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January 09

2009 opened for the Society with a visit from Mark Smith, Chairman of the West Somerset Railway and a Director of the Heritage Railway Association. On this occasion Mark was joining us in the latter capacity, to talk about the work of the HRA. He traced its origin back to its days as a successor to the ARPS- Association of Railway Preservation Societies- and explained that the HRA currently represents the interests of nearly 200 preserved and heritage railways, steam centres, museums and groups, basically as a “trade association”.
One of the HRA purposes is to lobby Government and other official bodies on their behalf, both at home and in Europe. To illustrate this, some legislation when initially drafted would apply the same rigour and standards, often inadvertedly, to a narrow-gauge railway with a maximum speed of 25mph as to a 125 mph main line for which it was really intended. In addition the cost of meeting this standard on a small-volunteer-run tourist line might be financially crippling and in such cases the HRA could collectively represent the interests of the heritage railways in seeking to highlight the difficulties this would cause to what is an industry generating significant amounts of revenue for tourism each year, and seek a relaxation or exemption for heritage railways.
The HRA also has an important role in providing professional advice, and a forum for sharing information, good practice and experience. It arranges awards and competitions to encourage and promote excellence amongst heritage railways, and produces annually a leaflet/ map showing the location and facilities of all the major steam railways in the country. Its website (http://www.heritagerailways.com ) acts as a portal to over 170 Heritage railways websites.

After the interval, something very different- Mark shared with us his photos taken on a very significant day for steam- the so-called “fifteen guinea special” run by BR on Sunday 11th August 1968 to mark the end of steam (as was then thought) on the British Railways main lines. Mark told us at the time that, as a student, he was spending a summer break working on a farm, and was given a ticket for the special train to thank him for his work! It was fascinating to see shots from the tour, and the crowds which turned out to see it. It was noticeable to see how attitudes to health and safety have changed over the last forty years, as several photos taken of the train stopped on double track main lines and in stations showed men, women and children swarming all around the engines and across all running lines- which in fact couldn’t be seen for people! Of course such actions would certainly not be acceptable today.  In one photo we did see a member of the rail staff wearing an orange high- visibility jacket so they had made their first appearance by then!

Mark did recall that he faced a difficult dilemma during this rail excursion, which featured top-class at seat dining. On arrival at one major station the serving of one of the main meals was in full swing- should he miss out on the food and pop out onto the platform to join the throngs photographing the steam locos on their last trip- or remain in the carriage and enjoy the meal?  Well, Mark bravely admitted that as a financially hard- pressed student at the time, for whom this standard of meal was a rare treat, he did forego these particular photos and opt for the silver service meal!

It was a real treat during the evening to hear Mark’s personal insights and experiences such as this, both from the world of preserved railways and from his memories of the “end of steam” railtour. We are very grateful to Mark for sparing the time to share them with us and provide such a fine start to the New Year.

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February 09

The February meeting, by Ian Chancellor, was entitled  “Scottish Sojourn”,   concentrating on Scotland during the years between 1978 until 1984, but also  with glimpses as far back as 1962 and as recently as 2008.  This presentation took the twenty members and friends who had braved the cold and enjoyed the temporary respite from the snows of early February 2009 on a journey around Scotland, starting in the south west at Stranraer and moving northwards from the Ayrshire coast to Glasgow then to the scenic splendour of the West Highland lines to Oban, Mull, Fort William and Mallaig. The second half took us from Carstairs and Edinburgh via Dundee, Perth, and Aberdeen to Inverness, the Kyle of Lochalsh and the Far North line.

The evening recalled the days of travelling on Scottish railrovers by loco-hauled trains, Sleeper trains to Fort William, three-day railtours such as the “Skirl of the Pipes”, and Easter shed tours by road-coach.
This was an era just before great change on the railways- pre “Sprinterisation”, when loco-hauled trains still ruled the roost- even on trains as short as two or three coaches-, just before the upheaval of the mid- end 1980’s when sectors, new liveries and new operating companies emerged. These were very much the final years of the corporate British Railways “blue-grey” livery, when most locos were in the standard corporate livery. No-one could then have predicted the tidal wave of change which was about to engulf the railway industry. 

