I have a copy of John Allen's book, and have heard him give several talks
on the topic, and there has never been any suggestion that Telford had a
hand in the design. The earliest known example of the type (they aren't all
identical) is near Brentford on the Grand Junction Canal, 1820, and there
is nothing at all to connect Telford with that one.

Matthew Searle
Oxford

> Were the standard Horseley iron footbridges which are seen on the BCN
> and the Oxford Canal designed by Telford or by the Horseley Company?
>
> I hope the recently-published history of the Company reveals the
> answer, but I haven't yet seen it.  Has any member of the group got
> it, and does it give the answer?

Subject  Horseley Ironworks - bridges

  J.S. Allen's book has only four small paragraphs on early bridge building
the relevant extract  viz."It is for bridges, mainly cast iron,  that the
Company is most well known. The earliest traced was a swing bridge built at
East India Docks, London in 1816. Another early bridge of 1820 still remains
over the Grand Union Canal at Brentford. Many roving Bridges cast between
1824 and 1836 exist on the Birmingham Canal Navigations and are of differing
patterns, ............. This profile is a feature of another series of
identical bridges on the Coventry and Oxford Canals built 1832-34, which may
well have been designed by C.B.Vignoles............ One of the most famous
bridges is the 1829 Galton Bridge at Smethwick, designed by Thomas Telford
with a span 150 feet............

> Message: 1
>    Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 21:22:25 -0000
>    From: "Peter Brown" <p@...>
> Subject: Horseley Ironworks - bridges
>
> Were the standard Horseley iron footbridges which are seen on the BCN
> and the Oxford Canal designed by Telford or by the Horseley Company?
>
> I hope the recently-published history of the Company reveals the
> answer, but I haven't yet seen it.  Has any member of the group got
> it, and does it give the answer?
>

Hi Steve

Thanks Yes you are right.

Glad the group is protected

regards brian

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Barber [mailto:barbers@...]
Sent: 11 January 2001 13:10
To: railwaycanal@egroups.com
Subject: [railwaycanal] virus


Unless I'm mistaken the virus only spreads if you open the attachment. To
avoid this happening I've now made it impossible to send attachments to this
egroup. However any pictures, or other interesting attachments may be posted
at http://www.egroups.com/group/railwaycanal then click on Post in the l.h.
column. I will gladlydo this if you wish to send the attachment to me.

Steve

21 Foster Ave
Beeston
Nottingham NG9 1AE
UK
For the latest on the Nepalese appeal see http://travel.to/Mustang-Nepal



This group is independent of the Railway & Canal Historical Society. To
visit their homepage:
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/external/rchs/index.html
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
railwaycanal-unsubscribe@egroups.com

Unless I'm mistaken the virus only spreads if you open the attachment. To
avoid this happening I've now made it impossible to send attachments to this
egroup. However any pictures, or other interesting attachments may be posted
at http://www.egroups.com/group/railwaycanal then click on Post in the l.h.
column. I will gladlydo this if you wish to send the attachment to me.

Steve

21 Foster Ave
Beeston
Nottingham NG9 1AE
UK
For the latest on the Nepalese appeal see http://travel.to/Mustang-Nepal

I think my message below may have marked the beginning of the period of my
virus ... please check

Regards Brian

p.s.
I have been off-line for seven days … due to a virus getting under my old
Norton Anti-virus protection.   Now fixed and auto protected by Norton
Antivirus 2001!!!

It was a virus that became known to Symantec in October 2000, and spread by
self transmitting to anyone in my address book … Mine sent a blank e-mail
with an attachment which looked like a ‘screen saver’

or I am told it may also have included rude messages!!

Sorry if it got through to you.

It was called MTX and progressively slowed the computer down … but the
machine sent increasing numbers of  ‘illegal operation’ messages over the
two days of unwitting use.

-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Roberts [mailto:brian-roberts@...]
Sent: 04 January 2001 10:21
To: railwaycanal@egroups.com
Subject: RE: [railwaycanal] Bedford-Milton Keynes Canal Project


Hi Barrie

I think the original trust website is at

www.bedford-mkwaterway.freeserve.co.uk

but that BW may (eventually) have some info on their site

www.britishwaterways.co.uk

Let me know if you find any more ! !

regards

Brian

-----Original Message-----
From: Barrie Hughes [mailto:barrie@...]
Sent: 02 January 2001 21:16
To: railwaycanal@egroups.com
Subject: [railwaycanal] Bedford-Milton Keynes Canal Project


Does NEone have a website for this?


