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Table of Contents: So Who Wants To Be a Fireman?  Names to Fire the Imagination - Gresley's Heritage The GWR Grange Class Early Station on the track to Torquay Something About The LSWR Holiday Experience - Branch line to Seaton Proposed New Town near Plymouth Scorpions on the Forest of Dean Railway HS4000 Kestrel Are Branch lines facing closure once again? Teign Valley line joined casualty list A very different railway - The Haytor Granite Tramway Military Railways Military Railway Signalling BlackpoolTrams The Birthday Present Demise of Mail Rail DOLL
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So Who Wants To Be a Fireman?Firing a mainline locomotive was generally accepted to be the most laborious of all railway jobs. On a long trip or in high winds, as much as six tons of coal would be shovelled into the locomotive firebox. It was unusual for the fireman to sit down for more than half a minute at a time - many fireman boasted that they never sat down on a four hour run. The most frightening experience Frank McKenna ever had occurred when he was a fireman, in 1949: "Certainly the worst experience I had was when I was almost burnt to death in a blow back from a locomotive firebox in the tunnel at Linslade, near Bletchley. I wasn't particularly familiar with the tracks, and I depended on the driver to tell me where I was, where the heavy gradients were, when to stoke harder and when to take it a little bit easy. We breasted the hill at Tring, the driver eased the throttle and we swept down through the Chiltern Hills, approaching the tunnel at Linslade. Linslade is a very small tunnel, and only one track runs through it. Going through it on a steam locomotive was always a tense experience. Once the locomotive hit the tunnel, the air pressure inside it caused the speed of the train to be checked by as much as 30 mph. As you approached the tunnel the technique was as follows: the dampers were shut on the locomotive, the fire hole doors were closed, the fireman and driver made sure that the front windows of the cab were tightly closed, and held soaking handkerchiefs to their faces. As we entered the tunnel, for some reason, the driver forgot to open the throttle. The dampers were open, and we were all set for a first class disaster. It happened. As soon as the locomotive hit the tunnel, as soon as the chimney went under the roof of the tunnel, the down draught and the pressure inside the tunnel forced the fire from the firebox backwards into the cab. I was standing in the middle of the cab right in front of the fire hole door, so I took the full blast of the fire on my face. As it came roaring out of the firebox I didn't know what had happened; all I knew was that I had to stay there and try to find the valve on the front of the face plate of the locomotive and turn this valve to try to push the fire back in. The result was that I was standing in sheets of flame and my hand was stuck to the brass handle of the nozzle. I stood there with the flames pouring all over me. The tunnel is a short one to the whole thing only took two or three seconds but as we came out of the tunnel I found that the driver had dived into the corner to protect himself and that I had taken the full blast of the blow back. I had lost my cap, all my hair had been burnt off, all the skin had gone off my face, my clothes were on fire, and all the skin had come off my hands. This was the way we came out of the tunnel into the night air. The driver brought the train to a standstill at the Signalbox at Stoke Hammond, and I jumped off. I was terrified, my clothes were still smouldering, and in trying to make my way to the signal box through the darkness, I twice tripped over signal wires and fell flat on my face. Eventually, I found myself at the top of the stairs of the signal box, and appeared in front of the Signalman, burnt and reeking of smoke. He made me sit down and leapt to the telephone. He phoned Bletchley Station and said there has been an accident, you had better get an ambulance to Bletchley Station. Then I had to get back into the cab, pick up the shovel again, and put coal on the fire to get the next two or three miles to Bletchley. When I took my hands away from the shovel I left more skin on the handle". Frank McKenna was patched up at the hospital, and sent home, arriving in his lodgings at about 3 o'clock in the morning, where his landlady screamed and ran away when she saw him dressed in white bandages from head to waist. It was a year before the burns cleared up, and the skin on his hands remained for months so soft that if he touched one hand with the other it would bleed. "So I lived for months with lumps of elastoplast stuck all over my hands. I used to go to work like that. After shovelling a bit of coal, they would start to bleed again". It seems incredible that he was not kept in hospital and that he should have had to work when his hands were in such a condition. Names to Fire the ImaginationSir Nigel Gresley, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway, until his death in 1941, designed two classes of three cylinder 2-8-2 locomotives for the LNER. The first to appear, in 1925, was the P1 Class of two heavy goods engines, numbers 2393 and 2394, for hauling l00 wagon coal trains between Peterborough and London. Although these engines were quite capable of handling trains of the intended length, in practice, the operating department found it very difficult to allow these long trains a reasonably unimpeded run, due to the various bottlenecks which then existed on this line. With the advent of the LNER high speed trains during the 1930's, and whenever relief and excursion trains were running, it became impossible to maintain the special schedules introduced for these engines, and both were withdrawn when the War ended in 1945. The locomotive illustrated is the second of the express passenger 2-8-2's of Class P2 which Gresley introduced in 1934 in response to a request by the operating department for a locomotive capable of eliminating double-heading on the difficult road north of Edinburgh. All bore Scottish names and were not often seen south of Edinburgh. The first engine in the series, No 2001 Cock o the North, appeared in May 1934, and it's distinctive appearance gained considerable publicity for the LNER. The second engine No 2002 Earl Marischal emerged from Doncaster Plant in October 1934 and although similar to Cock o' the North, it had standard piston valves driven by Gresley/Walchaerts valve gear, in place of the lentz rotary cam poppet valve gear fitted to No 2001. It was 1936 before the remaining four members of the Class were built and these were fully streamlined at the front end to resemble Class A4 Pacifics. By 1938 both of the first two engines had lost their distinctive front ends (as shown here) in favour of the A4 streamlined version. This photograph must therefore, have been taken between 1935 when the large outside smoke deflectors were fitted and 1938.
