Norman Cornish

Entitled A Life in Sketchbooks, this exhibition at the Bowes Museum runs until 3^rd January 2027. It follows on from another exhibition of his work, Kith and Kinship, which also included works by LS Lowry, at the same location two years ago. Based on the 269 sketch books he used while out on the streets during his lifetime, it is a fascinating insight into the industrial north east of England before de-industrialisation so radically altered the urban landscape for ever.

Born in Spennymoor in 1919, Norman Cornish worked as a coal miner from the age of fourteen, whilst simultaneously developing his distinctive artistic style, with which he recorded the community he grew up in. His work is very evocative; stressing characterful personalities and their inter-relationships, communicating a jostling, physical mutual support and that feeling of camaraderie and intimacy that so typifies the former mining areas. He also paints the urban landscape itself, which already seems to be a world away, even to those of us who can remember it well, as we looked on from the outside.

I’m somewhat ambivalent about Bowes Museum, itself, which we have visited a number of times. On the one hand, I really like their smaller gallery temporary exhibitions like this one on Norman Cornish. They are clearly laid out, clearly explained, thoughtfully lit and manageable in terms of available time. The café, too, is way, way above average. I find the whole presence of the place so cavernous and overbearing, though, and the large hall which is full of classical paintings from head to foot - and it’s a very tall room, seems to me to be just not the way to show off works of art, assuming, of course, that they are worth showing off in the first place. Nevertheless, I’ll keep a look out for future exhibitions. Its not far off the A66, which seems to have become a very familiar route to the hills for us over the years.

   

The Eden Valley Railway

 

You can see the lines of carriages from the A66, as we have done a number of times as we have whizzed past on our way to the Lake District, on days the EVR has not been open. Last week they were running trains on the Monday, in the form of their ancient-looking but in fact 1957-built, BR Southern Region Class 205 Thumper unit DEMU No. 205009, so we took the opportunity for a look round. The staff were welcoming and the usual facilities were available, but it was still rather quiet for a pleasant day in the school summer holiday.

The original railway was also part of the trans-Pennine Stainmore route from Tebay and Penrith to Darlington. This particular resurrection has not got very far out of Warcop station on its way to eventually re-establishing the line as far as Appleby, but the signalbox still stands on the platform and is open to visitors and there is plenty of stock to inspect in the sidings including a Class 47 and a number of diesel shunters. The return trip to the current terminus at Southfield is 2.2 miles away.

Some of these ventures obviously struggle more than others. I guess that’s down to acquiring the numbers of volunteers with the right skills, made more difficult if your location is relatively remote and you are not in a tourist area. The EVR seems to be more on the way to places rather than an obvious attraction in its own right. There are clearly some very dedicated individuals involved in all these projects, but I do wonder how dispiriting it might be to see rather piecemeal progress being made as time inevitably ticks by.

The heritage railways can be very different from each other in terms of the visible progress they have made over the decades. This reflects their location and proximity to potential customers as much as anything else, though a multitude of factors are actually involved. It can also be affected by the existence of, or the potential for, a direct link to the national rail system. Some have made enormous strides in living memory and others not so much. They all rely heavily on volunteer labour, too, of course, which may or may not always be either available or forthcoming.

Where there is a tangible goal in sight, like the re-uniting of two formerly linked stretches of line or the reopening of a junction station on the main line, I can see why there might be that added determination to make things happen. It may also help with fund raising, as the concern can sell an idea that people can more easily identify with and one which can become a reality within a relatively short time.

All the heritage railways seem to have significant numbers of stalwart figures amongst their ranks, who give limitless amounts of their time, perhaps without even a thought about the end game. I have enormous admiration for these unsung heroes of the preservation movement. Without them, we would not have the recognisable and successful railway heritage movement that so many of us value and cherish.

Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum

It was at the platform on Threlkeld station in the summer of 1962, that I climbed down from the footplate of the Ivatt Class 2 after what is still one of the most exciting events of my life. The driver had summoned me up front at the first stop after leaving Penrith and I sat on his seat while the loco bucked and shook its way towards Keswick. Totally exhilarated by my experience, I dismounted at Threlkeld in case there were any inspectors around at our destination, as was explained to me at the time. It was the start of our family summer holiday but nothing that happened during the rest of the week could match it, though bunking round Carlisle Canal and Kingmoor sheds probably came quite close, come to think of it.

Threlkeld has changed quite a bit since then. The line has closed and the station is no more. Up the hill a bit, though, the granite quarrying operation that was still open in the 60s has left plenty of reminders behind in the form of a mining museum served by a steam-run, two-foot gauge heritage railway which is very much open for tourists, in spite of being perhaps a little off the normal beaten track within Lakeland. The original nineteenth century quarry was not rail connected but after reopening in 1949 a line was laid from the quarry sites down to the “main line” at Threlkeld, where there was also a concrete factory. Granite was excavated for railway ballast and road building, too. When the enterprise closed for the second time in the 1980s, much of the site was still occupied by abandoned machinery and most of the old buildings still stood. It then opened again, this time as a playground for those who want to spend their leisure time operating diggers and excavators, for which this was obviously the ideal location. They still come for the weekend twice a year to pursue their hobby in this most realistic of settings.

