BRANCHES
BEDFORD (at 19.30) - St John’s Church Hall, St John’s Street,
Bedford.
You can access the Bedford Branch's own pages
by clicking here.
BRIGHTON (at 19.45) - Brighton Model Railway Club Room, BR London Road Station,
Shaftesbury Place.
CENTRAL LONDON (at 19.00 Note new starting time
) - Model Railway Club, Keen House, Calshot Street, London N1 (ring lower
door bell) You can access the
Central London Branch's own page by clicking here.
CROYDON (at 19.15) - United Reformed Church Hall, Addiscombe Grove.
You can access the Croydon Branch's own page
with the year's fixtures by clicking here.
DORKING (at 19.30) - Pethick-Lawrence House, 85 South Street, Dorking.
EAST ANGLIAN (at 19.30) - East Anglian Railway Museum (Colchester Branch)
at the Friends' Meeting House, Church Street, Colchester
NORTH LONDON (at 19.30) - NEW VENUE Wood Green
Labour Club, 3, Stuart Green Crescent, Wood Green, London N22 5NJ.
NORTH WEST - (at 19.30) The Victoria Hotel, Wargrave Road, Newton-le-Willows.
You can access the North West pages by
clicking here
ST ALBANS - (at 19.30) Chiswell Green United Reformed Church Hall, Watford
Road, St Albans
You can access the St Albans Branch's own
pages by clicking here
FIXTURES DIARY
AUGUST
Tuesday 5th: North London Branch meeting. The Committee Entertains.Friday 15th: Central London Branch meeting. Members slides, Omnes.
Monday 18th: Dorking Branch meeting. ‘Fireless Locos’ by Nick Kelly
SEPTEMBER
Tuesday 2nd: Bedford Branch meeting. ‘Chiltern Trains’ by Adrian Shooter.
Tuesday 2nd: North London Branch meeting. ‘South Devon Railway’ by John Keohane.
Thursday 11th: St Albans Branch meeting. ‘The Railway Clearing House’ by Dr Roy Edwards, University of Southampton School of Management. An illustrated talk on the Railway Clearing House 1923 - 1963 with special emphasis on the management of freight operations.
Monday 15th: Dorking Branch meeting. ‘Section 2 - CTRL’ by Phil Bassett.
Thursday 18th: North West Branch meeting. ‘The Great Western Broad Gauge’ - from its birth to its demise in 1892 by Ken Grainger.
Friday 19th: Central London Branch meeting. ‘East Anglia and North East England in the 1960s’ by Chris Hurricks.
Saturday 20th: Bedford Branch 50th Anniversary Open Day at St Johns.
Tuesday 23rd: Bedford Branch AGM followed by a presentation from Charles Firminger.
Thursday 25th: Croydon Branch meeting. Branch Photo Competition and Members’ Slides. Another chance to show what you’ve done. It may be possible to project digital images – please advise the secretary in advance if you wish to, for the necessary equipment to be available.
Saturday 27th: Central London Branch Outdoor fixture. ‘London’s Lost Railways’; guided walk by Don Kennedy, Greenwich-Deptford repeat, then Deptford to London Bridge. Full details nearer the time. Please contact Bob Stonehouse directly to express an interest if you wish to participate. If the walk is oversubscribed it will be repeated.
NEWS FROM THE BRANCHES
Bedford
The anniversary theme continued on 1/4 with ‘50 years of the
Great Northern’ presented by David Percival.
Since moving to Knebworth in 1953, he has kept a very close eye on his local
railway and while still a schoolboy was in at the birth of the Stevenage
Locomotive Society, due to clock up 50 years in 2009.
With just a few Colour-Rail slides to fill the gaps in his own extensive
slide archive caused by only having a box Brownie at the time, David reviewed
in turn express passenger trains, freight and parcels workings, suburban
services and specials, dealing with each subject more or less chronologically.
There was a reminder of those trains which boasted the same loco day after
day, the faltering start to the advent of diesels and the short-lived prototypes,
the last of the Quad-Arts, the heyday of the Deltics, the Sheffield Pullman,
A4s on the Scotch Goods, the Cravens DMUS, the first electrics to Huntingdon
and much, much more.
On 6/5 the former Branch Chairman Peter Butler shared the results
of more than twelve years’ research into the railways of Northamptonshire.
