pining ...

 

Almost everybody approaches the S&D from a different angle. Some love the locos that worked the line, others the trains, others the stations, many (like myself) the whole look and feel of the line. Others celebrate its history and many also are working to build a new S&D that will serve its communities throughout the 21st century.

 

To this end quite a lot of Facebook groups have sprung up celebrating different aspects of the route and one of the more unusual is one which celebrates the Pines Express. To take a look (and hopefully join) please click here.

from australia ....

Had a great email from Australia today!

I was born and raised in a house on Poole Road very close to Bournemouth West station. By the time I was five, in 1956, I had become an avid train spotter after discovering a perfect hiding place beside the line only a hundred yards away from my house. I spent most of my free time for the next ten years watching the most amazing array of trains and locomotives. One minute it was a Merchant Navy leaving with the Bournemouth Belle to London, and the next was a Castle arriving with a train from York or Birkenhead, or else the Pines Express which had so many different locos heading it. I shall never forget seeing ‘Evening Star’ arriving with the Pines in the summer of 1962.

I was used to seeing many old locomotives from the ex LSWR pulling local trains before they were replaced by the standards in the early 1960s. Especially the M.7s on push pull work for trains to Brockenhurst on the old road via Wimborne, but I was also excited to see Nelsons and King Arthurs arriving regularly from London, and the greyhound T9s on the local services. Did the T.9s ever do runs to Bath? What a great sight they made pulling away uphill towards Branksome, (and the old S&D shed in the triangle there) past my hiding place in the bushes beside the track. .

But then add to all this the regular arrivals from Bath on the S&DJR behind Midland locomotives, which were not seen anywhere else in Hampshire. I was so used to seeing Fowler 7Fs I thought they were ‘ordinary’ engines, and the little 4Fs would come trundling in piloting larger Southern or Midland engines, or else in earlier days I remember the 2P Fowler 4-4-0s were common pilots. Then every once in a while a Black Five would arrive with the northern trains.

By 1962, when I was 11, most of the old engines had disappeared and were replaced by Standards, which saddened me as I realised my favourites had been scrapped, but the only consolation was the regular arrivals of the 9Fs from Bath. There were still Bulleid Pacifics starting on the many trains to London every day, but I didn’t realise that there would only be another three years of the line into Bournemouth West, let alone only another five years of steam. I can’t remember when the Old Road closed and the Somerset and Dorset trains diverted to Central, I was just waiting in the bushes and didn’t see so many trains arrive anymore. I didn’t read about Dr. Beeching, and no-one told me that steam engines would all be scrapped in another few years.

One day in 1965, while on holiday from my boarding school, I went down to the station and asked Mr. Jones, the man who always made me buy a platform ticket, what had happened to the trains. He told me the station was going to close soon, and the Bath line was finishing too. I couldn’t believe it. Being only 14, I couldn’t quite understand that what you had known all your life, could just end…

I kept seeing regular steam on the line to my boarding school in Dorchester until the final runs in July 1967, the very month I left school forever. By then I was depressed about the condition of the Pacifics, devoid of name or numberplates, the closing of my station and lines all over the country, and the advent of the diesel electrics which I saw as featureless and rather uninspiring.

What a sad end to a wonderful childhood memory seeing those magnificent steam machines mesmerising me as they heaved, hissed and blew past. I only now realise what a fantastic range of locomotives I got to see and feel so affected by. I’ve been in Australia for most of my life since those days, it’s 50 years now and I am totally inspired by all the old photos of steam which is now available on the internet.

Thanks to all my fellow train spotters for keeping it all alive, and good luck to the Somerset and Dorset Trust in their efforts to preserve, and even re-open some parts of the line.

bailey gate memories

Chris Smith has kindly provided the following memories of Bailey Gate

I used to live in Station Road, Bailey Gate, I used to catch the

train from Bailey Gate to Poole and Bournemouth West where the S&D
terminated. I have memories of giving farmers a hand to load sugar
beet onto coal trucks in the sidings. A local coal merchant also
used to have coal dropped off behind the station. I also remember
the Pines Express running through the station at 6:00pm with a second
train in the summer, following at 6:10pm, the first being full.


