As DMUs spread and time ran out for steam, the Lymington Pier branch gained fame as the Last Steam Branch line on BR. Ivatt 262T 41295 departs with from the 1936 down loop platform at Brockenhurst with a two coach local for Lymington Pier and the IOW ferries on 11-06-65. The branch trains fiverged from the main line at Lymington Junction, a short distance south-west of Brockenhurst. We see the LSWR type 2 signal cabin and the staff catcher equipment at the junction on 30-10-66. Staff catchers would provide an eyecatching addition to a model so we include a dedicated shot of the equipment at Lymington Juncion. As with many LSWR boxes, Lymington Junction was provided with a Stevens pattern frame. Ivatt 262T No 41312 is near Lymington Town station running bunker first on 30-10-66. Lymington Town signal box, which was in use from 1928 to 1979 was a SR box built to an LSWR inspired design.(LSWR type 4) We see the box in May 1975. The daek green and deep cream paintwork behind the lever frame was typical of Southern boxes, as are the polished brass fittings on the block shelf. Lymington Town station building seen on 31-10-66, before the trin shed was demolished was in red, cream and whilte brick and part of some brick arches has been overpainted in white as well. The starter to Lymington Pier seen on 31-10-66 was a SR rail-built signal whilst the large barrow is another typically Southern item. The old LSWR signal box at Lymington Pier was replaced by a BR Southern Region type 16 brick box in 1956. A copy of these notes accompanies the set. These views are copyright; Reproduction by any means is prohibited without our prior written permission.
=====================================
Until 1963, the Lymington branch had been worked by LSWR M7 044Ts, but BR wanted to dispose of these excellent motor-fitted engines, and their replacements, the Ivatt class 2 tanks, the BR 82000 series and the BR 80000 were not motor fitted, so 82028 is in the down bay at Brockenhurst. We take a look at Lymington Junction on 30-10-66 with the tablet catcher equipment visible. We see the SR built Lymington Town signal box in March 1966 when the Toll Bridge and Southern ISLE OF WIGHT CAR FERRY sign were still in situ. Lymington Town shed remained in use until 1966, with coaling from a BR 16T steel mineral wagon as we see in the distance on 24-5-1964 when the short train shed was still there, addng style to the station and keeping passengers dry when they boarded the trains. The New Forest received an unseasonable coating of Snow at Easter 1966 as we see in this view from the box showing the divided goods yard on both sides of the line. In October 1966, Lymington Town station frontage still sported Southern Region enamel signs and traditional wooden gates. On 31-10-66, Class 4 264T No 80019 headed a short local train from Lymington Pier over the harbour viaduct to the Town Station. Ivatt 262T No 41312 departs past the 1956 signal box at Lymington Pier on 30-10-66. The insulator shoes for the third rail are in place but the third rail has not yet been fitted. LSWR M7 044T No 30052 arrives at Lymington Pier station with a two coach Southern push pull on 19-08-63 in the closing months of M7 services. In the foreground is the 1938 slipway for the car ferry services to the IOW. BR standard class 2 No 82028 is on the run round at Lymington Pier on 24-5-64 when train operations had been complicated by the demise of the motor fitted M7 tanks. A copy of these notes accompanies the set. These views are copyright; Reproduction by any means is prohibited without our prior written permission.
============================================================
When the slipway for the car ferries was added in 1938 at Lymington Pier, the platform and station canopy were extended with a cantilever steel frame wih a wooden screen at the back. Class 4 2-6-4T No 80146 blows off in the platform. It is carrying the red painted LAST STEAM BRANCH headboard used on the final day of steam services on 25-3-1967. Ivatt 262T No 41303 departs from the Pier station on 20-5-64. The 1956 BR signal box was at the station throat and we see it from points to the siding at the back of the platform and also see the signalman holding up the token in its pouch as 41312 departs in winter sunshine on 30-10-1966 in COLOUR. It is Easter 1966 and a light dusting of snow lies around Lymington Town SB. We look from the end of the platform at Lymington Town with the line to the goods shed on the left, the signal box, loading gauge, a lattice post starter, and the engine shed and water tank.in a classic branch line scene in COLOUR. We look from the runround loop at the train shed on 31-10-66, and at the snow dusted view from the signal box at Easter 1966 with the Lymington bus depot in the distance in COLOUR. By 31-10-66 the siding which was used for loco coal wagons had been lifted but the train shed and goods shed and the superb enamel running in board survived. By 23-7-1972 the loop had gone as had the train shed and a small lower case station name board had replaced its predecessor. It was far harder to read as you arrived at the station but was in line with modern design thinking! The car slipway at Lymington Pier required a gated level crossing which was worked from a new ground frame which we see on 14-4-66. My father and I often took BW and colour views and we include a BW view of the frame at Lymington Town station in this set. A copy of these notes accompanies the set. These views are copyright; Reproduction by any means is prohibited without our prior written permission.