The GWR Grange ClassThe GWR 4-6-0 Classes were one of those not to survive and be represented among the many Swindon products which can be seen at work on preserved lines across the country. The Grange Class of 4-6-0 was a sad omission from the ranks of preserved locomotives, the more so because the Granges were still being "shopped" at Swindon in the early 1960's, and several must have gone to the breakers in comparatively good condition, with relatively low mileage since their last overhaul. There must have been a reason why none of these fine engines found their way into Dai Woodhams scrapyard at Barry, whereas several of their smaller cousins the Manor Class 4-6-0's did do so, and consequently survived. It may have been just chance but I suspect it might have had something to do with relative cost and metal content. But this is just a guess. The lack of a preserved Grange is all the more galling, because they were far better engines in performance terms than the lighter and somewhat under-boilered Manors, and even preferred by many to their larger cousins, the 4-6-0 Hall Class. The Halls were only a slight adaption by Mr C B Collett of the earlier Churchward Saint Class 4-6-0's, but with smaller wheels, the first new Hall having been built in 1928, following the conservation of No 2925 St Martin in 1924. It was to be 1936 before the first Granges appeared. These were nominal re-builds of the earlier Churchward 43XX Class 2-6-0's, though in practice, they were virtually new engines, using only the wheel centres and some motion parts from the 2-6-0's they replaced. If it had not been for the War, when conversions ceased, the intention had been to convert all the 300 plus 2-6-0's into either Granges or Manors. The popularity of the Granges arose from their free running capability, which put them above the larger wheeled Hall Class 4-6-0's in many drivers' estimation. This arose from an alteration which had been made to the design and layout of the valves and pistons, one of the few instances of the Swindon Drawing Office departing from slavish adherance to Churchward during the reign of Mr Collett. Perhaps they should have done so more often?
