Heritage Railway Issue 192

LONDON UNDERGROUND AUGUST STEAM TICKETS

COMPLETE

SUMMER GUIDE

TO RAILWAYS AND EVENTS

‘HOGWARTS’ BOWS OUT

EXCLUSIVE

SCOTSMAN NEEDS NEW FRAME PLATES ST BLAZEY TURNTABLE WORKS AGAIN

■ COME WITH US TO ETCHES PARK DERBY 175 OPEN DAY ■ SWANAGE BRANCH STEAMING TO GREEN FUTURE ■ BLUE KING EDWARD II AND BULLEID BRITISH INDIA LINE LISTED FOR ‘GB VIII’

GRESLEY P2: FRAMES DEDICATED AT DARLINGTON

£4.20

July 31 – August 27, 2014

No. 192

Issue 192

Features 66

SWANAGE GETS ITS BRANCH LINE BACK

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publishing has been the Poster to Poster series written, and published, by Richard and Judi Furness of Gloucester. e seven volumes cover railway posters from every corner of England, Scotland and Wales dating from the earliest days, and have been hailed as the definitive work on the subject.

Artist Stephen Millership, who was commissioned by Richard to produce a modern railway poster of Stonehenge based on old principles, reveals his interest in railways and his pleasure in producing such posters.

Summer trains promoted by the Great Western Railway carried tens of thousands of passengers to resorts in Devon and Cornwall for a period of some 50 years before cars, caravans and coaches clogged roads leading to the South West. Cedric Johns recounts the history of one of Britain’s classic holiday trains in the days before package holidays to the Mediterranean.

irty-five years aer the Swanage Railway ran its first public trains, the paperwork which will allow it to run regular trains over the full length of the LSWR branch to Wareham is being finalised. Steve Roberts and Robin Jones look at the magnificent achievements and glowing opportunities that exist for this splendid ‘Southern Railway in miniature’ seaside line.

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GO GREAT WESTERN, GO CORNISH RIVIERA

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GOING DUTCH

It is very interesting to see how different countries exhibit their railway history in national railway museums. John Titlow travelled to Utrecht and found that what the Dutch NRM may lack in quantity of locomotives, it makes up for in its creativity in two unique ways.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE RAILWAY POSTER ARTISTS GONE?

One of the successes of 21st-century railway

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AN UNLIKELY STEAM RAILWAY ON THE SUNNY SOUTH

Geoff Courtney came across the scant remains of one of Britain’s most obscure standard gauge steam lines, the Hundred of Manhood & Selsey Tramway – which might have once been home to what became the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway – while holidaying on the south coast. www.heritagerailway.co.uk

Contents

Issue 192 July 31-August 27, 2014

News 6

Cover

HEADLINE NEWS

Flying Scotsman new setback as frame sections need replacing for £87K; P2 frames commissioned at Darlington; mass walk-out at West Somerset meeting, Heritage Railway sponsors Etches Park depot open day to mark Derby 175, new NYMR Whitby platform set for August opening, LMS Scot may run out of St Pancras and black Morayshire in frame for GCR gala.

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LMS Princess Coronation Pacific No. 46233 Duchess of Sutherland awaits departure from Euston with Vintage Trains’ ‘Midlander’ on July 5, which had made the first non-stop run from Birmingham New Street to Euston since 1964 on its outward run.

On its last run before going on display in a Warner Brothers’ theme park, GWR 4-6-0 No. 5972 Olton Hall, running as Hogwarts Castle, passes Starricks Farm with the Railway Touring Company’s ‘Wizard Express’ on July 12. DAVID PRICE

NEWS

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West Somerset to reconsider Taunton extension; NYMR commissions Falsgrave signal; Mallard 75 benefited heritage lines across UK; SOS plea to save Somerset & Dorset bridge; Britain’s biggest steam locomotive runs again... in a back garden; pressure to save Swindon’s Railway Institute; Great Central receives £1 million Government grant; new LNWR George the Fih 4-4-0 Prince George name unveiled; Prince Charles and Camilla become

Gloucestershire Warwickshire life members; steam locomotive lost in swamp returns to steam; LMS Patriot to appear at Great Dorset steam fair, ‘D-Day’ appeal for Dame Vera Lynn, Olton Hall last trip sparks steam ban and the flower allergy lady who retrained as a steam driver!

