the friends of the national railway · pdf filethe friends of the national railway museum ......

The Friends of the

National Railway Museum

Briefing 55 South of England Group September 2009Vice Presidents – Alan Pegler OBE, FRSA; Sir William McAlpine Bt., FRSE, FCIT, FRSA

SUMMER OUTING TO EAST LANCASHIRE RAILWAYAs has become normal practice, every twoyears the Group organises a weekendsummer outing to coincide with the FNRMAGM in York. This year our party travelledto the East Lancashire Railway, by way of anovernight stay in Manchester –coincidentally allowing us to sample theManchester Metrolink – albeit in abbreviatedform due to the city-centre renewals.Peter Duncan met us at Bury Bolton Roadstatition to give an overview of thepreservation company history. He pointedout that BR closed the line in 1980, havingdiverted freight and passenger workings toBury. The preservation company opened toRamsbottom in 1987 and Rawtenstall in1991. Finding a solution to an original flatcrossing on the line to Heywood over theManchester Metrolink, caused a delay in theWest-East link from Bury. The solution, abridge, was built in 1993. This hasexceptionally steep gradients on the twoapproaches, the one on the west having avery short length of 1:25. Between 1993 and2003 the line to Heywood was prepared andthe increasing bureaucracy tackled – thelatter only being overcome 6 weeks prior tothe opening in September 2003. Theadditional line out of Bury, and the possibleconflicting routes to Buckley Wells works,required significant resignalling and a majorexercise is only just drawing to a close. Thesouth box had its original L&Y frameremoved and replaced with a BR 65 leverframe. A major element has been theinstallation and modification of a signal

gantry recovered from Lostock Junction,where it controlled the lines to Wigan andPreston. An extension has been fitted to thewest end to control the loop platform. Thestation at Bury has also undergonesignificant transformation, a new up(Manchester direction) platform has beenbuilt on the site of the original EastLancashire Railway Offices. Just to theNorth West of the station, Bury TransportMuseum is located in the old covered-goodswarehouse, an unusual design of buildingcomprising three roof pitches held up by twoparallel rows of cast iron columns. Bury wasalso surrounded by coal yards, the HolcombeBrook branch came off at Bury and was usedby Dick-Kerr & Co. to test out electrichaulage in the early part of the 20th century.John Tait, Hon. Secretary of the Society, andhis wife, Susan, then took over for the tourround the site. John described thegovernance structure, with the ELR Trust atthe top, with the trustees, some representingthe local councils. Under this is the ELRCompany with the ELR Holding Company,the latter a registered charity.

CONTENTSSummer Outing ................................. 1Lord Nelson Book ............................. 6Streamlined Duchess ......................... 6Outreach report ......................................... 6Travels with “Ollie” ................................. 7Save Our Scotsman Appeal Results ......... 7Forthcoming Events ........................... 8

Briefing No 55 1 September 2009

The Association sits alongside the HoldingCompany, providing both trustees andCompany directors. Their relationship withthe local government, including GreaterManchester Passenger Transport Executive,are good. As an example of the latter, a fewweeks ago the GMPTE's Metrolink unveileda newly liveried tram (No 1007) deckedthroughout with advertisements for the ELR.The normal sponsor fee, upwards of £30,000p.a., was waived completely.We moved off the platforms. Just to thesouth of the station, under the road bridge, isa steel-sheeted, grey-painted coach with thewords “circus” painted on. This coach startedlife as a L&Y carriage, then being convertedto an ambulance coach for WWI, and usedfor the same purpose in WWII. After the warit served as a departmental vehicle beforeending its days as a store. It then wentthrough various, mainly council, ownerships.The final ownership transfer documents areto be passed to the society in a few weekstime. In anticipation of this, they launched arestoration appeal, which quickly generated£4,000. With this in hand they were givenapproval to start the clearout of the insides –and were immediately rewarded with a stashof old tin and aluminium cans, the scrapvalue of which doubled their cash reserve!Behind the steel panels and tin cans, theyfound that the original L&Y lining was stillextant, so they are looking forward to aninteresting restoration project.Moving across the lines, past the signal boxand coach shed, we crossed a gated accessroad, before entering Buckley Wells depot.Here John described the plans for the site.The west side is currently being levelledusing demolition debris provided by localcontractors. This will ultimately be thelocation for a new four-road running shedwith turntable, and a carriage shed capable ofholding all the line's stock.John then turned to the east of the site, wherethe original 1846 East Lancashire Railwaylocomotive works building is still standing,

