Watercress Line 2021 S&DJR Themed - Autumn Steam Gala
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- The initials S&DJR conjure up memories of the legendary Pines Express and the difficult route it traversed between Bath and Bournemouth before it succumbed in 1966 as part of the Beeching cuts. Ivo Peters captured the essence of this line in both movies and photos, enabling the modern enthusiast to enjoy the sights and sounds of the steam locomotives he witnessed working this switchback of a route.
The Watercress Line operates over an equally challenging route, where better to recreate the S&DJR complete with a selection of locomotives that actually worked the route?
The weather on the day I chose to attend, proved to be very challenging with high winds and non-stop heavy rain, adding an extra level of authenticity to the scene.
This video starts with the locos coming off shed and travelling light engine to Alresford and Alton to pick up the coaching stock for the first trains of the day, next we visit the line's stations to watch the day’s action before returning to Ropley to watch the engines returning to be readied for the following day. It’s hard to imagine a more authentic recreation of a late 50’s loco shed at night, it had the lot, six engines in steam, crews relaxing and enjoying a joke or two, there was even some drama when the coaching stock for the evening beer train developed a fault leading to plenty of shunting to get a substitute rake of carriages into the correct platform.
A good few years ago a builder gave me a carrier bag he’d pulled out of skip on a building site, it contained photographic negatives, he’d held one or two up to the light revealing they featured railways, knowing my interest in all things rail related he gave them to me. I purchased a suitable scanner and began the time consuming job of capturing them in digital format, for many years they resided unseen on the hard drive of my computer. I have never published any of the photos, but as some of the locos featured in the Gala event also featured in some of the photos, this seemed like a good time to reveal a few them, I have included a selection of them at the end of this video.
The Watercress Line deserves a big thank you, for taking the financial risk required to get two visiting locos to the line especially for this event.
Locomotives in steam on the day:
Visiting locomotives:
Bullied 4-6-2 ‘West Country’ Class locomotive - No.34092 “City of Wells” - courtesy of East Lancs Railway.
BR Standard Class 4MT 2-6-4 tank locomotive No. 80151 - courtesy of Bluebell Railway
Home-fleet locomotives:
S&DJR 7F 2-8-0 No 53808 - courtesy of S&D Railway Trust
LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T No.41312
BR “Standard Class 4” 2-6-0 - No.76017
Hunslet 0-6-0 No.3781 affectionately referred to as “Dave” when not acting as “Thomas the Tank Engine”
BR Class 20 No.D8059 diesel locomotive also put in an unexpected appearance.
The Watercress Line is a standard gauge (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) 1,435 mm heritage railway located in Hampshire, Southern England.
Video film, photograghy and editing by Tim. Photograghs of the original S&DJR from my own collection, original photogragher unknown.
Hi Tim! In this video you can see typical pictures of all the work that is necessary to put steam locomotives into operation. Most of the work (90%) is preparing. Coal, water, repairs, cleaning the smoke chamber, shoveling out the slag channel and so on. That is only possible with many hardworking and voluntary helpers. And by the way, the Class 20 idle was really good adjusted. 150 revolutions per minute, crazy. Best regards from Hans. 🇦🇹🍻
Hello Hans, most people miss the beginning and end of the day, for me it's the best part, as near as it is possible to get to a steam shed in the mid 50's. As you point out, almost all the railway people appearing in this video do it for love and "Yes" the Class 20 sounded perfect. Take care. Tim.
Fascynujące! Pogoda fatalna ale film doskonały. Dziękuję, pozdrawiam.
Dziękuję, cieszę się, że podobał Ci się film. Najlepsze życzenia. Tim.
Weatherwise a truly awful day for operating staff and visitors alike but it helped produce a truly memorable video. Thanks for braving it out Tim.
Hi, it was a shame that the weather put people off attending, right now the railway needs all the visitors it can get, fortunately the weather was better on Friday and Sunday. Every cloud has a silver lining, for me it was the atmospheric authenticity the camera captured. I'm pleased you enjoyed it. Cheers. Tim.
Tim, hopefully the deluge did not dent the efforts to stage such a Gala session with visiting locos, too. The weather is such a variable, particularly in Autumn. Thank you for showing the preparations, personnel & sheer number of volunteers and staff engaged before the downpour. Thank you, also for sharing your evocative recovered images from the latter operating days of the S&DJR.
The Watercress Line have really shown support for the S&D Trust, since they had to leave Washford on the West Somerset Railway, former home to their artefacts for many years.
My parents lived for a while within sight & sound of the Devonshire Bank, ascent from Bath Green Park towards the twin tunnels, since relegated to a cycle track.
Thank you for your great work, producing quality video, as usual.
