n u e 2 2 © 0 3 Gu id lin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic at i P e b 2 2 G a e © 0 3 i l l d u i i t n c u i P e b o 20 23 G id li e a l u n i t n c u 20 23 G id eli e Pu bli at ion 23 G uid eli ne Pu bli ca ion s L t n c u i P e b s 23 G id li e o a l u n i L t n c u i P e b s o i G id li e a m l u n i L t n c u i P e b i s o i G id li e a m l u ui el ne P bl ica tio ns Lim ite d u i n ui el e P bl ica tio ns Lim ite de in P ub ic ti ns L d i o i t a e m l l e u n i i L t el ne Pu bl ca io s im ite d in P b ic tio ns Li i d e u lic ati n L m ted BRITISH RAILWAY HISTORY IN FOCUS

Back to the Future - Britain’s Railways Looking Forward

Changing Trains

ISSUE 23 February 2023 www.guideline publications.co.uk

East Midlands Part One

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Vol.32 No.5 February 2023 Price: £5.99

Brighton C3

.

Copy Pit Bankers

Ashington

.

South Wales

.

Bill England in Iran

Kenneth Gray Part 3

.

Roade to Rugby

Riviera Reflections

YOU'LL REMEMBER THOSE BLACK AND WHITE DAYS...

n u e 2 2 © 0 3 Gu id lin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic at i P e b 2 2 G a e © 0 3 i l l d u i i t n c u i P e b o 20 23 G id li e a l u n i t n c u 20 23 G id eli e Pu bli at ion 23 G uid eli ne Pu bli ca ion s L t n c u i P e b s 23 G id li e o a l u n i L t n c u i P e b s o i G id li e a m l u n i L t n c u i P e b i s o i G id li e a m l u ui el ne P bl ica tio ns Lim ite d u i n ui el e P bl ica tio ns Lim ite de in P ub ic ti ns L d i o i t a e m l l e u n i i L t el ne Pu bl ca io s im ite d in P b ic tio ns Li i d e u lic ati n L m ted NEW BOOKS FROM IRWELL PRESS Working on

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O NO UT W! The author spent the best years of his working life at Yeovil Town engine shed, cleaning and labouring at first and then as fireman on goods and passenger trains to Exeter, Salisbury and Weymouth. The acme of engine working to him was a Bulleid Pacific and a fascination and wonder began in the days when ‘dieselisation’ and ‘electrification’ were just bad things that might not ever happen. Sadly they did but a love affair with the engines continued through life into retirement. Along with his own reminiscences, Derek has brought together the antics and adventures of a dozen or so mates and colleagues, all of them similarly enamoured of these magnificent and enigmatic locomotives, both in their original form and as rebuilt by British Railways. There is much on Derek’s stamping grounds in the West of England but Bulleids are also portrayed from every depot, Devon to Kent, from which they worked. Hundreds of photographs show them (well more or less!) in every conceivable mode of operation. Derek Phillips

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We currently have a little over 4000 titles on our website and we are adding more on a daily basis. In the meantime below is our usual selection of new titles. An Illustrated History of British Railways Hopper Wagons HMRS £40.00 Midland Times Issue 1 TTP £12.95 A Race Against Time MacKinnon & Kreppel £59.95 A Malmesbury Railway Companion Lightmoor Press £35.00 The Colne Valley & Halstead Railway Lightmoor Press £40.00 The Manchester Corporation Waterworks Railway in Longdendale NG Railway Soc. £7.95 Tenterden’s Railway - A Short History of the Kent & East Sussex Railway Lightmoor Press £12.00 French Narrow Gauge Album Lightmoor Press £35.00 The Royal Scots Pictorial Supplement to LMS Loco Profile No.15 Wild Swan £19.95 The Railways of Purbeck Oakwood Press £15.95 From Gloucester to Ledbury – The Daffodil Line Oakwood Press £14.95 Waterloo to the West Country Platform 5 £25.95

London’s Disused Railway Stations- Outer South East London Capital Transport £30.00 The Book of the Stanier 8F 2-8-0s Part 5: Southern, LNER and Late Arrivals.48634-48775 Irwell Press £34.95 Railway Through Harroagte Martin Bairstow £17.95 The Joy of the Jinties: The 3F 0-6-0Ts of the LMS and BR, 1924-1967 Part 3: 47460-47579 Irwell Press £21.95 Ruston and Hornsby Locomotives IRS £37.00 Western Times Issue 5 TTP £12.50 BR First Generation DMUs Crecy Pubs £35.00 George Heiron’s Travels: Midland & Western TTP £29.95 A Detailed History - The LMS Royal Scot 4-6-0-s RCTS £29.50 I offer well packed same day dispatch on mail order (subject to availability) but please add (£4.00 max free over £70 overseas at cost) for p&p.

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In- print titles: Recent arrivals including revised and updated volumes … British Railways Station Totems: The Complete Guide. Brennand & Furness. Hardback. Landscape format. 352 pages. B&W, Colour, Includes over 2,000 illustrations, maps, relevant statistics and maps and Technical information Price: £30.00 Green Diesel Era. Huntriss. Hardback. Portrait format. 112 pages. Covers the early years of modern traction when many locomotives were finished in an attractive green livery which eventually gave way to the uninspiring all -over BR corporate Blue Price: £19.95 HST. The train that saved Britain’s Railways. Royle. Hardback. 192 pages. Colour throughout. Depicts HSTs in numerous liveries, across the network, from the lineside and depots and up to the present-day Price: £20.00 Petroleum Rail Tank Wagons of Britain. Tourret. Hardback. 304 pages. B&W incl. some outline drawings. Detailed history dating back to the 1860s to the 100t Tankers of today carrying petroleum spirits and lubricants Price: £32.95 Railway Cranes Vol. 2 Tatlow. Hardback. 272 pages. B&W/Colour/ Outline Drawings/Technical information. Long- awaited reprint of this popular title Price: £35.00 Southern Counties Branch Line Steam. Welch. Hardback. Portrait format. 112 pages. Colour. Includes many lines long since closed- ideal source of reference for both modeller and historian Price: £18.95 Sussex Steam. Welch. Hardback. Portrait format. 112 pages. Mostly colour. Using some of the most evocative images available, this album vividly records the closing years of BR steam Price: £19.95 Swindon. The Complete Works. Tims. Hardback. 248pages. Mostly B&W, outline drawings etc. Comprehensive account of the GWR’s main works. Includes individual departments of the large complex and personal accounts Price £25.00 Secondary market:. All in good overall condition, pages clean and unmarked (unless stated) and subject to availability Great Western Railway Journal: Nos 2-43 (Out of Print) with gaps £5.00 ea Nos. 44-91 ditto gaps £3.95 ea - postage and packaging payable -details below. BRI Annuals: Summer Specials Nos 11/12. Annual No 13 – all £11.95 ea Bylines Annuals: 2006/07. Summer Special No 5. Annual No. 5 – all £11.95 ea British Railway Journal Nos 12-18 with gaps £3.00 ea. Nos 20-70 ditto £3.50 ea Midland Railway Society Journal Nos 14-65 with gaps £3.50 ea Midland Record Nos 1-7 with gaps £7.50 ea Nos 11-19 ditto gaps £7.95 ea Nos 22-32 ditto gaps £9.95ea lso: Archive Nos 1-63 with gaps: £POA Railway Archive Nos 1.31 ditto gaps: £POA B&R DVDs Nos 27-236 with gaps £20.00 ea No quantity discounts on any items. Applicable to all. *Postage & packing: Payable on all items. UK 2 nd Class and includes £1.95 towards the outer packaging. Note: First Class, Courier and Overseas- chargeable at cost.

