Malcolm Reid served his apprenticeship at Vickers Armstrong (Aircraft) Ltd. from ‘55 to ‘60 (latterly, the British Aircraft Corporation). Of course, he is a Museum Trust Member and receives its quarterly Bulletin. The following article was published earlier this year and BTM permission to reproduce it in our website is acknowledged and greatly thanked. The BTM recorded its thanks to Andy Nash, Historian of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway Association Heritage Group, for most of the photos. Indirectly, the Westland and Yeovil District Model Engineering Society expresses its appreciation to him also.

Brooklands driver and engine driver

by Tony Hutchings

Surprisingly there seem to be very few photos of John Howey at Brooklands. This is the only one we could find and it shows him in a Leyland (number two, on the left) leading Eldridge in his Fiat in 1924 (Brooklands Society Archive).

'The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch – the World’s Smallest Public Railway – has given pleasure to countless numbers of all ages since the 1920s. The 15-inch gauge line, running 14 miles across Romney Marsh – linking Hythe, Dymchurch, New Romney and Dungeness – has many special attractions. It is, for example, a main-line railway in miniature, largely double-track, with more trains stopping at more stations than almost any other steam line in Britain. And it was largely the creation of a single individual.' One Man’s Railway – J E P Howey and the RH&DR

What you may ask has the RH&DR got to do with Brooklands? The answer has everything to do with that ‘single individual’ and his friends who regarded miniature railways with the very same enthusiasm they had for racing powerful cars. John Howey was the founder of the railway, whose racing career at Brooklands spanned the years between 1923 and 1929. His brother, Richard, also raced on the Track in 1925 and 1926 before being tragically killed at the wheel of his Ballot at Boulogne during the 1926 Speed Week. Then we have Louis Zborowski, driver of the famous ‘Chitty Bang Bang’ cars and who would have become a partner of Howey had he not lost his life racing in the 1924 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. As The Autocar (26th March 1937) recalls, he did leave a legacy: '...machine tools once belonging to him – he had one of the finest workshops in the world – now attend, among others, to the construction and overhaul of the locomotives of the RH&DR'. Another personality well-known in the world of racing and record breaking was who provided encouragement to Howey during the planning stage, together with official support when he was appointed as a Director of the RH&DR in 1927. He served on the board until 1931. However, to begin at the beginning. In 1837 a young English sheep farmer named Henry Howey, who had settled in New South Wales, Australia, decided to invest in some land being auctioned off in the new city of Melbourne. A year later he and his family left by sea to live in the city, setting off from Sydney by sailing ship. They and the vessel were never seen again. In due course, Henry's bachelor brother inherited his estate, which by 1871 when he died, was worth over one million pounds. In turn it was passed to a nephew, John Edwards Howey, an Indian Army officer who in due course returned to to settle at Melford Grange near Woodbridge in Suffolk. On 17th November 1886 John Edwards Presgrave Howey was born, followed by another son, Richard, in 1896. JEP grew up surrounded by his father’s cars, a steam launch and a gauge-one model railway, all of which activated in him an interest in all things mechanical. Although his technical education made little progress during his years at Eton, it did not stop him becoming an apprentice at Vickers. but withNevertheless, little success. as a young man of no little wealth, his interests developed into practical outcomes, with the commissioning of a 60hp Napier car and the delivery of a 9½-gauge Great Northern Railway Ivat ‘Atlantic’ locomotive, which he ran in the garden of his Woodbridge home. This was nothing however to compare with his experience in May 1911 at the opening of the Miniature Railway which Howey attended as a guest of Bassett-Lowke, the company which had made his steam locomotive. Here he was able to drive a 15- inch ‘Atlantic’ at speed on a circular track Louis Zborowski in 'Chitty Bang Bang' I and where he ‘caught the 15-inch bug’. (Brooklands Society Archive)

Royal Flying Corps Personal interests and hobbies were about to be put on hold as John Howey joined the Royal Flying

