SOMERSET & DORSET LINE steam train ride 1963
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
- After watching "Clan Line" depart Templecombe for Exeter, we go on a journey from there to Bath over the route of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway.
Originally owned jointly by the Midland and the London & South Western Railways, after the 'grouping' of 1923 it remained jointly owned - by the London, Midland & Scottish and the Southern Railways. After nationalisation it was transferred to the Western Region of British Railways. Their predecessor, the GWR, had always regarded the S&DJR as something of an invader of its territory.
The S&DJR formed part of a useful through route from the Midlands and the North to the Bournemouth area. After its closure in 1966 this through service had to be diverted via Oxford, Reading and Basingstoke.
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Related links:
Clan Line Loco en.wikipedia.o...
Templecombe en.wikipedia.o...
Somerset & Dorset Line en.wikipedia.o...
Templecombe Junction Railway www.trainweb.or...
West of England Line L&SWR en.wikipedia.o...
Wincanton en.wikipedia.o...
Cole for Bruton en.wikipedia.o...
London - Exeter Line GWR en.wikipedia.o...
Heart of Wessex Line en.wikipedia.o...
Glastonbury route en.wikipedia.o...
Evercreech Junction en.wikipedia.o...
Evercreech New en.wikipedia.o...
Prestleigh Viaduct en.wikipedia.o...
Shepton Mallet en.wikipedia.o...
Babycham en.wikipedia.o...
East Somerset Railway en.wikipedia.o...
Masbury en.wikipedia.o...
Binegar en.wikipedia.o...
Chilcompton en.wikipedia.o...
Heritage Railway en.wikipedia.o...
Midsomer Norton South en.wikipedia.o...
Radstock North en.wikipedia.o...
Shoshcombe & Single Hill Halt en.wikipedia.o...
Wellow en.wikipedia.o...
Bristol & North Somerset Railway GWR en.wikipedia.o...
Limpley Stoke to Camerton Branch en.wikipedia.o... en.wikipedia.o... en.wikipedia.o...
Midford en.wikipedia.o...
Tucking Mill Viaduct en.wikipedia.o...
Combe Down Tunnel en.wikipedia.o...
Great Western Main Line GWR en.wikipedia.o...
Mangotsfield & Bath Branch en.wikipedia.o...
Birmingham & Gloucester Midland Railway en.wikipedia.o...
Bath Green Park en.wikipedia.o...
Midland Railway en.wikipedia.o...
Southern Railway en.wikipedia.o...)
London & South Western Railway en.wikipedia.o...
British Rail en.wikipedia.o...
See @MarshSteamVideosTM recommended more recent Clan Line films www.youtube.co...
Continue your journey with @Timsvideochannel1's great footage steaming onwards on surviving local lines • The "West Somerset Rai...
See wonderful Bath steam in @PeteDevrell's excellent 2011 video • Steam Trains through B...
See @world-of-railways Bath Green Park model film • Bath Green Park - O ga...
See BBC remembering the S&D • BBC Documentary - The ...
Mrs Snowdon adds immeasurably to these films.
Priceless footage and in these dark days of lockdown absolutely wonderful to sit and watch.
Thank you.
Thank you for taking us on this journey up a well-loved and much missed railway. The year after The Summer Saturday "through" expresses to Bournemouth had been re-routed by the Western Region management away via Oxford and Basingstoke as part of their scheme to achieve the closure of this line..
A nice sequence through Midford, my favourite location on the line, which I discovered long after closure while staying with friends outside Bath. On a later visit, standing on the site of Midford station on a summer Saturday, I had difficulty convincing another visitor that had we been there during the 1950's or early 60's, rather than just "branch-line" traffic we'd have witnessed a regular stream of double-headed expresses running on a major artery between Bournemouth and the cities of the Midlands and the North of England.
Beautifully filmed. Everything seemed so much more picturesque then.
This is a truly fantastic film made all the more poignant because, during my student days at Bath University, I walked along the empty trackbed of the S&DJR all the way to Radstock, through the verdant countryside of north Somerset. I regret so much that I was born too late to travel behind a steam train over the Mendips behind an air-smoothed "West Country" Class Pacific .
Always amazes me how clean everything was kept back then.
