Diesels come to Pendon! Form an orderly queue!

[MJI]

Reading a post on the DEMU forum, Pendon are looking for a correct type of DMU. Anyone got a class 117 in EM, green livery. By the way the post reads speed whiskers not a yellow panel would be preferable.

 

Sorry only OO and 1 blue grey the other GWR150.

 

Got a 118 in all over blue though

[The Stationmaster]

I remember it well. Oxford-Reading West on that train then to Reading General on the trolley bus and back to Oxford was one of my occasional jaunts, in the end just to get a last whiff of steam  after it had otherwise disappeared from the WR.

 

There was also the Pines Express after the S&DJR had closed but "The Pines Express is running ninety, nine, Oh, minutes late" was an all too familiar announcement by the very deliberately speaking station announcer at Oxford. Nnety minutes late was the worst I heard but several times and twenty to forty minute delays seemed almost the norm. It was almost always the southbound Pines that was late, very rarely the northbound service, and I don't remember the York-Bournemouth being anything like as erratic. In the sixties Oxford also had several Summer Saturday Only services coming from the north for people who presumably found Skegness to be a little too bracing and ISTR their timekeeping being rather uncertain.

 

Did the York-Bournemouth go onto the GC and if so was that via Woodford Halse? I did get to Woodford just once before it closed in 1966 but that was on a steam hauled local train from Banbury possibly soon after WR steam had finished in the area.

 

Yes, the York- Bournemouth ran via Woodford Halse and Banbury and as Peter has noted the company boundary was just past the junction (towards Woodford) at Banbury North.  In many respects as far as the GCR were concerned it was the secondary connection to the GWR as the line between Ashendon Jcn and Grendon Underwood was the principal route for GCR passenger trains to/from London via the Joint Line through High Wycombe.  However Woodford to Banbury was the principal freight route plus the route for a couple of cross country services.

[Pacific231G]

Yes, the York- Bournemouth ran via Woodford Halse and Banbury and as Peter has noted the company boundary was just past the junction (towards Woodford) at Banbury North.  In many respects as far as the GCR were concerned it was the secondary connection to the GWR as the line between Ashendon Jcn and Grendon Underwood was the principal route for GCR passenger trains to/from London via the Joint Line through High Wycombe.  However Woodford to Banbury was the principal freight route plus the route for a couple of cross country services.

Thanks for that Mike

It's just possible that I used the Bournemouth- York (or vice versa) for one leg of my journey to Woodford but my abiding memory of that trip was a two or three coach stopper full of local country types carrying bags full of  the shopping they'd bought at Banbury market so it's more likely that I came back on the same train's  reverse working.

[bécasse]

 

It's just possible that I used the Bournemouth- York (or vice versa) for one leg of my journey to Woodford but my abiding memory of that trip was a two or three coach stopper full of local country types carrying bags full of  the shopping they'd bought at Banbury market so it's more likely that I came back on the same train's  reverse working.

 

I am fairly certain that there weren't any Banbury-GC line locals by the mid-1960s. I was an Oxford undergraduate 1964-67 and I spent a long time puzzling out how it would be possible to travel over the line. Eventually I caught the northbound through train from Oxford and got of it at Rugby Central, I then caught a lovely traditional Midland Red single decker bus to Leamington and a train back to Oxford from there. I presume that from the "north" it was possible to do a day return trip using the SB and NB through trains, but this wasn't possible from the south.

[Pacific231G]

I am fairly certain that there weren't any Banbury-GC line locals by the mid-1960s. I was an Oxford undergraduate 1964-67 and I spent a long time puzzling out how it would be possible to travel over the line. Eventually I caught the northbound through train from Oxford and got of it at Rugby Central, I then caught a lovely traditional Midland Red single decker bus to Leamington and a train back to Oxford from there. I presume that from the "north" it was possible to do a day return trip using the SB and NB through trains, but this wasn't possible from the south.

Do you remember if the through train you travelled on actually stopped at Woodford-Halse?

My trip would have had to have been between 1962 and the line's closure in 1966 so you may have missed it by a whisker. There are a couple of pictures of the Woodford Halse "stopper" in Banbury from 1960 in Kevin Robertson's "The Last Days of Steam in Oxfordshire". The trains shown are the 13.50 and the 16.25 and both look to be made up of  two coaches. Though they're referred to in their captions as "stoppers", in reality there was nowhere for them to stop as the two halts on the eight mile line had closed in the mid 1950s.  I don't know whether that service actually ended before the final closure of Woodford Halse in 1966 but the shed there closed in 1965 which may be a clue. I didn't think the train went beyond Woodford-Halse but I could be wrong about that. I also don't rememeber having very much time to explore Woodford before catching the return train. So far my researches have not produced much more information.

Edited September 29, 2018 by Pacific231G

[The Stationmaster]

The York - Bournemouth (and northbound working) didn't call at Woodford Halse but ran non-stop (as far as public timetables are concerned) between Rugby and Banbury but the Swindon - York (and southbound) is shown in the Winter 1962/63 book as calling at Woodford.

 

The same timetable - being the one I most immediately have to hand - shows Woodford - Banbury trains, albeit not many of them but as already noted out the intermediate stations/halts had closed by then.  There is also a stopping train service between Marylebone and Woodford and various longer distance (Leicester and Nottingham) GC line trains also called there in the same timetable.

