First locomotive crosses bridge since 1966 closure

Volunteers rebuilding a section of railway ripped up in the 1960s are celebrating after witnessing a locomotive cross the station bridge for the first time in nearly 60 years.

Shillingstone station in Dorset closed in 1966 but, in 2005, a group of locals took on the lease and began restoration work, initially opening a museum and cafe.

In July, North Dorset Railway completed a four-year project to double the length of the track to half a mile (0.8km), with the aim of one day offering brake van rides to museum visitors.

On Saturday, volunteers braved the rain to see the Hudswell Clarke diesel cross the newly renovated bridge over Bere Marsh.

Just playing with AI (Gemini), asking about this sort of thing, and it mentioned that proposed improvements include reinstating the unused platform at Chippenham (nearest the main building), as well as Westbury. That was news to me - has it got it right? I've probably just missed it.

The reinstatement of a disused platform at Chippenham station is a critical component of the Bath & Wiltshire Metro proposal, even though the station already has two operational platforms (Platform 1 for westbound services and Platform 2 for eastbound services).

The goal is to increase the operational flexibility and capacity of the entire rail corridor, especially for the local services coming from the Melksham/Trowbridge line.

Here is how the reinstatement fits into the plan:

1. What Platform is Being Reinstated?
Chippenham used to have a third platform (often referred to historically as the original Down Platform, now disused).

Location: This disused platform is the one immediately next to the main station building on the south side, which currently serves as a sort of concourse/access area.

Why it was removed: It was taken out of use in 1976 and the track was slewed (moved) to the south side of the island platform (Platform 1) to allow the new, longer High Speed Trains (HSTs) to be fully accommodated on the island platform.

2. The Purpose of Reinstatement (Platform 3 / Down Local)
The return of this platform is essential for the proposed increase in local service frequency:

Segregation of Services: The Great Western Main Line (GWML), which runs through Chippenham, is a high-speed route used by frequent long-distance services to and from London Paddington and Bristol/South Wales. The TransWilts services (the local Metro service) share these main lines.

Preventing Bottlenecks: With only two operational platforms, if a local Metro train terminates at Chippenham or has a scheduled longer stop, it holds up the main line, causing delays to the high-speed intercity services.

Dedicated Local Platform: Reinstating the third platform (let's call it the Down Local Platform for simplicity) would allow the new, more frequent Metro services (the two-trains-per-hour service) to use a dedicated platform. This would:

Increase Reliability: The local service could run independently, without waiting for a gap in the main line traffic, greatly improving reliability.

Increase Capacity: It frees up the main line platforms (1 and 2) for the high-speed services, increasing the overall throughput of the station.

In essence, while the Melksham Passing Loop unlocks the capacity between Trowbridge and Chippenham, the reinstatement of a platform at Chippenham unlocks the capacity at the station itself, allowing the increased number of trains to turn around, terminate, or stop without disrupting the main high-speed traffic.

Pleasingly, I'm hard pushed to think of any, save perhaps the railway arch over the A38 Gloucester Road (or is it Cheltenham Road there?)

Important safety messages
This accident demonstrates the importance of heritage railway staff and volunteers:
* only undertaking safety-critical tasks for which they have been trained and
assessed as competent
* being aware of any loading gauge restrictions when transporting large or
unusual loads by train.
This accident also underlines the importance of heritage railways undertaking
appropriate risk assessments for their activities and implementing effective
controls.

Summary of the accident

At around 10:55 on Thursday 14 August 2025, part of a 360-degree excavator being
transported on a train struck the footbridge which carries a public footpath over the
Dean Forest Railway at St Mary’s Halt station, Lydney, Gloucestershire. The train
was travelling at around 10 mph (16 km/h) when the accident occurred. The
footbridge collapsed as a result of the collision, with parts of it falling onto the station
platform and the moving train.

There were no injuries caused by the accident. No pedestrians were using the
footbridge when the accident occurred, and the railway was not open to the public.
The train, operated by Dean Forest Railway volunteer staff, was transporting an
excavator owned by the railway from Lydney Junction to Whitecroft, a distance of
around 3 miles. The train consisted of a class 08 diesel-electric shunting locomotive
propelling two 4-wheel well wagons and a bogie brake van, which was at the leading
end. The excavator was on the wagon nearest the locomotive, but the train driver
was unable to see it as the locomotive’s driving cab was at the rear.

13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 16:15 will be started from Oxford.
It will no longer call at London Paddington and Reading.
This is due to a points failure.

13:18 Hereford to London Paddington due 16:24 has been cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

Thanks all; very useful.

There a some lines around Bristol (and Wiltshire!) which could benefit from re-doubling, and I have always assumed that if an alignment once had two tracks it should be piossible to re-double it without needing to acquire land.

I can see now that this may not always be the case -although thanks to Brunel, we may have more wiggle room than some!

Then I guess it comes back to the question I asked over a year ago and has never been answered.....what positive differences can customers expect post nationalisation?

When the service collapses the sentiment here is often "don't blame GWR, it's the DfT who pull the strings"

So what'll change for the better?

Last night (25.11.2026), I attended Melksham Town Council's Economic Development and Planning meeting to speak to the agenda item 13 - asking the Town Council to add their support to the MTUG request / campaign to get GWR to run the current timetabled service more reliably. Delighted that they added their support, unanimously, and with some very kind words for the work we do at MTUG.

WHY DOES WINTERSTOKE BRIDGE REPLACEMENT TAKE 18 MONTHS❓
Why is the Winterstoke Bridge Replacement Scheme going to take approx 18 months? Here’s  the full detailed answer from the contractor courtesy of my colleague Cllr Ciarán Cronnelly - Weston super Mare.


