7th March 2023

Almost a year on but
Pendennis Castle at Didcot
Neil Phillips

I saw Andrew Jenkins’ photo feature on GWS Didcot on 4th March and noted 4079 ‘Pendennis Castle’ front and centre in the group shot in front of the shed. In one of those strange coincidences in life, a week or so ago I had found and retrieved my own photos of 4079 at Didcot with the intention of sending them in shortly – now seems good!
The Birmingham - Didcot 'Great Western Envoy’ marked 4079’s last UK run before export to Australia and as can be seen, a lot of people turned up to witness the event, some no doubt with misgivings about the whole idea. If I recall correctly the red dots visible below the nameplate and ‘Great Western’ on the tender contained the initials of its new owner, Hamersley Iron, one of the largest iron ore producers in Western Australia which had its own 240-mile long ore-carrying railway, and who had funded its restoration at Carnforth, where it had been sat awaiting repair.
The locomotive’s departure from Didcot saw the kind of ‘mass trespass’ on the railway which wouldn’t be tolerated these days!
4079 departed for Australia shortly after this special. The full story of what happened to it between then and its eventual return to the UK can be found online, but its final run in Australia occurred on 14th October 1994 after which it went into storage. It would finally come home on 8th June 2000, and its careful restoration by 20 volunteers at Didcot would eventually see it steamed for the first time in 27 years on 13th August 2021, with the official relaunch on 2nd April 2022. Perhaps I’m sending these photos in nearly a year late then, apologies for missing the event!
 
Best regards,
Neil Phillips

Pendennis Castle at Didcot. May 1977. Copyright Neil Pjillips.

Pendennis Castle at Didcot. May 1977. Copyright Neil Pjillips

Pendennis Castle at Didcot. May 1977. Copyright Neil Pjillips

Pendennis Castle at Didcot. May 1977. Copyright Neil Pjillips

Pendennis Castle at Didcot. May 1977. Copyright Neil Pjillips

Many thanks Neil for the historical run down and your pictures.

Class 33 awaiting duty at Exeter St David's Shed
Michael Forward

Here is a photoof 33063 at Exeter waiting to take over the 10.50 Penzance to Brighton on 25 June 1983. Thanks and best wishes, Michael. Copyright Michael Forward

Many Thanks Michael

Creech Observations
Bill Elston

Some passing traffic through Creech,

Castle set headed by 43172 with 43097, on 2U12 0640 PZ-CF.      However, it only got as far as Newport, due to
'a problem with the traction equiupment'
Turbo  165133 on 2C69,  0900 CF-PZ.  This unit was replaced at Exeter by 150233.
Freightliner  66505  on 6E18 0953 Fairwater Yd - Doncaster Woodyard ballast wagons.
Hope these are of interest,
Best wishes, Bill Elston

Creech Castle set43172 and 43097 2U12 on the 06.40 Penzance to Cardiff. This failed at Newport. . 6th March 2023. Copyright Bill Elston

CreechTurbo 165133 on 2C69 thr 06.00 Cardiff to Penzance - replaced at Exeter by 150233. 6th March 2923. Copyright Bill Elston

Creech - Freightliner 66505 on 6E18 rge 09,53 Fairwater Yard - Doncasater Woodyard Ballast wagons. 6th March 2923. Copyright Bill Elston

Many thanks Bill.
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Gems from the past
​Cheddar 1965
Michael Bussell

I visited Cheddar Station briefly on 13 March 1965, 18 months after the Cheddar Valley line had been closed to passengers. It was a damp grey day, appropriately so – the station presented a melancholy sight, and so I did not linger. Track-lifting on the northern Cheddar-Yatton section was just starting, following its closure to goods traffic on 1 October the previous year. The splendid train shed roof that covered part of both passenger platforms had been taken down, also in 1964, as it was apparently considered to have become a dangerous structure. A broken cast iron rainwater downpipe that had helped to drain this roof symbolised the end of a useful working life. Informative descriptions of the station with numerous photographs taken in happier days are in ‘Steaming through the Cheddar Valley’ by Derek Phillips (Oxford Publishing, 2001, in particular pages 134-155), and in ‘The East Somerset and Cheddar Valley Railways’ by Richard Harman (Lightmoor Press, 2009, pages 113-122). The dust-jackets of both books include a front-page photo of Cheddar Station in use, with its train shed roof, that in the Philips book being in colour. 
 

1 130365 MB BW 1 Looking south along the eastern platform, all now open to the sky after removal of the train shed roof. The Mendip Hills are in the distance. Signals remain in place at the end of the platform, although the line between Cheddar and Cranmore was then being worked as a siding, until goods traffic ceased in early 1969 and the track was subsequently lifted. Copyright Michael Bessell.

2 Debris 130365 MB BW A shattered cast iron rainwater downpipe, pulled down with the train shed roof. Copyright Michael Bessell.

3 130365 MB BW 2 Looking north towards Axbridge from Five Ways road bridge at the northern end of the station. On the left are two sidings. The third track, the erstwhile running line, is to remain in place over the short distance to be seen to the north of the bridge while Cheddar still handles some goods traffic – essentially stone – for a few more years, but beyond this track-lifting has now begun and will continue through to Yatton. Copyright Michael Bessell.

4 130365 MB BW 3 Looking south towards the station area with Five Ways Road bridge in the foreground. To the left is the Callow Rock Lime Company’s siding, which rises from the station on a retaining wall, terminating just beyond the bridge. The company’s fairly basic loading shed is visible beyond the bridge. I had previously assumed that the hopper wagons in my photo contained ballast recovered from the lifted trackbed to the north, but Phillips (page 146) writes that it was practice for stone from two Mendip quarries to be transported to Cheddar by lorry, where it was loaded into rail wagons for onward carriage, as seen in a photo from 1949 on page 147. And Harman has a station plan (pages 116-117) which identifies the platform on the right of my photo as a ‘stone loading dock’ with road access, so this appears the more probable explanation. Copyright Michael Bessell.

Thank you very much indeed Michael - more to follow.
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