• A Day for New Volunteers...
				Have you ever thought about becoming a volunteer on the Railway, but are not quite sure how to go about it. If so, read on. Usually twice a year, the West Somerset Railway Association holds a "New Volunteers Day", where prospective new recruits are invited to spend a day on the line – where they are introduced to key personnel, given a guided tour of the line and have the chance of learning more about the voluntary opportunities and what is involved. The next New Volunteers’ Day will be held on Sunday 9 April. Please e-mail the WSRA to receive full details of the programme for the day. 23 January 2006  Details from WSRA
				• Spring Steam Gala Timetables...
				The timetables for the Spring Steam Gala have now been finalised. There are two principal timetables – one in operation on the Preview Day (Friday 17 March) and Thursday 23 March, and the other on Friday 24 March and the weekends. The Railway’s full Gala timetable – featuring an intensive passenger service between 7.45am and 7.45pm on Saturdays – will be in operation on both weekends, thus dispelling the myth that the second weekend will be more important than the first. Together, the timetables feature no less than 2,800 miles of steam on scheduled passenger services over the course of the event, the most intensive timetable operated by the WSR at any special event – this excludes main line charter, goods and any light engine moves. All trains will, of course, be steam hauled. There will be many interesting features and loco combinations over the course of the Gala. At "Templecombe" (Bishops Lydeard), for example, certain trains for "Bournemouth West" (Minehead) will initially head south from the station with a loco at each end of the train, where the train will reverse, the rear loco detached, and the train then running non-stop back through the station to continue its journey to "Bournemouth" – shades of S&D train operation at Templecombe in times gone by. 26 January 2006  Details from SEPT
				• Double line goes in again...
				Double track will again be in place on the Dunster to Minehead formation. Not quite what it seems however. The Railway's Permanent Way Team have started preparing to install a point just on the Minehead side of Dunster West Level Crossing. The point will lead to a long siding laid on the former Up line trackbed thus recreating, to some extent, the scene in GWR and BR days when double track extended from Dunster to Minehead. The new siding will ease congestion for vehicle storage space elsewhere. 30 January 2006  Details from WSR Plc
				• Crompton in for beauty treatment...
				Crompton diesel-electric no 33057 has been moved into the loco compaound at Bishops Lydeard. A dedicated team are starting to get the loco looking respectable again, but its going to be a long job, and a few more willing hands would not go amiss. Full details of working parties and times available from by email. So far, one of the solebars has been cleaned of rust and lose material and primed with red oxide paint; missing windows have been replaced; the cabs have been swept out of all debris and general mess accrued from being stored for six years. However there is plenty more to do. A complete body clean, rub down and repaint is needed first. The loco will be painted in to early BR green with small yellow ends to depict a 1960s example. 30 January 2006  Details from local correspondent
				• Forthcoming Taunton Group Meeting...
				The next meeting of the WSRA Taunton Group will be Monday 6 February at 7.45pm at the GWRSA by Taunton Station. The speaker will be Mike Squire, a WSRA member from the Midlands, who will speak on the highly impressive and surprisingly atmospheric topic "North American Steam". For the following meeting, we shall have local member Quentin Hawkes to give a talk entitled "Freight and Steam North and South" on Monday 6 March. 30 January 2006  Details from WSRA
				• Cutting Back in February...
				The Gang will be back at Kingswood over the weekend of 11-12 February to continue cutting back toward Stogumber - the planned return to Sampford Brett has been delayed for work to continue at Kingswood and to allow cable laying at Sampford Brett. A Log Train will run on Sunday 26 February 26 from Bishops Lydeard to Kingswood and back to collect the logs lying there. Depart Bishops Lydeard at 10am and return to offload, finishing about 4pm. Contact the Gang by email. 28 January 2006  Details from WSRA Cutting Back Gang
				• The Railway gears up for arrival of No 3850...
				Dinmore Manor - the loco - has now returned to Minehead from Williton. Meanwhile, the tender that has paired the ex-BR(W) 4-6-0 no 7820 has been moved to Bishops Lydeard in readiness for pairing with a new partner, GWR 2-8-0 no 3850 - which is nearing the end of restoration at Tyseley in Birmingham. The eagerly-anticipated arrival of the heavy goods locomotive expected on 2-3 February. 26 January 2006  Details from WSR Plc and local correspondent
				• Derek Portman...
				The Railway sadly reports the death of Derek Portman, who died at the age of 79 at his home in Portishead towards the end of 2005 after losing a battle against cancer. Derek became Chairman of the West Somerset Railway plc in 1981, when the Railway was on the brink of closure, having accumulated losses of £185,000 and debts of £33,000. He was very much the man of the moment, stepping into the breach and putting together a rescue package, and then succeeding in selling it to creditors and shareholders alike. Indeed, without Derek’s excellent business sense and experience, and his courage in taking unpopular decisions, it is true to say that the WSR may well have never survived. Although he retired in 1983 for personal reasons, Derek maintained contact with the Railway and regularly attended the Company’s Annual General Meeting. 23 January 2006  Details from WSRA and WSR Plc
				• Steam Engineman Courses...
				Barely into the new year and the order book for the popular Steam Engineman Courses is already half full. There are a range of courses starting with the half-day loco-only "Taster" followed by a range of courses which will cover just about every aspect of preparing, firing and driving a steam railway locomotive. Participants get to actually drive the loco with, on courses one to four, goods or passenger stock in tow, along a section or all of the longest heritage railway in Britain. More information... 21 January 2006  Details from WSR Plc
				• Photographic exhibition...
