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BASINGSTOKE & DISTRICT RAILWAY SOCIETY

NEWSLETTER September 2008 Vol. 36: No 9

Chairman Secretary Editor

David Brace Peter Tran Sandra Brace 48, Hatch Lane 11, Starling Close 48, Hatch Lane, Old Basing Basingstoke Old Basing, Basingstoke, RG24 7EB Hants, RG22 5PY Basingstoke, RG24 7EB Tel: 01256 323958 Tel: 01256 326096 Tel or Fax: 01256 323958 e-mail: david.brace@twang.co.uk e-mail: petertran@talktalk.net e-mail: see Chairman’s email

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS to be held at Wote Street Club, Basingstoke Centre normally at 8pm. Wednesday 10th September DRIVING THE GNER EUROSTARS - Mick Barstow, a former top link driver at Kings Cross during the GNER franchise era, describes driving the UK version of the Eurostars between London and Leeds/ York.

Wednesday 24th September WORKING THE BALLAST TRAINS - Brian Denton, another driver but better known to us, describes his various workings of EWS ballast trains in the south and east of England.

Wednesday 8th October THE KENT & EAST SUSSEX RAILWAY - Guest speaker Graham Baldwin describes the ups and downs of preserving this rural line, once a Colonel Stevens light railway.

Wednesday 22nd October ANNUAL PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION - Your chance to show the best of your photography of the last year. Same rules as 2007 with a special category for those who have not won before

Our Chairman or Secretary would be pleased to hear from anyone who could give a railway-based presentation. Please ring either of them on their telephone number as shown above. This Newsletter is produced by the B&DRS and is issued free of charge and for the interest of its members and of the Society’s friends

No. 850, "Lord Nelson" running round at Leicester North on the Society Trip to the Great Central Railway in Au gust Photograph by Peter Tran

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OTHER SOCIETY MEETINGS Meon Valley Locomotive Society September 9th “Chairman’s Night” Barry Eagles October 14th “Rail Shape, Bristol Fashion” Terry Nichols Newbury Transport Group September 19th “Leslie Hyde Collection” Michael Harvey October 17th “RAF Abingdon” Alan Bovingdon-Cox Oxfordshire Railway Society September 10th “The Electric Telegraph and Early Railways” John Liffen October 8th “Confessions of a Berkshire Signalman” Adrian Vaughan (NB This meeting will be held in the George PH, Botley) RCTS (Eastleigh) September 17th “Join the ORR and See the World” David Brace October 15th “The Midsomer Norton Project” To be advised

REVIEW OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS Meeting on 13th August - Members’ Quiz We had our customary poor turnout for our pub-type quiz but those who made the effort appeared to enjoy the evening. Some enjoyed showing off their depth and breadth of knowledge whilst others were happy to learn or just look at the pictures. A total of 10 rounds of questions were asked and all were illustrated by means of slides or digital images. One additional round occupied participants the whole evening - track diagrams for which they had to work out the locations. The rounds were varied and included miniature railways (questions submitted by Colin Brading), a European round to identify the country from the locomotive or train (questions submitted by David Cable) and further rounds on UK steam, Around the World, Railways in London and Railway Initials. Listening to the groans from the teams I guess we made the questions just hard enough! The final results were: 1st “The Committee” 118 points 2nd “Bartons Mill” 109 points 3rd “Doncaster” 84 points 4th “No-Hopers” 66 points The maximum number of points available were 134 and so well done to the Committee! The No Hopers lived up to their name but they took part which is important. There will be no members’ quiz in 2009 as we are hosting the InterSociety Quiz but there are severe doubts about running a quiz in 2010 as the amount of effort needed to produce the questions is out of proportion to the number of members who attend. David Brace

Meeting on 27th August Railways and the Army - Major Stuart Buechel This was a memorable evening, attended by an above average audience, who thoroughly enjoyed a very professional, yet humorous presentation about the 17th Port and Maritime Regt of the Royal Logistics Corps of the Army, of which railway operations are an integral part. Having commenced by informing the audience that the talk was officially classified as “Interesting”, Stuart took us through the organization structure of the regiment, its equipment, modes of operation, and the training that its soldiers undergo, stressing that first and foremost they are soldiers. Although there is probably more involvement in port and local shipping activities, with some interesting craft based on the original Mulberry harbour design, the railway side is equally as important in foreign combat zones. Stuart did stress the problems of persuading Generals that the steel rail had its place in the scheme of things, and could well be more effective than the rubber tyre.

