Lickey Incline - new book

Life on the Lickey Incline - new book

Life on the Lickey: 1943-1986 by Pat Wallace

For over forty years author Pat Wallace worked the Bromsgrove line, well known for the steep Lickey incline and the locomotives which helped the heavy trains to cope, including the famous Derby built Big Bertha 0-10-0.

From engine cleaner to fireman and driver, Pat carefully records his career in a series of diaries which capture the daily routine and events of a railwayman’s life as steam hauled trains gave way to diesels. Today the line awaits a new station and electrification.

The book is complete with one hundred photographs of locomotives and rolling stock through the years.

 

 

Picture from Andy Savage Railway Heritage Trust

Memorials, which have stood for over 170 years in St John’s Church Graveyard in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire marking the deaths of Thomas Scaife and Joseph Rutherford have been restored.

They died in 1840 when the boiler of the locomotive they were working on in a yard at the foot of the famous Lickey Incline exploded. The accident led to the formation of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME).

They were originally laid to rest with simple tombstones but in 1841 Mr Rutherford’s widow had a larger memorial made. Mr Scaife’s colleagues then raised money to have a similar gravestone made for him, inscribed with a poem which has become folklore among railway enthusiasts.

After they had fallen into a state of disrepair, the Church Fabric Committee of St John’s Church raised £10,000 to have them repaired. The money was collected with the support of the Railway Heritage Trust, the Bromsgrove Society, the IME, the railway trade union ASLEF, Cross Country, DB Schenker and others.

Read more: here

Full steam ahead for mail rail as plans get green light

On Monday 10 March Islington Borough Council approved the British Postal Museum & Archive’s planning application to develop a stretch of the old Post Office Underground Railway – Mail Rail – into a unique subterranean ride.

The decision means that visitors to the newly created Postal Museum, due to open in central London in 2016, will be given the opportunity to explore the hidden world of this railway under Mount Pleasant through an engaging exhibition and interactive ride. In total, visitors will be taken through 1km of the original tunnels, following the same route that much of the nation’s mail took for nearly 80 years from 1927-2003.

The Mail Rail ride is part of a much larger project that the BPMA is undertaking to reveal the extraordinary stories of British social, communications and design history through the universally iconic postal service. By opening up almost 400 years of records and objects from the reign of King Charles I to the present day, The Postal Museum will reveal unusual and exciting episodes from British history. It will showcase curious items including a first edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses, original evidence from the Great Train Robbery trial, a Victoria Cross and flintlock pistols used to defend Mail Coaches in the 19th Century.

Adrian Steel, Director of the BPMA commented, “It is fantastic that Islington Borough Council has given us the green light to open up these unique tunnels to the public and reveal the captivating story of Mail Rail. Making this exciting project a reality still requires a further £0.5m, but this is a major boost to our plans and for Islington’s, Camden’s and London’s heritage offer. We hope to launch a public appeal later this year, both in the local community and further afield, and look forward to welcoming our first visitors in 2016.”

The BPMA is currently waiting on the outcome of an application for £4.5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund. A decision is expected in May this year.

 

Talk on James Cholmeley Russell

Russell - the locomotive named in honour of the NWNGR's Chairman and Receiver

J.C Russell was a London barrister who first became involved with hiring locomotives to the NWNGR. These were Snowdon Ranger, Moel Tryfan and Beddgelert.  He eventually became Receiver of the line.

Don't miss this opportunity to hear about an important figure in the history of what became the Welsh Highland Railway

Nick is chairman of the WHR Heritage Group and has made a study of J.C. Russell.

Thursday March 20th at 7.30 pm Welsh Highland Railway Society - Dennis Carson Room, Dame Elizabeth Hall, Firbank Close (off Oak Tree Lane), Bournville, Birmingham B30 1UA


To book this talk for your organisation call Nick Booker on 01926 864 900 for details

Post Office Railway - Mail Rail



Mail Rail Visuals

BBC report on the latest news on the Post Office Railway - Mail Rail

The British Postal Museum and Archive (BPMA) plans to open a new postal museum and railway attraction in 2016. The project is gathering pace and we have planning permission for our new home on Phoenix Place, near Royal Mail’s Mount Pleasant Sorting Office. Government backing and financial support from Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd has also been announced, with Mayor Boris Johnson describing us as a ‘national treasure of global importance.”   

