Railway Archive [Volume 4]

Note from henceforth author names will not be inverted as its is hoped this may assist retrieval via search engines

Number 32 (September 2011)

G.A. Sekon. The history of the London, Chatham & Dover Railway. Part One. 2-33.
Reprinted from Railway & Travel Monthly. The original version suffered from very poor reproduction partly due to WW1 and its after effects, but the original glass plates were rediscovered by Andrew Emmerson.of the South Eastern & Railway Society and are reproduced herein. In general Sekon's text has been retained, wiith slight editing, but there are new captions and redrawn maps and diagrams. Continued in Number 33 page 30..

Down postal. 34; 48
Hopwood GCR 2-4-0T No. 449B in RA29. Martin Bloxsom.
Suggests date should be c1915 as locomotive appears to be No. 449B. According to Yeadon. Locomotives of the LNER Vol. 30 pp. 9 and 93 this was reboilered in December 1915. Same locomotive is illustrated in Dow Great Central Vol. 2 p. 345 prior to being placed on duplicate list.
Industrial loco musings. Andrew Neale.
Hunslet 4-6-0T at Manston may have been WN 1213/1916: writer contributed to Taylorson's Narrow gauge at war (Plateway)
Avoncliff Siding. Chris Osment.
Suggests earlier date as Siding and Avoncliffe Siding Signal Box close on 13 April 1905: further locomotive in picture was not at station but at entrance to Bath & Portland Stane siding.
Peterborough Yards - some corrections. Gordon Griffin.
Corrections and addiations to captions relating to illustrations in RA 31 on pp. 53 (final sentence incorrect), 54 (additional information) and 55 (M&GNJR train still on its own rails before joining the oblivion of the City's road system)
Hertfordshire, GWR broad road transport and other matters. Malcolm Parsons.
See RA 31 68 lower: suggests Northwood rather than Rickmansworth; Metropolitan & Great Central Joint Committee remained in existence until nationalisation; see also RA 31 page 57 et seq on GWR bus services: quibbles with phrase "compelled to hand over": in 1928 the railway companies obtained formal authority to operate bus services, but exploited this by obtaining substantial shareholdings in the major bus groupings; and 31 page 63 wonders if Alexandria in Egypt rather than Alexandra Docks;
Jacob & Co's Siding query. Keith Fenwick.
Queries date on caption as Herbert Morris did not start manufacture in Loughborough until 1897: suggests date in 1920s
Mystery industrial loco King Arthur. Chris & Judy Rouse. 33/48
Manning Wardle 0-6-0T named King Arthur, possibly worked on construction of Trentham Park branch around 1910. See also photograph and letter from David Morton in RA 33 p. 80 and in Issue 34 page 40 also from David Morton and from Russell Wear
GWR bus services. Reg Davies. 48
Quibbles with phrase "compelled to hand over" and cites names of British Automobile Traction and Tilling..  
William Adams - not such a great locomotive artist? Nick Holliday
Challenges Williams Adams as being a designer of "artistic" locomotives citing solid bogie wheels and visible rivets and pipework on early designs.

Brian Arman. The Gooch standard goods' 0-6-0s of the broad gauge. 34-47.
This is a relatively fresh approach as it examines one particular type of broad gauge type, rather than the whole output, and it is a forceful reminder that the broad gauge locomotives were markedly more powerful than their standard gauge contemporaries. Although all broad gauge 0-6-0 designs are examined ponly the later ones are illustrated and thus it is still necessary to refer to the RCTS Locomotives of the Great Western Railway. Part 2.

