Gloucester Transport History

"Doesn't sound very exiting does it? Yet within these pages can be found all manner of things such as the first British seaplane, the Bristol Freighter, Gloster jet fighter, Daleks, K-9, the Whippet tank, all sorts of locomotives, a Gloster Meteor with propellers and a Zeppelin or two"

Email from Arthur Kyle, retired driver, 8A Edge Hill, Liverpool, pictured above in the early 1960s on the footplate of 45156 "Ayrshire Yeomanry"

Click on the picture above for an article on Arthur Kyle's career.

"OMG how freaking AWESOME!!!!!!!!! What an honor!! Thank You Alan!!! "

Kind words from Tammie on the Fly DC Jets Sign - Fan Page : and that's before the first McDonnell Douglas aircraft have even arrived!

Pensioners and the disabled will be able to use their free bus passes to get a third off train fares as part of a Government pilot.

The trial will allow those eligible for concessionary travel to receive a discount when travelling off peak between Worcester and Swindon via Stroud, without having to buy an annual Senior Railcard costing £ 28.

It is one of two test routes where the scheme is being run by First Great Western. The other is between Westbury and Weymouth. The scheme will run until November 2013.

CLICK ON THE LOGO ABOVE TO GET ON BOARD THE SUMMER 2012 CATALOGUE OF BUS AND TRAM KITS AND MORE!

Gloucestershire Transport History is also the official website of the 2013 Gloucester Model Railway Exhibition to be held on Saturday 29 June 2013.

If you like high quality card mounted photographs of interesting aircraft - and more - then why not call Gloucester photographer Ken Guest on +44 (0)1452 413511 or email ken.guest@tiscali.co.uk? Prices start from just £5.00 for a 7" x 5" print and for a further selection of images click on the picture of Swiss marked Hawker Hunter F6 J-4015 at Kemble above.

On 15 August 2011 The Earlswood Press published GTH reader and London taxi driver Bill Munro's latest book - London Taxis : A Full History - at an RRP of £15.99. Bearing ISBN 978-0-9562308-2-9, the 240 page 200mm x 175mm paperback includes over 150 black and white photographs, some of which have never been published before, and traces the story of the London taxi from 1897. Some of the first of these Horseless Cabs, ordered and operated by Walter Bersey, were electric and built by The Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Limited.

Michael Clemens informs me that a large number of British Railways Western Region working timetables from the 1950s and 60s are now available in PDF format at www.michaelclemensrailways.co.uk

For a consumer review of your latest book, DVD or other Gloucestershire and Transport related product or service why not email Alan ?

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As is recounted in the Introduction to The Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Limited elsewhere on this website, Bristol Road's Wagon Works contribution to Allied victory in World War II included building 764 Churchill tanks.

However, the earliest A20 Churchill prototypes were built by Harland & Wolff in Belfast and the same company also built 550 tanks including Centaur, Matilda and Churchill Mark Is, Mark IIs and possibly Mark IIIs at Carrickfergus from August 1939 to November 1943.

In Yorkshire meanwhile A22 Churchill tanks were constructed by Charles Roberts of Horbury, Wakefield and in the English Midlands both Metropolitan Cammell and Birmingham RCW also built Churchills with some of Birmingham RCW's first A22 tanks being used on the Dieppe raid of 1942.

As discovered on various websites, the running number blocks of the Churchill tanks built by Birmingham RCW and Metropolitan Cammell are set out in the table below along with number blocks for 322 of the Churchill tanks built by Gloucester RCW. The Gloucester data comes from original Wartime documents recently released from The Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset.

T31496	T31670	Metropolitan Cammell	174 tanks
T31821	T31995	Birmingham RCW	174 tanks
T32396	T32470	Gloucester RCW	74 tanks
T67866	T67990	Gloucester RCW	124 tanks
T67868	T67990	Birmingham RCW	122 tanks
T67991	T68140	Metropolitan Cammell	149 tanks
T68716	T68840	Gloucester RCW	124 tanks
T68919	T68965	Metropolitan Cammell	46 tanks

However it will be noticed that the numbers T67868 to T67990 are claimed by both Gloucester and Birmingham RCWs. Could it be that numbers originally allocated to Gloucester were moved north? And what numbers were carried by the other 442 Churchill tanks built in Bristol Road? Incidentally, the 322 Gloucester RCW built tanks mentioned in the Bovington paperwork were identified as "assembly only" - constructed from components rather than built from scratch.

Does anyone have a comprehensive list of British World War II "T" numbers with corresponding tank types and possibly the army units they were first issued to? If so, please email me!

The beautiful painting of BUSHMILLS, a Churchill Mk I C5 armed with two 75mm howitzers, is reproduced above courtesy of Bracken Anderson, historian of the North Irish Horse, the only mechanized cavalry regiment of World War II to be issued with Churchill tanks.

