Wednesday 24th August to Tuesday 30th August 2022
In contrast to last week, Yoshi and I have been kept reasonably busy over the last seven days.
New Measurement Train
Yoshi’s North Dorset Correspondent sent us video and photos of the New Measurement Train which passed through Dorset on the Salisbury to Exeter line on Thursday 25th August 2022.
South Western Railway (SWR) services between between Tisbury and Gillingham have emergency speed restrictions currently imposed because of the warm weather. Network Rail says the conditions have dried out the clay beneath railway embankments which can result in shrinkage and movement of the rails. SWR will be announcing a temporary, revised timetable on Friday 2nd September 2022 with the likelihood there will be a reduced number of services between Salisbury and Exeter St Davids and journeys will take longer than usual.
87002 ‘Royal Sovereign’
On Friday 26th August 2022, Yoshi spent the day with his cousins while I was in London escaping from martian invaders at Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience, which I can thoroughly recommend. After surviving the alien threat, I headed off to London Euston to see Locomotive Services Ltd’s “The Friday Charter” which, for only its second weekly run, between London and Manchester / Crewe was hauled by Class 87 No. 87002 ‘Royal Sovereign’ and a fine sight she looked at the head of a rake of Inter-City Executive liveried carriages. There were a number of railway enthusiasts waiting on platform 16 to see the train depart and it was good to see many were from a younger generation than myself, hopefully assuring interest in railways survives.
On our way home from London Waterloo, I was able to see Class 701 No. 701046 depart on a mileage accumulation run.
Great Dorset Steam Fair
Yoshi didn’t make it to this years Great Dorset Steam Fair which is held at Tarrant Hinton near Blandford Forum, but his cousin the collie Jess had a great day out and sent us the following images of out of ticket Rebuilt Battle of Britain Class Bullied Pacific No. 34053 ‘Sir Keith Park’ which was on show healing to demonstrate heavy haulage and loading / unloading courtesy of heavy haulage contractor Allelys.
GBRf Staff Charter
Saturday 27th August Yoshi and I visited a friend in the Taunton area. We of course looked to see on Real Time Trains for any interesting workings we might be able to see while in Somerset. As luck would have it, GBRf organised staff charter hauled by two Class 50 locomotives were perfectly timed for our visit. We parked up at Creech St. Michael adjacent to the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal and walked alongside the waterway until we reached the over bridge just south of Cogload Junction which was to be our vantage point.
The Canal was engineered by James Hollinsworth and opened in 1827. The original section ran from Taunton to Huntworth where it joined the River Parrett. Ten years later, in 1837, the canal as extended from Huntworth to Bridgwater dock where a lock was made to join the River Parrett. This was to be blocked off when the docks closed to coastal shipping in 1971.
In 1866 the Canal was under considerable pressure from the railway and was eventually sold to the Bristol & Exeter Railway Company, although control eventually passed to the Great Western Railway. There was no interest in promoting commercial traffic on the Canal which slowly declined in preference to the much quicker railway. In 1907 the last barge tolls were collected after which the Canal became a water course. In 1947 the British Transport Commission took over responsibility of the Canal and later still in 1962 the British Waterways took over its management.
A noticeable feature on the Creech section of the canal is “The Old Engine House”, built in 1827 to pump water into the canal from the RiverTone, originally housing a beam engine pump, and later two locomotive boilers which worked a centrifugal pump delivering 125,000 gallons per hour. Eventually the engine house supplied the water troughs fixed between the nearby railway lines, so that steam engines could pick up water from the troughs in the railway tracks without having to stop, saving valuable time for through express services.
Barrow Hill
An early start on Sunday August 28th saw us heading North to Barrow Hill near Chesterfield for the deferred event celebrating 150 years since the opening of the roundhouse in 1870. Intended to take place in 2020, Covid meant that the gala could not take place until two years after the anniversary. Known as Staveley Roundhouse until 1948 when it was renamed as Barrow Hill to avoid confusion with an ex-Great Central Railway shed located nearby, it was built to a standard Midland Railway square shed design in 1870 with a central turntable under cover. The shed was operational from 1870 until 9 February 1991 and Grade II listed in the same year. Chesterfield Borough Council purchased the building and surrounding yard from the British Rail Property Board in December 1996. During the interim years, the Roundhouse and associated buildings were heavily vandalised and came dangerously close to being lost forever. The site reopened to the public in July 1998 after the building was restored by the Barrow Hill Engine Shed Society
Recreated Baby Deltic Class 23 No. D5910 ( formerly Class 37 No. 37372) took centre stage on the turntable while GBRf Class 69 No. 69003 was named ‘The Railway Observer’ the day before our visit. GWR 1500 Class 0-6-0PT shunting engine No. 1501 was in steam working shuttle trains from the Roundhouse Halt up the Springwell branch line. Midland Railway 158A Class 2-4-0 No. 156 was on display alongside Midland Railway Compound No. 1000, the first time in several years the two Midland Railway locomotives have been seen together.
It was a little on the warm side, so we took care to ensure Yoshi had lots of water and shade during our time at Barrow Hill. It was quite busy on arrival, but numbers thined out during the day.
Although Yoshi clearly took a liking to the Deltic locomotives, he was a little unsure about the metal steps leading up to the door of No. 55008 ‘The Green Howards’, so we reversed back down to the security of ground level. However, Scott kindly took the following video of the Napier Deltic engine simulation which we can all enjoy!
After our visit to Barrow Hill, we journeyed home via DB Cargo operated Toton Traction Maintenance DepotChanges and currently the only TMD within DB Cargo UK where heavy maintenance is carried out on locomotives. Our visit was to see the lines of withdrawn Class 60 locomotives currently in store. I was surprised by the number of diesel engines slowly rotting away.
In other news, Network Rail have been granted retrospective listed building approval for adorning the pedestrian bridge at Wareham railway station with a heritage style roundel sign which has been in place on the grade 2 station site since November 2021. The station was built in 1864 and listed for its historical and architectural importance in 1976. Network Rail said they did not realise the footbridge which is a later addition to the station buildings was included in the listed status.
Swanage Railway resident Class 33/1 No. 33111 was taken to Bristol St. Phillips Marsh depot on a low loader for wheel turning this week following her recent failure on the heritage branch.
This week’s blog has mostly been put together with the sound of Alexi Sayle’s “Strangers on a Train” gracing our ears. We loved the idea of combining the “Tank Museum” at Bovington with “Monkey World” and creating a monkey tank driving nightmare. Many thanks for popping by and for your comments, corrections and updates. Thank you to Caroline for helping out with video and putting up with me. And finally a big thank you for Scott for taking the driving seat on Sunday for our trip to Derbyshire. See you in seven!
Leave a Reply