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BRITAIN’S LEADING HISTORICAL RAILWAY JOURNAL
Vol. 31
•
No. 6
JUNE 2017
£4.75
IN THIS ISSUE
THE OXFORD–CAMBRIDGE LINE CLOSURE
SOUTHAMPTON DOCKS
THE GWR ‘2251’ CLASS IN COLOUR
COAL TO THE SEA – THE LOTHIAN LINES
PENDRAGON
PUBLISHING
IRISH NATIONALISM AND THE RAILWAYS IN THE 20th CENTURY
THE MID-WALES LINE IN COLOUR
RECORDING THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN’S RAILWAYS
THE LATEST
FROM PENDRAGON
THE
In 2012 you rushed to buy the complete
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since then?
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index for Volumes 26 to 30 inclusive,
covering the years 2012 to 2016.
Cross-referenced under over 60 sub-
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will help to point you towards that article you
remember but can’t now find.
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THE RAILWAY PHOTOGRAPHY OF TREVOR OWEN
Trevor Owen is undoubtedly one of the greatest names in railway colour photography.
Avid readers of the railway press will be very familiar with his name whilst many others
would be able to spot one of his pictures without noticing the photographer credit.
First and foremost the quality of the image was generally second to none but other
factors would betray the touch of his genius, such as the creative use of light, often low
winter sunshine. Other ‘trademarks’ were locomotives in action rather than at rest and
trains in the landscape rather than being tightly framed front three quarters views. With
Trevor being a prolific and a very early adopter
of colour film, the results of his work are some of
the best images of the UK railway scene that we
can enjoy today and the fact that we can do this is
down to the photographer having had the foresight
to place his work in the Colour-Rail Collection. In
association with Colour-Rail, Pendragon Publishing
now brings you this wonderful selection of some
250 classic Trevor Owen images of the steam
railway in 1950s and 1960s.
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Vol 31 . No.6
No. 314
JUNE 2017
RECORDING THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN’S RAILWAYS
University challenge
In a guest editorial
DAVID TURNER
from the Centre for Lifelong Learning
at the University of York introduces the Postgraduate Diploma course in
Railway Studies which was advertised in the magazine last month.
It is impossible to accurately measure the magnitude of the railways’
influence on British history. Yet over the last 80 years scholars within
academic communities have asked penetrating questions of how railways
instigated, influenced and were affected by historical events and change.
They have adjudged that the railways have had many social, economic,
cultural and political ‘ripple effects’ within the nation, a considerable
number of which are explored by students on the Postgraduate Diploma
in Railway Studies run by the University of York’s Centre for Lifelong
Learning.
Examining even just one area of railway activity can demonstrate how
powerful these ripple effects were. The relationship between the railways
and Whitbread, one of London’s great breweries before 1914, might not
be the first thing that comes to mind when considering the relationship
between the industry and the railways. Even when considering the
relationship between the railways and brewers, the vaults under St.
Pancras which were filled daily by the barrels of Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton,
are likelier to come to mind. Yet Whitbread’s experience is a useful prism
through which one can consider the broader influence the railways
had on the nation’s economic development after 1870. In the face of
declining beer consumption from 1880, Whitbread sought to extend its
business beyond its London tied house and create a bottling operation
to tap the home drinker market. The barrier to this was that rates for rail
conveyance were too high. Only after 1892, when various agreements
with the railways were struck, did expansion proceed. By 1914 the
company had around 39 depots nationally and 427,455 barrels of beer
– 51% of its output – going into bottles. Whilst Whitbread continued to
send considerable volumes of beer by ship after 1892, the railways to
some extent had constituted a gatekeeper to its expansion.
But clearly the ripple effect of the railways on the nation goes further
than just the interface between the industry and one brewer, as students
will find out. Whitbread’s inability before 1892 to get favourable rates was
just one constituent part in a general feeling that the railways did more
harm than good in the nation. For example, it was argued they did not
ensure the travelling public’s safety. Since the 1860s many had decried
the industry’s failure to invest in block working, continuous automatic
brakes and interlocking points and signals, even when the technologies
were still developing.
It was also alleged that the railways in pursuit of profit used their
monopoly positions to keep goods rates excessively high, depressing
the margins of businesses and making them anti-competitive on the
world stage. Under most pressure was British agriculture which, after
1876, was suffering from an agricultural depression. Whilst there were
complex factors behind this, farmers argued that they could not access
the preferential rates given to imported bulk agricultural produce,
putting them at a competitive disadvantage. Whether the accusations of
the farmers and other industrial producers were accurate is a matter for
future research, but the ripple effect of the railways’ actions continued
onwards into the political sphere.
Public and political perception of railway rates policy, combined
with safety concerns and railway directors’ and managers’ frequent
arrogance in the face of criticism, meant that increasingly the railways’
independence was chipped away. Safety was one area. In 1889, after
the Armagh accident in which 80 people died because of the absence
of continuous automatic brakes and block working, these devices and
interlocking became mandatory in response to renewed public outcry.
Most seriously for the railways’ financial position, the Government
tightened its control over railways’ charging powers. In an age when
there was anxiety over British economic might being in decline, especially
considering the strides forward made by the economies of the United
States and Germany, many argued the railways should be made to work
in the national interest. To this effect in the late1880s the Government
ordered that all rates be revised. Then in 1894 – after the railways raised all
rates to the maximum permitted level from 1st January 1893, a stunning
strategic failure – the companies were forced justify every rate increase
thereafter.
