West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Looks a bit like London Bridge in medieval times.

 

I heard a different tale that during one of the wars, children on their way to school at Williton were not allowed Teddy Bears in school, so they left them by the crossing on their way, and collected them on the way home..

 

If there is an area of railway work that interests you, you would do your prospects no harm by volunteering in that area.

You will also find out if that work suits you.

Oh, and it is good fun as well!

Robin

 

Yep, I have heard that one as well.

The difficulty is that the name for the crossing was unknown when I volunteered on the line in the 70's and 80's, but was in use when I came back in the early 2000's.

Robin

 

One West Somerset Weather proof teddy

 

Here is a snap of Williton before the recent phase of work started, and a repeat of my shot from Friday.

You will see that the block shelf bears all the equipment like signal repeaters and lock and signal release plungers. The existing shelf was full and as the present work involves extra signals, the amount of equipment will increase and so a larger shelf is needed.

Kind regards

Robin

 

Thxs for the explanation, was hard to imagine its purpose empty, but makes sense now. Memories of my late grandfather who was signal Man near Tiverton parkway

 

Volunteering at Williton or Minehead or with P-way might give you an advantage as and when any paid jobs become available?

Sorry I sort of double posted this as Robin has already mentioned it.

 

a photo of D9526 on that crossing would be good.

 

For now I'm in need of full time work, so volunteering will have to fit in with wha

yes guess so, just need to find employment for now then see what future holds. Employment lawyers aren't cheap.

 

Reassuringly expensive, I would say.

Many folk make that work very well.

Robin

 

Reaching for my long hung-up planning hat, I would say that the roof pitch is a little too shallow and the barge boards are handled a little clumsily. The latter could be modified at little expense. I consider that it would extremely unlikely for the Local Planning Authority to concern itself about the variation; even if approached it would be more likely to view the matter as a spat amongst stakeholders within the railway community. I expressed similar views when some GWSR people were getting very worked up about aspects of the Broadway Station design.

 

Was that within a listed building curtilage? All they have is a stone building that sort of fits in, not a recreation of a GWR goods office and not as applied for and granted by the authority. The (ex at that stage?) SPO should have ensured that everything was as planned and not 'I did say the building was lovely but why was the roof pitch wrong.' If the completion was not in accordance with the application why was the SPO (at whatever stage he held the office) happy enough to walk away with just that blithe remark?

 

There is a big difference inasmuch as the CH application included listed building consent and the application drawings show the steeper pitch. Also the architect specifically mentions the pitch being designed to match that of the main station building just like that on the disabled toilet building that was built a few years ago. What is not in the public domain are the drawings the builder worked from. Whilst the main part of the structure is complete the rainwater goods with a very specific design in cast iron have yet to be fitted. I would expect the Conservation Officer to be rather red faced. However the important thing now is to sort the mess out rather than point fingers at the culprits.

 

Mk. 1 coach FO S3069 has arrived at Sherrings Yard, Williton for contract repairs.
See Robin's photograph. http://cgibin.wsr.org.uk/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?h=Latest+pictures&t=pics
Unless it has recently been sold it appears to belong to Riviera Trains.
http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=1214
If anyone knows any different would they kindly update us.

Thanks to Robin, wsr.org and the Vintage Carriage Trust for the info. <BJ>

 

Given the conversation about authenticity at CH, I can't help wondering what the historic precedents for vinyl gloves at a GWR branch signalbox are? (see bottom LH corner of picture)

 

The same might be said of the plastic bin and the dexion frame chair.

Fortunately the WSR Signalmen are onto this and have established a reserved fund held by the West Somerset Steam Trust to deal with such matters.

Donations?

Robin

 

They could be authentic GWR items.

http://www.pvc.org/en/p/history

 

For the chair and bin, quite possibly. Dare I ask why the gloves need funding?

 

The gloves are useful when using oily point clips and scotches. But some thought needs to go into what is on show.

Robin