Chilcompton station 17 February 2009. Buried deep in a small wood the platform of Chilcompton station can be seen on the right hand side. (photo courtesy Mick Knox).
Just two miles to the north Midsomer Norton South is full of life and colour and contributing to the local economy as well as providing the first green shoots of a sustainable transport system that will see us through the 21st century.
Chilcompton need not worry, its time is coming too. As the New S&D expands, and as the Midsomer Norton group heads south the only question is who will reach Chilcompton first to start the restoration!
4 comments:
It will be a formidable challenge, but one that will have an everlasting lagacy, the first two stations of the old S&D to be re-united on the NEW S&D! Perhaps as well as sticking to the old S&D route new branches should be built on the NEW S&D to places like Cheddar where a more economicly sustainable transport link is needed rather than hundreds of coaches bringing tourists in and spoiling the valley and clogging the roads.
Where do we go after Midford? Should we purchase random S&D sights as they become availible or should we make a railway around Midford? It would attract tourists and with that, money which will be used on getting yet more trackbed. However while we are restoring midford and laying track other S&D trackbed would be developed on, unless we made it clear that the S&D needed to run over it. What should we do?
The first thing we need to do is pull in hundreds or even thousands of members. These should come from both the local areas and the wider rail community. Once we've reached a certain size we will be taken seriously and can then ensure that not a further inch of the S&D is developed in any way which will make it expensive to reinstate the route. It's highly likely that before then the government of the day will bring in laws to do this anyway as the case for rail grows stronger every day. But to be safe we should also pursue this ourselves!
As for the first bits of S&D rebuilding I've always felt these should be Blandford-Bournemouth and Midsomer Norton to Bath, as these are the stretches where the best traffic - at first - will be generated. Wells and Glastonbury also have a very strong case, as does Shepton Mallet.
Midford will hopefully be restored at first as a visitor centre and office for the New S&D with a shop and - possibly - light refreshment facilities. There'll be no intention of laying track at first, but it will be made clear that eventually Midford will once again be a working station.
Let's do this first - get membership in the 100s and 1000s, and get Midford up and running.
It is logical to use Midford as a springboard into Bath, the ultimate and possbily the toughest goal.
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