midweek at midford

 

Cleared platform.

Looking towards Long Arch Bridge.

 

Classic fencing starts to reappear - and makes the narrow road safer.

 

Midford main mover Stuart Seale chats to New S&D Press and Publicity Officer Kevin Gover.

 

Had a nice (and rare) trip to Midford on Wednesday to meet with our new Press and Publicity Officer Kevin Gover and get a chance to catch up with progress on the site.

 

Stuart kindly showed Kevin around the site and I did some radio stuff for the Masbury Appeal.

 

Interestingly Kevin walked from Freshford to Midford and I may well try to reach Midford by train and foot in future, rather than use the slow and rather ridiculous car. It's about a two mile walk in each direction.

 

Television is also taking an interest in developments at Masbury so expect to have it rammed down your throats (in the nicest possible way!) over the summer months!  

 

Midford is looking great and the litter problems we suffered from anti-social visitors after the Two Tunnels route opened seem to have calmed down somewhat. New fencing has appeared along the top of Long Arch Bridge, together with some new safety bollards, much improving this part of the site.

 

Remember if you would like to help in restoring Midford to its former glory please contact me via leysiner@aol.com and I will put you in touch with Stuart.

get stoking!

Julian Jefferson has just added a neat graphic to the Facebook Masbury page, which will show how much has been collected towards purchase of the station.

Although it looks like it's set at zero it is just off first base, but we've all got a lot to do over the next four months to get all that cash in!

I was at Midford today chatting to our new Press and Publicity Officer who has excellent contacts in the media - and hopefully the first fruits of that will be visible soon. Until the end of September I'll be pretty much concentrating on the Masbury Appeal as it's so important to the future of the S&D.

south of broadstone

Route was just to the left of the footpath.

 



Looking north past the road pinch.

Overview of the site - the railway took a route from this point to a point close to the road in the distance.

 

Back to last Wednesday's site visit this was the potential third pinch point. There's been some road works here that whilst not impeding on the route does make it a little more difficult than had the trackbed been properly protected as a transport corridor. The biggest issue is the road that joins the main road and this may require some (expensive) remodelling in the area. But still of course doable! It would be interesting to see how the railway and roads originally coexisted here as it may of course be easier to simply restore it as it was. Whatever the outcome Broadstone is desperately in need of its railway and surely can't go much longer without modern transport?



new curve

 

S&D bridge in Hamworthy.

 

S&D embankment in Hamworthy.

 

Open ground ideal for new curve.

 

The main Bournemouth-Weymouth route near Hamworthy - the new curve can connect near here, there are many options!

 

The new curve would intersect the SW corner on this map.

 

 

One of the conclusions from our southern site visit on Wednesday was that a brand new curve could be built to the north of Hamworthy station, allowing New S&D trains and, eventually, Park and Rides from north of Broadstone and of course main line trains via Ringwood and Wimborne access directly to Bournemouth. At the same time reopening of the original curve into Hamworthy station would allow direct access to Weymouth and also possibly Poole Quay where freight trains and passenger trains in connection with cruise liners could be run.

 

This whole area is going to become a hive of rail activity in the future, with Broadstone offering a huge variety of trains. 

 

not an issue

 

Corfe Mullen 5.6.2013 Route used as footpath.

 

The original line.

 

Line has been cut into here but not a problem.

 

Original fencing remains.

 

After Hamworthy we continued to Corfe Mullen where we determined there'd be another pinch point. This part was easy, behind the industrial estate. Part of the line had been levelled off, but correction of this will be simple. There is a footpath here which uses part of the route, and fencing will need to be modified. At the south end the footpath goes its own way and there was original trackbed, overgrown with small trees. This reminded me of a more overgrown section that used to exist south of Midsomer Norton, now part of the double track main line.

 

North of this point the line has been built over in places by housing development. As always this is double edged - more customers for the railway but possible CPOs and demolition of three houses if an alternative route is impractical.

hamworthy

A few shots from yesterday's survey visit to Hamworthy, Corfe Mullen and Broadstone. These are from the Hamworthy end of the line.

