Masbury station appeal

No not at all, I do agree with you about presentation. I work in a college and if you think I am bad, you should see what is coming along behind. I realise that education and the English language are consonantly changing and I would guess that how you and I where taught are also poles a part's. Getting the right phrase in place is something of an art and with the development of the alpha/graphic text words for mobile phones, it gets very hard for me to understand what some of the students are asking for. And I don't teach them......

I guess I am the only one who has so far put his head above the parapet to try and tell you guys what is happening on the S&D. Yes there is a lot of misinformation about the whole project, but lets be honest, how many of you, given the chance, would like to see most of the pre-beeching cuts, restores where it is both financially and practical to do so?

Some of the proposal's for the restoration of the S&D have been local council lead, and before you know it, it has become very political.

Anyway back to pile of project paper work that needs to be done.

Regards

Colin

 

Ah, the delights of spell cheque....

 

Eye have a spelling chequer,
It came with my Pea Sea.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss Steaks I can knot sea.

Eye strike the quays and type a whirred
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am write oar wrong
It tells me strait a weigh.

Eye ran this poem threw it,
Your shore real glad two no.
Its vary polished in its weigh.
My chequer tolled me sew

 

ihttp://www.sdjr.co.uk/pages/news_stories/masbury.html.
Check the link for the latest news about Masbury.

 

Worth cutting and pasting the full link. I think this is indeed good news. I'm not old enough ever to have travelled on the S&D, but have come to know it, as have many others, I'm sure, through Ivo Peters' marvellous photographs. I can see why there is a desire to reopen sections of this lovely route. However, a relatively young railway reopening project is having to compete for funds at the moment with some equally exciting projects being promoted by established lines - the GWSR Broadway extension and the GCR/GCR(N) missing link being two obvious examples, both of which are covered by threads on this section of the forum. To have raised £80,000 in the face of such competition is a tremendous feat, even if it wasn't enough to secure Masbury station. Great that one of the Trust's members is stepping in. I wish him well, and all parties involved, in the negotiations to follow.

 

To anyone here connected with the Masbury Station Appeal Facebook page.

I seem to have just been barred from said page for expressing an opinion about Steve Sainsbury's remarks about the S&D Revival. I don't doubt his enthusiasm for re-opening the line, I merely pointed out that Compulsory Purchase Orders for reclaiming the land through Shepton Mallet would be beyond the means of the SDRHT - as he suggested that that was being considered, but not specifically by them. Also, I have been concerned for some time, from visits to his S&D blog, that his frequent references to "Peak Oil" causing a future decline in car ownership are a bit unrealistic. The oil companies will not just sit by and let their business either decline or change radically, a means will be found to produce cars which can run on other sources of energy to over come rising oil prices. Whoever can do that first will make the most money.

I pointed this out to him earlier this evening and now I can't access the group's Facebook page. Coincidence? My feeling is no it isn't...........
I must make clear that I am not making a personal attack on Steve Sainsbury in this post, just raising my concern about my sudden lack of access to the Facebook page. I support the re-opening of the S&D, as I do any Beeching closure, and would like to remain part of the Facebook group.

Chris

 

Oh no. Not the peak oil argument again!!!

Fantastic..... Can't we add a few mosques as well just to really get the chit chat going?

 

Not I for one , unless they do more than produce a glassy stare in a gricer's eye. Any new railway projects need to satisfy a present need for real people and not provide a cheap thrill for the "wouldn't be nice " brigade. If re-establishing a defunct line does this then that is fair enough but the problem with most, if not all, of these cross country lines is that they were fundamentally half-baked to start with in terms of gradients, alignments and where they actually went to. A large proportion were simply dreamed up or developed by pre-grouping companies to "get at" their competitors (e.g. the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton).

PH

 

The fact that some Beeching closures were mistaken does not mean that they should all be rectified. The world has moved on and we have to start from where we are now. There is only so much money available for investment in new (or restored) track and that money should be spent where it makes most sense on a national basis. I would much prefer see HS2 built than the S&D restored.

