Western Times Issue 10 by TransportTreasuryPublishing

WE S T E RN T IME S ISSUE No.10 - SUMMER 2024

The history periodical for students of the GWR and BR(W) £12.95

ISSUE No.10 - SUMMER 2024

WESTERN DELIGHTS OTHER GREAT WESTERN BOOKS STILL AVAILABLE FROM THE TRANSPORT TREASURY

The Transport Treasury archive for high-quality digital images taken from our original negatives and transparencies captured by the cameras of railway and transport enthusiasts through the ages. The Transport Treasury collection of railway photographs is a privately owned archive of images comprising over 500,000+ photographic negatives and transparencies and is operated by Robin and Sarah-Jane Fell who make railway, bus and tram photographs available digitally to publishers, authors and enthusiasts. Many famous railway photographers have chosen The Transport Treasury to care for their collection of railway photographs e.g. R C Riley, Dr Ian C Allen, Richard H N Hardy, Roy Vincent, John Robertson, David Idle, Alan Lathey, George Heiron, Mike Mitchell, Eric Sawford & W (Bill) A C Smith to name but a few. If you have negatives or colour slides of transport subjects then we would like to hear from you. We welcome donations of material to the archive and we will also accept collections on loan, or purchase material in certain circumstances. 16 Highworth Close, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. HP13 7PJ. Tel: 01494 708939 / 07572 104250 www.transporttreasury.com

ISSUE No.10 - SUMMER 2024

Contents Introduction

The Pannier Story: Part 2 - Wolverhampton Large Locomotives

From the Archives of R C Riley: The 93xx Moguls

Keeping the GWR On Track

by Jim Horsnell

Experimental Motive Power: No. 92 & Siemens

City of Truro: A Notable Anniversary of ‘That’ Run

Modern Traction: Diesel Shunters in Colour

Book Review

How the Great Western Kept Its Name

From the Archives: Americans at Barry (Class K)

Paddington to Birkenhead

by Freddie Huxtable

Signalman’s Error at Twyford

Castle Portraits

The Great Western Trust (GWT) - Bulletin No.9

The Guard’s Compartment

WESTERN TIMES

Above: One of the batch of twenty Collett designed 2-6-0s No. 7337, stands at Dulverton with an Up Taunton train on 6 September 1962. This curious sub-class, introduced between February and April 1932, was originally christened Nos. 9300-19, but renumbered 7322-41 to follow on from the original Churchward series of locomotives from late 1956 onwards. No.7337 was originally No. 9315 and proved a well travelled engine, seeing allocations to Old Oak Common, Basingstoke, Reading, Neyland, Southall, Swindon and Taunton, before withdrawal in September 1964. The 93xx class features in the R C Riley pictorial in this issue. Douglas Twibell. Front Cover: The Swindon-built D95xx diesel-hydraulic shunters were a capable design that were never allowed to fulfil their potential. The class features along with other Western Region allocated shunting locomotives in the ‘Modern Traction’ feature in this issue. No. D9502 is recorded at Soudley Crossing on the Forest of Dean Branch on 27 April 1967. For some years a corrugated iron goods only depot and short platform stood on this site, where wagons were directly loaded/unloaded on the running line, an incredibly rare practice on the GWR. There was also a rail served ironworks to the left. John Strange. Rear Cover: The stations of the Great Western Railway and many of its absorbed constituent companies were adorned with an array of ornate cast iron signage, much of which is sought after on the collectors’ market to this day. This pair of fine examples from the Rhymney Railway gave instruction to passengers at the platform end at Bargoed, and were recorded on 31 July 1965.

© The Transport Treasury 2024. ISBN 978-1-913251-74-1 First Published in 2024 by Transport Treasury Publishing Ltd. 16 Highworth Close, High Wycombe, HP13 7PJ. Compiled and designed in the UK. Printed in Tarxien, Malta by Gutenberg Press Ltd. The copyright holders hereby give notice that all rights to this work are reserved. Aside from brief passages for the purpose of review, no part of this work may be reproduced, copied by electronic or other means, or otherwise stored in any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the Publisher. This includes the illustrations herein which shall remain the copyright of the respective copyright holder. Every effort has been made to identify and credit photographers where known.

ISSUE 10

INTRODUCTION he Introduction to the Issue 9 of Western Times In reality, the majority of the material acquired from T included comments on a recently published work outside sources that WT might deploy for publication is where all illustrations and the accompanying words copyright free by virtue of the number of past years or were the work of one enthusiast who, enjoying rare universal access privileges to the railway, had garnered valuable first-hand information from professionals. The absence of doubt in these circumstance regarding entitlement to and control of copyright engendered further consideration of cases where limitations may be erroneously applied in restricting the use and dissemination of images and other material.

because contact with the creator is no longer possible, for whatever reason. This should never deter from the obligation to courtesy by acknowledging the source of the material and this was traditionally possible, for example, with photographs where pertinent details and the camera man’s identity were typically noted on the reverse. However, this measure is becoming more difficult with digitised records, where what is on the front runs increasing risk of divorce from what is on the rear.

There comes to mind a case a few years ago where an author had undertaken an extensive and original investigation into an obscure aspect of (non-GWR related) rolling stock. He then referred his work to the known custodians of the associated company records for purposes of cross-checking and corroboration. Said custodians in their wisdom refused to co-operate leading to abandonment of a potentially valuable line of enquiry. This project cannot now be revived as the author is no longer with us and the fruits of his enquiries are probably lost for ever. The custodians’ rationale was that they held the ‘copyright’ to the material in question, and for reasons best known to themselves were not prepared to share with others.

Nevertheless, none of the foregoing relieves the author or user of the duty to do ‘the right thing’ in an ethical or moral sense. In twenty years of railway-related writings, only two instances can be recalled of unwitting breaking of the code and with both, a sincere letter of apology and modest compensation settled the matter without rancour. The recommendation is to remain constant in the intention to behave properly, but firmly to challenge suspect cases of copyright claims with a request for legally plausible supporting documentation. It is important to distinguish between copyright and reproduction rights. Where a custodian has care of, for example a photographic collection, legal considerations are limited to the normal conditions of a trading transaction. The custodian’s commitment to collection, filing, cataloguing, safe storage and most importantly, the capacity to recover information efficiently comes at a considerable cost. It is solely for the customer to decide whether the price/quality equation represents an acceptable deal. We welcome readers’ experiences and thoughts on the bewhildering topic of copyright.

Intellectual property rights form a complex, vitally important part of UK and international law and it would be inappropriate to offer any legal or quasi-legal view in these comments; but mis-use of the term ‘copyright’ is a concern to those intent on accurate recording of historic facts and figures as with the production of this periodical. In the case cited above, the ‘custodians’ possessed records aged around 70 years or more that had been created by a corporate body that has long since ceased to exist. Their claim to copyright was fallacious and without foundation.

Ten up! As the cliché goes ‘times flies when you are having fun’. It feels like Western Times started up but a few weeks ago. It is hoped that the readership is enjoying the end product as much as the editorial team enjoys the creative process. Feedback, articles, items for Guard’s Compartment are as welcome as ever.

Copyright is personal to the individual or legal entity that created the item in question. This is readily definable with a painting which is the unique product of the artist’s talent and creativity. It is their’s alone and cannot be sold or transferred to a third party, although the right to collect royalties due to reproduction of the work, might pass to the artist’s estate following death. The attempt by a third party to claim copyright in respect of material found in a dusty, abandoned filing cabinet or in a council skip undoubtedly lacks foundation. The act of hijacking the term can imply possible but undefinable legal issues and so act as a powerful deterrent.

--- o O o--Editor: Andrew Malthouse Editorial Assistant: Jeremy Clements

To contact the editorial team please email: WesternTimes@mail.com For sales, subscriptions and back issues of Western Times please go to: www.ttpublishing.co.uk 3

WESTERN TIMES

THE PANNIER STORY PART 2 - WOLVERHAMPTON LARGE LOCOMOTIVES he need to acquire more standard gauge Goods, the first narrow gauge locomotives built there. T locomotives followed acquisition of the Shrewsbury Standard gauge rails reached Swindon in 1872 so in & Birmingham and Shrewsbury & Chester railways in the interim, 4’ 8.5” gauge machines were despatched 1854, and joint ownership with the London & North Western of the Birkenhead Railway in 1860. Full exploitation of the potential offered by this expansion was initially limited by break of gauge at Birmingham which impeded interchange traffic with contiguous systems. With completion of the narrow gauge connection southward from Birmingham to London, it became possible fully to develop passenger and goods traffic associated with the west Midlands.

northward on specially-built transporter wagons, an example of the costly inconvenience imposed by the Broad Gauge. New construction commenced at Stafford Road with a pair of 2-2-2s (Nos. 7/ 8) in 1859 although as shown below, tender locomotives comprised less than 5% of the works’ total output: Tender

Separation of the activities at Wolverhampton works from those at Swindon was inevitable due to the gauge factor but also logical in view of the differing dynamics governing the two operations. Swindon’s expansion was integral to meeting the diverse needs of the southern network while a fully-fledged manufacturing capability at Stafford Road had more specific objectives which included coping with growing coal traffic emanating from the Ruabon and Wrexham areas. The GWR would eventually become closely associated with mineral traffic but this was probably the company’s first involvement with transit of coal on a major scale thereby stimulating demand for six-coupled locomotives.

Tank

Type

Number

Construction Years

2-2-2

1859-62/ 72

2-4-0

1863/ 4/ 6/ 7/ 89

0-6-0

1866/ 90-1

0-4-0

1880

2-4-0

1864-5

0-4-2

166

1868-70/ 73-8/ 83-6/ 95/ 97

0-6-0

548

1864/ 5/ 7/ 8/ 70-84/ 86-1905

1905-8

2-6-2 Total

794

The first six-coupled engines built there were 0-6-0ST Nos. 302-9 [Works Nos 14-21] in 1864/ 5. This started a tradition that lasted over 40 years and resulted in production of about 50% of the pre-Grouping sixcoupled standard gauge tank engine fleet.

Gooch ordered 2-2-2s Nos. 69-76 from Beyer Peacock & Co. in 1855/ 6 (Maker’s Nos. 1-4/ 15-8) and concurrently Swindon constructed 0-6-0 Nos. 57-68 under Lot 1st

ISSUE 10 This programme commenced six years ahead of Swindon’s parallel activities and continued for four years beyond the pause in 0-6-0T construction at the main works from 1901. Wolverhampton’s 0-6-0ST production summary: Class

Built

Number in Class

Pannier Tanks: Number Fitted

Years Fitted

Withdrawn: First of Class

Withdrawn: Last of Class

Career Averages (Years)

302

1864/ 5

1911 > 1923

1918

1932

1016

1867-71

1911 > 1928

1910

1925

645

1872/ 3

1913 > 1929

1928

1936

850

1874-95

170

153

1910 > 1937

1906

1958

119

1878-83 §

1910 > 1923

1910

1933

44 §

322

1878-85 §

1918 > 1925

1921

1932

48 §

1501

1878-81

1914 > 1929

1928

1951

655

1892-7

1914 > 1927

1928

1950

2021

1897-1905

140

137

1912 > 1936

1907

1959

§ Years in which locomotives were rebuilt from earlier 0-6-0s; Class 119 originally built (1861-2) and Class 322 (1864); career averages relate to periods as tank locomotives.

This group of classes accounted for 69% of all new construction and rebuilds undertaken at Stafford Road: Except for thirty small prairie tank locomotives Nos. 3101-10 & 2161-80 (later renumbered 4401-10 & 450019 respectively), production was in the mould of 19th Century design practice. All but twelve of the 0-6-0Ts were saddle tanks and thus candidates for acquisition of panniers in due course. (The exception was Class 633 built 1871/ 2 which remained as side tanks through to final withdrawal in 1934).

Saddle tanks were finished in this livery, lined or plain, but the sequence of dates indicates that it was most unlikely to have adorned any pannier tanks.

As discussed in Part 1, with Joseph Armstrong’s untimely passing, the appointment of William Dean as his successor was strongly resented by George Armstrong and his reported comments on the matter were insubordinate. Facing so many other pressing issues, Dean could well have done without this distraction but his pragmatic response was a measure of his stature. Western Times Issue 1 surveyed the GWR’s divisional structure which like so many multilayered corporate organograms, provides minimal explanation about how the various fiefdoms inter-acted on a practical plane. Definitions of the geographic boundaries and responsibilities of the Northern Division Locomotive Superintendent are unclear from the modern standpoint and perhaps this ‘haziness’ was nurtured to mollify George Armstrong.

Above: Stafford Road’s independent spirit was prominent in locomotive livery, the superstructure’s blue-green shade and the brown framing was quite different from the Swindon style. The locomotive depicted is an Armstrong Standard Goods, and 0-6-0STs were similarly decorated including lining in a number of cases. This distinctive livery was dropped in 1902.

With impending elimination of the Broad Gauge, serious consideration was given around 1889 to possible concentration of locomotive manufacture at Wolverhampton, based upon its closer proximity to supplies of raw materials and manufactured components plus access to a larger pool of local skilled labour. Wiltshire before the GWR’s arrival had been an underpopulated, essentially agrarian county and Swindon had developed from a greenfield location that was almost totally reliant upon migrant labour drawn from other parts of the country. It was considered that the southern works were better suited to carriage and wagon manufacture, and to locomotive repair. However, the self-contained Wolverhampton site was constricted and the cost of acquiring adjoining land was considered excessive. Following cessation of construction with the last batch of small prairie tanks in 1908, the works went into slow, inexorable decline and with most of the machinery old and worn out, effective de-commission took place in 1935.

His dogged adherence to divisional independence was manifest in locomotive design. Wolverhampton developed its own range of boilers. Although mostly interchangeable with the Swindon equivalents, their presence inevitably added further complexity to individual locomotive specifications. The roll-top style of chimney was a Wolverhampton speciality as was also the locomotive livery which from 1866 until 1902 differed from that of Swindon engines. Most prominently the superstructure was painted deep blue-green (although actually more blue than green) with brown outer frames (described as ‘rich milk chocolate’ and later ‘Windsor’). 5

WESTERN TIMES Nevertheless, Stafford Road’s role as a specialist manufacturer of 0-4-2Ts and 0-6-0Ts pioneered two families that saw GWR steam through to its demise. The final example of the former type appeared as Class 48xx No. 4874 in April 1936 while the large and small breeds of pannier tanks were still in production under the aegis of the company’s successor. Charting the early history of pannier tanks requires summaries of the pre-Grouping classes’ antecedents and Wolverhampton’s output conveniently falls into three categories. The larger 0-6-0 tank locomotives built new are reviewed here while those created by rebuild of 0-6-0 tender engines and the smaller tank classes will be discussed in the next instalment of this article.

Joseph Armstrong’s Class 360 was his first 0-6-0, completed at Swindon under 8th Goods Lot, about 18 months after brother George had introduced 0-6-0ST Class 302 at Wolverhampton. The similarity in the slotted outside frame is apparent but boiler diversity has commenced. The 0-6-0STs were built with the northern works’ Type R0 boiler whereas the corresponding 0-6-0 carried the Swindon-designed Type S3 (three rings, centre dome, parallel firebox). Unlike the skimpy attention paid with the 0-6-0ST, the 0-6-0 as built was bereft of any form of weather protection.

The ‘Large’ Locomotives With so numerous a group, there were many dimensional variations but the main distinguishing feature is that all had driving wheels of nominally 4’ 6” diameter which progressively increased to 4’ 7.5” through use of thicker tyres which dimension became a company standard.

Class 302 was built with Swindon-designed R0 type boilers (domeless with raised round-topped fireboxes), short saddle tanks which extended only over the length of the barrel, and rudimentary cab protection. The drawing suggests that a weather shield was fitted to the rear of the bunker, a primitive form of protection that appeared occasionally on other classes with openbacked cabs in later years. Alternative types of roundtopped boilers followed before the first type B4 Belpaire boiler was installed in July 1912.

Class 302 This was the earliest standard gauge 0-6-0 tank class and comprised eight locomotives built 1864/ 5. They were fitted with double plate frames, strengthened by tie bars incorporated in the outside frame structure resulting in a slotted appearance. This style was also used by Joseph Armstrong in Class 360, his first 0-6-0 tender type which appeared in April 1866. Use of similar designs of chassis for contemporary tender and tank classes in the pre-Grouping period was encountered with other types, and the resultant structures generally proved resilient. While features above the running plate were subject to significant changes, chassis usually remained unmodified although with the passing years strengthening of outside frames was sometimes necessary through measures such as bolted-on tie bars or plate patches rivetted in position close to bearings. The soundness of the original construction was repeatedly proven by the capacity of quite old frame sets to absorb significant all-up weight increases and/ or greater power output.

The practice of building tank locomotives that corresponded in varying degree with their tender counterparts and vice versa dated from the earliest days of standard gauge construction. Class 302 0-6-0ST was introduced in 1864 while Class 360, its nominal tender version appeared two years later. This is No. 363 in late condition with a B4 boiler fitted December 1919; it was the last of its class in service, surviving until March 1933.

All acquired pannier tanks between November 1911 and June 1923 except for the prototype which was the first withdrawal. The remainder received differing modifications, and as a numerically small class, it is useful to list full details for each locomotive to demonstrate the variety that became commonplace among all the GWR’s pre-Grouping 0-6-0ST/PT classes:

0-6-0ST Class 302 No. 307 as built in November 1864 with cab-less footplate, domeless boiler, raised round-topped firebox, short saddle tank, limited bunker capacity and a weatherboard mounted on the bunker rear. This illustration depicts the distinctive slotted outside frames which remained while the superstructure of these engines changed substantially down the years.

ISSUE 10 No.

Built with R0 Boiler

302

Sep-1864

S2 Jan-93/ S2 or S3 May-04/ S4 Aug-08

303

Oct-1864

304

Pannier Superheated Withdrawn Tanks Fitted

Boiler Changes and Dates

n/a

Aug-1918

S2 Aug-90/ S4 Mar-03/ S2 Apr-07/ S4 Jul-17/ B4P Jan-23

Jan-1923

n/a

Jul-1932

Oct-1864

W3 Jan-93/ S4 Oct-02

Sep-1922

n/a

May-1928

305

Nov-1864

S0 Apr-82/ S4 Oct-01/ B4 Jul-12/ B4P Oct -25

Jul-1912

Oct-1925

Apr-1931

306

Nov-1864

S2 Nov-88/ S4 Dec-04/ B4 Sep-13/ B4P Mar-23

Sep-1913

Jan-1926

Jul-1932

307

Nov-1864

S2 May-91/ S4 Oct-01/ B4P Oct-27

Jun-1916

Oct-1927

May-1931

308

Dec-1864

S2 Sep-87/ S4 Feb-08/ B4P Dec-22

Feb-1913

n/a

Nov-1929

309

Feb-1865

W3 Aug-84/ S4 Apr 01/ B4P May-27

Nov-1911

n/a

Apr-1921

Key to boiler types:

Thus:

B4 = Swindon type, two rings back dome, Belpaire firebox. B4P = Swindon type, two rings back dome, Belpaire firebox, superheated. R0 = Swindon type two rings, domeless, raised firebox. S0 = Swindon type two rings, domeless, flush firebox. S2 = Swindon type two rings, front dome, flush firebox. S3 = Swindon type three rings, middle dome, flush firebox. S4 = Swindon type two rings, front dome, flush firebox. W3 = Wolverhampton type, three rings, middle dome, flush firebox.

- No. 302 remained a saddle tank throughout its career. - Nos. 303/ 5/ 6 acquired Belpaire fireboxes and pannier tanks concurrently. - No. 304 received pannier tanks but retained a roundtopped firebox throughout. - No. 307 had pannier tanks mounted upon its roundtopped boiler in June 1916, reverted to saddle tank 1922 to 1927, and then became a pannier tank again until withdrawal. - No. 308 received pannier tanks in 1913, nine years before its first Belpaire boiler. - No. 309 received pannier tanks in 1911, over 15 years before its first Belpaire boiler.

Above: ‘Class 302’ No. 306 is pictured in the early 1920’s, following the fitting of pannier tanks and a B4 boiler, which it received in September 1913. The class was mainly used on shunting duties in South Wales, and this particular locomotive was allocated to Aberbeeg at this time. The pannier tanks held 1,000 gallons of water and the enlarged bunker and enclosed cab were obviously welcome refinements for the footplate crews. No. 306 achieved the highest mileage of the class, at 1,172,973 run over its 68-year service life. W H Whitworth (Courtesy of the Stephenson Locomotive Society).

WESTERN TIMES Such diversity was also characteristic of the numerically larger classes built at both Wolverhampton and Swindon. Documentation of all the changes affecting a contingent of over 1,000 pre-Grouping locomotives is impracticable in the space available. Readers are referred to the invaluable Locomotives of the Great Western Railway – Part Five: Six-coupled tank locomotives [RCTS 1958] for the complete catalogue. Generic subjects such as deployment, mileages, boiler varieties and superheating will be reviewed on a fleetwide scale in a later instalment of this article.

superheating of Nos. 305-9 towards the close of their long careers would seem unnecessary. However, earlier fitments of Belpaire boilers used vessels recovered from the 2-2-2/0-6-0 ‘Sir Daniel’ family, but as this source had dried up, these engines received Class 2301-type superheated boilers on the basis of availability rather than for any specific strategic objective. No. 307’s later spell as a saddle tank was connected with the fitting of a spark arrester for shunting work at Didcot. The variety of modifications applied over their careers resulted in the all-up weight increasing by about 10 tons from new through to their final condition which speaks well for the quality of the original frame structure. Their long careers (68 years in the case of No. 303) ensured impressive recorded aggregate mileages. Principal dimensions together with those of classes 1016, 645/1501, 655 are summarised in the table on page 17.