This group is independent of the Railway & Canal Historical Society. To
visit their homepage:
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/external/rchs/index.html
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
railwaycanal-unsubscribe@egroups.com




This group is independent of the Railway & Canal Historical Society. To
visit their homepage:
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/external/rchs/index.html
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
railwaycanal-unsubscribe@egroups.com

www.railwayramblers.org.uk  Latest news on walkable sections of closed
lines
					 viaducts, tunnels etc (std & narrow gauge)

Were the standard Horseley iron footbridges which are seen on the BCN
and the Oxford Canal designed by Telford or by the Horseley Company?

I hope the recently-published history of the Company reveals the
answer, but I haven't yet seen it.  Has any member of the group got
it, and does it give the answer?

For an article for the Journal of the Norfolk Industrial Archaeology
Society, I annotated a 'memoir' written by a mid 19th century
engineering subcontractor, Joseph Chapman.

One reference eluded me: 'While the Rochester Bridge was in course of
construction [ie the mid 1850s] I went down to Chesterton and
completed the foundations of the bridge there for Mr Powell.'

The only Chesterton I know is just north of Cambridge.  The railway
bridge there had been built some ten years earlier.  I wondered
whether it was rebuilt in the 1850s.  Does anyone know whether this
guess is correct?  Has anyone heard of Mr Powell?

Before he was appointed engineer of the Great Northern Railway,
William Cubitt had been engineer of the South Eastern Railway.
According to H P White's 'Regional History of the Railways of Great
Britain - Southern England', the SER route was laid our for fast
running, the larger intermediate stations (Tonbridge, Paddock Wood
and Ashford) having fast lines in the centre and separate platform
loops.

Did Cubitt use the same method at any staions on the GNR, for
example, at Hitchin?

Hi Brian,

> Subject: RE: [railwaycanal] Bedford-Milton Keynes Canal Project


Hi Brian,
>
  Hi Barrie
>
> I think the original trust website is at
>
> www.bedford-mkwaterway.freeserve.co.uk
>
> but that BW may (eventually) have some info on their site
>
> www.britishwaterways.co.uk
>
> Let me know if you find any more ! !

Sadly, they do not provide a map.

It is unclear whether it is a River Ouse Navigation or a direct line
following the railway.

Brogborough is mentioned...so perhaps the latter.

BFN,

Barrie

Hi Barrie

I think the original trust website is at

www.bedford-mkwaterway.freeserve.co.uk

but that BW may (eventually) have some info on their site

www.britishwaterways.co.uk

Let me know if you find any more ! !

regards

Brian

-----Original Message-----
From: Barrie Hughes [mailto:barrie@...]
Sent: 02 January 2001 21:16
To: railwaycanal@egroups.com
Subject: [railwaycanal] Bedford-Milton Keynes Canal Project


Does NEone have a website for this?


This group is independent of the Railway & Canal Historical Society. To
visit their homepage:
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/external/rchs/index.html
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
railwaycanal-unsubscribe@egroups.com

Regarding boatlifts and inclined planes in general, I am currently
translating a book on the subject written by a German friend. The
English version could be published later this year, though there are
a few amendments and additions to make. The German book is 162 pages
and 270mm by 200mm with, on average, a couple of illustrations per
page, which will give some idea of the amount of information. It
won't replace Tew's <Canal Inclines and Lifts>, but it will have many
more illustrations.

Another friend in Germany is also writing a book just about
boatlifts. He works for the Westphalian Industrial Museum, in
particular the Henrichenburg boatlift. The new hydraulic pistons and
cylinders for Anderton are being made in Germany, and his has visited
the manufacturer for information, so his book will be completely
up-to-date.

A friend in Poland is also expecting to have his book on the Elblag
Canal and its inclined planes published in the near future.

Regards
--
Mike Clarke, 41 Fountain St, Accrington, UK, BB5 0QR
tel: +44 (0)1254-395848
fax: +44 (0)870 134 5609
http://www.zen.co.uk/home/page/mike.clarke/home.htm

I should be interested to know if anyone has had any postprandial thoughts
on more recent periods. For the pregrouping era I have the following
information which was, I suspect, cribbed from an old copy of Railway
Magazine.

Two stations were served by seven companies. Carlisle Citadel was used by
the North British, North Eastern, Midland, London & North Western, Maryport
& Carlisle, Glasgow & South Western and Caledonian.

