NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 100
One Hundred Years Ago
Michael L. Roach
This series has reached Part 100 and will continue for the moment until I switch to a different year. To celebrate a century I propose to look back one hundred years to see what was happening on the railways of Britain in 1926. It was not a particularly interesting year but there were some landmarks; some of which will come from the pages of the Great Western Railway Magazine – all 442 pages of it that year.
The future Queen Elizabeth the Second was born on 21 April 1926. She was the first child of Prince Albert and his wife Elizabeth. He was the second son of King George V and did not expect to become King but when his brother abdicated Prince Albert and his daughter Princess Elizabeth became heirs to the throne. 1926 was the year of the first (and so far only) General Strike. The strike lasted 9 days and badly affected the railways. In North Wales the Menai road bridge celebrated its centenary.
First, I will look at the three other railways in the “Big Four.” On the Southern Railway electrification was proceeding apace on the third-rail principle, with three routes to Orpington electrified on the same date in 1926. Upon its formation the SR had inherited 24 route miles of railway electrified on the AC overhead line system. In 1926 this was converted to the 660v DC third rail system to match the rest of the SR electrified system. I would imagine that this was a major logistical and expensive exercise. Perhaps an electrical engineer could explain the pros, cons and just what would have been involved in this task.
On the London North Eastern Railway Nigel (later Sir Nigel) Gresley was appointed Chief Mechanical Engineer on formation of the railway on 1 January 1923. He designed several new loco classes for the LNER but his world-famous streamlined A4-class did not appear until 1935. One of the first of his new designs was to be the J38 of January 1926 and the J39 of July 1926. Both were 0-6-0 tender engines. The J38s had a tractive effort of 28,415 lbs and were rated 6F by British Railways. 35 J38s were built and 289 J39s; and yet out of a total of 324 engines not a single one of either class was preserved despite the last two examples not being withdrawn until April 1967, just 15 months before the end of steam on BR.
In 1926 the London Midland and Scottish Railway was suffering a shortage of engines and borrowed a GWR Castle for five weeks. The engine sent to Crewe in September 1926 was no. 5000 Launceston Castle which had just been built at Swindon. The engine worked both south to Euston and north to Carlisle. It excelled, and one of the highlights was taking 415 tons northbound over Shap Summit at a minimum of 20mph. The LMS were so impressed by the Castle's performance that they asked the GWR to build 50 Castles for them. When this request was refused the LMS asked to buy a set of Castle-class drawings, but this request was also refused by the Directors of the GWR. The LMS were not beaten yet. Five years later the Company recruited William (later Sir William) A. Stanier to be their Chief Mechanical Engineer. Stanier had been born in Swindon; had worked for the GWR for 40 years; and for the last eight years had been Principal Assistant to the CME of the GWR. Stanier knew the details of exactly why the GWR express engines were so successful. He started work with the LMS on 1 January 1932 and in the next few years solved the LMS's loco problems with a dozen successful designs. The previous year Pendennis Castle had astonished onlookers by taking 16 coaches out of Kings Cross on another exchange visit with ease despite it being only a very short distance before the engine faced the 1½ miles of 1 in 107 gradient through Gasworks and Copenhagen Tunnels. Here it is worth recording that during WW2 Gresley's V2-Class 2-6-2s were regularly rostered to take 20 coaches out of Kings Cross. Now some classes of steam engine were good performers but heavy on coal consumption, whereas the Castle class were not only good performers but were frugal on coal consumption as well.
The Babbacombe Cliff Railway opened on 1 April 1926 and recently celebrated its hundredth anniversary. The idea of a funicular railway at Babbacombe dated back to 1890, and it is easy to see why because the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway opened on 7 April 1890.
So to the GWR Magazine for 1926. The March Magazine reported the completion of a new/rebuilt station at Aberystwyth. That was quite remarkable as the station only became GWR property in 1922. A contract was signed with A.N.Coles & Son of Plymouth for the construction of a new station building at Newton Abbot.
