Model Forum / General / Railroads / March 2010

OK, no partuclar oder, just a quick copy/paste so may be some duplication

There's various bits of the S and D still visible.   Do you have motor
transport or are you reliant on public transport?   The Gartell Light
Railway runs on the S and D just south of Templecombe.

But the main thing is go to Bath.   Green Park station.   The various
bridges leading out from there that the S and D used to use.   Bath itself.
The Kennet and Avon.

While you're there and in industrial archaeology mode, you could see if
there are any interesting relics of the Somersetshire Coal Canal - including
the infamous Caisson Lock.

No significant remains of the Caisson Lock, I'm afraid. No-one is even
quite sure exactly where it was. See
http://www.coalcanal.org/features/Caisson/Caisson.htm

Midford has a wonderfully restored SCC aqueduct where the Radford
Branch left the main line. The Combe Hay locks are still very much in
evidence and worth exploring - one of those derelict waterway sites
where I was really surprised to see how much survived.

Its some distance away, but the old Sandford station site is now
largely converted into a retirement village under the management of
the Bristol-based St Monica Trust. The main station building is being
converted into a museum, lots of retirement apartments have been built
along with a community building, and a 'Care Home with Nursing' is
being operated as well as still having extra units (including a 30 bed
Nursing Home wing) built. So you could book your place for later...

In Shepton Mallet there is a rather nice garden (bear with me)
http://www.kilvercourt.com/ which (if you click on the link) you will find
contains an S and D viaduct.   Originally built as single track,
subsequently widened to double track and (never counted) maybe 10 arches.
Ask whether they've got any "specials" in pricing terms; last time we were
there it was something along the lines of pay to see the garden and get free
refreshments of some kind.

Of course there is always the East Somerset Railway at East Cranmore and the
Spa Valley Railway between Bristol and Bath.   Further away the West
Somerset and the Swanage Railways.   The ride from Frome or Castle Cary down
to Weymouth is nice and Weymouth itself has the tramway, old fishing quays,
a castle and access to Portland which has quarries and old railway
artifacts.

This might give you some ideas http://www.colliersway.co.uk/index.php

If the weather is bad you could visit Bookbarn in Farrington Gurney the
other side of Midsomer Norton.   All the railway books are together but
after that you're on your own and I would guess something like 3/4 of their
stock is not on display but their online search is at
http://www.look4abook.com/ so you can get in touch in advance and they'll
have things waiting for you to view.   Just watch their pricing - can be
rather odd (both for and against you).

In Bristol you've got the docks and http://www.ssgreatbritain.org/Home.aspx
amongst other things.

It's not open very often, but if you're ever in that part of the World
when it is open then Claverton pump is worth a visit.  I've been there
a couple of times.  It's about five miles walk from Bath along the K&A
towpath.

Wellow Station in the 70's was lived in by the artist Peter Blake, his
two children and his wife Jann Howarth. (Together Blake and Howarth
created the Sargeant Pepper album). They lived in the station, the
signal box was Howarth's studio. The whole property had an Alice in
wonderland theme to it (both artists at the time were involved with
the Brotherhood of Ruralists artist's group who were much influenced
by Victorian themes). The track between the platforms had been
converted, with sculptures, into the chess board from Alice.

Very little* of railway content but if you make it to the Pump the
American museum  also at Claverton is well worth a visit. The two
sites would make  a full day.

* There is an end vestible  and Veranda of an American coach in the
grounds carefully positoned so it looks like the rest of it is behind
a bush.  Shame they never got the funds for a whole one.
http://www.americanmuseum.org/
A perusal there will let you know if is the sort thing that might
interest you.

Sorry, I forgot to post the link to the pumping station:

http://www.claverton.org/

The other pumping station on the K&A, steam driven, is at Crofton, a
short walk from Bedwyn station:

http://www.croftonbeamengines.org/intro.html

I would definitely endorse the SS Great Britain. It is miraculous that
it has survived and now rests in the very dock in which it was built.
As a museum it is exemplary. Nearby, if you visit on the right day,
you can get a ride on the Bristol Harbour Railway
http://visitbristol.co.uk/site/things-to-do/events/bristol-harbour-train-rides-p
603013
.

In Bath there is the Museum of Bath at Work
http://www.bathatwork.co.uk/index.html
which I haven't yet visited, but which could probably provide a
refreshing contrast to the prevailing Jane Austen/Quality Street
image.