THE ROWLAND PITTARD MEMORIAL LECTURE I

Broad Gauge Part 3

We were joined by 35 and guests to hear Brian Arman’s third presentation of the branch on the GWR Broad Gauge. The special event was to commemorate the life and work of Rowland Pittard and the branch welcomed his sister and niece and other family members to the event.

A special introduction and summary of the work of Rowland was prepared and presented by Peter Fortune (retired chairman) and Jeremy Segrott (chairman.) Vice Chairman Andrew Hemmings welcomed the guests and outlined the enormous contribution of Rowland to railway record keeping the RO and RCTS.

Brian Arman then gave the third in his sequel of presentations on the Broad Gauge. Brian outlined the far seeing philosophy of Brunel in building the Broad Gauge to be a comfortable high speed (60 mph) railway from London to Bristol. The validity of Brunel’s approach was confirmed by the Railway Research centre in 1962 which identified a 7 foot gauge as the optimum gauge for speed and comfort. Sadly Brunel was 150 years ahead of his time, it was the HS2 of the Victorian Age.

Brian looked at the Broad Gauge west of Newton Abbot, with many remarkable slides. It showed enormous (for the time) tank engines pulling short trains of large coaches (with seven abreast seating) at slow speeds across Devon and Cornwall. It was not what the Broad Gauge was designed for, and by the 1890’s the whole system looked very run down. By 1894 it was removed and the excellent Bristol service on the main line ended. It was a shame that a mixed gauge intercity service could not have been kept to Bristol. Plymouth and Cardiff with Churchward designed super powerful 100 mph engines and luxurious coaches.

The evening concluded with a presentation to Rowland’s family and Brian of newly published copies of the “Railways on the Tondu valleys”