gartell this weekend

Gartell Light Railway are holding their eighth Model Railway exhibition at their station near Templecombe this coming weekend. Even if you are not interested in model railways perhaps you would like a day out with a difference, or perhaps you are looking to start a new hobby? We have maintained the same admission price yet again, (£4 and £3) and we expect up to ten layouts as well as trade stands, and also we aim to have a train service on the GLR (although we will not be running over the 'new' line, as we are only granted 'occasional use' over the new level crossing at the moment) Please note there will be a small extra charge for train rides.

See our web-site and Facebook page, we're easy to find just South of Templecombe, and if you have satnav, just put in BA8 0NB and we'll see you there.

Please be kind enough to forward this email to everyone in your address book and get them to do the same, and then same again - and we should have about six million people turn up!

shillingstone/templecombe memories

 

(Copyright Dave Clarke)

It's not all electrification and super modern trains on the New S&D! We also are putting together an archive of the original line. Latest addition (see the website) is the following short piece from Vince Everleigh.

As small children living in Child Oakford we used to board at Shillingstone Station and travel to Templecombe to visit my grand parents . My grand mother worked on the station for many years in the buffet ( Doris Sanger ) and my Uncle Ron was Porter there . Time wise this was maybe 1965? I remember running along the platform and talking to the driver and fireman and then crossing the overhead connecting bridge . Those wonderful smells of smoke and hot oil ...

Happy days indeed.

 

New S&D chairman's report

This will be appearing in the New S&D's magazine, 'RIGHT LINES', in a few weeks' time. Hopefully it boils down the last six months activity and I haven't missed anything!

Chairman's Report

June 2012

It's fantastic that Philip Marsh and Grant Henderson have formed an editorial team to produce a magazine twice a year. I was well aware that members living a distance from the line were not really getting value for money for their membership fee, but until people stepped forward we were rather stuck! Can I ask all of you to try to provide articles and letters, and send in photos for the next edition.

Another relatively new member, Dean Cockwell, has worked wonders down at Spetisbury, negotiating with Dorset County Council and getting a team together to restore the station.

Up at Midford Tom and Stuart Seale have done sterling work rescuing this most iconic station from the undergrowth - work on rebuilding the station is now not too far away. Other members (even myself!) have helped as well, but 95% of the work has been done by the Seales.

Both Spetisbury and Midford will be rebuilt to serve as information offices for the whole line and will also have shops to make each site self-financing.

We have also approached Network Rail Property to see if Templecombe box will become available for lease at some time in the future. Whilst the site is currently still within NR's Operational area, it may well switch to Commercial at some time in the future, at which point we could negotiate to take on this site with a similar role to that of Spetisbury and Midford but with the added attraction of a Network line running past the front door.

The branches meanwhile are still in deep sleep, despite the potential of Wells, Glastonbury, Burnham and the Glastonbury Festival sites all being on route. If any of you would like to get something started on the branches please let us know! We are here to help local initiatives get started.

We've had an influx of new officers join the committee, some with fixed roles and others as general members. Thank you all for agreeing to get involved at this level!

Elsewhere on the S&D all three established sites - Midsomer Norton, Shillingstone and Gartell - have recently laid extra track, and now Midsomer Norton has joined Gartell in running regular passenger trains. Midsomer Norton is an absolute gem and a credit to all of those who have helped make this happen.

On the Sunday before the Jubilee holiday, ALL five S&D sites had work being done on them, running trains, rebuilding etc. What a turn around from the dark 80s and 90s when hardly anything was happening! The S&D was a line destined to live forever, or as close as possible, and the closure was stupid. But back in the 60s people had other priorities and a very different view of the future, expecting to be getting around in flying cars or jet packs, eating space paste from tubes!

The last five to ten years have seen some amazing developments in the railway field, from huge passenger loadings on the Network, through the building of Tornado, the rebuilding of the Welsh Highland Railway and the incredible sight (in Porthmadog) of regular steam passenger trains running through the streets.

Many lines that missed the first and second waves of preservation now have groups determined to rebuild them. The Glyn Valley Tramway in Wales for example, the Helston branch and the missing link between Bodiam and Robertsbridge - did even the most optimistic of us really think these things would happen? And in 2014 a good proportion of the Waverley line will be reopened, a reinstatement that required the demolition of many homes built on the trackbed since closure.

This is the background in which we need to set the S&D revival. The world is changing, the oil is running out and we've all seen the effects of climate change over the past few years. Meanwhile the roads continue to deteriorate and many people are giving up their cars. And this is before the cost of fuel even begins to really impact on most of us.

