50 Years ago on the Guildford - Redhill line

The Reading - Guildford - Redhill - Tonbridge line enjoys a busy traffic flow today much as it did fifty years ago, probably helped by the FGW Gatwick Airport services that reverse at Redhill before dropping down to the airport. When steam was around it was also a place to travel behind quite a range of mixed traffic locos and cheaply too.

The Southern had a Rover ticket at weekends for around 50p in today's money that covered Waterloo to Woking, so in the course of a typical Saturday you could fit in at least 5 return trips with 10 different locos. (Do the maths - it was a bargain for those who wanted to log steam!). That same ticket also covered the Guildford - Redhill section of this cross-country line and a day up and down here was, arguably even better from the point of view of getting up close and personal with two of the Southern's finest workhorses - the U & N Class Moguls.

To get the best of the day, two things had to happen. You needed to plan it carefully and services needed to run on time! Almost exactly fifty years ago to the day, this is what you could do if you were lucky:

31411: 0902 Deepdene - Chilworth 0923
31831: 0929 Chilworth - Deepdene 0949
80085: 0958 Deepdene - Guildford 1030
31803: 1053 Guildford - Betchworth 1134
31405: 1146 Betchworth - Gomshall 1204
75078: 1218 Gomshall - Betchworth 1236
31831: 1244 Betchworth - Gomshall 1302
76066: 1317 Gomshall - Betchworth 1336
31803: 1344 Betchworth - Guildford 1422
31411: 1452 Guildford - Dorking Town 1522
80019: 1524 Dorking Town - Shalford 1546
31790: 1559 Shalford - Dorking Town 1622 (yes, I did make the connection at Dorking!)
76066: 1623 Dorking Town - Gomshall 1633
31791: 1652 Gomshall - Redhill 1719
75078: 1734 Redhill - Dorking Town 1752
31405: 1757 Dorking Town - Reigate 1812
31411: 1814 Reigate - Shalford 1851
31803: 1854 Shalford - Deepdene 1917.

Six Moguls and four Standards with, of course the highlight being the blast up the 1 in 96 from Dorking to Gomshall westbound and the equivalent from Chilworth to Gomshall in the other direction. Starting on the 1 in 96/1 in 100 never seemed to be a problem. Yes, the load was only 4 but it still needed to be managed. The dash down the other side was always interesting. Speeds in the low sixties before dropping the handle for the station stop. My notes tell me that 75078 wound up to nearly 70 between Gomshall and Dorking Town - that's nearly five miles in well under seven minutes start to stop.

The line sometimes threw up the odd surprise such as 7816 Frilsham Manor I had on one of the turns but this was really the preserve of the Moguls and what a fine job they made of it too. It's good that the line remains a place where you can still see steam on the occasional charter but also the regular British Pullman. The performance of Clan Line almost passes without a mention nowadays. 500+ tons from a standing start at Shalford up three miles of 1 in 100 steepening to 1 in 96 - no problem. Remarkable and of a different quality but equal to her 2-6-0 predecessors.

 

When I travelled behind 7816 it was between Redhill and Guildford. Yes you are (of course) spot on with the duty. The train was 1120 off Redhill and terminated at Guildford at 1209. There was then a short layover when I think the loco took water but it then formed the 1237 Guildford to Reading getting in, as you said at 1331.

I didn't do the Reading leg as it wasn't in the Rover territory and funds were tight but TBH, the Surrey Hills were a bit more attractive. By the way, thanks for the web link,