Bridport Branch Line

[LBRJ]

Most of those in the middle row in the staff photo look like they are footplate men, shunters or guards to me.

Add in the station master,  a few ticket clerks, goods clerks, station porters and goods porters, signalmen and maybe some gangers and you would soon be up to 30 odd people.

[melmoth]

21 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

i've been mulling over that picture of the Bridport Station staff in 1957. I counted 36 people (including the one almost hidden in the signal box). I just wanted to ask anyone with inside knowledge if this was typical? Maybe @The Stationmaster or @The Johnster ?

 

This might be a heritical thought, but maybe that's where Beeching got it wrong. Maybe the number of people wasn't a simple case of overmanning. Maybe it was a natural outcome of how much manual effort it took to deal with antiquated infrastructure and clapped-out equipment? It wasn't the length of the network that was the direct problem. The length of the network just amplified the effect. so Beeching was dealing with the effect, not the cause.

 

I might be projecting personal experience beyond it's relevent domain. But even in my "modern high-tech" computing day-job, senior management has no bloody idea how much sheer manual effort still goes into keeping systems working.

 

 

 

This photo is included in Jackson and Tattersall's 1976 book on the branch (OPC, isbn 0902888854) where everyone in the photo is named. Bridport had about eight enginemen, plus a foreman and fitter, three signalmen and a PW gang. That gets you almost halfway to the number shown in the photo.

[The Johnster]

Sounds about right.  I reckon Cwmdimbath, with no locomen or guards on it's staff, needs at least a signalman, leading railman, porter/general dogsbody (the strapper), ticket clerk, goods clerk, shunter, and a P.W. lengthman, that's seven, but that's only per shift and there is a morning and an an afternoon shift as well, so that's fourteen, for a very small BLT with minimal facilities.  Adminsitratively they are under the umbrella of Stationmaster Tondu, who has a sizeable empire to oversee!

[Ben B]

I holidayed in West Bay as a kid in the late-1990's, I'm sure I remember a couple of MK.1's in the old station during an earlier commercial venture on the site :)  It's nice that the station building survived, given how early it lost a lot of the services it was built for.

[LBRJ]

19 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

Thanks to Bridport Museum via Flickr for the following pictures.

 

Perhaps the earliest – station staff 1900s. Is that broad gauge or just unusual trackwork?

 

 

A while later (1957) – amazing that a small station employed so many? I count 36 people (including the one almost hidden in the signal box).

 

 

Here's one of the relatively rare pics of a steam loco at Bridport. Can anyone confirm the number? It looks like 30102, but I'm not sure.

 

 

This one shows a short loading dock on the west end of the passenger platform.

 

 

Again, Bridport Museum via Flickr. A useful picture of a mixed freight. Perhaps six coal wagons, a flatbed, two freight vans and the obligatory Toad.

 

 

 

The top picture here looks rather like it is re-gauged former broad gauge track.

[Southernman46]

12 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

i've been mulling over that picture of the Bridport Station staff in 1957. I counted 36 people (including the one almost hidden in the signal box). I just wanted to ask anyone with inside knowledge if this was typical? Maybe @The Stationmaster or @The Johnster ?

 

This might be a heritical thought, but maybe that's where Beeching got it wrong. Maybe the number of people wasn't a simple case of overmanning. Maybe it was a natural outcome of how much manual effort it took to deal with antiquated infrastructure and clapped-out equipment? It wasn't the length of the network that was the direct problem. The length of the network just amplified the effect. so Beeching was dealing with the effect, not the cause.

 

I might be projecting personal experience beyond it's relevent domain. But even in my "modern high-tech" computing day-job, senior management has no bloody idea how much sheer manual effort still goes into keeping systems working.

 

 

That's a delightful photo .......................

I think precisely that - even factoring in that there were many more "Services" provided back then also ticket office , platform staff, parcels office / goods management etc. - but also because railways operate for more than a "standard day" length many tasks require more than one person, for example my current role in the DLR Control Centre is literally 24/7 covered including high days & holidays - I've had the last 3 Xmas dinners (in one form or other) sat in the CC 🙄 - it takes 7 people to cover that single job and there are 2 of us. Even most railway non 9-5 roles would require 2 with additional cover for AL etc.

[LBRJ]

I have a vague memory that as a rule you need 2.3 people to cover each job.

Though that is with the shorter modern working week, Hidden regulations etc.

[melmoth]

55 minutes ago, LBRJ said:

 

The top picture here looks rather like it is re-gauged former broad gauge track.

 

'The branch was converted to standard gauge in 1874, but removal of the baulk track took a long time. There is a photo somewhere of baulk track being removed from the line in 1911.  The West Bay extension opened in 1884 and never had baulk rail.

[melmoth]

1 hour ago, Ben B said:

I holidayed in West Bay as a kid in the late-1990's, I'm sure I remember a couple of MK.1's in the old station during an earlier commercial venture on the site :)  It's nice that the station building survived, given how early it lost a lot of the services it was built for.

 

At that time, there was a Mk1 and a LSWR Ironclad at West Bay. I'm not sure, but I think they may have been on loan from the Swanage Railway.

[DLT]

21 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

Like Maiden Newton, no turntable, but it did have enough space for a passing loop. It seems curious that all the goods and freight facilities are on straight tracks, but they built the station in a more difficult manner, with curved platforms. With an engine shed, goods shed, tanks (for water?) and cattle pens.

Bridport was originally the terminus, and built in a straight line.  The station was rebuilt on a curve when the West Bay extension was built.

The location was intended to serve both Bridport and Bradpole, being about halfway in between.  The upshot of course, was that it was inconvenient for both! 

