The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway appears to be stirring from 50 years of deep sleep!
Rex Hora is looking into practical ways of restoring most of this route, primarily for freight.
The DNS was a bit of a dark sister to the S&D with its cross-country services, north-south orientation, its mix of double and single track and weight of traffic. It closed a little earlier, with Newbury to Shawford closing around 1960, the Newbury to Didcot section remaining open a few more years, and a short stretch remaining open to freight for a little longer. It was an incredibly busy route in WWII, but declined quickly afterwards.
With the need for increased rail capacity and the inevitable shift of freight from road to rail I suspect the DNS's time will soon come! Who knows, bearing in mind the above, that separate route from Winchester to Southampton may even eventually be built!
Rex has set up a basic website here - let him know you support him!
6 comments:
More good news.
The more people start to take an interest in the railways, the more they will become politically irresistible. It is time to "pollute" the powers that be with a dose of brains.
I am truly amazed at the goodwill between the different railway restoration groups. May that goodwill continue and not be ruined by the inevitable intercourse with politicians and councillors that ongoing events will bring.
brilliant. i'm just starting to take an interest in this line as our Slough IECC signalling moves to Didcot over Christmas....
more freight by rail please. its the future
Having just traced the route on Googlemaps, it looks like a 'No Brainer'. Newbury would be interesting with some industrial buildings having to go. But as they say - 'That's Progress'. At the southern end they could spend a little bit more and connect up the Mid-Hants. Now that would make things interesting especially with the Mid-Hants about the Double their track.
Yet another line which could be so useful for freight but which has been damaged by redevelopment authorised without any thought for the future. Even BR had considered reopening a part of the line in the 80s.
There should at least have been a footpath/cycleway along the route to keep it safe. Not the redevelopment which was allowed at Sutton Scotney in 2005:
http://www.winchester.gov.uk/EnvironmentAndPlanning/Planning/LocalPlan/LocalPlanDocuments/BackgroundDocuments/General.asp?id=SX9452-A781B861&cat=9127
this line would make an ideal freight line, as the roads get even more congested. Although the old slip junction with the lswr line just north of Winchester would make a good compromise as there has been some encroachment by the dual carrageway to newbury at Kingsworthy and also at the site Winchester Chesell in the late eightys the site was demolished to make way for a multi story, having said moast of the civals ar still insitu not least the impressive hokley viaduct one of the first to have a goncrete core. the winchester chesell tunnel is in a good state of repare olso other minor bridges survive as well as the old goods shed at barend yard
the run up from the winchester junction to newburry is a better prospect to get started a new S&D stile campegn as much of the track bed and civals are intact
i wholheartedly support this concept as this line is a somwhere to somwhere line on which trains could use for divetions
For fans of the brilliant Downton Abbey tv drama, the main location for the series, Highclere Castle, lies a couple of miles to the west of the line and it and the nearby village of the same name were served by Highclere station up to closure in the early 60s. So, a possible extra marketing tool for the future: visitors coming by train via 'The Downton Line'?!
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