South East
Meeting Reports
Tuesday 14th OctoberThe Railways of Kent
Bob Ratcliffe
The branch held its second afternoon meeting at Maidstone on 14th. October at which branch member Bob Ratcliffe presented his talk about the Railways of Kent covering the history of the County’s transport from stage coach to the present day. Bob described the development of railways from the building of the Canterbury & Whitstable onwards through the days of the establishment the South Eastern Railway and the London, Chatham & Dover Railway and then the setting up of the South Eastern & Chatham Joint Operating Committee to halt the excessive competition between the two companies. Then on to amalgamation and the Southern Railway, Nationalisation and Privatisation. This was accompanied by a very fine series of maps and illustrations many of them taken from archival material. After the refreshment break the afternoon concluded with a series of colour slides from Bob’s collection of steam in Kent. As with our pilot meeting at Maidstone last April this meeting was well supported by both members and visitors.
Monday 6th October
My Travels 1992 to 2008
A celebration of the branch's 200th meeting
Hugh Gould (Society President)
On 6th. October 2008 the branch celebrated the 200th. meeting to be held at Ashford. The first meeting was held on 2nd. March 1992 by a local group of RCTS members to explore the likely support for a branch and 20 members attended plus 16 visitors who were treated to a slide show by Eric Palmer entitled “In Search of Steam.” The official inaugural meeting was held on 7th. September chaired by our present Chairman John Redgate at which the officers were appointed along with three committee members. It was therefore appropriate that John was able to join us on the 6th. October along with our President Hugh Gould who gave a presentation entitled “My travels 1992 to 2008.” Hugh’s first presentation to the branch took place in August 1993. To help us celebrate the evening past officers of the branch were invited to a pre-meeting supper where officers past and present renewed old friendships. Our usual mid evening break was extended so that our past and present chairmen could cut a celebratory cake. This was well received by the 50 plus members and friends present along with free tea and coffee on this occasion. There have been only three chairmen in the life of the branch and it was a pleasure to have Peter Glenn and Noel Tappenden join with Keith Mapley in cutting the cake. This prompted the comment that any future chairman was looking at a term of 6 years plus in the job. The 100th. meeting was held in July 2000 and the branch looks forward to celebrating the 300th meeting in early 2017.
Monday 2nd June
A Digital Extravaganza
An opportunity for members who have gone digital to show their work.
Branch Members
The steady growth in the number of members now using digital cameras prompted the branch committee to run an evening devoted to members’ efforts with this new media. Contributions were received from over a dozen members on disc and memory stick. During the evening members were transported as far away as the Shanghai airport Maglev, to Australia, through Europe to the USA and not forgetting the UK scene both standard and narrow gauge. A video presentation by Andy Wood of merged still shots accompanied by commentary and music featuring the Llangollan Railway was very well received as was the presentation by Geoff Dunster of pictures by the late Alan Merrils which had been digitally restored from prints and slides featuring the Southern Region in the 70s and 80s. Voted by all a very successful evening and very pleasing that more members were encouraged to contribute to the evening than to our previous ‘members’ slides’ evenings.
Monday 12th May
The Isle of Man Railways
All the railways and tramways of the island from 1974 to 2007
Geoff Brockett
The branch welcomed Geoff. Brockett to Ashford to present his talk on the Isle of Man railways and tramways from 1974 to 2007. Geoff first of all asked for a show of hands from people who had not visited the island and so began with a short history of the island and its transport systems. Then starting with the steam railways Geoff. traced the changes that have taken place since he first started visiting in 1974. The decision of the Tynwald to develop the remaining line as a tourist attraction was explained and with the aid of his slides we were shown the great days of the transport festivals of the 1990s. Geoff. then moved on to the Manx Electric railway, the Promenade Horse trams, the Snaefell Mountain railway, the rebirth of the Groudle Glen narrow gauge line and finally the more recent development of the Laxey Wheel mine railway with its two new replica locomotives. Geoff. is very much an enthusiast for the island’s railways in all their forms and his collection of slides taken over the last 23 years provides a unique record of the period. In proposing a very well deserved vote of thanks Tony Endersby expressed the view that in has case a visit to the island was now a matter of great urgency after seeing what was on offer. He felt that this might also the case for a number of those who had held up their hand at the beginning of the meeting.
Monday 7th April
A High in the Low Countries
A look at the railways of the Benelux countries.
Steve Ollive
After the success of our first afternoon meeting at Maidstone the branch assembled again at Ashford on the 7th April to welcome past branch member Steve Ollive. Steve started his presentation “A High in the Low Countries” by outlining the history of the way in which these now annual RCTS visits to Europe had developed over the last ten years or so from the initial trips using the facilities of ADL. to today’s fully independent RCTS tours organised by malcolm Riley and himself. Starting in Luxembourg Steve showed us the highlights of the railway scene in this small State and how things had changed in terms of motive power and rolling stock over the last ten years or so. The next stop was Belgium where we again treated to a display of slides over the last ten years showing how the scene had changed. After the interval the rest of the evening was devoted to The Netherlands and here as in Belgium we were given the chance to see the impact that the new open access operators had made in recent years on the freight operations. In addition to the heavy rail infrastructure in each country we toured the major tramway systems looking at the changes and extensions that have taken place together with, in many cases, the gradual replacement of traditional tramcars with new state of the art low floor multi articulated vehicles. Also we were shown images of a number of preservation lines and the major heavy rail and tramway museums in this part of Europe with Steve’s commentary on each facility. This was an evening which reminded us of just how much of interest there is on the other side of the Channel and in the case of this branch it is probably easier and quicker to get to than anywhere north of Watford Gap.