Fly shunted... 48
Watchet Harbour c1930 with LMS wagon loaded with esparto grass? being shunted by horse and SS Bodil

John Alsop. Invicta at Canterbury. 49-54.
David Lionel Salomons, a Director of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway arranged for Invicta to be presented to the City of Canterbury in 1906. It was accepted by the Mayor F. Bennett-Golney. Letter from Bob Ratcliffe RA 33 page 64 notes involvement in Stockton & Darlington Centenary; its restoration at the NRM and current resting place in the Poor Priests Hospital

A.J. Mullay. Britain's railway canals: 100 years of railway control, and ownership of Britain's waterways. Part 3. Canals for the Nation. 55-68.
Part 1 in Issue 30 from page 2. Part 2 in Issue 31 page 15. Examines the role of the British Transport Commission and the formation of the Docks & Inland Waterways Executive and the composition and organisaation of this body. Notes the major exclusion of the Manchester Ship Canal due to its municipal ownership and other waterways excluded from State ownership. The head of the D&IWE was Sir Reginald Hill. Other full-time members were Robert Davidson, John Donovan and Sir Robert Letch. The role of the Inland Waterways Association and its Chairman Robert Fordyce Aickman is considered. Canal preservation is considered at length.

Jeffrey Wells. Wish you were here! Railway postcards of ... small town and suburban stations of the L&YR. 69-80; rear cover upper

Number 33 (December 2011)

Roger Langley. Two days in May: the conversion of the broad gauge in Devon and Cornwall in May 1892: a new account. 2-29.
Detailed account mainly based on contemporary documents: (but instructions to staff an especially those relating to diversion of Post Office Royal Mail onto Great Western Railway steam packet and over the London & South Western Railway. Notes that in spite of the use of prefabricated trackwork work at Truro overran and had to be completed on the Monday and Tuseday. There were spectators both for the final broad gauge workings and for the work of narrowing the track (police and porters ere employed at Truro to ensure that the work was not interupted. See also letter from John Lewis (34 p. 40) on terminology used on p. 16 regarding "fish plant".

G.A. Sekon. The History of the London, Chatham & Dover Railway, Part Two. 30-60.
Began in Issue 32 p. 2.

Brian Arman. A Christmas tragedy: Midland Railway No. 48 and the Hawes Junction Disaster, 24th December 1910. 61-3.
Collision between double-headed express hauled by 800 class 2-4-0 No. 48 and 4-4-0 No. 549 with two light engines of 4-4-0 type Nos. 448 and 548 which had entered the section ahead of the express due to errors on the part of the signalman, and the failure of their crews to comply with Rule 55 by letting their presence be known. The impact caused the two light engines to be propelled forward and then partially derail and to the train engines derailing rapidly which led to damage to the train which caught fire due to the use of gas lighting leading to 12 fatalities and 19 severely injured passengers. Rolt's Red for danger adds that Driver George Tempest was a key witness to the tragedy and presumably features in the Report conducted by Pringle.