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After the interval, the regiment’s involvement in Kosovo in 1999 was considered in detail, and we were shown pictures of trains, often out-of-gauge, carrying a wide variety of military equipment in arduous conditions. The US forces did not help when their road building personnel dumped a large load of ballast on the track and a train was derailed by it. I think we all took home memories about the sheer competence that the military personnel show in such conditions, and I only regret that there is no logical follow up to such an excellent evening. David Cable

CABLE AND HOWIE VISIT GERMANY 2008 As members should by now have realized, our duo have a particular interest in Continental non-standard liveries, and having done a worthwhile trip to Austria this year, it was the turn of Germany, where many private companies operate on the main lines. Our efforts this year were concentrated on the two areas carrying the major freight flows, and we were not disappointed. Initially, we made our way to Koblenz, in order to visit sites along the Rhine gorge. Our first day took us across the river to the East bank, where villages and the railway snuggle between the river and the steep hillsides crowned with many castles and plastered with vines - and this applies to the West bank as well. Koblenz, incidentally, has a nice collection of older DB electric locos in its museum. Catching a train to Wiesbaden, we disembarked at Rudesheim, which proved not to be as good as we had expected, and as the sun moved round, went back first to Lorch, where bushes in the sidings rather hampered our photos, but then on to Kaub, where a brand new platform and loop line gave us first class opportunities, especially since the new platform was only served by two trains per day at around 6am! This is a recommended location for afternoon photography. Our next two days were mainly spent at Neuwied, another recommended location from about 11am onwards, where the volume of freight traffic coming up through Kaub etc. is augmented by freight traffic traveling up the Moselle valley from France and Luxemburg. Traffic seemed so prolific that we kept a count on the second day. In addition to the 20 local passenger trains, we saw 47 freights in 5 hours (which puts Barnetby to shame), and this was replicated on other occasions. Expecting traffic to start to reduce on the Saturday afternoon, we moved to the other side of the Rhine, to Boppard, where surprisingly we were also treated to a large amount of freight and loco hauled passenger services. After all this, we thought our move to the Fulda area would be a let down. Far from it. There was probably as much traffic through this area (we stationed ourselves at Hunfeld and Wurzburg) as in the Rhine valley, although more trains were hauled by standard DB locos in proportion to private owners than was the case around Koblenz. In this area, we made use of ICEs to travel between centres, and not having seat reservations, were forced to use the restaurant cars, and the staff insisted on us drinking a few beers - how very fortunate! Our return to Koln for the night prior to traveling back to the UK, gave us an unexpected treat.

155 179 bring a southbound freight past the vineyards as it approaches Rudesheim

GREAT RAIL JOURNEYS AND THE HARZ MOUNTAINS Members may be interested in a four page article in the September edition of The Railway Magazine where the author describes a trip with GRJ to visit the narrow gauge steam system in the Harz mountains. There is a double interest as I (and David Brace before me) still work for GRJ as a Tour Manager and our Society overseas trip this year had the same destination. Ian Francis

