2016 Archive

Meetings:

20th January               AGM & Peter Triggs           In Town Tonight

17th February             Dave Brabner                    Transport Video Highlights 2014

16th March                 Humphrey Davies              Steam in the North West and North East

20th April                   Mike Beale                       Steam Finale around Bristol

18th May                    Simon Foote                     Steam in the Hills

15th June                   John Gulliver                    The Fall and Rise of Steam

10th July                    David Hartland                 Tales from the Modern Railway Contractor

21st September           Graham Walker                America's Railway Scene

19th October               Don Bishop                      Steam recreations

Saturday 5th November    TRAC Model Railway Exhibition

16th November            Peter White                     Vive la Difference

14th December            Brian Jackson                   Castleman's Corkscrew

January 2016

We had a very good talk – as usual – from Peter Triggs who took us on a trip that ranged far and wide round London, both in terms of geography and time. And vertically, come to think of it (Tube). He included architecture, overground and underground, buses and cars, vans and lorries, ships and boats, and panoramas from various high viewpoints. 

We also had the AGM. Richard Holt stepped down as chairman, as planned, and then was elected to the committee again. Carl Earl was also elected on to the committee. We record the departure of both Steve Lord and Laurie Uncles as committee members, although Steve still dived into the sink at half-time to do the washing up. The chairman thanked the committee for their help over the year, and paid particular thanks to Brenda for her wonderful cakes. Despite poor weather and relatively few visitors, the Model Railway Exhibition made about £160, and the help of members in herding and helping visitors was much appreciated.

The Club’s finances are in good condition with the final balance practically identical to last year’s. A surplus of around £600 was earmarked for donations and the members voted to share this between Swanage Railway for their work on the connection to the main line at Wareham, and to the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway for their fund to secure trackbed there.

Kelvin has put together an interesting and varied programme for 2016, and we look forward to another successful year.

At our June meeting John Gulliver brought a superb selection of his railway photos to tell the story of 

the last days of steam on the mainline and its subsequent return under the preservation guise.

John bought his first camera as a youngster in Cornwall just after the end of steam on the mainline there. On moving to the Birmingham he was lucky to be able to photograph the final days of steam on the former GWR lines through Birmingham. We were presented with a collection of superb shots of the final days of Castles, Manors and Halls (and even some LMS locos!) including some atmospheric views 

of the old Snow Hill station.

After the interval John told the story of steam’s revival on the mainline from the arrangement that enabled Flying Scotsman to evade the steam ban to the increasing steam specials on the mainline. Again with some magnificent shots John told the story of this revival in his relaxed but informed style.

A memorable and entertaining evening of superb photos with the story behind them entertainingly told.   

Report by Carl Earl

At our July meeting David Hartland, the recently retired senior technical director at local firm Brecknell Willis, gave a fascinating, well illustrated and very informative talk on the complexities of providing the means by which modern electric trains and trams can collect the power to operate.

He explained his railway family background as his grandfather was a station master in Bristol. As a child he recalled watching the trains there and had a particular interest in the signals that controlled the trains.

He then gave a brief history of the development of Brecknell Willis, from their early days involved in the electrification of Bristol’s tramways to their move to Chard before the outbreak of World War 2. The company were involved in a wide range of engineering, but remained in the forefront of electrification products for railways.

On joining the company David eventually travelled the world selling and installing the company’s products in many countries, including the US, Taiwan and India. He also talked about the work he did in establishing the Docklands Light Railway and providing the equipment for the new Eurostar trains to be able to run on the third rail pick-up system in England - something the French thought must be a joke for their new very high speed TGV trains.  

Report by Carl Earl

At our September meeting Graham Walker took us on an illustrated tour of the American railroads. 

We started in the San Bernadino Mountains outside Los Angeles where heavily loaded freight trains toil up the grade from the container ports in the Los Angeles area to cross the mountain chain to reach the interior. Many of the trains are fully loaded double stack container trains with 3 or 4 diesel engines on the front and 1 or 2 pushing at the back. The high quality photographs showed the dramatic semi-desert scenery of the area as well as the toiling trains. What was fascinating were the specially designated viewing areas specifically for enthusiast to observe and photograph the trains, using their i-phones to identify the trains. 

