Railway Archive Issues 21- (ISSN 1477-5336)

Number 21 (December 2008)

Bath c1865. 2-4.
View from Beechen Cliff showing station with freight passing through (or shunting as it appears to be on wrong track) and down short passenger train concealed by overall roof: wonderful time telescope picture. Enlargement of station area on page 4 which gives key to date, namely the completion of St John the Evangelist Catholic Church (architect C.F. Hansom). See also letters in Issue 22 from John Horne on town gas production in Bath which had retort houses built from Bath stone, and from Tony Cooke who identifies engine shed and comments on wrong line working..

Garrett, Dan and Halliday, Don.. A 19th century mystery painting. 5-9, also front cover
Painting reproduced in colour on pp. 6-7 and on front cover came into the public arena on the BBC's Antiques Road Show in late 2003 when it was inspected by Paul Atterbury. The owner of the picture believed that the artist was Harry Goodwin who lived in Chatham, but the curator of the Chatham Art Gallery does not consider this to be the case. Atterbury and Halliday consider the location to be Bristol (where the painting was presented to the show). Garrett suggests New Cross on the South Eastern Railway with a train coming from Bricklayers Arms. The main train is clearly not broad gauge and would have to be a Midland Railway train to be at Bristol. Nock's South Eastern and Chatham Railway (plates between pp. 32 and 33) has a picture of a Cudworth Mail engine of 1862 which is very similar to the main locomotive in the painting. This item generated much correspondence which is treated in a slightly different manner: initial tranche all in Issue 22 page 66 et seq:
Brighton not Bristol: Albyn Austin.
Pickering with 447 Class locomotive: David Burt.
Not Pickering: more southerly location: locomotive Great Western (bunk KPJ). John McCrickard
SER rather than GWR (signal box and Salter safety valves. Peter Smith
Another painting, possibly of Birmingham New Street with LNWR train and MR light engine, possibly painted H.H. Horsley. D. Hadley.
Worcester: D. Coutts
See also Issue 24 page 47.

Parkhouse, Neil. C: the first colour British railway photograph? 10-18
Lumiére Autochrome photograph taken by Claude W. Parnell in about 1920: glass colour slide shows a row of boys on the platform of Drybrook Halt. It is claimed to be the oldest railway colour photograph. Also information about the GWR Forest of Dean branch and its terminus at Drybrook Halt and about the photographer. Full list of illustrative material. Response to "first claim" from Colin Hayward and from Barry C. Lane in Issue 22 page 66. Former had attended an exhibition of the Autochrome process at Waddesdon Manor in autumn 2008 (to celebrate centenary of invention and show the Baron de Rothschild's interest in it. Amongst the photographs was one of the household's chauffeur standing on the platform at Waddesdon Manor station (Metropolitan Railway) c1910. Latter notes that British railcars by David Jenkinson and Barry C. Lane (1996) features an early colour photograph of an LYR steam railcar taken by George W. Smith in 1919 (reproduced in Issue 24 on page 46). Letter from Martin Gregory (Issue 22 page 68) critical of comments made on page 18 concerning primary colours. See also letter from Mtthew Searle in Issue 23 page 24: remarkable colour photographs of Russian railways taken circa 1910 by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (good article about him on Wikipedia).

Arlett, Mike. The Norman Lockett Archive: an introduction: the Somerset & Dorset Railway. 19-25.

7F 2-8-0 No. 13805 on 15.35 Bath to Evercreech Junction freight south of Midford on 20 August 1947	19
4F 0-6-0 No. 4422 on 15.35 Gloucester to Bournemouth leaving Combe Down Tunnel on 20 April 1949	20
1F 0-4-4T No. 58047 aproaching Highbridge level crossing with passenger train on 6 October 1951	21
West Country No. 34105 Swanage and Class 4 No. 75071 on 10.28 Manchester to Bournemouth climbing south of Chilcompton tunnel on 16 August 1958	22
2251 0-6-0 No. 3216 departing Evercreech Junction with 14.20 Highbridge to Templecombe on 24 February 1962	23u
BR Class 5 No. 73047 approaching Blandford Forum with Bristol to Bournemouth excursion on 5 August 1963	23l
9F No. 92220 Evening Star on 09.55 Bath to Bournemouth leaving Shepton Mallet (7F No. 53807 alongside) on 28 September 1963	24
8F No. 48407 climbing Parkstone Bank with 06.55 ex-Bath on 3 August 1964.	25

S&D tailpiece: what's going on here? Norman Lockett (phot.). 25
Midford Down advance starter signal being worked by hauling on signal wire for Ivo Peters to film on 11 September 1960. Signal was about to be replaced by tubular post.

'Down Postal'. 26-8.
Fallodon Station. Alan Donaldson.
See Issue 19 page 62 upper: notes incorrect spelling on caption and adds information on Sir Edward Grey who became Chairman of the NER in 1906.
Lord Jellicoe and the Battle of Jutland. John Lusted
See Issue 19 page 2: writer considers that Turton was unjustly critical of Lord Jellicoe and in partical of his "defeat" at the Battle of Jutland, but does agree that Jellicoe failed to address the German U-boat campaign. Further Jellicoe was far from swashbuckling unlike his successor Beattie. See also response from Keith Turton in Issue 23 page 24...
More on the Hopwood Furness Railway photographs. Guy H. Wilson. 27
See illustration on page 49 of Issue 19 and letter from Les Gilpin in Issue 20 page 59: writer considers that the extra pipework on No. 94A may have been for firefighting and includes an extract from the 1 February 1915 Working Timetable which records locomotives so-fitted. See also letter from Brian Lacey in No. 22 page 66 who compares this illustration with one in Bradley's LSWR locomotives – the Adams classes (1985) where there is an engraving on page 101 of portable Merryweather steam pump and a photograph of B4 class No. 94 Brittany fitted with buffer beam brackets for pump..
Pouteau South Wales companies. Cliff Harris
See Issue 20 page 65 lower notes that this was at R&SBR Swansea terminus and comments upon 30ft brake third and on 69 lower confirms that locomotive was No. 167 and not as stated in caption
More Naval gazing. Peter Griffin
See Issue 20 page 25 (aerial view of Forth Bridge (dated "1930"): the class of the main vessel  was a Bellerophon battleship: these were in service between 1909 and 1922 (complete list given), hence date was not "1930"
More Naval gazing. Alan Cobb
See Issue 20 page 25 (aerial view of Forth Bridge (dated "1930") : the class of the main vessel  was a Bellerophon battleship and based on the paint scheme was probably HMS Temeraire, further the other vessel appears to be a German (reparation) destroyer: thus date was probably mid-1920.
More Naval gazing. M.R. Grocock
See Issue 20 page 25 (aerial view of Forth Bridge (dated "1930") also agrees the class of the main vessel  was a Bellerophon or Str Vincent battleship. Refereing to Pouteau listing Issue 20 page 64 lower: states that locomotive was painted Victorian Brown..
More on Crewe Station. David Patrick
See Issue 20 page 63 suggests that date was 1904-6 as was period of Crewe station extensions. John Alsop response in Issue 22 page 68.
A Wirral Pouteau correction. Ted Lloyd,  28
See illustration in Issue 20 page 70: location not as stated but near Warren Halt between New Brighton and Wallasey Grove Road (see John Gahan's Steel rails to Deeside). John Alsop response in Issue 22 page 68
North London and L&NWR matters. Huw Edwards
See Issue 20: 41 upper: not Carlisle Upperby but north of Watford Junction: page 60: not Hampstead Heath, but located between West Hampstead and Brondesbury stations, and 41 lower (D class No. 2551): states post May 1925 (LMS number not applied until October 1927)
John Alsop replies to letters in RA20. John Alsop
In general agrees with suggestions made by R. Hawkins, M. Dunn, Roger Horn in Issue page 20, but not with Michael Harvey (Haymarket not Tweedsmouth)
Cadeleigh and Bickleigh Stations – a trap! John Alsop
See Issue 19 page 79 top: not Bickleigh (now illustrated as in c1908), but Cadeleigh: see also letter from D. Coutts in Issue 22 page 67 which notes the presence of a cordon on the rear of the train at Cadeleigh station.

