A barn find.

We are now in the third week of the lockdown already.

At first Covid19 seemed a distant issue out here in the Vale of Evesham, but then our PM got it, and while out for a walk through the village we met the first actual victim close to home, someone we knew. The village is only small, say 35 people, so this is quite a near miss. We stopped for a (distant) chat. The lady in question was an ME sufferer (myalgic encephalomyelitis), and had had the virus for a fortnight now and it hadn't all gone yet. Her husband was in isolation. She had a bad time of it, reporting a cough that was so bad that she found it difficult to breathe between fits. Luckily she was able to sweat it out at home, and was slowly recovering with the help of an inhaler and some pills. This chance meeting - we stood on the other side of the street, and upwind - brought the crisis so much closer than reading about what happens in London in the paper.

Heritage activity continues on a modest scale, and you can see here the second of three Quad Royal replica GWR poster boards almost completed. This one is a varnished example and is destined to replace a temporary plywood one in the Broadway booking office.

It has yet to be lettered: GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY in red across the top, something which will be done by our enthusiastic signwriter in C&W.





Last week we had a quiz for you, so now is the time to dig our your sheet with the answers and compare them with the actual answers provided by our Christmas PWay quiz compiler Robert:

GWSR PWAY 2015 CHRISTMAS QUIZ - ANSWERS

1.      Which GWR location shares it name with 30925?

(a)    Cheltenham  (b) Gotherington    (c) Toddington (d)  Winchcombe

2.      Which of the following is the most important instruction every week?

(a)    meet at Winchcombe at 9.00  (b) sign on  (c) lunch at 12.30 (d)  chairs under tables

 (insider joke)

 

3.      What is the correct name of P&O?

(a)    P&O Steamship Navigation Company

(b)    Peninsular & Oriental S.N. Co

(c)    Peninsular & Oriental Steamship Navigation Company

(d)    Peninsular & Oriental Steamship Navigation Co Ltd

4.      What joker’s numbered 71000?

(a)    Clive of India     (b) Black Watch     (c) Duke of Gloucester     (d) King John

(we have a volunteer with that nickname) 

5.      Which of the following was NOT a GWR locomotive?

(a)    4971  Stanway Hall

(b)    6848 Toddington Grange

(c)    6967  Willersey Hall

(d)    7025  Winchcombe Castle

6.      Trackside safety – when is a blue and white chequered flag displayed?

(a)    to signal to the approaching train that it’s approaching a 5 mph speed limit

(b)    for the lookout to alert the working group of an approaching train

(c)    when the Landie goes trackside from Winchcombe to Toddington in under 8 minutes

(d)    to celebrate replacing 8 wooden sleepers before lunch

7.      Who bent the telehandler forks?

(a)    Uri Geller     (b) A GWSR director     (c) A contractor     (d) Anonymous

Sadly no one stepped forward to confess....

8.   Which of the following locomotives has the greatest tractive effort?

(a)    2807        (b) 4270       (c) 7820 Dinmore Manor       (d)  7903 Foremarke Hall

9.   Another P&O question for the Southern Railway afficionados – it was the only Merchant Navy to spend its whole working life at one shed.  Which one?

(a)    70A Nine Elms     (b) 71B Bournemouth     (c) 72B Salisbury     (d) 73A Stewarts Lane

10.   Reluctantly an LNER question, what’s the wheel arrangement of the N15 class?

(a)    0-6-2 (b)  0-8-0  (c)  0-8-2  (d) 4-6-4

11.   How many chains are there in a mile?

(a)     8                     (b)   16                  (c)   22                    (d)   80

12.   What Permanent Way feature is named after Jubilee Class 45651?

(a)    Sir Felix Pole          (b) Brown Jack          (c) E.C. Trench            (d) Shovell

13.   When was Broadway Station closed?

(a)    1960               (b)  1968               (c)  1971               (d)  1976

14.   What colour is TSO 5023?

(a)    Blood and custard    (b) chocolate and cream     (c)  green     (d)  maroon

15.   Which of the following has NOT been attributed to PWay this year?

(a)    bursting a water pipe in Winchcombe Yard

(b)    Getting the blue Transit stuck in the ballast

(c)    a SPAD

(d)    putting a hole in the steam shed

16.   In the 2016 timetable brochure, what loco “returns to service”?

(a)    P&O       (b) D6948   (c) Foremarke Hall        (d) Wells 

17. Who originally built the replacement station at Winchcombe? (name of railway company) 
 The Coleford-Monmouth-Usk-Pontypool railway, opened on 12 Oct 1857.

18. How many halts were there along the line Honeybourne line to Cheltenham?
4, or 5 if you count Cheltenham High street:  Willersey, Laverton, Hayles Abbey, Gretton and High street. The others are classed as stations: Weston Sub Edge, Broadway, Toddington, Winchcombe, Gotherington, Bishops Cleeve, Racecourse.

19. When was 2807 built? 
 2807 was built in 1905.

20. How many sisters did Foremarke Hall have?
 7903 Foremarke Hall is a modified Hall, with 71 built. However, there are 259 original Halls giving a combined total of 330, hence 329 sisters.




A barn find.

In storage at Toddington since 2007 is an amazing clock, and few people know this. We had heard rumours that there was a large Kays clock, but had never seen it, or heard anything further about it. Was it still there? What did it look like?

A few evenings ago were were privileged to have a look. The clock face was huge, certainly 4-5 feet across. It was a clock with two faces, mounted together like two sides of a triangle.

Now Kays of Worcester was a famous catalogue company, but they also made clocks. Mostly small and medium sized ones, but there is (at least) one example remaining of a big one that they made.