The railway operates one steam locomotive, in addition to the diesels. The 0-4-0 saddle tank, Sir Tom, named after Sir Tom Callender of British Insulated Callender Cables, was built in 1926 by Bagnall of Stafford. It formerly worked at BICC’s Kent factory site. It takes the selection of open and covered carriages up the half-mile of track - including one steep section at a 1 in 20 gradient - to the top quarry. There are plans underway to extend the railway in the near future.  

The mining museum is very good. They have a wealth of rock specimens showing the different uses made of the granite, as well as geological maps and diagrams explaining the Lake District’s rich history when it comes to deep level mine working for a wide range of minerals, including in the village of Threlkeld itself. From here they burrowed deep under Saddleback, the mountain that looms over the valley to the north. Extra funding has been acquired for a new museum centre nearer the entrance to the site, which is now well under way close to the old Threlkeld station platform and the track bed of the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway that I had the great pleasure of travelling on a number of times during the summers of 1960 and 1962. 

   

Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway

It’s been a long time since we travelled on this one. In the intervening half a century, or so, the L&HR appears to have just carried on doing its own thing and doing it very nicely. Its own thing is taking full advantage of its Lake District location and selling itself very effectively as a tourist railway. Proximity to the honey-pot sites at Windermere and Bowness helps in this respect and the link with the lake ferries is a key component. Foreign visitors and coach parties are very much part of the formula.

The same three British Railways survivors from the age of steam are still here but although the Ivatt Class 2 was resplendent in the yard, she too was receiving attention, whilst the two unique Fairburn tanks were both out of action in the sheds. It was left to the Hunslet WD industrial No. 25 Sapper, lined out in an attractive Kent and East Sussex Railway livery to provide passenger services on the day.

The short journey up the side of the River Leven passes the important industrial heritage site at Backbarrow, where remaining evidence of eighteenth-century iron making is gradually being appropriately preserved. The hotel we stayed in there was once a factory making the blue dye used in soap powders. I came here by coach as part of a six-form field course based near Carlisle in 1966, and remember our geography teacher, Brian Gordon, pointing out that the windows of the factory were all stained blue as a result of the no-doubt rather uncomfortable working practices taking place inside.

The Stainmore Railway

We called in to Kirkby Stephen East station on our way to the Lake District. The Stainmore route was a coast-to-coast railway that crossed the Pennine moorlands, joining Darlington on the East Coast Main Line in the east to Penrith and Tebay on the West Coast Main Line in the west. The line was opened by the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway in 1861, primarily to carry coal and iron ore. The mountain route involved the construction of a series of bridges and viaducts. The line closed as a through route in 1962.

The Stainmore Railway Company was set up in 2000 as a heritage centre based on the station site at Kirkby Stephen, which has since been restored. Trains operate on a short section of reinstated track heading west. On the day we visited, two beautifully restored ex-LNER Gresley teak carriages were sandwiched between two top-and-tail diesels for the brief round trip along the line. As with so many of the heritage lines during this hot summer, the usual steam power was not operating because of the risk of lineside fires. Part of the track bed to the east of the station has become a multi-use recreational path, which heads off up the Eden valley and into the hills where some of the remaining viaducts can still be seen.

Princes Risborough station

Chiltern Railways run all passenger services out of Princes Risborough, namely north east to Aylesbury from the bay platform one, north to Banbury, Oxford and Birmingham from platform three and south to London Marylebone on platform two. A central fast line to London allows expresses not stopping here a clear run through the station. This junction station also had branches to Watlington and Thame that closed decades ago, before the Chinnor heritage line was re-established from platform four. The site also boasts the largest remaining GWR designed signalbox in Britain. It operated between 1904 and 1991 and is now being refurbished by the heritage railway, although signalling itself is controlled from Marylebone.

The original GWR station building remains in place at the station entrance and facing onto platform two. The station building houses a ticket office, which is open for most of the time that trains are running. Platform two is bi-directional so that trains, and especially freights, can access the east spur to the north of the station towards Aylesbury. Our visit coincided with the arrival of two Class 66s, top and tailing aggregate wagons and taking that route. We also saw one of the push and pull Marylebone-bound expresses shoot through on the centre road behind Class 68 No. 68031. These locos, surely one of the best diesel designs of all time, look resplendent in their more recently applied Chiltern blue livery.

  

Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway

The C&PRR began life as the Watlington and Princes Risborough Railway in 1872 but was uneconomic from the start and was taken over by the GWR in 1883. It closed to passengers in 1957 and to goods and parcels in 1961. The section between Chinnor and Princes Risborough was retained to serve the Chinnor cement works until 1989. The heritage railway association took it over in the following year and ran their first train in 1994. In 2025, the link with the main line and platform 4 at Princes Risborough station was reinstated.

It was a scorcher on our visit last week, so much so that the usual steam service could not operate because of the fire risk, and so we were left in the hands of Brush Type 4 No. D1501 [47402] for the round trip from the pleasantly restored Chinnor station.