======================================================
Castlemans Corkscrew Ringwood, Southampton & Dorchester Set BW1 10 6x4 BW Photos
Charles Castleman was a Wimborne solicitor who headed the Southampton & Dorchester Railway, taking a circuitous route to serve small towns en route, and gaining the derisory nickname ‘Castleman’s Corkscrew’. Parts have been closed for fifty years due to later cut-offs; parts remain in use. Crow Crossing, seen on 23-8-1963 was just east of Ringwood on the now closed section of the Corkscrew. It housed a 9-lever Stevens pattern knee frame. Located between Lymington Junction where the Bournemouth cut-off commenced and Ringwood was one intermediate station, Holmsley, seen on 14-4-66 after the track had been lifted. We look east from Ringwood station on 24-8-63 towards Crow Arch Lane Bridge, and then study the LSWR type 1 box at the east end of the station, which was Ringwood Ground Frame B by August 1963. It still retained the ornamental valance which cut the visibility through what were already small windows. Rebuilt Bulleid pacific 34088 213 Squadron powers a Weymouth Summer Saturday extra through Ringwood on 24-8-1963, the line being used as a diversion route to reduce pressure on Bournemouth until that year. I am sitting at the end of the platform using one camera as Dr Hendry took this photo. A collection of Southern luggage trolleys were available from busier days at the station. We look towards the west in 1963 with the covered bay for the long abandoned Ringwood-Christchurch branch on the left. The capacious goods shed shows how much traffic once moved by rail. Finally we look at the main buildings from the station forecourt. A copy of these notes accompanies the set. These views are copyright; Reproduction by any means is prohibited without our prior written permission.
===============================================
Castlemans Corkscrew Ringwood, Southampton & Dorchester Set BW2 10 6x4 BW Photos
We look from the station footbridge at Hightown Road level crossing in Ringwood on 24-8-63, with its crossing keeper’s hut, the horse and carriage landing beyond and the level crossing over Christchurch Road in the distance. Ringwood SB is next to Christchurch Rd. LSWR and Southern cast iron notices were still well painted, although the Ringwood section was under sentence in the Beeching Report. Ringwood box, an LSWR type 1 structure, had been extended, the two right hand window bays marking the added section, as do the off centre windows to the locking room. By 12-6-65, the Ringwood-Lymington Junction section had been closed, so 76056, a Bournemouth engine, is returning with a morning freight to Bournemouth. We had been staying at a hotel with a view of the lineside, and before breakfast my father, who is filming 76056 in our second view, spotted the train arriving so we made a hurried trip to the station rather than the hotel dining room. These two views were the result, as was the view of the rail-built cantilevered starting signal towards Wimborne. Wimborne box was a most unusual structure, its exceptional height being needed because of the curve and the station buildings, with much of the layout at Wimborne still intact in 1966. Trains last ran to Wimborne in 1977. The Salisbury & Dorset Junction Railway opened along the western edge of the New Forest from Salisbury to join Castleman’s Corkscrew at West Moors. Verwood was the most southerly station on the Salisbury line and retained oil lamps until closed in 1964. An LSWR type 1 signal box was provided with an 11-lever Stevens frame. A copy of these notes accompanies the set. These views are copyright; Reproduction by any means is prohibited without our prior written permission.
====================================================
Castlemans Corkscrew Ringwood, Southampton & Dorchester Set BW3 10 6x4 BW Photos
An engine which was associated with Castleman’s Corkscrew for over 30 years was Drummond C14 220T 77S which was rebuilt as an 040T by Urie in 1914 and sent to Redbridge Sleeper Depot on the outskirts of Southampton in 1927. Its two surviving sister engines were used to shunt Town Quay in Southampton until 1957 when 77S was moved to the Quay. In 1958 we were on the Hythe ferry and spotted 77S but the gateman said no admittance, but then saw my sad expression and this photo was the result. Town Quay could be reached from the LSWR Southampton Terminus or from Millbrook on Southampton & Dorchester. We have a general view of Beaulieu Rd station on 23-8-63 and a close up of the main buildings. Brockenhurst was an important New Forest town and A box controlled the level crossing. It was subject to extensions at both ends, including an extension to an extension but was demolished shortly after this 19-5-64 view. 35030 Elder Dempster Lines is on a Waterloo-Bournemouth express on 10-6-65. Standard 260 No 76031 from Guildford is at Brockenhurst on 19-5-64. Brush type 4 D1921 passes Lymington Junction on 20-10-66, the Lymington line diverging to the left and the by-then lifted Ringwood line to the right. In a heavy snow storm, No 75073, one of only four engines broken up by T W Ward’s Ringwood scrap yard awaits its fate on 14-4-66. M7 044T No 379 is at Wareham on a Swanage motor train on 14-4-46. At Dorchester the original line continued straight to a single dead end platform, but the later Weymouth extension curved to the left but no new up platform was added until 1970, trains having to reverse into the dead end station. D6554 is on a Weymouth-Bournemouth diesel push pull train on 6-7-68 which has to use the old dead-end platform. A copy of these notes accompanies the set. These views are copyright; Reproduction is prohibited without prior written permission.