the independent tomorrow

National Sunday paper The Independent on Sunday will be running a feature in tomorrow's paper looking back at 50 years since the Beeching report. Inevitably the S&D - being the vilest of all the closures - will feature strongly in the article. It is sure to rely heavily on photos of Midsomer Norton as they are using four of mine to illustrate the article!

going national ...

The Independent on Sunday is running a feature on the Beeching Report and is concentrating mainly on the S&D. They wanted pics of Midsomer Norton, before closure, after closure and since rebirth, and these were the ones I chose for the rebirth bit, taken on a lovely summer's day back in 2011. If anyone DOES have photos of MN or Blandford before and after closure that they own the copyright on and would like at least the chance of one or more of them appearing in a national paper Sunday supplement (with a fee of course!) please email me on leysiner@aol.com and I'll give you contact details for the paper BUT the deadline is tomorrow so there is a rush!!

yes minister!

An historic document, the first contact from the Ministry of Transport to the New S&D. The Ministry, and Minister are now aware of our plans!

It's a bit of a curate's egg, but there are some very useful and important statements in there. I'm not surprised that the Minister was not already aware of us as we've adopted a very low key approach whilst we were building membership. Not any more!

Best statements are -

'We are aware of the history of the Somerset and Dorset Railway and like many lines closed in the [c]ountry as a result of the Beeching Report, a different decision may have been arrived at with the benefit of hindsight'.

'[I]n the light of the recently published National Planning Policy Guidance we would be keen to ensure that there is no further loss of the trackbed to development which would preclude the use of this route as a railway line in the future'.

We can make a great use of both of these - basically an admission that the Beeching Report is NOT set in stone, but can now be adapted - and secondly that any future attempt to build on the trackbed will be frowned at by the Ministry of Transport. They'd also make excellent banner statements on tee shirts and posters!

The Ministry has also given advice on our next steps including contacting the Local Enterprise Partnership(s) and also to analyse the demand for travel along the corridor.

The workload is building at about the same rate as the membership!

a new S&D - an unstoppable force!

This has come in through the comments section and I felt it needed a wider audience!

Further to comments of yesterday, I have watched my DVD (The Somerset & Dorset railway) where it shows clips of the past and the state sponsored vandals of 1967 (How I hate that era)destroying the S& D and interviewing the former staff, it showed how we have as a society really lost the plot when we allowed Beeching to destroy this wonderful line along with a good many other lines. The staff were not well paid however they had that family pride in what they did and there was none of the dreadful dehumanising of society that we read about today where it seems that is is me me me then me again to make sure and s@@ the rest of you Jack. Also the point that one lady came about living in Henstridge she now has to rely on someone to drive her about plus it takes 3 buses to go from Evercreech to Bath, some progress or what!!! This country needs to stop funding overseas aid, the EU and getting involved in other peoples wars and our so called leaders need to grow one, listen to the people and act accordingly. That way this country will become prosperous again with a happy population. I live in Torpoint in East Cornwall and have learnt that it can take a resident up to one hour to bus into Plymouth from Tavistock for work/shopping school etc, The faster steam trains could do it in half the time. So much for petrol heads etc! and their stupidity of the 60,. I was born in 1963 the tail end of the baby boom, did no one ever ask of the future twenty years later when we would all be left school etc. Thanks Beeching and Marples for the destruction of a proud line and system and society that was just and fair and decent. I look forward to a ride on the legendary S& D at Midsomer Norton, Gartell and one day Shillingstone and hopefully other locations as well. Compulsory purchase boy needs to be consigned to the dustbin of history like a dinosaur. To those of you who go out to these lines and voluntarily give up your precious time thank you for what you are doing, I hope it will fire up the younger generations into giving up virtual worlds and the shllow culture of celebrity that we seem to have to day. The real heroes to me are that generation who lived through two World Wars and endured the most appalling sacrifices and then had to rebuild our country 1946 onwards. People like the late Ivo Peters who must have spent considerable time and money with capturing the memories and images of the line and of course the S& D staff like the late Donald Beale. We owe it to them to rebuild the S& D and many other lines like it.

that idiot beeching again ...

Nick Howes has sent me a link to the map which accompanied the notorious Beeching Report. Most of the lines shown here to be closed - including our own S&D - were indeed closed, but a few did survive, including many of the Cornish brances, the Exmouth branch, the East Suffolk line, the Cumbrian Coast line and the Central Wales line. I'd argue that the S&D was and is far more important than any of these routes and should not have closed even if it had found its way on to the Beeching Report. (Neither of course should any of the others listed ...)

