BATH RAILWAY SOCIETY

President: Pete Waterman OBE DL

Chairman: John Froud    

 Email: bathrailwaysociety@gmail.com

FEBRUARY  2025  NEWSLETTER

Dear Member,

SOCIETY MATTERS

Despite the freezing conditions, we had a good turnout for our first meeting of the year on January 9. Nick Waton told us all about the East Somerset Railway, starting with the history of the original line, followed by the heritage railway today, which was founded by our late President and artist David Shepherd. Although there were some minor technical issues, it was a very informative evening and we thank Nick for coming and the donation of a pair of tickets for the ESR, which we will raffle off.

This month’s meeting will be back to the first Thursday on February 6, at 7.30pm at the Bath Museum of Work. Member Brian May will be presenting: ‘Cuba Libre - The Sugar Mill Railways of Cuba’. Brian will be showing photographs from three visits to Cuba during the 1990's which for a couple of months a year became the steamiest place on the planet apart from China. He will be concentrating on the ‘Zafra' the Cuban sugar harvest and its associated mills and steam locomotives. There will also be shots of The Hershey Railway, an electrified American style interurban railway as well as mainline diesel and infrastructure and classic American car photographs. Brian hopes that the car fans amongst the audience may be able to identify the vehicles.

In last month’s competition you had to find the name of one of the cast from the film, The Great St. Trinians Train Robbery, filmed on the Longmoor Military Railway. The answer was Dora Bryan.

NEWS ITEMS

Although the Government won’t be funding the re-opening of the Fawley branch line in Hampshire, open access company, Alliance Rail (Southern), is applying to the ORR to operate services on it from May 2026. They plan to run an hourly service, initially from Marchwood to Southampton Central, with every other train continuing to London Waterloo. All London trains would call at Totton, Southampton Central & Airport, Eastleigh, Winchester, Basingstoke, and Hook, and possibly at Woking and Wimbledon. They intend to use bi-mode Class 769’s in four car formation for Marchwood – Southampton Central and eight cars to Waterloo services. These are units GWR trialled for their Reading to Gatwick Airport services, but didn’t go ahead with them. They have third rail pickups and diesel engines. If they get the go-ahead, once services are up and running, they will look at extending them back to Fawley on the branch line.

The 5637 Steam Group at the Swindon & Cricklade Railway, hope to return their loco to running order this year, for its 100th anniversary. It is currently under overhaul there. In other news from the Railway, the three surviving cars of a Gloucester Railway Carriage Company built Class 119 DMU are now at the railway following the arrival of 51073 from the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway. It joins 51074 and 51104 and was successfully started up on its arrival, but some work is required on it.

At Henstridge in Somerset. Stored on the premises of Vincent Engineering are Mk1 GUV DB977558 from the Dean Forest Railway, Mk1 SK 25769 which arrived from the Bluebell Railway during 2023 and Class 127 DMU car, 51622 which is owned by Helston Railway since 2021. The engineering facility is known for its boiler work and restoration of traction engines, and it repaired the boiler of 0-6-0T 30075 which is based at Shillingstone, just down the former S & D line.

The Shirehampton (Bristol) Annual Model Railway Show takes place on Saturday February 1 at Shirehampton Public Hall, Station Road.  They will be demonstrating various scale layouts Members models in OO, N & O gauge at various levels from 10am to 4.30pm. admission is Adults £5 (cash only). Tea/Coffee will be available and there is scheduled to be one trade stand in attendance. The hall is under 0.3 miles from Shirehampton Railway Station on the Severn Beach Line. 

On February 15 & 16 the Burnham and District Model Railway Club hold their Weston-Super-Mare Model Railway Show at the Priory Community School, Queens Way, Weston-Super-Mare. Admission is £8 and it is open 10am to 4pm. There are 21 layouts due to attend with 12 trade stalls also in attendance. Light refreshments are available, and the school is just 0.31 miles from Worle station.

The Avon Valley Railway has a half price offer this month. ‘Half Price for Half Term’. Trains depart from Bitton Station at 10:45, 12:00, 13:15, 14:30 & 15:45 on Saturday 15, Sunday 16, Wednesday 19, Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 February 2025. Adults £5.50 (usually £11), Concessions £5 (usually £10, Children £3.50 (usually £7). Under 5’s travel free.

The Didcot Railway Centre is holding Steam Days on February 15, 16, 19 & 22. On February 23, they have a Limited Run Day which could be either a steam or diesel locomotive in use.

A former SECR Pullman Car, 136 ‘Formosa’, first built in 1921, is now situated at The Creamery by Castle Cary station which is a café and working dairy. The Pullman Car had been stored on a section of track at Portsmouth Arms Station on the Exeter to Barnstaple, ‘Tarka’ Line, since 2006.

