ruary 2018.I am delighted to publish Ben Brookbank's observations of Gloucestershire's railways in World War Two. Ben has made a detailed study of the 'Big Four' railways during the War, and his Introduction includes very interesting background information about their wartime operations. Additionally there are some observations from his journeys elsewhere which help give a broader picture of the traffic being carried by the railways in those years.These are all the more valuable as few official reports of train movements survive from those years.
Ben died in February 2018.
A major article by Ben on the effects of the World War Two blitz on Birmingham's railways can be read at
https://sites.google.com/site/railwayselsewhere/birmingham-blitz-railway-damage-and-disruption
Birmingham - Bristol LMSR in World War Two - Some Personal Observations
Part One
'My usual place for watching trains on the LMS Birmingham – Bristol line was Ashchurch.
Ashchurch was an exceptionally interesting place for watching trains, on account of the enormous Army Depot there.'
Introduction
The Second World War occurred so long ago that anyone alive then is becoming decidedly elderly and most of those who took an active part in it have now passed on. I was particularly fortunate because 1939-1945 coincided with my teenage years. I was old enough to be able to take a lively interest while too young really to be involved – and also lucky not to be exposed to significant danger, suffering or privation. Indeed, even if I did not appreciate it at the time, I had to travel more than did most teenagers, because I was sent away to boarding-school (until mid-1944) and had separated parents and therefore two homes to go to in the holidays – one on the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire border, one in Liverpool then in London. Moreover, to save me from the air-raids on Liverpool and London, my mother took me briefly to safer places while giving herself a break at the same time.
I was a keen Railway Enthusiast and took more trouble than most other avid ‘train-spotters’ of my age to make records of what the locomotives were doing, when and where. I have carefully kept these records ever since, mostly in the original dirty little notebooks. My main regret now is that, like most non-railwaymen, I had almost no access to official documents such as Working Timetables or - especially - Special Traffic Notices. The records being published by the railway periodicals of the time became very sketchy once Press Censorship came down heavily on them quite early in 1940, although eased a little from 1942. Worse still, the detailed observations sent in for publication by the diligent 'Railway Observer' and blocked by the Censors, although stored away were apparently ‘lost’ when they should have been revealed after the War.
A stretch of railway of which I saw quite a lot during the War – at least when not ‘incarcerated’ at boarding-school, was the trunk LMS (ex-Midland) line between Birmingham and Bristol. Apart from using it to travel to and from school at Blandford via Bath and the Somerset & Dorset, I used to travel on it via Birmingham not only to go up North, but also to go to London (Euston) from Ashchurch that way. I preferred it to the GWR route to Paddington, because although slower it cost no more and was more interesting.
Ashchurch was an exceptionally interesting place for watching trains, on account of the enormous Army Depot there, described below. Whenever I had an opportunity during the School Holidays and my father had no need of my help on the farm – or I wasn’t out bicycling with a girl-friend - I used to speed down by bike to Ashchurch for a few hours. Otherwise a favourite spot for me was the LMS station in Gloucester - from which you could see the GWR traffic as well, while my father went to the Cattle Market. Occasionally I watched at Cheltenham (Lansdown Junction), or got to Worcester and went up on the Railway Cliff above the Shed.
It was really only after the War that we gradually came to understand what had happened on the Railways during the conflict, how they had adapted their operations and coped with all the difficulties that arose. Much has been written about the subject. Much emphasis has been laid on how vitally important they were, but for everybody in those days they were part of everyday life and the principal mode of travel over any distance. They were therefore mainly something to grumble about and in particular how the services they provided seemed all to have changed for the worse since peacetime.
I cannot here write an essay on the Achievements and Tribulations of the Railways in the War, but some basic facts need to be borne in mind. The Railways were not ‘Nationalised’, but were taken under Government control by the Railway Executive Committee (REC) under the Minister of [War] Transport.
Major cuts were made in passenger services, especially long-distance, but in practice nearly as many people used them as they did in the peacetime 1930s. Thus, before September 1939 the figure for total passenger journeys per month of about 100 million, fell only to 70 million in late 1940, then rose steadily to about 110 million in mid-1943 and stayed roughly at that level for the rest of the war. Naturally, freight traffic increased. In 1939 before the outbreak of war in September the four-weekly figures for total freight originating was about 21 million tons, nearly two-thirds being coal, the other one-third being roughly divided equally between general merchandise and other minerals. During the ensuing six years of war, these total tonnage figures and proportions did not alter much, although the proportion of general merchandise rose to about a quarter. What did change very significantly were the figures for freight net ton-miles: the four-weekly all-freight figure rose, from about 1,300 million in 1939 pre-war progressively to a peak of 2,000 million in mid-1944, dropping back only to 1,750 million by July 1945; for general merchandise the corresponding figures were about 400, 800 and 700 million and for coal 650, 750 and 750 million. Thus freight, especially coal, was being moved over much longer distances during the war. Incidentally, the effect of enemy air attacks on railway traffic, mainly in 1940-41, was transient and probably amounted to a reduction of only about 10%: the effects on working of the Black-out were much more, for example in forcing the loading, marshalling and movement of freight normally carried out at night to be done in daytime.
The general increase in freight traffic was accompanied by large changes in the major flows. The vulnerability to enemy threat (and attack) for maritime traffic in the North Sea and East Coast ports (including London) soon also applied to shipping in the English Channel and South Coast ports. This meant that overseas shipping was diverted to ports on the West side of the country. Consequently, rail traffic to and from West Coast ports increased disproportionately and flows became more cross-country. Coastal shipping in the North Sea and Channel was severely hampered, with consequent diversion to rail – notably of coal from the North to London and the South-East. There was a general enhancement of heavy industry, for the production of aircraft, warships, tanks, vehicles and armaments of all types, so inevitably the railways had to move very much more bulky freight and minerals (especially iron ore) than in peacetime: traffic in foodstuffs and general merchandise also increased substantially, partly owing to a reversal of the trend for this traffic to go by road.
A major portion of these wartime changes in railway traffic naturally involved traffic under Government order, principally on behalf of the Armed Forces. Special passenger trains (mostly for Troops) averaged 1,238 per month in 1939 (September - December), 2,020 in 1940, 1,660 in 1941, 2,512 in 1942, 3,948 in 1943, 6,850 in 1944 and 6,222 in 1945 (January – August). Special freight trains run per month were 833 in 1939 (September – December), 1,741 in 1940, 2,111 in 1941, 2,897 in 1942, 3,799 in 1943, 8,113 in 1944 and 6,734 in 1945 (January – August). The peak occurred in the week ending 17 June 1944, when 4,919 Specials (passenger + freight) were run. Naturally, for geographic reasons, some two-thirds of these ran in part at least over the LMS, but relative to its national coverage the GWR bore the greatest burden, because so many military depots were in the western part of the country. There were many hundreds of Military Depots, as well as Airfields and Naval Dockyards etc. throughout Britain: then there were some 50 Royal Ordnance Factories, many new‘Shadow’ factories and countless commercial factories turning out war material. Many were well established or built shortly before the War, but most were built during the course of the conflict. The products of the great majority of these were put on rail. The LNER was of course heavily involved with the countless Air Force Bases on the eastern side of Britain, while in 1944 the relative increase over peacetime freight traffic of the Big Four was greatest on the SR. The greater part of the internal movement of personnel and those arriving and departing from the Ports as well as supplies to and from Depots and Ports was made by rail.
