S&DJR after 7th March 1966

[RailWest]

The line from Bath Junction to 0m 72c just south of the Twerton Co-op Siding continued in use for goods traffic for some while. Some questions about this period:-

1. RA Cooke says that the remaining line was closed on 30-Nov-67, but another source quotes 3-Nov-68. Which is correct?
2. It is presumed that at some stage the GF at the siding was taken out of use and the points there converted to hand-points. Is that correct, and if so when did it happen?
4. It is presumed that the tablet working from Bath Jcn to Midford was taken out of use with effect from 7-March-1966. Did they continue to use the bank engine staff for some time afterwards as a form of OES staff (it would have been needed anyway to unlock the GF), or was the lock removed and the line converted to be worked simply as a siding with no staff?

Does anyone have any formal notices relating to this section during that period please?

[bécasse]

The two dates could be compatible with the line being used on a OES basis with the GF key-locked until 30.11.67 (OES basis in effect equating to a "line") and just as a siding thereafter until 03.11.68 with the points hand-worked (equating to just another siding albeit a long one - was the line to GP worked as an OES siding by this date?).

 

I believe the Branch Line Society have gone to considerable lengths to create an accurate database of actual closure dates, do you know what they say?

 

Also, I wouldn't necessarily believe what any notices say as I know from personal experience that Bristol Division HQ were often out of touch with what was actually happening on the ground. (I actually had a freight train ticket refunded because "the line (not this one) had actually closed by the date arranged" even though I had had a very pleasant day out riding on the last train!)

[Captain Kernow]

I always thought that the 1967 date applied to the cessation of traffic to the Coop Siding.

[phil_sutters]

In 1971, in another place far, far away, the S&D track bed, if not its original track, was being used (or abused) by fly-ash trains supplying the construction of the M5 across the Somerset Levels. Salt definitely being rubbed into wounds there.