Description:

BACTON

130

Bacton Station and surroundings, from the 25-inch  Ordnance Survey of 1904

0056

Loading white timber and pitwood near Maen Twlch between Bacton and Vowchurch c.1926. On footplate engineman CG Smith; on ground Ganger Jim Edwards; near tank Fireman H Cyril Davies; in front of chimney Bill Jones Platelayer. Photo by Mr Victor Pask, Timber Merchant, Caerleon, Monmouthshire.

0066

Near Maen Twlch, between Bacton & Vowchurch; white timber and pitwood loading in charge of Station Master J Williams [John Willie] Vowchurch during period 1926 to 1928.

Photo by Mr Victor Pask, Timber Merchant, Caerleon, Monmouthshire.

129

Bacton Station in the 1930s, [looking towards Peterchurch with the Level Crossing gates behind.]

135

Bacton Goods Siding and cattle pens, early 1940

101

The Railway Yard at Bacton in early 1941, [showing crated Allis-Chalmers tractors from America waiting to be assembled.]

133

Bacton Goods Siding and Yard, seen from the level crossing, 1941

134

Bacton Goods Siding and Yard, seen from the level crossing, 1941

136

Tractor assembly at Bacton Goods Yard, with the level Crossing and Bacton Station in the background [?c.1941]. [The foot of the crane is in the left foreground]

137

Bacton Goods Yard and siding taken from the footplate of a passing branch line train [?c.1941]. [Tractor components awaiting assembly and crates ready to be unpacked can be seen in the background.]

138

Engine No 5818 shunting in the goods loop at Bacton, 1941. [The tractor assembly area is in the background.]

139

Completed tractors being loaded into wagons on the Goods Loop at Bacton, 1941

140

[A completed Allis Chalmers tractor off the assembly line at Bacton Goods yard [?1941]]

102

Bacton Yard: shelters over the tractor assembly areas, late 1941

0050

[Bacton Yard; unloading and assembling American tractors during the Second war 1939-45]

0051

[Bacton Yard; unloading and assembling American tractors during the Second war 1939-45]

0053

[Bacton Yard; unloading and assembling American tractors during the Second war 1939-45]

0054

[Bacton Yard; Completed American tractors being shipped out by rail during the Second War 1939-45.]

0055

[Bacton Yard; Assembling American tractors under rudimentary shelters during the Second War 1939-45]

0058

[Bacton Yard; unloading and assembling American tractors during the Second War 1939-45]

0059

[Bacton Yard; unloading and assembling American tractors during the Second War 1939-45]

0060

[Bacton Yard; unloading and assembling American tractors during the Second War 1939-45]

0061

[Bacton Yard; unloading and assembling American tractors during the Second War 1939-45]

107

Ganger Bill Stratford and Fireman Cyril Davies at Bacton Station with Engine No 5818, mid 1940s

0068

Engine No 5818 and van in Bacton Station, Golden Valley Branch. Date unknown.

0070

Bacton Station, Golden Valley Branch GWR. Mrs J Spreadborough, Crossing Gate Keeper and general factotum. Date unknown

131

[Bacton Station in decay in the 1950s, looking towards Peterchurch with the Level Crossing gates behind.]

132

The level crossing on the Hay side of Bacton Station. Date unknown

Observations:

Original photographs from a collection by CG Smith, Engineman on the Golden Valley Branch of the Great Western Railway from 1924 to c.1960. Reproduced by kind permission of his son, David Smith of Ewyas Harold.

A detailed history of Allis-Chalmers in the UK and background to their wartime activities assembling tractors at Bacton can be found in an article "Allis-Chalmers: Great Britain" by Mark Chalmers published in Archive Magazine - The Quarterly Journal for British Industrial and Transport History - issue 128 published by Lightmoor Press  in December 2025.

Return to Index page for photographs of other stations on the Golden Valley Branch.