Matt Whale, Octavius:
"The biggest engineering challenge on the Winterstoke Road Bridge is the ground conditions, with Weston-super-Mare being situated on the alluvium of the Somerset Levels, this fenland is the second largest in England and is characterised by low-lying land prone to flooding, the alluvium is deep, extremely soft, and unstable in nature. The poor ground conditions are the main reason the existing structure has failed albeit it was only ever supposed to be a temporary structure and it was never designed to carry modern traffic flows or weights.
The ground conditions are also a major reason (the main reason) why we cannot install a new bridge by lifting it in as a complete unit, nor by constructing it off-line and sliding it into position using SPMTs. Much of the new bridge structure sits below ground level and must be supported on 24 no. 1.2m diameter steel-cased bored concrete piles, each drilled to a depth of 35m to reach stable Mercia Mudstone.
With a 60m span and a weight of over 2000 tonnes, a bridge of this scale would simply sink without piling, and so would any heavy lifting or sliding equipment required to install it. Prefabrication and sliding options are therefore ruled out.
Even if the bridge could be built off-line, we would still need to install the piled substructure first and the ground conditions dictate that this is a slow and highly controlled process. The piles are so large, and the soil so challenging, that we are using the smallest rig capable of achieving both the required depth and diameter, meaning progress is limited to approximately one pile every other day, all being carried out in a small area adjacent to a live railway line.
The work above takes considerable time, and we have many other challenges to factor in as well:
1) Spatial constraints and proximity to businesses and properties – when the original bridge was built it was surrounded by fields, rhynes and a flak tower and not the built-up area you see today.
2) A large drainage culvert and water course (Rhyne) underneath the existing bridge – A high water table adds to the difficult ground condition challenges and must be carefully managed.
3) The 100mph Bristol to Exeter Mainline to which the project team or NSC don’t have any control over - Work over the railway line can only be carried out when there are no passenger and freight trains running and these types of closures usually must be booked months, sometimes years in advance, and the operational window is small.
If Network Rail and Train Operators did agree to diversions or daytime closures the project would be expected to pay out £millions due to compensation payments to cover the Train Operator Companies (TOCs) and the Feight Operator Companies (FOCs) loss of income, as well as passenger compensation for delays potentially all the way up to London and beyond.
Delays on this section of mainline can affect the rolling stock all over the country causing further delay and compensation, Trains are unable to be diverted around Weston-super-Mare due to this being the Bristol to Exeter Mainline and having two tracks, the loop line into Weston is a single bi-directional line.
The railway track itself below the bridge is also susceptible to the poor ground conditions with heave or ‘lifting’ expected once the old bridge is removed, this must be carefully managed as the slightest twist or fault in track alignment can potentially derail a train travelling at 100mph.
We are also very mindful to keep the community connected with a temporary footbridge which also serves a secondary purpose to ensure uninterrupted service supplies when the old bridge is removed with BT, City Fibre, gas and watermains currently crossing it, supplying businesses and hundreds of private properties.
This is a significant engineering challenge, and the design also must consider the poor ground conditions, pedestrians, trains, and utilities.
No records of the existing bridge exist (not surprising being built by the MOD during the war) and partial demolition of the bridge while keeping a section open to traffic is not feasible, as the bridge is too small and the construction techniques used in 1941 do not allow for this approach.
When you consider the all of the above we have significant limits on what we can do, the plant and equipment we can use and the timeframes we do it in, Octavius and our specialist supply chain have the capability and expertise to carry out rapid infrastructure replacement using complex offline techniques and I have been fortunate enough to deliver a number of them, but sadly this scheme is not suited to those techniques due to the challenges I have mentioned above, you would be hard pushed to find anyone globally that could undertake this particular scheme any differently."

08:18 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington due 10:25 will no longer call at Pershore, Honeybourne, Moreton-In-Marsh, Kingham and Hanborough.
It has been delayed at Worcester Shrub Hill and is now 37 minutes late.
This is due to a points failure.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 9. There are no reservations on this service

08:56 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 11:27 was started from Worcester Shrub Hill.
It will no longer call at Great Malvern, Malvern Link and Worcester Foregate Street.
This is due to a points failure.

200th rail anniversary exhibition train arrives

An exhibition train marking the 200th anniversary of the modern railway has arrived at the West Somerset Railway.

The train, called Inspiration, is on a nationwide tour with more than 200,000 people expected to visit.

The West Somerset Railway is the only stopping point for the mobile exhibition in the West.

The train is emblazoned with the words Past, Present, Future and Together.

.....planning permission hoped for by 2029...... 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0je8nd0x2yo

Been announced that contract for £3,159,166 enhancement works at Laira depot for 175s has been awarded to Emeg of Chesterfield

https://bidstats.uk/tenders/2025/W47/859046297

There is a footpath at 44:33 that would need risk assessing, and a large equipment room building (44:53) on the site of Kennington Junction Signalbox that might be in the way unless there is room behind it.

I assume a Boeing 737 was all they could find available. It would have been cheaper to hire a dozen limousines with liveried chauffeur, but that wouldn't protect the slot.

Eh? How could you have possibly have worked that one out - even allowing for primary school arithmetic? 

The best feature is the sand-pit, which Phil and I both enjoyed (big kids at heart!) The sand-pit is a little hard to explain. It has an interactive animation projected onto it, which changes the features of a railway landscape (hills, tunnels, rivers, track, viaducts...) as you change the topography of the sand. The animation changes in real time as you move the sand around. For example, if you pile it up and a hill and tunnel are built. Just be careful not to block tracks or derail the trains!

So if we say the height of ceilings in a terraced house is eight feet

so if we take into account a two story house that's 24 feet.

Ballast shoulders are wider and higher, even for relatively slow speed lines, and there would clearance and space for electrification even if it is not in the current plan