right lines 4

The New S&D has long held the ambition of creating a quality magazine and this is now just about to happen! Phil Marsh and Grant Henderson have formed an editorial team and the first 'real' Right Lines, number 4, will be ready in a week or so. All members will of course receive a free copy, non-members will be able to purchase it via post and Internet, it will also be available at Midford and Spetisbury on working days. Cover price is £2.

The plan is to issue two magazines each year at first, hopefully building to a quarterly in time.

charlton marshall

(Both courtesy Jim Type, copyright C L Caddy Collection)

Charlton Marshall is south of Blandford and closed in 1956, but even today is still remarkably well preserved - in fact the station site features on the front page of our brochure.

Once Spetisbury is up and running this may well be the next location in the area that we head for. Despite its early closure the station will reopen with the line when opened throughout from Blandford as part of the phase one restoration of the whole route.

welcome aboard!

A big welcome to three new members of the New S&D team. Anna-Jayne Metcalfe and Simon Ellison have both joined the committee and will bring considerable skills to the team. Andy Thompson is now ploughing through our IT infrastructure, and a few other things, hopefully with the end result of making our New S&D presence as high profile and rewarding as his Steamtube and related sites!

We are still less than a year old and have made enormous progress in that time, but as I made clear at Saturday's meeting this is only the very very beginning of a long term and amazing project that will set the railway heritage, professional railway, tourism and sustainable industry 'communities' alight.

steam tube

Steam Tube has been very supportive of the New S&D so please reciprocate by looking at their site and joining!

mousemats now available

Just in are the first batch of New S&D mousemats, which can be ordered from the shop here. They show a 2009 image from Charlton Marshall. Ready just in time for Christmas, cost just £4.95 + 50p post and packing.

a big step (at last)

I've finally got round to ordering our promotional leaflet, which should be ready within two weeks. It's based on the already available home printed one, but will be a hundred times better! Obviously if you need some at your own railway please send for some.


Despite appearances this is actually a 2005 shot and a lighter version is used for the watermark background on the text side of the new leaflet. This was of course the Midsomer Norton Jinty impersonating the Bath-Binegar local ...

Also on order are mousemats with the main leaflet picture (Charlton Marshall). These should be available just in time for Christmas, and will be available through the e-commerce site.

job opportunity!

One thing the New S&D needs to do is create a register of land ownership for our entire route, making keeping an eye on developments and purchasing trackbed much easier. If there is anyone out there who would like to take on this challenge please let us know! This would become a committee post.

enhanced options

Basic £5.00Bronze supporter (with £5 donation) £10.00Silver supporter (with £20 donation) £25.00Gold supporter (with £50 donation) £55.00Platinum supporter (with £100 donation) £105.00

charlton marshall

Four shots of this remarkably well preserved minor station south of Blandford. This section is currently a trailway and seemed quite well used even on a cold and dark day in February.

It again shows just how easy restoration of large sections of the route will be. This part of the route did of course last almost three years longer than the rest, carrying freight to Blandford.

progress

I've just started the process of setting up a bank account for the New Somerset and Dorset - hopefully Paypal buttons will be up and running for membership, donations and items from our on-line shop within a week or so. We already have £50 worth of stamp payments to go in!

stour valley reflections

Shillingstone.


Near Stourpaine.


Blandford.


Spetisbury.

Still recovering from yesterday's epic trackbed survey down south.

I went along with Mick Knox, who did all the driving. We stopped at Shillingstone first, then headed towards Blandford. We found original S&D track still in place in Blandford. We also got to Charlton Marshall, Spetisbury and Stourpaine and Durweston halts, and ended up at the bridge just north of Sturminster Newton.

I'll be doing location by location reports over the next week or so!

southern teasers

Four random shots from today's epic survey of the route between Sturminster Newton and Spetisbury - much more to follow over the next few days and weeks!