35028 Clan Line

I think in 1994 and early part of 1995, The GCR had 3 Bullied Pacifics running on there. 34101, 34039 and 35005.

 

sounds like a great project. Venue?? Eastleigh with excursions therefrom? I would travel the Atlantic for that one(present difficulties hopefully solved by then)

 

and in pre-preservation days, didn't 35030 work an excursion over the Great Central route?

 

Correct

 

Going even further back in time, 34006 Bude did a couple of runs up and down the G.C. in the locomotive Exchanges of 1948; achieved the highest power output of any loco during the exchanges too on the up run I believe.

Cheerz,

Alan

 

Swanage Railway organised the 3 day "Strictly Bulleid" gala - commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of Southern Steam - between 31st March and 2nd April, 2017 which had five Bulleids operating.
Visitors were 34052 'Lord Dowding' (actually 34046 'Braunton'); 34092 'City of Wells', 34053 'Sir Keith Park' and 34081 '92 Squadron'. They joined home based 34070 'Manston'.
Visitors could also visit 34072 '257 Squadron' in the final stages of its restoration.
Over 5,700 passengers travelled during the three days - not bad for a five and a half mile railway I guess.
Be lovely to see 35028 and 35018 at Swanage in the future.

 

For those not familiar with the circumstances of the appearance of Merchant 30 on GC metals prior to closure on 3rd September 1966, I think it’s well worth amplifying the passing reference to this occasion. I would rate this as one of the singularly most significant events in the lifetime of the whole class as far as its forays outside its traditional Southern territory go, because the working referred to occurred on the day of final closure of the main line. Thus this Locomotive Club of Great Britain charter became the last steam-hauled express to traverse the whole of the former Great Central route all the way from London to South Yorkshire, and indeed, following the passage of the time–hallowed Poole-Newcastle and v.v. cross-country through trains earlier in the afternoon (I would hesitate to describe these as “expresses” in the traditionally understood sense of the word ), Elder Dempster Lines would go on to claim the distinction of hauling the very last express passenger train of all along this once-important main line.

And quite a day it was, too. 35030 had charge of the outward leg as far as Nottingham Victoria, originating from Waterloo via Kew to gain the GC route at Neasden. Running non-stop from a water stop at Aylesbury to a photographic stop at Loughborough (ah, the days!!) the 10 coach 365 ton gross load was whisked along the intervening 75 miles in just a shade over 80 minutes – not too far off even time, and probably as good a performance as any in BR days along this section. And although much of the route wasn’t in particularly great shape for high speed running by the final days of its life, the crew still managed a few spells of mid-to-high 70’s speeds along the section through Finmere to Brackley and Woodford Halse.

The MN gave way to B1s 61173 and 61131 at Nottingham for the onward leg to Elsecar Junction, Penistone, and back via Sheffield Victoria, and retrieved the charter from this pairing for its evening run back to Marylebone. And again, despite some fairly constrained running north of Rugby, its return was distinguished by a lengthy non–stop run over the 103.1 miles back to High Wycombe (via Grendon Underwood/ Ashendon Junctions and the GW&GC Joint) in just 120 minutes. For those who might be interested in tracking the events of the day, it is well covered by Six Bells Junction via the link to https://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/60s/660903lc.html

Just three weeks earlier a Bulleid Light Pacific WC 34002 Salisbury had performed exactly the same itinerary on an 11 coach Railway Correspondence and Travel Society outing, on that occasion recording a time of 103 minutes for the 88.6 miles from Aylesbury to Nottingham Victoria. So the association of route and locomotive classes is sentimentally a strong one for those of us who remain somewhat haunted to this day by the memory of the decline and ultimate closure of the GC.

