The West Somerset Steam Railway Trust is delighted that David Baker has agreed to return as a Trustee. David will work with the Board in particular on the safety Management documentation that needs to be in place for Trust activities both in its two museums and on carriage restoration and will also look after the…
The West Somerset Steam Railway Trust
Year: 2018
The West Somerset Steam Railway Trust has published its latest Newsletter. Issue No. 11 includes:Statement from the West Somerset Railway PLC Board (The Chairman, West Somerset Railway, PLC)Gauge Museum News; WSSRT Board of Trustees Meetings from April to November 2018 and Trustee Changes (WSSRT Board of Trustees)Membership Details and 2017-18 Financial Results (Don Fraser, Treasurer)Annual…
The Minutes of the Board Meeting held on 14 November 2018 have been published. A link can be found on the Documents page.
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Helen Anson as the new Learning Officer in support of the Gauge Museum HLF Project. Helen is an experienced primary school teacher who, in addition, has also got a background in heritage and historical Museum work. Helen will be joining the railway from the 10th December for…
Work continues apace on BCK 6705, with all of the compartments virtually completed now, (basically they just await carpeting), work recently has very much concentrated on the two toilets, the attached photograph shows the toilet at the third class end of the coach. The second photograph shows one of the third class compartments with the…
Pictures showing the progress on Collett BCK 6705 taken on Wednesday 17 October at Williton, a completed First and Third class compartment and the corridor.
At the Community Rail Awards in Glasgow on 4 October 2018, Steam Trust Chairman Chris Austin was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by ScotRail Managing Director Alex Hynes for his work on community rail and for building bridges between community and heritage railways. The awards are sponsored by the Association of Community Rail Partnerships…
The West Somerset Steam Railway Trust has been awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund Grant to improve and enhance the Gauge Museum at Bishops Lydeard station on the West Somerset Railway. The Trust is now looking to appoint a Learning Officer to develop and then implement the learning offer for schools and family visitors to the…
The West Somerset Railway Association and West Somerset Steam Railway Trust welcome the appointment of Jonathan Jones-Pratt as West Somerset Railway Plc Chairman on an acting basis, ending the hiatus and accompanying uncertainty since the departure of the previous WSR plc Chairman. We acknowledge his thanks for our past support and look forward to working…
The West Somerset Forties Weekend on the 15th and 16th of September brought a steady flow of visitors into the Trust’s Gauge Museum at Bishops Lydeard. They were keen to see the 1897 Sleeping Car and of course also visit the model railway Gauge Junction. The museum was visited by HM King George Vl and…
Chris Austin writes about the passing of Peter Barnfield: “Founding member of the Blue Anchor Railway Museum, Peter Barnfield, passed away on 15 August after a long illness. Peter and Ginny were pioneers with Pete Treharne in setting up the museum, which remains very much as he designed it. For many years Peter produced fantastic…
The draft minutes of the Trust Board’s meeting held on 16 July 2018 have been published.
A few pictures taken by Geoff Evens on the morning of Friday 3 August 2018 while preparing the Trust’s coaches, 9038 and 6705, for the Steam & Vintage Rally at Norton Fitzwarren on 4 and 5 August.
The Steam Trust’s GWR BCK no 6705 en route to Norton for the Rally, passing through Williton on 31 July 2018. Picture by Ronnie Wainhouse
Claire Sheppy writes: From Monday 6th August to Saturday 11th August, various staff and volunteers from the West Somerset Railway are going to be featured on Simon Parkin’s regular “Off Street Parkin” feature at approximately 11:45 AM on BBC Somerset radio. The features will be as follows: Interview with Paul Conibeare at approximately 10:45 AM…
The Trust’s GWR BCK no 6705 at Minehead on 31 July 2018, behind the flowers, on its way to Norton for this coming weekend’s Steam & Vintage Rally. © Ray Clack
West Somerset Steam Railway Trust project to relaunch the Gauge Museum at Bishops Lydeard wins Heritage Lottery Funding support. The West Somerset Steam Railway Trust is very pleased to announce that it has received a National Lottery grant of £40,000 for an exciting heritage project to relaunch the Gauge Museum at Bishops Lydeard station. Made…
Two compartments of the coach, one third class and one first have now been substantially completed and the lino was laid on their floors today. Third class compartment. Pic by volunteer carriage restorer Mike Jones. First class compartment. Pic by Chris Austin.
