March 1st 2024 to March 16th 2024

March 2024 kicked off with another visit to Dorset from the Snow & Ice Treatment Train (SITT) in the charge of GBRf Class 66 No.’s 66764 ‘Major John Poyntz Engineer & Railwayman’ and 66750 ‘Bristol Panel Signal Box’ working as 3Y89 2200 Totton Yard to Totton Yard. This ran on the evening of Friday 1st March and we saw the train passing through Hamworthy as it headed to Weymouth on its outward run.

The following day, Saturday 2nd March, Yoshi exercised his National Trust membership and had an enjoyable day visting Lytes Cary Manor and Montacute House, both located in Somerset. On the way home we took a slight diversion and popped into the independent and dog friendly Winyard’s Gap Inn, situated on the outskirts of Chedington village in West Dorset overlooking the glorious Dorset and Somerset hills. After the First World War, the National Trust donated 16 acres of land close to the pub for a memorial to the 43rd Division of the Dorsetshire Regiment. 

Monday 4th March was the planned date for the unveiling of South Western Railway (SWR) retro liveried Class 455/8 Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) No. 455868, as the set was due to form a staff special running from Bournemouth to London Waterloo initially leaving Bournemouth depot as 5Z67 1012 Bournemouth TRSMD to Bournemouth. It was envisaged that SWR’s Managing Director would join the train at Woking in readiness for a ceremony being held at the London Terminus. However, these plans were cancelled following a derailment (or “operational incident” as it was described on the day) between Walton on Thames and Weybridge blocking all lines into Waterloo. This was the effect of a train, reportedly traveling at 90mph, hitting an object on the conductor rail.

A Network Rail Wessex safety bulletin posted on X (formerly Twitter) states the train struck scrap rail left on the track following engineering work:

At 05.50 on Monday 4th March 2024, a passenger train struck scrap rail travelling on the Up Fast line on the four track railway at Walton-on-Thames. This caused the front bogie of the train to partially derail. No passengers on the train were injured. Following the event, all lines were blocked to allow the safe evacuation of passengers. The derailment caused significant damage to the infrastructure. A few minutes before this incident, a train reported striking an object (at the time reported as a possible branch or piece of wood) on the adjacent Up Slow line. This was the third train in the Up direction following weekend engineering works, and the first on the Up Fast line. The works undertaken at the weekend included tamping, ballasting and scrap clearance. The location where the train struck the scrap rail was on a rail road access point (RRAP). This had been used at the weekend as part of a track renewal follow up. The incident is under investigation by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) and Network Rail.”

Rumours abounded that the newly repainted Class 455 would sneak out of the depot later on the Monday, and when that didn’t happen, it was said to be working to Wimbledon on the Tuesday. And when that run didn’t materialise, news came that it would definitely depart Bournemouth Traction & Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot on the Wednesday! So that’s how we found ourselves on Branksome Station after lunch on March 6th, delighted to be one of the first to see No. 458868 in all her retro glory as she formed the 5Y51 1432 Bournemouth T&RSMD to Wimbledon Park Depot Sidings working along with fellow classmate No. 455909 which is still in red SWT livery.

While we waited for the celebrity Class 455 to appear, we saw one of the Class 701 Arterio test runs heading to Poole (as well as its return leg). The introduction of these units is severely delayed, but once they are cascaded onto suburban services, the Class 455’s will be withdrawn from service.

The retro look of No. 458868 is inspired by the original British Rail Blue and Minerva Grey livery that passengers would have seen when the trains first arrived on British Rail Southern Region in 1982. To meet modern accessibility standards, some slight changes have been made, with the units’ doors fully painted in Minerva Grey.

SWR’s name is displayed as are 12 Golden Spanners, commemorating Wimbledon Depot’s 12 award wins at the Modern Railways Golden Spanner awards in the category of Ex-British Rail Electrical Multiple Units. It’s presumed that this retro-painted train will be one of the last of its class to be taken out of service and likely to have a special farewell tour when that time arrives.

A pair of refurbished Class 458 EMU’s were also out on day release from Bournemouth depot performing a test run, and we managed to snap a couple of shots of these as they arrived at Branksome to run into the depot before we headed home.

Monday 11th March and the monthly Class 73 top and tailed Colas Railfreight operated test train ventured onto our metals again. GBRf No.’s 73963 ‘Janice’ and 73961 ‘Alison’ took the honours this time working 1Q51 1005 Derby R.T.C.(Network Rail) to Eastleigh East Yard. We were also able to see a nocturnal Class 701 run departing Poole prior to the Class 73’s arriving.

Wednesday 14th March saw more Class 458 Unit drags taking place to and from Bournemouth depot – this time with a variation in paths from recent similar movements when two locomotives have been employed – one loco at each end of the train to enable reversing into the depot sidings from Branksome railway station. On this run, only one locomotive was allocated to the train, necessitating a run round at Poole. This was believed to be at trial for future unit drag operations and saves the cost of hiring two locomotives by employing T7 EMU translator coaches which enable locomotives with standard hook and shackle couplers to move multiple units fitted with tightlock couplers. The coaches were converted at Eastleigh Arlington in 2014 from two ex-Class 508 Driving Motor Coaches, sourced from unit No. 508027, purposely for use on stock drags and make shunting simpler.

