Apply for your new station here....

[whole diary]

[swrural]

@The trout.

Excellent original thought D.  Actually the line to S.M. can be taken down to the old Tesco site there without much difficulty and I am not sure why the preservationists do not plan that, as there is good parking access.

[onthecushions]

1. How about:

Marlborough and Burbage Parkway
Devizes Parkway
Somerton
Loddon Bridge (P & R)
and possibly Twickenham (Platform 2, to allow up SWT^▸ (South West Trains) trains to overtake between Ascot and Barnes).

2. Could this money also be used to provide adequate platform lengths?

3. Does NR^» (Network Rail - home page) have suitable low-cost prefabrication methods (like the SR^‡(resolve) Exmouth concrete works) to make good use of the money or is this another rail contractors' holiday benefit?


OTC

[Chris from Nailsea]

How about Cullompton and Wellington? 

[thetrout]

@The trout.

Excellent original thought D.  Actually the line to S.M. can be taken down to the old Tesco site there without much difficulty and I am not sure why the preservationists do not plan that, as there is good parking access.

Excellent Further Suggestion there. I didn't think about the "Old Tesco Site" (Don't know when you were last in SM, But the old Tesco Store is now a Dobbies Garden Centre ). But even so, the parking for a Garden Centre is pretty much overkill so a very good suggestion. The station could be sited next to the Garden Centre and if Car Parking became an issue, then use the already existing car park at the Defunct Focus DIY store just across the road. Or my original suggestion and use the Focus DIY site for a Park & Bus/Rail Ride to a new station just outside the town?

Also how could I forget Taunton - Minehead? Then shift all the Butlins Holiday Makers from the Over Capacity 28 Bus Service onto a direct Taunton - Minehead or even Bristol Temple Meads - Minehead?

Finally. CfN's suggestions of Cullompton & Wellington are very do-able at low cost. The former just needing a new station installed along the existing GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line). A possible good site is where the Motorway Service Area is. Then the car park can be expanded and you'd certainly be able to turn a bus or three around in there. Expanding on both CfN's idea and the Minehead one, Norton Fitzwarren could also be a good suggestion. Again, all the kit is still there!

[swrural]

You get chicken and egg situations with all this.  Chard 'Parkway' (was Junction) is, despite itself being on a passing loop, awaiting the full doubling of the line, before it can realistiacally be proposed, unfortunately.  The local MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) (David Laws, heard of him?) has tried to get the old branch station area reserved as a station car park but has had no cooperation from anyone.   To whet our host's lips, what does he think of a direct service from Swindon to Exeter?  So redouble Salisbury to Exeter and then start looking at possibilities.  Exeter to Southampton via Yeovil and Bournemouth  - and so it goes on.

Chard Parkway really is the no-brainers of all no-brainers.

[grahame]

From the Somerset County Gazette

PLANS of bringing a railway station to Wellington are progressing as it is revealed the project will cost around £15million to complete.

Somerset West and Taunton Council has been tasked with raising £1.5million to ensure progress can continue.

The idea was floated in 2017 as the government announced intentions to reopen stations which were closed in the Beeching cuts in the 1960s, which includes the Wellington station that first opened in 1843.

[johnneyw]

How about Cullompton and Wellington? 

Wellington at least might be moving a bit:

https://www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk/news/17959944.plans-wellington-railway-station-taking-shape/

Edit: Bah, should have checked that no one had already reported this. 😕