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On 18th April 1965 nicely-groomed A4 Pacific No.60031 Golden Plover from St Rollox (65B) shed pauses at Galashiels with the SLS/Branch Line Society ‘Scottish Rambler Tour No. 4’. Hauled by No.60031 throughout, the trip started at Glasgow Queen Street through to Carlisle via Edinburgh Waverley and the Waverley Line, and a return to Glasgow Central via Carstairs. Once a Haymarket favourite used on principal express services, since February 1962 she had been based at 65B for use on the Aberdeen expresses. Fortunately, this photo does not highlight the awful diagonal yellow cabside stripe indicating the loco’s prohibited use ‘under the wires’ south of Crewe - an unlikely event! Withdrawn from 65B at the end of October ’65 she was one of the very few locos scrapped by Campbells at their Shieldhall yard, Renfrew, during the following December. (Robin Barbour, cty Bruce McCartney)

M O N T H '

Days Out with Kenneth Gray – Part 3 Through Central Wales By Nick Deacon

190

Britain’s Last Steam Bankers – Saturday 3rd August 1968 By Michael Smyth

198

Bill England in Iran By Peter Murchison

200

Oddments from the Bottom of the Shoebox Up North By Barry Taylor

207

Birds and Bylines By John Bailey

210

Brighton C3 0-6-0 class By Richard Derry

214

Ashington By Chris Mills

218

Roade to Rugby – A Quartet of Lost Main Line Stations By Barry Taylor

222

Reflections of the ‘Riviera’ By Peter Kerslake

228

A Reader Writes

233

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Above. Train 1C78, possibly a relief from Holyhead to Manchester, stands at Bangor's Platform 2 behind an unidentified Caprotti Standard class 5 on 31st July 1964. The train numbers, when attached to the top lamp bracket, often made it impossible to identify a locomotive especially if the cab side number was concealed by dirt! In August 1964 19 Caprotti locomotives were allocated to Patricroft (9H). (Verdun Wake/ Armstrong Railway Photographic Trust)

Left. Britain’s Last Steam Bankers – Saturday 3rd August 1968 (Michael Smyth. See pages 198-199)

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n u e 2 2 © 0 3 Gu id lin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic at i P e b 2 2 G a e © 0 3 i l l d u i i t n c u i P e b o 20 23 G id li e a l u n i t n c u 20 23 G id eli e Pu bli at ion 23 G uid eli ne Pu bli ca ion s L t n c u i P e b s 23 G id li e o a l u n i L t n c u i P e b s o i G id li e a m l u n i L t n c u i P e b i s o i G id li e a m l u ui el ne P bl ica tio ns Lim ite d u i n ui el e P bl ica tio ns Lim ite de in P ub ic ti ns L d i o i t a e m l l e u n i i L t el ne Pu bl ca io s im ite d in P b ic tio ns Li i d e u lic ati n L m ted One assumes Kenneth returned to Cardiff to commence the next leg of the journey, which would finish at Aberystwyth. A brief stop at Hereford allowed him to take this photograph of a clean Class 2251 0-6-0 No.2242, which had been based at Hereford shed (86C) since July 1957 and was regularly used on passenger and freight duties on the Gloucester – Cheltenham line and the Ross – Grange Court route to Gloucester. Whether Kenneth used the latter route that day from Cardiff we will never know but he left us with this fine portrait of the loco which, although apparently heading a passenger service, is carrying a Class K lamp for a pick-up or branch freight duty. The loco moved to Gloucester in November 1964 and was withdrawn during the following May.

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Volume 32 February 2023

Days Ou

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Out with Kenneth Gray – Part 3

Through Central Wales

By Nick Deacon

In the December issue of BRILL we left Kenneth at Abercynon prior to Day 4 of his August 1962 tour. In this issue we follow him through to North Wales.

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Volume 32 February 2023

n u e 2 2 © 0 3 Gu id lin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic at i P e b 2 2 G a e © 0 3 i l l d u i i t n c u i P e b o 20 23 G id li e a l u n i t n c u 20 23 G id eli e Pu bli at ion 23 G uid eli ne Pu bli ca ion s L t n c u i P e b s 23 G id li e o a l u n i L t n c u i P e b s o i G id li e a m l u n i L t n c u i P e b i s o i G id li e a m l u ui el ne P bl ica tio ns Lim ite d u i n ui el e P bl ica tio ns Lim ite de in P ub ic ti ns L d i o i t a e m l l e u n i i L t el ne Pu bl ca io s im ite d in P b ic tio ns Li i d e u lic ati n L m ted Britain’s Last Steam Bankers – Saturday 3rd August 1968 By Michael Smyth

F

rom the earliest days of railways in Britain banking engines had been provided to assist freight and passenger trains over steeply-graded sections of line. Perhaps most famously, such trains on the ascent of Shap from Tebay or that of the Likely incline attracted generations of photographers. However, with the impending demise of steam on BR in August 1968 there remained only one banking duty. This was on the former L&YR line from Yorkshire to Manchester at Todmorden. Here at Hall Royd Junction, just east of Todmorden station, the line to Blackburn diverges and climbs steeply to Copy summit in a little under four miles - a route that once carried considerable freight traffic, and especially coal trains from Yorkshire pits to industrial and domestic users in Lancashire. Banking engines for this stretch came from Rose Grove shed, by then one of the last three steam sheds open on BR. Saturday

3rd August 1968 was the penultimate day of steam workings from Rose Grove and the last one for banking turns. Living in Leeds at the time I caught a very early morning DMU to Todmorden and then walked towards the summit hoping to see some banking action. The first westbound coal train appeared at 09.35 but went by unassisted with D6925 at its head. Two more similar trains followed in the next 40 minutes pulled respectively by D6807 and D6704. This passage of three diesel-hauled freight trains meant that one of two banking 8Fs could retire light engine to Rose Grove shed, namely 48278, which passed at 11.00. There was one more westbound freight hauled by D6814 at 11.20, and again this needed no assistance for the climb. Twenty minutes later the last ever steam banker, 48191, appeared light engine on its final journey to Rose Grove shed. The age of steam banking engines was over forever.

British Railways Illustrated

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There was however one unexpected further sighting at Copy Pit. Five minutes after 48191 had passed 48393 appeared with an eastbound train of empty 16T mineral wagons. This ran into the summit loop where the guard pinned down the wagon brakes. After uncoupling the 8F ran back tender first to Rose Grove shed. This movement was almost certainly the last steam freight working over Copy Pit because next day, Sunday 4th August, the wagons were still there. This Sunday was the final day of normal steam duties on BR but only steam-hauled enthusiast specials passed over Copy Pit that day.

Volume 32 February 2023

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n u e 2 2 © 0 3 Gu id lin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic at i P e b 2 2 G a e © 0 3 i l l d u i i t n c u i P e b o 20 23 G id li e a l u n i t n c u 20 23 G id eli e Pu bli at ion 23 G uid eli ne Pu bli ca ion s L t n c u i P e b s 23 G id li e o a l u n i L t n c u i P e b s o i G id li e a m l u n i L t n c u i P e b i s o i G id li e a m l u ui el ne P bl ica tio ns Lim ite d u i n ui el e P bl ica tio ns Lim ite de in P ub ic ti ns L d i o i t a e m l l e u n i i L t el ne Pu bl ca io s im ite d in P b ic tio ns Li i d e u lic ati n L m ted Bill England in Iran

By Peter Murchison

Bill was based at Ghom, where we see a class 8 WD locomotive at the shed all ready for its next slog over the mountains. Note the electric head lamp, cowcatcher, and Westinghouse air brake pump on the left-hand side.

