A BRIDGE WITH A HISTORY by Ned Williams
Ned Williams investigates the history of a long lost garden railway.
There is something special about the sight of a locomotive and train emerging from a bridge and plunging into the landscape. The picture heading this article shows just such an image as GWR 4-6-2 locomotive, “Great Bear” emerges from an impressive girder bridge on a garden line.
In the past, I have described to readers of Garden Rail how I inherited some Gauge 2 model railway equipment from a gentleman called Francis Ashley, following his death in 1991. I have had great pleasure in presenting some of these trains on my layout “The Smoghampton & Greenhills Railway”. What I have not had an opportunity to exhibit is the large wooden girder bridge. With a span of seven feet, and being fairly fragile, it spends its time waiting to be given a suitable home.
Francis explained that the bridge had been featured in Model, Railways and Locomotives magazine. At the time, I gave this no further thought. However, I inherited a complete set of the magazines and found the article in the July 1913 edition. It was designed by none other than the magazine’s famous editor: Henry Greenly, though actually built by a Mr. John Wills. The bridge was built for a Mr. C.B. Krabbe, who was building a Gauge 2 garden railway at the
time. To show the strength of the bridge, Henry Greenly included a photograph in which his son and a friend sat on the structure.
Greenly was a pioneer in the railway modelling world that sprang to life at the end of the nineteenth century. An engineer, with a gift for draughtsmanship, he was also a journalist. In 1909, he had started production of the MR&L, and for the first year, shared the editorial work with his friend W.J. Bassett-Lowke. Greenly was something of a workaholic and would have taken on the task of designing the bridge while carrying out many other projects, but it was significant enough to be featured. Mr. Krabbe must have been an important customer.
Model railway enthusiasts during the pre-First World War days were generally wealthy and had enough leisure to indulge their interests. They were fairly equally divided between those who built railway layouts indoors and those who favoured garden-based systems. The larger scales and gauges prevailed with 2 ½” gauge particularly popular for those who favoured live steam. Gauge 1 and Gauge 0 also had their followers, not forgetting Gauge 2, where the track gauge was 2” and scale an improbable 7/16th inches to the foot. Such a scale provided plenty of space within a locomotive for a large and powerful clockwork mechanism, electric propulsion being in its infancy.
Where did Mr. Krabbe fit into this story? Who was he? These questions took on even more meaning because among the Gauge 2 rolling stock I inherited was a wooden GWR horsebox. Lettering on the side of the horsebox refers to “C.B. Krabbe” and “Calcot Sidings, Theale”. Although Models, Railways and Locomotives did not mention him again, two references appeared in the pages of Model Railway News. In the May 1925 edition, two pictures of Mr. Krabbe’s model railway appeared. The magazine launched at the beginning of 1925 and was published by Percival Marshall, who had been publishing Model Engineer since 1898. Henry Greenly had been a keen admirer of, and contributor to this magazine so all these pioneers were well known to each other. The pictures had been sent in by John Hart, a leading member of the Reading Society of Model Engineers and a keen photographer. He had photographed Mr. Krabbe’s railway and was able to tell readers that it no longer existed.
Twelve years later, two more of John Hart’s photographs were printed. On this occasion, they had been lent to the magazine by Lt. Col. John Moore-Brabazon M.P. More
on him later. The editor confirms that the railway was dismantled and “scattered”. His bizarre conclusion is that it would be a good idea to rebuild it in 00 scale.
2020 provided an opportunity for me to find out more about Mr. Krabbe and his railway. The 1939 census reveals that he and his wife, Joan, lived at Calcot Grange, Theale, in Berkshire – hence the reference to Calcot Sidings on the side of the horsebox. It also told me that he was born on 16th January, 1886, and this detail assisted in the search for more information.
It turns out that Clarence Brehmer Krabbe was born in Argentina, and my research soon confirmed that his life might be unusual and interesting – but would it explain his interest in building a substantial garden railway? Are there any descendants of Mr. Krabbe alive today?
Through the Ancestry family history website, I was able to contact John Duncan, who turned out to be Mr. Krabbe’s grandson. An exciting twist in the tale is that he was prepared to share the text of an autobiographical memoir produced by Clarence Krabbe late in life. Perhaps it might tell us about his railway!
Krabbe’s father emigrated to Argentina, building up a very successful shipping agency importing goods from Britain to sell to other British settlers. The youngest of three children: his brother Charles Frederick was born in 1880, and his sister Hilda Mary was born in 1878. Clarence was sent back to England to go to school at Dulwich College.
