Many years ago I bought an old railway clock from a well-known auction website. The clock came from Reddish railway station and consisted of a large glass-fronted dial and a small A-frame mechanism which originally drove it. The dial was marked “Potts & Sons Leeds”. This clock dial and mechanism must be over 100 years old.
The firm of W Potts & Sons was a Leeds based manufacturer of church clocks and other large mechanisms. Potts installed very many clocks of all sizes in railway stations. These were found throughout the Midland Railway. Often a station would have large clock for the platform, and several smaller wall clocks in the offices and booking office. Potts supplied all of these to the Midland Railway.
The fabulous Settle to Carlisle route was orginally built by the Midland Railway, and Potts clocks were installed at every station. The Settle Carlisle Railway Trust website shows a photograph of the Potts dial to be found at Horton in Ribblesdale station, and says
Station Clocks
A small but essential feature on every station
Before the railways came in the 19th century, time was not the same in every place. This made it difficult to run the railways so standard ‘railway time’ was introduced. Every station had a clock made by William Potts & Sons of Leeds. Over the years the clocks fell into disrepair and only the one at Appleby survived. The Trust has restored the clock at Kirkby Stephen and installed five new clocks at Horton, Ribblehead, Dent, Langwathby and Lazonby.
The clock dials now on the platforms at those stations listed were supplied new in 2005 as replicas manufactured by the firm Smith (of Derby), originally a competitor firm which absorbed Potts’ business in the 1930s.
I contacted the Settle & Carlisle Railway Trust and asked them if they would like to acquire as a donation the original Reddish station dial (and its original mechanism). They were very keen to do so, and so we took a trip to Ribblehead Station, and delivered the dial and mechanism to their care.
We are very pleased to be able to support the work of the Settle & Carlisle Railway Trust in recreating the orginal appearances of the historic stations, complete with Potts clocks.
