Location - Any Ideas?

[Right Away]

Can any ‘Webber identify the location of this Ivo Peter’s photo. The caption states the date as 18th March 1962, train is the 12.50 Cardiff - Brighton, hauled by 4080 “Powderham Castle”.

Popular haunts of the late Ivo might suggest somewhere around Bath/Bathampton - but that’s guessing!

A few pointers: 6-car stop board, “Beware” sign, telegraph poles, ATC ramp, trailing crossover, goods line or sidings (with “Prarie” with open wagons), overbridge and “Down” distant beneath starter.

 

 

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by Right Away
correction

[bécasse]

There is a loop or refuge siding hidden by the train too, the near dolly being the obvious clue but a hint of a point blade can be seen under 4080's bogie too.

 

I was going to suggest that the train looked far too long for a Cardiff-Brighton but then remembered that there would have been a Portsmouth portion as well. It is definitely Southern Region stock.

 

Sadly I don't recognise the location but it must surely be somewhere between the Severn Tunnel and Westbury.

[HillsideDepot]

I'm thinking Patchway, but can't find any photos on-line to either prove or disprove that.

[Wickham Green too]

..... and somewhere very flat - so that rules out the Bath/Bathampton area .............. could it be before the Tunnel - or was that four track back then ?

[The Pilotman]

8 minutes ago, HillsideDepot said:

I'm thinking Patchway, but can't find any photos on-line to either prove or disprove that.

I’d say you’ve got it there. The bridge looks right and you can see the up and down lines starting to diverge towards the end of the train.

Edited June 6, 2022 by The Pilotman

[Morello Cherry]

If you zoom on these pictures it looks like Patchway to me as well

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253565311481

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262905958474?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338722076&customid=&toolid=10050

 

Signals tick

Bridge tick

building on rhs tick

[RFS]

Here's a photo of Patchway today - 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patchway_railway_station#/media/File:Patchway_railway_station_MMB_03.jpg

 

The brick overbridge looks a good match. 

Edited June 6, 2022 by RFS

[Wickham Green too]

Patchway looking the other way : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patchway_railway_station#/media/File:Patchway_station_geograph-2478858-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg

.... looks like that 'Prarie' is a 2-8-0T and had been sat on that spot for about four years.

[Michael Hodgson]

Box diagram 1967 - note the absence of the distant arm, but that might just have been a case of the next box having been closed.

 

https://signalbox.org/~SBdiagram.php?id= 1386

 

 

[Morello Cherry]

32 minutes ago, Wickham Green too said:

Patchway looking the other way : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patchway_railway_station#/media/File:Patchway_station_geograph-2478858-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg

.... looks like that 'Prarie' is a 2-8-0T and had been sat on that spot for about four years.

 

There is an interesting reference at the end which when you chase it up gives more Patchway shots from what looks like the same series

 

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2927190

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

Patchway.  The lower arm distant is for Patchway Tunnel Signal Box which was closed in January 1965.  It lay 964 yds west of  Patchway Signal Box and stood on the side of the Down Main embankment with the sub- structure extending down into the Up Main cutting.

 

Seen here in a 1964 photo taken looking over the Up Main towards the Down Main - on the other side of the 'box.

 

https://scontent.flhr10-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.18172-8/20988425_1543858259011007_2647269896810447846_o.jpg?stp=cp0_dst-jpg_e15_fr_q65&_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=e007fa&efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&_nc_ohc=zUwRDePzzCUAX8N0tpA&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr10-2.fna&oh=00_AT-9n3VJGaYxSaJ_D9sda5LRurqWbNhUD-9jKdJR9LKh5w&oe=62C4C2F4

Edited June 6, 2022 by The Stationmaster

[KingEdwardII]

33 minutes ago, Morello Cherry said:

more Patchway shots from what looks like the same series

The killer detail that nails that Patchway photo as the same location as the original posted photo is the tree on the extreme left of that shot looking back towards the station - it's the same unusual shape as the one right above the Castle cab in the original.

 

Yours, Mike.

[Right Away]

Thank you everyone; Patchway it most certainly is.

I have to admit I am not at all familiar with that area and would probably never have “sussed it” without all of your help.

[Michael Hodgson]

On 06/06/2022 at 12:04, The Stationmaster said:

 

Seen here in a 1964 photo taken looking over the Up Main towards the Down Main - on the other side of the 'box.

 

https://scontent.flhr10-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.18172-8/20988425_1543858259011007_2647269896810447846_o.jpg?stp=cp0_dst-jpg_e15_fr_q65&_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=e007fa&efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&_nc_ohc=zUwRDePzzCUAX8N0tpA&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr10-2.fna&oh=00_AT-9n3VJGaYxSaJ_D9sda5LRurqWbNhUD-9jKdJR9LKh5w&oe=62C4C2F4

What a delightful photo - there was plenty of work for the carpenters building that one, would make a great model, with its unusually tall stove pipe, classic water butt in the form of an old oil drum at the bottom of the drainpipe, and the staining on the box board suggesting that the bobby routinely emptied the teapot etc from that open window.  The lean-to was presumably a downstairs toilet, so what's the the hut to the right of the telegraph pole - a more modern replacement? 

 

Looking again at the Patchway box diagram, whilst the Up Refuge Siding is so described, the Down one is called the "Down Loop Siding", a contradiction in terms!  From the number of spares and the empty brackets on the Down Homes, it seems it originally was a loop, and presumably the name just stuck. 

[KingEdwardII]

7 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

it seems it originally was a loop,

Indeed it was - I have a book with a 1903 plan of the station layout and it is clearly shown as a loop there. The loop also had a spur at the Bristol end to enable very long goods trains to be accommodated.

 

Yours, Mike.

[The Stationmaster]

36 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

What a delightful photo - there was plenty of work for the carpenters building that one, would make a great model, with its unusually tall stove pipe, classic water butt in the form of an old oil drum at the bottom of the drainpipe, and the staining on the box board suggesting that the bobby routinely emptied the teapot etc from that open window.  The lean-to was presumably a downstairs toilet, so what's the the hut to the right of the telegraph pole - a more modern replacement? 

 

Looking again at the Patchway box diagram, whilst the Up Refuge Siding is so described, the Down one is called the "Down Loop Siding", a contradiction in terms!  From the number of spares and the empty brackets on the Down Homes, it seems it originally was a loop, and presumably the name just stuck. 

The Down Goods Loop was created in 1905, converted to a refuge siding in March 1967 and then recovered completely in July 1967 - dates according to the SRS source.

 

The Tunnel Signal Box was a marvellous thing and in a very unusual site which added to its interest.  In retrospect I realise that I must have passed it on a train on several occasions but can't recall that it ever particularly registered - even when coming more slowly on the Up road.   

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Just found this thread.

Sometimes one can tell the location straightaway. Patchway 100% - looking towards Wales.

Here's a more recent view...

 

[Wickham Green too]

Progress ?

[kevinlms]

1 hour ago, Wickham Green too said:

Progress ?

I suspect that disabled passenger would find the whole thing, much improved!

[The Stationmaster]

4 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

I suspect that disabled passenger would find the whole thing, much improved!

Only since July 2021

[Reorte]

2 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

Progress ?

Progress - makes things more functional and a lot more depressing.