Stones again

Great news that the Railway will be used by up to 17 trains bringing a total of around 7000 tonnes of stone boulders from the Mendips to Minehead. The stone is for sea defence work at the Dunster end of the Golf Course.

Trains will run early morning, as required, to Minehead, where the loco will run round its train and haul it back to Drift Crossing where the stone will be unloaded and later taken across the fields to the worksite on the coast. The empties will then head back to Westbury leaving the WSR at lunchtime.

What a marvellous example of a railway doing what a railway should do. And well done the WSR for negotiating the deal.

So that's the fourth contract for stone traffic now. Plus the ongoing spent ballast trains calling at the Norton Triangle worksite.

It makes you wonder what other freight could be carried on the Railway. Do Tesco or Morrisons get their stores deliveries by train elsewhere; or what about the timber from the nearby forestry works?