Farringdon Street (Met.) was from 1880 until 1899 (when the SE&CR was
created) served by trains of the Metropolitan, Met. District and Great
Western (on the original lines) and of the Great Northern, Midland, London
Chatham & Dover and South Eastern (on the widened lines).

Matthew Searle


> An item for debate:
>
> Which UK mainland railway station was / is served by the most number of
> train operators during each phase of railway administration? i.e.
> pre-grouping, the grouping period, the BR phase and privatisation. Through
> carriages not counted but including running powers which must have been
> exercised and in the published timetable. Specials and troop movements not
> allowed.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Steve

Does NEone have a website for this?

When I saw the lift last September, it was largely covered by opaque
sheeting and surrounded by Health and Safety fencing to keep curious people
away (and there's nowt so curious as a mixed bunch of industrial
archaeologists).  An equally large tent on the river bank covered other
interesting (one had to presume) restoration work.  Indeed, precious little
of the actual lift could be seen, apart from the winding gear wheels on the
ground alongside, the two rivermost legs sticking into the air unattached to
anything but the ground, and the drained aqueduct leading out of the Trent &
Mersey Canal.  Many parts of the dismantled lift had apparently been sent to
numerous engineering works around the country for repair and refurbishment.
A Visitor Centre had been erected in the adjacent Nature Park in which the
still curious could watch a video explaining why restoration of the lift was
deemed important.

Much work appears to have continued since then and a set of photographs of
work in progress can be found at www.tclixby.freeserve.co.uk/photos/nlift/ .

The lift still belongs to British Waterways, connecting as it would if
'twere whole two of their navigations, and they are overseeing the
restoration but an Anderton Boat Lift Ttrust was formed (I haven't an
address but they staff the visitor centre) to arrange funding, some of which
has come from the Heritage Lottery Fund.  The lift is apparently due to
re-open in September 2001.

Tony Jervis,
RCHS Bulletin Editor
editor.bln@...

----- Original Message -----

From: Brian Roberts

To: railwaycanal@egroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2001 12:03 AM

Subject: RE: [railwaycanal] Anderton Lift

Hi Walter

You maybe have many replies.

The lift is is mid-flow towards restoration to full working order.  there is
a trust which itself is supported by  the inland Waterways Association,
British Waterways and the Waterways Trust.

You can help by agreeing to subscribe £5 per month for four years ... then
you get limited edition plaque, news letters on progress and invitation to
ride after all is done.

email for details at rosslyn.colderley@...

Good luck!!

Brian roberts
(browse my book at www.britains-waterways.com  !!)

-----Original Message-----
From: Walter Bareham [mailto:Milwaukee@...]
Sent: 01 January 2001 18:48
To: railwaycanal@egroups.com
Subject: [railwaycanal] Anderton Lift


Greetings,
         I have just read an excellent new book on the Anderton Lift,
(published by Black Dwarf)a fascinating story with many good photos.
It is now scheduled to be rebuilt in its original form. I think it is
still under British Waterways. Is there a support group where one can
get up to date info on progress,(if any).
                                 BFN--Walter Bareham


This group is independent of the Railway & Canal Historical Society. To
visit their homepage:
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/external/rchs/index.html
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
railwaycanal-unsubscribe@egroups.com





This group is independent of the Railway & Canal Historical Society. To visit their homepage:
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/external/rchs/index.html
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
railwaycanal-unsubscribe@egroups.com

Hi Walter

You maybe have many replies.

The lift is is mid-flow towards restoration to full working order.  there is
a trust which itself is supported by  the inland Waterways Association,
British Waterways and the Waterways Trust.

You can help by agreeing to subscribe £5 per month for four years ... then
you get limited edition plaque, news letters on progress and invitation to
ride after all is done.

email for details at rosslyn.colderley@...

Good luck!!

Brian roberts
(browse my book at www.britains-waterways.com  !!)

-----Original Message-----
From: Walter Bareham [mailto:Milwaukee@...]
Sent: 01 January 2001 18:48
To: railwaycanal@egroups.com
Subject: [railwaycanal] Anderton Lift


Greetings,
          I have just read an excellent new book on the Anderton Lift,
(published by Black Dwarf)a fascinating story with many good photos.
It is now scheduled to be rebuilt in its original form. I think it is
still under British Waterways. Is there a support group where one can
get up to date info on progress,(if any).
                                  BFN--Walter Bareham


This group is independent of the Railway & Canal Historical Society. To
visit their homepage:
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/external/rchs/index.html
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
railwaycanal-unsubscribe@egroups.com

Greetings,
          I have just read an excellent new book on the Anderton Lift,
(published by Black Dwarf)a fascinating story with many good photos.
It is now scheduled to be rebuilt in its original form. I think it is
still under British Waterways. Is there a support group where one can
get up to date info on progress,(if any).
                                  BFN--Walter Bareham

An item for debate:

Which UK mainland railway station was / is served by the most number of
train operators during each phase of railway administration? i.e.
pre-grouping, the grouping period, the BR phase and privatisation. Through
carriages not counted but including running powers which must have been
exercised and in the published timetable. Specials and troop movements not
allowed.

