Aubrey Punter Fireman on the last Pines with John Baxter Secretary of the Somerset and Dorset Heritage Trust at Midsomer Norton © Rob Coles
Another fine image from Rob Coles, who writes:
This month marks the 60th Anniversary of when the Pines Express that ran from Manchester (also coaches from Liverpool) to Bournemouth was last routed via Bath Green Park, 8th September 1962.
To mark the occasion the fireman on the last Pines from Bournemouth, Aubrey Punter was invited to a steaming event at the S&D Heritage Trust site at Midsomer Norton station.
Aubrey was proud that he had been a fireman on this last Pines that holds the record of being the heaviest passenger train to have worked the challenging line over the steep grades of the Mendips. He remembers arriving in Bath with very little coal left in the tender.
The Heritage Trust has big plans for the future, restoring to working order 92207, a large 9F, 2-10-0 locomotive of the same type that pulled the last Pines Express’
