6 July 1963. 34093 Saunton south of Upwey Wishing Well Halt.
“The gradients from Weymouth are fearsome though not prolonged”
6 July 1963. 73080 Merlin and 73087 Linette passing the Upwey down distant signal with the 1.30 pm Weymouth to Waterloo.
Ihad few clear objectives for my 1963 Southern Region Rail Rover and indeed most of the week was spent bashing Merchant Navy class Pacifics on the Atlantic Coast Express and Bournemouth 2-hour trains. I had chosen a good week for the down ACE as driver Charlie Hopgood from Salisbury shed turned in consistently good performances every day with net or actual times to Salisbury being entirely within the narrow range of 77 to 79 minutes for the 83.7 miles with no more than very modest excesses over the 85mph speed limit. Typical of the top link at Salisbury shed at that time. The up ACE also produced some good performances with driver Bert Cambray, also of Salisbury shed, the best being with 35009 on Friday, 5 July when we kept the 80 minute schedule despite a long relaying slack near Hurstbourne, leaving a net time of under 75 minutes.
However I did know what I wanted to do for the last day of the rover, which was to spend a summer Saturday on Upwey Bank mainly for the purpose of photographing heavy trains climbing the 1 in 50 gradient. Saturday, 6 July would be well into the summer timetable which that year ran from 17 June until 8 September.
4924 Eydon Hall leaving Bournemouth Central with the 8.48 am New Milton to Swansea.
In addition to the Channel Islands Boat train which always loaded to at least ten coaches and would be likely to be running with at least one relief train, some of the more popular services to Waterloo would be running as a complete train through from Weymouth, with a separate train from Bournemouth West, instead of the normal weekday practice of portions from each joining at Bournemouth Central. There was also a Channel Islands Boat train connection to Cardiff which was still booked to be a heavy steam hauled train. So I was looking forward to plenty of action with a good mixture of motive power and most uphill trains banked or double-headed. It was also to be the last summer of the Great Western County class 4-6-0s working through to Weymouth, although many trains from the Westbury route were by then Diesel Mechanical Multiple units. On the Southern section there were a few non-steam incursions, with Diesel Electric Multiple units on most of the stopping trains to and from Eastleigh.
73089 Maid of Astolat south of Upwey Wishing Well Halt on the 9.24 am Waterloo to Weymouth.
My day started very early on the 4.40 am from Elmers End to Waterloo with 4EPB units, where, after walking across from the Eastern side, I boarded the 5.40 am semi-fast train to Bournemouth and Weymouth.
It was a gloomy morning so typical of that very poor summer and instead of the expected Bulleid Pacific my train was headed by BR class 5 4-6-0 No 73087. Out of Waterloo this was quite a heavy train, comprising five passenger coaches and seven vans conveying mail.
One van would be dropped at Woking and another at Basingstoke, reducing our gross load from about 350 tons to 280 tons after Basingstoke. The ‘5’ did quite well on a fairly easy schedule which allowed for mail to be unloaded en route, the maximum speed for the trip being 76mph between the Micheldever and Winchester stops. Arrival at Bournemouth was on time and I decided to break my journey here to take a few photos and consider whether it was worth continuing as the rain was now falling steadily.
1006 County of Cornwall struggles past Upwey and Broadwey station with the 4.15 pm Weymouth Quay to Cardiff.
73116 Iseult and 73017 pass Upwey and Broadwey station with the 3.50 pm Weymouth to Waterloo.
34018 Axminster passing Upwey and Broadwey station with the 8.15 am Waterloo to Weymouth Quay.
At Bournemouth the variety of a summer Saturday was evident, with 6929 Whorlton Hall noted on the 9.10 am Bournemouth West to Derby (Friargate), 4924 Eydon Hall on the 8.48 am New Milton to Swansea and 34105 Swanage on the 9.28 am Bournemouth West to Manchester and Liverpool. This latter train would have operated via the Somerset and Dorset Joint line until the end of the previous summer. The New Milton train was routed from Bournemouth via Wimborne, Salisbury and Westbury, though why it started at New Milton rather than Bournemouth is not known – maybe to do with stock workings and platform occupation at Bournemouth which was a busy place at that time on a summer Saturday morning. I could have done worse than catch this train to Salisbury as at that time I had not covered the track between Poole and Salisbury.
However I contented myself with a shot of the Hall leaving in the rain and stuck to my plan by joining the 7.45 am from Waterloo. It rolled in on time behind 34098 Templecombe, an Eastleigh engine, and deposited me in Weymouth just after 11 am. My lineside photographic pass was for Dorchester to Weymouth exclusive, but did not allow access to depots or tunnels so I planned to concentrate on the section from south of Upwey and Broadwey station to Upwey Wishing Well Halt, having walked in the rain past Radipole to gain access to the lineside from an overbridge.
