BATH RAILWAY SOCIETY

President: Pete Waterman OBE DL

Chairman: John Froud    

 Email: bathrailwaysociety@gmail.com

SEPTEMBER  2024  NEWSLETTER

Dear Member,

SOCIETY MATTERS

Welcome to our 2024/25 season and I hope you have had a good break.

Our new season of meetings start on Thursday September 5 at the Bath Museum of Work, at 7.30pm when we welcome Richard Heacock. He will be presenting ‘Fayles Tramway’; a fascinating railway system built by Benjamin Fayle in 1806 on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. This featured six different gauges, using horse, steam and finally diesel traction.

If you’ve not yet renewed, annual membership fees are now due, and these remain unchanged at £22, with the newsletter by email. If you wish to have a printed copy of the Newsletter, posted to you, then add an extra £10. (It is appreciated that some members do not have electronic facilities, but, if possible, please could you use this method for the Newsletter). The Guest fee remains at £5 per meeting.

If you wish to pay for your membership in advance of the meeting, our preferred method is 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 paying by cheque on the day, could you please have them made out in advance.

Following the presentation by Paul Finch of the Western Locomotive Society, supported by two of his committee members we have been invited to have a visit to view their facilities at the SVR. We have had some interest for such a trip, but could you advise us if you would like to participate by emailing using our address by September 13. It is likely to be on a Wednesday, but no date fixed so far. We can investigate it further if there is sufficient interest. It will probably be travelling by rail to Kidderminster.

Our Secretary Mike Beale, together with our prolific author member, Colin Maggs have taken part in a podcast entitled Full Steam Ahead! If you would like to listen to what they say, you can listen here: https://footprints.captivate.fm It’s a very interesting interview.

If you know of anywhere the Society could advertise with a poster, or a local newsletter/paper that might include us in their listings, then please get in touch by emailing details to the address above.

If anyone has changed email addresses recently, could you please  send in details ASAP so we can update our records.

NEWS ITEMS

South Gloucestershire Council are continuing to plan for a new station at Charfield along with Network Rail and GWR, who will operate the station. Ground investigation with bore holes and trial pits will shortly take place, and ecological studies undertaken. Although costs are rising, currently it is estimated that the station will open in spring 2027.

The Swindon Railway Festival will be taking place at the town’s Steam Museum on September 14 & 15. There will be at least 20 model railway layouts on display, and on the Saturday of the event there will be access available to many of the locomotives in the museum. Tickets for entry are £15.50 or £11 seniors.

The West Somerset Railway has launched a fund-raising appeal for its Class 115 DMU (51880, 59678 & 51859). It will be taken out of service for the overhaul, and they are hoping to raise £220,000.

The Didcot Railway Centre is holding a ‘TAKE 2! - 2-6-2 AUTUMN GALA 2024’. This takes place September 20 to 22 inclusive and featuring visiting engines Ivatt 2-6-2 tank engines 41312 and 41241. Also taking part will be 5101 from their home fleet.

Photographer Jack Boskett, who has presented to us twice, is holding an exhibition of his work in the Tetbury Goods Shed, Gloucestershire, until September 21, Wednesdays to Sundays, 10am to 4pm. Do check before travelling as other events are staged there. Free car parking is available.

On all Sundays in September, engineering work and essential track maintenance will affect train services between London Paddington and Reading. Trains will be operating between London Paddington and Reading but will be reduced as only two out of four tracks will be available. On Saturday 21, and all day on Sunday 22 September, track improvement works take place in the Bristol Parkway area. Services between London and South Wales will be diverted between Swindon and Bristol Parkway, and CrossCountry trains will run via Gloucester and Newport. Replacement buses are planned between Bristol Parkway and Gloucester. Work is planned on the Heart of Wessex route serving Weymouth for track renewal and essential maintenance between Sundays 22 to 29 September, with signalling and track upgrades also taking place in the Southampton and Portsmouth areas. Do check if you are traveling at these times.

LOOKING BACK

Barnstaple was the destination of two special trains 50 years ago. On September 1, a BR Day Excursion ran from Bath Spa to the North Devon Town, departing at 0855am. This was hauled by Class 31’s – 31 110 and 31 112. Class 31’s again hauled a Mystery Excursion the following week when 31 259 and 31 413 headed there from London Paddington.

A rail tour that originated at Birmingham New Street visited lines to Radstock West, Cranmore, Taunton Avoiding Line and Marsh Junction. This was operated by the RCTS/Dean Forest Preservation Society on September 28, 1974, and was formed of two Class 101 DMU’s from Tyseley Depot. This tour was not without incident as on its return run it hit a sheep at Charfield and then was delayed at Gloucester for some considerable time so the leading unit could be examined for damage.

MEMBERS CONTRIBUTION

Several items have now been received for the next three newsletters, but please, do keep them coming. Our thanks go to Mike and Davina Ware for sending in this first contribution of the season which is taken from Bernard Ware’s Memoirs, Mike’s Dad.