The shift from movement of traffic primarily centred on London to laterally across the country and notably north-to-south, affected particularly its transfer from the LMS and LNER to the GWR, not least the flow on the LMS Birmingham – Bristol trunk route. The corresponding GWR route through Cheltenham, which had a similar number of regular freight trains (20 – 30 each way, each 24-hour weekday) although mainly traffic to/from South Wales, may well have seen even greater increases, but most of my - very limited – observations were at Ashchurch. For the reasons already outlined, a relatively large proportion of these Specials were run along the Birmingham - Bristol main line, mainly North-to-South, from and to the Clyde and Mersey ports to camps and depots in the South-West and South, including especially down the M&SWJ line via Cheltenham. Also, because the South Wales ports and Avonmouth were assigned a very large proportion of the imports of equipment and supplies from America, there was a substantial movement northward as well as eastward and southward from these ports – notably to Ashchurch.
In the last two years of the War, during the preparation for the major military operations overseas and their subsequent execution, first in North Africa and Italy, then in NW Europe, the Railways had to cope with ever more traffic, in particular the immense Forces of the USA, which were sent across the Atlantic from early 1942 under Operation BOLERO. After the United States entered the War at the end of 1941, quite early in 1942 their Armed Forces began to assemble in Britain, eventually to equal or exceed in Britain the size of the Home Forces, together with those from the Commonwealth and our Allies from Occupied Europe. The US Forces took over many of the British Depots and Airfields, but also built a large number of their own in this country, amounting by May 1944 to 18 General Depots plus 76 Branch Depots in Britain, mainly in the South and West, the General Depot No. 25 (G-25) at Ashchurch being one of the larger.
This ‘Operational’ traffic under BOLERO placed an enormous extra burden on the British railways, especially from mid-1942, although of course foreseen and pre-planned. In February 1944 an Official Committee on Inland Transport (OCIT) was set up to report regularly to a Ministerial Committee of the War Cabinet. At this time the traffic situation on the railways was serious, as it had been in 1940-41, if for different reasons. The companies were reporting heavy traffic delays and arrears, with severe restrictions on the acceptance of traffic and difficulties in clearing coal traffic from the Collieries. The REC on their part attributed the difficulties as primarily due to the shortage of staff, especially in the operating grades, which was only rectified by quite drastic alterations in the allocation of labour available to fill vacancies, by combing out labour from less urgent work and by filling vacancies in operating and permanent way staff preferentially. Earlier in the War the shortages had been more of track capacity and of locomotives.
It was estimated that by D-Day - 6 June 1944 - operational freight traffic would amount to between 38,000 and 40,000 tons a day. Furthermore, it was expected that about 625,000 deadweight tons of shipping normally employed in the coastwise trade, capable of carrying about 1,400,000 tons of freight a month, would be withdrawn for military operations and this order of tonnage -- much of it coal -- would have to be switched from sea to rail. Moreover, in order to keep the Port of London and the Southern English ports clear to mount OVERLORD, import traffic was to be diverted to West Coast ports, also Hull and Immingham. This would result in longer hauls over heavily occupied railway lines. Lastly, there would be heavy movements of troop trains, particularly from the Clyde and Mersey southwards, which were likely to delay the movement of freight traffic. For the BOLERO freight traffic, an elaborate but rigid programme of supply trains had been drawn up by Railway and Military officers at the War Office, whereby timings and paths were allotted – and modified according to day-by-day requirements, based on coded letters and numerals designating each Depot and Port.
Ashchurch Military Depot and the American Army
This Depot was established just before the War, successively as RASC VRD (Vehicle Reception/Reserve Depots), MT and MTSD (Motor Transport Stores Depots). In 1942 it was gradually vacated by the British Army and transferred to the Americans. The US Forces began to take over in June 1942, their Services of Supply (SOS) taking over officially on 11 July, first with a Vehicle Park for assembled imported vehicles. They designated Ashchurch as No. G-25 Quartermaster Corps Depot, including a Chemical Supply Section and later a major Ordnance Corps Section, servicing AFV.
To quote:- The installation was a general depot, receiving, storing and issuing equipment and supplies for five of the seven services – Ordnance, Quartermaster, Signal, Engineer and Chemical Warfare. But its principal activities continued, as under British operation, to be in the field of ordnance supply… The depot’s Ordnance Section was responsible not only for the receipt, storage and issue of ordnance general supplies, all types of general, special purpose, and combat vehicles and artillery, but also for maintenance of ordnance equipment. This required a base shop capable of completely rebuilding all types of engines and heavy units and a regular assembly line was organized. The General Motors schedule for this line called for daily production of 80 engines, 40 transmissions, 40 transfer cases, 40 rear-axle assemblies, 40 front-axle assemblies, … and about a dozen other minor assemblies such as starting-motors and generators, .. although the highest rate achieved was about 35 engines a day. The depot’s output of repairs to road vehicles was up to 6,000 per month. .. In 1943-45, vehicles were shipped [from the USA] either wheeled, boxed, or crated. Wheeled vehicles were sent directly to parks and depots (principally G-25, Ashchurch), and after a little servicing, were issued for use. Boxed vehicles came packed in one crate or box and required only the addition of wheels and minor assembly and servicing before issue. Cased vehicles came with either two vehicles in one to five boxes, or single unit boxes (one vehicle in one or two boxes), and required considerable assembly work…
With the acceleration of the BOLERO build-up in the summer of 1943 G-25 handled an increasing volume of supplies and stood out as one of the great general depots in the SOS structure. At the peak of its capacity the depot had 1,750,000 sq. ft. of covered storage space and more than 2,000,000 sq. ft. of open storage. It had a strength of over 10,000 men. G-25 employed a relatively small number of civilians – under 500... Many had to be transported by US Army buses from Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and other nearby communities. … On 1 June 1944, 6,500 of the 10,000 men belonged to Ordnance units, of which there were a total of 43 companies organized under eight battalions and two Group headquarters. From a small beginning in 1942 the warehouse equipment of the Ordnance Service alone grew to include 32 cranes (up to 20 tons capacity), 64 fork-lifts, 35 prime movers, and 38 tractors; the Service also supervised a pool of conveyors, 475 flat-cars and auto-trailers, and five narrow-gauge Diesel locomotives. In the months just preceding the Invasion the Depot processed nearly 5,000 ordnance requisitions per week.
By the end of 1943 the SOS depot system [in Britain] comprised 18 General and 46 Branch Depots, in addition to 11 Vehicle Parks and 22 Petroleum and 8 Ammunition Depots. Vehicle Parks, many of them established on the grounds of British estates, with their row after row of tanks, armoured cars and trucks, gave a particularly impressive picture of massed might. Most of the Depots likewise gave such an impression. But G-25 was one of the largest and had by that time become something of a model installation. Because of its proximity to Cheltenham [where the SOS HQ was located], it became the showplace of the SOS – end quote.
It follows that during the war Ashchurch both received and dispatched several Specials on the railway every day. Throughout 1944 Ashchurch Depot was dealing with about 250 wagon-loads – say six to seven trains, per day. They tailed off gradually as the American Army was established on the Continent, accepting men and supplies directly from the USA soon after the capture of Cherbourg late in June 1944. The ‘Yanks’ left very soon after the end of the War. On 22 August 1945 Ashchurch Depot was handed back to the British War Department. It was taken over by the REME and has been in existence ever since, now a Defence Storage & Distribution Centre under MoD Logistics, with a preserved ‘Chieftain’ tank guarding the entrance.
