End Of Steam Era At Docks
An era spanning one-and-a-quarter centuries ended at Falmouth Docks in August, 1986, when another proud chapter in Britain’s age of steam came to a close. The Hawthorne-Leslie 0-4-0 saddle tank No 3 – believed to be the nation’s last working steam locomotive in private industrial hands – hissed and hooted her way around the yard for the last time. The nostalgic occasion was witnessed by scores of steam enthusiasts from all over Devon and Cornwall.
Thereafter, the diesel reigned supreme on the yard’s seven miles of track. The No 3 was to be transported by road to its new owners, the Plym Valley Railway. Also exit-bound was the only other steam loco at the Docks, the Hudswell Clarke No 5, which had been out of operation for some six or seven years. This one had been bought by a Torquay company for static display purposes.
The departure of the No 3 was a bitter-sweet moment for one man in particular – Mike Deeks, the Docks’ port engineer and development manager. He explained: “I am the one who has campaigned hardest to get rid of it, and I probably like it more than anyone! But it’s simply far too expensive to maintain and operate. It’s awfully sad and I will be very sorry to see it happen, but it has just got to go.” He added: “A number of societies have asked if they can come down and see her even if they weren’t successful in buying her, so we thought it would be a nice idea to have one final steam-up.”
The No 3 loco was last in daily use for some ten weeks earlier in the year – when the diesel was being overhauled and when, as Mike recalled, “she was worked extensively to everyone’s delight.” Prior to that, she had been in occasional use for providing quantities of steam for various purposes.
The feelings for the No 3 were well summed up in a reader’s letter to the Falmouth Packet in 1985 which read: “It has performed its duties around the wharves and jetties diligently and joyously. If the immaculately painted and lovingly polished engine should leave the yard, many people will feel a sense of loss, a passing of an old friend. She has given much pleasure to driver and fireman alike, as well as to numerous dockyard employees, and to think that we may not see her steaming on Cornish metals much longer is sad.”
The No 3 was built for the yard in 1926 and the No 5 was constructed three years later. Until circa 1980, there were three steam engines trundling around the Docks. Then the Peckett loco was sold to Poldark Mining Ltd at Wendron, where she became a static exhibit.
Heaviest Snowfall For 30 Years
On Friday, January 18, 1985, the Falmouth area woke up to its deepest snow for at least 30 years. Ken Bryer, the town’s official weather observer, measured six inches of snow at daybreak, one inch more than the previous big fall at the end of 1978. He said it was the deepest he had known in his 28 years as a weather observer and since he came to Falmouth four years earlier. Shops ran low on necessities. At the Acacia Mini Market in Acacia Road, Mark Lacey said his family’s shop had run out of potatoes, bread and most fruit and vegetables. Coal and milk were also running low. “We have had to ration milk and potatoes, especially when there are elderly people who cannot get out,” said Mark. “They are facing the biggest problems, but a lot of people have been coming in for them.” Walter Brotherton, of Acacia News, reported: “We are not getting any national newspapers at all. They can’t get through, so they’ve given up. We’ve been out delivering the Packet to old people who are stuck in. Copies have been selling fast.” He added: “I walked in this morning and there was a man skiing down Kimberley Park Road.”
John Simmons, chairman of Falmouth Age Concern, urged the town’s younger residents to maintain the caring spirit that had emerged, for the sake of the elderly. He declared: “The cold spell, coupled with the snow, created a transformation of attitudes which have long been dormant in Falmouth. The town became a truly caring community.” In the event, the big freeze was short-lived. By the Saturday, motorists were back on the roads again, with many having walked out to recover their vehicles from where they had been abandoned. On lower ground, almost all the snow had melted away by the Sunday – helped by a huge downpour of 1.08 inches of rain, making Falmouth the wettest place in Britain.
Let’s Keep It Simple, Eh?
“What’s in a name?” Well, a bit too much was the answer to that one, at least so far as a Falmouth school was concerned in 1985. The town’s newest school had come into being with the merger of two others, but with a name that had to be one of the longest in education – Falmouth Church of England Voluntary Controlled Junior and Infant School. (Exactly – imagine chucking that one at the taxi driver!)
Headmaster Bill Adams explained: “The long-winded title was temporary; it was conferred pending the establishment of a board of governors to give the school ‘an instrument of government.’” Its permanent title – all of two words shorter – became King Charles Voluntary Controlled Junior and Infant School. But as Mr Adams said: “While the words ‘voluntary and controlled junior and infant’ are a necessary part of the official title, it seems sensible for most purposes simply to call ourselves King Charles School.” And that, I’m happy to confirm, is the way it has indeed been!
Farewell, Osborne Studios
One of Falmouth’s longest links with the past was severed in 1985 with the closure of Osborne Studios in Arwenack Street. The business, the oldest of its kind in Cornwall, celebrated its centenary in 1982 and was run for nearly 50 years by the brothers Brian and Maurice Osborne. Brian died in that centenary year and Maurice, 66, was now retiring. Maurice reflected: “It does seem a bit strange when I walk past the old shop now.” On lavish display there until recently were the results of generation after generation of the Osborne family recording the town’s history on film. The Flying Enterprise, the bombing of the Docks, the arrival of the yacht Tinkerbell . . . numerous events great and small filled the family firm’s fascinating pictorial library.
The business employed 27 people in the era between the two world wars, when it was concerned with film processing. The Osborne family arrived in Falmouth way back in the 19thCentury. Maurice’s great grandfather was foreman/builder of Falmouth railway station. The photography business made its base in Arwenack Street in 1905 in premises formerly belonging to a surgeon. Eleven years later, it was one of the first shops in the town to have electric lighting. Disaster struck in 1962 when the premises were badly damaged by fire. Much valuable equipment and hundreds of photographs were lost in the blaze and subsequent flooding from a burst water pipe, but the firm survived and rose again.
Falmouth ‘Humiliated’ In Landmark Local Derby
A notable piece of local sporting history was chalked up in September, 1985, with the first-ever local derby South Western League soccer match between Penryn Athletic and Falmouth Town at the latter’s Bickland Park ground, scene of countless triumphs for the home club in the 1960s and ‘70s but, alas, with more testing times now prevailing. One test Town failed to pass was this derby, with Penryn, relatively new to this league and boasting nothing like their opponents’ pedigree and history, running out 2-1 winners.
But the after-match remarks of Falmouth manager Dave Wadd were perhaps just as noteworthy as the game itself. He confessed to being “humiliated” by his team’s poor performance, but added that he was more disturbed by the atmosphere off the pitch. “As far as I am concerned, I would rather see Penryn do well and beat teams from outside the area,” he said. “It’s good for us to have a successful neighbour, but it seems I am in a minority. On Saturday I detected some jealousy between the clubs, mainly from the supporters. It annoys me that they get so incensed. It’s only a game* and at the end we should be friends and not allow the jealousy to smoulder on. This has crept in over the years. It used to be that there was a tremendous atmosphere at derby games, but it was always full of humour. On Saturday I sensed rival spectators might even come to blows.”
In the derby match, Penryn took an early lead through Mickey Pascoe and Peter Etherington secured victory in the second half after Stuart Wilkes had equalized on 22 minutes.
* Perhaps it was as well that Liverpool legend Bill Shankly was not around to hear Wadd’s comment. He did, after all, once famously declare: “Football is not a matter of life and death; it’s more important than that!”
