This aspect appears to have become a particular concern to those who have raised objections to the proposed development. It is an aspect of the development which requires proper consideration. Only a small proportion of the West Somerset Railway’s visitors come purely to travel from A to B. The vast majority come to experience travel on a re-created Great Western Railway branch line which looks back to the 1950’s, 40’s or 30’s. The development must fit in with that aesthetic.

It must be remembered that the appropriate context for the station buildings is as part of a successful and useful steam railway, which the West Somerset Railway provides.

The West Somerset Railway now allows over 200,000 visitors per year to experience the delights of West Somerset and Taunton Deane. Bishop’s Lydeard is the WSR’s southern terminus and has had to adapt to that role. Approximately 70,000 visitors join the WSR at Bishop’s Lydeard every year and the vast majority of the 200,000 make some use of the station. The WSR plans for the total number of visitors to grow to 250,000 in the next 5 years which implies 100,000 starting from Bishops Lydeard. The number of services from the national rail network are expected to grow following completion of the resignalling at Norton Fitzwarren in 2006 and the present investment in new facilities at Minehead (turntable) and Norton Fitzwarren (turning triangle) which are expected to come into use in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

Crowds at Bishops Lydeard during 2005 Spring Gala weekend.

Bishops Lydeard station has developed throughout its life. It ceased to be a quiet rural station as long ago as WW2 when the Ministry of Food depot was built to the east of the station. In the modern era development to cope with Bishops Lydeard’s new role has continued :

Ministry of Food Depot – 1943 (Now engineering workshop)		Goods shed with extensions
Resignalling and water tower		Car Park and toilets

A busy platform 2 at Bishops Lydeard © S. Huddy

Regrettably, all this necessary development means that it is no longer possible to describe the present day Bishop’s Lydeard as a ‘quintessential rural station’. In comparison, the WSR does have ‘quintessential rural stations’. The best examples are at Crowcombe Heathfield (the station next up the line from Bishops Lydeard), and Blue Anchor on the coast. It is Bishops Lydeard’s role as the terminus or gateway to the line which allows visitors to experience the delights of stations such as Crowcombe and Blue Anchor without subjecting those locations to development pressures.

A quintessentially rural station – Crowcombe Heathfield in the snow © J Ayers

A quintessential seaside station – trains pass at Blue Anchor

The planned development will add to and enhance the visitor experience in a number of ways. It will provide a museum experience commensurate with the WSR’s status as one of Britain’s premier steam railways, telling the stories of railway history to new generations of visitors. It will allow the creation of two trains of historic railway carriages from the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s for use on the line. It will provide visitor facilities appropriate for a major tourist attraction. The proposed cycle hire and micro breweries are visitor attractions consistent with the railway experience.

The railway is very alive to the visitor experience which it provides. The West Somerset Steam Railway Trust, the part of the WSR leading on the proposals for Bishops Lydeard, is responsible for the heritage aspects of the railway. Historical authenticity is central to the Trust’s core aims and objectives. It is inconceivable that the Trust would permit anything that does not properly reflect the proper railway heritage of the line. That being so, the buildings will be visitor experiences in themselves. They will be constructed in the brick-built style favoured by the Great Western Railway in the late 19th and early 20th century. Red brick with blue/black engineering brick corners, door and window arches under a slate roof to complement the 1904 built signalbox immediately opposite the proposed site and other GWR structures on the railway.

Bishops Lydeard Signal Box (built 1904) with ticket office, shop and café beyond (modern additions)

This is a style of construction very common for Great Western Railway buildings of that period, many of which have, sadly, now succumbed to ‘progress’. A further example is the Goods shed at Toddington, Gloucestershire which has been used as the ‘design reference’ by the architect for the proposed buildings.

Toddington Goods Shed

The visual impact of the carriage building has been minimised by:

• partly setting it into the ground in a natural depression so as to reduce the overall height
• keeping it as far south as possible (given the constraints imposed by the Taunton high pressure water mains and the need to provide rail access) to allow a suitable space between it and the existing buildings
• designing the eastern edge with a pitched roof to minimise the height of the eastern elevation and so its apparent height at the wall – only 3.6 metres.
• confining it to only 7 coaches in length.