Hello Peter, staying dry was a bit of a challenge, unfortunately the rain did keep people away, although the following day the weather was much better. Photographers miss the best the time of the day, in fairness to the Watercress Line film unit, they were up with the lark to see the locos being prepared, I didn't see them at the end of the day, probably in the beer tent. I showed the photos at the end in the hope that someone might know who took them, it would be helpful to identify the locations. There were several hundred negatives in the recovered carrier bag showing scenes from all over Europe and Pakistan, it would have been such a shame if they had ended up buried in a landfill site, now I have to work out what to do with them as I'm guessing the original photographer would have wanted people to see them, he would probably have liked them credited to him as well.
I'm pleased to see the S&DJR Trust at the Watercress Line, I don't know why they are no longer at the WSR, the Washford site seemed ideal. Ivo Peters did record engines working hard on Devonshire Bank, we owe him for his part in keeping the memory of the S&DJR alive. I'm pleased you enjoyed the video. Cheers. Tim.
First off i'm getting a haircut my hair looks really daggy then it's off to the pub (club )for a drinks & a flutter on the pokies thanks tim cheer's bob.
That sounds like a good plan, enjoy the day 😊😊
another lovely film tim , best wishes from nick , still in wigan , still in lancashire
Hi, I'm pleased you enjoyed it. Wigan's got a lot going for it. All the best. Tim.
@@Timsvideochannel1 thanks tim ,
Wow 🤩
Awesome , incredible , spectacular !
Thank you, I'm pleased you enjoyed it.
another great video as always
Cheers, I'm pleased you enjoyed it 😊😊
Great video , like 👀👍
Thank you 🙂🙂
Awesome video!! Like!
Thank you, I'm pleased you enjoyed it 🙂🙂
There's a loco in this video bears the name *City Of Wells!* I'll bet that place would have a lot of holes in the ground! Like Swiss Cheese! LOL
Today locals discovered three holes in the ground, the police are said to be looking into them while nodding purposefully and muttering well, well, well what have we here then.
@@Timsvideochannel1 While they were looking into that case, someone reported the theft of a Public Toilet and the Police had nothing to go on! Elsewhere someone had broken into a musical instrument shop and got away with the Lute(loot)! LOL
Que vontade de andar de trem. Que pena, que os trens mais perto de mim é no estado de Minas Gerais.
Oi, lamento ouvir que não é fácil para você.para andar de trem. Tim.
Hi, I'm sorry to hear that it is not easy for you to ride a train. Tim.
Hi tim,A wonderful railway it was like a day back in the 50s,City of wells was it a mainline passenger engine and where was it based?looking fwd to your next great adventure in germany can't wait for the pictures have a wonderful journey cheer's bob. ps 3 more sleeps and lockdown is over "YOU BLOODY RIPA".
Hello Robert, did you like the cold, rainy weather, typical of the UK at this time of year? I loved watching the locos on shed, I could well have passed through a time portal into the mid 1950's. I believe "City of Wells" was allocated to Stewarts Lane, Battersea, London in its last years. I'm off to the Bluebell Railway tomorrow and Devon in the middle of the month, still plenty to see and do until the winter finally sets in. By the time you read this you will probably only have two more days before you are once again free to roam the streets again.
I am glad it's spring here sunny and warm,Only 2 sleeps to go,Looking fwd for vid's from bluebell & devon take care tim cheer's bob.@@Timsvideochannel1
Hi tim,After nearly 4 months in lockdown 1 sleep to go,Cold today in syd after southerly change & big thunder storm 17c cheer's bob.
@@robertcoleman4861 Hi Robert, it was a lovely Autumn day at the Bluebell Railway yesterday, on the drive there the rising sun was a massive red ball in the sky turning the low lying mist pink, a truly magical scene, it only happens a few times a year. How are you going to celebrate freedom day?
What are the things that they’re handing off to the locomotives? They look like small little pouches with large circular grab handles.
Hi, the locomotive crew and the signalman can be seen exchanging tokens at 15:23 . I think these are the pouches you are referring to. There is a key in the pouch that fits into the token machine in the signal box to allow the train to proceed to the next section of track. Please click on this link to learn more - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Token_(railway_signalling)#:~:text=In%20railway%20signalling%2C%20a%20token,the%20section%20it%20belongs%20to.
@@Timsvideochannel1 thank you! Yes, I was unfamiliar with the practice. That’s pretty cool! These kinds of videos are my favorite. I like the drivers view, but these by far.
You haven’t been to France for the Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme, have you?
Thanks!
@@andrewlaverghetta715Hi, I have one more Swiss video to post and that will be followed by videos taken in both the French and Spanish Pyrenees. I am aware of the Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme, although I haven't visited it. The railway and its history looks interesting and being easy to reach from my home in the UK I will try to visit in the next year or two. Cheers. Tim.