Hungerford Arcade “Railway Ephemera”

At the beginning of July my wife and I visited the village of Corfe in Dorset for a short camping break.  Our reasons were threefold as we both wanted to visit Corfe Castle as well as to visit Lulworth Cove.  The third reason was to travel on the Swanage Railway and it did not disappoint us.

 

 

Everything about this preserved railway is first class, from the enthusiastic volunteers to the fantastic stations along the line.  It was so good that Caron and I rode on the trains twice to

Swanage and back.  We also visited a trackside inn which gave stunning views of the passing trains.  Iced Coca Cola, the World Cup and passing steam trains what more could you ask for out of life? 

 

My abiding memory of the railway was a day on which we did not travel by train, but spent a friendly hour at Corfe Castle Railway Station towards the end of a hot afternoon.  We had been to Lulworth Cove and had spent some time on the beach, but the heat was so raw that we decided to return to Corfe (some ten miles away) and watch the trains.

 

After cleaning up, we arrived at the station around four and what an experience it was.  There was a delicious hot breeze blowing which both cooled and caressed your skin at the same time.  The station was immaculate in its Southern Green and unlike other preserved stations, there was not too much nostalgia on show.  It was a working station but also the type of station that you would have found in the early 1950s.  Time seemed to have stood still.   As I explored the station, I noticed how much of the infrastructure that was considered quite normal back then had disappeared without trace and this gave me the idea for this article.  That and the fact that the Arcade now has a section dealing exclusively with railway books and railway ephemera.  It is located next to the book section under Rafters Café.

 

 

I have been a slack collector of railway ephemera for nearly thirty years now, but my collection only really consists of a couple of station signs (Wargrave & Chippenham) and a number of tickets (Liverpool Overhead Railway anyone) and other ephemera.  My signs date from the 1970s and whilst collectable, are not as sought after as the original wooden ones or others dating back before the days of the dreaded Dr. Beeching.

 

 

Imagine my surprise when after not visiting the Arcade for a couple of weeks, I found that a news section under Rafters not only sold books, but also lots of incredibly interesting items of railway ephemera.  If you wanted coal dockets from the Cheshire Lines Committee then they were yours for a quid.  If you wanted details of cross channel workings in 1958 then again these were for sale.  If you wanted railway magazines dating back to the year dot then you were in the right place.  There were a lot of things dating back to Victorian times from long forgotten railway companies such as The Mold and Denbigh Junction Railway Company to name but one.  History was at your fingertips.  But what struck me more than anything, was how cheap everything was as collecting railway items can be an expensive hobby.

 

Recently, I had the opportunity to travel on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway which was an experience to say the least.  It is a light railway which runs nearly fourteen miles from Cinque Port of Hythe to the mysterious desert at Dungeness.  The railway, which was opened in 1927, is a miniature railway with small locomotives and small carriages (which are a little cramped if you are six feet tall like me).  Some of the carriages have doors and others are open to the track (this can be quite a challenge if you have a boisterous two year old in tow).  The line is steeped in history and was reopened (after closure for military use) by Laurel & Hardy after the war.  Its origins and very existence are so terribly English eccentric which is becoming harder and harder to find these days.

 

 

I was visiting Derek Jarman’s cottage (click here to read the story) which is situated on this lonely peninsular but was blown away by this tiny railway.  Like most preserved railways, it is not expensive to travel on (£18.00 for a rover ticket) and is money well spent.  The journey is an experience that you will not forget.

 

I could quite easily spend time in Dungeness and write and beachcomb, although the nuclear power station (which is spectacular after dark) is a little off-putting.  But as one of the locals said to me, “why worry if this one does not get you then there are plenty of others just across the channel in France just waiting for you”.  Enough of my green thoughts, if you are a railway enthusiast do try to visit this part of Kent and travel on this wonderful railway.  I imagine that if you look deeply enough in the Arcade, you will find ephemera connected to this little railway but that is the fun of the chase.

