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After all the excitement of rewheeling 1638 at the tail end of last year some other groups would have packed up and rested on their laurels for the winter. Not so with the Maunsell Society. As you will find detailed in the engineering report, the team have been busy setting about the newly arrived snow plough tenders and chopping off the tender tanks in record time. It was like the good old days at any scrap yard around the country in the 1960s -sparks flying and bits of rusty metal being chopped up all over the place. Both the workers and the spectators certainly enjoyed themselves. Peter Jessop and helpers have also maintained good progress with work on the cab sides, running plate and steps on the chassis.
Progress for the rest of the year is likely to be less dramatic - but still very worth while - hopefully the tender chassis for 1638 should all be fettled up and complete - quite a big job as we need to rebuild the drag box. With a bit of luck we may well manage to get a tank built and the rods machined as well.
As we have mentioned in the past, 847 will be coming out of traffic at the end of this season, so do take the opportunity to come down and see it in action. Next year is therefore likely to be devoid of Maunsell locomotives on the Bluebell, but it is hoped we will be able to organise a rapid turn round for 847 once it's out of traffic. It certainly has proved to be reliable, powerful and popular. Finally thank you to everyone for their support; do come along to the AGM and find out more of what we have in mind for the future.
The time has come for yet another AGM. This is your chance to find out the latest updates on restoration progress and future plans, plus also to help determine the usual business of election of Directors etc. Please come along. We are planning to hold the AGM in the usual venue of the classroom in the top car park at Sheffield Park Station, starting at 10.00am.
Accompanying this Newsletter (available by email request for on-line readers) is a set of the accounts for 1996, which should be self-explanatory. The Society's whole financial position has been transformed by last year's bequest.
I mentioned in the last report that I was slightly worried that the main avenue of income through donations etc. was down a bit last year - so far this year it has held up and as at 30th April, the Society had gathered in a further £2,400 from subscriptions and donations, which is reasonable progress. In addition we have cleared all bills for the auditor and have settled the costs of the new tubeplate for 1638 and the coupling rod forgings. As mentioned elsewhere in this Newsletter, steps are being taken to prepare drawings for machining the coupling rods and connecting rod forgings and then we can get quotes - with luck we can press ahead and get the machining and a new tender tank completed this year. That should all make a very hefty dent in the resources!
And finally the astute observers of the Society's activities will remember that the Society's main savings accounts are with the Halifax Building Society, which at the time of writing is about to issue shares. The main Society account is due to receive 259 shares and the 830 account 200 shares. The prospectus states that it is estimated that each share will be worth between £3.90 and £4.50 each. So that will make a tidy little windfall for both accounts in due course.
Not a lot on the locomotive really as David Pinkess has unfortunately been laid low for quite a while, with what is suspected to be a thyroid gland problem. We send him our best wishes for a full recovery. Over the last year or so David has achieved a lot in getting 830 weather proofed thereby stemming further deterioration. It now looks quite respectable. As mentioned in the previous Newsletter, the Society has now purchased 830 and also the second ex "Schools" Class snow plough tender, for possible future use as the basis of a 6 wheel tender for 830. The tender tank and concrete ballast were removed at the same time as the work undertaken on 1638's future tender. A number of Maunsell S15s did run with exactly this six-wheeled type e.g. 30837, so if, in due course, it is decided to use this chassis, it would produce an appropriate combination.
Thanks
to the efforts of David Jones and Steve Pilcher, the celebration of the
60th anniversary of No.847's entry into traffic duly went ahead on
27/4/97. The actual anniversary occurred last December but a special run
at that time was impossible as the Santa Special season was in full swing.
Late April was the best that could be managed. The locomotive, carrying a
special headboard by David Jones, made a fine sight at the head of the
11.30, 1.30 and 3.30 departures from Sheffield Park. Maunsell coach
No.6686, looking resplendent in its newly outshopped condition from the C
and W Department at Horsted Keynes, was marshalled towards the centre of
the train and was for the exclusive use of Society members throughout the
day. Many members took the opportunity of travelling in this fine coach
behind our S15. Appreciative comments were the order of the day and the
Treasurer's smile grew broader (he's a happy soul anyway) as appreciation
took the form of donations to Society funds. The Society would like to
thank the Bluebell Railway for arranging for the locomotive to be rostered
on the special day and for making No.6686 available to Society members.
