The Railway Times - Issue 4

A SPECIAL PUBLICATION DEDICATED TO THE HISTORY OF RAILWAYS, FROM THE ARCHIVES OF

Railway Times

Issue 4

1925 New LMSR Rolling-Stock

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1984 Trams for Birmingham

1915 Leeds and its railways

1970 All 120 covers from the 1970s

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1986 Manchester – the divided city

£2.99 where sold

1903 Seaham & Hartlepool

1990 ‘Flying Scotsman’ comes home

New Rolling-Stock for LMSR Main Line Services Reprinted from the April 1925 issue of The Railway Magazine – the fastest post-war service between London and Bradford.

ABOVE: LONDON-BRADFORD INAUGRAL TRAIN AT BRADFORD (EXCHANGE)

Although, not quite the fastest service ever given by the Midland route, in that before the war there was one up express from Bradford to St. Pancras in four hours, 13 minutes. New expresses inaugurated on March 2, running direct from St Pancras to Bradford (Exchange) via Thornhill, represent a development in traffic facilities of special importance.

Associated there with the fact that the new trains, which are booked in 4 and quarter hours, an acceleration of about 20 minutes.

On the present-best times, call only at Leicester and Sheffield intermediately. Also, they are made up of rolling-stock of new

design, all passenger coaches being of dining-car type, and fitted throughout with tables, while the central kitchen car is able to supply, if need be, every passenger in the train with lunch, tea or dinner, as the case may be, at one sitting.

As the new service is essentially designed, to meet the needs of the considerable business travel between Bradford and Sheffield and London, the up train is booked to leave Bradford (Exchange) at the convenient time of 9:10am and Sheffield at 10:15 am reaching St Pancras at 1:25pm, this allowing for a full afternoon’s business in London before making the return journey from St Pancras at 4:55pm.

The down service is correspondingly convenient, in that Sheffield is reached at 8:05pm and Bradford at 9:10pm, while the service, will, no doubt, be equally appreciate by Leicester passengers, who will then be given a non-stop service in 107 minutes, at a time particularly suitable for returning business men.

So far as the schedule in detail is concerned, it may be mentioned that the 99 miles between St Pancras and Leicester and Sheffield are allowed 78 minutes up and 79 minutes, down, while the complicated 39 and a half miles between Sheffield and Bradford are allowed 60 minutes, up and

61 down. Seeing that from Trent Junction northwards the route, like most of those in the busy area concerned is complicated by the frequent need for reducing speed at junctions and for curves and gradients in many places are by no means easy, these times are probably as good as can be given.

It may be mentioned that, on a trial run recently, one of the standard Midland compound 4-4-0 locomotives, No. 1036, on a slightly easier schedule, usually ran appreciably before time, notwithstanding one or two intermediate checks. This, On the down journey, 109 min. 10 sec.

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(allowed 111 min.) were taken from St Pancras to Leicester, including one bad signal check; the time from Leicester to Sheffield was 77 minutes, 20 seconds. (Scheduled in 79 mins) and from Sheffield to Brad- ford, including delays, 66 min. 25 sec. On the up journey the same engine ran from Bradford to Sheffield in 57 min. 40 sec., from Sheffield to Leicester in 78 min.

20 sec., and from Leicester to St. Pancras in the exact 108 min. From the locomotive point of view the new service is an easily practicable one, and no doubt time can be kept with a substantial increase in loading.

Principal interest attaches, however, to the rolling stock employed. The new Bradford train includes six passenger coaches, arranged three on each side of the kitchen car. In one direction there is a first-class car, together with an ordinary third and a brake-third, coach. At the other end all three vehicles are intended for conveying third-class passengers. All vehicles are of central gangway type; each is in two sections: smoking and nonsmoking and every seat on the train has table equipment.

There are 234 seats for third-class and 36 for first-class, or a total of 270 passengers, while the kitchen has capacity for about 250 meals.

Obviously, in the ordinary way, passengers who are taking lunch or dinner will be concentrated, as far as possible, in the vehicles immediately adjacent to the kitchen car staff will be prepared to serve meals in any part of the train, and gangway widths and vestibule dimensions are designed so as facilitate the movements of waiters, even should they require to travel the comparatively considerable distances involved in serving in the father cars.

Even if not required for meal purposes the tables will be no doubt be appreciated, very greatly by passengers, in that business men will be able to attend to correspondence, and while travelling or if there is no need for that, the table will be useful as a support for one’s book or paper.

Another point of interest is that some, if not all, of the third-class cars have practically the same seating and other dimensions as the first-class cars, so that no inconvenience arises when two passengers (particularly if substantially built) are seated on the same side of a table, as it does in some third- class dining cars, which may at times be somewhat uncomfortably crowded for this reason. A great point is moreover,

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that, notwithstanding the comfort of the seating accommodation and the high quality of the appointments and fittings throughout the train, no charge is incurred beyond the payment of ordinary fares.

Futher, the third-class cars are finished in polished mahogany and trimmed in York velvet, and the metal fitting finished Venetian bronze. All ceilings are enameled glossy white. Special attention has been given to the ventilation of the cars by means of adjustable louvre ventilators, Electric fans, drop lights in convenient positions, and “torpedo” LINCOLN air extractors in the roof. The kitchen car is utilized for cooking and culinary purposes only. Every convenience is provided for the chef and train staff, to facilitate the serving of 250 meals at one sitting. The vehicles are electrically lighted from dynamos driven from the car- riage axles, accumulators being provided to give light when the train is stationary.

Lamps carried in electrifiers of tasteful design are arranged in the ceiling and over each table. For the purpose of minimizing noise, the floors are covered with felt under the linoleum. An efficient steam-heating system has been provided, and is under the control of the passengers. At the ends of the coaches, in addition to conveniently arranged lavatories, supplied with both hot and cold water, space is provided for racks for passengers’ personal luggage, which is thus kept within sight but clear of the seating part of the coach.

In general construction the passenger Vehicles corresponds.

Each coach is 57ft. over the body and 9 ft. 1 1⁄2in. wide as a maximum.

Each bogie has a wheelbase of 9 ft., and the distance be- tween the bogie centers is 40ft. 6in. The third-class cars each have a seating capacity for 56 passengers, and in the case of first-class cars 36 can be accommodated. The weight of each vehicle is 27 tons.

The kitchen car, which weighs 29 tons, includes a central kitchen equipped with a large gas stove, hot plate of generous dimensions, and two hot-water boilers, one for washing and kitchen purposes and the other for tea-making, &c. On either side of the kitchen section are pantries, and in addition there is a seating compartment for the kitchen staff, and toilet facilities. There is also a plate-warming cabinet with a capacity for 500 plates, together with refrigerators, wine coolers, &c.

On the occasion of the trial journey mentioned above, the party was accompanied by Mr. J.

H. Follows, C.B.E., Chief General Superintendent; Mr. R. W. Reid, C.B.E., Carriage and Wagon Superintendent; Mr. T. C. Jeffrey, Superintendent of Publicity and Advertising; Mr. C. F. Graseman, Publicity Liaison Officer, General Managers Department; Mr. J. Walker, and others.

Commencing On March 2, the 10 a.m. service from Euston to Glasgow, Edinburgh and the North was scheduled to run in two sections, the Glasgow portion leaving at 10 a.m. and the Edinburgh and North section at 10.8 a.m. At the same time entirely new sets of vehicles were pro- Vided. In the case of the Glasgow section, the makeup is in general similar to that of the new trains introduced for the London- Bradford service described above, modified slightly to meet the requirements of this particular traffic.

The make-up includes a central kitchen car, together with one central-corridor first-class carriage, one corridor first-class vehicle, two central-corridor third-class coaches, and a corridor-brake third, together with a brake van. There is thus a compromise between the arrangements adopted for the Bradford train, in that the Glasgow train is not entirely made up of semiopen vehicles of dining-car type.

Ample luggage accommodation is pro- vided, while the capacity of the kitchen car is sufficient to enable every passenger in the train to be served simultaneously, if required.

Normally, this is hardly likely to be the case, but, however ‘full the train may be, there is sufficient table accommodation to enable all passengers who may desire to take lunch or tea to be accommodated at one sitting. The needs of passengers joining the train by means of attached through coaches or other vehicles which may be included in the make-up during the journey can also be supplied. The standard make-up provides for 72 first and 138 third-class passengers.

In the case of the Edinburgh section, five vehicles provide basis for the train, including a vestibule third-class vehicle, a corridor break composite and a corridor-brake third. Seating accommodation is provided for 68 first and 114 thirdclass passengers. In running, the Aberdeen and Dundee vehicles are, of course, attached to the Edinburgh portion.

As in the case of the Bradford train, the generous provision of tables constitutes a special feature of the new sets, combined with the ability to serve meals at one sitting, instead of in relays, as was so often

SKETCH MAP OF ROUTE necessary. Other special features are that the fullest advantage has been taken of the maximum width allowed in order to make the compartments as commodious and comfortable as possible. The firstclass vestibule cars are finished in polished walnut and trimmed in blue cloth, and all metal fittings are of oxidised silver.

in electroliers of tasteful design are arranged in the ceiling and over each table.

The third-class vestibule cars are finished in polished mahogany and trimmed in York velvet, and the metal fittings finished Venetian bronze.

There is a lavatory accommodation with a plentiful supply of hot and cold water, in every coach. At the end of each vehicle ample room for storing passenger’s personal luggage, is provided. For the purpose of minimizing noise, the floors are covered with felt under the linoleum. An efficient steamheating system has been provided, and is under the control of the passengers.

All ceilings are enameled glossy white. Special attention has been given to the ventilation of the cars by means of adjustable louvre ventilators, electric fans, droplights in convenient positions, and ‘torpedo’ air extractors in the roof.

The vehicles are electrically lighted from dynamos driven from the carriage axles, accumulators being provided to give light when the train is stationary. Lamps carried

Although the Edinburgh portion on the down journey is now run behind the Glasgow section, the standard arrival time at Edinburgh (Princes Street) is maintained. The Glasgow and Edinburgh trains run together from Crewe on the up journey. The new trains have been constructed to the designs of M. R. W. Reid, C.B.E, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent, L.M.S.R, at the Derby Carriage Works. •

TRAIN OF VESTIBULED CENTRAL-CORRIDOR COACHES AND KITCHEN CAR FOR NEW LONDON-BRADFORD SERVICES, LMSR

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Welcome A very warm welcome to issue 4 of Railway Times. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to send feedback and comment on stories – a selection of your emails are printed on page 23. We welcome suggestions for future editions, so please get in touch – archive@railwaymagazine.co.uk

Our front cover features a story from 1925 – 'New rolling-stock for LMSR main line services' – the fastest post World War I service from Bradford to London (4 hours 15 minutes).

