ISSUE Number 74 ‘Rollout the Vaccines!’ st WATFORD BRANCH NEWSLETTER Issue Date – 1 February 2021 From the Chairman elcome to this month’s issue of the Watford Branch Newsletter, the first month of 2021 having already passed W and Spring on the horizon, though it looks likely there is still some bad weather to come. Sadly, as predicted in January’s Newsletter, we only had a few days of relative ‘freedom’ before being plunged into the third lockdown, and still no end of this in sight. At least the Covid vaccination rollout seems to be going quite well, arguments with the EU notwithstanding, so some of you may have already had your first ‘jab’, and some even your second, as many of our members are amongst the first groups in line for inoculation. Your committee hopes that everyone remains safe and well and that you are all able to make the most of your enforced ‘spare’ time! As there is still little indication of anything resembling a return to something akin to ‘normal’, we will be continuing to hold our monthly branch meetings virtually, via Zoom, as per usual on the first Tuesday of each month, February’s presentation being by David Boot with ‘Ramblings of a Head Station Master’ on the 2nd. January’s meeting was the obligatory Branch AGM and instead of the traditional ‘Members’ Presentations’ following that we had a wonderful show by Rob Freeman – ‘Gems from The Casserley Photo Collection’. AGMs are not generally well-attended, especially when the weather has been poor in past years, but there were fifty-nine participants on this occasion. However, branch members were outnumbered by visitors and guests, who waited patiently for the formalities to be gone through, this taking up the first thirty minutes or so. Apart from the usual reports from Branch Officers and so on, your current committee was re-elected unanimously en bloc as all were willing to continue in their roles. The formal part of the meeting was recorded as an ‘aide memoire’ for the minutes. We then launched into Rob’s showing of photos from the Casserley collection and we were soon spellbound with scenes of Streamlined ‘Coronations’ around Berkhamsted before moving on to more distant parts of the country. There is a full report of the evening on the Watford Branch pages of the RCTS website at: https://rcts.org.uk/watford/meeting-reports/ Many thanks to Rob Freeman for a very entertaining evening and also to Mary Casserley for allowing Rob to show the photos to us. Right: Streamlined Stanier LMS 'Princess Coronation' Class 4-6-2 No. 6243 'City of Lancaster' (with unstreamlined tender) works a northbound express from Euston during March 1947, approaching Northchurch Tunnel. Photo Copyright © H C Casserley, by kind permission of Mary Casserley. A query from member Ken Gordon, prior to the AGM starting, concerned the accessibility of Devons Road MPD and Bow Works of the North London Railway – how far apart were they and was it possible to visit in years gone by? This elicited several replies on the night and has also inspired two of our members to respond more fully. Malcolm Grant sent some information with regard to a book on the subject and Michael Reade has produced a wonderful article (and photos) about his visits there in the 1940s and 50s. These appear later in the Newsletter and many thanks for those items. If anyone wants to know more about the North London Railway, the RCTS Thames Valley Branch has a Zoom presentation on the subject coming up on Tuesday 16th March 2021 at 19:30, by Murray Lewis. A Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered with The Charities Commission. Registered number 1169995. If you are planning to join any of the Zoom meetings, there is now a new way of pre-registering for them, directly on the RCTS website at: https://rcts.org.uk/branches/ and scroll down to ‘Virtual Meetings’ to see all branches’ meetings. These also appear on the home page. You will need to be logged-in as a member to access the links, these are also on the relevant branch events page, such as this one on the Watford Branch page: https://rcts.org.uk/watford/events/ If you are already a member but haven’t registered on the site it’s advisable to do so – if you run into any problems, please contact David Jackman at: [email protected] If you are a non-member or visitor you are very welcome to join the meetings – please contact Rob Davidson at [email protected] for details, or the relevant officer of the branch concerned. You may notice that there is now a ‘donations are welcome’ link on the events pages of the branches too – this takes you to a PayPal page where you can donate in units of £2.00 – you do not need to have a PayPal account and other payment options are also available. Any donations go to the branch