and told us that the spare ground between itand the access line could become the site of anew outstation for the NRM. Negotiationsare proceeding and could result in a new haltbeing built to allow passenger connectionwith Bury station. This would also allow thesociety to make use of the extensive carparking space available at Buckley Wells forgeneral visitors to the railway as well as theNRM outstation. The intention is to haveboth a display area and new educationalcomplex, connected to the existing buildingvia a new walkway. The local council is, notsurprisingly, very enthusiastic.Turning to the original ELR loco workshop,John described how it was nearly lost to thesociety. Back in 1993, both Sainsbury andTesco were vying for the site. With somequick footwork, the society managed to get itlisted (grade 1). The local council then gavethem a challenge. If they could organise asuccessful event to attract the public to thearea, they could buy the building for£250,000, rather than the £3-4 million beingoffered by the two supermarkets. So wasborn the “End of Steam” event. On thesecond day the council honoured their pledgeand handed over the ownership documents.The building has to be financially self-sufficient though, which is why Ian Riley hasthe lease on part of the building. Thearrangement is mutually convenient, thesociety gets the income and bothorganisations benefit from the pooling ofmachinery and equipment. Ironically, thisarrangement has turned the clock back 170years with the building once again housingthe construction of steam locomotives.We toured both parts of the building, in theIan Riley side seeing some of the contractwork, including the repair of FlyingScotsman's firebox. This needed substantialrework of past repairs to bring it up tostandard. On the Society side, we saw Black5 No 45337 and No 42765 undergoingrebuilds. The latter needs a new tender whichhas been secured from Cheddleton, and we


saw it in the final stages of preparation. Likemany railways, relations with “Thomas”copyright owners are strained, and they nolonger run these events. The loco which tookthis guise, Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T No 680 of1903, is now to be loaned to other railways.At the rear of the Society's roads was acoach, somewhat incongruously stabled atthe end of the row of locomotives. This is anoriginal coach from the 1938 Coronation set,a mixed saloon-compartment unit. It isowned by Ian Riley but is being lovinglyrestored by the society's Keith Battersbywho, judging by the quality of theworkmanship, is a master carpenter So far hehas spent seven years on the project andexpects to spend a further two (but it couldbe longer!). All the costs are being borne byIan Riley but the planning and procurementis done by Keith, who has drawn extensivelyon the NRM's archive of plans andphotographs – actually mainly the latter. Itshould be a superb piece of restoration oncecomplete.We then moved to the carriage workshopwhere Hugh Linney took over thedescription. As is usual for preservedrailways, most of the carriages are ex-BRand, as usual, they all suffer the commondesign faults – rust-worm on the lower platesand end plates. Repair involves substantialamounts of “grind – weld – fill – paint”.They are looking forward to the relocation ofthe L&Y ambulance coach, see earlier, as alittle light relief from the repetition. Hughexplained how the society was lucky to havein its membership, Alan Howlett, an engineeremployed by the Chloride Battery Companyin Manchester. He was a magician when itcame to restoring old carriage batteries, andone coach, No 4350, which is the oldest onthe line, is still running with its originalbatteries, thanks to Alan. In honour of hiswork, one coach was repainted and refittedas the “Howlett Bar”, although sadly Alandied soon afterwards. We also saw PeteWaterman-owned observation car No