We have a 1984 article on page 4, looking at proposals for a Birmingham tram service, plans which would come to fruition fifteen years later.

Page 5 features a couple of nice images of King's Cross from 1978 showing how a roof replacement was achieved without disrupting services.

On pages 6-9 we have reproduced a detailed article from 1915 looking at Leeds and its railways.

INTERIOR OF FIRST-CLASS COACH

Editor Darren Hendley archive@railwaymagazine.co.uk Production editor Sarah Wilkinson Publisher Tim Hartley Picture desk Jonathan Schofield Archive scanning Angie Sisestean

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Front covers of The Railway Magazine from the 1970s have always been a particular favourite of mine, and all 120 are printed on page 10, along with a selection of Editorial comments from that decade – including a reduction of 'Steam Specials', and free coffee top-ups on the London Midland Region.

In 1986 The Railway Magazine looked at the railway developments in Greater Manchester which have fallen short of bridging the gap between North and South.

On page 16 there is a gallery of images from 1935 including Dorchester Station, Paddington snack bar and locomotive development on the Brill branch.

On page 18, from 1990 – The bold move to replace an important part of the Festiniog Railway’s history by building a single Fairlie locomotive.

There's much more inside – we hope you enjoy it!

is prohibited. The publisher cannot accept reeposibility for errors in articles or advertisements, or for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations.

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1984: Birmingham trams

Trams again in Birmingham Detailed proposals for an eventual ten-line network of light rail routes to serve the West Midlands were unveiled in Birmingham on June 20 by West Midlands County Council and the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive in a joint report which emphasises that decisions are now needed on the shape of future public transport in England’s second-largest conurbation.

An initial package costed at £266m includes a 33½-mile four-line light rail route serving suburbs to the north and east of Birmingham and modernisation of the local rail routes to Solihull and Shirley in the south, with new lightweight d.m.us and the extension across Birmingham of these routes from Moor Street to Snow Hill via the existing disused Snow Hill Tunnel.

The four light rail transit routes would be paired to serve two new cross-city tunnels. The east-west tunnel, from Five Ways to Gosta

September 1984: West Midlands report recommends light rail network for England's secondlargest conurbation

Green, would link at Aston with a converted rail line to Sutton Coldfield and Blake Street (on the present line to Lichfield City). From Gosta Green there would also be a new line, following highway alignments, to Chelmsley Wood Shopping Centre, from where it could be extended to the National Exhibition Centre.

Second new tunnel would be a south to north one, starting at New Street and running to Snow Hill from where there would be two light rail routes. One would follow highway alignments to Perry Barr, Kingstanding and Sutton Oak, with a branch from Perry Barr to Sundial Lane (which could be extended to Walsall at a future date). The other route would run roadside from Snow Hill to West Bromwich and Carters Green.

Vehicles proposed for the light rail system are similar in many respects to the Duwag single-deck tramcars currently operating in Hanover, West Germany. They are double-articulated double-ended

ARTISTS IMPRESSION OF A FUTURE WEST MIDLANDS LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT ROUTE IN OPERATION IN THE SUBURBS OF BIRMINGHAM

eight-axle tramcars, electrically powered, with current collection from an overhead catenary.

Vehicles would be 88ft. 7in. (27m) long and 8 ft. 23⁄8in. (2.5m) wide.

Each car would have seats for 64 passengers, with standing capacity for a further 86. They would have a maximum speed of 50 m.p.h. (80 km/h) and would be one-person operated, the driver issuing tickets as they board to those passengers who did not already have travelpasses or pre-bought discounted tickets. They could be driven “on sight” or subjected to a simple block signalling system (a signalled system has been assumed in calculating costs). For the initial network, 85 vehicles would be required.

Track for the light rail vehicles would be standard-gauge and generally segregated from other traffic at surface level. Desirable width of right-of-way for doubletrack would be about 23 ft. (7-Om), with a minimum of 19 ft. 4 in.

(5-9m). Most stops would be kerbed islands with shelters and low-

level platforms but there would be more elaborate “stations” at interchanges.

Second stage of the plan would involve electrification of the rail routes from New Street to Longbridge and from New Street to Stourbridge Junction and Town and light rail extensions from Five Ways to Halesowen and Bartley Green; from New Street along the Bristol Road to Frankley and Rubery; from New Street down the Stratford Road to Shirley and Warstock and from Snow Hill to Solihull and Dorridge; also extension of the initial route to Sundial Lane to Walsall and extending the Chelmsley Wood

line to the National Exhibition Centre, with a branch from Heathway to Castle Vale. The estimated capital cost of this second stage would be a further £300m.

Assuming the scheme is approved, and finance available for its implementation, the earliest possible opening date of the first line would be 1989. An Act of Parliament would be required and detail design work would have to start immediately. The initial network could be completed in total by 1997, which would require an annual construction programme of £22m per year, over a 12-year period. •

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Kings Cross Works

To enable roof replacement, repairs and painting to be carried out without interruption of services at Kings Cross Station, London, five suspended mobile platforms are being used (above), comprising Climalloy aluminium access structures hung on overhead trolleys which run on steel beams temporarily fixed to the sharply-curved roof arches. At the "country" end of the station, narrowgauge track has been laid (right) near the site of the former York Road platform for a contractor's locomotive, wagons and crane to clear "arisings" following abandonment of the link with the Metropolitan Widened Lines; in background No. 47 543 is departing on the 13.04 to Grimsby.

December 1978

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Leeds: July 1915

Leeds and its railways A detailed look at Leeds and its railways by S P Thompson from The Railway Magazine, July 1915.

LANCASHIRE AND YORKSHIRE AND LONDON AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANIES' TOWN OFFICE IN LEEDS Leeds, the sixth largest city in England, with a population of approximately 500,000 persons, is a most important railway centre.

Situated adjacent to the great Yorkshire coalfield, within easy reach of the North and East Riding, and not too remote from the east and west coast ports, it is today the commercial metropolis of the West Riding. Of very ancient growth, it is fitting that the place should have been the scene of early railway development. So long ago as 1759, we learn of a railway or tramway utilised for carrying coals from the Middleton Collieries to Leeds, a distance of some three miles. It was along this tramway that just over one hundred years ago – 1812 to be precise. Blenkinsop’s engine ‘the first commercially successful locomotive used in England,’ hauled a train weighing something like 140 tons, composed of 38 wagons, at the marvelous spread, as it was then considered to be, of three-and-a-half miles an hour.

Three similar locomotives were also subsequently constructed in Leeds, and worked on the tramway up to 1830.

Six important railways serve the city, the Great Northern, Lancashire and Yorkshire, London and North Western, Midland and North Eastern Companies.

It is true the various goods and passenger stations cannot put forward any considerable claim to architectural beauty, yet they have been laid out on generous lines. The principal passenger stations in the city are three in number. The ‘New’ station houses the North Eastern, London and

North Western Companies’ trains; Midland trains run in to the Wellington station adjoining it to the Central station and is the home of the Great Northern, Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways. The Leeds and Selby line, constructed in 1834, was the first railway to convey passengers in the district, and one may be pardoned, therefore, in giving pride of place in any description of Leeds railways to the North Eastern Company, who subsequently took over this branch, more especially as the ‘New’ station in to which company work is the only through station in the city, and also the largest. Powers to erect the station were secured in 1865, and it was opened in April 1867.

On January 13th 1892, a disastrous fire destroyed nearly the whole of the west end of the station, and the present complete structure dates from the rebuilding following the conflagration.

Leeds forms the south-western limit of the North Eastern system, and two important lines, one to Selby, York and Hull in an easterly direction, and the other to Harrogate and the north, passing over some 40 chains of Midland line between Leeds Junction and Wortley Junction, connect the city with north-east England. Entrance to the New station is gained either from the City Square, or a little further east by way of New Station Street – railway property – from Boar Lane. Arriving at the station from the City Square, and passing the joint parcels offices of the North Eastern and London and North Western Railways,

and the North Eastern District Superintendent’s Offices on the left-hand side, entrance is obtained to the station proper. On the left-hand are located the booking offices of the North Eastern Company, while the London and North Western booking offices are situated directly opposite.

The main circulating area is of liberal proportions, and is well lit; an effective train indicator is provided in the centre for the guidance of passengers. There are ten platforms, of which Nos. 5, 6 and T are “through.”

Generally speaking, the North Eastern Railway uses platforms Nos. 5 to 10, and the London and North Western Railway Nos. 1 to 4, though the trains of both systems make use of the through platforms Nos. 5, 6 and 7. The stationmaster’s office is built on the main platform. Various offices for inspectors, telegraph operators and the left-luggage staff are located in the same block as the London and North Western booking offices, ie.. on the righthand side of the main entrance.

The block of buildings of which of which the North Eastern booking offices for a part also contains waiting rooms for ladies and gentleman. The refreshment and dining rooms are well—equipped and attract a considerable number of travellers. They front on to the main circulating area and platforms Nos. 2 and 3. The island platforms Nos. 6 and 7 are reached by means of a wide footbridge and incline from No. 5 platform. There is considerable geographical distribution of traffic at the station: trains for and from certain districts are dealt with regularly at one platform. This arrangement is, however, at times departed from to meet the exigencies of traffic. The New station is managed by a Joint Committee of the two owning companies, known as the Leeds New Station Joint Committee.

The principal long-distance services maintained to and from the city by the North Eastern Railway are (1) with Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow, via York; and (2) with Newcastle and Edinburgh, via Harrogate, over what is termed the “Leeds Northern line,” which was amalgamated with the North Eastern Railway in 1854. The chief trains in these services are the 8.55 am. Leeds to Glasgow; the 5 pm. from Glasgow (Queen Street) to Leeds; and the 9.40 am. train Leeds to Edinburgh, via Harrogate. The 8.55 am. express, via York, covers the 230 miles to Edinburgh in 4 hours 37 min., with stops at York and Newcastle; the 80 miles 11 chains between the two latter points are traversed in 89 min. The train, which is composed of up-to-date electrically-lit stock, vestibuled throughout with breakfast and luncheon car

accommodation, is to-day the quickest by any route from Leeds to the Scottish capital. In the winter months, through coaches, detached at York, are conveyed by this train for Scarborough; during the summertime these become unnecessary, as a through train from Leeds to the “Queen of Watering Places” departs immediately in the wake of the “Newcastle flier.”

