The Railway Magazine in November 1929 reported the breakdown of staffing across Britain’s railways in the week ending 9th March 1929. [1: p400]
The census of railway employees in 1929. [1: p400]
It is interesting, first, to note the relative sizes of the staff numbers of the Big Four railway companies. Significantly the largest employer was the LMS. The LNER had around 55,000 less staff than the LMS. Strikingly, the GWR had significantly less staff again, with the SR the smallest, with less than one third of the staff numbers of the LMS. I wonder whether these figures might have resulted in some careful thinking, particularly by the LMS about the efficiency of their organisation? It would have been helpful to see the relative levels of income to compare against these figures. …
Secondly, I was struck by the relative numbers of male and female staff: 619,000 men to 17,000 women. 10 years after the first world war, very few of the women employed on the railways at that time would still have been employed by the railway companies. … What might have been the figures in a census during WW1?
Hidden within those figures are other striking comparisons. …
There were 6,800 male carriage cleaners and only 675 female carriage cleaners.
It seems that male officers and clerical staff totaled just over 72,000, supplemented by over 2,700 technical staff. Women employed in these areas amounted to around 9,800. It is unlikely that many supervisory positions in these areas would have been open to women, perhaps head offices of the railway companies may have had female managers in typing pools?
The role of crossing-keeper seems to have been far more equitably staffed between men (1,400) and women (1,500). Often a station master’s wife (or the wife of another male employee) would be a crossing-keeper at a nearby crossing. One wonders whether there was a pay differential between men and women in this occupation?
Cleaning roles for carriages and engines were given to men (13,600). Office cleaners were set alongside charwomen (3,100) and it appears that all lavatory attendants and waiting room staff were women (660).
Shop and artisan staff are recorded separately. Men seem to have filled all supervisory roles (2,900) with 104,500 men in other grades (excluding watchmen and labourers). There were just over 1,000 women in similar roles.
There were 7,600 male hotel, refreshment room, dining car and laundry staff and 5,700 women.
I am sure that as you look at the figures other matters will come to light.
I wonder what heading wheeltappers would be recorded under? Probably ‘carriage and wagon examiners’.
It also seems that in 1929 there was a ‘profession’ that trainspotters could aspire to. Across the railways of Britain there were 2,408 ‘number-takers’!
And finally … There are two pictures below showing railway employees at work on the railways. I came across the second while searching for a wartime image of women at work on the railways. The first is the cover page from the booklet which included the second picture. The “booklet, [was] published for six old pence in the BR era, by J W Stafford, the President of the NUR with the evocative title ‘We See Ourselves’. J W Stafford was a lengthman on the Great Western Railway, and later British Railways, for 33 years before he was elected president of the NUR in 1954. He asserted that it was management’s view in the 1930s that the heavier the tool, the greater would be the output of work, and that this belief had not entirely died out in the 1950s.” [2]
Men at work on the railways. [2]
The foreword by Frank Mosley notes that “Credit for building a cathedral is seldom given to the men who carefully and skilfully laid the stones. It is the same with a railway – in building it and keeping it in good order.”
Didcot Railway Centre comments: “This booklet itself is a comprehensive and very honest reflection of all aspects of Permanent Way staff employment, its challenges and its future prospects. Extending to no less than 21 sections on 23 pages, it includes ‘As Others see us’; ‘We were the Pioneers’; ‘Our Girls’; ‘A Dangerous Occupation’; ‘The Whitewash Train’ to ‘Airing our Grievances’.” [2]
The section entitled ‘Our Girls’ is a frank reflection that wartime shortages of men caused females to be employed on this work. Stafford, writing in the BR era, considered that given the arduous and dangerous nature of normal activities, it simply wasn’t a suitable environment for women!
I suspect that today that thinking would be seen as sexist, even if it wasn’t in the mid-20th century. Women clearly proved themselves effective railway employees in both world wars.
This article follows on from six other articles which covered the Wellington to Severn Junction Railway and this line from Buildwas to Longville-in-the-Dale. The first three articles can be found on these links:
As we noted in the last two articles, from the commencement of the building of the line between Buildwas and Much Wenlock, the directors hoped that the line could be extended to Craven Arms via Presthope on Wenlock Edge (linking with the limestone quarries/works at that location).
The directors of the Wellington & Severn Junction Railway were, however, fully occupied with the line from Wellington to Buildwas. Another company was set up to build the ‘Wenlock & Craven Arms and Coalbrookdale Extension Railway‘. The bill went through the parliamentary process unopposed and authorised the ‘Wenlock Railway Company‘ to construct the line. Work started on 23rd October 1861.
By 5th December 1864, the line was open from Much Wenlock to Presthope. (That length is covered in the last but one online article listed above.) At this time, because it was a freight-only line, the Board of Trade saw no need for an inspection of the line. It had already been agreed at a meeting held on 4th December 1863 not to proceed with the line from Presthope to Craven Arms for the time being. It was to be three years after the line reached Presthope before the connection to the Shrewsbury & Hereford Railway close to Craven Arms was completed. It was finally opened on 16th December 1867.
Longville in the Dale to Harton Road Station
We begin this article at Longville Railway Station and travel towards Craven Arms, we complete this part of the journey at Harton Road Station.
Longville Station had a single platform with a red and yellow brick booking office and waiting room. Ken Jones tells us that it “served a few cottages, a farm, an Inn, and the nearby Lutwyche Hall, the home of the Benson family, who did so much to promote the building of the line between Much Wenlock and Craven Arms. The station also served the villages of Cardington, Holdgate, Shipton and Stanton Long. The platform was on the up side, and the station buildings consisted of a general waiting room, ladies’ waiting room of brick and goods warehouse lock-up. There were two sidings, and a horse landing for two horse boxes, and a cattle landing for two wagons. There was no signal box, Longville being an intermediate station on the Presthope to Rushbury staff section. There were east and west ground frames, access to both being obtained by a key on the Presthope-Rushbury staff.” [1: p105]
After passing under the minor road the line ran Southwest towards Coates Crossing.
I was able to access the line from Northeast of Coates Crossing (via a footpath from Wenlock Edge Farm) to Rushbury Station with permission from local landowners. From here to Rushbury Station the original railway boundaries are predominantly fenced and gated with significant hedgerows and trees.
Looking Northeast along the line of the Wenlock Branch toward the minor road bridge above. [My photograph, 3rd July 2024]Looking Southwest along the line of the old railway towards Rushbury Station, for a distance of around 100 metres the route of the line is not protected by hedging. [My photograph, 3rd July 2024]A couple of hundred metres to the Southwest, another view looking Southwest along the line of the old railway. [My photograph, 3rd July 2024]This extract from the 25″ Ordinance Survey, together with the extract immediately below, cover the length of the line to Rushbury Station. [7]Rushbury Station appears in the bottom-left of this extract from the 25″Ordnance Survey. [8]This next railmaponline.com satellite image covers the same length of the line as the two map extracts above. Wenlock Edge Farm appears in the top-right, Rushbury Station in the bottom-left. [3]Approaching, and looking towards, the location of Coates Crossing which is about 200 metres ahead. [My photograph, 3rd July 2024]
Coates Crossing’s keeper’s cottage was from its construction “occupied by the Rushbury station master, and it was the duty of the station master’s wife to operate the crossing gates as and when a farm cart from the nearby Coates Farm required to go into the fields under Coates Wood. Later, after the abolition of the Rushbury SM’s post, it became the duty of the Longville station master’s wife.” [1: p105]
An enlarged extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey shows Coates Crossing. [7]The location of Coates Crossing. The building shown is larger than the original crossing-keepers cottage which for a good while doubled up as the Rushbury Stationmaster’s house. [Google Maps, July 2024]250 metres or so to the Southwest of the location of Coates Crossing, looking Southwest. [My photograph, 3rd July 2024]Just under halfway from Coates Crossing to Rushbury Station the old formation becomes overgrown and is being used by the landowner for muck storage. [My photograph, 3rd July 2024]Beyond the piles of muck a gate is closed across the line of the old railway. Access along the line required turning to the last and walking through the field immediately alongside the line until it was possible to get back onto the line 100metres or so ahead. [My photograph, 3rd July 2024]Having regained the line of the old railway it is noticeable that the route is not as heavily used in the 21st century as the length already covered. [My photograph, 3rd July 2024]The ‘green lane’ continues. [My photograph, 3rd July 2024]Much closer now to the site of Rushbury Station a gate marks a change in ownership. [My photograph, 3rd July 2024]The modern complex of buildings on the Rushbury station site appears on the horizon, flanked by various fir trees. [My photograph, 3rd July 2024]The occasional railway sleeper can be seen. This photo was taken towards the Eastern end of the Rushbury Station site. [My photograph, 3rd July 2024]The modern track diverts away from the line of the old railway once within the boundaries of the station site. The trees to the left run alongside the route taken by the line through the station. The roof of the old station building can just be made out at the centre-top of this image. The concrete post and railings are what remains of the cattle loading pens. [My photograph, 3rd July 2024]Rushbury Station: the remains of the cattle loading pens. [My photograph, 3rd July 2024]The site of the old station, viewed from the North. [My photograph, 3rd July 2024]The road approach to Rushbury Station, seen from the Northeast. [My photograph, 3rd July 2024]
About the length just walked and about Rushbury and its station, Ken Jones writes: “The line has now levelled out into Ape Dale, and soon enters Rushbury station with its avenue of fir trees on either side, the station in every respect being similar to that of Longville. … The station served the villages of Rushbury and Munslow. The signal box was at the north end of the platform, the box containing the locking frame only, the electric train staff instruments being situated in the booking office. The station was not a crossing place. The station buildings consisted of a booking office, general and ladies’ waiting room, and a lamp room. The staff were just the station master and a signalman, the latter being required to assist with station duties.” [1: p105]
A further ground frame was situated at the Northeast end of the station, “and gave access to two sidings, a horse landing and cattle pens. In the station yard there was a cart weighbridge. At the Craven Arms end of the platform there was a water column.” [1: p105]
At this point on the Wenlock Branch it was necessary to leave the line of the old railway. A short detour along a field boundary and then along Darby Lane led to another access point to the old railway line.
To the West of this location the line of the old railway is now in private hands. Access to the line is limited to that possible on public footpaths/roads which cross the line. A diversion to the South of the line was necessary to reach the first point of access.
The next length of line from close to Eaton Cottage to Hartonroad Station. An extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey mapping of 1882/1883. [21]The same area as that shown on the OS map extract above. [21]The route of the old railway is again shown in green, the necessary diversion by a red-dashed line. At the East edge of this image there are a series of private properties built over the line of the old railway. These are shown immediately below.
At the West edge of this image the footpath marked by the red-dashed line crossed the line of the old railway. In both directions from the footpath the old line is now in private ownership. [20]A series of four photographs look North from the public highway into the properties built over the line of the old railway. [My photographs, 17th July 2024]A further 200 metres to the Southwest on the road to the hamlet of Harton, this photo shows an open field between the road and the treeline which marks the line of the Wenlock Branch. [My photograph, 17th July 2023]Looking East at the point where the footpath crossed the old railway. [17th July 2024]Looking West at the same location. [My photograph, 17th July 2024]Using a telephoto lens, this is the line of the old railway heading West. [My photograph, 17th July 2024]A view from the South through the location of the bridge carrying the Wenlock Branch over the road adjacent to Hartonroad Railway Station. [My photograph, 17th July 2024]A view from the North through the location of the bridge carrying the Wenlock Branch over the road adjacent to Hartonroad Railway Station. [My photograph, 17th July 2024]
Writing of the length of the line between Rushbury and Harton Road stations, Ken Jones says: “On leaving [Rushbury] station the train passes under the roadway which formed part of the Roman road, with a steep rise from the station leading on to Roman Bank and over Wenlock Edge into the Corve Dale. Still passing under the densely wooded Edge Wood, to the left, and nestling under the wood, can be seen the small hamlet of Eaton-under-Heywood, and the embattled tower of the 12th century church of St Edith; the hamlet consists of one farm, the rectory and one cottage. Soon the train enters Harton Road station, the last on the branch. The station is as isolated as the hamlet of Eaton, all that can be seen from the train is a farm, and the station master’s house. Harton Road served the hamlets of Ticklerton, Halton, Soudley, Eaton, Westhope and Burwood, most of these (in 1922) each having a population of 50 people, Eaton and Burwood having only 40. The station consisted of the usual buildings: booking office, general and ladies’ waiting room and a lamp room. The staff consisted of the station master and one gate woman, she being employed at Wolverton Crossing, which was situated between Harton Road and Marsh Farm [Junction]. There was one double-ended siding which held 10 wagons, access to which was from either the east or west ground frames. The ground frames were controlled by the key on the Rushbury to Marsh Farm [Junction] staff. Also in the sidings was a cattle pen, which held one wagon and a horse landing for three horse boxes. One scene of activity that could be witnessed at the station was when the local estate farmers conveyed coal from the yard to the home of the local Lord of the Manor, as part of their statutory estate duty.” [1: p105 & 109]
Ken Jones; The Wenlock Branch; The Oakwood Press, Usk, Monmouthshire, 1998.
