BATH RAILWAY SOCIETY

President: Pete Waterman OBE DL

Chairman: John Froud    

 Email: bathrailwaysociety@gmail.com

NOVEMBER  2024  NEWSLETTER

Dear Member,

SOCIETY MATTERS

Firstly, some very sad news. We have been informed that member Kevin Plummer has passed away at his home. Kevin was a long-standing member and served on the committee from June 2007. He was the secretary for the period 2010 – 2013 after which he remained as a committee member, frequently helping serve the teas and coffee at the interval. Kevin was retired, and previously worked for the Government’s Planning Inspectorate in Bristol. Details about his funeral are currently unknown, but we will advise you if we get further information.

The ‘Final Journey’ – The untold story of Funeral Trains was the presentation by Nicolas Wheatley at our October meeting. A slightly ‘dark’ subject but it was most enjoyable and informative, and we thank Nicolas for coming down from his home in Cheltenham to speak to us.

Our next meeting will be on Thursday November 7, when we welcome back Stephen Gay with his tales of ‘Woodhead - The Lost Railway Part Two’. Stephen gave an excellent and informative talk last year when he presented Part One, so don’t miss the continuation of his story with Part Two!  As previously mentioned, due to work being carried out at the Bath Museum of Work, the venue for this meeting has had been changed.  It will take place in the Upper Hall of the Salvation Army Citadel, Green Park, Bath (opposite Green Park Station and Apex Hotel) at the normal start time of 7.30pm. Please note: There are very good bus services serving James Street West by the Citadel and there is the Kingsmead Car Park nearby. There is also Charlotte Street Car Park which is not too far to walk. The car park in Green Park for Sainsbury’s is only for 90 minutes parking.

A final reminder, membership fees are now due, at £22, with the newsletter by email. You can pay your membership by Bank Transfer to Lloyds Bank, Sort Code 30-94-80, Account No. 02294977, Bath Railway Society. Please put your name in the reference box. If you wish to renew at the next meeting by cheque, could you please have them made out ready. If you have the newsletter by post, please add £10. It would be helpful if you don’t intend renewing if you could notify us accordingly.

In the competition in the last newsletter, you had to find the name of the first-generation diesel locomotive builder. The answer was Drewry.

We welcome new members Stuart Fisher and Colin Stanaway who joined the Society at our October meeting. A warm welcome to them.

NEWS ITEMS

GWR is now running its through Bristol to Oxford Saturdays only services. There are two trains in each direction leaving Bristol at 1018 & 1518, calling at Bath Spa at 1031 & 1531 with arrival at Oxford at 1129 and 1631. Return trains leave Oxford at 1203 and 1712 arriving at Bath Spa at 1257 & 1809 and Bristol T.M. at 1312 & 1823. GWR are going to gauge interest in the service, and if it is successful, it could be re-introduced permanently. Currently it is only due to run until the end of December. The services do not call at Keynsham, Oldfield Park or Didcot Parkway (they use the west to north junctions’ cord), but they do also stop at Chippenham and Swindon.

Work is underway at Newquay station in Cornwall to bring the second platform back into use. The currently trackless platform will be used for ‘local’ services freeing up the main platform for the longer IET summer services.  A second loop is also going to be laid on the Par – Newquay branch at Tregoss Moor in addition to the existing one at Goonbarrow. The station works will be completed this winter, and the new loop should be laid by February 2025 allowing an hourly service on the branch to operate from the May timetable change. From 2026 services will be running from Newquay through to Falmouth as part of the Mid Cornwall Metro.

Also in Cornwall, the heritage Helston Railway has obtained a signal box from Wye in Kent. A total track position was needed at Wye for the 130-year-old box to be dismantled ready for its journey to Prospidnick, the HQ of the Helston Railway.  This railway is appealing for donations to buy track materials so it can extend its operating line.

GWR has been trial running its IET sets into London Euston ready for when the main GW line is closed at Old Oak Common, at certain times, for construction work on the new HS2 station. Only a limited number of services will be diverted, and GWR staff will also be used at Euston. I would expect there may be quite a number of rare track bashers using these trains! (See also below re-closures)

The North Dorset Railway at Shillingstone station have been bringing the embankment to the north of Lamb House bridge up to the required level for ballasting and track laying. They are also appealing for donations to purchase track and fittings for their extension.

