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Meetings are usually held on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at 7.45pm at the Wote Street Club, Basingstoke.

THIS MONTH, HOWEVER, THE MEETINGS ARE ON THE FIRST AND THIRD WEDNESDAYS

4 DECEMBER: OLD DALBY TEST TRACK with DAVE COXON. The history of the route from Melton

Mowbray to Nottingham from its opening by the Midland Railway in 1879 to its closure in 1966 followed

by examples of the varied research and tests which have taken place since.

18 DECEMBER: TRAIN OF EVENTS starring JACK WARNER for members and their guests including

a buffet supper.

8 JANUARY: SECRET SIBERIA FOLLOWED BY DARJEELING AND JAPAN WITH PAUL WHITTLE.

Paul, who gave us the River Kwai presentation returns, this time to gave a talk on an epic rail journey

across the vast region of Siberia. The second half will include details of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

Society and finally a short presentation on the Kyoto Railway Museum.

22 JANUARY: AGM followed by RAILWAY POSTCARDS CONTINUED with JOHN HOLLANDS. After

the AGM, John will continue his story of Railway Postcards.

29 JANUARY: ANNUAL DINNER - SEE PAGE 10 FOR DETAILS.

December 2019 Vol.47 No. 12

Howard Ray’s winning photograph in this year’s competition and winner of the Miscellaneous and Infrastructure category,: the Border Bridge at Berwick-upon-Tweed, incidentally not on the border between England and Scotland! Category winners’ images are on page 2.

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EDITORIAL

ANNUAL DINNER 29 JANUARY 2020

Full details are on page 10

A New National Railway Body on the Horizon?

Keith Williams has confirmed that the creation of a new national railway body is to be recommended in his forthcoming Review, and that he is looking at removing the profit motive from passenger train operating contracts which could become ‘passenger service contracts’ instead. A new national body, or ‘guiding mind’, would be in charge of letting these contracts. The Department for Transport would only be responsible in future for setting broad national railway strategy. He also believes that, to some degree, Transport for London could form a model for the new ‘guiding mind’ and he is also in favour of simplifying ticketing which has been advocated by the Rail Delivery Group.

Did You Know?

The Russian name for railway stations in Central Asia is ‘vokzal’. Sound familiar? It should because it derives from the English word Vauxhall. Apparently when a Russian delegation visited the pleasure garden in Vauxhall in the 19th Century they named the garden in St. Petersburg after it. The station nearby took up the name which was then adopted throughout Russia.

Solar Panels to Power Electric Rail Routes

Pioneering Basingstoke companies have spearheaded a world-leading project to connect solar panels directly into electrified rail routes to power trains. Basingstoke Energy Co-operative took a leading role in the design and implementation of the system known as Riding Sunbeams. Network Rail engineers, also based in Basingstoke, led the way in developing the technology and providing the trial site in Aldershot. The scheme is backed by Enterprise M3 because clean growth is a key economic driver for the region and highlighted in their Strategic Economic Plan and emerging Local Industrial Strategy. Until a partnership of 10:10, Community Energy South, Network Rail and Basingstoke Energy Co-operative (Bes Co-op) got together, direct supply of solar power to rail traction systems had never been done before .

The UK rail network is the country’s largest single user of electricity. It costs Network Rail hundreds of millions of pounds each year and generates over 3,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases.

The dream of directly connecting the railways to renewable energy took root just over 3 years ago when, with UK Government funding, the climate change charity, 10:10, teamed up with Imperial College to sketch out some designs for the technology required. The dream moved closer to reality 18 months ago when Bes Co-op was asked to look at the technical and financial feasibility of building three large scale (2MW plus) solar farms across Hampshire and Sussex. Bes Co-op worked with 10:10, Network Rail (NR) and Ricardo to refine and develop the technical specifications of the technology required.

Good news indeed.

