cole

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Above 2 pics courtesy Jim Type, copyright C L Caddy Collection)

1960s, copyright Rail Thing

Cole was the point where the Somerset Central and Dorset Central railways met, and served as a second station for Bruton, although some distance from the town! Bruton still has a station on the GWR route.

This was a particularly attractive station, sadly there has been some encroachment near the trackbed here, though probably not a serious problem.

The New S&D may well build a link line here to the GWR main line to allow greater flexibility.

cole

Just added to the Rail Thing archive is this evocative late 60s shot of Cole station. This station now has new houses in the area which will need to be purchased by the New S&D and demolished. The short sighted scandal of putting houses etc on essential trackbeds will become a major talking point in future years. Ironically the very act of publicising the opening of new railways on old trackbeds will suppress the prices of houses and buildings in this strange situation, making them cheaper to buy, a virtuous circle if ever there was one! I suspect that many buildings now on trackbeds are already seeing the first signs of this blight, whilst houses built NEAR trackbeds (especially where new stations are to be built) will be seeing rising prices.

totem storm

Within a few days I'll be putting a huge range of totems on the e-commerce site. These will be both full size (repros of course!) and peel off 1/6th size - with every station on the line covered. I've managed to negotiate really good discounts on these so not only will you be able to get them cheaper than elsewhere, but every penny of profit will go directly to rebuilding the S&D. I'm also looking into introducing the 'missing' stations in the fridge magnet series.

Cole

Photos Mick Knox

A few shots around and about Cole. This was a particularly attractive spot on the line. Top shot shows something that really shouldn't be happening in the 21st century - a house being built on/near the trackbed. This is pure madness.

The policy for dealing with encroachment on our trackbed will be quite simple -

a) Divert where possible.

b) Tunnel/bridge if a not possible.

c) Where a or b are not possible then the properties will be purchased, rented out to recover the capital cost (or part of it if the line is quickly relaid) and then demolished with the bricks etc recycled and sold on. Whilst we would always prefer that this can be done by agreement we will certainly use compulsory purchase powers where we have no choice. This power is available to any public railway offering a proper service, and has been used recently at Croydon (on houses built only a few years earlier on the Tramlink ex-SR trackbed) and on the Waverley route in Scotland. Similar powers were also used against a particularly Neanderthal farmer on the Welsh Highland Railway!

d) Any costs incurred would be claimed against local/regional/national government where appropriate.

All railway trackbeds should have been protected even back in the 60s as it was obvious that no matter what happened (Peak Oil or business as usual) these routes would need to be rebuilt at some time in the future.

I don't have a lot of sympathy for anyone that has bought a house on a railway trackbed. They should have been aware that the property would almost certainly at some time in the future be demolished where no other options were available. But I suspect that 9 times out of 10 diversion will be possible. Remember that the inhabitants of the house will also desperately need the railway!