Click here to go directly to:

The Society's web site is: www.maunsell.org.uk

Peter Jessop does a very good job in keeping our web site up to date. Visit it if you can for all the latest restoration news plus much, much more. It's a veritable Maunsell feast and there are links to other sites that you may also find interesting.

Front cover: As we were in 1993 on March 20th that yea1~ 1618 strides purpose/idly away from Sheffield Park with a five coach train for New Coombe Bridge, at that time the northern limit of the line. Photograph by Gerry Butler

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

At the time of writing (the end of October) the total membership is 329 of which 145 are Annual and 184 Life Members.

At the Annual General Meeting in the Summer I recommended that the Annual subscription remained at the very reasonable £8 a year. This is possible because of another burst of generosity when the subscriptions fell due last January. Over 75% of members added a donation to their subscription.

For simplicity, any donations sent with the subscription renewal for 2003 will be allotted to the final push to complete 1638, unless the donor wishes it to go to another project. In this way you need only send one cheque to cover both.

Thank you for all you do to help with our restoration costs. I hope you find the present programme fulfilling and that 1638 will be in steam very soon.

George Binns

TREASURER'S REPORT

2002 Fundraising

2002 has proved to be a good year for fundraising. As we close for press we anticipate earning approximately £15,000 for the year. Of this total, subscriptions and donations from members should earn the Society approximately £9,000. In addition, as mentioned in the previous newsletter, we had a good run of renewals this year and have had 10 new annual members, 3 new Life members and 5 conversions to Life membership. We have also received a number of generous donations.

In addition I am very pleased with how the monthly standing orders have continued to support the Society with over 30 members contributing between £2 and £50 per month. We have also had a good run with the donations box and the sales stand. The latter has earned more than £400 from four events. My thanks in particular to Paul Skinner and Ian Hawkins for helping to man the stand over various events and to everyone who has donated material to sell.

At the time of going to press the overall figures are as follows:-

We therefore anticipate making a £3,800 loss but we are able to cover this from funds carried forward from last year.

The observant will note that we anticipate earning £1,000 more than I had previously predicted and that we propose to spend more. The reason for the further expenditure is that now 1638 is in the works we asked Ray Bellingham if he could spend some more time working on the locomotive in order to speed up the completion of the job and also to do a few machining jobs for Stowe's tender chassis. See the locomotive report for further details.

Page 2

2003 Fundraising

Stowe
At the end of 2002 we will have money left over in the bank to pay for the completion of the work on Stowe's tender. This is the main project for our Sunday gang and is now funded.

1638
Here the main issue now facing us is that, with 1638 in the works, we have a one off immediate opportunity to financially assist the earlier completion of the project. The Bluebell Railway is putting in time and materials to get the major boiler work done. We can help by picking up costs elsewhere - by paying (say) for Ray Bellingham to work an extra two days a week on jobs such as machining the front tube plate. The more we can raise, the quicker things can happen. Naturally there is a limit to what you can achieve in one place with one project but we have decided to launch an appeal. The target is to raise something in the region of £8,000. This will go into the project in 2003 with a view to getting 1638 finished for 2004. Can you help? Please see the enclosed leaflet.

Steve Pilcher

AGM

You should find enclosed with this Newsletter a copy of 2002's AGM minutes. With 1638 in the works to be completed and good progress on Stowe 's tender chassis everyone was in good humour and nothing controversial was raised. The only real excitement was Ray Bellingham's prediction of how long it would take to complete 1638 (1 year) but then I guess it is part of the Chairman's role to take an optimistic view of affairs!

RESTORATION REPORT

As we go to press, Ray Bellingham has made a big step forward with the work on 1638 and has got the coupling rods and connecting rods up in place on the chassis. In addition, the Sunday gang are very close to completing the rebuilding of 928's tender frame. Work has also continued on 1638's boiler and on the PMV van.

1638
The main item of news here is that the locomotive’s rolling chassis went into the works in July. Since then Ray Bellingham has been making good progress overhauling and erecting parts of the motion. This all culminated in his being able to arrange for the coupling and connecting rods to go up in place on Thursday 28th November.

Page 3

Since the last report the main visible steps forward are:

i) slide bars up in place along with cross heads
ii) coupling rods and connecting rods up on the locomotive
iii) all parts of the valve assembly overhauled
iv) new valve head pattern made.

Each of these steps has absorbed many hours of work and the results are impressive as Ray works to a very high standard. One example is the cross heads. They were very rusty but Ray has spent a considerable time cleaning up and refurbishing them, such that they appear as good as new. Of course, it is not just appearances that count; further time was spent machining and fitting new bronze packing pieces to ensure that the cross heads fit correctly on the slide bars.