Observations 1939 - 1945
During the early part of the war I travelled quite a lot, for one reason or another. I found that long-distance travel by train was frustrating for the train-spotter. More than did most people, I wanted to see out and ideally to see forward on the right-hand side with a large window to get the numbers of engines coming the opposite way. The trains were usually very crowded – and in winter the windows steamed up, so I was usually frustrated in my desperate efforts to get my ideal seat: I therefore spent much of my journeys sitting on a suitcase in a right-hand corridor, or even leaning out of a right-hand end-window, in order to see as much as I could and even so I missed everything on the left-hand side - it was also damned cold in winter. Anyway, the corridors were often jammed with people who were unable to find a seat at all, and with the bulky baggage that Servicemen usually carried.
In this sort of circumstance I made a number of journeys in wartime from Ashchurch (or Cheltenham) northwards to Birmingham (New Street) or southwards to Bath (Queen Square) or Bristol (Temple Meads). The railway traffic to be seen on these journeys was fascinating, especially the freight.
My usual place for watching trains on the LMS Birmingham – Bristol line was Ashchurch. On the main line, you never knew what to expect, as shown by the samples of my records that follow. At Ashchurch it was dead straight for about two miles in each direction, falling at a gradient of 1-in-300 all the way from Cheltenham in the Up direction and from Bredon in the Down, so approaching expresses could be seen from afar before they rushed through the station. North of the station were Down and Up refuge sidings, which were converted into loops early in the War, and often Down freights were kept for ages waiting in the Down loop.
Especially after being given a bicycle – albeit one with no gears, Ashchurch was easily accessible to me, being only four miles from my father’s farm at Shuthonger. For the greater part of my School Holidays, or about 10 weeks of the year, I was able to witness the traffic on the Birmingham - Bristol line, but of course in practice I saw it only for a few hours on a few days and then mainly only in 1942-45 – an infinitessimal fraction of the total on a busy main line operating 24/7 (almost)! My father allowed me to go there, for stints of several hours, provided I was not needed for farm-work or something. I would take sandwiches and enjoy the comings and goings, and read a good book in the intervals. The intervals were short, as the main line was usually busy and there were movements on the branches, including the occasional, seemingly incongruous, passing of a light engine or empty Evesham line train over the flat crossing at the north end. I preferred the seats on the Up Main platform, where incidentally there was a Pub, celebrated for being a rarity in those days, being leased to a private owner and not run by the Railway.
By comparison,traffic on the branch line from Ashchurch via Tewkesbury to Great Malvern, which ran along a few hundred yards below the house, remained very sparse and predictable. This branch was most unusual in that, although double-track, between Tewkesbury and Upton-on-Severn only the Down line was used for traffic, operated by train-staff and ticket and no signals: the Up line was dedicated to storage of wagons, also occasionally some carriages, while in 1943-44 there were new US Army wagons awaiting transfer to the Continent. There were just four passenger trains each way per weekday, plus one extra on Thursdays and Saturdays, and three others just between Tewkesbury and Ashchurch – none on Sundays; there were two goods trains to Malvern from Ashchurch and one train back. It was busier between Ashchurch and Tewkesbury, in particular because there was an engine shed at Tewkesbury, to which various locomotives - up to the size of Stanier Black Fives - came for servicing after bringing trains to Ashchurch. Before 1944 I was unaware of any other traffic on the Malvern line, apart that is from the fairly frequent occurrence of a 3F or 4F 0-6-0 early on Sundays, which would wake me up as it struggled to yank as many empty wagons as it could – many having seized-up grease axle-boxes, from the miles-long collection of spare wagons stored on the former Down line. After D-Day in 1944, however, US Army Hospital trains came up from Ashchurch to Malvern with wounded soldiers going to the Military Hospitals, of which five were built near Malvern Wells (LMS), the empty stock being returned via Worcester up the main line. These trains would be double-headed, often with two 4F 0-6-0s and also by the specially dedicated LNER Westinghouse-fitted B12/3 4-6-0s.
More importantly, to Ashchurch from Evesham came the line that branched off the main line at Barnt Green and ran through Redditch, which at Broom Junction was joined by the Stratford-on-Avon & Midland Junction (S&MJ) line from Stratford, Towcester, Blisworth and from the Midland Main Line at Oakley Junction, north of Bedford. During the War these routes served useful purposes: the line through Redditch provided a route for heavy coal trains to avoid the awesome Lickey Incline, while the Stratford route – although hampered by weak bridges and single-track sections, was used for regular and diverted freight trains from London via Bedford, or from Northampton via Blisworth, also (post-war) from Woodford Halse Yard and from the GWR system at Banbury via Fenny Compton. At Ashchurch itself, the great Army Transportation Depot connected directly off the Evesham branch. Therefore you saw at Ashchurch, apart from the local passenger service from Birmingham (New Street) via Evesham of five trains a day (none on Sundays), a variety of freight trains, usually hauled by 3F or 4F 0-6-0s – or for the Depot almost anything, including often GW locomotives to/from South Wales via Gloucester. (Trains to the Depot from the north down the main line had to be backed into the Depot from Ashchurch Junction).
Comparison of the passenger timetable for 1939 with that for 1942 is stark. In wartime, at least until the last two years, there were practically no Saturdays Only holiday trains and Reliefs were unadvertised and put on with reluctance. However, a few Reliefs had to be run in the summers of 1943, 1944 and 1945, when people – with plenty of money in their pockets – were desperate to go away on holiday and as a result trains became grossly overcrowded and hundreds of people simply got left behind on Peak Summer days. In the public timetable, on the Birmingham – Bristol route on Monday – Friday in Summer 1939 there were 13 through expresses, on Saturdays 27; six on Sunday. In Summer 1942 there were just nine Monday – Saturday, four on Sunday and no Saturday extras; moreover all but three (one on Sunday) did not go through Worcester.
For the first two or three years at least during the War, watching trains at Ashchurch seemed rather less exciting than in peacetime. On the Birmingham – Bristol main line, the most obvious change from the first months of the War was the influx of Stanier ‘Jubilees’ together with his ‘Black Fives’ on the expresses: from 1944, the latter became ‘boring’ as new ones were being turned out in such large numbers. As well, even before the War, there were a few unrebuilt Fowler 5XP ‘Patriots’/’Baby Scots’ to be seen. The familiar 4P Compounds and Midland 2P (plus some 3P) 4-4-0s were still around, but mainly working the stopping passenger trains or piloting the 4-6-0s – on increasingly long and heavy expresses. The express trains of course had slower schedules than in peacetime and often ran late – mainly due to their extra length necessitating ‘drawing-up’ at many stops.