As a girl growing up in Chilcompton I could see the wonderful S&D trains from my bedroom window and got to travel on them to my dentist in Bath. Never has a girl been more happy to go to the dentist! I loved those train journeys! Thanks for taking the time all those years ago to film those journeys and helping to keep the S&D alive. Your film is a real gem.
How lovely to see Midsomer Norton ...not quite the same town where half the population has been killed off.....
ABSOLUTELY love seeing signposted Templecombe or Shepton Mallet in those throes of railroad mania...thereafter tried back lane country along the St Lawrence valley only to be greeted by roping-off signage, declaring in English that it be Indian land (Oka) whereat no white ever to trespass... Gillingham'd been our nearest train stop thereabouts, you see
Quebec and probably like the rest of the continent is dead-end country...ever missing the laneway labyrinth thereabouts 🍸📯
Great Narrative, Splendid Diction, I was raised in the age of steam and how I miss it.
@@robtyman4281 it is a woman narrating this. Beautifully spoken.
Pure nostalgia. Wish I could take that train journey.
These 'elocution pedants' who criticise Mrs Snowdon's clear and articulate reading of her husband's script do not deserve to see this wonderful historic footage. Well done, Mrs Snowdon, Ivo Peters would be proud of you !
Bernie Holland - you are right! It is a real pleasure to hear the eloquent and clear tones of Mrs Snowdon.
100 % agree , these videos have genuine historical value , they're gems and the narrator's voice is pleasant on the ear
Sooo good, and brilliant editing to get in so much lineside detail, stations, signal boxes, turntables, Wellow church etc. I was then and still am a bell ringer. During a quarter peal at Wellow on 16th March 1963, I was on the 4th, by the window and saw the 1.10pm from Bournemouth go past while ringing! NB My guess is the train featured was the 12.00pm from Templecombe, passing the 1.10pm from Bath at Midford, and Clan Line was on the 9am from Waterloo, 10.54am off Salisbury.
What a great little film made more special for me at the 4.25 mark as I could see the trees that I used to sit under watching the trains with my grandfather, thanks for posting Alan.
Crikey, that was marvellous, I’m getting on a bit now... but that was almost emotional to watch. Thanks for sharing, priceless.
‘Rediscovering lost railways’ brought me here.
Yes, recommending ruclips.net/video/51icKL_R1IY/видео.html from @Rediscovering Lost Railways to my viewers here, thanks Matthew
WOW 😮 how good is this ..Brilliant stuff ! Those were the REAL days !!
Wonderful film - thank you.
Brilliant video. You recorded so many of our fallen railways Alan. You deserve a medal from the Government for your contribution !
How I wish we could go back to these wonderful times.You could see Britain by Train in those days.Watch and listen to Tony Hancock .Listen to the best music in the world and children had somewhere safe to play.Plus we weren't in the common market.
And TVs were only black and white.
@ radio was black and white too don't forget.
@@hughtierney9109 They still had radio drama, and pictures were always better on the radio.
@@JeffDeWitt 💚
What a superb film of this long lost and sadly missed line.
Wonderful. Takes me right back to my young days when I had dark trousers and short hair, or was it the other way round!
I have really enjoyed watching this wonderful archive film of our beloved Somerset & Dorset Railway. Excellent presentation.
Thank you for putting this lovely film on RUclips.
Very nice footage! I am not only a train spotter but i also like your country and his cenery! greetings from the Netherlands!
Including the numerous coal mines around Radstock which the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway's "Bath Extension" over the top of the Mendip Hills was built to serve?
What you have filmed shows a whole way of life now long gone.
Brilliant! Just brilliant! Thank you.
The railway has a mile of track and has opened the station and signal box at Midsomer norton, they have plans to extend the track both towards Bath and shepton mallet,, a nice thought but a fair few obstacles in the way,, the bridge towards Bath has been demolished and the tunnel towards shepton mallet is now a rifle range
Don't forget the efforts at Shillingstone.
I grew up with the railway line converted into a footpath behind my house. We always walked along it. Me and my dad even walked through one of the tunnels when they opened it up.
I adore getting to see footage like this, as I often think to myself, if time travel was possible, I would love to see this line back when it was in action :D.
