Tuesday Treasures - December 2025

TUESDAY 23 DECEMBER

Christmas for the Departmental Railway Staff – 2

In the spirit of Christmas and the New Year coming, our blog today from the Great Western Trust collection, is in fact related closely to that which we used this time last year. It is an official card produced by the GWR Locomotive and Carriage Department for the 1901 - 1902 holiday festival. Last year’s version covered season 1903 - 1904. Whilst sadly unissued to an individual, our illustrated example still has lots of historical interest.

First we have the message addressed from John Armstrong and his staff, from the Department’s Offices based at Paddington.

Second we notice that unlike last year’s version that included Armstrong’s ‘hearty’ Christmas greetings, this earlier version is a more even-toned message of simple ‘greetings’ and is surely designed overall for internal departmental use rather than outside the GWR.

Finally, we have the splendid photo centrepiece of a Badminton class 4-4-0 hauling a train of clerestory coaches on Goring water troughs, with a permanent way man rather too close for his comfort? Blog readers may recall that the 1903/1904 version had a photo of the large-boilered No 3297 Earl Cawdor.

Although the photograph is not particularly crisp, we can see the nameplate has a short word followed by a longer word. Of the 20 locomotives in the Badminton class the only member to have that short/long pattern of name was Earl Cawdor, so we can surmise that this card features the same locomotive.

Hence these cards, even though for internal use, had photos of the then indicative locos of the company, presumably as a matter of departmental pride.

We have also included a photo of Earl Cawdor in original condition, and the same loco hauling a milk train past Acton, having been fitted with the experimental large boiler in 1903.

After a long year of Tuesday Treasure blogs, this is our last of 2025, so that our Trustees and volunteers can take a well-earned rest.

From all the Trustees and volunteers of the Great Western Trust we wish our blog readers a Happy Christmas.

TUESDAY 16 DECEMBER

PIC-NIC

Dating from May 1902, a piece of ephemera this week in the shape of a handbill advertising reduced fares for PIC-NIC or PLEASURE PARTIES. Recently donated to the Trust by a member of Didcot’s Carriage and Wagon Department, the handbill consists of around 12 different fonts, all carefully set by a compositor, without the benefit of electric light, at Martin Billing, Son & Co, in Livery Street, alongside the GWR’s Birmingham Snow Hill Station.

The word ‘picnic’ (with or without hyphen) dates to the 17th century and comes from the French ‘pique’ meaning to pick and ‘nique’ – something of little importance, a trifle. It means the same now as it did 120 years ago although ‘Pleasure Party’ has perhaps lost some of the innocence it had then.

The wonderful collection of coaches at Didcot includes 6-wheel saloon No 2511. It is one of 54 built for private hire by affluent families and their servants to attend social occasions such as horse race meetings or Henley Regatta. The vehicles were known as ‘Family’ or sometimes ‘Picnic’ Saloons, making this a good opportunity to show photographs of this beautiful vehicle rescued, as a riverside dwelling, from Purley-on-Thames in 1972.

Restored No 2511 on the traverser

The interior of No 2511, with passengers sitting around a central table with drop leaves on which the ‘pic-nic’ would be laid

No 2511 as we first saw it in 1969 as a riverside chalet, protected by a pitched roof and verandah

TUESDAY 9 DECEMBER

Christmas is Coming! - No. 2

Those who enjoy our Tuesday Treasure blogs and have long memories, may recall that in 2020 we used this title to illustrate the children’s book entitled ‘The Railway Story Book’ featuring a GWR King Loco on an express on the line near Dawlish. Our focus was upon its potential as an exciting Christmas present for any young railway enthusiast.

Today, with Christmas again fast approaching, and parents and grandparents worrying about what to buy for their cherished youngsters, we turn to a much later, post WW2 period when Ian Allan had become so very successful, that his organisation could confidently expand its products beyond railway publications and indeed, do so supported by their own leaflet detailing those products specifically marketed for the Christmas trade.

We illustrate from our Great Western Trust collection, sections from that folded leaflet, and note that they were truly bold enough to state ‘Ian Allan periodicals Lead the Field’..!

Yes it is dominated by periodical and book details including subscription services for many of them, but also includes ‘New! Railway Chinaware with Locomotive Designs Now in FULL COLOUR’. And for those with sufficient funds, the back page advertises a ‘Swiss Railtour De Luxe’ for £50 First Class and £44 Second.

Focusing upon that chinaware we illustrate the butter dish complete with colour painting of GWR Castle Class 4-6-0 No 5005 Manorbier Castle in WR livery. The manufacturers were Sandland Ware and from the leaflet it appears it could be acquired for only 3 Shillings and 8 Pence in pre-decimal currency.

Knowing the ‘collecting bug’ that too easily overtakes any enthusiast collector, we expect a complete set of cups, saucers, trays and butter dishes are on a display shelf or in a box in the loft, somewhere!
So what will Father Christmas bring for a young railway enthusiast this year?

TUESDAY 2 DECEMBER

Railway Quiz Booklet

Our regular Tuesday Treasures blog has previously given a number of articles based upon the Great Western Trust collection devoted to education-based upon railway themes, the majority focused upon children. Our blog today extends that function to a wider audience of Railwaymen and Railway-Lovers, as quoted from its cover.

This is a booklet published by Transportation Press Ltd of Tudor Chambers, London, at one old shilling, but undated. By its contents we believe it was in the late 1940s, as one question on the then oil-fired conversion of steam locomotives mentions GWR loco No 5955 Garth Hall, converted in 1946.

From its cover we note it was in fact the second edition, and its introductory page celebrates the popularity of the first edition! The locomotive in the photograph is an LNER A3 class 4-6-2, Gainsborough built in April 1930 as LNER No 2597 and renumbered 86 in October 1946, then became BR No 60086 in September 1948.

No less than 311 questions are covered, ranging over all relevant subjects, and helpfully it includes their answers!

Frankly, we can appreciate that it was indeed targeted for railwaymen or very keen enthusiasts, because many of the questions were not the simple ones for the general public.

We also illustrate the centre page spread drawing, by R Barnard Way (a celebrated author too) of ‘An Impossible Goods Station’ deliberately including numerous ‘impossible’ features which the reader was then expected to identify!

As this particular booklet was the second edition, we would naturally be delighted to obtain the first edition for our collection. Is there one still out there?

• Tuesday Treasures - Latest Blogs

« Back To Tuesday Treasures Index