rose Grove shed, their final banking duties done, for their fires dropped for the last time. The grit & grime of these last years of BR steam, and of British heavy industry more generally, have now long gone, and preservation can never re-create them. I feel privileged to have experienced them at first hand. We will not see those times again.

Note: Graham had an early portable tape-recorder with him on most of the journeys described. He is happy to supply a free CD of the sounds recorded, with full supporting notes, to any member who would like one.......contact 01225-571198, text 07949-191350 or email grathetrain@gmail.com

We thank Graham for this most interesting article which he has put together, and also for his very kind offer to supply free CD recordings of steam he made on his journeys.

If you have a story to tell, anything railway related, please do send it in so it can be shared with members.

MORE NEWS ITEMS

A local resident has started a petition to have Wantage Station on the GWR Swindon to Didcot line reopened. Oxfordshire County Council have a long held plan to reopen it and call it Grove Station, but they have not made any progress with their plans. Considerable new housing has already been built in the area with more planned, doubling it in size.  The nearby Grove industrial estate is also expanding. The original station at Wantage closed from December 7, 1964.

Just further up the line at the Didcot Railway Centre, a project to build a double ramp at the end of the Didcot station subway and entrance to the DRC is taking shape. A building contract has been agreed and all that is now needed is for Network Rail to approve the plans. This will allow much improved disabled access to the site and make it easier to use trolleys for day- to- day deliveries to the Railway Centre. In clearing the site, some of the north east wall, one pit road and the circular base of a small gas holder from the original engine shed were uncovered. Although much of the foundations remain under NR property an archaeological survey has been carried-out to record what is there before the building work erases it. Also at the DCR, the main demonstration line is being extended towards Didcot North Junction to allow the road-rail machine to access land recently leased from Network Rail.

At the Vale of Berkeley Railway, the focus for the next 5 years will be building rail experiences centred at Oldminster Sidings.  It is hoped by 2030, visitors can enjoy hands-on experience of riding in a brake van behind a steam or diesel engine or maybe even driving it! In the longer term it is still the intention to run services on the branch line to the site of Berkeley Station, and eventually to Berkeley Road.

Planned engineering work will affect all train services between Bristol Temple Meads and Weston-Super-Mare between Sunday September 19 and Friday 22. Replacement buses are planned to operate. Trains between London Paddington and Weston-Super-Mare/Taunton will terminate at Bristol Temple Meads as will those between Cardiff Central and Taunton or Severn Beach/Avonmouth and Weston-Super-Mare. Services between Weston-super-Mare and Exeter St Davids, as well as between London Paddington and the south west via Taunton will still operate and Cross Country services will be diverted between Bristol Temple Meads and Taunton via Bath and Westbury.

A ‘Forties Weekend’ will be taking place at the West Somerset Railway on September 9 & 10. There will be military encampments, vintage vehicle and other attractions. Advanced discount tickets available online, along with other details, at www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk

The Dean Forest Railway are holding a Diesel Gala, also on September 9 & 10. In addition to their home fleet, special guest locomotives will be Class 03 – 03145 and Class 37 – 37227. There will be an intensive timetable in operation. Further details www.deanforestrailway.co.uk/experiences/diesel-gala

COMPETITION   

The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway is a 15 in gauge light railway in Kent, operating steam and diesel locomotives just over a 13 mile line from Hythe to Romney Sands and Dungeness. It currently has 11 steam locomotives in its fleet and all you have to do is work out the name of one of them from the clues. As usual, take the first letter of each answer, then un-scramble the letters to give you the name. There are no prizes, it’s all for fun.

• The name given to Class 42 – Warship Class - number D803

• The other terminus station on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway apart from Keighley

• Little Somerford was the junction for this Wiltshire terminus station from 1933

• 70E was the Southern Region code for this steam shed from December 1962 to July 1967

• This London Underground line is shown in black on maps

• The name given to the preserved steam shed at Carnforth when it was open for visitors

MORE NEWS ITEMS

The Swanage Railway (4TC Group) has acquired coaches 76301 and 76302 from former unit number 417. These were being used as tea room facilities at the Bellingham Heritage Centre (former station) in Northumberland. The two coaches were stored at Meldon Quarry, on the Dartmoor Railway after withdrawal from service, and they have now arrived at Swanage. The 4TC Group is forming a working 4TC set from coaches they have, for eventual use with push/pull fitted Cl. 33 – 33111.

An update on the former railway bridge at Great Musgrave in Cumbria which National Highways infilled with concrete. After retrospective planning approval was refused, NH have now engaged contractors who are now working to remove the infilled. The work should be completed by October with the bridge returned to its former status. It has cost NH £124,000 infilling it, and it will now coat a further £431,000 removing it. A complete waste of public money because for £5,000, the bridge could have been repointed to make it safe for many years!

The London Transport Depot Museum at Acton will be holding its last public open days of the year this month. It will be open on Thursday 21 September 21 to Sunday 24, all day. See their website for full details at https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/depot/depot-open-days

GWR together with the Dartmouth Steam Railway have a promotion running through until October 29 then 31 and November 2. This allows for the purchase of an advanced joint ticket to travel through from a GWR station via Paignton to Dartmouth using the heritage railway and foot passenger ferry service. Tickets/details are available on the GWR website or app.

Two heritage railways have recently changed their title names. Formerly the Bodmin & Wenford Railway has now become just the Bodmin Railway, while the Llangollen Railway has become the Llangollen & Corwen Railway.

There is some news from our meeting venue, the Museum of Bath at Work. They have re-gravelled the courtyard in front of the Museum and are installing exterior lighting to replace inadequate courtyard lighting with specially designed uplighters and a less intrusive light over the front door. This is most welcome for the darker winter nights. In addition, they are redecorating and renovating the entrance hall to provide a more welcoming and cheerful atmosphere. A large image, of women workers clocking on at the Horstmann Gear Works during World War 2 is being installed opposite the entrance and a collection of unique tin plate signs, framed artwork and posters will be installed on the wall next to it.

If you haven’t registered your views yet on ticket office closures you have until Friday September 1 to do so. Go online to www.gwr.com/haveyoursay to leave your comments.

Please remember, if you can pay your subscriptions in advance by bank transfer it would really assist the treasurer as the September meeting is normally a busy night! Also, if you do have a story to share with members, please do send it in, anything relating to railways is most welcome.

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