Cleared platform.
Looking towards Long Arch Bridge.
Classic fencing starts to reappear - and makes the narrow road safer.
Midford main mover Stuart Seale chats to New S&D Press and Publicity Officer Kevin Gover.
Had a nice (and rare) trip to Midford on Wednesday to meet with our new Press and Publicity Officer Kevin Gover and get a chance to catch up with progress on the site.
Stuart kindly showed Kevin around the site and I did some radio stuff for the Masbury Appeal.
Interestingly Kevin walked from Freshford to Midford and I may well try to reach Midford by train and foot in future, rather than use the slow and rather ridiculous car. It's about a two mile walk in each direction.
Television is also taking an interest in developments at Masbury so expect to have it rammed down your throats (in the nicest possible way!) over the summer months!
Midford is looking great and the litter problems we suffered from anti-social visitors after the Two Tunnels route opened seem to have calmed down somewhat. New fencing has appeared along the top of Long Arch Bridge, together with some new safety bollards, much improving this part of the site.
Remember if you would like to help in restoring Midford to its former glory please contact me via leysiner@aol.com and I will put you in touch with Stuart.
5 comments:
I'm rather bemused by the picture captioned "cleared platform", given the amount of fresh weeds and overgrowth which are clearly visible.
I walked thru' the station two weeks and was very surprised by the extent to which 'nature' appeared to be taking back all the area which was cleared so well earlier in the year. I realise that it is not an easy task to "keep on top of", but the initial impression was that it had been 'let go', which seemed such a shame.
I assume that it is probably outside your area of ownership/control, but the area of path on the viaduct itself was particullarky bad. Much vegitation running wild along the side and the fencing on the parapets was broken in several places and looking extremely tatty.
You should have seen the site before we took it over - platform is very clear compared to early days, it was covered in piles of mud, trees growing up, grass and weeds everywhere. What we've done is get it back down to bare concrete. This is the worst time of year for weed and plant growth and it's almost impossible for the small team to keep up with it working every second Sunday. It gets easier after August. I must dig out some early pics when we started clearing the site. As for the viaduct this is nothing to do with us but it does underline that this is the time of year when the weeds really take hold!
I agree that it is much better than it was. The initial clearance was a vast improvement and all credit to those involved. It is simply the case that, as time goes on, I had expected to see further improvements on each visit, so I was surprised to find that it seemed to have 'gone backwards' this month.
Are there any plans to install any information boards about the railway (both 'old' and 'new') at the station any time soon? With the increasing amount of foot and cyle traffic passing by, it seems a shame that there is nothing to tell them what it is that they can now see.
Unfortunately all information we put up vanishes usually within 24 hours. Whether this is radical cyclists or retarded teenagers I don't know! A recent sign has stayed up for longer. I think we need a permanent vandal-proof sign to give information but I suspect it will be pretty expemsive!
The biggest issue with Midford is that the normal team is just two people. We're not quite bsure why this is (Spetisbury averages 6-8) but it has been suggested that the two previous restoration attempts have rather queered our pitch (though we have NO connection with either of them) or it may simply be that railway-minded people in the area find that the Avon Valley or Midsomer Norton set-ups offer far more opportunities.
If you are making regular visits to the station why not join one of the working parties each month?
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