leighopenday2009

Home	LEIGH VALLEY LIGHT RAILWAY OPEN WEEKEND 4-5 JULY 2009

	WELCOME TO THE LAND OF THE SLOW TRAINS



	No more will I go to Blandford Forum and Mortehoe On the slow train from Midsomer Norton and Mumby Road. No churns, no porter, no cat on a seat At Chorlton-cum-Hardy or Chester-le-Street. We won't be meeting again On the Slow Train. I'll travel no more from Littleton Badsey to Openshaw. At Long Stanton I'll stand well clear of the doors no more. No whitewashed pebbles, no Up and no Down From Formby Four Crosses to Dunstable Town. I won't be going again On the Slow Train. On the Main Line and the Goods Siding The grass grows high At Dog Dyke, Tumby Woodside And Trouble House Halt. The Sleepers sleep at Audlem and Ambergate. No passenger waits on Chittening Platform or Cheslyn Hay. No one departs, no one arrives From Selby to Goole, from St Erth to St Ives. They've all passed out of our lives On the Slow Train. So sang Michael Flanders and Donald Swann in response to the Beeching Axe of 1963. To be accurate Chester-le-Street, Formby, Ambergate, Selby, Goole, St Erth and St Ives are still with us and Openshaw is now known as Gorton. But railway enthusiasts - and increasingly the general public - still mourn the loss of Blandford Forum and Midsomer Norton ( Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway ) Mortehoe ( full name Mortehoe and Woolacombe, ex LSWR ) Mumby Road ,Tumby Woodside and Dogdyke ( GNR ) Chorlton - cum - Hardy ( Cheshire Lines Committee ) Littleton Badsey ( GWR between Evesham and Honeybourne ) Trouble House Halt ( GWR between Kemble and Tetbury ), Audlem ( GWR, near Market Drayton ) Chittening Platform ( GWR, near Filton ) Long Stanton ( GER ) Formby ( Lancashire and Yorkshire ) Four Crosses ( Cambrian Railway, near Oswestry ) Dunstable Town ( LNWR and LNWR Joint Line ) and Cheslyn Hay ( LNWR ) Fortunately, for one weekend a year at least, The Leigh Valley Light Railway brings back the wayside stations - complete with churns and cats on seats - and also slow trains from around the World in glorious 16mm scale SM32 format.



	Indeed, 2009 saw a wholesale expansion of the main station - Leigh Valley. As well as a new larger main building with matching signalbox, new figures included a stationmaster with a green flag, two schoolchildren and another ginger cat and Clegg, Compo and Foggy, the old codgers from BBC TV's "Last of the Summer Wine".



	Behind Leigh Valley Station too was this showman's engine, looking very much like a Burrell but also possibly upgraded from a farmer's traction or ploughing engine to resemble one of the famous Thetford built products.



	Further filling the gap between Leigh Valley and Jason Junction were these resin grocer and hardware shop models named after Malcolm's parents Joyce and Ernest. However, these may have to be moved under future plans to run the line from what is currently the Leigh Valley Station Goods Shed forwards to the rear of Jason Junction ( making this a true island platform junction ) and then onwards towards a set of points just before the tunnel. This new line will allow trains to reverse direction without propelling or running round engines and guards vans and so add to the excitement of operating days It is also possible that the new line will be built to the same technical standards as the steam-up area rather than making the traditional use of ballast.



	Model animals have long been a part of the Leigh Valley Light Railway scenery and the picture above shows how well a shepherd and his dogs getting the flock away from the tracks blend in with ground-covering plants, fencing and signal posts.



	Model deer on the hillside near the tunnel similarly enriched the pastoral landscape, although the inclusion of Pegasus the Winged Horse ( below ) was a nice subtle tribute to the courage of Britain's airbourne forces on D-Day 65 years ago.