SATURDAY 25 MAY MARKS THE START OF THE SUMMER TIMETABLE WITH A NUMBER OF ARRIVA CROSS COUNTRY INTERCITY 125 WORKINGS BEING EXTENDED:

THESE HIGH UTILISATION DIAGRAMS MAY INVOLVE HSTS FROM OTHER TRAIN OPERATING COMPANIES BEING DRAFTED IN FOR THE SUMMER

THE MIND ROBBERS - GLOUCESTERSHIRE'S OWN DOCTOR WHO APPRECIATION SOCIETY - MEETS AT THE LINDEN TREE, BRISTOL ROAD, GL1 5SN AT 2000 ON SATURDAY 25 MAY 2013. ALL WELCOME.

THE GLOUCESTER TALL SHIPS FESTIVAL WILL BE HELD ON 24 TO 27 MAY 2013. VISIT www.gloucestertallships.co.uk FOR DETAILS

THE NEXT MEETING OF THE ASHCHURCH, TEWKESBURY AND DISTRICT RAIL PROMOTION GROUP WILL BE HELD AT 1930 ON FRIDAY 7 JUNE 2013 AT TEWKESBURY LIBRARY, SUN STREET, GL20 5NX. THE GUEST SPEAKER WILL BE PAUL STANFORD, CUSTOMERS RELATIONS EXECUTIVE, NETWORK RAIL.

THE MODEL STEAM ROAD VEHICLE SOCIETY WILL HOLD ITS ANNUAL RALLY AT TEWKESBURY RUGBY CLUB ON SATURDAY 29 AND SUNDAY 30 JUNE 2013

THE GLOUCESTERSHIRE STEAM EXTRAVAGANZA WILL BE HELD AT SOUTH CERNEY AIRFIELD ON 2, 3 AND 4 AUGUST 2013. VISIT www.steamextravaganza.com FOR DETAILS, AND LOOK OUT FOR TERMINAL 1 IN THE MODEL TENT AND THE JET AGE MUSEUM IN THE MILITARY SECTION

PLANES, BOATS, TRAINS AND CARS- WILL BE THE THEME OF A PATHE ARCHIVE FILM SHOW PRESENTED BY MARK HARRIS FOR GLOUCESTER FILM MAKERS AT ST GEORGE'S CHURCH CENTRE, COURT ROAD, BROCKWORTH, GL3 4QU ON MONDAY 21 OCTOBER 2013. ADMISSION £ 5.00

THE CHELTENHAM GWR MODELLER'S GROUP EXHIBITION SPONSORED BY CHELTENHAM MODEL CENTRE WILL BE HELD AT ST MARGARET'S HALL, CONISTON ROAD, GL51 3NU ON SATURDAY 26 AND SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER 2013. RETURNING EXHIBITS WILL INCLUDE TIM MADDOCK'S BLEAKHOUSE ROAD(ABOVE) AND TOUCAN PARK (BELOW) CLICK ON PICTURES FOR DETAILS.

COMET ISON IS DUE TO BE VISIBLE - PERHAPS EVEN IN DAYLIGHT, LIKE COMET HALE-BOPP PICTURED ABOVE IN 1997 - FROM THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE DURING NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 2013 AND JANUARY 2014. ASSUMING THAT IT SURVIVES PASSING WITHIN 800 000 MILES OF THE SUN, THE LONDON-SIZED BALL OF ICE AND ROCK IS SCHEDULED TO FLY BY EARTH AT A DISTANCE OF 37.2 MILLION MILES AT A SPEED OF 1.5 MILLION MPH AND BECOME 15 TIMES BRIGHTER THAN A FULL MOON

THE ANNUAL SHOW OF THE GLOUCESTER BRANCH OF THE INTERNATIONAL PLASTIC MODELLING SOCIETY WILL BE HELD AT CHURCHDOWN COMMUNITY CENTRE GL3 2JH FROM 1000 TO 1630 ON SUNDAY 11 MAY 2014. ADMISSION £2.50 CONCESSIONS £1.00 FAMILY TICKET £5.00.

Set at the lowest natural crossing point on the River Severn, Gloucester has always been a focus for travellers and as a result both the City and County have a rich transport heritage.

First came the Romans with their roads, which evolved from the pathways of the Ancient Britons and grew into the complex of trunk roads and Motorways that we enjoy today. These roads not only allowed Welsh livestock to be driven to London but also accessed the coal, iron and timber of the nearby Forest of Dean

As the centuries passed too, the Severn was also exploited for the movement of goods, leading Queen Elizabeth I to grant the Letters Patent that made Gloucester a Port in 1580. Indeed, the trade on the Severn was so busy by the reign of Charles I that his imposition of Ship Tax helped the citizens of Gloucester decide to stand against him in the English Civil War.

