They are springing up all over, rail restoration schemes. The following is from Keith Browning, and concerns a line that fascinated me as a child. I did get to see it just after closure, when the track was still down but before I had a camera, in 1970. I did get to photograph the LMR platform at Liss (top picture) in 1977, and I remember the same location in 1971 (again pre-camera) when there were steam locos stored for a sadly unfulfilled restoration scheme which would have seen regular steam trains again on at least part of the route. The scheme - incredibly - was killed off by residents who, quite wrongly, thought that the project would lower their house prices!
Of course no such nonsense will affect the new scheme ...
[T]here is soon to be a public meeting to discuss the possible reinstatement of the Bordon to Liss section of the Longmoor Military railway, with the intention of making it part of the main rail network. Bordon is a village designated for expansion, using much of the old army land, and so using the old trackbed is seen as a cost effective way of improving the transport infrastructure. The local roads are currently single carriageway and the terrain doesn't lead itself to dual carriageways.
The other section of this route, which once 'linked' the Portsmouth to London and Alton to London routes, has also been slated for possible rebuilding, the Bentley to Bordon section. Perhaps the whole line should be restored to allow not only access to the south but also to the north, as well as establishing an excellent diversionary and freight route.
2 comments:
Let's hope that the residents who formerly opposed the railway - and indeed succeeded in closing it down - aren't still about...
I suspect that forty years on they are all in their dotage, deceased or regretting the fact that being too old to drive cars they miss the trains!
Post a Comment