W15066 stabled in the shed. Then the finalsurprise – just behind the latter, was Class 33D6525 - “Captain Bill Smith RNR”. This hasbeen transferred north for work. Althoughthe nameplates are on the locomotive, thesubsidiary plates have been removed. Theseplates, which were paid for by the FNRM,explain the significance of the name andBill's position in the vanguard of directpreservation of main-line locomotives. Wewere given the contact in the restorationteam and hope to arrange for the subsidiaryplates to be relocated.We finished the tour with a visit to BurySouth Signalbox, where we saw theextensive changes made to the frame toaccommodate the enhanced track layout. The'box is structurally as operated by the L&Y,indeed it is of a design which pre-dates theL&Y's own boxes, although it has hadadditional windows positioned at the rear inorder to control the lines to Heywood.We made our way back to the station in timeto join the 13.10 departure to Rawtenstall.John and Susan joined us on the trip giving arunning commentary of the sights andhistory of the line. Following a few trips upand down the line, we finally arrived back atBury in time to catch the Metrolink tramback to Manchester Victoria and a quicksprint up the hill to Piccadilly for our trainssouth. Metrolink is undergoing substantialrebuilding in the city centre, which meansthat trams are not running and you eitherneed to catch the bus or use “Shanks' Ponybetween the termini. Reinstatement of thefull service is due sometime around 2012.Our thanks to John and Susan Tait, and theteam at the ELR for making us so welcome.We wish them well in the inevitableexpansion of this popular line and, shouldthe plans for the NRM outstation reachfruition, look forward to our return trip in thenot-too-distant future. Photographs overleafwere taken with the permission of the EastLancashire Railway.


SUMMER OUTING TO THE EAST LANCASHIRE RAILWAY

At the entry to Bury Bolton Street station John Taite provides the pre-briefing

The Group look towards Bury Station and 'box Entering Buckley Wells and the possiblelocation of an NRM outstation?

In the company of Captain Bill Smith RNR


LeftInspecting Flying Scotman firebox

BelowThe stand at Alexandra Palace

Left the new Lord Nelson booklet

Below the invited guests at the unveiling of the streamlined Duchess of Hamilton


LORD NELSON AT LASTWe have been eagerly awaiting the book onLord Nelson in the FNRM “Famous BritishLocomotives” series for quite some time. Ithas now appeared, and very good it is too!Written by Roger Hardingham (with a littlehelp from his friends) it tells the story of theinception of the LN class and the life of 850from 1926 to the present day. Roger has

acquired numerous photographs from theearly years as well as a good selection ofcolour photos from her sojourn at Carnforthand then through the rebuild at Eastleighand her recent mainline running. A veryworthy addition to our stocklist and availableat £8.00 per copy (£7.00 to Friends).

“DUCHESS” RETURNS TO THE MUSEUMOn the evening of 19th May the newly re-streamlined LMS Pacific No. 6229 Duchessof Hamilton was propelled into the Museumwatched from the gallery by 229 Clubmembers, other donors and invited guests.All then moved to the floor of the Great Hallto attend the launch of a new exhibition -Streamlined: Styling An Era - The exhibition explores the links between1930s society, engineering and design usingthe newly restreamlined “Duchess” as the

central exhibit.Returned from Tyseley Locomotive Worksafter months of work, severely prolonged bydelays including difficulties in obtaining thecorrect gauge of steel for the casing, the ladyis stunning in her air-smoothed crimson lakeand gold dress. We all now have theopportunity to see a Stanier Pacific in theglorious form it briefly had pre-war.

George Rutter

OUTREACH REPORTOn 28th and 29th March we attended theLondon Festival of Railway Modelling atAlexandra Palace. We were in our regularspot near the entrance to the second hall, somost visitors needed to pass by us in order toreach the rest of the layouts. The Saturdaywas very busy with a constant stream ofpeople, not just from London but the wholecountry and overseas. Sunday was muchquieter, possibly because the rain had set in.Over the two days, there were plenty ofquestions about the Museum and its displayswith an increasing amount of interest in theShildon site. Possibly because of the weatheror the economic downturn, our takings werelower but, even so, another successful event.Our next outing was on 9th May when wemade our first visit to the south-westHertfordshire Model Railway Exhibition atBushey. This was quite a sizeable show,taking up several halls in the town's mainschool, located conveniently close to the M1junction. Again there was a steady stream of