On page 194 in the May 1926 issue the magazine was proud to record that the week ended 14 April was a record for the dispatch of Cornish Broccoli. On Tuesday 13 April seven special trains were run from Marazion conveying a total of 348 wagons of broccoli. On the next page (195) it was recorded that new Ministry of Transport Regulations now require the railways to fit distant signals with yellow lights and to paint the signal arms mostly yellow.
On 2 August 1926 a new railway tunnel was opened at Colwall through the Malvern Hills replacing a restricted cross section, single track bore which had suffered collapses. The new tunnel is 1590 yards (nine tenths of a mile) long and is located between Colwall (Herefordshire) and Malvern Wells (Worcestershire).
On page 260 (July 1926) there was a photo of punnets of strawberries on platform trollies – at least 8 trollies and hundreds of punnets. The photo was taken at Saltash Station, and the strawberries would have come from further up the Tamar Valley which was then a well-known flower and soft fruit growing area. This was another traffic that was both seasonal and labour-intensive, like broccoli.
In 1926 the August Bank Holiday was the first Monday in August each year; later changed to the last Monday for England and Wales, but not Scotland. Reported in the September Magazine was the heavy passenger traffic dealt with at Paddington Station on Saturday 31 July 1926 when many long-distance expresses were run in two and three parts. That day the Cornish Riviera Express was run in five parts and the Torbay Limited in three parts, carrying a total of 5,000 passengers.
The GWR's winter time-table commenced on Monday 20 September 1926 and with it came a new design of cover in the Company's well-known standard of chocolate and cream. The design remained similar until nationalisation and a similar style was later adopted by British Railways from 1948 to until 1963.
The frontispiece to the October 1926 showed a photo and line diagram of a “new and noteworthy addition to the Great Western Railway locomotives of the Castle class which were first introduced in 1923. The Launceston Castle, which is numbered 5000, is coupled to a tender of an entirely new design.” This was entirely appropriate to make the most of the new 5000-series Castles as the engine was later chosen to take part in the loco exchanges with the LMS the same month as noted above. I have scanned the whole page because of interesting changes to some West Country expresses.
The future Queen Elizabeth the Second was born on 21 April 1926. She was the first child of Prince Albert and his wife Elizabeth. He was the second son of King George V and did not expect to become King but when his brother abdicated Prince Albert and his daughter Princess Elizabeth became heirs to the throne. 1926 was the year of the first (and so far only) General Strike. The strike lasted 9 days and badly affected the railways. In North Wales the Menai road bridge celebrated its centenary.
First, I will look at the three other railways in the “Big Four.” On the Southern Railway electrification was proceeding apace on the third-rail principle, with three routes to Orpington electrified on the same date in 1926. Upon its formation the SR had inherited 24 route miles of railway electrified on the AC overhead line system. In 1926 this was converted to the 660v DC third rail system to match the rest of the SR electrified system. I would imagine that this was a major logistical and expensive exercise. Perhaps an electrical engineer could explain the pros, cons and just what would have been involved in this task.
On the London North Eastern Railway Nigel (later Sir Nigel) Gresley was appointed Chief Mechanical Engineer on formation of the railway on 1 January 1923. He designed several new loco classes for the LNER but his world-famous streamlined A4-class did not appear until 1935. One of the first of his new designs was to be the J38 of January 1926 and the J39 of July 1926. Both were 0-6-0 tender engines. The J38s had a tractive effort of 28,415 lbs and were rated 6F by British Railways. 35 J38s were built and 289 J39s; and yet out of a total of 324 engines not a single one of either class was preserved despite the last two examples not being withdrawn until April 1967, just 15 months before the end of steam on BR.
