Heidi Mowforth

FORTY YEARS ON THE IRON ROAD

I joined the Bluebell Railway during its glory days in 1982, at a time when it  was the only full size heritage railway in the country to be 100% steam hauled, and at times there could be up to 14 available locos.

            At the time the 'Monday Shunt' was a well known feature of the railway, when an engine (and sometimes a brakevan) went up to Horsted Keynes every Monday morning, whatever the weather to spend the day in and out of every siding and all roads in the carriage shed. In winter the crew went without a break, in order to complete the shunt in daylight. B4 Normandy was the usual engine for this task, perfectly suited to the job and the hardest working engine on the railway for decades.

               The railway line from Horsted up to West Hoathly, through the half mile tunnel, and down to Kingscote was built using a largely volunteer workforce with a small full time P Way gang, once again all under steam power. The usual engines were Normany, once again, the North London, and the Q Class, which would leave Sheffield Park at 8.30 in the morning with a heavy train of ballast hoppers, a lowmac and a wagon with a digger in. Upon arrival at the site, the train would be secured and the crew would get down and join in the lifting of rails and sleepers and the shovelling of ballast until it needed moving again.

                In the late 1980s, I passed out as s firemen, and became the first woman at the Bluebell to do so. There was a certain amount of opposition at the time, so Inspector Jack gave me a stringent test to prove that I could cope with whatever was demanded of a fireman. The engine was the Schools Class, 928, with a seven coach train. For the final trip of the day, we had to leave Sheffield Park with the fire, water and pressure low, and I had to take the train single handed to Horsted Keynes, driving and firing. This feat hasn't been a requirement in the firing test for many years now, so I have the honour of being the only woman ever to have achieved it.

              In 1990, I was invited to the North Norfolk Railway for a Ladies Day ( quite a feature at the time) along with husband Mick, a Bluebell driver, and our two children, Henry and Clarrie, then four and a year old. Mick and I had met on the footplate of the Yank Tank, 30064, in the mid 1980s when he was a fireman and I was a cleaner. Ladies Day was fun, and the people were all very friendly. They were short of crews at the time, and asked us if we would consider returning in the summer for a holiday to cover some turns. We did, I passed out to drive there in 1994, and we haven't missed a summer there in over 30 years. The NNR was a much smaller railway in those days. The engines were lit up in a small siding at Sheringham Station, with everything for prep and light up in a rickety shed, and a small pit on the platform road.  When the B12 8572 returned to traffic, it was considered 'the big engine', but in these days of the WD and the 9F, it has shrunk considerably. The NNR became our holiday railway by the sea, and we alternated engine turns with days out walking and on the beach with the children and the dogs.

                     In about 1998 the Kent and East Sussex Railway was appealing for crews to cover a shortage, and Mick and I went along to see if we might like it. We did, and I still drive there, as does our son Henry. The KESR only went to Northiam then, but

extended to Bodiam, near the castle, a couple of years later. The KESR was, and is, very different to the Bluebell. Built as a light railway, 'on the cheap' it has five stations and six sets of crossing gates, which can make for a ponderous journey if they are not manned. The trains are about the same length and weight as the Bluebell ones, but the engines are half the size and the gradient from Rolvenden to Tenterden steep at 1:39.

                 It was at the KESR that I met and became friends with Adrian, a full time loco fitter there, who had been a driver on the NYMR since the 1970s. He invited me to join him there for a few days and 'have a go', and I ended up firing there for 20 years, for stints during the school holidays. The NYMR is 26 miles long, with some stiff 1:49 gradients and heavy trains. I had the privilege of working some prestigious engines there;

Sir Nigel Gresley, Tornado, Blue Peter, and a selection of Black Fives. My favourites were always the older engines, the 7F, K1 and Q6. My 'trip of a lifetime' took place there in the early days of the Whitby branch, when I fired a Black Five from Whitby to Battersby and back, at 50mph at night.  I had a blast there for two decades, made good friends, visited some excellent pubs and created some wonderful memories.