YATE STATION 1935 -1937

In 1935 the railway companies were starting to pool the costs of staff after years of employing separate staff for each railway company. I was 18 years old and working as a Junior Porter at Bristol Temple Meads, but about to become a victim of staff cuts whereby the GWR staff would take over our duties. I remember Inspector Coulam calling me into the office to give the sad news I was to move to Yate. The specific date unknown, but around June 1935.

Well, off to Yate I went, wondering what was in store. I was working in the country so would I miss the hustle and bustle of Bristol Temple Meads? Would I see such important named trains again, such as the ‘Devonian’, ‘Cornishman’ or ‘Bristolian’?

I was met by stern LMS Station Master Lanham, who after telling me there would be early and late turns of duty, insisted I lodge in the area. This saddened me, but with a little local help, I was fixed up for lodgings with a GWR ganger named Bill Williams and his wife at Iron Acton. This was about two miles from the station at Yate. I was to stay with them until June 1937, and it was a return to real country-style life with oil lamps, no tap water and an outside bucket toilet. Mrs Williams did all the cooking either by the fireside or on the oil stove. Old Bill kept a few hens. One old favourite brown hen would follow him into the house and sit on his lap in front of the fire in the evening. At times I felt a little home sick, but in the summertime, I would often bike home to be with my pals, and also for a little motherly fussing!

By 1936 I had learnt practically all about railway work while at Yate. Besides the usual station duties such as oil lamps, there was assisting with shunting, cleaning wagons for loading spar (quarried at Chipping Sodbury and a very heavy, crystalline rock which (unbelievably!) was for shipment to Germany where they used it in the manufacture of armaments), help loading and unloading livestock, cleaning cattle wagons and assisting generally in the goods shed and yard. Parnall Aircraft and Newman Industries were local firms, and this meant a lot of work for us. A large number of dynamos arrived for the attention of Newman Industries.

My opposite number was a lad called Ted Ponting. Many the day in the goods shed did us young ‘herbs’ unload packages weighing anything up to three tons on a crane where the maximum load should have been only fifteen hundredweight, much to the alarm of Goods Porter Williams whose hair must have stood on end!

Enjoyable times were spent having short rides on the Thornbury Branch engine LMS 0-6-0 (3F) No 3727. That was the only time I did a little stoking! About this time, I made application for transfer to the Loco Department, but apart from the acknowledgement it never got any further.

Lanham the Station Master was a real company’s slave driver, and often I was in disagreement with him, like the many times he tried to make me pay for my pushbike when going home to Bath for a weekend visit. I always refused, and pointed out I would therefore not use it on any further company business, namely collecting bills, rent or calling out men for duty. He dropped it every time. Another occasion occurred (when the air really bubbled) when I was filling the water cans at Yate Station (to go to Iron Acton). Lanham’s youngest son came on the scene and promptly squirted water down my neck from his water pistol just as I was bent over to pick up the cans. What did I do? I glanced up and saw the three fire buckets hanging by the tap, took hold of one and promptly threw the water over his head! Well, out stormed ‘High Almighty’ and I was to report to Derby with the view of being sacked for such outrageous conduct. But when I explained my behaviour, the situation cooled down and I never heard any more about the incident. In fact, the lad kept clear of me for the rest of my stay at Yate.

Previously I referred to my concerns about working on a quiet, country station and missing all the hurly burly of Bristol. As it turned out, express passenger trains (such as the ‘Pines’, ‘Devonian’ and many others) thundered through, not to mention the large number of freight trains. I have two vivid memories. Firstly, the Bristol - Leeds Passenger train flashing through right on time at 5.17pm, the fire hole a blaze of light on the dark, winter evenings. Generally, it was a Class 2 engine. The other recollection concerns the 12.30pm x Burton freight with fifty wagons on, all beer traffic, and passing through about 6.30pm. This train would go to Westerleigh Sidings, some of the wagons going on through Bath and Templecombe to the Southern Railway, others via Bristol for the Great Western route to the west of England. There was no doubt it was all delivered by the next morning. I wonder how many lorries and drivers would be needed these days to convey that volume of beer traffic?

Yate had two signal boxes: Yate Main Line and Yate South Junction. I remember signalmen C. Gingell, McAdam, C. Shaddock, Dixon and Carey. It was here that I showed my first interest in signal box work. These signal box men would let me ring bells, pull and push levers. Added to this, when the Saturday Summer services ran, Ted and I would work twelve-hour shifts, one of us in Yate South Junction Box train recording, and the other man on station duties, then vice versa on the following Saturday. It was really hectic on those summer Saturdays, just one passenger train after another. Later in life after 1966, when as a Passenger Guard working to and from Birmingham, I looked out as we passed Yate. Much to my surprise the same duties were being covered by a District Signal Inspector…the job us two lads had done with no doubt three times as many trains and at a fraction of the wage too! Because I spent so much time officially and unofficially in both boxes, it was only logical that I should attend signalling lessons held at Fishponds Station and taken by the Area Signal Box Inspector.

