West Somerset Railway Heritage Trust

West Somerset Railway Remembers

A remembrance service was held at the West Somerset Railway’s Heritage Trust Gauge Museum at Bishops Lydeard on Saturday 9th November. Representatives from West Somerset Railway PLC, West Somerset Railway Heritage Trust, West Somerset Railway Association, Royal Marines 40 Commando and Dunkirk House attended the event along with Local MP Rachel Gilmour and various others from community organisations along the line.

The service was led by the Rev Martin Perry with welcomes by both Mike Thompson, West Somerset Railway Heritage Trust Chairman and Ian Camp, Museum Curator. The Exhortation & Kohima Epitaph was read by Allan Stanistreet and The Last Post & Reveille Sounded performed by Wellington Silver Band.

Shortly before the service, locomotive Odney Manor 7828, wearing its Norton Manor name plates and 40 Commando headboard arrived at Platform 1. A wreath was laid on the locomotive by Chief Traction Inspector, Mervyn Hebditch before being taken into the museum by the Royal Marines. Wreaths were then placed under the museum’s GWR roll of honour commemorating the 2500 GWR staff who made the ultimate sacrifice during WW1.

West Somerset Railway General Manager, Kerry Noble said ‘’We are proud to be able to host our own railway remembrance service and for our locomotive Odney Manor to wear its Norton Manor name plates once again in remembrance of all those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Many thanks to all those who attended the service, with a special thanks to our Museum Creator, Ian Camp for his organisation of the service.’’

📷 Mike Lanning

Your support would be appreciated

Here is an easy way to support the Trust - nominate us in the Movement for Good draw supported by Ecclesiastical Insurance. Simply complete the form at https://culture.movementforgood.com/index.php?cn=265564&ct=heritage_arts&i=1728377498-99970.jpg&utm_source=holiday+card&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=M4G2024card&utm_id=M4G2024card and we could win £5000. But be quick - the draw closes at midnight on Friday!

Here is an easy way to support the Trust - nominate us in the Movement for Good draw supported by Ecclesiastical Insurance. Simply complete the form at https://culture.movementforgood.com/index.php?cn=265564&ct=heritage_arts&i=1728377498-99970.jpg&utm_source=holiday+card&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=M4G2024card&utm_id=M4G2024card and we could win £5000. But be quick - the draw closes at midnight on Friday!

We are very pleased to say that the Trust has been successful in its application for a grant under the 'Talking Nature' scheme. In partnership with local schools, we will develop our outdoor learning provision, creating a garden museum where children can learn about the diverse habitats along the railway and the role it plays in supporting conservation.

The aim is to instal new interpretation boards and species identification boards in Spring 2025.

This grant was awarded by Museum Development South West, with thanks to support from Arts Council England.

WSRHT News on Toplight Carriage NO. 3639 moving from Williton to Washford kindly by WSR Plc last Monday. The special train carried a wreath in memory of the late Ronnie Wainhouse. More information on the website link below. All photos are © WSRHT 2024.

Trust News on Toplight Carriage No. 3639 WSRHT News on Toplight Carriage No. 3639 The West Somerset Railway Heritage Trust is pleased to confirm the move of Toplight carriage no. 3639 from Williton to Washford was completed by a WSR PLC t…

The WSRHT website is undergoing a short maintenance overhaul, but will remain live. Thank you for supporting our Heritage Trust and Railway. More info in our news post and will provide regular progress updates.

Ongoing Website Maintenance Maintenance to the WSRHT Website The official website of the WSRHT is undergoing a short maintenance overhaul, but will remain live throughout this time. However, visitors to the website may notice…

The Trust AGM was held last Saturday and saw the retirement of Geoff Evens who stood down from the Board after over 30 years service on the West Somerset Railway. Geoff was presented with a special cake baked and decorated by Pam and Helen Anson.

Mike Thompson Trust Chairman said "Geoff has been one of our longest serving Trustees. He has been involved with the WSR in a variety of roles across the West Somerset Railway PLC, West Somerset Railway Association and the Heritage Trust during his time on the railway. He has been a stalwart of our board for several years and his enthusiasm, commitment and wider knowledge of the railway has been invaluable, especially to me personally when I took on the role of Chairman of the board.