My Day Out with Malcolm

Towards the end of September Janet and I had a few days away in Norfolk, at a hotel a few miles south of the city. The Society ‘s East Anglia correspondents, Malcolm and Alison Bown, were at home and, on a day out to the North Norfolk Railway ((NNR), I had the benefit of Malcolm’s local knowledge in locating a popular photo spot west of Sheringham by the local golf course. The location is also alongside the busy A419 which, unfortunately, has no pavements either side. We found our spot safely having had to step up onto the roadside bank a few times only to discover two other photographers lurking in the undergrowth but they were down out of sight before the train passed.

Having got our shot of WD 2-10-0 90773 heading for Weybourne and Holt and of the Class 101 dmu (51118/56352) working back to Sheringham, we drove on to Weybourne and rode the line behind the WD to Holt for a quick look around the NNR's museum there, a ride back to Sheringham for a sandwich and the dmu back to Weybourne.

We then sought out locations along the Mid-Norfolk Railway where new Class 745 and 755 dmus are being stored on newly built sidings at Hardingham and Kimberly Park awaiting acceptance into traffic. Quite an eerie sight: new stock rather than withdrawn stock lined up as far as the eye could see.

BDRS Newsletter

4

The previous day whilst in Norwich I had seen two Class 745s at and around the station of which only one moved, 745424 pulling away from the buffer stops for about a hundred yards or so before running back in alongside a Class 170 in the bay platform.

I had expected to see more.

London fares to stay frozen in 2020

Transport for London fares are to be unchanged in 2020, which will be the last year of a four-year commit-ment by the Mayor Sadiq Khan to keep fares frozen. The freeze will cover fares for single pay-as you go journeys on the Underground and Docklands Light Railway, and also on trams and buses. However, Trav-elcards will increase in price to allow for the expected 2.8 per cent increase in National Rail fares in Janu-ary. TfL’s budget is in deficit, and the situation has been made worse by the loss of fares income from the delayed Elizabeth Line which is unlikely to open before 2021.

Major changes for Welsh timetables soon

The pattern of Sunday rail timetables in Wales is set to change radically in December. Transport for Wales has said that the number of services would increase by almost half with an extra 186, or 40 per cent, being introduced on 15 December for the winter timetable. Among the many changes, Maesteg will gain a Sunday service for the first time since British Rail restored passenger trains on the line from Bridgend in 1992, while, on the north coast, Llandudno will see new winter Sunday trains running through to Blaenau Ffestiniog. Transport for Wales said these lines have not had winter Sunday trains before. On the Cambrian Coast line, between Machynlleth and Pwllheli, the previous service of one train on Sundays will be expanded to five, while the number of Sunday trains between Cardiff Central and Swansea will be doubled.

Weekday services are also being improved from in December with more four-car trains running on the Valley Lines and rolling stock upgrades on several routes.

Who do you believe?

Two days of negotiations at the arbitration service ACAS in mid November failed to avert multiple RMT strikes on South Western Railway (SWR) in December. The walkouts, in the continuing dispute over on-train staffing and the role of guards, are set to begin on 2 December and continue without a break until 11 December inclusive. The next series has been planned to start on 13 December and continue up to Christmas Eve, and strikes will restart on 27 December and continue until New Year’s Day.

SWR promise that there will always be a guard on their trains. They also promise that their guards will maintain a safety critical role on their trains. SWT believe that these promises deliver what the RMT has been asking for but unfortunately the RMT don’t agree.

Let’s hope a solution can be found very soon.

Left above, 90773 runs round its train at Sheringham; and right, a new Class 755, 755009, sits in

the new sidings along the Mid-Norfolk Railway at Hardingham.

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A CIRCUIT OF THE NORTHERN HALF OF IRELAND HOWARD RAY

In September Wendy and I embarked on another (our 14th) Great Rail Journey. This was nearer to home than some, but involved a huge amount of travelling, by no means all by rail. The ten day tour originated at Holyhead and involved a ferry crossing to/from Dublin. Having taken account of the long drive to the northern tip of Anglesey, the petrol, the cost of secure long stay car parking in Holyhead and the fact that it

was a “rail journey”, we decided to get to and from Holyhead by rail. By using Cross Country from Basingstoke to Birmingham and then Transport for Wales via Telford, Shrewsbury, Wrexham, Chester and the North Wales main line through Llandudno Junction we secured return tickets for just £83.00 each. For some incomprehensible reason we each ended up with four tickets for each journey – Basingstoke to Oxford, Oxford to Leamington Spa, Leamington to Gobowen and Gobowen to Holyhead.

