pre christmas buzz

There suddenly seems to be a real S&D buzz everywhere at the moment! Midsomer Norton has taken delivery of a DMU so can operate real train services at last! Shillingstone is heading south at a fast pace. Midford is almost cleared and ready to see its buildings put back. Spetisbury is just about to join the S&D fold. Washford will begin actively looking for a new site soon. The Gartell is providing regular steam trips south of Templecombe.

To me the best of all this is that the S&D groups are beginning to pull together and dare I suggest that this is because we're beginning to see a vision of a restored whole route beginning to register with everyone involved with the S&D? When Midsomer Norton started back in the early 90s this vision was enshrined in its constitution, we have always had it as our primary aim at the New S&D and there are lots of rumblings about reaching Spetisbury and Blandford down at Shillingstone. This is great news, and the S&D deserves nothing less.

Of course nobody pretends that this is going to be easy, cheap or without certain hurdles. Although the vast majority of the route is clear (over 95%) there are some annoying blockages, none too big to be overcome of course. And probably 95% of the population still haven't 'got' Peak Oil - and laughingly think fuel prices are already expensive! But every day things get easier, and more and more people are joining and getting actively involved with the great S&D restoration.

Think things are buzzing now?? Come back in ten years' time!

stur

(Photo courtesy Jim Type, copyright C L Caddy Collection)

Sturminster Newton was one of the larger towns on the S&D, and one of the few that wasn't served also by the GWR. This whole site is now a car park but that isn't really an issue for rebuilding the site as it's no trouble digging up concrete for a facility that has a very limited shelf life! A bigger  'problem' was the very recent proposal to build houses on an infilled cutting just north of the station, possibly the most short sighted (and short lived) bit of  'development' on this essential 21st century transport link! The problem was that this was proposed at almost exactly the same time as the New S&D was formed, so we weren't in a position to put in a serious objection. If the houses are built I'd suggest that the buyers don't unpack their removal boxes ...

So the intention here will be to rebuild the station in its original form. Whilst the logical approach to Sturminster Newton will be from the south (Blandford and Shillingstone are on this route) in the longer term Sturminster Newton's link north to Templecombe may see even more use, as the connection at Templecombe will give the people of Stur direct trains to both London and the West Country. Sturminster Newton deserves nothing less!

S&D snow

Four superb pictures taken today just north of Sturminster Newton by dance friend Paula Skinner.

With the road network in disarray the S&D should be fulfilling its permanent role of carrying passengers and freight through the snow covered countryside. I wonder how many stuck and skidding drivers looked longingly as our soon-to-be-restored line and had the time to reflect on the sheer madness of closing an essential trunk railway way back in the oil age?

a view from the board ...

(Round about Sturminster 2009)

Simon Ellison joined the board back in January and is particularly interested in the Sturminster Newton area.

He's just posted a comment which I think should be promoted to the main blog page as it covers much of the reasons why we exist and cleverly draws together many points raised (and challenged!) here over the last few weeks.

I note, with some disquiet, the rather 'negative' comments which seem to blight all aspects of railway restoration, in whatever form that takes.

Thing is: There are ALWAYS dissenters and ne'er do well's who delight in the negativity of their own lives, and like to project on to others their attitude.

If you do not believe in something with passion, then it's best not be get involved at all - applies to life generally, not just railways.

The obstacles to reinstating a continuous rail route from Bath/Bristol through to Poole/Bournemouth are huge, but not insurmountable. Of course there will have to be deviation from the original route at various locations, but, essentially, the route in its entirety should be, and MUST be reinstated, because rail will be the only sure way of transporting heavy freight and passengers in a viable way to smaller towns and villages in the future of road degradation and spiralling fuel costs.

Councils are being squeezed like sponges for funding which will not be forthcoming for essential road repair - here, where I live, roads are like rutted farm tracks, damage to wheels, tyres and steering geometry is becoming horrendous as well as unsafe.

Roads like minor 'B' and unclassified ones are left to their own devices due to lack of funding for repairs - that situation is fuelled by inclement weather which rapidly adds to the [rapid] destruction of surface 'black top'

How will we move anywhere in relative safety without wrecking our spines and our vehicle's suspension ? Are we to remain isolated in villages which have roads not fit for purpose?

At least a rail link would mean no more road wrecking heavy trucks - all commerce conducted by small trucks/vans from RAIL depot to destination - probably by electric engined vehicles.

