118 Summer 2014.dtp - Cotswold Line Promotion Group

SUMMER 2014
Number 118.
NEWSLETTER
Published by the COTSWOLD LINE PROMOTION GROUP
£1.00
(FREE TO
MEMBERS)
Published by the Cotswold Line
Promotion Group which exists to
encourage the fullest use of the
Oxford-Hereford line, also to
safeguard its future and to
promote improvements in rail and
bus feeder services.
President:
Lord Faulkner of Worcester.
Vice Presidents:
HEREFORD
Ledbury
Colwall
GREAT MALVERN
MALVERN LINK
WORCESTER F.S.
WORCESTER S.H.
Pershore
EVESHAM
Honeybourne
MORETON-IN-MARSH
KINGHAM
Shipton
Ascott-under-Wychwood
CHARLBURY
Finstock
Combe
Hanborough
OXFORD
Lord Adonis.
Mrs. Harriett Baldwin, M.P.
Rt. Hon. David Cameron, M.P.
Professor David Green.
Mr. Paul Keetch.
Mr. Edward McMillan-Scott.
Officers:
Chairman:
John Ellis.
(01386) 841253
St. Annes, High Street,
Chipping Campden, Glos.
GL55 6AL
[email protected]
Vice Chairman:
Derek Potter.
Homerswood, Boon Street,
Eckington, Pershore, Worcs.
WR10 3BL
(01386) 750628
Secretary:
John Davidson
Oathill Farm,
Enstone,
Chipping Norton, Oxon.
OX7 4ED,
(01386) 701528
Treasurer
& Newsletter
Editor:
Photo: Steve Widdowson.
Printed by
Windrush Design and Print,
Windrush House,
Avenue Two, Station Lane,
Witney. OX28 4XW
Tel. (01993) 772197.
Typesetting by the CLPG.
(01608) 677236
Brian Clayton.
New Haven,
Greenway Road, Blockley,
Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos.
GL56 9BQ
Membership
Secretary:
Cover: London Midland units
172218 and 172219 at Upper
Poppinger, near Ashperton,
between Ledbury and Hereford,
on 17th May 2014 with the 1649
service from Birmingham New
Street to Hereford.
Mr. David Mather.
R t . Rev John Oliver.
Mr. Andrew Smith, M.P.
Mr. Brian Sutcliffe, M.B.E.
Lord Temple-Morris.
Mr. Robin Walker, M.P.
John Stanley.
4 Sandford Rise,
Charlbury, Oxon.
OX7 3SZ
Promotions and
Publicity Officer:
Julian Palfrey.
4 Mill Lane Close,
Pershore, Worcs.
WR10 1PP
(01386) 701528
[email protected]
[email protected]
(01386) 561198
[email protected]
Press enquiries should, in the first instance, be directed to the Chairman or Vice
Chairman.
Sales Officer:
Steve Widdowson.
Vice Regal
Wadborough
Worcester.
WR8 9HB
West of Severn
Liaison Officer:
Dr. David Guy.
17 Bank Street
Malvern
Worcs.
WR14 2JG
2
(01905) 840328
[email protected]
(01684) 563391
[email protected]
Internet web site: www.clpg.org.uk
ISSUE No. 118
SUMMER 2014
IN THIS ISSUE
Chairman's Chat.
Worcester Parkway Funding
Membership Matters.
Message from FGW's Managing Director.
The Cotswold-South Devon Express.
Introducing First Great Western's New
Cotswold Line Manager
The Oliver Lovell Memorial Fund.
The Station Enhancement Fund.
AGM 2014.
Oxfordshire Bus Review.
Long Marston Military Railway Project.
FGW Community Rail Conference.
Refreshments at Moreton-in-Marsh
and Great Malvern.
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6
7
8
8
Ale by Rail.
First Great Western Stakeholder
Conference.
25 Years Ago.
Moreton-in-Marsh Show.
Adlestrop - Centenary Celebrations for a
Famous Poet.
European Rail Travel as a Teenager.
From the Mail.
A Tale of Misfortune.
Cotswold and Malvern Line Diary of
Events 2014.
Operators' Performance Figures.
CLPG Committee Members and Local
Representatives.
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21
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26
27
29
30
30
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LATE RUNNING NEWSLETTERS
Among the largest causes for complaints received by the rail companies
are late running trains, or short formation of them. We have even had several
recent reports of 2-car Turbos replacing High Speed Trains on the Cotswold
Line, resulting in severe overcrowding - see a letter to the Editor on page 28.
The CLPG always monitors such failings and takes them up with rail
management, where appropriate.
Unfortunately, it would be easy to accuse the CLPG of "pot calling kettle
black". We regret that, for the second consecutive issue, your Newsletter is
arriving about two weeks late and also that the previous two issues, were short
formed by four or eight pages. The reason for this is that for this issue,
insufficient text had been received by copy date on 30th June for us to produce
a Newsletter at all. In the case of number 117, we also had to take into
account the weight of the various enclosures so that we did not exceed the 53p
second class post limit.
Anyway, better late than never and this one does contain the usual 32
pages, albeit without some of the usual articles.
The COTSWOLD AND MALVERN LINE NEWS is due for publication in late March, July and
November each year.
It is distributed free of charge to members of the Cotswold Line
Promotion Group and to various other interested parties. Contributions for inclusion in future
issues will be welcomed by the Editor. Normal copy dates are 28th/29th February, 30th June
and 31st October, respectively. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the CLPG.
3
Chairman's Chat.
John Ellis.
As I write this on a lovely 1st July day, it may seem perverse
to start off by writing about winter weather such as the country
and the Great Western railway suffered six months ago. The
heroics of the recovery work at Dawlish is of course still in our
minds, but closer to home, it is good to see that lineside signalling
cabinets are being placed on platforms at Hinksey, south of
Oxford, and in the Maidenhead area. Hopefully they will be
completed before next winter, so that there will be greater
resilience against further flooding. Let's hope that similar
precautions are in place for possible heavy snow in the coming winter!
Our AGM was a successful event, and thanks to those of you who joined us at
Moreton. It is really encouraging to your Committee to see so many members turning
up, as it is our opportunity to see you and hear your views. We had interesting
presentations from both of our train operators. Despite our criticisms of them from
time to time, we should recognise the constraints under which they operate, and I do
believe they are genuinely committed to delivering a reliable and improving service.
Talking of which, your Committee has been engaged with both operators in efforts
to make improvements to their timetables. We have responded to a consultation on
FGW's proposals for changes to the May 2015 timetable. Like the curate's egg, parts of it
are good, particularly a 0830 arrival in Paddington for the 0528 from Hereford, with the
current 0851 arrival starting from Moreton-in-Marsh. There are some additional trains to
and from Worcester, but we are still some way from our objective of a regular hourly
service, and only small steps towards the other objective of a 2 hour journey time
between Shrub Hill and Paddington. What journey time improvements there are are at
the expense of reduced stops at Pershore and Honeybourne. In our response we
challenge the reductions at Pershore in particular, and we have demanded a further
review for 2016, when we would hope to see additional trains becoming available from
Thames Valley Electrification, and a current review of line speeds between Oxford and
Worcester, initiated by us, is progressed. We think it is unacceptable to have to wait until
the introduction of the InterCity Express service in December 2018 to get our hourly
service and improved journey times. We also highlighted the inadequacy of the service
between Malvern/Worcester and Cheltenham/Gloucester, and the necessity of a
reliable hourly service between these large population centres.
The other major piece of work we have done has been a response to a
Department of Transport consultation on a further Direct Award franchise to First
Great Western for up to 5 years to 2020. The reason for this is to minimise uncertainty
during the major changes on the Great Western routes over these years, with
electrification, new trains, Crossrail and rebuilding of the infrastructure and station at
Oxford to accommodate Chiltern and East-West Rail and to reduce congestion there.
We had to respond to 22 questions, not all of which were relevant to us. We support
the 5 year award (better the devil you know!) and made a strong demand for early
service improvements and for better station facilities (car parking, ticketing, waiting
shelters etc.). If any of you wish to see the responses we have made to either or both
of these consultations please contact me ([email protected] or 01386
841253) and I will send you the details.
