RAILWAY ENTHUSIASTS 2017

January 2017: ST. PANCRAS STATION January's meeting was back at the Richard Herrod, where our subject was the history and refurbishment of St Pancras Station. Several members contributed material and a wide range of themes were covered, including the source of the bricks for the Midland Grand Hotel (Thomas Gripper of Nottingham, with clay sourced from near Loughborough), the novel and unique design of Barlow’s engine shed which allowed for the warehousing of vast quantities of Burton Ale below the floor, the vast Somerstown goods depot which once stood alongside the station and dealt with coal, milk and perishable goods from the East Midlands (the site now occupied by the British Library and the Crick Institute).

We heard about the flamboyant Neo-Gothic design of the Midland Grand Hotel by George Gilbert Scott, and the luxury that it afforded its original clientele, its later decline and threat of demolition and its renewal as the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel in parallel with the restoration of the station as the Eurostar terminus. We learnt that Graeme and Susan Bunting were about to spend a few days at the Renaissance Hotel! – some of their photos are shown below.

The entrance to the hotel

The Grand Staircase

The staircase was used in the filming of the Spice Girls video for Wannabe in 1996 and is topped off by a spectacular ceiling

A lavishly decorated side corridor leads towards the Ladies Smoking Room ………

…… and a terrace with a good view of the clock tower

The original taxi rank where Victorian horse and cart Hansom Carriages dropped wealthy passengers at the station is now the Hansom Lounge and reception area

The former Booking Office is now a restaurant

In January 2017 the renovated Barlow train shed had a temporary exhibit - a giant, twisted, rotating blade of aluminium to “welcome visitors and perhaps even calm them down”. The work by Ron Arad is part of an annual partnership between the station’s owners HS1 and the Royal Academy of Arts.

Standing on the platform is a larger-than-life size statue of poet John Betjeman by Martin Jennings.

Betjeman had been the driving force behind efforts to save the site when it was threatened by development plans during the 1960’s and the sculpture stands as a tribute to the man who made the redevelopment of the station possible.

Another statue, The Meeting Place, reflects the romantic nature of train travel, and may remind travellers of a scene from Brief Encounter.

The work is modelled on the sculptor and his half-French wife Catherine, 38, and was originally to be of the couple kissing. But London and Continental Railways, which commissioned it, thought the pose too risqué so the statue shows the lovers touching foreheads as they clasp.

It is a poignant meeting of a chic French woman reunited with her English lover and aims to symbolise the meeting of two cultures as it sits beneath the imposing iron archways constructed by engineer William Barlow in 1868, and the station clock.

Further reading: St Pancras Station by Jack Simmons ISBN 0 948667 68 0

St Pancras Station by Simon Bradley ISBN 978 1 86197 951 3

The Transformation of St Pancras Station by Alastair Lansley ISBN 978 1 8669 882 5

Some online items: St Pancras International – Decay and Restoration

A 40 minute film of the history of the station up to its transformation

Lucinda Lambton’s musings on the glories of the hotel before its refurbishment

A publicity film for the Renaissance Grand Hotel showing its interiors.

February 2017: FILMS This month we met at the Richard Herrod to be entertained by some of Andrew Merriman’s collection of railway films, We first saw two productions by the British Transport Films Unit from the early ‘50s, one following the staff of a Leicester shoe factory’s annual day trip to London, and another showing a day in the life of York station through the eyes of its station master. Both very nostalgic. After that we watched a compilation of amateur enthusiasts’ film of the last day.

March 2017: YORK RAIL MUSEUM Our meeting this month took us to the National Rail Museum at York. Travelling up by several different trains all eighteen of us met up at York station by 12:30, and spent the afternoon among the fascinating exhibits in the two large halls. Of particular interest to some was the sight of Flying Scotsman in the workshop undergoing routine maintenance as well as Sir Nigel Gresley stripped to the frames for a major overhaul. Two brave members even endured The Mallard Experience! Click here to see a short video of the museum.

By 5:00 museum fatigue was setting in so we assembled for a group photo and then adjourned to an equally fascinating real ale bar at the station to await our trains home. A very satisfying outing.

March 2017: GENERAL MEETING Many thanks to Mike, Ken and Andrew for all their work on the table this last meeting, it looked really good and generated interest from several passers-by during the break, some of whom might be joining us for an experience of our meetings.

April 2017: TOTON MARSHALLING YARDS This month was a presentation by our very own Andrew Merriman on the history of Toton Marshalling Yards. Well, it was to have been a presentation, but the gods of misfortune decided that they would arrange for a download to be necessary on the laptop, starting ½ hour before the start, and running until 11.00.

With a little help from his friends, the start was suitably delayed but, as time was marching along, and we had a visitor from Long Eaton U3A, Andrew got into his stride by working off his “script”.