Later on, 4-4-0s, including the ex-LSW S11 4-4-0s loaned to the LMS by the SR, were also often put on freight trains – inappropriately in the case of coal trains down the Lickey Bank! Earlier on, the freight engines were mainly Midland 3F and 4F (Midland and LMS) 0-6-0s. The 0-6-0s were also rather a ‘bore’, at any rate those from Saltley (21A), which had no less than 65 on its allocation, Gloucester Barnwood (22B) with 30 and Bristol LMS (22A) with 35. However, you also saw 3Fs and 4Fs from numerous other Sheds, indeed from almost anywhere on the LMS Midland Division. Later in the War, from about early 1943, as numerous Stanier 8Fs were being built, these larger locomotives became commonplace and even WD 2-8-0s and 2-10-0s came along. The greatest excitement was the appearance early in 1943 of the ‘Yanks’, the Class S160 2-8-0s of the US Army Transportation Corps (USATC). Some 400 of these were loaned for about two years to the LMS, LNER and GWR before being sent across the Channel to work as intended on the railways in liberated France, Belgium, Holland – and eventually elsewhere. Unaware of this, I could not believe my eyes when I first encountered such an utterly ‘un-British’-looking locomotive. I was also taken aback by its size when I first saw a (brand-new) Riddles WD 2-10-0, at Ashchurch in 1944, although I had by then got used to the WD 2-8-0s on other lines.
1939
I was collecting engine numbers on my infrequent journeys since I was 10 years old, but not noting any other information until just before the War, in August 1939. That month my father gave me a local Weekly Run-About ticket, so I had a happy four days travelling the local (LMS) lines – also extending the limits of the ticket to go into Birmingham New Street and Bristol Temple Meads, and one day my father took me over to Banbury and Woodford (& Hinton – as it was then) and to my excitement I saw my first LNER engines.More especially, by that time I had discovered the thrill of watching trains on Summer Saturdays. Therefore, for starters, I have drawn up Table I for Saturday 5 August at Ashchurch – in so far as I can reconcile my notes with Bradshaw’s August 1939 timetable.
TABLE I
Ashchurch, Saturday 5 August 1939
That day I was relishing the Summer Saturday traffic at Ashchurch from about 11.00 until about 17.00. It was very busy, although not as hectic as on a comparable day in the 1950s, when everyone had at least two weeks’ paid holiday and more people than ever were going to English seaside resorts in the summer - and not yet going abroad.
On the Birmingham – Bristol line the largest locomotives allowed in earlier LMS days were 4-4-0s and 0-6-0s and double-heading remained almost the norm, until in the 1930s a key bridge – I believe the River Avon bridge at Eckington - was strengthened. So even in 1939 the number of Stanier’s new ‘Black Fives’ on the expresses used on this route was limited, while his ‘Jubilees’ were still rare enough to get me excited: only after the outbreak of WW2 were they drafted onto the route and became the mainstay of the principal expresses.
1940
It was not until August in 1940 that I had a proper session at Ashchurch, but my father did however take me occasionally to Gloucester or to Worcester. The first time (Monday 8 April 1940) when I watched trains at Gloucester, I did not realise that I should have been on the LMS station to see everything and my notebook records 42 engine-numbers (and no other details), only two of which were LMS. However, these included three LNER (Nos. 1964, 2072 and 2136). I was aware of the loan to the GWR (Worcester and Wolverhampton Districts) from late 1939 of some 40 of these ex-NER J25 0-6-0s and of some 40 ex-Midland 2F 0-6-0s from the LMSR to the GWR (London and Bristol Districts), to replace – almost - the 108 Dean Goods 0-6-0s ‘called-up’ for military service: I had already been astonished to see such strangers on my travels. Nevertheless, there was a great variety of GW locomotives to be seen at Gloucester, including various ‘old-stagers’ plus locomotives running in after repair at Swindon and any number of engines (tender and tank) from South Wales.
Two days later (10 April), along with my father I discovered the thrills of the Railway Cliff at Worcester. Of the 33 numbers I noted there, 25 were GWR, three were LMS and four were LNER J25s (Nos. 1986, 2065/75, 2141).
For comparison with 1939, Table II is my log for Ashchurch of Wednesday 21 August, when I was there from about 11.45 until 18.00.
TABLE II
Ashchurch, 21 August 1940
The absence of booked Summer Saturday expresses was obvious, although there were five Specials/Reliefs. The log shows that there was a fair amount of traffic at this relatively early – but critical – period in the War, however Ashchurch was to get much busier later. More particularly there was greater variety both in the type and source of locomotives: in 1940 I was already tired of seeing the countless, familiar 4-4-0s and 0-6-0s from the ‘21’ and ‘22’ Sheds. The only remarkable train this day was the one consisting of new eight-wheel wagons for the WD, no doubt destined for overseas.
1941
I have no records on the line of any interest until April 1941 when I had a session at Ashchurch on 5 April:-
TABLE III
Ashchurch, Saturday 5 April 1941
Actually, this was not an exciting Saturday and rather less busy than on a normal weekday. (Though worthy of note was 'Jubilee' 5657 being shedded at 22B Gloucester Barnwood at this date - the only member of the class ever to be allocated there, from December 1940 for just five months)
On Saturday 26 April in about two hours at Gloucester I recorded the following – regrettably with no details of workings:-
LMS:- 4-6-0 5260 (14B), 5284/8, 5558 ‘Manitoba’ (20A); 4-4-0 630, 1028/97; 2-8-0 ex-S&D 13804 (22C); 2-6-0 2829/46, 0-6-0 Nos. 3355, 3427, 3987 (20B) – on a train of explosives, 4141, 4276; 0-6-0T Nos. 1878, 7565.
GW:- 4-6-0 Hall Nos. 5980 ‘Dingley Hall’, 5992 ‘Horton Hall’, Castle Nos. 5042 ‘Winchester Castle’, 5066 ‘Wardour Castle’, 5092’ Tresco Abbey’, Manor Nos. 7808 ‘Cookham Manor’, 7815 ‘Fritwell Manor’, Saint No. 2935 ‘Caynham Court’, Grange No. 6865 ‘Hopton Grange’; 4-4-0 Bulldog Nos. 3379 ‘River Fal’, 3395 ‘Tasmania’, 3440; 2-8-0 Nos. 2843/4/74, 3806, 3820; 2-6-0 Nos. 4358, 6352/94, 8362/4/82, (Aberdare) 2639; 0-6-0 No. 2350; 2-8-2T No. 7225; 2-8-0T Nos. 4288/94, 5201/55; 2-6-2T Nos. 4567/71/8, 0-6-0T Nos. 2009, 2138, 7700/41, 8701; 0-4-2T Nos. 4806/8/41; LNE 0-6-0 (J25) No. 2136.
As I was watching from the north end of the LMS station, the GW (Horton Road) Shed Yard was visible, so not all these GW locomotives were on the move. (On the other hand, the brass GWR numbers were not so easy to see and the engines did not have smoke-box number-plates).
Of course, as the Cheltenham trains to/from Swindon and London reversed and changed engines that meant two per train (usually a 2-6-2T and a Castle).
There was a great deal of freight traffic to/from South Wales via Chepstow and since before the War much of this was hauled by the eight-coupled Tanks or even 0-6-2Ts.
The 48XX 0-4-2Ts were working the Chalford (‘Golden Valley’) auto-trains.
