Summer Saturday Services, 1950s

[Taunton]

Intensive use also applied to locomotives, particularly mixed traffic types on the WR, where winter Saturdays saw many on shed with reduced freight. On the Western, Granges in particular were a type little seen on passenger work (apart from, oddly, west of Plymouth) other than summer Saturdays, when they were out in force. For crews as well, freight links often had weekends off but holiday trains were a good source of overtime.

When diesels came along, similar applied. The diagrams for Warships and Westerns were fairly loose in the 1960s, and they could be stepped up, the thing that constrained them more than anything was their small size of the fuel tanks. Hymeks, which only had a handful of main line passenger turns in the week, were out in profusion on Saturdays. The original NB D600s also might well put in a final main line fling up to Bristol and back, while by Saturday early afternoon, when the foreman at Newton Abbot might be tearing his hair out for what power was left, there might be just that absolute barrel-scraping bottom combination - two D63xx in multiple

 

[SouthDevonian]

Regarding storage of coaches used on additional summer weekend trains - most returned to their originating area during the same weekend. In the case of the West Country, many trains came from the North, Midlands & London overnight and returned there during the day (although there were some that returned to a different area). There were some others that lingered a day or two or even all week before their next move. As well as obvious storage places such as Paignton (3 sets comprising 31 coaches remainded all week); Kingswear; Newton Abbot; Plymouth & Penzance, there was Exminster; Churston & even Burngullow. One unusual working was the 10 coach Walsall - Kingswear which attached 3 unadvertised coaches from Crewe at New St. The latter were detached at Newton Abbot & remained there until the following Friday evening when they were attached to an ECS set from Paignton to Teignmouth ready for next day's Teignmouth - Bradford. Meanwhile the coaches from Walsall were returned to Exeter on the same day and then transferred on Monday evening to Exmouth ready for Saturday's Exmouth - Manchester. Xpress publications Operation Torbay & Operation Cornwall books give comprehensive details.

 

[PHILIPE]

Shrewsbury, where I lived at the time, was an excellent place for spotting. A number of trains ran overnight Friday into Saturday from Manchester and the North to West of England destinations. They used to change locos from London Midland to Western Region locos. Another dash to the West would start up again Saturday morning with the return trains appearing from around lunchtime onwards and again changing locos. During Wakes weeks additionals would run from various Lancashire cotton mill towns.
Another interesting sight was when Scotland v Wales Five (at the time, before Italy) Nations match was played at Murrayfield all changing locos again. They used tu run northwards more staggered over 2/3 days but on the return, I have stood on the platform at Shrewsbury and seen as many as 25 returning trains on the Sunday. These included 7 via the Heart of Wales of line before a regular Sunday service existed on the route. They conveyed up to 12 coaches and double headed due to maximum loads over the heavy gradients involved. Classes one would see combinations of LM Stanier Class 5 4-6-0, Fowler 2-6-4 Tanks (allocated Swansea Paxton St as regular traction over the route) , BR 73xxx Standard 4-6-0s, LM Class 8F
2-8-0s, WR 22xx 0-6-0 (always inside due to non-bogied locos not allowed to lead) and WR 56xx 0-6-2 tanks. Any Class 8Fs would lead due to the need to have a steam heating loco inside. An exception would be 48309 and 48707 which were specially modified to be capable of steam heating in order to double head a Royal train over the route in 1952.
Also on Saturdays, several trains from Birmingham Snow Hill to Aberystwyth and other Cambrian Coast locations. These avoided Shrewsbury station and used the Abbey Foregate Loop and changed locos at Welshpool for Cambrian locos to take over. These were worked by WR43xx 2-6-0. Manors 78xx
4-6-0s and occasionally BR 75xxx 4-6-0s. Larger locos were not allowed on the Cambrian due to weight restrictions.
There used to be the sight of locos lying dead on Shrewsbury M.P.D until the following weekend.

 

[Taunton]

WR 22xx 0-6-0 (always inside due to non-bogied locos not allowed to lead)

I think the WR (and old GWR) approach was not so much about non-bogied locos not leading, as requiring the train loco to lead, to handle the brake, as there were many examples of double-headed 4-6-0s with the assisting Hall inside a Castle, and likewise double-headed 0-6-0PT Panniers were not unknown.

Regarding special arrangements for locos of Royal Trains, I think it was Taunton's like-sounding pair 6327 and 6372 which handled a Taunton to Barnstaple leg. They were repainted green for the occasion! The Taunton foreman worked 16-hour days supervising their preparation to ex-works standard, and a special wagon of coal was sent over from South Wales which apparently burned like nothing seen before.