On a lighter note Compulsory Purchase Boy has returned, I suspect he has an inset day at school! He now reckons that the 'people than run the world' will continue to drill for oil (which is now so expensive to find that it would be hard to find a market for it) and will also deliberately build on railway trackbeds to block lines reopening! Ah, the addled and conspiracy-theory-riddled minds of 14 year old boys - reality will come as such a shock to him in the coming decades!

With the school holidays now almost upon us I suspect we'll be getting a few more gems from the lad himself over the coming weeks!

stating the obvious!

A Telegraph article stating the obvious but welcomed all the same. Clearly we're still not getting our message over strongly enough because the S&D isn't one of the five lines mentioned! We'd still love to have someone within the organisation whose sole responsibility will be publicity/lobbying for the S&D. If interested please email me at leysiner@aol.com

The most extraordinary thing that comes out of this article is that some councils are STILL promoting road schemes over rail reinstatement. What planet are they living on? I thought government had abandoned all road development in any case ...

Miles of rail line could be re-opened

Miles of railway line shut under the Beeching Axe could be reopened under an overhaul of the rail industry.

Work is already under way on reopening a rail line between Bicester in Oxfordshire and Bletchley in Buckinghamshire Photo: PA

By David Millward, Transport Editor

11:00AM GMT 09 Mar 2012

It has been more than 50 years since Dr Richard Beeching recommended the closure of hundreds of branch lines in his report The Reshaping of British Railways.

More than 4,000 miles of railway and 3,000 stations were closed in the decade following the report.

But now disused stations and lines could be brought back into life as the network adapts to shifts in the population over the last 50 years.

The move comes against a backdrop demand for rail travel, which has seen more people using the trains than at any time since the late 1920s.

Currently there are 1.35 billion journeys a year, nearly 500 million more than a decade ago on a network which has barely grown after the wholesale line closures of the early 1960s.

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The change reflects both economic growth since the 1990s and a rise in the number of people wiling to commute by train rather than drive.

“It is clear that some lines were shut in the 1960s which should not have been shut,” Norman Baker, the local rail minister, told the Daily Telegraph. “There is a consistent drumbeat about lines which should be open.

“Re-opening lines helps local communities, gets people back onto trains which has economic and social benefits.”

Work is already under way on reopening a rail line between Bicester in Oxfordshire and Bletchley in Buckinghamshire.

Eventually, it is hoped, this could restore the “Varsity Line”, linking Oxford and Cambridge.

Other potential candidates include:

– The Lewes-Uckfield route in East Sussex, providing an alternative to the Brighton mainline.

– The line between Bourne End and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire which would link the Great Western and Chiltern lines.

– The Okehampton-Bere Alstom link, which would provide a second route between Exeter and Plymouth

– The line between Stansted and Braintree in Essex.

Ministers hope that the Government's plans to cut industry’s running costs will make reopening lines more affordable.

Also plans to devolve control of local rail services to councils will enable them to identify candidates. especially with the Government planning to give them a greater say under how cash is spent.

Under the proposals published earlier this week, local authorities would be expected to fund the schemes for at least three years to prove they are viable, after which the Department for Transport would take over responsibility – subject to cash being available.

The Government’s proposals were welcomed by Stephen Joseph, executive director of the Campaign for Better Transport.

”I think it is now generally accepted that the Beeching report went too far. There are a number of sizeable places that aren't on the rail network where reopening lines and stations would make good economic sense, and there are also 'missing links' between key towns.

“Many of these places suffer from traffic congestion and people really want a choice in how they get around, rather than being forced to use cars.

“We hope the Government will find ways of helping local communities develop reopening schemes, as a first step we'd like to see possible reopening routes safeguarded in the planning system so they don't get built on."

Ralph Smyth, of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, described the announcement as a “definite move forward”

But, he added, “The funding isn’t there and many areas are prioritising road schemes.

“The Government needs to tell councils to come up with rail schemes and change the funding rules to make it possible.”

modal shift part 2

It's not easy for me to get into a 1960s mind set. I was around at the time of course, but hardly engaging with the big outside world!

But in retrospect it looked like the 60s, and the attitude to rail, was 'it's finished. It has no future role, except perhaps to run commuters into were applied to roads serving smaller places. Even the lines that survived the Beeching cuts were run down - stations were closed or staffing reduced, buffets closed, lines were singled, the whole network began to look run down. It was almost as if the railways wanted passengers to desert them! Freight was switching from efficient and fast rail to inefficient and much slower roads.

