Volunteers at Midsomer Norton South Station will no doubt be thrilled at the success of their most recent event over two weekends, commemorating fifty years since steam engines last ran along the trackbed and seeing over two thousand visitors attending over four days.
Bath and North East Somerset Council Chairman, Ian Gilchrist, was invited by Brenden Hill, Chair of the Heritage Railway Trust, to go along and officially open the station’s restored signal box, and he also signalled off the first train, which left the station on Saturday at 10.30 a.m.
A Jinty tank engine pulled a coach with passengers and a Sentinel shunter ran on fully restored lines and signals over the two weekends. The last train rain from Bath to Bournemouth on 6th March 1966.
Commenting on the newly-restored signal box, Chairman of the Somerset and Dorset Heritage Trust, Brenden Hill, said: “The original signal box was demolished in the late 1960s and a small but dedicated group of volunteers rebuilt it as near as possible to the original structure. The completed box is a testament to their hard work over the last ten years and is now the focal point of the station.”
Speaking about the previous weekends’ events, volunteer, Gail Coleshill, said: “We have been overwhelmed by the number of kind comments and people who have signed up to become members of the Heritage railway as a result.”
The next event at the station will see the Easter Bunny calling in to hide Easter Eggs on 26th and 27th March from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., with rides on the fully restored corridor coach behind the Diesel shunting engine, which has been a resident at Midsomer Norton Station for around seven years. Train rides available on Easter Monday, too. Every child taking part in the egg hunt will receive a chocolate Easter Bunny!