Trains of thought
The Collett ‘Super Saloons’ - The eight ‘Super Saloons’ were arguably the most luxurious coaches built by the Great Western Railway and, as Andrew Wilson explains, were reserved for prestige workings.
Carlisle’s LNER engine sheds: North and East - Roger Griffiths and John Hooper look at ex-North British Railway branch line sheds either side of the border, as well as the former North Eastern Railway premises east of Citadel station, Carlisle’s London Road, and its outstations.
Not thought worthy of investment by BR, the Hawkhurst branch is in its last weeks as ‘H’ class No 3 I 543 calls at Horsmonden on 27 May 1961. T B Owen/Colour-Rail.com/39 1886
STEAM DAYS in Colour 199: The Gourock and Wemyss Bay lines - Served from Glasgow (Central), the Gourock branch and the neighbouring route to Wemyss Bay have Caledonian heritage, with both lines offering suburban services as well as connection with Clyde steamers.
Steam Days subscriptions
Recycled ROD tenders - After World War I, surplus Railway Operating Division tenders were not wasted. Chris Andrews explores their varied extended lives..
Steam in Kent - Sixty years ago: Phase Two - AGS Davies recollects the passing of more steam services in Kent when June 1961 saw the first electric London-Tonbridge-Dover and Paddock Wood-Maidstone (West) services, and enthusiast groups were marking significant change and branch line closures.
Book review
Tail Lamp - readers’ letters
Cover: A symbolic loss with the advance of Phase Two of the Kent electrification programme was the sight of Bulleid Pacifies resplendent in the finery of the ‘Golden Arrow’ - Doncaster built Bo-Bo electrics were to take over from Monday, 12 June 1961. This 10 September I960 view records Stewarts Lane allocated ‘Battle of Britain’ No 34088 213 Squadron departing London (Victoria) and ascending Grosvenor bank with the all-Pullman service to Folkestone.
Contents page photo: Collett 0-4-2T No 1468 hurries away from Lostwithiel with the 2.25pm service to Fowey on 3 April 1961. I enjoyed a trip over the Fowey branch in a motor coach when on a holiday to Perranporth with my wife to be when we took out a week’s railrover ticket covering Cornwall and going somewhere in the area by train every day of the seven days.
In this issue of Steam Days magazine we take a look at the eight Great Western ‘Super Saloon’ coaches, constructed in 1931, initially for the Plymouth boat trains until these services ceased, and afterwards they could be found on Newbury race traffic and other prestigious trains, and were familiarly known as ‘GWR Pullmans’. They were more spacious than normal coaching stock, with plush interiors, they had recessed doors. These eight vehicles originally carried names of members of the Royal family. Five were purchased for preservation, and three held by the Great Western Society were used on charter excursions in the 1970s.
Over the years I have travelled over many interesting lines and in various types of coaching stock. Many of the trains that I travelled on, particularly between Worcester and Great Malvern to spend a day wandering over the Malvern Hills to go blackberry picking, or to attend big-band concerts, consisted of non-corridor coaches. I recall, as a late teenager, that on the last train out of Malvern on a Sunday night after a concert at the Winter Gardens, everyone would pile into the unlit non-corridor coaches with much hilarity!
One of my favourite carriage types to travel in during the late 1940s and early 1950s were auto-trailers. They could be found on many branch lines at the time. However, without doubt my favourite form of travel from Worcester, where I lived, to Malvern, were the Great Western railcars. I preferred the early streamlined cars, Nos I to 18, to the later ones. They could often be seen towing an auto-trailer. We had seven of these railcars, both types were allocated to Worcester in 1947 for services to and from Malvern, Bromyard, Kidderminster and Honeybourne, and others were allocated to depots in South Wales and in the Midlands, and to Reading, Weymouth, Oxford and Bristol (St Philip’s Marsh) for local services.
As a young rail traveller I would be fascinated by the maps, etc, on the walls of the compartments in the variety of corridor stock that I travelled in, often tracing my journey at the time. I vividly remember the leather strap to open the window as, with the window down, my trainspotting en route was easier, assuming that no one else in the carriage objected. Mind you, standing at the end of the carriage was an even better place to be for a spotter.
I remember at Worcester (Shrub Hill), waiting for the arrival at 7.25pm of the 4.45pm Paddington to Hereford, Leominster and Wolverhampton train that split at Worcester and where the train included a carriage with recessed door that could have been one of the GWR Centenary coaches that were cascaded down in their latter days to a variety of trains. The first portion of the train left Worcester (Shrub Hill) for Hereford at 7.33pm, the Leominster portion departed at 7.38pm, and the Wolverhampton portion left at 7.41pm, sometimes hauled by a 2-6-2T. Happy days! Enjoy your own memorable days and your read.
The Editor