In 20 years the railway map of Britain will be much expanded, the S&D will be well on the road to complete reopening, there will be new build routes opening up as well as many of the Beeching cuts reversed. We do blend heritage and 'real' running, but all lines will eventually if they are to survive. It won't be easy by any means, and there will be upsets and hold ups on the way, but remember that it will get easier as each day passes!

Steve Sainsbury MA

Chair

gartell this weekend

Well yes... yes - it is that time again

This Sunday 3rd June we are running the Gartell Light Railway with the NEW LINE WELL AND TRULY OPEN!!

We are even running a 'more interesting' timetable which should allow trains to cross at the flyover, something we believe is unique on the Steam Scene in this country.

So bring along your friends and relatives and have a pleasant and relaxing day out with us.

REMEMBER! If you come by bicycle, Adults and Seniors are just £5!!

Please pass this message on to everyone in your address book that lives within 50 miles of Templecombe - and ask them to do the same.

Oh and if you have SatNav, our postcode is BA8 0NB

See you there!

freight everywhere!

(Copyright The Rail Thing - 1962)

Just purchased by The Rail Thing is this slide of Templecombe shed in 1962 - ignore the copyright message!

Look at all the freight wagons around. This is just four years before the line was closed.

Idiot Beeching's biggest error was to deprive the railways of so much freight traffic because he simply didn't understand economics. The cost of maintaining and running freight wagons is minimal. A single load will probably pay for a wagon's maintenance for a year. The net effect of Beeching's attack on freight was to further reduce income, and further increase congestion on the roads. Next time you're stuck behind a lorry, churning out diesel fumes at 25 mph, remember that the freight should be on the railways, not the roads.

I fully expect Templecombe to contain even more freight wagons in 20 or 30 years' time, when the roads between towns no longer exist and rail is the only way to move things. Forget bulk loads, future rail freight will carry everything, though hopefully we won't be using quite as much stuff as we do now!

that was the week that was

This has been a very busy week! Best week for new members for some considerable time - if you have joined/renewed in the last couple of weeks your membership card etc should be with you in the next few days.

Then that excellent letter from the Ministry which will provide ammunition for years to come, and will certainly pop up like a bad penny if any dinosaur out there tries to further encroach on our trackbed! Perhaps the letter is the biggest reason for the sudden surge in members?

And then the excellent idea of taking on the shell of Templecombe signalbox for a third base on the route for the New S&D. Whilst most visitors to Midford will come on bike and foot, and most to Spetisbury on foot, most to Templecombe will come by train!

Also in the last couple of  weeks we've had a few hard hitters join the management team of the New S&D, which should keep the rest of us on our toes! And the comments section has been bulging this week with loads of excellent ideas, also creating extra work.

I've never really had any doubt that the S&D will return - the alternatives of a network type line hemmed in by security fencing and using unsustainable fuel, or a transport-free wasteland between Bath and Bournemouth are simply hideous.

And to tap it all off Shillie Bear has been visiting some of my favourite places in New York City!

templecombe 1967

Yet another great shot from Picasa (source here) showing Templecombe, looking south towards Henstridge, possibly in 1967 - the photographer isn't sure.

Some one has over-ridden the interlocking and pulled off both pegs - for the road into Templecombe station and the road onwards to Henstridge and beyond - it doesn't matter because no trains had come this way for years and nothing ever will ever again ... it was eupemistically called "The Reshaping of British Railways" but all it meant was one third of the network trashed and thousands of dedicated railwaymen and women lost their livelyhoods.

Accompanying text (above) yet again displays that 1970s hubristic certainty about the future that has already been proved wrong in so many places, as it will do here. This may well be the last part of the S&D main line to be restored, but it will be restored and trains will run here in numbers not seen before, this becoming a very busy route to the south coast from Bath, Bristol, the Midlands, the North and Exteter and the west country. I'd be very much surprised if it will stay single for long!

avoiding project drift

It should sometimes be restated - the New S&D is committed to restoring the WHOLE S&D, not just Bournemouth to Bath but also the branches, plus the Bristol-Pensford-Radstock and Bailey Gate-Wimborne-Ringwood lines, plus the Ringwood to Brockenhurst line if not already restored by the Network when we reach Ringwood.

This doesn't mean that a few hundred mainly railway enthusiasts are going to raise the 1-2 billion pounds needed to restore these routes, rebuild the infrastructure and provide the locos and rolling stock. It doesn't mean that some time in the next five to ten years we will be running trains to all these destinations.

