Bulleid Pacifics - Past or Present

Two? A few more than that have been saved and returned to working order.

 

I think @Johnb was referring specifically to Clan Line and Blackmore Vale, being the two that entered private preservation direct from BR (rather than via Barry and subsequent restoration).

Tom

 

No.Not been seen outside so next three days on the mainline doubtful .
Last I heard it was stored in a shed ,34067 and two black 5s atleast currently under overhaul/dismantled .

 

Can you just stop being so bloody pedantic? We know what @73129 meant so just stop being such a Jeremy.

 

This link is to a page on the Somerset & Dorset Railway, with photos of Flat Tops, Standards, and other types in action...
http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/sd-evercreech-to-bournemouth.html

Richard.

 

I agree that discussion of Bulleids on the S&D is more appropriate here than on the 72010 Hengist thread. With that in mind here is an attempt to clarify the use of Merchant Navies on the S&D.

The first thing to note is that they only ever appeared on the southern (Templecombe - Broadstone) section and all visits were in connection with railtours. It seems that there were in total five instances involving three different locos. Three of these were light engine moves and only two involved passenger trains. These five moves were:-

Sunday 28/3/65 35023 ran LE from Bournemouth to Templecombe to work the SCTS "Southern Wanderer" back to Waterloo via Salisbury.
Saturday 1/1/66 35011 worked the LCGB "Mendip Merchantman" from Waterloo to Templecombe via Bournemouth. Later it took the tran back to Waterloo via Salisbury
Sunday 2/1/66 35011 ran LE from Broadstone to Templecombe. It had worked the RCTS tour from Waterloo to Broadstone and later would work it back from Templecombe via Salisbury.
Saturday 5/3/66 35028 ran LE from Templecombe to Bournemouth. It had worked the LCGB tour from Waterloo direct to Templecombe and later worked it from Bournemouth back to Waterloo.
Sunday 6/3/66 35028 worked the RCTS tour from Waterloo to Templecombe via Bournemouth and later worked it from Templecombe to Waterloo via Salisbury.

From this it is seen that although 35011 was the first to work a train over the line 35023 was the first to actually put in an appearence.

Peter

 

Memories of Bulleid WC/BBs working on the S&D (Swift and Delightful). Thanks to Rail Photoprints.
Rail Photoprints | Somerset and Dorset

Note that part of the collection includes photographs by the well known local photographer Hugh Ballantyne. RIP. <BJ>

 

A couple of photos of Merchant Navies on the Somerset & Dorset, taken by the doyen of S&D photographers.....Ivo Peters.
35011 at Henstridge and 35023 near Templecombe:

 

Cheers Peter

 

Sorry to be pedantic but the lower picture of 35023 is not on the S&D. It is very much on its home turf being on the LSW main line leaving Templecombe heading to Salisbury. It has just crossed over the S&D line with the SCTS railtour of 28/3/65. The loco itself had come up from Bournemouth earlier, being the first of its class to work over the line but it came light engine and not on the train.

Peter

 

You’re right. I’ve just read the caption that Ivo wrote and it confirms exactly what you said.
(Volume 4, Somerset & Dorset Railway by Ivo Peters, and, yes, I have the other three volumes).

 

Yes - I also have Volume 4 out beside me - a good excuse to browse through one of the best set of photographic albums ever.

Peter

 

I also have a couple of two hour video cassettes of his cine footage of the S&D. Remarkable quality for the 1960s.

 

I spent my youth at Midsomer Norton, the station being my second home. I've always found it amazing how Ivo managed to capture so many shots of a train in so many different locations.
I appreciate that the roads were much quieter in those days but he did well to overtake the train and then set up for the next shot. <BJ>

 

From what I’ve read, accompanying him in the legendary Bentley was not for the faint hearted!

 

Wasn’t he a racing driver in another life?

 

There may have been fewer cars on the roads, but the road system was much slower; most road journeys are much faster than they were 50 years ago.

 

He did drive as a Privateer during His college/university years.

 

I’m not sure that is necessarily true - at least not in South East England. Certainly motorways have improved long distance journeys but a combination of more stringent speed limits, more traffic calming, extra roundabouts and so on has slowed up a lot of cross-country journeys if you avoid motorways. As an example (warning - anecdote being presented as datum) there was a journey of 51 miles (Berkshire - Sussex) on mostly single carriageway A roads I used to regularly make as a child in the 1970s and 1980s with my dad driving, generally taking about 1hr 10min. I did it myself a couple of years ago and took 1hr 35 despite I think being a generally quicker driver than my dad: the difference was the impact of the factors I listed above.

Tom

 

It's certainly quicker getting through Radstock nowadays. If both S&D and GWR level crossings were closed the queues of traffic were horrendous. <BJ>