Compared with the homogeneity found with the postGrouping pannier tank family, the nature of the changes might suggest a haphazard, even undisciplined, selection of replacement boilers and other components but a logical reason may be discerned in some cases here and with other classes. For example, the

Above: No. 306 again, in final superheated form prior to withdrawal in July 1932.

Class 1016

Stephenson Locomotive Society.

The acceptability of Class 1016 was evident in there being 60 examples, and this set the format for further construction of numerically large classes:

Introduced in 1867, this class continued the style of a short saddle tank initiated with Class 302 but differed in having a small dome in the normal position on the centre ring and a flush-topped firebox. Their double frames were similar to those fitted to the Swindonbuilt 0-6-0 Armstrong (Standard) Goods. No. 1075 was the last outside-framed 0-6-0 tank locomotive built at Wolverhampton whereas construction of this genre continued at Swindon until June 1887 when No. 1700 was delivered to service. 8

Loco Nos.

Works Nos.

Lot

Built

1016-27

47-58

1867

1028-39

59-70

1867/ 8

1040-51

131-42

1870

1052-63

143-54

1870/ 1

1064-75

155-66

1871

ISSUE 10 All were built with the Wolverhampton Type W3 boiler (small dome on the middle ring, flush firebox) with minor dimensional variations between the different Lots plus small variations in recorded tank capacities and axle loadings. Between 1887 and 1897, sixty replacement boilers were installed drawn from five different types with S2 and S4 predominating. The others were:- an S2/3 boiler fitted to No. 1052 in 1893; W3 fitted to Nos. 1037/ 47/ 56 in 1890/1; R3 to Nos. 1025/ 31/ 38/ 41/ 48/ 57/ 60/ 65 in 18925. These boilers were pooled in 1900 and became theoretically freely interchangeable. However, as Wolverhampton Type R3 had a raised firebox, there may have been cases of attempted matching of round-topped fireboxes with incompatible saddle tanks.

Loco No.

Boiler Type (Date Fitted)

Pannier Tank (Date Fitted)

Belpaire Boiler (Date Fitted)

1019

S4 [Oct-11]

Nov-13

Sep-22

1036

S4 [Dec-06]

Sep-13

Oct-24

1037

S4 [May-04]

Sep-27

Never

1039

S4 [Feb-02]

Feb-16

Never

1044

S4 [Apr-20]

Apr-15

Feb-20

1045

S4 [Aug-13]

Jan-16

Oct-25

1050

S4 [Sep-97]

Feb-13

Jul-24

1057

S4 [Mar-09]

Apr-12

Aug-22

1058

S4 [Jan-10]

Jan-16

Aug-20

1073

S2 [Nov-11]

Dec-11

Apr-20

This suggests that some early installations were made to replace life-expired saddle tanks while the corresponding round-topped boilers had years of service remaining. In accordance with the custom that there should be an odd-man out, the boiler history of No. 1019 was singular: W3 as built Mar-67; S2 from May-02; W3 from Aug-04; S4 from Oct-10; B4 from Sep-22; S4 from Mar-28; withdrawn Aug-34.

Previous accounts generally allege that installation of pannier tanks followed realisation of difficulties in fashioning saddle tanks to fit over Belpaire fireboxes. However, the following table indicates the contrary as eight had their saddle tanks replaced by panniers well before Belpaire boilers were installed. In the case of Nos. 1037/ 9, pannier tanks were never accompanied by Belpaire fireboxes.

Above: Class 1016, introduced in 1867 was the first standard gauge saddle tank type to be built in significant numbers with sixty delivered up to 1871. Forty-nine were later converted to pannier tanks which process failed to guarantee homogeneity as evident in this and the next three photographs. No. 1047 shows the combination of the more modern deep tanks with the original style of bunker. This locomotive acquired a B4 boiler and pannier tanks in December 1911/ January 1912. It reverted to an S4 boiler in May 1917 followed by a second B4 in March 1926. The photograph is undated but it is possible that No. 1047 remained in the condition depicted until withdrawal in July 1935.

WESTERN TIMES Where fitting a Belpaire boiler and pannier tanks were conducted during the same workshop session, the boiler installation would naturally precede and in some instances, the new tanks followed after a reported interval of up to two/ three months. In these circumstances and for the purpose of this analysis the two events are considered ‘concurrent’ with the recorded date being that of the new boiler installation. Thirty-nine of the class were in this category and the dates suggest that by then stocks of Belpaire boilers and pannier tanks had reached sufficient critical mass for the two modifications to coincide. Locomotives so treated:

The following class members retained round-topped boilers and saddle tanks throughout their careers: Loco No.

Last Boiler Type Fitted

Withdrawn

1020

S4 May-18

Jan-28

1025

S4 May-04

Dec-27

1029

S2 May-05

Dec-10

1032

S4 Feb-04

Apr-28

1035

S4 Jan-10

Aug-14

1040

S4 May-97

Jan-29

1043

S4 Jan-96

Dec-10

No.

Date

No.

Date

No.

Date

1063

S4 Nov-08

Mar-28

1016

Jul-26

1034

Aug-19

1056

Aug-19

1067

S4 Oct-01

Mar-28

1017

Dec-23

1038

Aug-24

1059

Nov-12

1068

S4 Apr-94

Nov-10

1018

Nov-25

1041

Jun-17

1060

Nov-27

1074

S4 Jan-02

Feb-28

1021

Sep-24

1042

Nov-16

1061

Jun-25

1022

Jul-19

1046

Jul-23

1062

Dec-27

The different boiler types used with Class 1016:

1023

May-25

1047

Dec-12

1064

Apr-19

1024

Dec-24

1048

Oct-27

1065

Mar-25

Boiler Type

Description

1026

May-19

1049

Jun-24

1066

Oct-13

Wolverhampton, original boiler on all engines Centre dome, flush firebox

1027

Jan-21

1051

May-17

1069

Feb-20

Swindon built, front dome, flush firebox Swindon built, centre dome, flush firebox

1028

Jan-12

1052

May-23

1070

Aug-23

S2/3

1030

May-27

1053

Jul-18

1071

Mar-14

Swindon built, back dome, flush firebox

1031

May-24

1054

Dec-23

1072

Dec-24

Wolverhampton centre dome, raised firebox

Sep-23

Small back dome, Belpaire firebox

B4(P)

Large back dome, Belpaire firebox

1033

May-25

1055

Dec-23

1075

Some of these 39 locomotives carried pannier tanks for quite short periods (the average was just under 9 years) which casts doubt on this programme’s viability in its later stages. Class 1016 was typical of the pannier breed in its sturdy construction, probably with longer career expectations than actually proved to be the case. The arrival of Class 57xx in 1929, in part built for reasons other than replacement of life-expired equipment, evidently had adverse impact.

Above: No. 1054 displays deep tanks together with plate extension to the bunker. This engine acquired a B4 boiler and pannier tanks between December 1923 and February 1924. Withdrawal followed in August 1931.

The main theme of this article is application of the pannier tank concept but another significant modification was the fitting of superheaters. This subject injects further complexity and will be treated in a later instalment that addresses generic factors affecting the 0-6-0PT fleet as a whole.

Above: No. 1026 received a B4 boiler and pannier tanks in May/ June 1921 and was withdrawn in April 1930. It seems probable that it carried the combination of shallow tanks and plate bunker extension through to withdrawal in April 1931.

ISSUE 10

No. 1044 was at Oxford on 9 April 1927, displaying yet another variant condition. It has the older style shallow tanks but has acquired a Collett-era bunker. it carried an S4 boiler from February 1920 until withdrawal in December 1929, but had been a pannier tank from April 1915.

Classes 645 & 1501

The saddle to pannier tank conversion details so far described typify the varied manner of these changes among the pre-Grouping classes. Other prominent alterations involved differing styles of cab and bunker. Installation of half-cabs to open footplates which previously had only weatherboard protection had been completed before the pannier programme commenced. Half-cabs certainly improved life for crews, subject to the degree of precipitation, wind direction, and whether working chimney or bunker leading. Contemporary 0-6-0 tender locomotives imposed similar rigours and in more recent years the Dean Goods/ Class 2251/ Ivatt 2-6-0 transition in areas such as central Wales was greatly welcomed. A half-cab saddle or pannier tank might work around 50% of its time in reverse which made for a climatically unpleasant workplace yet surprisingly, a few examples survived into British Railways days.

(Combined as Class 645 from an indeterminate date)

Initially regarded as discrete types, Class 645 (built 1872/ 3) and Class 1501 (built 1878-83) through rebuilding became sufficiently similar to be regarded as one although the early stages of each are considered individually. It was normal practice for Wolverhampton to build 0-6-0 and 0-4-2 tank locomotives in Lots of twelve within an annual cycle which seems to have been the usual pace at which new locomotives could comfortably be delivered. Except for the hiatus of the years 1874-7, these locomotives were produced continuously under this discipline.

The pattern of changes in bunker profiles was complex but the underlying purpose was to improve capacity. Early modifications generally took the form of side and rear extensions, some of which gave a makeshift appearance. Later bunker changes resulted in profile and capacity similar to the form that was most familiarly associated with inter-war Class 57xx. The opportunity was also taken concurrently to improve the footplate by fitting a roof extension and rear spectacle plate.

Class 645 0-6-0ST No. 651 depicts how the class appeared in initial condition and illustrates some of the features that were retained following transition into the pannier phase. The saddle tank is a Type U5b mounted on a Type W3 mid dome boiler. The early form of injector allowed sufficient room for an equally early style of toolbox to be mounted immediately to the rear of the centre splasher. The capacity of the leading sandbox is significant which presents a problem in finding room for matching capacity rear boxes on the footplate. The bunker capacity is modest and it is easy to see why the Class 1501 version of this type was improved with frames six inches longer at the rear. The primitive crew protection included a weatherboard mounted on the bunker rear; this feature was retained in some cases after half-cab cabs had been installed on saddle or pannier versions.

There was often a random element in earlier disposal decisions. Withdrawals as saddle tanks before World War 1 were:- Nos. 1020 [Dec-10]; 1029 [Dec-12]; 1035 [Jun-14]; 1043 [Dec-10]; 1068 [Nov-10]. Conversely, No. 1040 as the last ‘pure’ saddle tank survived until January 1929. 0-6-0ST No. 1019 was withdrawn in August 1934 after its sojourn as a pannier tank between September 1922 and March 1928. The earliest withdrawal as a pannier tank was No. 1022 [Dec-25] and the last was No. 1047 [Jul-35], aged 65 years. 11

WESTERN TIMES Class 645 Year 1872

1872/3

1873

Lot No. O

Class 1501

Works Nos.

GWR No.

Year

Lot No.

Works Nos.

GWR No.

179-88

645-54

1878

325-36

1501-12

189

655

1878/ 9

327-48

1513-24

190

n/a

1879

361-72

1525-36

191/ 2

656/ 757

1879/ 80

373-84

1537-48

193

n/a

1880

385-96

1549-60

194

n/a

1881

397-408

1801-12

195

n/a

196

n/a

197-202

758-63

205-7

764-6

208

767

209-16

768-75

Seven of Class 645 were sold as follows: Works No. 189 - became CCR No. 3 (May-1876) Works No. 190 - became SWMR No. 1 (New) Works No. 193 - became SWMR No. 2 (New) Works No. 194 - became CCR No. 2 (New) Works No. 195 - became SWMR No. 3 (New) Works No. 196 - became CCR No. 1 (New) Works No. 208 - became SWMR No. 4 (Jun-1875) Key: CCR = Carmarthen & Cardigan Railway SWMR = South Wales Mineral Railway

The broad gauge South Wales Mineral Railway connected with the GWR at Briton Ferry and ran in a north-easterly direction to serve collieries in the upper Afan Valley. An Act passed in 1872 which permitted the GWR to change the gauge of its South Wales network excluded the SWMR leaving the small company to

bear its own conversion costs. The four members of Class 645 (works Nos. 190/ 3/ 5/ 208) were sold to the SMWR to enable maintenance of services. This company was absorbed by the GWR at the Grouping by which time two of Class 645 had been withdrawn and the other two sold into colliery service.

Above: Beyond the statement ‘on turntable’, this view of Class 645/ 1501 No. 654 lacks reference to date or location. Built as a saddle tank in August 1872, this locomotive was fitted with a B4 boiler and pannier tanks in November 1920 and withdrawn in October 1928. It seems likely that the original bunker style and half cab was retained throughout its career. Loco coal wagon No. 23077 (10T, Dia. N19 of 1913) has had its capacity increased in the traditional fashion. J T C / The Transport Treasury.

ISSUE 10 The Carmarthen & Cardigan Railway was another small broad gauge company which underwent conversion in 1872 and purchased three members of Class 645 (works Nos. 189/ 194/ 6) to work standard gauge services. With the GWR’s takeover of the CCR in 1881 they were renumbered as follows:

Heating Surfaces [sq ft] - tubes

1208

1051

- firebox

Wheels

4’ 6”

7’ 3” + 8’ 3”

Works No.

Original GWR No.

1881 GWR No.

Wheelbase

196

655

902

Weight [tons]

194

n/a

903

- total

34.7

39.4

189

n/a

904

- max. axle loading

12.5

13.25

13,540

Tractive Effort [85%]

There were disposals of pre-Grouping vintage 0-6-0 ST and PTs to other operators but the sale of five new locomotives to the CCR and SWMR requires comment. In 1875, the Locomotive Manufacturers Association commenced a legal action against the London & North Western Railway which had pioneered production line construction technology under FW Webb (adherents of the Ford Motor Company please note) and had sold brand new engines to the Lancashire & Yorkshire in significant numbers. The resultant Court Injunction had long-lasting industry-wide impact and would have prevented the CCR/ SWMR transactions if they had been enacted after 1876. There were subsequent mid-career disposals of 0-6-0Ts but where another railway company was the purchaser (as opposed to a colliery or industrial operator), it is believed that the transaction was technically a loan to circumvent this legal restriction.

Saddle Tank Type Water Capacity [gal]

Sold

SWMR No.

1546

Sep-11

1806

Feb-11

1811

Apr-10

980

1,120

There is uncertainty concerning the recorded history of this group (plus Class 655 described next) and the reboilering programme that commenced in 1886 for the 281 locomotives (small/ rebuilds/ large) then in GWR service. This exercise is best described through the summary below and it is understood that the boilers were concurrently pooled.

The second instalment of these engines was at first known separately as Class 1501. Three were sold (or perhaps lent?) to the SWMR apparently in part replacement of the four members of Class 645 acquired from the GWR in the 1870s that were no longer in service. At the Grouping, the trio resumed their original GWR identities: GWR No.

Short, 5 sections Long, 6 sections

Years

Type

Qty.

1886-9

Reconditioned (645 series) W3 fitted to 645 & 1501 series

1889-91

1501 series W3 fitted to 645 series

1887-92

New and second-hand S2

1892-1904 New and second-hand R3

1898-1907 New and second-hand R2

1896-1906 New S4

1904-6

New B4 (P series) Total

6 104

Key: B4(P) = Wolverhampton, P-class Belpaire (group 20); R2 = Wolverhampton, raised firebox casing version of W3 with dome on front ring (group 36); R3 = Wolverhampton, raised firebox casing version of W3 with dome on rear ring (group 35); S4 = Swindon, flush round-topped firebox (group 32); W3 = Wolverhampton.

On construction, the specification differences between the two classes were: Class

645

1501

5’ 3”

5’ 9”

- length

10’ 6”

- outside diameter

4’ 1”

- pitch

5’ 3”

Boiler Pressure [lb]

140

Grate [sq ft]

Frame Length (3rd axle to rear) Boiler Type

(with small dome) (with large dome) Class 645/ 1501 No. 1508 at Oxley on 29 August 1936 with the B4 Belpaire boiler and pannier tanks fitted in March 1923 while retaining its its original open-backed cab and low capacity bunker. The pre-war lettering is just discernible on the tank side and the locomotive appears complete, but withdrawal took place just one month later. W A Camwell (Courtesy of the SLS).

WESTERN TIMES

Above: On the basis of the GWR insignia and the grubby condition, this undated view of Class 645/ 1501 No. 1531 at Oxford was probably taken post-war. Fitted with a B4 Belpaire boiler and pannier tanks in January 1927, this locomotive has been further modernised with an overall cab and modern-style bunker. It was withdrawn in December 1949. Stephenson Locomotive Society.

The pattern of boiler changes varied significantly between individual locomotives as exemplified in this comparison of Nos. 764 and 1515. Regarding the former, some records indicate that the B4 and S4 boilers were superheated (the latter seems unlikely); with No. 764 it was unusual that a round-topped boiler should replace a Belpaire type and acquire pannier tanks concurrently: No. 764

within this heterogeneous collection was boiler Type S4 followed by progression to Type B4 in the final evolutionary phase. The salient dimensional differences:

No. 1515

Feb-73, Built with W3 small dome

Dec-78, Built with W3 large dome

Jul-89, W3 large dome

Nov-00, S4

May-06, B4

Jun-29, Withdrawn as a saddle tank

Boiler Type

B4 §

- length

10’ 6”

10’ 3”

- outside diameter

4’ 3”

4’ 5”

- pitch

6’ 4”

7’ 0”

- tubes

1208

1091 (961)

- firebox

106 (106.5)

Heating Surfaces [sq ft]

- superheater

(75)

Jul-13, S4

Grate [sq ft]

16.4

15.5

Jul-13, Fitted with pannier tanks

Boiler Pressure [lb]

150

180 later 165

Weight [tons]

Nov-23, B4 [superheated]

- total

41.5

45.8 (44)

Mar-30, Withdrawn as a pannier tank

- max. axle loading

13.9

15.7 (15.3)

Tractive Effort [lb-85%]

15,935

19,120 later 17,530

Saddle Tank Type

3 sections

4 sections

Water Capacity [gal]

1,000-1,120

1,120

Dimensional diversity in boiler types complicated workshop practice, could result in extended periods out of service, and added to direct and contingent costs. Further complexity probably resulted from an undisclosed number supplied by outside contractors. Most prominent

§ Figures in brackets relate to superheated version.

ISSUE 10 The underlying trend with long-lived 19th Centuryvintage locomotives was enlargement involving boiler diameter, bunker, addition of cab, thicker wheel tyres etc. During expansion of the saddle tank fleet, the Bessemer process was introduced which rendered major improvements in steel quality at lower production expense. This factor was important role as the frames supported an all-up weight that increased by 32% between Class 645 at introduction and the final B4boilered version.

installation could exceed three months. Such examples reflected adversely upon the efficiency or otherwise of workshop management whereby ordinarily serviceable machines were out of commission for unduly long periods. However, there were notable exceptions to the usual concurrence of fitting dates:

Even for their later years, modification records are apparently incomplete. At least eight acquired top feed, in the case of No. 1540 most unusually while carrying a Type S4 boiler. Around 20 were eventually fitted with enclosed cabs and in the period 1930/ 1, a significant number had Automatic Train Control installed which showed that despite their advanced years, they were still entrusted with mainline duties. Originally Wolverhampton-built locomotives had platform valences of shallow profile but repairs at Swindon could result in the deeper version favoured by that works (at least Nos. 649/ 650/ 904/ 1538 and possibly others were so treated). Due to potentially misleading variety within the pre-Grouping fleet, the running number and careful cross-reference to the estimable RCTS volume might be the only reliable means of confirming points of detail for specific locomotives.

No.

Belpaire Boiler

Pannier Tanks

Withdrawn

760

Feb-07

Apr-21

May-32

764

May-06

Nov-13

Mar-30

766

Jan-10

Feb-29

Sep-35

771

Oct-15

Dec-22

Jul-29

772

Sep-17

Never

Jan-34

1501

Jul-06

Jan-25

Dec-34

1503

Sep-06

Apr-15

May-32

1516

Feb-05

Feb-25

Jun-31

1517

Feb-05

Apr-25

Dec-32

1520

Sep-09

Sep-19

May-29

1521

Apr-04

Dec-24

Dec-32

1526

Aug-12

Feb-17

Jul-33

1542

Mar-04

Mar-28

Feb-51

1545

Aug-19

Jul-29

Nov-35

Conversely, in a few cases pannier tanks were fitted in advance of acquisition of a Belpaire boiler. It is surmised that these were cases where the saddle tank was life-expired while the corresponding roundtopped boiler remained serviceable.

Under the caveat that records are incomplete, dates indicate that the majority of the combined classes acquired Belpaire boilers and pannier tanks during the same workshop visit. However, in apparently low priority cases, an interval between boiler and tank

The sparse information with this image states ‘Blowers Green’ which is on the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton route between Round Oak and Dudley with the year quoted as 1955. This date is incorrect as Class 655 No. 2712 was withdrawn in March 1950. This slightly fuzzy view, probably taken post-World War 2, is included because this locomotive acquired a B4 boiler and pannier tanks in August-October 1914 but even this late in its career, the original form of bunker has been retained.

WESTERN TIMES Class 655

because many of the heterogeneous boiler collection had by then been scrapped. Thirty locomotives changed boiler type only once, going straight from R3 to B4; all eventually acquired the latter type between July 1912 and March 1930. In most cases, pannier tanks were fitted concurrent with acquisition of B4 boilers in a more rational approach to modernisation. However, there were exceptions as with Nos. 767, 1747, 2714/ 8 where the fitting of a Belpaire boiler preceded pannier tanks by periods well over 12 months which was contrary to a key purpose of the latter improvement. No. 1775 differed in receiving pannier tanks over 7 years before its round-topped S4 boiler was replaced. No. 1778 received a B4 boiler in December 1922 but conformed to the near obligatory requirement for a single exception to the rule by remaining a saddle tank until becoming the first withdrawal in October 1928.

Wolverhampton’s final purpose-designed ‘large’ saddle tank class was delivered in three Lots: Loco Nos.

