West Somerset Railway General Discussion

West Somerset Railway - Then and Now #100

Crowcombe Heathfield 1973 / 2017

One of the lovely aspects of these photo pairs that I have been posting, is the correspondence they have generated. And in some instances, new photos have emerged. Here is the first of several from Bob Prance, who I know as a fellow Swanage Railway signalman but in 1973 was a curate in Gillingham, Dorset and that summer brought a party of children to West Somerset.

As I have said before, the WSR pioneers were not faced with a bare trackbed as, for example, the Swanage Railway volunteers were, but there was still plenty to do.

Copyright Robert Prance / Robin White

1973


2017

 

The big problem with gloves is that they pick up oil which the wearer never bothers about and then uses handrails and leaves dirt and oil on them for those that don't wear them to pick it up on their hands.
Footplatemen always had a sweat rag to use when shovelling or handling hot controls.

 

Pardon?

 

Any fool can see it's those modern houses. The angle of the roofs are wrong for a start

 

There is a camera at BA on Railcam site.

DJB.

 

This never existed ...... weren't never no coal in Kent ...... no sireee!

 

Very nicely positioned in my opinion.

Stef.

 

That is very good news, very nice camera angle too. Added to my favourites

 

Another good bit of work by local folks and the folks at railcam.uk

Also available at www.wsr.org.uk

Steve

 

As a lorry driver I had similar problems , gloves on when doing dirty jobs or times when it might cause an injury but off they came whenever I got back into the cab . Unfortunaly not all drivers were so meticulous when sharing the lorry , I might be getting into the cab under the hours of darkness and the first time you grab the steering wheel or gear leaver you were met with this horrible feel of greasy dirt .

 

I'm sorry 30854 , I wasn't being totaly serious but the only coal fields in Somerset were in the north . I was aware of the Kent coal fields where they are all 'ard .
Paul . K

 

A great bonus for those of us who don't live on the doorstep , so to speak . Now if one was to appear at Williton that would be the compleat set . Hint hint .

 

Fear not Paul, neither was I, but I'm quite partial to the Avonside 'Cranfords' and with "St Dunstan" awaiting restoration (and funds for same!) at the East Kent Rly and "St Thomas" stuffed and mounted in Dover Museum, you gave me the perfect excuse to bung a piccie up of one at large in it's natural environment!

 

Specially designed to make a mess of the controls in the cab for the next man.

Tom

 

Remembering the southern English coalfields is to show your age these days. Mind you there's still coal mined in them thar hills: the Forest of Dean just about hangs on.

 

Arguably the "No public access" sign on the gate, because it is inconsistent with the other two notices, which imply that the public are only required to take care.

 

Pretty much everything shows my age these days.

 

Ch........ Ch...................Chocolate

 

I don't understand the perceived added benefit of 'Stop-Look-Listen'. If I am asked to 'Beware of Trains', this is what an ordinary person would do. Otherwise we would need 'STOP' road signs with the additional text 'Look Left and Right'. Of course we do that.

 

I know plenty of pedestrian crossings on roads that do have "Look Left" and "Look Right" signs as appropriate - painted on the road.

Those "modern" Stop Look Listen signs are almost vintage themselves, given they became the standard over 50 years ago now. Certainly the font they are in is sadly disappearing from Network Rail. As I pointed out upthread, the WSR has been using them for over 10 years (and I only know that coincidentally from taking photos with them in).