Wartime on the S & D

[dube]

Would there have been much military traffic on the S & D for the run up to D Day ? Fuel ?

 

Not sure how Bournemouth / Poole was used in the war

 

And Just read that the LMS withdrew 4Fs and 2Ps during the war and that T9s and Crabs were used

[RailWest]

Well, there were certainly military depots at Highbridge and Masbury in WWII.

[geoffers]

There were certainly troop trains in WW2 as there was a nasty accident involving one at Henstridge which led to fatalities in the train as a result of a tank transporter falling over the parapet of the A30 bridge onto the coaches. Remarkably both the crews of the doubled-headed train survived. There was also a Fleet Air Arm airstrip at Henstridge too, and the the military camp at Blandford and the airfield at Tarrant Rushton between Blandford and Wimborne (where Halifax aircraft were based and towed gliders into Pegasus Bridge on D-Day and to Arnhem for Market Garden - my just late uncle was flight engineer on both trips).

Edited January 23, 2019 by geoffers

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Large petrol store at West Moors too.

 

Oops, just realised that's on the "other" S&D.....

Edited January 23, 2019 by Peter Kazmierczak

[bike2steam]

There was also a large PoW camp right next to the railway at Milldown (Blandford). Poole had a large contingent of Americans ready for loading for D-day. Bournemouth had many Canadians through-out the war, German air-raids targeted the hotels, many were staying in, a few times. Many hospital trains ran to and from Poole using the S&DJR some hauled by LNER B12's.

[dube]

Thanks for the replies, I knew B12s went to Southampton on Ambulance trains I’ve got a photo of one double headed with a grange at Shawford junction, I was looking at Evercreech Junction around 1961 but also want to run some wartime trains on my layout, found out that Poole Hamworthy was used to supply fuel. I think the S & D suits model railways very scenic with lots of tunnels, bridges, hillside lines, lots of double heading, banking and short freights especially if you have tight curves

Edited January 26, 2019 by dube

[phil_sutters]

Highbridge Wharf and an area beside the passenger station were used by the US Ordnance during WW2, with some additional sidings laid. They used some of the WD 0-6-0Ts to work the yards. WD1255, 1585, 1394 & 1557 were recorded among others, according to Chris Handley in the Maritime Activities of the S&D. So war materials unloaded, stored and sorted there would have passed down the line, through Evercreech, towards the south coast.

Edited February 2, 2019 by phil_sutters

[Malc2085]

There was a large fuel dump at Highbridge, where petrol, or should I say Gasoline was stored in Jerry cans. I found this picture in a document entitled "UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II,  The Technical Services The Quartermaster Corps: Operations in the War against Germany,  by William F. Ross and Charles F. Romanus, Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington, D.C., 1991".  I am not sure where this dump was at Highbridge or indeed if it was rail connected, but a rail connection was a criteria for selecting these sites.  I will speak to an old farmer chap I know who might have some knowledge.   Petrol in Jerry cans were the responsibility of the Quartermaster Corps, (POL Stores) whilst petrol in bulk was the Transportation Corps. The same document mentions American Army QM Stores at Shepton Mallet and Street. The Highbridge POL Store was big, over 51,000 sq.feet, whilst Masbury is also mentioned but that was only 2,100 sq.feet, (P266).    I haven't read the whole document, this epic tome is 798 pages and I don't need a cure for insomnia just yet.    

 

 

 

[phil_sutters]

On 02/02/2019 at 21:12, Malc2085 said:

There was a large fuel dump at Highbridge, where petrol, or should I say Gasoline was stored in Jerry cans. I found this picture in a document entitled "UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II,  The Technical Services The Quartermaster Corps: Operations in the War against Germany,  by William F. Ross and Charles F. Romanus, Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington, D.C., 1991".  I am not sure where this dump was at Highbridge or indeed if it was rail connected, but a rail connection was a criteria for selecting these sites.  I will speak to an old farmer chap I know who might have some knowledge.   Petrol in Jerry cans were the responsibility of the Quartermaster Corps, (POL Stores) whilst petrol in bulk was the Transportation Corps. The same document mentions American Army QM Stores at Shepton Mallet and Street. The Highbridge POL Store was big, over 51,000 sq.feet, whilst Masbury is also mentioned but that was only 2,100 sq.feet, (P266).    I haven't read the whole document, this epic tome is 798 pages and I don't need a cure for insomnia just yet.    

 

 

 

 

My understanding is that there were extra sidings laid to the north of the carriage sheds, which were to the north of the line to Bason Bridge, just east of Highbridge station. I am sure that I have seen a map showing the sidings but I have no idea where I saw it..

Later - I thought that  the map might have been on the local history site CaptureHighbridge, but it wasn't. However there were, in an evacuee's reminiscences, references to the fuel dump being at the end of Isleport Lane, which comes out onto the Mark Road, opposite the area I described above. Another paragraph, in the site's S&DJR page, says that the works had lain empty from 1930 until the Americans arrived and used the works as a store and had a fuel dump from which D Day supplies were drawn.

Edited February 4, 2019 by phil_sutters
Additional info

[Malc2085]

Phil, you are right, I spoke to my contact last night, it was roughly in the area which is now occupied by the Walrow Trading Estate which would have been S & D  railway land,  roughly where RT Keedwells Transport Depot and the old Woodbury Bros and Haines Furniture Factory is situated (now Briarwood).  There is a pair of old split spoke railway wagon wheels on a plinth by the Mark Road Roundabout at the entrance to the Trading Estate.  I will have to stop the car one day and see if there is an inscription on it.  Another commodity in the wagons was sugar and apparently the local "Home Guard" always had sugar in their tea. 