In 1926 the London Midland and Scottish Railway was suffering a shortage of engines and borrowed a GWR Castle for five weeks. The engine sent to Crewe in September 1926 was no. 5000 Launceston Castle which had just been built at Swindon. The engine worked both south to Euston and north to Carlisle. It excelled, and one of the highlights was taking 415 tons northbound over Shap Summit at a minimum of 20mph. The LMS were so impressed by the Castle's performance that they asked the GWR to build 50 Castles for them. When this request was refused the LMS asked to buy a set of Castle-class drawings, but this request was also refused by the Directors of the GWR. The LMS were not beaten yet. Five years later the Company recruited William (later Sir William) A. Stanier to be their Chief Mechanical Engineer. Stanier had been born in Swindon; had worked for the GWR for 40 years; and for the last eight years had been Principal Assistant to the CME of the GWR. Stanier knew the details of exactly why the GWR express engines were so successful. He started work with the LMS on 1 January 1932 and in the next few years solved the LMS's loco problems with a dozen successful designs. The previous year Pendennis Castle had astonished onlookers by taking 16 coaches out of Kings Cross on another exchange visit with ease despite it being only a very short distance before the engine faced the 1½ miles of 1 in 107 gradient through Gasworks and Copenhagen Tunnels. Here it is worth recording that during WW2 Gresley's V2-Class 2-6-2s were regularly rostered to take 20 coaches out of Kings Cross. Now some classes of steam engine were good performers but heavy on coal consumption, whereas the Castle class were not only good performers but were frugal on coal consumption as well.
The Babbacombe Cliff Railway opened on 1 April 1926 and recently celebrated its hundredth anniversary. The idea of a funicular railway at Babbacombe dated back to 1890, and it is easy to see why because the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway opened on 7 April 1890.
So to the GWR Magazine for 1926. The March Magazine reported the completion of a new/rebuilt station at Aberystwyth. That was quite remarkable as the station only became GWR property in 1922. A contract was signed with A.N.Coles & Son of Plymouth for the construction of a new station building at Newton Abbot.
On page 194 in the May 1926 issue the magazine was proud to record that the week ended 14 April was a record for the dispatch of Cornish Broccoli. On Tuesday 13 April seven special trains were run from Marazion conveying a total of 348 wagons of broccoli. On the next page (195) it was recorded that new Ministry of Transport Regulations now require the railways to fit distant signals with yellow lights and to paint the signal arms mostly yellow.
On 2 August 1926 a new railway tunnel was opened at Colwall through the Malvern Hills replacing a restricted cross section, single track bore which had suffered collapses. The new tunnel is 1590 yards (nine tenths of a mile) long and is located between Colwall (Herefordshire) and Malvern Wells (Worcestershire).
On page 260 (July 1926) there was a photo of punnets of strawberries on platform trollies – at least 8 trollies and hundreds of punnets. The photo was taken at Saltash Station, and the strawberries would have come from further up the Tamar Valley which was then a well-known flower and soft fruit growing area. This was another traffic that was both seasonal and labour-intensive, like broccoli.
In 1926 the August Bank Holiday was the first Monday in August each year; later changed to the last Monday for England and Wales, but not Scotland. Reported in the September Magazine was the heavy passenger traffic dealt with at Paddington Station on Saturday 31 July 1926 when many long-distance expresses were run in two and three parts. That day the Cornish Riviera Express was run in five parts and the Torbay Limited in three parts, carrying a total of 5,000 passengers.
The GWR's winter time-table commenced on Monday 20 September 1926 and with it came a new design of cover in the Company's well-known standard of chocolate and cream. The design remained similar until nationalisation and a similar style was later adopted by British Railways from 1948 to until 1963.
The frontispiece to the October 1926 showed a photo and line diagram of a “new and noteworthy addition to the Great Western Railway locomotives of the Castle class which were first introduced in 1923. The Launceston Castle, which is numbered 5000, is coupled to a tender of an entirely new design.” This was entirely appropriate to make the most of the new 5000-series Castles as the engine was later chosen to take part in the loco exchanges with the LMS the same month as noted above. I have scanned the whole page because of interesting changes to some West Country expresses.
