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!

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

gartell again







(Photos courtesy Mike Lucas)

Five lovely Gartell shots that really capture the atmosphere of this S&D narrow gauge line.

All show steam loco no 6 pulling the Prussian blue set.

Check out the Gartell blog - the S&D must be the only route in the UK with two blogs dedicated to it!


Posted by Picasa

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This Railway is brilliant. They have done a really good job a real railway! If or when the S&D is rebuilt we should leave this stretch to Gartell? Maybe divert the railway north of Stalbridge go underneath Stalbridge Park and serve Milborne Port! Before going into Templecombe Upper station.

Steve Sainsbury said...

The Gartell will always be safe! This will probably be the last stretch of the main line to be rebuilt (Templecombe to Blandford). It will of course be up to the Gartell what it wants to do when the main line is back. I always quite liked the idea of the Binegar-Oakhill line being reopened as narrow gauge, with a real purpose of course! I suspect narrow gauge railways and tramways are going to undergo a huge increase in popularity in the future as they can serve areas where a standard gauge line is not economic.

I love the way the Gartell is staying true to the S&D.