The photographs of the pre-contract drawings for the line were taken by myself and show extracts from the construction plans held in the Shropshire Archive. There is a standard charge of £10 per visit for taking photographs of their records.
The photographs of the pre-contract drawings for the line were taken by myself and show extracts from the construction plans held in the Shropshire Archive. There is a standard charge of £10 per visit for taking photographs of their records.
The Whitland & Cardigan Railway was a 27.5 miles (44.3 km) long branch line, “built in two stages, at first as the Whitland and Taf Vale Railway from the South Wales Main Line at Whitland to the quarries at Glogue. It opened in 1873, at first only for goods and minerals and later for passengers. The line to Cardigan opened in 1886; reflected in the company name change.” [2]
“The Company was always short of cash. Huge borrowings made it unable to pay its way; it was taken over by the Great Western Railway in 1886. Still considerably loss-making, it closed to passengers in 1962 and completely in 1963.” [2]
This is the second in a short series of articles about the line. The first of the articles can be found here. [4]
My interest in this branch line stems from reading an article by M.R. Connop Price; Before the Railways: The Early Steamers of Cardiganshire; in the Railway & Canal Historical Society Journal in July 2022. [1] And from staying North of Cardigan in 2023 and walking part of the route of the old line.
We restart our journey from Cardigan to Whitland at Boncath Railway Station.
Boncath Railway Station as it appears on the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 (published in 1888). [5]
“The station had a passing loop served by two passenger platforms and a goods loop on the down side where there was a small goods yard and shed. A siding from the yard served a saw mill nearby to the north of the station. The single-storey stone-built main station building was on the up platform and, along with the goods shed, still survives, as does the nearby Station House.” [6] The line serving the saw mill can be seen in its entirety in the map extract above.
M.R. Connop Price says that Boncath “was a crossing place and a tablet exchange station. The goods yard was quite sizeable, comprising three sidings on the down side, one forming a loop behind the down platform. Traffic consisted mostly of timber from the adjacent saw mills, rabbits and agricultural goods. Apparently the level crossing gates were demolished so often by accident that there was talk of doing away with them. In his two articles on the Cardigan line J.F. Burrell has pointed out that from the platform at Boncath it was possible to see the smoke of a freight train coming up from Cardigan for as long as a quarter of an hour before arrival. The many curves caused it to disappear and reappear at frequent intervals on the way. This was one of the most remarkable sights on a remarkable railway, because the line fell away from Boncath towards Cardigan on a gradient of 1 in 40 for nearly three miles. Climbing up this incline was hardly less exciting than the ever steepening climb up the Taf vale to Crymmych! Had the original route north of Boncath been built it would have kept to some higher ground and been more gently graded. It might also have been less attractive because the line as built ran for a mile and a half above a beautiful and heavily wooded valley towards Kilgerran” (Cilgerran). [15: p82 & 90]
These two extracts from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery cover the full extent of the Boncath Railway Station site. The old railway is shown by the green lines on the images from railmaponline.com. And these green lines include the siding serving the saw mill. [3]
The Southwest end of the Boncath Station site was framed by the highway bridge which carried what was to become the B4332. [5]An enlarged segment of one of the two images shared on the coflein.gov.uk website. This is the best image that I have been able to find of the bridge at the Southwest end of the station site. [6]The view along the B4332 from the East through what was the location of the bridge carrying the road over the old railway. [Google Streetview, March 2022]
Shaun Butler’s TT gauge model of Boncath can be seen in photographs here. [27] Other views of the station can be seen here [28] and here [29]. The station has a page of its own on the Disused Stations website, here. [30]
M.R. Connop Price covers the route of the line from Whitland to Cardigan travelling towards Cardigan – the ‘down’ direction on the line. His description is quite evocative of the line’s rural and meandering nature. He describes the length of the line between Boncath and Crymmych Arms stations but in the ‘down’ direction: “North of Crymmych the [line] … climbed through a deep rock cutting to the summit before descending briefly on a gradient of 1 in 80 and rising again at 1 in 200 to a secondary summit about a mile and 30 chains beyond the station. By now the track was winding round a ledge on the hillside and giving magnificent views westwards to the Prescelly mountains. … On a clear day the view extended across the valley of the Afon Nyfer to the sea near Newport. … Meanwhile, [the line] negotiated a horseshoe bend and a remarkable series of sharp curves across the desolate countryside as it began its steady descent. Just over two miles from Crymmych the railway passed Rhyd-du, where once it was proposed to build a station. … Just beyond Rhyd-du the [railway] passed near Blaenffos and under the main Cardigan-Tenby road for the second time. A short distance further on a tributary of the River Teifi could be seen running through woods far below on the east side of the line, giving confirmation to the traveller that he was now across the watershed” and close to Boncath. [15: p82]
The railway first headed South as it left Boncath and then turned to the West above a wooded valley. [7]This extract from the ESRI satellite imagery from the NLS covers approximately the same area as the 6″ OS map extract above. Once again, the route of the old railway can be followed by tracing the field boundaries, hedgerows and trees. [7]The line then turned West. [8]The route of the old railway was a little difficult to see on the Google mapping, so it is good to have the green line on this railmaponline.com satellite image. [3]
On both of the two images above the Whitland & Cardigan Railway crosses the A478. The next couple of images show enlarged views of the location, on the 6″ OS Map and the railmaponline.com satellite imagery. …
The story of an N Gauge project to model Crymmych Arms Railway Station can be found here. [14] The station is covered in some detail in text and photographs on the Disused Stations website. [16]
The station was, for a time the terminus of a branch line from Whitland which was extended by the GWR to Cardigan.
M.R. Connop Price says that Crymmych Arms station was “situated near the source of the [Afon] Taf and in the shadow of the 1,297 ft high Freni Fawr, on the edge of the Prescelly mountains. The buildings were substantial, and right up to the 1960s a pillar box was provided on the wall of the large station house on the up platform. Another facility on the up platform was a well that always gave ice cold water; a GWR cup was available for drinking purposes. After the tablet instruments were removed from Llanfyrnach [further South down the line], Crymmych Arms became [a] … tablet station on the line. Latterly it was the only intermediate station to be in the charge of a station master.” [15: p82]
C.J. Gammell notes that Crymmych Arms, “as well as being a crossing point and block post was closed to the summit of the line, reached by steep gradients from both sides. Up goods and mineral trains had to stop to pin down brakes on the 1 in 35 decent from Crymmych Arms as well as the 1 in 60 rise from the North to the station.” [18: p233]
M.R. Connop Price notes that South of Crymmych Arms “there was a 500 yd stretch at 1 in 35. Train crews [on down trains] undoubtedly entered Crymmych Arms with a great sense of relief!” [15: p77]
The station has a page on the Disused Stations website. [31] The Coflein record for the station notes that when “the station closed in 1962, the wooden station buildings and water tower were demolished although Station House nearby still survives.” [33]
Glogue Quarries were served by a short branch from the Whitland & Cardigan Railway which terminated in two sidings. The quarries had an internal tramway system which included a number of inclines and tunnels. A better map of the quarries can be found in M.R. Connop Price’s book about the old railway. [15: p73][20]
The Coflein record, written by David Leighton, RCAHMW in February 2015, talks of a single quarry formed by “the merging of two early, perhaps seventeenth-century, workings. Material was lowered by two inclines, the upper one abandoned when work deepened and a tunnel was cut to bring material out to the head of the lower incline. The workings were handicapped by a lack of transport. Originally slate was was carted to Blackpool on the Eastern Cleddau, and after 1853 to Narberth Road on the South Wales Railway. Expansion only became possible when in 1873 a siding on the Whitland & Cardigan Railway was laid.” [21] There was a mill, powered by steam and later electricity, at the Western edge of the site. “Roofing slates of good colour were produced but as they were heavy the main output was slab. During the 1920s attempts were made to make bricks from slate dust. But these became uncompetitive when, in 1927, the GWR demanded a transport premium due to their weight; forcing closure. Bulk working has left little to be seen aside from vestiges of buildings in the mill area and the stone-built lower incline. Notably, a terrace of family dwellings was built by the company and is still occupied (in 1991).” [21]
Wikipedia says: “Glogue quarry was a slate quarry … worked from the late 1700s, by the mid-1800s it was owned by John Owen, who wanted to make higher profits by improving his distribution. This led to the construction of the Whitland and Cardigan Railway. The advent of the railway led to Owen expanding his workforce to over 80 men. … After sale to a local consortium, the quarry was worked until 1926.” [32]
The 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 shows the old railway continuing East alongside the Glogue Corn Mill before turning South. All the while, it ran alongside the Afon Taf, although as it turned South it bridged the river, as shown here in the central part of the image and in the enlargement which is a few images below. [22]The same area on the railmaponline.com satellite images. [3]A combined image which shows both the view across the line of the old railway to the buildings of Glogue Corn Mill, in the upper part of the image, and the location of the camera on the lane to the East of Glogue, in the lower portion of the image. [Google Maps/Streetview, November 2021]An enlarged extract from the 6″ OS map above which shows the location where the railway bridged the Afon Taf. [22]As the railway continued heading South it curved round the Llanfyrnach Sliver Lead Mine on the approach to the railway station at Llanfyrnach. [23]A very similar length of the Whitland & Cardigan Railway shown on the railmaponline.com satellite imagery. Both these images show that the old railway ran alongside Wellstone Lane as it travelled South. [3]Looking Northwest from Wellstone Lane, the railway ran on the shoulder next to the lane. The land dropped away into the adjacent field, the other side of the line. The sheds visible in this picture are at the lower level beyond the line of the old railway. [Google Streetview, November 2021]
As its name suggests, Llanfyrnach Silver Lead Mine was a 19th century silver/lead producer; on site in the 21st century there are ruins of Cornish engine house and other mine buildings. [34] It was, “an important lead mine with a number of shafts, extensive tips and tailings heaps, buddle pits, together with a number of mine buildings including the remains of a Cornish engine house and boiler remaining on the site. … [It was] by far the largest of the Pembrokeshire mines, and of the south Wales mines, second only to Carmarthenshire’s Nantymwyn Mine in terms of the recorded output. A reference in the Mining Journal (1879) notes a well-defined east-west lode made up of sugary quartz and containing a good deal of lead, and about 150 tons of lead ore being delivered monthly from this and the old lode. Very little sphalerite was sold until the final few years of its working. Silver was extracted from the galena.” [35]
Llanfyrnach Railway Station has its own page which includes text and photographs on the Disused Stations website. It can be viewed here. [36] The Disused Stations page for the railway station suggests that the building in in a considerably worse condition in 2024. Two images showing its condition can be viewed here [38] and here. [39]
This final image taken looking Southwest along the platform at Llanfyrnach Station shows the siding which provided a small goods facility at the station. This image was shared on the Login Railway Station Facebook Page on 8th November 2019. [43]
Southwest of the station the old railway is now followed by a modern single track access road.
The Llanfyrnach entrance to the modern track following the route of the old railway. [Google Streetview, March 2022]Google Maps shows the track running along the formation of the Whitland & Cardigan Railway Southwest from Llanfyrnach. [51, Google Maps, July 2024]
A short distance along the access road/old railway route, the line crossed the Afon Taf again. An enlarged extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey is shown below.
