shepton by pass

(Courtesy SDRHT via Telegraph 30)

 

 

One of the issues that often comes up is along the lines of 'what will you do where there are houses/factories etc blocking the route?' It's not as big a deal as some people think, because there are various ways of addressing this. The actual choice will be based on a number of factors including cost, practicality, engineering issues and public relations.

One way is to use CPOs (compulsory purchase orders) to purchase blocking properties. A second way would be to bridge/tunnel. A third way would be to utilise street running, though this may be a little radical for some!

But I suspect that often the option will be a by-pass. The above map was drawn to show how this would work at Shepton Mallet. Actually seeing it on paper shows  that there can be other advantages to by-passing, at Shepton for example the station set up can be rationalised, a joint station would be accessed by both the S&D and East Somerset lines. This is cheaper and also handier. The above map also includes a Parkway station, though I suspect that by the time this becomes reality there will be few cars still on the roads!

So the principals established can (and will) apply to anywhere on the S&D and of course on the wider network. The old excuse of 'there's a house/building/car park/tree in the way can be ignored!

street running US style

Just had to share this! Anyone who doubts that street running isn't an option should remember that the USA (supposedly anti-rail) has MANY places where this happens. This is Salem, Oregon, which sees 2 to 4 freights a day on this route. Hopefully I can catch some of this in real life either in December (New York City, Brooklyn) or next October (Florida, lots of locations!)

So who knows, we may one day see a 9F pulling a half mile long freight down the road somewhere in Somerset or Dorset!

more embedded stuff

Mystery location - any ideas?

The following was from Brian Clarke triggered by the earlier RAE post.

Many of New S&D Rly blog followers may appreciate some, or even all, of this information if you can find space to show it.

Farnborough Royal Aerospace Establishment (RAE) railway archive piccies at,

http://www.historicfarnborough.co.uk/raerailway.html

Unfortunately, this source wrecks good quality material by showing each to infuriatingly small size, when click on thumbnail for "tour". Using keyboard "ctrl+" to enlarge makes the pic go fuzzy. Thats stupid, we are not ruddy "tourists". We care more than that.

 Two of those pics stated to be from "Railway World" magazine, issue June 1968 which a lucky dip trawl in car boot sale or preservation society stall junk box stacks might turn up for a few pennies. These are directly reproduced with GM Kitchenside caption, here:

http://www.historicfarnborough.co.uk/1968raeclosure.html

One short bit of the old track may yet be in place if you know which spot of grassy roadside to poke at discreetly with probing boot. Maybe worth a mosey some time. This natter page says was still there (with pic of it on) Aug 2008:

http://farnborough.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=train&action=display&thread=1226

Also at above address, archive pic of Andrew Barclay loco "Lord Fisher" at work on Farnborough RAE line. This loco got preserved at Cranmore, was exhibited 1991 out front on public roadside at Bath Green Park Station This in support of artyfarty BS within train shed, curtained off area you paid money to get in, with bogus chuffing noises & puffs of "steam" emanating therefrom. Loco Name plate had moved from tank side to just above footplate, since the above archive pic taken.

 Copies of photos this 1991 event herewith

copyright Brian Clarke. P&J Barnfield were doing vintage camera stuff to add the period flavour. Peter is a very talented artist, examples his work enquire to Simon Castens, "The Titfield Thunderbolt" shop, you may like the humour,

http://titfield.co.uk/Barnfield/PB_main.htm

Other loco "Invincible" ( the one you excited about on blog), shown parked up on Isle of Wight in recent time which may interest some. In colour, one I think quite nice could help inspire model makers. Its red now but someone remembered was definitely painted green when at Farnborough.

A video of the last train on RAE Farnborough line is offered for five quid (customary disclaimer from bozo of course) at,

http://www.rae-apprentices.co.uk/mementos1.htm

 Video of "last steam" at RAE Farnborough also offered (disclaimer) for fifteen quid bundled with other stuff, no idea if its same footage or not, at,

http://www.video125.co.uk/acatalog/Classic_Railway_Newsreels_1___2.html

Most entertaining general natter (with "time waster" alert from me) on your favoured topic of "street running" railways includes enthusiasm for Farnborough RAE rly at,

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=41385&start=50

You can watch monochrome British Pathe News film (as video) of loco "Invincible" operating on Farnborough RAE rly, at,

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=44598

Beware this footage just might be the stuff hawked by vid vendors above, I really dunno.

Theres a Wikipedia entry that looked pants to me, however to be fair I only skimmed so may have missed a useful clickable link thats not prominent.

Farnborough airfield as a Heritage Location may be of interest to some, I not paused to check it out proper but one building shown (demolished since photo) looks suspiciously like seen in rly archive pic, make your own mind up on it at,

http://www.transportheritage.com/find-heritage-locations.html?sobi2Task=sobi2Details&sobi2Id=272

Various other sources checked on internet proved a bit rubbish however I only tried one search engine (google) so others might find more, a few less obvious ones proved the most rewarding.