In fact EVERYTHING was expected to use the roads. It really was as if oil would last forever. Extra lorries and buses flooded on to the roads as the parallel railways were closed, cyclists were expected to brave the traffic, you'd still find horse and carts, tractors, mobility scooters, milk floats - everything was thrown onto the roads.

You had ridiculous scenes like the congested A33 running alongside a closed cross country railway that should have been carrying most of the freight and many of the car drivers. A few railways were still closing as late as the 1980s.

The seventies were probably the most dour and depressing years for the railways, and oddly most people who don't use the railways seem to think they are still like that! You still get jokes about British Rail sandwiches for example.

And what of the roads? They have just got busier and busier, though they seem to be spluttering a bit now. Apparently a million people have given up driving in the last year - the reason 'high fuel costs'! Don't make me laugh, fuel is still ridiculously cheap. It will be 5 to 10 times as expensive in ten to twenty years' time. But something must be afoot, because it's no small decision to give up driving, however much most of us would love to. There are still far too many places unreachable by rail or even bus today. It's like a drawing in happening across the board, people are worrying about the cost of driving - they are going to be in for such a huge shock over the coming years! This is just the very beginning. The high cost of insurance makes it almost impossible for young people to be able to drive - driving test applications have fallen by 19% in the last year.

We are building a demographic that will probably never drive, but so far we're doing very little to put in process transport infrastructure that will enable them to get around cheaply and safely. That'll be the subject of the third and final part of this article!

the mechanics of modal shift

I'm going to attempt a bit of an overview of this subject, hopefully published over the next 3 to 4 days!

The mechanics of modal shift part one

Modal shift in transport has quite a history. From the horse to the horse and carriage through the growth of canals, then railways, then the use of roads and aircraft. Most of the change has been over the last two centuries, and has quite clearly been powered by the easy availablity of first coal, then oil.

Early attempts at adopting the steam locomotive for road use were failures because roads simply weren't good enough. But steam locomotives were perfect for railways, and the rail network quickly expanded, killing off a lot of the canal trade in the process. This was the first big modal shift of the industrial era.

The discovery of oil (or rediscovery to be precise) quickly led to the creation of the internal combustion engine. As more cars were produced the road network was modernised, creating a virtuous circle of development. Eventually the car challenged the railways, at least for part of the share of traffic, particularly passenger travel and some of the fiddly freight traffic.

Despite the railways' fantastic contribution during world war two post-war governments in the UK began to favour road over rail, partly because of the huge cost of restoring the rail network after war damage and wear and tear which arose from the very heavy wartime traffic. The railways were nationalized on 1 January 1948, releasing the Big Four companies from the obligation of investment.

All the time this was happening more and more oil was being discovered, petrol was generally cheap and used as if it was an infinite resource. Investment decisions on creation of new transport infrastructure seemed to also imagine that cheap oil would last forever, again as if it was an infinite resource. Motorways were constructed and railways began to be closed in a wholesale manner, particularly after the Beeching Report was published in 1963. The Beeching Report was fatally flawed in two ways, it treated railways differently from roads, requiring railways to be 'economically viable' whereas roads, no matter how remote and little used they were, were treated as a social necessity, with no need to be economically viable. The second big error was to not take into account the limited lifespan of oil. Whilst the railways were now using oil to fuel its new diesel locomotives, replacing steam that used home mined (but equally finite) coal, railways were not tied to one energy source or one delivery system the way roads were.

The effect of the Beeching Report was the wholesale destruction of the rail network, not just through closure of lines (including the S&D) but the closure of hundreds of stations on lines that stayed open and the diversion of freight from rail to road.

exposing the criminals

(Tunbridge Wells West 31.8.1988)

I think that one of the main thrusts of the S&D revival will be to question the validity of the original closure. There have long been rumours that the S&D was deliberately killed, mainly because of inter-regional rivalries going back decades. The S&D was NOT an uneconomic line, it had heavy traffic and only an idiot would claim that a main line, with originating passenger and freight traffic all along the route, which was the sole route to several large towns (and one small city), which linked Britain's only World Heritage city to its principal seaside resort, which linked several main lines and which had VAST tourist potential, needed to close. It didn't. It should be, at the moment, a major cross country route and a huge tourist attraction.

In reality traffic was deliberately removed from the route, in all cases taking a longer route (wasting extra energy) over lines that were not threatened with closure. There was no attempt to rationalise track - much of the route could have been singled (temporarily), and no modern power was ever tried, it was steam worked to the end. There's a clear case that the line was closed purely for political reasons, not economic. In an ideal world there would be an enquiry and the line would be rebuilt over the next few years.

Unfortunately we have to do it the hard way!

