For those who do not know the area well, I thought I would add a little more background on Camerton. First, a link to the station area in Google Maps. Turn on the Map Labels layer to see the roads and their names. Red Hill crosses the site of the bridge at the west end of the track plan. Bridge Pl Rd runs from west to east across the map and over the bridge at the surviving east end. The four bungalows along Bridge Pl. Rd. are built on the trackbed in the station area, the station platform and building was in the area of their back gardens. At full magnification, it is possible to make out the top of a wall made of the pale coloured local limestone at the north end of the first bungalow's garden. This, I believe is the wall of one of the Old Pit buildings that is often seen in old photos of the station. The end of the building was located about half way down the ramp leading from the road to the station.
Immediately north of station, and within the curve of Red Hill as it turns to the north-east is the site of Old Pit. This area and the now tree-covered batch that stretches away to the east is now landscaped with a statue of a miner and visitor information boards:
The batch itself is now a small public space with much vegetation, but a quick look at the ground gives away its origins:
Returning to the Google Map, the line may be traced to the west towards Radford and to the north-east towards Dunkerton. Ater the eastern bridge, Bridge Pl. Rd. continues in a straight line for a short distance. Notice the line of cottages at right angles to the road. These were part of New Pit. The line from Camerton passed through the gap between the two groups of cottages before reaching the screens and loading area. New Pit batch forms a prominent tree-covered conical hill immediately north-east of the colliery site.
Other features of Camerton's mining past can be seen in the satellite images, including routes of tramways between Old and New Pits and to the land sale depot on the hill to the north. In the middle of a field on the northern side is a small isolated stone building, the former store for explosives used in the pits. The route of the Somersetshire Coal Canal along the north side of the two pits is, however, less easy to make out. Other useful views may also be found in Street View.
I have labelled this panoramic view from the south side of the valley to indicate the approximate positions of the various features:
The most obvious difference between the landscape of the early 20th century and today is the extent of modern tree cover. Most of the area of interest for the layout is today buried in woodland, but contemporary photographs show a much sparser tree cover. In particular, trees were only becoming established on the oldest eastern part of the Old Pit batch.
In a comment on the previous entry, TimV mentioned the shortage of photos of trains at Camerton. This is certainly true, but there enough of the station and sidings to get a good idea of their appearance. There are, however, some significant areas that do not appear to have been photographed. Fortunately, the eastern bridge survives, but I have not seen any photos of the western side of the western bridge, only of the siding and goods dock beyond taken from the bridge. Similarly, views of the Old Pit are rare. Most only show the pit buildings hidden behind the station building, so there is still some uncertainty about what survived and for how long.
No signalling diagram exists, but there is almost enough information from maps and photos to place the surprisingly large number of signals. Some questions remain, however, and I'll be starting a thread in the appropriate forum to try to get some input on these from our resident signalling experts. Perhaps I'll cover the outcome of this in my next entry. In the meantime, I have some foamboard but still need to get more plywood before starting on the baseboards.
Nick
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