Starting at Roade, he took a broadly clockwise look around the county, which
once boasted over seventy stations but now has only five, and showed clearly
how the network developed. Thanks to the curvaceous county boundary, many
lines than some might expect failed to be included.
Peter showed how closely bound to the rise and fall of the rail network
was the ironstone industry and mourned the loss of some fine architecture.
Despite many years of overgrowth, there is much to be seen if one is prepared
to seek it out such as cuttings, platforms, old sleepers and much more.
Amid the fine selection of photographs, some very rare, were amusing anecdotes
of how details were accomplished and certain items of railwayana rescued.
The Branch thanks Peter for a very interesting evening and his generosity
in making his book on the subject available at a friendly price.
Bob Goodman returned on 3/6 to speak about the ‘Royal Scots’.
The first half of his presentation described the background to the genesis
of the class. In the first few years of the LMS there was no clear direction
as to motive power policy but the 1926 General Strike proved to be a water-shed.
The GWR’s loan of Launceston Castle spurred the LMS Board into action
and 50 high-powered 4-6-0s were ordered in December 1926; the first entered
service 7 months later. Their success resulted in 20 more were built at
Derby in 1929. Despite their prodigious haulage and time-keeping feats their
steaming capability needed improvement and after WW II the class members
were fitted with taper boilers as they went in for heavy repair.
The mass slaughter began in 1962 and the last was withdrawn in 1966. Bob
showed a fine selection of slides which illustrated many of the points that
he had made and the broad spread of workings on which members of the class
were employed.
Brighton
Early train lighting and heating was the unusual subject presented
to members by Malcolm Stroud on 28/4.
Nowadays these essentials are taken for granted but in Regency times heating
of trains was virtually unknown and things were little better in Victorian
days. This involved providing foot warmers which must have been prodigious
with the earliest lighting being by candle, later superseded by gas.
When steam heating finally came along it was soon discovered that passengers
at the front of a long train were considerably warmer than those at the
rear, a problem that has never really been solved. Adding interest, Malcolm
brought along a small display of heating and lighting artefacts including
early candles whose diameter would be too large for present day candleholders!
Graham Biggs took his audience on a photographic tour of preserved
railways in Southern England on 19/5, dwelling mainly on the Mid
Hants and the Swanage. His many photographs covered 20 years or so and it
was quite amazing how many Bulleid and Riddles locomotives featured as did
Corfe Castle!
A considerable number of the pictures shown were station scenes or occasions
when visiting locomotives featured on the two preserved lines mentioned.
The final part of the evening included the Bluebell Railway and the ‘Brighton’
E4 32473 which, sadly, has now been taken out of traffic for its 10 year
boiler test etc; she will be sadly missed for the next year or two.
Central London.
Adrian Palmer presentation on 18/4 was advertised as Steam in SE
Asia
it was liberally interpreted to include China and India. Superb
views of working steam in the China of 1983 graced the screen. QJ 2-8-2s
were in evidence on passenger and freight trains but other classes were
also noted such as the RM and SL Pacifics.
When Adrian visited China all foreigners were in escorted groups so it was
of particular note that they were taken to the massive Yanktse river bridge
inspection walkway, for linesiding!
India in 1983 still had a colourful variety of a large steam-worked railways.
Bulb-nosed WP Pacifics were in the liveries of the main railways though
Central Railway locos appeared to be cleaner than most. Other broad gauge
classes, such as CWD 2-8-2s and WL 4-6-2s, were seen in action. The metre
gauge produced classes such as the YL 2-6-2s, YG 2-8-2s and YP Pacifics.
The Darjeeling-Himalaya 2’ gauge line with its Class B 0-4-0Ts, was
also seen with one train posed on the Batasia loop against the classic view
of Mount Kangchenjunga as the backdrop.
Ivor Harding presented a ‘Continental Steam Miscellany’
on 16/5.
Ivor is a very widely travelled enthusiast but this presentation
concentrated on Central Europe. Original video material had been transferred
to digital format and was projected using the Club’s new projection
equipment.
There were varied scenes in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia,
many recorded on Club tours. The Austrian 4-6-0 03 was seen on a railtour
duty with a vehicle in the train in GW-style chocolate and cream livery!
0-8-0 339-01 was observed in the rain on the narrow gauge Pinzgauer Bahn.
In Germany, 23-105 looked magnificent on run-pasts between Munich and Kufstein.
