Colonnade News No 157

September 2016

World's oldest railway tunnel hidden by a rockery for 36 years discovered 10ft underground in a back garden

The tunnel was nearly lost forever when the previous homeowner built a rockery in 1977, it can be traced back to 1793 and was used by industrialists to transport limestone to an ironwork factory.

A couple of years ago archaeologists  discovered a 220-year-old railway tunnel believed to be the oldest in the world. The historic Fritchley Tunnel, in Crich, Derbyshire, can be traced back to 1793, two years earlier than the previous record holder. The discovery was made after they linked the tunnel to a now-defunct railway, used by industrialists to transport limestone to an ironwork factory.

The tunnel was nearly lost forever when a previous land owner sealed up the passage in 1977 to build a rockery. But after a chance meeting between the owner, John Midgley and archaeologists, they won funding to excavate the site.

The dig began in January 2014 using heavy machinery to dig down three metres underground to re-open the sealed 18 metre passage. They have since discovered that the tunnel connected to the Butterley Gangroad, a horse-operated railway built in 1793, by the Butterley Company, a large local engineering firm.

The tunnel is connected to the Butterley Gangroad, a horse-operated railway  whose purpose was to link the Cromford Canal with their limestone quarries in the area. It pre-dates a 1795 tunnel on the Peak Forest Tramway, also in Derbyshire, by two years and was thought of as the world’s oldest. The Butterley Gangroad railway was operating in 1793 - because that is documented. The £17,900 Heritage Lottery-funded investigation involved laser scanning to create a three-dimensional computer model of the inside. But when the work was completed in September 2014, the group sealed up the tunnel again to preserve it for future generations. The story goes back to 1977 when this tunnel was there on the abandoned railway, the owner of the cottage on the land wanted to build a rockery on the route. He contacted the owners of the railway and they said “no”.

   Left: The two figures sat on the wall in the foreground are  watching as a train approaches.

The railway line situated in the tunnel was then connected to the Butterley Gangroad, a horse–operated rail railway built in 1793, by the Butterley Company.

‘So he paid £400 for a 700 yard stretch of the railway. It didn't include the tunnel but the tunnel was accessed from his land, he then filled up that whole area so the tunnel was blocked.

Left: Horsepower: An example of a horse-drawn 'train', this one was used on the Little Eaton Gangway, also in Derbyshire. It was built by the same company 

that constructed the Butterley line. The Butterley Gangroad was built in 1793 and is the oldest Derbyshire railway of which substantial remains survive. It was engineered by Benjamin Outram, one of the original founders of the Butterley Company, a large  ironworks and engineering firm in Ripley, Derbyshire. Sadly, the firm went into administration in 2009 but it provided the ironwork for some of Britain’s most iconic buildings, including Vauxhall Bridge and the roof of St Pancras station.

Above: the blocked off tunnel.

Memories of the Metropolitan Railway

This article was written by ‘An Old Resident’ and it appeared in a copy of the Amersham Society News sometime in January 1982.

I have often wondered if any of the commuters who catch the smart silver multi-unit London Transport tube trains at Amersham Station ever think that this service was once operated by the Metropolitan Railway which, after its formation sometime in the 1860’s and together with the Metropolitan District Company, gave London its underground railway system. It is just within my memory of seeing steam trains pulling into Baker Street Station on the inner circle line pulled by the original small 4.4.0. Bayer-Peacock condensing engines.

They were an ingenious design especially for operating in the underground tunnels.  The funnel was reasonably tall and had a smart brass steam dome and safety valve on top of the boiler with large cylinders outside and forward below the smoke stack on either side with the drive rods connected to the driving wheels and these two coupled with a drive rod.  The exhaust steam, instead of puffing up was carried away from the cylinders up and then along the boiler horizontally and back into the water tanks to be condensed and re-used, hence the name ‘condenser’.  They had no covered cab for the crew for obvious reasons to give maximum view but had a large shield with two big oval glass windows.

Metropolitan colours were a brownish crimson-like with gold lining.  On the tanks appeared ‘Metropolitan Railway’ with the engine number.  One of the two remaining and preserved of this type of locomotive can be seen at Quainton Road, the property of the Railway Society.  The coaches on the underground were small ordinary passenger ones with swing doors opened by horizontal brass handles with rather hard upholstered seats and similar straight backs not designed for comfort and which in later years appeared on the Chesham branch line.  London’s underground was electrified in 1905/06; Rickmansworth was reached in 1887, Chesham, which was a branch, in 1889 and Aylesbury 1892.  This later finally reached beyond to Quainton Road, Verney Junction and Brill

It has been my privilege during my lifetime and perhaps some forty years ago, to meet and talk of the early days of the building of the railway extension to Aylesbury by men still then residing at the villages of Winchmore Hill and Coleshill, who as young men worked on the construction.  I can name three.   John Rogers of Winchmore Hill, affectionately known to all as ‘Johner’, and also from the same village, Jake Bazel, Jakey to everyone, and finally Benny Wingrove of Coleshill.  I liked very much to talk to the first two men especially over a pint of beer in the Potters Arms or The Plough.  John said to me one day, ‘the best rate for labourers in those days was two pence an hour.  The contractors building the line were offering three pence-halfpenny so we used to get up at five in the morning and walk even as far as Chorleywood to meet the gang coming this way to get taken on’.  He said ‘You know if it was pouring with rain, we used to get up and go, in case it cleared up and we could get a start’ and ‘Many a day we have gone, got soaked, sat in a shed all day waiting for the rain to clear, then walked back home at night’.

