21 July 1962. 34045 Ottery St Mary at Worting Junction with the 9.30 am Waterloo to Southampton Docks.
“I can only marvel at how well the operating departments and motive power depots kept up with demands on such a busy day”
21 July 1962 30934 St Lawrence passing Worting Junction with the 9.42 am Waterloo to Lymington Pier.
After the end of steam on South Eastern main lines in June 1961, I turned my attention to other lines which still had some steam operation and it didn’t take me long to work out that the place to be for a high level of action was on the South Western main line out of Waterloo. I soon discovered that the footpath by the main line at Wimbledon was within easy cycling distance and so this was where my long association with steam out of Waterloo started, in July 1961, though there had been the occasional foray before that using Area 2 Rail Rovers. I soon learned that motive power provision was dominated by Bulleid’s pacifics and to a lesser extent by BR Standard classes Four and Five, but that a number of the more interesting classes still remained and would do for a while yet. By June 1962 I was going further afield and had gleaned enough information from the various railway magazines to realise that a summer Saturday by the lineside would allow me to see and photograph as many as a hundred or more steam hauled trains, including some regularly hauled by Maunsell’s Schools, Nelsons and Moguls. So it came about that I spent every Saturday bar one in the 1962 summer timetable somewhere on the South Western main line, reached either by a long cycle ride or in a few cases by train. The exception was 28 July, where during the course of a Southern Region Rail Rover I was linesiding on the Somerset and Dorset.
21 July 1962. 73110 The Red Knight passing Worting Junction with the 1.45 pm Exmouth, 2.35 pm Seaton to Waterloo.
21 July 1962 Worting Junction. 73047 on the 9.35 am Waterloo to Bournemouth passing 73089 on the 9.25 am Wimbledon to Weymouth.
The complete list of dates and locations is as follows:
9 June |
Brookwood, Pirbright and Farnborough |
16 June |
Clapham Junction |
23 June |
Pirbright |
30 June |
Worting Junction |
7 July |
New Malden and Raynes Park |
14 July |
New Malden |
21 July |
Worting Junction and Wootton |
28 July |
Chilcompton |
4 August |
Pirbright and Farnborough |
11 August |
Clapham Junction, Wimbledon and Pirbright |
18 August |
Weybridge and Woking |
25 August |
Wimbledon, New Malden and Pirbright |
1 September |
Worting Junction and Wootton |
The added attraction of Worting Junction was the extra variety of through trains from places ‘up north’, though the local services between Waterloo and Basingstoke couldn’t be seen here. This youthful enthusiast took full advantage of the good spots available nearby even to the extent of straying trackside – there was a much more laid back attitude to such things then. I was only ever challenged once but managed to talk my way out of that!
I have kept full records of all those amazing days and have chosen 18 August 1962 in the Weybridge and Woking areas as an example for this chapter, together with a few shots from 21 July at Worting. My camera was a 35mm East German Franka which produced some reasonable results depending on how the film developing was handled, though the colour shots taken on Gevaert film have needed a lot of work to make them just about acceptable.
The tables show what happened that warm summer day so long ago and I can only marvel at how well the operating departments and motive power depots kept up with demands on such a busy day. Some things can be highlighted such as the use of a BR class 4 2-6-0 No 76014 on one of the up Lymington Pier trains instead of the usual Schools class 4-4-0, and even more unusual King Arthur class 4-6-0 No 30765 Sir Gareth on the 1.28 pm from Lymington Pier substituted for Schools class No.30937 Epsom which had worked down on the 9.42 am train and running very fast past my spot at Hook Heath having made up all of the ten minute late start from Southampton.
Summer Saturday timetable.
18 August 1962. 34023 Blackmore Vale passing Woking with the 10.45 am to Seaton and Lyme Regis.
18 August 1962. 76014 near Woking with the 10.30 am Lymington Pier to Waterloo.
18 August 1962. 33040 at Hook Heath with the 3.14 pm Basingstoke to Woking.
18 August 1962. 30765 Sir Gareth running very fast approaching Woking with the 1.28 pm Lymington Pier to Waterloo.
18 August 1962. 31821 on the 1.24 pm Waterloo to Salisbury.
The log of Schools class 30921 Shrewsbury shows that this too was struggling, maybe not surprising in this last year of such a famous class when they had no regular work except the summer Lymington Pier trains and one duty on Central division lines, involving the 5.25 pm from London Bridge to Reading via Redhill. The picture of 30934 St Lawrence at Worting Junction on 21 July is interesting as this engine had been substituted for 30936 Cranleigh by driver Bert Fordrey at Basingstoke and it then proceeded to reach 80mph down the hill to Winchester. 30902 Wellington though was a star performer that summer and appeared on every Saturday except 1 September, mainly on the 8.45 am down and 11.43 am up trains. What incredible reliability. The number of trains hauled by Standard Class 5s was notable and one in particular was unusual in that it was booked non-stop over the 98.55 miles from New Milton to Waterloo. This was the 1.48 pm from Bournemouth and was hauled variously by 73113 (23 June), LN class 30857 (30 June), 73089 (14 July), 34007 (21 July), 73085 (4 August), LN class 30856 (11 August) and 73088 (18 August). The time of two hours one minute wasn’t excessive but with most engines having a tender capacity of only 4,725 gallons I wonder if sometimes an extra stop was made at Basingstoke for water. The 10 am from Bournemouth was non-stop, though this was booked for Merchant Navy Pacific haulage and it was every day that I saw it except for 23 June when it was hauled by LN class No 30857 Lord Howe.
