Home to Castle Cary-29.07.79

THE ARCHIVE FILES > Archive-1979 > 15. West of England Bike Tour-29.07-04.08.79 > Home to Castle Cary-29.07.79
I left home near to Bradford-on-Avon with my dad for company and we rode to Castle Cary. Here I pitched camp in a field next to the railway line just beyond the A371 road bridge. In the night, it rained quite heavily but at least I had a reasonably good tent that kept me dry!
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D1010, stored, Foster Yeoman Quarry On our bike ride to Castle Cary my dad and I took a break at Foster Yeoman’s quarry in the Mendips to photograph D1010 'Western Campaigner' that looks to be in good external condition having covered 1 360 000 miles and some two and a half years after withdrawal. The company had intended to externally overhaul it and present it as D1035 'Western Yeoman'. Some moves were made to complete this but, in 1985, the locomotive was acquired by the Diesel and Electric Preservation Group and it is now based at the West Somerset Railway. Thanks to the efforts of the preservationists, haulage behind this fine engine can be enjoyed today. Keywords: D1010 Foster Yeoman Quarry
50023, 16.30 London Paddington-Penzance, Castle Cary station 50023 'Howe' thunders through Castle Cary at full line speed having descended from Brewham Summit with the (SuO) 16.30 London Paddington to Penzance working. The dramatic sky behind had passed over Castle Cary a short time before and had dropped some spectacularly heavy rain! It's a shame that I had not quite got the locomotive positioned a little later so that the front was not in the shadow of the footbridge. 50023 made it into preservation but was cut up for spares at Barrow Hill in 2004. Keywords: 50023 16.30 London Paddington-Penzance Castle Cary station
Castle Cary signal box(GWR, 1943) Castle Cary signal box was not quite a classic GWR design! It was rebuilt following a German air raid in September 1942 that destroyed the original structure. I am not sure that painting it white has improved its utilitarian looks? Note the brown stains at the left-hand end where the signalmen emptied their teapot from the window! The fifteen miles per hour speed restriction sign in the foreground refers to pointwork where the Weymouth line diverges just off to the left. Keywords: Castle Cary signal box

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