'Santa Specials' at Peak Rail - Christmas 2015

Bookings for Peak Rail's 'Santa Trains' in December 2015 have been very satisfactory.

Sunday, 6th December 2015

On the second day of the Santa service I was booked to drive, with Mike S. as fireman. Having prepared 'Lord Phil' and topped-up the bunker with coal, we coupled onto the south end of the 7-coach train ready to 'top and tail' with the 'Class 31' diesel-electric which had been left coupled at the north end overnight. We were nice and early so, before the first departure at 10:45, we had over an hour to perform 'carriage warming', supplying steam at 30 p.s.i. via the Reducing Valve to the heating system on each of the coaches. The weather was fairly mild for December and, although we had intermittent rain during the day, it was reasonably pleasant.

Rowsley Station had been decorated for Christmas and looked quite inviting. All tickets on the 'Santas' are pre-booked and volunteer helpers are always in demand to deal with the large number of passengers. Santa had a number of Elves and other helpers in attendance to assist in distributing presents to the children whilst the grown-ups enjoy mulled wine and a mince pie during the journey to Matlock Town and back.

As the passengers arrived, there was quite a pleasant atmosphere of anticipation, particularly when Santa patrolled the platform greeting the boys and girls together with professional entertainers who juggled, did magic and clowned. There was also a reindeer and a bear.


Santa poses for the camera before resuming greeting the visitors. The reindeer and bear are in the background.

In addition, a choir sang Christmas Carols on the platform at Rowsley as passengers boarded the train.

The choir perform in front of the decorated station buildings at Rowsley.

The two coaches marshalled next to the steam locomotive at the south end form the 'Palatine Set' comprising one full restaurant car and a restaurant/bar/kitchen car. The 'Palatine Set' was thronged with staff preparing to serve Christmas Lunch to the diners on the second departure from Rowsley at 12:18.

Santa trains are often a little late departing because of booked passengers arriving late but, as far as possible, the timetable is adhered to. With the number of speed restrictions on the route, it's difficult to make up time.

'Lord Phil' on arrival at Matlock Town, with 'Christmas Pudding' smokebox decoration and 'Santa's Special' headboard. It is displaying a tail lamp, ready for the return journey.

The 'Class 31' hauled the train back to Rowsley where Mike and I replenished the saddle tank. The water consumption is increased, of course, when supplying steam to heat the train. With the diners and booked passengers aboard, we set off on our second round trip. This was completed without incident, with Mike using the classic "little and often" method of firing. We didn't need to top-up with water this time.


Mike using the classic "little and often" method of firing.

The train was very busy on the two round trips in the afternoon during which parties of adults arrived by, I think, at least four large motor coaches. After the third round trip, we filled the saddle tank, this time with me perched on top of the engine, allowing me to take a couple of pictures from my elevated position.

A view of Rowsley whilst taking water. On the far left, the maroon exhibition coach is visible, stabled on the turntable siding.

On the last trip to Matlock, it was starting to grow dark so we lit the locomotive paraffin lamps, displaying a white near the chimney on the way there, changing to a red tail lamp on the buffer beam for the journey back. There's a little piece about lamps here.

'Lord Phil' at Matlock Town, displaying a lit tail lamp.

The 'Class 31' took us back to Rowsley for the last time, pausing briefly in the Down platform at Darley Dale. Now it was properly dark, the illuminated Christmas decorations on both platforms showed up well, encouraging a number of passengers to take photographs of the displays.

On arrival, we were given the single line token, allowing us to uncouple from the train and make our way, via the loop and third line, to the North end where we surrendered the token to the diesel crew, so that they could stable their locomotive in the shed on No. 1 road. Meanwhile, we took 'Lord Phil' to the siding outside the shed, so that Chris could coal our bunker using the Bucket Loader. We then made our way back to the North end and attached the exhibition coach from the turntable siding. With Jacob acting as guard, we propelled the coach over the third line back onto the loop. We then drew the coach along the loop, stopping where instructed adjacent to the main train. With the coach 'tied down' and uncoupled, it was now our turn to make our way to No. 1 road where we carried out the disposal procedures and stabled 'Lord Phil' over the outside pit.

