July 1985:
“Our Railway Heritage’ was the subject of this month’s talk for the Warminster History Society.
Mr. Graham Vincent is an expert photographer and showed beautiful slides under various headings.
First we saw steam engines with romantic and evocative names – The Duchess of Hamilton, the City of Wells, King George V, the Union of South Africa, and most famous of all, the Flying Scotsman.
In 1968 British Rail discontinued steam, but since 1971 several of their lines have been used again for this purpose, with enough passengers to make them profitable.
Many of Mr. Vincent’s slides were taken amid splendid scenery on the Settle to Carlisle line, which, sadly, is again under threat.
During the miners’ strike Mr. Vincent was able to achieve some spectacular smoke effects because the imported Polish coal created much blacker smoke than our own coal.
Station architecture could have been a subject on its own and the artifacts to be found on the station were very wide ranging. Gas lighting was used until the early 1970s and some oil lights survived even longer.
In the last few years fundamental changes have been taking place within British Rail, one of which is the introduction of electronic signal systems. New systems at Westbury and Exeter are making obsolete 29 boxes along the line. The Signalling Record Society is trying to preserve at least some of these. The box at Wellow near Bath is the last in existence of that particular kind and it is very much hoped that it will not be demolished.
During the last month there have been two History Society outings.
Mrs. Helen Rogers took a party of members on a conducted tour of Steeple Ashton. In spite of the rain this was a very interesting afternoon and we were fortunate to have such an excellent guide.
The most recent outing was to South Wales. A party of thirty-four visited Castle Coch and St. Fagan’s where they saw the Welsh Heritage Museum. This outing was a huge success.
In September Mr. Bryan Wood will talk on the “History of the Postal Service.’