Tuesday Treasures

We are very fortunate indeed here at Didcot Railway Centre with our vast collection of historic locomotives, artefacts and memorabilia that forms our world-famous museum telling the story of the Great Western Railway and its employees. For our volunteers and staff there are objects of great interest everywhere around the centre, each item unique to keeping the greatest railway company on the rails.

Our Tuesday Treasures blog is designed to share this vast and historically important collection so enjoy our deep dive into the rich history in our Museum and Archives.

• Tuesday Treasures Index

Latest Blogs

TUESDAY 22 APRIL

Easter Entertainment

With Easter just passed, we focus upon just one of the long established sporting events that was associated with Easter, this time horse racing.

The Great Western Trust collection has a wide range of GWR and BRWR publications centred upon their travel facilities to attend such horse racing events throughout the year and the UK, including the Grand National in Liverpool!

The GWR sent its new Castle class 4-6-0 No 4077 Chepstow Castle to Chepstow in July 1926 to publicise the opening of the new Chepstow race course

Today, our Easter item is a humble BRWR handbill of February 1959 for services to Chepstow Races from Bristol, Bath and Weston-super-Mare area stations.

The terms and conditions are standard of their time, although we wonder how many children under three years of age took the opportunity to travel free! Also, if the races were cancelled in sufficient time to be notified, such advance tickets acquired could be refunded upon application.

The Great Western Trust has a copy of this lovely poster advertising the new Chepstow race course which opened in August 1926. The horses are rather in the background in this painting by Warwick Goble – no doubt the aim is to promote horse racing as a social event, to see and be seen

Such events at Chepstow, created a very significant logistics task for the local station staff, given the working of those special trains and the vast numbers of passengers de-training and later en-training at the small station, presumably, though not stated on the handbill, that buses took them to and from the racecourse which was more than a mile away up a steep hill!!

The authority of this handbill was no less than K W C Grand who began his career in the role of the GWR’s Commercial Representative in the USA based in New York, and later upon Nationalisation, to become the WR General Manager.

Another poster from the Great Western Trust collection is dated 1932 and emphasises the drama of horse racing

The handbill itself was printed for the WR by J W Arrowsmith of Bristol, which is an example of the generous business that all GWR and BRWR publicity provided to local printers throughout their region.

We will return to cover wider examples of GWR and BRWR racing events publicity, as it is a rich and very British form of entertainment and very much remains so today.

Chepstow station in the 1950s, with a Wye Valley line train

TUESDAY 15 APRIL

Boating Season

Our Blog today reaches back 121 years to early 1904 in the Edwardian Era. A small, breast pocket sized booklet in Great Western Trust collection, packs in a number of railway operation and social history elements that may well both surprise us today, and prove that in other respects, hardly anything has changed!

The illustrated booklet cover alone sets the tone. Its ‘Boating Season’ title was clearly one that chimed with the target public travelling audience of that era, but rather than detailing the coastal yachting events, say to be reached by travelling GWR to its Dorset, Devon and Cornwall coastal resorts, this booklet is solely aimed at those living in London, the Metropolis, and enjoying the upper reaches of the Thames, particularly along the Henley branch!

We illustrate its gushing text introduction alongside a detailed sketch map of the Thames and the relevant GWR stations to access it. That introductory text reflects the attitudes and their weekend social activities of the middling and upper classes of society, and the GWR saw them as having strong potential custom for a remarkable Sunday only special service they were offering. Sunday only, because at that time, most professional employees worked 6 days a week.

We further illustrate that service alongside two vignette photo images of Henley Royal Regatta and the Thames at Pangbourne. Here we expose quite how remarkable that train service was, at least to our current eyes and expectations. Not only was it advertised as a ‘New Through Express Service’ but no less commencing from Victoria Station!

Historically, the GWR once surprisingly shared ownership of Victoria Station with the South Eastern & Chatham Railway Company from even Broad Gauge days, having a dedicated platform within that station. Hence, how they could offer this ‘through’ service independently of the SE&CR.

Elegantly-dressed passengers arriving at Henley-on Thames in 1911

Social history is also key here. As the booklet makes its sales pitch, those of a certain class, and wealth, who had residence in the city were being offered this Sunday-Only service during the July to September summer period, to locations on the Thames certainly familiar to them and in respect of Henley alone, probably a location they visited for its famed annual Regatta. For that event, the GWR made every effort to provide suitable and sufficient trains, and here again the Trust collection includes an internal despatch from Henley’s station staff calling for more First Class carriages!!

Today, we may no longer have such special train services, but the attraction of the Thames and the area served by the Henley branch, retains its vital and extensive public attraction, especially the Henley Royal Regatta.

TUESDAY 8 APRIL

Railway Subject Postcards

We have previously covered two postcards from the Great Western Trust collection, but today we focus upon their primary designed use, to send personal messages, and we think the example we’ve chosen is just the ticket.

Whilst it is not an official GWR-produced postcard, of which we have substantial numbers in our collection on its locomotives, ships, ambulance trains and even its pictorial posters, to be covered in a future Blog maybe, this is an artificially coloured in picture of a GWR City class 4-4-0 No 3433 (later renumbered 3710) City of Bath with the ‘Flying Dutchman’ express, published by Raphael Tuck, who proudly state that they were then Art Publishers to Their Majesties the King and Queen (Edward VII and Queen Alexandra).

The image alone, coloured or in sepia was then a popular one of this express and that locomotive, as it was the famed GWR express, named after the horse that won the Derby and the St Leger and all but one of its 15 races. It was considered one of the greatest British racehorses of the 19th century. Little wonder then that the GWR named their crack express after him! Although the postcard claims the location to be Slough, that cannot be correct as the lines in that location were quadrupled many years previously. Indeed the 53 miles from Paddington had been quadrupled by that time, so the location must be west of Didcot.

Turning to our target subject today, the actual use of this postcard, we illustrate the reverse side message and address section.

Here we have Auntie Rose writing to her nephew Master Jackie Stiles asking him “How would you like to go in this train for your holiday…”? Posted using a half-penny stamp and franked 3.5PM 17 JA 05 ie 1505 on 17th January 1905 we can but hope that that young lad did get to have such an exciting start to a future holiday! Over the years and generations, countless aunts and uncles gave affectionate indulgence to train loving nephews, many in the form of children’s books and toys. Yet again, ever alert to such influence, the GWR also produced jigsaws, books and games focused on that massive marketplace.

Naturally, even with an unofficial postcard in use, the GWR would have been pleased with the message, as they extolled in their substantial publications and adverts, that they were ‘The National Holiday Line’ so as the saying goes ‘There is no such thing as bad publicity’.

The Flying Dutchman

The ‘Flying Dutchman’ name had been unofficially given to the 9.50 am Paddington to Exeter train from 1849, after a racehorse of the same name which won the Derby and St Leger that year. The racehorse had itself been named after the legendary ghost ship of Wagner's opera, first performed in 1843.

The name fell out of use when schedules were slowed in the 1850s, but was officially revived from 1 March 1862 for the 11.45 am train from Paddington to Exeter, as a response to the London and South Western Railway introducing a train over its own route from London Waterloo to Exeter, which made the journey in 4¾ hours. The GWR’s ‘Flying Dutchman’ was 15 minutes faster.

Over the next five years the timings of the ‘Dutchman’ became slower, although it was extended as a through train to Plymouth in 1865. The name was again withdrawn in November 1867, but the GWR soon realised this was a mistake and reinstated it in 1869, with new clerestory rolling stock.