Any ideas?

Steve


21 Foster Ave
Beeston
Nottingham NG9 1AE
UK
For the latest on the Nepalese appeal see http://travel.to/Mustang-Nepal

There are photos and details of Cwm Prysor (it became a halt in 1953)
in "Bala Junct to Blaenau Ffestiniog", (Southern/Jones) published by
Foxline Pub. It states that the crossing keeper "was the wife of a
company servant" and she also attended to the modest needs of the
station.As stated her wages in 1924 were 6/0d per week + 3/6d bonus,
though rent was 2/9d.It also states she must have been a woman of
sterling character in the winter conditions there!
The book was published in 1995 so is probably still available.
                    Hope this is of some help--Walter Bareham

Below are arranged in date order the various e-mails (slightly edited to
reduce duplication) that followed from a query concerning the "station
mistress" at Cwm Prysor in the 1920s from her great-great-granddaughter.

Enjoy!

Tony Jervis.

=========================

CWM PRYSOR

(1 )  From Lyn Collins (<  lyn@... >) to <
editor.bln@... >, 12 November 2000.

My great-great-grandmother - Harriet James - was Station Mistress at Cwm
Prysor Halt in the 1920s.  I have some information about her inclunding a
newspaper cutting relating to her retirement in the early 1930s.

I recently tried to track down where she used to work and found the Station
House on the A4212 (?) and wonder wether you have any information about her
or Cwm Prysor as I would be most interested.  I believe it was fairly
uncommon for a woman to have a job like this during the 1920'!

Thanks In Anticipation.