Not that the evening was restricted to just these years- there were some reminders of what had gone before- the early days of dieselisation which produced unsuccessful diesels such as the Claytons and NBL Type 2s, which rubbed shoulders with the early Railbuses. More recently, there was a quick look at “large logo” and Sector-based liveries, modern days of operation in the early years of the 21st Century, with Turbostars, and frequent changes of livery reflecting the advance of Scotrail and First. Changes in the Glasgow suburbs were seen with the iconic electric “Blue Trains” which for forty years provided suburban services before giving way to more modern trains reflecting Strathclyde liveries of orange and black, then variations on carmine and cream. Rare shots of the ill-fated Advanced passenger Train (APT) were seen when running in passenger service before being unceremoniously taken out of services and scrapped.

Steam was not forgotten with views of historic Caledonian and Highland Railway locomotives at the Strathspey Railway, Boness and in Glasgow Transport Museum, plus the `Jacobite` steam operation on the main line at Fort William. There was even a view of the Glasgow Underground- the so-called `Clockwork Orange`. Also included were views of packed depots at Inverness, Eastfield, and Haymarket, DMU’s and railtours to branch lines such as Kilmacolm and Forfar.  More recent pictures showed changes at Edinburgh Waverley as preparations for the Bathgate- Airdrie electrification have altered the famous views from Princes Street Gardens.

There’s a tendency amongst some to think that anything diesel is modern but the majority of diesel slides shown on this evening were more than 25 years old- and a few even forty five! (a thought- provoking fact- if you remember everyday working steam locos in service then age-wise you must be over 50, to have worked with everyday working steam on the railways in your late 50’s- and to remember WR diesel hydraulics probably over 40 and (all give or take a few years!)). And just In case it was thought that dieselisation meant a lack of variety some 25 different classes of diesel and electric locos were seen during the show.
 
The blue-grey era may be regarded in some quarters as the dull, boring years of diesel uniformity just after steam, but for many today they’re regarded with some affection as the last classic years of the BR network. This show helped to show why- and to remind us that change is constant! 

Our thanks to Ian for a thought provoking, well-researched and informative evening, featuring some classic shots of beautiful scenery and a classic era.

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March 09

At the Society meeting on 3 March Mike Tyack entertained members to an evening of medium format slides taken since 1992, with the title of "Seasons of Steam".   

Over the last 15 years, Mike, together with friends from around the world, has co-produced a number of books & calendars, most notable of which is the annual 'Seasons of Steam on Britain's Railways' calendar. Mike’s show followed this approach, commencing with photos taken in the winter, taking us on a trip through the calendar, season by season. He described his show as being “as much a scenic travelogue as a quest for steam throughout the seasons”.

Mike showed slides taken on various preserved railways, including the West Somerset, Severn Valley, Mid Hants, Swanage, Bluebell, and Bodmin & Wenford Railways plus main line steam runs in UK.  

Mike told members that he was “too young to really appreciate the glory days of steam on BR”, and from 1971 concentrated on photographing overseas steam on all continents of the world right through to the 1990’s. Mike showed pictures taken during his 16 years of particular interest in China’s steam locos, along with others of German steam. Mike’s railway interest overseas moved to Eritrea in January 2008 which he says will be his focus for the foreseeable future.

This was a superb programme with a high standard of photography and our thanks go to Mike for traveling from Coleford to entertain us.

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April 09

At their meeting on 7 April members of the Society welcomed Ken Horan from Rotherham on his second visit to the Society.   This time his presentation was titled the "Dragon's Dying Breath" and was based on a visit to China in March 2005.    The objective was to record steam locos operating in the north of the country on what was the last example of a main line worked by this traction anywhere in the world and which was about to finish.  

