Re: Housey special...

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Straz
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Re: Housey special...

Post by Straz »

One for the train buffs among you.
Was the Housey Special ever pulled by the "Christ's Hospital" schools class locomotive SR 913 (later BR 30913)?
If so, was this in the 1930s or was it later?
I also remember seeing the locomotive's nameplate at the CH model railway club during the 1970s.
I believe the nameplate then became part of the CH museum's collection.
Is it still there?
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Katharine
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Re: Housey special...

Post by Katharine »

My train buff husband, not an OB, thinks it did, but can’t give dates! He’s just looked it up in wiki, apparently as a class they were often taken to the school for the naming ceremony and the pupils were allowed into the cab of their engine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_S ... ocomotives
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Oliver Brelsford
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Re: Housey special...

Post by Oliver Brelsford »

Hi,

I don't know if the real locomotive ever did work the Housey Special but I suspect possibly not as I think it was based at Nine Elms for most of its life - not sure on that though! I can however confirm that the nameplate is still on display in the School Museum, where the Model Railway Club are now based.

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Straz
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Re: Housey special...

Post by Straz »

Many thanks for the replies.
In time I will post a photo of a Hornby Schools Class model locomotive that has been converted into a "Christ's Hospital". The model loco was given to me as a birthday present.
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Re: Housey special...

Post by sejintenej »

copied from another thread

Christ's Hospital - Schools Class locomotive

Post by Great Plum » Fri May 12, 2006 12:30 pm
I found out recently that there was a steam locomotive called Christ's Hospital that was one of the 'Schools' Class of locos - so called as they were named after famous public schools.

(This probably explains why there is a huge nameplate of CH in the model railway room)

It was used on the Tonbridge to Hastings line (mainly) and I don't think it ever actually went to CH.

It was scrapped at the end of 1962 but its tender lived on as a snowplough (!!) based at Thee Bridges where it may remain today.

You can see a pic of it here: http://www.southernrailway.net/search/s ... 20Hospital Christ's Hospital - Schools Class locomotive
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Re: Housey special...

Post by brian walling »

I missed this post earlier but can offer a few insights about the ‘CH’ locomotive and its two nameplates.

Pulling the Housey Special

It is highly unlikely that the ‘CH’ locomotive ever pulled the Housey Special from CH to London or reverse.

1. Along with 39 other named locomotives in the ‘Schools’ class, it was normally based and worked some distance away from CH and would not readily have been available for a routine journey like this to or from CH.

2. The main lines north and south of Horsham were in any case electrified by 1938 (just 6 years after ‘CH’ entered service at end-1932). Thereafter any specially arranged trains on those lines would normally have been composed of electric units.

3. A one-off special charter using the ‘CH’ locomotive would theoretically have been possible in the early years, but would have been very expensive and thus out of the question for a Housey Special. In addition, the School did not in fact charter these end-of-term trains, as I recall. It simply asked for dedicated capacity to be available and the pupil passengers simply paid for normal tickets through to their destination.

4. The Schools class locomotives, including ‘CH’, were used principally on regular passenger services on medium distance routes, on main lines from London to destinations in Kent and east Sussex. The lines to the Kent coast remained steam-hauled until the late 1950s when BR Southern Region electrification was extended there. This kept the locomotives generally tied down to that area; they were scrapped within a few years of the Kent electrification – by 1962. Three of the class (but not ‘CH’) did escape scrapping and survive today with heritage railways in UK.

5. Locomotive 30913 ‘CH’ appears initially to have been assigned to the Ramsgate, Kent depot. I was delighted once to see it at Broadstairs, Kent station when I was on holiday there in the 1950s during my CH time. Towards the end of their life some of the Schools Class were used on the western side of the Southern Region, on longer routes from London to Southampton and to Bournemouth. ‘CH’ may have been one of these: it was re-assigned to the Nine Elms depot in London in 1959 and this depot usually supported the lines out of London Waterloo including those to Southampton and Bournemouth.

I was one of a small group of railway enthusiasts at CH (loosely labelled ‘train-spotters’) – at the time when the Christ’s Hospital locomotive was in service in the BR Southern Region. The history and career of ‘our’ locomotive was a subject that interested us greatly. I believe we concluded that there was little chance that ‘Christ’s Hospital’ had ever served CH station, except perhaps in the often mentioned naming ceremonies for the Schools Class locomotives at stations close to the schools, one of which may have been staged for ‘CH’ at CH station around 1932. However, there seemed to be no tangible record or photo of such an event at CH.

Nameplates

The locomotive had two curved nameplates, one on each side – above the leading drive wheel on each side. The Christ’s Hospital nameplates were the longest in the whole series, having more letters and punctuation than the next longest (King’s-Wimbledon). The shorter plates with just four and five letters, such as Eton and Epsom, had additional spacing between letters to make them viable. As the locomotives were scrapped from 1962, the British Railways Works (Eastleigh, Hants) dismantling them offered the nameplates to the eponymous schools, which have generally put them on display. Some schools had and still have two nameplates. Some schools, however, have sold nameplates at auction, where there is a vast market in railway memorabilia in UK. I have seen prices for the Schools plates between £8,000 and £26,000 each.

Curiously, one of the ‘CH’ plates came up for auction five years ago in Dec 2018 (SAS Auctioneers, Newbury, auctioneer’s estimate £10-12,000, but apparently did not sell). The auction catalogue mentioned that the other of the ‘CH’ pair was in the School’s possession, while the one being auctioned had been purchased for £15 by someone in the railway works during the 1962 dismantling and had remained in his family until then. Maybe all the schools concerned were each given one nameplate free but had to pay for the second one – failing which it was offered for sale to others. I wonder whether it was an Old Blue who initially acquired this other ‘CH’ nameplate and whose family hung on to it before sending it to auction.

Those interested can see the auction catalogue and photo at:
www.sas-auctions.com/catalogues/2018/tg ... ge016.html
Look there for lot 766. The photo shows it with worn paintwork, possibly a reason for it failing to sell at auction. Contrast this with the other nameplate in the CH Museum which has been beautifully restored. See that at:
www.chmuseum.org.uk/Authenticated/Displ ... wseID=6203

I see that questions about the ‘CH’ locomotive and nameplates came up in the Forum in 2009 (Christ’s Hospital Engine Nameplate) and in 2012 (Railway Engine Schools Class) with some questions still left hanging. Maybe my info above will put some of these to rest.
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Straz
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Re: Housey special...

Post by Straz »

Fascinating information Brian.
Many, many thanks for all your efforts on this one.
I greatly appreciate it.
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MrEd
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Re: Housey special...

Post by MrEd »

There is an old thread on the Housey Special on the intro thread section https://www.chforum.info/php/viewtopic.php?t=4043
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