Meeting Reports

Monday 19th July 2010
Mangapps Farm Railway Museum

The very warm evening of 19th July saw our annual visit to the Mangapps Railway Museum where, despite recent publicity, owner John Jolly was found to be very much alive and well. 40 members and visitors attended including a group of 11 from the Ipswich branch.

We were given free access to the whole site to view the vast and varied collection of stock and railwayana whilst rides to the end of the line were available behind Drewry shunter D2325 operating in push/pull mode with a DMU car. 6 steam locos of industrial origin are here and 10 diesel shunters, both ex BR and industrial, plus class 47 47793, the latter receiving a battery charge. Together with some very old passenger vehicles, some ex LT tube cars and a huge array of wagons, this is a fascinating place. June Jolly officiated with very welcome refreshments and a pleasant and socialable evening was enjoyed by all.

Monday 21st June 2010
Nottingham Victoria
Ken Grainger

Our June meeting saw the welcome return of Ken Grainger from Sheffield to talk about his favourite Great Central Railway and in particular Nottingham Victoria station and its environs.

Many early shots of the site showed the major demolition needed to carve a main line railway through the heart of the city, an impressive Victorian building feat. Indeed one can only wonder at the wisdom of a later generation closing this superb railway corridor. Naturally the GCR wanted to name it Nottingham Central but it was in fact a joint station with the GNR and Victoria was chosen in honour of the Queen. Completed in 1900, shots of the interior revealed a station built in the grand style and full of atmosphere, a real cathedral of the rails, whilst outside the famous clocktower dominated. Three tunnels had to be built and between the two at the north end was the little known Carrington station, closed in 1929. Several shots of Bagthorpe Junction and New Basford showed the extensive layout where the GN Derby line diverged, whilst the curiously named Weekday Cross Junction and its sharply curved connection on to the Grantham line was seen.

We were then treated to an exhaustive look at all the many locos and trains which had worked through the station in its 66 years, from the famous (and spotless!) GC types, through the many LNE classes to the sad final days with scruffy Class 5's. A superb show.

Monday 17th May 2010
Journeys in North America
A talk by Mangapps Farm Railway Museum Curator, John Jolly

A large audience enjoyed our May meeting when John Jolly, owner of Mangapps Railway Museum, presented 'Journeys in North America'. John had entertained us before but this was his first illustrated show as Andy Grimmett had prepared a digital presentation of his photos. Raconteur comes to mind when describing John's approach and we were treated to some wonderful tales of his travels, many employing the appropriate North American accent. At first he had no interest in Nortb American railroading but a visit to a farming conference in Saskatchewan in 2001 and views of massive freight trains soon changed that and he had visited every year from 2001 to 2008.

We covered a lot of ground in Canada and northern USA and saw many facets of railway operation there, not only the trains but stations and signalling too. Because of John's commitments at Mangapps during the Summer many of these trips were made during the big Winter freeze and it was fascinating to see how the railways coped with temperatures down to -32 C for example in Winnipeg. Cabooses were a favouirite for preservation and every town seemingly had one. Not surprisingly he is working hard to get one to his museum. Lots of preserved steam were seen including our own A4 no 8 which looked very small adjacent to a Big Boy and live steam in the shape of the Royal Hudson. Highlights were too numerous to mention but a Bristol Lodekka used as seating at a burger bar and a Railroadiana boot fair were notable. A very entertaining show.

Monday 19th April 2010
"Longmoor Military Railway" and "Tank Transportation"
Mike Walshaw

The Branch was treated to a return visit by Mike Walshaw from Swanage on April 19th. Mike continued his theme of military railways with an illustrated presentation on the Longmoor Military Railway.

From its origins in the early twentieth century as a transit camp for Sappers returning from the Boer War who constructed a most unusual line to transport their 40' x 21' huts over three miles north from a boggy area to a more salubrious site close to Bordon. In 1906 the standard gauge line was built southwards towards Longmoor to serve as a training ground for military railway personnel. WW1 saw further development and its use as a storage facility . Further extension to Liss and connection to the Southern Railway greatly improved access to the national network.

