Welcome to the 'New Somerset and Dorset Railway'

The original Somerset and Dorset Railway closed very controversially in 1966. It is time that decision, made in a very different world, was reversed. We now have many councillors, MPs, businesses and individuals living along the line supporting us. Even the Ministry of Transport supports our general aim. The New S&D was formed in 2009 with the aim of rebuilding as much of the route as possible, at the very least the main line from Bath (Britain's only World Heritage City) to Bournemouth (our premier seaside resort); as well as the branches to Wells, Glastonbury and Wimborne. We will achieve this through a mix of lobbying, trackbed purchase and restoration of sections of the route as they become economically viable. With Climate Change, road congestion, capacity constraints on the railways and now Peak Oil firmly on the agenda we are pushing against an open door. We already own Midford just south of Bath, and are restoring Spetisbury under license from DCC, but this is just the start. There are other established groups restoring stations and line at Midsomer Norton and Shillingstone, and the fabulous narrow gauge line near Templevcombe, the Gartell Railway.

There are now FIVE sites being actively restored on the S&D and this blog will follow what goes on at all of them!
Midford - Midsomer Norton - Gartell - Shillingstone - Spetisbury


Our Aim:

Our aim is to use a mix of lobbying, strategic track-bed purchase, fundraising and encouragement and support of groups already preserving sections of the route, as well as working with local and national government, local people, countryside groups and railway enthusiasts (of all types!) To restore sections of the route as they become viable.
Whilst the New S&D will primarily be a modern passenger and freight railway offering state of the art trains and services, we will also restore the infrastructure to the highest standards and encourage steam working and steam specials over all sections of the route, as well as work very closely with existing heritage lines established on the route.

This blog contains my personal views. Anything said here does not necessarily represent the aims or views of any of the groups currently restoring, preserving or operating trains over the Somerset and Dorset Railway!

Friday, April 22, 2011

ladies' toilets ...



(All pics 21.4.2011 © Tom Seale)

It looked like a great evening up at Midford when these shots were taken! Hay fever's still keeping me laid low but hopefully I'll be able to get up there again myself soon.

Been rather busy on Sundays recently so we decided to head down yesterday evening. Spent most of our time in the ladies loos (in the station not the pub!), quite a bit of the floor in this room appears to be missing, we were relieved when eventually we uncovered some of the tiled floor that I had read about. We also uncovered: 2 toothbrushes, 1 doorframe, 1 Hope and Anchor sign, 1 beer barrel (or steel hoops of), 1 toad, 1 slow worm, a watering can, glass and multiple crisp packets and drinks containers. Clearly this has been used as a local refuse site for some time, hopefully though once cleared it will discourage any further tipping.



The weeds are starting to grow fairly rapidly, and the leaves are back on the trees. As it's now the bird nesting season we'll resist the temptation to fell any trees for a bit, there's plently to do at the station anyway.


Please find attached before and after pictures, plus some of the missing floor and tiles, at the last moment we also discovered a large drain, presumably from one of the toilets.

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