The Clergy and Railways. ..........

I was asked to give a talk in 2020 to a clergy discussion group on the subject 'Clergy and Trains'. This group had decided to have its annual outing on The East Lancs Railway and I was to be the after dinner 'entertainment'! It did not work out, for obvious reasons in 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic altered everyone's plans!

However, as a result of the request, I began to study what was available online and in the press on this subject and the place it takes in the wide range of interests available to the clergy. ... Whether my research counts as original research, I very much doubt. However, you might find what follows of interest!

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that the clergy love trains." So started an article by Ed Beavan in the Church Times on 15th June 2011, entitled 'All Steamed Up About Trains'. [1] On the centenary of the birth of the Revd W. V. Awdry, creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, Ed Beavan asked, in his article in the Church Times, why so many clergy are railway buffs.

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Reading your above-linked "Clergy and Railways!?!" -- full of interest... for sure, a well-known phenomenon. Can't refrain from quoting my railway-enthusiasm-wise hero and role model Bryan Morgan, in his master-work The End of the Line (Morgan was personally, an ardent Catholic; but nonetheless an "inclusive" kind of guy): "There is a tendency, I think, for British railway enthusiasm to be strongest in those professions which themselves contain a balance of the formal and the emotional -- music, teaching, the Church, the writing of detective stories" (which last, was Morgan's "day job").

The railfan-clerics whom you mention: I knew beforehand of Boston (whom I've sorta-kinda-at-a-distance personally met), Awdry, Treacy, and Patten; the others, new to me -- not my Mastermind "special subject"... can contribute on my side, Canon Roger Lloyd (1901 -- 1966; at least he was spared living through the end of BR steam ) -- author of many specifically Christian-related works, but also Railwaymen's Gallery and Farewell to Steam; and, Rev. A.V.W. Mace -- wrote delightfully about his 1950s rail travels.

I gather that a fair number of the Catholic clergy in Ireland, have been and no doubt are, among that island's few-ish railway enthusiasts -- with Ireland having a decidedly smaller population than our island: everything thus anyway, proportionately less... I recall from long ago, attending a slide-show and talk by an Irish Catholic priest -- a delightful guy -- about RPSI events in which he'd been involved; and seeing but never acquiring a book by another same, born late-19th-century; a keen earlyish-times railway photographer, with his pics in plenty, in that book -- fascinating first-half-of-20th-century stuff, including some from a brief 1920s spell of his in Australia; and various shots from Ireland in World War II, featuring among other things the Great Southern Railway's desperate attempts to keep things running in the absence of British coal -- involving doing what could be done, with turf, abundant in Ireland but essentially not a viable steam-loco fuel; but they tried... sadly, the names of these gents are long gone from my memory.

Many people will remember Eric Treacy, who was a railway photographer and anglican bishop.

He died on Appleby railway station in 1978 whilst waiting for a steam special to pass through, and there is a plaque on Appleby station recording this event.

A steam special from Euston to Appleby, called The Lord Bishop, was run later that year to commemorate him

duncanp said:

Many people will remember Eric Treacy, who was a railway photographer and anglican bishop.

He died on Applebly railway station in 1978 whilst waiting for a steam special to pass through, and there is a plaque on Applebly station recording this event.

A steam special from Euston to Appleby, called The Lord Bishop, was run later that year to commemorate him

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Indeed. The headboard from the train AFAIK resides in the Bishop of Wakefield's house-cum-office, and the NYMR has recently named a Black 5 after him - the naming being done by one of his successors.

Michael Baughen former Bishop of Chester and Michael Sadgrove the retired Dean of Durham are two who come to mind instantly along with Michael Bourke, formerly Bishop of Wolverhampton who Roger mentions.
There are many more, clergy, lay leaders and church musicians - some of whom of course are career railway people (I won't name names...).

I am learning that my article can only be an introduction to this subject. I confess to having missed Red Edward Beal of my list. There will, I'm sure, be many more. ...

rogerfarnworth said:

I am learning that my article can only be an introduction to this subject. I confess to having missed Red Edward Beal of my list. There will, I'm sure, be many more.

