| Closure of the Somerset and Dorset Railway - 60 years on Posted by bradshaw at 08:37, 7th March 2026 |     |
This weekend sees 60 years after the S&DJR was closed. Final passenger trains ran on the 5th, two railtours ran on the 6th and formal closure occurred on the 7th.
I was on one of those railtours, the RCTS one. It ran from Waterloo via Staines then Alton to Poole. Up the S&D to Evercreech and Highbridge behind 41283 and 41249. 34013 took us up the GWR line to Mangotsfield N Jct where D7006 hauled us to Bath Green Park. From there 34013 PLUS 34057 took us back to Templecombe where 35028 was waiting to return us to Waterloo.
The sound of this two pacifics climbing up to Masbury still echoes today!
Yesterday we visited RSPB Ham Wall, a reserve on which we can take the dog and happens to be on the route of the Highbridge branch which allowed Marion to take a photo of me at Ashcott and Meare station 60 years, almost to the hour, since passing it by train!