My search also turned up stuff on Littlehampton Miniature Rly which at or near Farnborough but decided is "off topic" here. (Littlehampton Miniature Railway is at Littlehampton on the Sussex coast - my old stamping ground! It may show up in searches because of the Surrey Border and Camberley Railway which was near Franborough - the LMR took some SBCR engines - ed)

btw googy spiders were real quick crawling your posting on this, shows up already in search results !

Brian 19-6-11

something a little different

This is about as far removed from the S&D as possible. But I love this shot. It shows the railway that used to link Farnborough station in Hampshire with the RAE about a mile away. Much of the route ran through the streets. The line closed in 1967 or 1968. I remember reading an article on this route in an ancient Railway Magazine but there were no pictures. This is the first picture I've ever seen of the line and it's an absolute gem!

I'm very familar with street running from my many visits to Switzerland, and there are still many miles of street running in Switzerland with long and regular passenger trains.

Street running is likely to make a big comeback in the UK as rail expands, We've already seen the first small stretch at Porthmadog on the Welsh Highland Railway, and it has been suggested as a cheaper way of reconnecting Wadebridge with Padstow. Tramways are likely to spring up in all medium sized towns and cities, many which will have an element of freight transport as well. It's also likely to be used to connect factories and other industrial locations to the network without a passenger element - it is far cheaper than using a dedicated route. As the roads empty it will become a commonplace sight. It may even be used on parts of the S&D, who knows?

switzerland - ahead of the game as always ...

The Swiss have today just completed the tunneling for the world's longest tunnel. It's the 35 mile long Gotthard Base Tunnel, which avoids the steep bad weather-prone climbs up the ramps to the existing tunnel, which will no doubt be retained. This will more than double capacity on the route which links Switzerland to Italy. Of course it's a rail tunnel - Switzerland is trying to force ALL through freight traffic off the roads and onto the rails, and realise that to achieve this they need to invest in infrastructure. The line won't be open for another 6 years by which time capacity constraints will no doubt be creeping up again - but I'm sure the Swiss will deal with that problem when necessary.

This is the future. Notice that all long tunnels are rail tunnels - even the backward Brits realised that the Channel Tunnel needed to be rail rather than road!

before its time

Just a slight excursion away from the S&D today. The Weston Clevedon and Portishead Railway has had an excellent DVD made about it by 1st Take, who have produced such a brilliant S&D DVD recently.

I've friends at Wick St Lawrence and still haven't quite made out where the line crossed the road there, but coming into Bristol airport you get an excellent view of part of the route!

The DVD is excellent, being a potted history of this most enigmatic of lines and at 90 minutes is superb value for money. Whilst not as upbeat about eventual restoration of this route as it is about the S&D, personally I can see a restored and extended WCPR as an essential part of 21st century transport. It needs to run as a tramway through Weston (like in the original plans) and perhaps use street running in other places, but it would be an easy reinstatement in the future with no real engineering works except to bridge the river at Wick St Lawrence. Hopefully it could connect with the GWR branch at Portishead and continue right into the centre of Bristol via the Bristol Harbour Railway. It is this type of rural light railway that will become a backbone to our modern transport network in the future, connecting with the heavy network where it can.

The DVD is available from the website, as is the S&D one. Sorry if you tried to order the S&D one yesterday, our initial stock sold out in hours but new stock is on its way so you can order again now!

bloody know-alls!

Take a look at the picture above. It's a very nice atmosphere shot of the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway, in Wisbech. This is from the book 'The Wisbech and Upwell Tramway' by Chris Hawkins and George Reeve, published in 1982.

1982 was close to rail's lowest ebb in the UK. Even many rail enthusiasts fell for the con, others simply loved the 'romance' of closed lines and really believed that once closed a line would stay closed forever - regardless of the future of roads!

The interesting part of the above picture is the caption. Not sure if you can view it clearly in your browser, but the last line of text reads - Rails in the street are now largely unknown in this country and their like will never be seen again.
Hmmm. Just a few years later rails started appearing in the streets of Manchester, Sheffield, Wolverhampton, Nottingham and Croydon. And in a few months time not only will the streets of Porthmadog contain rails, but will see regular, daily STEAM trains running down 'em.

So when someone tells you 'The S&D will never reopen' remember the absolute certainty of the Wisbech and Upwell statement above. Not only will rails in the street become commonplace throughout the UK, of all guages, but many industrial concerns will run street lines connecting the factory to the network, most towns above 100,000 population will have street-based tramways, smaller towns and villages will have ultra-light rail, interurban street and roadside tracks will litter the countryside and the street railway will become more common than it ever was.

