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!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

santa at midford





(All pics © Stuart Seale)

This shows real commitment! Stuart and Tom Seale even turned out today for their regular Sunday restoration trip to Midford, in temperatures well below freezing all day. It does help that they can walk to the site but to me it shows enormous dedication and we should all be very grateful for the work they've put in up there. I am hoping (weather permitting) that I can get up there some time over the Xmas/New Year period to see it for myself.
Stuart's report for today - Tom and I spent another day at Midford today for a Santa Special. We cleared more trees over the station and exposed a good portion of the wall onto Old Midford Road. We had a brief chat with the Landlord of the Hope and Anchor during our refreshment break and subsequently removed some of his small weed trees at the end of the car park that were starting to block the view of the station. In the afternoon we warmed up with a bonfire and got rid of all the wood from our last session. Today's cuttings are still on the station buildings awaiting hauling down to the burning area.
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3 comments:

yamfaz said...

Just a thought, are we burning all the wood or is there any we could give away locally to help people keep warm and help with local public relations. We might even get some donations. Talking of which could we arrange with the landlord to have a donations box in/next to the pub?

Keep up the good work :)

Anonymous said...

Yamfaz,
The owner of Lynwood (the house below the station)has asked whether he can have the tree trunks, which we have left on the platform awaiting his collection. The burning is to get rid of the branches, which themselves create quite a volume.
Regards,
Stuart Seale

Andrew Triggs (Member) said...

Great progress, really looking good. Keep it going!