Geoff will be sorely missed and I want to pay tribute and give thanks for everything he has done for the WSR, not just the Heritage Trust”.

A full report of the AGM will be sent to Trust members in due course.

SAVE THE DATE!

We are excited to be able to announce the dates for our Gala Events in 2025. Make sure you note these in your diaries - you don’t want to miss them!

Spring Steam Spectacular – Friday 2nd May to Monday 5th May 2025

Summer Diesel Festival – Thursday 5th June to Saturday 7th June 2025

Mixed Traction Day – Sunday 8th June 2025

Our flagship event, the Spring Steam Spectacular, will once again be held over the early May Bank Holiday weekend. We have already begun negotiations to host some exciting visiting locomotives, and these will be announced in the next few months. We are hoping to see a wide variety of different types from all over the country and we can’t wait for you to find out our plans.

Also making a return is our Summer Diesel Festival, with an extra day of running for 2025! This event will see a selection of preserved Diesel traction working to an intensive timetable. Visiting locomotives will be appearing and talks are ongoing for these.

Next year along with many other heritage railways the West Somerset Railway will take part in Railway 200. Railway 200 is a national event celebrating 200 years of railways. As part of these celebrations, we will be announcing further special events over the next few months. Keep an eye on our social media and website for further exciting announcements!

This weekend, the West Somerset Railway Heritage Trust held it's first open day at Washford shed to coincide with the annual 40's weekend on the railway.

Our Washford Heritage Carriage Restoration (HCR) team created a special visitor route around the shed so people could see the excellent work being carried out on the site. This included es**rted tours of our heritage carriage 6705 and displays of the wood framework already completed for carriage 3639, which will be installed when the carriage is moved to Washford.

Besides carriage 6705, there was a scale model which showed the original template for 3639's carriage frames and a retail section offering a choice of second hand railway books and model items. There were also several information boards on display, in the same style used in our Gauge museum, along with a novel 'brake test' experience where visitors could try out the vacuum release 'setter' on carriage 6705 and see the results under the solebar, using a clever feature set up by the team.

The whole presentation was a great addition to the 40's event going on outside the shed and is something we hope to repeat for future Galas and special events.

The station itself was transformed into a 40's style environment, with road navvies at work, an old staff canteen and 'policemen' to keep an eye out for any suspect visitors! This, along with singer on the main platform, really helped to bring Washford 'alive' for our many visitors to the site.

Congratulations and thanks go to the whole HCR team and especially those who gave up their weekend to help es**rt our visitors. It was great to see a new aspect of WSRHT activities on public display at Washford using covered accommodation for the first time, far away from the primitive conditions we previously had at Williton.

Heritage stock moves on the West Somerset Railway.

In February 2024, the West Somerset Railway Heritage Trust completed the purchase of the shed at track at Washford from the Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust and agreed a new 10 year lease of the site with the West Somerset Railway PLC. Since then work has been continuing to bring all the heritage stock owned by the Trust to the Washford site, which is now the base for all the Trust's restoration activities.

The planned move of the three carriages previously stored at Dunster sidings to Washford was successfully completed on Monday 9 September by a WSR PLC specialist team, while the railway was closed to passenger traffic. Carriages 5131, 7740 and 2578 have been located in a siding near Dunster station for many years awaiting restoration, leaving them exposed to the sea air despite being covered with tarpaulin covers.

Coastal storms have periodically caused further deterioration to the carriages. Given the poor condition of the carriages, a comprehensive risk assessment was prepared in advance of the
move. This included a 3 meter hard hat exclusion zone around the move, and even a camera wired up to one of the shunters, pointing underneath the carriages to check if anything fell between the tracks during the move. The whole exercise was professionally executed by the PLC team, using two top and tail shunters, without incident.

The following day, the Trust's horse box was brought by road from its previous location at Bishops Lydeard. During the First World War, horses and mules were used extensively by the British army - nearly one million by 1918 - and were transported by rail, and it is believed that this is the only one horse box of the era to survive. It was built for the LNWR and found on a farm at Pershore. Following the move to Washford, restoration of the horse box will be completed.

The Washford shed opens to visitors on 14 and 15 September, as part of the WSR 40s weekend.