Works Nos.

Lot

Built

655, 767, 1741-50

563-74

1892

1771-90

575-94

1892-4

2701-20

605-24

1896/ 7

Nos. 655 and 767 were vacant in the list following the sale of two of Class 645 in the 1870s which added to the potential for confusion. Also, the sequence of running numbers allocated to Lot No. E3 has sometimes led to erroneous assumption that they formed part of Swindon-built Class 2721.

Modernity was evident in other ways. Twelve acquired fully enclosed cabs and all but four received Automatic Train Control in either the 1930/ 1 or the 1936/ 7 fitting programmes. Quite a number acquired shorter cast iron chimneys reminiscent of the type later fitted to Class 57xx between the wars. Up to 31 December 1938, ten had been withdrawn and one (No. 1742) sold into colliery service. Between April and November 1939, four were withdrawn and stored as war reserves but all were back in service by February 1940. Of this group, No. 1747 was reluctant to depart as it was withdrawn (June 1939) and reinstated (December 1939) only to repeat the cycle in November and December 1949 before final withdrawal in May 1950. Twenty-one survived to become British Railways property and Nos. 1782 & 2719, the last in service were withdrawn in November 1950.

Class 655 shared much in common with preceding Class 645 series but apparently had longer frames still than those of the 1501 series but by how much is undisclosed. However, with the enlarged bunkers fitted to some later in their careers, the capacity was rated at 3.3 tons compared with 2 tons when introduced. At first they carried the typical Wolverhampton roll top chimney like earlier saddle tanks, but replacement with the standard Dean form commenced quite early – a matter of detail that showed growing convergence with Swindon’s standards. All were built with the Wolverhampton Type R3 boiler (raised firebox casing) and 3-course saddle tank. Some locomotives participated in the boiler pool arrangements around the turn of the century but to far less degree than with preceding classes, presumably

In contrast to the previous image, Class 655 No. 2718 acquired pannier tanks in February 1917, its first B4 boiler in August 1918 and a Collett-style bunker plus parallel buffers at undisclosed later dates. This photograph was taken at Tyseley shed on 17 May 1936, and withdrawal was to take place in October 1945. For all the inherent advantages of the pannier tank layout, positioning of the toolboxes was a recurring challenge. Here the older style of injector allowed sufficient space just ahead of the cab while in the previous view of No. 2712, the toolbox is adjacent to the centre splasher face.

ISSUE 10 Large Locomotives: Dimensional Comparison

were legion. To illustrate how related dimensions varied while avoiding immersion in endless detail, the following table summarises the degree of change between construction as new saddle or side tanks, and their final pannier condition. It is impressive how weights and notional power figures [latter within the limitations of the tractive effort formula] were absorbed by chassis well beyond their first flush of youth. These simple statistics speak volumes for the rugged nature and quality of the original construction standards.

The extraordinary variety among the classes reviewed thus far largely derives from the alternative combinations of boilers, tanks and bunkers. These features will be considered on a fleet-wide spectrum later. However, the saddle/ pannier tank family underwent little modification below running plate level which is noteworthy in view of the length of operating lives and resultant weight variations which Class

302 As Built

302 0-6-0PT

1016 As Built

1016 0-6-0PT

645/ 1501 As Built

645/ 1501 0-6-0PT

655 As Built

655 0-6-0PT

Frame Type

Double

Inside

Cylinders

16” x 24”

17” x 24”

16” x 24”

17” x 24”

16” x 24”

17” x 24”

Boiler Pressure [lb/sq in]

140

165

140

150

140

165

140

165

Wheels

4’ 6”

4’ 7.5”

4’ 6”

4’ 7.5”

4’ 6”

4’ 7.5”

4’ 6”

4’ 7.5”

Tractive Effort [lb]

13,540

17,530

13,540

17,530

13,540

15,530

15,280

17,530

Wheelbase

7’ 4” + 8’ 2”

7’ 3” + 8’ 2”

7’ 3” + 8’ 3”

Tank(s) [gal]

1000

1200

880

1020-1070

980

1200

1000

1200

- leading

12.15

15.5

14.05

11.5

15.2

13.4

15.15

- driving

12.2

15.5

12.5

15.3

13.9

15.25

- trailing

11.3

13.85

11.5

15.05

10.7

13.5

13.9

12.5

- total

35.65

44.85

43.1

34.7

41.2

42.9

Weight [tons]

The Wolverhampton saga relating to the rebuilding of 0-6-0 tender engines and the fleet of smaller 0-6-0Ts will be covered in The Pannier Story: Part 3, scheduled to appear in the next issue of Western Times.

No. 1747 of the 655 Class, stands on the Tyesley coal road in what is thought to be its final configuration, with non-standard chimney.

WESTERN TIMES

THE 93xx MOGULS FROM THE ARCHIVES OF R C RILEY his sub-class, numbered 9300-19, was an oddity. The routes, particularly in Cornwall. In compensation, T mogul type having gained widespread acceptance weight distribution was adjusted by installing a heavy in the United States, Churchward introduced the transverse weight behind the front buffer beam. Sixty2-6-0 wheel arrangement in 1911 as a tender version of 2-6-2T Class 3150. The success of the concept as a medium-size mixed traffic design was proven through there being a total of 322 at work by 1925.

five of the 53xx series had been so modified in 1928 (re-numbered in the 83xx series) and this treatment was also applied to sub-Class 93xx when built. The penalty was that the weight increase elevated the engines so effected into ‘red’ route availability which restricted their operational scope. Late in their careers, the twenty ‘93s’ had the extra front end weight removed and were concurrently renumbered in the 7322-7341 series in the same order. Some observers queried why re-identification was necessary at this late stage in their careers but the measure served a practical purpose in drawing attention to the difference in route availability.

Their growing presence had considerable impact upon the GWR tender locomotive fleet at large, most particularly in deferment of the 5’ 8” 2-cylinder 4-6-0 which had formed part of Churchward’s Standard Locomotive programme of 1901. Their presence also contributed to withdrawal of 4-4-0s that worked in a mixed traffic role, being around eight tons heavier and with the benefit of added adhesion afforded by six coupled wheels. Introduction of the production series Halls further deferred the 5’ 8” 4-6-0 type but why the final twenty 2-6-0s (Nos. 9300-19) built in 1932 were needed is hard to explain. They were modernised with side window cabs, screw reverse, and outside steam pipes. A slightly higher boiler pitch and a six-inch longer main frame wrought a modest increase in overall weight.

The 93s were built as entirely new engines but in response to Collett’s arcane attitude to new build versus rebuild policies, in the period 1936-9 eightyeight members of the 43xx series and twelve of the 53xx series were withdrawn. Their wheels and motion were retained for use in eighty Granges and twenty Manors introduced during those years. The former proved splendid performers, amply proving the wisdom of Churchward’s vision of 35 years earlier. The 93xx series was entirely peripheral to this evolutionary process. In November 1961, No. 7322 (ex-9300) was the first to be withdrawn and No. 7327 (ex-9305) was the last, surviving until November 1964.

The earlier engines enjoyed a wide route availability on account of their ‘blue’ rating but their tendency to roll, albeit to lesser degree than the broadly comparable 4-4-0 Counties, exerted excessive wear on the leading driving wheel flanges over curvaceous Right: This pre-war image of No. 9315 on shed, one of the earliest in Dick Riley’s collection, lacks accompanying details but presents a nice portrait of this ‘maid-of-aii-work’ class. The Churchward 43xx moguls were nicely proportioned machines and it is argued Collett’s addition of modern sidewindow cabs enhanced the type’s good looks. This locomotive was delivered to service in March 1932 and has since acquired the monogram tender emblem. Apart from the cab, the main distinguishing feature was the heavy beam behind the front buffer beam which appears slightly slimmer than that fitted to sixty-five members of the 83xx series. R C Riley (RCR 213).

ISSUE 10 Left: Reading depot’s No. 9309 is captured passing Iver on an Up ordinary passenger service comprising seven coaches on Sunday 27 May 1956. The first three seem to be non-corridor suburban stock followed by a rake of four early Collett passenger vehicles. Judging by reports on the performance of members of the Class 43xx family, this seems to be about the optimal load before a locomotive was required to be worked unduly hard. No. 9309 was delivered in March 1932 and spent its whole career allocated to Old Oak Common, Reading and Southall sheds. It became No. 7331 in May 1959, before withdrawal in September 1962. (RCR 7292).

Above: Compared with the previous image, No. 9302 (Oxford) has a tougher task in working an Up express through Sonning Cutting on Saturday, 7 July 1956. The train comprises at least nine bogies which displayed the variety that had typified many Great Western passenger services and which remained customary into the 1950s. The first coach is a Sunshine Brake Composite followed by a flatended Collet ten-compartment All Third, then a Hawksworth coach (possibly a composite), then what appears to be a Collett bowender. A Castle or Hall 4-6-0 would seem more appropriate for a train of this weight. (RCR 7449).

WESTERN TIMES Left: On Saturday 21 July 1956, No. 9313 of Didcot displayed the class’s mixed traffic credentials with an Up unfitted through goods train descending Rattery bank. About thirty wagons can be seen of which a number are probably empty but their aggregate weight would be around 350 tons, plus whatever is still out of sight. A banker would have helped on the ascent of Hemerdon with another waiting at Totnes to help the assault of Dainton West. (RCR 7592).

Above: If the recorded dates are correct, Dick Riley would have needed full regulator on his trusty Morris Minor Tourer to travel from Rattery to the Whiteball area, a journey that would have included negotiating severe traffic congestion on the notorious Exeter by-pass. No. 9300 was leading a lengthy Down express at Burlescombe on Saturday, 21 July 1956. The ‘foreign’ train reporting number and the ex-LMS coach as the fourth in the composition suggests that this was a North to West service. Ten coaches are in view indicating that this engine would have to work hard to maintain schedule, even with the help of a banker from Wellington. The intensity of extra services to the West Country on summer Saturdays could stretch motive power resources. There is a documented case of a Class 43xx on a Down Saturday extra whose laborious unassisted slog to Whiteball tunnel significantly delayed following services on a day when such impediments were least needed. The unevenness of load factors could be evident e.g. a pristine Castle with ten well-filled bogies could be followed by a grimy Hall with 15 overloaded coaches on a Saturday extra. (RCR 7814).

ISSUE 10

Above: On the same day as the previous photograph, Southall’s No. 9301 emerged from Whiteball Tunnel with a Down parcels train and judging by the shadows, it is now early evening. Parcels trains were always interesting for their diverse composition. In this case, there is a Southern general utility van and what seem to be three ex-LMS passenger brake vans, the third of which is in ‘blood and custard’ which to many observers was the most attractive of the BR-inspired liveries (excluding that which aped the GWR’s). Immediately behind the tender is the comforting presence of an inside-framed Siphon G, a type that out-lived the moguls with some examples still to be seen at Paddington on evening newspaper trains in the early 1980s. (RCR 7843). Below: On Saturday 20 April 1957, No. 9308 of SALOP was on Worcester shed. A close relative, in the shape of Oxford’s No. 6864 Dymock Grange is standing on the line behind, along with a workstained Collett 38xx 2-8-0. (RCR 8159).

On Wednesday 16 July 1958, Laira’s No. 7333 (ex-No. 9311) was homeward bound with a Down service comprising Southern Maunsell coaches on the GWR Up mainline, approaching Cowley Bridge Junction. Because of the vulnerability of the DawlishTeignmouth sea wall section, it was standard practice for two services a day to be worked Exeter-Plymouth and return via Okehampton by Western crews and locomotives to maintain route familiarity. No. 9311 was modified and joined the 73xx ranks in April 1957. In the process, it evidently acquired lined green livery which suited these handy-sized machines very well. This locomotive was withdrawn from Taunton in October 1963. (RCR 12311).

ISSUE 10

Above: On Saturday 8 August 1959, No. 7331 (ex-No. 9309) of Reading depot had cleared Westbourne Bridge with the 1.42 pm Down Reading service. This locomotive (withdrawn September 1962) was coupled to one of the ten-strong ‘Intermediate’ 3500-gallon tenders built 1925/ 6 under Lot A112. The train comprised eight non-corridor suburban coaches of which the first was a Hawksworth diagram E147 Brake Composite originally intended to work as part of a two-coach B-set followed by a pair of BR Mark 1 suburban All Thirds. (RCR 14050). Below: Another example of summer pressure on motive power resources was this view taken at Hinksey south on 15 August 1959. Didcot’s No. 7327 (ex-No. 9305) was in charge of the Saturdays Only 12.14 pm Hastings-Birmingham express service. The first, second, fourth and sixth coaches were BR Mark 1s in blood and custard. Third and sixth were Bulleid stock and the three at the rear were of Maunsell vintage. There seems to be a predictable absence of a catering vehicle within the consist which would have been unwelcome on a journey of over 200 miles, probably conducted at a relatively slow pace. The mogul most likely took over at Basingstoke and would probably work through to the destination. (RCR 14124).

WESTERN TIMES

KEEPING THE GWR ON TRACK JIM HORSNELL Horsnell first contacted Western Times in the ones at this van and also collect fresh bars of soap Jownimspring of 2023. At that time, he spoke briefly of his (this soap was in the shape of small ovoids with ‘GWR’ time on the railway – Jim was a proper GWR man impressed into them - I think soap was still rationed in having started in the service in 1946. Correspondence followed and he was persuaded to write down some more of his recollections, which are reproduced below.

1946). As will be gathered, I was, of course a general dogsbody for many other things.

‘We worked Saturday mornings when we were allowed to dress less formally but still smart in sports jacket, flannels and tie. The Chief Clerk similarly exchanged his bowler for a trilby but still, as always carried his rolled umbrella. Everyone was friendly in what was quite a ‘happy family’. Aged 18, I became a Clerk Class 5 with more pay but I remained on the same duties until 1 January, 1948 when the office turned out to wave me off on the 9.10am train to do my National Service.

Jim (pictured right) was one of the army of clerks employed by the railway for many years. An unsung and to the public mostly unseen group of men and women, responsible for keeping the railway ‘on track’. Staff recollections are of course always welcome but perhaps especially so on this occasion as so few remain from the period and even less who can impart to how the railway really worked. ‘As a former employee of the GWR, which I joined in September, 1946, reading Western Times is a sheer delight especially as one who has missed receiving the former magazine published by Wild Swan. Thank you for embarking on this venture which I hope will grow increasingly successful. You may be interested to read the following account of my first days with the GWR.

‘In the Winter of 1946/47, together with other members of the office who encouraged me (I had only just started work), I attended the evening classes held at the Signalling School at Royal Oak. There was an excellent demonstration model railway there and the Course covered the Rules and Regulations affecting the safe working of Railways and the appliances used in connection therewith. There were two lecturers and they were as different as chalk from cheese, Mr Hardy and Mr Holmes. Mr Holmes was a real gentleman, a lovely man, who I very much admired and I tried as much as possible to attend the classes he took. I passed the exam while still a Junior Clerk and I have the G.W.R. Certificate (below) presented to me in April 1947. I attended the Course again in 1953/54, passed once more and have the BR(W) certificate presented to me in April 1954.

‘I started work on the 2 September 1946 as a Junior Clerk in the Staff Office of the Superintendent of the Line’s Office of the Great Western Railway at Paddington, where I was always known as Jimmy. So began my 38 years in Railway Personnel work. ‘We were expected to dress smartly in a suit, white shirt and collar and tie, sign the attendance register on arrival and be proficient in shorthand, which meant I had to go to night school - but after two years I never got to master it! One of the other clerks befriended me and this friendship continued until he died in his 90s. ‘I had to arrive early at the office to record and sort the incoming mail, writing with a steel nib in a wooden holder. I had to assist in the filing of papers and their retrieval when next required. As the junior I was responsible for taking a special jug with a spout on where I would mix a black powder with water to make ink and then fill everyone else’s ink well. Not surprisingly, most of us used our own fountain pens and bought our own ink! ‘Once a week a Stores Van, from Swindon, was shunted into the station. I had to collect everyone’s duster and hand towel and exchange them for clean 24

ISSUE 10 recording roll down to the Works Office en-route to his own place of work further down the yard. I would sometimes visit Dad at the Station, so I knew his routine quite well. I also knew Tommy Reed/Read the News Vendor, with his familiar shout “News, Star and Standard”, the three evening newspapers then on sale at one penny each. When Tommy died his son Billy took over. Poor Billy, injured as a baby, was all shakes and some of the nasty local boys would tease him, getting him so agitated that it would shake some of the pennies out of his cash bag which hung over his shoulder. The boys would then dart in and pinch them. ‘Dad had an allotment on the railway land alongside the track beyond the Works and I spent many hours with him there as I grew up, watching the trains go by, hence in my formative years much of my life was closely linked with the GWR. Even when I was evacuated as a ten-year old in 1940 it was the GWR that took me to safety by special train from Ealing Broadway Station to Teignmouth. ‘During all this time I was a keen train spotter recording the engine numbers and names in books I still have; spending many hours on Jacob’s Ladder, the bridge spanning the railway at West Ealing, continuing this hobby when in Devon by visits to Newton Abbot and Exeter. Both places had engine sheds and Newton Abbot a large locomotive works, facilities easily viewed from the station platforms at both locations.

e One of the early letter exchanges between Jim and the ‘Great Western Railway Staff and Establishments Office’ at Aldermaston, as he sought company employment in early 1946.

‘Even so I only went into a signal box once. My wife’s brother, Derek Justice, who had been a Signalman at Greenford before transferring to the London District Superintendent’s Office (D.S.O.), took me up into the box at West Ealing. I could not get back out of it quick enough after several expresses had thundered through shaking the living daylights out of everything - especially me. The paper qualification was quite enough for me, thank you, without the real experience.

‘In time and I must say much to my delight, I found myself actually working for the GWR at Paddington when I left school in 1946. The Careers Master at Drayton Manor County Grammar School, Hanwell (which I had attended on returning from evacuation) had tried to divert me from a job with the railways to joining BOAC, the ‘transport of the future’, in his view, and the Recruitment Officer for the Civil Service also endeavoured to recruit me, but my mind was made up. In the event it was three of us from the same class at Drayton Manor who started as Junior Clerks at Paddington in that September of 1946, myself, Tom Butler, whose dad was a District Inspector attached to the Divisional Manager’s Office at Paddington. Tom started in the D.S.O; and also Ron Muncie, his father a Goods Porter in the vast Paddington Goods. He started in the Chief Goods Manager’s Office. We considered ourselves fortunate in getting these jobs as this was the time when all those who had been in the Forces during the War were being demobbed, returning home and all seeking work, but none of these wanted to be Junior Clerks.

‘Looking back on my life, I realise I was introduced to the GWR at a very young age. I was born in 1929 just a stone’s throw from West Ealing Station and my father, Thomas William Horsnell, worked at the Railway’s Engineering Depot at West Ealing where, following an accident at Brentford Goods (he fell from the roof on to a barge moored at the quay) he was employed on indoor office duties and as Timekeeper at West Ealing Station; where he had a ‘cubbyhole’ underneath the stairs down to Platforms 2 and 3 at the Station. ‘From here he dispensed to staff the free tickets and privilege ticket application forms for which they had applied, and gave out Workman’s Card Passes to cover individuals’ train journeys to the places where they were to work that day. Of necessity his was an early start. There was a booking-on time clock/machine on Platforms 2 and 3 to enable the Engineering Department staff to sign on each day without having to go down to the Works Office. At 9.00am Dad would release the recording roll of paper from the machine, close the protective shutter down, lock it and take the

‘When I started in the Superintendent of the Line Office (S.O.L.O), the staff had only recently returned from their wartime location at Aldermaston. They had been accommodated in restaurant cars and travelled there and back daily by a special Staff Train which ran from Paddington. The General Manager was based in nearby Aldermaston Grange. Now back at Paddington the office staff were in Room 10 on the second floor. 25

WESTERN TIMES There were two other rooms on this floor; one for the secretaries and typists and the other for the Office Messengers. To meet immediate needs, carpenters had made temporary desks for everyone from wooden uprights and planks of wood covered with the ubiquitous GWR brown lino which gave a good working surface. Meanwhile, proper desks were being made at the Carpenters’ Shops at both Swindon and West Ealing and it was quite an event when this furniture and proper chairs were eventually delivered.

‘At the time of Nationalisation, the organisation of the S.O.L.O./Operating Department’s Staff Office was made up of a Head of Section and an Assistant Head of Section. The Office was then split into two subsections; one to deal with all Salaried Staff matters and the other dealing with matters relating to the Wages Grades. I worked on the Wages Grades subsection which is where I took up duty as a Class 5 Clerk on completion of my National Service at the end of 1949. I was a much stronger personality than the young lad who had gone off on 1 January 1948. At the culmination of my spell in the army I was a corporal in charge of the Movements Traffic Office in the R.T.O. at Harwich Parkeston Quay, with a staff of several clerks of my own. It was something of a comedown to return to my comparatively humble railway role. Nevertheless. I was pleased to be back, firstly absorbing all the various changes which Nationalisation had made in my two-year absence and then to settle down to the work which was now allocated to me, namely Staff Travelling Facilities for personal and duty purposes, staff household removals, extended illness cases, guards’ watches for repair and retention in retirement, pensions for staff of certain Constituent Railways and later in the 1950s I was considerably involved with the introduction of the Pension Scheme for Wages Grades. Pensions seemed to me to be something the GWR had never provided except for Salaried Staff, at least that is my recollection. There was, of course, the

Above: In the late evening of 4 March 1955, the driver of 0-60PT No. 3618 takes a breather from shunting vans in Platform 5 at Paddington. Not all deliveries to the station were destined for external customers for as Jim reveals, many office supplies arrived by rail from various locations. R C Riley (RCR 5673).