There was a peculiar and perverse political thrust to the attack on the railways in the 60s. I have no idea why the politicians at the time thought that oil would be an infinite resource, or that it would be economically beneficial to throw so much extra traffic on to the roads. They were idiots, pure and simple, and the British public for some reason let them get away with it. The people that closed our railways out of ignorance are nothing less than criminals. Unfortunately most are now dead so we can't bring them to account, but it is important that we move on and start getting our railways reopened.

There's a programme on TV this week that you should try to watch. No doubt it will be dripping in that vile nostalgia, and probably Melvyn Bragg, not the brightest of people, will lament something 'lost for ever', but I'm sure that amongst the mush and gnashing of dentures there will be a few bits that hit the spot! Details here, courtesy of Mick Knox.

death of the diesels

I just caught the end of steam when I was a kid, watching the Brighton-Plymouth at speed over the level crossing at Lyminster, saw a few on Ryde Pier, saw a tank engine somewhere in London and, from a great distance, the trains departing from Waterloo to the west. Everything else I saw was electrics, until one day, somewhere in Battersea, I saw a big green diesel crossing a bridge over the road. I was hooked. These were far better than electrics and were modern, so much better than steam!

But I think we all know now that diesel locomotives' days are numbered. As the price of oil starts to rocket the railway companies will quickly feel the pinch, even though their supplies will obviously be prioritised over the private motorist (who will be finished). There'll be a rush to electrify but will the money and, more importantly, the skills be there to do it in time? I doubt it.

But there is of course an obvious alternative to electric locomotives - steam! Not the lumbering old polluting and high maintenance machines of old of course, but sleek, clean and fast woodburners, using a sustainable energy source and providing an excellent power source for the tens of thousands of extra trains we're going to need in the future to keep us going. Their USP will be their use of simple technology and also being completely sustainable. They'll have the other advantage that even the old steam engines used to have - longevity. They could easily be built to last 50 or even 100 years or longer, with standardised parts that can be recovered and recycled when the locomotives finally wear out.

I suspect that just about the whole network will be eventually electrified, that's the current network plus the reversed Beeching routes, but local railways and many industrial lines may well find that steam is the cheapest and easiest option. We really are about to enter a new age of steam.

And what of the diesel locomotive? It's doomed. There won't even be the option of running them on preserved routes, diesel for public transport simply won't be available. I suspect the last of the oil will be snapped up by the military, by chemical and fertilizer companies and, of course, by the airlines. And even then it won't last long.

So get out there and photograph these magnificent creations. We may not see their like again ever, or at least for 150 million years, when oil may once again be available for a century or two ...

tree surgery

(Taunton 6.8.2011 copyright Steve Sainsbury)

FACEBOOK - RAIL THING - REVERSING BEECHING

One of the biggest mistakes of the Beeching era was to close branch lines. Many so-called branch lines were in reality secondary main lines. Take the Taunton to Barnstaple route for example. Whilst technically a branch, certainly when it ran to the GW station in Barnstaple Victoria Road, it was in reality a very useful cross country route, much shortening the trip to Barnstaple from the north. It was double track in places. Remind you of another line?

Taunton has lost four of its routes - to Barnstaple, Minehead, Yeovil and Chard Junction. Minehead is now almost fully restored and is one of those heritage lines that is gradually morphing into a genuine community railway. I've touched on the Barnstaple route - this whole area (Barnstaple westwards) will see a huge revival of rail in the next few decades, Bideford and Ilfracombe for example can't seriously be rail-less for much longer, so reopening of this important route is inevitable. The other two lines were more in the nature of branches, but again would both be useful when reopened, bringing Chard and Ilminster for example back into the 21st century.

(Hatch on the Chard line, 1960s. Copyright Rail Thing).

So Taunton today is an odd place, clearly waiting patiently to regain its old importance. Most of the infrastructure is still in place so restoring the lines, at least in Taunton itself, shouldn't be too hard a task.

The whole principle of closing branches was horribly flawed. Beeching and his idiot crew seriously believed that people would drive or take the bus to the railhead and take the train from there. Of course in reality most of them were forced to switch to cars, the substitute bus services - as if a bus could ever replace a train! - were quickly abandoned. Result - a fall in the railways' incomes.

Branch lines that survived are experienced an incredible boom, some lines having doubled their ridership in the last few years (Severn Beach and Falmouth for example).

