Lockdown V2 - week 2

No news from the railway to tell, we are all hunkered down in lockdown and waiting for the 'R' rate to fall again. The local surgery has offered a flu vaccination, but why would someone catch that if he is already doing everything to avoid catching the Corona virus? Indeed, the flu jab yours truly received last winter didn't work, as he promptly caught the flu in January. So why bother?

Fingers crossed that the lockdown will end as promised, and that we can run the Santa trains. We need the income - we never had a COVID appeal as such, so need the cash. 

There are some rumblings in the PWay department and maybe some 'essential maintenance' will go ahead. Watch this space. In the meantime, let's have....

 

 

 

 

A look over the fence - Llangollen

This trip was made early September, not long after the railway had re-opened after the first lockdown, and everyone was feeling their way about how to handle social distancing. It was interesting to compare, say, Llangollen to the Talyllyn, the DFR and the GWSR. Each had their own way of keeping you separate, there was no one prescribed way.

We dropped in at Llangollen on our way back from north Wales, and the rain was beating down hard. All that water made for a stunning river Dee photograph though. The kayakers for one were very happy.

As the journey back to Gloucestershire was quite a long one, Mrs. Blogger was persuaded to linger at Llangollen with the promise of a riverside walk, a cup of tea and a bun.

 

 

 

 

 

Two things surprised us: First of all, as the visit was an impromptu one, we hadn't booked. Would they take our money nonetheless?

They would.

 

 

The second surprise came as we were about to enter the buffet car by the approach road, and met - two members of the GWSR steam loco department! Also looking over the fence.

While Mrs. Blogger foraged for tickets we took the opportunity to examine the Llangollen footbridge, which is quite similar to ours at Broadway. There were two big differences though - it is wider, and the wooden cross braces on the staircase panels are absent. By design, or were they not replaced during renovations? A smaller detail is in the daggerboards, which have a single row of holes and which are not staggered as at Broadway. Again, that could be a refurbishment change, as those we found at Henley in Arden only had a single row of holes (the original at Broadway, from old photographs, had two and were staggered) and proof of refurbishment at HIA lay in the fact that the daggerboards were really panels made of plywood. 

At Broadway we copied the old photographs, and if truth be told, the heritage appearance was hard work to achieve. Those holes were made up out of pairs of halves, went up and down, then a little bit up and a long way down on the stairs, and it was easy to get confused at the drilling stage. Twenty five newly manufactured daggers had to be rejected!

Meanwhile the rain continued to bucket down, even overflowing from the station canopy gutters.

A quick gallop to the head of the train revealed Foxcote Manor in charge. Great!

The crew was not looking forward to the return journey in reverse....

An interesting heritage observation on the platform here is the arrangement of the surface. This is how it used to be: Full slabbing with 3 x 2s under the canopies, petering out to two rows of slabs and gravel behind near the platform ends.

 

 

Sadly today the newer built platforms on heritage stations are often tarmaced (eg Broadway, CRC) while at Corwen tactile strips, block paving and Arco drains were used. Even less authentic!

The train only went as far as Carrog of course, but here there was the chance for another cup of tea and an ice cream. Yes, in the rain!

The sign by the bridge is of interest, as it bears the later, sharper tone where people are 'not allowed' to cross the line.

In the older version (which we have managed to secure for Broadway) people are 'requested' to use the bridge. Today we threaten to fine people £1000!

If we are successful in signing up with a new foundry we might be able to replicate the 'requested' version, should anyone be interested.

 

The other thing we noticed was the 'CARROG' lettering in the flower bed.

Here the letters are let into the lawn, a more successful way of doing it than at Broadway, where the letters are 'written' in white gravel on bare earth, which attracts weeds.

Another interesting idea we took away from Carrog is the 'electric' oil lamps on the platform lamp posts. These are about as realistic as you can get (except real oil lamps of course) and in case you can't read the makers plate they are made by a company called Hetherington & Co in Birmingham. They are still trading. 

To a certain extent the lamps at Broadway are just a first start, purchased in a hurry and with limited funds. The lamp glass is a sticker and the internals just a light bulb. The top is a flimsy Chinese clone, without the usual side opening door.

We still have all the tops for P2 to organise at Broadway, so perhaps we can do better the second time round? The new lamps at Toddington on the goods shed office are of a much better quality, and have the correct side opening doors for example.

The social distancing arrangements for the cafe at Carrog were great and easy to understand. In by the front door, grab your coffee and buns (push up under your chin to hold it tight) and run out of the back door guided by the cones, through the rain and back into your compartment. Enjoy! And maybe dry out.

Here is the back of our train, with streaks of rain visible over the corridor connection.

