STEAM DAYS in Colour 200: Inter-regional trains via the Somerset & Dorset and Midland routes

South from Bath, the S&DJR gave the MR access to the South Coast. In time, Bournemouth grew as a fashionable resort and the line gained the year-round ‘Pines Express’ from Manchester, and hosted a seasonal holiday trade reaching its zenith in the 1950s but gone by the 1962 season.

In an era of intense territorial rivalry, the Midland and London & South Western railways jointly agreed to take ownership of a struggling independent line bridging the two in 1875. Running through the heart of GWR territory, the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway as it became known, gave the MR at Bath direct access to ports and towns on the South Coast and provided the L&SWR with traffic from the heavy industries of the Midlands and North East. In time, as Bournemouth grew as a fashionable seaside resort, the line gained a year-round ‘named’ express from Manchester, the ‘Pines Express’, its name derived from the many pine tree-lined chines and gardens in the town. The line was also host to a buoyant seasonal holiday trade which reached its zenith in the 1950s but died at the end of the 1962 season, ceded to the old adversary as British Railways diverted the business to run via ex-GWR routes instead. In this feature we explore some of these Bournemouth services, both on the S&DJR and further afield, which ran from such diverse locations as Manchester, Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield, and Nottingham, as well as the Cleethorpes to Exmouth train that also shared the route.

Colour-Rail.com/304932 The year-round ‘Pines Express’ was generally in the hands of LMS standard engines away from the S&D but the severe gradients encountered on the 26 mile section south of Bath (Green Park) usually required the addition of a pilot over the Mendips. In the late summer of 1958, LMS Fowler ‘4F’ 0-6-0 No 44417 and Bulleid 4-6-2 No 34099 Lynmouth come off the near four-mile long single-line section from Bath Junction at Midford with the southbound ‘Pines’, train W196, the 10.28am from Manchester (London Road) to Bournemouth (West). The corresponding northbound service ran as train W236, the 9.45am Bournemouth (West) to Manchester (London Road). These former LMS-derived reporting numbers were constant until the end of the summer 1960 timetable when the new BR four-digit system that incorporated the class of train and regional destination was introduced; W196 became 1O95, and W236 became 1M04.

Hugh Ballantine Only the southern-most of the two platforms at Bath (Green Park) could handle the ‘Pines’ and longer trains, so most took their turn sharing the meagre facilities as they reversed direction at the terminus. In July 1962 LMS 4-6-0 No 45682 Trafalgar waits to get away from platform 1 with 1M02, the relief ‘Pines’ to Liverpool (Lime Street) as a BR Standard class ‘5MT’ 4-6-0 gets the road from platform 2 with 1O90 9.08am Birmingham (New Street)Bournemouth (West), booked for just eight coaches so able to be accommodated. BR Standard ‘4MT’ 4-6-0 No 75072 is in the centre road with stock for the 1.10pm to Templecombe. On shed are S&DJR ‘7F’ 2-8-0 No 53807 ready to work 1O91 7.32am from Nottingham forward to Bournemouth (West), and ‘Royal Scot’ 4-6-0 No 46147 The Northamptonshire Regiment which will work 1E58 12.12am Bournemouth (West)-Sheffield (Midland). Alongside, LMS ‘5MT’ 4-6-0 No 44853 is due to work 1N66 10.05am Bournemouth (West)-Bradford (Forster Square).

Colour-Rail.com/209416 Colour-Rail.com/204399 English Electric ‘AL3’ class Bo-Bo No E3029 at Manchester (Piccadilly) with 1O95, the 10.25am to Bournemouth (West) ‘Pines Express’ on 10 July 1961. The station had been re-named from Manchester (London Road) when the overhead wires between here and Crewe were energised in 1960. Both the ‘Pines’ and the summer-dated relief ‘Pines’, which included through carriages to and from Liverpool, went over to electric haulage between Crewe and Manchester from the winter 1960 timetable. Steam gave way to diesel operation on the ‘Pines’ between Crewe and Bath (Green Park) at the start of the winter 1961 timetable and ‘Peak’ ‘Type 4’ 1Co-Co1 No D85 is in charge of 1O95, the 10.25am from Manchester (Piccadilly) to Bournemouth (West) ‘Pines Express’ as it passes Sutton Park on Saturday, 18 August 1962. On weekdays, and also Saturdays in the winter, the ‘Pines’ exchanged through coaches from and to Sheffield at Birmingham (New Street). On summer Saturdays however, it was routed via here and Camp Hill, avoiding a Birmingham stop as Sheffield and Birmingham were served with alternative direct trains.

