The Clergy and Railways. .............

[rogerfarnworth]

I was asked to give a talk in 2020 to a clergy discussion group on the subject 'Clergy and Trains'. This group had decided to have its annual outing on The East Lancs Railway and I was to be the after dinner 'entertainment'! It did not work out, for obvious reasons in 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic altered everyone's plans!

 

However, as a result of the request,  I began to study what was available online and in the press on this subject and the place it takes in the wide range of interests available to the clergy. ... Whether my research counts as original research, I very much doubt. However, you might find what follows of interest!

 

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/11/14/clergy-and-railways

 

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that the clergy love trains."  So started an article by Ed Beavan in the Church Times on 15th June 2011, entitled 'All Steamed Up About Trains'. [1] On the centenary of the birth of the Revd W. V. Awdry, creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, Ed Beavan asked, in his article in the Church Times, why so many clergy are railway buffs. 

[LMS2968]

It wasn't always the case that the clergy loved trains. In the early days, the rector of the church at Winwick caused major problems for the proprietors of the Warrington and Newton Railway by refusing to allow it through the village, although after it opened he did ask for a reduced fare!

And then there was the issue of running trains on the Sabbath, especially in Scotland, on which feelings were sufficient to lead to blows being exchanged.

 

Thankfully, things change, and such people as Eric Treacy made up for earlier 'misunderstandings'.

[burgundy]

I am sure that there are quite a number whom you have not mentioned but Canon Brian Arman must be one of the more noteworthy - and a fantastic speaker if you ever get the chance.

Best wishes 

Eric  

[Fat Controller]

It's not confined to the Christian churches; there was a rabbi who published  a few books.

 

[KeithMacdonald]

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

 

[1E BoY]

I remember a very large N gauge layout appearing in the Railway Modeller in the early 1970s by the Rev Alan Shone. The layout was freelance and was named the Wardleworth Lines Committee. 

 

There is reference to the layout here

 

[Andy Kirkham]

I've sometimes speculated on the reasons for this, and i wonder if it is because the clergy are likely to be inclined towards ordered  systems which operate under a controlling authority.

[Nick_Burman]

1 hour ago, Fat Controller said:

It's not confined to the Christian churches; there was a rabbi who published  a few books.

 

 

Rabbi Walter Rothschild punishes the "Harakevet" ("railway" or "the railway" in Hebrew) Magazine (http://www.harakevetmagazine.com/) about Israeli and Middle-Eastern railways and is an expert of sorts on them.

 

 

Cheers Nicholas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Oldddudders]

Across the pond, the definitive history of Union Pacific's impressive gas turbine locos - they seem to have used nearly as much fuel idling as running! - was written by the late Rev Harold Keekley. 

[johnofwessex]

Perhaps an updated version of The Titfield Thunderbolt could include a Rabbi, Iman & Sikh & Hindu priests?

[TheSignalEngineer]

My father joined the Clergy as a second career when he retired from the Fire Service. He was a son of the railway and tried to get on himself when demobbed after returning from military service in 1947 but there were no vacancies at the time. Monument Lane and Hockley Goods Yard were on his Fire Station patch and he seemed to spend quite a time doing fire safety inspections and hydrant testing around both locations. When it was his turn to do the 'Post Run' to HQ if there was nothing big to pick up he would leave the van and take the station bike detouring via Snow Hill or New Street. Until he was in his 80s he would take a weekly trip into the city centre and where possible included a train trip, always coming back with reports of what he had seen and a string af questions for me about what was going on at various places.

Another railfan was a Bishop back in my early railway days. I was on altar duty for the Patronal Festival where he was coming to preach. When he came in and saw me he couldn't wait to recount that the previous week he had been going to a meeting in London and had managed to get a cab ride on the new electric service.

[Jack]

My take on clergy and trains ...

 

... firstly, I loved trains of all kinds long before ordination. 

 

... secondly, working for the church can mean working some unsociable hours. In my last parishes (7 of) I was often out at work 4-5 evenings every week, not to mention most of Sunday. Whilst I made time for friends and family, it made a mess of other hobbies. Meanwhile, model trains, mostly a solo hobby, can be fitted in easily, especially when working from a generous sized home.

 

Not sure about the comments about control ... for me its pure nostalgia and escapism!

