everything's going our way

Today's news features the following - I had to look twice to believe this! Okay, the Lib Dems won't be our next government BUT a hung parliament is very likely which means that Lib Dem policies may well be enacted within a coalition. My vote will be going to the Lib Dems this year and I don't care what Backwards of Blandford thinks about this strident political opportunism!

Lib Dems plan rail expansion by cutting road projects

Norman Baker says £3bn would be set aside for the rail expansion

The Liberal Democrats have set out plans to reopen thousands of miles of railway tracks and stations.

The scheme would be funded by cutting capital spending on roads by £3bn.

Its new Rail Expansion Fund would lead to the biggest expansion of the rail network since the Victorian era, the party claims.

Lib Dem transport spokesman Norman Baker said the plan would "make our railway great again".

Councils and transport authorities could bid for money from the Rail Expansion Fund to improve, reopen or establish services.

Although exact decisions on which services could be expanded would not be made until bids were received, the Lib Dems have drawn up a list of schemes which could be suitable for early delivery.
　
These include the electrification of lines from Manchester to Liverpool, Leeds and Preston; from Birmingham to Bristol and Basingstoke; and between Leeds and York.

New or reopened stations could be funded in Ilkeston, Kidlington, Wantage, Corsham, Tavistock, Middlewich, Ashington, Blyth, Washington and Skelmersdale.

New lines could link Southport with Preston, Bournemouth with Ringwood and the Midlands main line with the Birmingham-Derby route.

And track could be reopened between Exeter and Okehampton; Tavistock and Plymouth; Penrith and Keswick; and Galashiels and Carlisle.

The policy announcement by the Lib Dems comes a month after the government outlined its plans for a new high-speed rail network, featuring 250mph trains, which would include a new line between London and Birmingham, with future extensions planned to northern England and to Scotland.

At the time, the Conservatives said that if they were elected to power, they would start work on the project in 2015 - two years earlier than the government's plan.

Revitalise railways

But in launching the Lib Dems' plans for the railways, Mr Baker criticised both of their major rivals.

Mr Baker said: "Labour has allowed the railways to wither on the vine and punished passengers with huge fare hikes while more polluting forms of transport have got cheaper.

"All the while, the Tories have been sharpening the axe they will take to the transport budget.

"High speed rail is hugely important, but it is only part of the 21st-century rail network Britain needs."

The Lib Dems would cut the government's major roads project for the years up to 2013/14 by 90% and divert almost £3.5bn to rail, according to Mr Baker.

Some £480m - currently intended for projects like motorway widening and hard shoulders - would go towards the Lib Dems' existing policy of cutting rail fares.

The remaining £2.95bn would go into the Rail Expansion Fund.

Note that the S&D is NOT included in the list of reopened lines, though it's no doubt within the 'thousands of miles' being considered. The lines listed have all had vigorous support groups for years. this is why it is so important for ALL S&D fans, and local people, to get involved with the New S&D. The key point is that there will be a fund available for reopening railways, giving an obvious push to all groups such as ours. Professionalism and carefully costed schemes will be the keys to getting hands on the cash!

turning around

Brookwood. 33 104 - 8/8/1977


Basingstoke. 50 043 - 28/10/1983


Okehampton. 4/12/1984


Salisbury. 50 021 - 11/8/1986

(All photos © Steve Sainsbury)

Once there was a great way to the West Country, using the Southern line from Waterloo via Basingstoke, Salisbury, Exeter and Okehampton. It was a busy and modern route, but the idiot Beeching decided that we only really needed one main line to the west and that was the ex-GWR route via Reading. At one time the Salisbury to Exeter route was - unbelievably - under threat of closure! Many of its branches were closed and in 1968 the route west of Okehampton - the priceless diversionary route avoiding the sea wall at Dawlish - was also, amazingly, closed. The branches beyond, to Bude, Padstow, Ilfracombe, Bideford, all closed without any consideration of future needs.

Of course the S&D intersected this route at Templecombe and a great deal of valuable exchange traffic took place here. But even Templecombe itself closed with the S&D on 7 March 1966. Many 'minor' stations on the Salisbury-Exeter route closed at the same time. Closure by stealth of the whole route was clearly on the agenda. The line was singled, creating huge delays, and the service became two-hourly. Freight vanished as did local trains.

This was the mindset of the 1960s and 1970s (still sometimes seen on our comments sections!).

