| Over the passed few years I've collected pretty much every book with material relating to the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway. Presented on this page is a number of thumbnail images of published photographs of the area being modelled at Midford... I'm afraid you'll have to purchase the books to see the full size images! |
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The viaduct on he left carries the S&D route over the 53 yd long Midford Viaduct which took the line from Camerton over the Cam Brook. This then joins the Wellow Brook, the combined waters running under the line at the 66 yd long Frome Road Viaduct, before reaching the halt This was the location of the opening shot in"The Titfield Thunderbolt" film.
Frome To Bristol Including The Camerton Branch
M.T Tozer coll. |
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The tiny station at Midford, seen here on 2nd June 1962, consisted of simple wooden buildings which were clustered together on a ledge cut into the steep hillside above the picturesque valley. The station was four miles from Bath and marked the end of the single line section, which became double track just before the southern end of the viaduct. The 16-lever signal box at Midford, which controlled entry onto the single line section to Bath, was one of the key boxes on the S&D route. There are various stories of "misses" when locomotives were attempting to pick up the tablet from the Whitaker tablet-exchange apparatus, with the result that the tablet landed on the roof of adjacent Hope & Anchor public house or in nearby gardens. On at least two occasions it was, apparently, lost without trace.
Somerset And Dorset Steam Finale
Roy Denison |
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A Bath to Templecombe stopping train, hauled by Class 4F 0-6-0 No.44557, steams across Midford viaduct in 1961. The train comprises a Southern Region Maunsell-designed three-coach set in carmine and cream livery. No.44557 was built for the S&D by Armstrong Whitworth Co. in 1922, and was allocated to Templecombe shed at the time of the photograph.
Somerset And Dorset Steam Finale
R. E. Toop |
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Ex SDJR 2-8-0 No.53809 (the engine involved in the Combe Down Tunnel runaway incident crosses the eight arch Midford viaduct with a Bournemouth West - Derby empty stock train, 11th July 1960. Note the trackbed of the ex GWR Camerton - Limpley Stoke line to the right of the locomotive. No.53809 was rescued from Barry scrapyard by the late Frank Beaumont. It has been restored and has done some main line running over BR in recent years, currently being at Butterley, Derbyshire.
The Colour Of Steam Vol. 2 - The Somerset & Dorset Line
R. C. Riley |
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The late Signalman Percy Savage, a kind and dedicated railwayman, puts ready for action the tablet exchanging apparatus patented by Alfred Whitaker in 1905, during his 1889-1911 period as Locomotive Superintendent of the Joint Line.
Midford signal box had been rebuilt after partial demolition by errant 3F 0-6-0T No.7620 in 1936, due to the crew having failed to close the regulator and leaping from their engine to protect themselves from a collision that seemed inevitable but did not actually take place at Writhlington Colliery Sidings, near Radstock. The rebuilt Midford signal box was maintained immaculately right to the closure of the line.
The Colour Of Steam Vol. 2 - The Somerset & Dorset Line
R. C. Riley |
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Class 4F 0-6-0 No.44523 assists ex SDJR 2-8-0 No.53801 on entry to the double line section at Midford with the 9.8am Birmingham-Bournemouth West, 5th September 1959. Although at this time Class 2p 4-4-0s were the regular assistant engines, Class 4F 0-6-0s were pressed in to service at times of heavy traffic. The powerful freight 2-8-0s did not appear on passenger trains until the 1950s when there were allowed to take ten coaches unaided over the Mendip Hills,
The Colour Of Steam Vol. 2 - The Somerset & Dorset Line
R. C. Riley |
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A visit to Midford on 22nd October 1967 was to prove very timely for track removal gangs were to reach the station by the first week in December. Were it not for the film of rust evident on the rails in this signal top view there is little to indicate that this is not a working railway. However, soon it would go the way of the Camerton branch whose remains can be seen passing under the viaduct in the foreground.
Sabotaged & Defeated - Last Rites on the Somerset & Dorset
Jeffery Grayer
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The gaunt shell of Midford box stands in October 1967 whilst the station building has already suffered at the hands of the demolition gangs whose bottles of propane gas can be seen at the platform end. The tablet catching appartus leans drunkenly against the wall of the box.
Sabotaged & Defeated - Last Rites on the Somerset & Dorset
Jeffery Grayer
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No doubt Percy Savage and Harry Wiltshire, the two long serving signalmen at Midford, would turn in their graves to see the state of their once immaculately kept box. The rusting levers stand silent witness to the impending destruction although fortunately the interior of the box has been lovingly recreated at Washford on the West Somerset Railway.
Sabotaged & Defeated - Last Rites on the Somerset & Dorset
Jeffery Grayer
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Bristol
Temple Meads 
