Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Making history – thanks to railway fans who never run out of steam
Scheduled rail services between the Somerset seaside resort of Minehead and the county town of Taunton resume on a trial basis this morning after a hiatus of 48 years. Earlier this week, Richard Bache met some of the volunteers and staff of the West Somerset Railway, which has kept the flame burning by running heritage services in the area for 40 years
AT 9.39am this morning a small piece of railway history will be made when a Great Western Railway (GWR) shuttle service departs Taunton bound for Bishop’s Lydeard.
Although the journey is only five miles and takes a mere 17 minutes, it means for the first time since British Rail closed the West Somerset branch line in 1971 passengers can travel the complete 24.5 miles to Minehead from Taunton by scheduled trains.
Taunton MP Rebecca Pow is due to wave the guard’s green flag to signal the service can safely depart.
Once the GWR shuttle reaches the picture-perfect station at Bishop’s Lydeard, passengers can transfer to the steam and diesel services operated by the West Somerset Railway (WSR) and complete the journey to Minehead.
Presently, the number 28 bus is the only way to travel between Taunton and Bishop’s Lydeard on public transport.
The WSR hopes that the trial may attract additional passengers to its services that may have been deterred by having to get the bus.
On seven Saturdays between now and October, GWR will operate the
shuttle service five times per day, as part of a £160,000 trial.
The initiative has received £60,000 funding from GWR’s Customer and Community Improvement Fund, it is anticipated to take a similar amount in ticket revenue and £40,000 of the cost will be met by the WSR.
The passenger numbers will be closely monitored to see if there is demand for it to be continued in future years.
The WSR is hoping that the scheme should attract additional passengers to two of its flagship events, the Steam Rally at Norton Fitzwarren on August 3 and the Autumn Steam Gala on October 5.
However, suggestions in parts of West Somerset that it could be a precursor to regular commuter services running on the West Somerset Railway appear unrealistic.
A cursory glance at the letters page of last week’s local West Somerset Free Press shows the (understandable) local desire for commuter services to link Minehead and mainline services at Taunton.
But the largely volunteer-run WSR says it is simply not feasible for it to resource running trains in the early mornings and late evenings for commuters.
It adds that the limited number of passing loops on the single track line limits capacity to run commuter services and the heritage steam services that currently run.
The popular heritage railway would, however, undoubtedly benefit from the additional passengers, having endured a difficult period that saw it publicly admit to financial problems, receive a challenging report from the Office of Rail and Road, have to carry out emergency repair works before it could open for the 2019 season and sell a cherished engine to help ease financial pressures.
Further boardroom changes announced earlier this month, an extraordinary general meeting scheduled for next month to approve a motion to delay the publication of its accounts and the ordering of an independent expert report on the condition of the tracks to clarify where investment needs to be made, show that significant challenges remain.
However, chief among the reasons for optimism are the extraordinary number of volunteers who dedicate countless thousands of hours to running the line. They number almost 900 in total and carry out all manner of jobs on the line.
As the railway’s paid staff number approximately 50, a reasonable proportion of whom work part-time, it could not be clearer how much the line relies on volunteers.
WSR press spokesman Dick Wood puts it in bluntly vivid terms – “No volunteers, no railway.”
Volunteers they might be, but that does not exempt them from the regulations governing railways large and small. It is that burden of meeting the exacting standards of the 21st century while trying to operate a heritage experience redolent of the 1950s that occupies much of the WSR management’s thoughts.
The pinnacle of volunteer positions is, as almost any schoolboy of a certain era could undoubtedly attest, being a steam engine driver.
One does not simply arrive there however! Quite aside from attaining the necessary qualifications – which can easily take two years, depending on how much time per month a volunteer can spare – there is something of a pecking order in place.
Getting to stand on the footplate pulling the levers and blowing the whistle does not first happen without plenty of volunteer shifts cleaning engines and shovelling tonnes of coal as a fireman.
On a sweltering Tuesday, as I clamber up to the footplate of the gleaming 53808 engine at Bishop’s Lydeard, the man tasked with shovelling coal into the boiler is Londonbased volunteer George Thomas.
A radio producer for the BBC, on shows such as the Today programme, he spends part of his holiday allocation each year volunteering for the WSR.
On the day that it was announced that West Somerset-raised Boris Johnson had won the Tory leadership contest, the escapism from Westminster politics seemed appropriate.
But there is no way of escaping a surfeit of hot air however... as became evident every time a fresh shovelful of coal was added to the fire in the boiler, which can reach 2,500C.
George, who had an easy rapport with driver Simon Barfield, who following his stint on the footplate was off to his day job as a printer in Wellington, was an enthusiastic advocate for the beauty of the West Somerset line as the line opened up after Crowcombe Heathfield.
