The Colonel 65 Issn 0268-778X1
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE COLONEL 65 ISSN 0268-778X1 THE COLONEL Number 65 Winter 2001 CONTENTS 2 - Editorial 12 - From Chichester 3 - News to Selsey Bill 7 - Letters 14 - Who Wants the East 9 - Scratchbuilding Sussex Light Railway? WC&PR Coaches 20 - Brent’s Browsings THE JOURNAL OF THE COLONEL STEPHENS SOCIETY FOR THE ENTHUSIAST OF THE LIGHT AND NARROW GAUGE RAILWAYS OF COLONEL HOLMAN F. STEPHENS 2 THE COLONEL 65 Editorial: Tenterden mud-slinging f this issue reaches you in time, a Merry developments, but I can do no better than to I Christmas to you all: if not, then a Happy refer you to a six-page news feature exploring New Year! And it will indeed be a happier the events and their repercussions in consid- New Year for the lucky recipients of the erable depth in the December issue of Herit- funds generously allocated by the last AGM age Railway magazine. to support the restoration of Colonel-related This is as fine a piece of preservation artefacts, as detailed on page 6. society journalism as you are likely to find, I won’t bore you with a further reiteration for which the author and editor Robin Jones of my belief that these donations are the most deserves a gold star, if not a Pulitzer Prize. worthwhile thing that our society does, but I His impartial analysis of the muddy politics do get an extra buzz from the fact that the at Tenterden comes as a breath of fresh air, folks involved were informed of their wind- and includes a reasoned assessment of the fall at Christmas. Seems appropriate. controversial extension to Robertsbridge that What originally kicked off the idea for would reunite the K&ESR with the main line. donating society money to preservation pro- On that note, I have been asked to clarify jects, you may remember, was the dire finan- the roles of the various parties involved in the cial crisis at the Tenterden Railway Company, Robertsbridge extension proposals, of which the proprietor of the preserved K&ESR. three have been referred to in these pages The fallout from this continued at the from time to time. I hope to do so, but for TRC’s AGM on 20 October, apparently a now, Robin’s article is required reading for raucous affair in which managing director all those who care about the K&ESR. SH David Stratton and finance director Paul Wil- son both resigned. Unfortunately, a surfeit of news stories in this issue meant there wasn’t enough space to chronicle these dramatic Staff Officers www.colonelstephenssociety.org.uk CHAIRMAN Bryn Hir, Llanio Road, Llwyn-y-Groes, Derek Smith Tregaron, Dyfed SY25 6PY 30 Upper Road, Meole Brace, Tel: 01974 821281 Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY3 9SQ Email: [email protected] Tel: 01743 249088 ARCHIVIST EDITOR Stuart Marshall Stephen Hannington 53 Peasland Road, Saffron Walden, 131 Borstal Street, Rochester, Essex CB11 3ED. Tel: 01799 500528 Kent ME1 3JU Email: [email protected] Tel: 01634 830370 Email: [email protected] PUBLICITY OFFICER Julia Hastings MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY 4 Coronation Cottages, Robertsbridge, David Powell East Sussex TN32 5PE Gateways, Bledlow Road, Saunderton, Tel: 01580 881711 Princes Risborough, Bucks HP27 9NG Email: [email protected] Tel: 01844 343377 Email: [email protected] TREASURER Nigel Bird THE COLONEL 65 3 Society News Will you be coming Treasurer Nigel Bird has been a busy man the society, will be provided after the meet- firming up details of next year’s AGM, which ing. After the AGM we are booked on the will take place on Saturday 27 April 2002 15.05 train from Waunfawr to Caernarfon, (not 28 April as stated in the last issue. Sorry arriving back in Waunfawr at 16.30. Train about that). fares will be paid by the Society. The venue will be the Snowdonia Park “I have also arranged footplate passes to Brew Pub, Waunfawr, Caernarfon, Gwynedd be raffled off at the AGM,” said Nigel. “This LL55 4AQ (telephone 01286 650218, email hopefully will be on one of the splendid [email protected]). It is easy to South African Garratt locos.” find, says Nigel, on the A4085 from Caernar- The following day, Sunday 28th April, fon to Beddgelert, and is adjacent to the Nigel hopes to arrange a guided tour of the Welsh Highland Railway station. WHR and a trip on the Welsh Highland This is a substantial pub that brews its (Porthmadog) at the other end of the line own beer and provides a full meals service, from Caernarfon, but not yet connected. Final with a campsite attached. However, accom- arrangements have yet to be confirmed. modation is not available at the pub itself, but If you intend to come please let Nigel Nigel says there is plenty to be found locally