Ken was a former BR fireman and has a deep love of steam engines and this came through in this programme which was a digital presentation.   Most of the traffic involved was freight and thus many shots were shown of hard working locos in magnificent scenery in a part of China not on the normal tourist itinerary.   We also saw many shed scenes often taken in freezing conditions in the early hours.   Most of the equipment shown was of a considerable age and would give the Health & Safety Inspectorate in this country apoplexy.    The show was not confined to steam as shots of diesels and a small section on electric traction were shown.

A fascinating part of the programme were the shots of how ordinary Chinese live particularly in the remoter parts.  Thus we saw buildings which were little more than shacks being occupied by complete families including one partially built under a railway track.    Modern China was also illustrated with pictures in Beijing and on the Great Wall with its many tourists.

This was a splendid evening and as our Chairman said at the end we had seen a "China Episode" rather than just a railway programme.   For many of us it was an eye opener for although China may be a super power in the 21st century it still has some way to go in conditions for its people.  As Ken reminded us we should be grateful for what we have in UK.   Our thanks go to Ken for making the long journey from south Yorkshire to entertain us.  

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May 09

May 5th saw the return of Paul Chancellor, with a selection of slides entitled “Blue, Grey and other colours”

Paul made a return trip from Bromsgrove to his former home town for our May meeting, showing us slides of railways over the last fifty years both from his own camera and his large collection of acquired slides and photos which can frequently be seen in the pages of magazines such as Heritage Railway, Traction, British Railways Illustrated, Steam Railway, and Modern Locomotives Illustrated, to name but a few! The title of the programme perhaps underplayed the very wide range of liveries and colour schemes used over this time on locomotives, multiple units and coaching stock. Blue and grey certainly reflected the BR Corporate image which first appeared in the late 1960’s but actually survived through until the 1990s.

Steam, diesel and electric traction all featured in this comprehensive reminder of what has come and gone over the last fifty years. Not, by any means, just another selection of standard “front three-quarter” views of locos, there was a good variety of photo styles and imaginative compositions.

All in all, a very interesting evening for which we are indebted to Paul for travelling down from the Midlands to see us once again.

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June 09

At their meeting on June 2nd Robin White presented those present with a very personal account of his interest in and work on the Railways, entitled `40 Years with Railways’. This was very much a journey by anecdote through 40 years of involvement with railways large and small.
Starting as so many young people do with a 'Thomas' Book given to him when he was a poorly 5-year old, Robin has ever since been a railway enthusiast with a lifelong involvement with heritage railways. 

This progressed when Robin joined the then-new West Somerset Railway- as, amongst other things, a 17 year old guard on a train where an equally young Paul Conibeare (now General Manager of the WSR) was the fireman. Robin progressed after University, where he had trained as a Scientist, to join British Rail in the mid 1980's as a management trainee being employed on the Southern Region of BR at various locations, including Waterloo, (where he told the tale of the Pigeon Exterminators who got the dosage wrong) and Eastbourne where he had to contend with a Grade 1 listed building. Robin also had spells with BR at Ashford, Dover, and Bristol. Somewhere along the line (pun intended) Robin told us he had a couple of close escapes from meeting an early end! He left the 'big railway' in advance of privatisation, and after a second spell at University joined his current career, as an employment barrister practicing from chambers in London and Bristol.

Robin regaled us with further tales of his volunteering on the Kent & East Sussex Railway while he lived in Tenterden, and the Bluebell Railway before finally, on his return to the West Country, renewing his allegiance to the WSR once more where he  became, until February 2009, the Chairman of the WSR Association, a Registered Charity with over 5,000 members. Robin continues to be a volunteer signaller on the WSR, and he did two turns in different boxes on the WSR over the recent Mixed Traffic Weekend.
 Our thanks go to Robin for a very enjoyable and unique view of almost a lifetime with Railways.

July 09

Evening Visit to the West Somerset Railway Gauge Museum, Bishops Lydeard Station, Tuesday 7th July 2009 

As is customary for July we took advantage of summer weather and longer daylight hours for an evening outing, rather than an indoor meeting (Thus, not surprisingly, it rained for the first part of the evening!)
 