He had developed a love of steam railways in his native Oxfordshire, where that same Mr Johnson was a one-time MP in Henley, but had come to love the longer West Somerset line, whose route nestled between the Quantock and Brendon hills was initially scouted by Brunel’s company.
The dials and valves that operate the boiler of an engine that was built nearly 100 years ago in 1925 may lack the technical complexity of a modern radio mixing deck.
But to witness George monitoring the pressure dials and injecting
water into the boiler as we climbed the undulating West Somerset countryside was to see a man very much at home.
The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway 7F Class, which saw most of its service carrying freight over the Mendip hills, was equally at home, easily powering the carriages behind onwards towards Minehead at the line’s maximum speed of 25 miles per hour.
Hours of unseen work is needed on the for machines, which no matter how magnificent, were built nearly a century ago and have far outlived their designed life expectancy to operate smoothly.
Simon and George had been hard at work since before 7am preparing 53808 for the first departure of the day from Bishop’s Lydeard at 10.15am.
And those daily tasks pale into comparison next to the manpower needed to restore and repair engines and carriages.
The cash sums needed for projects that can easily consume a decade can be eye-watering.
At Williton a gang of engineering volunteers were enjoying a welldeserved tea break sheltering from the hot sun under the shade of a partially repaired engine.
The gentlemen concerned, mostly retired, tend to volunteer on the same days each week and travel from Taunton, Bristol and Bridgwater to work on long-term restorations.
Some had been involved for more than 20 years and the camaraderie that exists between them was easily discernible.
When asked which restoration project they were proudest of the answer was unanimous – “Braunton”, one of the most celebrated of all steam railway restorations.
That and other restoration projects have been carried out in the ‘Swindon shed’ which stands at the end of the yard and may be recognisable to readers in Wiltshire.
The Grade II listed shed was built in 1899 at Swindon Works and was moved to Williton in 1995 by Tarmac.
It isn’t only volunteers who work there though. Foreman Ryan Pope, from Bridgwater, started as a volunteer before being accepted for a railway engineering apprenticeship.
Nine years later he runs the site at Williton and says the daily variety of the work is endless – as is the work itself, as several old carriages parked at Williton will require years of work alone.
While most people associate the WSR with steam engines, it also relies on diesel-powered services.
Paul Fleet is at the controls of the diesel unit popular known as ‘Daisy’ when I jump back on at Williton to continue onwards to Minehead.
After a 38-year career with British Rail and Network Rail where he did “everything other than drive a train” Paul began volunteering with the WSR about nine years ago after he retired.
His final job as a project manager with Network Rail was with Thameslink on the massive project to redevelop London Bridge station.
That station, which sits under the Shard, is Britain’s fourth busiest, with more than 48 million passengers per year using it. A somewhat different pace of life than the West Somerset and its 180,000 passengers annually!
The diesel unit, which served its operational life with British Rail running commuter services between London Marylebone and towns such as Aylesbury and Banbury, is to some extent the workhorse of the WSR, offering a slightly more economical means of transporting passengers than steam engines.
The view from the cab offers a glimpse of the beauty of the route as it hugs the coast between Doniford and Minehead.
Paul also points out some of the challenges that the railway faces with track maintenance issues as we slowly head towards the terminus at Minehead.
Major work was carried out at Blue Anchor last winter and there are several other places where speed restrictions of 5mph or 10mph are in place. These are among issues that mean the rail line has lost its cherished ‘red route’ status, which allows the heaviest and most popular engines such as Flying Scotsman to visit.
West Somerset Railway plc chairman Jonathan Jones-Pratt views restoring this as critical and is among the reasons why an independent track survey has been commissioned.
He said: “One of the key objectives for the railway has been to restore the previous ‘red route’ status which allows the heavier locomotives, such as Flying Scotsman, to make highprofile visits to the line, giving the railway much-needed publicity and additional revenues. This survey will enable the board to accurately assess the work needed to restore red status to the line.”
Speaking at Minehead station on Tuesday vice-chairman Mark Smith, who returned to the board last year and was managing director for 18 years until standing down in 2006, said raising funds to repair and replace infrastructure was a more challenging task than specific appeals for specific locomotives.
He said it was less “sexy” than campaigns to buy locomotives but without spending on infrastructure there would be no railway for the engines to run on. Rail renewal is, he said, the key priority for the next five years.
The railway turns over in excess of £3 million and its value to the West Somerset tourism economy is worth many times that much.
A recently launched fundraising campaign has just surpassed £50,000 towards its target of £250,000 for urgent repairs to be carried out this winter.
Readers who wish to support it can visit www.justgiving.com/campaign/railrenewal2019
No volunteers, no railway WSR PRESS SPOKESMAN
DICK WOOD