Go to 'Santa Specials' at Peak Rail - Christmas 2015 (part 2)

My pictures

Peak Rail 'Santa' Trains - 2015.

Bagan Medical Clinic

This report is based on information from Doctor Hla Tun, who also supplied the photographs.

The previous report showing monthly statistics covered the period up to the end of October 2014, when the total number of treatments since the Clinic opened on August 6, 2011 was 118,801.

Treatment Summary

The table below summarises the number of treatments per month from November 2014 to October 2015 and the total number of treatments since the clinic opened on August 6, 2011 (missing figures will be added later).

In summary, at the end of October 2014 the Bagan Medical Clinic has been operating for 4 years and 3 months, carrying out a total of 159,680 treatments.

Month	Treatments in month	Total treatments
November 2014	5,377	124,178
December 2014	n/a	n/a
January 2015	n/a	n/a
February 2015	n/a	n/a
March 2015	n/a	139,502
April 2015	1,320	140,822
May 2015	2,484	143,306
June 2015	3,070	146,376
July 2015	4,706	151,082
August 2015	2,863	153,945
September 2015	2,935	156,880
October 2015	2,800	159,680

General Notes

Water Festival/New Year

During April 2015, the Clinic closed for only one week during the important Water Festival and New Year.

Opthalmology

A lady opthalmologist who works in Chauk Hospital (about 20 miles from the Bagan Clinic) has started to treat patients in the Bagan Clinic every other Saturday.

The Opthalmologist at work.

New Clinic Building

In October 2015, construction started on a further new clinic building in the Bagan Monastery compound. This will provide an Eye Care Centre and X-ray facilities.

The new building under construction.

A Young Patient

A young boy had mistaken pills for chocolate (because of their colour) with unfortunate results.

A young patient.

Ethnic Groups in Burma

Burma comprises a number of distinct ethnic groups. Chin State, in the north west of Myanmar, is hilly and cooler. There is a tradition of eating dog meat as a protection against the cold. One Chin lady patient displayed facial tattoos. This tradition originated hundreds of years ago when a King wished to marry a beautiful Chin girl. Unwilling to be married to the King, the girl had tattoos to destroy her looks. The patient complained of difficulty eating because of inflammation resulting from the tattooing.

Chin lady patient with facial tattoos.

An Elderly Brother and Sister

In October, an elderly brother and sister attending the clinic were given priority, because of their age. The lady was 90 and the man 92, survivors of a family of five brothers and sisters.

An elderly brother and sister.

Donation of Reading Glasses

On 14th November 2014, around 100 patients received reading glasses in the Bagan Medical Clinic.

Selection of reading glasses.

Concert at Bagan Medical Clinic

Also on the 14th November 2014, 12 students gave a concert at the Bagan Medical Centre. 10 students danced, while a boy and girl performed a traditional comedy dance.

Ten students dancing.

A boy and girl perform a traditional comedy dance.

Donation of Walking Stick

A 91 year old lady with walking difficulty was given a walking stick by the clinic.


Donation of walking stick.

Free Lunches

With the continuing co-operation of the Abbot of Bagan Monastery and the 'Road to Mandalay' ship, lunch is served to patients and their companions on the clinic days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday).

Free Lunch being served to waiting patients, under the watchful eye of the Abbot.

Other reports on medical support in Myanmar

There are a number of posts in this Blog describing medical support in Myanmar provided by the RTM Social Contribution with help from donors around the world. You can find them all here.

Photographs

There's a collection of pictures showing the Bagan Clinic from its inception here.

Doctor Hla Tun's photographs showing the work of the Bagan Clinic in 2014 are here and those taken in 2015 are here.