Swieszkowski, Jerzy M. Great Eastern Railway ships in WWl (Follow Up 1). 29-31
See Issue 17 page 71 et seq: services to the Hook and Antwerp ceased shortly after the start of WW1, but a cargo service to Rotterdam was maintained and this was the main route for Red Cross parcels for prisoners of war on both sides. If refugees were brought back then these had to be landed at Gravesend (then Tilbury from March 1916, and the East India Dock from July 1918) as Harwich was under Naval control and closed to foreigners. To maintain the service in the latter stages of the War the GER had to charter vessels owned by other railways (GCR and LYR) and from shipping companies. The Vienna was requistioned by the Royal Navy on 29 August 1914 for use as an accommodation vessel at Parkeston, was converted to a Hospital Ship making a Newhaven to Boulogne to Southampton crossing on 24-27 December 1914 and was then converted to a Q ship Antwerp based at Devonport from 1 January to 28 April 1915. As her coal consumption was very high she was operated as a personnel ferry from Longhope, Scapa Flow. There tables which summarise GER ship activity during WW1 and vessels chartered. Illus: Tilbury Pier c1912; Great Eastern Royal Mail steamer Vienna (official postcard posted in 1904); GCR SS Marylebone with single funnel and triple expansion engine (firtst vessel to return to Antwerp in 1919); GCR Dewsbury in dry dock at Grimsby (previously publised in Archive, 1997 (13) page 37) to illustrate shores. See also letter from John Alsop (Issue 22 page 68) which disputes caption to first illustration: diverted Great Eastern services would have used Tilbury Dock, not Gravesend ferry landing as shown..

Parkhouse, Neil. The Forest of Dean Central Railway: Wallsend Colliery, Howbeech (Follow Up 2). 32.
See feature in Issue 12 page 29 et seq. Wallsend Collery at Howbeech in 1919 (from private photographic album) plus two further views of headgear/winding gear possibly Blackpool Pit in same area.

Treloar, Peter. The locomotives of William Dean. Part 2.  33-42.
Part 1 Issue 20 page 2 et seq. Part 3 Issue 22 page 55.

Greaves, Jim. Stoppers, locals & specials: the Southern Railway of the 1930s from the camera of S.A.W. Harvey. 43-50.

Alsop, John. Pouteau listings Part 21: The South Eastern & Chatham Railway. 51-74

Arman, Brian. The H.L. Hopwood Collection, 1901-1926. Part 3. The Glasgow & South Western Railway. 65-70.
In following table: Stirling implies James Stirling and Drummond implies Peter Drummond.

Alsop, John. Wish you were here: railway postcards of Lanarkshire. 71-80 and rear cover

Number 22 (March 2009)

Newquay Harbour, c1900 with saailing ships at jetty and GWR wagon. inside front cover upper
Newquay Branch terminus: aerial view c1930. inside front cover lower
After closure of harbour branch: course of line visible from Goods Station.see also letter from Mike Lewis on page 58 of Issue 23 who states that the magnificent passenger station shown has degenerated to a travesty "served" by Worst Great Western.

Par Harbour 1874. 2-3
With broad gauge wagons

Hadley, D, Minnis, John and Parkhouse, Neil. New light on the Cornwall Minerals Railway. 4-14
Cornwall Minerals Railway was formed by William Richardson Roebuck who arrived in Cornwall from London in 1870 with a fortune he wished to invest in railways and local industry and acquired the estate of Joseph Austen Treffry who had built Par Harbour which began to accept ships in 1833, but was not complete until 1840. This was linked to the hinterland by a canal of two miles to Ponts Mill where there was a 1 in 9 incline, known as Carmears Incline. At the head of the incline a tramroad served quarries, clay pits and mines between Luxulyan and Bugle. The works included a viaduct across the Luxulyan Valley. In the north there was a tramroad from St Dennis to Newquay harbour. Roebuck set about converting Treffry's system of tramways into the Cornwall Minerals Railway. This included an extension through the St Pinnock Tunnel to Fowey where there was a deep water port which had been reached by the Lostwithiel & Fowey Railway (see letter from Geoff Sheppard (Issue 23 page 58) which corrects information in text (stated to be due to errors in Macdermot) and corrects caption on page 11 below)).  Further corrections concerning motive power in letter from Michael Messenger in Issue 24 page 67. (there had been an agreement with the Cornwall Railway to work the line, but the CR claimed that the L&FR was incomplete and a small locomotive was supplied by William West a directpr of both the L&FR and the Newquay & Cornwall Junction Railway). Established headquarters at St Blazey with roundhouse to service six-coupled back-to-back locomotives, some of which were to eventually work on the Lynn & Fakenham Railway. Many of the works were constructed by Sir Morton Peto, and the collapse of the mineral industry led to the financial ruin of Peto. Mention is made of The Treamble branch constructed to serve The Cornish Consolidated Iron Mines Corporation workings. Part of this branch subsequently was incorporated into the Newquay and Chacewater branch..

*designed Francis Trevithick and constructed Sharp Stewart in 1873/4: subsequently sold to Lynn & Fakenham Railway.

Greaves, Jim. Locos on shed: the Southern Railway of the 1930s from the camera of S.A.W. Harvey, 15-22.
Sidney Arthur Willis Harvey (Arthur) died suddenly at the age of 52 in 1964. He had worked in the Post Office and was a member of the Stephenson Locomotive Society. His photographs were published in the Southern Railway Magazine and Railway World. He was an ethusiastic recorder of locomotive performance and Nock published some of his records in Locomotives of R.E.L. Maunsell and in Southern steam. The Railway Performance Society hold his logs on its database.

Arman, Brian. The H.L. Hopwood Collection, 1901-1926. Part 4. A first visit to the South Eastern & Chatham Railway. 23-8.

Alsop, John.  The railway photographs of E. Pouteau. Part 22: Finalé – General update & index. 29-46.
Amendments to lists; slightly more information about Pouteau (he appears to have taken some photographs), and other photographic publications: shipping, London street scenes (extremely rare), and one hospital ward.

Fly shunted [Birkenshaw station with Rowntree's special train]. 46.
Hauled by former GCR Class 8N 4-6-0 (LNER B6) 4-6-0 with headboard (logo Plain Mr York of York, Yorks), but why would Rowntree's employees wish to be conveyed to Birkenshaw & Tong?

Christensen, Mike. The golden years of Adlestrop. 47-54.
Adlestrop station was immortalised by the poet Edward Thomas. The station was on the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton line and opened as mixed gauge in June 1853. The station was originally Addlestrop & Stow Road, the Addlestrop. The station closed to passenger on 3 January 1966. The pictures were taken in the 1900s when traffic was at its peak.

Treloar, Peter. The Locomotives of William Dean. Part 3. 55-65.
Part 2 see Issue No. 21 page 33.

