GC Section workings
Expanded and revised.
A compilation of the services which worked through Woodford Halse in Big Four and BR days and two parts:
- Cross-country expresses and excursions - The "Banbury Motor"
Cross country expresses and excursions
Running out of Banbury Loco past Banbury South signal box towards the the station on the Down main line in 1937 is Woodford's C4 No 5261, which was there from 1932-37. It may have have arrived at Banbury with a cross-country express from the north and been turned before its next working. These locos were eventually displaced by newly-built B17 4-6-0s. Photo: Millbrook House Ltd.
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The first series of B17s with small tenders included three to Doncaster which included the fish traffic to Banbury, returning with the Penzance-Aberdeen cross-country express. This photograph is undated but 2835 Milton was at Doncaster from new in 1931 until April 1938. Photo: Photomatic.
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A late 1930s view taken off the waterworks road bridge with a strengthened Bournemouth-Newcastle express behind Woodford's B17 No 2850 Grimsby Town. Photo: author's collection.
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Leicester's B17 "Footballer" No 2852 Darlington pauses at Banbury with a southbound cross-country express and a GWR carriage behind the tender. This is difficult to explain because the time on a sunny day corresponds with 2-2.30pm., with the Newcastle-Bournemouth booked to leave at 2.25pm , which alternated LNER and SR sets and carried nameboards. The two expresses which alternated with GWR stock (the "Ports to Ports" and Glasgow-Southampton) came through an hour and five hours later, respectively, per the 1935 and 1939 WTTs, and can be ruled out - which suggests that this may have been a GWR carriage being forwarded ECS at the head of the train or a GWR excursion running ahead of the XC express, but at that time of day? Sorry, but these possibilities are the best I can offer and I should best describe this photo as unresolved. Photo: author's collection.
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B17 No 2855 Middlesbrough (WFD) waits in Banbury's northern bay to take over a northbound cross-country express. Photo: author's collection.
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Woodford's B1 4-6-0 No 5195 awaits departure from Banbury's northern bay platform with a GWR excursion. Several photographs of this kind were taken here. Photo: author's collection.
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This view from the late 1930s is not as sharp as it could be because it has been copied, from what may have been a Dufaycolor slide judging by the diagonal texture. The scene is Banbury General (GWR) with the roof of Merton Street (LMS) station visible on the left, next to which lay Banbury's cattle market, at one time the largest in Europe. The station is as reshaped by the GWR with the platforms used for the "Banbury Motor" from Woodford Halse. Standing in the North Bay is Woodford Halse's Ex-GCR B5 "fish engine" 4-6-0 No 6071 with a 5-coach GWR excursion which comprises Collett panelled stock and a recently refurbished Dean clerestory.
In the foreground is the triangular goods plaftform, against which an autocoach, used for services to Hook Norton and to Princes Risborough, has been parked. An empty cattle truck awaits loading. Many more cattle trucks are in the sidings in the distance, the nearest being empties: GWR, LMS, LNER, SR (ex-LSWR), GWR, GWR, SR, SR, LMS. The manually braked trucks were common user so the mixture of types was quite normal.
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GC Section locos used to go to Banbury Loco to use the turntable before setting off back to Woodford Halse and this is ex-GCR B7 4-6-0 No 5472 in 1935. The captions claims a date of 3rd August 1935 and a location of "Banbury shed". The date may be accurate but not the location - there is nothing recognisable as Banbury and I suspect that the actual location may have been Annesley, on whose books this B7 was from 1933-43. Photo: F.A. Wycherley.
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The date is Tuesday 2nd February 1953 and A3 No 60054 Prince of Wales (LEI) stands by no.1 platform, in BR green livery. It's probably about to leave with a Bournemouth-Newcastle express. Photo: F.A. Blencowe.
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B1 No 61192 of Woodford Halse swings into the Up main platform in August 1956 with the Sunday York-Swansea. Photo: Real Photographs.
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Seen on Saturday 11th June 1960, Leicester GC's V2 No 60890 pauses with the York-Bournemouth.
The photographer's notes on the print say much about how hard things were in 1960: "Pan F (a fine grain film) 1/100 f4 - Contax". With a modern camera on a sunny day you'd expect to have a higher f-stop and a better DOF than half the leading coach! Much of the train is a blur and impossible to identify.