A 4500 light prairie leaves Torquay for Kingswear in 1926. The wagons on the centre road appear to be loaded with coal perhaps destined for Paignton gas works or Newton Abbot power station.
The new single bore Colwall Tunnel nearing completion in 1926. The line is now single all the way from Malvern Wells to Shelwick Junction, Hereford.
Five light engines make their way from Old Oak Common Shed to Paddington to work the down CRE on 31.07.1926. They appear to be mainly Star-class, but there is at least one Saint-class engine.
The scene at Paddington Station on 31 July 1926, just before the departure of the first part of the down Cornish Riviera Express.
The report describing the August Bank Holiday traffic that year.
Photo and details of Launceston Castle released to traffic in September 1926. The engine was withdrawn from service in October 1964 at Oxley Shed. It had only been based there for four months having been at Gloucester and Hereford Sheds previously.
The CME's report on Launceston Castle and the Traffic Department's report on the Winter train service.
Many thanks as always Mike, and congratulations on reaching another part 100!
For more of Michaels articles, please click here.
For more of Michaels articles, please click here.
71000 'DUKE OF GLOUCESTER'
Ian Thomas
Whilst laying in bed, enjoying my cuppa and bics this morning, Friday April 10th, I looked at Realtime Trains and saw that there was a steam locomotive movement passing through Gloucestershire later on. No sooner had I seen this than my cousin, Rich Kelsey, messaged me about it, and so we arranged to go to Kemble to view this move.
The train consisted of a BR Class 8 4-6-2 No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester and a blood & custard Mk 1 support coach, running as 5Z31, 09:17 Southall (Locomotive Services) to Kidderminster (SVR), and was booked to stop at Kemble for around 25 minutes to take on water from a nearby road tanker, thus allowing plenty of time for pictures.
71000 was built in 1954 as a replacement for LMS 4-6-2 Princess Royal Class No. 46202 Princess Anne, which was tragically destroyed in the Harrow train crash on Wednesday, October 8th, 1952.
The earlier cloud thinned and the sun appeared at the right time, allowing for some reasonable photographs. I thought I would include a picture of LNER A4 4-6-2 60009 Union of South Africa I took at Kemble in October 1994, and another shot of 71000, this time in the high Pennines at Garsdale on the Settle & Carlisle.
Enjoy.
The train consisted of a BR Class 8 4-6-2 No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester and a blood & custard Mk 1 support coach, running as 5Z31, 09:17 Southall (Locomotive Services) to Kidderminster (SVR), and was booked to stop at Kemble for around 25 minutes to take on water from a nearby road tanker, thus allowing plenty of time for pictures.
71000 was built in 1954 as a replacement for LMS 4-6-2 Princess Royal Class No. 46202 Princess Anne, which was tragically destroyed in the Harrow train crash on Wednesday, October 8th, 1952.
The earlier cloud thinned and the sun appeared at the right time, allowing for some reasonable photographs. I thought I would include a picture of LNER A4 4-6-2 60009 Union of South Africa I took at Kemble in October 1994, and another shot of 71000, this time in the high Pennines at Garsdale on the Settle & Carlisle.
Enjoy.
BR Class 8 4-6-2.No 71000 Duke Of Gloucester arrives at Kemble. 10.04.2026, copyright Ian Thomas.
71000 Duke Of Gloucester at Kemble. 10.04.2026, copyright Ian Thomas.
71000 Duke Of Gloucester poses in the sunshine at Kemble. 10.04.2026, copyright Ian Thomas.
71000 Duke Of Gloucester takes water at Kemble. 10.04.2026, copyright Ian Thomas.
71000 Duke Of Gloucester takes water at Garsdale. 16.12.1995, copyright Ian Thomas.
LNER A4 4-6-2.60009 UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA at Kemble. 27.10.1994, copyright Ian Thomas.
Many thanks Ian, great to see the Duke out and about, by all reports it sounds like it's quite an impressive machine.
