Brian Stone

23 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

Castle week continues with something different:

 

Castle class 4-6-0 no 5090 Neath Abbey is seen passing Twyford with a train in 1957:

 

https://www.gettyimages.ie/detail/news-photo/neath-abbey-passing-twyford-with-a-passsenger-train-7-news-photo/90779854

I assume that is Twyford East Box I noticed the "T" on the opposite embankment to photographer was this a drainage facility or an aid to drivers and fireman when they raced through?

A  Henley Man Ron Warner used to be a signalman at that box around this period.

Great photo.

On 29/07/2022 at 12:06, The Stationmaster said:

And the other side of this would be visible in the background

I managed to sneak inside the goods shed and have look around about 1966-7, my memory was of timber beams and I had no appreciation that it was a Brunel broad gauge design.

Here is 6106 visiting Henley-on-Thames 24th June 1967 the goods shed demolished.

On 03/03/2022 at 14:45, The Stationmaster said:

I suppose it depends how you define 'industrial' Henley's main manufacturer would have been Stuart turner and they probably despatched smaller items by rail.  The brewery (I think it was down to one by the 1930s) wouldn't have despatched much as 'parcels' I would have thought and probably didn't despatch much by rail anyway - but that surmise is not based on any sort of research.  The weekly cheese market was long gone by then so otherwise it would only be agricultural type goods such as flowers and possibly game such as rabbits.  Alas I haven't got any trade guides for the 1930s  - what i do have is pre 1914 but I can check the local histories to see if there are any other likely subjects.

 

Just about everybody knew about the secret factory and I knew someone in the 1960s who worked there - he also built 5" gauge locos and ran a large 1920s Austin - not that any of that is relevant here.

 

The Reading-Paddington parcels called just about everywhere and (in 1958-59) was also noted as conveying Parcels Post so probably had before then. And don't forget it would probably have been loaded with transfer traffic (and maybe even vans off other trains) at Reading as well as at the junction stations so Reading originating traffic would only have been part of its loas when departing Reading.

 

Reading had a wide variety of industries and of course it had three goods depots although one them (Reading Central) only handled wagonload traffic.  but the parcels depot area at Reading (General) was a poor place for handling originating traffic until the 1960s rebyuilding when it was greatly altered (the only part of that scheme, other than the new telephone exchange to actually be complete. Suutons Seeds probablt sent some traffic out as railway parcels although their smaller consignments normally went by post while the larger ones went by goods and I doubt Huntley & Palmer sent much by passenger train unless it was stuff destined for the GWR Hotels Dep

 

Things obviously changed over the years but what I do know is that when Henley goods closed c.1965 the amount of traffic formerly dealt with at Henley and Twyford exceeded what Reading had been handling prior to taking on the traffic through those two stations.

Hi all, 

As an ex employee of the "secret factory" I can confirm that it would not have generated much freight for the Henley Branch as most of the production was aircraft components and a much larger facility at Hanworth in Middlesex was the location of the main factory. During WW2 the tunnels were constructed in 1942/3 by Welsh Miners and there may have been activity delivering machinery by rail but it would have been in covered wagons, some of the capstan lathes we used in the 1970's still had "Strength from America" badges on them!

Would they have come to docks at Southampton or Liverpool then by rail?

The factory remained as part of the Ministry of Supply into the 1950's the main activity in the 60's & 70's was cabin pressure components for Military and Civil aircraft the company name being Godfrey Precision Products at this time.

I agree with the Stationmaster that Henley only had light engineering companies like Stuart Turners and the brewery in the period Neal is modelling. The employee he refers to A.H. was a good engineer and also had some vintage motorcycles that were very rare and he used to ride them around town on sunny days.