Mystery GWR halt, now solved, Wootton Rivers

[Not Jeremy]

I wonder if anyone can help me please?

 

This is part of a larger image that I wish to put into the new Wild Swan book on siphons, but I can't workout where it is.

 

 

I don't think it is anywhere in Wiltshire, the loco in the complete picture is Himley Hall which was last allocated to 84G Shrewsbury and  I would say the photo was taken earliest from the late fifties onwards.

 

Any assistance much appreciated!

 

Simon

Edited April 8, 2022 by Not Jeremy
Change title of thread

[KeithMacdonald]

How about showing us the complete picture?

[Compound2632]

"Mystery GWR halt"? There's only one thing that brings instantly to mind:

 

Yes. I remember Adlestrop—

The name, because one afternoon

Of heat the express-train drew up there

Unwontedly. It was late June.

[Tim V]

4933 was allocated to Pontypool Rd, Westbury, Oxford, Didcot, Worcester, Leamington Spa, and back to Westbury between 1950- 1960. Take your pick!

[KeithMacdonald]

OK, what clues have we got so far?

 

(1) double tracked, so (presumably) something like a mainline, not a branch?

(2) curving tracks under a road bridge

(3) the building on the station isn't a pagoda

 

Anything else?

[Steamport Southport]

Looks like the bridge at Doniford Halt.

 

 

Then again what would a Hall be doing going to Minehead!?

 

 

Jason

Edited April 7, 2022 by Steamport Southport

[Not Jeremy]

29 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

OK, what clues have we got so far?

 

(1) double tracked, so (presumably) something like a mainline, not a branch?

(2) curving tracks under a road bridge

(3) the building on the station isn't a pagoda

 

Anything else?

 

The wrong sided signal, there is  also a nice thatched cottage or farmhouse about 1/4 mile in the landscape to the right of the bridge.

 

I take your point about the whole photograph, but as it may be previously unpublished and may be going in to a new book, I am reluctant to release it into the Internet World just at the moment!

 

I am not messing around, I genuinely don't know where this is, but I think there are enough features in the image above to enable it to be identified.

 

The arch of the bridge does not match anything on the WSW line to Weymouth or the main line either...

 

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

Simon

[Miss Prism]

There is obviously a signal box not too far away. A signal box doesn't smell like a 'Halt'.

[dibber25]

It's a puzzle because, although the signal is clearly regular GWR product, the halt does not look 'right'. The platform and fencing are not typically GWR, nor is the RiB, and the halt shelter is neither of the two regular patterns - note the curve of the roof , the back being higher than the front. I'm thinking one of the Welsh lines but no clue which one. (CJL)

[KeithMacdonald]

Finstock ?
 

Quote

 

It is the least-used railway station in the county but tomorrow Finstock halt will celebrate 75 years of service to the west Oxfordshire village. The single-platform stop on the Cotswold Line is served by just 10 trains a week, one each morning into Oxford and one returning in late afternoon, from Monday to Friday. It was opened on April 9, 1934, by the Great Western Railway. In 2007-8, according to the Office of Rail Regulation, just 1,095 people got on or off trains at Finstock.

 

 

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/4277859.party-will-mark-railway-halts-birthday/

 

[KeithMacdonald]

[KeithMacdonald]

Quote

The station was opened by the Great Western Railway (GWR) on 9 April 1934, originally being named "Finstock Halt" and having two platforms. Each platform was approached by an inclined path from Charlbury Road, and each had a corrugated iron shelter with windows only in the end walls.

 

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

[ikcdab]

1 hour ago, Steamport Southport said:

Looks like the bridge at Doniford Halt.

 

 

Then again what would a Hall be doing going to Minehead!?

 

 

Jason

100% no. Wrong side of the tracks and Doniford was built new in the 1980s....

[dibber25]

I, too, wondered about Finstock halt and had just been to check my own photos but I'm not convinced that it is. Finstock is in a cutting and  was reached by a footpath entrance at the far side of the hut. There is no such entrance in the picture. Also, Finstock was not fenced at the rear of the platform. There was no need as the cutting formed a barrier. Finally, although the bridge is similar, I'm not convinced that the curved arch is the same - Finstock appears to be a greater curve. Of course we have no proof that this is a halt - there could be a full-fledged station building on the other platform, which is hidden, although I think that is unlikely. (CJL)

[Not Jeremy]

At the risk of proving to everyone I'm a complete berk, Chris's comments about it not being entirely Great Western, coupled with the fact that the picture came to me from the late David Hyde, who was a great enthusiast for the M&SWJR, coupled with the pencilled name on the back "Kingston" (which I took to be the photographer's name), being the only legible mark on the back of the photo led me to think it might be Collingbourne Kingston.

 

I got quite excited momentarily.

 

But, the bridge there is not arched and is constructed from brick, the pole route looks wrong, possibly on the wrong side of the line and too significant for the MSWJR. And the signal....

 

I think maybe David couldn't work it out either(?)

 

So I am still none the wiser, well, we knew that didn't we....

[rodent279]

4 hours ago, Not Jeremy said:

I wonder if anyone can help me please?

 

This is part of a larger image that I wish to put into the new Wild Swan book on siphons, but I can't workout where it is.

 

 

I don't think it is anywhere in Wiltshire, the loco in the complete picture is Himley Hall which was last allocated to 84G Shrewsbury and  I would say the photo was taken earliest from the late fifties onwards.

 

Any assistance much appreciated!