Regulars COMPETITION

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TICKETS FOR LONDON UNDERGROUND’S AUGUST STEAM TRIPS ON THE HAMMERSMITH & CITY LINE AND CHESHAM BRANCH

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54

CENTRE

64

MAIN LINE ITINERARY

56

MAIN LINE NEWS

72

RAILWAYANA

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PLATFORM

90

OFF THE SHELF

92

SCALE HERITAGE RAILWAY

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UP & RUNNING

Mark Fielding’s view of Tornado in the Lune Gorge takes centre stage this month.

King Edward II and British India Line listed for ‘Great Britain VIII’; St Blazey turntable working again and 50th anniversary ‘Atlantic Coast Express’ to run to Penzance.

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www.heritagerailway.co.uk

Brian Sharpe’s definitive guide to railtours in the coming month.

Geoff Courtney’s definitive round-up of auction prices.

Where your views matter the most. e latest book and DVD reviews.

Superb new Hornby weathered GWR Grange.

Brian Sharpe’s complete listing of museums and operational heritage lines.

106 THE MONTH AHEAD

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Our new at-a-glance guide to the big events coming up in the next four weeks, with Heritage Railway, as usual, bringing unrivalled coverage.

Heritage Railway

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News

Mallard 75 year ‘benefited heritage lines everywhere’

By Robin Jones THE Mallard 75 year of celebrations had a significant impact on Britain’s heritage railway sector, encouraging many more members of the general

public to visit steam lines.

That was the view of Heritage Railway Association vicechairman Mark L Smith, who said that the event organised by the National Railway Museum had made a major contribution

to the sector.

People came to see the unique line-ups of all six surviving LNER A4s at both the NRM in York and the Locomotion museum in Shildon, and then went away to visit heritage railways behind operational steam locomotives, he added.

Mark was speaking at the NRM on July 3, a year after the first Great Gathering of all six A4s opened to the public at York to mark the 75th anniversary of No. 4468 Mallard’s 126mph run down Stoke Bank in Lincolnshire, which set an all-time world steam railway speed record.

The occasion was the presentation by the Heritage Railway Association of the 2014 Peter Manisty Award for Excellence for the Mallard 75 Left: Proudly holding the 2014 Peter Manisty Award in front of No. 4468 Mallard are Tony Oldfield, day-to-day manager of the Mallard 75 event; Mark Smith, chairman of the HRA awards committee; Tobias Lumb, the NRM’s head of public programmes and project manager of Mallard 75; Dave MacLean, a former signalman who was heavily involved in providing cab access during the Great Gatherings at York; NRM director Paul Kirkman; and Dave Hurd, who manages the loco cleaning team who prepared all the locos prior to them entering the Great Hall. ROBIN JONES

series of events.

The award cited “the world class Mallard 75 events inspiring and enhancing widespread interest in our railway heritage”.

Mark presented the award plaque to NRM director Paul Kirkman, who said: “We are so pleased to have been given this award which recognises the legacy of our Mallard 75 celebrations on the 75th anniversary of the loco setting an unbroken world record.

“It is also the chance to recognise the incredibly hard work that our volunteers put in to make our Great Gatherings the great success they were. It’s been an amazing year for the National Railway Museum, with our increase in visitors at both our Shildon and York sites mainly due to the outstanding impact of the Mallard 75 season.”

The NRM was nominated for the award by Heritage Railway magazine. Considered to be the highest accolade in the heritage railway sector, the award was the latest in a series received by the museum, largely due to the success of the Mallard 75 season.

