Bristol
Meeting Reports
Friday 6th January 2012
Post War Years on the St Pancras District.
'Post War Years in the St Pancras Control' on the 6th January by Arthur Turner was a fascinating insight into the life of Arthur of Harpenden. From his ride-on wooden locomotive when four years old, he became a spotter in 1943, left school to work in the Westminster Bank but after National Service in the RAF in 1954 joined the railway Control Office at St Pancras. His contemporary notes and memory relived the details of shed workings and diagrams together with the make up of coaching sets. The operational pinch points of St Pancras with its platform length limitations and on the line to Bedford were explained together with the effect they had on the day to day operating. Photographs showed a plethora of suburban tanks, Compounds, Class 5s, Jubilees, Scots and Standards. The 9Fs were only to be used on passenger services in emergency whilst three each way overnight parcels were the responsibility of Class 5s. His knowledge of how the line operated is extensive and the arrival of diesels in the 60s is a part 2 looked forward to with anticipation.
Friday 16th December 2011
Christmas Buffet and Quiz
Arthur will be providing the ‘family friendly’ quiz and a buffet will be provided @ £6 per head.
The Christmas Buffet and Quiz on 16th December had 34 of the class respond to Headmaster Arthur Turner's 80 questions. What, where and why tested our knowledge. After five consecutive years of winning, 'Professor' Dale Robertson kindly stepped down from participating leaving Stuart Jolly to win £10 with 59 points, Brian Arman second with 58 and David McCollum third. John Dixon was put into detention and Martin Lee was nearest the Mystic number. After the quiz, the serious part of the evening was an extensive buffet complete with crackers, coffee, fruit juices and After Eight Mints. Happy Christmas to all.
Friday 2nd December 2011
Steam in South Africa
Terry Nicholls
Terry Nicholls remembered steam in South Africa in cine. Using his visits of 1987, 1990 and 1991, Terry covered many parts of the country from seeing the daily mixed at Barkly East to high speed freights between Kimberly and De Aar. Railtours gave the opportunity for run pasts and if the performance was not up to expected, a repeat was instantly arranged! An achievement was to photograph the 'Red Devil' 3450 at speed of about 75mph from a pacing car for four minutes. Garretts on 3'6" were enormous and the sound effects stimulating. Industrials were mainly ex-main line locomotives hauling mammoth mineral trains but a Garrett on a one van p.w. train was perhaps super power. One reel was devoted to Zimbabwe with the large fleet of North British Garretts. The stupendous Victoria Falls was the tourist input for the evening although through out the scenery was impressive with mountains often showing how 3'6" was necessary for the construction of railways. The ending of steam in July 1991 was the subject of numerous trains, both freight and passenger, being steam hauled which brought the curtain down on steam in South Africa and on a superb evening of photography and ear wrenching sound effects.
Friday 4th November 2011
More London Steam
A return visit by our friend Peter Groom
4th November, we welcomed back Peter Groom to continue with 'More London Steam'. Described as the 'Dogs Ends of London' North London tanks shunting at Poplar were evocative, LT&S tanks at Plaistow heralded the end of Cockney steam and then across the river to Hither Green with a King Arthur for its sole passenger turn and a SR 060DE. Security fencing, because of the adjacent international freight depot, surrounded Bricklayers Arms where a rebuilt D rested in snow and a light Pacific dozed with a Night Ferry headboard. Feltham was the home to heavy tanks such as H16 for transfer freights and Z for working on the hump. Southall produced a 4700 alongside a WD 2-8-0 as well small Prairie tanks displaced from Cornwall. Moving away from sheds, freights passing Acton were followed by the access from the canal providing stunning views of 'Scots', 'Coronations', 71000 and 10000/1 climbing Camden Bank. The evening closed with LNER Pacifics passing Caledonian Road. Nostalgia oozed from every photograph accompanied by Peter's entertaining and instructive commentary. Superb.
Friday 7th October 2011
Rovers and Railtours in the 80s
Paul Udey - Note change of speaker
A short notice change of speaker 7th October had Paul Udey step in with 'Rovers and Railtours in the 80's'. After showing the contemporary scene in the Bristol area including Bath Green Park awaiting refurbishment by Sainsbury’s, for the years 1981-85, Paul showed what could be seen using rail rovers and railtours. Semaphore signals at Exeter, Weymouth Quay with both a DMU and a 33+4TC on boat trains, 47/7 at Glasgow Queen Street and a rough sea from Mallaig to Kyle whetted the appetite. Railtours reached unlikely destinations such as Roath Dock, Cardiff, 'Sarah Siddons' to Portsmouth, Yorkshire collieries, DEMU at Dungeness and the GWR 150 steam shuttles from Temple Meads to Wapping Wharf. The most amusing incidence was probably the train crew using a crow bar to release the hoof of a pony trapped by the rail on a level crossing. An evening of wide ranging locations and events coupled with historical facts on many of the locomotives shown.
