AGM

This time last week I was on my way to chair the New S&D AGM, down at Hurn near Bournemouth. We always alternate AGMs from one end of the line to the other, to make it easier for members to attend at least every two years.

The location was excellent, the old Hurn station, which has an industrial loco and old carriage as an extension to the pub, now the Avon Causeway Hotel.

The meeting went very well with almost 10% of the paid up members present.

The three main issues raised were all passed unanimously.

The first was the need to raise membership fees. Membership fees were originally set way back in 2009 when the New S&D was really just an idea. You didn't get a lot for membership, just the occasional A4 home printed newsletter! Now we have insurances to pay on both sites, the mortgage payment on Midford and two printed magazines a year. The original membership fee of £5 was nowhere near enough to cover this, so general funds were subsidising membership. We worked out that with the current membership level we would need a charge of around £15 to cover these basics, but of course we were also aware that this is a 200% increase. However the average rail restoration group charges around £15 so in a way our members have been getting a bargain for a while now!

To ease the transition to the new rate the meeting decided the following -

Date of the change will be 1 January 2014.

Existing members will be given the one off option of buying a THREE YEAR membership at the new rate ie £15 for three years (£5 per year).

The junior and family rates will also rise at the same rate, with the same three year concession for existing members. Life membership will remain the same.

Members paying by standing order will get an additional 10% reduction.

All members will be receiving a 3 year membership option form plus a standing order form with the new edition of Right Lines and these will be sent out over the next 1-3 weeks.

The second major decision was to apply for charity status for the New S&D. This matter has been brought up regularly at previous meetings but the meeting agreed that now was definitely the time to proceed with this. A team consisting of Anna-Jayne Metcalfe, Ken Vater and Geoff Newman aew auctioning this. We are seeking members to become trustees if interested!

The final major decision was that the MIDFORD APPEAL will be launched in early 2014. The basic aim will to be raise the money to rebuild the station building and oil store. A rough estimate of £30,000 was suggested, this figure will harden up once we've done proper estimates of the costs involved. This will give Midford and the New S&D a much higher profile, give us a proper office (and address!), a sales point and an information point covering the history of the station and line plus comprehensive details of the whole line restoration. It should also convince people that this restoration, the third, will be the one that succeeds! We have felt for some time that there has been a credibility problem at Midford because of the two previous restoration attempts, despite those being just small projects for Midford alone, rather than as part of a much larger project. I'm sure that a fully restored station building with the facilities listed above will finally lay that ghost to rest!

All in all the meeting was great fun (and I hate meetings) and I feel that we have now stepped up a league with a proper membership fee structure, charity status and our first real base on the line soon to be a reality.

ten billion more for railways?

Thanks  to Anna-Jayne Metcalfe for this. It underlines both the hidden costs of motoring and the fact that there's another ten billion quid out there for transport - in other words RAILWAYS! There's no point wasting this on trying to keep the road network going - it's dying and we should just let it die ... ten billion would open about 500 miles of new railways, that can last into the distant future. 

 

Report claims 11-year pothole backlog

England is facing an 11-year backlog of potholes which will cost £10billion to repair following funding cuts, a survey has found.

England is facing an 11-year backlog of potholes, a report claims Photo: ALAMY

By David Millward, Transport Editor

7:00AM GMT 15 Mar 2012

17 Comments

Two thirds of local authorities said they were are unable to carry out necessary repairs to bring roads back to the condition they were in at the start of last winter.

This has left a fifth per cent of the country’s roads in need or urgent repair within the next five years, which will cost an estimated £10 billion.

The repairs have been hampered by cuts to local authority budgets which have left councils in England and Wales with an £800million funding gap.

The Asphalt Industry Alliance, which conducted the survey, said the additional Government funding of £200 million to help councils, although welcome, "has proven woefully inadequate".

Earlier this week all-party Public Accounts Committee warned that cuts to the highway maintenance budget could end up costing the taxpayer more as roads deteriorate.

It estimated that the Highways Agency alone, which is responsible for only 10 per cent of the roads network, had to pay £2.5 million compensation in a year for vehicle damage and personal injuries.

According to the Alliance, which represents companies who repair and resurface roads, said councils filled in 1.7million potholes last year.

The alliance estimated that the cold winter of 2010-11 caused £600 million damage to the country’s roads.

Edmund King, the President of the AA, said: "Our members are very concerned at this pothole plague. This deterioration [is happening] is despite councils working hard to keep pace to reduce the backlog using the extra cash allocated by the Department for Transport.

“The survey once again shows that potholes blight our roads and are as much about lack of investment in proper road repairs as they are about bad winters and heavy traffic.

“We need a new approach to stop this vicious circle of decline which causes danger to all road users, particularly those on two wheels, and expensive damage to vehicles.”