After decades of manual labour, the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal also opened in 1827, allowing the dangerous sandbanks of the river to be bypassed by ocean going vessels. The longest, widest and deepest ship canal in the World – as it was when new – also brought an abundance of timber to the Cathedral City.

This in turn laid the foundation for such firms as Morelands – the "England’s Glory" match manufacturers – the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Limited and H.H. Martyn's of Cheltenham.

From Gloucester's tradition of blacksmithery and pin making too, sprang Cotton Motorcycles and – ultimately – the Gloster Aircraft Company. Among this company's illustrious products were the Gloster E28/39. In 1941 this became the first Allied jet aircraft to fly and led directly to the development of the Meteor and Javelin fighters.

Indeed, prior to the creation of the new counties of Avon and South Gloucestershire in 1973, Gloucestershire also embraced Parnall's of Yate and the Bristol Aeroplane Company with its omnibus building ancestry.

From the latter's base at Filton, the British prototype Anglo - French Concorde first flew on 9 April 1969. With Brian Trubshaw at the controls, G-BSST landed at RAF Fairford - still a part of the transport infrastructure of Gloucestershire today and host to the annual Royal International Air Tattoo.

Gloucestershire also boasts a rich heritage of railway operations, having been the Nineteenth Century battleground of the gauges between the factions of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and George and Robert Stephenson. As a result, the county still has direct links with Cardiff, Bristol, Swindon and Birmingham.

Indeed, Gloucestershire can also lay claim to preserved railways,horse drawn tramways, narrow gauge and miniature railways as well as a thriving model transport enthusiast community. This includes the Gloucester branch of the International Plastic Modelling Society which meets at Churchdown Community Centre on the first Tuesday of every month. For further information please contact Mr Barnfield on 01242 862826.

In 1871 Gloucester's world-famous hydraulic engineering company Fielding & Platt was approached by a brilliant engineer named Ralph Hart Tweddell, who had invented a portable hydraulic riveter. Until then rivets had been closed with either massive stationary machines or manually with hot rivets being hammered into place. The latter practice was particularly popular in shipbuilding, and furnished many Govan shipyard workers with spare cold rivets to throw at any English comedian brave enough to appear on stage at the Glasgow Empire!

Fielding & Platt realised the possibilities of Tweddell's invention and mass produced his machine, portable hydraulic riveters being eventually used to construct the Forth railway bridge (designed by Cheltenham Grammar School educated Sir Benjamin Baker) in 1890, sewage mains in Sydney in 1892 and install the gantries at Harland & Wolff's shipyard in Belfast in 1898.

To celebrate the production of the 500th portable hydraulic riveter in November 1872, a special tea party was held at Fielding & Platt's St Luke Street offices with three of the machines being hung from beams in the room - decorated by Mrs Fielding and Mrs Tweddell - along with banners hailing the success of the Tweddell system.

Four hundred men and boys crowded around six tables on which meat, bread, butter and tea were served before The Brunswick Handbell Ringers gave a performance of a "Gloria", "The Huntsman's Chorus" and a selection from Schumann. A grand piano had also been brought into the room so that songs could be performed, including a number from company founder Samuel Fielding himself.

Such good relations between workers and management continued until Fielding & Platt closed in 2000, and more information on the firm can be found at www.fieldingandplatthistory.org.uk

During World War II a number of clerical and other jobs were taken over by women, freeing men for the armed forces. These included making small items in the Light Machine Shop, driving the electric carts used for internal transport and also cranes in the Heavy Machine Shop. Typical clothing for these working ladies was dungarees or overalls, headscarves to keep hair out of rotating machines and, if boots were hard to come by, wooden clogs with steel tips. Some men in the Fitting Shop also bought potatoes, cooked them under the big coke stoves there and took them to the machine shops for the girls they liked.

Among Fielding & Platt's later 20th Century projects was the 3 900 ton CEGEDUR aluminium plate-stretcher that helped build parts for Concorde at Issoire, France, after installation in 1964. The aluminium had to be stretched in the jaws of such a machine to align the alloy's molecules and give it strength.

On 5 May 2013 William Lyon-Tupman, author of "The Deltics: The Greatest Locomotives of All Time?" as seen on this website, will be running 10 kilometres across country in aid of the British Heart Foundation. To make his effort worthwhile please visit https://www.justgiving.com/Will-Lyon-Tupman

The Jet Age Museum still needs further donations to realise the opening of its new home to the public on a regular basis. For details click on the picture above.

Have you got a future charity event with a transport connection? If so, then why not email me and have it considered for inclusion here!

"Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another."