News from Burma - Educational Support

I'm afraid this report, covering the end of 2014 and 2015 is delayed (my fault), but in the interests of completeness, it's finally being issued. This report is based on information provided by Dr. Hla Tun, who also supplied the photographs.

Shwe Sin Minn

In October 2014, Dr. Hla Tun arranged for one of the guides working on the 'Road to Mandalay' ship to make a donation towards teachers' salaries at the Shwe Sin Minn Nunnery, Orphanage for Girls and Monastic Secondary School. Guests from the ship also donated rice, peanut oil, garlic and onions. Shwe Sin Minn is situated in Maymyo, up in the hills, around two hours driving from Mandalay. Maymyo was very popular with the British in summer, because of its cooler location.

Teachers' salaries being donated to one of founders of Shwe Sin Minn.

Girls at Shwe Sin Minn reciting a poem for their visitors.

A report on my first visit to Shwe Sin Minn in 2011 is here My pictures of this visit and a later visit in 2013 are here.

Traditional Ceremonies

The following pictures show a procession in connection with traditional ceremonies. These are arranged in connection with Noviciation for boys and Ear Piercing for girls and feature decorated, gold-painted oxcarts.

A procession of decorated oxcarts.

Another view of the procession.

Close-up of one of the gold-painted oxcarts.

I'd been lucky enough the see this ceremony in 2012 at Moe Dar (report here), in 2013 at Bagan (briefly mentioned here) and in 2013 at Mandalay (briefly mentioned here).

Taung Be School Stationery Distribution and Concert

Taung Be school is only a few minutes walk from the Bagan Medical Clinic and the 'Road to Mandalay' landing stage in Bagan. On 25th October 2014 Dr. Hla Hun, accompanied by Guests from the ship, visited to distribute stationery to about 371 students. The picture below shows Grade 5 students from the school, dressed in traditional Shan Costume, performing a traditional dance from Inle Lake.

Taung Be Concert

There's an earlier report on stationery distribution at Taung Be during 2013 here.

Aung Myae Oo Monastic High School

On 16th December 2014, Dr. Hla Tun visited this school in Sagaing which has 2,092 students from Grade 1 to Grade 11 of whom 691 are boys and novices and 1,401 are girls and nuns. There are 43 teachers on the staff.

List of students.

On that date, students from Grades 5 and 9, most of whom were nuns, were sitting their State Examinations.

The State Examinations in progress.

The Doctor made a donation to one of teachers, watched by small children (who were on holiday because of the State Examinations) and the Monk.

Dr. Hla Tun making the donation.

Christmas Eve, 2014

On Christmas Eve, 15 orphans from Nar Ga and Tribal Orphanage, Mandalay, came on board the 'Road to Mandalay' to perform Christmas carols for the guests. The performers ranged from a 7 year attending Grade 3 to a 16 year in Grade 11. Among them, there are 6 orphans from the Nar Ga Tribe/Ethnic and 9 from the Chin Tribe/Ethnic. The group was led by a teacher, Ms. Ann Ja Taung who is also Chin Tribe/Ethnic.

Singing carols to the Guests in the restaurant of the 'Road to Mandalay'.

After the performance, Dr. Hla Tun made a donation to the Orphanage.

Dr. Hla Tun making a donation to the Orphanage.

Ko Dut Drop In Centre

Donations have allowed improvements at this Drop In Centre in Mon State. The planned first floor has been brought into use by constructing a new floor and access stairs. The exterior has also been painted. These pictures, taken in February 2015, show the work in progress.

Ko Dut Drop In Centre: Improvements funded by donations - upper floor with access stairs being added.

Ko Dut Drop In Centre: Improvements funded by donations.

I first visited Ko Dut in 2014 and there is a report here. I returned in 2015 (and inaugurated the new upper floor by the simple process of sleeping on it) as described here.

All my posts on Educational Support in Burma can be found here.

