midford on thursday

 

Midford int he rain - looking good!

 

Looking towards Wellow - and car access on site at last!

 

H&S!

 

Mick getting ready ...

 

Posing with chainsaw

 

The rain at its heaviest!

 

MIDFORD FACEBOOK GROUP

 

Reward - butchers sausages cooked on the still smouldering embers from Tuesday!

 

 

A REALLY good day at Midford last Thursday, tree clearing again. Mick Knox was down from Milton Keynes with his chain saw, local boy Tom also brought his!

It was rainy and quite gloomy when we arrived but within a couple of hours enough trees had come down to let the light in.

Our neighbour Pat also turned up and we discussed the remedial work on the concrete facing of the embankment that abuts his house down below us.

Stuart, lacking a chainsaw of his own, cooked some sausages for the chainsaw boys!

To me this is always the best part of rail restoration, the hands on stuff out in the open. Meetings and office work leave me cold, even though that takes about 95% of my New S&D time.

There's a real buzz all along the route now, with Masbury very close, new local groups forming in Shepton Mallet, Evercreech and Whitchurch, Shillingstone going great guns and a real feeling that the whole route is stirring at last.

We are now planning to launch the Midford Appeal in 2014, with the aim of raising the funds to rebuild the station and oil store, which will transform the site.

midford tomorrow

 

Tom and Stuart Seale will be down at Midford from 10:15ish tomorrow, Sunday 6 January. All welcome to join them.  They plan on thinning out some of the smaller trees on the embankment to prepare the way for Mick Knox's visit later in the month.

flat calm

(Ashcott 13.4.2007 copyright Mick Knox)

(Ashcott 1960s)

The picture I used randomly of Ashcott yesterday has brought out the more recent one from Mick Knox. It's quite difficult to tell that this was once a railway - but bringing the line back will put a stop to that!

more wood

Mick Knox has got his eyes on these saplings and small trees lining the cutting at Midford towards Long Arch Bridge - a job for when the bird nesting season's passed. You can just make out the platform in the far distance giving a good idea of just how much land we own at this site. This will look great when the track returns.

spruce up at midsomer norton

(Midsomer Norton South 6.2.2012 both copyright Mick Knox)

Two shots taken last Monday at Midsomer Norton, primarily to show off the S&D style bank above the retaining wall after Mick Knox was released from his cage with a strimmer! Picture one also shows Midsomer Norton's latest locomotive addition, the class 08 diesel. The site now has two diesel locos, a steam Sentinel loco, a DMU and a Roadrailer, which means they are now covered for every eventuality!

wood everywhere

An excellent day up at Midford today - so much is happening there! To all those doubters that still think the S&D isn't coming back - switch off now!!

Mick Knox brought his chainsaw up (after a day at Midsomer Norton) and has been busy yesterday and today clearing some of the bank above the platform. Result - a clear bank and LOADS of firewood. If you live around Midford please feel free to take some of the cut logs for your woodburners - a small donation to the New S&D is always appreciated!

We chatted about other possible locations for the Sustainable Engineering Centre.

To those few remaining dinosaurs who think this is still 1969 PLEASE think about actually getting involved with the S&D restoration, rather than trying to stop us doing the work! Most of our biggest supporters and workers are people who, just a few years ago, said this would never happen LLOL!

midwinter midsomer

A great shot from Mick Knox taken in December. As always bear in mind that in the early nineties this site almost disappeared under housing development! In the middle distance you can see the DMU which has really given Midsomer Norton the status of a heritage railway rather than just a museum, operating regular trains for fare paying customers.

In many ways the site at Midsomer Norton has already surpassed the rather coy ambitions from its early days (a steam museum with a short demonstration line) and is of course only just at the start of a long and exciting journey into railway history!

more masbury

(Copyright Mick Knox 17.2.2009)

Attached is a picture taken from the site of the DMU picture from May 1958 on the blog. This picture was taken in Feb 2009 and I believe the fence on the Upside of the DMU is the same fence, to the left of the fence in my picture? The approach to the former Masbury Summit Bridge (Oakhill Rd No 69) has been filled in, where the DMU is.