This was necessary because only the leading van are fitted with vacuum brakes controlled from the engine, the bulk of the train consisting of wagons fitted only with hand brakes. At Totnes, the train will have to stop again, while the Guard un-pins the handbrake levers, a procedure usually known as "Picking up the Brakes" ready for the climb to Rattery and Brent. Extract from Rail Trail with Peter Gray EARLY STATION ON THE TRACK TO TORQUAY It is now over 150 years since the railway arrived in Torquay, though it is, perhaps, difficult to imagine Torre Station as the terminus it then was, of a single line from Newton Abbot. It was, however, never intended to be a terminus. The original prospectus envisaged a line to Kingswear via Brixham, and when this failed to materialize, land was bought for a terminus in Upton. But that too met with opposition from Dartmouth, where they feared that the railway might reach Torquay and Brixham harbours but not their own. Like the rest of the South Devon Railway, it had been intended that the Branch Line to Torquay would be worked on Atmospheric principle, with power being supplied from stationary engines contained within the large stone building with the Italianate Tower that still stands today alongside the line summit, between Browns Bridge and Lawes Bridge. However, despite the Atmospheric System having been recommended by Brunel for its efficiency over locomotive haulage, it had in practice been ruinously expensive for the South Devon Railway, which was forced to abandon the system and revert to locomotives in September 1848, at which time the Torquay branch was nearly complete. These were the years of famine in Ireland, after the failure of the potato crop and during the construction of the branch there had been bread riots in the streets of Torquay in which the Navvies building the railway had managed to get themselves involved, demanding the release of rioters imprisoned in the Town Hall. This would have been the building at the junction of Abbey Road and Lower Union Street, not the present one at Castle Circus. Had the Torquay Branch not been in such an advanced state of construction in September 1848, the impoverished state of the South Devon Railway following the Atmospheric debacle might have left Torquay without its railway for several more years. However, the line was nearly complete and following inspection on December 9, it was approved for opening on Monday December 18 l848, when the GWR "Leo" Class 2-4-0 Saddle Tank Taurus brought the first train in from Newton Abbot soon after l2 noon. Torquay Station, as it then was, had been duly opened. Not until August 1859 did Torquay Station become Torre, when the line was extended to Paignton, but Torre retained its inconveniently short curved platform, situated half way down the falling grandient to Livermead, and continued to serve as the Goods Station for Torquay. At the time this picture was taken on May 10 1958, upwards of 25 men
were employed here by the railway. Before resuming its journey, 0-4-2T No1427 hauling the
10.5 am from Paignton to Moretenhamstead, had been taking water from the tank mounted
between the up and down tracks – the bag is still dripping water. The large notice between the tracks says ‘All down goods and mineral trains stopping for traffic purpose to pick up and put down brakes here’. In other words, this is the nearest you are going to get to level ground, and any brakes "picked up" for shunting must be "put down" again before moving off down the hill. Thanks to Rail Trail with Peter Gray.
Some general information about the LSWR that, within the REC as Club Members, we should know. In its heyday the LSWR was known for its military importance, serving more military towns and bases than any other railway oin the country. In the Aldershot and Farnborough area, the surrounding heathland was of little use for agriculture, but ideal for military use. In 1855 Queen Victoria opened two camps near Aldershot, called North Camp and South Camp. At first Farnborough on the mainline and Tongham on the Alton line were the railheads, which made access to the Channel ports easy. There were also two small branch lines; The Bisley Branch, leaving the mainline at Brookwood and serving the rifle range, Pirbright, Deepcut and Blackdown; and the 4.5 mile branch to Bordon from Bentley on the Alton line. The typical station used by the military in the area had long broad platforms with little shelter, making it easy to load and unload troops and horses. During one 48 hour period in September 1910, the LSWR moved 25,080 troops, 6,722 horses and l,l74 guns – no mean feat considering it was during one of the busy holiday periods.The railway also served three great naval bases at Plymouth, Portland and Portsmouth. Due to the concentration of troop ships in the Southampton area, the LSWR once carried every British soldier that went to, or returned from, foreign service. From the public point of view, the LSWR was better known as a pleasure line. It served nine race courses, including Epsom, Ascot, Hurst Park and Sandown Park, while boating and regattas could be reached along the branches to Hampton Court, Shepperton and Windsor. Also numerous golf clubs could be reached throughout the Home Counties. In fact, the LSWR made more from the revenue of sporting and recreational persuits than any other railway in the country, especially with 17 seaside resorts. Holiday Experience - Branch Line to Seaton My last caravan break was in October 2000, the site being a CL (certified location) in Shute West of Axminster in Devon, the facilities were fairly basic but did include electric points, one of the reasons for having chosen this CL especially as the nights can get a little colder and a small heater will do wonders in the confined space of a caravan. The electrical supply had been temporarily extended to higher ground, due to the some what damp conditions generally around that area. So it was that within minutes of arriving on site, between heavy showers, I found myself quietly cursing at the rather rocky sub soil which made the job of pegging the awning down, difficult. I did eventually succeed, noting that there appeared to be a defined line within which no resistance was encountered and was able to complete the pegging operation before being completely soaked through by the next down pour. Now most club members will know that my knowledge of railways