SIXTY years ago, The Railway Observer recorded the details of the last summer of through services using the Somerset & Dorset line to join the North and Midlands to the South Coast at Bournemouth. Having come under Western Region control in 1958, it soon became apparent that the line was likely to be run down, and the ending of through services was a major step in that process.
For most of the year, the route was served only by the ‘Pines Express’ running through from Manchester to Bournemouth West, but the summer Saturday timetable provided numerous other inter-regional trains.
The change from the Midland Region being responsible for the motive power to the Western saw little happen in the first couple of years, with a number of BR Standards of ‘5MT’ and smaller sizes assisted by LMS ‘4Fs’, ‘7Fs’ and ‘2Ps’ working the vast majority of services, augmented by a small number of Bulleid Pacifics for the summer extras. Doubleheading of the heavy trains was mandatory and it was not until 1960, with the drafting in of four ‘9F’ 2-10-0s, that many trains could dispense with a pilot engine.