West Somerset Railway General Discussion

West Somerset Railway - Then and Now #47

View west from Minehead signal box 1990 / 2017

A busy day before the Minehead resignalling.

1990


2017

 

I asked about this from a usually impeccable source at BL who told me is was an operational matter. The loco is stabled in the loco shed and any maintenance can be done there under cover. The loco compound is more secure than elswhere on the WSR. Detaching it also allows it to be sent to the Triangle for turning and coaling. Simples! He told me.

 

A most enjoyable Quantock Belle ran last evening behind 6960. We were full, as per usual, and managed to delight our guests by gatecrashing the Watchet Summertime Festival firework display. Those of you with a keen eye and sight of the Weekly Operating Notice might have wondered why the QB had a booked 20 minute stop at Watchet during our return journey. We managed to keep the cunning plan secret until our approach to WT station shortly after 10pm as the display commenced. Our journey recommenced at the end of the display.

All ran perfectly to time from boarding 30 minutes before departure until our return to BL at 11pm.

The MD stationmaster provided appropriate recorded music over the MD PA system, another innovation (authentic 1950's mono) and we recorded record bar takings, by a significant margin.

Oh, and the food was rather tasty too. QB cook and her team made a rare foray out onto the BL platform to wish our guests a fond farewell and were acknowledged accordingly, in fact rather keenly by some!

A very satisfied QB manager and QB cook signed out at midnight.

Just off to BL to remove a few empty bottles from the train.

Barrie

 

Very interesting before and after pictures Robin.

Quick question, In the past I remember the WSR were looking at building a carriage shed at Bishops Lydeard, mostly for historic coaches and I believe there was potentially some deal where a housing developer was going to buy some land and then sell the part nearest the station for the shed as long as the railway would support the new housing, Is that still the plan ? Is there still an intention to build such a shed ?

 

I received this message during the week from a relative.

"Just back from a lovely journey on the WSR visiting a friend.......Particularly lovely to hear the Steward (sic) going through the carriages as we approached Bishops Lydeard thanking all the passengers for, and I quote, "making his retirement wonderful." No further comment necessary.

 

Thank you very much for these figures. It is a very interesting comparison between the Manor, the Grange and the 43xx
which is reinforced by the 4MT - & indeed the famous trial between a BR 2MT and a Dean Goods. I think the explanation
is in better combustion and heat transfer in the No 4 boiler due to the smaller grate with bigger firebox volume. Also the
"free gas area" was better - the ratio between the area of the grate and the area the tubes and flues gave through the boiler.
But I think we are getting on to things that might be better elsewhere in the forum and I'm starting to scratch around for
exact figures to support the assertions I have made. NB the Cities gave their early outstanding performances with the
original unsuperheated No 4 boiler.

 

From what I heard today 50% of the two arnt coming and the visiting loco may not be as *exotic* as originally intended

Any pictures of the two car crash on Blue Anchor crossing today?

 

On the ML area of the forum 34046 is reported as heading to the WSR next weekend if all is well with the repairs carried out at Southall.

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

 

Sir in that case please forgive me and my Minehead platform end mutterings

 

Yes because pictures of somebody's else misfortune is what we want to see.

 

Is the late summer weekend working timetable availability to purchase please

 

46100 is due to leave the WSR next Sunday. It is booked to work 'The Royal Duchy' from Taunton to Par, Par to Bristol TM, then back to Southall. Making room for a different Scot the following day.

 

Maybe it depended on being in a union... NUR ...ASLEF etc...Rules are rules... etc.

 

I'm glad I wasn't there and if there's a risk of it happening again I won't be visiting the WSR ever again. If I want music I will choose my own at a time when it suits me. I don't want it inflicted on me. There are some places where I can't avoid it but I keep my time in such places to the minimum.

 

There are more questions than answers.

 

West Somerset Railway - Then and Now #47

View from the signal box window looking west 1978 / 2017

This pair really show how the Railway has been rescued from oblivion by the efforts of its volunteers over the years.

BTW, is anyone skilled enough with photoshop to remove the purple cast from the 1978 view?

Copyright Nick Jones / Robin White

1978


2017

 

Well to be honest rather than seeing a picture of a crashed car, it was to see if there was any damage to the crossing gates, but point taken

 

What exactly happened?

 

I'd be interested to know about how the current and former placement of the water tower ties in with current and historical workings. The former (original?) position seems rather incongruous out at the end of the platform away from the station building and canopy and would seem to me to require an extra engine movement on all but the longest of trains???

Also out of interest, how many coaches can the platform accommodate?

 

The original position looks sensible to me: essentially any engine running round a train in either the main or the bay with be able to stop at the water column during the run round before coming back onto its train, regardless of how long the train is. (If you look, the main platform points have moved closer to the station at some point during the preservation era).

Tom