THE NORTH WALES COAST RAILWAY NOTICE
BOARD
Rheilffordd Arfordir Gogledd Cymru Bwrdd
hysbyseb
A
historical special issue: From the Railway Magazine, September 1905
This site is dedicated to all our regular contributors and
supporters, and especially the rail staff of North Wales.
Edition of 03 May 2005
[From
the North Wales
Railway website compiler: Railway
Magazine has been essential reading for 'railwayacs' since the
1890s. This article from September 1905 is re-worked here into HTML
with the kind co-operation of the editors. We thought readers
would enjoy its style, and make some interesting comparisons between
the private railway companies of 100 years ago and those of today.
We've added some notes at the end to explain some of Mr Lawrence's
references. ]
The General station,
Chester, which is the joint property of the Great Western Railway and
the London and North-Western Railway, is both spacious and convenient.
It was the terminus of the Chester and Holyhead Railway, opened in
1848, and it remained in its original condition till some thirteen
years ago, when another platform was added, and even now it requires
comparatively little expenditure to
make it level even with these very up-to-date times. Electric
light is already promised, and all in addition that occurs to the
casual observer as being necessary, is a somewhat more modern train
indicator. The station is very strikingly situated, in a wide and open
space, platforms are wide and long, and there are plenty of them, and
when extension is needed, all that is apparently necessary is to
sacrifice two or three lines of siding on the far side, and make an
additional platform and cover it in.
From the south, Chester is approached from Whitchurch, Crewe, and
Warrington, and from the north, from Mold, Birkenhead, Holyhead, and
Wrexham. Of these, the last-named line is on the Great Western Railway
main line to Paddington, and the actual junction is at Saltney, on the
Mold and Denbigh branch. The lines to Birkenhead and Warrington are
joint, but the services maintained are somewhat
composite. That is to say, there are joint trains, and certain others
run by each of the companies concerned, by which tickets of the other
company are not available. Why reciprocity should fail at the most busy
times of the day, and in connection with the best trains, is not
immediately apparent. The reason given to the writer was that when it
appeared any particular train was serving the connections of one only
of the two companies, the other ceased to have any interest in it, a
statement which might be an explanation, but, regarded as a reason,
left something to be supplied.
[link to the full size version of this plan
with key]
On approaching the station from the town, its extreme length is the
first feature to attract attention. From the railway point of view its
architecture is distinctly pre-renaissance. It is approached by a road,
a quarter of a mile in length, which goes nowhere else, and
consequently there is a large circulating space in front. The verandah
has a modern look, and it is the only thing that has. The booking
offices are in the entrance, the Great Western to the left, the
North-Western to the right. Arrived within, offices of various kinds,
waiting and refreshment-rooms, stretch on either hand up and down a
platform some 1,350 feet in length. Exactly opposite, there is the
bridge connecting the old and new portions of the station. It rises
from the centre of each of the platforms it connects, and is reached at
each end by a staircase on one side, and a slope on the other, and in
order to diminish the encroachment on platform space, the piers which
support it are pierced with arches.
There are two other foot bridges, one at either end, that on the south
connecting platforms only, and the other leading into the city, or
rather its prettiest suburb. This bridge was erected in 1893, to
accommodate visitors to the Royal Agricultural Show, held in Chester in
that year. In spite of a very inhospitable notice which threatens
trespassers with the ultimate penalties of the law, the bridge
possesses a singular attraction for the pedestrian who wishes to find a
short cut from one end of the city to the other. At the foot of the
stairs leading to the central bridge is the book-stall, and to the
right and left are two bays, serving Great Western trains and the
Whitchurch branch respectively. The main platform is, for traffic
purposes, divided into two block sections, and in the early history of
the station served up and down traffic, as once used to be the case at
York and Reading. The new platform, reached by the bridge, is an
island, and it still does accommodate both classes of traffic, and is
known officially as an "up and down platform."
Mr. W. G. Marrs, the stationmaster, has a somewhat unique record. He
has been in the service of the London and North-Western Railway for
thirty-five years, having entered it in January, 1870, and he has spent
the whole of that period in and about Chester Station. He commenced on
the lowest rung of the ladder as a porter, and served in every capacity
between that position and that of stationmaster, to which he
succeeded three years ago. He has a numerous staff under him. There are
five passenger Inspectors, and three belonging to .the goods yard, 29
signalmen, 10 ticket collectors, 22 shunters, of whom 18 are in the
goods yard, 12 booking-clerks, whilst porters, policemen and the rest
of the platform staff number thirty. All these are employed by the
Joint Committee, but each Company has its own carriage cleaners.