Down Postal. 64; 80
Locomotives found at sea. John Lusted
The Stephenson Locomotive Society Library holds a La Meuse Works List prepared by Jens Merte: this records WN 2419 as a 2-6-2T built in 1911 for the CF de Thessalie (CF Hedjaz, Soc. Ottoman?) and  WN 2420/1 as two more built in 1914, together with WN  2431-2436 being 0-10-0Ts for the CF Hedjaz; that is for service in the Ottoman Empire. From Lebanon southwards, the 1,050mm gauge was one of the two main gauges in use in 1914. Is it unreasonable to speculate that the Hedjaz Railway made a provisional order for nine engines for which Works Nos were allocated, with No. 2419 going out in 1911 (and being reported in Railway & Travel Monthly) and the rest in 1914? Builders allocate blocks of numbers in advance, but delivery of part orders may be delayed. Deutsche-Levante Line was in the process of delivering the balance of this order when WW1 broke out and the Royal Navy interrupted its services: the rest is described in Hugh Hughes' Middle East Railways (1981 verified BLPC). By 1905, the 1050mm gauge lines in the Ottoman Empire had reached Beirut and Haifa on the Mediterranean and had been extended to Hijaz or Hedjaz in what is now Saudi Arabia. In 1914 a further branch was under construction to link this system with Jerusalem. Perhaps the La Meuse engines were destined for this branch? Then the Ottoman Empire declared war on Britain and France in September 1914.
In 1916, the British Army began to advance on Jerusalem from Egypt and had got as far as Gaza by March 1917. Presumably around then, someone in the War Office felt that the six engines which had been captured in 1914 would be useful during the advance. In November 1917, General Allenby was appointed to give the campaign some drive and direction. The British and Australians reached Jerusalem in December 1917 and Damascus in October 1918.
The La Meuse engines cannot have been of use for very long as many of the 1,050mm lines were converted to standard gauge during 1918. R. Tourret's Hedjaz Railway (1969 verified BLPC) gives more details of the conversion and suggests that at least for a time a third rail was laid to allow 1,050mm engines to operate at night when the track gangs were sleeping. But whilst the conversion was going on they would have been useful and as they advanced ahead of the gauge convertors, they would have been left in that part of the Ottoman Empire that became Transjordan when the victors had finished re-arranging the losers' boundaries in about 1922.
The Hedja: Railway gives more dimensional details of the 2-6-2Ts on page 52, but writer finds it difficult to believe that they could ever have operated on the 750mm Egyptian Delta Railways: all the evidence is that the War Office in 1917 decided to give the Palestine campaign a sharp shove.  As well as a new General, these three engines were put through Swindon Works and sent them to the front via Egypt. Presumably Swindon at least repainted them in War Department grey and that is how they are shown in the Works photograph. The La Meuse works plate had been removed and at a guess was not replaced but the works number was painted on – for the rest of their existence all six ex-Hedjaz engines operated under their works numbers only. Probably the incomplete parts of Works No's 2431/3/4 ended up in the British scrap drive in 1915 and their boilers and other parts may never have left German controlled Belgium and might well also have been melted down, in this case as German Army shell casings.

John G Robinson and other locomotive artists John Lusted.
Is it right, even in a non-technical magazine such as RA, to so divorce function and appearance? Whilst agreeing that many of the engines liked by Grainger were both attractive and reasonably effective by the standards of their day, the Robinson 4-6-0s performed badly: the types he likes best were the worst! Robinson made nine attempts to design an effective 4-6-0 and never really succeeded, apparently because he was unable to appreciate that the ashpan needed to be raised up to clear the trailing axle if ash were not to block air getting to most of the fire after 50 miles! Even by the standards of the Edwardians, that was pretty dire and I find it impossible to regard those engines with admiration.
For a truly beautiful example of form following function I offer Bulleid's Q1 Class 0-6-0 of 1941, with not a wasted plate or frill spoiling a much maligned design which did all that it was asked to do and more.

Locomotives found at sea. Bill Aves
Henry Hughes Middle East Railways quotes the La Meuse 2-6-2Ts as built in 1914 and it may be assumed that they were captured by the Royal Navy, in the Mediterranean during their delivery voyage to Haifa, which at that time was under Ottoman Turkish rule (that they were on board a German ship might indicate that they were shipped after the Germans had occupied Belgium, probably October 1914). What is strange is that they were then shipped back to the United Kingdom, from Alexandria in Egypt to Newport in South Wales, and placed in store for two years before being auctioned. They must have then been bought by the War Office (who realised that by this time they would come in handy - but didn't the British Government own them anyway, after their capture? - sent to Swindon for overhaul ready to go to Palestine, which by the time they would have arrived was in British hands. Writer owns a different photograph taken at Swindon, showing a three-quarter rear view of one of the engines. There is one error in the article. Swindon only repaired two Belgian 0-6-0s — Type 32S No. 3414 (which had been coupled to the tender of No. 3776) and Type 32 No. 3548 (with the tender of No. 2976). These were also McIntosh 0-6-0s, neither of which were used by the ROD. Both engines were repainted with the letters 'R O D' and the tender numbers on their tenders — despite having their own proper numbers on brass cabside numberplates. This seems to have been a not infrequent occurence with the Etat Beige engines taken over and used by the ROD (see William Aves. The Railway Operating Division on the Western Front : the Royal Engineers in France and Belgium, 1915-1919. Shaun Tyas, 2009)

