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BRITAIN’S LEADING HISTORICAL RAILWAY JOURNAL
Vol. 30
•
No. 1
JANUARY 2016
£4.40
IN THIS ISSUE
THE COLD WAR – WINTER 1940
BRITISH RAILWAYS CLASS 3 TANKS IN COLOUR
OSWESTRY – RAILWAY TOWN OF THE WELSH BORDERS
SOUTHERN AIRWAYS
PENDRAGON
PUBLISHING
LOCOMOTIVES FOR THE NORTH WEST OF SCOTLAND
THE CLOSURE OF THE POTTERIES LOOP LINE
RECORDING THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN’S RAILWAYS
GREAT BOOKS FROM PENDRAGON
RAILWAYS IN RETROSPECT No.6
EAST COAST MAIN LINE
DISASTERS
By ADRIAN GRAY
£17.50
POST FREE
The East Coast route from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley is one of Britain’s
premier main line railways. Once the scene of the Victorian-era ‘Race to the North’, of
the ‘Flying Scotsman’ and epic feats of performance by Mallard and the famous ‘Deltic’
diesels, it has also been the scene of some of Britain’s most memorable rail disasters. This
book tells the story of how these disasters shaped the improvement of railway safety as
attention focussed on human error and design failure so that travel became both safer
and faster. The book provides powerful accounts of well-known disasters such as the
multiple collision in the snow at Abbott’s Ripton, the collision at Dunbar and the high-
speed derailment at Morpeth and shows how the type of accident changed over time
with thematic coverage of aspects such as problems with signalling or with pedestrians,
carriages and cars at crossings, culminating in the worst recent disaster, at Great Heck.
This is a book as much about people as it is about trains, for every ‘accident’ originated in
a mistake or a flawed design. There are also the innocent victims, the heroic rescuers and
the painstaking investigators from the Board of Trade who together told a story which led
to lessons being learned and improvements made.
96 pages, card covers. • ISBN 978 1 899816 19 4
Index to locations and names is
available on the website
Compiled by Paul Chancellor. Captions by Ron White.
A COLOUR-RAIL JOURNEY
Colour-Rail has been known to transport enthusiasts for over thirty years and has amassed what
is probably the most comprehensive collection of colour images of railway motive power in the
country, with the aim of preserving as many of these images for posterity as possible and making
them available to all enthusiasts, either to purchase directly or to see them published.
Now, in association with Colour-Rail, we are pleased to present this very special compilation of
some of the choicest gems in the Colour-Rail Collection – most of which have never been seen
before. Over 200 pictures have been carefully selected to offer a geographical tour of Britain,
including many unusual subjects and locations. The photographs have been chosen by Paul
Chancellor, the present owner of Colour-Rail, and have been characteristically captioned by Ron
White, founder of Colour-Rail and its previous owner.
£30.00
POST FREE
128 pages hardback ISBN 978 1 899816 18 7
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Vol 30 . No. 1
No. 297
JANUARY 2016
RECORDING THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN’S RAILWAY
Oh, but it’s cold outside . . .
“January brings the snow, makes your feet and fingers glow...”
as the ditty declaims. After a couple of fairly mild winters during
which my snow shovel has rested undisturbed in the shed amidst
its cobwebs, we have been promised a much harsher one this time,
regardless of whether by professional meteorologists with their
satellites and computers or amateur prophets checking seaweed
or noting the way their sheep are pointing at night. As I write, it’s
too early to say if they’ve been proved right and an ice age is come
upon us; all that’s left is for those of us with longish memories to
meditate on recent experience and pronounce that we don’t get
winters like we used to.
Such as when we had a barricade of armchairs around the
fireplace, the rest of the house being a chilly no-go area; or when
we climbed out of bed on to cold lino and found the window
frosted over on the
inside,
with no hot water in the tank; and don’t
start me on those those frozen pipes and the consequences! Then,
of course, we were expected to walk to school through the snow
whatever the conditions underfoot with no expectation that the
place would be closed due to adverse weather or would even finish
early; double maths in wet shoes merely piled added discomfort on
existing misery.
And those of us who lived in industrial and populous areas will
recall the ‘proper fogs’ we had – the dirty yellowish smogs swirling
in the dimly visible streetlamps, enveloping everything around
us and deadening all sound. For us youngsters there was, it must
be admitted, an aura of mystery and excitement about it, though
we remember that nasty burning sensation the smog caused at
the back of our throats – a clue to the noxious air conditions it
represented.
Railways and snow have their own particular relationship.
On a bright wintry Saturday morning in Bury a favourite outing
was a train ride along the Irwell Valley line – what is the present
East Lancashire heritage railway but continuing all the way up
Rossendale to its terminus at Bacup – especially if you could bag a
seat at the front of the diesel multiple unit behind the driver. The
snow lent the journey a delightfully different perspective, draping
the hillsides in white, softening the hard blackened edges of the
houses, mills and stone walls. Enthralling – but I don’t suppose I
gave any thought to the signalmen in what were in effect often not
much more than wooden sheds, huddling close to their stoves for
warmth, or the permanent way gangs keeping the points clear, or
the lampmen climbing icy signal ladders, and all the rest of them.
