Army to play major role as Longmoor railwayana goes under the hammer
THE Army will play a major role in a railwayana auction on March 12, with the Longmoor Military Railway leading the charge and supported in the ranks by the Bicester Military Railway and the Admiralty.
From the standard gauge Longmoor line come two nameplates from 2-8-0s, a worksplate from an 0-6-0ST, a cabside flame-cut numberplate from an 0-6-0T and a single line staff, while the Bicester Military railway and the Admiralty both also contribute worksplates.
The Longmoor nameplates are
Sir Guy Williams and Major General McMullen, each of which were carried by locomotives developed from the LMS 8F 2-8-0s by Robert Riddles for the War Department. The former was carried by the railway’s No. 400, built by North British of Glasgow in 1943 (works No. 25205) and scrapped in 1967, and the latter by No. 401, which was outshopped by Vulcan Foundry in 1945 (works No. 5193) and cut up in 1957.
Sir Guy Williams was a British Army officer with the Royal Engineers who reached the rank of General and served in the Boer War and both world wars. In 1938 he was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command, retired in 1941, and died in 1959 at the age of 77.
The career of Major General Donald McMullen was long associated with locomotives and railways. He was commissioned in the Royal Engineers in 1911, following which he took a mechanical engineering course with the GNR under Nigel Gresley. Like Sir Guy Williams, he served in both world wars, and from 1940-45 was Director of Transportation in the War Office. Retirement came in 1956 and he died in 1967 aged 76.
A third named Longmoor steam engine to feature in the auction is 0-6-0ST No. 177 Matruh, one of whose 1945 Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns worksplates (works No. 7205) will be going under the hammer, and there will be a flamecut cabside numberplate panel from a fourth named engine, No. 300 Major General Frank. S. Ross. This 0-6-0T, named after a US Army officer who was Chief of Transportation in the European theatre of operations in the Second World War, was a member of the US Army Transportation Corps S100 class and was built by Davenport Locomotive Works of Iowa in 1943.
The Southern Railway bought 14 of the distinctly-designed engines in 1946 and classified them Class USA, but inevitably they were nicknamed ‘Yank Tanks’ by footplate crews.
All were inherited by BR in 1948, becoming Nos. 30061-74, and seven survived in service until 1967.
Finally from Longmoor is a miniature single line staff covering the
Longmoor-Liss Forest Road section of the railway.
Railway skills
The railway opened in 1906 to train servicemen in building and running railways anywhere in the world. It ran south for eight miles from Bordon, the ex-LSWR terminus of a branch line from Bentley on the WaterlooAlton line, to Liss, on the Waterloo to Portsmouth via Woking route. There were seven intermediate stations, and in 1942 a four-mile loop was opened that eliminated the need to turn locomotives.
Facilities on the busy railway included a locomotive shed, workshops, lifting and carriage sheds, a boiler shop, coal stage, a 54-lever signalbox, and a power station, as well as stores and a variety of administrative and other buildings.
The peak of its activities was during both world wars, with 1944 probably being the most frenetic. At that time there were 70 miles of track, including an eight-road goods yard with 40 other sidings nearby, 27 locomotives in steam, and up to 850 wagons exchanged with the Southern Railway every day.
The number of
personnel on site during World War Two was more than 2300. An additional 27,000 trainee Army engineers passed through each year, all being taught such skills as tracklaying, driving and firing, the repair and maintenance of steam engines and rolling stock, signalling, safety, and handling emergencies like derailments and blown-up bridges.
Closure came in October 1969 and preservationists submitted a bid to the Ministry of Defence to buy the entire line. This was turned down, but they were offered the last mile of track from Liss Forest Road to the Liss terminus; this was defeated by local opposition despite negotiations reaching an advanced stage. Some locomotives did, however, remain on site until 1971.
In support of the Longmoor memorabilia at the live online auction being held by GW Railwayana are worksplates from a Bicester Military Railway diesel locomotive and an Admiralty battery-electric 0-4-0.
The Bicester representative is from a standard gauge 0-8-0 dieselhydraulic named Storeman that was built by Andrew Barclay Sons & Co in 1965 (works No. 503) and scrapped in 1985, while the battery-electric was supplied to the Admiralty by Greenwood and Batley (works
No. 1618) in 1939.
This locomotive worked on the Chattenden & Upnor Railway, a
2ft 6in gauge line near the River Medway in Kent that opened in 1885 and closed in 1961.
➜ See Geoff Courtney’s railwayana column in this issue for further details of the auction.