Ipswich
Meeting Reports
Wednesday 5th NovemberThe B17 "Footballers"
Colin Briggs
Colin Briggs paid a return visit to the branch on 5th November with his talk entitled “The B17 Footballers” Building details were covered together with a map showing the routes over which the class usually ran. Each locomotive which carried the name of a football club was illustrated and it was interesting to learn that a number of the class carried more than one name in their lifetime. 2859 Norwich City and 2870 Manchester City both lost their names when streamlined and they became East Anglian and City of London for exclusive use on the London Norwich routes. One of the class 61671 was renamed Royal Sovereign and was stationed at Cambridge for working Royal Trains. Not only did Colin give great locomotive details but he also provided extensive information about individual clubs, their grounds and their histories. Another fascinating evening.
Wednesday 1st October
The Kent & East Sussex Railway
Dr Gerald Siviour
Dr Gerald Siviour gave a fascinating presentation on 1st October on the Kent & East Sussex Railway covering the period from 1953 to the present day. Gerald has been a very active volunteer on a number of preserved railways including the Bluebell, the KESR and lately the North Norfolk Railway. A remarkable selection of slides covered the whole length of the line between Headcorn and Robertsbridge showing some of the remaining derelict stations at Frittenden Road and Biddenden. The move from running Austerity 0-6-0s with Mark 1 coaches (not really typical of a rural branch line) to Terriers pulling beautifully restored vintage coaches was well illustrated as was a wide variety of traction which has been used over the years including a GWR rail car, a Norwegian 2-6-0, a 4 wheel Rail Bus and a Beattie well tank. Costs of running the line were demonstrated when we learnt that £150,000 had to be spent to completely overhaul even a small Terrier.
Wednesday 3rd September
Looking Back at the 1980s
Stephen Cobb
Branch Secretary Steve Cobb demonstrated just how far you could travel using ranger and rover tickets when he opened the new season with a remarkable railway tour entitled Looking Back at the 1980’s. We were treated to scenes of Peaks at Nottingham Midland, Class 40s and 45s at Ipswich and a classic shot of 55002 at Peterborough in 1982. The preserved lines were well covered with visits to the Severn Valley, the North Norfolk and the Colne Valley railway also open days at Chart Leacon, Derby works and Norwich Crown Point. Overseas transport was well represented with scenes of buses and trams and railway scenes in East Berlin, Dresden, Potsdam and even a Union Pacific train at Colorado. Some of the most interesting scenes were various shots taken during the building of the Orwell Bridge at Ipswich which opened in 1982.
Wednesday 7th May
Ipswich Railway memories + Northwest steam finale – 40 years on
Tom Hobin
The season was brought to a close with a fascinating presentation by Tom Hobin who covered a very wide area from Ipswich to Beattock. Tom started his photography hobby with a box Brownie and he produced a slide of LNER streamlined Sandringham 2859 actually working the East Anglian train. Another rare shot was of J65 68211 working in Ipswich docks “modified “ and running as a
2-4-0T. A visit to Grantham to see the last Ivatt Atlantic working and A4 Silver Fox struggling with a load of 17 coaches was followed by scenes at Neasden, Carnforth and Rose Grove. Tom also produced some very effective recorded sound effects. A very enjoyable evening.
Wednesday 2nd April Geoff had many such memories and members and visiting friends were kept well entertained.
Memories of Ipswich Loco – Its men and engines
Geoff Humphrey
Geoff Humphrey paid a return visit to the branch on 2nd April with “Memories of Ipswich Loco – it’s men and engines” He kept the audience amused with tales of experiences on the footplate working trains up to Liverpool street and also to Bury St Edmunds and Norwich. He related how one driver returned to Ipswich with a supply of paint after shunting a paint factory and another who returned from Lowestoft docks with a quantity of fish for his family. One incident concerned a small tank engine which was pressed into service one evening to take a lengthy heavy passenger train from Ipswich to Norwich. On arrival at Norwich three lights were displayed on the front of the engine two white and one red – the white ones indicated that it was an express passenger and the red one was the glow of the overworked smokebox!
Wednesday 5th March
It is impossible to do justice to a great evenings entertainment in a short report. If John has not yet been to your branch make sure that you book him up – his pictures and his knowledge are quite remarkable.