This year, on 7th July, 21 members and friends visited the Gauge Museum, situated on the Station Platform at Bishops Lydeard on the West Somerset Railway, where we were shown around by the curator Ian Coleby (who, incidentally, will also be the speaker at the Societies December 2009 meeting).
 
We heard about the history of the largest exhibit on site- ex GWR sleeping car no 9038, one of three built in 1897 to carry First Class passengers between Paddington and Fishguard for the Irish ferry. The coach was in service until 1931. In 1933 the body was sold and became part of a bungalow, spending the next fifty years under a tiled roof. In 1985 this historic vehicle was rescued and came to the West Somerset Railway for restoration.

With a restored GWR underframe and much interior woodwork donated from a coach (No 9039) by the Great Western Society at Didcot, the coach has been restored to 1925 condition by the West Somerset Steam Railway Trust. We saw at first hand the excellent restoration job, both inside and out, on this coach.  Besides the sleeping car we saw a fascinating array of former station signs, nameplates and took our turns at operating the signal levers in a small working signal box.

A number of the former posters promoting Weston-s-Mare as a holiday destination were notable on show. 
Our thanks to Ian and his colleague for taking the time to open the museum especially for our visit, and give us a guided tour.  Our evening then continued with a visit to the Norton Fitzwarren triangle work site, by which time the cloud and rain had thankfully given way to sun!. See separate report for this visit.

Visit to the West Somerset Railway work site at Norton Fitzwarren triangle, Tuesday 7th July 2009

On 7th July 21 members and friends visited the Norton triangle WSR site, to see the work being done to transform this 33 acre site acquired by the West Somerset Railway. The initial intention of the WSR was to use the land to provide a triangle of Railway track, which would allow locos and coaching stock to be turned within the site, thus reducing flange wear, to be followed by the development of further facilities. So far it has been a challenging but fascinating project, encountering site service issues with constraints of national grid, power lines and sewers to be worked around/ re-routed, plus drainage issues to be overcome, and a restriction of road and lorry movements to and from the site. Plus of course there were the usual planning application issues to be dealt with! 

Used ballast has been provided by Network Rail as construction material for the building of the triangle, avoiding the need for many lorry movements in the local area. For this the rail line connection between NR and the WSR has been upgraded, with an almost daily movement of ballast between Taunton and the Norton site using the lengthy High Output ballast Cleaner (HOBC) set based at the nearby Fairwater yard (less than a mile away), and re-opened in January 2007 as the base for Network Rail’s track relaying operation in the South West.. 

Used ballast brought onto the site is sorted by contractors John Luffman Trading, and that suitable for creating the rail embankments and formation retained and laid out, whilst surplus is disposed of. Network Rail has also supplied surplus track to assist in the construction process. 

It was a fascinating visit to a site until now closed to the public, but soon to feature as the new home for the August Steam Fayre on the WSR, instead of the fields usually used at Bishops Lydeard. As the accompanying pictures show we were also able to see some of the evening freight activity on the adjacent main line south of Taunton. Our thanks to the Malcolm Anderson from the WSRA for giving us this guided tour and insight into the work in progress..

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August 09

Tuesday August 4th, 2009- Members photographic evening

 A good turn out of Members and friends gathered on 4th August for our annual opportunity to share digital images and slides of railway scenes.

This was probably one of the best selections of slides and images we’ve had at our August Members meetings for some years, with contributions from Tim Henwood , Peter Doudney,  Roy Patterson, John Hunter, John Mayhew, Ian Chancellor, and Lionel Jones,  making up a very varied programme.

Opening the evening, Tim recalled some views taken since the early 1990s, including something a bit different- the well-supported Railcar 50 event held on the Severn Valley Railway in Autumn 2004 to mark 50 years of the humble DMU and its predecessors, which brought together DMUs and Railcars from number of different railways at the SVR attracting big crowds. `Met Camm’s, Derby Lightweights, Birmingham RC&W and Swindon Inter City were amongst the types represented, as well as one of the last two “Classic” DMU’s in every day service- Chiltern Railways single “Bubble Car” and an original railbus, in a variety of liveries and range of conditions.

