The Bristol Railway Archive

The line between Taunton and Exeter will be closed for engineering work on Sunday 15th and 22nd May...with services either being replaced by buses or diverted via Honiton

I like the sound of the latter! A nice long round trip via Cogload Junction, Castle Cary, Yeovil Pen Mill, Yeovil Junction, Crewkerne, Axminster, (Seaton Junction), Honiton, Feniton, Whimple, Pinhoe, St. James Park and Exeter Central all for an ú8.30 cheap day return

Edit: hmmm it's all buses according the TheTrainline

The diversions via Yeovil apply only to some First Great Western services. Details of the revised timetable can be found on the FGW website.
Virgin and Wessex services will terminate at Exeter (northbound) and Taunton (southbound), with road transport filling the gap.
Cheers,
Andy

Aha! Well in that case I'll get a train out to Castle Cary first. I don't want to miss out on the chance to travel by HST over the old Southern mainline into Exeter Central

Added to this: Yeovil Railway Centre at Yeovil Junction's Peckett 0-4-0ST "Pectin" will be in steam and giving rides along the former Clifton Maybank spur. Also at the centre are a Ruston 0-4-0 shunter and 50050 "Fearless"!

Looks like I'm going to have a nice day out!

Woohoo! I've had a great day out Lots of pictures to come...many of them terrible, but it's never easy shooting from a moving train

Lots of lovely semaphores around Yeovil Pen Mill...shame I couldn't do them justice...maybe another visit is called for.

Plenty of pics of HSTs, one long video of the crawl up the bank from Exeter St Davids to Central with 43040's engines screaming...it's a huge file though, if you had MSN messenger I could send it to you. Lots of 159's too (002, 003, 020), a couple of 150s (247, 219), and a bonus of Eurailscout bubblecar 977968 in Taunton bay platform 1! The (unphotographed) 0957 Castle Cary-Weymouth service consisted of 3 153s and a 150!

Two of the HSTs I was on had blue seat fabric with a pattern of small grey squares...have you seen this before? I'm thinking it might be ex-Midland Mainline as their livery features those colours.

Leading/trailing...could you check these formations please? The numbers aren't clear in some photos

Taunton - Castle Cary 43010/43152
Castle Cary - Yeovil Junction 43133/43161(?)
Yeovil Junction - Exeter Central 43138(?)/43135
- Passed by 43179(?) at speed in Chard Junction loop...I think the driver was swearing at me for having a camera pointing out the window...he looks well pissed off in the photo...I know I was at a safe distance though!
Exeter St Davids - Castle Cary 43026/43040
Castle Cary - Taunton 43172/43002