templecombe

"Joe Dunckley / Cotch.net"

connecting the community

This is the PC donated to the Trust through the BT Community Connections scheme.

We've finally found the time to set it up in the catering coach, where it will soon be Internet connected via WiFi. At the same time the coach will become a WiFi zone so that visitors can use their laptops - all free of charge.

inside track visit

We had a party of 26 arrive late this afternoon from Inside Track. They arrived not by train unfortunately but in this monstrosity!

We are getting more and more organised visits these days. Many groups combine a visit to MN with walks along closed sections of the S&D. Please email if you'd like to arrange a group visit to the line. We can cope with anything from a minibus to a couple of coaches the size of the one above. We'd normally arrange special opening of the shop, catering coach and signalbox and even - like today - have a loco running up and down.

new coach into position - video

This is one of the promised videos of the new coach arriving yesterday.

sunshine and shadows

A few shots taken yesterday after the excitement of the new arrival had passed and the early rain had changed to bright sunshine. There was an autumnal feel in the wind yesterday ...

new arrival

This coach body arrived today. Its history needs to be researched, but it's a good deal older than the Mark 1 we have on site!

Full marks to Steve Ehrlicher and his team for sourcing this wonderful vehicle - we can't wait to see it fully restored and become a real credit to the S&D!

It's been temporarily moved to the gap between the catering coach and the two recently repainted goods wagons. Hopefully I'll be able to download the video(s) of it being craned into position later.

combe down open again!

(Photo: Jeffery Grayer)

It's like buses - you wait for a Combe Down Tunnel walk for years then two come along together ...

It's open on 27th September thanks to our friends in the Two Tunnels Group.

For more info click here.

that atmosphere thing - again

(Rye, Alresford, Hove, Brockenhurst 1970s)

I think it's important that we get the atmosphere right on the new S&D. To my mind the S&D IS colour photos in the sun ... despite the winter shots posted a few days ago!

The above shots are all from Sussex and Hampshire in the early 70s. I've been digitalising all my photos, and these are some of my favourites. They are neither sunny or colour! Quite the opposite. So perhaps atmosphere is more difficult to pin down than I thought. Certainly my favourite shots at MN have been taken in fog or at dusk. Ponder ...

space monsters

An unusual shot - the platform lines clear of rolling stock!

We do have a problem with storage space at Midsomer Norton. Every inch of siding space together with most of the platform lines is usually blocked with wagons, coaches and locos. Sadly this is not going to change any time soon. The real problem is the steep gradient on the running lines which will prevent us using the reinstated up line as a long storage siding.

It's not all bad news. Lack of space means that every potential item of new stock needs to have an excellent case for coming to the line. Many heritage lines have long sidings of rusting wagons etc which really make the place look tatty. We won't have the option.

We do have a fair selection of rolling stock, but every item has to earn its keep, either as an engineering vehicle, for storage or as a museum piece that will bring in extra visitors. Hopefully when we reach Chilcompton and Radstock extra storage space can be developed!

winter is approaching ...

After a run of mild winters and warm summers (even this summer was actually warmer than average!) I wonder when we'll see scenes like the above again on the S&D? These shots are I think of the winter of 1963 when the line really struggled and was completely blocked for several days. The S&D seemed to excude atmosphere no matter what the weather - or perhaps we just happened to have the right sort of photographers who always seemed to be able to bring the best out of the line?

green park atmosphere

(Original by Michelle Howe)

I love this picture - a pared down and atmospheric interpretation of Bath Green Park. Thanks to Michelle for sending it to us.

step forward

The base of the greenhouse reappears.



The original basks in the background behind the Jinty.

After four years stuck in the office I've volunteered for something far more interesting - rebuilding the greenhouse. With Robin off to Cardiff for post-graduate work I've stepped in with the rash promise of getting it done myself! Expect slow but steady progress ...

bike to the future

A recent message board post suggested that we should oppose cycleways. This may have been a valid argument 20 years ago, as a reaction to the dinosaur thinking of some of the cycle groups in the 80s, but I really don't think it applies today.

Look ahead 20 years. Cheap oil will have disappeared from the market. Private cars will be the preserve of a few very rich people. Air travel will be the same. Economies will be much more locally and regionally based. Roads will fall into disuse as people refuse to pay taxes to maintain them. Railways will be being feverishly rebuilt across the country. Cities and larger towns will be rushing to build tramways. Rail will be in the ascendant ...

But even rail requires energy. A new nuclear industry may well allow many lines to be electrified, as long as uranium remains available. Many lines will use wood burning steam. But a transport system that requires almost no energy at all should also be allowed to flourish - the bike. There is already a reasonably large cycleway network in the UK, but Sustrans struggles to raise the money to keep it going, let alone expand. Some Sustrans routes use rail trackbeds that will inevitably have to revert to rail in the future. But of course within a decade or two there will be a whole new resource for Sustrans to transform - the dying road network! This should mean that a transformation of our transport from road to rail and bike should be fairly easy to achieve. Railways will be able to take the medium to long distance traffic, plus freight, whilst the cycleways will allow individuals and families to range up to 10 or 20 miles from their homes. The climate will benefit, people's health will benefit, wildlife and the countryside will flourish and we'll still be able to keep a reasonably high standard or living.

