Great Western Coffee Shop

Posting on Christmas morning - for those of you who's children have woken you early and are now playing happily with new toys ... or who are on your own over this festive season, and feeling travel withdrawal. A dozen pictures - not easy ones - for you to play the "can I identify this" game.

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The background story ... Sorting through some very old papers the other day, I came across some old prints from my youth - brought up on the Southern Region in an outer London suburb as it was then, with rail travel to holiday locations around the UK.

1963 to 1971 saw me community by train to school - firstly to Sydenham Hill and then to Sevenoaks, and 1972 to 1976 saw me commuting to University and to Sandwich Course workplaces - I became very familiar with Holborn Viaduct and Charing Cross Stations, and continued my acquaintance with Sevenoaks. A move away to take up a work role slashed my rail travel to virtually zero, then snuffed it out totally when I move to the South West and became dependent on a car, living in a small village some 9 impractical miles from a station with occasional trains that didn't go where I wanted, and onto which I couldn't carry my heavy tools of trade.  A move to Melksham in 1999 had nothing to do with rail - it had to do with moving to a building with room to run our own training courses, and shifting away from the home I had lived in with my first wife and to which my second wife had arrived when she moved to the UK.

Melksham's rail service in those days was poor - a morning commuter train to Swindon and an eveing service back being about the total.  But come May 2001, Wessex trains started running some extras up and down using spare stock and gaps in diagrams ... our business grew, and I "came back" to life on which rail had a major influence as more and more of our customers arrived in Melksham by train. The story of a new franchisee in 2005, with a mandate to reduce amout of stock they ran, is the next phase of the story.

Why am I telling you this? To help give you some clues as to where the following pictures might have been taken.   There's a dozen here, mostly scanned from prints and so of faded / poor quality and all taken by me.   Many show scenes that will be now have changed out of all recognition. Can you place any?   As a reward for reading all through this blurb, not the usual rules - please feel free as a Christmas bonus to guess or identify up to two each!  Should a guess be marked incorrect, you're then welcome to try another.

a. (http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_a.jpg)

b. (http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_b.jpg)

c. (http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_c.jpg)

d. (http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_d.jpg)

e. (http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_e.jpg)

f. (http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_f.jpg)

g. (http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_g.jpg)

h. (http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_h.jpg)

i. (http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_i.jpg)

j. (http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_j.jpg)

k. (http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_k.jpg)

l. (http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_l.jpg)

F. RH&DR ?

Many thanks for starting the ball rolling, but alas not the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway.  Aren't we a very informed group that we can recognise talk of an (arguably) obscure Kentish Railway from just the initials? 

Happy Christmas!

a. Sittingbourne & Kemsley light railway
c. Connell Ferry

Both correct ... the Sittingbourne and Kemsley was an industrial narrow gauge railway running from the Bowaters paper mill in Sittingbourne to their port at Kemsley, carried above the industrial area of Sittingbourne above the works.   Not been there for many years, but I understand that the railway alone is a survivor of that era, and the area is radically different otherwise.    Somewhere to revisit in 2017?

The bridge at Connel Ferry was built as a railway bridge over the Falls of Lorna to take a branch off the Callender and Oban Railway (later Caledonian then LMS) north to Appin and Ballachuish.  As there was no easy road crossing, the ralway was used from early days for cars too - on trains (an early motor ail) then with the railway track laid into a road surface so that cars could cross when there were no trains about.   Alas, after the mid 1960s there were no trains any longer, but cars use the bridge to this day.

Im guessing K wasn't taken 'in your youth'. Heathrow?

i = Willesden Green?

All together now -

E = Taunton!

Well spotted - yes. I was very careful to say they were all pictures I had taken without giving any dates ... that was on 14th December this year at 08:20.


And yes - that is a much older one.  The final (demonstration) run of steam on the London Undergroud, with a pannier tank of remarkably GWR (old GWR) appearance pulling an engineer's train from Moorgate out to Neasden. Although I'm sad at any 'final' workings, those in which older stuff is replaced by more modern / different / appropriate things are merely sad.  Those which represent the withdrawal of a facility without adequate alternative are a catastrophe for those who are customers.

Surely not. ... oh ... yes, it is  ;D

Merry xmas everybody :D

D = Dartford (and I think its one of those 'Double Decker' trains)
L = Aberystwyth

j = Dduallt, Ffestiniog Railway when still the temporary terminus.

Merry Xmas all!

PS. You weren't a Deviationist were you Grahame? :)

f is the Welshpool and Llanfair possibly Castle Caereinion

Merry Christmas ... yes, it's Dartford (and what's the train in the picture?) ... but that's not Aberystwth.  

Picture L was scanned from an old print and I'll admit it was one that I could not identify;  zooming in, I found that the place name was actually in the picture (sorry, I've gimp-ed that out before posting) so I do now know where it is.   What struck me was the huge forecourt that was totally underutilised ... which probably dates the picture back to the days when rail was at a low and lots had just been shut down, but doesn't help you with getting the location.

Thought I said it was a double decker train.......

...and I have suddenly realised where L now is..... :P

Just out of interest the Willesden Green photograph must have been taken between 1960 and 1970 as there is an A Stock train in the background and the engineering train is led by one of the LT Pannier Tank engines.

My deviancy came later ... in daring to agree with 7 responses to the Greater Western franchise consultation of 2005 that 2 trains each way per day wasn't really appropriate for the Westbury to Swindon service for the following ten years.

