museum

The museum should be open within a year, the first few tenders are now going in for the work. We received just short of £50,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for this work.

Once it's built the museum will become a focal point for both local and railway historians. It will be state-of-the-art, not some musty old collection of relics. It will hopefully become the primary resource for all S&D historians.

Remember that the history of the S&D did not end in 1966! The above shot is of Wellow in 1980. The 'closed' period of the S&D will become a fascinating idiosyncracy for historians in 50 years time, when trains are again steaming from Bath to Bournemouth. Please consider donating pictures you have of the line, both before and after 1966, for use in the museum archive - the more unusual the better! The success of Jeffery Grayer's book 'Sabotaged and Defeated' proves that the 'closed' period has a fascination of its own, as does volume 3 of the TVP series on the S&D, which concentrates on the dismantling of the route. For every classic Ivo Peters' shot, there must be a thousand other shots of the line from a different perspective. Let's flush them all out!

Donations of photos/negatives/film etc can be made at the station on any Sunday or Monday. We will take the utmost care of them and ensure that they reach a wider public over the coming years.

dirty digging

I reckon we could charge for the adults to have a go in this!



This is the trench being dug as part of the preparation work for the new museum.

different angle

The line of goods wagons in the siding.



These were being shunted to make way for some groundworks in the siding area. I could only manage this snatched shot before being called away on other duties. No 10 is just coupled up and ready to gently pull the line of wagons out.

The groundworks are the first signs that the museum work is beginning to happen - this should all be completed by November this year, providing yet another visitor facility at our rapidly-developing site!

2007 - the last easy year!

2007 is likely to be the last easy year at Midsomer Norton -not that we mind! At the moment everything is development, from 2008 and the opening to the public it will be development and operation.

Operating a working line will need a whole new tranche of volunteers - guards, station masters and mistresses, signalmen and women, engine drivers etc.

There will also be the need to open on extra days - to this end the shop is likely to be open 4 or 5 days a week from this month, we'll also be opening the catering coach on more days each week as the year passes. We're also planning occasional evening openings of the catering coach with special meals and patio discos. This will all give us a higher presence locally and, importantly, increased revenue.

With the receipt of the HLF funds for the museum there will be the need for museum staff, this will also bring many more visitors to the site.

Other developments in 2007 will include the launch of our new website, a glossy sales list and, of course, extension of the line southwards towards Chilcompton.

the three pillars of wisdom for s&d success

Midsomer Norton South 03/07/06

To make the most of the rebuilt S&D we need to concentrate on three main pillars of activity - tourism, heritage and transport.

Tourism means that train services need to be geared towards bringing people into the area to visit the railway and other attractions. Bath is Britain’s only World Heritage City, and Bournemouth is our premier resort, so we have a head start over other railways! But until we reach Bath and Bournemouth it is the area in between that we need to push and develop. A fledgling area tourist group is beginning to take shape, with the support of BANES, with the railway and the Mining Museum at Radstock the senior partners.

Tourists are a fickle bunch, and can easily be head hunted by non-railway tourist set ups, so we need to offer a great experience at a good price, be family-orientated and customer-driven, and to be very clever with our marketing. Everyone loves a steam train, and most people love the English countryside, so we have a head start! The fascinating industrial past of the Somerset Coalfield is also a natural draw. A steam railway has the unique function of being both a tourist attraction in itself and a way of travelling between tourist attractions.


Heritage is how the new S&D will link with the old. Already Midsomer Norton station is a showpiece, particularly now the signalbox is taking shape again. We are very aware of the place the old S&D had in the hearts of railway enthusiasts, local people and lovers of the English countryside. With its family atmosphere, heavy engineering works, huge variety of trains and locomotives, and its scenic route it is almost as if it was designed as a potential huge tourist attraction for the 21st century! The new S&D will be as close as possible to the original, with manned stations, double track and express engines. The museum at Midsomer Norton will be developed as the finest local and railway history archive in the country, reflecting the importance of the S&D to writers and researchers. Each station along the route will have an add-on visitor attraction with appeal to both tourists and railway enthusiasts, encouraging visitors to alight at intermediate stations and visit the towns and villages that they serve.


Finally the transport role of the S&D as it expands will become more and more important as oil runs out. A link between Radstock and Chilcompton will already serve a transport need, but as the line expands towards Bath and Bournemouth then commuter and freight flows will also fall to us.

The original S&D should never have been closed, it should have been developed as the premier tourist attraction in southern England as well as an essential transport link. What the short sighted governments and local authorities of the day failed to do over the last 40 years we will make happen over the next 40!

Museum Building at Midsomer Norton

The former stable block at Midsomer Norton is to be developed as a museum and archive of the S&D, once Lottery funding is obtained. As well as a range of relics and models, there will be a state of the art facility for writers and researchers of both the railway and local history. There will also be a small meeting area for local community groups.