Locomotive aesthetics. Nick Holliday 
Grainger claimed all William Adams engines 'were superb' and this might well be considered true of his output from around 1880, when his first express 4-4-0s, the 135 Class appeared, but until then his design skills were not truly honed. His first two classes for the L&SWR were clumsy, with steamroller wheels, and a plethora of rivets and pipework, and his output earlier for the GER were even uglier, such as his 0-4-4T 61 Class, with their tanks about twice the height of the curiously squat bunker, or the awkwardly modern looking Ironclad outside cylinder 4-4-0s and the 2-6-0 Moguls. All of these locomotives had a very short working life and have been largely erased from enthusiasts' memories due to their general awfulness, apart from the trail-blazing Mogul, although few would be able to say what it looked like.
It is intriguing to speculate what happened that turned Adarns's ugly ducklings into the swans he produced later. As a Brighton fan, I like to think that he had a Damascene moment at Portsmouth at the sight of one of Stroudley's masterpieces and saw the error of his ways but, more prosaically, I suspect that changes in the drawing office at Nine Elms around 1880 saw a more artistic hand in charge of the draughtsmanship. In addition, there is a slight slip in that Adams did not succeed Joseph Beattie directly. Following Joseph's death, his son William George took the reins for six years. It is interesting to note that, whereas his father, as Grainger states, seemed to produce harmonious designs, even when encumbered with extra chimneys, pipe and other accoutrements of his experiments, 'WG', when he had the chance to stamp his ideas on designs, managed to get it all wrong. The square splashers on the well tanks did not improve their looks and his 4-4-0 was one of the clumsiest ever produced, although Adams finally redeemed them in his final rebuilding, creating one of the daintiest small 4-4-0s to run on Southern metals.
As a final thought, keeping with the L&SWR, it is interesting to see how major rebuilding or re-boilering of classes changed their aesthetics. The application of larger superheated boilers at grouping radically changed the appearance of the sleek Drummond classes, not for the better. It is only time and pleasant associations that now endear to us the dubious charms of the re-boilered T9 and Black Motor classes. However, on the neighbouring Brighton, the same process seemed to produce a far more coherent result, updating the elegant Victorian lines of Billinton's C2 and B2 classes into equally elegant contemporary looking Edwardian engines, although I have to admit that the solitary 'DIX' 0-4-2 tank was a visual and operational disaster as unfortunate as the rebuilt L&SWR M7.

The Gooch Broad Gauge 'Standard Goods' 0-6-0s. Jeffrey Wells
RA32: p. 41 refers to an accident near Trowbridge involving Romulus. The following details, obtained from The Morning Post, 27 January 1871, note the cause of the accident, which occurred on Tuesday, 24 January between 05.00 and 06.00 when several goods trains arrived near Trowbridge station and shunting took place. One goods train passed the junction (not named) and ascended the incline 'in a cutting, just beyond the aqueduct'. The engine failed to haul its train along the incline, whereupon three wagons and the guard's van were detached and left standing in the cutting about half a mile short of the station. The guard in charge, for some reason neglected to run to the junction to signal danger to oncoming traffic.
A second goods train, loaded with freestone and drawn by Romulus, thundered into the cutting. Unable to stop in time, Romulus ploughed into the standing guard's van and wagons. Next to the van was a large tar tank, which mounted Romulus knocking off the funnel and smashing the front of the engine (the tar tank can be seen in the photograph). Romulus was derailed on impact. The driver escaped injury by clambering onto the tender coals and lying flat. The stoker was severely injured and was taken to Trowbridge Cottage Hospital.
As many as six passenger trains were held up by the blockage and had to run back to Holt and Bradford on Avon where they could cross over to the other line to pass. Heavy blame fell upon the guard of the first train for not keeping a look-out for approaching trains. Among the debris was a shattered hogshead of treacle upon which a bevy of boys descended, 'like bees round a hive', plundering the sticky treat with cupped hands, cans and pieces of broken metal.