Last year, the repatriation of expatriate A4s No. 60008 Dwight D. Eisenhower and No. 60010 Dominion of Canada earned the museum the HRA’s 2013 John Coiley Locomotive Award, celebrating the international co-

Help save Shillingstone bridge THE future expansion of the Shillingstone railway project is being jeopardised by plans by Dorset Council Council’s highways department to demolish the first road overbridge to the north.

The council’s highways department has posted a notice on Lamb House bridge over the minor road to Child Okeford of its intention to demolish it.

However, the North Dorset Railway Trust, which has restored the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway’s Shillingstone station, has been negotiating with a separate council department to lease the bridge which lies a few hundred yards to the north. It was understood that the department was unaware of the highways notice.

If the red brick bridge is removed, it will preclude any future attempt to 12 Heritage Railway

lay a running line towards Sturminster Newton, thereby recreating a sizeable tourist attraction.

Although redundant as a railway crossing since the closure of the line in 1966, the bridge is nevertheless a local landmark which has been in existence for over 150 years.

Trust officials have been shocked by the highways department’s action, especially in view of a recent report which indicated that it was structurally sound.

A trust spokesman said: “The bridge is only a short distance from the station and its removal would place an insurmountable hurdle in the way of relaying track northwards in the direction of Sturminster Newton. Although we recognise that the structure is redundant, it would play an essential role in allowing us in the

The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway’s Lamb House bridge is threatened with demolition after 150 years. NDRT

future to create a working railway that brings tourists and revenue to the area. When we spoke to our contact at Dorset County Council they knew nothing of the proposal.

We are therefore asking the Dorset Highways Department to reconsider the decision and would ask the public to support us by

writing to the council.” ➲ Heritage Railway readers wishing to send letters of support condemning the proposal to demolish Lamb House bridge should write to the Head of Dorset Highways, Dorset County Council, County Hall, Colliton Park, Dorchester DT1 1XJ. www.heritagerailway.co.uk

INBRIEF

➲ MINISTER for Transport Patrick McLoughlin was due to attend a Royal British Legion Day at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway on Monday, July 28, marking the start of the First World War. A full timetable of trains was set to include a steam locomotive decked with a poppy wreath.

A4 No. 4489 Dominion of Canada safely under cover inside the Exporail museum after the end of its transatlantic journey. Sister No. 60008 Dwight D. Eisenhower is to be the centrepiece of a major new exhibition opening at its US National Railroad Museum home in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on August 2. EXPORAIL

operation and achievement of the transatlantic partners in the movement of the pair.

The Herbert Crow Memorial Award was presented to Paul by the Lord Mayor of London in recognition of the knowledgeenhancing achievements of Mallard 75 to the transport industry.

Headline sponsor Hornby and the NRM also won the Arts and Business Sponsorship Awards (10,000 and above) 2014.

Mallard 75 also won Visitor Experience of the Year at the Visit York Tourism Awards and is shortlisted for Tourism Event of the Year for the White Rose Awards.

Furthermore, the NRM’s communications team won the Low Budget Campaign award at the CIPR Excellence Awards for its work on Mallard 75.

Judges of the award, which recognises the best use of a budget of less than £10,000, said the campaign was “executed in a determined, well-thoughtthrough manner demonstrating

➲ THE Weybourne Traction Group launched its new diesel club during the North Norfolk Railway’s June 13-15 diesel weekend. It offers supporters of the diesel scene the chance to financially support the running costs, maintenance, overhaul and long term investment in the line’s diesel fleet through a banker’s order of £2 per month or more.

A4 No. 4489 Dominion of Canada is now back on display inside the Exporail museum at Montreal, where it is lined up alongside Canadian Pacific 4-6-4 No. 2850. In 1939 this locomotive hauled the Royal Train carrying King George VI and Queen Elizabeth across Canada. Afterwards, No. 2850 and all engines of its class were redesignated as Royal Hudsons. EXPORAIL

huge energy, passion and lateral thinking”. The judges added: “Legacy is lasting for the business and was beyond their own expectations as they discovered new audiences. Impressive budget control. Tiny team, huge impact.”