‘I was perhaps fortunate not to lose my job at a very early stage. This came about due to the fact that we finished at 5.00pm (not a moment before) and my train back to West Ealing left at 5.03pm. Hence I literally ran out of the office at full speed, only one day I went around a corner to bump straight into a rather well dressed gentleman – none other than Lord Portal the GWR Chairman! ‘The Company provided a range of recreational facilities which I could use. There was a Lending Library in a room adjacent to the Clerks’ Dining Room on the top floor of the District Goods Manager’s Offices in Bishops Bridge Road. The GWR also had an Athletics Club which was on grounds easily reached from Castle Bar Park Halt on the Ealing to Greenford line. This had a Club Pavilion with changing and washing facilities, a bar serving refreshments, pitches for various games and tennis courts. It was here I played Hockey in the Winter and Cricket in the Summer.

Above and Below: The GWR Operatic Society productions of ‘The Geisha’ and ‘Merrie England’ being held on the stage of the Scala Theatre in Tottenham Court Road in the early 1950s. Jim was a member of this active company society, and performed in the chorus section for both productions.

‘I also joined the GWR Operatic Society for two seasons when they performed ‘The Geisha’ and ‘Merrie England’. I was in the chorus for both productions. The Society performed these shows at what was then the Scala Theatre in Tottenham Court Road. We had the theatre for a whole week with public performances on four nights, one night being ‘Company’s Evening’ when the audience was principally made up of the railway’s customers, invited as guests of the General Manager and other Departmental Chiefs. 26

ISSUE 10 GWR Pension and Provident Society with an office in Westbourne Terrace but this seemed to be run as a separate entity to the mainstream Railway.

became part of St. Mary’s Hospital who redeveloped it for their own requirements. Much of which would have been of immense historical value was lost as the various reorganisations were implemented.’)

‘I also had the unusual job of keeping updated history record cards of former GWR Staff who had been absorbed into the Western Welsh and Western National Omnibus Companies. Most of these men had started their working lives with the GWR as ‘lad conductors’ and subsequently gained promotion to Bus Drivers and Inspectors. The information enabling me to update these record cards came to me from the Welsh Divisional Managers’ Offices or from the Divisional Manager, Exeter or the District Traffic Manager, Plymouth. (I remember the stationery from the Plymouth Office being headed GWR - Gets there With Rapidity or Go ahead, Workmanlike, Reliable). I do not know why these records were required or what happened to them when Regional Headquarters were decentralised.

‘Passenger and Goods Guards sixty years of age or over, were all required to be seen by the Railway Doctor annually to ensure their continued fitness to carry out their duties and these medical checks were organised by my sub section. A record of each Guard and the result of their medical check-ups were kept in our office. Examinations were carried out in a special ‘Doctors’ Medical Coach’, moved around to principal locations on the Region and the Guards in that area scheduled to attend. ‘A circular came round the office one day in the early 1950s inviting applications for a job in the Staff Travel Facilities Section of the Chief Establishment and Staff Office at Paddington. I applied and was successfully appointed with a commensurate salary increase. In my new role I became a specialist in the many aspects of staff travel facilities. The title I held was in fact, Assistant Head of Section, but I soon discovered that the Clerk on the Section was being paid a salary greater than mine! Evidently, under the GWR, none of the posts in the General Manager’s or the Chief Establishment and Staff Offices were graded and staff received (or didn’t receive) an annual increment based on their performance in the past year. Not long after, and as part of bringing the Western into line with the rest of British Railways, all the posts were assessed and graded. I personally did well out of this, becoming a Clerk Class 1. Another Western arrangement that ceased was the extra half day’s leave granted to Departmental HQ Staff prior to Bank Holidays i.e. we finished at mid-day on Christmas Eve, Maundy Thursday and at the Spring and August Bank Holidays. Concessional rates for Staff Coal and Firewood (i.e. cut up sleepers) delivered to your home address also ceased.

‘Two other items handled on our sub-section were of interest to me. One was wet weather equipment and the other the Grading of Signalmen/Signal Boxes. If a station needed wet weather equipment for staff required to work outside or to clean station cattle pens and cattle trucks, they had to apply to their Divisional Office to obtain authority for their issue. In turn the Divisional Office had to seek our authority at Departmental HQ. One of my colleagues dealt with such applications and he kept a card index recording all the details of where and when protective clothing was issued. What intrigued me was that one set only of this equipment, including wellington boots, would be agreed according to the specifications given on the application form and this one set had to be used by all the staff at the station who carried out the duties for which it was issued - one set for ‘the long, the short and the tall’. ‘The Classification of Signal Boxes/Signalmen was a very specialised subject and there was only one person on our sub section who understood the implementation of this system and the calculation it involved. I sat opposite him in the office but although he explained to me all that was involved, I cannot recall what he told me. We had in the office a set of wooden cabinet drawers in which were filed folders containing a Signal Box Diagram and all the details relating to the classification of a particular box. These cabinets were moved out when the Regional H.Q. was decentralised to the new Divisional organisation and I just happened one day in a lunch time stroll to come across them in an alcove at the entrance of the old stables building. I hope they were subsequently moved to an appropriate permanent home.’ (When questioned further about these specific records Jim added, ‘There was a whole rank of these three-drawer cabinets which must have had in them folders about each signal box over a considerable period of time. I believe the old Paddington stables building, which was like a multi-storey car park in design but made up of stalls for the hundreds of horses once used for working from Paddington Goods,

Above: Paddington Station filled with typical Summer Saturday crowds on 25 July 1953. This would have been a familiar sight to Jim, as the main Great Western Railway offices occupied the southern aspect of the site, to the right of Platform 1 in this view.

WESTERN TIMES ‘After a while as Assistant Head of the Staff Travel Facilities Section, I was asked to add to my duties with promotion by taking on the position of Assistant Regional Ambulance Secretary and in this role, I also served as Secretary to the B.R. Headquarters Ambulance Committee. Everyone was encouraged to become qualified in First Aid by attending classes organised throughout the System in conjunction with the St. John’s Ambulance Brigade. I became a First Aider which qualified me for an additional day’s annual leave and an additional free ticket. I kept this up and hold a small mounted shield for 15 years First Aid Efficiency with an added star for a further twenty years.

‘We detrained at Taunton with the trolley and our goods, while the train went on to Barnstaple. The trolley was then locked up in safe accommodation at the station and we went off to enjoy the delights of the town. We returned to the station in time to board the return working of the train and repeated our trade back to Paddington. Upon arrival we then had to check back in all the unsold goods at the Hotel and Catering Depot in the bowels of the earth under the station, and hopefully the value of the returned goods plus the cash we had taken equalled the value of the goods we had been supplied with. All of this was quite a novel experience for me and a change from the normal office routine.

‘Not surprisingly there were moments out of the routine that are well remembered. One was when the telephone rang and it was only with some difficulty that I eventually understood the caller – a senior official from Reading – perhaps best left nameless. He was instructing me to meet the guard of a particular train due to arrive at Paddington where we would be handed a small box containing his false teeth. We were to take these for repair to an establishment nearby and then advise him on which train they were on when returned later. Of course, the reason we could not understand him was he was speaking without his teeth – how he managed at Reading during the time he was without is hard to imagine.

‘One Saturday morning when I was working in the office, we were fascinated by the huge number of people waiting to enter the station. The queue stretched from the station entrance on the departure side up the slope, across to the pavement along Eastbourne Terrace, where the end of the line of these would be travellers vanished from view in the distance. This queue went on all morning with the situation just the same when we left the office at midday.

‘Under British Railways, the Superintendent of the Line’s department was also renamed ‘Operations’ and a new sign to this effect hung over the door. I was in the corridor one day and found an unknown man hovering at the door looking puzzled. I asked if I could help and he mentioned he had an appointment to see a Mr…. . It was not a name I had heard of, and neither had anyone in ‘Operations’. Thus, I took him back to my own office where with the help of colleagues we went through every department and name but again without success. It was only later we found out he was in the wrong building; his appointment being to see a surgeon Mr…. in the operations department at neighbouring St Mary’s Hospital! ‘In the early 1950s the Hotels and Catering Department sought help with the provision of some form of refreshments on certain Saturday services out of Paddington in the holiday season on which no restaurant car was provided. I took this up and on Saturdays when I was not rostered for my usual job, I worked on the Saturday morning train from Paddington to Barnstaple. We were provided with a selection of items, including ice creams in a large cold box. A compartment was reserved for us in the centre of the train. We covered the seating with waterproof sheeting hung from the luggage racks and set out our wares on the seating and worked as a team of two. We had a very narrow metal trolley which one of us could load with some of our goodies and, if the coach corridors were free enough from standing passengers, would trundle along the train while the other manned the ‘shop’.

Above: The view from the Superintendent of the Line’s Office (Room 10 on the 2nd floor of Paddington Station), shows crowds of passengers queuing in Westbourne Terrace for access to the platforms. The date is thought to be summer 1947.

ISSUE 10 ‘Most of the trains I worked were packed out including the corridors and was typical of the Saturday trains leaving Paddington at this time. The services were often made up of a real mixture of rolling stock, sometimes including coaches from former constituent companies. Because of the numbers of passengers in the corridors of some trains, as the train left the station the coach running boards were rubbing along the platform surface creating a shower of dust and sparks.

pay packets for several hundred staff and taking them round to everyone. We still had to pay the Office Messengers and the Office Cleaners each week but not a large amount of cash was involved. ‘It may be of interest to know that the GWR recruited their own Office Cleaners at Paddington Headquarters. Most of these were mothers and widows who lived in the immediate neighbourhood. I found these ladies really pleasant people to get to know, maybe because my own mother had the same job elsewhere. The cleaners were glad to have this regular source of income and in my view the cleaning was always well and cheerfully done. I suppose I really got to know them during the Railway Strike in the early 1950s when I was asked to work nights for three weeks. To get to the office I had to cycle from West Ealing to Paddington for an 8.00pm start and to cycle home again after finishing at 8.00am so I was in the office when the cleaners were working.

‘Railway office outings were a feature in the early 1950s. In May, before all the rolling stock was required for additional trains, the office would have a Dining Car for a Saturday. This was a great day out. I have one photo of the outing we had to Pershore/Worcester. It was also my first experience of GWR on train catering at its best. A full lunch on the outward journey and evening dinner of excellent cuisine on the way home. A trip by road coach in the afternoon took us round the Pershore area where all the fruit trees were in full blossom and the countryside at its Spring best. Later in the year, when the plums were ripe, a consignment of these would arrive in the Office available for us to buy.

‘I remember the weather at this time being gloriously hot and sunny which made it extremely difficult to sleep during the day. Being the Staff Office, we had to stay open to maintain the line of communication between local management and higher management and to receive and pass on regular reports of the staffing situation on the ground as the shifts changed etc and to pass down instructions as to what should or should not be done by local management. ‘It was interesting to view from the office window something of the night life and early morning activities of the area. I remember a horse drawn yellow cart of the London Ice Company passing promptly each morning at the same time. The horse galloping along pulling the cart loaded with huge blocks of ice for delivery to hotels and businesses where this commodity was a daily requirement (fridges, I think, were yet to come).

Above: The Superintendent of the Line’s Office (S.O.L.O.) outing to Worcester in May 1954. Jim is second from the right.

‘The Staff Travel Facilities and Regional Ambulance Sections were then both in the same large room. However, within a couple of years the Ambulance Section was transferred to the Welfare Department located in Westbourne Terrace and I was made redundant. Fortunately, I was immediately appointed to a newly created post in the Establishment Section to help with the introduction (by Dr Beeching) of the Staff Appraisal Scheme transferring very quickly with further promotion to an identical post on the Southern Region at Waterloo. Thus, my days with the Western ended and I finally completed my railway career of 38 years with Transmark, a consultancy company fully owned by BR where I was Company Administration Officer for five years. I took early retirement at 55 years of age prior to the Privatisation of the Railways. Perhaps it had also been for the best that I left Paddington, for when Stanley Raymond was appointed to the Western Region at Paddington with orders to ‘de-westernise’ the region, one of his edicts was to have taken down all the beautifully framed images of locomotives and the like that had graced the corridors at Paddington. The GWR really was no more.’

‘In GWR days and into the early 1950s, few railway staff had a bank account which meant they had to be paid in cash - wages staff weekly and salaried staff fortnightly. At Departmental HQ we had to collect the cash for payment to the staff from the Cash Office in the Treasurer’s Department situated at the far end of the offices running alongside Platform 1. I was called upon to help with the fortnightly paying of the salaried staff. Three of us would collect the cash required which we carried back to the office in a brown attaché case. It was quite heavy. I drew the short straw in that, for security, this case was chained to me and locked - if the cash was stolen, I would go with it! I am pleased to say this never happened although others who had to take cash to outlying points did suffer attack and the loss of their cash. These unfortunate circumstances led to everyone receiving a letter inviting them to consider opening a bank account which most did and thereafter their salaries were paid directly into their account. So ended the necessity for us to visit the Treasurer’s Cash Office and to spend time making up individual 29

WESTERN TIMES

EXPERIMENTAL MOTIVE POWER:

No. 92 & SIEMENS

he Swindon Stationary Test Plant, commissioned in to The Commissioners of Chester General Station in T 1904, was modelled on a facility operated by the October 1856. This station was initially jointly owned the Pennsylvania Railroad at its Altoona workshops. As GWR, LNWR and Birkenhead Railway (the last-named the first installation of its kind in Europe, its intended purposes were to compare power outputs of different types and to run in locomotives following construction or overhaul. Rather curiously in view Churchward’s stated intention to construct locomotives capable of exerting 2,000 lbs drawbar-horsepower at 70 mph, the plant’s modest capacity before re-construction in the 1930s made it impossible to absorb this level of effort. Also, it was soon found more convenient and informative to conduct running in with a couple of coaches on a shake down return trip to say, Chippenham.

was bought out in 1860 by the other two partners). In 1864 or 5, Chester was purchased by the GWR who removed the name and applied the number 342. It was broadly dimensionally similar to Nos. 91/ 2. No. 91 was withdrawn in January 1877 and cannibalised to provide frames and cylinders for repairs to its sister. No. 92 was converted to 0-4-0ST at Chester in December 1878 with frames shortened by two feet at the rear and the trailing axle removed. Further rebuilding followed at Wolverhampton in 1893 which included new motion, shortened wheelbase, modified frames and a new boiler which probably left little of the Beyer Peacock original in place. Regardless of these changes, it remained equipped only with a hand brake which restricted its operations. It was mainly confined to colliery shunting in the Wrexham area until the mid-1930s when it moved to Severn Tunnel Junction for ballast duties, and later at Radyr. It moved to Wellington in 1939 where it was mostly used as a stationary boiler. Withdrawn from running stock in July 1942 after 84 years’ service, it continued in this humble role for some time further. Then aged circa 51 years, it must have seemed an odd choice to be exercised on Churchward’s ‘home trainer’ in 1908. (For the record, No. 342 was converted at Chester to 0-4-0ST in February 1881, renewed at Wolverhampton in August 1897 and withdrawn in August 1931).

As a result, the plant was little used in the pre-Grouping period although surviving records may be incomplete. The first locomotive to run on the facility was Dean Goods No. 2460 which seemed a sensible choice for trying out the facility in its commissioning phase. Of the GWR locomotives that used the plant pre-1923, perhaps the most intriguing was 0-4-0ST No. 92 in 1908. In April 1857, Nos. 91 & 92 were the first standard gauge shunting engines supplied to the GWR, having been designed and built as 0-4-2STs by Beyer Peacock (works Nos. 51/ 2). The design was a BP standard intended mainly for colliery and industrial work, and formally known as the ‘Chester’ class, the name carried by the prototype (works No. 27) which was supplied

Above: No. 92 in final condition at Wolverhampton on 11 June 1935. This is probably how it appeared when ‘strutting its stuff’ on the Swindon Stationary Test Plant. J A Whaley.

ISSUE 10

‘Chester’ Class 0-4-2T Knighton (works No. 203) built 1861, the only motive power for the Craven Arms-Knighton route leased to the LNWR from 1863. GWR No. 92 would have closely resembled this locomotive when new except that the rear overhang would have been one to two feet shorter. Beyer Peacock.

Above: Drawing by Ahrons of No. 342 purchased from The Commissioners of Chester General Station. Reportedly this locomotive was very similar to Nos. 91 & 92.

Commercial locomotive manufacture was a highly competitive activity. The manner in which the huge number of producers that had blossomed in the 19th Century was reduced to about twenty-one names by 1900 showed that the risks were considerable. A factor behind this trend was that new railway companies started business with contractor-supplied motive power but many graduated to construction in their own workshops. Beyer Peacock’s first locomotives had been standard gauge 2-2-2s for the GWR in 1855 and the last transaction in the 19th Century comprised thirty ‘Beyer’ Class 322 0-6-0s in 1864/ 5, just before Joseph Armstrong’s extension of Swindon works eliminated the need to rely on contractors.

customer in November 1907, was tested at Swindon against No. 92 the following year. The latter was probably selected on grounds of its availability and of its broadly similar size. This comparison of antiquity against modernity must have been unique. Presumably, the Brotan-boilered machine’s superiority was a forgone conclusion and the results would have revealed how much progress had been made over the conventional, aged 0-4-0T. In addition, use of the test plant would have provided an excellent opportunity to become conversant with alternative boiler technology at minimal direct cost. In 1908, Swindon was leading modern UK boiler design with fully coned Standard Nos. 1, 2 & 4 boilers in use while fitting of the No 3. superheater to Saints and Stars had commenced. Nonetheless, Churchward with his consuming interest in boiler efficiency and vigilance concerning technical progress beyond these shores, was sufficiently engaged to supervise personally the testing of both No. 92 and Siemens.

This was a recurrent pattern of trade development, despite Beyer’s reputation for engineering excellence. For example, Nippon (later Japanese Government) Railways severed the connection in the early 1900s, having established their own facilities to the extent that Gorton Foundry’s services were no longer required. To compensate, Beyer Peacock actively sought fresh income streams during that decade including construction of road steam lorries, railway crane tanks, and steam rail motors, all without lasting success. Amidst these efforts, a contract was secured to build an outside-cylinder 0-4-0T (works No. 4969) named Siemens for British Mannesmann Tube Co Ltd. The conventional chassis carried a revolutionary boiler invented by Austrian Johan Brotan in 1902. With Siemens, this system comprised a stay-less water tube firebox combined with a boiler (9’ long x 3’ diameter) fitted with 153 fire tubes of 1.75” diameter. This boiler was surmounted by a 2’ 3” diameter horizontal drum set longitudinally between the smokebox rear and the cab front within which steam was collected before despatch to the cylinders. The Brotan system, probably the most successful form of water tube boiler, was used on some locomotives in Germany and Austria while Hungary operated over 1000 so equipped. Siemens, which had been delivered to the

Above: The unusual form of the Brotan boiler and firebox as fitted to Siemens. Beyer Peacock.

WESTERN TIMES In service, Siemens was reportedly capable of coping with curves of 70’ radius and 1 in 25 gradients. Extreme operating conditions typified many industrial systems although the claimed sharpness of the curves might have been exaggerated. German-owned British Mannesmann, based at Landore, was expropriated on the outbreak of World War 1 and this operation later became part of the Stewarts & Lloyds group. The locomotive was moved to their Newport works around 1921-3 where it saw out its career. In 1948, scrapping or refurbishment was reviewed and with adoption of the latter, it worked into the 1950s although records conflict over its precise withdrawal date. For Beyer Peacock, it was yet another blind alley as the only Brotan-boilered engine built by the company and possibly the only example to work in the UK.

Comparative dimensions:

Concurrent with the No. 92/ Siemens test programme, Beyer Peacock was building thirty 4-6-0s, thirty 2-8-0s and twenty 4-6-4Ts for long-established client, New South Wales Government Railway. The trading pattern was repeated as these would form the last significant orders from that source for over 40 years. However, NSWGR had appointed Herbert William Garratt as their inspecting engineer for these contracts; he grasped the opportunity, leading to his name becoming indelibly linked with Gorton Foundry for the remainder of Beyer Peacock’s locomotive manufacturing history.

Tractive Effort

Operator No. / Name

GWR

Mannesmann

No. 92

Siemens

1857/rebuilt 1893

1907

Wheel Arrangement

0-4-0T

Wheel Diameter

4’ 0”

3’ 1”

Cylinders

[IS] 15” x 20”

[OS]14” x 20”

Boiler Pressure

140 (lb/sq in)

180 (lb/sq in)

- firebox (sq/ ft)

- tubes (sq/ ft)

660

Grate (sq/ ft)

9.8

11,160 (lb 85%)

16,210 (lb 85%)

7’ 2”

Not quoted

Built

Heating Surfaces

Wheelbase

§ No details traced but would be incompatible due to entirely different configuration of steam spaces; however there were 34 firebox water tubes of 3.25” diameter.

References: • Beyer-Garratt. Jeremy Clements, Transport Treasury Publishing, 2023. • Locomotive Testing on Britain’s Railways. David Peel, Kestrel Railway Books, 2013.

Above: The official works photograph of British Mannesmann Tube Co. Ltd. 0-4-0T Siemens (works No. 4969) as completed in 1907. Beyer Peacock.

ISSUE 10

CITY OF TRURO A NOTABLE ANNIVERSARY OF ‘THAT’ RUN t would be remiss of us at Western Times to allow 120 Whilst the respected locomotive performance expert Iwithout years since the fabled date of 9 May 1904 to pass Charles Rous-Marten recorded the Plymouth to marking the milestone. This momentous date Paddington ‘Ocean Mails’ train at 102.3mph between in the history of the Great Western Railway has been embroiled in controversy and conjecture ever since, with still no definitive resolution in sight.