Top shot shows the S&D bridge with the main line bridge behind. Second shot is of the S&D bridge and the third shows some encroachment on the embankment near here.

This was the first identified 'pinch point', it can be overcome by some slight modification of the buildings (2) or by some reprofiling of the embankment.

This was of course the original route of the 'Castleman's Corkscrew' route via Ringwood and was not part of the S&D. It is the subject of a possible scheme to link Hamworthy to a park and ride north of Broadstone. We also identified scope for a chord line linking just north of this stretch to the main line with a junction facing Bournemouth (more useful for the S&D) of which more tomorrow!

today's adventure

Had a bit of an adventure today right at the southern end of the S&D. I was helping out with a survey of the route between Hamworthy and Broadstone, to check its viability for reopening. It was a  successful day - I'll do a fuller report tomorrow when I've recovered from the five hours of driving!

tracklaying

(Copyright Stuart Mills 2.6.2013)

 

 

Well, you could be forgiven for thinking so (but what gauge is it?) This is actually the pitch for the sales stand at Spetisbury. The station is looking good and I'm going down tomorrow (Wednesday) to get my first look at it since work started. Who knows, I may even get to pull a weed or two, although that's not the main reason I'm going! More news (and pics) tomorrow evening.

next stop masbury

You can hardly fail to have noticed that the S&D is attempting to acquire Masbury station - as well as Facebook groups and the front page of the SDRHT website, it was also announced to the world through the pages (and cover) of Steam Railway.

The appeal is being overseen by the SDRHT at Midsomer Norton, with the full support of the New S&D. It's planned that if the purchase is successful then the New S&D will manage the site in cooperation with the SDRHT.

This is fantastic news for several reasons. Masbury is an iconic S&D location (right up there with Midsomer Norton, Evercreech Junction and Midford) and is a sizeable station, especially for such a small village. It is the first big scheme that involves more than one (and hopefully ALL) the S&D groups. And it opens the way for the SDRHT to realise its banner - Mendip Main Line Project. It will also elevate the S&D into the stratosphere of the best heritage lines in the UK. It announces to the world that the S&D is on its way back and we don't plan to let anything stand in our way!!

Please please donate everything you can to this project. Remember to Gift Aid where appropriate. And if you don't want the money spent elsewhere it will be returned to you if the appeal fails ... but that's not going to happen, is it?

Full details on how to donate here.

railfuture conference

Railfuture  is  offering  reduced  price  admission  @ £15  if  booking  by  post  (or  £16  if  booking  online)  to  its  Summer  Conference  on  Saturday  22  June  at  the  Albemarle  Centre,  Albemarle  Road,  Taunton,  about  five  minutes'  walk  from  the  railway  station.  These  prices  include  a  buffet  lunch.  The  discount  is  aimed  at  the  membership  of  organisations  speaking  at  the  Conference.  The  speakers  themselves  get  free  admission !   I  understand  that  Philip  is  advising  Tarka  Rail  Association  of  this  offer.

The  Conference  opens  at  11  am  and  closes  at  4.30  pm.  There  are  nine  speakers  as  follows:

John  Dora  (John  Dora  Consulting  Ltd)  talking  about  Railways,  Weather  and  Climate  Change. 

John  Burch (Tarka  Rail  Association)  "The  Problem  that  is  Cowley  Bridge  Junction."

Bernard  Lane  (Friends  of  Suburban  Bristol  Railways).  "Campaigning  for  an  Effective  City  Rail  Network."

Steve  Smith  (Bedwyn  Trains  Passenger  Group)  on  the  need  to  retain  Bedwyn's  direct  service  to  Reading  and  London  after  electrification.

John  Chapman  (Kilbride  Community  Rail)  on  reopening  to  Tavistock.

Alan  Matthews  (Portishead  Railway  Group)  on  the  challenges  in  the  campaign  to  reopen  the  Portishead  line.

Dean  Cockwell  (New  Somerset  &  Dorset  Railway)  on  the  long  term  ambition  to  reopen  a  main  line.