concerned, via ‘Head Office’, and will help to defray costs, some of which continue even though we cannot have physical meetings, meaning the usual source of donations has dried-up. Thanks to those of you who have already made donations to the branch. A considerable number of branches are now holding their meetings via ‘Zoom’ – this means that on some nights there is a clash and choices have to be made – this is due to most branches continuing to hold their meetings on their traditional night – this was not a concern when meetings were physical in different parts of the country but is becoming something of a problem when anyone from anywhere can join any meeting. These potential problems have already prompted the RCTS Surrey Branch to move their virtual meetings from Tuesdays to Thursdays. If you haven’t joined one of these meetings as yet, perhaps through worries about the technology, there is a simple guide available on the RCTS website (thanks to Jeremy Harrison of the Croydon & South London Branch) which can be accessed at: https://rcts.org.uk/croydon/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2020/07/Zoom-Simple-Meeting- Instructions_V3.pdf there is no need to be logged-in as a member in order to read this guide. You will be made most welcome at a meeting and helped out if you still have queries or misgivings. We look forward to seeing you all, members, non-members, visitors, and guests! Many thanks to David Jackman for setting-up and running these meetings on everyone’s behalf. Next month’s meeting by Zoom, on Tuesday 2nd March 2021 at 19:30, will be another of Bernie Holland’s presentations, this one entitled ‘This is Luxury I Can’t Afford’, covering Pullman Trains and other ‘Posh-Ex’ workings and promises to be another treat. We have the usual mix of articles in this Newsletter, mostly from the same authors, though with some welcome additions. Rob Freeman brings us more from Australia and you will also find the answers to the photo quiz submitted by James Milne in the January edition – I hope you will have done well in working these out! Included is the last part of Humphrey Gillott’s articles on Open Days around the country – and also the first of another series from Humphrey. Once again, many thanks to all the contributors this time. Also as usual is the reminder that if you have any material you would like to submit, please do get in contact with me at [email protected] – thanks in anticipation. Geoff Plumb, Chairman, RCTS Watford Branch Left: Another reminder by Rob Davidson of the days when it was still possible to travel overseas… NSB No. 75554 at Oslo Central station, looking outwards from Platform 16 at 15:30 on Saturday 8th September 2018. Photo Copyright © Rob Davidson ******************************************************************* Page | 2 Railway Exhibitions Part 9, Open Days at Chart Leacon, Ashford, Kent, between 1971 and 1973, by Humphrey Gillott All photos Copyright © Humphrey Gillott Right: Former South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) Wainwright Class O1 0-6-0 No. 65 (Former BR No. 31065) with two Pullman carriages, shunts up and down the yard. Left: ‘Shades of Green’. Above Right: Former South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) Wainwright Class H 0-4-4T No. 263 (Former BR No. 31263) shunts up and down the yard with a Former SECR Birdcage carriage. Above: No. 65 shunts light up and down the yard. Right: No. 65 and No. 263 make a ‘Double-headed’ run-past along the yard. Page | 3 Left: A former NORD 4-6-0 locomotive, SNCF No. 230 D 116, which is attached to a former Southern Region electric Double- Decker carriage. Right: Another photograph of the NORD 4-6-0 locomotive, with the Double-Decker carriage. The engine is a 4-cylinder de Glehn - du Bousquet compound, NORD No. 3.628, and is now back in France, at Longueville, see: http://ajectathefrenchsteam.unblog.fr/nord-3628-3628-sncf- 230-d-116-french-ten-wheels/ Above: Rebuilt Bulleid ‘Merchant Navy’ 4-6-2 No. 35028 Clan Line outside the rather decrepit depot building. Right: Former Norwegian Railways 2-6-0 No. 377 King Haakon VII. Once again, thanks to Humphrey – that winds up Humphrey’s ‘Railway Exhibitions’ series, but there is more from him later in the newsletter, including the start of a new series. ************************************************************* Page | 4 New South Wales 46 Class, by Rob Freeman Part One Following on from my last article about the XPT, here is one about an earlier British export to Australia. This class of 40 1500 dc electric locos was built by Metropolitan Vickers/Beyer, Peacock at their Bowesfield Works in Stockton-on- Tees in 1956-58 with experience gained from building the EM1s and EM2s, so they were cousins of our Woodhead locos.