Important through services with other lines, via Leeds, New station, are (1) with Newcastle and Liverpool, London and North Western Railway; (2) Hull, Paragon station, and Liverpool, London and North Western Railway; (3) Scarborough with Manchester and Liverpool, London and North Western Railway; and (4) a through train between Scarborough and Bradford, Midland – non-stop ScarboroughLeeds and vice versa – each way. The two latter services are summer ones only.

The North Eastern Company possess the heaviest residential traffic of any railway serving Leeds. Harrogate and York, the Yorkshire coast watering places, and the smaller country towns and villages within a few miles of the city claim a very considerable number of regular passengers. In dealing with this “rush” traffic, the Company have, in the case of some of the shorter journeys, successfully employed steam autocars consisting of an engine with a passenger coach at either end for the conveyance of passengers between home and business, and vice versa; these give a quick service to and fro, and obviate the necessity for reversing operations at destination stations.

The Company’s locomotive sheds and carriage sidings are situated at Neville Hill, some 1 1⁄2 miles east of Leeds New station, and at busy times there is something approaching a continuous stream of rolling stock passing between the two places. An interesting feature in connection with the staff arrangements at the station is the provision of railway servants’ coffee rooms, where railwaymen may obtain refreshment at a reasonable price.

The building stands at the entrance to platform No. 1.

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Railways serving Leeds cater for a very extensive excursion and holiday traffic, and in normal times the excursion, week-end, ten-day and tourist bookings to North Eastern resorts are often very heavy. Many thousands of passengers are booked to Bridlington, Scarborough, Whitby, Saltburn and other resorts, and at such times the New station presents a most animated scene. The North. Eastern own an attractive publicity office in Commercial Street, the fashionable shopping centre of the city, where information relative to holiday resorts, train services and the like is furnished and tickets issued.

London and North Western principal passenger train services with the city are those to and from Manchester, Liverpool and North and South Wales. This Company’s trains are also housed in the New station. The bookings to Llandudno and other popular Welsh coast holiday resorts are considerable during the season; this traffic has doubtless felt the benefit of the extensive North Wales publicity campaign which the Company have conducted.

An interesting phase of the traffic dealt with at the station in normal times is the frequent running of emigrant specials from Hull, North Eastern Railway, to Liverpool, London and North Western Railway, by way of Leeds. The heavy train loads of

MAIN CIRCULATING AREA, LEEDS "NEW" STATION Continental emigrants on route to America formed a picture not likely to be soon erased from the mind. One can imagine the officials would heave a sigh of relief as

the tail lamps of these trains, with their cosmopolitan freight, disappeared over the London and North Western metals in the distance.

“Wellington” (Midland) passenger terminus adjoins the New station, with which it is connected by a covered approach. It is of the closed type.

Six platforms are provided, and as it is situated on the Midland main line, an excellent service of trains connects the city with the principal English and

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WELLINGTON STATION, LEEDS: MIDLAND RAILWAY - NOS 3 & 4 PLATFORMS Scottish centres. There is also a considerable holiday traffic with Morecambe, Heysham (for Ireland and the Isle of Man), the English Lake District, and the south and west of England during the season.

A number of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company’s trains from Doncaster run into this station giving connections from Goole, etc. The district offices of the Company are located in the City Square – quite near to the station – and Messrs. Thos. Cook & Sons, passenger agents for the railway, own an attractive office

in Boar Lane. Adjacent to the Midland station, and fronting on to the City Square, is located that Company’s “Queen’s Hotel,” one of the most popular hotels in the city, and a recognised meeting place for commercial men.

Central station, which houses the Great Northern and Lancashire and Yorkshire Companies’ trains, is situated in Wellington Street, about 400 yards distant from the other principal passenger stations, and is reached from the street either by way of a road running

between the Great Northern Company’s palatial hotel and the station at the east end, or by a staircase at its western extremity.

The seven platforms, which are “closed,” are, generally speaking, made use of by the trains of both Companies. Separate booking offices are provided for the issue of tickets to stations on the respective railways.

The Great Northern Railway route from Leeds to London is the shortest and quickest available, and the service is very popular

WELLINGTON STATION, LEEDS: MIDLAND RAILWAY - GENERAL VIEW TAKEN FROM YARD

with West Riding commercial men having business in the metropolis. All the principal trains as also those on the Midland route between Leeds and London, include restaurant cars.

The quickest time for the run is provided by an up journey of 3 hours 25 min. for the 1853 miles.

In Doncaster race week many hundreds of followers of “the sport of kings” make their way to the “butter-scotch town” by the Great Northern route.

Lancashire and Yorkshire principal services are with Manchester, Liverpool, Southport and Blackpool, and the more important trains on this route are composed of up-to-date corridor stock with lavatory and refreshment car accommodation.

At holiday times the ordinary trains for Blackpool are well filled, and in addition a considerable excursion traffic is catered for. The workers of the West Riding find in “Blackpool's bracing breezes” a splendid tonic. In the summer months through express trains are run to and from the Lincolnshire coast watering places (Skegness, Mablethorpe and Sutton-on-Sea), and to those on the Norfolk coast (Sheringham, Cromer, Yarmouth, etc.). Local services are given to Bradford (by express trains in 17 min.), Wakefield, Batley, Dewsbury, Morley, Gildersome, etc.

The Lancashire and Yorkshire and London and North Western Railways have a joint office at 140, Briggate, Leeds, which is extensively used for the issuing

of tickets, dealing with parcels traffic and enquiry purposes. The principal industries of the City of Leeds are iron and steel making, ironfounding, engineering, locomotive and wagon building, printing, woollen and‘ worsted manufactures, tanning, boot and shoe making and chemical manufactures. The leading railway goods depots are the North Eastern Railways VVellington Street and Marsh Lane stations; the Wellington Street and Hunslet depots of the Great Northern Railway; the stations of the London and North Western, and Lancashire and Yorkshire Companies in Wellington Street; and the Midland Company’s Hunslet Lane depot‘.

There is heavy North Eastern traffic with north-east England, the east coast ports and Scotland. In addition to general merchandise, the Company handles large consignments of live stock. The offices of the District Goods Manager and District Goods Agent adjoin the Wellington Street goods station. The goods warehouses here have been designed with a view to enabling traffic to be loaded and unloaded with a minimum of handling, and the lay-out of the sidings has also been conducted with a View to efficient working. It is interesting to note that a heavier tonnage of agricultural machinery and engines is forwarded from the station than from any other place on the North Eastern system. Approximately 4,000 tons of this particular traffic are dispatched annually. Adjacent to the goods warehouses are situated

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the Company’s grain and flour stores. Large quantities of these commodities are stocked.

WELLINGTON STATION, LEEDS: MIDLAND RAILWAY - NOS 1 & 2 PLATFORMS, ON ARRIVAL OF A TRAIN FROM DERBY

Marsh Lane goods depot (North Eastern Railway), at the other side of the city, east of the New station, also accounts for a very considerable tonnage of traffic.

From this station an express goods service connects the city with Edinburgh, Glasgow and other Scotch centres. The Company also own goods stations at Cardigan Road and Hunslet, within the city boundary, and work to many sidings and works in the city. Among the latter may be mentioned the Leeds Forge Company's works, and the Monk Bridge Iron works. There is a very considerable exchange of traffic wit-h the Great Northern, London and North Western and Midland Railways to and from the North Eastern system. Shipment goods to Hull, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and the Tyne ports form no mean proportion of the North Eastern outward traffic dealt with at their stations. From these ports there are steamship services to practically all parts of the world.

The Great Northern Railway goods station is located about 200 yards east of the North Eastern depot, and also fronts on to Wellington Street. The district goods and passenger offices of the railway are situated on the opposite side of Wellington Street to the passenger station. Large consignments of traffic to and from London and the principal centres of population served by the railway pass through the depot, and various sidings linked up to

the railway in and around Leeds help to swell the tonnage. Extensive storage accommodation under cover is available. The Hunslet depot is most conveniently situated in the City for traffic to and from the market.

Adjacent to the Great Northern Railway goods station is situated the Lancashire and Yorkshire and London and North Western Companies’ goods depot and grain

and Excise Bonding warehouse.

The offices of the two railways are located in one block of buildings in Wellington Street, close to the goods station. The two lines have an extensive business both inward and outward in wagon-load traffic and smaller consignments, and in addition to their ordinary rail forwardings, dispatch considerable quantities of merchandise to Ireland by their steamers from the west coast. They also deal

with a very considerable shipping traffic for and from Liverpool, Manchester, Fleetwood, and the Humber.

To reach the Midland Railway depot, one must make quite a considerable journey from the other goods stations, for it is situated in Hunslet Lane, half-amile southeast of the Wellington Street stations. The traffic conditions here are not markedly

different from those existing at the other Leeds goods stations.

Merchandise is received from and dispatched to all parts of the kingdom, and the warehouse and storage accommodation is extensive. The Company also tap several of the more important works in and around the city by means of siding connections, and in addition deal with a heavy carted traffic. •

WELLINGTON STATION, LEEDS: MIDLAND RAILWAY - PORTION OF CIRCULATING AREA

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Throughout the 1970s, The Railway Magazine was recognisable for its multi-coloured masthead and a single image. Here are all 120 covers from January 1970 to December 1979.

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1970s snippets...

A selection of Railway Magazine Editorials from the 70s.

SEPTEMBER '70: LOOKING AHEAD Three most important trends affecting future prospects, according to British Railways Board recently-published Annual Report, are: national growth in incomes and consumer spending power; increase in leisure; and the force of competition from other forms of transport, which had already spread to practically all the traffic now carried by rail. On the passenger side the railway strategy must, therefore, be strongly concentrated on quality of service, and the aim is to show steady improvement, year by year. Quality, in this context, means speed, comfort , reliability and convenience.

In recent years speeds of 100 m.p.h. have become common over a large number of Inter-City routes, and in this range B.R. now leads the world.

There is thus a good foundation on which to build the next range of highspeed services. However, the investment permitted to British Railways has declined sharply and continuously over a five-year period, at constant price levels the figure notified for 1970 being only about twothirds of that for 1966.

They had a right to emphasise their claim to investment. Taking into account land use, noise and atmospheric pollution, the more intensive use of the railway network - particularly where this has been electrified - almost always offers the least interference with the environment and the lowest social costs in relation to the benefit obtained.