	Brave men and fantastic creatures also came together by the pond, where Carribean style buccaneers - including one with a wooden leg like Gloucester born W.E. Henley - faced a real dragonfly resting on the leaf of a water lily. Once again the Jack Sparrow wannabees were made of resin rather than being iron pirates, even if they were guarding Fool's Gold.




	NUMBER 8 - THE LAST MORGAN OSCILLATING GARRATT



	Another concentration of new scenery was just above the pond at the level crossing. To the left of the gates in the picture above was one of Jason Morgan's 2009 vintage huts while waiting for the train of Cannop Colliery wagons to pass are some 16mm scale visitors from BBC TV's long running series "Only Fools and Horses - Del Boy Trotter and his Reliant Van, his "plonker" of a young brother Rodney and their Uncle Albert who doubtlessly encountered a lot of steam trains "during the War.."



	Although the Trotter's fictional Nelson Mandela House in Peckham was in fact a tower block in Bristol, the blue Garratt represented both the future and the past in Gloucestershire. Carrying the Morgan Locomotive Company works number 8 - on a plate made by Ron Grant of Newcastle - this 0-4-0 + 0-4-0 was making its first appearance as the last oscillating cylinder Garratt to be built by Malcolm Morgan. All future locomotives will have Stephenson, Walschaerts or even Caprotti valve gear as found on 12" to the foot steam locomotives.



	This is an entirely logical step in Malcolm's design philosophy as locomotives such as this one - based on a wood burning simple-expansion design used in South Africa - already boast a range of advanced construction methods and working features such as headlights and - in this case - reversing levers placed for easy access just above the buffer beams. The oscillating cylinders themselves were supplied by PPS of Frome in Somerset.



	While Jason Morgan's Millennium Garratt has been extensively described in its own feature, it is worth pausing for a moment to reflect on the hundred years since the first articulated 0-4-0 + 0-4-0 - left Beyer Peacock's Gorton, Manchester, factory for Tasmania in 1909. That particular Garratt - now repatriated and preserved - was a compound locomotive with its cylinders at the inner ends of its wheel groups but also sprang from the time two years earlier when H.W. Garratt was watching the long barrel of a heavy gun leaving a factory. As the bogie wagon carrying it rounded a sharp curve, Garratt had the idea of a locomotive built on similar lines to the burdened vehicle. A boiler would replace the gun barrel and both bogies would be powered by horizontal cylinders - each drawing steam through flexible connections. The resulting engine would be able to negotiate tighter curves than conventional locomotives and ( with multi-axled bogies ) spread its weight more efficiently on the track. A larger boiler than usual could also be included to produce a high yet steady rate of steaming: in short, the ideal motive power for the steep, twisting, lightly laid railways of the developing world where existing locomotives were hard put to handle heavy mineral trains. Garratt's vision was an advance on the existing "articulated" designs of Robert Fairlie and Anatole Mallet. The first "double" Fairlie locomotive had run in 1869. Named "Little Wonder" it was like a Garratt below the solebar but very different above. Giving the impression of two tank engines back to back, its excellent all-round visibility tempered by the complication of having two boilers and fireboxes which divided the crew. For all its theoretical promise, the Fairlie locomotive only operates today on the Festiniog Railway in Wales. Fifteen years later, the first Mallet engine ran in France. This preserved the traditional cab-firebox-boiler configuration with a fixed cylinder block and wheel set underneath. The latter only stretched half way to the smokebox however, the remaining space being taken up with a second group of powered wheels attached to the locomotive mainframe by a substantial swinging joint. The Mallet type - usually with cylinders at the front end of each wheel group - tended to damage track when run at speed but, on well laid lines, could offer phenomenal hauling power. The 4-8-8-4 "Big Boy" Mallets of the Union Pacific Railroad are still the strongest steam locomotives ever built and have easily hauled mile-long trains. Although mainly built for foreign service, Garratts were also operated by the LNER and LMS. The example owned by the latter company sometimes visited Gloucester but is now just a memory, having been made obsolete by a fourth type of articulated twin-bogied locomotive - the mainline diesel.