Beeching - you were WRONG. We need to forget the past and plan for the future, a future that should see all the Beeching cuts reversed and on top of that new lines (both heavy and light) filling in the gaps. That will release rail capacity, will take more lorries off the road and, most importantly, give many towns and villages currently struggling with 20th century dinosaur transport a FUTURE.

scotland leads the way

Of course only an idiot would now say that the Beeching cuts were necessary. We need to forget that time and get on with rebuilding our rail network - firstly to reverse all the Beeching cuts, then start filling in the gaps with interurbans, light railways and industrial routes, ready for an oilless future. Not only does rebuilding and extending the network need to happen quickly but so does electrification of the entire rail network - and yes I do include heritage routes, narrow gauge lines etc!

Scotland is starting the process, albieit very slowly. Take a listen to this http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0120783/Reversing_Dr_Beeching/

cycleways and railways - the future's big two!

We had an interesting email from a cyclist yesterday which brings up some interesting questions. I think the easiest way to address this is to simply reproduce the questions and answers here.
Personally I would like to see us broaden the aims of the New S&D to build a railway AND cycleway along (or near) the route, and would welcome your comments on this idea.

The email reads -

I am rather confused with the ambitious aims of this project which seem to contradict current policy within the local authorities.



Tremendous effort is being put in by North Dorset District and Dorset County Councils to re-open the line where possible for cyclist, equestrians and walkers.


Understandably, this has massive public support. Such use will be available to a wide range of users and hopefully those on low incomes to.It will have a minimum impact on the environment and will add to the public enjoyment of the countryside through which it passes. As this is predominantly a single track line I ask how you propose to re-open a railway and accommodate the Dorset Cycleway ?

I am aware how the Bodmin and Wenford railway intends to relay track on what has become the Camel Trail, however, there is room on the railway earth works to accommodate both. I do not believe that would be the case in Dorset.


Do you have the support of any of the local authorities ?


I find this a bizarre and perhaps over ambitious project. I am both a rail enthusiast and cyclist, but your project throws me completely.

I would be interested to hear from you.

My response was

The first thing to bear in mind is that this is a long term project, which will take decades rather than years to achieve.



The second point is that the S&D is predominantly a double track main line, there were a few short stretches of single track (Broadstone-Creekmoor, Blandford to Templecombe and Midford to Bath) so there is plenty of room for both a cycleway and a railway throughout. As far as I am aware the Dorset cycleway is mainly on double track sections of the route. Even where the line was single track most of the earthworks, bridges etc were built for double track – this was common on many single track railways, even branch lines.


It’s also important to bear in mind that we believe that Peak Oil and to a lesser extent Climate Change will force a huge rebuilding of the rail network, not simply a reversal of the Beeching cuts (which is of course already happening) but also lines to places that previously never had trains. We also believe that the road network will fall into gradual disuse, some of these roads may well then be converted into cycleways, bridleways etc.


The conversion of railways to cycleways was a bit of a stop gap measure to preserve the physical rights of ways of these lines which will be so essential in the future. We are just doing our tiny bit with a small project to ensure that the S&D gets to the top of the queue as railways are rebuilt. The fact that we are, in the main, railway enthusiasts too (with many cyclists on board as well) hopefully will ensure that the S&D is reinstated with the full participation of the people in the communities we pass through, rather than be bulldozered through by a government intent on restoring railways at all costs, which will be the most likely outcome as Peak Oil hits full on.


We already work closely with Sustrans at Midford and certainly intend to create both a top class railway and cycleway between Bath and the coast. The best thing is to get involved to ensure that your views are always to the fore, though as sustainable transport enthusiasts we are all just as keen on cycleways as we are on railways, rather like yourself!

DCC is certainly supportive of us but we have deliberately kept the project low key until recently, but a rapidly increasing membership is changing that! How things are now are not really much of a pointer as to how things will be in the future, but I’m sure you’ll agree that rail will be an enormously important part of the sustainable transport mix in an energy constrained future. For all of a bike’s utility we can’t really expect them to ever haul 1000 tonne loads over the Mendips! That will be our job ...

network destroyed ... but coming back stronger than ever

Member Mick Knox has just set up an email address for information on S&D land ownership.

He would like to appeal for information on ownership, state of land etc, current use, location etc, for the whole of the S&D route, together with other lines in the area. If he's successful with this he may move onto creating a national database!

He would like to create, for the S&D, a database covering the original land purchased by each railway company, price if known, its subsequent ownership until sale by BR, i.e. Southern region, Western region etc. What type of work carried out etc before closure. I.e. Louth Station (Lincolnshire) received a re-wire six months before closure; goes against closure savings!

He is especially interested in its sale by BR and price paid, together with any snippets, gossip etc concerning its non rail use, i.e. why it was sold etc, any stories, any deals?

And of course he want to know who currently owns it and what is its use, status etc? Also, very importantly, the mileages/chains of each plot of land.

