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Smith & Donald - The Dorset Dazzlers - Part 2

DRIVER Donald Beale would have been the first to admit that hurried glances at his trusted fob watch while in charge of a hard-working steam locomotive were no substitute for the accuracy of a seasoned train-timer armed with a pair of very expensive stopwatches! Yet even making provision for any slight discrepancies in his estimates, it doesn’t alter the fact that No. 34045 Ottery St Mary (aided in no small measure by 4-4-0 No. 40564, with driver Pat Evans), had just taken the southbound ‘Pines Express’ from milepost 10¾ south of Radstock, up to Masbury summit at an extraordinary overall average speed for such a challenging climb. But then Donald was no ‘ordinary’ footplateman.

Once over the summit at Masbury, he would – unlike many of his contemporaries – never extend his steed at too great a speed downhill towards Evercreech Junction when in charge of a train that included a restaurant car.

The ‘diner’ on the down ‘Pines’ was worked by staff from Manchester and Bournemouth on alternate days and Donald knew better than to give them and their customers an unnecessary shaking during afternoon tea!

So, although the driver of the assisting engine was primarily responsible for braking, Donald was not averse to touching the brake as a gentle reminder to his colleague up front if the speed of the descent became a little too ‘enthusiastic’. In any case, the scheduled allowance from passing Masbury station to Evercreech Junction was fairly liberal (14 minutes), so even at no great a pace, a further four minutes could be regained.

The actual time from Bath to ‘the Junction’ must have been no more than 46 minutes (say 40 net of delays) compared with a scheduled time of 56 minutes. As a matter of comparison, 46 minutes was also the running time achieved by 9F No. 92000 when recorded by Baron Vuillet (see last month’s instalment and The RM October 1961) and while, of course, the latter had been unassisted, that had been a run unencumbered by any delays, albeit on an afternoon of high winds and incessant rain.

Donald’s regular fireman, Peter Smith, recalls that time was gained on the scheduled five-minute halt at Evercreech Junction because the 5,500-gallon tender of Ottery St Mary had been filled to the brim at Bath and Donald, eager to be ‘off’, decided it was unnecessary to take on any more.

Consequently, he immediately ‘gave the tip’ to the station foreman, indicating that he was ready to go as soon as given the road following removal of the assisting loco. which first had to be shunted onto the up line.

After the lucky young man who’d enjoyed a cab ride from Bath (see last month) had left the footplate, a wave of the green flag from the guard saw No. 34045 accelerating over the level crossing at the south end of the platform.

 As recalled in last month’s RM, the Bournemouth Railway Club had chosen this day (August 12, 1961) to undertake a detailed survey of traffic over the S&D with members sited at several locations. The BRC survey recorded the ‘Pines’ passing Templecombe Junction 24 minutes late. That would have made the time about 5.11pm; around 14 minutes after departure from Evercreech Junction. Peter remembers that a good run would occupy 14 to 14½ minutes.

 Compared with the gradients encountered over the Mendips, this 10¼-mile section to Templecombe was much more favourable but, south of Cole, there were about 3½ miles of adverse gradients of 1-in-100 and 1-in-133, broken only by a short dip under the ‘High Arch Bridge’ near Shepton Montague. So, only after passing through Wincanton station was any real speed possible; perhaps reaching 60mph before shutting off steam for the approach to Templecombe Junction.

At this point in the journey, the gross time since departing Bath was no more than 62 minutes. By way of comparison with the run recorded by Baron Vuillet with 92000 a month earlier, Peter estimates that too was around 14 minutes from Evercreech Junction. Although Donald would have got the 9F accelerated to line speed quicker than No. 34045, the fact that a locomotive inspector from Western Region HQ and a recorder with two stopwatches were sharing his footplate would have ensured that he did not exceed the maximum 50mph permitted by the WR for 2-10-0 locos between Bath Junction and Templecombe Junction. With No. 34045 and only Peter sharing the footplate, he probably interpreted speed a little more liberally!

Donald and Peter made such exceptional progress with the ‘West Country’ that, at Templecombe, they were able to overtake the preceding Bradford-Bournemouth while the latter called at the Upper station. The 3.40pm Bournemouth-Bristol had already reached Templecombe Junction ahead of time when No. 34045 enterd the single line section towards Blandford. Now there would be only one conflicting crossing to delay the ‘Pines’; the afternoon milk train from Bailey Gate, which succeeded in subjecting the express to a lengthy wait at Sturminster Newton. There was more frustration at Blandford, where time was lost by the need to ‘pull up’ a second time to bring the rear coaches into the platform. (None of the station platforms on the S&D were long enough to accommodate a 12-coach train.)

