May Midford Meeting

MIDFORD

FACEBOOK - NEW SOMERSET AND DORSET RAILWAY

The New S&D will be holding a meeting on Saturday 21st May from 2pm to 4pm at the John James Room, Windmill City Farm, Bedminster, Bristol (near to Bedminster station and 75/76 bus routes) - where Midford station and its future will be the main topic! EVERYBODY (members and potential new members) are invited to attend - hopefully by the end of the afternoon we'll have a team ready to restart clearing at the site and planning the rebuilding of this iconic station! Operating trains is still a long way off, but we do own the site so subject to planning can proceed with rebuilding.

If you are interested in coming please email me on leysiner@aol.com so we have some idea of the numbers!

midford update

These two excellent shots of Midford appeared in the Railway Magazine for April 1964, and show shots on 6 June 1963 and 1 February 1964. There's excellent detail here of the buildings etc. (Photos are courtesy of Trevor Eastwood, photographers are E T Gill and D H Ballantyne).

We had a small meeting here in Bristol to discuss the next steps with Midford. Both Tom and Stuart Seale were present, they have done most of the work up there.

The next step is to apply for planning permission for the whole site. Tom has agreed to draw the plans up. Hopefully we'll be applying in the next month or so. The first step once we have planning permission will be to rebuild the oil store which will serve as a secure store for tools, leaflets etc. Then we'll rebuild the station building. It will be rebuilt as closely as possible externally to how it was in the early 50s, before the canopy was destroyed in an accident. Internally it will function as an information centre and a New S&D office, so there will probably only be one internal partition. There will be display boards on the S&D, the other restoration groups on the route plus Washford, information on climate change, peak oil, modern transport systems and future energy sources, together with a shop area selling books and other items on the S&D, general railways and peak oil, climate change etc. The information area will hopefully also include a working model of the station as it was in the old S&D days.

We will also need to get water and electricity back on site. The rebuilding of the station will move us to a whole new level of funding etc, so the restoration will need to go hand in hand with a very big promotional push in the railway and local press.

If you have the skills and enthusiasm to help us in this next stage please do get in touch (email leysiner@aol.com or phone 0117 3738973).

When the Two Tunnels route is opened (next March is the target) Midford station and the Hope and Anchor pub will become much busier. We plan to put lockable cycle racks near the station building, emphasising our commitment to the future and sustainable transport.

Of course we shall also be repeating everything we've done at Midford down at Spetisbury, all being well!

meeting tomorrow

Do try to come to the meeting here tomorrow to discuss the next steps in restoring Midford.

Full details here.

next new S&D meeting

The next New S&D meeting will be on Sunday 18 September 2011 at 7pm.

Location is 10 Bellamy Avenue, Hartcliffe, BRISTOL, BS130HW.

This will be a civilized affair with food and drink laid on free of charge.

The main idea is to plan the next few years at Midford, but general New S&D business will also be discussed. All members and non-members are invited as usual.

Facebook page for this meeting here.

not long now ...

... to our first meeting in over a year! Please check out the facebook page for more information. Let's make this a really good one!

bournemouth meeting facebook page ... and two more meetings

I've just set up a Facebook page for the Bournemouth meeting which is now only three weeks away! There hasn't been a New S&D meeting for a while as there were more immediate things to get done, but there are now three pencilled in for 2011. After the Bournemouth meeting we'll be holding one at my house in south Bristol, always legendary as our extensive wine stock is available free of charge, plus food etc! This will give a chance for members at the northern end of the line, plus the Midford workers, to get to know each other and hopefully knock out a progress plan for Midford - and perhaps a nothern Somerset end location in the not too distant future. Then there will be our AGM in November, in Templecombe, nice and central on the route and available to access by rail. All meetings will get Facebook groups as we get closer but for now only the Bournemouth meeting has one, which can be accessed by clicking here.

meeting - at last!

At last we are able to hold a meeting! With all the work at Midford there hasn't been a lot of time for meetings, but the vital thing now is to consolidate and develop the management team, so it's time for us to all get together again! Wd are particularly keen to find members who will take on various roles at committee and board level. We're still looking for a Right Lines editor, a treasurer, a social manager, a sales manager and members of the sales/promotion team(s). We also still need a few more trackbed stewards, general committee and board members.

