Information for Volunteers – Trackside .

We would like to welcome you to the West Somerset Railway, to its volunteer body The West Somerset Railway Association, and in particular to the Special Projects Group. We are active throughout the year tackling the huge task of keeping the lineside vegetation just that – Lineside!, collecting and removing materials left from Engineering works and maintaining a clean clear and safe lineside environment for every one.

We would like to encourage you to join us and the following notes define and describe just some of the activities of the Trackside Gang. We have presented them as a series of questions and answers:

•  WHAT IS DEFINED AS ‘TRACKSIDE'?

We refer to the area between the boundary fences and the edge of the ballast. This area extends along both sides of the branch from Norton Fitzwarren to Minehead.

•  WHAT ARE WE AIMING TO ACHIEVE?

Our aims and objectives are to create and maintain a safe and tidy trackside where the flora and fauna is managed in such a way that it is acceptable not only to ourselves, but also our neighbours and visitors.

SAFETY; is of paramount importance to us, and an unmanaged trackside can create a number of risks

•  Impaired visibility for train crews and staff on or about the line,

•  Risk of fire, both staring and spreading,

•  Risk from overhanging branches and fallen trees across the line,

•  Risk of landslip from weakened and poorly draining embankments,

•  Risk of slipping from leaves and debris on the track,

•  Damage to sleepers from rot leading to instability of the track.

TIDY; can be an important part of SAFETY, but also

•  Improves the visibility and enjoyment for our passengers,

•  Improves visibility of our trains to the public,

•  Creates a favourable impression about the railway for neighbours and passengers,

MANAGED; to encourage wildlife:

•  Unmanaged the lineside would revert to a mass of brambles and coppice,

•  Unmanaged the lineside would present a nuisance to our neighbours,

•  Managed we can thin undergrowth and encouraged selected environments and species,

•  Managed we can allow the selective use of machinery to produce a neat, well kept appearance of the green verge alongside the line.

HOW DID WE START?

In the heyday of the Great Western and British Railways the branch would have been divided into ‘lengths' each having a number of men responsible for keeping the track and trackside in first class condition. Foliage would have been kept at bay on a regular basis, much of it by deliberate or accidental burning.

By the 1960s this work was being neglected and the undergrowth allowed to grow unchecked in an effort to reduce costs. By the time the branch closed in 1971 no undergrowth work had been done for some years and there had been no steam service to start accidental burning.

When the line was re-opened the small band of volunteers were fully occupied with running limited train services and re-opening the entire line and undergrowth was not on the list of essential tasks. Even during the 1980s clearance was sporadic and limited in its extent and effectiveness.

By 1990 regrowth was beginning to become a serious problem and Special Projects was formed to begin the mammoth tasks of rolling back the years of neglect. This task has proved akin to painting the Forth Bridge and now twelve years on we have probably only cleared 50% of the line. However we have now begun to turn the corner and there are long stretches of neat and tidy lineside beginning to appear.

WHAT DO WE DO?

Areas in and around station limits are usually managed by the station staff, and we are more often to be found alongside the line between stations. We will typically take 100 yards length a weekend and cut out the dead, coppiced and scrub regrowth that has occurred. This has earned us the name ‘The Cutting Back Gang'.

We burn the brash on site, collect and stack logs for sale as firewood, remove and burn discarded sleepers, collecting the railchairs and other ironmongery for reuse or sale as scrap, and clear the areas which sadly some of our neighbours treat as waste tips.

Once or twice a year we run a train specifically to collect the logs and scrap, the proceeds go back into the railway for the purchase of our tools and other items.

HOW DO WE DO THIS?

One or two weekends a month we meet as a group to tackle a specific site. SAFETY is of prime importance as we will be felling trees and trains may be running. Chain saws are used (by qualified operators). We therefore need a minimum standard of health and fitness and stout clothing and gloves.

The undergrowth is cleared manually using hand tools or brushcutters and the coppiced and dead timber is felled and logged. The brash generated is burnt at the trackside. There is a great deal of work to do to transfer brash onto the fire, clear brambles, stack logs etc.

At the end of the weekend you will be able to stand back and admire a former jungle tamed into an organised section of lineside.

WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

You! This is not a job for small children, but apart from that provided you are reasonably fit, happy to work as part of a team and enjoy the open air this is the job for you.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO PROVIDE?

You will need to come suitably dressed in old clothes, waterproofs if it is raining, with sturdy (steel toe preferred) shoes and thick gloves. You will need an orange high visibility vest. We can provide limited amounts of these items to start with until you can acquire your own.

A packed lunch and plenty to drink, particularly in the summer months.

WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE?

The gang member who gave you this leaflet can answer all the questions you may have. Alternatively you can ring the Special projects Officer David Holmes (details in the front of The Journal magazine.).

The West Somerset Railway Association Office will also have details – 01823 433856 (fax 01823 433954) or look inside any copy of the Journal.

WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW?

Get straight along to the next Cutting Back session and introduce yourself.

(Please take great care if coming to a lineside location for the first time, make sure you are met at the car parking areas and receive a safety briefing before coming onto the line.)

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Photographs on this site are (c) Respective owners and not to be used without written permission