With the crew undaunted by these further setbacks, there followed a scorching acceleration from Blandford with speed up to 70mph on the approach to Bailey Gate. Normally, the down ‘Pines’ would pass the 5.30pm Bournemouth West- Templecombe near Creekmoor, between Broadstone and Poole, but on this day, with the express running late, the 5.30pm had already reached Broadstone and was ready to proceed on the next part of its journey over the near-three mile single line to Corfe Mullen Junction. Donald and Peter must have got No. 34045 very close to Corfe Mullen Junction because the decision was made (probably between the signalmen controlling the single line) to hold back the up ‘stopper’ at Broadstone rather than to check or, even worse, bring the delayed ‘Pines’ to another unscheduled halt awaiting clearance onto the single line.
 
So the modified Pacifc got a ‘flying start’ through the junction and, Peter recalls, made a very impressive climb up the 1-in-80 gradient of Corfe Mullen bank.

By Peter’s reasoning, around five minutes had been gained since passing Templecombe Junction and the time must have been around 6.03pm when S&D metals were left behind on the approach to Broadstone. Only one minute was allowed for the scheduled stop there; a timing impossible to achieve with a 12-coach train.

Peter recalls that when a clear road could be had from there to Bournemouth West, this part of the run – including the station stop at Poole – could be achieved in 19 minutes, or even a minute less if this could be ‘pinched’ from the schedule to Poole.

On Saturdays, the ‘Pines’ was allowed 11 minutes from Broadstone to Poole (four minutes more than on a weekday), because those responsible for preparing the timings would build in recovery time in the knowledge of what lay ahead.

Always an optimist, Donald again set out to make up a few more minutes with a fast run down the bank from Broadstone but, true to form, the train was checked on the approach to Holes Bay Junction, which prefaced a cautious approach to Poole station.

This was another location where a 12-coach train could not be accommodated so, inevitably, station time was exceeded by around a minute even allowing for the fact that, again, the Saturday timings were relaxed to allow a three-minute stop rather than the two minutes scheduled for weekdays.

At least that overstay allowed the preceding train to clear the section, enabling
a final all-out blast up the 1-in-60 Parkstone bank. Even so, it was a fact that the 10-minute timing from Poole to Bournemouth was – to borrow a phrase used by O S Nock – “a counsel of perfection” and a Bulleid Light Pacific could not improve on the schedule here with a train of this weight. (Only the mighty 9F 2-10-0s could make up time over this section, as demonstrated by No. 92000, which had covered this final stage of the journey in eight minutes and so impressed Baron Vuillet.)

On this occasion, Donald and Peter’s ‘final fling’ with No. 34045 (dropped out to 50-55% cut-off) was to be frustrated when the Branksome distant signal was sighted at caution. The intensive traffic in this area generally, and around the Branksome triangle in particular, was again imposing its toll.

There was a conflicting movement on the Bournemouth Central-to-West route, so the ‘Pines Express’ completed the final mile crawling from signal to signal, to avoid drawing to a halt before passing Branksome Loco (Donald and Peter’s home shed) and reaching journey’s end.

All the time gained south of Templecombe was more than forfeited over those final few miles.

However, despite all the delays, which must have contributed about another six to seven minutes of lost time since arrival at Broadstone, the run was completed – according to the Bournemouth Railway Club survey – 25 minutes behind schedule, which would make arrival time at 6.33pm. On that basis, the actual running time since leaving Bath was 2hrs 24mins – which was just one minute more than the faster timing scheduled for the down ‘Pines’ on weekdays. The net timing, however, taking all the various delays into account, would have been close to just two hours.

Such a timing was another goal Donald set himself when encountering late running of any magnitude on setting out from Bath. To all but pull that off, given the circumstances of the run just described, was an outstanding achievement, especially with a Bulleid Light Pacific over so difficult a road. But, as Peter recalled, Donald was a bit of a “wiz” with those locos – modified or otherwise!

So there we have it. Donald and Peter’s exploits with No. 92000 on July 14, 1961 were published in The Railway Magazine just a few months later – but details of another superb run over that most challenging of cross-country routes made by the same team (ably assisted by the efforts of Pat Evans and his youthful fireman as far as Evercreech Junction) just a month later have taken half a century to come to print!
 
What a pity an observer such as Baron Vuillet or O S Nock was not present to record the run in detail.

My sincere thanks to Peter for sharing those wonderful memories with me, for checking my text to confirm the probability of the timings and for providing many other details to enable this article to be prepared. The timings at the Bath start, on passing Templecombe Junction and at the finish were all recorded accurately as part of the Bournemouth Railway Club survey and even if there were one or two minor under- or over-estimates en route, there can be no getting away from the fact this was still a VERY exceptional run.

By Donald Beale and Peter Smith