But, before we all fall into the trap of 'electric' propelled vehicles [of ANY sort], just remember this: electricity has to be generated - which still means oil/coal/nuclear powered generating plants - so at whatever point, there will always be some form of 'unfriendly' fuel being used to provide all this 'clean' electricity. I'm sorry, but these pathetic wind farms will just NOT fit the bill for reliable and continous power supply, besides which, they are a blot on the landscape as well being a major threat to wild life, which also has the right to exist.

Remember this: Rail over road transport has much in it's favour:

A. It is fairly unobtrusive to the environment - noise is a minor consideration, once a train has passed the sound of its passage fades back into natural surrounding sound level, unlike the continuous drone of road transport.

B. The physical space needed to run trains is much less than an A class road!

C. Many more people die on the roads than on railways.

D. The cost of fuel is slashed as ton for ton, railway transport is far more efficient [much less frictional resistance on steel rail].

E. More economical - a typical train load is equivalent to many 44 ton trucks but in ONE movement and with ONE loco.

F. Faster - over distance, rail is MUCH quicker than road.

There are many other considerations which I have not entered here, but I am preaching to the converted ! It's the general public and local government who need to be 'educated'

The monopoly of road transport is over - it's time to bring back OUR trains for the betterment of OUR lives, our children's and their children's lives.

Short term-ism has been this country's failing - it's the reason for blinded politicians wrecking a once comprehensive railway infrastructure, and HERE lies our problem. It's so much easier to destroy than construct - all for short term profit/gains which gain NOTHING in the 'long run'.

We should DEMAND government aid in repairing the damage THEY were responsible for in the first place!

welcome pete smith

New member Pete Smith has kindly agreed to take on the track steward role for the section from Blandford northwards to Sturminster Newton. From Sturminster Newton northwards to Stalbridge is covered by Simon Ellison. Other sections of the route that have track stewards are, ironically, both non S&D sections, with Mark Warr covering Ringwood to Brockenhurst and myself covering Radstock to Bristol via Pensford.

If you would like to take on a track steward role, which really only entails keeping an eye on the physical remains and the local media, please contact us on leysiner@aol.com

imminent launch

All New S&D members will soon be receiving their first ever newsletter/magazine. The first issue will be a computer generated mag, probably 4 to 6 pages, but we do have big plans for our magazine, inspired by the superb S&D Telegraph that is produced by Midsomer Norton.

I would LOVE to have correspondents from each of the active sections of the S&D - ie Midsomer Norton, Shillingstone, Sturminster Newton, Blandford and Gartell as well as from Washford. This will be a magazine for the WHOLE line. The New S&D exists in part to unify the disparate sections and groups currently operating along the route and at Washford. Almost all of our membership are members of these other groups and we get messages of support from individual members of these groups almost every day.

In addition to this we are developing our website as the primary historical resource for the S&D, searchable by everybody. This will be a particularly useful resource for writers and researchers, teachers and others along the route.

So what I'm asking for is correspondents who can send news and/or photos from Midsomer Norton, Gartell, Shillingstone, Washford, Blandford Arches and Sturminster Rail Group. Also photos of the line and stations from any point in its history including the temporary closure period, as well as stories from the line (again post closure is fine), oral histories, small artefacts etc etc.

This is all in addition to our primary role of purchasing sections of the route, lobbying government at all levels and supporting active groups along the route, financially and with manpower.

To get involved please email leysiner@aol.com or write to New S&D, 10 Bellamy Avenue, Hartcliffe, BRISTOL, BS13 0HW.

website developments

One of our big projects is to create a superb S&D website. Up to now it's mainly been about the future, but I believe there is a continuum right through from the original opening of the line in 1854 through the temporary closure period, to its current stirrings and through to its 21st century role as a vital sustainable transport link.

I feel that the website should also serve as an important resource for S&D fans, past, present and future. To this end we've already half completed the 'stations' section, and have just made the first steps towards building a 'locomotives that have worked on the S&D' section, which will be an enormous job!

The ideal is to have a site that first and foremost keeps our diaspora of fans and members in touch with what's happening on the ground, at Midford, Midsomer Norton, Shillingstone, Masbury, Gartell, Washford and Sturminster Newton but which also contains within its depths every single piece of information you will ever need to write books, articles, build models etc etc. I'd like eventually a huge photo resource of the line at all points in time, video library and even an oral history section (with transcripts).

