West Somerset Railway slip December ~20th 2022

[whole diary]

[Mark A]

... around three miles from Bishops Lydeard. It appears that farming operations on land adjacent to the line has exacerbated runoff + allowed topsoil to erode into the line's drainage, possibly contributing to destabilising a retaining wall on the downhill side of an earthwork, causing a collapse into the gardens of two properties.

The location on Google maps: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.0750291,-3.208475,239m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e1

Mark

[infoman]

and on  the local news today,they were reporting that the council will be shoring up the coast line at blue anchor to stop the pub that is trying to slip into the Bristol Channel

[bradshaw]

Combe Florey, it is the third time this year. The previous one took some time to clear. It was still apparent when I passed.

[Mark A]

Ah, so it has... plus, it's been a feature of several media articles, e.g.

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/a358-combe-florey-mudslide-councillor-7555590

Mark

[bradshaw]

That was the one I passed when returning form a few days in Exmoor

[Witham Bobby]

We had similar problems right back in the early days of the WSR, particularly in the cutting between Billbrook and Washford.  Larky Blackmoor, the 70+ year old true gent railwayman who was in charge of P-Way at the time blamed the farmer (it almost came to blows) for always ploughing in the same direction, turning the ridge of what was turned over by the plough always in the downhill direction, towards the top of the cutting

[GBM]

Missing input on this topic from a certain member, who is now in hospital.
Wishing you well broadgage - all the very best

[grahame]

An update from the local newspaper called The Leveller (appropriate article for a publication of that name?)

Jonathan Jones Pratt, West Somerset Railway Chairman comments: “This embankment slippage is potentially a serious problem.  Operation of our scheduled trains between Bishops Lydeard and Minehead would not normally start until the end of March, so we very much hope the line will be fully open by then.”

In the meantime remedial work to the embankment is likely to be expensive. For now West Somerset railway is unsure how it can be funded. They are hoping that some compensation for the damage will be forthcoming. However Mr Jones Pratt suspects that they will have to launch an appeal to their supporters. The railway does not carry sufficient reserves to fund work on this scale.