The Bristol Railway Archive

Hi All,

Hoping someone here can help me.....

There is somewhere some footage of the Radstock GWR shunting yards and Kilmersdon pit incline in it's last years. In particular it shows the incline being operated by a father & son team (?). It was on TV many years ago and all my attempts to track it down have failed.

Does this ring any bells?

Thankyou!

Jeff

There's a couple of minutes' worth here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q8nb-EM1LA
I remember the Kilmersdon incline operation very well, it was fascinating to watch. As a schoolboy at the time, I did get to know Frank Kemp, one of the drivers based at Radstock. Frank taught me to drive the resident class 08 pilot loco and let me drive it to Writhlington pit after school to pick up the loaded coal and shunt the empties into position for the next shift. I'm now in my thirty second year on the railway

Thanks Mitch, it was this clip that got me back on the scent! I've made several recce's to the site in the last few months and once you start looking you can see a fair bit. Although as many sites, nature is winning the battle.
I grew up in Radstock in the mid 70's so all this has a lot of good memories for me.

Thankyou for the reply!

Jeff

The father and son team was Herby and Nelson Loader; I think Herby was the father and the driver; Nelson acting as shunter. I remember going to a film show featuring film about Kilmersdon and the guest narrator was the son - an amusing commentary. I have seen recently a photo in one of my collection of books but now cannot trace it. If it comes to light again I will make a further reply.

Alan,

Many thanks for your excellent reply, really helpful information. I'm going back on Wednesday to the site to take some more photos of the incline.
Your info has given me a valuable lead!

Thankyou,

Jeff