East Somerset Railway - Construction of Second Platform

Following a successful application for a National Lottery Grant we at the East Somerset Railway have started on the re-construction of the second platform at Cranmore. The initial work has been contracted out. Luckily the original footings of the platform wall were found to be still there and in not too bad a condition. When these were being opened-up by the contractor an old piece of what I believe to be Barlow rail was unearthed. We wonder where it might have originated.

The original footings un-earthed

The backing block wall is started

Piece of Barlow (?) rail discovered when footings were un-earthed

 

Certainly made good progress since I was there on Sunday.

 

Excellent progress, well done!

 

Very nice!! How will this look once completed? Footbridge or barrow crossing?

 

It will be a foot crossing (by the signalbox) like it was in BR. This an artists impression of how it will look once completed:

 

A couple more pictures of work on the platform this week...

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Pictures taken this afternoon, concrete base for the shelter has been laid and hard-core put down on the platform. It certainly is beginning to look a lot more like a platform!

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An update from a couple of days ago posted on the ESR facebook page:

If you have visited the ESR recently you cannot have failed to notice that our Heritage Lottery Funded project is progressing well and the construction of the new platform has advanced rapidly. It is timely therefore to give you an update and explain what the next steps are.

Trotmans our contractors have finished the first part of the job which includes building approximately 40 metres of platform wall and the foundations for the reinstated waiting room which will eventually become a "discovery centre” to explain the heritage of our railway. We have now placed a contract for the timber framed building which is intended to closely match the original building and expect this to be erected in late August. Following that we will create a temporary gravel path from the signal box to the new building and commence fitting out the building with heritage displays. The main platform will not be available for boarding trains, and we do not anticipate public access will be available until later in the year when we will improve the pedestrian crossing at the signal box and fully open the new discovery centre.

The platform is intended to be lengthened and given a tarmac surface, fencing, lights etc in 2019 if we can raise further monies via the Lottery.

 

The down platform's hut has now been constructed, as can be seen there is still some work to do to it.

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Great progress

 

The construction of the second platform looks great, looking forward to my next visit.

 

I'm pleased to see that you continue to include a non corridor compartment carriage in the trains as a reminder of what travel on the line was once like

 

It is unique in being the only fibre glass bodied rail vehicle in the UK. The underframe is from the infamous Lewisham crash and BR decided to use it for an experiment. It arrived at the ESR with 75029 in the 1970s making it one of (if not the) longest serving pieces of rolling stock at Cranmore.

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I' guessing it hasn't had major body work problemso over the years...

 

When I last visited a couple of years ago it was showing signs of the steel sections (buried inside the fibreglass) starting to "burst out" in a worrying fashion akin to "concrete cancer". It was receiving attention however and a repaint so not sure if this was dealt with and halted?

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That is the problem with the coach. Not sure what exactly was done besides a repaint but any work done on the fibre glass has to be done by contractors as our C+W don't have the skills to repair it.

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And I am certain that many memories, many of a romantic nature, could be related by those who regularly travelled in them.

 

(Taken from ESR Facebook page)

Update on Heritage Lottery Funded Second Platform by Project Manager Gary Amos....

Our Heritage Lottery funded project at Cranmore Station achieved a further milestone during August. The erection of a building in the same style as the former waiting room took place on the down platform and this will eventually become a 'Discovery Centre', depicting the history of the railway and its links to local industry. Local builder, Trotmans, completed the first phase of the reinstated platform wall in June and cast the foundations for the new building. Poultons (Dorset), a Shaftesbury based company who specialise in wooden frame bespoke buildings won the contract to design and build the new 'Discovery Centre' utilising all the available historical photos of the former waiting room which was demolished over 50 years ago. We are delighted that the station now has the former waiting room back in its old position and we are well on the way to recreating the country station atmosphere which existed in the years prior to its demolition. All credit must go to our two main contractors for the quality of their workmanship, their enthusiasm and also completing the works on time and to some very tight budgets.

This phase of the project has also been facilitated by a number of volunteers, including those who cleared the bramble jungle behind the platform retaining wall in this summers’ searing heat, so that it could be re-pointed (it was in remarkably good condition for its age). Many thanks to Colin Girle from the Sentinel Diesel group, who provided considerable help by shunting wagon loads of materials back and forth from the tanker sidings to keep the job on schedule and Clive Moore who has done the civil engineering design and construction supervision. Thanks are also due to the loco crews who tolerated a little extra shunting of wagons carrying building materials on operational days too.

The next stage of the project will involve fitting out the building with lighting and heritage displays, the creation of a temporary path from the Signal Box to the new platform, improvements to the track crossing at the Signal Box end and the installation of some temporary fencing for visitor safety.

In support of the next stages, Lisa Pool, our new volunteer Education Officer has been busy on the oral history side of the project and is leading on developing heritage displays, along with Mel Knight and Fran Barley.

Thanks to Bob McLetchie at CTMS we have also obtained about 40 metres of wrought iron spear fencing which originally came from a large house near Frome and was available at an attractive price. Bob very kindly arranged for the purchase, collected and delivered it to Cranmore and we hope to refurbish this for eventual use between the new building and the Signal Box. Although this addition was scheduled for the next phase of the project in 2019, we now have an early opportunity to add another of the missing heritage features to enhance the new platform. In addition we recently had an offer from a former volunteer (from the 1980's) to recreate the station name board in glass fibre, which should be maintenance free.

Plus a picture from 4/9/18...

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Not quite right.
We have this and the NRM have one also.
Its a Freightliner Guards Caboose.
As far as we know they only ever made 1 official trip as they were withdrawn due to safety concerns with the soft springing on a freightliner flat and the guard getting thrown about.

 

You should see how much fibreglass filler we use on our coaches sometimes before bandying statements like that around!