Whiteball and Wellington, his calculations were never definitively verified and lacked the presence of a dynamometer car much vaunted by another railway. Indeed, the GWR initially underplayed the event, not wanting to compromise their safety reputation! Whatever the truth, its resulting fame ensured the survival of this unique early 20th Century locomotive.

We refer, of course, to the infamous run of No. 3440 City of Truro, where it was claimed to be the first railway locomotive to attain the magical 100mph speed record.

Above: The works portrait of No. 3440 City of Truro taken in May 1903, the 2000th locomotive built at Swindon Works. GWR Official. Below: The locomotive stands at Westbourne Park shed in the condition it was for the infamous 9 May 1904 run. G W Trust.

MODERN TRACTION:

DIESEL SHUNTERS IN COLOUR he Great Western Railway began an association T with diesel shunters as early as 1933, when it purchased Fowler 70hp diesel-mechanical 0-4-0 No.1

(below) to operate within Swindon Works. This was followed in April 1936 by No.2, a 350hp 0-6-0 dieselelectric built by Hawthorn Leslie (right), which initially went to Old Oak Common. A further seven dieselelectric units were built at Swindon during 1948/9, which became Nos. 15101-7 (see page 36) under the British Railways numbering system.

Like most of the network, the Western Region was to play host to increasing numbers of shunters, of various types, as the onset of dieselisation gathered pace in the 1950s. This included numerous industrial designs employed in private works and sidings, alongside the more familiar classes. This selection of colour images showcases these much maligned diesel workhorses.

Above: By far the most numerous of the British Railways employed diesel-electric shunters, was the 350hp type (later designated Class 08) seen here on the approaches to Paddington station. A total of 997 units were delivered between 1952-62, of which No. D3032 emerged from Derby Works in November 1953. It wears original plain green livery with gill sans numerals. R C Riley (RCRC 2655).

ISSUE 10 Top: Ex-works BR English Electric 350hp 0-6-0 shunter, No. D3258 stands on one of the access roads to Swindon shed. The distinctive ‘wasp stripes’ were added to diesel shunters from late 1959. In contrast to the tidy shunter, behind can be glimpsed a workstained Hawksworth ‘County’ and the somewhat dilapidated coaling stage. Released from Derby Works in June 1956, this locomotive was originally numbered 13258, until receiving the identity seen here in May 1960. It later became No. 08 189 in March 1973 in which guise it remained until withdrawal in December 1981. Like many of its classmates, the locomotive was to return to Swindon Works for scrapping in the ‘killing fields’ of the Conyard in March 1984. Amyas Crump.

Middle: For its standard lightweight diesel-mechanical 0-6-0 shunter, British Railways favoured their own design fitted with a 204hp Gardner 8L3 engine. A total of 230 locomotives were constructed at Swindon (145) and Doncaster (85) between December 1957 and October 1961. They were to become Class 03 under TOPS from 1973. Several examples were put to work across the Western Region, in South Wales, Bristol, St Blazey, Plymouth, Newton Abbot, Taunton, Oxford, Gloucester, Worcester and as recorded here, Swindon. No. D2194 was constructed in May 1961 within ‘A’ Shop, and was immediately put to use as a Works and Yard Pilot within the sprawling Wiltshire complex. Withdrawal came in September 1968 and following a period of industrial use it was scrapped in June 1978 by Birds Long Marston. Roger Thornton. Bottom: Adjacent to the Swindon Works turntable on 27 September 1959, we find an immaculate No. PWM 653, undergoing acceptance trials. This 165hp diesel-electric 0-6-0 shunter was one of a batch of five purpose-built by Ruston & Hornsby of Lincoln for the BR(W), to undertake departmental duties. This particular locomotive was allocated initially to the new Pre Assembly Depot (PAD) at Theale, before a short move to the Reading Permanent Way Depot in 1972. In later life it received BR blue and was renumbered 97653. It was withdrawn in August 1992, and despite a failed preservation attempt and storage at MoD Long Marston, it was moved to Hurst’s (Andover) and scrapped in August 2011. Douglas Twibell.

WESTERN TIMES

Above: Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0 diesel-mechanical shunter No. D850 Margaret Bristowe, is seen surrounded by fish vans in Milford Haven Docks on 3 July 1961. Built in Leeds in June 1954, it was named after the wife of one of the Docks Company board members and worked in the South Wales port until withdrawal in 1992. Despite initial preservation at the Milford Maritime Museum, it was subsequently scrapped in 1995. As a footnote, one of its worksplates auctioned for £180 in March 2023. Douglas Twibell (32-2). Below: One of the original batch of diesel-electric 350hp shunters ordered by the Great Western Railway, No. 15101 shunts agricultural machinery at Cardiff Docks in August 1963. Built at Swindon to Lot: 346 in April 1948, it was later classified Class D3/11 by British Railways and this example remained in service until August 1967. John Wiltshire, courtesy Peter Brabham.

An unidentified 204hp locomotive makes its way along the Weymouth Quay line in July 1966, with a shunter and guard hitching a ride. This locomotive carries the warning bell on the bonnet in front of the cab, whilst on others it was affixed to the front valance. It also appears to have received a non-standard green repaint to its body side doors, which could aid in providing its identity. One wonders what became of the 1965 registered Austin 1100 4-door saloon parked on the garage forecourt.

As part of the Western Region’s diesel-hydraulic programme, the D95xx’s were the small shunter intended for light mainline, transfer and branch work. Their centre cab 0-6-0 design was partly based on the German V60 locomotives. Here the first of class No. D9500 nears completion within ‘A’ Shop at Swindon in late June 1964.

WESTERN TIMES

Above: No. D9501 shunts the yard at Cinderford Town on 30 March 1967, assembling a trip freight working bound for Gloucester. This is exactly the duty envisaged for these Type 1 shunters, but which was ironically already in decline. John Tolson (JMT 34199). Below: The full output from D9555’s 650hp Paxman engine will be required to lift a Coleford to Lydney Junction coal and stone train away from Parkend on 31 March 1967. This was the last of class and final BR locomotive built at Swindon. John Tolson (JMT 34204).

By now designated Class 08, No. D4009 (it did not receive its TOPS number of 08 841 until March 1974) was a December 1960 product of BR Derby Works. Allocated to St Blazey for most of its early life, as confirmed by the 84B shedplate on the rear, it is seen on 29 September 1971 at Boscarne Junction, with the 11.20am Bodmin Road to Wenford Bridge mixed freight. John Tolson (JMT 35115).

Later the same day, D4009 shunts the sidings at Wenford Bridge clay dries, assembling the return working to Bodmin Road. The vans will most likely be loaded with bagged china clay and a solitary clay hood has also been acquired. The locomotive has weathered considerably since receiving a coat of BR blue at its last overhaul, including the usual dusting of white clay, with the red coupling rods just discernible. John Tolson (JMT 35121).

A trio of the original batch of four converted locomotives (D2141/42/44/45) prepare to depart the Coedbach Washery with a loaded coal train for Carmarthen Bay Power Station on 16 July 1971. The leading engine retains green livery, whilst the other two have received corporate BR blue and yellow buffer beams. John Tolson (JMT 35097).

A total of nine Landore allocated Class 03s had the height of their cabs reduced by 4.5 inches to allow them to work the Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley (BPGV) line. For some of its length the branch ran on the course of the former Kidwelly & Llanelly Canal, the height of whose original bridges necessitated the loading gauge reduction.

ISSUE 10

Above: Liveries were anything but standard across such a large class, as can be judged from this pair of BR Blue 08’s at Swindon on 07 October 1971. No. 4121 is the local ‘Works Pilot’, with No. 3606 about to return to Landore in Swansea following overhaul. G H Taylor. Below: The functional form of the Class 08 shunter is shown to good effect in this portrait of No. 3965 at Old Oak Common on 28 October 1973. Renumbered 08 797 in early 1974, it was withdrawn in November 1990 having spent most of its life on the Western Region. G H Taylor.

Above: Darlington built No. 08 951 busies itself with mail vans at Penzance on 20 March 1974. The locomotive had only received its TOPS identity the previous month and was to shortly move to Bristol Bath Road shed. Roger Geach. Below: The unmistakable approaches to Paddington host a solitary looking No. 08 483 and wagon bound for Ranelagh Bridge Stabling Point in September 1974. The 1958 built locomotive is still in service at the time of writing. Roger Geach.

ISSUE 10 Top: On 3 July 1974, No. 08 839 scurries along the Cornish Main Line at Treverran north of Par, with a Wenford Bridge to St Blazey trip freight working. The maximum running speed of 20mph meant that runs on busy routes such as this were short and infrequent. This shunter was to spend its entire working service allocated to the Western Region. It was delivered as No. D4007 to Old Oak Common in December 1960, before moving to St Blazey in February 1961. It remained in Cornwall until transfer to Bristol Bath Road in 1975, followed by stays at Swindon, Gloucester and Laira, from where it was withdrawn in January 1992. Roger Geach.

Middle: A rather unkempt looking No. 03 128 stands alongside a classmate at Plymouth Laira depot on 30 March 1974. The application of a roughly applied patch featuring the new TOPS number and data panal was common at this time, when a full repaint could not be justified. The Western Region received its first allocation of Class 03s in June 1959, and this particular example arrived at Laira as No. D2128 in January 1960. The shed usually had two examples on its books, which were employed shunting the carriage sidings and trip workings to Cattedown, amongst other duties. G H Taylor.

Bottom: An unidentified Class 08 traverses the Hayle Wharves Branch in the mid-1970s, with a short train of fuel tanks. A number of industrial sites were served by the lines around the north quay, including a power station, small Esso oil depot and an ICI works producing Bromine to be used as an additive for aviation fuel. The short branch which ran down an incline from the main line and over a swing-bridge onto the quayside, was to play host to various classes of locomotives over the years, even including ‘Warships’. The line was taken out of use on 7 July 1982, when remaining freight traffic was inevitably transferred onto the already congested Cornish roads. Roger Geach.

WESTERN TIMES

Above: The major overhauls of both Class 03 and 08 shunters was centralised at Swindon by British Rail, and with the reduction in larger mainline diesels entering the works during the 1970s, ‘A’ Shop certainly had the capacity. On 26 June 1977, No. 08 640 receives attention, in the company of a withdrawn (D)1063 Western Monitor being stripped of parts. Below: Although this 23 October 1987 view post-dates the usual 1977 Western Times cut off, it makes a fitting way to conclude this feature on diesel shunters. Several D95xx locomotives saw post-BR industrial use, including this trio of Nos. D9515, D9548 and D9549, which were converted by Hunslet of Leeds to 5’ 6” gauge for export to Spain in late 1981. They are seen here at Charmartin Yard near Madrid, and one could argue this qualifies them as the final Swindon-built ‘broad gauge’ locomotives in service! Amyas Crump.

BOOK REVIEW GREAT WESTERN SIPHONS: A HISTORY OF THEIR DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATION

JOHN LEWIS Wild Swan Books (ISBN 978 191203 8589) Hardback, 288 Pages £54.95 very so often a new book release generates a high degree of E anticipation, driven either by the popularity of the subject matter or the reputation of the author. This latest offering by Wild Swan certainly falls into both of these categories.

Of all the Great Western Railway’s goods traffic enterprises, interest in the conveyance of milk from rural creamery to urban distribution depot has retained an evergreen popularity. Integral to that story has been the covered carriage van, referred to as the ‘SIPHON’ under the railway’s telegraphic code system. Until now the definitive written work on the subject has been the book released in 1986 by Jack Slinn and Bernard Clarke, under the Historical Model Railway Society label. This well thumbed tome on many enthusiasts bookshelves, has now been comprehensively updated by John Lewis, who succeeded Mr Slinn as GWR Rolling Stock Steward at the HMRS. So what is new in this latest release? Well, to start with it has been thoroughly restructured, with chapters now following a chronological time-line from the earliest broad gauge milk vans, through to the British Railways built diagrams of the mid-1950s. Siphon B, C, F, G, H, J, outside framed, inside framed, early 6-wheel opens and the myriad of miscellaneous milk train vehicles are all covered. Every diagram is listed, with Lot numbers, build dates, condemned or conversion information, supported by technical and livery details. Further chapters discuss the wider operational context of milk traffic on the railways and the actual formation of the trains themselves. Much of the information is new, and is the result of extensive contemporary research by the author and the availability of additional primary source material from the National Archives at Kew and the National Railway Museum in York. All of the above is lavishly illustrated by some 50 works drawings and documents, and over 200 photographs (many from the collection of the late David Hyde). Some of the images are published for the first time, whilst others have appeared in various books and articles over the years, but never has such a quantity been gathered together in one place before. Several are of such great quality that they have been afforded the full page and even double-page spread treatment. Many readers may baulk at a cover price of almost £55, but this should not be a deterrence from investing in what is now the seminal reference work on the subject. All books of this depth of content and production quality are costing a premium for publishers to produce, and as such are released as limited print runs. Authors and publishing houses are certainly not profiteering from works such as this, and should be applauded and supported for their investment and sheer determination in presenting such knowledge to the wider fraternity. This superb book will undoubtedly become as well read as its predecessor, for modelling projects, a reference guide, and general enjoyment of the topic. It is thoroughly recommended by this particular reviewer. ASM. 45

WESTERN TIMES

HOW THE GREAT WESTERN KEPT ITS NAME rior to the First World War, an Executive Committee contingent of heavy freight locomotives each weighing P comprising the General Managers of the major UK circa 75 tons. Disposal of this fleet proved a commercial railway companies had dealt with matters of concern disaster and sales were finally completed at heavily to the industry at large. With the outbreak of hostilities this body continued but was renamed the ‘Railway Executive Committee’ as the instrument through which the Government exercised direct control over the industry. Nominally chaired by the President of the Board of Trade, the de facto chairman was Sir Frank Walker of the London & South Western Railway.

discounted prices in mid-1927.

In political circles, Winston Churchill championed the nationalisation course. Post-war, he was a Government Minister albeit without a cabinet seat or any direct responsibility in transport matters. Nevertheless, he publicly announced that nationalisation would proceed but other more influential figures held differing views. For example, Sir Guy Granet had served as secretary to the Railway Companies Association before becoming General Manager of the Midland Railway in 1906. During the war he held various transport-related governmental appointments while retaining his position with the MR. A barrister by profession, he was a superb organiser with a keen analytical mind and what has been described as a Machiavellian ability to get what he wanted. Resigning as GM in 1918, he became a director of the MR and then chairman of the LMS in 1924. With excellent governmental contacts, throughout the febrile Grouping negotiations he was intent on preserving the Midland Railway’s ascendancy under private ownership and within a group that excluded the Great Central with its millstone of the superbly engineered but financially under-performing London Extension.

Under government control, rates charged by railway operators for passenger and freight traffic were held constant at pre-war levels while wages and operating costs increased enormously. Further, equipment was worked intensively during the conflict resulting in serious backlogs in repair and maintenance schedules. These combined factors presented the railways with a bleak future and a real threat of financial failure among some. Following the Armistice, it was decided that REC control should be extended for two years to allow time to work out a re-structuring of the industry. Differing proposals led to internecine negotiations, horse trading and hard bargaining under general recognition that the pre-war ownership model was no longer viable. Essentially, there were two basic options: nationalisation of the complete industry or re-organisation by amalgamation into company groupings which would remain in private, shareholder-based ownership. The nationalisation lobby already enjoyed significant momentum, evidenced by two existing locomotive types whose presence partly anticipated their post-war deployment throughout a nationalised system. This was particularly apparent with the Great Central-based 2-8-0 Class 8K (the RODs) of which 521 examples were built primarily for military service. Those at work in France had so distinguished themselves that post war, Continental European operators had attempted to purchase some to help replenish their depleted locomotive stocks. All approaches were firmly rejected by the UK Government on the grounds that they were required for the planned nationalised system. This intent paid no heed to the question of where work could be found for such a large

Re-formation of the industry was under the guidance of Sir Eric Geddes, the first Minister of Transport (1919-21). He was an ex-railwayman whose diverse career had ended in 1915 when he relinquished the position of Deputy General Manager, North Eastern Railway to become Major-General commanding military transportation on the Western Front (1915-7). As Minister he introduced a Government White Paper that contemplated amalgamation of the railways into seven groups, of which one would embrace all the London-orientated suburban companies. The Scottish companies, which were apparently intended to form one of the groups, felt that they could not stand alone so the proposed structure was distilled into the familiar Big Four configuration which excluded the Metropolitan, District railways etc. 46

ISSUE 10

Above: The Consolidation type which was still comparatively rare in the UK at the outbreak of the Great War proved ideal for bulk transportation demands in France [men and their personal equipment, food supplies, weapons, ammunition, horses, forage etc]. The Great Central’s Class 8K was an excellent template for the ROD type and over 500 were built by four commercial builders and the GCR itself in the 1917-9 period, of which 305 served in France. Post-war disposal of this fleet was badly managed by the UK Government and became a protracted affair. Excluding three built and then purchased by the GCR, in May-July 1919 the first sale to a third party was a batch of 20 brand new locomotives [Nos. 3000-19] built by North British Locomotive Co. for which the GWR paid £10,000 apiece. The LNWR bought 30 in 1920 at £10,500 each after which the Government in its wisdom decided that £12,000 was a fair market price until reality set in. The next UK sales were at £2,000 per unit to the LNER in 1923, and the last went to the LMS and LNER in 1927 for £340 each. The GWR took 84 RODs on loan in the 1919-21 period and then purchased 80 in May 1925 for £1500 each. These were a very mixed bunch of which 50 received the light repairs needed for a short working life while the 30 in best condition were extensively repaired and ‘westernised’. This rather murky view shows No. 3008 [NBL Hyde Park works No. 22112 and ex-ROD No. 2017] at Tyseley on 25 June 1939. In contrast to the 30 retained from the 1925 purchases, westernisation of the initial 20 was carried out piecemeal. This example has acquired GWR top feed and safety valve bonnet but still has the original GCR smokebox door surmounted by the elegant Robinson chimney. No. 3008 worked until September 1948. R C Riley (RCR 289).

In due course the Railways Act 1921 was passed whereby large operators (styled ‘Constituent Companies’) in each group would be amalgamated and would then absorb the smaller enterprises, known as Subsidiary Companies. In this process all but one of the existing companies would be wound up following inauguration of the new Big Four undertakings. However, the terms of the preceding Bill had been modified through Clause 3 (2) whereby the Great Western Railway Company would remain in being as a corporate person. The other Constituent companies in what the Act defined as the ‘Western Group’ would be amalgamated with it. The Clause further gave authority for the GWR to issue new shares or loan stock to compensate existing stock/shareholders in those amalgamated companies which would rank pari passu with existing GWR stock/ shareholders. Finally, the GWR was specifically excluded from measures outlined elsewhere in the Act whereby Constituent Companies in the other three Groups (e.g. London

& North Western, Great Northern, South Eastern & Chatham railways) would be wound up and thus cease to exist. Felix Pole in His Book recounted how this exclusion came about. The very day on which the GWR received the first draft of the Railways Bill, Pole lunched at the REC’s offices with Sir Philip Nash, one of Geddes’s key assistants at the Ministry of Transport. Pole expressed the view that it was fair for the London & North Western, Midland, and Lancashire & Yorkshire companies to be classified as co-equal Constituents within their group, but unreasonable that the GWR should be so treated as a co-Constituent together with the much smaller Welsh companies. Pole averred that it would be more efficacious if the GWR was the sole Constituent company within the Western Group leaving it to negotiate terms with the Welsh companies. Nash accepted Pole’s point as reasonable and promised to take it up with the Minister. 47

WESTERN TIMES On return to Paddington, Pole reported the discussion to Chairman Viscount Churchill who immediately wrote to Geddes to reinforce the proposition. The Bill was introduced to Parliament the next day by when the terms had been modified. According to Pole’s account the GWR ‘was shown as the only Constituent company in the Western Group and all other companies in its territory were labelled as ‘Subsidiary’ i.e. to be compulsorily absorbed by the Great Western.

be wound up?” Pole responded “That is a splendid idea. Put it to the Minister.” Geddes replied that he was agreeable subject to the GWR being able to draft an acceptable amendment to the legislation in the limited time remaining. This was duly effected thereby allowing the enlarged Old Company to retain its original structure as a continuing legal entity. These late changes were a considerable triumph for the GWR. Under the Railways Act 1921, the company uniquely retained its legal continuity, its unchanged identity, and also the special Clause 3 (2) terms alluded to above. One more Welsh constituent company was added to the list which then comprised the Alexandra (Newport & South Wales), Barry, Cambrian, Cardiff, Rhymney, and Taff Vale railways; their elevation from Subsidiary to Constituent status was evidently little more than a matter of semantics.

It was remarkable that such an significant change to a Bill with nationwide implications should be concocted and inserted within less than two days. This speed spoke highly for Pole’s commercial acuity and for the evident regard in which he was held by Sir Philip Nash. The GWR Chairman was a wellregarded Establishment ‘toff’ who swiftly worked his connections. The third element was quite probably Sir Eric Geddes who would have known the senior GWR team well from his time as Deputy General Manager of the North Eastern Railway. The two companies had long enjoyed a friendly relationship and he was probably naturally sympathetic towards Pole’s proposal.

At board and senior management level, the GWR responded with grace. Under the Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Board was limited to 25 seats of which 19 were then occupied. The six Welsh Constituents were each invited to nominate a director to fill the vacancies while a number of their senior officers received important appointments with their new employer. There were personal reasons behind Collett’s selection of Caerphilly but it was a nice gesture that Welsh edifices were well represented among the early members of the Castle Class, introduced a little more than two years later.