Me too, i would love to go back in time and explore the past :)
Miss this line so much ,so sad it's no more
this is an incredible video because it includes people in the stations life as it really was in the early sixties it a priceless recording of an era that has long past. For me the joy of Shoscombe Halt was the highlight as it showed one of the sister who manned this beautiful halt for its total duration and I think showed the little ticket office adajacent to the line. Commentary was also excellent and just loved every minutes of this beautiful presentation thanks for your kindness in posting it.
I fully agree. I know it sounds a bit childish, but , not only was an excellent form of transport SERVICE lost, but the Britain we loved.
Great find! i was born a brought up in mid Someeset and lived in Evercreech for many years and first met my partner at Templecombe station .
Thank you for the wonderful film and memories of a bygone year
This short film brings back happy memories for me. I made the journey from Bath to Templecombe and back in 1964 with a school friend. We were lucky enough to get a footplate ride, as one of the drivers was an ex Bushbury man. That day we also saw 34051 Winston Churchill on the S&D. I had a colour film which I sent away for processing. It never came back! I have hundreds of old railway photos from the 60's, but those would have been very special indeed. Really enjoyed your film.
My father worked down Writhlington pit, and I went to junior school in Schoscombe, I just about remember trains using the railway but I was very young then. Now a lot of this line is part of a cycle route
That was lovely that and well read, i think Midford was my fav bit.
Thanks John, enjoying your vintage vehicle videos too ruclips.net/user/octopus680
Excellent footage. I have been exploring the portals of Windsor Hill tunnels (just outside Shepton Mallet) with the dog today. Its so nice that this film brought it back to life today.
The S&D link through Glastonbury still has trackbed as a service road on the festival site. Talking to some farm workers I was told that Worthy Farm had a milk dock siding that closed in 60s. Great video thanks
EXCELLENT FOOTAGE WELL NARRATED !
Thanks for sharing this great film, Greetings from a german BR-Fan
If you ever come over to England on a visit, you can walk for five miles along the trackbed of what was once the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway from the centre of the Georgian City of Bath as far as the little village of Midford in the beautiful countryside of north Somerset!
Simon, thanks for the tip. I was in London for a week in 1992 but too young then to think about the railroad. It was a great time.
Great bit of film thank you for sharing it
Quality narration. Thank you
Excellent film, I wish it was longer but colour ciney film was expensive in the sixties.
Tim C.
Happy to relate you can retrace on foot or by bike most of the route between Bath and Wellow. That section is now called the Two Tunnels Greenway.
Thanks for sharing this video, a joy to watch. All Best Dave
It was a real joy to watch this video! I'm from Bournemouth, but the Somerset & Dorset had been closed down before I had a chance to ride on it. I remember as a teenager walking along the disused line at places like Shillingstone. Seeing the train steam along the northern section through stations like Binegar, Radstock North and Midford was just great.
My words are probably redundant but---for those few, who aren't aware. I was gifted a very interesting and amusing DVD, about the 'Weston ,Clevedon, Portishead line', containing original rare footage, and contributions form former staff, and member's of the public, who used the service regularly. ( I laughed out loud, seeing the steam engines tootling along past the Clevedon Triangle, with a guard ,brandishing a Red Flag, walking ahead of the train. I had no idea of this phenomenon, not being from these 'ere parts. It reminded me of the ''Titfield Thunderbolt'' film, only real. What really amazed me though, was the fact that , quite often, the train would stop, to allow passenger's to pick wild hedgerow fruit. I shall put this idea, to all Britains Railway Companies. Another winner?
a very good film and commentary
What wonderful footage and memories of the most beautiful line that was destroyed for NOTHING! Hopefully within 5 years we may see the entire track reopened as a NEW railway with time slots for heritage steam! I cannot WAIT to travel along the beloved S&D. Many track side residents have sadly, illegally or legally built or encroached onto the track bed but with luck they will give it back to the S&D's new board! Thanks for sharing.
It was a good thing this uneconomic line was closed, and the polluting steam locomotives sliced with cutting torches, and the scrap recycled to make cleaner traction.
It will *never* be reopened. Everything has been demolished.
@@PaganPriestUK1234 Electric traction with power being generated from renewable sources .
@@PreservationEnthusiast Like coal?
