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!

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

see what I have to contend with!


I don't know whether to be flattered or flabbergasted but CP Boy seems to think that I wrote the article in the previous post! As always he misses the point entirely and also manages to get a dig in at the S&D - which he detests - and by extension all of us who are bringing it back.

Here we go -

I don't know how you think this stuff up. Well done. Still no reason to bring back a defunct railway that was hopeless even when it was running. Ah well dream on.

Well, whoever CP Boy thinks I am, surely even he realises that I neither live in Denmark or freelance for the Guardian? I wish!! For those of you still with me on this the original article - clearly written by Jason Heppenstall - can be found here.

And why would anyone claim the S&D was 'hopeless'? It did an extraordinary job under difficult circumstances, as well as creating a linear work of art through Wessex. So not only does he hate the S&D now, and all of us working towards it, but besmirches EVERYONE who has EVER worked to make it the wonderful thing it was and is.

To his credit CP Boy does manage to write a whole comment without one swear word, difficult for a 14 year old, or mention how 'stupid' workers at Midsomer Norton, Midford, Gartell, Shillingstone, Washford and Spetisbury are - probably the first time he's been so restrained! Perhaps we're beginning to convert him to the future after all ...

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would like to ask CP BOY what he does for hobbys etc has he any interests at all except for making bad remarks about the S&D, I Reckon he lives along the line somewhere?

Steve Sainsbury said...

I get the feeling he lives somewhere in Essex or Cambridgeshire, I don't think he's ever set foot in Somerset or Dorset!

I also think he hates railways in general, though I've no idea why anyone would. He does claim that 'commuters smell', so perhaps he had a bad experience on one of his trips to school?

As for hobbies - probably the usual, computer games and making up girlfriends!

He won't be appearing here again, and I won't be mentioning him again - his last few comments were so vile and rude, and absolutely disparaging of all the volunteers at all the S&D sites - thickoes [sic] as he refers to them. He's either mentally ill or just a really nasty little schoolboy. This has all flared up again since the school holidays, I know for a fact that he was banned from using the school computers after trolling us and several other groups.

A nasty piece of work all round - hopefully he'll grow out of it eventually.

It's so sad because all the groups have young people working for them.

Anonymous said...

Quite frankly I am amazed he even goes to school, unless he is one of those who is taken to school in mummys great big gas guzzler instead of doing using his feet for a 10 minute walk! Either way he better learn what manpower means as energy intensive methods will certainly be less economic in the future. I used to walk to and from school each day and it never did me no harm. CP boy you are a complete clown, get with it. Top Gear and all that culture will soon be in the history books.

Trevor said...

Will everyone, please, please grow up. Concentrate on reinstating the S&D and ignore these childish remarks.

Trevor

Steve Sainsbury said...

Trevor - unfortunately just by saying that you're joining the ranks of CP Boy's 'thickoes' [sic]. But I suspect, like me, this just makes us all more determined to just get on with it.

I've decided not to engage with him any more, even though he keeps throwing me gifts! He'll be back at school soon in any case.

You're completely right, there's a big team of people now restoring the S&D. Serious, educated and skilled people who are giving up time and money to make things happen. If one person wants to slag us off that's up to him, but he won't be doing it through S&D channels!

Even if you went round offering free money there'd be at least one person who didn't agree with it! So I suppose we just have to live with the occasional nutter, but from now on I'll be following a strict 'Don't Feed the Troll' policy - he'll have to find some other railway to target!

Knoxy said...

Well if he's still at school, he'll really be the generation effected by the peak oil and energy crisis then? Not to mention paying down all the debt we are piling on today, and yesterday....

His generation will come to ask, how come, with that entire North Sea bonanza, didn't you build a decent transport infrastructure, instead of destroying it on the back of cheap oil?

Steve Sainsbury said...

Perhaps he's really astute and holds a grudge against we grown-ups as he feels we're the ones responsible for the situation he'll find himself in when he gets older? He's scared and is lashing out at the only people who are highlighting what's happening - which seems a little unfair but understandable too. The article that he very kindly thought I'd written covered this psychological angle very well.

Is CP Boy one of the first victims of Peak Oil? If he is then perhaps we need to help him, rather than blank him? He'd be more than welcome in the ranks of the people restoring the S&D, despite everything that has gone before.

Knoxy said...

Very true. it must be scary to think the whole way of life (for some, including me) will change on the back of diminishing oil?
all those out of town shopping centres, holidays by plane, towns and cities planned around the car, will be gone, or dying....

how will this country support its growing population? No oil, less food. quite worring if think about it.

Steve Sainsbury said...

It's only really scary if we don't as a nation adapt at the right pace. Life will be harder after oil as it was such an easy and cheap form of energy - we won't see its like again for 150 million years. We've been VERY lucky. If we're careful we can build on what it gave us. Obviously things like air travel and road transport (other than bikes and horses) can't survive, but we'll keep all our knowledge, education, medicine etc We'll probably have to work closer to things and with our hands in agriculture, carpentry, building etc, but I'm sure there'll be a boom in creative things for example, and a huge boost for communities.

There's a lot to be said for the bury your head in the sand attitude as for some people it may be the only way to cope with what's coming, but I think they'll find it far harder to survive in a post-oil world. But a lot of them are struggling even now resulting in alcoholism, family violence, ignorance, materialism, worship of 'celebrities', selfishness etc.

Eventually after centuries (or even less) we may well develop a new technological society that's sustainable but I don't think we'll ever see the excesses of the oil age again.

Of course there's the Climate Change problem as well which may be softened somewhat by Peak Oil but there's so much warming already built into the climate that things may get quite wild for a time, making it even more difficult to flourish after oil.