During the committee stage of the Bill, the intrigue that had accompanied the re-organisation debate from its inception continued. Prosser, General Manager of the Rhymney Railway, told Pole that he had been approached by Sir Arthur Watson, General Manager of the LNWR in an endeavour to persuade his company to transfer to the LMS group. As an inducement [i.e. a bribe], Watson offered Prosser twice the personal terms that the GWR had offered if the RR would switch sides. Whether or not this was true, the story reflects the importance that the LNWR camp attributed to network penetration of the South Wales market.

References:

Felix Pole – His Book (Town & Country Press, 1968). Robinson Eight-coupled Locomotives (Clements, Crécy 2022).

Prosser’s admission to Pole might have been connected with the next step in the committee saga where the South Wales companies objected to the proposed structure and wished to become coConstituents with the GWR in the Western Group i.e. a reversion to the original position proposed in the Bill before the Pole/ Churchill intervention. Mr AS Mills who as head of the General Manager’s Parliamentary Section was monitoring the committee stage deliberations at Westminster reported to Pole that Geddes had enquired whether the GWR would make concessions in favour of the Welsh companies. Pole responded that he was agreeable to a reversion to the originally proposed structure with the number of Constituent companies alongside the GWR to be increased from five to six, on condition that no further amendments to the Bill be entertained.

Above: This famous cartoon appeared in a Cardiff newspaper following passage of the Railways Act 1921. It has been alleged that the caption which read:- THE GREAT WESTERN “Hooray! Never even blew me cap off!” referred specifically to an innuendo i.e. a joke within a joke. In Welsh, the word gŵr is formally ‘husband’ or ‘man‘ but apparently it also has a colloquial connotation meaning ‘bumptious or cocky young man’. Can a Welsh-speaking reader comment on this point?

Pole recorded the following ‘Upon this, Mr Mills said “Why not stipulate that the name of the Group shall be the Great Western Railway Company and that the Great Western Railway Company shall not 48

ISSUE 10

FROM THE ARCHIVES:

AMERICANS AT BARRY (CLASS K) t the end of the 19th Century, British commercial Less well known were similar difficulties encountered by A locomotive manufacturers were struggling to the Barry Railway in 1899 and that company’s analogous meet demand from domestic railway companies, a solution. The BR also sought a US supplier and ordered situation exacerbated by labour disputes. To ease these difficulties, some companies turned to the USA for new motive power and the best known example was the Midland Railway’s purchase in 1899 of forty 2-6-0s (thirty from Baldwin and ten from Schenectady). Baldwin is believed to have promised delivery within ten weeks of receipt of drawings and the other manufacturer in four months, both types to be supplied in component form for assembly at Derby. These transactions evoked xenophobic reactions and at the MR’s annual general meeting in February 1899, the chairman sought to justify the company’s actions. He advised that 170 locomotives had been ordered from domestic manufacturers in December 1897 with deliveries to commence in July 1898 but to date none had been received. Further, 20 locomotives had been ordered in December 1898 without even a promise that the first could be delivered within 15 months and that the order might be completed by May 1900. The chairman implied that the American unit price was significantly lower than those quoted by UK manufacturers. The specification was for manufacturer’s standard designs with power output similar to Johnson 0-6-0s and with minor modifications to meet MR’s operating needs.

five tank locomotives from Cooke Loco & Machine Co of Paterson, New Jersey. The first two entered service in November 1899 and the remainder the next month. They were the most unusual 0-6-2Ts to work in South Wales. The customer was evidently more directly involved in the specification than had been the Midland and a hybrid design resulted. Tanks, cab and bunker were conventional in British, neo-Barry, style while the front end was contemporary American with steam chests mounted above the outside cylinders and slide valves actuated by long spindles and rocking shafts. Bar frames were fitted but with plate frames bolted on at the rear to accommodate the trailer truck. A major difference from British practice lay in the valve dimensions where the lap was short at 7/8” and travel in full gear a 5½” was one inch longer than the norm in this country. The cut-off was thus very late in full gear which caused a high rate of steam consumption. Tested against Barry 0-6-2T Class B1 No. 76 (a successful, long-lived type), Class K No. 118 proved the equal in power but with a voracious thirst, apparently then typical of American designs. The BR tried to improve water consumption by reduction of the steam port size but this yielded no noticeable benefit.

Above: Ex-Barry Railway No. 117 as GWR No. 193 retaining the modified Type 2c boiler with lengthened front ring that had been fitted in 1908 in replacement of the American-style original.

WESTERN TIMES The Midland conducted comparative tests against a Johnson 0-6-0 where 1,000 test miles had shown the American mogul to incur greater running costs (fuel – 20-25%; oil – 50%; repairs – 60%). Comparative data on the Barry engines is unavailable but the mogul’s repair costs reflected different construction standards as US locomotives at that time were often built in expectation of shorter working lives than in the UK. Pricing was an important determinant with resultant poor finish suggesting construction on the cheap.

Post-delivery modifications to the 0-6-2Ts included thicker tyres, backing plates to the bunker coal rails and substitution of the original exhaust steam injectors with the live steam variety. More important was overheating of the smokebox caused by accumulation of burning ashes at the front end and a programme of boiler modification/ replacement was instituted from 1906. Solutions attempted by the BR and later the GWR were remarkable for their variety:

Builders Barry No. Rly No.

Boiler Changes

Withdrawn

February 1929

GWR No.

2484

117

193

May 1909 - modified Barry type 2c boiler with lengthened front ring.

2482

118

194

July 1911 - repaired Class J boiler. April 1923 - Swindon Standard superheated No 3 boiler.

July 1930

2483

119

195 §

1906 - new longer smokebox. February 1911 - repaired boiler from Class B1.

April 1927

2485

120

196

May 1909 - modified type 2c boiler with lengthened front ring. November 1923 - Swindon Standard superheated No 3 boiler.

May 1932

2486

121

197

1907 - smokebox extension retaining American-style small door. May 1910 - modified type 2c boiler with lengthened front ring.

June 1928

§ Fully overhauled by Avonside Engine Co, Bristol in October 1923 but remained unaltered.

Recorded dimensions were ambiguous, possibly ‘lost in translation’ between USA and UK (e.g. short/ long tons) but the figures quoted below are believed to be the most accurate for pre-GWR ownership. Despite the different boiler styles attempted by the BR, the distance between the tube plates, the number of tubes and the firebox dimensions all remained unchanged, and hence the heating surfaces. Cylinders

18” x 26”

Wheel Diameters - driving

4’ 4”

- trailing

3’ 6”

Wheelbase

7’ 0” + 7’ 5” + 6’ 3”

Boiler Pressure [lb/sq in]

150 or 160

Heating Surfaces [sq ft] - firebox

106

- tubes

964

Grate [sq ft]

20.5

Tractive Effort [lb - 85%]

22,030

Weights [tons]

Barry Railway No. 121 (later GWR No. 197) as modified in 1907 with forward extension of the smokebox, while retaining the original American-style front and door.

- maximum axle loading

18.35

- adhesive

48.95

- total

58.9

Water Capacity [gal]

1,600

Fuel Capacity [tons]

1.75

ISSUE 10 Dimensions for Nos. 194 & 196 with Standard No. 3 boiler:

given the non-standard nature of the type and the evidence that performance problems stemmed from the cylinder and valve layout which was left undisturbed. The exercise seems to have formed part of the pattern of inconsistencies that attended the post-Grouping absorption of the Welsh locomotive fleet.

Wheel Diameters - driving

4’ 3”

Boiler Pressure [lb/sq in]

160

Boiler Pitch

7’ 9”

Main line journey distances were short in South Wales but with the intensity of coal traffic, frequent stops for water must have been a significant operating impediment. The problem was sufficiently acute for the class to be removed from main line haulage and deployed as bankers, and on short haul heavy trains from Cadoxton in Cardiff to the docks. Later, four were devoted to banking duties with the fifth used as the Barry shed pilot. Recorded mileages were predictably low varying between 261,000 (No. 197) and 469,000 (No. 196). However their working careers were significantly longer than those of the MR moguls which varied between 9 to 16 years. The engines carrying ex-Barry boilers were cut-up at Swindon, Nos. 193 & 195 having spent time on the Sales List. Nos. 194 & 196 avoided this temporary stay, as presumably their standard boilers had joined the pool.

Heating Surfaces [sq ft] - firebox

122

- tubes

1069

- superheater

Grate [sq ft]

20.35

Tractive Effort [lb - 85%]

22,030

Weights [tons] - maximum axle loading

19.25

- adhesive

54.05

- total

61.9

Water Capacity [gal]

1,530

In the absence of recorded explanations, it is surmised that the boiler problems stemmed from the higher calorific value of Welsh coal and its more friable nature compared with the typical fare consumed in the US. Also, haulage of heavy loads at long cut-offs leading to accumulation of semi-burnt fuel in the smokebox might have contributed to the problem. Cylinder and valve re-design to conform with UK norms might have rendered a better technical solution but the cost was probably considered unjustified with a small group of distinctly non-standard engines. Certainly, the BR’s remedial measures suggest low-cost makeshift modifications using surplus material.

Ten years after No. 196’s departure, ports in South Wales hosted more transatlantic visitors with vast numbers of American troops disembarked and huge tonnages of military equipment unloaded. The latter included many examples of the United States Army Transportation Corps 2-8-0 Class S160, which started to arrive at Cardiff Docks from 27 November 1942. The first to be placed in service, USA/TC No. 1704, was formally handed over by the US Army to the Minister of War Transport at Paddington on 11 December 1942. These were the American equivalent of the War Department’s 2-8-0 and a total of 175 were eventually allocated on loan to the GWR, working over most of the system, pending a shorter sea voyage from June 1944 onward when the fleet started to leave Britain, initially for Cherbourg. The S160s will be discussed in a future issue.

Whether Swindon’s rebuilding of Nos. 194/6 was worth the effort seems doubtful. Provision of Standard No. 3 boilers in superheated form was surprising while the need for new tanks, cab and bunker seemed odd

Above: GWR No. 196 (BR No. 120) as rebuilt in November 1924 with superheated Swindon No. 3 boiler; this, the last survivor of this unusual group, was withdrawn in 1932. The No. 3 boiler was the Cinderella of Churchward’s Standard range, making its debut with 2-4-2T ‘Birdcage’ Class 36xx and appearing with sundry types such as Class 3521 4-4-0s, and even some Bulldogs.

WESTERN TIMES

PADDINGTON TO BIRKENHEAD FREDDIE HUXTABLE has been an ambition of Western Times to explore in At Northolt Junction, the former Great Central Railway Ithetgreater detail the Great Western Railway operations in (GCR), now the Chiltern line, joins from Marylebone northernmost areas of its network, and we begin to and the route then continued as a joint line through address this with a comparison of the passenger train times between London Paddington and Birkenhead Woodside over a period of years. This route is perhaps little known, Birkenhead being an outpost of GWR services and firmly in London and North Western Railway (LNWR) territory.

Beaconsfield, High Wycombe, Princes Risborough to Ashendon Junctions, where the former GCR route diverged northwards towards Woodford. In order to maintain speeds and efficiencies the junctions at Ashendon and Aynho are ‘flying junctions. Our route remains GWR through Banbury, Leamington Spa, Hatton, Birmingham Snow Hill, Wolverhampton Low Level to Wellington (Salop). From Market Drayton Junction, just west of Wellington to Shrewsbury the line was joint with the LNWR.

Introduction This is not an exhaustive review; I have carried it out by reference to timetables and relevant books in my collection (please see credits at the end). I have chosen three specific eras; 1920s, 1950s and 1960s from which to analyse specific timetables. The choice of these three eras is not random. The 1920s show a ‘base line’, a period when the GWR was improving its locomotives and rolling stock. In the 1950s the GWR was of course British Railways, Western Region (BR(W)), and there was proposed some acceleration of services. The 1960s heralded the arrival of the Western Region diesel hydraulics, the ‘Western’ Class (or ‘1000’s as they were often referred). This article will assess whether the use of these 2,700bhp diesels went further to improve timing. Other comments are extracted from reference works and do cover other periods for reference.

At Shrewsbury, and back on GWR metals, the route heads north westerly towards Gobowen and then north to Wrexham and on to Saltney Junction where the GWR tracks joined the Chester and Holyhead route (LNWR). At Chester trains either had to use the avoiding line to join the LNWR/GWR joint route to traverse the Wirral on to Birkenhead or go in to Chester station and run around to depart for Birkenhead, not an ideal situation. Birkenhead Woodside, the terminus, was opened on 31 March 1878 (prior to this trains terminated at another Birkenhead station) and closed on 5 November 1967, the last through services from Paddington running on Saturday 4 March 1967. Birkenhead Woodside was a short walk from the ferry which could then take passengers to Liverpool.

The Route Let us start with the route itself. If we trace the 200-mile route from Paddington to Birkenhead, we can then delve into the history of the line and the various railway companies that built and comprised the route. As you will see the route was not planned from Paddington to Birkenhead (unlike Paddington to Bristol, for example) but gradually evolved from improvements to a hotchpotch of existing lines. The description below uses the railways present at/around ‘The Grouping’. Let us start at the London end. Paddington to Old Oak Common (OOC) is the original GWR main line and at OOC West Junction the branch is taken to Greenford (GWR). Note that this line by-passes Reading and Oxford so is a more direct route to Birmingham. The section between OOC and Greenford has now been run down and little used over the most recent years (1970s onwards) and the lower section from OOC has now been closed in consequence of the construction of HS2.

The 11:40am ex-Birkenhead reaches journey’s end under the roof at Paddington on 23 April 1960, ‘King’ Class 4-6-0 No. 6013 King Henry VIII having performed the honours. Leslie Freeman.

ISSUE 10

Above: Regular motive power for the Birkenhead express services was provided by Old Oak Common or Stafford Road ‘Kings’ as far as Wolverhampton. Here No. 6006 King George I awaits the right away with the 1.10pm departure on 11 April 1960. Nick Nicolson. Below: With the rear of the train having barely left the platform end, Wolverhampton Stafford Road’s No. 6001 King Edward VII passes under Westbourne Bridge as it lifts the 1.10pm express to Birkenhead out of Paddington on 16 April 1957. R C Riley (RCR 10433).

WESTERN TIMES Left: The final through train to Birkenhead prepares to depart from Paddington platform 2 behind ‘Hymek’ Class diesel-hydraulic No. D7026 on Saturday 4 March 1967. Running as 1X83, the railtour was laid on by enthusiast’s favourite Ian Allan and was named ‘The Zulu’. Leaving the capital at 8.40am, some 15 minutes after the other special the ‘Birkenhead Flyer’, the diesel worked as far as Banbury, before handing over to preserved ‘Castle’ No. 7029 Clun Castle. The final part of the journey between Chester and Birkenhead was completed by BR Standard Class 5 4-6-0 No. 73026. This first leg of the journey had been booked for a ‘Western’, but servicability issues resulted in the smaller Type 3 standing in at short notice. William A C Smith. Below: This diagramatical map shows the route from Paddington to Birkenhead in its entirety, with principal stations included. Produced as a flyer by the publishing company Ian Allan to accompany their railtour specials on 4 March 1967, which marked the end of through services on the route. The ‘Birkenhead Flyer’ left Paddington first and ran via Didcot, with ‘The Zulu’ going via High Wycombe.

ISSUE 10

Above: The peace at Gerrards Cross station is broken by the majestic passage of No. 6017 King Edward IV on the up through road. The twelve coach formation is the 1.17pm 1V03 Birkenhead-Paddington. Saturday 10 June 1961. Nick Nicolson. Below: Having recently moved from Old Oak Common to Wolverhampton Stafford Road (and yet to receive its new 84A shedplate), No. 6012 King Edward VI powers a Down Birkenhead express away from High Wycombe on 7 July 1963. Alec Swain.

WESTERN TIMES In terms of gradient profile, there was a steady climb from Old Oak Common to Seer Green (20 miles), the steepest at 1 in 175 (Denham), after a brief downhill stretch the climb to Saunderton (31 miles) commenced after High Wycombe with two stretches of 1 in 164. This was followed by largely downhill stretches until the climb up Bicester bank commenced (52 miles), largely at circa 1 in 200 for 6-7 miles. This was followed by a 1 in 200 down for 3 miles to Aynho and Kings Sutton (64 miles), then a steady climb up towards Fenny Compton before a long descent of circa 13 miles towards Warwick (89 miles). Then came Hatton bank 4 miles largely at 1 in 103-108. Beyond Lapworth (98 miles) the line had no severe or long gradients until just beyond Soho and Winson Green (112 miles) when a two mile climb up to the Hawthorns at 1 in 100 commenced. The next 35 miles to Upton Magna was largely downhill with a fourmile 1 in 150 up from Gosford to Hollingswood. From Shrewsbury (153 miles) there were a series of uphill followed by downhill sections with summits near Chirk and Ruabon (178 miles). From there, it was largely downhill all the way to Saltney Junction and short climbs for the final two miles to Chester (195 miles). Gresford bank offered the most respite for down trains as the descent was 1 in 82.5 for four miles.

Bill for the GWR Ashendon to Aynho section was deposited in 1905. Once built this connected with the Oxford and Rugby Railway (which was only built to Fenny Compton) and then the former Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway (BOJR) which had been opened on 1 October 1852. The BOJR owed its origin to the Grand Junction Railway as competition for the London and Birmingham Railway (to Euston). In this regard they sought cooperation of the GWR. However, before matters progressed with the GWR the Grand Junction joined forces with the London and Birmingham Railway so they bowed out of the OBJR project. The GWR acquired the BOJR on 1 January 1847 (by virtue of a clause included in the Act authorising the building of the line). The Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley Railway (BWDR) opened on 14 November 1854, connecting through the short Wolverhampton Railway to join the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway (SBR). The BWDR was acquired by the GWR in August 1848. Curiously it seems the BWDR at first did not actually reach Dudley (later served by a branch) or Wolverhampton (initially)! The SBR was authorised in 1846. The section between Wolverhampton and Birmingham was to be supported financially by the LNWR, but they were underhanded. The section between Wellington and Shrewsbury was built jointly with the Shropshire Union Railway. The line opened from Shrewsbury to its own Wolverhampton terminus in 1849. The LNWR remained an impossible business partner and with the GWR reaching Wolverhampton in 1854, the SBR aligned itself with the GWR and merged with it in the same year. The section between Wellington and Shrewsbury became a joint line (GWR/LNWR).

History Next, I think it is appropriate to cover a brief history of the route. As seen above, the Paddington to Birkenhead route was not ‘pure’ GWR all the way as built, but it was an amalgam of, initially, smaller companies that constructed the relevant lines which were absorbed by the GWR and LNWR up until ‘The Grouping’ (that is when the GWR, LNWR, London and North Eastern Railway and Southern Railway emerged as a consequence of the 1921 Railways Act).

Beyond Shrewsbury to Chester, it is the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway (SCR) that takes us northwards. This was formed in 1846 out of two rivals, the Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Chester Junction Railway, authorised in 1845 and the North Wales Mineral Railway, authorised from Chester to Wrexham in 1844. Despite various battles the GWR took control of the SCR under an Amalgamation Act on 1 September 1854.

If we again begin at Paddington, we can of course start with the GWR being founded in 1833 (the enabling Act being 31 August 1835) and which, under Brunel’s influence and guidance, built the Paddington to Bristol line, the first trains running part of the route in 1838. The GWR built part of the route from OOC West Junction to Ashendon (historically known as the New North Main Line) between 1903 and 1905. Construction of the 7-mile section between OOC and Northolt commenced in early 1901. By 1904 it had been opened as far as Greenford. The section between Northolt Junction and Ashendon, a distance of almost 34 miles, was built as a joint effort with the GCR, opened in November 1904 for goods traffic and remained a GWR/GCR joint line until 1948. The

At the northern end of the route the final stretch from Chester to Birkenhead started life as the Chester and Birkenhead Railway on 23 September 1840. It was taken over by the Birkenhead Lancashire and Cheshire Junction Railway in 1847, retaining its own name until it was shortened in 1859 to The Birkenhead Railway. On 1 January 1860 it was taken over by the LNWR and the GWR, remaining a joint railway until Nationalisation in 1948.

Right: The 2700hp ‘Western’ Class Type 4 diesel-hydraulics began to oust the ‘Kings’ from the Birkenhead express workings from September 1962. Here a maroon liveried D1018 Western Buccaneer pulls away from High Wycombe on a weekday in the high summer of 1963, with the 1M20 4.10pm Paddington-Birkenhead, which it will probably work as far as Shrewsbury. Completed at Swindon in April 1963, the locomotive went first to Old Oak Common (from where it is working this diagram), before a move to Cardiff Canton in the September. It was to be withdrawn in June 1973 and scrapped within the Conyard at Swindon by March 1974. Paul Hocquard.

ISSUE 10

The small wayside station at Fenney Compton was a great location for watching trains pass at speed, as typified by No. 6007 King William III heading the 1M18 Birkenhead train on 29 April 1962. Mike Mitchell.

Just to prove the ‘Kings’ didn’t completely dominate the rosters, here an unidentified ‘Castle’ Class powers south with a London train on the same day. Mike Mitchell.

ISSUE 10 So, by circa 1860 the GWR had the ability to run its own trains on its own railway lines from Paddington to Birkenhead. At that early time the route was via Reading and Oxford and then later in 1910 with a little help from the GCR (for one section of the New North Mainline) and the LNWR (two sections) of joint lines. Furthermore, the GW trains would also eventually reach both Manchester and Liverpool by virtue of running powers over LNWR lines from Chester.

Junction northwards passed to the LMR. Once the LMR electrification out of Euston was completed the route from Paddington was clearly less competitive and so its rundown continued at a pace and it became a secondary route. Train Services A summary of the relevant timetables selected for this article is attached at Appendix 1. The services were selected for similar departure times for each year and their journey times compared. Appendix 2 shows the number of trains daily along with total journey times. This covers both up and down trains on weekdays.