The email address is trackbedsurvey@networkdestroyed.co.uk


We are beginning to see the turning back of the insane and economically self-defeating Beeching cuts of the 1960s, the cruellest of which was the closure of the S&D. The networkdestroyed site should become a valuable resource for people researching this extraordinarily short-sighted transport blind alley in future years.

If you can help in any way with setting up the database for the S&D (and other routes) please don't hesitate to email the above address!

even the daily mail is joining the 21st century!

Peter Hitchens - spot on!

Can Beeching be undone?
Under headlines suggesting that the famous Beeching Cuts of Britain's railways may be reversed, we learn that the 'Association of Train Operating Companies' wants to reopen a few closed lines and stations. It isn't sadly, the extensive reversal of vandalism that we need.

This is partly because so many of the lines were destroyed or built over very rapidly after they were closed. Some believed at the time that this was done to make the destruction irreversible. It often looks like it. But this is the kind of suspicion it is impossible to prove.

Even so, isn't it odd how much harder it seems to be these days to get finance or land for new railway construction, while new roads seem to be built , and land found for them, without major difficulty? In my new book, The Broken Compass, I devote a chapter to the curious prejudice of political Conservatives in favour of cars and against trains.

This leads them to a bizarre belief that the enormous subsidies provided for the building of (state-owned) roads, and the tax-breaks given to airlines, are in some way all right whereas it is a crime against Adam Smith to spend money on railways.

I rode my bicycle along most of the length of the destroyed Oxford to Cambridge line last autumn. It has always been a mystery to me as to why this line was ever closed. I remember when it still functioned, an endearing museum piece with gaslamps on station platforms, used until his death in 1963 by C.S.Lewis ( he called it 'the Cantab Crawler' on account of its meandering slowness) to travel between his Oxford home and his Cambridge college.

There is no good direct road on this route, or any viable rail alternative. Even Lord Beeching did not want to shut it, and it was one of the very few East-West tracks in the country, connecting the Paddington, St Pancras, King's Cross and Liverpool Street main lines about 50 miles north of London. Some parts of it seem lost forever. Others could easily be reinstated.

Under BR, though closed, much of the line still functioned for goods, and occasional passenger trains still ran between Oxford and Milton Keynes, a link that would be extremely useful when the Oxford to Birmingham lines are disrupted. Since privatisation - and perhaps because of it - much of it seems to have deteriorated quite badly and so would be very costly to recreate.

But I think the time is coming when this task will have to be addressed. Mass car ownership was never right for this crowded island, and it has just about run its course. The railway, the most advanced and efficient form of ground transport ever devised, is likely to come back into its own.

When that happens, we should consider just how we came to make the huge mistake that was the Beeching report, and teach it to children as an example of how wrong an entire generation can be about the future?Go to the original article for some REALLY silly 20th century dinosaur comments, and also some good ones re heritage railways and the future. I remember when I used to be cutting edge - now I'm mainstream!

the biggest mistake of all?

Economists often talk of opportunity costs and misallocation of resources. I reckon that in 50 years time we'll all look back and see the Beeching cuts and the, once quite serious, belief that railways were finished and the policies that grew out of that huge error as the biggest misallocation of resources the UK has ever seen.

For a start the Beeching cuts didn't save the railways a penny - they made no contribution to reducing the costs of the railways. If anything they reduced the overall income as many people living on closed routes simply abandoned the railways altogether, rather than find alternative means to get to the railhead.

But even more importantly the consequent congestion effects caused by people being FORCED to use the roads, both for passenger and freight services, had a huge cost, massively outweighing any savings made by scrapping a few branch lines.

I know some people think that the second railway age will merely reverse the Beeching cuts, but remember that this assumption is based on some miraculous energy source being available to keep at least some cars running. In reality of course once the level of traffic on roads falls to a certain point it will no longer be viable to keep roads open. Rail will really be the only available option. So just reversing the Beeching cuts will nowhere near solve the problem, unless we're prepared to totally abandon whole swathes of countryside. But surely these will be the very areas that need transport to bring food to the towns and cities? So if lines will be needed to bring food in then surely it will be best to operate them as passenger routes as well? This supposes a huge expansion of light and ultra-light rail, bringing rail to every corner of the country. So as well as a total reversal of Beeching the trunk and branch lines will be accompanied by a Vicinal style network of narrow gauge and light railways. I do sometimes think most of us simply haven't taken on board the scale of the rail revival, and the benefits (and problems) that will bring!