Entrance to both platforms from the Bailey Gate end of the village
was down a slopping path that ran from the side of the road off the
bridge to the right. This took you to a footway across the double
tracks to the station, At the far end of the up platform was the
signal box, there was also a small covered waiting shelter.You
crossed the line on a wooden crossing where the first building was
the wooden lamp shed painted yellow. The next building was the
station, with a waiting room and ticket office and station masters
office. The other access to the station was down the vehicle roadway
and around the side of the station, The area around the station was
made secure by concrete posts with seven strands of plain
wire. Shortly before the line was closed both the up and down sides
of the line north of the station had the posts and wire replaced with
new posts and wire from the station to close to
Spetisbury




During the war Goebells made claims that the cheese factory had been
bombed twice, both were pure propaganda. As I grew up in the
village, and both my father and my step father worked at the "factory
or UD" as it was known by everyone in village, I heard many tales
about the factory's  production, mostly that it was the largest
cheddar cheese producing factory in Europe.
There were also watercress beds just off the A350 near Bailey House
and they used the S&D at Bailey Gate to ship watercress to the north
of England. I can remember the boxes waiting on carts to be loaded
onto trains.


Thanks for an interesting site, by the way I paid a visit to the
Gartell Light Railway a few months ago, and it really brought back
memories of living next to the S&D

something a little different!

This is Manchester's Mayfield station as it is today. This was a subsidiary station that lay alongside Manchester Piccadilly. The S&D link is that this was the Manchester station that the Pines Express used. Photos via the excellent Derelict Places website.

not just a branch line!

(Photo copyright Mick Knox Dec 2011)

One of the misconceptions about the S&D is that it was some sort of branch line! Anyone who had seen the line at its peak in the 1950s would never make this mistake. Trains worked block on block, especially on the single track sections and especially on summer Saturdays. Passenger trains were joined by a succession of heavy freights and of course there was the express train, the Pines.

At Midsomer Norton they are relaying double track and the above shot really captures this. The only other double track standard gauge heritage line is the Great Central. Most of the  S&D was of course double track, there were short sections of single track between Bath GP and Midford and through Corfe Mullen, plus a longer stretch between Templecombe and Blandford.

So we will shortly have two restored stations on double track S&D (Midsomer Norton and Spetsibury) and two on single track (Shillingstone and Midford). Perhaps the real beauty of the S&D is that it could look like a main line and a branch line at the same time, depending on where you were and what trains were passing!

what made bournemouth great

Michael Portillo visited Bournemouth yesterday during his 'Great British Railway Journeys' series. He covered the history of the town, but missed the most important aspect of Bournemouth's rise - the S&D!

The London route was (and still is) fairly important but it was the S&D which really brought Bournemouth to life, bringing in holidaymakers from the Midlands and the North in their millions. How many of them today dare brave the same journey using Britain's antiquated road network?

As climate change warms our seaside resorts up - even with the downside of massive storms like the one that hit Bournemouth just as we arrived last August - and as Peak Oil kills air travel and pushes road travel beyond the means of 95% of us, it won't be long before Bournemouth becomes so busy that there'll be a procession of trains bringing the tourists in - including a new Pines express!

What a gem we have at each end of our line!

midford in 1991

This is a fantastic shot from Brian Clarke showing the miniature railway that operated along the platform at Midford in 1991. (Photo © Brian Clarke)

The picture shows the little steam train Bob Bullock brought to run along platform on iron track I made joined with ali track (like is in your garden) to get the length. This operated for insurance reasons as "Weston Miniature Rly" with scaled down replica "Pines Express" headboard & was the first steam train operation there since closure.

progress on compromise

Everyone who loves the S&D needs to work together, that is clear. There are some seriously artificial 'differences' between us, they are not real differences but simply differences in perception - in fact these differences wil fade as more and more people get the bigger picture. Remember that we were all once doubters (or ignorant) of Peak Oil. Nobody now seriously disputes that oil is a finite resource, that it will eventually vanish and that we will need to seriously change the way we source and use energy - and that in the process the old era of roads, cars, pollution and inefficiency will vanish. In reality many of the differences are no nore trivial than some people wanting 'power' within the S&D community. The New S&D has always sidestepped this rather anachronistic trait, anyone who wants to can get involved at any level. ALL ideas and energy are welcomed.

The previous post has brought forward a few good comments, which I've elevated to the main blog.

http://railways.national-preservation.com/showthread.php/28176-midsomer-norton-road-bridge.?p=387730#post387730

Is the relevant thread.

