Society News
SOCIETY’S 71st AGM WEEKEND -- 20th-22nd April 2007
by Nigel Farebrother, ‘In Retrospect’ and June Barby
Welcome to Coventry
The Hylands Hotel, five minutes walk from Coventry Station where the Coronation class name plate and coat of arms of the city are displayed, was the venue for the meetings and base for the outdoor visits. Many, however, gathered on Friday afternoon at Tyseley for a visit to the maintenance depot of Central Trains and the Tyseley Locomotive Works.
Tyseley Visit
The visits were the start of the AGM Weekend at Coventry. On arrival at Tyseley the group of 40 members were split into two groups of 20 each. One party went to the Central Trains’ depot, the other to the Museum’s locomotive works; after approximately one hour, the two groups swapped.
At the depot the members were shown all
aspects of the maintenance of Central Trains’
DMU fleet. The depot had units of several
classes being worked upon. For the record, the
following 16 units were present: 150011/3/6,
150229/37, 153364/83/4, 156411, 158783,
170103/5/13, 170501/5/13.
At the locomotive works, there was a mixture of
steam and diesel traction, including 46229
Duchess of Hamilton undergoing streamlining.
Also there were two Halls 4953/65, which are
frequently used to work steam specials, plus
several other locomotives being worked upon,
including 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe. On
the diesel side, recent arrivals included
47732/70/3 for restoration and possible main
line work. Also present were representatives
from Cl.08, 20, 37, 40 and 50 while electric locomotives
from Cl.86 and 87 were around the
site.
Thanks are due to Alstom (Central Trains’) and
to the Tyseley Locomotive Museum for accommodating the party and the West
Midlands Branch for arranging the visit.
"A Railway Photographer in the Heart of England"
Back at the hotel, dinner for some (including the speaker and the President) was taken on‘the slow line’ as those having bar snacks found themselves served with meals pre-ordered by others at registration and inevitably the kitchen ran out of the ordered food, leaving just fish cakes. A late start had the large audience squeezed into the Oxford Room to hear Hugh Ballantyne talk on “A Railway Photographer in the Heart of England”. Living in Bath during the latter years of steam days meant that we were treated to the results of Hugh’s visits to the Midlands rather than of someone resident in that area. There were gaps inevitably but the coverage of what was there was extensive and gave a good overview of freight and passenger activity. The sales market in the ante-room and the bar were supported to a late hour.
Midland Railway Centre
Saturday morning loomed bright as an ex-BMMO (Midland Red) D9 double-deck bus
EHA 424D of 1966 pulled up outside. This was
one of a number of restored buses owned and
driven by Roger Burdett of Long Eaton near
Nottingham. Following privatisation, the
variety of colours means that the unsuspecting
public assumed that it was a service bus so put
out their hand.
Leaving a few minutes late with 62 passengers,
we ran at a steady speed along the A38 to
Butterley for the Midland Railway Centre. 45041 was waiting with the 10.35 departure non-stop to Riddings Jct. loop where, after a run-round, it hauled us to Swanwick Junction. Here there was a locomotive change to D182 but most members left the train to explore the rambling site, either in one of two guided parties or alone. Today was a ‘Diesel Locomotive Gala’ so steam was all inside and some members travelled extensively behind a variety of diesel power, both DMU and locomotives.
In the yard 12077 was yard pilot surrounded by diesels including D212 and immaculate unit 141113. Inside the Princess Royal building were 46203, 6233, 80080, D2138 and two industrial steam plus the 1ft. 6in. gauge 6201 and 6203 ex-Butlins. 47401 suffered a failure and was replaced by 25321 on a service train. The museum was open and in the adjacent workshops were 44027, 44932, 45491, 58309
and 73129 plus a variety of industrial tank
locomotives.
The 2ft. gauge Golden Valley Light Railway was in operation, with a 45-minute frequency, using Motor Rail Simplex (ex-Campbell Brickworks) No.1, from Butterley Park to Newlands Inn, a journey of about a mile – mostly along the alignment of an old mineral line.
To complete the visit, DMU 51591+56006 running from Butterley via Hammersmith to Swanwick made a special stop at Butterley on the return to allow members to traverse the section Butterley to Hammersmith and back.
Our D9 resumed its stately progress but, due to an accident closing the A38, a detour through Derby lost time but overall was quicker than joining the stationary queue. Arrival back at Coventry for the AGM was going to be a little late, but as we entered the city all was not well with the engine. We limped to the hotel leaving a trail of fuel on the road. For the D9, its work that day was terminated. Unfortunately Roger and his partner Lyn now could not join us that evening as they had to arrange for the D9 to be returned to Long Eaton for repair.
Coventry Visit
An alternative to the Butterley visit was a guided stroll through some of Coventry’s history. The weather was very pleasant for those who walked the short distance from the Hylands Hotel towards the town centre, passing the Starley memorial, the school that George Eliot attended and the house of the novelist Angela Brazil. We met the other participants, who had made their way by taxi, at Coventry’s Register Office. This building was first mentioned in 1250 and is the gatehouse of the manor built by Queen Isabella, widow of Edward II and who is said to have arranged his brutal death!
