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West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by gwr4090, Nov 15, 2007.

  1. gwr4090

    gwr4090 Part of the furniture

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    The turntable made it to Minehead today (by road) - a bit of a tight squeeze in places !
    See Latest Pictures at http://www.wsr.org.uk

    David
     
  2. Stu in Torbay

    Stu in Torbay Part of the furniture

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    [​IMG]
    A picture from http://www.wsr.org.uk © WSR

    Altho it shows the now-removed offices, stores and hedge, it seems to be quite near to the final arrangements, altho it is definitely not to scale.

    WSW
     
  4. Nick Gough

    Nick Gough Well-Known Member

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    Out of interest where was the site of the previous turntable in relation to the new one?
     
  5. Rlangham

    Rlangham Well-Known Member

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    Exactly the same place I believe, if not spot on for location then very close
     
  6. gwr4090

    gwr4090 Part of the furniture

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    The previous (45ft) turntable was just slightly to the left and down a bit in the above diagram, fairly close to the boundary fence which appears on the left hand side of the drawing. Then there was an earlier small turntable which was at the buffer stop end of the bay platform, with a cut out in the platform face to accomodate it. The GWR had planned to replace the 45ft table with a 65ft more or less on the same site, but this was cancelled at the start of WW2, so the 45ft table remained in use until the end of steam in the 1960s.

    David
     
  7. Stu in Torbay

    Stu in Torbay Part of the furniture

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  8. Nick Gough

    Nick Gough Well-Known Member

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    Thanks David (& Rlangham). I didn't think it would have been quite so close to the platforms as the WSR appears to have lost the headshunt now for the run-round loop at that platform.

    I have seen a photo of a 43xx on the old turntable with extension rails.
     
  9. Broomhalla

    Broomhalla Well-Known Member

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    Looks like it's in judging by this picture or was that just a test fitting.
    [​IMG]
    A picture from http://www.wsr.org.uk © Martyn Snell
     
  10. gwr4090

    gwr4090 Part of the furniture

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    Yes , I gather there were some constraints about how far away from the platform it could be located. Also I think the short headshunt on the run-round loop (shown in the diagram above) has now been deleted entirely and a water tower and crane is to be erected in its place, serving both the platform road and the turntable approach road.

    The extension rails on the old turntable always looked a bit precarious to me. It was normal to reverse the tender onto the extension, but there is a well known tale of a driver who decided to put the smokebox end of his Bulldog on the extension ... and it got stuck with the front drivers clear of the rails ! Another engine had to be used to drag it off the turntable.

    David
     
  11. Kerosene Castle

    Kerosene Castle Well-Known Member

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    That looks very nice, will look forward to seeing it next time I'm down there. I've often thought it a shame that we have to make do with a Southern one at Didcot - oh well!
     
  12. Bulleid Pacific

    Bulleid Pacific Part of the furniture

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    Looking forward to seeing it at the Gala. Looks quite nice in light chocolate and cream...
     
  13. Broomhalla

    Broomhalla Well-Known Member

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  14. Pewsey Beaste

    Pewsey Beaste Part of the furniture

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  15. cg

    cg Well-Known Member

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    There was also a short film on ITV West this evening about the arrival of the turntable at Minehead.
     
  16. Scorpian04111986

    Scorpian04111986 Member

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    Is the turntable likely to be in use on the gala weekend??
     
  17. I think that was the original intention. *However, given the time left and much still to do, I would suggest it'd be a close run thing. I am unaware of a recent official statement on your question - I will find out :)

    Steve (WSW)
    * a personal comment
     
  18. nanstallon

    nanstallon Part of the furniture

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    WSR has trains running this weekend, so at least one can go and see the TT, without contributing to global warming! Mix of diesel unit and steam, I think, but phone WSR to check before making a long journey!
     
  19. http://wsr.org.uk/cgi-bin/tt.cgi?t=ends2008

    WSW
     
  20. Rlangham

    Rlangham Well-Known Member

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    Some fantastic new photos up on the WSR site, might have a day out to Minehead in a couple of weeks of time, quite cheap from Paddington in advance
     

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