Disused Railway Line At Glastonbury Festival

[RichmondCommu]

Hi everyone,

From memory a disused railway line runs through the Glastonbury festival site. I'm guessing that it was the line that ran from Evercreech Jct to Glastonbury. If so does anyone have any information on the line?

Thanks for reading this.

 

[yorksrob]

Sir John Betjamin did an excellent documentary called "Imagine, A Branch Line Railway" which takes an enjoyable trip along the route from Evercreech Junction to Burnham on Sea. Might be on BBC iplayer under documentaries.

 

[GusB]

Sir John Betjamin did an excellent documentary called "Imagine, A Branch Line Railway" which takes an enjoyable trip along the route from Evercreech Junction to Burnham on Sea. Might be on BBC iplayer under documentaries.

Thanks for the reminder - I've seen this already, but I wouldn't mind watching it again. It is still on iplayer:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03495yn/lets-imagine-a-branch-line-railway-with-john-betjeman

 

[Taunton]

Am I the only one here who rode on it? I see I've mentioned this before. 412xx and two non-corridors, couple of years before it closed. Taunton to Highbridge, change, thence to Evercreech Jc and back one Saturday.

https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...ealistic-prospects.148686/page-2#post-3847291

The main central path through the Glastonbury site is actually along the old trackbed. The site is actually quite some way from Glastonbury - it's nearer Evercreech.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.151...k-no-pi0-ya8.262781-ro-0-fo100!7i10240!8i5120

Much as I've obviously been around for a while, I've still got it on my bucket list to actually Do Glastonbury one year.

 

[DelW]

Just to be pedantic, the line through the festival site was originally built by the Somerset Central as part of its extension eastwards to meet the Dorset Central and form the original, "main" line of the Somerset & Dorset, which then ran from Burnham on Sea to Wimborne and Broadstone (near Poole). It only became a branch line when the S&D subsequently extended north to Bath, which route then became its main line.

 

[Taunton]

Indeed. The admin offices of the S&D were at Glastonbury and the main works at Highbridge (where they even built a couple of locos). The Radstock accident on the main line in 1876 was caused by confusion in morse telegraph messages between the various single line signalboxes and the superintendent in the Glastonbury office who issued all the instructions for trains to cross on the single line.

Apparently however from the top floor of the office, at Glastonbury station (which like so many Somerset stations was nowhere near the town centre), it was possible with a telescope to see the steam cloud of trains on the main line, quite some miles to the east, climbing the 1 in 50 gradient from Evercreech Junction up the shoulder of The Mendips to Evercreech village and Shepton Mallet.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Thanks for the many responses. Was the line single or double track?

I attended the festival on several occasions during the 1980s and have happy albeit hazy memories of walking along the railway track.

 

[Taunton]

I'll just correct about that telescope view of Evercreech bank - it wasn't from the Glastonbury office (from where the view eastwards is obscured by The Tor) but from Highbridge Works - double the distance. The loco superintendent apparently used to look on a clear day to see The Pines go up.

The branch was single track, passing loops at the main stations. I think every station along it was in the middle of nowhere, even Glastonbury and Highbridge were the furthest out buildings of their places, all the others, including Evercreech Jc, were surrounded by fields.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

A photo taken of the trackbed on 28th Sept 2019...my partner volunteers every year at Glastonbury with the FMS crew (medics) and went on their annual bash to the (empty) site this year and took a pic of the trackbed. Upon interrogation she revealed that it was taken near the Glade looking towards Avalon (for those who might understand Festival terminology), for those interested in the railway I think it is looking south-east towards West pennard and Evercreech Junction.

 

[John Webb]

Several images from the Geograph website (click on photos to go to the larger originals):

Glastonbury and Street Railway Station

© Copyright David Hillas and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Former offices of the Somerset and Dorset railway

© Copyright Richard Bird and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Dye House Crossing

© Copyright Bill Nicholls and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

 

[Taunton]

Here's John Betjeman travelling on the line in the early 1960s. The stretch across the Festival site is around the 3:00 to 4:00 minute mark.

At 7:00 : "The villages are a long way from the stations". You can say that again ...

 

[Calthrop]

Am I the only one here who rode on it? I see I've mentioned this before. 412xx and two non-corridors, couple of years before it closed. Taunton to Highbridge, change, thence to Evercreech Jc and back one Saturday.

I did the line in August 1965, just over six moths before closure. My only visit to the S & D: a day on the system (allowing only the parts north of Templecombe) during a week's West-of-England railrover; my only day of steam haulage, in same. 412xx likewise, hauling a brake-composite coach and a general utility van. Travelled with this consist, one direction; ran Templecombe -- Evercreech Jun., then after a pause, on to Highbridge. I had a compartment to myself: wasn't the only passenger, but there were few others.

Much as I've obviously been around for a while, I've still got it on my bucket list to actually Do Glastonbury one year.

Taking it that you mean the festival -- I'll admit that that's something which I would run a mile from; but I'm a miserable sod who do not "do" music of any kind.

 

[Taunton]

The branch trains commonly ran to/from Templecombe, because that is where the loco shed was, although often shown in the timetable as separate local trains.

David St John Thomas, writing the first of the long-established "Regional History of Railways" books, about the West Country, stated in the opening that back in 1952 he went on the last train from Bridgwater, a twig to the line, and at the junction point at Edington both the Highbridge to Evercreech and vv trains it connected with there were completely empty. It wasn't a recent thing that the line had lost all relevance.

