Wartime passenger trains from Burton Dassett

[Dave Hayward]

Arthur Jordan in his book, The Stratford Upon Avon and Midland Junction Railway - The Shakespeare Route at pp 82 mentions a WW2 late night special from Stratford on Avon to Burton Dassett for soldiers at the CAD. I would envisage that this did not start until 1943 at the earliest with the build up of the Depot, nor does he mention if this was daily special or a weekends only. One wonders what attracted the soldiers to Stratford - was it a Shakespeare sonnet, a Stratford wench or Flower's bitter. Perhaps a scrap with the Royal Engineers from Long Marston!

Interestingly Arthur also mentions that the Army ran a passenger train themselves, presumably from Burton Dassett platform, to Fenny Compton for soldiers to join GWR mainline trains. This saw at least one incident where an Army driver thought he had to stop at a distant signal at caution! I personally recall a remnant of this service in the early 1960's catching the Sunday night midnight special from Paddington to Banbury and then a Midland Red bus to the CAD. The special was steam-hauled, possibly by a Hall. I cannot recollect if it went via Oxford or Bicester as I seem to recollect it stopping at Heyford for the airfield, it would however have been logical for it to have gone through Bicester for the COD there. Does anybody have recollections or details of this?

There must also have been wartime special passenger trains from  Burton Dassett. Issue 58, Summer 2015, pp 9 of the Midland Railway Society Journal reproduces copies of the train register from Ravenstone Wood Junction Signal Box for 14th June 1944, These record a special ECS train passing the box at 06.23hrs heading for Burton Dassett and then returning as a special passenger train at 10.32hrs. As this was eight days after DDay it seems possible that these could have been troops heading for Normandy to create ammunition depot[s[ there. It is known that shadow units were established in the CAD prior to DDay for transfer to France after the 6th June.

The train registers, together with others for the 29th April 1952, record freight activity to and from the CAD.

For the purposes of both railway and military history does anybody else have information about wartime passenger trains from Burton Dassett? Surely these must have been the busiest days in its existence!

Robin - do the documents that you hold make mention of the CAD traffic?

Dave

[Barry Taylor]

Dave

There is an article entitled 'Memories of Burton Dassett' in the 'Railway Observer' (RCTS) during 1948, which gives quite a lot of detail about the wartime working in the depot including the passenger traffic - I've reproduced it in full below. Might be of some help to you.

Barry

Railway Observer 1948

MEMOIRS OF BURTON DASSETT

By T. WALKER.

 

The Stratford-on-Avon and Midland Junction Railway awoke to a new life of hurry and bustle early in the year 1940, when the War Department started to build an ammunition depot, using part of the connections with the derelict Edgehill Light Railway at Burton Dassett Halt.

A new L.M.S. signal box and extensive sidings were quickly built at this point, and

L.M.S. class 3F 0-6-0's 3520/9/31 were loaned to provide motive power. No facilities had

been provided for maintenance, and so the engines were worked by W.D. crews to

Stratford (21D) each week-end for wash-out and mechanical inspections, returning with

an additional supply of water in old engine tenders.

In order to release the class 3F's for more suitable duties, the L.M.S. provided class

IP 2-4-2T's 6607 and 6725; after six months of hard work, the former was dispatched to

Bicester on 14/11/42. and the latter to Newbury on 8/12/42. L.N.E.R. class J69 7388

(old No.) had arrived from Long Marston on 23/7/42 and with W.D. 169/72/74 (ex G.W.

Dean 0-6-0's) traffic was kept circulating until L.N.E.R. class F4 7171 (old No.) arrived

from Hitchin on 2/4/43. W.D. 172/4 were released to Glasgow on 25/1/43 and the duties

were then covered by W.D. 99 (G.W. Dean) which arrived 10/1/43 and left for Wolverhampton 16/4/43.

The engine shed, inspection pit, coal stage, water crane, and traffic offices were completed by mid-1942 and most of these items were re-built or overhauled in 1945 by which time well over 200 ammunition sheds were served by rail. Ex L.B. & S.C. engines No. 73/4 at the bottom of Radway incline on the E.H.L.Rly., would no doubt have been used to work this depot, had they not fallen into such a sad state of neglect; as it was the only E.H.L. rolling stock used was an ex-G.E.R. brake van which was broken up in 1946. A Westinghouse pump from No. 74 was later returned when the piston and cylinder bores were found to be in a hopeless condition.