NOVEMBER '71: INTER-CITY IDENTITIES Inter-City philosophy on British Railways has meant a regular service of consistent quality, but with a consequent eclipse of famous named trains. The German Federal Railway has borrowed the Inter-City title, but in providing this winter a two-hourly interval service over a network of four basic routes between principal West German cities also has given a name to every pair of trains (with one exception: the balancing working of “Sudwind” appropriately is “Nordwind”). Obviously the bestowal of titles on a group of principal expresses. however intensively rostered their rolling stock may be, is not as dificult nor as unfashionable as B.R. current policy indicates. Even the Western Region, where recognition of the publicity value of displaying names appears to have lingered longer, did not produce a headboard for the revived “Bristolian” and photographs of its inaugural run earlier this year were so much poorer for lack of this small embellishment.

Other trains still identified in timetables lack nameboards of any description. Perhaps a classic example of short-sighted mean-mindedness, particularly towards weekend travellers though conversely seeming to recognise that at least businessmen are impressed by a title—is the footnote to the 17.50 St. PancrasSheflield: “Mondays to Fridays is named ‘The Master Cutler’.”

MARCH '73: MAKE THE BEST OF YORK Now that the dust has settled, and work has begun on the National Railway Museum at York (page 114), it is to be hoped that partisan differences will be laid aside and

argument on whether or not the right site has been chosen will be stilled.

We must confess to being among those who supported alternatives when the argument was still open but, now that the York site is irrevocable, we accept this decision and look forward to the opening of what will, we trust, be the best railway museum in the world if not the biggest. In striving to achieve this goal it is to be hoped that the Department of Education & Science, and the Science Museum under its new Director, Miss Margaret Weston, will not be too insular to make extensive visits to the transport and railway museums of Europe to see how the display of locomotives and rolling stock is treated elsewhere. It is all very well to fill a refurbished engine shed with restored railwayana, but the imaginative display of museum exhibits calls for more than this, and now that more spacious premises are available for the Clapham and York collections, the best use must be made of them, in the most modern way.

JANUARY '76: THREAT OR PROMISE Welcome news for followers of steam specials on British Railways is that these trains are to run for at least another four years. However, there is still a sizeable pill to swallow beneath the sugar.

Comparison of the list of authorised routes on page 9 of this issue with that published on page 11 of our January 1975 issue shows deletion of some 290 miles; in compensation, two new lines, totalling nearly 100 miles, have been added. BR has also decided not to allow any steam specials on the Settle—Carlisle line, in spite of its forthcoming centenary in May. One

of the main changes from past years is that there will be no movement of locomotives, either dead or in steam, to take part in open days and exhibitions at distant places. The Board has also set its face against the provision or pre-tour publication of detailed point-to-point timings. This means that tour operators will have to rely entirely on passenger takings, and high fares alone will limit the number of specials, without BR having to set a maximum figure. BR anticipates that steam operation will reduce in scale to 1979; the situation would be reviewed in 1978 but it is claimed that there is unlikely to be significant steam operation over BR lines beyond the early 1980s. Is this a threat or a promise?

NOVEMBER '76: NO RAIL CUTS Fears of drastic reductions to the British Railways network expressed briefly in our Editorial “Foreboding” in our October issue are now being voiced in greater detail by Transport 2000 and the three railway trades unions which have banded together with others in a “No Rail Cuts Campaign”.

Among other things the campaign committee claims that plans are actively in hand to cut the present 11,500-mile network to less than 4,000 miles by 1981.

Whole areas of the East and West Coasts, South-West England, all Wales except Holyhead and Swansea, and all Scotland north of Edinburgh and Glasgow would be without rail services. Mr. Sid Weighell, General Secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen, claims that the Department of Environment intends to limit grant-aid to the railways to a maximum of £238m annually to 1981, in place of the £363m annually called for by the British Railways Rail Policy Review document of 1973 (RM August I973, page 379). Mr. Weighell states that the reaction of BR to this reduced aid was that the network would have

to be drastically cut. Predictably, Mr. Anthony Crosland. Secretary of State for the Environment, has forcefully denied Mr. Weighell‘s claims, stating in a Commons reply in December that: “Stories which have appeared in the press in recent days about massive cuts to the rail network are a load of codswallop". Mr. Weighell’s reaction was to label the Secretary of State "a bloody liar". A Government White Paper (which would be the fifteenth official pronouncement on railway policy to be issued since 1945) is awaited with some trepidation, especially as it is feared this is to be a re-hash of the unpublished White Paper, proposed for December 1972 but leaked to the press two months earlier, resulting in a storm of protest.

In the meantime, all those with an interest in retaining an intact railway network are urged to express their views in writing to the Minister for Transport. Details of the No Rails Cuts Campaign can be obtained from its Press Office, Greater London House, Hampstead Road, London NW1 7QP. APRIL '77: FOOTPLATE PASSENGERS News ot the lifting of a ban on footplate passengers at Bressingham Steam Museum (page I80) will be greeted with mixed feelings by the supporters of preserved railways.

On the one hand there will be pleasure that the “small man” has for once bested the “men from the ministry”; on the other hand there will be concern that the removal of this ban may lead to indiscriminate footplate riding at steam centres all over the country, some of which may lack the expertise of Bressingham in maintaining their locomotives.

It is all very well to quote figures, running into hundreds of thousands, of footplate passengers successfully carried without injury. but the credit of these could be wiped out by a single fatal accident on a crowded footplate.

The Railway Inspectorate is rightly criticised for the furtive manner in

which its inspector went about his business at Bressingham, but this should not deter it from seeking to regulate footplate riding at steam centres which. while potentially dangerous, is undoubtedly a source of pleasure to the passengers and of profit to the museums. We suspect that the Inspectorate will seek to impose its “main-line” standard of no more than one visitor on a footplate at any one time (as well as an inspector, the driver and fireman). While this may be realistic for an operational railway. we feel that it is too limited for a steam centre and would hope that some compromise between the apparently accepted figure of 12 passengers at Bressingham and the Railway lnspectorate’s requirement of only one can be reached for these establishments. preferably without recourse to expensive and timewasting litigation.

JULY '78: MORE COFFEE, SIR? Lunching recently on an Inter-City train on the London Midland Region, we were pleasantly surprised when. at the end of the meal, the steward enquired: “Would you like some more coffee, sir?”

We at once accepted this generous offer and sat back, musing that although the tea drinkers expect and get additional hot water, enabling them to have three, or even four, cups of their brew, the poor downtrodden coffee drinker normally has to make do with only one cup, for which the same price is paid as for a whole pot of tea, refill and all. In fairness. one usually gets offered a second cup of coffee at breakfast but rarely, if ever, at other meals. At 24p, was the offer really so generous?

Our conclusion must be “No, with the rider that Travellers-Fare must be ruled by tea-drinkers who regard coffee as sinful and not to be encouraged. Our day-dream was interrupted by the steward: “Sorry sir. we've no coffee left!”

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1986: Manchester

Manchester – The divided city October 1986: Martin Bairstow describes railway developments in Greater Manchester which have so far fallen short of bridging the gap between north and south.

ONE of the legacies left by the early railway builders was the failure in many cities to bring all lines into a common terminus. Often tracks from different directions stopped short of the city centre leaving through passengers to walk from one station to another. When the Manchester & Leeds Railway opened in 1839-41, it started from Oldham Road Station about 11⁄4 miles to the east of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway terminus at Liverpool Road.

Fortunately this east—west barrier was breached as early as 1844 when the two railways were brought together at Victoria Station.

When trains began to arrive in Manchester from the south and from the Woodhead route in the early 1840s they were accommodated at the fore-runner of todays Piccadilly Station. Despite the subsequent construction. mainly for freight. of the South Junction Line (Piccadilly to Ordsall Lane) and the Miles Platting to Ashburys branch. there has never been any effective communication between Piccadilly and Victoria Stations.

The practical effects of this omission include the virtual exclusion of towns north of Manchester. such as Bolton. Bury, Oldham and Rochdale. from the “InterCity” network. A local train to Victoria. then having to allow at least thirty minutes to cross the city by bus. is a poor start to a journey no matter how attractive the main-line services may be once Piccadilly is reached.

Until recently. the services operating from Victoria appeared to monopolise the most run-down classes of diesel multipleunit. Only the Bury line is electrified on the unique 1,200V d.c. side—contact third rail. In contrast Piccadilly services are largely electrified at 25,000V a.c. and even enjoy betterappointed d.m.us on other routes.

The north side has the greater number of run-down unstaffed intermediate stations while Victoria itself has not been fully repaired from bomb damage sustained during the second world war.

Although Piccadilly is certainly superior to Victoria in practically every respect, the fundamental problem is that neither of them penetrates the city centre.

Greater Manchester was one of four conurbations chosen to be bestowed with a Passenger Transport Executive under the Transport Act 1968 and the PTE was in existence for some five years before the creation of the Greater Manchester County Council in 1974. With slightly different boundaries and rejoicing in the name of South East Lancashire & North East Cheshire the old PTE was responsible for the “Picc-Vic“ scheme.

This involved a double—track tunnel electrified at 25,000 Volts leaving the Stockport line near Ardwick and passing through lowlevel platforms at Piccadilly. through three stations in the town centre. then underneath Victoria before surfacing on the Bury line which was to be converted to a.c. electrification. The former route from Radcliffe to Bolton was also to be incorporated into the project. During a period when the Government approved parallel schemes in Liverpool. Newcastle and Glasgow. Manchester was very disappointed to have finance for the “Picc-Vic“ project refused in 1973. It would have been completed in 1978.

Instead. by the late 1970s. the “Picc-Vic“ scheme had been first postponed and then abandoned. leaving BR and the PTE to come up with a cheaper alternative in the form of the Castlefield curve.

Linking Deansgate and Salford this would have offered the desired

connection between Piccadilly and Victoria but would go round rather than through the city centre and for that reason was opposed

by Manchester City Council which wanted rail access into the commercial and shopping centres.

BR also had reservations about the Castlefield proposal because of the capacity of the double-track "South Junction“ line between Piccadilly and Deansgate. The idea died.

Having placed "Picc-Vic" as the central feature of its railway development plans Greater Manchester PTE found itself subject to planning blight. There was talk of closures. Oldham-Rochdale.

Manchester-Wigan via Atherton. and Guide Bridge-Romiley (lslyde loop) services appeared vulnerable.

Only Oldham-Rochdale has gone through the TUCC machinery but that was rescued in 1972 by a "temporary" PTE grant. Despite threats to withdraw this support. particularly after the “Picc-Vic“ fiasco. the line is still in operation and has seen developments.

Piecemeal improvements to local rail services have happened throughout the PTE era. In 1971 the off—peak frequency on the Manchester-Altrincham line was increased from three to four trains per hour to coincide with the conversion of this. Manchester‘s busiest suburban line. from d.c. to a.c. electrification. A busrail interchange was opened at Altrincham in 1976.

