First regular Minehead to Bristol train service for 36 years is announced

A REGULAR train service is to run again from Minehead to Bristol for the first time since the branch line was axed in the Beeching cuts of 1971.
The service, which will start on Friday, July 30, is aimed at both holidaymakers and local passengers and will operate on selected dates through the peak summer weeks.
It is the result of several months of planning by the West Somerset Railway, Butlins, Mainline Rail, and Victa Westlink Rail.
There were also complex negotiations with Network Rail and the Office of the Rail Regulator.
Victa Westlink will provide the train services, which will run on Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays, between July 20 and August 27.
Trains will leave Minehead at 11.10 am and call at all WSR stations before reaching Taunton at 12.55 pm, from where they will run non-stop to Bristol Temple Meads, arriving at 1.46 pm.
The return will depart Temple Meads at 2.06 pm and stop at Taunton at 2.42 pm and then all WSR stations to Minehead, where arrival is scheduled for 4.25 pm.
The trains will be worked by diesel locomotives and air-conditioned coaches provided by Mainline Rail, and will offer passengers from the Wales, the Midlands, and North of England an opportunity to travel direct to West Somerset by changing at Bristol.
Passengers from London and the South East, and those from other areas of the South West, will be able to change at Taunton.
Return tickets on the trains will be available to Taunton at £16 for adults, £13.60 for seniors, and £8 for children. Holders of local residents travel cards will be able to travel at reduced rates.
No reduced rates will be available for the return fares to Bristol, which will be £21.95 for adults and seniors and £10.95 for children.
WSR general manager Paul Conibeare said he was keen to see how the trains would develop business for the heritage rail company and the communities along its line.
Mr Conibeare said: “Ever since the railway reopened in 1976, it has been asserted that there is a strong local demand for trains to and from Taunton.
“This is an opportunity to begin to assess that potential market and also to hopefully persuade visitors to the area that the journey can be made by public transport.
“Butlins have expressed an interest in the project from the off, as offering an alternative to their customers who presently travel by mainline trains to Taunton and then complete the journey by bus.
“However, this can only work if the trains are used by enough people to pay for their costs, which are considerable.
“No subsidy is being paid by central or local government, so the trains have to stand on their own financially.
“But, we are encouraged by the growth in excursion traffic to and from West Somerset since the upgrading of the junction at Norton Fitzwarren, and we hope the trains to and from Bristol will be equally successful.”
Photo submitted.

Weekend of mixed trains brings visitors flocking to West Somerset

NEARLY 3,300 passengers visited the West Somerset Railway’s ‘mixed traffic weekend’ from June 15 to June 17 to enjoy a mixture of vintage diesel and some steam locomotives in action.
The theme of the weekend was ‘Western Region in 1965’, the period when steam was finally giving way to diesels in the Westcountry.
To this end, the WSR turned out a fleet of diesel locomotives appropriate to the period.
D1010 ‘Western Campaigner’, Class 14 D9526, Class 47 D1661 ‘North Star’, and Class 25 D7523 were all part of a collection by the Diesel and Electric Preservation Group, based in Williton, while guests D832 ‘Onslaught’ and Hymek D7076 were hired from the East Lancashire Railway, and Class 14 D9520 came from the Nene Valley Railway.
Two of the WSR’s resident diesel shunting locomotives worked passenger trains between Minehead and Dunster on the Saturday and steam duties were undertaken by GWR engines 4160 and 5553.
In addition, D1015 ‘Western Champion’ made a visit to the line with yet another excursion train to Minehead on the Saturday from the national network.
The West Somerset had not held a diesel themed event since 2005 and it was pleased with the number of passengers who travelled.
WSR general manager Paul Conibeare said: “Our event coincided with a diesel weekend on the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire and we did have some concerns if this would affect the number of visitors we saw, but obviously the attraction of our line-up of machines that are no longer seen on the main lines proved a hit.
“The West Somerset will remain predominantly a steam railway, but clearly there is a good market for us in special, suitably-themed, diesel special events.”