Years passed. Decades flew by. Our son Henry joined the Bluebell as an apprentice steam fitter, then moved to the KESR as a steam fitter for eight years, before returning to the Bluebell as a boilersmith. He is still a KESR driver and is also the CME of the project on that railway to rebuild GWR tank engine 4253, and he also drives on the Bluebell and NNR.

          The Bluebell finally extended to East Grinstead, where there is a spectacular entrance over Imberhorne Viaduct, but the arrival of a diesel shunter in 2004 ended its unique appeal, and Normandy, faithful workhorse of the Monday shunts and rebuilding of the line, ended up mounted and stuffed in the exhibition shed.

            The NNR built a new carriage shed and engine shed with a yard at Weybourne, and acquired  some larger engines, including a WD and a 9F, both 2-10-0s. The railway is now well known for its 40s weekends, which involve the entire town of Sheringham, and for the winter Norfolk Lights trains.

            The KESR is in the process ( a lengthy one) of extending to Robertsbridge and a connection to the Big Railway. Always a very friendly and welcoming railway, it was the first to run Pullman dining trains, and these are still a premium product and always booked up. The dining trains are still run largely by volunteers, and it is not unusual to be given the right away by the guard with a tea towel over his shoulder, or to be held at Tenterden at the end of the night while the signalman finishes the washing up in the train.

            Nowadays Mick and I still live in the Railway Cottages at Horsted Keynes, with Henry and his partner Ruth in the Station House. (Clarrie is an Events Manager in Glasgow). I work at the village primary school, and often spend my Friday off driving at the Bluebell, and spend a couple of weekends a month driving or working on 4253 at the KESR.

                The NNR is our summer holiday railway. Mick and I take the caravan and the dogs twice a year for a busman's holiday. The NNR is home to the favourite engine of Mick, Henry and me – the B12, 8572, built in 1923. We've had so many happy times on her footplate!

                 During a recent turn on austerity Swiftsure, which was visiting the KESR, I was accompanied for the day by 18 year old fireman, Ed, whose father has been a driver for many years.

“I was talking to Dad last night” said Ed, “And he was saying what laughs you used to have in the days when he was your fireman.”

Yes. Thanks Ed. I really have been on the iron road since the dawn of time.

My Artwork & My Steam Traction Engine Hobby By Vicki Rogers

My Steam Traction Engine Hobby started at a very young age when I went to my first Steam Rally with my family back in 1987 at Everley Hill in rural North Dorset which was the "Dorset Steam Fair" back then & I loved being around the engine's & watching them do what they were built to do, & I also loved the smell & it reminded me that I was Home. As I got older, I wanted to go on the footplate of an engine myself to see what it was like which was one of my all-time goal's.

In 2013 that came true, I was at Dorset walking around the now famous showman's line & I asked one of the drivers of Burrell Showman's Engine "Star" if I could come up onto the footplate. I was very shy to ask at the time I climbed up & My Dream became a reality. I just couldn't believe that I finally had the courage to do something I've never done before in my life. In 2014 I started helping out my Steam Traction Engine Owner friends restoring their engines & I loved every minute of it learning as I went along & seeing it taking shape.  From the gears to the cylinder block & I want to carry on doing it because I love it so much & seeing something being brought back to life & working & that's still one of my goal's to take my ambition another step up the ladder,

In 2015 at Dorset I helped polish & look after an engine which is still close to my heart, a Burrell scenic Showman's called "Dolphin" which is owned by my very good friend Mike Dreelan from Aberdeen & I have been helping him to this day. The engine was owned by Frank Lythgoe who was also showman & he had a fleet of engine's including Mclaren "Goliath" works number 1623 reg number DH 2482; Foden "Prospector" built in 1910 works number 2104 reg number WR 6985; "Dreadnought" built in 1909 works number 3093 reg number AY 9682; "Dolphin" built in 1925 works number 4030 Reg number FA 2316 & not forgetting a Fowler called "King Carnival 2" works Number 19783, built in 1932 Reg number EF 4883.  He also had a set of Gallopers which are now owned by my friend Mike but the 98-key Merenghi Organ is still with the Lythgoe Family.