We do not consider the route from Old Oak Common to Reading, Didcot and Oxford to Birmingham, which was the main route before the New North Mainline opened and after part of that route closed in more recent years. Of course, during the period of railway rivalry (arguably up until Nationalisation in 1948), there was competition with respect to passenger services between the GWR and LNWR to Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Chester. The GWR did consider a 1 hour 45 minute run to Birmingham but took no action to make it a reality. Following Nationalisation there was rationalisation of the network and with the work on the upgrade and electrification of lines out of Euston (LNWR/LMS/LMR) in the early 1960s, the route from Paddington had a revival in the sense of maintaining a good service at least between London and Birmingham. Indeed, there was a Blue Pullman train service between Snow Hill and Paddington for a few years. In January 1963 all intermediate stations between Banbury and Princes Risborough (other than Bicester) were closed and by September of that year the WR line from Aynho

1924 - Certain down trains (including the 9.10am Paddington departure selected) completed the trip in less than 5 hours. There were six down trains per day. The up trains took over 5 hours. There were five up trains daily. 1955 - All down and up trains took well over 5 hours (5 hours 15mins down being the fastest and 5 hours 17mins up). There were six down and five up trains per day. 1965/6 - Timings were improved when compared with the 1950s but were slower than the 1920s. The fastest down train was 5 hours 15 mins with the corresponding fastest up train taking 5 hours and 5 mins. There were six up and down trains daily.

Above: A Paddington bound train pulls into Leamington Spa on 10 July 1961, in the hands of Old Oak Common’s No.6025 King Henry III. Birkenhead expresses often featured a ‘Full Brake’ within the consist, in this case a BR designed GUV. Horace Gamble (HG 0042).

WESTERN TIMES

Above: An almost new green-liveried No. D1036 Western Emperor on Hatton Bank during the late summer of 1962. Although allocated to Laira, the ‘Western’ diagrams were complex and led to South-West examples visiting Wolverhampton. David Horne.

A Broader View

2-hour runs to Birmingham. There were some fast stretches, especially southbound. A speed of 88 mph was recorded on Gerrards Cross bank and an average of 82.5 mph over the 7.2 miles from Gerrards Cross to Northolt with a 4-4-0 County (page 100). However, the eight miles of the Princes Risborough-High Wycombe section suffered from its original branch line status with heavy gradients and severe curves. From 1910 until the outbreak of war, traffic had scarcely developed but it was in this era that with Churchward in charge of locomotive design, 4-6-0s were becoming more prevalent on expresses, displacing 4-4-0s and 4-2-2s. Churchward also improved coaching stock and introduction of slip coaches helped to maintain fast schedules.

The previous comments are based on selected snap shots. More detail has been gleaned from publications where more research (including timing of trains) has been undertaken. If I can borrow from O S Nock’s book Sixty Years of Western Express Running (page references below) we can look at some other illustrations. For example, going back to 1901 a typical Paddington to Birmingham service via Reading and Oxford (a distance of 129.3 miles) took 143 minutes (4-2-2 No.3051 Stormy Petrel with 10 vehicles of 230 tons) an average of circa 56mph. No.3373 Atbara covered the distance with a relatively light load of 180 tons at a net average speed of 65mph (pages 5 and 9). At this time the services out of Euston reached Birmingham in 2 hours, so the GWR was disadvantaged, hence the reason for opening the New North Mainline from OOC West Junction but the GWR also benefited from the capacity created by taking the Northern-bound trains away from the mainline to Didcot.

Between the wars, the route became the scene of some of the most consistently spectacular running in Great Britain (page 75). With steam traction, a key variable was ‘firing’ and use of coal. Build-up of the fire-bed prior to a run was crucial and on a journey that required heavy work, coal would be level with or slightly above the lower edge of the fire-hole before the ‘right away’ was given. Although developed with Welsh coal in mind, this means of firing was successful on the two-hour Birmingham expresses in the inter-war period when most relied on a mixture of Staffordshire and north Wales coals (page 109).

When Ashendon to Aynho Junction opened (length 18.3 miles) in 1910 the distance saved from the Didcot and Oxford route was 18.7 miles. The route length to Birmingham was then 110.5 miles (being 2.5 miles shorter than the route from Euston). This enabled 60

ISSUE 10 Right: The imposing front end of No. 6019 King Henry V is recorded from a low vantage point by the photographer, as it awaits the ‘right away’ from platform 5 at Birmingham Snow Hill. The train is the 1M18 2.10pm Paddington-Birkenhead, which the Old Oak Common locomotive will work as far as Wolverhampton Low Level, to be replaced by a smaller 4-6-0 for the onward journey to Chester. The ‘Kings’ were to see out their service on the Birmingham route, some lasting until late 1962, as there were initial issues with the introduction of their diesel-hydraulic replacements. This particular locomotive was to succumb in September of that year. Horace Gamble (HG 0038).

Below: The suburban northern approaches to Birmingham Snow Hill station was a favourite vista for railway photographers, especially if they could gain access to the elevated North Signal Box as Dick Riley achieved to capture this view. The train is the 1.10pm BirkenheadPaddington, in the capable hands of a respectably clean No. 6001 King Edward VII. Wolverhampton Stafford Road shed had a poor reputation for the appearance of its stud, but this example certainly bucks the trend! 21 March 1960. R C Riley (RCR 14567).

WESTERN TIMES In 1914 the services to Birmingham were covered in 2 hours (fastest time) for the now 110.5 miles at an average speed of 55.3mph. By 1918 the fastest time was 150 minutes at an average of 44.2mph (page 142). A quite drastic increase of 30 minutes. However, full pre-war speed returned on the route in 1921 (as it did with other main routes).

because of Hatton bank. Slip coaches facilitated the faster running to avoid more station stops and there were 19 slip workings between Paddington and Birmingham in 1914. These were suspended during the war but never resumed to the same extent in the 1920s. By the early 1930s non-stop runs to Birmingham on the route had all but disappeared. The 6.10pm down service to Birkenhead in this period was the ‘crack express’ and worked by a Stafford Road ‘King’ as far as Wolverhampton. Slip coaches for Bicester and Banbury would give the train a starting load of 500 tons. Allowing for a stop at Leamington this train was timed at 90 minutes for the 87.5 miles to Leamington. Considering the gradient profile and the unavoidable speed restrictions at certain points it required excellent performances from the locomotive crews.

Prior to the Grouping the ‘Cambrian Coast Express’ conveyed a through coach to Birkenhead which divided at Wolverhampton. The 4.10pm from Paddington (see Appendix 2 for 1924) was the ‘Belfast Boat Express’ to connect with sailings to Belfast. The 9.05am ex-Birkenhead was the equivalent up service. After Nationalisation the boat services were switched to run via the LMR to Liverpool.

Automatic Train Control (ATC) was installed between OOC and High Wycombe in 1929, Oxford to Wolverhampton in 1931, and Wolverhampton to Chester in 1938/9. It is not clear when High Wycombe to Aynho Junction was so fitted.

The early period services were in the hands of ‘Saint’ and ‘Star’ Class 4-6-0 engines. Increased loadings meant that something more powerful was needed; enter the 4-6-0 ‘King’ Class from 1928, which worked the route until withdrawn en bloc in September 1962. Also, new ‘County’ Class and occasionally ‘Castles’ supplemented ‘Kings’. The ‘Kings’ were able to maintain the schedule, despite the heavier loadings and the 9.10am Paddington to Birkenhead was able to stop at High Wycombe and still maintain the 2-hour timing to Birmingham. The maximum load for a ‘King’ Class locomotive was 500 tons between Paddington and Leamington but only 400 tons on to Birmingham

The GWR gave consideration to a non-stop schedule of 1 hour 45 minutes from Paddington to Birmingham, but this required preparation of speed curves for the route on both up and down lines. The Railway Gazette in early 1938 published these findings. Despite restrictions at High Wycombe and Leamington it was felt that the target was achievable. War stopped further thoughts of this until the mid-1950s.

Above: On 4 March 1967 (the final day of through working) Brush Type 4 No. D1601 stands at Wellington with a Paddington bound express. Note the reduction to six coaches, without catering provision. The prestige days had long gone. Roy Vincent (V41-4).

ISSUE 10 Right: ‘Castle’ Class No. 5018 St. Mawes Castle stands at Shrewsbury with the 9.10am Paddington to Birkenhead. The date is Monday 28 September 1959 and the locomotive was a resident of Reading shed by this time, which suggests it is standing in for an Old Oak Common locomotive. The tender appears filled with the dreaded ‘ovoids’, which was much inferior to the standard Welsh ‘steam coal’, much vaunted by the Great Western footplate-men. Despite BR Mk.1 coaching stock dominating express diagrams by this date, it is pleasing to see former GWR designed vehicles forming the first two coaches of the train. The first appears to be a Collett 1934/5 vintage Gangwayed Brake composite (Dia. E148), whilst the second is of a later Hawksworth design. William A C Smith.

O S Nock refers to a Railway Magazine article in July 1940, where Cecil J Allen published a summary of George Antrobus’s logs of runs between Paddington and Leamington (a route he travelled regularly and recorded the train times) behind ‘Kings’. A selection as reproduced in O S Nock’s book is summarised below: Run

Loco

6017

6006

6008

6017

Load to Bicester (tons full)

395

425

445

460

495

505

515

Load to Banbury (tons full)

357

388

407

460

455

465

445

Load to Leamington (tons full)

290

315

335

460

345

390

375

89 min

92 min

87 min

90 min

92 min

21 sec

27 sec

59 sec

58 sec

45 sec

43 sec

81.5

88.25

Actual time to Leamington Net time (minutes)

Part of the reason for this was two exceptional runs by ‘Star’ class locos (Nos. 4024 and 4063) but the ‘Kings’ were being operated inside their maximum capacity. With the advent of the Second World War fast trains were decelerated (a general speed limit of 60mph was imposed across the system). However, the London to Birmingham expresses (all stopping at Banbury) made impressive timings from Banbury northwards. The ‘Kings’ excelled because of their superior ability to lift heavy trains away from their stops. Post the Second World War there was an increase on passenger usage on the route, the 9.10am to Birkenhead was supplemented by a relief train at 9.00am. With the arrival of the new ‘Counties’ (the ‘1000’ Class) Nock gave some comparisons on the route north of Wolverhampton to Wellington (pages 277-282). This includes a 1 in 100 climb up Shifnal bank for 2.8 miles. For the 19.6 miles a time of 23 minutes was booked. Two ‘Counties’ (Nos.1025 and 1029) did the route in 22mins 52secs (average speed 60.5mph) and 22mins 25secs (59.4mph) respectively, compared with 23mins for ‘Saint’ No. 2915 (average speed 58.2mph) and 22mins 30sec for ‘Castle’ No. 5022 (59.7mph). The ‘Counties’ had heavier loads than the ‘Saint’ or ‘Castle’ (460 tons for the ‘Counties’ and 445 and 450 for the ‘Saint’ and ‘Castle’ respectively).

This shows the impressive capacity of the ‘Kings’ on such a route, albeit they were some of the better examples from a total of 1,412 runs! Nock summarises some runs timed by a Mr. A V Goodyear; 23 in all with ‘Kings’ (14), ‘Castles’ (4) and ‘Stars’ (5) in climbing the Princess Risborough incline on up trains from Snow Hill. The average speeds ‘clocked’ were ‘Kings’, 55.5mph, ‘Castles’ 57.7mph and ‘Stars’ 56.2mph. The fastest runs for each class were: ‘King’ 5min 47sec (load 389 tons), ‘Castle’ 6min 8.5sec (load 364), ‘Star’ 6mins (load 418). For the tons hauled the average time taken by the ‘Stars’ was better than the ‘Kings’!

Now turning to the up direction of this section of the route, it required a four-mile climb to Hollingswood tunnel, largely at 1 in 132 and 1 in 120 on the final two miles. The scheduled time for up trains from Wellington to Wolverhampton was 26mins, leaving little or no recovery time. Here two ‘Counties’ (Nos. 1025 and 1029) ran it in 25mins 59sec (445 tons) and 25mins and 22sec (500 tons). ‘Saint’ No. 2930 managed 26mins 2secs (415 tons) ‘Castle’ No. 5064 managed 25mins 51secs (440 tons). 63

WESTERN TIMES Left: On 11 June 1964 we find Collett ‘Hall’ Class 4-6-0 No. 6903 Belmont Hall waiting at Shrewsbury’s Platform 3, with the 12.10pm Paddington-Birkenhead. It was normal practice for the larger express locomotives to be removed from Birkenhead services at Wolverhampton, to be replaced by smaller two-cylinder types such as ‘Halls’ or ‘Counties’ for the onward run to Chester. It was not unheard of however for a ‘King’, ‘Castle’ or ‘Western’ to make it as far a Shrewsbury. No. 6903 (which has lost its nameplate) was a resident of Shrewsbury shed by this date, having previously been at Oxley and was to move to Banbury within a month of this photo, for its final year before withdrawal. Most Birkenhead expresses had been reduced to eight, or even six coaches by this time, which were almost exclusively composed of BR Mk.1 vehicles. Larry Fullwood (FW 38-3).

Venturing now to the Shrewsbury-Gobowen section of 18 miles, Nock selects five trips in each direction (pages 282-284). ‘Saint’ No. 2926 Saint Nicholas was the star performer with a 20mins 5sec time at an average speed of 67.3mph (max speed 76.4mph) with 300 tons. ‘Star’ No. 4061 Glastonbury Abbey took 22mins and 45secs, but was checked by signals at Gobowen (average speed 60.9mph, max speed 71mph, tons 305). In the up direction, the runs were more spectacular as there are a series of falling gradients soon after Gobowen. ‘Saint’ No. 2930 Saint Vincent managed the route in 19 mins 8 secs (despite a signal check) with 300 tons (average speed 69.8mph, maximum 76.5mph). ‘Castle’ No. 5061 Earl of Birkenhead took 19mins at an average speed of 71.3mph. The maximum speed was 77.5mph but was only hauling 275 tons. ‘Hall’ Class No. 6941 Fillongley Hall managed the route in 20mins 40secs an average of 65.8mph and maximum speed of 71.3mph but was hauling 465 tons!

rising gradients). However, the ‘King’s’ superior tractive power was in evidence in recovering from slacks at Wycombe and Ashendon Junction. No.6019 sustained 55.5mph up the 1 in 200 from Bicester to Ardley. There was little to choose between them for time keeping based on net timings. There was disruption in the mid 1950s: the ‘Kings’ had bogie problems leading to temporary withdrawal for remedial works, rebuilding of Banbury station and remedial work to the viaducts at Souldern. In May 1956 ex-LMS ‘Princess Royal’ Pacifics were stood in for the ‘Kings’, along with ‘Castles’. In 1956/57 the 30-yearold ‘Kings’ were fitted with double blast pipes, double chimneys and four-row superheaters, giving them a new lease of life. Nock has a record of a dynamometer car trial on the Birmingham route with double-chimneyed ‘King’ No. 6002 King William IV (pages 368 to 370). It was 1956 and the 3pm up from Snow Hill was ‘a very pale shade of its former self’, with 86 minutes allowed for the 67.5 miles from Banbury to Paddington, compared with the pre-war 70 minutes. In fact, on this run the ‘King’ made it in 75mins 18sec despite two pw slacks. Nock commented ‘the running was just what would be expected from a ‘King’ in pre-war days’ and stressed the benefits of the double chimney in reducing the back pressure.

Returning to the southern part of the route, O S Nock covers a series of timed runs in the late 1940s between Paddington and Leamington, Banbury and Paddington, and Birmingham and Paddington (pages 181-190) which brings the timings, the exploits of the footplate crew and the nature of the route to life. There is too much to repeat here but it makes an interesting read. However, he did have a comparison between and ‘Castle’ and a ‘King’ both independently working the 6.10pm Paddington to Wolverhampton (pages 221224). No. 4088 Dartmouth Castle with 440 tons tare (475 tons loaded) and No. 6019 King Henry V with 437 tons tare (475) were recorded. It seems the ‘Castle’ performed better than the ‘King’ to High Wycombe (with

In a final look at steam traction on the route again we borrow from O S Nock referring to a footplate ride of Baron Gerard Vuillet (pages 378 and 379). The train was the down ‘Cambrian Coast Express’ with a double64

ISSUE 10 chimneyed No.7024 Powis Castle hauling 285 tons (8 coaches). The engine worked through to Shrewsbury with total net running time for the 152.1 miles from Paddington adding up to (only) 156 minutes, which includes the slow section from Snow Hill to Wolverhampton. The fastest speeds were achieved down Albrighton bank (90mph) and Upton Magna (80mph) on the latter section after Wolverhampton.

The last through train to Birkenhead ran on Saturday 4 March 1967, hauled part of the way by No. 7029 Clun Castle (by then in private ownership). This was one of a pair of special railtours organised by Ian Allan, which were completely sold out. Wolverhampton Stafford Road (which closed in September 1963) and Old Oak Common sheds were the main providers of the steam locomotives for the Birkenhead services throughout the period. In June 1962 Wolverhampton Oxley received the Type 4 dieselhydraulics Nos. D1000/2/4/5 to its allocation for testing. However, the new locomotives were initially unreliable and some ‘Kings’ were reinstated to cover for the failures. It must be added however that The ‘Westerns’ went on to become the most successful and widely appreciated of the hydraulic locomotives and were a match for any diesel-electric of their era.

The ‘Western’ Class diesel-hydraulics took over on 10 September 1962. Laurence Waters (in his book Paddington to Wolverhampton, page 56) stated the impact of these diesels was immediate. He refers to the trains being rescheduled to cover the 110 miles to Birmingham in 2 hours, including various stops. This can be seen by reference to Appendix 1 (1955 compared with 1966). In August 1963, D1040 Western Queen was at the head of the Birmingham Pullman (standing in for the unit, which had failed) and collided with a freight at Knowle and Dorridge, killing the driver.

Above: The final through train ‘The Zulu’, first seen at Paddington on page 54, has now reached Banbury where the ‘Hymek’ is being relieved by No. 7029 Clun Castle. Privately owned by Patrick Whitehouse, the imposing 126-ton 4-6-0 was to make a spirited run to Chester, and as can be seen attracted great numbers of enthusiasts and bemused onlookers along the way. William A C Smith.

The 11.10am Paddington-Birkenhead makes its call at Ruabon on 29 May 1961 behind Stafford Road allocated ‘Castle’ No. 5047 Earl of Dartmouth. Leslie Freeman.

Looking north from the Up platform at Ruabon, we find No. 1017 County of Hereford drifting in on the 6.20pm Chester-Shrewsbury on 30 May 1961. Leslie Freeman.

ISSUE 10 Summary & Conclusions

So rather than improve the timing on the route from decade to decade, it seems the GWR were keen to compete with the LNWR/LMS as far as Birmingham until Nationalisation. Following electrification out of Euston, the route out of Paddington was ‘doomed’ as an express route, and after fulfilling a role during the electrification of the LMR line, it was relegated to a secondary route.

Overall, there is broadly little difference between the years and the services selected. Journey time in 1924 was quicker than in 1955 or 1965/6. What the earlier timings represent is more through trains and less local stops. The main part of the route was clearly Wolverhampton, Birmingham and London. Once beyond Wolverhampton the services took circa 3 hours to travel to and from Birkenhead (some fast trains taking circa 2 hours 30 mins). There was probably capacity to improve timings in the northern section including fewer stops but it strikes me that beyond Shrewsbury the Birkenhead bound trains stopped at a number of the smaller stations to provide a more ‘local service’ a bit like the Paddington expresses to the South West getting to Plymouth and then meandering to Penzance.

References British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer (Ian Allan). British Railways Atlas 1947 (Ian Allan). History of the Great Western Railway: Volumes 1,2 and 3; Vs 1 & 2, E T MacDermot, revised by CR Clinker, V3, OS Nock (Ian Allan). Sixty Years of Western Express Running, OS Nock (Ian Allan). Paddington to the Mersey, Dr R Preston Hendry & R Powell Hendry (OPC). Paddington to Wolverhampton, Laurence Waters (Ian Allan). The Great Western Railway (GWR 150), Patrick Whitehouse and David St John Thomas (Greenwich Editions). GWR/BR(W) Public Timetables for the relevant periods.

The number of trains from Paddington to Birkenhead on weekdays broadly remained the same: six down trains (including an overnight train/sleeper), five up trains (but with a sixth, the sleeper, running in 1966). Restaurant and buffet facilities were provided, usually to/from Wolverhampton but occasionally to/from Shrewsbury as noted.

Above: This rare pre-Nationalisation photograph taken on 26 August 1939, shows Churchward ‘Star’ Class 4-6-0 No. 4046 Princess Mary approaching Wrexham with a five-coach Birkenhead service. The locomotive was built at Swindon to Lot.199 in May 1914 and spent a large amount of its 37½ year life allocated to Shrewsbury. Withdrawn in November 1951, it was scrapped at its birthplace shortly after. To the right is the eastern elevation of Croes Newydd engine shed, opened by the Great Western Railway in 1902 and noted for being the final example of a William Dean northlight roof design. Peter Pescod (PP 277).

WESTERN TIMES

Above: Hawksworth ‘County’ 4-6-0 No. 1008 County of Cardigan pulls away from Chester with a Birkenhead-Paddington train on an unrecorded date. As the locomotive was allocated to Shrewsbury from January to September 1963, it is likely between these months. With the boundary alterations implemented from 1 January 1963, control of all former GWR lines north of Shrewsbury was handed over to the London Midland Region. This northernmost part of the route around Chester however, with LNWR architecture and lineside fittings, had always made an uncomfortable backdrop to GWR origin locomotives and rolling stock. Norman Kneale.