Lyn

===========================

(2)  From Tony Jervis to Lyn Collins, 25 November 2000.
Mrs Collins,
Please accept my apologies for taking so long to reply; it has ever been a
failing of mine to try to do too many things all at the same time, with the
result that too many get halfway and no further!
The Bala and Festiniog (original anglicised spelling) line, perhaps because
it closed in 1960 when my knowledge of railway geography was still in its
infantile stage, is one that I still do not know a lot about.  I have
briefly visited Bala on a walking holiday, traversed the northern end of the
line from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Trawsfynydd Lake (kept for the nuclear power
station) a couple of times on special rail enthusiasts' trains and once
traversed the A4212 road (still shown on my 1962 Ordnance Survey map of the
area as an unclassified and, indeed, partly ummetalled road!) up Cwm Prysor
and round the base of Arrenig Fawr on a coach trip during an industrial
archaeology study tour, during which I managed to spot several remnants of
the line's route, though we were unable to stop for exploration.  The line
was, as you may know, closed so that a reservoir could be constructed across
its path in the Capel Celyn area; indeed, in severe drought conditions, when
the reservoir is abnormally low, the trackbed can still be seen crossing the
freshly exposed shoreline.
But to get back to Cwm Prysor.  The station was 11 miles and 12 chains from
Bala Junction (on the Ruabon - Llangollen - Dolgellau line), at O.S. grid
reference SH 792384.  It was opened in 1902, mainly for military purposes; I
presume this means the remote and mountainous area was much used as an army
training ground.
During World War I it became a block post and crossing place, with sidings
and two long platforms, presumably because of a considerable increase in
(mainly) freight traffic.  Another map I have suggests that the station only
ever had one passenger platform, on the Down (south-west) side of the line
adjacent to the level crossing.  The crossing loop (allowing trains in
opposite directions to pass one another) was just west of the station, 23
chains (506 yards) long from 11mi 13ch to 11mi 36ch.  The sidings, "Relief
Sidings" in railway terms, somewhere to temporarily park heavy goods trains
out of the way at the summit of the line, were near the west end of the
loop.
By October 1923 it was no longer a crossing place (the traffic of war had
diminished) but was still an Electric Staff Station, i,e, there was still a
signal box to break the 8.7-mile single line section between Arenig and
Trawsfynydd into two parts.
At this time stops to pick up or set down passengers were only conditional;
the July 1922 timetable has the footnote "Stops when required; passengers
wishing to alight must notify the Guard at either Arenig or Trawsfynydd"
against all trains.  Cwm Prysor became a regular stopping place on 4 July
1938.  Staff were finally withdrawn from the station and it was officially
renamed Cwm Prysor Halt on 8 June 1953.  It finally closed when passenger
services were withdrawn from the line on 4 January 1960.
That completes the information I have immediately to hand.  As far as I know
there has not been a book devoted to the line's history but there have been
a number of articles in the railway press over the years and I append
details of these below.  A good reference library ought to be able to borrow
copies of "Railway Magazine" (RM) particularly and "Railway World" (RW) if
yiou wish to follow them up.  Besides giving the history of the line they
may well describe a journey along it and in all probability will be
illustrated with photographs.
RM Volume 83, pp.189-95 of 1938 by I.V.Hughes.
RW Volume 18, pp.234-35 of 1957 by M.D.Greville.
RW Volume 20, pp.538-48 of 1959, by J.I.C/Boyd.
RM Volume 107, pp.270-71 of 1961, by M.E.M.Lloyd.
I think it would certainly be relatively unusual at the time for a woman to
hold a supervisory post such as Station Mistress; though a considerable
number of women were taken on by the railways during the First World War,
mainly but not entirely in clerical positions, because so many of the male
staff had volunteered or been called up for military service; most women
were dismissed when the demobilised men returned after the war.  Without in
any way wanting to belittle your great-great-grandmother, I wonder if she
was officially graded Station Mistress but was, because the station was so
small and isolated in an area of low population, the person in general
day-to-day running of the station, combining the duties of crossing-keeper,
porter, booking clerk and perhaps even operating the signal box when
required, but technically under the management supervision of the Station
Master at a distant station, such as perhaps Bala, who might only pop along
once a week or less to see that things were all right.  Since she would be
the person most railway customers would see if they came to the station or
used the level crossing, it would be natural for them to think of her as the
"station master" and for her to be reported as such by a local newspaper,
especially if she had worked at (and lived in) the station for so long as to
become a local "institution."  It is possible, if she had become so highly
thought of locally and had served the railway company for some time, that
the "Great Western Railway Magazine", the company journal, which reported in
tabular form many staff changes such as promotions and retirements, may have
devoted a short article, even if only a paragraph or two, to her.  I don't
offhand know where copies of the "GWR Magazine" are archived (many copies
survive in private collections and a few were reprinted by Avon-Anglia of
Bristol about ten years ago), though the Public Record Office at Kew would
almost certainly have a set; the National Railway Museum at York would
probably be able to assist in tracking down more easily accessible copies.
I do not know how well the magazines have been indexed, but if you know the
exact date or even the year your relative retired this would reduce the
searching that might otherwise be required.
I will forward your request to a railway and canal e-mail discussion group
(all of whose members are probably far more experienced than I in the
intricacies of research) and see if they can suggest further sources of
information.
Again, my apologies for the length of time it has taken me to put this
little bit together,
All the best in your search,
Yours sincerely,  Tony Jervis.

======================

(3)  From Tony Jervis to Railway and Canal Group, 25 November 2000.

Hi,

Not having belonged to any of these e-mail discussion groups before, I'm not
sure if I'm breaking all the rules but I received the following e-mail out
of the blue the other day (a fortnight ago already!).  I have put together
what relatively little I have in my notes about Cwm Prysor station and given
her references for four articles on the Bala - Blaenau Ffestiniog line that
appeared in "Railway Magazine" and "Railway World" between 1938 and 1963,
but it is not a line that I have any personal knowledge of.  I suspect also
that her request is as much genealogical than ferrovial and, although a
close friend of mine is Depute Registrar General for Scotland, I am much
more into the nuts and bolts of sleepers and signals than the staff who made
it all happen!

Is there anyone out there who can point her more specifically in the right
direction than I have been able to?

Regards,  Tony Jervis (Editor of the Bulletin of the R&CHS and also of
"Branch Line News", hence my e-mail address).

----- Original Message -----
From: Lyn Collins
To: editor.bln@...
Sent: Sunday, November 12, 2000 7:36 PM
Subject: Cwm Prysor Halt

See (1) above.

=====================

(4)  From Lyn Collins to Tony Jervis, 26 November 2000.

Dear Tony,

Thank You for your mail - I read it with great interest.

Since I contacted you I have found Cwm Prysor Station house on the A4212.
It is being renovated as far as I can see.