 

I disagree, the HS2 may be a good idea, but it involves a lot of new track over green areas of the UK, Britain may have old victorian built railways,but in reality most are still there, but trackbeds have been lifted,are a path or cycle route, which is easier to return to rail lines,and less costly in view of compulsory purchase of houses,land ect.
The S&D restoration will bring tourism as well as providing trains to many other towns (if it is going to provide services during the week too), as well as possible freight using the line again.
The HS2 will only cater for those who can afford to use it, mainly company bosses,MPs Councillors who are on expenses paid, whereas the normal low income families will have to take the normal slower trains (on Virgin the prices are well over 200 pounds to London from the North).

 

What was useful 100 years ago may no longer be relevant today. Higher line speeds and loadings require different engineering solutions.

 

HS2 is certainly a big topic worthy of much discussion, and perhaps not best raised here, but to say that only the rich will use it is rubbish. Tickets on HS2, and like existing rail routes, will be priced to fill the trains; expensive at peaks, and big discounts off-peak. As well as being equitable, it is also the best way to maximise revenue. In hindsight, BR had a very unjust fare structure, at least till the 1980's. There was a fixed price per mile irrespective of the quality of service or demand, and very little in the way of off-peak reductions. No wonder that millions of families bought cars in the 1950's and 60's.

 

We will see if your right, but if its true then it will be good news, but frankly the govenment will want to gain money back what they plan spending, and if you say it will be cheaper off peak, then why is it the government have subsidies on it

 

[quote="nickt, post: 678500, member: 4896" No wonder that millions of families bought cars in the 1950's and 60's.[/quote]
They bought cars because they could afford to and for most people car travel was and still is much more convenient than rail travel for the majority of trips.

 

Following an exchange of messages between me and another moderator, Julian Jefferson, regarding the Masbury facebook group, it seems Steve Sainsbury has permanently barred me from it purely for disagreeing with his fixation with "Peak Oil." As I suspected, he seems to be someone, and I have encountered others like him in unrelated groups, who block people who disagree with them. I shall ignore him, and his weblog, from now on.

My apologies if this sounds a bit personal for a discussion like this, but I feel other members who have not crossed paths with Steve Sainsbury should be informed of this so that they may treat him with caution.

Chris

 

It's this peak oil, buying half million pound houses then knocking them down that turns me right off this whole project. I'd be more than happy to donate money to the Midsomer group and their future projects, but the first hint of the 'New S&D' and I'm off.

These guys really do think they can rebuild the whole line from Bath to Bournemouth, oh and all the branch lines too!
When I also suggested a six mile heritage scheme was the most they could ever hope for, that in its self being a 20-30year project. I was also discredited and barred.

It worries me now that they have this £90,000 fund burning a hole in their pocket. I've already seen some chap on the offical Masbury Facebook group asking if his 'group' could have £1000 to kick start their own Radstock scheme.

I'd like to see the money in the pot go into MSN and the extension up to the chillcompton tip, or if a cast iron legal agreement with the new owners of Masbury can be reached. Then the money go towards the reconstruction of hedge time to Shepton Mallet or back towards MSN.

It appears that the owners/occupier of the chillcompton Tunnels is going to move out, it appears the project could move forward quite quickly. That's if financial restraint can be kept, and dreamers can be kept away from the money.

Great Western

 

As with a lot of people on here I would love to see it happen but its never going to, theres to much of the former S&DJR thats been built on, one such obstacle is Wincanton when the S&DJR closed the A303 went through the town which i remember well as it was a well known bottleneck.
The A303 now bypasses Wincanton and has a four lane dual carriageway to get across, this road crossing will cost millions, thats if the various agencies will allow it, this is just one headache and there are a few others on the former S&DJR to get your head around.

 

That'll be no problem, there won't be any cars to worry about after peak oil. Just build an embankment ...

"From the age of the dinosaurs
Cars have run on gasoline
Where, where have they gone?
Now, it's nothing but flowers

Where, where is the town
Now, it's nothing but flowers
The highways and cars
Were sacrificed for agriculture"



I'll get me coat, etc etc...

Tom