The railway lines in Devon and Cornwall are carrying up to 15-20% more passengers now than in pre-covid times. Since its reopening in November 2020, the Dartmoor Line has carried 775,000 passengers up to November 2024. In the last four-week reporting period, 40,000 journeys were recorded to/from Okehampton.

On Saturday February 15, Pathfinder Tours are running ‘The Verney Venturer’ rail tour, which will visit the newly rebuilt East-West rail link from Bletchley to Bicester. The tour starts at Bristol T.M. with another local pickup at Bristol Parkway. The train will be hauled by a pair of West Coast Railways Class 33’s. This tour was originally due to have run on November 16, 2024, but was cancelled.

Work has started at Herston, on the Swanage Railway, on the construction of a two-road carriage shed. It is scheduled to be completed during March this year. Due to access difficulties, all materials were being delivered by rail from Norden, with a rail crane assisting with the construction.

Can anybody help me? I’m looking for photographs of the following signal boxes: Thingley West, Lacock, Beanacre, Farleigh Down (between Bathford and Box) and Alford (near Castle Cary). All these were put in during WWII. If you can help with any images, please get in touch with me. bob.bunyar@outlook.com The pictures are for a second book I am compiling about Military Branch Lines and Sidings.

LOOKING BACK

40 years ago, this month, on February 9, 1985, British Rail ran a Day Excursion from Crewe. The train was hauled by Class 50 – 50026 'Indomitable' and its destination was Plymouth. However, due to adverse weather conditions following snow, the train had to be terminated at Bristol Temple Meads, before returning to Crewe later in the day. 50026 is still with us today and its survival is somewhat remarkable as the locomotive is the only one of the Class 50s that managed to escape from the scrapyard. It was withdrawn on December 11, 1990, and in 1992, was sent to the yard of C F Booth in Rotherham. Despite being stripped of parts, it was purchased in 1993 and restored to working order over a 20-year period at various locations around the country.

80 years ago, this month, a serious accident occurred at London’s Kings Cross Station. On February 4, 1945, on the East Coast Main Line of the London & North Eastern Railway, two passengers were killed and 25 injured when the 18:00 service from Kings Cross to Leeds, formed of 17 coaches and hauled by 2512 Silver Fox began to slip badly on a section of newly replaced rail. With its sanding equipment not working fully, 2512 was unable to grip the rail and eventually came to a stand and then began to run backwards. The rear carriage of the train ran into the coaches of the 19:00 ‘Aberdonian’ to Aberdeen, which were in platform 10.  The rear coach of the 1800 service rose into the air and struck a signal gantry, which crushed one of the two first-class compartments in the middle of the coach. Two passengers were killed, one of whom was Cecil Kimber, the former managing director and co-founder of the MG car company. The Inspecting Officer of the accident, Col. Wilson, concluded that the main fault lay with the driver of 2512. Although it was difficult for him to tell which direction he was moving in the tunnel, he should have anticipated that he might roll back after the prolonged slipping.

Sixty-five years ago on February 5, 1960, the then BRS President, O.S. Nock, gave a presidential address to the Society on “The Railway Race to the North”. This was one of 12 such addresses he gave to the Society as President with time for questions and discussion afterwards. 

MEMBERS CONTRIBUTION   

The GWR Rail Car Diagram by Bob Bunyar

When I was a young boy I frequently travelled into Bath from Wellow, and vice versa, over the Somerset & Dorset line with my parents, and on several occasions, I can clearly remember seeing in the evening as we head home, a GWR Rail Car sat at the buffer stops at Green Park Station. Living at Wellow, all I saw was steam locomotives, so this single coach diesel was quite alien to me, and I also recall my father taking me on-board it to have a look inside, before we took our train home. I would put the dates sometime in the late 1950’s, early 60’s.

In 2014/15, whilst researching for my book ‘Somerset & Dorset Swansong – Last Days of a Steam Railway’, I came upon details of the working of the rail cars that took them to Green Park, and it was quite interesting to see. Although I don’t now have the actual timings sheet, I can recollect that its working started at Bristol Temple Meads and it took a round route back to Bristol via Westbury, Frome, East Somerset Junction and the Cheddar Valley Line through to Yatton, and then via Weston Super Mare calling at most stations. From Bristol it then continued to Bath Green Park via Staple Hill, Mangotsfield and Bitton, before heading back to Bristol T. M. This diagram took up most of the day into the early evening, and no doubt there were crew changes during it. Was this the only ever diagram that saw a train service serve both Bath Spa and Green Park the same day? I haven’t seen any photographs of it working over the Midland Line to Bath or at Green Park itself. Does anyone know of any?

