West Somerset Railway General Discussion

The injury was usually a fracture of the thumb when the engine kicked back

 

During cold winter periods, I habitually crank started my old Morris Oxford (the trick was to leave the choke closed overnight). It never once refused to start, nor did it ever bite me. The steadily decreasing whirring whine of engines failing to start due to dead batteries was always merely a background from far more modern cars, which always left me annoyingly smug. OK, so the downside was it's acceleration .... 0 to 60 ....... eventually!

Mind you, I heard several horror stories concerning ancient NG internal combustion locos. I seem to recall that the Ffesterbahn had a couple of repeat offenders, one of which was responsible for at least one broken arm.

 

Had similar in the army in Germany in the late sixties, they were known as donkey engines.

 

Not with a hand crank facility as far as I know, but I once had a SAAB Sport that was beautifully engineered three cyslinder two stroke with a roller bearing crankshaft. Each cylinder had a separate dowdraft carburettor but the choke was only only on the centre pot. It had a very efficient pre-engaged starter motor. Pulling the choke out and turning the key resulted in a whirrring noise then after about ten seconds a gradually increasing popping sound as the centre cylinder burst into life. Once that was firing well the two outer pots would join in. As the the choke was pushed in the popping was replaced by lovely smooth engine note from the huge exhaust pipe. Happy days.

 

West Somerset Railway - Then and Now #140

Minehead 1916 / 2017

Minehead Station forecourt again, but not the cheerful holiday scenes from yesterday. Mules destined for the Western Front being held in Somerset after import from the USA. The wagons they have been brought in splashed with lime wash just visible in the background. Presumably unloaded at the passenger platform which must have made for some interesting clearing up.

Now long passed into memory like the troops they would support.

1916


2017

 

It's like a scene straight from War Horse. How very poignant. It puts me in mind of something I used to witness just after I moved to London in 1980.
I moved into the attic of a very tall house in Hampstead which overlooked Haverstock Hill. It was summer, and one of the first mornings I was there I was woken at about 4 a.m. by the sound of a soft thunder outside the window which seem to fill the whole neighborhood. The sound was interspersed with bugle calls. I jumped out of bed and went to the window and I could not believe my eyes- there were about 100 horses being corralled up Haverstock Hill in a column. at the front and back of the column, the horses were being ridden by what look like figures in first world war khaki drab uniforms. They were communicating to each other with muffled bugles. The entire normally busy London street apart from this scene was utterly deserted. It was like everything that slipped in time, and I was looking as ghosts. I was only very young at the time, and as you can imagine it made quite an impression.
Only after was I told that it was the Royal Horse Artillery exercising from their barracks in St John's Wood, which was a bit of a relief! I was often woken by that column on subsequent mornings and I would always go to the window to watch - it was a magical experience.

 

Comparing these two images, it is interesting to note the seamless join between the original structure of the station building and the northern extension as shown in the current photo. The chimney stack on the original gable end has been reproduced perfectly in its new position, and even the original double chimney on the station has also been rebuilt to match the rest (though some may decry this...). A proper job.

 

They did things differently in 1923.

However, if you come and look at the Station, you will see that the ‘infill’ stonework of the 1923 extension is quite different from the original.

The word ‘portacabin’ was years away...

Robin

 

Well all two strokes that I know of have oil added to the fuel to lubricate the cylinder bores. It did have a freewheel system that was disconcerting until one got used to it. Lifting off the throttle did not diminish the speed much though it did have huge brakes to conpensate. As I recall it had a continuous oil pump. I remember after an engine rebuild there was a requirement to turn a nut on the pump by giving 100 full turns using a socket set before starting for the first time. On the intitial start up it produced a huge amout of blue smoke whilst running eraticly for several minutes before producing the normal engine note. I don't know if the standard SAAB 96 version was the same. The Sport was a homologation special to allow it to be competitive on International rallies. Even so it needed the genious of Eric Carlsson behind the wheel because of the heavy weight and 850cc engine. A wonder to behold, and hear, flying through the Welsh and Scottish forests in late November.

 

Chris Grayling has just announced the re-opening of the Somerset and Dorset!

or am I reading too much into it?

Seriously, sooner or later the Minehead - Taunton link will be restored and we need to be dictating the agenda and preparing for it, not being dragged screaming into it. That way we stay in control of our line.

How about a statement of intent to start with?

 

Reading too much into it.

No funding, no plan, just waffle.

Taunton to Bishops Lydeard occasional services first - the only part that even might be viable.

Robin

 

Quite so!

Politicians are just as addicted to W.I.B.N. as the most benighted gricer. That and the closely related S.E.W.P. (Someone Else Will Pay)

PH

 

It seems that certain people connected with a desire to have a rail link have seized upon the Opportunity Area Funding and the National Social Mobility Report recently published in which West Somerset comes 324th out of 324 and then used that to say that there is a need for a Taunton to Minehead rail link. The press were in Minehead yesterday interviewing people about the need for a rail link, these included the Guardian and the BBC. Apparently (I haven’t seen it) there was also a piece on the BBC in which the rail and bus links were heavily criticised by certain people as the reason for the area being the worst and poorest in the country. Indeed what better way to fund your feasibility study into closing the WSR and opening a commuter line than a £6 million local fund to increase Social Mobility. Of course in such things people don’t normally let facts get in the way of a good story with its outcome.

Welcome to politics, perhaps the organisation being caught up in this needs to know the rules of the game to play the game or indeed know there is a game in the first place !!!

 

Planners of today would want the roof line lowered, the building line put back, bricks of a different type, and windows not matching the originals - a policy which I believe to be on the verge of insanity.
I really like to see such a sympathetic extension of the station.
Robin L

 

Pigs will fly before anything comes of this.

 

Guardian and the BBC - Fellow travellers...
No agenda there then.
Robin L.

 

Well maybe this shows that SCC have asked the rail link people to state their case (with real numbers and a few facts)
The answer was Minehead, West Somerset, Porlock Weir etc are being held back by the lack of services to Tauton and beyond

if one looks at Ilfracombe, one can marvel at the high tech businesses there.

One may wonder what could be brought to Minehead if the efforts spent on promoting the Minehead rail line were directed at inward investment.

Minehead Town Council, members of Minehead Chamber of Commerce, the people of Minehead should asked are they being well served by the MRL lobby ??
WSDC and SSC may have already reached a conclusion.

Jeff

 

Whilst I don’t disagree with you, putting the facts aside for a moment just look at it in simple terms from the viewpoint of the general population struggling in the worst area of Social Mobility in the country: Why would you not have a train run on an existing railway line that would make my life better and give my children more chances in life ?

The issue here is not whether it will happen or not, it is the negative PR. You can get a lot of Negative PR for shooting down those poor innocent Flying Pigs. Surely a strategy of community involvement/engagement as one of the two major tourist attractions in the area is much more positive.

 

I agree.

The government is in difficulties and looking for a feelgood story so they take something that is happening already and announce it as a great new plan.

Back at the WSR I cannot understand why we appear to be the only railway without an ambition to run through to the national network. The Bluebell moved heaven and vast quantities of earth to achieve it, SVR managed it long ago, NYMR have an imaginative solution, Swanage has done it and almost every other heritage railway would give its eye tooth for a link. Meanwhile we on the WSR have the rails but not the ambition. Brunel would not be impressed. Why do we wish to terminate our railway at some obscure non-entity of a village as BL?

Who on this forum does not believe that there will be a regular link in one form or another by 2025?