Who Was KF Antia?
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Recording Yesterday for Tomorrow WELSH HIGHLAND HERITAGE Supplement - December 2009 Who Was K.F. Antia? they include a “new looking” Beddgelert station, some have So who was Antia? Some have specu- claimed they date from very lated that he might have been an ap- early in the life of the railway prentice with one of the main line - despite the evidence of railway companies. Unfortunately, it Antia’s text. has been impossible to establish his date of birth but he came from an Indian Par- His photograph of Portmadoc see (Zoroastrian) family. At the time of Cambrian Crossing (which is his Welsh visit, he was studying Civil certainly in the condition pri- Engineering at King’s College, London, or to its renewal in November from 3 October 1923 to June 1926, 1928) has appeared in Welsh when he left with a B.Sc.Eng. (Hons.). Highland Heritage (WHH) 3, p8 (where it was dated 1928), He joined Indian Railways and went on WHH 28, p. 3 (undated, but to write ‘Railway Track’, subtitled: De- some speculation in WHH 30, sign, Construction, Maintenance, and p.3 that it was early in the Renewal of Permanent Way with notes WHR’s life) and WHH 42, on signalling and bridge maintenance, p.2 (dated 1923 – which is first published by the New Book Com- unlikely). The photo could pany, Bombay in July 1945. Based on suggest that work on the Indian railway practice, it went through GWR was being undertaken five editions to ‘Railway track Connec- at the time: the fence panel to tions or Points and Crossings’ (1962). the right of the cabin removed Copies of the first edition fetch £45 on (to give access?), the protec- the second hand market (July 2009). tive board removed from the His other published title was ‘Structural front of the cabin, ballast Concrete’ (1967). cleared from between GWR K F Antia submitted a copy of an illus- sleepers (but was that abnormal?). If so, He again attended King's from October trated (but undated) paper he had writ- it might have been during works in con- 1954 for a year to obtain an M.Sc. with ten on the Festiniog and Welsh sequence of Lt. Col. Mount’s inspection his thesis: 1. Fundamentals of Rein- Highland Railways to Stephens’ offices (the requirement to move the north side forced Concrete; 2. Railway Track De- at Tonbridge, where it was date stamped sign, Construction, Maintenance, and as received on ‘8 NOV 1928’. Richard Maund Renewal. His career was as a respected engineer, concentrating latterly on con- The “dating” of the paper - but more Investigates........ crete work, with Indian Railways. For particularly of his photographs accom- their 1968/9 session he was elected panying it - has been the subject of de- President of the Institution of Engineers bate among the cognoscenti. So far as WHR trap points would have involved (India) and in 1969 the Institution creat- the Welsh Highland element is con- rodding changes), or during work to ed The K F Antia Memorial Prize in his cerned, his description of the South remove the mechanical gong in winter memory (presumably he died in office); Snowdon - Beddgelert section states 1923/4, or while the GWR were the prize is awarded for the best paper that this is only “a couple of years old” resleepering 29½ chains of their line published in the Institution's Journal on while the WHR revenue figures used through the site of the crossing during any subject related to engineering. are those for calendar year 1924 - both March and April 1925 – or, of course, at thus suggesting it was written in 1925; some other time during normal mainte- My thanks to David Woodcock for rais- the Railway Clearing House map in- nance! It is probably not unreasonable ing some “debating points” about cluded is dated 1928. All this means the to conclude that the photographs were Antia’s crossing photo. paper was written at some time between taken and the paper written by spring 1925 and 1928. This does not preclude 1925. Why it was sent to Tonbridge the photos having been taken earlier three years later, however, remains un- although that would seem unlikely. As explained. 