B

ill England joined the Southern Railway in 1933, age fourteen and after a spell in Eastleigh Locomotive works became an engine cleaner in the nearby running sheds where one day, he hoped to become a driver like his father. By 1939 war was looming on the horizon, Bill was now employed on regular footplate duties as a fireman, and to ensure that he continued working as a railwayman when war inevitably came, decided to join the supplementary reserve of the Royal Engineers. He was sent to the Longmoor Military Railway for training and was eventually posted to the 153 Railway Operating Company. However, this part of his story does not begin until after he arrived at Bandar Shapur, a port on the Persian Gulf in Southern Iran, after a lengthy sea journey that had taken his Company half way around the world. They had no idea of their final destination until they arrived at Bombay in February 1942. Bill takes up the story; We were told by the commanding Officer that we were going to Iran to work the railway there and this seemed more like our cup of tea. An agreement had been reached between the Russians and the Allies that Western powers should help the Russians with war materials and there were two routes available to get these supplies through; around the north of Sweden to Murmansk or via the Persian Gulf to the Caucuses. Our Company, along with two other Companies and some other construction Companies were going to

take over the length of the Iranian State Railways and run it as a Military line.

The line Bill was referring to was the TransIranian Railway running the length of the country from the Persian Gulf in the south east to the Caspian Sea in the south west, a distance of1394 Km (836 miles). Started in 1927 it was a triumph of engineering built by 43 contractors from many different countries for the then Shah of Persia in an ambitious plan to modernise his country at a massive cost to the taxpayer that

eventually contributed to his demise. The route was finally opened in 1938 after eleven years of construction that took it through desert plains, forests and two mountain ranges where it passed through no less than 224 tunnels so as to gain height. Perhaps the most well-known of these is the Se Khat Tala spiral on the Northern section between Tehran and Bandar Shar on the Caspian Sea. At the onset of war there was still much German presence in Iran and to protect the so called Persian Corridor and the supply

Bill England, on the right-hand side, and his Driver Bert Church, with a friendly monkey at Arak station. This is the only good picture that there is of Bill taken whilst he was working on the Trans Iranian Railway.

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n u e 2 2 © 0 3 Gu id lin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic at i P e b 2 2 G a e © 0 3 i l l d u i i t n c u i P e b o 20 23 G id li e a l u n i t n c u 20 23 G id eli e Pu bli at ion 23 G uid eli ne Pu bli ca ion s L t n c u i P e b s 23 G id li e o a l u n i L t n c u i P e b s o i G id li e a m l u n i L t n c u i P e b i s o i G id li e a m l u ui el ne P bl ica tio ns Lim ite d u i n ui el e P bl ica tio ns Lim ite de in P ub ic ti ns L d i o i t a e m l l e u n i i L t el ne Pu bl ca io s im ite d in P b ic tio ns Li i d e u lic ati n L m ted of oil, Soviet, British, and British Indian forces invaded in August 1941 taking the country with little resistance. The scene was now set for the Royal Engineers to take over the line and develop it for the purpose of ferrying supplies to the Russian front. It was at this stage that Bill became involved and his operating company were set to crew the locomotives used to move the goods. Here he resumes his narrative: On the 23rd February 1942 we arrived at a place called Bandar Shapur, our final destination, just one jetty sticking out from a barren, desert like shore; just a few huts, a lot of tents, and sand, sand and more sand stretching onto the horizon. This then was the port through which supplies would be coming. The Royal Engineers Dock Companies had already arrived and were hard at work building additional jetties and dock installations. In addition, the other railway operating companies were already here and some engines and other equipment had also arrived. This had of course happened whilst we were on our sea tour to the exotic Far East! We disembarked from our ship to see that there was a train waiting for us and I saw that it was operated by British railwaymen with an LMS class 8 locomotive at its head. Well, we were soon away passing through miles and miles of flat open desert to a place called Ahwaz. Here we found a tented camp that had been put up for us by the Indian troops who had arrived in the country before us. We were told that supplies would soon be arriving and that we’d be moving on to our allotted section of line, a close on 200-mile section from Arak to Tehran. Roughly in the middle of this section was the only other place of any size,

the town of Ghom, and this was where my part of the company would be based. So, the company was split into three sections, one to be based at Arak, mine at Ghom, and the third at Tehran where the headquarters would also be located along with the railway workshops and a construction company to look after the permanent way. By this time the other two companies had got a few locomotives and some rolling stock, and after a week at Arak they were able to take us up to Ghom by train on what was a slow and arduous journey lasting 24 hours. We left the HQ contingency on the train to travel on to Tehran whilst we were taken to a hotel on the other side of the town that had been commandeered for our use. Fortunately, this was only a temporary arrangement because being on the far side of town meant that it was a long walk through unfriendly, unlit streets to the station. Anyone familiar with railway working knows only too well the unsocial hours connected with the start or finish of duty. The old Shah was pro-German and even though his son was now ruler, many of the population were German sympathisers and it wasn’t deemed safe to have Britishers walking the streets at night, even though we were armed at all times. Nobody knew exactly what the feelings of the population were so it was not advisable to take risks. Poverty here was rife and literally hundreds of people just lived at the roadside, sleeping in doorways, in gutters, under trees, or whatever they could find,. Camels and donkeys were hobbled beside the road and wild dogs roamed everywhere, not a place to want to be at night I assure you, so it was fortunate that we were having permanent accommodation built right by the railway. These houses were built from bricks made on site from just mud and straw

dried in the hot sun and a small house would be completed in a matter of days. Ghom itself is a crossroads between Tehran in the North and Isfahan in the West and when I was there always full of convoys of camels, the main form of transport. The centre piece of the town was the Mosque of Fatima Al MA ‘Suma, which means Fatima the Immaculate, who was buried here in AD816. Its huge dome was made of gold tiles and could be seen shining in the sun for dozens of miles around. It was the holiest place in the whole of Iran and a place for pilgrimages from all over the country. In and around the town there were many other mosques and Royal tombs, some dating back to the eighth century. The main industry there was agriculture, the land around the town quite fertile and the main crop at that time apricots. Other industries were rug making and pottery and the town was noted throughout the country for pottery of a particular shade of blue. As for rugs; these were made by individual families, in their homes, some taking years to complete, making them quite expensive. Having set the scene Bill now takes us on to the job in hand working on the footplate as an engineman in a hostile environment of which he and his colleagues had little or no experience. They were all on a steep learning curve; they’d never experienced oil-fired locomotives or worked such a severely graded torturous mountain line before under extreme conditions of temperature and weather. Over to Bill:

