A weekend around the Mendips, (Day 1).
Bristol, Bath, East Somerset Railway, Midsomer Norton and Westbury. Friday 8th June, Saturday 9th June 2018.
A long weekend around the Mendip Hills. My son Lee had bought me a Steam Train Ride Gift Experience for Christmas and since he now resides in the Home Counties, we`d arranged to meet up in Bath on the Saturday. I`d chosen a day on the East Somerset Railway,
t was the only one in the options that I`d not travelled on, although I had visited the site back in the late David Shepherds era. I travelled down from Manchester on Friday night after work, by Cross Country service, changing at Bristol Temple Meads for a Bath GWR service, and arriving into Bath just before 22.00. I stay for two nights in the Bath Backpackers, ideal for the railway station and not too bad an accommodation as far as hostels go.
On changing trains at Bristol, I couldn’t help but notice the influx of Azuma 800`s now taking over, although there were still plenty of HST around, for the moment at least. I slept well the first night and was up showered and out by 06.00. I initially made my way to Bath Green Park the former S & D railway station, now lovingly restored thanks to Sainsbury`s, the last time I photographed this magnificent building was in the 1980`s on slide film, so it was nice to catch up and get a few updated photographs.
I returned to Bath town centre for breakfast in a local café and then spent an hour on Bath Spa railway station and by luck just in time to see Black 5 45212 pass through the station with its support coach. Lee and his partner were staying in a village out towards Wells, what they call Glamping, (I`ll explain later). I met them just after 09.00 and jumped in the car with them for our trip to the East Somerset Railway at Cranmore.
It didn’t take us long to drive down there and the weather was glorious, (LMS) Ivatt Class 2MT, 2-6-0 46447 was operating on the day. I`ve always been a great Ivatt and later Riddles fan, such a uniquely designed loco. I had a few trips up and down the line and was impressed how far the railway had now extended, it still has a mainline connection and runs as far as Mendip Vale, from Cranmore, with intermediate stations at Cranmore West, and Merrifield Lane a distance of 2.5 mile, although it seems much longer.
The station at Cranmore is well preserved and has an excellent giftshop and café, while visitors can also explore the engine sheds and workshops located at Cranmore West. I was well behaved and didn’t buy anymore railway books although I did spend £62 on fridge magnets, they had a full collection of S & D totem signs, so I had no chance.
We had an excellent visit and my son later drove me over to see his accommodation for the weekend, his Glamping tent. It was set in a campsite at Priddy, the Moor View Luxury Canvas Camping, with a Barrington Bell Tent complete with a double bed, fire built into the tent, hammock and all the cooking facilities. It looked quite good for the weekend actually and I stayed and had a few local ales with them.
They later dropped me off near Chilcompton, as I`d heard a group were trying to revive the old station site, but I was unable to find it, I then walked down the former Somerset and Dorset track-bed to the Southern portals of Chilcompton Tunnels, but I had to divert back to the road to walk into Midsomer Norton, my next port of call.
Midsomer Norton is home to the Somerset and Dorset Heritage Railway, quite a remarkable site with a new extension in the making towards Chilcompton cutting and tunnels. I managed to talk to a few of the volunteers on site but the railway wasn’t operating on my visit, but I will return. In the yard was the Sentinel vertical -boiled locomotive in LMS livery, it looked absolutely amazing. Definitely a place worth visiting if you are in the region.
I later walked into Midsomer Norton village centre, a lovely locality and took tea in a high street café before returning by bus to Bath. I decided at this point to take a train out to Westbury, always had been a good freight location and I wasn’t disappointed with plenty of action from class 66`s and 70`s on the Saturday evening.
I returned to the Bath Backpackers as the light was fading, it had been a very eventful day and nice to catch up with the family down there.
Friday Evening Bristol Temple Meads
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East Somerset Railway
https://eastsomersetrailway.com/
Somerset and Dorset Heritage Railway
https://www.sdjr.co.uk/
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