The Great Western Railway's locomotive depot is at the Holyhead or
north end of the station. In the Great Western Railway sheds are
stabled some fifty locomotives, and Mr. Jones, the foreman, directs the
movements of 250 drivers, firemen, cleaners, etc. At the south, or
Crewe end, but some distance from the station, are the London and
North-Western Railway's sheds. In this direction also are to be found
the gas and water works, for supplying the station with illumination
and motive power (for lifts, etc.). It is said that in another year,
both of these establishments will have been replaced by a power
station, and that the electric current will provide power for
both lighting and lifting. In fact the site of the proposed
installation is already marked out. Meanwhile
both gas and water-works are looked after by Mr. Eaton, who is over the
locomotive shed. Here are to be found samples of the best the Company
has to show in this department, including three engines of the altered
"Alfred the Great" class. "Precursors," it is said, have been promised,
and when they come it is safe to predict that a good deal of the stock
now in the shed will be scrapped. Whilst the engineman may possibly
shed a tear when he thinks of the "Cornwall"
going to its long home on the scrap heap, it is certain that the
emotions kindled by the thought of the fate of the three-cylinder
compounds are the reverse of agonizing. With the fear of Mr.Webb no
longer before their eyes, drivers are less reticent than they used to
be on the subject of the demerits of these engines. At no time would
they ever have been great dividend earners. But they might have made a
far more respectable show than they did, had the late chief
condescended to take occasional counsel with his subordinates. A case
in point is furnished by the four-cylinder compounds whose hauling
capacity has been increased 30 per cent. by the alteration effected in
the valve gearing. This means that double heading, up to recent times
the rule on the heavy expresses, will,be quite exceptional. Here also
are some of the "Problem" class, whose usefulness is more limited every
year. In all there are 45 locomotives, manned by 55 crews, and there
are beside, 110 other employés.
The "Cornwall" now runs between Chester and Whitchurch, and is stabled
at the latter shed. From the Irish Mail or the Scotch Limited of the
sixties, to a local train, with a score of third-class passengers, is a
descent, and still further descent is promised before long. Whilst the
lines around Chester are for the most part of easy gradient it is not
every sort of a locomotive that will run to Holyhead with 250 tons
behind the tender in 96 minutes. The prevailing winds, N.W. and N.E.
have to be reckoned with, and whenever time is lost it is pretty
safe to put it to the account of Boreas. Roughly speaking, Chester is
two-thirds of the distance from London to Holyhead, the mileage being,
from London, 179¼, and from Holyhead, 84½. The fastest
trains between the terminal
points are not the Irish mails, as might be expected; but the two
trains which serve the London and North-Western Railway boats, leaving
Euston at 11 a.m. and 10.15 p.m., 3 hours 36 min. is the time by the
former, whilst the latter does not stop at Chester, but runs through
from Crewe in 2 hours 5 min. The Greenmore boat train, leaving at 7.30
p.m. runs to in three less. There are thirteen in the other direction.
We shall speak of the Great Western Railway services later. No very
serious attempt is made by the London and North-Western to attract the
Shrewsbury traffic from the Great Western Railway, and, in fact, if the
inhabitants of Chester wished to visit Bristol and South Wales under
London and North-Western auspices as far as they could, they would
probably go by way of Crewe.
Liverpool can be reached in no less than four ways. There is, first of
all, the old-established way by direct train to Birkenhead and across
the Mersey by ferry. Then the Mersey tunnel can
be patronised, and Birkenhead can be reached by means of a pleasant
ride round the Wirral peninsula. Or there is the
London and North-Western through route, by way of the loop which
connects Ditton Junction with Frodsham, across Runcorn Gap. This makes
use of the lines from Liverpool to Crewe, and from Chester to
Warrington. The express time to Birkenhead is 25 min., and 10 min. can
be added to account for the ferry, and the time via the tunnel
is about the same. By way of Runcorn the fastest train, a Llandudno
express, takes 39 min., but the average time is about 50 min. To
Manchester, as already stated, there is a mixed service of trains, some
being joint, and some by which the
tickets of only one of the two companies are available. The time taken
over the 38½ miles is about the same in any case, 65 min. The
fastest time from Manchester is also by a Llandudno express, 49 min.
The corresponding train up in the morning does not stop at Chester.
From Chester to Paddington is 213¾ miles, and the fastest train
between the two points is the 11.25 a.m. down, which takes 4 hours 50
min. If this train kept up its early promise from Paddington, there is
no reason why it should not reach Chester in the even four hours. But
whereas the 129 miles to Birmingham only occupy 2 hours, 20 min. the
next 84 miles are allowed 2 hours 25 min. Deducting stoppages this
means
a reduction of speed from 55½ to 38½. And the road is not
an especially hard one. Possibly the Great Western Railway do not think
the through traffic from Chester worth trying to secure. Were Chester
the terminal point, and not simply the first bait on the way from
Holyhead, perhaps the London and North-Western Railway might be of the
same opinion. The Great Western Railway run six trains in each
direction daily, and though they may be at a disadvantage as regards
mileage, they certainly possess a very attractive route. The passenger
who is not in an extreme hurry to get to town need not
regard the extra hour as wasted which provides him with views of
Wrexham, Chirk, Shrewsbury, Leamington, Oxford, the Valley of the
Thames, and Windsor Castle. In connection, at Oxford, with the Great
Central cross country service,
a train leaves Chester at 10.3 every morning with through carriages to
the south coast, serving various places from Dover. to Bournemouth. An
hour later, at 11.10, a train starts for Torquay, with a through
carriage for South Wales, and another cross country convenience is
provided by the train leaving at 3.32 in the afternoon, which runs, via
Ruabon, through such beauty spots as Llangollen, Berwyn, Corwen, and
Dolgelly, to Barmouth, which place is reached at 6.55.