I believe the principle thorn in the side of the "preservationists" is the peak oil "angle". It would be a terrible shame if, despite the general alignment of aims there was a falling out over an underlying philosophy that has brought disparate groups to the same conclusion.

For my part I'm on nobody's side; I'm the grandson of the last driver of the "Pines Express" over S&D metals and just really want to see why it was so special to my Grandad.

I'm worried that the "no compromise" attitude may alienate rather than encourage the other groups to join the effort.
And my reply

But the preservationists are deluding themselves if they regard Peak Oil as an 'angle'. Oil is a finite resource and is getting scarcer by the day. As time passes the roads will empty as fewer and fewer of us can afford to drive. With the reduced tax take the roads themselves will fall into disrepair and all freight and passenger traffic will switch to rail. There's no contention in this, but a lot of people just don't want it to happen so they project this wish (and agenda) onto their own view of the future, and imagine it to have equal validity. It is so important to be realistic and keep one's own personal desires and foibles out of this. To not do so is to compromise.

At the end of the day it doesn't matter. The New S&D exists to bring the groups together, to act as an umbrella for the whole line, to lobby, to buy up and protect forever portions of the route. If others are happy to work locally (as are most of the Midford team) that is absolutely fine.I can not see why this should be any problem for anyone who loves the S&D. It takes nothing away from them - I myself am a dedicated life member at Midsomer Norton - but ensures that when the problems start to hit we are prepared.

Being prepared is the key to everything. Forget agendas, let's just get on with it. Nothing else matters.
and a very good contribution which says things better than I ever could

Well it seems obvious you can't build it all at once. We are not Brunel and we dont have his power or money.

Look at the way the M25 was built - easy bits first and then gradually filling in the gaps. The New Zealand railways of South Island had similar approach, as they had to cross several wide rivers.

We obviously need to gain the rights to build a railway over the entire route, and that should be going on in parallel to the actual construction and restoration in various places. Too many places and nothing gets finished and everyone gets disheartened.

May I also suggest an annual, 'walk the line', with a sponsored walk along as much of the original route as is possible. Once we could walk the whole route that would demonstrate to the press and locals that the project was possible.

Also desperately need a 'champion' with importance at a National level, who will act as a figurehead to bring in funds and even gain government support.

Once the tunnels in Bath are open that should help stimulate support. I also believe we should aim to restore all the mileposts as soon as possible and then add in the 'quarter posts' in sections that have been restored. Cosmetics in the early stage are important, even though the engineers amongst us might disagree. That is why the Midford restoration is so important. Big picture is essential, but doing lots of the easy things early on keeps everyone enthusiatic, and more likely to donate time and money.

unsentimental sentimentality

A two parter today - I'm getting a huge build up of articles, ideas etc, which has to be a good thing!

Top photo is a superb atmosphere shot of Blandford in the last few weeks before temporary closure in 1966. Night photography back then was a real challenge and the photographer (Joe Robbins) is a real hero of the S&D. We've all seen the classic S&D shots, double headers hauling the Pines through Midford etc, but I love the atmosphere shots most of all.

I know, I'm a hard-headed business person, so this shouldn't appeal to me. But, to me, it taps into memories of waiting around on stations at night. There's no sense of threat here, not even one of foreboding which could be excused due to the circumstances! It's the solidity, the sense of quiet purpose, more importantly the sense of connectedness. You don't get this with roads - an empty road at night is a spooky place ... and even 'modern' railway stations lack a lot of this.

Think of Blandford today. Remarkably rail-less, even if just for a few more years, bland and characterless, with nothing like the above to make it stand out. Just waiting really, for the New S&D's time to come.

Sentimental? Not at all. To fill our trains in the future, and there will be an awful lot of them, we need to make the railway environment as comfortable, friendly, familiar and, yes, English, as the above shot. We don't want bus shelters, trains where the seats don't match the windows, services stopping at 9pm rather than 1am and starting again at 7am rather than 4am. There'll be almost as many trains at night as in the day, possibly more when you factor the freight trains in. We deserve a pleasant environment to do our stuff in. The harsh brutality of 60s architecture offers nothing to us 21st century types. The pathetic haste in which ESSENTIAL railways were closed under the most crooked circumstances should never be forgotten - or forgiven. This photo, to me, has the same redemptive - and predictive - power as the 'Perchance it is not dead' wreath at Barnstaple Town.