Ty Gwyn

Ty Gwyn is a small commercial woodland in north Wales extending to about 27 hectares (66 acres). When I first became involved the trees, mainly Sitka spruce and Lodgepole pine, were already fairly mature in various 'compartments' of different ages. You can find all my posts about Ty Gwyn here, with links to pictures.

The entrance to Ty Gwyn in 2006.

Timber extraction in 2009/2010

About half of the site was felled starting at the end of 2009. Because of poor weather condition, felling was not completed until 2010. That operation is described in the posts Harvesting at Ty Gwyn, Ty Gwyn ships out Timber and Progress on Harvesting at Ty Gwyn. The felled area was replanted with Sitka spruce and broadleaves to encourage bio-diversity. After a few months, the new planting was establishing well, as shown in the pictures here.

The entrance to Ty Gwyn in 2010, with the area on the left felled and re-planted.

Timber extraction in 2014

Following an inspection visit in February 2014, it was decided to seek a Felling License for a further 10 hectares of mature trees. That's described in the post Ty Gwyn Update (with some rather belated notes regarding the completion of the felling and replanting in 2010).

The felling operation started in July 2014 and is described in posts Timber Extraction at Ty Gwyn and Harvesting continues at Ty Gwyn.

The entrance to Ty Gwyn in 2014, with the area on the left growing well and the newly-felled area on the right.

Replanting and Site Maintenance in 2015

On completion of the felling, 'Ground Preparation' was carried out, ready for re-planting. Although Rob, the forester, had originally hoped to re-plant early in 2015, for various reasons this did not occur until mid-November when around 18,000 Sitka spruce cell-grown seedlings were planted.

I visited Ty Gwyn on 26th November 2015 and met Rob and Gareth on site. Gareth had arrived that morning with his Volvo EC140CL excavator on a low-loader and had already cleared one of the access roads within the plantation. You can view Volvo's specification for the EC140 range of crawler excavators here.

Maintenance being carried out by the excavator near the pool.

Although most of the re-planting had been carried out in very wet and windy conditions, I was lucky on my visit - rain earlier in the day had stopped, the wind had dropped and later in the day the sun came out.


One of the new Sitka seedlings, just a few days after planting.

Pictures of Ty Gwyn

You can find all my pictures of Ty Gwyn here.

News from Burma - Medical Support

I'm afraid this report, covering the end of 2014 and 2015 is delayed (my fault), but in the interests of completeness, it's finally being issued.This report is based on information provided by Dr. Hla Tun, who also supplied the photographs.

Bagan Medical Clinic

As commented in earlier reports, the number of patients arriving for treatment tends to fall in summer, because the heat adds to the problems of travelling to the clinic. Winter in Burma is from November to February and Bagan has especially low temperatures because it is situated in the 'Dry Zone'.

The 'Dry Zone' is the name given to the microclimate of the region lying between the Shan Plateau to the east and the low coastal ranges to the west extending south from Mandalay and taking in much of the central plains where Bagan is situated. Because of this "rain shadow", Bagan and Mandalay receive, on average, less than one third of Yangon's yearly rainfall.

The Bagan Medical Clinic normally opens on Friday, Saturday and Sunday each week but patients from remote areas may have travelled up to 200 miles to reach the clinic and start to arrive as early in the week as Wednesday evening.

On the Thursday 18th December 2014 Dr. Hla Tun, assisted by two other doctors, started treating patients because there were already around 580 people waiting.

View of the verandah of the third (and currently largest) clinic building, showing some of the waiting patients.

By the time Dr. Hla Tun stopped treatments for the day at one o'clock on Friday morning, the three doctors had dealt with 250 patients. As the night was cold, Dr. Hla Tun checked on the sleeping patients and took the pictures reproduced below. Although a substantial dormitory for waiting patients is now in use, donated by The Ultimate Travel Company and its clients, the large number of patients waiting for treatment meant that people were sleeping in a number of other areas, including the Monastery and its food store (along with dried onions, potatoes, chillies, garlic, carrots and cabbage).