I have been very much involved with the group campaigning for the re-opening of
the line between Stratford-upon-Avon and Honeybourne, with an objective of having
hourly services between Stratford and Oxford, and Stratford and Worcester. We have
4
been concerned with making representations to Stratford-on-Avon District Council on
their draft Local Plan. They have a target of providing for an additional 9500 houses
over the next 20 years, and have been considering the options for a major
development of around 3000 at one location. We are pressing for selection of the Long
Marston airfield site, coupled with re-opening of the railway. We have the support of
the developer, Cala Homes, who are willing to make a substantial contribution of
several million pounds to the capital costs. We will be making our representations
when the draft Plan is subjected to a Planning Inspectorate examination in the
autumn. There is a small, but vociferous, group opposed to the re-opening, based on
misinformation about the loss of the Greenway foot and cycle path (it won't be lost),
and the threat of heavy freight traffic (there will not be). We are working to counter
these spurious objections with local authorities and business organisations.
With my Town Councillor hat on, I recently attended a briefing by Gloucestershire
County Council on the update of their Local Transport Plan (LTP). The current Plan was
produced in 2011 lasting until 2026. The update, due to go for public consultation in
the autumn, and to be adopted in summer 2015, is to run through to 2031.
As you can imagine, the Plan is very road oriented. Currently only 1% of journeys in
the County are by rail, compared with 5% nationally. However, rail is seen as a real
opportunity, and there was particular emphasis on improving accessibility to the County's
rail stations, on improving bus/rail interchange, and increasing car park capacity. During
question time, I made the point that Kingham is effectively a Gloucestershire station, given
its catchment area. Although in Oxfordshire, Kingham station is less than a mile from the
Gloucestershire County boundary at Bledington - Ed. This was noted and there was an
interesting response that the County were looking at a bus link from Stow on the Wold. I
also raised the point about the inadequate service between Worcester and
Cheltenham/Gloucester, and was assured that the County had responded to the
consultation about the Great Western franchise, and had made this point in the response.
The nub of these fine words about rail lies in money. Funds for new schemes are
now channelled from Government to the County Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP's),
so the County is not in control of funding. A £63million Growth Fund has just been
announced for the LEP, but only a proportion of this is for transport, and the only
reference to rail is a general statement about the DfT working with the LEP to improve
rail services.
For those of you resident in the County it would be helpful to respond to the
consultation when it comes out. Both Oxfordshire and Worcestershire are in the
process of updating their LTP's, but no details yet, so members in those Counties
should keep eyes and ears open for opportunities to respond to consultation.
Finally, as we approach the centenary of the outbreak of the first World War, we
had our own little celebration of the centenary of Edward Thomas's famous poem,
Adlestrop, with a charter train on the very day 100 years after he made the journey
which inspired it. There is a full item about the day (on p24), but it was fun to arrange
it, and really gratifying that it was greatly appreciated by those who travelled on the
train, and that we made a substantial contribution from the surplus for the Oliver Lovell
Memorial Fund. The staff of First Great Western did us proud, and FGW management
contributed their share of the surplus to the Fund as well. Our thanks to them all.
Ex Cathedra.
Derek Potter's usual contribution was lost in transit between Eckington and
Charlbury and he did not have a copy of it. Apologies to those who enjoy reading it.
5
Worcester Parkway Funding.
As the Newsletter was about to go to the printer, we received the news that
central Government had awarded the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership
(LEP) £7.5 million towards the cost of developing a two-level railway station at Norton,
just east of Worcester, where the Cotswold and Bristol to Birmingham lines cross. The
award is part of a £53 million Government and European grant for economic
development schemes in the County.
The funding is said to be provided in mid 2016, by which time the County council
plans to have obtained planning permission,and acquired ownership of the necessary
land to provide the station and a 500 space car park. The total cost of the station,
which will have two platforms on the Bristol to Birmingham line and one on the single
Cotswold Line, is said to be £17.1 million. The balance of the funding is to be provided
by loans which will be paid off from parking charges.
This is not a new proposal. Looking back through our Newsletters, the first
reference we can find to it is in issue number 3 (October 1978), when British Rail had
conducted a traffic survey to determine what effect Worcester Parkway would have on
existing Shrub Hill traffic.
Your Committee has some quite severe reservations about the impact of the
proposal, among which are:1. It will introduce another stop in services between Worcester and London. It
will extend the overall journey time, which is already accepted as being too long, and is
deterring people from using the service.
2. Another stop on the single line section will reduce the reliability of the overall
service, aggravated by the inadequate signalling and track infrastructure in Worcester
itself.
3. The station will encourage rail heading from places to the west, which could
abstract revenue from existing stations, and reduce revenue to the train operator.
4. It will increase congestion on the Southern Link Road, despite funding for
improvements also included in the Government grant.
5. We are doubtful that the train operators, Cross Country and Great Western,
will be keen to make additional stops in their existing services. We consider that a
better south to north service for Worcester and the County would be provided by
diverting Cross Country's Cardiff to Nottingham service to call at Shrub Hill and also
stopping at the new Bromsgrove station.
6. The current plan is for just one platform on the high level (Cotswold Line) part
of the station. This will mean that someone will have to provide a second platform, if
and when the section between Norton Junction and Evesham is re-doubled. Who will
be responsible for paying for this? Could it even hinder the re-doubling of this section
of track?
The provision of additional car parking spaces is needed in the County's stations,
which are poorly provided at present. However the CLPG has been campaigning for
many years to increase the capacity at Pershore, so far without success. We consider
that there is scope to substantially increase parking capacity at Shrub Hill.
We will be assessing the full implications of this proposal in the coming months.
Do you have views? If you do, please get in touch with our Chairman, John Ellis, by
email or by letter to his address on page 2 of this Newsletter.
6
Membership Matters.
On 30th June 2014, the membership figure stood at 1681, which shows a drop of
47 from the same time in 2013.
As mentioned at the Annual General Meeting on 17th May 2014, the Committee
will be looking at minimum membership subscription levels during the next 12 months.
The present levels have applied since 30th April 1996 and, although the Group's
finances are strong, there is a problem with minimum subscription rates. If we look at
how much it costs, per membership, to run the CLPG we find the following:
3 Newsletters + envelopes
£2.40
Postage on Newsletters (Average, allowing for hand deliveries)
£1.14
General Expenses
£1.15
Total
£4.69
It will be seen from this that Ordinary and Senior membership rates are below the
actual annual cost of providing membership and that we are currently relying heavily
on the generous donations made by a significant number of members. Another issue
is the large increase in postage costs since we last revised our subscription levels. In
1996, it cost 20p to send out a Newsletter. Now, it costs 53p (i.e. £1.59 per annum).
The situation is made worse by the fact that in 1996, about 65% of Newsletters were
hand delivered by volunteer members. That has, for various reasons, now dropped to
around 33%. Fortunately, the cost of producing the Newsletter has fallen in real terms
due to advances in computer technology and more cost effective ways of working.
If you receive this Newsletter in the post, we would ask that you add £1.50 to your
membership subscription for 2014/5 - there is a special space for it on the membership
renewal form. In this way, we may be able to avoid asking members at the 2015
A.G.M. to approve any general increase.
Pay via your bank.
A small proportion of our members already pay their subscriptions direct via their
banks. We would like to see a considerable increase as this method has several
advantages, but it is important that you follow the instructions on the Membership
Renewal Form to show your name and membership number:
You avoid the ever increasing cost of postage.
The payment reaches our bank more quickly
It reduces the workload on the Membership Secretary who would not have to
open hundreds of envelopes and bank hundreds of cheques.
AGM 2015.
Please note that the date for the next Annual General Meeting has provisionally
been fixed for 1030 on Saturday 16th May 2015. The venue, as usual, will be the
Women's Institute Hall in Moreton-in-Marsh.
New West of Severn Liaison Officer.
John Mills advised the Committee that he would not be standing for re-election at
the A.G.M. As no nomination for a replacement had been received, the position
became vacant. We are pleased to report that, since then, Dr. David Guy has been coopted to the Committee and has taken over the position of West of Severn Liaison
Officer. Thanks go to John for his services over the years and to David for volunteering
to replace him.
7
A Message from Mark Hopwood, FGW's Managing Director.
I am delighted to announce that the first of our additional
Standard carriages are now in service. The conversion of some of
our High Speed Train First Class carriages to Standard is part of an
agreement with the DfT to create almost 3,000 more standard class
seats a day for our customers across the network. We recognise
that, ultimately, the only long-term solution to busy services is
more trains. New Intercity Express trains are on their way, but it is
still some time before they will be ready for service. The conversion
of First Class carriages to create more standard class seating is
crucial in the interim period and the remaining one and a half First Class carriages per
train will also be refreshed. All works will be completed by summer 2015.
The North Cotswolds route is the first to receive Wi-Fi internet connections on
board our trains, with its installation on the Class 180 services. This was very well
received by customers and we have already begun to extend the free service, enjoyed
by customers on this route, to customers on our other long distance services.
I very much enjoyed the Queen's official opening of Reading Station. It was a
great privilege to have such a prominent figure at the station. The flyover, to enable
freight traffic to by-pass Reading, is not due to be completed until next summer but
with the remodelling and reopening of many of the station's platforms we are now
starting to see some of the benefits of the essential upgrade work.
After more than 14 years of service on the railways, it is with sadness that I have
to announce Teresa Ceesay, Station Manager for the North Cotswold Line, is retiring at
the end of July. Few station managers can boast to knowing the names of so many of
their regular customers; testament to the passion and dedication she has shown
throughout her career. CLPG chairman John Ellis joined us on the interview panel for a
replacement and I am pleased to announce that Alan Field will be taking over Teresa's
role; we are confident that Alan will be an excellent replacement.
We recognise the desire of most customers on the line to improve services
between London and the Cotswolds and have been in discussions with the Department
for Transport (DfT) about changes that we want to deliver from May 2015. The
statutory consultation has taken place and I thank you all for your input. I hope that we
are able to make these changes and we will keep you informed of progress.
Finally, I have heard from Teresa that the special train to commemorate the
centenary of Edward Thomas’ journey between Oxford and Adlestrop was a great
success and I am delighted to be able to confirm arrangements for the next charter
train service, taking an HST to Plymouth on Saturday 20th September.
The Cotswold-South Devon Express.
As at 27th July 2014, 88 Standard Class places remained available for our charter
train to Plymouth on 20th September 2014. All First Class seats had been sold. Tickets
are now available to non-members and it is hoped that enough will be sold to turn
what, at 27th July, was just above break even into into a reasonable profit.
If you have not already booked, please send your form (enclosed with the
previous issue or downloadable from the Special Trains section of our website) and
cheque to Brian Clayton as soon as possible. We hope to send out the tickets early in
September, once final timings have been confirmed.
8
Introducing First Great Western's New Cotswold Line Manager.
First Great Western has appointed Alan Field as the new
Station Manager for the Cotswold line in succession to our much
respected Teresa Ceesay. Alan is 59 and is currently working in the
Control office in Swindon responsible for customer information. He
has worked in Control for the past 5 years. He has previously
worked in the airline industry in a number of customer service
roles. He lives in Devizes at present but is planning to move to the
area as soon as possible. Alan will take up his new post in August,
and will provide a fuller contribution about himself and his new role
in the next Newsletter.
Our Chairman, John Ellis, was invited to take part in the interviews for the short–
listed applicants and says "The interview panel was impressed with the quality of all of
the interviewees, and felt that any one of them was capable of doing a good job in the
role. However Alan was a clear leader, and impressed the panel with his commitment,
enthusiasm and strong customer focus. Teresa will be a hard act to follow, but we
were confident that he will be fully up to the challenge. We look forward to seeing him
about the line."
The Oliver Lovell Memorial Fund.
The draw for the Grand Draw in aid of the Oliver Lovell Memorial Fund will take
place at Moreton-in-Marsh station at 1430 on Saturday 6th September 2014. This is
the day of Moreton-in-Marsh Show. If you have not yet entered, you must ensure that
the ticket stubs are with Derek Potter by 1st September.
At the end of the 2013/4 financial year on 31st March, the fund stood at £7550
(including Oliver's £5000 legacy). To this, we can now add about £2100 as the
proceeds from the raffle and £950 from the CLPG and FGW part of the profit on the
Adlestrop train. With money still coming in from the raffle, we cannot give a final
figure, but it appears that the total will be somewhere in the region of £10500.
Time seems to have passed by so quickly since Oliver's death, over a year ago on
Sunday 2nd June 2013. The Committee will need to come to a decision shortly
regarding the use to which the fund should be put. If you have any ideas for projects
of which you consider Oliver would have approved, please contact the Chairman or
Secretary (details on page 2).
The Station Enhancement Fund.
Last year's appeal for funds for station enhancement
produced donations totalling £1178. After deducting an
overspend in summer 2013 and the cost of winter pansies for
2013/4, the amount left in the fund reduced to about £500.
Since then, new containers and plants have been provided for
Evesham station - photo (left) by John Stanley on 17th July - and
this has further reduced the fund to around £200.
Once this has been spent, the Committee will consider closing
the fund and making money available from its general fund. It
originated as a celebration for the re-doubling of the line.
9
AGM 2014.
The 36th Annual General Meeting of the CLPG was held at the Women's Institute Hall,
Moreton-in-Marsh at 1030 on Saturday 17th May 2014.
Present.
Lord Faulkner of Worcester
CLPG President, in the chair.
John Ellis
CLPG Chairman.
Andrew Wilkins
CLPG Treasurer.
Brian Clayton
CLPG Secretary.
plus some 65 members of CLPG.
Our guests included Matthew Golton, Andrew Dickinson and Teresa Ceesay of First
Great Western, Terry Oliver and Peter Dobbin of London Midland.
1. President's Opening Comments. CLPG president, Lord Faulkner opened the
proceedings and welcomed everyone to the meeting. There was then a period of
silence in memory of Oliver Lovell who died 15 days after the 2013 AGM.
The Group was in good health. There was an increase in the number of
passengers. There was a marked improvement in the position since Oliver Lovell had
become the First Chairman of the Group, when sleepers were not being replaced. The
Group had considerable influence which was recognised by the PM. On a sad note, a
local stalwart Teresa Ceesay was retiring and she deserved a great deal of thanks.
2. Apologies for Absence. The Secretary listed the apologies notified to him.
3. Minutes of the 35th AGM held on 18th May 2013. The Minutes of the
previous meeting were distributed to all members present in the hall and were
approved. A summary had been published in the Summer 2013 edition of the CLPG
Newsletter.
4. Matters arising from the Minutes. None
5. Group Chairman's Report for 2013/14. The Chairman mentioned the sad
loss of Oliver Lovell the first chairman of CLPG, shortly after the last AGM. There had
been a close association with the Settle and Carlisle Group which was celebrating its
25th Anniversary. On the tactical front the position of FGW's franchise had been
uncertain. On the planning front not much progress had been made in respect of an
hourly service throughout the day. The change in the 1552 service from Paddington
from HST to Adelantes had resulted in serious overcrowding. It is hoped with a 5 year
franchise the real needs would be met. There was the threat from Chiltern at the
Oxford end with the opening of Oxford Parkway and at the Worcester end with
Warwick Parkway and with Virgin at Birmingham International. A submission had to be
made by CLPG by 24th June. In respect of the Honeybourne to Stratford Link,
developers wished to build 3,500 homes on Long Marston airfield. There was now
more car parking at Hanborough with development of the car park at Kingham being
planned. Proper Car Parking is essential. There was a problem over car parking at
Pershore. There had been station improvements with a shelter at the up platform at
Moreton-in-Marsh, in response to a request from a member at the 2013 AGM. The
greatly increased car park space at Hanborough had lead to a corresponding increase
in numbers. There were snack facilities at stations between Oxford and Worcester
throughout except at Honeybourne. Last year's Swanage trip had been a great success
and a charter train had been booked for Devon in September. FGW were reducing the
number of first class seats to deal with the overcrowding in standard class. Andrew
Wilkins was stepping down and gratitude was expressed for all his hard work over the
10
years. John Mills was stepping down and again many thanks to him. A copy of the
Chairman's full report is available from the Secretary.
6. Treasurer's Report for 2013/14. Andrew Wilkins, outgoing CLPG Treasurer,
reported that the finances were in a very satisfactory state. There had been an
improvement in reserves. An Oliver Lovell memorial fund had been created with a
donation of £5000 in his will. Julian Palfrey hoped to double this fund which with
donations and with the raffle, The fund now stood at £7550. Thanks were expressed
for the donations. The raffle had raised £1250 in the last two weeks. There was a
Finstock Fund with £183 available. Any ideas for spending this fund would be most
welcome. The accounts are on page 14. They show a considerable reduction in
Newsletter costs, but this results from an overstatement 2 years ago, which has now
been corrected. There were some errors in the printed version which was distributed at
the meeting in that some of the figures in the "Assets" section for 2012/3 were
inadvertently shown as the same as 2013/4. These have now been corrected.
7. Subscription Rates for 2014/15. The Chairman reported that. because the
finances are still very sound the committee had not recommended any change to the
existing subscription rates and this was approved by the meeting. The subscription
rates will remain at £4 for ordinary members, £5 for family members, £3 for senior
citizens, £10 for corporate bodies and £100 for Life Membership. However, postage
costs have increased considerably since the last increase in 1996 and the situation
would be reviewed again before the 2015 Annual General Meeting (see Membership
Matters on page 7 - Ed).