When you travel either way, but especially towards Aylesbury through Weedon Wood, Pipers Wood and Mantles Wood and see the deep cuttings and the high embankments and think that this work was carried out by these men with just picks and shovels with horses hauling wagons to move the earth they’d cut out and thrown up into them, remember it was 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, it seems barely possible to comprehend by present day standards.  There may have been steam shovels but these men never mentioned them. 

In 1933 the Company was incorporated into the London Transport System, the Metropolitan and Great Central having been absorbed in the railway grouping by the London and North Eastern Company.  Finally about 1960/63 the electrification of the line to Amersham and the extension of the Underground was completed and the Aylesbury line was operated entirely by the LNER from Marylebone and bypowerful diesel engines.

Once steam was replaced the magic of our railway vanished.  No longer did we see those beautiful engines thundering by Weedon Wood and through the station with names like Sir Sam Fay (below), The Marquis of Granby, Leeds United, etc., or in the Metropolitan livery, names such as Lord Aberconway, The Duke of Buckingham, Robert H Selbie, or Charles Jones. 

By this time all the coaches were the modern long distance match-boarded type with dining cars and Pullmans, but I can remember the original trim of the Great Central, the bright green engines hauling the cream and chocolate carriages, which even in those days were comfortably upholstered and had corridor carriages on the fast trains.

When travelling from Amersham to London, it was only on the Metropolitan line that you changed engines at Rickmansworth.  The best trains to London were on the Great Central which had running powers over the Metropolitan line to Harrow and then on the line from Harrow to Marylebone.

The Great Central trains were really beautifully clean, both the engines and the carriages. They ran special fast commuter trains from various stations.  For instance, the 9.12am from Woodford and Hinton via Aylesbury would be ‘first stop Harrow’ after Amersham and would reach Marylebone before 10am.  In the evening the 6.25pm from Marylebone would be ‘first stop Amersham’ after Harrow and would arrive at Amersham at 7.02pm. In later years the Metropolitan made a big thing of ‘Live in Metroland’.  They bought land near all the stations down the line and built Metropolitan Railway Houses near their stations with mortgages arranged and special terms, etc.  Then they put on two special restaurant cars on morning trains which returned again at convenient times in the evening.  In the morning one would cater for the 8.30am travellers and the 9-9.30am market.  Conversely, the return trains were suitably timed, the idea being for City gents to breakfast on the trains and then have dinner on the return trip in the evenings.  The dining cars were named ‘Mayflower’ and ‘Galatea’.  The railway workers nicknamed this last one ‘the Gallon of Tea’! With the Thursday (early closing day) cheap fare you could travel on any train after 10am and return on any train after 5pm for a one day excursion to London for 1/6d.  The ordinary ticket was 4/3d return.  We used to catch the Great Central train from Woodford and Hinton via Aylesbury and left Amersham at 1.14pm, first stop Harrow then Marylebone at 2pm.  

You could travel back via Baker Street if you wished to stay late by the midnight train, arriving Amersham at12.50am.  The last Amersham train via the Great Central from Marylebone was 10.20pm, all stations to Aylesbury.  Another morning train was the Great Central 8.02am from Amersham arriving Marylebone 8.50am. The Grand Central became the LNER and they had some lovely expresses.  The South Yorkshireman came through Amersham about 10.15am and returned again 3.50pm. Another was the Master Cutler which came from Sheffield between 9 and 10am, its return was via High Wycombe and Aylesbury so we could not watch for it later in the day.  They named engines after notable people and later after famous football clubs, mostly on the route, like ‘Sheffield United’.  Other famous names were the Marquis of Granby or the head of the line Sir Sam Fay.  There are a lot of memories to be recalled about our old steam trains before we became the LPTB.

Opening Day of the New York Subway 1904

On 27^th October, 1904, the Interborough Rapid Transit (I.R.T.), opened in New York City. The line ran approximately nine miles from City Hall north to Grand Central Station, then west to Times Square and up the West Side to 145th Street. The New York Times described the avid excitement among the city dwellers at the subway’s opening: “For the first time in his life Father Knickerbocker went underground yesterday; went underground, he and his children amid the tooting of whistles and the firing of salutes, for a first ride in a subway which for years had been scoffed at as an impossibility.”

Though the first subway in the United States opened in 1897 in Boston, New York eventually became the American city most associated with underground

transportation. 

