The route refresher working arriving and departing at Blue Anchor Station, West Somerset Railway.
All the stations on the West Somerset Railway have their own and quite different personality and this proved to be the case at Blue Anchor, when I politely asked the signalman if it would be possible to come onto the station to take some pictures I was curtly told 'the station is closed' which to be fair is what the notices said on the crossing wicket gates. at any of the other maned stations on the line provided the normal and pandemic restrictions were observed being on the platforms was not a problem, with refreshments being served and money taken.
Like many heritage railways, The West Somerset Railway has been running a much-reduced service due to the Covid 19 pandemic and to facilitate the extension to Watchet, it was necessary to perform route refresher training for the drivers, guards, and secondmen that will be involved, so a special working took place on Friday 28th May using the Hawksworth-designed Taunton Inspector’s Observation Saloon W80976W with haulage provided by Class 33 ‘Crompton’ D6566 (33 048). For the outbound leg of the journey, D6566 was propelling the inspection saloon from the rear while towing three ‘Dogfish’ hopper wagons, which were deposited at the Dunster Permanent Way Depot. This route refresher working was repeated on Saturday 29th – but this time, without the hopper wagons.
The route refresher working arriving and departing at Blue Anchor Station, West Somerset Railway.
All the stations on the West Somerset Railway have their own and quite different personality and this proved to be the case at Blue Anchor, when I politely asked the signalman if it would be possible to come onto the station to take some pictures I was curtly told 'the station is closed' which to be fair is what the notices said on the crossing wicket gates. at any of the other maned stations on the line provided the normal and pandemic restrictions were observed being on the platforms was not a problem, with refreshments being served and money taken.
Like many heritage railways, The West Somerset Railway has been running a much-reduced service due to the Covid 19 pandemic and to facilitate the extension to Watchet, it was necessary to perform route refresher training for the drivers, guards, and secondmen that will be involved, so a special working took place on Friday 28th May using the Hawksworth-designed Taunton Inspector’s Observation Saloon W80976W with haulage provided by Class 33 ‘Crompton’ D6566 (33 048). For the outbound leg of the journey, D6566 was propelling the inspection saloon from the rear while towing three ‘Dogfish’ hopper wagons, which were deposited at the Dunster Permanent Way Depot. This route refresher working was repeated on Saturday 29th – but this time, without the hopper wagons.