Corps in 1914, flying as an observer for a year before being shot down and held as a prisoner of war. He was later declared medically unfit for military service and released on parole to Switzerland in 1917. After the war he took a house in Belgravia and became something of a socialite. He also had a house in Sunningdale where he built a large model railway in the garage. A new interest however was motor racing and, in particular, the attractions of the Brooklands circuit which lay just a few miles away in Weybridge. John certainly associated with the ‘right crowd’, which included Parry Thomas and Count Louis Zborowski. In 1922 Thomas had modified a short-chassis, two-seat Speed Model Leyland Eight to which he fitted a streamlined racing body which he raced on the Track. The following year a sister car emerged from Thomas’s workshop adjacent to his bungalow ‘The Hermitage’ on the airfield side of the Brooklands site. This car was to be raced by John Howey over three years between 1923 and 1925, including record attempts in 1923 which resulted in a World 10-mile record at 116.41mph, together with associated Class G records.

Howey in his army uniform, taken from a newspaper cutting after his plane had been shot down. His pilot had been killed and Howey had to climb forwards over the dead man's body and land the plane, this was behind enemy lines and Howey at the wheel of 'Chitty' I (RH&DR Association he was captured and held as a POW (RH&DR Heritage Group Collection) Association Heritage Group Collection)

John Howey had a Brooklands racing career which saw him take part in some 61 events between 1923 and 1929. It is difficult to be precise with regard to the Brooklands competition careers of John and Richard as complete sets of race programmes and entry lists for the 1920s are rare. Nevertheless, we do know that

John raced the following cars on the Track – the Leyland Eight, Leyland Thomas Special. 'Chitty Bang Bang' I and III, Hispano- Suiza, Ballot and Mercedes. The race results which are available show that he achieved eight first places, two seconds and one third. His fastest lap around the circuit was at 118.02mph. His brother Richard had a similar racing career. He competed in 37 races between 1924 and 1926. There were also his Class C records taken in 1924 over five and 10 miles/kilometres as well

as his standing and flying start records over the mile and For a painfully shy man Capt Howey liked kilometre taken in 1926 driving a five-litre Ballot. Richard also wearing hats! Here he is on a 'business drove Leyland, Leyland-Thomas, Lanchester, Rolls-Royce and trip' to Australia (RH&DR Association Heritage Bentley cars. His race results included seven first places, three Group Collection) seconds and three thirds, whilst his fastest lap was at 21.18mph.

John Howey’s cars were famous in their day and for many years afterwards. The Mercedes built by Louis Zborowski and Clive Gallop in 1920 was fitted with a 23-litre Maybach aero engine and became known as ‘Chitty Bang Bang I’. It was sold to John in 1924. R G J Nash recalled that friends of his – Adrian and Denis Conan Doyle – purchased the Mercedes around 1933, having found it by the side of a locomotive shed on the RH&DR. It was later abandoned behind the T B Andre workshop in the Brooklands Flying Village and eventually broken up. Zborowski and Gallop produced two further ‘Chitties' – 'Chitty II', which was displayed at the Museum in its (the Museum's) early days but is now in the USA, and another, around 1921, this time powered by a 14,778cc Mercedes aero engine. This became known as ‘Chitty III’ or ‘The White Mercedes’ and was raced on the Track prior to Louis's death in 1924, when it became part of the Howey equipe. By 1929 it was being raced by Noel and Pole. When the BARC banned such ‘elderly vehicles’ from Brooklands, ‘Chitty III’ languished at the Thomson and Taylor works before being sold to Clive Windsor-Richards who used it as a touring car. It was last heard of in the hands of Lord Carlow. John Howey’s Leyland-Thomas would also fail to survive. By 1926 it was no longer used for racing and Dudley Froy rescued it and fitted the body from Leyland-Thomas number one. By 1932 it belonged to Elsie and Tommy Wisdom and in the September of that year Elsie took the Ladies' lap record at Brooklands at 121.47mph in the Leyland. They sold it in 1934 to Bill Black and in 1938 it appeared at the Brighton Speed Trials in the hands of E Sidebottom. It was probably scrapped during the Second World War.