Senior NRM press officer Catherine Farrell, who headed up

the Mallard 75 campaign, said: “We are so pleased to have won this industry award against such incredibly strong competition.

“It is testament to the hard work and tenacity of our small communications team here and we are so chuffed that our efforts have been officially recognised.”

Radial tank at Hampton station THE Bluebell Railway-based LSWR Adams 4-4-2T No. 488 and matching coach No. 1520 will be on view at Hampton station in south-west London on September 7.

The Hampton Transport Gala has been organised to mark the opening of the branch between Fulwell Junction and Shepperton on November 1, 1864, and also the 150th

birthday of Hampton station.

There will also be a display of London buses, some of which will be on operational duty around the area giving free tours.

The gala is supporting three charities, the Linden Hall Day Community Centre, the 3rd Hampton Scout Group and the League of Friends of Teddington Memorial Hospital.

House with own halt for sale A HOUSE with its own private station on the Talyllyn Railway is on the market.

A halt at Tynllwyn-Hen was created in 1900 to serve the 17th century farmhouse of the same name, and which is reached by a path leading through woodland and a valley.

Occupants of the five-bedroomed slate-

www.heritagerailway.co.uk

➲ THE Aln Valley Railway is to run a diesel gala planned on August 3, with passenger motive power provided by Barclay 0-6-0DH No. 615 and the Wickham railcars while Drewry 0-6-0DM Drax and Class 11 No. 12088 Shirley will top-and-tail ‘shuttles’ of the demonstration freight train.

roofed period stone house, on sale for £425,000, can flag down trains at the halt.

Malcolm Wood of the Railway Heritage Trust said: “It’s unusual to find a halt in such simple form adjacent to a private house.”

The house is on sale through Strutt & Parker’s Shrewsbury office, 01743 284200.

➲ THE Buffer Stops real ale bar at the East Lancashire Railway’s Rawtenstall station has now received the top pub award from I Love Rossendale, a social enterprise which aims to boost visitor numbers to the borough. ELR general manager Andy Morris said: “The response we’ve had to the Buffer Stops has been nothing short of phenomenal.” ➲ THE Vale of Rheidol Railway has reintroduced evening excursion trains on certain Wednesdays and Saturdays in July and August, departing Aberystwyth at 6.30pm.

Last trains for SDJR 7F SOMERSET & Dorset Joint Railway 7F 2-8-0 No. 88 is to be withdrawn from traffic early for its 10-year overhaul.

The overhaul is being brought forward by the West Somerset Railway and its owners, the Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust, to have it available for Minehead’s 2016 spring steam gala, intended as a landmark event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the closure of the Somerset and Dorset lines in March 1966.

No. 88’s last weekend of operation will be the WSR’s October 2-5 autumn steam gala (see separate story). Despite the strong Western Region emphasis of the four days, marking the half-centenary of the closure of Taunton shed, the 7F is scheduled to work two trains during the gala. On October 4 it is rostered to head the 4.45pm from Minehead. Its last passenger train until 2016 is intended to be the 2.45pm from Bishops Lydeard on the Sunday.

It was unclear whether it will return to service in its current Prussian blue livery or BR black.

Heritage Railway

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News

Pressure mounts to save Swindon railway institute

By Geoff Courtney

PRESSURE is mounting on Swindon Borough Council to restore one of the few surviving buildings from the town’s worldfamous railway works, with former apprentices calling for action before it is too late.

However, a council spokesman

said the future of the iconic 159year-old building was unclear due, among other problems, to a lack of funds and no plans on what use it could be put to.