Peter Box, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Economy ad Transport Board, accused the Coalition of failing to provide enough money to tackle the problem.

“Councils are currently stuck in the position of chasing their tails, repeatedly patching up a deteriorating network rather then fixing it properly,” he said.

“What is needed from central government is a serious commitment to funding an upgrade of the entire road network. This will save billions of pounds in the long term and make roads safer for motorists.”

Norman Baker, the local transport minister, defended the Government’s record.

“I recognise there is an ongoing need for highways maintenance that can’t be fixed overnight,,” he said.

“However we are providing £3 billion to councils for road maintenance between 2011 and 2015 which is more in cash terms than the previous 4 years - as well as investing £6m for longer term strategies. We also gave them generous windfall handouts last year following the severe winter which caused major problems.”

good news!

The New S&D has no plans to stand still and with Midford not far from reaching the stage where we can start rebuilding the station, it's time for Dorset to share in the great rail revival that is sweeping across Somerset and Dorset. We expect Spetisbury to be in our hands very soon!

The following is a report from Dean Cockwell, who has been co-ordinating the Spetisbury effort. This is from 8 December, 2011.

Well, we had our meeting with Richard from the council and Giles the ranger. Anna-Jayne, Mike Hall, Chris and Kevin Brettell were there with me. And it was good to put names to faces, and I would like to thank all of you again for coming. It was a bit breezy, and we did have a short shower, but it takes more than that to put us off.

It went very well and some good points came out of it.

Firstly they are very keen that we wanted to clear the platforms, for one thing it reduces Giles' workload as he wont have to keep going there and cutting back the tall bushes that sprout across the trailway. and they don't have any objections for buildings to be built in keeping with the original design. They don't see a problem with the idea of us using them as an information centre with a light snacks kiosk.

What they have mentioned is public liability insurance. Is that something that you have in place at Midford, and could it be extended to include Spetisbury?

Richard is going to see if he can locate plans of the buildings, but if he cant find them he has suggested that I ask at the historical information centre based in Dorchester. Giles has suggested that I speak to the conservation guy within the council, who may be able to guide/ help us with conserving the natural heritage of Spetisbury.

It was also suggested that a meeting with the local parish council would be advantageous, to give them a 'heads up' of our plans for the future or the station site. They also warned us that we might get opposition to us clearing the platforms, especially on the village side, due to the elevated position of the station in relation with the houses, which would be overlooked.

One suggestion that was talked about after Richard and Giles left, was that we could erect some sort of fencing to replace the trees and bushes that provided privacy to the house owners. The result would be that you would be able to see across the Stour valley, just as you could before, but you would not be able to see down into the properties directly below the station.

Richard thinks that we may be offered some form of lease agreement, but was not sure at the time of the meeting.

They talked about planning permission, but as Anna stated, that until we have cleared the platforms and found what we had to work with, it would be difficult to put in an accurate set of detailed plans for planning permission.

It was also mentioned that parking has to be considered, especially as there is no adjacent parking facilities. We also have to think about the potential numbers of people that might visit the area and what impact that would have on the area, especially vehicles which is going to be a difficult one because of the parking issue. There is street parking, but this is along the main A350 road, and could be non existent at certain times of the day, so this is going to need a bit of thinking about. They did mention the local school, but I would have to investigate that avenue before we could offer it within our plans.

Oh! Nearly forgot, Kevin Brettell had brought a spade with him and did some small exploratory work and found that possibly we may have no platform surface apart from the few slabs that are viewable along the edge of the up platform. Looking at the photos, there does not seem to be any stone slabs on the down platform, but until we get started on clearing them, its difficult to say with any certainty.

get together

The New S&D was invited to the regular joint meeting of S&D groups on Sunday. I went along with our secretary, Anna-Jayne Metcalfe. It also gave me a chance to see developments at Midsomer Norton first hand. You'll have seen some of this over the last few days on this blog!

The meeting was most interesting and showed us all that there are plenty of opportunities to work together. There were representatives from the New S&D, SDRHT (Midsomer Norton), NDRT (Shillingstone) and SDRT (Washford). It was agreed to invite the New S&D to all future meetings, also Gartell will be invited to the next one, which will bring all the S&D groups together in one place or the first time. We do of course all have the same aim - to preserve and develop the S&D. We are slightly different in that the heritage aspect is only part of what we do, but a VERY important part!

It was good to meet up with old friends again! There are a lot of passionate S&D people out there and together I reckon there's nothing we can't achieve!

next stop spetisbury

The plan of the bit we'll take on. The station is in the top LH corner, the trackbed extends to the bottom RH.