lnvicta at Canterbury. Bill Briggs
Appreciated first clear description of how Invicta survived. The photograph on p51 (Invicta being towed by the Corporation's roller) shows Aveling & Porter engine No. 2822, a 10 ton single which left the works on 18 April 1891 and was new to the Corporation. In 1921 it was registered FN 5002 and was later sold to R. Brett &Sons also of Canterbury, who last licenced it in 1950.This information is from the records of the late Alan Duke which are now in the care of the Road Locomotive Society. Sir David Salomons must have been a transport enthusiast as he was a pioneer motorist in the 1890s. In 1912, he endeavoured to form a collection of early historic motor cars but sadly because of WW1 his efforts came to nothing.,

Sekon's LC&DR and Invicta. Bob Ratcliffe. 64; 80
This letter covers three topics. The first concerns the excellence of the Sekon picture rescue but notes that caption for bridge on RA 32 p. 12 (towards Sheerness). The second refers to old canal basin at Strood (RA 32 p. 59) which has since been filled in and houses built thereon, also notes condition of old canal tunnel and remedial work required to keepm railway open. The third adds more information on Invicta (RA 32 p. 49 et seq): notably its appearance at the Stockton & Darlington Centenary celebration; its restoration in the workshop at the NRM in the late 1970s; its involvement in May 1980 in celebrations in Canterbury and Whitstable and its installation in Canterbury's Poor Priests Hospital.

Mystery locomotive King Arthur. David Morton. 80.
Manning Wardle K class 0-6-0ST WN 636/1876 with 12 x 17in cylinders and 3ft 1in coupled wheels supplied to contractor William Moss and named Nassington. It eventually passed to J.C. Lang, who used it on the construction of the GWR Bodmin branch when it may have received the name King Arthur. It then passed to Holme & King who used it on the construction of the GER branch from Shenfield to Wickford, on widening the LNWR between Euxton and Standish Junction. The letter from Chris and Judy Rouse seems to add work on the Trentham branch to this locomotive's varied life. Its final work was at Wrenthorpe Colliery from about 1911 until 1929 where it was owned by the Low Laithes Colliery Co.

John Alsop. Wish you were here? Railway postcards of Hertfordshire: GNR & GER Lines in the East. 65-79 + 2 (colour) rear cover.
This is an interesting collection, partly because many of the locations are known to KPJ, and partly for illuminating certain aspects of former railway operating. The picture of the two GNR freight trains posed? between the two Welwyn tunnels shows that the GNR had an early interest in express freight which would lead to Gresley's locomotives for such traffic (K1, K2, K3 and V2 classes).

Number 34 (March 2012)

E. McKenna. Scottish traders' wagons. 2-28.
KPJ note: this is an extremely interesting contribution, especially to one who indexed the Hurst Nelson Collection of works photographs in 1960/1 at was then Motherwell Public Library and wonders if the index has survived: the photographs are he believes in the hands of the Historical Model Railway Society, or are they copies? The HN output included much for export, many tramcars (including for the London County Council) and a great variety of hutches, tubs and other industrial rail-based vehicles.
These mainly featured on the North British and Caledonian Railways and in part reflected the early toll systems which applied on systems like the Monkland & Kirkintilloch and Edinburgh & Dalkeith Railways. The other Scottish railways were less involved: the Glasgow & South Western Railway (GSWR) due to the short length of their coal hauls and a deliberate policy by the Company to avoid the system and the Highland and Great North of Scotland as they had negligible originating traffic of coal (the commonest commodity conveyed in traders wagons). The activities of John Robinson, Goods Manager, and David Cooper. General Manager, of the GSWR are mentioned. Also the Lanemark Coal Co. went into liquidation, but their assets were taken over by Coprington & Auchlochan Coal Co. In 1874 D. Middleton & Co. an Inverness coal merchant approached the Highland Railway to operate its own wagons, but this rejected. Thirled wagons were introduced by the two major companies: in 1887 the North British Railway purchased traders wagons and then assigned (thirled) them solely to the traffic of the trader, thus ensuring their custom where competition with the Caledonian was fierce, as in the Monklands. James Nimmo and William Baird were two major users of the system.
The Scottish Waggon Owners' Association was established in 1888 due in part to an action taken by the Highland Railway in respect of a Nimmo wagon which derailed in January 1887 and caused consequential damage, The wagon had been built by Harrison & Cramm.
In 1910 the Railway & Canal Commission Hearings sought to adjudicate at the High Court in Edinburgh between the coalmasters and the railways. The Commissioners were Lord Mackenzie, President, Sir James Woodhouse and the Hon. A.E. Gathorne-Hardy. The Coal Mines Reorganisation Commission was established under the Coal Mines Act of 1930 and this led to amalgamations.
Wagon building in Scotland originated with the coal bogie or Scotch wagon and the earliest were primitive vehicles. Dumb buffers were slow to die out: wagons with them being built until relatively late. 8 ton capacity gradually increased to 10 tons, and there were a few operators of 15 ton vehicles, notably the Dalmellington Iron Co. operated them and some bogie wagons were operated by a Dundee coal merchant.