Pete Doudney showed a selection of views taken in Germany at a recent main line steam “Plandampf” festival.  Pete showed some fascinating shots of steam on shed as well as hauling passenger trains on the German main line. Pete described the warm and hospitable welcome accorded to visiting British steam enthusiasts; in one location on hearing that a party of steam enthusiasts were arriving for the Plandampf, the Mayor of a small German town and a local band turned out to greet them! Pete concluded his presentation with photos of home steam on the main line during the last year.

Roy presented a range of some recent photos but largely his tour de force, superb Kodachrome photos of now long vanished branch lines in the early sixties. It’s fitting that these are now reaching a wider audience than just the society as they have now featured in at least three recent books from Capital Transport.

John Hunter’s digital images were new to us and it was great to see his contribution, largely of steam in preservation during recent years. John Mayhew followed with a brief foreign interlude, followed by a quick domestic round up from Ian Chancellor. Lionel Jones ended the evening in his own usual way, with a selection of preserved steam, more modern forms of traction that had “caught his eye”, plus some foreign railway views from his “holiday photos “.

Our thanks to all contributors for some excellent photographs, and very knowledgeable commentaries providing a very varied evening. Thanks in particular to John Hunter and John Mayhew for sharing their pictures with us- it was good to see photographic contributions from those members who don’t often get the opportunity to share them with us.

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September 09

Tuesday 1st September- Bob Alderman, from the AI Steam Loco Trust visited the Society with a presentation entitled- “Tornado- an engine for the 21st Century”

49 LNER Class A1 steam locos were built between 1948 and 1949. Throughout their working lives on the East Coast Main line they earned a reputation as excellent locos which ran and steamed well, requiring less maintenance than any other express locomotive types running on BR. The only problems they experienced were as rough riders, although disputed by some.

60145, named `St Mungo’  operated the final advertised run of an A1 on New Year’s Eve 1965, with a special to mark the end of express steam haulage on the North Eastern Railway, which reached 102 mph between Darlington and York. After a failed preservation attempt It was sold for scrap to Drapers of Hull in August 1966- the last A1 .. until Tornado was built form scratch and completed in late 2008.

Coming hot on the heels of Tornado’s appearance on this seasons Torbay Express specials, Bob Alderman gave a fascinating insight into the construction and engineering side of this brand new main line steam loco. Continuing the “Tornado effect”, 27 members and guests listened spellbound as Bob recalled the evolution of the project; the now famous “Loco for the price of a pint a week” pledge which caught the imagination of supporters and played a leading role. This has equated to about £5 a month.

Bob picked out a number of interesting facts and features, which showed how the design of Tornado, based on the original detailed plans held in the NRM, was in fact modified to ensure this loco could meet the requirements for a modern day engine so that it could be fully certificated for operation on the main line from the start.

Firstly, the frames were different- the A1’s of old used two castings to make up the sides- but Tornado used only one.

The Boiler was welded, not riveted. The technology to produce this was not available in theUK, hence it was contracted out to Germany where this expertise was still available and current.

In order to meet modern day requirements- including for headlights, OTMR, TPWS, AWS, cab lights and similar, Tornado has two and a half miles of cabling, and two independent electrical generators, to provide redundancy and cope with any failures! There are over 9,000 individual electronic components.

The Tender was fitted with spoked wheels rather than disc wheels- the only supplier of disc wheels in this country would have been Eurostar’s supplier- but they wanted a minimum order of 200 rather than the 4 which Tornado wanted!

In order to increase the amount of water which could be accommodated in the tender, reflecting the difficulties in accessing water on the modern day network, it was decided to extend the water space in the tender, even though this would be at the expense of the coal-carrying capacity.

OTMR (the orange “black box” equipment)  records details from the past 24 hours of operation. In order to accommodate this equipment on the footplate without reducing useful space, it was placed in boxes under the tip-down seats for Driver and secondman.

