West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I remember the flooding at Minehead on the morning of Monday 26th February 1990 very well, and very stressful it was too. The peak level of flood water was around 7:30 and by the time that Alan (Bish) Rigler's photo was taken the sun had risen and water levels had fallen considerably. I do have a photograph I took at about 07:00 of the water pouring in over the wall from the road but unfortunately it is too dark and blurred to be reproduced.

At it's peak the water was only a few inches below the bottom of the platform edge paving. Being sea water the damage and disruption was considerable and took over a month to clean up. Nearly all of the coaching stock was damaged, axle boxes, dynamos, regulators etc were all flooded and permanently damaged by salt. Anything that floated moved with the flow of water towards the signal box direction. The DMU's were over the bay side of the platform and largely undamaged. The workshops and outside stores were chaos, everything inside the shed became coated with dirty oil that had floated out of machine sumps and locomotive axle boxes. All electric motors needed replacing and loads of DMU spares were ruined. Seaweed, sand and fish everywhere, not to mention the smell from flooded sewers!

Ever since a copy of the local tide table was essential reading to mark off any days that were high risk, if the weather forecast the day before showed a low pressure over the Bristol channel the shed staff became well practiced in moving critical equipment onto work benches, the fork lift truck to higher ground, shunting coaching stock ready for next mornings possible onslaught, flooding always occurred around 7am. Serious flooding came again twice more before the new sea wall was built in the late 1990's. Visitors today can see the effects of over a century of flooding in the poor condition of the stonework in the old goods shed wall facing the platform.

With regard to digging holes and seawater coming in we have dug many deep and big holes in Minehead yard and we have never found seawater, it has always been fresh. As you dig down into natural ground you go through layers of clays and shingles. When building the drainage systems and oil separator for the pits in the new loco shed the builders went down around 15 feet below ground level.

In 1962 when Butlins was built Sir Billy did not want all the sewerage to go out to sea on his bit of beach, A 10" asbestos underground pipe was laid up the loco yard so that it could all be pumped out nearer to the harbour, around 2000 this pipe split and it took us a couple of days to understand why we occasionally had water bubbling up out of the ground mid way between the loco shed and the carriage shed, lucky no one tried it to see if it was fresh or salt! It was November and the camp was closed fortunately, after much digging and Butlins having to go onto emergency tanker transport the pipe was repaired. Today the pipe is still used and but now it is pumped back again to the sewerage works. If you ever stand at the road junction at the front of the station and notice a strong smell, its Butlins pumping!

Andy.

 

Robin, increasingly on train we are offered undated Rover tickets. It used to be primarily at Galas (particularly 2 day Rovers) but now they appear regularly throughout the year ( there are I hasten to add genuine reasons why they are undated ). It is our duty as TTI's to check dates on tickets and if they are not dated to date them. Many potential collectors of tickets have I am afraid had their 'keepsake' not only punched but in my case 'scribbled' on

Michael Rowe

 

Andy, thank you.

I hoped these 'TnN' pairs would prompt some reminiscences, and yours is exceptionally interesting. I was coping with the effects of the weather on the 'big railway' that day and didn't get to Minehead.

I note you say:

'....everything inside the shed became coated with dirty oil....'

So I guess some effects of that day have never been rectified . Only joking......

Robin

 

West Somerset Railway - Then and Now #41

Minehead Booking Hall Doors, 1974 / 2017

Tomorrow we will be starting a series of photo pairs looking east along Minehead's remarkable platform after the westward views we have enjoyed recently but to punctuate the change, here is a glimpse into the abyss that awaited the Railway had the preservationists not stepped in.

I believe the cabinet to the left of the doorway housed a telephone for train crew to Dunster signal box. That soon fell prey to vandals.

Minehead's redoubtable Station Master Pam Hawkins kindly poses in the 2017 shot. Like me, she sometimes forgets to smile when she has things on her mind...

1974


2017

 

Does she have Morning Dress & a top hat for non stoppers?

 

What is the sign above the door?

 

Caption could be:-
Come on get a move on. I've got better things to do than this.

 

or reflections of a photographer...

 

Or: 'It doesn't matter who you are, you ain't going in here.'

 

35028 clanline would be an epic named loco for Scotsman week. But guess it's 46100 as it's not moved from BL

 

Neither, Tony. However, an update has just been posted on the news page...enjoy.

Steve

 

Are you likely be able get a day ticket on board during Scotsman week for other services or is it best purchase advance ticket?

 

You're better off buying online in advance; firstly you'll save 10%, and secondly TTIs on the trains don't take plastic so you'd need to make sure you had the necessary in cash.

 

Looks like a Havana Club sign.

 

Ron - you are right about tickets in advance being the best buy, but ticket inspectors on trains do now carry credit card machines. Also they will be selling the full range of tickets, not just rover tickets.

Frank

 

Braunton, a Hall or a Manor fantastic? An anti climax, yes, not fantastic.

 

Personally I'd find the anticlimax would come when having to leave the train hauled by the Hall or the Manor to join the one hauled by the worlds most expensively overhauled steam engine.

 

Jesus wept, there's no pleasing you is there........

 

Expensive it may have been, but it's still the best of the bunch!