Sebastian Meyer - Light Railway King of the North

[Nick Holliday]

Having been alerted to the bargain sale of books from The Railway and Canal Historical Society – many books being just £2.00 each – I became aware of Sebastian Meyer – the North’s equivalent to Colonel Stephens. (I would like to thank whoever it was who first pointed out the sale, but I cannot find the post) Meyer had his fingers in a number of pies, having various degrees of involvement with at least ten projects which came to some degree of fruition, with at least another three that didn’t get off the ground.  The names are rather evocative of some rural idyll – Isle of Axholme Light Railway, Dearne Valley Railway, North Lindsay Light, Tickhill Light, Brackenhill Light, Brandsby Light, Swaledale Light, Hutton Magna Light and the North Sunderland Railway, although the rather more prosaic East and West Yorkshire Union Railways sounded rather less attractive. 

Whilst Colonel Stephens has an enormous following, with societies and books extolling his efforts, Meyer seems to have lost out.  A search on the internet failed to come up with anything more than the RCHS book (The Light Railway King of the North –by A. L. Barnett). Does anyone know of anything interesting out there?  The book, although well written, is not blessed with many photos, and they concentrate on the lines in later, mainly BR days, and there is little to indicate the bucolic atmosphere of the lines when they were first opened, or the interesting stock that was in use in the early days, which is only hinted at.  Even the Axholme’s Sentinel railcar gets scanty coverage! I would love to see an album similar to Railways of Arcadia that covers the Colonel’s empire.

I suspect that part of the problem is that most of the lines were either taken over by main line companies within a year of inception, or became part of the big four in 1923, whereas most of Colonel Stephens’ lines escaped the clutches of the bigger companies, and maintained an independent, if penurious, existence for many years.  The other problem is that many were intended to weave their way through open country to serve industrial sites, quarries and coal mines, but gradually became subsumed into sometimes vast industrial complexes, the fate of the North Lindsay Light Railway which is now part of the Scunthorpe steel complex.  I suspect that many people living south of Birmingham cannot conceive how industry could spread its tentacles across open countryside, covering it with sidings, buildings and waste tips.  It is now difficult for those people to imagine what these areas looked like, as the countryside has, in many places, had years to reclaim its property.

[sir douglas]

the E&WYUR was a grand idea of a railway but like a lot of private railways it never got over the debt it shouldered from construction.

[Nick Holliday]

4 hours ago, sir douglas said:

the E&WYUR was a grand idea of a railway but like a lot of private railways it never got over the debt it shouldered from construction.

I'm not sure of the actual details, but the E&WYUR managed to pay healthy dividends for the first few years of their life, although between 1903 and 1909 no dividend was paid, but later there were returns of one to two per cent. At grouping shareholders nearly got all their money back, at least in the form of equivalent L&NER shares, although I suspect their later performance may not have met expectations. I don't know how healthy Colonel Stephens' accounts were, but I suspect many of his shareholders would have been happy with getting similar returns. 

[south_tyne]

Thanks Nick, what a fascinating post. Despite bein very interested in light railways, I must admit I wasn't aware of Meyer. Is the book still available? 

 

17 hours ago, Nick Holliday said:

... Swaledale Light...

 

I've always thought Swaledale is perfect for a light railway scheme. Certainly a line from Richmond to Teeth, and potentially beyond. The profitability would have been very questionable, as by the time the line had been built the lead mining industry would be on its last legs, but that never stopped most light railways from limping in into the 1930s!! I would be really interested to find out more about this proposal. 

 

Thanks for sharing,

David 

 

[Nick Holliday]

I only bought the book a week ago, so I suspect it is still available from the RCHS website.

The Swaledale Light project seems to have drifted into obscurity following the start of the Great War. It was to run from  Richmond to Grinton Bridge, just short of Reeth. 

[Wickham Green]

On 30/06/2019 at 12:27, Nick Holliday said:

...........  I suspect that many people living south of Birmingham cannot conceive how industry could spread its tentacles across open countryside, covering it with sidings, buildings and waste tips.  It is now difficult for those people to imagine what these areas looked like, as the countryside has, in many places, had years to reclaim its property.

.................. I think it's fair to say that the south Wales Valleys were geographically south of Birmingham ....... as was Wellingborough ( just ) .............. and - nearer my neck of the woods - the Thames-side/Medway chalk/cement industry and the Kent coalfield though, of course the latter never reached its expectations.

 

Yes, the Colonel did keep hold of his 'empire' but, like Sebastian Meyer, he was also involved in many schemes which became part of the 'national network' too.

 

[Jo Sellers]

Hi Nick, I've only just come across your post whilst doing some family research.  Sebastian Meyer is my Great-Grandfather.  I have quite a bit of history on him if there was something specific you were looking for.  Do let me know.  He was quite a character and has a wonderful back-story!

[Tom Burnham]

I'm under the impression that Meyer was primarily a promoter of railways and took less of a part in engineering or operations than Stephens did. That said, Meyer's Dearne Valley Railway was quite heavily engineered. In some ways Meyer seems to have had more outside interests than Stephens, although of course the Pre-Raphaelite connection leads some people with no special interest in railways to have heard of Stephens.