Also in Dorset, The Spetisbury Station Project was formed in 2012 to preserve and maintain this former Somerset & Dorset railway station which closed on September 17, 1956. Over the past twelve years the vegetation and demolition rubble has been cleared to reveal the platforms and building remains, as well as lots of railway artefacts, enabling the team to piece together the history of the station. They have now created a peaceful, carefully landscaped site with benches and picnic tables for visitors to enjoy the views over the Stour Valley. Volunteers have been renovating the platform shelter, repainting the fencing and repairing the platform furniture and ‘running in’ boards have been erected. If you are in the area, call in and have a look. A ‘Christmas at the Station’ event will take place on Sunday December 15. Further details on their website or Facebook page nearer the time.

Guest locomotive, GWR 14xx 1450, will be running at the Avon Valley Railway Gala, tomorrow, November 3, to bring their 50th Anniversary year to a close. In addition, the event will feature 2 home fleet steam locomotives, 2 passenger sets, and 1 goods train travelling along the line. Trains will depart throughout the day and Day Rover tickets for unlimited rides will be available.

A tour planned by Pathfinder Tours to traverse the newly built east-west rail route on November 16, starting at Bristol Temple Meads has been cancelled.

On Saturday November 30, Bath & Bristol will be the destinations of two steam hauled specials from London. There is a Railway Touring Company special from Paddington station which runs via Reading, Newbury, the Berks and Hants line and Trowbridge with a Class Black 5. The other train originates at Victoria, picking up at Guildford, Haslemere and Petersfield. This is operated by Steam Dreams with the steam locomotive still to be announced.

On the Isle of Wight, the Island Line has now reopened between Ryde Esplanade and Shanklin following a month’s closure for various track and bridge works. A 30-minute service is now in operation. The line between Ryde Pier Head and Esplanade stations is still closed for repairs to the pier structure, and it is not likely to reopen until at least May next year.

LOOKING BACK

On November 2, 1904, 120 years ago, there was a collision between a goods train and passenger service at the LSWR station of Downton in Wiltshire. This was caused by a coupling breaking on a portion of the 4.50 p.m. up goods train from Wimborne, which was left behind on the single line at the south end of the station. The 7.58 p.m. down passenger train from Salisbury, after leaving the station, collided with the waggons. Two people were injured in the collision and the main cause was put down to Signaller error, with secondary causes being driver error, inadequate driver-guard communication, defective coupling and an inadequate track layout. Downton station closed from May 4, 1964, and the site is now residential estate.

40 years ago, on November 24, 1984, Hertfordshire Rail Tours ran ‘The Devon Quarryman’ tour which originated at London Euston and ran up to Birmingham New Street before heading south. From Birmingham Class 40’s – 40086 and 40118 were used on the tour which, in the Bristol area ran via Westerleigh Jn - Stoke Gifford East Jn - (via Bristol Parkway goods lines) - Stoke Gifford West Jn - Hallen Marsh Jn - Clifton Down - Stapleton Road - Dr Days Jn - North Somerset Jn - St Philip's Marsh - Bristol West Jn - Bridgwater - Taunton East Jn - (via Goods lines)  to Exeter St Davids. Here the locos ran round to take the train up to Okehampton and Meldon Quarry. The return run, via Bristol, again with the Class 40’s, was more direct back to Birmingham and Euston.

30 years ago on November 14, 1994, the first commercial Eurostar services ran between Brussels and London, and Paris and London, via the Channel Tunnel.

MEMBERS CONTRIBUTION 

June 1995 - A derelict Swindon Works by John Beck

On a previous return to Bath by train after a day’s work at the Design Council as a video editor, I must have been looking at the mostly disused works alongside the line and had the idea I would come back sometime and explore some of this historic site.

It was June when I went back by car. I turned in to a large empty broken concreted space with rusty criss crossing railway lines, tentatively parked the car where I thought I wouldn’t be noticed and took myself on a tour round the vast ex-workshops.  Ghostly and haunting - just me a few thousand pigeons that hadn’t been disturbed for many a month, if not year.

There was nothing to ‘collect’ despite a screwed-to-the wall BR mirror in an old toilet area, and I didn’t have my screwdriver on me.

The visit was a reminder, if it was needed, of what a massive and truly broad industry British Railways was and, more specifically, what an important part Swindon played. Like Derby, Doncaster, Crewe and others, the railway was Swindon. At its height the works employed a staggering 14,000 workers. The last locomotive, obviously diesel, to be built was in 1965 whereafter it catered for locomotive repairs and carriage and wagon work, and it finally closed its doors in 1986.

The site was rebuilt into Swindon Designer Outlet opening in March 1997, which means they must have started to build pretty shortly after my visit. All that remains is a 'nod in the direction of’ - an archive photograph and brief description of the relevant manufacturing activity in each particular venue within the site. 'STEAM - Museum of the GWR' is a railway preservation centre also on the site, situated in one of the old machine shops.