What it does mean is that constitutionally we exist to promote the S&D in its entirety, will encourage and support other groups restoring sections of the route (as at Shillingstone, Midsomer Norton and Gartell), will purchase sections of trackbed etc as they become available to protect them for railway use in perpetuity, and operate sections of the route as they become economocally viable. Full reinstatement may well be by the network, by a consortium of businesses or by emergency government decree. Or we may be so sharp that we manage to do this by ourselves by raising the money on the stock exchange and/or through local and regional share issues.

Whilst discussion about restoring tiny sections for narrow gauge etc are welcome we need to avoid project drift. We need to always state what we are about, and always keep our eyes on the bigger picture.

Whilst I doubt anyone would question the need for and viability of the Midsomer Norton/Shepton to Bath and Blandford-Poole sections we need to remember that the S&D is a network, not two branches, and that we'll have far greater flexibility (and profitability) as a through route with additional connections to the Network wherever we pass by it ie at Templecombe, Bruton etc.

Whilst local passenger and freight traffic will be the lifeblood of the route we also expect that much traffic will originate and/or terminate away from our metals. This is pretty much the same situation as the old S&D but of course the New S&D will, eventually, be far busier than the Old S&D was, even on summer Saturdays in the 1950s.

not just a branch line!

(Photo copyright Mick Knox Dec 2011)

One of the misconceptions about the S&D is that it was some sort of branch line! Anyone who had seen the line at its peak in the 1950s would never make this mistake. Trains worked block on block, especially on the single track sections and especially on summer Saturdays. Passenger trains were joined by a succession of heavy freights and of course there was the express train, the Pines.

At Midsomer Norton they are relaying double track and the above shot really captures this. The only other double track standard gauge heritage line is the Great Central. Most of the  S&D was of course double track, there were short sections of single track between Bath GP and Midford and through Corfe Mullen, plus a longer stretch between Templecombe and Blandford.

So we will shortly have two restored stations on double track S&D (Midsomer Norton and Spetsibury) and two on single track (Shillingstone and Midford). Perhaps the real beauty of the S&D is that it could look like a main line and a branch line at the same time, depending on where you were and what trains were passing!

the other way to templecombe

(Copyright Steve Sainsbury - Salisbury 14.4.1986)

You can still get to Templecombe via rail if you use the excellent Salisbury to Exeter route. This is a line that almost vanished in the mad sixties, it was reduced to practically a llong siding with many local stations closed including Templecombe. It had dreadful problems with timekeeping thanks to the long stretches of single track.

Get real. This is a main line, wonderfully engineered and serving many towns en route. It was deliberately run down because the idiot Beeching thought that one main line to the west (the ex GWR route) would suffice in the Oil Age. Many useful branches were closed depriving seaside towns of modern transport. With the loss of the S&D even more useful track, diversionary routes and alternatives were lost - for a while! Yeovil lost its incredible useful shuttle service between the three Yeovil stations. I remember walking between Yeovil Junction and Pen Mill in the 80s - an absolute nightmare!

But things are happening. Stations have been reopened, new stretches of double track have appeared and services are improving. But the line has a long way to go before it matches, then surpasses, its glory days.

Here's a new website that will champion the route. We at the S&D obviously have a big interest in this route as we will connect with it in the future.

all change!

A great postcard view of Templecombe taken on my 3rd birthday!

Templecombe has seen a lot of change since this picture. Amazingly the entire station, once so busy, was closed entirely when the S&D closed. But this strange state of affairs didn't last long and the station was reopened in 1982. It's now an incredible success story with hundreds of thousands of passengers using it each year. It's clearly in the ascendent again and it shouldn't be too many years before S&D trains begin using it again. It's a very useful junction allowing journeys such as Bournemouth to Exeter or Salisbury to Radstock etc etc. No doubt it will also become a very large freight interchange again, returning a degree of capacity to routes currently under strain.

Buy a house in Templecombe if you can - they are going to be worth a lot when all the trains return!

more development

Back in the olden days when a lot of people thought the railways were on their way out the main line between Salisbury and Exeter was singled. This was an unmitigated disaster because the long stretches of single track without passing loops almost guaranteed delays.

Of course time's moved on, the line is now reasserting itself as a proper main line, and several stations (including our beloved Templecombe) have reopened. But it's nothing compared to what will happen in the future. Redoubling of the whole route is inevitable, as is reopening many of the closed stations, together with restored branches and of course the S&D which joins the line at Templecombe.

To help speed the process along please sign this petition which calls for the redoubling of the whole line.