Dating from 1855, the Swindon Mechanics’ Institute was built by the GWR and fulfilled many functions, including reading room, library – the first of its type

LUNCH IS SERVED: With the summer sun streaming through the windows, the packed reading room of the Swindon Mechanics’ Institute hosts a GWR employees’ luncheon in July 1908. The photograph provides an indication of the spaciousness and grandeur of the building.

in the UK – a health service for employees, coffee room, lecture/concert hall with stage and even a market. In 1930, following a fire, the first floor was converted into the Playhouse Theatre, complete with pit, stalls and dress circle, a facility described by the Theatres Trust as “pretty, with an elaborate proscenium and,

FORMER GLORY: The Swindon Mechanics’ Institute in 1933.

The billboards outside are advertising ‘Swindon’s brightest dances’, held every Saturday in the dance hall, and performances in the Institute’s Playhouse Theatre of Leave it to P Smith, based on a 1923 PG Wodehouse novel which was adapted into a play in 1930. Today the listed building, described by the Theatres Trust as perhaps one of the finest surviving examples of its kind, is in a state of disrepair and has an unclear future.

unusually for its kind, a fly tower.”

The end came in 1986 with the closure of the works itself, and the Tudor Gothic style building, now Grade II* listed and acclaimed by the Theatres Trust as perhaps one of the finest surviving examples of its kind, has fallen into total disrepair, to such an extent that some residents now regard the previously much-loved structure as a deteriorating eyesore.

One former Swindon employee who is calling for its restoration is Doug Eels, now 82 and living in Wantage. He joined the works in 1948 as an engineering apprentice at the start of an 18-year BR career and remembers the Institute well.

“To me it was mainly a reading room and library, but I also went to its theatre once a week when courting,” he reminisced. “It was a very imposing building which I believe has historical value, a bit of old Swindon that served a useful purpose and should be restored.

There would be a lot of sadness in the town if it was pulled down.”

Doug’s views were echoed by Ken Gibbs, who started at the works in 1944, following in the

Ashover Light Railway returns to life – at Butterley THE Midland Railway-Butterley is to re-create a long lost scene from the Ashover Light Railway during August 16-17.

In 2008, the venue’s Golden Valley Light Railway recovered the last remaining carriage body from the Derbyshire line not in preservation, and volunteers have been working on it ever since.

The carriage body had been used as a club room for the local bowls club which had looked after it, but much of the fabric was found to have deteriorated.

The coach emerged from its shed at Swanwick Junction for the first time on July 3 for tests to check clearances as the coach is much larger than the GVLR vehicles.

Baldwin 4-6-0T No. 778 – identical to a locomotive which ran on the 7¼-mile AVR – and an appropriate wagon will be visiting from the Greensand Railway Museum Trust at the Leighton Buzzard Railway.

They will be running trains on the 2ft gauge line, allowing visitors to travel in this coach that was last used in 1936.

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On the Sunday, members of the Ashover Band will be performing.

This band accompanied the opening of the ALR on April 7, 1925, for which four carriages were supplied by the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Co. Their construction followed street tramway practice, being fitted with that style of longitudinal seats in two saloons separated by a partition with a sliding door. There were six droplight windows in each side and two in each end vestibule. The main saloons seated 40 people and tip-up seats in each vestibule could accommodate up to three extra passengers.

The bodies were carried on a pair of War Department bogies.

After passenger services from Clay Cross to Ashover ended, the carriages were placed under cover, and during the Second World War, Nos, 1, 2 and 3 were used in Clay Cross works for storage and a canteen. In 1952, they were reused as stands at the company’s sports ground.

In 1953, No. 4 was placed

Ashover Light Railway coach No. 4 ready to carry passengers again. MRB

alongside the bowling green next to the Where The Rainbow Ends cafe.

Two other carriages ended up at the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway and were restored for passenger service in 1962 and 1963.