 

[Calthrop]

I've always had a fancy for the S & D's Bridgwater branch, since reading (late-1950s Christmas present) O.S. Nock's book on British branch lines -- in his writing therein about the S & D, a brief glancing reference concerning the remoteness of Edington Junction, "where the subsidiary branch to Bridgwater heads off to the south-west". (That line's 1952 closure not mentioned there -- lack of editing re new editions, or whatever?) What with the Bridgwater branch, and the Glastonbury -- Wells one, closed the previous year; I envisaged this part of the S & D as, "in the good times", endowed with a wealth of enchanting "branchlets". What with those; and some comparable GWR ones nearby; and one has to wonder somewhat, about the Weston, Clevedon & Portishead -- north and east Somerset would appear to have been supplied to more than the average extent with rural lines which -- though delectable -- showed up as pretty-much useless, as soon as the motor age dawned.

 

[Taunton]

one has to wonder somewhat, about the Weston, Clevedon & Portishead

Elderly lady : "Stationmaster, your porter has been appallingly rude to me"
Weston GWR stationmaster : "Madam, that doesn't sound like old Jim at all, I'll go and speak to him".

Stationmaster : "Whatever did you say to the old lady"
Old Jim : "Well sir, only that she came to me and said she'd missed our train to Bristol, connecting to Portishead, and what should she do. So I said to her, of course, 'Well madam, you should go to the WC&P …' ".

 

[Calthrop]

Ah, the WC&P tale -- that's an evergreen gem.

Puts me in mind of another (non-railway) "funny" from roughly the same era -- see the "Forum Jokes" thread in "General Discussion".

 

[Taunton]

Here's John Betjeman travelling on the line in the early 1960s...

There's a further YouTube old TV programme about the line, made 1980, which interleaves clips from the JB programme with walks along the line. Cockmill Crossing, at the 8:00 minute mark, is in the festival site,

and to round out, a BBC interview with festival organiser Michael Eavis himself talking about the line

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03brbbq

 

[randyrippley]

I've always had a fancy for the S & D's Bridgwater branch, since reading (late-1950s Christmas present) O.S. Nock's book on British branch lines -- in his writing therein about the S & D, a brief glancing reference concerning the remoteness of Edington Junction, "where the subsidiary branch to Bridgwater heads off to the south-west". (That line's 1952 closure not mentioned there -- lack of editing re new editions, or whatever?) What with the Bridgwater branch, and the Glastonbury -- Wells one, closed the previous year; I envisaged this part of the S & D as, "in the good times", endowed with a wealth of enchanting "branchlets". What with those; and some comparable GWR ones nearby; and one has to wonder somewhat, about the Weston, Clevedon & Portishead -- north and east Somerset would appear to have been supplied to more than the average extent with rural lines which -- though delectable -- showed up as pretty-much useless, as soon as the motor age dawned.

You have to remember why many of those lines were built: to support the Somerset coal field, the quarrying industry, the peat industry, and links to ports at Burnham and Bridgwater for Welsh coal and agriculture. Passengers were an extra.
The problem for the S&D was the Welsh shipping never developed due to other railways being built, and Bridgwater Bay silting up making the ports difficult to use. The GWR branches survived as long as the coal survived

 

[yorksrob]

I've always had a fancy for the S & D's Bridgwater branch, since reading (late-1950s Christmas present) O.S. Nock's book on British branch lines -- in his writing therein about the S & D, a brief glancing reference concerning the remoteness of Edington Junction, "where the subsidiary branch to Bridgwater heads off to the south-west". (That line's 1952 closure not mentioned there -- lack of editing re new editions, or whatever?) What with the Bridgwater branch, and the Glastonbury -- Wells one, closed the previous year; I envisaged this part of the S & D as, "in the good times", endowed with a wealth of enchanting "branchlets". What with those; and some comparable GWR ones nearby; and one has to wonder somewhat, about the Weston, Clevedon & Portishead -- north and east Somerset would appear to have been supplied to more than the average extent with rural lines which -- though delectable -- showed up as pretty-much useless, as soon as the motor age dawned.

I recall reading on here that Clevedon was pretty marginal at the time of closure and could have scraped over the line had circumstances been slightly different.

Thanks for the reminder - I've seen this already, but I wouldn't mind watching it again. It is still on iplayer:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03495yn/lets-imagine-a-branch-line-railway-with-john-betjeman

I had it on a BBC VHS cassette as a youth

 

[Calthrop]

I recall reading on here that Clevedon was pretty marginal at the time of closure and could have scraped over the line had circumstances been slightly different.

In principle, I regret that things didn't go the other way, with this branch maybe still with us today. I travelled on the Clevedon branch in 1965: per my gut feeling, it was the totally dullest rural branch line that I've ever come across anywhere -- nothing about it en route, of any note or interest; purely re personal preference, one which it's hard to miss a great deal. I seem to recall reading that at one point on the branch, there was a road-over-rail bridge which incorporated a Royal Mail post-box: obviously, not visible from rail-level.

 

[yorksrob]

In principle, I regret that things didn't go the other way, with this branch maybe still with us today. I travelled on the Clevedon branch in 1965: per my gut feeling, it was the totally dullest rural branch line that I've ever come across anywhere -- nothing about it en route, of any note or interest; purely re personal preference, one which it's hard to miss a great deal. I seem to recall reading that at one point on the branch, there was a road-over-rail bridge which incorporated a Royal Mail post-box: obviously, not visible from rail-level.

I think the dullness of the branch (lack of exciting viaducts etc) might have led to the maintenance costs being low. Clevedon looks nice on streetview though !