THINGLY RAILWAY JCT (chippenham)

[wessexrailwaysdude]

Thought I'd write a post on the railway yard here....

The yard here used to be used by i think Harry Needle who had sererval coaches and locomotives here for planned peservation... think it went bust or something and much of the stock was removed leaving behind 4 railway coaches, 1 green, 3 in NSE colours plus a LPG bogie tanker.. The coaches were left in the open in the shed...what i mean by that is that the shed was open at each end and only walls down the sides with damaged roofing... so it was covered in part to most weathers... this helped keep the insides of the coaches in good condition when i looked around the site in the late 90s. However, during the early 00s they coaches were moved outside into a siding with the LPG tanker, they look worse for wear for this action. (Although the green coach was left outside before this).. The yard was used for Welded rail construction in the Swindon / Westbury / Bristol area. This stopped in the mid 00's but the yard was still left with security incase of further use.

I passed there the other week and saw a line of 4 wheel waggons, made from wood. Similar to OBA waggons i think they are classified as, So presumably the role of this yard has changed from welded rails to something else related to engineering... or are these waggons now stored here? (they would have been used to carry old ballest, sleepers etc around in engineering trains)

Can anyone update me on this? Or even if theres any booked trains into and out of this yard still like the former Westbury to thingley jct train that used to run in the mornings a few years ago?

[Max Webster]

Until a few months ago my job meant regular trips past Thingly Junction and I did notice a big increase in activity here last year. I got the impression that Network Rail were using it for material reclamation as rail trains were often to be seen and there appeared to be stockpiles of old sleepers and old rails being cut up. Open wagons of the type you refer to were often to be seen, possibly bringing in the old sleepers though once or twice I got the impression they were being loaded with materials here. The access to the yard off the main line always looked fairly well used so I think it was quite a busy location. It's been a while since I travelled that way so I don't know whether it still is busy; perhaps another member can enlighten us (and let us know what it is that goes on there now)?

[wessexrailwaysdude]

Went past Thingly Junction again the other day,,,, had some of those autoballester waggons in there, huge stock pile of old railway sleepers and theres a sign now saying its a rail reclamation site... Didnt relise how badly damaged the ex NSE coaches are now... (went up there on a clear bright day rather then as its getting dark).

The coaches have obviously been burnt out inside out, the roofs are all buckled.... Before this site was heavily fenced off etc and was deralect i walked around and inside those coaches... They were in good condition apart from a few smashed windows and faded paint work... However i did notice the green coach is no longer on site... Any ideas if this has entered preservation or has been broken up/scrapped on site?