And then East Street station, where the extension crossed the main road, was much closer to the town centre.

[Hando]

21 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

Like this?

 

Pretty much as was proposed! Here are the original plans: https://www.freshford.com/railway_charmouth.htm

[RFS]

Quite a few pictures of the branch in its latter days here - https://railphotoprints.uk/p89819962

[montyburns56]

The whole line is very modellable isn't it? You've got Maiden Newton, a small single line with passing loop station with a bay platform for a branch line. Or Toller which would be perfect for a modern(ish) minimum space branch line station.

 

 

 

 

[melmoth]

2 hours ago, montyburns56 said:

The whole line is very modellable isn't it? You've got Maiden Newton, a small single line with passing loop station with a bay platform for a branch line. Or Toller which would be perfect for a modern(ish) minimum space branch line station.

 

 

Up until the late 60s, Maiden Newton was double tracked, and in GWR/WR days it was on a mainline with Channel Islands boat traffic traffic.

[Southernman46]

5 hours ago, montyburns56 said:

The whole line is very modellable isn't it? You've got Maiden Newton, a small single line with passing loop station with a bay platform for a branch line. Or Toller which would be perfect for a modern(ish) minimum space branch line station.

 

 

 

 

 

Indeed it is - when I lived back in Durrington Wilts, one side of my loft was an O gauge compression of Maiden Newton (into 32ft) from the OB the photographer is stood on down to the goods shed (roof visible in the distance) much assisted by the fortunate purchase of a copy of GW Railway Journal Volume 1 No.1 from Oct 1991 with a splendid 25 page article on Maiden Newton. OK so the long-distance trains to/from Weymouth were only loco +4 but in my imagination each was 11 coaches long. One day I'll get the opportunity to do it again with the proper Bubble car from Dapol and if not the Heljan Class 120 (shame - there was always sometimes special about that 11:11 ex-Weymouth - Bristol service) but equally good - the blue Class 117 from Heljan.

[johnofwessex]

At some stage in the late 70's/Early 80's there was a Bristol TM - Weymouth train, basically aimed at the bucket and spade brigade, left at about 9am & from memory was 3x117 sets

 

It wasnt fast up Eversholt Bank!

[Southernman46]

Reading the above, a OT tale but during the pre-energisation snagging walk throughs on the BOMO - Weymouth electrification, I happened to be in Bincombe Tunnel (in the good old days - and they were - when you could be trusted to be inside a tunnel with traffic running) when a DMU passed on a Weymouth - Bristol service at really slow speed struggling up the bank and filled the tunnel with prime 1st generation fug .............. one of the occasions when I have genuinely been concerned for my life - it was terrible ☠

[johnofwessex]

I remember climbing up to Brincombe Tunnel behind Nunney Castle, unassisted

 

A long slow steady plod, you could almost imagine the loco pulling itself up by its fingernails but up we went 

 

[DLT]

My Grandmother's house overlooked the line near Radipole, and I would sit in the window to watch the trains going up, and waiting for the banker to come down again.

It was never the same with diesels....

[MidlandRed]

I just came across this You Tube film covering the branch approaching its closure. There’s some really nice photography of the diesel units operating on the branch, units C127, B132 and B134 being seen (I noticed B135 was in one of the photos in this thread also). They’re all class 121 (W550xx - substitute the last two numbers of the set number to get the unit number). These were provided by Bristol, and during the 1960s, class 122 units also appeared.

 

 https://youtu.be/sHV0i94mYJ8?si=W3X0Haiz9y0lCECv

[F2Andy]

On 19/08/2023 at 17:36, KeithMacdonald said:

Bridport Harbour (West Bay)

 

Between 1854 and 1883, the terminus was at Bridport (Bradpole Road).

 

Then a rival scheme was proposed to build a line from Crewkerne to Bridport Harbour. Of course, Crewkerne was in LSWR/SR territory, so we can fairly safely assume a line between Crewkerne and Bridport Harbour would have been an LSWR/SR operation as well. From the lie of the land, it looks like the likeliest route from Bridport would have been due north up the River Brit valley to Beaminster, then north east to get into the River Axe valley, joining the existing LSWR line near Clapton, a couple of miles west of Crewkerne. A shorter and straighter route from Beaminster to Crewkerne would have had to cross a lot more contours with steeper gradients.

 

The Bridport Company, with its GWR connections, opposed this and an extension to Bridport Harbour opened in 1884.

 

 

OS map

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.3&lat=50.71142&lon=-2.75891&layers=168&b=1&marker=51.489442,-2.752378

 

GWR called it West Bay, apparently with the intention of promoting it as a holiday resort. Clearly, that wasn’t a great success. It only offered a passenger service until 1930, and goods finished in 1962. Would it have survived longer if the station had been closer to the dock?

 

During WW2, GWR Collett 2-6-2 5555 was used, to haul heavier trains with shingle from West Bay for airfield construction.

 

For a while after closure, a coach used the track as a station kitchen.

 

 

 

Any ideas what the concrete blocks are for?

 

 

More:

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/bridport_west_bay/

 

That is such a delightful building I could not resist making a model - even though I have no plans for a layout or even any GWR rolling stock.

 

A 3d print in N gauge; the photos serve to highlight my deficiencies at painting...

 

 

Of course, now I have that, I am wondering about a layout... Only five points, how hard can it be?

Edited December 3, 2023 by F2Andy

[maico]

At 2.40 mins a couple of station staff at Powerstock station greet the train. I was wondering what they did all day? There is no scrum of passengers and the goods siding seemed largely empty by this time being closed in 1961. The station became unstaffed in 1966.

 

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by maico