January 2010

WsMRS Meeting – January 5th 2010

The advertised Speaker was Peter Triggs from Taunton but unfortunately he had succumbed to the ‘flu, which, coupled with the very inclement weather made getting a replacement Speaker at barely 24 hours notice almost impossible.

In order not to disappoint the members who did brave the weather, Chairman Lionel Jones and Communications Officer Ian Chancellor collaborated to put on a ‘show of two halves’.

Lionel’s part was a show of just under an hour that he gives to Groups around the town such as WI and Probus. Titled a History of the West Somerset Railway, it neatly followed on from Ian Coleby’s presentation in December. Starting as Ian did with the first advert in the Taunton Courier it went beyond the closure of the line in 1971 to the birth and growth of the Preserved or Heritage Line that we know today. Lionel’s show concluded with a brief look at the family tree of the descendants of first Chairman, Sir Peregrine Acland, to his Great Granddaughter who is the current President of the West Somerset Steam Railway Trust and Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant for Somerset – Lady Elizabeth Gass.

For the second half of the evening, Ian Chancellor provided selection of images in the digital format – a fairly new medium for one of his presentations. Most of the images were taken within the last year at locations in the Bristol/Somerset areas. Shots of the new-build A1 Steam Locomotive ‘Tornado’ taken on the WSR together with others taken during last year’s Galas featured although the majority were of modern traction classes including the latest addition to the Railway scene, Class 70’s taken at Bristol Parkway last month. Our thanks to Lionel and Ian for ‘filling the gap’ at such short notice

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February 2010

February 2nd 2010 – Ian Chancellor
In his usual February slot and under the title 'Arrivals and Departures' Ian gave a slide presentation largely covering the last 30 years around these islands.

In line with the recent winter weather Ian began by showing  scenes from previous snowy interludes over the last thirty years, but mostly from the winter of 1981/2.  Apart from the inevitable delays both then and now the most noticeable change was that of the liveries and the infrastructure. We were reminded of HSTs in their early liveries which contrast with today's privatised schemes. First generation DMUs and long withdrawn diesel locos also featured in the programme.

More recent developments were also featured, such as the arrival on a regular basis of some 250 Class 66 locos at Newport Docks on delivery from North America, including shots of the locos in the hold of the ship before unloading  and delivery to various freight operators.

Some notable railtours were recalled, particularly the Pathfinder/ DTG tour to Inverness and the Kyle of Lochalsh in June 2009 using Class 52 “Western Champion”, surely a development not anticipated 30 years ago.   In Ireland we were reminded of locomotive hauled trains on main lines on Irish Rail now replaced to a very large extent by DMUs.

This show illustrated the vast number of changes that have taken place during the period covered which in many ways are far more extensive than the changes made as a result of the conversion from steam to diesel and electric traction.   As always from Ian this was a most enjoyable and interesting session. 

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March 2010

David Lawrence – “Beside the Line” – March 2nd 2010

David travelled from Grantham to join us as our March speaker.  For those of us with long memories it was a sobering thought that his last visit was more than ten years ago when, as a professional railwayman, David was then at the highest levels of the former BR Property Board.

David explained his lifelong interest in buildings and infrastructure, which had also formed a great deal of his professional career. His presentation was in two parts- firstly giving us an insight into the engineering features and structures which we often take for granted on the railway but are essential. David explained the different types of crossing and in what circumstances they were used – from fully automatic barriers to lightly used accommodation or occupation crossings. Drawing on his professional experience he explained that from the railway’s perspective each one was a potential hazard, inconvenience or maintenance cost, and should an opportunity arise to reduce the number or replace two with one then that was gladly accepted!

The way in which the railways have changed over the last fifty years was illustrated by comparing the number of signal boxes between Paddington and Plymouth over these years- these days well into single figures! Bridges, signals, signal boxes, and other lineside fixtures were also covered.

In the second half of the evening David show a very varied selection of slides taken over the last fifty years, many of which showed how changes here had been mirrored in Eire, albeit much more recently . However, some fascinating views of Irish stations showed how they had largely escaped the trend of the 1970’s -1980’s on BR of demolishing old station buildings and replacing them with inferior “bus shelters”. As a result there were still a variety of old buildings still in use long after less robust structures here had succumbed to vandals or general wear and tear.