visitors throughout the day with plenty ofinterest in the Museum. One visitor startedwith some very negative comments on theMuseum's policy but following severalminutes of dialogue with Phil Brown, was soconvinced about the benefits of the Friends'activities that he went away with asubstantial pack of goodies. If anythinghighlights the benefit of the outreachprogramme, that does.The "sales on the move", where weaccompany NRM locos on steam excusionson the mainline, have also been continuing -see the next item.We are now looking forward to the Autumnseason of exhibitions. We are scheduled toattend the Tring & District, TADrail,exhibition on 10th October, (see enclosedleaflet for details). The main event will bethe National Model Railway Exhibition atthe National Exhibition Centre, Birminghamon the weekend of 28th & 29th November.


TRAVELS WITH OLLIESince September 2008 we have beenprivileged to be able to operate our salesstand on trains hauled by the NRM’s currentmainline locomotive 70013 OliverCromwell.A glance at the schedules will show that shehas been worked incredibly hard, with tripsto the furthest points east and west inEngland and Wales, to the south coast andpoints north.She has – in the main – proved extremelyreliable, although your scribe turned up withthe sales kit on two occasions to find that shehad failed at the last minute and beensubstituted (leaking mudhole door andleaking firebox stays – where have I heardthat before?).Our range of goods for sale on the trains hascontinued to expand. Simply getting the stuffto the starting point requires some carefulthought to avoid stairs on stations and theUnderground with a very heavy pull-alongcase, a rucksack and the collapsible trolley tocarry. But the takings make it worthwhileand have amounted to over £11,000 over theyear from which we generate a useful surpluswhich goes to support the Museum in theways you have read about.Selling on the trains is a two person job. Ihave been grateful for help received fromvarious members of the Group plus theChairman’s wife on two occasions (the only

way she could see me on my birthday was atrip to Worcester!). By using a mini-trolleywe are able to go through the whole trainwith our wares and we give the punters ahandout with details of our Group as well asthe price list.Notable runs have include the last steamascent of the Folkestone Harbour branch on14 March 2009 and the recent trip on theEast Suffolk line from Lowestoft to Ipswich(which included some mainline haulage fromNorwich to Lowestoft with the loco runningin reverse). We often see the same people on the trains –some indeed go on every train (and not justthe coach stewards!). Ollie has become afirm favourite for the power and speed sheexhibits and the two cylinder bark that canbe heard all through the train.70013 is now set to work in the north for therest of this year. We know not when she’ll beback; but our thanks to the train operatorsand the 5305 Loco Association support crewfor their marvellous work. As a memento of this era, you might beinterested to know that we havecommissioned our own DVD of "NRMSteam in the South" featuring 70013, 30777and 850 on recent trains. It's excellent and is85 minutes long. Normal retail price is£10.00 but £9.00 to Friends, direct from me.

Ian Harrison

FLYING SCOTSMAN “SOS” APPEALIn the March Briefing we asked South ofEngland Group members to support theNRM “Steam Our Scotsman” appeal. Theidea was that all contributions made by ourmembers would be matched by the sameamount from Group funds. The closing datefor the offer was 31st August.Our Group Treasurer, Roger Smith, has nowcompleted his work on the abaccus and canreport that members donated a total of

£1,249.72. With the Group's matching funds,this doubles up to make £2,499.44. We'vefound the odd 56p to make it up to a round£2,500.00 and this sum is on its way northinto the main "S.O.S. Appeal Fund".Many thanks to all who contributed. As thoseof us on the summer outing noted, there is alot of work going into its restoration. I'm surewe all look forward to seeing the engineback in steam and on the main line again.


FOR CURRENT LIST OF FORTHCOMING LECTURES

See the Diary section of the web page at:

http://www.nrmfriends-south.org.uk/Diary.ht ml

FOR CONTACTS IN FNRM SOUTH OF ENGLAND

GROUP:

See Contacts at main index:

http://www.nrmfriends-south.org.uk/index.html


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