Darlington to Bournemouth

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JohnV
LNER Thompson L1 2-6-4T
Posts: 76
Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2008 6:09 pm

Darlington to Bournemouth

Post by JohnV »

Hello folks,
Back in c1950 I travelled with my folks from Darlington to Bournemouth for a summer holiday. We didn't go via London, we didn't change trains but we did go via Southampton docks where both Queens were tied up (unusually). Awesome! I've been looking at old maps and I can't for the life of me make out what route we could have used. Any ideas?
Wainwright
LNER J94 0-6-0ST Austerity
Posts: 49
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:24 pm
Location: Bristol

Re: Darlington to Bournemouth

Post by Wainwright »

I would imagine (entirely speculatively and based on no detailed expertise of the timetables etc involved) that your route to Southampton was Darlington-York-Sheffield and then on to the GCR down to Banbury, then onto the GWR, through Oxford, and either via Didcot and Newbury to Southampton on the DNSR until just south of Winchester (technically a freight route, but used for excursion traffic, I think), or instead to Reading then Basingstoke on the GWR and finally on LSWR rails to Southampton, before changing for Bournemouth.

Fay and Watkin would be pleased.
Wainwright
LNER J94 0-6-0ST Austerity
Posts: 49
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:24 pm
Location: Bristol

Re: Darlington to Bournemouth

Post by Wainwright »

Oh sorry, didn't see you didn't change at Southampton.

southern route maps here: http://www.semgonline.com/sr_map/srmaps.html

GWR route map here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... WR_map.jpg

The old LSWR map on the semg site shows the GWR line north of Reading towards Didcot and Oxford as a "line over which the LSWR has running powers" and the GWR map shows the LSWR line to Bournemouth from Southampton as one with which they ran in connection, so there was certainly some co-working on the southern part of the route; it would be entirely in keeping with the old GCR strategy, too, as they really did like a through-service...

I've always been interested that the LNER had D49s named 'Berkshire' and 'The Garth' after a foxhunt from the area; one assumes (probably wrongly) this was because there was at least a faint possibility they may send trains in that direction every now and then...
Wainwright
LNER J94 0-6-0ST Austerity
Posts: 49
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:24 pm
Location: Bristol

Re: Darlington to Bournemouth

Post by Wainwright »

I commend this pre-war article to you, which outlines the basic route (among many others) and has a picture of a GCR Atlantic in GWR territory on it's way to Southampton:

http://mikes.railhistory.railfan.net/r087.html
Wainwright
LNER J94 0-6-0ST Austerity
Posts: 49
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:24 pm
Location: Bristol

Re: Darlington to Bournemouth

Post by Wainwright »

And there's a thread here about these trains...

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index. ... ons-1950s/

Right, I will go and do something more socially useful. But thank you for getting me looking.
JohnV
LNER Thompson L1 2-6-4T
Posts: 76
Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2008 6:09 pm

Re: Darlington to Bournemouth

Post by JohnV »

Further to my original post, I remember that we went via Nottingham Victoria - that would conform to the first response on here I think.
High Street Crossing
NER Y7 0-4-0T
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Re: Darlington to Bournemouth

Post by High Street Crossing »

The 1962 Midland Region timetable has details of a train departing Newcastle at 0837 and arriving at Bournemouth at 1837. Presumably it stopped at Darlington. It then traveled on from Bournemouth to Poole. This called at (amongst others) Sheffield Victoria, Nottingham Victoria, Rugby Central, Banbury, Oxford, Reading West, Basingstoke and Southampton. There are a few other trains from the North to Bournementh, including an overnight one from Newcastle (dep 2140, arr 0816), as well as one from Bradford. All seem to follow the above route.
JohnV
LNER Thompson L1 2-6-4T
Posts: 76
Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2008 6:09 pm

Re: Darlington to Bournemouth

Post by JohnV »

Thank you all very much for the info. You guys are amazing.
Mickey

Re: Darlington to Bournemouth

Post by Mickey »

I was watching one of my southern region dvds the other week and there was apparently a Black 5 working on a inter-regional passenger train shown departing Bournemouth station originating from somewhere 'up north' or from the midlands area to & from Bournemouth as late as June/July 1967 bearing in mind that southern steam on the south western section of southern region finished completely on Sunday July 9th 1967 so it was a 'late steam working' for a Black 5 'down south' alright.