A pair of Yugoslavian Cl. 62 0-6-0Ts (formerly USA TC) looked magnificent
in green livery as they passed the camera. Locos of classes Tkt 48, Ok 149
and a Pt 47, the latter seen at Klodzko, all from Poland brought the show
to a close. Ivor was thanked for an enjoyable and as always educational
evening’s entertainment.
Croydon:
The Branch AGM on 27/3 was followed by members’ slides with
Bob Stonehouse showing 34007 at Kingscote, 45407 and 60009 at Victoria,
Silver Link’s penultimate day, Eurostars at various places and a Danish
0-10-0T at Zeeland.
Bob Rushbridge provided 1980s French steam including Mallets, a La Meuse
0-6-0T, a Bagnall 0-4-0T, a Borsig 0-6-0T, and the Chinon - Richelieu and
Etival - Senones lines.
Mike Hudson showed several UK locos, the IGE tour in 9/07 from Nurnberg
to Istanbul with Bulgarian and Serbian locos, the Istanbul Science Museum,
and the French Abreschviller and Eritrea lines.
Charles Firminger started in the UK with locos at Crewe, Wolverton, Swindon,
Truro, the Rother Valley Ltd special, the Ireland and the Club’s 1980
Greek tour.
Modern traction from Clinton Shaw saw 4VEPs at Brighton, Seaford and Horsham,
a 4CEP at Haselmere, the heritage 3CIG unit at Brockenhurst, 4VEP 3417 at
Weymouth in June 2005 on the farewell ‘Seaside Slammer’.
On 24/4 John Cramp presented ‘Half a Century Ago’ with
some of the best of his earlier work, mainly between 6/1961 and 10/1962.
On the SR there were views from Paddock Wood, Dunton Green, Gravesend, Sharnal
Street, Rotherfield, Ashford, Wadebridge, Faversham and Shillingstone. WR
slides were from Burnham on Sea, Cardigan, Bourne End, Brecon and Pembroke
Dock.
The ER included Brooksmans Park, Mildenhall and Calvert while the LMR saw
Aylesbury, Builth Road, Bath, Ashchurch and Grange over Sands. Ireland was
represented with views on the Cork City Tramway, at Limerick Junction, Ballaghadereen,
the Hill of Howth Tramway, Adelaide, the narrow gauge Cavan & Leitrim
at Mohill and Drumshambo in 1959, and an excellent selection of scenes on
the County Donegal with both steam and diesel around Strabane and Stranorlar.
John had started to venture further overseas at this time and included pictures
of German pacifics, the Swiss Brienz Rothorn Bahn and the Belgian 4-6-2
1005 and streamlined 4-4-2 12004
Dorking:
Waterloo was Ted Goodman’s subject on 21/4, the terminus
from the south-west built in the 1830s.
Ted dealt with the development of the station, the many expansions and the
signalling systems used over the years most important being the change to
colour lights; signalling is now controlled from a centre at Wimbledon.
It is also at the southern end of the underground Waterloo and City line,
which runs the short distance to the Bank station. Until recently part of
the national railway system, it was taken over by London Transport and operates
as part of their network; it has no connections with the underground network
and a crane has to be used to bring rolling stock to the surface for major
maintenance through a hole in the ground.
The Eurostar services used Waterloo until recently when these moved to St
Pancras. It is thought that the old Eurostar station will be developed and
used by Southwest Trains. Ted illustrated his presentation with some fine
photographs and it was clear how much the station has changed over the years.
Andrew Charman on 19/5 talked about the Welshpool & Llanfair
Railway of which he is the Publicity Officer.
Opening in 1903 it joined Welshpool with Llanfair Caereinion and has run
as preserved railway since 1956. Its gauge of 2’6” allows for
tighter curves and steeper gradients, which kept the original construction
costs to a minimum.
The locos and rolling stock have very mixed origins and came from various
narrow gauge railways. British Railways ran it until 1956 and used locomotives
No.1 The Earl and No.2 The Countess, these then being stored until it resumed
operations in 1963.
Since then both locos and rolling stock have been obtained from various
sources including locos from Sierra Leone & Romania and rolling stock
from Austria and Hungary, which makes some very interesting and varied trains.
North London
The Club’s Photographic Secretary, Brian Manktelow came to the Branch
on the 4/3. Depicting British steam locomotives in the 1960s up
to their withdrawal in 1968, Brian’s slides proved to be an excellent
record of that period.