Howey at his home, Staughton Manor, with his nine-inch gauge Atlantic locomotive (RH&DR Association Heritage Group Collection)

Driving the Atlantic (RH&DR Association Heritage Group Collection)

Fascination John Howey and Louis Zborowski had other things in common besides an interest in fast cars and motor racing. John’s fascination in miniature railways was also shared by Louis who was engaged in the building of a 15-inch gauge line in the grounds of his Higham estate at Bridge, near Canterbury. He had ordered two 15-inch gauge locomotives based on the Gresley Pacific design. Expense was no problem as Louis’s mother was an Astor and the Astors owned a large area of New York. The same could be said of John, who owned a fair number of properties in Melbourne. Both John and Louis had an idea of creating something on a larger scale than a garden railway. They had a vision of a main line in miniature, a concept reinforced when they visited the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway in June 1924. Sadly Zborowski’s death four months later might have seen the end of the project had it not been for the encouragement Howey got from like-minded enthusiasts. He also saw the project as a memorial to Louis. In early 1925 John commissioned Henry Greenly to find a suitable location for the railway, a site, which on completion, would be no less than the best main line in miniature in the world. Greenly was well known to both Howey and Zborowski as an engineer and designer of locomotives for engine-building companies

In 1913 he re-gauged the Staughton Manor line from 9¼ to 15-inch gauge and had this loco, Colossus, especially built by the Bassett-Lowke company. It was only the second 4-6-2 or Pacific wheel arrangement engine to run in England – the other was on the Great Western (RH&DR Association Heritage Group Collection).

His railway at Staughton Manor even included a model of the Forth Bridge! (RH&DR Association Heritage Group Collection).

such as Bassett-Lowke and Davey Paxman. He had designed locos for both men and had also played a major role in the restoration of the Ravenglass line after World War One. John had decided that he wanted a line at least seven miles long, and that is should be straight and level enough not to hinder the speed of the trains! During his survey of potential sites, Greenly visited Sir Herbert Walker, General Manager of the Southern Railway. The company was experiencing a growth in traffic and was looking to set up new lines. They had studied Romney Marsh in Kent, between Folkstone and Dungeness, and in 1906 had proposed building a light railway or electric tramway. Sir Herbert and Henry Greenly thought that it could well be the best location for John Howey’s project. After a visit to New Romney in September 1925, John set about turning an idea into reality and within two months a formal application for a Light Railway Order had been submitted to the Ministry of Transport. The eight-mile, level route extended from Hythe through Dymchurch to New Romney. The various local councils involved were generally in favour of the project but opposition was raised by landowners and the local bus company. All these opinions were aired during a public enquiry in January 1926, much to Howey’s frustration. However, the Light Railway Order was granted in February and orders were immediately placed for the building of locomotives and rolling stock, the laying of the track and the construction of a station and loco works at New Romney. By the middle of the summer this area was complete enough for a small demonstration to take place in which the Duke of York (later George VI) and Sir Nigel Gresley (Chief Mechanical Engineer of the LNER) travelled along a two-mile stretch of track , Capt Howey (standing) with the designer with John Howey, behind the locomotive Northern responsible for the whole of the RH&DR, Henry Chief. A year later, on 16th July 1927, the official Greenly. They are at what would become New opening of the railway took place, with Earl Romney station in 1926. At this time the first two Beauchamp, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, locomotives were in store in Binn's Garage prior to clearing the starting signal at Hythe as a long train full the engine shed being ready to house them. Binn's of guests and dignitaries set out from Romney, Garage can be seen in the background and is still watched by crowds of holiday makers and train standing (RH&DR Association Heritage Group Collection) enthusiasts.

On the footplate of Northern Chief at New On the footplate of his favourite loco, Romney in 1926 (RH&DR Association Heritage Group Hurricane, in the 1930s (RH&DR Association Collection). Heritage Group Collection).

'The public were well aware of the connection Howey and his friends had with Brooklands, and Brooklands people and motor racing in general were, in those pre-pop, pre-television days, star attractions.'

Development The development of this line was not finished however, as John had his sights set on a 5½-mile extension beyond New Romney to Dungeness. This time there were no objections to the Light Railway Order, which was confirmed in July 1928. Howey was not one to wait for due legal process to take place and had already set about track-laying and station construction! The complete RH&DR, which by now was on a double track, opened in August 1928. Early on in the railway’s history, Howey spent enough time enough in Kent to make living in a bungalow adjacent to New Romney Station at Littlestone worthwhile. Later, Henry Greenly designed a home which was to be known as ‘Red Tiles’ for the Howey family which was nearer the station and the works' yard. Certainly a good time was enjoyed by all in the 1930s at ‘Red Tiles’ as John often invited fellow railway enthusiasts down to Littlestone as well as playing host to his Brooklands friends.