'Down Postal'. 66-8
Poles apart. Keith Fenwick.
See Issue 8 page 46 and Issue 9 page 63 for letter from Keith Fenwick. Based on information provided by Mick Nicholson who contacted a retired signal lineman the distance between telegraph poles was normally 60 yards, reduced on tight bends. The LNER Red Book has a chapter on pole routes. Based on the train on Sharnbrook Viaduct the poles must have been 95 yards apart leading to a high risk of wind damage to the wires..
More on FR 0-4-0ST No. 94. Brian Lacey
See illustration on page 49 of Issue 19 and letter from Guy H. Wilson in Issue 21 page 27 who compares this illustration with one in Bradley's LSWR locomotives – the Adams classes (1985) where there is an engraving on page 101 of portable Merryweather steam pump and a photograph of B4 class No. 94 Brittany fitted with buffer beam brackets for pump..
Dean plaudit and a Jellicoe query, Tony Cooper
Congratulations on William Dean series (began Issue 20 page 2 and ends herein); also query on Welsh coal for Royal Navy (See Issue 19 page 2: Jellicoe series letter writer appears to have missed the essential nature of Welsh coal: its smokelessness.)
Jellicoe trains on the L&NWR. Keith Fenwick.
See Issue 20 page 21 et seq: states that 1916 working timetable was very similar
The first colour railway photograph. Colin Hayward
See Issue 21 page 10 et seq: writer had attended an exhibition of the Autochrome process at Waddesdon Manor in autumn 2008 (to celebrate centenary of invention and show the Baron de Rothschild's interest in it. Amongst the photographs was one of the household's chauffeur standing on the platform at Waddesdon Manor station (Metropolitan Railway) c1910.
The earliest colour railway photograph... and another mystery solved. Barry C. Lane
See Issue 21 page 10 et seq: British railcars by David Jenkinson and Barry C. Lane (1996) features an early colour photograph of an LYR steam railcar taken by George W. Smith in 1919. Also notes that George Hughes, CME of the LYR from 1905 and subsequently of LMS practiced colour photgraphy as a hobby (but only examples seen were of nature subjects). Also identifies location of photoraph in Issue 18 page 36, namely Leeds Central. This was subject of letter by Lane in Issue 19 page 70...
That painting – is it Brighton?... Albyn Austin
See Issue 21 page 5: Brighton, not Bristol. Also refers to Issue 21 page 10 et seq: British railcars by David Jenkinson and Barry C. Lane (1996).
...No its Pickering! David Burt
See Issue 21 page 5: long jusatification for Pickering, but see following
Oh no it isn't. John McCrickard.
See Issue 21 page 5 and above: not Pickering, and argues for more southerly location and Great Western locomotive.
And yet more thorts! Peter Smith. 67
See Issue 21 page 5 and argues that signal box (both type and colour) suggest SER rather than GWR
Another painting. D. Hadley.
See Issue 21 page 5 and introduces a futher watercolour with suggestion that might be an imaginative view of Birmingham New Street with LNWR train and MR light engine (both locomotives painted green). Perhaps painted by H.H. Horsley.
A few notes on back Issues – and its Worcester! D. Coutts.
See Issue 19 page 71: Tiverton station en fête due to Tercentenary of Blundells School; see also Issue 20 plate 27: notes the rarely photographed multi-tank cordon behind the locomotive; and Issue 21 page 28 (letter from John Alsop): notes the presence of a cordon on the rear of the train at Cadeleigh station, and suggessts Worcester for the painting Issue 21 page 5
The painting – Victorian progress! John Hill.
Issue 21 page 5: convinced that the main locomotive shown is a Beyer Peacock product; dismisses broad gauge, and NER 447 class, and suggests painting based on "Victorian progess": KPJ remains convinced that this is a Continental Mail train.
Bath c1865 and the Gas Works. John Horne.
See Issue 21 pp. 2-3: town gas production in Bath which had retort houses built from Bath stone; also comment on subsequent gas production plants and distribution centres in City.
Bath station overall roof – and its engine shed. Tony Cooke. 68
See Issue 21 pp. 2-3: dentifies engine shed and comments on wrong line working..
Colour vision. Martin Gregory.
See Issue 21 page 10 et seq: critical of comments concerning primary colours.
Some comments on Pouteau corrections. John Alsop.
Happy with D. Patrick's suggestions (letter Issue 21 p. 27) on illustration in Issue 20 p. 63, but less happy with Ted Lloyd's observations (Issue 21 page 28) on illustration in Issue 20 page 70. Agrees with Watford as location for photograph page 41 upper in Issue 20. and Issue 21 page 29: disputes caption to first illustration: diverted Great Eastern services would have used Tilbury Dock, not Gravesend ferry landing as shown...
Railway postcards of Lanarkshire. Ian J. Gray.
See photograph in Issue 21 page 75 middle: notes a temporary fence and that OS maps indicate that the bay platform was larger than visible; also page 74 upper: subsequent changes at Shotts station. Illustration on page 73 lower (derailed locomotive): on former Monkland Railway, north of Shotts, near Baton Colliery includes OS 25 inch (1912) map of area and notes that Batonrigg is now site of HMP Shotts. Remarks concerning Baton Colliery led to Michael Dunn (Issue 23 page 24) submitting two wagon labels rescued from Muir of Ord goods shed..

Swift, Peter H. The L&SWR 'G6' Class. 69-80.
Adams introduced the G6 class for shunting in 1894: it was closely based on his O2 design of 0-4-4T. 24 further locomotives were built by Drummond. The class shared the O2 boiler, but many were fitted with secondhand Adams' boilers which had been fitted to Beattie locomotives. The class carried a great variety of boilers, including more than one type of Drummond. Work included acting as bankers between Exeter St Davids and Queen Street.

Conway Castle c1875. inside rear cover.
Carte-de-visite type of photograph shows (1) Castle; (2) portal to tubular bridge and (3) LNWR 0-6-0 (probably DX class) or 2-4-0 shunting freight train. Comments by Harry Jack incorporated within caption. Letter from Nigel Nicholson (Issue 23 page 24) notes huge hole in Bakehouse Tower subsequently repaired by LNWR in 1887.

Number 23 (June 2009)

Edwards, Justin. Swindon GWR gas works. 2-23.
Town gas was probably first produced as a by-product from the production of coke for burning on locomotives at Swindon in April 1842; and this was followed by a coal gas plant in 1844. Little is known about these plants, but in 1876 new works were established with horizontal retorts, and these were followed by additions to enhance productivity. In the early 1920s aa new vertical retort house was installed by Robert Dempster & Sons of Elland.