The Ashover train re-creation is

part of the Midland Railex model railway exhibition which has military manoeuvres as this year’s theme, telling the story of the role played by railways in logistical support. Midland Railway Trust development officer Alan Calladine said: “This will be a remarkable occasion.” www.heritagerailway.co.uk

GWR Swindon footsteps of his great grandfather, both his grandfathers, his father, six uncles, one of his cousins and his mother’s stepfather.

A Swindon resident for all his 84 years, Ken also remembers the Institute as mainly a reading room and library, although he also recalls a snooker room. “I was a great follower of the magazine Model Engineer and used to read it in the Institute – at that time Swindon didn’t have a library. It was well used.”

Ken, who was at the works for 20 years and in August 1950 was one of the craftsman building the last Castle class locomotive, No. 7037 Swindon, said: “It saddens me to see the Institute’s current state. It is a wreck and there is big controversy over it. I would love to see it restored, although the absence of available parking may limit its use, but perhaps it could become something like a sports hall.”

Richard Freeman, a Swindon Borough Council spokesman, poured cold water on hopes that the building would be restored any time soon. He told Heritage Railway that on its closure in 1986, the Institute was sold by BR to a developer whose plans never came to fruition.

The building was bought by Forefront Estates in 2002 for £500,000, and as the owner of a listed building had a duty to ensure it did not deteriorate, but in

NONSTOP TO LONDON: An immaculate No. 7035 Ogmore Castle storms through one of Swindon’s centre roads with the Up ‘Cheltenham Spa Express’ in August 1960. The last stop on the run for the 4-6-0, built just 10 years previously at the nearby works, was Kemble, 91 miles from London Paddington, where it is due to arrive at 10.35am. At the time, one of the work’s facilities, the Mechanics’ Institute, was in constant use, but today the building is in desperate need of a major restoration.

NORMAN PREEDY

July 2010 Swindon Borough Council was given a legal right to take it over in order to carry out urgent work. “We had the situation whereby the owner, Forefront Estates, still owned it but was not allowed in it,” said Richard.

The council found that part of the roof was within days of collapsing, said Richard, and two months later removed it and erected temporary scaffolding and roof to stabilise the building and make it weatherproof. This work, costing £800,000, was carried out with the agreement of English Heritage, which also donated £250,000 towards the cost. At the time Coun Garry Perkins, deputy

leader, said: “We have taken over the building in the nick of time.”

Richard said that Forefront Estates was dissolved in September 2012 and ownership of the Institute transferred to the Crown Estate, with the council continuing to be responsible for ensuring there was no further deterioration. But, he added, the building was in a state of limbo.

“We are not the owner and never have been, but as we control the building we carry out regular inspections, although it is dangerous going inside as the basement is flooded and there are high levels of asbestos and leaded paint contamination. Restoration costs would be astronomic – tens

Shoeburyness duo reunited at Colne Valley THE Colne Valley Railway Preservation Society has acquired a second Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST which once worked on the Shoeburyness Military Railway.

No. WD200 has been acquired from Rolvenden Steam Enterprises at the Kent & East Railway.

At Castle Hedingham, it has been reunited with WD190, which also worked at Shoeburyness at the same time and was part of the same batch delivered by Hunslet in 1952-53.

No. WD200 worked at Ministry of Defence sites including Bicester and the Longmoor Military Railway before moving to Shoeburyness in 1966.

It was declared redundant in 1970 and bought by the KESR group. At Tenterden, it ran as No. 24 with the names William H Austen and Rolvenden.

It was in steam on a regular basis until its 10-year overhaul became due in 2012.

No. WD190 was delivered to the MoD in 1952 and arrived at Shoeburyness in 1967. It was sold to enthusiast Dick Hymas in 1971, www.heritagerailway.co.uk

Twins reunited: Nos. WD200 and WD190 side by side at the Colne Valley Railway immediately after delivery by road of WD200. CVR

prompting the establishment of the Colne Valley. It has been owned by the society since 1992.

Owning both engines will provide the society with some commonality of spares and maintenance processes. The overhaul of No. WD200 is set to take three years.

