The Wimbledon-Raynes Park-New Malden area was much visited in the days of steam as it was easily reached by bicycle from my home in Shirley, near Croydon. There were (and still are) a number of good locations from which to watch and photograph trains and in the autumn of 1963 all trains on the main lines to Bournemouth and Salisbury were still steam worked, even if the variety of the year before was much diminished by the cull of December 1962. I had moved on from my first 35mm camera, an East German Franka of dubious quality, and was using a second-hand Agifold 6x6 folding camera which could produce reasonable results if the film stock was developed properly, although this wasn’t always the case! So here is a selection of images from November 1963 on my favourite piece of railway at that time.
This was taken on Sunday, 3 November 1963 from the bridge over the South Western main line just on the London side of New Malden station. Urie S15 4-6-0 No 30512, allocated to Feltham shed, was working the 9-coach Locomotive Club of Great Britain ‘Hayling Island Farewell’ special to commemorate the closure of the Hayling Island branch that day. The train had left Waterloo at 9.44 am and was routed via the Mid Hants line and Winchester to Portsmouth, Havant and Hayling Island, returning via the Arun Valley line to Victoria after a side trip to Lavant from Chichester. Engines used that day were 30512, 30531, 30543, 31791, 32636, 32670 and 34088, an incredible variety of motive power even then.
About 45 minutes later, at the same location as 30512, rebuilt Merchant Navy class pacific 35020 Bibby Line was photographed working the 10.30 am Waterloo to Bournemouth and Weymouth. This train was worked by a Nine Elms top link driver and firemen who would take the train as far as Bournemouth, before returning later in the day with the same engine. At that time there were no Merchant Navy class engines allocated to Weymouth so another engine, probably a Bulleid light Pacific, would work the train forward from Bournemouth. This train was an easier proposition on Sundays than weekdays, as the schedule was eleven minutes longer to Bournemouth with just the one extra stop at Winchester as well as Southampton.
Just down the road at Raynes Park and in the shadow of the Kingston Bypass was a nice open location next to the erstwhile Carter’s Seed factory. Shots could be taken of trains going both ways and this image taken on Saturday, 16 November 1963 shows BR class 5 4-6-0 No 73046 working the 9.54 am Waterloo to Basingstoke local train, which was fast to Woking, booked in 31 minutes for the 24.3 miles. This engine had an interesting history. It was delivered new to Leicester (LMS) in 1955 and then transferred to Sheffield (Millhouses) in 1959 where it stayed until 1962 when it went to Rotherham until 1963 when it had its final move to Nine Elms. Thus it differed from the main batch of class 5s on the Southern (73080-73089 and 73110-73119) which had been there since 1959.
After seeing the Class 5 and 34046 on an up local train from Basingstoke, I moved to the footpath on the north side of the line to the west of Wimbledon station for the rest of the morning. First came 35024 on the up Royal Wessex and then 34018 Axminster photographed here working the 10.30 am Waterloo to Bournemouth. Even with eleven MK 1 and Bulleid coaches, the fairly tight 2-hour schedule to Bournemouth would have presented no problems to the Nine Elms crew. This train was booked to be hauled by one of the larger Merchant Navy class Pacifics but most Nine Elms drivers would have coped easily unlike certain drivers from other depots, notably Bournemouth, who would automatically have used the provision of a light Pacific as good enough reason to lose time, sometimes even announcing this in advance of the run! 34018 was at Nine Elms from 1951 until its withdrawal in 1967, except for a brief spell at Eastleigh in 1964/65. It was rebuilt in 1958 and lasted right to the end of steam on 9 July 1967, having accumulated nearly a million miles.
Soon after 34018 had passed came a filthy 34104 Bere Alston on that misty Saturday, 16 November 1963 working the 8.46 am Salisbury to Waterloo semi-fast service, due at Waterloo at 11.16 am. This was an Eastleigh engine at that time having started life at Stewarts Lane and ending at Nine Elms where it lasted almost to the end of steam. In the 1960s and until the previous year this train had usually been a Salisbury King Arthur turn, the engine working home on the 2.54 pm semi-fast from Waterloo. For many months the usual engine was 30451 which on 28 April that year gave me a fine run up from Woking with a maximum speed of 76mph. In contrast to this shabby engine, without its crest, Salisbury shed always kept their engines in immaculate condition and this tradition continues today with the class 159 diesel units. On the left is Wimbledon ‘C’ box and the line to Sutton.
Soon after the up Salisbury semi-fast had passed, 35020 Bibby Line appeared on the 13-coach 11 am ex Waterloo Atlantic Coast Express. This heavily loaded train of around 470 tons on that misty 16 November had the fastest scheduled times for steam that had ever existed on the Southern, not known for its progressive approach to such things. The 83.7 miles to Salisbury were allowed just 80 minutes and the 75.9 miles on over the switchback route to Exmouth Junction 75 minutes. I had some very fine runs on this train, with many times of around 76 minutes to Salisbury and below 70 minutes twice on to Exmouth Junction. This train was timed to reach Exeter in 2 minutes less than 3 hours and carried portions for Ilfracombe and Padstow at this time of year. Once the line west of Salisbury had passed to the Western Region in 1964 this train’s days were numbered as the Western gradually tried to strangle and close the line; it last ran on 5 September 1964. Fortunately the line survives and prospers today with the remaining singled sections inhibiting further growth.
One week later on Saturday, 23 November on a fine afternoon, I spent a couple of hours on the platforms at Wimbledon photographing steam on the main line. 35018 British India Line was working the 3 pm Waterloo to Exeter. This train was semi-fast with the first stop at Basingstoke. It carried through coaches to Plymouth and Ilfracombe, both reached in time for supper. In the middle of the picture is Wimbledon ‘A’ signal box. On the extreme left are the semaphore signals for the District Line/joint Southern line to East Putney and on the right signals on the line from Streatham. 35018 was delivered new to Nine Elms in 1945 and spent its whole life there, running a total of 956,500 miles before an early withdrawal in August 1964. It was the first Merchant Navy class pacific to be rebuilt in February 1956.