I did make one or two approaches to get involved with groups in those days, but I was a somewhat unskilled youth at communicating and making friends, and those with whom I felt I could assist / work with towards goals were very much their own already-established cliques without time / patience for more than very limited lip service to people wanting to help.

Oh gosh - this is lighter side, but very much an issue we still have to this day - for those of us in the voluntary / community sector to ensure that we welcome and make proper use and appreciate the people who are there and around and really wish to be involved - value their time and resource, and make the very best of it while understanding that some of the people who wish to get involved may in fact be impractical to make use of because their wish may be beyond the time they have available, or beyond their ability.   I was thinking on this yesterday - nothing to do with rail, but Gypsy and I went along to an event advertised on Facebook - to lent a hand in a Christmas Eve collection.   Messaged ahead to ask when we could be most useful / no reply so went up there anyway, to be told "we do this every year and don't need help".   Thanks, folks!   I am aware, though, that it'd all too easy to stand in a greenhouse and throw stones and that I'm far from perfect (actually pretty poor at times) at welcoming and making best use of volunteer resource.

Think that was added in your edit on D ... and I had hit "reply with quote" on your original?   Yep - that's the double decker returning to depot after its final run in service.

And you are allowed to tell us where "L" is ...

Correct on both counts ... in the days that it only ran from Llanfair Caereinion to Castle Caereinion

OK.

D = Welshpool  ;D

According to Wikipedia ... "From 1956 these were replaced by ex-GWR 0-6-0PT pannier tanks, to be replaced by diesel-hydraulic locomotives in 1971" ... and as this was the final steam run I'm going to say "1971". Must have been common in the 1960s - but this is the swan song picture.

Make that "L" and I'll say 'yes'.    What struck me looking back was the huge station and forecourt that was totally out of use.   On the day, I took a bus (that one?) to the Welshpool and Llanfair, which at that time hadn't re-reached Llanfair - so two of my historic pictures in this quiz were taken on the same day!

Just b, g and h remain unidentified / uncommented upon. h is going to be very much a comment rather than an identification of the location ... b and g some member(s) may be able to tell me where they were taken.

b. (http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_b.jpg)

g. (http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_g.jpg)

h. (http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_h.jpg)

Oh bu**er, yes, L.  Too much festive spirit already (the liquid kind that is) ;D

The last one I saw was in 1968 at Chesham.  Didn't have a camera then.

Think I know where B is but will let others have a try.

A comment about h is that it never happened! The line did not close it was kept open.

h.  Pick a name from that list.  I'll go for Towyn as the BR station is as good as adjacent to the Talyllyn railway ?? ??

Totally happy that one's still running ... now with the most modern signalling system in Europe?

"We" did loose Gogath, Abertafol, Llangelynin (at a later date?) and Black Rock ... but it was a great pleasure within the last couple of years to take a train from Tygwyn to Penrhydeaudreath.


Thinking back many years, I recall that the sign was the remenant at a smaller station rather than the threat still existing at that point - note the tears, etc.    No way (without goung through whole lists) that you would know which; I'll tell you when I summarise later on.

b Guessing it is somewhere on the line from Three Cocks Junction to Moat Lane Junction.  Probably towards the northern end.  Rhayader?

Right country ... but even with the wide spray of "somewhere on the line", I'm afraid you're not right.  The picture's taken at something of a favourite station of mine, and indeed one that I've used in quite recent years.

Not a single guess at g yet ...

Open floor - anyone fill use in?

That suggests a re-opened line

Is g Ashford?

No, it isn't ... but there are direct trains from one of the Ashfords that run over the line shown in use by the train on this picture.

I'll have a stab at g.  It is a Hastings unit on a 4 track line and there seems to be a spur entering from the right so it might be Petts Wood

Yes - spot on. Petts Wood Junction.

The main line from Sevenoaks to London Bridge is 2 tracks to Orpington, where it becomes 4 tracks - fast lines on the West and slow lines on the right.   At Chiselhurst, it crosses the line from Victoria to Rochester and beyond - which had also become a four track line by the time this photo was taken.   Spurs / cutoffs connected the lines, originally built by two different companies - the South Eastern Railway and the London, Chatham and Dover; they merged in 1899 to form the South Eastern and Chatham Railway.    Changes to the cutoffs after this picture was taken allowed Eurostar trains from London to reach the fast lines to Orpington without having to cross the slow lines.

The six coach Hastings demus were (are - one is preserved) narrow bodied due to tunnel width south of Tonbridge.  They were replaced by electric trains, and one of the improvements made at that time was the singling of the tunnels to that standard stock could be used.

Edit to add - History and track plans at http://www.kentrail.org.uk/chislehurst_junction.htm

B = Barmouth Junction (now Morfa Mawddach).  Think its looking along the redundant Platforms towards Llangollen.

Yes, that's right ... and I thing the final picture (h) was taken at Morfa Mawddach too.

I first came upon this station when it was a grand old abandoned building - track lifted towards Dolgellau and Llangollen, but still a bright and shiny line of metal in the otherwise dulled layout, with one platform in use. These days, it's a single platform to catch the train, every 2 hours each way, to all the big and little places up and down the coach.  Lovely walk across the bridge from Barmouth, plenty of walks in the immediate area - not quite to easy up to Fairbourne.