And as for misallocation of resources - how many billions were wasted on developing a road system for a form of transport with a severely limited life, and what will the costs be to restore the network, particularly through developed areas, compared to the costs of keeping the routes open? These questions will keep transport economists in work for decades!

basic railway? Never!

One of the main purposes of the New S&D is to prevent a rebuilt S&D - now generally agreed to be essential - becoming a 21st century version of the 'basic railway' which was forced on us in the 70s and 80s of the last century. Station buildings, once full of life and the centre of communities, were demolished to make way for vile 'bus shelters' which quickly became vandalised and put off the few remaining customers. Much of the railway infrastructure disappeared as the railways were 'rationalised' in a foolhardy attempt to reduce costs. The measures did of course decrease costs, but they also decreased INCOME, as passengers left the railways in droves as the whole atmosphere went downhill. This was Beeching's true legacy, not so much the miles of empty trackbed but the degradation of what was left.

Look closely at the picture at the top of the page. This is the railway enhancing rather than detracting from the landscape. When Midsomer Norton was in its prime it not only buzzed with passengers but also with staff. Station master, ticket clerk, goods staff, signalmen and other workers. It was full of life, not some dead stretch of concrete with, if you were lucky, a bus shelter 'gracing' the platform.

21st century railways will not make the same mistake. They will be far busier than they've ever been before and will more than cover the costs of running them. Many, many more people wil be employed by the railways and towns and villages will once more have stations they can be proud of, true centres of the community.

Railways are not roads, not decaying stretches of concrete, but the vital links that will keep us going after the end of cheap oil. Don't sell them short!

more sheringham

A couple of shots from Keith Browning from the link up at Sheringham on 11 March 2010. Although only about 300 yards in length this was a momentous day for North Norfolk, heritage railways, the Network and our transport future.

With the link in place I'm going to take the first opportunity to get and see the line in the flesh!

A full report (source) follows -

The North Norfolk Railway (NNR) has been reconnected to the National Rail network for the first time in 46 years.

The steam locomotive Oliver Cromwell carried the first passengers over the new tramway-style crossing at Sheringham on Thursday, 11 March 2010.

More than £140,000 has been raised to install a link to connect the Poppy Line, which runs to Holt, to the national Bittern Line.

Record producer and rail enthusiast Pete Waterman attended the event.

"It's been an amazing achievement. It's something for the future, for youngsters to get involved with," he said.

The "occasional use" level crossing features 300 yards (274.32m) of new rails to connect Sheringham Station on the North Norfolk Railway to Network Rail's halt - the end point of the Bittern Line which runs to Norwich.

The original crossing over Station Road was initially closed as part of Dr Beeching's railway reform in the 1960s.

Although National Express mainline services will continue to use their existing halt, the reopening of the crossing will allow steam charter trains and visiting locomotives to reach the NNR via the National Rail network.

The North Norfolk railway from Holt to Sheringham will have a direct link to Norwich

This will bring an estimated 3,600 - 4,800 extra people from London to north Norfolk every year, improving the NNR's current annual turnover of £1.2m.

Donations

Work started on the crossing on Saturday, 9 January 2010 and the reconnection has been made possible by an anonymous £30,000 loan on top of £25,000 from Norfolk County Council, £5,000 from North Norfolk District Council and other personal donations.
Any extra money donated will be placed in the existing fund towards a new canopy on platform two at Sheringham, which will replicate the original look of the station.

"The great thing about steam railways, particularly in rural communities is it becomes important to them because it brings people in to see the engines, take a ride, and that has a knock on effect to the shops and local businesses," said Mr Waterman.

But is that idealistic vision accurate?

In the age of many families having more than one car, who will use the line and will it create a significant impact on the local economy?

The "occasional use" steam line will chug up to Norfolk no more than 12 times a year.
　
With thousands of pounds being spent on the crossing, is this just a case of nostalgia gone too far or is there money to be made?

"A bit of both," said Colin Borg, marketing director for the NNR.

"It is too early to give a specific figure… but there is money to be made in nostalgia. Last year 130,000 tickets were bought for trains on the North Norfolk Railway and from our research, those people came to expressly ride on the trains.

"The steam charter trains, similar to the Cathedral Express that visits Norwich, can take around 300-400 passengers. The ones that come to Sheringham will expect to arrive Friday night or Saturday and return on Sunday - those people will need accommodation.

"We are not looking in the Euromillions category here, but we expect some money to be made. However, steam engines are an extremely expensive business," he added.

Tourist travel for communities in Weybourne, Kelling Heath Holiday Park and Holt to London is currently not in the NNR's plans, but Colin is optimistic.

"In the future, say 20, 30, 40 years, we could see passenger transport the other way from Holt to London, but that is all a long way away," he said.