 

On a recent visit to the Arcade, I found a chocolate and cream timetable from the GWR dating from 1960.  It made fascinating reading as when I looked at our local line, it brought home how many stations we have lost in the past sixty years.

 

Here is a list of stations near Hungerford (I have marked in bold the ones that are still open).

 

Newbury, Kintbury, Hungerford, Bedwyn, Savernake (Low Level), Wootton Rivers Halt, Pewsey , Mannigford Halt, Woodborough, Patney & Chirton and saddest of all Devizes (the station is now a car park).

 

As one travel’s towards Westbury, there is evidence of railway buildings here and there and if you venture towards Savernake, the upper level station is now a private residence.  When I was last in the area, both the water tower and the signal box were still in situ.  What impressed me the most about the timetable was its functionality and whilst one would need a first in mathematics to understand the train times, it was almost like a time capsule even though it was printed in my lifetime.  There were no silly advertisements showing the Famous Five enjoying the experience of train travel when in reality, most trains are very late or do not run at all.  It was fact, fact, fact as Thomas Gradgrind would have said.

 

I also purchased an ABC Railway Guide which on page 198 informed me that Hungerford is 61 miles from London (that has not changed) and has a population of 3020 souls (our lovely town is a shade fuller these days).  Early Closing was on a Thursday and if you wanted to visit the smoke, then it would cost you 11/9 (55p) for a second class return and 17/6 (about 85p) for a first class return.  I usually pay about £16.00 on a travel card which includes the tube, but I have seen people in the morning pay in the region of £60.00 to travel from Hungerford to London.

 

The past is indeed another country when it comes to train fares, and although we will shortly have the super-dooper new trains frightening the pigeons here in Hungerford, I still feel that our network is in decline.  I am also appalled by Network Rail’s scorched earth policy which has recently scarred our embankments.  This said, I had the pleasure to travel through Kent and Sussex recently where the stations and accompanying buildings remain mostly untouched whereas a number of our local ones have been modernised without sympathy.  One has only to look at the stations east of Reading to see my point.

 

However in 1960 things were rosy (or so we thought) and publications such as these could be purchased at railway bookstalls for one shilling (5p) or if one was pushing the boat out 7/6 (37p).  But ephemera is not just about hefty timetables.

 

I recently purchased a GWR Accident Statement Form which noted that at 07.28 on the 3^rd of March 1932 a certain Albert John King slipped whilst crossing the rails in Barry and sustained a cut above his left eye which necessitated a visit to Barry Hospital (if you are reading this Albert I hope that you feeling better).  Although not valuable, items such as this are invaluable as is the newspaper cutting (also purchased at the Arcade) which informed that on the 2^nd of April 1941 a rather naughty railway locomotive decided to pay Mrs. Charles Tutt a visit at her house in Bognor Street Clapham (the engine actually overran the turntable in Brooklands Goods Yard and destroyed a wall before dropping in for tea with Mrs. Tutt.

 

As I noted earlier, there are thousands of different items in this part of the Arcade.  Even if you love the railways just a bit, then you will be amazed at the choice of items available.  Just think of it and you will find it (although I am still looking for that rare photograph of the 18.39 Reading to Westbury service arriving at Hungerford on time).  But I will locate it mark my words.

 

Before I close, I would like to share my thoughts about the brand new station in Reading. If you have not seen it please do so as it is spectacular with its wide open spaces and clever use of glass.  A thought occurred to me during the snows in March (when it actually snowed inside the station).  I wondered why they had built such an open station in a city that for most of the year enjoys pretty ordinary weather.  As I lost the first of my fingers to frostbite, I could not help but to wonder if this magnificent (but flawed) station should have really been built for service in Barcelona where its open design would  have been more suitable to the climate of the city.  I think a lot of people asked the same question.

 

However, I have strayed as this article is about railway ephemera and the opportunities that you have to purchase as little or as much as you like here in Hungerford.  And remember if you get a little peckish, Rafters Café is just above you.

 

Happy Hunting

Stewart Miller-Osborne