Marlborough Branch?

[whole diary]

[patch38]

On the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) News Wiltshire site:

A ^30m plan to re-establish a railway station at a Wiltshire town is to be presented to the government.

The proposal for Marlborough is backed by the town's Chamber of Commerce and Devizes MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) Claire Perry, and has been drafted by a community group.

Transition Marlborough said a rail link to the town should be restored as the nearest station is 14 miles away.

Passenger rail services to and from Marlborough were withdrawn in 1961 as part of the Beeching Act.

Transition Marlborough's Graham Francis said many people who have moved to the town in the last 30 years commute to London.

He said: "The opportunity to put that line back where it was in the sixties is something that should be seriously considered."

The proposed new branch line, off the main London to Westbury line at Savernake, would stretch for five miles and see a new station opposite the Marlborough Business Park.

MP Claire Perry said she supported the scheme and would be contacting Rail Minister Stephen Hammond to discuss the proposal.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-27062674

[paul7575]

Passenger rail services to and from Marlborough were withdrawn in 1961 as part of the Beeching Act.

If that BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) date is correct this is yet another incorrect attribution of a closure to Beeching.  He wrote his main report published in '63, and another in '65. 

PS Marlborough is not mentioned in the lists of stations in the first Beeching report, presumably because it had already closed...

I don't think it is ever normally referred to as the Beeching Act either...   

Paul

[Red Squirrel]

This has raised its head before: http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=4691.0

Personally I welcome ideas like this (I think it is rather stretching things to call it a 'plan') because they show how much pent-up demand there is for rail. And maybe it would be cheaper to buy every denizen of Marlborough a Land Rover and a tank full of fuel, but would it be better?

[ChrisB]

My first question is to ask how many currently commute to their nearest railhead from Marlborough?....

Suspect the main users (in terms of numbers) would be schoolkids...

[patch38]

A lot of Marlburians (or can you only call them that if they have been to the College?) drive to Bedwyn and park. This has caused a number of local issues and has cropped up in previous threads. I'd imagine a few use Swindon as well.

[Btline]

Just build a parkway station on the B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury) and enhance the service.
Could also build a Deizves parkway.

The overall service on the B&H is a mess and needs sorting.
Trains to the SW should be non stop, but there should be a mix of semi fast and stopping services over the route.

[grahame]

Transition Marlborough said a rail link to the town should be restored as the nearest station is 14 miles away.

Marlborough to Bedwyn is 6 or 7 miles.  They don't help their case with such errors as people will wonder what else is stretching the truth.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

Another "pie in the sky" reopening to add to the many other proposed reopenings made without mention of finance to pay for the reopening and, probably more importantly, the finance to pay for the continuing running expenses.

[Electric train]

Will it pass the GRIP^▸ (Guide to Railway Investment Projects) 1 phase for railway investment, even tougher at GRIP 2.  Look how long it took Eastwest Rail to build their case, bigger project I know it is scalable

[grahame]

An update to this story from The Gazette and Herald

Station plan is derailed by red tape

CAMPAIGNERS believe ‘ridiculous’ barriers are being put in the way of a railway proposal for Marlborough by Wiltshire Council.

Dreams of creating a railway in Marlborough were dealt a blow after the town heard it was at the bottom of a council list of towns likely to have a station built in Wiltshire.

Article continues

The easiest stations to (re-)open, all other things being equal, are going to be those which are on an existing passenger railway and a suitable train is going through the site that could call.  Second are going to be stations on existing passenger lines where there's a question mark over which trains could actually be persuaded to stop there.   Third comes re-openings on lines where there's existing freight traffic but the line's not up to daily passenger standards.   Fourth come lines that have been mothballed, fifth come lines that have been ripped up, sixth come lines that have been ripped up, land disposed of, bridges removed, embankments pulled down and cuttingsfilled in. Bottom of the list - grade seven - are lines where there have never been lines before.

Wiltshire has managed to complete two openings in the last 100 years - Dilton Marsh in 1937, grade 1, and Melksham in 1985, grade 2.    Regrettably, Marlborough, Calne, Amesbury, Malmesbury and Devizes (town rather than Parkway) and all in grade 5 or 6. Not so much "bottom of the council list" I fear, but rather on a different list. The cost of a grade 5 or 6 re-opening would be several orders of magnitude greater than the cost of a grade 1 or grade 2 - and we struggle hard enough, good heavens, for each of those. 

The good news for the Marlboroughites is that pound for pound, they'll probably have to fight less hard than we do for stations on existing lines.  The bad news is that they'll need a hundred times more pounds than would be needed to open a station at - say - Hullavington (Malmesbury Road) and ten times more than would be needed for Ludgershall.

[Bmblbzzz]

The good news for the Marlboroughites is that pound for pound, they'll probably have to fight less hard than we do for stations on existing lines.  The bad news is that they'll need a hundred times more pounds than would be needed to open a station at - say - Hullavington (Malmesbury Road) and ten times more than would be needed for Ludgershall.

I've always reckoned Hullavington would be a good site for a station; there's Hullavington village itself and Stanton St Quintin, the RAF^▸ (Royal Air Force) base and of course it would be "Malmesbury Parkway".

This has raised its head before: http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=4691.0

Personally I welcome ideas like this (I think it is rather stretching things to call it a 'plan') because they show how much pent-up demand there is for rail. And maybe it would be cheaper to buy every denizen of Marlborough a Land Rover and a tank full of fuel, but would it be better?

Of course it would not. No one in Marlborough would drive anything less than a Range Rover. 

[patch38]

and of course it would be "Malmesbury Parkway".

Or "Dyson Parkway"...

[rogerw]

As information for those not in the know or local to Wiltshire. Dyson are building a new R & D facility on Hullavington airfield. Hence Dyson Parkway

[ray951]

As information for those not in the know or local to Wiltshire. Dyson are building a new R & D facility on Hullavington airfield. Hence Dyson Parkway

They trains that stop at Malmesbury Parkway presumably wouldn't hoover up all the passengers, but could leave a vacuum and GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) could take them to the cleaners. 

[Bmblbzzz]

The station buildings would have to be built to withstand extreme weather, such as cyclones.