Вест-Сомерсетская железная дорога: История и современность

Heritage railway line in Somerset, England

The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a 22.75 mile (37 km) heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset Council. The railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc), which is supported and minority owned by the West Somerset Railway Association (WSRA) charitable trust and the West Somerset Railway Heritage Trust (WSRHT). WSR operates services using both heritage steam and diesel trains. It originally opened in 1862 between Taunton and Watchet. In 1874 it was extended from Watchet to Minehead by the Minehead Railway. Although just a single line, improvements were needed in the first half of the twentieth century to accommodate the significant number of tourists that wished to travel to the Somerset coast. The line was closed by British Rail in 1971 and reopened in 1976 as a heritage line. It is the longest standard gauge independent heritage railway in the United Kingdom. Services normally operate over just the 20.5 mile (33 km) between Minehead and Bishops Lydeard. During special events some trains continue a further to Norton Fitzwarren where a connection to Network Rail allows occasional through trains to operate onto the national network.

In 1845, when the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) had recently completed its main line, there were proposals for a number of different and competitive railway schemes in west Somerset. A Bristol and English Channels Direct Junction Railway was proposed as a link from Watchet through Stogumber and Bishops Lydeard to Bridport on the south coast, which would be an alternative to ships taking a long and dangerous passage around Land's End. This prompted the promotion of a connecting line from Williton to Minehead and Porlock, a line designed to attract tourists to Exmoor. Shortly afterwards, a Bristol and English Channels Connection Railway was suggested from Stolford to Bridport which would have passed through the Quantock Hills near Crowcombe. Alternatively, the Bridgwater and Minehead Junction Railway would link with the B&ER at Bridgwater and run through Williton to Minehead with a branch to Watchet and a connecting Minehead and Central Devon Junction Railway would provide a line to Exeter. An alternative link to South Devon was proposed by the Exeter, Tiverton and Minehead Direct Railway through Dunster and offered an extension to Ilfracombe.

The West Somerset Mineral Railway (WSMR) was intended to link the iron ore mines of the Brendon Hills with the harbour at Watchet. In 1856, before it was even opened, it was suggested that the WSMR should be extended to Minehead instead of the WSR and an Act of Parliament for this work was passed on 27 July 1857 but it was never constructed. Instead, an Act for a new Minehead Railway was passed on 5 July 1865 to build a line from the WSR at Watchet to Minehead. This again failed to be built but a renewed Minehead Railway Act of 29 June 1871 finally saw the construction begin the following year.

On 1 January 1876, the B&ER was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway (GWR). In 1936, the GWR's chairman, Sir Robert Horne, opened the new £20,000 open air swimming pool at Minehead.

The GWR was nationalised, becoming the Western Region of British Railways on 1 January 1948. Camp coaches made a reappearance in 1952 and were available to the public at both Stogumber and Blue Anchor from 1952 to 1964; the latter were kept on for British Rail staff holidays until 1970. However, Washford signal box was closed in 1952 and Minehead engine shed was closed in 1956. Norton Fitzwarren station closed on 30 October 1961, after which passengers once again had to travel through to Taunton to change onto trains travelling west. Despite the opening of a Butlins holiday camp at Minehead in 1962 which brought some 30,000 people to the town that year, the line was recommended for closure in the 1963 Reshaping of British Railways report. Goods traffic was withdrawn from Stogumber on 17 August 1963 and from the other stations on 6 July 1964 after which British Rail transported any goods traffic by road from Taunton. The Beatles visited the branch on 2 March 1964 to film part of A Hard Day's Night. They shot a short scene at Crowcombe Heathfield in which Ringo Starr and George Harrison cycle on the platform alongside the train. The train originated at London Paddington and eventually arrived at Minehead where a large crowd of admirers gathered to see the Fab Four. Minehead signal box was closed on 27 March 1966 after which the two tracks between there and Dunster were operated as two bi directional single lines, one to each platform. In 1975, after Butlins Minehead holiday camp decided to modernise and refurbish, it was proposed to extract LMS Princess Coronation Class 6229 Duchess of Hamilton, purchased by Billy Butlin in 1966 along with LB&SCR A1 class Knowle (transported out by road), under an offer made by British Railways. This required a full time two week incursion of a permanent way team to clear the line pathway, before BR Class 25 diesel No.25 059 and a BR brakevan could make a traverse in March 1975. The trackwork of the run round loop of No.1 platform was removed from the upline at Minehead, to allow transporter Pickfords to make a suitable railhead connection to enable release of No.6229 Duchess of Hamilton.

