Dinton MoD exchange sidings- plans/dimensions sought

[pauln]

Few more shots of the exchange sidings at Chilmark ... sorry this is a bit off the original topic of Dinton but I thought you might find them interesting.

 

 

 

 

[daveyb]

These are what we used to call RRTs - Road/Rail Transfers or Rail/Rail Transfers, but now call the RLAs Rail Loading Areas. There is a lot of info on this area on the web, a quick Google of the site names will bring up histories and photographs. From my last hour looking I can see that there have been 5 definite and separate sub-depots, over a period stretching from 1919 to 1995 and not all have been in use at the same time. Most were NG served and std gauge linked.

 

Ammo storage was a very different matter during WW2 in particular but certainly pre 1950's. Stacks of bombs or shells in on hard standing along a road in tree cover was not unheard of at one extreme, the other being the underground builds at Deans Hill, Chilmark, Beith, Fauld, Crombie, etc etc. Most stores were trolleyed on wagons or carts and hoisted or craned off before being rolled into position and chocked. Pallets and modern forklifts have changed all that and depots with a greater capacity than all these put together are now manned by less than 1% of the workforce formerly employed. They're the ones who load the RLCU containers and VGAs with orange diamond seen at Didcot yard.

 

Its also interesting that so many of these former quarry sites have gone back to quarry use, as there is renewed demand for specialist stone products. At Honiton in Devon I think use the RAF NG rly to move the stone blocks across the road - the used to about 5 years ago.

[graham.s.]

Just a quick hello, ive been working between Dinton and Tisbury lately on some user worked crossings and have been trying to find information out about the MOD sites here so thanks for the photos. I've taken some of my own from the infrastructure side as i'm a railway worker so hopefully these photos will be useful to some of you guys.

 

Otherside of the sign at Sweatmans Crossing

 

Entrance to Chilmark

 

Remains of the signal box for Chilmark

[happyChappy]

Hi folks,

 

Hope it's ok to resurrect this thread.

 

I've been trying to research the MOD railway installation at Dinton Business Park which is mentioned a number of times in the above thread.  The site was certainly rail connected and according to a local chap who remembers the railway it was a narrow gauge network connecting to the explosive storage site further up Catherine Ford Lane. The aerial views in the above discussions show the rough line of the backbone of the network but does anyone have any more detail of how it connected to the RAF Chilmark network or if it connected directly to the BR, 'withered arm', line at Dinton?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

HC

Edited May 5, 2016 by happyChappy

[PaulRhB]

This is a good DVD to see the basics in the last few years.

http://www.telerail.co.uk/chilmark.htm

 

You can still see the remains of the MOD line alongside the single line at Dinton and to the west where it curves off on the Up side just south of Ley Farm.

Both sites had exchange sidings to transfer to the NG lines.

[happyChappy]

This is a good DVD to see the basics in the last few years.

http://www.telerail.co.uk/chilmark.htm

 

You can still see the remains of the MOD line alongside the single line at Dinton and to the west where it curves off on the Up side just south of Ley Farm.

Both sites had exchange sidings to transfer to the NG lines.

Paul, that is absolutely fantastic. To actually see what was once there at Dinton is a real bonus. I couldn't get the 'feel' of how it used to be so the video is a revelation. Thank you so much. 

 

Now it's set me contemplating if the Busch narrow gauge military rolling stock could be used to model the line!!

 

Thanks again.

HppyChappy

Edited May 6, 2016 by happyChappy

[alaneggleston]

Hi folks,

 

Hope it's ok to resurrect this thread.

 

I've been trying to research the MOD railway installation at Dinton Business Park which is mentioned a number of times in the above thread.  The site was certainly rail connected and according to a local chap who remembers the railway it was a narrow gauge network connecting to the explosive storage site further up Catherine Ford Lane. The aerial views in the above discussions show the rough line of the backbone of the network but does anyone have any more detail of how it connected to the RAF Chilmark network or if it connected directly to the BR, 'withered arm', line at Dinton?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

HC

 

You should also look at Irwell Press: Mainline to the West: Part 2 Salisbury to Yeovil Junction (£24.95 if you can run to that).  Sixteen pages on Dinton and Chilmark including map of extensive station and siding layout in 1956 and station layouts for 1915 & 1944, the latter showing the air ministry sidings.

[PaulRhB]

Paul, that is absolutely fantastic. To actually see what was once there at Dinton is a real bonus. I couldn't get the 'feel' of how it used to be so the video is a revelation. Thank you so much. 