This enlarged extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 shows the location of the bridge across the Afon Taf which was to the Southwest of Llanfyrnach Station. [24]Continuing to the Southwest, the Whitland & Cardigan Railway followed the North bank of the Afon Taf. [44]This extract from Google Maps shows the track running along the formation of the old railway. It covers a slightly larger area than the extract form OS mapping above. In the bottom-right of this image the modern track can be seen terminating at a T-junction with another track. [52, Google Maps, July 2024]Again, continuing to the Southwest, the Whitland & Cardigan Railway followed the contours on the North bank of the Afon Taf, crossing a farm access road. The length of the line Northeast of the access track at the centre of this image is shown on the modern Google satellite image above. That to the Southwest is shown below. [45]The access track which followed the line of the old railway terminated in a T-junction with the farm access road at the top right of this extract from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery. The line continues in a southwesterly direction from that point. [3]Continuing to the Southwest, the Whitland & Cardigan Railway continued to follow the North bank of the Afon Taf as far as Aber-Elwyn. An enlarged extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 below shows the location more clearly [46]A similar length of the old railway is covered on this next extract from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery. [3]An enlarged extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 shows the old railway bridging the Afon Taf to the Northwest of Aber-Elwyn and then a tributary of the Taf to the Southwest of the hamlet, close to Waun-Bwll. The next station on the line sits just off the bottom-left of this extract – Rhyd-Owen Station. [47]This next extract from the 6″ 1887 Ordnance Survey shows Rhyd-Owen Station, top-right and the Pen-celli Quarries, bottom-left. [48]A similar length of the old railway is covered on this next extract from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery. [3]An enlarged extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 focussing on the Rhyd-Owen Railway Station. [49]
The Coflein record for Rhyd-Owen Station, written in 2010, notes that there was a through line with a passing loop; the passenger platform was on the up side. The station closed in 1962; although the wooden station buildings have been demolished, the nearby station house survives. [53]
Rhydowen Station in 1961, seen from the road at the North end of the station site, from the Rokeby Collection III ref 25c. It is authorised for use here by Coflein. [53]Rhydowen Station in 1961, seen from the South end of the platform, from the Rokeby Collection III ref 25b. It is authorised for use here by Coflein. [53]Another view of Rhyd-Owen Station. The train is on a down service to Cardigan and consists of a single Hawkesworth Corridor Brake 3rd coach pulled by an unidentified 16xx 0-6-0PT.The station house just appears at the extreme left of this image. This image was shared on the Login Railway Station Facebook Page on 11th February 2022. [54]A view through the station from the North shows the loop siding at Rhyd-Owen. This image was shared on the Login Railway Station Facebook page on 16th September 2015. [55]The site of Rhyd-Owen Railway Station, seen from the road at its northern end. The station itself was on the left side of this image with the station house on the right side. It appears as though the station house has been significantly extended and modernised. [Google Streetview, November 2021]
Rhyd-Owen Railway Station has its own page on the Disused Stations website. Click here. [60]
Another enlarged extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey which shows the site of the Pen-celli Quarries. A single siding was provided for the quarries on the down side of the line. [50]Another length of the old railway which was still heading in a southwesterly direction. [56]This extract from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery covers a similar length of the line to that shown on the map extract above. [3]This next extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 covers the length of the line as far as Llanglydwen Station. [57]This extract from the railmaponline.com satellite imagery covers a similar length of the line to that shown on the map extract above. Llanglydwen Railway Station was sited towards the bottom of this image to the south side of the road through the village. [3]An enlarged extract from the 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 which focusses on Llanglydwen Railway Station. [58]The Llanglydwen station site as it appears in the 21st century. [Google Maps, July 2024. [59]Llanglydwen Railway Station in the 1950s. This photo was shared on the Login Railway Station Facebook Page on 9th October 2014. [63]View of Llanglydwen Station in 1962 from the Rokeby Collection III ref 3b. [64]View of Llanglydwen Station in 1962 from the Rokeby Collection III ref 4b. [64]The station building in 1982 when the crossing gates were still in place. This photo was taken by John Gale and was more recently shared on the Login Railway Station Facebook Page on 23rd June 2015. [61]The erstwhile station site at Llanglydwen. The station building remains in place. The white gated driveway is on the line of the station platform and the white fence marks the approximate location of the main running line through the station. The station yard is, in the 21st century, occupied by Dickman’s Sawmill. [Google Streetview, July 2021]A better view of what was the platform elevation of the station building as it appears in 21st century. [Google Streetview, July 2021]
Llanglydwen Railway Station has its own page on the Disused Stations website. Please click here to access that site. [62]
References
M.R. Connop Price; Before the Railways: The Early Steamers of Cardiganshire; in the RCHS Journal, Vol. 40 Part 8 No. 244 July 2022, p471-477.
In the midst of a small batch of older railway magazines, was a partial copy of the July 1918 copy of “The Railway and Travel Monthly.”
The price for the magazine: 1 shilling
Edited by: G.A. Sekon.
I find these old magazines quite interesting particularly for the contemporary view they provide on what, for us, is railway history.
Articles and Advertising. …
The articles listed on the contents page of the magazine were:
Coloured Presentation Plate of Great Central Railway 4-6-0 Express Locomotive “Lord Farringdon,” No. 1169.
The 4-6-0 Locomotives of the London and South Western Railway.
Concrete Boilers for Locomotives.
The short article on p10 of the magazine on concrete boilers for locomotives. [1: p10]
The Naming of British Locomotives, (its advertising influence: the methods adopted).
The King in Scotland(an illustration).
The Royal Train on the North British Railway, hauled by two ‘Scott’ class 4-4-0 express locomotives. [1: p22]
Side Door Coaches for American Suburban Trains
British Express Trains and Locomotives.
Three Position Light-Signal on the Metropolitan Railway.
The Century of the ” Railway and Travel Monthly.”
A short note on p39 of the magazine which tried to describe plans for celebrating the 100th anniversary of a magazine in war-time conditions. [1: p39]
Correspondence.
Nautical News and Notes.
Dock, Harbour, and Shipbuilding Comments.
The Why and the Wherefore.
Apposite Aphorisms
What is Happening on our Railways.
What our Railways were doing Seventy-Seven Years Ago.
Looking back 77 years from July 1918 to July 1841. I am not sure what the significance of 77 years was in the context of this magazine’s 99th edition. However, this retrospective takes us back to the very early railway years! [1: p66]
The Stephenson Locomotive Society.
Much of the advertising space at the front of this magazine was given over to different railway companies seeking to attract manufacturers to their area of operation. These included adverts from: the Great Northern Railway; the Furness Railway; the Midland Railway; the Metropolitan Railway; the North Staffordshire Railway; the South Eastern and Chatham Railway; the Midland and South Western Junction Railway; the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway; the London Brighton and South Coast Railway; and the London and South Western Railway. There was also a half page advert from the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Co., Ltd. These are all shown below.
Two other adverts, shown first and second below, were interesting. …
First, a poignant and generous advert from the publisher who had worked with the Post Office to provide an opportunity for readers of the magazine to hand in their read copies of the magazine at any post office to be ‘sent to the Troops at the Front free of charge’.
Second, an advert for a colour print of the Great Central Railway Immingham Deep-water Dock, unfolded for framing, in a tube, post free for the princely sum of 4d. And if you wanted to check how good it was you could call in at the journal’s offices on Cursitor Street, London.
Two adverts by the publishers of the Railway & Travel Monthly.The Great Northern Railway.The Furness Railway.The Midland Railway and the Metropolitan Railway.The North Staffordshire Railway, the South Eastern _ Chatham Railway, and the. Midland & South Western Junction Railway.The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, and the London Brighton and South Coast Railway.The London and South Western Railway.The Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Co. Ltd.
References
G.A. Sekon (ed.); The Railway and Travel Monthly, July 1918.
In June 2024, I picked up a few copies of the Railway Magazine from the early 20th century.
In July 1909, the Railway Magazine noted that the Caledonian Railway had inaugurated a motor car service on its rails. Just a short journey was involved crossing the Connel Ferry Bridge and running from Connel Ferry to either North Connel or Benderloch.
In September 1909 the Railway Magazine carried a photograph of the rail-motor car.
The Caledonian Railway rail-motor car, with wagon attached. The wagon is carrying a road-motor car. It has just left the Connel Ferry Bridge. [1]
“The Caledonian Railway purchased an ordinary road-motor car, and under the superintendence of Mr. J. F. McIntosh, this was converted, at St Rollox Works, into the rail-motor car. … The car performs, daily, several journeys from Connel Ferry across the bridge to North Connel, and four of these trips in each direction are extended an additional 2.25 miles beyond North Connel to Benderloch, and it is on these longer journeys that road motor cars are conveyed on the carriage truck provided for the purpose, which is attached as a trailer to the rail-motor car.” [1]
The vehicle was a Durham-Churchill Charabanc. It originally operated as a road vehicle between Clarkston railway station and Eaglesham. It was converted to rail use in 1909 at the cost of £126!
The journey from Connel Ferry to North Connel took 5 minutes and the trip to Benderloch, 15 minutes in total.
Sunday trains were few and far between in Scotland but an exception was made for this service with 5 crossings of the bridge in each direction. Surprisingly more often than on weekdays!
The Railway Magazine notes that, “in the past, this portion of Argyllshire [was] somewhat of a closed district to motorists, owing to the long arms of the sea which intersect the land and the numerous ferries that have in consequence to be crossed. Access to the very charming district that lies between Loch Etive and Lochleven, has been particularly difficult, as the ferries have become unserviceable since the opening of the Ballachulish Railway, whilst the comparative infrequency of the trains upon the Ballachulish line, and the restrictions on the conveyance of motor cars by the ordinary trains made crossing at Connel Ferry both inconvenient and unreliable.” [1]
Motorists either avoided the area altogether or had to make a long journey via Tyndrum and Glencoe.
The charge for conveying motors across Loch Etive was 15 shillings.
Another view of the same vehicle and wagon. The rail-motor car was more of a charabanc having a number of rows of seats. [2]This view shows the rail-motor car only offered passengers very rudimentary protection from the weather. The vehicle is entering one of the stations it served. Is this Connel Ferry, North Connel or Benderloch Railway Station? [3]
The Ballachulish Branch of the Caledonian Railway which crossed the Bridge at Connel Ferry is covered in other WordPress articles:
The Whitland & Cardigan Railway was a 27.5 miles (44.3 km) long branch line, “built in two stages, at first as the Whitland and Taf Vale Railway from the South Wales Main Line at Whitland to the quarries at Glogue. It opened in 1873, at first only for goods and minerals and later for passengers. The line to Cardigan opened in 1886; reflected in the company name change.” [2]
“The Company was always short of cash. Huge borrowings made it unable to pay its way; it was taken over by the Great Western Railway in 1886. Still considerably loss-making, it closed to passengers in 1962 and completely in 1963.” [2]
As we have noted, the Whitland & Cardigan Railway (W&CR) opened for public traffic on 1st September 1886 after over ten years in planning and construction. “Thomas Davies, ‘Master Tom’, as managing director of [a] shipping company at Cardigan, was well aware that times were changing, and besides his shipping interests, chose to hedge his bets by investing in railways. Even though the Teifi valley had been the obvious route for a line west to Cardigan, the C&CR (Carmarthen & Cardigan Railway) never advanced beyond Llandyssil, and after the Great Western Railway abandoned the broad gauge in south Wales in 1872 it was only a matter of time before the GWR decided to extend the line as far as Newcastle Emlyn. By then, though, there was little point in taking it further on to Cardigan, because the W&CR had already reached the town by a somewhat sinuous route over the Preseli hills.” [1: p469]
After reaching Crymmych Arms in 1874 “the W&CR obtained powers for an extension to Cardigan in 1877. Construction was slow. … Thomas Davies had become a director of the railway as early as 1880, and although he was plainly interested in his own income, it seems he also aimed to do his best for his home town, too.” [1: p469]
“The formal opening of the Whitland & Cardigan Railway took place on 31st August 1886, the day before the GWR was due to open the public passenger service. The arrival of the opening ‘special’ was accorded due ceremony and the occasion was presided over in part by ‘Master Tom’, Cardigan otherwise known as Thomas Davies, Bank House, the Mayor of Cardigan.” [1: p469]
After speeches, dignitaries dined in the in “the new goods shed at Cardigan station, just to the east of Cardigan bridge, south of the river.” [1: p470]
“The opening of this line was a critical moment for the commercial life of Cardigan, because thereafter influence began to move away from shipping interests towards those ready to use the railway.” [1: p470]
The terminus of the line in Cardigan was on the South side of the Afon Teifi, to the East of the town’s bridge across the river. The 6″ Ordnance Survey of 1887 shows the layout of the station in the later years of the 19th century.