After receiving city contracts in 1913, the I.R.T. and rival Brooklyn Rapid Transit (B.R.T.) increased the number of subway lines. These make up most of the modern subway lines the city has today. In 1932, New York City formed the Independent Subway System (IND), taking over the I.R.T. and its remaining private competitor, Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit, in 1940. Today, the New York City Subway system has 22 interconnected routes and three shuttles running more than 200 miles among 468 stations, nearly as many stations as there are in the rest of the United States combined. In recent years,               the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the subway and other transportation in New York, used a series of fare hikes, layoffs and other such cost-cutting measures to cope with budget woes. In addition to increasing the fares, reducing the service, laying off even more workers and cutting the maintenance it also cancelled the future construction projects such as the Second Avenue Subway. Here are two photographs which were taken on the opening day. As you can see there has been very little concession to comfort and none of the cars were even fitted with a roof !

Pictures from Our Archives Circa 1988 

Gosport Road Station 1920s

Livestock Traffic

Horse boxes and special vans for prize cattle (both of which had accommodation incorporated for grooms or cattle men) were regarded as passenger stock. These generally travelled attached to passenger trains when loaded but would be moved in goods trains when empty. Most horse boxes could carry a maximum of about three animals. On a branch line you would normally see only a single box in transit but if the line served a race course orsomething similar you might find five or even more horse boxes, either tagged onto a passenger train or running as a separate train. Horses were in widespread use up to World War Two and were regularly moved by rail. However the motor vehicle began to have an impact and the movement of horses became less common from the early 1930s. Many local stations had a small cattle dock large enough for two or perhaps three vans and these saw regular use for horse and cattle traffic into the 1950's. Even many local polo clubs when they hosted matches the opposing team travelled by rail.

From the earliest days the railways carried numbers of sheep, pigs and cows, pigs and sheep sometimes travelled in purpose built double decked vehicles (mainly found in the North and particularly in Scotland). Cattle were brought down to the South East to fatten them up, cattle for slaughter were brought into the towns (London received regular shipments from Scotland), pigs and to a lesser extent sheep were regular cargo. 

At a more local level cattle were taken to market from smaller stations on the system, the towns hosting such markets would normally have quite extensive cattle docks with associated pens. The small stations used the pens on the cattle dock itself.   

The switch to shipping fresh killed meat in the 1930's caused a steady reduction in the cattle traffic and in 1962 British Railways reduced the number of stations open for livestock from over two and a half thousand to just over two hundred. By the late 1960's only the live cattle imported from Ireland were still being moved by rail and this ended when that trade ceased in 1975. 

Cattle were sometimes moved as a block load up to the end of the railway's involvement in this traffic in 1975 but most cattle wagons travelled in small numbers attached to goods trains (occasionally to passenger trains on branch lines). They would generally be found together at the locomotive end as this meant the loco could take them directly to the cattle dock on arrival where the animals could be fed and watered. Also, as cattle wagons were often fitted with vacuum brakes, marshalling them at the head of the train, whether full or empty, meant their brakes could be used.

Another live item regularly moved were millions of day-old chicks which were despatched by rail from the hatcheries all over the country. It was not until the 1980s that this form of freight finally ceased on a regular basis, but up until then it was quite common, at the right time of year, to stand next to a pile of cardboard boxes from which lots and lots of tweeting emanated.

The Moffat Branch

The Moffat Railway, built and opened in 1883 by the company of that name, had its a branch line from Beattock station, at the foot of the famous incline, on the Caledonian Railway's (CR) main line from Carlisle to Glasgow, It was one of the shortest in the country, if not the shortest, running for just over one mile, with a journey time of under ten minutes!                                             

 There were, therefore, no intermediate stations or halts. It was taken over by the Caledonian Railway in 1889. Soon after its opening, the railway took advantage of the increasing passenger traffic generated by the large Moffat Hydropathic Hotel which had opened in 1878 the Dumfriesshire (later Dumfries & Galloway) village having become well known for Caledonian Railway in 1889. Soon after its opening, the railway took advantage of the increasing passenger traffic generated by the large Moffat Hydropathic Hotel which had opened in 1878 the Dumfriesshire (later Dumfries & Galloway) village having become well known for its spa.

The station, which was conveniently close to the town centre, unlike many in the country, had a simple layout of a single platform and loop, allowing locomotives to run round their carriages, and sidings ran to a goods shed and the usual coal yard. The spa town visitors had at first a service of 12 to 15 three-coach trains per day.

 

However, around 1926 this service was replaced by the locally nicknamed 'Moffat Bus' or 'Puffer' steam railcar that worked the line until circa 1948. Later, mixed trains ran headed by the popular Class 439 ex-CR 0-4-4 tanks, based at Beattock depot where they were also used for banking main line trains up the notoriously difficult Beattock bank. Several engines of the class had been fitted with much stronger front buffer beams for this task.

Tobacco for Wounded Railwaymen

The months following the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 saw the establishment of numerous funds for good causes, both nationally and locally. Maintaining the family-like tradition that was often found in the railway companies at the time, the London & North Western Railway lost no time in setting up a fund for their wounded employees through the pages of its in-house magazine, the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR) Gazette.