[Andy Kirkham]

6 hours ago, burgundy said:

I am sure that there are quite a number whom you have not mentioned but Canon Brian Arman must be one of the more noteworthy - and a fantastic speaker if you ever get the chance.

Best wishes 

Eric  

Brian is also a very accomplished modeller; I have been privileged to visit his 7mm scale broad gauge layout based on a might-have-been Bristol terminus.

[Andy Kirkham]

Not forgetting the Reverend Lovejoy

 

[petethemole]

Surprised nobody's mentioned the Rev. Edward Beal, prolific writer and model railway builder of West Midland fame.

[NittenDormer]

5 hours ago, Andy Kirkham said:

I've sometimes speculated on the reasons for this, and i wonder if it is because the clergy are likely to be inclined towards ordered  systems which operate under a controlling authority.

You have thought too much about this. 

[phil_sutters]

My father was a clergyman and an avid train-spotter and railway photographer. Many of the albums in my gallery are made up of his photos from the 1930s to the 1980s. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/profile/14351-phil_sutters/&tab=node_gallery_gallery . On the loco-spotting front he had a memory for numbers. We could travel past Swindon Works and he would still be writing up numbers minutes later. Probably he would now be on the autistic spectrum. He was a friend of Alan Newman and they went on spotting and photographic trips together. One reason why rather solitary railway hobbies appealed to him and possibly others, was that having had his busiest days on Saturday and Sunday, Monday was his day off - but not for most people, except perhaps butchers who often used to close on Mondays. Off he would go to Salisbury, Exeter, Bristol or Swindon, with his pork pie and bag of buns.

He tried his hand at railway modelling but once he had spiked the track down he handed over the rest to me, having struggled to make a GWR half-cab 0-6-0T out of a HD R1, which can be seen in this photo. That is the track that he spiked down. I think that the points were ready made.

One factor in choosing a solitary hobby like railway modelling is that The Vicar is in a professional relationship with the people in the whole of his or her parish. Friendships and socializing in their community can, for some clergy at least, make professional life complicated or awkward. They may also be serving a community with which they have little in common, apart from their church life.

Another reason is escapism. Much of their ministry is pastoral, supporting people at difficult times - bereavement is an obvious one, but marital difficulties, loss of employment, mental health issues all come their way at times. So to have an absorbing hobby can be a way of relaxing.

Edited November 14, 2020 by phil_sutters

[Welchester]

The article linked in the OP mentions Bishop Mike Bourke (who instituted me to my present living), but omits that he has an extensive layout of the ECML. So that's two more of us.

[KeithHC]

Rev Peter Denny of Buckingham fame.

 

Keith

[keefer]

Rev. Teddy Boston had a layout and miniature railway at the vicarage at Cadeby.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwf2009/albums/72157626574368116

(Link to DaveF's Flickr album)

[phil_sutters]

When we moved to Seaford from London the Rector was Father Brian Cook, When he retired, a couple of years later, part of his leaving present was a Bachman 7F SDJR No 86. I compiled a photo booklet of Dad's SDJR photos, official SDJR photos and pictures of my models. I never saw his layout and it was only in his final few months here that I knew of his railway interests.

[45655]

Apparently, when Rev. Awdry was asked why so many churchmen are interested in railways, he replied that British railways and the Church had several things in common: they were both large organisations, subject to much criticism, and each one thought it had the best means of  getting customers to their destinations.

 

David Potter, The Talyllyn Railway (1990), p.197.

[t-b-g]

I once had this very discussion with no less than the Rev Peter Denny. The subject came around and he said that he couldn't speak for other people but he thought his own interest, which dated back to long before he joined the church, was all about being creative. 

 

He said that he moved on from dealing with building model railways to finding a vocation with creation at its heart in a much wider context.

 

So he ended up dealing with matters of creation at the highest level and in his own small way.

[Bernard Lamb]

21 hours ago, Nick_Burman said:

 

Rabbi Walter Rothschild punishes the "Harakevet" ("railway" or "the railway" in Hebrew) Magazine (http://www.harakevetmagazine.com/) about Israeli and Middle-Eastern railways and is an expert of sorts on them.

 

 

Cheers Nicholas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At one time I belonged to a group that included Walter Rothschild. We were looking into railway matters in Germany around 1945/6. The conversation one day turned to titles and mode of address. Walter had a PhD in historical matters as well as a PhD for his day job. An expert of sorts hardly does him justice. He knows a heck of a lot about German railways as well.

Bernard