Campaign to reopen Didcot to Southampton railway

[whole diary]

[ellendune]

Didcot to Southampton railway to re-open

Campaign to reopen Didcot to Southampton railway

RAILWAY enthusiasts are hoping to reopen a long-closed Hampshire railway line.

The Didcot to Southampton Railway, axed in the Beeching cuts of the 1960s, ran through Newbury to Winchester which is connected with the mainline at Shawford.

Rex Hora, chairman of Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Railway Revival, said the predicted increase in freight traffic meant that the idea was feasible.

Mr Hora admitted that much of the track has been built on but that in the long-term it will be needed to cope with the growth in freight traffic between Southampton Docks and the Midlands.

He said that although the Southampton-Winchester-Basingstoke-Reading line has been upgraded for larger containers, it still has only two tracks so its capacity is limited.

Once the former line is re-opened for freight there will be the opportunity for direct passenger services between Oxford, Newbury and Winchester, without the need to go via Reading.

Mr Hora said the priority was the northern section between Didcot and Whitchurch.

He said: ^In an ideal world we would like to open the whole line. South of Whitchurch we might have to go for a detour via Salisbury.

^The main argument is freight traffic from Southampton to the Midlands. At the moment it goes through Winchester but the line is nearing capacity. They are either going to have to consider upgrading to four tracks or having a separate route, perhaps via Salisbury, at some stage in the next couple of decades.^

Chris Webb is a member of the Friends of Hockley Viaduct which campaigned for the viaduct south of Winchester to be restored and reopened for public use.

Mr Webb said: ^It^s far too late. Much of the track bed has been obliterated, by the Newbury bypass, the A34 at Litchfield near Whitchurch and at Kings Worthy. At Bar End there is the Chesil multi-storey car park and the Stagecoach depot.

^To recreate it now would be very difficult and very expensive. I think it is a dodo.^

I fear I must agree with the last comment.  It never should have been closed, but it was never run as a through route for freight or passengers. It was always run as a branch line. So it never achieved its potential. 

If you want a separate route the Midland & South Western Junction from Swindon to Andover might be a more practical bet.

[Electric train]

I don't think the flat junction at Didcot did any favours either.  I think they will struggle to get it rebuilt the A34 sits on quite a lot of it and some of the cuttings have been used for landfill.

If it had remained today now doubt it would be a busy route

[Lee]

^To recreate it now would be very difficult and very expensive. I think it is a dodo.^

Woah, not so fast. Can I get a Squirrel Formula quote? 

[paul7575]

Rex Hora aka R Hoaxer...   

Some gullible journalists around...

Paul

[Electric train]

Oh and here's the website, its been around for a couple of years.

http://dnsrr.angelfire.com/

Like "The New S & D Rly" group I admire their optimism 

[bobm]

Rex Hora aka R Hoaxer...   

Some gullible journalists around...

Paul

No he really exists - I lived half a dozen doors away from him for much of my childhood.

[paul7575]

Rex Hora aka R Hoaxer...   

Some gullible journalists around...

Paul

No he really exists - I lived half a dozen doors away from him for much of my childhood.

You surprise me.   

It's completely hypothetical though, and hanging this idea on 'freight capacity' flies in the face of everything NR^» (Network Rail - home page) have published in the last few years.  They already have their plans to deal with extra freight from Southampton, they've said the route via Laverstock and Andover will take some extra freight, and after that they'll gauge clear via Westbury and Melksham...

In any case one of the stated main aims is to allow 25 kV haulage of freight from Southampton to the midlands and I think DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and NR have already got that covered...

Paul

[grahame]

It's completely hypothetical though, and hanging this idea on 'freight capacity' flies in the face of everything NR^» (Network Rail - home page) have published in the last few years.  They already have their plans to deal with extra freight from Southampton, they've said the route via Laverstock and Andover will take some extra freight, and after that they'll gauge clear via Westbury and Melksham...

In any case one of the stated main aims is to allow 25 kV haulage of freight from Southampton to the midlands and I think DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and NR have already got that covered...

And it would be orders of magnitude cheaper to redouble that existing line that was singled as late as the 1960s than to re-instate the other lines mentioned which (I think) were never double tracked throughout.  And a double track, shared with hourly / half hourly passenger trains, is going to have much more capacity than a single track.  Your issue with a "via Swindon" scenario on a double track TransWilts is going to be Royal Wootton Bassett to Didcot capacity. But then if the wires also go from Bristol to Birmingham and you have four tracks up Filton Bank

[eightf48544]

The DNS^▸ (Domain name service) is a classic example of what you can do with a railway line if you are fighting a World War.

During WW2 it was doubled from Didcot to Newbury and station loops lengthened South of Newbury. Plus an additonal junctio from the LSWR^▸ (London South Western Railway) mainline north of Winchester in case the viaduct South of Winchester Chesil was bombed. See Glasson.

I never travelled on it although I did get to Winchester Chesil from Southmpton.

I also saw City of Truo at Eastleigh on a DNS train  when it was shedded at Didcot in the late 50s and operating on the main line.

[TonyK]

But then if the wires also go from Bristol to Birmingham and you have four tracks up Filton Bank

Despite the apparent truncation, I agree entirely. Four Track, Now!, I say. The Electric Spine, shown in HLOS^▸ (High Level Output Specification), is intended to increase capacity from Southampton to practically anywhere.

[didcotdean]

This website includes an amateur film of a journey from Newbury to Didcot in the year of closure to regular passenger service.

I note that they have accepted that the alignment in Didcot itself has completely gone. This site looks at the recent state of the whole route.

[Red Squirrel]

^To recreate it now would be very difficult and very expensive. I think it is a dodo.^

Woah, not so fast. Can I get a Squirrel Formula quote? 

I'm sayin' nuffin.

[IndustryInsider]

Thinking about it though, this could form part of a new main line linking Southampton and Aberystwyth via Newbury, Didcot, Cirencester, Monmouth, and Carmarthen.  Yours for under the cost of the current HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) proposals.  Just.   

[didcotdean]

They could build the started but not completed Compton to East Ilsley branch line too ....

[Red Squirrel]

Thinking about it though, this could form part of a new main line linking Southampton and Aberystwyth via Newbury, Didcot, Cirencester, Monmouth, and Carmarthen.  Yours for under the cost of the current HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) proposals.  Just.   

You left out Padstow... maybe a tunnel from Padstow to the Mumbles, via Lundy?