At Worcester Tunnel Junction – i.e. the Railway Cliff - on Thursday 1 May, in about an hour’s observation plus a tour of the Sheds, I noted 45 GW steam engines plus three LNE and two railcars, as follows:-
4-6-0 Castle No. 4086 ‘Builth Castle’, Star No. 4051 ‘Princess Helena’, Hall Nos. 4928 ‘Gatacre Hall’, 4932 ‘Hatherton Hall’, 4938 ‘Liddington Hall’, 5993 ‘Kirby Hall’, Saint Nos. 2951 ‘Tawstock Court’, 2983 ‘Redgauntlet’, 2988 ‘Rob Roy’, Manor No. 7818’Granville Manor’; 4-4-0 Bulldog Nos. 3353 ‘Pershore Plum’, 3449 ‘Nightingale’; 2-8-0 Nos. 2803/70/85, (ROD) 3001; 2-6-0 Nos. 6386/91, (Aberdare) 2657/79/80; 0-6-0 Nos. 2207/63/78; 2-8-2T No. 7208; 2-8-0T Nos. 4231/85, 5218; 2-6-2T Nos. 4100/14/39, 5197, 8101/6; 0-6-0T Nos. 2001/16, 2743, 3607, 8727; 0-4-2T Nos. 3574, 4804/18, 5806/7; Diesel railcar Nos. 5/6; LNE J25 0-6-0 Nos. 2040/51, 2142. LMS locomotives were:- Stanier Jubilee 4-6-0 Nos. 5568 ‘Western Australia’, 5585 ‘Hyderabad’, Stanier 5P5F 4-6-0 Nos. 5274/5; MR 2P 4-4-0 No. 527; MR 3F 0-6-0 Nos. 3627/74; Stanier 4P 2-6-4T No. 2556.
This was quite a variety. There were always many interesting old GW engines to be seen at Worcester, but the LMS was rather dull because of course almost all the freight traffic – and, in peacetime, passenger trains – took the Avoiding Line through Spetchley. Up above Tunnel Junction you missed only the trains running direct between Shrub Hill and Foregate Street, these being mainly passenger, while the direct line avoiding Shrub Hill was busy, especially with all the freight between the Midlands and South Wales via Hereford.
My journeys to and from Blandford and Cheltenham were happy northbound but unhappy southbound! However, north of Bath/Bristol there was always plenty of railway traffic to observe, although I would miss a lot of the engine-numbers – and did not in the earlier days make a note of what the unidentified locomotives were doing.
On the S&D it was very different. Traffic was fairly sparse and as it was an isolated system the engines were almost always the same ones. The long drag of 2½ - 3 hours from Bath to Blandford with a stop of 30 - 60 minutes at Templecombe was tedious: I soon became blasé about the 2-8-0s Nos. 13800-10 and sick of 2P 4-4-0s Nos. 696-700 and 4F 0-6-0s Nos. 4557-61 – and I was even reduced to listing the names on Private Owner wagons. However, in 1941 the LMS took on loan from the SR all its 10 S11 (Nos. 395–404) and four T9 (Nos. 303/4/7/12) ex-LSW 4-4-0s, which were put to work and/or helped out on the S&D on duties normally undertaken by the LMS 2P 4-4-0s; also six ex-LSW T1 0-4-4Ts (Nos. 1-6) substituted Midland 0-4-4Ts at Templecombe and on the Highbridge branch. The S11s became very familiar to me, as also did the five ex-LSW K10 4-4-0s loaned to Bristol (22A) and Gloucester (22B) on the LMS. But I digress…
Returning to the LMS Birmingham – Bristol main line: I had my next good session at Gloucester on Saturday 2 August 1941, again for about three hours in the middle of the day. I recorded the actual workings of only a few LMS and no GW.
LMS:- 2-6-0 No. 2759 (15C) was on a Down Special,
Compound No. 1027 (22A) had come from Bath on the 09.45 Bournemouth West – Bradford with 15 coaches and only at Gloucester took on a pilot, 2P No. 397 (22B);
Jubilee No. 5656 ‘Cochrane’ (20A) had 12 coaches on a Relief to the 12.55 Bristol – Bradford, the main train having No. 5694 ‘Bellerophon’ (17A).
The 09.30 Bradford – Bristol had Patriot No. 5535 ‘Sir Herbert Walker, KCB’ (20A) and a Relief to this train had Jubilee No. 5648 ‘Wemyss’ (20A).
The 15.05 Bristol – Sheffield had No. 5590 ‘Travancore’ (22A), unassisted on 15 coaches.
The last express I saw was the 09.30 Bradford – Bristol, running very late with No. 5622 ‘Nyasaland’ (22A).
Stanier Black Fives were Nos. 5029 (22C) on a Down Special, 5272 (21A) on Down parcels, 5288 (21A) on the 08.29 Derby – Bristol, and 5432 (22C).
Compound No. 1025 was on an Up Special.
On unrecorded workings were:- 4-4-0 Nos. 629/30, 1046, 2-6-0 No. 2847, 0-6-0 Nos. 3355/9, 3791, 3875/6, 3906 (19C), 3975/82, 4045/7, 4406; 0-6-0T Nos. 1878, 7557/65.
GWR:- 4-6-0 Saint Nos. 2906 ‘Lady of Lynn’, 2928 ’Saint Sebastian’, 2935 ‘Caynham Court’, Castle No. 5092 ‘Tresco Abbey’, Grange No. 6873 ‘Caradoc Grange’, Manor No. 7808 ‘Cookham Manor’; 4-4-0 Bulldog No. 3379 ‘River Fal’; 2-8-0 Nos. 2802/99, (ROD) 3008/18/48; 2-6-0 Nos. 5377, 6367/81, 8368/72, 9310, (Aberdare) 2612/39; 0-6-0 No. 2515; 2-8-2T Nos.7213/22/4; 2-6-2T Nos. 4578, 5515/38; 2-4-0T No. 3584; 0-6-2T No. 5620; 0-6-0T Nos. 2009/39, 2153/5, 2756, 8731; 0-4-2T Nos. 4800/2/8/60. (No. 6367 was on a Troop train).
There was one LNE J25 0-6-0 (No. 2136), but most extraordinary were LNER O4 2-8-0 Nos. 6245, 6595 on loan.
As mentioned above, the GWR was particularly burdened with extra freight traffic during the War. It was therefore short of heavy freight locomotives and in the earlier years, before it received new 2-8-0s of its own ‘2884’ class or – on loan - new Stanier 8Fs, WD ‘Austerities’ or USA 2-8-0s, it took on loan for a year or two 30 O4 2-8-0s from the LNER, also from the SR five H15 and 6 N15X 4-6-0s, even two I3 4-4-2Ts. Another sign of ‘austerity’ was the appearance from this period of newly-built ‘Halls’ lacking their nameplates, also with their cab-sides blanked off.
At Ashchurch on Monday 4 August (about three hours in the afternoon) it was not very exciting, but I noted the following:-
Stanier Black Five No. 5093 on the 09.45 Bournemouth West – Derby;
No. 5094 (5A) on the 15.05 Bristol – Bradford;
Patriot No. 5535 ‘E. Tootal Broadhurst’ on the 12.55 Bristol- Bradford,
Jubilee No. 5627 ‘Sierra Leone’ piloted by 2P No. 418 with 15 coaches on the 09.20 Bradford – Bristol,
No. 5636 ‘Uganda’ on the 10.20 York – Bristol,
Stopping trains had 4F No. 3964 (twice) and Compound No. 1064.
Only two freights passed, both with 4Fs (Nos. 4272 and 4431).
Fowler 2-6-4T No. 2372 took the 14.09 via Evesham to Birmingham;
The 13.35 from New Street that way had Stanier 2-6-4T No. 2555;
A goods to Evesham had 0-4-4T No. 1295.
