Midland Railway Company

[lezz01]

I got caught in a snow storm in the Brecon's once when I was in the forces that was no picnic let me tell you.

Regards Lez. 

[Compound2632]

47 minutes ago, lezz01 said:

I got caught in a snow storm in the Brecon's once when I was in the forces that was no picnic let me tell you.

 

The Brecon Beacons (or whatever it is we're supposed to call them now) seem to have a capacity for manslaughter well beyond their size. 

 

Lest we wander too far off the path, here's a photo of Brecon station, with a 0-4-4T and Midland carriages in the main platforms:

 

 

[Embedded link to catalogue image of MRSC 99-0637.]

[Compound2632]

Note the Furness Railway train in the bay platform.

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, lezz01 said:

I got caught in a snow storm in the Brecon's once when I was in the forces that was no picnic let me tell you.

Regards Lez. 

 

When I was doing my initial training in the RAF we were dragged off taken to the Brecon Beacons for a torture session fun filled luxury camping two week holiday in February. I don't think I have ever been so cold, tired and miserable in my life, and that includes doing the winter survival course in Bavaria. 

 

Dave

Edited September 21, 2023 by Dave Hunt

[ChrisN]

50 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Note the Furness Railway train in the bay platform.

 

Are you sure that is the Furness?

[Compound2632]

5 minutes ago, ChrisN said:

Are you sure that is the Furness?

 

Just my little joke. If I hadn't said it was Brecon, would you have been in any doubt? - Well, perhaps you would, as a die-hard Cambrian enthusiast!

[MikeOxon]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

Just my little joke.

Phew!  for a moment I thought one of us had flipped 🤪

[billbedford]

6 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

So there are more women in the photo than can be accounted for.

 

Sisters and cousins and aunts?

[Holmesfeldian]

11 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

When I was doing my initial training in the RAF we were dragged off taken to the Brecon Beacons for a torture session fun filled luxury camping two week holiday in February. I don't think I have ever been so cold, tired and miserable in my life, and that includes doing the winter survival course in Bavaria. 

 

Dave

 

My dad's basic training was Bridgnorth - on their first night out they got heavily drunk on local scrumpy and my dad said he never touched a drop since !

[DenysW]

For the Kewthusiasts amongst us (few I know), they have what appears to be a complete set of 6-monthly Midland working timetables filed under RAIL 963 (e.g. RAIL 963/50 is for 1887).

 

They also have about 35 years of railway company submissions to the Board of Trade (1859, 1872, 1871-1904) filed under RAIL 1053/167, and 177-181 incl. Maximum charges (all companies) are under RAIL 1053/192. RAIL 1053 isn't easy to search as it contains over 12,000 reports of railway accidents to distract you. BoT reports should give (I've yet to check) numbers of trains and passengers as well as the more usual revenue and miles-run.

 

The timetables are referenced in the Records Office 2001 book (author Cliff Edwards) on Railway records, which only has a couple of photos. But one is of Swindon in 1885 with mixed-gauge baulk track on two platforms (no sleepers visible), and standard gauge baulk track (again, no visible sleepers) on the other two. Fascinating. 

 

The BoT reports are not cited in that book.

[Compound2632]

10 minutes ago, DenysW said:

They also have about 35 years of railway company submissions to the Board of Trade (1859, 1872, 1871-1904) filed under RAIL 1053/167

 

I had from another source extracts from Table 3: Working Expenditure, Net Receipts, and Rolling Stock of the Railway Returns for many years, just the pages covering the Midland, but I think one would also want Table 2 which gives revenue in detail. I think, but am not certain, that, unlike the company's Reports and Accounts, which until 1913 give only the breakdown of revenue in £sd, the Railway Returns also give figures for passenger numbers by class, tonnage of goods and minerals, head of cattle, etc. This data is summarised in The Railway Yearbook, from I think 1899 - when that commercial publication started.

 

I see that RAIL 963 runs to 144 volumes...

 

In the normal course of events, I would next go on Wednesday or Thursday of next week but with rail strikes looming again I'll put it off to the following week. Anyway I'm dabbling in S&DJR reports and accounts and minutes at the moment!

[DenysW]

4 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I see that RAIL 963 runs to 144 volumes...

72 years at 2 per year?

 

4 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Anyway I'm dabbling in S&DJR reports and accounts and minutes at the moment!

Good luck. I found them sadly lacking in detail on a (very) quick look.

 

Sometimes the other companies are more candid than the Midland. I don't remember any numbers in the Midland accounts, but here is the Great Northern being quite open that the M&GN Joint was marginally profitable.

Edited September 22, 2023 by DenysW
Add GN Picture

[Compound2632]

4 minutes ago, DenysW said:

Good luck. I found them sadly lacking in detail on a (very) quick look.

 

I was looking at RAIL 1110/418, Reports and Accounts 1876-1912. The first few half-years do lack detail but from the half-year ending 30 April 1878 they are in similar format to the Midland Reports and Accounts, though with not so many sections. They had what I wanted, though, which was the Return of Working Stock and the capital expenditure on working stock. Hand-written copy up to about 1899 then printed thereafter - I failed to note exactly when the change was.