know as soon as possible so that he can ar- of all types and price ranges. range numbers for catering and the train trip. The nearest Tourist Information Centre is Please also tell him if you intend to stay over at Caernarfon (telephone 01286 672232) or for the Sunday. His contact details are at the you could contact your local Tourist Infor- foot of the opposite page. mation Centre and they can provide details of facilities in North Wales. The AGM will start at 12.00 mid-day, and tea/coffee and sandwiches, paid for by Date set for Fawley Hill visit The date for the visit to Sir William McAl- membership secretary David Powell. “I pine's private railway and museum at have contacted Roy Slaymaker: he will Fawley Hill near Henley, as detailed in the try, but we are very unlikely to get any last Colonel, has been confirmed as Sun- more tickets.” day 26 May 2002. If you still wish to come on this visit, Currently, we are over-subscribed for will you please confirm your initial re- this visit. However, as the date is now con- sponse by e-mail or phone to David - de- firmed and as this is a bank holiday week- tails opposite - as soon as possible. If we end, it is possible that some of those who are still oversubscribed, tickets will be sent initially expressed interest will now have out in the order in which the initial re- other plans. quests were received. “Currently I have bids for 28 tickets against an initial allocation of 20,” said 4 THE COLONEL 65 Society News Binders now available As promised in the last issue, binders are way of protecting your treasured collection now available for The Colonel. They are of this “excellent little newsletter”, as the hard-covered Cordex binders produced by MRJ has described it. Modern Bookbinders of a type that should be They cost £5 each, including postage, familiar to members of other railway socie- and are available from editor Stephen Han- ties, who use the same product. nington at the address given at the foot of Produced in dark blue, to match the liver- page 2. Cheques should be made payable to ies of S&MR and K&ESR locos, they have The Colonel Stephens Society. The Colonel printed in gold capitals on the If you would rather wait and see what spine and hold up to 12 issues per binder. To they’re like, samples of the binders will be house a complete collection of Colonels to available for inspection at the AGM in date, you would need six. Waunfawr next April. Individual issues are held in place by Thanks to member Hugh Smith for for- stretch cords, and they do provide a very neat warding details of these items. Membership record broken Good news on the membership front, fol- Railway Modeller lowing the latest round of renewals. We currently have 233 members, an increase of 14 on last year, and the highest number scoop for society of members we have ever had, beating our Something of a publicity coup for the society 1997 record of 213. has been achieved by membership secretary This means that the decline that set in back then has been well and truly re- David Powell. As a result of his sterling ef- versed and things now look healthier than forts, we have got a significant editorial plug ever. We have had only one resignation in in the ‘New Members Welcome’ section of the past year due to a change of interests, the latest issue of the Railway Modeller. according to membership secretary David “I had a round-robin from RM’s Maureen Powell. Jenkins asking for an update of society secre- Our website also seems to be paying taries,” said David. “As I had been in regular off, having generated five new members in communication with Maureen from 1983-92, the last twelve months. when I had been our local model railway You may remember that, rather than club’s secretary, I included a some additional increase subscription this year, it was details of the CSS. The result – unasked for decided to ask for voluntary donations but very welcome – is on page 627 of the instead. On that topic, David had this to December issue.” say: “Thank you to all those members, too Also considering our mention in last numerous to list, who included a donation year’s Model Railway Journal number 119, with their subscription renewals.” we seem to have done rather well in the Hear hear. mainstream model railway press of late. Let’s hope we can keep it up. THE COLONEL 65 5 News Selsey in 7mm from Agenoria Agenoria Models has released its 7mm scale Agenoria produces a range of 28 (and etched kit for the unique Peckett 2-4-2T Sel- counting) light, industrial and narrow gauge sey of the Selsey Tramway and has already locos, but the 4mm side of the business is sold out the first batch! Fear not, for proprie- now marketed by CSP Model Marketing.