Some of Ray Bellingham's work on 1638 - close up of the right hand side cross head and slide bars - November 2002. Photograph by Peter Jessop

Sometimes the size of the components can present problems. The castings that sit immediately behind the valve chests have large diameter oil fillers on the top. The caps were missing and the threads very badly corroded. It was not possible to source a tap to re-cut the threads so Ray had to chase out the threads by hand and machine up new covers. Such is the quality of the work, the new caps turn very smoothly in what had formerly been hopelessly rusted threads. Just two of the many

Page 4

jobs that have been tackled in order to get everything up to scratch and fit for use. Looking ahead, the bulk of the work on the motion should be finished by the year's end.

In addition to Ray Bellingham’s specialist work on 1638, there has been a regular input from the Sunday gang who have helped out with a number of jobs such as cleaning out the valve bores, valve and piston covers and piston heads. Simon Allen, a very useful new recruit to the Sunday gang, has had a particularly fun time reaching into remote parts to clear away carbon deposits and David Jones has been cleaning up and repainting certain parts of the cylinder covers.

Page 5

Unfortunately the photographs of the rods in place on the locomotive were too dark for inclusion in this Newsletter Rest assured this will be put right next time. In the mean time, Steve Pilcher's photograph, taken in mid November, shows the right hand side rods alongside 1638

Page 6

On the boiler front, Frank Glue has continued to make progress on removing defective stays in the firebox. It has taken a lot of hard graft by Frank to get to the present position where well over 200 stays have been removed and the foundation ring is ready for removal. We look forward to the return of the contract welders to Sheffield Park and understand that some serious cutting out work should start in the New Year.

1638’s tender remains under cover behind Stowe. It helps to remind people what is required to get Stowe’s tender overhauled.

847
Remains in store at the far end of the Pump House siding next to the Society’s PMV van. Little further progress can be made until its turn comes to be dismantled for full overhaul.

Stowe
Despite the somewhat poor weather in the Summer and Autumn, Melvyn Frohnsdorff and the Sunday gang have managed to maintain good progress with work on Stowe’s tender chassis. At the time of writing, the gang were close to completing the rebuild of the whole rear drag box. The following tasks have been undertaken since the last report.

Page 7

A new five foot section of inner frames has been fabricated and riveted in place behind the front drag box - the whole area behind the front drag box has had to be rebuilt as it was suffering severe corrosion.

The vacuum cylinder has been stripped down and overhauled by Ray Bellingham and cleaned and repainted externally by the Sunday gang. Phil Gain did a nifty job with a forklift truck and got the cylinder back in place under the frames in September. To everyone’s credit, it fitted into place smoothly, first time, and rotated without any adjustments.

New front steps have been fabricated and these are now up in place on the frames.

The spring hangers have been removed from the chassis for grit blasting and cleaning -Simon Allen has spent several happy days cleaning up and oiling the springs - and new rubber shock absorbers have been ordered.

The tender wheel sets have been thoroughly needle gunned and repainted -the painting proved to be a bit of a tall order due to the rather unpredictable weather this year but David Jones, with help from Clive Bean and others, persevered and they now look very respectable.

Once work on the front end of the chassis was completed, attention turned to the rear drag box. The top and bottom were clearly wasted beyond acceptable limits. After careful inspection, it was agreed that the buffer beam and rear of the drag box were also weak in certain areas, due to corrosion, and would require replacement. It took a few days of careful work with the gas cutting gear to remove the corroded parts and then a rapid start on rebuilding was made in late October. New steel was obtained and the old used as a template to enable all the rivet holes to be drilled in the right position. By late November, the gang were busy riveting and the back of the drag box was up in place with the new buffer beam to follow on shortly. The decision to completely rebuild the rear drag box has inevitably added a number of extra weeks to the project but the result will be a very sturdy chassis that should require minimal attention for a very long period of time — hopefully for the lifetime of all those currently working on it!

Various components such as the buffers, spring hangers and the brake gear are being cleaned up ready to be put back in place on the chassis.

What next for the New Year?

Page 8

Overall 2002 has been a good year for getting work done on the locomotives. Ray Bellingham and Melvyn Frohnsdorff have set the pace and have been well supported by our loyal and regular band of volunteers. With 1638’s chassis in the works, there is always work to be done in the warm and dry as well as the outdoor jobs. Please contact us if you would like to come along and help.

