for sale ...

We've been advised that Midford station is up for sale. The deal is the platform, the trackbed to the Long Arch bridge and associated land. Offers in the region of £50,000 are invited.

Had the New S&D been running for ten years we may well have had funds like this available. But in two months the Trackbed Fund amounts to £55. That's a big gap to bridge!

Midsomer Norton to Bath is one of our first target routes (the other being Blandford to Poole). Midford would be a superb starting point as it is, in my opinion, the most scenic spot on the whole route. A New S&D presence so close to Bath would be an excellent advertisement, and no doubt could be monetized to raise further funds. But to do this we would need some wealthy S&D enthusiast to hand us £49,945. Are you out there?

Or should we start a fund to do this?

Now Midford has already been the site of an unsuccessful revival. It fell through because it lacked vision. A DMU shuttling up and down to Tuckingmill viaduct was always going to be a difficult one to sell! But as part of a larger revival Midford makes sense. It protects this iconic location no matter how long the rails take to return. There would be no need for difficult stock movements on narrow roads - stock could be loaded at Bath or Radstock, or even off the network as the New S&D expands.

Incidentally the offer of sale included the information that Bath has at least one councillor who is keen to see the Bath-Radstock section be restored ASAP. Only one?