The Iran State Railway Network

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n u e 2 2 © 0 3 Gu id lin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic at i P e b 2 2 G a e © 0 3 i l l d u i i t n c u i P e b o 20 23 G id li e a l u n i t n c u 20 23 G id eli e Pu bli at ion 23 G uid eli ne Pu bli ca ion s L t n c u i P e b s 23 G id li e o a l u n i L t n c u i P e b s o i G id li e a m l u n i L t n c u i P e b i s o i G id li e a m l u ui el ne P bl ica tio ns Lim ite d u i n ui el e P bl ica tio ns Lim ite de in P ub ic ti ns L d i o i t a e m l l e u n i i L t el ne Pu bl ca io s im ite d in P b ic tio ns Li i d e u lic ati n L m ted

n u e 2 2 © 0 3 Gu id lin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic at i P e b 2 2 G a e © 0 3 i l l d u i i t n c u i P e b o 20 23 G id li e a l u n i t n c u 20 23 G id eli e Pu bli at ion 23 G uid eli ne Pu bli ca ion s L t n c u i P e b s 23 G id li e o a l u n i L t n c u i P e b s o i G id li e a m l u n i L t n c u i P e b i s o i G id li e a m l u ui el ne P bl ica tio ns Lim ite d u i n ui el e P bl ica tio ns Lim ite de in P ub ic ti ns L d i o i t a e m l l e u n i i L t el ne Pu bl ca io s im ite d in P b ic tio ns Li i d e u lic ati n L m ted Modern Railways Illustrated Back to the Future - Britain’s Railways Looking Forward

A New Bookazine from GUIDELINE PUBLICATIONS

! W O N CHANGING T U OChanging Trains TRAINS £11.99

By Gary Hatcher

Snapshots from today’s railway

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Guideline Publications Ltd., 6 Kensworth Gate, 200-204 High Street South, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, LU6 3HS. Printed by Kingfisher, Totnes. Tel:01582 668411 - www.guidelinepublications.co.uk

n u e 2 2 © 0 3 Gu id lin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic at i P e b 2 2 G a e © 0 3 i l l d u i i t n c u i P e b o 20 23 G id li e a l u n i t n c u 20 23 G id eli e Pu bli at ion 23 G uid eli ne Pu bli ca ion s L t n c u i P e b s 23 G id li e o a l u n i L t n c u i P e b s o i G id li e a m l u n i L t n c u i P e b i s o i G id li e a m l u ui el ne P bl ica tio ns Lim ite d u i n ui el e P bl ica tio ns Lim ite de in P ub ic ti ns L d i o i t a e m l l e u n i i L t el ne Pu bl ca io s im ite d in P b ic tio ns Li i d e u lic ati n L m ted Oddments from the Bottom of the Shoebox Up North

By Barry Taylor

A

previous batch of photographs found at the bottom of the shoebox featured some leftovers from the brief period when I experimented with an old enlarger to produce prints in my own ‘kitchen darkroom’. Very few successful prints have survived the intervening years, with many succumbing to the inevitable ‘browning’ that comes as a result of inexperienced washing of the prints after production. However, here are the last few, again from the camera of a longforgotten work colleague, but this time from the north of England instead of the south London suburbs. They are a rather random selection, but all from the very last knockings of the steam era. From the dates that have fortunately been provided, a visit to the north-east was made in 1965 to view the last steam on Tyneside, and then in 1966 and 1967 the northwest of England was the focus. No doubt many more views were taken, but this is the handful that has survived in the safety of the old shoebox.

A visit was made to the north-east to record the remaining steam locomotives engaged on coal traffic down to the Tyne and Wear staithes. The long-lived Raven North Eastern Railway Q6 0-8-0s were constructed in large quantities for this type of traffic between 1913 and 1921, and the class was untouched by withdrawals until 1959, but 63398 would be withdrawn from service in the last months of 1965. However, it does already appear to be out of use at its home shed of Tyne Dock (52H) by the time this photograph was taken on 26th July. Many others were still at work from nearby sheds such as North Blyth, West Hartlepool, and Middlesbrough, and the last locomotive of the class, 63395, would soldier on until the very end of steam in the north-east in September 1967, when the duties were taken over by English Electric Type 3 diesels.

The first few Ivatt Class 2MT 2-6-2 passenger tank locomotives appeared during the final years of the London Midland & Scottish Railway, but the class continued to be constructed by British Railways after 1948, eventually totalling 130 locomotives. They replaced older pre-grouping locomotives on branch line and local passenger work across the old LMS, and 41204 was first allocated to the far-flung outpost of Abergavenny Brecon Road (86K) shed, on the former London & North Western lines in south Wales. Stays at a variety of what were by then Western Region sheds followed until 1963, when a move was made to Crewe North and then finally Stockport Edgeley, from where the locomotive was withdrawn in November 1966. Just six months earlier, on 12th April 1966, it was photographed in the Stockport station area, probably engaged on pilot duties.

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Volume 32 February 2023

n u e 2 2 © 0 3 Gu id lin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic at i P e b 2 2 G a e © 0 3 i l l d u i i t n c u i P e b o 20 23 G id li e a l u n i t n c u 20 23 G id eli e Pu bli at ion 23 G uid eli ne Pu bli ca ion s L t n c u i P e b s 23 G id li e o a l u n i L t n c u i P e b s o i G id li e a m l u n i L t n c u i P e b i s o i G id li e a m l u ui el ne P bl ica tio ns Lim ite d u i n ui el e P bl ica tio ns Lim ite de in P ub ic ti ns L d i o i t a e m l l e u n i i L t el ne Pu bl ca io s im ite d in P b ic tio ns Li i d e u lic ati n L m ted Another large concentration of surviving steam locomotives was to be found across country in the north-west of England, particularly around the major conurbations of Manchester and Liverpool. The much more recently introduced British Railways Class 9F 2-10-0s could hardly present a greater contrast to the elderly 0-8-0s still in action on the north-east coast, but they would still succumb to the same mass cull of steam locomotives in the nineteen-sixties. 92105 started life at Wellingborough shed in late 1956 and arrived in the north-west in 1965, but would only see around ten years of active service before being withdrawn from Birkenhead in January 1967. Here it is pictured making a steamy departure from Stockport station past Edgeley Junction No2 signalbox on 12th April 1966, on a Class ‘F’ unfitted freight. The bracket for the normal smokebox-top lamp has now been moved to a lower position owing to the overhead 25kv electrification wiring that now abounds in the area. Northwich shed was once owned by the old Cheshire Lines Committee, a concern that was jointly owned after 1923 by the LNE and LMS railways, although it continued somewhat independently until 1948. The LNER was responsible for the provision of motive power on the CLC, and so the early British Railways allocation reflected that, with Eastern Region locomotives forming the bulk of the allocation until the late nineteen-fifties, after which London Midland engines predominated. This was the scene in June 1967, when the shed had only one year of life remaining. Two of the local Stanier 8F 2-8-0s can be seen in front of the small shed, and away to the right beside the basic coaling facilities are two BR Standard 9F 2-10-0s. The premises continued to be used by diesels until 1987, and it was finally demolished four years later.