Notes:
1. Other Archibald Russell collieries wagons represented include Tannochside (near Uddingston); also Cox Brothers (Dundee jute spinner) wagon
2. DCC: probably Donibristle Coal Co., Lochgelly, Bowman & Co. Muiredge Colliery and Fife Coal Co. and NBR wagons: picture from A.W. Brotchie Collection
3. Edinburgh Corporation Tramways lorry with Stevens on radiator presumably engaged in strike breaking
4. Details of locomotive: Black Hawthorn WN 912/1887. Wagons from Archibald Russell Cornshilloch Colliery, Larkhall, Marks & Son (Glasgow cannel coal merchant) and Peter Thornton, Cultrigg Colliery, Whitburn
5. Highly retouched photograph aimed to sell McKelvie coal in Edinburgh: NB NBR wagon from Morningside District
6. Salmon & Young were coal merchants at Greenock, founded in 1863 by W.B. Salmon and were still in business as coal merchants and wagon repairers at Nationalisation. The newly painted Waldie wagon carries the paint date 14/4/26 on the solebar, which provides a fairly precise date for this photograph. Jarnes Waldie started his business career in 1833, with a contract to clean dung off the streets of Leith. He then became a coal merchant and traded under the James Waldie name until October 1861, when he took his sons into partnership and the firm became James Waldie & Sons. The firm was incorporated as James Waldie & Sons Ltd in 1915 and traded under that name until the 1960s. Wagon No. 523 was built in 1901 by Hurst Nelson for the Laverock Knowe Coal Co. Dechmont Colliery was acquired by Archibald Russell Ltd in 1898. Wagons belonging to Brand & Co. of Over Dalserf and Woodside collieries; Hugh Keith, Glasgow coal merchant, in business between 1856 and 1929, and most of whose wagons were later purchased by Hurst Nelson for their hire fleet. The writer knows of no other photographs showing Brand & Co. or Hugh Keith wagons. The paintwork on the two Jas. Nimmo wagons looks pretty clean and they carry LMS branding as well as lettering for Canderrig Colliery, near Larkhall. They are flanked by Nimmo wagons with an earlier, simpler style of lettering. Note also that, to their right, two of the railway company wagons visible still carry pre-Group branding. In between these two is what is believed to be a wagon belonging to William Barr & Sons Ltd, AlIanton Colliery, Hamilton. In the foreground are examples of the Motherwell Company's products, steel girders and support beams for bridges.
7. Fife Coal Co.; Balgonie Colliery Co. Ltd.; Lochgelly Iron & Coal Co.; Fordell Colliery; Wemyss Coal Co. Ltd.; Coltness Iron Co. Ltd.; Henry Ness Ltd.; The Kinseat Co. Ltd.; Wilsons & Clyde Co. Ltd.; Tgomas Spowat Ltd.
8. Wagons owned: Barr & Higgins of Woodhall Colliery, Airdrie; James Nimmo; and Hamilton, McCulloch of Home Farm & Bog Collieries.
9. Siding off Caledonian Railway four track main line perhapds near Mothwell. Netherton Lime Works, where lime was mined, was at Auchenheath near Lesmahagow. John and William Howie associated with business with partnership with Train.
10. Wagons from J. & A. Davidson of Aberdeen; Aberdeen Coal & Shipping Co. Ltd; and many from Coltness Co.
11. Harrison & Camm, Darlington Wagon Co., John Whittle, Ince, Ashbury and Pickering
12. Coalmasters: Alloa Coal Co.; Balgonie; Barnsmuir; Wm Black; Jas. Nimmo; Donibristle; Wallace; Lochgelly. Wagon builders: Ashbury Railway Carriage & Iron Co., Manchester; David Bleloch, Charlestown, Fife; Birmingham Wagon Co.; Chorley Railway Wagon Co., Lancs; Darlingron Wagon Co.; Robert Faulds, Glasgow; Harrison & Camm, Rotherham; Hurst, Nelson, Motherwell; Oldbury Railway Carriage & Wagon Co., Staffs; Pickering, Wishaw; Charles Roberts, Horbury, Yorks; James Tod, Leith; Mann, Lauden & Co., Irvine.
13. Hurst, Nelson, Motherwell; R.Y. Pickering, Wishaw; Motherwell Wagon & Rolling Stock Co. Ltd.; Chorley Railway Wagon Co., Lancs; Ince Wagon & Ironwork Co.; Thomas Moy Ltd., Peterborough; Lancashire & Yorkshire Waggon Co. Ltd

