EDITOR’S THOUGHTS
A History of The Great Western Railway Being the Story of The Broad Gauge - George Augustus Sekon
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Taking the GWR Act to Parliament
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Great Western Railway Power and Weight Classification
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A New Bow Street Runner!
55
Sleuths of the GWR Works
56
Preserving Another of Brunel’s Success Stories
57
The Clergy and The Railway - Revd Roger Farnworth 63 Network Rail workers Provide an Injection of Life at Exeter
69
Tales from the Four Foot Eight and a Half! My Life on the Railways in The Valleys – Percy Hanniford 70 A Locoman’s Tale – Bob Barnett 73 The King and I – Leo Brown 74 Tales from Wales – Andrew Dyke 77 Getting a Bigger “Byte” into Devon!
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The Abermule Disaster – January 26th 1921
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Railway News from Around the Preservation Scene Heritage Railways Association News Spotlight on Vintage Trains A Night Owl Emerges from the Dark – Part 2 - Paul Perton Heart of Hagley Hall Locomotive Comes Home to SVR The Churchward 4-4-0 Counties – The First Modern British 4-4-0 - David Bradshaw
100
Worcestershire Parkway Station
105
Railway Societies in Profile – No.1 The Branch Line Society
106
The World of GWR Modelling Alice Susan Neale Scratch Builder Extraordinaire
108
85 87 92 96
Sanspareil Integrated Casting Services 111 News from the World of GWR Modelling 112 Win a Year’s Free Subscription to Great Western Star! 116 From My Bookshelf
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Welcome to the second issue of Great Western Star. Since our launch in October 2020, we have received a great many comments supporting our view that we are now offering a different type of rail magazine. One of the most pleasing aspects of Great Western Star is the willingness of former railway employees on predominantly Great Western lines but on railways in general to talk about their experiences over many years of serving the public while providing an excellent rail service. Of particular interest in this issue is the story of Percy Hanniford who came to Wales as part of the Windrush generation and who found a very happy life working on the railway in and around Cardiff. Now in his nineties, Percy tells an interesting story and one that is different to many who write as footplatemen. This section - which we have pinched from A A Milne - we call “Tales from the Four Foot Eight and a Half” has generated a lot of interest and we now have ladies who worked - and who continue to work - on the railway who want to tell their side of the story. We have now completely updated our website and offer a much more interesting, exciting and up-to-date news service, not just on things GWR but also on railway topics of a much wider range of interests. We have also included on the website a new and intresting video from Morgan Sindall showing how they moved a 11,000 tonne concrete tunel under the East Coast main Line! In contrast, we go back to the very beginning of the GWR and tell the story of the lead up to the Company and how Isambard Kingdom Brunel persuaded the members of the Houses of Parliament to back this scheme. While I have read many books about this period of the Company’s history, this is the first time that I have read a transcript of what he said, written soon after he had made his case. We have an interesting article outlining the close links between the clergy and railways - both full scale and in model form, we take a look at how the railways are having to change to meet increasingly tight environmental restrictions, we have a look at what is being done to keep steam alive on the main line and also look at new technologies such as hydrogen power and battery power (bi-mode and even tri-mode). We continue our story on the construction of No 4709 and look at the work on the 4-4-0 County Class and look at what was happening in Oxford at the start of the 20th century. We hope you enjoy your read and looking forward to receiving your comments. Please feel free to send in any stories or articles - we are always happy to receive them.
Rodney Pitt, Editor January/February 2021
GREAT WESTERN STAR MAGAZINE
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