Boscastle Locomotive Limited
Boscastle 1959 - 65
'Boscastle' emerged from Eastleigh Works as a rebuilt 'West Country' in January 1959.
Shortly after, 34039 was allocated to Bournemouth shed and from there, worked on the mainline between Waterloo, Southampton, Bournemouth and Weymouth.
Regular duties included the tightly - timed two hour express trains to Waterloo, while also taking its turn on named trains such as the 'Bournemouth Belle' and the 'Royal Wessex'.
Another Bournemouth duty in summer included a regular relief to the well-known Bournemouth-Manchester 'Pines Express'. This was the Sheffield portion, which ran as a separate train on Mondays and Fridays.
Following four Summers of main line and S & D duties, September 1962 saw 'Boscastle' transferred to Eastleigh Shed.
Many of the duties at Eastleigh involved working semi-fast trains to Bournemouth and London, with occasional work such as Friday evening relief trains and summer Saturday holiday extras supplementing the usual service.
Eastleigh shed also provided locomotives for the heavy Ocean Liner Special trains running between Southampton and Waterloo. The trains ran in groups of three to five to coincide with the arrival of the liners at Southampton Docks.
One of 'Boscastle's more unusual trips took place on 27th April 1963, hauling a football special to Birmingham, when Southampton F.C. were playing Manchester United at Villa Park in the F.A. Cup semi-final. Several trains ran from Hampshire stations that day, the locomotives being serviced and stabled at Tyseley for the return run.
Progressive modernisation of British Railways brought about the first withdrawals of the 'West Country' class in 1963.
'Boscastle' was withdrawn in May 1965 after running some 745,000 miles in its 19 year working life and was subsequently stored at Eastleigh shed until sold for scrap in September of that year.
Reminiscences of a BR fireman
In the summer of 1963, David Hall was photographed on the footplate of 'Boscastle', preparing to depart with a Waterloo - Basingstoke train.
Click/tap here for David’s recollections of the day, and of the West Country class in general.