Brian Arman. The H.L. Hopwood Collection 1902-1926. Part 13: The Midland Railway and Matthew Kirtley's legacy. 29-37.

Brian Arman and Neil Parkhouse. Droitwich Road Station 1924. 38-9.
From H.L. Hopwood Collection taken on 2 September 1924: station on Birmingham & Gloucester Railway opened on 24 June 1840; closed to passenger traffic on 1 October 1855, but remained open for freight until 1 October 1952. Remarkably main building still extant as private residence.

'Down Postal'. 40.
Mixed gauge track at Cowley Bridge. Peter Tatlow 
Former railway Civil Engineer comments on suggestion that the fourth rail of the mixed gauge track across the L&SWR line to Crediton might be to lessen the load on the suspect timber Cowley Bridge finds little merit with him. Firstly, whichever of the pair of rails a narrow gauge train might take, it will impose eccentric loading on the bridge cross-section and hence with greater load to one side or the other. Secondly, a broad gauge train, due to its greater size, may well produce as much, if not more load, on each side even if symmetrically placed. Instead, suggests more plausible explanation lies behind the cameraman in the form of the nearby Exeter St David's station, where the narrow gauge trains in each direction will need to be placed close to the relevant platform. A clear example can be found on p. 10 of the same issue, showing mixed gauge in Penzance station. How far the four rails continue beyond Cowley Bridge may depend on the platform arrangements further down this single line.
(A single mixed gauge line was in use to Crediton at this period. Whilst Peter's explanation is undoubtedly correct as to the arrangement of rails running to Exeter St. David's station, what it does not explain and what I was struggling with when compiling the caption, is why there were four rails across the bridge. Surely, a point on the Exeter side of the bridge, with 3 rails running across it, would have made more sense? Ed.)

Attimore Road Halt. Kevin P. Jones 
The late Mrs Eileen Davey (née Hall), who worked for an organization which is now known as the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre, told writer about alighting from trains at Attimore Road level crossing in what by this time had become Welwyn Garden City. This was probably during, or immediately after the Second World War and she thought that the practice was unofficial but common place at that time. The original halt probably dates from the early experiments with a Daimler railcar on the Hertford branch in 1905. Incidentally, it is a pity that John Alsop lacked a view of Hertingfordbury station, as this was one of the settings for the television series Cat Weasle!

