MIDSOMER NORTON GROUP PUSHES TOWARDS CHILCOMPTON
The reinstatement of the Somerset & Dorset has taken a significant leap forward, with the Midsomer Norton-based Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust extending its running line by a quarter of a mile towards Chilcompton. Spokesman for the S&DHRT, Stephen Lacey, says: “Track laying has been paused to allow the track to be ballasted, packed and prepared for commissioning to passenger-carrying services. “Once the purchase of the land has been finalised, the track laying will continue to allow existing operations to extend to the base of the infilled cutting.” The railway has access to the entire trackbed between Midsomer Norton and Chilcompton cutting, having finalised a lease with the Duchy of Cornwall for half a mile of the old formation back in spring 2016. Although the original running line was double-track, initially the extension will be single-track only. There are also plans to build a station, Chilcompton Tunnel Halt, making the revived S&D a somewhere-to-somewhere railway for the first time in preservation, with a full mile of running line. Mr Lacey says: “The initial challenge is how to deal with the ruling gradient of 1-in-50 on the newly cleared formation. Railway regulations prevent new platforms being constructed on anything greater than a gradient of 1-in-300. “The stumbling block for moving the project forward is, of course, money, and the trust will be launching a new appeal to raise funds in the region of £50,000. That figure will cover the eventual cost of the remaining required trackwork, pointwork, ballast, planning application, land purchase and grading, and of course construction of a halt to allow trains to travel from Midsomer Norton to an actual destination.”