Chris  Fribbins  and  Chris  Page  (Railfuture  Directors)  summarising  the  Conference.

To  book  by  post  @  £15,  send  a  cheque  payable  to  Railfuture,  to 

Taunton  2013  Conference,  Railfuture,  24  Chedworth  Place,  Tattingstone,  Suffolk  IP9  2ND.

To  book  online  @  £16  via  Paypal,  go  to 

http://www.railfuture.org.uk/conferences/offer

love at first sight?

 

Hardly! My first ever visit to Midford (indeed the S&D) was on 24 May 1980, and the site was a mess. Overgrown and neglected it would have been a brave person indeed who would have forecast that it would ever be a station again, let alone a station on a rebuilt S&D. But we've come a long long way since and the station is now almost ready for rebuilding. Of course further along the S&D Midsomer Norton is now a superb restoration and a real credit to the entire heritage movement. Further south Masbury awaits the revivalists (after the small matter of raising the money has been achieved!), next is the Gartell Railway which operates a superb 2 foot gauge with an S&D flavour just south of Templecombe, well into Dorset Shillingstone has been restored and track laid and a bit further south Spetisbury has received the attention of a sizeable group of local revivalists. The S&D has indeed come a very long way since that day back in 1980!

 

At the time I lived in Sussex and my main interests were Swiss electric railways and music. My interests haven't changed much but you'd have to add the S&D to that list!

inspiration

 

There have been a few lines that have inspired the S&D, and I suspect one of the most surprising ones is the Lynton and Barnstaple. In fact there's a pretty strong case that the closure of the L&B inspired the WHOLE heritage railway movement. The picture above is of Woody Bay in 1980, a station perched on top of Exmoor and converted to an attractive house. There was at the time a small preservation group, but they hadn't made a lot of progress and the 'it'll never happen' lot were having a field day mocking them.

 

But persistence paid off and they now have fully restored a section of the line at Woody Bay. But more to the point, through their Exmoor Associates company, they own good stretches of the route distant from Woody Bay, including Chelfham viaduct and station. They are in for the long haul and have been persistent and patient from the start. They want nothing less than a full restoration of this most important route, and have even planned an extension at Lynton to meet the funicular down to Lynmouth.

 

I'll be visiting the line next month and I'm really looking forward to it! Oh yes, the shot below is of the line as it is now!

the next big step

I'm waiting with baited breath here for the final details of the next big S&D development - the purchase of MASBURY station!

I can't say too much (but all will be revealed in just a few days) but at least two of the existing S&D groups (including the New S&D of course) will be announcing an appeal to purchase Masbury.

Full details to follow by the weekend at the latest!

congratulations!

Congratulations to the Somerset and Dorset Railway Heritage Trust who have just gained their THOUSANDTH member!! When I joined in around 2004 I was member 250 and remember a trackless station, a maudlin sign announcing that Midsomer Norton would be a 'steam museum with a short demonstration line' and I got a bottle of cheap Asti as a reward for my being their quarter of a thousandth member!

Just look at the place now!

In the four years since the New S&D started we have just welcomed out 175th member - how long before the New S&D also has one thousand??

blandford 150

Blandford by night - dripping with atmosphere!

Nigel Jones, who owns the Railway Hotel at Blandford, hopes to celebrate the 150th anniversary of completion of the line between Blandford and Templecombe, on 31 August 2013.

He hopes that the road between the hotel and railway can be closed and stalls etc set up along the road to celebrate. What he really needs is a photo or photos of the station AND the hotel in the same picture.

If you have any relevant photos you are happy to share with this event please contact me by email at leysiner@aol.com and I'll see they get to Nigel. Any photos of the station and surrounding area are welcome, they don't need to fit the very strict critieria above!

Also looking for any members/supporters who are happy to run an information stall on the day!

midford facebook group

 

Are you a member of the Midford Facebook group yet? It's the best place for news and pictures etc as it's a very dynamic site and there's always something going on!