Air brake equipment, located under the cab floor, is second hand and came from an ex BR diesel loco

The high-intensity headlight is in fact, composed of 7 individual LED’s, and is the power of three car headlights. The LEDs can show either white or red (tail-lamp) and even flash as a hazard warning- all cleverly housed within the familiar outline of a traditional bardic lamp.

Moving on, Bob described the whole story, from conception to construction and completion. `Running in` wearing grey primer was shown, including the night-time test runs, and the now infamous return to a very packed Kings Cross.

This has been a very busy year so far for Tornado, drawing the crowds wherever it goes. Bob finished up with pictures at Barrow Hill’s LNER gala, and the Torbay Express.

A fascinating story,  at a very timely moment. Our thanks go out to Bob for travelling from Yeovil to give us this presentation.

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October 09

Tuesday 6th October- Arthur Turner, Post War Years in the St Pancras District (Part Two)

In October 2008 Arthur visited the Society and recalled, through slides, his days working on the railway in the St Pancras District, north London. He mentioned then there was plenty more to come, which he couldn’t fit in during one evening, so a year later, on 6th October we invited him back for Part Two!

These were the days of steam in the 1950’s and early 60’s, with occasional diesels making an entrance- although we saw only one during the show, a Class 45 “Peak”. For much of this show we moved northwards from the terminus Station; indeed, Arthur described at the outset of the evening how, as a young lad, he had spent hours by the lineside at Harpenden, and later enjoyed hours in the signalbox `learning the ropes’ of signalling.

A fascinating variety of steam motive power was shown, some of the more exotic being members of the thirty-three strong LMS Garretts, built in 1927- 1930 for work on heavy coal trains such as the Toton- Brent route. These lasted until being taken out of service in 1955-1957 and all were quickly scrapped. Apart from one solitary LNER example these were the only UK main line examples of a British (Beyer Peacock) design which was very successful abroad (eg in South Africa), but at home they gained a reputation as being heavy on coal and maintenance.

Another oddity were the ten BR Standard 9Fs built with Franco- Crosti boilers in 1955, where the Chimney was only used for lighting-up and the normal exhaust came out of a separate outlet on the side of the boiler. These never delivered the expected savings in coal consumption and they were largely rebuilt to a more conventional design between 1959- 62.

It was interesting to hear Arthur describe the lengths that operating and train planning staff went to in order to reduce conflicting and unnecessary traffic movements of engines and stock when moving between St Pancras and the loco sheds and servicing facilities  at Kentish Town and Cricklewood, some miles out of the London Terminus and on opposite sides of the main line. Maximising route utilisation and careful pathing of trains are not just a modern day aspect of railway operation!

Arthur finished the evening back at Harpenden again with some views of the former nine-mile long Nickey (sometimes also spelt Nicky) Line connecting the town with Hemel Hempstead, via Redbourn. The origins of this name are somewhat unclear, possibly belonging to the Parish Church of St Nicholas in Harpenden, or Hemel’s connection with Nicholas Breakspear.

The line had an interesting and distinctive past, and saw some most unusual train formations/locomotives over the years. Amongst these were the use of Pullman cars on normal branch line trains, hauled by 4-4-0Ts imported for the task from the Midland & Great Northern Railway in their attractive 'Yellow' livery, or the use of steam railmotors, or in the 1970s, the use of one of the last Class '17' 'Clayton' diesels, by then in industrial service, along the line near Hemel Hempstead. The line was also used for demonstrating the Karrier Ro-Railer vehicles, which could be converted to run on road or rails. Passenger trains ceased in 1947 although the last excursion train ran in 1960. However part of the line was to remain in use for freight from Claydale Sidings until 1979. The Nickey Line lives on however, as a popular footpath and cycleway which is now known as the 'Nicky Way'.

Another very entertaining and informative meeting from Arthur. He says there is more to tell, so may be there will even be a Part Three to his presentation some day!