Appendix 1 Weekdays - Summary of Down trains for selected periods (all times indicate arrival unless otherwise stated) Station / Year

14 Jul -21 Sep 1924

27 Jun - 18 Sep 1955

Paddington (d)

9.10am

High Wycombe

9.42am

9.46am

9.41am

Banbury

10.24am

10.40am

10.22am

Leamington Spa

10.44am

11.07am

10.43am

Birmingham Snow Hill (a)

11.10am

11.40am

11.12am

Birmingham Snow Hill (d)

11.15am

11.45am

11.17am

Wolverhampton Low Level (a)

11.34am

12.04pm

11.35am

Wolverhampton Low Level (d)

11.39am

12.10pm

11.40am

Wellington (Salop)

4 Jun 1965 - 17 Apr 1966

12.37pm

12.01pm

Shrewsbury (a)

12.15pm

12.53pm

12.15pm

Shrewsbury (d)

12.20pm

12.57pm

12.25pm

1.21pm

12.50pm

Gobowen Chirk

12.57pm

Ruabon

12.57pm

1.37pm

1.05pm

Wrexham

1.05pm

1.47pm

1.15pm

Chester General

1.23pm

2.15pm

1.43pm

Birkenhead Woodside (a) Journey Time

1.55pm

2.52pm

2.27pm

4 hours 45 mins

5 hours 42 mins

5 hours 17 mins

ISSUE 10 Notes: In 1924 Banbury and Leamington Spa were served by slip coach. The 9.10 was ’badged’ in the time table as ‘Birmingham and North Express’ and had through coaches for Pwllheli. In 1955 The Restaurant Car was attached from Paddington to Shrewsbury. The timetable stated ‘Through Coaches Paddington to Stratford upon Avon and Birkenhead’. 1965/66 Buffet Car off at Wolverhampton. It is presumed the 10-minute stop at Shrewsbury was for a locomotive change.

Weekdays - Summary of Up trains for selected periods (all times indicate arrival unless otherwise stated) Station / Year

14 Jul -21 Sep 1924

27 Jun - 18 Sep 1955

Birkenhead Woodside (d)

6.45am

6.30am

7.40am

Chester General

7.23am

7.10am

8.20am

Wrexham

7.44am

7.32am

8.44am

Ruabon

7.54am

7.45am

8.54am

Chirk

4 Jun 1965 - 17 Apr 1966

7.55am

9.01am

Gobowen

8.05am

8.00am

9.09am

Shrewsbury (a)

8.34am

8.30am

9.31am

Shrewsbury (d)

8.43am

8.36am

9.41am

Wellington (Salop)

9.00am

8.55am

9.54am

Wolverhampton Low Level (a)

9.27am

10.26am

Wolverhampton Low Level (d)

9.33am

9.35am

10.35am

Birmingham Snow Hill (a)

9.53am

9.55am

10.55am

Birmingham Snow Hill (d)

10.00am

11.00am

Leamington Spa

10.26am

11.21am

Banbury

10.52am

10.55am

11.44am

Bicester North

12.07pm

Paddington (a)

12.05pm

12.15pm

1.05pm

Journey Time

5 hours 20 mins

5 hours 45 mins

5 hours 25 mins

Above: The route between Chester and Birkenhead Woodside was operated under joint GWR/LNWR auspices. Ex-LMS motive power such as Fairburn 2-6-4T No. 42251 were utilised, it being a Chester resident between June-August 1965. Norman Kneale.

WESTERN TIMES

Appendix 2 Down trains during the day 14 July to 21 September 1924 (Weekdays) Paddington (d)

Birkenhead (a)

Journey Times

Notes

0.10am

7.17am

7 hours 7 mins

Overnight

9.10am

1.55pm

4 hours 45 mins

See analysis Appendix 1

11.10am

4.00pm

4 hours 50 mins

2.10pm

6.55pm

4 hours 45 mins

Train splits at Shrewsbury and one section goes via Oswestry (stopper)

4.10pm

8.54pm

4 hours 44 mins

Express few stops. Tea Car to Shrewsbury

6.10pm

11.10pm

5 hours

Dining Car to Wolverhampton

Down trains during the day 27 June to 18 September 1955 (Weekdays) Paddington (d)

Birkenhead (a)

Journey Times

Notes

0.05am

7.45am

7 hours 40 mins

Sleeping cars. Through Coaches to Birkenhead

9.10am

2.52pm

5 hours 42 mins

Includes through coaches to Stratford upon Avon

11.10am

4.25pm

5 hours 15 mins

Restaurant car to Birkenhead

2.10pm

7.50pm

5 hours 40 mins

Restaurant car to Wolverhampton

4.10pm

9.57pm

5 hours 47 mins

Restaurant car to Wolverhampton

6.10pm

0.20am

6 hours 10 mins

Restaurant car to Wolverhampton

A number of trains in this timetable had badged ‘Through Coaches to Birkenhead’.

Down trains during the day 14 June 1965 to 17 April 1966 (Weekdays) Paddington (d)

Birkenhead (a)

Journey Times

Notes

0.15am

7.57am

7 hours 42 mins

Sleeper As analysed above

9.10am

2.27pm

5 hours 17 mins

12.10pm

5.28pm

5 hours 18 mins

2.10pm

7.25pm

5 hours 15 mins

4.10pm

9.43pm

5 hours 33 mins

6.10pm

11.43pm

5 hours 33 mins

More stops

Restaurant or buffet cars were available on most services from Paddington to Wolverhampton. Summer Saturdays in this period showed similar services/times. Sundays showed four services (including the sleeper). The three-day time services (departing Paddington at 11.10am, 2.10pm and 4.10pm all took over 6 hours to 6 hours 30 mins to reach their destination. 70

ISSUE 10

Above: The end of the line under the overall roof at Birkenhead Woodside, in this mid-1965 view. The ex-LMS Stanier 4MT 2-6-4T No. 42606 has worked the train over the final 20 mile journey from Chester. The station closed on 5 November 1967. Norman Kneale. Below: To conclude, we find No. 4079 Pendennis Castle entering Shrewsbury hauling the first final through working, the ‘Birkenhead Flyer’ on 4 March 1967. Both preserved ‘Castles’ were immaculately turned out for the Ian Allan specials. William A C Smith.

WESTERN TIMES

Appendix 2 (continued) Up trains during the day 14 July to 21 September 1924 (Weekdays) Birkenhead (d)

Paddington (a)

Journey Times

Notes

6.45am

12.05pm

5 hours 20 mins

Badged ‘Birkenhead Express’. Breakfast car from Shrewsbury

9.05am

2.00pm

4 hours 55 mins

Badged as ‘Birkenhead Express’. Luncheon car from Wolverhampton

11.45am

5.05pm

5 hours 20 mins

Badged as ‘Birkenhead Express’. Luncheon and Tea car train

2.40pm

8.05pm

5 hours 25 mins

Badged as ‘Birkenhead Express’. Tea and dining car train

4.35pm

10.45pm

6 hours 10 mins

Goes via Oxford

On Sundays there was one train departing 2.55pm arriving at 9.00pm, conveying a tea and dining car.

Up trains during the day 27 June to 18 September 1955 (Weekdays) Birkenhead (d)

Paddington (a)

Journey Times

Notes

6.30am

12.15pm

5 hours 45 mins

8.55am

2.12pm

5 hours 17 mins

Restaurant car from Wolverhampton

11.45am

5.15pm

5 hours 30 mins

Restaurant car and through coaches from Birkenhead

2.40pm

8.35pm

5 hours 55 mins

Restaurant car from Shrewsbury

4.30pm

11.30pm

7 hours

Via Oxford (8pm departure from Snow Hill goes via Bicester North and arrives 10.25pm Paddington)

At this time there appear to be four Up trains on a Sunday.

Up trains during the day 14 June 1965 to 17 April 1966 (Weekdays) Birkenhead (d)

Paddington (a)

Journey Times

7.40am

1.05pm

5 hours 35 mins

Buffet car from Wolverhampton

8.55am

2.00pm

5 hours 5 mins

Restaurant car from Wolverhampton

11.40am

5.00pm

5 hours 20 mins

Restaurant car from Wolverhampton

2.35pm

8.15pm

5 hours 40 mins

Buffet car from Wolverhampton

4.25pm

10.10pm

5 hours 45 mins

Restaurant car from Wolverhampton

8.55pm

5.05am

8 hours 10 mins

Sleeper

Sundays had three through trains plus the sleeper.

Notes

ISSUE 10

SIGNALMAN’S ERROR AT TWYFORD his report details an incident involving the 5.15pm ‘The 2.25pm Wolverhampton was offered on the Up T Paddington to Henley-on-Thames, which derailed Main at 6.05pm but was refused for the diversion to be at Twyford on 16 December 1955. made with the 5.15pm Paddington. The ‘Obstruction

Danger’ emergency signal was sent to Ruscombe on the Down Main and to Twyford West on the Up Main at 6.11pm. Approximately 250 passengers were detrained to walk about 250 yards to the station.

‘I have to report that the leading bogie of the second coach became derailed at Twyford East box at 6.11pm Friday 16 December causing obstruction of the Down and Up Main lines. The circumstances were as under.

‘There was heavy delay, the 2.25pm Wolverhampton terminated at Twyford. The 4.15pm Bristol was withdrawn from Woodley Bridge to Reading; the 5.40pm Paddington was withdrawn from Ruscombe to Maidenhead and the 5.35pm Paddington from Shottesbrook to Maidenhead.

‘The 5.15pm Paddington was accepted by East box under ‘Line Clear’ at 6.02pm. ‘Train Entering Section’ was received from Ruscombe at 6.06pm on the Down Main line. Signalman Burton was on 2.00pm to 10.00pm turn of duty. He put back FPL (Facing Point Lock) No. 20, pulled what he thought to be points No. 14 to set the road Down Main to Down Relief, pulled over No. 20 and then tried to pull the Down Main to Down Relief Home Signal No. 26. Burton had reversed points No. 15 instead of 14 but did not realise it and thought the signal to be defective and called the driver forward with a hand signal from the box.

‘The Old Oak vans and steam crane arrived at 9.00pm and the Up Main was opened to traffic at 10.05pm and the Down Main at 10.30pm. There was no damage to the permanent way or signal equipment and only slight damage to the stock the whole of which was made good and worked into Henley from the Down Main at 10.30pm. ‘Signalman Burton was an inter-regional transfer from the Motive Power Department of the Midland Region in December 1954. He was put into training as a signalman and took charge as Class 3 at Woodley Bridge 6 March to 8 October and took charge at Twyford East as a Class 2 on 21 November last.’

‘The driver obeyed the hand signal but stopped when he found he was continuing on the main line. The signalman instructed him to set back and in doing so the front part of the train went through the crossover towards the up main causing buffer locking between the first and second coach and the leading bogie of the second coach to become derailed.

The report was signed by the Station Master and the District Inspector.

‘In the forward movement the engine and the first coach and one bogie of the second coach ran through the trailing end of the crossover in the Down Main leaving an open point between the bogies of the second coach for the backward movement. Right: No. 4075 Cardiff Castle in charge of down milk empties passing Twyford East. The front of the engine is just passing over crossover No. 14 which would take the train, which is the subject of the above discussion, to the Down Relief. The Down Main to Down Relief signal is also seen on the bracket. Notice the 25mph speed restriction for the crossover. Ken Wightman. Below: Signalling diagram courtesy Signalling Record Society.

CASTLE PORTRAITS hen compiling the Castle Class Centenary Special the page count. Therefore it is the Editor’s pleasure to W last Autumn, there were many fine photographs include some of those scenes from the ‘cutting room of the class that simply could not be included within floor’ for your enjoyment in this short photo feature.

Above: No. 4077 Chepstow Castle sits with an Up train at Exeter St Davids, when allocated to Newton Abbot sometime in 1950. Below: An unusual viewpoint at Teignmouth on 2 August 1955, captures No. 5079 Lysander on a Paignton to Manchester working.

ISSUE 10

Above: No. 7004 Eastnor Castle powers through Norton Fitzwarren with the ‘Torbay Express’ on 8 August 1955. The June 1946 built locomotive was allocated to Old Oak Common and is still in original condition, not receiving a double chimney until February 1958. Below: The now preserved No. 5080 Defiant is seen hauling empty coaching stock at Carmarthen on 13 May 1956. This ‘Castle’ spent almost its entire working life in South Wales, first at Canton, then Landore from late 1955, and finally Llanelly from 1961.

WESTERN TIMES

Above: Elegance personified as No. 5078 Beaufort heads west out of Newton Abbot with a Torbay line train on 16 August 1957. The stunning signal gantry and ex-GWR designed coaching stock (all in recently applied lined maroon livery) complete the scene. Below: No. 7004 Eastnor Castle is seen again, this time at Worcester Shrub Hill on 4 April 1963 in charge of the 1.10pm departure to Paddington. The locomotive has now been fitted with the double chimney and is paired with a Collett 4000g tender. R G Nelson.

Above: The evening sun was setting on the ‘Castle’ Class in more ways than one when this image of No. 7008 Swansea Castle was captured arriving at Plymouth in early 1964. The Old Oak resident had around six-months of active service remaining. Terry Nichols. Below: Forlorn looking classmates Nos. 7025 Sudeley Castle and 7005 Sir Edward Elgar stand on the sidings alongside Worcester shed. The date is late summer 1964 and both locomotives may have already hauled their last trains and await withdrawal. Terry Nichols.

WESTERN TIMES

THE GREAT WESTERN TRUST (GWT) - BULLETIN NO. 9 ur first GWT Bulletin published in WT2 in Autumn and its environment of temperature and humidity, and the O 2021 naturally included a very brief introduction physical conservation of each item is only the beginning. to the Trust’s creation in 1984 and our purpose, that The Trust has invested tens of thousands of pounds in has ever since provided the foundation upon which our now vast primary source collection has been ‘cherry picked’ for our bulletin articles. Having been one of the four founding trustees, and still in harness, I am aware that the years are beginning to tell, and I ought to put on record some key factors that are all too pertinent to our successes, our future challenges and I hope, future opportunities for the trustees that will follow us.

conservation grade sleeves, boxes, repair tape and fundamentally, the conservation grade environmental store as an integral annexe to our ‘Museum Display Room’. That latter store room is we believe unique to a volunteer railway heritage organisation.

The WT editors believed that such insights are very timely not least because over those 40 years, the ‘Collector Community’ and indeed our visitor audiences, have significantly changed in numbers and their degrees of awareness of the original GWR or even BR(W). We must reflect and respond to those unavoidable influences to ensure a secure future of the Trust, our collection and our work. Beginning with our strengths as it were, the longevity of the GWR as a single transport company and business, its evolving aggregation of absorbed and amalgamated companies and its shear relative popularity with a significant number of railway enthusiasts and historians, allowed a very immature group of schoolboys thinking to preserve a 14XX loco and auto trailer, to realise a dream that has survived, thrived and vastly expanded its ambit, and looks forward to a continued relevant future, in an entirely different era from that in the 1960s. The Trust itself, grew from that evolving GWS organisation and has been truly blessed by its entire cadre of trustees being wholly active volunteers dedicated to its purposes, each individual having relatively complimentary subject interests and specialisms in GWR and transport history and giving countless hours of commitment. What had begun as pretty much a ‘representative collection’ has in large subject specific areas, become a ‘definitive collection’ prompted by collectors such as R K Bird, Eric Mountford, Charles Gordon Stuart, Michael Hale and many of our individual trustees too. One might however admit, that enthusiasm and dedication apart, none of us until very recently, were career museum operatives, and I for one, was chosen as a founder, pretty much because as a Civil Servant I should cover ‘administration’!

Beyond the massive number of volunteer hours using that investment to conserve our paper based collection, none of that financial investment would have been possible without generous bequests and cash donations, much of the latter from our visitors too. With Didcot Railway Centre and the Trust as part of its governing body a fully accredited museum, the wider professional museum community rightly hold us to deserve that status, not least with active engagement in understanding our collection, displaying it and facilitating student study. When Covid lockdown froze our direct on-site activities, we began the weekly ‘Tuesday Treasures’ Blog on Facebook, giving examples of materials and their context from the collection to an effective world-wide audience. All the above has been enabled by modern technology, both pc’s, digital cameras, photo scanners and high grade drawing scanners. Much of that scanner investment reflects both the need to capture images to minimise exposure of the originals but also in many cases of drawings, to save their information content, when their fragile condition demands such action. Our collection is far beyond a card-index regime, with over 40 Excel files alone each dedicated in multiple parts to ‘subject matters’ e.g. Posters, Rulebooks, Photographs, S&T; Locomotives & Carriage & Wagon; Official Publications, Publicity Brochures, Handbills, Train Operations, Corporate Management and Staff. The Staff file alone is massive. A dedicated group of trustees and volunteers have devoted years of their lives to that cataloguing work, and hence the combined ‘group knowledge’ about the GWR, BR(W) and Absorbed Companies is of itself a remarkable treasure-trove.

Forty years of the Trust also vectors across massively changed means of fulfilling our obligations of care, conservation, administration and interpretation, all factors equally affecting Trust acquired artefacts and those given into our possession and care by individuals and numerous families. Care is the key word here. Simply storing items in a weatherproof, secure building is a rock bottom baseline. It’s the quality of that storage 78

ISSUE 10 But all that will be of nought, if we don’t capture that knowledge and interpret it in displays or blogs or other media means, for new visitors, new students and new volunteers. This statement of the obvious, is all too easy to remain mere words but as a fundamental part of an accredited museum, GWT cannot sit on its past achievements and a wishful hope for such a future to arrive without direct action to make it so. Hence, the current trustees are pursuing multiple initiatives, not least to migrate our ‘Registered Trust’ to a ‘Charitable Incorporated Organisation Trust’ (CIO) i.e. a body corporate, and to exploit the wider aspects of our collection to vitally expand the visitor experience of why and how the GWR changed the UK through better health and industry and public travel. With such a vast collection, we simply cannot display it all or even more than a tip of the iceberg. Therefore the Trust is looking beyond our finite, modest Display Room, to utilise both our paper based archive and our road vehicles to display the GWR’s Road-Rail Transport arm under our ‘Delivering the Goods’ (DTG) banner. Didcot Junction and its original engine shed, was created in great part to serve goods traffics and apart from our GWS Freight Wagon collection this aspect of GWR business is barely

reflected at DRC when it financially formed well over half the GWR’s annual income! So we are pursuing a new approach where our collection compliments other parts of DRC. Our first such example was providing items to the much admired ‘Signalling Building’ at DRC, which of itself is a welcome and much enjoyed visitor attraction, as it tells the story of GWR S&T evolution in a ‘hands on’ captivating manner which we aim to achieve in the DTG display. The Trust, like us all, live in starkly changed times, and changed museum visitor expectations. The continued interest of WT readers and support to the work of the Trust is one vital element of a healthy future for a collection that reflects and reveres the astonishing achievements and beneficial impact of the GWR. Please contact our Trustee and Secretary George Freeman via Didcot Railway Centre (info@DidcotRailwayCentre. org.uk) if this long article has caused you to consider the long term future of your own collections or to cover any other matter of relevance you may wish to discuss. Peter Rance - GWT Trustee & Collection Manager.

THE GUARD’S COMPARTMENT ISSUE 8

of that to the left and on the steel vehicle to the right, he challenges whether ‘early 1920s’ is appropriate and suggests that mid-1920s would be a more accurate date. NB This locomotive was withdrawn September 1928.

Stephen Williams made contact to offer an identity to the ‘mystery’ coach shown in the Guard’s Compartment section on Page 80 (which referred to the rear cover photo from the Castle Centenary Special). ‘I am confident that the vehicle illustrated is an example of a Diagram D51 Van Third - a 70ft Toplight built in the Bars II style. Eighteen of these coaches were constructed in two Lots; ten of which belonged to Lot 1207 and entered service in 1912, with a further eight vehicles (Lot 1215) being completed the following year. In this particular illustration we see the compartment side, with three compartments in view. A fourth compartment is out of sight, as is the lavatory. This Diagram was normally mounted on 9ft ‘American’ bogies and examples of this particular design survived in service until the end of the 1950s’.

On Page 44, he queries the attributed date of December 1923 in view of the full lining and suggests that the date is more likely related to May 1912 when the coned boiler was fitted. Finally in relation to locomotive No. 4600 in fully lined livery with garter in the official photograph on Page 72, he challenges the source for the statement that this locomotive never ran in ordinary service with the garter in place. This assertion was based on pages 47/8 of Great Western Way by John Lewis (HMRS 2009), where the author quotes, ‘Tank engines received the ‘GREAT WESTERN’ from 1906 but without the crest and a gap was left so it could be added (but never was)’. Stuart points out that Russell Part 2 (page 62) shows 4-4-2T No. 2243 working in fully lined livery with garter in place. Given the differing evidence, readers’ views are again invited.

Further investigation by your Editor, also reveals this photograph to date from the Spring of 1934.

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Stephen Williams also adds, ‘Still on the subject of coaching stock, in the background of the photograph on Page 51 of a ‘Hymek’ entering Exeter St Davids, I was very surprised to see a former GWR coach in ‘Blood & Custard’ livery, standing on a siding in the background. The photograph is dated May 1964 and the coach must therefore have been an extremely rare example of a vehicle that was still finished in this livery at this date. Does any reader know when this particular colour scheme finally disappeared?

PREVIEW WESTERN TIMES ISSUE 11 Published December 2024

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ISSUE 9 Stuart Johnson has commented on the following points from across Issue 9: Regarding the photograph of No. 5689 on Page 34, he doubts whether the location is Didcot shed yard as stated and wonders whether it is Swindon. The image is within a batch relating to Didcot (Dick Riley visited Swindon later that day); the presence of trees in the right background may help location confirmation. Further views are invited. His next point relates to the coaching stock behind locomotive No. 3543 on Page 42. Based on the lining 80

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