@@PreservationEnthusiast Never be reopened,didn’t they say that about the Borders Railway and the Welsh Highland Railway
@@sr7791 It was always a marginal line in economic terms and the geography with steep gradients. I don't see any major reasons for low traffic have changed. Patterns of goods movement and holiday traffic are different now. Also with global warming, there's less reason to operate polluting steam traction. So for thus particular line, there are few factors in its favour. Don't let me disabuse you of your pipe dreams though!
lovely to see footage of wellow station - later bought by the artist peter blake (who did the sgt pepper cover) and is still a private home. great to see bthe entry into green park too. a small section of track is on the bridge between bristol and weston road
You neglected to say the Limpley Stoke line was the branch the Titfield Thunderbolt was filmed on and the opening scenes were shot at Midford
Aah yes, the Titfield Thunderbolt... the first movie i ever saw my dad took me to see it in the Beau Nash theatre in Bath i was about 6 so around "54. love Bath . Milsom st and the music shop have my surname, and the next door jewellery store bear my girlfriends name .Mallory.
Excellent as ever, thank you for sharing :)
Very good footage.
ah makes sense, thanks A.S
I asked b.cos most S&D fans seem to like the Mendip grades, and always leave T.COMBE/B.OUTH WEST, out, i find this section rewarding to explore, as i do the North section.
If ne-one does hand film from T.C south to B.W, please reply as id love to see.
This archive however, is brill. Well done for sharing.
Wonderful :)
stunning! if open now would be an amazing journey
Absolutely - Couldn't agree more Dave !
I enjoyed this thank you. The journey passes many place I am familiar with, great record of one of our most interesting railways. Do you have any more?
Thank you.
Thank You A nice collection of clips i did some growing up in the west country. I didn"t know Wellow had a station , my dad worked at the LiLo factory there until the Harbutts plastecine factory burnt down. .. later (late '60's) at Clarks shoes in Radstock.
Quite an interesting film! I enjoyed it a lot.
Absolutely fantastic!
Brian Parkes and
Wonderful film.Wonderful times.Steam trains.Brilliant music .Too young to have a mortgage!I wish I could go back in time
At 5m50s, looking down on the remains of Limpley Stoke to Camerton line which was made famous by the movie Titfield Thunderbolt.
Well spotted...thanks for mentioning... I suspect you've some solid local knowledge.
Brings back memories. I've now subscribed.
Travelled the single line to Exeter from Salisbury in 80s
Superb
Excellent and nostalgic footage - and useful commentary! It's a shame digital video cameras weren't available back then - running out of expensive cine film wouldn't have been a problem!
Never having been over the Somerset & Dorset before I shot this, I had under-estimated how much film to take with me. So towards the end I was desperately trying to make it last until I reached Bath - which I just about did.
The scenery is very similar to New Zealand South Island between Invercargill and Christchurch. Replace the engines with JA and KB paint the locomotives black and the carriages red then your there.
in 1963 Bournemouth was part of Hampshire.
Wonderful!
Very atmospheric
that train shed at templecombe is all that s left of that site. Think its used as a goods in and out for a defence firm now
This is brilliant. I don't suppose anyone knows of any footage around the Taunton area from a similar time?
Marvellous. Scenes (and a lovely voice) from a bygone age. I hope that was fog and not smog?
Pretty unlikely to be smog in rural Somerset!
One of the stations was named Midsomer!
Actually Midsomer Norton I seem to recall - which would have been the name of a town or village
An ancestor may have worked on this line or been master at Plymouth.
One minor error in the commentary- 75047 was a BR Standard Class 4 engine, the Class 5’s were numbered 73xxx
It's 99% likely it was no. 73047, which was based at Bath Green Park.
Alabord Alabord.
I think the loco should be 73047. The Somerset and Dorser could easily have been saved. In the early seventies Bristol to Bournemouth was the most lucrative express coach service in the country not serving London.
Is this the exact same route as i know it from Railworks?
Know as The Slow And Dirty
To judge by the numbers who've watched this and the comments made "Slow and Delightful" might be more appropiate!
3:47 Binegar Station - GWR 4-6-0 No,4904 carried the name "Binnegar Hall" - different spelling but was this the same place ?
Branch lines might be the way to build some new towns?