18 August 1962. 34047 Callington approaching Woking with the 9.20 am from Bournemouth.
18 August 1962. 30839 approaching Woking with the 9.03 am Templecombe to Waterloo.
18 August 1962. 73119 Elaine passing Weybridge with the 9.25 am Wimbledon to Weymouth.
18 August 1962. 35011 approaching Woking on the slow line at Hook Heath with the 11 am Bournemouth West to Waterloo.
18 August 1962. 30902 Wellington at Hook Heath with the 11.43 am Lymington Pier to Waterloo.
Timekeeping on these busy summer Saturdays generally wasn’t too bad but sometimes up trains appeared in the wrong order, as the train log for 18 August shows. On that day the worst offender was the 12 noon down train to Lymington Pier which left Waterloo 19 minutes late after the engine didn’t appear until 12.11 pm and so ran behind both the 12.05 and 12.15 down trains. It passed me running about 25 minutes late and only doing about 45mph as the train running log shows. At Southampton there was an argument between the driver and guard as the latter insisted on giving the driver a lost time ticket. Other trains did very well and my notes suggest that the immaculate 34065 Hurricane was running at about 70mph up the climb to milepost 31 on its 13-coach load working the 1.30 pm down, thus reflecting its apt name! It was fresh from a Light Intermediate overhaul on 28 July when it had done 234,559 miles, so that explains it.
18 August 1962. 34006 Bude approaching Woking with the 10.08 am Southampton Docks to Waterloo.
18 August 1962. 34096 Trevone approaching Woking with the up ACE, 10.30 am Ilfracombe to Waterloo.
18 August 1962. 30861 Lord Anson approaching Weybridge with the 8.12 am from Basingstoke to Waterloo.
18 August 1962. 35003 Royal Mail’ approaching Woking at 81mph with the 8.09 am Torrington, 8.10 am Ilfracombe to Waterloo.
18 August 1962. 34028 Eddystone at Hook Heath with the 2.30 pm Waterloo to Weymouth.
18 August 1962. 35012 United States Line passing Woking with the 10.30 am Waterloo to Weymouth.
18 August 1962. 30937 Epsom heading the 09.42 am Waterloo to Lymington Pier past Weybridge.
18 August 1962. Immaculate 34065 Hurricane at Hook Heath with the 1.30 pm Waterloo to Bournemouth West and Weymouth.
18 August 1962. 30861 Lord Anson after passing Woking with the 3.30 pm Waterloo to Bournemouth West.
18 August 1962. 30834 near Woking with the 3.25 pm Waterloo to Basingstoke ECS.
18 August 1962. 35018 passing Weybridge with the 8.03 am Surbiton to Okehampton car carrier.
18 August 1962. 34059 passing Weybridge with the 8.15 am Waterloo to Weymouth Quay.
18 August 1962. 31804 on the 9.54 am Waterloo to Basingstoke passing Weybridge.
25 August 1962. 30902 Wellington passing Wimbledon with the 8.45 am Waterloo to Lymington Pier.
18 August 1962. 73088 Joyous Gard on the 1.48 pm Bournemouth Central to Waterloo, non-stop to Waterloo from New Milton.
18 August 1962. 30902 Wellington passing Weybridge with the 8.45 am Waterloo to Lymington Pier.
18 August 1962. Urie S15 No 30514 leaving Woking on the 11.25 am to Salisbury.
18 August 1962. 30903 Charterhouse passing Woking with the 11.22 am Waterloo to Weymouth.
18 August 1962. S15 No 30507 at Hook Heath with the 12.12 pm Basingstoke to Waterloo.
21 July 1962. 30793 Sir Ontzlake entering Basingstoke with the 5.15 pm Salisbury to Waterloo.
The train running of 34023 Blackmore Vale, shown in one of the photographs working the 10.45 am down, was perhaps more typical as it took 96 minutes to Salisbury against the booked 91, but with many out of course checks and a top speed of 72mph. 35003 Royal Mail on the up train due at 2.08 pm did better, also taking 96 minutes but instead of the 105 minutes booked and again with many checks. It arrived just one minute late after a maximum speed of 81mph past me at Hook Heath, two miles west of Woking.
I hope that the lineside log and photos give a flavour of those captivating days over fifty years ago. My only regret was not travelling on one of the Lymington Pier trains behind Schools class 30902 Wellington.
