Episodes

The Dean Forest Railway – the Friendly Forest Line – runs for four and a half miles between Lydney Junction and Parkend. It passes through beautiful woodland and countryside and reflects the relaxing pace of a country branch line in the early Twentieth Century. The line covers part of the route of the Severn and Wye railway. It was originally a tramway established in 1810 to transport minerals to the River Severn. The Severn and Wye railway eventually extended to Lydbrook, Cinderford and Colefo...

Welcome to this podcast of the Farnham U3A open meeting on this year’s theme Africa where Michael A’Bear talks about the explorers of the Three Rivers of equatorial Africa- the Congo, Zambezi and the Nile. The Annual Theme meetings are open to all Farnham U3A members. Meetings are usually held each month in the Barley Room of the Farnham Maltings (Maximum capacity 100 people). Most of the meetings are free, however some are ticketed. This podcast has been released so that those members who wer...

In the eighth episode of US Rail Journeys our traveller continues his journey on the Empire Builder from Havre to Red Wing by the majestic Mississippi. The first stop in this episode is at Havre in Montana. Passengers can take an ‘air break’ here. Whilst at the station our traveller views Great Northern loco 2584. This S2 4-8-4 locomotive ran on oil and was in service from 1930 to 1957. The S2 class pulled the Oriental Limited and Empire Builder trains. Find out more about the S2 class here. Wh...

Welcome to this podcast of the Farnham U3A open meeting on this year’s theme Africa where Joanne Watson talks about the French Foreign Legion. The Annual Theme is open to all Farnham U3A members. Meetings are usually held each month in the Barley Room of the Farnham Maltings (Maximum capacity 100 people). Most of the meetings are free, however some others are ticketed. This podcast has been released so that those members who were not able to be present have the opportunity to listen to the tal...

In the first part of her talk on the Exhibition Fever in the 19th Century Joanne talks about exhibitions that preceded the Great Exhibition of 1851. She then talks in detail about the Great Exhibition. After listening to Joanne please follow this link to see the V&A material. This talk has been split into two sections to make it more convenient to listen to. Please click on a graphic to open the gallery: Please note: It has not been possible to include all the graphics used in the original ta...

In the second part of her talk on the Exhibition Fever of the 19th Century Joanne talks about some of those that followed the Great Exhibition of 1851. There were many, both in Europe and across the Atlantic. This talk has been split into two sections to make it more convenient to listen to. Click on a graphic to open the gallery: Please note: It has not been possible to include all the graphics used in the original talk due to copyright considerations. The Farnham U3A site is at Farnham U3...

Welcome to the Canadian Pacific restoration project – part 3. The Canadian Pacific restoration project – part 3, often called the CanPac project, is about the restoration of the Merchant Navy class locomotive, number 35005, Canadian Pacific and also two carriages designed by Oliver Bulleid in the 1940s. In this episode we are in the boiler shop at Ropley. I talk to Becky and also to Sam, a fully qualified boiler inspector. Sam originally started as an apprentice at Ropley before leaving to bec...

In the seventh episode of US Rail Journeys our traveller continues his journey on the Empire Builder from Pasco to Shelby. It is dark when the train stops at Pasco. Our traveller joins the other passengers on the platform for an ‘air break’. This gives him a chance to look at the night sky. The journey continues into the night. The train stops at Spokane (more details here) and waits for the section of the train that comes from Seattle. Once both parts of the train have been joined the train c...

Our traveller boards the Empire Builder for the journey from Portland to Chicago. The sixth episode of US Rail Journeys describes the part of the journey from Portland to Pasco. After leaving his hotel he travels to Portland Union station. When he gets to the station he waits in the Metropolitan Lounge for the train to be ready for boarding. It is a grey, wet day as the train leaves Portland. Very quickly our traveller has travelled from Oregon to Washington State. During the first afternoon /...

Welcome to the second episode about the Canadian Pacific restoration project. This project, often called the CanPac project, is about the restoration of the Merchant Navy class locomotive, number 35005, Canadian Pacific and also two carriages designed by Oliver Bulleid in the 1940s. Becky explains that some parts of the locomotive are at Eastleigh works (where Canadian Pacific was originally built) and that the boiler is at Ropley. Some of the people working on the restoration at Eastleigh ac...

The fifth episode of US Rail Journeys is spent in the city of Portland, Oregon, where our traveller spends two days seeing the sights of this beautiful city. He takes a Pink Line tour around this relaxed city. The high-point, quite literally, of the tour is Washington Park where the tour ‘trolley’ takes visitors through this beautiful park. The park is over 410 acres on a steeply wooded hillside and the height varies from 200 feet above sea level to 870. The tour leaves the park and heads for ...

In the first part of the Boer War and Other Colonial Adventures Richard Thomas starts by talking about the Colonial tensions in southern Africa. He discusses parts played by the key players in the lead up to the war and their different viewpoints. He covers the Boer sieges of Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking and the difficulties that the British Army, initially led by Redvers Buller, had in relieving Ladysmith and the defeat of the British Army at Spion Kop. These talks are split into section...

