CATHEDRALS EXPRESS LONDON - YEOVIL - WEYMOUTH 9 JULY

A friend has a First Class ticket which he cannot use owing to illness, so if anyone would like it, possibly at a reduced price, please send me a private message. The train is now shown as full in all classes.
Andover

 

Got tickets and very few timings for this run. 9.55 off Waterloo, 15.06 into Weymouth. 40 minute stop at Yeovil on outward run. 17.38 off Weymouth, 21.54 into Waterloo.

 

Yes - looking forward to this one. It will be hard to improve on last year's effort with Tangmere but let's see what Clan Line can do.

 

I'm looking forward to this as well. A great way to mark the 45th anniversary since the end of Southern steam with a Merchant Navy from Weymouth to Waterloo. Does it get any better?

Paul

 

I'm very much looking forward to this run as well. Full timings are now available on the SD site here: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spr...QXdKZnkyNjB3U2c&authkey=CL6x4d0M&hl=en&gid=88

Two stops on the outward section to Yeovil, one at Overton and the other at Salisbury. And only two on the return at Poole and Southampton goods loop.

 

... and a high speed, non-stop run from Soton to Waterloo by the looks of things. This will make my day!

James at SVN

 

Sadly, such is the traffic on that line these days and the problems with getting a steam special fitted in, that the schedule, if kept, will probably be the slowest non stop run I have ever had up from Southampton to Waterloo. And that includes during the very worst of the electrification work in 1965 to 1967.

My last decent non stop run was on July 7th 1967 with 35008 and just 10 cars. 76 mins 28 secs with checks. Circa 71 minutes net time! 75 mph up Roundwood before a tsr slowing near Winchester Junction. 71 over Roundwood and then steady running up to 87 afterwards. Not a high speed run by any means. And I don't recall excessive noise from the loco on the climb up Roundwood.

There will be no repeat on Monday of course. But I am sure our loco and support crews will do everything they can to put in a good performance wherever that is possible. They cannot help the schedule that modern traffic conditions limits us to. And of course we do have quiet a good schedule to Overton in the morning, with an outside chance of an even time run. Either to Overton, or from Overton to Salisbury. Would be nice to get past Worting Junction inside 50 minutes, the old ACE schedule, and behind 35028. I had one of my fastest Waterloo-Salisbury runs behind her on the down ACE. Fred Hoare at the controls, and I think Pete Allen firing.

By the way, there are 16 of us together this year in coach K. Not all of us timers from the 1960's, but a good number of us are. Apologies in advance for the noise and merry making!

 

Not old enough to remember those 1960s runs but 34027 Taw Valley, Easter Saturday 1993 stands out for me as one of the best preservation runs I've experienced. Non stop from Basingstoke rather than Southampton but 1 mph faster through Woking than the highst speed mentioned above made it very special. Far too much regulation and technology to allow that to happen these days without at least 12 months worth of planning I suspect sadly.

 

I'm in coach K as well "KentYeti" So if there's any talk of the old days please make sure you talk loud enough for me to earwig! Thank you.

Regards,

Paul

 

My Father and I are also in coach K and will take the rise in the noise levels from your group "Kent Yeti" as a sign that the performance from 35028 is good!
To fit the mood of the day I will be wearing a Beatles Sgt Pepper T-shirt as this Album was top of the charts in July '67 having been released on 1st June.

 

A few times at Battledown in recent years photographing steam specials has been a rather "gobsmacking" experience re the amount of traffic now running. Not just passenger but freight as well. Almost non stop action.

In the 1960s it was basically an hourly service to Bournemouth. With the slow trains after Basingstoke covered mainly by the "bod carts", as we used to call the DEMUs running from time to time down from Reading.

I really don't recall much freight at all in those days. The biggest problem for the faster up trains was to catch up an Ocean Liner "Express" on Roundwood bank.

As for getting through Woking fast. That was always a lottery. My best was 92 on the up ACE behind the wonderful Saunders/Young combination from Salisbury. Freddy Hoare used to call it, "Stop All Junction", and with good reason. Most crews always eased back for the inevitable check.

Did go though Woking at 85 on the down road once! 21.20 ex Waterloo run 15th May 1965, when Gordon Hooper and"Drop Grate" Wilson set the all time steam record to the Basingstoke stop. 43.48 with a severe tsr at Wimbledon. And then went onto 105 mph just before Winchester Junction. 35005 and ten cars. With a bit of luck and a fair wind Gordon could well be at Yeovil Junction to meet the train on Monday. Last time we were in touch he was keeping well.

Aaah. 9th July approaches again and the memories come flooding back! It is truly amazing that we can still have the chance of a Merchant Navy out of Waterloo on the down main.

 

One of the more amusing moments last year was a spell when, watching the GPS units, the speed was being called out in the names of the Light Pacifics! i.e 41 was Wilton, 44 was Woolacombe, then we got moving up to Spitfire, (66), peaking at around 264 Squadron. Wishing maybe for a quick City of Wells or even an "Applecore", as we used to call Appledore! I was rusty on the West Countrys and hopeless on the Squadrons! John T was magic at them though!

And the nicknames, (we had nicknames for most things in those days)! Like the "Milk Marketing Board Machine" for 34090. After one of the drivers had called her "An Old Crate".

And 34004 became Yeo-vile after some dreadful runs. Etc etc!

And thankfully some of us have never really grown up. And still have as much fun when we are together now as we did back in in the 1960s.

Cheers,

Bryan

 

I am also in coach K. Hoping we get get some decent weather as well as a good run.

 

I am in Coach H and feel quite left out. Sounds like K is the place to be.

 

Well I'm in J so I can be the middle man

 

Yes Al, Shawford to Clapham Junction pass to pass does give a chance of free running on what I have already stated is a very busy railway these days.

Maybe when my Owl book is finished and published, and I once again have some funds spare, (LOL!), I'll see if any like minded individuals want to chip in to help finance an overnight trip. 01.10 ex Waterloo to Salisbury in 80 mins. And back up from a Southampton start to Waterloo on an 84 minute schedule. We did do that a few years ago in Germany, ie re-created an overnight Hamburg-Osnabruck express and return. With permitted 140 km/h running, (87 mph). But on normal fares so it ran at a loss I think!

But don't hold your breath. There's a few years work for me yet. And I'd like a photo of a Galapagos Short-Eared Owl for the book, (they are the most distinctly different from a British ones), and I can't find one in a European Zoo. Most of my Owl photos are in the wild, but I'd make an exception for that one. But no luck with zoos so far, and I have started checking on flights to Quito and onto the Galapagos!

Anyway. Leaving Waterloo behind a Merchant Navy, and pulling away from Southampton behind the same is going to be great on Monday. Along with the company I used to share 45 years ago. Yippee!

 

Like the overnight trip idea but being Britain you can just imagine it being scuppered at the last minute by either NR emergency maintenance work or copper cable thieves. Monday will be as good as it gets for a while I suspect.

 

It's also worth remembering that Monday's trip will be running on what is only a little over 2 months short of 20 years since the groundbreaking "Bournemouth Limited" tour of Friday 11 September 1992 when Taw Valley set out of Waterloo in the dark at the head of the first revenue earning steam hauled train on the 3rd rail since presumably the end of Southern Steam on 9 July 1967 making it another trip worth remembering this Monday as well I hope.

 

In my heart of hearts I think you are spot on there. It will need a Euro Lottery winner with money to throw away a few times until it all worked out right.

So, day dreams over, lets look forward to a great day out on Monday.