I am not sure of the final approach in Chippenham to the railway station - the curve from the branch, the bridge over the A4 was removed and has been replaced for a cycle way with an arch - lightweight and gradients up both sides that I suppose a tram might manage, and in Calne the old railway yard became an industrial estate and now housing; it never reached the very heart of the town and would be even more disjoint these days - even on foot it's a question of picking your way around as I recall, but the trackbed is a popular walk and cycle; not been there in a while, but I don't think the path is all-weather.   And for a return of powered multi-user vehicles, I'm not sure of the strength of other works such as the bridge over the Avon.

The 55 bus from Chippenham Railway Station to Calne does provide a decent link all day every day - much closer to a "virtual branch line" than many.  As a route onwards to Lyneham, Royal Wootton Bassett and Swindon it takes an age, mind you.

 
Not sure what the track bed looks like now,could a light rail route not be constructed?

 
A muscle-powered bike unaugmented by voles. Also, does the expression perhaps reference the offence felt by some fans when Bob Dylan, at a performance, unexpectedly picked up an electric guitar? A bit of that vibe has clung to e-bikes... 'It's not proper cycling', 'You're not getting any exercise' etc etc

Transplant Calne to certain other countries and it's difficult to imagine that the railway path wouldn't be an all weather route (for good measure, punctuated by the 'Black Dog Cafe'...).

Mark

 

Is that autocorrect or a technology that has passed me by?   I love the idea of singing as you cycle and having the energy  of your voice converted to forward movement

 
With Calne now having a population of 19000+ and with the branch being 6.5 miles in length, if it was given an all-weather surface, even on an acoustic bike it would now offer a very feasable year-round travel route to Chippenham and its station, something that is not offered by Calne's roads. APCOA wouldn't like this, mind.

Mark

 
A work colleague grew up there and their family used it as a matter of course and only reluctantly abandoned rail when the trains went. I need to dig around to find out when the passenger service timetable fell to bits. Dropping the Sunday service sends a strong 'Make other plans' message to travellers by rail. It has to be said, though, that what the line may not have seen is gross structural unreliability in the services that were timetabled to run.

<fx: clamour from behind the door from a group of ghost passengers from several other railway lines that would like to join *that* conversation. On being admitted, several are revealed not to be ghosts at all but in fact are users of the trains from Melksham.>

Mark

 

It has been pointed out to me, for the archive - that my sarcastic humour might be so dry that people who don't know me think I really meant this.   If a Calne - Chippenham - Bath - Bristol - Portishead regional service, with a selected pattern of stops roughly as listed, were running and with good connections to and from expresses and onward services, I suspect it would be packed much of the time.     

Looking at pictures of Calne and studying how the branch dropped from busy to unused over a decade - see http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/calne/index.shtml - shows how rapidly things can change.  The town has rejuvenated since the closure of the Harris factory and the RAF stations - but with road and not rail access.   Driving-wise, people have to pass through/round one of Chippenham, Royal Wootton Bassett, Wroughton or Marlborough to get to the motorway network ... and Calne is geographically at the edge of the Bristol Avon economic area - a natural far point but what a slow old journey, even with Avenue La Flèche bypassing Chippenham High Street / Town Centre. ...

This is - not - being written as a researched re-opening paper.  But I could write how Black Dog and Stanley Bridge would both have significant potential in a parallel universe, how a Calne train with a few minutes layover in Chippenham would connect both ways to London and Bristol expresses before carrying on as the "stopper" and how each of the other stations re-opened along the way would being passengers, real economic development to the places served, and would be to their significant environmental and social advantage too.

 
60 years ago today, the line from Chippenham to Calne closed.

Had it survived, I don't suppose there would be much traffic these days on a 30 minute service Calne - Black Dog - Stanley Bridge - Chippenham - Corsham - Box - Bathampton - Bath Spa - Oldfield Park - Saltford - Keynsham - St Annes - Temple Meads - Bedminster - Parson Street - Ashton Gate - Clifton Gorge - Pill - Portishead service, would there?