Have just heard this afternoon that DCC are very keen for us to restore Spetisbury! Like at Midford our plan will be to rebuild the station to early 50s condition and to have an information point, shop and office in the main building. We have a lot of members at the southern end of our line so hopefully they'll be able to keep pace with the Midford team! But the one different thing at Spetisbury is that there is plenty of room for track - in fact the plan suggests that double track could be restored on this stretch as there is a lot of room either side of the cycleway.

This station is on the absolutely strategic section to the south of Blandford, the largest town in Dorset currently not rail served.

Thanks to Paul Beard for starting the process and Anna-Jayne Metcalfe for doing the recent legwork on this - both S&D heroes!

as the decade turns ...

As 2010 turns into 2011 and the new decade begins I would like to thank everyone who has been so supportive this year, particularly Anna-Jayne Metcalfe, Tom and Stuart Seale, David Bailey, Mick Knox and many, many others. This next decade is going to be a huge one for the S&D, both at the established S&D sites (Shillingstone, Gartell, Washford, Midsomer Norton and Midford) and new locations which will spring up as the decade progresses.

And a particularly big thank you to all those doubters who have embraced the S&D revival over the last year or two, who often become the biggest supporters and advocates of what we are doing! I'm sure there will be many, many more who will come over to us in the next ten years!

A very happy and prosperous New Year to all of you.

power ...

Heidelberger Strassenbahnen: Eine Dokumentation uber die Heidelberger Strassen- und Bergbahn AG = Tramways of Heidelberg (Germany) (Archiv) (German Edition)
Tramway and Light Railway Atlas 1996: Germany - Tramway, U-Bahn, S-Bahn, Trolleybus
Schwandl's Tram Atlas Deutschland: Detailed Maps of All German Tram, Light Rail and Underground Networks (English and German Edition)

 

The Parry People Mover uses a flywheel to store energy with no overhead wires or conductor rail needed.


Modern trams use lightweight catenary.


Classic Southern Region conductor rail - cheap but dangerous!


Heavier style main line catenary - here used on a roadside line in Switzerland.

Anna-Jayne has just found this article which could provide the ideal power system for the New S&D - buried electric supply meaning that the system is totally safe (unlike conductor rails), cheap (no expensive masts) and aestetically pleasing (no external presence). This gets easier as each week passes!

Bombardier to test wireless trams in Augsburg

26 May 2010
GERMANY: The Primove induction-based catenary-free electrification system developed by Bombardier Transportation is to be piloted on the tram network in Augsburg, the manufacturer announced on May 26.

Formally unveiled at Bombardier's Bautzen factory in January 2009, Primove uses cable buried beneath the track to produce a magnetic fields which induces electric current for traction power in pick-up coils mounted underneath the vehicle.

It will be installed on a 0·8 km branch from Augsburg Line 3 which serves the city's exhibition centre. This will enable Bombardier to demonstrate the technical capabilities and electromagnetic compatibility of Primove, which is a potential competitor for Alstom's APS ground-level power supply in locations where overhead electrification is considered undesirable.

'Our expectation for the Primove pilot project is to gain further insights into new developments in energy management and energy savings in tramway operations', said Stadtwerke Augsburg Verkehrs Managing Director Norbert Walter. 'We will also co-operate with the Augsburg University of Applied Sciences'.

Bombardier is currently supplying Augsburg with 27 Flexity Outlook trams. The first arrived last year and deliveries will run to the end of this year.

Source

views from bournemouth west

If you happen to live in the Bournemouth West constituency and haven't decided who to vote for yet, Anna-Jayne Metcalfe has asked the candidates a few questions on the most important issue.

Alasdair Murray [alasdair@alasdairmurray.net] (LD)

"We will implement the largest expansion of the rail network since the Victorian era and undo many of the cuts made by Beeching as well as support the roll out of high speed rail links. This will be paid for by cutting funding from the major roads budget, much of which is used for motorway widening and hard shoulder running projects, and redirecting it into rail."

Question: Can you confirm whether the LD rail re-openings commitment includes the reopening of the lines from Bournemouth to Bath and Ringwood to Brockenhurst?

"I know we are committed to the Ringwood line but I would need to check on the Bath link (i would say it is fairly likely though)."


Conor Burns [conor@localconservatives.com] (Con)

"On high speed rail, we have one of the most comprehensive policies of all the major parties and will begin work immediately on a high speed rail line connecting London and Heathrow with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, with construction beginning in 2015, as the first step towards our vision of a national network joining up cities across England, Scotland and Wales. Stage two will deliver two new lines bringing the North East, Scotland and Wales into our high speed rail network. In addition we will support crossrail and the electrification of the Great Western line to South Wales and introduce a moratorium on building on disused rail lines."


Question: I would ask whether you will support re-opening secondary routes such as the direct line from Bournemouth to Bath?

No answer to that one yet.