Lived in Shepton Mallet in 60-65, right were the Chedder valley line crossed over the S&D on the Whitstone Rise housing estate, must say from the film the town looked like a village than a town then, many slums were still there about that time, mainly down by the Baby sham factory area and in Kilver street, near were I went to school, at the end of the viaduct...
I'm not familiar with the area, does the train line end in Dorset, England, on the coast? Does a modern train use the same tracks? Thank you for sharing, John, Indiana
Hi John, The Somerset & Dorset line did run further south of Templecombe where this video starts - but I never rode it. The train service on the S&D ran through to Bournemouth on the south coast, beyond the actual end of the S&D. The S&D was closed in 1966, so there are now no tracks which a modern train could use.
The Old Great Western Railway through Bournemouth down through Weymouth etc is still used. These line are two separate lines but British Rail still uses that route. The Somerset and Dorset has been removed.
Alan Snowdon thanks for the correction and education.
Such a wonderful video! I am creating a Heritage Festival at Green Park Station and wondered if we could use some of this footage at the event? If you have an email address or another way to contact you it would be great to discuss this further. Thanks again for such amazing footage.
Very kind of you to say so, but as this was shot on 8mm film it would NOT look at all clear if projected onto a large screen. Showing on RUclips DOES reach a very large audience - over 123 THOUSAND sofar. So I must decline your offer.
@@AlanSnowdonArchive Thank you for your response. I completely understand, but thank you anyway!
even these narrations are artfully composed & enunciated -- when'll you listen to customary relativity like this ever again, right...
Y DOES IT START AT T.COMBE?
It starts at Templecombe, because that's where I started my only-ever ride on the "Slow and Delightful" (as a railwayman who had worked on the S&DJR described it). I had just arrived from London behind "Clan Line" on a normal scheduled train, and rushed over to the up platform to film the departure.
Ideally I would have started the film at Bomo West (as you seem to like abbreviations) but the timetable didn't allow for that in addition to the journeys down from London before, and back from Bath after, the filming ride.
I was guard at Bournemouth from about 1995 to 2010 ,after being at Cambridge and Gidea Park . Some of the Bournemouth drivers used to work over the S and D ,mainly as young fireman in those days .They used to talk whimsically about their times over the line and had some tales to tell . A regular Driver whose trains I was a guard on was Aubrey Punter who worked the last ever [ steam ?] train over the S and D as a fireman !
@@Sam_Green____4114 Aubrey was certainly the fireman on the last up Pines express on the S&D (it was re-routed), from Bournemouth as far as Bath Green Park on 8th Sept 1962.
Not a video that would encourage tourism to England
I disagree. While the weather was gloomy the countryside was beautiful and so very English. I've never been to England, but I'd love to go, and to ride that train.
Strange how a woman narrating a film like this about steam engines sound as if she is giving a recipe for a cake
My wife kindly READS the narration which I've written. Her speaking voice is CLEARER than mine. Her cakes are pretty good too!
I'm glad *I* didn't say that. Her diction was very clear and suitable for the video.
A lost country ! The beautiful land of my birth now a multicultural shithole !
We could have done with a better commentary, however.A long list of suitable candidates springs to mind.
Mike Arlett, please, best ever!
Mike narrated on ''Branch Line To Burnham''..also on vol.'s 2&3 of ''The Somerset and Dorset Railway''; also ''Southern Way West'' ; vol's 1&2 of ''Far Way West''.
These vids cost £19-95 from Videoscene Blackpool. If you only ever bought 1 vid. I would strongly recommend the Burnham vid. my all time favourite, never tire of watching it.
I understand Mike lives in Frome, I assume he is a Somerset man; he has a lovely relaxing West Country burr, to me, he is easily the best steam railway narrator.
He is to steam commentary what John Arlott was to cricket commentary years ago on Radio 4's Test Match Special; again a delightful West Country burr to his voice.
I'm not sure about Railworks, but I've got an Open Rail (OR) add-on - and I could actually visualise that add-on route, with this footage - it's spot-on ! Great video footage, by the way.
ignore the idiot, she was /is great.
Clear, concise and beautifully spoken....and no annoying music. I loved it.
Great film and commentary, but would have sounded better with Ringo Starr narrating.
I imagine his services would be rather expensive!!
Beautiful commentary as it is
Ringo Starr not repeat not, required.
Devon map
A line that should not have closed. With all those rural communities a viable line.