• Our photograph (top) shows diesel locomotive D1010 and a steam train at Blue Anchor Station. Photo by Beverley Zehetmeier, courtesy of www.wsr.org.uk.
• Our photograph (below) shows a diesel locomotive D7076 in a cutting. Photo by Dean Fisher, courtesy of www.wsr.org.uk.

Nostalgic return to West Somerset for famous Beatles train

THE West Somerset Railway’s ‘mixed traffic weekend’ took place from Friday, June 15, to Sunday, June 17, taking the heritage back to the 1960s when diesel locomotives were replacing steam engines on British Railways.
Both steam and diesel engines featured at the head of trains during the event.
It was during the 1960s that what was then the Minehead branch of British Rail saw some of the most hectic scenes in its history as, in 1964, the Beatles first feature film ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, was partially filmed on the line.
The locomotive which headed the filming train is still in existence and made a return to the West Somerset line for a headlining appearance during the mixed traffic event.
It is a Class ‘Hymek’ diesel and is one of four survivors of the 101 which were built in Manchester by Beyer Peacock between 1961 and 1963 for use on the Western Region of British Rail.
The sequence in the film in which the ‘Fab Four’ can be seen running alongside the train was filmed at Crowcombe Heathfield Station, as was one of Ringo Starr riding a bicycle along the platform.
Pictures of the scenes along the railway during the making of what was described as the ‘Citizen Kane of jukebox movies’ are featured in the book ‘Ticket To Minehead’, by Richard Derry and Alan and Christine Hammond, and published by Millstream Books which is on sale at WSR book shops.
WSR general manager Paul Conibeare said: “Given that the last Hymeks came out of service in the early 1970s when the thought of preserving diesel locomotives was a novel one, it is one of those quirks of railway history that D7076 has survived while 97 of the class have long since gone for scrap.
“It is normally based on the East Lancashire Railway, at Bury, but its return to the West Somerset brings back a part of the history of the branch line.”

• Our photograph shows the Beatles train D7076 back on the West Somerset Railway during the mixed traffic weekend. Photo submitted.

Diesel and steam mix bringing back memories for Father's Day

MEMORIES should come flooding back in West Somerset this year for fathers and grandfathers who took an interest in the railways of the Westcountry during the 1960s.
For the West Somerset Railway is turning back the clock on its 20-mile line to 1965 for Father’s Day, June 17.
The heritage railway is holding a ‘Mixed Traffic Weekend’ from Friday, June 15, to Sunday, June 17, and will be reliving the period when British Railways was converting from steam to diesel power.
With this in mind, the majority of the trains will be hauled by vintage diesel locomotives, although there will also be two steam engines in action.
The diesel locomotives in service will be drawn from those in the collection of the Diesel and Electric Preservation Group, at Williton, and some guests hired in from other lines.
The ‘guests’ will include a ‘Warship’ Class D832 ‘Onslaught’, ‘Hymek’ D7076, and a Class 14 locomotive number D9520.
In addition, on the Saturday only, ‘Western’ Class D1015 ‘Western Champion’ will work an excursion train from Paddington on a tour by Past-time Rail and, before it returns home, will run a WSR service train between Minehead and Bishops Lydeard.
The home fleet will include ‘Western’ D1010 ‘Western Campaigner’, Class 14 D9526, Class 25 D7523, and the Class 47 locomotive D1661 ‘North Star’.
Shunting locomotives will also operate some shuttle services.
Among the museums which will be open along the line, the Diesel Heritage Centre, in Williton, will give an insight into the history of the development of diesel locomotives.
WSR general manager Paul Conibeare said: “We will have seven diesel hauled trains and four headed steam locomotives travelling over the line on Father’s Day and there is plenty of opportunity to alight at one of our stations and take in a walk and a lunch in a pub or restaurant along the way as well as riding the trains.
“And, for anybody who really remembers the 60s, there is the chance to alight at Crowcombe Heathfield for the site where Ringo rode the bicycle along the station platform in the Film ‘A Hard Day’s Night’.”
Full details of the Mixed Traffic Weekend can be obtained by telephoning 01643 704996 or visiting www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/mixedtraffic.html.

• Our photos show (top) a diesel engine and (below) a steam train which will be working on Father's Day. Photos submitted.