Once at Holyhead we met up with our fellow travellers and boarded “Stena Adventurer” for the longer than expected, three and a half hour, crossing to Dublin.

We spent one night at Bushmills which enabled us to enjoy a fascinating trip around the Bushmills Whiskey (Irish spelling) Distillery and sample some of their output (!!) before heading for Coleraine and a relatively short NI Railways journey to Derry/Londonderry for a most informative city tour. It was then on again and across the border back into the Republic for a few days exploring the Counties of Donegal, Sligo and Mayo. All this was enhanced by our tour manager whose intimate knowledge of the history of railways in the northern half of Ireland enabled him to point out many abandoned track-beds and old railway structures. For those of us interested in the railway scene (by no means all the group!!) a highlight of this period of the trip was a private ride on the short Fintown Narrow Gauge line, which runs the length of Lough Finn over part of the Donegal Railways branch to Glenties, aboard one of their six surviving diesel railcars. During one

The particular appeal of this tour was to experience Dublin, which was new to both of us, and to take in both the Titanic Experience in Belfast and the Giants Causeway in Antrim. After just two nights in Dublin (a truly wonderful city, which should be on everyone’s “city break” list) we took the “Enterprise” service north from Dublin to Belfast over the old Great Northern main line (GN). This was a quick and easy two and a quarter hour journey from Connolly station to Lanyon Place/Central station. During the time we were in Belfast we were given a fascinating city coach tour with a superb guide, a visit to Crumlin Road Gaol and an afternoon at the superb Titanic Experience and the associated attractions. A few of us also managed to fit in a guided City Hall tour and a visit to some of the other city buildings, including the Cathedral. I had not been to Northern Ireland and Belfast since I used to go on business in the 80s so this was quite an experience. I even managed to grab some pictures of Northern Ireland Railways units at the nearby and heavily used Great Victoria Street station. From there it was largely coach travel as we travelled around the northern and western coast of Ireland taking in far too many attractions to list. However the few hours we spent at the stupendous rock formations of the Giants Causeway fully justified the coach journey.

6

of our stop over nights in Donegal town I managed to make a quick early morning trip to see and photograph the old station, now a heritage centre.

The tour of the north-west coast ended in Westport in County Mayo where it was possible to explore the old freight branch to the port before joining an Irish Rail CAF unit for our return journey to Dublin, across the centre of Ireland, taking in such places as Claremorris, Roscommon, Athlone and the major junction at Portarlington. Before departing from Westport we were fortunate in being able to photograph the Grand Hibernian luxury rail-tour stock headed by their single

Class 201 locomotive (No 216 – River Dodder), stabled in the adjoining platform.

During the three and a quarter hour journey to Heuston station, we managed to see a few of the old class 071 locomotives on freight workings. My only disappointment was that we shot past Inchicore works at speed, which precluded taking more than one picture.

This was a great trip from both a tourist and rail interest standpoint, helped enormously by the unusually pleasant weather even by UK standards, never mind that for Ireland. However for me the odd element of the trip was constantly chopping and changing currency despite everyone speaking English!

As with all such trips you cannot fit in everything. I was disappointed not to have the opportunity to ride the Dart system or even one of the two modern tram lines in Dublin. I was also disappointed not to get to the Whitehead Railway Museum, which is just thirty minutes north of Belfast. Unfortunately it was not open on the Sunday we were in Belfast. Our tour manager had offered to take a group of interested tour participants for a quick visit. A return visit to Dublin and the Belfast locality is therefore now high on the list.

A COUPLE OF STRANGERS IN TOWN ED.