	Before running, the cab roof was temporarily removed to give access to the reservoir of lubricating oil ( a component very similar to that used on my 1/12 scale cabin cruiser ) and the domed cover was similarly removed to allow adjustment to the boiler safety valve. Between this and the chimney an inlet valve accepted boiler feed water from an external syringe. only with full lubrication and a boiler full of cold water could the butane gas fuel be added ( below ) and the fire lit. Enough steam pressure to haul a train was raised in about ten minutes.





	Once readied for service but waiting for its train, Garratt 8 made an interesting comparison with "Little Forester" ( above ) and Brian Mallinson's "Warspite " ( below )





	Despite the safety valve blowing off at a relatively low boiler pressure and requiring a slight tweak, Garratt 8 was still able to haul a train of two axle Cannop Colliery wagons past Leigh Valley Station. The wagons were part of a special edition produced by Brambright with Cannop decals by 16mm Society member George Harris. The stationmaster and part of the locomotive depot can be seen above while visible below is another Jason Morgan hut, this time a more traditional Platelayers edifice, familiar to most Hornby modellers.







	It is a rare locomotive found on the Leigh Valley Light Railway that bears no name, but such designations within Malcolm's own fleet are usually limited to family members or luminaries of the 16mm Society. I was therefore deeply touched when on Saturday 4 July 2009 Malcolm unveiled the nameplates on Garratt 8. I take his choice as a great compliment and say thank you for all the help and support that he and his family have given me over many years.



	VISITING STEAM LOCOMOTIVES



	"Hank" ( seen above ) was an 0-4-0T "Millie" type built by the well known Roundhouse Engineering Company of Doncaster and owned by Alex Rooke, grandson of Norman "Hank" Bozzard who inherited much of his motive power and rolling stock. It makes an interesting comparison to Malcolm Morgan's tribute locomotive "Norman Bozzard" described in the feature on Norman Bozzard Day 2007.



	"Vincent" meanwhile was an unconventional offering by Dampftechnik Regner Aurach. With a horizontal boiler evaporating steam for a horizontal cylinder turning both a flywheel and a chain and gear drive to the four road wheels , it strongly resembles 807, the former Wotton Tramway 0-4-0 built by traction engine makers Aveling and Porter of Rochester and preserved in the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden, London.



	The Wotton Tramway was constructed in 1871 to convey staff, goods and passengers between Quainton Road station - on the joint Great Central and Metropolitan Railway from London to Verney Junction - and the Wotton Estate of the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. Passing west through Waddesdon and Westcott before undergoing the Great Central Railway' at Wotton, the Wotton Tramway then reached Church Siding before the bridge under the Great Western Railway's Ashendon Junction to Bicester line, Wood Siding and the terminus at Brill. The two single cylinder Aveling and Porter chain drive locomotives replaced horse traction on the Wotton Tramway in 1872 but were themselves sold in 1895 to a Northamptonshire brickworks,four years before the Metropolitan Railway assumed control of the line. 807 survived until the brickworks closed in 1940 but lay derelict for a decade before it was rescued by the Industrial Locomotive Society and reconstructed at Neasden using parts salvaged from its sister engine.





	Displaying a similar level of vorsprung durch technik ( below ) was "Warspite" - a variation on Regner's "Willi" displayed on the Leigh Valley Light Railway on Norman Bozzard Day 2007 but with the name of the Royal Navy submarine on which owner Brian Mallinson served.