And completely unsentimentally here's the lean-to oil store at Midford as it was in September 1961 (photo © John Eyers). Had this survived, or been rebuilt, I'd have been up there today in the rain - but sadly the oil store will not reappear for a little while yet! This is a particularly nice shot as it shows all our trackbed up to the Long Arch Bridge.

Both these photos appear in the superb S&D Telegraph number 36, available to members of the SDRHT at Midsomer Norton and usually available at their shop, as well as other back issues.

stamping ground

Great news - the post office is issuing a set of stamps in August and one of the first class values is shown above. Evening Star on the Pines at Midsomer Norton! I assume that Midsomer Norton will be doing a huge tie in with the issue of these stamps as this is really a once in a lifetime opportunity to push the station! It's even better that it's a first class stamp as these see vastly more use than the higher values in the rest of the set. Buy as many of these as you can and use them on all your letters and parcels! Issue date is 19 August 2010. There will also be a much larger postcard sized stamp card available.

midford - discuss ....

(Click on picture to enlarge and read text).

This is a plan for Midford put forward by George M Howard, who has recently created the Pines Express and Evening Star Facebook groups. This was merely a 'thought experiment', dreamed up before there were any plans to restore Midford. I do wonder if once we start work at Midford, which is now imminent, a trackless station will soon be too little, and thoughts will switch to laying track? 

pining for the pines

Hot on the heels of the launch of the Pines Express Facebook group, John Penny at Gartell sent this pic from Monday to remind us all that a version of the Pines Express is already running over the route of part of the S&D. Remember, the S&D is far from dead and is now returning to life in FOUR separate locations - Midsomer Norton, Gartell Railway, Shillingstone and (in a few days' time) Midford.

pines express facebook

Just spotted on Facebook is a new group that's celebrating the Pines Express. Please join!

Hopefully the 'historic' side of the New S&D will operate a new Pines Express over the route in the future. It will surely be the most popular steam train in the UK!

pines express - leaving peterbrough soon!

The Nene Valley are yet another heritage railway paying tribute to the fabulous S&D.

Thanks to Mark Warr for the following link - Pines on the Nene Valley.

INTENSIVE TIMETABLE

Non stop double headed Pines Express from Peterborough NVR to Yarwell

73050 will be running with it's name plates removed

Turntable demonstration

Freight Train In Operation

Real Ale Bar - Somerset themed Cider

Mark 1 carriage set in operation.

Ivo Peter's Bentley: NHY 581 on display by kind permisson of Julian Birley.

Other Somerset & Dorset attractions to be confirmed.

Imagine the support for an S&D recreation on the real S&D - coming soon to a station near you!

small break

I'll be away for a few days - hopefully enjoying the comparitive warmth of Barcelona. What will definitely be on the cards is modern public transport - Barcelona has been busy building new tram routes since 2004, unlike Bristol, Bath and Bournemouth who still insist on looking to the past for 'solutions' (buses!!) rather than trams.

Had a fantastic new joiner today, who was born in 1912 and remembers seeing the last Pines travel through Broadstone when he was playing golf there. He's 97 or 98 and had the foresight to take out a three year membership! Let's work together so we can show him something concrete in those three years ...

then, now, and the future

I received this card from a friend today, which is particularly appropriate as our next meeting will be on the right of this scene. This is of course classic Pines Express at Blandford. The photo below shows the amazing 'progress' made at this site!


Mmmm. From heart of the community to a bland and characterless corner of a dying town.

If you ever doubt or misunderstand what we are about, it is to switch this scene back to how it was - but with modern fast passenger and freight trains serving a thriving community, interspersed with steam specials bringing even more trade to our busy line!

Looking back at that first picture you do wonder how people were so short sighted that they allowed the S&D to close. Blandford station was close to the centre of town, even with closure of the rest of the route this section survived for another 3 years for freight - how did locals and rail enthusiasts allow it to go?? Surely it didn't take a lot of thought to understand that this section would have provided an excellent service into Bournemouth and Poole for the large town of Blandford, particularly taking into account the poor state of the roads in the area. Still, this is the 21st century, not a couple of bland and characterless decades in the 20th, and we won't ever make the same mistakes again.

I get a feeling that this will be the first part of the old S&D to be restored for real trains. I'm itching to announce wonderful news about a location on this section of our route, but I have to keep it under my hat for a little while longer!