South Essex Branch 5 and 10 Years Ago
5 Years Ago
At the Branch Meeting in April 2018
“Steam and other things South of the Border 1948-1960”
David Kelso presented “Steam and other things South of the Border 1948-1960”, a collection of scanned B&W images. Derby and the surrounding area produced some gems, such as a 3F struggling up the Lickey banked by two Jinties. A short session in the Carlisle/Penrith area was followed by a visit to the north east, with Sentinels at Gateshead being a rare sight. A G5 on the Tweedmouth-St. Boswells line showed the only use of this class in Scotland. Some wonderfully atmospheric scenesin the north west included an L&Y EMU at Bury (Bolton Street), the Liverpool Overhead and a C14 4-4-2T at Chester Northgate. The Padarn Railway was seen at work and on the Penrhyn Railway four stored locomotives were seen, all now preserved. Yorkshire views featured Scarborough, Harrogate and Bradford Exchange and a pigeon special double-headed by a J39 and an A3. The famous four-track section through
Mirfield was seen, followed by scenes on the climb up to Standedge tunnel. The ex-GCR held steam and electric traction at Penistone and Sheffield victoria before a look at steam in the London area. Shots of Metropolitan electric locomotives allegedly at Aldgate caused some discussion, the consensus being that they were actually at Liverpool St. Met station. We concluded with varied power on the SR.500k is still to be raised.
10 Years Ago
At the Branch Meeting in March 2013
“A Review of 2013”
With the sudden unavailability of the booked speaker we requested Geoff Brockett and Rodger Green to provide the programme on 16th March. Geoff gave us “A Review of 2013” commencing with a freight sequence followed by a series of rail tours including a visit to Ireland for the RPSI weekend. After a look at loco-hauled passenger services he ended with a brief coverage of private and preserved lines. There is an amazing diversity of motive power and liveries around if you seek them out. “Calendar Scan” was the intriguing title of Rodger's presentation. Being reluctant to dispose of railway calendars in view of the quality of the illustrations he had built up a large collection occupying valuable space, which he then scanned. He now has a ready-made programme to keep an audience happy, and this was indeed the case as we were shown an excellent selection of steam and diesel at home and abroad. Many thanks to both presenters for standing in at short notice. During the interval, it was unanimously agreed that we should recognise the outstanding work of our erstwhile secretary John Stone by bestowing upon him the honour of Honorary Branch President.