18th October, 2024
We had a very successful meeting on Saturday, during which we were treated to a fascinating talk about Feltham’s railways by James Marshall of the Feltham History Group. This included a historic look at the development of railway systems in and around Feltham. In particular the large marshalling yard (second largest in the country) that was once there. It was interesting to find out how the marshalling yard worked, with wagons being pushed over one of the two humps and then being directed into the appropriate sidings by the signal man to make up new trains based on the numbers chalked on the side of them. One quite dangerous job was that of the brake man who had to run alongside the wagon with a pole and apply the brakes to minimize impact of the fast-moving wagon with the train already assembled in the siding.
One slide showed that many bombs were dropped on the yard in the war but they were never stopped from operating for long. There was even a short film based on a war time event when a brave team saved a train when an incendiary was dropped onto wagon containing straw, that happened to be marshalled next to a wagon containing high explosives. They managed to save the explosives wagon from going up thanks to some quick shunting work with a loco and by dowsing its roof, which had caught fire by that time, under the water crane. Very gripping stuff!
Thanks to James for a very informative and entertaining presentation
We also sold quite a few Christmas cards, Calanders and other L&B related items. Thanks to Barry Marshall for bringing the new stock up from Devon. Thanks also to those who attended for their very generous donations.
All in all a very successful day.
There are more talks planed in the coming months. Please see our events calendar for details at https://lbrsurreygroup.online/planned-events or sign up to our Information Distribution List for the L&B Surrey Group [http://eepurl.com/gcUpKn].
Written by Phil Rawstron