At the outbreak of WW2, only 6 operational locos were on site compared to the 27 at the end of hostilities. Some of the initial additional motive power came from the major railway companies, but many were life expired and of little use. Later the Austerity types appeared, with 0-6-0T's (J94), 2-8-0 and 2-10-0's featuring heavily. Mike revealed that a total of 150 different standard gauge locos had worked on the system by the time of closure in 1969.

Following a brief interval, Mike continued with a short account of 'The History of Tank Transportation on the Railways', covering the various types of vehicle used and the ingenious arrangements for the loading and unloading.

A thoroughly absorbing evening and a fitting tribute to the research involved in accumulating all the material.

Monday 15th March 2010
Members' Slides
Slides from Rodger Green, Brian Hazle and Chris Hurricks

The booked speaker for our March meeting was unavailable so three local members stepped in to provide a varied selecton of slides. First was Chris Hurricks who showed scenes in (very loosely) the Midands in the 60's. Starting at Reading with 'G.W.R' still on the tender of 7816 some 15 years after nationalisation we saw lots of steam activity at Oxford on the cross country services. Memories of long gone DMU services were seen at Buckingham, Leamington Spa Avenue, Dudley and Bromyard and these were followed by an extensive look at industrial steam activity in the ironstone belt. The final item was the Society's wonderful Cromford and High Peak Railtour from Sheffield Victoria on 29/8/64.

Rodger Green took over after the break with his collection of colour slides accumulated from various sources over many years. Largely from the 1950's and concentrating on the branch lines of East Anglia we saw a profusion of E4 2-4-0's, staple power on many of the lines at the time. Rare 1949 colour shots of apple green B1's and B17's were a sheer delight together with nostalgic scenes from Stratford depot.

The evening concluded with Brian Hazle recalling his European travels of 2009. Trains and trams featured as we travelled from Austria through Luxembourg to Belgium, finally ending up at Brentwood to see 60163 'Tornado' speeding towards Liverpool Street on the Winton Train.

Many thanks to all three members for stepping into the breach to provide such an entertaining programme at short notice.

Monday 15th February 2010
Here, There and Everywhere
An Illustrated talk by our resident motorman Andy Grimmett

"Here, There and Everywhere" was a most appropriate title for Andy Grimmett's presentation to the South Essex Branch on February 15th. From Inverness to Ramsgate, Penzance to Cleethorpes, andy had compiled a collection over the past twenty five years of just about every type of diesel and electric loco to have operated during this period. He also succeeded in covering most of the liveries to be seen adornong these locos.

As a professional railwayman, being in the know and knowing who to ask, was exploited to produce scenes in locations inaccesible to the general public. Special workings were another feature to delight the audience.

It really is a wonder how the everyday scenes of a few years ago have now slipped into history and how quickly a quarter of a century passes. A wonderful show with Andy's informative commentary,thoroughly recommended to other fixture secrataries.

Monday 18th January 2010
Loco Hauled Passenger Trains in the Privatisation Era
Geoff Brockett

Local member Geoff Brockett presented his 'Loco hauled passenger trains in the 21st century' at our January meeting. The 205 slides were actually taken from 1997 onwards and, as with his freight coverage, Geoff's perseverance ensured that nothing was missed. By 1997 several new TOC's had started operating which led to a mass of new and interesting liveries. Appropriately the first shot was taken just down the road at Shenfield station of an Anglia liveried class 86, now very much a memory. We were taken through all the motive power and coaching stock and their varied liveries on the Norwich route, not forgetting the visit of a Deltic in 1998.

Similarly we went through the loco hauled operations of Cross Country, Virgin WC (including the many drags) and the North Wales main line. These were followed by shots on the Bristol to Weymouth line, the famous Arriva 37's to Fishguard and Rhymney, 90's and 67's in Scotland and 91's and their stand ins on the East Coast. The 73's on the Gatwick Express gave way to 31's to Blackpool and 37's on the S & C and the relatively new operation of class 67's by WSMR. We concluded with some of the regular steam workings and a rare shot of the Royal Train.

This was a very comprehensive review and with Geoff's superb photography and innovative choice of locations was most enjoyable.