In the October 1914 issue of the Gazette, the Tobacco Fund was announced with the intension of providing tobacco and cigarettes to every wounded L&NWR railwayman in hospital or nursing home in the United Kingdom.

The Fund was run and administered from the General Manager’s Office at Euston Station. Donations were invited, no matter how small. ‘A penny will purchase a packet of Woodbines’, declared the Gazette. By December 1914 there were already over 200 wounded L&NWR men to be supported so the Fund, having secured an advantageous understanding with the tobacco trade, got underway.

Pipe tobacco or a packet of cigarettes were vital items to vast numbers of servicemen during the First World War, whether it was to calm the nerves, relieve boredom, or just to share with their comrades a smoke was vitally important. Many letters published in the Gazette, such as this one, tell of the importance of tobacco: ‘Wishing to thank you and all the members of the tobacco fund for their kindness in sending the cigarettes and tobacco, as it is one of a man’s comforts when he is in a sick bed, as the time drags so.’

In March 1915 the Gazette announced that ‘300 parcels have been sent to L&NER men in hospitals from Aberdeen to Plymouth’. By December this figure had risen to over 1000. As the wounded increased so did the contents of the parcels dispatched across the country. Soon the tobacco and cigarettes were being supplemented by other useful items such as pipes, razors, shaving soap and brushes, notepaper, envelopes, pencils, tooth powder, chocolate, and even walking sticks. The fund became known as The Tobacco and Comforts Fund from March 1916.

The gratitude of the men was enormous. The ‘comforts’ were well-received, but one of the most appreciated items was a letter of good wishes sent to them to remind them that they were not forgotten by their friends in the L&NWR.

For the many railwaymen in hospitals far from friends and family, often unable to draw pay for months on end, the parcels provided an invaluable source of practical help and a vital element of moral support.

From modest beginnings the Fund built up, receiving contributions from a variety of sources: individual donations, local collections, help from local War Relief Fund, and the proceeds of charity events. The generosity of L&NWR employees is evident in the £1200 raised during the war (about £75,000 at present day values). The good work continued well into 1919 until the Fund finally closed in July of that year.  

    

An advertisement from the L&NWR Gazette of November 1916

                                 

 The Fund was run by the staff at Euston who faced many challenges in the course of the war: ever-growing numbers of L&NWR wounded (over 9,000 by the end of 1918), the erratic flow of donations and the competing demands of other causes and, of course, the shortages of tobacco. In spite of this they succeeded in bringing comfort and consolation to several thousand of their wounded colleagues across the UK and in doing so their efforts are worthy of note. Above: A drawing of the ashtray design for an Ambulance Carriage Did you know that during the First World War ashtrays were fitted in ambulance trains and smoking was actively promoted?  How things have changed!

Armoured Trains in the First World War

With the threat of invasion in 1914, the government sought ways in which to protect our shores.  One of these was the use of an armoured train based somewhere on the East Coast. The idea was that an armoured train would be able to reach a possible invasion point with speed, be armed and sufficiently manned to deploy an infantry force with artillery support, and capable of slowing down the enemy advance until some further support arrived.

In December 1914, two Great Northern Railway 0-6-2 tank engines were purchased and two 30 ton boiler-trolleys from the Caledonian Railway, along with two 40 ton coal wagons from the Great Western Railway. These vehicles were sent to the London and North Western Railway works at Crewe to be made into the armoured train. The boiler-trolleys were fitted 

with a 12 pound, pedestal mounted, quick firing gun with a shield. This had to be fitted between the bogie wheels so that the weight and the force of the recoil when fired, could be distributed on both axles. A small cabin was then constructed behind the gun so as to house an ammunition compartment, plus a Maxim gun compartment and a small office for the Officer Commanding the train. The vehicle was covered in ½” armour plate into which ports for rifle engagement, protected
by small sliding doors, were cut.

 The coal wagons were converted into infantry vans.  Each was fitted with the ½” armour plate, with suitable gun ports.  One van was fitted with folding tables, lockers for ammunition, rifle racks, drinking water tanks and a coal fired cooking stove.  The other, although similarly fitted, was partitioned to create separate quarters for the officers. One of the vans (probably the soldiers) was fitted with two coal bunkers, containing one ton of coal each for the use of the locomotive should it be required.  Beneath its frames were four 200 gallon water tanks also for use by the locomotive.

Almost uniquely the locomotive did not need to be operated from the footplate as driving was undertaken from either end of the train.  This was done by the use of an intermediate regulator valve fixed on the side of the smokebox, and controlled through a link and lever actuated by a vacuum cylinder on the footplate.  The driver and fireman would communicate via a dedicated telephone. The reason for the unusual driving position was to allow the driver a clear view of signals and oncoming traffic.

The train formation was standard and based on experience from  the armoured trains in India and South Africa.  A gun truck was placed at the front followed by an infantry van, then came the locomotive, the second infantry van and the second gun truck brought up the rear. To allow personnel to move between the vehicles, platforms were placed between them and a walkway was fitted to the side of the locomotive.

