‘Great little Trains’ in the Great War
When the words ‘narrow gauge railways’ and ‘the First World War’ are mentioned, famous lines such as the Ffestiniog and Vale of Rheidol Railways are unlikely to be the first to spring to mind. Most would consider the well-known War Department Light Railways on the Western Front itself; equipped with a fleet of armoured petrol locomotives, as well as British and American-built steam locomotives, these often temporary lines were vital to the military effort in what was hoped to be ‘the war to end all wars’. Yet it is often overlooked that, along with the standard gauge companies, what are now known as the ‘Great Little Trains of Wales’ - together with several of their English counterparts - also played their part in the fight.
Military experience
One of the Welsh lines - the Vale of Rheidol - already had a great deal of experience with troop movements even before war was declared, thanks to the founding in 1908 of the Territorial Force volunteer reserves (originally for home defence in the event of invasion, and renamed the Territorial Army in 1920). From 1910 to 1914, these troops set up an annual summer encampment at Lovesgrove, which entailed the building of a temporary station on the VoR between Llanbadarn and Capel Bangor. As well as transporting the men from the standard gauge station at Aberystwyth, the railway also carried them on manoeuvres, and to ease the strain on the line’s three locomotives, 0-4-0STT No. 4 Palmerston was hired from the Ffestiniog Railway in 1912, 1913 and 1914. As war neared in late July and early August 1914, regular, reservist and territorial troops were all mobilised, with many territorial units in camp. A total of 5,000 men based in the Aberystwyth area, including those at Lovesgrove, were sent back to their home depots as soon as possible after the Cambrian Railway received notification at 10pm on Sunday August 3 - right in the middle of heavy Bank Holiday traffic. With the declaration of war at midnight the next day, the Railway Executive Committee took control of most of Britain’s railways, which stayed under Government control for the rest of the war. The REC also offered some security in that if the line lost a large amount of traffic, it would be kept afloat financially. Large numbers of railwaymen joined the forces, including many reservists who had formerly been full-time soldiers, or Territorials. While they were undertaking work just as vital to the war effort as the armed forces, efforts were still made to release men for service where possible - although that did not stop some leaving without permission. From narrow gauge lines, 18 men left to join up (just under a fifth of the workforce at the outbreak of war) from the Ffestiniog, the same number from the Lynton & Barnstaple and one from the Southwold Railway (out of just ten members of staff!). For the Cambrian-run Vale of Rheidol and Welshpool & Llanfair, it is not officially recorded how many left, but on the Cambrian as a whole, 452 men, 30% of the staff, joined up. Official records do not mention any staff from the Leek & Manifold, and as they were not under Government control, other lines do not get mentioned either. On the Vale of Rheidol, the shortage of staff resulted in Capel Bangor station becoming unmanned from March
ROB LANGHAM explores the little-known contribution of narrow gauge railways on the Home Front 100 years ago
25 1917, meaning that the line had to be run as one section and on a ‘one train only’ basis until the end of the war - despite a resurgence in goods traffic. The constant demand for timber at the front, to construct the trenches and underground tunnels, resulted in a steampowered sawmill being set up at Devil’s Bridge station, where pit-props were cut for use in British coal mines as well as on the French and Belgian battlefields. Two mines on the VoR were re-opened also. The increased freight - and, strangely, heavy holiday traffic - meant that Palmerston again had to be hired from the Ffestiniog in 1915. The two Metcalfe & Davies 2-6-2T locomotives, Nos. 1 and 2 of 1902, were suffering from poor quality wartime coal, and at some point during the war were both modified with larger bunkers. The chance was also taken to fit a semi-circular extension to the rear of the cab to give clearance for the handbrake, which was moved further back to provide more room for the crew. A number of other lines experienced a similar resurgence in goods traffic owing to the demand for timber, including the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway, where one of the carriages had the bodywork removed to carry large trunks (the same being done on the Vale of Rheidol). In the event, the line’s passenger service ceased on October 31 1916, and it was in such a poor state that the two 0-6-4T Single Fairlie locomotives were combined to make one good locomotive in 1917. Interestingly, this line was used to trial Dick Kerr locomotives for the War Department Light Railway. These were designed to be easily converted to run on overhead electric catenary, which was Eric Geddes’ (Director General of Military Transportation) original plan for a large mileage of the light railways, but as this did not happen they all ran as petrol-electrics.
