Introduction

The railway station and signal-box at Pylle were located on the branch of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR) from Evercreech Junction to Highbridge in the county of Somerset. On 28-August-1854 the Somerset Central Railway (SCR) opened a single-track broad-gauge (7' 0¼") line from a junction with the Bristol & Exeter Railway (B&ER) at Highbridge to a terminus at Glastonbury and this was the first section of the future S&DJR. Sometime thereafter the SCR began the construction of an extension eastwards towards Bruton with the aim of meeting up with the northwards expansion of the Dorset Central Railway (DCR) from Wimborne. This extension was constructed as standard gauge (4' 8½") to match with the DCR, with the existing SCR system becoming mixed-gauge, and it was opened on 3-February-1862, although the entire through route to Wimborne was not opened until 1863. On 1-September-1862 the SCR merged with the Dorset Central Railway (DCR) to form the Somerset and Dorset Railway (S&DR). The broad gauge fell into disuse and was removed from the S&DR system about 1870.

In 1874 the S&DR opened its new 'Bath Extension' line from its existing station at Evercreech (which then became Evercreech Junction) to Bath Junction and in 1875 the S&DR became the S&DJR when the line was leased jointly by the Midland Railway (MR) and London & South Western Railway (L&SWR). After the Grouping of the railways of Great Britain in 1923 the S&DJR remained a Joint line, but now under the control of the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) and the Southern Railway (SR), who were the successors to the MR and L&SWR respectively. On 21-June-1929 the passing-loop at Pylle was abolished and the signal-box was reduced to ground-frame status. The railways of Great Britain were nationalised in 1948 and in 1950 the Joint line west and north of Evercreech Junction came under the control of British Railways (Western Region) (BR(WR)). Goods traffic ceased at Pylle on 10-June-1963 and the ground-frame (former signal-box) was abolished on 21-June-1964. The station was closed when the S&DJR was closed to all passenger traffic on 6-March-1966.

Looking west through Pylle station (left) and the former signal-box (right) in British Railways days

Pylle Station

To be completed...

Pylle Lime Siding

This was a private siding located about half a mile west of Pylle station in the single-line section between Pylle and West Pennard. It was on the Up (south) side of the line, accessed by a point facing to Down trains, and it is believed to have been brought into use in 1869 to serve the Somerset Lime & Cement Works Company (later the Pylle Lime & Cement Works Company). By 1912 the lime works had fallen into disuse and it was reported in Minute 6540 of the S&DJR Officers' meeting on 21-October-1912 that the siding had been removed. There are no known photographs of the siding in use.

[Note: there would appear to have been various names and owners for the 'lime works'. It is believed that the 'Pylle Lime Company' was incorporated in 1874. There are various references in later years to suggest that the works were owned by Farrance and Boyton, who also opened a siding at Evercreech Junction in 1900 to serve a brickyard there. In 1910 there are references in the local press to Messrs Shepherd and Gostling trading as the 'West England Lime and Cement Company'. For simplicity the terms 'Pylle Lime Works' and 'Pylle Lime Siding' will be used for general reference in RailWest.]

The Lime Siding was worked by engines which would draw their train out from Pylle, shunt the siding, and then propel their train back to Pylle. By the 1880s the siding was controlled by an adjacent 3-lever ground-frame (GF) sited on the Down side of the line and protected by one or more disc-and-crossbar signals, which stood normally 'off' when the GF was locked. By the time of the S&DJR WTT Appendix No 7 dated 1-March-1886 the Lime Siding ground-frame was unlocked by a key kept in the lever-frame in Pylle signal-box. The removal of this key from the lever-frame locked the Up Starting signal at Pylle and therefore prevented a second train from being signalled into the single-line section while the first train was shunting the Lime Siding. Once shunting had been completed the GF would be re-locked, the train would return to Pylle and the key would be replaced in the lever-frame in the signal-box. At that time the single-line section was worked by Block Telegraph without any form of 'train staff', but later in 1886 the block working was changed to Train Staff & Ticket (TS&T) working. The key for the GF remained in use with the TS&T working, the only difference being that the engine driver would now also be given the Train Staff for the Pylle - West Pennard section as his authority to enter the single-line. Click here for the relevant instructions from S&DJR WTT Appendix No 8 dated 1-October-1886.

The use of a key to unlock the GF survived the introduction of Electric Train Tablet (ETT) working to the Pylle - West Pennard section in 1891 (using Tyer's No 3 ETT instruments). When a new lever-frame was installed in Pylle signal-box in 1891 (in connection with the new passing-loop at that station) the Board of Trade Inspection Report referred to an "Annett's Key" locked in the lever-frame. Revised instructions were issued by the S&DJR on 20-August-1891 (click here) to cover the need for the train to be issued with a tablet rather than the previous train staff, and it will be noted also that by that time the Lime Siding GF had been upgraded to six levers, although the reason for that change is unknown.

There had been a further change in the method of working by the time of the 1905 S&DJR WTT Appendix (click here for the relevant instructions). It would appear that the 'key' had now become a 'staff', which was kept in a 'staff box' at Pylle that was interlocked with the ETT instrument. When a train had to shunt the Lime Siding the signalman at Pylle would withdraw a tablet for the section to West Pennard and then remove the staff from its lock, thereby disabling further use of the ETT equipment. (It is assumed that the previous practice of locking the Up Starting signal at Pylle had ceased, as that is no longer mentioned in the instructions.) The train would enter the section under authority of the tablet, the staff being used to unlock the GF. It would appear also that by this time the signals at the Lime Siding had been abolished and the GF merely worked the points and Facing Point Lock. Upon completion of shunting at the siding the GF would be re-locked and the train would return with the staff and tablet to Pylle. In principle this method of working using a staff interlocked with the ETT instrument was exactly the same as with the Bath Bank Engine staff.

The retention of a special key or staff during the period of ETT working is puzzling. It cannot have been retained simply to avoid drawing a tablet from the non-returnable Tyer's No 3 instrument, because both the 1891 and 1905 instructions required any train entering the section from Pylle to shunt the siding to be in possession of a tablet as well as the staff. It might have been an economy measure to avoid the cost of modifying the locking arrangements at both Pylle signal-box and the Lime Siding GF, although the replacement of the Pylle lever-frame in 1891 ought to have provided a suitable opportunity. Similarly the subsequent change to the use of a 'staff box' interlocked with the ETT instrument would have incurred costs that could have been used instead to change the lock at the ground-frame. However by the time of the 1909 S&DJR WTT Appendix the use of the staff had ceased and the Lime Siding GF was released instead by the tablet for the Pylle - West Pennard section.

© CJL Osment 2024
Photographs from WCRA collection