I shall be going up there the week after next to do a radio interview with our new Press and Publicity Officer - and looking forward to seeing if the Two Tunnels link has increased footfall, or should it be wheelfall? I may even risk bringing the bike and cycling through the tunnels!

midford this sunday

There will be a working party this Sunday, 21 April at Midford to wire up our fence along Tucking Mill Lane and then to clear some small trees on the embankment below a neighbour's property, which has been causing him a nuisance. From about 10:15am. All welcome to join them!

one step closer ...

Bath's Two Tunnels Greenway cycle path opens

 

Almost 2,000 people attended the opening of the path

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• Go-ahead given to build bridges
• Tunnels handed to cycle charity
• Tunnels path work gets under way

A £4m cycle and walking path with the longest cycling tunnel in Britain has opened with a mass cycle ride.

The Two Tunnels Greenway route opens up two former railway tunnels nearly 50 years after they closed.

Almost 2,000 people attended the mass cycle to mark the opening of the route which runs from Bath to Midford.

The path goes through Linear Park, on through the disused Devonshire and Combe Down railway tunnels, and over the Tucking Mill Viaduct.

At over a mile long, the Combe Down tunnel will be the longest cycling tunnel in Britain and will feature an interactive light and sound installation.

One million users

The Two Tunnels Group - a team of 11 cycling, walking and railway enthusiasts - first kicked off the plan to reopen the tunnels for public use seven years ago.

Frank Tompson, chair of the group, has worked with cycling charity Sustrans - who built the route - and Bath and North East Somerset Council to create the path.

"It's been a long journey since some of us stood between the bricked-up Devonshire and Combe Down tunnels and said, 'wouldn't it be a good idea if…'," he said.

"I am really pleased that we are finally in a position to open the route to the public and estimates suggest that up to a million people might use the path each year."

 

The tunnels have low level LED lighting

The project is part of Sustrans five-year project to extend the National Cycle Network into the heart of communities.

One of the first cyclists through the tunnel was Bath schoolboy Jamie Gant.

"It feels like I've gone back to the past but there are modern lights and modern stuff and there is no track. It was kind of a bit cold," he said.

Also trying out the new path was Winter Olympic gold medallist Amy Williams MBE who unveiled a portrait bench of herself, WWI veteran Harry Patch and a Roman solider.

Williams, from Bath, said: "This is so exciting for Bath and the community, there are so many people here.

"It is only going to encourage more people to get on their bikes and go out for walks and after the London Olympics ."

A few years ago I walked through the long tunnel and it was quite an experience. Next time I go up to Midford I'll take the bike and cycle through. Although this section of line doesn't feature in the New S&D's first tranche of reopenings - we'd prefer to go via Limpley Stoke to access the Network - in the longer term protection of the route can only be good for the railway. This should also make the visitor centre and shop at Midford much busier once it is open.

spetisbury sunday

SUNDAY 7th APRIL - WORK PARTY
Dear Member/ Volunteer, There is a work party up at the station on Sunday. I hope to be there from 10:00am onwards. Hopefully, I would have had a meeting with the rangers up at the station on Friday, and from that I will have a better idea on what we are going to be doing during the summer months.
Car parking. This was discussed last time, and has not changed. Would appreciate it if you could let me know if you can make it.
Best regards,
Dean

shifting paradigms ...

 

 

A whole raft of facts and figures have emerged recently re our failing love affair with the car. A majority of teenagers - even in the US - now do not drive. But a really interesting set of figures on fuel sales in the UK have recently been released. If anyone doubts that the age of the car is coming to an end I think these will change your mind!

 

2007 forecourt sales 22.87 billion litres petrol

2011 forecourt sales 18.27 billion litres petrol

2012 forecourt sales 17.42 billion litres petrol

 

2007 forecourt sales 14.8 billion litres diesel

2012 forecourt sales 16.73 billion litres diesel

 

2007 forecourt sales 37.67 billion litres all fuel

2012 forecourt sales 34.16 billion litres all fuel

 

Taking total fuels the AA reports that this fall is the equivalent of 35 days forecourt sales, or just under a 10% drop.

