AberdeenBill Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 Hi all, I'm seeking information on trains that linked South Wales and the New Forest on summer Saturdays in the 1950s and 1960s. The 1962 WTT shows: 9:55am Swansea High Street to Brockenhurst (via West Moors, Poole and Bournemouth Central), arriving 4:30pm. (Just to confuse matters, this switches from being a down to an up train in the timetable, due to its unusual route ) The balancing working seems to be the 8:48am from New Milton to Swansea. It possibly worked as ECS from Brockenhurst, departing 8:22am. 9:32am Cardiff General to Pokesdown (arr. 2:31pm). The balancing working is possibly the 9:00am from Bournemouth Central (via Poole and West Moors). So many questions.... Why were these workings "unbalanced," in terms of relatively obscure arrival and departure stations in the New Forest area? What coaching stock was used? Would WR carriages be stabled for a week at Brockenhurst?? What locomotives were used? I have read/heard somewhere that 9Fs were used, including even Evening Star. Where were the incoming locos (to Brockenhurst and Pokesdown) serviced? Many thanks, Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 Were they possibly connected with 'holiday camps' for the Scouts, Girl Guides or even the Baptist Union? I can see any of these thinking that a brisk hike with full kit would be character building.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Belgian Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 The New Milton starting point was because the sidings at Brockenhurst ran out onto the main line at the western end of the station and, due to the relatively intense service on Summer Saturdays it was impractical to work the stock back into the station when trains from the Old Road via Ringwood and branch trains from Lymington were also terminating at Brockenhurst. By running it this way it could simply be drawn straight out onto the main line and pick up at New Milton like any normal stopper. The stock spent the week in the southernmost siding next to the station itself. Locomotives were normally BR class 4 moguls, which could work the train through to Salisbury over the S&DJR. I'm not too sure about the Pokesdown terminating point, but the station had loops installed in the 1930s to relieve Bournemouth Central as the latter only had a single up through platform in which many London trains had to have portions from Bournemouth West and Weymouth combined. The termination of a train from the west (as the through train from Cardiff would present itself at Central) would cause quite a deal of confusion on a platform full of passengers waiting to depart. Taking the train through to Pokesdown would allow the de-training of passengers and luggage to take place at leisure as faster trains passed on the through line. I believe the stock was stabled at Christchurch during the week. It was probably as much because of the stabling requirements that these trains ran east from Bournemouth: in the normal course of events they would have run to Bournemouth West, but on Summer Saturdays that was overrun (especially in the mornings) by the various through trains from the other S&DJR (the Slow and Dirty or Swift and Delightful) so there was no room for these two oddities. It would have been logical to have run them via Romsey, Chandlers Ford and Southampton to Bournemouth, but the Southampton area was also chock-a-block and this routing on an otherwise under-utilised route probably helped the timetable planners. Locomotives would be supplied by Eastleigh (for the Brockenhurst/New Milton one) and Bournemouth for the Pokesdown one. JE Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AberdeenBill Posted December 6, 2011 Author Share Posted December 6, 2011 Hi Belgian, Thanks for a definitive answer (makes perfect sense... ). But I'm sure that I've seen reports of 9Fs in the New Forest somewhere.... Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Belgian Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Hi Belgian, Thanks for a definitive answer (makes perfect sense... ). But I'm sure that I've seen reports of 9Fs in the New Forest somewhere.... Bill Yes, on the Fawley oil trains and the (Mendips) S&DJR but not on the (Fordingbridge) S&DJR, over which the trains you are enquiring about ran. JE Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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