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!

templecombe

(Copyright Rail Thing)

An unusual distance shot of Templecombe taken from the site of the second S&D station in Templecombe. You can make out the signalbox on the main line station which was converted into a station building when the station was reopened in 1983. This shot is around 1970.

As the S&D begins to reappear the historical aspects of the line become even more intriguing and I'm still picking up unusual shots whenever I can. I reckon the S&D will become the most recorded and photographed line in the whole world as the decades pass, and more and more old shots will surface at the same time as new photographic opportunities arise as more and more of the line comes back into use. But PLEASE keep recording the line between closure and reopening - it is all history and all relevant. This Inbetweener time may become one of the most fascinating of all - future generations will find it almost impossible to believe that there was a time when this most important transport asset was not even being used and that we were forced to rely on cars on tiny llittle roads!

templecombe - and an agm

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

A superb shot of Templecombe.

Arrangements at Templecombe were a little odd to say the least! Most trains off the S&D made important connections at Templecombe, but the junction was somewhat unusual. There was a Lower Platform at Templecombe, which served the S&D exclusively. But the busy Salisbury-Exeter main line ran above the S&D, and to make connections S&D trains needed to be piloted up to the exchange platform, then reverse out and reverse again if heading southwards.

Templecombe was the classic closure too far. It was a VERY busy station right up to the early sixties, but run down of the main line - including, incredibly, singling - matched the run down and closure of the S&D. The WHOLE station, not just the lower platform, closed on 6 March 1966 with the S&D.

However, this was not the end of the story. Templecombe reopened in 1983 and has been an incredible success ever since. Of course at the moment it's still a shadow of its former self, but when the S&D reopens it will not only regain its former importance but will probably quickly surpass it. Not only the S&D is about to flourish, but so is the Salisbury-Exeter route which is being redoubled and may well be electrified in the not too distant future - in fact I suspect parts of the route will be quadruple track eventually. The junction may well be remodelled, but of course with modern multiple units the previous manouevres will be much easier to manage. An escalator between Templecombe Lower platform and the main station - solar powered of course - could also make interchange easier.

Now to our AGM. Scheduled originally for this November we realised that there simply wasn't time to bring it all together. So it will now be in January, full details will be on this blog within a few days, but it will be held in Templecombe so that attendees can come by train.

templecombe shed

(Courtesy Jim Type)

Not sure about the origins of this shot, but Jim asked me to confirm that it was Templecombe shed. It is of course - the distinctive roof of the shed is confirmation enough, as is the S&D style embankment in the distance which leads up to Templecompe (Upper) station.

I love this shot - it looked like a great place to work!

This is exactly the sort of small steam shed we'd like to set up on the route (possibly at Templecome) to allow visiting steam locos to refuel, clean up and rest overnight when running steam specials along the route, and also along the Salisbury-Exeter route and elsewhere.

We're also hoping to set up a sustainable transport engineering centre on the route, hopefully with both standard and narrow gauge demo lines, where we can experiment on energy delivery systems, ultra modern vehicles and all the other aspects of sustainable transport that we'll need in the future. Perhaps that should be our next step once Midford and Spetisbury are completed as information offices? There'll certainly be something for everyone on the new Somerset and Dorset!

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!

britain's booming seaside ...

Three shots from Bournemouth at the weekend. Whilst the Air Show was on, this still shows the pure pulling power of the place! A hot August in Bournemouth would normally pull out visitors in their thousands.

British seaside resorts are booming. A lot of people who used to fly abroad are choosing to stay in the UK - no waiting at airports, language problems etc. And to think how much easier it will be in the future when all these visitors will all be coming in by train. No more vile car parks, busy roads etc, just a pleasant built environment, pollution free and safe.

A million fewer drivers on the road, a million extra cyclists in the last year. The pattern's clear, our car culture is now dying, right at the start of the beginning of the end of cheap oil. I doubt it has much power to survive the real oil price shocks that are coming. All investment will now be going to railways, tramways and cycleways. The S&D should be right at the top of the queue for that investment. It's a total no-brainer. Whilst Bournemouth does still have a rail link it is orientated towards Southampton and London. But visitors like us come from Bristol - difficult to do reasonably by rail, cost and time-wise. And of course from much further - the Midlands and Northern England. They need a direct link with through trains, from places like Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham etc. Capacity restraints will very soon kick in on Bournemouth's only remaining line that can carry this traffic. And bear in mind that freight traffic will explode over the next couple of decades.

