Bulleid Light Pacifics over Somerset and Dorset

[Western Sunset]

Indeed; with 72010 "Hengist" being built at Swanage. What's happened to that project?

 

[Harvester]

I meant MN 35028, 'Clan Line', yes, she worked an RCTS tour from Waterloo, which ran down to Poole and then up the S&D (how far?) but I have seen a pic of her passing Henstridge. I wasn't referring to a 'Clan' (72xxx) class, although didn't 72004 come south (possibly to the SR, but not S&D specifically) on some one off occasion, or is my memory playing tricks?

Clan 72006 came south to Old Oak Common, and worked a special from Paddington to Swindon on 9/12/63.

 

[Gloster]

I have always thought they were headed for the South Eastern Division, possibly on account of the names. Hengist and Horsa were both Kings of Kent and the names were only used by the South Eastern Railway. Canute was used by the SER, the London & South Western and the Southampton Dock Co., while Firebrand and Wildfire were early LSWR names.

 

[John Palmer]

I can confirm that 34044 Woolacombe worked over the Dorset in rebuilt form at least once; see https://www.flickr.com/photos/34872266@N02/5244452929. This shot shows the locomotive at Radstock, but I recall having also seen a photograph showing the locomotive as rebuilt working a northbound local round the curve just north of Wincanton - possibly the same train as that linked.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

I can confirm that 34044 Woolacombe worked over the Dorset in rebuilt form at least once;

34006, 008(R), 013(R), 015, 018(R), 025(R), 028(R), 029(R), 036(R), 037 (R), 039(R), 040(R), 041, 042(R), 043, 044(R), 045(R), 046(R), 047(R), 048(R), 049 (as 21C149), 057, 067, 079, 092, 093(R), 094, 095(R), 096(R), 099, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108(R), 109(R) and 110.

John
Thank you so much for your input. I have updated my original post to include 'Woolacombe', which (as an individual Light Pacific) I was hoping someone may have been able to connect to the Dorset in rebuilt form, she being another firm favorite of mine back in the day. This was always a bit of a niche question, so I do thank you (and others) for taking the time to look up such detail. It is becoming clear, as I had long suspected, that the rebuilt Bulleid's presence over the Mendips (by individual loco) was relatively rare (eleven examples thus far), excluding the two MN's (GSN and CL) on eleventh hour rail tours.

This thread started through some word of mouth (ex colleagues who worked the route in it's last days) but also from various books (Ivo Peters being a main contender) whereby the rebuilt locos (by individual loco) that seemed to be related to the S&D were only a handful, 'Braunton' being a main contender. But if one takes the Bournemouth allocation of Light Pacific's as a whole, as it was in 1959, when through trains between the North and Bournemouth were still operating via the S&D, only a small number (overall) had been rebuilt by that date, 046 being the earliest in 1954, long before 039 (reb Jan 59) which was itself the first to visit the line in that form.

So yes, the rebuilt Light Pacific's were relatively rare (by individual loco), but a combination of dates of locos rebuild, the date of cessation of through trains over the Dorset, left only a very small window in time relatively speaking for rebuilt loco's to make their presence felt, given also that Bournemouth still had a number of unrebuilt's on their books.

 

[Western Sunset]

Has mention been made of 35023 working light engine over the S&DJt on 28/3/65 from Bournemouth shed to Templecombe, to work the Templecombe to London Victoria (via Salisbury) leg of the "Southern Wanderer" railtour?

So I make it that three MNs traversed S&DJt metals, all between Broadstone and Templecombe (but no further):

35023 28/3/65 Light engine move in connection with railtour
35011 1/1/66 Railtour
35028 6/3/66 Railtour

 

[Gloster]

I suspect that, if nothing else, it was one of the viaducts at Shepton Mallet, possibly Bath Road, that was the bar to Merchant Navys going further north. That said, I wouldn’t have fancied going through Combe Down Tunnel.

 

[Flying Phil]

Indeed; with 72010 "Hengist" being built at Swanage. What's happened to that project?

This project is still going very well with the build now taking place in Sheffield at CTL Seal (- together with the B17 Spirit of Sandringham project).

 

[Western Sunset]

This project is still going very well with the build now taking place in Sheffield at CTL Seal (- together with the B17 Spirit of Sandringham project).

I remember seeing parts for it at Herston Works in Swanage. Glad it's making progress.

 

[Taunton]

That said, I wouldn’t have fancied going through Combe Down Tunnel.

I don't think many would. Not only was it a narrow, tight-fit bore, completely unventilated, but it lay at right angles to the prevailing wind so didn't get much assistance from any smoke from the previous train being blown out.

 

[Harvester]

I don't think many would. Not only was it a narrow, tight-fit bore, completely unventilated, but it lay at right angles to the prevailing wind so didn't get much assistance from any smoke from the previous train being blown out.

