MIDSOMER REVIVAL
Bringing a small section of the Somerset & Dorset back to life
It would have been tragic to give up on what was then the only available S&D site because of a few constraints
The 50th anniversary of the S&D’s closure to scheduled passenger services offers a timely opportunity to review restoration progress and ask how much more could be achieved in the longer term. The ‘S&D Mendip Main Line Project’ at Midsomer Norton is the most advanced of the schemes along the former route. That project title, adopted nearly a decade ago, implied grander ambitions than simply restoring Midsomer Norton station and a representative but short section of running line. Looking at the achievements over nearly 20 years, what greater aspirations can be entertained, how realistic are they, and how true can they be to the historic S&D spirit in a rapidly changing world?
A potted history
Our trust was founded in the 1990s, with the broad aim of safeguarding parts of the S&D route for sympathetic uses, including railway restoration. We then seized a rare opportunity to establish a preservation presence at one location - Midsomer Norton station, with the idea of creating a small S&D museum, and perhaps a short running line. We knew this was a special location, but recognised its physical limitations - not least the trackbed thereabouts being ‘book-ended’ by the missing Silver Street Bridge and, further south, the landfifilled Chilcompton Tunnel Cutting. The unrelenting 1-in-53 gradient south of the station would also present operational challenges. Yet it would have been tragic to give up on what was then the only available S&D site because of a few constraints. The 1996 lease from the local council covered only 300 yards of trackbed, barely enough to contain the station limits, let alone give a steam locomotive a decent outing. While the station restoration itself would occupy the trust for years to come, sights were soon set on accessing more land to allow southward extensions of the running lines. We say ‘lines’, plural, because the aim was always to re-create a signifificant length of double track, partly to remain historically accurate, but also for eventual S&D-type train operations on both Down and Up lines. While this is still the aspiration, in practice double track to date only extends for about 600 yards - round the corner and out of sight of the station. The priority now is to extend one running line (Down) southwards as far as the trackbed is clear. Fragmented ownership of the S&D trackbed has inevitably slowed land acquisition, with three separate parcels beyond the station for the fifirst mile. Each lease secured has been followed by successful planning