MR 1P No. 1303 was pilot.
No. 1330 brought a goods from Tewkesbury.
That was all, but Ashchurch was to liven up in later years.
1942
The War brought about a great increase in freight traffic to and from South Wales, straining to the limit the mere double-track main line Newport (East Usk Junction) - Severn Tunnel Junction and on either through the Severn Tunnel or up to Gloucester and the Midlands.
The first priority was to quadruple East Usk Junction - Severn Tunnel Junction West, which was completed in November 1941, then Gloucester (Engine Shed Junction) - Cheltenham (Lansdown Junction) over which the LMS Bristol – Birmingham traffic had to be carried as well; this was completed in stages to 24 August 1942.
When I came home from School on 1 April I was excited to see this latter work already in hand. It was quite a difficult operation, prolonged not only because normal traffic had to continue but also partly owing to repeated landslides. Previously designated from Gloucester as Down on the GWR, Up on the LMS, after this work both GWR and LMS were designated Up from Gloucester. Through Churchdown station the new lines were sited on the outer sides and the station was partially rebuilt, with two island platforms. As well as the earthworks and several bridges, all signalboxes and signalling had to be rebuilt and at Hatherley and Lansdown Junctions extensive rearrangement and elaboration of tracks was undertaken. The earth removed from the cuttings west of Churchdown was used for widening the embankments to the east and a temporary track was laid beside the main lines for work-trains to move it all.
Naturally, I got my father – who as a farmer was allowed a ration of petrol for his car - to take me to Churchdown to see the contractors at work. After 1967, all this was ‘undone’ with reversion to two tracks between Gloucester and Cheltenham by which time the line from Hatherley Junction towards Andovesford was just a distant memory.
On Friday 24 April I had a four-hour stint on Gloucester LMS station – and my diary records that I got cold and rather bored, because “there was not much of interest”. Still, I noted 30 LMS (none of note), 41 GW and one LNE (a J25) engines; the GW locomotives included 3 2-8-2Ts, 2 2-8-0Ts and 4 0-6-2Ts, almost all from South Wales.
I travelled back to School on 1 May, direct from Cheltenham via Bath: the only engines of note were Crab No. 2839 of Cricklewood (14A) at Cheltenham and S&D 2-8-0 No. 13800 at Gloucester. My diary also says: “They are getting on with the quadrupling” and “The damage at Bath is pretty awful, but the railways are all right”.
I returned from School on July 29, but apart from the SR locomotives my observations on the way that day were unremarkable. However, in August 1942 I spent a good deal more time at Ashchurch, partly because wet weather saved me from harvesting work on the farm. By now the US Army was arriving in some numbers, setting up a Camp at Northway and taking over from the British Army the great Supply Depot. Also, in my journeys on the roads through Tewkesbury – especially the A38, which passed our farm, and the A438 past Ashchurch - I encountered many enormous military convoys, which often included impressive tank-transporters. There was no M5 in those days, and the A38 through Tewkesbury went over the 1,500 year-old St John’s Bridge! The men of the American Forces, especially the ‘Blacks’, created for me and everyone else considerable interest: I remember the Yanks well for their smart uniforms, particularly the Officers, for they thronged Ashchurch station in the late afternoon to catch the Special train run for them to spend the evening in ‘Burrminghaam’ – a train presumably returned them some hours later. On the railway, they brought two or three of their USATC Porter 0-6-0Ts (‘switchers’) to shunt the Ashchurch Depot and occasionally one of these came round to the station.
My first of a series of sessions at Ashchurch that summer, on Friday 31 July, was unremarkable: in 100 minutes in the morning I saw only 12 trains and none were of note.
On Saturday 1 August (14.45 – 17.30) it all seemed much as the year before: of 24 workings just one was a Relief (or perhaps Troop) Special and one Special ECS. came off the Evesham line - with 4F No. 4338 (20D). There were nine freights and one of these was an Up empties with SR S11 4-4-0 No. 403 (22C); a Down coal had 4F No. 4579 of Skipton (20F).
On 4 August (Tuesday, 14.45 – 18.00) there were 22 workings, one being a Special (?Troops) with 4-6-0 No. 5273 (21A) and eight were freights – none for the Depot yet. However, three Jubilee-hauled expresses had 15 coaches and only one had a pilot - a Compound.
The very next day I spent 7½ hours there (14.05 – 21.40): the Table is a representative sample of Ashchurch traffic in 1942.
Table IV
Ashchurch, Wednesday 5 August 1942
This day it was ‘just the usual’ – except for the SR 4-4-0. Some trains were rather late.
On Friday 7 August I spent only two hours there in the morning. On the main line there were just 11 workings: no engines of note, but there were two Specials. Likewise, on Saturday the 8 August, during 4½ hours in the morning it was not as busy as I might have expected:-
Table V
Ashchurch, Saturday 8 August 1942
Apart from one or two Specials, there was hardly a Summer Saturday atmosphere on the main line at Ashchurch in 1942, but the main line trains were crammed beyond capacity. Relief trains were not supposed to be provided for ‘merely’ going on holiday and people were now being left behind at some major stations because they simply could not squeeze into the packed corridors. The appearance of a GW locomotive was probably not unusual, nor was the loaned SR one, although its use on a freight train showed how hard-pressed the LMS was even in 1942. (I was told they could not hold a coal train down the Lickey and rolled on to Stoke Works Junction before getting control).
I had four more sessions at Ashchurch that month. On Wednesday 12 August I was there for nearly six hours in the afternoon, 14.45 – 20.25. There were 35 workings, 13 being freights. This was one of the few times I saw an LNW 0-8-0 down this way, but apparently they were not uncommon. Two of the EP had 16 coaches, with unassisted ‘Jubilees’.
Saturday 15 August was as uninteresting as the previous two Saturdays. On Thursday 20 August, two heavy Down EP had pilots that were dropped off at Ashchurch and another (Compound No. 1097) took a Troop Special from Ashchurch southwards, while GW Hall No. 5918 ‘Walton Hall’ was on a Down freight. 22 August was a rather more interesting Saturday, with a Carlisle Kingmoor (12A) Jubilee (No. 5728 ‘Defiance’) bringing up the 09.45 Bristol – Bradford, while Black Five No. 5388 (3D) brought a Special (?Troops) off the Evesham line. By contrast, Compound No. 1097 passed on a Down freight and 2P 4-4-0 No. 630 was on Up empties; the GW was represented by 2-8-0 No. 2869 and the SR by S11 No. 396 (21A), both on Down freights.
For my first week of September I stayed with my mother at a small hotel at Ambergate, which happened to be right by the busy station. We travelled around mostly by train and I took every opportunity I could to train-watch. It was a wonderful opportunity for me, but is outside my ‘terms of reference’ here. After my return to Tewkesbury I had other things – like a girl-friend - to interest me and it was not long before I had to go back to School. However, in my bicycling around I had a 45-minute session on the Railway Cliff at Worcester on Friday 18 September, where without visiting the Shed I noted 23 GW (plus two LNE) engines and just one LMS.
