I arrived at Bishops Lydeard just before 9am. In the bay platform was GWR 2884 class 2-8-0 no 3802

The service point with City of Truro on display at BL is very poor for photography at the moment although I did hear that improvements are to be made. Access is restricted so all the locos are behind a barbed wire fence. hardly the best policy I'd have thought.

GWR 2-8-0 No 3802 stands in the bay platform at Bishops Lydeard

A shuttle service was being operated between Bishops Lydeard and taunton Mainline by a Virgin Voyager. Here the first service of the day prepares to depart with the 9.12am back to Taunton.

S&DJR bo 53808 - No 88 moves slowly through the busy platform with the ecs to form the 9.20am departure to Minehead.

No 88 appeared to be in fine condition however....

... on arrival at Crowcombe heathfield all was not well. Comments about excessive clinker were overheard.

no. 88 at Crowcombe Heathfield

On the other platform I found the autotrain hauled by GWR 14XX class 0-4-2T no 1450

The fire irons were being used quite aggressively on no. 88's fire.

The Autotrain is ready to depart downhill to Bishops Lydeard with the 8.20am from Minehead

A grab shot of the driver at the controls of the Autotrain on departure shows the coach mounted controls linked to the locomotive at the back of the train.

Departure of The Autotrain from Crowcombe Heathfield

All was not well with no. 88 though evidenced by the red hot lumps on the trackside...

To my untrained eye these appear to be parts of the brick arch being thrown out. Having done some research I've found that the arch is a concrete or firebrick structure built inside the firebox to aid combustion and avoid the boiler tubes from overheating and leaking. (Although I may be wrong so dont quote me)

A close up reveals one of the bricks being ejected off the footplate.

I had thought the lco would be declared a failure but soon it was on its way again and in fact was used throughout the weekend.

Departure of no. 88 towards Stogumber with the 9.20am from Bishops Lydeard

Inside the 'box at Crowcombe Heathfield. The bobby was originally from Barnt Green in Birmingham he told me.

I could hear the Stanier Mogul 42968 steadily climbing for ages from Bishops Lydeard with the 10.10am but from the other direction a double header of Pannier tank no 5553 followed (unseen) by 0-6-2T no 6619 arrived first with the 9.15am from Minehead

42968 appears in the distance on the final climb to Crowcombe Heathfield with the 10.10am from Bishops Lydeard.

The single line token is being carried back to the signalbox in order to release our train to go forwards to Stogumber

The driver of 42968 looks for the flag and whistle from the guard to enable the train to move on towards Williton.

The quaint station at Stogumber

Mongrel 2-6-0 no 9351 stands at Stogumber...time for a sprint to catch a shot of the departure.

9351 departs Stogumber towards Crowcombe Heathfield and is seen crossing the bridge.

GWR 2-8-0 no. 3802 arrives at Stogumber

A class 14 diesel D9526 stands at Williton. These diesel hydraulic locos were one of the least successful of the dieselisation scheme of the 60's and many were soon sold off for industrial use. However those industries were declining and many were prematurely scrapped.

6695 stands cold at Williton

Having disembarked at Doniford Halt the train hauled by 3802 departs towards Watchet

The halt at Doniford is a faithful recreation of a small GWR station.

The walk into Watchet was unfortunately along roads until I was able to reach the coast. here the track can be seen on the left with my first view of the sea.

A view across Watchet harbour. There are plans for the development of the harbour with apartments etc. This scene may soon be gone.

While at Watchet I met up with Brian Burrows(Steam Galore), Graham Briggs & Gordon McCullough (GB Productions) and also Henry Elliott. I also caught a glimpse of the lovely Dee D who will no doubt get another shedful of her images into Heritage Railway mag.

LBSCR 'Terrier' no. 662 Martello was performing a shunting demo on both Saturday and Sunday at Dunster.

Terrier no. 662 with the shunting demo at Dunster

City of Truro arrives at Dunster alongside the A1X no. 662

3440 City of Truro in company with small Prairie no. 5553 is seen crossing the Dunster beach road on its way from Dunster towards Blue Anchor

A free bus service from Dunster station to Dunster town was available on Saturday & Sunday using this wonderful heritage bus. It certainly brought back a few memories for me. I know nothing of the technical stuff about buses so any details you can add drop me a line. OK Cliff Jones won again.... XTF 98D was introduced in 1966 as Haslingden 1 - when that fleet merged with Rawtenstall to form Rossendale it was renumbered 45 - it is a Leyland PD3/4 with an East Lancs body - until 2005 it was in St Helens Transport Museum

9351 & 3850 arrive at Dunster station.

The double headed combination of 9351 and 3850 has arrived at the Minehead terminus

9351 has moved forwards off the train in order to move into the servicing area at Minehead

3850 remains on the train until 9351 has reached the service point before commencing its manouvre.

9351 at Minehead works

Refuelling of 9351. Liberal quantities of water were being used to reduce any problems from coal dust.

Coaling 9351 at Minehead

3850 has now arrived at the servicing point at Minehead.

Inside the works were the frames for Odney Manor

The new build tender for mongrel no. 9351 appears almost complete. At the moment it is running with the tender from Dinmore Manor

This rig looks as if its for pressure testing the super-heater header valves. If you know different then please let me know.

Inside Minehead loco works are the frames for Odney Manor which is undergoing a full overhaul.

A few thousand pounds worth of Odney Manor nameplates casually left lying around inside Minehead loco works

GWR 2-8-0 no. 3850 and A1X no 662 at the Minehead servicing point.

GWR 4-6-0 no. 7820 Dinmore Manor awaits its turn for overhaul minus its chimney

Dinmore Manor at Minehead