September 13th 2023 to September 19th 2023
Wednesday 13th September 2023 saw what I believe to be the final steam hauled excursion of the year to pass through our neck of the woods. Once again LMS Jubilee 4-6-0 No. 46995 ‘Bahamas’ headed a Railway Touring Company railtour, this time travelling from London Victoria through to the heritage Swanage Railway. We saw the outward bound leg as the train passed Poole Storage Sidings. As yet, there are no facilities to turn a steam locomotive on the Swanage Railway and on the return the tour was diesel hauled as far as Southampton Central by West Coast Railways Class 47 No. 47746 ‘Chris Fudge’. The loco was named after Chris Fudge who passed away following a long battle with a brain tumour in 2010. Chris garnered an interest in trains from an early age and went on to work for the railways, his final role being a timetable planning manager for Arriva trains.
We watched the late afternoon return at Hamworthy (and still home for dinner!)
Wednesday night, I set out for Poole as the second Permanent Way (PW) train of the week was timetabled to pass through the station just after midnight and reverse at Poole Storage Sidings to drop lengths of new rail at Parkstone in readiness for engineering work over the weekends of 16/17th and 23/24th September. The earlier run, reported on in last weeks blog entry, was operated by DB Cargo whereas the Thursday run was in the hands of Colas Rail who sent Class 66 No.’s 66847 ‘Terry Baker’ and 66850 working as 6C17 2240 Eastleigh East Yard to Parkstone (Dorset). Unlike previously, the engineers train did not stop as booked in Poole station and I had to be content with taking photographs of South Western Railway Desiro’s. The associated return working of the PW train ran as 6C17 0507 Bournemouth to Eastleigh East Yard when I was tucked up in bed!
On Friday we took the opportunity provided by Heritage Open Days to visit Morgan Carey Architects in Wareham who restored the former Goods Shed for use as their offices. Originally constructed in red brick with a hipped slate roof in circa 1847 for the Southampton and Dorchester Railway, Morgan Carey have completed a stunning and sensitive restoration using as much original materials as possible. We very much enjoyed our visit and thanks to Mark for showing us around.
As mentioned above, the past weekend saw a number of engineering trains visit the Poole area as work necessitated the closure of the railway line between Bournemouth and Wareham. Buses ran between these two points, connecting passengers with trains running a revised service for onward journeys. Yoshi and I spent most of Saturday shuttling between Christchurch and Hamworthy in our attempts to see and document the work as a section of the down line west of Branksome was relayed. Track lifting started at a point near milepost 111 and extended under St. Osmunds and Sandecotes Road bridges down Parkstone Bank towards the station. The somewhat heavy rain on Sunday morning curtailed our observations and we refrained from going out to see the return workings of the engineers trains. Maybe we’ll do that next Sunday! I hope the following images capture a flavour of the activities being carried out.
For the record, the incoming Permanent Way trains began to leave Eastleigh East Yard late on Friday 15th September with the majority arriving in Dorset on the Saturday.
As each train fulfilled its need, collecting old track panels, empty wagons for the collection of old ballast or wagons full of new stone, most then passed through Poole and were stacked across Holes Bay awaiting their return to Eastleigh which commenced on Sunday evening.
The workings and the associated motive power were:
6C03 2355 Eastleigh East Yard to Branksome – Colas Rail No. 66847 ‘Terry Baker’
6G12 0315 Eastleigh East Yard to Bournemouth – GB Railfreight No. 66707 ‘Sir Sam Fay Great Central Railway’
6G13 0709 Eastleigh East Yard to Bournemouth GB Railfreight No. 66796 ‘The Green Progressor’
6N01 0809 Eastleigh East Yard to Bournemouth DB Cargo No. 66176
6N02 1048 Eastleigh East Yard to Bournemouth DB Cargo No. 66200
6C04 1348 Eastleigh East Yard to Bournemouth Colas Rail No. 66849 ‘Wylam Dilly’
6C05 1653 Eastleigh East Yard to Bournemouth Colas Rail No. 70803
6N03 2154 Eastleigh East Yard to Bournemouth DB Cargo No. 66007
6N04 2352 Eastleigh East Yard to Bournemouth DB Cargo No.’s 66199 and 66106
As an aside, North Dorset also saw engineering work take place on Sunday 17 September 2023 when the West of England main line was closed between Templecombe and Gillingham. As far as I’m aware there were no PW trains allocated to this work.
Monday 18th September 2023 saw the final chapter for CrossCountry HST’s in use for scheduled passenger trains across the UK network. I was in two minds if to head out and see the last working heading from Plymouth to Leeds as the weather wasn’t particularly good on the day. However, with a few hours respite from the rain forecast and the XC trains on divert via Castle Cary and Westbury because of engineering work in the Worle area, I set off towards Langport as I was hopeful of photographing the train at Foal Mead Viaduct. Located just outside the small town of Langport, the structure consists of two half through girder spans, a truss span and two masonry arch spans. It’s a lovely spot where the main line between Cogload Junction and Castle Cary crosses the River Parrett and I was inspired to seek the location out after seeing recent photos taken by Robin Procter.
To find out about the recent renovation work on the viaduct carried out by Taziker and the challenges this presented, look here.
Two tours are planned to celebrate the XC farewell to the HST, the first being a public tour between Leeds, Swanage and Bournemouth on the 26th September, followed by a staff jolly between Plymouth and Blackpool North on the 29th.
A Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV) running a rail head treatment working ran from Totton Yard to Swanage on Monday 18th September 2023. I wasn’t able to go and see the Network rail machine on heritage rails, but with the magic of the Swanage Railway webcam, I was able to watch some of its activities.
Hamworthy Branch Update: Along with the already reported Network Rail work for a bridge inspection which sees the closure of Lake Road from its junctions with Normandy Way/Lake Drive to its junction with Coles Avenue on 21st November 2023 at 2100 until 0500 the following morning, there is a further planned closure in January 2024. This time the road will be closed for what are described as “Works for Rail Purposes” from 2200 on the 8th January 2024 until 0600 on the 12th January 2024.
We asked Network Rail for an update on the Hamworthy Branch and they responded: “we are still looking to acquire funding for the Poole Harbour Port works to provide the infrastructure for freight traffic to start, this traffic being largely aggregates traffic. Over the last 6 months or so, the branch line has been put in a state of readiness by our maintenance teams, this is an ongoing process and includes the bridge inspections that you have referred to.
We remain hopeful we will see freight traffic return to Poole via the Hamworthy Branch and would predict 2025 for this if everything falls into place although this as you can imagine is always subject to change.”
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council are reviewing its strategic transport priorities and welcome our input. Recommendations for potential transport improvement schemes have been grouped into five clusters and relate to locations within the BCP Boundary, including local railway stations, Poole Port Expansion and the reopening of the Hamworthy Branch along with two further clusters with wider scope where one of these includes the South West Main Line.
For more information go here.
Thanks for reading. It was good to meet up with fellow enthusiasts at the weekend as we all took the opportunity to watch the toing and froing of the engineering works. Be seeing you!
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