And finally I must of course thank Keith Start and his colleagues in the workshop for their advice and support whilst we keep two projects moving forward.

Steve Pilcher

PMV No.2186
Before proceeding to the update of work on our van, I thought members might be interested in a few historical details. The van was built in December 1934 at the Ashford works of the Southern Railway to SR diagram No.3103. It entered departmental service on August 18th 1956 when it was re-numbered DS150. Withdrawal was on May 31st 1978. Following some time spent in the Southern Region's scrap sidings at Micheldever the van was bought by MLS and arrived on the Bluebell in December 1979. The Bluebell News of Spring 1980 contains more details of the van and how it was saved for preservation (including a visit to a scrap yard in East Anglia!!).

Restoration continues steadily on our PMV. Most of the effort is concentrated on repairing the doors which seem to have suffered quite badly from the effects of being outside in all weathers.

The doors consist of a double skin of rebated boards. The rotten sections are carefully cut out with replacements being hand made to match the originals. Nothing is wasted as the rotten timber and offcuts are put on the “lighting up” wood pile.

Painting work has been kept up on the exterior while further painting is being done to brighten up the rather gloomy interior. It is twenty years since 2186 received major attention so this work is long overdue.

Rodney Packham

Page 9

Page 10/11

MAUNSELL’S IRISH MOGULS (OR THE WOOLWICH
LOCOMOTIVES OF C.I.E.)

Grateful acknowledgement is given to the Irish Railway Record Society (IRRS) for permission to re-print the following article by the late R N Clements. The article appeared in print many years ago in IRRS Journal No.23 having first been presented as a paper by Mr Clements to a meeting of the IRRS.

After the paper was read to the IRRS, Mr H Holcroft MI Loco E (who was at Ashford when the Maunsell 2-6-0s were designed, and who was intimately connected with them for many years thereafter) was kind enough to read through the manuscript and to supply many corrections, additions and valuable comments. I have however printed the paper substantially as originally written but have inserted throughout references to Mr Holcroft’s comments, which appear separately as an Appendix, with the addition, in some cases, of my own comments or explanations. I am sure all readers will be grateful to Mr Holcroft for his kindness in making this valuable contribution to the Journal.

One day - I think it was in the Spring of 1924 - I was prowling round the Broadstone (the Works of the Midland Great Western Railway of Ireland - Ed.). What should I see outside the machine shop but a row of new boilers made by R Stephenson, taper boilers with big Belpaire fireboxes looking much larger than anything I’d seen before. As my prowl was quite unauthorised I was afraid to draw attention to myself by asking what type of engine they might be for but I immediately concluded that the MGWR must be going to build some 4-6-0 engines. There I was wrong but for months I impatiently awaited news of the new type till at last an item was published somewhere which told how the British Government had been building locomotives of SECR 2-6-0 design at Woolwich Arsenal and that the MGWR had bought some of them.

Now we turn back to the origin of the design. R E L Maunsell had gone from Inchicore to the South Eastern and Chatham Railway in the Autumn of 1913; one of his first steps was to re-organise the staff at Ashford Works and that has an important bearing on our story. Several of the new appointments went to GWR men from Swindon - in particular G H Pearson (Note 1) as Assistant CME and H Holcroft (Note 3) whilst the new Chief Draughtsman, James Clayton (Note 4), had been for many years with the Midland Railway at Derby. Before Maunsell was long at Ashford, war broke out; he was appointed CME to the Railway Executive Committee

Page 12

and so much of his time would be taken up with matters unconnected with SECR affairs.

Now the great need of the time on the SECR was a more powerful goods engine (Note 2), so immediate steps were taken for the design of this. My impression is that probably, in view of his other responsibilities, Maunsell’s part in the design was relatively small and that it was left almost entirely to Pearson. Certainly the evidence of GWR influence is very strong but there was no slavish following of Swindon practice; whether the differences were due to Maunsell’s modifications of Pearson’s proposals or whether they were Pearson’s own ideas, one cannot now tell.

Mixed traffic designs have always been more popular than purely goods engines in the South of England and so it was not surprising that the new engines had driving wheels of sufficient diameter (5 ft 6 inches) to work most passenger trains if required, but primarily they were intended for goods; it should be remembered that at this time, and for many years after, the SECR road was subject to severe weight restrictions (Note 2).

Pearson’s natural starting point for the new design, assuming him to be mainly responsible, would be the GWR 4301 Class 2-6-0 mixed traffic engine of 1911 with which he was already familiar, so it is of interest to compare the two types in some detail. The points of similarity are very great, in both cases a domeless taper boiler carrying 200 lbs pressure, a long piston stroke and long travel valves.