What's that on the right, did somebody say Weston Subedge? Shhhhhh.....

Answers to last week's quiz:

Here they are. It was a simple quiz, not too taxing, so you should really be getting 20 out of 20. Did you though? Check it out here:

 2019 - INITIALLY, 20 QUESTIONS

 

What is the name of the following railways?

 

1. LNWR                                London & North Western Railway

 

2. LB&SCR                          London, Brighton & South Coast Railway

 

3. GNR                                       Great Northern Railway

 

4. WHR                                       Welsh Highland Railway

 

5. GER                                       Great Eastern Railway

 

6. ELR                                       East Lancashire Railway

 

7. M&CR                                       Maryport & Carlisle Railway

 

8. LSWR                                       London and South Western Railway

 

9. OW&WR                          Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway             

 

10. L&YR                                       Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway

 

11. GCR                                       Great Central Railway

 

12. NYMR                                    North Yorkshire Moors Railway                                       

 

13. HR                                          Highland Railway

 

14. LT&SR                                    London Tilbury & Southend Railway

 

15. SVR                                       Severn Valley Railway

 

16. RH&DR                                Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway

 

17. NSR                                       North Staffordshire Railway

 

18. MS&LR                              Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway                                       

 

19. GNoSR                                   Great North of Scotland Railway                                       

 

20. TVR                                       Taff Vale Railway                                          

 

Now, before we award a prize to the winner with all answers correct, what size anorak do you take ?

The Pines Express - original slides from 1963

Thanks to blog reader Derek Palmer we have, as last week, another lovely set of original slides to show you. Derek took these in 1963 in the Oxford area, and this week we have five with the Pines Express as a theme.

The Pines Express was a named passenger train that ran daily between Manchester and Bournemouth between 1910 and 1967.

We asked Derek for a bit of background around the pictures, and he replied as follows:

The demise of the Somerset and Dorset route from Bath to Bournemouth meant that the Pines Express was rerouted via Oxford from September 1962. Through north-south services were not new to Oxford and an engine change from GW to SR locos was a regular feature. In my early days trainspotting on Oxford station in the mid 1950s the SR locos were 4-6-0s and I believe both King Arthur and Lord Nelson classes were represented. That was before I possessed a camera. I made up for that with the Pines Express and here is a representative selection of what passed in 1963.

All the photographs are of the Pines Express travelling south and I would have been out and about on my bike.

Starting with Wolvercote Junction, where the lines from Worcester and Banbury meet four miles north of Oxford Station, on 14 March 1963 the express has 5063 Thornbury Castle in charge.

5063 Thornbury Castle is seen again in the next picture, this time passing Walton Well Road a mile north of Oxford Station on 26 February.

After the engine change at Oxford a rebuilt West Country 34048 Crediton is now in charge, and is seen having just left Oxford Station on 27 February.

Two miles further south and here Bulleid Pacific 35005 Canadian Pacific is in charge passing Hinksey on 2 April 1963, with the spires of Oxford in the background.

The last shot, taken on 28 March 1963, is in Moreton Cutting, two miles east of Didcot, with West Country Class 34041 Wilton.

At Reading the route taken is via the west curve avoiding the station and turning south heading for Basingstoke, unlike today's cross country services which reverse in Reading station.

Please remember that Derek has the copyright of course, so if you want to use any of his pictures you'll need to ask him.  

 

Derek continues:

Looking through these old photographs brought to mind the time when I stayed in Liverpool for a week in my brother's shared flat whilst he was at University. My purpose being to explore the railways. One journey I took was to Hull on the then recently introduced Trans-Penine Express with new high specification diesel multiple units. I've been racking my brain to try and work out the date and my deduction is early September 1961. This means that it was during the time that the Pines Express was still using the S&D route.

My interest in finding alternative routes and prices for a journey was clearly developed by this time because on my return journey to Oxford I investigated the options. There was a through service from Liverpool to Oxford and beyond which would arrive at Crewe and await the arrival of the Pines Express, which had started from Manchester.

On arrival at Crewe at separate platforms these two trains would then be reformed. Each would be split in half and rejoined with the opposite halves to form two new trains. One train would thus still be the Pines Express routed via Stafford and Birmingham New Street on its way to Bath, and the other would be routed via Shrewsbury and Birmingham Snow Hill on its way to Oxford. I had just a sneaking ambition that I could get from New Street to Snow Hill in the few minutes between the arrival of the Pines Express portion and the departure of the Oxford portion. I failed of course, but my main reason for choosing my route was to make a saving of 3s 0d (15p) because of the shorter route via Stafford. However, I had to do some explaining to the guard during a ticket inspection en route from Liverpool to Crewe!

 

More next week!