The Ultimate Travel Company and its clients donated a dormitory building for waiting patients in 2013. This picture (taken at 01:30 in the morning) shows about 70 patients, with one elderly lady unable to sleep because of the cold.

Patients sleeping in the upper storey of the 200-year old Monastery.

Patients sleeping in the Monastery food store.

A green carpet was laid on the floor in front of the clinic building to provide additional sleeping space.

Waiting patients sleeping in a light truck, faces covered with blankets.

The monastery ensures that waiting patients are provided with a hot lunch each day. Preparing the food is a major undertaking - on the previous Saturday 13th December around 420 meals were served! Vegetables will be mixed with dried fish and cooked by a monk assisted by volunteers to provide the free lunch for waiting patients at the Clinic.

Bagan Medical Clinic treated 5377 patients in November 2014 bringing the total number of treatments carried out since the clinic opened on 6th August 2011 to 124,178.

You can find all my reports on the Bagan Medical Centre here.

Origins of the Southern Railway: Part 1 - L.S.W.R.

A modern view of the former L.S.W.R. London terminus at Waterloo showing the imposing main entrance for foot passengers, rather spoilt by the temporary works in the foreground. After the 'Great War' of 1914-1918, this entrance became the Memorial to L.S.W.R. staff lost in World War I.

I was brought up in the Midlands in the early days of the post-war Nationalised railway so, although I was familiar with both the former L.M.S. and G.W.R. lines, the former Southern Railway was very much a 'foreign railway' to me. It was some time before I started to discover some of the history of the lines in the south of the country.

Upon Nationalisation in 1948, the Southern Region of British Railways absorbed the assets of the Southern Railway. The Southern Railway had been created in 1923 by the government-directed grouping of railways into the 'Big Four' (L.M.S., G.W.R., L.N.E.R. and S.R.). The Southern Railway brought together the London Brighton and South Coast Railway, the South Eastern and Chatham Railway and the London and South Western Railway.

Brief early history of the London and South Western Railway

I've mentioned some early railways in England in the post here and this mentions the origins of the London and South Western Railway. The success of the Liverpool and Manchester Line which opened in 1830 encouraged the promotion of the London and Southampton Railway as early as 1831. A limited service started on 21st May 1838 between a London terminus at Nine Elms and Woking Common. As construction of the line towards Southampton continued, the name of the railway was changed to the more impressive-sounding 'London and South Western Railway'. I believe this was to avoid offence to the people of Portsmouth (who considered Southampton a modern upstart) as the railway planned an extension to Portsmouth. The railway used this new name (or the contraction 'South Western Railway' or simply the 'South Western') without change or amalgamation until the Grouping in 1923.

The initial route to Southampton was opened throughout in 1840. A branch to Richmond was opened in 1846 but the growing traffic showed up the inadequacy of Nine Elms as a terminus. An extension was authorised from Nine Elms to a new station near the south end of Waterloo Bridge.

Both the new line, (which, ambitiously, had four lines from the start) and the new station, called 'Waterloo', were raised on arches. On the 4-track extension over the arches, the western pair of lines were used for Richmond Line Trains. The Richmond line was extended to Windsor in 1849 and the term 'Windsor Lines' was coined for the western pair of lines. Today, there are eight running lines into Waterloo but the western group are still the 'Windsor Lines'.

View from Up train approaching Waterloo. L-R: Windsor Reversible, Up Windsor, Windsor Fast, Windsor Slow, Main Fast.

Click for larger image
A modern view of Waterloo Station (centre) with Hungerford Bridge leading to Charing Cross station towards the top. Although the station and rail approaches are much extended, the way in which the line from Nine Elms was extended over arches is still apparent. On the north bank of the Thames note the Palace of Westminster (left), Whitehall and Trafalgar Square with Nelson's Column (right).

