2009 Archive

Reports of 2009 meetings: 

Our December 2009 meeting followed the usual format with members showing their films and slides.  First off was David Brabner who took us on a tour of Great Britain and then to Europe followed by visits to railways in New Zealand and Australia.  Following the break Graham Bean took us back to his childhood around Blackpool and the North West with pictures of Loco’s and Engine Sheds which have long since become just a fond memory.  Many thanks to both David and Graham for showing us a wide variety of subjects which were enjoyed by our members.

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The November 2009 meeting was well attended.  The topic was the history of the Diesel Hydraulic era of British Railways, given by Bernard Mills.  Bernard started by explaining that this type of locomotive was built mainly at Swindon Works by the Western Region although some were constructed by other manufacturers to speed up their introduction during the period of the end of steam traction on the region. The main classes of locomotive were the Warships, the Hymeks, and the Westerns as well as some shunting locomotives. After some teething problems had been sorted out these engines were the main source of traction on the western region until the 1970’s when they were withdrawn when some were still quite new due to the fact that they were non-standard with rest of British Railways who had opted for Diesel Electric.  Bernard showed us a wide range of pictures of this type of locomotive taken throughout the period that they were employed on the Western Region.

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At the October 2009 meeting David Brabner visited us to talk about the outings which the Taunton group of the Great Western Society had organized for their members over the last thirty plus years.  If you expected their trips to be solely G.W. orientated you would have been wrong, right from the start the distances traveled were surprising.  The first visit was to the north west where they made the most of the cheap fares that were available.

Over the years they visited most areas of British Railways taking in as many engine sheds as could be fitted in.  Not all the outings were by train; mini buses were hired, the driving being shared by some of the members to make the most of the time available. Nor were all the trips railway orientated and on occasions canal barges played their part in providing the transport. More recently some of the more adventurous of them have visited European railways.

At our September 2009 meeting Dave Kent came back to talk to us about the progress towards the full reopening of the Welsh Highland Railway.

He started by reminding us of the history of the Narrow Gauge line that runs through some of the most scenic parts of Snowdonia including Beddgelert and the Aberglaslyn Pass with its three tunnels. David showed us a slides illustrating the state of the line when the current company started relaying the track. Many obstacles had to be overcome, such as bridges which had to deepened and many rebuilt to make room for the larger engines.  Farmer occupational tracks had to be in many cases re-routed before track laying could be started.

It was felt that powerful locomotives would be needed in the mountain land and narrow gauge Garrett Engines were acquired from South Africa along with track and wagons. There are still problems to be overcome, mainly completing the infrastructure where the track passes the outskirts of Portmadoc involving a crossing on the level of the Network Rail track and several level crossings before trains can run regularly into the Ffestiniog station.

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At the June 2009 meeting Mike Pym came to talk to us about the A4 Pacifics and the Elizabethan express.  During the first half of the meeting Mike explained how it was found that there was a need for a more powerful locomotive to enable the LNER to compete with the LMS with express trains to Scotland.  Sir Nigel Gresley designed the A4 Pacifics for the company during the 1930's and Mike showed us slides to explain how the development of the class evolved, including the experimental No 10000 known as "Hush Hush" due to the fact that its boiler was a marine type and revolutionary in its use in a railway locomotive.  Its use for this purpose was not a success and it was rebuilt with a standard A4 bother in due course, although it kept its 4-6-4 wheel arrangement.

In the second half of the meeting Mike talked about the Elizabethan express which was introduced in the year of Queen Elizabeth's Coronation.  The train ran from Kings Cross to Edinburgh non-stop, requiring a crew change during the journey by means of a corridor through the tender.  During the talk it transpired that one of our members had travelled on the footplate.

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At our May 2009 meeting Roy Winterburn spoke on the subject of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway.  As the name suggests this line linked the major cities of those northern counties and was the first to build a link across the Pennines.  The original name was the Manchester & Leeds Railway and it grew by merger with 32 other lines to become one of Britain’s most intensively used, and profitable, railways in the mid-19th century.   It carried wool and cotton from the ports to the industrial cities, and coal from mines to factories. However despite being profitable it was neither efficient, reliable nor respected, being the butt of music-hall jokes for its service.  Despite frequent complaints it did little to improve, though it did upgrade the spittoons in the first class compartments!  Among its employees was Branwell Bronte, who was fired for going to the pub during working hours.

Towards the end of the 19th century things got better.  Construction of the Horwich Works, on a green-field site complete with a new village for workers, led to the construction of better locomotives to the design of W Barton Wright, the best of which were the long-lived 2-4-2 tank engines.  He was succeeded by John Aspinall and finally by George Hughes prior to the lines merger with the LNWR in 1922.

While many L&YR employees went on to leading roles in Britain’s railways the line’s name became a footnote in railway history.  There is one surprising link with the present; the railway works team called the Newton Heath L&YR Football Club finally joined the English football league and changed its name to .......Manchester United.

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For our April 2009 meeting we welcomed Bob Tiller who came to show us his slides and tell us about “The Development of Diesels on the Western Region”.