The coflein.gove.uk website carries this description of the station site: “the station had a single passenger platform on the down side and a run-round loop. There was a goods yard, with two sidings and a stone-built goods shed, on the up side and a siding served a small locomotive shed and turntable adjacent to the River Teifi. A further siding on the down side completed the track layout. … The main station building had stuccoed walls of local brick under a low-pitch hipped slated roof with brick chimneys. There were square-headed openings with chamfered stucco surrounds. The canopy projected straight out from the building on moulded cast-iron brackets with a fretted fascia. The goods shed was set on a platform and had walls of slate blocks with dressed quoins and shallow arched heads to the openings. (Source: RCAHMW Cardiganshire Industrial file, SN14NE; notes by A.J. Parkinson).” [24]
Further phots of the station site can be found here, [6] here, [25] here [26] and here. [27] A search on Facebook also found a number of images of the station, the links are provided in references [6]- [13] below.
A model of the railway station was originally held by Y Cardi Bach Museum in Login. In April 2021 it was placed on display in Cardigan Castle. The Tivyside Advertiser reported on 8th April 2021 that the layout was moved to the Castle. [29]
The model of Cardigan Railway Station which was on display in Castle Green House at Cardigan Castle in 2021. [29]Turning to face East, the modern road bridge spans what was the line of the old railway. The trackbed close to Cardigan has been preserved as a footway and cycle path through Teifi Marshes and Wildlife Park, a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The River Teifi is on the left in this photo. [My photograph, 7th September 2022]
C.J. Gammell says that the Cardigan terminus was 27 miles and 38 chains from Whitland. It “is now an industrial estate and a few of the old buildings remain. The spacious layout of the former GWR station included only one platform but there was a goods shed, an engine shed, and warehousing. A good walk from the town and on the other side of the River Teifi, it was very much the traditional railhead.” [4: p233]
Gammell goes on to note that the service from and to Whitland “was extremely leisurely and strictly for the enthusiast, for the railway twisted and turned its way [through] the Prescelly mountains on tight curves and steep gradients. Br provided four trains per weekday which was more or less the same service provided in the line’s earlier years.” [4: p233-234]
Today, the trackbed close to Cardigan has been preserved as a footway and cycle path through Teifi Marshes and Wildlife Park, a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Railway World magazine in early 1965 carried a two part article about Horwich Locomotive Works.
I always take note of articles about the Works when I find them as my paternal grandfather worked there in the early years of the 20th century, before the great depression when eventually he moved his family to Stapleford in the Derby/Nottingham area and where he took a job at the Loco Works in Derby as a blacksmith.
An article about the Works 18″ internal railway can be found here. [7]
The two-part article in Railway World was written by John Marshall and carried in the January and February copies of the magazine. This present article is substantively based on John Marshall’s work and sections of this article in “italics” come directly from Marshall’s article of 1965. [1]
“On 6th May 1964, Stanier 2-8-0 No. 48756 left Horwich works after a general overhaul, since when, the great works of the former Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway has been occupied entirely with rolling stock and road vehicles. The history of Horwich works goes back to 1884. When the main locomotive works of the L&YR opened under Sir John Hawkshaw in 1846, was on a very cramped and inconvenient site at Miles Platting, Manchester, almost surrounded by slums in the town.” [1: p22]
On 27th April 1873, “a serious fire caused considerable damage to the workshops but the pressure of work was such that the shops had to be rebuilt. It was during this period that ten Ramsbottom Newton class 2-4-0 engines were bought from the L.N.W.R. Repairs to locomotives were also carried out at the old East Lancashire Railway shops at Bury and smaller repairs were undertaken at several locomotive sheds, and it was therefore difficult to achieve any standardisation of work.” [1: p22]
During the 1870s, the L&YR was in a bad shape. “Train services were slow and unpunctual, and stations, carriages, services, goods and locomotive depots alike were some of the worst in the country. … The wretchedness of the railway was a popular theme upon which both counties of the roses were absolutely unanimous. By the early ‘eighties all this was being changed and it was now the turn of the locomotive works. Expansion at Miles Platting was not possible; a quarter of the machinery and other equipment there was out of date and ill-fitted to cope with work on the larger locomotives of W. Barton Wright. The obvious solution was to build a new works on a different site.” [1: p22]
After retiring because of ill health as Locomotive Superintendent of the LNWR in 1871, John Ramsbottom returned to railway work in 1883 and “became connected with the L&YR as a consulting engineer. At the L&YR directors’ meeting on 19th March 1884, he stated that locomotives could no longer be repaired satisfactorily at Miles Platting works and that it was essential to find a new site for the works. He recommended that in selecting a site the principal considerations should be the price of labour, a good supply of cheap water, cheap coal and a fairly central situation to avoid long runs by light engines. Various sites were suggested and Ramsbottom and Barton Wright were instructed to examine them and report back to the next meeting. Wright was also asked to ascertain the rates of wages in locomotive workshops in different parts of the country.” [1: p23]
At the next board meeting on 21st May 1884 it was noted that an estate in Horwich was about to be auctioned. The board authorised a maximum spend of £65,000. The purchase was secured for £36,000.
The site “was centrally situated and within easy reach of Bolton and Manchester. On 14th February 1870, a branch railway had been opened into the town from Blackrod, on the Bolton to Preston line. Horwich, at the foot of Rivington Pike at the western extremity of the Pennines, had a population of 3,761 in 1881.” [1: p23]
On 26th September 1884, Ramsbottom submitted drawings showing ground levels and locations for various buildings/workshops. The question of a curved connection from the Bolton direction was raised. “Plans were prepared and the ‘Fork Line’ was authorised by Parliament on 16th July 1885.” [1: p23]
Horwich Railway Station was close to the centre of Norwich and only a short distance from the proposed location of the Loco Works. The 25″ Ordnance Survey from the turn of the 20th century. [2]
Work on the site required the legal closure or diversion of several footpaths. The Thirlmere Aqueduct, planned by Manchester Corporation, had to be diverted at L&YR expense.
Ramsbottom’s plans of the locomotive and wagon works and offices “showed that the locomotive works would occupy nearly 20 acres and accommodate 112 engines; the wagon works would have occupied about 14 acres, for 1,008 wagons, but they were not in fact built. In January 1885 Wright’s detailed elevation of the office building was approved; this included a clock tower which was later omitted.” [1: p23]
Contractors began work on 9th March 1885; “a siding was constructed to bring materials onto the site and a powerful crane and locomotive were soon at work. By August the excavations for the foundations of the erecting shop were almost complete. The next stage involved the removal of a hill on “old Hart’s Farm” containing some 450,000 tons of earth. To carry out this job in one year meant the removal of 1,500 tons daily, and a force of 350 men and boys, two steam navvies, five locomotives and 130 tipping wagons were employed continuously; work continued at night under electric light. … The erecting shop … [was] a vast building 1,520ft long (well over a quarter of a mile) and 118ft wide with three bays running the whole length, the two outer ones being wider than the centre.” [1: p23-24]
A careful review of the equipment at the Miles Platting and Bury works was undertaken showing that only around 50% was suitable for the new works.
In September 1885, the disposal of surplus land to the northeast of the works began, “Some plots were … reserved, including sites for a hotel and a a bowling green but the rest was … sold for building. … Victoria Road and several streets leading from it were laid out by the company; the names chosen for the various streets … [included] Ramsbottom, Hawkshaw, Fairburn, Stephenson, Webb, Gooch, Brunel, Smeaton, Brindley, Telford, Armstrong and Siemens. … A letter was received the Bishop of Salford offering, one penny a square yard for a plot of land for a church, but the Companyhad already requested fourpence a square yard for a Wesleyan Chapel site.” [1: p24]
“Work on the office block, the boiler shop, the smithy, forge and foundry, a large store shed and a large water tank. The new gasworks was erected at this time. … Work on the Horwich fork line began on 21st September! it was opened for goods traffic on 20th June 1887, and for passengers on 1st July with an improved service between Horwich and Bolton and Manchester.” [1: p24]
This extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey from the turn of the 20th century shows the Horwich branch with both curves in place from the mainline and with the connection into the loco works evident as well. [2]
On W. Barton Wright’s retirement in October 1887, in his place came J.A.F. Aspinall from Inchicore in Ireland to become Chief Mechanical Engineer. At the time of his appointment Aspinall was only 35 years of age.
He persuaded the Company to introduce a premium apprentice scheme and to fund a Mechanics Institute at Horwich. He also urged the immediate purchase of locomotives as prices at the time were relatively low. Based on his assessment of average mileage per locomotive in various railway companies he demonstrated that the L&YR needed a stock of 1,114 locomotives against an existing complement of 963. The shortage of engines was resulting in over use, engines becoming neglected and breakdowns being too frequent.
As an emergency measure, “Aspinall ordered 30 6ft 4-4-0s of Barton Wright’s design, but with Joy’s valve gear, from Beyer Peacock and from the same firm he ordered two small locomotives, at £250 each, for the 18in gauge internal railway system at the works. A third, ordered in 1887, cost £300. Aspinall quickly showed his concern for the well-being of the workers at Horwich. He was dissatisfied with the way the houses were being built and arranged for better supervision of the work. He also arranged for a local doctor to attend to accidents in the works until a permanent arrangement could be made.” [1: p24]
As construction work on the fitting, painting and erecting shops was nearing completion it was possible to “take in the first six locomotives for repair. They included the Barton Wright 4-4-0 No. 865 Prince of Wales, built by Dübs in 1885 and named in honour of a royal visit to Preston.” [1: p24]
The large office block, 323ft long and 58ft wide was brought into use on 19th February 1887 Beyer Peacock supplied two 18in gauge locos by 7th April and they were set to work in the erecting shop.
The foundry was completed next and work began here on 12th April. “The first castings were small engraved iron paper weights which were presented to the L&YR directors as a memento of the occasion. With the opening of the foundry Henry Albert Hoy, at that time manager at Miles Platting, was appointed works manager at Horwich and on Aspinall’s recommendation his salary was increased from £225 to £300, to become £400 in two years.” [1: p25]
Aspinall submitted further plans to the directors meeting on 27th September 1887, for a “further nine shops at an estimated cost of £26,738. For the whole of the work to be transferred from Miles Platting at an early date, it was necessary to start the brass foundry and copper shop at once and to cover in the space between the foundry and the forge to form the steel foundry. Of the shops proposed, the board sanctioned the erection of the tin and copper-smiths shop, the brass foundry, telegraph shop, steel foundry and an extension of the foundry for rail chairs.” [1: p25]
By the end of 1887, Miles Platting workshops were closed, “a few months later the shops at Bury were also closed, and all locomotive repair work was transferred to Horwich. The Miles Platting shops were converted into carriage sheds and the Bury shops used for stores.” [1: p25]
Horwich Locomotive Works as shown on the 25″ Ordnance Survey from the turn of the 20th century. [2]
In January 1888, “work was started on the first order for new locomotives. This consisted of 10 2-4-2 tank engines of Aspinall’s design, the famous “radials”; the first one No. 1008, left the works on 20th February 1889, the second following in about three weeks. Because the steel foundry was not ready, the wheels and tyres were obtained from Germany, but the other parts of the engines were built entirely at Horwich. The tenth was completed during the following August.” [1: p25]
Work began on the first of the numerous Aspinall 0-6-0s in January 1889. The first order was for 10 engines, the first being completed in September and the last on 27th March 1890. Marshall’s article lists “the building dates of … all batches of locomotives built at Horwich until locomotive work ceased. Between 1891 and 1900 Aspinall rebuilt 230 of Barton Wright’s 4ft 6in 0-6-0s into saddle tanks for shunting. This released an equal number of serviceable tenders, hence the large number of locomotives built without tenders during this period.” [1: p25]
A table showing the building dates of all the batches of locomotives built at Horwich. The table was provided by John Marshall in his article in Railway World. [1: p26]
The Mechanics Institute building was opened in December 1888. Courses in electricity, mechanics, mathematics and machine drawing were introduced. There was a staff of 5 teachers with 90 students per week. “Fees were nominal, but if a student attended less than 21 classes in each subject, the charge was doubled.” [1: p26] The Institute was extended by the addition of a public hall to seat 900 people, a library, reading rooms and class rooms which were opened in October 1895.