is limited, my interests you might say as being in other fields, this did not deter me from walking the local footpaths which lead to the disused railway station of Seaton Junction. It was here that my interest was aroused at the rather long footbridge that spanned not only the track, but beyond, into the adjacent meadow in which we were staying, further inspection revealed what could have been a siding, heading off towards Colyton. A glimpse of the farmhouse and yard buildings nestling in the valley removed any further interest of Seaton Junction from my mind as I began to envisage some of these buildings, in model form enhancing my own railway layout. The more railway knowledgeable members will no doubt by now have reached the conclusion, that it was not a siding, but the branch line to Seaton via Colyton, the section between Colyton and Seaton still very much in use by the Seaton trams today. Yes, you guessed it! the rocky sub soil was actually the remains of the trackbed of the line from Seaton Junction, had it not been for the soggy conditions prevailing at the time I would have been none the wiser and at least fifteen awning pegs straighter. Roy Extract from Herald Express in 1999 - By Peter Gray Proposed New Town near Plymouth Farewell, to quiet Devon, proclaimed the headline in Tuesday’s Herald Express, over an article which concentrated mainly on the proposed new town to be sited in the South Hams, somewhere to the East of Plymouth. But another one is due to cover many currently unspoilt acres of Devon somewhere to the east of Exeter. I am wondering if the location of this new town in East Devon will be close to the new freight transfer station recently proposed for East Devon by a private developer. This fine idea, should it ever get of the ground, would enable long distance railfreight to be transferred for local distribution by road, and would create jobs for the people who live in the new town, and lessen the number who would otherwise daily have to commute into Exeter. Although hopefully the public transport minded Devon County Council would consider a provision of a passenger railway station to be an essential part of the transport provision for this new town. If both these proposals go ahead, this could justify returning the present single track line between Honiton and Exeter to double track in order to handle the extra traffic generated, and this, in turn, would give the extra capacity for an improved local service between Honiton and Exeter. In the long term, the justified provision of a double track mainline out to Honiton could provide the impetus for the eventual restoration of the double track to the whole of the old Southern Railway Mainline even if at first only as far as Yeovil Junction. Had it been rather nearer to Exeter than it is, and close to the A30 trunk road, which it is not, the old site of Seaton Junction Station, still undeveloped, would have provided plenty of room for the new facilities. Where once there was a spread of at least ten tracks across the valley
floor, today, only one single line carries the necessary limited service that South West
Trains can provide on a single track with very limited passing places. Back in 1958, although there were few habitations nearby, Seaton Junction was quite a busy station, handling passengers on and off the branch trains to Seaton, and also general freight and milk traffic from the depot on the western end of the station buildings. On Saturday June 28 1958, Bulleid West Country Class Pacific Locomotive No 34036 Westward Ho! Is streaking through at about 80 mph with the 1.45 pm from Ilfracombe and Torrington to Waterloo. On the Railwayman’s wages at that time, the Signalman would not have been able to afford a car, or, in this case even a motorcycle, as his "sit up and beg" bicycle is lent against the Signal Cabin wall, front lamp well polished, neaded when cycling through the lanes for shift changes at 10 pm or 6 am. He must have strong arms too, for pulling off the point levers, operating the rods which can be seen between the up and down mainlines, ten disappearing alongside the train, westward towards the Exeter end of the yard, and five eastwards in the direction of the train towards Salisbury. Scorpions on the Forest of Dean Railway In view of the clubs visit to the Forest of Dean, it was of interest to note that in February 1999, a new concept of railway track maintenance for the 21st century was unveiled at Parkend, when 2 brand new "Scorpions" arrived for training purposes on the Forest of Dean Railway. The Scorpion is a combined ballast regulator and flailing machine, composed of a Mercedes Benz Unimog 4 x 4 road vehicle adapted for railway track maintenance. Amey Fleet Services purchased four of these worlds first
machines from Outreach PLC of Larbet in Scotland. Amey has been invited to
use the Forest of Dean Railway as a training ground for their crews. Two
Scorpions, each with its own trailer containing the ploughs and flailing
equipment, arrived by road from Scotland. A team of instructors from MTR Ltd
of Edinburgh were on hand to supervise the training. The Scorpions use hydraulic systems extensively on board and they are fitted with two close circuit television cameras to enable the driver to see reverse movements and trackside when working on the line. They are also fitted with hoists to lift their accessories from the road trailer. The Scorpion is capable of 50 mph in road service when towing its trailer to site. Track speed is 50 kph maximum, but will be restricted to 20 kph on the rail track system. The transfer from road to rail requires some level ground alongside a track to allow the unit to set itself astride the track. Four sets of small steel wheels are then lowered onto the rails, this being achieved very quickly. Then the hoist is used to lift the attachments from the road trailer to be bolted on. When the job is completed, the procedure is reversed quickly and without fuss and allows the unit to move from location to location without unduly interfering with normal rail traffic. The prototype work for Scorpion was developed in Scotland on the B'nees & Kiniel Railway. The Hawker-Siddeley 4,000 bhp diesel-electric prototype No. HS4000 Kestrel, sold to the Soviet Union in 1971 survived behind the Iron Curtain for longer than was originally believed. Although a start was made to dismantling in 1986, it was not scrapped until 1993.