	In fact the name of HMS Warspite carries the most battle honours of any ship in the Royal Navy and its eighth incarnation - a battleship launched in 1913 - earned the most indivdual battle honours of any Royal Navy Ship. Of the nine vessels to have carried the name HMS Warspite ( also known as Warspight ) , the first was a 29 gun galleon launched in 1596 and sold in 1649. The second was a 70 gun third rate ship of the line launched in 1666, renamed HMS Edinburgh in 1721, rebuilt three times and broken up in 1771. The third HMS Warspite was a 74 gun third rate ship launched in 1758, renamed HMS Arundel in 1800 and broken up a year later while the fourth example was 76 gun third rate ship launched in 1807 and accidentally destroyed by fire in 1876. The name Warspite was then transferred to the ship that had started life in 1833 as HMS Waterloo, but was then transferred as a training ship to The Marine Society before being burned in 1918. The sixth HMS Warspite was an Imperieuse Class armoured cruiser launched in 1884 and scrapped in 1905 while the Warspite name was once again applied to a training ship of The Marine Society from 1922 to 1940. This vessel had been launched as the Astrea Class cruiser HMS Hermione.



	The eighth HMS Warspite - most famous of all the surface vessels of the name and also the subject of a 1/600 scale Airfix kit - was a battleship of the Queen Elizabeth Class built at Devonport and launched on 26 November 1913. During the First World War she took part in the epic 1916 Battle of Jutland and survived 15 shell hits and during the Second World War won battle honours at Narvik, Cape Matapan and Crete. On 16 September 1943 while assisting the Allied landings at Salerno she was badly damaged by a German Fritz-X glider bomb and on 6 June 1944 opened fire on the Normandy beaches with her three operational turrets - the aftmost never having been repaired. Similar bombardments were to follow at Brest, Le Havre and Walcheren but despite public calls for her to be preserved, HMS Warspite was sold for scrap in 1947. Under tow to the breakers however, she ran aground at Prussia Cove, Mounts Bay, Cornwall and was then scrapped in situ until 1950.



	The ninth HMS Warspite was Britain's third nuclear hunter-killer submarine, launched from Barrow in Furness by Mary, the wife of then British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, on 25 September 1965. Entering Royal Navy service on 18 April 1967, a collision with a Russian submarine in 1968 saw the fin of HMS Warspite exchanged for one donated by sister ship HMS Churchill. After long service with the Third Submarine Squadron at Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde ( Faslane ) HMS Warspite was decommisioned in 1991and her hull and nuclear reactor remain stored at Devonport, where her immediate antecedent had been built. The name "Warspite" was also carried by LMS "Jubilee" 4-6-0 5724 ( 45724 under British Railways ) and BR English Electric Co-Co 50 014

	BATTERY ELECTRIC 0-4-0 LOCOMOTIVES



	Chained down to flat wagons for "Warspite" to pull in a ( pretend ) scrap train were three diesel mechanical outline locomotives all named after Forest of Dean Enclosures: "Serridge", the minimalist "Beechenhurst" and "Sallowvallets" with its distinctive exhaust stack. On the track of the engine shed meanwhile was "Bromley" with its two-semi-recessed cylindrical reservoirs.









	Internal combustion vehicles on track and ready to move a useful load meanwhile included Simplex Motor Rail type "Joseph" ( above ) the "Daisy" drasine from Ivan Prior's Ezee Range with matching wood finished wagons ( below ) and finally Wickham Trolley "Bethany"





	BRITISH CARRIAGES



	Another of Ivan Prior's IP Engineering products on show was this kit of a Vale of Rheidol Railway bogie saloon assembled and finished in Great Western livery - complete with "shirtbutton" logos by Jason Morgan.



	And for a bonus, which three owners have both the Vale of Rheidol and Welshpool and Llanfair Railways both shared? Give up? The answers are The Cambrian Railway, the Great Western Railway and British Railways - and the bonus is another set of Great Western liveried bogie carriages, this time a ready-to-run pair of Brake Composite and Third by Accucraft. As can be seen below, they look a treat hauled by 823 "The Countess"



	Although the Welshpool and Llanfair has become a haven for narrow gauge carriages from around the World, even the original passenger rolling stock supplied by R.Y. Pickering of Wishaw, Lanarkshire has something of a colonial feel to it with its iron fenced verandahs. As can be seen from the accompanying pictures, these beautifully finished 16mm scale vehicles have accurate couplings and fall plates and seat class numbers just below cantrail height near the decorative brackets at the saloon ends. My only minor criticism would be that the diamond shaped worksplates have the wrong spelling!