Once overhauled, both locomotives will be in steam together for a few years before

WD190 becomes due for its next overhaul.

The purchase was made in line with the society’s locomotive strategy, which aims to have two working steam locomotives at all times, with the third being overhauled. The society’s third locomotive is 1954-built Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns 0-6-0ST No. 60 Jupiter which it bought in 1985.

of millions – and we don’t have such resources.

“A Grade II* listing precludes a lot of possible uses, and no one has a clear idea what to do with it or been able to come up with a future use. It has little architectural value, the listing being because it has historic significance in the heart of the railway village.

“There are those who are extremely passionate on the subject, and everyone in Swindon wants something done with it.” ➲ The photographs of the Institute are published courtesy of STEAM – Museum of the GWR, Swindon (www.steampicturelibrary.com).

New home for Hayling beach line THE 2ft gauge Hayling Seaside Railway looks set to have a new headquarters.

Following two years of negotiations, the line has submitted an application to build a new depot at Eastoke Corner.

Its current base at the Funlands seafront amusement park has been included in Havant Borough Council’s homes allocation plan. It could provide land for new houses if a developer makes a bid.

Railway founder and owner Bob Haddock said: “We can’t wait to look forward to working with the people of Eastoke Corner, to increasing business and bringing more prosperity to the area.”

He said that the new depot could be up and running by Christmas.

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GWR 4-6-0 No. 6010 King Charles I heads an Up ‘Cornish Riviera Express’ on the Berks & Hants line past Crofton on March 15, 1958. COLOUR-RAIL.COM 390270 T OWEN

GREAT WESTERN CORNISH RIVIERA

Summer trains promoted by the Great Western Railway carried tens of thousands of passengers to resorts in Devon and Cornwall half a century before cars, caravans and coaches clogged roads leading to the South West. Cedric Johns recounts the history of one of Britain’s classic holiday trains in the days before package holidays to the Mediterranean.

A

s this summer moves towards its climax, it is timely to recall those days when the Great Western Railway’s publicity department created glamorous poster images picturing idyllic scenes of West Country towns, villages, harbours and beaches designed to encourage the public to travel by its trains to summer holiday destinations... and more especially those located west of the Tamar.

Indeed, the publicity department’s E M Bradley wrote a promotional book in which he suggested that geographically, Cornwall’s climate, especially in winter, was as clement as that enjoyed in southern Europe.

This was part of the Great Western’s ploy to develop new sources of income to counterbalance the financial effects of the decline in Cornwall’s mining industry.

In a subtle but positive manner Bradley’s book – published by the railway – was written to persuade the public to take holidays on what was described as the ‘Cornish Riviera’.

A mention of the Cornish Riviera invariably raises thoughts of those halcyon days when the Great Western’s train carrying the same name 66 Heritage Railway

departed from Paddington at 10.30am, with a King at the head of a rake of chocolate and cream carriages bound for Devon and Cornwall and places like Plymouth, Par, Newquay, Truro, Falmouth, St Erth for St Ives and Penzance.

At its zenith this important train – always known to Western men as the ‘Limited’ – was formed of Swindon-built rolling stock designed to vie with Pullman comfort and, in true Great Western fashion, the train included slip coaches at the rear of its 15 carriage formation.

But talking of the ‘Cornish Riviera’ is anticipating events, the Great Western Railway ran trains to Cornwall long before the ‘Limited’ entered public and working timetables.

In broad gauge days ‘The Flying Dutchman’ led the way by first running from Paddington to Exeter via Swindon and Bristol. Working to a tight schedule the ‘Dutchman’ was the fastest train in the country – this in 1840 no less.

Covering 53 miles from Paddington to Didcot in 55 minutes, the train held a world start to stop record averaging 57.9mph. In 1864 the Didcot stop was omitted, the ‘Dutchman’ running nonstop to Swindon – where, of www.heritagerailway.co.uk

course, all passengers trains were committed to a refreshment stop of at least 10 minutes in accordance with an agreement made with independent caterers, the Swindon Refreshment Company.