 

Simon

The Sun looks like it is high in the sky, and roughly to the rear left of the camera . So the line is running roughly SE-NW. Could it be west of Exeter, or w. Wales? But the platform has a Southern look about it - it almost looks pre-fab concrete.

I suppose that just because we can see two tracks, that doesn't mean we are looking at a double track mainline - it could be a loop in a station on a single track line.

[Steamport Southport]

1 hour ago, ikcdab said:

100% no. Wrong side of the tracks and Doniford was built new in the 1980s....

 

That's why I deleted most of the post....

 

But is anyone really telling me it doesn't look like the bridge at Doniford? Which is what I said (it looks like, not it is).

 

Plenty of space under that bridge for a twin track and you could easily build a halt on the other side.

 

 

 

Jason

[KeithMacdonald]

Hayles Abbey Halt

 

I know it's not the right location, but the waiting huts look like the right kind.

 

https://gwsrbuildingservices.blogspot.com/2016/01/hayles-abbey-halt.html

 

[Pacific231G]

2 hours ago, Miss Prism said:

There is obviously a signal box not too far away. A signal box doesn't smell like a 'Halt'.

It could be if it's just a block post. AFAIK halts didn't require signalling  but, on a double track line, the signals associated with a nearby block post might happen to be close to it. That's probably one of the differences between a station and a halt-  a station would normally have its own signalbox. 

When it was completely mechanically signalled my local halt at South Greenford on the Greenford branch had a junction signal about 75 yards north of it operated from Greenford East box which is actually on the former GWR Paddington-Birmingham line about 1000 yards further north.

Edited April 7, 2022 by Pacific231G

[ikcdab]

9 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

That's why I deleted most of the post....

 

But is anyone really telling me it doesn't look like the bridge at Doniford? Which is what I said (it looks like, not it is).

 

Plenty of space under that bridge for a twin track and you could easily build a halt on the other side.

 

 

 

Jason

OT: Interestingly, if you delve into the Minehead Branch history, you will find references to a "siding" at Doniford which could explain why the bridge was built for double track. I have never found any maps or plans of it though and it seems to have been removed before 1880.

[bécasse]

10 hours ago, rodent279 said:

But the platform has a Southern look about it - it almost looks pre-fab concrete.

Interestingly I thought that too and, if it is concrete pre-fab, it definitely looks like a product of Exmouth Junction rather than Taunton. The (sparse) lighting and the run-in board (the positioning of which shows that this is definitely double-track) are definitely GWR/WR style and, of course, the signal is a Reading product (and with a LQ arm not one installed by the WR on an ex-LSWR line during that period of the 1950s when they had engineering responsibility). An SR-style concrete platform on an ex-GWR line is a definite possibility on one of the small number of such lines that the SR had engineering responsibility for in the 1950s and the SR wouldn't have renewed an ex-GWR signal unless it was necessary. A quick check through the small number of possibilities, though, failed to find a match. Definitely puzzling!

[Forward!]

Any chance of seeing the cottage/farmhouse? Often vernacular architecture can be used to narrow down a photo to a broad region quite well. I must admit, for no other reason than gut instinct I also immediately thought 'Cotswold Line' when I saw the photo for the first time. Don't really know why!

 

Will

[Not Jeremy]

22 minutes ago, Forward! said:

Any chance of seeing the cottage/farmhouse? Often vernacular architecture can be used to narrow down a photo to a broad region quite well. I must admit, for no other reason than gut instinct I also immediately thought 'Cotswold Line' when I saw the photo for the first time. Don't really know why!

 

Will

Oh go on then...

 

[dibber25]

I've spent an inordinate amount of time on this when I should be working on the June Steam World, but I'm finally prepared to put forward a suggestion. Wootton Rivers Halt, between Savernake and Pewsey. The following features fit:

Approached round a curve

Arch stone bridge with dark (brick?) parapet wall

Concrete (frame) platform

Hut with correct shape to roof

RiB with inset posts

It DID have a signal box

Smack in David Hyde's stamping ground

What doesn't seem to fit:

Why would DH not recognise it?

WRH had Tilley lamp gibbets (one per platform) but I can't see the lamp-post top in your picture.

Photo I have is looking the other way so can't see the wrong-sided signal.

There was a similar halt at Manningford, the other side of Pewsey but that appears to be on straighter track.

I leave it to others to decide if I'm correct - I'm not 100% on this but can't find anything better. Irony is, I once walked from Savernake Low Level to Wootton Rivers Halt but took no photographs there. (CJL)

Edited April 8, 2022 by dibber25

[woodenhead]

16 minutes ago, dibber25 said:

I've spent an inordinate amount of time on this when I should be working on the June Steam World, but I'm finally prepared to put forward a suggestion. Wootton Rivers Halt, between Savernake and Pewsey. The following features fit:

Approached round a curve

Arch stone bridge with dark (brick?) parapet wall

Concrete (frame) platform

Hut with correct shape to roof

RiB with inset posts

It DID have a signal box

Smack in David Hyde's stamping ground

What doesn't seem to fit:

Why would DH not recognise it?

WRH had Tilley lamp gibbets (one per platform) but I can't see the lamp-post top in your picture.

Photo I have is looking the other way so can't see the wrong-sided signal.

There was a similar halt at Manningford, the other side of Pewsey but that appears to be on straighter track.

I leave it to others to decide if I'm correct - I'm not 100% on this but can't find anything better. Irony is, I once walked from Savernake Low Level to Wootton Rivers Halt but took no photographs there. (CJL)

Sounds like research to me, something for a later edition