West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Has the preserved railway industry suddenly gone beyond the point of purely preserving railway heritage as to being part of the essential economic survival and development or rural areas? Is this the first step in recongising that railway enthusiasts are no longer merely considered to be playing trains?

 

I think the traders in Bridgnorth discovered that last year!

 

Unconfirmed reports suggest circa £20 Million was lost from the local economy in the area between Bridgnorth and Kidderminster.

 

Oh, look down the back of the sofa, it'll be there somewhere.....

 

BR(W) 2-6-2T 4160 became the first locomotive to be turned on the new Minehead turntable earlier today.

A small moment in history....

46118

(news courtesy of wsr.org)

 

* rushes to wsr website*

 

very good, looking forward to seeing progress when i visit next month

 

Is the line steam-less at the moment, according to the site due to track issues cuasing seroiusly bad wheel-flange wear, only 5553 is ok for service. How bad is it?

 

Covered in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=15113

 

After reading the WSR 5 year plan, does anyone know what’s happening about the Norton Fitzwarren to Taunton re-quadrupling mentioned for 2008? There’s nothing on the network rail plan for route 12 Paddington to Penzance.

 

Page 8 of the 5 year plan refers to "Network Rail plans to relay the Up & Down Relief Line between Taunton and Norton Fitzwarren during 2008". What this actually means is that Network Rail plans to upgrade the track on the existing down relief line between Taunton and Norton Fitzwarren. This line is actualy bidirectional (hence the designation Up & Down Relief) and is used by trains in both directions to/from the WSR. The work was actually done last week, I believe, and the speed limit will be raised shortly. Unfortunately there are no plans to quadruple this stretch by restoring the former up relief which was removed many years ago. This would have been more convenient for WSR trains to reach Taunton without crossing the main lines.

David

 

I'm sure Rodney Greenway will be happy for me to post one of the excellent pictures of the WSRA Norton Fitzwarren site he has recently taken whilst hanging from a microlight (or similar). I have added a few annotations of the key features.



WSW

 

What's the rationale behind building an east chord?
I thought the WSR main line would serve as that side for the triangle.

 

There would not be enough room at the Taunton end before going onto Network Rail metals. You can just make out the cattle-grid (as a faint grey line across the track opposite the sharp end of the Dairylea-shaped field in the vee of the main tracks) which is a few yards on the Minehead-side of the boundary. Another reason for having the triangle self-contained means a train can be locked-in to allow other traffic to pass by.

WSW

 

There would not be enough room at the Taunton end before going onto Network Rail metals. You can just make out the cattle-grid (as a faint grey line across the track opposite the sharp end of the Dairylea-shaped field in the vee of the main tracks) which is a few yards on the Minehead-side of the boundary. Another reason for having the triangle self-contained means a train can be locked-in to allow other traffic to pass by.

WSW[/quote:14x5pm0r]


Is a South Chord planned?

 

Be my guest

Rodders

 

I don't think so.

WSW

 

Surely you need the south chord alongside the GWML to join the east and west together to complete the triangle?

Also, I assume the maximum length of train that can be turned as a whole is limited by the distance between the current end of the east chord and where the tracks converge at the junction with the main line and the WSR main line?
Do you know the max length the WSR hope to accommodate?

 

Surely you need the south chord alongside the GWML to join the east and west together to complete the triangle?

Also, I assume the maximum length of train that can be turned as a whole is limited by the distance between the current end of the east chord and where the tracks converge at the junction with the main line and the WSR main line?
Do you know the max length the WSR hope to accommodate?[/quote:1erbudmc]

Ah, I see. A third chord will be relaid on the Barnstaple formation but I don't think it will be called the "South Chord". More likely the "Barney Chord". Maybe we'll have a poll

As for the max length, I don't think a figure has been published and I think the available space currently available for the [future] south east headshunt allows for one tender loco and one coach.

WSW

 

There would not be enough room at the Taunton end before going onto Network Rail metals. You can just make out the cattle-grid (as a faint grey line across the track opposite the sharp end of the Dairylea-shaped field in the vee of the main tracks) which is a few yards on the Minehead-side of the boundary. Another reason for having the triangle self-contained means a train can be locked-in to allow other traffic to pass by.

WSW[/quote:1y0phgpq]
I see. I always thought the boundary was at the Taunton end of the old cider factory because the line was fenced off from the rest of the network.