Remember all those 'Then and Now' books, showing scenes from the past and scenes from the present, showing the decline of the railway network? They always used to depress me because they were so defeatist.
Well at last the tables are turning as more and more lines and stations open and we're beginning to see books that more accurately reflect the 21st century rather than continue the misery of the 20th!
Just got this today and it's heartening to see just how many new stations have opened in the last thirty years. And even more heartening to see Templecombe on the front cover!
8 comments:
You would think that the low lifes who instigated this massive road lobby / marples-ridgeway / oil baron and friends stitchup would be dead by now, but they continue to raise and poison a new generation of politicians, accountants, consultants and anti rail red tape generating scumbags
yes, but for every one reopened steve, how many more are closed?
how many more freight contracts are lost to road?
how many more goods only branches are closed, lifted and b@ggered up by government quango sustrans?
how many more bridges are demolished, embankments bulldozed, cuttings filled in?
how many double tracks are singled?
how many goods loops, refuge sidings and general sidings are lifted, fenced off and built on or conveniently obstructed by a new signal, gas main or building?
how many stations are demolished and replaced by overhead shopping malls or bus shelters?
how many operational structures are left to sprout buddleia from their brickwork and decking?
how many sites' track layouts are conveniently rationalised during, remodelling, resignalling or electrification?
how many lines are raised, or slewed over blocking old formations?
nick
(I accidentally deleted Nick's comment rather than posted it, so I've cut and pasted it and put on via my account)
Nick
Well there hasn't been a significant rail closure in the UK since 1985 whereas many many miles of lines have been reopened (for passengers mainly).
Freight on rail is booming.
There have been some goods route closures but these generally served just one location, in many cases they could have continued to carry passengers and developed other freight flows.
Several lines have been redoubled, I don't think any have been singled recently.
The rest of your points are really slanted towards the original Beeching closures. I don't think even the most pro-rail person would have, in the 60s when oil was cheap and plentiful, been able to make a case to protect every bit of rail infrastructure, much of which was thought to have no future - ever.
They were wrong. The railways are now at their busiest for generations, new lines and stations are opening everywhere, more trains are being slotted in, in many cases straining existing routes' capacity and the days of road builidng are over for good.
What's not to celebrate?
in 2009 i returned for a short stint on the North London Line and it was busier than ever. in 1998 there were three passenger trains an hour, plus freight. By 2009 the passenger trains were four an hour (each way) with six during the peak. i left in January 2011 when the boxes closed and the line had been re-signalled for control by Upminster for even more services. the freight is still there, with lots of freightliners from Eastern ports going North. soon those freights will avoid the NLL when crosscountry routes are cleared for higher gauge freightliners and no doubt even more boxes will travel by rail. when i returned to Slough IECC there was even more traffic. the railways are full, yet there is more demand.
the Swiss are building a massive tunnel under the Alps for all the transit traffic. they don't want it on their roads anymore.
China has recently built more rail miles the we ever had!
Rail isn't just for the future, it is the future
This is indeed an uplifting book and is now on my wish list. However, the Government needs to do so much more to make the re-opening of railway lines easier. Even in ‘no brainer’ cases such as the Swanage branch it will be over 40 years after closure that it finally re-opens in full. Crazy. Also, many local authorities have realised far too late the importance of protecting disused lines from piecemeal redevelopment.
If you look carefully at the track diagram in Templecombe SB you can still see traces of the old S&D tracks on it.
This week the trains have been absolutely full to bursting with people going to Glastonbury. That's even with FGW putting on extra trains to Castle Cary and lengthing the Weymouth trains to 4 coaches. Re-open the line to Pilton, and you can make a packet! It will be a good earner for the revived S&D.
Well the S&D route runs right through the site so it certainly should become an S&D prime location with a platform - but bear in mind that it is only once a year with one flow in and one out. The bread and butter daily freight and passenger traffic will be more important and there's certainly a strong case for the city of Wells and the large town of Glastonbury to be reconnected to the network sooner rather than later!
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