One of my railway pals e-mailed me on 20 November to say that two electric locomotives were en route to Arlington’s at Eastleigh for repaints and could I try to get a couple of photos for him as he was otherwise engaged. I opened his Realtime Trains link and noted the time that the ensemble was due to pass Winchester. If I left home at about 2.30pm I would have time to get to Winchester Station and get a shot as the Class 86 and 87 hauled by a 47 passed through. Unfortunately for me they were early and I missed the opportunity.

Feeling guilty I rushed down to Eastleigh in the hope of seeing them before they disappeared into Arlingtons. No parking spaces were available in Campbell Road so I ended up in the Marks & Spencers car park near the Bishopstoke Road turning. You get an hour there free so I went in and asked for some mango chutney which, unfortunately, they didn’t have. At least my conscience was clear. I had tried to shop there so I had time to pop over to the station and the Bishopstoke Road bridge for a photograph (above). The

7

locomotives were 86101 Sir William A Stanier FRS and 87002 Royal Sovereign (both in Caledonian dark blue Stag livery) and they had been brought to Eastleigh by two tone green liveried Class 47 no. D1824 Crewe Diesel Depot.

On 27 September I found myself at Eastleigh again, this time to catch up with the friend who wanted a picture of the electric locos mentioned above and another friend who lives nearby. We weren’t expecting much activity when we met up at 12.30 but by the time I left for Winchester on the 14.14 slow we had been pleasantly surprised. There were several Freightliner crew changes on Platforms 1,2 and 3 in the hour and a half that we were together, the usual long train of cars and a GBRf Class 73 top and tailed Network Rail test train. New TransPennine trains had been delivered to the depot that morning and the GBRf Class 66 which had hauled them meandered out of the depot to head off back to Dollands Moor.

The highlight for me, however, was the appearance on a northbound freightliner of newly repainted 66503 Railway Magazine which placed itself nicely in Platform 1 for the considerable number of photographers although initially their view was impeded by a Class 158 from Romsey.which pulled into Platform 2. Fortunately the Freightliner crew change and restart gave everyone sufficient time to get a shot or two.

Also in the yard sat quietly by the station was Class 57/3 no. 57312 in one of Rail Operations Group’s liveries which I had not seen before. Another bonus.

The trio as seen from Platform 3 at Eastleigh: left to

right: 86101 Sir William A. Stanier , 87002 Royal

Sovereign and the cab of D1824 Crewe Diesel Depot

The Society would be pleased to hear from anyone who could give a railway-based presentation.

For more information about the Society please visit us at: www..com

Our secretary can be contacted on 01256 331002 or by e-mail at: secretary@bdrs70d.com

Articles for the newsletter should be sent as Word documents to bdrsnewsletter@yahoo.co.uk

This Newsletter is the copyright of and is produced by the Basingstoke and District Railway Society. It is issued free of charge for the interest of its members and of the Society’s friends.

Above, fresh out of the paint

shop, 66503 Railway Magazine

stands in Platform1 for a crew

change at Eastleigh whilst,

right, 57312 is waiting for its

next call of duty.

http://www.bdrs70d.com

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REVIEW OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS

6 November: Photographic Competition

A bumper number of entries this year, 171 in all - 51 steam, 46 non-steam, 39 metros and light rail and 35 miscellaneous and infrastructure entries. As usual, the pictures in each category were shown twice and voting slips completed at the end of each section. Sandra Brace and I did the scoring whilst those present were treated to a selection of humorous submissions by Master of Ceremonies David Brace.. Despite the record number of entries for this year’s competition attendance was on the low side, unfortunately. There was plenty of colour and variety and even a technical hitch to add to the tension of the announcement of the winners. An enjoyable and entertaining evening all the same. Here are the results:

Steam

1st = Andy Fewster and Tony Wright

2nd David Hinxman

3rd = Alistair Swann and Richard Stumpf

Non- Steam

1st Howard Ray

2nd Tony Wright

3rd David Hinxman

Metros and Light Rail

1st Andy Fewster

2nd = David Brace and David Hinxman

3rd Jeff Proudley

Miscellaneous and Infrastructure

1st Howard Ray

2nd= David and Sandra Brace

3rd= Alistair Swann and Wally Stamper

Overall Winner - Howard Ray with his winning photograph in the Miscellaneous and Infrastructure Category of the Border Bridge at Berwick-upon-Tweed, the cover photograph on this newsletter. Well done Howard and congratulations on taking the trophy for the first time.