The new buildings will allow the core museum function to be removed from the existing 1862 built Goods Shed. The ugly modern metal extensions can then be removed, allowing the Goods Shed itself can to be restored to its original appearance, inside and out, to present a true picture of the era when rural goods travelled by train. Imagine the scene: A couple of wagons being loaded or unloaded, and suitable period road transport in the rear loading dock (which now serves as a meeting room). The cattle dock at the southern end of the Goods shed restored to its former appearance, with a cattle wagon awaiting livestock from a local farm.

The same process would be applied to the station building with the waiting room restored to its original form and function and the ticket office restored as part of the museum experience complete with coal fire and potted aspidistra on the table. Visitors would collect interpretation materials (e.g., audio-visual aids) from the main Museum and be conducted on a visit to the 1930’s.

The Museum and Carriage Building will, it is correct to say, reduce the view of the field to the west of the station from a part of the London bound platform.

It will have little or no effect on the view enjoyed by any neighbouring property.

It has very little effect from the Minehead-bound platform.

However, the rural views to the south towards the Blackdown Hills will not be affected. They are in fact protected for all time by the visibility requirements for the line of route of the railway itself.

Please see the photograph below for the view from the station road bridge with ‘skeleton’ additions to illustrate how the Museum and Carriage Building blend with the existing station buildings.

View from Bishops Lydeard Road Bridge with ‘skeleton’ addition of new buildings.

It must be remembered that the persons who have the advantage of the view from the station platform are the WSR’s visitors, not the public in general. The overwhelming majority will have come to ride on the train and so will have the benefit of 20 miles of countryside views between Bishops Lydeard and Minehead.

WSR Train under the Quantocks near Bicknoller © P. Darke

WSR Train in landscape near Vellow © S.Edge

WSR Diesel train near Yarde © S.Edge

It is to be remembered that without the WSR, Bishop’s Lydeard would be a station no more and presumably an industrial site would cover the whole area. Only the tenacity and hard work of the WSR’s volunteers and employees over many years has secured the present and future of Bishops Lydeard station. This development reinforces and continues that process.

We have examined the suggestion that the land now in railway ownership at Norton Fitzwarren might be an alternative location for the railway aspects of this development, in particular the Museum and Carriage Shed. Norton Fitzwarren is not a viable alternative for a number of reasons:

• The Heritage Carriage Project will be a project predicated on public access to the vehicles as they are restored and then displayed in a Museum setting when unused on the line. The funding will be based upon grant applications which will require an established degree of infrastructure during the life of the grant – likely to be in the region of two or three years.
• Easy public access to a Museum is plainly an essential pre-requisite. Bishops Lydeard Station is open even on days when trains do not run (now only a little over 100 days per year). Norton is not open to the public, nor is it likely to be available to open for several (at least five) years.
• Development at Norton is at an early stage and currently has no infrastructure or facilities for public or goods access. It is unlikely these could be developed to an adequate level for public access in the timescale required to attract grant funding.
• There is an urgent need to establish covered accommodation for the Heritage Carriages in a much shorter time scale than any development at Norton Fitzwarren could provide.
• Whilst there is the possibility that a station building may become available for Norton Fitzwarren the timescale is likely to be in the order of five or more years and the intended use is likely to be an interchange with limited public access and parking from Norton itself. Establishing a gateway station at Norton Fitzwarren equivalent to Bishops Lydeard would be a very long term project.

View of Norton Fitzwarren site based on Aerial photography 8th July 2007

The proposed development offers a unique opportunity for the West Somerset Railway to add much needed tourist facilities of high calibre. These include historical and educational facilities of, at the least, regional significance and of significant local amenity. The reduced scale of the buildings and careful attention to design detailing will minimise any visual impact, whilst preserving and protecting the views to the south across the Vale of Taunton Deane to the Blackdown Hills.

Robin White
Director, West Somerset Steam Railway Trust
31.12.07

WSR Train in the Bluebell season