Between 1871 and 1884 it was claimed to be the fastest train in the world, with a London to Exeter time of 4¼ hours. This included a dash from Paddington to Swindon of 87 minutes for the 77.3 miles, an average of 53.2 mph. On the Bristol & Exeter Railway’s metals the train was sometimes hauled by one of that company’s remarkable 4-2-4 tank locomotives with 9ft diameter driving wheels which were said ‘to run very steadily and smoothly at over 70 mph’. The schedule between Bristol and Taunton was 51 minutes for the 44¾ miles, or 52.5 mph average.

However, there was a serious accident to the up ‘Flying Dutchman’ on 27 July 1876 when one of the tank engines derailed at speed on a falling gradient. This was soon after the GWR had absorbed the Bristol & Exeter company. The 4-2-4 tank engines were withdrawn and rebuilt as 4-2-2 tender engines.

The ‘Flying Dutchman’ train name was again dropped with the end of the broad gauge in May 1892. However, an article in the March 1897 edition of Great Western Railway Magazine showed the names were still in use unofficially:

“The names given to the West of England expresses are of course familiar all over the line. The Cornishman, the Dutchman, the Jubilee and the Zulu are household words to every member of the staff, nor is it likely that these will die out. They are reminiscent of the good old days of the broad gauge. Some time ago, in the course of an interview with a representative of one of the London evening papers, ‘a prominent official at Paddington’ (so the paper put it) stated that ‘these fancy names’ were not recognised in official quarters, and professed not even to know to which trains they are applied. Certainly the names are in daily use among those who have to do with the trains, and we are very much mistaken if many of those even in official circles do not take pleasure in using names by which time and custom have stamped with individuality one of the finest express services in the world.”

On 4 August 1903 the 12 noon departure from Bristol inaugurated the first two-hour service from Bristol to Paddington. The train had started as the 8.30 am from Plymouth to Paddington and divided at Bristol with the two-hour journey to Paddington being hauled by the new City class 4-4-0s. The train ran over the new line via Badminton which gave a journey of 117.6 miles to London, about 0.7 miles less than by the route via Bath.

The name ‘The Flying Dutchman’ appears to have been revived for the train, at least unofficially, as the postcard shows with No 3433 City of Bath at its head. An article in the Great Western Railway Magazine June 1913 edition – Great Western Train Speeds – refers to this train as the ‘Dutchman’.

In August 1904, with six clerestory bogie coaches working the accelerated service, and timed by Charles Rous-Marten at the invitation of the Superintendent of the Line, the loco was No 3435 City of Bristol and the regular Driver Kirby (‘one of the GW's smart and able enginemen’ in the words of Charles Rous-Marten) often covered the 77.3 miles from Swindon to Paddington in 70 minutes or less. With easy running over new settling-in track for the first 40 miles via Badminton, one bad signal check at Challow (caused by a ‘blunder of a subordinate’ said Rous-Marten) when the train had been doing 80 mph, the time from Swindon to Paddington was 67 minutes and 28 seconds. The 53 miles from Didcot to Paddington were completed in 47 minutes and 46 seconds. The whole Bristol to Paddington trip of 117.6 miles was completed five minutes early in 115 minutes exactly.

Although the train name disappeared from official use, we must not forget the Dean single No 3009 named Flying Dutchman which had been built in March 1892 as a 2-2-2, rebuilt as a a 4-2-2 in 1894, and ran until February 1914. Some 40 years later the Britannia class 4-6-2 No 70018 Flying Dutchman ran on the Western Region in the 1950s.

TUESDAY 1 APRIL

A Tale of Endeavour and Achievement

We meet a personality this week. A little known figure from Victorian Britain who deserves greater recognition. Surviving records tell us that he was born in 1851, in the town of Dingle, County Kerry in the far south-west of Ireland. The town is well known amongst railway enthusiasts for the narrow gauge Tralee and Dingle Railway. His name was Sean and being orphaned at a young age, was sent to England to be raised by a distant relative who lived in Paddington. He must have been smitten by the sight of the nearby Great Western Railway for at the age of fourteen he found employment as an engine cleaner at Westbourne Park Loco Shed. He was hard working, diligent and worked his way through the grades, becoming a fireman on Sir Daniel Gooch’s broad gauge single wheelers. He was promoted to driver in 1892 at the time of the abolition of the broad gauge when each locomotive had its own dedicated crew. Seven years later near the end of the Victorian period he was given charge of William Dean’s 4-2-2 locomotive No 3040 Empress of India. In this photograph from the Great Western Trust collection, we see him with his fireman, a man of Italian descent named Rolf Paoli. Both are standing proudly in front of their magnificent steed, looking every inch like men at the top of their profession.

Being an orphan from rural Ireland, Sean’s surname was unknown, so he was for all his working life known by the name of his home town. And so it came to pass, in a wonderful example of a railway spoonerism that Sean Dingle became the driver of a Dean Single.

Such are the fascinating examples of social history held within the Great Western Trust collection.

TUESDAY 25 MARCH

The Blue Pullmans

This week we delve into the pages of the journal of The Institution of Locomotive Engineers. This august body was founded in 1911 for the ‘Dissemination of information concerning Locomotive Engineering and its allied sciences by the reading, discussion and publication of papers and otherwise.’ Some of the finest engineers served as President of the Institution including Richard Maunsell, Sir William Stanier and Oliver Bulleid. It remained an independent body until 1969 when it merged to become the Railway Division of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Our focus is on two advertisements from the 1960-61 edition of the journal. The first is from C.A.V. Ltd., (named after the company founder Charles Anthony Vandervell) and promotes the fuel injection pumps for which they were world renowned. Secondly the Westinghouse Brake and Signal Co. Ltd., whose reputation for safety and excellence was unsurpassed.

These two illustrations lead us nicely to a British Railways (Western Region) poster (from the Great Western Trust Collection) issued at the 1961 launch of The South Wales Pullman. Blue Pullman services to Birmingham and Bristol began in 1960 whilst the South Wales service was still using steam haulage and traditional Pullman coaches. These revolutionary diesel electric trains turned many heads and with their striking Nanking Blue livery were like nothing seen before on British Railways. They were air-conditioned, luxuriously fitted out using the latest decor and sound proofing materials and were designed largely for the business market which was seeing tough competition from the private car and domestic air services. The WR fleet consisted of three 8-car sets and as can be seen from the timetable, they were well utilised, with two daily return journeys from Bristol, the same from Birmingham/Wolverhampton and the third set operating one return trip from Swansea to Paddington.

They were not an unqualified success and suffered from being underpowered and, on indifferent track, gave a rough ride. They did however, prove the concept of a fixed formation train with a power unit at each end and, three years after their withdrawal in 1973, British Rail’s Inter City 125 High Speed Trains were introduced. They radically improved journey times and frequencies and their success and popularity were unequalled.

Sadly, of the thirty-six Blue Pullman vehicles, all built by Metropolitan-Cammell in Birmingham, none have survived. They did, though, provide a very interesting chapter in the post-war history of Britain’s railways.

TUESDAY 18 MARCH

The Last One

On this day, 18th March, sixty-five years ago the last steam locomotive built for British Railways was named at a grand ceremony at Swindon Works. After one hundred and eighteen years of locomotive building, production ended with the unveiling of BR Standard Class 9, 2-10-0 Heavy Freight No. 92220 Evening Star. It was the 999th loco built to a BR standard design. Hundreds of men and women from the works plus senior officers, invited guests and a small army of newspaper reporters and TV crews gathered to mark the end of an era.

