Blog | Rail ride in time

Ffestiniog Railway.

31 May 2025 20:29

The first major project on which I have worked. this was for my degree with the open university and had to be on something to do with Wales. Having always enjoyed reading about the history of the railways, I really wanted to do something on the railways of Wales. After flicking around various websites before the module started, I noticed that the Ffestiniog railway has been an independent company since it was created in 1832. Even with the railways act 1921 and nationalisation. So, I wondered why that would be. As the module progressed it looked like I might need to expand on the subject to fulfil the 7000 word limit imposed. so, changes were made to look at either why Wales had more railways than any other nation in the United Kingdom relative to its size or look at the industrial railways of Wales. I pitched these to my tutor who stated I would need to cut them down and pinpoint my research or there would not be enough space to explore it properly. with which I explained my original proposal and was given the green light for it. About 3 month later, it was ready for sending in. on the off chance I also sent it to the Ffestiniog Heritage Society to see if they would like to publish it in their magazine, which they heartedly agreed to. when this is released, I will post a link to the article for your enjoyment. Being on my own for the research to this project was daunting at first wondering how I was going to get the information for this project. but as I went along, I found many area on the internet to glean information from, such as the archive for acts of parliament, which allowed me to look at relevant acts. There was also the relevant museums and heritage centres for the railways involved with the history. contacting the archivists at these places was invaluable with which direction to go and sources within their archives.

The Hundred of Manhood and Selsey Tramway

The next project I am looking at examining is comparing the Hundred of Manhood and Selsey Tramway, with the branch line that now goes from Barnham Junction to Bognor Regis. I read about this in the Book 'Fire and Steam' by Christian Wolmar. looking at the two routes they are remarkably similar. however, the Bognor Branch is still in use today, whereas the Selsey line closed after about 30 years. I am just starting off at the moment with getting a general feel of both lines starting with the Hundred of Manhood and Selsey Tramway. so far, a few questions have cropped up. why was it not built up to the London Brighton and South Coast Railway at Chichester? This would have given them better access to passengers. Did they need to make use of legislation to build it as a tramway to save money not having to comply with full railway regulations? if so, what were the reasons. I need to read a bit further into it using online libraries and any book that might have been published, then look at the Bognor Regis line in the same sort of depth. this will then narrow down my search further. having these questions will then mean I can know which direction to look for primary documents (and annoy my loving wife further with more bit of paper in the office). knowing this tonight was also spent sorting box files and wallet to keep them in some sort of order for possible use on other projects.

Got to keep an open mind.

Whilst doing some background reading for my latest project comparing to lines close together with similar backgrounds, I was reminded of the need to make sure your sources are as wide as possible. While reading about the Hundred of Manhood and Selsey Railway. It talked about the engineer for this project, Colonel H Stephens. Whitin the current book I am reading, the Selsey Tram by David Bathurst. The author talks of Colonel Stephens as being a man that was loved and admired by the workers on the railway, someone that they saw as a man that could get the job done and make sure no one shirked in their work. In the Little Wonder by John Winton, the description of him by the workers on this railway is that of a person being awkward and constantly berating the workers of the Ffestiniog railway. He was viewed as a hassle when he visited the railway and moved along as soon as was possible. Both books are probably quite accurate in the representation of the man, but if read alone it would give a one sided view of the person, obviously there are only so many hours a day to read books and other sources, but it is a reminder that the first source to be read is not the whole picture and other need to be used to get a more accurate conclusion to the situation.

Fun in railway history

As with all aspects of researching history, there are always times when there is someone, a group or a business that will poke fun at some aspect of life at the time just as now. I don't know whether any other historians, find these gems a interesting like me. but I tend to find that they offer a fantastic view into the subject of the time. Care must be taken of course, when looking at such articles, depending on who produced it and for what reason it was produced. but they are indeed invaluable, and a lot of the time they do make me chuckle.

however, while doing some general research for the project I am currently working on comparing two rail lines in West Sussex. The Selsey Tramway or The Hundred of Manhood and Selsey Tramway, to give it its proper title, and the Bognor Branch line, I noticed something I had never come across before. All railways will have there critics, some more than others. But, both these lines had the same cartoon used to express a displeasure about them as you can see in the pictures above and to the left. The titles are naturally different, but it would take a really good observer to spot any other differences. Apart from my skills at scanning them, lol. this might be a nice little side quest to see if I can find the reason why. were they from a paper that couldn't be bothered to come up with another picture, so they just rehashed an old one. Or maybe the artist saw a chance to make a bit more money from the same picture.

Information

Had a period when, due to work I have not been able to get on here as much as I would have liked to. for this I would like to apologise to any regular visitors to the site. However, it does give me the chance to mull over how I want the direction of this site to go. hence the latest changes, the visitor will have noticed that two more pages have been added. this will help the viewer to focus their reading as the site grows, and myself to focus my research into what I have found to be interesting and little researched areas of the railways of Britain. if you have any ideas for other places to look at please let me know in the comments sections.

My plans going further are to look at a few things, as well as the big research projects that will hopefully get published, currently the Hundred of Manhood and Selsey Tramway and its effectiveness compared lightly with the regular line nearby. but a few for here and the web pages on X and Facebook, these include:

The Railways of Colonel Stephens.

The sidings of companies such as St Helens Glass, Cadbury's, and British Coal Board.

The little known Clifton Rocks Railway.

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