Just as well nothing had to follow the double headed Bulleid Pacifics (34013+34057) through, on the last day of service on 6th March 1966.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

Not only was it a narrow, tight-fit bore, completely unventilated

Quite so, but to my mind Devonshire Tunnel appeared to be even tighter. There are numerous pictures taken from near the tunnel mouth facing NW of trains climbing out of Bath, but not so many taken from Maple Grove bridge facing SE towards the tunnel mouth. I think I read somewhere the clearance from chimney top to tunnel roof (Devonshire) was a mere 6 inches or so. Certainly looked almost impossibly tight in photos of same. There is a documented (somewhere - I'm typing from memory at the mo) of an Up freight with a 7F I believe, may be in the 1920's(?) where the crew became overwhelmed in the longer Combe Down tunnel, and as a result the train ran away down the bank in to Bath, and (again from memory of reading somewhere) the fireman was killed I think in the resulting derailment at Bath Junction.
My last memories are of walking through part of Combe Down back in the late 70's, long before it became a cycle way (is that correct??), but Devonshire tunnel, although open (at the time, at the SE end) was completely land filled at the Bath end. Maple Grove bridge, one could still walk under, but from then on the infill rose upwards to completely bury the tunnel mouth. Shame in a way as the walk through to Lyncombe Vale in today's world could be a very pleasant setting. I'm well out of touch with the area now.

 

[Gloster]

On 23 November 1929 2-8-0 89 (now preserved) ran away and derailed in Bath Yard due to the crew being overcome. The driver died on the way to hospital, and an Inspector and a home-going clerk were also killed. It is on Railways Archive.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

Has mention been made of 35023 working light engine over the S&DJt on 28/3/65

Thank you kindly. will add that to my (unwritten) list of MN's!

On 23 November 1929 2-8-0 89 (now preserved) ran away and derailed in Bath Yard due to the crew being overcome.

That'll be the one I remember reading about, thank you.

 

[Taunton]

Quite so, but to my mind Devonshire Tunnel appeared to be even tighter. There are numerous pictures taken from near the tunnel mouth facing NW of trains climbing out of Bath, but not so many taken from Maple Grove bridge facing SE towards the tunnel mouth. I think I read somewhere the clearance from chimney top to tunnel roof (Devonshire) was a mere 6 inches or so. Certainly looked almost impossibly tight in photos of same ...

My last memories are of walking through part of Combe Down back in the late 70's, long before it became a cycle way (is that correct??), but Devonshire tunnel, although open (at the time, at the SE end) was completely land filled at the Bath end. Maple Grove bridge, one could still walk under, but from then on the infill rose upwards to completely bury the tunnel mouth. Shame in a way as the walk through to Lyncombe Vale in today's world could be a very pleasant setting. I'm well out of touch with the area now.

The whole line from Radstock to Bath has now apparently been turned into a cycleway/walkway. I haven't seen it, but one day when in the area again I will put my bicycle in the car and go for a ride along the whole length and back (as I have done on the comparable path from Weymouth towards Portland). There are various videos of it on Youtube.

Devonshire Tunnel is shorter, but even more of a challenge to the Bath banker crew, who would not only be pushing at the back through the train loco fumes, but possibly several times per shift. particularly in the very early morning when much of the freight seems to have left Bath. The summit is between the two tunnels, so in both directions you had the unventilated fume-laden climb, Combe Down not so steep but longer. I don't believe there ever was a banker at Midford to push northbound trains.

When small, early 1960s, we had family friends whose rear of their Victorian stone house overlooked the line down below, west of Devonshire Tunnel, at a guess on Bloomfield Road. I can remember, when visiting, sitting looking for trains for long periods, and hardly ever seeing one. Now the family there said that living next door was a "big railway enthusiast". I've wondered much later who it might have been, and narrowed it down to either O S Nock or Ivo Peters. I wonder which. It's a favoured area for such, despite the main GWR station, and for many years the city, having been little more than a wayside calling point; I believe Network Rail Chair Sir Peter Hendy also lives around there.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

The whole line from Radstock to Bath has now apparently been turned into a cycleway/walkway

Having read your comments, I took a gander at Giggly earth, and although not (as yet) a comprehensive view of the line (from ground level) as it is today, for those of us who know the route, it is easy to follow. Must say, I am a bit gobsmacked that Devonshire tunnel has been re-opened. Combe Down was always a possible in the days I was last there, so all credit to those who have been involved in keeping the route alive.

 

[John Palmer]

Derek Cross' 'Double Headed Trains -1 South' affords photographic evidence that 34025 Whimple and 34036 Westward Ho did traverse the line in rebuilt form (1960 and 1959 respectively).

I tracked down my previous recollection of a photograph showing 34044 Woolacombe in rebuilt form near Wincanton to page 33 of Hugh Ballantyne's 'The Somerset & Dorset Remembered - Part 2', where the locomotive is to be seen in charge of the 12/05 Templecombe-Bath local train on 6 November 1965. I speculate that the unusual appearance of a light Pacific on the S&D at so late a date resulted from a substitution of this locomotive by Bournemouth to cover a failure of the engine booked to work some earlier part of the diagram.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

34006, 008(R), 013(R), 015, 018(R), 025(R), 028(R), 029(R), 036(R), 037 (R), 039(R), 040(R), 041, 042(R), 043, 044(R), 045(R), 046(R), 047(R), 048(R), 049 (as 21C149), 057, 067, 079, 092, 093(R), 094, 095(R), 096(R), 099, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108(R), 109(R) and 110.

Derek Cross' 'Double Headed Trains -1 South' affords photographic evidence that 34025 Whimple and 34036 Westward Ho did traverse the line in rebuilt form (1960 and 1959 respectively).

John
Thank you once again. The list is growing!