BUSY BULLEID: 35028 GETS READY FOR SR 50
Four trains in seven days in July for end of Southern steam celebrity 'Merchant Navy'
Clan Line is facing its busiest period in decades, being scheduled to haul four trains in seven days almost immediately after returning from overhaul. Private charters on July 7 and 11 using the Belmond ‘British Pullmans’ add to the rebuilt Bulleid 4-6-2’s starring role on the ‘Bournemouth Belle’ (July 5) and ‘Waterloo Sunset’ (July 9) trips. Merchant Navy Locomotive Preservation Society Communications and Marketing Officer Paul Blowfield told Steam Railway that No. 35028 had “probably” not been so busy “since 50 years ago.” The 1948-built ‘Pacific’ was one of the last locomotives active on the Southern Region, hauling its final train on July 5 1967. In early June it was in the paintshop at LNWR Heritage in Crewe, following a trial run on May 18. A return to Stewarts Lane depot in London is expected by the end of June. Hauling four trips in such a short period of time is unusual for Clan Line; the MNLPS’s normal practice is to keep its schedule free immediately before a Pullman trip. “We like to have a clear week in the run-up to a Belmond operation,” Mr Blowfield said. “But over the years that’s been tweaked - because in the past Belmond has had more than one in a week anyway.” Of the four trips, all but the one on July 9 use the Pullmans, as does a fifth (a Surrey Hills luncheon from Victoria) on July 15. MNLPS members have already had a chance to ride behind Clan Line this year - a 7¼in-gauge version that made an appearance for the society’s AGM at the Mizens Railway near Woking on June 3. Trial run picture: page 6.