Western Region 1980s freight - West of England Division, my photos

[The Stationmaster]

Westbury South 'box was closed in late 1978 as a result of the poor state of track becoming the spur for a relaying scheme which in turn led to resignalling as it was cheaper to do it that way rather than renew the lever frame etc at Westbury South.  Although completely unconnected with the dates shortly before work got under way a stone train coming out of the Up Yard and crossing onto the Salisbury line derailed and smashed a large part of the junction into remarkably small pieces which led to some temporary work to keep things going until the scheme started very shortly afterwards - it was probably one of the most spectacular derailments I have ever seen the results of and in the process the entire load of chippings in one wagon vanished into the quagmire that was underneath the junction!  Westbury North 'box remained Westbury North but complete with mini-panel to work the south end.

 

Hawkweridge 'box was only opened on an as required basis and we never bothered to open it for the cement works coal train - it came into the station and ran-round.

 

The Robeston - Theale working seemed to be forever changing over the years although it was always the same flow from the same refinery.  I think the usual reason for change was line occupation elsewhere but at one time it couldn't go B&H loaded as it was overload for that route and had to go via Swindon.

[class"66"]

Some very interesting photos on here

[Rivercider]

We now go down onto Westbury Station for some views starting in the early 1980s.

These views will show how the motive power situation changed in the Westbury area, after the withdrawal of the last

Westerns the bulk of the stone haulage was done by Bath Road allocated class 47s until  the first class 56s turned up around 1982/3.  

 

First is a classic stone train formation of the day, a class 47 with a train of former iron ore tipplers now coded MSV.

A large number of MSVs were employed on stone traffic from the Mendips Quarries as well as Tytherington Quarry.

47284 a Bath Road allocated loco waits at Westbury with loaded MSVs 12/1/81

 

Here is another set of former bogie iron ore tipplers now coded PTA, these wagons were also very common

on traffic from the Mendip Quarries at Merehead and Whatley but were not used out of Tytherington at the time.  

Cardiff Cantons 47233 stands in the platform at Westbury at the head of a train of 100t tipplers for Angerstein Wharf,

after arrival from Merehead the train has run round and will depart via Salisbury, for this reason 47137 was at 

the rear ready to bank the train up to Warminster, 14/9/82

 

Vacuum braked services between Severn Tunnel Junction and the Southampton/Eastleigh area called at Westbury Yard.

47205 creeps along the Down Reception at Westbury with 6O48 Severn Tunnel Junction - Southampton 14/9/82

 

Although Bristol East Depot was the main engineers yard in the west  Westbury Yard also handled engineers trains for the local area.

31297 draws a ballast train formed of a shark plough van and loaded sealion hoppers out of the up yard, 14/9/82

 

cheers

[class"66"]

Always nice to look over old rail freight photos,see how freight stock was mixed together,wagons,tanks ect..

[rob D2]

It always amazes me how old fashioned mixed freight looked even in the early 80s, fast forward to the early 90s and it looked a lot more modern. What a difference 10 years made

[Rivercider]

Always nice to look over old rail freight photos,see how freight stock was mixed together,wagons,tanks ect..

Thanks.

 

I have always found mixed freight trains fascinating, there often appears to be a randomness about them,

but when you study pictures you can sometimes identify patterns of wagon types and how they are formed that might vary around the country,

 

cheers

[class"66"]

Yer totally agree with you Kevin...

Old photos also give you "detailing" ideas for layouts and layout projects...

[Rivercider]

Here are some other views including more from that misty morning in 1982,

once I had planned a trip I often carried on even if the conditions were less than ideal. 

 

A number  of stone terminals were equipped for hopper discharge and received stone in 51t PGA hoppers,

Theale, Wootton Basset, Botley and Eastleigh were four such terminals.

47256 another of Bath Roads locos has just arrived at Westbury with loaded PGAs from Merehead Quarry, 3/1/81. 

 

As well as commercial aggregate traffic ARCs Whatley Quarry also supplied ballast for the Southern Region.

33001 stands in the platform at Westbury with loaded sealions which have just arrived from Whatley,

the loco will run round before heading to Salisbury, 3/1/81 

 

47327 is seen at Westbury with another train of Southern Region ballast, 3/1/81 

 

As well as the 47s which predominated on stone traffic in the Westbury area there were a few class 37s

allocated to Bath Road which worked in pairs, some worked trains from Tytherington but Westbury also had some.

