West Somerset Railway
Entry posted by Animedragon in General
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Over the UK May Bank Holiday weekend, 2nd to 5th May 2025, I went to the West Somerset Railway's Spring Steam Spectacular. The railway has held these steam galas since the mid-1990s and I have attended most of them and have photographs of every Spring Gala since 2002.
What's so special about these you might ask, well on a normal day the railway will run 4 or 5 trains in each direction per day with 2 or 3 steam locomotives in use. On a gala there could be up to 16 trains in each direction and 9 or 10 steam locomotives in service and they also run goods trains which gives some variety to what you can see, so you can see the appeal for railway enthusiasts like me.
A brief bit of history. The railway originally opened in 1862 by the Bristol and Exeter Railway between Taunton and Watchet and was built to the broad gauge of 7 foot and a quarter inch it is a single line railway with loops at several place along the route where trains could pass each other. Watchet was at that time a major port on the River Severn as well as an industrial centre and exports from the port included flour, limestone, textiles, iron ore, paper and in later years car parts. On my first visit to Watchet in 1979 the port was still working and it was interesting watching ships come in, the whole port are was of course shut off from the town because of quarantine regulations, today the port continues to exist as a marina.
But back to the history, the inhabitants of Minehead looked at the railway that ended in Watchet and wanted the railway to come to their town and they got their wish in 1874 when the line was extended to Minehead, this explains why the station building at Watchet is at a right angle to the station platform rather than parallel to it. In 1876 the Bristol and Exeter Railway became part of the Great Western Railway and in 1882 the line was converted from broad gauge to standard gauge. Williton station, one of the passing points, still has evidence of its broad gauge origins in the large space between the platforms it also has an original Bristol and Exeter Railway signal box.
From the 1930s to the 1960s Minehead became a popular tourist destination and attracted thousands of holiday makers each year a so unlike many branch lines the station at Minehead can take a 12 coach train. But the line was included in the infamous Beeching Report as one that could be closed and even the opening of a Butlins Holiday camp in 1962 wasn't enough to save the railway and the last train ran in January 1971.
But that wasn't the end of the railway. In February 1971 a group of local business men investigated the idea of acquiring the line and running it as a private all year round commuter service to Taunton, for various reasons this plan didn't happen and today the line operates as a heritage steam railway, which is where we came in at the start of this blog entry.
The railway today runs from Bishops Lydeard, near Taunton, to the coast at Minehead and at 20 miles is England's longest Heritage railway and has 10 stations along its route, it is regarded as one of the country's premier heritage railways it still has a connection to the main line and on occasion special charter railtour trains, sometimes steam hauled, arrive at Minehead from places like London Paddington.
I had a really enjoyable 4 days on the railway and the weather was warm and sunny which made waiting around between trains very pleasant. I took a huge number of photographs, some of which are below. When you look at these photos remember that all of the locomotives in them were rescued from a scrap yard as rusting heaps and have been beautifully restored to working order by their owners.
The demonstration goods train arriving at Blue Anchor station behind heavy freight locomotive no. 2807. Built in 1905 the loco is the oldest surviving working GWR loco.
A train in the landscape. A passenger train on its way from Dunster to Blue Anchor.
A beautifully restored GWR Manor class locomotive no.7812 Erlestoke Manor departing from Crowcombe Heathfield station
Two trains passing at Williton. Note the wide gap between the two tracks as a result of the station being built as a broad gauge station.
GWR Saint class loco no.2999 Lady of Legend (running as 2986 Robin Hood for the gala) passing through Stogumber station. The area on the right was once the goods yard but is now a beautifully kept garden and picnic site, and a nice place to just sit and enjoy watching the trains go by.
2807 on the turntable at Minehead station. This is how you turn 76 tons of steam loco round so its facing the right way for the return journey, and yes, the crew push it round by hand!
Thank you for reading this blog entry, I hope you found it interesting and informative.
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