what a difference a year makes!

(Waiting to take the Pines Forward 24.9.1960. Photo by C J Martin, ©  Ian C Martin)

I had great fun reading through a year old National Preservation Forum thread on Clutton (link in the previous post) which degenerated (with no input from any New S&D member) into a New S&D-bashing thread, including claims that I was behind Clutton (I wasn't!) and, the best one, that Peak Oil was 'contentious'.

Peak Oil's not contentious, that much is clear. Oil is a finite resource and is already getting scarcer, and nothing and no amount of wishful thinking, will change that. The only thing that observers don't agree on is the actual timing of the peak. Some say as long ago as 2005, some very optimistic types think it may still be a decade off. Either way the long term view is bleak for road transport, diesel transport by rail, food production, plastic manufacturer and many other things. Some things will be substituted, though only of course by more expensive options, otherwise we'd be using them now. But whatever way you look at it road transport is doomed, the first signs of this process are already clearly visible. Clearly what needs to happen is a big switch to rail beginning now - and this is happening in most parts of the world (including the UK) already. This doesn't mean simply HS lines, but reversals of most if not all of the Beeching cuts, together with a huge expansion in light rail, tramways and industrial and agricultural lines. How anyone could, in all seriousness, exclude the S&D in this process is beyond me! Yet just a year ago we were getting vile flack from a group of heritage steamy types who were clearly mired in the 60s mindset.

Another nasty jibe was that the S&D ran through an empty wilderness with no villages, let alone towns, en route. This particular moron clearly knew nothing about this part of the world! Putting to one side the fact that where a railway runs through is not particularly relevant, it's the purpose it serves and the places beyond the particular line that it connects that are important, this buffoon failed to understand that Blandford, Radstock, Shepton Mallet, Midsomer Norton, Wells, Glastonbury, Wimborne and Ringwood are quite sizeable places which will generate a large amount of freight and passenger traffic. And of course overlooked that we have Britain's only World Heritage City at one end of the line and Britain's premier seaside resort at the other!

But the thing that pissed me off the most was the idiot who boldly announced that he didn't own a car and travelled everywhere by train but didn't understand why the S&D needed to return - that it would be a meandering branch line where the porters doffed their caps at every station and halt! He's clearly been on some very strong and peculiar drugs. So he was happy to use a modern railway because he was lucky enough to live near an open station - but the near two million living along the S&D should not have this opportunity.

I assume that a year on, with petrol approaching £1.50 a litre and Peak Oil on everybody's lips (it's even mentioned in the current issue of Rail magazine) they are beginning to see the light. They may even have joined us in the meantime ...

 

more rails close to the New S&D

This is the Hunters Rest Miniature Railway near Pensford. It may well be the only pub miniature railway in the UK! It's a mile or two from Pensford, which had (and will of course have again) a station on the Radstock to Bristol line. The line runs for about a third of a mile through woods and alongside the pub car park.

We went to the pub today but only photographed the line - I think my riding days of lines this small are over! It has combined track for both 7 1/4" and 5" guage trains. There are a couple of steam locos used on this line but today they were using this Hymek-style freelance diesel, pulling a single carriage.

The Bristol to Radstock route (which of course continues to Frome) closed in 1968 after damage to the magnificent (and still extant) Pensford viaduct in the massive July 1968 flood. The New S&D plans to reopen this route to ease capacity limits on the Radstock to Bath section of the S&D. Part of this route is now a cycleway between Radstock and Midsomer Norton, there is also the (moribund?) Clutton station revival with (at least a few years ago) a mark one standard gauge coach and a narrow gauge diesel alongside but unconnected to the Clutton scheme, plus this tiny line about a mile from the route between Pensford and Clutton. All worth a visit of course!

the future and the much bigger picture!

The route of the S&D is sadly littered with failed schemes to preserve short parts of the route. And in the last few days we've discovered that the Clutton scheme (on the New S&D Bristol route) has also closed down.

Failed schemes include the excellent Radstock to Writhlington line, which had track in place, rolling stock, locos and a thriving membership. Two schemes at Midford also fell through.

But at last we can be pretty sure that at least three sections of the S&D (Midsomer Norton, Shillingstone and Gartell) are now secured. This is no mean feat even for a line as long and popular as ours!