37308 and 37148 (which were Landore locos at the time) arrive at Westbury with empties from Foster Yeomans Theale depot,

most trains were routed via the station here for traincrew relief, stone trains on the Westbury Avoider were relatively rare, 14/9/82.

 

This time looking west we see another pair waiting to depart from Westbury

37286 and 37186 have run round and are ready to head for Eastleigh with 6O63 from Merehead Quarry,

In the background the Peak is in the up yard with airbraked HBA coal hoppers they are probably from the Blue Circle Cement

factory at Westbury 14/9/82

[floss_4]

 

As well as commercial aggregate traffic ARCs Whatley Quarry also supplied ballast for the Southern Region.

 

Looks like some wouldn't have gone amiss in the station at the time!

[Rivercider]

It always amazes me how old fashioned mixed freight looked even in the early 80s, fast forward to the early 90s and it looked a lot more modern. What a difference 10 years made

Thats a good point Rob.

I think a lot of the short wheelbase types of freight stock like hIghfits and vanfits built by BR in the 1950s and 1960s

were to similar to traditional designs constructed by the Big Four railway companies in the 1940s, and some might have traced their heritage back further than that.

So much was swept away so quickly in such a few years

 

cheers 

[ess1uk]

Great pictures.

That's what most of my model trains look like!

Used to love spending time on the platform at Westbury.

[Rivercider]

In the 1980s Westbury generally had two Bath Road class 08s outbased as yard pilots,

one each to work in the Up Yard and the Down Yard, one of them would also work trips to the Blue Circle Cement works.  

 

As a lot of the Westbury area traffic was in privately owned air braked wagons the Westbury pilot turns became air braked duties.

08942 is seen on the up side of the station with a mixed air and vacuum braked trip to the Blue Circle cement works, 23/8/83.

 

Moving a little further south along the platform we can now see Westbury Diesel Depot.

The depot contains the usual mix of power for the Westbury area in the early 1980s,

at least four class 47s can be seen, along with a pair of class 37s

The up side yard pilot 08900 makes a shunt, 20/8/83. 

 

cheers

[Rivercider]

While we are looking at Westbury Depot let us have a look at the typical occupants of the depot in the early 1980s.

I made a visit on a saturday afternoon after the stone train programme had finished for the week. 

 

The locos in the depot were predominately class 47s

47027 (LA), 47080 Titan (CF), 47055(OC), 47100 (CD), 47240(CF), 47225 (CF), 47063 (BR), 47293 (BR), 47326 (TO), 47082 Atlas (LE),   

08756 (BR), 08951 (BR), 47096 (CF).

In the adjacent siding of the up yard were

47503  (CD), 47097 (CF), 37207 (BR) + 37224 (BR).

(LA is Laira, CF is Cardiff Canton, OC is Old Oak Common, CD is Crewe Diesel, BR is Bristol Bath Road, TO is Toton and LE is Swansea Landore.) 

 

Firstly looking into the depot from the station end,

We see 47027, 47080, 47055 with 47100 on the right, 26/4/80

 

Continuing on through the shed we look out to the rear of the yard. 

The locos stabled out here are 47293, 47082, 08756 and 47326

 

cheers

[br2975]

Dozen 47s

.

Dozen't bear thinking about nowadays.

.

Brian R

[queensquare]

Fabulous stuff. Spent most of my spotting years at Westbury albeit more in the 70s than 80s - bunked and occasionally chased off that shed many times!

 

Jerry

[JohnH]

Fabulous stuff. Spent most of my spotting years at Westbury albeit more in the 70s than 80s - bunked and occasionally chased off that shed many times!

 

Jerry

Was it a tough one to get round?

[queensquare]

Was it a tough one to get round?

It varied, depending who was on duty. Some were happy to let you wander around so long as you were sensible, others would send you off with a flea in your ear as soon as they saw you!! It was very much as in the photos above albeit there were more Westerns than Duffs. I can't remember names of the shed Foreman but Mike 'Station Master' would remember them.