The stroke of the SEC engine, 28 inches, was not quite equal to the 30 inches of the GWR but even 28 inches was a long figure for that period, particularly for what was not, even then, a very large engine; to compensate for the 2 inches less stroke, the SEC engine had cylinders of 19 inches diameter as against the 18½ inches on the GWR. A major difference, perhaps due to Maunsell who had already used inside Walschaerts gear on his Inchicore No.341, was the use by the SECR of Walschaerts gear, whereas the GWR engines, in spite of their outside cylinders, had inside link motion. But the long travel valve, typical of GWR practice and at that time practically unused elsewhere, was not only retained in the SECR design but was slightly increased to 6 and 7/16 inches against the GWR 6¼ inches.

The boiler, as I have said, followed GWR practice in its 200 lbs pressure and in being coned and domeless, taking steam from a perforated pipe at the top front corner of the firebox; what appears to be a dome is really only a casing for the top feed, which was another Swindon feature (Note 5) though the Ashford arrangement

Page 13

Irish Mogul No.380 at Inchicore shed in July 1930. With 5ft 6 inches diameter coupled wheels, the similarity to the Southern N Class is obvious. Photograph David Jones collection

was different in detail. It was appropriate that it should come to the MGWR where some of the earliest experiments with it had been made. Incidentally, the use of a domeless boiler and top feed are further reasons for thinking that Pearson rather than Maunsell was mainly responsible for the design; though Maunsell continued the construction of this boiler for many years, and clearly found it quite satisfactory, none of his own subsequent boilers for other classes incorporated either of these features.

APPENDIX 1 — Comments by Mr H Holcroft

Note 1 - G H Pearson was appointed Assistant CME and Works Manager at Ashford early in 1914. In these early days he acted the role of Consulting Engineer to Maunsell and, in that way, recommended the broad outlines to be followed. He did not enter into detail design at all but was of course an advocate of Great Western practice in general. Clayton had not, as yet, any say in the matter.

Note 2 - At the time, 22 4-4-0 engines for passenger traffic were due for delivery. The question of what was to follow after these was the first to be determined.

Page 14

Pearson maintained that as London was less than 80 miles from the coastal termini, passenger tanks were all that were required for semi-fast services as they could take water at intermediate points en route. The 4-4-0 engines could look after the non-stops. The opening up of the Kent coalfield with its consequent increase in mineral traffic called for more powerful freight engines and for this a 2-6-0 type similar to the GWR 4301 Class was considered to be most suitable as it would be available for passenger services if needed as, for instance, at Bank Holiday times.

Unlike the Northern lines out of London, the SECR traffic was mainly passenger and there were no paths for ponderous slow moving freight trains during daytime. Such through goods trains as ran in that period had to move fairly fast, hence the 5 ft 6 inch wheels. Following Churchward’s practice in producing standard types, the 2-6-0 (N Class) and 2-6-4T (K Class) had boilers, cylinders, motion, pony truck etc in common. The 2-6-4T was a 2-6-0 with a trailing bogie and 6 ft wheels in place of 5 ft 6 inches. On account of the coal and water carried, the coupled axle loads were greater in the tank engine and this determined the size of boiler which could be carried. In consequence, the 2-6-0 had a smaller boiler than its axle loads otherwise permitted.

Note 3 - I played no part in the N Class design in the early days, my assignment being the planning of the enlargement of Ashford Works. When I returned to locomotive work, my first job was to design 3-cylinder variants of the N and K Classes. For many years after, I was out on the footplate on experimental work and testing, and as an observer to keep the CME posted with first hand information of what his engines were doing. By this, I came to know the N Class “inside out” on all sorts of jobs from Kent to Cornwall!

Note 4 - Robert Surtees was still Chief Draughtsman in 1914 and J Clayton came from Derby as Leading Draughtsman with the specific task of outlining the new types as laid down by Maunsell and Pearson. When Surtees retired later in the year, Clayton was appointed in his place and he then took charge of the office and got his men going on with details but this was soon checked after the war broke out. As the Germans swept through Belgium, as much as possible of the Belgian rolling stock was evacuated behind the French lines but spares and drawings had to be abandoned. In order to provide spares to put the stock back into traffic, samples of the various parts had to be sent to Ashford Works where new drawings were made there from, so that the shops could manufacture the spares. All this further delayed work in connection with the N and K Class prototypes and they did not appear until 1917.

