Welcome I've been into photography, railways and modelling them in miniature for over 45 years. I also write about model making and undertake photographic commissions for the UK based Model Rail Magazine manufacturers and retailers.
There’s plenty of activity at Whimsy Pit this morning with Harry and his Hunslet 0-6-0 steamer pushing some old iron ore hoppers about from here to there and there to here, and occasionally a mix of the two. Quite what they’re doing in the colliery sidings I’ve no idea, but in The Land of the Inch most things make little sense as regular followers of this miniature drivel will know. Brake shoe…
Here we are at Catcott again, where national treasure Uncle Bob, accompanied by the decidedly non-identical twins Fifi & Fiona, are about to board their train to Glastonbury. It’s a regular weekend pilgrimage. They enjoy a spot of crystal appreciation, a hearty sniff of hemp, local cider and then a leisurely stagger up Glastonbury Tor, where they spend the afternoon detecting ley lines, cosmic…
Friday 10 July was a bit of a hot one at 33c, nevertheless I popped down to the Watercress Line for day one of their annual diesel gala. These were all taken at Ropley, for the thought of travelling a hot sweaty non-air conditioned train didn’t appeal. It wasn’t that busy, though I put that down to most heritage diesel fans being still in the workforce, this being a Friday, unlike the steam lovers…
It’s a lovely summer morning at Catcott level crossing and halt as the 9.05am Evercreech Junction to Highbridge service rumbles past Swanky Syd is on gate duty today, covering for crossing keeper Dafne Dando, who’s off to Highbridge market to buy a few bits and bobs she absolutely doesn’t need but will insist were a bargain. National treasure Uncle Bob has climbed out of his car to watch the…
Outside The Miners Arms they’re digging up the street again for ‘essential public works’. Last week they were installing piping for moonshine on tap, the month before cable radio so people could listen to the BBC Light Programme in areas with poor signal. Then they dug it all up again in to install cable TV, though that new fangled television has to to get to this forgotten part of The Forest of…
Here we are again at Catcott, reputedly named after Bob Geeza Cat, though that might be wishful thinking on behalf of Bob, because he does have narcissistic tendencies - like most cats. The hot weather has finally broken with a sudden gust as the heavens open with a deluge of water from above, and sideways. The other Bob, Uncle Bob surrounded by non-identical twins Fifi & Fiona certainly aren’t…
Yesterday’s post featured a Hymek diesel hydraulic loco. It’s a pretty ancient Triang Hornby model I picked up on eBay a good 25 or so years ago way before the far newer incarnation from Heljan. But at the time it was all that was available, with this one probably dating from the 1970s or even before. Originally in moulded blue plastic, amongst other detail upgrades I replaced the moulded hand…
Not many photos exist of Catcott after the line closed on 6 March 1966 with the rest of the former S&DJR apart from a couple of stubs. But here we are at the end of June 1967 as a demolition train waits patiently at the crossing for the gates to be opened. Sadly, there’s no longer a crossing keeper employed to perform that little luxury. Instead, Waving Wally has taken charge. Progress may be…
Polbrook Gurney Colliery skulks deep within an uncharted corner of the North Somerset Coalfield, in a mysterious region known locally as Titfield Thunderbolt Country—a place so elusive even the pigeons refuse to deliver mail there. You won’t find it on any map, railway atlas, or even scribbled on the back of a suspiciously sticky beer mat. However, it did make a cameo in an Ealing Comedy film…
Here we are at Brew Street, sometime in the late 1980s. What few people realise is that Deliberation Dave is a time traveller. Sadly, he has absolutely no control over when it happens, where he ends up, or indeed whether it’s remotely convenient. When he staggered home from the Kettle Inn last night after the weekly Ladies’ Wasp Chewing Evening, it was definitely 1958. However morning he woke up…
Saturday morning by one of the many water towers in the Land of the Inch High. Trouble is brewing. Rumours of a mouse infestation have reached Andrew, and he’s is absolutely terrified of mice. So terrified, in fact, that he refuses to climb down from the engine and operate the giant tap. This presents a problem because turning the tap left dispenses moonshine, while turning it right produces…
Fireless locomotives run on highly compressed superheated air and need topping up from time to time from a suitable reservoir. Here we see such an operation in progress, the crew confidently connecting their engine to what they believe is the overhead compressed-air tank at the local distillery. Unfortunately, neither of them actually read the memo. Instead, they’ve coupled up to the distillery’s…