This momentous event was presided over by Mr R. F. Hanks, Chairman of the BR Western Area Board, Mr H. G. Bowles, Assistant General Manager and Mr R. A. Smeddle, Chief Mechanical and Electrical Engineer. Alderman F. D. Jefford and Mrs D. M. Shipway, the Mayor and Mayoress of Swindon were also on the specially erected stage. Mr K. W. C. Grand, former General Manager of the Western Region performed the unveiling and Mr Hanks presented to the three winners their share of a ten guinea (£10.50p) prize following a competition which was run among Western Region staff to suggest the most appropriate name for the loco.

Mr Hanks spoke saying it was “an emotional occasion, not to say a sad one,” but how proud he was that the honour of constructing the last steam loco should have fallen to Swindon Works. Uniquely for a BR Standard it was fitted, in true Great Western style with a copper-capped chimney.

R F Hanks speaking, Left, K W C Grand, right R A Smeddle

Special trains were run from Paddington for the occasion and a souvenir programme was produced which is also shown here. Other notable exhibits were on display both in and outside the works.

The unveiling

Following entry into service, Evening Star was allocated to Cardiff Canton depot. Like many BR Standards, it had a scandalously short career, being withdrawn just five years later. It now forms part of the National Collection and is on display at the National Railway Museum, York.

The joint winners of the naming competition

Of the cathedral like ‘AE’ shop where the naming ceremony took place, nothing now remains.

The photographs in this ‘Tuesday Treasure’ come from the collection of William ‘Jock’ Robinson, recently bequeathed to us by his son Terence. The Great Western Trust is very fortunate to have a detailed record of such an historic occasion.

Some of the hundreds who attended the event. Note how the steel supporting columns have been 'dressed' for the event

TUESDAY 11 MARCH

Commercial Travellers

Our Blog today turns to a new subject based upon the Great Western Trust collection, and probably to current times, an occupation that is no longer widely appreciated, that of the Commercial Traveller.

The railways in general revolutionised personal travel for all classes in society and all the more significantly, the ability of manufacturers to get the awareness of their products known to the widest community of potential customers in a more assured manner than advertisements in the press etc.

The so-called Commercial Traveller was one key occupation that blossomed under this new age of travel, and he, yes, males predominated, would travel the length and breadth of the UK to visit customers and carry with him samples and brochures of the products of his employing manufacturing company seeking to gain orders. Further visits would occur to maintain that business connection, and to introduce new stock items etc.

Recognising that such a travelling customer base existed, and with its scale, a potential influence to seek special lower fare rates for those companies, in 1872 the Commercial Travellers Association was founded, and the identity card illustrated being registered as No 12357 is just one of many expensively produced by the GWR, this one dated to 1900.

We illustrate the very attractive cover design of the identity pass; in gold on dark green, and the two inside pages which show that one Stephen Yeoman of Lyneham near Chippenham was a Commercial Traveller employee of S Rawlings & Son of Frome and gave authority to GWR Booking Staff to provide special rate week-end tickets for him to return to his home (nearest station Dauntsey) probably after a tiring and demanding sequence of trade visits during the preceding weekdays. This item is a delightful survivor including the passport-style photo image of Mr Yeoman.

The illustration of an S Rawlings & Son envelope from 1909 (not part of the Trust collection) gives an indication of the products that Mr Yeoman’s company produced.

Turning to another section of the Great Western Trust archive, we look at the ticket collection that was bequeathed by Charles Gordon-Stuart. The collection was expertly catalogued by the late David Geldard of the Transport Ticket Society and we have illustrated a selection of Commercial Traveller tickets with David’s notes. The four-figure numbers refer to the numbers printed on the tickets:

1470 to 2854 – Commercial Traveller week-end tickets. These were introduced on 1 July 1896, to enable commercial travellers to visit their homes at the week-end. They were available both 1st and 3rd class for local and foreign destinations between stations where the 3rd class single journey fare was more than 2s 6d, at single fare for the return journey. The intending passenger was required to present to the booking clerk a certificate of identity from his employer or a current year's membership card of the United Kingdom Commercial Travellers’ Association (price 1s 6d), and to surrender to the clerk a voucher taken from a book of 52, one for each specific week in the year (price 2s 6d for a book of 52 vouchers).

Special coloured card tickets were used originally, with conditions specific to commercial travellers. These were later replaced by standard conditions. Plain white and buff cards for 1st and 3rd respectively were used from 26 August 1907; from that date the CT skeleton overprint also came into use. Green card was used for 3rd class bookings from late 1934/early 1935.

9999 – Probably an August 1907 specimen. Where through fares were not in operation the commercial traveller was issued with a return ticket to the bookable intermediate station closest to his ultimate destination, together with a re-book voucher to be presented at the intermediate station in exchange for a single fare return ticket to the destination. In some cases Edmondson rebook tickets were issued when the voucher was presented.

191 to 4258. Commercial traveller day tickets were introduced in the 1930s, but these were probably work-related.

The second group of three Commercial Traveller tickets is from the Mike Ogden collection. Mike was the Western Region’s fares officer until the 1980s, during which time he obtained the specimen books of tickets, which have also found their way to Didcot. Specimen tickets were always given the number 9999 or 0000. The three Commercial Traveller weekend tickets illustrated here probably date from their introduction in 1896. Note they are of the three classes available at the time: 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

All in all, what appears to be a straightforward offer to a section of the business community becomes extremely complicated. One wonders how they managed to administer it all without computers.

TUESDAY 4 MARCH

BUSINESS EXPRESSions

In order to prove that British Railways didn’t just use female models for their publicity, this week we feature a poster from 1962, now in the Great Western Trust collection. It is clearly aimed at the businessman, encouraging him to travel from South Wales to London on the ‘Capitals United Express’.

Traction for the Capitals United Express 1 – a Castle class 4-6-0 gets special treatment from the cleaners at Cardiff Canton engine shed

Cardiff was formally recognised as the capital city of Wales on 20 December 1955 and the Western Region of British Railways launched the named train on 6 February the following year. It left Cardiff at 8am and the return journey departed Paddington at 3.55pm, although the timings varied slightly over the course of its life. The train was steam hauled throughout most of its ten year life, the name being dropped from the timetable on 12 June 1965, although it was revived in later years.

Traction for the Capitals United Express 2 – Britannia class 4-6-2 No 70026 Polar Star hauls the London bound service through Sonning cutting. This photograph, by Maurice Earley was published on the cover of the October 1957 edition of British Railways Western Region magazine

Cardiff Canton engine shed rostered its best locos for the job, initially ‘Castles’ and latterly ‘Britannias’. Canton was one of the few depots on the Western Region where the footplate crews were happy with the BR ‘Standard’ cab layout. Notwithstanding, the Western’s ‘Brits’ were transferred away to the London Midland Region before the end of steam.

Traction for the Capitals United Express 3 – a King class 4-6-0 hauls the westbound service through Southall in 1962, photograph by Mike Peart

With the advent of the D1000 ‘Western’ class diesel-hydraulic locos the steam gradually disappeared from the South Wales main line.

TUESDAY 25 FEBRUARY

A Special Train

Our Blog this week from the Great Western Trust collection records a special train of 1933 created by Fry’s the famous chocolate manufacturers using adapted Great Western Railway rolling stock, to travel the country.