Seven years later the train extended its journey, running through to Plymouth during the summer months, but then in 1890 the ‘Dutchman’ crossed the Tamar for the first time, now stopping at Saltash, Liskeard and Par en route to Penzance.

That same year the train was eclipsed by a new west of England express which departed from Paddington at 10.15am. Its title? ‘The Cornishman’. Including the mandatory stop at Swindon the new train was booked to reach Bristol at 12.45pm, Exeter 2.20pm, Plymouth 3.50pm and Penzance at 6.05pm.

Hauled by Dean broad gauge 2-4-0 ‘Convertibles’, the ‘Cornishman’ was, in its day, the fastest public service available between London and the west of England.

Tired of being hamstrung by the Swindon refreshment stop, the Great Western board of directors paid £100,000 to the local caterers in 1895 to free the company of what was a frustrating handicap, allowing plans to be laid for the next stage of the railway’s development.

This and the fact that broad gauge running had been superseded by standard gauge, the ‘Cornishman’ was the first train to make regular nonstop runs from Paddington to Bristol.

Having said that, the train had already been divided into two portions to cope with the number of passengers making journeys west.

This happened in 1896 when a relief portion – for Newquay – departed Paddington at 10.25am booked to run the 193.6 miles to Exeter nonstop. Times to Bath remained unchanged, the train avoiding Bristol Temple Meads by the using the Pylle Hill loop and running via Taunton, it arrived Exeter at 2.10pm, 3.75 hours from London, then a world record for nonstop running.

Hauling an average of five coaches the relief ’s overall speed from Paddington to Exeter was a creditable 51.6mph. After stopping at Plymouth North Road, the train made a further stop at Par before arriving at Newquay at 5.47pm.

Two months after City of Truro made the headlines on Wellington bank in 1904 by allegedly touching 102.13mph, the Great Western launched what was quickly to become the most famous train on the line when on July 1, the ‘Riviera Express’ steamed out of Paddington for its then-record 245.6 mile nonstop run to Plymouth.

Leaving London at 10.10am on its inaugural run, the ‘Riviera’ was worked to North Road by one of Churchward’s experimental French acquisitions, 4-4-2 No. 102 La France. From there the train was taken forward to Penzance

by Bulldog 4-4-0 No. 3418 Paddington.

In the first year of operation the train ran as the ‘Riviera Express’ but this was changed the following summer to ‘Cornish Riviera Limited’.

Interestingly as part of its planning build up to introducing its new train, the Great Western ran a trial in 1903 using the Royal Train – on official duty – conveying the Prince of Wales to Plymouth.

Back then the railway was vastly different to that which we have come to accept. Running via Bristol, Taunton and Exeter, the ‘Riviera’ then ran on over sections of single track including the line through Dawlish and over sections of the route into Cornwall.

On July 2, 1906 the route was changed from Reading, the ‘Limited’ taking the newly-opened ➲ www.heritagerailway.co.uk

Broad gauge 4-2-2s Great Western and Swallow at Didcot with a Down Paddington - Penzance express in May 1992, the last month of broad gauge services. GWT COLLECTION

Having taken over at Plymouth, GWR 4-6-0 No. 1021 County of Montgomery works a Down train through Cornwall to Penzance, and is pictured passing Marizion in June 1958. COLOUR-RAIL.COM 320927

GWR 4-6-0 No. 6029 King Edward VIII on Whiteball on August 16, 1952. COLOUR-RAIL.COM 94443 Heritage Railway

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LNER B1 4-6-0 No. 61264 as No. 60134 Chiru snakes its way up the Esk Valley Line from Whitby on June 13. More paths on the line are now available following the completion of the Falsgrave signal gantry at Grosmont in anticipation of the opening of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s platform 2 at Whitby on august 2. ROBIN JONES

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