![]() Since my last visit the shop has expanded it's range of local interest books and now includes a quantity of pre-owned volumes too, all reasonably priced and well displayed. Also in the shed is a Sentinel shunter (PBA 42) dating from 1965 that itself spent several years at Westbury Cement works and still carries remnants of the Blue Circle livery. It was found during demolition work at the plant in 2016 and very kindly donated to the ESR by Tarmac Ltd. Highlight of the visit for me was the discovery inside the recently built 'Sentinel shed' of a previously unknown large enamel 3 piece sign that apparently stood next to the main west of England line close by Westbury Cement Works during the 1960s. The former Bitumen sidings held first generation DMU cars 5191 plus a Sentinel shunter. Also numbered 27123 2729 at different times this loco arrived from Kidderminster (Severn Valley Railway) for restoration in February 2016. Outside the diesel and carriage maintenance shed was former Scottish 'McCrompton' D5410. Resident GWR tank engine 5637 which was built at Swindon in 1925 was also present. In the shed at Cranmore was BR 41313, imminently due to leave for the I of W following a fast-track restoration that started here in early 2015 and ended with the loco's return to service after a 52 year gap on June 24th 2017. The loco was built at Crewe in 1950 and withdrawn in 1966, then sold to Woodhams, Barry Dock, South Wales from where it was sold in 1972. Today's motive power was Ivatt class 2 2-6-0 number 46447, another IoW SR-owned loco but on loan to the ESR for a period of 10 years following restoration here from scrap condition. The 1952 Crewe-built loco was just departing for its home railway, the Mid-Hants following it's appearance alongside newly restored sister 41313 (also Crewe-built in 1952), itself due to depart soon for the Isle of Wight steam railway. This load consisted of BR Ivatt 'Mickey Mouse' Tank Engine No 41312. When I got to the junction of the road leading down to the village and station, which lies just off the A361 east of Shepton Mallet, an abnormal load was seen to be making its way up the narrow lane. Today (30th September 2017) I paid a visit to our local preserved line, the East Somerset Railway at Cranmore. ![]() Suggested caption (please feel free to edit / abridge / revise!) The dust-jackets of both books include a front-page photo of Cheddar Station in use, with its train shed roof, that in the Philips book being in colour.īussell photo scan number – all prefixed ‘Cheddar Stn’ Informative descriptions of the station with numerous photographs taken in happier days are in ‘Steaming through the Cheddar Valley’ by Derek Phillips (Oxford Publishing, 2001, in particular pages 134-155), and in ‘The East Somerset and Cheddar Valley Railways’ by Richard Harman (Lightmoor Press, 2009, pages 113-122). A broken cast iron rainwater downpipe that had helped to drain this roof symbolised the end of a useful working life. The splendid train shed roof that covered part of both passenger platforms had been taken down, also in 1964, as it was apparently considered to have become a dangerous structure. Track-lifting on the northern Cheddar-Yatton section was just starting, following its closure to goods traffic on 1 October the previous year. It was a damp grey day, appropriately so – the station presented a melancholy sight, and so I did not linger. I visited Cheddar Station briefly on 13 March 1965, 18 months after the Cheddar Valley line had been closed to passengers.
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