Southwold Railway

Sadly, I'm at the other end of the country ... otherwise I would have engineered a visit.
Good luck !

 

Paid a visit first thing today to beat the expected rain - which still hasn't actually materialised here!
Biggest surprise was seeing a new signal post erected at the goods shed end of the site, as shown in the photos below........









The event seemed very well attended, so hopefully it was very useful for fundraising.
What strikes me most is how immaculately kept the whole site is, irrespective of the time of year you visit the place.

 

It really is immaculately kept, and the signal post is a very striking addition. Station building next?

 

I think they realise that would be a fairly big step to take with developing the site so they don't seem to be rushing ahead with that at the moment (I did actually ask one of the group about that yesterday).
There is the matter of Planning Permission that would be required to reconstruct the station building, plus raising the money to pay for it all. Would certainly make a good place to have a permanent exhibition on the history of the line though.

 

Very nice
I suspect going slowly is the order of the day round there. The locals need convincing it's not going to turn into a roller-disco or suchlike

 

Would be nice if relations between the Southwold and Blythburgh groups improved, and they coordinated their open days and had a vintage bus running between the two sites.

 

I thought they did have good relations with each other?

 

That would limit the total number of open days, prevent sharing of volunteers and add on the cost of a vintage bus.

What would they get in return?

 

There used to be a preserved Bristol SC single decker to PCV standard which was based in the area and the Southwold Group did use that on some occasions to transport visitors to their Wenhaston "outstation" where they own a bit of the trackbed, but that was pre-Covid, and the SC, as far as I know, has moved on elsewhere.
The next nearest preserved vehicles owned by museums that could be used are either at Lowestoft or Ipswich - and none of those are actually PCV hire/reward compliant, so you couldn't charge fares on them. It might be rather a challenge to find somewhere safe to turn a bus at the Blythburgh end as well, given the narrow/restricted turnings off the A12 and the roadside vegetation growth and trees......

 

Hi - regular double-decker buses pass the site 6 days each week (serving Southwold, Wenhaston and Halesworth too) - but of course it'd be silly to get a vintage (or any other bus) to turn into the site - the entrance off A12 is very nasty. But it'd be easy to find a turn-around place a bit further down the road. I was involved in the previous bus tours - they were reasonably successful (tho' not much so in conventional financial terms). We have run the community bus to events from Halesworth at open days, but most visitors like to drive - there is a lot more interest in the station restoration from outside the area than from residents (Suffolk doesn't really go in for heritage railways).

However, it is worth saying here that it may not anyway be possible to run more open days (even though the Sept. 8th one was our most successful yet) unless we can counter the sudden and unexpected Parracombe-like anti-railway opposition which has arisen over the last few weeks. One sole (but influential) objector has persuaded the previously-supportive Parish Council to vote against our planning permission, and is making waves with many other local organisations. Sounds all too familiar, doesn't it! So - if you are reasonably local to the Blyth Valley and don't want to see all our five years' voluntary work trashed, please support our application with East Suffolk District Council - reference is DC/24/2962/FUL and their e-mail address is planning@eastsuffolk.gov.uk - with the application details on http://publicaccess.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/online-applications/
You have until 5th October to comment.
Thanks
James

 

Shocking stuff really.
Strange how the NIMBYs have come out of the woodwork again.
I suppose the recent ordeal for Exmoor Associates and the L&B Trust has probably been followed closely by the one-or-two cantankerous and short-sighted individuals in East Suffolk and given them the initiative to become obtrusive again.
All power to you and the HTSNGRS, James.

 

I’m not sure that calling someone cantankerous and short sighted is very helpful, just because they hold a different position.

It’s always good to remember that objectors can read this forum too, as the RVR and L&B situations have shown.

 

I wish you well with this local dispute. Looking at the responses, I note that only two formal objections are recorded, and none from statutory consultees - and that those statutory consultees rather undermine the claims of the objectors. I hope, given the movement in planning policy, that this will be a chance for objectors to get stuff off their chests rather than a serious threat to the project.

 

Never underestimate the ability of an articulate objector to stir up a hornets nest. Is there a sound business case for re-opening the railway?

 

I doubt there is a sound business case for any heritage railway, with the possible exception of the P&DSR - they exist because enough broadly altruistic people want to see them exist.

That probably goes for most heritage attractions: even the National Trust wouldn't be viable as a purely commercial business without legacies and considerable volunteer input. The interesting point is that having a good heritage attraction in an area does generate wealth for some other purely commercial businesses: for example, visitors to an area will spend money in local pubs, accommodation etc. So the Southwold Railway may be net beneficial to the commercial viability of the town even if in itself it is only able to survive by altruistic means.

Tom

 

I don’t. Nor am I insensible to the fact that there’s a week to go before comments close.

However, planning law is limited in its scope, and when statutory consultees explicitly contradict the claims made on their behalf, it is hard to see well-advised councillors making decisions that would invite appeal and bad press.

That a village Parish Council has made a decision based on the advocacy of an influential resident doesn’t mean that the District Council will pay much heed to their comments - especially if they’re not founded in planning law.

A comparison has been made to Parracombe; I think that unfair on both Blythburgh and Parracombe. I do not get the impression of widespread local opposition in Blythburgh; in Parracombe, the Grampian Conditions were IMHO a reasonable attempt to balance the interests of all parties.


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Starting a business ( because this is what it has to be) with the expectation that any revenue shortfall will be made up with charitable donations is a bold concept and doomed to failure. I can think of several National Lottery and local Council funded heritage-based schemes that started with a great flourish of trumpets then failed when the revenue income withered. I was involved with one such project that had the most optimistic business case possible but never got over the first planning hurdle as the opponents ripped it apart in the local media.

Other than allowing a bunch of old men to "play trains" what is the purpose of the Southwold Railway project? The world is changing very rapidly and as far as this sort of venture is concerned, including the Lynton and Barnstaple, the tide is going out.

 

So that would wipe out every preserved line in the country.

The difference is making sure that outlay doesn't go beyond income (of whatever sort). This means keeping the donations coming in

 

The question is whether you are talking about covering operating costs from income, which ought to be a minimum aspiration, or also capital costs.


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Given Southwold goes by the alternative name of Chelsea on sea, I'm sure it would survive.

The Southwold line is on a rather different scale and has rather smaller ambitions than the L&B.