Crossing the road we made our way to Ford’s Hospital which are almshouses dating from 1509. At leisure we were able to admire the secluded courtyard and its rich variety of carving. A short stroll took us past a Georgian town house before admiring the outside of the Council House with Coventry’s coat of arms over the door.
Roger Bailey, a blue badge tourist guide, met us as we were having coffee in the Herbert café. Roger took us into the Council Chamber where we admired the carvings on the ends of the seats reminding us that Coventry was formerly in the Forest of Arden. Next we entered St. Mary’s Guild Hall, built in 1340-2 and believed to incorporate some remains of Coventry’s castle. It is considered to be one of the grandest medieval guild halls in the country. We saw the small room where Mary Queen of Scots in 1569 spent her time whilst imprisoned in the city and the Great Hall with a late 14th century timber roof and the Tournai Tapestry commissioned for the visit of Henry VII in 1500.
Passing the old cathedral of St. Michael which was destroyed in the blitz of 1940 we went into the Priory visitor centre to view a video about the Benedictine Priory church of St. Mary which later became Coventry’s first cathedral. This was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539. The undercroft has recently been excavated and Roger took us on a visit down into the calefactorium or warming room of the monks.
Leaving Roger Bailey, we visited the ruins of the old cathedral and walked around Sir Basil Spence’s modern replacement, admiring the colourful stained glass windows, the font made from stone brought from Bethlehem standing in front of the baptistery window, the etchings on the Piper window and the gigantic tapestry designed by Graham Sutherland.
AGM
On everyone returning to the Hylands, a little game was played by the hotel in that almost everyone found that their magnetic room keys did not work. A long queue at reception had the keys re-magnetised but this took time. The AGM commenced a little late in the restaurant as a result. The Chairman steered the business with a minimum of debate, the President made encouraging remarks and very quickly the meeting was drawn to a close with all proposed changes to the rules accepted unanimously.
Dinner
The restaurant was quickly restored to its more usual use and 81 members and guests sat down to a most enjoyable meal. A good ice breaker was the game for each table to have twenty clues, the answer to each being a steam shed in the geographic area of the West Midlands Branch – won by the Managing Editor and his table colleagues with a full score. Immediately everyone was talking to others on their table, each table being identified by the name of a West Midland railway junction. It appeared that, thanks to the choice for each course having been pre-ordered, the waiting staff had been instructed as to the meaning of codes at each place which looked remarkably like shed codes, e.g. 1A was not Willesden but ‘Soup of the Day’.
We were delighted that a Coventry man, Andrew Scott CBE, Head of the National Railway Museum, York, was our chief guest, together with his mother. Andrew spoke to us about the developments taking place at the national treasure at York and its satellite museum at Shildon. The bar was supported by those wishing to muse over old times with friends and make new acquaintances.
At the end of Andrew’s talk, John Redgate presented West Midlands Branch Chairman Geoff Baylis with a model of a GWR Castle class locomotive, in recognition of Geoff’s devoted service to the Society as Assistant Publications Officer – having served on the Publications committee since its inception until the end of 2005, for a large part of that time as its Secretary.
He had been responsible for very many yearsfor the packing and distribution of books to the trade, branches, members and to the general public. John commented that probably no one had shifted a greater weight of Society books than Geoff had done over the years!
The presentation model of 4081 Warwick Castle in BR lined green with the later tender emblem had been mounted in a display case, with a suitably worded plaque by local Branch committee member David Walker. The locomotive was an appropriate choice in that the Castles were Geoff’s favourite class and the name equally suitable in that Geoff lives near Warwick, almost within the sight and sound of Hatton bank.
Statfold Barn Railway
On Sunday morning, instead of the D9, Roger Burdett arrived with his Royal Blue Bristol coach OTA 640G in National Express livery and on which he and his partner had worked the previous evening following the mechanical problems with the double-decker. The ride was superb for the journey to the Statfold Barn Railway near Tamworth. 65 members enjoyed the hospitality of Graham Lee at what is a private railway which had its first open day in March 2007.
With the sun shining we were enthralled by the mixture of standard, 2ft. 6in. (750mm), 2ft. and 10¼in. gauge stock. The first train out on the dual gauge Field Railway was 2ft.6in. gauge No. 5 Pakis Baru (an O&K 0-4-4-0T Mallet) followed by 2ft. gauge Harrogate. At the end of the day they topped and tailed with a group photograph stop. The Garden Railway had 2ft. gauge Jack Lane hauling one open coach.
The many workshops had a wide variety of rolling stock, mainly narrow gauge. A Baguley 4w railcar of 1919, returned in 2006 from France, has been beautifully restored and was resting on the turntable with three gauges. Coffee was available in the museum and all too soon we had to leave this fascinating railway for the journey back to Coventry.
Conclusion
Back at the hotel we said goodbye to friends ordelayed our departure with lunch, which this time was served quickly
A most enjoyable weekend of events and meetings well organised by the West Midlands Branch covering visits to a modern traction depot, steam locomotive works, preservation centre and private railway plus a talk, AGM and dinner with an informed speaker.
[RO Editorial Comment. Our report contributor ‘In Retrospect’ asked not to be identified in case his part of this item contained any errors. He was less shy when he allowed his picture to appear on the rear cover of the December 2006 RO – but, of course, we are willing to comply with his request, while thanking him plus Nigel and June for this excellent collation of the weekend’s activities!]