Highbridge Branch - West of Glastonbury

Where the Glastonbury Canal crossed the River Brue, a level crossing and crossing-keeper's cottage retained the name 'Aqueduct' long after the canal ceased to exist. At this point the railway crosses the River Brue and a minor road.


Collett 0-6-0 no.2218 crosses the River Brue with the 16.00 from Highbridge. 3.10.64	An original S&DJR warning notice at Aqueduct crossing.	Ivatt 2-6-2T no.41296 at Aqueduct crossing with the 17.00 Evercreech- Highbridge train. 30.9.64


On the penultimate day of services on the branch, 41249 takes the 16.00 train from Highbridge past Aqueduct. 4.3.66	41307 crosses the River Brue and Aqueduct Crossing with the 14.20 Highbridge- Templecombe. 5.11.65	Ivatt 2-6-2T no.41223 approaches the Aqueduct crossing keeper's cottage with the 16.00 from Highbridge. 4.10.65


.	Ivatt no 41206 at Aqueduct crossing. A British Railways van waits to cross. 27.9.65	.

The open fields between Aqueduct crossing and Glastonbury provided an ideal opportunity for broadside views of the passing trains.


On a bright sunny November morning, Ivatt 2-6-2T no. 41307 scurries away from Glastonbury with the 09.55 Evercreech-Highbridge. 4.11.65	.	Collett 0-6-0 no. 3218 leaves Glastonbury across the fields with a train for Highbridge. 27.2.65

The Somerset levels are below high tide level, and until the monks built sea-walls and drainage channels in the 15th century, were regularly flooded and unusable for agriculture. Apart from the main channels such as the King's Sedgemoor Drain, the levels are criss-crossed by a network of smaller ditches, known locally as Rhynes (pronounced like 'queens').


Collett 0-6-0 no.3218 takes a Highbridge train out of Glastonbury. The rhynes are showing the first signs of the aquatic life they will support through the summer. 64?	.	Running about 1 hour late, Ivatt 2-6-2T no. 41208 leaves Glastonbury for Highbridge through the snow-covered fields and frozen rhynes. 28.12.64


41214 approaches Glastonbury with the 14.20 from Highbridge, past a full drainage rhyne. 6.3.65	3205 on the 16.00 Highbridge-Evercreech. The early-summer growth of water plants is already starting to fill the rhynes. 18.5.65	Collett 0-6-0 no. 2217 leaves Glastonbury with the 18.02 Evercreech-Highbridge. 2.9.64

A staple crop of the Somerset levels is the withy, or willow rod. This is used in making baskets, fence-hurdles, and many other things. The annual cutting of the rods from the trees is known as pollarding, and gives the willow trees their characteristic shape.


Ivatt tank no. 41243 arrives with the 09.45 from Highbridge, its dark outline in harmony with that of a large willow tree against the snowy landscape. 28.12.64	.	Ivatt tank no. 41243 approaches Glastonbury with the 09.45 Highbridge-Templecombe, past an impressive array of pollarded willows. 27.2.65

Between Aqueduct crossing and Glastonbury station was an unattended crossing over a minor lane.


Ivatt 2-6-2T no. 41291 approaches the crossing with the 09.45 from Highbridge.The 'S&DJR Beware of Trains' warning sign is visible in the foreground. 4.11.65		41296 passes the crossing gates with the 17.00 from Evercreech. Parked against the fence is the bicycle without which none of these photographs would have been possible! 15.5.65


Glastonbury Tor, and a railway panorama. Ivatt 2-6-2T no. 41290 shunts the station and yard late one November morning. 4.11.65	.	One of its shunting manoevres requires 41290 to come out well clear of the station and yard. 4.11.65


Collett 0-6-0 no. 3218 arrives with the 16.00 from Highbridge past a pile of old sleepers at the entrance to the goods yard. 16.3.65	. ;	Scurrying between shunting tasks, 41290 leaves a plume of white smoke over the signal box and goods yard. 4.11.65


3218. 19.12.64	41249. 23.10.65