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, September 30, 2011

we are not alone!


This bunch have the right idea! Norwich City was of course the MGNJR station in Norwich and by various routes gave connections to Cromer, Peterborough and many other places. This large network was shamefully closed in 1959, even before the cretin Beeching arrived on the scene, and was closed wholesale. I think the only remaining section run by the network is Sheringham to Cromer, but i may be wrong!

I suspect all or almost all of these lines will reopen in an energy-poor 21st century, the section from Norwich to Melton Constable and beyond for certain, giving more flexibility for passengers and freight.

Their facebook group is here.

1 comment:

Brian said...

Its well worth following through the flickr link from fb however be warned its a seriously big load of images to trawl through if (selfishly) just seeking hardcore archive history treats. They do seem to be included, if you take some time to find. If it helps, the most recent picture when I just looked (3rd Sept) was here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64685723@N05/6195347725/in/pool-1099838@N25/

You can therefore work back from it knowing won't miss any gems along the way. I admire the dedication of these folks and reckon you might too !

At least one image on flickr I could not see following the link from fb but I reckon if you just go straight to flickr with link above, you gonna see the whole lot?