And, of course, the S&D will not only be fully restored but will probably have a dozen of more street-running tramways and light railways connecting to it, not to mention the industrial lines!

I even think the Wisbech and Upwell tramway will be restored!

radstock future?

These shots, courtesy of David Bailey, show the way that the new link line at Sheringham fits so snugly into the pre-existing environment. You would hardly know the railway was there, and note that it is unfenced! This is far more in keeping with continental European or tramway practice. In tandem with the tramway section through Porthmadog on the Welsh Highland Railway, it does show that the UK is beginning to catch up. This may well be a model for parts of the New S&D, I'm thinking of Radstock in particular. It may mean in a few places the trains are reduced to 5mph or so, but only over very short stretches. There again in Switzerland on some street running sections trains run at 20mph or so and can have as many as ten carriages!

back to barcelona

Some shots from Barcelona's very new tramway, the Trambaix. These are shots from the northern network of lines 4, 5 and 6. There is also an unconnected (and slightly less new) network to the south of the city which is also 3 routes. Interestingly both routes terminate on the same diagonal road that intersects the city but with about 2 miles between the routes. No doubt the network will expand enormously in the future and the lines will link up. It would be great to see modern trams rather than buses running along La Rambla and the waterside.

Britain's lagging years behind continental Europe on the installation of modern, sustainable transport systems, but we won't always be so backwards! I suspect that as time goes by the distinction between tram and train will continue to blur and that the New S&D will meet tramways at many points on our route, and trams may even work over some sections of our network. Alternatively we may need to run rails in the streets where building work has blocked our line and the alternatives are too expensive to justify, which will mean running heavy passenger and freight trains through the streets, as in Switzerland and the USA. Who knows?

majorca : 3

The only (currently) working tramway on Majorca is the 4km line from Soller to Port de Soller. This is a very busy line and two or three trams (all pulling up to 3 trailers) work each service.

The line starts by Soller railway station (the oldest railway building in the world!), runs across the town square brushing the restaurant tables, does a bit of street running, then cuts through the town past back gardens before joining the roadside just outside the port for the final stretch right alongside the sea.

The trams are packed even out of season. There is no way a bus would carry similar loads or have a tenth of the appeal. And all worked by electricity and mainly off the road. The trams are ancient but in very good shape. This is real sustainable transport and at €4 per single journey no doubt very profitable!

Trams are due to make a comeback in Palma very soon - more tomorrow.

swiss inspirations

Why do we sometimes worry that sections of the S&D have roads currently running on them? It wouldn't worry the Swiss - they'd simply run the trains down the middle, as here in Aigle. This line sees two trains an hour, one of which runs against the one way traffic flow. The Swiss have their priorities right! As car traffic falls and rail traffic rises this scene will become more common everywhere. In other parts of Switzerland ten coach loco-hauled trains regularly operate along roads.


This section of track is now disused, but this is because a new line has been built alongside the SBB main line which joins the original route a mile or so further south. This was the old AOMC line.


This is the brand new narrow gauge station at Aigle, where 3 metre gauge lines run up the mountains, serving many villages and towns. All three lines have an hourly interval service throughout the day. This was a major investment by a small company. The Swiss invest seriously in their railways, an example we should follow ASAP in the UK. These narrow gauge feeder routes are very successful, keeping many rural people connected to the outside world. All narrow gauge trains connect with main line services, making it very convenient to travel round Switzerland without ever needing a car. This is the future! And all powered by renewable electricity ....


Another view of the superb new Aigle station with AL (Aigle-Leysin) and ASD (Aigle-Sepey-Diablerets) trains waiting in the station. Aigle is smaller than Midsomer Norton but boasts a 14 platform station! It also has three or four other stations on the narrow gauge routes. Britain should hang its head in shame at the appalling provision of railways that we currently have to endure.

the impossible comes to life ...

This was the scene at Rhyd Dhu on the Welsh Highland Railway back in 2005. This was the end of the line then, but now it has been built back to Porthmadog, giving 40 miles of narrow gauge railway. There were many who said it would never happen.

Now the line is complete and even includes a section of street running in Porthmadog. Below is a video of the first train to use this section for 70 years.

Nothing is impossible.

blandford track

(All 18.2.2009)

Although the short length of (unoriginal) track in Blandford was no surprise, the two sections of original good sidings still set in the tarmac were!

These act as a reminder that in the last resort track can be run down the road if a new road is blocking the route and there is no practical alternative.

This is already being applied on the Welsh Highland Railway across Britannia Bridge and has been considered for the Bodmin Railway's extension to Wadebridge and Padstow. As well as being a cheap option it also creates some excellent and powerful iconic locations - and road traffic will hardly be a problem in the future!