To this end all photos, stories etc etc, as well as offers of help with content, from ANY angle (not just the historical!) are most welcome!

flattery

No, not the S&D in 1966 (though it might be in 2036!) but the recent S&D day at the Mid Hants Railway.

It's amazing that other lines have S&D days. This shows just how popular our line is! It also gives a taste of what we'll be able to achieve on the New S&D once we have a good stretch rebuilt. Imagine this up over Masbury, sweeping over the rebuilt Prestleigh Viaduct, powering through Midford or pacing through Sturminster Newton and Shillingstone on its way to the sea!

Although the New S&D won't be primarily about preservation, heritage or coal-fired steam, we still understand the huge appeal of the S&D to those who love steam and all it represents. We will do everything we can to provide steam services at all points on the route by encouraging steam locomotive owners to base their engines at our Steam Centre, to make access easy and free for the Midsomer Norton and Shillingstone groups and to research into new wood-burning steam locomotives for regular services. These will, of course, be in addition to the regular electrically-hauled passenger and freight trains.

(Pics © Mark Warr September 2009)

sturminster newton and that 'peak oil moment'

We've had some fun on the comments pages revolving around Sturminster Newton, the SRG, rail revival and even the difficulty for rail revival of houses built on OUR trackbed.

Mick Knox, as always spot on, came up with this -

Any houses built at Sturminster on the trackbed will be blighted before they are even finished. As they will be modern it won't take long to knock them down anyway. And if you don't believe that will ever happen, it has been done before, to new build near Worksop. Goods and people need to travel and the price for being totally dependent on oil is being in Iraq and Afghanistan, so it is a high price we are paying. We should be investing in alternatives, and rail is that future, so sometime soon the pressure to re-open will be too great to ignore. Just say it kicks off in Iran, what then for the world's supply of oil from the gulf area? Imagine the panic back in 2000 during the fuel protests, but this time it would be so much worse. Sort of changes things a bit, doesn’t it?

And I added -

However things pan out - whether oil wars precipitate matters, whether we just get sidelined as China and India grab all the oil or if it's a slow decline into an oil-less future, the outcome will be the same. Crumbling roads, less of us able to run cars and a huge scramble to get lines reopened and totally new routes built.
　
To be fair to some of the nostalgic posters here, until you've had your 'Peak Oil' moment, when suddenly the future becomes clear, this may all seem a little strange. But once you've had it, the way things are being done now - with houses still being seriously proposed on lines that will need to be opened soon, and even a few road schemes STILL being suggested, and bail-outs of car companies - once you've had it most of what's being done today will seem far stranger!
　
The need to shift from an oil importing economy to a sustainable energy-independent economy is getting more vital every day. The New S&D is an important part of that process. I'm sorry if that upsets some (pre-Peak Oil moment) readers, heritage railway fans and petrolheads, but that's just the way it is.
　
　
　

sturminster developments

(Bottom pic Jeffery Grayer 1967)

Fantastic news out of Sturminster, easily countering the dinosaur decision earlier this year to put houses on the trackbed! A new S&D group, STURMINSTER RAIL GROUP, has just launched. This is a totally independent group from the existing S&D groups on the route and they will be concentrating on the Sturminster Newton to Henstridge section with the intention of acquiring trackbed etc for the eventual restoration of trains to this part of the S&D. The New S&D would certainly commit to then restoring beyond Henstridge to Templecombe to link this section to the network, probably more quickly than if a group hadn't sprung up locally.

We would love to see similar groups appear all along the route, obviously working closely together but independently. It is precisely this local involvement and knowledge that will be the key to getting our job done as quickly as possible.

To contact this new group please email bournemouthwest@aol.com

Their opening statement goes as follows -

Hi! Just a quick mail to let you know that [we] are forming a group (Sturminster Rail group) which is primarily concerned with obtaining track bed of the former S&D in the Sturminster to Henstridge area.

Most of this track bed lies in open countryside, and the reaction of land owners will be, hopefully, positive for either selling/leasing the actual track bed across their land for rail usage again. There are no major problems on this particular route with the exception of Sturminster Newton town itself (where the deep cutting and road over bridges were filled in and destroyed respectively).

I hope we can all 'pull' together to realise this very important route is re instated wherever possible, and we, as a group will do all we can to ensure this outcome.

sturminster newton and all that

There's some controversy over the proposal to build 14 new houses on S&D trackbed at Sturminster Newton. The message board's been addressing this.

Nick Howes put the current situation very succinctly.

