Leave Monsal Trail alone

The letter that argued for the relaying of track from Matlock through to Buxton and beyond (Open Access, RAIL 948), to give another route option for passenger and stone trains, could have been from a reader who has never had the delight of walking, cycling or horse riding along the Millers Dale route - now the Monsal Trail.

The 8.5 miles of the former Midland Railway route is not local to me. But when I have travelled by train to Buxton with my sturdy Raleigh cycle, and returned from Bakewell along the Trail, it has been pure joy - and also on the flat and much safer than the intimidating A6 nearby.

I would imagine there would be strong resistance to closing the pathway, including from the National Park body.

I have used trains since the 1960s as a non-driver, and consider that the Beeching axe went too

far. It is pleasing to read of Restoring your Railway schemes, giving options to such as Okehampton and (soon) Blyth.

But with a small fortune going on HS2, London schemes, and the Oxford-Cambridge East West Rail, any other schemes must be sensible.

Colne to Skipton has its supporters, but what about the hopes in Wales to restore the axed central route running south from Aberystwyth to Carmarthen and even across to Cardigan? Some areas of the UK sadly suffered from the virtual extinction of a once superb railway network.

Simon Pearce, Bromley Cross