How things have changed as we enter the last year of the first decade of the 21st century. Templecombe station reopened in 1982, perhaps being the first indicaton that the S&D would eventually return there, and now the section through Axminster has been doubled, allowing an hourly service on the line again. The line is now prioritised for electrification, and surely it is not now that long before stations such as Wilton are reopened and local trains reintroduced. The line will also be a very useful freight route. Future exchange traffic with the New S&D will bring even more trains and potential to the route. Beyond Exeter there are serious moves to put the link back to Plymouth in before the Dawlish section vanishes beneath the waves, and restoration to Ilfracombe and Bideford/Torrington (at the very least) can't be too far off.

Perhaps the Salisbury-Exeter route is a symbol of the whole network, its decline in the 60s, stagnation throughout the 70s - surely the worst ever decade for railways - hints of revival in the 80s, traffic building in the 90s and real moves to realise its potential in the 00s. It's great that this is one of the lines that the New S&D will feed into.

return to Evercreech Junction

My last trip to Evercreech Junction was in 1980.

It was good to see that the main station building is still standing, ready for purchase by the New S&D in the future.

This iconic location - and not just from an S&D perspective - is a sad sight today. It should be bustling with life with trains coming every half hour or so. There should be shops and restaurants serving the thousands of visitors coming by train. There should be trains running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It underlines the utter desolation of certain places when they lose their trains and how desperately they need them back.

In fact the whole journey today from Bristol to the Gartell Railway underlined this economic apartheid. Binegar, Shepton Mallet, Evercreech Junction - all seemed dull and lifeless with few if any amenities. Conversely the two places we did pass through that are still served by trains - Castle Cary and Templecombe - seemed lively and alive. The car park at Castle Cary was packed on a Sunday.

This contrast will become sharper and sharper as the Energy Crunch bites harder. Those people clever (or lucky) enough to live on a railway will be able to continue to go about their daily lives. Their property prices will rise (or fall less) than those who suddenly find themselves out in the sticks, with just crumbling roads and hideously expensive cars and buses to rely on. There will be a shift away from these blighted areas to those that will have a bright future. Even today properties close to railways (or more precisely stations) are worth a good deal more than those that are bereft of modern transport.

This perception will ensure that as time goes by more and more people in these areas (which, currently, sadly includes most of the S&D route) will absolutely insist that their railways are returned. But they can't all be returned at once, there will be a distinct pecking order. We have every intention that the S&D will be up there with the usual suspects - Exeter-Okehampton-Plymouth, Oxford-Cambridge, Waverley route, Great Central, Skipton-Colne, Lewes-Uckfield etc etc.

excellent news - Tavistock returns!!

(All Okehampton 4.12.1984)

West Devon Borough Council, to their credit, last night voted through a plan to build 750 new homes in Tavistock, by a company called Kilbride, who will also rebuild the 6 miles of railway to Bere Alston and thus a direct link to Plymouth for the first time since 1968. [Google This is Plymouth, Western Morning News for further details]. Planning, consultation etc, is going to take another year, but it definitely looks good. I know there was a scheme to build a lot of houses on railway land at Radstock- is that signed sealed and delivered, or would it be possible to get a company like Kilbride to come up with a similar model? Or indeed, in future, maybe parts of the S and D could be rebuilt in this way. Just food for thought really, wonder what your opinions are.

From a message board post.

This is fantastic news and indeed will serve as a model for future large housing developments. A point often made to me is that there is little point building new homes if there are no modern transport links in place. In the 70s and 80s roads would have provided these links, but that's history now, or very soon will be. This should certainly apply to Radstock and surely the Midsomer Norton Trust and North Somerset Railway are making this point to everyone who will listen?

Hopefully restoration of the line to Tavistock will reinvigorate calls for the whole route to Meldon and Okehampton be restored, giving an alternative route to the sea level rise threatened Dawlish route. At the very least it will take some of the capacity restraints off the existing line as traffic continues to climb. Really the whole Dartmoor route needs to be reopened and double tracked as quickly as possible.

If this government had any balls it would make putting in modern transport links compulsory for all major new housing, retail or industrial developments. This could be heavy rail (restored or new build), light rail, ultra light rail or tramway. Soon there will be no other option in any case. Better still if rather than the new line be appropriated by a large concern they are set up as locally owned and run co-operatives, ensuring that the route is geared towards local needs and is maintained and run to the highest standards. We are getting there slowly ...