At his home 'Red Tiles' at New Romney. He bought a 10¼-inch gauge Royal Scot. It seems he couldn't wait for a railway to run it on, so lit it up in his living room... he then had to redecorate the whole house before his wife returned! (RH&DR Association Heritage

Group Collection).

Amongst the former was Sir John Samuel who ran the 7½- Howey in around inch Greywood Central Railway which was to be purchased 1960 (RH&DR by the publisher Ian Allan after Samuel’s death and which Association Heritage was recreated at the Great Cockcrow Railway, now based in Group Collection)

Lyne near Chertsey. Brooklands associates who made visits to the RH&DR included the racing driver Nigel Holder whose cousin Tony was a volunteer loco driver on the railway. Then there was Henry Segrave who was said to have taken part in a locomotive race on the track. Howey might have given up motor racing after his brother's fatal crash, but he still took to the highway in various impressive vehicles selected from his extensive garage, including 'Chitty', SSK Mercedes and a

Hispano-Suiza. John’s 1914 Silver Ghost shooting-brake is also worthy of note, for in the autumn of 1930 he built a locomotive based on the Rolls-Royce engine and chassis. With its enclosed cab it made life so much easier when providing a winter service on the line, different from the conventional loco, with the driver suffering on the exposed footplate. Hauling four Clayton coaches, Howey was timed at 60mph during one speed session. Later the Ghost engine was replaced with a Ford V8 unit, with this unique locomotive providing a regular winter service for the public until 1961. Ever the one for speed, in 1929 John had built 'something of a motor roller skate' – a single-seater powered by a 6hp JAP motorcycle engine. This vehicle was his personal 'deadly weapon' in which he covered the 8½ miles between Hythe and New Romney in 8½ minutes, sustaining a speed of around 70mph! First line of defence

Such a light-hearted approach was not to last as the international situation dramatically changed in the late 1930s. The military considered that the beaches to the west of the White Cliffs of Dover between Hythe and Rye would have to be made the first line of defence of England. By June 1940 the RH&DR had been taken over by the Somerset Light Infantry and soon an armoured train was running on the line. Other units also ran the railway during the war, including a Canadian force and later the Home Railways Department of the War Office under the command of Major Kenneth Cantlie who was a Crewe-trained railway engineer and who knew how to get his team of Royal Engineers to run this unique line. By 1943 some of the great concrete pontoons that were to make up the D Day Mulberry harbours were being constructed at Littlestone as well as the PLUTO (Pipe Line Under the Ocean) pipes that would carry petrol under the Channel to France from pumping stations around Dungeness. Meanwhile John Howey had spent his war year living near Ascot and driving a YMCA canteen truck, serving soldiers training in the Surrey Heath area. He regained control of the railway in June 1945 but it was in such a

sorry state that the RH&DR did not re-open until March 1946. Immediately after the war passenger numbers increased considerably, but the railway was also to suffer from management and staff changes and financial troubles over the years. Nevertheless it managed to attract a greater number of passengers than many, if not all, of the other miniature and preserved lines. Between 1952 and 1963 John Howey

ran the railway himself, together with his wife, a book- keeper and a solicitor. The last time Capt Howey climbed aboard the footplate of one of his locos. He was standing watching Green Goddess and her driver, George Barlow, offered to take his picture. (RH&DR Association Heritage Group Collection). .

His final appearance as a loco driver was in the summer of 1957 at the age of 70. John died in September 1963.

'Captain Howey assured me that to drive one of these mighty atoms (locomotives) is a far more exhilarating and

thrilling experience than careering round Brooklands. And he ought to know; he had done both.' E C Lester The Autocar 26th March 1937.

He died on 8th September 1963 and his ashes were spread on the rockery garden at New Romney, across the track from Red Tiles. This small, unassuming plaque

marks the spot (RH&DR Association Heritage Group Collection).]

Reference: One Man’s Railway – J E P Howey and the RH&DR by J B Snell, published by David St John Thomas, 1983.

For more information on the railway please see www.rhdr.org.uk or call 01797 362353.