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Is this getting political?

How did I miss that. It should have read 'Revd'!!

The current Dean of St Albans can be added to the list

Not just clergy, I remember a comment by Cecil J Allen in one of his books about how often the conversation turned to railways in church organ lofts.

The composer and organist Percy Whitlock wrote a book about the locomotives of the SECR and LCDR

Train stations can resemble churches, even cathedrals, some have appropriate names (St Pancras, St Enoch)

Calthrop said:

I gather that a fair number of the Catholic clergy in Ireland, have been and no doubt are, among that island's few-ish railway enthusiasts -- with Ireland having a decidedly smaller population than our island: everything thus anyway, proportionately less... I recall from long ago, attending a slide-show and talk by an Irish Catholic priest -- a delightful guy -- about RPSI events in which he'd been involved; and seeing but never acquiring a book by another same, born late-19th-century; a keen earlyish-times railway photographer, with his pics in plenty, in that book -- fascinating first-half-of-20th-century stuff, including some from a brief 1920s spell of his in Australia; and various shots from Ireland in World War II, featuring among other things the Great Southern Railway's desperate attempts to keep things running in the absence of British coal -- involving doing what could be done, with turf, abundant in Ireland but essentially not a viable steam-loco fuel; but they tried... sadly, the names of these gents are long gone from my memory.

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The second priest you mention sounds like the Jesuit Fr Francis Browne, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Browne. A very prolific photographer of all kinds of subjects, most famous for being on the maiden voyage of the Titanic from Southampton as far as Cobh/Queenstown (he was also at university with James Joyce, and was wounded and decorated as a chaplain to the Irish Guards in WWI). There's a book devoted to his railway photographs, Father Browne's Trains and Railways (https://currachbooks.com/product/father-browne-s-trains-railways/).

James H said:

The current Dean of St Albans can be added to the list

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We would welcome him down at St Albans South signal box when things return to normality .........

OVS Flatbottom said:

The second priest you mention sounds like the Jesuit Fr Francis Browne, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Browne. A very prolific photographer of all kinds of subjects, most famous for being on the maiden voyage of the Titanic from Southampton as far as Cobh/Queenstown (he was also at university with James Joyce, and was wounded and decorated as a chaplain to the Irish Guards in WWI). There's a book devoted to his railway photographs, Father Browne's Trains and Railways (https://currachbooks.com/product/father-browne-s-trains-railways/).

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I was going to mention that , so well done.

Rev Derek Witchell conducting his service to bless the line in the guards van of our 1330 #Steam service.

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He's a great guy and gives new meaning to HV clothing!

WAO

LSWR Cavalier said:

Train stations can resemble churches, even cathedrals, some have appropriate names (St Pancras, St Enoch)

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Christian Wolmar's latest book, on London's stations, is called "Cathedrals of Steam".

Here is a link to an excellent book:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show...istory-of-the-railways-of-great-britain-vol-5

Author Don Gordon was a minister who served the parish of Latchingdon in Essex for much of his life. You can read a bit more about him here which mentions his passion for railways:

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/7-april/gazette/obituaries/the-revd-dr-donald-ian-gordon

OVS Flatbottom said:

The second priest you mention sounds like the Jesuit Fr Francis Browne, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Browne. A very prolific photographer of all kinds of subjects, most famous for being on the maiden voyage of the Titanic from Southampton as far as Cobh/Queenstown (he was also at university with James Joyce, and was wounded and decorated as a chaplain to the Irish Guards in WWI). There's a book devoted to his railway photographs, Father Browne's Trains and Railways (https://currachbooks.com/product/father-browne-s-trains-railways/).

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Thank you -- this has got to be the fellow, and his book, of which I'm thinking -- dash it, I now really want to get the book... (a slight case of "not to be confused with", viz. Chesterton's detective priest; but the latter's name, lacks the "E" !)

Can we widen the discussion to other forms of public transport as CT Humpidge, latterly manager of Sheffield Transport Dept, formerly of Bradford and responsible for all those second hand trolleybuses and Bradford being the last British trolleybus operator, became a Revd. after retirement.

