Spa Valley progress

(Groombridge in BR days 4.7.1977)

The Spa Valley is now making the push back to Eridge to link back to the network. It will involve laying a second line alongside the network route to allow the Spa Valley access to Eridge station.

There were some daft things about the original closure. The line remained open until 1985 and was the last real railway closure in the UK. The excuse was the cost of replacing pointwork at the junction with the Hastings line in Tunbridge Wells on electrification. For about six months after closure empty trains continued to run into Tunbridge Wells West as the depot was there. Houses were built right up to the trackbed at Groombridge - amazing as there was already at that time a preservation group. There is now a kink in the line and there's a new halt built for the trains.

June's Steam Railway carries a piece on the line, with the extraordinary conclusion that '[t]here is sadly very little prospect of reinstating the eastward link via Grove Junction to Tunbridge Wells [Central] because West station has been converted into a restaurant. The trackbed has also been breached by a Sainsbury's supermarket and its car park'.

Er ... why not just BUY the restaurant and, eventually, the supermarket and reinstate the link? It is actually essential as without it real trains will be running the wrong way! And real trains will grace this line again in the not too distant future, particularly when the Uckfield-Lewes and Groombridge-Three Bridges lines are restored.

Get some lead in your pencil Steam Railway and stop talking railways down!

Plym Valley progress

A line I've not yet visited is the Plym Valley Railway near Plymouth. They are about to double the length of their line, to bring it up to almost a mile. Their 'ultimate' destination is Plym Bridge Halt, a mile and a half from Marsh Mills.

This area had an interesting selection of lines including the 4 foot 6 inch gauge Lee Moor Tramway. Eventually the Plym Valley hope to almost reach the point where these two lines crossed.

Yes, I know, this should be on 'Heritage Railways UK' but to be honest the distinctions between heritage and community routes is become more blurred every day, and it's often a job to decide which to post to! So I've made the decision, with the current upsurge in interest and hits on this site, that I'm going to merge the two blogs and in future post all railway news - heritage or community - to Rail Revival. I'll try to keep the two different strains separate on the sidebar! I'll gradually bring over the old heritage railway posts to this site too, so there's more to read!

Expect other features such as message boards etc soon.

lynton and barnstaple supporter

The Lynton and Barnstaple has a friend in high places - the leader of Devon County Council expressed his support for the line when he officially opened the extension to Killington Lane on 12 May 2007.

He supports the railway's medium term aim of reopening from Wistlandpound to Lynton. The new station at Lynton is planned to be close to the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway, offering easy interchange and bringing modern transport back to this magnificent part of north Devon.

The Lynton and Barnstaple, particularly when it returns to Barnstaple (Pilton), will become the major tourist attraction on Exmoor as well as an important transport link. In time no doubt the line will be extended even further, across the Taw back to Barnstaple Junction on the network or to Barnstaple Town (even if on a diversion) when the Ilfracombe line is reinstated. And imagine an extension of the line from Lynmouth or Lynton along the savage North Devon coast to Minehead! That would be a journey of world class standard ...

GWR revival - about time!

The transport lobby group Transport 2000 has called for Stratford-Cheltenham to be reopened as part of the network. This important cross country route was closed back in 1976 after a derailment left track damaged - how often are roads closed permanently when some stupid lorry has ripped up the surface (and probably killed a few people in the process)?

A good deal of the 29 mile long route has already been restored by the Gloucestershire-Warwickshire Railway. Hopefully both a heritage and ‘real’ service could be run over the line.

'green' diesel for virgin

Ever the showman, buck-toothed ex-hippy Richard Branson - planner of the world's first commercial spaceflights and airline owner - has made one more great meaningless (and guilt ridden) gesture to the environment - fuelling one of his Virgin trains with biofuel.

Biofuel is one of the greatest environmental threats to the planet and should be avoided wherever possible. As well as needing huge fossil fuel inputs (often more than the energy got out) it also is already competing for land with food. It is purely a publicity stunt, showing just how worried people are about Peak Oil - even if they pretend it's a response to climate change!

For a superb critique of biofuel from someone who knows what he's talking about, click here.

If he really wants to do something belatedly for the environment Branson needs to look at wood-burning steam, ground his hideous aircraft and cancel all plans to export pollution to outer space.

devon reconnection?

This month's Heritage Railway has a feature on the possible reinstatement of part of the Exe Valley line, closed in 1963. This is a bit of a no-brainer, the line ran through glorious Devon scenery and started near to Exeter. It also served the large town of Tiverton. It could hardly fail, particularly as its USP would be to use small engines in a branch line style. A small part of the line already sees trains, the Devon Railway Centre at Cadeleigh (pictured above). These are however 2 foot and 10 1/4" gauge, though there are several standard gauge railway carriages in the station with model railway layouts inside.

Alternatively the Tiverton to Tiverton Junction line may be restored. Why not both - a 'real' train service connecting to the main line at Tiverton Parkway, and a heritage route towards Exeter, the best of both worlds?

It is insane that a town the size of Tiverton is not currently on the network. Parkway stations will be clear losers in a post Peak Oil world as they are designed to be used by that endangered species, car drivers.