We've chosen Bournemouth as most of our members live in the area and it is accessible by modern transport (ie rail).

The meeting will be held in the bar area (if wet) or pool area (if dry) at the Cumberland Hotel, which is situated in East Overcliffe Drive, BOURNEMOUTH, BH1 3AF. Date and time is Saturday 20 August 2011, 12 midday. Please try to come.

This is a pre-AGM meeting, the AGM will be in November, probably in Templecombe which is equidistant for members from both the north and south of the S&D. More details later.

momentous weekend

The committee and Debs who took the minutes.


Members present on the big day.



Spetisbury immediately after the meeting.

The third New S&D meeting was momentous, with three major landmarks being passed.

The setting up of the limited company - Wessex Links Ltd - who will purchase sections of trackbed etc, and eventually build and operate sections/all of the route.

The setting up of a charity - the New Somerset and Dorset Railway - which will cover fundraising and membership.

The agreement to purchase Midford from Laurence Skinnerton, which will happen as soon as the limited company details are received, which should be a week or so. This will give us our northern base, providing other interested parties are agreeable, the station and other infrastructure will be rebuilt and this will then serve as an information centre, office and shop for the New S&D.

After the meeting a lot of us went to Spetisbury which hopefully this year will become the southern base, with the same commitment to rebuild the infrastructure and set up a second information centre, office and shop.

From now the New S&D is not just a serious player locally but also nationally, being the first properly incorporated sustainable railway charity and business, no doubt the first of hundreds that will spring up as a reaction to the energy supply and affordability problems that are even now beginning to ear their ugly heads.

forging ahead

(All Midsomer Norton, 19.4.2010)

There's a real feeling of something happening in the air railway-wise and I certainly think the New S&D is goig to benefit enormously from the huge changes that are starting to take place around transport.

It will soon be time to take the New S&D out to the public - that's the 99.9% of people who aren't railway enthusiasts (whatever that means!), but those people who are going to clamour for the return of their line as the energy crunch really hits home.

Why not get in at the start and get involved with us? We're still small enough for each person to make a difference, but big enough to be taken seriously.

Our next meeting is on Saturday, 24 April 2010 13:30 - 15.00 (lunch/social) 16.00 Public meeting (ALL welcome) The Railway Hotel, Oakfield Street, BLANDFORD FORUM, DT11 7EX

Try to come along if you can. There'll be a question and answer session in the public part of the meeting - or you can of course grill us (not literally) during the meal!

new somerset and dorset meeting(s) 24 April

We've just set the date for the next New S&D meeting.

It will be at the Railway Hotel Blandford. There will be a lunch at 13.30 to finish at 15.00. There will then be a free hour (exploration/shopping) from 15.00 - 16.00 with a public meeting at 16.00, which should last about an hour.

welcome aboard!

A big welcome to three new members of the New S&D team. Anna-Jayne Metcalfe and Simon Ellison have both joined the committee and will bring considerable skills to the team. Andy Thompson is now ploughing through our IT infrastructure, and a few other things, hopefully with the end result of making our New S&D presence as high profile and rewarding as his Steamtube and related sites!

We are still less than a year old and have made enormous progress in that time, but as I made clear at Saturday's meeting this is only the very very beginning of a long term and amazing project that will set the railway heritage, professional railway, tourism and sustainable industry 'communities' alight.

S&D developments

Yesterday's meeting at Blandford was superb. A very good turnout, great fun and a lot of ground covered. And two new people have joined the committee, which will strengthen us enormously.

Andy Thompson, who has created the hugely successful Steamtube site has agreed to begin contributing to this blog, and has also set up a New S&D Twitter account. This will be an ideal way to keep up with what's going on, and wil help build the S&D community.

I still feel that this blog needs more direct contributors, particularly from Midsomer Norton, Shillingstone, Gartell and Washford, who can keep our readers up to date with developments on site. You'll have full posting rights for both text and photographs. Please contact me to start posting!