Although the armoured trains were never called upon to fulfil their role they did provide a morale boost to coastal areas that feared the German Navy. In 1919 both trains were stabled at Catterick before being transferred to Longmoor Military Railway for breaking up.  In 1923 LNER bought back the locomotives.  The wagons were used as rail carriers and general goods vehicles at Longmoor. In the 1930’s the wagons were used as part of an experimental end-on track-laying machine, but scrapped at Doncaster in 1956.

Miniature Railways in Portsmouth

Hilsea:          Opened 1946                              Closed 1951

Hilsea Model Railway was a 10.25" gauge system built by Louis Hathaway of Reading in 1946 the track was lifted for use at Southsea and new track laid by Leonard Baker & Robert Bryden. In 1947 the track extended and ran from Hilsea Lido along promenade towards Alexandra Park. The locomotive was built by David Curwen Ltd number 1547, length 14', weight 21/2 tons and painted Apple green based on LNER Pacific A2/1 Robin Hood. In 1950 New track laid by W Botterill of Nassington but it did not reopen for the 1951 season and W Botterill asked to remove the track and locomotive to Drayton Manor Railway, Tamworth.

Southsea Miniature Railway

Opened 1932: This was the miniature railway which was located at Children's Corner on the Esplanade at Southsea The line opened in 1932 and for most of its history was run by Mr George Vimpany who owned Southern MiniatureRailways and who also ran 2 or 3 other lines on the South Coast including the one at Stokes Bay and one at Bognor. The final passenger train ran in October 1989, and now all traces of the line have disappeared. The first diesel train ran on the line in 1960 but I have been unable to find out any information regarding it. But I am glad to tell you that the steam locomotives which hauled the trains are still running. After the Southsea Railway and the Bognor Regis circuits were dismantled the locomotives – Victory, Vanguard and Valiant – were bought with the intention of rebuilding and using them elsewhere. This did not happened and the locomotives were dismantled and stored in boxes.Then came Stuart Ravell, who owns the Kirby Green Light Railway in Lincolnshire.He purchased the locomotives in 1990 and rebuilt them. He has a 1.5-mile track running around his land which he opens to the public about five times a year for charity. Mr Ravell does not charge for the rides but encourages people to make a donation to charity.The railway has raised thousands of pounds for deserving causes. So the former Southsea locomotives are all still in fine fettle.

Luton Airport 24-hour light rail link to open in 2020

London Luton Airport (LLA) has announced plans to build a 24 hour light rail link between the airport and Luton Airport Parkway station. The 1.2 mile-long rail link mass passenger transit, similar to those already used at Birmingham and Gatwick, will be funded by Luton Borough Council and open in 2020, replacing the current bus service.

A recent Transport Select Committee report said that better rail surface links to airports are urgently needed. Nick Barton, of LLA, said: Improving rail links is a crucial part of LLA's development for all our passengers. The creation of a light rail link between Parkway station and the terminal is a significant milestone in the airport's transformation and the first step towards creating a world class air-rail service.

Currently, 16% of Luton Airport passengers, or 2 million every year, currently visit the station by rail, a figure LLA wants to increase to 30% and it also aims to introduce four fast trains each hour to cover the distance from the airport to central London in 20 minutes, as part of the new fast Midlands rail franchise. It is also working with Transport for London to add the airport to the Oyster card network.

CLASS 144e: A Case of Evolution

The Pacers is a hardworking fleet and well used across several Train Operating Ccompany’s, but in recent years have had a poor passenger reputation. This led Porterbrook to develop a new evolution of the design and create a radically different customer experience of these vehicles.

The Class 144 fleet are owned by Porterbrook Leasing and was the final version of the Pacer fleet. These units are lightweight compared to other DMUs and this contributes to their cost-effective operation and good acceleration.

The aim of the project, called Class 144e; was to develop a transformational interior, trial and develop new technology, be compliant with the new legislation which requires trains to provide a range of facilities for people withreduced mobility and to do all this at a fraction of the cost of a new DMU. Given increasing ridership and the timescales of the electrification programme, Porterbrook considered there was a market for these units with the right combination of specification and commercial offer.

However, a new approach was needed to deliver this ambitious transformation in the timescales, and so Porterbrook entered into a partnership with two key partners, Ricardo Rail, who led the whole design, integration and independent approval, and RVEL, who led the physical equipment installation and testing, providing the workshop and labour. With Porterbrook, Ricardo Rail and RVEL all based in Derby, a strong team developed and enabled quick decisions to be made. The collaboration continued throughout the supply chain, and several companies agreed to support the project with new or innovative products. Having a demonstration project allowed suppliers to showcase some new developments. Several companies agreed to support the project, including:

• The first installation of a new type of accessible toilet module from Birleys. This module can be delivered in two halves for easy installation

• A new full colour LCD passenger information display screen and media screens from TrainFX. This system is linked to the train's Ethernet and can provide real-time updates, automated visual and voice announcements and video images

• New seats were fitted throughout based on a design used on other Porterbrook vehicles and new flooring was also supplied

• A new lighting and CCTV system for both the saloon and forward facing cameras.