On 5 February 1971, a Minehead Railway Preservation Society organised a meeting in Taunton and a working party headed by Douglas Fear, a local businessman, was tasked with investigating how the line could be reopened as a privately owned railway. In May, a new West Somerset Railway Company was formed to acquire the line and operate a year round commuter service from Minehead to Taunton alongside which a limited summer steam service could also run. A deal was agreed with British Rail to purchase the line with the support of Somerset County Council, however the council was wary of the lucrative Minehead station site falling into private hands should the railway fail. Instead, it purchased the line itself in 1973 and leased back the operational land to the West Somerset Railway Company plc. and a ballast reclamation depot opened there in 2006. In 2008, a new turntable was brought into use at Minehead. A new station opened on 1 August 2009 at Norton Fitzwarren on a new site a short distance north of the main line. During 2007 a regular service ran from Minehead to Taunton and Bristol Temple Meads on a couple of days each week. Known as the Minehead Express, it was aimed at holidaymakers travelling to Butlins at Minehead. It left Minehead at 11:10 and Bristol at 14:06 with Victa Westlink's s 31452 and 31454 powering the five coaches. 31128 was available as a spare locomotive but was not used on the service trains. The first of these trains ran on 20 July and operated on a total of 18 days, finishing on 27 August. Whilst the freehold of the line continues to be owned by Somerset County Council, during 2013 it was announced that both the WSRA and the WSR plc had approached the county council about the possibility of purchasing the freehold of the line. The council made the decision in late May 2014 not to sell the freehold after all. A May 2018 county transport strategy acknowledged that there were plans to reintroduce services between Taunton and Minehead. Following an inspection by the Office of Rail and Road in 2018, it was announced that the railway would close from 2 January 2019, and would reopen on 1 April. The inspection found that several safety improvements needed to be made. The line was suggested in 2019 by Campaign for a Better Transport as a 'priority 2' candidate for reopening as part of the national network.

The route is described from Minehead towards Taunton. Features are described as being on the left or right of the line for passengers facing this direction of travel, therefore the right side of the train is generally on the south or west of the line. On the railway this is known as the 'up' direction.

Although the railway is operated by the West Somerset Railway Company (WSR plc) based at Minehead, it is supported by a number of voluntary and charitable organisations. The West Somerset Railway Association (WSRA) was formed alongside the WSR plc in 1971, to reopen the line. Based at Bishops Lydeard, it is a major shareholder of the plc. It has workshops at Williton and owns two locomotives (4500 Class 4561 and Manor Class No.7821 Ditcheat Manor) and shares in others. It also owns the Quantock Belle dining train and Hawksworth Saloon which operate on the line. The West Somerset Railway Heritage Trust (WSRHT) (until 2021 named the West Somerset Steam Railway Trust) was set up in 1972 to operate the summer steam trains alongside the West Somerset Railway plc's commuter service. It had little to do once the railway became a purely seasonal heritage line but, in 1984 to coincide with the GW150 celebrations, was revived for education and historical research into the Minehead branch, and now has a small museum at Blue Anchor. The Trust's restored GWR sleeping carriage is on display in the Gauge Museum at Bishops Lydeard, and the Trust is presently restoring a GWR 'Toplight' coach which will be the first in a set of historic coaches on the West Somerset Railway. The Diesel and Electric Preservation Group (DEPG) is based at Williton, where they use the old goods shed and a newer building as workshops for their fleet of five ex Western Region diesel locomotives: Class 14 9526; Class 35s 7017 and 7018; Class 47 1661; and Class 52 1010. Williton is also the base for a number of privately owned locomotives which are maintained by the DEPG.

The Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust (S&DRT) was formerly based at , While Washford was under their custodianship, the Trust developed a workshop and yard, where they restored a number of former S&DJR goods wagons and coaches, as well as "Kilmersdon", a Peckett 0 4 0ST locomotive. The associated museum featured a signalling display based around the small signal box from Burnham on Sea. In 2020 the Trust's agreement with the WSR was terminated and slowly the Trust's collection has been relocated to various sites including the Watercress Line and the Avon Valley Railway.