Around the UK with Rail Photoprints
John Chalcraft
John Calcroft paid a return visit to the branch on 5th March with a presentation entitled “Around the UK with Rail Photo prints” A capacity audience enjoyed a great tour starting at Weymouth in 1966 and ending with 66009 passing Gleneagles some years later. We were treated to shots of a pair of Class 25s leaving Dovey Junction, Class 20s leaving the Forth Bridge, 47085 on the last Weymouth- Liverpool service, 58044 under construction at Doncaster, 59001/2 undergoing adhesion trials at Savernake together with a liberal helping of Hymeks and Warships on the Western Region. Steam enthusiasts were not forgotten with views of Rose Grove depot with Class 8Fs in steam in 1968, GWR King 6023 being lifted by crane into the cattle dock at Bristol Temple Meads in December 1984 and 777 Sir Lamiel at Bath.
Wednesday 6th February We were taken on a tour of Australia and New Zealand with some excellent slides taken in the early 1990s. There were fascinating shots of Ipswich station (Ipswich West of Brisbane) and the local railway museum. Transport museums cropped up several times during the evening many with their well preserved exhibits standing out in the open air – something that could not happen in Great Britain. Steam hauled rail tours were in evidence, double decker Intercity units, a streamlined green pacific in Sydney Central station, steam lorries and traction engines and even a red Routemaster double decker bus at Arrowtown. Thanks go to Steve for a very interesting evening.
And now for something completely different
Steve Cobb
Steve Cobb, Branch Secretary, stepped into the breach on 6th February at very short notice when the published speaker was admitted to hospital. Steve aptly titled his presentation “And now for something completely different”
Wednesday 2nd January
The show consisted of material taken during Johns extensive travels throughout the UK during 2007, together with material from his four trips to the USA during that year and a couple of shots (non-rail) from a short visit to Turkey. As John has embraced Digital photography over the past few years, it was purely material in this format that was presented to the assembled meeting, in itself a first for the branch for non-moving images.
Once some initial teething problems with the equipment had been sorted out, John proceeded to give an absorbing presentation on his travels ranging from the local East Anglian railscene with its single car class 153’s through to enormous length “double stack” container trains and other freights on Tehachapi pass in California. John has become something of an expert on the current US railroads in his many visits, so seems to know where to find the good photo locations, whether it be out in the far west of the Country or in such “small town” locations as La Grange, Kentucky which is where his son now lives.
Whilst there was a strong US emphasis to the show, changes on the Ipswich area rail routes through the year were also dealt with in detail. Indeed, covering the last 4 weeks or so of the year alone, John was able to illustrate the start of the transition from the “one” branded rolling stock, through to the new “National Express” branded Class 90 + stock and the commencement of the de-branding of the “one” stock.
In all, everyone present had a thoroughly entertaining evening with the material to John’s usual high standard.
2007 – A personal review of my travels
John Day
On 2nd January, Ipswich Branch member and National RCTS Secretary John Day entertained us with “2007 – A personal review of my travels”. John had originally been scheduled to give us a show in our 2006/7 season of meetings, but he had to make a short-notice trip to the USA, where he has family connections, so he was “persuaded” to occupy a spot in out 2007/8 season instead!
Wednesday 5th December 2007 The branch is now in urgent need of one or two volunteers who would be willing to help out at exhibitions if only on an occasional basis.
After the formal part of the evening we enjoyed the usual seasonal fare of sausage rolls, mince pies and coffee. This was followed by a very wide selection of slides shown by Bev Steele, David Chappell, John Day, Roger Harrison and Dave Swale covering some very early slides of the Mid Suffolk Light railway, marvellous atmospheric shots on the Bluebell Railway, Reading in the early 1970s and, of course, Louisville to Cincinnati as well as a some unique shots of British Rail steam over the years.
Branch AGM and Members' Slides
The Branch AGM was held on 5th December and the standing committee was re-elected – Chairman Eric Palmer, Secretary Stephen Cobb, Treasurer Colin Prime and Committee members John Yelverton, Bev Steele, Dave Swale and Rod Fowkes. Colin Prime is stepping down as Branch Sales Officer and he was thanked for all his past efforts bringing books to meetings and attending exhibitions.
November 2008