The Titfield Thunderbolt

[Captain Kernow]

Probably only one reason you might foam at the mouth, in such circumstances...😉

[Bucoops]

Received my copy, thank you :)

[Pteremy]

It is an excellent book.

 

I seem to be in the grip of 'Titfield fever' - whilst waiting for the Rapido models to arrive (including the entirely unnecessary wagons) I have accumulated a Peco station kit, a WSS Dutch Barn kit and have an Oxford diecast steam roller in the post. If anything else is announced with a Titfield theme I may have to relinquish retirement and get a job.

[Re6/6]

Super book. Excellent read. Well done Simon!

[Coach bogie]

I will have to wait a bit for my copy. My son ordered for me and is sat in his student digs in Birmingham. It will be the end of the year before I return home to pick it up. Hopefully the updated Siphons book will be out by then. Looking forward to my excess baggage on the way back down under.

 

Mike Wiltshire

[Captain Kernow]

I often wish that I had access to some of the information and photos in books like this, when I was younger and living in the area. It would have made exploration of the area so much more meaningful...

 

[Wuggie Norple]

I requested this book as a 70th birthday present and what an absolute delight it is, both in content and design.

 

Being born in 1953, I have always loved the film, especially for the nostalgia it evokes in me for the Britain of that era, made immeasurably more vivid by being shot in colour.  I find the same thing with some BTF (British Transport Films) documentaries of the time, most notably for me in Any Man’s Kingdom with its achingly wistful scenes of 1950s Northumberland.

 

To return to the book, to which the hackneyed term ‘a labour of love’ scarcely does justice, it is clearly destined to be the definitive work on the subject.  It is one of those rare books that does not leave you craving more information on its subject.  The text is beautifully crafted and mercifully free from grating typographical or grammatical errors.  I found the insight into how films were made at the time to be particularly fascinating.  The pictures are simply a joy to behold, with informative captions, and the paper quality and reproduction are of the highest order.

 

The choice of Stephen Phillips as designer was clearly an inspired choice, the typography and page layout perfectly complementing the text. The map showing the film locations is a particular high point.

 

If this all sounds a bit gushing, let me say I have no connection with the author other than as a happy reader.  I am a very hard man to please, and after giving a rather lukewarm reception to another recent Wild Swan title, I am delighted to say The Titfield Thunderbolt represents a triumphant return to form.  Simon, I salute you, and you should be rightly proud of what you have accomplished with this exceptional book.  It will be a treasured addition to my library.

 

Nick Morris

[Not Jeremy]

Dear Nick

 

Thank you so very much, your comments mean a great deal to me, as the author.

 

You are absolutely right about Steve Phillips, without his significant input (which I say a bit more about in the acknowledgments) the book would not have been half as good as it has turned out to be. I am very happy and lucky to be working with him on other projects too.

 

The book is the culmination of years of interest in the subject, numerous conversations and also the great generosity of many individuals in making information and images available to me. It feels good to have finally got it finished and sort of "out of my system" - now I can bore people to death about something else!!

 

One of the many generous individuals was the late Mervyn Halbrook, seen here looking out from his box at Limpley Stoke at around the time of the filming. This picture did not make it into the book, but is a great reminder of Mervyn and the way that things were.

 

 

Simon

[The Stationmaster]

Blimey, I never thought of Mervyn as having once had dark hair.  It definitely was no longer dark when he was one of my Signalmen at Bradford Jcn in the 1970s.    Mervyn was a very good source for various tales some of which were probably a little on the 'tall' side.

 

A couple of my staff had been Shunters at Limpley Stoke at one time but neither of them ever mentioned the filming so might not have been there at that time - the main thing they talked about was drawbars pulled out of ex PO wagons on the rising gradient up to Freshford (seemingly a common occurrence)

[Captain Kernow]

6 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Blimey, I never thought of Mervyn as having once had dark hair.  It definitely was no longer dark when he was one of my Signalmen at Bradford Jcn in the 1970s.    Mervyn was a very good source for various tales some of which were probably a little on the 'tall' side.

I'll have to see if I can find one of my photos taken when I took Simon to Bradford Jct in the late 1980s...

[Not Jeremy]

Ah yes, a great evening in Mervyn’s company “inside the triangle”, and then there were the chickens, or at least the smell of them….. 

[Captain Kernow]

19 minutes ago, Not Jeremy said:

Ah yes, a great evening in Mervyn’s company “inside the triangle”, and then there were the chickens, or at least the smell of them….. 

It was a long time ago! You didn't even not resemble Jeremy in those days (not much, anyway)!! 😛

 

[The Stationmaster]

5 hours ago, Not Jeremy said:

Ah yes, a great evening in Mervyn’s company “inside the triangle”, and then there were the chickens, or at least the smell of them….. 

And not just the smell of then but the stuff they 'dropped'.

 

That is one reason why J I have always treated with teh derision it deserved the press story (story as in fction) about Lady Diana Spencer joing Pronce Charles in the 'Royal train' at 'a siding in Wiltshire'.   The nonsense they pubklished left little doubt that the location was Bradford Jcn however the nivelist, sorry \reporter', who came up with the story had clearly not researched it very well at all and had totally missed the fact that the access he 'described' would have been via the chicken concentration camp and down the bank.  (When she could - but obviously didn't - have joined the train at Chippenham, where it had to  stop anyway.)/

 

Alas I don't think Mervyn was on duty the night we had the train, with the Princess Royal aboard, a;;egedly leavin Chippenham with teh tail lamp out.  that stoey would jave kepy NMervuyn going for a good while.

 

BTW Simon did you read my PM some time back - I can't trace a reply?

