The RCTS: then and now
Britain’s leading Railway Society
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.