While a work of fiction, the local vicar is a railway enthusiast in the Titfield Thunderbolt

rogerfarnworth said:

I am learning that my article can only be an introduction to this subject. I confess to having missed Red Edward Beal of my list. There will, I'm sure, be many more. ...

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He wrote extensively in the Model Railway News extensively before the Second World War under his own name and some thinly-disguised noms-de-plume such as 'The Padre' and 'Teddy --?--'. The magazine would have been very thin without his input. I wonder when he last appeared in print.

A friend was invited to a Rev Teddy Boston Guy Fawkes party about 1965, and I tagged along. By today's standards, there were a number of shortcomings on the H&S front (train operation and bonfire ignition) but it was certainly enjoyable and memorable, and he clearly had many, many friends, not just railway enthusiasts.

The pastor at a Baptist Church I formerly attended was a big railway nut, but not an author nor photographer so far as I was aware. When I got my job driving on the railway he was quite envious. I think he would have preferred a career on the footplate, but the Lord blessed him with colour-blindness and so he was destined for the pulpit instead.

As a retired cleric myself I think a lot of it is about control. As a priest worshipping in 'somebody else's' church it is a great temptation to replan the building, rewrite the liturgy and continually tut-tut about the way the other person works. Seeing a whole system like a railway working like clockwork (admittedly sometimes the trains seem as if they are powered by clockwork) allows us to wonder without any sense of responsibility or guilt. Or constructing a model allows us to have a sense of control which we never get in a parish.

I am not (nor have ever really been, even in my teens) a trainspotter. I am bored by mechanical details and the variations in types of locomotives and rolling stock. But I find railway systems fascinating, and the history of various lines; it's the connectedness of everything that also connects with spirituality.

I like visiting village churches, often the only way to get inside is to attend a service so I have done that several times recently
I enjoy singing, readings, just spending time in the interesting building
I like climbing church towers too, to get the lie of the land, sometimes they have good views of railways

urbophile said:

As a retired cleric myself I think a lot of it is about control. As a priest worshipping in 'somebody else's' church it is a great temptation to replan the building, rewrite the liturgy and continually tut-tut about the way the other person works. Seeing a whole system like a railway working like clockwork (admittedly sometimes the trains seem as if they are powered by clockwork) allows us to wonder without any sense of responsibility or guilt. Or constructing a model allows us to have a sense of control which we never get in a parish.

I am not (nor have ever really been, even in my teens) a trainspotter. I am bored by mechanical details and the variations in types of locomotives and rolling stock. But I find railway systems fascinating, and the history of various lines; it's the connectedness of everything that also connects with spirituality.

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As another (I think I have outed myself before!) I wonder how many forum members are active/retired ministers. I know of at least one more...

You know the old one about the vicar who went down to the station every afternoon to see the express pass (details vary, naturally). "Why?" "It's the only thing in the parish that moves without me pushing it."
(For non-church forum members, IME that is untrue, but never mind!)

30907 said:

As another (I think I have outed myself before!) I wonder how many forum members are active/retired ministers. I know of at least one more...

You know the old one about the vicar who went down to the station every afternoon to see the express pass (details vary, naturally). "Why?" "It's the only thing in the parish that moves without me pushing it."
(For non-church forum members, IME that is untrue, but never mind!)

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I am also a retired Anglican priest. I've had an interest in railways since childhood, and was actually ordained by Eric Treacy in Wakefield Cathedral.

Bishop Eric is remembered with much affection by those who knew him. Indeed, there is the Treacy Memorial Hall attached to the cathedral. There are accounts of meetings in Church House pausing while the Chairman's gaze and concentration was averted to the afternoon express leaving over the Westgate arches!

I also had the pleasure of visiting Cadeby Rectory and Teddy Boston's layout there. He allowed other groups to come and run his railway with just the one proviso: "Them that get's it off get's it back on again!" This seemed a good maxim for parish life.