The Trust has heard this morning that its application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a £40,000 grant to re-launch the Gauge Museum and develop its educational activities has been approved. The Trust will be putting £20,000 of its own resources into the project. Chris Austin, Trust Chairman, said “We are naturally delighted that, after…
Geoff Evens writes: “The WSSRT was invited to the Dunkirk Memorial House WW1 Commemorative Event on Saturday 7 July 2018. Our message was linked to the use of ambulance trains during the conflict and the WSSRT Churchward Toplight TK 3639 that was built 1908 and converted to ambulance coach in 1916 and deployed to France….
A first glimpse of the inside of GWR Toplight no 3639, now being cleared and prepared for restoration. Note the original toplights still in situ and the characteristic diagonal floorboards as well as a compartment wall. A store of components, including a door,are on the floor. No 3639 served as an ambulance coach during the…
The Trust is looking for a new Treasurer to take over from Chris Bolt during the summer. The Trust has 75 members and we are principally dependent on subscriptions and donations to support our work in running the museums at Blue Anchor and Bishops Lydeard, and in restoring original Great Western carriages at Williton. The…
Issue 10 of the Steam Trust newsletter has now been published, with updates on the activities of the Trust in the first half of the year. See the Newsletters page for links to this and previous newsletters…
The Trust made an application last year to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a grant to support development of the Gauge Museum. Disappointingly, this was turned down; but we were encouraged to re-submit, and a revised application was submitted at the beginning of May. We should hear the outcome by early July. Over the winter,…
The new display at the Gauge Museum which reflects the theme of the forthcoming Diesel Gala – “Vintage Diesels to the seaside.” The superb model of D 832 and other items have been kindly loaned by DEPG. The display will remain until the end of June. Words and picture by Chris Austin
The Trust has published a Privacy Statement following the passage of the Data Protection Act 2018.
Two documents have recently been added to the Trust website: The Draft Minutes of the 2018 Annual General Meeting plus Question & Answer Session The Minutes of the recent Board Meeting on 28 April 2018
The papers for the 2018 AGM, to be held on 28 April at 1400, have now been circulated to members.
The Model Railway at the Gauge Museum, Bishops Lydeard Station will re-open on 17 March 2018 now that the winter engineering work is over. James Pearson testing circuits at the end of the work with Tom Donelly and Matt Jackson working with him. Pic by Alan Meade. A great shot of the test train…
The RAMS team have done a great job in enlarging the archive store in the Gauge Museum at Bishops Lydeard and fitting it out with shelving. A working party of museum volunteers put back the material yesterday (Friday) and started to prepare the museum for reopening next Saturday, 17th March. (Above) The new shelving with…
Work on the gauge Museum and the model railway will continue throughout February and into March and the museum will be closed to visitors during the half term week. The Museum will reopen on March 17th with the track repairs complete on the model railway and fresh displays in the museum reflecting the Gala theme…
Track removed on the Gauge Museum Model Railway to deal with voids below the ballast and to improve the alignment. Just like the real thing – the picture was taken on 6 January 2018, when the West of England Main Line was closed west of Exeter for engineering work! L to R – Geoff Evens,…
When the doors closed at the Steam Trust’s Gauge museum on December 31st, an all time record of 13,026 people had visited the model railway. The young and enthusiastic team had met their target and to do it had opened every operating day during December, which saw 1,751 visitors. Visitor feedback has been positive both…