The two bright green T7 barrier translator coaches are registered as No. 64707 ‘Labezerin’ and No. 64664 ‘Liwet’ – both cars being named after angels; Labezerin is the genius of success in talismanic magic. He serves in the second hour of the day and, according to angelic lore, Liwet presides over unique ideas and inventions. So now you know.

We went to Poole railway station to see Class 69 No. 69008 ‘Richard Howe’ hauling refurbished SWR Class 458 No. 458415 arriving with 5Q64 Southampton Down Loop to Bournemouth T&RSMD before heading out to Poole Storage Sidings where the locomotive would detach and run round its train. Poole Town Bridge is closed for two weeks for its annual maintenance and I was caught out with a bridge lift at Twin Sails, and arrived at Poole Station with minutes to spare. Unfortunately, the camera on my phone was ‘hunting’ it recorded the train running through platform 2 resulting in out of focus video and the SD card in my DSLR malfunctioned. Not a promising start!

Later in the day, I opted to film the return working at Branksome as under cover of darkness, No. 69008 left Bournemouth depot on the first leg of its journey up to Widnes with Class 458 No. 458521, the next unit in line for refurbishment and conversion, working as 5Z66 1937 Bournemouth T&RSMD to Eastleigh East Yard. We also saw another SWR Class 701 Arterio test run and several passenger and empty coaching stock movements. You can watch events in the video below.

15th March and the Snow & Ice Treatment Train made another Friday evening visit on the Bournemouth to Weymouth line, reporting as 3Y89 2200 Totton Yard to Totton Yard and once again being top ‘n tailed by GBRf Class 66 No.’s 66764 ‘Major John Poyntz Engineer & Railwayman’ and 66750 ‘Bristol Panel Signal Box’.

View From North Dorset:

07/03/2024 – The New Measurement Train (NMT) passed through North Dorset with Network Rail Yellow liveried Class 43 HST power cars No.’s 43062 and 43013 as 1Q23 0556 Reading to Exeter via Salisbury.

Over night on the 14th and 15th March 2024, the Ultrasonic Test Unit (UTU) made an appearance in North Dorset with Harry Needle Class 37 No. 37607 working 3Q07 Exeter Riverside N.Y. to Exeter Riverside N.Y.  Friend of the blog and North Dorset Correspondant, Scott, was on hand to see the train passing Gillingham and at Yeovil Junction in the early hours.

HAMWORTHY BRANCH

Work has been taking place at Hamworthy Park Crossing in connection with renewing the electrical supply and the restoration of signalling at this location.

February 27th 2024 saw the publication of the new Poole Harbour Commissioners (PHC) Masterplan – which expands on the previous ambition in returning rail freight to the port by utilising the Hamworthy Branch. First published in March 2013, the Masterplan identifies PHC’s vision and strategic outcomes for the next 20 years.

A date of 2025 for the reinstatement of the rail link is quoted if negotiations with potential stakeholders bear fruit. This ties in with information we have been told previously by Network Rail (NR). This was further supported in the response to a Freedom Of Information Request recently shared on Facebook:

[Network Rail] can confirm that there are plans to resume freight traffic to Poole harbour along the Hamworthy Branch. The project is subject to funding being secured to redevelop the sidings infrastructure within the Port, which would prove the catalyst for some latent demand for sea dredged aggregates traffic to originate from the Port and serve the London and Southeast market.

“There is some potential for container traffic as an onward development, but that is a longer-term prospect and would need to overcome some gauging challenges elsewhere before it could start. The focus will very much be on aggregates traffic and the market should cater for a dally train. There is a potential pot of funding which Network Rail is seeking to utilise for the Poole project but the application for the Port works to be part of this is not confirmed yet.”

From The Archive:

For The Record:

Dorset Council announced it is now part of the North as it declared it would receive £2.068 million each for the years 2023/24 and 2024/25 from the Department for Transport (DafT) ‘Network North fund’, from “reallocated HS2 government funding”, which together with other maintenance and pothole funds, will be dedicated to carriageway maintenance in the council area.

Network Rail and Lambeth council have announced a Vision Statement on future plans for Waterloo Railway Station – the London terminus for the Bournemouth and Weymouth line. Plans include opening up the station undercroft area for public use with new office space built above the station to help fund the upgrade. The masterplan also looks at how the wider area can be improved, with the street outside the front of the station pedestrianised and several of the arches carrying the railway to Charing Cross, directly in front of Waterloo, opened up to form new public walkways. Some of the existing bus and taxi stops could also be relocated to a new enhanced interchange on the south-eastern side of the station.

For more information on future plans for London Waterloo, follow the links below:

https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/housing/regeneration-projects/waterloo-station-vision

https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2024-03/WSM_Summary%20Vision%20Statement.pdf

That just about brings us to the end of another railway dog blog entry, but just enough time to say on March 16th 2024, Yoshi and I celebrated the fifth anniversary of Gotcha Day. On this day in 2019, Yoshi adopted me and I’ve loved having his companionship ever since.

Thanks for reading, and for your comments and corrections. We’ll be back soon, until then take care. Be seeing you.

Postscript: