An email from Andy Manley last August alerted me to an interesting find of his. While surveying the track bed northwards from Toddington, Andy stumbled (literally) upon a short length of rail, part buried in the embankment by the Stanton road bridge. Guided by his directions, I set off for the spot and scrambled down the bank, through the trees. Sure enough, there for all to see was a length of broad gauge rail! Inadequately equipped, I struggled to dig it out - and the colony of red ants with their home beneath it put up a desperate fight to retain the roof over their head - but a short while later, I was teetering along the road beneath the weight this four-foot piece of history.
'... there for all to see was a length of broad gauge rail!' |
Andy mentioned that the PW gang had come across other sections of broad gauge in the Gretton area. What better excuse to actually take a ride on the G/WR and survey the area? As Mary & I sat peering through the carriage windows, just west of Winchcombe station, she yelled out, "There's one!". Sure enough, one of the line-side fence posts was clearly a length of broad gauge rail. Then another, and another. At Gotherington we swapped sides to survey the other fence. More rail fence posts, and then I spotted that the mileposts from 11¼ to 10 were all attached to broad gauge rail! It's everywhere! For an easy view, look at milepost 12 on Winchcombe station platform. Why should there be so many sections of broad gauge rail here, when this line was not built until 1905, some 13 years after the demise of Brunel's master plan? And to think that 99.9% of passengers are unaware of the history that is passing them by!
This became something of a quest for me! On the route from Kingham into Paddington, I sat peering at the fenceposts flashing by. Sometimes the briefest of glimpses tantalisingly appeared to be rail. Then one morning, as we pulled away from Charlbury station, I suddenly realised that I had been oblivious to the fact that I had been regularly passing by a short length of broad gauge track - still in situ! Yes, just outside the station, is about 15 feet of track, which looks as if it was part of a siding, as clear as daylight, two parallel broad gauge rails, seven feet and a quarter inch apart!
Way back in 1833 Brunel was considering the engineering aspects of rail travel, and when the GWR took him on, he convinced the board that a broader gauge than the 4'8½" generally adopted was much wiser. The GWR boards agreed, and on 4th June 1838 the London to Maidenhead section of broad gauge was officially opened. To Brunel, of course, his was the 'standard' gauge and everyone else was narrow gauge!
By 1845, it was apparent that trouble was looming, and interchange between railway companies was becoming a problem. Wagons could not be conveyed between the GWR and other companies; passengers had to change trains, and the GWR had to supply porters to transfer their luggage for them. So, the government set up a Gauge Commission to investigate the problem. Brunel argued that his wider rails (and rolling stock) was safer. Stability in the case of an accident was demonstrably better than the 'narrow' gauge. Furthermore, this would make higher speeds possible, and safely so. Despite his perfectly sound reasoning, the Gauge Commission ruled in favour of 4'8½" and in 1846 the writing was on the wall for Brunel's track.
The GWR was in no hurry to convert to 'narrow' gauge, as it had invested heavily in rolling stock. Thus, broad gauge at its peak spread from Paddington to Penzance, as well as to Neyland, Wolverhampton, Weymouth and Basingstoke. Gradually, a third rail was laid, enabling both gauges to operate over the same route - though never has the GWR admitted that any single train consisted of mixed gauge vehicles!
'To Brunel, of course, his was the 'standard' gauge and everyone else was narrow gauge!' |
By 1861, mixed gauge had reached Paddington, and broad gauge was very slowly being replaced. By July 1875 only the main line from Paddington to Penzance remained mixed gauge. However, the GWR was still reluctant to give up, and due to a shortage of broad gauge locomotives, they actually built more in 1880, but wisely designed them as 'convertibles' - just in case they did have to abandon broad gauge completely!
Well, inevitably they did have to let go, and on the weekend of 21/22 May 1892 some 4,000 men were drafted in to make the final change-over. The broad gauge chapter finally came to a close. All of the stock had been worked to Swindon where it was stored awaiting conversion or scrapping. The sight was never to be repeated - except possible at Barry eighty years later.
There is just one remaining broad gauge engine. An unlikely-looking object, built in 1868 for the South Devon Railway, an 0-4-0 vertical boilered shunter. Number 151, called Tiny, worked at Sutton Harbour until 1883, when it moved to Newton Abbott. Under GWR ownership it was renumbered 2180, and remained in service until 1927. It was put on display at Newton Abbott station, and finally found its way to the museum at Buckfastleigh station, back on the (new) South Devon Railway.
There is, however, an incomplete survivor of the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway (the 'Old Worse & Worse' as it was known) hidden in a shed at the Leeds Industrial Museum. This was OWW no 34, built by E B Wilson of Leeds in 1855. It was an 0-6-0 goods engine. Taken into GWR stock as number 252, it was apparently rebuilt at Wolverhampton in both 1873 and 1891, remaining on the stock book until 1904. Then it was cut down and used as an instructional model at Wolverhampton.
Apart from these originals, four other initiatives deserve mention. In 1925 the GWR built a replica of its North Star (allegedly incorporating some pieces of the original), which remains on view at 'Steam' in Swindon. In 1982 Madame Tussauds had a mock-up of GWR no 3041 The Queen built for the Royalty & Railways exhibition at Windsor & Eton Central station. Sadly, they cut this up at the end of the exhibition.
In 1985 the Science Museum commissioned the manufacture of a working replica of Gooch's Iron Duke (originally of 1847) for the GWR 150 celebrations. I was delighted to have a ride behind this at York in 2000. And finally, at Didcot they are nearing completion of the replica Firefly, which will be a tremendous addition to their facilities, and a wonderful opportunity to bring their existing exchange shed to life.