Then 1977 saw a doubling of frequency on the Manchester— Glossop—Hadfield service which was then still d.c. operated as part of the former Woodhead route but which has since been converted to a.c. A station at Hattersley was brought into use in 1978 to serve new housing. This was quite expensive to build being situated in a deep cutting. The previous year a station

THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME IN MANCHESTER? TRAMCARS ON SEGREGATED TRACKS OUTSIDE BREMEN HAUPTBAHNHOF, WEST GERMANY, IN OCTOBER 1980 had opened at Brinnington on the New Mills line.

line in 1964. Further new stations are planned.

The year 1979 saw the introduction of a local service between Manchester and Rochdale to supplement the trains running to Leeds via the Calder Valley and also a half-hourly service between Manchester and Shaw.

A new generation of diesel multiple-unit entered service on the Manchester- Oldham/Rochdale service in September 1985 in the form of the class “142" fourwheel sets. These are essentially a widebodied variant of the "141" version introduced in West Yorkshire in 1984. They have 122 seats (against 94 on the class “141") which is fractionally more than the classic d.m.us which they are replacing. Especially by contrast with their immediate predecessors based at Newton Heath depot. the new trains are cleaner, vibrate less and have better acceleration. They ride well on continuous-welded track but bounce on crossings and rail joints.

A further bus-rail interchange was opened at Bury in 1980 when the railway was diverted from the former Bolton Street Station to a new island platform beneath the bus station.

In 1981 electrification was extended from Stockport to Hazel Grove giving that town a through service to Oxford Road and Altrincham although a casualty of that investment was a reduction in the diesel service beyond Hazel Grove to Whaley Bridge.

In 1981 Greater Manchester PTE announced proposals to build eight wooden-platform unstaffed stations on existing lines. Those at Humphrey Park. Mills Hill. Derker.

Smithy Bridge. Flowery Field and Ryder Brow were opened by the end of 1985. Smithy Bridge is on the site of an earlier station closed in 1960 while Mills Hill had previously booked its last passenger as long ago as 1842. Then, as now. it was the nearest point of the railway to Middleton which lost its own branch

Further class "142” units. mostly painted in Greater Manchester orange livery, took over the Manchester—Rose Hill/New Mills operation in March 1986. Within the next two or three years. all “classic" d.m.us are to be replaced by "14X" four-wheelers on local workings or by "15X" class “sprinter” units on medium-distance services. This, together with service improvements and the additional stations. will combine to make the Manchester railway network a brighter affair than previously. However, they will do nothing to connect the two networks to the north and south.

ALTRINCHAM-ALDERLEY EDGE SERVICES, FORMED OF CLASS "304" E.M.US, PASS IN THE SOUTH JUNCTION PLATFORMS OF MANCHESTER PICCADILLY ON APRIL 16, 1963. THE MAIN TRAIN SHED OF PICCADILLY STATION IS ON THE LEFT

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RAILWAYS IN THE MANCHESTER AREA, SHOWING PROPOSED LIGHT RAIL ROUTES AND THE MANCHESTER AIRPORT LINE

Current thinking on that subject is twofold. Main-line services would be concentrated on Piccadilly Station while some local lines would be converted into a cross-city light railway system.

The Hazel Grove chord. opened in May 1986. is a first stage in the rerouting of a number of mainline trains. Courtesy of a new single-track connection to the east of Hazel Grove Station and to the reopening to passengers of the line through Disley Tunnel. most Sheffield—Manchester expresses have been rerouted via Stockport. a traffic centre in its own right and a useful interchange point. They have also been extended to Liverpool via Warrington and improved to a regular hourly interval.

In 1988. the “Windsor Link". a new halfmile double-track connection. will open between Deansgate and a new station at Salford Crescent.

This will permit trains to Bolton.

Blackpool. Blackburn and Wigan to start from Piccadilly rather than Victoria Station. and will probably result in through workings from Buxton to Blackpool using “Sprinter"

sets.

It had been hoped that ManchesterBlackpool electrification would be authorised but this had been refused by the Government despite offers of financial assistance from Greater Manchester and Lancashire County Councils and despite a plan to save cost by arranging for trains to coast through the 295—yard twin Farnworth Tunnels where the clearance necessary for 25kV electrification would have involved major expenditure. This refusal will perpetuate locomotive changes at Preston on both London—Blackpool and Manchester- Scotland trains and will prevent the full potential of the "Windsor Link" from being realised. With electrification trains to Blackpool would have run through from Stoke or other points on the electrified network south of Manchester.

To complete the transfer of InterCity traffic from Victoria to Piccadilly. it is envisaged that the “Trans—Pennine” services from the Huddersfield route to Liverpool and North Wales will travel via Stalybridge. Guide Bridge. Piccadilly and Deansgate. This would leave

A D.M.U. ON A MANCHESTER PICCADILLY SERVICE CALLS AT CHAPEL-EN-LE-FRITH STATION, HIGH ABOVE THE VILLAGE OF THAT NAME, ON THE SCENIC BUXTON LINE ON APRIL 16, 1983

only the Bury electrics. the Oldham and Rochdale services and trains to Bradford via the Calder Valley using Victoria. The latter would run through to Salford Crescent to connect with trains from Piccadilly via the Windsor Link.

minutes between Oldham Mumps and Rochdale). enhanced at peak hours. Overhead electric supply would be at 1,500V d.c. (750V in the city centre) and the trains would be able to use either street level or normal railway station platforms.

It would. however. impose considerable strain on the “South Junction" line between Piccadilly and Deansgate. To help alleviate this. it has been suggested that the hourly d.m.us from Chester via Altrincham might approach Piccadilly by the present freight only link between Navigation Road and Stockport. increasing the range of services and connectional opportunities at Stockport. Further relief of the South Junction line would have to await transfer of the Altrincham electrics to the proposed light railway system.

It is envisaged that two-car articulated trains would operate between Bury and Rose Hill/Marple. between Rochdale. Oldham and East Didsbury using a stretch of the former Midland main line out of Manchester Central closed in 1967. and from Altrincham to Glossop/ Hadfield.

The light railway would cross the city centre at street level largely on segregated tracks through the pedestrian precincts. This is very much a continental solution for bringing the rail service direct into the central area. A basic off-peak timetable would offer a ten-minute frequency on all routes (twenty

Rail links to major international airports are vital because potential railway passengers literally drop out of the sky without cars and. in many cases. wish to travel long distances.

Apart from Gatwick. airports tend not to be alongside existing railways and it is (or ought to be) a priority that any railway development plans should include airport links.

Manchester‘s airport. Ringway. is the most important in the North of England and BR is preparing a submission to the Government for funds to construct a loop from the

Styal line. electrified at 25kV. Fares policy in Greater Manchester has been described as "moderate“.

Though lower than national BR levels. fares are nothing like as cheap as those in certain other Metropolitan Counties. An annual “Saver“ ticket valid on both trains and buses in Greater Manchester and at one or two stations just beyond costs between £250 and £380 according to the zones. The equivalent in West Yorkshire costs £180). In South Yorkshire abolition of the County Council caused a 2 '/2-fold fare increase from April 1 but there was no immediate change in Manchester. There is no Greater Manchester equivalent to the West Yorkshire “Day Rover“ which is issued to children at 50p and which has turned local (and InterCity) trains there into a playground.

There is however a "Peak Wayfarer" ticket at £275 with reduction for families giving a days bus and rail travel through Greater Manchester and much of Derbyshirc and Cheshire.

Greater Manchester is one of the PTEs which has favoured investment rather than ultra-cheap fares. •

A MANCHESTER PICCALLY TO BUXTON D.M.U. NEGOTIATES THE NEW WORKS JUST BEYOND HAZEL GROVE ON MARCH 31, 1986. THE ROUTE TO SHEFFIELD CLIMBS AWAY TO THE LEFT

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1963: Smoke suppression

The suppression of smoke In many industries the emission of dark smoke from steam shunting locomotives presents of the most awkward problems in the prevention of pollution to meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act.

with an arrangement of final feed which allowed the coal to be spread accurately over the whole of the firebox grate. Giving the best conditions for smoke-free combustion.

To overcome this problem the Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd.. Has developed an underfeed stoker and gas producer system which completely eliminates the emission of dark smoke. And also allows small coal (down to 1⁄2-in. singles) to be used, with considerable savings in fuel costs. The locomotive’s power output is also increased as a result of reduced backpressure in the cylinders. The system comprises four basic sets of components, which have been specifically designed to operate harmoniously in producing a maximum of fuel availability and economy. a minimum of cylinder back- pressure giving improved performance, and the absolute minimum of grit and smoke. The four units are the underfeed stoker, the gas producer system., the “jet” system, and the blast pipe arrangement.

With this new design any amount of coal can be tired without difficulty, and with one class of locomotive the 0-6-0 18-in, “austerity” the Stoker fitted feeds up to 2.000 lb. of coal per hour. The operation contrives a hot thick fire at the back and sides of the firebox where it is most useful, with a rocking and drop grate in the centre forward section of the grate, to which the burnt material naturally gravitates and can then be dropped into the ash pan by a simple operation of the rocking lever. Basically the underfeed stoker consists of a reciprocating plate to which motion is imparted by a steam cylinder, which is in turn controlled by a valve mechanism.

The small grate area available makes it impossible for the normal stationary type of underfeed Stoker to burn a sufficient weight of fuel to maintain the high rate of steaming necessary to retain the locomotive as an efficient and economic unit. Quite apart from the complication of the forced draft blower‘ that is required.

A new approach was necessary and, after much experiment. a method of feeding the maximum amount of coal which the boiler required was evolved. Together

One of the problems associated with underfeed stoking and the use of small coal is “clinkering”.

This is avoided by the introduction of steam to the ash pan. The steam is supplied from the locomotive exhaust and the stoker exhaust, as well as a small amount of “live” steam which can either be used continuously, depending on the “clinkering” properties of the coal being used, or as a stand-by when the locomotive is standing. The function of this steam is to ensure a relatively cool fire bed, with the actual burning of the gases taking place above the fire bed and in the firebox. This lowered temperature prevents the formation of “clinker”

From The Railway Magazine, August 1963 – The Hunslet Engine Co. develops an underfeed stoker and gas producer system which completely eliminates the emission of dark smoke.

DIAGRAM SHOWING THE FOUR BASIC UNITS OF THE SYSTEM. 1 – THE UNDERFEED STOKER; 2 – THE GAS PRODUCER SYSTEM; 3 – THE "JET" SYSTEM; 4 – THE BLAST-PIPE ARRANGEMENT and ensures that the fire remains clean and free moving.