Yes it was blatant publicity, but with a social agenda, in that according to the official postcard we illustrate it had travelled over 10,000 miles, visited 254 towns, been inspected by more than a million people, and that £5,000 had been collected and donated to local charities. Quite a result.

Not shy to make even greater claims, the postcard states it was ‘Britain’s First Show Train’.

The postcard itself, was ’Issued by the House of Fry, Cocoa and Chocolate Manufacturers, Somerdale in Somerset’, and has images of the short 3 vehicle train, and three interior views of the displays within them. The carriages were two GWR ‘MONSTER’ coded covered vehicles (also used for theatre scenery and even circus elephants), and a clerestory-roofed dining car, painted in bold Royal Blue colours with gold ‘Fry’s Show Train’ lettering. It must have made quite a sight when travelling between stations.

The launch of the Fry’s Chocolate Train at Somerdale in 1933. The ladies in white coats were known as ‘Fry’s Angels’. Photograph reproduced by permission of Bristol Culture, ref P9466

The Railway Magazine of July 1933 included an article about this train, which states the Monster vans were chosen for the liberal head room inside. One became a showroom for Fry’s products, while the second contained a 4.5 kw diesel generator. The dining car was used as a tea lounge and also contained a kitchen and sleeping quarters for the two salesmen who accompanied the train.

The purpose of the train was to exhibit the firm’s latest lines to their trade customers throughout the country, and at each stop a limited amount of invitations to inspect the train were also issued to the public.

The tea lounge with wicker furniture in the former dining car

After the train’s launch on 30 May 1933, The Railway Magazine listed to towns the train would visit between June and September: Hastings, Canterbury, Peterborough, Newark, Mansfield, Chesterfield, Gainsborough, Barnsley, Harrogate, York, West Hartlepool, Bishop Auckland, Durham, Consett, Carlisle, Workington, Whitehaven, Barrow, Kendal, Lancaster, Wigan, Macclesfield, Crewe, Stoke-on-Trent, Hanley, Rhyl, Caernarvon, Colwyn Bay, Chester, Wrexham, Shrewsbury, Oswestry, Leramington, Hereford.

The Trust also holds a splendid quad royal (40 x 50 inches) poster advertising visits to the Fry’s Somerdale factory, which drew great numbers of visitors for many years. The Somerdale factory opened in 1925, replacing factories in the centre of Bristol, and closed in 2011.

The GWR poster in the Great Western Trust collection that features the Somerdale factory. The statue on the left is of Peter Pan and was presented to Fry’s in 1930 to celebrate a company ‘that would never grow old’. After closure of Somerdale the statue was gifted to Children’s Hospice South West

Certainly this is another example of an age long ago which adopted railways to gain potential wider population access to commercial products, and nevertheless demonstrated that Fry’s at least had a social agenda too, given its direct contribution to local charities. £5,000 in 1933 is more like £300,000 now!!

TUESDAY 18 FEBRUARY

Delivering the Goods – Part 8

Continuing our sequence of blogs on this informative subject which in broad terms returned for the Great Western Railway more receipts than passenger traffic, our current blog from the Great Western Trust archive focuses on the illustrated double sided handbill promoting GWR Road-Rail Containers for house removals.

It may look tired, ink stained and creased, but our example was clearly once possessed by a prospective GWR householder customer and is a remarkable survivor.

Whilst undated, it’s circa 1929-1934, given it’s in the era when James Milne (later to be knighted) was the GWR General Manager and the locomotive retains the company’s shield monogram on its tender, that was replaced in 1934 by the simpler roundel design.

The artist’s imagery is necessarily striking even if, as to be expected, it reflects that well-used phrase ‘artistic licence’ – that is creativity beyond probable factual accuracy. A King class loco on a long freight train, is the evidence. Whilst it is correct that such locos certainly headed the express milk tank trains, their use on general freight trains is highly doubtful, except in extreme circumstances, and photos of such events are elusive.

This photograph of the same household removal as illustrated on the handbill was published in the Great Western Railway Magazine’s May 1933 edition

The reverse side of the handbill gives a potential customer the details of the exemplary service the GWR offered, and closes by using another bold assertive statement the GWR had adopted for some previous years ‘GWR The Hallmark of Transport’! Try that slogan with customers of today?

Well, this item, gives yet more evidence of the expanse of goods-related services the GWR provided, and not just to the large commercial companies and industry in general

A household removal at Hanwell, Middlesex, on 20 November 1936. The vehicle is a 6 ton Scammel 3-wheel tractor with a Dyak G Trailer and a 4 ton capacity container

TUESDAY 11 FEBRUARY

Diesel Hydraulic Locomotive Engineering

Countless numbers of photographs, taken officially and by enthusiasts, exist because of the unique BRWR investment in diesel-hydraulics rather than diesel-electrics. Debate will probably never cease about the reasons for that contrary investment decision, the comparative performance of both designs, and the final outcome, but today our blog concentrates on the design detail of one vital assembly, the bogie of a D800 series diesel-hydraulic locomotive, the Warship class.

From the Great Western Trust collection, the illustrated image is that from an official BRWR CME’s Dept, Drawing Office, Swindon, series, Negative E5.150 dated 25 July 1960. Way back from the early days of official Swindon Works photographs, new to service examples of locomotives were photographed and just like this image today, the background was carefully blanked out, in order to concentrate attention upon the object in question.

D800 Sir Brian Robertson photographed by Norman Preedy at Swindon Works on 27 July 1958. The locomotive entered traffic on 11 August 1958

We have chosen this photo image because it is we believe worthy of close examination. Beyond its engineering excellence, in packing into a weight and structurally confined space, it is the construction outcome of a massive amount of design calculations. These would cover both component strengths, weights, optimal locations and crucially, dynamic performance.

D817 Foxhound photographed by Norman Preedy at Swindon Works on 18 March 1960. The locomotive had entered traffic on 9 March 1960 and was one of the exhibits at Swindon on the day that the last steam locomotive built for British Railways, No 92220 Evening Star, was named – 18 March 1960

In our current era of computer aided design and dynamic modelling, we are perhaps relieved of the tedium of repeated handraulic calculations combined with long-gained expert experience inside Swindon drawing office and on the works floor itself, of draughtsmen, foremen and the locomotive running inspectors. Those latter individuals, were the key members of the CME’s design team, as even the cleverest design on paper, had to meet the demands of the operating staff, day in and day out. Their experience of what to observe, and what to avoid, must have been the major ingredient to the inception of any new locomotive design.

We like to think that the photo in question was also a record of the design team’s pride in the final manufactured product.

D801 Vanguard at the head of the Torbay Express, photographed by T B Owen. The locomotive entered traffic on 7 November 1958. The photograph shows her in original appearance, with GWR-style three-digit train reporting number and green livery complementing the uniform set of chocolate and cream coaches. Ten years after Nationalisation, the Great Western spirit was still alive and well on the Western Region

TUESDAY 4 FEBRUARY

The Amateur Railway Photographer

The invention of the camera and then the commercially affordable versions, had a profound impact upon railway enthusiasts, and the wealth of publications that those same enthusiasts now enjoy in their personal libraries would only exist because that invention changed their world.

Today in our Blog based upon the Great Western Trust collection, we reflect upon the relationship between the GWR company itself and one highly acclaimed contemporary enthusiast photographer namely H C Casserley.

