(Photo copyright John Penny
GLR)
Shillingstone (copyright
NDRT)
The various S&D revival groups have now been around for about 25 years, the New S&D will be 8 years old in March. On the ground the line has certainly made its presence felt, especially at
Midsomer Norton and
Shillingstone. The
Gartell continues to run about once a month and has recently extended towards Templecombe.
Spetisbury and
Midford are cleared and closer to becoming stations again. Two steam locos reside at Shillingstone, one at Midsomer Norton. The S&D is back - but it still has a very long way to go!
Midsomer Norton has extended southwards towards
Chilcompton. Although just under a mile in length it has needed to negotiate with FIVE separate landowners! It is almost as if when the line closed the powers-that-be thought it would be permanent, selling off small parcels of land rather than keeping the trackbed in public ownership. What were they thinking?
Shillingstone has made amazing progress over the last few years. laying track through the station area and a short way north and south. Two steam locos are being restored on site. The signalbox has been rebuilt, just like the one at Midsomer Norton was. They have the advantage of only having to deal with one landowner!
The Gartell Railway is narrow gauge but makes a huge effort at capturing the S&D atmosphere. With its recent extension towards Templecombe now open it uses about a mile of original S&D trackbed.
Spetisbury is being restored gradually, it will in time become a stop on the S&D phase two route from Blandford to Poole. This mainly local initiative ensures that in the future the village will be served by trains, rather than have them rush through without stopping.
At Mdiford work parties recommenced in 2016 and were larger than ever. It's always a great place to work, the location is superb and there's an excellent pub a minute's walk away. Hopefully work to rebuild the buildings will start in the not too distant future. Midford station, and the 400 metres of trackbed towards Bath, is currently the only stretch of the line that is owned by one of the S&D groups.
Over the next twenty years energy supplies will face a huge crunch. This is of course the reason why we are doing this, but as well as the opportunities this situation presents there are real dangers. Energy shortages will make everything more difficult, more of an effort. It'll be harder to get to the sites and harder to do the work needed, a lot will need to revert to hand (although a few years ago that was exactly how we laid track at Midsomer Norton!) On the plus side the urgency of getting the railway back will become clear to everyone and we should receive a huge boost in both support at local and regional level, and from volunteers desperate to hang on to a link with the outside world. This may well mean big companies, swollen with government funds, will take over the rebuilding of the S&D, and many other lines. That's why it's so important for us to be doing the groundwork now, so we get the S&D we want! The more line we restore now the easier it will be to leverage rebuilding in the style we want.
Everyone with an interest in the S&D really should be getting deeply involved with this restoration. It's great fun, the S&D community is growing and diverse and what could be better than spending an hour or two down on the line helping it return?