Monday 21st December 2009
AGM and Members Slides
An informal evening with seasonal fare

Just twelve hardy souls braved the blizzard conditions to attend the South Essex Branch meeting on December 21st. Barely quorate, the AGM proceeded in record time to re-elect the present committee en bloc. The follow-up session of members slides was hit by a technical hitch - the Chairman having left the carousel cartridges at home!! Fortunately the donation of a cabinet slide previewer allowed the small number present to gather round and see the slides in real size! Brian Hazle showed his 2009 scenes in Austria and Belgium, followed by Iain Scotchman with some 1980s views of long lost East Anglian branch lines. A prolonged break for seasonal refreshments gave the opportunity for double helpings of mince pies and sausage rolls, the Chairman's wife having catered for twice the actual attendance! Geoff Brockett and Rodger Green concluded proceedings with2009 loco haulage and East Anglian steam respectively. A somewhat different , but neverteless enjoyable evening, however, one that the Chairman will not live down for quite some time!

Monday 16th November 2009
West of Vladivostok - Railways in the former Soviet Union
Jeremy Harrison

At our November meeting Jeremy Harrison conveyed us to lands little known to most with his 'West of Vladivostock - Railways of the fomer USSR'. A map of this vast country gave us an idea of where we were going, the first section being a railtour using the Dherzelo train around the Ukraine. Although the tour was primarily steam hauled Jeremy's shots covered everything which runs on rails and hence we had a very comprehensive view of the rail traffic. Two things which stood out were the huge amount of heavy freight traffic and the highly standardised motive power, produced in large numbers for use over the whole USSR network.

The tour was hauled partly by an E class 0-10-0 of which, including the variants, 12,000 were built whilst the TE3 diesels comprised 14,000 units, quite extraordinary figures by British standards.

This was followed by tours to Archangel and Murmansk in the North and then the ultimate railtour, a 3 week steam hauled trip from Moscow to Vladivostock using 100 different locos.

All the remaining steam types were shown, the most impressive being the semi streamlined P36 4-8-4's. The LV 2-10-2 was interesting, too, with its huge gap between boiler and frame. A fascinating show.

Monday 19th October 2009
Twentry First Century Steam
John Day

Our meeting on 19th October saw a welcome return visit by John Day with '21st Century Steam'. John is known for his excellent coverage of modern traction both here and abroad but this show proved that he had not neglected the older and perhaps more spectacular form of motive power.

Steam in the UK was both diverse and widespread with many shots taken during Society visits in conjunction with AGM's and reunions. It was surprising to be reminded just how many locos had been involved in railtours on the GE and as usual John had picked some wonderful locations to illustrate this.

A very brief glimpse of Portuguese steam was followed by a steam hauled tour of the Ukraine in Winter. Fortunately the weather was good and there were some sparkling images.

Two visits to China for steam over the Jingpeng pass brought more Winter sun shots with the second visit being just in time before the demise of steam in the area.Big American steam in the shape of Milwaukee Road No 261 and the Challenger were followed by 'scoop' shots of the QJ imported into the USA by R.J. Corman.The final shots had to be at Ipswich of course with 'Tornado's ' visit a few weeks earlier and a very atmospheric shot of 'Tangmere' on the middle road at night.With John's informative and perceptive comments this was an entertaining show with photography of the highest standard.

Monday 21st September 2009
Out and About
Hugh Gould

Our first meeting of the new season on 21st September saw the now annual visit of our President, Hugh Gould. Now in his 17th year in that role Hugh gave us his usual entertaining review of his travels over the past year. His advancing years have fortunately not curtailed his travels, even to the extent of taking four trips to the Continent.

Numerous visits to his native Scottish homeland brought many perceptive comments on the many and varied liveries whilst the Wrexham. Shropshire and Marylebone Railway class 67 operation and their meals have become a firm favourite. The outdoor visits to the Wirksworth, Peak Rail and Foxfield lines in connection with the AGM at Derby were well covered.

Hugh's interests are wide ranging and there were bus replacements, the SS Great Britain, the lovely old 'Tern' on Windermere, some very small ferry boats on the river at Namur and of course the 'Waverley'.Straford Low Level's last day contrasted with a wedding in Barcelona and the wonderful story of the horses below Welwyn Viaduct. Truly something for everybody.