By 1892 “the works were in full operation and by this time Horwich had become a fair-sized town, the census of 1891 recorded a population of 12,850, and this continued to grow. Social and recreational amenities were provided by the company including a large dining hall with accommodation for 1,100 men, and a large recreation ground laid out with two bowling greens, tennis courts, a cricket ground and a children’s playground. … A cottage hospital was built and accidents could thus be attended to promptly. To serve the new population the company had about 70 shops erected along Chorley New Road. On 13th April 1900, the Bolton Corporation electric tram service was extended to Horwich and on 19th May a route was opened via Victoria Road and through the main street of the old town, but this was closed in December 1907. There is no doubt that the trams were the cause of the later reduction in the train service to Horwich from Bolton.” [1: p26]
Marshall described the Works soon after they opened: … “The main entrance in Chorley New Road is attractively laid out with gardens and lawns, and beyond, at right angles to the road and the rest of the works, stands the office block. A wide corridor runs down the centre giving access to various offices including the drawing office. This is a long room occupying much of the north-west side of the building. Connected to the office at the far end and conveniently accessible by road and rail is the general store, 198ft long and 111ft wide, arranged on two storeys with a gallery round the four sides leaving the centre open to the roof.” [1: p62]
Marshall goes on to write about the 18in gauge internal railway which linked the stores with every part of the works, the length of track amounting to 74 miles. Eight 0-4-0 steam locomotives worked the system; Robin, Wren and Dot built in 1887, by Beyer Peacock and the others built at Horwich: Fly and Wasp in 1891, Midget and Mouse in 1899 and Bee in 1901. They had no works numbers and do not figure in the tabulated list of new engines above.. They had wheels of 16 in dia. and cylinders 5in dia. by 6in stroke.
He then returns to his description of the Works: … “The boiler shop is 439ft long and 111ft wide and its three bays are traversed by 12 ton and 20 ton capacity overhead cranes. For tapping stay holes Aspinall designed a multiple stay-tapping machine worked by ropes and pulleys. Boilers are rivetted up at the end of the shop in two Tweddle rivetting towers designed by Fielding and Platt. The whole of the machinery and equipment is arranged so that the progress of the work from the entry of the plates to completion proceeds step by step through the shop with no doubling-back or crossing to other machines. From the boiler shop we enter the boiler shop smithy, the same width and 120ft long. This is equipped with fires and hydraulic flanging presses for flanging firebox backs, tube plates, throat plates, ashpans and other pressings. The presses and rivetting towers use water at a pressure of 1,500 lb/sq in.” [1: p62]
Marshall’s narrative goes on to the next section of the building, the forge. It was the same width and 452ft long, and contained a series of Siemens regenerative furnaces for reheating. Among the machines were a 35 ton duplex hammer, one 8 ton and two 5 ton hammers. Beyond the forge, in the same row of buildings, was the steel foundry, 150ft long and 135ft wide, the iron foundry 212ft long and 111ft wide and the chair and plate foundry 124ft long and 128ft wide.
“In 1899 two 2 ton Tropenas Converters were installed in the steel foundry which [was] fitted also with Siemens Martin regenerative melting furnaces and facilities for annealing steel castings. The iron foundry and the steel foundry form[ed] a continuous building in three bays traversed from end to end by overhead 12 ton electric cranes. The ground on the north side of the iron and chair and plate foundries [was] at a higher level and from here the melting furnaces and cupolas [were] charged. In the iron foundry [were] produced railway castings of every type.” [1: p62]
The next row of buildings were narrower, only 47ft wide; “first [was] the tinsmith’s shop, 92ft long, next the motor shop, 153ft long, where electric motors and other equipment [were] maintained; the coppersmith’s shop, 89ft long and the brass foundry, 164ft long. … The central power station, next in the line, produce[d] electricity for the entire works and [was] 32ft long. The adjoining boiler house contain[ed] a battery of Lancashire Boilers, some fitted with underfeed mechanical stokers and Green’s Economisers, and others with forced draught grates for burning inferior fuel. In the fettling shop castings from the foundries [were] dressed. The carriage & wagon wheel shop, 200ft long, [was] equipped with lathes for turning and boring wheels, and presses for pressing tyres on to wheels for forcing wheels on to axles.” [1: p62]The middle row of buildings has a uniform width of 111ft. Opposite the stores is the paint shop, 234ft long, uniformly lit without glare by a north light type roof and maintained at an even temperature of 55 to 60 deg. F. by hot water
Plan of Horwich Locomotive Works in 1961. [5]
The middle row of buildings was uniformly 111ft wide: “Opposite the stores [was] the paint shop, 234ft long, uniformly lit without glare by a north light type roof and maintained at an even temperature of 55 to 60 deg. F. by hot water pipes laid along the engine pits. The shop accommodate[d] about 20 engines on six rows of pits 2ft deep, and include[d] a store from which all colours, oils, varnish and other materials [were] issued and a plant for mixing paints. It was the custom to spend about three weeks painting a new L&YR engine. After the filling and priming operations three coats of paint were applied followed by three coats of varnish.” [1: p62-63]
The testing shop occupied the next 27ft of the building. It was “equipped with a vertical 100 ton Buckton hydraulic testing machine using water at a pressure of 1,000 lb/sq in. Also working at the same pressure [was] a 100 ton horizontal chain testing machine. There [were] machines for preparing test specimens, a steam hammer and appliances for testing oil and springs. The chain smithy occupie[d] the last 28 ft of the building, and beyond it [was] a chain annealing furnace, Between this and the next shop, the yard [was] spanned by a large gantry used for handling boilers and other heavy items. … The millwright’s shop, 143ft long, maintain[ed] the various types of machines used on the railway. Adjoining this [was] the pattern makers’ and joiners’ shop, 164ft long, fully equipped with woodworking machinery and for saw maintenance.” [1: p63]
The fitting and machine shop sat at the centre of the Works. It was 508ft long. “Four 5 ton electric jib cranes travel[led] along the centre of the two outer bays and serve[d] the machines on each side. The end of the building [was] occupied by the points & crossings shop, 72ft long, and signal shop, 128ft long. … Some 150yd beyond the signal shop [was] the bolt shop, 60ft long, and the smithy, 212ft long. Among the equipment here [were] 11 double and 27 single hearths, steam hammers and drop stamps.” [1: p63]
“The fourth row of buildings beg[an] with the engine shed, alongside the paint shop. The heavy machine shop, 360ft long and 48ft wide contain[ed] machines for straightening frame plates, and slotting, radial arm drilling machines and the means for making built-up crank axles. Beyond [was] the spring smithy, 153ft long, where spring plates [were] made. … Finally there [was] the enormous erecting shop … with room for 90 engines and 30 tenders. Access [was] by the ends and by two traversers 32ft wide. The shop [was] divided into five sections each equipped with four 40 ton capacity overhead travelling cranes, two on each side. The total area of the works [was] 81 acres of which the area covered by workshops [was] 17 acres.” [1: p63]
Aspinall was appointed General Manager of the L&YR in June 1899, by then, 677 locomotives had been built at Horwich. He was succeeded by H. A. Hoy, under whom a further 220 locos were built. Hoy was succeeded by George Hughes in 1904. Hughes was an internal appointment and he remained at Horwich until he retired in 1925. “The 1,000th locomotive to be built at Horwich. No. 15, one of the Hughes 0-4-0 Railmotor locomotives, Works No. 983, appeared in March 1907. … During the 1914-18 war Horwich works was engaged in manufacturing military equipment of all types. On 1st January 1922, the L&YR was amalgamated with the LNWR. and George Hughes became CME of the combined company. When the LMS was formed a year later, Hughes was appointed CME of the entire system. … For the next three years [Horwich] this became the CME’s headquarters for the whole of the LMS.” [1: p63]
Change occurred after Hughes retired in 1925. The LMS began centralising activities. “The telegraph shop, signal shop, points & crossings shop, forge, and steel foundry were closed and the work transferred elsewhere. The spring smithy was transferred to the general smithy and the original building became a tube and bar store. In about 1927, the high level boiler house was closed down. During the great depression in 1931, locomotive building was suspended after completion of a batch of 15 standard 0-6-0 tanks on 15th October and locomotive work was confined to repairs. From 1932, after the closure of Newton Heath carriage works, the electric multiple-unit trains on the Liverpool-Southport-Crossens and Manchester-Bury-Holcombe Brook services were taken to Horwich for repair, and occupied the north western end of the erecting shop, this section becoming known as the car shop.” [1: p63-64]
Part of the Works was used between 1939 & 1945 for the manufacture of armoured fighting vehicles and shells. “From May to November 1943, 33 American 2-8-0 engines passed through the erecting shop for some 30 modifications, chiefly the fitting of a Gresham & Craven combination injector and graduable steam brake valve, the overhaul of part of the motion and the fitting of hand brake gear to the tender. … In June 1943 locomotive building was resumed with a batch of Stanier 2-8-0s and tenders.” [1: p64]
“The last steam locomotive to be built at Horwich was B.R. Standard Class 4 2-6-0 No. 76099 which left the works on 27th November 1957. On 20th August 1958 work began on a series of 350 h.p. 0-6-0 diesel shunting locomotives. The last of these, No. D4157, was completed on 28th December 1962.” [1: p64]
Marshall tells us that, “after the war a mechanised foundry was built in the shop which was originally the forge. The casting of chairs was transferred to the new foundry. A typical year’s work during this period included 20 new locomotives, 350 heavy repairs and 240 light repairs to locomotives, and repairs to 200 boilers and 90 electric vehicles, and the general production work of castings, etc. With the closure of Gortonworks in 1963 the manufacture of points and crossings began again at Horwich. During 1963 the number of locomotives for repair declined and the erecting shop was invaded by wagons, many of them the result of the running down of Earlestown works, and the last locomotives entered the shop in April 1964.” [1: p64-65]
“Altogether, some 50,000 locomotives [were] repaired in 76 years, an average of over 680 a year.” [1: p65]
Marshall concludes his articles by noting that Horwich Works were a place of training and development for a number of significant people in the history of railways in the UK: Sir Nigel Gresley, R.E.L. Maunsell, George Hughes and Sir Henry Fowler, and others of significance to railway history around the world, for instance J.P. Crouch, who became CME of the Argentine Central and Rupert Fawker, CME of the Sudanese Railways.
The Works were also an important place of employment for generations of people in Horwich. Inevitably, economic conditions varied over the years, families had to travel around the country to find other work when redundancies occurred.
My paternal grandfather and grandmother found alternative work and a new home in the Midlands. I guess that there were many like them, both in the 1930s and in subsequent generations right through to the eventual closure of the Works for whom redundancy brought family trauma, a loss of dignity and a sense of hopelessness. People who felt trapped in their circumstances, swept along by a tide of events over which they had little or no control. People who had to find a new route through life for themselves and their families and who showed the same courage and commitment in their own circumstances as those who were prime movers in the development of Horwich Locomotive works in the late 19th century.