Norfolk Orbital Railway
　
The Holt, Melton Constable and Fakenham Railway Ltd, which has been pursuing this first Sheringham link as part of the Norfolk Orbital Railway project, also hopes that "occasional use" can be made more regular.

The company is also looking to link Fakenham to the Mid Norfolk Railway.
"The Norfolk Orbital Railway project is for the community and the environment," said Trevor Bailey, director of Norfolk Orbital Railway.

"We are not doing this for any sort of personal profit. It is hard, unpaid work but rewarding because we believe strongly in rail transport."

wise words

Nice succinct comments from Nick Howes re yesterday's story about the new high speed link from London to the north.

a) air travel is a dying duck eg Heathrow spur and

b) the Great Central is sat there doing nothing (Berne gauge) and I’m sure that wont cost 30 billion to put back. Where do they get these inflated figures from?!

I suspect the figures are thrown about either to stop things happening or to get a huge budget!

The Great Central is such a valuable asset but at the moment its either used to shuttle a few commuter trains (Aylesbury southwards), to recreate BR in the 60s (Leicester-Loughborough - a fantastic line but still a waste as it doesn't run 'real' trains (yet!)) or, mainly, serves as a scar on the landscape that should be a vibrant and extremely busy route. It's ironic that in parts it runs alongside the M1, I can see the roles being reversed in a few decades time!

And as for connecting to Heathrow, what bloody future does even the most stupid politician think that white elephant will have?

The real issue here, and it's only been slightly touched on, is that construction of an entirely new route will cause even more destruction to our landscape. There are NO intermediate stations planned between Birmingham and London so how on earth do they plan to sell this to the communities en route? Even a motorway would have more value as it can be accessed! I don't disgree with High Speed Trains but I would still rather see existing and new routes serve the towns and villages in between BEFORE investment in High Speed Rail. There are still far too many towns and villages in Britain that are rail-less, large towns like Norton-Radstock, Glastonbury, Gosport, Ripon etc for example. Air travel is already losing ground rapidly to the existing rail network, we don't need to force this by building completely new rail routes, not yet at least. Imagine how many new rail miles could be built to the places that count for that £30 billion - probably around 500 miles. That's the whole S&D, Great Central, Waverley, Plymouth-Okehampton, Dumfries-Stranraer, Ilfracombe, Tiverton, Bude and a dozen other routes that should never have closed.

This brings up the whole secondary disaster that Beeching caused - the closing of thousands of small stations on routes that are STILL open. Most if not all of these could now be economically reopened, indeed many have, but don't they make it difficult!

If there's money like £30 billion out there for starting to get our railways up and running again let's use it to help everybody, not just every damn fool in London who wants to be in Birmingham in forty minutes!

bristol's tramways take shape

Works alongside Hartcliffe Way, Bristol, January 2010. Trams at last??

Bristol has a population of 380,615.
Bratislava (Slovakia) has a population of 426,927.

Bratislava has 40km of tramways and 13 lines. This is in addition to a suburban railway network, metro, trolleybuses and even (LOL) buses.

Bristol has 0km of tramways and 0 lines. This is in addition to a railway network that cleverly avoids most places, including Portishead, no metro, no trolleybuses and lots of (LOL) buses, many of which proudly proclaim 'Not in Service'.

No, the pic isn't of tramway works in Bristol. Our Supertram was abandoned a few years ago by a bunch of spineless councillors who would rather look backwards than forwards and have consequently condemned Bristol to years of congestion. The trams WILL come, that's inevitable. No real city lacks trams. What the pic is of is the new cycleway - but the interesting thing is that it can, and will, convert easily to a tram route. Perhaps the councillors here are taking their heads out of the sand and are - at last - looking ahead, even if they are doing it covertly.

So what's Bratislava got to do with anything? Well, apart from being a similar size to Bristol it's our holiday destination in June. And why did we choose it? Precisely because it does have modern public transport, which makes it tourist friendly.

And what's any of this got to do with the New S&D? Well, Bristol will be a destination for us, using the old Pensford route. In fact I fully expect trams to shadow our route south from Bristol to Whitchurch station on the New S&D. And trams will almost certainly reappear in Bournemouth, Poole and up to Broadstone and Wimborne. Over the longer term trams/light railways will pop up everywhere, feeding into the new rail network, carrying frieght as well as passengers. Those dinosaurs who think that the 21st century will merely see a reversal of the Beeching cuts simply haven't understood the urgency and depth of the energy crisis.

So keep watching this space. I fully expect to retake these pictures by 2015 with tram tracks running down Hartcliffe Way!