 

Now it's set me contemplating if the Busch narrow gauge military rolling stock could be used to model the line!!

 

Thanks again.

HppyChappy

A better option for this system would be the NP RNAD Baguley-Drewry kits and the 009 Society do some RNAD wagons too.

https://narrowplanet.myshopify.com/collections/loco-kits

Peco are due to release 9 inch radius set track points to match the existing track this year and Minitrains are about to release some even smaller radius track in the next couple of months.

 

Details herehttp://schmalspurfan.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Minitrains-New-Releases-2016-HOe.pdf

 

Edited May 6, 2016 by PaulRhB

[astropsidings]

From what I can remember the Dinton site south of the mainline was basically used for stores by the 1970s although it was quite likely used for explosives at some time in the past and I think the same goes for DintonEast/Baverstock. As the internal road layout, and present name of the establishment on the site, suggest Chilmark was an explosives storage area amongst other things - you can even see some of its narrow gauge vehicles 'up close and personal' by planting the little man in the middle of the road on Google Maps as they are alongside a public road!

 

Slightly off topic. I missed this thread originally, but the "narrow gauge vehicles up close and personal" mentioned above are on the stone quarry railway not the military railway, and the Google Street View pictures are currently dated January 2009. I believe the quarry ceased operations around then. The Air Ministry opened RAF Chilmark in 1937 using the underground workings in the area for storage. It closed in March 1995, with clearance going on until "at least 1997", according to an article in RAF Historical Society Journal 35 about the closure of No 11 MU, RAF Chilmark (and it also suggests some of the area is seriously contaminated). Its available online.

 

This valley was full of railways, standard and narrow, quite a lot visible from the public road, but photographs seem to be few.There is some stuff on some of the urban exploration websites, particularly the underground workings. I was aware of the stone quarry railway but didn't visit until 2014, after closure. Its all still there, and by coincidence I put some pictures on Flickr today: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ifalbums/albums/72157667781661552  But there is little online about it. The INGR site doesn't mention it, but one of the last remaining UK industrial narrow gauge lines was still working there until only around 7 years ago. The only remaining track on the military railway above ground as far as I know is a section of 2ft gauge double track across the bridleway from Teffont Evias (grid ref ST 97783 30766).

 

The Dinton/Chilmark area is interesting from a railway point of view - perhaps someone will write a book. There is/was a former Virgin Mk3 restaurant car near the Officer's Mess when that part was the UK Centre for Homeland Security (I think they've moved elsewhere?).

 

Paul, did you ever photograph the stone quarry railway?

 

A Streetview screen shot attached.

 

Ian

 

Edited May 6, 2016 by astropsidings

[bigherb]

 

The Dinton/Chilmark area is interesting from a railway point of view - perhaps someone will write a book. There is/was a former Virgin Mk3 restaurant car near the Officer's Mess when that part was the UK Centre for Homeland Security (I think they've moved elsewhere?).

 

Ian

That was this one.

 

Still some bit of MOD track about on the site.

 

 

The working quarry entrances have been sealed although there has been some talk of reopening the quarry.

[pauln]

Thanks for the pics bigherb. Any more ?

 

Looks like the railway track didn't go into the quarry here or has it just disappeared.

[bigherb]

Thanks for the pics bigherb. Any more ?

 

Looks like the railway track didn't go into the quarry here or has it just disappeared.

Yes I have and of the bunkers at Dinting but I can't find them, there seem to be a lot missing out of the folder as there should be a picture of the southerly entrance with the track running into the quarry.

[astropsidings]

bigherb - I'd also be interested to see some more pictures if you have them, of Chilmark and Dinton.

 

I believe the quarry was a victim of the recession, but saw a reference to possible reopening (by the operators of Chicksgrove Quarry?). Presumably sealing of the quarry entrances still allows the bats to get in and out!

 

Ian

[bigherb]

bigherb - I'd also be interested to see some more pictures if you have them, of Chilmark and Dinton.

 

Getting worried now, I went to the Bomb stores up the road at Grovely wood as well, can't find them either.

[happyChappy]

Hi Rich

I have been able to amass some info on Dinton/Chilmark as I have been looking at the location too as an inspiration. The line to the sidings on the top right are to the Baverstock Depot whilst the sidings at the bottom are part of the exchange sidings for Dinton. The former up line (the upper of your two) runs as an extended siding to the left for about a mile to the exchange sidings at Hams Cross for Chilmark. The location originally had its own connection to the double track mainline. The Irwell book Main Line to the West Part 2 is well recommended.