In 1848, Nine Elms was closed to the public (although retained for Royal Trains and goods) when all passenger traffic was diverted to Waterloo. The initial Waterloo Station had four platforms with two 'middle lines'. The L.S.W.R. intended to extend the line beyond Waterloo to get nearer to the City of London, which was the ultimate destination for many of its regular passengers. As a stop-gap, one of the 'middle lines' was extended to form a through connection with the South Eastern Railway (later to become the S.E.C.R.) but today there's only a pedestrian connection between the terminal platforms at Waterloo and the through platforms at Waterloo East. As an alternative, the L.S.W.R. supported the initiative to build an underground electric railway from Waterloo to the City. From the line's opening in 1898, the L.S.W.R. operated the railway on behalf of the Waterloo and City company, but it later acquired ownership outright. There's a little more on the Waterloo & City Line in the article here.


Queenstown Road station, opened 1877 on the extension to Waterloo, still proudly displays its L.S.W.R. origins and its original name, Queen's Road Station.

Click for larger image.
Details of the junctions between the L.S.W.R. and other railways in the vicinity of Clapham Junction. This diagram is one of a series prepared by the Railway Clearing House in 1914 which appear in the reprint 'Pre-Grouping Railway Junction Diagrams 1914', published by Ian Allen (ISBN 0 7110 1256 3).

The attractive station building provided at London Road (Guildford).

Ultimately, the reach of the L.S.W.R. extended to the far west, covering Exeter, Plymouth, Padstow, Bude and Ilfracombe.

The section 'Related articles in this blog' (below) lists other posts concerning the L.S.W.R. around London.

Books

[1] 'The London & South Western Railway' O.S. Nock, published by Ian Allen.
[2] 'Locomotives of the London and South Western Railway Part 1' by D.L. Bradley, published 1965 by RCTS.
[3] 'The South Western Railway' by Hamilton Ellis, published 1956 by George Allen and Unwin.
[4] 'History of the Southern Railway' by C. F. Dendy Marshall, revised by R. W. Kidner reprinted 1982 by Ian Allen (ISBN 0 7110 0059 X).
[5] 'Great Locomotives of the Southern Railway' by O. S. Nock, Guild Publishing, 1987 edition by Book Club Associates.
[6] 'Southern Steam' by O. S. Nock, published by David & Charles (ISBN 0 7153 5235 0).
[7] 'London's Termini' by Alan A. Jackson, published by David & Charles (0 330 02746 6). (The L.S.W.R. Terminus at Waterloo is described in Chapter 11).
[8] 'Southampton's Railways' by Bert Moody, Waterfront Publications (ISBN 0 946184 63 1).

Maps

Details of what remains of the L.S.W.R. today are shown in two sections of the 'Quail Track Diagrams':-

'Railway Track Diagrams Book 5: Southern and TfL' Third Edition, published by TRACKmaps (ISBN 978-0-9549866-4-3).
'Railway Track Diagrams Book 3: Western' Fourth Edition, published by TRACKmaps (ISBN 0-9549866-1-X).

External Links

London and South Western Railway (Wikipedia).

Related articles in this blog

Waterloo Station, London.
Waterloo Station, London (Part 2).
London Underground: The Waterloo & City Line.
Clapham Junction Station, London.
By Rail to Guildford.

My Pictures

These are albums which include pictures taken in recent times showing former L.S.W.R. infrastructure:-

Clapham Junction.
London: former 'Southern' lines.
London's Railways.
Waterloo Station.

Wolverhampton High Level Remembered

In the earlier post Wolverhampton High Level Station in Steam Days, I wrote briefly about the former LNWR station in Wolverhampton.

I prefer to recall the station as it was when I was growing up in the 'fifties although wartime had brought the whole of our railway system, including High Level station, to a low ebb. Sadly, I have no photographs of my own to supplement those memories but the books referenced in the earlier post mentioned above document that time. Below are a few specific memories.


Wolverhampton High Level Station as
I remember it, viewed from Railway Drive.

