Arriving at Yatton in 1948

The junction station in the Bristol to Taunton and Exeter main line for the Cheddar Valley branch and the Clevedon branch was Yatton in 1957. In this picture we are looking Southward along the line to Taunton, with a light GWR two-cylinder ten-wheeler (4-6-0 or 2’C, a Hall class loco most likely) on its way to Temple Meads station at Bristol coming through at speed under clear signals. As she’s riding uphill toward Flax Bourton tunnel she’s powering with her quite heavy train, but owing to the lack of smoke you have to look good to see it. Should have been an interesting sound from the location of the photographer. To the right the locomotive of the local to Clevedon, a lovely seaside town, has the road, its typical GWR signal is off for the line to Clevedon that curves away Westward in the distance. Had she had the lower placed left-hand signal she would have been routed toward the main line ahead of us. It was, incidentally, not possible to cross over from the Clevedon branch to the Cheddar Valley branch. If Clevedon stock had to be sent to (say) Cheddar then you had to Shunt ahead to the Down loop visible in the distance and then set back into the Cheddar branch platform to the left or the sidings there. The Up line with the passing train shows us a signal with two holes. This special allows a train to depart from that platform in the Down direction towards the sidings, not as a main line departure, and very likely was mainly used to get freight stock from the direction of Taunton into the Down sidings for continuation to Cheddar and beyond. The Cheddar valley line had quite heavy seasonal traffic with strawberries and other fruit, as well as vegetables. the junction is the second one visible and the combination of the Clevedon junction and the Cheddar junction shows route indication signalling quite clearly. If we start with the nearest junction we adhere to the aspects of the signals on the heavy bracket post nearby. It has the white diamond to indicate that it is track circuited, which modifies the rules with regard to contacting the signal box (tower) in case of fog and falling snow, especially during dark hours. In this case the signaller knows you’re there because he can see you on his diagram panel. Only if you’re waiting for an “unusual” time are you to go to the box or find a telephone to find out what’s required. If you get the lower placed right hand signal you’re off to Clevedon, if you get the high main line signal you’re off to the next signal. There we see the Cheddar valley branch junction and the story repeats but in a different direction: the high main line signal sends you to Highbridge, Bridgwater and Taunton, the low branch line signal sends you to Congresbury and from there either to Blagdon or via Winscombe and Cheddar to Wells and beyond. It gets interesting if you needed water from the nearest reservoir on the platform ahead. In that case the signaller would almost stop you at the nearest signal and then pull off to move up to the reservoir, to ensure you didn’t overshoot on to the line beyond. To the left the signals can now be easily interpreted. A typical Great Western Railway coach is stabled there, incidentally. If you would come racing through on a train from let us say Birmingham via Bristol to Penzance, if you had a distant at caution you needed to know about all these signals and their locations to make sure you could stop if one of them was at danger. If the distant was clear you did what the man on the Up line is doing: open up and come belting through. This was always a fast and straight line, even if Yatton station might have had a permanent speed restriction to extend the lifetime of the points (switches) of the junctions. These days there are no longer junctions here and the branch sidings and platform roads are now car parks for the motorised commuters. The loops ahead and a crossover are still available and are in fact used when late running fast trains need to get past locals. You can do 90 mph here (145 km/h), on the way from Uphill Junction near Weston-Super-Mare to Bridgwater there is even a section of 110 mph (175 km/h). The last real fast bit of railway going South and West, so enjoy. Oh yes, the Clevedon branch as well as the Cheddar valley branch have to be deducted from bits and pieces among the brambles. The platforms at Congresbury junction are still there, platforms at Sandford and Winscombe are still there and various goods sheds and station buildings with their distinct Great western style of barge boards can be found. Oh yes, the station is lit with gas, as shown by the platform lantern in front of the bracket signal in front of you. You can see various others now.