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

england's smallest city

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

One of the hardest S&D stations to get pictures of is Wells Priory Road, and even this one doesn't actually show the station. Befitting its status as a city - even if it is England's smallest - Wells once had three stations. Now  it doesn't even have one!

Wells S&D was at the end of a branch from Glastonbury, running rather against the flow of traffic, which probably explains its early closure in 1953. Of course Wells kept a passenger service on its other line, the Yatton to Witham Friary line. for another 10 or 11 years.

Wells will of course need trains again in the near future as the road network starts to fail us. Whilst the Cheddar Valley route will probably be a prime candidate for reopening - it has been conveniently maintained almost throughout as a cycleway, deliberately preserving the trackbed for future rail use - a Glastonbury to Wells link will almost certainly follow.

Wells is a lovely city with plenty to attract tourists, but its current lack of a railway station is extraordinary. Hopefully that situation will change sooner rather than later!

pylle

(Source unknown)

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

Pylle was the first station (later halt) on the branch to Burnham from Evercreech Junction. The passing loop was taken out of use in the 1920s. Once the main line of the S&D, this route became the branch after the Bath Extension was opened in 1874. This history was the reason the branch took the straight route from Evercreech whilst the main line curved away.

A classic British branch line, immortalised in a BBC film by John Betjeman in the early 60s, this line settled down to a fairly peaceful existence once the Bath Extension stole all the S&D's glory.

I do worry that this branch (and the other S&D branches) will be a little neglected in the buzz of rail reinstatement in the 21st century, but of course it does serve the important town of Glastonbury and, via another S&D branch off a branch, the smallest English city of Wells. These places will return to the network eventually, but whether the branch will simply be rebuilt as it was or a new line built to serve the two larger destinations we will have to wait and see. It really depends on what the people living along the route decide.

shapwick

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

On the branch today, two excellent shots of Shapwick, both late 50s/early 60s.

The branch is something of a dilemma to us. Whilst clearly Wells andf Glastonbury both need to be connected to the network ASAP, as does Burnham, it's not clear that a long branch connecting at Evercreech and Highbridge is the best way to serve these places in the future. Glastonbury and Wells would probably benefit more from a logical route across the Mendips to a junction somewhere in the Masbury area, giving this sizeable town and city a direct connection to Bristol and Bath. But perhaps a change at Highbridge or Evercreech is not such a bad option from the economic point of view. There's also the Cheddar Valley route that shadows this line somewhat to the north, which could perhaps be used instead, linking Wells and Glastonbury to Yatton. There's also the flooding problem on the original branch, which will only get worse with time.

The only definite re the branch is that clearly both Wells and Glastonbury will need rail connection in the not too distant future!

the S&D's second city

Photo © John Thorn

This is Wells Priory Road in 1963/64. Wells in England's smallest city and once boasted three stations. This branch of the S&D was the first major section of the route to close, the branch connecting to the Highbridge line (itself a branch) at Glastonbury. There was of course a more logical route through Wells via the Cheddar Valley which explains the early closure.

How Wells will be served by trains in the future is still undecided. It will be essential to connect Glastonbury and Wells back to the network though whether it will be via the line to Highbridge, Evercreech, the Cheddar Valley route (to either Witham or Yatton) or perhaps even by a new direct route over the Mendips to join the main line near Masbury ... who can tell at this early stage?

doubt, localisation, squeeze

Doubt - I really do think that the US military's bombshell that Peak Oil will really begin to hit by 2015 with a 10 million barrels of oil a day shortfall has completely changed the game. The days of talk of air expansion, road development, heritage railways and lack of funds for tram schemes are over. Dead. Finished. So where does the doubt come in? I do wonder if we should have started the New S&D five, or even ten, years ago. That would have allowed us to build the team and organisation much earlier, giving us even more of a head start. But we still are ahead of everyone else. The S&D WILL be rebuilt, I've never had doubts about that, but we need to do it PROPERLY. This is really an appeal for everyone who reads this blog (now normally over 200 of you every day!) to get INVOLVED. Send money, join, join the committee, become an officer, press our case wherever you are.

Localisation - an inevitable consequence of the soon-to-be-upon-us energy crisis will be that everything and everybody will need to travel more economically - fewer miles where possible and by rail everywhere. This will mean that a whole range of new businesses will spring up to supply the goods and services that we currently buy from all around the world. Pic 2 is of a cheese press in Cheddar today, notice that it was made locally at Wincanton (on the S&D of course!) And no doubt it could still do the same job today and with no energy inputs. This will become much more commonplace.

Squeeze. How the energy crisis will hit us as individuals is anybody's guess, but I imagine we'll first notice the relentless rise in prices of petrol and diesel at the pump, coupled with the rising costs of gas and electricity. More and more of us will use our cars less and less, and where decent public transport is in place we'll abandon them altogether.