It's this one, a three faced one made for Paddington station, and which is still there. It was supplied in 1902 and has a clock face that is 7'6'' in diameter.

Another large one was in the booking hall at Snows Hill station in Birmingham. You can see a picture of that here:

Snow Hill Kays clock








Here is the example that we have in storage. This is the surround to one of the two clock faces, and it looks to be almost 6ft high. The corners have round pillars, whereas the one at Snows Hill had square mouldings on the corners, so they are of different designs.










This is the outer ring of the clock face, with the divisions for the hours and the spaces in between filled with white glass.






 





The centre of one of the clock faces can be seen here, with the hands, and you can make out KAYS of WORCESTER on the disk. We think the letters were a later addition though.

Our sources do not agree about its origin. Some say its original place is unknown, but those that went to retrieve it in 2007 say that it was mounted on the inside of the Kays warehouse in Worcester.

If anyone knows more, we'd be very interested to hear.

The mechanism for the clock was separate from the face (see further down for a picture) and, as we have seen with other station clocks in Germany and France, a rotating shaft runs from the mechanism and is split into two inside the triangular box that makes up the two faces. If you move one of the hands, the same hand on the other face moves as well.







This clock was supported from underneath by two wrought iron brackets. The surrounds of the faces are made of wood and the whole structure is lighter than say the Paddington example, which has cast iron parts. The fact that the parts making up the surrounds of the faces are mostly made of wood means that the clock was an indoor example.

Finally we have the actual mechanism itself. This is known as a turret clock.

The drive shaft can be made out centre left, ending in two small prongs. These engaged with the splitter mechanism in the picture above.

The drum in the middle wound the cable or chains coming from the weights, which is what drove the mechanism. The winding handle is on the right. (loose)

The mechanisms often ran for 8 days before they had to be wound up again.











Here is a turret clock mechanism in situ. It's interesting to compare the mechanism above with that on the left. The layout is almost identical. With the handle on the right you wind the clock up until the weight is almost up to the drum, and at that point it is 6ft, sometimes 8 feet off the ground.

The drive shaft passes through the wall on the left, and on the other side, in this example, is a two faced station clock, albeit much smaller than the Kays example we have. But the mechanics are the same.








The Kays barn find is in our care and originally (in 2007) it was thought it could somehow be used at Broadway. At the time we didn't know what form the station building would take, but it was unrealistic to believe that somewhere there would be room for a big 6ft clock.



So there it is, in storage.

What do people suggest we do with it? Is there anyone who could give it the setting it deserves?



Our appeal for help

A landslip at Gotherington

Prevented from earning its way out of a crisis, the GWSR and GWRT have launched an appeal for £250.000 here:



GWSR Emergency appeal - please help

We are doing quite well, and have raised £117.000 so far, almost half way. Let's hope we don't run out of steam (as it were) and that just as many haven't got round to sending their donation just yet. If you haven't contributed, please consider doing so. Almost every heritage railway has launched an appeal to get through the Covid19 crisis, but we have the landslip to deal with as well, so your help would be greatly appreciated.




This week's Quiz.


We've had a few compliments for posting the quiz last week, so here goes with another. Again we've had to edit some of the questions just a little bit, as the quiz was meant to entertain the members of the PWay gang as they ate their Christmas dinner, and how would Joe Public be expected to know which vehicle was called the 'African Queen' ?  *

The quiz was served with Christmas dinner in 2014, so bear that in mind for some of the answers.

KNOW YOUR EXPRESS ENGINES…

Western Region

What’s the name of the King when each of the following events happened?

6000 Outbreak of the First World War                                                                                     ……..

6019 Battle of Agincourt                                                                                                           ……..

6023 Battle of Bannockburn                                                                                                      ……..

6004 Battle of Waterloo                                                                                                             ……..

6026 Signing of the Magna Carta                                                                                              .……

Southern Region

Where are the following Merchant Navies stored or running?

35005 Canadian Pacific                                                                                                             ……..

35006 Peninsular & Oriental S.N. Co                                                                                        ……..

35010 Blue Star                                                                                                                          ……..

35028 Clan Line                                                                                                                         ……..

35029 Ellerman Lines                                                                                                                ……..

Midland Region

What’s the number of the following locos (all between 46220 and 46257)?

Coronation                                                                                                                                   ……..

Duchess of Sutherland                                                                                                                ……..

Sir William A Stanier FRS                                                                                                          ……..

Duchess of Hamilton                                                                                                                   ……..

City of Birmingham                                                                                                                     ……..

Eastern Region

What are the names of the 6 preserved A4s?

60007                                                                                                                                           ……..

60008                                                                                                                                           ……..

60009                                                                                                                                           ……..

60010                                                                                                                                           ……..

60019                                                                                                                                           ……..

60022                                                                                                                                           ……..

Standard Classes

Facts about the Britannia class:

How many of the Britannia class were built?                                                                              ……..

What’s the name of the loco 70004 displayed at the festival of Britain in 1951?                       ……..

What’s the number of the only Brit that was never named?                                                        ……..

What was thename of 70008, also held by 92203 when on the GWR?                                       ……..

What’s the name of 70020, the planet nearest the sun?                                                               ……..

Early Diesels

It’s all about the peaks.  Name:

D1, England’s highest mountain?                                                                                       ……..

D2, the 3120ft high mountain accessed by Striding Edge?                                                ………

D5, England’s highest mountain outside the Lake District?                                               ………

The fittingly called preserved railway where D8 Penyghent lives?                                    ……..

The top of this mountain, D9, is accessible by steam loco?                                                ……..

Answers next week.




* It was the Tamper.....