Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway Bath Extension restoration and reconstruction

Railway

Engineering Report: Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway, Bath Extension

Wellow-Midford-Bath Park

Background Information on Wellow Station (from Clapcott)

Open 20 July 1874

Built close to the village

Two platforms, with main station on upper platform

Area controlled by 18 lever signal box at East end of down platform, adjacent to the level crossing

Closed to goods traffic 10 June 1963

Closed to passenger traffic 7 March 1966

Part of the Somerset & Dorset Bath Extension

Signal box was "jointly owned by the London & South Western and Midland Railways, although it is clear that the former carried out most of the signaling work" (The Signal Box)

Current Issues

Trackbed missing in the majority of route from Wellow to Bath

Trackbed needs to be repurchased; land has been privatized

Severe disrepair in parts where tracks still exist

Corrosion is severe in all components (rail web, base plate)

Base plates have been compromised nearly the whole way

Corroded rail foot

Defective, missing, dry or corroded joints

Headwear, rail heads nearly nonexistent

Diversion of electrical components; preventing signaling in current state

Land use issues; large swathes have been subsumed by local development

Irregularities in land surface due to weather, climate change (undulations, sinkhole-like erosion, tree growth creating irregularities in existing track lines)

Water and sewage main conflict and subsequent water drainage issues

Signal Box and Station both privately owned; access limited