In Cheddar today it was sad to see that everybody was coming in by road. Cheddar is one of those remarkable places that are currently not served by rail. Stupid, as their line previously also served the large communities of Shepton Mallet and Wells, as well as linking two GWR main lines! The line will of course be restored in the future, and I suspect a tramway will also run up to the gorge and even perhaps through it, keeping the tourist trade going.

branching out

Two above courtesy Jeffery Grayer.


Courtesy Adrian Vaughan.

We'd like to welcome Steve Overthrow on board the New S&D team. He'd only discovered this blog a few days ago, has since joined and is now acting as track steward for Evercreech Junction to Burnham and the Bridgwater North and Wells branches. He will also be taking a keen interest in these branch affairs via a co-opted committee role. He has a long family history with the 'branch'.

We have always intended to restore the branches as well as the main line. All S&D branches served important towns and a city - Wimborne, Wells, Glastonbury, Burnham and Bridgwater - and also provided potential modern transport to many villages en route.

Restoration of the branch presents few physical obstructions and compared to the main line follows a very easy and lightly-engineered route. Early on I mooted restoration of Burnham-Highbridge or even an isolated (at first) route between Wells and Glastonbury as possible first steps towards restoration of the branch, mainly to find our feet as rail operators and to show that we are very serious. I can imagine Parry People Movers (of which more tomorrow) being ideal transport on these flat routes. The branch had a particular charm which I think will be recovered when it is restored - the landscape through which it runs has changed little during the four decades of temporary closure.

reorientation

We are all in for a big reorientation over the next 20 to 30 years.

With respect to the rebuilt S&D we are not only looking at restoring the 'classic' routes, Bournemouth to Bath and Evercreech to Burnham, but adding extra capacity and flexibility by including new links to Brockenhurst via Wimborne and Ringwood and to Bristol via Pensford, and also looking at the whole provision of rail to Glastonbury and Wells by not dismissing the possibility of building a wholly new route from these two important tourist towns over the Mendips to a junction near Masbury rather than simply restoring the original route from Evercreech Junction. We also expect that the entire main line will need to be double tracked including the long Blandford to Templecombe section, though with the obvious proviso of physical limitations north of Midford into Bath!

In the wider transport field all communities will need to look at how they are actually arranged. Suburbs, where they are still viable, will need trams or ULR to continue to allow them to thrive. Businesses needing incoming and outgoing transport will need to be located next to a rail or tram route with larger concerns having private sidings. Many industries will need to reconnect using their own private industrial lines. Whole swathes of manufacturing and service industries will vanish with the withering of pure consumerism. Seaside resorts benefitting from an improving (warming) climate and the end of cheap air travel will need to ensure they are connected to the network and outlying parts of their resort connected to the nearest network station by tram. Everything will need to be sustainable both in embedded energy and energy used to operate. Farms will need to be connected to the network by light rail to allow produce to reach markets which will also, of course, need to be rail served.

And individually, and as families, we will all need to reorientate the way we live. Within 20 to 30 years the idea that we once all - or nearly all - had access to private motorised transport will seem incredible. The electric car, now the only serious option in a post-oil society, will wither on the vine as the roads themselves fail without affordable materials for repair and under the new political regimes that will do everything they can to reduce private transport, using the oil price first, then rationing then actually outlawing private vehicles. This will not of course be a concatenation of political decisions but economic imperatives, so will be applicable to anyone who is voted in. None of this is rocket science.

We'll need to change the way we work, many of us will have to relocate, as close as we can to rail transport, grow our own food and live more locally-based lives. Personally I hope we retain our love of travel even if many are counting on us giving it all up. I don't think this will be the end of history or of, indeed, progress. But I do think we are all going to have to sit back and relax for a few generations until everything is totally reorientated towards a truly sustainable society. Once that's in place technology can start to develop again. I'm sorry if I'm an incurable optimist, but it's a position I've arrived at after many decades of pushing the boundaries!

(Apologies for using continental European images for this article - but they are so far ahead of us!!)

we are definitely not alone!

(Bottom pic Mick Knox)

Just posted to the message board -

I'm afraid the problems with aiming at restoring any railway, seem to be people who have no interest in providing a SERVICE eventually. Its all about playing ( ! ) "choo - choo's" and thier own self importance. There are several railways where this attitude is prevelant.

To my way of thinking, the ULTIMATE aim should be LONG railways LINKING towns, villages and other population areas that will provide an alternative to overcrowded and unsuitable roads. I imagine quite a few people who are dead because of road traffic accidents on poorly maintained and overused roads would possibly be alive and well today HAD the railways been left and used, and they had the option of travelling by rail.

