Wickham Trolleys on the S&D

[Combe Martin]

I'm in the middle of selling my house in the middle of the lockdown but without buying somewhere new immediately, so lots of my belongings are going into storage and that includes model railway dismantled and packed away.  In doing this I've realised I've hundreds of old model railway magazines that don't now contain articles of interest including Railway Modeller dating back to 1962.

 

So having lots of spare time on my hands (keeping safe) I'm gradually scanning through them all (in no particular order) to sort out which ones to keep and which to discard to save lots of space.

 

So I've come to Railway Modeller of August 1965 and on page 208 there's an article titled 'The Beetle' by George Mills about how he built a motorised Wickham Trolley all those years ago.

 

Having explained why I'm wading through so many old periodicals I come to my point.  

 

Early in the article he says that the Midford signalman (the S&D was still open then, and he was also referring to seeing one from the northbound Pines behind a 9F, a Wickham not a signalman) told him that there were 3 of 'these little chaps' allocated to the S&D.   

 

So I was wondering if anyone could add to this.  I have in the past seen a few pictures of S&D ones in my picture books, but I've never before seen info on how many the S&D had.  He said that they were red ones, but what I'd like to know is what their numbers were. 

 

Edited January 30, 2021 by Combe Martin

[BMacdermott]

Hello Peter

 

I have emailed Mike Arlett and Peter Smith and will reply if they have any info.

 

Brian

[Combe Martin]

Many thanks for that Brian.

 

Peter.

[Iain.d]

Hi,

 

In Jeffery Grayer's Sabotaged & Defeated - Last Rites of the Somerset and Dorset, on page 62 there is an image from July 1967 of a decaying Evercreech Junction station. In the centre siding between the up and down lines (where the pilot engines used to assemble) is a Wickham PW gangers' trolley. The caption states it is B29W from Radstock. Hope that helps.

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

[bubbles2]

Does this help?  Shepton Mallet.

 

Edited January 30, 2021 by bubbles2

[bubbles2]

and another...

 

Edited January 30, 2021 by bubbles2

[Combe Martin]

18 hours ago, Iain.d said:

Hi,

 

In Jeffery Grayer's Sabotaged & Defeated - Last Rites of the Somerset and Dorset, on page 62 there is an image from July 1967 of a decaying Evercreech Junction station. In the centre siding between the up and down lines (where the pilot engines used to assemble) is a Wickham PW gangers' trolley. The caption states it is B29W from Radstock. Hope that helps.

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

 

Many thanks for this.  I do have this book, but somehow I completely missed the number in the caption

[Combe Martin]

17 hours ago, bubbles2 said:

Does this help?  Shepton Mallet.

 

 

Many thanks for this one and your next picture.  I've not seen either of these 2 shots before.

 

I wonder what the 3rd Wickhams number was ? 

 

As you and Iain.d have shown me B31W and B29W I don't suppose it could be B30W  ... could it ?  Surely I can't expect it to be that logical ?

 

Peter.

[Kempenfelt]

Peter,

 

Thanks for bringing this subject back up. I did quite a bit of research into S&D Wickham trolley's a while back now. I found a lovely colour image of one on EBay a while back just outside of Midford Goods.

 

B30W was indeed an S&D Wickham and even better news is that its preserved, in safe hands and in great condition! More information can be found at the following link.

 

http://www.theonetoonecollection.co.uk/the-one-one-collection-museum/on-site/b30w-wickham

 

There was an article that I remember seeing a copy of (may well have been the 1965 article that you've mentioned in your opening post) which had a few images of the Wickham trolley at Evercreech Junction. Does this sound about right or have you found another one? If the latter, I don't suppose there's any chance that you could PM me a photo/scan of the article?

 

Many Thanks

 

Paul

[PenrithBeacon]

Did any of them get to be re-painted in yellow? All the photos show them in maroon

[Combe Martin]

1 hour ago, Kempenfelt said:

Peter,

 

Thanks for bringing this subject back up. I did quite a bit of research into S&D Wickham trolley's a while back now. I found a lovely colour image of one on EBay a while back just outside of Midford Goods.

 

B30W was indeed an S&D Wickham and even better news is that its preserved, in safe hands and in great condition! More information can be found at the following link.

 

http://www.theonetoonecollection.co.uk/the-one-one-collection-museum/on-site/b30w-wickham

 

There was an article that I remember seeing a copy of (may well have been the 1965 article that you've mentioned in your opening post) which had a few images of the Wickham trolley at Evercreech Junction. Does this sound about right or have you found another one? If the latter, I don't suppose there's any chance that you could PM me a photo/scan of the article?

 

Many Thanks

 

Paul

 

Hello Paul, the only article I've found so far is the August 1965 one, and there's only one Wickham photo in that and it's not very good and the number is blurred unfortunately.  Also, so far I've only seen picture evidence of B29W and B31W on the S&D.  In the past I have seen just a couple of  S&D pictures with 'sort of distant' Wickhams in them.  If I find any more articles or pictures I'll certainly mention them on here.  

 

Peter,

Edited February 1, 2021 by Combe Martin

[Malc2085]

There was a Wickham Trolley shelter at Midsomer Norton on the south side of the line, almost adjacent to the abutments of Silver Street bridge and the junction with Norton Hill Colliery on the Radstock side.  There is a picture in the HMRS publication "all about Midsomer Norton, Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway by John F.A.B. Childs.  It shows a photograph taken in 1962 of Wickham Trolley B11W in the trolley shed. 

[KeithMacdonald]

Here's a link to the Wickham Trolley at Didcot Railway Centre.

 

Quote

 

A Wickham Type 27A Gang Trolley - PWM 4303 B42W, Wickham Works No. 7506 of 1956.

In 2015/16 The Wickham trolley was comprehensively restored with new flooring, panelling and refurbishment/replacement of working parts and repainted in 'non-authentic' GWR chocolate and cream.

 

 

https://didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/article.php/92/wickham-trolley

[Quintus]

I took this photo at Stalbridge around 1960. The trolley was painted green. A little different to the usual Wickham.

Edited April 27, 2022 by Quintus

[Combe Martin]

On 02/02/2021 at 20:28, Malc2085 said:

There was a Wickham Trolley shelter at Midsomer Norton on the south side of the line, almost adjacent to the abutments of Silver Street bridge and the junction with Norton Hill Colliery on the Radstock side.  There is a picture in the HMRS publication "all about Midsomer Norton, Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway by John F.A.B. Childs.  It shows a photograph taken in 1962 of Wickham Trolley B11W in the trolley shed. 

 

I've just managed to buy via Amazon, a 2nd hand pristine copy of  'Life on the Somerset & Dorset Railway', one of the few Alan Hammond books that has so far eluded me.  On page 51 is a Shepton Mallet picture showing B11W in the loading bank siding there.  Its undated, but I would guess it's before the 1966 closure as the station looks neat and tidy, there's flowers, signal box looks open, and there's a Ford Zephyr parked.  

[RailWest]

5 hours ago, Combe Martin said:

 

I've just managed to buy via Amazon, a 2nd hand pristine copy of  'Life on the Somerset & Dorset Railway', one of the few Alan Hammond books that has so far eluded me.  On page 51 is a Shepton Mallet picture showing B11W in the loading bank siding there.  Its undated, but I would guess it's before the 1966 closure as the station looks neat and tidy, there's flowers, signal box looks open, and there's a Ford Zephyr parked.  

Well, the dock road was take OOU on 2-July-1964 and lifted sometime thereafter but certainly before closure.