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 05, 2011

midford today






It was great to see the amazing progress at Midford today. We really are now getting down to the basic structure of the station, applying for planning permission is not very far off now! Tom and Stuart Seale were there, along with Mick Knox and Brian Clarke. We also had a few passers-by showing a lot of interest.

Now is a great time to join if you're not already a member. I reckon within 2 to 3 years the whole site will be rebuilt and will serve as a huge boost to the sustainable transport initiative here in the south west ... with Spetisbury not far behind!
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I still think Glysophate would be a good thing to use.The site is not continually manned and it would not be used on crop growing ground,only to keep brickwork and platform faces and surfaces from regrowing.
Not using a weed killer is wasting
volunteers valuable time!

Brian said...

Have a look back at the earlier posting with nice archive picture of Oil Store. My comment arising todays excellent meeting at Midford is put there so you can look at that picture with it. I was absolutely no use today of course, all my energy was spent on an underground adventure in Clift at Box which very nearly stopped me from making it to Midford.....

yamfaz said...

Has there been any progress with acquiring the ownership of the station yard etc? or is this out of the question for the time being.

Steve Sainsbury said...

It's been discussed and would be a very useful addition! Once Midford is rebuilt we may well look into this.