 

Plans of the military land have been obtained from the National Archives at Kew- these show the track layouts of the standard and narrow gauge systems at both Chilmark and Dinton. I'll let you have copies of my photos of the plans if you require them.

 

Hi Rich

I have been able to amass some info on Dinton/Chilmark as I have been looking at the location too as an inspiration. The line to the sidings on the top right are to the Baverstock Depot whilst the sidings at the bottom are part of the exchange sidings for Dinton. The former up line (the upper of your two) runs as an extended siding to the left for about a mile to the exchange sidings at Hams Cross for Chilmark. The location originally had its own connection to the double track mainline. The Irwell book Main Line to the West Part 2 is well recommended.

 

Plans of the military land have been obtained from the National Archives at Kew- these show the track layouts of the standard and narrow gauge systems at both Chilmark and Dinton. I'll let you have copies of my photos of the plans if you require.

 

Any other assistance then please do not hesitate to ask.

 

Hello Natalie,

 

If you can cast your mind back to 2012 I'd very much appreciate it.

 

You mention in your post on the Dinton MoD site topic that you have obtained plans of the military land from the National Archives at Kew which show the narrow gauge systems. I'm researching the old Dinton site (now called the Dinton Business Park) and applied to the National Archives at Kew for any plans etc. The reply has been negative in that they say no plans exist so I'm intrigued by your reference in 2012 to the plans being obtained. Any chance of seeing what info you have available?

 

Thanks in anticipation.

 

HappyChappy

[bigherb]

 

Hi Rich

I have been able to amass some info on Dinton/Chilmark as I have been looking at the location too as an inspiration. The line to the sidings on the top right are to the Baverstock Depot whilst the sidings at the bottom are part of the exchange sidings for Dinton. The former up line (the upper of your two) runs as an extended siding to the left for about a mile to the exchange sidings at Hams Cross for Chilmark. The location originally had its own connection to the double track mainline. The Irwell book Main Line to the West Part 2 is well recommended.

 

Plans of the military land have been obtained from the National Archives at Kew- these show the track layouts of the standard and narrow gauge systems at both Chilmark and Dinton. I'll let you have copies of my photos of the plans if you require them.

 

Hi Rich

I have been able to amass some info on Dinton/Chilmark as I have been looking at the location too as an inspiration. The line to the sidings on the top right are to the Baverstock Depot whilst the sidings at the bottom are part of the exchange sidings for Dinton. The former up line (the upper of your two) runs as an extended siding to the left for about a mile to the exchange sidings at Hams Cross for Chilmark. The location originally had its own connection to the double track mainline. The Irwell book Main Line to the West Part 2 is well recommended.

 

Plans of the military land have been obtained from the National Archives at Kew- these show the track layouts of the standard and narrow gauge systems at both Chilmark and Dinton. I'll let you have copies of my photos of the plans if you require.

 

Any other assistance then please do not hesitate to ask.

 

Hello Natalie,

 

If you can cast your mind back to 2012 I'd very much appreciate it.

 

You mention in your post on the Dinton MoD site topic that you have obtained plans of the military land from the National Archives at Kew which show the narrow gauge systems. I'm researching the old Dinton site (now called the Dinton Business Park) and applied to the National Archives at Kew for any plans etc. The reply has been negative in that they say no plans exist so I'm intrigued by your reference in 2012 to the plans being obtained. Any chance of seeing what info you have available?

 

Thanks in anticipation.

 

HappyChappy

 

Have you read Disasters Underground, by Nick McCamley? RAF Chilmark and RAF Denton are included with maps showing the layout.

Edited January 26, 2018 by bigherb

[happyChappy]

Have you read Disasters Underground, by Nick McCamley? RAF Chilmark and RAF Denton are included with maps showing the layout.

Hi bigherb,

 

That's a totally new reference that I've not heard of before so thanks for that. When you say in your post RAF Denton do you mean Dinton? Anyway a new avenue to explore methinks!

 

Regards,

HC

[bigherb]

Hi bigherb,

 

That's a totally new reference that I've not heard of before so thanks for that. When you say in your post RAF Denton do you mean Dinton? Anyway a new avenue to explore methinks!

 

Regards,

HC

 

Yes sorry that should be Dinton been watching too much A Touch of Frost.

[KeithMacdonald]

RailMapOnline shows Dinton Storage Depot, plus the Fovant Military Railway

http://www.fovanthistory.org/railway.html