Down Postal [correspondence]. 24; 58.
Stretton v Ahrons. Mike Barnsley. 
Refers to correspondence from Harry Jack and Kevin Jones in Issue 17 (and other correspondence following thereon) concerning the unreliability of C.E. Stretton, and writer now extends the partial condemnation of earlier writers to Ahrons, both to The British steam railway locomotive and Locomotive & train working in the late 19th century (Volume 4). The writer's specific criticism relates to Ahron's comments upon the standard gauge single-Fairlie acquired by the Swindon, Marlborough & Andover Railway where there is a photograph (Figure 292) and extensive description on page 224 of the former, and to the implications in the latter that the locomotive was the first British locomotive to be fitted with Walschaerts valve gear (it was the second) and was totally unreliable due to the Walschaerts valve gear, rather than to difficulties with leakage from the steam pipe to the cylinders. Writer notes that locomotive performed well on a trial in December 1883 between Swindon Junction and Andover Junction. It was withdrawn from service in 1889 following damage to the valve gear caused by the breakage of a carrying spring. Harry Jack (Issue 24 page 67) leaps to the defence of Ahrons (who like all human beings made minor mistakes and was willing to correct them) whereas the pompous Stretton "invented history" (and did not note the existence of Walschaerts valve gear). .
Lord Jellicoe. Keith Turton
See letter from John Lusted in Issue 21 page 26 and original article in Issue 19 page 2 et seq. Notes writer's forthcoming book Private Owner Wagons, a Ninth Collection, publication due late 2010, which will show Jellicoe and other very high ranking naval and military officers in an unusual role as directors. For a time, Jellicoe was Chairman of the short lived London coal merchants Associated Coal Consumers Ltd, in business from 1910 until going in to voluntary liquidation in 1929. The managing director of the company was Montague Smith, a member of a family which for half a century was associated with company failures, broken partnerships, bankruptcies and unpaid creditors; an unlikely associate of Jellicoe?
Conway Castle. Nigel Nicholson 
See photograph inside rear cover in Issue 22: the Bakehouse Tower has large hole visible in bottom two thirds of it:this was repaired by the L&NWR in 1887, as it was feared vibration from trains might cause it to collapse onto the railway.
Full Stop! Harry Jack
See picture of John O' Gaunt in Issue 22, p40, was writer believed taken at Peterborough LNWR shed. The use of full stops on L&NWR nameplates seems to have continued until the last of the Precursor Class, built in 1907; the Experiment Class built from 1905 lacked them but a very few later engines did. The names, with and without stops, are carefully transcribed in John Goodman's L&NWR Locomotive Names (RCTS, 2002).
Return to Strabathie. Martin Gregory
See Issue 17 page 4 et seq: Strabathie Light Railway comment on the Duff railcar especially its wheelbase and its engine and transmission.
Colour Photoski! Matthew Searle.
See Issue 21 page 10 et seq and the correspondence generated: writer notes the remarkable colour photographs of Russian railways taken circa 1910 by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (good article about him on Wikipedia, provided correct form of name entered).
Baton Collieries. Michael Dunn
See letter from Ian G. Gray Issue 22 page 68 concerning Baton Colliery which included photogrphs of Baton Colliery wagon, labels, rescued from Muir of Ord goods shed.,
Pouteau photo – Potters Bar? Or just potty! Norman Hill. 58
See illustration of GNR 2-4-0 on multiple track in Issue 22 page 34: location just north of Potters Bar (where KPJ learned to watch trains during WW2): writer suggests pre-1887 date.
More on S.A.W. Harvey . Bill Aves
See Issue 22, page 22 upper: photograph of three T Class 0-6-0Ts at Longhedge appears to have been taken on the same occasion as one by H.C. Casserley, dated 15 September 1934, published on p27 of Locomotives Illustrated 127. The latter is taken from a slightly different angle but shows from right to left, No's 1600, 1604 and A602 in the same order and with No. 1600 facing to the left and the others to the right – with the same white disc headcode on No. 1604 and even the shovel on the top of No. 1600's tank in the same place, at the same angle.
An Adlestrop Query. Mike Lewis 
See feature on Adlestrop in Issue 22 page 49 top: the portrait of the signal fitters and their on-site workshop is a gem and questions whether the curious iron hoop craftily angled on the bench was there to provide a bearing surface for the tail of a ratchet drill. See also inside front cover of Issue 22: writer was in Newquay recently where the station area was a travesty compared with the aerial view.
The Lostwithiel & Fowey Railway – a correction. Geoff Sheppard,
See Issue 22 page 4 et seq accuses authors of repeating E.T. Macdermot's errors: the Lostwithiel & Fowey Railway (L&FR) was worked by the Cornwall Railway but only for a few months. The two railways had signed an agreement in 1865 that the Cornwall would work the completed line for 50% of recepts but when it opened for traffic in 1869, it only ran from Lostwithiel to Carne Point, so a second agreement was drawn up with the Cornwall getting 60% of receipts until such time as it was completed to a station in Fowey itself. In February 1870, the L&FR directors reported that 'the temporary arrangement made with the Cornwall for carrying on the traffic did not leave the company sufficient profit to pay the cost of maintaining the permanent way. The directors had hired an engine - the only one they could obtain at short notice – it is not, however, of sufficient power, and it has become necessary to obtain a more efficient one.' A correspondent wrote to Macdermot after the publication of his second volume of The History of the Great Western Railway to point this out. His response was to ask a GWR researcher to double check the Cornwall Railway minutes. He did not interpret such entries as 'emergency use of engine when convenient 7/6 per hr', 'will cease providing engines if bridges not immediately repaired' and 'Lostwithiel & Fowey suggest GW & CR work same instead of Mr Treffry' as meaning the Cornwall were only spot-hiring locomotives. Macdermot recorded that 'I was right after all in what I said... which is cheering.' The Cornwall Minerals Railway (CMR) initially proposed to bring their line to Fowey via Lostwithiel and to lay a mixed gauge on the L&FR and the Cornwall main line but decided to build a main line from Par instead. This caused a lengthy and costly dispute between the L&FR and the CMR, which eventually saw the older company's demise. It was not entirely closed, however, as a section of the line at Lostwithiel was leased to the Cornwall Railway to increase their siding accommodation there. The view on p 11 is not the construction of the power station at Fowey, rather the removal of part of the headland at Carne Point circa 1893 in preparation for the connection of the CMR with the old L&FR line in 1895.
Cornwall Minerals Railway locomotives.  Peter Jones.
See Issue 22 page 10: mileages of CMR locomotives Nos. 1-9 when taken over by GWR in April 1877.
Pouteau Listing: the Garstang & Knott End Railway. Alan Cliff 
See Issue 22 page 31: the Hudswell Clark 0-6-0ST is Jubilee Queen and not New Century as stated. In all photographs seen, New Century had a handle and wheel on the smokebox door and did not have a toolbox on the nearside running plate. The picture shows two smokebox door handles and no wheel, whilst there is a toolbox on the running plate. These were cetainly features of Jubilee Queen. Further, most, but not all, photographs show New Century with an unusually long chimney. Thus the locomotive is almost certainly Jubilee Queen, built 1897 and scrapped as LMS No. 11300 in 1926. The setting could not be Knott End shed as this never rxisted. The only locomotive depot on the G&KER was at Garstang Town station. The 'Pilling Pig' was the nickname for the goods train that trundled along the G&KER.

Postle, David  and Kidderminster Railway Museum. The Frank Carrier Photograph Collectlon. 25-34.
Frank Carrier was born in 1900 and died in 1952. Following military service in WW1 he joined the Midland Railway at Derby Works, and eventually worked in the locomotive drawing office. The picture of the Beyer Garratt with dynamometer car and passenger rolling stock demonstrates his priviledged position. His son Michael shown in photograph of Coronation died in 2006. Part 2 in Number 26 page 41..

Arman, Brian.  The H.L. Hopwood Collection 1901-26, Part 5: The Cambrian Railways. 35-40.
Harold Hopwood visited the Cambrian Railway in June/July 1909 and in June 1920.

Talbot, Edward. Follow Up: The 'Jellicoe Trains': Admiralty coal traffic in the First World War. 41-55.
"Follow up" to two-part article by Keith Turton (Issues 19 page 2 et seq and 20 page 21 et seq). Begins by examining Edwin V. Pratt's British railways and the Great War (Ottley 513) and The War record of the London & North Western Railway (Ottley 6601) and The War record of the Great Western Railway (Ottley 6118). Talbot asserts that there may originally have been a twelve part paper back work by Pratt, but as noted eleswhere (especially with Brian Reed's Locomotive Profiles) part works appear to defeat bibliographers and national libraries: there is no evidence for such in Ottley, but Talbot is probably correct. The subsequent extract from Ottley 513 as Ottley 6601 does according to Ottley contain additional material in an appendix: this work has been reprinted by the London & North Western Railway Society. Argues that some special trains were formed at Abergavenny from traffic conveyed over the Merthyr, Tredegar & Abergavenny line rather than being formed at Pontypool Road. In the latter part of the War coal traffic was even handled on the extremely difficult Brecon & Merthyr/Cambrian Railways route to increase capacity. On the main route all trains had to be banked from Abergavenny to Llanvihangel, and brakes had to be pinned down for the descent towards Hereford. [The amount of banking and pinning brakes down gives edge to H. Kelway Bamber's assertion that had 45-ton bogie wagons been used to haul the Admiralty coal traffic during WW1, about 25% less coal would have been consumed by the locomotives hauling the trains, and the reduction in dead weight hauled would have been 33% (Coal and mineral traffic on the railways of the United Kingdom. J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1918, 8, 135-53. (Paper No. 60))]. Some coal traffic was also handled via Cardiff and Gloucester. See also letters from Kevin P. Jones and Peter Griffin in Issue 24 page 67: letter is critical about statements made by Ted Talbot on Battle of Jutland.

Hodge, John  and Woodley, Richard. Follow Up: GWR motive power and the 'Jellicoe Trains. 55-7.
"Follow up" to two-part article by Keith Turton (Issues 19 page 2 et seq and 20 page 21 et seq). Argues that Aberdare shed may have played a role in addition to Pontypool Road, as Aberdare was used to long-haul traffic. Suggests that Warrington, rather than Chester, may have been changeover point for transfer of trains from GWR to LNWR.
Illus.: Panorama of Quaker's Yard. page 57.

Vickery, Stan. Cardiff Newtown Goods Depot in the 1950s. 59-71.
Photographs taken during the period when Author worked inside the Goods Depot between 1944 and 1954 with a break for National Service. His father and grandfather had also worked for the Great Wetsren Railway. Many of the pictures illustrate scenes which compare with written descriptions of the change of gauge at Gloucester and show why small load traffic moved from rail to road and to modern warehousing.

Alsop, John. Wish you were here: railway postcards of Flintshire. 72-80 + inside rear cover and rear cover.
See also series on industrial railways of Flintshire in Archive beginning in Issue 14 page 34.

Number 24 (September 2009)

Wells, Jeff. Richborough Military Port. 2-18.
Port created during WW1 near mouth of River Stour to serve the Front by train ferry. Ths illustrations came mainly from the Engineer of January 1919 and Railway Gazette of December 1919 and may have been taken at the end of hostilities. The IW&D operated 31 locomotives at the ferry terminal. Train ferries operated from 10 February 1918. Reg Davies (letter Issue 25 page 26) notes that on p17 Sir Francis Dent described as Chairman of the SE&CR Dent was in fact General Manager rather than Chairman. Letter from J.A. Smith (Issue 26 pp. 40/60) cites helpful reference and covers more recent (and ancient) developments in area.. .

MacIntosh, Jim. Creating an Edwardian railway masterpiece: the Caledonian Railway's Wemyss Bay Station. 19-45 + rear cover.
Beautiful station created by rebuilding in 1903 and from whence Mr and Mrs Kevin Jones travelled off to their honeymoon from their wedding reception down the road on 2 September 1961: so Railway Archive has presented a delightful Anniversary present. Photographs from a Caledonian Railway album held by the National Archive of Scotland. Illus.: bold indicates coloured in this tabulation..