Although the railway is not evident you can still see where the platform and
station buildings used to be.  I have a photo and obituary of my
great-great-grandmother Harriet James when she was described as Station
Keeper - she died in around 1934.
My great-great-grandfather was also Station Master of Bala during the 1920s.

Your information has given me insight into the past which I am most grateful
for, and I will continue my research.

Best Wishes

Mrs L. Collins

=========================

(5) From Matthew Searle to < railwaycanal@egroups.com >; copied to <
ms@.../ac/uk >; 28 November 2000.

'Great Western Railway Halts' by Kevin Robertson (1990) says:

'CWM PRYSOR.  Situated between Arenig and Trawsfynydd.  Opened in 1902
although previously certain trains had called upon special request... From
1902 a 100 ft. wooden platform provided on the down side of the line, with a
small timber shelter. Reported that in 1926 staff consisted solely of a
gatewoman, who was provided with a cottage adjacent to the level crossing
and hard by the south end of the platform.  Her wages recorded as 6
shillings per week in 1926 plus a 3/6d bonus.  Rental for the cottage 2/9d
including rates.  Trains stopped upon request by exhibiting a red flag.  Up
to 4th July 1938 had been a conditional stopping place only.'

It wasn't unusual for women (often wives or widows of railwaymen) to be
employed as crossing keepers, but the haltkeeping might be less common.
From what I know of the area, both passengers and crossing users must have
been sparse.

Matthew Searle

==========================

(6)  From Tony Jervis to Lyn Collins, 28 November 2000.

Dear Mrs Collins,

Further information has come to light about Cwm Prysor station and its
"keeper", courtesy of Matthew Searle, Secretary of the Railway & Canal
Historical Society.  One presumes the "gatewoman" must have been your
g-g-grandmother.  The 1921 and 1931 census records of Llanycil parish,
Merionethshire, in which Cwm Prysor station was actually situated (the
valley itself was in Trawsfynydd parish), might confirm that she (and her
husband) lived in the crossing house.

'Great Western Railway Halts' by Kevin Robertson (1990) says: . . . as in
(5) above.


Yours sincerely, Tony Jervis.

=====================

(7)  From Lyn Collins, to Tony Jervis, 28 November 2000.

Dear Mr Jervis,

Thank you very much for your message.

I was fascinated with the information you sent.  Whilst I have read a couple
of books that have mentioned the female crossing keeper (my
great-great-grandmother) at Cwm Prysor, I have not seen the book you
mentioned.

About 4 years ago I was in contact with a lady who was researching women who
worked on the railways during that era by the name of Helena Korwitz (?) who
was herself working for BR and studying for a BA.  Apparently her
dissertation was about women railway workers between 1920-1950.  Apparently
she published a book called "Oh! Mrs Porter", and was at York Museum giving
a talk and book launch.

I have never been able to find a copy, any ideas?

Thank you for the time and effort you have given to finding information for
me - I am much obliged.

Best Wishes

Mrs L. Collins

====================

(8) From Tony Jervis to W.D. (Bill) Hines, Assistant Director, Library and
Advisory Services, Information Services - UW Aberystwyth, Hugh Owen Library,
Penglais Campus, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3DZ, ( mailto:wdh@... )
30 November 2000.

Dear Mr Hines,

First, may I thank you for the notes you have sent for "BLN".  It's nice to
know that there are still people in the society for whom the railways are
more than just a reason for inking over lines on ever more detailed maps
(one member I know has a large collection of 1 : 2500 plans -- there is no
zero missing, I mean 25 (approzimate) inches to the mile -- showing which
sidings he has traversed in various goods yards, etc.).  Not that I haven't
done a similar thing myself -- in my spare bedroom there are still neat
rolls, dated annually from 1959 to somewhere in the mid-'70s when my cheap
source of tracing linen dried up, showing the routes I had travelled and the
stations I had used to join or leave trains -- but it seems to have become
de rigeur in the BLS (and perhaps the RCHS) to criticise others for doing
what oneself is doing.  But eccentricity -- and I lay claim to being one of
its foremost proponents -- can have its virtues; who but an incurable
eccentric would spend twenty years trying (always unsuccessfully, as it
happens) to please ALL the people ALL the time?

