A Day on the West Somerset Railway

      When I found out that my relatives were visiting from America,I thought,"Where can we go for a day out?" Living in the West Country,there are many varied and excellent answers to that question,but obviously,my mind turned to steam trains.What I would like to have been able to say is,"Lets spend the day on the Exe Valley Railway",but alas I had to instead say,"Lets spend the day on the West Somerset Railway."

 We drove to Minehead and despite the £5.80 charge for the day,decided to park in the car park right next to the station.I had bought our rover tickets online,as you get a discount if you buy your tickets at least seven days in advance, so we could board the train straight away.

My plan was to travel all the way to Bishops Lydeard,so we could experience travelling the entire length of the line.We would then travel back,stopping off at different stations.Our planned route was:

Minehead>Bishops Lydeard

Bishops Lydeard>Stogumber

Stogumber>Doniford Halt

Doniford Halt>Watchet

Watchet>Blue Anchor

Blue Anchor>Minehead

     WSR Timetable showing our route

Minehead to Bishops Lydeard

   I have been on smaller train journeys before and you almost can't enjoy or appreciate it,as you know that it will be over fairly soon,so it was nice just to sit back knowing that I had 1 hr 18 mins of steam train journey ahead of me.

It was an utter pleasure travelling along.The scenery was lovely and all the noises the train made, took me back to a different time.I particularly liked putting my head out the door windows and watching the engine steaming away and all the smells the engine made mixed in with the countryside smells were hypnotic.

We arrived at Bishops Lydeard too quickly for my liking and then crossed the track to start our trip back.