[C]ouncils don't consider it because they dont believe anyone would have the money or justification to do it. The railway is just a bygone scar in the landscape to these people, just like the fragmented canal beds and roman roads, nothing more, nothing less. They see the modern network struggling and run down with £30 billion subsidy so they can't possibly see anyone with any clout or money knocking on the door to their town, simple as that. This is the cold hard pre peak oil reality that we are up against. Its a loss making brown field site and they need money to fuel their short term local budgets and political aims. Everything is short term and no-one looks ahead and they have a housing quota target to fulfill as well.

My reply -


I couldn't have put it better myself.

Things are gradually changing. I've an appointment this afternoon with a local development agency who approached me through Transition. Bristol is the only city in the UK with a Peak Oil Task Force set up by the city council. Awareness is slowly developing. In ten years time all we're saying now will just be the generally accepted concensus.

Too many rail types live in the present or, worse still, the past. They think the rules that apply now will for some reason apply in the future. They clearly won't. There will be a huge modal shift from road to rail simply because rail is so much more flexible, and economic, in energy inputs. This won't so much be a conscious change but one forced on us by market forces.

The New S&D is designed to flourish in the future. At the moment it is still something of an anachronism. This is the whole point - we will move into a future of ever more opening doors. But we need to organise now to steal a pitch on our rivals, ie all the other groups pressing for their lines to be restored.

The more of us that get involved in the New S&D the quicker this will happen.

We don't need to worry about some puny housing development. When push comes to shove the railway will get priority and all other considerations will be ignored. That's the reality of the future.

In a couple of years, when we are ready, we'll approach everybody on the route - landowners, councils etc - and present them with our plans. Until then all we can do is build the structure of the New S&D.

fools step in ...

Apparently there is a proposal to build 14 houses on S&D trackbed north of Sturminster Newton. There is still time to put in objections to this here.

More details here.

This has caught us rather on the back foot as there are only a few days to get objections in. HOWEVER this does underline why a strong group representing the WHOLE S&D needs to be up and running as quickly as possible. The houses, if ever built, will of course need to be demolished, tunneled under or diverted around when the line is reinstated, probably at a greater cost than rebuilding on the original site (as it is now).

We need to identify these possible trouble spots and BUY the land over the next few years. We need to rapidly increase our membership and get maximum publicity, funds and contacts to stop this anachronistic stupidity reoccuring.

But this is hardly the time to be building houses with falling prices and massive availability, and what idiot would seriously buy in a town ten miles or so distant from modern transport? So perhaps it's a hollow threat?

We do need to ensure that our views are widely known and understood through the towns and villages on our route. But it's going to take time and a good deal of hard work. We need to start making the connections locally with people that hold power. It's easier than many think. Most of all people need to take us seriously and realise that we are going to be around for a very, very long time! That the temporary closure of the S&D was an aberration and that the world has changed.

So come on board and get actively involved!

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final destination

Sadly these are the last instalments from my February trip with Mick Knox along the southern section of the line.

With the light fading we wanted to get these last shots of the bridge over the Stour just to the north of Sturminster Newton. It wasn't easy to find the bridge, but after a few false starts and a very long trip along a narrow road, we finally spotted it across the fields. The ground was still soaked from the previous week's snowfall and it was nearly half a mile from the road, but we finally managed to get some atmospheric shots of this classic S&D bridge. We met another S&D fan near the bridge, plus two women who asked us, when they spotted Mick's Network Rail jacket, whether we were there to assess it for demolition. Quite the opposite, we said!

There is so much of the S&D route remaining and a really strong desire from people living along the line to see it back we really are pushing against an open door.

When I get back from Innsbruck hopefully the bank account details will have arrived and I can set up Paypal, both for membership and for products in the New S&D shop. We owe it to all the people living along the line, to all railway enthusiasts and to all lovers of the English countryside to get this line back as quickly as possible - we've all waited far too long for this to happen ...

sturminster newton - not as bad as expected

Before getting to Sturminster Newton I was worried. I'd read that the station had been demolished and as we got there the whole rea looked unrecognisable.

True, the station has gone, but stations can be easily rebuilt. I was worried that there had been considerable development on the site and all around. But no, the whole site is clear, as are the approaches (apart from a little spoil now an S&D park).

The site of the station is now a car park, which is doing an excellent job of holding the site ready for the trains to return!

Just south of the station the line is, yet again, a trailway - preserving the trackbed superbly!