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 9 SEPTEMBER

GWR Locomotive Exchanges - 1910

2025 has been the 100th anniversary of the locomotive exchange trials between the LNER and GWR which had been set in motion by claims and counter claims at the British Empire Exhibition of the relative engine ‘power’ of the GWR Castle class locos versus the LNER A1 Pacific locos. Our ‘Rivals Reunited’ event at Didcot from 14 May to 2 June celebrated that meeting of No 4079 Pendennis Castle and No 4472 Flying Scotsman and did so with impressive visitor numbers. The Great Western Trust was able to provide primary source material for the various information displays.

Before that noteworthy 1925 trial, however, an earlier such exchange trial took place in 1910, but then between the GWR’s No 4005 Polar Star and the LNWR ‘Experiment’ class loco No 1471 Worcestershire.

Those who enjoyed our companion DRC Going Loco Blogs may recall that in its edition of 1 October 2021, it covered much the same subject, and included a contemporary photo of 1471 leaving Paddington taken at the section where the Hammersmith & City Line emerged from beneath the GWR main line.

Today’s Blog illustrates that very same photograph, an original print of which has recently been donated to the Great Western Trust by GWR Driver James H Springthorpe’s granddaughter. This rather tired remnant of an album contains a number of images of GWR and SR locos and locations recorded in small prints with many having short captions of locations and dates.

The interest in this example is that it has been annotated on the back:-

“Worcestershire 1471 leaving on its last run Aug 25 1910 to Exeter with the 11:50am ex Paddington”

It is thought that the photograph was not taken by Springthorpe himself, but by A Lacey Pfungst, who is credited as photographer of an identical scene in the November 1910 edition of the GWR Magazine. The same edition of the GWR Magazine has four photos credited to Pfungst of Polar Star leaving Euston with Springthorpe driving, so perhaps Pfungst passed the album on to Springthorpe as a memento – we can only speculate.

Behind the loco is the GWR dynamometer car, and emerging from the underpass is a Hammersmith & City Railway train and on the far right are two men clearly stopping their work to observe the LNWR loco pass by. We can hardly ignore either, those beautiful semaphore signals!

Springthorpe was the GWR driver of 4005 Polar Star on the LNWR element of these exchanges, and their Royal Train driver as well! In fact the GWR Staff Magazine of September 1920 includes reference to both the King and Queen shaking his hand after a particular Royal train journey!

TUESDAY 2 SEPTEMBER

GWR Road Motors and Rail Motors

Today’s Blog benefits from another remarkable, if frail survivor of the Edwardian era in the Great Western Trust collection.

It is an undated publicity pamphlet produced when James Inglis was the GWR General Manager (June 1903-December 1911) which has a diagrammatic map of the London radial lines, on which the line from High Wycombe through Beaconsfield, Denham, Northolt and Park Royal to Paddington is noted as ‘new line under construction’. That line was opened in August 1906, so our publication was issued sometime between June 1903 and August 1906, about 120 years ago, hence its fragile condition!

We illustrate the opened out title side, and the rear side, with that map.

What to our eyes may be confusing is that the GWR adopted a similar form descriptor for both its then operating ‘Rail Motors’ and ‘Road Motors’. In hindsight, quite logical for those times before transport evolution brought us today to our ‘buses’ (shortened from the original ‘omnibus’) and our ‘car’ (shortened from ‘motorcar’). The monochrome photographs the GWR includes of both their ‘motors’ proves our point! Of course ‘rail motors’ later evolved to the diesel era ‘railcars’.

Helpfully, the map illustrates both the rail motor and road motor routes covered in the very detailed services timetable which exists as the ultimate fold-out section of the pamphlet. A final phrasing or should we say spelling that is used in that timetable, but was dismissed long ago, is the description of the modest ‘halt’ platform stations as ‘halte’, the latter being the German word for stop. We wonder whether it was quietly dropped upon the start of WW1

Keen eyed bloggers will note that the road motor service route on the map includes a circular journey around or through Burnham Beeches. That particular locality proved very popular, and the GWR ran special excursions there by road motor and their later omnibuses for many years afterwards.

