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, November 25, 2009

midsomer norton corners





A few more random shots from my recent visit to Midsomer Norton, which shows just how much progress has been made in getting the atmosphere and infrastructure right. It's almost as if the line never endured its period of temporary closure. With Shillingstone also coming back to life, in a few years' time I suspect there will be two or three more locations on the route where rails will return.
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... it's starting to look dangerously like a railway down there. Happy days!

GMasterH said...

I think when the NRM next move 92220 Evening Star she should move to Bath Green Park. Perhaps a Mk1 buffet car for light railway themed refreshments and make it a semi-permentant exhibit, but lower the ground level so 92220 is sitting on the trackbed and not the platform level. That would be nice. In fact any ex-S&D type would do. Perhaps an out of ticket Spam-Can would look smart? It would put it to a good use until it's needed else where.

Anonymous said...

and how many nights before the firemans side injectors and backhead are stripped by non ferrous metal theives and shes covered in graffitti from scrotes from twerton and whiteway?

yeah thats really gonna happen

Steve Sainsbury said...

You don't think they have security at Sainsbury's?? have you not heard of CCTV? And couldn't anything stealable be replaced by valueless plastic imitations?

This is 2009, not 1981 ...

You can't let your life or our built environment be determined by fear of a few chavs. They are really not that organised. I know. I was one ...