Today we visited the Didcot Great Western Society "museum". Hardly anyone was there even though it was a sunny day. Perhaps the £6.20 parking fee charged by APCOA puts people off? The Society has no parking spaces of their own, even the volunteers have to pay to park anywhere near the station, which houses the entrance to the museum.

The principal reason was to photograph details of the Ransomes and Rapier 70 foot turntable to help in deciding exactly where certain fixtures should be placed on the model. In no particular order here are the best of the photos I took:

A general view of the turntable with the winding mechanism on its steel platform (only ay one end)

Close up of the winding mechanism

One of the "pushing bars" in its vertical position

The circular rail on which the bridge rotates. Note that this is not a classic rail profile but flat topped

Another view of the winding mechanism

The bridge deck with wooden planking either side and steel sheets between the tracks

The well wall with red bricks capped by blue engineering bricks

These photos should be enough to be able to complete the model when I return to France. There are significant detail differences between this prototype and the model but they are more in the shape of the bridge girders and the lack of a dish to the turntable well.

Edited to correct company name, see comments below.