PRojeCT launChed To link ChilCoMpTon WiTh MidsoMeR noRTon
A new preservation group aims to restore Chilcompton station and rebuild the Somerset & Dorset line northwards to link up with the Midsomer Norton steam centre. Led by chairman John Graham, the Chilcompton Station Project is a 20-strong team of volunteers (separate from the Midsomer Norton-based Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust) who are in negotiations with owner Taylor Wimpey over access to the site. The group is in the process of setting up a charitable trust and applying for planning permission to reinstate the station and track, which requires a change of use from the designation of ‘recreational forest’ applied by Taylor Wimpey, builders of a nearby housing estate. The Down platform survives, along with the foundations of the Southern Railway-built concrete Up platform, and those of the station building, signal box and water crane. Once vegetation is cleared, the group plans to construct a replica of the demolished station building using original stonework that remains on site, and re-lay track to bring in locomotives and stock. In the long term the aim is to extend almost three miles southwards to Binegar, or even a further two miles to Masbury Summit – as well as pushing north towards Chilcompton Tunnel, where the cutting has been filled in on the Midsomer Norton side. The Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust at Midsomer Norton is rebuilding the line southwards towards the tunnel, and in March it opened a quarter-mile extension. For the Chilcompton group to reach this point, two bridges will need to undergo heavy repairs – the waterproof membrane has broken down on one of them – and another, smaller cutting will need to be excavated. A welcome donation has been the original counter from the ticket office, bequeathed by the station’s booking clerk, who purchased it from BR for £10 in 1966 when the line closed and he retired. Said Mr Graham: “The response we’ve had from the local community has been amazing – from people who wish the railway had never closed and want to see it back. “It sounds like a lot of work, and it is – but we’ve got a good bunch of people and we will get cracking.”