The ripple effect of the railways’ actions did not stop there either. In
the 1890s some argued that politicians had not gone far enough. Since
William Galt’s 1844 pamphlet
Railway Reform,
nationalisation had been
part of the political discourse. The debates over the railways’ economic
and social role after 1880 cemented the idea in the public consciousness
and led to more regular and vociferous calls for it. Whilst it would not
occur until 1948, this situation, some have argued, made nationalisation
an inevitability.
Overall, this snapshot demonstrates how the activities of British
railways after 1870 had ripple effects through time into Britain’s economic,
industrial, social and political history. Yet students on the Postgraduate
Diploma in Railway Studies will examine so much more. Taught wholly
online over two years, part-time, they will encounter the latest scholarly
debates on a host of subjects. They will be encouraged to form their own
views on how between 1825 and 2002 the railways’ social and economic
role changed, how their management and employment practices
developed, how they were treated politically, their representation in
culture and, ultimately, how all these things were interlinked. The course
therefore offers an exciting opportunity to explore the diversity of railway
history beyond the railhead. For more information, please email emily.
limb@york.ac.uk.
David Turner
Contents
Via Three Cocks Junction
..........................................................
324
Irish Nationalism and the Railways in the
Twentieth Century
......................................................................
326
“People Travelling on Business seem seldom
to Travel by Train”
.......................................................................
332
Coal to the Sea: 50 Years of the Lothian Lines
.....
340
Getting a Quart out of a Pint Pot – Part Two
......
347
The ‘2251s’ – A Great Western Railway Class
put to good use
...............................................................................
352
Southampton: Memories of Working in and
around the Docks
.........................................................................
356
The Z Class Atlantics of the North
Eastern Railway
..............................................................................
364
Whitmore – Part Two
...............................................................
366
“If Patriotic Sentiment is Wanted . . .”
......................
374
The Final Days of Engine Shed Junction
Signal Box
............................................................................................
378
Fifeshire Steam
...............................................................................
380
Readers’ Forum
..............................................................................
381
Book Reviews
..................................................................................
381
GWR ‘2251’ Class 0-6-0 No.3212
calls at Minffordd with a down
Cambrian Coast line local in 1958.
The Festiniog Railway station is at
a higher level in the background.
(Colour-Rail.com BRW800)
Publisher and Editor
MICHAEL BLAKEMORE
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Contributions of material both photographic and written, for publication in BACKTRACK are welcome but are sent on the understanding that, although every care is taken, neither the editor or publisher can accept responsibility
for any loss or damage, however or whichever caused, to such material.
l
Opinions expressed in this journal are those of individual contributors and should not be taken as reflecting editorial policy. All contents of this
publication are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers
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Copies of photographs appearing in BACKTRACK are not available to readers.
All editorial correspondence to:
PENDRAGON PUBLISHING • PO BOX No.3 • EASINGWOLD • YORK YO61 3YS •
www.pendragonpublishing.co.uk
JUNE 2017
©
PENDRAGON PUBLISHING 2017
323
PENDRAGON
PUBLISHING
above
:
Time to look lively at Pantydwr on 9th June 1962. The 1.20pm Brecon–Moat Lane
Junction has arrived with the photographer on board and LMS 2MT 2-6-0 No.46401 is
running in with the 2.50pm from Moat Lane. The signalman has the single line token to
exchange and there are two passengers to look for seats. All this took place at around 3.30
after which quietude resumed for over two and a half hours. If any locals fancied a
really
long journey, Buxton and the Northumberland Coast were suggested.
below
:
At Builth Road the Mid-Wales was crossed by the Central Wales Line on its way from
VIA THREE COCKS
JUNCTION
The beautiful Mid-Wales Line,
extending south from the
Cambrian Railways’ route at Moat
Line Junction via Llanidloes,
Rhayader and Builth Wells, has
featured before but it seems
to have been a favourite of the
photographer
TOMMY TOMALIN
who made a couple of visits
during 1962, its final year.
Craven Arms to Swansea. This view on the same day is from the High Level looking down
on No.46501 approaching the Low Level station with the 12.30pm starting from there
to Brecon. The wagons in the siding contain some hefty chunks of coal; passing behind
them is the connecting link up to the High Level line. Builth Road station wasn’t actually in
Builth, of course, but as can be seen it nevertheless had a post office and telephone box.
324
BACKTRACK
top
:
The local goods is just south of Three
Cocks Junction on 9th June 1962 and
No.46503 will leave wagons there before
proceeding towards Builth Wells.
middle
:
At Three Cocks Junction the
Mid-Wales was joined (on the right in
this view) by a stray Midland Railway
branch from Hereford and Hay-on-Wye.
In the fresh spring air No.46515 takes
a breather with the 9.55am from Moat
Lane to Brecon on 23rd April 1962; it had
taken two hours to cover the 48¼ miles
that far.
bottom
:
It’s all go at Three Cocks Junction
at 10.50 on 9th June 1962 as No.46503
makes off towards Builth Wells with
the local freight, whiles No.46510 idles
the time away before leaving for Builth
Road at 11.15. All very pleasing but with
small passenger numbers in a sparsely
populated region there could only be
one outcome: the Mid-Wales line closed
on 31st December 1962, even before Dr.
Beeching could shake his axe at it.

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