BATH RAILWAY SOCIETY

President: Pete Waterman OBE DL

Chairman: John Froud    

 Email: bathrailwaysociety@gmail.com

JANUARY  2025  NEWSLETTER

Dear Member,

SOCIETY MATTERS

Firstly, a very Happy New Year to you all, and we hope you had an enjoyable Christmas.

On Thursday December 5, at our last meeting of 2024, Roy Kethro, certainly brought back memories of train spotting when he presented ‘The Rise and Fall of Bristol Bath Road Diesel Depot’. It was a nostalgic look back at the depot, and its workings, with some very interesting photographs from the Bristol area. We thank Roy for a most entertaining evening.

Our January meeting will be on Thursday 9 at the Bath Museum of Work at 7.30pm. Please Note: This meeting is the second Thursday of the month. Our guest speaker will be Nick Waton who will be telling us about the East Somerset Railway, the original line and the ESR today, which of course was founded by our late President, David Shepherd.

We have had an update on the condition of member, Ken Ayers who had a stroke on February 18, 2024. He is currently in Larkhall Springs Care Home, Bath, and has started to recover but lacks concentration. He can walk slowly around the room but is still not well enough to go home. He talks a lot about trains and will welcome visitors as he still remembers the names of his friends.

In the competition in December, you had to find the name of the ‘festive’ train, and this was of course the ‘Polar Express’.

NEWS ITEMS

The Plym Valley Railway has been gifted an HST power car by GWR. 43063 will be going on static display only at the railway, and it will be cosmetically restored. The power car does not have engines.

The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway have submitted a planning application for an extension from Killington Lane to Cricket Field Lane near Parracombe. They now await the decision from the Exmoor Park National Authority.

At our December meeting, our speaker, Roy Kethro, mentioned that he was involved with the project to bring a Class 9F to Midsomer Norton. 92207 (now named ’Morning Star’) only saw five years of BR service before being withdrawn in December 1964 and was sent to Woodhams scrapyard at Barry, South Wales, in March 1965. It was purchased in 1986 for preservation, leaving the scrapyard in October that year, and has been at Shillingstone station on the North Dorset Railway before being moved. It is currently at Holton Heath in Dorset where it now has a rolling chassis. It will be a long-term project to restore this locomotive, and an expensive one, before it can run over the former S & D. Further details and how to donate, if you wish, can be found at www.sdjr.co.uk

A few years ago, we posted in the newsletter a link to clips of railway film shot around Bath Spa and Freshford. Now the whole John Betjeman film, with sound, is available to watch, and it is well worth it. Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gzofy5Oz1s There is another film featuring Flanagan and Allen as well as Alastair Sim, made in the 1930’s that again features local railway scenes. These are approx. 55 minutes into the film.  Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rlgy5vfzGw8 There is an explanation also given at https://www.bradfordheritage.co.uk/news/1930s-comedy-crime-caper Hope these are of interest for winter days in!

First Group, under its open access name ‘Lumo’, is hoping to launch new services between London Paddington and Paignton in May 2028, if the Office of the Rail Regulator approve. It will be for five return trains per day calling at Bath Spa, Bristol TM, Taunton, Exeter St Davids and Torquay. They are also bidding for a sixth path to run a service calling at Highbridge (for Burnham on Sea) to Paddington.

On New Year’s Day, UK heritage railway lines will be taking part in a nationwide ‘whistle off’ to mark the start of Railway 200. Locomotives will sound their whistles at 12 noon on 1 January 2025. This is an old railway tradition that has been coordinated by the Heritage Railway Association, and it will signal the start of a year of events to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of modern railways.

LOOKING BACK

It was 62 years ago this month when the last passenger train finally reached Plymouth on the GWR’s branch line from Launceston and Tavistock South. The last passenger trains were scheduled to run from Launceston to Plymouth on 29 December 1962, with the "closure" taking effect from the following Monday, 31 December. In the event heavy snow falls put an end to services running properly and any ‘last train’ celebrations taking place. The 18:20 train from Plymouth, hauled by 5568, reached Tavistock after midnight, and the 19:10 Tavistock to Plymouth was stranded at Bickleigh overnight with Pannier 6430. The crew and passengers had to take shelter in the warmth of the signal box. This train was rescued the next morning, but it was several days before the frozen up 5568 and its stock could be taken back to Plymouth over what was then an officially closed line!

60 years ago on January 24, 1965, the Stephenson Locomotive Society (Midland Area) ran a farewell to ‘The Castle Class Tour’ behind 7029 Clun Castle formed of eight carriages. The train ran down to Bristol Temple Meads from Birmingham Snow Hill via Banbury - Oxford - Didcot Avoiding Line - Reading West Curve - Newbury - Patney & Chirton - Devizes - Holt Jn - Bradford-on-Avon and Bath Spa. The return run to Snow Hill, was again behind 7029, was via Mangotsfield - Gloucester Eastgate – Cheltenham Malvern Road - Toddington - Long Marston - Stratford-on-Avon - Bearley West & East Junctions and Hatton South and North Junctions. Clun Castle was withdrawn from service at Gloucester Horton Road shed on December 31, 1965, but of course it was saved for preservation, and is still running today on main line specials.

In January 1985, 40 years ago this month, Merchant Navy Class 35010 ‘Blue Star’ left Barry Scrapyard for preservation. Today it is at the Colne Valley Railway, still awaiting restoration, although parts for it are slowly being obtained. It was the 160th locomotive to leave Woodham’s yard at Barry.