A new design was developed and a demonstration unit 144012 was transformed to become the 144e 'evolution'. The transformation was significant — a light, bright and airy feel was created, which is comparable to a new build. And the joined-up approach delivered this new concept in impressive timescales: from starting design work to the completed unit re-entering service was only I0 months.

The feedback from passengers has been extremely positive and the team has been delighted. Comments included: “not before time"; "a huge improvement"; "would be fantastic to see this standard on all carriages". As the franchise process continues, the ongoing role of the Pacer fleet will become clearer — but for anyone considering the future of the Class 144s, unit 144012 is currently operating in passenger service in the Northern area. 

Farmer reunited with wallet lost on railway 30 years ago

Derek Gamble with his wallet he lost on the North Norfolk Railway 30 years ago because the detective work by a volunteer train driver has ensured the farmer has been reunited with a wallet he lost on a train more than 30 years ago. The wallet was unearthed from the back of a seat in a carriage undergoing restoration at the North Norfolk Railway. After a bit of detective work by one of the heritage line’s volunteers he traced its owner to his Midlands home. The long-lost wallet was discovered between the bottom and back of seating in one of four suburban commuter coaches being restored at the Poppy Line. It contained an old £1 note, coins, a dollar, a railway badge and some documents dating back to the early 1980s which had an address for a Derek B Gamble. Volunteer Michael Massey, a 70-year-old retired school assistant head from Ely, drives the North Norfolk Railway diesel multiple Units and he decided to try to find the original owner. “The documents showed he lived in Rugby, and I found another person called Derek B Gamble – which is unusual – in Northampton which was not far away. I wrote and got a call straight back. The wallet was his father’s. He doesn’t remember losing it, but thinks it must have been when the carriages were on the Great Central Railway at Loughborough – another heritage” said Mr Massey. Farmer Mr Gamble in West Haddon, Northampton was already heading to Norfolk on holiday, with a planned trip to the North Norfolk line on the agenda. So he dropped in and collected his wallet at the same time.  Items in the wallet included a blood group card; a receipt, dated 1982; and a booking slip for a trip to Ireland where his wife’s family lived and where they were due to visit. Mr Gamble said: “I am pleased and not a little surprised to be reunited with my wallet. Its contents bring back memories of what my family and I were doing over 30 years ago.”

Walter Tilbury

Engine Driver with the London and South Western Railway 1871

Articles from the Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle

Gosport, Saturday, 6^th May, 1871.An inquest was held by Edward Hoskins, Esq., at the Windmill Tavern, on Wednesday evening last, on the body of Joseph Davis, a pointsman on the London and South Western Railway, whoreceived injuries by the 8.55 train on Sunday morning from the effects of which he died on Tuesday last. From the evidence of his son it appears that the deceased was in his usual health at the time he went to his usual duties on Sunday morning, and that he attended the points at the junction of the Stokes Bay line with the main rails as usual, holding the lever handle in one hand and the signal flag in the other. The witness was in the lookout box at the time and saw no door open nor other projection from the train. When the train had partly passed the witness heard a noise as if the point handle had been moved and looking out saw the deceased lying on the ground with his feet close to the lever and his head near the metals. He went to his father and found him insensible and there were injuries to the back of his head. He was taken to his home where he died on Tuesday morning.

The engine driver, Walter Tilbury, gave evidence, in the course of which he said that the deceased was, as far as he knew, a careful man. At the time of the accident the train was proceeding at about 15 miles an hour and the deceased was standing by the side of the points with the point lever in one hand and the signal flag in the other.

There was nothing on the train which could have struck the deceased , but had the deceased had been setting the points and had leaned over as the train was passing, the lever would have been jerked back and the attendant would have fallen forward. The train was stopped but nothing was discovered to account for the accident.

The fireman Richard Heath, who was on the left hand side of the engine, said he saw the deceased at his post and the points were right for the train to pass.

After the engine and a second class carriage and a goods van had passed the witness saw the deceased in the act of falling forward. It was not, he said, the jerk of the train passing that caused the deceased to fall. The evidence of the guard in charge of the train, William Legg and Dr. Butcher having been taken, the jury returned a verdict of ‘Accidental Death’. The deceased was about 60 years of age and had been in the employ of the South Western Company for about 22 years. 

The Smell Drove Him Away.

Much to many peoples’ surprise the pop singer Joe Brown was not born in London but in Swarby, Lincolnshire. His family moved to London when he was two and ran the Sultan public house in Grange Road, Plaistow. Then it was in Essex but I believe that now it is part of the London Borough of Newham. In 1956 Joe Brown formed The Spacemen skiffle group, which lasted until the skiffle movement faded towards the end of the 1950s. 

As a full time job he worked for British Railways at their Plaistow Locomotive works for several years in the late 1950s, becoming a steam locomotive fireman. He left the job because “the smell of the diesels drove me out when they took over from steam" he said, but by that time he was making his way up the ladder in the pop world. In 1965 he made a short film called ‘Joe Brown at Clapham’ for Edgar Anstey and BTF films where he tells the story of the long departed Museum of British Transport, which was one housed in Clapham. Seen through old prints, photographs and rare pieces of archive film as well as modern material he tells the story from Stephenson's  Rocket  to the main line expresses. The film was made originally for a national children's competition and the picture shows Joe with the competition winners. Even today it is not unknown for him to appear giving a light hearted history of Britain's railways and a look at the Listowel and Ballybunion Railway.