We illustrate a remarkable letter to him from the GWR CME’s Department at Swindon, signed on behalf of C B Collett when he was CME and dated 6th April 1927. It refers to Casserley’s letter of the previous day no less, (try that postal speed today?) in which he had penned a reminder that he had not received a reply to his letter of 28 March seeking a shed access pass in order to photograph the last working de Glehn compound locomotive, then based at Oxford shed. How interesting it is, that Casserley’s wide reputation prompted such a helpful reply in which he is informed that the delay in replying to the original letter was that said engine was away under repair at Old Oak Common but would be on shed at Oxford on the coming Saturday preparing to take her train, the 4.20 pm to Paddington! Moreover, he included the very shed pass appropriate to that date, at a charge of one shilling!

Yes of course, we well know that the GWR went out of its way to appeal to ‘Boys of All Ages’ when they published that famous series of books by Chapman, but this letter demonstrates an even deeper willingness to engage with even amateur private individuals. We can only speculate, but it’s likely that the Oxford shed foreman was also informed by ‘higher management’ of Casserley’s intensions so that his visit proved entirely successful!

It is an interesting fact that in their final years of operating service from 1913, probably to ensure they had informed local maintenance staff on shed and trained footplate crews, all three French de Glehn compounds Nos 102, 103 and 104 were based at Oxford. The three locomotives had been bought by the GWR in 1903 and 1905 to compare their performance with the new locomotives being built at Swindon.

From available records, it is evident that the very last one in service was No 104 Alliance which was withdrawn in September 1928 and given that No 102 La France was withdrawn in October 1926 and No 103 President was withdrawn in March 1927, the loco Casserley wanted to photograph was No 104.

The Trust does not have our own copy of Casserley’s images taken on that day at Oxford, but we include a relevant example of that engine when in her final years.

No 104 in her original form with the French boiler. This photograph was taken between entering traffic in June 1905 and 1907 when she was named Alliance

H C Casserley wrote an article in Great Western Echo, Summer 1967 edition, in the series The Man Behind the Camera so we can get an insight into his interest in photography nearly 58 years later:

“I took my first railway photograph not far short of fifty years ago – 14th December, 1919, to be precise – on a dull winter’s day at New Cross shed, on the old London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. A fortnight later, on New Year’s Day, I got my first real ‘scoop’, at Derby, when I found the mysterious new ‘large banking engine’, which had been rumoured for some time, running its trials.

“It happened to be an 0-10-0 locomotive, No 2290, only the second ten-coupled engine to have worked in this country at that time. Fortunately, it was a good sunny day and I was able to obtain a sufficiently good picture for it to be reproduced in the old Locomotive News, certainly the first to be published and probably the first ever taken of this historic locomotive in action.

No 104 was rebuilt with a GWR Standard No 1 boiler in August 1907 and reverted to the French boiler in June 1909. She was given a Standard No 1 boiler again in July 1915, which she carried until withdrawn. This photograph was taken near Appleford, between Oxford and Didcot, while she was hauling a Birmingham to Portsmouth train during the final period she carried the No 1 boiler

“Since that time I have photographed countless thousands of railway scenes, at first confined almost entirely to stationary shots of locomotives but gradually embracing a wide variety of views, including moving trains. I have never specialised in taking pictures of trains on the move, having quickly tired of the conventional full speed shots – unless in exceptionally unusual or interesting surroundings.

“My principal interest has almost always been in the smaller lines and light railways, particularly those of Ireland, and I suppose I shall be rather sticking my neck out if I confess in a Great Western magazine that the GWR has never been a particular favourite of mine. Nevertheless, in varying degrees I liked the locomotives and trains of all the big companies.

“In more recent years I have concentrated on the general view, such as branch line scenes, station buildings and coaching stock.

The sad end of No 104 in the scrapyard at Swindon in 1929

“I have had only three cameras. First a Kodak 3½” x 2½”, which still takes a good picture, then a ‘Popular Pressman’ ¼-plate reflex, and a Leica 35mm which has stood me in good stead since 1936. I have always developed and printed my own pictures.

“I think I am very fortunate in that I was born at just about the right time; early enough to see and appreciate the fascination of pre­grouping days, and to have lived through two intensive periods of railway change and development – the amalgamations of 1923, and later the post-war period of nationalisation. Now that there is so little left worth photographing, I take very few new pictures and, in any case, have no wish to be forever chasing around the country as I did until the onset of dieselisation made this no longer an attraction.”

H C Casserley had been born on 12 June 1903, and he died on 16 December 1991.

TUESDAY 28 JANUARY

Train Spotting – 3

Our previous blogs were based on the Meccano Magazine. Today we turn to a contemporary publication for admittedly young train – or more accurately ‘Loco Spotters’ – which is part of our Great Western Trust collection.

Yes, because the four young men who formed what later became the Great Western Society (GWS), were train spotters at Southall, we also hold a wide ranging archive of publications, games and other ephemera devoted to contemporary railway enthusiasts of all persuasions, not least of course those produced by the GWR and BRWR.

However, our item today has the distinctive cover of a drawing of a green liveried ex London Midland & Scottish Railway Coronation class Pacific (4-6-2) No 46229 Duchess of Hamilton with a smartly dressed male train spotter keen to record it at a station. What is significant is the small sub title ‘Presented with The Rover’ exposing the then contemporary fact that many popular boy’s comics, catered for their wide ranging hobbies, of which train or loco spotting ranked highly, alongside stamp collecting, Meccano construction kits, Dinky Toys etc!

What is more interesting, is that the booklet contained no less than 30 drawings of various steam and diesel class locomotives, each with a space for the youngster to record where and when he hopefully saw an example, and our copy has in pencil that some were seen at Bristol Temple Meads station. Naturally we are rather biased and therefore happy to note that that was the only ‘spotting’ location and even No 6000 King George V was duly recorded, though not its year!

At a modest 4” x 3” size it was meant to be a pocket reference for the spotter to take on his outings.

Alas, today’s young railway enthusiasts are not so blessed with such publications, but recording the past era in contemporary social publications for youngsters is an important element of the wider picture of railway enthusiasm. And without having nurtured such a hobby, maybe the four young men who spotted at Southall would not have sown the acorn that became the GWS?

Loco Spotter’s notes:

The loco in the picture has a long and varied history. She was built in September 1938 at Crewe, No 6229, as a red streamliner, complete with gold speed stripes. In 1939 6229 swapped identities with the first of the class 6220 Coronation and was sent to North America with a specially-constructed Coronation Scot train to appear at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. The locomotive was shipped back from the States in 1942/3, and the identities of the locomotives were swapped back in 1943.

No 6229 Duchess of Hamilton in streamlined form at the National Railway Museum. Photograph by cooldudeandy by Creative Commons

In 1943 she was fitted with a double chimney. The streamlined casing was removed in December 1947 and in 1948 she was given the British Railways number 46229. She was painted in the short-lived BR blue livery in April 1950, but was soon repainted on 26 April 1952 into Brunswick green. The semi-streamlined smokebox was replaced with a round-topped smokebox in February 1957, and in September 1958 the locomotive was painted maroon.

46229 was withdrawn from service in February 1964 and became a children’s playground exhibit at Butlin’s holiday camp in Minehead, until March 1975 when she became part of the National Railway Museum collection. She was then restored to main line running standard until 1996, after which she became a static exhibit in the National Railway Museum. In September 2005 the Museum announced that the streamlining would be re-instated, returning the locomotive to her original appearance. This work was undertaken at Tyseley Locomotive Works and in May 2009 she was returned to the National Railway Museum in her streamlined form.