R C Riley To accommodate the influx of through passenger workings over the S&D on summer Saturdays, freight traffic was suspended. S&DJR Fowler ‘7F’ 2-8-0 No 53809 and Leeds (Holbeck)-allocated LMS Stanier 4-6-0 No 45739 Ulster are called off the S&D shed at Bath together to wait their respective turns relieving inbound trains on Saturday, 1 August 1962. The ‘Jubilee’ will no doubt return to Leeds on the Bradford (Forster Square) train, while the ‘7F’, which will have spent the week moving goods over the S&D, has been pressed into passenger service and is likely to have later worked the incoming train from Nottingham (Midland). There were few other locations that this combination could be found for the 2-8-0s rarely ventured further than Avonmouth or Gloucester on diagrammed freight workings, and those workings tended to be at anti-social hours.

T B Owen/Colour-Rail.com/380817 S&D related inter-regionals were all given provision in the timings for assistance on the 1 in 37 Lickey incline. On loan from Nine Elms to Bath shed for the summer, BR Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0 No 73087 Linette is well into its stride at Vigo with 1M02, the 9.25am Bournemouth (West) to Liverpool (Lime Street), after stopping to attach a banker at Bromsgrove on Saturday, 12 August 1961. This summer Saturday service was known in operational circles as the relief ‘Pines’ as it ran 15 minutes ahead of the named express. Like the ‘Pines’ it avoided a Birmingham stop but ran to Liverpool after detaching through coaches for Manchester at Crewe. The reverse working departed from Manchester at 10.55am, 25 minutes after the ‘Pines’, and combined at Crewe with a portion from Liverpool that had set off at 10.30am.

Roy Hobbs BR Standard ‘9F’ 2-10-0 No 92245 clears the single-line section from Bath Junction at Midford with 1O94, the 7.45am from Bradford (Forster Square) to Bournemouth (West) on 25 August 1962. This train served Leeds, Sheffield, Derby and Birmingham and, together with an overnight train from Sheffield, alleviated the need for the ‘Pines’ to call at Birmingham on summer Saturdays. Throughout the 1950s alternative locomotives were trialled in an effort to alleviate the need for double-heading over the difficult section through the Mendips. Bulleid Light Pacifics and BR Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0s borrowed from the Southern Region every summer were the most enduring but the trial of BR Standard ‘9F’ 2-10-0 No 92204 on 29 March 1960 proved most satisfactory and four of the class were thus borrowed for the final three summer seasons of through trains over the line.

R C Riley LMS ‘2P’ 4-4-0 No 40564 pilots BR Standard ‘5MT’ No 73052 on the 1 in 53 grade as they near Chilcompton tunnel with 1O94, the 7.45am from Bradford (Forster Square) to Bournemouth (West) on 1 July 1961. This was to be the last year for the venerable ‘2Ps’ which had had been a fixture of the line since Midland Railway days and a mainstay on passenger and train pilot duties. The S&D suffered a long game of ‘pass the parcel’ in the BR era with regional boundary and operating department changes. The line found itself split between the Western and Southern regions but with locomotives borrowed from the London Midland Region, a situation that would inevitably change. New BR Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0s were introduced at Bath in April 1954, displacing LMS ‘5MT’ 4-6-0s back to the LMR, but many LMS types would endure well into the 1960s, notably the Fowler ‘4F’ 0-6-0s and ‘2P’ 4-4-0s on goods and passenger duties.

Colour-Rail.com/BRE1385 With a varied set of SR green stock, LNER Thompson ‘B1’ class 4-6-0 No 61143 passes Water Orton with 1O92, the 7am from Cleethorpes to Exmouth in August 1962. The service only ran in the peak summer period of 28 July to 1 September and was one of those rare workings where a train operates between two seaside resorts. It was in fact an extension to a normal Cleethorpes to Birmingham (New Street) service and drew its business from the industrial centres of Grimsby, Lincoln, Nottingham, Leicester, Nuneaton and Birmingham. In the 1950s the train ran via the S&D to and from Bournemouth but from the summer of 1960 it was re-routed at Templecombe to serve the south Devon seaside resorts of Sidmouth and Exmouth, with the train splitting at Sidmouth Junction. From there, timetabled branch trains conveyed the through coaches to their destinations.

John Dewing/Colour-Rail.com/SD203 Later the same day, BR Standard ‘4MT’ 4-6-0 No 75009 and S&D Fowler ‘4F’ 0-6-0 No 44559 near Templecombe under a stormy sky with 1O92, the 7am from Cleethorpes to Exmouth on 25 August 1962. Maunsell ‘U’ class 2-6-0 No 31836 will relieve the pair in the station stop (between 3.32-3.37pm) and work the train to Sidmouth Junction, before running light back home to Exmouth Junction shed. As with many summer-dated trains, there were two sets of carriages which would spend the week between trains festering in sidings – for this train there was an SR green set and the Eastern Region set seen here. Exmouth was a lucrative destination for British Railways and with the S&D erased from routing options the following summer, 1963 saw a new overnight service from Manchester introduced via former GWR lines at Taunton on Friday, and returning via the same route on Saturday morning.