The first austerity 0-6-OT to arrive at Burton Dassett was No. 5005 (Hunslet 2854) on 21/5/43, and it was followed by 46 similar engines during 1943/4/5. Changes in the

locomotive stock were constantly being made, and only ten engines were at the depot long enough to be dispatched to Rugby for wheel turning. Modifications carried out to this design were few in number, and consisted mainly of strengthening ashpans, and cutting holes in the main frames to facilitate handling by cranes. Engine 75253 (Bagnall 2776) ran from 20/3/46 with boiler pressure lowered to 1501bs., the fitters at Crewe having mis-read the 170lbs. stamped upon the valve flange ! Four locomotives were fitted with R.A.F. transmission and receiving sets during 1944, and carried a large " acid " battery on the R.H. frame in front of the cab. The traffic office was also similarly equipped, and although from the operating point of view the experiment was successful, working " over the air" somewhat interfered with the

activities of a nearby aerodrome and so the experiment was dropped. In addition to shunting duties, the vacuum fitted engines were also called upon to work passenger trains at week-ends between Burton Dassett, Kineton and Fenny Compton, the G.W.R. running a special train from the latter point to Leamington Spa. S.R, 625 (A12 0-4-2) had already proved her capabilities, and after working W.D. passenger trains between Bicester and Oxford (L.M.S.)

was loaned from Bicester 7/9/43 to 3/3/44 to cover the Fenny Compton duty. S.R. class

Ol 1046 then took over and this remarkable locomotive was then manned by three crews

and worked almost continually for nine months, being sent to Ashford on 28/12/44 for heavy overhaul. On returning to its old duties 26/1/45 it was kept in first class condition until returned to the S.R. on 24/7/45.

L.M.S. diesel electric locomotive 7062, later renumbered W.D. 70215, also took a hand in

marshalling heavy trains for the short period of one month 5/10/45—9/11/45, but the long

wheelbase of this type somewhat limited its sphere of activity and as the flow of traffic

was steadily declining it was released to Honeybourne. Cross country trips by engines running light under their own steam were numerous during 1943/4. W.D. 170 (G.W.R. 2536) left Burton Dassett for Kinnerley on 14/3/44, running via Blisworth, Rugby and Stafford,

U.S.A. 0-6-OT 1958 left on 17/1/44 for Leeds via Broom Jet. and Derby and Nos. 1412

1942 of the same class ran coupled to Worcester on 1/12/43. Accommodation was provided for the crews in  the railway companies hostels. Early in 1946 the week-end passenger

train service to Leamington Spa was replaced by through motor coaches, and an increase in

the use of petrol driven Wickham cars within the depot very soon enabled " one engine in

steam" to meet traffic demands. A large proportion of the locomotive stock was placed

at the disposal of the Ministry of Supply. The S.A. & MJ. Rly. probably carries

less traffic now than it has ever done in the last 20 years, and a further reduction took

effect from 31/1/48, the 4.30 p.m. Stratford on-Avon to Kineton and 5.0 p.m. Kineton to

Stratford-on-Avon Saturdays only passenger trains being cancelled. Ex-Midland class

3F 0-6-0's are used on most of the passenger and freight duties, and are occasionally

relieved from more arduous duties by Midland division class 4F and 8F's . On 29/1/46

4-6-0 class 5 4840 worked a special away from Burton Dassett, but that so far as the

writer is aware, was only the second time than an engine of this class had been seen

working between that point and Broom Jct.

[Dave Hayward]

Barry,

Thanks very much for this helpful reply. Some unusually 'deep' detail here. I will have to check the dates of the opening of the depot as I think some of the early activity mentioned in the article would centre on construction work. I will come back on this.

Thanks again,

Dave

[Dave Hayward]

Barry and all,

Further to my previous post. Being of a Southern vintage myself [ Chichester 1942 - when Tangmere was an active RAF Station and the similarly named locomotive could latterly be ridden behind in day to day service!] I was intrigued to notice that Southern A12 625 and  O1 class 1046 locomotives were at CAD Kineton and hauled scheduled passenger services on the SMJ between both Burton Dassett and Fenny Compton and Stratford on Avon.

An internet trawl has revealed that 1046 is currently available as a 'model' from Rapido Trains; it also revealed that a cab plate from 625 was auctioned in 2023 by Great Central Railwayana Auctions [who are based in Woodford Halse, to keep the local connections!] for £400.

A more detailed synopsis of 625's WD service, including that from Burton Dassett is lifted below from the auction document:-

"A cabside numberplate, SOUTHERN RAILWAY 625, from a London & South Western Railway Class A12 Jubilee 0-4-2 built by Neilson & Co, Works No 4524, in January 1893, numbered 625 and retaining this number in SR days. Withdrawn in January 1939 it was reinstated the following October and used by the War Department on the Longmoor Military Railway from January 1942 until August 1943. The following month it was transferred to Burton Dassett on the SMJ line of the LMS where it worked from Kineton Depot on recreational troop trains to Stratford on Avon and Fenny Compton. Early in 1944 it was transferred to the WD at Bicester for service on weekend leave trains to Oxford, returning to the SR in July 1945 before withdrawal in January 1947"

I have also attached an image of the Rapido model of 1046