Radstock to Frome (and Westbury?) Railway news

[whole diary]

[Bmblbzzz]

The chief evil of the age is without a doubt 5G, bringing with it Coronavirus, brain freezes, bad weather and probably locusts, according to the vocal band of leading local tin-foil wearers, PhD's in the subject to a man, woman or other.. A look at the internet shows that they are already reporting symptoms, long before the technology gets anywhere close, and that some are now worrying about their use of the mobile ohone technology they have been using for years. One chap from Bath actually earths himself with copper wire in bed. He doesn't say if he has researched interation with lightning, but we might found out one day.

Some are claiming that global 5G technology will enable China (because China currently occupies the role successively inhabited since about 1789 by France, Germany, France, Russia, France and France) to send a high-pitched tone through your phone, beyond the range of human hearing but instantly killing your brain cells. Possibly this has already happened in some cases...

[grahame]

The idea of Radstock to Frome is certainly interesting, but it does look like big dog leg via Westbury would make a trip to Bath take close to an hour. The current stoppers to Frome are getting on for 45 minutes. That puts Bristol at 70 minutes or more. That isn't competitive with the bus for Bath, at 25 minutes, although the bus to Bristol takes 1 hour 15 minutes according to the timetable, but has the unfortunate disadvantage of having to use roads. ...

Indeed - upthread at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=20967.msg257150#msg257150 ... basically it points the wrong way for current flows - GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) stood for "Great Way Round" and so it would again.   As a generalisation, being unaware of extra local specifics, this could be a problem.

Of course, you have "Chicken and Egg" issues ... rather than build the railway to serve the houses and flows already there, build the railway to encourage the housing and flows - or a bit of both.   Extend trans from [place] via Westbury and  Frome to Radstock.  Connections countrywide at Westbury, and new industries there to build track panels for High Speed Railways HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)), HS3 and HS17. Also the people to work in the new Wiltshire Call Centres after research found that people buy more with Wessex accents.

[CyclingSid]

Have to revert to semaphore flags https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_semaphore  instead of this new fangled 5G stuff.

[grahame]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/599580693419023/

North Somerset Railway & Radstock to Frome Railway Trust
Ken Pitman

The Radstock to Frome Railway Trust is holding a EGM on Saturday the 25 February at 2.00 in The Somer Centre, Midsomer Norton .

Old members and none members are invited, we need a new Trustee team to run the Trust or we will have to start winding it up.  We have tried to get new people on board but with no luck. Nothing is happening on the ground but work is still going on to get this line open again it just needs a new team.

[rogerpatenall]

Nostalgia time - again, I'm afraid.

As a very small boy living in Castle Cary with a Gran in Bath we travelled between the two often. I would be in the back of the car vocally hoping against hope that the level crossing gates at Radstock, or the one in Shepton Mallet, would be closed. Dad in the front saying to Mum "I hope we don't get stopped at the B... gates. 

We never saw eye to eye on that one, but we did agree that it was always nice to see a train on a viaduct at Cannards Grave or just after Shepton.

Forgive the drift . . .

And, as an aside, have I ever mentioned before the near daily Class A express that ran from Frome to Bristol?  The usual pannier and single coach calling at all stations, but by virtue of providing a Bristol connection off the up Channel Islands Boat Express, it carried express headlamps and was accompanied from signal box to signal box by '4 bells' denoting an important train - not to be delayed.