John Dewing/R N Smith Collection After turning on the S&D shed at Templecombe (Lower), Maunsell ‘U’ class 2-6-0 No 31836 nears Templecombe No 2 Junction as it returns to the station on Saturday, 25 August 1962. Earlier in the day the engine had run light from Exmouth Junction shed to Sidmouth Junction to take 1E59, the 10.42am from Exmouth to Cleethorpes forward after the portion from Exmouth and the 11.07am from Sidmouth had been combined. Both were worked into Sidmouth Junction by branch engines. At Templecombe, S&D ‘7F’ 2-8-0 No 53807 relieved the Maunsell Mogul, which was diagrammed on this working as it was small enough to fit Templecombe’s 50ft turntable and was thus able to also work the reciprocal working from Cleethorpes.

Colour-Rail.com/SD263 For many years there were four summer-dated overnight trains to Bournemouth (West) – from Sheffield, Derby, Bradford and Manchester – which set out late on Friday evening and returned north again on Saturday morning, but only the Bradford train ran for the full duration of the timetable period. Fowler ‘7F’ 2-8-0 No 53808 is about to join S&D metals at Broadstone with train 226, the 8.40am from Bournemouth (West) to Bradford (Forster Square) on Saturday, 1 August 1959. Still displayed on the front of the first carriage is the reporting number of the train the stock arrived on, train 345, the 8.25pm from Bradford (Forster Square), which had arrived at Bournemouth (West) at 6am. The overnight Derby train would cease operating at the end of the following summer, but the others continued into 1961.

Colour-Rail.com/325923 Looking rather out of place on such modest permanent way, BR Standard ‘9F’ 2-10-0 No 92233 heads south from Templecombe with 1O91, the 7.35am from Nottingham (Midland) to Bournemouth (West) on Saturday, 7 July 1962. A large part of the S&D had been upgraded to double-track over the years but operations were always hamstrung by single-line sections at either end, between Bath and Midford and between Corfe Mullen and Broadstone, as well as here between Templecombe and Blandford Forum. Any late running or additional ‘relief’ trains could often have repercussions to the running of other services that relied on the turn round of pilot engines at Bath and Evercreech Junction and access to the cramped platform capacity at Bath (Green Park).

K Ellis/Colour-Rail.com/BRM2286 Although the ‘Pines Express’ was now booked for diesel haulage between Crewe and Bath, the inevitable traction failures led to substitution by steam locomotives on occasion, and one such occurrence finds ‘Royal Scot’ class 4-6-0 No 46157 The Royal Artilleryman heading south at Wickwar with 1O95, the 10.25am from Manchester (Piccadilly) to Bournemouth (West) in the summer of 1962. This engine was one of a number of members of the class placed in store at Saltley shed as more services went over to Sulzer ‘Type 4’ diesel operation but then found further use on summerdated trains before transfer to Carlisle (Upperby).

R C Riley BR Standard ‘4MT’ No 75027 passes Shepton Montague with 1E58, the 11.12am from Bournemouth (West) to Sheffield (Midland) on 1 September 1962. The train is likely to pick up a pilot at the Evercreech Junction water stop for the steep climb, mostly at 1 in 50, to the summit at Masbury. This is another returning train of an overnight service, in this case the balancing working of 1O82, the 10.20pm from Sheffield (Midland) to Bournemouth (West). These versatile engines were introduced to the S&D in 1956 and soon found a home on passenger trains and as an ideal substitute for the LMS ‘2P’ 4-4-0s on pilot duties.

A A Jarvis Colour-Rail.com/SD37 On the last day of through train operation over the line, BR Standard ‘9F’ class 2-10-0 No 92233 departs from Evercreech Junction with 1O91, the 7.35am from Nottingham (Midland) to Bournemouth (West) on 8 September 1962. In the distance, a pilot engine waits in the centre siding to assist a northbound service. While the ‘Pines Express’ was re-routed via Oxford from Monday, 10 September 1962, and the summer-dated trains that had also used the Midland and S&D followed suit or were morphed into otherwise duplicate services in 1963, this summer Saturday service continued to go via the Midland but was re-routed at Yate to enter Bristol via the former GWR route. An engine change took place in both directions on Rhubarb curve, near Dr Days Junction, and the train ran via the Fordingbridge line at the Bournemouth end. Closure of that line ahead of the summer 1964 timetable saw it sent via Chandlers Ford and Southampton instead, but it failed to appear in the 1965 timetable as BR further rationalised summerdated workings.

W Potter/Kidderminster Railway Museum The final northbound ‘Pines’ via the S&D, running as 1M04, 9.45am from Bournemouth (West) to Manchester (Piccadilly), drops down towards Bath between the narrow bores of Combe Down and Devonshire tunnels in Lyncombe Vale on Saturday, 8 September 1962. To mark the occasion, BR Standard ‘9F’ class 2-10-0 No 92220 Evening Star had been transferred to Bath shed from Cardiff (Canton) but unfortunately Peter Smith and fireman Aubrey Punter were to be denied a right-time arrival at Bath due to late running on the relief ‘Pines’ ahead of it, after that was delayed at Evercreech Junction while an unscheduled assisting engine was purloined from duties in the goods yard.