The month of June proved to be perhaps the busiest month for the Williton based DEPG Diesel locomotives for many a year as they supported the visitors during the Mixed Traffic Gala and then the Minehead-based Steam fleet for the rest of the month. For the Team at Williton the Gala proved to be a busy but enjoyable time as all our work in preparation for the event proved to be worthwhile. Class 33 D6566 looked stunning in her newly applied former British Railways “green” livery, a real credit to our painter Graham Perry. In fact there were scenes reminiscent of Kings Cross in recent days at Bishops Lydeard on the Friday morning where the last decals were fitted just in time before D6566 worked her first booked train of the Gala. (At Kings Cross, National Express East Coast fitted many former GNER Class 91 locomotives with decals following the transfer of the Train Operating Company to them).
Reliability in service of the diesel fleet during the three days only gave rise to concern on the Saturday when Class 42 “Warship” D832 “Onslaught” has to continue on one engine from Williton after our Class 47 D1661 “North Star” suffered a reverser problem that cleared itself as soon as D832 pulled away from Williton. Sadly D832 only got as far as Stogumber before she was stopped by the driver because her second engine was exhibiting signs of real distress. Declared a failure, D1661 was sent into section from Williton to assist by pushing D832 and her train through to Bishops Lydeard where she took over the “Warship” duties after D832 had been placed in the locomotive compound. Two down and one to go, as just after lunch we experienced our third failure of the Gala when 08643 suffered a brake failure after working the two morning Bishops Lydeard Shunter Shuttles. At first it looked like the afternoon shuttles would have to be cancelled but then D832 was declared serviceable again, albeit on one engine only, and so she was used to deputise for 08643 and a good time was had by all as the shuttles both operated with a full pay load of passengers.
Sadly our recreation of the double headed Class 25 hauled non-stop “Cambrain Coast Express” did not quite come off as we had to stop at Williton in order to carry out the token exchange safely because of the crowds of photographers on the down platform. The sight and sound of the two Class 25’s (D7523 and D7612) was worth the effort and the express ran full and standing, so great was the interest. The two Class 14 “Teddy Bears” also ran together for the three days and this partnership is proving popular with many of our visitors who are too young to have experienced Class 14 haulage on the West Somerset Railway in the early days.
Class 37 D6737 also proved to be a good choice from both a visitor and management viewpoint as this fine machine demonstrated time and again her mastery of the West Somerset hills. Perhaps we should look to acquire a Class 37 ourselves to partner our two other Type 3 diesel electric locomotives. Last but not least Class 20 20110 was used to work a Friday evening special from Bishops Lydeard to Crowcombe Heathfield to satisfy the wishes of the Type 1 enthusiast fraternity even though the locomotive arrived with a known air system problem. The train had a good complement of passengers who enjoyed the sound of the English Electric engine working hard on the climb to Crowcombe, a sight that was recorded by a good number of lineside photographers based on the many pictures that have appeared on various websites.
On the Saturday evening the DEPG organised a “Thank You” BBQ in the shed at Williton specially cleaned, dusted and painted for the occasion. Mine hosts were long-time member Paul Tucker and his wife Julie, who with help from friends and colleagues put on an excellent spread, and also were in charge of the BBQ. In total over 70 people attended and a good time was had by all as we were able to relax and socialise with visiting train crew and WSR colleagues and their respective partners. On behalf of all the guests I would like to thank Paul and Julie and their little team. Towards the end of the evening were joined by Anne and Adrian, mine hosts at the “Foresters Arms” in Williton who kindly look after so many WSR volunteers when we are working on the Railway. For the BBQ they kindly offered to cook the chicken pieces and the roast potatoes in the pub kitchen as our little Depot mess room cooker is not designed to tackle a job of that magnitude. If you are looking for a place to stay when visiting the Railway we can recommend the
“ Foresters Arms”, just mention our name and enjoy the WSR welcome.
After the Gala our diesel electrics, Class 25 D7523 and Class 33 D6566 have continued in scheduled passenger service, sharing the Minehead-based 1030 hrs. diagram in lieu of a steam locomotive. We have also had to use a diesel on the QB service and D1661 “North Star” had to be called upon to work the WSR Shareholders Special on June 28th to get the shareholders to the Company AGM held at Minehead. This daily intensive use of our diesel electrics comes at a price to the DEPG because although it earns the Group additional locomotive hire it puts extra strain on our limited support services at Williton Depot, which is only generally manned on a Saturday. To date the two locomotives have performed reliably although we havehad to partially reblock D6566 on the evening of June 28th and the following morning at Williton without the benefit of an underframe pit as none was available, not an easy task for those DEPG volunteers involved, to whom the WSR owes a debt of thanks in these current troubled times.
Sadly our Class 14 “Teddy Bear” D9526 failed to make it to Merehead Quarry for the Mendip Rail Open Weekend because she was found to have a fuel leak when John Antell went to load her on to his lorry on the Tuesday evening after the Mixed Traffic Gala. Quick action by John Antell and Dave Bosley, who was helping John, saved the day and the DEPG would like to formally record their thanks to both John and Dave because the locomotive had half a tank of fuel that could have ended up all over the yard at Bishops Lydeard. Graham Perry and I were called out to attend from Bristol and after making the temporary repair a little more secure our investigations around the locomotive revealed a large adjustable spanner that when offered to the locomotive fuel tank drain cock, just happened to fit nicely. That led us to believe someone might, just might, have been trying to extract some fuel. The next morning a more robust temporary repair was made so the locomotive could be towed home to Williton for attention where examination of the damaged components confirmed the failure was due to application of a force to the pipe rather than the effects of the rust worm. In repairing the damage our engineers have modified the pipework so no one can successfully extract fuel from that point in the future.
Finally, Williton Depot was visited by many during the three days of the Mixed Traffic Weekend who made generous donations to assist us in our work to preserve the diesel fleet and we thank them all for their generosity and support. We also recruited several new members including possibly two or three who will become working volunteers, so all our effort in helping to stage the Gala can be judged worthwhile. Thank you all for your support.
(John Cronin)