8. Election of Officers. Nominations had been received from John Ellis (Chairman)
and John Davidson (Secretary) and these were approved by the members present.
Possibly for the first time in the Group's history, two nominations had been received for
one of the Officers' positions. For Treasurer (position vacated by Andrew Wilkins),
nominations had been received from Brian Clayton and Paul Thomas. A ballot was
held and Brian Clayton was duly elected.
9. Election of Committee Members. With the exception of John Mills, all of the
existing members of the Committee, had agreed to serve for another year. Those
standing for election were: Chris Bates, Graham Beckett, William Crossley, Allen
Denney, Jill Haycock, Julian Palfrey, Derek Potter, Phil Ralls, John Stanley and Steve
Widdowson. In addition, a nomination had been received from Andrew Wilkins, who
has stepped down from the position of Treasurer. These members were duly elected.
10. Appointment of Auditor. David Van de Poll was thanked for auditing our
accounts and was re-appointed as the Auditor.
11. Future Activities. Julian Palfrey mentioned that a Film Evening was planned for
Saturday 31st May, including a showing of The Titfield Thunderbolt. He also reminded
members of the Adlestrop Special train on 24th June. Following on from the successful
trip to Swanage last September, there is to be a charter train to Plymouth on 20th
September, operated by a First Great Western HST. All First Class seats have been
sold, but plenty of spaces are still available in Standard Class.
12. Guest Speakers.
Terry Oliver and Peter Dobbin (London Midland).
Their role was to support passengers and to liaise with Network Rail. Considerable
statistical information was given. Growth in passenger numbers on the Hereford route
was 5.9% in the last year and 28.7% in the last 5 years. Performance had not been so
good in the last year with only 87.4% being achieved as against a target of 90.5%.
11
There had been problems because of flooding. There had been incidents involving
cable theft with three in the last year. The Wood End theft had caused considerable
disruption of 2051 minutes in delays and LM, in dealing with the problem, had got it
wrong. Passenger satisfaction stood at 84% which was 1% above the national
average. Good reliable information had to be provided to passengers.
It took 12 months to train a driver and conductor. Drivers did move although
contracts had provisions to prevent moves. Restructuring was taking place and 150
jobs would be lost but not with front line staff. They needed to avoid any loss of liaison
with CLPG and other organisations. Improvements had taken place at Snow Hill,
Worcester Foregate Street, Great Malvern and Malvern Link stations. It was suggested
from the floor that ticket collectors should use hole punchers as an ink stamp could be
removed with ease. Driver contracts were competitive and drivers were being retained
against other TOCs who could offer higher salaries. LM were co-operating with Cross
Country. Concern was expressed over one passenger who had tried to book from
Worcester to Salisbury and having travelled in, found the Travel Centre closed. The
same thing happened 2 days later. In answer to this the explanation was because of
the 150 redundancies front line jobs had been put on hold so that front line staff could
switch. Counter staff should be able to deal with such queries. There was a discussion
about revenue protection.
Matthew Golton and Andrew Dickinson (First Great Western).
Passenger numbers on the Cotswold Line had increased from 3.6M journeys in
2009/10 to 5.2M in 2013/4 (43%). Improvement in car parks had taken place e.g.
Hanborough. Charlbury was now so full that a vertical extension needed to be
considered. FGW was going in for a brand new franchise from Sept 2015. There was
no revenue support. There was a certain amount of frustration with the DfT in getting
answers. He recognised the problem over the 1552 service from Paddington but the
HST withdrawal had been planned for 2013. At one stage they had 10 spare units but
now, through further overhauls being required, stock was very limited. He realised that
they needed to increase capacity. They could provide increased capacity by reducing
First Class seating to 1.5 carriages per unit and thus provide greater standard class
capacity. Buffet cars could be converted to provide 80 seats. WIFI should be provided
throughout.
There had been problems in the year. The Oxford to Didcot stretch had been
improved. The coming into use of Platform 10 at Reading would help. Cancellations
were the lowest in 2 years. There had been a raised level in North/South freight.
There would be consultation over the franchise submission which would be made
public. The first IEP would be provided in the Autumn of 2015. They had been involved
in a 12 year project and were now in the 5/6th Year.
He then expressed thanks to Teresa Ceesay who had been a wonderful role
model. She had been tireless and passionate for everyone treating everyone the same
way. She had been a real pleasure to work with. She had propelled FGW along.
In response Teresa said that she was retiring due to family circumstances with a
93 year old mother and 2 grandchildren to care for. It had been very difficult to give up
her job. She had joined a small team in Oxford and become part of the railway family.
It was a remarkable industry - a wonderful industry. She expressed her thanks to the
CLPG and her colleagues for all their support. She would continue to help in retirement.
She also mentioned that the kitchen facilities for staff at Charlbury and Evesham
stations would be improved shortly.
12
14. Questions and Any Other Business.
In answer to a question on revenue protection – ticket collections – steps would
be considered about the problem over platform 1 at Paddington. There were
occasional blitzes such as at the Reading exit. It was suggested more ticket
collectors were required.
Bus links at Kingham in respect of late train were needed.
The challenge of Chiltern Railways at Oxford Parkway was raised but competition
was healthy particularly with increased passenger numbers.
On the problem over the lack of rolling stock, hire from other TOCs was suggested
but was not really practical.
It had been found that Pershore platform was too low and concern expressed over
the lack of a adequate car parking.
Class 150 units would need to be retained.
No progress had been made on Honeybourne to Stratford link. The route lay
within several different areas with 4 LEPs and 4 county councils and whether this
was a national or local level matter.
As for use of IEPs beyond Worcester, that was under consideration.
Re-opening of the line from Kingham to Cheltenham was not a viable proposition
as the line had not been mothballed.
The President closed the meeting at approximately 12.35.
Oxfordshire Bus Review.
The outcome of the Oxfordshire County Council's bus review was better than
anticipated as far as links with railway stations are concerned.
X8 Chipping Norton to Kingham Rail Station - continues almost unaltered.
X8A Kingham Rail Station to The Wychwoods - withdrawn.
C1 Charlbury Rail Station to Finstock, Leafield and the Wychwoods continues to serve the same 4 morning and evening trains as previously, but with some
journeys extended to/from Witney and Burford.
The loss of the X8A is unfortunate, but there are hopes that it will be partially
replaced by the extension of Pulham's 802 route, which currently serves Bourton-onthe-Water and the Rissingtons, to link up with the X8 at Kingham station. This
depends on negotiations with Gloucestershire County Council, the outcome of which
was not known as we went to press.
A new X10 service, operated by GoRide, now provides the Wychwoods with an
hourly bus link to Burford and Witney (Sundays excepted). Unfortunately, there are no
trains at Ascott-under-Wychwood to connect with these buses.
Cotswold and Malvern Line News No. 119.
Copy date for the next issue is 31st October 2014 and the planned publication
date is 1st December 2014. Issues 117 and this one, 118, have been published later
than intended due to copy being awaited from various contributors. This has caused
the editorial team to have to reschedule their own personal affairs and is unacceptable.
We could be in danger of an issue not appearing at all if the copy date is not respected.
13
COTSWOLD LINE PROMOTION GROUP
INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT: YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2014
2013/14
INCOME
£
Subscriptions & Donations
7,715
Donations to Station Enhancement Fund
1178
Excursion Train Surpluses
714
On-Train Raffle receipts (applied to Oliver Lovell Memorial Fund in 2013/4)
Surplus on Events held along the line
Surplus/(Loss) on Sales
733
Oliver Lovell Fund Net Donations (including surplus on events).
7,550
Bank Interest Receivable.
119
Total Income
£18,008
EXPENDITURE
Printing & Stationery
336
Postage (excl. Newsletter Delivery)
257
Telephone
65
Travel
330
Other Subscriptions & Donations (incl. £200 Donation to GWSR in 2012/3
920
Newsletter Costs (incl. Delivery)
2,804
Meetings
392
Officers' Computer Allowances
90
Rail Publicity
186
Station Enhancements (Floral Displays & Heritage benches)
1,608
Oliver Lovell Commemoration Expenses.
