Railways

Christmas Eve at the Front

An interesting letter has just been received by Mrs Packer, of Broadclyst, from her husband, Corpl Packer of A Company, 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment, who is serving with the Expeditionary Force in Northern France. In the course of a letter he describes a remarkable incident which occurred on Christmas Eve between the British and German trenches.

Westward Ho! Railway Conspiracy

Bideford-Westward Ho!-Appledore Railway - Is there a conspiracy?

Did the engines sink or see service near the front line?

Early in 1917, the line was commandeered by the Government and a temporary line was laid from Bideford Quay across the bridge to a goods yard in East-the-Water.
Lieut-Colonel E V Thompson said that engines were loaded on to SS Gotterdammerung at Avonmouth and were destroyed when the ship was torpedoed by a U-boat off the Cornish coast. Hunslett Engine Co. and others claim that the engines were despatched to Pembrey in South Wales for shipment to the front.
Mr Sowden thought he saw one of the engines at Arras during the War.
Mr Philip Kelly of 6 Stanhope Terrace, Bideford, says he saw the engines with identification plates at Armentieres.
Mr Colin Eastman of Clovelly maintains that divers found, on a wreck, off the North Cornwall coast, 2 railway carriages 150ft beneath the Atlantic Ocean.
'Kingsley' survived the war and was sold by the Ministry of Munitions to the National Smelting Co. and scrapped in 1937.

Westward Ho! Railway Facts

Bideford - Westward Ho! - Appledore Railway

Facts & Figures

Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd of Leeds built 2-4-2 tank engines called 'Grenville', 'Kingsley' and 'Torridge' which each weighed 27 tons in working order. Each driving wheel was 3 feet, 3 inches. A minimum radius of curve of 160 feet was recommended, and 500 gallons of water and 18cwt of coal could be carried.
Bristol Carriage & Wagon Works, based at Lawrence Hill, constructed the carriages and coaches. They also built and supplied carriages for the Ffestiniog Railway, and the Lynton and Barnsaple Railway. There were two 3rd class carriages which were 66 feet long (one was used as a third brake) and 4 coaches, each 48 feet long. Lighting was by acetylene gas and there was a clock in each coach. First class roofs were covered in a pale green Lincrusta - a thick embossed wallpaper - picked out with gold. Seats had 'American leather'. Interiors were of polished oak with teak mouldings.
The carriages were American in style with entry at either end by an open metal fence platform. There were steeps steps for use at the Quay terminus and those halts that had no platform. Additionally, there were 6 open wagons, 4 covered wagons and a brake van.
There was no turntable - one engine, Torridge was on the track facing Bideford and the other two were facing Westward Ho!, and that's how they stayed.
The signalling was installed by Saxby & Farmer who were the major contractor responsible for building signal boxe on behalf of railways.

(with thanks for Douglas Stuckey and his West Country Handbook No. 1)