1943
My next visit to my father’s was in January 1943: winter, and not much opportunity to watch trains. At Gloucester on Saturday 9 January I saw my first USA 2-8-0s, Nos. 1601/2 being hauled dead from South Wales by GW 2-6-0 No. 5355 – an extraordinary sight and for me quite unexpected. Built by Alco at Schenectady, these two were from the very first batch landed in Britain in November 1942, 174 (of 402 used on BR) in all being used on the GWR for about 18 months from January 1943. Fifty of them worked on the LMS, six on the SR, two on the WD and 168 on the LNER. I became quite familiar with them, especially in September 1944 at Heaton (Newcastle), when I found myself cleaning them in preparation for their real purpose, transportation in Liberated Europe.
At Ashchurch the USA Depot was expanding and traffic was livening up. Another significant change was the use of Stanier 3-cylinder 2-6-4Ts, moved from the Tilbury Line, on the locals from Birmingham via Evesham. On Tuesday 12 January, I saw yet again a Compound on a freight, also a ‘Jinty’ 0-6-0T running Down LE, but more noteworthy was S&D 2-8-0 No. 13801 coupled to 3F No. 3808 (15A) coming LE off the Evesham line, then separately taking on trains southwards. Another Wellingborough (15A) 0-6-0 (No. 3830) was on a local goods; then, passing at 40 mph on Down freights, successively Black Five No. 5269 followed by GW No. 6860 ‘Aberporth Grange’. That morning’s excitement culminated with the ’13.12’ Down (11.05 EP Derby – Bristol) calling with a Crab from Fleetwood (24F). Strangely, on the afternoon of Wednesday 13 January in 170 minutes at Churchdown – the quadrupling now in full use – I noted only 10 LMS and eight GW numbers and the only engine of note was a 4F from Rugby (2A). The next day (14 January), 140 minutes in the morning at Ashchurch provided a surprising ‘haul’. Out of 19 locomotives seen, the following were notewothy: a Compound from Lancaster (20H) was on the ’10.48’ (07.45 Nottingham – Bristol), 4Fs from Stoke (5D), Grimesthorpe (19A) and Canklow (19C) were ‘rarities’ on freights, so was GW No. 6809 ‘Burghclere Grange’; also there were two Specials (?Troops), one with 2-6-0 No. 2855 (16A), the other with Jubilee No. 5664 ‘Nelson’ (19B). A 2½-hour afternoon session on Saturday 16 January produced a mere 20 workings, the only one of interest being one of the Gloucester (22B)-loaned SR K10 4-4-0s (No. 138) shunting the Goods yard.
On Monday 18 January, 2¼ hours at Gloucester were as busy as ever, but the only noteworthy observation was MR 2P 4-4-0 No. 512 (21A) coming away from the GW station towards Cheltenham on a Troop train. At Ashchurch for 2½ hours in the morning of Tuesday 19 January I saw 24 workings: some trains were very late, e.g. the 03.00 Leeds – Bristol (with Jubilee No. 5557 ‘New Brunswick’) 84 minutes, the 07.45 Nottingham – Bristol (with No. 5619 ‘Nigeria’) 28 minutes. At one time, four LE were on the Down Relief: GW Nos. 7811 ‘Dunley Manor’ and 0-4-2T No. 4841, LMS 4F No. 4171 and Compound No. 1030. On my return to School on 22 January, the loaned SR 4-4-0s were very evident now, not only on the S&D. I made the journey a bit more interesting by going via Bristol and taking a GW local back to Bath, walked over to Queen Square and caught my usual 14.45, hauled by SR S11 No. 401.
In the 1943 Easter Holidays I went to my mother’s in London first and for some reason I travelled down to Tewkesbury this time (15 April) the ‘normal way’ via Gloucester. That Spring I had only two sessions at Ashchurch and one at Cheltenham (Lansdown Junction). In two hours from 14.45 at Ashchurch on Friday 23 April I saw 14 workings – not a lot, but they included two SR: K10 No. 137 (22B) shunting and S11 No. 400 (22C) on an Up freight; also one GW 2-8-0 No. 2833 on an Up freight. On Thursday morning 29 April, 2½ hours at Ashchurch produced 16 numbers but nothing of interest, only Compound No. 1030 (22A) on an Up Special.
The 170 minutes (12.40 – 15.30) I spent on Friday 30 April at Lansdown Junction, which was rather a long way to go by bike in the rain, actually turned out to be a bit disappointing, but the Table indicates the great variety:-
Table VI
Cheltenham Lansdown Junction, 30 April 1943
By my standards of the time, there was nothing really out of the ordinary and it was not busy. This may have been a slack period and it no doubt became busier in the next year or so, but the quadrupling and the restructuring of this critical and complex junction was indeed justified. (A few days later I had a session of six hours on Leominster station and got bored because I saw only 23 trains, which in retrospect seems also very little for that important North-West line in those wartime days). On 4 May I again deviated via Bristol and the GWR to Bath on my way back to School at Blandford. There was plenty of traffic to be seen, including the loaned SR locomotives, but nothing outstanding – other than a wagon fire in one train.
I must have been a healthy 16-year old chap, for on my journey home for the Summer Holidays I bicycled from Bryanston - over the Mendips on a very hot 30 July - to Bristol and took the train only from there. The 15.05 EP to Sheffield that I caught had 17 coaches, headed by Jubilee No. 5694 ‘Bellerophon’, so it stopped at Barrow Road Sheds to pick up a pilot (No. not noted). The stop lost us time and it was 15.31 when we passed Mangotsfield, but we got to Gloucester (32 miles) in 35 minutes: I presume the pilot continued to Birmingham at least.
I had seven sessions at Ashchurch during the ensuing month. On Saturday 31 July I was there 15.30 – 20.50 and saw 41 workings. A Crab (No. 2715) from Low Moor (25F) of all places was on an Up Troop Special, another one (No. 2758 (17A)) was on an Up Special and 17A Jubilee No. 5656 ‘Cochrane’ was on Up e.c.s. There were 16 main line freight/minerals etc., two being off the Evesham line: one Up freight had to manage with an old MR 2F 0-6-0 (No. 22959), but at the other end of the scale new Stanier 8F 2-8-0 No. 8631 (1A) on a Down petrol train was stopped beside me and the driver boasted he would do the 3½ miles to Cleeve uphill from a standing-start in five minutes – the signalman afterwards told me he did it in six. The station was swarming with Yankie soldiers, most of whom caught the Special put on for them to Worcester and Birmingham – and this had a Newton Heath (26A) Crab, No. 2705. Other engines from not run-of-the-mill Sheds were two 4Fs from Wellingborough (15A), one from Canklow (19C), also Jubilee No. 5655 ‘Keith’ of Trafford Park (19G) was on the 10.20 York – Bristol.
On Sunday 1 August I was at Ashchurch 14.15 - 20.00 and saw 42 workings. This year an August Bank Holiday had been allowed that Monday – but scarcely any Relief trains, and it was not surprising that the 09.45 Bournemouth West – Bradford had 15 coaches (hauled unassisted, by Holbeck (20A) Patriot No. 5535 ‘Sir Herbert Walker, KCB’), while the 09.30 Bradford – Bristol was loaded to no less than 17 coaches (headed by Compound No. 1029 (21A) + Jubilee No. 5627 ‘Sierra Leone’). I noted only one Relief (with Black Five No. 5427 (21A)) – which demolished a hen as it dashed through the station. The Yanks’ Special had 2P No. 462 (3C). There were 16 main-line freights in those 345 minutes, including one to the Depot from the south (2P No. 409 (22B)) and one reversing in from the north (3F No. 3805 (18A)); two main-line freights had GW 2-8-0s (Nos. 2851 and 3851); GW 2-6-0 No. 6377 passed LE. Another freight was 2P-hauled, by No. 511 (21A). At Gloucester on Friday 6 August in 75 minutes I noted 13 LMS and 16 GW active locomotives: noteworthy was 2-6-2T No. 4567 bringing in the 11.35 EP Cheltenham - Paddington with 15 coaches, which left Gloucester with Nos. 4927 ‘Farnborough Hall’ + 5931 ‘Hatherley Hall’. (Also of note was a USA 2-8-0 on the GW Shed, its number too far away to discern).
