FROM STEAM RAILWAY NEWS ISSUE No. 9

AUTUMN / WINTER 1969

LAST TRAIN OF THE 1969 SEASON

The Society for Folk Life Studies held its annual conference in Douglas at the end of September and on the 21st had a tour of the southern part of the Island.  A special train (F.49, F.45, F.35, F.36) was chartered and left Douglas at 2.30pm.  After a stop at Ballasalla for water the train reached Castletown at 3.10pm where the party (numbering over 100) left the train and went on by coach to Cregneish [sic.], the train left Castletown at 3.25pm reaching Douglas at 4.00pm.

MAINTENANCE PROGRAMME : LOCOMOTIVES & ROLLING STOCK

The permanent staff returned from their annual holidays on 6th October 1969 and the programme of maintenance started on the same day.  Sleeper laying and track alignment started immediately using ex-B.R. sleepers which arrived in lots of about 250.  The first length to be treated was between Colby and Ballabeg.  F.48 was put into the paint shop and work was started on it by a party of volunteers.  Meanwhile F.44 was put into the steam shed and work was carried out on the bogies and coachwork preparatory to a repaint.  On 18th October Geoff [sic.] Kelly and David Wolstenholme put a new arm and wiring on the distant signal on the Port Erin line at Douglas.  The original arm had been broken off by vandals.  No. 10 had its pony wheels turned.  The tyres had become worn and it was therefore necessary to turn down the flanges a similar amount to stop them hitting fishplate bolts.  The opportunity was taken to give this locomotive a thorough examination and no defects were found.

By the middle of November the stretch from Santon to Bee Hive Bend had been completed.  The ditches on both sides of the track were cleaned out and sleepers and fencing were renewed.  To comply with the statutory requirements, fencing in the Crosby area was repaired.  In the sheds the steam shed roof was repaired and a new beam was placed under a rail in the loco works.  More are to be replaced.  A the beginning of November F.43 was put into the shed for wheel turning, brake repairs and general overhaul.  F.48 was completed by the middle of November.  In the second week of November attention was concentrated on the curring at the Douglas side of Santon Halt where there have in the past been a number of slips.  The ditches at the top of the sides of the cutting were cleared out so that water could not seep down and cause further slips.

By the end of November, all the drains from the Crogga to Santon and from Ballahick to the bridge just south of Ballasalla had been cleared out.  Weeds were cleared from the track in the Ballasalla and Four Roads Crossing areas.  Sleeper renewal in this period was concentrated in the stretch from Colby to Port Erin.  The maintenance on F.44 was completed and it had been painted by 28th November.  F. 35 followed it into the paintshop and work started immediately.  After work on No. 10 was finished No. 4 was put into the works for general maintenance.

BOG ORE

Last winter the track was sprayed with a paraquat-type weedkiller.  This killed most of the weeds but left a few which grew and spread during the summer.  Accordingly it was decided to spread the track with bog ore.  This is the blue material which assaults the olfactory organs at such diverse places at Port Erin, St. John's and Peel, but is remarkably effective at killing weeds.  With the decline in the number of gas works using coal, supplies are more difficult to obtain but a quantity was available at the Castletown Gas Works, an establishment conveniently near Mill Road Level Crossing.  Operations started on 5th November when No. 11 took six M-wagons to Castletown, which were left there overnight.  While No. 11 was in steam she returned to Douglas and took No. 10 to Port Erin, bringing back No. 4 for overhaul.  The following day No. 11 took a coach with a P.W. gang to Castletown.  The coach was left there and the M-wagons were propelled to Mill Road where they were loaded by Stephen Lace and his digger.  Supporter Alf. Corkill acted as flagman to help traffic.  One M-wagon was taken to Ballabeg and unloaded, being then brought back to Mill Road.  When the wagons were full they were left in the back road at Castletown and the engine and coach returned to Douglas.

VANDALISM & THEFTS

Soon after the end of the season, all the windows in Castletown Station that had not been broken last winter were shattered.  This station has suffered repeated break-ins and damage.  In the middle of November, two break-ins happened in the same week.  Tickets were stolen from St. John's Station but most of them were subsequently recovered.  More seriously, the P.W. hut between Ballasalla and Castletown was broken into and the contents stolen.  The tools taken will be very expensive to replace.

TRAINS TO RAMSEY

On Tuesday 21st October 1969, the diesels paid a call on Ramsey to prepare for a works train two days later.  The crew loaded a number of rails on to the oil-tank frames (the tanks from which had been removed and kept at Milntown Power Station) and then came back to Douglas by road, leaving the diesels at Ramsey overnight.  They were brought back the following day.  On Thursday 23rd October No. 11 ("The Best!" - Geoff [sic.] Kelly) hauled F.44 and R.4 northwards leaving Douglas at 9.30am and arriving at Ramsey at lunchtime: one reason for the long journey time was that platelayers were taking out the point at Milntown.  The train brought back the oil-tanker frames and an extra load of rails on F.4 together with an M-wagon from Kirk Michael.

I.M.R. ON THE TELEVISION (contd.)

A team from the Thames Television programme "Seeing & Doing" (a schools series) arrived on 15th October.  The object was apparantly to explain how a steam loco works.  A train was formed, consisting of No. 11, F.49, F.45, F.46, F.36 and F.35 with Driver John Elkin and Fireman Geoff [sic.] Kelly, which was taken to Port Soderick and back, being filmed on the way.  The driver was filmed oiling the locomotive.

PASSENGER CARRYINGS

Exact figures have now been released of the number of tickets issued in the last three seasons.  They are, for 1967: 23,057 and 1968: 33,528 and this year: 44,593, latter for south line only.