	AMERICAN CARRIAGES



	A long streak of yellow stretched out across the green, brown and grey of the Leigh Valley Light Railway as a train of Shell Oil tank wagons was overtaken by a train of clerestory carriages led by two brake composite vehicles from the Chatanooga Rail Road and the Denver and Rio Grande system.



	The Nashville and Chattanooga (N&C) Railroad was the first complete line to operate in Tennessee in 1854 and was one of the few railroads in Tennessee that did not fall into receivership after the Civil War. Nashville merchants, bankers, and large landowners in Middle Tennessee seized the opportunity to develop a railroad when the Western and Atlantic Railroad chose Ross's Landing (Chattanooga) as the terminus for its planned line to the Tennessee River in 1838. A railroad from Nashville to Chattanooga would provide a link to the Western and Atlantic Road, which travelled through Georgia to Augusta on to Charleston, South Carolina. Vernon K. Stevenson, the founding president of the N&C, and other Nashville merchants and landholders successfully promoted the railroad as a means of increasing prosperity among the citizens of Middle Tennessee by providing a cheaper access to lucrative long distance markets. New Orleans no longer had to serve Middle Tennessee as the primary exchange centre as ports on the Atlantic could fulfill these services, especially Charleston. Middle Tennesseans could market grains and livestock to the cotton belt to the south via the new railroad. Stock subscriptions went on sale in 1845 with cities such as Nashville, Murfreesboro, Shelbyville, Winchester, and Charleston, South Carolina, supplying substantial investments. The construction of the railroad began in 1849 and created considerable opportunities for landholders along the route to reap the benefits of land speculation. The siting of railroad depots produced new towns and engendered a rapid rise in land prices. Railroad officials estimated land prices rose from five to fifteen dollars per acre. Larger new towns along the line were Smyrna, Bell Buckle, Wartrace, Tullahoma, Decherd, Cowan, and Chattanooga. In these new towns the railroad depot became the central focal point with businesses located parallel to the railroad tracks. Homebuilders also chose to build parallel to the railroad right of way to give visitors and passengers an impression of wealth and prestige. The real work of altering the landscape for the railroad was provided largely by African American slaves contracted out to the railroad and by Irish labourers. The Irish were important in the construction of the Cowan Tunnel, especially in the blasting, because owners of contracted slaves would expect recompense if they were harmed, while the Irish were considered expendable. Many of the Irish railroad workers settled in Cowan permanently and their descendants still live in the area. Once in full operation on 11 February 1854, the railroad reduced the old stage journey of twenty-two hours between Nashville and Chattanooga to nine hours by rail and the railroad flourished until the Civil War divided operation and management. After the fall of Nashville in February 1862 to Union forces, the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad came under the control of the U.S. Army, while Vernon K. Stevenson and Edmund Cole operated the portion of the railroad located in Confederate-held territory. The N&C was a vital link in supplying the Union army, with a critical connection to the Louisville and Nashville (L&N) Railroad and Union army supplies stockpiled in Louisville. Confederate cavalry conducted several skirmishes in efforts to destroy this important rail connection. The Union army attempted to protect the line by constructing several blockhouses and stockades along the railroad, fortifications like Fortress Rosecrans in Murfreesboro and spent a considerable amount of time in repairing torn-up rails. The railroad also had a critical role in supplying Union forces in the battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, and ultimately General William T. Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. The end of the Civil War and Reconstruction brought a great deal of hardship to southern railroads, yet the N&C proved a very resilient corporation. The old guard of management regained control when Edmund Cole was elected president in 1868, which in turn provided needed stability for the future. The turmoil of the 1870s included destructive floods, cholera outbreaks, economic depressions, fierce rate wars among railroads, increased competition from consolidated railroad lines, and governmental attempts at regulation. The N&C developed a policy of expansion as a way to combat the designs of the major railroads such as the Baltimore and Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois Central, and L&N to control southeastern markets. Additional spur lines were developed to reach the rich coal deposits along the Cumberland Plateau. In 1873 the name of the Nashville and Chattanooga was changed to the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis (NC&St.L) to reflect the railroad's goal of becoming a major trunk line. The NC&St.L purchased the Owensboro, Kentucky, to Nashville line in 1879 and acquired entry into St. Louis from the St. Louis and Southeastern Railway via Evansville, Indiana, to East St. Louis. This expansion began to alarm the corporate hierarchy of the L&N who wished for sole control of this southeastern corridor. When Edmund Cole began negotiating for the Western and Atlantic and Central Georgia railroads, the L&N made their move to extinguish the expansion dreams of the NC&St.L. In a secretive move involving the major stockholder of the NC&St.L and former president Vernon K. Stevenson, the L&N bought controlling interest in the NC&St.L. without Edmund Cole's knowledge on January 18, 1880. The action shocked Nashvillians as they realized that the city of Nashville could no longer claim importance as the headquarters of a major corporation, despite being a strategic railroad gateway from New York and the North East to Atlanta. Citizens of Middle Tennessee voiced feelings of betrayal that helped persuade the L&N to leave the NC&St.L operating as an independent division with its own president and officers, which continued until the companies formally merged in 1957. However, the major decisions of the NC&St.L were now based on the needs of the L&N corporation as it strove to control the southeastern railroad markets. Today what started as the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad is part of the CSX Corporation but its fame has been spread around the World through music. The song "Chattanooga Choo Choo" was performed in the 1941 movie "Sun Valley Serenade" by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra and the 78 rpm recording of the song - made on 7 May 1941 as RCA Victor's Bluebird label's B-11230-B release - became the first certified Gold Disc on 10 February 1942 having sold 1 200 000 copies and topped the US Billboard charts for nine weeks. More recently fame and success has come to Chattanooga resident and R &B star Raymond Usher and in 2006 the US railway town is twinned with Swindon - home of the Great Western Railway. The Railway Express Agency markings on the vehicle pictured above refers to a U.S. company that once operated the nation's largest ground and air express services. It was founded by the U.S. government as the American Railway Express Co. in 1918, when the nation's major express carriers — Adams & Co, American Express Company, Wells Fargo Company and Southern Express Co. — were merged into a public corporation. An association of railroads bought out the business in 1929 and began to operate it as the Railway Express Agency. Its name was changed to REA Express in 1970. Poor management, strikes, and competition led to heavy losses, and REA filed for bankruptcy in 1975.



	The 1870 founded Denver and Rio Grande Railroad meanwhile is now part of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company but originally served as a transcontinental bridge line between Denver, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah as well as taking coal and mineral traffic from local mines and quarries. With the motto "Through the Rockies, not around them" the Denver and Rio Grande operated the highest main line in the United States which reached an altitude of 10 240 feet at Tennessee Pass, Colorado. At its zenith in 1890 the company also had the largest narrow gauge ( 3 feet ) railroad network in North America and operated the Rio Grande Zephyr, which became the last private long haul passenger train in the USA. The "Western" part of the name was added in 1920 after the bankruptcy of the Western Pacific Railroad and most of the passenger narrow gauge network was abandoned in 1947, although one retained line survives as the popular Silverton and Durango Railroad.

	GUARDS VANS FROM EAST GERMANY AND SOUTH AFRICA



	While dedicated Deutsche Reichsbahn two-axle vehicle came ready to run, the bogie composite guard and freight wagon in South African Railways markings was built by Jason Morgan from a kit and features a customised "birdcage" lookout.