Are Branch lines facing closure once again? By Peter Gray Years ago when office workers sometimes stayed in the
same job for many years, an esteemed colleague (long since deceased)
reckoned that, as new bosses came and went, each with his (in those days)
own ways of doing the job, if you waited long enough, the old (and often the
best) ways would recirculate as brand new ideas. Sure enough, 36 years after
Dr Richard Beeching presented his report, which resulted in the virtual
annihilation of all the old Southern Railway main and branch lines west of
Exeter, here comes prism rail (Wales and West in this area) with a brand new
idea. Rather than us subsidising them to run a not very frequent service,
which they wish to make even less frequent, between Exeter and Barnstaple,
wouldn’t it be a much better idea if they ran a nice new bus instead? No it wouldn’t. We’ve been through all this before and
how many of the bus services which replaced the branch lines in the 1960’s
are still running today? Almost none. Although it had been supposed that
most people using the trains would transfer to the replacement bus services,
in the event, it did not turn out that way. Whether they could really afford it or not, most people
decided that if they were to be forced onto the roads, anyway, it would be
far more convenient to have their own personal transport. And since the
replacement buses were only guaranteed for a short period after closure,
even those few people who stayed with public transport were forced to
acquire their own vehicles within a couple of years. What has brought the prospect of branch line closures to
the fore again? It seems that a Government representative has indicated this
is a possible solution to the situation that some of the train operating
companies are finding themselves in, with a regime of annually reducing
public subsidies – to which they committed themselves – in order to gain
their franchises – now beginning to bite into their profits. Sadly, it was clear during the franchise bidding, that
some companies were bidding for such low subsidies towards the end of their
franchise period, that they might find it difficult to keep going, unless
the numbers of travellers showed a substantial increase. Could it be that at the same time Railtrack is putting
hundreds of thousands of pounds into refurbishing our local stations, other
forces are at work to close some of them? Even in the 1950’s, relaying the
track or painting the stations was often a prelude to closure. Could it all
be happening again?
This is Lapford station on the threatened Barnstaple line on August 5th
1963. It was one of several crossing stations on the 18 mile central
section of the line, which has always been single track. In the foreground
is the typical ex-LWSR signal box, and beyond the combined station buildings
and stationmasters house alongside the up platform. The separate down
platform was accessed by steps from the main road bridge and can be glimpsed
through the right hand arch of this structure. Teign Valley line joined casualty list by Peter Gray
The Princetown Line, although providing a valued link with the outside world when winter snows blocked the roads to Yelverton and Tavistock, had not been given the publicity needed to enable it to earn a decent profit during the summer, when tourists could have flocked to enjoy the moorland views it offered – had they known it existed! Without the life blood of adequate publicity, it remained largely undiscovered delight, and even the residents of Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse no longer explored the Plym Valley in the vast numbers that had done so in earlier years – they could now afford to go further afield on their days off. Consequently, although deeply shocked by the announcement of impending closure back in 1955, there was a feeling that this might be a one off, and that our other branch lines might survive. It had been expected that the Princetown Line would close at the end of 1955, but in the event it hung on and saw out the worst of that winter, closing to all traffic, not only to passengers, in March 1956. It was therefore, something of a shock to the system that after a 12 month gap the closure notices began to be posted one after the other on our local lines. First came the Teign Valley Line, which connected Heathfield (on the Moretonhampstead Branch) with Exeter, joining the main line at City Basin Junction, a few hundred yards south of Exeter St Thomas Station. Its use as an occasional diversionary route between Exeter and Newton Abbot had always been cited as a reason for not closing the line, but in fact most of the diverted Plymouth and Cornwall traffic usually went via the southern route to the north of Dartmoor, and it was mostly only the local traffic to South Devon that used the Teign Valley route, due to weight restrictions on the size of locomotives which could be used. Mineral traffic on the line, which had been considerable, had dwindled by the mid 1950’s and passenger traffic had always been far less than the lines promoters had hoped for, and not enough to sustain the line. And looking further