 | | The Archive Steam Collection Gallery
Images of Archive Steam in the Taunton Area.
It's a very sad fact that as people pass away that their life long collections get split up and sold, especially if they have no next of kin. The act of house clearance for future tenants provides a quick method to move new tenants into a property and a quick clearance then provides an efficient way to remove possessions. These possessions are then put of for sale for opportune bidders to sort and sell on the goods at their own pace.This does at least mean that items of historical significance can be saved for future generations to view. At Taunton Trains we are always on the look out for railway images from the past to host on this website in order to educate and record the past history of the railway scenes around the Taunton area. A recent discovery of black and white negatives featuring Taunton, being sold on Ebay has gifted viewers of this website some incredibly rare images. It's thought they many have never been seen online, or previously published. While we have made every effort to trace the original photographer the lines of tractability are erased at the point of house clearance, therefore it's impossible to know who took these stunning images and how they lay undiscovered from many years. Clearly the photographer was using excellent equipment from the day and knew how to best frame and pose images. Sadly along with the lack of a traceable name the same applies to any information about dates, workings and stories attached to these images, our captions for each of the images below are merely based upon our own research. While the original photographer retains the copyright to these images for 50 years after passing away, the lack of a traceable owner has lead us to enter these images as part of the 'Taunton Trains Collection'.
Some of the images below date back to the 1930's and were taken on glass plates, others exist on 6"x3" cut film. The job of scanning and repairing images has taken many hours of work to bring them up to an acceptable viewing standard, removing scratches, damage, and decomposition. Several images have taken in excess of 10 hours to bring back to a view-able standard.
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 | | The Arthur Garry Collection Gallery
Images from the Arthur Garry (Care of Peter Darke) Collection. Arthur Garry (ANM Garry) was born in 1890 and raised near Reading, close to the GWR main line out of Paddington. His grandfather was Rector of the parish of Taplow in the Edwardian period, during which Arthur won a scholarship to Eton College, from Summer Fields School in Oxford. During this time, he made frequent visits to the GWR mainline an as an enthusiast took many images of railway operations. From Eton, he won a scholarship to King’s College Cambridge whence he was in colonial service, and worked in North Borneo for at least 20 years, finally as a member of the legislative council there. He married a Doctor’s daughter from Minehead in Somerset in 1921, and retired to Minehead before the Second World War. He died in 1969, and his widow passed some of his photographic albums for safe keeping to the Darke Family. It’s not known not how Arthur Garry became a railway enthusiast, but it is possible that his grandfather was also a GWR fan. We would like to thank Peter Darke for sharing some of the images from the Arthur Garry collection with Taunton Trains.
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 | | The Brian Morrison Collection Gallery
Images from the Brian Morrison Collection.
Brian was one of the UK's best known railway photographers who's personal photographic archive spans from 1951 to the current day. His first photograph was taken of a B1 Steam Locomotive on the turntable at London Liverpool Street having just purchased his first camera only minutes beforehand. From there Brian's archive of images has lead to thousands of images having been recorded for prosperity. Brian sadly passed away at the age of 93 on the 30th April 2023.
We are very grateful to Brian for allowing his images to be displayed on Taunton Trains for the viewing pleasure of all those who visit Taunton Trains.
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 | | The C L Caddy Collection Gallery
Images from the CL Caddy Collection.
C L Caddy was a well known south west based photographer who is believed to have lived in Weymouth. We understand that he passed away around 2018 and many of his superb original images have been offered for sale since. This gallery hosts some of the images which now reside with Taunton Trains for future generations to enjoy.
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 | | The Colour Rail Collection Gallery
Images from the Colour Rail Collection.
We have been very fortunate to obtain several images taken at Taunton from the Colour Rail collection. With their permission we have been able to host these images on the website. Colour Rail
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 | | The David Jones Collection Gallery
Images from the David Jones Collection.
Dave was a rail enthusiast through and through having been brought up in a family with a history of working on the railway. His father, Mervyn Jones, was a driver based at Taunton and Dave was proud to see that his son, Rodney, has continued the family tradition by becoming a Driver with GWR.
Like many enthusiasts, Dave started by observing train movements at Taunton, and taking a keen interest in his Father's driving turns through the town (even having the odd cab ride). Over the years David moved into photography. Some of his excellent local pictures can be viewed on this website.
He liked nothing more than being at the ‘lineside’ at a quiet countryside location observing passing trains and also enjoyed travelling on rail tours around the country, as well as attending model railway exhibitions. Dave was a meticulous ‘note taker’ with each picture he took being recorded in detail as were all his rail journeys.
He liked the company of fellow enthusiasts and had a keen sense of humour. We will miss the often lively discussions we had on railways (of course) and many other topics while stood on Taunton Station platforms and elsewhere. David was a good and loyal friend and very generous – for example, often finding or even acquiring railway items he knew his friends were looking for. That gave him great satisfaction.
Dave will be much missed by his Taunton railway friends but not forgotten. We will continue to remember and talk about the good times. We will also ensure some more of his superb and historical Taunton railway pictures are made available for others to see and enjoy.
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 | | The Gavin Morrison Collection Gallery
Images from the Gavin Morrison Collection.
We are very grateful to Gavin for allowing his images to be displayed on Taunton Trains for the viewing pleasure of all those who visit Taunton Trains.