20 November: Fifty Years of Continental Steam with Ian Foot

I don’t intend to record every country that Ian visited, suffice it to say that it was a considerable number. Nor will I say much about where the photographs were taken as I didn’t know where the majority were, other than somewhere in the country that he was highlighting at the time and, even if I did know, it is highly likely that I couldn’t spell them. So this is very much a ‘broad brush’ review of a fascinating and entertaining session which homed in on where to find steam, large and small on wide, standard and various narrow gauges, often but not always in Europe, after British steam came to an end in 1968.

Ian started in Austria and, as predicted by Tony Wright with his October newsletter cover shot, among the images we saw was the same iron ore line with top and tail steam. In several of the countries visited we saw examples of Kriegsloks and, in Turkey, a Stanier loco of which one or two in recent years have been repatriated to the UK. WD Austerities were also in evidence and S160s from the U.S.A. Greece operated three gauges in the early 60s and it was interesting to see the Harz Mountains system with 100 per cent steam operation. It was -18C during Ian’s visit to Finland which included a trip close to the western Russian border. It had been difficult at the time getting photographs in Hungary but in Jordan and Syria the powers that be gladly put on run-pasts. In Italy the Crosti boilered singles made for an odd sight whilst, in Portugal, all locos were oil fired. There was plenty of narrow gauge steam around Porto and more narrow gauge in Poland and Romania. Romania also boasted their own versions of some Prussian and German locos. There were plenty of Garratts in South Africa and 5’6’’ gauge monsters on RENFE tracks in Spain. What a super collection of colourful and historic images.

Running over time (to the dismay of several including myself who had to catch a train home), not everyone could stay until the end of Ian’s presentation. The break halfway through was too long which was a shame as, up until the point that I had to leave, it had been a real treat to go back in time and enjoy the steam still available after its demise in the UK and not too far away in some cases.

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CHRISTMAS CROSSWORD - As usual, some clues may need a little research. Solution in the

January 2020 newsletter.

Across: 1. A Nelson who laid down his cloak for a queen 4. And 6. Down. A West Country once given Harry Potter colours 7. A rail yard on the North Kent line 8. What you do to a fire, near Manchester 10. A Nelson and a Fifty 11. Meccano man? Not just 00. 13. The colour of this Royal Scots regiment 14. Sad Class 66s because they are blue? 18. Once full of GW locos steam or diesel 21. Found in every railway workshop once upon a time 22.The first part of this loco name is a town in Belgium; the second part is .... 24.The Paris metro 26.Our very own County class loco, County of ......... 28. Sounding like an alternative, the terminus for East Sussex Coastway services 29 and 31. A regular stopping place for steam specials on the Settle and Carlisle 30.The code for Thornaby 32. A poet in the Britannia Class

Down: 1. Located in Essex at the Travelcard limit 2. There is a Long one near Nottingham and Shirley appeared in the James Bond film Goldfinger 4. This Welsh town was once served by six railway lines; its station reopened in 1992 5. There were 74 in this class of fondly remembered diesel locomotive 9. Eastleigh 12. Holden was its CME from 1885 to 1907 15.The NER’s CME one hundred years ago 16.This station sounds like an engine driver 17. The name given to a short lived livery of National Express East Anglia 19. A large London LMS engine shed 20. Later diesel and electric locos were equipped with this (abbr.) 23. A Scottish glen and the name of LNER Class D43 no. 62483 25. David Cameron and Boris Johnson’s school 27. The hotel here was falling down until recently and the shed was coded 67C in 1959 29. A Manchester depot 30. A large East Midlands depot

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MEETINGS OF OTHER SOCIETIES

Meon Valley Locomotive Society: 7.45pm, Church Hall, Free Street, Bishops Waltham.

