Rolling stock
A whole new meaning is given to the phrase "rolling stock" in this gravity siding. Not my original but a photo of one displayed at Maiden Newton Station, Dorset. No date is given.
Those who know a lot more about the operation of railways than myself may well be familiar with the concept of a "gravity siding". I certainly wasn't! So this is what I understand to be happening here.
Arriving from the direction of the bridge, the steam locomotive has already pulled the two carriages into the platform at the extreme left. Once the passengers have departed, the engine has then pushed the carriages up the slope of the siding to the left of the water tower. Once uncoupled, the loco has returned into the platform and subsequently moved out of the way to its present position. Under the control of the guard, the carriages are then rolled back down the incline to the platform so that the engine can rejoin the set for the return journey out of Maiden Newton Station.
The Maiden Newton to Bridport (and eventually West Bay) branch line ran for about 10 miles off the still operational Yeovil Pen Mill to Weymouth route. Remarkably it survived the infamous Beeching "axe" but eventually bit the dust some 10 years later in 1975. It is still easy to see various bridges along the branch line and some sections of trackbed though most are very heavily overgrown. By the way, that property is still also standing and occupied.
Rolling stock
A whole new meaning is given to the phrase "rolling stock" in this gravity siding. Not my original but a photo of one displayed at Maiden Newton Station, Dorset. No date is given.
Those who know a lot more about the operation of railways than myself may well be familiar with the concept of a "gravity siding". I certainly wasn't! So this is what I understand to be happening here.
Arriving from the direction of the bridge, the steam locomotive has already pulled the two carriages into the platform at the extreme left. Once the passengers have departed, the engine has then pushed the carriages up the slope of the siding to the left of the water tower. Once uncoupled, the loco has returned into the platform and subsequently moved out of the way to its present position. Under the control of the guard, the carriages are then rolled back down the incline to the platform so that the engine can rejoin the set for the return journey out of Maiden Newton Station.
The Maiden Newton to Bridport (and eventually West Bay) branch line ran for about 10 miles off the still operational Yeovil Pen Mill to Weymouth route. Remarkably it survived the infamous Beeching "axe" but eventually bit the dust some 10 years later in 1975. It is still easy to see various bridges along the branch line and some sections of trackbed though most are very heavily overgrown. By the way, that property is still also standing and occupied.