1 Recording Yesterday for Tomorrow The Antia Treatise This treatise or thesis was probably written in 1924/25 when K.F. Antia was a student at Kings College London. It is in- teresting for being an eye witness account of the WHR & FR by a young man who was to become a significant figure in Indian Railways. The photographs have been re-scanned from the originals, which only measured about 1½” x 1” There are some errors inevitably, and yellow highlighted text shows a correction with the benefit of hindsight! used for mineral traffic only, but in 1865 the The two railways are a combination of a very railway was inspected by Government offi- old and a comparatively modern railway cials, and passenger traffic was sanctioned placed under the same management in 1923. with a speed limit of 12 m.p.h. The Festiniog Railway dates back to 1832 and is the first narrow gauge railway that A year later the line was extended to Duffws came into existence. The Welsh Highland just beyond Blaenau Festiniog. Railway is made up of the NWNG Ry, the P.B. & S.S.Ry and the Croesor Tramway ex- In 1867 the Cambrian Railways from Pwllhe- tended from Croesor Junction in 1923 li to Barmouth was opened and four years later an exchange station at Minffordd was The Festiniog District is, besides Llanberis, constructed. The transference of slates is the greatest slate producing region in the made by running the narrow gauge wagons world. The slates are mainly quarried in on to raised platforms alongside the standard ichael Davies was in contact Blaenau Festiniog about twelve miles from gauge wagons . with the late J.A. (Arthur) Ig- Cardlgan Bay and in the last century used to Mgulden from the late 1950s, be brought down on pack horses to the mouth With the advent of L & N.W.R. line to realising he was perhaps the closest per- of the River Dwyryd and transferred to boats. Blaenau Festiniog, a part of the slate traffic son still alive who had worked with his was lost to it. They also built a rival port at hero, the king of light railways, Col. Hol- In 1807 William Madocks, from whom the Deganwy. man Fred Stephens. town of Portmadoc derived its name, built Arthur was still in the employ of British the Traethmawr Embankment ¾ mile long across the estuary of the Glaslyn and re- Railways Southern Region at the time, claimed thousands of acres of land from the but following his retirement in the mid sea. James 60s, he was able to devote more time to Spooner, in conjunction with Mr. Madocks, answering queries concerning the projected a horse tramway from Blaenau Fes- 'Tonbridge empire' and in 1970 invited tiniog to Portmadoc, making use of this em- Michael to Tonbridge where he still bankment. lived. They became quite close over the next few years and Michael was able to The original tramway was one worked by acquire certain items thet Arthur had gravity. In a length of about 13 miles the line thoughtfully preserved on the closure of descended approximately 700 feet, and load- his office in 1948. Amongst these was a ed slate wagons came down to Portmadoc under their own weight, as they do to this manilla folder, the back of which was day. The empty wagons were easily pulled endorsed 'Shropshire & Montgomery- up the gradient by horses. shire Railway Co - Rents List Year 1938' and this folder comprised the Antia trea- The track was of cast iron rails 1 ½” wide tise which included photographs of the and 2 ½” deep and supported on stone sleep- FR & WHR taken c1925. A single date ers, mostly slate blocks, by cast iron chairs. stamp (8th Nov 1928) on the back of the These rails weighed 16 lbs to the yard. The folder was the only other clue to date the gauge of the railway was 1' 11 ½”. The car- work. rying capacity of the horse drawn wagons was 2 to 3 tons and this has not varied much. he longest narrow gauge system in the Although the idea of using locomotives on British Isles has the advantage of the line originated with James Spooner it was Tpassing through the best part of N. left to his son Charles to carry this into ef- Wales as regards scenery. The whole of fect. In 1863 two 0-4-0 type of saddle tank Snowdonia is traversed from north to south engines were ordered from Messrs G. Eng- by the Welsh Highland Railway, and by the land & Co., and with their advent the rails Festiniog Railway which passes through the were changed to 30 Ibs per yard. beautiful Festiniog valley; the gauge of both Top - Beddgelert Siding - note Croesor chairs. is 1’ 11 ½”. For upwards of 30 years the line had been Above - Beddgelert station & bookstall 2 Recording Yesterday for Tomorrow The Dinas-S.Snowdon line was re-opened in July 1922 and S.Snowdon was linked to Port- madoc a year later. Carnarvon was to be the terminus of the Welsh Highland Hallway but Dinas Junction still holds this position. It is about three miles from Carnarvon and makes a junction with the London Midland and Scottish Railway. The line after running on a level for a short distance, begins to climb to the foot of Snow- don.