East coast casualty
The Southwold Railway holds the distinction of being Britain’s only narrow gauge railway to suffer damage from enemy action during the war. On the night of April 15/16 1915, three German Navy Zeppelins attempted to raid the Humber
Large numbers of railwaymen across the nation joined the forces, including many reservists.
area but, thanks to high winds and a successful blackout in Britain, failed to reach their target. Zeppelin L5 reached Southwold at 9.40pm, then dropped bombs on Lowestoft two hours later, damaging a timber yard. A Zeppelin, probably L5, was again heard over Southwold just after midnight and dropped incendiaries (which looked like large lamps and were wrapped in rope smothered in tar to create a ferocious and long-burning fire), one of which destroyed a coal wagon at Southwold station. Meanwhile, L6 bombed Maldon and L7 flew along the coast from Hunstanton to Great Yarmouth, but did not drop any bombs. No-one was killed, but one person was injured and £6,940 of damage caused. The Southwold Railway was also involved in troop movements, as well as moving nearly 700 Dutch citizens who were stranded in Britain at the outbreak of war, but whom the Germans had guaranteed safe passage to Holland if they sailed from Southwold. The one member of staff who left the Southwold Railway to join the armed forces, Harry Sorrell Jubilee Wright, was killed on November 16 1916 - a private in the 16th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps. The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway was closed when the war started, but in 1915 was purchased by Narrow Gauge Railways Limited (run by Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke and Robert Proctor-Mitchell) for use as a test track for the miniature locomotives. The line was re-gauged from 3ft to 15in, and the first train ran in 1915, although the whole line was not re-gauged until 1917. The Fairbourne Tramway was also acquired by NGR Ltd in 1916 and converted to 15in gauge, becoming the Fairbourne Miniature Railway. Despite losing its traditional tourist trade during the war, the Isle of Man Railway had unusual passengers - Germans! A large internment camp, for civilians who were in the country at the outbreak of war and unable to get home (or did not wish to return), as well as prisoners of war, was built at Knockaloe and served by a new branch on which the first train ran on September 1 1915. By the end of the war there were over 20,000 men interned there Like many other - albeit larger - railway workshops, the Ffestiniog Railway’s Boston Lodge Works was turned over to munitions production, becoming one of three to receive the grandiose title of ‘National Shell Factory’ in North Wales, producing artillery shells. The other two were at Caernarfon and Wrexham. A census undertaken in July 1915 by the Ministry of Munitions for suitable locations showed 20 lathes and five drills at Boston Lodge, and on October 22 1915 an agreement was signed with the FR to rent the works at a
nominal charge. Four additional lathes were installed, and it was planned that 500 shells a week would be produced there - later increased to 3,900 a week, although this figure was never attained. The FR works produced shells for 18-pounder field guns, contributing to a total from the three North Wales factories of 831,400 18-pounder high explosive shells, 9,000 18-pounder smoke shells and 54,600 13-pounder high explosive shells. With all the 13-pounder shells made at Wrexham, Boston Lodge only seems to have been involved in the production of 18-pounders (although the official history of the Ministry of Munitions does not state how many were high explosive or smoke, or if only one type was produced there). Ffestiniog Locomotive Superintendent Robert Williams was appointed manager of the munitions works, which was staffed by (in October 1918) 49 female workers, out of 61 workers in total. Despite a passenger train which left Porthmadog Harbour station each morning early enough for the women to get to work, they were refused free travel and had to walk along the Cob instead. After they threatened to go on strike, the decision was overturned. The Talyllyn Railway’s services did not seem to change, with the October 1914 timetable identical to that of the previous year, and April 1918’s differing only by the Fridayonly train running 15 minutes earlier. The Corris Railway dropped one service a day by April 1918, compared to October 1914. The Glyn Valley Railway saw no change in the number of services, and the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway saw one service a day dropped by April 1918.
Peace and prosperity
In all, apart from the cessation of passenger services on the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway (not entirely surprising, given the state of the line before the war had even started), the war seemed to have little effect on the Welsh narrow gauge railways’ passenger services. The need for materials meant that there was an unexpected boost in goods traffic for some, and the numbers of men joining the armed forces do not appear to have harmed operations too much. The effects of the war would certainly have been felt in reduced maintenance of locomotives, rolling stock, and the permanent way, which would have required investment when the war was over. Thankfully, the coming of peace brought large amounts of surplus narrow gauge locomotives onto the market, and the Baldwin 4-6-0Ts in particular helped revitalise a number of lines, and even resulted in the creation of an entirely new railway - the Ashover Light Railway. The works at Boston Lodge couldn’t have seemed much further away from the conflict, yet they played a vital role in feeding the guns, alongside other railway works all over the country making shells, gun carriages, horse-drawn vehicles, rifle components or even armoured trains. The experiences of Britain’s narrow gauge railways in the First World War may not be as interesting as the light railways on the Western Front, or seem as important as the work done by the standard gauge railways at home and abroad; but however small their contribution they still played their part, and the men who left to serve, and the men (and women) who stayed to operate the railways in increasingly difficult conditions are all worthy of remembering.