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Tuesday Treasures - January 2021

TUESDAY 26 JANUARY

Norton Fitzwarren Station Master’s House

Our subject this week focuses on Norton Fitzwarren in Somerset. From the Great Western Trust’s collection of building plans come these two wonderful architectural drawings of the Station Master’s house. Dated February 1884 these superb items are beautiful examples of draughtsmanship, an art now largely lost in the modern world of computer aided design. They were in a rather poor state when the Trust acquired them but our expert paper conservator Kate Armor has done an excellent job of cleaning and stabilising them. Note the level of detail which the drawings contain including the decorated porch and the attractive finials and ridge tiles.

Sited on the up side of the former Bristol and Exeter Railway main line, the house was a substantial structure consisting of three bedrooms and on the ground floor, a parlour, kitchen and scullery. A covered way led to a larder, coal store and water closet so that the occupants could avoid the worst of the weather when using the ‘facilities’. Notice the absence of a bathroom, this is the 1880s and a tin bath in front of the fire would have been the order of the day. When built, the house would have provided a standard of accommodation befitting of the Station Master at this important junction.

In the accompanying photograph, taken from the station footbridge one hundred years ago, the house can be seen on the right, although partially obscured by a magnificent bracket signal. Curving away to the left is the main line towards Exeter, in the centre is the branch to Barnstaple, 43 miles distant, whilst to the right is the Minehead Branch now better known as the West Somerset Railway.

The house did not stand for many years, being demolished in the early 1930s when the line from Cogload Junction to Norton Fitzwarren was quadrupled, to cope with the large amount of holiday traffic to resorts in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.

This location also gained unwanted notoriety as it was the site of two major accidents fifty years apart in 1890 and 1940, both of which sadly resulted in many fatalities. Save for the main line to the west, little remains of this scene today.


TUESDAY 19 JANUARY

Railways and Education

Our regular ‘Tuesday Treasures’ blog readers may recall that in November 2020 we posted one entitled ‘Children's Education through Railway Publications’ which related to an unofficial production centred on UK railways. This time we give examples of official Railway body initiatives, both GWR and the Nationalised British Railways.

 

Perhaps it's hardly surprising that in December 1927, the GWR advertised and then ran during early 1928 a series of oversubscribed, deliberately phrased ‘Educational Excursions’ to Swindon Works for those wishing to admire that massive engineering facility and of course the then ‘famous’ King Class locomotives. However, it's not a coincidence that soon after, the GWR expanded such ‘Educational focussed’ special outings to wider locations. So in March 1928 they created a ‘Course of Ten Educational Excursions from Paddington at 70/- (£3 10 shillings) charge. Between March and June 1928 to ten places of interest both industrial and cultural. F.J.C.Pole, General Manager’. The quotations reflect the special 4 page Handbill produced on this occasion.

Eton College boys at Swindon Works in 1927

In following years they ran similar trains to J S Fry's factory and Cadbury Bros at Bournville. In 1930 we find an ‘Educational Excursion to Windsor Castle & Runnymede. Including Conducted Tour of the State Apartments, St. George's Chapel, River Trip from Windsor to Runnymede and Magna Charta (sic) Island, with Tea on board the Steamer. Each Wednesday, May 27th to September 23rd.’ The apparent ‘Charta’ typo on the Handbill is in fact a use of a now outdated version of Carta. As much of the Trust's Collection covers the contemporary GWR era from 1835 onwards, we find many examples of spelling or phrases now no longer used.

Conducted tour to Pinewood studios

The GWR didn't flinch from extensive research in these adverts, as we find in 1932 a handbill for an educational excursion to the Royal Porcelain Works at Worcester which included histories of both Malvern and Worcester. The breadth of coverage of potential customers for these is clear from the handbill's small ‘Office Use’ print. No less than 15,000 were distributed to the Bristol Division with Newport and Cardiff receiving 6,000 each!

Our final GWR example repeated the Windsor Castle visit, but being dated March 1939, we have yet to find a post war, pre-nationalisation handbill.

However, the interesting fact is that BR did continue this broad theme, although no handbill publications of the GWR kind have yet been found. BR preferred a booklet form, almost certainly issued to local schools etc, and the example illustrated from 1958 has an appropriate cover design! Being a booklet it contains 24 pages of wide ranging detail that any party organiser would need, and of course a tear out postcard enquiry form addressed to the District Passenger Manager at New Street Birmingham. It was a joint Western & London Midland publication, The School Educational outings offered, related to schools in a zone centred on Birmingham, but covered the attractions of London, Chester, and even London Airport! Whilst some may recall the dreadful reputation of the ‘infamous BR sandwich’ it boldly concludes with various ‘Packed Meal’ offers for 2/6 or 3/6 each. The former has a sandwich but the latter a hard-boiled egg, and both provided chocolate of one sort or another!

Recognising the important GWR 150th Celebrations in 1985, our final example is the BRWR produced ‘GWR 150th Anniversary Schools Education Pack’ which contained very comprehensive and well researched information sheets.

And thereafter the trail runs cold! Did any of our readers go on such a trip?


TUESDAY 12 JANUARY

Racing

 

From the Sport of Kings in early British history, horseracing has become the sport of kings and commoners throughout the world. The earliest English race meeting is believed to have taken place during the reign of King Henry VIII on what is now known as The Roodee at Chester, one of many race courses served by the Great Western Railway. During the 1930s, no fewer than 125 training establishments were located on the GWR and horses were sent to meetings all over the country including those at Newbury, Chepstow, Windsor and Cheltenham where, every March, the world famous Cheltenham Festival now attracts 250,000 people to its four day meeting. Indeed, both Newbury and Cheltenham had their own racecourse stations which are still in use today. The GWR was at the heart of the racing world and was held in very high esteem and every year hundreds of special trains were run for the racing public, owners, trainers, jockeys, book-makers and other followers of the sport. Catering staff too were conveyed to and from the meetings to say nothing of the large quantities of food and drink for man and beast. The Company also issued a handy pocket racing calendar giving a complete list of the principal race meetings throughout the country.

Many racehorse specials were run to courses and back on the same day and were treated in the same way as express passenger trains. The GWR took great care and pride in being able to transport valuable racehorses and a fleet of specially designed horseboxes were provided for this purpose. From the time the horses were boxed until they were unloaded, every train movement or shunting operation was made with the full knowledge that such sensitive creatures were not shaken or startled.

In 1937, one hundred and fifty new horseboxes were built by the GWR at Swindon Works, with accommodation for three horses and a coupé for grooms. The vehicles were well sprung and ventilated, had a non-slip floor and the stalls were padded with leather covered horse hair whilst there was a manger for each animal.

The GWR also introduced a service which conveyed horses by road to the nearest convenient station using an articulated vehicle carrying two horses plus a groom. Lambourn in Berkshire was at the centre of the racing industry and on the Newbury to Lambourn branch, diesel railcar No. 18 was provided with drawgear which enabled it to haul up to six loaded horseboxes.

In addition to normal race traffic, the GWR also carried hundreds of horses to and from bloodstock sales held in September and December at Doncaster and Newmarket respectively.

Information and photographs in this Tuesday Treasure are from the Great Western Railway Magazine of which the Great Western Trust has a complete set from 1888 to 1947. Other items are from the Trust collection.

 

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