Kelly House: home of Paraffin Young, founder of shale oil industry, but owned by Alexander Stephen, shipbuilder since 1899.
Posters: include Anchor Line, Caledonian Glasgow to Edinburgh expresses, Rothesay and enamel signs
McIntosh: John F. McIntosh frequently walked to the station from his holiday home at Skelmorlie to talk wth engine crews.
Turbine steamers: King Edward was first commercial turbine-powered vessel built by Wm Denny in 1901: they were operated by Turbine Steamers Ltd.

Follow up 1: early colour photographs. 46-7.
See also Issue 21 page 10. Early colour photograph of L&YR steam rail motor (railcar) No. 8 taken by George Smith at Sowerby Bridge in 1919 and owned by Barry Lane. Image was produced by the Paget Colour Photography process invented by Geoffrey Whitfield. Also Autochromes of Drybrook Halt (see earlier Issue for greater clarity) and of Waddeston Manor Halt with Alice de Rothdchild's chauffeur circa 1910.
Also on page 47: colour image of the "other" Harry Goodwin painting (see Issue 21 page 5) with 2-2-2 and South Eastern Railway looking carriages and signal box.

Christensen, Mike. The Marteg accident. 48-9.
Derailment on Cambrian Railways between Pantydwr and Rhayader which happened following a freight train dividing in July 1920 and was described in the Brecon & Radnor Express of 15 July 1920. See also letter from J.A. Smith on page 60 of Issue 26 who comments on use of Belpaire Goods on Mid-Wales line.

Parkhouse, Neil. Follow up 2: the Jersey Eastern Railway. 50-3.
See also Issue 18 page 2 et seq: snapshots from a family album
Mont Orgueil terminus viewed from castle with panorama of Grouville Bay and railway along shore. 50-1 main picture
Mont Orgueil terminus viewed towards castle from seawall. 50 inset
Either Carteret or Mont Orgueil leaving Mont Orgueil on causeway with six-coach train for St. Helier. 52
Causeway on viwed from across harbour. 52 inset
Carteret or Mont Orgueil in terminus waiting departure with Mont Orgueil castle above. 53u
Two trains in Mont Orgueil terminus c1910 from stereoscopic pair. 53l

Arman, Brian. L&NER 'W1' No. 10000. 54-6.
Three contact prints acquired at a railwayana auction of No. 10000 as running probably in 1938 at King's Cross shed (two views, one on turntable) and hauling a down express probably on Holloway bank (Reg Davies in Issue 25 page 26 thinks that was Finsbury Park)..

The L&SWR and GWR Manchester-Bournemouth express in 1911. 56.
See also image on page 69: assistance was sought from Ted Talbot. There was a Birkenhead to Bournemouth through train operated by the GWR and LSWR and this probably included through carriages from Manchester London Road

Mullay, A.J. North Eastern Region versus Southern: a Prime Minister's whim? 57-60.
The 1953 Transport Act which abolished all of the exceuitive bodies with the exception of the London Transport Executive also confirmed the status of the Regions although the Act called them 'areas' or 'authorities'. Furthermore, it was indicated that these should compete with each other although this would be difficult to achieve. Churchill and his Party were in favour of "competition". Nevertheless, rather like the Major/Blair essays in competition Mullay shows how the Southern and North Eastern Regions competed for a time in terms of profitability until they both lapsed into loss making. In an era obsessed with executive rewards it is interesting to observe that the CRO of the North Eastern Region earned far less than that of the London Midland Region.

Arman, Brian. The Hopwood Collection 1901-28. Part 5: the North Eastern Railway. 61-6.

Down postal [letters]. 67
The Lostwithiel & Fowey Railway. Michael Messenger.
See Issue 22 page 4 et seq: there had been an agreement with the Cornwall Railway to work the line, but the CR claimed that the L&FR was incomplete and a small locomotive was supplied by William West a directpr of both the L&FR and the Newquay & Cornwall Junction Railway.
Stretton v Ahrons. Harry Jack.
See Issue 23 page 24: Jack leaps to the defence of Ahrons (who like all human beings made minor mistakes and was willing to correct them) whereas the pompous Stretton "invented history" (and did not note the existence of Walschaerts valve gear).
Carrier & Jellicoe. Keith Fenwick.
See Issue 23 page 31who hazards that train was afternoon train which left Perth at about 16.00; also notes mixed rolling stock
Jellicoe observations. Kevin P. Jones.
See series on Jellicoe coal trains run during WW1 by Keith Turton in Issues 19 page 2 et seq and 20 page 21 et seq and subsequent contributions, notably from Ted Talbot in Issue 23 page 41: notes that coal traffic in Britain was handled highly inefficiently and cites Herbert Kelway Bamber paper in J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1920, 10 Paper 83
The Battle of Jutland. Peter Griffin
Takes issue with Ted Talbot's comments on the Battle in Issue 23 page 41: and gives a highly succinct portrait of the Battle. Ted Talbot launched a Swordfish in response: Issue 25 page 26. Further contribution from Peter Griffin in RA 26 page 68.

GWR 2-2-2 No. 110 circa 1862. 68.
Joseph Armstrong design of 1862 with double frames, 6ft driving wheels and 15 x 22in cylinders. Probably photograph taken at Shrewsbury and shows Driver Anthony Robson Potter on the footplate who was later killed due to the failure of the midfeather on No. 153 (a George England 2-4-0) at Oakengates on 11 September 1877 (information suppled by Peter Breeze who is related to Potter). David Patrick (Issue 26 page 40) considers that location was bridge over River Severn just south of Shrewsbury station..

Parkhouse, Neil. Wish you were here? Railway postcards of... Oxfordshire. 69-80.

Number 25 (December 2009)

Editorial. 1
Reference to Road Show at King's Lynn: see letter from Bill Davis in Issue 26 page 40 concerned about M&GN Circle not Society. 

Smith, George. The Hartlepool Dock & Railway Company. 2-25.
Illustrative material: a high proportion of the material predated photography, but in may cases it is not stated which form the illustration took. Many are from the paradigm railway history, namely Tomlinson's The North Eastern Railway and in the following list this is merely indicated by Tomlinson

Based on Colin Mountford's Private railways of County Durham.
Caption notes that locals called service the Tally Ho [KPJ name of one of railcars?]

Down Postal [correspondence]. 26.
L&SWR Cross Country at Oxford. Peter Swift
See Issue 24 page 69: for lovely photograph of L&SWR Class 'T9' No. 118 at Oxford seen before somewhere. In his commentary on the photograph, Ted Talbot suggests that the train had been brought into Oxford by a 'Star' or a 'Saint'. Actually, as illustrated in Adrian Vaughan's Heart of the Great Western (Silverlink, 1994), it was brought in by 'Badminton' Class 4-4-0 No. 3304 Oxford. Everything else in the picture is the same but the light engine on the Down through road in John Alsop's view was at the South end of the carriages in the Down platform when No. 3304 arrived. Incidentally, the Dining Saloon, with wide picture windows, is either No. 78 or 79, built specifically for the Birkenhead and Sheffield through trains in 1910.
Richborough locomotives. Cyril Crawley
See photograph in Issue 24 page 9 lower: misprint in the caption SE&CR locomotive at the back of the line was a 'P' class 0-6-0T not an 0-4-0T.
Motive power identified. Bill Aves
The unidentified Great Western 4-4-0 in the centre view on p75 is 'Armstrong' Class No.16 (later No. 4170) Brunel as (uniquely) rebuilt with a domeless Belpaire boiler in September 1901. The unidentified LNWR steam rail motor at Bicester on p79, was either No.2 or No.3, which shared the Oxford-Bletchley service in their early years.
No. 10000 and other matters. Reg Davies, 
See Issue 24 pp. 54-6:, photograph of No. 10000 was taken at Finsbury Park: train was on the Up Main, immediately to the north of the station, and was destined for King's Cross. The line rising on the left hand side ofthe picture and the bridge in the middle distance are the connections to the 'Northern Heights' branches of Alexandra Palace, Edgware and Barnet.
Picture of Islip at the top of p78 is looking towards Oxford and not, as stated, Bicester.
See article on Richborough military port (Issue 24 page 2, but on p17 Sir Francis Dent described as Chairman of the SE&CR Dent was in fact General Manager rather than Chairman.
The Battle of Jutland and other Naval matters. Edward Talbot 
See original feature on Jellicoe trains (Issue 19 page 2, and copious references thereto); Ted Talbot's own contribution (Issue 23 page 41) and response to that by Peter Griffin (Issue 24 page 67) which and further broadside from Peter Griffin in RA 26 page 68 has led to some powerful discussion on the merits of the Senior Service during WW1 and the bravery of the Swordfish pilots who disabled the Bismarck,with a torpedo which damaged its steering in such a way that the ship could only sail in circles and was rendered a 'sitting duck'. Cites Aircraft of World War II, Chris Chant, Dempsey Parr, 1999; The Oxford Illustrated History of the Royal Navy, edited by J.R. Hill, OUP, 1995; and The Sinking of the Bismarck, Will Berthold, Cerberus Publishing, 2004.
LB&SCR No. 191 – an appeal. Richard Norris
LB&SCR Class B1 0-4-2 No. 191 Gordon-Lennox was assigned to writer's great grandfather George Norris, who drove and was responsible for the locomotive from April 1896 until his demise in 1902. I enclose a copy print of No. 191 sent to me by Brian Stephenson (below). For obvious reasons, I would like to collect as many photographs as possible of No. 191. Some have already been supplied by Laurie Marshall and Klaus Marx of the Brighton Circle and others by Terry Walsh, one of those engaged in sorting the collection of photographs of the late John Smith (Len's of Sutton). His mother, most unfortunately, threw out a splendid photograph of his great grandfather and No. 191. Perhaps somewhere there lurks the original glass plate negative quietly gathering dust.