A GWR road motor at Slough railway station, possibly about to set off on a tour of Burnham Beeches

Also of interest is the map’s inclusion of electric tramways, existing and proposed, on the road from Hammersmith to Staines and in the Richmond and Hampton Court area. But no mention of the electric tramway that existed from Shepherd’s Bush to Southall and Uxbridge. That route must have been considered in direct competition with the GWR’s train services and therefore it was censored from the map!

For those involved or interested in paper conservation, we finally wish to explain that the remnant of non-conservation grade fixative tape, awaits removal but only once it delaminates. Sadly that will still leave a dark witness stain of its glue, and justifies our regret that previous owners used such fixatives without realising its long-term damage to the item they believed they were protecting!

TUESDAY 26 AUGUST

GWR Publicity

In our previous blogs we have often remarked upon the work and output of the GWR’s Publicity Department and even its nationalised BR (Western Region) successor. The Great Western Trust collection at Didcot holds a vast array of their books, posters, handbills, and even their give-away modestly sized pamphlets, but today we explore yet another publicity related aspect of the GWR as a business enterprise.

The official GWR photograph we illustrate of their ‘Enquiry Office’ has many interesting aspects to comment upon, but perhaps to our eyes, the first and most surprising one is the rather ramshackle nature of the building that is centre stage! Why would the company deck out such a structure with its publicity?

Whilst the photo has no other formal identifying text, we believe it was taken in 1911 when the GWR representatives were present at a local or perhaps regional agricultural show. Their heavy involvement in transporting agricultural products, from live animals, even relocating whole farms, and to daily milk and meat carcase traffic, this aspect of their commercial services was highly important. Hence, attending agricultural shows, was a natural aspect of their concern to foster good relations with that important farming community and hopefully gain even more trade in consequence.

The specific interest to us however from this photograph is the array of GWR publicity. The framed pictorial and letterpress posters are a joy, and thankfully they allow us to determine that this was taken in 1911, given the poster relating to the Coronation of King George V and Queen Mary on 22 June, and the subsequent Spithead Review of the British Naval Fleet. The latter held on 24 June that year.

Those framed posters and the framed ‘Places of Interest’ displays are all worthy of a museum collection today. Even the smaller publication dispensers are finely made in quality wood. Whilst the posters would have been merely pasted onto boards at GWR stations, and not framed like these, the ‘Places of Interest’ versions would have been located in first class waiting rooms at principal stations, and thankfully, because they were far from exposure to the weather, some examples are now in the Trust collection. Yes, we also have some examples of the pre First World War era pictorial posters, but these were either ones miraculously undamaged by the weather, probably in waiting rooms themselves, or office reference versions for the GWR Publicity Department at Paddington.

Our final observation must be about the men posed or perhaps captured unawares in the image. The Official looking gents on the left hand side, appear deep in debate, but that chap on the right, in flat cap with cigarette is perhaps a local labourer? Quite what the Police office within contained is only a guess, maybe he was awaiting their ‘interview’??

TUESDAY 19 AUGUST

Restaurant Car Menus - 1952

Sadly, for our rail travel today, on board catering is limited to a narrow trolley attempting to pass along aircraft-dimensioned gangways, and failing when the carriages are full to bursting. The variety of food and drinks on offer is likewise constrained and is a far cry from the GWR of old or even we can say, BRWR too.*

So, for contrast, our blog today illustrates just two restaurant car menus produced in 1952 on the then BRWR but managed by the Hotels Executive created under the British Transport Commission.

Our Great Western Trust collection holds numerous original menus and those of the GWR tended to celebrate in their designs their own hotels or classic views from their trains such as St Michael’s Mount. Those we focus upon today, however, had of course to demonstrate the new Nationalised railways approach, and perhaps surprisingly their cover subjects are far more historically centred than possibly a railway traveller might expect! One gives the original history of football, and the other, tennis!

