Details along the SDJR

[Guest Jack Benson]

The station at Shillingstone is well documented im most areas, photographers tend to caputure predictable shots that will please their audience but occasionally something odd pops up.

 

The bird bath in the garden, next to the green house and running in board (just out of shot), the bird bath still exists elsewhere.

 

 

 

 

Cheers

[phil_sutters]

On a visit to my parents in Highbridge in 1969, I realized that there were bits of the S&DJR still around on the Wharf, at the station and that Burnham station's site had not been developed. I took what were probably my first railway related photos. They are black and white and not very sharp. You can find them at 

 

[Guest Jack Benson]

Phil,

 

The gasworks are very interesting, a small prototype is so difficult to find and this one almost demands to be modelled.

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Jack

[phil_sutters]

1 hour ago, Jack Benson said:

Phil,

 

The gasworks are very interesting, a small prototype is so difficult to find and this one almost demands to be modelled.

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Jack

If you haven't already got it, I would strongly recommend Colin Maggs' Highbridge in its heyday if you want to get a picture of the early 20th century S&D's own loco, carriage and wagon works. There are two photos of the gas works. To the left of the building in Dad's photo stood the gas holder. Quite a small structure, with three columns guiding the central drum holder up and down. Each was topped with a spoked pulley wheel over which cables ran from the holder to cylindrical counter-weights. The structure was braced at the top by a triangular frame work of rods. At the other end was what I assume was a fuel store, with vertically slatted walls on at least two sides. The roof sloped down towards the main building and appears to be of corrugated iron. The whole gasworks site was surrounded with a very neat white picket fence. The photos were taken on completion of the buildings, but no date is given by Colin.

[down the sdjr]

I took a photo of this near to Shillingstone station. Is it what i think it is?

[Fat Controller]

1 minute ago, down the sdjr said:

I took a photo of this near to Shillingstone station. Is it what i think it is?

Base of a lattice signal?

[down the sdjr]

1 hour ago, Fat Controller said:

Base of a lattice signal?

Thats what i thought, it is quite a distance from the platforms, maybe the distant?

[RailWest]

If you can clarify where the photo was taken - north or south of the station, up or down side of the line etc - then I may be able to say which signal it was. I'd be interested to know, as I've not spotted any of the bases myself whenever I've been there :-(

 

[down the sdjr]

6 minutes ago, RailWest said:

If you can clarify where the photo was taken - north or south of the station, up or down side of the line etc - then I may be able to say which signal it was. I'd be interested to know, as I've not spotted any of the bases myself whenever I've been there :-(

 

It was South of the station around the allotments, so about 1/4 to 1/2 a mile, on the up side (left hand side looking north towards the station).

[RailWest]

20 minutes ago, down the sdjr said:

It was South of the station around the allotments, so about 1/4 to 1/2 a mile, on the up side (left hand side looking north towards the station).

I'm not familiar about the allotments, but would you say it was somewhere in area marked in red on this map, about 500 yards from the signal-box?

Edited August 4, 2019 by RailWest

[down the sdjr]

1 minute ago, RailWest said:

I'm not familiar about the allotments, but would you say it was somewhere in area marked in red on this map?

That looks about right. It was on an small embankment. It was way before you could see Holy Rood Church.

Thank You.

[down the sdjr]

This is the picture i took afterwards, so about the same position facing west.

Edit. I have just had look on google maps and i would say its even further South than the red box.

Edited August 4, 2019 by down the sdjr
position.

[RailWest]

Hmm....can you point to the location more specifically on a map  please? I've tried Google Earth, but I still can't find the allotments :-(

The Up Distant was eventually 1748 yards from the signal-box, so well over a mile away, but the OS maps never seem to have been updated to show its final position. I've never seen any photos of it, so don't know what type of post it had, so I'm keen to see if your photo is relevant or not !

 

[down the sdjr]

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Shillingstone+Station/@50.8946891,-2.237396,259m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x4873b35431b610c3:0xbb3541ec39886d3f!8m2!3d50.9042184!4d-2.2505979

[down the sdjr]

Hope that works, as i said, a fair distance from the station.

[RailWest]

Thanks!

 

In which case, ignore my previous map, as you're obviously much further south. Given the location, then IMHO I think we can be reasonably certain that was the base of the former Up Distant, which - as I said before - appears to have escaped the photographic record. It was moved to that location in 1941 and I think it would be reasonable to assume that thereafter (if not already) it was upper quadrant. Interesting that the SR appear to have provided, or reused, a lattice post, given that when the Down Distant was relocated in 1931 it got a SR-type rail-built post - but such inconsistencies were quite common.

 

North or south of the Holloway lane underbridge please?

[down the sdjr]

Cant be 100% sure as walked and photographed 10 miles that day.

North of Hollaway i think.

 

[bécasse]

2 hours ago, RailWest said:

Thanks!

 

In which case, ignore my previous map, as you're obviously much further south. Given the location, then IMHO I think we can be reasonably certain that was the base of the former Up Distant, which - as I said before - appears to have escaped the photographic record. It was moved to that location in 1941 and I think it would be reasonable to assume that thereafter (if not already) it was upper quadrant. Interesting that the SR appear to have provided, or reused, a lattice post, given that when the Down Distant was relocated in 1931 it got a SR-type rail-built post - but such inconsistencies were quite common.

Reusing the old post, literally moving the signal in fact, was much more likely in wartime when materials were short, and that possibly applies to the LQ arm too. The down distant would have had a LQ arm on that rail-built post in 1931.

[RailWest]

14 hours ago, bécasse said:

The down distant would have had a LQ arm on that rail-built post in 1931.

It did indeed - there is a photo of it in BR days.

[down the sdjr]

That was interesting, very knowledgeable posters on here thank you RailWest.

If i may continue, can anyone tell me what this is?

It is located about a mile North of Shillingstone seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Fat Controller]

15 minutes ago, down the sdjr said:

That was interesting, very knowledgeable posters on here thank you RailWest.

If i may continue, can anyone tell me what this is?

It is located about a mile North of Shillingstone seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

 

Pretty certain it's a ballast bin; something that used to be found everywhere. Generally, they seemed to hold chippings, a lot smaller than ballast; I believe it was used to deal with things liked dropped joints. Not sure, but they may be connected with something called 'Measured Shovel Packing'. These days the 'Stoneblower' does this sort of thing.

[RailWest]

I would agree that it was probably a ballast bin, tho' I can't find any example in "Southern Nouveau". 

 

Given the adjacent set of steps, it must have been 'somewhere'......:-)

[down the sdjr]

17 minutes ago, RailWest said:

I would agree that it was probably a ballast bin, tho' I can't find any example in "Southern Nouveau". 

 

Given the adjacent set of steps, it must have been 'somewhere'......:-)

The steps just lead to a field that is sometimes used as a tent camp site.

[down the sdjr]

The section of the line around Fiddleford i found interesting, about a mile ish South of Sturminster Newton. Evidence of a stone wall next to the track and drainage. I didnt think there was anything around that part, maybe added later.

[bécasse]

1 hour ago, RailWest said:

I would agree that it was probably a ballast bin, tho' I can't find any example in "Southern Nouveau". 

 

Given the adjacent set of steps, it must have been 'somewhere'......:-)

Definitely an "Exmouth Junction" ballast bin although it is possible that they were only produced post-WWII (effectively post-nationalisation - although the design work for the later period products seems to have started prior to nationalisation). Not only can't I find an example in Southern Nouveau but I can't find a dimensioned sketch in my contemporary notebooks - I must have measured up such a commonplace item, mustn't I?