Page 15

Note 5 - Whilst Pearson may have advocated top feed, he took no part in its detail design being, by this time, absorbed in his works management. It was left to Clayton and, to avoid copying Swindon, he added a dome and put trays in that. These took the shape of a spiral chute which was known to the men in the shops as the “helter-skelter lighthouse” owing to its similarity to that side-show at fair-grounds.

The trays were given up in time as large crusts of scale grew on them and it was difficult to remove them for cleaning without some debris dropping into the tube bank. Unless any accumulation could be shaken down, blocks were apt to occur which could only be removed by withdrawal of a number of tubes. In place of the trays, short internal delivery pipes were fixed to the clacks on the side of the dome and these diverted the incoming feed to the sides of the barrel, clear of the tubes. (The trays were retained on the Irish engines - RNC)

To be continued

Double Ws - 31911 and 31916 back to back at Hither Green on an unknown date. Photograph E Crawforth.

Page 16

ALBERT GOODALL (1931-2002)

The following obituary has been prepared from notes kindly sent in by member Barry Fletcher, long time friend of Albert Goodall.

Albert Goodall passed away in the Kent and Sussex Hospital at Tunbridge Wells on 26 August 2002 after a short illness. He left a grieving wife Shirley and many sorrowful friends.

Albert was born in London on 28 November 1931. He left school at the age of fifteen and worked for Messrs Mowbrays in South London for a number of years. He became an acclaimed modeller and worked part time at Hobbytime in West Wickham and at Kings Cross Models of London and Reading. It was not until the 1960s that Albert became especially interested in the Bulleid Pacifics, both air smoothed and in their rebuilt form. It was then that he joined the infant Bulleid Pacific Preservation Society (later the Bulleid Society) and the Merchant Navy Locomotive Preservation Society. Later he joined the Maunsell Locomotive Society.

Albert felt that he could assist fellow modellers to improve the existing commercial models of his favourite locomotives by producing full colour, scale representations of the Bulleid Pacific’s shipping line flags, town crests or squadron badges etc. It was at this stage I first met Albert and we worked together. I provided black and white photographs and information and Albert, through his artistic skill, produced the drawings from which the detailed accessories for 4mm locomotives were made.

In the mid 1970s we both became involved with the restoration and return to steam in 1976 of 21Cl23 Blackmore Vale on the Bluebell Railway. I assisted with details of the livery it was to be painted and Albert was charged with the design of the county of Dorset shield to be used on the engine. In BR days 34023 had no shield but, in preservation, it was decided that it would carry the Dorset shield consisting of three lions above a single fleur-de-lys, all in red on a white background. Albert carefully completed the design using the lion and fleur-de-lys as depicted on the shields of Lyme Regis and Torrington respectively and all was ready for David Shepherd to carry out the unveiling ceremony on 15 May 1976.

On 4 June 1977 Albert married Shirley and they made their home in Dunton Green near Sevenoaks where the publishers Hodder and Stoughton, for whom Albert was working, had moved their warehouse. They spent a very happy twenty five years together there and together they worked to extend the range of model railway items to include not only details for Bulleid Pacifics but SR lamp standards, carriage roof

Page 17

boards etc. His latest collaboration was with Mark Arscott, another old friend, and Hornby on the design and production of the models of Clan Line and other Merchant Navy, West Country and Battle of Britain locomotives. I believe his last article was for the Bulleid Society’s magazine on these models.

Albert’s funeral, which took place at Tunbridge Wells on 6 September, was well attended by many friends. There were only family flowers by request but it was announced that anyone who wished to remember Albert should forward a donation to the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society at Sheffield Park where he and Shirley had so many enjoyable visits.

Barry Fletcher

STAMPS

You do not earn fortunes collecting used stamps; however it is money for nothing. David Jones managed to raise a very useful £25 for the Society when selling on our last bin bag full so please keep collecting. Please leave whatever you are able to collect with our Sunday working party at Sheffield Park.

VANNA VIDEOS - 847 IN ACTION

We are still selling the Vanna Video A to Z of SR Locomotives. Part 2 includes the preserved Maunsell S15s, Lord Nelson and Sir Lamiel and in particular our very own S15 No.847. Approximately 60 minutes long, it is well worth watching. If you would like a copy, please send a cheque for £15.95 (which includes p&p) to the Treasurer.

We also have copies of a new video featuring the restoration and operation of Taw Valley. In addition, we have copies of a video of 92 Squadron and the A to Z of SR Locomotives part 1. Again these are £15.95 including postage — cheques to the Treasurer, please.