ahead, although we did not know this at the time, the Ministry of Roads – sorry, Transport, had its eye on most of the Heathfield end of the Teign Valley Lines trackbed for the new A38 Trunk Road. The picture was taken on the day that the Teign Valley Line was closing to passengers, June 7 1958, but it featured the next of the local lines to be selected for the chop, 0-4-2T No. 1427 is standing short of the run round crossover under the overall roof of Moretonhampstead Station, still then lit by gas, coal gas from the local gas works, and pointing in the direction of Okehampton, potential targets which this line never reached. No 1427 had been a Newton Abbot engine for most of its life, but before the years end it would be off to end its active days at Gloucester and Cheltenham, and after a period in store was withdrawn in July 1960. by Tony HockingIt was the first railway, or more accurately flangeway, in Devon; it had a strange gauge, 4ft 3ins / 1.295m, and non-metallic track. It was the Haytor Granite Tramway. The tramway is believed to have been built originally to ease the transport of Haytor granite for a contract for London Bridge. The opening date was 16 Sept 1820. It finally ceased operation about 1858, by which time the high costs of extraction and trans-shipment made this source of granite uneconomical to work. The tramway's great claim to fame is the track (yes - 'is', a lot of the track is still in situ). It was built from the material it was designed to carry - granite. The track consists of granite blocks approximately 1' 3ins / 381mm wide by 1ft / 305mm deep in various lengths from 3ft / 914mm to 8ft / 2.44m. The blocks have flanges 3ins / 76mm deep and 7.5ins / 190mm wide on the inside. The gauge over the flanges is 4ft 3ins / 1.295m, and overall 5ft 6ins / 1.676m. There have never been the equivalents of sleepers or fishplates, the extreme weight is adequate to keep the blocks in place. Points make use of larger blocks with grooves 6ins / 152mm wide by 3ins / 76mm wide cut to form frogs and turnouts. Moveable metal guides were pivoted on pegs socketed in the blocks to govern the direction taken. Why granite track? It was vastly cheaper than bringing iron rails to the then remote site, and the track could be laid downhill from the source of the material - what could be better? The route (opposite) is from Haytor Quarry (O.S. sheet 191, SX755 773) & Holwell Quarries (SX755 777) to Ventiford Bridge, Teigngrace (SX 848 748 or thereabouts), where the granite was trans-shipped to barges, each carrying 25 tons, on the Stover Canal to sail to Newton Abbot and Teignmouth. (The Stover Canal was originally built in the 1790s for Bovey Tracey 'ball' or 'pipe' clay, lignite (brown coal) and iron ore, all found in the Teign valley) The trains consisted of up to 12 flat-topped wagons with road-cart style unflanged wheels of 2' / 610mm diameter. The wagons were 13' / 3.96m long with a 10' / 3.05m wheelbase, and had removable horse shafts to ease conversion to and from horse power. Trains were gravity operated downhill, and horse drawn uphill when empty. The horses appear to have been taken downhill on foot, not by train. Braking was effected by '12 ft poles applied to the wheels', which when carrying heavy blocks on a line falling 1300ft in 7 miles (average gradient 1 in 28.5) sounds distinctly dodgy! The only trains horse drawn when loaded were those leaving Holwell Quarry on a short initial upgrade to the start of the main line. It is unfortunate that no company records exist for the tramway; and in view of its date there are no photographs, just a few undetailed etchings. The last remains, apart from track, disappeared round about the time of the First World War. The tramway and quarries were killed off by economic factors, but there was a rather crazy sequel. A proposal to electrify the tramway appeared in 1905, using local lignite to fuel the necessary power station! This idea was soon forgotten as the prospects for business were minimal, but the power station was built, and the electricity was used in local potteries making drain pipes, etc. Where can the tramway be seen? Trackwork still exists in
the quarries, north and west of Haytor
Historical reference: The Haytor Granite Tramway and Stover Canal, by M C Ewans, 1966, David & Charles. ISBN X000 634026. A copy is held by Hampshire County Library, Winchester. On 29th October 2002 Mike Walshaw gave an interesting talk on
Military Railways illustrated by slides of contemporary and recent
photographs, many of the latter having been taken last year. It was in two
parts Part 1 - Faslane Due to German air raids on existing docks during WW2, the
War Office decided that they needed deep-water berths out of range of the
Luftwaffe. They narrowed the search for a suitable site down to Oban, Cairn
Ryan and Faslane. In November 1940 Faslane was chosen to be Port No 1 and
Cairn Ryan to be Port No 2. The advantage of Faslane was that Gare Loch was
deep enough to take large ships, and the LNER’s West Highland Line ran very
close. The Faslane Branch was agreed with the LNER in April 1941 and
construction of the branch began, together with provision of additional
