Bulleid Trouble and Triumph 1996 & 2003 rail tours
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- Опубликовано: 20 окт 2024
- 35028 'Clan Line' single handed Yeovil to Weymouth and on board with 34016 'Bodmin' roaring up Upton Scudamore bank from a standing start at Westbury.
Old low quality footage of two railtours in 1996 and 2003 re-edited originally for my own viewing, as much for the sound as for the pictures but I thought others might enjoy it perhaps. Particularly the sections at 15:20 onwards with 35028 tender-first struggling up to Holywell tunnel and just making it with some expert driving and then on board with 34016 hammering up from Westbury through Upton Scudamore at 44:12 onwards
Poor quality and shaky filming I am afraid but a useful record of some spectacular engine work.
The first rail tour is the Bert Hooker memorial booked for 34027 'Taw Valley' to Yeovil and double heading with 35028 'Clan Line' for the trip over to Weymoth. In the event Taw Valley was failed before the start and two class 33s were substituted to Yeovil. We were due to meet another rail tour headed by 35028, which we did. 35028 was then detailed to climb with us over to Weymouth alone. I recall someone was sent ahead to hand sand the rails up to the tunnel but there were several heart stopping moments as we slipped to walking pace and then even slower out from the tunnel (fogged lens due to condensation). Good work by the engine crew saw us over the summit at about 1 m.p.h. Clan Line then returned with the other rail tour with the Cromptons, then back light engine to take us back to London. An eventful day.
The second tour was a Steam Dreams trip to Bath and Bristol . Out via Bathampton and back via Westbury and Salisbury. We had some spirited running. I particularly liked the climb from Westbury platform. We had waited for a preceding service train to clear the bank to prevent us catching it up, as it was due to stop at Upton Scudamore I believe. Another excellent day.
Oh, and there was a partial eclipse of the sun as well. Filmed whilst the tour was at rest at Yeovil Pen Mill.
Great video. My brother and I were booked on the Taw Valley special but once we heard it was diesel hauled, we raced somewhere to catch the Clan Line tour. I think it might have been Didcot? Social media didn't really exist back in those days and so we had to rely on access to the most basic information but in the end it worked out well. Don't worry about the quality or shaky nature of the film it captures the mood superbly. What is more, we can see how us window hangers used to embrace the hobby in those days. All now gone of course. Health and Safety and all that. Well done. Nick
Thank you for your kind comment Becky. It was a thoroughly eventful and enjoyable trip. You are right about window hanging - it was a joy but needed very careful watchfulness. Some time later I had a microphone ripped off by a tree brushing the train one night, so it could be dangerous and not something I would advise. Yes I have a quite a lot of shaky footage from those days - the sound is usually ok though. Nick.
I have only just found this Vid. It was only in the last few frames when I see that I was on the support crew for the Cathedrals express trip. Bodmin was a lovely loco and one of the drivers we had, Rodney Tizzard, always said that she had something special about her. That climb of Upton Scudamore bank proves it. The little station part way up the bank is the request stop called Dilton Marsh Halt.
what a wonderful video, even a sun eclipse! thanks
Thank Mike - A bit shaky and lower quality as most of my old videos are... I'm glad you enjoyed though. Nick.
Happy to say I was on board the Bert Hooker Special that day. On the return run it was the Fireman's last day on rails. It felt like Clanline was pulling the drawhooks out of carriages! Unforgettable day. Shaking hands with the Fireman at Southampton it felt like he had a knuckle-coupler for a hand! There are fearsome banks between Yeovil and Weymouth... we were down to a crawl with a young driver who did brilliantly, tender first. As I recall the two locos hauled separate specials on the same day, exchanging trains at Yeovil I think I was in the same coach as you on the Bert Hooker Memorial special. There were nice speeches at Salisbury.
It was indeed a great trip!. The second loco, 'Taw Valley,' which was scheduled to double head both the trains over to Weymouth didn't make it , which is why 35028 Clan Line was called upon the lift the whole train by itself over to Weymouth from Yeovil. Two class 33s were substituted for Taw Valley and they Double, or rather triple, headed the second train back to Yeovil with Clan Line, which then ran back for a second time to Weymouth but as a light engine to take the London train back if I remember correctly. Spectacular driving yes. I think all us on the train were collectively holding our breath through the tunnel and over the top.
@@chatty1chatty1NickD That moment of collective breath holding was unforgettable eh?! Clan Line presented all the ‘moods’ a steam loco is capable of from tentative crawling on the edge of a slip to high speed fury and then whispering high speed mastery on the level. The signallers did us proud eh? Especially on the home leg. They understood that express steam needs a clear road and is happiest at continuous high speed. Magnificent loco and crews.
Word on the train was that during the tender-first running the driver was very young. Did brilliantly. Bert Hooker wrote in his memoirs that a Bulleid Pacific wouldn’t slip if steam chest pressure was kept down to 60psi. To go through that tunnel on 60 pounds and a heavy train, unassisted, was probably the finest handling I’ve ever witnessed.
@@stephensmith799 I do not recall if the train was banked out of Weymouth. I guess it must have been, not least because I seem to recall a stop at Dorchester perhaps to uncouple a banker, what ever it may have been.
Nick
@@chatty1chatty1NickD A person sat opposite my father and I later sent us a timing sheet which I still have somewhere.