Monday 23 April 2007

Leighton Buzzard Railway - site visit August 2006






A few shots from the Leighton Buzzard Railway taken in August 2006.

This is a retrospective site visit so if I get something wrong blame my memory!

This was fairly easy to find and the station at Pages Park had a nice Colonel Stephens' atmosphere and surprisingly good facilities. The catering area is large with a good range of food reasonably priced.

The trip is unusual, starting alongside the very pleasant Pages Park, then going through the backs of houses and factories over a few ungated crossings before the scenery opens out a little amongst modern housing before the line swings in a large curve and then runs alongside a road (though separated from it by a low hedge). The destination station at Stonehenge is small but well-appointed with a nice shop and interesting free industrial railway museum.

The locos and carriage stock are interesting and the trains seem well-patronised. All in all a delightful and unique little line that deserves to be seen!
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Thursday 19 April 2007

S&D Petition



As always the Somerset and Dorset Railway down at Midsomer Norton is innovative - the current buzz is around the petition lodged with Number 10 to release funds to reopen the line as a vital transport link. Signatures after just three days are already 77. Just 250 and the government have to reply!

Wording is - The Somerset and Dorset Railway was, and will be again after Peak Oil, a vital sustainable transport link across Wessex. The government should release funds and simplify the planning and construction process to allow local people to build, own and operate the line in preparation for when our oil runs out.

To sign up please click here - and tell all your friends!
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Friday 13 April 2007

Clutton - at first base ...



This is the remains of the station at Clutton, currently the subject of a preservation scheme. The platforms have been infilled, and the buildings are long gone.




Visible restoration work so far seems to extend to putting in a few fence panels.



Off-site in an adjacent yard we spotted this intiguing sight!



Closer inspection revealed a (narrow gauge?) diesel and



a mark one carriage.

site visit - avon valley railway, 13/04/07

One of the regular features I want to have on this site is visits to lines around the country to assess just how well they are doing in a number of fields - enthusiast interest, atmosphere, visitor facilities etc. For good or ill the Avon Valley was chosen to be the first, mainly because it's just down the road ...

Or is it? Travelling from Bristol there are no road signs pointing it out, and I was practically in Bath before I figured out how to get there. A twenty minute journey took almost an hour! There were no brown signs at all, especially at the important point where we should have headed into Keynsham rather than continuing on the A4.



First signs were good - a very large car park (though almost full even on a diesel-only Friday in April) and a neat and friendly-looking station. The ticket office staff were very pleasant and buying tickets was easy. They offer a disabled and carer discount.



Our next port of call on site was the catering area. It was fairly busy, and only took a few minutes to deliver a portion of chips. There were plenty of drinks and ice creams, but crisps were a problem - there was an empty box of salt and vinegar and otherwise just a box of plain. This isn't really very good as kids hate salt and vinegar and plain! This whole area is due for refurbishment this year, and the plans look like this will become a really classy area in future. Cost will be £250,000!



The quality of the food was very good, especially the (very reasonable) sandwiches.



Another area to be upgraded this year will be the dining area - currently this is all outside, but a covered dining area is part of the redevelopment plan. There were plenty of bins (including recycling bins) but the tables were a bit plain and tired.



Much trade at Bitton is from cyclists who use the excellent cycleway which runs alongside. There were bikes everywhere, and this is one of the principal areas of activity in which the AVR excels - catering for non-travellers.



The whole route is paralleled by the cycleway, which extends from Bristol to Bath. This does detract somewhat from the atmosphere of the railway, but you can always sit the other side! Views are better on the eastern section, despite there being a lot of trees alongside. On the western section to Oldland much of the line is in rock cutting and approaching Oldland there are some very boring modern houses alongside the line. The lineside is also quite tatty with lots of litter and rubbish alongside. It could do with a tidy up! All in all the scenery is rather bland, although the under and over bridges give some interest to the line. The best section is the last bit to Riverside.



The station at Oldland is just a platform. Today was diesel day and the Pullman liveried class 73 looked quite smart.



Avon Riverside is a very new construction so still looks quite stark. The path down to the riverside looked very inviting.



Back at Bitton there is plenty of atmosphere and little touches making it a very pleasant place to spend an hour or two. The lack of covered eating space is being addressed. The shop was a bit boring, half Thomas and half bog-standard tourist and enthusiast fare. I like to buy something from every line I visit, but there really wasn't anything here, so I left empty-handed.



All-in-all a very pleasant and friendly line. However there was one thing I found really difficult to understand - visitors were allowed to smoke on the platform despite there being children around, but the thing that really amazed me was that one of the smokers was a VOLUNTEER! My own line is a totally smoke-free area so I did find this aspect a little disturbing. No doubt it will be addressed soon!

Tuesday 10 April 2007

along the teifi valley



A glimpse of the Teifi Valley Railway in Wales, one of the UK's less well-known heritage railways. This runs along part of the old Newcastle Emlyn branch and is well worth a visit.

Thursday 5 April 2007

lynton and barnstaple






This is one of my favourite lines and it's great to see it beginning to come back to life. Like the revived S&D this is likely to become a premier heritage line over the next 20 years as it expands in both directions. The scenery is stunning, it still exudes charm and it should never have closed in the first place.
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devon railway centre






An unusual heritage venue is the Devon Railway Centre at Bickleigh, on the old Exe Valley Line. The site is centred on the old GWR station and includes a 2 foot gauge and 7 1/4" gauge lines. The two foot line has some incredible curves and really shows the versatility of narrow gauge! There are also model railways in some old mark one carriages. This is a particularly good spot for children!



This was a great idea - a short 7 1/4" line with a £1 operated Toby that the child could drive themselves! This was Wulfric - perhaps a bit too big for Toby - shunting.

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intriguing?



This intriguing shot was taken about 15 years ago. The line is the highest adhesion route in the UK, is narrow gauge and in Scotland. It starts at Scotland's second highest village and is heading towards the highest.

It's the Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway in Lanarkshire and well worth a visit.
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Sunday 1 April 2007

somerset and dorset reborn


One of the UK's less-well known restoration projects is the Somerset and Dorset Railway down at Midsomer Norton. At the same time it is the UK's most ambitious set-up with eventual restoration of the Bath to Bournemouth line as a heritage and, most importantly, transport link as its aim.
Public passenger trains on a short section from Midsomer Norton South towards Chilcompton will begin in summer 2008, medium term objectives are restoration through the tunnels to Chilcompton station and northwards to Radstock. The line will then be extended north and south from these points.
At the moment the site is open on Sundays and Mondays, with Saturday opening starting in the next few weeks. There is a fully-stocked shop, secondhand shop and excellent catering coach and patio.
The S&D is also very keen to actively involve younger enthusiasts with a myspace and bebo site, and hopefully summer evening discos on the patio throughout this summer.
Our current workaday engine is No 10 (pictured above), a Sentinel is under construction and long-term hire of steam locomotives will begin with the reopening.
Check out our website and blogsite.