An aerial view of Horwich Locomotive Works, seen from the Southeast. [4]A closer aerial view of Horwich Locomotive Works, seen from the Northwest. [4]
Of additional interest relating to Horwich Locomotive Works is a short note in The Railway Magazine of September 1909 entitled “The Lancashire & Yorkshire Locomotive Stud.” …
“The usual summer convention of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers which this year was held at Liverpool, after a long interval, will be remembered as a railway convention, particularly as a Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway one. Firstly, because Mr. J. A. F. Aspinall, the chairman of the meeting and president of the Institution, is the General Manager of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway; secondly, because the principal paper was contributed by Mr. Geo. Hughes, the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway; and lastly, because of the visit paid to the Horwich Works.” [8]
“Mr. George Hughes’ paper was entitled “Locomotives Designed and Built at Horwich, with some Results.” In it he stated that formerly there were in service on the Lancashireand Yorkshire Railway 29 types of passenger engines and 26 types of goods engines, the total stock being 353 passenger and 647 goods engines. There are now 1517 locomotives, of which 1,052 have been built at Horwich. About 1,100 are in steam daily. Mr. Aspinall, while chief mechanical engineer, had adopted the policy of reducing the number of types, introduced standardization, and, wherever possible, interchangeability. The number of types had now been considerably reduced. Experience with the Druitt-Halpin thermal storage tank had shown that where stopping places were frequent on rising gradients it led to distinct economy, the saving varying from 4 to 12 per cent. Experiments were now being carried out with a super-heater, the results of which would be communicated at a later date. The average life of boilers on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway for the three years ended December, 1908, was 14 years, representing an average mileage of 356,268. Copper fire-boxes ran from 150,000 to 275,000 miles, while over a period of 20 years it was found that the life of cylinders varied from 8 to 14 years. With the more severe modern conditions of service the solid type crank axle had been supplanted by the built-up pattern.” [8]
References
John Marshall; Horwich Works – Parts 1 & 2; in Railway World, Ian Allan, January & February 1965.
While looking for information about locomotives built by Fox, Walker &Co. for the Whitland & Taf Vale Railway, I came across the image below, which shows a ‘combined locomotive and carriage’.
Fox’s Combined Locomotive and Carriage. [8]
Grace’s Guide provides no more information about this unit, but more can be found on the Model Engineering website in the form of a short article dated 19th February 1869 which appeared in the journal ‘Engineering’. [9]
“We illustrate above an arrangement of combined locomotive and carriage designed and patented by Mr. Fox of the firm of Messrs. Fox, Walker, and Co., of Bristol. According to this plan a four-wheeled tank engine with a short wheel base is coupled by a strong draw-pin to a passenger carriage, this carriage having a single pair of wheels at the hind end only, the front end being supported by springs fixed on the engine frame, as shown in the plan. The carriage is, however, provided at the front end with a pair of wheels which can, by the arrangement of screw shown, be lowered down so as to bear upon the rail and support that end of the vehicle when it is desired to uncouple it from the engine. The engine shown in our illustration has four coupled wheels 5 ft. 6 in. in diameter, and outside cylinders 8 in. in diameter with 12 in. stroke; it has, moreover, a tank placed at the front end under the smokebox so as to approximately balance the weight placed on the hind end of the engine by the carriage. The total weight of the combined engine and carriage is estimated at 15 tons empty, and 24 tons with the engine in working order, and the carriage containing its full complement of passengers. The greatest weight on a pair of wheels is 9 tons. The engine is intended to draw two carriages, besides the one directly connected with it, and containing in all 150 passengers, at the rate of 40 miles an hour on a level, or its own carriage, carrying 50 passengers, up an incline of 1 in 50 at a speed of 15 miles per hour. To enable it to do this, however, it would be necessary either that the cylinder power should be increased, or that the boiler should be worked at a somewhat higher pressure than is adopted in ordinary locomotive practice. In describing Mr. Fox’s engine it is only fair that we should state that, before receiving his tracings we were shown by Mr. Fairlie the drawings of a combined engine and carriage which he had designed with the same object as led to the production of Mr. Fox’s plans, namely to effect a reduction in the dead weight and working expenses of railway trains, and to produce an arrangement suitable for carrying on a light traffic on a road abounding with sharp curves.” [9]
R.W. Kidner
Back in 1947, R.W. Kidner collaborated with the Oakwood Press to produce a series of monographs about road and rail transport. I had not been able to find a copy of the relevant part of Kidner’s work, [1] before completing the first six articles to which this article is an addendum. The first of those articles can be found here. [2]
This article includes relevant material from Kidner’s monograph. [1]
Kidner separates the period from 1847 to 1947 into three different railcar/railmotor eras: 1847-1899, 1900-1923 & 1923-1947.
1. Early Steam Railcars, 1847-1899
Kidner says that the “earliest railcars in the world were probably Detmole’s 12-seater cyclopede car of 1829, on the South Carolina R.R., and Andraud’s compressed-air-driven 8-seater of 1839 in France. In England, the first was the Express, a steam-driven car devised by James Samuel and W. Bridges Adams, of the Eastern Counties Railway. This little car made its inaugural trip on 23rd October 1847, from Shoreditch to Cambridge, covering the distance in three and three-quarter hours running time.” [1: p110]
J. Samuel’s ‘Express’ of 1847, with 3.5 x 6 in cylinders and 3ft 4in wheels. [1: p111]
Kidner notes that this diminutive vehicle successfully climbed the Lickey incline on the Birmingham & Gloucester Railway. This vehicle’s performance satisfied its designers and resulted in them building the larger six-wheeled vehicle which was 31ft 6in long. As we noted in Part 1, was named ‘Fairfield’, [2] this “became No. 29 on the broad-gauge Bristol & Exeter Railway, and worked the newly-opened Tiverton branch.” [1: p110-111]
The Bristol & Exeter broad gauge ‘Fairfield’ (No. 29) with 7x12in cylinders and 4ft 6in drivers. [1: p111]
Kidner tells us that the next railmotor, the ‘Enfield’, was built in 1849. There is a plan and elevation in the first article. [2] It was “carried on eight wheels and had seats for 42 passengers; on one recorded trip from London to Norwich 126 miles were covered in 215 minutes running time; normally, however, it worked between Enfield and Angel Road.” [1: p111]
Next year came the ‘Cambridge‘; it was a well tank (2-2-0WT) close-coupled to a four-wheeled saloon. Kidner highlights a similar unit, a “Ariel’s Girdle, built by Kitson Thompson and Hewitson and exhibited at the Great Exhibition. This combination seems never to have worked in public service in its original form, though the locomotive portion later worked the Millwall Extension line; in fact, although the rigid engine-cum-coach had given way to the handier flexible type, no great enthusiasm was shown for either.” [1: p111]
This is a Londonderry & Enniskillen Railway unit of 1852 which was similar to the ‘Cambridge’.
Several close-coupled units similar to the Cambridge were operated from 1852 by the Londonderry & Enniskillen Railway but otherwise J. Samuel’s invention was unsuccessful. However, his design work alongside R.F. Fairlie produced “a flexible steam-car embodying all the advantages which brought about the railcar ‘boom’ of 1903-11, virtually the only difference between Samuel’s and Drummond’s cars being that the former employed four-coupled driving wheels.” [1: p112]
The experimental steam railmotor built in 1869 by R.F. Farlie and J. Samuel reproduced in the Illustrated London News on 26th February 1869. Details according to Kidner: Cylinders 8 x 12 in., driving wheels 4ft; although the overall wheelbase was 57ft, curves of 35ft radius could be worked. There were seats for 18 first, 30 seconds, and 40 third class; unladen weight 14 tons. [1: plate XXIX]
Kidner says that “there is no record of this bogie car going into service. It was designed to negotiate curves of 35 ft. radius, and thus by the laying of such reversing curves at termini to avoid running round.”
The next use of a railcar/railmotor was by McDonnell, of the Great Southern and Western Railway of Ireland.
The Great Southern & Western Railway of Ireland 0-4-4T built in 1873 for service on the GSWR(I)’s Castle island branch in Co. Kerry. [1: p112]
Kidner tells us that in 1873 McDonnell built “two small 0-4-4T engines with short staff-carriages mounted at the rear, which were named Fairy and Sprite, and used for pay purposes.” A larger vehicle was built shortly after, and then two 0-6-4T cars were built in 1875 which were “35 feet long and carr[ied] eight first and six third-class passengers. … McDonnell’s cars suffered conversion to normal locomotives (except the eight-wheelers, which were scrapped), and no more railcars seen in passenger service until after the turn of the century.” [1: p112]
Instead, some railway companies chose to create railcars to convey railway executives across their networks.
Three Engineers’ cars: at the top, a Great Eastern Railway inspection car converted by Headley Brothers in 1849 from ‘Eagle’, a well tank (2-2-0WT), to make a six-wheeled inspection car; in the centre, a later GER car (No. 81), rebuilt in 1878 as a 4-2-4T car from a Gooch 2-2-2WT of 1853; and at the bottom, a LSWR 4-2-4T inspection car. [1: p113]A thirty-foot-long engineer’s saloon of the LNWR with twelve seats, lavatory, coal-bunker and verandah attached to the single ‘Locomotion’. [1: plate XXIX]
A colourised photograph of this vehicle appeared on the Abergavenny Railways History Facebook Group
The same vehicle as in the first image above. This image was shared on the Abergavenny Railways History Facebook Group by David Bowen on 26th July 2024. [10]
Rather than rigid-bodied cars, some lines preferred close-coupled units. One of these is shown above. Kidner says that the LNWR “ran a number of these comprising 2-2-2 engines with six-wheeled car attached, and the Wordsell brothers on the North-Eastern had a saloon fitted for reverse running normally attached to a 2-2-4T.” [1: p113]
2. Later Steam Railcars, 1900-1923
Kidner talks of the contemporaries of Dugald Drummond naturally being interested in his experiment just after the turn of the 20th century. [1: p133][3] For here was a “method of providing rapid frequency without the capital outlay of electrification.” [1: p135]
Drummond’s railcar/railmotor “differed little from the Fairlie-Samuel car of thirty years ealier, though it was certainly less powerful; in fact, before going into service on the Southsea branch it was found necessary to replace the vertical boiler with a horizontal loco-type one. Unlike the old cars, however, it was fitted for control from either end, and since its ‘turn round time’ could be cut to the few seconds taken by the driver to walk fifty feet to the other end it was ideally suited for dense traffic on short branches.” [1: p135]
Three Steam Railmotors: at the top, the first LSWR Steam Railmotor of 1903, 56ft long (single driver); at the centre, the Furness Railway Railmotor of 1905, 61ft long (coupled drivers); and at the bottom, North Staffordshire Beyer Peacock railmotor of 1905, 50ft 6in long (single driver). [1: p134]Three more Steam Railmotors: the first is the Great Northern Avonside of 1905, 66ft 6in long (coupled drivers); Rhymney Railway Hudswell-Clarke of 1907, 72ft long (coupled drivers); and at the bottom, Port Talbot Hawthorn of 1908, 77ft long (six-coupled drivers). [1: p134]
As we have already noted, the idea was taken up by the Great Western, in particular and by a significant number of other railway companies. [4][5][6]
Kidner notes that “these cars were undoubtedly successful when properly used, but in words spoken in 1905 by Hurry Riches, of the Taff Vale Railway, ‘when they are used to take trailer cars, and are in fact converted into mixed trains, their advantages soon disappear’.” [1: p135-136]
Isle of Wight Central Railway direct drive steam railmotor, built by Hawthorne Leslie in 1906, 61ft long. [1: Plate XXXVII]
Almost inevitably a variety of different trailers were attached to these railcars/railmotors and as a result their key advantage was lost and their disadvantages dominated contemporary thinking. So, says Kidner writing in 1946/7, “building of steam cars ceased in 1911, and soon those already running were being converted into trailers; some of the Great Western’s 99 cars lasted until just before the late war, and at least one of the Lancashire and Yorkshire cars is running today, but of the rest few lived to see the grouping. Their inventor himself seems to have lost faith early, for in 1906 Drummond turned to separate autotrains.” [1: p136]
3. The Modern Steam Railcars, 1923-1947
Kidner was writing in 1946/7. For him, these later Railmotors were very much ‘Modern’. He comments: “In 1923 the branch railways were beginning to face severe competition from the buses; hundreds of such lines were being ‘carried’ by the main lines, and if they were to remain open something must be done to attract custom.” [1: p142]
We have already covered these ‘modern’ steam railmotors in Part 6 of this series. [7]
The most unusual of this later group of steam railmotors was that used by the Southern Railway on the Dyke branch. This is mentioned at the end of the previous article (Part 6) in this short series. Kidner provides a photograph of that Railmotor in action. [7] …
The Southern Railway Railmotor which was used on the Dyke branch. Shown here in action in 1933. [1: Plate XXXIX]
References
R.W. Kidner; A Short History of Mechanical Traction & Travel – Part 6: Multiple Unit Trains, Railmotors & Tramcars 1829 – 1947; Oakwood Press, South Godstone, Surrey, October 1947, p107-150 with a series of plates before p107 and after p150.