LB&SCR B1 or Gladstone Class 0-4-2 No. 191 Gordon-Lennox. 26 (bottom of page)

Arman, Brian. The H.L. Hopwood Collection 1901-1926. Part 7. A visit to the the London & North Western Railway in 1902. 27

Alsop, John.  The railways and the Lincoln typhoid epidemic of 1905. 34-8.
The rapid industrial growth of Lincoln in the late nineteenth century led to rapid population growth and the failure to provide pure drinking water which led to a serious typhoid epidemic in 1904/5. Local councillors Smith and Bainbridge financed a system for the transport of pure water from Newark over the Midland Railway and from Willoughby on the Great Northern Railway in locomotive tenders. Arrangements were made for the public to collect supplies from the Midland station, or from the Great Central Railway's yard in Ganwick Road, or on the Great Northern Railway supplies from Holmes Sidings. The public were supposed to collect their clean water in enclosed containers, but these are not visible in the photographs: open buckets being favoured.

Dore-Dennis, John. The 1881 Clevedon train crash. 39-40
See Railway Archive No. 4 page 70 for Bristol Mercury & Daily Post of Friday 22 April 1881 contained a report of an accident on early morning of 21 April at Clevedon caused by failure of freight train to stop and running into passenger train waiting to depart and causing it to push its coaches onto street outside station. A similar accident had taken place on 15 January 1850 when an arriving passenger train failed to stop (report Daily News 18 January 1850).

Parkhouse, Neil. Building Calstock Viaduct. 41-8.
See Archive No. 2. and references from there to further illustrations of this interesting structure. Most of the following photographs were taken by local bank manager Frederick J. Paul. The text mentions the origins of the East Cornwall Mineral Railway and the Plymouth Devonport & South Western Junction Railway, as well as the designer of the bridge and the contractors who constructed it across the Tamar.
Calstock quay with East Cornwall Mineral Railway and four trading ketches c1900. 41
Panorama of Calstock before construction of viaduct, c1900 42
Viaduct: piers and coffer dam in October 1905. 43u
Viaduct piers in April 1906. 43l
Semi complete arches in May 1906. 44u
Arches above Tamar almost complete in December 1906 (also shows cableway). 44l
Virtually complete viaduct in July 1907 (also shows ECMR incline and quay). 45
Timber footbridge over contractor's line to enable vicar to reach St. Andrew's Church. 46u
Wagon lift under construction. 46m
Wagon lift complete viewed from Tamar, c1910. 46l
Completed viaduct, wagon lift and quay with standard gauge track c1912. 47
Calstock station with view towards wagon lift (postcard). 48u
Completed viaduct from upstream with barge alongside Town Quay. c1909. 48m
Southern Railway train crossing viaduct c1930. 48l

Jeuda, Basil. Locomotive allocation on the North Staffordshire Railway network in the LM&SR era. 49-60

* white cloths on buffer beam

Aves, Bill and Parkhouse, Neil. Visits to Cardiff Cathays, Taff Vale Railway, in 1902-3. 61-8.
Photographs taken by the architect, Oswald Partridge Milne and located in the Library of the Royal Institution of British Architects. Milne was a significant architect (brief biographical details given herein: born 1881, educated Bedford School, articled to Sir Arthur William Blomfield, and during 1902-04 was an assistant to Edwin Landseer Lutyens. Died 15 January 1958) and appears to have been a railway enthusiast at least during his twenties.

Treloar, Peter. Wish you were here? Postcards of the North Wales narrow gauge railways. 71-80+
At least three are certainly not in "North" Wales

*posted 1907 with message: 'This is the wagonette we drove in after we got out of the toy train'.:
¶ train formed of the three Pickering end balcony saloons.

Number 26 (March 2010)

Jenkins, Stanley C. The Wantage Tramway. 2-32.
Tramway opened for goods traffic on 1 October, and for passenger traffic on 11 October 1875 having been inspected by Colonel C.S. Hutchinson on 26 August.

¶ photograph taken by F. Merton Atkins: appeared in T.R. Perkins on line. Rly Mag., 1928 (September)

Arman, Brian. The H.L. Hopwood Collection 1901-1926. Part 8. In search of Stroudley's London, Brighton & South Coast Railway. 33-9.