 

The Joint Committee minute book I looked at, RAIL 626/3, is fully indexed, like the Midland minute books, theough one does have to check the index carefully to be sure of not missing a relevant entry (to carriages and wagons, in my case). There are also minutes of meetings of officers, which I think was the equivalent of the Midland Traffic Committee, in that what that meeting said, went.

[kevinlms]

21 hours ago, Holmesfeldian said:

 

My dad's basic training was Bridgnorth - on their first night out they got heavily drunk on local scrumpy and my dad said he never touched a drop since !

So the training worked well then?

[Dave Hunt]

It’s a long time since I posted anything about my layout so here goes with an update. All the buildings I have made myself are complete and installed and as those of you who read MRJ will know, so is the loco shed that was made for me by Richard (Tricky) of Monks Gate Models. I was intending to make the shed myself but since I reckoned it would probably take me at least twelve months and I was already way behind schedule I decided to spend some of the money my Dad left me and ask Richard to do it. That was an excellent decision as he has done a superb job and the shed really looks good.. 

 

The other buildings, which I have made from scratch except for the round topped windows, roof tiles and tank panels which Tricky also made for me, are:

 

The water tower

The offices and stores

 

The coaling stage

 

And the old goods shed that in my little world has been repurposed as a PW depot

More later.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

Further to my last post, the layout, the visible section of which is 26ft x 3ft 6in, now looks like this:

 

A view from the over bridge at the fiddle yard end towards the shed in the distance.

 

A view from the shed end

 

And one from part way down towards the shed.

As can be seen, there is still much to do. Although the basic grassing has been done, the rest of the foliage - bushes, brambles, trees etc. remain to be done. Other details such as shear legs over one of the sidings as well as wheelbarrows and other shed items have to be added, not to mention people. There is also the fiddle yard to make. The aim is to get it all done by next summer.

 

Dave

Edited September 23, 2023 by Dave Hunt

[Dave Hunt]

Just in case you haven’t seen enough of my activities, as well as work on the layout I have been working on the breakdown train that I started many moons ago and is now complete.

 

I started with the crane, which began as a D@S kit that Jill bought for me many years ago but due to various issues with the kit, in the event ended up as half scratch-built. The builders’ plates are from Diane Carney - expensive but superb.

 

Next I made the match wagon, which was scratchbuilt using Slaters wheels, axle boxes, couplings and buffers. The really interesting bit was making the cradle for the jib - cutting the plastic strips to fit with the different angles involved was accomplished with quite a few naughty words.

 

Following on from that came the mainly plastikard scratchbuilt mess and riding van. This was made from photographs and details provided many years ago by the late Ralph Lacey and is based on a modified Kirtley tariff van, the main dimensions being taken from Bob Essery’s MR Wagons Vol. 2. Hence it is somewhat conjectural but as far as I am aware there is no drawing to go on and to me it looks right.

Last of all were the two tool vans, once again scratch built mainly in Plastikard using photographs and details from Ralph Lacey as for the mess van. The under frames are standard 9 footers as for 10 ton brake vans.

 

The whole assembly looks like this:

 

Or from the other end like this:

 

As can be seen, after much research I couldn’t decide for certain what colour the vehicles should be apart from the crane, which I was sure was crimson lake. From photographs I also determined that the match wagons were crimson lake but as for the vans? Eventually I decided that since they were Locomotive Department assets they could well have been crimson lake, so that is what I used (and yes, I am aware of what George Dow wrote in Midland Style but the evidence is mixed). Anyway, it’s my train set so that’s what I’ve done. I’ve tried to weather the train to simulate something that has seen service and although it has been looked after, several years use (my layout is circa 1906) has taken its toll but the vehicles have not been allowed to become really filthy as would probably have been the case in a later era.

 

So that’s what I’ve been doing over the last few years.

 

Dave

 

[jamie92208]

Fabulous Dave, mustIget on with getting that cap for the sheerlegs printed. 

 

Jamie

[DenysW]

Some Midland odds & ends from Kew, the branch line assertions from the 1887 working timetable. ...

 

The Barnoldswick branch was busy in 1887 (9 trains/weekday in each direction) but all were combined passenger & goods, taking 7 minutes journey time.

Ilkeston even busier, with 29 passenger and 3 goods trains/weekday, with a 3 minute journey time

The Leicester West Bridge branch: maximum goods width 7'7"

 

The Midland's decision to abandon second class is always presented as a fairly sudden rational decision based on the profitability of each class.  Looking at the stock numbers 1849-1872, Kirtley only added extra composites and third class, so the Midland had a first-only and second-second fleet that was nominally 25 years old, and probably in need of refurbishment. I'd say the Midland had been drifting towards simplifying the passenger stock (and had recognised that the growth was in third class) almost from its creation, and that the change was predictable and inevitable. The LNWR were still bitter about it in 1881, however, claiming it had forced them into more miles for less receipts.