Overall Roof

At Wolverhampton High Level, platforms 1 and 2 were beneath an imposing overall roof of typical LNWR design. Electrification saw this demolished, of course. At least places like Crewe, Preston and others retain examples of the LNWR structures, even if modernised. The picture below shows a small, less-modernised section of this type of roof over platform 1 at Crewe.

LNWR-style roofing at Crewe.

Footbridge

Near the Birmingham end of the Overall Roof at Wolverhampton there was another typically LNWR feature - the footbridge between platform 1 and the island platform serving platforms 2 and 3. This was also lost during the overhead electrification project but similar footbridges survive - the photograph below was taken at Narborough on the Nuneaton Leicester line. I remember the risers on the footbridge steps at Wolverhampton carried advertising - a repeated message on vitreous enamelled steel sheets but I can't remember the product promoted.

At Narborough, the footbridge serves not only the two platforms but also the adjacent level crossing.

Access Tower

Platform 2 at Wolverhampton was home to a large, wooden access tower, looking like some medieval siege tower. I saw it in use by electricians replacing failed electric lamps but I presume it was used for any type of maintenance on the roof. It was on small wheels allowing it to be pushed into position and then a windlass and system of ropes allowed the telescoping sections to be raised and lowered.

I haven't found a picture of the tall wooden telescopic platforms that I remember but this shot shows a more modern version in use in Argentina.

Platform adornments

At one time, I remember a large, detailed ship model in a glass case on the platform. I think it represented one of the Isle of Man ferries. At another time, there was a model of 'Rocket' in a glass case. By inserting a coin, an electric motor would rotate the driving wheels and operate the pistons and connecting rods. The proceeds were for charitable purposes (a railway orphanage, I think). There was usually a weighing machine to check your weight after inserting an old penny. More interesting was the label making machine. Here, again for money, you could produce your own labels by embossing a series of letters on aluminium strip. The inclined front face of the machine carried a single pointer which you turned to select the next character before pressing an embossing lever. This could prove disappointing as the aluminium strip had a habit of not indexing forward the right amount, resulting in overlapping characters. Even worse, sometimes the aluminium strip had run out.

Water Column

The LNWR had a very austere standard design of water column. I often watched crews watering at the columns provided at the end of Platform 1 (Down) and Platform 2 (Up). There was no nonsense about a hinging crane arm that could be swung out to assist in insertion of the 'bag' - the rivetted leather hose which delivered water - into the filler on the engine. The fireman grasped a chain attached near the open end of the 'bag' and hauled it up to the locomotive filler. In frosty weather, this was particularly challenging. Freezing of the water main or water valve in winter was hopefully prevented by a small coal brazier to which firemen would add a few lumps periodically. The water valve was near the top of the column, operated by a lever near the base which moved from 'six o'clock' (closed) to 'twelve o'clock' (fully open). Very often, quite a torrent of water would spray from the top of the column, causing the driver (who usually operated the water valve whilst his fireman struggled on the top of the engine) to be cautious when trying to shut the valve. The movement was often completed by a judicious kick to the lever to ensure the valve had closed.

This shot of a standard LNWR water column was taken at Crewe Heritage Centre.

Wolverhampton Station Today

The modern station in Wolverhampton is a typically soulless affair as most of the features of its earlier history have been swept away. In the picture below, the 'new' platform 4 is on the left, sited on what, in steam days, were sidings and Up and Down goods lines.

A modern view of Wolverhampton High Level station, now simply called 'Wolverhampton' after the closure of the ex-G.W.R. Low Level station. The 'new' platform 4 is on the left and the former GWR station building (in blue brick) is in the background.

For track diagrams of the modern railway around Wolverhampton, refer to 'Railway Track Diagrams' Book 4: Midlands & North West', Second Edition 2005, published by Trackmaps (ISBN: 0-9549866-0-1). The First Edition of this book was published by Quail in 1988.

My pictures

This album (started in 2007) gives an idea of the modern scene on West Midland's railways:-

West Midland Railways.