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, October 20, 2010

midford progress


15.9.2010 - first clearance day.




Today, just over a month later, the work is beginning to show results!

There have been work parties on four of the last five days, which is pretty good going! Remember that any member is entitled to go up at any time to do work on site.

We've now started moving all the cut vegetation and scrpaed earth from the platform, which is being dumped at the far end of the platform, where hopefully most of it will compost down in time. Most of the back wall has now been cleared, as has almost all the floor of the station building site.

It won't be long before we put in for planning permission to put the buildings back.
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3 comments:

Roger Brown said...

Very good to see the efforts being made to restore Midford Station, BUT! When we visited a year or more ago we discovered some slow worms in the cracks of the platform wall, so please be careful not to disturb or destroy any wildlife!!

Steve Sainsbury said...

Our guidelines on the blog side bar include the following -

'Please respect all the wildlife in the area, always check if clearing that you are not destroying a nest etc. If in doubt please leave well alone'.

Hopefully this will cover any problems, but now I know there are definitely slow worms there I'll make sure everybody knows. Our cats sometimes bring them in at home so I'm used to rescuing them and dealing with them!

Knoxy said...

i like the before and after pictures Steve. great effort.

looks like you've found the old foundations of the former station buildings?