However, the point of the exercise above all else in 'preservation' should be, first and foremost, track mileage and the aqquisition of such mileage BEFORE any stock or buildings are envisioned. Maybe the East Somerset COULD have reached Wells or EVEN Cheddar by now HAD the priority been track miles as opposed to engine sheds etc! All very pretty, but what use is 2 miles of track which terminate NOWHERE ! People soon tire of the short little 'hops', but if the S&D could link, say Sturminster to Blandford for example, there would be a possibility of providing local people with regular, safe and reliable transport for shopping, business and leisure also, but not least: The railway would provide JOBS from staff, to engineering to all aspects of training YOUNG people towards a sustainable and progressive industry on the rails!

Ideally, the COMPLETE restoration of S&D metals to the south coast and Bristol Channel again, with ALL towns and cities LINKED once again. Wells, Glastonbury, Bridgwater, Wimborne, Blandford, Poole and Bournemouth with 'main line' rail links at Templecombe, Poole, Bristol and Highbridge so it would be possible to travel CONTINOUSLY by rail to say Minehead via GW and West Somerset or Portsmouth via Poole and Southern main line etc etc. In other words a new NETWORK.

it begins

(photos Mick Knox - S&D 6.3.2006)

I had a frantic email from Mick Knox today. He was off - immediately - to photograph the Bletchley-Claydon line. The engineers were out clearing the route ready for an engineering assessment prior to reopening. This is part of the Oxford-Cambridge line, closed - incredibly - in the 60s. He had hoped to get shots of the route before any disturbance.

Also I've just read that the Waverley route rebuilding will start a year earlier than planned, in 2010. This was another double track main line closed (in 1969), against the wishes of just about everybody. The new section will be the 35 miles from Edinburgh to Tweedbank, the cost of restoration is only £250 million. Compare this with the money wasted on road building! It will still leave Hawick rail-less, though this shouldn't be for much longer, the locals are already clamouring for its reconnection. Hawick is far too large a town to lack any form of modern transport. No doubt Peebles and Biggar will also want reconnecting to the 21st century once the rails start reappearing in the Scottish Borders.

This is good news for the S&D. Where Scotland leads England will no doubt follow. It is ridiculous that large towns (and a city!) like Midsomer Norton, Radstock, Shepton Mallet, Wincanton, Wells, Glastonbury and - incredibly - Blandford still lack any sort of sustainable transport as we approach the second decade of the twenty first century.

Our task becomes easier as each day passes.

options for the 'New'

The New S&D will hope to quite quickly set up a short section of line to announce our presence and intent to the world! Ideally the line would be a few miles long and would, right from the start, fulfil a genuine transport need.

My own views are that the following sections would fulfil this - Burnham to Highbridge (up platform side) and Wells to Glastonbury. I'd like to see a mix of utilitarian (and inexpensive) trains such as the Parry People Mover and a steam worked tourist service. Both would need to be economically viable. Burnham has the advantage of a captive market and a seaside destination, as well as a network connection, but Glastonbury to Wells would link a prime tourist destination to England's smallest (and probably most attractive) city. Both lines would be under 3 miles long, ideal for a start up.

The Wells line also has the advantage of being expandable towards a connection - ie by heading east from Glastonbury back to Evercreech then down to Templecombe (or by a connection at Bruton at first). Beyond that the line could be extended northwards to Shepton Mallet, giving a useful network with connections to the main line - and becoming tantalisingly close to the Midsomer Norton line as it heads southwards.

But this is all a long way into the future! But a PPM at Midsomer Norton would be a nice start!

the bigger picture

It's helpful sometimes to set what we're doing at Midsomer Norton into perspective. The S&D was over 100 miles long. We can drive for two hours and still be on the route. This week we were down in deepest Dorset yet crossed the S&D near Creekmoor, a few weeks ago on the Bristol Channel coast and there was the S&D again, at Burnham. Wimborne, Wells, Bridgwater, Bath, Glastonbury, Broadstone - all once saw S&D trains - and will again. Down at Shillingstone the S&D is beginning to reappear, on many points on the route you'll find solid, timeless reminders of the line. It is as if everyone realised the 'closure' of the S&D was just a phase, that it would be back sooner or later. Because a restored S&D, even without the converging catastrophes (for roads at least!) of Peak Oil and Climate Change, is inevitable. Large towns like Norton-Radstock, Blandford, Glastonbury and Wimborne will not survive in the future without modern transport. Businesspeople will still need markets, children will still need to get to school, people will still need to commute to work, hopefully we'll still have enough leisure time (even in a harsher world) to travel for pleasure or to find peace and quiet. The new S&D will sit perfectly into the new world, be an asset and give our area and country an edge against those that didn't see the future until too late, who stupidly tried to hang on to the past whilst the future overtook them.

We're being empowered at the local and regional level, no-one considers restoring a railway as a 'hobby' these days. Rail is back in a big, big way, on the network and outside of it. The S&D will always lead others in this respect because we look to the future rather than the past.