A considerable number of cyclists make for Chester by rail, especially
such as hail from Lancashire and Yorkshire. This is not to be wondered
at, for no such convenient starting point for wheelmen is to be found
in the country. The good roads stretch out south and west, and they are
the ideal of the tourist, from every point of view. Eastward the roads
are monotonous, and only lead to places from which the tourist is
anxious to escape. Another feature of Chester is the number of
Lancashire church and chapel choirs that make it the resort
for their summer picnic. Except for three days in the year, Chester
is a very ecclesiastical place, and a pilgrimage thither is one of
those things without which the training of a church choir is not
complete. There was a time also, not in the very distant past, when
political pilgrims were found in great number at Chester, consisting of
admirers of the G.O.M., asking the way to Hawarden. This once famous
shrine is not far away, in fact, by road it is but seven miles, but the
journey by rail involves a considerable detour and is not accomplished
without change.
To see the station staff at its busiest, the visitor should go at the
time of the races. These are the three days referred to above. There
appear to be as many people desirous of leaving the ancient city on
this occasion as there are of arriving at it. On the Cup Day,
Wednesday, May 10th, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p,m., in
thirteen hours, by way of No.4 junction, 104 trains arrived, and 103
departed, and by way of No.2, there were 77 and 74, making a total of
358 arrivals and departures, the greater number of them terminal, and,
therefore, involving all the shunting movements, and the light engine
movements consequent thereupon. This means as nearly
as possible a crowded train every two minutes. In actual practice there
were more, because specials were dispatched to all parts as soon as
filled. Needless to say the staff was strengthened on these days. Want
of success in spotting winners will account for the presence of
ticketless travellers, and, on the other hand, the successful sportsman
will display an exuberance both of verbosity and of demeanour, that
makes it desirable that the guard of the train shall be a man of good
physique.
Chester, it may be stated, is an open station, and ticket platforms are
provided outside. It is a mercy on these occasions that there is a
competing railway (the Cheshire Lines), for at times there is barely
standing room on the platforms of the joint station. Even in ordinary
times the station staff is not idle, for the working books show no less
than 298 train movements in the 24 hours. A great number of these, it
is true, are movements of the same train which gets away in five
minutes after arrival, but there is quite enough going on all day long
to demand that every man employed shall keep his head cool.
Notes from 2005:
"Cornwall" - LNWR 2-2-2 No 3020 Cornwall was built in 1847
as an express passenger locomotive to the design of Francis Trevithick.
Later, in a rebuilt form, it became a favourite of the company's chief
mechanical engineers. It was withdrawn from service in 1902, according
to another
source, but was kept available to haul the Chief Mechanical
Engineer's private saloon. 'On the morning of 20th July 1920 "Cornwall"
took the C.M.E. (C.J.Bowen Cooke) from Crewe to Euston, as he was en
route to Falmouth in Cornwall to convalesce after an illness.' Thanks
to its celebrity status, No. 3020 still exists in 2005, and may be
visited in the National Railway Museum's new Locomotion
building at Shildon. For more on the Whitchurch branch, see our June 2004 issue.
Mr Webb and his locomotives: The Steam Index website
has an intresting article with many references. A tryrannical Chief
Mechanical Engineer, there are many legends about how he insisted on
the use of his own inventions in his locomotives, but this is no place
to enter this argument.
3 hours 36 min: This seems a remarkable London - Holyhead
time for 1905, compared to 2005's best time of 3 hours 48 mins:
it would be interesting to hear from LNWR experts about these trains
and their traction. Manchester to Chester in 49 minutes is also a time
to be envied: this train would have started its journey from Manchester
Exchange station, opened in the 1880s adjacent to Victoria and closed
in 1969. .
G.O.M.- The 'Grand Old Man' - was William
Ewart Gladstone, 1809-1898, four times Prime Minister and library
enthusiast, founder of St Deiniol's Library.
Gladstone’s association with the village of Hawarden began in 1839 with
his marriage to Catherine Glynne, daughter of the local squire.
The Cheshire Lines: This refers to the Mid-Cheshire line
from Manchester to Chester via Northwich, which until 1969 ran to a
separate terminus station at Chester Northgate.
Special thanks to The
John Rylands University Library, University of Manchester for
providing the copy of the Railway Magazine used for this piece.
The JRUL has very extensive railway
collections, and serious researchers are welcome to consult them on
a reference-only basis; the library is not open-access, and books and
not available for brosing as they have to be requested in
advance. If you are interested, please drop and email with your
name and address to the usual North Wales Coast website address (see
below) with details of the nature of your research, and if appropriate
we can arrange for a letter of introduction to the Library and
assistance with finding material.