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November 09
Tuesday 3rd November – Society Annual General Meeting, and quiz
21 members gathered on Tuesday 3rd November 2009 for the Society Annual General Meeting.

Chairman Lionel Jones welcomed members and through his report, briefly recalled the main events of the last year which set the context for our interest. Changes to TOC franchises, preservation and heritage railway achievements, including “the Tornado effect”, rolling stock developments and changes, the demise of Past Time rail, Advenza Freight and others had all impacted in one way or another on the national scene and some locally.

For the Society it had been a very successful year: membership had increased, our annual outing, this year to the Bodmin & Wenford Rly and DinglesFairgroundMuseum had been a fully booked 53 seat coach and a great success. The evening outing to see work on the West Somerset Railway’s Norton triangle project, plus visit the Gauge museum at Bishops Lydeard had also been well attended. Both outings had good weather when we needed it despite an occasional shower at other times.

The Society website and monthly e-mail alert have gone from strength to strength and proved popular. This all gave the Society a firm and positive base on which to go forward.

The Chairman thanked Committee members for their work throughout the year, and members for their continued support.

Following the Chairman’s report, Committee Post holders each gave their individual, more detailed reports and took questions from members.

Members voted on and accepted the Committee recommendation that, due to the healthy financial situation of the Society, members should benefit with a £2 REDUCTION in subscription to £8 for the next Society year.

The new programme of meetings for 2010 was outlined for members, and the Committee announced that the proposed Annual outing in 2010 should be on Sunday 27th June and visit South Wales, with time to visit each of theBigPitMiningMuseum, Blaenavon and Pontypool Railway, and BreconMountain Railway.

Members discussed and agreed a proposal that the post of Press Officer should be re-titled Communications Officer, to better reflect the work of internal communications and website update, as well as external efforts.

Committee members were all re-elected and Clive Boxley welcomed onto the committee.

In addition to this update full minutes were taken of the meeting by the Secretary and will be produced in due course. In the meantime this not should be taken as a formal account of what took place.

As has now become customary, theAGM was followed, after the interval, by an informal quiz “Location, location, location”, where Lionel Jones showed twenty four current day digital images, largely on preserved or heritage railways and members had to guess where they were taken. The pictures ranged from some very familiar station scenes to some more challenging views! The overall winner was Roy Patterson, whilst Keith Wilson, Peter Carr and John Mayhew also won prizes which included free day return passes for travel on theSevernValley Railway and West Somerset Railway.

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December 09

Tuesday 1st December- Ian Coleby “A walk through the archives of the West Somerset Railway Trust”

Ian Coleby, Archivist to the West Somerset Railway Trust joined us on 1st December to explain the role of the trust and outline its history and current activities. We had previously met Ian as he was our guide when the society visited the Gauge Museum at Bishops Lydeard Station on 1st July.

The Trust is involved with the historical and educational aspects of railway preservation in West Somerset. Since 1984 the Trust has made financial contributions to the restoration of GWR steam locomotives 4561 and 4160, rescued a unique GWR sleeping car, established a GWR Museum at Blue Anchor, also a registering system and archive, published information leaflets and advised on historical matters. The newsletter, Trust News, is sent to members and associate members occasionally and contains news, information, comment and historical articles. The Trust has its website & news update at www.wssrt.co.uk

Ian explained that the Trust’s current aims include:
• to restore GW Toplight carriage 3639 (currently in the Swindon shed at Williton) having restored 1897 GWR Sleeping car 9038
• to administer the museum at Blue Anchor
• to assist with other projects such as the restoration of steam locomotives and other historic railway items to be used or displayed in West Somerset
• to act as a repository for the safekeeping of items of railway interest which may be donated, loaned or bequeathed
• to research the history of the Minehead branch

There are also strong links with the Heritage Carriages Project, which aims to acquire and restore to running order a complete rake of GWR carriages (Ian is also Chairman and Project Leader of this Group).

This was a most interesting and informative presentation and we thank Ian for joining us. 

After Ian’s talk the twenty six members and guests present enjoyed the customary December Christmas buffet.

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