Down Postal. 40; 60; 68.
Morris Cowley memories. David Cooper
See Issue 24 page 69: writer started trainspotting at Morris Cowley in 1945. The top of the bridge embankment just beyond the station was a good location to watch the shunters, usually 5700s, at work with wagons out of Pressed Steel Ltd, with their sheet sides to protect the unpainted panels, or Nuffield Exports, usually CKD cars in crates. There were usually one or two sets of non-corridor coaches stabled further along by the Cowley goods shed. Prairie tanks (61XX or 41XX) collected these when the works closed at 17.00-17.15 for Banbury, Witney and Thame. They came in on the early morning Workman's trains. Highlight of our evening's watching was what we called 'the 7 o'clock' – a return working to Paddington often in the charge of a Castle, Hall or occasionally a Star. In later days, around 1952, Manors or Granges were seen. If we managed to stay for the 8 o'clock, this was used as a return working occasionally for an Old Oak Common locomotive, ex-Swindon Works, which had worked to Oxford late afternoon and then be turned, checked and fuelled in Oxford yard; usually this was a Thursday or a Friday. Both were regular passenger workings. Earlier in the day, you could get to London by changing at Princes Risborough off a diesel or autocar. There were through Oxford-Paddington workings too. My last was driven by a schoolfriend's father, Mr Shortes, in the summer of 1955, about 1.09pm from Morris Cowley. The station was so called to distinguish it from Cowley, Middlesex, to which Mother and I were routed by a ticket collector at Paddington when she asked which train for Cowley! The memory of No. 7007 Ogmore Castle slipping as it lifted the 8 o'clock out of Horspath Halt one a summer evening in 1949? - is a lasting one.
No. 16 Brunel and Shrewsbury - RA24. David Patrick
See Issue 24 page 75 (middle): No. 16 Brunel of the Armstrong' Class locomotive was unique in having Belpaire firebox and domeless parallel boiler carried from September 1901 until July 1907: this boiler was code BRO; after which it was further reboilered to carry a standard Churchward tapered boiler (code D3) as also, by this time, were the other members of the class. Also considers that location of picture of GWR 2-2-2 No. 110  on page 68 was bridge over River Severn just south of Shrewsbury station..
Going round in circles. Bill Davis.
See editorial in RA25: it was the M&GN 'Circle' which ran the 'Road Show' at King's Lynn, rather than the  the 'Society'. The Circle is, in the main, an historical organisation with an active modelling group within. The Society on the other hand, is of course the group who run the North Norfolk Railway and restore the real thing with such dedication. The two groups work well together and many members subscribe to both organisations.
Bon Accord at Hart Station, Mick Nicholson.
See picture p23, RA25, doubted the 1961 caption date. The complete set of Blood and Custard coaches, the early British Railways emblem on the locomotive tender and the abundance of original North Eastern Railway lower quadrant signals suggest mid 1950s. .
Bon Accord at Hart Station. Alan R. Thompson.
See picture p23, RA25: the date was 4 March 1956, not 1961; note that the A1 still has the old crest. Train was probably the 13.05 Newcastle-King's Cross, diverted via Wellfield due to engineering works. An assisting engine would have been provided by Sunderland shed, normally at this period a G5 or A8 and this would be detached at Haswell. The photographer was R.F. Payne, copyright of this shot rests with the Armstrong Railway Photographic Trust.
TVR breakdown crane. Brian Penny.
See RA25 page 70: (two photographs of Taff Vale Railway steam breakdown crane): it was a 20 ton capacity crane, built by Alexander Chaplin & Co. at its Govan Works, Glasgow, in 1884, to order No. 2303. There is a good description and two photographs of the crane in John S. Brownlie's Railway Steam Cranes (the relevant section is reproduced below). In 1923 it became GWR number 73 and was subsequently transferred from West Yard to Caerphilly Works, from where it was withdrawn in 1935. The TVR ordered a second breakdown crane, of 35 tons capacity, in 1911 and this was built by Cowans Sheldon. A full description of this crane is also in Brownlie's book. It became GWR No. 10 and was subsequently transferred from Cathays to Banbury. When the latter depot received a new 30 ton Cowans crane in 1961, No. 10 was transferred to Worceser. It survived at that depot until 1969. Photographs of this later crane appear in:the journal Welsh Railways Archive issues of May and November 2004 (Vol III, No's 9 & 10)
TVR breakdown crane. Peter Swift.
See RA25 page 70: the Taff Vale breakdown crane is recorded in John S. Brownlie's Railway Steam Cranes published by the author in 1973: it was a 20 ton crane, supplied by Alexander Chaplin of Glasgow in 1884. Based at the Taff Vale's Cardiff headquarters at Cathays, it was moved in GWR days to Caerphilly Works and withdrawn in 1935.
TVR breakdown crane. Peter Tatlow.
See RA25 page 70: crane illustrated was a 20 ton steam breakdown crane supplied by Alexander Chaplin & Co. of Govan, Glasgow, to the Taff Vale Railway in 1884, Works No. 2303. It is likely to have been displaced from Cathays in late 1911 to Caerphilly, when a much larger 36 ton crane was delivered from Cowans Sheldon on 13th December that year. The Great Western Railway accorded No. 73 to the Chaplin crane and the GW diagram is noted as condemned in a letter dated 30th July 1935. Mounted on three axles, it was registered to lift 20 tons at 12 feet radius and 12 tons at 18 foot, both with its propping girders extended and blocked up, and hence fixed in location. Alternatively, it could lift 10 tons at 12 feet radius and 5 tons at 18 foot when free on the rail and able to be moved at low speeds. Motions were driven by 7ins dia. x 12ins vertical cylinders mounted between the frames. A technical description can be found in The Engineer for 16th January 1885, pp 42 &48.
Extrack from John S. Brownlie's Railway Steam Cranes
Of direct railway interest was a 20 ton accident crane ordered in October 1884 by the Taff Vale Railway, of which, unfortunately, only brief details have survived. (See Figs. 107 and 108.) This was of the Firm's vertical engine type with cylinders (7 ins. x 12 ins.) inside the frames. It had sprung carriage, waggon type brake handle, was mounted on three axles, with the usual relieving-beams, etc., two of the axles being chain-driven. Apart from its size, it thus ranked as one or the first to be self-propelling. The hoisting gear worked single or double purchase wbile the capacity was given as 20 tons at 12 feet radius and 12 tons at 18 feet radius. The carriage, superstructure sides and the jib were of wrought-iron construction wbile the whole was described in 'The Engineer' as 'one of the most powerful yet'. A strange feature, by any standards, was that most of the clutches and the intermediate gearing were attached to the side-cheek on the outside, making them vulnerable to damage. The layout, too, was most unusual and included Right Hand drive which was unheard of for cranes' elsewhere. This crane was at the Cardiff Headquarters of the Company and, after Grouping, went for a while to Caerphilly where it lasted until 1935. Also, it was similar in capacity and general appearance to that completed a year or two earlier for the N.B.R. The latter had been built by Forrest & Company, also of Glasgow and we can only speculate as to whether more than coincidence was involved?
. Brian Penney sent this scan of the relevant paragraph from Brownlie's book, which, unfortunately for anyone looking to get hold of a copy (including your editor!), currently sells for around £75. Peter Tatlow also kindly enclosed a copy of
the GWR diagram but it is too feint to reproduce.
Richborough Military Port. J.A. Smith
See RA 24 page 2. The South Eastern & Chatham Railway in the 1914-18 War (Locomotion Paper No. 134) includes references to specific Richborough train services and notes that Dover Marine station, unfinished at the outbreak of war, was completed at the behest of the Government and opened in December 1914, so that it could be used as a military hospital base, with despatch of ambulance trains on a daily basis. Thus, it is unlikely that the ambulances in the photograph on page 15 would have been carrying casualties. A comparison between the 1918 map and the 1997 tourist map shows significant changes in the intervening eighty years. These include: Kitchener and Haig Camps, plus the Old Wharf, now being the site of a Pfizer chemical company complex; a new Sandwich by-pass, heading south west from near the north west end of the Old Wharf; considerable recent roadworks from the above point, towards Margate, and industrial units on the site of the New Wharf. Whilst it was possible to access the New Wharf and train ferry berth in the late 1990s, by 2006 the approach road was guarded by security staff. Richborough Power Station, been and gone (KPJ seemed to be there in October 2009), at the north end of the site, in the triangle between the River Stour, Sandwich to Margate road and the marshalling sidings. The adjacent Pegwell Bay is also the traditional site of the landings of the Saxons (AD449) and St. Augustine (AD597), as well as the location of the original cross channel hover port. Just inland, the Roman remains of Richborough Castle (fort) and the adjacent amphitheatre can be found. In the other direction, Dover is rich in archaeological remains, ranging from Roman, through Napoleonic, to WW2. What a piece of coastline and a pity that the least accessible of all the above is Richborough Port. What are the possibilities of an article on the equivalent French facilities? (The short answer to the last question is that RA was never intended to stray beyond the UK shores - but! A British WWl base on the French coast? We could perhap~ stretch a point for that. Anyone want to volunteer? in true military fashion, all those not interested please take one step backwards! Ed.)
Marteg Accident in RA24. J.A. Smith. 60.
See Issue 24 page 48: wherein stated that the Cambrian 'Belpaire Goods' engines were prohibited from the Mid Wales line. The GWR Working Time Tables for Winter 1936/7, Summer 1938 and Summer 1939 state that: 'All ex-Cambrian Engines are permitted between Moat Lane and Brecon.' Does anybody know when things changed? As ever, my thanks to Alan Rhodes for provision of original WTT data.
The Locomotives of the GWR. Pt 10 Absorbed Engines 1922-47, RCTS 1966, page K73, in relation to the 'Belpaire Goods' engines states: 'In 1942, when weight restrictions on the Mid-Wales line were lifted, several of the class were sent to Brecon...'. This implies a war-time measure but the WTT quoted above indicate that the restriction had been removed some years prior to this. Recourse to earlier WTT might be the only way now to answer this. Ed.
On a different matter, Mr Smith has also written at length in regard to the Manchester-Bournemouth express workings, illustrated in a picture of a summer 1911 working at Oxford in RA24, p69, and further detailed in a paragraph on p56, same issue. In fact we have been supplied quite a bit more information about these workings, along with several illustrations, so rather than use bits of it in 'Down Postal', we shall be incorporating all of it into a future article.
L&NWR/North Staffs corrections. Edward Talbot.
See Issue 25 page 58 middle. the location seems correct, but the locomotive was not a 'George the Fifth' but a 'Claughton' and a rebuilt one at that. According to Walwyn's list, it is No. 5906 Ralph Brocklebank and the train looks like a Manchester-London relief, No. 5906 being a Longsight engine I believe at that time.
And again - plus a fake! Ted Lloyd.
See Issue 25 page 58 middle shows a large-boilered 'Claughton' 4-6-0 with Walschaerts valve gear, not a 'George the Fifth'. The middle picture of Welshpool on p80 is a well-known fake, the train having been superimposed on the photograph. In fact, it is some yards from the point where the railway actually crossed the road.
The Jellicoe Trains - the source of all the wagons. Keith Turton. 68
See RA20, pp33-7 (starts page 21) which records involvement of the Cardiff wagon hire firm of Henry G. Lewis & Co. in supplying wagons to transport South Wales Admiralty quality coal to receiving points in north east England and Scotland for the Grand Fleet of the Royal Navy. Although compiled from the contractor's records many questions remained. Specifically, from what source was Lewis able to obtain over 13,000 wagons to hire out to the Admiralty and other essential military operations during the First World War? The questions was asked: Did Lewis hire from other sources to re-hire to the Admiralty?
This question was provoked by the use of almost new wagons in Admiralty service, purchased by the Cardiff-based colliery agents Kestell Bros. Subsequently, these queries have been answered by the receipt of copies of Railway Clearing House correspondence, dated December 1920 and March 1921, which details the running numbers of several hundred wagons which were on hire from private owners and wagon hire companies to the main line pre-Grouping railway companies, together with hundreds more that had been in Admiralty service. All of these wagons were specifically noted as to be returned to H.G. Lewis, regardless of whose name was painted on the side of each wagon reported missing. A particular search was to be made on a specific day of every siding, marshalling yard and station, to locate the missing wagons and return them to their rightful owners. In December 1920, 1,059 wagons hired from Lewis were still missing. In March 1921, this figure had dropped to 525, twenty-eight months after the end of the war, but there were still 534 wagons to be located. The manner in which these instructions were worded makes it clear that Lewis had obtained many of the wagons that he had hired to the Admiralty from other wagon hire companies, from Cardiff coal exporters and Welsh colliery agents, with a sprinkling from other sources, some surprising, others through the partial pooling of 300,000 wagons belonging to large operators under Government regulation. Of the 1,059 wagons hired from Lewis reported missing in December 1920, 693 bore Lewis's own identification, 126 were indentified as belonging to Hall, Lewis Ltd, a firm in which Lewis was a partner, and 240 belonged to other owners yet were rented by the Admiralty through Lewis. Most belonged to Welsh owners, Cardiff coal exporters being represented by Kestell Bros, R. Dowdswell, Pentwyn Coal Co., Thomas & Stephens and Philip Earl. There were a number supplied by the Mineral Transport Company of Aberdare and Welsh Navigation Collieries. The most surprising contributions were the forty-two wagons owned by the Liverpool coal merchant James Edge and the four which belonged to Scholes of Bolton. It is possible that the latter two supplied wagons in emergency for the reloading of broken down wagons which could not continue their journey. Others originated from wagon hire companies, including the Ely Wagon Co., the Bolton Wagon Co., the Central Wagon Co. and the Lancashire & Yorkshire Wagon Co. Two were owned by the London coal merchants Charrington, Sells & Dale and a single wagon came from Wath Main Colliery in Yorkshire but there is no explanation as to how it managed to get into Lewis's clutches! Another surprise is that eight wagons hired by the Great Western Railway were also found in Admiralty traffic, contradicting the written order that they not be used for such a purpose. However, the most likely explanation is that they were fitted with end doors, which was the first criteria of the whole operation. Of the 534 wagons still outstanding in March 1921, RG. Lewis was still missing 303, Hall, Lewis 101 and the other traders 130. Missing wagon reports of all railway companies were common and issued frequently but the old adage of a needle in a haystack can be quoted - imagine searching a marshalling yard containing several thousand wagons on a wet day and trying to keep check and keep dry the many typewritten pages, or for that matter a colliery yard where wagons owned by such companies as Lewis were regular visitors and hoping to spot one or two of the missing. Of course some were never found. The RCH lists appear to have been issued every three months and these two examples appear to be the only survivors but one further question arises: Did the RCH circular go to any of the wagon repair companies? My thanks go to Michael Dunn of Bewdley, for making this and other fascinating information available from his personal collection.
Jutland – into battle again. Peter Griffin
See previous correspondence in RA24 page 67 which criticises Ted Talbot's article on Jutland in RA23 page 41, and his response in RA25 page 26.
Regarding the Swordfish's performance, some years ago writer worked on a series of drawings of aircraft (including the Swordfish) in 'Heron Flight' of the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton and there was much discussion with pilots regarding performance figures. The letter quoted a top speed of 130 mile/h plus, but speed can vary greatly according to ambient temperature and weather conditions, load, condition of aircraft and so on. Certainly, flying into a head wind of 20-30 knots on a stern chase of enemy vessels moving at high speed - 28 knots plus - the Swordfish, laden with a torpedo, would struggle alomg at 80 knots or so. Speed figures quoted in various publications were often taken from aircraft manufacturers trials figures, which can vary greatly with the aircraft in service.
For anyone interested in reading further on these matters, writer suggested "what is probably the most complete work of its kind", the 6 volume history by Arthur J. Marder, From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow. The Royal Navy in the Fisher Era. 1904-1919 and specifically Vol. 3. Jutland and after, 1st edition 1966 and the 2nd revised and enlarged edition 1978.
Reply From Edward Talbot
Many thanks for showing me this letter from Peter Griffin. In his previous letter, he was scathing about my account of the Swordfish; now he agrees with it. This debate has gone on long enough, however, and I see no point in pursuing it further. I stand by what I have written previously and I am happy to leave readers to draw their own conclusions.

