There have always been two main strands to what the New S&D is about. We have some members who are very interested in the original line plus the heritage groups currently restoring parts of the route. Other members have a keen interest in building a brand new route between Bath/Bristol and Bournemouth/Brockenhurst with barely a nod at its historic value. Some members have an equal interest in both aspects.
At the end of the day the New S&D is a supporters group that intends to both restore the railway and record it through history, past, present and, of course, future.
The New S&D will therefore develop to embrace both these aspects. In 2010 we'll be starting our limited company to purchase track and rebuild the route. The New S&D will always own at least 51% of this company.
The other direction in which we will develop is as a group determined to record all aspects of the S&D, preserving ephemera, historical records, photos, films and oral history as well as physically recreating sections of the route.
As a New S&D member you'll be able to throw your energy into both or either of these options. Personally I believe the synergy between these two aspects of what we're about will make us a unique and powerful force in Britain's second Railway Age. I can't wait!
1 comment:
Looking at the historical is fine, but I'm looking at this as a route to get me to work in the future.
You can't help but see all the press cuttings about the reopening of many various railway lines axed under beeching - more every month, every month. The S&D will come to the fore at some point in the next 25 years simply because its economically sound - climate/peak oil arguments aside. There is simply no other route to Bournemouth that cuts the same way.
Most of the trackbed is preserved - we need to start lobbying officals now, and keep on doing so until its impossible not to hear us. Its simple economics that will make this once great railway come to life in the future, not a few people at MN tinkering at playing trains.
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