With much wheezing, rattling and entirely unnecessary enthusiasm, Driver Andrew-Barclay powers his trainload of freshly liberated coal away from Whimsy Pit and Wharf. National treasure Uncle Bob rubs his hands together in absolute delight, looking for all the world like a man who has just discovered an extra sausage at breakfast. Even the elderly steam freighter recently arrived from Flat Holm…
Here we are at Combwich on the hottest afternoon of the summer of 1959, and the little tank engine unofficially borrowed from Shrewsbury shed refuses to move another inch until someone finds the station cat, which is just one of Bob Geeza Cat’s many roles. “He were here this morning,” declares Driver Wilkins, wiping soot from his brow. “Sat on the coal bunker like Isambard Kingdom Brunel.” Nobody…
Here we are back in the olden days on a hazy summer Sunday deep in the Somerset Levels at Catcott railway crossing. Mavis the crossing keeper wandered off a short while ago to inspect a suspiciously enormous marrow, leaving the gates half-shut and the kettle boiling itself into a fury indoors. Her husband, Arthritic Arthur, meanwhile, is convinced he’s seen a Highbridge-bound train made entirely…
Old Bernard Manning-Wardle the engine driver was having a terrible day. First, his little green locomotive sneezed coal dust all over Bob Geeza Cat. Then the milk tank wagon started making mysterious spirit/ghost like noises every time the train stopped. Nobody could explain it. “Haunted tank wagon,” whispered the shunter nervously. But when they finally opened the hatch, they discovered that it…
Here we are at Catcott Burtle again, a remote halt with a single siding in the middle of a bog on the Highbridge line. Not a great deal happens here, other that the collection of cider, cheese and hooch. And of course bird spotters, or twitchers as they like to be known. But today, national treasure Uncle Bob is here to watch preserved T3 class 4-4-0 No. 563 power through with an SLS Special…
Terry Tuttle Thomas Smythe hosts the very first ‘Collieries Have Talent’ competition, that’s our favourite smarmy chap stood on the engine announcing the next act. Liz & Margo have also been invited as celebrity royal judges for this inaugural event. Kicking things off, we have the The Railway Guards’ Barbershop Sing & Dance Troupe from nearby Midsomer Norton about to perform their short set of…
Saturday morning and Barry Bullhead from the Ministry of Mayhem has come to inspect the new level crossings barriers that have been installed at this former open crossing. They’ve been put in place after several incidents involving those who’ve imbibed too much hooch laced cider in the pub, some of who were playing chicken with passing trains, of simply sleeping between the rails. It’s very much a…
National Treasure Uncle Bob, continues to do research for his forthcoming railway orientated television series aimed at schoolboys with no friends and equally lonely late Middle Aged men who still live at home with ‘mother’ who is propped up in an old rocking chair in the corner covered in cobwebs. Under the watchful eye of Bob Geeza Cat, our much loved Uncle Bob is fascinated by the fireless…
Monochrome Monday on a Monday ‘cos it isn’t always on a Monday National treasure Uncle Bob standing next to a race of mine tubs, watches Harry and his Hunslet locomotive generate a good blast of clag whilst pottering around the sidings at Whimsy Pit. There’s also a wharf here which is popular with smugglers and other illicit traders, but it’s extremely difficult to find, not helped by the fact…
A few of you missed Bob Geeza Cat in yesterday’s post, so here he is chatting to Andrew and his Barclay locomotive at Polbrook Gurney Colliery. Bob being quite a vocal cat in his wise old age, is commenting on Andrew’s bright yellow home-knitted woolly hat saying how it contrasts nicely with the red locomotive nameplate and dark blue paint trying to break through the sticky sooty oily grime. He’s…
It’s foggy down on the levels this morning as the 8.43am Highbridge to Evercreech Junction service slows for Catcott. Throughout the year, mist or fog and sometimes a combination of the two is quite commonplace, The Levels being reclaimed land on what used to be known as The Gulf of Glastonbury until the great silica gel explosion of 1567. Okay I might have made that bit up, I’m just checking that…
Here we are back at Fountain Colliery not far from The Miners Arms, and we have a delivery of gunpowder dropped off by our regular little fireless engine. The gunpowder isn’t for use at the colliery, but is in fact a vital ingredient in a strong stout ale brewed in what was the skittle alley of The Miners Arms. The 13% ABV stout, which is only available served as a half pint, but in a pint pot, is…
Here we are again at Whimsy Pit, as Andrew and his Barclay locomotive potter about pushing wagons here and there, and occasionally there and here, and sometimes nowhere at all. Waving Wally waves at the engine, though Wally is always waving, he even does so in his sleep and has been doing so since before he was born. His brothers Waving Wayne, Waving Willy and Waving Wodger all have the same…