We do not have any other sporting subject examples, but would welcome any information if they did exist. Of course, the fact that our examples have survived is pure happenstance, that the person or family perhaps, who used them on their journeys kept them as souvenirs. Hence they are not in perfect condition, but that hardly detracts from their interest to us some 73 years later!

Their real delight comes from their other content. Each one is a single sheet folded to four sides, the inner two sides detailing the wine list and tariffs including even then ‘Whisky - GWR Special’ at two shillings and sixpence per measure. The real interest is the back cover, as that gives the better insight as to the food related menu, tariffs and the train in question.

The football one is silent on the train in question, however given it details the breakfast, luncheon, afternoon tea and dinner menus, could it have been on the train with the longest journey, the Cornish Riviera Express, or simply a standard version to cater for all such meals, on any restaurant car train?

Our tennis example in contrast, is far more illuminating. It was printed especially for those travelling on 22 May 1952 by special 1st class car ex SS Ile de France from Plymouth to London. We illustrate that menu because we are intrigued by the deliberate pencilled arrow pointing to coffee 6 pence extra!! Perhaps our travellers were unimpressed by such a surcharge?

We also note observe that breakfast 1st class was six shillings, whereas on the standard menu, it was only five shillings and sixpence! Meals 1st class always demanded a premium, although quite what that extra six pence gave you is not defined!

Truly it was an age now far behind us, but at least through such ephemera we can try to imagine how wonderful such a meal would have been for our forebears, especially, lest we forget, that food rationing post WW2 was even then not completely ended!

* Today’s GWR still offers Pullman Dining on Mondays to Fridays on the 1303 and 1904 Paddington to Plymouth, and the 1315 and 1816 Plymouth to Paddington; also the 1222 Swansea to Paddington and the 1748 Paddington to Swansea.

Highly commended is Transport For Wales which has recently introduced dining on the Welsh Marches route from Cardiff to Manchester via Hereford and Shrewsbury (6 trains a day) and Cardiff to Holyhead (1 return trip a day).

TUESDAY 12 AUGUST

The Great Western Railway – First Aid Movement

Accidents and their prevention, Safety and First Aid training were matters of consequence to all railway companies. The GWR itself had significant numbers of staff working in hazardous environments and conducting dangerous duties, and the care of passengers was also of great concern. The Great Western Trust collection holds considerable material on this topic alone, sadly a large proportion being the volumes of forms detailing accidents to staff and passengers!

A very positive outcome of all the above however, has to have been the creation of the GWR Branch of the St John Ambulance Association and with it a massive organisation of volunteer staff training in first aid, culminating in an annual ‘All System’ First Aid competition with a celebrated trophy to be awarded to the champion team.

All that organisation, stemmed upon area and even local station first aid training groups, who relied upon local doctors to provide the necessary scrutiny of that detailed training, both for individuals and as a group. Our blog today will be the first of a future series on this largely overlooked aspect of railway staff activities beyond their day job. It centres upon a wonderful posed group photograph which has no end of questions to answer, as it has no caption, names or date!

Its only useful clue is that it is mounted on card embossed ‘A.Parsons Hungerford’.

The image has so much to relish. All participants are in their finest clothes, whether civilian, GWR station staff, or military uniformed. All the GWR staff have lapel badges, almost certainly of the Great Western Railway Centre, The St John Ambulance Association. And what of that suited gentleman and elegant lady beside him? Add to that the proudly uniformed soldier, with a striding horse cap badge (can anyone please confirm which regiment?), coupled with the variety of the men’s shirt collars, and the laurel leafed GWR station master’s cap badge, lead us to hazard a guess that the picture was taken just before or even in the early years of World War 1.

