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September 2026 Meeting

 

Midland & South Western Junction Railway. A talk by Stephen Duffel.

 

 

Finally the sweltering heat of summer had returned to more traditional temperatures which allowed for a comfortable club meet. Stephen Duffel, our savant of the London & South Western Railway, was going to deviate off the ‘main’ and take us along an associated line that was latterly known as the Midland & South Western Junction Railway. The railway started with a plan that was hatched during that great railway building bonanza of Victorian times which theoretically would allow trains of the Midland Railway to make an easy connection to the growing port of Southampton and link with potential commerce with the British Empire. Branching off from the LSWR main line at Andover Junction it would follow a northerly course towards Cheltenham to meet with the established Midland Railway both of which gave a friendly wink to the proposal. As Stephen pointed out it wasn’t an easy journey for the company but rather a catalogue of fits and starts meandering through sparsely populated country with little or next to no local sources of commercial revenue. It was also like the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway, a very unwelcome intruder that strayed into what the Great Western Railway regarded as their territory. Circumstances denied them access to the Great Western hub at Swindon.

 

Our man Stephen presented a comprehensive slide-show of images and maps projected by Sam’s new digital high-tech projector to accompany his talk. Of particular interest were the images of locomotives, which were a motley collection that had obviously stretched the company’s finances to the limit and loco manufacturers were reluctant to provide and thus prime power came from various sources. Several were quite unique machines and the 2-4-0 wheel arrangement was popular but the 4-4-4T was probably unique. The express boat train idea never really flourished and Stephen pointed out the railway was not the success hoped for. Its busiest time was during the Second World War when it was used move large volumes of supplies south which were needed for Operation Overlord …the D Day invasion. The line was swept away with the Beeching cuts.

 

To compliment the slide show Stephen presented us with a lovely display of his Scalefour models some scratch built. The duration of the presentation was perfect allowing a bit of time for convivial chit chat to round off the evening ….and the cakes were, as always, also great….

 

Chris Kapolka.