Visit to Siemens Traincare Depot at Northam by Mike Schmidt

A group of members visited the Siemens Traincare depot at Northam in the middle of May to see a modern traincare facility in action. Siemens was established in the UK 169 years ago and now employs 12,970 people in UK. Last Year’s revenue was £4.4 billion. As a global engineering and technology business they provide expertise and technology from heavy rail to metros to trams and light rail vehicles. This Division employs around 650 people and maintains 350 passenger trains for First Pennine Express, South West Train, Heathrow Express, National Express East Anglia, Northern Rail, London Midland and Scotrail. AtNortham there are at present 16 apprentices who follow a course of study for 3 years including one year at college and two years of practical training. Northam has a staff of 65 who mostly work ‘nights’ as that is the best time to repair and maintain the stock.

During the visit we were primarily interested in the Class 444 and 450 stock which are maintained at the depot on behalf of South West Trains. The depot carries out light maintenance on both classes which can entail wheel turning, bogie removal, disc and brake shoe replacement, amongst other work. There are also skilled painters on site to ensure that any carriages requiring touch up are attended to as well. Besides the wheel lathe which is in a separate shed to the main 4 road maintenance shed there is a dedicated train wash facility. Units are propelled by a battery driven shunter to and from the wheel lathe shed, whilst an 8 carriage train can be moved in the main shed by connecting it to an overhead 750DC supply alleviating the need for a third rail and being the safest option in a working environment. Outside the maintenance shed are four more roads where stock is brought in overnight for cleaning, toilet emptying, re-watering and exterior general cleaning so that it is fit for the next day’s duty. 

All heavy maintenance, which includes the need to jack-up a whole train is carried out by Arlington Rail at Eastleigh works; which members were able to see on a visit this works earlier in the year and is subject of an article in a recent copy of Colonnade News.

After an introduction to the company’s business which included some background information we were taken on a tour of the ‘works’ which included the wheel lathe, the shunter, the bogie drop and the opportunity to climb aboard a 444 unit under maintenance. There was also the opportunity to sit in the driving seat of that unit and experience the view and controls from the driver’s point of view.

Northam is the main depot that Siemens operate to maintain SWT trains and there are small facilities at Fratton, Farnham, and Clapham – now that Strawberry Hill has closed. The Northam site was opened in 2003 and is built

on the former steam shed and sidings which were made redundant after steam ceased on the Southern and lay abandoned for a number of years.  Trains are also stabled overnight at Weymouth, for example, and should there be a problem that requires attention then fitters are sent to that site from Northam.

South West Trains and Network rail have a unique lineside monitoring device by Swaythling station on the main London Southampton line which monitors remotely any irregularities, wheel flats, bearing and axle problems every time a train passes by. This information is then passed to the operations room at the depot and can be actioned. If necessary that unit can be brought in to the depot as soon as possible for rectification, that way problems can be solved early on before there is a failure which may mean a delay to services. Siemens ethos is to be pro active with maintenance and to anticipate problems before they can get out of hand and so try to provide the best service to SWT. There are only at any one time 4 spare units for class 444 and 8 for class 450, should the need arise to have to replace whole train in the event of a complete failure on the network.

In due course the new class 703 stock will be coming in to service in the northern part of the SWT region based at Clapham and also maintained by Siemens. Units are now on test at the former RAF base at Wildenrath in Germany, but we are unlikely to see any in South Hampshire.  Meanwhile, both class 444 and 450 stock has been upgraded since its original introduction and now includes Wi-Fi, extra door opening at stations with short platforms which allows better access and egress, with both up to date on board information which is now both verbal form and on display panels. The on board heating and air conditioning equipment has also been upgraded.

This visit was a very interesting insight in to how a modern train depot functions and was very well received by all those who came along.   

  

Seaton Tramway  Mike Schmidt

On Maundy Thursday I decided to visit Seaton Tramway in East Devon. The tramway is a 2ft 9in narrow gauge tramway which operates over part of the former LSWR branch line from Axminster to Seaton. The Beeching Axe closed the line in 1969 and it was bought from British Railways by Claude Lane, who had operated trams in Eastbourne as a visitor attraction and which I remember being taken to as a boy. The 3 mile route runs through the Axe Valley, between the coastal resort of Seaton, the small village of Colyford, and the ancient town of Colyton. The tramway owns 13 cars and as a visitor attraction sees 80,000 visitors a year. The tram cars are two thirds replicas of classic British tram cars from various cities and some were even rebuilt from full size cars which originally ran on other networks. For example car no 19 is the only tram from Exeter tram system which is still in service.