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 | | The John Vaughan Collection Gallery
Images from the John Vaughan Collection. We have recently been able to obtain a large selection of images taken by well known photographer John Vaughan. John sold a large amount of his collection many years ago, and from time to time selected images appear for sale. We are happy to say we have saved a good selection of images to enter into the Taunton Trains image archive.
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 | | The Micky Farkas Collection Gallery
Images from the Micky Farkas Collection.
Micky Farkas was a train driver who was a fireman at Taunton in the early 1960's.
His collection of rare well composed black and white negatives have been scanned by Steve Awford and provided to Taunton Trains to host for prosperity.
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 | | The Mike Pollard Collection Gallery
Images from the Mike Pollard Collection. Taunton railway photographer Mike Pollard has been taking photos of trains at Taunton since mid 1950s. Mike was born in Taunton and his interest in the local railway scene started at a very early age. That interest continued throughout his school days with frequent visits to the station. During those years he joined various ‘spotting’ groups and most notably the Taunton Loco Spotters Club. The Club arranged trips to various loco sheds and other locations across the country. He had vivid memories of spending many happy hours on Taunton Station and at 40 Steps observing and then in later years photographing train movements. In particular, Mike always looked forward to the Summer Service timetable in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s. This brought many extra holiday services operating to and from Devon and Cornwall. In his teens he also visited many railway locations in the UK as the demise of steam in the 1960s gathered pace. In later years Mike travelled extensively on Family holidays in this country and abroad. Destinations included the USA and many countries in Western Europe with Switzerland and Austria being favourites especially in winter. These trips provided many opportunities for him to see and photograph their railways. He also joined organised tours to Cuba and China specifically to see their freight operations and steam locomotives which were being phased out. Mike was a great story teller and anyone who enjoyed his illustrated talks to the local Great Western Society meetings will agree. He had a dry sense of humour and could usually find something amusing out of the most mundane situation. He was also always looking for the opportunity to take an out of the ordinary or even quirky photo. We will greatly miss the friendship of ‘Tall Mike’ and his extensive local and wider railway knowledge.
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 | | The Modern Image Slides Collection Gallery
Images from the Modern Image Slide Collection.
We have been very fortunate to obtain several images taken at Taunton from the Mordern Image Slide collection. With their permission we have been able to host these images on the website.
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 | | The Norman Preedy Collection Gallery
Images from the Norman Preedy Collection.
Norman was a photographer based in Gloucester who extensively traveled the UK Railway Network, sadly Norman passed away in 2018 however his collection was bequeathed to the safe hands of railway author Colin J Marsden who is now working through Normans vast collection to allow others to enjoy is amazing collection of images. He has kindly allowed Taunton Trains to display any Taunton related material.
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 | | The Owen Mogg Collection Gallery
Images from the Owen Mogg (Care of Peter Triggs) Collection.
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 | | The Peter Triggs Collection Gallery
Images from the Peter Triggs Collection. Taunton railway photographer Peter Triggs has been taking photos of trains at Taunton since mid 1950s. He purchased his first camera from a jumble sale for 9p. The camera turned out to be faulty and letting light into the images, a visit to the Taunton Camera shop allowed him to purchase a new camera with which he began taking photos of the trains he saw passing through Taunton. Without his forethought of capturing so many Great Western locomotives in action at Taunton during his younger years (and continuing to capture images for a further seven decades thereafter), it would not be possible to bring back these scenes from the past for everyone to enjoy. His overriding memory is forming the Taunton Loco Spotters Group and meeting on the end of Taunton Station watching the busy summer Saturday steam services heading to and from the Westcountry. One such memory includes the day the Cornish Riviera Express was late and didn't turn up at 12:50. It was finally signalled at 13:20 and came through the station on full whistle with a Churchward 4700 No.4705 running at line speed through the station having replaced a failed 'King' at Reading.
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 | | The Reg Jones Collection Gallery
Images from the Reg Jones Collection. Reg was a frequent visitor to the West Somerset Railway in the early years and recorded many images of the line before and during restoration. His collection provides an invaluable look back in time at how the line started to what it has become as a major preserved railway. Thanks to his daughter Julie these images were saved and passed to Taunton Trains upon her father's passing.
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 | | The Russell Watkins Collection Gallery
Images from the Russell Watkins Collection.
Russell Watkins sadly passed away on the 25th June 2019, as a good friend, and rail enthusiast he was kind enough to scan and send many images to Taunton Trains, this gallery is now a permanent place to remember him and some of the images he took in the Taunton area.
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 | | The Strathwood Publishing Collection Gallery
Images from the Strathwood Publishing Collection.
We have been very fortunate to obtain several images taken at Taunton from the Strathwood Collection from images which they have put up for sale and with their permission we have been able to host these images on the website.
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 | | The Taunton Trains Collection Gallery
For some time now Taunton Trains has been collecting images from various sources which will provide a historical archive of images for the future. Ebay has provided a good library of images taken in the Taunton area, and as many have been purchased 'with copyright' we are able to provide a good selection of images along with additional images credited to the originator. We would also like to thank Strathwood Publishing and Colour Rail for providing their assistance with some of their images. In all cases we have tried our best to find the original photographer, where this has not been possible images have been entered into the Taunton Trains collection until such time as a photographer name can be identified.
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