The makings of a debate on this thread about where might be a good location for some sort of “Great Gathering”, Bulleid style, seem to be revolving around the possibility of a choice between ex-Southern Railway venues or the GC. I’ve always been impressed by the geographic accessibility of the GC to the broadest possible audience from whole of the UK, but I realise that this might be a topic that would inflame impassioned views, so I will just stick with the following thought. Wouldn’t it be almost uniquely appropriate if somehow, when he Loughborough Gap finally gets closed in the next few years to link up the Great Central and GC North, the opening event could be ceremonialised by the appearance on an MN running as 35030 to celebrate the conclusion of the six decade interregnum since that momentous day in summer 1966. It would just seem so apt.

Just a thought!!

 

Thanks for that detailed post Mazeppa.
I was watching just South of Leicester when that working happened on the last day, and we got a poor cine film as the light was going.
Yes the "Gap" is steadily closing and it would be fantastic if they could actually get a train across in 2023 as that would be the 50th Anniversary of steam re-opening the GCR!.....But 34039 Boscastle should be back running and that was the first BR locomotive on site in 1973 so must have a strong claim to be the first across....

 

If by say next year, the mainline steam market hasn't bounced back, then for some owners, preserved line working, might become more attractive, so it's possible that visits of mainline connected railways as a way to earn money to put towards future overhauls may become an necessity for instance if the British Pullman market becomes less frequent, then its likily that Clan line might, have working visits to some preserved railways, such as Bluebell, Mid hants, Swanage ETC,, possibly others that its support base can reach, because as with everything, its having its support available also, that's why I suspect lines that are easy to reach from London, such as Bluebell would be a possible attraction,

 

Assuming of course that the heritage sector has bounced back and can actually afford to spend on hiring in.

 

103.1 miles non-stop was a pretty decent performance for water! Normal Southern performance was limited to Waterloo - Salisbury or Salisbury - Exeter non-stop, both of which are just over 80 miles. (The Devon Belle was nominally non-stop Waterloo to Exeter, but had a stop to change engines at Wilton, three miles west of Salisbury).

Before the Salisbury rail disaster, the up mail trains used to have only one stop (to change engines) at Templecombe, giving distances of about 120 miles and 111 miles for the two legs of the journey, all from a 4000 gallon tender. That stopped after the Salisbury rail disaster when a compulsory stop was added at Salisbury and was invariably used for an engine change as well.

Tom

 

How much horses and can one read it somewhere?

 

Well I specified them (from Tearne's), so it'll be my fault!

Without wishing to open yet another livery debate, I had assumed that the larger numerals were only used on ER and some ScR locos and it was not entirely clear from photographic evidence that rebuilt MN18 had the larger ones; certainly the WCs appear to be the smaller size.

As for 45699, the numerals were supplied locally in a hurry, weren't Tearne's - and, anyway, it's now correct!

JS

 

I wouldn't worry about it...'small is beautiful' as they say!

 

At the moment I dare say, its not important perhaps at the next re varnishing, it might have the correct size ones, I wondered because 35018 is different in some ways, being the prototype rebuild and I wondered if that was why the cab side numbers were different, but what a cracking loco she has turned out to be, she must be quite a useful engine in West Coast's fleet, as she can haul almost anything, ( except air braked stock) and go almost anywhere .

 

Well for goodness sake do try to 'buck up' a bit James. ......

 

Surprisingly, I cannot find any detailed references on-line, but a quick trawl thro' my book collection et voila, British Pacific Locomotives by C. J. Allen and a blow by blow account of the runs in question. On one run, an equivalent drawbar horsepower of 2010 was measured, which was the highest power output of any locomotive during the 1948 trials; of course, this doesn't follow that the Lightweight Bulleid Pacifics were the most powerful locos in the U.K., but by golly they could perform when the conditions were right.

The exploits of the Bulleids during the 1948 Locomotive Exchanges are well worth reading up on, in particular the legendary performance of Bert Hooker on 34004 Yeovil in Scotland, stirring stuff indeed.

I have attached a scan of the pages from the book for reference - apologies to CJA of course for the rip-off.........

Cheerz,

Alan