Steam Dreams Tours 2012

You are mistaken. The loops have not been extended. The only addition to the basic layout has been the introduction of the Axminster Loop a couple of years hence. There is a new block section around Crewkerne which has once again opened up the WoE Line to charters.

FYI: The first stage of the re-control of this line is taking place this coming weekend. RIP Gillingham and Templecombe Signalboxes and the manual crossing at Sherborne.

 

Could you provide a link or evidence of such a thing?
As far as I'm aware, we haven't sold off our railtour rake. In fact, we've got many railtours lined up for this year which are all utilising our railtour Mk1's and Mk2's. The society does however, lease coaches every so often to WCRC

 

I must have the wrong train and I believe that I'm wrong.

On UK mainline steam rail tours 2012
The Green Train (WCGN) staff [wcrc] is shown on the 6024 trip to Bristol on Valentines Weekend. The next trip that the rake was/is designated for is March 10th with the 60163 and 71000. However, I noticed the train is no longer designated but staff shall now be DBS. I also noticed that all the trips with the green train no longer have the (WCGN) designation next to them. Maybe this is inaccurate but that is where I saw the information removed.

The other trips I noticed that the green train had been designated for were/are the 3 trips behind 34046 (April 12, 23 and May3) and the 6201 to Swanage on April 19th

 

The Plymouth trip has to be DBS operated as WCRC will not touch 60163 or 71000. I'm a bit mystifed as to what Steam Dreams' intentions are this year. All I know is:

1) The prices go up in May together with the introduction of Premier Standard Class
2) They say they are introducing a new dedicated set of coaches which will "evolve" this year. There is no word on where that is coming from (someone said Scotland which led to an assumption that it is the SRPS rake - apparently it isn't).

So does anyone know:

a) Where is the new rake of coaches coming from?
b) When will it appear?
c) Where will it be based?
d) Who will maintain it?

 

I think you will find that the SRPS stock is on short term hire to SD until the new set is ready.Where the new set is coming from is anyones guess at present.

 

I'd hazard a guess that the 'new' set will probably be a revamped 'Green Train', as all indications seem to point that it has been withdrawn from service temporarily. Maybe steam heat/air brakes are going to be fitted during this down-time? Expensive, but not completely beyond the bounds of reality. I could be pretty damn wrong, of course, but this is my conclusion based on the scant information available.

 

Yes, sadly the very attractive Templecombe signalbox is being demolished as part of the Salisbury - Exeter signalling upgrade. Templecombe is getting a new 'down' platform which will be extended out to the single line to allow disabled access from the car park (currently the old 'up' platform is used for trains) -sadly no double tracking.

The only significant changes in the pipeline for Salisbury - Exeter are the new station for Cranbrook new town (near the closed station at Broadclyst, east of Exeter), the new Intermodal Freight Terminal at Skypark Business Park (east of Exeter), a possible minor line speed upgrade from 85mph to 90mph and, at some stage in the future, the likelihood of some further double tracking between Pinhoe and Whimple.

 

My mistake, I recalled work being done to bring the second platform at Axminster back into use and I wrongly assumed that a new loop, or an extended loop was therefore part of the reason for a rail tour path being made available.

Regards,

Dan

 

No problem. It was thought at the time the loop was put in that more paths would be created but SWT took them all making the situation worse rather than better. With the new signalling going in and the closure of the boxes, the new block section puts that right hence the tours now being proposed. With regards to Templecombe box, its future I believe is temporarily saved as the new down platform (which is the old down platform extended over the old down line) is not currently in place. The box is remaining to allow the footcrossing to be manned until it has been installed. Then as you say, it will be consined to history as it is not historically unique. Only have Honiton box to photograph and then the flickr site will be updated with a WoE signalling section.

It will be a sad day when they all close but you can't stop progress (or so they say!)

 

Thanks Shaggy,Chafford1 +David. I didn't realiseTemplecombe+Gillingham boxes were about to finish so soon.

My hasty post also meant to say that charters on WoE were prob better with a class 8 or , say, 2 x 5 and comfortably loaded with load 11 or max 12. This enables the train to have a chance of not wrecking SWTs hourly service!! Sometimes alighting/joining at Sherbourne has taken longer than planned. Stops at Salisbury/Y.J / EXD are fine but other stations have been challenging. For a long term sustainable steam presence on the WoE I feel very robust planning is needed for all specials to avoid future probs.

In the future SWT may/are likely to control/lead N.R. in the Wessex area.There will be even less tolerance of major disruption than now-- even with a rail enthusiast leading SWT


If SRPS coaches do end up being used where will they be kept as Southall isn't going to be easy....

Maybe Mid-Hants,Eastleigh,Wembly or ?? My bet would be somewhere where cleaning+prep can be undertaken.
I am very keen on SRPS coaches--generally excellent--but a LONG LONG way for ECS whenever SRPS want them back.
What other rake exists in Scotland that might be hired? As a Devon lad I'm not up to speed on Scottish Mk1/2 availability
Plenty of scope to speculate---what fun our hobby is......!!!!!

 

For those interested:
Gillingham and Templecombe boxes and Sherborne Manual Crossing close this weekend.
Yeovil Junction and Chard boxes over the weekend of 10th & 11th March
Honiton box and Feniton Manual Crossing close over the weekend of 24th & 25th March
RIP

 

After these closures, where will the Salisbury-Exeter line be controlled from, pending commissioning of the new Basingstoke ROC ?

 

Sadly I didn't get the signal box at Templecombe in my photos last time I was there.

Just got a couple of Bulleids.





September 1962. How time flies.

 

A new panel at Basingstoke in an adjacent room to the current Basingstoke panel.

 

Looking at those pictures, it's difficult to imagine that the closure of the station would be announced less than 2 years later with the closure taking place
in March 1966.

In 1968, the closed station, with a train doubled headed by a Class 33 and Warship passing through, looked like this - very depressing!



However, heavy losses on the lines west of Salisbury in the early '60s and the wish by BR to prioritise trunk routes lead to drastic pruning.

In 1963, the Southern and Western Regions did a survey of the competing routes to the South West of England and found that five times as many West Country passengers used the Paddington route to Exeter and beyond, and that, although the SR route was shorter, the WR route was quicker. They also concluded that concentrating expresses on the SR route would either require a new spur at Exeter, or time wasting reversal of all Plymouth and Exeter trains at Exeter St Davids. Focusing expresses on the Southern Route would also have resulted in a less attractive direct service from Taunton to London.

Given the arguments above and also that the Southern lines west of Salisbury were losing money heavily from the late 1950s (in 1957, these lines were failing to cover direct costs by £800,000), the Western Region announced in February 1964 that the WR route between London and Exeter would be the trunk route with the SR route restricted to serving a limited number of intermediate stations between Salisbury and Exeter. As many on this site will recall, over the next 3 years, the WR removed loss making branch lines (to Lyme Regis, Seaton, Sidmouth) and Salisbury - Exeter stopping services, and aimed to further cut costs in 1967 by singling the line, leaving the 2 hourly semi-fast service which ran in various iterations until December 2009.

You can argue in retrospect that the WR pruned the services too much, but the cost cutting made sense at the time, and the WR's plan, which was based on the SR's earlier plans to focus on semi-fast services was, in my opinion, the right one for the long term survival of the line. Despite 'urban myths' there is also no hard evidence that the WR wished to close the line altogether.

The legacy though is that even with the loop at Axminster and the current resignalling, there are still significant capacity constraints on today's busier Salisbury to Exeter line.