Reopening of Kemble to Cirencester Branch Line (merged topic, ongoing discussion)

[whole diary]

[ellendune]

Has anyone seen this proposal to reopen the Cirencester branch from Kemble to Chesterton Lane on the outskirts of Cirencester?

Cirencester Community Railway

[ChrisB]

4 miles? Just right for a bus?

[grahame]

4 miles? Just right for a bus?

comparison with other restored / restoring public transport corridors

Bere Alston to Tavistock (pop 11k), 5 miles
Kemble to Cirencester (pop 19k), 5 miles
Brigend to Maesteg (pop 20k), 9 miles
Stirling to Alloa (pop 18k), 7.5 miles
Cambridge to St Ives (pop 16k), 16 miles

From Cirencester, the 4 miles is a bit of a red herring as most passengers would be headed for Swindon.  But is there capacity south of Kemble.   Oh - wait  - there is now!

[John R]

Some very suspect assumptions in the document.

Cost of 5km of reinstated track and ballast is put at 300k - that sounds very light.

The comment about adding a halt purely for the B&B also raised an eyebrow. Really? Constructing a halt purely for one B&B? And you can stop the train there by sending a text or an email.

Finally, it talks about having a battery operated vehicle to minimise noise pollution, although it then states that such technology doesn't exist yet, but later on assumes that one of the 3 ROSCOs^» (Rolling Stock Owning Company - about) will be willing to provide suitable rolling stock. Yeah, right?  They're going to be falling over themselves to provide one unit of a design type that doesn't yet exist. (And why is noise such an issue for a unit that will shuttle up and down a couple of times an hour.)

Ironically, I think there are worse candidates for reinstatement of a branch line, but it needs a better thought through proposal than this.

[ellendune]

I agree with al that has been said.

I think the only service that would make sense would be a Cirencester to Swindon Service, with possible additional stops at Kemble, Purton and Moredon Bridge (for the large estates in North Swindon).

[patch38]

The best route for that is the old Midland and South Western Junction Railway from Cirencester to Swindon, some of which still exists as the Swindon and Cricklade heritage line. The trouble is that bits of Cricklade and most of North Swindon have now encroached on the old line so it would be a non-starter.

[eightf48544]

The best route for that is the old Midland and South Western Junction Railway from Cirencester to Swindon, some of which still exists as the Swindon and Cricklade heritage line. The trouble is that bits of Cricklade and most of North Swindon have now encroached on the old line so it would be a non-starter.

I agree with al that has been said.

I think the only service that would make sense would be a Cirencester to Swindon Service, with possible additional stops at Kemble, Purton and Moredon Bridge (for the large estates in North Swindon).

The S&C^▸ (Settle and Carlisle ) have plans for station on the Kemble line somewhere in North Swindon.

So a Swindon - Cirencester service with new stations could be a runner.

[ellendune]

The best route for that is the old Midland and South Western Junction Railway from Cirencester to Swindon, some of which still exists as the Swindon and Cricklade heritage line. The trouble is that bits of Cricklade and most of North Swindon have now encroached on the old line so it would be a non-starter.

Re-opening the MSWJ line from a new junction at Moredon to Cirencester via Cricklade would be a much bigger and more expensive project and although it would add Cricklade to the traffic that is only the same size as Purton so the traffic generated would be little different.

[eightf48544]

A Swindon S Bahn service!

[Chris from Nailsea]

The comment about adding a halt purely for the B&B also raised an eyebrow. Really? Constructing a halt purely for one B&B?

Interestingly, John R, there is a precedent for just such an arrangement - on the other old branch line out of Kemble, towards Tetbury: Trouble House Halt.

See http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=7639.0 

[Oberon]

If this project ever gets legs I'll eat my hat. It's a nice thought but I imagine the cost, whatever they say, would be prohibitive. Cirencester-Swindon with re-opened stations on the main line makes more sense but again cost would surely rule this out. My own preference for re-opening would be Savernake-Marlborough, with a railhead & park & ride at the terminus, electrified all the way to Paddington - dream on..

[Chris from Nailsea]

Re-opening the Cirencester Branch is talked about from time to time including on the Coffee Shop: http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=14439.0

I really don't think they will get far as the route has been built over in Cirencester and that means that you would have to travel to a station on the outskirts for a 3 mile ride to Kemble.

Nice but hopeless.

Hence the profusion of smileys in my post.  Although the re-opened Portishead branch line will involve travelling to a new station further out of the centre of town than the original one.

[Bmblbzzz]

Reopening the branch to Ciren would not be worth it, it's only a few miles anyway. However, if the entire length of the old line could be rebuilt all the way to Moreton-in-Marsh, calling at Northleach, Bourton-on-the-Water and Stow-on-the-Wold (useful for the fire brigades college!)...

(<insert smilies of choice>)

[Richard Fairhurst]

That would be an all-new line (albeit a rather good one) - Northleach never had a railway station. The line north from Cirencester Watermoor went to Chedworth, Andoversford, and Cheltenham: at Andoversford, there was a junction to Bourton, Stow and Kingham, and thence to Chipping Norton and Banbury.

I don't think there was ever a connection between this line and the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) branch from Kemble, which terminated at Cirencester Town rather than Watermoor.

That said, if you're around Cirencester and have a few million pounds and an excavator, restoring the Thames & Severn Canal would be a much more enjoyable cause.

[Bmblbzzz]

That's a lesson in the dangers of over-interpreting what you see on an OS^▸ (Ordnance Survey) map.