The proprietor of Vanna Video, Syd Carroll (who is a member), has got a bit behind on the production front but hopes to have the next video in the A to Z series out next year. This will include material on the preserved Q, U, “Schools” and Bulleid locomotives. More news anon.

Page 18

BLUEBELL SWAPMEET

We had a very rewarding day at the Bluebell Railway’s Railway and Collector’s Fair on July 20th Due to last minute changes, beyond the organiser’s control, we were moved from our usual pitch on the middle island platform at Horsted Keynes and ended up under the new canopy on Platforms 1 and 2 but with a bigger space. We banked just over £200 - a big part of this was due to selling a significant number of Backtrack magazines for £1 each. Ian Hawkins and Paul Skinner need to be thanked for helping out on the day and particular thanks to Paul for storing stock

Steve Pilcher

LETTER

Through the good offices of the MLS Newsletter, I beg to appeal to its readership for information and answer to the only Maunsell question that has perplexed me for about 50 years. I would be most gratefully obliged if any reader could contact me at the address below in order that valuable space in the Newsletter can be put to better use and that I may thank those correspondents directly.

The question that I require answer and information on is the high sided tender attached to V Class 4-4-0 Blundell's No.932. My own personal theory is that the height of the tender sides was raised to keep the coal capacity the same, i.e. 5 tons, while allowing the bunker floor to be raised to accommodate extra water capacity (if anyone knows how many extra gallons over and above the usual 4000, assuming my theory to be correct, I would be obliged for this).

I am of the opinion that this high sided tender was an experiment to see if the V Class 4-4-0s could run the Southern Railway “Bournemouth Limited” non stop without taking water at Southampton in either direction. Of course, the high sided tender of No.932 could have been for more water with the same coal capacity, as I think, or for a greater coal capacity with the same water gallonage to make coaling less frequent or a combination of both increased water and coal capacity to let No.932 run longer without refueling. Presumably, when this locomotive was in Works its tender was transferred to another V Class for the “Bournemouth Limited”.

Page 19

Yours faithfully

James Witham (Life Member)

Editor‘s Note: As requested, please write to Mr Witham directly but, as a personal plea, I would also like to be kept informed on this subject, particularly if there is something suitable for inclusion in a future Newsletter.

STOCK BOOK

We still have a number of copies of the stock book available. In A5 size it is the definitive item regarding where all the Society’s locomotives were shedded etc. It is still available from the Treasurer at the giveaway price of £ 1.50 including post and packing - see address list on the inside of the front cover. Please make cheques payable to the Maunsell Locomotive Society. The booklet has been produced at no cost to the Society, so all sales help the cause.

NEW MAUNSELL BOOK

The attention of members is drawn to a new publication by Ian Allan Ltd. called “Maunsell Locomotives”. Various classes of locomotives designed by Richard Maunsell during his long and successful career are paraded in full colour using the work of many well-known railway photographers. While most are of SECR and SR designs, the engines for Ireland and early modern electric and diesel traction are not overlooked. This publication, which is a laminated hardback in landscape format, runs to 80 pages and includes 86 colour and 3 black/white photographs. It is priced at £14.99 and may be obtained at the Bluebell shop and elsewhere.

FINALLY

My thanks, as always, to all contributors to this Newsletter for making my job such an easy one. My thanks also to Mickle Print Ltd. of Canterbury, Kent, our printers.

Page 20

A TRIO OF Q CLASS LOCOMOTIVES

This page: On December 15th 1959 Peter Cupper photographed 30543 on shed at Eastleigh. Recently re-painted after its final general repair (November 3rd to 28th 1959), the locomotive had just been fitted with BR Automatic Train Control (visible under the front end). Withdrawal came on December 20th 1964.

Rear cover (upper): Our preserved locomotive was photographed at Aldershot in August 1964. At some time prior to the date of the photograph the locomotive had brackets welded to the front of the frames for carrying a large snowplough. However, there would not be many more snowplough duties for this locomotive as withdrawal came in November 1964. The first vehicle of the train appears to be of LNER origin — could this have been a pigeon special? Photograph from the MLS collection.

Rear cover (lower): Not all Q Class locomotives were modified for carrying snowploughs but 30548 was. It was photographed at Eastleigh on September I2th 1964 and probably carried the snowplough throughout the entire Winter of 1964/65 which rather restricted its usefulness for other duties. Photograph from the John Stimp collection kindly provided by John Meredith.
(Rear cover)

Page 21