passing loops on the main line. The line was 3 miles long and dropped 180ft
with gradients of 1/52 and 1/49. The 7 road exchange sidings were on a 1/148
gradient adjacent to the main line, and beyond them traffic to the port was
operated by the Military. Belmore House at Faslane, built in the 1880’s, was
commandeered to be the ports HQ. There were seven groups of sidings with
capacity for over 1500 wagons. There were loco facilities and Faslane Bay
platform could accommodate a loco and 14 coaches. The port opened on 8th
August 1942, with 6 deep-sea berths, facilities for lighterage and a 5 road
quay with several crossovers, allowing wagons from one ship to pass those
being loaded from another. There were a variety of locomotives used by the WD, most
obtained from the railway companies, mainly the LNER, which provided J50,
J68 & J69 0-6-0 locos. The GWR provided a Dean Goods and 2 ‘Z’ class locos
were borrowed from the Southern. Later WD Austerity 2-8-0 and an American
S160 were to feature on the line. After the war the port was no longer required and it
closed on 31st March 1946, when part of it was leased by Metal Industries
for ship breaking purposes. They retained 5 of the J69s, which remained in
service till the mid 60’s. The company later became Ship Breaking Industries
employing many Polish refugees in breaking-up redundant warships. The line
down to the yard was then operated by the LNER. In 1954 a submarine base was built at the top end of the
port area. This was later used for the Polaris Fleet and the whole site was
reacquired by the MOD. Belmore House still stands and is now HQ for the
Royal Submarine Squadron. Part 2 This opened with a number of slides of war-time railway
posters, mainly discouraging the public from travelling. Military Railway Permanent Way This was used for the recovery of continental railways
destroyed by the Germans after the invasion of Europe. It used flat bottom
rail laid on bearing plates and secured by dog spikes to the 8’6" timber
sleepers. The rail came in 75 lb (per yard) and 90 lb sizes. Ballast was
anything available such as sand or ash. Concrete sleepers were tried, but
were disliked because the white colour stood out as a ready target for enemy
aircraft. There were three standard sizes of turnout No.6, No. 8 and No.12. The Army had its own railway rule book. High safety
features such as interlocking signals was not practical, but notes were
prepared on the use of Belgian and Dutch signalling systems, should any of
these be found in serviceable condition. A flag and board system was
described for use where semaphore signalling was not available and was used
on several UK Military Railway systems. There was a Telephone and Ticket
system for working single line tracks in lieu of an electric token system.
There was a Signal School at Longmoor. Much of the Military Railway equipment can be seen at the
Museum of Army Transport at Beverley in East Yorkshire. Mike Walshaw is a former member of the REC (1954 to
1977). He was initially employed by the MoD at the RAE and in 1986 was
transferred to Glasgow, where he stayed till he retired in 1995. He moved to
Swanage in 2001, where he is active as a volunteer on the Swanage Railway as
a Signalman and in the Signal and Telegraph Department. Back in 1993 I went to Warton in the Blackpool area
on business, while there I took the opportunity to ride the full length of
the Starr Gate-Blackpool-Fleetwood tram system. I boarded a single deck car at the Starr Gate
terminus. There were several minutes to wait and I glanced at the controls,
and commented to the driver that they were very different from the
conventional ones I had expected. She explained that this was one of the
first cars to be fitted with a Brush electronic control system, with most of
the work being done by a single Drive-Neutral-Brake lever, and sundry
switches for everything else. The good lady proved to be exceptionally
garrulous, and except when taking fares she talked non-stop for the entire
one hour journey to Fleetwood. A few snippets from this torrent of words are
worth passing on. The one-lever control is good for simplicity of operation,
but has one snag. The electronics will not allow you engage reverse drive
and brake simultaneously! This technique, which is officially taboo and very
bad for the standard controllers, has been known, in extremis, to avoid
accidents with a panic stop. One day my new-found friend was walking to work at
0520. (yes; that is her starting time) when she saw her tram already
standing on the sea-front main line, with a few agitated depot staff around
it. It seemed that the tram, with nobody aboard, had left the depot, run 150
yards to the seafront, crossed the main road and joined the main line. It
had been pursued, but could only be stopped by cutting of the supply to the
overhead. One explanation was that the man who prepared the trains for the
road had left the control lever slightly in “Drive” instead of “Neutral”, he
certainly had failed to switch off the brake compressor and so the pressure
would be restored when he left the tram and the brakes would be released. My