 

I suspect these figures tell us a number of things. That we're in recession of course, but also that people are giving up driving completely, driving less or driving more fuel efficient vehicles. This is of course screamingly obvious, but it also reflects something far deeper - that the years of constantly increasing fuel use are over. It is starting to contract. Of course at the same time fuel use on the roads is diminishing, rail travel is booming. And I can't see this ever changing now.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

midford this easter sunday

 

Stuart and Tom Seale will be forming a working party this coming Sunday (31 March) at Midford to replace the broken concrete fenceposts alongside Tucking Mill Lane and also to tidy up the Station area before the opening up of the tunnels on Saturday 6 April. All welcome to come and join them from 10:15ish.

southern stirrings

A line very close to my heart is the Shoreham to Christ's Hospital line which I saw whilst still open, being just a few miles from where I lived. With the other Horsham route to Guildford this formed a useful cross country route, both lines sadly closed in the 60s, the Shoreham-Christ's Hospital on the same day as the S&D.

There are now stirrings on this route and the beginnings of an ambitious (but perfectly viable) rail restoration, and one of the first steps is a site visit to Cranleigh.

Full details can be found here. If you live in the area it would help them enormously if you were to go along. I'm jealous!

riding the zeitgeist

The best news this year so far is the Bluebell's reconnection to the Network. I once worked on this line and also regularly visited it when I lived in Sussex. It was always a very special place and the short Sheffield Park to Horsted Keynes section did have a charm of its own. But the world has changed a lot from the 1970s when the above shot was taken, and I think the line always realised that they needed to reconnect to the Network eventually. It's perhaps not even a concious decision, perhaps the emerging view of heritage lines as future community railways is something that is felt rather than thought, but this will totally transorm the Bluebell. Expect plenty of specials off the main line, lots of new visiting locos (steam and diesel) and a lot more TV and film work.

But most of all expect a growing demand for reconnection to Haywards Heath (please make it a preserved third rail electric route!) and then to Lewes. And once that is in the bloodstream thoughts about developing the route as a REAL line, with passengers and freight, will  begin. There's no need for the intermediate stations to lose any of their charm, but I reckon within ten to twenty years there will be trains from East Grinstead to Lewes, carrying ordinary fare-paying passengers, and who knows, a London-Brighton train eventually as well.

This is the way things are going, with heritage railways pre-empting the upheavals of Peak Oil and Climate Change and grabbing the business temporarily lost to the doomed car and lorry.

And remember the Imberhorne tip situation has a lot in common with what the SDRHT will soon face at Chilcompton. The little Bluebell has overcome it, the mighty S&D certainly should have nothing to fear!

spetisbury tomorrow

SUNDAY 10th MARCH 2013 - WORK PARTY
Dear Member/ Volunteer,

 Fancy joining our work party and going up to the station on Sunday. I hope to be there between 10:00 and 11:00am.

 On Sundays agenda, I believe we still have a bit of clearing to do after our last visit. I also believe we may have to do some filling in, where holes have appeared in the foliage on the 'Down' platform.
There are other tasks, such as sorting through the brick rubble to find any 'specials', and put to one side.

... Would appreciate it if you could let me know if you can make it.

 Best regards,

 Dean

huge missed opportunity

I hope not too many of you took my advice and bought the Independent yesterday. If you did I can only apologise. The Beeching article was the most hideous load of nostalgic, irrelevant and uninformed tosh I have ever read. I'm ashamed that four of my pictures accompanied the article, fortunately they didn't put my name to them!

So what was wrong with it? It had lots of inaccuracies - that the SDRHT have extended a quarter of mile towards Bath for example. (In reality they've extended half a mile towards Chilcompton). The last Somerset coalfield did NOT close in 1966, the S&D was slewed to the Bristol-Frome line after closure of the S&D so it could continue to take coal from Writhlington for several more years. Looe is not in West Cornwall, and the St Ives branch is hardly English, it's Cornish!

But what really irked was the absolute patronising hatchet job it did on Midsomer Norton. In reality Midsomer Norton South is a fantastic revived station. Talk of eccentrics in stationmaster's caps selling a useless ticket to look around the site would just about turn anyone off visiting. In reality your ticket gives you a trip on their heritage DMU and access to the site, without an accompanying puffer lover eccentric ...