A half time break enabled the presentation to started proper and everyone was able to see the various illustrations which were supposed to have accompanied the talk.

Our smaller than usual group received the talk well and there were some anecdotes from Andrew, which brought a smile to people’s faces. Our visitor, who expressed his pleasure at the welcome he received and the presentation itself, was impressed enough (if impressed is the right word) to ask Andrew to repeat his presentation at the Preview Night for an exhibition about Toton to be held over the next few months at the Erewash Museum in Ilkeston.

May 2017: TOTON REMEMBERED This photo was received from the "Toton Remembered" project which is on at the Erewash Museum in Ilkeston for the next few weeks. This is me giving my cut-down presentation, complete with hecklers, which put me off quite a bit!

They were pleased that we turned up and send their thanks.

Andrew

July 2017: PEAK RAIL This month we decided to investigate Peak Rail a four mile stretch of preserved line that extends the Derwent Valley Line by a further four miles. Fifteen of us met at Carlton station and boarded the 10:08 to Matlock, where a very helpful train steward ensured that we paid the lowest prices for our return tickets.

At Matlock after a picturesque ride up the Derwent valley we walked the few hundred yards to the Peak Rail station and boarded the diesel drawn train standing in the station, and took a leisurely scenic trip to the end of the line at Rowsley South. At this point our plans to slowly make our way back during the afternoon were revised when the scheduled steam engine developed a mechanical fault and had to be withdrawn. A replacement diesel loco was available (remembered as a Toton engine by one of our number), but with the timetable now in disarray we took the first available train back to Matlock and filled our time there until our return to Carlton.

Disappointing in some ways, but everyone seemed to have enjoyed the outing nonetheless.

Nick Clark

August 2017: CRICH TRAMWAY MUSEUM The destination for our August meeting was the National Tramway Museum at Crich. The museum contains over 60 (mainly British) trams built between 1900 and 1930 and is set within Crich Tramway Village, a period village containing a pub, cafe, old-style sweetshop and tram depots.

The museum's collection of trams runs through the village setting with visitors transported one mile out into the local countryside and back. We spent our time avoiding the rain by riding in the trams (fare one old penny) and looking around the well laid out museum as well as admiring the many trams in the collection.

September 2017: FILMS An indoor meeting for the group this month. We met at the Richard Herrod for a programme of railway related films, first a collection of amateur films documenting the many railway lines in Wales, standard and narrow gauge, some if which form the basis of preserved lines, and most of which are long gone.

After this we had a British Transport Film - Cyclists Special, dating from 1955 when the railways were encouraging touring cyclists with specially laid-on excursion trains.

We are bringing our next meeting forward by a week or so to take advantage of the Barrow Hill Roundhouse Grand Reopening Gala, where we’re eagerly anticipating seeing two famous locomotives, Flying Scotsman and Tornado, in operation.

October 2017: Barrow hill Roundhouse A dozen of us took the train from Carlton to Chesterfield, where a shuttle bus was waiting to take us the few miles to the venue.

The former steam roundhouse is a unique example of 19th century railway architecture. It is the last surviving operational roundhouse engine shed in Great Britain and now houses a museum and railway engine collection as well as engineering workshops for maintenance of steam and diesel locomotives. It is host to a wide range of activities, including beer festivals and, during this this Reopening Gala, a community play dramatizing the history of the area.

During the Gala two famous locomotives, Flying Scotsman and Tornado, were visiting and were in steam for close-up inspection and short rides along a stretch of track. A chance to climb up onto the footplate of Flying Scotsman was not to be missed. The weather was kind to us and all enjoyed the visit. http://www.barrowhill.org/index.html will give you more information about the site.

November 2017 The November meeting of the group was an indoor session at the Richard Herrod where we had a selection of films to watch. First a review of the standard BR steam locomotive classes with the opinions of the drivers and firemen who had to use them, an entertaining film and not as technical as some feared.

To follow was some film of Freight on now redundant mineral lines, and Snow, an academy nominated film showing BR coping with the winter of 1963. Very seasonal. In the time remaining we discussed plans for meetings and excursions next year.

Nick Clark December 2017 Where better for a railway excursion in December than a day at the seaside? We agreed to have a trip to Skegness, so on a cold but thankfully dry Tuesday several hardy souls met at Nottingham station, platform 2, clutching their mugs of hot coffee in time to catch the 09:55 train.

Two hours later we were in an overcast Skegness and set off to find the sea and some amusement. Fortunately plenty of fish & chip shops and pubs were open to keep us provisioned and there were still a few arcades ready this late in the season to separate us from our small change.

I was even able to find a stick of rock to take home with me. A very enjoyable day, (a first visit to Skeggy for me), which I found suitably “bracing”.

Nick Clark