As an aside, this is a very nice shot of a quiet rural corner of Somerset. Imagine a motorway going through this! But at the same time imagine just how well the revived S&D will fit into this scene, one more HUGE advantage rail has over road. In fact from a short distance away the railway will completely blend in with the environment.

Another problem with busy roads is that there is a constant procession of vehicles, creating noise and pollution, and danger to other drivers as well as the many animals that take their lives in their hands when they cross roads. Even the busiest railway has gaps between trains, there's not an endless procession of trains causing the same problems. Hopefully there NEVER will be, despite the HUGE increase in rail traffic that is inevitable as the roads die. With long powerful trains and less need for people to travel to work there should be  a better balance of supply and demand - which will be the subject of a future blog post!

masbury 2009

(Both copyright Mick Knox)

Further to the picture of the DMU at Masbury, Mick Knox has dug out some 2009 shots taken at or near the same location.

Former trackbed, without infill near bridge No 68, the one behind the DMU and another from the site of Bridge No 69, likely to have been behind the photographer of the DMU picture. It doesn’t look like he was standing on in it, although I wouldn’t know having never seen the bridge.

midford in the rain

Probably the last blog post I'll be able to squeeze out of last Wednesday's visit to Midford.

Even a sharp shower didn't put paid to the hard work being done last week. Tom and Stuart turn up whatever the weather (witness last December's photos and work in the snow!) and it'd take more than a shower (or even a hurricane) to stop Mick Knox in his tracks!

I'm hoping to get up to Midford in the next couple of weeks on a Saturday or Sunday, partly to cycle along the cyclepath, and also to salvage some of the firewood that will need to be cut up on site - for which of course I'll make a nice donation!

midford 1.0

As we've dug more and more out at Midford some well preserved relics of the original station have reappeared. This is some of the tiling in the toilets. We are hoping to find the water supply eventually as water will be essential for the rebuilding and of course the station when it reopens, first as an information office and later as a real station with  trains!



Stuart and Tom look at the tiling that was in front of the fireplace in the station building. A year ago this was totally buried under rubble and weeds.



The original drainage channels are in excellent condition as the muck and rubble have protected them from the elements. It is a LOT of work digging them out though!



We think this brickwork, found around site, may have belonged to the base of the signalbox. Any ideas out there?

more midford

The floor in the station building has deformed considerably since 1966 - it will need to be totally relaid.


This was the original way in to the station, from the small lane that runs above it. The steps are now cleared, I suspect we'll need to add a handrail on the side when the station is open again.


After a morning with the strimmer, Tom and Stuart have recreated the classic look of S&D cuttings and embankments. If everything fell apart tomorrow this single recreation will have made the whole effort worthwhile! A year ago this was a small wood.



One of the classic S&D views that clearance of the bank now reveals. In the middle distance, slightly to the right, is an overbridge that served the Camerton-Limpley Stoke line. This shot really brings home what the S&D was all about - a main line running through England's finest scenery. We really have the bit between our teeth now, can it really be that many years before trains are running through the site again?

As a visitor forecefully said yesterday 'This is crazy. This should be the main tourist attraction in this part of the world'.

Given a few years' time we'll turn the clock both back and forwards, and make sure that is exactly what it does become, as well as a top notch service for freight and passengers all along the route.

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!

tomorrow at midford

Remember that tomorrow we're having a bit of a work day up at Midford. Tom and Stuart will be there from around ten. Mick Knox will also be up (I'll bring your book that I borrowed months ago!) and I'll get up around one. Hopefully we'll have time for a drink in the Hope and Anchor!

Any members or potential members are more than welcome to join us!

midford this wednesday

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

I shall be going up to Midford this Wednesday (5 October) to meet up with Mick Knox, so anyone else who wants to come along for a look, chat or a bit of work please just turn up! I shall be up there from about 1pm to 4.30pm.