tingleytim

Interesting sequences in the video but none of the return working of the 3.35 off Templecombe. The Standard 4-6-0 with the large tender facing south would likely have been the loco on the 06.35 Evercreech to Poole freight. I don’t think milk wagons were transported in this working but that doesn’t stop the loco being used to shunt in the creamery sidings. Working timetables support this. In 1950 this freight arrived Bailey Gate at 9.30 and stayed until 11.55! In 1955 it arrived at 9.26 and left at 10.40. There’s the picture we've seen before of 4691 with van and milk tank but no passenger coaches. Similar for the 4-6-0 with the small tender. Were there occasional untimetabled workings from Templecombe to collect milk tankers? 75071 facing north in the blog was the loco off the 3pm Poole freight prior to attaching milk tankers to the up mail.

Several of my pics have found their way into this sequence, including the one quoted as "exPoole en route to Bailey Gate". It was in fact the 6.35 from Evercreech leaving Blandford, as Chris says, and on its way to Poole. The pannier tank at Bailey Gate is interesting. It can't be the return working of the 3.35 from Templecombe as there is no passenger coach in the formation.

On the half dozen occasions I saw the 3.35 off Templecombe or the return "milkie" the loco was always bunker first going south. I don't recall seeing any published photos showing the opposite. Locos used: 41296 (twice), 41242, 80067, 80037, 80059. The train would reverse at Blandford if there were no milk wagons waiting at Bailey Gate. Why did the locos work this way round?

Jack, There’s some info and pictures about Dorset end freight in the last 2/3 Midsomer Norton Telegraph magazines, principally about the fertiliser traffic. Also SDRT Pines Express issue 214 re the last three years. Have a look through “Somerset and dorset Railway” on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/396180353778795/ where there’s some that I took, the attachment here being the last one. It means scrolling back a few months, though I’m sure that would be time enjoyably spent! Tim.

The train at Stur would have been the 15.35 Templecombe to Bailey Gate which tended to be worked bunker first, often by a class 4 tank in 1964/5. It wasn’t due to pass an up train so the lad should have been safe.

The 2P picture illustrates another busier time in Stalbridge's day. There's an up train receding into the distance which I would speculate is the 11.40 off Bournemouth. I remember this always used to pass the 12.23 off Templecombe at Stalbridge which is almost certainly the service that 40563 is on. The 12.23 was due at 12.38. Looking up timetables just now, the 11.40 was shown as non stop at Stalbridge in 1960 but in 1963 and 1964 it was booked to stop at 12.39.

The train on the cover picture would have been the up mail 3.40 Bournemouth to Bristol. I took a picture from a similar position in April 1964 showing the same train, also hauled by 73054. It was a regular procedure for the loco working the afternoon Poole to Templecombe freight to shunt milk tankers onto the rear of the up mail which was given a few extra minutes in the timetable compared to other up stopping trains. Strangely, the 1955 Working Time Table shows the freight arriving at Bailey Gate on weekdays at 3.35 but not leaving until 7.35! In my picture the wagons of the up freight were left alongside the down platform whilst the milk tankers were being shunted so I am puzzled by their absence in the PE293 picture. It was surely unusual for a 7F to be used on this freight working, the return working of the 6.35 Evercreech to Poole. From photographs 4Fs seem to be the most frequently used though I also saw 75XXX Standards used. Information from Peter Smith in SDRT Bulletin 150 states that milk tankers attached to the up mail would have been for destinations north of Bath. The coaches look like green mark 1s to me.

Try 92001. Bath GP 1962. Wakefield 1965.

Interesting list, thanks for posting. I don’t recognise the photo location. On a quick glance I can add 34051 which I saw at Blandford in 8/1965.

Thanks Chris. Hugh Ballantyne’s pictures do seem to be the best. I will use cream/off-white. I guess there won’t be an exact correct choice as paintwork fades with time and photograph colours vary with film type and processing. The following seem to concur: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/56957-southern-station-colours/ https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/78486-sd-station-colours/ Looking through the book collection at the colour of woodwork on the S&D, cream/off-white is widespread, as is yellow. Tim.

After a period of years the turntable did reach the top of my to-do list and is in place with just some painting left. Referring to earlier posts, I had of course to see if my 7F would fit - it doesn’t, just fouling by the smallest margin, as the photo shows, though I think it would if the tender gap were reduced. Whilst the Files No 1 article claims “Turning at Templecombe was no problem”, it obviously was. 7Fs often (mostly/normally?) worked tender first to or from Evercreech. I’ve never seen a photo of a 7F being turned at Templecombe, but I’d love to know if there is one. (Plenty show 7Fs half on the turntable but that was to access the water crane, coal crane and pit on the approach road.) A Templecombe fireman confirms 7Fs were too long. Templecombe’s No. 2 Junction signal box has been keeping me busy recently. With the structure almost finished (see photo) I want to get the paintwork right. Does anyone know if there’s a right colour for the woodwork in the late 50s and 60s?

