Welcome to the 'New Somerset and Dorset Railway'

The original Somerset and Dorset Railway closed very controversially in 1966. It is time that decision, made in a very different world, was reversed. We now have many councillors, MPs, businesses and individuals living along the line supporting us. Even the Ministry of Transport supports our general aim. The New S&D was formed in 2009 with the aim of rebuilding as much of the route as possible, at the very least the main line from Bath (Britain's only World Heritage City) to Bournemouth (our premier seaside resort); as well as the branches to Wells, Glastonbury and Wimborne. We will achieve this through a mix of lobbying, trackbed purchase and restoration of sections of the route as they become economically viable. With Climate Change, road congestion, capacity constraints on the railways and now Peak Oil firmly on the agenda we are pushing against an open door. We already own Midford just south of Bath, and are restoring Spetisbury under license from DCC, but this is just the start. There are other established groups restoring stations and line at Midsomer Norton and Shillingstone, and the fabulous narrow gauge line near Templevcombe, the Gartell Railway.

There are now FIVE sites being actively restored on the S&D and this blog will follow what goes on at all of them!
Midford - Midsomer Norton - Gartell - Shillingstone - Spetisbury


Our Aim:

Our aim is to use a mix of lobbying, strategic track-bed purchase, fundraising and encouragement and support of groups already preserving sections of the route, as well as working with local and national government, local people, countryside groups and railway enthusiasts (of all types!) To restore sections of the route as they become viable.
Whilst the New S&D will primarily be a modern passenger and freight railway offering state of the art trains and services, we will also restore the infrastructure to the highest standards and encourage steam working and steam specials over all sections of the route, as well as work very closely with existing heritage lines established on the route.

This blog contains my personal views. Anything said here does not necessarily represent the aims or views of any of the groups currently restoring, preserving or operating trains over the Somerset and Dorset Railway!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

radstock


This will hopefully be the site for a new Radstock station once we switch extension from south to north.


The trackbed is clear throughout - though the route will need two new bridges.


The Five Arches are just waiting for track to be relaid.


With a ready built car park, toilets in place and even a children's playground, the new Radstock station will be a superb advert for the line, and would alleviate many of the access problems at Midsomer Norton South. It would also act as a superb high visibility 'advert' for the route and draw in casual passing visitors, with a main road and a very popular cycleway alongside. There are also rumours that Norton Radstock council are very keen to offload the route to the Trust. What are we waiting for??
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2 comments:

pjohn151 said...

Exciting times indeed! With regards to the potential platform site, I was looking on the satelite views on Google maps, and it looks like a substantial amount of the old GWR station still stands. Is this still the case or have the developers flattened the site yet? Is it worth trying to salvage what remains of it for use over the road at the new site for a potential Radstock Junction? Or are the aerial views so out of date that it does not exist anymore?
How close to Bath New Road is the new station site?

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