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Awfully blurry, I'm afraid, but Set No "88" can be seen and the leading three carriages:
BSK |
BR Mk.1 |
CK |
BR Mk.1 |
SK |
BR Mk.1 |
... rem unclear...... |
|
These coaches were probably in BR(S) green. The next two coaches are too blurry to be sure but may not have been BR Mk.1s. As far as I can gather from Mike King, Mark Hambly and the SR Email Group (Coach sets):
The set was probably 880 which was nominally a 4-set but by 1960 made up to 9 vehicles for inter-regional work and the Bournemouth-Newcastle (these formations changed a lot during the 1950s and early 1960s). The closest I can find was:
BSK, CK, SK, SO, RB, SO, SO, CK, BSK
Catering up to 1959 has been provided by an RKB, revised by 1961 with an RB. Note the provision of SOs either side of the buffet car; one third of the train made up with this type; and the few 1st Class seats near the outer ends. A pity that only a fraction of the formation can be seen on the picture, but an education all the same.
The "Banbury Motor"
The nickname given to the service between Woodford and Banbury which, for a while during GCR days, was worked by a motor carriage hauled by a Woodford loco. There were quite a few changes through GCR, LNER and BR days and I'm working up an account.
A view from 1926-8 of the "Banbury Motor" behind C13 No 6056 (WFD) with a milk van behind the loco and the motor coach now serving as an Ordinary 3rd. Photo: Real Photographs.
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This 1930s view from the road bridge comes from the topic about modelling the GC milk van and shows the "Banbury Motor" awaiting departure from the platform face whose track was removed by BR after closure of the GCLE (and reinstated in 2016). Woodford's C13 No 6063 has the train comprising an ex-GCR milk van and ex-GCR 50' carriages with an ex-London Suburban 50ft 3rd, a similar style brake end, and a clerestory, one of which would have been a composite. Photo: author's collection.
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An interesting view at Banbury's NW bay platform with two ex-GCR "Atlantics". The date is not known but it's clearly a late 1930s view on a Thursday, which was a double market day - in the town centre and the cattle market near the station. It's early evening and the summer sun is streaming down.
Nearest the camera is ex-GCR C4 No 6094 which was at Woodford from 1931 to 1937. The crew is relaxing on the platform with the loco carrying No 2 Braked or Express Goods lights, ready to take the Thursdays Only 6.25pm cattle express to the abattoirs in Sheffield.
Another feature of the market day workings in the late 1930s was an extra Thursdays Only "Banbury Motor" early in the evening and can be seen behind the second C4 with the formation headed by a permanently-attached D.120-series passenger brake van. It was aimed at shoppers who would have come in earlier for a day's shopping "in town" - there wasn't an evening return the rest of the week. Extra trains on a market day used to be common all over the country.
To the right, GWR horse boxes wait to be loaded in the Down goods bay in case of horse sale in the town centre market (rather than the cattle market). They would have been attached to a passenger train. Photo: F.A. Blencowe.
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A post-War view from 1951 looking the other way shows arrival of the "Banbury Motor" at the same platform behind J11 No 64369 (WFD) and what appears to be a school party spilling out. Photo: John Batts. There will eventually be a big chapter about this service through GCR, LNER and BR days.
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Taken into the light, sloping badly and quite a mucky print too, an hour's fixing has made it at least worth closer scrutiny for this is the station on Tuesday 23rd August 1955, the year before complete rebuilding began. In the distance stand the original wooden buildings, awnings and covered footbridge.
On the far right is the station pilot, a "Hall" with lamps over each buffer. In full view is ex-LNER Thompson L1 2-6-4T No 67789 (WFD) waiting with a train over the Banbury Branch to Woodford Halse. The two-set comprises gangwayed 61'6" teak Gresleys with lavatories in b&c livery:
BCK |
1st/3rd brake |
TK |
3rd |
Further back against the buffers are two spare carriages and an interesting mixture of gangwayed and non-gangwayed types:
TK |
3rd |
52'6" |
Gresley |
- still in varnished teak |
BC |
1sr/3rd brake |
52'4" |
Thompson |
- BR crimson |
Photo: F.A.Blencowe.
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A nice picture but alas printed on textured paper so please don't look too closely! The "Banbury Motor" awaits departure from the north bay on a summer evening in 1959 or 1961 when this was one of Leicester's B1s, the service now starting and finishing there. Ex-LMS carriages have replaced the ex-LNER ones and a non-gangwayed 3rd without toilets is leading. There would have been a similar style brake composite behind it. Fortunately, this non-lavatory phase for a train now running between Banbury and Leicester did not last long. Photo: GCRS.
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Another view of the "Banbury Motor", in spring 1961 with Midlandisation in full swing as the train pulls away from the NE bay, visible in the distance, past Banbury North signal box. Ex-LMS Fairburn 2-6-4T No 42157 (WFD) is in charge of two ex-LMS coaches, thankfully both gangwayed with lavatories. Photo: D. Battersby.
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To be continued...
Banbury station pictures are here.
Banbury yards and freight pictures are here.
Banbury express passenger pictures are here.
Banbury loco shed pictures are here.
Banbury light engines are here.
Banbury signal box pictures are here.