Did this really happen before the semi-fast from Bournemouth transferred from West to Central in 1965? I caught the 11.40 from West several times and don’t remember the three coaches and bogie van arriving as part of a London train. My 1964 Southern timetable shows the 8.35 from Waterloo dividing at Central and arriving at West at 11.33, only giving seven minutes. I am certain the engine and coaches for the 11.40 were in the platform well before this and even had time to photograph the train from a different platform. I would have noted any frantic activity to put the S&D engine on the train at the last minute, especially if there was a late arrival.

Fantastic model, Neil. Well done. Many hours of hard labour involved, no doubt, but well worth it. Tyning arch and overbridge next?

Do tell us when you're going on tour, John!

Compares very nicely to photos of the real thing. Are you the first to be modelling Cole? A fine location where there were Highbridge trains, trip freights, 2-8-0s and others working tender first, as well as all the main line passengers. Plenty of operational interest.

More very nice details. Which box have you modelled?

John, Very nice model. Did you scratchbuild the stairs/handrails and curved valances or did you find ready made sources? Thanks. Tim.

Apologies for departing somewhat from the OP rather but Neil’s signal box picture has prompted my enquiries. I’m gathering materials together to build a 4mm model of Templecombe No. 2 box which like Radstock is based on S&D type 2. Can’t help noticing that you’ve got the curvy valances in place and are well on with steps and window frames. I’ve been wondering where to get these – can you (or anyone) help? I had been contemplating a post about this anyway and had started to ask who has already built type 2 box models but without success so far. Valances. Yours look spot on and are very similar to Templecombe’s. Where did you get them please? Steps. Both boxes have two flights of steps. Are yours scratch built? The handrails are different. Main window frames: they look to be a standard height (45 inches including frames – as with the rebuilt Midsomer Norton box) in both but Templecombe’s has varying lengths, some the same as Radstock. Has anyone commissioned type 2 frames from a laser cutter that would be usable for extra orders? LCUT Creative and York Model Making have made windows for me in the past and I know York keep the dimensions for re-use possibly at different scales. Making model buildings is still a bit new for me and Templecombe No. 2 is a fairly complex structure so any hints are more than welcome! I made the paper mock up on the photo quite a while back and am determined to build the model this year. Cheers.

Glad I didn’t rush out for those four Pullmans. A fine sequence for the Blandford layout’s next away fixture?

A link to a specific picture might work for you Chris: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tingleytim/6120082946/in/album-72157627483363749/ Tim.

I think these pictures are fairly well known to the Blandford / Bailey Gate model group but here's the link anyway: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tingleytim/albums/72157627483363749 All the best. Tim.

The return journey from Blandford to Brighton could easily have been via Templecombe and Salisbury, with a piloted reversal from No. 2 Junction at Templecombe up to the Salisbury - Exeter main line where 34107 would have been at the right end of the Pullmans for the eastward journey. Had the train gone back south from Blandford, 34107 would have had to run round at Blandford and somewhere else and be turned somewhere, probably at Branksome triangle, or be replaced by another loco presumably at Bournemouth. There doesn’t seem much point in the train going north over the Mendips. 34107 was based at Exmouth Junction in 1961 so a return journey via Templecombe would have enabled it to return home easily, especially if it came off at Salisbury. I’ll have to nip out now and invest in 4 Pullmans for my Templecombe Lower layout. Or maybe see if I can borrow some.

Roger, Thanks to Phil Sutters’ link from an SDJR thread, I have just found the BW layout. I am most impressed indeed and wish the club well in progressing it for Swindon and elsewhere. With grandparents in Poole, I used to spend holiday weeks based there. I didn’t spend much time at BW itself but did watch and record the railway action I saw from 1963 to 1967. I did however visit BW on what I think was its last day – 31/7/65 – and photographed the third last S&D departure, the 17.30 to Templecombe. I’ve uploaded this and a couple of other shots to Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/tingleytim/33586343561/in/datetaken-public/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/tingleytim/32873592854/in/datetaken-public/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/tingleytim/33586342871/in/datetaken-public/ Most of my visits to BW were to catch the 11.40 to Bath arriving from Poole at 10.47 on the 5.58 from Bristol. Your response to Phil’s dad’s notes has prompted me to post some of my own. I’ve attached the pages that I wrote on 31/7/65 which give a lot of info about the trains that were running on West’s last day. They were mostly observed from the Poole side of Branksome triangle, so there’s not much about trains that went to/from West/Central. Hope they’re of interest. The very last S&D departure from West was I believe the 22.05 SO to Templecombe, missing off the posted pages, which left behind 80039. I’ll continue to follow progress with interest, especially looking for opportunities to come down and see it in action. Cheers. Tim.

"31-742 Midland Railway 1532 Class (1P) 0-4-4 No. 58072 in BR Lined Black livery with Early Emblem" I hope 58072 will be fitted with condensing apparatus (or at least the external pipework) as per the original. Kind of Bachmann to bring out another loco that ran on the SDJR.

I do believe there is now a suitable kit for the Templecombe turntable: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/97785-london-road-models-50ft-cowan-sheldon-turntable-4mm-kit/ I hope so because one arrived here today. This may be a severe test of my modelling skills and is well down a long to do list, but at long last I know that an authentic turntable will eventually be part of my layout.