A Busy Day at Dulverton

Our first post of 2021, 12th January, takes us to Dulverton Station, nearing closure in the time of 'Beeching's Axe'.

The picture features a 1000-piece jigsaw from JHG Jigsaws of Ashmore, Dorset, titled Busy Day at Dulverton. The era associated with Peter Webster's artwork is probably around, or just prior to, the publication of the 1963 Beeching Report titled 'The Reshaping of British Railways'. The latter led to the closure of many unprofitable lines in the UK. Dulverton Station was actually situated 2 miles further south of Dulverton, at Brushford village; it was closed in 1966. In Peter's painting the main locomotive heading a light passenger train is an ex GWR 'Mogul' (2-6-0) type, No.6372, designed by George Jackson Churchwood. She was built in 1921 at Swindon Works and withdrawn in 1963. A year later she was scrapped and in the painting appears to be in a worse-for-wear, unloved condition. The short freight train exiting the station on the left is headed by a pannier tank 0-6-0 locomotive, but no id' is possible. Two station staff are present with a few passengers. In the yard outside are a single decked bus and a car, both of the time period depicted. In typical Webster style, an eyecatching, rural landscape is included as the backdrop.