 

i'm not sure without going through all my other TTs from the early/mid '60s exactly when the various services ended but it was around the mid 1960s.

 

T Railway wise Woodford Halse was an amazing place completely in the middle of nowhere and very difficult to find by road as it was a fairly small village, not very clever when trying to make a Sunday visit to the shed by car which i was lucky to be taken along on in my early teens.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

There was still a Woodford - Banbury service (Mon - Sat) in the Summer 1963 timetable. Route headcode 2V76 Woodford - Banbury and 2M76 return.

 

Trains departed Banbury for Woodford at:

 

0925 (5 mins later on Sats), 1230 (20 mins later on Sats), 1344 (8 mins earlier on Sats), 1549 and 1748.

[Pacific231G]

There was still a Woodford - Banbury service (Mon - Sat) in the Summer 1963 timetable. Route headcode 2V76 Woodford - Banbury and 2M76 return.

 

Trains departed Banbury for Woodford at:

 

0925 (5 mins later on Sats), 1230 (20 mins later on Sats), 1344 (8 mins earlier on Sats), 1549 and 1748.

Thanks Peter and Mike

I've been completely unable to find out when this service actually ended but I believe it was steam to the end and it was fairly close to the end when I travelled on it. I thought I'd used it both ways and this confirms it. I don't think I'd have made the trip on my own before I was a teenager so that would have made it between1964 and Woodford Halse's closure in 1966. Sadly, I can't trace the loco I was behind as all my photos from that period were binned when my parents moved house just before I went to University (To be fair, I'd already been away from home for most of the preceding three years and hadn't shown any interest in them as I was going through an "I'm not really interested in railways" phase)  

 

Bécasse 

I tnink that local train was fairly obscure. I knew, or thought I knew, all the remaining steam in the Oxford area but it was only by chance that someone told me about it. The varsity line was firmly in the evil clutches of DMUs by then as it seemed were most if not all the other local stopping services. 

Edited September 30, 2018 by Pacific231G

[Andy Y]

Just to whet the appetite a little...

 

 

I had chance yesterday to see some testing of diesels in the Vale scene with some shortened trains. Maybe it's because such stock is more relevant to me than the 1930s but I have to say that I have never seen such a fantastic setting for such workings.

 

I shall drop a few more pictures in the run-up to the event.

[queensquare]

Just to whet the appetite a little...

 

12.jpg

 

I had chance yesterday to see some testing of diesels in the Vale scene with some shortened trains. Maybe it's because such stock is more relevant to me than the 1930s but I have to say that I have never seen such a fantastic setting for such workings.

 

I shall drop a few more pictures in the run-up to the event.

 

Fabulous, railways in the landscape at its absolute best. Very much looking forward to seeing more of these images.

 

Jerry

[Andy Y]

Nothing to do with diesels (apart from it saw a Class 22 pass through yesterday) but of interest all the same.

 

[Miss Prism]

I think you've got a secret periscope, Andy. Not many people have got to that location.

[woodenhead]

I hope you had a hi-viz on and the appropriate trackside passes.

[Andy Y]

I hope you had a hi-viz on and the appropriate trackside passes.

 

It was long before such formalities existed, besides no-one saw me!

 

[Miss Prism]

The bleak solitude of the M&SWJR.

[Andy Y]

A short tease of some things you may get to see on the day.

 

[PMP]

A short tease of some things you may get to see on the day.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZyjbxCODpyg

That’s exactly as I hoped it would be, count me in!

[timpeacock]

Fabulous, railways in the landscape at its absolute best. Very much looking forward to seeing more of these images.

 

Jerry

 

 

 

Better still, come and see us for real!! Not far from Wiltshire

 

Bets wishes Tim

[scottystitch]

 

Better still, come and see us for real!! Not far from Wiltshire

 

Bets wishes Tim

 

It looks fantastic with the diesels, sadly too far for me to come from Aberdeenshire in a weekend. 

 

Will you perhaps, be able to produce a DVD, or better still a BluRay of the running?

[gwrrob]

Just to whet the appetite a little...

 

 

 

A fabulous shot and a BR liveried Hall wouldn't look out of place in that railway in the landscape shot.

[Andy Y]

a BR liveried Hall wouldn't look out of place in that railway in the landscape shot.

 

I'd go for the prototype HST.

 

[queensquare]

Better still, come and see us for real!! Not far from Wiltshire

 

Bets wishes Tim

Indeed and if I can negotiate a trip up that weekend I'll be there. I very much hope it won't be a one off

 

Jerry

[Pacific231G]

I must try to get to this event.

The interesting thing about the teaser is that, though there are bound to be anachronisms between the 1930s and the early 1960s, none of them stand out sufficiently to make the scene look "wrong".with diesels in it.(though i'm sure experts on farming methods would see a few). Rolling stock aside, it's notable how little fundamental change there was between the immediate pre-war railway and B.R. before Beeching apart from the later railway looking rather more run down. Since then that tradtional railway  has largely disappeared apart from some buildings and in odd corners. (like the bullhead double track junction I pass over every time I used the Greenford branch) .  

[MarkSG]

I'd go for the prototype HST.

 

 

APT-E

[Andy Y]

APT-E

I would, of course, agree wholeheartedly but I fear the nose would clear half the platform furniture on the station curve.

 

I have volunteered the availability of a sound-fitted weathered EM model if trials are required at any time. I have some other dirty blue stuff too.