Somerset & Dorset still in daily transport use
THE route of the legendary ‘Pines Express', the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway, continues to be a major source of fascination and engagement in the heritage sector.
Two sections of the S&D main line have been revived, at Midsomer Norton and Shillingstone, while recent times have seen the controversy over moves to end the lease on the Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust's museum home of 45 years, Washford station on the West Somerset Railway, and the relocation of some of its exhibits to the Avon Valley Railway at Bitton, and Midsomer Norton. During October 1-3, the Mid-Hants Railway, currently the location of the trust's S&D 7F 2-8-0 No. 53808, will become the latest heritage line to hold an S&D-themed gala, recreating the atmosphere of the trans-Mendip line as it was in the 1950s and 1960s prior to closure.
Yet part of the S&D – mostly missed by the heritage sector – remains in 24hour use for public transport needs.
Glastonbury & Street railway station was the biggest station on the S&D line from Highbridge to Evercreech Junction until it closed in 1966 under the Beeching axe. It was also the junction for the short branch line to Wells, which closed in 1951.
Opened in 1854 as Glastonbury and renamed in 1886, it had three platforms: two for Evercreech to Highbridge services and one for the branch service to Wells. The station had a large goods yard.
For 18 years after the line closed, the goods platform canopy remained in place. However, in 1984, it was rescued by Glastonbury Conservation Society and re-sited using a Manpower Services Commission team of unemployed people. The scheme came second in a National Pride of Place competition.
While the line it served had fallen victim to the postwar rise of road transport alternatives, the canopy now takes pride of place in one of Glastonbury's main town centre car parks. Motorists can park beneath, ensuring that their cars are saved from the worst of the Somerset weather.
Glastonbury and its Tor have in modern times become hugely popular as a centre of legends and mysticism, but here, the canopy is still weaving a little piece of S&D magic!