TUESDAY 21 JANUARY

Wartime Miscellany

A recent generous donation by a long-standing member contained a large collection of Notices and Circulars issued by the GWR. They were only intended for use by the company’s servants and were thus rarely seen by the public. Most of them come from the Office of the Superintendent of the Line and the Chief Goods Manager’s Office and were produced on a weekly basis and sometimes more often as circumstances required.

We have selected two at random for this week’s offering.

First from the Superintendent of the Line on Thursday 1^st April 1943 we are informed that Double Summer Time will commence on Sunday 4^th April. During World War Two, Britain created British Double Summer Time when, during spring clocks moved two hours ahead of GMT as opposed to one. This began in 1941 and ended in 1945, although it did make a brief reappearance in the summer of 1947 due to severe fuel shortages.

Also of note here is the item regarding Aer Lingus and West Coast Air Services Ltd. The £7 4s 0d return fare from Liverpool to Dublin today equates to around £278 showing just how very cheap air fares have become in the age of budget airlines. A similar flight today can be had for about £60 although the standard of comfort may have been higher eighty years ago.

An Aer Lingus DC-3 at Manchester Airport in 1949

Roath Dock, Cardiff, in 1943. Note the barrage balloon in the distance

Next, from the Chief Goods Manager’s Office a circular dating from December 1943 regarding Ministry of Food traffic. It would be tedious to reproduce all seven pages of the document but what is remarkable is extent to which Britain relied upon imported food during the Second World War. Supplies were being shipped from, amongst others, Australia, China, South Africa, Portugal and New Zealand. By this time, merchant shipping losses in the Atlantic had begun to decrease because of the Allies ability to destroy German U-Boats. Trans-Atlantic traffic from Canada and the USA would have seen vast tonnages of food being unloaded at the GWR’s docks and extraordinary efforts were made by all the railway companies to ensure that the food was distributed across the entire country.

Such is the wealth of social history to be found in two rather mundane, ephemeral items which form a tiny part of the Great Western Trust collection.

Cargo being discharged from SS Empire Waimana at Swansea in August 1945

TUESDAY 14 JANUARY

Enticing the Americans – Part 6

We continue to find items from our rich seam of material on this subject within our Great Western Trust collection.

Our folded brochure illustrated, was published in 1913 under the then General Manager, Frank Potter. Its striking cover image of a then unnamed Churchward Saint class loco on a crack express comprising a rake of Dreadnought carriages is accompanied by more juvenile repeated sketches in wallpaper style of the head-on image of a steam loco! Appealing to all tastes?

Anyway, its rear cover is rather different having a photo of GWR solid tyred road-motors with the title ‘GWR Rail & Automobile & River Tours’.

Naturally, the contents are multiple pages detailing all those tours and we also illustrate perhaps the most striking one of London to Liverpool via Windsor, Bath, Bristol, Abergavenny, Hereford, Ludlow, Shrewsbury and Chester! And just look at that diagrammatic route map emblazoned ‘The Ideal Tourist Route from London to Liverpool’. Liverpool reached of course via the GWR ferry from the Birkenhead Landing Stage.

Quite how many American tourists invested in these tours is not easily discovered as yet but it’s a fact that the GWR thought it worthwhile (at the exchange rate at the time of $4.88 to the £1!) to produce a continuous stream of similar publicity over many years specifically aimed at wealthy Americans who were (and maybe still are) enthralled by our historic sites and particularly Royal Windsor and Shakespeare!

A GWR road motor at Beaconsfield in the pre-first world war era

TUESDAY 7 JANUARY

Winter Holidays in Sunshine

With our current 2025 New Year beginning with a very cold snap including snow and freezing rain, we thought that our first Blog this year based upon the Great Western Trust collection, should give an alternative seasonal outlook from the Great Western Railway.

We illustrate the cover from a free booklet entitled ‘Winter Holidays in Sunshine - No Line like the Holiday Line’ published by the GWR in December 1909. At 40 pages however, this was no minor publication and demonstrated the bold assertions the GWR made in that era for its pre-eminent physical and service attributes, which we can see immediately from that cover title alone ‘No Line like the Holiday Line’. Yes, had the public not realised by then, the GWR adopted this strap line for much of its travel publicity but seemingly even that wasn’t sufficient for them, as we can also quote from this booklet

‘Glorious Winter Resorts on the Great Western Railway’ [Note the Initials !!]

And the gushing foreword text went much further:-

‘There are no better places in England for your Winter Holiday than those served by the Holiday Line – the ‘GWR’. In no part of the Kingdom are there to be found such perfect Winter Resorts, such charming scenery, lovely coastline, rivers large and small, and rugged moorlands, combined with mild and equable climate; indeed the westernmost counties Devon and Cornwall constitute a real Riviera of which England has reason to be proud.’

Phew! If that alone wasn’t bold enough and maybe stretching the facts, the text also reflected upon the growing tendency among all classes in this country to relax the time honoured custom of spending the Christmas holidays in the home, and to seek ‘fresh fields and pastures new’ to engage in the Yuletide festivities. Even bolder… they suggest that Christmas at home is very liable to prove somewhat dull and the time hang heavily …

Beyond that text with its assertions that may deserve our further pondering, the booklet is structured to mirror a range of specific booklets the GWR concurrently published for sale, based upon particular districts such as ‘The Cornish Riviera’; ‘Devon the Shire of the Sea Kings’; ‘Wonderful Wessex’; ‘Inland Resorts’ and ‘The Cardigan Bay Coast’. All such publications promoted under the enlightened leadership of the then GWR General Manager, James Inglis (later knighted) which ran to many editions, and they became the bedrock for the extensive publications the GWR then continued to produce throughout its existence.

The GWR’s enthusiastic promotion of its holiday destinations did provoke some negative reaction. It is recorded that the meeting of Penzance Chamber of Commerce on 21 May 1906, included lively discussion of a request from one of the members that a letter of protest should be sent to the GWR to ask them to remove the word ‘Riviera’ from their advertisements about services to Cornwall. The member, a Mr Cornish, felt that it did the county more harm than good, it was killing the goose that laid the golden egg and that he had seen several people who were disgusted with the place after they had visited. He felt that the word ‘Riviera’ implied incessant sunshine, but that wasn’t the case at Penzance as there had been 44 inches of rain in the last year. Another member of the Chamber agreed that it was misrepresentation and that the GWR should not be defrauding the public! A vote was taken and the request was defeated.

The Great Western Trust collection holds a vast array of these publications which represent social history just as much as transport history. Overblown claims by private companies are nothing new, especially in our current era. So perhaps we shouldn’t be too critical of the GWR’s enthusiasm for this style, but studying their publications of over a century ago may help us tolerate today’s commercial publicity as yet another example of there being ‘nothing new under the sun’.

TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER

Christmas for the Railway Staff – 2

In the spirit of Christmas and the New Year coming, our Blog today from the Great Western Trust collection relates to an official card produced by the GWR London Division Locomotive and Carriage Department for the 1903/04 holiday festival. Whilst sadly unissued to an individual or maybe another Company, our illustrated example still has lots of historical interest.