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n u e 2 2 © 0 3 Gu id lin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic at i P e b 2 2 G a e © 0 3 i l l d u i i t n c u i P e b o 20 23 G id li e a l u n i t n c u 20 23 G id eli e Pu bli at ion 23 G uid eli ne Pu bli ca ion s L t n c u i P e b s 23 G id li e o a l u n i L t n c u i P e b s o i G id li e a m l u n i L t n c u i P e b i s o i G id li e a m l u ui el ne P bl ica tio ns Lim ite d u i n ui el e P bl ica tio ns Lim ite de in P ub ic ti ns L d i o i t a e m l l e u n i i L t el ne Pu bl ca io s im ite d in P b ic tio ns Li i d e u lic ati n L m ted Brighton C3 0-6-0 class

By Richard Derry

Class CS 32302 at Norwood Junction on 16th January 1949. At this point Norwood Jct was still its home shed, but The Railway Observer reports it moving to Fratton that March. (Transport Treasury)

T

he C3 was another LBSCR class that enthusiasts of my generation might not have heard, of well - I certainly hadn’t until I spread my interest beyond the steam classes I could see as a spotter. The latter part of the works history of the 8 members of the class that survived WW2 are kept at the National Archives and make quite interesting reading. The type was introduced to replace the Billinton C2 class introduced in the late nineteenth century, and though D E Marsh introduced the plans in late 1905 the ten members of this 0-6-0 tender class were not introduced until March 1906 the final one, No.308 being completed that November, and the locos carrying the numbers 300-309. Later they became known as the ‘Horsham Goods’ because over time the majority at one time spent a while based at this Sussex running shed. They were fitted with a boiler in two rings with the largest of the two having a diameter of 5 feet and an overall length of 10' 10¾” This boiler later served a better purpose when it was used to re-boiler a number of the Brighton classes - namely the B2, C2, E5, and E6 and hence the existence of the B2X C2X E4X and E6X classes that later confused the young minds of youthful trainspotters, mine included. Bradley informs us that five top-feed boilers were fitted to some of the class as follows, one assumes at Brighton Works:No.1144 to No.300, February, 1923. No.1145 to No.305, December, 1924.

No.1165 to No.305, October, 1921. No.1166 to No.304, January, 1922. No.1167 to No.309, January, 1922 Fitted with coupled wheels of 5' in diameter they also had crosshead feed pumps from new, which were removed and replaced by Ashford pattern injectors as follows. November 1928 No.303; December 1928 No.304 and 308; January 1929 nos.300, 305, 306, and 309; February 1929 nos.302 and 307; December 1929, No.301. Dimensions (when new) Cylinders 17½” X 26" Wheelbase 7' 9" + 7' 6" = 15' 3" Firebox length 6' 2¼” Boiler pitch 8' Weight in working order Leading drivers 16t 3cwt Centre drivers 17t 4cwt Rear drivers 14t 3cwt Engine total 47t 10cwt Tender (3112 gals) 37t 5 cwt Overall total 84t 15cwt

Heating surfaces Tubes (243 x 1¾”) 1183½ sq ft Firebox 101¼ sq ft Total 1,284¾ sq ft Grate area 18.64 sq ft Working pressure 170lbspsi Notes on the class show that they were not a great success and only ten were built, and though they were meant to replace R Billinton’s C2 class 0-6-0 their performance

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proved disappointing, with a high fuel consumption. The second Billinton (Lawson) to take charge of affairs at Brighton felt their failure as a class was poor acceleration because of the 17½” cylinders and outdated feed arrangement, which could not keep the boiler up at slow speeds, while the firebox compared with the C2 class was not only longer but had less heating surface and a smaller grate. So the class spent the better part of its days on secondary duties, especially in Sussex. Instead of adding to the C3 class Marsh reverted to rebuilding some of the C2 class into the C2X, which did prove successful as 40 of the class were still in service at the start of 1959 and I was lucky enough in my limited travels as a young trainspotter to underline 8 of them in my Ian Allan abcs.

Tenders From new the class had tenders with a capacity of 3,112 gallons. When the class were reduced to secondary duties over a period of time they exchange their former tenders with those of 2,985 gallon capacity then attached to members of the B2X class, a movement that only occurred during works visits, and which covered a number of years between 1908 and 1919. Various exchanges took place during the locos’ working lives and as one can note from the works histories they were attached to tenders with different numbers. As per usual the RCTS publications covering the Southern based classes of

Volume 32 February 2023

n u e 2 2 © 0 3 Gu id lin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic at i P e b 2 2 G a e © 0 3 i l l d u i i t n c u i P e b o 20 23 G id li e a l u n i t n c u 20 23 G id eli e Pu bli at ion 23 G uid eli ne Pu bli ca ion s L t n c u i P e b s 23 G id li e o a l u n i L t n c u i P e b s o i G id li e a m l u n i L t n c u i P e b i s o i G id li e a m l u ui el ne P bl ica tio ns Lim ite d u i n ui el e P bl ica tio ns Lim ite de in P ub ic ti ns L d i o i t a e m l l e u n i i L t el ne Pu bl ca io s im ite d in P b ic tio ns Li i d e u lic ati n L m ted Steam locomotives by the late D L Bradley are a valuable source for classes such as the C3, especially for the main shed allocations during the locomotives’ working lives. Allocations from new: Brighton: 300-303 305-308 New Cross: 304 Eastbourne: 309

Allocations at March 1911: New Cross: 300 Brighton: 301 Horsham: 302-304 306-308 Tunbridge Wells: 305 Eastbourne: 309

Allocations and mileage at Grouping 300: Eastbourne, 370,198 301: St. Leonards, 369,331 302: Horsham, 368,702 303: Horsham, 366,561 304: Horsham, 353,971 305: Horsham, 365,965 306: Horsham, 382,973 307: Horsham, 367,377 308: Horsham, 369,082 309: Three Bridges, 338,903 Allocations at January 1930 Horsham: 300, 301, 303, 306, 307, 309 New Cross: 302, 304, 305, 308

After the outbreak of WW1 301 went to St. Leonards, and 305 to Horsham. 309 was lent to Newhaven then New Cross, and then Three Bridges, and because of the extra work demanded by the War the C3 class were returned to main line duties working including through workings to Old Oak Common and Willesden in London. When 301 was in Works 300 was borrowed from New Cross to work a daily duty up to London. All the class survived the War and eventually entered the ownership of the Southern Railway at Grouping and Bradley supplies the following list of allocations and mileage when the class became part of the SR:

As with the rest of the Southern Railway locomotives the C3 class were renumbered thus: 2300-2309. In the year 1934, 2302, 2303, 2305, and 2308 moved from New Cross to Horsham or Norwood. 2304 was withdrawn in July 1936 and 2305 in September 1937. 2309 was transferred Horsham from Norwood. Allocations at October 1937 Horsham: 2300, 2301, 2303, 2306-2308 Norwood: 2302, 2309

Bradley also informs us of changes to the class when Ashford became their main works for attention. The tender coal rails were backed by iron sheeting, dished smokebox doors replaced by a flush

pattern, and the Westinghouse brake hoses removed from some engines. Cab roofs were lengthened and a second injector replaced the remaining crosshead pump. The dome covers were lowered to suit the loading gauge, with the whistle removed from the cab roof to the safety valve casing, and a shorter chimney supplied. WW2 ensured the survival of the remaining 8 members of class C3 and some of their duties included goods workings to Salisbury, Southampton and Winchester; the light Horsham to Guildford goods, and even to Bournemouth West and as far afield as Dorchester. At the end of the War the allocation was: Horsham: 2300 2301 2306-2308 Norwood: 2302 2309 Three Bridges: 2303

By now a number of them were in poor condition and only 32300-32303 were renumbered. After a visit to Brighton Works from 30/12/47-14/2/48, 2301 emerged renumbered as S2301 and ran thus until a return to Brighton Works (for attention to the firebox) 12/5/48-4/9/48B. It then carried the correct number 32301 and was eventually condemned on 16/2/51. April 1949 saw 32300, 32301, 32303, and 2306 transferred to Fratton, which included working to Eastleigh and Southampton, with the final withdrawal being 2306 on