 

We spent most of our time at the 'triangle' at the Warminster end of the site. The main line and Salisbury lines split with the avoiding line forming the third side. There was a field, a stream, a lake and lots of activity on all three sides - what more could a young boy ask for. Happy days!!

 

Jerry

[The Stationmaster]

It varied, depending who was on duty. Some were happy to let you wander around so long as you were sensible, others would send you off with a flea in your ear as soon as they saw you!! It was very much as in the photos above albeit there were more Westerns than Duffs. I can't remember names of the shed Foreman but Mike 'Station Master' would remember them.

 

We spent most of our time at the 'triangle' at the Warminster end of the site. The main line and Salisbury lines split with the avoiding line forming the third side. There was a field, a stream, a lake and lots of activity on all three sides - what more could a young boy ask for. Happy days!!

 

Jerry

The Mechanical Foreman at Westbury was called Peter (sorry can't remember his surname) and he was ex-S&DJt having been at Templecombe before closure and he had some sort of special hatred for both the Western and footplatemen (in the case of the latter I think the feeling was mutual!) and the former was a bit odd as his father had been a Stationmaster on the Western.

 

He could be very moody (although being wilshire that might well have been moony rather than moody) but he could be really good when the chips were down.  One evening the Meldon ballast came up past Witham with a hotbox on a Grampus going rather well and by the time it was actually brought to a stand at Clink Road the axle journal was running on the underframe side member - everything else had gone, the axlebox, the 'W' iron, the whole shooting match had vanished.  Peter duly decided he could repair irt where it stood which is something very few rolling stock or mechanical folk would have taken on and the handcrane that lurked in the Down Yard at Westbury was duly towed off to Clink Road at a maximum speed of 10 mph and stopping every mile or so to pour another few gallons of oil over the axleboxes and bearings as the crane hadn't moved more than a few yards for longer than anyone could remember.

 

Peter had a very good C&W Chargeman (Graham something or other) and they duly lifted the wagon and built the suspension at the damaged end and put in a new wheelset and away (most of the night later) to Westbury.  We slightly bent one or two Rules in the process, opened up via Frome which avoided most delays although I did have a  tiny problem with the Exeter Driver on the Up Waker, and all in all had a good night after the initial desperation - 'proper railway work' at its best.

 

Mind you another story about Peter also bears retelling - we had a perpetual battle over oily footsteps in loco cabs with Drivers blaming Fitters and vice-versa.  Then it came to a head when a Driver called me over to examine the cab of a newly ex-works Brush 4 - to look at the line of oily footprints across the ceiling of the cab!  I duly stormed off to have a go at Peter while barely keeping a straight and loudly insisting I would not allow Drivers to carry on working in these conditions and this was the last straw - duly getting him out to the loco and up into the cab where he looked at the fairly clean floor and said 'what's the problem?', followed by several rude words about my Drivers.  I told him to look up and fortunately he immediately saw the joke - although we never found out how it had happened and could but assume it had happened in Crewe Works.

[Ramblin Rich]

This is the sort of thread I love, lots of photos and priceless information, with anecdotes of railway operations thrown in. It would do for a book, but being able to interact on a forum and give huge thanks as it's due is a real strength. Really good stuff Kevin & Mike, please keep it coming!

[queensquare]

Great stuff Mike. I suspect that the less than welcome reception we got was from Peter, the days we were largely ignored were his days off!

We were never there for long, just enough time to see what was on shed and, in particular, any cops rather than the normal fair of Westerns and Duffs from BR, CF or OC. I do remember that a pair of eastern region skin head 31s were not uncommon and that would always elicit a visit as they were rarely something we had seen before.

As Rich says, a great thread.

 

Jerry

[Southernman46]

The Mechanical Foreman at Westbury was called Peter (sorry can't remember his surname) and he was ex-S&DJt having been at Templecombe before closure and he had some sort of special hatred for both the Western and footplatemen (in the case of the latter I think the feeling was mutual!) and the former was a bit odd as his father had been a Stationmaster on the Western.