In 2016 I decided to take my Hobby to another level. I started doing art when I was at College from 2001 to 2006. I only did a three year course & I just loved being creative in my own way & my tutor was very impressed with what I came up with, in 2016 I combined my Hobby with my art & it really worked I started drawing Traction Engine's thanks to my dad as he used to do Technical Drawing & he has been a big help to me.

In the same year I had a meeting at a pub in Wimborne called "Drusillas's" where I met the owner of the pub then & I showed them my Artwork - the meeting went really well & it took my art to the next level. They asked if I could leave six with them & I agreed & I was so happy so show other people who visited the Pub - even my friends because it was a venue for the engines to go to before travelling up to the Great Dorset Steam Fair site.  My inspirations in the Steam Art world were the late Johnny Crowman who's drawings were absolutely incredible & so detailed & another artist who currently does steam engine drawings & paintings is Howard White & his drawing's & paintings gave me the chance to bring my artwork to life and gave me lots of advice & he was very helpful, so Thank You so much to them for that.

My first Engine I drew was Burrell Showmans "General Gough" It took me a while to do with the dynamo at the front & the scale which had to be exactly right including the smokebox door.  When it was finished I gave the print to the owners who are very close friends of mine so it was fitting for them. When I visit a Steam rally, I grab my DSLR camera, take a photo of the subject in question whether its a Fairground, Street Organ or a Showman's engine, Road Roller or a Road Loco & I copy them freehand hand onto paper - I do get a little help from my dad if I need it. But getting the colours right can be tricky sometimes because they have to be exactly right to the photo I have taken then I take a break from the steam side of thing's & move onto Fairground Organ's which played a big part in the fairground scene as they brought people on to the old time rides whilst playing their Melodies. I always found them very tricky due to the fact they have so much pipe work depending on the one I'm doing & scroll work on the facade & it depends on how many figurines it has which can be very difficult but I try to work my way around that.

 I'm also a Member of The Fair Organ Preservation Society & I do article's for their quarterly Key Frame Magazine. I'm also an Official Photographer for the Southern Counties Organ Festival which I attend in June at Devizes Green in Wiltshire.  They are a lovely group of people & learning more about the organs & their history which is very interesting to me going around the back & watching the book of Music go through the Keyframe & also talking to the owners themselves.

Back in September 2020 which is also my birthday month I had the best present which I will never forget.  A couple of my friends were doing a road run in Dorset with their steam engines Alchin General Purpose Traction engine "Royal Chester", Mclaren Road Locomotive "Hercules", Marshall Road Locomotive "Ben Lomond" & Fowler General Purpose Traction Engine "Berkshire Tarriff Queen" . It was a really emotional surprise for me to see them after a long few months due to the situation that was currently going on which halted a lot of steam events & social gatherings which made it hard for everyone in the road steam preservation sector & especially with the concern of coal supplies at this current time.

I'm also a crew member on another engine which is owned by Westons Cider Company in Herefordshire, an Aveling & Porter Road Roller works number 9158 reg WR 7274  “Old Rosie” which I still help out on at Dorset since 2018, I get to learn to light the fire & get steam up & I also have the privilege to steer her which I haven't done in my life which I do assisted because I'm not used to steering her on my own just yet so one step at a time. I do get the chance to have a go at steering her around the playpen & it's amazing to do but hard work at the same time because some people find it easy but I'm just getting used to it.  I also have other favourite Traction engines that also attend Dorset on a regular basis - Mclaren Road Locomotive "Boadicea", Fowler "The Great North", Fowler Road Locomotive "Atlas", Fowler Showman’s Engine "The Lion", Fowler Crane Engine "Duke of York", Burrell Scenic Showman’s "General Gough", Burrell Road Locomotive "Lord Roberts", Burrell Road Locomotive "Clinker", & Burrell Scenic Showman's "Dolphin" & a few others too.

Since 2014 I have made so many Steam Traction Engine friends along the way & they have been so supportive & caring they are my second family. I'm so lucky & blessed to have them in my life because without them I wouldn't be “Living my Dream” so Thank You so much to everyone of them.