32303 is seen at Ashford, date unspecified, but certainly no earlier than June 1948 as it had been renumbered by then, although given its exterior condition it is more likely seen after withdrawal in late 1951. (Colour-Rail) British Railways Illustrated

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n u e 2 2 © 0 3 Gu id lin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic at i P e b 2 2 G a e © 0 3 i l l d u i i t n c u i P e b o 20 23 G id li e a l u n i t n c u 20 23 G id eli e Pu bli at ion 23 G uid eli ne Pu bli ca ion s L t n c u i P e b s 23 G id li e o a l u n i L t n c u i P e b s o i G id li e a m l u n i L t n c u i P e b i s o i G id li e a m l u ui el ne P bl ica tio ns Lim ite d u i n ui el e P bl ica tio ns Lim ite de in P ub ic ti ns L d i o i t a e m l l e u n i i L t el ne Pu bl ca io s im ite d in P b ic tio ns Li i d e u lic ati n L m ted Ashington By Chris Mills

After a short pause at Newcastle Central 45562 headed out through Wallsend to Percy Main, where it took the curve round past Percy Main North Box to join the Blyth and Tyne. In the days of steam this was a busy and complex area. Off to the right the NCB line ran down to their staithes at Whitehill Point, having run more or less parallel to the old Blyth and Tyne from Seghill. A little over to the left the main B&T line carried on down to the Tyne at Northumberland Dock, Albert Edward Dock and the MPD at Percy Main, passing under the main coast line at Percy Main Junction, which was the southwest end of the curve being traversed by the railtour. Immediately ahead of the train is the A695 Wallsend Road Bridge leading into the centre of North Shields. For the next ten miles the train will proceed leisurely, with innumerable speed restrictions due to colliery workings. (In my younger days, whilst working for the Opencast near Backworth we carried out some checks on the NCB line from Burradon to Backworth as Deep Mines were removing hydraulic pit props from a shallow long-face working under the line. Over the course of the day the line sagged by nearly a foot).

T

hose of you who subscribe to Bylines as well as BRILL will realise that Ashington is this month’s common theme. A set of Colour-Rail images arrived from the Editor with a note saying: No captions, but probably 10th June 1967. Now as it happens... That Saturday was a busy day. The Stephenson Locomotive Society and the Manchester Locomotive Society had combined forces to run a special from Huddersfield to Ashington and back to Wakefield. The section north of York was worked by 45562 and whilst the participants spent the afternoon travelling over the extensive NCB system in the Ashington area Alberta had a rest in the salubrious surroundings of North Blyth MPD. Now for many the sight of RSH7764, otherwise known as NCB Area 5 No.39 and an 0-6-0T built in 1954, on a passenger working was not to be missed; those who were local had seen it all before when the service had a real purpose conveying miners to and from work and thus we spent much of that afternoon at North Blyth. Now there must have been something else on that morning or it could just have been that the outward journey up the heavily speed-restricted Leamside line didn’t really appeal. Perhaps Friday night at The Bridge had taken its toll, as my first shot appears to have been at Percy Main. A selection of views of NCB No.39 around the Ashington circle followed (see Bylines) before 45562 was viewed being serviced at North Blyth. The evening return offered opportunity for 45562 to provide a spectacle and this was duly recorded at Plawsworth and Picton. British Railways Illustrated

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Bottom right. Looking southwards at 45562, the coaling stage line also serves the only entrance to the roundhouse, which is seen in the background with the chimney of the sand-drying building protruding above the roofline on the left hand side. The breakdown train, such as it is, stands on the siding over to the left. Out in the coalfields a crane was not often used: lots of sleepers, jacks and brute force either restored the loco to the tracks or more often moved the tracks to under the loco. Once the train was out of the way it didn’t take much effort to put the rails back to where they had once been. The houses in the distance are on Worsdell Street, the most northerly of the three streets in the village, whose main community centre was the Worsdell Institute (no guessing which organisation built this settlement).

Volume 32 February 2023

n u e 2 2 © 0 3 Gu id lin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic at i P e b 2 2 G a e © 0 3 i l l d u i i t n c u i P e b o 20 23 G id li e a l u n i t n c u 20 23 G id eli e Pu bli at ion 23 G uid eli ne Pu bli ca ion s L t n c u i P e b s 23 G id li e o a l u n i L t n c u i P e b s o i G id li e a m l u n i L t n c u i P e b i s o i G id li e a m l u ui el ne P bl ica tio ns Lim ite d u i n ui el e P bl ica tio ns Lim ite de in P ub ic ti ns L d i o i t a e m l l e u n i i L t el ne Pu bl ca io s im ite d in P b ic tio ns Li i d e u lic ati n L m ted Left. The MPD at North Blyth had never really been intended to handle express passenger locos and was laid out to provide for the needs of an endless stream of heavy freight locos working the coal traffic. Isolated from the rest of civilisation on a long spit of land extending between the north bank of the River Blyth and the North Sea this was a community defined entirely by the railway and the coal mines. The local pit was at Cambois (pronounced Cammus) and from there to the mouth of the river was a continuous stretch of quays and staithes punctuated at intervals by groups of company housing and the locoshed. Here we see the rather primitive coaling method being used to top up the tender on 45562. Beyond lies the heavy vertical planked fence marking the BR boundary and beyond, between that fence and the somewhat dilapidated timber railing fence, ran the NCB line to their staithes, originally the Cowpen (pronounced Coo-pn: sorry, if you must look at pictures from the north-east you’ll have to learn (larn) the dialect!).

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n u e 2 2 © 0 3 Gu id lin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic © 20 23 Gu id elin e Pu blic at i P e b 2 2 G a e © 0 3 i l l d u i i t n c u i P e b o 20 23 G id li e a l u n i t n c u 20 23 G id eli e Pu bli at ion 23 G uid eli ne Pu bli ca ion s L t n c u i P e b s 23 G id li e o a l u n i L t n c u i P e b s o i G id li e a m l u n i L t n c u i P e b i s o i G id li e a m l u ui el ne P bl ica tio ns Lim ite d u i n ui el e P bl ica tio ns Lim ite de in P ub ic ti ns L d i o i t a e m l l e u n i i L t el ne Pu bl ca io s im ite d in P b ic tio ns Li i d e u lic ati n L m ted Roade to Rugby

A Quartet of Lost Main Line Stations Part 1 – Roade and Blisworth

By Barry Taylor

The London & Birmingham Railway entered Northamptonshire close to the village of Ashton, just to the south of Roade station; the line opened in 1838, and initially there was just double track at this location. However, the LNWR widening programme of the eighteen-seventies added another pair of lines on the eastern side, and in this view taken on 17th May 1952 they are occupied, as was often the case, by goods trains. LMS Stanier class 5 4-6-0 44727 heads southwards with a mixed freight, whilst WD 2-8-0 90308 plods northwards with yet another rake of coal empties bound for the East Midlands via the Northampton loop. (L. Hanson)

A

n interesting modern trend in railway publishing is the ‘before and after’ style of railway atlas, which compares, on adjacent pages, the presentday network in a particular area with that of a much earlier period. This graphically reveals the widespread loss of branch and secondary lines in many parts of the country, but one feature that is perhaps not always so immediately apparent is the vast reduction in the number of intermediate stations on main lines. These secondary stations were not always ideally located, and many disappeared from the railway map when road transport began to offer a much more convenient alternative for travelling into the nearest large town. This has resulted in the now familiar situation of long stretches of main line without stations, and one example is the old London & Birmingham Railway (L&BR) route through my home county of Northamptonshire. The line from Euston to Curzon Street opened throughout in 1838, so becoming Northamptonshire’s first railway; the line entered the county in the south close to the small village of Roade, and then just over twenty miles later passed into Warwickshire near Hillmorton, on the southern outskirts of Rugby. Today, passengers travelling through this largely rural part of Northamptonshire on modern Avanti West Coast ‘Pendolino’ services will scarcely

notice this section of their journey, which is covered in just a few minutes, and there are few features of note to observe apart from glimpses of the M1 motorway and the Grand Union canal, which both run parallel at times. Yet there were once four intermediate stations at Roade, Blisworth, Weedon and Crick (later known as Welton) along what is still known locally as the ‘old line’, to distinguish it from the parallel Northampton loop, which was constructed some forty years later.