He also had an interest in steam traction engines, and one of his he called, ironically, "Thistledown" He recounts in his autobiography "Font to Footplate" of how visitors to Cadeby households would sometimes be alarmed when, in the afternoon, the mantel-piece ornaments would start shaking and appear in danger of falling, only to be reassured "Its ok. Its only the Vicar doing his visits"

I was, a couple of times, in the company of Teddy Boston (no actual speech with him was had). He struck me certainly, as a jovial and ebullient guy and a great humorist; the antithesis of the image sometimes entertained -- forgiveness requested here, from ministers of religion -- of those in his profession: as sour / strait-laced / joyless. He was once a guest at the annual dinner of my university railway society; at which he gave a most entertaining address, including a mildly ribald anecdote concerning the Leek & Manifold Valley Railway, with revenge taken by the train crew on juvenile mockers of their motive-power-and-consist. I also recall his mentioning his keeping chickens at the rectory; he dubbed the birds "Pecketts" and "Fowlers". For my tastes, you've got to love anyone who is a fan of awful puns...

A current member of this band is the Revd Canon Brian Arman, who was until 2015 the Rector of Filton and is the current President of the RCTS.

In the latter capacity, he's a well-known expert in anything Great Western, and gives talks on several aspects of the GWR to RCTS Branches. Sadly, he's been quite ill recently, although recovering now, and the thoughts of all the members go to him.

Very interesting thread! My father, of whom I have mentioned previously, started to undertake a life in the church but for a number of reasons didn't complete his Theology degree and opted for a life on the railway instead. He did become a Lay Reader (as they were called in those days, not sure if it has changed now) in the diocese of St.Albans and Ely, and as a young boy I accompanied him around various churches where he was officiating at Mattins or Evensong, using the opportunity to sneak into a local farmyard to view a derelict Traction Engine or visit a local railway Station or indeed an old industrial system.
His father, my Taid (Grandfather) was a clergyman near Caernarfon. I do recall, on one occasion asking Dad whether Taid was interested in Railways - sadly he died a few months after I was born so it was something I couldn't ask myself. From what I recall, the answer was 'not really' - but he wasn't disinterested! He encouraged Dad in his interest in railways, and with the nascent Welsh Highland Railway a few yards away from the Vicarage and of course the LNWR station where Dad would accompany Taid each morning on a walk to obtain his newspaper from the early train from Bangor.
The only anecdote I can recall involves Dad's first memory of a long train journey when Taid took him south to visit his brother - a clergyman also - at Llanfihangel Crucorney near Abergavenny. Dad's only memory of that journey that stayed with him was passing a long line of stored ROD locos that Taid remarked had 'come back from France'. I think that this was around 1920 when Dad was 6 or so. His understanding of the origin of these locos showed some knowledge of railways. (As an aside, does anyone know whereabouts on the journey this might have been?)
Of course, in the village Taid would have been respected because of his position, and I do have vague memories of a conversation with Dad about the loyalties of the men who worked on the WHR and LNWR locally....church or chapel?....but of course, like many conversations of similar ilk I didn't record it and now have scant memory.
I do recall meeting Rev. Teddy Boston myself when I was about 10 in the mid '60s. A rather jovial figure, I thought and having a narrow gauge railway in the garden of the Rectory seemed to be a splendid idea to a young boy!

Arglwydd Golau said:

He did become a Lay Reader (as they were called in those days, not sure if it has changed now) in the diocese of St.Albans and Ely

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They are usually called 'Readers' now rather than 'Lay Readers'

A very good thread.
It occurs to me that for obvious reasons a Sunday must be a very busy day for the clergy. Yet we know it's a day of fewer services on the rails. Surely this matter must influence the choice of vocation, leaving a weekday clear for pursuing the hobby....

But which one is the vocation, we can wonder....

Going back a bit, what about the Revd W J Scott, a noted early observer of train performance who was on some of the East Coast Race to Scotland trains and wrote about the Great Western too. The NRM has his stop-watch. Another one was the Revd F S Williams, the nineteenth-century historian of the Midland Railway who was clearly really well in with the company to the extent of apparently having access to their work-sites (including the Settle & Carlisle) and internal records. He was also author of "Our Iron Roads".