Malmesbury branch

[KeithMacdonald]

A while ago I had the pleasure of visiting the Dyson HQ in Malmesbury. I won't bore folks with why I was there. Much more impressive is the Harrier parked outside the front doors!

 

Visible on Google Maps

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dyson+Office/@51.5956677,-2.1041304,72m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x48716defb4fcaca5:0x73231d6f024d6f0!8m2!3d51.5952283!4d-2.1056414

 

Quote

 

The Harrier in My Car Park: The Price of Losing Your Resolve

I am fascinated by ideas that seem impossible. A vacuum without a bag. A bridge without supports. A jet that jumps into the air. We've actually got one of those sitting in the car park of Dyson's HQ: The Harrier Jump Jet. It sits there as an inspiration to Dyson engineers, but also as a reminder of what happens when you lose your resolve. Harrier is one of Britain's greatest technological achievements and yet, through what can only be a lack of vision, we are out of the Harrier business — and have even divested ourselves of what remained of our fleet, at rock-bottom prices.

https://www.wired.com/2012/04/opinion-dyson-harrier-resolve/

 

 

But that's another story, difficult to justify on RMWeb, unless Harriers were launched from Ark Royal by a steam-powered catapult?

 

More relevant is the Malmesbury branch railway.

 

Quote

The Malmesbury branch was a six and a half mile long single track branch railway line in Wiltshire, England; it ran from Dauntsey railway station on the Great Western Main Line to Malmesbury. Promoted locally, it opened with considerable assistance from the Great Western Railway in 1877, and it was standard gauge. There was only one intermediate station, Somerford. In 1933 the connection to the main line network was altered to join at Little Somerford on the Badminton Line, and the original section to Dauntsey was closed. The line closed to passengers in 1951, and completely in 1962.  ... The one engine in steam system of operation was to be used and there was one intermediate station at Somerford (later Great Somerford), which did not have goods facilities at first. The junction with the GWR main line was at Dauntsey, between Swindon and Chippenham, where branch trains had a bay platform.

 

Ref Wikipedia

[rodent279]

My mum and dad and I used to holiday in a caravan on a farm just outside Malmesbury. We'd walk to the river and go fishing, right next to the trackbed just before it enters Malmesbury. The car park by the river in the town is where the station and engine shed were situated.

Edited January 15, 2022 by rodent279

[KeithMacdonald]

What did Malmesbury want it's own branch for?  Perhaps it was civic pride, like a few other towns in Wiltshire that the GWR had bypassed (Farringdon, Highworth, etc)

 

The 6.5 mile line (opened in 1887) branched off the GWR mainline at Dauntsey, with one intermediate station at Great Somerford before reaching Malmesbury itself.

 

 

Dauntsey

 

 

The original station was east of the road bridge, closer to the Brick Works, but it was extended to the west, to make a bay platform for the single loco used on the branch.

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by KeithMacdonald
RMWeb image disaster recovery

[KeithMacdonald]

Being such a small branch line, there wasn't much dedicated rolling stock. It did have its own Toad Brake Van, number 17501, a 57XX pannier tank, and a couple of coaches. Anything else?

[KeithMacdonald]

What of Great Somerford?

 

 

 

It had a small goods yard with a ground frame in the station building. Would the traffic have been typical for the area? i.e. agricultural feed in, and milk syphons out?

Edited November 5, 2022 by KeithMacdonald
RMWeb image disaster recovery

[KeithMacdonald]

Inevitable, we've reached the end of the line at Malmesbury. Besides the station building, the station had a loading bay and a cattle dock. There was also an Engine Shed with a Water Tower, and a Goods Shed.

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by KeithMacdonald
RMWeb image disaster recovery

[KeithMacdonald]

Does anyone know which 57XX pannier tank(s) were assigned to the branch? Did it ever have any other traffic?

[Andy Kirkham]

52 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

and a Goods Shed (which still exists). Goods Shed on Flickr

 

I think if you read the caption closely, it will become apparent that the goods shed is at a different Malmesbury!

 

Here's a shot of the Wiltshire one, recently posted by Peter Brabham.

 

 

I think it's interesting that the railway approaching the town from the south bypassed it by means of a tunnel and terminated on the far side of the town. MIght we infer that provision was being made to extend the line further north? I've read that the Midland had their eyes on this line with the idea of linking it up with their Nailworth branch and then extending further South.