This article follows on from five other articles which covered the Wellington to Severn Junction Railway and this line from Buildwas to Presthope. The first three articles can be found on these links:
Much Wenlock to Presthope and on towards Craven Arms
From the commencement of the building of the line between Buildwas and Much Wenlock, the directors hoped that the line could be extended to Craven Arms via Presthope on Wenlock Edge (linking with the limestone quarries/works at that location).
The directors of the Wellington & Severn Junction Railway were, however, fully occupied with the line from Wellington to Buildwas. Another company was set up to build the ‘Wenlock & Craven Arms and Coalbrookdale Extension Railway‘. The bill went through the parliamentary process unopposed and authorised the ‘Wenlock Railway Company‘ to construct the line. Work started on 23rd October 1861.
By 5th December 1864, the line was open from Much Wenlock to Presthope. (That length is covered in the last online article listed above.) At this time, because it was a freight-only line, the Board of Trade saw no need for an inspection of the line. It had already been agreed at a meeting held on 4th December 1863 not to proceed with the line from Presthope to Craven Arms for the time being. It was to be three years after the line reached Presthope before the connection to the Shrewsbury & Hereford Railway close to Craven Arms was completed. It was finally opened on 16th December 1867.
Presthope to Longville
We begin this article at Presthope Railway Station and travel towards Craven Arms, as far as the village of Longville in the Dale. …….
Ken Jones comments: “On arrival at Presthope station … its complete isolation is striking, the only sign of habitation being the station master’s house standing on a ridge above the station. Although isolated, its importance is magnified by the number of sidings (a mini-marshalling yard on a branch line), because of the extensive quarrying formerly carried out by the Lilleshall Company in this area. A siding [1.5] miles long ran from the station sidings into the Lilleshall quarries. Prior to World War I a special train left Presthope each day for the Lilleshall Company’s furnaces at Priors Lee. However, by the early 1920s the company had ceased quarrying operations in the Presthope.” [1: p97]
The limestone quarry on Moses Benson’s land was the prime reason for the railway reaching Presthope. It was “developed by the Lilleshall Company, the line being opened to this point in 1864 solely for mineral traffic.” [15: p134]
Knowles comments: “The Wenlock Railway Bill stipulated that ‘The Company at their own expense shall make a proper and convenient siding at Presthope at the eastern end of the proposed tunnel, and at their own expense maintain this siding for the exclusive use of Moses George Benson.’ … The Benson family owned the Lutwyche Estate which included much of the land south west of Much Wenlock over which the Craven Arms extension would pass. Extensive limestone quarrying was carried out in the area and the Bensons had accrued wealth by leasing land for limestone extraction. The new railway would facilitate transport of the stone, a benefit to Moses Benson who became a strong advocate of the railway. In 1862 he leased the site of the limestone quarry at Presthope to the Earl of Granville who was acting on behalf of the Lilleshall Company. … The Wenlock Railway duly installed a 50-yard siding which was soon extended right into the quarry by the Lilleshall Company, ready for the start of mineral traffic from Presthope over the Wenlock Railway in 1864.” [15: p53]
The Lilleshall Company Mineral Railway at Presthope
The limestone found on Wenlock Edge is a relatively hard and resistant rock, grey/blue in colour. Its thickness varies from around 35 metres to more than 135 metres. It “has been used from the earliest days as a building stone locally as can be seen in the remaining Priory Walls and the Corn Exchange in Wenlock Town. More significantly, the limestone was used for lime mortar, especially as can be seen in the Roman City of Viriconium, Wroxeter.” [16: p229-230] Historically it was also used as a fertiliser, as a flux in blast furnaces, as a road stone, as bricks and slabs and in the manufacture of artificial stone.
This versatility made the limestone from Wenlock Edge a valuable resource and so very attractive to the Lilleshall Company. It was its use in their industrial processes which made it so important.
As we have already noted, the first 50 yards of the Mineral Railway were built by the railway company under the provisions of the Wenlock Railway Bill. Knowles comments that, “this was then continued by the Lilleshall Company for almost a mile and a half, linking to a network of moveable tramways which extended into the far reaches of the quarry.” [15: p134-135]
Prior to the construction of the Wenlock Branch and the Lilleshall Company Mineral Railway there was a quarry close to what became the tunnel mouth of the extension towards Craven Arms. Associated with that limestone quarry we’re Limekilns which can be seen on the OS map extract above – a series of four circles on the South side of the main line close to the tunnel portal.
The Lilleshall Company worked their quarry until just before WW1. When no longer needed the mineral railway was closed and lifted. “Knowle Lime Works took over part of the site and reopened [the] older working almost adjacent to Presthope Tunnel.” [15: p135]
The 50 yard length of siding provided by the railway company was still in place and Knowle Lime Works provided their own tramway and wharf alongside the original siding for the transhipment of goods for onward transport.
This is an extract from the modern OS Explorer Map as reproduced in the Much Wenlock Neighbourhood Plan with the area of the Lilleshall Company quarries shaded lilac. [19]
The next three extracts from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1883 show the length of the Lilleshall Company line from the Inn to their quarries.
Two extracts from the 25″ Ordnance Survey Sheet Shropshire L. 14 of 1883. [17]This map extract comes from the Ordnance Survey Sheet immediately to the South of Shropshire L. 14, Shropshire LVII.2 of 1883. [18]The quarry area and its internal tramways as recorded on the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1902. [20]The two lines (Quarry Railway and Much Wenlock Branch) continued in Southwesterly directions across this next satellite image, the mineral railway is the more southerly of the two lines shown. The railmaponline.com satellite imagery shows the end of the quarry branch (in the bottom-left of the image), while the line to Craven Arms continues on the Northwest side of Wenlock Edge heading down a relatively gentle incline by following the line of the Edge. [3]Looking Northeast towards Presthope along the line of the Mineral Railway. [Google Streetview, May 2011]Looking Southwest into the site of the Lilleshall Company quarry. [Google Streetview, May 2011]
Presthope Tunnel and the line to the West
Ken Jones comments: “Leaving Presthope Station, to the left of the train was a large outcrop of limestone rock on which were three limekilns, this outcrop with its kilns forming a most dramatic entrance to the 207 yds-long Presthope tunnel driven through the limestone rock.” [1: p97]
Ken Jones says: “On emergence from the tunnel the passenger is rewarded with a panoramic view of the beautiful Ape Dale with its irregular field patterns and isolated farms with the gently rising backcloth of the Stretton Hills in the distance. A sight never to be forgotten on a winter’s morning with the snowcapped hills dominating the Vale.” [1: p97]
The views which Ken Jones mentions above are, in the 21st century, hidden first by the embankment walls close to the tunnel mouth and then by the dense woodland which surrounds the old railway.
We were able to walk the length of the formation of the old railway between Presthope tunnel and Easthope Halt on 24th May 2024. The length walked is covered by the next three extracts from the 1901 25″ Ordnance Survey
This next extract from the 1901 25″ Ordnance Survey covers the bottom-left quarter of the railmaponline.com image above. [22]A further length of the line as it appears on the 1901 25″ Ordnance Survey. Together with the extract below, the length of the line shown on the railmaponline.com extract below is covered. [23]The next length of the line. Easthope Halt was sited just to the West of the lane which passed under the line in the bottom-left corner of this extract. [24]The same length of the line as covered on the two map extracts immediately above. Easthope Halt was located tight into the bottom-left corner of this image, just to the West of the lane which passed under the railway. [3]
These next images come from our walk on 24th May 2024. They show the formation of the old railway at regular intervals. It is now primarily in use as a logging road by the National Trust. There is about 250 metres between each image.
Easthope Halt. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock History Facebook Group by Judith Goodman on 9th December 2020. It looks Northeast towards Presthope Tunnel.The Halt was opened on 4th April 1936 and closed on 31st December 1951. [12]
Ken Jones; The Wenlock Branch; The Oakwood Press, Usk, Monmouthshire, 1998.
The photographs of the pre-contract drawings for the line were taken by myself and show extracts from the construction plans held in the Shropshire Archive. There is a standard charge of £10 per visit for taking photographs of their records.
The photographs of the pre-contract drawings for the line were taken by myself and show extracts from the construction plans held in the Shropshire Archive. There is a standard charge of £10 per visit for taking photographs of their records.
The new companies which came into existence with the grouping in 1923 addressed once again the best way to serve lightly populated rural communities. The options available to them centred on various forms of light railcars. Two forms of propulsion were available, the internal combustion engine and the steam engine. Electricity, in many cases required too large an investment for the likely traffic on the intermediate routes in rural areas.
Given, the lack of success of the steam railmotor experiment in the first two decades of the 20th century, it must have seemed unlikely that steam railcars/railmotors woul prove to be a success in the inter-war years. But the LNER’s persistence and the arrival of a new articulated “form of steam railcar developed by the Sentinel Waggon Works Ltd. in association Cammell Laird & Co. Ltd. [brought about] a renewed assessment of the role of the railcar.” [1: p46]
Jenkinson and Lane say that rather than simply using railcars to replace existing services, the aim became one of enhancement of services. A greater frequency of service would reduce the need for unsuitable powered units to pull trailers. Higher speeds would shorten journey times.
But, to do this “in the steam context … meant using a vehicle which, owing to its lightness and simplicity, needed a smaller and less complicated power unit than was offered by the conventional locomotive style of construction. … A tricky balancing act … because railway vehicles need to be much stronger than the road equivalent, … but the Sentinel-Cammell steam railcars were a very fine attempt.” [1: p46]
The LNER Sentinel Steam Railcars
The “Sentinel Waggon Works of Shrewsbury built their first steam railcar in 1923 for the narrow gauge Jersey Railways & Tramways Ltd. This used coachwork constructed by Cammell Laird & Co. of Nottingham, and was reportedly successful.” [2] This partnership with Cammell Laird continued when Cammell Laird became a part of Metropolitan-Cammell Carriage, Wagon & Finance Co. Ltd (‘Metro-Cammell’) in February 1929.
The first narrow-gauge railcar on Jersey plied its trade on the line between St. Hellier and St. Aubin. [4][2] The remains of a later steam railcar is shown below, It was supplied to Jersey as a standard-gauge railcar.
The remains of Sentinel railcar ‘Brittany’ as it appeared in 1997. It was possibly one of a pair supplied by Sentinel in 1923 which ran on the 3ft 6in gauge lines on the Island of Jersey between St. Hellier and Corbiere. Were the pair articulated? Essery and Warburton say that the total weight of each original unit “was 15 tons 3 cwt 2 quarters … The engine was totally enclosed with 6.25inch diameter cylinder with a 9inch stroke having poppet valves and mounted horizontally above the floor of the engine room. The drive from the crankshaft was by roller chain to an intermediate shaft then by separate chains to each axle of the 7’ 0” wheelbase bogie. The Sentinel vertical boiler with cross water tubes and super-heater supplied steam at 230lbs/sq. inch. Coal consumption was 5.37 lb per mile.” [12: p4]
Essery and Warburton note 3 such vehicles being employed on the narrow-gauge. [12: p7] These vehicles were probably re-gauged to standard-gauge when the narrow-gauge line closed. They also note a later purchase of 2 standard-gauge units. Although they give a date of 1924 for the later units [12: p7] which, given that this unit appears not to be articulated, is quite early. Is this, perhaps, actually one of the later rigid-bodied units? If so it would perhaps have been supplied to Jersey between 1927 and 1932.
This image was shared on the Narrow Gauge Enthusiasts Facebook Group on 20th December 2018 by John Carter, permission to include this image here is awaited. [3]
Sentinel exhibited a railcar at the British Empire Exhibition in 1924, which was noticed by Gresley. “The LNER was in need of vehicles that were cheaper than steam trains but with better carrying capacity than that of the petrol rail bus and autocar on trial in the North East (NE) Area. Hence Chief General Manager Wedgwood informed the Joint Traffic and Locomotive Committees on 31st July 1924 that a railcar would be loaned from Sentinel for a fortnight. If successful, this would be followed by the purchase of two railcars. The trial took place from 17th to 31st August 1924 in the NE Area.” [2]
The successful trial resulted in the purchase of eighty Sentinel steam railcars from 1925 to 1932.[2] (Essery & Warburton suggest that the very early Sentinel railcars were rigid-bodied units with later versions being articulated vehicles. [12: p4] This does not seem to have been the case. Early Sentinels were, in fact, articulated. There was a period when Sentinel railcars were rigid-bodied, Jenkinson and Lane talk of rigid-bodied Sentinel railcars being delivered in the years from 1927 up to 1932, [1: p54] which may have been a response to competition from Clayton. Clayton’s steam Railcars are covered below.)
