2019 Archive

2019 meetings:

January 16th     Ian Cowling Lynton and Barnstaple Rly.

February 20th     David Maidment Western Region Manager

March 20th     Amyas Crump Peter Grey (part 2)

April 17th             David Peel LMS Jubilees - A celebration of 2nd rank power

May 15th             John Barrowdale Patriot new-build Project

June19th             Paul Silvestri Going Underground  - A Journey By Design

Sep 18th             Douglas Beazer The Bridport Railway

October 16th       Steve Lord         Round the Houses Part 2

Nov 20th               Ian Bennett        Photo collection      

Dec 11th             Carl Earl         Railways in the North West

January

Our new year’s programme opened with Ian Cowling giving us an illustrated talk about the history and

the revival of the iconic Lynton and Barnstaple Railway with which he has been closely associated with

for many years. We heard how the railway was the last to be built with a full parliamentary Act and opened in 1898. The

line was built to a narrow gauge due to the difficult terrain to be crossed over Exmoor. The line was built

in just two years and opened with an initial three engines soon joined by a fourth, which was built in

America by Baldwin. The line started from the existing station at Barnstaple Town and crossed Exmoor

at a summit of 1,000 feet to reach Lynton. The main purpose was to cater for the growing holiday trade

in the area, but provision was also made for local traffic and for the carriage of goods. In 1923 the line was taken over by the newly constituted Southern Railway who almost immediately

bought a fifth locomotive to the same design as the first three. However falling usage, particularly

out of season, meant that by the early 30s it was running at a loss. It closed on 29th September 1935

and was quickly taken up and the stock and locos disposed of. We saw pictures of the final days of the

line in operation add its removal. A sad loss. Ian then took us through the long process of the revival of the line. Starting in 1975 when a start was

made at Woody Bay, a former station on the line, to revive the line. As all the route had been sold off

to many landowners, the process of reviving the line has been a slow and methodical process. It was

not until 2003 that the first track was laid and in 2004 trains ran on a short length of track. This was

extended to 1 mile in 2006 and in 2007 the 100,000th passenger was carried. Ian outlined the complex

process of acquiring the land and negotiating planning consent to further extend the line with the

eventual intention of completing the route from Barnstaple (a new station) to Lynton over the coming

years. The line has built replica carriages and is now building replica locos to create a nostalgic journey

into the past, while viewing the beauty of the Exmoor of to-day.

February

• David Maidment - Western Region Manager

David Maidment had a fascinating railway career, as you'll see from his website.

March

Having visited us last April, when Amyas Crump provided with us with an insight into the late

Peter Gray’s amazing life photographing trains from his childhood in 1920s Torquay up to modern times,

Amyas returned to delight us with a selection of evocative photos of trains mainly in the West Country

from Peter Gray’s huge collection.

For this evening Amyas showed a large selection of photographs covering mainly branch lines in the

South West, with an emphasis on Great Western ones. The photographs illustrated Peter Gray’s superb

ability to show trains in their landscape with the background of the picturesque Somerset and Devon

countryside. Very few of Peter’s shots are conventional views of a locomotive; he successfully related

the train to its location, whether in a station or in its countryside.

Peter covered far more than the West Country in his travels and Amyas included photos taken in Wales,

particularly on small branch lines. Most of the lines we visited in our tour have long closed, but they

provided a timely reminder of earlier times when rural railways were a part of everyday life. Particularly

evocative where shots taken on the much lamented Somerset & Dorset line between Bournemouth

and Bath.

April

David Peel

September

For our September meeting Douglas Beezer gave us a detailed history of the Bridport Branch.

He outlined its origins as the Bridport Railway, which was very much a local project to connect

Bridport with the developing railway network. The Great Western Railway had opened their

line from Westbury to Weymouth through Maiden Newton opening up connections to London

and beyond and Bridport industry wanted to access the opportunities provided to develop.

Having obtained their Act of Parliament the line from Maiden Newton opened in 1857. As it

connected with the Great Western it was built to the broad gauge as used by that company

and arrangements were made for it to be operated by that company.

