Bulleid Pacifics - Past or Present

The owner of 35058 is considerably older than early 40s.

 

Sorry, my fault. I meant to imply that the volunteer speaking to me was in his early forties, not the owner himself.

Have now edited my post to hopefully make this clearer.

Also i seem to remember, someone mentioning to me in the past that the owner was formerly involved with the MHR. Is this correct?

 

Yes he is 'Big Mike' formally of the London Midland Soc, then owners of 3F 47324 and 4F 44123

 

Whilst discussing the state of play of locos that are yet to run, does anyone have an update on 35006? I went to the 35006 page on the G&WSR website and the latest progress page was blank. Last I heard of it was that it was in an advanced state but it seems to have gone quiet lately.

Cheers,

Paul

 

When you click on the 35006 progress reports link you have to then click 2009 on the left hand side menu bar. You will then see July 2009 and April 2009 appear in this menu - July seems to be the last update available.

Hope this helps


Keith

 

Oops! Sorry. Typical of a member of this Forum to jump to conclusions without giving the original poster the benefit of the doubt about what they actually meant!

 

I've just purchased Jim Clemens' 'The Withered Arm' DVD - for those too young to remember the steam age, a revelation! Much of the video is shot from a carriage window, and there are some great shots of Bulleid hauled ACEs travelling at speed.

Pity I'm not 5 years older!

 

The most interesting thing about the 'Withered Arm' is probably the sight of a Pacific hauling a single-carriage local stopping train tender-first. I can't think of any other instances of this happening in the other regions.

 

There is a well known picture in various publications of 34098 Templecombe on one of these workings around 1961 just before it was rebuilt. I can't remember the location.

 

http://southernlocomotivesltdphotogallery.fotopic.net/p60566185.html

Here's a shot of 34072 257 Squadron on a two coach train near Wadebridge in 1961.

 

A Padstow - Wadebridge working IIRC. Memory's a bit hazy but I think it was to get the loco turned as Wadebridge turntable could handle a Pacific but Padstow's couldn't. I stand to be corrected on this.

 

Wikipedia (that unimpeachable source of knowledge!) has it the other way round; according to this link Padstow had a 70 foot turntable whereas that at Wadebridge was 50 feet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadebridge_railway_station

 

Am I right in saying that only un-rebuilt light pacific’s could run down the 'Withered Arm'. This was because of the extra weight that a rebuilt light pacific gained. I’ve never seen a photo of a rebuilt pacific on the Withered Arm?


Ps Maybe one day Network Rail will reinstate the Withered Arm if the sea wall at Dawlish becomes to costly to maintain with rising sea levels.

 

I am not sure where the weak points were, but in practice rebuilt light pacifics worked to Plymouth but not to the other SR destinations west of Exeter. Roger Mannion and Brian Haresnape's books both include the line "...in particular they were never allowed to Barnstaple, Padstow or Ilfracombe". Bude is not mentioned though I doubt they got there either. Merchant Navy's never went west of Exeter, in fact they rarely went down the hill to St Davids as loco changing was always done at Exeter Central, as shown here:

http://nick301.photos.us.com/c1225803.html

 

Maybe it was nothing to do with turning the loco then but they certainly did work that one coach train on occasions as did the Beattie well tanks at times. Just wish I could locate my RCTS book on the Bulleids as that would have the answer.

 

Never fear, I'll check my copy! You can't beat a bit of D. L. Bradley!

 

According to Bradley (p. 96), there was no real difference in route availability despite the weight increase, although the re-builts were prohibited in North Devon and Cornwall, whilst they were only permitted to run to Plymouth in 1960. This doesn't really give any particular weight-related reason why they were barred, but he also notes that some restrictions were actually lifted from both types over the Lymington branch, Totton-Fawley, Seaton Jcn.-Seaton and Topsham-Exmouth, whilst others were imposed upon both (Horsted Keynes-Culver Jcn.). As far as I can see, the turntable at Padstow could acommodate a Bulleid, as could the one at Ilfracombe (although they sometimes top and tailed Bulleids to reduce the time needed to turn the engine round).

 

The rebuilds had a higher axle loading and were banned from the branches as a result. IIRC they were allowed west of Exeter on the LSWR only to Plymouth after bridge strengthening.