In the second part of his talk on the Boer War and other Colonial Adventures Richard Thomas discusses the replacement of Redvers Buller by Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener. The arrival of these two new Army leaders brings a much tougher regime for conducting the war with a scorched earth policy as a response to the Boer guerrilla warfare, the building of armed blockhouses and the introduction of concentration camps for Boer civilians. Richard points out that the disregard for the health of the ...

In the third part of his talk, the Boer War and other Colonial Adventures, Richard Thomas discusses some of the other adventures that took place during the scramble for Africa. The scramble for Africa took place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The adventures discussed include: The Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War. The Anglo-Zanzibari War – the shortest war in history! The punitive Benin Expedition. The Fifth Anglo-Ashanti War. These talks are split into sections of around 20 ...

The Canadian Pacific restoration project, often called the CanPac project, concerns the restoration of the Merchant Navy class locomotive, number 35005, Canadian Pacific. The Merchant Navy class was designed by Oliver Bulleid for the Southern Railway early in the Second World War. The locomotive brought together many innovations from across the world – some worked well, others didn’t! Oliver Bulleid was a very persuasive person; this allowed him to produce such an innovative design. Canadian ...

The Grand Prix de Farnham took place in October 2018 to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Mike Hawthorn winning the Formula 1 World Championship. On 19 October 1958 the Moroccan Grand Prix was held on a circuit near Casablanca. This was the only time that Morocco has hosted a world championship Grand Prix. Mike Hawthorn driving a Ferrari was in pole position but the race was won by Stirling Moss driving a Vanwall with Mike Hawthorn in second place. Mike’s second place secured him the world cha...

The Coast Starlight through the Cascades continues as the train travels northwards . The first stop in this episode is at Chemult station. In 2017 the station hosts 10,500 passengers. I meet interesting people to interview as the journey continues through stunning scenery. We pass the upper reaches of the Willamette River and then Lookout Lake, a reservoir dating from the 1950s. We reach the farmland of the Willamette valley as we progress towards Eugene Station. Eugene is a busy station, used...

Our second visit to the War on the Line weekend takes us to Ropley and Alresford stations. Most visitors coming by car park at Ropley as there is free parking (the car parks at Alresford and Alton are ‘pay and display’). Ropley is the station with the most space available for displays. The episode begins with a description of the activities taking place during the weekend at the station. A ‘light’ locomotive is waiting to go down the line to Alresford to haul the first train of the day back up ...

The journey for the Coast Starlight starts in the Financial District of San Francisco. Our traveller waits for the Amtrak Thruway bus to take him to Emeryville to board the famed Coast Starlight. After arriving at Emeryville we experience the sounds of the railway station with trains passing through whilst waiting to board the Coast Starlight. This train runs daily between Los Angeles and Seattle – a train going in each direction. After boarding our traveller talks about the stations that will...

Our traveller arrived in the late afternoon (early morning in London) and travelled into the city using the BART system. Having reached his hotel and checked in and we find our traveller in the lift before setting out to experience the sights and sounds of San Francisco. After a good sleep our traveller sets out to go along to Fisherman’s Wharf where there are many restaurants and other means of spending money. In addition the booking office for Blue and Gold cruises is located beside Pier 39. ...

In the first part of Michael A’Bear’s talk on How the West was Lost, we hear about: The French Influence and the size of Louisiana The Lewis and Clark expedition The Alamo and its effect on the United States The West was fascinating, it is vast and interesting, to get an idea of its vastness listen to the podcasts in Series 1 of US Rail Journeys on this site. There are no illustrations to accompany this talk. The Farnham U3A site is at Farnham U3A Home Page The music ‘Media Magazine’ used ...

In the second part of Michael’s talk on How the West was Lost, we hear about: The Indian Wars The Californian Gold Rush The effect of the settlers on the West The birth of the Cowboy legend Many of the big names of the West such as the Earps, the OK Corral etc. The West was fascinating, it is vast and interesting, to get an idea of its vastness listen to the podcasts in Series 1 of US Rail Journeys on this site. There are no illustrations to accompany this talk. The Farnham U3A site is a...

In the third part of Michael’s talk on How the West was Lost, we hear about: Jessie James Calamity Jane Big Nose Kate – better known as Katie Elder Ma Baker George Armstrong Custer and the Little Big Horn The West was fascinating, it is vast and interesting, to get an idea of its vastness listen to the podcasts in Series 1 of US Rail Journeys on this site. There are no illustrations to accompany this talk. The Farnham U3A site is at Farnham U3A Home Page The music ‘Media Magazine’ used i...

Every summer the Watercress Line recreates the atmosphere of the early 1940s with the War on the Line weekend where there are different themes at each of it’s stations. In this episode we visit platform 3 at Alton station – the interchange between the Watercress Line and the national rail network – where we meet the singer entertaining the passengers and then we board the train to travel down the line (but for the steam engine it is uphill all the way!) to Medstead and Four Marks station to see ...