As
mentioned in the last Newsletter, two further "Schools" Class
tenders, which had been converted for use as snow ploughs in the 1960s,
arrived on the Bluebell Railway in late 1996. This encouraged two of our
members to write to us on the subject since when other information has
been obtained from other sources. While steam was still supreme, the
Southern Region developed a policy of attaching large snowploughs to
certain members of the C, 700 and Q Classes of 0-6-0 tender locomotives
during the winter months. Two locomotives were coupled tender to tender
with a snowplough at each end. With the phasing out of steam, it was
decided to develop independent snowploughs, which were to be propelled by
diesels. These were allocated departmental stock numbers in the series,
which commenced with DS70000 in 1957. During 1964/65, Eastleigh worked on
two series of independent snow ploughs, the first lot using tenders from
withdrawn "Schools" Class locomotives. The second series, which
does not concern us here, utilised tenders mainly from withdrawn Eastern
Region V2 2-6-2s. On completion, this series was allocated to London
Midland Region depots. For the first series, a total of eleven "Schools"
Class tenders were set aside, T7Ol/ 6/15/23/29/30/1/3/4/8/9 but in the
event T706/30/8 were not used and were scrapped. It should be noted that,
when new, tenders T700-739 were coupled to locomotives 900-939 in that
order e.g. tender T710 was coupled to locomotive 910, but it is to be
expected that some changes took place down the years. One such change is
definitely known about, locomotives 923 and 933 swapped tenders at a date
unknown and there may have been others. Both of these tenders, T723 and
T733, were later converted to snow ploughs. The departmental numbers
allocated to the tenders later received the "A' prefix becoming
ADS70xxx and also carried the wagon code ZZV The complete list of
conversions is as under:
| Departmental Number | Tender No | Conversion Date | Withdrawal Date | Notes |
| ADS70210 | T723 | 22/2/64 | (1) | |
| ADS70211 | T731 | 22/2/64 | (2) | |
| ADS70224 | T739 | 19/11/64 | 1/3/90 | (3) |
| ADS70225 | T715 | 27/11/64 | 1/3/90 | (4) |
| ADS70226 | T701 | 3/12/64 | 17/12/87 | (5) |
| ADS70227 | T729 | -/12/64 | (6) | |
| ADS70228 | T734 | 18/12/64 | (7) | |
| ADS70229 | T733 | 18/12/64 | 4/12/90 | (8) |
Notes
This article could not have been written without helpful assistance from members of the Society (chiefly Messrs. Gosling and Cupper) and also from non-members. However, the picture is incomplete so if you have any information to add to the above, I would be pleased to hear from you
Following
correspondence between Steve Pilcher and a Mr. John Blackford of Wye, we
received details of the location of Maunsell's grave. Maunsell died on
March 7th. 1944 aged 75 years and was buried two days later in grave no.
3245 in Bybrook Cemetery, Ashford. In the grave are also buried his wife,
Edith Annie Maunsell, who died in 1945 together with the cremated remains
of the Maunsells' daughter, Netta Kathleen Slade (1980) and son-in-law,
Commander Gerald Slade (1986). The grave space has a simple kerbstone
around it. Does any member know if such a simple style was a wartime
measure? It is possible of course that a simply marked grave was
Maunsell's own choice
The Society has taken up the option of a stall at the forthcoming Swapmeet on the weekend of l9th/20th. July. We do desperately need some model railway items, or other railwayana to sell; if you wish, we are happy to sell on a commission basis for you. Felix Cope has decided to let others shoulder the burden of organisation (but intends to pop in one day to keep an eye on proceedings and no doubt count the money!). Please contact the Treasurer, Steve Pilcher - at maunsell@ndirect.co.uk, if you have anything that may assist the Society's fund-raising efforts.
For those of you keenly following the story of the Maunsell team, lack of space has meant that part 4 on James Clayton has been held over to the next issue. My thanks are due to all contributors (writers and photographers) and to our printers, Impressions Printing Technology of Sevenoaks, Kent.