553
Insurance
336
Total Expenditure
£7,877
2012/13
£
7,544
770
561
770
272
(- 39)
131
£10,010
401
102
38
386
417
4,587
1,139
197
107
2,510
335
£10,219
Excess of Income over Expenditure - (N.B. net spend in 2012/3)
Deduct Excess of Station Enhancement Spend taken from B/F Fund
Deduct Oliver Lovell Memorial Fund Receipts applied to specific fund
Net Addition to General Fund
10,131
430
7,550
£ 2,151
(-211)
1,171
£960
BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MARCH
ASSETS
Stock of Goods for Resale
Sundry Debtors
Next Year Expenses prepaid
Deposit Accounts
Current Account
Floats & Cash in Hand
2014
£
3,072
1,100
26,271
10,780
241
£41,464
2013
£
2,888
732
563
26,141
943
276
£31,543
25,814
2,151
27,965
1,452
7,550
183
37,150
24,854
960
25,814
1,022
183
27,019
27
3,507
780
£41,464
88
3,535
900
£31,543
FINANCED BY
Accumulated General Fund at 1 April
Surplus for the Year
Accumulated General Fund at 31 March
Station Enhancement Fund
Oliver Lovell Fund.
Finstock Fund
Total Funds of the Group
Creditors, Accruals and Income in Advance: Sundry Creditors
Income in advance - 5/12 of sub income
Income in advance - Life Memberships
Some totals have differences of £1. This is due to a rounding process and is not an inaccuracy.
I have examined the books and records kept by the Treasurer. In my opinion the above Accounts accurately
reflect the financial transactions for the year ended 31 March 2014.
David Van de Poll (Honorary Auditor).
14
The Long Marston Military Railway Project.
The Long Marston Military Railway Project is a group established recently with a
mission to preserve the kit, culture and capability of military rail following the
disbandment of the trade from the British Army in March this year. It comprises 30 exarmy "combat railwaymen" and 150 civilian supporting members.
Along with its Lend-Lease S160 steam engine and modest carriage fleet, it is
presently "confined to barracks" at the former Royal Engineers Central Supply Depot at
Long Marston, near Honeybourne, where it is developing a military railway museum. It
has a medium term aspiration (by 2020) to operate heritage trains to Honeybourne,
connecting with both Cotswold Line and GWSR services. The vision is to create both a
"Super-Liss" recreating the National Service days when troop and civilian trains
connected, and to create a vibrant crossroad/interchange between two other
aspirations; a north south green tourism corridor from Birmingham Moor Street to
Broadway, and to provide at Long Marston a Midlands Portal into Liberation route
Europe, an EU funded tourism corridor that follows the WW2 route of 21st Army Group
from D-Day to Berlin and beyond to Auschwitz. Its home at Long Marston was built by
the Royal Engineers in 1940 as its Central Supply Depot, very specifically to support DDay and Overlord and it went on doing so until the Cold War ended (or at least entered
a period of truce) in 1993.
The project is on a restricted site, so no unauthorised visits are possible. It is
planning a Military RailFest from 6th-10th May 2015 - the centenary of the Royal
Engineers Railway Operating Division.
For more details, please visit www.trainofevents.co.uk.
15
VISITING RAILTOURS.
Above: Steam visited the Cotswold Line on 17th May 2014 in the form of West Country pacific, 34046
"Braunton". It is passing Hill and Moor with the "Welsh Borders" railtour.
Below: On 7th June 2014, Class 40 number D345 visited the Cotswold Line with the return "East Lancs
Stalwart" railtour from Oxford to the East Lancs Railway. It is passing through Charlbury station.
Photos on this and the opposite page: Steve Widdowson.
16
UNUSUAL LIVERIES AT WORCESTER SHRUB HILL.
Above: A colourful scene on 31st May 2014. Hired-in SouthWest Trains' unit 159003 calls with the
1046 First Great Western service from Great Malvern to Brighton. Meanwhile, London Midland unit
172343 waits in platform 2 to form the 1117 to Dorridge.
Below: On 29th June 2014, an East Coast Trains' HST visited Worcester. It was on hire to
CrossCountry Trains and formed the 0900 Leeds to Plymouth service.
17
FGW Community Rail Conference - 3rd June 2014.
After an exciting coach ride from Exeter to the venue just outside Newton Abbot,
some 80 representatives of the Community Rail Partnerships (CRPs), Rail and Station
User Groups, local authorities, Government Agencies and Rail Industry experts
gathered in the beautiful country estate run by the Dame Hannah Rogers Trust at
Seale Hayne for this annual celebration of the growing work of CRPs throughout FGW's
franchise area.
Following on from the success of the Devon and Cornwall branch line
partnerships, other lines and local pressure groups are investigating the CRP model of
bringing together all those parties who have an interest in improving existing rail
services and in providing new ones, and trying to develop a convincing and attractive
business case to justify the investment needed to make these plans a reality.
The latest line to become a CRP is the Transwilts service running from Swindon to
Westbury via Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge. With the 3 intermediate
stations now served by 8 trains in each direction, and with all the options for
connections at Swindon and Westbury, passenger numbers and revenue are soaring.
With a quadrupling of the number of stopping trains, the modest target of doubling the
number of passengers was achieved and surpassed immediately and loadings are
currently 5 or 6 times the previous levels putting huge strain on the limited rolling stock
resources available.
Throughout the West Country, passenger numbers are growing and arguments
are being made for metro systems not just for Bristol but for Devon with extra services
on the Tarka (Exeter to Barnstaple), Avocet (Exeter to Exmouth) and Riviera (Newton
Abbot to Torquay and Paignton) lines generating huge passenger growth. Our high
capacity and relatively modern and fuel efficient Turbo trains - currently confined to
Thames Valley, Gatwick, Bedwyn and North Cotswold line services are viewed with
envy by all those in Bristol and beyond, and as soon as electrification of the Thames
Valley frees up Turbos for redeployment elsewhere, there will be the same sort of
haggling and deal making between franchises and even within franchises as has
happened recently with Class 170 diesel units from First's TransPennine franchise
being earmarked for transfer to Chiltern to operate its new (and rival) Oxford to
Marylebone (via Bicester) service in 2015 - bats permitting.
Derek Potter reports that, from his point of view, the most useful sessions were
the case studies on the need to develop a short, medium and long term strategy for
your line/group; the importance of involving the whole of the community, especially
young people through art work, gardening etc. so that as many people as possible
have a vested interest in the development of the railway, and how important the role
of volunteers is in the most successful CRPs. The Heart of Wessex line, running
between Bristol, Bath and Weymouth, has 24 lead volunteers who meet 7 times a year
with their paid Partnership Officer to plan the work of some 250 volunteers who gave
some 13,500 voluntary hours in 2013 to a variety of schemes including gardening,
maintenance and tidying as well as bigger ideas like building a new footpath between a
village and its station and publishing walks leaflets and other publicity material.
Although not strictly a CRP, the CLPG is happy to be associated with the CRP
movement and over our 35 years plus we have done many (but not all) of the
imaginative innovations which stimulate the enthusiasm and channel the energy of
those who want to see their own station and trains, as well as the industry in general,
thrive and prosper for their own benefit and for the good of those who have not yet
18
discovered the social cohesion and camaraderie of travelling together on the train.
How else could we effectively celebrate the genius of John Betjeman and Edward
Thomas than by organising a plaque on Pershore station and a special train pausing
briefly at Adlestrop for our President to read the poem over the Guard's public address
system while a choir in the field were serenading four lively horses with a specially
commissioned choral arrangement - 100 years to the day after Edward Thomas's
unwonted stop. That's real rail for the community in action.
An example of the involvement the community, particularly the young people,
exists on the Cotswold Line at Charlbury. The gardens on the new platform 2 are the
responsibility of students of the Abingdon and Witney College and the accompanying
photograph - taken on 14th March 2014 by John Stanley - shows what has been
achieved. Perhaps, readers may like to suggest a name for the wooden shelter,
containing a seat, which has been erected there. The gravel filled area in the right
foreground represents a gloved hand. Historically, Charlbury was famous for its glove
making.
The garden on the opposite platform is also a community project. A local
enthusiastic group of volunteers regularly keeps the garden maintained and restocked
with plants, as required. Some of the finance for this comes from donations from users
of the station - donations are placed in a tree pot in the station booking hall. This
garden is dedicated to the memory of Sir Peter Parker who died in 2002 and has been
featured in several photographs in previous issues.
We should not forget the valuable contribution made by volunteers at several
stations along the Cotswold Line over the past few years.
We included a colour feature of the floral displays at nine stations in our Summer
2012 issue (number 112) under the title "Cotswold Line in Bloom". It is hoped that
more volunteers will come forward to enable the stations to be more pleasant places to
wait for trains. Unfortunately, some stations did not receive summer plants this year.
19
Refreshments at Moreton-in-Marsh and Great Malvern.
On 1st May this year,
David Toon, a professional
chef, took over the operation
of the station catering
establishment at Moreton-inMarsh station from Mike Horry;
Mike has now moved to
Birmingham.