In addition to the LNER’s own railcars, the Cheshire Lines railcars (4 No.) were maintained by the LNER and the Axholme Joint Railway (AJR) railcar No. 44 was transferred to the LNER when the AJR ceased serving passengers in 1933.
The first two Sentinel railcars purchased by the LNER were set to work in “East Anglia to operate between Norwich and Lowestoft and from King’s Lynn to Hunstanton.” [1: p46]
The East Anglian pair of railmotors “were considered to be lightweight. Later LNER Sentinel railcars were more substantial and included drawgear and buffers. Both railcars were withdrawn from traffic in November 1929 and sent to Metro-Cammell to be rebuilt into heavier railcars.” [2]
Sentinel offered two options. “One scheme was to rebuild the cars so that they resembled the later cars as closely as possible. The LNER chose to rebuild railcar No. 12E to this scheme, and was described as Diagram 153. The second scheme was to rebuild the railcars to the minimum necessary to meet the requirements. No. 13E was rebuilt to this scheme, and was described by Diagram 152.” [2]
Initially No. 13E was rebuilt without conventional drawgear and buffers. This was corrected within a few months of re-entering LNER service in 1930. [1: 46-47][2].
“No. 13E was renumbered as No. 43307 in April 1932 and withdrawn in January 1940 with a mileage of 269,345 miles.” [2]
No. 12E was subject to an almost complete rebuild. It returned to the LNER by Metro-Cammell on 29th May 1930 and started trials at Colwick. After repainting at Doncaster in late June, it entered traffic on 26th September 1930. The body was raised by just over 10 inches and a third step was added below the doors. Drawgear and buffers were fitted before it re-entered service on the LNER network. [2]
“No. 12E was renumbered as No. 43306 in November 1931, and was withdrawn in April 1940 with a mileage of 232,462 miles.” [2]
The RCTS tells us that, “The majority of the Sentinel railcars were named after former horse-drawn mail and stage coaches. The exceptions were the two original cars, Nos. 12E and 13E, No.51915 taken over from the Axholme Joint Railway and Nos. 600-3 on the Cheshire Lines which were all nameless. In addition the two 1927 cars, Nos. 21 and 22, ran without names for a while, before becoming Valliant (sic) and Brilliant respectively. The named cars had a descriptive notice inside detailing what was known about the running of the mail coach from which the car took its name and offering a reward for additional information.” [5: p13]
The story of the various Sentinel Railcars is covered in some detail in the LNER online Encyclopedia here. [2] If greater detail is required, then the RCTS’s Locomotives of the LNER Part 10B considers the Sentinel Railcars in greater depth. This can be found here. [5]
Sentinel produced their steam railcars for the LNER in a series of relatively small batches. Each batch varied in detailed design.
Rigid-bodied railcars were supplied by Sentinel in the period from 1927. The last rigid-bodied units being delivered in 1932. [1: p54,56] The first was an experimental unit which was in use on LNER lines in 1927 but not purchased until June 1928. [1: p58] A further 49 rigid-bodied Sentinels were ordered in 1928, 12 in 1929, 2 in 1930 [1: p56] and 3 further in 1932 [1: p54]
Jenkinson and Lane tell us that a solitary twin unit, LNER Sentinel No. 2291 ‘Phenomena‘, was developed in 1930. The rear bogie on the powered unit was shared with the trailer. They explain that the articulation between the coaches “allowed the individual unit lengths to be reduced compared with a single unit car. A more than doubled carrying capacity was achieved with only a 25% increase in tare weight.” [1: p64]
‘Phenomena’ was an articulated twin, the powered unit had much in common with the rigid-bodied Sentinel Railmotors. This image was carried by ‘The Engineer Journal of November 1930. [17]
As the number of Railcars on the LNER network increased the company felt that it would be prudent to undertake a review of the performance of all its railcars in use on its network. This review covered the year ending 30th September 1934. The best Sentinel steam railcars out-performed others on the network (particularly those of Armstrong-Whitworth). The fleet of “Sentinel railcars recorded over 2.25 million miles in the year, with railcar mileages often exceeding 30,000 miles.” [2].
“With the exception of No. 220 ‘Waterwitch’ which was wrecked in 1929, all of the Sentinel steam railcars were withdrawn between 1939 and 1948.” [2]
The LNER Armstrong-Whitworth Diesel-Electric Railcars
As a quick aside, the Armstrong Whitworth Railcars were direct competitors for the Sentinel Steam Railcars. They were early diesel-electric cars, diesel-powered precursors of what, from different manufacturers, became the dominant form of power source for railcars as the steam railmotors were retired; although what became the dominant form of diesel railcar was to use direct drive rather than traction motors. [1: p71] What became the GWR railcars were privately developed by Hardy Motors Ltd., AEC Ltd., and Park Royal Coachworks Ltd. [1: p72-73] The story of the GWR diesel railcars is not the focus of this article, but the Armstrong Whitworth Diesel-Electric railcars were direct competitors for the Sentinel railcars and, as such, worth noting here.
In September 1919, Armstrong Whitworth became a Sulzer diesel engine licensee. During 1929 the board of Armstrong Whitworth approved the decision to enter the field of diesel rail traction and obtained a license from Sulzer Brothers for the use of their engines in these rail vehicles.
In 1931, Armstrong Whitworth began construction of “three heavy diesel electric railcars [for the LNER] which operated under the names of ‘Tyneside Venturer’, ‘Lady Hamilton’ & ‘Northumbrian’. They were powered by an Armstrong-Sulzer six cylinder 250hp four stroke diesel engine coupled to GEC electrical equipment. The vehicles were 60 feet long with a cab at each end and a compartment for the engine. They weighed 42tons 10cwt, could carry sixty passengers and luggage at 65mph. The bodywork was provided by Craven Railway Carriage & Wagon Co of Sheffield. The body was of sheet steel panels riveted together. Operating costs were expected to be half those of a steam service of similar capacity.” [8]
As well as running singly the railcars could haul a trailer coach.
“A fourth Armstrong-Whitworth diesel-electric vehicle entered service with the LNER in 1933. This was the un-named No. 294 lightweight railbus. Completed in May 1933, it performed six months of trials before entering regular services in the Newcastle area in September 1933. It was not taken into official LNER stock until August 1934, and is believed to have only been kept as a standby for one of the larger railcars.” [9][cf: 1: p70]
All of the Armstrong Whitworth railcars gave their best performances during the initial trials. “During regular operation, the Armstrong Whitworth diesel-electric railcars suffered from gradually declining performance. This was probably partly due to relatively poor maintenance on what was still a steam railway.” [9]
Ultimately, these units retired relatively early in April, May and December 1939. [9]
The LNER Clayton Steam Railcars and Trailers
The LNER on-line Encyclopedia comments that, “Clayton Wagons Ltd of Lincoln started to build steam railcars in 1927. The LNER purchased a total of eleven between 1927 and 1928.” [10]
Jenkinson and Lane note an earlier date for Clayton Wagons Ltd’s entry into the market. They say that the Clayton cars originated in 1925, originally for use in New Zealand.
These cars were handicapped by the financial instability of Clayton Wagons Ltd. [10][1: p50] The LNER at times had to manufacture parts which were not available from suppliers. The first was withdrawn in July 1932. “With increasing maintenance problems, and a shortage of less strenuous short mileage work, the remainder were withdrawn between April 1936 and February 1937. Due to their short lives and persistent problems, none of the Clayton railcars clocked up significant mileages.” [10] Final mileages ranged from 72,774 to 174,691.
Trailer cars were supplied to the LNER by Clayton Wagons Ltd. The trailers were 4-wheeled with very basic accommodation. Their 4-wheel chassis may well have affected their riding quality. [1: p65] They were “classed as ‘Trailer Brake Thirds’, eight only were built and never seem to have very popular. Pictures of them in use are somewhat rare and little is on record of their working life; they were all withdrawn between March 1948 and March 1949.” [1: p55]
Three photographs can be found in Jenkinson and Jane’s book, one external and two internal views. [1:p 65]
The LMS Steam Railcars
In parallel with the LNER, the LMS had its own programme trials of Sentinel railcars. Jenkinson & Lane tell us that trials were carried out in 1925, “with a hired prototype on the Ripley Branch and a fleet of thirteen cars (the prototype plus a production batch of twelve) was put in service during 1926-7, a year or so ahead of the main LNER order. The LMS cars were all of lightweight low-slung design with less of the working parts exposed below the frames and no conventional drawgear. They were unnamed and finished in standard crimson-lake livery.” [1: p49]
In many respects these railcars were very similar to the two early lightweight LNER vehicles. Differences were minor: “the LMS cars had only 44 seats and a slightly over 21T tare weight whereas the LNER lightweights were quoted with 52 seats at 17T tare. … The later … LNER … cars were almost 26T except for the 1927 pair (just over 23T).” [1: p49]
Essery and Warburton say that, “The thirteen LMS Sentinel/Cammell vehicles were authorized by LMS Traffic Minute 1040 dated 28th July 1926 at a cost of £3800 each and were allotted Diagram D1779 and ordered as Lot 312. The numbers first allocated are not known except one that was number 2232 with the 1932/3 renumbering scheme allocating numbers 29900-12 with all receiving the LMS standard coach livery in the first instance. … These early models suffered from poor riding qualities and so in 1928 a gear driven 100 hp vehicle was designed. The boiler was on the mainframe and the vertical two cylinder engine was mounted over the rear axle of the power bogie with the axle driven through gearing. The LNER purchased the only one built (named ‘Integrity’) that suffered from severe vibration.” [12: p4]
Essery and Warburton also provide more detail about the Axholme Joint Railway (AJR) Sentinel railcar. The line was jointly owned by the LMS and LNER “with the motive power supplied initially by the LYR and then the LMS after the grouping. The LMS supplied one of the thirteen steam railcars purchased in 1926/7 to the AJR. In February 1930 a larger car was ordered from Sentinels numbered 44 in the LMS carriage list and carried a green/cream livery carrying the name “Axholme Joint Railway” on each side. On 15th July 1933 the passenger service ceased. The car having done 53,786 miles was then purchased by the LNER and numbered 51915.” [12: p4] It seems as though the AJR railcar was rigid-bodied. [1: p62] Which suggests that the full series of LMS railcars were rigid-bodied. The illustration of the AJR railcar provided by Jenkinson and Lane shows it with drawgear and buffers which must have been added after it’s transfer from the LMS.
The last steam railcar to be devised for use in the UK was an unusual unit supplied by Sentinel to run on the Southern Railway’s steeply graded branch line from Hove to Devil’s Dyke. Its design was signed off by Richard Maunsell at much the same time as the SR was introducing its new electric services to Brighton in 1933. [1: p67]
The unit was a lightweight Sentinel-Cammell railcar. It was numbered No 6 and had wooden wheel centres to reduce noise but this created problems with track circuit operation on the main line and necessitated the provision of lorry-type brake drums. [13][14][15]
Jenkinson and Lane do not have much that is positive to say about this railcar. They talk of, “the strange ‘torpedo’ shape of the solitary Southern Railway Sentinel … that … was designed for one man operation: the Devil’s Dyke branch was very short and the nature of the machinery was such as to make it possible to stoke up for a complete trip at the start of each journey.” [1: p66]
“Instead of using one of the well-proved LNER type cars (or even the lighter weight LMS alternatives), the whole operation was made the excuse for creating a new sort of one-man operated bus unit … [with] a fashionably streamlined ‘Zeppelin’ type body which seemed to be perched on top [of the chassis] as an afterthought.” [1: p67]
References
David Jenkinson & Barry C. Lane; British Railcars: 1900-1950; Pendragon Partnership and Atlantic Transport Publishers, Penryn, Cornwall, 1996.
This illustration appeared in ‘The Engineer’ of 28th November 1930. It was included in the third page about Cambridge in the era of the Big Four on the Disused Stations website: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/cambridge/index6.shtml, accessed on 25th June 2024.
Roger Farnworth 