The Postal Museum

We care for the Royal Mail Archive (Designated as being of outstanding national and international importance) and the museum collection of the former National Postal Museum. Artefacts cover over 400 years of postal history, from classic vehicles, evidence from the Great Train Robbery and a 1st Edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses, to rare stamp artwork, posters and uniforms. The collections also include a world-class philatelic collection, 80,000 photographs, letters, maps and war medals. Our vision is for a cherished and valued British postal heritage, providing world class access for all to our world class collections.  Together they tell the story of a great British institution, of the thousands of people that worked there and the industrial and social advances it pioneered. A dedicated learning space will give us a springboard for developing new partnerships with businesses on-site as well as community partners and with outreach activities, we will be able to inspire young people to consider different careers on all sorts of levels.   

Mail Rail

What makes our project particularly exciting is the opportunity to open up a significant proportion of the Post Office Underground Railway, ‘Mail Rail’ for the first time to create a state-of the-art visitor attraction including an exhibition gallery and multi-function event space.  The Mail Rail opened in 1927 and carried the mail along a 6 and a half mile stretch of tunnels from Whitechapel to Paddington. In its heyday, it carried four million letters a day before its closure in 2003.  It is the only railway in the world that was dedicated to delivering mail underground and is one of the most enquired about aspects of British postal history.  It was recently popularised by Michael Portillo in his TV programme, ‘Great British Railway Journeys,’ and many others eagerly seek access to ‘secret’ attractions such as this.  

Early forecasts show that the Mail Rail experience, which will take people on a thrilling 15 minute underground interactive ride, from the depot to the platforms beneath the Mount Pleasant Royal Mail centre, will be a major means of attracting visitors to both the museum and railway.  A 15 minute ride on newly designed trains will journey through the existing tunnels under the Mail centre, with commentary describing the construction of the tunnels, its opening in 1927 when it became the first driverless electrified railway in the world, how mail was moved across London and its operation until 2003. Vehicles on display will include pneumatic rail cars from the 1860s, which were once propelled by air through specially designed tunnels.  Mail Rail remains the only postal underground railway in existence so its preservation and heritage will attract an international audience. 

Terence Cuneo and the Lickey Incline

Kolhapur on the Lickey Incline by Terence Cuneo

On 11 July Christie's will be offering Terence Cuneo's painting of the LMS Jubilee 'Kolhapur' on the Lickey Incline in their sale of Victorian & British Impressionist Art.  Patrick Whitehouse, the author, steam railway preservationist and joint presenter of BBC TV's 'Railway Roundabout', commissioned 'The Lickey Incline' directly from the artist in the 1960s.

Patrick Whitehouse bought  'Kolhapur' as a wreck and it was restored at the Tyseley Railway Museum in Birmingham, which he founded. 'Kolaphur' was one of the few locomotives which were powerful enough to take a passenger train up the Lickey Incline without needing assistance from a banking engine.

 

'The Lickey Incline' was painted on site and from a photograph taken by Patrick Whitehouse, a renowned railway photographer. The two children depicted in the lower left corner are Whitehouse’s son and daughter.

Details
Artist: Terence Cuneo (1907-1996)

The Lickey Incline signed and dated ‘“CUNEO”/JUNE ‘68’ (lower left)

oil on canvas 30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.7 cm.)

Estimated Price: £50,000-80,000

PROVENANCE:  Patrick Whitehouse, and by descent. Anonymous sale; Christie’s, South Kensington, 11 May 2005, lot 139.

 

Even more about A N Wolstenholme (1920-2002) the 'forgotten' railway artist

A fuller picture of Arthur Wolstenholme the commercial artist who was responsible for some of the most iconic railway posters and drawings of the 1940s, 50s and 60s is now emerging.  This post complements some earlier postings in lickeyincline of this supremely talented artist. His work, for Ian Allan, British Railways and others has until recently been largely ignored, but is now beginning to achieve the recognition it deserves. A posthumous triumph was to be the inspiration for the £1.28p stamp in the Royal Mail’s 150^th Anniversary of London Underground set . See the earlier postings for additional information and links.

 

Royal Mail stamp 150th Anniversary of the London Underground

Little had been known of the man behind the brush until two excellent articles by Geoff Courtney in 'Heritage Railway' (March-April  2011 and August 2011) sketched in some of the background to his life. Now the Editor of 'Western Power', Adrian Curtis has produced a revealing insight, by talking to ANW’s widow Inga. The well illustrated interview about the man who should be honoured for his lifetime's work in the genre of transport and industrial art is featured in Edition 11 of  'Celebrating Western Power' . To obtain a copy of the magazine, go to Western Legacy Publications

 

The inspiration for the stamp



Some examples of A N Wolstenholme's non railway work

Russell Restoration

Russell at Beddgelert in the 1930s

RUSSELL is the only surviving steam locomotive from the original Welsh Highland Railway. In April 2012 the Board of the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway, Porthmadog decided to send RUSSELL’s rolling chassis , boiler and fabricated components to Alan Keef Ltd, Ross-on-Wye to continue the restoration work.