MORE NEWS ITEMS

Due to extensive engineering work, services in the Westbury area will be suspended from Friday December 27, through to Thursday January 23, 2025. Trains between Reading and Taunton will stop at Frome instead of Westbury and services will still operate between: Cardiff Central and Trowbridge, Salisbury and Portsmouth Harbour and Frome and Weymouth. One early morning train a day from Yeovil PM, and one from Weymouth, will be diverted between Frome and Trowbridge – not stopping at Westbury. They will run via the Westbury avoiding line to Hawkeridge Junction, where they will reverse to Haywood Road Junction and on to Trowbridge. A very limited service will still operate via Melksham on Monday to Friday only: 07:52 from Trowbridge to Swindon and 17:35 from Swindon to Trowbridge. Replacement buses are planned between Westbury and Trowbridge, Frome, Salisbury and Chippenham. If you are planning to travel in this area, do check the GWR website for full details.

MEMBERS CONTRIBUTION         

Rail Replacement Service by Robert Howes

Hampton Row Halt by Bob Bunyar

In our last Newsletter, our vice-chairman, Mike Dodd, wrote about a ‘Hidden Railway in Bath’ at the former Wares Garden Centre in Rush Hill (don’t forget, if you have any further information about this railway system, do get in touch with Mike), now I’m going to remember one of Bath’s forgotten stations – Hampton Row Halt. The station was built in the Bathwick suburbs, east of Bath Spa station, and named after the street that leads eastwards from Beckford Road by Sydney Gardens. It opened on March 18, 1907, and was served by Great Western Railway stopping train services from Bristol, Swindon and Westbury, Wiltshire. The station had two staggered platforms, linked by an iron foot bridge which still exists today. The ‘up’ platform was on the city side of the footbridge at the bottom of the road, while the ‘downside’ platform was on the Bathampton side of it. Each platform had a waiting shelter, and there was a signal box on the ‘up’ side opposite the ‘down’ platform. The River Avon was below the railway at this point, while the Kennet and Avon Canal, which had to be diverted to the south when the railway was built, is above. The station existed for just 10 years, closing on April 29, 1917, during WWI as an economy measure, as did Twerton station on the west of the city. Apart from the footbridge, there is no trace of the station today, and there are no known photographs of it. A photograph does however exist of the signal box.

Please get in touch if you have an article that could feature in our ‘Members Contribution’.

COMPETITION 

The film The Great St. Trinians Train Robbery, was filmed on the former Longmoor Military Railway featuring superb train chases. It was released in cinemas on April 4, 1966, with a star-studded cast. In this month’s competition you have to find the name of one of the cast from the film. Take the first letter of each answer and then unscramble the letters to give you the name. It’s all for fun, no prizes given.

• The name of Jubilee Class 45554

• The first station on the Portishead branch after Parson Street

• The name given to the type of semaphore signal that had a yellow arm

• Preserved on the Severn Valley Railway D1013 Western?

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• This main line station is the junction for access to the mothballed line to Heathfield

• Name of West Country Class 34026

• This shed had a Code 82A

• This Class 40, D214, was named after a Cunard Line Ship

• The station between Didcot and Oxford that was once the junction for Abingdon

MORE NEWS ITEMS

The Wessex Association of Model Railway Clubs - Frome Exhibition takes place on Saturday January 4 & 5th at the Cheese & Grain, Market Yard, Frome, Somerset BA11 1BE. Open 1000hrs to 1630hrs (1600hrs Sunday) Admission: Adults £7.00.   The Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust’s 50th Annual Model Railway Exhibition, due to be held at Edington Village Hall, has been cancelled.

The Swindon & Cricklade Railway will be running a ‘steam’ service on New Years Day using ‘Willy’ the Well Tank. The first-round trip departs from Blunsdon at 10.30am and the last is at 15.34 pm.

The group behind the proposed new services from Taunton to Swindon & Weston Super Mare, Go-Op, have launched a ‘Just Giving’ page to help raise funds to set up their operation. The Office of Road & Railway (ORR) have given approval for services to start in 2026 providing Go-Op can prove they have the finance in place to do so. They intend to use Class 153 Units, which will be coming off lease from Transport for Wales, and they are looking at using part of the former MoD sidings at Thingley Junction near Chippenham as a operating base for the units. For details see https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/go-op-som-wilts-rail# The project must receive all pledges made by March 7, 2025, at 5:00pm. Shares are also available for purchase separately from the Crowd Funding.

The Swanage Railway is holding a ‘Winter Warm Up’ gala on January 4 & 5, 2025, with a combination of Steam and Diesel hauled passenger and freight trains. Locomotives rostered to be in use (subject to availability) are T3 - 563, U Class 31806, Battle of Britain Class 34070 ‘Manston’ and Class 33 - D6515. Tickets can be purchased in advance online.

The West Somerset Railway is continuing in talks with Somerset County Council, GWR and Network Rail about operating a service from Taunton into Bishops Lydeard. They are looking at a potential start date in late 2026, if negotiations come to a successful conclusion,  

Work on dismantling T9 30120 at the Flour Mill Workshops in Gloucestershire has commenced. The boiler from the National Railway Museum owned locomotive has been removed from the frames, so a full assessment can be made of what work is required to return this locomotive to working condition. It is anticipated that a new cylinder block will have to be cast and drawings for the pattern are held by the Swanage Railway. The project to return 30120 to working order is being managed and funded by the 563 Locomotive Group, who restored the Class T3 at Swanage, working closely with the NRM.

In Northumberland, the line to Ashington re-opened for passenger services on Sunday December 15 after an absence of 60 years. The first train, the 0757 from Newcastle, was formed of 158 817 and 158 867, Four stations along the route at Newsham, Bedlington, Blyth Bebsibe and Northumberland Park, are still under construction and will be opened as soon as possible in 2025.

LOOKING FORWARD

Our February meeting will be on Thursday 6th, when member Brian May presents: ‘Cuba Libre - The Sugar Mill Railways of Cuba. More details in the next newsletter.

Bob Bunyar

Newsletter Editor

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