Chasewater Railway Museum July 1960 Bits & Pieces 11

Bits & Pieces No.11 – also taken from RPS Newsletter 2.1 July 1960

The Tutbury Jinny

http://www.burton-on-trent.org.ukIvatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No.41277  was photographed at Tutbury being prepared for its return run to Burton at 4.37pm.  The Tutbury platform was graced by beautiful cat lamps, silent and watchful platform sentries, as the tank simmered peacefully at the rear of its little train.  The fireman would be separated from the company of his driver during the 5½ mile amble back to Burton.  Hugh Ballantyne

Report of ‘Tutbury Jinny’ Outing

A party of 24 RPS members and friends and 10 Stafford Railway Circle members attended the sentimental, last journey of ‘Tutbury Jinny’ on Saturday, 11^th June 1960.  The party assembled at Burton Station and the train pulled out on time at 8.12 pm amid whistle blasts, bangs from detonators, punctuated by pleasant notes from a bugle.  The train made a record run down to Tutbury with lots of spectators lining the route.  The party de-trained at Tutbury, where a huge crowd awaited the final journey back.  The Booking Office did a roaring trade selling dog and cycle tickets and other various assortments being purchased by members.  The party crossed the line and watched the little push-pull train draw in, driving coach first.  It was noted that slogans were chalked all over the locomotive, including ribald remarks about Sir Brian.  Our President, Mr. C. E. Ives managed to have a few words with the MP for Burton, Mr. Jennings, who had championed the lost cause in the House of Commons.  Society members were rather disturbed in the fact of a party of interlopers called the 17 Club being present.  It appeared that these people were not railway enthusiasts.  In fact one of their members could not give an explanation as to who they were.  It appeared it was just some kind of gimmick.  The RPS did mot get the publicity hoped for in consequence.Most branch trains seem to pick up nicknames at some time or other, and the ‘Tutbury Jinny’ was no exception.  Once worked by Midland 0-4-4 tanks and latterly by LMS-type ‘1200’ class 2-6-2 tanks, the service was withdrawn after 11^th June, 1960.  The 4.15pm Burton-on-Trent to Tutbury, headed by No. 41277, passes Stretton & Clay Mills station on 4^th June.

The train left eventually at 8.55 pm amid cheers, tears, bangs whistles and factory hooters.  The gentleman with the bugle blowing the ‘Last Post’  The train pulled into Burton some 10 minutes later, spectators again lining the route all the way, and so ‘Tutbury Jinny’ came to her eventful and not inglorious end after 112 years’ service.

Date: 1894 – 1900 (c.)

Description: Opened in 1894 on the North Staffordshire Railway Company branch line between Tutbury and Burton-upon-Trent. It was named Rolleston on Dove to avoid confusion with Rolleston in Nottinghamshire. The name was first used for the whole parish in 1983.
The station was closed to passengers on 1 January 1949, and the line closed in 1968. The route of the track is now the Jinny Nature Trail, named after the local name for the train which used the track: the Tutbury Jinny.

Staffordshire Past Track

The Tutbury Jinny

The Tutbury Jinny was a little train serving the delightful country between Burton and Tutbury, a distance of some 5½ miles encompassing the catchment areas of the rivers Trent and Dove.  Intermediate stations served villages, farmsteads and cottages along the line’s sickle-shaped route.  The line initially headed east from Burton, before swinging north then north-west to Tutbury, with stations at Horninglow, Stretton & Clay Mills and Rolleston on Dove.

The service ran for over a century, commencing in 1848 and saw a considerable variety of motive power – North Stafford, LMS and BR – over the years.  The push-pull ‘Jinny’ was driven from the motor compartment of the end coach for the propelled return journey from Tutbury.  Although two coaches were the normal load, it was not unknown for the train to be formed of one or three coaches.  Final motive power came in the form of Ivatt tanks; the final train running on 11^th June, 1960.  Tributes to mark the closure of the service were chalked all over No.41277.  The intermediate stations, closed on 1^st January 1949 to regular traffic, came back to life as locals witnessed the passing of the final ‘Jinny’.  The ‘Jinny’ was an institution, its several daily journeys a ritual; now, alas, it is but a distant memory.