First we have the message addressed from John Armstrong, from the Department’s Offices based at Westbourne Park near Paddington. That location was the prime London locomotive shed until replaced by the magnificent, but now utterly lost, Old Oak Common facility, a few mile to the west.

Second we can perhaps smile that the message includes Armstrong’s ‘hearty’ Christmas greetings, which coming from a senior officer of the GWR, is a step beyond the more common and less expressive phrasing we see today on official Christmas cards.

Finally, the best topic of all, is the splendid official photo centrepiece of 4-4-0 No 3297 Earl Cawdor then sporting that massive boiler of pure Churchward experimental design, installed in July 1903, and the large almost North Eastern Railway style double windowed cab. The idea was that even pressure could be maintained on the undulating road in the west with a high reservoir capacity in the boiler. However, no advantage could be found and the net result was that a great deal of extra hot water, and therefore weight, was carried round the system.

The large cab was replaced by a standard GWR pattern one in November 1904, and the boiler with a standard one in October 1906.

Clearly that image alone was being used to promote the very forward looking activities of the GWR Locomotive and Carriage Department to a wider audience. Indeed, Churchward was concurrently overseeing similar evolution in GWR carriage stock too.

John Armstrong retired in 1916 and his valedictory review published in the Great Western Railway Magazine explains his relationship in the Armstrong dynasty that was so prominent in GWR history:

“Mr. John Armstrong, the London Divisional Locomotive and Carriage Superintendent, retired on September 30th, at the age of 65 years, and on the completion of half-a-century's service. A second son of the late Mr. Joseph Armstrong, who succeeded Sir Daniel Gooch as Locomotive Superintendent, and nephew of the late Mr. George Armstrong, late superintendent of the Northern division of the Locomotive department, he entered Swindon works in 1864 and after acquiring a thoroughly practical acquaintance of locomotive engineering was appointed, in 1878, district superintendent at Swindon, subsequently obtaining further experience in the South Wales and South Devon districts.

“In 1883 he became superintendent of the London division with charge of the Carriage department in the section between West Drayton and Aylesbury, and in 1889 the remainder of the division was placed under his control. Since that time the growth of the London division has been almost phenomenal, and today – although it is not actually the largest – it is perhaps the most important locomotive centre on the system. During the time Mr. Armstrong has been at Paddington he has had charge of the Royal train, and it stands to his credit that in all the Royal journeys, which include the Jubilee celebration trips from and to Windsor, the funerals of Queen Victoria and King Edward, and the welcome home of Lords Roberts and Kitchener, there was no hitch throughout that period.

“What perhaps was Mr Armstrong's biggest task during his term of office was associated with the transfer, in 1906, in connection with the scheme known as Paddington Improvements, of the London locomotive depot from Westbourne Park to Old Oak Common, where the engine shed alone contains four 65-ft. turntables, each equipped with 28 radiating roads, representing a total of 112 engine pits. Mr. Armstrong's interest in the employees of the Locomotive department did not end with his business hours, as his long and devoted interest in the G.W.R. Temperance Union, as Chairman of its Council, testifies. He was the founder and President of the Old Oak Common Railwaymen's Temperance Institute, the quarters of a variety of interesting social movements over which, when business admitted it, he has presided. A large circle of friends regret Mr. Armstrong's severance from official life, and he carries with him their wishes for many years of health and happiness.”

After a long year of Tuesday Treasure Blogs, this is our last of 2024, so that our Trustees and volunteers can take a well-earned rest and focus for once on relaxing with family away from things railway, that is if we can ever put aside our consuming fascination for this amazing and extensive subject!

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

TUESDAY 10 DECEMBER

Enticing the Americans – Part 5

With four previous blogs covering this wide topic, we thought that with winter on its way, and for some of us, already arrived, that to lift our spirits on cold dark nights we should return to it with the Great Western Railway’s publicity for the summer holidays in 1931.

From the Great Western Trust collection we illustrate the eye catching cover of the fold-out brochure for American tourists of a certain wealth, for a variety of Land Cruises by Motor Coach and Train. That phrase alone is strikingly catching as most wealthy American tourists were very much aware of, and enjoyed, sea cruises on luxury liners, so the GWR boldly used that same cruise description with luxury of course, to bring an alternative and intriguing special transport tourist offer to those same potential customers.

Issued from the GW Offices on 505 Fifth Avenue, New York City by G E Orton the GWR’s General Agent in the USA, the brochure is beautifully constructed and overflowing with attractive tour offers. No less than five such different cruises were on offer, four being 5 day duration, but one of 13 days. They all began and ended with train travel, but also used (we quote) ‘magnificently appointed motor coaches purchased by the company expressly for these Cruises’ plus first class hotel accommodation and a GWR representative accompanying each cruise to ensure all arrangements are in place. The whole scheme was (again we quote) to ‘provide the maximum of sight-seeing without fatigue, which could not be run under more comfortable conditions or at cheaper cost.’

What cost? Well the 5-day cruises were close to 62 Dollars (£12:12 shillings) and the 13 day cruise was a hefty 128 Dollars 88 cents (then equivalent to £26). That longer cruise was in today’s rough exchange, a cool £1,500…hence only the wealthy could afford it!

The brochure helpfully includes a set of coinage equivalents, including that One Pound was then equal to Five Dollars!! A long way from the exchange rate today!

The Great Western Railway Magazine published testimonials from American Land Cruise participants in its March 1931 edition:

This page showing locations visited by the Land Cruises was published in Great Western Railway Magazine, March 1931 edition

From Mrs B Jackson, 837, Sherman, Denver, USA. “It gives me great pleasure to be able to tell you that my trip with Land Cruise No. 3 has been a great success. It more than came up to my expectations, and I have never had a more enjoyable week in all my extensive travels.”

From Miss H M Hume, Waldorf Hotel, Aldwych, WC2. “We have just finished Land Cruise No 1 (a party of four Americans), and wish to recommend it heartily to anyone wanting a delightful motor tour. The hotels were most comfortable, the programme of sight-seeing was varied, the coach very satisfactory, and the personnel very attentive and thoughtful.”

It is interesting that the cover of this brochure uses art deco typefaces, plus the GWR initials in a roundel. The roundel was officially launched as the standard monogram ‘for all practicable purposes’ in the Great Western Railway Magazine’s September 1934 edition, more than three years after this brochure was published. The Great Western Trust collection includes examples of experimental GWR monograms used in the early 1930s, until the familiar GWR roundel was adopted.

Maybe the Americans, being more forward-looking than the British, were tested with the art-deco design of this brochure.

TUESDAY 3 DECEMBER

Up in the Air

Scheduled passenger helicopter services between London Airport and Waterloo began on 25 July 1955. Even if all eight trips on a day were sold out, British European Airways (which originated in the 1930s as Railway Air Services) still made a loss of over £300 and the flights were terminated on 31 May 1956. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

‘We used to have a service into London, running the Westland Sikorsky 55 Whirlwind. For safety reasons the Ministry decided that, as the last three miles of its course would be over the River Thames, that it should carry floats. Floats were duly fitted and it started flying. Then, because the august gentlemen of the House of Lords protested about the noise of the helicopter it was decided to fit silencers – another weight penalty.

Then the Port of London Authority came along – “I see your helicopter has floats on it. What are they for?” And it was explained that they had been fitted in case it had to come down in the River Thames. Back came the reply: “Jolly good show, in that case it becomes a vessel in navigable waters and it must carry an anchor and chain.” And it did!’