10 December – Members’ Evening

14 January 2020: Martyn Davies with Mixed Transport

Newbury and District Transport Group: 7.30pm, Kennet School Library, Stone Lane, Thatcham.

16 December - Robert Williams, Chief Executive of Reading Buses.

Oxfordshire Railway Society: 7.30pm, Seacourt Day Centre, Seacourt Road, Botley, Oxford

11 December: TBA

RCTS Solent Branch:7.30pm, Railway Institute, Romsey Road, Eastleigh.

18 December: Films presented by Dave Doulton

15 January 2020: Southampton Trams with Martin Petch

RCTS Woking Branch: 7.15pm, United Reformed Church, White Rose Lane, Woking.

17 December - Branch AGM/An Evening with Gordon Pettitt

Reading Transport Group: 7.45pm, Church House, Church Street, Caversham, Reading

For meetings please visit https://readingtransportgroup.weebly.com/

CHRISTMAS WORDSEARCH - WELSH HIGHLAND RAILWAY STATIONS AND REQUEST STOPS

Pont Croesor Dinas Snowdon Ranger Waunfawr

Nantmor Bontnewydd Beddgelert

Meillionen Porthmadog Plas y Nant

Rhyd Ddu Tryfan Junction Caernarfon

WHERE AM I?

No takers last month when I was at Herston on the Swanage Railway. As it is Christmas this month here is a special treat - two more teasers.

W A U N F A W R C N E N O I L L I E M R G H Y P

C O D I O L I O T E N E X N A I N T I N O M L D

B E D D G E L E R T L A O A S N T A F S T A R E

A M D E T P L M O T A R A N G E R L F F S G I A

C N Y I D A A S B I G O O T O R O P I Y P L L R

R O H A N D N T B N E W Z M N C A R N A R F O N

T N R S L A G I E T D H E O E U Q A M T O T O V

H E R S L V S P R O S E O R C T N O P E A R P K

O B I E B O N T N E W Y D D R T I Q U O T H N L

G O D A M H T R O P E A T O C U J U N C T I O N

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ANNUAL DINNER — 29th JANUARY 2020

All Society members, their partners and friends are invited to attend the 2020 Society dinner which will be

held at the Basingstoke College of Technology (BCoT) restaurant, 6.30pm for 7.00pm, on Wednesday

29th January 2019. The menu options for the dinner are set out below. The cost will be £22 per head for

three courses plus petit fours and tea or coffee. The restaurant will endeavour to meet any special dietary

requirements. The BCoT restaurant, situated at the College in Worting Road, Basingstoke (RG21 8TN),

has an excellent reputation and has a licensed cash bar. Last year's dinner at the same venue was en-

joyed by all. The College is about 15 minutes' walk from the railway station, several bus services from the

station pass the site and there is free on-site parking.

If you would like to attend the dinner please indicate your menu selection below and advise of any

dietary requirements or allergies and return it to Tony Wright, Iain Henshaw or Wally Stamper with

a cheque for £22 per head, payable to BDRS, by Monday 20th January at the latest.

Alternatively email your choices to bdrsweb@bdrs70d.co.uk. Please include an email address if you have

one as we will confirm arrangements closer to the time.

MENU

Name(s)……………………………………………….

Starter (Choose One)

Mackerel pate with watercress salad

Cream of tomato soup

Stilton stuffed field mushrooms, tomato chutney

*****

Main (Choose One)

Steamed salmon, herb crushed new potatoes, lemon cream sauce

Vegetable wellington (Contains Carrot, Parsnip, Mushrooms, Sweet Potato and Celeriac)

(Vegetarian)

Pork belly, calvados sauce, crackling, caramelised apples and garlic mash.

Chicken in wild mushroom sauce

All mains with a choice of vegetables.

*****

Dessert (choose one)

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Crème brulee

Exotic fruit salad in a brandy snap with clotted cream

**Please indicate any allergies or dietary requirements**