And of course people living in the huge Bournemouth-Poole conurbation will need to go in the other direction. The S&D will also allow them to access Exeter, Devon and Cornwall by changing at Templecombe - bringing extra traffic to the Salisbury-Exeter route, once notoriously singled but which I can see needing long stretches of quadruple track in the not-too-distant future. Who knows, the LSWR's one time plan to build a line westwards from Dorchester to Exeter tapping into the many seaside resorts between will finally be built! All this upgrading and new build should help to ease capacity restraints in this part of the world, assuming demand doesn't go too high ...

bournemouth meeting facebook page ... and two more meetings

I've just set up a Facebook page for the Bournemouth meeting which is now only three weeks away! There hasn't been a New S&D meeting for a while as there were more immediate things to get done, but there are now three pencilled in for 2011. After the Bournemouth meeting we'll be holding one at my house in south Bristol, always legendary as our extensive wine stock is available free of charge, plus food etc! This will give a chance for members at the northern end of the line, plus the Midford workers, to get to know each other and hopefully knock out a progress plan for Midford - and perhaps a nothern Somerset end location in the not too distant future. Then there will be our AGM in November, in Templecombe, nice and central on the route and available to access by rail. All meetings will get Facebook groups as we get closer but for now only the Bournemouth meeting has one, which can be accessed by clicking here.

cycleways and railways - the future's big two!

We had an interesting email from a cyclist yesterday which brings up some interesting questions. I think the easiest way to address this is to simply reproduce the questions and answers here.
Personally I would like to see us broaden the aims of the New S&D to build a railway AND cycleway along (or near) the route, and would welcome your comments on this idea.

The email reads -

I am rather confused with the ambitious aims of this project which seem to contradict current policy within the local authorities.



Tremendous effort is being put in by North Dorset District and Dorset County Councils to re-open the line where possible for cyclist, equestrians and walkers.


Understandably, this has massive public support. Such use will be available to a wide range of users and hopefully those on low incomes to.It will have a minimum impact on the environment and will add to the public enjoyment of the countryside through which it passes. As this is predominantly a single track line I ask how you propose to re-open a railway and accommodate the Dorset Cycleway ?

I am aware how the Bodmin and Wenford railway intends to relay track on what has become the Camel Trail, however, there is room on the railway earth works to accommodate both. I do not believe that would be the case in Dorset.


Do you have the support of any of the local authorities ?


I find this a bizarre and perhaps over ambitious project. I am both a rail enthusiast and cyclist, but your project throws me completely.

I would be interested to hear from you.

My response was

The first thing to bear in mind is that this is a long term project, which will take decades rather than years to achieve.



The second point is that the S&D is predominantly a double track main line, there were a few short stretches of single track (Broadstone-Creekmoor, Blandford to Templecombe and Midford to Bath) so there is plenty of room for both a cycleway and a railway throughout. As far as I am aware the Dorset cycleway is mainly on double track sections of the route. Even where the line was single track most of the earthworks, bridges etc were built for double track – this was common on many single track railways, even branch lines.


It’s also important to bear in mind that we believe that Peak Oil and to a lesser extent Climate Change will force a huge rebuilding of the rail network, not simply a reversal of the Beeching cuts (which is of course already happening) but also lines to places that previously never had trains. We also believe that the road network will fall into gradual disuse, some of these roads may well then be converted into cycleways, bridleways etc.


The conversion of railways to cycleways was a bit of a stop gap measure to preserve the physical rights of ways of these lines which will be so essential in the future. We are just doing our tiny bit with a small project to ensure that the S&D gets to the top of the queue as railways are rebuilt. The fact that we are, in the main, railway enthusiasts too (with many cyclists on board as well) hopefully will ensure that the S&D is reinstated with the full participation of the people in the communities we pass through, rather than be bulldozered through by a government intent on restoring railways at all costs, which will be the most likely outcome as Peak Oil hits full on.


We already work closely with Sustrans at Midford and certainly intend to create both a top class railway and cycleway between Bath and the coast. The best thing is to get involved to ensure that your views are always to the fore, though as sustainable transport enthusiasts we are all just as keen on cycleways as we are on railways, rather like yourself!

DCC is certainly supportive of us but we have deliberately kept the project low key until recently, but a rapidly increasing membership is changing that! How things are now are not really much of a pointer as to how things will be in the future, but I’m sure you’ll agree that rail will be an enormously important part of the sustainable transport mix in an energy constrained future. For all of a bike’s utility we can’t really expect them to ever haul 1000 tonne loads over the Mendips! That will be our job ...