This was a slightly different but very enjoyable presentation by David, and it was fascinating to hear his descriptions “from the inside” when working on the railway and responsible for properties and infrastructure.

Our thanks go to David for a fascinating evening.

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April 2010

Ian Wright– “Commemorations & Celebrations” – April 6th 2010

Ian visited the Society for the first time on April 6th to share with us an excellent selection of slides taken over the last thirty five years. A former science teacher and a volunteer steam loco driver on both the West Somerset and Bluebell Railways, Ian recalled his  experiences traveling to a number of major railway celebrations since 1975, largely traveling as part of a locomotive support crew from the Bluebell Railway or with other former SR steam locos.
Ian recalled some personal “inside” stories from the footplate and support crew at Shildon in 1975, and Rainhill in 1980, commemorating the Stockton & Darlington, plus Lancashire & Yorkshire Railways respectively. We saw photos of steam locos and liveries long since lost from the limelight in the respective cavalcades of locos which drew massive crowds from across the country.
As Ian followed on with more recent celebrations, his strong allegiance to Southern locos came through, as did his strong views on different types of locos. His honest but firmly-held personal views on these weren’t always necessarily shared by all present, but it was a fascinating and entertaining account of some of the goings on behind the scenes at these events, in places where the public weren’t able to access.
Our thanks go to Ian for sharing his experiences and slides and we hope he’ll return to entertain us in the future with another show.

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May 2010

Frank Cronin– “A Foreign Steam Miscellany” – May 4th 2010

Frank took time out from his duties as a volunteer driver on the East Lancs and Severn Valley Railways to share with us some superb photos of working steam locos in South Africa and Germany he had taken over the last forty years.
During that time both countries have undergone major political and social change, and Frank ably conveyed the changes he had found during his visits through his colour slides and accompanying commentary.
Some very different aspects of working steam were shown- large heavy freight locos gathered on shed and out working on the main line in industrial East Germany during the 1970s, seen through his telephoto lens, contrasted with British-built Garrett locos hard at work in the wide open empty plains of South Africa under a cloudless blue sky, and narrow-gauge Mountain steam in the deep snow of a German winter.
A former school teacher, Frank demonstrated his artistic skills in using the so-called “magic hour” of sunlight at the start and end of the day, capturing vivid sunlight and golden glint against a deep blue sky, with towering steam exhaust in freezing temperatures. Frank explained that in South Africa, unlike the UK, the change from sunset to pitch black skies was very sudden – in fact in fifteen minutes rather than an hour- giving very little time for the photographer to capture the changing light conditions.
Frank finished the evening with a return to Germany- this time to the narrow gauge steam-operated lines in the Harz Mountains during the depths of a snowy German winter- quite a contrast.
Frank’s slides provided some memorable scenes in a very entertaining evening and we pass on our thanks to him.

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June 2010

Mike Goodfield– “Back in Black & White” – June 1st 2010

Following the late withdrawal of our planned speaker members welcomed Mike Goodfield to our June meeting and our thanks go to him for standing in at short notice.
                                   
Mike gave a black and white digital presentation of shots taken mostly in the 1960s as steam came to an end on BR.   Mike took full advantage of his time as a signalman operating in the Filton area in 1968 with shots of early BR diesels and first generation DMUs operating services which certainly brought back memories of the local railway scene 40 years ago and all this before the building of Bristol Parkway!!     Other Bristol area shots were shown at Keynsham, Mangotsfield and Bath Green Park.

We were next taken on a tour of the surviving WR sheds including Didcot, Oxford and Banbury showing many classes of GWR and Standard designs.  Mike pointed out that steam on WR finished in December 1965 with the exception of Bath Green Park which ceased with the closure of the Somerset & Dorset in March 1966.

Shed scenes from most parts of the network as far north as Inverness and as far south as Weymouth were also shown showing a rich variety of surviving classes before steam finally ended in 1968.   The number of locations visited seemed staggering in view of the small number of locations available today.    Shots taken on the main lines included the last days of steam on the Southern Region with views at Vauxhall, Basingstoke and Southampton amongst others.   Views at locations on the Settle and Carlisle were also included.

This was certainly an evening of nostalgia and it brought back memories of a more gentle age long before the advent of HST’s, Pendolinos and the rest!   Our thanks go to Mike for reminding us what things used to be like. 

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