Edited September 29, 2023 by DenysW
Typo

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, DenysW said:

The Midland's decision to abandon second class is always presented as a fairly sudden rational decision based on the profitability of each class.  Looking at the stock numbers 1849-1872, Kirtley only added extra composites and third class, so the Midland had a first-only and second-second fleet that was nominally 25 years old, and probably in need of refurbishment. 

 

The limitation of looking at stock totals is that they only tell you about vehicles built as additions to stock - which in Kirtley's days were usually bought-in but whether bought in or built at Derby, required financial approval and hence are recorded in the Traffic Committee, Locomotive Committee and Chairman's / General Purposes Committee minutes. What you don't see are vehicles built as renewals; however, in Kirtley's time - from 1859 - there was a monthly return of renewals recorded in the Locomotive Committee minutes.

 

So for the stock at the end of 1872, compared to 1859:

 

First Class 145, 45 additions to stock, 23 renewals, 77 (53%) over 13 years old.

Composite 500, 420 additions to stock, 49 renewals, 31 (6%) over 13 years old.

Second Class 170, 5 deductions from stock, 154 renewals, 16 (9%) over 13 years old.

Third Class 1065, 730 additions to stock, 164 renewals, 171 (16%) over 13 years old.

Passenger Brake Vans 290, 150 additions to stock, 44 renewals, 96 (33%) over 13 years old.

 

So although there had been, as you say, an emphasis on increasing the total number of  composites and thirds, that part of the fleet that provided second-class accommodation (i.e. composites as well as seconds) had the smallest proportion of elderly vehicles. 

 

On the abolition of second class, all those seconds became thirds and work was put in hand to bring the thirds up to the second class standard of upholstery. The abolition of second class was in practice the abolition of third class accommodation and of first class fares.

Edited September 29, 2023 by Compound2632
corrected PBV %

[MR Chuffer]

1 hour ago, DenysW said:

combined passenger & goods

For Barnoldswick, yes, and for some reason the number of goods wagons was limited to 9, even in the early part of the 20th c. when they ran separate goods trains. Can't understand why but this limit may have ceased when they extended the coal sidings c. 1912 and the traffic figures jumped from 3,628 tons of minerals and 18,811 in 1910 to 10,876 tons of minerals and 27,846 tons of coal in 1912

Edited September 29, 2023 by MR Chuffer

[Compound2632]

12 minutes ago, MR Chuffer said:

For Barnoldswick, yes,

 

I wonder how long mixed trains persisted on the Barnoldswick branch, with the 1889 Act requiring continuous brakes, since it had been the general practice, for operational convenience, to put the passenger carriage(s) at the rear with the guard. There were a couple of accidents to mixed trains on the Highland Railway in the 1890s, where HM inspector came down very heavily on the company for persisting in running mixed trains marshalled this way, at Tain in April 1894 and at Achterneed as late as September 1897. Major Marindin's report on the latter cites the Order of the Board of Trade made under the 1889 Act and issued to the Highland (and presumably other companies ) in February 1891, requiring the continuous brake to be working on all passenger-carrying vehicles in mixed trains.

[MR Chuffer]

4 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I wonder how long mixed trains persisted on the Barnoldswick branch, with the 1889 Act requiring continuous brakes, since it had been the general practice, for operational convenience, to put the passenger carriage(s) at the rear with the guard. There were a couple of accidents to mixed trains on the Highland Railway in the 1890s, where HM inspector came down very heavily on the company for persisting in running mixed trains marshalled this way, at Tain in April 1894 and at Achterneed as late as September 1897. Major Marindin's report on the latter cites the Order of the Board of Trade made under the 1889 Act and issued to the Highland (and presumably other companies ) in February 1891, requiring the continuous brake to be working on all passenger-carrying vehicles in mixed trains.

The record I'm looking at, in Donald Binn's book, has the branch timetable for Nov 1881 showing 8 trains each way, all marked as Passenger and Goods. My 1903 timetable gives no indication, but there again, why should it? But it does show up to 4 L&Y services per day starting at Barnoldswick and heading through Colne to various destinations in Lancashire.

[jamie92208]

Tail traffic on passenger trains was allowed into BR days, IIRC up to two vehicles if braked or two and a goods rake if unfitted.  A signalman told me about such traffic at Long Preston that ran I to the early 60's. The regulations were buried somewhere in the Sectional appendix.  All sorts of local practices were allowed like this.  Lancaster Green Ayre was allowed u braked propelling moves through the station as long as a lamp was hung on the draw hook of the leading vehicle. Apparently the kept a stock of special amps withla long hoot at went round the nearest buffer stock. 

 

Jamie

[Compound2632]

12 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Tail traffic on passenger trains was allowed into BR days,

 

But that's a different kettle of fish to passengers as tail traffic on unfitted goods trains!

 

Which puts me in mind of the one-off cattle drovers' brake the Midland built. It was approved as a 'specimen' in June 1889 but not added to stock until the first half of 1890. No more were built, perhaps because of the 1889 Act.

Edited September 29, 2023 by Compound2632