[Captain Kernow]

I always thought that the removal of the triangle chord at Bradford Jct to be a mistake, I think that happened when the box closed and the area came under Westbury Panel?

 

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, Captain Kernow said:

I always thought that the removal of the triangle chord at Bradford Jct to be a mistake, I think that happened when the box closed and the area came under Westbury Panel?

 

Very much agree.  The Western managed to reduce itself from having three diversionary routes between Reading and Bath to two when the Devizes branch was closed.  But it then reduced it down to one when the north chord was removed at Thingley Jcn and all for the sake of saving a few hundred yards of track two point ends, a couple of signals and a bit of pretty simple locking.  And also robbing itself of one of the two diversionary routes between Swindon and Bristol.

 

So every time possessions are needed between Thingley Jcn and Bathampton Bristol trains cease to serve Didcot (if any still do) and Swindon because they have to run via Lavington and Trowbridge/Bradford-On-Avon.  Or cease to serve Bath if they are diverted via Badminton. 

[Not Jeremy]

Mike, I did get your message, thank you very much and I will get back to you.

 

In the meantime I have found a picture that I took of Mervyn outside Bradford Junction box which you might like. I think this was on the trip with Tim that evening, or perhaps we returned a second time(?)

 

 

Those GW boxes were handsome structures....

 

Simon

[Not Jeremy]

And going back to Limpley Stoke, the view from the box was (unlike Bradford Junction) also very picturesque, looking across the valley to the river Avon and Kennet and Avon canal above it.

 

 

This shot has never been seen or published before, it didn't make the book as the quality isn't brilliant, but it was taken by Mervyn and shows a "Dean Goods" which looks to be shunting the exchange sidings(?)

 

O for a time machine...

 

Simon

[Captain Kernow]

4 hours ago, Not Jeremy said:

Mike, I did get your message, thank you very much and I will get back to you.

 

In the meantime I have found a picture that I took of Mervyn outside Bradford Junction box which you might like. I think this was on the trip with Tim that evening, or perhaps we returned a second time(?)

 

 

Those GW boxes were handsome structures....

 

Simon

We may have visited twice...

[Bulwell Hall]

2 hours ago, Not Jeremy said:

And going back to Limpley Stoke, the view from the box was (unlike Bradford Junction) also very picturesque, looking across the valley to the river Avon and Kennet and Avon canal above it.

 

 

This shot has never been seen or published before, it didn't make the book as the quality isn't brilliant, but it was taken by Mervyn and shows a "Dean Goods" which looks to be shunting the exchange sidings(?)

 

O for a time machine...

 

Simon

 

Nothing could be finer than a Dean Goods in the Avon Valley!  If you manage to find a time machine going back to Limpley Stoke Simon, I'll come along for the ride if that's ok?

[The Stationmaster]

Thanks Simon.  Merv looks as if he had lost some weight.

 

1 hour ago, Captain Kernow said:

We may have visited twice...

I managed it a good few times more than that!  

 

On the days when I visited every 'box on the area Bradford Jcn was always my first port of call as it was at one extreme end (northernmost) of the patch  The final, and 18th, 'box of the day was Chard Jcn (the furthest south west).  With a  day like that, especially when the A303 was really busy in the summer,  I only used to do them all of them on the same day two or three times a year.

[PaulRhB]

2 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

The final, and 18th, 'box of the day was Chard Jcn

That’s a lot of cuppas! ☕

 

I used to enjoy a day out doing visits, work your way down catching the early turns, Gillingham, Templecombe, Sherborne crossing, Chard Jn, Axminster (plus Buffers or Axminster Tools), Honiton and Feniton for the shift change. Couldn’t do them all on the way back up too as you ran out of hours with the car spying on your hours but a very nice way to spend the day. Used to do Yeovil Jn, Pen Mill and the Yeovil Field Managers on another trip and catch early and lates. 

[The Stationmaster]

13 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

That’s a lot of cuppas! ☕

 

I used to enjoy a day out doing visits, work your way down catching the early turns, Gillingham, Templecombe, Sherborne crossing, Chard Jn, Axminster (plus Buffers or Axminster Tools), Honiton and Feniton for the shift change. Couldn’t do them all on the way back up too as you ran out of hours with the car spying on your hours but a very nice way to spend the day. Used to do Yeovil Jn, Pen Mill and the Yeovil Field Managers on another trip and catch early and lates. 

I could have added Sherborne and Axminster crossings as well as I always dd them on the way and there was good cuppa available at Axminster.   fortunately atlyhough my trip included Maiden Newton I didin't bother with. Bridport station on those days, while it was still open (or go dwn to West Bay to buy fish for the AM).

[Captain Kernow]

On 22/06/2023 at 17:58, The Stationmaster said:

Thanks Simon.  Merv looks as if he had lost some weight.

 

I managed it a good few times more than that!  

 

On the days when I visited every 'box on the area Bradford Jcn was always my first port of call as it was at one extreme end (northernmost) of the patch  The final, and 18th, 'box of the day was Chard Jcn (the furthest south west).  With a  day like that, especially when the A303 was really busy in the summer,  I only used to do them all of them on the same day two or three times a year.

Bradford Jct was never on my patch when I was doing box visits, I was purely a visitor.

 

[Dan Griffin]

what an excellent book this is. really is top notch. 

 

i have had mine a couple of days and already half way through. the content and pictures are brilliant. 

 

thanks for you effort producing this. it is a fitting tribute to an excellent film. 

[Captain Kernow]

I presume that many of the excellent photos must have resided all these years in the Studiocanal archive, without the majority of enthusiasts being aware of their existence?