The café which is now
called eXpresso’s is open from
0530 to 1300 Monday to Friday
and, as well as hot and cold
drinks, the café now serves hot
and cold snacks including cake,
quiche and bacon sandwiches.
Toon in his café on 24th June 2014.
We wish David every David
Photo: Brian Clayton.
success in this venture; he is
also available for private catering at parties, weddings etc.
Lady Foley's Tea Room at
Great Malvern station opened
30 years ago in August 1984.
To begin with, it was in a small
room with a counter and a few
tables and chairs. Water for tea
and coffee was boiled in a
kettle. Cakes and scones were
baked at home. Tea cost 25p!
On the night of 26th April
1986 a fire was started in the
Tea Room by an intruder. This
caused a vast amount of
damage to the Grade II listed
station building taking about 2
Inside Lady Foley's Tea Room on 27th June 2014.
years to repair.
Photo: Brian Clayton.
To carry on, a portacabin
was craned onto the end of platform 1 and electricity and water connected. Crockery,
cutlery, kettles, toasters etc. were purchased. "Lady Foley" was up and running again.
On 14th February 1989, Lady Foley's Tea Room returned to the main station
building - now in a larger room and with a kitchen for baking cakes. For 2 years running
"Lady Foley" was awarded best Tea Room on a railway station.
Margaret Baddeley and her daughter Melissa run the Tea Room, serving not only
train travellers but regular customers and of course train lovers with an assortment of
drinks, home made cakes and other light refreshments. We wish them well for the
future and thank them for their service over the past 30 years.
Of course, it would be remiss of us not also to mention the valuable service
provided by catering outlets at several other stations along the line and we hope to
feature these in a future issue.
20
Ale by Rail.
For its 2014 event, held at the Charlbury Cricket Club on Saturday 28th June, the
Charlbury Beer Festival organisers chose the title of "Thirst Great Western". They
arranged with First Great Western to collect beers from Cotswold and Malvern Line
stations and to convey them to Charlbury on board the 1213 HST from Hereford on
21st June. The map below shows the various breweries from which the ale came.
Above: The firkins of beer have arrived at Charlbury station on 21st June 2014.
Photo: Mark Hemsworth - Oxford Mail.
21
First Great Western Stakeholder Conference.
John Ellis.
I attended part of this event on 26th June. I missed the initial presentations by
Mark Hopwood, MD of FGW, Patrick Hallgate, Network Rail’s MD, Western Route, and
Diane Burke, FGW Sales and Marketing Director, as I was chairing a meeting of the
National Railway Heritage Awards Committee.
The Conference was mainly aimed at local authorities and Local Enterprise
Partnerships (LEP's). Among these were Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire CC's, (not
Worcestershire or Herefordshire), and Worcestershire and Oxfordshire LEP's.
In the presentations the huge investment programme being undertaken in the
next five years was outlined, and the ways in which FGW intended to improve services
and customer facilities if they are granted a 5 year new franchise.
The second part consisted of a series of presentations by various local authorities
on developing partnership schemes to improve rail services in their area. Key points
from these presentations were: Cornwall CC. Seeking to improve integration of all transport modes. Rail
accounts for 6% of journeys in the County, and usage is growing at twice the
national average. The County has directly invested £36 million in rail since 2000.
They have an aspiration for a half hourly service between Penzance and Plymouth
(we haven't even got an hourly service!)
Devon CC. Actively promoting Exeter as a transport hub, with new suburban
stations, improved accessibility over a 20 year time frame.
Oxfordshire CC. Sees the extensive rail network in the County as a key element
of economic growth. Stressed the importance of sufficient car parking capacity in
a rural area, but also optimising bus/rail integration. Working with rail industry to
expand Oxford station.
Wiltshire Council. Sees rail as important support for economic development. It
has established a Local Sustainable Transport Fund to act as a catalyst for action.
It has increased the Swindon-Melksham-Westbury line from 2 to 8 trains per day,
resulting in an increase of 160,000 journeys in the first year. Surveys show high
transfer from car to rail, and increased use of bus links to rail. Now concentrating
housing, education and technology development in proximity to the railway.
Cheltenham Borough. Working to improve access and passenger facilities at
Cheltenham station, which has 2 million passengers each year. Struggling for
funding and getting little assistance from Gloucestershire LEP (which was not
represented at the Conference)
Questions/Discussion.
Q. When will Sunday morning services be improved?
A. Need understood, but engineering work and staff conditions (i.e. cost!) make
it difficult.
Q. Why don’t we have the former 21 minute running times between Reading and
Paddington?
A. More trains now running and an extra carriage on each HST set.
Q. How will FGW interface with Crossrail?
A. Now starting to talk to bidders for Crossrail concession (not franchise!) about
services and operational interface. Interchange between FGW and Crossrail at
Paddington will give greatly improved onward connections.
22
Q. How will A40 congestion be reduced?
A. (Oxfordshire) Looking at options. Further meeting at Witney of Action group
next week.
Q. Need for Oxford – Bath/Bristol direct service.
A. Noted.
Q. Swindon car parking inadequate.
A. Looking at new capacity north of station.
At the end Matthew Golton, Bid Director, FGW, made the following points:FGW are appointing 4 regional Development Directors to work with other bodies
to progress schemes. The one for East, including the Cotswold Line is Tom
Pierrepoint, formerly Transport Development Officer, Kent CC.
Need to develop "shovel ready" schemes, so that any funding opportunities can
be realised.
Growth forecasts will need more trains, not just cascaded DMU's from
electrification.
Need for more car parking capacity recognised.
FGW placing more emphasis and resources on revenue protection.
Fleet reliability is not good enough, and being addressed, but new trains will be
more reliable.
25 Years Ago.
British Rail had cut down opening times at Charlbury and Kingham stations.
Charlbury was no longer open on weekday afternoons and Kingham was closed on
Sundays.
Severe overcrowding was reported on the 1624 service which was operated by a
2-car Sprinter. On one occasion, 4 passengers were seen crammed into the toilet
compartment. So, the current problems with the 1552 ex Paddington are nothing new.
Work had started on the construction of Oxford's new station.
Lady Foley's Tea Room at Great Malvern had extended to include the "Brief
Encounter" wholefood restaurant, which was open on Thursday-Saturday evenings.
Membership of the CLPG stood at 1377 on 31st October 1989.
The Annual Season Ticket Holder's Railcard was withdrawn on 7th October 1989.
The card offered a 50% discount on off-peak journeys anywhere in the country.
Moreton-in-Marsh Show - Saturday 6th September 2014.
As usual, the Show organisers are offering discounted admission to the Show on
production of valid rail tickets at the entrance gate. The adult price this year is £13.50
- a discount of £3.50 from the full price of £17.00. The Show ground is just a few
minutes walk from Moreton-in-Marsh railway station. The Show opens at 0730 and
closes at 1800.
The CLPG no longer has a stand at the Show. This is mainly due to difficulties
experienced in 2012 in gaining access to the site at the end of the day, to remove the
stand.
23
Adlestrop - Centenary Celebrations for a Famous Poet.
At 1130 on Tuesday 24th June 2014, a 3-car First Great Western Turbo train
pulled out of platform 2 at Oxford for a unique and memorable journey. Not since
January 1966 had a train been planned to stop at Adlestrop. This train was chartered
by the Cotswold Line Promotion Group to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the
poet Edward Thomas's journey along the line en-route to Dymock. It was during the
journey on 24th June 1914 that the train stopped "unwontedly" at Adlestrop station
inspiring him to write his now famous poem.
Our charter train, formed by Turbo 166204, carried 149 adults and 3 children on
what turned out to be a beautifully sunny day to make the journey to Adlestrop. During
the journey a commentary recalling the events of 100 years ago was presented on the
train by CLPG Chairman, John Ellis.
Our charter train stopped near to the site of the old station, which has long since
disappeared, so that there is now no sign of it, other than the
Station Master's house, which is now a private residence. A
replica GWR station name board had been erected (right) for
the event in the field near to the site of the original station. The
location was also chosen because it gave a clear view of
Adlestrop House, where residents of Adlestrop had gathered
for their own reading of the poem. Adlestrop House was visited
on several occasions by Jane Austen, as her uncle lived there.
While stopped we were serenaded by a choir, but unfortunately they had not told us
that they were coming, so we were not able to hear them!
During the 10 minute stop Edward Thomas's Adlestrop poem was recited over the
train's public address system by CLPG President, Lord Faulkner of Worcester. To
enhance the occasion, Lady Faulkner even managed to introduce some recorded bird
song to the on-train broadcast. Victoria, a 10 year old Adlestrop resident, also recited
her own poem about Edward Thomas.