Edited January 15, 2022 by Andy Kirkham

[Andy Kirkham]

2 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

A while ago I had the pleasure of visiting the Dyson HQ in Malmesbury. I won't bore folks with why I was there. Much more impressive is the Harrier parked outside the front doors!

 

 

A bit like the Lightning at the Self Storage warehouse at Lawrence Hill

https://www.oxford-architects.com/latest/view/vanguard-self-storage-opens

[KeithMacdonald]

2 hours ago, Andy Kirkham said:

MIght we infer that provision was being made to extend the line further north?

 

It certainly looks like it could have been, via level ground to Tetbury and then to Nailsworth, which was already a southern terminus of (what became) Midland Railway.

 

Quote

Nailsworth railway station served the town of Nailsworth in Gloucestershire, England and was the terminus of the 9.3 km-long Stonehouse and Nailsworth Railway, later part of the Midland Railway. The railway was built to meet local demand for a connection to the UK national railway network and was opened in 1867. The Nailsworth railway promoters were ambitious, and sited the station on an embankment above the town with the intention that the railway would be extended southwards towards Tetbury and Malmesbury.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nailsworth_railway_station

 

But that scheme may have displeased the GWR.

[KeithMacdonald]

Does anyone know what loco(s) and coaches were used?

 

Malmesbury doesn't seem to be listed on Disused Stations, but can the Cirencester branch give us an idea? That was a small branch (4.5 miles) from the mainline at Kemble.

 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/cirencester_town/index.shtml

 

That had a 57XX loco and a B-set of coaches, as pictured here:

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/cirencester_town/index1.shtml

 

Quote

On 1 May 1956 Collett 57xx class 0-6-0PT No. 7792 awaits departure for Kemble. The train is a two-car 'B Set'; these were formed of two non-corridor brake-end vehicles of which both were, usually, Composites. The sets were coupled with the brakes at the outer ends, as seen here, and were intended for suburban and branch line use where the two brakes gave ample provision for parcels, other small sundry items, bicycles, perambulators etc.

 

Would Malmesbury have the same?

[Andy Kirkham]

14 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

Does anyone know what loco(s) and coaches were used?

 

Malmesbury doesn't seem to be listed on Disused Stations, but can the Cirencester branch give us an idea? That was a small branch (4.5 miles) from the mainline at Kemble.

 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/cirencester_town/index.shtml

 

That had a 57XX loco and a B-set of coaches, as pictured here:

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/cirencester_town/index1.shtml

 

 

Would Malmesbury have the same?

 

All the pictures I have seen have shown 0-4-2Ts - in earlier days the 517 class, and later their Collett successors, usually of the 58XX class, which were identical to the familiar 48XX auto-tanks (later renumbered 14XX) except that they were not auto fitted.

 

So it looks as if the coaches would indeed have been a B-Set or something similar.

 

One interesting thing in both these photos is that the loop next to the platform road is used for stabling wagons, so presumably the loco had to run round passenger trains using the further loop that passed though the engine shed

 

 

 

And judging by this picture, milk was a significant traffic.

[KeithMacdonald]

1 hour ago, Andy Kirkham said:

So it looks as if the coaches would indeed have been a B-Set or something similar.

 

Andy, thanks for finding those pictures, very useful.

 

"B-Sets" looks like one of our classic RMWeb rabbit holes, on what is a B-Set and what isn't, and what regions of GWR/BR(W) had "proper" B-Sets. Just to confuse simple folk like me, who just want a couple of brake coaches to put behind a Panner loco on a branch line!

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

Thanks to Michael Clemens' Railways and the collection of WTTs

http://www.michaelclemensrailways.co.uk/?atk=619

 

From the BRISTOL AREA FROM SEP 1949 D.pdf, page 275

 

Quote

Single line worked by train staff, and only one engine in steam at a time (or two or more coupled)

 

07.21 Malmesbury - the earliest train of the day, a passenger service from Malmesbury to Little Somerford.

08.00 Little Somerford - returning to Malmesbury

08.30 Malmesbury - working empties back to Little Somerford.

10.05 Little Somerford - as a freight to Malmesbury

11.35 Malmesbury - back to Little Somerford as passenger service

11.58 Little Somerford to Malmesbury

Two hour lunches and a GWR siesta?

etc

 

[KeithMacdonald]

I almost forgot, there was the junction that connected the two Somerford stations. Little Somerford was on the Swindon - Newport main line. It became the main junction for the Malmesbury branch line after the section to Dauntsey was lifted, c.1933.