Mickey
Last edited by Mickey on Sun Sep 25, 2016 7:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Postman Prat
GER D14 4-4-0 'Claud Hamilton'
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Location: Southampton

Re: Darlington to Bournemouth

Post by Postman Prat »

It would be very unusual to go via Southampton Docks. Although there was a connection between the Eastern docks and Western docks it was normally used by transfer freight and ECS. After going into the Eastern docks at Southampton Terminus and going into the Western dock, via the connection on leaving the docks the train would have needed a loco change since it would now be facing London. If the OP actually meant Southampton Terminus, rather than Docks it would still have entailed a loco change, which was why most express trains turned right at Northam Junct for Central , rather than straight ahead for Terminus/Eastern Docks
PP
The light at the end of the tunnel is probably a train coming towards you!!
High Street Crossing
NER Y7 0-4-0T
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Re: Darlington to Bournemouth

Post by High Street Crossing »

Mickey wrote:I was watching one of my southern region dvds the other week and there was apparently a Black 5 working on a inter-regional passenger train shown departing Bournemouth station originating from somewhere 'up north' or from the midlands area to & from Bournemouth as late as June/July 1967 bearing in mind that southern steam on the south western section of southern region finished completely on Sunday July 9th 1967 so it was a 'late steam working' for a Black 5 'down south' alright.


Mickey
The Newcastle to Bournemouth service continued after the closure of the "London Extension" of the GC. The Midland Region timetable for 1967/68 shows the same service operating but now routed via Sheffield Midland, Derby Midland, Birmingham New Street and Banbury. I guess this would be consistent with a Black 5 at Bournemouth in 1967 - though it may not have been this specific service as there were numerous trains from Lancashire and Yorkshire to Bournemouth at the end of this 1960s.

This service was still running in 2003 - albeit no longer running on to Poole. For those dubious about the merits of progress - journey time from Newcastle to Bournemouth was some 2 hours shorter in 2003 than in 1962. Route was via Sheffield Midland and Birmingham New Street. Indeed, as far as I can tell from information on the National Rail Enquiries web site there is still a version of this train running today - albeit only from Newcastle to Southampton and not continuing to Bournemouth.
Mickey

Re: Darlington to Bournemouth

Post by Mickey »

High Street Crossing wrote:
Mickey wrote:I was watching one of my southern region dvds the other week and there was apparently a Black 5 working on a inter-regional passenger train shown departing Bournemouth station.


Mickey
The Newcastle to Bournemouth service continued after the closure of the "London Extension" of the GC. The Midland Region timetable for 1967/68 shows the same service operating but now routed via Sheffield Midland, Derby Midland, Birmingham New Street and Banbury. I guess this would be consistent with a Black 5 at Bournemouth in 1967 - though it may not have been this specific service as there were numerous trains from Lancashire and Yorkshire to Bournemouth at the end of this 1960s.
I was trying to remember which dvd of mine (currently 50 dvds and still counting) that I saw the inter-regional train worked by a Black 5 and it's train was featured on and also in which direction the train was shown leaving the station was it either eastwards or westwards if I come across it again i'll take more note of where the train originated from and was departing to and post it.

Mickey
robertcwp
GER D14 4-4-0 'Claud Hamilton'
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Re: Darlington to Bournemouth

Post by robertcwp »

Here are some notes on the train and the carriage workings for its BR period going via the GC.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/327 ... -11-15.pdf
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