HISTORY AND ACHIEVEMENTS

  
Trackbed Purchases. Railway Ramblers has played its part in increasing the number of 'rail trails' by raising money for the purchase of several disused railway lines, which it has 'gifted' to Sustrans or other charities to convert into railway paths. By January 2006, the club had purchased the following routes for use by the public:

Viaduct Restoration. As the possibilities for trackbed acquisition dried up, the club began to look at other purposes to which its grants could be put. The restoration of viaducts – the most iconic of all railway relics – was an obvious choice. The first expression of this change was a grant of £2,000 to the North Pennines Heritage Trust towards the cost of repairing Alston Arches Viaduct – actually in Haltwhistle, Northumberland – which was made safe for public access during 2006. Since this project was funded by 'matched giving', our grant released an equal amount from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which brought the effective value of our gift up to £4,000. (Further details are available on the 'News 2005' page.)
  

  
Grant History. During 2005, the club provided Sustrans with a grant of £2,000 to help fund clearance work between Midford and Wellow in Somerset, so that this part of the old Somerset & Dorset Railway could be opened up to walkers and mountain bikers. When this was done, subsequent improvements saw the installation of a smooth surface suitable for all users. Turning to the north of the country, we made a grant of £500 to the Northern Viaducts Trust to help with trackbed improvements on the old Stainmore cross-Pennine route, where the Trust is slowly acquiring and restoring old viaducts such as Merrygill, Podgill and Smardale Gill. Currently, only isolated sections of this route are open to the public, but it is vital that these important viaducts are not allowed to decay – without them, the continuity and potential of the old trackbed will be lost forever.

In the south of the country, the club supports The North Dorset Trailway, a project managed by Dorset County Council (in conjunction with North and East Dorset District Councils) which is slowly establishing a long distance multi-use path on the former Somerset & Dorset Railway from Stalbridge to Poole. Significant sections are open already with completion planned, hopefully, for 2020. The capital sums involved in this project are large, with over £200,000 having been spent in autumn 2006 on installing a new bridge over the River Stour at Fiddleford Mill; the original was removed for scrap shortly after the line closed. By today's standards, the sum of money realised for the original will have been pitiful, and it is easy to imagine that the scrap men will have argued successfully with BR that the material value of the bridge was diminished by the cost of getting to it, removing it and then cutting it up. (How times change ...)

In June 2008, following earlier donations of nearly £250 raised by the Southern Area, the club donated £2,500 to the North Dorset Trailway towards the cost of replacing a further missing bridge over the Stour, this time Hodmoor Bridge which crossed the river about a mile north west of the former halt at Stourpaine & Durweston. The total cost of the new structure was approximately £300,000, so this was a major piece of civil engineering. Clearance work started in February 2010, with the new bridge receiving its official opening on 7th November 2010 (click here for further details). Its opening created a continuous railway path between Sturminster Newton and the Stourpaine & Durweston area, with Blandford Forum as the next objective. (The link into Blandford is expected to open in early 2013.)

In summer 2011, the club provided a grant of £2,000 to Sustrans to support the development of its Ossett to Dewsbury Greenway, a route which includes some fine engineering features such as Headfield Viaduct and Earlsheaton Tunnel. Headfield Viaduct is a 14 arch masonry structure which includes a plate girder span over Sands Lane, plus two bowstring spans of 126 and 100 feet respectively over the River Calder – an impressive sight. Earlsheaton Tunnel is a 179 yard structure built on a long curve to accommodate double track: it was opened to the public on 16th January 2013, and pictures of the ceremony can be seen here. The club's £2,000 grant has been earmarked for a later phase of the project (Headfield Junction to Dewsbury Junction), which will extend the trail along the Great Northern trackbed towards Dewsbury Central station.

In May 2012, the club's AGM voted to provide a grant of £2,500 to support the conversion of Scotland's Connel Ferry to Ballachulish branch into a cycle trail, but within weeks the Scottish government changed all that by announcing that it had committed £102 million over the next 3 years (2012-15) for improving walking and cycling infrastructure within the country. The funds are split into £25 million p.a. for large scale projects, plus £9 million p.a. for local projects within the most heavily populated areas. This funding so eclipsed the modest grant that the club could make that the committee chose instead to make a pro tem grant of £495 to the Hincaster Trailway Group. This supported trackbed clearance and surfacing work on the former Furness Railway's branch line from Hincaster Junction to Arnside, and helped to provide a one kilometre extension to the existing trail, built to an all-weather standard which allows use by walkers, cyclists, horse riders and users of mobility scooters.

Currently, the club is making plans to support a railway path project in Wales, where – as at Hincaster – our grant will be used to finance re-surfacing work, etc. Some of the country's rail trails have proved so popular that they are getting worn out and require remedial work in order to support the number of people who are now using them. We are not the first organisation to have made the following remark, but this is a 'nice problem to have'!

Fortunately, the days are gone when old railways were simply sold off to the highest bidder and broken up piecemeal ... but there are still thousands of miles of old trackbed waiting for a new purpose in life. Each new route encourages healthier travel choices, helps to combat rising obesity levels, and has the potential to reduce the number of accidents involving walkers and cyclists on our roads. If you can, spare a few moments to read this article and notice how many cyclists killed on our roads in 2012 were children. There's no use for old railways? No demand for rail trails? We don't think so ...
   

 
Current and Future Projects. The club is always interested in hearing about projects to revive old railways. For a number of years, we have been keeping an eye on Torksey Viaduct in Lincolnshire, a massive 22 span viaduct that once formed part of the Great Central Railway and could still provide a valuable crossing of the River Trent. Sustrans had hoped to restore the viaduct for use as part of a walking and cycling route, but allegedly the objections of a single local landowner have scuppered this (click here for details). The viaduct is Grade II* listed but remains at risk. Without some use and/or a charity with deep pockets to secure its future, this important and historic structure will remain at risk.

Another project that may receive our support in future is the Sustrans-backed railway path from Maiden Newton to Bridport, which is progressing steadily under the stewardship of a keen local ranger, with enthusiastic support from the village communities along the route. This trail needs money to help purchase materials for surface improvements since a new main to Bridport was laid under the trackbed in the early 1990s, churning up much of the railway's sub-structure. As a result, the surface is a mire of clay during the winter months. Currently, much of the route is open to walkers on a permissive basis, although it is not waymarked and one needs a knowledgeable guide to string all the bits together without getting lost. However, this project offers the chance of re-using much of Dorset's most attractive branch line, and opening up to walkers and cyclists a remote and beautiful part of this lovely county. It is a bonus that the new trail is in a popular area for holidays, close to Weymouth, Dorchester and the Jurassic Coast.

Other possibilities include providing support for the extension of the Cheddar Valley Railway Path from Cheddar to Wells, or the creation of a trail along the course of the former West Somerset Mineral Railway, although Exmoor National Park has taken the lead with this and set up a local project to promote and interpret the railway remains. (For further details, see the 2004 and 2005 News pages.) However, as in the past, the club will strive to ensure that its support for railway path projects is spread widely around the country. Other major projects that are currently in progress – all with significant input from Sustrans – include The Great Northern Railway Trail (Queensbury to Cullingworth, Yorkshire), The Wharfedale Trail (specifically the Bolton Abbey to Addingham section, Yorkshire) and The Great Northern Greenway (Breadsall to Ilkeston, Derbyshire). In Scotland, a Banffshire Way has been suggested but, at the moment, this is no more than an idea without the endorsement of the local authority. The promoter is local resident , who would welcome support for the scheme.