But it was noticing your position at the foot of your e-mails that prompted
me to write, though I would not normally be so brave (or arrogant) to start
at the top and work down, as it were!  Recently I have been accosted
(e-mail-wise only, I should add) by a Cheshire woman (Mrs Lyn Collins) whose
great-great-grandmother (Harriet James) was "Station Keeper" at Cwm Prysor,
on the Bala - Blaenau Ffestiniog branch in north Wales, in the 1920s and
until her retirement (reported in a local newspaper) about 1934.  (Her
g-g-grandfather was station master at Bala.)  Mrs Collins was asking if I
had any information about Cwm Prysor.  My own interests are heavily biased
towards the nuts and bolts of sleepers and signals rather than the people
who made it all happen but I provided what little I have about the station
in my files, plus some imaginative interpretation from various maps and
plans I possess of the area.  Other RCHS members in an e-mail were able to
provide additional information, including the wage rates paid to Cwm
Prysor's crossing keeper of the time -- she received a 40% bonus, presumably
for looking after the station as well, though three-quarters of this went
back to the GWR as rent for living in the station house!

I thought at first that Mrs Collins' interest was merely genealogical (she
said she had recently been to Cwm Prysor to see where her relative worked;
it is still isolated from any other habitation but the unmetalled track that
as late as the 1960s was its only access is now resurfaced, regraded,
re-aligned and reclassified as the A4212 and someone thinks highly enough of
the place to be renovating the old building) but her latest question
suggests she may have the wider interest of the roles women have played in
the railways.  She writes:

"About 4 yrs ago I was in contact with a lady who was researching women who
worked on the railways during that era by the name of Helena Korwitz (?) who
was herself working for BR and studying for a BA.  Apparently her
dissertation was about women railway workers between 1920-1950. Apparently
she published a book called "Oh! Mrs Porter", and was at York Museum giving
a talk and book launch.
"I have never been able to find a copy, any ideas?"

Is it possible from these rather vague details to track down a source of
either the dissertation or the book?  Any help you could give would be
gratefully received and passed on with full ackowledgement.  But please
don't put yourself or your department to great expense and trouble.  If I
have trespassed beyond the boundaries of common courtesy, I will go and
stand behind the bookcase in the corner with a dunce's cap on and use my
word-processor to write out a thousand times, "I must not upset important
people" (making absolutely sure I omit the prefix "self-"), as some in (or
once in) the RCHS would have me do.  (I'm afraid that flogging or being
drawn and quartered would not be a satisfactory alternative punishment; I
might enjoy it too much!)

Thanking you once again for your interest in both societies and (when my
head returns to its usual size) your praise,

Yours sincerely,  Tony Jervis (HNC Chemistry -- failed 1961 and 1962*).

Note regarding my academic qualifications. -- The asterisk indicates
distinction (0% in organic chemistry - the only person on the course to
achieve this mark or anything near it) but I still managed to obtain 37
years' employment as a chemical analyst in industry, in the Ministry of
Defence and in a water utility.  Is that, I wonder, why the chemical company
I worked for has now migrated to Germany, two of the three dockyards in
which I worked are closed, and people in Yorkshire could only have a bath if
they shared the water with their neighbour?

=======================

(9)  From Bill Hines to Tony Jervis, 1 December 2000.

Tony, many thanks for your interesting e-mail, a bright note amongst an
otherwise dreary collection of work related material today!  I asked one of
our staff to check up on the book you mentioned.  She could find nothing
directly but suggested that the following just might be related to the
volume you mention?

Railway Women in Wartime.
Description:  Railway Women in Wartime is a collection of annotated
photographs compiled by Helena Wojtczak, which was amassed while researching
her book, Women Workers on the Railways 1830-2000. Helena Wojtczak was born
in Sussex and holds an Honours degree in psychology, social science and
social history.  At the age of 19 she became the first woman to be employed
as a guard by British Rail, a post she held until her resignation in
December 1998.  She has been consultant historian to the National Railway
Museum and a contributor to 'The Oxford Companion to British Railway
History' (OUP 1997).  The site contains images of women working on the
railways during the First and Second World Wars.
+ Full Record Keywords:  women, women's history, war, work, railways,
trains, photography
http://business.virgin.net/artemis.agency/railway/

There sound to be one or two elements of similarity with your correspondents
memory here?  On the subject of Cwm Prysor there may well be relevant
photographs in the RCAHM Wales Library here in Aberystwyth since they hold
part of the Rokeby archive with illustrations of virtually all stations in
Wales.

Sadly, exile in the remote mountain fastnesses has rather inhibited my line
inking habits over the past twenty years, although I can claim a fellow BLS
friend of long standing who has used every current UK national rail station
by joining or leaving trains - so eccentrics abound in every corner!  Anyway
enough of this primrose path - back to the daily grind where another report
beckons.  Regards, Bill Hines

-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Jervis [mailto:editor.bln@...]
Sent: 30 November 2000 16:07
To: Bill Hines
Subject: Women on railways

As at (8) above.

