Carriage and Wagon Department

On 8th August the BR Standard horse box, S96403, arrived by road from its temporary home at Aylesbury. As reported in the last News it was purchased from Micheldever and had moved by rail some time ago to Bucks. It is in SR green livery and carries the warning 'Not to work between Tonbridge and Battle' - no danger of that happening now!

From the MOD, Bicester, Graven Hill on 15th August we received Army 9037, a small 4W petrol driven inspection car, (Wickham 8197 / 1959), and a well preserved old Midland Railway goods van, Army 47271, both to the up yard, while the next day in the down yard were offloaded Army 47253, a van of LSWR origin; Army 47251, another Midland van and Army 47683 which is a GWR open wagon of 1903 vintage which was rebuilt as a van in more recent times but is in rather a poor condition.

Fred Pointer has done a great deal of work on the panelling and mouldings of his MS & six wheeled carriage. On one side the brown and grey livery shows what an attractive vehicle this will be when it is fully restored. Work on bogie painting and panel repairs on the Gresley BSK is also going well but it is a shame to see the deterioration in the condition of the Midland compo-brake.

Locomotive Department

The new arrivals are recorded elsewhere in the News but this has not stopped work on the older inhabitants. The HL, No.3 from Swanscombe was steamed for the first time at Quainton on 13th August and will now be painted. David Tavener is working on the Aveling, Sydenham, and is removing boiler tubes prior to repair to the front tubeplate where there is some wastage. Many portable components have already been restored at David's home while on the engine the reversing gear and the motion can be turned over quite easily. Progress on the big NBL, Coventry No. 1 and on L44 continues steadily. The Pannier and the Beattie are both serviceable but the retubing of Sir Thomas and the longer term projects on the Barclays are for the future.

Permanent Way Department

The Pannier derailment at the end of May gave the lads extra work which was not really wanted but all is now perfectly safe and fully restored at the South points. The end of the long siding continues to give trouble due to instability of the clay subsoil. A large amount of ballast is needed and this will need an equally large amount of work. We are thinking about it! The season of weeds has meant plenty of man-hours on this tedious job and the wet weather in July helped the growth. It is a pity that an overall application of weed killer is so expensive because hand weeding is so slow and volunteer could be used more usefully. However the main line and yard is looking better and should stay that way for at least a fortnight.

Signal and Telegraph Department

Once again the Chairman of this section is Mike Hanscomb. Welcome back, Mike, and thank you Tim Stevens for holding the fort so well. The Department's stock of spares has, at last been brought into some semblance of order and Stores will soon be housed in one of the newly arrived Army vans. This will release the room we have been occupying in the station building. Our pressing need is for some new members interested in signalling to learn to operate the system and to keep it well maintained. Any recruits? Why not make yourself known to us on the next steaming Sunday when we give practical training?

Depot and Station

The most important event has been the dismantling of the building at Wembley and its transfer to Quainton. The picture and the 'roll of honour' on an earlier page tails the story and although the work was fairly heavy the trusses were all removed without a crane. Many thanks to Dave Goodenough who organised the two lorries to shift the stuff and to Dave and his friend for their help and cooperation. We can now prepare the ground for the erection of the building and the target date for the completion is by the next AGM. All the lads who clamoured at the last Meeting for covered accommodation should now come forward and volunteer their help to achieve the objective. Members of 'Loco' have offered to dig the trench for a PVC water supply pipe to the tower position in the yard and their aid is much appreciated. A warm welcome to Ray Horsley who will, in future try to share the running of the depot with Ray Hedley. Once again, and ever so urgently, we need members to help in the work and in the fun of depot duties. WE NEED YOU!

Sales Department [Note 1]

The Quainton Stockbook has had good press notices, (good value, excellently produced, etc.,) so you must have at least one copy. Price 20p, (4p postage) from Peter Hoskings or from the bookstall. Peter also has the first series of colour slides at 30p a set of three. Set 1 is of the Beattie, Set 2 of Juno, 7715 and Sir Thomas, Set 3 of Juno, xxden, Sydenham and Holy War and Set 4, the Red engines - L99, Sentinel 11 and Sir Thomas. The 5p, (plus SAE) car stickers of Met 1 and the superb replica nameplates of Juno at £3.20, (30p postage), are also available, and if you order your books and magazines through the Society it costs you no more but is helps the Society.

Notes:
1 - Obviously we can no longer supply these items at the prices offered in 1972, if at all!

Notes:
The text in this Quainton Railway Society publication was written in 1972 and so does not reflect events in the 40+ years since publication. The text and photographs are repeated verbatim from the original publication, with only a few minor grammar changes but some clarifying notes are added if deemed necessary. The photos from the original publication are provided as scans in this internet version of this long out of print publication.

Reference:
Society News - Quainton News No. 13 - September 1972