With the resources available via the Internet and the “memoir”, quite an interesting biography can be put together, but here we have to focus on his garden railway. Family history does play a part in this as his sister married John T.C. MooreBrabazon in 1906. Later known as Lord Brabazon of Tara, this introduced him to a number of interests. Readers may remember the post Second World War plane named after him. He was fascinated by all the new transport technologies that evolved at the end of the nineteenth century – planes, cars and, to some extent, trains.
In about 1912, John Moore-Brabazon and Clarence Krabbe began construction of a 2” gauge garden railway at the latter’s home at Calcot Grange in Theale. This does not mean that they did much of the modelling themselves – it probably meant that they went to the experts who could help them develop such a railway – including Bassett Lowke and Greenly. They also used the services of the family’s gardener.
The line featured an elaborate terminus as well as the bridge designed by Greenly. The property at Theale had been bought by Clarence’s mother in 1908 and was an estate of 18 acres with plenty of accommodation for servants and stables that had been converted to a garage capable of holding eight cars.
In his memoir, Clarence devoted a few lines to the subject of the model railway, and this is what he said:
“My brother-in-law, Lord Brabazon, used to come down very often. We spent our time not only playing golf, but also making the most marvellous model railway which really was a most enchanting thing, working absolutely perfectly. Thesystem on which we did it was quite remarkable; he was an absolute genius, and used to make everything work with a pin and two bits of tin or something of that sort, and when he’d gone I used to have to go round putting switches in the right places, and making a complete job of it. We laid the track which went outside into the gardens first of all through a viaduct, and then over a lovely bridge, and then back into the shed. Marvellous.”
This reveals that John Moore-Brabazon probably took the lead in garden railway matters. It was likely his suggestion that they use a three-rail electric system, which was still a relatively new idea at the time. It is just possible to see the central third rail in some of the photographs, and it is also possible to use the photographs to identify the locomotives they were using, and some of the rolling stock.
Pride of the line was a model of GWR 4-6-2 locomotive “Great Bear”. Photographs also show a French 4-6-0 “Nord” locomotive, a LNWR 4-4-0 and a LNWR 4-4-2 “Precursor” tank engine and a rather crude 0-4-0ST in Great Northern Railway livery. It is tempting to think that these models were supplied by Bassett Lowke and it is interesting to wonder what became of them? Surely, Gauge 2 electric models of “Great Bear” must be pretty rare so it might still exist today in a reader’s collection. Were they production models or “one-offs”?
The LNWR “Precursor” tank engine is perhaps the most likely to have been a production model, but I had been led to believe that such models were only produced with clockwork propulsion. I assume my electric version must have been returned to Bassett Lowke after the First World War for conversion.
The little GNR 0-4-0T was a well-known model and was certainly available in an electric version. I inherited such a model from Francis Ashley, so there is a very faint possibility that it could have belonged to Mr. Krabbe. Rolling stock seems to have included the standard “Bing for Bassett Lowke” LNWR bogie coaches and some beautifully made French “Wagons-Lit” style coaches to go behind the Nord locomotive. Photos also provide a glimpse of some wooden goods wagons.
The railway seemed to enjoy an existence at Calcot Grange through 1912 and 1913 but, of course, in 1914 the First World War began. Both Clarence Krabbe and brotherin-law John Moore-Brabazon enlisted and the garden railway was simply abandoned, being dismantled sometime during the war.
Clarence Krabbe never returned to the business of garden railways and what
happened to his models is not clear. A rising star in the world of garden railways at the time was Victor Harrison and it is possible that he acquired some of the equipment. Francis Ashley mentioned Victor Harrison on several occasions and implied that he had bought items from him. Victor was more associated with Gauge 1 and the use of live steam so it is unlikely that he kept any of Clarence Krabbe's equipment, but he might have been inclined to keep and use the bridge. I have seen one picture of his garden railway at Bishops Stortford, which includes a girder bridge that could be the one that features in this article.
Clarence Krabbe lived until almost the age of ninety nine, and died at Calcot Green – a house he had built in the 1950s in the grounds of Calcot Grange. He lived a full and busy life. It seems sad that the garden railway played such a small part in it.
I feel the girder bridge, having survived 108 years, deserves to be recognised as a historical relic of the early days of railway modelling. As I write these words I am in the midst of downsizing and I would love to find a resting place for the bridge where its historical pedigree could be preserved alongside it – reminding us of the pioneering days of Henry Greenly and the wealthy modellers he served. This article is a plea for a new home for the bridge and is also written in the hope that more of the gaps in this story can be told.
I am very grateful to John Duncan for allowing us to publish John Hart's pictures.
Editor - If any reader wishes to get in touch with Ned to offer the bridge a home, please get in touch via Garden Rail and I'll pass your details on.