Melksham Railway Development Group, 2011

The Melksham Railway Development Group meets every 2 months at Melksham Town Hall, and the following Fridays are booked for this year ...

January 28th 2011, March 25th 2011, June 3rd 2011, September 2nd 2011, November 4th 2011, November 25th 2011

A very great deal has been written (and is being written Wink

) about the TransWilts Rail line as a whole, and one of the major communities on the line is Melksham, where the station was closed by Dr Beeching (or rather - on his behalf!) in 1966 at which point the population of Melksham was around 12,500; it re-opened in 1985 (when the population of the surrounding built up area was around 18,000) for a commuter service into Swindon and has had some ups and downs since. This year's census will give a population for the equivalent area of around 25,000 - that's around double the number of people in 1966 (and the UK^▸ as a whole has only risen from 53 million to 61 million - that's 15%).

Over the intervening years from 1966 to 2011, Melksham has lost a great number of manual jobs that were traditionally done by people who lived close by - Spencers / GEC Mechanical Handling has gone, Cooper Tires (formerly Avon Tyres) now employs far fewer people than it used to. But this is progress, with things being much more automated and efficient in remaining factories, and new jobs in new industries coming into the area. The Bowerhill Industrial Area was part of the closing RAF^▸ base (RAF Melksham) in the 1960s, and now it thrives. Industry has grown at Challymead, at Roundponds which is just across from the Station, and around the station itself, and elsewhere (modern industries spring up in all sorts of places, and don't often take much space / may go almost unnoticed). But people who work in these specialist modern industries are much more likely to live outside Melksham, and Melksham people much more likely to commute out - to Trowbridge or Westbury, to Swindon or Chippenham, to Bath or Bristol, than they used to be.

In 1966, Melksham station was on the outskirts of the town. More recent developments has extended the town, and in particular its retail side, toward the railway. Leekes, the out of town department store, adjoins the railway just a few hundred yards north of the station. Asda are - as I write - building a new store adjoining the railway a few hundred yards south of the station, and it should be open this summer. Countrywide opened their new store in November, and again it's close to the railway (right next to Asda!). And there are smaller shops and retail services too - Aldi, McDonalds, a Newsagent, Subway, a Chinese restaurant, a pine furniture shop, a 'chippy', etc, all very close by the station.

http://www.leekes.co.uk/store-locator/melksham/stry/melksham/
http://www.asdamelksham.co.uk/the_new_store.html
http://www.countrywidefarmers.co.uk/pws/Content.ice?page=NewStoreOpening&pgForward=businesscontentbasic

But the MRDG^» has things to do!

The train service at present is very much lower than is appropriate - in fact, it's so low (and distorted away from offering a truely peak / commuter service) that ridership is light. So MRDG is working alongside other parties to bring the service up to something that's right for the line and potential users.

Although Leekes, Asda and Countrywide (and the other places listed) are close to the station, there aren't direct walking routes to any of them for customers arriving / leaving by train. So MRDG is supporting and encouraging, with some success, activities that will allow people to reach the retail outlets from the station.

The station itself is basic; the old buildings were demolished after the station was closed in 1966 - a shame, as today they would have made a wonderful focal point. So MRDG is taking the bare bones that we have and helping small steps be taken that add up to things which in totality are quite significant.

MRDG is supported by Melksham Town Council, and by Melksham Without Parish Council. It also runs events for publicity, such as the very popular Santa trip every December, and any profits from these events are ploughed back into the group.

Meetings are informal - please feel free to come along, or to contact the secretary via mrdg@btinternet.com ... or if you're nervous of approaching / coming and meeting a group of strangers, you're welcome to p.m. me; other committments allowing, these are meetings I attend. A lot of backroom stuff, but very useful and a real opportunity to do something at the moment.