by Mike Rutter

SOMERSET & DORSET RAILWAYANA  Part 1

In this issue of the Shillingstone newsletter we are going to look at probably the fastest growing part of Railwayana collecting. Totems - the enamel station name signs fitted after nationisation.

These ‘Hot-Dog’ shaped signs were designed in 1948 by A.. J. White, Publicity Officer for the British Railways Board. The design was launched in 1948 as part of the British Railways modernisation plan.

The signs were made by three or four companies but the majority were made by The Patent Enamel Company of Birmingham and Mead Mclean of South London, a company still producing enamel signs today, who were employed by the Southern Railway to make targets’ (the S.R. station signs that were forerunners to totems) which we will cover in a future issue.

After a period given over to tooling up the machinery to make the a large number of signs required the first totems started to appear on stations between 1949 and 1950. The idea was to make all regions different by having their own colour schemes.

The lettering was standardised in Gill Sans capitals, and could appear in up to three lines in the middle or bottom sections of these 36” long signs. Originally the signs were made ½ flanged with a lip on the top and bottom edges for hanging—but the unflanged extremities were prone to rusting and the signs were easy for vandals to bend. So the designs were modified to have a flange all round (fully flanged).

The last totems were made in 1965 and last fitted in 1966 as the BR. ‘Corporate Image’ was launched. It is thought that in the period 1948—1966 approximately 2,800 different stations were fitted with totems. The last station to retain its signs was Goxhill in Lincolnshire which retained them until 1988.

Very good reproductions are now available made with the correct gauge steel and correctly spaced and sized fixing holes.

See chart below listing details of all S&D stations that had totems. The theory is that only stations where the Pines Express stopped or passed other trains on loops was it deemed necessary to have totems, the exception being Highbridge.

In 1999 a world record price was paid for a totem at auction in Sheffield. It was a totem from York found by Mead Mclean in their stores, still in its original box. It raised £6300 even though it had never been to York station. This has since been eclipsed by a totem from Kyle of Lochalsh which recently raised a staggering £8,100

This first appeared in the Shillingstone Station project Newsletter No. 2 - Autumn 2001.

SOMERSET & DORSET RAILWAYANA Continued  . . .  Part 2

In this newsletter and in future issues we are going to look at various relics that have survived from the S & D era.

Our first example is the old cast iron fire bucket sign. A similar sign to the one pictured recently made £450 at auction. These signs are thought to have been made when, or soon after the S & D was opened, making them well over a hundred years old. They were cast at S & D’s F4ighbridge works and of a similar design to those of the Midland Railway, and appeared on all manned S & D stations on the booking office on smaller stations and on both sides of the bigger stations, thus an educated guess would estimate there to have been a little over forty made all of which are thought to have survived; many taken home by station staff as souvenirs when the railway closed, and the others been given to or ‘borrowed’ by enthusiasts.

The original signs were made of cast iron, measured approximately 36cmx 25cm and were painted red with white lettering and edging, or white With red and black lettering and edging.

After the S & D closed the Somerset & Dorset Railway Circle (the forerunner to the S & D Railway Trust) produced a number of copies of these signs in order to raise funds. These are easy to identify as they are made of aluminum and are consequently much lighter. Also, an unscrupulous railwayana trader cast a few copies, but these counterfeits can be recognised as they were cast from a sign and not from the original pattern and are 4% smaller than the originals due to the cast metal shrinking as it cooled.

 It is hard to say what they are worth today. Many are restored on the front only, with the original paint on the reverse to prove authenticity. The example in the photograph cost £40 in 1980. Most recently two have appeared in auctions at Sheffield—the UK’s most successful railwayana auction house. One on 11/12/99 realised £350, but more surprising an example auctioned on 10/03/01 raised a staggering £450.

Maybe you should look in the attic or garden shed, you never know what hidden wealth may be there!

This first appeared in the Shillingstone Station project Newsletter No. 2 - Autumn 2001.

SOMERSET & DORSET RAILWAYANA Continued  . . .  Part 3

Today’s topic of railwayana is the enamel Running-ln-Boards fitted by British Railways during their modernisation plan launched in 1948. Shillingstone had two of these Running-ln-Boards (R-l-B’s) fitted around 1950, both of which still survive today, one on the side of Shillingstone Church Of England Voluntary Aided Primary School (which we will look at in more detail later), and the other in a private railwayana collection in Dorset. When fitted they replaced the London & South Western Railway style R-l-B’s that already hung at the station, these being large framed wooden boards with cast metal letters fixed to the front to spell the station name. More accurately the new enamel signs were screwed to the front of the old L&SWR signs after the cast letters had been removed. One off these backing boards, complete with a set of similar cast letters, still exists today -owned by one of our members - and has been very kindly loaned to The North Dorset Railway Trust for display at events.

The R-I-B fitted to the up platform was mounted on two concrete posts, and these were situated in front of the greenhouse at the South end of the platform. The one fitted to the down platform was mounted on metal posts fixed to the fence, at the North end of the platform. All the above mentioned posts and brackets still exist.

Fitted around 1950 pictorial evidence shows that at least one was still in place on 21/05/1 966, over two months after the lines closure.

What happened next is unclear, but one of the R-l-B’s made its way under a shed in the village, and after a bereavement was given to Shillingstone Primary School, where it was hung on the West facing wall for all passing on the A357 to see. Unfortunately high visibility also meant high exposure to the weather, and at the end of 2001 the sign (by now 50 years old) was showing serious deterioration especially round the 18 fixing holes where enamel had chipped off and rust set in. It was this that prompted one of T.N.D.R.T’s committee members to offer to get the sign restored and prolong the life of this small part of local history for future generations to enjoy.

After a short period of negotiation - the school were obviously concerned that once we had possession of the R-I-B that we might want to keep it for the station - we were given permission to proceed with the renovation.

On 3rd March 2002 the sign was removed and transported to Southampton where another of our members Mr Glyn Jones (a specialist in this field), had very kindly offered to carry out the necessary work. This work took 4 days to complete, and was carried out between 4th and 7th March 2002 (coincidently over the 36 year anniversary of the closure weekend of the S&D).

The finished article was returned to Shillingstone in time for our open day at the Portman Hall on 30th March where it was displayed alongside its L&SWR predecessor.

With the help of another member Mr Keith Martin, who also stored it, the sign was re-hung on the side of the school on Saturday 6th April 2002. Those of you who have seen it will I am sure agree what a splendid job has been done. Click here to see pictures - at bottom of page.

Just think what we could do with the station itself.

This first appeared in the Shillingstone Station project Newsletter No. 3 - Summer 2002