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Deciding to spend a couple of hours at Koln West, we caught a DMU at the Haupbahnhof, and as we left, I said to John Howie, “we are not on the normal tracks”. However, the dot matrix sign said next stop Koln West, but to no avail since we zoomed past on the freight lines. We thought “OK, we will get out at Koln Sud”, but we sailed past that as well, finally getting off at the next station, where we had diverged from the main line, with no apparent return train for over two hours. Getting some assistance, we found ourselves at the nearby main line station, where we had to wait for 45 minutes in very humid conditions, until an EMU came along. It was packed to a standard similar to the rush hour trains in Tokyo - there was absolutely no way we could get on, but the driver, seeing our plight, gave us a cab ride back to Koln West, with a superb view along the tracks of the city skyline with the famous cathedral. The reason for the packed train? Germany was playing Turkey in the semi finals of Euro 2008, and a large outdoor TV screen was erected near Koln Sud station. When all the fans got out, the train noticeably lifted on its springs. And of course we had the bonus of a night when all the fans were screaming and singing and blowing car horns for half the night. But at least we had had the compensation of seeing 26 non standard colour schemes on locomotives, most of which were new to us. David Cable

EVEN QUIETER CLASS 66s From Progressive Railroading 8/20/2008 Supplier Spotlight - Updates from EMD Electro-Motive Diesel Inc.'s (EMD) updated Class 66 European locomotive has become the first mainline diesel-electric locomotive to achieve EU TSI Noise Certification noise reduction standards. The locomotive achieved the standards for internal cab noise level in the "horn blowing" and "locomotive in motion" because EMD used noise-dampening materials in the assembly process. The Class 66 unit also achieved certification for external noise levels in the "standing idle," "start off" and "pass by" categories because EMD updated its engineering and manufacturing methods and processes to reduce noise and vibration. Lloyd's Register Netherlands B.V. conducted the TSI Noise Certification. Supplied by Wally Stamper

A Rail4Chem liveried class 185 stops at Wurzburg opposite the loco shed.

MAY DAY MEMORIES (1) This is a first of an occasional series of notes and updates about railways that we have visited on our overseas visits in the last 19 years.

Brig '97 / Chambéry '02 The SNCF metre gauge, 750 V third rail Ligne de Savoie, which runs from St Gervais to Vallorcine via Chamonix, and continues through Switzerland as the MC to Mar-tigny, celebrated its centenary in June. The line is one of several claiming the world gradient re-cord for adhesion working, 9% over a 2 km section. Filisur '07 During our visit, we were hauled by RhB loco Ge 4/4 III No 650 in a special UNESCO Candidature livery. We also witnessed the unveiling of a similar livery applied to railcar ABe 4/4 II No 51. The application proved successful, with the Albula and Bernina lines being listed in July as UNESCO monuments. Only two other lines hold this honour, the Semmering in Austria, visited by BDRS in '06, and the Darjeeling Railway in India, to be visited by the BDRS in .....???

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Budapest '05 Since our visit, Keleti station has been equipped with platform barriers, bringing it into line with the city's two other principal termini. It is said that the barriers, intended to reduce fare evasion, are causing a major inconvenience to the travelling public by impeding general circulation. They are no doubt not welcomed by the photography fraternity. Göttingen '93 / Harz '08 During the intervening 15 years, Magdeburg station has been transformed from a dour eastern bloc establishment to a decently equipped modern station. It is surprising to learn that work continues, with completion not due until 2015 at a projected cost of 300 million Eur.

Helsingor '01 During our visit to Denmark, as on (almost) all of our May Day excursions, we enjoyed unrestricted camera use. DSB is now reported as becoming unco-operative. The understandable requirement for a permit for professional work seems to have spilled over to the enthusiast. There have been recent cases of photography being banned by station staff. This particularly surprising in such a laissez-faire country.