What, I hear you ask has this got to do with the Great Western Trust? Well the above is a short extract from a talk given on 23 January 1958, to the British Railways (Western Region) London Lecture and Debating Society.

The cover of the transcript of the meeting

The speaker was Mr M G Housego, the Press & Public Relations Officer, Ministry of Transport & Civil Aviation, who was himself from a railway family and was a senior civil servant having entered the service in 1935. He was relating an episode from the time when helicopters were used to ferry important passengers from the airport to central London and the bureaucracy that the transport industry faced then. Nothing, it seems, changes. Mr Housego provided a wealth of information about London Airport which was officially renamed London Heathrow in September 1966.

A photograph taken inside the control tower at Heathrow, published in the transcript of the meeting

The Great West Aerodrome was established in the early 1930s by the Fairey Aviation Company and would have developed sooner had not the Second World War intervened. As a result civil operations began on 1 June 1946 and growth thereafter was rapid. The technology seen here in Aerodrome Control may look archaic but it was highly advanced seventy years ago.

The Great Western Trust holds a comprehensive collection of lecture papers dating from 1906 – beginning with what was entitled the GWR London Debating Society. Its successor, the British Railways (Western Region) London Lecture and Debating Society lasted well into the 1970s having presented over five hundred papers with such diverse topics as ‘Notes on American Railroad practice’ (1928) to ‘A visit to the USSR’ (1959).

TUESDAY 26 NOVEMBER

Furniture Removals by Rail

The interesting small brochure forming our Blog adds further example to both the wide ranging services the railways once offered, well beyond passenger travel, and that in the between-wars period, the so-called Big Four companies collaborated in joint publicity campaigns.

Our Great Western Trust collection holds many similar publicity items, and naturally many centred on the Great Western Railway’s own services but the joint issued publications also have a vital part to play in allowing us to fully grasp the extent of that collaboration and through it, how customers could benefit from it being offered across company boundaries as it were.

Hardly to be missed however, is the banner of the Big Four publicity initiative as ‘British Railways’ years ahead of that becoming the adopted title for the nationalised railways! Rather ironic given the strident efforts of each company to fight such an eventuality.

Back to this brochure, we simply provide illustrations from both sides of it once it has been fully opened. The ‘What the People Think of It’ section is that period’s equivalent of the customer review internet posts on product adverts of today.

This photograph of a GWR Furniture Removals container was published in the Great Western Railway Magazine, January 1936 edition

TUESDAY 19 NOVEMBER

Spotlight on Bewdley

This Blog gives us a stark contrast from today’s heritage line reality back to when this station was still, very much in BRWR service in 1961. Our first illustration is of the back cover article in the BRWR staff magazine of January 1962, which was part of a series on many BRWR stations and their staff.

Being 1961 content of course, this edition was significant in reflecting upon what it deemed major events during that year, not least the handover to the Science Museum in June of loco 4073 Caerphilly Castle, but reflecting further dieselisation – the formal handover at Paddington in May of Hymek class loco No D7000 and the Blue Pullmans arriving to create the South Wales Pullman set in September. The second illustration is the cover of the January 1962 edition of the magazine, showing a Blue Pullman in Sonning Cutting and the third illustration is the centre spread of the magazine with photographs of 1961 events.

Back to that Bewdley Station article and it is striking how familiar it looks to those who enjoy the Severn Valley line of today, even if we doubt it is now ever as bereft of trains or rolling stock as the image here! What is of course striking is that in 1961 it had a fully connected passenger and freight service to its many regional stations. The brief traffic statistics given prove this. Vector forward to today and does Bewdley now have annual passenger bookings of 56,000 or rather more we wonder?

Times have certainly changed, but at least for this station, its sad demise was reversed and much more besides, to bring so much pleasure to railway enthusiasts and general recreational visitors, and a rewarding pastime for so many SVR volunteers.

This edition is from the complete run of those magazines in the Great Western Trust collection until it ceased publication in spring 1963 to become a newspaper format. The Trust holds them not only as they are an extension of our collection of the long running GWR staff equivalent monthly journals but also because their content provides us with a perfect contemporary record of how BRWR saw itself and its staff.

TUESDAY 12 NOVEMBER

Oxford

To the city of dreaming spires this week and an interesting poster from 1949 in the Great Western Trust collection. It is a very ‘busy’ poster designed for a location where the viewer would have time to pause and study rather than an image that fleetingly catches the eye. The large size (40 inches high x 50 inches wide) means it is easy to read while waiting for a train – and will lighten your mood if it is delayed!

The poster as it appears after being electronically cleaned and repaired

Meticulously drawn by John Pearson Sayer (1901-1984), a master of his craft, it draws the viewer into the streets, colleges and individual buildings of post-war Oxford. Through small vignettes, the colleges are shown with their coats of arms and year of establishment with snippets of history attached to them and many other notable locations throughout the city centre. Many famous persons are depicted including Samuel Johnson, Cardinal Wolsey and Percy Bysshe Shelley who was expelled from University College for publishing his views on atheism. Not forgotten are the four women’s colleges, outside the area of the map. At the right hand edge we are reminded of the plan to build a city bypass across Christ Church meadow which resulted in the man from the planning department being pitched into the River Thames! (or Isis as it is known in Oxford). The poster is a joy to behold and is a wonderful example of a picture telling a thousand words.

The poster straight from the scanner, with frayed edges and creases

The Great Western Trust is fortunate to have such a poster and although it is in a rather ‘tired’ condition our drawing archivist Kevin Dare has scanned and then electronically cleaned and repaired the poster so we can see how it would have looked when first printed, seventy five years ago. Both images are shown here for comparison.

The Great Western Trust owns other map posters by J P Sayer for different areas of the country using the same style of vignettes with light-hearted comments.

TUESDAY 5 NOVEMBER

Delivering the Goods – 7

Our previous blogs on this broad but vital subject explored much detail of traffics and even claims for losses in transit. In the blog today from the Great Western Trust archive we illustrate a very interesting publication by the British Council as No 5 in a series of eight set on ‘They Carry the Goods – The British People How they Live and Work’. Undated but circa 1950 it covers all transport, railways, roads and canals.

The photos are striking in that they capture the work and the conditions each form of transport entailed and being of their time, workers smoking on duty as it were, was then a commonplace. We illustrate just two, the dramatically-lit cover of a night-time goods yard shunter with hand lamp and shunting pole, and that showing a representative, large goods exchange yard ‘somewhere in England’.

Quite who the target audience was for these publications, with a one shilling (now 5p) purchase price, is a question, although No 6 in the series entitled ‘Ordinary People’ makes that question even more intriguing! The British Council was created in 1934 and is still very much alive and thriving as a charity and exists to create educational and cultural relationships with worldwide nations and bodies. So, perhaps that goes some way to explain why even a booklet on ‘Ordinary people’ had justification. Giving an honest insight to our culture and our working folk was viewed as a means to step away from a heavy governmental or foreign policy perspective?

Whatever the reasoning, such publications are valuable to us today, in capturing how our railways were then viewed as a crucial part of the goods transport infrastructure and that picture alone, of the massive well stocked goods yard demonstrates this completely. It also admits that of 1¼ million wagons only 5.5% could carry more than 20 tons. The great majority would have been unfitted with vacuum brakes, limiting the speed at which freight could travel. The yard itself, though unidentified, is now most probably under a housing or industrial estate!

• Tuesday Treasures Index