So let's not pretend the rail revivalists and cyclists are somehow at odds, we're actually destined to work TOGETHER in the future. Rather than knock Sustrans let's join in droves and invite them to join us ...

sabotaged but undefeated!

This is the original 'emergency' timetable forced on the S&D between 3 January and 6 March 1966, a final indignity to the finest line in England. Four trains a day between Bath and Bournemouth and just two on the branch! Hardly a 'service'. And more proof that the S&D closure was political rather than economic. No track rationalisation, no dieselisation (in case it encouraged users), traffic diverted away from the route and no attempt to push its incredible scenic appeal.

How those idiots from the sixties must be fuming in their graves as the S&D springs back to life!

a walk around the site, March 2007

A short video trip around the Midsomer Norton site culminating in an invitation to see the inside of the signalbox. just after the lever frame had been set in place.

a video trip along the line

Taken during this year's Midsummer at Midsomer event on 23 June, after a couple of hours on the computer Debs finally cracked how to get a video on line.

heritage open day 1

Three nice shots of Wulfric in the signalbox today. The station was very busy all day with visitors. It was nice to see that many of them were young - hopefully future members and volunteers of the Trust! Particular thanks today to Jeff Harris, Doug Auckland and Ann Cook who turned out all day to help visitors. All four new volunteers with an interest in working in the coach have been taken on - the first result being that we'll be open tomorrow (Sunday 9 September) up at the coach!



Danielle is more interested in posing than pulling levers ...

last reminder!

Just a gentle reminder that we're opening as part of the Heritage Days Out promotion over this coming weekend. With eight of us working in the catering coach we're hoping for a big turnout on the Saturday! The shop will be open over the weekend - we've had a huge new influx of secondhand stuff (mainly books) so hope to move some of it at 50p a time!

We'll have a few of the new Telegraphs available through the shop but come early for them - the first lot went like hot cakes, but then it is probably the best magazine in the heritage movement.

what lies beneath

Somebody asked via the comments area - what's wrong with prussian blue and LMS?

I thought my reply perhaps should reach a wider audience!

The problems are many! To remember the LMS you would need to be about 64, to remember S&D livery about 80. Most of us that are members of the Trust were inspired by our own memories of the line (invariably 1950s/60s BR) or by the photographic work of Ivo and others (again almost exclusively 1950s/60s). This was the heyday of the line and the era we're pledged to recreate - so the station, signal box and rolling stock need to be strictly in those liveries with no exceptions. Anything else will feel wrong and will sharply remind the visitor that they are at a 'heritage' or preserved site.

With a homogenous feel to the line hopefully whole new generations of fans will grow up seeing the new S&D as a real railway rather than a big train set! How many 'heritage' lines are nothing more than a heterogenous collection of visible egos, locos and wagons and coaches painted in whatever colour the owner or owning groups fancies? It's not good business and it's not right for what we're doing. All the owners we've advised the livery policy to have agreed 100% - they just want to see the S&D running again. It's gained us a lot of kudos in the heritage movement.

The S&D isn't like other 'heritage' or private lines, but a unique attempt to bring a WORKING steam railway back to Somerset and Dorset, a line that is steam because that's the most economic way to run a line and that does proper justice to the incredible 'heritage' of what the S&D is for most people - a classic English cross-country line of the 50s and 60s.

For Prussian blue and other colours that really do not do anything for most people, or are justified by their historic connontations only, then other sites such as Washford, who are not trying to recreate the S&D, exist to keep them happy.

And remember, 'Somerset and Dorset' was used right up to BR days to advertise/brand the route. It will always be the 1950s and 60s (for Shillingstone) look where stretches of the line are being restored. We've always been honest in our aims to rebuild the route
1950s style, as well as to provide a genuine transport link in this beautiful part of Wessex.

The Sentinel is going to look fantastic in black with a BR number, and the real test is to ask those who remember the Sentinels working what they'd prefer. And they've to a man said 'BR black'!

The S&D was an extraordinary line with a huge degree of support and love from the public. We owe it to them to recreate it as closely as we can to how they remember it, and to all those thousands of enthusiasts and countryside lovers who only knew it through the work of Ivo Peters, David Cross and others.

round up

Telegraph 30 included a donation form for the Reopening Fund - the response has been excellent after just two days, and thanks to everyone who's already contributed. You can of course donate via the sidebar on this site!

We've had a few comments about the 'LMS' brake van - rest assured that this will be repainted with BR(M) lettering very shortly! There are also plans to repaint No10 in two-tone green and the Sentinel will now be turned out in BR black rather than Prussian blue. This is all part of our intention to recreate the S&D as closely as possible to 1950s condition throughout - stations, locos and rolling stock.

We have THREE volunteers joining the catering team this Saturday - why not come along and make them feel at home? With luck this fresh blood should enable us to open every Sunday from the end of September.

Remember we are taking part in the Heritage Open Weekend this coming weekend so the station should be pretty lively and the weather forecast is good!