Wednesday 2nd April
West from Dover in the 60s
A B+W presentation of the railway scene in Kent and Sussex
Peter Groom
The branch ventured into new territory at Maidstone on 2nd. April to hold its first afternoon meeting. Thirty Eight members and visitors attended a superb presentation by Peter Groom entitled West from Dover in the 60s which featured a selection of Peter’s collection of B+W images showing the odd and unusual classes of locomotives allocated to sheds along the south coast from Dover to Exeter. There was a slight diversion to see the last day of steam on the Kent Coast line and a further diversion to the Isle of Wight to look at parts of the system no longer with us. All of this was accompanied by Peter’s highly entertaining commentary and observation of detail between individual locomotives of a class proving once again that very few locomotives survived in their as built form over their operational lives. It was pleasing to see a number of branch members who had been regular attendees at Ashford in years gone by and so many visitors from the local Maidstone area. The very first South East Branch meeting at Ashford in March 1992 had an attendance of thirty six members and visitors.
Monday 3rd March
The Last Revolution
How railways revolutionised social habits, engineering and made possible what we take for granted today.
Dr. Frank Andrews
What really was the impact of the coming of railways to peoples’ way of life in the 19th. Century? That was the content of Dr Andrews’s presentation to the branch. Dr. Andrews has carried out extensive research into the effects this had in East Kent as part of a thesis for his PhD. Accompanied by some wonderful illustrations from the 19th and 20th centuries including some S.E.R. and S.E.&C.R. posters in French together with many diagrams and charts of his own making Dr. Andrews produced some fascinating facts and figures. Pointing out that this part of the country did not have major manufacturing industries nor coal mines nor canals at the time much of the impact was felt by agriculture, fishing and skilled craftsmen working on a very local basis. It also led to the growth of a major tourist industry. However the biggest effect was on ordinary people who were now able to travel for the first time or if they had travelled by means of stage coach previously were now able to travel much more quickly and economically. At one point in the late 19th century no person in East Kent was more than three miles from a railway station and in those days a walk of three miles was considered nothing more than a short stroll for most people. With maps and diagrams Dr Andrews explained how the major inland towns and ports developed both around the railway and away from it with shops and hotels/public houses doing likewise. As an example of industries such as shoe making moving away to large factories in specific towns because rail transport made this more economic the number of boot and shoe makers in the major East Kent towns declined rapidly after the railways arrived and the same applied to other skilled local crafts. This was a most fascinating evening bringing to our attention aspects of our railways and their history that perhaps we as railway enthusiasts tend to overlook. Our own local historian Bob. Ratcliffe thanked Dr. Andrews for taking the time to come and talk to the branch and sharing with us the results of his research.
Monday 4th February
Railways of East Anglia
East Anglian railways over the last 30 years
John Day
The branch welcomed our National Secretary, John Day with his presentation The Railways of East Anglia, A look at the last 30 years. With a superb range of slides John took us over the whole of the region from the days of BR corporate blue right through to the myriad colour schemes of the present era. John explained how his British Gas van nearly always found itself in the right place at the right time to record the unusual and the exceptional workings from the Fens to the Great Eastern main line. We saw the East Anglia ports operations and in particular the growth of traffic on the Felixstowe branch where the planned upgrade and double tracking will allow even more traffic into and out of the port. Since retiring John has covered the development and the changes in the TOCs who operate into the area and with more livery changes to come he will be kept busy with his camera. John finished his presentation with a look at the special and unusual workings and steam in the area. In his vote of thanks Rodney Lissenden expressed the view that he was sure more than a few members of the branch would go away from the evening determined that with all that freight to photograph a trip to East Anglia is now on their programme for the coming summer.
Monday 7th January
Brian’s archive contains much of the work of members of the Railway Photographic Society which existed in the immediate pre and post WWII years. Amongst its members were a number who were also members of the RCTS including our late Vice President G. R Grigs. With the aid of digital scanning it is now possible to view on a 72” screen some of the best quality black and white images of the first half of the 20th Century. Many were scanned from medium format originals and were truly outstanding. Especially interesting were some of those only previously seen at a much smaller size in publications of 50 plus years ago. Included was a Maurice Early group photograph taken on a RPS outing and featuring such notable photographers as H. Gordon Tidey, C. R. L. Coles, E. R. Wethersett and G. R Grigs.
Brian has recently become a convert to digital photography and the second half of the evening in complete contrast to the first half featured a wide selection of Brian’s 2007 shots both close to home and overseas in glorious digital colour.
Great British Railway Photographers
Digital Images from Rail Archive Stephenson+some of today's best colour.
Brian Stephenson
The branch 2008 meetings programme got off to a flying star when a large audience welcomed local member Brian Stephenson owner of Rail Archive Stephenson with his presentation Great British Railway Photographers.
October 2008