Early Days The early L&BR trains consisted of various classes of travel; third class was rather basic, whereas first class passengers had much more comfortable covered accommodation based on the familiar road coaches. Indeed, provision was also made for the conveyance of such vehicles on flat wagons, so that the wealthy could have the convenience of their own transport at either end of their rail journey. The stations were referred to as Principal or Intermediate, or alternatively First and Second class, with facilities provided accordingly. The opening of the four Northamptonshire stations quickly brought many benefits to the surrounding rural communities, which until then had been reliant on poor roads and the still relatively new innovation of canal transport. Three of the stations did gain further status

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by becoming junctions as the local railway system evolved, and the fourth also had its own fleeting period of importance for rather different reasons. The L&BR was absorbed into the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) in 1846, the line then becoming a part of the West Coast route to the north. The London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) then inherited the line in 1923 and full state ownership ensued with the formation of British Railways in 1948. All four of the Northamptonshire stations have long disappeared from the railway map, closing as a result of the preBeeching purges of the late nineteen-fifties, and it is difficult to imagine that their platforms, station buildings, sidings, and junctions ever existed on what is now an uninterrupted high-speed railway. Roade Roade was situated approximately sixty miles north of London Euston and was opened by the L&BR on 2nd July 1838 as a ‘Second Class’ station. This date was slightly in advance of the other three Northamptonshire stations as the line had not yet been completed as a through route due to problems with the construction of the notorious Kilsby Tunnel, just south of Rugby. This meant that passengers for Birmingham had to leave their trains at Denbigh Hall near Bletchley, and then be

Volume 32 February 2023

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A short distance further north the main line passed beneath the seventy-foot wide girder bridge carrying the single line of the Towcester to Ravenstone Wood section of the Stratford-upon-Avon & Midland Junction Railway, opened in 1891. The two routes were connected by a spur that descended from the SMJ into Roade station, which is just visible in the background of this view from the nineteen-fifties. However, the link was seldom used, and a proposed passenger service never introduced; the track was removed in 1917. The overbridge disappeared in 1960, and the Gloucester-allocated 4F 0-6-0s that once passed above the main line are now just a memory. (Author’s collection) cutting, and the other the enlargement of Kilsby tunnel. The LNWR avoided one of these issues by instead constructing an entirely separate line from Roade to Rugby, parallel to the old main line, so giving Northampton something of the soughtafter main line status. The new loop, opened throughout in 1882, commenced just to

the south of Roade, and ran with the main line through the widened Roade cutting before deviating to reach Northampton; there it turned north-westwards to rejoin the main line just before Rugby. This new construction required considerable rearrangement of the layout at Roade where a larger four-platform

The entire history of Roade station is encapsulated in this single photograph, taken in August 1938. The view is looking northwards, with the ‘old’ London & Birmingham line platforms on the left, and the later Northampton loop to the right. The original two platform station on the main line was located roughly in the centre foreground, served by the long approach road down from the Northampton to Stony Stratford turnpike. The line was widened in 1881 to accommodate the Northampton loop, at which time the station was enlarged to four platforms and extended back to the road bridge, which is just visible in the distance; a new station building was also erected much closer to the road. The construction of the link from the SMJ line in 1891 resulted in a bay being inset into the Down main line platform for a proposed passenger service; the infilled bay and its retaining wall are clearly visible on the extreme left of the view. All four tracks are still in use today, but little else remains of the station apart from the approach road. (Author’s collection) British Railways Illustrated

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egarded by many as the premier service of the former Great Western Railway the ‘Riviera Express’ as it was initially entitled began life on Friday 1st July 1904 when at exactly 10am ‘Bulldog’ 3450 Swansea left Penzance, the locomotive working just as far as Plymouth with its train due at Paddington at 5pm following a journey of 305 miles and running via Bristol Temple Meads. The stock for this inaugural service had been worked down to Penzance from London the previous day and comprised five Clerestory coaches in addition to an early ‘Dreadnought’ Dining Car and had been headed from Paddington by ‘City’ class 3433 City of Bath, which worked as far as Plymouth where a fresh engine took over for the run through Cornwall. Much publicity was more understandably afforded to the first Westbound Riviera Express, again on 1st July 1904, which left Paddington at 10.10am headed by the first of the three French-built Compounds, namely 102 La France, which took its identically-loaded five coach and Dreadnought dining car train as far as Plymouth before handing over to Bulldog 3418, which worked down to Penzance with a scheduled arrival time of 5.10pm. Early workings of the Cornish Riviera Express, as it was renamed in the 1906 timetable, were regularly entrusted to one of the French ‘Atlantic’ Compounds, and with the opening of the direct West of England line via Westbury that same year the Riviera, and other West Country services, were thereafter spared running the additional twenty miles or so via Bristol. In the Spring of 1907, however, the first of the newly built ‘Star’ class were entering service and soon became the mainstay of

It’s Saturday 5th August, 1956 and Laira’s 6025 King Henry III has piloted Old Oak Common’s 6019 King Henry V down from Newton Abbot on the Saturdays-only second part of the Cornish Riviera. On Summer Saturdays in the fifties the highlight of the day for the local enthusiasts was the chance of two Kings on this working, which left Paddington at 10.35am, just five minutes behind the first part of the Cornish Riviera, which did not stop here at Plymouth. The engine on the first part would be detached at Newton Abbot and pilot the second part of the Riviera to Plymouth, thereby regularly, but not always, affording us the sight of two Kings together as sometimes a Castle or Britannia would be rostered by Old Oak on one part. My friend Mervyn Roper from Laira is the fireman on 6025 and has spotted me with my camera, but he should have removed the ‘130’ Reporting Number whilst at Newton Abbot as his train is really ‘131’. (P.Kerslake/Rail-Online)

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Reflections of the ‘Riviera’

By Peter Kerslake

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A Reader Writes

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Due to the level of correspondence received it can take some issues before publication, but we do value all your letters. Please include volume and issue number, and the name of any specific article referred to in your letter.