At the meeting we spent some time discussing both Midford and Spetisbury. Both stations will be restored and will then act as information and sales points for the whole route. The stations will be restored to their peak BR glory and other buildings such as signalboxes etc will be rebuilt, to get a real railway atmosphere. Having had sight of the lease agreement at Midford between the current owner and Sustrans there is a codicil which requires Sustrans to move the cycleway from the trackbed and allow a single track railway to be reinstated. We will never bring in rolling stock or locos to Midford as a discrete restored station, but only when it is a part of a longer route (probably Radstock-Bath) - but track at Midford will be a real possibility to create the desired cosmetic effect.

Purchase of Midford proceeds apace, with paperwork (going back to 1895!) now in our hands.

2010 is going to be a fantastic year for the S&D!

meeting!

Don't forget that our very important second meeting will be taking place this Saturday (23 January 2010) at the Railway Hotel in Blandford. We're having a meal at 1.30 followed by the meeting proper at 4.00. There are a huge number of developments to discuss including possible working sites at two locations on the S&D, a big publicity/media push and setting up the two roving sales/information stands.

Please try to come along!

history in the making

The meeting gets under way.


Carefully studying the detail of the constitution, now adopted.


The venue - a real treat and only feet from the original line!


Just up the road - the route northwards towards Shillingstone and Templecombe, just waiting for the track to be relaid!

The New S&D passed a very special milestone on Saturday at the meeting at Blandford. We adopted a constitution and also put in process our plans to become the premier S&D organisation within a year or so with responsibility for restoring the whole route. The meeting was very well attended with 11 present. The venue was excellent with very strong links to the original S&D, and we were given a function room free of charge.

Within a couple of months we will become a very familiar presence up and down the route with our 2 display/information/sales stands. We'll principally be attending local shows and events on the route, with a northern and southern team, the border being Templecombe. So if you want a railway presence at your town/village event from November onwards please contact us.

About 70% of our current membership live in the Blandford/Poole/Bournemouth triangle and it's becoming clear that much of our early efforts will be in pushing for early restoration of Blandford to Poole, probably using third rail electric. This doesn't prejudice purchasing Midford on the northern section which will be a totally different project.

The demand and support is out there and we are pushing against an open door. It is scandalous that in almost the second decade of the 21st century a large and busy town like Blandford is STILL off the network. This is ridiculous and we aim to correct this idiocy as quickly as possible! The whole Blandford/Ringwood/Wimborne area is crying out for modern transport and at last there is a serious organisation on the scene eager to make things happen as quickly as possible. It seems amazing that this didn't happen years ago ...

From now on after every meeting there will be a newsletter outlining the various issues brought up at the meeting which will be sent, as hard copy, to all members. Hopefully this will quickly develop into a glossy magazine, further raising our profile.

So if you've held off joining us up to now please consider joining or giving a donation. Things are getting more exciting every day!

just keeps getting better

The latest S&D Telegraph, from the Midsomer Norton group, has just arrived. As always it's a fantastic read and a credit not just to MN and the S&D but to the whole heritage movement.

It's nice to see in this issue that not only are they breaking out of MN physically but there are numerous references to the larger picture, ie the whole S&D. This is really heartening to see as MN really is the lynchpin in the whole S&D revival and a superb base for all S&D fans to gravitate towards. I could almost have written the editorial myself!

Remember that we have our first meeting tomorrow evening (details on the sidebar). Please try to attend - I promise that the second meeting will be down at the Bournemouth end of the line so it's not such a trek for our southern members. I'm both nervous and excited about this! Hopefully the weather will be sunny and we can do a lot of it outside. Pimms on the patio sounds great to me!

I'm getting a lot of correspondence from members and supporters, many with a very feisty attitude to getting the S&D rebuilt! Just a few years ago I felt like a lone voice in the wilderness, but more people are coming over to our way of thinking every day ...

teasers ...

The two shots above are of a working industrial railway in Bristol. Any idea where? Those coming to the first meeting of the New S&D will find out!

This brings me neatly onto the next subject which is e-commerce! Our New S&D online shop will be up and running within a few days. The first items for sale will be a superb selection of industrial railway DVDs - not S&D I know, but they made me an offer (wholesale) that I couldn't refuse!

The other big news is that we now have our new website domain registered and the stunning new site will begin to go online over the next week or so - you'll find out when right here.

The meeting is now only a few weeks away, and we are already expecting too big a turnout for an intimate dinner party as originally planned, but don't worry - a positive cornucopia of food and drink will be available to all attendees!