The line continued to prosper and in 1874 it was converted, in concert with the main line, to

the standard gauge. Generally there were five passenger trains a day and significant volume of

goods traffic from the rope and other industries in Bridport as well as serving the agricultural

needs of the area. In 1884 the line was extended to what was then Bridport Harbour to benefit

from both the potential fishing trade and export of shingle.

In 1901 the Bridport Railway was bought out by the Great Western. In order to develop a new

seaside resort the great Western re-named Bridport Harbour as West Bay and attempted to develop

it as a new south coast resort. Douglas then took us on a photo journey of the line showing

numerous locations and the stations on it with historic photos. Showing how busy the line was in

the early 20th century and the large number of staff employed to operate it. Road competition

after the First World War then started to cut into both its passenger and goods business. As a

result the passenger service to West Bay ceased in Sept. 1930.

Steam services on the line ceased in June 1959 and diesel took over with a single railcar providing

the passenger service. Complete closure came about following the Beeching report which

recommended closure. The 1971 application by British Railways was however deferred as the

replacement bus service required was not available on the narrow lanes, however in 1975 closure

took place with hundreds turning out for the final services.

Douglas then took us on a photographic tour of the route as it exists to-day. Some of the station

buildings have been converted to homes with evidence of their previous function and West Bay has

been thoughtfully re-constructed with the monogram of the Bridport Railway still visible. Part of

Bridport station, including its curving canopy is now at Pecorama in Beer and Toller station buildings

have been re-erected at Totnes on the South Devon Railway.

October

Our October illustrated talk was by member Steve Lord. Steve’s title was “Round the Houses”. Steve

explained that the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway's circular line from Manchester Victoria via Rochdale

and Oldham was called this by local railwaymen. Last year Steve had taken us on a journey from Manchester to Rochdale by the western arm of the

circuit and this month was to continue the journey back to Manchester via Oldham. Steve started the journey in Rochdale with many historic shots of Rochdale in steam days and also

included pictures of the contemporary buses operating there. The photos showed a rather grimy and

smoky world of mills and long rows of terraced housing. Nostalgic for those who grew up in this

atmosphere but not one to return to. Many of the stations shown were still the original L&Y buildings

but many where in a very dilapidated condition. We then travelled down to Oldham, which had the distinction of five stations adjacent to the town centre.

We heard of the history of the various railway companies who vied for the trade in cotton and coal. Our

route was built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, but the Great Central and London & North

Western also came for a slice of the cake. Steve’s photos showed the day-to-day passenger and goods

trains, but the highlight were the large number of views of holiday specials during “wakes weeks”

holidays when local mills closed. A shot of a crowd on a station platform of expectant families in their

holiday best and suitcases awaiting their special train was particularly striking. At Oldham’s Werneth station we saw the original route to Manchester which dropped down the steepest

adhesion worked line in Britain at 1 in 37. We saw photos of steam trains struggling up this steep bank

into Oldham. A later, better graded, route was provided via Hollinwood into Manchester and this was

the route Steve took us on back to Manchester. The importance of the cotton traffic to the railway was

again apparent and parcels traffic, especially from the catalogue order businesses, was important enough

for a large new parcels depot to be built in the 1960s. Further views down the route concluded with

some historic shots of steam trains at Manchester Victoria

Thorncombe Model Railway Exhibition

We've found it necessary to change the date of the annual Thorncombe exhibition. Instead of its established November slot, future shows will be held on the third Saturday in May.  This change 

is with immediate effect and the show previously advertised for 9th November 2019 will not take place. 

The 2020 Thorncombe Modelex was a victim of the Covid-19 lock down.

TRAC presents cheque to Southern Locomotives Ltd.

Richard Hood and Richard Holt, along with other TRAC members, 

visited Swanage for the presentation of a cheque from TRAC to 

Southern Locomotives Ltd.  Our chairman passed the cheque to 

Simon Troy, chairman of SLL, with Nick Thompson, who is the 

webmaster of both organisations.  6th November 2019