 

He could be very moody (although being wilshire that might well have been moony rather than moody) but he could be really good when the chips were down.  One evening the Meldon ballast came up past Witham with a hotbox on a Grampus going rather well and by the time it was actually brought to a stand at Clink Road the axle journal was running on the underframe side member - everything else had gone, the axlebox, the 'W' iron, the whole shooting match had vanished.  Peter duly decided he could repair irt where it stood which is something very few rolling stock or mechanical folk would have taken on and the handcrane that lurked in the Down Yard at Westbury was duly towed off to Clink Road at a maximum speed of 10 mph and stopping every mile or so to pour another few gallons of oil over the axleboxes and bearings as the crane hadn't moved more than a few yards for longer than anyone could remember.

 

Peter had a very good C&W Chargeman (Graham something or other) and they duly lifted the wagon and built the suspension at the damaged end and put in a new wheelset and away (most of the night later) to Westbury.  We slightly bent one or two Rules in the process, opened up via Frome which avoided most delays although I did have a  tiny problem with the Exeter Driver on the Up Waker, and all in all had a good night after the initial desperation - 'proper railway work' at its best.

 

Mind you another story about Peter also bears retelling - we had a perpetual battle over oily footsteps in loco cabs with Drivers blaming Fitters and vice-versa.  Then it came to a head when a Driver called me over to examine the cab of a newly ex-works Brush 4 - to look at the line of oily footprints across the ceiling of the cab!  I duly stormed off to have a go at Peter while barely keeping a straight and loudly insisting I would not allow Drivers to carry on working in these conditions and this was the last straw - duly getting him out to the loco and up into the cab where he looked at the fairly clean floor and said 'what's the problem?', followed by several rude words about my Drivers.  I told him to look up and fortunately he immediately saw the joke - although we never found out how it had happened and could but assume it had happened in Crewe Works.

You really ought to write a "Gerald Fiennes type my railway experiences" book cos it would be a real shame to not have such stuff recorded for posterity..................

[The Stationmaster]

You really ought to write a "Gerald Fiennes type my railway experiences" book cos it would be a real shame to not have such stuff recorded for posterity..................

I think I would need to recruit a squad of lawyers to read the proofs.  Something along the lines of this - without mentioning any names -

 

When the 12,000 tonne test train was being formed up at Merehead (not on BR property everyone should note) the rear wagon was somehow derailed.  Up until that point there was quite an assemblage of various dignitaries from BR and EMD 'watching proceedings' however 100 tons of derailed wagon on the ground acted like a very nasty smell in a smal room and they all vanished within what felt like seconds.  The Yeoman Rail Supervisor turned to me and said what do you think we ought to do as we still make the 12,000 without it?  So i said it's your railway so get rid of it in your normal fashion because that lot have cleared off and I won't tell anyone (as I had a very good idea of what would happen next).

 

So a few radio conversations later and a 50 ton bucket loader from the quarry emerges out of the night and duly gets the bucket under the derailed bogie and shoves a bit and lifts a bit and drops it, very neatly, back in the road - fortunately it had already been Red-carded so all was well and it was shunted aside.  Now there are undoubtedly times (or there were on the old railway) when the Nelsonian approach has its benefits but I think in this particular case the great assemblage - which included some very senior engineering types - had hot-footed off site because they thought somebody might ask them how to re-rail one end of 100 tons of bogie wagon; I know the names of two of them   (but they're both good blokes so I'll say no more).

[Downendian]

Seeing Mike's posts reminds me of Christmasses past, when my Grandfather (Bath road Foreman) and Uncle John (Gloucester driver) got together. Some real old railway stories were recounted from their experiences and that of their fathers (both engine drivers on the S&DJR who retired in the 1950s). Really wish I'd either recorded them or written them down.

Neil

[GreedyHarry]

Can I add my support to the idea that these reminiscences should be recorded. We used to visit family in Yeovil and would often change at Westbury as there were less direct trains from Bristol. The way the railway seemed in the 70's and 80's was a world away from today and the photos and stories on this thread should be recorded so as we never forget that way of life.

[jonny777]

Yes, add me too for the above idea.

 

I always thought that, instead of lavishing hundreds of millions on the Dome, the government should have spent some on a Millennium project to record all manner of retired people talking about their early years and their work, school and home experiences, and put all the recordings online (or a transcription of their memories) with access for a small yearly fee to anyone who was interested.

 

It would have been a goldmine of information for future historians.