Re-coaling Naval ship. 68.
Superb contemporary photograph of Naval ratings engaged in the filthy task of re-coaling their vessel: all were required to assist, regardless of their job on board, with sacks first being filled and then emptied into the bunkers.

Postle, David and Kidderminster Railway Museum The Frank Carrier Photograph Collection. 2: an industrial selection. 41-50.
Previous part in Issue 23 page 25. F.G. Carrier, a section leader in the Development and Design branch of the Derby Drawing Office, was largely responsible for what both Stanier's and Riddles' engines looked like. He was a railway enthusiast and photographer and was friends with Ron Jarvis and John Adams. His photographic collection is kept in the Kidderminster Railway Musuem.

Notes:
a.: Formerly Alexandra (Newport & South Wales) Docks & Railway No. 12: sold by GWR to J.F. Wake in 1932
b.: Stanton Ironworks, Ilkeston: ex-Lawrence, a Contractor of Cheltenham: Carrier's son Michael in photograph
c.: Ex Hulton Colliery, near Bolton
d.: Owned by Newton Chambers: large number of people in photograph
e.: Constructed at Rawnsley in late 1880s: designed by Williamson. Name stemmed from Thomas John Birch, Chairman
f.: Contractors for Fernilee Reservoir built by Stockport Corporation in Goyt Valley
g.: Built for Cranford Ironstone Co. by Markham & Co. of Chesterfield in 1889: considerable detail about Crich Mineral Railway
h.: Originally Midland & South Western Junction Railway No. 14
i.:  Originally supplied to Cornwall Minerals Railway, later ran on Colne Valley & Halstead Railway. Driver Coulthard noted

Aves, Bill. Oil-firing on the Great Eastern Railway and Holden's 'watercart tenders'. 51-60.

Parkhouse, Neil. Digitally manipulating photographs in aid of historical research. 61.
How extra information may be gleaned by distorting (twisting) images electronically using Photoshop or other image editing software: examples relate to deatil on coal wagons..

Talbot, Edward. London & North Western Railway engine nameplates and the full stop. 62-7.
Nameplates illustrated: Staffordshire; Charles Dickens; Lord Loch; City of Paris; Henry Cort; Queen of the Belgians; Warwickshire; City of Lichfield; The Auditor; Caradoc; Emperor; Daphne; Robin Hood; Sir Hardman Earle; Rowland Hill; Duchess of Lancaster; Phantom, Ajax. Further colour illustrations on rear cover: Topsy; Cyclops; Prospero; Lady Godiva; Sir Frederick Harrison; Lord of the Isles; Sir Robert Turnbull and Private W. Woode V.C. Locomotives illustrated: No. 2053 Greater Britain at Wolveton; Tiny and Nipper (both eightenn inch gauge 0-4-0 shunters in Crewe Works); George the Fifth class No. 445 P.H. Chambres at Stoke-on-Trent c1914;

Alsop, John. Wish you were here! Railway postcards of South East Scotland. 68-80.

2010-03-08