In June 2012 they made an appeal for £125,000 to complete the work. There was a terrific response from Russell donors, WHHR members, Welsh Highland Railway Society members and readers of Heritage Railway and Narrow Gauge World magazines.

To complete the work and have RUSSELL back in steam on the WHHR at the beginning of next season they still needed £65,000 at the end of January. In mid-February the WHHR received a single donation of £25,000 from one of their longstanding donors. The donor wishes to remain anonymous.

 

However, the donor has offered to match other donations they receive before the end of May 2013 £ for £ up to another £25,000.

To get Russell steaming go to the appeal page here

London's Best Kept Secret - The Post Office Railway

The Post Office Railway. Photographs copyright BPMA

The British Postal Museum and Archive is assessing the viability of opening a section of the former Post Office underground railway, 'Mail Rail', as a heritage railway and visitor attraction. Development funding of £250,000 was awarded from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2012.

The opening of the Post Office Railway in 1927 in London, the world's first driverless electric railway, revolutionised the delivery of mail in the UK. Mail Rail was a solution to carrying mail quickly and efficiently across London, as congested and polluted streets meant road transport was slow and very unpredictable. A two foot gauge railway was built, which transported mail underground.

The railway consisted of six and a half miles of tunnels, dug by hand, which ran at an average of 70 feet below ground. It connected the West and East ends of London and followed part of the existing London Underground route.

There were eight stations in total, situated at

• Paddington District Office;
• Western Parcels Office (Baker Street);
• Western District Office (Rathbone Place);
• Western Central Central
• District Office (High Holborn);
• Mount Pleasant; King
• Edward Building (St Paul's);
• Liverpool Street railway station
• and Eastern District Office (Whitechapel Road).

1930 and 1931 were key milestones when 51 trains were built, each 27-foot long; and at its peak, 34 trains ran 22 hours a day along 23 miles of track. In 1951 the railway was handling over 12 million bags of letters and parcels.  

Progressing to the 1980s, trains travelled at an average speed of 35 mph and the time taken to run trains from Whitechapel to Paddington was around 30 minutes. By the late 1990s more than six million bags of mail were carried below ground each year - four million letters every day! The network closed in 2003 after almost 80 years' service and still remains the world's only dedicated underground mail transport system in existence.

 "The BPMA is a national treasure of global importance" Mayor Boris Johnson

 Opening Up Access for All

Few people have had access to this unique part of our heritage. However more and more people are learning of its significance and place in world history. Michael Portillo, for example, popularised Mail Rail in his TV programme, Great British Railway Journeys, and BPMA focus group research revealed that the majority of people questioned would love to take a ride on a train.

 Having a visitor attraction would be a major means of encouraging people to come to both the new postal museum and Mail Rail; however to achieve this the BPMA will need to raise the majority of funds by November 2013 to make it a reality by 2016.

The vision is for a first-class attraction which would creatively convert the Mail Rail depot at Mount Pleasant into a museum exhibition space and introduce a fascinating 15 minute ride on the Mail Rail network. Newly designed battery-operated trains will journey through the existing tunnels under the mail centre - an unforgettable experience. The fully narrated tour will describe the construction of the system from 1915, its opening in 1927 and operation until 2003.



The Vision



The old car depot will be transformed into a lively exhibition, tracing the history of moving the mail both above and below ground. Vehicles will include pneumatic rail cars from the 1860s, which were once propelled by air through specially designed tunnels. Video projections, objects and interactive displays will offer personal insights into the daily lives of the Post Office engineers who kept the system running - a service that shaped the modern world and touched the lives of countless generations.

Further details about the railway heritage attraction will be developed over time and posted on the BPMA website www.postalheritage.org.uk or sign up to the e-newsletter to receive regular updates and news on activities www.postalheritage.org.uk/mailing.


Post Office Railway Depot Mount Pleasant - Photograph copyright BPMA

 

100 defining aspects of British Rail

The '100 defining aspects of British Rail' is a fascinating list of those characteristics, happenings and products which we loved and loathed and BR will be remembered for. It was certainly not all bad as some will have us believe. Much listed here is still with us including HS125 and the ticketing system. See here for the full list and below for the first 10

1) APTIS and PORTIS

 Buy a computer and by the time you unpack it and plug it in it is obsolescent. Back in 1985 BR commissioned the new All Purpose Ticket Issuing System (APTIS). And 18 years later, 1.5MB of bubble memory and all, it is still sitting there in booking offices, unmatched for speed and flexibility.
 

2) APT

 A victim of irrational over exuberance at conception, the Advanced Passenger Train so nearly succeeded. Cancellation followed a loss of nerve when the BR Board should have toughed out the media ridicule and given the P-Train the resources it needed.