				Starting on Saturday 18 March and for the next three weeks, two well-known WSR photographers will be showing their railway pictures at an exhibition at the Crescent Gallery in Taunton. The top-quality photographs by Malc Stacey and Don Bishop will be for sale . The Crescent Gallery can be found at 9 Bath Place in Taunton. The event coincides nicely with the Spring Steam Gala. 20 January 2006  Details from Malc Stacey
				• No 73129 is added to the line-up...
				Another classic steam locomotive has been added to the list of engines appearing at the Spring Steam Gala 17-19, 23-26 March 2006. BR Standard Class 5 4-6-0 no 73129 - representing a type of engine seen in the last few years of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway - has been added to the S&DJR-themed line up. That's nine so far - with another being sought! Those planning their visit may care to note that both extended weekends will have all of the locos working at some point - the only difference is No 34067 arrives on railtour on 18 March - on an equal number of trains - so each weekend is as good as the other! More about the Spring Steam Gala... 13 January 2006  Details from WSR Plc
				• Photo competition results...
				The competition attracted around 40 railway prints and 25 non-railway prints but slide entries were down on previous years with 13 and 6 entries respectively. After deliberation by those present, Don Bishop scored highly, not only in his railway material, but also, sweeping the board with his non-railway prints, with a series of excellent 'moody' shots on the Somerset levels, especially in the floods. In the railway class, Malc Stacey's study of GWR 0-4-2T no 1450 took second place, whilst third-placed was Peter Darke's shot of the West Highland Steam Charter on 8 October with 45407 at Loch nan Uamh, near Arisaig. Well done! Click the thumbnails below for the bigger picture... The Winner Runner-up Third-placed 10 January 2006  Details from WSRA
				• FOMS fundraising...
				The winning tickets for the Friends of Minehead Station Grand Winter Draw were drawn by Mark Smith, watched by FOMS Chairman Hein Burger, on 4 January. For the second year running the Draw was in aid of the Small Canopy refurbishment, work on which started this week. The work is being carried out by the contractors Bluestone, who refurbished the Main Canopy last winter, winning an award for their work, at a cost of around £33000 all of which will be funded by FOMS and is due to be completed by the middle of February when the half term trains run from Minehead to Williton. When this is completed (and paid for) FOMS will have funded £20000 towards the main canopy, £13000 to rebuild the missing chimneys on the Station Building and £33000 for the current work since the beginning of 2005! The majority of this will have come from the major fund raiser, Readers Halt bookstall. 6 January 2006  Details from FOMS
				• The No 5542 Grand Tour continues...
				No 5542 arrived at the South Devon Railway on 22 December - the next leg of the Grand Tour following three weekends of use at the Cholsey and Wallingford. She was immediately installed in the workshops to enable work to start in the New Year on repairs to the trailing axlebox and spring hanger damaged during the Thomas weekend. The replacement parts should be available before the end of January - the work will be completed in good time for the start of the South Devon Railway season in mid March. Meanwhile, work continues at Williton on Auto Trailer no 169 with attention concentrated in producing replacement window frame parts for the driving end. Removal of the last parts of steel cladding has confirmed that at least the rest of the end wooden frame is in quite good order. Marking out of the floor joints in the sole timbers has also been completed and the 5" deep mortises are the next tasks. Work continues on Saturdays and should also commence on Wednesdays soon. The only complaint at this stage is that the shed underfloor heating appears to have packed up - just when needed most! 2 January 2006  Details from Locomotive 5542 Ltd
				• OBE honour for WSR Chairman...
				The Chairman of the West Somerset Railway has been awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours. Listed under the Officers of the Order of the British Empire section of the official document from Number 10 - "Christopher Austin, lately Executive Director, Community Rail Development, Strategic Rail Authority and Chair, West Somerset Railway Company. For services to Passenger Transport.". Congratulations Chris on this award... 1 January 2006  Details from WSR Plc
				• Final figure for 2005 is 203,297...
				Record numbers of passengers on the West Somerset Railway. When the last trains rolled into Bishops Lydeard and Minehead on the evening of 31 December the passenger figure for 2005 stood at 203,297. This is a new record easily topping the 2004 total of 192,364. Writing in OnLine, Chris Austin comments "We have well and truly broken through the 200,000 passenger barrier and are firmly in the top link of heritage railways." whilst Mark Smith reminds us "As of midnight on December 31st the passenger graph went back to zero and the bar for 2006 sits at a new height." 1 January 2006  Details from WSR Plc
				• It was thirty five years ago...
				Monday sees the 35th anniversary of the last BR passenger train - handled by an DMU - on the branch. What a fitting day for a trip on the line - a day that will see the last run for the Army DMU which is returning to active service with the Territorial Army. Strange, too, that the last run of this ex-BR(WR) DMU should coincide with the date of the last run of a BR(WR) DMU back in 1971... 1 January 2006  Details from WSR Plc
				• Photo competition...
				The Taunton Group Annual Photo Competition will take place on 9 January 2006 at the GWR Staff Association Snug Bar at the north-east corner of Taunton Station, starting at 7.45pm. There will be four classes with prizes - railway-orientated slides; other slides; railway prints; and other prints. All photographs should normally have been taken during 2005 and the maximum size of prints should be A4. The number of entries from any one person is usually limited to 5 or 6 per class, with a nominal 10p fee per entry. Everyone is welcome to submit entries - just bring to the meeting... 1 January 2006  Details from WSRA

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