The last few months at Yate, Station Master Lanham was blessed with a Leading Porter and Junior Porter both with the surname Ware! Jack Ware was a pal and a great help to me. He encouraged me to join St John’s Ambulance. I took an exam and passed. We often enjoyed cycle rides together, visiting on more than one occasion Hawkesbury Upton Tower. Evenings were sometimes spent at his home, or we would visit some of the local inns and enjoy a game or two of skittles. Jack always seemed to be one move ahead of Station Master Lanham. On Saturdays it was the job for the Leading Porter to scrub out the Booking Office. Lanham always went with the family to visit his wife’s family in Weston, Bath (she had been Miss Jobbins, a coal merchant’s daughter).  Just prior to his return, Jack would just throw a bucket of water over the floor and making everywhere wet, have a good fire going in the stove and then pour some disinfectant over the red-hot bar. Of course, this gave off a strong smell, so by the time Lanham returned, he would lift his nose into the air and say, “Ah! That’s lovely. A good, clean office!” I don’t think Jack was ever found out!

Our grateful thanks for this most interesting article. Hopefully we can read more of Bernard’s Memoirs in the future.

I had an article sent in but unfortunately, I’ve misplaced the details of who sent it. These details were cut-off when it was saved. The article was – ‘June 1995 A derelict Swindon Works’, and it included a map of the works. Could the author of this please get in touch with me as I would like to use it and of course credit the article. Contact bob.bunyar@outlook.com

MORE NEWS ITEMS

The Severn Valley Railway is holding a gala from Thursday September 19 to Sunday 22. Visiting guest locomotives include 44932, Saddle Tank 51456, 45596 ‘Bahamas’ and 2999 ‘Lady of Legend’. Home fleet locos in use will be 13268, 4930 ‘Hagley Hall’, 7714, and 75069. Full details on SVR website.

A totem style nameplate from Melksham station recently sold at a local auction for £1,200.

Dorset County Council is looking at setting up a ‘Metro’ system which would see more services operate between Wareham and Brockenhurst. Currently two services per hour operate from Wareham in each direction to Weymouth and London Waterloo, and services east of Wareham would increase with an all stations stopping service to Brockenhurst. Many students in Dorset use Brockenhurst station as there is a large college adjacent to it.

South Western Railway operated ‘Island Line’ will be closed along Ryde Pier from September 6 until May next year. The whole line will also close from that date until October 7. When it reopens, services should run half hourly from Ryde Esplanade to Shanklin. Works taking place during the closure will include signalling at Ryde, track and bridge maintenance and the renovation of a footbridge at Brading. Due to the complex work required on the renovation of Ryde Pier, the longer closure of that section is required into next year.

Despite the government cancelling the ‘Restoring Your Railways’ programme, they have given the go-ahead for a new station for the town of Wellington, Somerset. It is expected to open in 2026.

Work is continuing on the redevelopment of the forecourt and entrance road to Salisbury station.

The Poole & Bournemouth Preservation Society are holding their annual transport rally from September 6 to 8 inclusive. This takes place in a field adjacent to the Swanage Railway by Harmans Cross station. There will be vintage vehicles of all types, stationary engines and the possibility of a traction engine or two plus some trade stands and a bar. The Swanage Railway is running a steam & diesel timetable throughout the day with an evening DMU – Sunset Shuttle service on the Friday and Saturday nights. There are also fish & chip specials on the Friday and Saturday evenings. The Paddle Steamer Waverley will be operating from Swanage on Sunday 8. Full details of all these events are on the Swanage Railway website. The Swanage Railway’s connection to the main line at Worgret Junction is currently closed. This is due to a bridge strike north of Furzebrook which has seriously damaged the bridge, track and infrastructure.

The Swindon & Cricklade Railway is holding Railbus and Vintage Bus Running Day on Sunday September 1. A free vintage bus service, picking up and dropping off at locations in Swindon and Cricklade will connect with the event. There will be a scheduled train service featuring the Railway’s A C Railbus starting from Blunsdon station. You can take a round trip in the A C Railbus W79978 to Hayes Knoll and Taw Valley Halt and return to Blunsdon. No pre-booking is necessary, and Day Rover Tickets can be bought from the Blunsdon shop on the day of the service. The first train departs at 1030hrs. See the Railway’s website for full details.

The West Somerset Railway is staging once again its popular 1940's weekend celebrating the sights and sounds of the 1940s on September 14 & 15. This will feature lots of musical performances, costumed performers and a range of events happening at stations along the line. On the Saturday night, a platform dance will be taking place at Minehead station. There will be several musical acts performing at the dance. You are invited to dress up in your best 1940's outfit and get those dancing shoes on! More details on the WSR website.

COMPETITION

During World War II, many London Underground stations became public shelters and underground offices for London Underground and government staff. One such station was transformed into an underground facility with phone lines, and even hosted a meeting of the War Cabinet. From the clues below, can you name this station which also had ‘Street’ in its name. Just take the first letter of each answer and unscramble them to give you the name. No prizes given, it’s just for fun. The answer will be given in the October Newsletter.

• The first name of a town of this Railway title:  - ?  - , Clevedon & Portishead Light Railway

• Name of preserved Hall Class 4920

• This man designed the West Country, & Merchant Navy Classes. What was his first name

• The name of this train, operated by GWR which runs at night between Paddington and Penzance

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