He was fortunate, with the permission of management of course, in being
able to visit various loco sheds. There were many types featured including
tank locos and larger tender machines. In order to demonstrate the size
and scale of this impressive motive power Brian’s young children were
occasionally photographed standing along side or in front. Brian was thanked
for an excellent show.
David Place spoke on the East London Line extension on 1/4
Stage 1 of which will begin at Dalston Junction.
When the new project began work was undertaken to upgrade its viaduct, renew
the bridges and construct new bridges over Shoreditch High St. and the GE
line from where it will run partly on a falling gradient to join the former
East London Line at Whitechapel. It will continue to New Cross Gate where
another bridge will be installed over NR track and allow the continuation
of the service over SR tracks to West Croydon.
Trackbed and infrastructure between Whitechapel and Surrey Quays are in
good condition. Stage 1a will add Canonbury to the line and eventually TFL
wants to operate to Clapham Jn. via New Cross to offer a circular route
around the capital. As well as four new stations there are substantial property
developments planned for Dalston and Bishopsgate. New rolling stock is being
built and should be tested in late 2008. New train servicing facilities
are being built at New Cross Gate.
Tony Vernon’s subject on 22/5 was Archibald Sturrock who was
born in 1816. He started his apprenticeship in 1832 at the Dundee
Foundry, owned by James Stirling, and was later joined by James’ son
Patrick.
After ending his apprenticeship in 1837, he worked at William Fairbairn
& Co. for 6 months in late 1838/early 1839 then went to Brussels and
Paris for short periods before going to Edinburgh University. His old friend
Daniel Gooch gave him a job in the locomotive department at Paddington in
1840 being made manager at the new Swindon works in April 1844.
In 1850 he saw an advertisement for the GNR for a locomotive engineer, told
Brunel he wished to apply for this and within 3 weeks he was one of 41 applicants
and got the job although he may not have been the best candidate.
The main part of the evening dealt with his 16 years at the GNR. He then
went to the new Yorkshire Engine Co. in Sheffield from 1866 to 1871. The
Branch would like to thank Tony, who is the great-great-grandson of Archibald,
for this interesting and in depth talk.
North West
There was a reminder of the 40th anniversary of the end of steam
by the visit of Robin Lush on 20/3 who gave his slide show ‘1968
- the end and beyond’. Starting in March 1968, he produced a comprehensive
picture of those final months around the East Lancs and West Yorks areas
with views of the Copy Pit and Grassington freights, the Colne parcels and
the Belfast Boat Express.
The end of steam railtours, many featuring 70013, received special attention.
Memorable events were recounted such as chasing a freight on the S &
C long after the last official one ran and an interesting day involving
a cab ride on a Standard Cl. 4 to Rose Grove followed by a brake van trip
onwards to Healey Mills.
There were some superb night shed scenes, shots of unusual details and views
on the K&WVR and at Longmoor. After BR steam had finished Robin took
brief trips for steam to Austria, and Germany for views at Limberg, Trier,
and the Mosel valley.
John Owen’s gave a fascinating account of his epic cycle tour
of Ireland in 1953 on 17/4.
Starting with Inchicore, John cycled south via Avoca, the Waterford and
Tramore line, Kilkenny, Limerick Junction and Mallow to Cork Glanmire Road
and Rocksavage.
He gamely continued on visiting Killarney, the Tralee and Dingle (by then
closed), Limerick, the West Clare, Galway, and the Cavan and Leitrim line.
His route northwards then took him to Sligo, for the SLNCR, Enniskillen,
the County Donegal system, and the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway.
John returned to Dublin via Coleraine, the Ballymena lines, Belfast and
Dundalk to visit Broadstone and the Guinness brewery system.
His account was laced with tales of various amusing ‘Irish’
incidents and illustrated with his monochrome pictures supplemented by colour
slides which together showed what an wonderful treasure trove of motive
power existed at that time
Following the Branch’s AGM on 15/5, members were entertained
by the Chairman, John Sloane, who gave his show ‘Freedom of Scotland-1961’.
This recalled the first few days of an out-and-out gricing trip involving
100 sheds visited in 12 days! Starting in Carlisle, the ticket took John
and two friends to the G&SW, the Glasgow, Edinburgh and Central Scotland
areas before heading up to Oban, Fort William, the Kyle of Lochalsh, Inverness
and Thurso which was the end of the fifth day and as far as the Branch got
on the evening.