No response whatsoever from Labour or UKIP.

achieving the 'impossible'

(All text and images by Anna-Jayne Metcalfe)

A couple of weeks ago I was privileged to be on the first mainline tour to visit the Weardale Railway since its recent reconnection to the national network at Bishop Auckland in County Durham.

The 25 mile Bishop Auckland - Wearhead branch was originally built by the Stockton & Darlington Railway (the other S&D!) in the mid-19th century, primarily to service the many quarries concentrated around Frosterley and Stanhope. With Bishop Auckland rapidly becoming a hub where lines from Weardale, Durham, Darlington, Ferryhill and even Penrith converged there was no shortage of opportunities to convey stone and other freight between the dale and anywhere it was needed. At one point it was even planned to extend the branch to Carlisle, but that plan never came to fruition.



When passenger services ceased in 1953 the line became freight only.

Unfortunately the railways in the Bishop Auckland area fared rather badly in the 1960s - by 1968 virtually all of the lines converging on the town (one of them a major ECML diversionary route) had closed.

However, the opening of a large cement works at Eastgate in 1964 ensured that the majority of the Weardale branch itself would survive the Beeching Axe - and in fact the cement trains continued to run until 1993. When they ceased, the remaining 18 miles of the branch were mothballed.

Thereafter, all that remained of the once busy railway hub at Bishop Auckland was a two hourly passenger service to Darlington and Saltburn (a service which ironically almost certainly only survived itself because of the cement traffic which had shared the Bishop Auckland - Darlington section).



Although for once tracklifting did not take place, few would have held much hope of the Weardale branch ever returning to use. The line had been economic to run only because of heavy freight, so with that gone what use could there be for 18 miles of single track branch line through some of the most inhospitable and underpopulated terrain in the country?

Despite this, when the line was mothballed an embryonic (but high profile - its patrons even included Pete Waterman) company was formed with the intention of rescuing and reopening it. Although they got some way (restarting services on the 6 mile stretch between Stanhope and Wolsingham), a combination of low revenue and high operating costs led to the company going into administration in January 2005.

Since then there have been two more owners - and fortunately the current owner (British American Railway Services, which also owns the Dartmoor Railway, track maintenance company RMS Locotec and traction spot-hire company D&CR) seems to be making a good go of it.

Although they are currently still running only a limited service on the same short section of the line, a vegetation clearing push in late 2008 allowed WR rolling stock to reach Bishop Auckland for the first time. By Autumn 2009 another milestone was passed when Network Rail reconnected the branch to the national network, enabling planning for its long term future to then get well and truly underway.

Of course it wasn't long before the announcement of the first mainline tour to travel up the branch...which brings me back to 19th February 2010, when I was among the lucky few to board the 07:07 departure from London Kings Cross to Stanhope.





The 12 coach train was sold out, and once we reached Bishop Auckland we found that at virtually every crossing on the route local people had turned out to wave to us. It was quite fantastic to see how glad people were to see the line running again, and I can't help thinking of the parallels with the feedback we've been getting from local people about the Somerset & Dorset.





A second tour followed a week later, and there are now several more in the pipeline. The WR are quite astutely using these tours as a way to raise awareness of the Weardale Railway and its potential both as a tourist destination in its own right and to serve the people and economy of Weardale.

So, having overcome one set of insurmountable obstacles, what are the WR planning to do next?

Well, they are certainly not resting on their laurels. By this summer they intend to start passenger services from Stanhope and Wolsingham to Shildon (which entails building a new WR station at Bishop Auckland and sharing NR metals from Bishop to Shildon itself). That will give them a direct service to/from the National Railway Museum at Shildon, hence raising their profile to visitors to the NRM who probably wouldn't otherwise think to take the Northern Rail service to Bishop Auckland itself.

If that isn't enough, plans are afoot to start coal flows from Wolsingham to the Midlands, and even to re-open the Stanhope - Eastgate section to support the proposed Eastgate Energy Village.

Only time will tell how they will fare, of course. However, as recently as three years ago nobody would have placed any bets on the Weardale Railway getting anywhere near this far - let alone on them having a long term future. Fortunately, they seem to be doing it anyway, so good luck to them!





Now, let's see what we can do with the Somerset & Dorset, shall we...?

welcome aboard!

A big welcome to three new members of the New S&D team. Anna-Jayne Metcalfe and Simon Ellison have both joined the committee and will bring considerable skills to the team. Andy Thompson is now ploughing through our IT infrastructure, and a few other things, hopefully with the end result of making our New S&D presence as high profile and rewarding as his Steamtube and related sites!

We are still less than a year old and have made enormous progress in that time, but as I made clear at Saturday's meeting this is only the very very beginning of a long term and amazing project that will set the railway heritage, professional railway, tourism and sustainable industry 'communities' alight.