Claude Lane owned the Lancaster Electrical Company of Barnet which manufactured battery electric vehicles and his hobby was trams. In 1953 he agreed a lease on the 2/3^rd of a mile line system at Eastbourne with a 2ft gauge and in the mid 1960s he was looking for a site with a longer line and a larger gauge. Having purchased the current line in December 1969, the tram way was relocated from Eastbourne over the winter of ‘69-70’. The line opened at the end of August 1970 on the new gauge of 2ft 9in without an overhead supply and so the trams had to run with a battery car trailer. Eventually the system was extended to Colyford and best use was made of the now redundant ex BR station at Seaton which became the depot and workshop.

At Seaton the trams are powered through an overhead wire at 132 volts and there are five battery banks strategically situated along the route. There are twoat the depot, two at Colyford and one at Colyton. They are charged by solid state converters powered from the national grid all housed in the iconic former Southern Region concrete  platelayers’ huts left in situ after the  line closure. This allows the system to withstand sudden surges in demand for power and also cope with power cuts from the national grid. A neat little cabinet houses the level crossing equipment for the crossing of the A3052 Lyme Regis to Exeter road.

The tramcars are controlled by the familiar notched controllers found on all heritage cars and each one has two types of braking - rheostatic and mechanical. On the tram controller there are brake notches on the opposite side to the power notches and moving the handle to the brake notches changes the motors into generators and by feeding this power in to the resistors the motors will slow down. Some tramcars also have airbrakes which are driven by a compressor that charges an air tank. The driver can then operate a valve which allows the air to operate pistons in the brake cylinders that apply the brakes shoes on the wheels tread. Finally, there is the mechanical brake operated by turning a large hand wheel on and off and normally only used for parking.

The tramcars themselves are all rebuild bodies from those that used to run in Exeter, Bournemouth, and London and are all painted to reflect the liveries those tramcars would have carried in their earlier lives. The track is made from flat bottom rail made in South Wales and is of much smaller section that that found on Network Rail  and the sleepers are Norwegian Spruce with each rail joint ‘bonded’ with a thick copper wire to ensure minimum electrical resistance. In the early days the sleepers were purchased second hand from British Rail, but these have now all rotted away and been replaced as above.

Several of the cars are adapted to take wheel chairs and push chairs on the lower deck and with the open top deck this allows passengers a great view of the wetland and bird sanctuary of the Axe estuary and sees a wide variety of wild life including cranes and plenty of pheasants whilst enjoying the journey to Colyford.                   

Above: Colyton station 1955        

Building Brooklands Motor Racing Track

                                       

Fareham Viaduct

Stand alongside Cams Mill it is possible to see two totally different forms of architecture a red, 17-arch viaduct and the stubby concrete tower of Fareham Town Hall behind it. Fareham's landmark railway bridge was built in 1848 as a functional piece of engineering to carry trains across the creek into Portsmouth. It straddles the town and — because of its sheer length —it's virtually impossible to walk around Fareham without spotting it. A fascination for early photographers (painters, too), it's not easy to find old post-cards which do not contain at least a part of the viaduct. The decision to build the bridge changed Fareham's face dramatically and extended the line to Port Creek, creating access to Portsmouth and beyond. It now has a new dual role as a road traffic "tunnel" between Gosport and Portsmouth. The complicated "fly-over" system built right next to it mars its impact and merely exaggerates the stark contrast between "utility" modern and 19th Century "decorative" methods of moving commuters from one place to another. But, as anyone who has travelled on a train over the Victorian bridge will testify the view across the Creek is one of the best Fareham offers.

Have You Seen One of These?

In January 2013 in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the world’s first underground railway, the Royal Mint issued two £2 coins to mark the milestone. Travellers were urged to keep a close eye on their change just in case they should be one of the lucky few to get their hands on one of the designer coins.

A limited number of the coins were issued from selected London Underground ticket machines at stations including Kings Cross, Angel, Tooting Broadway, Northfields and Brent Cross. Larger quantities of the coins were issued into general circulation later that year. Chief Executive and Deputy Master of The Royal Mint, Adam Lawrence, said: “The London Underground, like The Royal Mint, has become a much-loved national treasure, so it is apt that we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of this great British icon by featuring the London Underground on our £2 coins.

There are two different designs of the London Underground coins, each created by internationally acclaimed designers. The £2 ‘train’ coin, was designed by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, who designed the world-famous London 2012 Olympic Torch, depicts the front of the familiar Tube train emerging from a tunnel and carries an unusual patterned edge inspired by Harry Beck’s iconic Tube map. The £2 ‘roundel’ coin, created by designer Edwina Ellis, bears the London Underground logo which first appeared on Underground station platforms in 1908 – in 1916 Edward Johnston added the official Underground typeface to the bar.

The coin features the edge inscription ‘MIND THE GAP’, a well-loved cautionary phrase that for many years has been synonymous with London tube travel for visitors to the capital. The London Underground has always played a role in the economic growth of the capital and the UK and these attractive coins are a celebration of its success over the last 150 years.

Now have you seen or have one similar to the one depicted over the page, the going rate on Ebay at the moment  is over £160. So go through your change!!!!

Looking down the Gosport Line.