Rushey Platt Ground Frame

The ground frame was just west of Swindon, and had a very varied life. It controlled, at various times, connections from the Down Main to the sidings that were formerly the link to the MSWJ Railway; a crossover between the main lines; the exit from the down Engineers' Sidings (the other end was at Swindon West Jn); and a connection from the Up Goods to the works sidings. This diagrams shows all of them in operation.

Nine levers is quite a few for a ground frame! It looks like there was no route from the MSWJR Siding (SN.211) to the Engineers' Sidings (as otherwise the locking on lever 1 would be extremely complex!), and doubtful whether there were any routes at all to the Up Siding. As this ground frame would have been protected by SN.53 on the Up Main, it would be interesting to know whether 7 required 4 reverse, in order to prevent the unsignalled moves from the Up Sidings ending up travelling down the Up Main towards Wootton Bassett.

Further Reading

In the Impermanent Way books, there is one on Wiltshire, pages 69-71 covers Rushey Platt in colour in 1976. The ex MSWJR spur was still there until 1978 about, was used for construction work on the M4 and served the Moredon Power Station before it shut in 1973.