John’s show was profusely illustrated with B&W and colour slides
together with various maps and shed diagrams. Members were treated to the
sight of all the expected Scottish steam classes including the classic 4-4-0s
and tank locos, most of which were to succumb a few months later. The early
diesels were starting to make an impact and these were seen together with
glimpses of Glasgow trams.
St Albans
On 10/4 Mike Stollery, director of the Swanage Railway Trust, gave
a talk on ‘The Swanage Railway -
The Purbeck Line’ initially outlining the organisation of the railway
which has 26 Mk.1 coaches and 100 other vehicles including parcels vans,
open wagons, rail/sleeper wagons and brake vans.
Resident locos include BR 4MT 2-6-4Ts 80078 & 80104, WC 34028 Eddystone,
M7 0-4-4T 30053 and GWR 0-6-2T 6695 while 34072 257 Squadron, 34053 Sir
Keith Park and 34010 Sidmouth need overhaul.
The diesels include Cl.08 08746, Cl.33 D6515 Stan Symes, Cl.47 47635 and
Cl.20 D8188. Mike showed the line before closure when coaches detached at
Wareham from expresses were pulled down the branch.
In 2002 permission was sought to connect to the NR and a Virgin Voyager
visited Swanage to be named the ceremony by two serving volunteers.
The future looks bright with possible access to Furzebrook for a new SR
depot and by 2012 resignalling and the first daily services to Wareham.
After the Branch AGM on 8/5 Robin Patrick, Branch Liaison Officer,
talked about WWII when his father worked on the Trans Iranian Railway,
taking supplies from Britain to Russia.
It was part of a network between the UK and the Persian Gulf, the railway
taking goods to Banda-Shah, Caspian Sea, and then shipped to Russia. The
railway, built between 1928 and 1935, was 866 miles long of mainly single
track with over 3,000 bridges and 220 tunnels, rising to some 7,270 feet
above sea level.
Locos were mainly 143 Stanier 8Fs although American and German locos were
also present. His father was then with the 153rd Railway Operating Company,
Royal Engineers, for two years from late in 1941. Robin’s own railway
career began as a box boy at Roade Jn. in the early 1960s and lasted for
42 years, culminating as a Duty Operations Manager for GNER.
He then showed slides of steam locos to be found at Roade during his early
years then moved onto a miscellany of other British power during the latter
part of that decade.
A Branch party visited the NRM’s ‘1968 and all that’
exhibition on 31/5. This was located on the same site as the 2004 ‘Railfest’
display.
Newly restored 70013 was between Standard 92220 and GWR 4-6-0 7029, a fine
job having been made on its return to working order of 70013. Two freight
engines 49395 & 63395 were seen, as was Beattie Well Tank 30587. Two
diesels complemented the steamers, one being the ‘Deltic’ D9009
whilst a single AC electric, E3035, was seen nearby.
Rides were being given by both standard and narrow gauge trains within the
yard’s confines, while displays of road and horse-drawn vehicles completed
the scene.
Inside the goods shed there was a selection of sales and publicity stands,
one being the LCGB’s display put together by Robin Patrick and Murray
Eckett. For a Saturday, the attendance seemed small; hopefully the overall
figures for the whole of the 8 day exhibition will justify future shows
of this type being organised. The Branch thanks Fixtures Co-ordinator Roger
Green for arranging this visit.
Fourteen Branch members and friends took part in an evening visit
to the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway (C&PRR) on 12/6.
The main part of the evening was a round trip from Chinnor to the current
limit of the line at Thame Junction on ‘Bubblecar’ Cl.121 DMU
W55023. The friendly nature of the line’s staff was shown by the train
returning to Chinnor on its outward journey for a member who arrived late!
The on-board crew answered questions and pointed out things of interest
during the journey.
On completion of the trip, a conducted tour of the yard was made with a
member of staff. The cement works located was recently demolished and the
land is due to be utilised for house building depriving the railway of covered
workshop accommodation and stock has to be stored in the open. GWR 57xx
tank 9682 was seen as were Cl.31 D5531, Cl.37s 37116/ 219, and Clayton-built
Cl.17 D8568, together with a miscellany of rolling stock. The Branch thanks
the C&PRR for their kind hospitality and Roger Green for arranging the
visit.