Somerset & Dorset - heritage line - the remains and possible resurrection

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

What I'd now like to do is to combine any previous posts on the subject of the Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust here - rather as we have done previously, with other heritage lines and their aspirations to expand their services.

Please bear with me, while I do a bit more shunting on the forum! 

Your work is much appreciated!

[JayMac]

The 7th March 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the closure to passenger services on the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway.

Somerset and Dorset Railway closure marked 50 years on - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-35718199

[Red Squirrel]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) item above:

...But Michael Eavis, Glastonbury founder, said it would be "impossible" to have a "train coming through the site now".

Well that's it settled then.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From itvnews online:

Film-makers re-discover footage of last train to run on infamous railway


Half a century has passed since this film was made by Bob and John.
Photo: ITV West Country

It's exactly 50 years ago that the old Somerset and Dorset Railway was closed, after it fell victim to the Beeching cuts, which saw thousands of miles of tracks pulled up and stations removed as the rail network was restructured in the 1960s.

Two ITV Westcountry viewers, who were teenagers at the time, filmed one of the final journeys on cine cameras, and they've been kind enough to share this never-before-broadcast footage.


John was on board the train, filming out of the window. They've only now released the footage. Credit: ITV West Country

Half a century has passed since the film was made, but the memories of that day in 1966 are as fresh as they ever were for Bob Drew and John Harding, school friends in Somerset who set out to record a moment in history.

John was on board the train, filming out of the window whilst Bob was on a bridge at the station to film it leaving and then arriving a few stops down the track, at least that was the plan.

"I jumped into my father's old Austin A40 Somerset and went racing around the roads, hoping to get to Shapwick station before the train got there but, in fact, we didn't quite make that and John, in his excitement I think, forgot to get off!

So I then raced around to Catcott station, where he had got off."

^ BOB DREW, AMATEUR FILMAKER

The old Somerset and Dorset Railway, nicknamed the Slow and Dirty, carried hoards of summer season visitors from towns in the north from Bath down to Bournemouth.



There was a branch line from Evercreech Junction across to Highbridge and Burnham on Sea where it picked up Bristol Channel steamer traffic. There were stations along the way at tiny rural spots like Pylle, West Pennard, Edington and Bason Bridge.



The line ran through some picturesque countryside, and right across what is now the site of the Glastonbury Festival.

The track bed is still there and serves as a useful thoroughfare for festival goers, especially when the surrounding fields get muddy.

In the spot where Shapwick station once stood, there nothing more these days than a rather good place for birdwatching - it's a nature reserve. Its railway days are long gone.

The cine film the duo used cost about ^4 a reel in those days - a lot of money when you were only earning about ^7 or ^8 a week - so you had to be careful what you filmed.

John and Bob chose to film this train journey and managed to preserve the memory of this so-called golden age for the future.

[Chris from Nailsea]

A story from Burnham-on-Sea.com:

Somerset and Dorset railway exhibition comes to Burnham-On-Sea

'Burnham-on-Sea.com' are very protective of their website articles, to the extent that I am prevented from linking to any of their text or pictures here.  Nevertheless, I recommend that anyone who is interested and is able to link to their news item does so, as there are some fascinating pictures there. 

[ChrisB]

The Lost Railway – celebrating and remembering the Somerset & Dorset Railway
 Green Park Station, Green Park Road, Bath, BA1
 7.30 – 9pm. Free
 The Lost Railway is an outdoor show commemorating and celebrating the rich heritage
 of the Somerset and Dorset Railway and its closure in 1966.  An event for all ages, ‘The
 Lost Railway’ celebrates the S&D^▸ (Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway) in light, sound, song, music and performance. The
 show is for audiences to watch, wander in and lose themselves in. Starting around
 dusk, the show lights up places that once part of or near the railways route, Green Park
 station and the depot that was once alongside it was the terminus of the line. The show
 features performers, live band, lighting effects, mobile tower, songs and stories and has
 been created by the company Rag and Bone. For this Bath performance the company is
 working with the Natural Theatre Company.

 The Lost Railway is not a history lesson, but an evening tale evoking the life, sounds,
 stories and closure of an important feature of the life of Bath and Somerset.
 Lost Railway is inspired by the many stories of the railway, the awesome power of
 steam, the magic of railway lines and journeys through the landscape. The show
 immerses people in the evocative sounds of the railway and creates a railway line of
 light into a lost past

 The Somerset and Dorset Railway was a key sight and sound in the west, and an
 important part of the economic and social fabric of the counties. Its trains last ran in March 1966. The memory of the railway, its equipment, archives, rolling stock and even
 trains was revived and treasured by the Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust
 The Lost Railway is part of a series of events commemorating the closure of the
 Railway line. The show has been created by the outdoor performance company Rag
 and Bone and is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
www.rag-bone.org
www.sdrt.org
naturaltheatre.co.uk

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

I managed to “do” the S & D from Bournemouth to Bristol TM^‡(resolve) just before it closed - it was a round trip from Coventry, so must have been quite a long day. 

There’s a lovely poem in the 1964 publication “4ft 8 ½ and all that – a Sort of Railway History” which goes:

“Oh Wellow, Wellow down the line,
And Blandford Forum too,
Dear Evercreech is out of reach,
Now “The Pines” does not pass through.

“Will Bournemouth West go with the rest,
Now that the S and D,
Has heard its last “West Country” blast?
Ask Beeching, don’t ask me!

[grahame]

From my news feed at https://www.facebook.com/somersetanddorsetrailway/photos/a.1332511273441474/2647347978624457/

ACTION REQUIRED TO SAVE S&D^▸ (Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway) TRACK BED FROM DEVELOPMENT!

A planning application has be submitted for the development of former S&D infrastructure at Pitcombe. Objections need to be lodged by 5th September.

BANES & Mendip councils have protected S&D trackbed from further development, South Somerset Council currently doesn't.

Can everyone please contact South Somerset Council an lodge and objection to the planning application. Objections can be made on the website (www.southsomerset.gov.uk),
Quoting ref: 18/01820/OUT.

Reason for objection can be based around protection of former S&D trackbed for future strategic transportation use.

Not expressing any view on the application - just bringing it to members attention.   Comments welcome here (where they will make no difference to the process!) or via the site above (where they just might!)

[RA]

One of my favourite films about the Somerset & Dorset:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03495yn/lets-imagine-a-branch-line-railway-with-john-betjeman#



Another one that I can remember watching on TV as part of a series called ' The Seaside Trains':

https://youtu.be/FXC-FopdH74

[Lee]

From Somerset Live:

Plans to completely redevelop the Midsomer Norton railway station have been officially submitted after an initial proposal was put forward.

The proposal included micro-brewery space, commercial units and apartments as part of an attempt to overhaul the railway station, which currently houses a museum and small cafe and the neighbouring land is a nature reserve.

Plans have now been officially submitted and are being considered by the local planning authority according to the company behind the proposal.

Joseph Marchant, the director of Context Logic, recently met with Midsomer Norton mayor Paul Myers and other town councillors to discuss the plans.