To ensure the complete combustion of the producer gas thus formed a special arch secures the maximum use of the firebox volume and this, together with ample secondary air and the necessary turbulence, completes the combustion very much better than has ever been achieved on any locomotive previously.

The turbulence referred to be especially necessary when the locomotive is working hard with a heavy blast, and stoking heavily, or when being lighted up from cold.

To cope with these conditions a

system of steam jets and ports to admit secondary air to the firebox has been designed so as to give a forward flow over the fire and back up under the brick arch, during which period even the worst smoke conditions can be controlled.

To complete the review of combustion techniques as applied to the steam locomotive, conditions within the smoke box were examined.

The newly-developed design meets basic requirements: aerodynamically efficient ducts entrain maximum gas volume for minimum steam How: a new blower makes use of the same flow

arrangement; the divided equalarea and streamlined exhaust flow from each cylinder give a major reduction in back pressure; and a smoke box tuning device allows smoke box draught to be matched to the type of fuel being used. The chimney has been fitted with a distinctive type of cowl. Now in regular production, the whole equipment has been developed in service over the last two years and provides an interesting example of a builder’s approach to and solution of one of the long standing and rather complex problems common to the steam locomotive.

The success of the system will provide many old engines with a new lease of life. •

HUNSLET 0-6-0 "AUSTERITY" NO. 3663, PAINTED GREY AND FITTED WITH THE NEW UNDERFEED STOKER AND GAS PRODUCER SYSTEM, ON TEST AND COUPLED TO WESTERN REGION DYNAMOMETER CAR AT OXFORD MOTIVE POWER DEPOT ON 26 APRIL

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1997: Eurotunnel

Highest and lowest railways of Europe twinned From The Railway Magazine, December 1997 – The twinning of Eurotunnel Tri-Bo Shuttle locos with Swiss rail tunnels to mark the ‘Swiss 150’ celebrations was completed in September/October with two naming ceremonies at Cheriton terminal. in Europe, Junfraujoch station is 3,454 metres above sea level, while the Channel Tunnel at its deepest is 120 metres below sea level.

Standard Eurotunnel style ‘stickon’ reflective plates are carried by 9025, which also has a ‘Top of Europe’ legend and the date 1912 at the base. After the unveiling, No. 9025 led an additional 15.09 tourist shuttle to France.

On September 25, loco No. 9025 was baptised with the name Jungfraujoch by the president of the Jungfraubahn board, Erwin Reinhardt, at the invitation of Eurotunnel group managing director Georges-ChristianChazot.

A reciprocal naming took place in Switzerland on October 18, when the name Euro Tunnel was unveiled on Jungfraubahn BDhe 2/4 No. 209. The unveiling took place at Eismeer station, 3,160m above sea level inside Monch mountain in the tunnel section of the railway.

The twinning of the Channel Tunnel loco with the Jungfraubahn is significant. It not only marks the wealth of interchange of knowledge effected between the two companies during the construction of the Channel Tunnel, but also bonds the highest and lowest railways

The rack mountain railway passenger vehicle was name by Johanna Evans, wife of James Evans, director of railway relations, Eurotunnel. During the baptism of car 209, Scotch whisky, French champagne and Swiss mountain milk were poured over the cab-end. •

ABOVE: THE SUPERB CAST EURO TUNNEL NAMEPLATE, CARRYING BOTH THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH FLAGS

ABOVE: TRI-BO 9025 STANDS AT COQUELLES EUROTUNNEL TERMINAL ON SEPTEMBER 25 AFTER ARRIVING WITH THE 15.09 TOURIST SHUTTLE FROM CHERITON. INSET: DETAIL OF THE JUNGFRAUJOCH NAME RIGHT: DECORATED WITH FLOWERS ON THE FRONT AND SIDE, JB SET 209 STANDS AT EIGERGLETSCHER STATION WITH A RETURN SPECIAL FROM JUNGFRAUJOCH TO KLEINE SCHEIDEGG AFTER NAMING

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1935: Photo gallery DORCHESTER STATION

DORCHESTER STATION

PADDINGTON STATION SNACK BAR, G.W.R.

The images on these pages all appeared in the October 1935 edition of The Railway Magazine – Including the curious layout of Dorchester Station, the new snack bar at Paddington, a steel-covered dining car for service between Cork and Dublin and views of the Duke of Buckingham’s Railways.

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DORCHESTER STATION

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1990: Project 'Taliesin'

The ‘Taliesin’ Project

The bold move to replace an important part of the Festiniog Railway’s history by building a single Fairlie locomotive is well on course, backed by an enthusiastic influx of funds. From The Railway Magazine, February 1990.

Scrapping a steam locomotive these days is a virtual impossibility. Even the most moribund of locos is now a candidate for restoration. Imagine then the agonising that must have grown over the years among the membership of the Festiniog Railway Society that it had sanctioned the disposal of the last example of a locomotive that was a rare example of a type of motive power on North Wales narrowgauge lines.

739, for North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway to design by G. P. Spooner. 0-6-4T single Fairlie type.

Weight in working order, 14 tons.

Tractive effort, 3,538 lb. at 75 per cent boiler pressure of 140 lb. per sq. in. Heating surface, 366 sq. ft.

Grate area, 5.9 sq. ft. Wheelbase, 14ft. 11.5in. (driving bogie, 6ft.).

Cylinders, 8-5 x 14in. Driving wheel diameter, 2ft. 6in.

Snowdon Ranger, new boiler 1902 from Davies & Metcalfe, Manchester.

Festiniog Railway 0-6-4 tank Moel Tryfan was the last remaining articulated single Fairlie in Britain.

Yet it was the first (and only) steam locomotive to be scrapped by the Society in 1954, soon after its formation, as part of the fundraising to get the line back in action.

Moel Tryfan, new boiler 1903 from Davies & Metclafe, Manchester.

Though only the boiler and chassis of the locomotive remained, its disposal is a blot on the history of the Society that must have been brought into sharper focus by the railway’s more recent emphasis on heritage. In this, locomotives and rolling stock have been specially restored in Victorian style and liveries, rather than modernising them to satisfy operational requirements as a priority.

The most obvious manifestation of the heritage programme was 1988’s restoration, sponsored by the Wales Tourist Board and businessman Michael Schumann, of the double-ended Fairlie Merddin Emrys to its form as built in 1879.

Even that didn’t satisfy some, who criticised the faked rivets on the welded water tanks. But any residual guilt is now certain to be erased with the launching of a project to build a completely new single-ended Fairlie by the year 2000.

Launched last April by Andy Savage, a director of the Festiniog Railway Company and vicechairman of the Society, the plan is to reproduce a traditionallyprofiled but modernised version of Taliesin, a single-ended 0-4-4 tank Fairlie built in 1876 by Vulcan Foundry for the Festiniog.

The locomotive was fondly remembered for its free steaming, smooth running and kindness to the track. But hard times in the lean years of the twenties saw its boiler condemned, the locomotive laid up, reinstated for light use and finally dismantled in 1932.

Andy, 37, who is British Rail’s Area Permanent Way Engineer for South Wales, had been toying with the idea of building a new Taliesin for some time but was rightly concerned that the estimated cost, £250,000, would be an impossible target to reach by means of straightforward donations.

He therefore devised a method by which members of the society could buy units paid for over several years. However, to ensure that the required 200 units would

Snowdon Ranger, withdrawn 1917 and frames placed under Moel Tryfan.

'TALIESIN' STANDS OUTSIDE THE FESTINIOG RAILWAY'S BOSTON LODGE WORKS IN THIS UNDATED PHOTOGRAPH FROM THE ARCHIVES be obtained before any money changed hands he offered deeds of covenant through the Society’s magazine in which members could promise to pay the necessary £60 a year.

Andy set himself a date of April 1990 as the make or break point. Yet he found response to the project, called ‘Taliesin 2000’, far beyond his expectations. It had fired the imagination of the membership.

Soon after the Society’s AGM at Porthmadog at the end of April and just a month after the original announcement, 134 members had signed-up. And last July, Dr John Prideaux, a former archivist of the Festiniog and director of Intercity, signed the 200th deed. Soon after, work started on the driving bogie frames.

The design of ‘Taliesin 2000’ is firmly based on modern experience with the Festiniog’s locomotives and will allow for interchangeability of the power bogies with the two double-ended Fairlies, but using an up-to-date superheated oil-fired boiler of similar internal design as the Festiniog’s American built Alco 2-6-2T, Mountaineer.

An attractive feature of the single Fairlie is that firebox dimensions, crew accommodation and fuel storage are less constrained than on a double-ended loco. Hence Taliesin will be an 0-4-4T Fairlie, its power bogie incorporating many later improvements, including more substantial axleboxes, automatic lubrication and reinforced flexible steam piping between the driving bogie and boiler, rather than the original design’s unreliable ball and socket joints. Links with the past will be maintained, too, for the wheels from the original Taliesin survive and will be used once more.

Overall cost of the ‘Taliesin 2000’ project, which is expected to take three full years of work, is estimated by Andy Savage on the basis that the reconstruction of double-ended Fairlie Earl of

Merioneth (which ended up as an almost completely new locomotive) cost around £300,000 in 1979, even using already existing power bogies The boiler for ‘Taliesin 2000‘, the construction of which will be contracted out, will probably cost £50,000. When finished, it will be the property of the Festiniog Railway Company.

Any funds remaining after the completion of ‘Taliesin 2000’ will be directed into other projects.

Steve McCallum, the Festiniog’s workshop superintendent, feels that, operationally, the Festiniog already has sufficient motive power (though he would like more reliable diesels) and that the only commercial justification for new steam locomotives would be if they reduced costs, were required as a response to increased traffic, or in themselves generated more traffic.

Obviously, the Festiniog employs clear-minded operators. He does, however, see a single Fairlie as being an attractive addition to the fleet, offering crews a comfortable working environment with maintenance and running costs lower than the current locomotives. He makes the point that it would restore a feature of the Festiniog’s heyday and make up for the loss of Moel Tryfan.

This was a lighter but longer 0-0-4 single Fairlie of similar outward appearance to Taliesin. It was built a year earlier in 1875 by the Vulcan Foundry for the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway to the design of George Percival Spooner (though some published drawings credited his father. (Charles Easton Spooner).

It was one of a pair that were the first to use the 0-6-4T configeration in the UK, the other being Snowdon Ranger, ordered for use on the line which later became part of the Welsh Highland Railway. During the first world war, Moel Tryfan was fitted with Snowdon Ranger’s power bogie to complete one serviceable locomotive, and was inherited by the Festiniog at the

formation of the Welsh Highland in 1923. Moel Tryfan was dismantled in 1936, the boiler and power bogie being stored at the Festiniog's Boston Lodge works until scrapped in 1954. The trailing bogie wheels survived and were used as the leading pony trucks added to the Festiniog‘s two former Penrhyn Railway Hunslets, Linda and Blanche.