Table VII, my seven hours at Ashchurch on Saturday 7 August , demonstrate changes since the previous year.
Table VII
Ashchurch, Saturday 7 August 1943
This was typical of a Saturday – or of any other weekday. Apart from the overcrowded expresses, the only workings of note were the trains of ‘Warflats’ from the Depot; also another SR 4-4-0 at the end. I remember how difficult it was, though, to drag myself away - but under Double Summer Time it was still broad daylight at 21.00.
On Friday 13 August I had just an hour there in the evening, but in that time - as well as the normal traffic - two 4Fs came away LE and a 3F brought a freight from the Depot, while Crewe North (5A) Patriot No. 5521 ‘Rhyl’ rushed through on an Up Troop Special. I was then not able to go to Ashchurch until Saturday 21 August. That day, in about 5½ hours from 14.40, it was very much the same as two weeks before: the 09.30 Bradford – Bristol had another Kingmoor (12A) Jubilee this time, No. 5729 ‘Furious’. The Yanks’ Special to ‘Burrminghaam’ had risen to having a Black Five (No. 5272), which was then at 22B; 3F No. 3482 (18A) took a freight into the Depot and brought out empties, then 4F No. 3964 (22A) brought out another freight; later, 3F No. 3583 (18A) reversed another in from the Down line and 4F No. 4459 (19E, Belle Vue) went in to fetch yet another. A Down Troop Special had Trafford Park Jubilee No. 5652 ‘Hawke’ again. Still, only one of the 18 freights was hauled by a 4-4-0 (Compound No. 1030 (22A)).
Saturday 28 August was similar. There were the usual expresses – not quite so crowded this time and with only one Down Relief (Jubilee No. 5602 ‘British Honduras’ (17A)); one Special (?Troops) had Crab No. 2870 (22A) and a Special e.c.s. passed with No. 2850 (20A). The Yanks’ Special made do with a 4F from 17C (Coalville), and the Evesham line train (3F No. 3427) again arrived after it was due to return and the Tewkesbury train was worked - ?unusually - by Fowler 2-6-4T No. 2327 (21A). There were 12 freights on the main line and 3F 0-6-0T No. 7557 (22B) went down LE.
When I travelled up on 3 September to Birmingham on my way to Euston, I noted at Bromsgrove a Patriot (No. 5550) from Preston (10B). I returned that way on 13 September, when after seeing 2-6-4T No. 2559 derailed at New Street, and 5A Black Five No. 5197 at Church Road, there were noteworthy engines in and around Worcester: USA 2-8-0 No. 2458 (WOS), also one of the first of the Stanier 8Fs now being built at Swindon for the hard-pressed GWR, No. 8402. Lastly, at Eckington a Camden (1B) Jubilee (No. 5606 ‘Falkland Islands’) passed on the Up.
Nearly four hours in the afternoon at Ashchurch on Thursday 16 September was “uninspiring” – so I noted - but nevertheless I saw GW 2-6-0 No. 6314 come LE from Tewkesbury. There were six freights, including one with 2P No. 509 (21A) and another with 3P 4-4-0 No. 715 (21A). Moreover, in addition to the regular Special OP for the Yanks, a Troop Special went into the Depot headed by 3F No. 3444 (22A) + 4F No. 4045 (16C)! On the main line, there was a Down Special with Black Five No. 5440 (22B) and an Up Special e.c.s. with 2-6-0 No. 2758 (17A) both probably for Troops. Lastly, I sat at Ashchurch 14.10 – 19.05 on Wednesday 22 September and saw 35 workings, but nothing was of particular note except another Kingmoor (12A) Jubilee (No. 5727 ‘Inflexible’) on the 10.20 York – Bristol with 15 coaches.
On my journeys to and from School (September, 17 December) I saw more USA 2-8-0s, plus - on the main line as well as on the S&D - the usual SR 4-4-0s. Over Christmas and the New Year I managed to have six sessions at Ashchurch– in spite of the weather. The Americans were even more in evidence – and were also camping now up our way north of Tewkesbury. Railway traffic was becoming ever busier and interesting.
On Saturday morning 18 December, I saw 20 workings (nine freight) and noteworthy were: a Down Special with Poppet-valve Crab No. 2829 (21A); GW No. 4919 ‘Donnington Hall’, 8F No. 8132 (15C) and USA No. 1872 (18A) on freights. Black Five No. 5317 of 5A was on the 07.45 ‘EP’ Nottingham – Bristol, due 10.48, and was 75 minutes late and the 08.35 OP from New Street via Evesham turned up at 12.09 (90 minutes late), with Stanier 3P 2-6-2T No. 173. On Thursday 23 December (10.30 – 13.30) it was similar, with nine freights. ‘Remarkables’ included 4F No. 4164 (19A) on Down freight to the Depot; an Italian box-wagon in another train; also two Edge Hill (8A) Patriots – No. 5527 ‘Southport’ on a Down Special of US (Negro) Troops, and No. 5547 came up LE coupled with 2P No. 418 (17A) and 4F 4084 (21A)! The Down ‘EP’ due at 10.48 was ‘only’ an hour late this day.
Three hours at Ashchurch the next afternoon,Christmas Eve, produced 19 workings: there were only four freights, the most spectacular being one of 54 wagons + three brake-vans from Tewkesbury drawn by little 0-4-4T No. 1330. One Down Troop Special (with Compound No. 1003 (17A)) and an Up Troop Special with GW 2-6-0 No. 4320 went into the Depot and came out later e.c.s.; lastly, Crab No. 2765 (19E) passed on Up Special e.c.s. On Tuesday 28 December in 135 minutes there, I saw 20 workings (11 freights, one to the Depot). Of note were GW 2-8-0 No. 2879 on a heavy Up train of sugar-beet, Breakdown trains to and from the Evesham line, and 4F No. 4499 from Stoke (5D); the 08.35 from Birmingham was ‘only’ 23 minutes late and had Bushbury (3B) 2-6-4T No. 2489. Next, I even spent 140 minutes at Ashchurch in the cold and drizzly afternoon of New Year’s Eve (Friday). Of 19 workings seen, eight were freight; two of them went into the Depot, one with a ‘boring’ 4F but the other came Up from the Cheltenham direction with GW 0-6-2T (No. 6641 of Barry) – a foreshadow of the countless trains of supplies (mainly crated vehicles) which were brought to the Depot for many months to come from Transatlantic convoys, the ships being off-loaded at South Wales Ports. An Up Special e.c.s. had Crab No. 2856 from Longsight (9A), while the 09.30 Bradford – Bristol had Jubilee No. 5695 ‘Minotaur’ of Blackpool (24E).
Continued in