West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Thank you for your kind words. I have known and loved the West Somerset Railway for approaching 40 years now, and is great to be able to share that.

I just wander round with my phone and take a few snaps. The hard work was done by Ian Coleby (now WSR Vice-Chairman). His magnificent 'The Minehead Branch 1848 - 1971' is the definitive line history, running to over 300 pages packed full of photographs, drawings and the like. A bargain at £24.99 from all good Railway bookshops.....

Robin

 

Certainly the accident report from 1940 suggests that it wasn't there: "At the west end of Norton Fitzwarren station the line becomes double; the Down Relief joins the Down Main by a connection over which speed is restricted to 40 m.p.h., the latter line being protected by facing catchpoints with a lead and crossing, the open end of the lead is 85 feet from the toe of the switches". That suggests that the goods line wasn't there in 1940, but instead the down relief ended with an open lead acting as a trap to protect the mainline.

Tom

 

Quite - if you look at the pre-war ones, you get beautifully detailed charts and plans showing the exact disposition of the lines and where vehicles came to rest. Whereas Norton Fitzwarren looks to have been hammered out pretty quickly by typewriter on no doubt poor quality paper!

Tom

 

Having another look in Ian C bible about the WSR the photo Robin used on page 136 for the old view does say the down goods loop was added in 1943, but the track plan on page 137 for which I got the date from shows this line in place and is dated 1938 so there is a mistake on one or the other page.

 

Quite possible that the plan was drawn up to show future works, which subsequently may or may not have happened as drawn. I'd be fairly confident that the goods line wasn't there in 1940, since otherwise the Norton Fitzwarren accident wouldn't have occurred in the way it did - the passenger train would have been diverted onto the goods line rather than derailing at that point.

Tom

 

What I understand when the Exeter signal box was built which controls Taunton in the mid 80's there wasn't the money to pay for the up relief line to be retained into Taunton station.

 

We on the WSR were very fortunate that the stub of the branch was used by Taunton Cider as a siding for their rail-borne traffic in the 1980's when the WSR was financially shaky. Without that the photo above would undoubtedly show just a pair of running lines and no branch.

Below is the view the other way (towards Taunton/Bristol/London) from the same bridge.

Robin

 

There seems to be plenty of room for the catenary masts; that is if the electrification of the ex GWR line south of Taunton takes place.

 

I fear the low flying porcine display team will have visited Taunton before that happens.

Robin

 

Reference to R.A.Cooke's Track Layout Diagrams section 15 pages 15/8 & 9 (price £1/5/0d from all good book-sellers) shows:
--- the Down Relief installed between 1931 & Feb 1932, re-joining the Down Main just off the end of the platform.
--- extended in Oct 1932, re-joining the Main as in the 50's photo - the diagram shows a short stub beyond. (It's a sketch, but looks more like a head-shunt than a trap point to me.).
--- extended again in 1943, perhaps as far as Allerford Jcn?
I interpret this to mean the train ran off the end of the short stub - if only the 1943 extension had been in place.......

Yes, Robin, keep the before & after photos coming!

 

The Down Goods Running Loop extended to 'Victory Siding' signal box, the next box West from NFW.

Not so very far away as in the 1950 picture the VS distants can be seen on the same posts as the NFW starting signals.

That box is often erroneously referred to as 'Victory Crossing' which is what is there now - an AHB - now on Exeter Panel.

Robin

 

One of the best T & N photo yet ! Just reminds us (as if we needed it) what the railways were like in steam days.

 

Thanks!

Something we can do on the WSR and need to work harder at..

Robin

 

WSR then and now.

Leigh Bridge Loop

Both photos from Leigh Bridge looking north towards Stogumber and Minehead.

Robin

1934



2017

 

Another interesting photo - looks like bi-directional running on the left-hand road. Presumably the left hand road was the mainline, and the right-hand loop could be bought into use at periods of high traffic?

Also, a terminology question for @Robin White - what did the GWR rule book use as the names for "catch" and "trap" points? The photo above shows what I would understand as one of each on the right-hand road. (i.e. I would understand the further away to be a "trap" point, designed to protect a train entering the left-hand road from an inadvertent movement in the normal direction on the right-hand road; a trap would be facing for vehicles moving in the normal direction for the line in question. Whereas the nearer set of switches is what I would call a "catch" point, designed to protect the line from a vehicle running away in the wrong direction down the right-hand road; a catch point would normally be trailing in the direction of normal traffic and would have to be clipped or otherwise held over if there was a need to deliberately make a movement over it in a facing direction.

However - in the accident report at Norton Fitzwarren, what I would consider a "trap" point where the derailment occurred was referred to throughout as a "catch" point, including by the driver concerned. Did the GWR use alternative terminology on that, ahem, point? (Checking the signalling diagram, it appears to call the catch point a "spring point" - http://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/gwe/S757.htm).

Tom

 

A lovely shot of historic trackwork. A work of art almost but must have been a labour of love to keep all fittings tight. I note there is what loooks to be locking cover on the diamond in the main line and no check rails so presumably a switched diamond

 

Robin is doing an excellent job is making the effort to produce the updates for old photographs.

Just look at those wonderful 40mph sweeping turnouts that allowed a train to cross another at near line speed. This was only made possible by the installation of GWR's version of the Whittaker Tablet Exchange apparatus which was fitted to both the Minehead and Barnstable branches, as far as I am aware they were the only GWR lines so equipped. The S&D was of course equipped with the Whittaker equipment for the single line sections and 53808 has a working slide both sides which on occasions is used in demonstrations at Washford where the S&D Trust has working lineside equipment.

Perhaps now we need some suggestions for Robin, how about one of the following from Ian Coleby's definitive work on the Minehead Branch:-

1. Page 87 Minehead. Tricky to get the location exactly correct and will have to await the completion of the PW works. (Robin, you will need to get in quick before ops dept fill up the stone siding again.)
2. Page 322 top. (Robin the signal box, not the location.)
3. Page 280 Blue Anchor. My favourite picture in the entire book.
4. Page 255 Kentsford. (and page 236 top at the same time.)
5. Page 204 Williton. To make this work the location has to be exact, bonus prize if you can get the current station staff in the appropriate poses.
6. Page 181 top Leigh Wood crossing.

Photographs if building interiors are harder to find page 271 top photograph would be ideal but hard to replicatenow unless you cheated and went to Dunster, the photograph would also need to be reversed.

Andy.

 

I note the comment wrt Norton Fitzwarren "was always effectively a station on the Minehead branch". I was surprised recognising the grand way the station was rebuilt.

According to Bradshaw July 1939 there were on weekdays 25 Down trains stopping. These broke down as 10 Main Line (8 to Exeter, 0ne to Tiverton, one to Cullompton.) 9 to Minehead and 6 to Barnstaple.

By September 1958 there were only 12 Down trains stopping, 6 to Minehead, 4 to Barnstaple and only two Exeter locals ( both afternoon i.e. 16.30 and 18.20 from Taunton which gave connections from the 13.30 'The Royal Duchy' and 15.30 from Paddington.)

Michael Rowe