Chasewater Railway September Gala 2014, Sunday – when the sun came out!

Chasewater Railway September Gala 2014

Sunday – when the sun came out!

275 – Chasewater Railway Museum Bits & Pieces From Chasewater News – Autumn 2004 Part 2 – From the Board Room

The Beattie Well tank at Chasewater Heaths towards sunset

268 – Chasewater Railway Museum Bits & Pieces – From Chasewater News – Spring 2004 Part 1 – Editorial

266 – Chasewater Railway Museum Bits & Pieces From Chasewater News – Spring 2003 Part 5 – Loco Shed News and Driver Experience Day

266 – Chasewater Railway Museum Bits & Pieces

From Chasewater News – Spring 2003

 Part 5 – Loco Shed News and Driver Experience Day

261 – Chasewater Railway Museum Bits & Pieces From Chasewater News – Autumn & Winter 2002 Part 7 – Odds & Ends

261 – Chasewater Railway Museum Bits & Pieces

From Chasewater News – Autumn & Winter 2002

 Part 7 – Odds & Ends

Chasewater Railway 2013 Santa Specials

Santa Specials 2013

SANTA SPECIALS : ALL TRAINS ARE NOW FULLY BOOKED.

 WE WISH YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ALL OUR VOLUNTEERS.

Steam Locomotives of a More Leisurely Era 1913 – Glover 4-4-2T & 4-4-0 – Great Northern Railway of Ireland

Steam Locomotives of a More Leisurely Era

1913 – Glover 4-4-2T & 4-4-0

Great Northern Railway of Ireland

No.199 as running in 1953 after receiving the name ‘Lough Derg’ and the blue livery.

G.T.Glover’s first design for the GNR was a series of 4-4-2Ts for suburban work.  Five engines, No. 185-9, came out in 1913.  A 4-4-0 tender version for cross country work, with identical dimensions, Nos. 196-200, followed in 1915.  Ten more of the 4-4-2Ts with increased boiler pressure were built in 1921, Nos. 1-5, a further ten in 1924, Nos. 21, 30, 115, 116, 139, 142-4, 147, and 148 (the last two later became 67 and 69) whilst in 1929 came Nos. 62-6.

The 4-4-0 version was revived in 1947 by the building of an additional five engines, Nos. 201-5.  The design was unchanged except for increase of boiler pressure and a modified tender, and the construction at so late a date of inside-cylindered 4-4-0s of such a neat appearance more in keeping with the earlier years of the century was somewhat remarkable.  The new engines were named after Irish counties and painted in express passenger blue with scarlet frames, which treatment was also accorded to the original 4-4-0s, which had hitherto been plain black.  At the same time these were also given names, after Irish ‘Loughs’.  All of them, both 4-4-0 and 4-4-2T varieties, were still in service in 1959.

4-4-2T (1913) – Driving wheels – 5’ 9”,  Cylinders – 18”x 24”,  Pressure – 175 lb.,  Tractive effort – 16763 lb.,  Weight – 65 tons 4 cwt.,  Classification – T1

4-4-2T (1924) – Driving wheels – 5’ 9”,  Cylinders – 18”x 24”,  Pressure – 200 lb.,  Tractive effort – 19158 lb.,  Weight – 65 tons 15 cwt.,  Classification – T2

4-4-0 (1915) – Driving wheels – 5’ 9”,  Cylinders – 18”x 24”,  Pressure – 175 lb.,  Tractive effort – 16763 lb.,  Weight – 44 tons 6 cwt.,  Classification – U

4-4-0 (1947) – Driving wheels – 5’ 9”,  Cylinders – 18”x 24”,  Pressure – 200 lb.,  Tractive effort – 19158 lb.,  Weight – 46 tons,  Classification – U

Omagh railway station, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. GNR Class U 4-4-0 locomotive 204 Antrim departs with a passenger train as a GNR diesel railcar stands at the station.  Date 7 June 1957 7 June 1957 

  The copyright on this image is owned by Wilson Adams and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.

 

Forthcoming Attractions – a busy April

Forthcoming Attractions

A Busy April!

Chasewater Railway’s Hudswell Clarke 431 – 1895

In my last post a Hudswell Clarke loco was mentioned as possibly being in steam on the next open Day.  This was  No.431 of 1895, which arrived at Chasewater shortly before ‘Asbestos’.  Sadly, this did not happen, and as far as I am aware, this loco still has not steamed at Chasewater Railway, over 40 years later!