We then had a short visit to the Western Pacific Museum to see the historic diesels that were used on intercontinental passenger trains after the demise of steam. Our next whistle stop was on the attractive Columbia River, where the tracks of competing rail companies run on both banks. More views of a variety of freight trains of enormous length in stunning scenery entertained us.

Our last stop was to visit rail “hot spots” around Chicago. We visited two locations with an amazing complex of junctions where up to 5 different rail company’s tracks met and crossed each other on the level. Frequent freights heading in all directions where shown. Significantly the American railroads still provide wagon load services and many of the trains were running between marshalling yards in the city. Because of changes in ownership the tracks of the two Canadian railroads, Canadian Pacific and Canadian National, ran through these “hot spots” and the photos included some CN locos. 

October   Steam Recreations by Don Bishop www.donbishop.co.uk/

Don Bishop, the organiser of Steam Recreations, entertained us with the story of how he attempts to re-capture the days of steam before its final eclipse on Britain’s railways. He accompanied his interesting talk with a superb range of photographs that demonstrated his skill in capturing the feel of Britain’s steam trains of yesteryear. 

Many of the photographs were of main line steam specials, some specially chartered for photographing. The aim is to ensure that the loco and stock accurately reflect trains of the 1960s or earlier. We started with some stunning shots of the Jacobite steam service on the Fort William to Oban line, especially shots of the train on the iconic Glenfinnan Viaduct.

Further main line visits included shots showing the beautiful scenery on the Settle and Carlisle line with a range of special steam trains reflecting steam hauled main line expresses. Every effort had been made to ensure that the setting and background of his shots reflected the period being re-created.

We also visited a range of preserved railways, which themselves try to re-create the look of the past. It is easier to arrange photo charters on preserved lines and we were shown a number of re-creations of branch goods trains in a number of locations including the scenic North Yorks Moor and the Keighley and Worth Valley lines.    

At our November meeting Peter White entertained us with his talk “Vive la Difference”. Starting with a comparison between London and Paris he then took us on a tour of central Paris using the number 24 bus.

Following this route we viewed the Paris mainline stations, noting the high quality of their architecture. Using historic photos we also glimpsed the steam days in these stations.

After this tour, Peter then told us the story of Paris’ iconic Metro system. He explained that there were many ideas, some very strange, to provide Paris with an city rail system to compare with London’s. It wasn’t until the idea of a grand International Exhibition was planned for Paris in 1900 that it was finally realised that an underground rail system was necessary to cope with the expected crowds and Line 1 of the Metro was finally born.

The development and expansion of the Metro network was outlined so that it became the extensive and vital part of Paris life. Innovative ideas such as trains with pneumatic tyres and automated operation were explained with a range of photos illustrating the development of the trains over the years.

Finally the continued expansion of the network with new and extended lines both planned and being built was mentioned, as was the return of the tram to Paris with the new outer Paris tram routes.

At our December meeting Brian Jackson gave a detailed and entertaining history of the line known as “Castleman’s Corkscrew”. This was the first line to link Dorchester with the recently built London and Southampton Railway and was opened in 1847. The line was promoted principally by a local solicitor, Castleman, to develop the local agricultural trade of Dorset and took a rather indirect route to serve the market towns of Ringwood, Wimborne and Wareham on its route to Dorchester, hence the “corkscrew”. 

The line was soon taken over by the expanding London and South Western Railway, who had hopes of expanding the line west from Dorchester.  Poole was initially served by a branch to Hamworthy, from where a ferry to Poole was required. Further branch lines were developed to Salisbury and Christchurch and eventually to Poole itself. The line at Dorchester was linked to the Great Western line to Weymouth by a sharp curve outside the station, and Brian detailed the complex shunting that went on to reach Dorchester station up till recent times.

When the line was built Bournemouth was just heathland, but with the rapid development of the new resort there was a need to provide a railway service. This was done by the building of a new line from Brockenhurst across the New Forest via Christchurch to Bournemouth. Eventually this line was extended to Poole to connect with the original “corkscrew”, becoming the present main line to Dorchester and Weymouth.

Brian illustrated his talk with an amazing collection of early prints and later photos illustrating the development of the line and its linked branches. He also showed details of the structures and workings of the route before outlining the gradual closure of the “corkscrew” and its branches, leaving only the most recent route, the present main line.

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