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, June 24, 2011

more embedded stuff



Posted by PicasaMystery location - any ideas?

The following was from Brian Clarke triggered by the earlier RAE post.

Many of New S&D Rly blog followers may appreciate some, or even all, of this information if you can find space to show it.

Farnborough Royal Aerospace Establishment (RAE) railway archive piccies at,



Unfortunately, this source wrecks good quality material by showing each to infuriatingly small size, when click on thumbnail for "tour". Using keyboard "ctrl+" to enlarge makes the pic go fuzzy. Thats stupid, we are not ruddy "tourists". We care more than that.

 Two of those pics stated to be from "Railway World" magazine, issue June 1968 which a lucky dip trawl in car boot sale or preservation society stall junk box stacks might turn up for a few pennies. These are directly reproduced with GM Kitchenside caption, here:



One short bit of the old track may yet be in place if you know which spot of grassy roadside to poke at discreetly with probing boot. Maybe worth a mosey some time. This natter page says was still there (with pic of it on) Aug 2008:



Also at above address, archive pic of Andrew Barclay loco "Lord Fisher" at work on Farnborough RAE line. This loco got preserved at Cranmore, was exhibited 1991 out front on public roadside at Bath Green Park Station This in support of artyfarty BS within train shed, curtained off area you paid money to get in, with bogus chuffing noises & puffs of "steam" emanating therefrom. Loco Name plate had moved from tank side to just above footplate, since the above archive pic taken.

 Copies of photos this 1991 event herewith


copyright Brian Clarke. P&J Barnfield were doing vintage camera stuff to add the period flavour. Peter is a very talented artist, examples his work enquire to Simon Castens, "The Titfield Thunderbolt" shop, you may like the humour,



Other loco "Invincible" ( the one you excited about on blog), shown parked up on Isle of Wight in recent time which may interest some. In colour, one I think quite nice could help inspire model makers. Its red now but someone remembered was definitely painted green when at Farnborough.

A video of the last train on RAE Farnborough line is offered for five quid (customary disclaimer from bozo of course) at,


 Video of "last steam" at RAE Farnborough also offered (disclaimer) for fifteen quid bundled with other stuff, no idea if its same footage or not, at,


Most entertaining general natter (with "time waster" alert from me) on your favoured topic of "street running" railways includes enthusiasm for Farnborough RAE rly at,
 


You can watch monochrome British Pathe News film (as video) of loco "Invincible" operating on Farnborough RAE rly, at,



Beware this footage just might be the stuff hawked by vid vendors above, I really dunno.

Theres a Wikipedia entry that looked pants to me, however to be fair I only skimmed so may have missed a useful clickable link thats not prominent.

Farnborough airfield as a Heritage Location may be of interest to some, I not paused to check it out proper but one building shown (demolished since photo) looks suspiciously like seen in rly archive pic, make your own mind up on it at,



Various other sources checked on internet proved a bit rubbish however I only tried one search engine (google) so others might find more, a few less obvious ones proved the most rewarding.
My search also turned up stuff on Littlehampton Miniature Rly which at or near Farnborough but decided is "off topic" here. (Littlehampton Miniature Railway is at Littlehampton on the Sussex coast - my old stamping ground! It may show up in searches because of the Surrey Border and Camberley Railway which was near Franborough - the LMR took some SBCR engines - ed)
btw googy spiders were real quick crawling your posting on this, shows up already in search results !
Brian 19-6-11

6 comments:

Brian said...

"Embedded" pics show classic floor of large industrial building, with I reckon double door-runners in foreground of lower view. We are losing stuff like this right now in Bath as Stotherts crane makers floors are rooted out; also still had "embedded" of at least three track gauges. Makes one think of what we lost, between Maggie Thatcher era industrial demolitions AND (in Bath) Bob Maxwell pensionpot looting/yacht "accident".

Location of your pics will be defined by the higher stuff each side, its not in Bath unless I goofed missing it.

Come on, someone "step up to the plate" on this, its fascinating anorak country wot-ho.

Steve Sainsbury said...

Well if noone else works it out I'll put you all out of your misery on Sunday evening!

This bit of narrow gauge trackwork is also likely to disappear over the next few months.

Keith Browning said...

You can blow up the thumbnails of RAE to 'seeable' size by right clicking and choosing 'open link in new window'. i guess that is the original size of the photos.

Keith

Tom Seale said...

Malago Road, Bristol.
Not sure what the factory was for though.

Steve Sainsbury said...

Spot on. Visible from the train just by Bedminster station, also from the top deck of a 75 or 76 bus!

Brian said...

Thanks for the clicking tip Keith, sounds like that one could also be useful to remember for bullwhipping other truculent picture teasers elsewhere !

We are great as a team, even computer dunces like bozo can improve thanks to this blog.