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!

Friday, April 15, 2011

progress ...

Been busy all day getting Right Lines 3 ready - hopefully the first ones will be going out on Monday to new members. All members should have a copy by this time next week.

This will be a six pager, and should be the last in-house production. Surely one of you has the time and skills to take on the editor role for this? There's plentty of financial resources that you'll have available, plus I'm happy to support you through the first 2 or 3 editions at least. This is such an important role and an excellent way of stamping your mark and style on the S&D revival. It's taken me 15 months to get this one out - mainly because I have so many other S&D things on my plate.

Please email me at leysiner@aol.com if interested.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Although I am a Member, I haven't recieved any newsletter yet?
Andrew Triggs

Steve Sainsbury said...

I started printing them today and had a bit of a disaster as all the formatting went awry. The plan was to get everything out by next Monday which is still the plan. Noine have actually gone out yet!