But the secret to further success is to present a new, restored S&D, as a holistic unit. It will need to serve both tourist needs and 'real' needs (passenger and freight), thriving in the very difficult times 'promised' by the challenges of Peak Oil and Climate Change. I firmly believe that a 'real' line will not only preserve 'heritage' aspects, but in fact will find them irreplacable in an energy-restrained world. Manned stations growing their own food which is sold in the station cafe, mechanical (rather than electronic) signalling, mechanical level crossings (whilst roads still survive), numerous sidings, locomotives and carriages rather than multiple units, steam and electric power rather than diesel - all of these things will happen because they are the inevitable outcomes of an decrease in fuel and an increase in labour availability.

As for shunting a few pretend passengers a few miles at twenty mph - that form of operation may survive exclusively for a decade or so more, but will quickly be complemented by real traffic!

More on the prospects for classic heritage operations tomorrow!

Clutton RIP

Hot on the heels of my link to the Clutton site yesterday came news that the project had closed down. Well, if I'd scrolled just a little futher on the site I'd have spotted it myself!

Last time I called there I spotted a mark one coach and a narrow gauge industrial diesel, so they were obviously beyond stage one.

These station restoration schemes are always a little fragile unless somebody has bottomless pockets. The inspriration for Clutton I think were a couple of restored stations in Herefordshire, but these were privately owned so doubtless had the funds to proceed, similar to what is happening in Masbury. The downside is access of course!

Without operating trains there's little to set such a place aside from any other tourist attraction offering food and drinks (I think the mark one was going to become a buffet car). There would also be real problems of staffing, especially if it was going to be with unpaid workers!

This was why it was so important to rebrand the old SDRHT 'Midsomer Norton South Station Project' to 'Mendip Main Line Project', to let people know that our ambitions lay well beyond the infamous 'short demonstration line' that we once proclaimed!

Right from the start of running trains the Midsomer Norton set up will be looking to expand both north and south. Fans of the S&D deserve nothing less!

Clutton will no doubt arise from the ashes eventually, but as part of a far larger network!

the bristol option

Above are 3 views of the former Bristol to Frome via Midsomer Norton and Radstock line. This section is currently an excellent footpath and cycleway. The bottom two views show the Five Arches, the S&D route ran over the top of this, and it shouldn't be too many years before trains are running over this section of the S&D again.

The Frome-Bristol line is really in four stages these days. The first section from Frome to Great Elm is still heavily used by freight trains, carrying stone. Beyond Great Elm towards Radstock the line is still in place but disused. This section should be restored by the North Somerset Railway. At Radstock itself the site was planned for redevelopment with a strip reserved for the railway to connect with the S&D coming up from Midsomer Norton. In the current financial climate it's highly unlikely that this redevelopment scheme will proceed as it is mainly for new housing. The section from Radstock to Midsomer Norton and just beyond is a cycleway/footpath. Beyond this the line is totally disused, though the station at Clutton is slowly being restored.


Clutton restoration.


Pensford Viaduct.

The Bristol to Radstock section closed in 1968 after the severe floods which undermined the viaduct at Pensford, although the viaduct still stands. At its northern end the line served Whitchurch, a busy suburb of Bristol these days, with dreadful traffic problems! Pensford itself is totally unsuitable for lorries and the road is often blocked for minutes at a time by large lorries trying to pass each other.


'Modern' transport - Pensford style!

The New S&D will look to this line to provide a link to the network at Bristol, rather than the far more difficult restoration between Bath Green Park and Bristol via Bitton. This would allow through trains from the north to leave the main network at Bristol, run down a restored Bristol to Radstock line, then take the main S&D route south to Bournemouth. This will not prejudice restoration of the iconic route to Bath Green Park as Bath is considered a worthy destination in any case! It may well be possible to link to the network somewhere in the Bath area, giving us a second outlet to the north. These developments assume an almost total end to road traffic, probably 20-25 years into the future.

Bristol-Radstock ex-GW line

neighbours and a new site ...

Popped over to the Avon Valley Railway today just to see what they're about. This was partly for my new blogsite, which covers all the heritage, tourist and miniature railways in the British Isles.



Later I popped along to the Clutton set-up. It was a real job to find it! This also appears on the Heritage Railways UK blogsite.