‘On Saturday 2^nd December, 1967, a long-awaited member of our loco stud arrived – by road – a Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST, used until December, 1966, in the Ironstone Quarries at Desborough.  This locomotive was steamed by Mr. Civil and Mr. Luker (our expert loco-fitters) before purchase, and ran for some little while before they declared it a good purchase.

It was built by Hudswell Clarke & Co., Leeds in 1895, works number 431 and spent most of its life in the hands of the Sheepbridge Coal & Iron Company in whose fleet she became No.15.  It was allocated the name ‘Sheepbridge No.25’, but this was never carried and with the removal of its official number and works plates ran its last years without any identification at all.

It has on two occasions been rebuilt, first in 1928 and secondly in 1944, by the Sheepbridge Company themselves.’

‘The engine was first suggested as a suitable candidate for preservation some two years ago when it was one of several locomotives at work at Desborough Warren Quarry near Kettering.  One by one its companions were withdrawn leaving No.15 as the only workable source of motive power.  After closure of the quarry it assisted with the lifting of the track, until the early part of 1967 when it too was withdrawn and stored in the engine shed at Desborough in company with an Avonside 0-6-0T.

The RPS then stepped in and after pleasing, successful negotiations with Stewarts and Lloyds Ltd., the locomotive was purchased.  The firm kindly allowed us to steam the engine before purchase.’

‘Steamy’ pics by Rob Duffill

At the moment, ‘Asbestos ‘ is in the Heritage Centre awaiting a major overhaul, as, indeed, is 431.

Some Early Lines – Chard Branch Line

Some Early Lines

Chard Branch Line

The 4.45pm Taunton – Chard Central slides out of Hatch, headed by 7436, on June 9, 1961.   M.J.Fox

The Chard Branch Lines were two railway lines in Somerset, England, that met end on in Chard. The first was opened in 1863 by the London and South Western Railway as a short branch line from their main line. This approached the town from the south. The second and longer line was opened by the Bristol and Exeter Railway in 1866 and ran northwards from Chard to join their main line near Taunton.

From 1917 they were both operated by one company, but services were mostly advertised as though it was still two separate lines. It was closed to passengers in 1962 and freight traffic was withdrawn a few years later.

Chard Central.  9718, with two derelict looking coaches, leaves the weed-choked platform with the 4.07pm for Chard Junction in 1961.  M.J.Fox

History

 The local railway network

The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) opened its first station serving Chard at ‘Chard Road’ in 1860 on its new Yeovil and Exeter Railway. The Chard Railway Company was established in 1859 and work started on the branch line from Chard Road to the town on 1 November 1860. The following March the LSWR agreed to purchase the company, a deal that was completed in 1864. The line was opened to the terminus at Chard Town on 8 May 1863 (the original station was renamed ‘Chard Junction’ in 1872).

Chard had been connected to Taunton in 1842 by the Chard Canal but early proposals to convert the canal into a railway line failed to materialise. Instead the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) opened a line parallel to the canal on 11 September 1866 using powers initially granted to a Chard and Taunton Railway Company by an Act of Parliament in 1861. In the following year the B&ER purchased the little-used canal for £6,000 and closed it. The B&ER line was single track and connected a new ‘Chard station’, to the B&ER’s main line at Creech St Michael. Intermediate stations were situated at Hatch and Ilminster, but another was opened at Thorn in 1871.

3787 on an early morning Taunton – Chard train leaving Thornfalcon in June 1962.  M.J.Fox

The LSWR was built to 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge but the B&ER was a 7 ft 0 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) broad gauge line until 19 July 1891 when it was converted to standard gauge. Other branch lines around Taunton had been converted between 1879 and 1882 but the Great Western Railway (GWR, which had amalgamated with the B&ER in 1876) left the Chard branch as a broad gauge line to prevent the LSWR requesting access to Taunton. The LSWR extended its line to the B&ER station two months after it had opened and it was then operated as a joint station. During World War I the GWR undertook to work the line from Chard Joint station to Chard Junction station from 1 January 1917, although separate signal boxes were maintained until 1928.

In 1923 the LSWR was itself merged into the new Southern Railway (SR). Two additional stations were opened in 1928 on the GWR section. Both railways were nationalised in 1948 but were initially managed as two separate regions – the GWR becoming the Western Region and the SR became the Southern Region. A fuel shortage in 1951 led to the line being temporarily closed from 3 February to 7 May. Eleven years later passenger services were withdrawn permanently on 10 September 1962 and the line closed completely between Creech and Chard on 6 July 1964. Public goods traffic was retained at Chard until 1966.

3787 climbs throatily out of Ilminster with a train bound for Chard in March 1962.  M.J.Fox