The line from Dorchester to Weymouth was originally opened by the Great Western Railway in 1857 as the southern section of the line from Castle Cary via Yeovil. The London and South Western Railway also operated services over this section of line via Dorchester South. Upwey Wishing Well Halt was opened in 1905 and closed in 1957 although the platforms remained at the time of my visit. Upwey and Broadwey station was opened in 1871 as Upwey, being renamed Upwey Junction in 1886 when the line to Abbotsbury opened. When this branch closed to passengers in 1952 the station was again renamed, this time to Upwey and Broadwey. Finally in 1980 it was renamed back to the original Upwey. Has any station in the UK been renamed more? At the time of my visit the points and a short stretch of track for the Abbotsbury branch as far as Upwey still existed as freight had only been withdrawn on 1 January 1962. Radipole Halt was opened by the GWR in 1905, renamed Radipole in 1969 and closed in 1984. Mileposts are on the west (up) side of the line in keeping with normal Great Western practice and the route mileage is from Paddington via Westbury, Weymouth being 168 miles 57 chains and Upwey 166 miles and 66 chains. Weymouth is 142 miles 64 chains from Waterloo via Bournemouth.
73022 with a heavy freight, banked by 73041, climbing past the closed Upwey Wishing Well Halt.
The gradients from Weymouth are fearsome though not prolonged. After a short level stretch the line climbs at 1 in 187 to the overbridge just past the site of Radipole Halt, then steepens to 1 in 74 until the north end of Upwey station before the mile and a quarter of 1 in 50 to the entrance to Bincombe tunnel (819 yards) where it eases slightly to 1 in 52 to the summit at the north end, just over four and a quarter miles from Weymouth. In steam days trains were limited to seven coaches with one engine; the normal maximum train length was eleven coaches with a pilot or, more usually, a banking engine. It is extraordinary to think that 34067 Tangmere took eleven coaches unaided from Weymouth on 9 July 2009 after the class 37 diesel banking engine had failed. All credit to driver Pete Roberts, fireman John Shaw and that magnificent Bulleid pacific which even coped with a slip just before the entrance to the tunnel but still managed to top the climb at a very creditable 15mph. On my return from Weymouth on 6 July 1963 we were doing the same speed at the top with BR class 5 4-6-0 73112 with just five coaches!
1028 County of Warwick south of Bincombe tunnel with the 11.52 am Westbury to Weymouth.
6971 Athelhampton Hall south of Upwey station with the 7.05 am Birmingham Snow Hill to Weymouth service.
34031 Torrington with the 8.30 am Waterloo to Weymouth.
73042 leaving Upwey and Broadwey station with the 12.10 pm Weymouth to Bournemouth Central.
34098 Templecombe, banked by 73041, climbs the 1 in 50 with the 3.15 pm Weymouth to Waterloo relief.
34107 Blandford Forum passing Upwey and Broadwey with the 12.35 pm Waterloo to Weymouth.
34101 Hartland approaching Upwey and Broadwey station with the 3.30 pm Weymouth Quay to Waterloo.
73112 Morgan Le Fay just south of Bincombe tunnel with the 11.22 am Waterloo to Weymouth.
The photographs and tables show the day’s proceedings with one or two surprises evident, notably the appearance of Exmouth Junction Bulleid light Pacific 34107 Blandford Forum on the 12.35 pm from Waterloo. This engine had obviously been purloined by Nine Elms the week before as I had seen it at Southampton on Thursday, 4 July working the 10.50 am Bournemouth West to Newcastle train which it would have taken as far as Oxford.
My quest to see the GWR County Class 4-6-0s was fulfilled and I was also more than pleased with the extra afternoon train from Weymouth to Waterloo plus the extent of banking, undertaken mainly by BR Standard class 5 4-6-0 73041 and Class 4 2-6-0 76057, making quite a procession in the rain and cold conditions. The ex GWR 0-6-0 Pannier tank 4624, resident at Weymouth, only put in one appearance, banking the 11.25 am to Waterloo. There were also two trains double-headed, the pilot engines of which (73080 and 73116) didn’t return down the bank, probably because they were both Nine Elms engines. The 11.25 am up train was hauled by 34090 Sir Eustace Missenden which must have had a lightning turnaround at Bournemouth as it returned on the 10.30 am from Waterloo running about half an hour late. Bournemouth shed must have been very short of motive power that day. The day’s work for this engine still wasn’t finished as it worked back again on the 4.42 pm to Bournemouth.
6 July 1963. 34031 Torrington at the head of the 3 pm Weymouth Quay to Waterloo.
6 July 1963. 76057 banking the 3 pm Weymouth Quay to Waterloo train.
73080 Merlin pilots 73087 Linette on the 1.30 pm Weymouth to Waterloo.
34090 Sir Eustace Missenden, Southern Railway just south of Bincombe tunnel with the 10.30 am Waterloo to Weymouth.
By the end of the day I was thoroughly soaked by the rain but reasonably happy with my tally of 24 steam hauled trains on Upwey bank and the 23 different engines seen, from 6 different sheds. I was looking forward to the return run to Waterloo behind the booked Bulleid light Pacific, but BR Standard Class 73112 turned up on the 5.35 pm. However it gave a good account of itself on five coaches as far as Bournemouth and eleven for 400 tons from there, keeping time on the extended summer Saturday schedule for this train. I would have arrived home at about 9.30 pm no doubt to a reheated dinner and a cup of tea.