It's actually due to visit Cornwall in September - see the Railtour Calendar for details.
It's actually due to visit Cornwall in September - see the Railtour Calendar for details.
Penzance Peak
Paul Barlow
45131 Penzance on the 1020 from Plymouth. 05.03.1981, copyright Paul Barlow.
A great photo Paul, many thanks.
Powderham Clay
David J Ive
Lots of excellent pictures of 66734 on the page this week. I thought you might like one of it a little further afield (see attached). 66734 Platinum Jubilee on 6C53 1519 ECC Par Harbour to Exeter Riverside NY on Wednesday. 08.04.2026, copyright David J Ive.
Many thanks indeed David, a fine photograph.
David has plenty of other great photos on his website - http://djipix.com
David has plenty of other great photos on his website - http://djipix.com
60028 on Aggregates
Guy Vincent
Two views from yesterday of Cappagh liveried and un-named 60028. Firstly, passing Hawkeridge Junction nr Westbury with the 6V17 1034 Willesden - Merehead consisting of 23 empty 77- ton JNA box wagons. The train ran from Reading via Swindon and Melksham rather than via Newbury and will shortly rejoin its usual route at Fairwood Junction just under 2 miles beyond Westbury. 10.04.2026, copyright Guy Vincent.
Just over 3 hours later and with a heavy load of Mendip stone now in tow the 6M18 return working is seen heading slowly east along the Frome avoiding line. Speed was reduced as the 2V72 1528 Weymouth - Gloucester was just a signal section ahead after Clink Road Jcn. 10.04.2026, copyright Guy Vincent.
Many thanks Guy, always nice to see a 60 at work.
Trewoon 175's
Mark Lynam
175009 climbs the grade towards Burngullow with Gover Viaduct in the distance working 2C11 1014 Plymouth to Penzance. 09.04.2026, copyright Mark Lynam.
Just before midday GWR 175114 + 175011 are seen in brighter patch (Note the shadow to the right of the cab) on the return leg of the 5Z13 0757 Plymouth to Plymouth via Penzance. 09.04.2026, copyright Mark Lynam.
Many thanks Mark, doesn't that livery look much brighter than GWR Green!
More of 71000
Ken Mumford & Colin Pidgeon
71000 approaching Swindon. 10.04.2026, copyright Colin Pidgeon.
71000 at Kemble. 10.04.2026, copyright Ken Mumford.
Watering the loco at Kemble. 10.04.2026, copyright Ken Mumford.
Many thanks Ken and Colin
April 1976
Part 11
Roger Winnen
Train en route from Gunnislake. 20.04.1976, copyright Roger Winnen.
Train en route from Gunnislake. 20.04.1976, copyright Roger Winnen.
Calstock Viaduct from the Devon side. 20.04.1976, copyright Roger Winnen.
Calstock. 20.04.1976, copyright Roger Winnen.
Calstock Viaduct from the Devon side. 20.04.1976, copyright Roger Winnen.
The Gunnislake Branch into Bere Ferrers. 20.04.1976, copyright Roger Winnen.
The Gunnislake Branch into Bere Ferrers. 20.04.1976, copyright Roger Winnen.
The Gunnislake Branch into Bere Ferrers. 20.04.1976, copyright Roger Winnen.
Bere Alston Station. 20.04.1976, copyright Roger Winnen.
50010 later named Monarch on 16th March 1978 seen at Plymouth. 20.04.1976, copyright Roger Winnen.
D1010 Western Campaigner on the 15.08 Plymouth Penzance. 20.04.1976, copyright Roger Winnen.
47536 at Plymouth. 20.04.1976, copyright Roger Winnen.
The Duke at Worcester
Steve Widdowson
71000 Duke of Gloucester calls at Worcester with 5Z31 the 0917 Southall Loco Services Ltd - Kidderminster SVR. 10.04.2026, copyright Steve Widdowson.
Many thanks Steve, an interesting photo from the very fringe of our area of coverage.