From Allan C. Baker

Birth of a Western and Off the Road at Abergavenny (BRILL 32.3) The photograph of the two Westerns outside Paint Shop at Crewe, in the December BRI, brought back many happy memories as at the time the photograph was taken, I was working in Crewe Works. Although I was a motive power apprentice, based on Crewe North Shed, like all MP apprentices, I spent periods of my training in a main works - in this case for a year from September 1962. At lunch times, with a couple of friends, we used to go exploring and we would sometimes have our sandwiches sitting on the footplate of a Western. Two issues are worth pointing out on the photographs. The number 31 on the buffer of the left-hand locomotive indicates that it is the 31st member of the batch, D1035-1073, which would make it D1065. The long pipe on this locomotive’s buffer beam heading upwards, is connected to the steam heating pipe, its purpose, to divert the steam in that direction when the steam heating boiler was being tested. On these locomotives the boiler was a Spanner Mark III. I had some practical experience with the locomotives later, when, for a couple of years, they used to work into Crewe with the West of England trains. What an interesting group of photographs. Having spent much of my professional career involved with breakdown gangs, perhaps I can comment on why, in the bottom photograph on page 123, the front of the locomotive has been supported on packing. In view of the inclination of the engine after the derailment, to get it on an even keel, it would have been necessary to lift just the left hand side. Then, having got it on an even keel, the crane’s lifting tackle would need to have been re-arranged for a direct lift of the complete front of the engine, followed by slewing it to move it back towards the track. To allow for this re-arrangement of the tackle, the engine had to hold in its new position. The gang were clearly, as were all the various gangs I ever worked with, well experienced in dealing with all number of challenging situations, not unlike this one.

From Philip Alexander

Moffat Beach, Queensland Australia The older I get the more I become interested in the logistics of running the steam railway, especially in the 1950s and 60s when I was spotting on the Great Eastern mainline at Chelmsford. Back then as a pre-teenager I was really only interested in seeing the splendour and grime of steam and collecting numbers so the more esoteric aspects of railway operations, such as keeping track of the vast amount of rolling stock passed me by. However, one aspect has always intrigued me and unless I ask the question now, sadly those who might know the answer will not be around. As we know, all locomotives were allocated to specific MPDs, which in BR days had a specific shed number and this number was on a shedplate attached to the smokebox door. When locomotives were re-allocated to another depot, how was the process of changing shedplates carried out? Did the receiving depot keep a drawer-full of spare plates or did they rely on taking one from a departing loco? And how did the old shedplate from the donating depot get back there? Was there a central clearing house for all shedplates to be sent to, which then distributed them back to the appropriate sheds or was the transaction simply between depots? A follow-up question is needed due to the complications arising from the latter day re-coding of MPDs which seemed to be very frequent in the last 10 years of steam as depots closed or were transferred between regions. When a depot received a new code, possibly from another still open depot which had also been re-coded, and needed to conduct a wholesale change of shedplates, was there a crazy amount of unbolting/bolting going on, involving dozens or hundreds of plates being sent around the network? How was it handled? I realise this is a somewhat odd request for information and it is purely for self-enlightenment although I do hope there are other railway enthusiasts out there who might have wondered the same thoughts.

eBook Announced

We are advised of another book in the Railwayman’s View series. This is the first of four from the collection of Peter Collins, a railwayman for nearly 20 years, and depicts the BR Western Region of the 1970s and 1980s. Other books will cover the Midland, Eastern and Southern Regions. From Paddington to Penzance, Worcester and South Wales, and some points in-between the book has over 150 Black & White photographs of a time when British Rail still ran a network of passenger services based on locomotives and rakes of carriages and most freight was still made up of 4-wheel vans and mineral wagons. In most BR Regions the Modernisation Plan of 1955 was still in place, although as we shall see in this first volume of Peter’s collection the Western Region had reluctantly begun to divest itself of the Diesel Hydraulics in favour of the ‘standard ’Class 31s, 47s, and then 50s. The original intention was to publish a printed book but given the current prices of paper and printing and the cost-of-living crisis it has been decided to produce an eBook first. All purchasers will receive a £15 voucher towards the printed book should it become available in the future, which is still the intention. All the photographs are available to buy separately. The book is available to download now as an ePub 3.0 file for £20.00 at www.ellybellypublications.co.uk/p/85033wcw/ railway-books An Interactive PDF version is also available to purchasers on request.

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SOUTH WESTERN CIRCLE

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The Circle has a membership of over 500 and aims to assist and encourage members to enhance their knowledge of the LSWR and its successors with research and quarterly publication of the Circle's magazine 'The South Western Circular'. Members also receive a quarterly ‘Circle News’ and when published any of the Circle’s Monographs, which contain comprehensive information about a particular LSWR topic that is too extensive for inclusion in the ‘South Western Circular’.

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The Circle holds five meetings a year in locations across the LSWR area; such as West Byfleet, Basingstoke, Salisbury and Exeter. At these meetings members are entertained with presentations and guest speakers along with discussions on matters of LSWR interest, also our book sales service is present. Further details can be found on the ‘Meetings’ page of our website.

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BOB PEARMAN BOOKS Mostly new, some second-hand, some remaindered – search service. Advised or reviewed! We’ve either got it or should be able to get (subject to the publisher producing it) – virtually any English language title in print on any subject as well as railways. Check out our web-site with secure ordering http://www.pearman-books.com We can also obtain and supply books on most subjects other than railways. Some titles discounted, some post free in UK All orders £40 plus post free in UK We take most cards (preferred) and PAYPAL 8, Ffolkes Place, Runcton Holme, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE33 0AH Tel/Fax 01553 810673

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A Lancashire Triangle Reviewed.

This updated version of the Lancashire Triangle books first published in 1996, brings together the Wigan-Tyldesley-Eccles route and the Tyldesley-Leigh-Pennington branch that were constructed under the L&NW 1861 Acts. Plus the “Black Harry “ line from Patricroft to Clifton. Updated text with, but for a handful of exceptions, a complete new set of over 200 illustrations, many in colour, with notable contributions from the late Jim Carter and W.D.Cooper. 190pp, maps, many original L&NW, some in colour, plus TTs, Hardback.

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By D.J.Sweeney ISBN 978-09550030-73. As reviewed by the Railway Magazine “The book traces the route radiating from Wigan and looks at each key destination in detail, making good use of descriptive introductions and high quality mapping. Where the book really scores for this reviewer is in the lavish use and quality of the photographs, both colour and monochrome that take the story from the glory days of Webb 0-6-0s through to 9 Fs, Black Fives and BR blue diesels. This book is a must for any enthusiast with connections to the North West and those with an interest in the coal industry”

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Two publications deal with the incursion by the then Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway into areas which had been the preserve of the L&NWR for decades, tempted by the expanding coalfields south of Wigan at Hindley, Westleigh and Abram; and also at St. Helens. They were, eventually, able to syphon off much lucrative coal traffic. The Wigan Junction Railways opened in part, in 1879 to Strangeways, by a line from the CLC at Glazebrook, finally reaching Wigan Central in 1892 after many trials and tribulations not the least of which were financial. 127pp, 139 illustrations, some in colour. Line maps T.Ts etc. Hardback, colour jacket. ISBN 9780955003059. NOW ONLY £20.00. The St. Helens & Wigan Junction Railway first mooted in 1877, would take 23 years before the branch from Lowton St. Marys to St. Helens Central was fully open and again the coal deposits east of St. Helens, in particular at Haydock and Golborne, and other St. Helens industries were the main attractions of this line. 120pp, 144 illustrations, some in colour Line maps T.Ts etc. Hardback, colour jacket. ISBN 9780955003066. NOW ONLY £20.00. Both these routes were fully absorbed by the Great Central in 1906.

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