‘DUCHESS’ MUSIC SUBDUED ON CAROL CONCERT OUTING
A late substitution, the ‘Princess Coronation’ steps in to do its duty, despite being beset by industrial disputes.
On December 17 2019, ‘Princess Coronation’ Duchess of Sutherland – made a rare foray west of Salisbury on the LSWR line hauling a Steam Dreams Rail Co. ‘Carol Concert’ excursion to Sherborne, continuing to Yeovil Junction for turning and servicing. This train was run to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Steam Dreams company and the event was graced by the presence of the founder, Marcus Robertson. Unfortunately, owing to the South Western Railway guards’ strike, a reduced timetable was in force throughout the final weeks of 2019, I was unable to get to Woking to join the train, and had to settle for Salisbury.
The red ‘Duchess’, hastily summoned, was replacing the booked locomotive, ‘B1’ No. 61306, which had failed on an Ealing
Broadway to Stratford-upon-Avon train two days earlier. The crew from Salisbury to Yeovil Junction comprised West Coast Railways Driver Bill Monteith and Fireman Craig Stinchcombe.
The train comprised ten coaches, including a Metro-Cammell Pullman car, weighing 350½ tons tare and 380 tons gross. After taking water at Salisbury and waiting for a path, departure was 13¼ mins late. Whereas there would have been no special speed restrictions for clearance or weight applied to the ‘B1’ over this particular route, the heavier Stanier ‘Pacific’ had three special 50mph restrictions and two severe ones (15mph) to contend with.
uNLuCKY sTRIKe
The first scheduled stop was Gillingham, where an Up service train would have been passed – except that, with the guards’ strike timetable in operation, we were stopped for 11 mins at the entrance to Tisbury Loop for an Up train to take refuge. Since this was the site of one of the 50mph special restrictions mentioned earlier, that became irrelevant. However, it was closely followed by a 15mph restriction through Tisbury platform. From Tisbury West crossing, the gradient rises for
IT WAS A PITY THAT THIS RESTRICTION SPOILED THE CLIMB TO SEMLEY
1½ miles at 1-in-270, then steepens to 1-in-145 for the final two miles to the summit at Semley.
Recovering from the Tisbury slack,
No. 6233 attained 51½mph at the top of the 1-in-270 and fell to 50½ up the succeeding 1-in-145 before being eased to respect another 50mph slack at Pyehouse Road overbridge, recovering slightly on the 1-in-145 to top the bank at 51mph. It was a pity that this restriction spoiled the climb to Semley.
Having passed the Up service train at Tisbury Loop, there was no train to cross at Gillingham, so that station was able to be passed at speed – nowadays a most unusual event behind steam! After attaining 74mph on the 1-in-100 descent from Semley, No. 6233 braked through Gillingham and fell to 56½mph at the entrance to Buckhorn Weston Tunnel, the top of the next rise at 1-in-100.
Speed rose to a maximum of 76mph descending towards Templecombe, where the turnout onto double track was taken very cautiously compared with the 30mph limit here. A further 15mph restriction at Wood Road overbridge hampered the 1-in-100 climb to the next summit at Milepost 113½, passed at 28mph, then, where it is normally possible even today to see speeds in the mid-70s on the descent to Sherborne, a further 50mph restriction at Oborne Road overbridge put paid to any hope of more high speed.
Had I travelled back to Salisbury on the 5.40pm from Yeovil Junction with the ‘Duchess’, I risked missing my last train down to Axminster under the guards’ strike timetable, so I reluctantly abandoned the Steam Dreams train at Sherborne.