driver demonstrated that the Neutral position was very positive, and she
believed that some passer-by had set the tram off as it stood, open and
unattended, outside the depot. One result of this incident is that dead-mens’
handles, or, foot pedals, are to be fitted to Blackpool trains for the first
time. Like any other vehicles trains become involved in
accidents and near accidents. My driver had been about to pull away from a
stop one day when she heard a voice exclaim “My God!”. She slammed on the
brake she had just released and looked round. There were no passengers in
the tram, and nobody visible outside. She opened the doors to investigate -
and found an elderly woman lying with her legs under the car, a foot or so
in front of the rear bogie. The woman’s companion, who had called out, was
trying to rescue her, she had been very lucky not to lose both feet. The
woman had been trying to walk on the wrong side of a protective barrier and
had slipped. My driver, herself near to retirement, complained that “a few
old folk on their cheap autumn holidays cause more havoc than all the summer
visitors!”. Still on the subject of accidents, the Fylde
District Council tries to make the tram/free vehicle confrontation safer by
altering traffic lanes and street signs. This works perfectly with visitors,
who obey the road markings and signs, but the locals carry on as if nothing
had changed! Several examples were pointed out to me, including a taxi
stopped where it blocked the tram tracks while it indicated right in. clear
contravention of the lane markings which segregated the trams and cars, and
of the signs which prohibited a right turn. “The taxis are the worst!” I was
told. The track is far from perfect. One abrupt kink in
the line, which caused a nasty lurch as we passed over it, has been there
for the entire 30 years this lady has been driving. In another spot she
pointed ahead and asked if I could see the bad section - it was about 100
yards away and you could see the rails distorted in all planes. “You’ll feel
that when I hit it!” she exclaimed and accelerated hard to emphasise the
point! The tram leapt and lurched in a terrifying manner, but we just stayed
on the track. The driver was still talking when we reached the
Fleetwood terminus, describing a splendid restoration job done on an old
double-decker. It was due out as an extra at the peak school time, and she
advised me to get to the appropriate stop and have a ride. She was so keen
an me trying this tram that she offered to take me back down the line to the
correct spot free of charge!. We met the double decker a little way north of
the school stop, and it reversed over a cross-over to follow us closely. I
duly changed cars, to the amazement of the crew on the double-decker, who
thought I was mad to travel with the screaming hoard. I explained my
reasons, and they were now convinced of my insanity. (This car had a driver
and two conductors to cope with the rush of children, instead of the usual
single driver/conductor.) The car was very smartly turned out, and had
innovations such as anti-graffiti finishes and impressively large head and
tail lights, and even flashing indicators. The end bumpers had been made
sloping, to stop kids clinging on for free rides! The controls were the
-original English Electric set. The crew agreed it was smart, but they still
thought it could be improved. Tony
Hocking November 1993
The Birthday Present
Alan remarked that if we had guests with us we could give them footplate
rides. John was visible at the far end of the platform so I took the engine
along to pick him up while Cliff got off. John was delighted to be offered a
ride, but a look of extreme doubt appeared on his face when he realised I
was driving! All went well and afterwards he and I left the footplate while
Cliff’s wife had a ride, the maximum of four on the footplate being
carefully adhered to.
Royal Mail fails to find alternative use
for its underground railway.
Geoff Bryan |
In this picture taken on July 1st 1959, No 6814 Enborne Grange, for many years a Newton
Abbott engine, but transferred to St. Blazey in Cornwall from February 1958, is just
easing down Class "E" Express Freight Train away from the compulsory stop at
Dainton Siding Signal Box. This stop enable the Guard to pin down sufficient brake levers
to control the train on the descent to Totnes.
Our
picture is of the quintessential English country station on a lazy summer
afternoon. Roses round the signal box, and the clear tones of the block
bells ring out through the open window to tell us that a train is on its
way.
itself,
and running eastwards towards Haytor Vale. Perhaps the easiest section to
reach is where the line crosses the Haytor Vale to Manaton road at SX 769
776. The track blocks start a few feet from either side of the road
crossing; on the east side there is an easily found point for a siding not
far from the road. More is supposed to exist going south east, but I am not
certain how much is still visible. The bottom end was replaced by part of
the Mortenhampstead & South Devon Railway, soon to be part of the South
Devon Railway, soon to be GWR!
