Templecombe’s Finest

Monochrome Monday finds another old photo taken at Combwich. LMS 2P, No. 40564 of Templecombe shed is in its last summer of service, the loco sadly being withdrawn the following February of 1962 after a mere 34 years in service. 

These elegant 4-4-0s were usually used on the mainline to Bath, but were occasionally rostered on to the Highbridge and Combwich services. The service here is most likely the mid morning Templecombe to Combwich via Highbridge train. 

Keen loco-spotting types will notice the GWR interloper No. 4691 also of Templecombe shed next to the water tower. By the early 1960s they were regulars on the branch. But like so much steam in the 1960s, this loco was withdrawn at the tender age of just 19 in September 1964 after far too few years in service.