As an increasingly visible part of the community in Midsomer Norton we're very aware that we have a responsibility to make the place look as nice as possible. This is work last year on the astronomical garden, very visible from Silver Street. This work is now taking place again, putting in bedding plants for a blaze of colour.
Soon the up platform will be resurfaced and will show off the signalbox to perfection. Once the greenhouse is rebuilt the whole site will almost be back to 1950s condition, a real asset for the town and the railway heritage community. Railway enthusiasts who have kept the memory of the line alive throughout the closure years deserve nothing but the best - the new S&D will lovingly recreate the old and consistently reflect the line in its heyday, the 1950s.
In a few years time track will once again grace this attractive unofficial footpath. We've worked closely with local people to ensure that where footpaths, even unofficial ones, have come into use along the trackbed that we put in a new right of way as close as possible to the original. We want people to enjoy the magnificent countryside that the S&D runs through on foot, bike and eventually by train. We also value the wildlife and wild flowers along the route, they are as much part of the scene as steam trains will be in the future. Our aim is to tread as lightly as possible on the land.
But our biggest responsibility is to future generations who will have to live in a rather harsher (if warmer!) world than us. Once road traffic vanishes the S&D, and many other lines throughout the country, will become essential traffic arteries, keeping the economy going (if no longer growing!) and protecting the environment by using sustainable fuel (wood and solar/wind/water generated electricity).
