Field Trip 2000 - West Somerset Railway

This is the itinery for the field trip, with timings and mileages. Set your car trip meter to zero before leaving Taunton station

Miles	Details
Taunton Station to Bishops Lydeard
00.0	Exit Taunton station and car park onto one- way system. Follow A358 to Minehead and brown signs to WSR
01.0	Staplegrove Pub roundabout - follow A358 (2nd exit)
01.7	Cross Keys roundabouts - straight over first and the right exit at second (A358 to Minehead)
04.8	Turn left off the A358 into Broadgauge Business Park and into railway car park at the far end
Time from Taunton to Bishops Lydeard about 15 minutes. Look round station. Station building, goods shed, stationmasters house, road overbridge and cottages are from the Broad Gauge era.
Bishops Lydeard to Crowcombe
05.2	Re-join the A358, left towards Minehead
09.7	Ignore sign to Crowcombe station. The station road is badly potholed
10.0	20 yards beyond garage sign and car sales, turn left and follow camping sign. Continue down the lane
10.5	Turn left into Station Road. Park adjacent to station
Time from Bishops Lydeard to Crowcombe about 10 minutes. Look round station. The station building and both overbridges and the stationmasters house are original structures. The station building has been extended at the Minehead end - can you spot the join? The stationmasters house by the Minehead end overbridge has been extended in the last few years

A few notes about the line from the guide produced for the trip:

When the line first opened, the operational locomotives, usually Pearson 4-4-0ST's, were based at Watchet. Hence trains travelled "Up" to Watchet and "Down" to Taunton.
Some statistics for the construction of the line to Watchet as reported to the Directors' meeting on 8th February 1862, just prior to the opening:

Earthworks: 577,100 cu yards
Ballast: 58,000 cu yards
Masonry: 13,330 cu yards
Fencing: 57,000 linear yards
Permanent Way: 14.75 miles
Employing 334 men and 34 horses
The

BGS Broadsheets 18.11, 40.20-23 & 41.20
"West Somerset Stations and Buildings" WSR ISBN 0 9510 42661
"The Minehead Branch and the West Somerset Railway" Colin Maggs, Oakwood Press Locomotion Paper 206 ISBN 0 85361 528 4
Railway Modeller December 1993 & June 1997
Ordnance Survey Landranger 181 Minehead & 193 Taunton

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© 2002 Broad Gauge Society
Last Modified: 15 Feb 2002