A Somerset Delight

Continuing a theme, my parents opted for Somerset again for our family holiday in 1965, though perilously close to the border of Dorset this time. We stayed at Axe Farm near Clapton, a few miles west of Crewkerne. At Clapton, the signal box controlled a level crossing where a minor road met the ex-LSWR main line from London Waterloo to Exeter Central. I was too late for steam on the south Devon expresses, where Warship diesels were firmly in charge. The formerly double-track main line has long been singled on this section.

Warship No. D817 Foxhound is bound for London Waterloo at Clapton crossing on 25/7/65.

I had heard that the evening Cardiff to Brighton service was possibly still steam hauled, so later the same day I went back with my fingers crossed. When I arrived, I asked the signalman if this was likely and he kindly rang a colleague down the line, confirming that it was indeed behind steam on this occasion.

By this time the light on a pleasantly mild but cloudy summer’s evening was fading. Then I heard the bells from the cabin as the train entered the section, followed soon after by that magical sound that still gives me a tingle, the rhythmic beat of an approaching steam locomotive.

The headlamps of West Country Pacific No. 34005 Barnstaple arrived through the gloom and just in time for me to record the train’s passing on film. It is a stand-out moment, one of many that I am able to call on, I’m pleased to say.