Activity One
Activity Name
Learning Aims
1. The Railway
Learn something about the technology behind the railway and
mines.
Appreciate the difficulties and challenges of life in the mining
communities of the Brendon Hills in late Victorian and
Edwardian times.
Learn about the importance of current railway safety.
Links to National
Curriculum
History
Victorian Britain
Historical enquiry
Local history study
Citizenship
Developing a healthy, safer lifestyle
Resources required
1a Safety staff; 1b WSMR tickets; 1c Passengers on the Incline; 1d
Track; 1e Neilson locomotive photograph;1f Pontypool; 1g Neilson
locomotive drawing; 1h Map of WSMR
Activities
1. Consolidate knowledge of place names along the Mineral Line
draw a variety of safety tablets between various sections of the
line. Use the map for reference (1h).
Example of a
safety tablet:
Washford
Watchet
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2. Discuss the punishments WSMR workers got (see teachers’ notes
below). What would happen today if you stole coal or fence
posts? Think about school punishments too. Were times stricter
in those days?
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Teacher information
The safety staff
A safety staff was used on all single line
railways. It was given to the driver by the
signalman, and it allowed the driver to
take the train along a length of single line,
knowing that he would not collide with a
train coming the other way, as there was
only one staff on each length of line.
Another type of safety staff, such as the
one exhibited in the Somerset and Dorset
Museum was known as the safety tablet.
The container was quite heavy, as it was a
leather purse with a metal handle which
could be grabbed quickly from a hook, or
a person’s arm.
Safety on modern railways
http://www.trackoff.org has a range of
resources for teaching railway safety.
Communication
How else did people communicate on
railways apart from using the safety staffs
and tablets?
a. Visual signals such as the ones the
children tried in the signal box are based
on the semaphore system by which train
drivers know whether to stop, start,
reverse etc. Semaphore was particularly
helpful for the WSMR on the Incline.
b. Another way of communicating before
telephones were invented was by using
bells. A special code was used.
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Punishments
Victorian railway and mine workers had to
obey a strict set of rules. If they broke
these rules they were punished.
Punishments were often in the form of
fines.
Here are details of some crimes and their
punishments on the WSMR:
In 1864 Isaac Sully was charged with
stealing two fencing posts on the
Mineral Line for use as firewood. He
was ordered to pay 13 /= or go to
prison for ten days.
In 1869 Samuel Chubb was fined £1
for trying to poach game.
In 1881 James Pester was charged
with stealing 9d worth of coal (today
that would be equivalent to £9 worth
of coal). He was imprisoned for one
month.
Tickets on the WSMR
Tickets for the WSMR were issued at each
station (Watchet, Washford, Roadwater
and Comberow (at the bottom of the
Incline). Passengers did not have to pay to
travel up the Incline, in fact they did so at
their own risk!
Tickets on the WSMR. Photographs courtesy Mike Jones.
1st class - 4d between each station
(white)
2nd class - 3d between each station
(pink)
3rd class - 2d between each station
(blue)
Only 1st and 2nd class passengers were
allowed to buy return tickets.
Britain's money system before 1971 was
not decimal, but was based on the Pound,
Shilling, & Penny, where 4 Farthings = 1
penny, 12 pennies = 1 shilling, 20 shillings
= 1 pound.
The miners and their families probably
only traveled on the WSMR for special
occasions, as to travel from Comberow to
Watchet would cost 6d - an eighth of their
weekly wage. For this reason a food store
was opened in the Village, and men often
had allotments in their gardens.
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The trains
Because the railway lost money for the
whole of its life, the Ebbw Vale Company,
who had leased the line with
responsibility for all repairs and
maintenance, never spent money on the
line if they could avoid it. The rolling stock
was ill maintained and there were
frequent breakdowns.
While the line was being constructed in
1857, two locomotives were bought new
from a Glasgow engine builder. They were
delivered to Taunton and then brought by
road to Washford where they were put on
the rails. In that summer the two
locomotives collided head-on near
Kentsford crossing on this trail, and three
people were killed, and one locomotive
had to be scrapped and a replacement
ordered, at a cost then of £1000, the
equivalent of about £50,000 today.
This shows a Neilson locomotive at the top of
the Incline in 1889. Photograph by H Hole,
courtesy of Mike Jones.
While the mines were working there were
two locomotives on the upper section
and two on the lower, one working
passenger trains, and the other goods
trains. While the mines were working the
line had more than fifty small goods
wagons each carrying about 6 tons of ore
and at least one covered wagon for
carrying gunpowder to the mines.
Watchet and fell into the harbour.
Quite often mixed trains were run, and
this caused an accident on one occasion.
A mixed train having three wagons
behind the coaches loaded with long
lengths of mine timbers, stopped at
Roadwater, when the chain coupling of
the first wagon became detached and the
three wagons free wheeled back to
When the line closed for the first time in
1898, all the locomotives and rolling stock
were returned to South Wales and put up
for sale. Most of them were sold for scrap.
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After the mines closed in 1883, the line
possessed one locomotive on the upper
section and one on the lower, and three
decrepit coaches, which were secondhand
when they came to the line in 1865. When
one of the locomotives needed heavy
repairs it was returned to Ebbw Vale and a
temporary replacement sent over.
For more information on safety in the
mines please refer to the Bearland
Ventilation Flue Teachers’Pack.
Activity Two
Activity Name
Learning Aims
Links to National
Curriculum
Activity Summary
Resources required
(for a class of 30)
2. Walk the Line
Know where there are accessible sites and walking routes along
the WSMR today.
Increase awareness of the natural environment of the mineral line
through observation of natural features, sounds, colours and
patterns.
Understand how the landscape has changed with time and how
man made landscapes can revert to areas of wildlife over time.
Identify and increase understanding of habitats.
PSE/Citizenship
Developing a healthy, safer lifestyle
Geography
Geographical enquiry and skills
Geography
Geographical enquiry and skills
Science
Unit 4B Habitats
Art and design
Unit 2B Mother Nature, designer
Starting in Watchet, pupils walk along the former track bed of the
Mineral Line to Washford.
Pupils participate in various activities en route, (see below).
Once in Washford, groups can either catch the train back to
Washford (depending on time of year, visit www.west-somersetrailway.co.uk for more information), or walk back.
This activity takes approximately 2 hours.
Resources available in pack:
Watchet to Washford Trail leaflet (2a); Map of Watchet (2b); Map of
Watchet to Washford Trail (2c); 8 x Photographic trails (2d).
To prepare in class:
8 x base map. Use Ordnance Survey Map OL9 or print from the
internet.
30 x sound CDs. Draw around a CD, cut out, and draw a straight
line down the middle.
30 x viewfinders. Take an A5 piece of paper, drawing a rectangle
approximately 5 cm from edge, folding, and cutting out middle of
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