Edited February 8, 2019 by Malc2085
correct an error

[phil_sutters]

I haven't reread it recently, so I don't know whether military traffic is or isn't mentioned, but chapter 5 of 'Footplate over the Mendips' by Peter Smith, covers the war years.

[Guest Jack Benson]

Hi,

 

There should be mention of the Southern locos loaned to the SDJR,  four S11 4-4-0 saw service and one was involved in the fatal accident at Henstridge.

There was a temporary storage facility near Henstridge for HMS Dipper, otherwise known as RNAS Henstridge, one of the wartime satellite airfields for HMS Heron, RNAS Yeovilton.

Btw I think that the RLC facility at West Moors on the other SDJR was a PoW camp during WW2

Finally a nice post-war picture at Spetisbury as a train of (mostly) Austin K7 wireless trucks rolls south, I think that they are being withdrawn from service from the RSC at Blandford Camp.

 

I did use mostly because I cannot identify the second vehicle, it is rather WW2, especially with those wings and flat windscreen.

 

Cheers

 

Jack

 

 

[geoffers]

I have seen this photo published in a book somewhere but cannot recall where. The photo was post-S&D closure in summer of 1966 and the photographer recalls being most surprised to see activity at Blandford and hurried along to take the picture at Spetisbury 

 

Edit 13/05/2019 - the book with the photograph is "Somerset & Dorset Steam Finale" by Michael S Welch and published by Runpast Publishing in 2001, page 68 and the photograher was David Wigley. The date was 22nd July, 1966.

Edited May 13, 2019 by geoffers

[Guest Jack Benson]

Hello,

 

A link to the fatal and tragic accident at Henstridge in 1944 involving the US Army.

 

Fatal rail accident Henstridge 18.03.44

 

Cheers

 

Jack

[RailWest]

On 12/05/2019 at 11:35, Jack Benson said:

Hello,

 

A link to the fatal and tragic accident at Henstridge in 1944 involving the US Army.

 

Fatal rail accident Henstridge 18.03.44

 

Cheers

 

Jack

This link seems dead - is there a new one available please?

 

[keefer]

Available via the Wayback Machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20191219090538/http://www.warmemorialsww1.co.uk/ww2-train-crash#content

[RailWest]

Many thanks, most useful :-)

[KeithMacdonald]

I know the main railway connection to the Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) Bridgwater was with the GWR, but it was a huge factory site, producing a huge volume of materials. Perhaps some of its produce went down the S&D towards Poole via the GWR/S&D connected sidings in Bridgwater and/or Highbridge Junction?

Edited October 21, 2022 by KeithMacdonald
Typo

[GRC]

I found a press cutting last week for the retirement of George Ainsworth. Signalman at Shillingstone who recalls 2 visits by the Royal Train for GeorgeVI to visit Blandford camp.  I’ll scan the cutting in due course and attach if interested.  No mention of the train composition though

[Michael Hodgson]

On 21/10/2022 at 12:12, RailWest said:

This link seems dead - is there a new one available please?

 

There seem to be a few anomalies in the information available, which shows just how difficult it is to determine exactly what happened so long after the event.

 

Geoffers refers to the vehicle involved as a tank transporter, which could be a little misleading, given other descriptions given in links, and Jack Benson gave a date of 18th March (which was a Saturday). 

 

The document linked by the wayback machine has the date as Monday 13th March, and says it was a school day and normal working day (so apparently not a Saturday then).  The link include details of its authors who invite further info.  The Casualties given as "at least 6 soldiers killed and many more injured."    It seems the US troops were engaged in building a river bridge intended to carry tank transporters.    Vehicle involved is described as the trailer of a "large lorry transporter" and its load as "a caterpillar crane"; they query whether it was a US Army vehicle.  They also query whether the crane hook was a factor - though what comes to my mind is that given this was described as a hump back bridge, a low loader would be at serious risk of grounding on the summit of the bridge, and its load slipping into the parapet could be a consequence.

 

The Railway Archive gives a date of 14th March, puts casualties at 1 fatality & 7 injured, and says it is believed there was no formal published investigation report  https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/eventsummary.php?eventID=8629    This isn't surprising as military casualties were not reported except perhaps in general terms.  With large numbers of people being killed daily in hostilities, the Railway Inspectorate necessarily limited the scope of its investigations during the war, and anything relating to military movements in the build-up to D-Day would naturally have been secret.  By comparison the well-known Soham explosion only a couple of days before D-Day was subject to a formal investigation, although that report was not published until well after Allied troops had landed in Normandy and the need for secrecy was long gone.  So where does the 14th come for - perhaps the accident was only notified to the Inspectorate the following day??  I speculate that the authorities may have decided it was really a road accident, with the railway merely as collateral damage, whilst the Ministry of War Transport could have considered it a purely matter of military discipline as both the road vehicle crew responsible and the railway passengers were soldiers.

 

18th March appears to have been when the press were allowed to report an "incident".  It must have been a difficult decision what details could properly be released to the media and when, balancing the need for military secrecy and to keep up morale against what could not be concealed from the general public as it was obvious to them by direct observation.  If the death of the troops on the train happened to be the result of negligence on the part of allied troops, perhaps inexperienced and/or driving an unfamiliar type of vehicle on unfamiliar roads, that's not great for morale.