Broad Gauge Fish Plant. John Lewis. 
Re GWR Broad Gauge conversion (RA33, p16) Roger Langley states 'what is meant by the term' Fish Plant' is unclear'. According to the 1900 GWR Telegraph Code Book, 'Fish Plant' was to be interpreted as 'Siphons, Tadpoles and Tadpoles A'. 'Tadpoles were open fish trucks, 'Tadpoles A' were open fish trucks with brakes, whilst 'Siphons' at this date were 'Milk or poultry vans' but some were used for fish. In 1900, if you wanted to refer to simply Siphons and Tadpoles you telegraphed 'fishy' and there was a mysterious (to me) code 'Fig', which was to be interpreted as 'Load fish plant West' (From the National Archives, Kew, file RAIL 259/477).

King Arthur at Trentham Gardens. David Morton.
Many thanks for publishing my letter on the Manning Wardle King Arthur at Trentham in RA33. There is in fact another photograph of the engine in existence. It appears in The Industrial Locomotive (journal of the Industrial Locomotive Society) in No. 119 of 2006, in an article by Bob Miller on William Rigby, the first owner of the locomotive. The photograph is said to show the engine at Low Laithes colliery and is credited to the collection of J.K. Williams. One Manning Wardle engine looks very much like any other but there is one distinguishing feature of both locomotives that persuades me that they are the same engine. The cast nameplate on the saddle tank had a distinctive raised surround and reversed corner cut-outs.

King Arthur at Trentham Gardens. Russell Wear.
The engine was Manning Wardle WN 636/1876: 0-6-0ST with 12 x 17ins inside cylinders, which at time was owned by Holme & King, who had contract for construction of the Trentham Gardens Branch for the NSR. The contract was awarded per a minute of 23rd June 1908 at a cost of £7,391.1s. 6d.

Stover Canal correction. A.J. Mullay  
Network Rail insists that they own the Stover Canal! It is leased to Teignbridge DC until 24 February 2040.

Mystery goods office. Robin Simmonds 
Hoping that readers of RA could identify the location of this old postcard (reproduced). The sign proclaims the building to be Great Western Railway Goods & Shipping Offices, which presumably puts it somewhere near a shipping port. The card was posted to Ilfracombe from Aberavon on 23 August 1905, the writer having been to Baglan 'last Sunday evening'. There appears to be a goods shed behind the office block and the only other clue discernable is an Elders PO wagon on the left. All this would suggest the view is of Port Talbot goods offices but writer does not have a clear view of this building to confirm this supposition or not.

Crystal Palace High Level Station. Roger Monk 
Photograph (reproduced) taken at Crystal Palace High Level station, showing the goods yard. Unfortunately, the locomotive number is unclear, only that it appears to end with 4. and would date it before the 1931 SR re-numbering, when many engines acquired 4 digit numbers to replace the former letter suffix system. The photograph was taken by E.G.P. Masterman and is now in my collection.
This unusual viewpoint of the terminus station has been sent to us following publication of our book The Crystal Palace High Level Railway. It shows an unidentified ex-SE&CR Wainwright 'C' Class 0-6-0 shunting the yard sometime in the late 1920s and includes four different PO wagons. WJ. Snelling was the local merchant here at this time and his wagons were lettered 'J. Snelling, Crystal Palace Sta.' This may be one of the four 12-ton mineral wagons built by T. Burnett Ltd, Doncaster, in July 1924, numbered 34-37 and registered by the Southern Railway. The 'P O P' wagon belonged to Peake, Oliver & Peake Ltd, a large firm of London based contractors, factors and colliery agents. ext to it, Cleeves, Ault & Fowell wagons were simply lettered 'C A F', with 'LONDON· in smaller letters on the side doors. Finally, the tantalising one, next to the Snelling wagon - 'South'?

G.A. Sekon. The history of the London, Chatham & Dover Railway, Part 3. 41-66.

John Alsop. Wish you were here? Railway postcards of the Dingwall & Skye Railway and the Far North. 67-80; rear cover.