3) Acronyms

 BRUTE, LOVERs, RAVERs, TOPS, SPAMS: BR was the master of memorable acronyms that were easy to pronounce. How do you say IKF or NFRIP?

 4) AWS  

Pioneered by the Great Western, the Automatic Warning system was seen as nice-to-have, rather than essential, for most of BR's 46 years. After all, it was the driver's job to obey the signals.

5) Derby Research  

Often dismissed as an ivory tower inhabited by PhD and Bar scientists, BR Research left an enduring legacy including the first real understanding of vehicle ride dynamics, high speed pantographs and the world's most successful computer based interlocking. But don't mention the Railbus. 

6 Black Macs  

More than the bowler hat, the black gabardine raincoats worn by supervisors identified the hard men at the sharp-end who made the railway run.

7) Beeching  

Hero or villain? As BR Chairman Dr Richard Beeching undoubtedly cut too deeply, but he also sparked a revolution in operational thinking which created the modern railway – particularly in freight.  

8) Black books  

At the end of the 1960s, Director of Design Walter Jowett produced two black-jacketed publications – ‘Locomotives for the 1970s' and ‘Diesel electric multiple unit trains'. The first was a missed opportunity but the second gave us IC125  

9) Blue book

Published in 1985, ‘Main-line locomotive renewal programme 1985-2009' forecast 850 new freight diesels, 390 passenger diesels and 260 electrics. Production would have peaked at over 100 locos a year in the 1990s. BR naiveté at its most extreme.  

10) Chief Inspecting Officers  

Invariably retired military men, Chief Inspecting Officers brought authority, rigour, common sense and man management to accident investigation and safety regulation.

The Flying Scotsman Saga

Flying Scotsman at Carnforth - Creative Commons licence

Those looking to understand the problems of maintaining and running large bits of engineering kit in museums and on heritage railways can do no better than read the report into the NRM's travails with the Flying Scotsman. While highlighting the deficiencies in NRM's project management it also highlights the serious issues facing heritage railways in general and the conflict between 'cottage engineering' and the professional engineering industry.

It also has lessons for anyone involved in operating, restoring or conserving complex or not so complex obsolete machines - steam locomotives, aircraft, stationery engines etc and the ability in the future to these keep them operating. Well worth a read even if engineering is not your 'thing'

See the report for the Trustees of the Science Museum Group into the restoration of A3 Class Pacific Flying Scotsman and associated engineering project management. Researched and written by Robert Meanley and assisted by Roger Kemp 26 October 2012 Download available on the National Railway Museum site here

The Double Lickey Banker 3

The Double Lickey Banker 3, originally uploaded by D1059.

Copyright Stephen Dance

48249 on the Lickey Bank

48249 on the Lickey Bank, originally uploaded by geoff7918.

A homage to the late Peter J Shoesmith - a great photographer.

Photographed at Vigo on the Lickey incline Stanier 8F 48249 makes good progress with a fairly heavy mixed freight on a cold winter's day. 48249 was photographed in the Newport area, withdrawn, in September 1967.
See more on Flickr

Russell and the Manchester & Milford Railway

Published by the Oakwood Press

Russell and the Manchester & Milford Railway

James Cholmeley Russell and the Manchester & Milford Railway - one of his other railway activities.


James Cholmeley Russell (1841-1912)

GWR - Gloucestershire's mainline heritage railway - Chicken Curve Update 19th April 2012

GWR - Gloucestershire's mainline heritage railway - Chicken Curve Update 19th April 2012

Snailbeach District Railways

Snailbeach District Railways, originally uploaded by Boxbrownie3.

See the flickr site where this is located for more pictures on Snailbeach

New Passage Hotel June 1974

New Passage Hotel June 1974, originally uploaded by Boxbrownie3.

The story of crossing the River Severn by rail before the opening of the Severn Tunnel

Statfold Barn Staffordshire with Art Tatum

Welsh Highland Railway - promotional booklet for the re-building of the railway

Front Cover Welsh Highland Railway Booklet

'Rheilfforddd Eryi The Welsh Highland Railway' - promotional booklet published by the Festiniog Railway on its plans for re-building the Welsh Highland Railway in the 1990s
14 pages in Welsh and English covering:

• Introduction
• The Market Strategy
• In the beginning
• Double page of the route from Carnarfon to Porthmadog
• Constructing the Railway
• Locomotives and Trains
• Implementation

James Cholmeley Russell: Russell's restoration in sight

James Cholmeley Russell: Russell's restoration in sight: Russell at Dinas with Gowrie in NWNGR days copyright K A C R Nunn The restoration of Russell, the Hunslet built 106 year old narrow ga...