S&D Railway Trust

Based on photographs and their style, I would suggest that the Chilcompton sign (and maybe also the Masbury one?) is the signal-box name-board rather than a station running-in board. It may well be that the painting of signal-box signage was the responsibility of a different paint gang from station signage and hence different parts of a station may well have been repainted at different times.

 

Andy N is correct I have seen the post, for some reason I omitted the few sentences re colours from the blog. (Long day of work and Trust matters yesterday).

The majority of the stations on the northern extension fell under the western region post grouping. If you look closely at the pictures on the blog you will see both the evercreech junction and evercreech new signs have been painted chocolate and cream. Indeed we have two evercreech new signs, one of which was painstakingly cleaned back to the original southern green.

 

In fact all the stations on the Bath Extension came under WR control, at least for commercial purposes AIUI, wef January 1950. Exactly who had what responsibilities between the WR and the SR in the following years is not something which seems to be very well recorded.

It would appear that at some stage the WR also acquired control over Bath Green Park, which lead to the curious sight of the old MR-style Up Branch Home bracket at Bath Junction being replaced by a standard WR product but with UQ arms

 

Not so curious as the fine Stevens lattice bracket that formed Mallaig Up Starting signals being replaced by WR dolls topped by WR pinnacles - that Reading influence extends further than you might think! (I guess that the lattice masts at Mallaig suffered severely from salt water seaspray)

It was common on the S&D for the vitreous enamel running-in boards in Southern green to remain untouched by the WR painting gangs, but for the woodwork for such boards to be repainted in Western brown, so that you got a two-tone effect of green framed in brown. Such was certainly the case with the signal box nameboard at Burnham, and I believe also with the down side running-in board at Glastonbury.

A little surprising, therefore, that the WR should have overpainted the green enamelling of the boards for the Evercreech stations.

 

It is hard to tell if there was any difference in the size of station and signalbox name boards but they look pretty similar to me. I never photographed the signalbex myself as it was demolished during the Easter holidays after my first term at boarding school. Here is my best effort at capturing the station name board. I'm not sure that Chilcompton ever was painted in SR green unlike Midsomer Norton 2 miles up the line (but down the hill!). I suspect that by the time it was due for a post war repaint the WR were already in control.

Peter - whose only claim to fame is that I was the last person to alight from a passenger train at Chilcompton.

 

You mean this signal:-

Taken in Aug '76 on my first visit to Mallaig. I had never thought about the WR connection to these signals before, but now you mention it......... I'm sure that you are right about the original lattice posts being very susceptable to salt spray corrosion.

Sorry for the thread drift - you cannot get much further away from the S&D than Mallaig, but both railways are dear to my heart.

Peter

 

Am I right in thinking please that the deadline was extended six months to a date in August, and is this still the case?

TIA

Patrick

 

See:
https://www.national-preservation.c...ashford-matters.1417790/page-161#post-2641882

 

'Somewhere' I have read about the origin of those posts etc. IIRC it was in a way tied-in with the WR's acquisition of ex-LMS lines after nationalisation and trying to maintain some consistency with the demands to have UQ arms. I will see if I can dig out the details......

 

I can't speak as to the other stations, but it is apparent from Roy Denison's shot at page 64 of 'Somerset and Dorset Steam Finale' that Stalbridge retained its Southern Railway scheme as late as April 1965, so is unlikely to have been besmirched by a WR paint job. In this photograph, the Southern's No.3A Mid Chrome Green has held up quite well but the No.8 Grey of the gateposts has faded badly from Dark Admiralty Grey (362 in BS361c) to something much closer to Light Admiralty Grey (697 in BS361c).

I was probably wrong about the Glastonbury running-in board, but the nameboard on Shapwick signal box was very clearly green vitreous enamel framed in brown.

That's the one! And the Inner Home signals also visible were similarly WR doll/pinnacle replacements for the original lattice signals that can be made out indistinctly in an early view of Mallaig looking out over the Sound of Sleat. The West Highland generally and the Extension in particular run the S&D close in my affections, too.

 

A photo by David Milton of Templecombe Junction box taken some time after closure shows that it had retained its green enamel BR(S) nameplate, but the wooden surround had been painted brown (as had other woodwork on the box). What is more interesting perhaps (at least for me!) is that a subsequent photo taken after the enamel plate had been removed shows that underneath it still read 'Templecombe No 2 Junction' !

 

Thanks. 10 August 2021 seemingly wouldn't give much time for an option to "remove the shed and the track from the Washford site so that there is nothing left" (@Sidmouth 's original question)

Patrick

 

Good Evening

The blog has been quiet for several weeks because of a lot of work behind the scenes as well as the holiday season but I wanted to make sure today’s extremely positive news is made available here.

I am working on an update to the blog but for those who have not seen today’s press release please see this link: https://www.sdrt.org/museum-agreeme...to-a-formal-collaboration-for-the-first-time/

Chris

 

Brilliant news! just shows what can be achieved. Perhaps the S&D Joint Railway be a "joined up" one again.

 

Seeing 53809 in steam at the NNR got me wondering, have the three former S&D engines ever been all together in preservation - 23, 88 and 89?

 

23? Do you mean 44123? That's under restoration at the Avon Valley Railway.

44422, 53808 and 53809 appeared at the S&D 50th Anniversary Gala at the WSR in March, 2016. <BJ>

 

The S & D 4F 0-6-0s were Nos 57-61. LMS Nos 4557-4561.

 

The S & D Jinties were Nos 19-25 and received LMS Nos 7310-7316.