Richard Green

SOCIETY VISIT TO GREAT CENTRAL RAILWAY 51 members and visitors took part in our annual coach trip this year on Sunday August 10th. This years’ venues were the Great Central Railway at Loughborough and the Chasewater Railway near Brownhills. Despite rain the previous day and the occasional shower on the way up to Loughborough we were fortunate enough to have a mainly sunny day. An early start from Basingstoke and no break en route enabled us to catch the 11.15 from Loughborough to Leicester North. Our tickets anyway were rovers with unlimited travel. For those who wanted to there was time for two return trips and photography at wayside stations like Rothley. For those who needed to fortify the inner person there was a very convenient pub/restaurant next to Quorn and Woodhouse station. Activity was fairly quiet on the railway as 70013 Oliver Cromwell was away re-enacting the 1968 15 guinea specials and new A1 60163 Tornado was delayed in moving south from Darlington. So our main train engine was an old favourite from down south - 850 Lord Nelson. Also in steam, mainly for driver training was O4 63601 and for diesel fans D5185 was operating the second service train. There was time for those who wished to “shed bash” to visit the depot and works at Loughborough although I personally found it too crowded and not good for photography. With everyone on board promptly we then made our way south west via Ashby and Tamworth to the Chasewater Railway where the management had their last service train of the day awaiting us. The railway has benefited recently for being in the wrong place at the right time. Their original set up was on the route of the M6 toll road and so they were moved and received sufficient financial compensation to help fund a new station and a substantial depot/works/museum in which much of their stock can be stored. The route is quite short but starts on an old Midland Railway branch and then follows a former colliery branch along the edge of the lake. Chasewater itself is a reservoir used to supply water for much of the canal system in Birmingham.

D5185 approaching Quorn and Woodhouse

An unidentified industrial diesel awaits departure with our train.

O4 63601 at Loughborough

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It is a major recreational centre and, on our visit, Chinese dragon boat racing had taken place earlier in the day. Our train soon reached its destination (? middle of nowhere) and the diesel ran round. To the delight of those whose musical memories stopped in the mid 1960s we had Chuck Berry performing live at a nearby outdoor gig before we departed back to the start. There was then time to visit the depot and museum, have tea and cakes before our regular driver Tim Mackie returned us in good time back to Basingstoke. This year’s trip made a modest profit and this will make up for recent losses. Thanks to John Clark for organising it, Tim for driving us and all who supported us, especially the visitors. David Brace

A DAY OUT IN YORKSHIRE (ON THE MODERN RAILWAY) As part of my varied job at the ORR I volunteer for any site trips, however far and however exotic. So, when it came to who should check out the practical problems and high costs of proposed platform extensions in South and West Yorkshire, guess who agreed to go? The trip required me to visit Pontefract Monkhill, near Knottingley and Kiveton Bridge and Kiveton Park on the Sheffield to Retford line. I managed to plan a theoretical day out that started with the 07.33 bus to Basingstoke thence my normal trip to London in time for the National Express East Coast 09.10 service to Wakefield Westgate. A 15min walk to Kirkgate should then connect with a local service to Pontefract Monkhill. Reversing direction the next train heads north to Castleford and reverses in order to get to Leeds. Theoretically there is time to pick up some lunch in Leeds before catching a Northern service to Sheffield. Time for some photography here before catching a service to Kiveton Park (passing through Kiveton Bridge) before returning to Kiveton Bridge. This was necessary as there is only an hourly service on this route and I only needed 20-30 min at each station. The plan was then to head east again back through Kiveton Park and Worksop to Retford Low Level. A two minute walk to high level would make a connection into a Hull Trains service back to London by 18.12. Across London and back home as normal would connect into the hourly bus service to Old Basing at 19.45, arriving home at 20.00. A bit crazy? May be! This trip would require a total of 14 No trains and 2 No buses all to connect, with some connections as tight as 11 min and some services with hourly frequencies or less. A few years ago this would not have been possible and I would not have attempted it. However, the current railway is running with all services regularly in the 90+% on time most days and so worth a try. Total rail distance was about 510 miles and cost about in total £100 standard class from London. Did it work? You bet it did! Every train and bus but one ran to time and made the connections with comfort. The only risk was with the connection across to Retford when the train ran 7 minutes late for an 11 minute connection. If I had missed the connection a nearly 2 hour wait was in store for the final Hull Train’s service of the day. I made it with 4 min to spare. General impressions were that most train services were busy throughout the day. The notable exception was National Express service to Wakefield in which 4 of us shared a complete coach. Perhaps the £57 standard single for the 175 miles to Wakefield was the cause.

David Brace

Class 158 at derelict Wakefield Kirkgate

Pacer Class 144 at Pontefract Monkhill

Beautifully restored booking hall at Leeds station