MIDSOMER NORTON RUNS FIRST STEAM TO CHILCOMPTON SINCE 1966

Steam will work over the Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust’s extension towards Chilcompton Tunnel for the first time since the route closed in March 1966. Great Central Railway-based ‘Jinty’ No. 47406 is set to visit Midsomer Norton in March, running on March 10/11 and 17/18, where it will be the first steam locomotive to run over the railway’s quarter-of-a-mile extension towards Chilcompton. This makes the running line threequarters of a mile long in total. The first weekend of the Fowler 0-6-0T’s visit will also feature parallel running alongside the SDRHT’s resident Sentinel No. 7109 ‘Joyce’, which will be providing brake van rides alongside normal passenger services. The ‘3F’ will also be taking part in a Timeline Events photo charter on March 23. SDRHT Chairman Stephen Lacey said: “The extension of the running line is progressing well, and track has been laid to within a whisper of the infilled cutting. It is envisaged that part of the extension (to the ¾-milepost) will be commissioned for passenger use by the middle of March.” To donate towards the SDRHT’s extension appeal, visit www.sdjr. co.uk/fundraising ●● The Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust has also launched a locomotive hire fund, following in the footsteps of the Kent & East Sussex Railway in 2016 (SR449). The trust says it already has a list of locomotives that it would like to bring to the railway, and that it estimates each locomotive costs, on average, £4,000 to hire in.