After the stop at Adlestrop the train proceeded to Moreton-in-Marsh and after a
short stop there returned non-stop to Oxford. Passengers on the train were able to use
FGW services between Oxford and Moreton throughout the day, so some went on to
Adlestrop by a chartered bus, and others went to the street market in Moreton-inMarsh.
The train made a surplus of around £1400, which is to be shared equally with the
village of Adlestrop, First Great Western and the CLPG. The FGW and CLPG portions
will be going to to the Oliver Lovell Memorial Fund. The CLPG would like to thank First
Great Western for entering into the spirit of the
occasion and for providing the passengers and
villagers with a quite memorable day.
Left: The "Adlestrop Centenary Special", formed by
First Great Western Turbo 166204, passes slowly
though the site of the former Adlestrop station on
Tuesday 24th June 2014. It stopped a few yards
further along the line for the reading of Edward
Thomas' poem, "Adlestrop", before proceeding to
Moreton-in-Marsh.
Photographer unknown.
24
REMEMBERING ADLESTROP.
Right: Helen Peacocke, Sylvia Vetta
and Nicola Russell, dressed for the
occasion in period costume, celebrate
with a bottle of Taittinger Prestige
Rosé pink Champagne.
Photo: Brian Clayton.
Left: John Ellis keeps the passengers
informed.
Right: Passengers watch the activity
outside the train at Adlestrop.
Left: Those involved in the organisation and operation of the train pose for
the camera on arrival at Moreton-inMarsh.
Photos on this page are courtesy of
SWNS/FGW unless stated.
25
European Rail Travel as a Teenager.
John Davidson.
One Boxing Day, my younger brother and I were taken to Haywards Heath Station
and provided with tickets to Stuttgart. Our parents had arranged an exchange with a
German lad. They either neglected to provide, or did not think it necessary to provide
us with the any details of the German family. In those days railway announcements
were only in the language of the country where one was travelling. Somehow we
found ourselves onto the right train – the Tauern Express and seats in a compartment
with red leather, Couchette tickets being considered a luxury. In the early hours of the
morning I remember my brother looking most uncomfortable, wedged between two
large Industrie Kapitanen while the train wended its way through snowbound
countryside steam flowing past the window. Inevitably when we arrived at Stuttgart
Station there was no-one to meet us. As ways and means of abstracting information
from my younger brother who had met the German family, I marched him to a phone
booth and handed him a telephone directory to refresh his memory. This technique
was not a roaring success. While I was toying with idea of returning home, the
German family arrived and we were taken to Uhingen to a house just above the main
Stuttgart to Munich railway line, a short distance from the local station. We were then
taken skiing in Austria, where one night, in the moonlight, to improve my technique, I
was lead down a frozen river, leading to a crash. I ended up, my bottom having gone
through the ice, wedged up against a bank, with the posterior being gently caressed by
freezing water. Later after skiing in Austria I learned enough German to catch
Personenzugen to the local town. On our return to Haywards Heath we used the
technique of contacting the operator for a reverse charge call from Haywards Heath
and the operator having disclosed my name and whereabouts to my parents, they
declined to accept the call, knowing where we were and needed to be collected.
The following year, the German family asked us to travel to Bregenz in Austria
where we would be collected. This time we had a couchette. Although there were
passport and customs checks at each frontier, I had learnt that blue British passport
and an innocent looking face, reduced the formalities to a most perfunctory inspection.
One look at the outside of the passport was enough, although on one occasion I was
asked whether I had anything to declare – such as what – coffee - Our school coffee
was known as acorn mixture – its probable origin - and I would not have wished it on
anyone. On returning from Bregenz to Uhingen, at Bregenz there was an
announcement in German that the train was running 15 minutes late due to appalling
weather conditions. It was clear from the murmuring of the waiting passengers that
this was not an acceptable excuse. On my return journey I fell foul of a trap. The return
ticket was from Berg (Grenze). I thought this was just a misprint. It wasn't. Grenze is
German for frontier, and I had to pay a fare for part of the journey behind an evil
looking black locomotive with large smoke deflector plates – a Krieglok I assume.
The next year my parents arranged an exchange with a Greek Lad. This time my
father came with me to London and took me to Simpsons in the Strand, telling the
head waiter that I would not be eating English food for three months. This was a wise
move on my father's part as a very large meal of succulent roast beef was provided.
Armed then only with a bag of sandwiches and snacks, I made my way once more to
Ostend and the Tauern Express, again with a couchette. At some stage I learned that
the couchette was only going as far as Villach in Austria. This did not concern me
particularly as I assumed, wrongly, that there would be plenty of seats in that part of
the train going to Athens. On alighting at Villach, the part going through Yugoslavia
consisted of a motley collection of carriages with just one for Greece which was fully
26
occupied. I faced the prospect of 28 hours without a seat, although a kindly lady a Mrs.
Davis, allowed me to occupy her seat when she was having food in the restaurant car.
By now my small bag of goodies was exhausted. Worse still the dining car only
accepted Dinars and there was no way of changing money. A kindly engine driver gave
me some water. At about 4.30 am I was joined in the corridor by a Yugoslav who had
learned his perfect English from the BBC and we chatted about our countries and how
hard Yugoslavs worked, which one could see from the train with people already out in
the fields. I must have made some comment about the motley collection of carriages
and was told that any smart looking carriage entering Yugoslavia never left it Round
Belgrade the carriage sidings were full of smart looking carriages purloined from
various European Railways. At the Greek frontier, the Greeks being alive to the whiles
of their neighbours extra carriages were put on full of garlic eating Greeks. The Greek
family were there to meet me at Thessaloniki, although, probably following a
complaint from me, full details of the Greek family had been provided.
On the return journey there were four of us and there seemed to be no hurry to
get to the station early, As a result we found there were no empty seats. This was no
problem as the father of the family was the Chairman of the Government party and a
First Class compartment was sequestered and converted to Second Class with lots of
labels from Greek Railways being plastered everywhere and we sat back to relax in
comfort. One might be forgiven for believing that Yugoslavia being a Communist
classless society would welcome the elimination of Capitalist Preference. Not a bit of it.
The labels were vigorously removed and it was clear we had to pay up. The ticket
collectors hunted in pairs were fully armed, we had no common language, and we
were not able to argue the point. The following day in Slovenia in beautiful mountain
country I wanted to take a picture, but an armed ticket collector made it clear if I did so
I would be arrested.
I am not certain whether on these occasions the channel was rough. On one
crossing, it was a force 10 Storm increasing to a Violent Storm. In those days,
Southern Region had invested in electric trains that could pitch, yaw, roll and hunt , all
at the same time and it was rumoured that passengers who had survived the channel
crossing without being sick, failed to survive the rail journey. At Dover we became
separated as there was the Blue Passport Channel for the Brits and another Channel
for the rest of the world. The Blue Passport Channel was much faster, but we did all
meet up again in Victoria none the worse for our travel.
From the Mail.
London E17
Dear Editor,
Another year, another new timetable, and still Ascott-under-Wychwood has just
one train a day each way (Mon-Fri), with nothing at all at weekends. It seems quite
ridiculous to spend all that money on its platforms yet still leave it with a service hardly
anybody can use. Local people have to continue clogging up the car park at Charlbury
instead of being able to walk or cycle to their local station, while would-be visitors and
leisure users can't get there at all. Line capacity improvements should surely make it
possible to stop a few more trains at Ascott – and if Saturday services can call there in
the run-up to Christmas, they can surely do so all year round.
As for Combe and Finstock, their short platforms could be extended easily and
cheaply using the modular system displayed by Tata Steel at the recent rail
27
infrastructure exhibition in London.
Graham Larkbey.
A couple of years ago, First Great Western was looking at providing a bus link from
Ascott-under-Wychwood to Burford, but the costs proved to be prohibitive. Now, from
2nd June 2014, that bus link exists, with buses departing hourly to Burford on Mondays
to Saturdays. Unfortunately, the bus timetable would not make good connections with
many trains if they called at Ascott - Ed.
Stratford-upon-Avon.
Dear Brian,
On Saturday, July 5th, members of the Redditch and the Alcester Railway Circles
combined to visit the Rail centre at Didcot.
Imagine their concern when what should have been an eight car HST pulling the
0932 ex Evesham, turned out to be a simple two car Turbo. We were told that the unit
had been failed at Oxford on the earlier train. It was certainly approaching sardine
proportions and to add insult to injury, the train was terminated at Oxford where
another Turbo (three car this time) took the remaining passengers plus those waiting
to board at Oxford onto London. Is it not possible for better reserve to be made? I
suspect that if this had happened during the week, then there would have been a lot of
very unhappy commuters.