Continuity appears to be a theme which the Festiniog could profitably exploit in the sponsorship of the ‘Taliesin 2000’ project. The Vulcan Foundry, which built the three single Fairlies to Spooner’s drawings more than 110 years ago, is now part of Sir Arnold Weinstock‘s GEC. Corporate entertainment with unusual themes is well in demand now. Imagine complete trains using contemporary but traditionally styled stock backed by large corporates. Over to you Sir Arnold?

'Moel Tryfan' and 'Snowdon Ranger’ Built 1875 by Vulcan Foundry, works nos. 738 and

Moel Tryfan, 1923, cab and boiler mountings lowered for working between Dinas Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog on Festiniog and Welsh Highland systems. 1937, to Boston Lodge and dismantled for boiler repairs. In store until 1954 when scrapped. Trailing bogie survived, wheels used in leading pony trucks on former Penrhyn Hunslets Linda and Blanche.

'Taliesin' Built 1876 by Vulcan Foundry, works no. 791, for Festiniog Railway to design by G. P. Spooner. 0-4-4T single Fairlie type. Weight in working order 17 tons. Tractive effort, 3,029lb. Boiler pressure, 150 lb. per sq. in. Heating surface, 342.5 sq. ft. Grate area, 6.25 sq. ft.

Wheelbase, 13ft. 1in.(4ft.6in. driving bogie). Cylinders, 9 x 14in.

Driving wheels diameter, 2ft. 8in.

1900; new boiler from Vulcan foundry fitted. Cab and tanks enlarged.

1924; boiler condemned and engine dismantled. Engine reerected. 1925; returned to traffic, boiler not passed inspection. Used for light work to 1927.

1932; dismantled, wheels still extant. Boiler sold for scrap 1935. •

THIS FINE STUDY OF 'TALIESIN' AND ITS PROUD CREW WAS TAKEN CIRCA 1879. WHEN ORIGINALLY BUILT AT VULCAN FOUNDRY, LANCS, ‘TALIESIN’ HAD AN INSIDE-FRAMED REAR BOGIE, BUT THIS WAS SOON MODIFIED TO AN OUTSIDE-FRAMED DESIGN WHICH REDUCED THE TENDENCY TO ROLL

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The Glory Years of BR Steam

2005: Great Western Region

From The Railway Magazine, December 2005: At Nationalisation, the GWR feared it would lose its unique character, but as it turned out, those worries weren’t to be realised for more than a decade and the 1950s and early ‘60s thus proved to be the era of the ‘Great Western Region’!

In theory, the Nationalisation of Britain’s railways should have hit the Great Western harder than any other member of the Big Four.

That’s because the GW had the most to lose. Whereas the other three companies had each accrued a mere 25 years of history, the roots of the Swindon- based institution had been growing for well over a century, and as the preceding pages of this souvenir issue show, they went deep.

But in practice, the Region was granted a large degree of autonomy by the new British Railway after January 1, 1948 and was to continue almost unchanged for several years – so much so that it could be described as ‘The Great Western Region.’

There had been some dismay at Swindon when it was learned that the Government’s newly formed Railway Executive had turned mainly to the LMS for its engineering officers. Hawksworth was to be CME of the new Western region only, a post from which has resigned in 1949, but for the men on the shop floor at Swindon Works, it was business as usual to begin as the factory continued in full production under its new owners.

Under the auspices of the GWR, the plant had built 5,539 locomotives to a virtually unbroken pedigree and for the first few years of BR, a number of Hawksworth designs were perpetuated.

There must have been cries of ‘sacrilege’ among the purists when Swindon was informed it had to build BR Standard locomotives (using some LMS-based components to boot), but construction of the GWR’s own steam designs nevertheless continued until s late as October 1956.

Seen in retrospect, the 1950’s actually turn out to be something of a glorious decade for Western Region steam, especially on the main line. After a brief flirtation with experimental liveries, including blue for the ‘Kings’, during the first couple of years of nationalization, it was decided to retain traditional Brunswick green for passenger engines, while ‘chocolate 8 cream’ was kept for stations. Titled trains proliferated and the new generation of loco spotters growing up at the time had a field day watching crack expresses interspersed with countless goods trains operating to working timetables little changed from those inherited from the GW. A table of titled trains in the Western Region era appears on the next page.

Epitome Most of the 130 or so engine sheds handed overrun January 1, I948, remained in use for the first few years and those boys rash enough to sneak through holes in shed fences would have found scenes little changed from those of Collet’s day. Evert the cast nameplates of the locomotives were unchanged the Western granted the 1-9999 series whereas the other Regions were forced to adopt the BR livedigit system.

The plates were just one of many aspects of the GWR that differed from other companies and epitomized the Bruneian self-confidence (some would say arrogance) it had retained throughout the century. Other differences included the automatic train control system, lower quadrant signalling and higher vacuum brake pressure.

The Western Region gained even more independence alter the abolition of the Railway Executive in 1953 and the vesting by the British Transport Commission of more power in the Regions. Thanks to the influence of WR general manager Keith Grand (an ex-GWR) man, more

titled trains were introduced and chocolate and cream was resurrected for such prestigious services.

Although the BR’s financial situation was causing concern, the mid-to-late – 1950s this proved a marvellous ‘Indian Summer’ of steam. The diesel loco onslaught and the drastic rationalization of the network by the Beeching ‘axe’ had yet to occur, family cars were still something of a rarity and summer holidays were becoming more and more popular. The Western, of course, with its dozens of seaside resorts and balmy ‘Cornish Riviera’ climate, was perfectly positioned to capitalise on such demographic trends and capitalise it did, with long processions of Summer Saturday ‘extras’ to the West Country.

Enthusiasts able to spend time on the South Devon line side in those days can consider themselves fortunate indeed.

March 18 is a day indelibly etched on the memories of WR aficionados, for on that day the name of Swindon Works was planted on to the pages of every general railway history book and encyclopedia when the very last BR main line steam loco of all- 9F210—0 No.2220 emerged from there.

A competition had been held to find a name for this most special of engines (Swindon’s 5, 964th) and the winning entry was Evening Star- not only a suitable epithet in its own right but one carried by two previous GW engines, including one of the very earliest of all, a Robert Stephenson-built 2-2-2 dating 1839.

Although Churchward’s ‘Stars’ and ‘Saints’ had not survived long on to the BR era, his 28XX and 47XX eight-coupled freight engines gave sterling service until the final years of WR steam, rubbing shoulders with new diesels, while Collett’s ‘Castles’, ‘Halls’, ‘Manors’ and ‘Granges’ also continued to perform well in the 1960s.

Steam finally came to an end at the Cornish extremity o the GW main line in the late summer 1962 and the change slowly spread through the Region until the official end of WR steam in the winter of 1965/66, although the odd working did turn up after that, usually as a result of a diesel failure.

In the Western’s case, the autonomy it had been so proud of had resulted in yet another unique development- this time in the choice of steam’s replacement. •

THE ROMANCE ASSOCIATED WITH TITLED TRAINS HAPPILY PROLIFERATED DURING THE BRITISH RAILWAYS STEAM ERA. ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS WAS THE 'CHELTENHAM SPA EXPRESS', PICTURED NEARING PURTON, WEST OF SWINDON, ON JUNE 18, 1962

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www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/archive | Railway Times

1903: New branch of North-Eastern Railway

The Seaham and Hartlepool Railway This new branch of the North-Eastern Railway, which is now complete, runs across the east coast of Durham from Seaham Harbour to Hart Junction, situated four miles north of Hartlepool. Its course is 20ft, and the distance is half a mile from the cliffs, and from it the sea is visible practically all of the way. First published in April 1903.

The level of the railway is about 60ft to 150ft above the sea. The coastline here is intersected by a number of ravines or ‘denes,’ as they are called in the North, which are very like the ‘coombes’ of Devon and Cornwall, extending from the coast inland and the railway in the course of nine miles crosses no less than nine of these, varying in width from 100ft. As at Hawthorn, to 800ft. at Castle Eden ad Crimdon. Four of these denes necessitated the construction, of large viaducts, while in five other places the line is carried over them by means of embankments overlying culverts varying from three to six feet, in diameter.

The denes are nearly all well wooded, and form a delightful contrast to the surrounding country, which, is swept, by constant gales from the sea, is generally bleak and desolate.

Such is the country traversed by the railway, which considering it is only nine and a quarter miles in length, has been a expensive undertaking, the contract price amount to nearly £250,000.

The idea of making this line originated with certain coal owners, who were desirous of sinking pits in order to win the coal under the sea, as at Seaham an Monkwearmouth, and to bring the coal to the bank and as near to the sea coast as possible, and upon their representations the North-Eastern Railway undertook making the line, an be ready to convey the coal as soon as the mines were developed. Here it may be stated that three pits have already been sunk, but they are meeting with such a volume of water before reaching the coal.

In one case, it has been resolved to freeze around the shaft to

an extent that had never been attempted before. This novel experiment upon the part of the man to circumvent one natural force by another is being regarded by the whole of the mining fraternity with the greatest interest, as, if successfully accomplished, it will be one of the greatest triumphs of mining engineering. In the other two mines the water is still being held under control by tremendous pumping.

Another reason for the NorthEastern Railway undertaking the making of this branch is that (as will be seen from the map on this page) it gives an alternative route from Newcastle and Sunderland, to Hartlepool Stockton, and then to Manchester and Liverpool. It has better gradients and curves than their existing route. The worst gradient on the new line (as shown on the gradient profile- page 289) is only one in 100, whilst the sharpest curve has a radius of 33 chains.

As readers of The Railway Magazine are already aware, the existing railway between the towns named is an old coal line, worked originally by stationary engines and ropes, and has almost prohibitive gradients of one in 40 and curves of less than a 20 chain radius.

When the Seaham and Hartlepool Railway bill was put before Parliament, and was proposed to run- by consent, of course-over the private line between Sunderland and Seaham belonging to the Marquis of Londonderry, but the North-Eastern Railway having since bought the Londonderry Railway, the whole route is now therefore the property of the North-Eastern Railway.

As we have already covered,

CENTERING OF 120FT ARCH OF HAWTHORN DENE VIADUCT the feature of the new line is the number of viaducts, ad with regard to these; readers will be interested to learn that the Dalton Viaduct has three spans of 50ft, in diameter and two spans of 25ft, and its greatest height from the ground is 60ft.