“In times of fog and falling snow...” – the railways’ greatest
enemies (at least thus far). In September 1939 Britain declared war
and four months later a nation already racked with worry as to what
lay ahead found itself seized in the grip of a vicious winter. The
weather is a perennial preoccupation with the British – generally
to complain about it – but it does have the capacity to regulate our
way of life. In this issue we begin a two-part study of the effects
of the 1940 freeze on the railway system – a story of blockages,
of telephone and signalling communications disrupted by wires
brought down, of the difficulty in distributing basic supplies to
rural communities, above all of trains trapped in snowdrifts with
railwaymen, often aided by troops, working long and hard to dig
them out and rescue passengers. Sadly the gallant exertions of
railway staff were not without loss of life in that cause. It is perhaps
as well that the population was yet to realise what further ordeals
1940 was to unleash on it.
There would be further exceptionally severe winters: 1947 (the
last thing the country needed when struggling to recover from the
ravages of the war and cope with post-war austerity), 1955 and
1963 of more accessible recollection to many of us, both by then
recorded more graphically in the ‘media’ with the former inspiring
the classic documentary film
Snowdrift at Bleath Gill
about a train
stranded high in the Pennines on the Stainmore route. Reports
from all these winters indicate how reluctant the railways were to
concede defeat to attacks of bitter weather and reveal the efforts
made to keep them going or resume activity as soon as possible.
They do seem to offer a contrast to how relatively easily we seem
to just give up today.
*****
The Department of Administrative Affairs reminds us that with
January fast approaching, another ‘casebinding season’ will open
in the new year and last until the end of March. After a prolonged
bout of meaningful negotiations, with round-the-table talks going
on well into the night involving bargaining points, red lines which
could not be crossed, concessions on both sides and brinksmanship
worthy of any prime minister on a mission, I’m pleased to say that
the 2015 price will hold good for another year. Readers wanting
to send in their magazines for ‘official’ casebinding will find the
necessary details at the back of this issue on page 61.
Contents
To Blackpool in 1967
..........................................................
37
The Closure of the Potteries Loop Line
.......................
38
A Wheeltapper’s Lot
..........................................................
46
Bridging the Gaps
...............................................................
50
Southern Airways – Part One
.........................................
52
Farewell to Allhallows
......................................................
59
Tiverton Junction
................................................................
60
Readers’ Forum
...................................................................
61
Book Reviews
.......................................................................
62
LBR Class 3 2-6-2T No.82001, in
full Western Region lined green,
at Bailey Gate, on the Somerset &
Dorset line, on 31st March 1962.
(Roy Patterson/Colour-Rail.com
314636)
As it was at Manchester Victoria
......................................4
The Cold War – Part One
.....................................................
6
Locomotives for the North West of Scotland
............
12
Oswestry: Railway Town of the Welsh Borders
– Part One
.............................................................................
19
At Paddington
.....................................................................
25
Spaced Out
...........................................................................
28
The BR Class 3 Tanks
..........................................................
32
Publisher and Editor
MICHAEL BLAKEMORE
•
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pendragonpublishing@btinternet.com
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01347 824397
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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.
●
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
●
Copies of photographs appearing in BACKTRACK are not available to readers.
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PENDRAGON PUBLISHING
•
PO BOX No.3
•
EASINGWOLD
•
YORK YO61 3YS
•
www.pendragonpublishing.co.uk
JANUARY 2016
©
PENDRAGON PUBLISHING 2016
3
PENDRAGON
PUBLISHING
above
:
Careworn Manchester Victoria on 14th May 1984. The ‘Manchester
blitz’ of December 1940 wreaked havoc on the station, destroying much of
the overall roof covering Platforms 12 to 16 on the through lines. The remains
were demolished and the platforms left open to the elements until the 1990s,
with what was left growing shabbier by the year. On the left is a Derby Class
108 diesel multiple unit probably on a Lancashire coast service, while a
Metro-Cammell Class 101 is at Platform 11 with a Class 25 on the engine line.
below
:
As the first generation DMUs became rougher, unreliable and
MANCHESTER VICTORIA
Manchester Victoria has not enjoyed the
kindest of fortune: ravaged by wartime
bombing then largely left as it was for some
50 years, partly rebuilt in the 1990s with a
sports arena above the remaining through
platforms, most recently treated to a new roof
over the concourse and Metro tracks. These
photographs were taken by
TOM HEAVYSIDE
before the redevelopers finally tackled it.
AS IT WAS AT
increasingly unacceptable, locomotive-hauled trains were run to offer a
better standard for passengers as well as covering for failures until the next
generation of units came on stream. On 5th September 1989 Railfreight Class
31 No.31 107 has arrived at Platform 16 with three MkI coaches on the 08.26
from Southport, substituting for a DMU.
top
:
On 10th April 1986, when the railway
still carried parcels and newspaper traffic,
Class 47 No.47 607
Royal Worcester
runs
through Platform 16 with empty vans
for Red Bank Sidings, to the east of the
station.
middle
:
Class 31 No.31 215 (Railfreight)
and Class 37 No.37 416 (Inter-City)
between duties next to West Junction
signal box on 11th July 1991. On the
left is the long Platform 11 formerly
continuing into Manchester Exchange
station (closed 1969) which, with its
disused footbridge, can be made out in
the background.
bottom
:
Manchester Victoria stood at the
foot of the Miles Platting incline (as steep
as 1 in 47) and banking assistance used
to be available for eastbound freights.
Waiting on the banking engine line, Class
25 No.25 251 was acting as station pilot
on 14th May 1984.

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