But the worst was the journalist's extraordinary assumption that - with the money and will - of course the line can be reopened, if only the land hadn't been sold off in parcels!! Talk about getting it the wrong way round!! Land is no problem, CPO's will get anything we can't get on the open market.

The point is the whole article stank of 70s defeatism, misplaced nostalgia and an utter contempt for the people - the vast majority who are NOT railway enthusiasts and are more likely to wear a fez and ballgown than a 'stationmaster's cap' - that have put so much effort in getting the line restored.

Not a single mention of Peak Oil, though the main paper often alludes to it, and no sweeping story about how railways are returning all over the country. Why not just declare out loud that BEECHING WAS WRONG? And that, because he was wrong, even back in 1963, we simply have to reverse what the idiot did? And that NOTHING will stand in the way of a huge rail revival in this country BECAUSE WE HAVE NO CHOICE!!

And the patronising drivel at the top of this page? This will become part of the iconography of the S&D. When the first real train runs on the line we will reproduce this as a poster, tee shirt, fridge magnet and a host of other souvenirs, making even more money for the line which despite what the 'journalist' claimed is going to be everything BUT the thing he thinks it will be!

everything's going our way

It's been one of those weeks this week!

Firstly January 2013 had the lowest fuel sales since 1990, underlining the decline in car use that now seems unstoppable. This is partly because of austerity but it also seems many young people have no interest in driving or getting a car - when was the last time you saw a even a teenager tinkering with a car outside his parents' house? Amongst the young cars are seen as terribly uncool.

Secondly we are now getting clear warnings that the UK will face an energy crunch from 2015, with rolling blackouts likely. This will of course kill any silly talk of electric cars dead. I read somewhere that we would need 3 or 4 times current levels of generating capacity to cope with a switch to electric cars, there really is no chance of that happening - the energy just won't be there. In reality available energy is falling year on year.

Behind these specific reports there is now a general feeling of change in the air. The weather in 2012 was exteremely weird, way beyond even the most pessimistic forecasts. All of this is loading even more costs on our already fragile economy, which has now lost its AAA rating.

And for those of us that are still driving the potholes are geeting deeper and wider and more common - yet another sign that change is in the air ...

the independent tomorrow

National Sunday paper The Independent on Sunday will be running a feature in tomorrow's paper looking back at 50 years since the Beeching report. Inevitably the S&D - being the vilest of all the closures - will feature strongly in the article. It is sure to rely heavily on photos of Midsomer Norton as they are using four of mine to illustrate the article!

spetisbury tomorrow

SUNDAY 24th FEBRUARY - WORK PARTY

 Dear Member/ Volunteer,

 Fancy joining our work party and going up to the station on Sunday. I hope to be there between 10:00 and 11:00am.

 On Sundays agenda are at least a couple of large trees, which we will have the expertise of Terry with his chainsaw to fell them, but we will need numbers to make sure the felled trees are dealt with quickly to keep the trailway clear.

 So the main tools required will be saws and loppers to take the branches etc. down to manageable sizes.

 

... Would appreciate it if you could let me know if you can make it.

 

 

Photo shows heavy plant helping out on Wednesday at Spetisbury. Photo copyright Mike Hall.

 

midford tomorrow

There will be a work party at Midford tomorrow (Sunday, 24 February 2013) from 10.30.

To let Tom and Stuart know you're going you can sign up to the event on Facebook by clicking this link.

going national ...

The Independent on Sunday is running a feature on the Beeching Report and is concentrating mainly on the S&D. They wanted pics of Midsomer Norton, before closure, after closure and since rebirth, and these were the ones I chose for the rebirth bit, taken on a lovely summer's day back in 2011. If anyone DOES have photos of MN or Blandford before and after closure that they own the copyright on and would like at least the chance of one or more of them appearing in a national paper Sunday supplement (with a fee of course!) please email me on leysiner@aol.com and I'll give you contact details for the paper BUT the deadline is tomorrow so there is a rush!!