=====================

(10)  From Tony Jervis to Lyn Collins, 2 December 2000.

Mrs Collins,

It happened that one of my e-mail correspondents let slip that he,
W.D.Hines, was Assistant Director of Library and Advisory Services,
Information Services - University of Wales Aberystwyth, so in a fit of
bravado I sent him your query about Helena Korwitz(?) and her dissertation
and book on women in railway employment.  His reply was as follows:

------ as (9) above -----

Having seen a small portion of the Rokeby volumes during a visit to the
RCHAMW a few years ago, I can vouch for its comprehensiveness.  Rokeby was,
I believe, a man of the cloth with, like many of his ilk, an interest in
railways and in photography.

I've just had a quick look at the website mentioned above.  It does contain
a lot of photographs of female railway workers, mainly during the first and
second world wars.  It also gives details of her book.

Regards, Tony Jervis.

=====================

(11)  From Dave Newton ( mailto:dave@... ) to Tony
Jervis, 3 December 2000.

Dear Tony,

Thank you very much for the information - I was writing to Helena (the
author you mentioned) several years ago - relating to my
ggreat-great-grandmother Harriet James and her railway career - during her
research for her book.  Thanks to you I know have her E-Mail address & am
awaiting her reply.

Thank you for your time - am most grateful

Lyn.
  ====================

'Great Western Railway Halts' by Kevin Robertson (1990) says:
'CWM PRYSOR. Situated between Arenig and Trawsfynydd. Opened in 1902
although previously certain trains had called upon special request... From
1902 a 100 ft. wooden platform provided on the down side of the line, with
a small timber shelter. Reported that in 1926 staff consisted solely of a
gatewoman, who was provided with a cottage adjacent to the level crossing
and hard by the south end of the platform. her wages recorded as 6
shillings per week in 1926 plus a 3/6d bonus. Rental for the cottage 2/9d
including rates. Trains stopped upon request by exhibiting a red flag. Up
to 4th July 1938 had been a conditional stopping place only.'

It wasn't unusual for women (often wives or widows of railwaymen) to be
employed as crossing keepers, but the haltkeeping might be less common.
From what I know of the area, both passengers and crossing users must have
been sparse.

Matthew Searle


> Hi,
>
> Not having belonged to any of these e-mail discussion groups before, I'm
not sure if I'm breaking all the rules but I received the following e-mail
out of the blue the other day (a fortnight ago already!).  I have put
together what relatively little I have in my notes about Cwm Prysor station
and given her references for four articles on the Bala - Blaenau Ffestiniog
line that appeared in "Railway Magazine" and "Railway World" between 1938
and 1963, but it is not a line that I have any personal knowledge of.  I
suspect also that her request is as much genealogical than ferrovial and,
although a close friend of mine is Depute Registrar General for Scotland, I
am much more into the nuts and bolts of sleepers and signals than the staff
who made it all happen! > > Is there anyone out there who can point her
more specifically in the right direction than I have been able to? > >
Regards,  Tony Jervis (Editor of the Bulletin of the R&CHS and also of
"Branch Line News", hence my e-mail address). > > > ----- Original Message
----- > From: Lyn Collins > To: editor.bln@...
> Sent: Sunday, November 12, 2000 7:36 PM > Subject: Cwm Prysor Halt > >
> My g-g-grandmother - Harriet James - was Stn. Mistress at Cwm Prysor Halt
in the 1920's.  I have some info. about her incl. a newspaper cutting
relating to her retirement in the early 1930's. > > I recently tried to
track down where she used to work & found the Station House on the A4212
(?) and wonder wether you have any info. about her or Cwm Prysor as I would
be most interested.  I believe it was fairly uncommon for a woman to have a
job like this during the 1920's! > > Thanks In Anticipation. >
> Lyn >

The following is from Barrie Hughes who keeps us up to date on the WHR. His
site is worth a visit.
Hi everyone,

WHR  Update 3.3 was published 11/11/00 at 1540.

It contains six new images and a new location page.

There is more news on the Stop Press page including details of the surprise
winter services.

V3.1 of the Betws Garmon-Salem contains six new images of this previously
uncovered section of the trackbed.

Please advise of any problems or corrections.

BFN,

Barrie Hughes

Barrie Hughes

Surf to...
http://www.rhyd-ddu.fsnet.co.uk/WHRV3stop.html


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