Those concurrent questions are remarkably answerable however, due to the treasure of company corporate and staff related information held in the GWR’s staff magazines, of which the Trust thankfully holds a complete set in both hard copy and digitally word searchable format. Being a staff journal, a very great deal of content focuses upon their activities, and in the November 1914 edition, there is a lengthy article, with photos of the all system First Aid examinations of area groups, together with the names of all recipients of relevant awards. Remarkably, our photo is one of them, on page 306 and it names that gent and lady as Dr and Mrs Starkey-Smith present at the Hungerford examination event. Sadly, that is all the caption offers, but on page 308, it details the event participants and their rewards. Hence we now know that Dr Starkey-Smith was in fact the group First Aid lecturer, and the examiner was another doctor, one S D Graham. This to ensure unbiased assessment. Beyond this, it names no less than 18 award winners, 16 of whom gained pass certificates of competence, another a voucher, and another a medallion. Medallions were awarded for numbers of years achieved of continuous First Aid competence.

The remaining mystery surrounds the metal case in the foreground ‘Ambulance Cabinet’, as this is not the wording used on standard GWR First Aid cabinets, which were located at every station, goods and passenger, and on every train, the latter in the guard’s compartment. The referred to magazine article has a separate photo of a group of loco-men posed behind another such cabinet, and with the First World War as the period event, a potential answer, might be that it was a cabinet then used on the military ambulance trains of which the GWR built a number and even produced a set of postcards showing their bespoke interior design to accommodate stretchered patients and those still able to walk.

The saddest exclusion of course are the precise identities of all those proud individuals and given the date, how many of them served in and survived WW1? All editions of that period had war service articles and increasingly valedictories to those who were killed. Perhaps, as this particular copy has survived which has witness that it was once framed, then other copies were also family treasures and out there still, and one may still have those names? We always live in hope of further discovery!

Hungerford station in the first decade of the 20th century with a local passenger train heading towards Newbury and Reading behind a 2-4-0 locomotive

TUESDAY 5 AUGUST

British Locomotive Industry and the Taff Vale Railway

In a blog of July 2022 we used a similar title, except that we had ‘GWR’ instead of the Taff Vale Railway. However, the basic reasoning for the article remains relevant. Our previous blog centred upon the GWR contracting a number of British manufacturers for their 57XX class locos, with that constructed by W G Bagnall Ltd of Stafford, having our attention.

This time from our Great Western Trust collection we focus upon a locomotive constructed by R & W Hawthorn Leslie & Co Ltd, Engineers of Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1914. Its significance is that the builder’s brass plate we illustrate relates to their works number 3057, completed in October 1914 as it was placed upon the first of Cameron’s A class 0-6-2T locomotives, itself becoming TVR No 3.

She had a long career, and after the Grouping the GWR renumbered her 438 (shown in this photograph after being fitted with a Standard 10 boiler in 1927), but in the complex sequence of GWR absorbed stock renumbering, in 1946 she became No 309. Withdrawn from stock in February 1953, she then lived on as a stationary boiler at Briton Ferry until her demise in March 1955. A service life of 41 years says a lot about her utility, although the World War 2 period saw many such locomotives given extended lives through sheer operational necessity.

Having illustrated the plate’s face however, the reverse side is quite worthy of note too. It has been stamped ‘309’ twice, at least to ensure that during works visits it was reacquainted with the correct locomotive! But, a sharper eye exposes that the person who was directed to make those impressions, clearly couldn’t find a zero, so instead used an upside down ‘Q’ !

The wider history of many of the South Wales railway companies contracting British private manufacturers is a wholly separate story, with not the end that anyone would have anticipated way back in 1914. One practical issue of using them when based far from the South Wales district, was the manner of transporting them by rail, via various companies! As legally bound ‘common carriers’ the established railways could not decline such custom, and transits must have been a great interest also to any train spotter luckily in the right place at the right time!

For those seeking definitive information on the TVR A class locos, we recommend the RCTS Locomotives of the GWR, Part 10 page K190.

• Tuesday Treasures Index