HERITAGE PROJECTS - BATH / MINEHEAD

Minehead - Railway turntable
Originally measuring 55’0’’ its home was Pwllheli in North Wales. With the demise of steam in the 1960’s the turntable became redundant but was offered a possible new lease of life when rescued by the then infant West Somerset Railway. The turntable is the first GWR railway turntable to be extensively rebuilt and additionally is the only one to have been extended since the 1930’s from its original 55’0’’ to 65’0’’ using genuine GWR modification drawings. The railway turntable which weighed in excess of fifty tonnes was transported in one piece and craned into position by Steelway’s installation teams. The railway turntable now forms the nucleus of a major visitor’s attraction based around West Somerset Railway Station in Minehead.

Bath - Canopy
As part of a major retail scheme adjacent to Bath Spa’s historic railway station, Steelway were employed to recreate the long lost Porte Cochere which once graced the “down-side” station building. The challenge was to provide an authentic solution as far as was possible. From a 1920’s photograph, together with site evidence, and combined with our historic knowledge of designs of the period, we were able to determine the dimensions of its projection and recreate the original appearance and details to a very exacting standard. The contract included the complete re-creation which took on board the replica riveted structure, patent glazing using glazing bars which emulated the 100 year old designs of Henry Hope & Sons together with all necessary timber and cast iron components. The project received part grant funding from Railway Heritage Trust.