MORE NEWS ITEMS

On Sunday November 17, all GWR services will start/terminate at Reading due to engineering works at Old Oak Common. Passengers can change and use the Elizabeth Line services to Ealing Broadway and from there on London Underground services. The Night Riviera sleeper will also run to/from London Euston instead of Paddington. See the GWR website for full details.

SWR services will not run between Axminster and Exeter from Saturday November 9 until Friday November 22 due to maintenance work at Honiton. Track is being renewed through Honiton Tunnel and improvements to drainage made. London Waterloo to Exeter services will terminate at Axminster with buses running between Axminster and Exeter.

A pump is being installed at Devonshire tunnel on the former Somerset & Dorset line to alleviate flooding, The work is being undertaken by BANES on the now cycleway.

The Starbucks Coffee Shop on Platform 2 at Bath Spa station is to be upgraded. As it is a Grade II listed structure, built in 1850, planning consent had to be obtained from the council. Changes will include a larger area of the outdoor seating. (If you want to sit and watch the trains go by!)

Over in South Wales, the electrification of the Coryton branch is due to be completed this month following a two-week closure in October for work to be undertaken.

A Mk 1 Tourist Second Open No. 4754 (formally W4754) has recently entered traffic on the Bluebell Railway after a long overhaul and interesting life. It was built in 1957 and allocated to the Western Region of BR. In 1983, it was sold surplus to requirements as it was only steam heat fitted and was sold to the MoD and taken to the Bicester Military Railway where it was numbered WPG 8806. In 2003, it went on long term loan to the Avon Valley Railway at Bitton, remaining there until 2009 when it was return to Bicester. The MoD sold the coach in 2014 to a group at the Bluebell Railway who have painstakingly restored it and converted it to air braking. The existing vacuum brake pipework and brackets were left intact as were the steam heat pipework and radiators. The coach is now numbered S4754 in keeping with the ‘southern’ Bluebell Railway. Does anyone remember this coach at Bitton?

COMPETITION

In the former Western Region in South Wales, there were locomotive sheds which were once coded from 88A to 88M. In this month’s competition you have to find the name of one of these sheds. Just answer the questions and take the first letter of each answer and unscramble them to give you the shed name. There are no prizes, its all for fun. The answer will be given in the December Newsletter.

• Just east of a closed station of the same name is the steepest bank between Bristol and London on the GW main line in Wiltshire (excepting through Box Tunnel). What is the name of this bank.

• The name of a shed in Carlise, coded 12B, which is now used by Locomotive Services Limited.

• A station on the SR main line between Salisbury and Exeter that was also served by Somerset and Dorset services.

• A untimetabled station on the West Somerset Railway that was built in 2009 and used occasionally when trains are extended to run to it during galas and special events.

• Station in North Devon which re-opened in November 2021, having originally closed in 1972

MORE NEWS ITEMS

Two restored two feet five-and-a-half-inch gauge Bath Stone carrying trolleys were officially handed over to the town of Corsham by the Bath Stone Quarry Museum Trust on October 7. They are now on display on a plinth, each complete with a block of Bath Stone either side of a turntable, formerly used at Monks Park Quarry in Corsham, again donated by the Trust. They are situated by the A4 as you enter Corsham from the West about half a mile from Corsham's currently only working quarry.

The University of Bristol has plans to open a new station at Long Ashton, west of the original station, as part of its Fenswood Farm development in Bristol. The original station on the Bristol to Exeter line closed on October 6, 1941.

A Liberal Democrat Devon Councillor has asked Louis Haigh, the Secretary of State for Transport, to reconsider her refusal to fund a new station at Cullompton, which would be part of the Devon Metro.

The London Transport Museum hopes to have the restoration of three cars of its ‘Q’ Stock completed, and for the train to be operated on special trips late 2025. The train will comprise Driving Motor Cars 4416/17 built in 1938 and withdrawn from passenger service in 1972 and Trailer Car 08063, built in 1936 and withdrawn from passenger service in 1971.

It has been confirmed that GWR will be having former Class 175’s, last used by TfW. They will be leasing 27 units, (16 x 3 car and 11 x 2 car sets) which are currently in store. They will be used in Devon and Cornwall for next May, and this will see the withdrawal of the remaining HST ‘Castle Sets’.

LOOKING FORWARD

Our next meeting will be on Thursday December 5, back at our normal venue of the Museum of Bath at Work. Roy Kethro will be presenting ‘The Rise and Fall of Bristol Bath Road Diesel Depot’. at the start time of 7.30pm.

Bob Bunyar

Newsletter Editor

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