Saturday 3rd September 2011-Sunday 4th September 2011
West Somerset Railway – Late Summer Weekend
Friday 2nd September 2011
Railway Journeys in Art
Richard Furness
We welcomed Richard and Judy Furness on the 2nd September to present 'Railway Journeys in Art'. Their unfinished project has so far taken 9 years. The first major task has been to bring the NRM and Kew records into agreement as they create a definitive reference for all posters and to search the NRM for posters that they did not know they had. Judy has the artistic eye to ensure that the most appropriate posters are used in the design of publications and the best standard is reached in poster restoration. 'Poster to Poster' is a series currently under preparation and this uses the 1955 local authority boundaries. Photoshop Professional achieves amazing restoration standards. Richard has become the national authority on the style, artists and production of posters. The difference between an artist and a poster artist was depicted. The 1908 'Skegness is so Bracing' poster is a classic which even BR in the 1950's emulated. Judy's favourite is a poster of Scarborough showing fashion at its best at the seaside and Richard particularly appreciates artists pictures of chemical plants at night but his favourite is the 1958 poster of Oxford. Incidentally the issuing authority has its logo on the left where logos of more than one company are represented. A fascinating evening of colour intertwined with a great depth of knowledge enhanced with the display of some originals.
Wednesday 13th July 2011
Branch visit to the Bridge House Light Railway at Frampton Cotterell.
A fully illustrated report appears here
Thursday 23rd June 2011
Observation afternoon & evening Westbury Station
A fully illustrated report appears here.
Friday 6th May 2011
The Reading Station Rebuilding Project
Callum MacLeod
Callum MacLeod wearing a NR hat on 6th May showed the official NR presentation of the 'Reading Station Rebuilding Project'. Reading has become a pinch point with ramifications nationwide in punctuality. A complete rebuild costing £680M over eight years is underway which will increase the number of platforms leaving room for a further 4 platforms, the movement of the Turbo depot to the north of the main line, re-instatement of the east end dive under but not to be electrified, a flyover for up west of England services, a 2km flyover 9m high at the west end for down Didcot services and the main station entrance moved to the north side. This will give capacity for 100% more passengers and 125% more trains after the completion of electrification to Bristol and Cardiff. Invensys are transferring signalling from Reading PSB to the TVSC at Didcot where rain water flushes the toilets. The closure at Christmas 2010 permitted a new road under bridge at the west end and the low height Cow Lane Bridge will be rebuilt eliminating bridge bashes. The management of the project is with one team to give faster decision making. A computer simulation gave the impression of what it will be like for a Class 59 to make a four minute journey from Southcote Jct. via the flyover to Sonning Cutting even if Reading station will become 'surrounded by fields'! A fascinating insight into a major project which will have National benefits. The evening was completed with a selection of films showing the rebuilding of London Bridge, electrification of the WCML and civil engineering projects.
Friday 1st April 2011
The Southern and Western in the 1960s
Bob Bunyar
1st April we welcomed back Bob Bunyar with "The Southern and Western in the 1960s - the transition from steam to diesel". With slides from the late 50s and 60s taken by himself and others, we firstly travelled from Paddington to the west Country seeing express passenger locomotives at Paddington, a ROD, 2176 and 1140 plus others at Swindon and LEV3 and 61051 at Temple Meads. We learnt the error of his ways when the Bristol Branch Chairman as a lad missed Sunday School to see 60022 at Swindon, was pictured in a newspaper in the cab but still claimed to his father that he had been to Sunday School!! D2133 was seen on the Hemyock milk as with a mixture of diesels and steam we headed for Penzance. After the break, the Southern from Ashford to Padstow with glimpses of the Hayling branch, Ryde, Waterloo, Southampton Central with a RCTS special and the 'withered arm' completed an interesting nostalgic evening.
Friday 4th March 2011
AGM & Digital/Slide photographic competition
At the AGM 4th on March satisfactory reports were presented and all officers and committee were re-elected. The photographic competition had all 43 members of the audience judge the 70 entries. In the slide categories, Terry Nicholls won the Western Lancer Award for non-steam with 66843 at Ais Gil with a Carlisle to Chirk timber service with Stewart Jolly 2nd and Arthur Turner 3rd with a 47 on the S&C and a night line up of HSTs at St Philips Marsh respectively. Arthur Turner won the RCTS Segment Award for steam with 5043 climbing past Narroways Hill Jct. in 2010 with the Up 'Bristolian' with Arthur also 2nd with 6695 on the WSR and 3rd David McCollum with the N2 at Bitton. The digital awards were the 83D Award for non-steam won by Matthew Turner with 60011 at Haresfield on oil tanks for Westerleigh, 2nd Matt again but with a HST climbing through Pilning, and 3rd equal Brian Turner with 59002 at Westbury and Geoff Sutton with a Rhaetischian electric at St. Moritz. The digital steam was a pannier on a passenger service on the SDR by Stewart Jolly, with both 2nd and 3rd 6024 at Twerton by father and son Brian and Matthew Turner respectively standing shoulder to shoulder. During the extended counting process, Brian Arman showed an interesting random selection of slides depicting mainly LNER locomotives from London to Scotland.
last updated: 11/01/12