Gatehampton Viaduct WWII and BR Decay.

About 5 miles east of Night Crawlers thread Pillbox's along the Thames lies Gatehampton Viaduct.This carries the GW mainline across the Thames approx 2 miles Reading side of Goring Stn.Apart from the viaduct itself there are another three sites of intrest next to it.
A type 22 pillbox guards its south side and is in very good condition externally and internally !!

Its ID number still in place.

A view thrrough an emrasure looking east towards Reading.

On the viaduct itself at the Reading end on the south side is a gun emplacement.

Complete with its rusting gun retaining bolts !!

Amazingly on the opposite side of the viaduct lies a decaying van which (i think) used to carry water softening bricquetts to the long since removed water treatment plant which used to supply the water troughs at Lower Basildon.These were troughs placed between the running rails of all four tracks which were filled with enough water to replenish the tenders of steam locos-and the boiler water tanks of early diesels-whilst the train passed over them.(Picked up by a scoop on the loco)These troughs must have been removed around 1965 yet the little van still remains overgrown and decaying but still showing the remnents of its old livery of maroon and cream.!!


PS If anyone knows what type of vehical this is i would be glad to know.

Well spotted Fluffy

This indeed looks to be a Pill Box in excellent shape.

Thanks for sharing,

Hello mate, great report, and a lovely old van, that my friend I reckon is a Morris J Commercial van:

Here you go:



Image pinched from 'tinternet'

And I dare say if it's livery was maroon and cream, I would say it's an ex British Railways van to boot, in keeping with their corporate image at the time of using these vans!

Cheers

Gorgeous red-brick viaduct and those pillboxes are great. Fantastic to see the gun mount bolts and ID number still in place. Excellent find, fluffy.

Thanx for the comments LB TK and Foxy !!
Many thanks for the id on the van TK !! Looks like the same to me.
Us ex train spotters are always in need of info, now if only i could find its registration plate details !!!!!!
ONLY KIDDING !!!!!!

Aha, It's a water treatment plant then. I wondered what all the building bases were. I was confused by one though, a large, low concrete structure near the van. Couldnt figure it out at all. Did you see the small brick and corriguated steel hut just to the south of the bridge? It looks to be ww2 but again, couldnt figure out it's use...

That Viaduct is an absolute classic. A lot of station buildings are made of Red brick and look peachy so a Viaduct is a real bonus.

I'm guessing that the viaduct had some sort of strategic or logistical value hence the pillbox?