The first GWR rail car was introduced into passenger service on December 3, 1933, two days after a press run from Paddington. They were prone to catch fire and Nos 35 & 36 were destroyed by fire at St Anne's Park, Bristol in April 1956. The final units to be built by the GWR at Swindon came out of the works between 1940 and 1942 and all units were withdrawn from service by 1962.

Please get in touch if you have an article that could feature in our ‘Members Contribution’. We now need more stories!

MORE NEWS ITEMS

Since reopening in December, after an absence of 60 years of passenger services, the re-opened Northumberland Line between Newcastle and Ashington carried 50,000 passengers in its first month.

Engineering works will be affecting services in the Bridgwater area from February 3 to 7 and in the Frome area on Sundays February 9, 16 & 23. There will be diversions and alterations to services with some buses operating instead of rail services. Do check if you are traveling on these routes.

The Department for Transport and West of England Mayoral Combined Authority have release funds for enabling works for the new station at Charfield in Gloucestershire. The works include re-aligning Little Bristol Lane to allow for future construction work, installing a temporary protective barrier in front of the former station booking hall, preparing the proposed station forecourt as a temporary compound for rail works, installing improved drainage & realign trackside cabling, and vegetation clearance. The work will start this month and will require some overnight line closures for the erection of scaffolding, and the work will run through to July.

COMPETITION 

In December 2023, the Bluebell Railway appointed the youngest driver in its history when the then 21-year-old was allowed to become a driver of steam locomotives. He first started volunteering with the Bluebell Railway's youth club at the age of nine. His progression to a driver was "rapid" after joining the locomotive department as a cleaner when he was 16. In this month’s competition you have to find his name. Just take the first letter of each answer and then unscramble the letters. No prizes given, it’s all for fun.

• This main line station was once a junction for the branch line to Welford Park and Lambourn

• Name of West country Class 34039

• Name place of the ‘Southern’s’ main locomotive works in Hampshire

• This town in Somerset had three stations, and it also now has a railway centre

• Name of a Canadian Excursion train that travels from Vancouver to Banff or Jasper

• A now closed halt opened by the GWR in 1905 between Castle Cary and Keinton Mandeville

• The Great Western Railway telegraphic code for a slip coach

MORE NEWS ITEMS

On February 22 & 23, there will be the opportunity to look behind the scenes of the Swanage Railway. It will be opening the doors on a wide range of areas often not seen or accessible by visitors including signal boxes and Herston Locomotive Works where 34028 Eddystone is currently being prepared for main line running (Vintage bus connections available). The Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum will have a narrow-gauge diesel train running 11am to 3pm. Tours can be booked and full details are available at www.swanagerailway.co.uk/events/view/community-weekend An appeal has been launched by the 4TC Group at the Railway to raise £20,000. They are working on the restoration of a TC Push- Pull Unit, and hope to have a three-car set running with a Class 33 diesel by next year with the completion of work on a third carriage. Ultimately the group want to have a complete four car set.

The West Somerset Railway has applied for a grant of £137,000 for the preparation of a business case for running trains from the main line through to their line. The application has been made to the Government, but if it goes ahead, services could not start until late 2026 due to track/signalling improvement works being required.

HST Power Car 43161 has been scrapped at the Plym Valley Railway. It recently arrived at the Railway along with the engineless 43091, which will be remaining on the line as a static exhibit.

This year is the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Settle and Carlise Railway. The first train travelled over the famous Ribblehead Viaduct and along the 73-mile line in 1875, carrying goods. The line was saved from closure in the 1980s and further details are at: https://settle-carlisle.co.uk/heritage

A video is up on YouTube showing the recent engineering works at Westbury Station where there was a month’s closure. It can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei3C1PVi5O0 but there isn’t any sound. It appears that work to reinstate the fourth platform at Westbury, which is being proposed, was not included in these works. No doubt doing this at a later date will cost more money and require more closures. The lines through Westbury re-opened again on January 24, but they will again be closed for further works on February 1 and 2.

The Belmond Britannic Explorer, the first luxury sleeper train in England and Wales, will be visiting the East Somerset Railway, starting in July the year, and stabling overnight.

LOOKING FORWARD

Our March meeting will be on Thursday 6, when we welcome Dr. Michael Bailey. His talk is entitled ‘Locomotion No.1 – A Re-appraisal of the Locomotive and The Stockton & Darlington Railway.  This year is of course the 200th anniversary of the opening of the S & D with events planned across the country.

More stories required for our MEMBERS CONTRIBUTION section. Please do send them in.

Bob Bunyar

Newsletter Editor

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