Best Wishes
Reverend Canon David Capron
Above: Adlestrop was featured in a display at this year's Chelsea Flower Show in May.
Photo: David Lyall (a Chelsea Pensioner who says that the Show takes place in his back garden)!
28
A Tale of Misfortune.
They say that every picture tells a story. The one on the rear cover is different - it
tells two!
Two First Great Western Class 180 trains pass one another just outside Worcester
Shrub Hill on 2nd May 2014. The one on the left (180104) is the 1221 from London
Paddington to Great Malvern. No major problem, so far, even though it was running
about 8 minutes late. Passengers requiring the one on the right (180102) were less
fortunate. It should have been the 1426 from Great Malvern to Paddington, but was
cancelled from Worcester Shrub Hill onwards as no Train Manager was available to
take charge of it for the next part of its journey. It was running empty stock to Oxford.
In the distance, in the "Long Siding", was HST Power Car, number 43180. It had
been there since the night of 25th/26th April with serious transmission problems. The
remainder of its train had been taken by its other power car (43127 - "Sir Peter Parker
1924-2002 Cotswold Line 150") back, via Hereford, to St Philips Marsh depot in Bristol.
It is believed that this failure caused the cancellation of the 0836 from Worcester Shrub
Hill to Paddington, via Stroud on Saturday 26th April.
The unfortunate power car remained at Worcester for almost a month while
arrangements were made to recover it. This made the "long siding" unavailable for
parking HSTs, which had to use another siding on the opposite side of the track.
Eventually, it was arranged for West Coast Railways' locomotive 33029 "Glen Loy"
to travel to Worcester from its base at Southall on 22nd May 2014. From Worcester,
43080 was dragged, on "skates" to Long Marston, where it was loaded onto a road
vehicle and transported back to FGW's Depot for repairs.
Above: Having run round its train, loco. 33029 passes through Platform 1 at Worcester Shrub Hill on
22nd May 2014 taking FGW HST power car 43080 to Long Marston.
Photo: Dave Gommersall.
29
Cotswold and Malvern Line Diary of Events 2014.
We have heard from various Tourist Information Centres and other local sources
about the following events during 2014 to which travel by train is possible. Please check
details of the events and travel arrangements nearer the dates. We cannot accept any
responsibility for any inaccuracies in the list.
RELEVANT
DATE(S) Enquiry Tel.
EVENT
RAIL STATION
AUGUST
15th-17th
01386 554235 Pershore Jazz Festival.
PERSHORE
22nd-24th
0118 900 1624 Reading Festival.
READING
25th (Mon) 01386 565373 Pershore Plum Fayre Day.
PERSHORE
25th (Mon) 01531 636147 Ledbury Carnival.
LEDBURY
30th-31st
The Big Feastival.
KINGHAM
SEPTEMBER
6th (Sat)
01608 651908 Moreton-in-Marsh Show.
MORETON-IN-MARSH
8th & 9th
01865 726871 St. Giles' Fair.
OXFORD
13th (Sat)
01608 810388 Charlbury Farmers Market (morning).
CHARLBURY
20th (Sat)
01386 701528 Cotswold-South Devon Express.
VARIOUS
20th (Sat)
01608 811312 Charlbury Street Fair.
CHARLBURY
27th- 28th
01684 584900 Malvern Autumn Show.
GREAT MALVERN*
* At the Three Counties Show Ground. There is a free bus link from Great Malvern station.
OCTOBER
5th (Sun)
01296 337622 Bus & Classic Vehicle Rally
HANBOROUGH
18th-19th
01432 354207 Cider Making Festival.
HEREFORD
NOVEMBER
27th-30th
01905 726311 Worcester Victorian Christmas Fayre
WORCESTER F.S.
DECEMBER
13th (Sat)
01608 810388 Charlbury Farmers Market (morning).
CHARLBURY
Train Operators' Performance Figures.
The latest official performance figures, used for Passengers Charter refunds etc.,
available for First Great Western (London and Thames Valley - former First Great
Western Link) services are as follows:
Actual
Target
4 weeks to 21st June 2014:
12 months to 21st June 2014:
Punctuality
85.6%
92.0%
86.5%
Reliability
98.7%
99.0%
99.1%
Train Operators are now more generally judged on their Public Performance
Measure (PPM) figures, based on a range of statistics including punctuality and
reliability compared with the published timetable. Trains which run late, do not
complete their full journeys or omit stops etc. are regarded as failing PPM in various
categories. This new basis of assessment is now used for Passengers Charter refunds
etc. for newer franchises, like London Midland. For the 4 week period ended 21st June
2014, London Midland's PPM rating was 91.7%.
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CLPG COMMITTEE MEMBERS and LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES.
OXFORD:
Committee Member:
Chris Bates.
12 Valley View, Great Bourton, Banbury, Oxon. OX17 1QJ
(Also acts as CLPG Passenger Transport Representative for Oxfordshire)
07803 902030
[email protected]
HANBOROUGH: (Covering Hanborough and Combe stations).
Committee Member:
Andrew Wilkins. 16 Marlborough Crescent, Long Hanborough, Witney. OX29 8JP
Local Representative:
Combe:
Derrick Millard. Fasnakyle, Prospect Close, Stonesfield, Witney. OX29 8QE
(01993) 882036
(01993) 891484
CHARLBURY: (Covering Finstock and Charlbury stations).
Committee Member:
John Davidson. Oathill Farm, Enstone, Chipping Norton, Oxon. OX7 4ED,
Local Representative: Mike Breakell.
Finstock:
Well Cottage, High Street, Finstock, Chipping Norton, Oxon. OX7 3BY.
(01608) 677236
(01993) 868201
[email protected]
KINGHAM: (Covering, Ascott-under-Wychwood, Shipton and Kingham stations).
Committee
Member:
Local Representatives:
Ascott-underWychwood:
Bledington:
Graham Beckett
The Ford House, Kineton, Guiting Power, Cheltenham, Glos. GL54 5UG.
(01451) 850747
Robert Pearson. Orchard Bank, Stow Road, Bledington,
Chipping Norton, Oxon. OX7 6XH
(01608) 659972
Milton-underWychwood:
Shipton-underWychwood:
Doreen Barnes. 8 Wychwood Drive, Milton-under-Wychwood,
Chipping Norton, Oxon. OX7 6JA
Robin McConnachie. Fiddlers Cottage, Upper End, Shipton-under-Wychwood,
Chipping Norton, Oxon. OX7 6DP
(01993) 831411
Position Vacant.
(01993) 832253
[email protected]
MORETON-IN-MARSH:
Committee
Member:
William Crossley.
11 St Pauls Court, Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos. GL56 0ET.
(01608) 651797
[email protected]
EVESHAM: (Covering Honeybourne and Evesham stations).
Committee
Jill Haycock.
Member:
12 Princess Road, Evesham, Worcs. WR11 4QG.
Local Representatives:
Honeybourne:
Position Vacant.
Broadway:
(01386) 47815
John Bissett.
93 Badgers Lane, Broadway Park, Broadway, Worcs. WR12 7QW.
(01386) 859319
PERSHORE:
Committee
Phil Ralls.
Member:
2 Hanson Way, Pershore, Worcs. WR10 1QW
Local Representative:
Pinvin:
Greg Mansell. Hwicca, Church Lane, Pinvin, Pershore, Worcs. WR10 2EU.
(01386) 556452
[email protected]
0781 266 4878
WORCESTER: (Covering Worcester Shrub Hill and Worcester Foregate Street stations).
Committee
Member:
Steve Widdowson.
Vice Regal, Wadborough, Worcester. WR8 9HB
(01905) 840328
[email protected]
MALVERN: (Covering Malvern Link and Great Malvern stations).
Committee
Member:
Allen Denney.
Flat 4 Shenstone, 131 Church Street, Malvern, Worcs. WR14 2BA
(01684) 561539
HEREFORD: (Covering Colwall, Ledbury and Hereford stations).
Local Representatives:
Colwall:
Michael Milne. The Old School House, Walwyn Road, Upper Colwall, Malvern.
Worcs. WR13 6PL
(01684) 541008
Ledbury:
Chris Noel. 2 Church House, Church Lane, Ledbury, Herefords. HR8 1DP
(01531) 634138
Hereford:
Naomi Bell. 100A Green Street, Hereford. HR1 2QW
(01432) 274755
Rear: A tale of misfortune on 2nd May 2014 - see story on page 29.
Photo: Steve Widdowson.
31