As the illustration at the bottom of this page shows, it is substantially constructed using brick. The photograph visible on page 287 shows the remarkable

viaduct at Hawthorn Dene, about two miles of Seaham. This viaduct consists of one span of 120ft, which is the largest brick arch, with one exception, for railways in England, and five arches of 25ft span and a height of 104ft, from the bottom of the stream which he viaduct crosses.

The middle of the great span alone required 9,000 cubic feet of timber (see illustration on page

288). The viaduct is identical in construction, but it is only 94ft, to the rail. Besides the viaduct, there are twenty small bridges of spans varying from 25ft, to 12ft.

Also, there are eighteen culverts.

All these bridges except three are arches.

The materials employed in these structures amounted to 50,000 cubic yards of brickwork, 20,000 cubic yards of concrete and

THE CASTLE EDEN DENE VIADUCT

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90,000 cubic feet of ashlar, mostly in copings and stringcourses.

There were several very heavy cuttings, and the amount of material excavated. The viaduct of Castle Eden has ten arches of 60ft, span and the height is which varied from marl to boulder clay and sand, was 700,000 cubic yards.

The denes at Crimdon and Castle Eden are both wide and deep, with steep sides where the railway crosses them, and a difficulty came as a means of bringing the materials on to the spot for building of the viaducts, but the contractors got past this by using

cable ways which spanned the entire width, about 800ft, and by which material was carried to and deposited at whatever pier or arch was under construction. The other seven denes, not being so wide, were crossed by temporary wooden bridges, which used about 106,000 cubic feet of timber.

The scarcity of bricks in the immediate neighbourhood induced the contractors, Messrs.

Walter Scott and Middleton, Ltd. Their first Resident Agent was Mr Thomas Thomson, and afterwards Mr Charles Scott, to open out a brickfield close to the site of the railway, and to make their own

bricks, but owing to the amount of lime in the clay the first bricks made in the usual way all flew to pieces after the first shower of rain.

To remedy this an expedient was adopted which, through extremely simple, proved eminently satisfactory, and that was to run the bricks in the trucks from the kilns in to a small pond made for the purpose and allow them to remain in the water for about an hour.

A certain amount of effervescence went on during that time, which seemed to

have an effect of reducing lime content to putty like substance, and as a result a perfect hard and serviceable brick was made.

Eventually, there will be three stations on the new railway, at Blackhall, Hordon and Easington.

But, it is not intended to build them until the collieries are ready to draw coal.

Mr Cudworth originally designed the viaducts and Mr Charles Harrison made bridges, but several alternations, especially at Hawthorn viaduct,, the Chief Engineer of the NorthEastern Railway (Northern Division), and the works carried

THE DALON DENE VIADUCT

THE HAWTHORN DENE VIADUCT

GRADIENT PROFILE OF THE NEW SEAHAM AND HARTLEPOOL RAILWAY

out under the supervision of Mr H Dent, Resident Engineer.

Although, the railway is ready for traffic, the traffic is not yet ready for the railway. A date for opening has not yet been set, but it is expected that when the service of trains are arranged for the coming summer, considerable use will be made of the Seaham and Hartlepool Railway.

Our best thanks are due to Mr C Harrison, the Divisional Chief Engineer of the NorthEastern Railway, for the facts and illustrations which can be found in this article. •

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‘Flying Scotsman’ comes home

www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/archive | Railway Times

From February 1990: Swinging on the floating crane which lifted it from the container ship, A3 Pacific No. 4472 ‘Flying Scotsman’ gets its first real glimpse of the country it left behind two summers ago.

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Malden Manor Station

Frederick Thomas Hollins A matter of timing My Railway Magazine arrived by post yesterday as it normally does around this time of the month.

I started to read the article in the Railway Times on Liverpool Street station dating from 1899 and was delighted to come across a reference in the final paragraph to my grandfather Frederick Thomas Hollins (1853-1907).

He was a remarkable man with very little formal education who started his working life with the Midland Railway but was appointed Chief Electrical and Telegraph Engineer of the Great Eastern in 1890. He died in office in 1907.

Many thanks for the article on Malden Manor Station.

This brought back many memories as I was born one mile away from the station and I used the station frequently in my teenage years. One particular memory is travelling to Chessington South and taking the horse bus to the Zoo. I frequently travelled to London from there on 4subs and always marvelled at the architecture.

I believe the opening to the left of the main entrance was for parcels. I believe the reason for not continuing the line to Leatherhead was due to the outbreak of WW11.

Only reading your article did I learn that Chessington North and Chessington South were originally Chessington Court and Chessington Grange. When did these names change and why?

I have passed under the bridge over the Ewell Road next to Tolworth Station on numerous

Chessington memories A colleague at The London Bus Museum in Brooklands showed me your most interesting article in issue 3 of Railway Times.

He worked in the box at Chessington South and I have been in Chessington since 1948. I knew that a station had been proposed at Malden Rushett which may have become a new town but had no idea of a second station at Ashtead as shown on the map.

We had a surprise one afternoon when travelling home from school on the LT 468 country bus during 1960 when we saw a film crew

occasions. I also remember the coal trains passing along the line to Tolworth and Chessington South coal depots, often pulled by a Q1 locomotive. I have not used the station for many years as I left home in 1959 to do my National Service in the RAF. I now live in Hertfordshire and have no family reason to return as both parents have passed on.

I knew nothing about him until a few years ago but have managed to track down a letter inviting him to his interview at the Great Eastern as well as full details of his salary from the railway records in the National Archives. One of his patents hangs on my study wall as I write this.

Not of much interest to anyone else, but very exciting for me personally!

Peter Hollins

I attended the school just around the corner from the station in the 1940s and therefore walked past the station every day with my mother. The architecture of the railway bridge across Manor Drive North adjacent to the station was very similar to the bridge shown at Tolworth.

What a fascinating newspaper to receive with my Railway Magazine this month! As a former resident of Motspur Park in South London, your front page article on the ‘New Southern Railway Suburban line’ was particularly interesting to me, even though the line never made it as far as Leatherhead!

I am sure that reprinting the 2015 article about ‘City of Truro’s record run will again stir up correspondence concerning the claimed maximum speed. I am not a train timer, nor biased either way concerning the GWR or any other pre-grouping railway, but I do wonder if Charles Rous-Marten may be being treated unfairly in having his timings questioned. The one question that I have never seen mentioned in this case is the actual distance between the quarter-mile posts.

When the Bristol to Exeter line was opened in the 1840s quartermileposts were just becoming compulsory under the Railways Clauses Consolidation Act of 1845, mainly so that passengers should know that they were being charged the correct fare. It also enabled railwaymen to know roughly where they were on the line if there were no other features, like bridges, in sight.

They were not erected so that train performance specialists fifty years later could use them to calculate speeds. As such, it was not necessary for the exact distance between the posts to be 1,320 feet. Topographical

features, for example, may have led to the original installers using a slightly different location, or indeed a simple measurement error could have caused a milepost to be erected in the wrong place.

If we take Rous-Marten’s time of 8.8 seconds for the ‘quarter-mile’ to be correct, rather than the 9.1 seconds suggested in your article, the actual distance between the quarter-mile posts only has to be 14 yards short for the speed to be the 99mph shown in Table 2. That is a 3% error in measuring the quarter-mile, which would surely have been acceptable in the mid-19th century. The error could be in the location of the timing point at the beginning or the end, or even both. In the latter case, the posts would only have to be out by 7 yards each. Since it is likely that timing was being done by alternate quarter-miles, any lengthening of the ‘quarter-mile’ either side to compensate would not have been noticed.

I suspect that returning to the scene of the event over one hundred years later in order to measure accurately the exact distance between quarter-mile posts would not resolve this issue. My guess is that so much infrastructure work has been done during that time that there could be no guarantee that the milepost had not been moved at some point.

Thank you again for a hugely interesting bonus newspaper.

Roy Thurley

Many thanks for reviving so many happy memories. I found the whole paper very informative.

Keep up the good work!

Roger B. Smith Ex Old Malden Resident at our local station Chessington North where the green and white canopy name had been altered to Brighton North for the 1961 film The Night We Got The Bird starring Brian Rix and Peggy Mount.

The film shows a 4 Sub unit arriving with Hattie Jaques and John le Mesurier on board attempting to catch a parrot. Scenes were also shot at Chessington Zoo and the Thames around Molesey.

I believe that Bernard Cribbins played a ticket collector in the booth at Brighton North.

Unfortunately I cannot find my DVD which has probably been lent to friend.

This Cinderella line (last train finishes at 2359) was originally to have had island (suicide) platforms and would have run parallel to the planned A24 relief road from Lower Morden to Leatherhead.

It is noticeable that roads in Malden Manor and Chessington

have wide verges that could have be used for widening into dual carriageways and a road overbridge was constructed to the north of Tolworh Station for the fictional Beddington Lane.

Cox Lane in Chessington and West Ewell were presumably not connected due to the outbreak of war in 1939.

Coincidentally the three Surrey schools which I attended were all adjacent to this line which was the last branch to be constructed prior to the war. My final school at Fleetwood was adjacent to the unused up platfrom at Chessington South and occasionally daytime coal trains were seen hauled

by Q1's or West Country classes normally.

Across the road were the Ordnance Survey offices where the maps were produced.

Thank you for publishing this interesting article.

Graham Burnell

Mr Crocker?

Firstly many thanks for the Special Publication of the Railway Magazine received with my copy of Heritage magazine.

Below is some feed back which I are hope is both positive and helpful.

I was really impressed with the large amount of material contained in the few pages, the longer articles many time longer, and containing more information compared with an article produced today. Perhaps as someone brought up listening to the radio it is an old fashioned style but I found the length and depth of the articles very rewarding.

I found the standard of writing reflective of the period eg in the article on Waterloo the Foreman is only ever referred to as "Mr" Crocker and the fact that the writer reprimands those that criticise rather than apologising for any shortcomings.

The articles give insights to the era

by giving background descriptions and the way life was lived, eg the description of the evening meal in the Abingford article and are very well written.

The snippet information is also interesting as Needham Market station is once again in the news as there is pressure to improve disabled access to the station.

I though that there was a good spread of material in both the periods cover and the subject matter.

All in all a very interesting and rewarding read.

Ken Parker Suffolk

AUGUST 1930: CORK-DUBLIN PULLMAN CAR EXPRESS, GREAT SOUTHERN RAILWAYS, IRELAND. G. & S.W.R. 4-6-0 NO. 408. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY REX MURPHY